#...the things we do for tradition

[katniss-evermeme]

I think the scariest thing in my house right now is the Christmas ornament that my sister made out of a doggy biscuit back in 2008 that somehow hasn't started molding yet.

We don't put that one on the tree anymore.

[hitwiththetmnt]

Master Leonardo has some tricks to show Casey for his first Christmas

[kayshasiemens]

Rising from the dead to share this painting and then disappear again

I have spent over 90 hours of my life on this thing because I have had the brain rot for the last 2 years of my life (almost 20 if you count when I first read the comics) and it had to express itself somehow

Hope this dramatic bitch feels appreciated

(A Dream of Morpheus, handmade egg tempera on panel, 12x18 inches...if by any chance you'll be at SDCC or Gen Con, I'll be at booth 934/936 at the first one and Art Show #13 at the second one - come see the original, maybe get a print, or just yell/cry about Sandman with me?)

And here, have some more details - I had fun combining some favorite elements from both the comic and the show ♡

[doctorwhommm]

got silly with this one ◡̈

[simplydnp]

totally normal about the 'wedding?' response continuing to evolve even though it's only been 5 shows. at this point i'm convinced the grand plan behind tit is to convince dan via exposure therapy that he's allowed to want to get married

[deoidesign]

quick traditional piece for fun ^^

[three-realms-archive]

First Dates

(so! what would first dates with each of the brothers be like??? i feel like obm! and otome games like it in general tend to skip over things like this, so hey have this)

(slighttttttttttttt lesson 16 og obm! reference)

An eldest brother stands in his room, torn. Pride takes on many forms, it seems; and the Avatar of Pride has to make a choice.

Does he show you off, as he so desperately wants to, and parade you around the Devildom’s fanciest areas with extravagant dinners, popular theatre, and breathtaking views? Or does he keep you to himself, as he so desperately wants to, to snuggle with you under his covers after a romantic movie and a bottle of Demonus?

It’s a tough choice to make; but it also shouldn’t be, for someone as thorough as he is. So why, then, does he struggle? Why, when it comes to you, is it always so… difficult?

No. Lucifer knows this isn’t the right way to think of things. You make nothing difficult. You’ve brought his family back together; you’ve brought light to his grieving, shadowed heart… you’ve made everything as easy as breathing.

What the Avatar of Pride is too prideful to admit is that he is the one - for once - doubting his choices; all in the hopes of pleasing you.

_

A second-oldest brother sits in his bed, buzzing as he clutches his D.D.D - checking it every five seconds. He is two hours early, already-dressed, as he contends with his ever-magnetic pull towards you. He could show up two hours early. Maybe it’ll impress you, earning him more points on his imaginary first-date scoreboard.

Or he could wait the two hours out. Maybe it would creep you out less?

Regardless, Mammon's grip on his phone strengthens as he re-opens the app he also keeps checking - his mail app. He makes sure the tickets to the amusement park are still there, before searching for the amusement park website on the DevilNet to make sure it still exists. And then he searches through the rides to make sure the ferris wheel is still there because that’s where all the human movie couples have kisses and confessions and oh, Diavolo, if he keeps thinking about you and him doing romantic movie couple things he’s going to completely explode.

And so - the dopey, dreamy, dorky smile on the his face growing as he practically vibrates with anticipation - the Avatar of Greed sets down his D.D.D and waits.

… Until five seconds pass and he surrenders to the temptation of picking up his phone, checking everything once more.

_

A third-eldest brother talks to himself in the mirror. His ramblings are a mixture of practice pick-up lines, self-assurance, and self-deprecation at the practice pick-up lines.

It’s Levi's comfort zone. It should be his comfort zone, taking you to a local anime and gaming convention in the human world. It should be something he can navigate with ease… but then he looks at the polaroid he has taped to the top of his mirror. It’s of the two of you; you had secretly taken a selfie when he had fallen asleep after an all-night anime marathon, placing your chin on his shoulder and nuzzling your cheek against him. He had thanked Diavolo that you had left before he had opened his birthday card from you that same month; the polaroid falling unexpectedly out of the envelope, short-circuiting him.

Every so often, like now, he looks in the mirror and imagines your head on his shoulder once more - but, this time, with his wide-awake reflection standing beside you. Maybe even holding your hand.

And... he promptly short-circuits again, shaking his head as the inevitable thoughts of 'that would never happen' and 'you would never want that' flood his head.

This was going to take more than a few minutes of mirror practice.

_

A fourth-eldest brother reads, and reads, and reads. Books, dictionaries, gossip tabloids… All with ridiculous names like “Win Her Heart in Seven Steps” and “Flowchart to His Heart”. It’s what Satan falls back onto whenever he feels something unfamiliar and unknown: read, research, react. Read the material, research what to do, react accordingly.

He had invited you out to a cat café in the afternoon. He had read an advertisement for a couples’ promotion the café were running that week, booking a table in advance. He had researched the place thoroughly: the menus, the cat breeds, the seating arrangements... the cat breeds. Then, the day had come - and it was time to react.

… Except, he hadn’t checked the weather. So now the two of you are at the cat café; soaked so thoroughly that no cat wants to go near either of you.

You guess some things in life just happen unexpectedly no matter how much you plan, you say to console him as an apologetic manager walks over with a towel and a small litter of more-adventurous kittens. After drying off, the two of you begin to play with the kittens, who crawl up your clothes and mewl adorably. The Avatar of Wrath is rendered speechless by your smile.

You’re right, he realises. After all, he hadn’t planned for you to come to the Devildom.

And he couldn’t be happier that you did.

_

An objectively-fabulous, fifth-born brother seems confused by his own actions. He is objectively fabulous, put together, and always, always sure of himself. He’s never had this many clothes on hangers strewn across his bed before; mind working overtime as it imagines the different pattern and colour combinations on his body. He’s worn that shirt too many times in front of you. Those pants just don’t match the restaurant you’re going to. He can’t even decide between gold and silver jewellery - an easy decision that always comes naturally to him.

It’s not like he’s lost his touch. He knows what goes well with what… But when he imagines you looking at him, the self-doubt begins to rise uncomfortably in his chest.

… And, now, he hears you knocking on the door. And then, for the first time in his life as a demon, he walks to the door in the outfit he already has on.

And when he hears you gush over his outfit, his hair and he face… he can’t help but blush when an amazing, incredible realisation hits him.

You’d always love him - however he looked.

You’d always love him for who he was.

_

A sixth-born brother apologises profusely to yet another team member trying to navigate the RAD locker room. The demon waves him off with an understanding smile and a pat on the back… as do all the other demons on the RAD Fangol team, who also inevitably bump into the sixth-born Avatar of Sin. He’s unusually distracted, clumsy and talkative; but his team all know why.

“Hey, do I look okay?”

“Do you think coach remembers I’m going early?”

“Forecast said 1% precipitation on TV this morning. Should I move the date inside?”

All of his Fangol team - and probably all of RAD - know about his date. This is half-because he won’t stop talking about it to people he meets; and half-because his unusual, dazed behaviour makes it impossible for someone to not want to find out.

“Do you know I have a date tonight?” He asks for the umpteenth time to some old lady sitting next to him on the park bench he’s meant to wait for you at. The elderly demon feeds the crows, unresponsive - but not without a knowing, fond smile on her face. She doesn’t dare interrupt his happiness as he continues to excitedly run his plans by her; talking and talking and talking because, if he doesn’t, the hunger to see you consumes him.

When he sees you… That is when he finally becomes speechless.

_

The youngest of seven brothers zooms from place to place, making sure to cover all the ground in his bedroom. He meticulously - almost obsessively -removes anything sharp, anything spooky-looking, and even his twin brother’s open snack packets all get ziplocked or clipped shut.

The former monster of the attic cannot risk making you uncomfortable. He has a chance - one, single, precious chance - at something his brothers all had managed long before he came along:

One shot to earn your forgiveness.

One shot to be in the running for your heart.

Even this single date had come months after he had… done what he did. He wasn’t complaining, though. At first, he had considered the fact that you had looked his way at all a bout of incredible luck. When you had started conversing with him again, it was a miracle. And when you had asked him out on a date… it was no longer outside forces. Unless it was some stupid, twisted joke - or a blissful, bittersweet dream - this date was a chance.

So the Avatar of Sloth diligently fends off the alluring, drowsy pull of his sin; checking every nook and cranny of his room before you come over for a movie night and sleepover.

He cannot waste this chance.

(hey hey hey, sorry for the inactivity - i'm so so busy omfg. as a result, uploads might start slowing down or might be limited to headcannons and short snippets that come to mind; i'm also gonna start focusing the next few on the side characters for once ahahaha. anyways, have a good day people :D)

[onpie]

Noodles and Tea’s work inspired me fr

[lulu2992]

Do I think it’s a shame that, even though the circumstances in which we obtain this weapon suggest it might be hers, we never see Faith use the Sin Eater?

Yes, a little bit.

[gingermintpepper]

As usual I read your tags always and so you said Apollo did not ask for resurrection of Asclepius and Hyacinthus so i just wanted to share this. About Asclepius death I read it on theoi.com, that earlier authors don't make him resurrect as a god but that's a later development mentioned only by Roman authors like Cicero, Hyginus and Ovid. But still Apollo has a role in Ovid's version

Ovid, Fasti 6. 735 ff (trans.Boyle) (Roman poetry C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) : Clymenus [Haides] and Clotho resent the threads of life respun and death's royal rights diminished. Jove [Zeus] feared the precedent and aimed his thunderbolt at the man who employed excessive art. Phoebus [Apollon], you whined. He is a god; smile at your father, who, for your sake, undoes his prohibitions [i.e. when he obtains immortality for Asklepios].

So here it is actually because of Apollo the decision was taken to resurrect him as god. And with Hyacinthus, I don't think I've read about Artemis playing the primary role. I know in Sparta there was a picture of Artemis, Athena and Aphrodite carrying Hyacinthus and his sister to heaven.

This is not on theoi.com but I saw on Tumblr it's from Dionysiaca by Nonnus

Second, my lord Oiagros wove a winding lay, as the father of Orpheus who has the Muse his boon companion. Only a couple of verses he sang, a ditty of Phoibos, clearspoken in few words after some Amyclaian style: Apollo brought to life again his longhaired Hyacinthos: Staphylos will be made to live for aye by Dionysos.

So since he is singing inspired by amyclean stories it probably means in that place it was believed Apollo was the one to bring back his lover to life.

Apollo as god of order was very important so i think it shows how special these people (and admetus too) were to him that he decided to go against the order for them 🥺

ANON!! Shakes you like a bottle of ramune!! BELOVED ANON!!!!! I'm littering your face with kisses, I'm anointing you with olive oil and honey - you absolutely made my night with this because, not only did I get the pure serotonin shot of having someone interact with my tags (yippee, wahoo!!) I also got to have that wonderful feeling of "oh wow, have I misunderstood something that was integral to my understanding of this myth/figure this whole time or is this a case of interpretational differences?" which is imo vital for my aims and interests as someone who enjoys mythological content and literature.

I'll preface my response with this: Hyacinthus is by far the hardest of these to get accounts for because his revival itself, as you very astutely point out, is generally accounted for in painting/ritual format which muddies the waters on who interceded for what. I wasn't actually familiar with that passage from the Argonautica - and certainly didn't remember it so thank you very much for bringing it to my attention!

That said, what I've come to understand, both about Hyacinthus and about Asclepius is that in the accounts of their deaths, Apollo's position is startlingly clear.

For Hyacinthus, it is established time and again that Apollo would have sacrificed everything for him - his status, his power, his very own immortality and divinity. Ovid writes that Apollo would have installed him as a god if only he had the time:

(Ovid. Metamorphoses. Book X. trans. Johnston)

Many other writers too speak of how Apollo abandoned his lyre and his seat at Delphi to spend his days with Hyacinthus, but they also all agree that when it came to his death - he was powerless. Ovid gives that graphic account of Apollo's desperation as he tries all his healing arts to save him to no avail:

(Ovid, Metamorphoses Book X. Apollo me boy, methinks him dead. trans Johnston)

Bion, in one of his fragments, writes that Apollo was "dumb" upon seeing Hyacinthus' agony:

(Bion, The Bucolic Poets. Fragment XI. trans Edmonds)

Even Nonnus in the Dionysiaca speaks constantly of Apollo's helplessness in the face of Hyacinthus' fate where he writes that the god still shivers if a westward wind blows upon an iris:

and when Zephyros breathed through the flowery garden, Apollo turned a quick eye upon his young darling, his yearning never satisfied; if he saw the plant beaten by the breezes, he remembered the quoit, and trembled for fear the wind, so jealous once about the boy, might hate him even in a leaf...

(Nonnus, Dionysiaca, Book 3. trans Rouse)

And the point here is just that - Apollo, at least as far as I've read, cannot avert someone's death. He simply can't. Once they're already dead - once Fate has cut their string - all Apollo's power is gone and he can do nothing no matter how much he wants to. And this is, as far as I know, supported with the accounts of Asclepius as well!

Since you specifically brought up Ovid's account, I'll also stick only to Ovid's account but in Metamorphoses when we get Ovid's version of Coronis' demise, he writes that Apollo intensely and immediately regrets slaughtering Coronis. He regrets it so intensely that he, like he does with Hyacinthus, does his best to resuscitate her:

(Ovid, Metamorphoses Book Two. Apollo's regret)

And like Hyacinthus, when it becomes clear that what has happened cannot be undone, Apollo wails:

(Ovid, Metamorphoses Book Two. Apollo wept.)

Unlike his mother, Asclepius in her womb had not yet died and so, with the last of Apollo's strength, he does manage, at least, to save him.

(Ovid, Metamorphoses Book Two. Apollo puts the 'tearing out' in Asclepius.)

But it goes further than even that because Ocyrhoe, Chiron's daughter, a prophetess who unduly gained the ability to directly proclaim the secrets of the Fates, upon seeing the baby Asclepius, immediately prophesies his glory, his inevitable death and then his fated ascension:

(Ovid. Metamorphoses, Book Two. Ocyrhoe's prophecy. trans Johnston)

Before she too succumbs to her hubris and is transformed by the Fates into a horse so she can no longer speak secrets that aren't hers to share.

These things ultimately are important because it establishes two very important things: 1) Apollo can't do anything in the face of the ultimate Fate of mortals, which is, of course, death and 2) even when Apollo is Actively Devastated, regretful, yearning, mournful, guilty or some unholy combination of all of the above, when someone is dead, he accepts that they are gone. Even if he is devastated by it, even if he'll cry all the rest of his days about it - if they're dead? Apollo lets them go. In Fasti, when Zeus brings Asclepius back, he does not say Apollo asked him to - Zeus, or well, in this case Jove, brings Asclepius back because he wants Apollo to stop being mad at him.

(Ovid, Fasti VI. Apollo please come home your father misses you. trans. A.S Kline)

Even Boyle's translation which you used above in your findings hints that Zeus made Asclepius a god because he wanted Apollo to stop grieving. (i.e 'smile at your father', 'for your sake [he] undoes his prohibitions')

And like, Apollo was deeply upset by Asclepius' death - apart from killing the Cyclops in anger, in book 4 of the Argonautica, Apollonius writes that the Celts believe the stream of Eridanus to be the tears Apollo shed over the death of Asclepius when he left for Hyperborea after being chastised by Zeus for killing his Cyclops:

But the Celts have attached this story to them, that these are the tears of Leto's son, Apollo, that are borne along by the eddies, the countless tears that he shed aforetime when he came to the sacred race of the Hyperboreans and left shining heaven at the chiding of his father, being in wrath concerning his son whom divine Coronis bare in bright Lacereia at the mouth of Amyrus.

It all paints a very clear picture to me. Apollo did not ask for either of them to be brought back. Though bringing them back certainly pleased and delighted him, they are actions of other gods who are moved by Apollo's grief and mourning and seek to mollify him. Him not asking doesn't mean he didn't want them back which I think is a very important distinction by the by, but it simply means that Apollo knows the natural order of things and, even if it hurts, he isn't going to press his luck about it.

Which, of course, brings us to Admetus. And I'm really not going to overcomplicate this, Admetus is different because, very vitally, Admetus is not dead. Apollo can't do a thing once Fate has been carried out and Death has claimed a mortal but you know what he absolutely can do? Bargain like hell with the Fates before that point of inevitability. And that's what he does, ultimately for Admetus and Alcestis. He sought to prolong Admetus' life, not revive him from death or absolve him from death altogether and even after getting the Fates drunk, he's still only able to organise a sacrifice - a life for a life - something completely contingent on whether some other mortal would be willing to die in Admetus' place and not at all controllable by Apollo's own power.

All of these things, I think come back to that point you made - that Apollo's place as a god of order is very important and therefore these people are very special to him if it means he's willing to go against that order but, I also wish to challenge that opinion if you'd let me. Apollo's place as a god of order is very important and therefore, I would argue, that it is even more important that it is shown that he does not break the divine order, especially for the people that mean the most to him. The original context of my comments which started this conversation were on this lovely, lovely post by @hyacinthusmemorial which contemplated upon Asclepius from the perspective of an Emergency Medical personnel and included, in their tags, the very poignant lines "there's something about Apollo letting go when Asclepius couldn't that eats my heart away" and "you do what you can, you do your best, but you don't ever reach too far" and I think that's perfectly embodied with the Apollo-Asclepius dichotomy. Apollo grieves. He wails, he cries, he does his best each and every time to save that which is precious to him but he does not curse their nature, he does not resent that they are human and ultimately, he accepts that that which is mortal must inevitably die. There is nothing that so saliently proves that those who uphold rules are also their most staunch followers - if Apollo wants to delight in his place as Fate's mouthpiece, he cannot undo Fate. And, if even the god of healing and order himself cannot undo death, what right does Asclepius, mortal as he is, talented as he is, have to disrespect it?

The beauty of these stories isn't that Apollo loved them enough to bring them back. The beauty is that Apollo loved them enough to let them go.

[wonder-worker]

Thinking about Elizabeth Woodville as a gothic heroine is making me go insane. She entered the story by overturning existing social structures, provoking both ire and fascination. She married into a dynasty doomed to eat itself alive. She was repeatedly associated with the supernatural, both in terms of love and death. Her life was shaped entirely by uncanny repetitions - two marriages, two widowhoods, two depositions, two flights to sanctuary, two ultimate reclamations, all paralleling and ricocheting off each other. Her plight after 1483 exposed the true rot at the heart of the monarchy - the trappings of royalty pulled away to reveal nothing, a never-ending cycle of betrayal and war, the price of power being the (literal) blood of children. She lived past the end of her family name, she lived past the end of her myth. She ended her life in a deeply anomalous position, half-in and half-out of royal society. She was both a haunting tragedy and the ultimate survivor who was finally free.

[empressofmankind]

I saw the coat IRL and thought it was an excellent excuse to draw Crocodile. And no, I didn't forget to erase my guide lines on the post-it. I saw the underwear as well, and it is semi see-through. The branding is not a lie, either.

You know the drill, come find me in a back alley for the crock

[myth0mania-rt]

This is very random but look at Vessel. Just.

Just look at him.

[pushing500]

Randy Random is really trying to get the Jones' Boys some company...

Mechi knows when he's outnumbered.

Looks like we'll be rushed off our feet making bedrolls for a little while!

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[khattikeri]

forever in pain that people call mdzs a story about gray morality when the book goes out of its way to point out in very black and white terms that wei wuxian and lan wangji are among the only truly good and righteous people in the cast

[skibasyndrome]

.