#oh god if only i could actually draw statues | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

gojonanami · 6 months

Text

THE DOCTOR IS IN - SATORU GOJO

✴︎ summary: aka medical intern / doctor in training gojo. when you go to your annual check-up, you didn't think you'd be crushing on your doctor - or that he's conduct such an in-depth examination - in more than one way. ✴︎ contents: 18+, a lot of smut, implied cheating (but there's no cheating), improper use of a medical questioning and an exam room, improper use of a tongue depressor, panty sniffing, semi-exhibitionism (but not really), fingering (f!receiving), oral (f! receiving), semi-public sex, sex in an exam room ✴︎ wc: 2,573

It was just a checkup.

You sit, using your phone as you wait for the doctor, squirming on the uncomfortable exam paper drawn over the patient bed — so why were you so nervous?

And then there’s a knock at the door, and he walks in — but it’s not your usual doctor.

“Hi, it’s nice to meet you,” the white haired man grins widely, and you’re taken aback by how good he looks dressed in his white coat — if he had been your doctor before, you never would have missed a single one of your appointments, “My name is Satoru Gojo, and I’m a medical student that’ll be helping out today,” he offers his hand, and you take it, shaking his hand.

“It’s nice to meet you too,” you smile, introducing yourself by name, and he sits on the chair in front of you. Without his white coat and stethoscope around his neck, he could have looked more like a model than a medical student. You wouldn’t be surprised if he had been offered gigs modeling for his medical school’s brochures — hell, you were regretting not going to medical school right now.

He’s right down to business, crossing his leg over the other, “Do you mind if I ask you a few questions about you, what brings you here, and your personal and medical history?” he asks, clipboard and pen in hand, lips curling.

“Not at all, Doctor,”

“Call me Satoru,” he smiles, and you can’t help but smile back. And then he’s running through the usual list of questions — name, occupation, date of birth, smoking status, drugs, prescription list, and all the other questions medical providers need to ask patients, “and sexual history?”

You tilt your head, flushing, “Can you be more specific?”

And he’s leaning back, pen pausing in its scribbling, as he glances up to clarify, “Are you sexually active?”

You lick your dry lips, squirming under his gaze that suddenly feels heavier than before, “Yes, I am,” and he nods.

“Do you have a partner?”

You nod, “I have a boyfriend,”

His eyes rake over you discreetly, “Must be pretty handsome to date a woman like you,” he remarks, — did he always flirt with his patients? Because he certainly will have good patient retention at that rate.

“He’s also a little full of himself,” and you see a slight purse of his lips, as he raises an eyebrow, “but he’s very, very cute,”

“Oh is he? Good to know,” he sighs, pressing the top of the pen to his lips, drawing your eyes to his lips, “and how often do you engage in sexual activity?”

You have to pause before you answer — god, when were you going to move off this topic? “Pretty often, almost every day, usually,” you clear your throat, unable to meet his gaze, as he nods.

“And are you satisfied?”

And you raise an eyebrow, “is that relevant?”

“Oh, this is a physical, we like to be very thorough,” and you swallow thickly — well this was uncomfortable — but he only looked…almost amused, “Well?”

“Most of the time,” you shrug.

“Most of the time?” he repeats, placing his clipboard lower, clearly far too interested.

“My boyfriend has been pretty busy with work lately, it’s been pretty lonely,” your eyes finally finding his own, deep blues darkening a shade.

And his lips quirk, “Oh I see, I’m sorry to hear that, but I won’t be leaving you alone anytime soon,” he winks, and he’s rising to his feet, as he draws slower, “I think we can move onto the actual physical exam now,” and he’s pulling his stethoscope out as he draws near, kneeling instead of standing — because what else can you do beside a couch instead of a hospital bed — “I’m going to listen to your heartbeat,”

God, he smells good.

You try not to bite your lip at him — he was so pretty, up close even more so, his long snow white eyelashes fluttering and his perfect pink lips so kissable — but no, no, this was inappropriate. This was a doctor’s office.

And he’s putting the stethoscope in his ears, pressing the metal diaphragm to your chest, “Oh, your heart’s racing,” he murmurs, leaning in even closer, warm breath warming your skin, “wonder why that is — this may call for further examination,”

“Is this concerning?” and he’s tilting your chin up, far too close to your face.

“Don’t worry, sweetheart, you’re in good hands,” he’s moving the stethoscope to your back, pressing the metal end to listen to your lungs, “please take deep breaths for me,” and you do, biting your lip, as he leans against you as he moves the diaphragm to four different points, his chest brushing against your shoulder, “I see,” he murmurs, “have you been experiencing any aches or pains anywhere?”

You swallow, “My throat has been hurting a little,” and he nods, grabbing a tongue depressor.

“Let me take a look, now stick out your tongue and say ‘ah,’” and you do as he says as he presses the tongue depressor down, “good girl,” he murmurs, making your cheeks warm at his words — fuck.

His eyes scan your mouth, pressing against your tongue harder, “I don’t see anything unusual,” as he pulls the depressor back, skimming your tongue teasingly, but still, his face is so close to yours, and he notices your breath catching, “but I may need to do a closer examination if you…consent,”

“If I consent?” You ask slowly, his lips a breath away, and his thumb drags down your lips, “Satoru—“

“Do you consent?” And he’s leaning even closer, noses brushing, and you only can manage a nod, “use your words, Princess,”

“Yes, please,” and he only smirks, as his lips brush yours — so soft and teasing, his fingers cup along your jaw. He tastes of sugar and warmth, his tongue teasing your lips, until they part, dragging over your tongue, the very same he had just examined. He draws easy moans from you, one after another, before he pulls away, a string of spit connecting your lips.

“I didn’t see any issues, but I am concerned about your throat,” and he’s kissing a burning trail down your jaw to the hollow of your throat, “feels a little swollen here—“ and his teeth grazes the soft skin there, “it may need a closer look,” and he’s licking and sucking, dragging his tongue over your sweet skin.

And you’re nearly panting at this point, as he smiles at you, pressing another kiss to your lips, and you raise an eyebrow, “was that you checking again?” And he laughs, lips curling, as his fingers slide to the small of your back.

“You can be too sure,” and he’s kissing you again, and he doesn’t miss the way your thighs press together, “think the problem may lie elsewhere,” and his hands drag down your sides before finding your thighs, and you gasp, as he parts them, your fingers pressing into your soft flesh, “feels very warm here, and almost irritated — it may be an infection,” he hums, as his thumbs toy with the waistband of your shorts, “I may need to get a closer look,”

“Satoru—” you whine, and pulling at your shorts now, and he’s looking up at you with lidded, lustful eyes.

“Would the patient like some help removing her clothes for the examination?” and you only can manage a nod, and he accepts it this time, pulling your shorts down, “don’t worry, I’m a medical professional, I know just what treatments are acceptable in cases such as these,” and your shorts pool around your ankles, before you’re kicking them off.

And his eyes linger on the damp, dark patch on your underwear, “oh? I see the problem,” you gasp as he presses his thumb against your puffy clit through the thin fabric, “it’s so swollen, so warm — I’m going to have to do a very thorough exam of this area,” and he’s snapping the fabric against your skin, making your squirm, “so sensitive,” he hums as he tugs down your underwear, sniffing your panties, before pocketing them, “a sample, I’ll keep it for further testing,” he winks, before he unbuttons his cuffs, rolling up the sleeves of his light blue button up.

His eyes darken as his eyes rake over your exposed cunt, “are you ready to begin?” And he waits for your nod, before his fingers part your messy folds, as his arms pin your thighs in place, “so wet, do you hear that, sweetheart?” And his finger sinks into your needy pussy, squelching, “practically swallowing me in,” he grunts, licking his lips, “gonna need to probe a little deeper,” and a second finger is joining the first, fucking you open in earnest, as he pulls another moan from your lips, “s’good for me, but still I can’t figure out what’s wrong, maybe I just need to inspect this area further,” his hands sliding your thighs over his shoulders, pressing a languid kiss to your inner thigh.

And then his lips brush against your clit, making you squirm, his tongue darting out to drag lazy circles around it. God, you were so close, “don’t be so loud, there are other patients who might hear you — they might wonder what kind of exam I’m doing,” and you’re holding back your cries, biting your bottom lip. as his fingers and tongue bully your insides, “so tight, think I need to loosen you up before the final test,”

“I’m, ngh, close—“ and his lips close over your clit, sucking hard, and that’s enough for you to fall over the edge. You’re moaning, walls twitching around his fingers, your thighs, as he continues to fuck you through your orgasm, lapping up every bit of your release. Your cunt twitches as you come down from your pleasure high, as you look down at him with half lidded eyes, gaze deep and dark, laced with lust as you watch him lick your release from his lips and chin.

“Such a good baby, you did so good,” he’s pressing sweet kisses to your neck and face, until he’s letting you taste yourself on his lips, swallowing your moans eagerly, “haven’t even figured out what’s wrong and look at the state you’re in now,” he tsks, as he rubs the length of your cheek with his thumb, before kissing your jaw, “we still have more work to do,” as he eases your quivering legs off his shoulders.

And he’s undoing his belt, the clink of the buckle drawing your eyes to his thighs, as he tugs down his slacks and boxers, as it slaps against your stomach. Your lips part at the sight of him, thick and long — a white head of precum, dripping from the engorged tip.

Fuck, he’s huge, and he chuckles at your expression, “Like what you see, sweetheart?” As he drags his weeping erection along your sensitive pussy, “so messy, gonna have to see what’s going on inside, I have a feeling it’s very deep,” his fingers lift one of your legs over his shoulder, “are you ready?”

And you’re nodding, “please, I need—“ and he’s parting your folds, past that delicious ring of muscle, kissing the deepest part of you with his tip, as your lips part in a groan, “Toru—“

“That’s it, s’good for me,” he’s grunting, as he pulls out only to slam back in, “best little patient, aren’t you? With your perfect princess cunt, made just for me,”

“Figure out the — ngh — the problem yet?” You tease.

He only grins, as he gives a nasty thrust of his hips, wiping all sense from your head, “Filthy case of pretty Princess cunt — PPC — and it’s a particularly bad one,” he’s slowing down to stretch out the wet squelch of your cunt, “hear that? It’s the sound of your pussy latching onto me, practically strangling my cock,” and he’s picking up speed, as he lifts your other leg over his shoulder and — fuck how is he going deeper?

“Gonna come in for all your appointments and let me fuck you, right? Gonna fill you right, you have just what you need, the perfect medicine is this dick in this cunt, and the prescription is for every day, sweetheart,” he’s pistoning in and out of you, “pretty baby keeps pulling me back in, it may be incurable,” but he’s only fucking you harder, “but I’m going to try.”

The hospital bed is certainly ruined by now, from the creaks and groans it’s giving, it’s nearly as close to breaking as you are. Just a little deeper, a little more.

“Taking me so well, such a good girl,” his cock is twitching inside you, “fuck, s’good f’me, just for me,”

“Toru, ‘m close,” and his hips are stuttering, as he groans your name.

“Cum f’me, sweetheart,” and you do — your orgasm has you gripping him tight, as he continues to fuck you through it, rough thrusts that has you moaning far too loud, “close, gonna cum—where—“

“Inside, please,” and your eyes find his, lust blown out, as your hips grind against his, “I need my medicine,”

And he only groans in reply, sinking his cock as deep as he can before cumming, his warm seed filling you up, as his hips jerk against yours once, twice, before he’s easing your legs down, to lay on top of you.

Both of your heavy pants fill the room, as his face rests nestled in your chest, his lips pressing sweet kisses to the skin, “I am definitely not helping you sanitize this room, Toru,”

He pouts, “Oh c’mon it’s half of your mess, most of your mess — you were soaking me—“

“I did you a favor by coming to help you practice conducting an intake and diagnosing a patient, I’m not cleaning up this mess too,” you sigh, as he relents, leaning up to kiss your lips.

“Well you did cum a lot I’ll give you that,” and you push his face away, but he only drags his tongue up your fingers. You flush, “you’re the worst doctor,” you grumble.

“But I’m your favorite one, after all,” he grins, easing himself out, as you gasp, watching your mixed releases leak from your cunt, “I’m the only one who can give you your medicine.”

A few hours before….

“C’mon, baby, I need to practice,” your boyfriend curled his arms around you, burying his face in your neck, trying to pull your attention from the book your nose was buried in currently, “i need to practice,”

“I don’t think practicing is what’s on your mind right now, Toru,” you roll your eyes as he presses wet kisses up your neck, “you’re being distracting,”

“You distract me just by existing,” he pouts, and you roll your eyes, “at least if I practice with you, I can do something,” and you can’t say no to him, could you?

“Fine but why can’t we practice here?” And he’s shrugging, only grinning in reply.

“I can get more into the mindset of a doctor at the clinic,” he’s holding up the key he had sweet talked out of the security guard, “it’s a chance for me to get some practical experience. No one else will be around. Just you and me. Please?”

“…fine,” you sigh, as he kisses you again, “but you’ll behave?”

“Promise,” he grins — but you knew Satoru Gojo never behaved - especially when it came to you.

✴︎ a/n: my sister's practice asking me medical questions for an intake finally came in handy.

✴︎ taglist: @mwtsxri, @buttercupmuffins, @sinnerstardoll, @ziieanna12, @capitana18girl, @musababy, @miacakess, @secretmoneybearvoid, @sincerelyyrosemary, @dazailover1900, @maybe-a-bi-witch, @mnare, @kiyoomis-side, @complexivelovely, @imjustmememe, @pandaluvr, @affendy86, @scarlet-kazuha, @peachedtv, @spooky-nanners, @runmeoverkth, @nicobicobee, @kvroshit, @superluver, @paperairplanescanfly, @professorweezy, @i-literally-cant-with-this, @sachirobabe, @aothotties, @naughteehee, @ohphi, @roanryan16, @happyface002, @starrylibras, @sxatorugojoswife, @unamilanesa, @lycheeclare, @oreo-bozado, @yeehawslap, @hidanleftoe, @reaperxdeath

#sab [mlist]#satoru gojo x reader #satoru gojo fanfiction #satoru gojo smut #jjk smut #jjk x resder #jujutsu kaisen smut #jujutsu kaisen fanfiction #satoru gojo x you #gojo smut #gojo satoru x reader #gojo x reader #gojo satoru smut #gojo satoru fanfiction

5K notes · View notes

gyuwoncheol · 4 months

Text

Vantage Point | Chapter 6

Status: Ongoing

Pair: Mingyu x f.reader

Genre: College au. BFFs to FWB trope. Fluff, Humor, Angst, Smut [chapters with smut will be indicated and will contain the necessary warnings]

Summary: Pulling off the “No Strings Attached” arrangement with his best-friend-turned-best-friend-with-benefits was easy, but when a new condition is added onto the mix, Mingyu didn’t realise just how much he held onto you when you finally let go.

Chapter Warnings: SMUT. 18+ only (MDNI) piv sex, mentions of oral (f. receiving), biting and marking, kinda rough Mingyu, use of nicknames (princess), allusions to overstimulation and subspace. Not thoroughly proofread.

WC: 1.3k

Author’s Note: Yes, that’s two smut chapters in a row. You’re welcome 😘

Series Masterlist

Prev | Next

Back to the present time. This occurs immediately right after Chapter One. Italicized words in gray below are from the end of Chapter 1.

Mingyu chuckles, “and still no strings attached?”

“Definitely no strings attached,” you confirm with both your palms pressed on his pecks.

“Good,” Mingyu grins from ear to ear, “so can I fuck you dumb now?”

“WHAT?!”

You can’t quite narrate the events of the last several minutes, all you know is your best friend is pulling your 3rd orgasm out of you with his mouth alone.

“Gyuuuu….” You squeeze your legs shut and try to yank him out from between your thighs, the overstimulation beginning to make itself felt. Thankfully, the pussy drunk man below you comes up for air with a shit eating grin plastered on his face.

“You’re actually going to be the death of me today,” you deadpan.

Mingyu shrugs, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, “Well, I did ask if I could fuck you dumb.”

“And yet, you still haven’t fucked me,” a dramatic sigh leaves your lips which only causes your best friend to grin with pride.

“It’s called prepping you. It’s only gonna be your second time and the last was a week ago, if I don’t prep you, I might break you.”

“Then break me,” you challenge with your chin jutted out, “Can take it, Gyu.”

“Look at you,” Mingyu scoffs, “already so desperate for sex.” He reaches for his hardened cock and pumps it a few times against your pussy, making sure the head was brushing by your clit with each movement.

You voluntarily open your legs, clutching the back of your thighs only to hook your ankles behind your best friend’s muscular back. Mingyu can’t quite believe the sight of you just offering yourself up before him, mouth agape and eyes already half lidded.

“Fuck, you’re gonna be the death of me,” he returns the sentiment before guiding his tip into your entrance, “f-fuck! You’re j-just so.. f-fucking tight!” You both hiss at the intrusion and you’re doing your best to relax, desperately wanting to take the whole of Mingyu.

“Sh- shit, princess, cmon be good for me,” he prods, lips diving in to your chest to leave marks by your breasts. You’re letting out continuous whines and little gasps with every inch that Mingyu stuffs in you. The stretch is still unbelievable to you but thankfully the time it takes from pain to pleasure is much shorter than the last. Soon enough, you’re begging Mingyu to move.

“Fuck, missed your tight pussy,” your best friend murmurs as his pace quickens. You feel his large hands snake down your body, one squeezing your ass while the other fondles with your clit.

“oh! Oh my g-god!” You buck your hips at the added sensation, the coil in your stomach tightening in no time.

Mingyu braces himself, caging you in between his large biceps and you draw him closer to you, mouth latching on right below his collar bone to leave a shameless lovebite. Your cunt clenches when you hear your best friend moan loudly and it hits you just how much you enjoy how you can make Mingyu produce that sound. In fact, you enjoy it so much that your hips start to grind up on him, meeting him at his pace.

You leave another mark on Mingyu’s golden skin, except this time, the little devil in you was courageous enough to house it higher on his neck and in no time, your best friend was again moaning at the sensation. Mingyu simply basked in the feeling of how your your lips simultaneously sucked on his skin while your pussy sucked in his cock, it’s literally a surprise you haven’t had prior practice

Your name is moaned out from the golden boy’s mouth and that breaks the coil in your stomach so fast that you didn’t even have time to announce it.

“GYU! AH!” You yell when he doesn’t stop. You’re literally still dealing with the waves of your orgasm when his arm hooks beneath your leg and flips you like a coin.

In reality, his cock slipped out of your sobbing cunt when he put you on all fours but he inserted his painfully hard cock back inside so fast that you didn’t even realize he was gone in the first place.

“You’ll feel me deeper this way, princess,” Mingyu raps out when he sees you squirm.

There’s no time to process anything because Mingyu’s already pounding into you relentlessly. It takes you by surprise but you can’t complain because truly, he’s hitting you right in spots you didn’t know existed and your eyes are rolling to the back of your head.

Only incoherent sounds and whines come out of you as Mingyu bruises your hip with a vice grip. This new side of aggression is new to you and it’s honestly turning you on so much more.

“Gyu, please more! Fuck ‘m so full”

“Like that huh? Like when I toss you around? Ah! Such a tight pussy all f’me,” your best friend prods as he squeezes one of your boob.

Your arms give way and you let yourself faceplant on your bed. Yet with your back more arched now, Mingyu drills straight into your magical spot and you cry out loud in euphoria.

“I’m gonna cum! M’gonna cum!” You sob when Mingyu’s pace shows no mercy. He reaches over your clit with full intention to toy with it but the moment you feel the rough pad of his fingers hover over your sensitive nub, your 5th orgasm explodes within you.

The feel and sight of your shaking body drives Mingyu insane and he pulls you flush against him, burying his cock so deep, you think you feel him in your throat. This prolongs your orgasm but it also triggers his own, thick white spurts would’ve otherwise painted your walls if it weren’t for the latex wrapped around his member.

You don’t hear any of the curse words that fly off your best friend’s mouth, not even the loud moans you so love to hear. It’sy just a perpetual ringing in your ears, a tingle all over your body, a drunken smile on your lips and a haze behind your eyes.

When Mingyu comes back from the bathroom to dispose of the wash cloth he used to clean you up, your eyes finally meet his, “Cam, if you don’t start speaking soon, I’ll be forced to rush you to the hospital. Are you okay?”

You nod as a first response and the man releases the tension on his shoulders, “you okay?”

“Hmmm.. yeah,” you hum, “you weren’t kidding when you said you’d fuck me dumb.”

“Is that a complain? I can always go gentle–“

“No!” You interrupt a little too panicked

This only makes Mingyu grin with pride, “look at you, am I turning my best friend into a sex addict?”

You roll your eyes hard, hitting him on the arm and swinging your legs out of the bed fully intent to go to the bathroom. Except you simply wince in pain as your muscles ache.

“Hey,” Mingyu is quick to support you with a hand on your back, “are you sure you’re okay?” he asks worried, he wasn’t quite sure how to explain to a doctor that he literally broke you during sex.

“Yeah, Gyu. I’m fine. My muscles are just sore. I’m not exactly used to getting bent over and cumming five times in a row,” you explain as you take slow steps to your bathroom

“Well, maybe…” he starts, tired of your slow pace and instead lifting you off the ground and carrying you straight into your destination and settling you on top of the toilet seat, “we should get you used then?” He wiggles his brows as a boyish smile reappears on his face, one you knew all too well.

“And how do you suggest we do that?”

“Shower sex,” he shrugs like it was the most sensible answer to your question.

You roll your eyes for the nth time that night, “and you call me the sex addict…”

Prev | Next

Taglist: If you want to be tagged in succeeding parts, leave me an ask or reply to the series masterlist!

@wongyuseokie @strawberryya @idyllic-ghost @septemberskies @ladyblablabla @anthropologymajorkpopmultistan @christinewithluv @everyone-em @phenomenalgirl9 @itza-meee @myghobi @carlesscat-thinklogic23 @doubleshoticedshakenespresso @writingbarnes @darijiwagra @gyuguys @multi-kpop-fanfics @whoa-jo @keeboismine @gaslysainz @effielumiere

#Vantage Point #Snap Shoot Universe #paula writes✨#paula writes smut #svthub #svt #seventeen #mingyu fic #mingyu smau #mingyu smut #mingyu x oc #svt fic #svt smau #svt smut #svt x oc

149 notes · View notes

nebbyy · 1 month

Text

Lester Papadopoulos/Apollo x reader - It's Over, isn't It?

A/N: okay so a few weeks ago I was listening to the song “It’s Over isn’t it” form the Steven Universe series and this scenario came to my mind, so I thought I’d just make it a fic! For this piece I didn’t see a point in assigning a gender to the reader, so we go with gender neutral all the way😎😎(neither your godly parent is specified since it doesn’t really add anything to the plot, so you can choose whichever you prefer)

PART TWO IS HERE

Warning: insecurity, jealousy, angst (WITH comfort tho), mentions of suggestive activities

Word count: 3209

You kinda hate yourself right now, and you hate yourself because you are so angry right now.

Well maybe angry is an exaggeration, but still, you’re really, really upset.

And you know you should be anything but upset right now. I mean, the love of your life finally has the chance to go back to his home in the Olympus, regain his honor and his status as a god. Those were all good things that you should be ecstatic about, right?

Well, wrong.

Just thinking of it made you feel like you could throw up at any moment. Thinking about the fact that Apollo. Because, what will be of Lester, your Lester?

Your whole relationship had started because he wasn’t Apollo. He wasn’t the tall, tan, handsome and all mighty God of the Sun; he was just a normal teen, whose only things that made him stick out were his acne, his clumsiness and a somewhat nice voice. His mortal condition didn’t even give him a single chance to act in his usual exaggerated, narcissistic self. He had to start off from the start, build a personality that wasn’t based on his godly qualities, but on something more real.

And in that situation he found himself in, with his new eyes he had seen you, and you truly seemed like a deity to him.

How could you be anything less to the rest of the world, he thought. You were your godly parent’s greatest hero, you were liked and admired by most campers both because of your victories and your looks. And he spent oh so many nights fantasizing about taking you back with him in Olympus, giving you the godly status that should be rightfully yours. But hell, with the body he’d found himself in he’d barely the courage to come up to you to talk.

He told you so many times how absolutely surprised he was when he found out that you actually liked him back, even if he looked like any 17 year old loser, his actual words. And you remembered too, how his voice was so shaky as he tried to muster up a coherent sentence, how his cheeks shone a bright red, how his hands were trembling as you took them into yours and his palms sweating. But in your mind, that was more beautiful than any sonnet, any haiku, any poem, any grandiose, Apollo-like gesture. Because that was Lester, not Apollo; and in your eyes, Lester’s awkwardness was what made him stand out, because it was purely genuine.

Now ever so often you wonder, if he used to feel like you’re feeling right now, like you’re no match to the person you love. You look at your reflection in the mirror of the bathroom, and the mean joke that played your mind made you highlight all the flaws you could spot in yourself. All things that a god could never accept in their lover. You feel so wrong, so flawed that you just wish you could turn yourself into mud and reform your appearance completely.

Gods, you’re being ridiculous right now, you think, you just want to slap yourself in the face and yell at your reflection to get a grip goddamnit! You’re one of the greatest heroes of your time, you survived two wars, you can’t possibly draw the line at a failed relationship with a god.

At one point someone might think: but why are you so opposed to the idea that your boyfriend is finally becoming a god once again? How ungrateful can you be??

But the point is, you know damn well that the whole point of the creation of Lester was forcing Apollo into a form that would’ve been the total opposite of who he is.

Because Apollo is naturally flirty and superficial, he loves to love and be loved, and he pursues anything and everything that he finds beautiful. But he got bored easily of his love conquers, hence why he has so many kids. So in your mind, it was only natural that as soon as he was back to normality, he’d grow tired of you and move to the next mortal that piqued his interest, maybe even leaving you a single parent to a new demigod.

That’s why you couldn’t stop that nagging feeling deep into your core, as you walked out of your cabin, hearing all the girls already speculating about how beautiful, handsome, shiny and dashing Apollo will be once he goes back to his form. “And who knows, maybe he’ll set his eyes on some of the friends he made in here” squealed a girl, from which cabin you did not know nor care. Her friend replied: “Yeah I mean, ain’t no way he’s gonna keep staying with the same partner forever. I mean, come on, he’s Apollo!” They both giggled like school girls, then kept gossiping about something else, but you did not care enough to keep eavesdropping their whole conversation.

You really hated yourself for being like this right now.

Of course, you know that those two girls meant no harm, it wasn’t their fault if they knew just as much as you did about Apollo’s tendencies. And about that you’re already came to terms with, but there’s something else you hate yourself for…

You stopped reaching out to him. Or even worse, you even started to avoid him.

Not also him, but your friends and siblings as well. You closed yourself off of everyone else in your life, opting to spend your free days in Camp by yourself, whether it is in your cabin, sparring or all alone in your favorite spot in the forest.

Which is exactly where you’re directed to right now, as you put your headphones in your ears, wasting no time to press play and then abuse the volume up button to muffle any sound from the outside. You walk past the two girls, past another group of guys that were training with one another, and past your friends too, who you didn’t noticed as they were calling and waving at you to join them for a quick snack, leaving them rather confused and preoccupied as it seemed that you were stuck in a trance, locked out in another dimension of your own.

You didn’t even see Lester excusing himself from the group to subtly start following you wherever you were going.

It’s a quiet place, the one in the forest, protected by a thick layer of trees and bushes that makes it hard to reach it; but it’s worth all the climbing and scratches for the beautiful sight of a clear waterfall that fell right into a circular body of water, surrounded by a rather big field of moss, so soft and fresh to lay on during the hot summer nights.

And so you did, letting yourself fall on that natural mattress, then closing your eyes to feel the light breeze on your exposed skin, and let the words of the song that’s blasting at full volume at the moment fill your ears, although you can barely focus on what they’re saying

It really seems unfair, all of this. That you thought you had fallen in love not with a god, but with a boy. Somehow forgetting that boy and god mixed in Lester, two sides of the same coin.

And maybe he forgot too, because every time the two of you were together, he suddenly couldn’t bring himself to think of the responsibilities that were waiting for him. With you, he forgot about his lost and very much missed abs and tan, he forgot about his chariot and his comfortable place in Olympus. Hell, you even made him forget about all his old lovers. It was really only you in his eyes, just as he was in yours. If only he’d ever told you all of this though…

Your mind keeps swirling in a million thoughts, until it fixates on one memory in particular.

You and him, alone on that very same spot in the forest. In a similar situation as you were now, too, with your crappy phone playing music softly in the background, as the the two of you laid together, one next to the other. You turn around to look at him briefly, only to find him already looking at you. “What, do I have something on my face or..” he just shake his head with the most lovestruck eyes you’d ever seen, batting his eyes slowly before looking at you once again, “I just really want to kiss you right now”.

Your eyes widen. His eyes widen. Did he really just say THAT?

Neither of you were sure how or why, thinking back to it, you wonder if it was his godly charm poking at the back of his head. But that didn’t matter at the time, the future in which he came back to his godly state seemed so far from you, it wasn’t even an option in your head.

Nevertheless, after the initial shock from his words, you silently answered him with a slow, almost numbed movement of the head, nodding slightly, almost scared that if you moved to fast you would’ve whisked him away, or that he could’ve changed his mind already.

But that nod was all that he needed before crashing his lips against yours, one of his hands flying to grab the side of your head, while the other stayed put on its place against the ground to keep him from falling on top of you.

The kiss was an absolute mess: teeth clashing, nose bumping against each other,... but it was perfect that way to you. You broke away from each other for a brief moment to catch your breaths, and you just look into each other’s eyes. With chests heaving, breaths mixing, you both started laughing, if only for a moment, a laugh of disbelief at what had just happened.

But that laugh didn’t last long before he moved his head closer once again, this time more slowly, more confidently. The kiss was in fact much less messy, your lips found their place against each other, the panic from before had morphed into pure butterflies in your stomach and fireworks in your eyes.

After a minute at most, you broke apart once again, but only for Lester to reposition himself on top of you in a more comfortable position. Your bodies closer than ever, you could feel everything of him….

What happened after still makes your cheeks flush red at the mere thought, but it also causes a frown to form on your face. Those times, when it was just the two of you are over. Maybe it was just a time of crisis that brought you two together, the shock from a morta perspective might have caused him to cling onto the closes person he could find. You can’t help but imagine Leste- Apollo in that moment, laying in the clouds of Olympus in a much similar scenario, maybe with a beautiful nymph or a smaller deity, or a mortal he laid his eyes on while he was on this earth-

“There you are! I should’ve known that if you’re not around you’re definitely in here.” If it were a normal, mortal voice, you wouldn’t have been able to hear it over the deafening high volume of the music blasting in you ears. But it wasn’t a mortal voice.

It was loud, it was melodic, it resonated in the air like the echo of the most beautiful of songs,…

You wouldn’t even need to turn around to know that that voice came from no other than Apollo. That’s right, he probably came back to his true form already. You can’t even imagine what a scene that would’ve been, to see the handsomely perfect god walking around Camp Half Blood, how many boys and girls had probably followed him around drooling over the sight of him.

You wish you could just stay put, coldly dismiss him and let him go for what probably is the rest of your life and his eternity. But, curiosity gets the best of you, and you can’t help but turn around tentatively, eager to see what your boyfriend really looks like.

Your mouth quite literally hits the floor at the sight. Don’t get me wrong, you’ve always found Lester really attractive, but this.

This was something beyond the concept of handsome or beautiful.

This, him, was beyond what humans can perceive and comprehend.

Yes, you knew that his skin was tanned, but as he stood in front of you it seemed as if his body was made of bronze.

And yes, you also knew that his hair was blonde, but that didn’t make them justice. They flew, like rays of sun through a clouded sky.

Of his eyes you knew nothing about, but you were pretty sure at this point that no description could really depict just how deep, bright, captivating, alluring, even, they really were.

Your mouth quite literally hit the floor at the sight. Don’t get me wrong, you’ve always found Lester really attractive, but this.

This was something beyond the concept of handsome or beautiful.

This, him, was beyond what humans can perceive and comprehend.

Yes, you knew that his skin was tanned, but as he stood in front of you it seemed as if his body was made of bronze.

And yes, you also knew that his hair was blonde, but that didn’t make them justice. They flew, like rays of sun through a clouded sky.

Of his eyes you knew nothing about, but you were pretty sure at this point that no description could really depict just how deep, bright, captivating, alluring, even, they really were.

Your throat felt tight, your mouth dry, and your whole body gives you this tingly sensation. With all of your strength, you took a deep breath to try and calm yourself down, before mustering all of your strength to speak without a pathetic shaky voice. “I thought you were going back as soon as you got your body back.“

“Ain’t no way that I wasn’t coming to kiss my beautiful partner goodbye.” He grinned as he swiftly took a seat right by your side, propping himself on his elbow, his eyes never once leaving yours. You swore his smile was intoxicating, you’d say contagious even if the thought that this might’ve been your last moments together didn’t fill your mind with sorrow.

You wanted to protect yourself from this, detach your mind and heart from him before he does it first, leaving you with an aching heart and moving on with his eternal life.

You felt a hand come up to your cheek, holding it softly as the sweetest melody came from his lips, “I’m gonna miss you madly once I’m back there, you know?” At that, you can’t help the deep anger that fills you from inside, a feeling that expresses through icy, stinging words, as you turned your head away from his touch, “I’m sure you’ll move on in no time.”

He frowned. That wasn’t the reaction he expected from you at all, but he didn’t really take it personally, it was so obvious that there was something troubling you. “What do you mean?”

“I mean…” your voice is louder, a mixture of frustration and anger. But also so much sadness, that can be felt by just how strained the sound that came from your throat is, almost as if you were fighting back tears. You swallow hard, trying to recollect yourself, “I mean that you are a God, I am just a mortal. One of many. I’ve got nothing special to be remembered for, to be remembered by you for the rest of eternity. And Im okay with it, really. Our destinies were never meant to combine, I was just another one of your lovers.” As you spoke those last words you couldn’t help but let the tears flow from your eyes, those who always looked at Lester with a mix of love and mischief, now only filled with a never ending sadness.

Slowly, as to avoid scaring you off, the renewed god took your wet face in his warm hands, pulling you closer and wiping your tears off at the same time. Gently, he spoke: “My love, you couldn’t have said anything more wrong. You are special to me, and I could never forget you. In thousands of years that I’ve existed, no one had ever treated like you did, like I wasn’t a god. Sure, it was temporary and you knew I could’ve incinerated you as soon as I got back to… this.” He looked down, gesturing at his body, a sight for sore eyes that could’ve really made you unfocus on anything were you not so taken by your talk with Apollo at the moment. “But that didn’t stop you from treating me like we were equal. And I hated it, at first. I thought it would be part of my punishment. But as time passed, I realized that being your equal was the highest of honors I could ever get. You’re… you’re crazy strong, incredibly smart, unbelievably beautiful, way too kind for your own good, especially with those brats of the kids in this Camp.”

You giggled at his words, a consistent contrast with your tearful eyes and quiet sobs, “Some of those brats are your children too, genius.” “Well then it must run in the family.” You laughed again while shaking your head, but only for a moment before returning your full attention on the boy in front of you. He took the sign to continue.

“What I’m trying to say is, I don’t think I could ever be able to let you go. Over all the lovers I had through the years, which I’m sure you know are many, you’re the only one that saw me and treated me with true love and care. Not with fearful devotion, never fearing what I was capable of. I only ever saw this kind of love in Sally Jackson, and I mocked Poseidon for letting a mortal like many treat him so casually. But now, now I get it, and to be honest I can’t help but think that you’d deserve to be called a deity far more than many others who already are. Maybe even more than me. So I refuse to ever let go of this blessing that fate has given me. And if in order to do so I have to take your soul and put it on the sky above, to rest as a star forever by my side, so be it. But trust me you’re not getting rid of me so easily.”

You crumbled like a sand castle at his words, that he spoke with the very same tone, on the very same spot when you still called him Lester, and you promised to stick by each other’s side for the time you had left, only a few months before this whole encounter. You let your head fall into his broad chest, sobbing softly as you desperately clung to him. Your tears weren’t of sadness anymore, but of relief, for you had just been given the confirmation that your lover was still yours.You spent the rest of the night there, cuddling as close to eachother as possible as you rested in peace.

The morning after, at dawn, when he had to officially go back to his daily duties, he begrudgingly got up from his place in your arms, placing butterfly kisses on your arms and neck, careful not to wake you. He left a little not right next to you, one that read:

“I had to go, didn’t want to wake your pretty face this early in the morning. Meet me here at dusk tomorrow, Forever yours, A.”

It made you smile, seeing that note as soon as you opened your eyes, almost made you forget the lack of your boyfriend next to you,… and the yelling of your friends and siblings calling for your name in the distance.

You wasted no time walking towards those voices, and when they asked you just where the hell have you been all night, you just smiled and brushed it off, but everyone noticed how your usual bright self had mysteriously came back after days of brooding.

Hours later, you were calmly eating dinner with the other campers, laughing and talking and eating seemingly decent food. You were totally clueless as to where exactly Apollo was, but you guessed he was on his chariot, on his way to let the sun set and go to your secluded spot. But little did you know, he was in neither of those places. He was actually walking up to Zeus’ throne, tall and proud as he respectfully bowed to his father. “Apollo, I see it took you no time to get used to your old life once more. I trust you have learned your lesson.”

“Indeed, father. And I came here to thank you for it all. It was… better than I expected.” Zeus lifted a brow suspiciously, eyeing his son as if trying to make out what’s in his mind just by his appearance. “Mmh I hardly believe that you only came here to thank me for your punishment.” “Heh, you’re not wrong, father. I came here to make a request.”

“Depends. What is it that you desire?”

“How do you make a demigod immortal?”

#lester papadopoulos #my fic #angst #fluff #gender neutral reader #apollo #lester papadopoulos x reader #writers on tumblr #trials of apollo #percy jackson #meg mccaffrey #pjo apollo #apollo x reader #apollo x you #the trials of apollo

111 notes · View notes

bestworstcase · 5 months

Note

I urgh, made a reblog earlier on your post about The Shallow Sea, asked a question there which you might have seen and then accidentally deleted it (oops!)

Anyway I wanted to ask do you think the fanus’s struggle for equality will be involved somehow in salem’s villian-to-hero arc? Because fanus and salem (and grimm) are just so heavily connected. She actually had a very great chance with sienna but unfortunately adam killed her.

And also if you could elaborate this salem being the god of animals thing, did she actually created fanus or it’s more about symbolic connection?

An additional note which’s just something I found very interesting. In the opening of v6, adam appears as the leader of white fang while the song goes ‘the river knows to reach the sea’. Besides the chronological order goes cinder-adam-the rest of salem’s force. (Added that rising is a salem song)

oh i. i think about salem and the faunus and grimm only a normal amount. there's more that i've written on the topic than that (among others, i have a relevant post about tyrian and his worship of salem somewhere but i cannot for the life of me find it) but tumblr, u know.

not directly faunus related but the god of choice post is salient because rwby handles divinity in a very polytheist way, and while the recent alchemy post was just for fun it does also lay out the thematically essential death/resurrection element of salem's immortality with more clarity.

(my other mythology tin hat is that salem was the original inspiration for 'the warrior in the woods') (<- tangent).

TL;DR: i think she is the literal, though possibly indirect, creator of the faunus (through her combination of human + grimm into own being; the faunus descend from this harmony of opposites in some way) and that at some point in history, she belonged to faunus civilization and the mythical figure of the 'god of animals' arose through a combination of worship of salem herself + stories she told about the brothers in relation to her transformations.

(notice that the god of animals in 'the shallow sea' resembles darkness in character, and the one in 'the judgment of faunus' resembles light, but both versions are also unrecognizable as the brothers because they interact with their chosen people in a reciprocal manner—faunus choose to be changed in both stories. where ozma uses myth to guide humans toward what his god wants them to be, salem used myth to uphold her idea of what the brothers should have been and what kind of gods deserve reverence.)

the narrative has not ever been shy about making symbolic connections between the faunus and the grimm—like, blake reveals her ears for the first time whilst gazing at and identifying herself with the beowolf trampled underfoot by human huntsmen in beacon's statue. the white fang wear grimm masks because "humans wanted to make monsters of us, so we chose to don the faces of monsters." qrow in the faunus WOR episode more or less explicitly describes faunus as in-between humans and grimm.

(<- which is not necessarily accurate because qrow's narration is chock full of obvious subconscious bias—to the point of straight up saying "honestly, it's not too hard to sympathize" with the perspectives of humans who hunted down the faunus like animals because "seeing something that looks like you and acts like you walk out of a forest and reveal a pair of fangs can be… upsetting" and in no way are we meant to take that as an objective statement; in V1 weiss is unambiguously portrayed as the one in the wrong for hating faunus on the grounds that the white fang is at war with her family's company, a reason that is a lot less shaky than "fangs are upsetting" and yet is (properly) framed as irrational and bigoted.

but qrow's perspective is meant to reveal cultural attitudes, not objective facts, and his overt placement of faunus between humans and grimm is interesting in the context of everything else the narrative does to draw a connection between faunus and grimm)

salem is "your grace" to her followers and ghira is "your grace" as the chieftain of kuo kuana, implying that salem might outright self-identify as a faunus. she wants to secure sienna khan's alliance (<- a genuine activist) and drops adam (<- a terrorist) like a hot potato after he murders her, she explicitly has no plans to attack menagerie, and menagerie doesn't… seem to have a grimm problem… like at all. zero grimm attacks in kuo kuana across two volumes there and not a single character in menagerie mentions them as a problem.

so rwby is not exactly being subtle.

generally, i do not think the heavy emphasis put on the white fang arc was solely being overambitious about doing a Racism Subplot; i don't think it's coincidental that the narrative completed the white fang arc and then immediately launched the "salem backstory" arc with the lost fable. the white fang arc sets up for the lost fable and salem's arc is inextricable from the faunus-persecution narrative because she, in every way that matters, IS a faunus herself.

and i think that is very much going to eventuate in V10+ yeah. it's already beginning to—the affirmation of jabber's personhood and overt sympathy afforded to neo and the cat, in tandem with blake's arc in V9 being toward vocally embracing and taking pride in being a faunus as the culmination of her journey out of shame in V1-6 and quiet figuring-herself-out in V7-8, points strongly in that direction.

25 notes · View notes

hollowistheworld · 9 months

Text

Flies

Day 2 of IBWeek 2023, hosted by @the-bureaucracts-are-everything

Also on AO3

They’re admiring Gabriel’s statue again, and that’s how Beelzebub knows they’re absolutely fucked. It shouldn’t have been endearing, watching Gabriel stare lovingly at a statue of himself. But unfortunately for Beelzebub, Gabriel was no longer capable of doing anything that wasn’t endearing. Everything was their song miracled onto the jukebox, Gabriel buying them human consumables so they wouldn’t draw too much attention, Gabriel letting his gifted fly out of its matchbox just to smile at it and listen to the buzz of its wings.

Beelzebub had decided they didn’t care about the fraternizing, didn’t even care about pretending to come up for a reason for it, but this… They looked up at Gabriel’s statue, at the massive cross, the memories of the days of robes and ceremonies.

“How were we both more and less formal back then?” Beelzebub asks.

"Hmm? Oh. I…”

And Beelzebub misses the next bit of Gabriel’s blustering, because they’d looked over just in time to see Gabriel look up at the statue - meaning he hadn’t been looking at it all along. It had looked, instead, for just a moment, like he’d been looking at Beelzebub.

And Beelzebub isn’t quite ready to think about all the implications of that, so they tune back in just in time to catch Gabriel saying, “I don’t miss the robes though. Suits suit me far better.” He chuckles and repeats, “Suits suit me better. That’s good. Didn’t even mean to.”

Beelzebub, with barely any attempt at restraint, smiles. He is funny. Not that obnoxious excuse for funny that one usually gets with angels, where they pretend they don’t realize they’re rubbing the Fall in their demonic audience’s faces. Actually funny. And genuine.

And… sweet. Gabriel is sweet, which would have been an unimaginable description of him a few years ago. But back then Gabriel had been more of an idea than another living being. Just Beelzebub’s counterpart Upstairs, the one they’d butted heads against a few times over the millennia, the one they'd be squaring off against once the War finally got rolling.

Now Beelzebub would rather take a massive demotion and spend the rest of their eternal existence in the worst of Hell’s pits than play that particular story out.

Because they’re fucked. Because they’re standing here in a graveyard, looking at a statue of the Supreme Archangel Gabriel while standing next to the actual Supreme Archangel Gabriel, because there’s nowhere else they’d rather be than wherever Gabriel feels like being. Fuck that, there’s nowhere else they even like being anymore.

“Are there any statues of you out there?” Gabriel asks.

Beelzebub shrugs, and makes an effort to not preen too obviously at being asked. “None that bear such a good likeness. Mortals like to emphasize the horns and scales and things when they make representations of demons. They are meant to be afraid of us after all.”

Gabriel looks down at them with a sort of frown. He has an odd way of frowning, Beelzebub has noticed, as though he’s trying to convince you he’s smiling at the same time. Probably wasn’t really allowed to frown in Heaven, same as you could never look too happy in Hell. “Right,” he says. “Demonic attributes. You have more than just the flies?”

…Right. They’ve only ever met up on Earth, where boils on the skin or rotting teeth might cause a panic. “Plenty more. I’m the Grand Duke of Hell. I can’t look mortal. We aren’t like you lot, where we can brag about being made in God’s image.” They sneer a little, but with far less bite than there’d been the first few times they’d had conversations like this. It all feels so natural now. They're not so different, at the end of it all. Not in ways that matter.

Gabriel turns his back on his statue. “May I see?”

Beelzebub stares at him. “…Why?”

“That’s what you really look like, isn’t it? I’d like to see your real face.”

They’re doing it again. Taking a step they aren’t supposed to, heading toward another place they won’t be able to come back from. The first had been when they’d simply agreed they’d meet again soon, no pretext provided, and the steps have been coming faster and faster ever since. This is the most dangerous thing Beelzebub has done since the original rebellion, all those thousands of years ago. But unlike then, when Beelzebub had looked up at God’s place above them and braced themself for the brutal consequences they knew were coming, there’s no real fear. Just the awareness that they’re about to do something just as reckless and dangerous as the Fall had been.

Beelzebub is pretty sure this fall is going to be worth it.

They’re still caught off guard every time they move closer to it though. This isn’t what demons do. This isn’t what angels do. But when Crowley and his angel had canceled Armageddon, they’d messed up a lot more than just the Great Plan.

It occurs to Beelzebub they may have to come up with some reason to cut Crowley loose and take him off hell’s shit list. They have enough decency to at least recognize when they owe someone, and it would seem they owe Crowley a lot.

“Alright,” Beelzebub agrees, and Gabriel smiles.

It’s been a long time since they’ve been on Earth without disguises. Humans aren’t so easy to terrorize or impress as they used to be, and even Hell’s Grand Duke has to deal with an obnoxious amount of paperwork to get a new body if the old one gets burned at the stake or stoned to death. Beelzebub takes off their hat and twists their neck, stretches their shoulders, feels the pop in the back of their ribs. Their flies begin to buzz. They can see when the noise reaches the world - Gabriel tips his head and smiles wider.

The night grows a little darker, the air thicker. Beelzebub feels their skin shift and snap, the left side of their mouth pulling up, their teeth sharpening and elongating and filling up their mouth. Flies crawl over their tongue and out of their mouth, burst out of freshly formed pustules on their skin.

And then they’re fully demonic; surrounded by flies, their skin rotting off in patches, boils sprawling across their face. They’ve even exposed their wings - a rare thing to bother with, but if they’re showing off, they’re going to do it all the way.

Beelzebub’s wings have changed over the years, no longer the soft feathers God had once given them all. Now they’re stretched thin, transparent, like feathers made of fly wings. Beelzebub unfurls them, lets them catch the light Gabriel summoned and throw twisted shadows on the surrounding tombstones.

This is one of those things a demon shouldn’t be doing. It’s been a good few centuries since you could just wander around with all the evidence of your crimes against God on your face for anyone to see. They put regulations in for this. To intentionally not pass yourself off as a human was to declare yourself to have bad intentions, and that meant any nearby angels had free reign to slam down with all the holy power they could muster.

And here’s Lord Beelzebub themself, in front of Supreme Archangel Gabriel, making sure there’s no question about exactly what they are. And not only is there no fear, Beelzebub doesn’t even feel the need to be challenging about it. They feel no need to brace themself, to meet Gabriel’s eyes and dare him to turn away in disgust.

And Gabriel doesn’t. His eyes are glowing violet and his own wings blur into existence, and the two of them are spotlighted, their wings catching and throwing the light at each other. The rest of Earth seems to have disappeared and it’s just them now, in all of existence.

Gabriel reaches out one hand and flies swirl around his wrist as he cups his palm against Beelzebub’s cheek, his thumb running gently along a patch of rot. “You’re stunning,” he says softly.

And it isn’t… Beelzebub has never been insecure about their appearance. They’re intimidating and horrifying and know how to put on a disguise (which is more than can be said for at least half of their people) and that’s what being a demon is all about. They’re proud, if anything. And they certainly aren’t wondering about humans or angels finding them attractive.

But once, a long, long time ago, Beelzebub was an angel. They had once crowded at God’s feet and shouted with delight as the universe formed around them. That had been stunning. Beings who had been present at the birth of everything didn’t use words like stunning and awe-inspiring lightly.

They lean into Gabriel’s touch, feeling a smile on their mouth they hadn’t thought about making. It’s like a small miracle in its own right, how often that happens around Gabriel. As though a smile is the expression that belongs on their face, not a snarl or the slack-jaw of boredom.

“You’re rather nice on the eyes yourself,” Beelzebub returns. “I like purple.”

Gabriel’s smile gets a little smugger and Beelzebub laughs. Gabriel’s free hand falls to their shoulder and his fingers slip into the tangle of their hair. “Your laugh is the most beautiful sound in the universe,” he says.

Beelzebub remembers the singing of the morning stars, remembers how lovely God’s voice had sounded, back in the beginning, before everything had gone - quite literally - to Hell. Remembers sounds so beautiful you could cry at the way they filled you up.

And not one of those sounds compares to Gabriel’s voice right now. “I could stay like this for eternity,” Beelzebub says, voice quiet, carried up by the buzzing of their flies.

“Me too,” Gabriel replies, and he bends forward, touching their foreheads together.

It isn’t eternity, in the end, because they don’t have that luxury. It isn’t even hours, because these meetings are crowded into their already busy schedules, around complaints and demands and paperwork and battles that just don’t feel worth fighting any longer. They drop their disguises back into place and the night feels grayer for it. They squeeze each other’s hands and hold on longer than is necessary, even as they pull away.

“See you soon,” Gabriel says, stepping away like it pains him.

“As soon as possible,” Beelzebub returns.

It won’t be soon enough. It never is anymore.

#IBweek2023 #ineffable bureaucracy #gabriel x beelzebub #beelzebub #good omens #good omens gabriel #my writing

32 notes · View notes

i-would-get-in-the-water-naked · 5 months

Text

Athena character design and headcanons

the quality is shit I know, I'm sorry :((

(ART BY ME)

istg if Tumblr fucks up again I will throw my PC out of the window.

anyway.

Headcanons

She's an outsider among the other Gods. They tend to underestimate her, sometimes even humiliate her, especially the men - because she's strong, smart, beautiful, and a woman. They feel like she threatens their status.

Ares is her younger brother (they're just a few years apart, which doesn't really matter now that they're adults because Gods age differently and slower than humans). They cannot stand each other. Ares hates the fact that one of Athena's purposes is being responsible for the fairness of wars - because he feels controlled by her.

Speaking of which, Ares often annoys her in any way he can think of. Athena hates that and it often ends up in her beating Ares' ass.

One more thing about Athena and Ares' relationship: they actually care about each other very much but won't admit it to anyone - not even themselves. They might piss each other off, but they'd never EVER hurt each other. They fight a lot but they make sure blood never gets involved.

The only person who has ever shown her any open support was Poseidon. They spent a lot of time together when Athena was young, he trained her in the skill of fighting, which is one of the reasons she's so good at it.

In the modern-day world, you could say she most definitely is on the autism spectrum. She doesn't understand emotion, hers, or others. The concept of love - both romantic and physical - just doesn't make sense to her (mostly because nobody has ever shown her any).

She probably thinks she's aroace in the way "I don't need love or sex" but if someone hugged her and told her they love her, she would either giggle and kick her feet or cry. Depends on the situation.

She hardly ever cries. She bottles up her emotions because she has always been told nobody cared. She overall is very calm and collected until something or someone hurts her pride and/or ego - which she uses as a defense mechanism because she figured that others don't like her because she's better than them.

She has white owl-like wings which she keeps hidden with a spell inside of the two scars she has on her back - she got the wings in a very painful process and they are very sensitive. She can also turn into an owl and she sometimes does it just to avoid talking to people.

Oh, and she LOVES birds. Like. In her chamber in the Olympus palace, she has a whole collection of sketchbooks which she used to draw birds into when she was little. Whenever she finds out any fact about one of the birds she has drawn, she finds the page it's on and writes the fact down next to it.

She's probably panromantic? But she has never gotten the opportunity to find out (and me neither so I don't have any idea what sexuality to give her).

#athena is indeed badass in the arena #finally tumblr let me post this thank you very much #i hope you enjoy #athena character design #character design #headcanons #headcanon design #epic: the fanfic #epic: the musical

11 notes · View notes

yatorihell · 5 months

Text

Noragami Reread Volume 14-17

Heaven arc in full swing and a lot of foreshadowing

Vol 14

'The world he sent her back to' final chapter line?????

Yato reaction to not knowing Hiyori's birthday, it's probably not something that would cross his mind since birth isn't a thing in his world

We never actually see what Yato does for her birthday party????

Kazuma forshadowing his betrayal to Yukine

Ebisu could've just called Kunimi when he got lost lol not a single thought in that head

Bishamon refusing to release Tsuguha is so stupid it's the only way to save her

'If I could just stay with Hiyori and Yukine that would be fine by me' hnnnn

God's exist for people vs Yato saving Hiyori at his own expense

People can only be truly saved by other people vs hospital arc vs recent chapter I hate this manga

Yukine sending Hiyori letters and Yato eating them

Just a fun little chapter, bit of Kazubisha and finding out the artist is actually Hiyori's brother at the end

Yato showing up to Masaomi and bynpinf into Hiyori after avoiding her for 2 months

'Just friends?' Yato what did you expect

For grandma Iki it's on sight she knows bad vibes when she sees them

Wonder if the Iki family can be like Father's lifeline for Yato

'Even one so immaculate and become bewitched by evil' Yukine downfall forshadowing

Grandma Iki asking will you protect my grandchildren vs recent chapter I hate life

'You've been my god of fortune for a long time' I'm so sad Adachitoka you make me so sad

Nora warning Yukine about Kazuma lol

Tsuguha breaking and that whole aftermath was... yeah

Saku suppressed his names with a spell but he's still out if it tbh

Kazuma be like lol I might be indebted to Yato but I'll still betray you

Vol 15

Time for Heaven arc

Yukine tells them Kazuma has betrayed them

Bishamon crying over surviving her shinki like babe she could've survived too if you released her

8 millions gods? Stop breeding

'I exist only for Viinas sake' get you a man who loves you this much

Yukine starting to have dreams about his past hnnnnnn

It must've been a ballache to draw the robes in heavens arc rip Adachitoka

It was a different shinki who got Ebisu, I wonder what form they take

Yato unsure of joining Heaven after Ebisu's death

Yato talks of defying heaven lol not foreshadowing at all

Then immediately asskissing to keep his god status

'I'd rather be a piece of shit' you are <3

Yato and Hiyori encouraging reconciliation between Yukine and Kazuma

Yato inviting Hiyori to heavens party

Tenjin didn't choose human guidepost because he knows they can betray you

Bishamon pissed Kazuma used resound on Yukine

Where's Suzuha's grave hmm I guess the cherry tree is it tbf since they visit it

Wish we saw more Bishamon and Hiyori

Yato as an obvious wolf in sheep's clothing

'To be blessed is to be buried' Yukine took it seriously

Foreshadowing of a god possessing a hafuri going rogue

I think this was the first chapter that released once I caught up with the manga

Everyone's so cute in their formal gowns, I like how Yukine's is blue and Hiyori's is probably red

Takemika being a little bitch to Ebisu

Popularity contest of the Gods and Stationmaster Tama appearing was such a nice touch

Matchmaking ceremony

Yato face when Kofuku says Hiyori's soulmate hsnbd

Yama is with her soulmate already that's cute

Hiyori literally watching her future being decided for her

It's so funny that all the soulmates are just like Yato

Oh Kofuku why did you tie it do you know what happened I'm so sad

Kiun vs Yukine

Hafuri sealed away foreshadowing

Takemika fight foreshadowing

Obtaining a hafuri requires an enemy which is why Takemika is so eager for a chance to fight

Bishamon gone missing and then it's like 2 years of stress

Hiyori wondering what it means that Kofuku tied thier plaques hhaaaaaa

Emishi bear god is so cute he won't kill you

Adachitoka working native gods in and their subdued nature with heaven, being happy to just live on their own land, being cultivated from reincarnation to make sure they don't defy again

After everything when asked his nature Yato still thinks of why he was born

Hafuri mono lore

Oh Kiun is so small circling Takemika in his little dragon form

Takemika needs to fuck off a bit no wonder you don't have a hafuri with that attitude

Yes Takemika you are pathetic whining for a hafuri

Oh no he's getting horny just thinking about getting a hafuri

Bishamon promising Heavens head to the hafuri

Marilyn Monroe moment for Bishamon I really love that dress

Shikki is such a look, our Batmon

Vol 16

Once again the serve on this outfit? Deadly

One year since they all met and it's Yukine's birthday (I'm ignoring what's about to happen)

Hiyori prayer to all be friends again hnn

Bishamon knowing how to track the Sorcerer from eye contact

Quick Father flashback, it's funnier knowing that he caused her death by driving her away

Heaven shows up so quick compared to the final arc lol

High treason declared against Bishamon

Ebisu trying to veto the subjugation order

Kofuku dead

Wonder what the other 7 unpardonable crimes are

Nora playing up to yukine to make sure Bishamon dies

Why did they change my balls are tingling

Ysto soft spot for Bishamon

Yukine having 50 aneurysms about yato revealing himself

Yatobisha dreams crushed they don't want a happing ending together

Yato can't reincarnate? Father stop gaslighting

Hiyori coming in with the steel chair on Father go girl

This is the most battle intensive we've been since like yomi

Hiyori showing up and fixing Yato's arm

Yato not abandoning Bishamon and wanting to live her innocence

Yukine crying because he wants to keep Yato safe

Vol 17

Kazuma offering to take Bishamon’s place for execution

Yato really is such a good fighter

'You aren't capable of truly loving people' Kazuma is self aware Bishamon doesn't feel that way (or does she)

'I will see him again' oh we didn't believe this for so long it took like 7 years

'He'll realise that he can't save anyone' vs recent chapter

Child Bishamon being punished by Father

Kazuma spell to help Yato and he's not even made up with Yukine yet

Bishamon god of calamity image

The Reveal that Nora knew her past already had us so shook

Nana past revealed and she was able to overcome it gave us so much hope for Yukine

Kazuma really thinks highly of himself lol of course they don't want a shinki to die instead of the traitor

Takemika being banned from lightning ad a child because of his nature

Mad how Takemika died from like a thousands cuts since the shinki slashed him to death along with the ayakashi

Takemika hiding his lightning and Kiun does it for him, they're such a good match

Yato Sekki bondage

Kiun puts himself in harm to make Takemika act and it works (not instantly)

Oh go crazy Takemika

What a form Takemika let him be a dragon

Yato shielding Sekki from the lightning because he's breaking a little

Once again the art is insane this entire arc

'I can't let Yato die no matter what' vs recent chapter

DO YOU THINK I'LL LET YOU TAKE HIM FROM ME

I WILL DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO PROTECT YOU

Kazuma is such a psycho I want one

Damn kazuma stayed in human form for 5 years never being called

Bishamon asking for a pet name

Kiun stuck on the shinki are objects for the god narrative

Takemika got that female rage go girl

God remember when he cut Yato's neck and we freaked this actually reminds me of Yato and father

'But mine will always be on my side'

That line up of Yukine's eyes with Yato's face

Splitting the dragon in half

Kiun bowing and allowing Takemika to be who he is

11 notes · View notes

darkdevasofdestruction · 11 months

Text

Chapter 9 ~ Witch's House

"I found it, father!" Atreus whisper-yelled, kneeling as he took out his bow. The two adults hurried to his location. Kratos placed his hand on his shoulder to calm him down.

"Shoot when you're ready." he grumbled carefully. "Remember - Draw to your chest. A wild boar's hide is thick." the boy did as instructed and aimed flawlessly, only for the arrow to ricochet from its skin. "That was very good, Atreus!" the woman praised him. "But... I hit it, didn't I?" the boy was so confused, poor dear. "I did what you said and it looked like it bounced off. Could... The boar be magical?" "What do you think?" Kratos crouched in front if his son, testing his shrewdness. "It looked weirder than any boar I've ever seen..." the boy pointed out. "Let's go get it, then!" Kat jumped to her feet and tapped his shoulder. "Tag~!" she played along, running towards the boar. "Come on, child, let's catch our meal!" "H-Hey, wait for me!" the boy's eyes widened as he hurried after her. Kratos remained behind, shaking his head at the two and making sure nothing tries to chase after them. He couldn't believe their childishness, though he shouldn't have, one was an actual child, while the other always did everything in her power to combat his own grumpiness.

Though the fog was making the God feel uneasy, he continued sprinting after the two, calling out to his son - Atreus was able to shoot the boar, only for a lady, a witch, to yell at them for almost killing her friend. By the time Kratos arrived at the two, Katrina's hands were deep inside the boar's insides, bidding the woman's instructions. It came to the God, however, to carry the victim all the way through the gorgeous forest with the carmine-red leaves, to the witch's house that was surprisingly underneath a... A giant turtle tree?

Neither of the two Olympians should be surprised any longer, nothing ever made humanly sense after all. The witch used some kind of potions and powders on the boar, before telling the boy to go outside of the house and search for some plants. After a strong warning about the lack of welcoming manners that the Norse Gods have for outsiders, the witch asked for more ingredients, and it came to the Olympian to help the boy out. Katrina couldn't help but feel absolutely appalled that, despite her magic, she couldn't heal the boar - She was capable of healing any wound, so why not a magical boar's, then? Was it a curse? Or its magical properties? She couldn't tell, but she needed to find out fast, before something bad happens to them and she becomes powerless before their woes. Still, Katrina could only wonder how could this witch discern their identities with such ease... It was almost unnerving.

After the nameless witch drew a mark on the back of their neck, to keep their Godly aura hidden from the other enemies of the same status, she opened the door to an underground passage, through which they were to traverse, battling draugr and nightmares of all kinds, yet none stood a chance when facing them. She also offered them a magically enhanced Compass, to aid their journey. The magic of this world is so different from that from home. Though Kat was exceedingly intrigued and wished to learn more, she also felt unease, being so vulnerable and ignorant in a cruel, harsh wasteland where anything could kill you, and you'd have no clue on how to retaliate.

When finally they found a small boat in the underground cave, Kratos was the rower, Atreus sat opposite of him, excited for his first adventure, while the Goddess could only gaze around, taking in the beauty of the place - It might be a simple cave, but it was nothing that she's seen before. "I just can't believe I'm here, doing all this. There was a time when I thought I'd never leave our woods." Atreus spoke, a little nostalgic. "Or even my own bed, sometimes." "You were not to blame for your sickness." Kratos reassured him quickly. "Oh, I know... I guess I'm just sayin'... This is great!" Atreus exclaimed with glee. "Little One, you've been sick?" Katrina asked, vividly remembering Calliope's sickness, so long ago. "Y-Yeah... But I'm much better now! I haven't coughed even once since we've left home - Right, Father?" Kratos grunted in approval. "You're such a strong young man, Atreus! I feel very safe, knowing I have you protecting me!" Kat giggles sweetly, stealing a glance to her partner, whose expression was set and concentrated as always. "Oh, look, Kat, the mountain! We're so close!" Atreus turned around, staring awestruck at the mountain. "Ahh, the familiar smell of salt water, how comforting!" Kat hummed, her head leaned back, a relaxed smile on her face. "Salt water?" Atreus questioned her, confused. "We flow into the sea." Katros explained. "How do you know?" Atreus blinked, even more confused. "The sea has a rather strong smell of salt. My homeland is surrounded by two seas - The Aegean and the Ionian Seas. Smelling the salty, humid air is so comforting." Kratos avoided Katrina's gaze, not wanting to be reminded by his once home. Atreus, however, scrunched his nose in disgust. "If that smell's the sea... The sea stinks." his childish, innocent comment made the Goddess start laughing. "You are so adorable, Little One!" Kratos continued to row, out of the cave, and into the open sea. "Look at that - It's Thor!" Atreus pointed towards a colossal statue in the middle of the sea, depicting a man with a hammer grasped in his right hand. "Who is Thor?" Katrina asked, unfamiliar with the Norse Pantheon. "Thor... God of Thunder." Kratos' mention of the Gods made the red head shudder softly. "That's right! I never thought you listened when mum spoke of Gods." Atreus chuckled softly. "I seldom did." Kratos noted. "Did she speak of one who could feel no pain?" what a peculiar question, Katrina thought with a soft frown, wondering if this man he was referring to might be the reason for the destroyed land she walked past previously. "Oh - That sounds like Baldr. An Aesir God. Son of Odin and Frigg." it all sounded so foreign to Katrina, that she felt a shudder of fright go down her spine. "And Odin is king." Atreus approved. So Odin was a sort of counterpart for Zeus, then? What a scary thought. "If this Odin is the King of the Gods, then I dearly hope we will never have to encounter him." Kratos grunted in agreement.

Somewhere in the middle of the Sea, a gigantic scale-clad specimen seemed to be occupying a large section of the water bed; A thing, that may as well actually be a being, dead or alive, something that not even Atreus, born and raised in the North, had no clue of. Kratos rowed towards a smaller statue, just close enough for the boy to read the yellow-painted runes. 'Sacrifice your arms to the center of the water; Awaken again the cradle of the world.' "Is... This supposed to be a riddle? As we are now, our only arms I can think of are the boat oars." Kat tilted her head in confusion. "I think we're supposed to throw our weapons into the water." Atreus spoke his supposition. "Guess that won't be a problem for you." he jokes with his father and his fantastic ability of recalling his weapon. "Are... You gonna do it?" "I can do it, if you're not feeling comfortable with parting with your weapon." the Goddess placed her hand on his arm, speaking to him in a gentle voice. Kratos grunted as he rose to his feet, freezing the axe before throwing it far, far away, into the middle of the sea. "Impressive throw." she praised him, as he extended his arm, recalling the axe... Yet it didn't seem to return. "The axe did not return." Kratos pointed out. "No, but the sea in tremoring underneath us." Kat braced herself. "I did not wish for another Atlantis trip!" the once static scale-like being came to life, revealing itself to be the World Serpent, a snake so long that it's supposed to go around the world. The water shook with its movements, propelling their boat farther away, violently. "Hang on!" Kratos exclaimed, holding the two firmly in his strong arms, until the waves stilled once more. "What IS that?" the God asked his knowledgeable child. "It's the World Serpent...!" Atreus was completely fascinated as they faced the red serpent eyes. The snake rose its head, spitting out the Leviathan axe, impaling it into their boat, as if to return it to its rightful owner; Yet now, the weapon had been upgraded, imbued with Eitr, the poison of the World Serpent itself. "Stay calm, boy!" the God cried out to his Son, standing protectively in front of the two, as the Serpent looked down at them. "I am! This is great!" the young boy was captivated by this discovery. It seemed to try to communicate, but it was definitely not a language that even the Goddess of Nature could comprehend. "It speaks?!" Kratos asked his son. "Yeah! Mum said he's friendly!" what a sweet child. "So what is he saying?" Katrina asked. "I don't know!" the boy answered, almost indignant, as he managed to step in front of his father, at the peak of the boat, getting a better view of the serpent settling down.

With this change in sea level, a ship-wreak was revealed, along with the bottom part of Thor's statue, a golden temple, and even a dock. To think that all this was hidden underneath the sea. "This is just like Atlantis all over again." Kratos turned his gaze to the Goddess, grunting in amusement. Atreus even noticed a faint half-smile on his face, something he's never witnessed before. Her long hair was glued flat on her head and body, getting in the way, while the sheer material of her grass green dress took the silhouette of her forms, as though she was a masterpiece statue. As ethereally beautiful as always. "You look like a wet cat." Atreus wasn't sure if his father's joke was funnier, the fact that he actually was capable of such a feat, or that Kat's glare was the farthest thing from intimidating. Who really was this woman, and how did she know his dad? Will he ever find out the truth?

"You know of the Serpent?" the boy was suddenly brought out of his many questions. "He's one of the Giants, and he's so big that he's wrapped around the world and bites his own tail." the boy exclaimed, happy to show his father his vast knowledge of Jormungandr. "An exaggeration." Kratos easily refuted such childish fantasy. "I dunno, it looked pretty big to me." as Kratos helped Katrina step on the dock, he took out the Compass to see what it was worth; Sure enough, the coils of the Serpent were visible. They rushed up the stairs of the Golden Temple, only to get called out by a familiar vulgar-voice; It was Brok, the blue dwarf, welcoming the trio and urging them to take some more upgrades to their armor and weapons.

"If it isn't the rose bush, the bearded-beefer and his sac-seed! Have I got something for you three!" he invited them inside. "Brok?! But how did you--" Atreus wasn't able to finish his question, for he was already cut off. "None of yer fuckin' business. Now get in here, I got somethin' for ya! And don't go makin' pig eyes at my spot... I saw it first!" Brok pushed the large door farther open, welcoming them inside. "What a peculiar specimen..." Katrina murmured under her breath, uncomfortable with his brash tone and the myriad of curse words used - Definitely something she wasn't used to. "What do you think he wants?" Atreus asked, walking ahead, not witnessing the comforting look that Kratos offered Katrina, nor the tender touch of his fingers brushing her cheek, placing a gentle kiss on top of her head. "Thank you." that beautiful soft blush coating her cheeks was enough of a thanks for him. "To test out patience." Kratos finally answered his son, urging the woman to step ahead. "When word gets out about my shop, folks'll finally come outta hiding." Brok replied, a little too cryptic for their understanding. "They'll be clawin' all over each other just to catch a whiff at my wares - You watch!" he boasted cockily as he walked behind his workshop table. "Hey, flower garden, catch!" caught off guard, Katrina squeaked adorably in surprise as she struggled to catch a beautifully glowing light blue gem stone. "Ladies love jewels, don't they, ey?" he chuckled gruffly. "The pile o' rock there -" he nodded towards the rocks behind them that started glowing light blue, just like the gem, and levitated in the air to create a wonderfully carved stone door that seemed to magically connect realms. "With that Key of Yggdrasil, you can open a magic door to the branches of the World Tree - A shortcut 'tween realms. If y'ever see 'em out in the world, use it to get back to me quick." he instructed. "But it's only one way - Straight back here and nowhere else - And whatever you do, never, never, EVER, never, ever, ever, ever, ever throw yourself over the edge of the path... Lest you want death." Katrina shuddered softly, imagining a void-like purgatory. "Yeah, I don't see us wanting that." Atreus sarcastically joked.

Before they continued their journey, Kratos and Atreus upgraded their stuff; This time, Katrina agreed to wear a golden talisman that had the carved skull of a ram engraved in stone, and its horns were made out of some red jewel, while its eyes were green - It almost looked like her, how creepy. Brok mentioned it has the chance to stun enemies you attack, and it strengthens the power of the surrounding runes, how interesting, to think such a little necklace could have such power. Though she was skeptical, she agreed to having her spear embellished and carved with these peculiar Norse runes, under the belief they might enchant it. Now, she just needs to test it out.

Before they left, Kratos looked down at the Goddess and let out a low grunt. At first, he didn't utter a single word, yet his hand rose to touch the amulet around her neck, his calloused fingers trailing over the roughly sculpted charp. "It does not suit you." he muttered. "Yes... I agree. However, the dwarf said it might be of common use... So, I suppose, there is no harm in trying it out." Katrina smiled up at him. Kratos grunted in understanding. His eyes lingered on her body, before stealing a short glance at his child. "Are you not cold?" he found himself asking. "Perhaps a little, during the harsher breeze, but there is nothing that I cannot handle, per se. Though I cannot lie, I do miss the warmth of home." she chuckled softly at him. "I will find you something proper to keep you warm." he said, gently placing his large palm over the exposed skin on her arm. "Your flesh is freezing." he said, feeling the gold bracelet as cold as her skin. "Thank you, Kratos. Ever the thoughtful. There is no rush though, I am doing fine enough as it is." he couldn't look at her tender smile, knowing the urge to embrace her and kiss her was overwhelming his heart, and he didn't want Atreus to see and misunderstand his actions.

Once their business with the blue dwarf finished, the trio went back outside, forwards toward a large golden horn covered by moss. Amusingly enough, Kratos didn't want to blow into it, under some rather amusing pretexts. Poor Atreus was right, usually, they would push every button and pull on every lever they found, until something happened, and they had to beat up a bunch of creatures. Kratos truly was getting old, if he refused something like that. Instead, he opted for pulling on a lever to reach the bottom level of the temple, where they were met with a bunch of undead monsters, full of nasty water and algae - They were going to get quickly killed and returned to the afterlife, where they belonged.

Throughout the arduous journey, Kat couldn't help but look around like a child in a wonderland, admiring and gazing awestruck not only at the gorgeous landscapes that were so different from anything they had back home, but also, the myriad of mechanisms that would offer such fantastic rewards, such as a large copper bell that had to be powerfully hit to echo a strong jingle, or even treasure chests that could be opened not by even Godly sheer force, but through finding certain runes that would light up as soon as you touched them. Different civilizations, different pantheons, and certainly, different cultures, in all ways possible. It truly was fascinating.

Throughout the looktower, they stumbled upon another shrine - A Jotun shrine, they called it, and it had depicted on it, painted with gleaming gold, the World Serpent Jormungandr, ready to bite down on the one God known as Thor, the Thunder God. Katrina shuddered softly, the mere idea of having to meet malevolent Gods again not something she fancied. Still, she focused on admiring the artstyle of the shrine, and its power to predict future events, as they said.

Across the realm, they were met with trap-like flowers that emanated poison miasma that could easily prove fatal. Thankfully, Faye had taught Kratos how to counter them, using the freezing abilities of the Leviathan's Axe. Through more adventuring around the realm, they reached the foggy foothills, where yet another dwarf, garbed in golden armor, greeted them. He was soft-spoken and polite, albeit a little frightened and timid, poor man. He couldn't blame him for being afraid of confronting someone like Kratos though.

"Hey, uhhh, excuse me... How did you come by that axe?" the dwarf stuttered lightly. "That is my concern alone." Kratos rasped, not even sparing a glance to the stranger. "And uh.... While I won't dispute that... I know that blade." the dwarf was desperately trying to keep brave. "It was one of ours, but uh, we didn't make it for you." Kat couldn't help but admire the dedication and passion that blacksmiths had, recognising each of their work with a single glance. Hephaestus was much alike, she remembered the Smith God, long before he was corrupted. "Step aside." Kratos ordered, making the dwarf flinch, yet he bravely stood his ground. "I can't. See - The woman we made this for... I was, well... I am... Quite fond of her." Kat put her hand on Kratos' biceps, squeezing it delicately, as a way to show him that he needn't be on guard. "And I would, uh... Be quite... Displeased, if it turns out that... You did something to her." "You need not worry, little sir. We mean you no harm." the Goddess gently caressed the dwarf's face, immediately calming him down. "It was my mother's." Atreus stepped forward, speaking in a sad voice. "She left it to father before she died." "Faye's dead...?" the dwarf's breath hitched in his throat, and his whole body felt lax with grief. "I'm... Very, very sorry to hear that..." the dwarf sighed, looking away from the trio. "She was a fierce warrior... And a good woman." he sighed, before turning with newfound vigor towards the travelers. "Alright. I will make improvements to the axe." "But... No one asked you to." Atreus rose a questioning eyebrow. "W-Well, it's true, but... But knowing your mother, she would have insisted I repair that act of vandalism perpetrated against her axe by my brother." Kat giggled softly at the childishness of this brotherly feud. "I knew it! You are Brok's brother!" Atreus exclaimed, hopping towards the dwarf's blacksmith tent. "The other half of the brand's here." "The blue one is your brother?" Kratos quired, his eyebrows furrowed. "Yes... Though my talents are vastly superior. No boast - Swear to Freya." Freya... Was that another God of this world? Still keeping the dwarf under a stern gaze, Kratos took out his axe and handed it to the smith. "Do not undo his work. Improve upon it only." "Yeeeeaaaahhh.... But can you put it down over there?" the dwarf asked, visibly uncomfortable and trembling. Kratos rasped a drastic negative answer. "The handle is filthy..." the dwarf sighed shakily, his eyes darting around with great anxiety. "Okay, then... I'll just... I will just..." "By the Gods..." Katrina sighed, placing her hand over her lover's. "Kratos, please. If you will not accommodate him with his clear repulsion to uncleanliness, then at least allow ME to do it. I am getting uncomfortable myself simply by looking at his poor self." It was clear that Kratos had many things to complain about, simply from that look in his dark, stern eyes, peering into the Goddess' own forest-green ones; Instead, he simply gruffed, allowing the woman to slide her hand onto the wooden handle and aid the poor dwarf. "My, this is much heavier than I expected. People of the North must truly be strong, to be able to carry about such weapons." she chuckled softly, smiling at the dwarf as she placed the axe on the workbench. As soon as he finished with the upgrading, Kratos quickly snatched the axe back into his possession. "Anything else I can help you with?" the dwarf asked. "A coat, perhaps? Or a pair of breeches? I have to say, I've never seen anyone wearing such garments before. This silk feels like water... Amazing. You aren't from around, are you?" Sindri gently felt the material of her flowy dress that hugged her body like a godly sculpture. "My home is much, much in the South. I have been travelling for so many moons, that I lost count." Katrina smiled cheerfully, remembering her home. "I see. Well, I think I have just the right thing for you!" at once, Sindri brought a cloak of leaf-green, embroidered in golden thread, and a pair of skin-tight breeches, the same colour of the bark of brown-white trees. Her outfit hadn't lost her lovely nature-like allure. "Thank you for your kindness, Sindri. I feel much warmer now, thanks to you. You have my gratitude." the Goddess smiled warmly at him, making the dwarf blush slightly and look away. "Don't mention it, don't mention it! It's the least I could do! Now off you go!" with a lazy wag of her fingers, Katrina waved the dwarf goodbye, following Katros and Atreus towards the mountain.

During a particularly tall climb up the mountain wall, Atreus jumped on his father's back, being comfortably carried. the Goddess, on the other hand, simply ran up the wall, making Kratos gruff in annoyance, remembering that fool named Hermes, who pestered him similarly, years ago. He will never get over that annoyance. "Do you think for this last leg up the mountain that maybe I can carry her?" the boy asked, while Katrina was idly dangling her feet from the edge of the mountain. "I told you, no." came his father's resolute answer. "Why?" Atreus sighed in disappointment. "She meant more to me than you anyway." "What?!" Kratos rasped immediately. "Atreus!" Katrina gasped in surprise at the child's disrespectful comment. "You do not say such words to your father!" "I-I just meant -- I spent more time with her. You were off hunting a lot." the boy tried to explain himself. "He was out so he could provide your family with the comfort of food and the necessary items of the house. Were it not for your father, it would have been your mother away. It is a father's duty to provide for the family, and a mother's to care for it. Do not be so harsh on your father. He did everything he could for you." Kratos shot the woman a quick glance, half-grateful for the explanation that he would never be able to provide, but also, rather uncomfortable. "How would you know that? You've just arrived. You couldn't know what happened, could you?" true enough, Atreus' words made Katrina keep quiet, unable to muster a relevant reply that would not give away their identity. "It would serve you to stop talking." his father intervened thankfully as he went ahead to decimate a few undeads.

An uncomfortable silence filled the air as the three kept apart from each other by at least three steps. It was Kratos who led the way, as he crouched down to raise up a fallen boulder that was blocking the door. Just as he was able to pull it away, the large gates were sprung open by a hideous monster attacking them. It immediately tried to lunge towards the child, but Kratos quickly grabbed onto its forearm, halting its movement. It seemed to be communicating in low grunts, but they were unable to understand its tongue. "Let him GO!" Atreus tried to dash forwards and aid his dad, but Katrina quickly grabbed him by the arrow quiver, pulling him backwards, just in time to evade a powerful swiping fist, which she took instead. It was one thing for a God to get thrown to the ground, and another for a child like him.

"Atreus, stand back!" Katrina called out to the boy, but just as she got up, the monster grabbed her at lightning speed, his grasp around her slender body squeezing so tight that it was difficult breathing. At the very same time, not only did the God of War shove his whole arm into the monster's gnawing mouth to protect her from harm, but Katrina, also, extended her hand towards its face, summoning her spear so that she could impale its skull. Finally, the monster was dead, on the ground. "Father!" Atreus called out quickly, pointing towards the approaching enemies. The Goddess quickly ripped away the monster's fingers from around her body and clinged onto Kratos' damaged arm. "Forgive me for getting you harmed, my love." she murmured softly, making sure the child wouldn't hear her words as she quickly healed his bleeding injuries. "It is fine." he grunted, holding his axe. "Ready yourself, boy." "Let me help out with these pests. You have injured yourself on my behalf far too much." Katrina sighed, summoning a bunch of vines from underground that latched tightly onto the undead, ripping them apart with ease. "An Ogre? Here?" Atreus was out of breath with shock at the intensity of this encounter. "Who built this place?" thankfully at least, once they passed through the large base, they reached the Mountain's Base. They were getting closer to the desired destination. "Whoa... I can see why mum wanted us to bring her here." "Indeed." Kratos gruffed, agreeing to the landscape's beauty. "Is there anything like this back at your home, Kat?" the boy asked. "No, not really. I have never seen anything quite like this. In fact, I do not recall ever seeing snow before either." the red head shivered softly at the cold breeze.

Atreus quickly went on ahead towards the bridge engulfed in a pitch black smoke, coming up from the face-like mountain wall. He seemed to try and get close to the smoke, but he was unable to. "Kat, you have magical powers, right? Think you can do something about it?" Katrina stepped forward, slowly reaching out her hand towards the blockage, only to quickly snatch her hand back with an electrifying hiss. "This curse is something that I cannot undo. Its malevolence is foreign to even me. We must find another way." she tried to look around in hopes that she could create a ladder of sorts, but she doubted, given the harsh blizzard around them, that she would be able to safely get them both across. "Then, maybe the witch? Wish she was here. I bet she could get us past this." Atreus sighed sadly. Out of nowhere, the witch's voice startled them with her presence. Was she summoned here, somehow? Creepy. "My magic is useless against the Black Breath, and there's no way around it. Odin saw to that long ago." Atreus quickly skipped to the witch, grinning widely in happiness. "What are you doing here?!" "Making sure you can finish your journey." she bent at his level, her hand squeezing his shoulder motherly. "Why wait to warn us?" Kratos asked defensively. "I was busy saving my friend, if you remember..." Kratos grunted, looking away. "The Black Breath is a corruption of magic even I can't dispel. Only the pure Light of Alfheim is strong enough to break through it, but that road is long. What does this goal mean to you?" "It's everything." Atreus replied. The witch seemed to be touched by the boy's resolve. "Follow me." Kratos grabbed her arm, seizing her with his eyes. "Why help us?" "Maybe I see more of myself in you than I'm willing to admit. Maybe..." she gulped slightly, hesitating in her truthful answer. "Maybe by helping you, I'll make up for a lifetime of mistakes." she shrugged softly, smiling at the child. "Or maybe I just like you." "Even though we shot your friend?" the witch smiled dryly. "Even though you shot my friend, yes." "Where must we go?" Kratos asked, as the trio started following her. "To a realm beyond your own." the witch replied, running off ahead. "We're going to another realm?! Are you coming with us?" Atreus asked, excited. "Only for a little while." she repeated Kratos' reply.

They came by a large contraption, which Sindri had previously talked about. Seems that he was able to finish repairing it, what a fantastic smith. The witch explained their destination was Tyr's Temple, the one previously under water, and from there, they will be able to travel to Alfheim. When the God asked about the World Serpent's whereabouts, she explained that there is no one with such knowledge, though when Thor attacked it, their battle was felt across all the realms. The fight ended in a stalemate, and though Thor returned empty-handed to Thor, they are destined to kill each other, come Ragnarok. Kat wasn't quite sure what Ragnarok was, but the witch seemed to be rather terrified of that notion.

She guided them back towards the large gates, where there was no way across. Instead, the witch was smug, and she took out her bow, firing an arrow towards a large gem glowing blue. "Ljosta!" she exclaimed, and a solid bridge of pure light spawned across. Elven architecture, she said. Her bowstring was soaked in the Light of Alfheim, and it has the ability of reawakening the magic of the Elves.

The witch was rather impressed by Atreus' knowledge of Vanir magic, from the realm of Vanaheim. He mentioned his mother telling him that the Vanir Gods are always at war with the Aesir Gods of Asgard. He said they are 'Good' Gods, compared to Odin and Thor, but are there truly any good Gods out there? "There are no good Gods, boy. I thought I taught you that." Katrina pondered over a little Kratos' reply. Gods are all selfish, yes, she often warned him of that notion - But she never did think that Gods like Hestia or Hebe were evil. She could even say that Aphrodite, Anteros, Psyche and Eros were very kind... Not that she could ever see Kratos getting over his hatred of the Gods.

Once they went past another great set of doors, they reached Tyr's Temple. The witch mentioned that, with the help of the Giants, Tyr was able to travel across all nine realms and keep the peace between them. Something must have happened to this Tyr, considering the amount of dead things overflooding the premises and destroying everything in their path. With the aid of Kratos' fantastic Godly strength, they were able to turn the whole entire bridge into position. It was a fantastic sight, seeing Kratos' incredible power in action once more. Hopefully, he wasn't hurting.

The Witch mentioned this temple being the very last construction where all nine realms worked together. With some kind of immersive magic, the witch used the last bit of Alfheim Light to create the bridge, before swapping around her bowstring with Atreus', instructing him on how to infuse his own weapon with such power. She also said she doesn't think she'd be able to follow, considering a numerous amount of measures had been taken to keep her trapped in Midgard. Was Midgard the human realm they were walking on, then? The more Kat learns, the more she realises her lack of knowledge is even greater than she anticipated. She said the Gods don't care much for her - But surely, the Gods wouldn't make sure she's unable to travel, if she were unimportant. How peculiar.

They entered together in this Realm Travel Room that was pitch black - She says they need the light of the Bifrost to reawaken, for the temple had been underwater for over a hundred and fifty winters passed. They reached a large tree, known as the World Tree, which makes this traveling between realms possible. It was glowing a magical blue. The Witch offered Kratos a small gadget which could capture the Light of Bifrost and allow this kind of traveling. "Amazing...!" Katrina was breathless at the beauty of this place, once Kratos stuck the gadget into its rightful place, and the lean surface of the water starter glowing a lovely fluorescent blue, waving and emanating cinder drops around like fireflies. From underneath the small water basin, a miniature layout of the temple emerged, whilst at the same time, blue fire came out from the ground in nine different places across the room, signifying the different realms. The witch explained these realms all exist in the same physical space as reflections of each other. These doors, the towers outside, and the nine realms are all intertwined and co-exist on the branches of the World Tree, separated only by the Bifrost light of Alfheim. Katrina could barely pay attention to the explanation, as her eyes were bewitched by the work of lights surrounding them in the darkness, illuminating the place with blue sparkles of all kinds. This place they were in, could focus and control that said light.

Atreus voiced what the Goddess was thinking - This World Tree was merely an artistic representation of the much more impressive and grand Yggdrasill. The Tree of Life is bound to the fate of the world, just as they all were bound to it. The tree nourishes the soils; The dew from its leaves feeds the valleys and rivers. The Tree's very existence supports all of creation along its boughs - Its life energy interwoven into the tapestry of life - Birth, growth, death and rebirth. Every strand - Transcending time, transcending space. Everything comes back to the Tree. The Goddess was in awe, her heart having stopped altogether, as a gentle flurry of blue snow swished around them, and the small sprouts of flowers growing at the roots of the tree bloomed together in perfect sync.

The witch explained how, by turning this wheel around the water basin, the great wheel that Kratos previously moved would also be spurred, as the bridge aligns to the different realm towers on the lake outside. As Odin had prevented access to vanaheim, and Jotunheim was currently unavailable, for the Realm Tower was missing, they were urged to move towards the Alfheim tower. She drew a symbol rune on Kratos' palm, so they can lock into this realm and begin the sequence at once. Everything around them changed, and a single part of the room got illuminated in brilliant blue, as the roots grew longer towards the crystal glowing there. Each realm has a corresponding crystal that focuses and amplifies the power of the Bifrost, she said, opening the bridge to that realm. As she continued speaking, a powerful blue lights engulfed them - Yet it was not a blinding one, but a soothing blue that seemed to caress their souls. Before they left, Atreus was curious about the missing Jotunheim Tower, to which he was told that the Tower went missing by the time the Giants disappeared from Midgard, and no one knows its whereabouts. As the blue lights subsided, the boy thought nothing happened. The witch hummed in amusement, urging them to follow her

Kratos pointed out the Bifrost became dark - It was out of power, thus, they could not return without being replenished by the Light of Alfheim. But Katrina wasn't concerned by such trivialities; She was captivated by the flowers that turned red, just like her hair, the same colour as the Maple Tree Leaves. Kratos had to grab her by the wrist and pull her towards the exit, revealing what looked like a city overgrown with trees. The witch's smile quickly vanished once she realised the Light was barely visible - The Column of Light in the horizon, housed in the heart of a ringed temple, was supposed to be far more powerful.

But the witch was beginning to dissipate in a glowing green light. The trio grabbed onto her, but it was in vain, for the curse was too strong to be resisted. "To restore the Bifrost's magic, you must step into The Light - But be very careful not to get caught up in the --" before she could finish her warning, however, she was pulled inside a portal, no doubt, back to Midgard. "How convenient, being unable to finish the full warning." Kat chuckled, shaking her head. The boy's panic was almost hilarious to her. The whole placed seemed to be fused up with some kind of plant-based organism... Though it also looked a little like corals. How peculiar, she's never seen anything like it."Are you ready for yet another misadventure?" "No."

< Previous Chapter Next Chapter >

#god of war #god of war x reader #god of war imagine #kratos #kratos x reader #kratos imagine #god of war oc #god of war x oc #kratos x oc #goddess #olympus #greek tragedy

29 notes · View notes

bethanythebogwitch · 7 months

Text

Welcome back to my series discussing the real-life inspirations for all legendary and mythical Pokémon. Today I’ll be covering gen II. For previous entries see gen I, all starters, all fish, and all non-fish aquatics.

The legendary beasts were a first in in the series for being legendary Pokémon that are actually the subject of legend. They were three Pokémon who were killed in the brass tower burned down, but were then resurrected by Ho-Oh. Each one represents one of the events involved in the burning of the tower. I personally like the theory that they were the gen I eeveeloutions before being revived. While the beasts are very cool, I don’t know if I can forgive them for introducing the roaming legendaries mechanic to the game. I’m going to hold off on covering the paradox beasts for now because I haven’t decided if I’m going to cover the paradox Pokémon at all and we haven’t seen paradox Entei yet.

Raikou is electric type and represents the lightning that struck the brass tower and started the fire. It’s also definitely the least utilized of the beasts. Entei gets a movie and Suicune gets to be a cover legendary but poor Raikou gets left behind. Anyway, it’s based on the raijū, a creature from Shinto mythology. The Raijū is the companion of Raijin, the god of thunderstorms. It is normally calm and peaceful, but during storms it will fly around as a ball of lightning and its roars sound like thunder. It is normally depicted as a dog or wolf, but can also be depicted as a huge variety of animals and mythical creatures. That’s pretty much a dead ringer for Raikou, but there’s still more. Raikou may also draw form the Nue, a chimera from Japanese mythology that is usually described as at least part tiger and can transform into a cloud and go flying around. In terms of real-life inspirations, Raikou is also based on Smilodon, the most famous genus of saber-toothed cats. These are commonly called saber-toothed tigers, which fits with Raikou being yellow (which is kind of like orange) with black stripes. Raikou’s shiny also makes it look more tiger-like.

(image: a depiction of a raijū as an abstract beast not clearly resembling any real animal. The source given fro this image was Ban Koko's Kanda-Jihitsu but when I looked that up the only references I could find to that work were the citations attached to this image)

(image: paleoart of a Smilodon depicting it as a large, thick-bodied cat with a short tail, brownish coat covered in spots, and protruding fangs from its mouth. Source)

Entei is fire type and represents the fire that burned down the brass tower. It looks like a combination short-muzzled dog and big cat and is based heavily on Barong, a heroic panther spirit from Balinese mythology. Barong is the leader of the forces of good who battles the demon queen Rangda in a struggle between good and evil. Entei’s shagginess around the head and neck resembles a lion’s mane and lions are associated with strength in many cultures. There is also a connection between lions and fire as in alchemy, a lion is used as a symbol representing the sun. Dogs also feature in Entei’s character design, especially saint bernards, who are large, strong, and shaggy dogs with shorter muzzles. Entei’s design is meant to look like an erupting volcano, with its fur being the base of the volcano, the plates on its back being rock broken open, the smoke emerging from its back being smoke, and its red and yellow facial markings being lava.

(image: a Balinese statue or effigy of Barong, depicting it as a large quadruped covered in shaggy fur with a cat-like face and decorated with a crown and jewlery)

Suicune is water type and represents the rain that extinguished the brass tower’s fire. It’s the hardest one to pin down a relationship to a real animal, but the designer said it was designed with leopards in mind. The leopard design plus Suicune’s connection to the north wind references Fūjin, the Shinto god of the wind, who wears a leopard skin. Fūjin and Raijin are commonly seen together, giving a close relationship between Suicune and Raikou. Suicune’s mane looks like an aurora and its ribbon-like tails move in a way that seems like waves or gusts of wind. Mythologically, Suicune draws from the qilin, a mythical Chinese creature. Descriptions of the qilin vary, but they are always depicted as ungulates (hooved animals) and in many stories can walk on top of water like Suicune. Chinese qilins are usually depicted as draconic and may have one or two horns. Suicune splits the difference by having two horns that fuse together. The Japanese version of the qilin, the kirin, is usually depicted as more deer-like, which more closely fits the clearly mammalian Suicune.

(image: a stature of a qilin at the Summer Palace in Beijing. It depicted as a quadruped with a horde-like body plan and hooves, but reptilian scales. its head looks cat-like, with a beard, long barbels from the snout, and small antlers)

The tower duo started the trend of having version-exclusive legendaries on the box art of the games. Despite this, legendarries being important to the plot wasn’t a thing until gen III, therefore the tower duo don’t have as much attention and lore as the box art legendaries that would follow. In theory they are both birds and their name comes from how they used to roost on top of the bell tower and brass tower until the brass tower burned down, causing them to leave. They are also both related to a legendary trio, with Ho-Oh being the creator of the legendary beasts and Lugia being made into a mediator for the legendary birds by the 2nd movie.

Lugia is one of the most iconic legendary Pokémon as well as one of the weirdest. It is really hard to pin down what this thing is supposed to be. Lugia is the guardian of the sea and is associated with storms and the color silver. While it normally lives underwater, Lugia can breathe air as and fly. It is notoriously classified as a flying type and not a water type. Lugia really should be water/flying instead of psychic/flying. Lugia was designed for the 2nd movie and the designer was surprised to find out it got added to the games as well. What exactly Lugia is is a hard question to answer. It looks a bit like a short-necked plesiosaur or a penguin, which fits it being aquatic. Its name and color might come from beluga whales. Another possible source is Bahamut, a gigantic, monstrous fish from pre-Islamic Arabian mythology that was one of multiple creatures that carried around the world. An older name for Bahamut is Lutīyā, which certainly sounds like Lugia. Lugia looks vaguely draconic and may be based on Ryūjin, the Shinto sea god who was a dragon that lived at the bottom of the sea.

(image: the painting Princess Tamatori Steals Ryujin's Jewels by Utagawa Kuniyoshi. Ryujin is depicted as a serpentine, wingless dragon emerging from a wave)

Together with Ho-Oh, Lugia represent duality, which is frequently symbolized as a dragon and a phoenix. The dragon represents masculinity and yang while the phoenix represents femininity and yin.

As mentioned above, the theme of duality represented by the dragon and the phoenix inspired the tower duo. Lugia is the dragon while Ho-Oh is the phoenix. Or rather, it is the fenghuang, the immortal bird of Chinese legend that often gets translated to English as “phoenix”. The Japanese name for the fenghuang is hōō, which is pronounced the same as Ho-Oh. Both are said to have many colored feathers like Ho-Oh. While the fenghuang is sometimes associated with fire, the fire and immortality aspect of Ho-Oh seem to come from the western phoenix, famous for rising from its own ashes after death. Ho-Oh likely does this too as the Sacred Ashes item is apparently Ho-Oh’s ashes and can restore your party members from fainting. Pheonixes are often used to symbolize immortality and rebirth, which fits with Ho-Oh raising the legendary beasts from the dead. Other possible inspirations include the Slavic firebird or the three-legged crow.

(image: a statue of a fenghuang from Nanning, China. It depicts a perched bird with a long neck and head crest pointing backwards. Its tail is that of a peacock's)

If Celebi had debuted after gen 6, it definitely would have been a fairy type because it is heavily based on fairies, nature spirits, and other mythical creatures. Celebi is based on nature spirits like the Greek dryads and Japanese kodama, but primarily the idea of kami. In the Japanese religion of Shinto, every object has an associated spirit or god called a kami that embodies that object. Celebi being a forest spirit and being found in a Shinto shrine clearly indicates that it is a kami if the forest, presumably Ilex Forest as that’s where its shrine is found. Celebi’s time traveling ability is likely a refence to fairy stores where someone will visit the land of the fairies for a little while, only to find out that years if not decades or centuries have passed in the brief time they were there. Or they may spend years there to find only minutes have passed back on Earth. Celebi’s physical appearance is a fairy mixed with a plant bulb. It’s worth noting that Celebi’s beta design clearly drew form Kokopelli,a god of trickery, fertility, and music worshipped amongst some Native American tribes of the southwest US. A depiction of Kokopelli has become a common symbol in the southwest US.

(images: left: three beta sprites for Celebi, with the first being an all-black silhouette of a cartoonish humanoid blowing a flute with long appeandages emerging from the back of the head, the second being a similar creature with short limbs and no flute now colored mostly orange, and the third being almost identical to the finished Celebi design. Right: the common modern depiction of Kokopelli, an all-black humanoid silhouette blowing a flute with multiple appeandages emerging from the back of the head.)

17 notes · View notes

darkhorse-javert · 4 months

Text

Anthony 'Tonk-Tonk’ Roberts (Blind Dates OC)

This might be a bit of a cheat @blind-dates-fest (?), as I have written about this character before, and in passing in some of my fic. But here's another whole peice from his perspective.

Late Summer 1945 France

The flat land is plain and simple, smooth fields, distinguised from from England by the beautifully lined trees on some of the roads, otherwise it isn't really that different. Strange how feral and dangerous it had been only two years ago. Music reaches his ears and he realises he's humming again, very softly. Clair de Lune. Well, safer than La Marseillaise used to be, or God forbid, one of the favoured songs from the Mess. How often in the blind terror of needing to be quiet, had those got stuck in his head, and he'd had to swallow them back.

A wall rises in front of them, and the bus draws up. The conductor stands and calls out clearly, "Nouvion, Messieurs and Mesdames, Nouvion."

It's a sudden shock, the word pronounced so clearly, in the French accent. He climbes to his feet and pulls down the haversack, joining the exodus down the centre aisle. He climbs down the steps and stills. I'm here

A French bark of annoyance behind him and an elbow jolts him forwards, so he stumble walks through the arch. this time he stops with his back to the town wall.

It's all here, exactly the same as it had been. The fountain, the spindly trees- those look better than he remembers actually - the shops, that shabby little blue awning over the cafe, even the cobbles have barely changed.

No, there's one different thing. He crosses the square to the statue set in the dip in the wall. It is Him, the cafe owner, as to the very life, even holding out a menu.

'E is Msuir Rene" a woman's voice says in heavily accented English "E 'Nighthawk' in La Resistance in La Guerre. 'E very brave."

"Yes He helped me in the War." He tries to say in French, knows it comes out garbled, more broken than he wants. He can at least ask. Monsieur Rene, is he alive?" He's had one of the exiles drill that question into his head, the sylabelles rote.

The woman nods and waves to the building they are next to "Yes, yes "'E iz alive. 'e run the Café."

He turns with her guesture. The painted name is proud on the front. Café Réné. Here at last.

He bows slightly to the woman "Merci, Madame." Now if i remember, he weaves through the little tables and their woven chairs, then pushes open the door.

The bell clatters it's warning as he steps inside,and the black and white back of the broad man behind the bar turned, revealing Monsuir Rene in his long plainfaced, slightly portly way. Still the same

"Good Afternoon"- the man called in French "You would like a table?"

These phrases he knows easily, knows through the repetition of the months living here, and hearing them day in day out. Even if they are now spoken more quickly -the speed of full french, not dragged out for his or the German's benefit.

His mouth is dry, as if he's been chewing leftover ship-biscuit, "Msuir - je suis un aviator." Was it un?, he racked his mind, it would have to do "un Pilote British." He tapped his chest, waved back towards Rene In La guerre vous-" Oh, what the sod was 'help' in French? he pointed to himself, then the floor "moi hide ici. Je suis RAF. je suis Anthony Roberts."

Monsuer Rene was frowning in concentration as he listened, then his face lit up with a slightly too wide smile. "You (something) here, Welcome, Welcome, Good very good." The man is keeping his French very simple.

"Thank you, Monsieur. Thank You." It's all he can manage suddenly, to repete the words with great fervour, as if that is really enough. They could have been shot for hiding me.

And there's one of the waitresses, the taller dark-haired one he remembers, comes trotting up "What is your name?" she asks in good English "zere were many pilots here."

"Je suis Robert Je suis- he flutters his fingers in the air, at which they both look blank. The piano is still there, he strides over to it, flipping the cover, even as they rush, probably to try and stop him.

Those were the notes. Bent over he begins to play, one of the lead pieces from the Madame's Caberet evenings. He looks over his shoulder towards them, and there is dawning understanding and recognition. He

"Rober, Rober." Yvette claps her hands, "Welcome back."

He grins, sits down and morphs the tune into La Marseillaise. how many times had he wanted to do that, but hadn't dared. Now I can.

#blind dates 2024 #Anthony 'Tonk-Tonk’ Roberts #OC #crossover #allo allo

5 notes · View notes

toastywatchesstevenuniverse · 10 months

Text

S1 E40

On the Run

This episode broke me.

I am...

I....

I am a broken creature & my heart has been thoroughly stomped into the ground.

This is....this is the best episode so far....but it's achieved the status of best by absolutely tearing me apart in every way & leaving my emotions as a pile of tear soaked dust.

Okay before we get to that: I have one thing to say....

GARNET HAS MASSIVE AND PLENTIFUL BALLS. Look this post ended up being a lot more personal & emotional than this blog usually has been so I'm giving you a balls joke to balance it out. I have a feeling that there will be more emotional venting if this episode is an indicator of what the rest of the show is like: we're gonna need all the dick & ball jokes we can muster up.

First off: easily the best musical number in the show so far. Yes even better than Pearl's solo number. And I do not say that lightly. That is a tough level to beat. And they did it. Steven & Amethyst take the gold medal for best song so far. 👌

ALSO OH MY GOD THESEE SHOTS THESE COLOURS THIS DJFJFNDIFJW ITS SO FUCKING GOOD????????

WHY DID SO MANY PEOPLE ON YOUTUBE TELL ME THIS SHOW HAS BAD ANIMATION WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU PEOPLE TALKING ABOUT ARE WE WATCHING THE SAME SHOW?????? SURE THERES BEEN SOME WONKY DRAWINGS BUT MOST OF IT HAS BEEN VISUAL GOD TIER SHIT LIKE THIS. This episode was actually quite a step up in the animation compared to the previous ones. It's like the animators stepped on the gas here. I love it.

(Hey there uh so Trigger warning for this post just in case bc I do mention the topics of self harm/self hate/passive suic*de & that kinda stuff. So if that's not your thing, I'm really sorry & I understand if you wanna just stop reading here. If this isn't a topic you like to see mentioned at all, I'll just summarize my opinion here real quick & you can click away, I'm happy you're here at all btw thanks for reading this far!! & I want you to know you're valid for feeling this way btw: Don't let anyone tell you different. Anyways tldr I love this episode & how it tackles Amethysts character & it's the best episode so far & it made me cry really really bad & I am more of an emotional mess now than I usually am.)

So getting a bit personal here: I have said many times throughout my life that 'I never asked to be born'. I still think it now.

(Side Note but oh my god the animation in this fight was fucking incredible. Holy shit. And these shots go so fucking hard they COOKED this shit to perfection.)

Ive been depressed & passively suicidal for most of my life. I honestly cannot really recall a time where I didn't feel this way. I'm just kinda used to it by now I guess.

(This shot. This frame right here. This was when I had to pause the episode to calm down from how bad I was crying.)

So to hear Amethyst say the exact same thing that I have said so many times before: That broke me. That just fucking broke me. And like it's not the first time I cried at this show so far: BUT this IS the first time the show genuinely struck an such an extremely difficult & personal chord with me, not just like being sometihng I relate to, but the chord it struck was deep & painful enough that I had to actually pause the episode because of how much I needed to process it. Like I could not pay attention with how bad it made me break. So yeah it's now score 1 for the amount of times this show has fucking utterly destroyed me. Not every show is able to get me to react like THAT. The only other show in recent memory that got that reaction out of me that I can remember at the time of typing this is well, The Owl House. To be fair I haven't watched too too many new shows but yeah. This got me crying badly enough that I had to take a moment to calm down. Wasn't expecting to have that nerve struck like that.

That just hit on a personal chord for me & just....fuck man. I know that feeling. And they nailed how it feels. Amethysts reaction was exactly how it feels for me, just outwardly anger & tears. It hurts. Obviously anger & crying is simplifying it a lot, it's a lot more than just baseline that but you get what I mean. You could tell that she was feeling that exact way. & holy shit the fact that she's been the "comedic relief" of the gems so far & yet she's had easily the most fucked up & sad backstory of the show so far. Yeah if catching me off guard & completely blindsiding me with this was the goal: Goal fucking achieved because that was like a whack to my fucking face with a frying pan.

So....like, is this gonna be a reoccuring thing? I just.....get the feeling that this is a sign that the show absolutely fucking me up emotionally may become a more frequent thing going forward. So like, if that is the case......fuck. I'm so fucked. I am going to be a fucking wreck by the end of this show. This is gonna fucking leave me a sobbing mess, isn't it? What the fuck have I gotten myself into-

I am afraid. Also I am going to need to buy more tissues.

And the scene where Pearl & Amethyst speak in the hole is some of the best writing in any CN show. Ever.

(Also to break up the depressing talk, OH MY GOD I LOVE THAT PEARL IS SO FUCKING TALL THAT SHE HAS TO BEND DOWN AND SIT STANDING UP ON HER TIPPY TOES. THAT'S SO FUCKING ADORABLE I LOVE HER I AM GOING TO FUCKING LOSE IT.)

This episode was absolutely perfect.

19 notes · View notes

wildwormies · 2 years

Note

The Colors of China?

Roy G Biv sent you, didn’t he

“I love all the cool designs around here!” Sir there are 3 buildings and I’m 90% sure you don’t have the budget to show them up close

Related note can you imagine how pretty this show could be if they had enough money to actually draw things

Ok I stand slightly corrected

Them finding the fandom

Oh pretty birdie

Basic bitch

Chad bird

Obligatory detail shots

Ok Admittedly cute outfit

I’ve heard of minimalist but this is ridiculous

Ok but you’re a fashion designer and should see that’s a god awful shade. How are you still in business with ideas like this

Fairy godmother looking ass

I only respect one kind of panda in this picture (hint it’s not the bottom one)

Babes

Hey king you good?

The beauty of nature

Nevermind

AHjhbdv, sdjchbsdv

WHY ARE YOU EVEN TAKING PANDA COLOR, THEY’RE ALREADY BLACK AND WHITE

(huh that blonde actually looks good on Dabio)

Actually better idea: Make the greys more contrasted, tone down the exposure, and sell the animals as one of a kind morphs or even statues. No gaudy clothes needed

I hate his front facing design so much

I was going to whine about how taking color means taking the creature powers away was dumb, but I think Deadcolor said once that colors and aesthetics were integral to one’s identity in this world and suddenly this whole ep makes more sense, so nevermind

iNSTEAD I’ll complain about why she never uses this again since it’s likely the most powerful device in the whole show-

No comment I just like the red panda suit

Oooooooh she doesn’t use it again bc she doesn’t have it

Huh, both suit them actually

#wormcaps #I should be a villain consultant I could think of 10 times better ideas #I will never get used to the transitional music in this show #it sounds straight out of a nickelodeon sitcom #wild kratts #chris kratt #martin kratt #aviva corcovado #jimmy z #wk koki #donita donata

64 notes · View notes

a-strange-inkling · 2 months

Note

What’s the?

Worst ask you’ve gotten

Weirdest ask

Funniest ask

Dumbest ask

Creepiest ask

Second ask(so I don’t bombard you)

What are your favorite?

Tv shows

Hobbies

Food

Movies

Scent(for example lavender)

Music

Book genre

1. Worst ask you’ve gotten?

Oh, I don’t know. I think anon hate is so pathetic that I don’t even make note of it. Even antis needing to be nasty about a ship or interest I have amuse me more than anything else. Anon asks demanding that I post or demanding to know when I’m posting something can be pressuring and rude. It can make me feel like I’m not doing enough or that I’m failing readers, so probably one of those. Those can actually hurt.

2. What’s the weirdest ask?

The anon ask for pictures of my feet probably wins. I’m sure it was just a troll fishing.

3. What’s the funniest ask?

God, I could never narrow that done, I’ve gotten asks where I can’t breath I’m laughing so hard. These days, Maggie headcanons have me wheezing.

4. What’s the dumbest ask?

I always say there are no dumb asks. Only if someone asks something on a post they clearly did not read all the way through that has the answer to their question. That always makes me chuckle a little, but we’ve all done that before.

5. What’s the creepiest ask?

Any anon asking anything super personal, like where I live, my relationship status, etc. 😬

…

Favorites

Shows: Outlander, Poldark, Downton Abbey, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Being Human, Buffy, Doctor Who, Friends, Parks and Rec, Stranger Things, The Borgias, etc

Hobbies: Reading, writing, journaling, hiking, drawing, watercolor painting, scrapbooking, baking, photography, antiquing, repurposing, farming, soap making, candle making

Foods: Breakfast foods 😋

Movies: The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Star Wars, The Mummy, Rebecca, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Knives Out, The Count of Monte Cristo, Pride and Prejudice, Titanic, Ever After, Tangled, The Hunger Games, Breakfast Club, Clue, Labyrinth, Ophelia, Little Women (1995), Beauty and the Beast, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Sound of Music, The Lion King, The Greatest Showman, Tristan and Isolde, etc (it’s a long list 😆)

Scents: Vanilla, cinnamon, clove, old book pages, masala chai, black locus blossoms, honeycombs

Music: Folk, classic rock, indie, classical

Book genres: Fantasy, sci-fi, historical fiction, suspense/thriller, romance, mystery, fairy tales, folk tales

#sorry this took so long #long ask #me #about me #ask answered #yours truly

4 notes · View notes

criticalfai1ure · 7 months

Text

kees!lives au :

it’s steadfastly the aftermath of the battle. cyrus holcroft is dead. cornelius smeenk is decidedly not, with much gratitude to ingvild and her ferality for drawing holcroft’s ire.

in this calm, kees find something deeply unsettling roiling in his belly — fury. hot and overwhelming and, for the first time in their lives, directed at august. kees is alive and he is fuming. every life lost, every second of torture he and ingvi had endured in august’s stead ( and would again and again ), all of it could have been avoided years ago, if only auggie had taken holcroft’s threats to heart.

the bosun lays into the captain that night. angry and mean.

death has changed ingvi and there is a stillness and calm that had not graced her before. she stands as a statue outside of the captain's quarters, godsword on her hip, smirking faintly at kees as he stalks out. “so you'll let me kill them next time, right?” she says, dryly.

kees answers quickly, still hot from his argument, “don’t.”

she reaches out, then, softening, and catches his arm "hey. we're here. we're still here. and he has to live with the memory of what happened for the rest of his life."

kees runs a hand over his face and sighs because he knows she’s right. but he’s already woken up with the ghost of the rope around his neck and, he won’t admit it yet, not fully, but he knows deep down that he wasn’t meant to make it through that encounter. “without your gods, where would we be?” fingers tug at the neck of his shirt, “i will forgive him because i -” his lips twist and he looks away from ingvi to stare up at the sails, “- but i would be lying if i said it didn’t feel good to make him hurt a little more for a little longer, and if that makes me a terrible friend, so be it.”

"oh, if you think i am not going to use dying for him as an excuse to do literally anything, you have too high an opinion of me." she steps closer, sliding her hand down to his and squeezing it. "knowing you're going to die for your captain and actually doing it are pretty different experiences. i think we have the right to be terrible."

— • —

it’s noon the next day and august is still sequestered in his cabin but kees refuses to be the one to check on him. suyu has the shift and brief orders from the captain to retain command through the night, so when kees approaches him, he dismisses the bosun's worry.

by the dinner bell, kees' guilt has begun to eat away at him ten-fold, but every time ingvi looks at him, he pretends he doesn’t notice. by midnight, when the door hasn’t even cracked and kees doesn’t want to sleep even if he could, he wanders out of his quarters to sit outside of the cabin. his guilt has been fighting his anger all day, and he finds this little acquiescence assuages some of his inner turmoil.

atsuyuki prods kees with his foot the next morning, pointedly looking at the captain's quarters, "mister smeenk, if you wouldn't mind checking on the captain this fine morning?"

kees clambers to his feet, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he glances between suyu and ingvi. the quartermaster excuses himself for the bridge with a slight bow of his head.

ingvi gives an uncertain, "how badly did you chew him out?" as they stare at the doors only for kees to shrug. “he deserved it.” but he doesn’t sound as sure as he had the night in question.

"i don't doubt it, but this is the longest i've ever seen you two not speak."

he scoffs. he's sure there's been time they've gone without speaking. then again, he's never brought a fight to his friend, so maybe not. “he’s probably just angry at the truth being laid out,” kees knows he’s lying to himself. “d’you think pax has brought up any food?”

"... i'm sure he's tried, if anything. i'll ask." after another beat she heads off to the galley.

it feels like ages when it's barely been minutes as kees' impatience overcomes him, finally drawing him to knock. after a moment of silence he knocks louder only to have august shout for him to go away. his worry shifts, then, because he’s got a sneaking suspicion he knows what he’ll find when he opens the door. when ingvi returns, he asks her to have pax bring up a strong pot of coffee to which she just gives a sharp nod and returns belowdecks.

it's been two days but the smell of alcohol has gone stale without an open window to circulate the air. guilt clashes with the anger in his chest as kees enters the room, sharply closing the door behind him to catch august’s attention.

“did you not hear me? go away,” the captain slurs. he is sat hunched over his desk, bottle of rum drained, rolling on its side with the sway of the ship.

“auggie…”

“don't - don't auggie me, kees. just -” and here his voice breaks, “just leave me be.”

rather than listen, kees crosses the room to kneel at his captain’s side, looking up at him with a sadness in his gaze. “what have you done, mijn hart,” a whisper, “forgive me my anger.”

tears spring to august's eye and he turns to hide his shame from the bosun. “i lost you, kees. i lost you both -”

“and yet we are still here. with you. you won't be rid of us so easily.”

ingvi's knock comes quicker than expected and august looks up, brow pinching with annoyance. kees watches auggie a moment longer before pushing to his feet, bidding aug to look at him and pressing a kiss to his forehead before calling out for ingvi to enter.

as the door creaks open, kees crosses to the back of the cabin, propping open the windows for the sea breeze. ingvi enters silently and eases the door shut behind her. she carries the coffee to the desk, pours it into one of the three mugs pax had provided on the tray and sets it in front of august. instead of pouring one for herself, she glances around, wordlessly setting to put things back in order.

august grimaces at the strong smell, sliding the mug further from him until kees tuts, taking a seat opposite. “drink up, mate.”

“ik ben geen k-kind.”

“and when you can admit as much without slurring, perhaps we’ll believe you.” kees crosses his arms, expectant, and after a long moment of trying to wait it out, august finally relents and sips at the coffee, grimacing again. after another moment, kees quietly asks, “is this… because of me?”

august sips the coffee again, unwilling to meet kees’ gaze and instead watching ingvi tidy up. embarrassment colours his cheeks upon realising the mess he’d made but he shakes his head. “nee. or, not because you shouted.” he pauses, eyes falling shut as he leans back in his chair. “i was wrong, i should not have allowed my feud with cyrus to bleed into our lives as much as i had – shouldn’t have underestimated his ire.” a shrug, and his words come out choked, but he looks to kees and then ingvi, now, “i nearly lost you both, we did lose you, ingvi, brief as it was. and if your gods were not with us?” a tear slides down his cheek and he does not brush it away. “i am a disgrace of a captain. a continued lapse of judgement proves as much.”

she does not need the reminder she died; she has woken every night so far with the memory of the chill, of her blood coating her skin. it is not something she will soon move past. "why do you concern yourself so with wondering what would have happened without my gods' interference?" she doesn't mean the words to be as sharp as they come out. "they were with me. they are with me." fingers brush the gold mark still shimmering high on her forehead. "disgrace or not, you are still the captain we choose to follow. if the gods can make the mistake of letting me die in the first place, you can allow yourself mistakes as well. finish your coffee."

an anger not quite as hot as when he fought cyrus bursts through him in an instant and he stands, chucking his mug at the far wall. hands fall to his desk and he sneers at both his best friend and his surrogate daughter, “why do you insist on following a man who selfishly chose a game of cat and mouse over the people he cares for most? all because he thought so highly of himself, he could have never imagined that which has come to fall?”

kees stands then, too. albeit lazily. scorn bleeding into his tone, “our blood is on your hands - i said as much the other night. is that what you’d like to hear? sober up, kapitein van de hoek. dat is een bevel, ja?”

“an order?” august scoffs. “misschien had je moeten…” but he trails off before he can finish his sentence shame flooding him as he dared allow the thought to take shape. kees pales, more than able to hazard a guess at the unspoken word.

“fuck you, august,” he spits, turning on his heel and stalking out of the cabin. the door slams behind him and august sinks back into his chair, face in his hands.

“het spijt me,” he mutters, hands then falling into his lap. shaking, penitent, he reaches for the pot of coffee, “i am not myself, ingvi. please relay to mister nakamura that he has the command until we reach england.” as, clearly, he cannot be trusted to speak to his crew.

she doesn't leave straight away, her own anger spiking at his. but it is no longer the hot, bright flash that it used to be, instead burning through her veins like lava, like ice. she stalks up to the desk and leans over it, hands braced slightly wider than her shoulders, bringing her face very close to his. voice a low snarl, "when I joined this crew, you told me I would die on this ship, same as any other man in the crew. that was an eventuality i accepted. dying hurt, and i remember every second of it, and i would do it again for you. because you, august van de hoek, saw me. you understood me in a way no one, no one else in my life ever has. that is why i follow you. failures, mistakes, and all. and i will not have you acting like it is foolishness on my part to do so." she straightens, still viciously cold. "i am your attack dog. do not muzzle me again."

august tries to play at being himself, at being sober and unflinching. but his eyes keep darting up at ingvi and he can’t steady his hand enough to pour the bitter drink into a second mug. “you have my word,” a whisper as she stalks away.

it is only a few long strides to the door, but it is enough to calm her anger. she pauses at the door. "give him time to calm down, but you have to go to him to apologize. do not wait too long. the longer you leave his heart broken, the harder it will be to mend it."

blurry gaze trains on her at mention of kees. “his… heart?” as if he doesn’t know why she would mention it. she merely gives him a long, pointed look, then leaves in search of suyu.

— • —

they’re a day from where they will make port and a full day past his words to kees. august suspects they may not have been travelling at full sail for the majority of it, but he isn’t about to question his quartermaster’s command. he has sobered, weathered the worst headache he’s ever had, and had ingvi’s parting words repeat on him ad nauseum in every space between his breath. and yet he waffles.

the bell tolls for the shift change and, for the first time since he’d secluded himself, august opens his cabin door, hands folded behind his back until he spots kees. “master smeenk, a word, if you will.”

there is a moment - a tense one - where kees considers insubordination. august can see it in the way he rolls his shoulder, tilts his head, but the crew is watching. so he obliges.

the door snaps shut behind him but he doesn’t move further into the room, arms crossed, he is closed off. august stands in front of his desk, lips twisting with all the words he’s planned on saying but seem to refuse to spill.

a long moment of silence stretches before kees pipes up with, “if that’ll be all, kapitein van de hoek?”

“kees…”

“no.”

august propels himself several steps closer, “kees, het spijt me, alsjeblieft. i never… you’re right to hate me. that wasn’t me, that was…”

kees rolls his eyes. “a drunk mind speaks a sober heart,” his reply is quiet and he turns, as if to leave.

august finishes crossing the room, reaching for kees, his hand coming to rest on his arm. “cornelius, please. ik heb je nodig, you know i do. i… i always have and always will.”

kees scoffs, but he doesn’t pull away. “you haven’t needed me in years.”

“that is wholly untrue.” and august shifts, hand moving to brush kees’ cheek. “i am sorry - for not heeding your advice years ago, for underestimating cyrus, for failing the crew and for failing you most of all. i am sorry for my words and for my shortcomings. and i am sorry cyrus dared use you as a pawn against me. het spijt me, and if you never forgive me it will be too soon. i l- hmm…”

kees meets his eye, arms falling to his side, “say it.”

“i love you, cornelius.”

“je bent een idioot, august.”

auggie laughs softly leaning down to rest his forehead against kees’, sighing deeply. “het spijt me.”

“week ik. ik houd ook van jou.”

#001 ( ❖ ) ─── general ( august van de hoek ).#002 ( ❖ ) ─── dynamic ( cornelius smeenk ).#002 ( ❖ ) ─── dynamic ( ingvild vik ).#003 ( ❖ ) ─── writing ( august van de hoek ).#credit to ingvi dialogue/actions goes to :#champagneprobllems #please forgive my use of dutch. i did have to google *some* terms bc i haven't learned past tense yet lmao. translations :#ik ben geen kind = i'm not a child #misschien had je moeten... = maybe you should have...#het spijt me = i’m sorry #alsjeblieft = please #ik heb je nodig = i need you #je bent een idioot = you are an idiot #week ik. ik houd ook van jou = i know. i love you too #turns out i just needed to spiral about my pirate captain and his bosun best friend ( and their adopted daughter ). :)

4 notes · View notes