#Apollo's a lot of fun tbh - he's surprisingly set in his ways and can be very traditional which always catches the younger gods off guard

[gingermintpepper]

Day 1: Apollo

Interpretation notes and trivia under the cut!

His interpretation for my work is based very much around the concept of his manifestation as the Radiant God of the String. Because of this, quite like Hecate, he’s triple-fold and occupies three major spaces; the string of Fate and therefore prophecy, the bowstring and therefore distance and destruction and the lyrestring and therefore music and order. He’s a somewhat melancholy figure all things considered - Fate and following Fate’s tennants is something that he struggled a lot with as a child and even now as a more mature deity, the only solution he’s truly found is to take things one day at a time. Very diligent and fastidious, he’s a hard worker and tends to put his everything into completing any task set before him which also tends to work to his disadvantage since he’s prone to becoming tunnel-visioned until he’s finished what he said he would finish. His family orchestrated his winter breaks because he had the nasty habit of working himself sick when he was still very young.

Apollo is generally represented by circles in my work - priests of Apollo will be marked with at least three circles on their face and usually wear triangular jewellry (typically earrings or necklace charms) to reflect the triple-nature of their god. His favoured colour is a rich, deep blue and while he typically wears elaborate eye paint, he rarely uses face powders. Wears gem-toned blues for his lips unless in mourning where he will leave himself unadorned and unpainted out of respect.

Some quick trivia: 

Was born identical to Artemis even though they were born (years) apart. Had brown hair, wolf’s ears and fangs and horns when he was a child but never manifested those features again after his penance for slaying Python. If he’s very stressed or angry, sometimes his fangs will show. The brown of his hair grew out to blond naturally as he developed and matured as a god.

Proficient in all instruments but has always especially preferred stringed instruments. Truly unmatched with a kithara but only uses it for special occasions and official meetings. Generally prefers his lyre for every day usage

Really good at sewing and braiding strings together due to the exercises he had to do while under the tutelage of the Moirai sisters. Can’t weave since Athena banned him from touching a loom but he does like watching her spin. The one time she caught him trying to replicate her patterns with a needle and thread, she complained to Zeus that he had broken his oath. He teases her about that even now.

Was the last of the Twelve to learn how to read and write because he hates letter systems and finds it too arbitrary. Prior to the collaboration that resulted in written letter systems, everyone was perfectly fine with remembering the important stuff and encoding the rest in artistic format such as tapestries, pottery, furniture and jewellry. Apollo himself has a truly formidable memory since he’s been composing and immortalising the events and histories of the world in song since he was very young. He finds written books very dull but Clio’s very insistent about written histories being important and convenient so reluctantly, he’s given permission for his songs and poems to be -gags- transcribed and written down.

Is only called Apollo by his parents, Artemis and Dionysus. Hermes rarely calls him by name in general and the others, including other siblings like Ares and Athena, have always called him Phoebus. Interestingly, Zeus usually calls him Phoebus but will call him Apollo when they are alone or when he’s being especially serious. Apollo is completely comfortable with either name but he does see Phoebus as a bit more formal than Apollo. (Despite his best efforts, both Calliope and Clio also still stubbornly call him Phoebus though he’s fairly sure it’s mostly because they know it bothers him.)

[morganaux]

13.  death  :  is there anything in your muse’s life that they should be letting go of ?

17.  the star  :  what does your muse take inner comfort in knowing ? what guides your muse ?

for all :3

13.  death  :  is there anything in your muse’s life that they should be letting go of?

Morganaux:

Morganaux is an absolute disaster when it comes to clinging to his grief, feeling that it's a disservice to the people he's lost to move on without "sufficiently" honoring their memory. Grief has caused him to make some questionable decisions and to harbor secrets that are far from heroic, and while he's gotten a bit better in that respect, he's still not the best at letting go and moving on.

Phoebus:

his taste in men tbh

Honestly, in his main canon, there's nothing he’s really holding onto that he needs to let go of in his life. He’s not really the sort to hold onto things in an unhealthy way and is surprisingly comfortable about letting go of things that do not spark joy, which often confuses those who notice that about him. 

Some may assume he’s cold and unfeeling because of this (and for plenty of other reasons as well), but he just has an unusual way of processing his feelings as a result of his profession and upbringing.

One of the many lessons his mother taught him during his training as a reaper was that in order to survive, he needed to have a healthy relationship with his feelings, which means letting himself experience emotions but never dwelling on them to the point it hurts himself and others around them. Voidsent take advantage of those who are consumed by their emotions, luring them into giving up their bodies and souls in exchange for what their heart desires, and the same applies to a reaper’s voidsent.

But in his WoL canon, he clings to a huge amount of guilt over how blind he was to the Garlean Empire’s cruelty and is entirely convinced he’s handling that guilt in a healthy way. His idea of “healthy” is self-isolating while obsessively doing everything in his power to protect those suffering as a result of the Empire, even at great risk to himself. 

A little fun fact about Phoebus is that I actually had the Death major arcana (representing endings and change) in mind when developing his personality since it fits with him being a reaper!

Apollo:

This gets a bit dark, so I’ll be placing this under a read more. For anyone who wants to read the answers to the second question without reading this particular answer, just keep scrolling until you see the bold text at the end!

Content warning for death, specifically in a medical setting.

While an untimely death was a rarity in the unsundered world, his unusual choice of career resulted in him having to see quite a bit of it. 

The Ancients had invented a cure for nearly every injury and ailment known to them, but there were always a few exceptions that would catch healers by surprise. Alongside his responsibilities as Azem, Apollo was also a healer who specialized in working with patients suffering from unusual conditions that did not respond to any known methods of treatment. Most of the time, these specialized healers succeeded in saving the lives of their patients, but this wasn’t always the case.

Apollo remembers the name and face of every patient that passed away under his care and feels responsible for their fate, even though realistically he and the other healers did everything they could to save them. He sometimes disappears for months at a time following the death of a patient, and even when he returns as cheerful as always, he’s hiding a whole lot of pain beneath the surface.

It certainly doesn’t help that most Ancients never experience what he’s had to experience, so he doesn’t have a whole lot of options for people he can talk to who can understand what he’s feeling. Plenty of Ancients feel grief over their loved ones who willingly return to the star after living a fulfilling life, but it’s not the same as watching someone who had so much potential and unfulfilled wishes fading away before his eyes.

(and this is actually one of his unspoken reasons why he declined the seat of emmerololth, since being the highest authority over matters of healing and medicine would most certainly expose him to even more early deaths.

...also i like to think that this is something he and emet-selch can bond over, since as keeper of the underworld he’s probably familiar with what apollo feels.)

He might seem shallow with the way he prioritizes having fun over everything, but this carefree attitude stems from a desire to live life to its fullest with as few regrets as possible, all while drowning out the grief he carries with him. (there’s other similarly-related reasons too, but apollo is full of secrets that need to be uncovered!)

Aaaand, that concludes Apollo’s secret mess of mostly unaddressed trauma about death!

17.  the star  :  what does your muse take inner comfort in knowing ? what guides your muse ?

Morganaux:

Despite his complicated feelings toward his home in Ishgard, Morganaux takes comfort in knowing that there’s plenty of people there who care for him— Uncle Tarresson, his former conjury tutor Clovis, his childhood fashion mentor Brorant, his butler, and so many others. When he feels like he’s not good enough or feels crushed beneath the weight of his responsibilities as the Warrior of Light, it helps remembering that they’re there to support him.

As for what guides him, it’s love. Love for humanity, love for the world around him, love for knowledge, and the unholy amassment of romantic love that’s stored in his gay little heart.

Phoebus:

Unfortunately, Phoebus takes comfort in a lie— that the Garlean Empire is a force of good in the world and that they’re making peace with the people they’ve defeated in battle. It brings him peace knowing that his countrymen won’t be pushed around anymore and that the magitek revolution has brought them into an age of prosperity, and that no one in Garlemald will ever go cold or hungry again. It’s fine. :) Everything is fine. :) Emperor Solus is a good and wholesome man who has only the best of intentions. :) :) :) :)

(and then his entire life is shattered when he finds out otherwise)

Like Morganaux, he’s also guided by love, but a lot less blatant about it and also doesn’t actually think of himself as motivated by it. He absolutely is though, but he refuses to associate himself with anything he considers sappy. But his whole reason for doing basically anything is out of love for his countrymen and a desire to see them peacefully coexisting with the rest of the world, even in his WoL canon where he takes up arms against Garlemald.

His sense of justice also guides him as well, and he has no qualms with standing up against comrades and loved ones if he thinks they’ve done something immoral. He doesn’t get much opportunity for that side of him to shine through once he starts living in the Imperial Palace, but it’s much more apparent in his pre-imperial military career and in his WoL AU.

Apollo:

What brings the most comfort to Apollo is simply the knowledge that the world is full of new experiences and surprises. If he’s feeling down, all he needs to do is go out and find something exciting to occupy himself with, and with how vast the star is, he’ll surely never run out of things that’ll make him happy. While for the most part, it’s great for his mental health to go out adventuring, but sometimes, he’s just running away from his problems without really addressing them.

Just like his shards, love guides most of his actions, manifesting in his fixation on healing magic and his eagerness to lend a helping hand to anyone in need.