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reblogthiscrapkay · 4 years ago

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Persephone in “Genealogy of the Pagan Gods″ by Giovanni Boccaccio

Let me tell you a story about how I’m a witch.

So over the last week, I had been living at my best friend’s house because the power went out at my house. One day after watching a documentary about rare booksellers, we went outside to take a walk around and discuss it and there was a package on his deck. He opened it up and it was a book he had ordered by an ancestor of his, a famous Italian author (arguably the second most famous Italian author? he’s definitely been getting some recent press as his most famous work is about a plague). My friend is trying to get translated copies of every book written by him. Because my friend knows about my interest in mythology, he immediately handed me the book and I opened it up to a random page to see this header:

I showed him what I had done and my friend was like, “Well, she’s calling to you.”

So let’s talk about my girl Persephone (or Proserpina in this case) via her mom Demeter (Ceres in this case).

There is so much interesting detail here!

First of all we have Demeter lighting torches. Hecate is usually the one portrayed with torches because of her nature as a crossroads goddess but I’ve also seen a lot of ancient art (especially in Eleusis) of Persephone with torches too. Never Demeter.

The idea of Demeter confronting Hades (how? was he above or she below?) is not one I’ve really seen and the idea that she ate poppy seeds actually made me really excited. The poppy is one of the things associated with Demeter, and this is the first time I’ve seen it included as an element of this myth.

Also, I have to laugh at “Pluto’s pleasure garden.” Because I’m a child.

Demeter making Trip immortal seems to me to be a confusing mistake or possibly Boccaccio trying to make the myth make more sense. In the Hymn, it’s Demophon, not Trip, who she tries to make immortal. Since Trip is the more important one who works for Demeter, I could see why changing this would make narrative sense. Also never heard the idea of her KILLING a king. Also Trip and Demo were Celeus’ sons not “King Eleusis”? This whole thing is kind of a mess.

The mention of Demeter’s son makes sense because this is a chapter on her specifically. A lot of the time I’ve seen the son’s name as Plutus to try to distinguish him from Hades, but since Plutus and Hades are both gods of wealth, the whole thing has always been kind of a mess that clearly shows a bunch of myth meshing over time.

Then we get Boccaccio’s interpretation, which is some of the most interesting stuff because of how it reflects his time (medieval) and place (Italy, so he’s viewing this from an Ancient Roman and not Ancient Greek lens). According to Theodontius (who’s work is apparently mostly unknown except for liberal references made to his work by BigMouth here), Demeter is the wife of the king of Sicily, Sicanus, which makes sense when you consider that Sicily is considered Persephone’s island.

All his talk about the moon and layers of the earth is so unique. And his literary interpretation of Persephone as a crop! So cool, but also tells me as a reader so much about Boccaccio in a way. Through a modern lens and all the 20th/21st century texts I’ve read, we often see Persephone as a symbol of the life/death cycle or as a symbol of maturation (with seeds being more of a sexual thing or of choosing to grow up than an agricultural thing). It makes me wonder if the nature of Boccaccio’s society is more agrarian or maybe he’s more male-fixated and therefore less likely to think of Persephone in such female-focused ways, that makes the crop comparison make more sense to him. He also uses Ovid as justification, which tells me a lot (as someone who has some not-so-positive feelings for Ovid).

Orcus, as it turns out, was basically another Hades idea common in rural areas. Like Pluto, he’s Hades but also not. Orcus also was apparently more of a scary demon type underworld king, than Hades or Pluto. Orcus/Pluto/Hades is what happens when you have too many gods doing the same thing. THat gives me a thought actually. What is someone wrote a story where Orcus and Hades both exist but Orcus is the villain? Or even Orcus is an alter ego of Hades?

All that stuff about Trip is confusing to me. The mixing of mythologies is making my head hurt.

Glauca I can’t even find anything on. I’ve heard of Glaucus, of course, but I’ve never heard of Hades having a twin sister who died young. Or of the idea that Hades was actually protected from Kronos. That was just Zeus. Hades was swallowed.

I respect Boccaccio citing his sources.

Super minor detail but I often hear of Hades having four, not three horses. I sometimes wonder if the four has something to do with a Biblical conflation.

Also, I have read Ovid (Metamorphosis, but then I don’t know what BigMouth is citing here) and I don’t remember Hades going above ground to check on his roofing, but I got a good chuckle out of it.

Hades having a kid named Veneration is SO Roman. The Romans had so many random gods like this that the Greeks didn’t, most famous being probably Fortuna, goddess of fortune. There’s a bit more on her at the end of the Pluto chapter (with more super Roman ideas and the detail of Persephone being barren, which is super ironic and totally possible):

Back to the main narrative on Hades: I also laughed at “Tricerebus.” And Tisiphone as a guardian of wealth instead of a Fury? Odd.

And then BigMouth’s going off with more interpretation. The idea that a combination of abundance (represented by Persephone) and wealth (represented by Hades) yields nothing 1. would be an interesting way to explain their lack of children and 2. again says a lot about Boccaccio’s perspective.

The notes on naming Hades are really interesting and connecting him with February and funeral rites. And then we have the world dividing and such.

So I used the index to look up more on Persephone specifically and found some other little mentions of her including one that said the Sirens where her companions and when they couldn’t find her, they were turned into marine monsters. We get this absolutely hilarious line explaining BigMouth’s opinion on this, “I think they were companions of Proserpina because by Proserpina is understood the abundance of Sicilian products, from which libidinous sexual craving is especially derived and the delights of food and leisure are supplied” (195). I read this line out loud to my friend because the side of his family related to Boccaccio is also Sicilian so at some point in the last 600 years, BigMouth’s descendants decided that the land of sexual craving and food is the place to be.

We also have the myth of Pirithous:

I have read versions where Persephone is the main one to stop him, Hades is the main one to stop him, and now Cerberus. Also leave it to a man to somehow have a weird moral to this story about manliness.

And finally, we have this incredibly odd tale that is both specifically Roman and also kind of exemplifies everything I’ve said before about how much the Romans messed with Greek mythology by just smushing everything together and then adding new gods from local cults:

“In fact I detest these riddles and ambiguities and gladly lay them aside” (331). You said it, BigMouth. I hope you’d be proud of your great-great-great-great-great-great-great-etc. nephew or son or whatever because he’s one of my favorite people.

#the persephone project #persephone #greek mythology #roman mythology #giovanni boccaccio #personal

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cruddyborderlandstheories · 5 years ago

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mystery punk girl

alright fellas i gotta make sure i don’t embarrass myself this time, we got like, stakes and shit now. SO *breaks fingers* let’s make a masterpost of theories

aka i heard someone was interested in some mystery punk girl theories and decided to collect all the one’s i’ve gotten so far

tl;dr: mystery punk girl could literally be anything/anyone. we go over a few theories, notably ones that paint her as a younger sibling to the Calypso twins (Tyreen = First Sister). we also have one where she is a fraternal twin to Ava and mirrors Troy as the non-Siren-twin of a relationship. we also talk about why she hasn’t been getting a lot of cultist worship, like maybe she’s gone missing, or died. also that she may betray the twins (if! she was ever on their side to begin with! 👀) because her color scheme is one of a friend and tbh the twins seem suuuper close and she doesn’t seem to be getting any recognition from the cult.

from the numskull pin page, also where we learned she’s listed as ‘Punk Girl’

so to get to the point, the most obvious theory is that mystery masked girl is the younger (est?) sibling to the twins.

when mouthpiece talks in the beginning of the HBC demo, he calls Tyreen the ‘first sister’. I mention that in a post here (during my live post spamming of the event lol)

it’s mostly interesting because when you refer to someone as ‘the first’, usually the second part of that is what you’re referring to.

@sugar-high-viking brought this to my attention as well when the pins dropped, and also made a great point that she might be either a half-sibling (different colored hair), OR, to tie into my atlas theory about the twins, a similar experiment, but not blood-related (that part is in the notes of said post, i copied it here for easier reading)

which i adore because atlas twins is my favorite theory that’s probably never going to happen. (also hi if you’re reading this, sorry for the tag! i wanted to give credit because that was brilliant)

we do have a biiiit more stuff to go over.

take the mask of mayhem (yes im still working on that analysis, i promise!! i do like a facet a day if im not working on other stuff)

the whole backdrop thing feels to me like an order of importance.

we have the God Queen at the very top and in the middle.

on her left is the vault hunters, who of course are going to have a prominent role in the story.

on her right is Troy, her right-hand man (ala the cosplay guide)

and below Troy we have Mystery Punk Girl. can i call her MPG? i feel like i’m allowed to call her MPG

So her and Troy are about the same level as the Vault Hunters.

We can’t really infer that Tyreen is the oldest sibling (First Sister, with Troy possibly being the Second Brother? Or, Troy is the First Brother, Tyreen is the First Sister, and MPG is the Second Sister. i’d imagine the latter is correct because the former would have to use First Sibling to be correct) but we can guess that things on top are ordered in terms of importance.

And considering we haven’t seen NPG in ANY promo material or trailers yet? yeah i imagine she’s not shown off like the twins are, which would explain her lower level. now if that’s because she’s too important for them to be flashy with her, or if because they don’t think she’s worthy, or they want to protect her, or whatever, I wouldn’t be able to say.

Furthermore, we can also guess she’s not in an Angel-type situation. It’s heavily implied Ava is the Siren successor to Maya (but not officially stated). We know she has feathers on her outfit, but as I found out a bit ago, those (likely) aren’t meant to represent the wings that Tyreen and Lilith have on the MoM. They’re part of the clothing some cultists wear (possibly to emulate her looks like they do with Troy and Tyreen).

pictures for proof:

again, none of this is proven, as Ava nor Maya have wings on the MoM, but it is interesting to note. Also, if Ava does end up being a Siren (say her tattoos take a while to grow big enough for us to see, or they appear after her powers come in, fixing the Angel w/ no tattoos on jack’s desk “plot hole” we see in tps) then there’s no way for Punk Girl to have been a Siren.

unless.

ohohohoh...

okay, we know for a fact Troy’s red tattoos aren’t there because of Lilith.

As of right now, we have officially sourced stuff showing him with his red tattoos during the HBC (on the hologram), which we’ve proven takes place before the Sanc-III scene where Lilith gets her powers stolen.

there are plenty of theories as to why he’s got those tattoos then: because the twins were conjoined, they got the powers from a vault (the one shown on the walls of the HBC), they were experiments, they were experiments because they were conjoined twins, they’re fake Sirens, fake Sirens due to the experiments, etc, etc. i could go on for ages, but im not gonna, cause we’re not here for this.

im going to take the ‘the twins were conjoined’ theory and run with it for a secco. we had that interview where paul sage said at one point either in the development cycle OR in the timeline (the wording is not clear), the twins were conjoined twins. We’ve also seen that the spanish (i believe!) translation of the Calypso Twins yields the version that says they’re conjoined, not just normal twins. so we’re going to hope it’s the right theory.

we know there can only be 6 sirens in the universe. if tyreen was chosen but was still conjoined with her brother, it’s possible he could’ve been messed up by the magic or advanced tech or whatever it is that picks Sirens, and that’s where the red tattoos come from.

So what if MPG is the same way? twin to Ava, ended up not being the one who got the Siren power, rebelled and joined the CoV in hopes of getting her own powers, maybe even to get Tyreen to heal her since it’s possible having a twin with Siren powers can cause an affliction to the other twin.

It’d be really interesting if the two were abandoned at a young age and it ended up being that Ava was picked up by the Order of the Impending Storm and MPG wasn’t, as Ava was a Siren (like Maya) and MPG wasn’t, so she turns to the cult for help/support/whatever and the twins take a shine to her and basically adopt her as their little sibling.

(awww maaan i still gotta do my Maya masterpost. hmmm so much to do, so little time...)

tho, that’s 100% unfounded and me spitballing into the void. mostly cause i think she’s gonna end up looking a lot older in game than she does in the MoM. though, in defense, she is titled ‘Punk Girl’, not ‘ Punk Lady’ or ‘Punk Woman’ or whatever. so there’s that, and it seems wild they’d be introducing 2 young girls around the same age and NOT have them be related in some way. even if they’re just storyline parallels to each other (Ava having everything because she’s a Siren and MPG not)

A better theory, is that she’s the 3rd leader/sibling/figurehead of the cult. The game revolves around the number 3, it’s even acknowledged in universe.

cover art of a high-ranking cultist (the one with the rakk wings on the MoM, im assuming)

which is referenced in actual in-game art

we see it in the background of the behind closed doors intro

and i imagine there must be an in-universe reason for this very important cultist (TM) to be signalling the number three, right?

there’s certainly more than 3 Vaults. More than 3 opened at the time too.

3 pieces to the Vault Map? but the twins got that in its entirety. no reason to look for all three parts.

once lily gets her powers removed, there are 3 Sirens in play (that we know are 100% confirmed atm) Tyreen, Maya, Amara.

yeah, i think the most reasonable answer is that the number 3 is tied to the cult in some way.

while i find it hard to believe she’s something as prominent in the cult as a third figurehead (lack of statues, posters, acknowledge at all whatsoever), i could 100% see her being a third sibling, however.

So why isn’t she being worshipped like the twins? Maybe they’re keeping her out of the light for a reason.

Maybe she’s sick, like Troy, but Ty can’t heal her right away for some reason, or she picked Troy over her or smth (we’re told troy is the smart one, afterall, maybe Ty decided to pick the sibling she’d get the most use out of. or the one she’s closer to, being twins and all).

I had that dumb theory that Tyreen is Demeter (Troy is Demophon) and MPG is Persephone, taken away by the Vaults/Eridians/whatever in the twins’ attempt to heal her and either it locked her away somewhere, or it killed her. (Her being sick could also explain the ventilator she’s wearing, but i have another theory about that in just a secco.) And her being missing/dead is part of the reason Tyreen and Troy are trying to get the ultimate power, they’re trying to bring her back to life/heal her. And it could explain why she isn’t being referenced at all in most worship art, maybe the twins banned it or whatever. but if she is sick, i wonder why she wasn’t just miraculously healed by the Guardians (the Watcher specifically?) like whatsherface in TPS.

She could also be something like their secret weapon, maybe she has knowledge about something we don’t yet- be it warp travel, eridium testing, Sirens, Vaults, Eridians, etc, that’s giving the twins the better edge. Eridium testing could explain the ventilator, plus we see a giant waterfall of somethin’ glowing purple and i would bet it’s slag/eridium.

plus you know im a strong believer of my ‘the twins are using the chemical sludge of elpis to give their followers superpowers’ theory. i mean, if they actually are teleporting the moon (and NOT blowing it up), then it could almost make sense if they want their source of superjuice near their new base of operations/vault/whatever. mostly because we haven’t yet seen Ty give anyone Lily’s powers. As far as we know right now, she’s the sole holder of Lilith’s powers. at the very least, they’re mutating them with eridium/slag. but i wanna believe! so maybe MPG is their way of doing that. giving them insider knowledge of the chemical sludge on the moon, doing tests on it, subjecting the cultists to it, etc. We do see the big boy cultist smack dab in the middle of the mask with rakk wings, which are kind of a corruption of the angel wings we see the Sirens have. and since the Lost Legion Eternal basically have knockoff Siren/Guardian powers due to the chemical sludge on elpis, it would make sense.

she COULD also be our way into the cult. we know nothing about the gal, maybe she’s going to provide us a way to get insider knowledge. im sure whatever the twins post they’re fine with their cultists seeing, so we’d need someone higher up in the proverbial ladder to give us the good info. i do think it’s interesting she does not match the Twins’ colorscheme at ALL. she’s gray and black, yeah, but she’s also pink and orange (yellow?).

compare these two

to this:

it seems off that, if we are to consider them a unit, their colors clash so hard. (seriously, red and pink? oh my god!) I could almost see it as their way of hinting that she’s not 100% conforming to the twins.

I could also kinda see her being jealous of the relationship her older siblings have, how they’re so close because they’re twins and they share this bond over the Siren tattoos/starting a cult together. I could see her betraying them at some point because she’s sick of being pushed into the background. the pink and orange is a nice color combo compared to the reds and blacks. she certainly looks designed to be a friend.

anyway, that’s all i wrote today. im kinda tied, might add onto this later as i keep wrackin’ my brain trying to think of more theories.

#borderlands #bl3 #borderlands 3 #punk girl #mystery girl #mystery punk girl #ooo i can do this all day #so i won't #you know who she is

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reignofolympus · 7 years ago

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I can't think of an au so think of one of ur most desired ones and lay the hc's on me. gimmie the goods

input au , output headcanons : selectively accepting.

i want a gosh darn gang au. i know i have my mob / mafia aus, and those are all fine and dandy, but i want something a little more criminal mastermind. i don’t want godfather zeus, i want heist master zeus plotting bank robberies and elaborate heists that he’s heavily involved in. i want a team of specialty people ( probably the big six, if i’m honest ) who do all the heavy lifting. zeus, who’s crazy good at hand to hand combat and has a brain for the bigger picture. maybe demeter aka the muscle, who’s also maybe a demo expert. and i want sniper hestia, who never misses a shot because that’s her family out there.

not to mention super spy hades of course :)))

and then they also have their outlying contacts, all the other olympians who provide them with intel and weapons and manpower for running their organization. it’s not the classic mafia structure of a powerful family who maintain order through fear and sell drugs or something. they live underground, are always on the move, and make money through theft and police shoot outs and all that fun stuff.

as far as ganymede and zeus go, i’d imagine that ganymede’s pretty civilian. maybe the gang is robbing a bank down the road from the shop gany works at, and zeus is hiding out in the back while the police are looking for them. and maybe gany walks in, gasps when he sees zeus with a loaded pistol -- and its all downhill from there.

zeus thinks gany is cute, and adds him to the list of contacts. they use his house as a hideout on occasion, use his civilian status for info on potential enemies and targets, and zeus also gets a little side action. maybe gany is scared -- or maybe he’s just a little bit curious about the whole lifestyle too.

#stolenbythegods

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agent-7-at-your-service · 8 years ago

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Future Plot: Project Titanomachy - Chapter 29

(( Camille, Lee, Depiction of Callie, Janine (mentioned), and Pac-man (mentioned) belong to @inklingleesquidly

Nebula belongs to @myzzy and @agenttwo

Celeste and Willow (mentioned) belong to @alpinesquid

Arsenic (mentioned) belongs to @a-demo-of-a-hero

Blueshift and Myzzy belong to @myzzy

Suzy (mentioned) belongs to @son-of-joy

Telemachus, Hera, Justinian, Agent M (mentioned) Agent C (mentioned), Kitzeh (mentioned), And Agent 7

Those not mentioned belong to @twelvetailedkitsune , @askvincent / @asktheseastars , @evora-flux , @splat-tendency , @eiden-calamar , @petit-blu-inkling , @alphadeathsquad , and others.

Base of Operations and Conference - Alexandria District, Inkopolis - 12:00 Noon

Agent M, Agent, C, Suzy, Kitzeh, Willow, and Arsenic were left to lead the Agents, Heroes, and Allies in defending Inkopolis. But there was no more Typhonian Horde to eliminate. Inkopolis is saved, but not for long. The defenders can see the black cloud above; Hephaestus, Hermes, Anteros, the minor Olympian gods, and the Greek Mythos Forces knew who this was: Typhon.

Agent Blueshift and Agent 2 had to do some escorting from Shee-Booyah to Alexandria District. When they arrived, Lee and Callie came out, worrying about Camille. Pac-Man was left with Janine and Myzzy to be watched over.

“Where’s Agent 7 now?!” Callie wanted to give him a what-for.

“He’s probably with some operative at that building.” Blueshift pointed to the Base of Operations and Conference.

Lee and Callie ran off to deal with Agent 7. Agent 2 stood by Blueshift.

“Do you realize what you’ve done?” Agent 2 asked.

“Someone had to tell them about Camille...” Blueshift looked away. “And Janine would’ve felt the same.”

When Lee and Callie arrived into the operations room, Agent 7 was monitoring the health of Camille, Nebula, Celeste, Telemachus, Justinian, and Hera. There was pop-up warnings of paralysis and shock. Operatives were trying to contact the kids them through a unique communications device that acted like telepathy.

From the communication, they’re picking up sounds of screaming, as if the children were being constricted by something.

“Someone tell those six to out of there! Typhon is going too--!” Agent 7 soon covered his mouth.

Then there was a massive sound of someone’s hand slamming on the ground. The EKGs were on flatlines.

“All EKGs are on flatline...,” an Operative reported, “They’re gone.”

Lee and Callie were speechless. Camille and her Party were splatted right where they were. The deaths of Camille, Nebula, Telemachus, Celeste, Justinian, and Hera were made known to everyone on Earth by the Typhon.

Callie stepped forward, heartbroken. “How could you...?” She then began to run towards Agent 7 to grab him, but a few Operatives got out of their seats and pulled her away. All she can do was shout. “HOW COULD YOU!?!” She struggled.

Lee ran over and calm his wife. “Callie! Callie!” He had the Operatives let go so that he can calm Callie. He had his hands on her cheek; he tried to make her look at him straight in the eyes. “Shouting at him won’t solve anything! .....She’s gone now... Camille... our daughter....” He tears up. “She’s gone...”

Callie and Lee embrace and weep over the loss of their daughter. Agent 7 looked at them, sharing the same grief. However, he has felt grief so much in the past that he was able to move along. He sighs and took off his hat. Typhon is free to bring the world to chaos.

But then there was beeping. Lee and Callie quickly looked and saw that the EKG for Camille is still active; She’s alive!

This also brought Agent 7’s attention, and he puts on his headphones and tried calling her. “Testing pseudotelepathy. Testing pseudotelepathy.” There's a signal. “Good...” He adjusts some signals.

“What are you doing?” Lee looked at Agent 7.

“We’re going to talk to your daughter.” Agent 7 presses on more button.

Point of No Return, The Titan Fortress - Skies of Tokyo Metropolis 12:10 Noon

Camille managed to come to her sense and shield herself with the Gorgon Shield, but as she recovered from Typhon’s attack, her Gorgon Shield has dents. She only had Athena’s Spear and Aegis as her weapons.

Her vision was slightly blurry as she looked at her surroundings, but when it became clear, she can see 5 ink puddles: A dark green ink puddle with Hades’s Helmet, a pink ink puddle with Poseidon’s Trident, a white ink puddle with the Olympic Queen’s Scepter and Hebe’s Wine Cup, a rose pink ink puddle with Hestia’s heart, and a reddish brown ink puddle with Persephone’s Staff and Demeter’s shoulder bag.

Camille’s eyes widened; her friends were splatted. Tears were coming down Camille’s cheeks and all she can think of was the times she spent with most of her friends. But when Typhon screeched, Camille looked up and uses Aegis, shielding herself and the ink puddles. She trying to cope with what just happened.

Typhon tried to break the blue forcefield with torrents of pitch black violet ink. He even tried to pound one hand on the shield only to leave a few cracks.

There no point to this, Camille thought. She believed she’s going to splat anyway, and so will her family and the people of Inkopolis.

She’s all alone now.

“Camille? Camille!” Agent 7 was talking to her.... telepathically?

Camille’s hearing was still recovering, but she sure didn’t want Agent 7’s voice to be the last thing to hear before she died. The impact made by Typhon’s attack didn’t do anything to her voice.

“I didn’t expect you to be the last one to hear before I die,” Camille mocked.

“And you won’t expect this: Someone is here to talk to you.” Agent 7 voice soon became Lee’s voice and Callie's voice.

“Camille... Sweetie?” Lee asked.

“Oh great zapfish, you’re alive...” Callie can be heard sniffing and such.

“Mom? Dad?” These were the voice Camille wanted to hear. “Wait where’s Paccy?”

“Your grandma and Uncle Myzzy are taking care of him,” Callie explained.

“Good...” Camille continues shielding herself and her deceased friends. There was a tone of despair in her voice, which is quite rare coming from a tough squid like her.

It’s time Lee talked to Camille about this. “Camille, listen to me...,” Lee began, “I... I know you never wanted this... And I know how you feel. And I can tell you didn’t believe in all the stories at first about me being a superhero and your mother being an Agent.” Lee took a deep breath. “Those were true, but all I wanted was to follow my own path. Yet, I walked on the path of a hero even if I didn’t call myself one.”

Camille can understand that. “And now I’m in your shoes.”

“Well blame my son--” Agent 7 is cut off by Camille.

“Eat an urchin, Uncle Sev!” Camille can hear him.

“Nevermind Seven, dear, I know he didn’t want this either... but things just happen for a reason.” Soon Lee let Callie talk to her.

“Sweetie, Lee and I wanted normal lives together, and look at it now,” Callie comforted, “But now that you’re in our shoes.....” Callie tried not to cry. “I’m proud that you have a reason to fight.”

“.....Mom, I’m doing this because..... because... I care for my friends and family...” Apathy is one thing, but Camille deeply cares for them. “And I want a normal life too! So I’m not going to let this snake freak here destroy me, destroy you, Dad, Tia Marie, Uncle Blue, or everyone!”

“...Sweetie...” Callie is speechless.

“.....Camille...” Lee is also speechless.

“Mom, Dad, can you trust me?” Camille can’t keep the shield up for long. “Let me do this...”

“Lee, Callie, reception is going out, answer quickly. We only got about 4 minutes.” Agent 7 sounded alarmed.

“.......I trust you, dear,” Lee answered.

“Camille..... just don’t forget that we --” Callie is cut off.

Camille can no longer hear them, but she knew what her mother was going to say. She stared at Typhon; this time his terrifying appearance didn’t paralyze her. Camille gets up and continued using Aegis’s protection.

(( Insert background music: https://youtu.be/-u4Kcay2Gjw ))

Camille looked down at the ink puddles that were once her friends. She then looked at Typhon and took a deep breath; it was time to face the end. She watches the cracks of her blue forcefield open up into holes; the shield was deteriorating.

Camille relaxes her hands and allows the shield to go away. Typhon opens it’s mouth and breathed out purple flames that are as strong as the flares of the sun. As the flames hit Camille, a wall of transparent gold surrounds her and the ink puddles.

Camille smiled and raised Athena's spear up high, releasing an endless amount of lighting from the tip. The lightning hits the ink puddles. Then there was flash so bright that it forced Typhon to shield his eyes.

((transition to this background song, VS. Ophion and Eurynome, the Typhonian End: https://youtu.be/xCzNIHtYniU ))

Camille is now permanently in an armor of gold and leather; Nebula, Telemachus, Celeste, Justinian, and Hera respawned immediately also wearing armors of gold and leather, and they were all confused about what happened.

“Camille what happened?!?” Celeste was too shocked.

“I thought we were goners!” Justinian was also shocked.

“You revived us, with Zeus’s powers,” Hera assumed.

“Is that true?” Nebula wondered.

“No time to ask that, we go to send Typhon back to Tartarus!” Telemachus has noticed the new look to his Olympian form.

Camille nods. “Alright, guys! Let's roll!”

Camille, Telemachus, and Hera took off using their wings. Celeste uses Hestia’s heart to build herself a clay platforms to jump on. Nebula summoned Poseidon’s chariot and Stallions and this time she can create bridges of ice as she drives the chariot. Justinian is able to create a massive tree large enough to strike at Typhon; he used the tree as a bridge.

The massive tree impales Typhon right in the chest, but out of the wound were venomous snakes. Justinian uses the branches of the tree to sweep the reptiles out of his way and continued to cross the bridge he made.

One of the many snakeheads from Typhon tried to grab Camille, Telemachus, or Hera, but Celeste kicks Hestia’s heart to hits the head, giving her friends a chance to decapitate it.

“Yeah!” Take that!” Celeste shouted.

Nebula tried freezing the ink that Typhon has coursing through his whole body, and Justinian made sure nothing stops her. When one snakehead was about to grab the chariot and Nebula, Justinian lets one branch extend and pierce through that snake’s head.

Nebula looked at Justinian.

“Don’t worry Nebula! I got your back!” Justinian continued crossing his arboreal bridge.

Telemachus flew in to decapitate as many snakeheads off Typhon’s body. He would put on Hades's helmet to turn invisible and lead gashes on Typhon. Camille was relentlessly striking lightning at every single part of Typhon’s body. When a snake head sits pitch black in at either Telemachus or Camille. Hera got in the way and she shielded them with a wall of light using the Olympic Queen’s scepter. Even without Hera’s protection, Camille and Telemachus dodge the ink drops in rolls and loops.

Typhon tried to pull the tree he’s impaled to out of his chest, but Justinian made the tree grow more, continuing to stab through Typhon’s chest. More snake heads come out to try and grab the six Olympic Champions.

Celeste dribbled Hestia’s heart, occasionally kicking it at a few of the snakeheads while it was burning bright. Nebula kept freezing a few parts of Typhon and using Poseidon’s trident to deliver an earth-shaking force at the patch of ice, shattering them into pieces.

The more Typhon struggles, the more wounds he gets from the attacks made by Camille’s party. However, fighting Typhon like this was taking too long, Camille had to make them get together. They needed to immobilize the Typhonian End.

Justinian’s tree kept Typhon in place, but it didn’t stop the horror from wriggling violently and fighting back. Nebula’s freezing powers and Telemachus’s slashing attack were wounding Typhon, but he still kept fighting back. Celeste and Hera were only providing support, but Celeste was working really hard to help Camille fight the being.

Camille stops her lighting strikes and flew to Nebula’s side. “Nebby! Try soaking Typhon in water!”

“But that will deprive earth of most of its water, are you crazy!?” Nebula was busy dodging a few snakes while freezing another part of Typhon’s body.

“Not water from Earth, from somewhere else!” Camille sends lightning to strike the snakes gathering towards Nebula. She then grabs Nebula’s hand, taking her to the arboreal tree that Justinian’s on.

Camille is later getting Celeste, Telemachus, and Hera to meet her with Justinian and Nebula at that bridge. They were going to go all out, throwing everything they got at Typhon.

“Let’s make this a group effort, guys!” Camille ordered. After all, she is leading this team. “On the count of 3........forget counting! Let’s go!”

Tapping into their Olympian powers, the Olympic Champions went for a glorious charge. Hera throws an orb of light and blinded Typhon with a flash. Telemachus gathers all the spirits of the Earth and sends them tormenting Typhon’s mind, making him thrash violently and continue struggling. Justinian creates vines from the arboreal bridge and Typhon gets entangled in the vines when he was thrashing and struggling. Celeste makes a tiled floor platform to give Camille’s party more comfortable movement; At the same time, Hestia’s heart started creating duplicates of itself, and Celeste kicks all of them at Typhon. dealing fiery soccer combos. When the fire was engulfing Typhon, Nebula took this chance to tap into the Olympian powers and create a typhoon of water at will. Nebula then breathed out icy winds which froze Typhon’s entire body while he was soaked in the water. Camille quickly flew toward Typhon’s chest and to where his heart should be to pull out the inkling that stuck to the massive being. She then returned to her team to place the inkling down.

Camille got back up wanted to use Athena’s spear to deliver the final blow, but she then heard Camilla’s voice.

“The bow and crown!” The Princess advised. “Banish Typhon with an arrow filled with Chiron’s bow!”

Camille didn’t know why, but she followed the advice; she took out Apollo’s Bow and Artemis’s Antler crown. They two artifacts glowed and two constellations can be seen in space: Sagittarius and Centaurus. Two pieces of a massive bow appeared before Camille and her team and it repairs itself. Camille then noticed Athena’s spear act up and coil itself in electricity; the electricity materializes to turn the spear into an arrow.

She knew what to do, and she needed to do it quickly before the ice thaws and Typhon fights back.

Justinian and Celeste helped adjust the position of the large bow so that it’s aiming at Typhon’s heartless chest. Camille placed the arrows in the bow and pulled the string, but despite Camille’s strength, the string is impossible to pull.

“What!?!” Camille kept pulling, but to no avail.

“Here! Let us help!” Telemachus runs over and helps pull the bow. They still needed more muscle.

“I’ve got ya, Camille!” Celeste runs over and offered Camille some help.

“Us too!” Justinian and Hera go offer and help.

“Camille, we’ll do this together!” Nebula is the last to help.

Soon all their strength managed to get the bow string pulled and get the arrow ready to be shot at Typhon. All they needed to do is release it.

“This...ends...now!!!” Camille and the others let go of the string and the bow fires Athena’s spear towards Typhon.

When it hits the chest, massive lightning strikes hit straight at the chest of Typhon. The impact brought enough force to push Typhon into several light years. Athena’s spear didn’t go with Typhon and stayed in the place where is hit Typhon’s chest. Camille manages to retrieve the spear and plant it on the ground. As for the massive bow, it fades.

((end of background music))

“That.... was.... TOTALLY WICKED!!!” Celeste jumps in the air and pumps a fist. “We won!!”

Telemachus was starting at the total blackness of space. “What an adventure.”

Hera was standing next to him and she nods in agreement.

Justinian and Nebula were holding hands.

But suddenly Camille collapses in exhaustion, again. Her friends gather to see if she’s okay. Camille was dreaming again.

#Future #Plot #Project Titanomachy

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aeon-wolf · 8 years ago

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Betrayal - Chapter 11

Now that Lena has joined her father and the Titans against the Gods, her loyalties made clear. Her betrayal of all she once held dear haunts her every day. But she made her choice and as the war between the Gods and Titans draws near, Lena’s allegiances will be put to the test. Does she help bring about the end of the reign of the Gods? Or will her love for Kara Danvers and the friendships she made along the way be enough to stop the daughter of Hyperion.

A PJO inspired Supercorp series. Part Two: Betrayal.

Read it here on AO3

Meanwhile, Olympus had been fully briefed on the attack and the Gods sat in their thrones, discussing their own plans. “She is dangerous Zeus. We now have confirmation of her powers. We always knew Lena would be strong, but none of us imagined how strong.” Ares argued. No one spoke up. They all knew the God of War was right. Lena was a real and true threat.

“Her full potential has been unlocked in her time with the Titans, as we all feared.” Athena counseled. “She poses the greatest threat to Olympus now.”

“And what of her father and his brothers?” Demeter interjected. “Do they not pose a greater threat than that of their child?” Though Athena shook her head.

“No. The Titans are bound by celestial laws. As are we. To prevent another Titanomachy. But Lena, as half human, is not. She has the freedom to act as she will. And at the command of the Titans, she poses a great threat. One that has never been seen before.” The goddess said. Zeus nodded thoughtfully, leaning back in his throne.

“The demititan poses the most immediate threat. If we eliminate her, the Titan’s plans will fall through. They are relying on her.” Zeus said. Apollo looked as though he wanted to protest, but stayed silent. “If they have their own commander, should we not simply respond in kind?” Zeus pondered. A couple of the Gods frowned, including Ares and Athena.

“My lord Zeus?” Ares questioned.

“The Titans dare to use one of their children to lead their armies right to our doorstep Ares. Despite what I had previously thought of Hyperion, he has proven to take extreme measures, in their eyes, to win this war. They all despise humans. The fact Hyperion would willingly birth a child with one... “ Zeus trailed off.

“Is troubling.” Athena finished. And Zeus nodded.

“Lena Luthor is our number one threat right now. If we were to take her out, their plans would be severely hampered. Perhaps even halted.” He mused.

“And who would you suggest to stand against her?” Artemis asked. “No halfblood is strong enough to truly stand up to a daughter of a Titan. Not with her power. And her skill. Despite everything that woman has been through, she is a force to be reckoned with. We all can agree on that.” She finished and all of the Gods nodded in agreement. They all knew Lena to be a fearsome warrior. Both from observing the first battle at Demos and just from knowledge of how the Titans operated. They would never allow her to be anything but dangerous.

“As I have said in the past, my daughter is strong enough to stand against her.” Zeus pressed as he had years ago. Apollo protested this time.

“And as I told you, Zeus, Kara Danvers cannot fulfill the tasks you would ask of her.” He said, his voice laced with concern, looking to Aphrodite to back him up as she had in the past. She nodded in agreement.

“Desperate times call for desperate measures Apollo. Kara is the only one that stands a chance. She is the strongest of my children since Hercules himself. If any of our children could challenge Lena Luthor, it would be her. You all know this to be true.” Zeus argued.

“He has a point Apollo,” Ares said. “Kara Danvers is strong. She’s disciplined. She has strong support from those at Demos. She would be the perfect ground commander to go toe to toe with Hyperion’s daughter.” Apollo groaned.

“Fine. Fine. If you all refuse to see sense. But as I have told you, Kara Danvers will never be able to kill Lena Luthor.” Apollo said, frustrated. “She will only be able to hold her off. Defend against her. Maybe help to destroy the Titan armies. But when it comes to the commander herself, Kara will never be able to kill her.” He insisted.

“That is a risk I’m willing to take, Apollo. If Kara cannot finish the job, there are plenty of halfbloods that can. All Kara has to do is incapacitate her. Anyone else could finish the job.” Zeus replied calmly.

“I would caution you on that Zeus,” Aphrodite interjected. “Kara Danvers will not only fail to kill Lena. But she will protect her to the end.” Zeus sighed.

“We have no other options, Aphrodite. Lena is a threat that needs to be neutralized. We don’t have a choice. If Demos falls, it’s only a matter of time before the Titans march on Olympus. We need someone to match her.” Aphrodite shook her head slightly but relented as well.

“So we are all in agreement that Kara Danvers is to be granted the siphoned powers of a Titan and become the hero of Olympus?” Zeus asked the council. There were ayes heard throughout the hall, even half-hearted ones from Aphrodite and Apollo. “Good.” He said.

II.

Kara was in her room, doodling when there was a firm knock on her door. She frowned, but got up from her desk and opened the door. “J’onn, what are you doing here?” She asked curiously.

“Come with me, Kara.” He said with a tone of urgency in his voice. Kara nodded, stepping out into the hall and following J’onn back to his office. “What is the emergency?” Kara questioned on their way.

“It’ll have to wait until we back to my office Kara. It’s a rather… sensitive matter.” Kara nodded, following on J’onn’s heels. They quickly reached his office, both of them stepping inside and the door swinging shut behind them. Kara sat down in a chair while J’onn went back behind his desk.

“What’s so important?” Kara asked again. J’onn sighed.

“You have been… summoned to appear before the Gods on Olympus.” J’onn said grimly. Kara’s jaw almost dropped.

“What? Me? Why?” She questioned.

“I’m… not at liberty to say, Kara. That is for them to inform you, but they have requested your presence as soon as possible.” J’onn told the young halfblood. Kara bit her lip, nodding slowly. J’onn waved his hand at a door in his office, the same door that led Lena to the Oracle.

“The Gods have set up a portal to Olympus through that door. It’s not safe for you to be traveling to Olympus the normal way.” J’onn said.

“Okay,” Kara said getting up from her chair.

“And Kara? Be careful. The Gods are doing what they think is right for our world. But what is right for you is just as important as that.” J’onn said kindly. Kara’s lip quivered slightly but nodded stiffly.

“Thank you,” Kara said honestly before grabbing the doorknob, opening the door and stepping through the portal.

III.

Kara felt an uncomfortable tugging at her stomach as a strong magic pulled her through space and deposited her in the middle of the Olympian council room. Kara looked up at her surroundings in awe. She had never been to Olympus before. Very few halfbloods ever had been. Most of the time, if the Gods needed a halfblood, they visited them at Demos. Or out in the real world if the situation called for it.

Kara’s eyes zeroed in on her father who was sitting on the largest throne. She bowed slightly out of respect. “Dad.” She greeted him cautiously.

“Kara. I’m sure you’re wondering why we’ve called you here.” He addressed his daughter. Kara glanced at the other gods, receiving a rather icy glare from Hera. Kara cringed slightly but nodded.

“J’onn said it was important…” She trailed off.

“It is. We have been discussing how best to combat the Titans in their war on Olympus.” He informed her. Kara frowned slightly.

“And what does that have to do with me?” She questioned. “I’ve been fighting just like anyone else at Demos. We managed to repel their last attack.” She said though she neglected to mention that Demos would probably not be able to repel another.

Zeus nodded but sat forward in his throne slightly. “That is true Kara. You have fought valiantly in the name of Olympus. This is what we wish to discuss with you. We have also discussed the threat that Lena Luthor poses to all of us.” He said carefully, trying to approach the topic gently. The hair on the back of Kara’s neck bristled slightly at the mention of Lena.

“She... “ Kara started.

“She is a threat, Kara,” Ares interjected. “A dangerous one at that. Her power eclipses any power you or any halfblood has. The Titans gave birth to the Gods. And while your power is twice diluted, hers is only once.” Kara bit her tongue to keep herself from snapping back at Ares. It wouldn’t do to talk back to a God. Especially one as hot headed at the God of War.

“He is right Kara. She is dangerous. We need someone on the ground that can hope to stand against you. And you’re the only one that can.” Zeus said.

“But…” Kara protested.

“Be careful how you respond Kara. The fate of Olympus and perhaps humanity is in jeopardy because of the Titans. And she is their greatest weapon. We have no hope to stand against them if we cannot produce a commander that can go hand to hand with her.” Athena informed the halfblood.

“I... “ Kara stammered, unable to voice her thoughts.

“You would be elevated to our ground commander. Lead our forces against the Titans. We retained a portion of the Titan’s power, siphoned from them as part of our agreement years ago. We would wish to gift some of that power to you, in order to augment you to help you in your struggle.” Zeus informed his daughter.

“And what of Lena?” Kara managed to question. Zeus’ gaze hardened.

“She is a threat, Kara. She needs to be taken care of. Permanently.” He said harshly. Kara frowned, her brow dipping in concern.

“No.” She finally said. Zeus looked rather surprised.

“No?” He questioned. Kara held her head proudly.

“No. I’m not going to kill her. And if that’s part of your conditions, I’m not going to help you with that.” She said angrily. She turned around and almost stomped out of the council rooms, unsure of where she was going. All she knew is that she had to get out of there before she said other things she would regret later.

She burst out of the council building and onto the streets of Olympus. Kara found herself relaxing the further she got away from the building, her shoulders untensing and her jaw unclenching. Kara took the time to look at her surroundings. Olympus really was a beautiful place. Though Kara figured it had to be if it was the home of the Gods. Kara found refuge in a small park, sitting on a small boulder by a lake. She sighed, unsure of what she was supposed to do now. She had certainly offended the Gods. But it wasn’t like they could do anything serious to her. They needed her, at least, she thought they did.

Kara’s ear perked up as she heard a rustling nearby and someone approaching her. Kara made to stand up but a soothing voice spoke up,

“No need to get up on my account Kara Danvers.” The voice said. Kara relaxed a little bit, sitting back down on the boulder, though she bowed her head to the individual that had come into view.

“Lady Aphrodite.” She said respectfully. “I’m… sorry about earlier.” She said, looking into the water. She felt the goddess sit down on the boulder next to her.

“Kara, I of all people cannot fault you for wanting to follow your heart. Surely you know that.” The Goddess of Love reminded her. Kara sighed.

“I just… I can’t. You once told me I was destined to fall in love with the daughter of a sun god. Someone who wasn’t light or dark, good or evil.” Kara said wistfully. Aphrodite nodded.

“You have been dealt a hard hand in your life, Kara. You deserve a great love in your life. But you should know that love isn’t easy. You have to want it. Have to work for it.” She said. Kara looked from the water at the goddess.

“So was it Lena you were talking about?” Kara asked though she knew in her heart that Lena was the one she was destined to love. Aphrodite chuckled.

“Kara, you don’t need me to tell you what you already know.” She said with a little amusement in her voice. Kara just sighed.

“I just don’t want to let go of her. But I know that Zeus and Ares, and my sister and everyone else is right, she is dangerous. And a threat. But I can’t help loving her.” Kara lamented.

“But is allowing your father to choose someone else who has no qualms about killing her really the best option Kara?” The blonde frowned.

“But…” Kara started.

“There are many who Zeus could have chosen that would destroy the daughter of Hyperion without a second thought, Kara. But your love and compassion might be what we need to win this war. Your father often gets too caught up in brute strength and power to achieve his goals. But he overlooks the power of love. Perhaps you alone will be able to end this war and keep her alive.” Aphrodite told her.

“I… She seems so far away from whatever love or feelings that we might have felt for each other.” Kara said sadly. “What if I’m wrong and she’s past saving?” Kara questioned.

“Doubting your feelings for her and hers for you isn’t you Kara. Your heart knows that it still yearns for her. And if you stop thinking with your head and start listening to your heart, you’ll know what to do. Lena Luthor is not irredeemable. But she will be if you give up on her.” Aphrodite said, before getting up and leading Kara to her thoughts, not giving her a chance to question her words.

IV.

Kara trudged back up the steps to the council building, taking a deep breath and opening the doors. She walked back through the halls in the throne room. She shifted uncomfortably as Zeus turned his attention to his daughter again. “Kara…” He said coldly, but Kara cut him off.

“I apologize for my behavior earlier. It’s just… It’s been a stressful few days. What with the attack and all. I’m afraid I let my emotions get the better of me.” She said. Zeus’ gaze softened slightly.

“See that it doesn’t happen again.” He reprimanded her. “Have you given more thought to our request of you?” He asked his daughter. Kara nodded slowly, glancing at Aphrodite who had returned to her own seat. She gave Kara a slight, encouraging smile.

“I have. I will accept the title of commander and lead our forces to defend Olympus.” She announced. Apollo shifted uncomfortably in his seat but said nothing. Zeus, on the other hand, looked proudly at his daughter.

“I’m glad you have come to your senses, Kara.” He said, beckoning for Hermes to hand him something. The God of Travelers handed him a decorative, golden urn. Zeus waved his hand over the top, the lid lifting off the urn. Kara felt the room turn cold, a chill running up her spine. “In order to stand up to the daughter of Hyperion, you will need to be granted the powers to match hers.” He said.

The King of the Gods waved his hand over the open urn, a shimmery substance floating out of the urn. It reeked of unstable and uncontrollable power. Zeus sent the substance towards Kara. The blonde steeled her expression, unsure of what was to come. The substance halted in front of Kara. “Reach out and take the power granted to you,” Zeus instructed her. Kara hesitantly stepped forward slightly, raising her hand and thrust it into the substance.

She heard a crackling around her as the substance latched onto her arm, a cold feeling creeping up her arm and into her body. Kara clenched her teeth as the shimmery substance crept up her arm and enveloped her chest before sinking through her clothes and into her skin. Kara gulped as she felt the cold sensation overtake her body accompanied by a sudden rush of power. It filled Kara’s ear with a rushing sound, her blood warming despite the coolness of her skin.

Her body glowed slightly before returning to normal. “Kara Danvers, from this point until the end of this war, you have been granted the powers of a Titan and will lead Olympus’ forces to victory against the daughter of Hyperion,” Zeus announced. Kara frowned, but knelt down on one knee, bowing respectfully, Aphrodite’s words in her head and her heart. Lena wasn’t beyond redemption. And Kara would do anything within her newfound power to make sure that the demititan came to her senses.

Let's up the stakes, shall we? The power of a Titan, the power of a God and the freedom of humanity. If you wanted to see OP Kara, this is what it looks like. And she and Lena will come face to face, once again, sometime within the next couple of chapters.

#supercorp #lena luthor #kara danvers #fanfiction #story #update #chapter 11 #betrayal #pjo inspired

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reblogthiscrapkay · 5 years ago

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The Myth of Persephone in “The Narcissus And The Pomegranate”

Instead of a retelling of the myth, today we talk literary analysis!

Chapter one is an introduction to the Hymn of Demeter and this book itself. I read the Hymn a while ago and expressed my thoughts, which you can find by searching The Persephone Project tag so I won’t explain that.

Chapter two is about looking at the myth as a means of establishing Zeus as head of a Greek pantheon of gods. It analyzes the diction and the narrative aspects to conclude that one of the primary purposes of the myth was this elevation of Zeus due to patriarchal standards of the time. The reason why Zeus would even need to be elevated is that the idea of worshiping Demeter and Persephone independently was common at the time and that Persephone might actually have been worshiped even longer than Demeter but sometimes as a goddess of a different name who represented both the underworld and fertility and the duel nature of life and death before being placed subordinate to Demeter. However, although it does place Zeus as an authority by having him be the one who arranged the marriage and being the one who Persephone calls out for when she’s being taken underground (something I previously pointed out as being kind of weird), the myth also makes it seem like Zeus had no idea about the pomegranate thing while Demeter does. It also talks about Persephone’s retelling of her story when she gets back to Demeter and how she shifts the narrative and how the two goddesses have the longest speeches in the story, implying authority.

Chapter three looks at the myth with psychoanalysis and specifically the object relations theory. This is all about the idea of coming of age for a girl by following the example of the mother and then separating from her while still looking to her as an example of how to form her own womanhood. This is emphasized by how Persephone starts the story hanging with her friends away from her mother. It also talks about the narcissus being called a “toy” and how Persephone goes to pluck it as a sign of her choosing her maturity, which is then completed in a sexual maturity way by eating the seed, which is not really shown to be unwilling or willing but she later has a “me thinks the lady doth protest too much” moment when she insists to her mother that it was by force. This gives Seph a lot of agency in choosing her fate even if she didn’t technically go to the Underworld willingly. It also compares Seph to Demophon and how after losing Seph, Demeter becomes an old woman (her daughter growing up makes her old, get it) and then tries to basically replace her with Demo since her daughter has “died” but she can try to make him immortal.

Chapter four looks at the myth through anthropology and different rituals and coming of age rites that used the Hymn (the Eleusinian Mysteries obviously, the Haloa, and the Thesmophoria). Ultimately the author concluded that while there are some similar elements and stages, they don’t fully add up with what we know about ancient history. It talks a bit about how Persephone doesn’t start the story with her mother but with her friends, putting her already in a liminal state between childhood and adulthood. It also talks about how a lot of the similar rituals of the time that weren’t coming-of-age focused on fertility but Persephone doesn’t ever become pregnant and doesn’t even stay in her husband’s home as one would expect from a marriage ritual (although it does emphasize that sex did happen since they are on a bed and she eats the seed but that marriage is actually kind of ambiguous unless it’s supposed to be implied by the sex).

Chapter five looks at the myth as a hieros gamos, a “sacred marriage” rite common in a lot of early religions (I actually know of it best through the modern Wicca representation but even when I first heard about the Wicca version, I was like, “hey, this is kind of like Hades and Persephone”). The idea is that the coupling of an earth goddess (both above and below) and her kind of useless male consort brings about the fertility of the earth and people. It does mention that this coupling is usually on earth and not underground but that this speaks to the duel nature of nature and death in the Hymn (also cool is how many modern interpretations have them actually coupling in her garden instead like “Hadestown” and Allison Shaw’s comic; it’s more traditional). It mentions how Demeter and Persephone were once probably one goddess and Kore and Persephone were the two split ideas and how Zeus and Hades were one god of different aspects but then split into two gods (I’ve read about this before with Orphic tradition). Even Poseidon was part of this as water leads to vegetation. All these cults got smushed together and altered. Apparently, like with the Wicca idea, the god is usually the subordinate who has a coming of age and the sacred marriage to a powerful goddess but that patriarchy lead to this role being given to Persephone. It also compared the hieros gamos of Seph to one of Demeter and Poseidon (the one with horse rape and Desponia) and talked about cults where the marriage was between Kore and Plouton, a grain god who’s name is very similar to Pluto. There’s a cool footnote where the author notes how another author saw Persephone’s lack of offspring as a result of her being a goddess of death but the author contests that she is a goddess of the dead, not death and that her role is that of receiver and caretaker, not the bringer of death. This was a really interesting chapter to me as it heavily discusses the evolution of myth over time.

Chapter six discusses potential earlier ideas that would eventually be shaped into the Hymn. It again brings up the idea of Persephone as a Bronze age goddess without Demeter or the idea that Demeter as mother was a different aspect of Persephone who is also a maiden in one aspect (citing Homer mentioning her without Demeter and as just Underworld Queen). It discusses the ambiguity of who actually is responsible for the earth’s fertility, addressing that in the Hymn it’s Demeter and that Persephone only brings about the seasons and specifically mentions flowers, not things like food (although she probably did both in earlier history). There were a lot of things in this chapter mentioned before just in a more focused form. One of the new ideas was in an Orphic tradition version, Demeter went into the Underworld herself to get Persephone. It is also suggested that the part of the Hymn where Demeter goes to Eleusis, which doesn’t really have anything to do with the main narrative, was an effort to include rituals that were already present there and establish Demeter as an authority there over Persephone (known as Kore/Thea).

Chapter seven talks about the linguistic history. It discusses when the Greeks started speaking Greek and mentions how Persephone’s name is older, not Greek, and not really understood. It discusses how her previously common adjective as “dread/awesome” is dropped for the Hymn to only describe her as young and beautiful while Demeter is given more power-based descriptions in addition to her appearance. It breaks these words into list form in Appendix B, which I find helpful. It then discusses Demeter’s name, which is Greek, with the first syllable either being connected to earth or water and the other two being mother and it talks about the name Hades, which is usually seen as Greek and translated just “unseen one” but there is some debate. It ends with a lot more discussion of Demeter.

Chapter eight discusses archaeological evidence to find the source of Demeter and her joining with Persephone before the Hymn was written. The book discusses early Persephone concepts in a cup found at Phaistos in Crete from 1900 BCE (and other Minoan goddess concepts), frescos at Akrotiri in Santorini a few hundreds years BCE, and 9th century BCE art in Arkhanes Crete but there’s no indication of names or of any worship of Demeter or Persephone specifically and together until the fifth century BCE. Then the book looks at grain goddess ideas in Mycenae dating back to the 13th century BCE and potential art of paired goddesses who could be early ideas of Dem and Seph. Then it looks at Sicily where Persephone, the life and death goddess of another name, was heavily worshiped independently from the third millennium BCE (and the island was seen as a wedding gift from Zeus). Then it goes to mainland Greece to talk about Eleusis (I enjoyed a mention of clay pomegranates at Eleusis) and Corinth (and some ambiguous two women figures from there). Ultimately, a lot of the results are very interesting but also very speculative because how could we know?

Chapter nine mostly sums up a lot of points in the book in regards to the formation of the myth and its history.

Overall, this was a really interesting read! I don’t know how accessible it is to people who don’t have a large background in this stuff so I’m not sure if I’d recommend it but it’s probably a solid read if you like the myth, archaeology, anthropology, or any of the other things it talks about.

#the persephone project #the narcissus and the pomegranate #personal #persephone

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agent-7-at-your-service · 8 years ago

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Future Plot: Project Titanomachy - Chapter 25

(( Camille belongs to @inklingleesquidly

Nebula belongs to @myzzy and @agenttwo

Agent Blueshift belongs to @myzzy

Depiction of Agent 2 belongs to @agenttwo

Celeste and Willow (mentioned) belongs to @alpinesquid

Arsenic (mentioned) belongs to @a-demo-of-a-hero

Chirhio (cameo) belongs to @petit-blu-inkling

Telemachus, Kitzeh, and Justinian belongs to me ))

Nebula, Justinian, the Frosted Stars, and the Galaxa Gems have managed to be escorted to a hospital, and it took time for them to recover.

Willow cautiously made her way to Mt. Olympus through the secret passage in Octo Valley. There was no word from Hephaestus, Celeste, and Arsenic about completing the quick passage between Mt. Olympus and Octo Valley. They were probably not finished yet.

Agent 7 was taking a break from the situation for the sake of his family.

Telemachus, Hermes, Anteros, and Kitzeh were off in Octo Valley after hearing about a fourth meteor fortress crashing in an Octarian Refugee Camp.

Agent 0 and Suzy were given the order to prepare the Argus Initiative's forces for tomorrow as the Titan Meteor drew closer. The civilians of Inkopolis were already evacuating to the safe sectors with one of them being Shee-Booyah.

Ebisu First Care, Alexandria District - Inkopolis - 8:00 AM

Blueshift and Agent 2 stayed in Alexandria District to watch over their daughter. The parents of the Frosted Stars and the Galaxa Gems visiting their children when they got the news. They planned to take the kids out of the hospital immediately after their recovery, and they did. The Frosted Star and Galaxa gave their thanks to Camille before they were sent back home. So Justinian and Nebula were the only ones still in the recovery room.

Camille was sitting on a bench and looking at Athena's spear. She wondered why it didn't allow her in her Olympian form yesterday. She didn't like to slow down think like this, but this rare for her. As for the Key to the Underworld that she stole from Chaodis, she returned that to Telemachus who was the Champion of Hades.

Soon someone approached her in a yellow wisp of flames. As it materializes into a cloak of animals skins, mostly the skins of wildcats, it was the same wraith-like maiden from the museum. But from all the memories Camille has been through personifying Princess Camilla, she can figure out who this maiden really is.

"I know who you are now," Camille began, "But I'm still wondering why you’ve chosen me for this role."

"You leave an impression that I like," the maiden replied. She then sat next to Camille. "And there is something you have that I also like: a personality."

All Camille can do in reply was smirk and say this: "There has to be a better reason than that--" She looked at the maiden and addresses her name: "--Princess Camilla Penthesilea."

The maiden removes her hood to reveal the Amazon's face. She still appeared the same with her tan skin, beige ink hair, and green heterochromia eyes. She smiled at her.

"Well, then I should leave out that you're 'the fastest squid alive'." Princess Camilla giggles. "Camille, it's because I see some potential heroism in you that has yet to be shown. You want to move on in becoming a racer, and that's true is it not?"

Camille hasn't forgotten that, and she nods.

"A call to adventure should never be ignored." Princess Camilla sounded serious. "And you won't allow those Titans and Typhon to just destroy your world and all that live in it, would you?"

"Now that you mentioned it, yeah..." With all the things that happened to Camille so far while taking up the role as Zeus's and Athena's champion, she wouldn't say no. "And I really deserve a break."

Princess Camilla sighed blissfully. "The way you behave and act is very......how should I say this..... unorthodox for a hero. But then again, you've made it this far. A long break that you deserve will come after this ends."

"So how about this issue?" Camille shows Athena's spear, raising an eyebrow. "I tried to twirl it and get into Olympian form, but the Hermes and Willow are telling me that it's all out of energy or something."

"That... I can't help you with..." Princess Camilla shakes her head. "Athena never warned about this happening, but I'm sure it is probably energy being overused."

Camille changed the topic. "Do you think Athena would've been a good friend to me?"

".....I'm sure she would've love to see you." Princess Camilla remembers her times with Athena before the Trojan War.

Soon nurses were seen coming into the recovery rooms to check on Nebula and Justinian who were now awake. Blueshift and Agent 2 were glad to see that their daughter is okay. Princess Camilla quickly vanished.

Camille took notice and enter the room to quickly embrace Nebula.

"You had me worried, Nebby!" Camille exclaimed.

"Careful Miss Squidly!" A nurse warned. " They just woke up from their recovery.

"Oh...sorry..." Camille let's go.

"It's alright Cammy." Nebula gave a weak smile. "But it seems Chaodis was using us to lure you in."

Camille cringed but then gave a smile. "Don't worry, I gave him a what-for for stabbing me in the back."

"Well, he deserved it," Justinian thanked Camille.

"So what happened to the Trident and Staff?" Camille noticed they didn't have them in their possessions.

"They're here." Nebula puts her hand in front of her and water vapors gather and materialized into Poseidon's Trident.

Justinian did the same, taking out a pomegranate seed and it quickly grows into Persephone's staff with Demeter's garden bag tied to it.

"So the Frosted Stars and the Galaxa Gems finally recovered?" Nebula asked Blueshift.

"They did, sweetie," Blueshift answered, "And they left their thanks to Camille."

"And Justinian and I should be thanking her too." Nebula smiled at Camille.

Camille then asked one of the nurses. "How long until they're able to leave the hospital."

"12 more hours," the nurse replied.

"Nebula, sweetie." Agent 2 sat close to her daughter. "You should rest. Leave the Titan situation to Camille and your friends."

Nebula nods. "Alright, mom." She then looked at Camille. "Do it for everyone here in Inkopolis."

"I will." Camille is confident.

Telemachus charged into the room in his normal appearance, wearing the same modified Hero Uniform. But it was Madoka's personality that was coming in to report to Camille.

((Background music: https://youtu.be/CY3X8sGBrlg ))

"Camille-san! Three of the remaining six titans are in Octo Valley!" Telemachus reported. "That fourth meteor nearly destroyed an Octarian Refugee Camp."

"Which Titans?" Camille questioned.

Telemachus's personality switched to Homura. "It's Hyperion, Theia, and Coeus. And one of them is calling for you for a duel."

"A duel? With one of them?" Camille is not impressed. "Alright, show me where the camp is."

Octo Valley - 9:45 AM

Telemachus and Camille made haste to Octo Valley, using the Sandpiper bikes and then the Ocra watercraft. When they arrived at the valley, a pillar of smoke can be seen on one part of the valley where the refugee camp is. Both of the inklings made their way to the source of the smoke.

Octarian Refugee Camp, Octo Valley - 10:05 AM

The smalls clouds that gathered made the skies turn from blue to indigo, and then to purple, and then to red, and then to orange. It was like dawn.

Octolings can be seen evacuating as many Octarians as they could out of the camp and to higher ground. Chihiro and an Octoling shrine maiden were there, helping out paramedics in getting the wounded out of the camp and tending to their injuries.

Kitzeh was in her Olympian form, and as a champion of Dionysus, she was wearing a laurel crown, a leopard skin tunic, and ornaments made of silver. Along with the outfit is boots made from cheetah skin, a cloak made of tiger skin, a scarf made of grapevines, and cheetah mask. She was protecting the Octarians from Lamiai, tossing purple ink like an octobrush with a wand that looked like a Thyrsus.

Anteros and Hermes can be seen, keeping Theia and Coeus busy. Anteros was missing the blinding lights of Theia with pink ink from his brother's arrows. Hermes was tossing ink-soaked sponges and splat bombs at Coeus.

Hyperion was nowhere in sight.

((End of Background music))

"My guess is that Hyperion is the challenger," Camille prepare Agent 1's Hero Roller, "I can handle him without Athena's spear."

"Do you even know who Hyperion is?" Telemachus cautioned.

"...Enlightened me, Squid Nerd," Camille mockingly commanded. She wanted to hear from Telemachus's personalities.

Telemachus personality, Moemura, soon took over. "He's a personification of the Sun, and with the sun, that means he's--"

A ball of burning ink is thrown near Camille and she jumps; she was now in Telemachus's arms. When it landed, it melted into a pool of molten ink with flames rising out.

".....A pyrophobic, Miss Squidly?" Telemachus asked as himself.

"N-no!" Camille quickly gets off him. "I just hate fire!"

"Sure you are." Telemachus then looked at where the fire came from. "And your challenger awaits." Telemachus takes out Agent 3's Hero Splattershot and helped Kitzeh out in evacuating the Octarians.

Hyperion stood before them in his heat-resistant armor. His head was completely engulfed in flames with glowing round eyes and a gaping mouth being distinguishable in the flames. He stood like all the other titans except Atlas, 36 feet.

Camille stepped forward and switched Agent 1's Hero Roller with the Hero Splatling. She had Athena's spear kept close just in case it managed to regain the energy to get into her Olympian form. She looked up to face her Titan opponent.

Hyperion carefully got on one knee, bent over, and took a closer look at Camille. His flames were as intense as massive forest fires. He narrowed his eyes at Camille, trying to intimidate her.

"You don't look prepared, Champion," Hyperion began, "the horrors tell me the Champion of Zeus and Athena was adorned in bronze and that her spear left her enemies with great fear of her."

"What did you expect?" Camille was not impressed.

"What I see here is just a meek little mortal," Hyperion belittled, "a mortal with weapons turned into toys."

"You mean this thing?" Camille raised her Hero Splatling to give Hyperion a closer look. "This Splatling here? Well, I don't know how creatures like you ended up having ink parts coming from a bond with this Typhon guy, but no one calls me meek!"

Camille charged up the Splatling and fired a barrage of ink at Hyperion's face. Hyperion screeched and stood back up, covering his face. He smears the ink off his face and shakes the ink off his hands. He then gave out a deep, dementia-producing maw which, released from his gaping mouth a wave of sulfuric flares.

Camille sped away to safety, turning a corner and into an alley, avoiding the flames.

When the flares passed, she left the alleyway and keeps her Hero Splatling aimed at Hyperion. The flaming sun titan was still kneeling.

"Where is Athena's spear, Champion?!" Hyperion is demanding to see the Olympian form. "Show me Zeus's thunderous might that's within that stick of bronze!"

"How about I show you this." Camille aimed the splatling at Hyperion, but due to being out of range, she directed her aim to a wall of a shanty. She charged and released, making an ink path for her to climb to the roofs of one of the shanty complexes. "I'll show you I can beat you without the Spear!" She charged her splatling again and fire at Hyperion's face.

This time, Hyperion shielded his face with his molten ectrodactyly hands. The ink didn't cause a much damage as it should since Hyperion's fire is evaporating the ink.

Camille jumps from roof to roof on the shanty complexes, circling the Titan and stopping momentarily to fire her Splatling at Hyperion. Hyperion tried to reach towards Camille and grab her, but her speed made her almost impossible to catch.

But the Titan saw an advantage when he saw Camille's reaction to fire. He then took a deep breath with his chest rising. Hyperion then blew fire like a dragon, making Camille's paths become fields of fiery hairs. Camille attempted to runs through the flames, the intensity prevented her from making the attempt. Camille can handle heat up more than 140 degrees Fahrenheit; the heat of the flames that Hyperion produced is the atmosphere of Venus which is about 8 times more than what she can handle. With Camille's heat tolerance taken out by her dislike of fire, Hyperion has a slighter chance to try and catch The Fastest Squid Alive.

When Camille reached a dead end, she jumps off the roof to enter an alleyway, but Hyperion manages to reach his arm into the alley and grab her. He then flicked the Hero Splatling and Agent 1's Hero Roller out of her hands with ease with just a finger and a thumb.

The Titan's fiery hands burned Camille when it came into contact with her. Camille screamed in endless torment. Hyperion didn't tighten his grip and instead slams his other hand on the squid two times before throwing her back down to the earth.

Camille's Agent Alpha Hero Suit was scorched up, and it reveals exposed burnt skin and ink-blood. Camille tried to get on her knees despite the pain that came from the burns. Her head felt light and her body felt like it was going burst into ink drops or melt into a puddle. She did not want to die like this.

Hyperion is laughing.

"You're weak, mortal." Hyperion knelt down and was ready to burn the squid into ashes. "You may have speed and heat tolerance, but you can't take the heat, can you!? Why would the petty Olympians choose an ignorant fool like you!"

Pools of flames drew close to Camille, about to consume her while she's still breathing.

Camille looked down and at her hands. There was nothing she had to defend herself except for Athena's spear, a malfunctioned mermaid's purse, and a racer's scarf. There was also Phoebe's Tome, Mnemosyne's amulet, Apollo's Bow, Artemis's Antler Crown, and Heracles's Lion Skin formed into an empty scabbard, but all those items don't look used at the moment. She carefully took out the scarf given to her by her mother, Callie. As she took a closer look, she started remembering several things: her loving family, her close friends, and a time before this war. She misses them already.

Camille soon remembered a lullaby that her mother has sung to her when she was a child. She teared up and held the racer's scarf close. She can't die now; there are so many things she's fighting for now.

(( Background theme for Vs. Sun Titan Hyperion: https://youtu.be/VwPLsIP1AmI ))

She soon got back on her feet and she puts on the racer's scarf. Hyperion has his arm raised when Camille looked up. Camille stops his attack by pulling out Athena's spear with a fine grip. She was doing all this despite the pain.

"The Spear of the Wise Goddess." Hyperion is astonished. "It's time for our true battle, mortal!"

Camille glared and raised the spear up high towards the dawn-colored sky. The small clouds that gathered there merge to form larger clouds; it was enough to cover the sky and dispose the colorful hues of dawn. Blue lighting descended down to strike Athena's spear. And in one flash of light, the scorched Camille is now in her Olympian form, but instead of her armor being bronze, it's a glimmering gold.

Camille pointed Athena's spear at Hyperion and makes the blue lighting strike the titan.

Hyperion stood back up and tried blocking the lighting with his arms, but this time, it was breaking his armor and piercing into his molten body. This time the wounds left cooled spots that hardened into obsidian which is fragile. The titan's wounds left unusual craters and sea snakes made of lava popped out of them, drooling pitch-black violet ink.

Camille sprouting owlings from her back and she carefully kneeled down, resisting the pain from her burns. She then takes off and flies towards the titan, striking cuts at his armor. She strikes his chest with such force that Hyperion is knocked down and crashing into some shanty complexes.

The titan got back up and tried swatting Camille away, but she learned to avoid that when she fought the Gigantus in Arowana Mall. She barrel rolled to the side and continue her attacks, flying down to the abdomen and fly her way to Hyperion's head. She used Apollo's bow to cut the lava snakes out of her way since she didn't have glass arrow to shoot them down, and she uses Artemis's Antler Crown as a good luck charm. She increased speed as green ink and blue ink started to coil around Athena's spear along with electricity; it even left a trail as she flew.

Hyperion tried to grab Camille again, but her speed has once again made her escape. Hyperion tried spitting flames at her, but her blue shield Aegis pushed them aside.

As Camille got closer and closer, Athena's spear glowed gold with a green and blue ribbon tied to the head. The electricity coiling around it was massive to the point that Camille and produce her own natural lightning.

When Camille was reaching the head, she delivered an uppercut, using Athena's spear instead of her fist. The uppercut puts out the fire and exposes a molten skull with the same round eyes and gaping diamond mouth but with a huge cut at the centers. When Camille land on a roof, she turns around, twirls Athena's spear and plants it on the ground.

Hyperion was soon convulsing with his head glowing brighter and brighter until flame burst from his wounds and armor. Then his head explodes with the bright light dying out. His titan corpse got on its knee and then collapsed.

((End of background music))

Another Titan eliminated.

Camille was breathing fast and then looked at Athena's spear. She then noticed something: her skin was no longer burnt. It was as if she never got the burns in the first place. That's something she doesn't need to worry about now. She quickly located Agent 1's Hero roller and her Hero Splatling and carried them on her back since her Mermaid's Purse wasn't functioning.

Looking at the situation now, the titan Theia and Coeus were retreated with red lightning striking them and making them disappears. The last of the Lamiai in the area were exterminated.

Chihiro and paramedics were treating the remaining injured Octarians. Hermes, Anteros, and Kitzeh were cheering in victory, but Telemachus just watches the Titans retreat.

It wasn't over yet.

The final battle is drawing near.

#Future #Plot #Project Titanomachy

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