#10 years hanging out on skyros with Deidamia while the greeks got their shit together

[baejax-the-great]

I've read quite a few of your Hades fics by now and I have to say that you write longing like no one else I've read, published or otherwise. The characters are never quite unhappy, per se (at least not directly), but there's this almost simmering unfulfillment that drives their every action, especially the Achilles/Patroclus ones.

That's probably why I like them so much. It's excellent usage of dramatic irony and it creates this wry atmosphere, even when the subject matter is super serious and emotional.

My favorite has to be the scene from Sunset In Your Veins where Achilles wades out into the bay calling for obsolete remnants of his past life, because that's all he knows how to do. I usually don't like modern AUs that much for various reasons, but that was absolutely a perfect use of a modern AU premise and themes, and the characterization/interpretation of Achilles from both Supergiant and you lends itself perfectly too. That scene pops up in my head sometimes at random moments; I even tried to make some fanart for it once, but felt I couldn't do it justice.

Good luck with Water in the Dawn. I've been enjoying it immensely; every time I see a new notification in my inbox I prepare myself for a delicious serving of Pat angst.

Thank you! This was such a nice message to wake up to =)

"Simmering unfulfillment" is such a good phrase, and I do think it describes a lot of the human condition. It's in our nature to keep striving for... something. Hopefully we will all go through periods of profound satisfaction, but we are curious and inquisitive by nature, and I think that lends itself to wanting "more," whatever that means for us.

Lake Michigan is so beautiful. I like to think Achilles improved his relationship with it after that miserable day. Maybe he's one of those guys that goes swimming every day in the summer. Maybe he makes friends with the naiads. Maybe Thetis learns of the routes to get to Lake Michigan from the Atlantic. Maybe she could help us with our mussel problem.

Supergiant Achilles is so interesting to me. His whole thing is being washed up, old, and regretful, and of course for canon Achilles being young is like his whole thing. Then again, it's completely in keeping with reality for 26yos to talk about how old they feel, and I think Pat's death probably aged Achilles ten years.

Regardless, Supergiant turned Achilles into the ultimate burnt out gifted kid and Patroclus into the saddest, wettest, yet somehow still sarcastic little meowmeow, and I have enjoyed playing with that in my fics.