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you know, I've been thinking about fyodor's behaviour towards atsushi in the recent chapters, and it really makes no sense.

since he was first introduced in ch 12 as a co-conspirator along with christie and fitzgerald, we've known that he's had his eyes on atsushi. he knows about the white tiger, and knows about its (and therefore atsushi's) connection to the book, and he obviously still holds more info about atsushi's involvement in the book's acquisition and usage.

[spoilers for ch 119], fyodor met atsushi for the first time, and acted with all the reverence and politeness of someone picking up their favorite pawn piece from the board, we see that it doesn't last and these atsushi's pure humanity brings out a much more arrogant, disgusted, human fyodor than we've ever seen before ; but he's still the same insanely smart and logical cunt that we know.

so why does he act like he no longer needs atsushi? why wouldn't he want to take atsushi with him as well, he's literally right there???? it makes me wonder if something else is coming up in the story that lets fyodor just use atsushi whenever he wants without him having to take him home for now (and why he mentioned just having his decapitated head would do)

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If you search up chazuke/ochazuke recipes on YouTube and look through the comment section, you'll find so many comments talking about Atsushi, so please consider:

Actor AU characters are favorite foods becoming trends and perhaps having their own fan base. Any time an actor is like, "I like this food," there will be a cult for thar specific food or brand. Countless videos cooking/baking and taste famous actor's foods. Atsushi loves when fans or cooks give their own twists on chazuke and try them out. Dazai's obsession with canned crab from one specific company turns into him becoming the face of the company's logo. Chuuya as a wine ambassador for different companies. I just think it would be funny if get the vocaloid treatment with their favorite foods.

On a sskk note: i like to think both atsushi and akutagawa, growing up poor, despite having the money for luxurious meals and lavish dining, still have humble tastebuds. Atsushi enjoys chazuke specifically from this one small, humble little resturant run by a little old lady rather than fancy places. Where I come from tea vendors are a thing, similar to street food stalls/vendors, where they brew hot tea for cheap, and I think many people would be surprised to find Akutagawa prefers tea from the run down, unhygienic, and less frequented alleyways of the slums where he grew up in. Perfect places for dates in disguise or when the paparazzis are too afraid to follow them

[sskk actors au] Oh my God I can totally see that, thank you so much for the prompts these are glorious 😭😭😭 Dazai and Chuuya's actors being food companies ambassadors is fantastic, Chuuya would look fabulous accompanied by his fancy wine and Dazai associating himself to a canned crab company is the perfect kind of chaotic thing you just know Dazai would totally be up for.

I do agree sskk would stay humble even after reaching financial stability, and that counts for canon as well!!! For Atsushi it's something close to a guilt thing that stuck with him even after having forgotten the guilt, for Akutagawa it's more of a being quite close minded and not understanding the utility of most things, but I agree overall they'd stay pretty frugal. I fell in love with the concept of Akutagawa frequenting tea vendors you mentioned. In a twisted way, it's the familiarity of his childhood, because even where it was constantly pain ridden it is his childhood and there's some sort of sweetness in being able to drink the tea he used to consume with his friends in the slums, savoring the lingering taste of something that used to be a rare luxury and to that day still feels most precious. The reminiscing the few happy memories he has left from those times. This is really an excellent headcanon, I adore it. And how eventually he'd want to share that piece of his life with Atsushi 😭😭😭

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jack and tommy's big conversation :''''(

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[old comic repost]

atsushi and the people who project their desires unto him

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Holy shit, Shapiro had his ass handed to him. This is so satisfying to watch.

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might expand on later but au where things ur soulmate loves about u/will love about u appears on ur body in writing

precanon atsushi when 'bitchiness' appears:

precanon akutagawa when 'dumbassary' appears:

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I like their creepy vibe

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THE GOOFY REACTIONS:

AU by @notherpuppet

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On Apollo and fatal flaws

Vague question for my fellow apollogists out there: what do we think Apollo's fatal flaw is? I write this realizing that, in all five books of the series, all told from Apollo's point of view, we never actually have it explicitly stated, either from Apollo's knowledge and refusal to share (which, strangely, seems to me like something he would tell us), or from him not actually knowing, either.

Simply stated, a fatal flaw is any kind of weakness of a hero, god or mortal, that can be exploited and can cause the downfall of that character. That being said, we already know some that generally scope out the larger range of what they can be:

Percy: excessive personal loyalty

Annabeth: hubris/pride

Nico: holding grudges

Thalia: ambition

Leo: feeling inferior

Piper: low self-esteem

Luke: wrath

Jason: hesitation and excessive deliberation

And we are certain that immortals have flaws like these, too. Although it isn't explicitly stated in canon what Zeus' fatal flaw is, it's exceedingly obvious that it's paranoia and hunger for power, as well as his sexual infidelity.

I feel like we can easily knock some flaws off the list already:

Holding grudges is off the list for the main reason that, if there's one thing Apollo oozes, it's forgiveness, and the fact that he is always ready to give second chances to people who have wronged him and the world (Lityerses, Luguselwa, Meg, etc.)

For the same reason, I'm going to knock off wrath. Yes, he has moments of rage, but so does everybody else! It's human nature, and, as stated before, it's usually overshadowed by Apollo's choice to let go of that anger and choose forgiveness instead.

Ambition is an interesting one, but it's not at all something that really comes up in the series to the point where it ends up being powerful enough to be his fatal flaw. He rarely seeks power he didn't already have before, especially when you consider he is Zeus' most powerful son, and one of the most powerful gods period. Why would he need more power? Unless, of course, you choose to point out that one time he tried to overthrow Zeus, but I'd argue he was acting more out of a place of 'hey please be better at your job' than 'I want your title and position', which actually falls more under Poseidon's motivations in that myth.

Interestingly, there's a certain aspect of Apollo's character in the myths that totally screws the pooch in terms of this discussion, and that's the fact that Apollo, throughout the stories of Ancient Greece, is a typical example of perfection. Literally, he's written to be virtually flawless, the paragon of young men, and (in the context of Ancient Greek culture) doesn't have many moments of rage, selfishness, or paranoia, or at least, not as many as other gods (looking at you, Artemis).

HOWEVER, as much as the myths seemingly act like he doesn't have a glaringly obvious flaw, we as a part of Apollo's inner circle/audience know he's got one - I mean, look at him! It's in there somewhere, nobody's perfect, and I don't think anybody's pretending as such for Apollo. What irks me is that we know Apollo is not lacking in general character flaws, but there is one, beyond a doubt, that shapes his inner core irreversibly. And we don't know it.

Thankfully, though, we've got five books of content that might help us come to a conclusion.

The Hidden Oracle, being the beginning of the story and the beginning of Apollo's character development, is where we would get an inkling of what Apollo wants us to think his fatal flaw is. To us, Apollo appears vain, self-centered, and, frankly annoying. And he does these things on purpose. Or at least, he tells us these things.

That's the thing: if you look past all the fluff Apollo spits out to the audience throughout the first majority of the book, before his children are taken into the forest, you'd find that his dialogue, aka how the other characters of the story hear and see him, doesn't really reflect that. Most of the annoying, self-centered brattiness is only on the page, and not as obvious in his personal interactions (not saying they're not there, but it's so much worse in his internal monologue). So, what does this tell us?

That those aren't his fatal flaws. He's very good at pretending that they are, probably because, as I've read several other metas very cleverly explain, that this is what gods are supposed to be, and, Apollo, in his desperation be his father's golden child again (or, also to avoid his wrath, take that how you will) has built up a very elaborate mask for thousands of years, because that is what he is not. He's trying to be glossed over in the vast sea that is the gods, and it's not really working because, well, he got turned into a mortal. Again.

As we pass through books 2 and 3, we're still not quite past the whole "pretending to be petty and self-serving because this is what I am supposed to be as dictated by the laws of my immortal people and my father". That, almost certainly, doesn't come until the latter half of The Burning Maze. So it's further safe to assume that our best guess as to his fatal flaw probably coincides with his more honest moments with the audience, eg. books 4 and 5.

Now, I know a popular common answer to this whole question is that it's his ego and his pride. But here's the thing: as we move on to the second half of the series, we get an interesting revealing of Apollo's perception of himself. To put it plainly: Apollo is not a narcissist, as much as he pretends to be (see the above points). Honestly, he might actually hate himself and what he's become as he learns to take a more critical view of himself as the series goes on. Drawn in direct antithesis to his moments in the first two books, when he tells us that he assumes that anybody he meets is willing to help him, after the peak of his development (marked by his promise and Jason's subsequent death), this isn't the case. That's why I'm pretty okay with putting pride and ego towards the bottom of my list of possible fatal flaws for him.

Honestly, if I didn't know any better as we reach the end of the series, I'd say Apollo's fatal flaw might fall somewhere closer to poor self-esteem, insecurity and self-doubt, but for some reason, that doesn't quite fit. I'd argue that a lot of those feelings probably stem from being stuck in the inadequate body of a mortal with a tiny fraction of his usual power - of course he's going to feel like that. That, and it's almost the direct opposite of what his flaw is perceived to be by other sources, so it feels like too large a leap to me.

I'm deliberating from my point, which is this: I still have no clue what his fatal flaw is.

It's not:

narcissism

pride

OR on the other side of the spectrum:

low-self esteem

self-doubt

OR the list of things we knocked off earlier:

holding grudges

wrath

ambition

And when you compare to other characters he might also be like, I would argue he's a totally different animal. The only character I could see a similarity with is Percy. But, again, it's just not the same. Percy's flaw, excessive personal loyalty, still doesn't really fit because, while I'd argue that Apollo's never really put in a situation where he's had to choose to save the life a mortal friend over his task of restoring the Oracles, I do believe he has a strong sense of duty. No, I don't think he would sacrifice Meg's life to do that job, but it's not something we see him forced to pick between (that I can think of, at least). I like to think that, on one hand, Percy would flat-out refuse to do his duty to save the life of a friend out of principle, whereas Apollo might find a clever loophole to save the friend, do the duty, and end up doing harm to himself. If anything, while Percy would be ready to burn the world to save a friend, Apollo would be ready to burn himself first.

That, I think, is our biggest indicator. Apollo loves his friends and the world. He wears his heart on his sleeve, this is something the Triumvirate exploits to no end.

Athena tells Percy something in the PJO series (the Titan's Curse, I think?) and says that the most dangerous fatal flaws are the ones that are good in moderation. And, of course, Apollo is a main character, so naturally his fatal flaw will fall under this category.

I think Apollo's fatal flaw is of the same breed as Percy's, but isn't really the same creature. I'm sure there's a more eloquent way to put this, but it seems to me that his fatal flaw has something to do with his tendency to be self-sacrificing, easily forgiving, and empathetic. He's been stabbed in the back several times and every time chooses instead to show trust and camaraderie, to see the best in people, and give them another chance to prove themselves: with Meg, Crest, Lityerses, Luguselwa, Meg's adoptive siblings, and many, many more. That seems very dangerous in the wrong situation, yes? Especially someone in Apollo's position - there are plenty of bad people who would be ready to take advantage of this.

And what is a story if not the hero learning to overcome their fatal flaw? And, really what is the Trials of Apollo all about? How do we end? What choices does Apollo make for the future at the conclusion of the Tower of Nero that directly contradict his overwhelming urge to choose forgiveness and let others try again?

The Tower of Nero, Chapter 36

At the end of any good epic story, the hero learns to overcome their weaknesses and flaws and do the right thing regardless. For Apollo, this comes when he refuses to forgive one person: Zeus. Apollo ends his pentalogy with coming to an understanding of himself and his relationship with his father, learning to overcome that tendency see the best in everyone, and realize that not everyone can choose to change for the better like Apollo has.

EDIT: a masterlist of my other metas

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So... I found this and now it keeps coming to mind. You hear about "life-changing writing advice" all the time and usually its really not—but honestly this is it man.

I'm going to try it.

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i forgot that in the official art he has blue eyes

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Hey Bean, have you listened to Epic: the musical? If yes, any thoughts? If not, I think you'd like it (it's about the Odyssey btw)

maze!!!! been a bit!! how you doing!!!!!

epic has been on my watch later for so long now, i really do wanna get into it but the lack of proper captions in a lot of videos is a bit annoying haha

but this is the second friend of mine recommending this so maybe I'll give it a try !!!!

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Art I did for my part (1/3)

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finally read the tyrant's tomb today

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OR, hear me out, we get the culture fes but focusing on a different set of events from someone else's pov,,,,

So I guess there's no Kamiyama Culture Fest mix event since MIZU5 IS Kamiyama Culture Fest event?