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streets-in-paradise · 4 years ago

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Royal Treatment

Troy (2004) Reader Insert Fanfiction - Part 10

Word Count: + 9 K

Characters ( most mentioned) : Achilles, Mycenaean Princess!Reader, Helen, Patroclus, Ajax, Agamemnon, Menelaus.

Pairings: Achilles x Mycenaean Princess!Reader.

Warnings: Very light smutty undertones.

Summary: Since her last private encounter with Achilles left her with more doubts than certainties, the princess keeps trying to obtain a clear answer from him. During the celebrations, she comes up with an idea to test his interest.

Disclaimers: This was inspired by a mix of greek music ,various drum solos and improvisations of greek folk that I found on youtube and some mediterranean, egyptian and turkish music I have been listening to. Also, I want to apologise if part of this sucks. i’m still learning how to write some stuff and I don't know if this is as good as it was in my head when i pictured it.

Note: My use of the name Alexander here is only a reference. I know that’s how Paris was called in some versions of the myths and I’m only playing word games with that.

Tags: @yerevasunclair @mother-dearest-loves-me

The celebrations started with a short formal gathering in the throne room. The place was slowly getting crowder and the princess arrived later than usual but it wasn’t a concerning time range. Wordlessly, she returned to her spot alongside her father. She noticed the cup of wine he was holding and smiled to the pourer that remained close to him. The servant boy smiled back and the king looked at him like he was ready to order his execution. As a soft gesture of support against his bad mood, she holded his free hand. She knew that words of reassurance trying to explain herself or a convincing tale weren’t enough, so she tried something else. The sudden contact made him stare at her. He was still upset, she saw it in his eyes. Quickly, she changed the intention of her approach. Instead of acting like a caring daughter giving him reassurance, she showed the support of a loyal subdit. She kissed his knuckles and bowed her head in sign of respect, pretending to recognize his absolute authority over her. Agamemnon reacted positively, giving her a half smile that wasn’t exactly of approval but showed forgiveness. He was vainglorious about his self perceived but non existent mercy, appealing to that was more effective than trying to show affection.

The obsequious flatterers of the king started to gather around them, since that part of the festivities was nothing but an excuse to formally celebrate himself. Inevitably, some of the praise fell upon her and she kept her attitude towards it pleasing and passive, avoiding smart remarks or destacable commentary. She wished she could be left alone with her friends, but she had to keep performing for a bit longer. Helen was close to her and right next to her husband, but the distance that implied was a real bother. They shared some complicit glances despite being under the watch of the brothers.

Using their unexpected presence as an excuse to flatter their own egos, both kings started to show off some of the treasures of the conquest presented as gifts for the ladies. Argos wasn’t sacked, there was no need for excessive violence because Achilles speeded up their surrender. Still, as it did for other cities, their submission implied some concessions. Agamemnon got the military control of the land and demanded a share on the treasures of the city. Since he didn’t have a queen, his daughter had to occupy the passive role in his acts of ostentation. She had a collection of jewelry that was entirely based on stolen relics from every city he conquered, having at least one for every place. That wasn’t going to be the exception. The acquired riches were everything he had to brag about after Achilles took the symbolic glory. Knowing that most of the presents must have heard about what the warrior demanded of her, it was also a good way to reinforce her royal magnificence and the image of his control over her. On that occasion, the commemorative object of the victory she got was a necklace.

The young women were the centre of attention, as luxury objects whose value was being increased. Menelaus was acting like a loveful husband to Helen while he filled her with gifts from his share of the spoils, his older brother almost looked like a sweet, prideful father. The ceremonialize praise was hypocrisy, but it was fun for both girls to see their despicable owners pretending to be caring. Fortunately for their exhausted selves, the last and most expectant arrival stole all the attention.

As always, Achilles showed up very late. He tended to skip the pointless ceremonies that weren’t about him and he liked to leave his public hanging. Eudorus and Patroclus entered the room at his right and left side, wondering what he was going to do next. Without minding the context or any appearances of propriety, he walked right to the front of the crowd. Once he found his spot to stay, he blatantly stared at the ladies and saluted them from afar with a smile. Before his entrance, Agamemnon was in the middle of a self complacent speech that he interrupted. The sight of such a simple act creating more distraction irritated him even more. The king tried to save words with him, but Achilles robbed him of the speech before he could carry on.

“ My apologies to the ladies, I almost miss their honors.” He simply commented. “ Quite a charming pair, very sweet. I hope they enjoy what my effort got for them.”

The women stared at each other.

“ It’s not my wish to offend you, brave Achilles, but I don’t depreciate my husband’s courage.” Helen replied with extreme politeness.

“ Father knows my taste in jewelry.” was the princess’s defense.” And he is a smart strategist and clever politician. The brightest conductor of the army, of course.” She smiled to the king, trying to look like a sweet praiser. “ Your alliance is a treasure we must cherish because your accomplishments together are an honor to us all.”

” You honored me, I’m doing the same. “ the myrmidon replied.

“ It was no bother, the glory is yours. Nobody questions that.” The princess gave him the most formal answer that occurred to her in the moment.

Trying to keep with the ceremonial tone, she created an immediate distraction to relieve the tension of the moment.

“ Can we all thank this man as he deserves? This is an historical day for the city. He is the first fully consecrated hero in the times of my father.”

To her exhortation, claps and cheers filled the precinct. After that, Agamemnon decided to put an end to the formalities. There was no way of making it about himself again, so he concluded it. The festivities continued in the banquet hall.

Helen tried to reach her niece so they could do the short walk there together, but her very pleased husband stumbed in their way. Unlike his brother, he was radiant of pride because of the fervent defense that his wife did of him. If he didn’t love Helen, at least he loved how she made him feel.

Agamemnon grabbed his daughter by the wrist before she could escape to their side. Holding hands for the appearances, the started a whispered argument.

“ This is your second mistake in a row. What do i have to do with you?” He reprimanded her.

“ I got away from that shameful situation in the most elegant way, that’s what I’m supposed to do. If i were a man, I would have punched him.” She lied.

“ If you were a man, I wouldn't need him.”

“ Do you think that you would have had your own Hector of Troy if I would have been your baby boy? Quit dreaming, father. This is what you have, I do my best to serve you.“

“ You call this serving me??”

“ Who do you think I was serving when I agreed to bathe him ? Do you think that I enjoyed being degraded into servant work for him ? ” She fakely complained. ” I hate his petty audacious attitude as much as you do, but I stand him because it is what I have to do. You don’t know how hard I’m trying for you.”

She released herself from his grab.

The banquet involved less tension because the informal ambient demanded less interaction between them. She had to sit next to her father and keep with the good behaviour but the distractions kept him too busy to keep bothering her. She remained silent most of the time, but she didn't mind.

Achilles and Ajax were the centre of attention. They had a toast in their honor and people started doing them all sorts of questions. Ajax looked a bit upset because the myrmidon stole what he perceived as his chance to get major glory. He was doing a relatively good act pretending not to care about Achilles's decisive role in the victory and she felt a bit bad for him. One of her very short interventions on the talking was an attempt to validate him, but Agamemnon used her comment as a startpoint for malicious comparisons against Achilles. Using his massive amount of knowledge on heroic tales, Patroclus solved the situation. He did a magnificent defense of both heroes, talking about the complementary balance of their best traits with examples of some of their past feats. His eloquence was impressive for someone of his age, as it was his audacity to argue with the king.

Helen was having the time of her life just by witnessing how Menelaus's nervousness was growing at every instant. It was very strange for her to see him like that, fearing that anything could trigger a suspicious response from his brother. He was having a small sample of the life of lies he forced her into and she loved it. The funniest aspect about the situation was that Patroclus maintained a respectful tone the entire time. He was polite in his corrections and Agamemnon would have been the one looking bad if he would have reacted harshly.

While hearing their argument, Achilles glanced at the royal ladies for an instant. He noticed a slight change in his cousin's attitude, a rush of confidence that he wasn't expecting him to display at least there. He started suspecting their involvement and it's possible partial influence on him. The women glanced back innocently and the three shared their prideful approbation.

Patroclus's shift on the conversation frustrated the king's intentions of turning one hero against the other. Ajax got his well deserved acknowledgement and the curious boy took his chance to do all sorts of specific questions to him, giving him a moment to shine without entering in disputes with Achilles.

Since her comment started the argument,the young myrmidon tried to engage the princess in his rambling. She wasn't versed in the technical aspects of combat, but she tried to remain as a curious listener. Ajax's point, supported by the boy, was to affirm that he was the strongest man in Greece while Achilles was the fastest. He was trying to impress his listeners with less known anecdotes referring to that quality. Achilles didn't bother in refuting him and he barely paid attention because he was amusing himself by subtly ruining the girl's focus on whatever he was telling. Imperceptible gestures, smirks or just staring at her for longer than necessary were enough to achieve it. Staying concentrated in the talk was impossible for her, but she managed the situation adecuately.

When the meal concluded and the dancing started, Ajax offered her to join the festivities with him. She declined in favor of staying as Helen's companion. Ereny asked the princess's permission to be released from her daily duties and, once it was given to her, both handmaids got it. They knew that the young girl was going for the myrmidon captain and they wished her good luck.

The queen was left once more to witness how her husband chased the concubines. She didn't love him nor cared for what he did with them, but the blatant display was humiliating. She struggled to keep the appearances of love between them, but he made it harder everyday. The prideful public aspect of his cheating upsetted her because it was an insult to her pride as a woman. Her niece stayed with her, promising her that they would only have to wait until the brothers would leave the room with their respective companies.

She was feeling slightly disencouraged as well. That was a great time to lose herself in the dispersion of people, but there were too many stares following Achilles and she would never get there unnoticed. An insane amount of women were expectantly waiting to be chosen by him for the night. The ladies were competing for his attention, some being less subtle than others. She wasn't jealous, but she didn't want to engage in that game. She never tried to compete for attention and she wasn't sure of wanting to start there.

While she remained in her seat watching the crowd, her mind kept focused on one thought: Achilles seemed to fancy her in some way, but she still didn’t know how. She started fearing about the image he had of her. He described her as cute, he said that her face was adorable. Those were compliments fitting for a sweet girl, not an attractive woman.

She didn't have any certains but, if it was the case, she wished she could prove him wrong. He teased her for a very long while and she wanted revenge, but she was the princess and she couldn't allow herself such behaviour. She urged to show him how perfectly capable of displaying sensuality she was and the first thing that occurred to her was dancing.

She never showed off in public about the full capacity of her skills. Immediately as she got older enough to be allowed to stay late night in festivities, she got enraptured by the dancing of the concubines and she ended up learning to dance from them. She wanted to learn it only for herself, because she loved the graceful aesthetical aspects of the movements and she admired their performances. Her father didn’t allow her to do it but, like almost every other thing bringing joy to her life, she did it behind his back.

It was her secret talent. If she could disguise herself in the group of dancers to participate in their performance, it would be hard to difference her from the actual performers. With that in mind, she started imagining Achilles's reaction if he could see her dancing like that. She wondered if he would feel as teased as he made her feel, if he would acknowledge her womanhood and if he would want her.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Helen.

" Do we have to stay like this the entire time?" She complained.

" We have to wait until they leave. It’s the best for now. " The girl replied. " I don't get it. Does he enjoy himself thinking that everyone is watching him cheat on you or what? Anyone would expect that after the devotion you faked he would think it twice and be more discrete but no, there he is... making you look like a fool. "

" I'm thankful to get him away from me. I only wish he could have some decency and keep it private.” The queen confessed. ” I don't deserve this humiliation. I'm a good wife, I do everything he demands of me. All I ask in return is to be respected, at least in public." Her voice was breaking a bit.

“ It’s never enough with them, they only think about themselves. “ the princess reminded. her.” I think we should do the same more often.”

“ What we did classifies as such.”

“ It wasn’t entirely selfish. We saved lifes … and their egos from an historical defeat. I mean a bit of real selfishness. A good payback. ”

“ I just want to be left alone. A lover wouldn’t repair the scars in my pride.”

“Many men would give everything they have for a night with you.” The princess commented to her. “ Do you never feel the need of being desired by a man that you want? “

“ Where did your good judgement go?” Helen mocked her.

“ You know everything about my sentimental life, but we never talk about yours.”

“ What most of those men have to offer is not what I would wish.” The queen explained. “ I have experienced desire. If we are talking about impossible aspirations, I want love.”

“ Why choose? You can have both.”

“ What did I do of you? Are you hearing yourself? Aren’t you the same girl whose goal was to have a nicely arranged marriage planned by herself using political strategy ? ”

“ You don’t want me to give up on love. Why should I let you do it ?

" You know better than anyone why I have to."

" That's not going to happen. My mother was alone, we have each other." the princess remarked. " Look at what we accomplished. We stopped a massacre, made a new friend and I got closer to the man I love, more than I ever thought I would be. "

" I told you, it is too late for me. "

" Helen,I used to think that my feelings for Achilles were a fantasy. I was ready to accept it as a comforting dream and carry on with my life. Thanks to you, I changed my mind. " the girl explained. "You have helped me so much. How can you think that I wouldn't do the same for you? "

" I doubt I would find love in a place like this, but I appreciate your concern. " the queen stated.

" Promise me that, if you do someday, you will let me help instead of giving up."

" We won a battle, dear. Not the war. " Helen clarified.

" We can win many more. " her niece reassured her. " You deserve to be loved and to own your desire."

"To be honest, I feel I’m more aware of what I don’t like in a man than of my actual preferences. I don't know what i like anymore. "

" Don't worry. We have time, i would love to help you to rediscover your taste. If it is not now, we will keep digging into figuring it out."

" It's not wise to get involved with someone that would never be mine. "

" You know what? I think I overcomed that. '' the princess declared. " I don't care anymore. Maybe Achilles will never be mine and so what? I want to be with him, I don't mind how. Perhaps he will never make me his wife and that's fine, I don't need to own him to love him. Love is not only about marriage. If marriage can exist without love, love can exist outside of marriage and you can find it. "

“ You have to tell me now what happened in that excuse of a bathing ceremony.” Helen teased her, encouraged and excited.

The princess tried to explain it to her carefully, watching over her expressions and paranoidly checking for the presence of unwanted listeners. Listening to her cheered Helen up.

“ What are you doing sitting here? “ she reprimanded her.

“ If I’m going to do a move, it has to be safer than this. “ The girl clarified. “ I can’t risk being seen by my father or inspiring gossip.”

“ He could have kissed you right there. “

“ Reason in the form of Hesione stopped me from finding out if he would have .” The princess added. “ I don’t know if i can do it now. Have you seen all those women ready to step on each other's heads for him? I’m not going to do that.“

“ You don’t have to be part of that,you are one step ahead.” Helen stated “ If you want a moment to get things clear. This is it.”

With that, she dragged her up from her seat.

The young ladies mixed themselves in the crowd, trying to have fun on their own. The princess procured not to concentrate in trying to find Achilles and just enjoy herself in the company of her aunt. Helen’s mood improved from the brief downfall it had because she redirected her thoughts. Instead of thinking of the public humiliation brought to her by her husband’s behaviour, she focused on the victory over him that she got. She humiliated him indirectly, her actions caused a situation that made him feel like an idiot in front of his brother. Some justice was served that time and she was able to celebrate. It was a small triumph, but just thinking about that made her start laughing without an apparent reason. The sudden boost in her joyful mood started to manifest in her dancing.

The queen’s grace was famous, but Helen never looked prettier as she did when she was really happy. She irradiated her emotions and the ambient felt renewed around her. Bright of happiness, she started dancing right in front of the musicians and the magnetic effect of her approach made them play the same song for longer, just so she wouldn’t leave. The percussionist was jaw dropping with her and even the princess was impressed by how obvious he was.

He was bewitched, but not in a lustfull way. The handsome young man was worshipping Helen with his music and she started responding with her dancing straightly to him. Since she realized that her niece was right next to her evaluating the situation, she encouraged her to follow her moves instead of teasing them with stares. Then, both girls found themselves dancing for the musicians and letting themselves go to the beat of their music.

Unlike the queen, the princess tried to keep her moves as chaste and cheerful as possible. Still, forgetting all her concerns to the sound of the music almost ruined her intentions . The fastening of the beat betrayed her for an instant and some very inappropriate hip flicks she did under the influence of the stimulation around her impressed her dancing companion. She isolated the movement of her hips to the rhythm of the song with a great synchrony. Sharp hip flicks combined with contractions of the lower belly creating a single circled swing. Cheering from the crew of artists made her realize of how she let herself go completely and she calmed down, going back to her usual style.

It was too late, Helen was too curious to let it go. Once the song ended, she had to abandon her admiror. Then, she started questioning her.

“ What was that?? It was incredible! “ She complimented her.

“ Sorry. The beat was great and you were pushing me in the wrong direction.”

“ When were you going to tell me about this?” The queen recriminated her.

“ Our mystery is solved. I think you are into pretty boys worshipping you with respect. Sweet admiration, not those looks of when you know that the man is mentally undressing you.” The princess teased her to avoid the topic.

“ Don’t try to get away from this. “ Helen teased back. “ You have to teach me that.”

“ I lost control, I wasn’t supposed to do that here .” the princess excused herself.

“ You will explain to me later where that came from, now I want to learn how to move my hips like that.”

“ We all have our unique ways of expression. You have your makeup skills, I have this.” the girl joked. “ I didn’t mean to hide it from you, the occasion to show you never presented. “

“ It presented itself now.” Helen rectified. “ We have music and a proper space. “

She was reluctant, but agreed.

“ Only because it’s you who is asking. I owe you too much to say no.” She admitted. “ This is absolutely inappropriate so i will only show you hip moves. For a proper lesson, I need secrecy."

“ Forget protocols, we are having fun.” Helen encouraged her.

Her niece took the position of instructor and decomposed the otherwise integrated steps of the movement so Helen could learn it and copy it. Very slow like at first, the queen achieved it with great enthusiasm. The princess oriented her into repeating it a few times before trying to find a pace with the rhythm. She guided her into picking that pace and, soon, both were dancing at a matching tempo. Helen looked bright with happiness.

" I don't want to brag, but this makes me feel beautiful." she joked.

" It's not very lady-like, but it's fun." her niece replied.

They were being happy with themselves, not caring about anything else. The relegated corner of the place they picked as their fun zone wasn't the safest spot to feel some freedom, but it was the best they had. For once, they ignored the certain chances of attracting stares, the perceptions and everything that tied them. The princess showed the queen two more combinations of hip movements. They were trying hip locks to the sides when a sudden but partially expected intromision ruined their bubble of concentration.

" Watch out, princess. Those moves look so sharp that you could have cutted me with your hips." Achilles told the mycenaean as he passed by right next to her.

The sound of his voice was enough to make her jolt and she lost herself to it, immediately stopping what she was doing.

" I’m glad to see you having fun. I tought you weren't going to get up. " Patroclus cheerfully saluted them, appearing right after him.

Both ladies at once responded to his greetings.

" What are you doing over here?" Helen inquired. " We saw you dancing right in the center with some girls a while ago. You are doing great."

" To be fair, most only looked at me because I'm standing next to him." the boy admitted. " When we came nobody cared but now everyone does because they found out I'm the cousin of Achilles."

" I'm doomed to always being the daughter of Agamemnon, very few people care beyond that." the princess commented. " I treasure those and don't mind for the rest. "

" Don't worry. You will make a name for yourself soon and that will end." Helen added. " Younger noble girls from big cities can be like that but growing up makes them wiser. In a few years, you will start to be seen as yourself and they will adore you. "

Achilles was impressed by the soft naturality of their interactions. They were comforting him as close friends. He kept listening to their conversation.

" It's fine, It doesn't affect me that much. " Patroclus tried to explain himself better. " In fact, I'm hiding from your husband."

To the mention of him, Helen looked exasperated.

" What has he done now?"

" He was talking with Achilles and I was there with them. " the boy started telling them. " He must be too drunk to care about being too friendly. He started saying nice things about me and ended up offering me a woman. "

Helen got second hand embarrassment.

" I'm sorry, darling. Did he make you feel uncomfortable?"

" He said some stupid thing about how he had her before and she was perfect to make me a man. It was disgusting."

" That's the House of Atreus at it's best. Imagine them at their worst. " the princess added. " Ignore him, Pat. You may be too young, but are already a better man than him."

" I have faith in you." Helen emphasized. " I think you 'll be a great hero because your morals match your potential as a warrior. You will make us all proud."

" We love you. " the princess concluded. " Keep ignoring anything you hear from him or my father. They think they know better than everyone else but they are the worst combination of cruel and stupid. "

" I leave him with you just once and you are already pampering and overprotecting him?” Achilles commented, his mocking hiding a shade of happiness. " He knows that Menelaus is not a good example of what truly means to be a man. "

" He has you. " the queen complimented him. " You aren't perfect, but you are guiding him right. It doesn't matter how many battles you win. To me, he reflects the best of you. "

Patroclus smiled at her. Helen's praise impacted him in a positive way.

" She wasn't a strong supporter of you." The princess clarified. " Her opinion changed after meeting him."

" Spending so much time with people who love you changes the perspective. " The queen hinted, indirectly including her niece in the affirmation." I used to think you were a cold, emotionless man with no care for anything. Your bond with Patroclus is only one of many proofs of how wrong I was. I commited with you the same mistake everyone does with me: I judged you by what you appear to be. "

" Good, It's mutual." Achilles simply replied. " You are stronger than what I thought you could be. I started to see it in all the stories that your niece has told me about your shenanigans. I like you a lot more thanks to her."

" It's the first time ever when somebody likes me first. In Sparta, you will be addressed as Patroclus's cousin." the boy added, mocking him with pride.

" Seeing you again in my lands would bring me great joy. '' Helen stated." I hope that this shameful experience with Menelaus didn't scare you away."

" Don't worry, queen. " Achilles reassured her. "If you are guilty of anything, is of cherishing so much that he doesn't want to leave your side."

" I have new friends that like me for me. Get over it. " his little cousin kept joking.

" I celebrate it. They are a good influence for you. " Achilles replicated." Today you humiliated a king for the first time and you did it so cleverly that he couldn't find a way to argue. Agamemnon, of all kings. I can't be more proud. "

" He deserved it. He was trying to create spite between you and Ajax. That's low, even for someone like him. '' Patroclus explained.

" Thanks for helping me there. If it wasn't for you, he wouldn't have stopped until offending one using the other." The princess told him." Not so long before he used to say that Ajax was a brute fool from an insignificant kingdom, now he wants to make him the next Hercules. He is desperate, he wants so badly to get rid of your cousin that he is willing to accept any other who would obey him.``

" I feel bad for any contestant in the army aspiring to get the same glorification he has." the boy affirmed. " Achilles has you, that's a great advantage. They will never make it."

The princess laughed softly, glancing at the warrior.

Achilles's gaze followed hers, in complicity.

" You are the queen's favourite, you will run with the same advantage. "

" The bright daughter of the highest commander designs political strategies for you… All the rest are doomed."

" You are so sweet!" the princess thanked him.

" I don't see why not pointing it out. "

" Agamemnon is too foolish to see it, but you think like a politician." Helen told her.

" What's greatly convenient, because having to stand polítical tangles is what Achilles hates the most about his work. " Patroclus insisted.

" Odysseus had helped him with that countless times. " the young lady reminded him.

" He is a king, his polítical work is for his own benefit." Helen remarked. " I know they are good friends, but the goal of Odysseus's work is not to raise him up above all the heroes."

" His competence has no chance because now he has you aligned with him and working with his interests. Honestly? I think that's a bit unfair." Patroclus concluded.

" They must have their own tricks." Achilles defended himself. " I guess she is mine now."

" We shouldn't be discussing this here. " the princess warned them. " Can we bring up something else ? This is a party, we are supposed to talk trivial things. "

" Where did you learn to dance? " Helen asked, pretending to be innocently curious.

" Seriously??"

" It is a trivial topic. " the queen remarked before explaining herself to the recently arrived men. " What you just saw was me attempting to learn some incredible moves I saw her doing. I had no idea, it was a total surprise and I'm very curious."

" The story behind it is not as interesting as you think it is." the princess clarified.

" When she says that, assume the opposite." Achilles mocked her.

" I have been secretly involved in dance practices of the palace's concubines for years. I don't like to show it at parties because it is something I learned for my own gratification and my father is not supposed to find out. " She confessed " Helen looks so happy, she inspired me to relax and I forgot were I was."

" Wait, are you a dancer? That explains a lot of things. " Patroclus commented, impressed. " I wrecked you when we were trying to teach you self defense but I noticed that you have some flexibility. "

" It's nothing compared with what it requires to be a fighter. '' the princess corrected him. " Being more specific, I'm not a dancer because it's not my occupation. I learned from actual dancers and I practice for fun. It's very liberating for me, a great pastime during the absences of my father. "

" How is it that we keep discovering secrets of yours? " Achilles asked.

" You are one of the few who know me as i am. " she tried to explain herself. " I discovered my fascination with dancing right after I started being allowed to stay all the way during parties. I saw a performance and I knew then that I wanted to do that. I wasn't paying attention to the lustful men around the dancers, I loved their movements. Men may see it only as their entertainment, but the dance looks like a celebration of femminity. I wanted that."

" How did you do it?" Helen insisted.

" It took some time. " She started telling. " When Agamemnon saw me following the girls at a gathering because I was trying to learn from them he was scandalized. He forbade it to me, he said that dancers were whores and no daughter of his was going to humiliate him behaving like a whore. He tried to make it up for me by sending me to the temple of Artemis to dance with the priestesses."

" Of course, you had to learn from the virgins. How would you dare to question his expectations? " Helen joked, sarcastically following the line of the reasonament.

" It wasn’t my wish, I did it because he said it. Dancing like a priestess was not what I wanted.” the princess kept explaining “ I went to the temple, behaved well, learned what they wanted to teach me and worshipped the goddess in the ritual dances. The priestesses liked me and my father started bragging about how his girl was so pure that the temple of the virgin goddess wanted her."

" He didn't let them have you because he needs grandchildren if he wants his bloodline to continue. " Patroclus guessed.

" I wouldn't have joined them. I honor the gods and sometimes i pray, but i never felt loved by any of them. I respect the dedication of their priestesses, they find fullfilment in serving them. It's not for me, I never felt the mistic call. " She commented. “I did what I was sent to do, I was respectful and that was the end of it. It didn't erase my original interest for the profane dances as Agamemnon thought it would."

Helen laughed briefly. It was always funny to hear examples of the complete ignorance about the sensibilities of women that the Atrides had.

" I waited until his next absence and I went to learn with the concubines of the palace. " The princess kept explaining. " They are not used to being respected by ladies. When I told them that I admired their dancing and I wanted to learn from them they didn't know what to say. It must have impacted them, because they agreed to instruct me in secret. That's how I learned. I keep joining their practices when I can. It helps me to relieve tension and it is my secret way of self expression."

" You managed to make yourself be equally liked by temple maidens and palace dancers? You are a true politician, even outside of politics." Achilles pointed out.

His comment made her smile.

“ Now that I think about it, It is the first time I see you dancing. I didn’t have the pleasure at the wedding party.” He reminded her.

“ I didn’t dance much that time and, certainly, not as i like to when I’m not being watched.” She replied.” This was an accident, Helen was flirting with one of the musicians and the ambient inspired me to lose control.”

“ I wasn’t flirting, I was dancing to his interpretation.” The queen defended herself.

“ You don’t need excuses with us. If you want me to kill your husband, just make a sign.” Achilles joked.

Helen laughed more than what she should have.

“ She is thinking about it!” Patroclus added, cracking of laughter.

“ It is not worthy to ruin your reputation for it, but thanks for the offer.”

“ It can be an accident in the middle of a battle. We can say that he got in the way of my spear.”

The princess laughed harder then.

“ See? She gets me.” The warrior commented.

“ It’s the same kind of grim joke I would have made.” She explained, still laughing.

They shared glances, looking deeply into each other’s eyes for an instant.

“ Do you want to dance with me?” Achilles offered her. “ We couldn’t last time and you are making me curious..”

She took his hand as a sign of approval, smiling with delight.

“ You can dance with me, Helen.” Patroclus playfully added, remarking how they seemed to have forgotten of them.

Helen grabbed his hand and both were laughing,

They walked following the intensity of the music’s sound with the intention of finding the group of musicians again. When they resumed dancing the princess stopped caring about anything else but her partner. It was reciprocal, because Achilles couldn’t take his eyes off her. Remembering some of the wild thoughts she have had before, she unveiled her sensuality for him within her dancing. Her movements were like a soft tease implying that there was so much more that she could be showing to him if the show would have been private. Her hips, waist and chest were the areas of her body that the moves highlighted. Combined with the graceful gesticulation of her hands and arms, it was a very appealing sight.

She knew that he wasn't able to touch her more than what would look necessary because of the context and she was using it at her advantage. Still, since he wasn't able to express himself with actions, he did it with words.

In a particular moment, when he ended up behind her while she was doing torso undulations, he got a chance to grab her hips and whisper close to her ear.

" You should have done this in Phthia, behind closed gates."

They were so close that he was able to smell the scent of her hair.

" It wasn't the right time, but if you invite me back i can take my dancer suit for a private performance." Was her tempting reply. " I have one, you know? My friends helped me to make it."

" I don't think I would let you go after that."

She was melting, her heart was throbbing and her head racing with thoughts of him. However, she did her best to keep going as before because she needed to feel sure of being a woman in his eyes.

While his hands were still on her hips, she changed the move and started doing internal hip circles. The sharp motion, first of her right hip and then the left, incited him to pull away one hand at the time, following the rhythm of her every action. The roundness of the hip rotation made her push her butt slightly against him in a movement that looked accidental but didn't feel as such.

She put some distance between them, enough to spin around and face him again. The song ended shortly afterwards.

" Sorry, It was the music. I almost forgot that you were there. " She apologised, faking innocence.

" Some people may be staring ... Don't you care for discretion anymore?" He teased her.

“ Most people here are drunk. They couldn’t care less, I couldn't care less.” She answered. “ Besides, this was pretty discrete compared to what I can actually do.”

“ Why are you doing this? ”

“ Because I want.” She simply admitted. “ You are the only man I ever wanted to dance for, the first one who has me like this.”

It was a strange confession of feelings. Metaphorically disguised, but it was there.

Achilles didn’t answer. Not because he didn’t wish to, he couldn’t do that at the moment. First, because of the context surrounding them but mostly, because it wasn’t a good time to be open with her. He didn’t want her to confound his own growing feelings for her with a rush of lust. He cared deeply for her, it started fast and it took him by surprise. He felt good having her in his life, even when it was at moments. After each of their reunions he felt a bit more infatuated.

Right there, she was making his body crave for hers, but he didn’t want that to be his first response to her affections. He guessed that she was acting so sensually because she wanted to confess herself but didn’t know how. He thought that she must have heard that was the way in which he prefered to be approached, that she had to make herself be wanted for him. He would have lied if he would have denied that he was enjoying it, but he was trying to avoid thinking with his crotch.

She had given him plenty of subtle signs about her feelings before and he never gave her a direct answer, mostly because he didn't find a good moment for it and part of him felt like he couldn't allow himself to do it. He didn’t want her to assume that he only reacted then because he was horny.

He was trying to do better for her, but she didn’t understand it like that at first.

The princess interpreted his silence as rejection. For the sake of her own pride, she pretended not care. She kissed his cheek,smiled at him and went back to Helen’s side. For the rest of the night,she tried to carry on as it never happened. Internally, she felt stupid, but it was the only way she found to overcome it.

She focused again on helping Helen. Acting carelessly, the first thing she did afterwards was to take advantage of a short pause of the music to talk to the man she was sharing glances with as a way to stimulate her to get closer. The princess started by praising his playing and asking his name in front of her and Patroclus. Smiling proudly, he told them to address him as Alexander. The princess didn’t hesitate in starting calling him Alex. He was very respectful, especially of the queen. He expressed his admiration for her in a kind way and didn't attempt anything on her, clearly seeing her as unreachable. Helen seemed to enjoy his harmless attention. In the conversation, they also found out that Patroclus had musical inclinations. Alexander was a percussionist playing Toubeleki and Patroclus made his contribution to the small talk speaking about his experiences learning to play the khitara. Helen was grateful for the care of her friends, both trying to make efforts for her just because they saw her getting along with him. For obvious reasons, the talk was short, but it was a good start.

They lost sight of Achilles and the princess was secretly relieved for it. She was mortified thinking that her attempt of pursuing him ruined everything between them. Over the course of the party, the three stayed together because they were already comfortable enough with each other.

They got involved in trivial talks with many different people. At one moment, they crossed paths again with Ajax while they were waiting for servants to bring them something to drink. The salaminian hero was doing the same and he greeted their encounter. He was a bit tipsy, but he was good company because he was funnier to be around than what most people assumed. The four fooled around together for a while. They were drinking and joking and the princess almost forgot how bad she was feeling, until he reminded her that she still owed him a dance because he was the first one trying to get her away from the table. He was just joking and It wasn’t his fault, so she tried to keep being sweet to him. Her polite reply explained her refusal linking it to his circumstantial state. Avoiding to sound mean, harsh or sarcastic, she promised him that she was going to dance with him the next time she would find him sober. Fortunately, It made him laugh.

He resumed their previous conversation in an infinitely less formal way, saying that he was perfectly fine because he was the strongest man in Greece and the effect of a few drinks weren’t an impediment for him. He told them that he could show them on the spot how he was able to lift both women from the ground at the same time and Helen considered the discussion about his state over, fearing that he would actually try it. She felt relatively comfortable with him and it was a grateful surprise. For such an intimidant looking man, he was very nice and likeable. After sharing some more laughs, she ended up dancing with him.

Their brief encounter cheered the princess up a bit, simply because it was very hard not to laugh with the amount of funny insanity that they came up with. Still, she kept feeling out of place, like if nobody really needed her there. Helen was probably waiting until the end so she could have a longer conversation with the percussionist and Patroclus deserved some time to have fun on his own if he wanted that. She couldn’t help to think that she was ruining the party for them . Openly expressing her wish of not being followed, she excused herself saying that she had enough fun, was too tired and prefered to rest. She hugged her friends, thanking them for their company and wishing them goodnight.

In her walk to her bedroom,the princess speeded up her pace to avoid being disturbed. She didn’t want to be approached by anyone else, wishing to forget about her feelings of shame. She almost reached her destination, but the hold of Achilles's strong arms deviated her in an empty hall.

“I can't deal with this now. " she admitted. " Would you let me go? I will talk to you in the morning"

" If we wait any longer, we will never do it. " He stated, embracing her waist.

" What are you talking about??" She complained.

“ Don’t play the fool now. You can’t try to hide anymore.”

" I know that I ruined everything. "

While hearing her, he seemed slightly confused.

" By now, you must know how I feel for you. '' She explained herself. " I may be good at reading the feelings of others, but I get easily overwhelmed by mines... I have spent my lifetime training myself to suppress them, I don't understand myself sometimes... I wanted you to see me as the woman I am because only then I could make you understand how I feel."

Her explanation made him chuckle for an instant.

" What's so funny ??." She tried to pull away from his contact, but he was obviously stronger than her.

" I see you as a woman, I have always done it. " He replied.

" I know how you act around the women that you like. It is not how you acted with me. "

" Do you think that I don't want you?" A light chuckle escaped from his lips again. " You are so lovely."

" That's it. I'm always the sweet innocent lamb, I can't escape from that. " She complained. " I'm a living, breathing woman with feelings and desires. "

" I'm aware of that. " He reassured her. " That was a very interesting reminder of it, but I know it."

" Then why do you keep ignoring me? " Her voice showed frustration.

" Things between us are not so easy. "

" You know, before you start thinking about it, I have to say that stepping into helping you was a choice I made based on my convictions. " She clarified. " I believe in you, I didn't do it looking for any retributions. Even if you don't correspond my feelings, that wouldn't change anything. I'm still commited to our pact."

" Calm down." He caressed her hair. " Can you stop assuming that I think the worst of you? I don't."

" I don't know what else to do to get a concrete answer from you.” She insisted. “I just want that. I don't mind the outcome. If you don't feel the same, I will respect it. "

Then, he crashed his lips against hers. It was a sweet kiss, intended to serve as a response confessing his affections, but it was charged with the passion of the long craving for it that he also had. She was in such bliss that he felt her body trembling.

He smiled against her lips.

" Are you alright?"

" It’s the longing. " was all she could answer.

“ You didn't have to do anything else to get me. " He clarified. “ I liked you in Sparta, now i think it’s something more than that.”

" I haven't stopped thinking about you since the day we met." She confessed. " I didn't know then that it was going to get that far, but here i am."

.” Odysseus spent half of the way back telling me to stay away from you like a father scaring away a suitor that he dislikes. “ He confessed. “ I did it for a good long while, but you came to me on your own and you dazzled me."

" He doesn't dislike you, you are his friend. " She clarified " He knows of somebody who hates you and he tries to protect me from him. "

" I will never allow that old drunk to hurt you. " He said, in what sounded like a promise.

" Would you steal me from him?" She playfully joked.

" If it's what I have to do to keep you safe, I would."

She kissed him, clinging onto him and refusing to pull away until being breathless. In that act, she condensed years of hidden adoration for him and all her hopes.

Achilles felt it, and he couldn’t help to love her for it.

“ My room is close. “ She offered. “ It’s safer to continue there.”

She giggled and headed first. It wasn't wise of them to be seen getting inside there together, so they had to do it in turns.

The princess arrived first, leaving the door unlocked. Her heart was racing with expectancy. The warrior appeared shortly afterwards, closing the door behind them. Immediately after seeing him, she kissed him again.

" Slow down, lioness." He teased her after she finally pulled away.

" I wish I could." she joked in reply.

" This is what I mean when I say that you are adorable, not that I see you as a cute little girl. " He commented." You are so tender, it gets me."

" Really?" She asked, impressed.

" I love it. " He answered, honestly. " I also loved what you did for me tonight. "

" It didn't look like that. " She pointed out.

" It didn't have to look like that. It was dangerous. " He reminded her. " I like some risk, but you took a pointless one."

" I wanted you to want me and I think it worked."

" You need to know that I don't want you because you did that.” He confessed. “ I want you for you and I want all of you, not just this."

" Then take me." Her proposition sounded like a beg. " I'm ready." She was talking against his lips, holding his hands and pushing them against her body.

" Not tonight, princess." He was teasing her, his cheeky tone got on her nerves.

" Why?? " She complained, her frustration almost made her raise the tone of her voice. “ I want to be with you, I don’t care for anything else. Father will end up selling me for power anyways, It will be the buyer’s problem. ”

" You didn't let me finish." He corrected her. " I'm not going to take you for myself tonight. " He explained as he started to leave a trail of kisses from her jaw in direction to her neck. " But I have many other ways to show you how good you make me feel. "

She gasped and he smiled against her skin.

" The massage was amazing. " He added as he kept descending. " And that dance? You are spoiling me, that’s royal treatment."

" There is nothing I wouldn't do for you."

He stopped for an instant just so he could look at her in the eye, feel the intensity of her love, and kiss her lips once more.

#troy 2004 #troy #troy (2004)#troy 2004 fanfiction #troy fanfiction #achilles #helen of troy #patroclus #ajax #brad pitt #diane kruger #garrett hedlund #reader insert fanfiction #achilles x reader #female reader

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gascon-en-exil · 4 years ago

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Dark Deity Pre-Release Character Opinions

This isn't actually a tier list, but someone helpfully created a template for this game and it's as good a way as any to do a little visual showcase for this cast. Characters are listed by their class sets, which are fixed but offer a nice variety in terms of promotion options. My opinions on each are as follows, from left to right in each row. Most characters have introductory profiles written up on the DD subreddit, if you'd like to check them out yourself.

Warriors

Alexa

You know those buff female blacksmiths in Echoes and Three Houses that some people wish were playable characters? That's pretty much Alexa. Can't say I'm too hyped about her myself, but warrior + tomboyish female character will do that for me...or not do it, I suppose.

Benji

Seems to have been written to become a meme, and I still can't decide whether that's clever or stupid. Kind of like Raphael only with a bigger emphasis on training than on eating, and with brotherly devotion replaced with brotherly angst that might theoretically go somewhere if the character isn't reduced to being a goofy joke all the time.

Fenton

Doesn't have a character profile, so as far as I know he's just a generic dwarf because DD swaps out its inspiration's loli dragons and other vaguely fetishistic shapeshifters for the two most cliché non-human races in Western fantasy. I wonder whether his VA will voice him with a Scottish accent, to go all in on the (ironic?) laziness. There are a handful of elves in the playable cast, but Fenton is the only dwarf so for better or worse he's representing.

Helena

She's the embodiment of the FE exotic swordswoman archetype, but curiously DD seems to have turned that broad ethnic brush inward. Helena's last name is apparently a Japanese verb, her art shows her with a spear (as in the association of the naginata with women), and she studied and trained in a monastery that seems to blend elements of Buddhism and Shintoism. Not sure how all that fits into the larger setting yet, but at this point she's still got more background development than Petra.

Irving

Our Hero, the one front and center on the cover art. He sounds a bit on the blander side as far as lords or lord equivalents go, with his most promising hook for me being his established friendship with Garrick (see the ranger section). At best I can hope for a bit of a romantic friendship dynamic, although they sound a bit rougher overall as they're military academy schoolmates I wonder why DD went with that instead of lordlings of different territories.

Rogues

Brooke

Looks like Camilla; has a backstory like Niles. Cleavage aside though the sexual element of both is toned down here, and there might be some sapphic bodyguard shenanigans to be had as her current employers are a pair of highborn sisters further down this list.

Cia

For some reason she reminds me of Tressa from Octopath Traveler, only bustier and a bartender rather than a merchant. She's still just a small town girl with big city dreams, and this being a tactical war game following those dreams will inevitably involve stabbing people.

Corvan

Hard to judge him at the moment, as his profile was only the second written and so isn't terribly detailed. He's a moon elf with scholarly interests, apparently. Still, as of right now he's the only rogue who doesn't slot loosely into either a ninja/assassin or pirate aesthetic, so that's kind of neat. Also, he's one of several characters to have FEH-esque beach fanart made of them already, so clearly someone's into elf twinks.

Ford

A former officer at the military academy Irving attends and a smuggler who dotes on his niece, Ford has major dad energy. Per developer reveals he's also bi, and as I mentioned before I'm totally fine with that. More bear sex, please - but what guy in this cast would hop in the sack with Ford? Only time will tell. His personal skill makes him extra dodgy, which combined with the mug of booze in his art makes me think of WoW brewmasters who dodge-tank through the power of being wasted.

Wren

Like Brooke, he's an assassin from a foreign nation - in his case the same one as Helena so presumably he's a not!Japanese ninja. I'm not really feeling him at the moment. What is it about Hao'Fen (the city/territory he and Helena come from) and massive families? That comes up in both their backstories.

Rangers

Caius

I feel like this is the third or fourth character to grow up in some slum or other; at least they've all been in different towns so far. The relative rarity of noble characters is certainly different from FE, but it reduces the political stakes which leaves me wondering a bit about the story. Anyway, Caius is a small town desert hunter who learned how to make arrows out of animal bones. How aerodynamic is bone, I wonder?

Garrick

Irving's BFF and seemingly the Hector to Irving's Eliwood, only with more flirting (his intro doesn't specify that Garrick is flirting with women, but I'm not going so far as to say that indicates anything). He's the academy headmaster's son, with a strained relationship with his father for some of that hotheaded lead tension. Notably, his VA is the one I'm most familiar with in this cast, as he's the voice of Revali from Breath of the Wild as well as love interests in two different erotic gay dating sims I've played. In other words, I know what this guy sounds like making awkwardly simulated sex noises...and I have no idea what to do with that information.

Maeve

She's a half-elf with a very storied background, so much so that it's all rather hard to follow her exploits when little of what's being described has been fully revealed yet. I'm expecting her to be a mid/lategame recruit, unless she's dropped in early on to reveal that (sun) elves exist or something.

Rose

Imagine if Bernadetta were a commoner, although we can only hope they'll be less screaming. Alternatively, Neimi without an obvious boyfriend. She won the beach contest so now she has official swimsuit art, which I guess makes her a top-tier waifu in the eyes of players who care about such things.

Sophia

A ranger in the "has animal companions" sense, although whether that will come into play mechanically aside from her personal skill - Butter the ferret can attack with her! - remains to be seen. Her preference for the company of animals is explained by a lack of social graces, so prepare for klutz-related humor. Of note to those interested in F/F is that her introduction specifically brings up her connection with Sloane (see the mage section) and how close the two of them are.

Clerics

Faust

Doesn't have a profile yet, so not much to go off other than his decidedly unhinged look. The cleric class set does feature some darker-flavored options, so presumably he's more naturally aligned with those. His VA was announced to be the YouTuber behind So This is Basically Fire Emblem and other similar videos, so I'm picturing a kooky and somewhat demented Henry type.

Lincoln

Also lacks a profile at time of writing...clerics get so little love. The Discord has identified him a bland blond paladin sort, but as we know from the likes of Perceval and especially Dimitri that doesn't necessarily mean he'll be boring (or not gay).

Maren

The soft-spoken healer type, and also a childhood friend of Garrick although her intro sibling-zones him but then this game is inspired by FE so who knows if that'll stick. She may have some interesting thoughts on the theology of the setting, as there seem to be several faiths and she's said to have a complicated relationship with her own. I will be utterly shocked if she's not either Irving or Garrick's eventual love interest.

Samara

One of two princesses of the country of Aramor, which appears to be loosely inspired by the Middle East. Heaven help us if the Khalidstans ever get wind of this game. Unfortunately aside from her bond with her older sister (in the mage section) and the knowledge that Brooke has been hired as their bodyguard there's not much to Samara at the moment. Hopefully the clerics all do some comparative theology in their bond conversations, and this isn't like Sacred Stones where none of the clergy characters from different countries ever compare notes. The succession crisis involving Samara and her sister vs. their less-loved cousin the king's son might be a major plot hook? It's still too early to tell.

Vesta

Much like Maeve her backstory has entirely too much going on to really follow at the moment. Basically she's a human who grew up in a sun elf city because Reasons (seriously, I don't know what they are) and was called to a clerical vocation and also something about taking a journey. Has an unfortunate case of silly boob armor, which unlike a certain other character probably won't be rectified this close to release.

Mages

Alden

Maren's precocious younger brother, also basically Ricken up to and including the comically oversized hat. As a unit he follows the tradition of Donnel, Mozu, and Cyril of having a personal skill that buffs his stat gains, so it's safe to say he's a growth unit. At least he'll probably join early.

Liberty

Comes with dead brother angst and a connection to the "aspects" system that will hopefully make more sense once I've played the game and know how it functions both mechanically and from a storytelling perspective. Otherwise she looks to be a busty older - as in, not a teenage - mage in the vein of Calill.

Monroe

Got the first ever character profile, so it's really short. He's the son of a duke and sounds like a bit of a snob, albeit one that can make explosions happen to back up his haughtiness. He's got some scarring around his eye that surely must come with a story. Someone also made featured fanart of him in Heroes summer banner style, so I guess he's got somebody horny already.

Sara

Samara's half-sister, with comparable fantasy Middle Eastern flavoring. Has an interest in discovering magical artifacts and being a just ruler in the event she winds up on the throne (so, almost definitely), and she and Samara travel around with the assassin Brooke as their bodyguard. There's maybe some lesbian possibilities there? Either way, Sara has enough development where I could see her as a major supporting character.

Sloane

Comes with a genuinely fascinating backstory involving manipulative double-crossing parents, an education in the cruelties and deceptions of social life (reflected in her personal skill), and disinheritance - and yet it's all likely to be overshadowed because she may go down as DD's equivalent to Fates's face-touching. Her initial art is even more revealing than Camilla's, and while the developers later gave her a more modest redesign after negative feedback I get the feeling that this controversy may live on. Her introduction mentions her hunting for both heirs and heiresses and she's now been linked to Sophia, so safe to say she's another confirmed bi character.

Adepts

While the other class sets are standard fantasy fare adepts require a bit more explanation. They have innate magical abilities and appear to be feared and distrusted most places in the setting. Functionally they remind me of adepts from the Golden Sun series, if anyone is familiar with those games. The classes in the adept group tend more toward physical/magical hybridization than those of other sets, so that will probably be their mechanical niche. Oh, and their default weapon type is lances, which is a plus in my book.

Aurima

Along with Caius and the royal sisters, he's another one from the desert nation of Aramor. An arena fighter who got touched by a god in what I assume was a non-sexual way and came out of it with a new appearance and adept powers. Also, he's confirmed to be over 40 - how often do you see that in games like this?

Bianca

Looks like a more carefree Mathilda from Echoes. She's a ranking officer in the Delian army which sounds like it'd sit uneasily with her adept powers. Her profile describes Lincoln as her close friend, which is still about the most we know about him at this point.

Elias

This guy's writing plays more into the fairly standard coding that comes with adept powers, as we know they manifested shortly before he was going to confess his feelings to a male paramour and afterwards he was forced to flee his homeland and wander the world. He also spent time among dwarves, so insert short bear jokes here? In the present he's attached to Cia in what seems to be a platonic way; maybe she's a fruit fly, or maybe she just likes having a friend who can light drunken assholes on fire? Elias is definitely into guys, but I would still be a little surprised if he turned out to be totally gay as that's such a rarity in these sorts of things.

Iris

Oof, another lengthy and rough backstory. Iris had better parents than Sloane, but she also had to deal with permanent facial scarring (hence the mask) after a bandit kidnapping and the stigma of manifesting as an adept pretty much eliminating the prospects of her making a good political marriage. Also, she and Elias both come from Neullais, which is prominently featured on the continental map on the DD subreddit but doesn't seem to come up all too often in backstories. I think it's a not!France? Hard to tell.

Thae'lanel

A World of Warcraft blood elf, flowing anime hair and apostrophe'd name and all. I like WoW so that's not terribly grating, but as he has no profile yet there's little else I can say. Thae'lanel is mentioned in Maeve's introduction as a member of a sun elf group called the Exiled, which I'm guessing is tied to his adept status in some way. He and Maeve form yet another adventurer/bodyguard duo.

#Dark Deity #Fire Emblem #Well it's sort of FE

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throwaninkpot · 4 years ago

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RotT reactions part 2!

costis, what are you doing here, shouldn't you be in roa? shouldn't you be with kamet? costis, where's kamet? what happened to him? tell me!

"who really owns anything?" eugenides, you utter meme.

if tattoos a custom in eddis, does. .....does helen have tattoos? oh my word, please tell me helen has tattoos, she would look so cool.

so, so, so, horrible invasion, giant army, logistics of war. it's very terrible and interesting, but where kamet? where my boy? is he okay? costis just LEFT him behind, bc he had to get word back to attolia, I don't blame him, I love him. but is kamet okay????????????????????

rip to all the cottage fic people probably wrote about the two having a chill time in roa. (idk, I haven't checked.) megan said we can't have nice things.

"find yourselves another king" uhhhhhhh, gen?

gen said no more king, now only Thief and Hot Consort To The Sexy Queen.

awww, sophos gave him a book of poetry for his birthday. I love sophos.

"attolia says she leaves with you" *spends several long minutes clutching at my chest repeatedly as I am Overwhelmed*

you know the quote in koa about a careful dance of shafow and unsubstance but under it all, a real marriage of two people? that's literally this. the queen is surely calculated her possible responses to gen, amd this is either a Pointed Message to gen or to the barons, and I'm still not sure what gen is up to actually, but also. she loves him, guys. they're in love. "she leaves with you". they're in love.

"I asked her to leave with me on our wedding night" of course he did.

"except me, I can do anything I want" :'D

they're too soft. I cannot.

go, costis! save your boy!

..........is this where I formally apologize for rolling my eyes back in 2016 when people shipped teleus/relius? I genuinely did not see this coming.

megan said okay, we've been on our best behavior, it's been 25 years, she will sprinkle in a little canon queerness. and then upended a flour sack of it on us.

"he had to bend to keep his lips on hers until she reached the ground" they're too cute, this is illegal.

oh, now THAT'S some soap opera level nonsense. how awkward was it for gen and helen knowing his father was a spurned lover of her mother

sometimes soldiers. I am eating this stuff up.

they get no apology. h*ck the pents. maybe they should have chosen an ambassador that didn't force himself upon women.

"where sounis's father positively beamed with approval at his son, eddis's minister of war glowered. the high king, slumped in his seat, catching his father's glare, slumped even further." it be like that.

ten to one. oof, oof, oof.

okay, the solution is, one of gen's sisters should beat up cleon and therespides.

gen. you were the one paying him. I don't know why I'm ever surprised by the tangled schemes you wrap yourself up in.

every scene that the four monarchs are together, just having a good time and loving each other and sounding so much like the young people they are, every time, it makes me happy.

the fandom tried to figure out at what age boys left the dorms in Eddis, didn't we? I think we settled on 12 or 13. gen killed someone before he was 13. hachi machi.

he called him "my brother sounis". awww.

"without cheating" is that what we're calling godly visits now

eugenides will give me a heart attack, I swear.

they call it return of the thief bc this is the most like himself gen has acted since the crenellations in KoA.

(fitting that this is the book with a neuroduvergent pov, bc I have never happy stimmed more in my life than during the chase scene.)

when he starts windmilling, now I am afraid. oh please, megan, don't let him be hurt.

thank the gods.

helen wearing an eddisian uniform. heck yeah! gnc helen rights continue!

"it was the last lighthearted moment for a long time" :(

they're leaving the city, and I'm suddenly remember the comment from back in book of pheris 1 about an attack by a tomb. am afraid.

it's loving the magus o' clock. he treats pheris so well.

irenides baby......2!!!!

"I don't understand" you and me both, sophos.

"I think they have to show their worst selves sometimes in order to be sure that even at their worst they are loved" I need a minute.

I love tactics and logistics, but I wish I could picture this my head. the map doesn't actually help me figure out where the forces are in perspective.

megan really wasn't exaggerating when she said eugenides's first reaction to seeing an elephant is "I want to steal one."

"he muscled up his other arm and said he would destroy the Medes single-handed" these books are giving me a stroke. megan, that pun was beautiful.

"I have found Kamet!" I'm going to be sick. he had better be okay. he was supposed to be free of nahuseresh.

nasty man had better be lying. my kamet had better be okay.

oh, costis. okay, okay, alright.

why is cleon's death so sombering. I think it's bc I just reread "Thief!", and met him as a teenager in that. I think it's bc it says he's one of three cousins that died that day, and gen already lost so many cousins during the war in QoA. I loved the country of eddis when I was first reading these books and forever after that, bc it's so full. there's a very communal child-rearing system and gen has these packs of cousins, even if most of them spent their childhood bullying him, I loved the idea of having so much family around you. he's running out of family.

oh. I went back to reading from writing that, and. stenides. oh.

I said I wanted gen's siblings, but not like this.

well, here's some cairns. presumably the tombs pheris's foreshadowed earlier. here we go, something bad is going to happen.

Something Bad Happened.

oh, no, Hilarion. D:

*tiffany haddish voice* NOMENUS??? HOW COULD YOU DO THIS. I PUT YOU ON MY BINGO.

the man at the cairn. the god on the battlefield that megan referenced? but eugenides called him a dead man. so not a god. so, did he recognize him as someone he knew to be dead?

"my cousins know not to trust my tears" once again, gen's hail mary is the fact he's a little snipe.

he says he needs a heavier rain, and the gods deliver.

f in chat for nomenus. he was a snake, but still.

"and by my oath to my god, now and for my life, Thief of Eddis." YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, Philo. :(

rip to Legarus and his Awesome Beauty.

they want to kill gen in The Thief? eddis's council wanted to kill him? I'm reeling from all the backstory this book is revealing.

not quite how I had the apotheosis pictured, and yet. *sufjan steven's ascension plays in the background*

"I say it three times, Fordad. It will be so. It will be so. It will be so." holy heck.

someone get in here and analyze that for biblical symbolism.

HE CALLED DOWN LIGHTNING. HOLY

narration only calls him eugenides in that scene with the lightning. significant.

"feeling the tremor in it, he opened his arms to catch the king as he fell." he has fallen and been caught by his god and fallen and been caught by his dad.

I think we'll call the interregnum an interlude into the underworld, if not a journey into.

oh, gods, relius.

for a former spymaster, he sure trusted too easily.

he could have had his farm in the gede valley, but he stayed to help irene and gen. oh, relius, relius.

sejanus has a saving grace afterall.

dite and sejanus protecting each other, and pretending to hate each other so that sejanus at least can be on good terms with their father, that all clicks into place when you know about their older brother who they probably loved just as much.

crying crying crying over Sejanus and Pheris.

the minster of war. D:

at least nahuseresh is dead.

gen lay down to sleep by his father's corpse.

the patrimony divided in three. a triangle.

sophos/helen baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love that gen, knowing his cousin and also being a little sneak who notices everything, figured out helen was pregnant before sophos even did.

f for sejanus. he wasn't as bad as he seemed, and not nearly as bad as he almost was.

oh, xenophon died, too. he of the wooden cannons and receiver of the infamous "I love stupid plans" line.

why is everyone dead. :(

"they're at the pickets, both of them" oh, thank you, jesus. TWO PEOPLE WHO AREN'T DEAD. MY BOYS.

she dreams of Eddis empty. there's no words for the relief I feel.

twinssss!!

and yet they don't tell us the name!!!!! what was the MoW's name??? what is their son's name??? megan!!!!!!

gen holding his daughter for the first time and offering to pitch her off a roof. I don't even have words.

hector. hector. hector hector hector.

rooftop dance!!!!!!!!!!!

HE'S OKAY. RELIUS IS OKAY.

(you couldn't give us one costis and kamet dance? no, it's fine.)

peace. peace. peace.

crying.

#queen's thief #return of the thief #rott spoilers #rott #qt spoilers #this has been a post

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lovemesomerafael · 5 years ago

Text

Destroying The Planet To Save It Chapter 28: Hey, Macarena

Chapters 1-25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Read It On AO3

Anita was about to get her first taste of travelling via the EXO-7, and Sam was nervous. Which was a little strange, given that he’d transported all of the Avengers at one time or another, including catching Steve in mid-air (without a parachute, because Steve) during the battle of the Triskelion. And Steve was heavy as fuck. The thing was, the machine in Nicaragua was about as far from anywhere as it was possible to get, and they really didn’t have time to deal with normal forms of transportation. The closest town, El Ayote, had a population just over five thousand, and had itself been no mean feat to reach. So in order to reach the cattle ranch (really, Arias?) where S.H.I.E.L.D. said the machine was located, Sam was just going to fly them.

They’d waited until dark so that they didn’t have to deal with witnesses and questions, and Anita was strapped to Sam’s chest. She complained that her abs were sore from laughing, because she could not stop comparing the harness to a baby carrier and herself to Mini Me. Sam wanted to be annoyed, this was his thing, after all, and he was finally getting to show it off to her. But he just concentrated on how good it was to hear her laugh again.

In the end, the flight was a little anticlimactic, because it was too dark to see anything out here in the middle of nowhere. Also, because it was the middle of nowhere. The farm was a tiny operation, but its few buildings were the only ones for miles around, and it was impossible to miss the building housing the machine, given that it was the only pre-fab steel structure on the property, and it was adjacent to a massive, futuristic generator complex.

Sam and Anita landed – one of Sam’s best landings with a passenger, if he did say so himself – and immediately released the harness so they could separate and hide from any potential guards. There were none. They worked together to clear the machine building and, finding no one inside, secured the entrance and turned toward the machine.

This was a moment they’d both been concerned about, although neither had mentioned it. Neither of them knew how Anita might react when approaching a humming, functional machine identical to the one in which she’d been imprisoned, drugged, and her mind invaded. For a moment, she simply stood, looking at it, allowing herself to feel whatever she was going to. Sam just waited, ready to offer support.

But she didn’t need it. A dangerous look came into her eyes, and Sam could almost have been afraid of the malice in her slight grin, if he wasn’t so relieved to see it. “This one’s mine,” she practically snarled.

“Copy that.”

It took a while to destroy the machine, given it was their first one, and that Sam only helped with the parts that required two people. The process was noisier than they’d hoped. In the end, they were grateful for the noises of the livestock, even though that was the thing that led to their near-discovery.

Apparently, cattle and pigs weren’t normally as loud as those on this ranch were at the moment. Their restlessness woke and eventually brought the farmer out to investigate. He was holding a rifle, clearly having expected a coyote or other predator from past experience, and did a very thorough search of the area. Fortunately, he didn’t have experience with predators who could open doors, so he didn’t check any of the buildings closely. A long twenty minutes passed during which Sam and Anita kept flattened against the machine building, keeping it between themselves and the farmer and watching him from around the corners. Once they were sure he had gone back inside, they buckled Anita back into the harness and took off to return to El Ayote.

Not surprisingly, Arias had chosen to place a machine in his home country of Colombia, and that was where they headed next. Sam and Anita were glad that he hadn’t placed it in a big city, but Sam wasn’t happy about where it was placed. The town was called La Macarena, and Sam Could. Not. Get. The Song. Out. Of his head. He hummed it, he whistled it, he even found himself halfheartedly doing the fucking dance, more or less, a couple times. He knew Anita was having the same problem, because every once in a while, he’d hear her softly whisper-sing, “Hey, Macarena,” with a pained look on her face.

Due to the isolation of La Macarena, not much was known about how heavily guarded the machine there might be. S.H.I.E.L.D. had sent an agent in to investigate, which had revealed that it was guarded, but the cover was brilliant, and the guards were good. It wasn’t at all obvious that there was even anything being guarded.

La Macarena has a booming ecotourism industry, because it’s the closest town to the famed Caño Cristales, a river in which plants bloom each year in brilliant colors of the rainbow. It’s only about a hundred and seventy miles south of Bogotá, making it accessible to a host of tourists who hike and raft along the spectacularly beautiful river. Many of them aren’t looking for five-star accommodations, and the machine in La Macarena was located underneath a hostel catering to such people. It was cheap, even as hostels go, but it was also well-maintained and scrupulously clean, which meant that it was very popular. Especially during the season when the multicolored plants are at their height, there was a near-constant flow of people in and out of the tin-roofed stucco building.

That gave Sam and Anita a ready-made excuse to be in the building, even as it caused its own set of problems. With that many people around, it was going to be difficult to know friend from foe. So Sam and Anita decided to let the foes come to them.

They arrived in their room, which was a tiny, stark white box with nothing on the walls and simple white sheets on the plain platform bed. Since they hadn’t had enough sleep on the plane to La Macarena, the first thing – well, the second thing – they did was nap for a few hours. Then it was time to make some waves in the hostel.

Meeting new people and expressing curiosity about them is pretty much a given in a hostel, which made it easy and natural for Sam and Anita to strike up a conversation with the two women checking in guests. The front office of the hostel was a large room with a table and chairs as well as some rough-hewn furniture grouped into a good-sized conversation area for exactly that purpose. When Anita began to converse with the women in Spanish too rapid for Sam to follow much, she explained that they were on a pre-wedding honeymoon of sorts. She was so friendly and Sam’s Spanish so bad but enthusiastic that the women, and soon others, found the couple engaging.

When asked about the highlights of their trip so far, Sam and Anita had agreed that it had to be the lavish blowout they’d attended in the Keys. Sam had a business associate who had a villa there, and would they like to see pictures? Among the pictures on Sam’s phone were some of himself and Anita with a few of the celebrities who’d been at the party and, carefully mixed in, a couple of them with Jarman Arias, Sam’s “business associate”, between them. Sure enough, the women who worked for the hostel exchanged a look. To their credit, they didn’t ask any probing questions, but one of them did excuse herself a few minutes later and disappear for a while.

It was hard for Sam to be happy when the goons took the bait that evening, because when the knock came at the door, Anita’s mouth was mere inches from going to work on his cock. “Hey, Macarena,” Sam hissed, like it was the most vile phrase he knew. (Which, by this point, it kind of was.)

Anita answered the door, in part because she spoke Spanish, and in part because Sam was busy pulling himself together, both literally and figuratively. She blushingly explained that they hadn’t been expecting a visitor and stepped outside the door, giving Sam a moment. The visitors introduced themselves as Hector and Ronaldo, and explained that they worked for the hostel and were cousins of Jarman Arias. When he could, Sam invited them in and the men gave him looks as mocking as they dared, in front of Anita.

They’d ended up on the patio of a café/bar/restaurante a few doors down, with a crappy view of the muddy river, but divine fritanga and an endless supply of cold Club Colombia Dorada beer. The men spoke about as much English as Sam did Spanish, so they got along in a sort of slapdash patois helped along by Anita’s frequent translation. Sam was once again impressed by her abilities in the field. She spoke quite a bit, but said nothing except what she translated for everyone else, which had the effect of rendering her essentially invisible.

Both Sam and Anita enjoyed watching the men dancing around the subject they wanted to discuss, before one of them finally brought up the subject of Arias’s arrest. For a guy whose first words on the subject were that he couldn’t really talk about it, Sam talked about it quite a bit. It worked. His suggestions that he was looking for some new trouble to get into and oblique references to the machines piqued their interest.

Of course, they didn’t immediately invite him to bro down with them in causing some profitable chaos. Mostly because they knew there was a component of the machine that only Arias had access to (or so they thought), and that was really all they were hoping to get from Sam. It didn’t matter. The team had now put faces to some men associated with the machine, which meant all they had to do was watch those men until they led them to the machine.

Within twenty-four hours, half the guests in the hostel were S.H.I.E.L.D. Sam argued that he and Anita were now known to the bad guys, which meant they needed to do some rafting, swimming, and fishing. Purely for their cover, of course. It was the wrong season for the Caño Cristales to be colorful, but there was still plenty to do, and Sam forgot for hours at a time that their cover was, in fact, a cover.

It was on a hike along the Caño Cristales, where they’d stopped next to a picturesque waterfall leading to a noisy rapids, that Sam told Anita for the first time that he loved her. He’d been thinking it for days. This woman, this stunningly beautiful marksman/spy with the delicious sense of adventure and the ability to reduce him to quivering, pleading ecstasy or, in other moments, to touch the deepest parts of him, had come within a hair’s breadth of being ripped from his life as quickly as she’d entered it. And that, more than anything, had let him see just how thoroughly she’d become entwined with his sense of who he was. What he wanted. And what he wanted was her, all of her, for good.

Still, he hadn’t planned to say it, not yet, and not just out of nowhere. But he’d been blindsided by the moment, the two of them lying on a woven blanket in the shade, with the music of the river in the air, her stunning beauty as she lay next to him kissing him back…

She didn’t respond right away. Instead, she sat up on the blanket and looked around.

“Sam, we’re in paradise. We’re working together on a high-stakes mission.” Her almond-shaped brown eyes came back to rest on his. “Those things can magnify emotions. You know very little about me in real life.”

Sam swallowed his bitter disappointment and covered the cold ache in his gut with his most charming smile. He was mortified, but he still had a bit of pride left. “All true. Forget I said anything and come back down here.”

But she didn’t let him pull her back down onto him. She kept her eyes on his as she said, “I’m not trying to throw cold water on this, on us. It’s just that I know quite a bit about me in real life. I know how I feel about you. I know that I’ve been in love with you since the moment you fake-yelled at me on the beach in Florida. So I need you to be sure, because this isn’t just circumstances for me.”

“Anita,” he breathed, false bravado forgotten as her words sunk in. “Oh, baby, you don’t know much about me, either. You don’t know that you are only the second woman I’ve said those words to in my life. And the first was my date for the Junior Prom.”

Anita’s answering smile felt to Sam like the opening rumbling note and drum flourish of “Trouble Man”. It was glorious in and of itself, but it also felt like home and guaranteed that happiness and satisfaction were on their way.

Sam and Anita were both covered in tiny scratches when they returned to the hostel later that afternoon. They couldn’t know it, but the hostel staff knew exactly what the underbrush did to tourists who thought they were being clever sneaking off the trail to make love in the dense foliage beyond. Even if they had known, they would only have smiled even more dreamily than they already were, and been pleased that they’d solidified their pre-wedding honeymoon cover story.

Westpac Stadium in Wellington, New Zealand, is often called The Cake Tin. Seeing it for the first time, Bucky understood why. He was nervous about this mission. He wasn’t worried at all about having to fight their way to the machine located under the stadium, in which Arias was a major investor. He wasn’t even worried about Joss getting hurt; she could handle herself just fine. He was worried because he didn’t know shit about soccer. Fuck. Football. He even still got the name wrong.

They’d done what they could to formulate a cover that would prevent the Americans’ complete ignorance of the game from showing. Bucky just wasn’t going to deign to speak most of the time. An American premier athlete having some sort of affectation wouldn’t be hard for anyone associated with the Wellington Phoenix FC to believe. Nor would it be hard for the club to understand the popularity of this player in the U.S. once they saw the posters, ads, and articles S.H.I.E.L.D.’s graphics and publications department had created overnight. Maybe the powers that be in the Cake Tin had never heard of him, but they knew a multimillion-dollar face when they saw one. And that physique? The guy didn’t even have to play well to be worth hiring.

Bucky had been mortified at having to be photographed like that. Half of the pictures where he looked fierce as fuck were simply the result of his genuine irritation. It wasn’t his fault he looked insanely fuckable when he was pissed. He had refused to allow Joss anywhere near the shoots, but she’d already stolen several of the posters and fake ads that featured Bucky, shirtless and sweaty, eye-fucking the camera as a supposed member of the Seattle Sounders FC. Even though they’d had to make his hot metal arm into a regular one for the pictures, he still looked like her raunchiest fantasies. She had also talked a very junior S.H.I.E.L.D. employee into slipping her a thumb drive with the films of Bucky doing soccer drills with the actual Sounders. She couldn’t care less about the game footage, since that wasn’t really Bucky.

As his personal assistant, Joss’s whole job would be to fawn over Bucky. Since that was hard for her not to do, she figured it wouldn’t be hard to make it look natural. She just needed to keep her mouth shut and her eyes open.

The local S.H.I.E.L.D. agent had recruited one of New Zealand’s most successful (and notorious) sports agents to “represent” his new American client. The guy was getting paid an insane amount of money to basically help S.H.I.E.L.D. create a celebrity footballer from scratch and get him into the non-public areas of Westpac Stadium.

Which is where they currently were. “James Buck” was wearing leather gloves, which the representatives of the Phoenix just waved off as another eccentricity. His tight jeans and black blazer over a form-fitting black pullover were normal enough, if obviously insanely expensive. They were certainly used to that from their own players. He had a bit of an entourage with him, as well, another not-so-surprising thing, especially with Americans. There was Reg Miles – and how the fuck had this no-name Yank gotten Miles to represent him? – and a hot little personal assistant, as well as two guys whose roles were as yet undefined.

It was the job of one of the club’s assistant managers, Martin Taylor, to meet with potential new players and get a sense of them, while helping them get a sense of what playing for the Phoenix had to offer. And Martin was definitely going the extra mile for James Buck. As soon as Martin had seen the pictures in Buck’s press packet, he’d made it his mission to get him onto the team. Now that they’d met? Martin was willing to die in the attempt. Not only was Buck even hotter in person, with the animal way he moved and that bedroom purr when he bothered to speak, but Martin was definitely getting signals from the guy, even though he was a tight-lipped motherfucker. Ugh. Martin needed to stop thinking about his lips. Twice, Martin had gone the wrong way during the tour, what with glimpses of that ass and getting lost in those blue eyes.

According to Reg Miles, this guy Buck didn’t care much about salary, but was apparently all about the amenities. So Martin had talked up the locker room and training facilities, making sure to show him everything, and taking him through some of the other features of the Cake Tin. He had to blink back his surprise when Miles asked about the infrastructure of the stadium.

“The, uh… Infrastructure? Like, what, the struts holding up the roof?”

Miles nodded. “And plumbing, and the sound system, electrical, all that stuff.”

“Are you…” For lack of a better option in his confusion, Martin Taylor looked at James Buck’s personal assistant, whose name he’d already forgotten.

“Mr. Buck has an interest in ensuring that the facility has the right feng shui,” she explained. “He likes the bowl aspect of the facility as a whole, to contain the chi, but it’s important to make sure that there aren’t square columns, or other features that could create disturbed energy.”

“Oh. Feng shui. Well, of course.”

Martin wasn’t discouraged. In fact, this was a good sign. The weirder shit a dude was into, the freakier he tended to be in bed. At least, that was Martin’s experience. So he led them through the garages where the field maintenance equipment was kept to show them the beautifully round columns. That actually got a smile out of James Buck, and Martin thought he might just have his own problem with disturbed energy. Holy shit, this guy was hot.

Things didn’t get particularly weird until the assistant - Jane, he thought her name was, or Jessie - got out dousing rods. Actual fucking dousing rods, like witchcraft shit. And Buck was looking at her while she walked around with them like the outcome of whatever the hell she was doing meant something. Oh, Martin was so going to get James Buck on the team, he had to be an absolute maniac in bed with this shit.

“Oh.” She approached one wall of the huge room, and Martin watched everyone in the little group tense up.

“Is there a problem?”

“Mr. Taylor, uh...”

“What’s the problem?”

“Well, you can see for yourself. My rods are crossing. There’s definitely inauspicious energy here. What’s on the other side of this wall?”

“Yeah, nah, just, um… Nothing.”

“There has to be something, Mr. Taylor, this stadium is round.”

“I… well… The truth is, I don’t really know.”

The assistant looked at Buck.

“You concerned?” It was the most syllables Martin had heard the guy utter together all morning.

Jane or Jessie nodded, holding the dousing rods up as though they explained everything. “Well, yeah.”

When Buck looked at Martin, it was all he could do not to drop to his knees right there. “Gonna need a look behind that wall.”

“Don’t think I can help you, mate. I’d be happy to, and we can definitely go out to the main passage again and go past there, but I’ve been here for a few years now, and now that you mention it, I’ve never known what’s in there. Has bugger all to do with football, I can tell you that. But as I told you, this stadium is used for other sports. Rugby. Do you know rugby? I think maybe it’s stuff for one of the other teams in there?”

“Oh!” The assistant instantly cheered up. “That would definitely explain it.”

Martin breathed again when everyone in the group relaxed, and the tour recommenced. The dousing rods gave a thumbs-down three more times, but each of those times, Martin was able to show Buck and his munter of an assistant that there was nothing to be concerned about. When the tour was complete, and he’d shown the group more of the Cake Tin’s underdrawers than he’d ever seen himself, Martin suggested that they all go to the Mezzanine Bar where they could enjoy a drink and chat about James Buck’s future with the Wellington Phoenix FC.

It happened fast. One minute they were all walking toward the bar and Martin was flirting with Buck. The next, Martin found himself in the dark recess underneath a concrete stairway with Buck pressing full-length against him and a hand over his mouth. He wouldn’t have minded in the least, except that damn assistant was there, too, and was frisking him, relieving him of his keys.

James Buck looked at Martin from inches away, and growled at him as he kept him from moving or speaking. It was surprisingly hot even in the current questionable circumstances, and Martin was almost ashamed of his arousal. Almost.

“There’s something we gotta do, and we need you to come with us. Nobody’s gonna hurt you, or anybody else, unless you do something stupid. But you’re not gonna do anything stupid, are you, Martin?”

Martin, eyes wide, shook his head.

“I’m gonna take my hand off your mouth, and you’re not gonna make a sound. Right?”

Martin nodded. He knew he was rock hard now, and there was no way Buck couldn’t feel it. He wasn’t a religious man, but he prayed that, whatever the guy was up to right now, they’d get to replay this scene sometime, with ravishing. Because Martin needed to get ravished by James Buck, with his growly, threatening voice and the drop-dead sexy danger in his eyes. Buck removed his hand. Martin breathed deeply, but said nothing.

“Are we gonna have a problem?” Buck asked.

“No. No problem,” Martin panted back.

Buck took a step back and gestured for Martin to move back out from under the stairs and rejoin the others. They were waiting calmly in the passage, seemingly entirely unconcerned about what was happening. Martin realized he should probably be afraid, but right this minute, his head was so fuzzy from all his blood pooling in his dick that he could do nothing more than follow instructions.

The group began walking back the way they’d come, making small talk. Buck walked behind Martin, and that assistant took her place beside him. Martin could see her trying to hide a smirk, but it wasn’t the evil “We’re about to gut you” smirk of a woman who was escorting him to his doom. It was the “oh, you poor fuck” smirk of a woman who could see how hard it was for Martin to walk right now, and why.

They returned to corridor outside the room that Jane-or-Jessie had said had “inauspicious energy.” Approaching the door to the adjacent room, Jane-or-Jessie took something that looked like a mini remote control out of her pocket and pushed a button. Nothing happened, but a light on whatever it was turned from green to red. She put it back in her pocket while the rest of the group looked up and down the hall. Several of the looks were aimed at the two security cameras in the area, and the now-blank monitors next to them that were supposed to be showing what the cameras saw, to discourage any shenanigans by letting the crowds know they were being watched. A suddenly-chatty James Buck began to engage the others in patently fake small talk while Jane-or-Jessie tried every key on Martin’s keyring to open the door to the room they’d asked about. Martin tried to explain that he doubted his passkey would work and, of course, it didn’t.

A group on a tour of the stadium passed by, and Buck gave Martin another of those smolderingly dangerous looks while the small talk went on and on until the tour group went around the bend in the corridor. Which is when James Buck took off one of his leather gloves to reveal a fucking metal hand, and pulled the steel door open with a painful shriek.

Martin found himself hustled into the room, and it was immediately apparent that it wasn’t any storage for athletic equipment. There was a door within that door, which Buck pulled right out of the wall – oh, shit, there was a very good chance Martin was actually going to come in his pants right now – to reveal an inner room. Martin had no idea what the hell that huge, black, Chichen Itza-looking thing humming and glowing with green light was. But all of a sudden, he wasn’t quite sure what to think.

He watched as James Buck, gorgeous footballer with a metal damn hand, crossed the room with a strut that made Martin’s knees week. His assistant, suddenly no longer daffy or meek, followed. She reached into the big satchel she’d been lugging around and pulled out a bunch of tools, some of which Martin had never seen before. Together, they began to mess with the black machine-thing while Reg Miles and the other two guys kept an eye on Martin. He almost laughed at that. He was so befuddled at this moment from the combination of arousal, growing anxiety, and straight-up WTF confusion he was feeling, the only thing he might possibly do is pass out.

For a period of time that may have been ten minutes or may have been an hour, Martin Taylor watched as whoever these Americans were removed a glowy green thing from the humming black machine. Then they removed a bunch of covers from it and started disconnecting stuff. In some cases, they reconnected it to other stuff. In other cases, they just left it hanging there. Then they wired something into it, threw a switch, and a bunch of stuff inside of the machine thing just kind of… melted. Martin knew bugger all about electronics or engines, but even he could see it was permanently fucked after that.

And then the worst thing happened. Beautiful, sexy beast James Buck high-fived his assistant Jojo or whatever her name was, and kissed her. Like, seriously kissed her. And as soon as he saw the look that passed between them, Martin’s hopes of being ravished by James Buck wilted, along with his erection. He didn’t even care when they locked him in the field maintenance equipment garage next door. He was too disappointed. Maybe the damn Cake Tin didn’t have square pillars to fuck up the energy, but Martin Taylor’s energy was definitely disturbed and inauspicious now. They apologized for the inconvenience and promised to send someone to let him out of the garage, but he didn’t even respond. He just took a seat on a riding mower, crossed his arms, and began to pout.

He was so going to New World after this and picking up a big-ass bottle of wine and a louise cake to eat all by his blue-balled self.

Bruce was torn. He wanted to stay in Nur-Sultan, in bed, warm as the harsh Kazakh wind battered the hotel. He wanted Catherine to stay next to him, naked and holding his hand. But he also wanted to be home, alone, in his lab. Because he knew the agony of saying goodbye to Catherine was going to be worse, far worse, this time, and he just wished it was over already so he could start the process of learning to live with it again.

He actually started to get up.

“Where are you going?” Catherine asked, surprised.

“Well, I was gonna get dressed. Get my laptop so we can arrange for a flight home.”

“Now?”

“I thought… I mean… Um, yes?”

In that moment, with his bemused expression and those sad, dark eyes, hair all tumbled from a night of sex, he looked so good Catherine felt it as a physical ache in her chest. “We’re in the middle of a conversation here. A pretty bloody important one, if you ask me.”

Bruce hesitated a moment and actually shook his head a little, as if he could make this moment understandable with a hard reboot. “It’s the middle?” He even sounded like an idiot to himself.

“Yes, it’s the fucking middle, you arse, did you think that was it? That you just say, ‘well, gawd blimey, Cath, sure would suck for me if I killed you’ and that’s enough to get rid of me?”

“Is that your imitation of me?” Bruce spluttered weakly, realizing that she’d (probably) been trying to speak with an American accent.

Now Catherine got up from the bed, not the less fiery in her annoyance for being bare-assed naked. “Answer me!”

“Well, I mean, yeah. I thought I finally made you see why I can’t be with you.”

“Can’t? Or won’t? Because you’re saying can’t, but I just explained to you that you bloody can.”

“Wait… But you just said that you understood what hurting you would do to me.”

“I did. And?”

“And it’s a dealbreaker.”

“Apparently not, because I’m still here. Starkers, as it turns out, which is ruining the moment a little bit,” she muttered, her voice suddenly losing the edge of irritation as she looked down at her nudity with a semi-surprised frown. She returned to the bed and covered herself with the sheet again. “Come back to bed. Not that you don’t look really good right now, but it does make fighting with you a wee bit odd.”

Bruce sat down on the side of the bed, flipping an edge of the duvet over his lap and biting his lip. “Catherine, are you sure we’re both speaking English? Because I’m not following this conversation.”

She nodded and he was a little surprised when she took his hand again, given that the frustrated steel was back in her voice. “Then I’ll try again. As plain as I can make it.” Catherine hesitated for a beat and looked into his eyes. “You’re the only man in the world for me. From the first time you kissed me, there’s only ever been you. But I believed you when you said that we couldn’t be together. I honored your decision, and I tried to understand. But I never got over you, Bruce. You’re the love of my life.”

“Cath… I love you that way, too. But nothing’s changed.”

“Well, yes and no.” Bruce wasn’t sure how to interpret the tilt of Catherine’s head or the half-smile that twisted her lips as she said that. “Let’s look at this scientifically, shall we? You did a risk/benefit analysis on us staying together. You based that analysis on a hypothetical level of risk that the Hulk would kill me and, as you bloody well know, I never agreed with that hypothesis.” She scowled ever so briefly at him.

“Based on that risk/benefit analysis, which relied on flawed data, Dr. Banner, you left me without giving me the opportunity to even fight for us, and I spent three years without you. Yes?”

Bruce nodded. “Believe me, I remember.”

“Well, we have new data now. And it shows that your quantification of the danger the Hulk presents to me, and upon which you based your risk/benefit analysis, was bollocks.”

Now Bruce cracked a grin.

“And it’s not just the data on the risk side of the equation that was rubbish. We’ve spent the last weeks gathering data on the benefit side, as well, and I think if you’re being intellectually honest, you’ll have to agree with me that the objective benefits of being together are logarithmically better than being apart.”

She stopped and cocked an eyebrow at him. “I have to concur, Dr. Mulready,” he agreed with a gravity in his voice belied by the smile he was now wearing.

“Well, of course you do. We’re astonishingly good together,” she said, waving a hand as though the point was too obvious to discuss. “So using the new, accurate data,” she threw another brief scowl at him, “the analysis completely changes. In fact, with the new data, the equation shifts completely and unequivocally to favor the benefit side. There’s absolutely no question that we can, and in fact should, be together. Q.E.D.”

She looked at him expectantly, but for a long time, all Bruce could do was smile and gawk at her.

“Well?”

“Well, I… I don’t know how to refute that,” Bruce stammered.

“You can’t, obviously. I’m right. So are you going to snog me or not?”

Bruce threw his arms around Catherine with a sound that neither of them could distinguish between a laugh and a sob. Judging from the number of tears that then fell onto Catherine’s bare shoulder and ran down her back, and the half-strangled laughter that escaped from where his face was buried in her neck, it was a lot of both. “I love you, Cathy, I love you so much…”

It took him a while to rein his emotions in, which was fine because she was clutching him to her as tightly as he was holding her. Somewhere in his disjointed, broken declarations of love and expressions of happiness, she was hearing what she’d needed him to say since that night in London. The happiness that coursed through her was mixed with healthy portions of relief and a feeling of long-delayed homecoming she couldn’t have begun to describe. They were way beyond words, anyway. Far from being able to articulate their emotions, they could only use their bodies, and the wordless sounds they weren’t in control of, to communicate them.

Bruce didn’t know when he started kissing Catherine’s skin, laying a line of slow, open-mouthed kisses along her shoulder to her neck. He only came to realize he was doing it as he felt goosebumps rise along her arm and shoulder and she tilted her head with a little moan to give him more access. As he kissed closer to her jaw, suddenly her skin wasn’t enough. He needed her mouth, needed to taste her and feel her kissing him back, as open to him as he wanted to be to her.

She laid back at the same time he started to rise, putting a knee next to her thigh and moving over her in one move. She spread her legs to him and pulled him down so that as much of their skin was touching as possible. Still, that wasn’t enough for Bruce. He couldn’t get close enough to her, couldn’t slake his thirst for the deepest contact possible with this woman to whom he belonged, completely and forever. When he sank his cock into her, it felt, finally, as though maybe they were connected enough, but he still found his eyes open and looking at her as best he could while he slid his tongue along hers.

“I love you,” he kept murmuring, when he could, until somewhere in the middle it turned into, “Marry me,” and then that was all he said, over and over, anytime his lips had room to move enough. For a while, he balanced perfectly on the edge of wanting to prolong this joining of his body with hers forever, and wanting to change the angle and speed just that last tiny bit that would allow him to unleash the overwhelming orgasm he could feel coiled within him.

Until he heard Catherine gasp into their joined mouths “Yes, yes, Oh, yes, of course I’ll marry you,” and felt the unmistakable beginning shudders in her hips. When she began to shout out her climax, he sped up his thrusts, letting them go needy and frantic for the few seconds before he, too, was coming hard.

It was long, long minutes of slowly decelerating heartbeats and recovered breathing before Bruce did more than shift his weight just enough to one side so as not to be crushing Catherine. He wouldn’t let her any further away than she was, which meant that he pulled her onto her side as he adjusted their positions. His lips were buried in her slightly damp hair, and he mingled whispered words of love with the kisses he kept showering on her, even while barely able to muster the energy to move his head.

“You agreed to marry me,” he murmured, when he’d recovered the strength to make actual sound.

“Mmmmmm…” was all the response he got.

“I know it was bad form to propose like that. I’ll do better. But it’s still legally binding.”

Catherine giggled weakly.

“I mean it,” he said, a bit louder, nudging her just a bit. “We’re engaged. We’re getting married the minute we get back to New York.”

“OK.”

“OK?”

“Mmmm. Married. The minute we get back. Agreed.”

“All right, then. Just wanted to make sure. We’ve waited long enough.”

Somewhere in the blissful fog of her mind, Catherine had the vague urge to call Bruce on the ridiculous irony of that, coming from him. But she was way too love-drunk and happy at the moment, not to mention half-asleep already.

#The Avengers #Captain America #The Winter Soldier #Bucky Barnes #Steve Rogers #Sam Wilson #Bruce Banner #The Falcon #The Hulk

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rhetoricandlogic · 8 years ago

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The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

While I loved Greek mythology as a kid, I had no idea that The Iliad existed. My first proper introduction to the story of Achilles and the fall of Troy was actually the 2004 film. It’s a treat, and one that you owe yourself; it’s half an interesting take on the story (pushing the realism angle) and half an enjoyably bad big budget movie (HECTOR! just… HECTOR!). Troy’s release coincided with a few years where my preteen self was obsessed with seeking out representations of queer men in media, so, naturally, the story of Achilles and Patroclus became near and dear to my heart. (“In conclusion: cousin.”) It’s been almost a decade, but picking up The Song of Achilles brought back the days when I despaired over ever getting my hands on a copy of Velvet Goldmine.

The Song of Achilles tells the story of the Trojan War through the eyes of Patroclus, Achilles’ childhood companion and lover. Patroclus, the son of a minor king, is an awkward and ungainly prince. When he accidentally kills another boy, he is exiled to the court of King Peleus and becomes close with the prince, the half-god Achilles. The two spend an idyllic childhood and adolescence with each other, but when they come of age, the Trojan War breaks out. Achilles is destined to either win glory and death at Troy or live a long and forgettable life. Achilles picks the former, and Patroclus won’t let let him go alone, even if that is the fondest wish of Achilles’ mother, Thetis, who despises all mortals.

Adapting a myth is a particular challenge unto itself. (Side note: can we do away with the idea that the book is always superior to its film adaptation? They are two different mediums! Case by case, people, case by case.) On the one hand, you’ve got your own take on the material, thus your desire to adapt instead of create wholesale. On the other hand, you have to negotiate how faithful you want to be to the original texts… after you’ve decided which ones you want to use. Do you stick with just The Iliad or do you also include earlier texts that expand on his youth? Because I’m not terribly familiar with the source materials Miller is using, I’m finding myself in a difficult position. For instance, I can’t fault Miller for having Achilles be a child of rape or Achilles going off to war as a celebrated hero without having fought a single battle; that’s on the ancient Greeks. She’s decided to stick as close to the “historical record” as possible, while highlighting how true Achilles and Patroclus’ love for each other was to the exclusion of all others.

Unfortunately, this means that Miller writes herself into a few corners. When the Trojan War breaks out, Thetis hides her son among the daughters of King Lycomedes, dressed as a woman. In the original myth, the young Achilles and the Princess Deidameia have a fling that results in a son, Neoptolemus. But because Achilles having a fling while away from Patroclus would violate Miller’s concept, she turns it into a rape arranged by his mother, instead of incorporating it as an obstacle to Achilles and Patroclus’ happiness. Honestly, in this respect, The Song of Achilles reminded me hard of my misspent youth reading super-generic boys’ love manga—heteronormative roles (Patroclus is a healer, while Achilles is a warrior), the glowing raptures of pure and true love, and the demonization of women. (And now I’m picturing The Song of Achilles as boys’ love manga. Join me, won’t you?) For most of the book, we’re only given Thetis, who tries to control her son’s every move, and Deidameia, a wailing, screaming, emotional wreck who hurls herself at Patroclus at her first real opportunity. Later, we are given Briseis, who, even if not completely developed, is kind and affectionate, but the damage is already done. Despite the fact that the culture Miller is writing about had plenty of men who had male and female lovers in their lives, there’s this weird rejection of both bisexuality and the idea that people might be attracted to more than one person in their lives. While both Achilles and Patroclus engage in heterosexual sex at least once, they’re disgusted by it. (Achilles moreso than Patroclus; he describes it as “greasy”.) It’s an odd byproduct of Miller’s devotion to depicting their relationship as all-consuming and deeply important, and it’s an unwelcome one. I’d much prefer a novel where this was a problematic affair that the couple overcame, rather than this bizarre rape scenario.

Compounding this is the fact that Miller’s Achilles is quite idealized. His shift into the glory-seeking, arrogant, and sulking Achilles familiar to readers of The Iliad feels abrupt and weird. His character development is too flat to make him feel like a fully-realized character: instead, he’s an impossibly perfect subject of love until the source material requires him to not be. It’s unfortunate, because Miller’s writing style is a lot of fun—readable, with enough of an eye for unique detail to keep things fresh. (Too little, and I don’t hear an author’s voice. Too much, and all I hear is straining style.) I’ve gotten more entries for my commonplace book out of this one than my recent reads. And Miller acknowledges that her characters are speaking a different language; part of the episode in the court of King Lycomedes hinges on Deidameia using a masculine noun instead of a feminine noun. It’s a light touch, to be sure, but it does remind the reader that this is another time, another place, and another culture. I might give her next novel a whirl as her voice develops, if the story is original. But with this as an example, I’m not too sure about her powers of adaptation.

Bottom line: Miller’s devotion to the “historical record” and portraying how true and pure the love of Achilles and Patroclus was to the exclusion of all other relationships leads her to write herself into a few corners that she solves bizarrely, as well as idealize Achilles to the point of flatness. Miller’s writing style is a lot of fun, though—readable, with a good eye for detail, and a good approach to writing about Ancient Greece. A pass.

In addition to this review from Clare: I experienced -again- that I’m extremely sensitive to weird metaphors. They throw me out of the book and it takes really a long time until I can continue. They seem to be Miller’s speciality. Like:

... I also saw the answers. Yes, they nodded to each other, yes, yes.

How about no, no, no? If answers start running around and noddig, we’re in trouble. Or:

Iphigenia. A tripping name, the sound of goat hooves on rock ...

Look, here’s goat hooves on rock. No Iphigenia sound there.

Also: why is a boy who never faught a battle in his life ... a hero worshipped by all? I had the same problem with The Traitor Baru Cormorant. It’s just not likey that completely inexperienced individuals match the hero-specifics without even trying.

And then the main thing: why, instead of using the -at least partially bisexual- relationships as a plot-point to develop character growth and discuss a whole bunch of problems (and resolve them) - try to make this purely homosexual at all costs, even the cost of completely destroying half of what was previously built. If such was the original intent, there’s no sense in introducing Iphigenia at all.

#Madeline Miller #Song of Achilles #mahreviews

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streets-in-paradise · 5 years ago

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Women of Troy appreciation post

I realized i kinda started a small series of posts about this film because of my excitement about it and the big lack of content there is about it. I’m trying to make my small contributions to fill this gap. Since i already did one fangirling about the men i want to make other a bit more serious to talk about the female characters.

I have only three ladies to talk about here, the female characters were very few and in their story arcs they condensed the roles other women had in the original story. I understand a bit that, since they already had a three hours long film, they needed to cut some stuff. Even when i understand that, i would had liked to see at least a few more women. To be fair i think the character cut is not gendered, for example, the rest of the very extense list of brothers of Hector and Paris were cutted out in the same way of their sisters. We also don’t see a lot of important greek captains that are not mentioned, in the same way we don’t see other greek queens besides from Helen. I think it was an issue of lack of time for development of more characters.

For this post i will talk from the movie’s perspective and i will add some of my personal headcanons for this version. Since Troy is pretty much Wolfgang Petersen’s Iliad fanfiction i will ramble from that perspective. In the dvd extras he said he read the iliad in greek , what makes me think he basically created his own fanfict in this movie and,as flawled as it is, i’m here for it. The characters, the costumes, the locations, everything gives you an amazing scense of inmersion. In that spirit, i want to talk a bit about the trojan princesses.

I don’t own the images i will use.

Sorry for my terrible english

Helen

I had to start with her since she is the first woman we are introduced to in the film and she is the most famous female character of this story. I like the approach her story has, she is never blamed for the war.The film picks sides and a moral compass, the narrative is with the trojans and it assumes Priam’s morals. In the context of this adaptation is pretty much impossible to blame Helen. How could somebody blame her for wanting to scape from that husband? Even in the case of her not being sure of her love for Paris she saw a chance to scape and took it. She was a prisoner of a husband who didn’t cared for her, as she clearly states in the talk with Paris “ Before you came to Sparta, I was a ghost”. She was forced to marry a man who didn’t cared for her, she felt invisible and unimportant. Despite being the queen of the damn city, she felt worthless.

Having this in consideration i also believe that, in this approach, the reasons of why Helen could had fallen so fast for Paris are more understandable. He is not only a man that shows interest in her, Paris is such a non threating guy. I can imagine him as this womanizer who is used to win over all the ladies wherever he goes but, when he meet Helen, he fell so hard that he ended up as a dorky mess at least at first. I think he was very different from the sort of guy she used to see in Sparta. Being used to all the rough warriors there Paris is a literal dork in comparison and i think that’s exactly what she liked of him. The tenderness and softness of this non threating reckless dork absolutely head over hills for her.

Most of her story arc is setted by this romance, i would had liked to see more of her in the city once the war starts. Did the trojans blamed her for the war? Did they support their king’s choice of letting her stay? How was she like as a princess? Did she ever felt like a princess of Troy? She supported the people in any form? How did the rest of the trojan elite recieved her?

The only hints of interactions we see of her without Paris are with Priam and Hector. The closesness in which they always are makes me think she got close to Andromache as well. I would had loved to see how Briseis reacted to her. Was she upset with Paris for it? Did they got along? I can imagine her yelling at Paris when she found out, not upset with Helen but with him.

I love the friendship she has with Hector. We saw only a few interactions of them but i think they developed a frienship and it’s nice how he makes her feel part of the family once the fate of war is decided and there is no chance to avoid it. Priam seems to make efforts as well and i think that she eventually felt part of the family at least with them.

I would had loved to see at least one scene of actual interaction between Helen and Andromache. I picture them bonding over all the shit arround them and comforting each other but i would had liked to see if they actually got close as i imagine by the hints in the movie, how was their relationship like.

I would had wanted to see more of Helen’s relationship with the trojans and her story arc expanded besides from her love for Paris and the role it had in the war. Besides from that i love and enjoy her character, i empathize with her and i would protect her against anyone who could dare to blame her for the war.

Briseis

Storywise speaking she is a mix of story arcs from different women of the original. She assumes the roles of the original Briseis, Chryseis,Cassandra,Polyena and (at the end) Clytemnestra. Despite this fact I have to say I love this girl. From when I watched the movie for the first time as a child I remember how much I used to love the scene where she is taken to Agamemnon and, while Achilles tries to defend her, she calls everyone out on their bullshit even when her own safety is at risk. Briseis is so unapologetically herself, even in the worst possible context, and I love that.

We already see something similar in her meeting with Achilles. Let’s think about it for a second, she is there as a captive, her freedom was taken away and all she knows is that she is going to be a slave owned by the most fierce greek warrior in the entire army. Instead of being terrified she confronts him,she raises her voice at him like it’s nothing. Briseis is so used to speak her mind that she does it without hesitation.

Right after, she stops Achilles from fighting Agamemnon’s men because she doesn’t want to see another bloodbath. To me it’s such a powerful moment because, if we remember that to every man in that room she is nothing but a slave, that action is so fucking brave and awesome. The first time i saw it i was shocked, Briseis calling them out was super badass to me. Also, whatching her killing Agamemnon at the end is so satisfying.

Since her backstory is not detailed much i have a few headcanons.i can mention. Her parents are not there, i can imagine her growing up raised by her uncle and being very close with her cousins. I would had liked to see more of her relationship with her family but, since her part of the story gets a startpoint with her capture, we didn’t had much time to see her in Troy.

Some interaction between her, Helen and Andromache before or after her time as captive would had been great to see, specially because this three women are awesome and it sucks to never have time to see them interacting. I can see Helen and Briseis having at least a small bonding moment after she comes back. I can imagine her being the bridge between Briseis and Andromache after Hector’s death. Briseis must had feel so terrible and guilty. The man she fell in love with killed her cousin.Andromache’s husband. I think she would have a hard time in procesing her own grief but at the same time she would find hard to approach Andromache because of how guilty she feels for what happened. In that context, Helen would help her to get close to her again. At the same time, nothing is mentioned on how people reacted to her return. What if her reputation got questioned? Rumours about her and Achilles affected her life there? I can imagine that, in the case of her getting questioned or judged by some people, Helen would had encouraged her.

Other character i would had wished to see her interacting more with is Patroclus. I think the would get along very well considering that both are morally calling out Achilles all the time. He is such a sweet boy, his presence could had been comforting to her. That would make everything more tragic. if she cares for Hector but also for Patroclus then the war upon them would had made her witness how her cousin killed her friend, then the man she loves killed her cousin and got killed by her youngest cousin afterwards. I can see Patroclus and Briseis being friendly to each other and maybe being friends. It hurts like fuck to think about it but it is something that could had been.

Andromache

My favourite female character in this film. Andromache is the best, I love her so much. She is such an empowering character despite being the most traditional woman on this list. Actually that is something I love, she is a traditional mother and wife character and a strong female character as well, a proof that one doesn’t exclude the other. Just by seeing how her husband asks for her advice all the time you can think that, if Hector would have been crowned king after Priam, this lady would have been the actual ruler of Troy. She is so clever, an amazing strategist Hector himself is impressed by. When he says to her that she would be a good general you can see it’s totally true. She’s amazing, more clever than lots of trojan noblemen in Priam’s council.

All the family moments between Hector, Andromache and their son warm my heart. They are such a cute family. Hector and Andromache are perfect for each other. In this version I headcanon them being friends or knowing each other long before marrying, Andromache as the woman Hector always knew he wanted to marry and when he finally does he feels like the happiest man alive. That’s the vibe they give me, a couple that has been in love for a very long time and they know each other better than anyone else. Hector is the best husband ever, so loyal and loving to his wife. They are a lovely couple.

I had already described a few of the interactions I would have liked to see between her and other characters. As I said, I can see her getting close to Helen, bonding and becoming friends and I would have loved to see that explored. Since Clytemnestra is not in this version we don’t know if Helen had any siblings and I imagine Andromache adopting a sort of older sister role to Helen, even without realizing it directly and more towards acts than words. As we see in hints of the few city scenes they must have spent a lot of time together and, since Andromache has the same caring nature of her husband, I can imagine her ending up caring for her more than what she may had expected at first. Regarding her relationship with Briseis and what i said before i think she didn’t blame her for what happened, Briseis felt guilty about it and may have tried to avoid her because of that guilt for a while until Helen helped them to get close again.

My biggest complaint to the movie in terms of this character is that I would have appreciated to see more of her interacting with the other women. Also, more of her clever badass self involved in the war like from a tactics perspective or something. Honestly, Andromache should had been in the council of Priam. She and Hector would had been awesome calling out that old priest giving always the wrong advice. Also, i can totally see her leading the group of trojan survivors we see at the end in the director’s cut.

This is all for now, i hope you enjoyed this very long post and my headcanons for this awesome women in the universe of this movie. If you want to add more i’m always open to discussion.

Thanks for reading this long ramble

@hrisity12 I tag you since you already told me you are interested in this post.

#my weird rambles #troy 2004 #women of troy #helen of troy #briseis #andromache #diane kruger #rose byrne #saffron burrows #women of troy appreciation post #female characters appreciation post

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