InvidiaRed

From InBrightestDay on November 28, 2020 And the holiday series continues! For those who were a bit confused by the previous story, the little dip into Norse mythology that Hel does here, though beyond just explaining a bit more about who Angrboda is, it also slips in some details of the relationship between Duncan and the other gods, namely that there are things other deities don't tell him, and there are a lot of things they don't seem to know about him. She had often wondered why her mother never visited Helheim. Even in death, Angrboda continued to have the last laugh. For her shade had never appeared in her realm. I'm assuming that the reason Angrboda never visits Helheim is because of the incarnation thing (i.e. as a past incarnation of Duncan, she doesn't show up because he's still alive), which suggests that Hel's info on Duncan is missing some key components. You are correct. Duncan does not share what some would say is rather relevant information. He could have once been more forthcoming but Odin personally is the reason why his M.O is largely knowledge is on a need to know basis and if you “need” to know clearly you don’t. Unless you have a valid pertinent reason. All his incarnations don’t have a shade mainly because yes, Duncan is still very much alive. The story formatting does cause one moment of confusion, purely due to a missing paragraph break: Will try to fix that. "You aren't Asgardian, are you?" Came a silky smooth baritone voice. She turned to behold an automatic shotgun in her face. A chuckle escaped her. "No, I'm Jotun." "Thank Jove for that. After, Duncan got past that injunction for an indefinite restraining order." Since a new paragraph starts every time the person speaking changes, the "No, I'm Jotun." "Thank Jove for that" threw me a bit at first, as I thought it was a joke, given Hel's previous speech about Odin, that she hated the Aesir so much that she was actually invoking the Greek pantheon (in spite of the fact that...well...most of those gods are dicks too). Alas, that wasn't what you were saying and I couldn;t use the joke! Loved the joke about how handsome Ganymede is, though. Not knowing what character from Greek mythology this was, I actually did think it might be Adonis It is kind of funny to imagine him housesitting for Duncan. going from pouring drinks for the Olympians to watching the house of another deity, though in this case he's actually crushing on him (awkward considering Duncan's married). Adonis might show up. And then Brigid showed up and this got sort of funny, with all these divine (well, sorta divine in Ganymede's case) figures converging on this house to share an awkward Thanksgiving. I liked the detail that Hel is super attractive, but Brigid inspires a significant amount of jealousy by being even more beautiful. (Its jealously inspired by insecurity, Hel is half corpse but Brigid is that wholesome enriching beauty. Hel can absolutely present a wholesome face but Brigid naturally has that face. Some more info about the setting comes out here, sometimes with small lines: "He's wiser than Chiron but the best part of him. He's kind, and he goes out of his way to help mortals." That part intrigued Hel. Not many gods openly admitted to that. Not all deities care about mortals. Some gods just treat it like a job. Others have an open disgust/ hatred because well we are as mayflies to them. There really isn’t a way for mortals to get around that. No point in getting attached if you blink and they’re dead or your attention was diverted for just a moment and not only is the person is dead but their thrice great grandchildern are old and feeble. Some gods believe that gods should be helping other gods rather than aiding brief beings who all end up inthe afterlife before too long.Some won’t even attempt to help until “after” the mortal in question is dead. Not many gods admit to helping mortals? I do wonder why they would hide such a thing. And of course the inevitable comes up with Brigid. "You are one of Danu's children. A goddess of the Tuatha De Danann. Sainthood is just a shawl you wear. So the good little Catholics venerate you." Hel stated in pettiness. Brigid merely looked at her unperturbed. This makes me wonder what the status of Vodou is in this world. If in this case the goddess Brigid and Saint Brigid really are the same person, then during Mardi Gras does she take on the alias of Maman Brigitte? Vodou exist but to add to the confusion some gods will adopt the same guise after conversing with one another. Friends and allies can share an alias no problem and Brigid is a great example since there are at-least three of her. "One could say the same thing about thee. Aiding the missionaries spreading the word of Nazareth." Hel looked away. Brigid is right on the money. Hel’s assistance was subtle but the missionaries was the perfect way to attack that warrior culture at its core. She might not be able to touch the Aesir so she went directly after their influence. By merely, preventing a death here, a word of warning there it all added up and Norse culture collapsed and she did it without spilling a single drop of blood or even putting herself at risk. Valkyries only choose heroes on the battlefield. So then the best method would be make it so the number and frequency of those battles decrease. "Idle speculation without teeth." Hel's heart hammered in her chest. Like Hell, she was going to admit to that. She would be censured for even indirectly aiding those genocidal zealots. Merely for spreading another metastasizing version of Atenism. The gods were always watching in case that solipsistic bastard ever reared his head again. Aten was the first to succumb to solipsistic madness, thus he’s the one all the gods blame for monotheism. And even the gods of Egypt admitted that there was a very good chance Aten wasn't dead. Much like the other monster that came after him. Mortals may call him Father, but the gods themselves would only call him Monster. I almost made a joke here about how Hel might not want to throw stones in her glass house, given that she's part of the pantheon of the people who would go viking (the Rape, Pillage and Burn crowd), but then I realized I have no idea how history went in this universe. History mostly went close to our even with prophecy broken. There are however massive events that just happened without apparent cause. (Like Jotunheim getting a trade deal with US and Russia seven days before Aesir envoys ever arrived. It shouldn’t have happened but its own inertia is now solid and Jotunheim is not willing to let anything endanger it and the post WW2 superpowers aren’t willing to ever let such a benefit slip from their fingers. Even during the cold war it was a diplomatic show of one up manship. And both mortal and Jotun have managed to successfully pin any “accidents” or lapses on Asgardian interference. This world the god’s only really returned after the atomic bombs dropped. (And no government will admit openly that gods and monsters are real.) So...leaving aside how viable the link between Akhenaten and other forms of monotheism is or isn't, if all the myths are real and Judaism, Christianity and Islam are "metastasizing versions" of Atenism, wouldn't that just make Aten and God the same guy instead of different gods? Also, given that you've clarified in response to some other reviews that humans know about the preternatural or supernatural stuff (the US has a trade deal with Jotunheim; rich people can tour Olympus), given that God is evil and angels are almost extinct and were (mostly) deicidal psychopaths...what exactly is the status of Catholics, Jews and other adherents of the splinter tumors of Atenism? This isn't one of those "different people believe different things" situations like in the real world; their faith is unquestionably wrong and outright bad, and all the gods have no doubt explained this. Is anti-semitism way more prevalent and vigorous because Judaism is basically the cult of an evil god? Are Christians a tiny minority religion working in deep denial about a whole lot of stuff? I'm very curious about the impacts on how history unfolded here. The gods don’t really have a full consensus on what they should do. Despite its horrible roots, It has done great things. And its been complicated now that Man is now capable of destroying the world entirely without their help or influence.So far, The general view is don’t address the giant elephant in the room and this unofficial arrangement works. Even if some of the gods have concerns that this god of hope might have inherited his father’s madness. He’s quite proudly and vocally Pro-Mortal. None are willing to poke the proverbial bear just in case its the very thing that sets it off. No one wants that particular albatross with certain guaranteed grave consequences. He successfully laid siege to Hell itself after all. As for Monotheism this verse. To the gods it would be like saying there’s seven billion+ humans on earth but you got people literally saying there is only “One, True” HumanTM When there is clearly multitudes of them. Other things at the house are deeply amusing. I particularly like the callback (I think it's a callback, anyway) to Logan's fuzzy slippers, and the scoreboard with all the notes written on it was hilarious and kind of cute. Finally, I grinned a little at the motorcycle gang of wolves, and... A defining thunderous howl that surely made the trees tremble in fright, and the ground rumble. What surprised her the most was that somewhere in the distance, wolves responded, and the peals of rumbling bark like laughter resounded. ... With a voice like a natural disaster, Boomed a cacophonous yet mirthful voice. Clearly excited see her again after so long. "Hello, Sister. Miss me?" Looks like next time, Fenrir enters the story. But Did He Escape? Or Was he set free?

Olympus the Original “Alabama”. I wish I could joke but no. The more you research the worse it gets when it comes to Olympus. Zeus The Hapless Himbo Hera isn’t even his only wife but she is indisputably the main one.

Sorry for the delay in taking a look! Was fun to get back into the world again. SPOILERY REVIEW I can never shake the old fashioned half-rotted semi-skeletal image of Hel, so when you mention her applying lipstick my brain says “on one half only?”. I just wanted to share that, even though it doesn’t apply here… bah. Anyway. That might be what she looks like but she can assume a human guise like most gods can. Here she’s nowhere near as powerful as she was on Halloween. Thus she’s going the mortal transportation route. It’s weird, the previous parts had the various gods, but this one feels way more godly if that makes sense – I think because it’s calling back to the mythology more directly, Ganymede the cup bearer, the division of the old dead for Valhalla, and of course good ol’ Bridey from the land of the young… almost more of a myths/folklore subdomain story than originals! Ganymede is the god of gay love and Zeus being Zeus the fact that Ganymede is his Cupbearer well its not surprising big Z’s “companion” is not platonic. Hera probably loves him for keeping Z’s excessive libido in check. Ganymede succeeded where all the other illicit lovers failed. So messing with him means not just having to deal with Zeus it means dealing with Hera too. Bit of psychometry there reading the place and sensing Duncan – I kinda liked how she could tell all about the married state just from looking around the place rather than any kind of magic. Makes the setting where the married couple live feel more lived in – and the mention of the slippers, that’s a call back to when they mentioned in a previous story right? Yep Logan loves his favorite Goofy Slippers. Gotta feel bad for ol’ Ganymede, goes from doing all that cupping for Zeus to finding someone he really fancies who ain’t up for it. Plus Duncan might not be super happy about him letting Hel wander around while he’s watching the house I guess – something like that felt implied from the basement visit? Ganymede is definitively hot for teacher. Divine relationships can be more fluid than mortal ones especially with Olympians. Whether or not anything comes of it that is something Logan is going to have to deal with eventually. Vastly different morals and attitudes and being married to someone unapologetically ancient. Didn’t quite follow at the crashed vehicle if that was caused by the person calling sister, or if they were turning up to help out. Was pretty badass how it didn’t slow her down and she just up-and-out’d though! She is a Jotun and daughter of Loki. It’s partly why she’s so hostile to Brigid. Giants tend to be the negative aspects of nature. She may not know the Fomorians but giant pride and the snide harassment by the gods means she’s not really willing to listen to Brigid)Would this be an actual sibling, making it a wolf, a snake, or possibly Vali with that transcription error turning out not to be an error? Its meant to be Hel is preoccupied, excessively speeding and then her brother puts his paw into the road. And introduces his vast pack of werewolf and wolfwere bikers. Now Hel has been “borrowed”

Sounds perfect. (well not for the family but you get what I mean)

If you want straight evil look no further than Javelina. One of a hiker’s worst nightmares because they’re mean af social and they have no problems ganging up on and killing anything dumb enough to be alone.

That could work quite well.

From JayDee on November 19, 2020 Bound by Choice – first chapter with a title! Well. Well. That sort of activity certainly seems dangerous. And I don’t mean the groaning like a zombie during a zombie outbreak. Imagine if it snapped, or misfired! The Jedi council had a similar problem I understand. Pretty funny for him to be found like that, though, and my guess is he is perfectly aware Harry saw him and had the reaction he did. Hot, that. You guessed right Argus also has a charm that makes the user tingle whenever someone walks in on them. So he is very aware that Harry being the only other person in the store We both know pervy wizards and witches likely have all manner of carnal spells to make their wands do things. Also I really liked the Patronus getting involved in getting attention. That was straight up hilarious! If Patronuses take the form of animals its not really a stretch to suggest that they also have personalities. They also have mass at-least as long as they are conjured. And we learn a bit more about what big V’s got on Harry… Bit of a rough choice there, but things being as they are in the universe it’s probably the best he could get. Take the mark or your friend gets Kissed is a remarkable yet deeply coercive method but it is effective at recruitment. You’d have to be a monster to callously watch your friend suffer a fate much worse than death. Voldy knows Harry isn’t so he chose the angle that had the best chance at success. He needed Harry’s endorsement so the coup could have that legitimacy. Subtly went right out the window when the world started ending. Wizardkind already knew they were outnumbered by muggles. The most astute are rightly worried about what happens when the last muggle stronghold falls to the unrelenting onslaught of these dead. When there are no more muggles for the horde to search out. Alone against an unknown enemy. The implication that these dead have a rudimentary magic of their own is a terrifying concept.

Well, I have a feeling its going to be up to how you frame it. I know you can do it <3 Was the son there or otherwise around to hear what went down or otherwise walked in at the worst possible moment. Cause the tragedy there would be the son is missing vital parts of what went down only to come into the scene. Childhood innocence combined with misremembering can changethe scenario into something that didn’t actually happen, thats not even going into if the demon is messing with his perceptions with illusions.

Sounds great so far. Now the only thing I do have to ask for clarification is it a elf that farms. Or it is a farm that raises elves? Other than that. If it has to do with demons dad either had to do a mercy kill or likely had to essentially mutilate the corpse to make sure the demon was gone for good. Or both. Is that from what I’m getting from the information. Demons never play fair and its a whole nother level of messed up to use the mom’s body in an attempt to kill said child.

Sometimes attempting to spare another only creates a more visceral net loss. It depends, Its not a lot of context to go on. Whats the specific genre? Are you looking to psychologically break the child? Is the son in a dark place near rock bottom? Is the son mature for his age? is the son unexpectedly wise? Children are surprisingly intelligent sometimes foolish other times terrifyingly on-point even given a scrap of context. Sometimes even without. Is the father son’s relationship good? bad? Destined archenemies destined to kill one another? Does the son have daddy issues? Parental abandonment/neglect issues? Mommy issues? Was the son closer to the mother? The father? Is either parent non-human? Cause that matters alot more than you think. When mommy was the dragon/monster that threatened the kingdom/ Dark lord attempting to conquer/enslave/genocide. Was the mother evil? If so on the scale of 1 to sauron where was she? Is the father evil? Did the mother and the father have a good relationship? Were one or more unfaithful? In the manner of which she died suspicious? (as in fairy godmother put out a hit on dear old momma for the lols/revenge/misguided attempt to thwart prophecy?) Is the father attempting to cover it up out of shame? Love? Unwillingness to implicate his wife in a plot to murder the royal family? Was it an accidental? Was it on purpose? Did she off her self out of grief or in a last ditch effort to save her son from some crime/ and or sin? Is mommy secretly alive? And or the fated archenemy of her son? Is anyone in the story a deity/ having divine parentage? Is either of the parents royalty/nobility? Is the father poor? Middle class? Is the son evil? Secretly evil? Was a cult involved anywhere near the shennagians of momma getting iced? Brained with a brick? Unfortunate siege? Plague? Famine? Is the kingdom/empire at war? being overrun by another? Are monsters involved? And thats everything that comes to mind at the moment.

The funny thing is I already got a thanksgiving story ready. Festive Mishap Hel intrudes Duncan’s home. Only to find nobody is home except the door is askew and she isn’t the only one attempting to Holiday crash.

Oh man that brings back some memories of In Nomine Haha. Look up Godbound sometime

Duncan…. He hides his wounds. Being an old healer god means he’s been successful on the physical side of it anyway, Not showing what he perceives as something others would exploit. Most of the others gods younger than the arrival don't really understand what they’re seeing. Chalking them up to old battle scars Think of scars that go deeper than he is on the spiritual side. If you lined up all his incarnations that’s where the damage becomes supremely obvious. A cosmic entity or an incredibly powerful god that bothered for a more than cursory check up would know something is up. A nature spirit could probably feel an offness in his spirit, a disquieting something that shouldn’t be there. Logan as of now doesn’t know. Chalking up Duncan’s acquiescence to his fantasies as merely one of Duncan’s moods. He’s newly wed so he really doesn’t see any signs that something is wrong and Duncan won’t say anything that might suggest that he isn’t fine. Duncan Isn’t Fine, But he’s been that way for so long he’s settled for functional.