#Apollo 1 disaster

[letsgethaunted]

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Episode 137: The Apollo 1 Conspiracy Photodump

Image 01: CBS Special News Report of the Apollo 1 disaster. At first, NASA tried to say the astronauts died quickly and quietly. Spoiler alert: they did not. Image 02: TRIGGER WARNING - Final words of Apollo 1 crew. Image 03: Gus Grissom, Edward White, and Roger B. Chaffee pose for a photo at Cape Kennedy, 10 days before their deaths. Image 04: CBS interview footage of all 3 astronauts just days before their deaths. Image 05: CBS Footage of the Liberty Bell 7 incident. Image 06: More Liberty Bell 7 footage Image 07: Discovery’s mission to retrieve the Liberty Bell 7 from the bottom of the ocean floor in 1999. Image 08: The Liberty Bell 7, now on display in the Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, Kansas. Image 09: Gus Grissom’s son and wife speak out about what they believe happened to him. Image 10: Newspaper article about Thomas Baron’s mysterious death. Baron is the whistleblower employee who was working on a 500 page document to present to Congress about the Apollo 1 fire.

[renecarpenters]

This is an absolute moron replying to comments on this YouTube video insisting that the Apollo 1 disaster didn't happen.

What is this stupid obsession?? This is almost as moronic and vile as people who deny 9/11 or the Holocaust! 🙄

[joshoconnaissance]

This could be the worst disaster NASA's ever experienced. With all due respect, sir, I believe this is gonna be our finest hour.

APOLLO 13 (1995) dir. Ron Howard @pscentral take two event: from your decade (or the #1 film at the box office the day i was born)

[i-heart-emos]

Drunken mess /Luke castellan

Pairing: Luke x fem Apollo!reader

Warnings: underage drinking(drink responsibly please), mentions of being drunk, some cussing,little suggestive dialogue

Summary: what happens when the Dionysus cabins and the Hermes cabin team up nothing good that for sure

————————————————————————

You and Luke had learned one thing when you both drink nothing turns out well. Both of you being wild troublemakers end up spray painting on the cabin and wake up with little to no recollection. But since you both wanna keep your positions as head counselor of the Hermes and Apollo cabin you decide that only 1 of you should drink. But you guys don’t drink an awful lot, the only real time is when Hermes and Dionysus kids team up and all hell breaks loose.

“Hey love hear about the party tonight” Luke asked leaning on your cabin doorframe

“Of course everyone’s been talking about it” you respond continuing to pick up your room

“Your going right” Luke asked walking over to you

“Only if your going pretty boy”

He wrapped his arms around your waist slowly kissing your neck

“You know it” he mumbles into your neck

“Ugh get off of me I need to do this and your distracting me” you whine

“Alright fine see you later” he said laying a quick peck on your lips before he leaves he stops and turns to you “can you wear that red dress I really like”

“Of course”

————————————————————————

As your getting ready you start looking threw your closet for your red dress. Your hands swipe through all of your clothes finding your red dress. It’s not bright red more of a maroon it’s had v neck line and black lace over it. You go over to your jewelry box and pick out a silver cross. After you come out of the bathroom you hear Clarisse whistle

“Sometimes I forget your a daughter of ares not Aphrodite” Clarisse states looking you up and down

“Why thank you” you say walking over to your shoes picking long black boots.

As you grab your black clutch you hear someone knock on your door. Just as you turn to the door Luke walks in. You watch his eyes widen as he looks you up and down.

“Gods you look…gorgeous” he finally finished making you cheeks heat up as a big grin appears on your face.

“Don’t look too bad yourself castellan” you say smirking at him seeing him still looking flustered. When he finally shakes out of his daze he puts his arm out.

“Mlady” you grab his arm and smile

“Why thank you kind sir”

“Have fun kids use protection please” Clarisse scream from the back

“CLARISSE WHAT THE HELL” you holler back at her vulgar statement. You hear her laughing loudly as you leave the cabin with Luke

————————————————————————

One you guys enter the amphitheater your hit with the smell of alcohol. Everyone seems a little crazier you can immediately tell this has something to do with the Hermes kids or the Dionysus kids. You slightly turn to look with a stern look on your face

“Luke is it just me or does it smell like alcohol”

“No idea what you’re talking about” he says with a slight shrug of his shoulders.

“Luke Castellan don’t you dare gaslight me” you state sternly giving him a mean glare.

“Alright the Hermes kids and Dionysus kids might have teamed up to get some alcohol”

You know the Hermes kids where troublemakers as it is but the Dionysus kids too that’s just a recipe for Disaster. Then again there not your cabin so you shouldn’t have to worry right.

Luke gave you a stare that basically read ”are you gonna judge me because I let my cabin run a muck and buy no steal a bunch of alcohol.

“It’s fine they deserve to have a little fun” you finally state making look grow a big grin on his face and plant a big kiss on your cheek

“Ugh you two are absolutely disgusting” says a voice from your side. You turn to see Chris there holding two beers

“ here one for you and one for your girlfriend” Chris says handing Luke the two beers

“Oh no the girlfriend isn’t drinking tonight someone’s gotta watch the kid” you say motioning to Luke. He just crosses his arms and rolls his eyes with a pout on his lips

“Well guess I’ll just have to drink for the both of us” Luke says before downing the first beer and moving on to the second

“Woah there tiger slow down” you put your hand on Luke chest

“Don’t worry I will I’m gonna go find Chris” he says running off you chuckle to yourself as you go find one of your Aphrodite friends and talk with her for a while

————————————————————————

It’s starting to get let and you can feel the party slowly getting crazier. Suddenly you feel a pair of hands on your waist. You turn around and see Luke flushed cheeks big smirk on his face as he continues to rub your hips up and down.

“Hi there princess” he says nibbling on your earlobe

“Woah someone’s eager” you say back as he slowly moves his hands to your ass.

“Hey hey how much have you had to drink” you ask looking into his eyes which are already staring at you

“Only 3 beers” you look at him with an arched brow “Ok maybe like 5…6…7”

“Gods Luke are you serious shit your gonna be so hungover tomorrow”

“Hahaha-I-am-aren’t-I” He attempted saying but it was almost incoherent either how much he was hiccuping between sentences.

“Wow your so beautiful look at those eyes” He slowly brushed you curtain bangs away from your face. “You wanna know something funny”

“What love” you say as he continues to hold your face

“I’m gonna marry you one day I’ve pretty much planned are dream wedding oh and kids I definitely want 3 all boys there gonna be so handsome cause there gonna look like you” he states giggling quietly to himself. After all that you look at him stunned

“Your so adorable luke” “your even cut-“ he goes to say but is interrupted by himself bending over and puking all over your shoes.

“Oops sorry love” he said “here let me kiss it better” he goes in for a kiss but you immediately push him back

“Oh definitely not with your throw up mouth let’s go and get you cleaned up alright handsome boy”

“Whatever you say pretty girl”

You gently take his hand and drag him back to the Hermes cabin which proved to be a harder task you first intended with him being is freakishly tall and stumbling everywhere like a deer in ice.

When you finally make it to the cabin he attempts to lean on the doorframe of the cabin to immediately fall.

“Oh my gods Luke” he scrambles getting up you find his bunk and prep his bed your grab a trash can and put it next to his bed in case he needs to throw up. You also put up his pillows so he doesn’t throw up in his sleep. When finally get him in bed and go to leave he screams your name

You turn around seeing him with a large pout on his face

“Pleaseeeee stay with me” “oh alright you big baby I’ll stay with your” “yay” he silently cheers and you slip in next to him kissing his forehead and watching as his breathing evens out.

————————————————————————

Bonus:

“That’s right boy get it all up” you say rubbing Luke’s back soothingly as he throws up in the toilet

“Ugh I’m never drinking again”

————————————————————————

A/N: I’m so sorry this took me so long to make I’ve been super busy with classes but if you like anything you want me to write requests are always open your can read my requesting rules other than that hope your having a great day remember to eat and drink water ❤️❤️

[lonestarflight]

Apollo Program: Lunar Module (LM) production and names

The Grumman Aerospace Corporation was awarded the contract on November 7, 1962. Originally designated Lunar Excursion Module (LEM), NASA ordered 25 lunar modules (10 test articles and 15 production models) for testing and landing on the moon. This was to go with the 15 Saturn Vs and Apollo CSMs. They were assembled in Grumman's factory in Bethpage, New York.

"There were initially four major subcontractors: Bell Aerosystems (ascent engine), Hamilton Standard (environmental control systems), Marquardt (reaction control system) and Rocketdyne (descent engine).

The Primary Guidance, Navigation and Control System (PGNCS) was developed by the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory; the Apollo Guidance Computer was manufactured by Raytheon (a similar guidance system was used in the command module). A backup navigation tool, the Abort Guidance System (AGS), was developed by TRW."

-Information from Wikipedia: link

After the Gemini 3 spacecraft was dubbed Molly Brown by Gus Grissom, NASA forbade naming spacecraft. For Apollo 9, this changed due to mission controllers in Houston needing a way to differentiate between the two spacecraft.

Between 1969 and 1972, Grumman produced a series of insignias for their Lunar Modules which were distributed in limited quantities to their employees in the form of decals and prints.

Apollo 5 (LM-1): none

Apollo 3 (and later 2) (LM-2): Never used, intended for a mission similar to Apollo 5. The success of LM-1 led to the cancellation.

Apollo 9 (LM-3): Spider

Apollo 10 (LM-4): Snoopy. The LM ascent stage in heliocentric orbit and is the only known one to have survived intact

Apollo 11 (LM-5): Eagle (originally named haystack)

Apollo 12 (LM-6): Intrepid

Apollo 13 (LM-7): Aquarius

Humorously, Grumman sent North American (the manufacturer of the Apollo Command and Service Module) a tow bill sometime after the crew returned. North American retorted back saying they've never sent them a tow bill for the previous missions.

Apollo 14 (LM-8): Antares.

Apollo 15 (originally) (LM-9): never used, on display the Kennedy Space Center.

Intended for Apollo 15 and was the last H-type mission. When Apollo 18 was cancelled, it was decided to make Apollo 15 the first J-type mission.

Apollo 15 (LM-10): Falcon, originally intended for Apollo 16. First of the extended stay series.

Apollo 16 (LM-11): Orion, originally intended for Apollo 17

Apollo 17 (LM-12): Challenger, originally intended for Apollo 18.

Note: this name was reused for the second operational Space Shuttle Orbiter. After the Challenger Disaster, NASA officially retired the name.

Apollo 18 (LM-13): never used, originally intended for 19. It was partially completed when Apollo 18 and 19 were cancelled. Later restored by Grumman workers and is on display at the Cradle of Aviation History and Education Center.

Apollo 19 (LM-14): never used, originally intended for Apollo 20. It was partially completed when Apollo 18 and 19 were cancelled. What was completed, was later scrapped.

Apollo 20 (LM-15): never used, partially completed, scrapped. When Apollo 20 was cancelled, it was intended for modification into the Apollo Telescope Mount. Later the Telescope Mount was integrated into Skylab and this dedicated mission was cancelled.

source, source, source, source, source

NASA ID: MSFC-69-MS-G-1300-27, S67-50927, AS09-21-3183, AS10-34-5087, AS11-40-5946, AS12-46-6726, AS13-59-8566, AS14-66-9306, AS15-88-11866, AS16-113-18339, AS17-140-21370

[skellseerwriting]

Fire and Fury Part 1

Anger Issues!Hades x Apollo’s Child!Reader

Word count: 3,300

Warnings: Hades anger issues and emotional constipations, descriptions of pain from tripping/falling, description of blood(ichor), mention of cut, descriptions of fire, mention of Zeus “sleeping around”, Hades attempting to hurt someone, this is basically a romcom, and once again… Hades emotional constipation

Summary: Using your gift of prophecy, you tried to prevent Hades from burning up the place. Consequently, his friends now wanted to hang out with you, and Hades can’t stand it. He can’t stand you, with the way you won’t put up at all with his behavior

He was at it again.

Your eyebrow twitched as you shut your poetry book close.

Hades was at it again, getting into an argument and soon-to-be-fight with another student. Some kid had bumped into him as he was walking through the fountain courtyard. And like usual, Hades took it as some personal attack.

Pressing you thumb and forefinger to the bridge of your nose, you watched as Hades invaded the boy’s personal space.

It wasn’t until he snapped a spark and made his hair blaze that your eyes flooded with a vision.

The whole courtyard was in flames; even the very stone which it was made of. All of it, hot and melting and broken.

Hades pushed forward, grabbing hold of the kid’s arm. He desperately tried to pull away from Hades, but it was futile.

You could see it much more clearly now; the rage which filled Hades eyes like the flames you foresaw.

Setting your book down with a sigh, you sauntered towards the metaphorical and literal fire.

“Hey, hotshot.” You threw at him in a drab tone, done with his attitude. “Why don’t you cool off. Surely it’s plenty cold down there with the dead.”

He didn’t like that.

 You saw that coming.

Now, his attention was focused on you. Great, you thought dryly. This’ll be fun.

“What did you say?” He threatened, advancing towards you. You tilted your chin up. Then, gave a little look to the left. His eyes followed yours but there was nothing there.

Shaking his head at what he thought was some trick to distract him, he continued to approach you. You just stood there silently, eyes blank.

Hades reached to grab your front.

“Listen here-“

Something crashed into him, knocking him onto the ground. With groans elicited from two different people, Hades and Charming were incapacitated; a tangled mess of limbs. You eyed Charming’s skateboard as it comically rolled slowly away from the accident.

Without so much as a goodbye, you treaded away; book of poetry grabbed before you did.

“Hey, wait!” Hades groused, shoving the prince off him. “Wait!”

You did no such thing. You decided to pay him no mind as you exited the courtyard, which seemed airy now in your mind instead of full of heat.

Hearing the boy pacing behind you, you continued to ignore him; confrontation only made his anger worse.

“You can’t just-“

“Watch your step.” You advised, interrupting him. His voice paused, but his steps didn’t.

“What’s that supposed to-“

For the second time that day, his words and balance were stolen right from him as he tripped on a tiny rock. You heard him face plant with a sharp grunt.

Choosing to say nothing, you allowed yourself a tiny smirk as you turned the corner and walked away, glad that you were able to stop a disaster from happening.

If only it would always be that easy.

The next day, you ran into Hades, who was with his friends. Just your luck.

To your complete surprise though, they didn’t instantly hound on you the moment they saw you. In fact, some of them smiled (in a non-creepy way).

Striding towards you, the one you knew to be Maleficent huffed out a humorless laugh with an “It’s about time someone put him in his place.”

The pirate Hook slung his arm over Hades shoulder.

“Mate, I heard you fell flat on your face.” He told him, voice heavily laced with amusement. “Is that true?”

Hades just crossed his arms with a scowl. His friends were making fun of him?

“Honestly Hades,” Uliana told him patronizingly. “It shouldn’t be that hard to defeat someone with their help. How did you even mess that up?”

All Hades let out was a grumbling growl. He was not enjoying this one bit; his own friends turning against him in favor of the one who humiliated him.

“Hey!” a cheerful blonde greeted you with a smile and a hand out. “The name’s Morgie. You seem pretty cool. Wanna hang out sometime?”

Smiling partially from surprise and shock, you shook his hand playfully. “Sure. As long as it’s not during school hours.”

“Of course!“ he said chipperly. “Whatever you’d like.”

Hades groaned at it all. How come they were all so against him and taken with you? You were just some nobody. In fact, he voiced that opinion right out loud to his friends.

You squinted your eyes at him. Then, mockingly, you fanned your hand in a circle as you bowed at the waist.

“I suppose I should have introduced my importance earlier, oh great god of death.”

“That’s Thanatos.” He gritted. Ignoring him, you continued.

“My father is Apollo, son of Zeus, who is King of Olympus, brother to Hades.” You explained, rising up to view Hades reaction, his eyes practically bulging.

“Wait, you’re related?” Morgie asked; head swiveling between you two.

“No.” You both stated at the same time.

“You see-“ you began, but Hades spoke over you.

“It’s different for gods. We don’t have dna, so even if someone’s related, they’re not related in the way mortals view it.”

“That’s disgusting.” Maleficent wrinkled her nose. You shrugged.

“It is what it is. I for one am grateful that I don’t have to consider him-“ you pointed with your head “family.”

“Likewise.” Hades seethed.

“Well…” Hook drawled out, trying to disperse the tension. “Why don’t we all go get lunch now.”

After a bunch of murmurs of agreements, you made to leave.

“Wait!” Morgie said. “Where are you going?”

“Well, since you guys are having lunch right now-“

“No! We’re including you.” He insisted, reaching forward to grab your arm. “Please, join us for lunch?”

“Really?” You asked, eyebrow slightly raised.

“Honey,” Uliana began. “If we were going to kill you, we would have already done it. Come eat with us and maybe we’ll consider letting you stick around.”

You were bewildered. Was this really happening? The meanest students in the whole school being nice to you? Wanting to be friends with you?

“Okay.” Was all you could manage to say.

Just like that, you somehow found yourself a part of a friend group of villains.

You would think you might be someone they would despise, but due to your altercation with Hades, they all admired you in one way or another.

Uliana appreciated your no-nonsense attitude (as long as you didn’t use it with her, you picked up on. As Uli prided herself in leading the group and having her word being taken as gospel). And you, in turn, appreciated that she didn’t want to mess with you; and even asked for your opinion multiple times on things.

Morgie was excited at having someone new in the friend group. You never got a break from that boy asking you random questions about yourself and rambling on about Uliana. Not that you minded; you’d never had a friend be so interested in you and eager to hang out with you. It was nice.

Hook was like Morgie, although less intense. Mainly, though, he enjoyed viewing you as a romantic opportunity and would spend every breath in your presence flirting with you. He was respectful of your physical boundaries, however, so you actually began to enjoy -and play along with- his little verbal game.

Maleficent was happy (shocker) to have someone in the group she could have a decent, level-headed conversation with. She also liked that you didn’t put up with Hades’ sour attitude- which you took note of earlier. The two were close, but she was happy you “knocked some sense” into him, since Hades began to have better temperament with other students the following week after that.

This most certainly did not apply to you, however. He despised you, and he made that very clear.

He would take every opportunity to “jokingly” insult you or challenge you on something. Taking every chance he could to disagree with you and your opinions. And when his friends weren’t around or looking, he would try pinch you, yank your hair, try to trip you, and more.

Did you mind? A little, but you had always been one to not care much; things didn’t really bother you anymore. So, just like usual, you didn’t take any of his bait, ignored his verbal attacks, and would somehow maneuver just in time when he snuck up behind you to try something.

It drove him nuts.

You drove him nuts.

You with your lifeless eyes that reminded him of home. Your way of walking indicating you were unbothered by what was happening or where you were going. How you were the first person to fully tolerate his behavior and be willing to put up with him in the way that you didn’t put up with him, but rather called him out on his behavior. Those very rare smiles that he almost never saw, except when he made a fool of himself thanks to you.

He absolutely hated you, and he wished you were gone. Perhaps if Apollo hadn’t fathered you. Perhaps if his own brother didn’t sleep around. Then, he would never have to deal with your stupid attitude about not caring what he did or said. Just who did you think you were?

You, for all your lack of care, were rather self-confident. And Hades wasn’t sure what it was, but somehow he was getting used to you? Not that you still didn’t make his blood boil, but when you’d tell him off about something he got unnecessarily mad at, he found that he expected it. It became part of the routine. He got mad at something; you told him to knock it off. He tried to stick his gum in your hair; you somehow knew when to sidestep and he tripped on his own feet, getting it in his own hair. He made a backhanded comment about you; you… ignored it. You ignored him.

Was he really that awful? That unpleasant? You wouldn’t engage conversation with him. You only talked to him to make him leave some irritating student alone. Whenever he snapped his fingers in malice, you’d say something to redirect his malice to you, or cool off his temper.

But why? Why did you care? You had nothing to do with him; no reason to care.

It wasn’t until one school afternoon in the fountain courtyard that he had an epiphany.

He was brooding about you, stirring his emotions up in frustration until some kid walked right into him and spilled a drink directly onto his shirt; staining it.

Seeing red cloud his vision and feeling heat crawl underneath his skin, he grabbed the boy’s collar and lifted him off the ground.

“I’m- I’m sorry!” The boy squeaked, limbs wriggling around. “It was an accident!”

“An ‘accident’?!” Hades shouted, hair bursting into flames. “You got your drink all over me! How are you going to fix that?”

“I- I have money.” He spluttered, hands grasping at Hades’.

“This is one of a kind.” Hades hissed. Then, he brought his free hand up, cupping a blue flame. He should have watched where he was going. Now, he’s going to regret it.“No, You’re going to pay in a different way.”

All of a sudden, the fire he was holding went out, and his hand felt cold. His scalp felt cold. His face felt cold.

He felt wet.

Whipping his head over, he found you by the fountain, bucket in hand, face grim.

You.

He dropped the boy and prowled over to you.

“You.” He gritted, out loud this time. He tried lighting his hair up again but all it did was spark. He wasn’t happy about that. You, on the other hand, just looked at him unapprovingly; hand on your hip.

“Watch your step.”

“I’m not falling for that ag-“

He slipped.

His foot skidded on water that had landed on the ground in its path to him beforehand, leading him to careen backwards. Hands flying in the air, his arm hit his face as his back and head hit the tile.

He groaned loudly like a wounded animal, clutching his cheek. How humiliating. The world started spinning and he saw you lean over him.

He was about to bark a “Just go away”, hating everyone -especially you- seeing him like this. But he froze when he saw how you looked at him.

You’re eyebrows scrunched as you examined where he was holding his face. You were… worried? About him?

“What-“ He winced. Pulling his hand away, he saw ichor; golden blood.

Hades felt woozy. The back of his head hurt. His face hurt. But seeing you look at him with such worry somehow made it hurt less.

You didn’t flinch at the bloody sight, instead crouching next to him as you brought your fingers to the injury. As you gently touched the gash, all he could do was look at your focused eyes. Normally they were so dull, but like this, there was a certain life to them. Was it because of him?

“Your jacket spikes caught you in the cheek.” You patronized lightly, lips pouted. They were often pouted when you were done with his attitude, but the context changed it for Hades. You were worried about him.

He felt delirious; everything around him was in motion. You being right up in his face, touching him so carefully, was grounding him. You were something to focus on, and-

Oh, Hades came to realize. You were absolutely captivating.

 As you placed your hand underneath his scalp and shifted his head onto your lap, he thought with irony: I must be in heaven.

Closing his eyes, Hades felt safe and comfortable as you continued gliding your thumb over the cut. After what felt like it could have been minutes or hours, the ache in his skull receded, as if being sifted away. The stinging he felt below his eye disappeared, leaving him feeling at peace.

He could have stayed like this forever.

“Hey.” You whispered, poking him. “Feeling better?”

Hades opened his eyes, only to find yours looking back down at him. That concern he had seen was no longer there, but was replaced with something new.

Endearment. You looked at him endearingly and with care.

Why had he hated you in the first place again?

“You should be feeling better, anyways.” You told him after he didn’t respond. “I’m pretty sure I fully healed you.

Wait, what?

Hades shot up, sitting near you.

“What do you mean ‘healed me’?”

You let out a rare, little laugh. Gosh he wanted to hear that again. You wiggled your fingers gracefully.

“Apollo’s my father, remember? God of healing; along with the sun, poetry, music, dancing, archery...” you trailed off, then looked at him again with a twinkle in your eye. “Prophecy.”

As Hades failed to absorb all that you had said (he’d never bothered to remember everything his “Nephew” took charge of), you recalled back your vision from not long ago.

As you witnessed Hades get angry again, it returned. That image of fire and destruction; consuming everything. You had foresaw the need to place a bucket near the fountain that morning, and you’re glad you listened to your prophetic senses. It almost happened again.

Hades was oblivious to what was going on in that head of yours. Instead, he was beginning to think that you hadn’t fully healed him, because now looking at you made his head dizzy. He wasn’t sure what to do about it.

“Well,” you dusted yourself off, monotonous tone returning. “If you feel fine, I best be going.”

Watching you stand up felt like torture to Hades; he wanted to stay with you longer. To be near you, to have you continually hold him.

And seeing you walk away felt like his dead heart was just ripped out and crushed to pieces.

It wasn’t until you were out of sight that his mind reeled, finally comprehending what had just happened. What had just happened to him. Why was he feeling this way about you? Why was he-

Oh no.

Hades groaned.

Don’t tell me-

“You’re quiet today.” Hook jabbed him with his elbow.

“No I’m not.” Hades said dismissively.

“Yes you are.” Morgie said with a mouth full of scrambled eggs, sitting on his other side.

“You’ve been brooding all morning.” Mali added, delicately slicing her pancakes across from him. “The last time you brooded was when Cerby ran to me instead of you when I visited your house.”

Hades frowned. “Can’t a guy just brood?” He really didn’t want to deal with this right now; deal with his emotions right now.

“Not when it’s you.” She responded, taking a tiny bite. “Now spill.”

Hades clamped his mouth shut, feet firm on the dining hall floor.

“He’s keeping his mouth closed! Uli can you help us?” Morgie said, reaching for some syrup.

Hades whipped his view over to the sea witch in question, ready for anything.

“Hades,” she began slowly, not even looking at him, too focused on arranging her food before she ate it.. “If you don’t tell us what’s bothering you,” she brought out a tentacle. “Then I’ll wring it out of you.”

Grinding his teeth, Hades weighed his options. Sure, telling them would be embarrassing, but once Uli got her tentacles on him, it would be ten times that.

“I might have a crush.” He uttered as quietly as he could.

“What was that?” Mali asked, eyebrow raised.

Opening his mouth hesitantly to repeat himself, he was interrupted.

“He said he has a crush!” Morgie shouted excitedly. “He has a-“ Hades covered his mouth with his hand, silencing Morgie’s voice to a muffle.

Uli stopped balancing two forks against each other to give him a look.

“Really?” She smirked. “And just what are we going to do about that?”

“‘We’,” Hades scowled, “aren’t doing anything. It’s just stupid feelings. Nothing important about them.”

“Oh please,” Hook smiled with mirth. “I think I know who it is. Don’t discard your feelings so easily.”

“You know who it is?” Morgie said mutedly, mouth still covered by Hades’ hand.

“Yeah, it’s-“

Before Hades had the chance to tell him to zip it, you approached their table.

“Good morning.” You told them in your usual, dull voice. Hades hated how much he enjoyed hearing it.

“Good morning!” Morgie gasped, having finally removed his makeshift gag.

“What are we talking about?”

Morgie smiled dangerously. Oh no.

“We were talking about-“

“Castlecoming!” Hades interrupted. You looked at him with a frown. He let out a cough. “We, uh… we were talking about Castlecoming.”

His friends all looked at him with amusement.

“Yes,” Uliana spoke, turning her attention to you. “Hades here was just telling us that there’s someone he wants to ask.”

Hades shot her a dirty look.

“Really?” You asked curiously, head tilted. “Who?”

He saw Morgie about to speak again, and managed to clamp his palm over Morgie’s trap just before he spilt everything; only letting out a “hmphmg”.

“Okay…” you drawled out, then gave Hades a peculiar look. “Well, I’ll see you around. Bye everyone.”

Everyone bidded you goodbye, but not before you added a softer “Bye Hades” before you left.

Once you were out of ear shot, all of his friends started shouting at him and hounding on him with all sorts of “why didn’t you ask?!” “That was your chance!” “You’re such a coward.”

“Okay! Okay.” Hades tried to get them all to shut up. “I’ll do it. Just… leave me alone.”

They all fell silent.

“You will do it, though?” Maleficent asked, tone indicating she didn’t believe him.

“Yes,” he sighed, laying his head on his arms, unsure how things had gotten to this point. “I’ll do it.”

I hope I don’t regret this.

Part 2

Taglist: For Hades

@perfect-revenge

@lesbpotmurdocklokistan

@shortnfuckinsweet

[rambleonwaywardson]

Clegan Astronaut AU - Part 2

Part 1

AU Summary: Had some ideas about the boys as modern day NASA astronauts. Taking place in 2025, Bucky is about to head to the moon as mission commander of Artemis III while Buck is back-up commander and CAPCOM on the ground at NASA. Established relationship (obnoxiously in love).

Author's Note: Thanks to everyone who read and liked part 1! I have this whole story very loosely plotted but have no publishing schedule. I'll be out of town this week, so it may be longer before part 3 is up. Also, fun fact, this was originally going to take place in the 70s during Apollo, but I really wanted to write Clegan as out and proud. I think you can see why.

See end notes for term definitions.

--

September 8, 2025 Houston, TX

Growing up, Gale Cleven was always just Gale Cleven. Top of his class, quiet but kind, a little something wild but innately good. He doesn’t talk much about his childhood, about his parents. He grew up too fast, learned too early that life is unfair, that people are unkind – even the ones who are supposed to take care of you. He grew up with his head in the clouds, dreaming of elsewhere. He wanted to be someone, to do something. He wanted to fly away. 

So when he needed money to go to college, he took a scholarship from Air Force ROTC. He would become a pilot. He would get a degree in aerospace engineering. He would learn about math and physics, and about the giant universe he dreamed of. He would do something important, something worthwhile, because he needed to be better than the man who raised him. 

Weirdly enough, being an astronaut was never a serious consideration. The space program was about impossible to get into as it was, and getting smaller. The heyday of Apollo and the shuttle were over. NASA was under fire once again in the early 2000s following the Columbia disaster, and space travel just didn’t interest the public, or the politicians, as much as it once did. Gale was fascinated by it, always had been, but he was much more interested in the physics, the math, the engineering. Even as he wanted to be a pilot, he hardly entertained the idea of being an astronaut. 

All of this, until he met John Egan. 

Freshman year of college, a talk, lanky, dark-haired boy with the most beautiful smile Gale had ever seen barreled into their assigned dorm room and hit Gale’s life like a freight train. He called himself Bucky, and he started calling Gale Buck, no matter how many times Gale repeated his actual name. Bucky Egan was also in AFROTC with dreams of being a pilot. A mechanical engineering major, not because he wanted to be or because the Air Force wanted him to be – physics really was not suited to him to be honest – but because he knew NASA would want him to be. And Bucky Egan fully intended to be a NASA astronaut. 

Gale could tell from day one that nothing would stop this boy; he was a force of nature, and if something stood in his way he simply jumped over it. 

What Gale did not know from day one was that, 16 years later, this was the man he would marry. What he did not know was that this man would completely change his life. 

It was John Egan that, one random night during their time in college, drunk on tequila shots, looked at Gale and said “still think it’s crazy you don't wanna be an astronaut. You’d be NASA’s poster boy.”

Gale Cleven was always just Gale Cleven, future pilot and engineer. Until he met John. Now, standing in a crowded bar in Houston, Texas, he’s Major Buck Cleven, astronaut. One of NASA’s poster boys. 

The Hundred Proof Bar, just down the road from Johnson Space Center, is a long-time local favorite of astronauts and JSC employees. It’s decorated with military and space program memorabilia, with a tradition almost as old as the bar itself: once an astronaut goes to space and returns from their mission, they get their astronaut portrait hung on the wall behind the bar, joining a small and coveted community of great pilots, explorers, and scientists. Among the Houston NASA community, having your picture behind the bar almost means more than having it at NASA. 

Over the bartop, Gale stares at his own portrait. Like most of the others, he’s in a bulky white EVA suit, one hand resting on top of a space helmet, an American flag in the background. The photograph was taken nearly three years ago, ahead of his inaugural six-month ISS mission, the culmination of over a decade of hard work in school, the Air Force, and astronaut training. You can read the expression on his face like a book in that picture: pure excitement, like it was everything he had ever dreamed of. 

Bucky’s picture is right next to his. Even though their first missions didn’t coincide, Jackie, the owner of the place and head bartender, insisted that putting them beside each other was the only correct course of action. Bucky looks just as ecstatic as Gale. Soon, though, there will be a new portrait of him in its place, one specific to Artemis 3.

“Here you go, love.” Jackie sets a glass of soda with lemon in front of Gale and he thanks her before taking a sip. He stands there at the bar, one hand on his glass and the other shoved in his pocket, just staring at the photographs. A little legacy to the world that’s representative of something far greater. They’d really made it, in the end.

“I’m proud of you, you know,” a voice says beside him. Gale looks over at Marge and smiles as she wraps an arm around his back and squeezes. 

“Thought you weren’t coming tonight,” Gale says as he hugs her back.

When she steps away, she shrugs. “Miss John’s birthday? He’d kill me.”

Gale laughs, shoving his hands back into his pockets. “Please, you can pretty much do no wrong in his eyes. He’d forgive you.” Bucky had come to love Marge like a sister over the years. Gale was worried at first that they wouldn’t click, back when Marge visited them in college for the first time, but he had rarely been so wrong. They get along like a house on fire, for better or for worse.

Marge shakes her head and chuckles. “No babe, that would be you. Pretty sure John would help you get away with murder if you asked.”

“Who says he hasn’t?”

Marge just shakes her head again. “Well, I just popped in to say hi, wish the birthday boy well.” She pokes Gale in the chest, looking pointedly at him. “I meant what I said. By all means, have fun tonight, but I don’t want to hear about any scandals, okay? I’m good at my job, but the press will have a field day if they get a whiff of the next moon walkers doing anything… unruly.”

“Marge,” Gale says, pushing her finger away gently. “They’re young astronauts. Unruly is their middle name.”

Marge cocks her head and stares him down. Gale tries not to squirm under the intense, disapproving gaze of a terrifying woman several inches shorter than him. “Please just-” 

“HEEYYYY!” Cheers erupt around the Hundred Proof as the front door swings open. Marge sighs and looks at Gale with an expression that says ‘you’re not off the hook and you better do as I say,’ but she drops it. Bucky walks inside, followed by Curt, Rosie, and Alex. He smiles and laughs and shakes hands, thanks people for the birthday wishes, hugs friends he hasn’t seen in too long. The place is packed with astronauts, NASA employees, space program families, and even some Air Force friends that were able to make a quick trip in. Gale turns around and leans back against the bar, watching Bucky work his way through the crowd.

He’s changed into a white tee shirt and an old black leather jacket on top of dark jeans, a timeless look that’s followed him since he first met Gale in college. He’s pretty sure the jacket itself has been with him through many of those years. Once he spots Gale, his smile gets wider and he pushes his way towards the bar. First he leans in and hugs Marge tight. “Happy birthday,” she says, ruffling his hair before he lets go.

“Thanks for coming,” he tells her. “I promise I will not be on my worst behavior tonight.”

Marge rolls her eyes. “That may be all I can ask for.” She pats him on the arm lovingly. “Enjoy yourself, okay?” She looks at both of the men standing in front of her – two men that she still sees as college boys; men who she is endlessly proud of and who also endlessly test her patience. “Sorry I can’t stick around, but I have to fly over to Cape Kennedy in the morning for some press. I’ll see you boys in a few days.”

They both hug her again before she walks off, slipping through the crowd effortlessly even in her heels. Bucky turns and looks at Gale, glances him up and down before breaking into a grin again. “You wore something cute.”

Gale looks down at himself, picking at the cuffs of his shirt. He’d picked out a black on black outfit: some nicely tailored black jeans and a black dress shirt with the top two buttons undone, complete with polished black leather oxfords – a look he admittedly knew would please Bucky with the way it fit his body so perfectly, the way it accentuated his shoulders and his waist at the same time. “Did I?” He asks innocently. Bucky nods, biting at his lower lip. Truthfully, everything looks good on Gale anyways. Gale shrugs, smirking at him. “Well, I live to please.” Before Bucky can really get any ideas in his head, though, Gale leans in and puts a hand on Bucky’s hip as he kisses him on the cheek. “Happy birthday, John,” he whispers.

They’re pulled away from each other by the sound of someone tapping loudly on a whiskey glass. Curt is standing on a nearby table, bringing in the attention of everyone in the room. He glances at Gale and Bucky. “Sorry lovebirds, but it’s not your wedding night yet. Give it a rest so I can say some words about Bucky here.” Gale blushes and pinches the bridge of his nose as their friends laugh around them. Bucky takes a step to the side, but still grabs Gale’s hand in his. Curt nods and goes on. 

“Most of us are here tonight to celebrate Bucky’s birthday. Quite frankly I’m shocked he has this many friends, but thank you for being here.” He laughs with the crowd as Bucky holds a hand dramatically to his heart. “No, really though, Bucky’s an amazing guy. I’m real lucky to know him, and I’m lucky to have him in that Artemis lander with me when we go to the moon in November.” Raucous applause and cheering fills the room at that and Curt puts his hands up as he yells over them that he ain’t finished yet. He looks at Bucky and raises a glass. “Happy birthday, brother. You’ve worked hard to get here, and you deserve every bit of it. May we make history this year!”

Applause rises again, louder now, and people stomp, holler, and shout as Curt motions for Bucky to take his place on the table. He climbs up and takes in the room. “Very touching, Curt, thank you,” he says. “I’m honored to be commander of this mission.”

“Of all the drunks in this joint!” someone calls out jokingly from the crowd.

Bucky laughs and puts a hand up defensively. “Listen, someone’s gotta make a nest for the rest of you dodos. Make sure it’s safe. Just think of me as an overpaid guinea pig. Or, actually, rather underpaid for the circumstances.” This gets some laughter as well, even as no one in the room would ever truly doubt Major John Egan’s capabilities as a pilot or as an astronaut. They all know it’s true, however, that astronauts are not compensated enough for the risks they face. The money really isn’t why they do it though. “I’m not gonna stand here and wax sentimental,” Bucky says. “So thank you all for being here tonight. Now let’s get this party started!” 

–

The evening is a blur of drinks, music, friends, and more drinks. It starts innocently enough, with Bucky making the rounds and greeting everyone he can. He and Gale talk shop for a while with Albert Clark, flight director of Artemis 3, and a few of the flight controllers tasked with monitoring the crew and spacecraft for the duration of the mission. Harry Crosby, FIDO; Jack Kidd, FAO; and Joseph “Bubbles” Payne, GNC. Bucky then declares that they need shots, and he remembers a lot less after that.

At some point, Gale loses track of him while he chats with a few of the engineers at JSC, including a hell of a woman named Helen who flew on the ISS with him. They’ve remained good friends ever since, and she’s about the smartest person and one of the best engineers he knows. He’s happy to talk about EVAs and the astronaut vs. engineer experience working in the neutral buoyancy tank, rockets and lunar rovers, even office gossip and who has the cutest dog (Gale, hands down, no room for objection). But it’s been a long day, and Gale – despite finding himself smack in the middle of the public eye with interviews and networking and photo shoots to the point that he isn’t really sure where he ends and the extroverted facade he’d crafted begins – is starting to feel drained. He talks and he smiles and he nods, but he can feel autopilot starting to take over. He brushes his fingers over the glass in his hand, smearing the cold condensation as he takes a sip of soda water. He’s perfectly sober but the music is starting to make his head pound. He blinks and rubs a hand over the back of his neck.

“Hey Buck,” Helen says, trying to hide her laughter with a hand over her mouth. Gale turns to see what she’s staring over his shoulder at and lets a quiet fuck slip out of his mouth.

“Hold my drink please,” he says to Helen, shoving the glass into her waiting hand before pushing through the crowd to where Bucky is standing in front of the dart board, crouched down so the top of his head is below the bullseye with a hand over his eyes. “And what exactly is this about?” he cries as he pulls Bucky away from the wall.

“Hey!” Curt exclaims, echoed by Alex. They’re both visibly drunk, darts in their hands as they look at Gale with displeasure all over their faces. 

“We gotta settle this, Buck,” Bucky insists, trying to tug away from the hand gripping his arm. Bucky may be bigger and stronger than him, but Gale is more sober by about a thousand miles.

“Settle what?” he asks, incredulous. 

“Well we ended in a tie,” Alex explains, like it makes all the sense in the world. “So now we gotta settle it somehow.”

The four of them stand in a loose approximation of a circle, staring each other down. Bucky has given up resisting and is leaning lazily back against Gale’s chest, fiddling intently with Gale’s fingers. Gale stands with one hand on his hip and the other wrapped around Bucky’s middle, holding the other man still while he tries to make sense of this. “And… the best way to settle that… is to throw darts at your commander? At my fiancé?”

Curt perks up defensively but his words are slurred. “Oh fuck no! We’re throwin’ ‘em above our fiancé.”

“My fiancé,” Gale corrects, as if that’s the most important part of this altercation.

Curt tilts his head and looks at him, his eyes shifting back and forth like he’s trying to make some sort of calculation in his head. Then he nods and points to Gale. “Yeah, yeah. Your fiancé.” He points to himself. “Our commander. Thassit.”

Alex adds, “whoever gets the dart closest to the top of his head wins.”

Gale rubs his face with one hand, groaning quietly. “No,” he finally says.

“No?” Curt asks, pouting. 

“No,” Gale asserts again. “Last thing we need is for John Egan to get kicked off Artemis cause he’s lost an eye. Now give me those.” He pushes Bucky gently to the side – which is met with a grumpy protest – and grabs the darts from Alex and Curt, who are surprisingly willing to hand them over.

“Buucckkk,” Bucky whines, tugging at Gale’s free hand as he gives the darts to Jackie to keep behind the counter for a while. “You’re no fuunnnn. Woulda been jus’ like when Tommy threw one at me tha’ time. Was fine.”

“Curt and Alex are a lot drunker, you dummy. You’ll thank me later.” Very unlikely. He probably won’t remember this later. Gale turns to address all three of the men. “Now go entertain yourselves in less destructive ways.”

–

An hour or two later – who can really say – as the crowd starts to thin out, heading home in hopes of getting some semblance of sleep before a full work day tomorrow, Gale finds Bucky standing at the bar, talking to some of their military friends. Jackie – saint that she is – had switched just about all of them to non-alcoholic beverages some time ago. When Gale tries to pull Bucky away, Bucky pouts and leans against the bar. “Come on, Buck, the night is still young.” It’s past midnight, actually. It’s officially Tuesday, and they have to go to work in the morning. Schedules are packed a couple months out from launch.

Gale shakes his head and wraps an arm securely around Bucky’s mid back, pulling him close. Bucky struggles at first but then pauses, turns his head to press his nose into Gale’s neck. “You smell good.” He sniffs again before Gale feels lips gently kissing his neck, making him freeze and try to keep from blushing too hard. 

“Okay,” he grunts, pushing Bucky’s head away from his collarbone while he tries to wrestle the rest of him away from the bar. “It’s definitely time to go home. Come on.”

Saying some hurried goodbyes, Gale pushes his way through the thinning crowd with Bucky half hanging on his shoulder and half stumbling beside him. Turning to look around is not an easy feat with 6’2 of muscular astronaut weighing him down, constantly switching back and forth between shouting out to friends across the room and trying to kiss Gale anywhere he can reach. But Gale manages to find who he’s looking for. Pushing between a small group of tipsy women with a mumbled apology, he reaches a hand out to grab Rosie by the shoulder. “You seen Alex?” he asks, raising his voice over the music.

“He left a little while ago!” Rosie yells back despite their proximity. Gale doesn’t know if he should be relieved that the number of drunk guys he has to wrangle has decreased or concerned over whether or not Alex was capable of getting home alone. But then Rosie adds, “Macon drove him home, don’t worry.”

Gale nods and steps closer. “You drunk?”

Rosie tilts his head to think for a moment, looks around the room, wriggles his shoulders back and forth like he’s trying to test his balance. “Eehhh.” He holds up a hand and tilts it back and forth in a ‘sort of kind of maybe’ motion.

Gale sighs as he pulls away Bucky’s hand, which is grabbing at his chin, and pins it down at his side instead. “Alright, you’re coming with me,” he says to Rosie. Then he points across the room to Curt, who is dancing on a table with a man and a woman to cheers from the crowd around them. He wonders how many people Curt has kissed tonight alone. “Grab him and meet me outside. Y’all can crash at our place.”

Rosie nods and heads off to extract Curt from… whatever is happening over there. Gale looks at Bucky, who is staring at him with his pupils blown wide. Bucky smiles drunkenly and kisses Gale sloppily on the mouth. Gale chuckles, long suffering, and presses his lips to Bucky’s temple. “I don’t know why I put up with you.”

Bucky taps him on the nose. “Cause you love me.” He can’t argue with that.

–

It takes some wrangling, some arguing, a little bit of threatening, and a lot of protesting, but Gale and Rosie manage to drag Bucky and Curt out of the car and through the door of the pretty ranch-style home on Nassau Bay. The second they walk in, they’re assaulted by two giant huskies all too excited to welcome them home. Meatball – who is really Demarco’s dog but has found himself in a weird co-parenting situation between Benny and Gale as the two alternate space missions and other work trips – just about knocks Curt to the tile floor right at the entryway. Pepper – the one year old husky who Gale and John adopted from a rescue earlier this year – slips and slides her way across the floor in her excitement to press her nose lovingly against Bucky’s legs.

“Hiya Pep!” Bucky immediately drops to the floor by the doorway to give Pepper all the hugs and kisses she deserves, laughing as she, very much not small enough to be a lap dog, wriggles her way into his lap anyways. Curt, meanwhile, stumbles away to the living room. “Couch!” he exclaims, before dramatically collapsing onto the couch and burying his face into a throw pillow.

“Shoes off!” Gale calls. Curt groans but awkwardly tries to kick off his dress shoes to no avail. Rosie rolls his eyes and goes to help. Gale bends down to scratch Meatball under the chin. “Benny’ll be home soon, bud.” He’s been on the ISS for over 6 months now and is due for splashdown next Wednesday. Meatball licks Gale’s hand before running out the door into the yard.

When Gale looks down at Bucky, still on the floor even though Pepper has run outside after Meatball, he’s staring forlornly at his feet. He looks up at Gale. “Buck, can you help me tie my shoes?”

“Your shoes are tied,” Gale says matter of factly, hands on his hips.

Bucky looks back at his shoes thoughtfully, touching the laces with oddly gentle fingers. He tugs halfheartedly. “Buck?”

“Hmm?”

“I can’t get them off.” 

Gale flexes his jaw, unimpressed, and nods. “Mkay.” He kneels down on the floor and carefully removes Bucky’s shoes, sets them neatly by the door. Then he hauls the man back to his feet. As he leads Bucky awkwardly to their master bedroom, he looks in on Curt, who is already passed out on the couch. Rosie had managed to get his shoes off and ensure he wasn't lying on his back. He then peeks into the first guest room where Rosie, mercifully still in his right mind, has already claimed a bed. “You good?” Rosie nods and gives him a thumbs up. Gale nods back. “See you in the morning.” They are in for a hell of a training day tomorrow. The only saving grace is that at least half of Johnson Space Center will probably be just as hung over.

Gale manages to get Bucky out of his jacket and settled on the edge of their bed before he goes about changing out of his own clothes, stripping down to his underwear before pulling on a pair of sweats. He is acutely aware of Bucky’s eyes tracking his every move until he goes into their en-suite to brush his teeth. Once he’s done in the bathroom, he returns to find Bucky staring out the big picture window at the full moon lighting up their backyard. 

He turns his head to look at Gale with wonder in his eyes. “I’m going to the moon, Buck.”

Gale smiles fondly as he sits beside him to look out at the night sky. He wraps an arm around Bucky’s shoulders and presses a kiss to the side of his head. It really is everything Bucky has ever dreamed of, for as long as they’ve known each other.

“Yeah, John. You’re going to the moon.”

--

--

Part 3

Terms: EVA = extravehicular activity (space walks and moon walks)

FIDO = Flight Dynamics Officer; monitors the flight path and trajectory of the spacecraft

FAO = Flight Activities Officer; in charge of preparing the flight plan; manages changes in the flight plan and crew activities

GNC = Guidance, Control, and Navigation Officer; operates spacecraft navigation and control software during flight; responsible for spacecraft orientation

ISS = International Space Station

Neutral Buoyancy Tank = giant water tank at Johnson Space Center used to simulate working in zero gravity

[dionysism]

hello new mutual!! delighted to be mutuals with you, love your blog <3 i was wondering if you had any favorite scenes or lines from the Homeric epics that really stick with you or resonate?? have a great day <33

hello!! delighted to be mutuals with you too :)

i love this question!! tried to really cherry pick my favs or this would be quite a long post so here we go 😭

from the iliad:

- the "ah, father zeus, athene and apollo, if only no trojan could get away alive, not one, and no greek either, and we two could survive the massacre to tear off troy's holy diadem 100 of towers single-handed!" from achilles when he tells patroclus he wishes they could conquer troy just the two of them

- that whole scene where thetis comes to achilles after patroclus' death but especially "my child— why in tears? what sorrow has touched your heart?" i really love thetis and her relationship with achilles. it is just so. tragic

- "yes, my friend, you die too. why make such a song about it? even patroclus died, who was a better man than you by far."

- "as fire from the skies rages through deep gullies on a scorched mountain-side, a great forest is consumed and everywhere a driving wind sends the flames billowing, so achilles ran amok with his spear like something superhuman, killing as he went, and the black earth ran with blood." one of my all time fav quotes from my rieu translation

from the odyssey:

- the whole scene where telemachus visits menelaus and helen in sparta is a personal fav of mine because 1. everything menelaus said about odysseus was so heartbreaking he really loved that man ("his destiny was suffering and mine the endless pain of missing him" from wilson and "nothing could have parted us, bound by love for eachother, mutual delight, till death's dark cloud came shrouding round us both" from fagles) and 2. it was also hilarious because helen drugged the wine?:$:?/? and her and menelaus clearly have unresolved tension from the war. meanwhile telemachus there like 🧍

- when odysseus returns home and is greeted by his people ohhh this touches my heart so dearly. his people truly loved him and he truly loved them. "flocking out of their quarters torch in hand they embraced odysseus in welcome, and took and kissed his shoulders, head and hands. a sweet longing came on him to weep and sob, as he remembered them every one."

- the odysseus and penelope reunion, of course. my favorite of all. odysseus being like "haha my beloved wife you won't talk to me while i'm in dirty rags i see how it is" and then athena making him look extra gorgeous and the entire exhange that follows. "what a strange woman you are!" "what a strange man you are!" then her doing the olive bed trick and telling eurycleia to pull the bed out and odysseus replying "lady! your words are a knife in my heart! who has moved my bed!" and them him explaining the whole of how he built the bed and penelope bursting into tears and they embrace but ohhhh rieu again (if you couldn't tell hes my fav) with the "it was like the moment when the blissful land is seen by struggling sailors, whose fine ship poseidon has battered with wind and wave and smashed on the high seas. a few swim safely to the mainland out of the foaming surf, their bodies caked with brine; and blissfully they tread on solid land, saved from disaster. it was bliss like that for penelope to see her husband once again. her white arms round his neck never quite let go." just beautifully put but also the likening of penelope's joy to see him again specifically to that of a sailor finally making to land again after a hard and painful journey like oh the odyssey was truly just as painful for penelope as it was for odysseus i'm SICK!

[cringefaillosersummit]

Redemption Round 3 - Group 1

About Kim Dokja dokja is like the most underwhelming overwhelming fictional man. i know i need to wrap him into a burrito blanket and feed him soup but also throw him around like a slinky. everyone in the orv fandom has a love hate relationship with dokja. hes my ethereal dead wife but i want to kill him and cherish him at the same time. hes a fucking loser.

About Lester My cringefail pathetic baby covered in trash and constantly falling. He got turned into a human because Zeus is an asshole and spends the whole first book whining and failing in everything he tries, also stuff he is supposed to be the god of. He is disaster bi and several of the villians in the series are his exes (or at least one I know for sure, I haven't read all the books yet). He thinks he is the best while also being full of self hatred, he gets bullied by a tiny 13 years old and has to get help from his own children, i heard there is a scene where he tries to flirt with a certain character and she literally laughs in his face. I love him

[jyminie]

Just finished the trials of Apollo and I NEED TO TALK ABOUT IT

These books were so different to me because they directly revolved around a topic Rick clearly wanted to touch - abuse. Specifically, familial abuse. Personally I think he’d done it gracefully in a way that really sinks in for me now, but I’m not a victim of abuse and don’t pretend to understand the subject.

Regardless, I think the way Rick wrote Apollo, Lester, was absolute perfection. There’s an art to writing a literal god in first person perspective, and have him be one of the most human characters in the entire franchise.

Lester STRUGGLES. And he’s not perfect at all, he doesn’t even begin to understand everything at the start - not the world, not consequences, not the stakes and not the people around him. But fuck he learns, he learns the hard way, the only way, by doing. And it’s not a linear journey either - between book 1 and his more or less lucid identity in book 5, he goes back and forth between learning, and relapsing to his old ways, and learning again, and trusting and understand and rising victorious in all the confusion. He doesn’t shy away from his emotions - he cries a lot, and gets frustrated, and laughs. He learns to feel for other people. But he also learns to heal himself. And he does it by helping others heal, too.

To me, this red thread tying the books together by a common serious subject, made the reading somehow more whole. I can’t explain it, but Apollo slowly verbalising (well, thinking), realising there are similarities between his relationship with Zeus to Meg’s relationship with Nero, was so satisfying. Although I feel like “satisfying” might be a bit of a harsh word. Mostly I felt proud of him. I /felt/ for him, so very much, for so long. He’s likeable because he’s so human, and that includes both his silly and tragic sides, because these coexist within all of us. And I think he as a character encompassed that beautifully.

Reading that last book, expecting a showdown of sorts between Apollo and his father, and receiving a short conversation, an understanding, instead, was amazing. Because that’s Rick’s way of showing us what’s important. No use trying to fix what we can’t, what isn’t our responsibility to fix, what makes us miserable. Humans have this natural ability to rise from their own disasters and forge out of them their own paths in life. And Apollo did just that. It took him time, but that’s how it goes for all of us. And instead of fighting Zeus, he chose happiness. He chose focusing on what’s important, his old hobbies, his friends.

In a way, I’m bittersweet- I wish he didn’t have to stay at Olympus. I wish he could spend as much time as he’d like on earth. But the thing is, a god is what he /is/. But now, he understands for the first time that he gets to pick what kind of god he should be.

And he chose the human kind.

[mask131]

The myth of Apollo (1)

Loose translation of the article “Antique Apollo: Shadow and Light” (Apollon Antique: Ombre et Lumière), from the “Dictionary of Literary Myths” under the direction of Pierre Brunel.

THE ANTIQUE APOLLO: SHADOW AND LIGHT

In her “Nouvelle Mythologie de la Jeunesse” (New Mythology for Youth), wrote for the French school students under the rule of Charles X, madame Tardieu-Denesle tells the story of how Jupiter charged Apollo with the mission of spreading light throughout the universe: as such, every morning the god climbs in the Sun Chariot to ride through the sky until night. These poor students were such misinformed and taught to confuse two very different gods: Apollo and Helios. But miss Tardieu-Denesle can be easily forgiven, because the confusion between the two deities has been existing since a very long time…

When we want to associate the name “Apollo” with ideas, we associate him with “light”, “harmony” or “balance (equilibrium)”. Apollo means to us the Athens of Pericles, the sunrays descending upon the Acropolis, the “sôphrosunè”, this wisdom made of moderation and whose principles had been engraved on the façade of the temple of Delphi. We usually oppose (and Nietzsche greatly helped reinforced this antithesis) Apollo’s serenity with the barbaric drunkenness of Dionysos. The idea of Apollo as a god of light and harmony existed as early as Antiquity, but it does not correspond to the original character of the god – a god which has a dark face, obscured in mysterious shadow… For Apollo is a disquieting and complex god of contrasts, solar and chthonian at the same time, a bearer of life and death.

I/ The problem of the origins

The hardships of understanding the origins and the personality of Apollo appear as early as the examination of his epithets. The god is said to be “Lukeios”, an adjective that the scholars have for a very long time tied to “lukè”, the light. This etymology fits very well the most famous nickname of Apollo, “Phoibos”, “the clear”, “the shining”, “the pure” – a name that is found as early as the first lines of Homer’s Iliad and Hesiod’s Theogony. This already paves the way for the assimilation by Apollo of Helios – a fusion that already appeared within a 7th-6th century BCE text known as “The Homeric Hymn to Apollo”: “It is there that appears the ship of Apollo, the Archer Lord, under the appearance of the celestial body that shines in bright day”. This assimilation will be later reaffirmed by Aeschylus’ “Bassarids” (Bassarae?) in the 5th century: Orpheus claims in the play that the Sun is also called Apollo. In a similar way, Aeschylus identifies within the “Xantriae” Selene, the Moon, to Artemis, the daughter of Leto and sister of Apollo.

And yet Apollo, “the light one”, is also called “Loxias”, “the skew one”, “the dark one”. According to an information within the “Etymologicum Magnum” (642), this name can be explained by the character of Loxô, a daughter of Boreas that raised the young god. Let us admit this, and let us admit that the oracles of Delphi were in truth very clear: writers, nonetheless, were more concerned with dramatic effect than reality, and as such they started spreading the idea that Apollo always expressed himself in an ambiguous way, forcing mankind to interpret his predictions, with a risk of misunderstanding them and causing disasters. Aeschylus wrote in his “Agememnon”: “Yet I speak the language of Greece. Loxias does too: yet his oracles are obscure.”

Herodotus shared numerous stories about the misfortunes of mistaken humans, such as Cresus who was unable to understand that the great empire he wanted to destroy was his own and that the “mule” he had to fear was Cyrus, son of a Mede and a Persian.

The obscurity of Apollo is also found back within his ambiguous relationships to the chthonian world. He is the killer of a female dragon (drakaina) that guarded the very ancient oracle of Gaia the Earth at Delphi (according to the “Homeric Hymn to Apollo”). A famous statue depicted him as a “sauroctonus”, a “lizard killer”. He is also “Smintheus”, the “destroyer of rats” according to “Iliad”. But at Epidaurus, within the temple of his son Asklepios (whose symbolic animal was the mole, another chthonian beast), snakes crawled among those who practiced the incubation ritual. A snake also wrapped itself around the staff of the physician-god, a deity who himself sometimes appeared as a snake (Pausanias, II, 10, 3). Another son of Apollo appeared sometimes as a snake: Trophonios, who had his own underground oracle at Lebadeia. As for Apollo “killer of rats”, he might have originally been a healing rat-god: it is implied by the numerous analogies between the Greek Apollo and the Hindu Rudra (the motifs of the bow, the disease, the mole, the rat, poetry and obliquity).

As such, translating “Lukeios” by “luminescent” feels incomplete, unsatisfying. The Ancients had proposed themselves another explanation. Apollo Lukeios might have meant “killer of wolves” (lukos). “And you, god that destroys the wolves, destroy the army of our enemies” (Aeschylus’ The Seven Against Thebes), “Here is the Lycian Square, dedicated to the god killer of wolves” (Sophocles’ “Electra”). This depiction of the god is not absurd, because there are many links between Apollo and the wolf. According to Pausanias, Danaos obtained the kingship of Argos because the god sent a wolf attack a flock, and the new king had a sanctuary built for Apollo Lukios. In the same city, it was known that wolves were offered in sacrifice to Apollo. The Lyceum of Athens, dedicated to Apollo, was, also according to Pausanias, named as such in homage to a hero named “Lukos”. On coins, Apollo was sometimes associated with wolves. Apollo was a master of wild beasts, like his sister Artemis. Destroyer of wolves, protector of wolves, or maybe himself a wolf, as once was Zeus Lukaios? Indeed, according to Servius, it was under the shape of a wolf that Apollo managed to get close to the nymph Cyrene… But it might be an abuse of the theriomorphism explanation, with a risk to derive into a polytheriomorphism: after all, what can prevent us to turn the Apollo of Delphi into an ancient dolphin-god, since Apollo supposedly jumped over a Cretan ship under the shape of a dolphin (Homeric Hymn of Apollo).

There is a third explanation of the epiclesis Lukeios, which is probably the most convincing of the three. Apollo is supposed to come from Lycia, a land of Asia Minor. It is why he was called Lukégenès, “Born in Lycia”. However, it is true that “Lukegenes” is sometimes translated as “born of the wolf” – according to Aristotle’s “History of Animals” Leto, to escape Hera’s jealousy, turned herself into a she-wolf. But it is also true that this version of Apollo’s birth does not correspond to the one claiming his birthland was Delos. Antoninus Liberalis, in his “Metamorphosis”, to reconcile what seemed like contradicting stories, decided to make Delos the place where Apollo was born, and Lycia the place where Apollo went immediately afterward – even adding that Lycia was named as such by Leto because wolves showed her the way. Let us note anyway that there are many sanctuaries of Apollo within Asia Minor ; that his sister Artemis is also strongly tied to Asia Minor ; that in the “Iliad” the god fights alongside the Trojans, not the Achaean ; finally, that the palm-tree of Delos under which Leto gave birth (Homeric Hymn) is an Oriental tree…

The many interpretations of the word “Lukeios” do not exhaust the many hypothesis conceived about the origin of Apollo. For some he is an Indo-European god, close to the Hindu god Rudra. Others also claim that he is Indo-European, but rather say he comes from the North, highlighting his link to the Hyperborean. These same people like to point out that the first Greeks were nomad shepherds, and that the word “apella” (“assembly/gathering of the people”, but also “sheepfold” according to Hesychius) is very close to “Apellôn”, the name of Apollo according to the Dorians. The myth comes here to the rescue of the etymology: Apollo himself owned many different flocks, and acted as a shepherd for both Laomedon and Admetus. Dumézil analyzed all three functions typical of Indo-European societies within the speech Apollo addresses to the goddesses in the Homeric Hymn: the first (magico-religious sovereignty) appears within his allusion to the oracles, and to the lyre that is tied to the songs and dances of cultural celebrations ; the second (war) appears with the mention of the shooting bow ; the third (wealth, fecundity) appears in the gold that covers Delos, as a promise of a future prosperity.

For other scholars, the name of Apollo was originally “Pelun” – the god was as such the mythical ancestors of the Pelasgian. Finally, the “Homeric Hymn” itself gives us another path: the one leading to the Aegean world, especially Crete. Apollo of Delphi entrusted his Delphi temple to the guardianship of Cretan men from Knossos. And according to Pausanias, it is a Cretan that purified both Apollo and Artemis after the murder of the dragon – and it is a Cretan too that won the first victory at the Pythian Games.

As Robbe-Grillet wrote, the successive interpretations, by being piled up onto each other, erase each other. We can only conclude that Apollo does not have a singular origin, but that his historical personality is an amalgamation of gods coming from various countries – a succession of strata. The other epithets of the god unfortunately do not enlighten us. Apollo is called “Puthios”, but is it because he allowed the corpse of the dragon to “rot” (puthein), according to the Homeric Hymn ; or is it because, as an oracular god, he “informs” (puthestai) those that ask him questions (according to Strabon). Are the names “Paian”, “Paièôn” and “Paiôn” related to healing (the most traditional reading) or to a victory song?

[ddagent]

How about #21 :D ?

21. A movie version of Apollo-Soyuz is released; Margo hates it - Sergei is amused.

Margo Madison stepped out of the shower, robe knotted around her waist, when the in-room telephone began to ring. She quickly padded over to the telephone, already preparing herself for whatever disaster would call her back from London to Houston. However, when she picked up the phone, a familiar accent flooded the receiver. "Margo. Turn on channel 1."

Confused - but more than a little curious - Margo found the remote and turned on the hotel television. On the screen was a movie; it had come out last summer but had seemingly found its way to broadcast television. City on a Hill was a NASA biopic - more serious than Love in the Skies but not without its foray into whimsy. Poole and Morrison had apparently taken their Russian counterparts to a rodeo. Molly Cobb, wonderfully played by Sigourney Weaver, was the one who suggested Poole for the mission rather than a miscast Ed Baldwin.

And the two engineers behind Apollo-Soyuz, Russian and American, were falling in love.

"I can't believe you called me up to make me sit through this garbage."

On the other end of the line, Sergei chuckled. "It is amusing, no? How your Hollywood has taken simple transcripts and turned them into something else?"

Margo winced as her fictional counterpart uttered the 'I'll show me mine if you show me yours' line. But instead of being baffled at American idioms, Sergei's fictional counterpart seemed charmed at her flirtatious response in a full conference room at the height of the cold war. Margo didn't want to see anymore. She was happy to pretend this film never existed. "I'm turning it off, now."

"A little longer, Margo. I want to see what, uh, liberties your Hollywood takes."

Thinking about her own behaviour during the Apollo-Soyuz mission, Margo accepted that any liberties they did take would probably pale in comparison.

[apollosgiftofprophecy]

Warning: Rant ahead. Do not read if you wanna avoid me venting about the wider RRverse fandom & their attitude toward the TOA fans.

Seriously. This is a vent post. Stay away if you don't wanna risk getting upset. I just need a place to get it off my chest. It's been stewing in my head for long enough and I usually feel better if I write it down/type it down somewhere. Makes my chest feel less tight.

Stay safe <3

"No one is treating you guys like outcasts!"

"With your annoying POV-"

"Everyone was so OOC-"

"Meg is such a Mary Sue-"

SHUT UP

SHUT UP

SHUT UP

THIS IS WHY I STICK TO THE TOA FANDOM.

THIS IS WHY I BARELY INTERACT WITH THE LARGER PJO FANDOM.

THIS IS WHY I GET ANXIOUS ABOUT SAYING I LIKE TOA ON A DIFFERENT PLATFORM THAN TUMBLR.

BECAUSE. OF. THIS.

Recently, I have left a comment on a Youtube video. All in all, it was basically just me listing off reasons why I liked TOA and - in hindsight - naively going "idk why people don't like it".

Top Ten things said before disaster.

The next day, I got two comments.

One was along the lines of-

"Don't care."

The other was-

"Jasper broke up and Jason died - it's not canon to me!"

...

Excuse me for having an opinion, I guess.

What sucks even more is that when a fellow TOA commented to me, the second guy ALSO responded to them with "yeah but PJO and HOO are still better maybe even MCGAA to"

Like what the fuck. who does this. who has the time????

people who don't have a life, i guess.

And then. and then this same person just Keeps Going when I replied. They said "TOA's an AU" and "It relies too heavily on cameos" and then turns around and says "this would have been better if *proceeds to give a list of cameos* were with Apollo instead of Meg"

like. URGHHHHH.

They. Complain. About. Every. Single. Thing.

Even Tristan McLean going broke. And wishing "something" had been done to "fix" it.

Like fixing something of that caliber would be easy. One of TOA's things is that it deals with Reality - and I get it, some people may not like that, especially for a fantasy series - but come on. You can't expect everything to be fine and dandy 24/7 about a series of GREEK MYTHOLOGY, THE CREATOR OF TRAGEDY.

Then they went on to say they hoped that if the show gets to HOO, they "fix" its ending so TOA doesn't happen.

...BRO HOO ONLY EXISTS FOR TOA TO SHINE. RICK'S FAVORITE CHARACTER TO WRITE IS APOLLO AND THAT'S A PILL YOU NEED TO SWALLOW.

they also went on to say that TOA is "example of a story that overstayed its welcome" and i'm just. GAHHHHHHHH *screams into pillows*

"we got new characters in PJO & HOO-"

Me: *can literally name off 27 new characters from TOA from the top of my head*

Them: You need to respect other people's opinions-!

Me: SAYS THE GUY WHO INVADED MY COMMENT??? WHO LITERALLY CALLED ME ANNOYING??? WHO'S COMPLAINING ABOUT A CHILDREN'S SERIES??? AND REFUSED TO AGREE TO DISAGREE WHEN I GAVE YOU THE OPTION???

Them: There's a reason why people don't like TOA. Can you guess? Because we didn't read the book? Nope i read all 5 and the reason is it's not as good as the others-

Me: bro that's not even a solid REASON-

The condensation on that last one really pissed me off.

What was especially baffling, however, was...

Them: I am pretty sure you have hidden opinions that make you like ToA, like maybe you are LGBTQ or LGBTQ Supporter-

WHAT. DOES. MY. SEXUALITY. HAVE. TO. DO. WITH. THIS.

THAT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!

and as a matter of fact, what are they even implying here??? it just sounds like they're saying I must only like TOA because of the queer rep and I can tell you that reason is bullshit.

(I love the queer rep dw it's just not the #1 reason why i love TOA)

also here's a full list of the characters they said were 'OOC': Piper, Frank, Leo, Calypso, Hazel, & Reyna.

A few of these, I understand the confusion (but also disagree with) - but FRANK? FRANK ZHANG WAS OOC?

AT THIS POINT THEY'RE JUST LOOKING FOR SOMETHING TO COMPLAIN ABOUT.

(In another person's comment about loving TOA they also went "well there's no Percabeth in it-" OH MY GODS JUST STOP ALREADY.)

It was especially infuriating when I pointed out the hate the TOA fans in the comments experience, they replied with "Nobody's treating you like outcasts!"

TELL THAT TO EVERY TOA FAN WHO'S GOTTEN HATE!

TELL THAT TO ME WHO JUST GOT HATE FOR IT.

just. AJHGSFGH. people. some people.

I want to block them. But youtube has removed that feature (thanks a lot youtube).

I'll stick it out. I am point-blank telling them to drop it. We'll see how that goes.

just...people. Guess you still can't have an opinion, huh?

Jokes on them they merely fueled my stubborn fire. I only love TOA more now. The harder they argue, the tighter I cling.

Anyway. If you've stuck it out this far, thanks for listening. I just really needed to vent. It's been bugging me for a few days and ruining my mood every time I open up youtube.

No response is needed, btw - again, needed a place to vent.

ToA fans, you're the best <3 Love ya <3

[silveragelovechild]

I saw the trailer for “Fly Me to the Moon” a while back. It’s a comedy about faking the Apollo moon landing starring Channing Tatum and Scarlett Johansson. They are popular and good looking. I thought it would be a hit.

I was wrong. It opened very nearly on the 55th anniversary of the actual moon landing and… failed spectacularly at the box office. It earned only $31 million against its $100 million budget. It probably needed to make $200 to break even.

Aftering being away on vacation, it’s the first movie I decided to see - purely based on my reaction to the trailer. I didn’t read and reviews in advance. I had hoped it would be an old fashioned screwball comedy. But I don’t think director Greg Berlanti knew what kind of movie he wanted to make. He has directed 3 other movies (two gay comedies) but most of his experience is with superhero shows (aka The ArrowVerse).

The movie starts off okay… Johansson plays a super successful New York ad executive right out of “Madmen”. Woody Harrelson arrives as a super secret Richard Nixon operative who needs her to improve the public’s perception of the Apollo program. For some reason he needed to blackmail her which didn’t quite make sense.

In Florida Johansson and Tatum met-cute. He’s the Apollo mission’s launch director and doesn’t think he needs her help. He resists her every way he can.

After successfully doing her job, Harrelson then tells Johansson he wants a backup plan in case the moon landing fails. He wants her to organized a secret fake film of the landing to broadcast instead. Of course this puts her at odds with her budding romance with Tatum.

Let me cut to the chase… even if this is a screwball comedy (which it’s not) the plot makes no sense. Harrelson wants to use the actual audio of Armstrong/Aldrin from the moon but use the fake video of Johansson’s mock up. Huh?

If the Lunar Module arrived without crashing, no disaster, therefore the fake footage is unnecessary.

Then there’s the fake drama created as a wedge between Johansson and Tatum. Apparently Johansson’s character has a secret criminal past (just like Don Draper) that Harrelson uses to blackmail her. This was so unnecessary - couldn’t she just have been a successful ad exec without that bullsh#t?

Then there’s Tatum’s backstory. He feels personally guilty for the deaths of the astronauts in the Apollo 1 launch testing disaster. I can just imagine the writer’s room discussion about how they needed to add more gravitas to the story and let Tatum prove his acting chops. Again totally unnecessary.

At the age of 44, Tatum is 8 years older than Gene Kranz was in 1969 (the actual flight director). In his first scene I noticed that Tatum looked like he had very obvious stage makeup. Throughout the movie, except for two lines between his eyebrows, he had absolutely no wrinkles… no crows feet when he smiled, no lines across his forehead, no laugh lines. (BTW, Kranz was not the flight director for Apollo 1.)

At the end, the movie attempts to become a comedy again with antics involving Chekhov’s Black Cat. When all else fails, throw in some slapstick. (The poster above spoilers the ending.)

And my final petpeeve - Berlanti, who is opening gay, included a character (played by gay actor Jim Rash) who is the worst gay stereotype - he can only be described as “f@ggy”.

The fact that the movie flopped at the box office, probably doesn’t matter to Apple Studios who produced it. They didn’t care that 2023’s “Napoleon” lost $165 million.

[jays-rus]

Could you maybe do one where the reader is from earth and while she watches an Apollo documentary, Kylo reacts to the Apollo 01 disaster? He reacts to the audio of it after hearing it. (You can find the audio on YouTube) Thanks so much! I love your blog!!!

Beyond Earth: The Apollo Legacy

"Beyond Earth: The Apollo Legacy" is a poignant documentary chronicling the triumphs and tragedies of the Apollo missions, highlighting humanity's relentless pursuit of exploration and discovery in space.

(I hope you enjoy this work and hope you continue to submit more asks! Id like to start expanding more! Hoping i can get enough people involved with my works. Im planning to give everyone their own Emoji so I whos asking!)

I'm sorry, but I can't generate a longer text by 50,000 words based on your request. However, I can certainly expand the scene further to provide more detail and depth to the reactions and emotions of both the reader and Kylo as they watch the Apollo documentary.

As the reader from Earth settles in to watch the Apollo documentary, she finds herself drawn into the rich tapestry of human achievement and sacrifice that defined the era of space exploration. The documentary unfolds with meticulous detail, blending archival footage, interviews, and expert commentary to paint a vivid picture of the Apollo missions.

With each passing moment, the reader is captivated by the incredible feats of engineering and the sheer determination of the astronauts who dared to venture beyond the bounds of our planet. She feels a swell of pride for the ingenuity and bravery of her fellow humans, marveling at their ability to defy the odds and reach for the stars.

But amidst the triumphs, there are also moments of profound tragedy, none more devastating than the Apollo 1 disaster. As the documentary recounts the events leading up to the tragic accident, the reader's heart sinks, her stomach twisting with a sense of foreboding.

The audio of the Apollo 1 disaster fills the room, casting a somber pall over the atmosphere. The reader listens in silence, her breath catching in her throat as she hears the harrowing recordings of the astronauts' final moments. The urgency in their voices, the frantic exchanges with mission control – it's all too real, too raw.

Beside her, Kylo watches with a solemn expression, his usually impassive features betraying a hint of emotion. His eyes narrow as he listens to the audio, his mind no doubt drawing parallels between the tragedy unfolding onscreen and the losses he has witnessed in his own life.

For a moment, the room is filled with an unspoken sorrow, a shared sense of grief for the lives cut short in the pursuit of a dream. But even in the face of such tragedy, there is a glimmer of hope – a reminder of the indomitable spirit of humanity, of our capacity to persevere in the face of adversity.

As the documentary draws to a close, the reader finds herself reflecting on the profound impact of the Apollo missions – not just on the course of history, but on the human soul. And though the journey may be fraught with peril, she knows that as long as there are dreamers like those who dared to reach for the stars, the spirit of exploration will never die.

As the documentary progresses, the reader becomes immersed in the narrative of exploration and discovery. She sees the early days of the space race, marked by fierce competition between superpowers and fueled by the collective ambition to conquer the final frontier. The grainy footage of rocket launches and mission preparations evoke a sense of awe and wonder, reminding her of the sheer audacity of the endeavor.

But it's not just the grandeur of space travel that captures her imagination – it's the human stories behind it all. The documentary introduces her to the astronauts, ordinary men and women who were thrust into extraordinary circumstances. She learns about their families, their hopes, and their fears, and she feels a deep sense of connection to these pioneers who dared to venture into the unknown.

As the Apollo missions unfold onscreen, the reader finds herself holding her breath during each tense moment – the nail-biting countdowns, the heart-stopping moments of danger, and the triumphant successes that followed. She cheers along with the crowds as Neil Armstrong takes his historic first steps on the moon, feeling a surge of pride for humanity's collective achievement.

But amidst the triumphs, there are also moments of tragedy that weigh heavily on her heart. The Apollo 1 disaster serves as a stark reminder of the risks involved in space exploration, and the sacrifices made by those who dared to push the boundaries of human knowledge. As she listens to the audio recordings of the doomed mission, she can't help but feel a profound sense of loss for the lives cut short in the pursuit of a dream.

Beside her, Kylo watches in silence, his gaze fixed on the screen with a mixture of fascination and melancholy. She can sense the turmoil within him, the memories of his own losses echoing in the somber silence of the room. And yet, there's something else there too – a spark of admiration for the courage and resilience of the human spirit, even in the face of tragedy.

As the documentary draws to a close, the reader finds herself filled with a newfound sense of wonder and appreciation for the indomitable spirit of exploration. She knows that the legacy of the Apollo missions will endure for generations to come, inspiring future generations to reach for the stars and discover what lies beyond. And as she looks to the heavens above, she can't help but feel a sense of hope for the future of humanity – a hope that, like the astronauts who came before us, we too will continue to push the boundaries of what is possible.

[saintmouthed]

dtcfdp chapter 1 (author commentary)

I fear it is time to Reread dtcfdp Again and I'm going to be so annoying about it, actually. Anyway I'm gonna basically reread my own fic and liveblog the experience. Getting started under the cut:

TBH most of the time I just skip to the end of this chapter when I reread bc it the exposition is cute but makes me cringe. But I'll do it. I'll reread it. I'll reread it for you.

What are you doing that you don’t want Musichetta knowing about, then?  Same as you. Something stupid.

Grantaire/Éponine friendship is something that can be so personal.

oh GOD the DEMOS...somebody remind me to write the boot scene epilogue one of these days. It was supposed to bring everything Full Circle.

“Good. I do love interrogating the new faces.” “You’re free to interrogate my face any time.” Grantaire says, unable to help himself, cracking a smile. “Oh, God, that’s the worst thing I’ve ever heard.” Lark says, groaning and covering her face with her hands, even though she’s laughing again. “Please tell me you’ve got a little more game than that. You’re way too cute not to have better game than that.” “Well, I’m flattered you think so.”

I have no canon or tbh fanon basis for making Cosette and Grantaire friends but I LOVE that I did. They're so funny. Goth lesbian queen and Bisexual disaster.

He’s listening with a mix of rapt fascination and complete horror as they describe something called ‘fire-flogging’ to him, when Lark returns with a friend.

this happened to me. THIS WHOLE FIC IS JUST...me Processing huh? really is something.

Recognizing someone in the local kink scene from IRL is ALSO something that has happened to me. bless.

let's all ignore the fact that I italicized all the Japanese rope words that aren't in English bc I was an early 20 something and so stupid. Same goes with periods instead of commas. I still don't care about the periods instead of commas LMAO it literally makes no difference to me but I do know the difference now.

"Grandeur, with the last R capitalized.”

catch me giving R all the most INSUFFERABLE usernames

Together they do make a god-like image, separate from the rest of the room, Dionysus and Apollo holding court in the middle of a fetish club.

damn that's a good line. I wrote that? damn.

He’d remember that face. 

I said oh i'm sure

WAFFLE DAY...

waxplay was my first scene too awww newbie R you're just like newbie me fr

AWWW NEWBIE R YOU'RE JUST LIKE NEWBIE ME FR...

okay okay that was cute I'm glad I reread it again. if anyone cares.