#I was such an ancient greece kid when I was younger

[rainypebble07]

lmao what if one was Greek and the other Spartan. Some rival to lover stuff

Yes yes yes, except Sparta was a Greecian City-State, So I think Mike would be Spartan and Will would be Athenian (bc those two city-states didn't get along for a while bc they had very different ideals and both wanted to rule Greece) so definitely rivals to lovers I love it I love it I love it thank you, my favorite kitchen appliance

[katerinaaqu]

So how old is Odysseus exactly?

A small Odysseus age analysis based on a description in the Iliad

Many make speculations of his age, me included. Interestingly we have several hints in both art and the scripts but is hard to pinpoint. In general Odysseus is considered old or one of the oldest generations among the poems.

In art he is always depicted bearded which is something only men in maturity have in ancient greek art (somewhere between the late 20s early 30s) and his beard is full indicating that he is at least in his 30s. Most art of his, ranges from the events of the Trojan war till his journey and the murder of the suitors. In all cases we see him having a full beard. So it is pretty hard to determine his age but we know he was at least 30 in the war making him at his final 40s or early 50s when he comes back home depending on interpretation.

In the Iliad in the 23rd rhapsody/book we have an interesting description by Antilochus

"And this one (Odysseus) is of an earlier/previous generation of earlier men; we call him "omogeronda" (early-old man, green old age); yet he is really hard to be competed against in speed (lit: his feet are troublesome to compete) by the Achaeans, except from Achilles"

For starters he clearly states that he is "one generation older" (προτέρης γενεής) but he also calls him with the interesting word "ωμογέρων" which means "raw old man" literally aka "not ripe old age". The word has two possible interpretations; one that he is a "green old man" aka he just began to grow older or to pass to old age and two "a vigorous and lively old man" 😉

Now it could be a tender nickname that they call him "old" but I think the first interpretation fits better to the description. So we know that Odysseus was already mature man when he entered the war (bearded=somewhere in his early 30s and above) and he spent 10 years in the war. We know that he is "one generation older".

The age of marriage differs in ancient greece (for example in 5th century BC Athens, 300 years after Homer's time and almost 1000 years after the time Trojan war took place, the age of marriage for men ideally was 30 years old when they had served their dues although it is unclear how often it was being done this way) but we are to expect that a man in his middle 20s was expected to have at least considered marriage if not already have a spouse and kids. So if Odysseus is "one generation older" on average he is around 20 years older than younger individuals (anywhere between 15-20 years could be closer) such as Diomedes or Antilochus here or Aias. Nestor who was considered an old man was in his 60s. He was still active on the field just not the same way as characters like Odysseus were.

Given the characterization "ωμογέρων" in the Odyssey and the description of him being a generation older than many young heroes I should calculate Odysseus is in the same age group as people like Agamemnon, making him older than other characters like Patroclus who was also generally older (closer to his early or even middle 30s if we assume that Achilles who was repeatedly said to be very young he was in his middle to final 20s during the war). That would make Odysseus a middle aged man and therefore closer in his 40s at the final year of the Trojan war.

My rough estimation is that he is in his early or mid-40s when this conversation takes place. He is middle-aged and yet he is vigorous, sportive and fast (so much so that only Achilles is said to be easily competing against him while most achaeans have hard time to), he is also strong given the many times his strength in spear, sword or bow were praised but at the same time he is obviously past the age of youth. That would make him in his early 50s at least when he arrives in Ithaca.

But what do you guys think? Agree or disagree let me know to the comments below! ^_^

[written-with-blue-ink]

Patrochillies headcanons? Literally any in general, I love these two depressed gay men so much.

Hey! Here are a few headcanons! I love these two gay men so much <3

Patrochilles Headcanons, Hades 1&2

Odysseus is the one who sets these two knuckleheads together. He saw brooding Achillies fawning over Patroclus who wasn’t picking it up at all and set them up.

He picked some yarrow flowers and left a note for Pat to meet his secret admirer at the edge of camp, and left Achilles there for him to confess with a bouquet of the yellowish petals. 

Patroclus started writing poetry because Achilles had terrible nightmares when they were growing up and in the Trojan War and didn’t wanna sleep. Pat’s poems and running fingers through his golden locks were the only things that put Achillies to sleep. 

After Pat died, Achilles kept a scroll/book of all of Pat’s poems and would read it every night instead of sleeping. 

Achilles is really good with braids and other hairstyles. His mother taught him growing up how to take spectacular care of his hair (at least in Ancient Greece where Shampoo was a new invention).

All this led Achilles to do Pat’s hair in large communal baths, braiding it and helping it heal after years of neglect (because Pat seems like the type who doesn’t care about his hair and it fell into tremendous disarray after he died).

The first thing Achillies does when they reunite (after hugging and kissing and crying) is sit Pat down and comb his hair out, dipping the comb into the river Lythe to help wrangle the curls and knots

Achilles, as a child of a sea goddess and related to the sea nymphs, has a heavenly singing voice. Patroclus called it “his siren song” whenever he sang. 

Pat always talked about growing old together so when both of them died, they accidentally chose similar ages (around 50's) because they died around 25ish max.

Achilles has always been extremely protective and cautious around new items, especially if they would hurt Patroculus who was naturally really curious and danger-prone as a child.

After the events of the first game, the two pseudo-adopt Iphigenia (which I headcanon is the Supportive Red Shade).

She chose to look younger (well, younger than she was when she died) by a few years, around 11-14.

They ran into her when they went to watch a match between Zagreus and Theseus, tagging along in her loud and vibrant cheers before they ever realized who she was.

Things were awkward between her and Achilles on part of the whole “thinking they were engaged before the truth came to light that she was there to be sacrificed” thing.

They train her in combat and she tags along with Achilles sometimes to meet Zagreus (who immediately recognizes her and absolutely adores her).

Achilles loves seeing them get along, his pseudo-adopted kids and Pat make his world whole. 

They have monthly nights where they kick Agamemnon’s ass (Achilles' enemy during the Trojan War and Iphigenia’s abusive father for those who don’t know).

[dionysism]

wanna go more in depth for your hatred about tsoa? is it really REALLY inaccurate? im start to get more into greek mythology and many recommended that book to me besides the obvious ones like the actual materials

(btw i love your posts mwa mwa stay hydrated)

sure! yes it is very inaccurate. let me just say though its been like 3 years since i read it and i'm currently out of state so i don't have it on me to skim through but perhaps one day i will reread it just to make a whole masterpost on everything i hate about it. maybe not tho because it was agonizing enough on the first read 💀

also let me put a trigger warning here i will be mentioning sexual assault in this post because it's in the book and i'll be referring to that scene

so i have a lot of issues with it let me try to organize my thoughts... her characterization is my main issue. just terrible. also i feel like her writing is like.... weird or unfitting sometimes. like theres a scene where patroclus (who is like... 11 or 12 at this point maybe younger) says achilles is "still plump with childhood" or something (again probably not the exact quote its been a minute but something similar) which is just not how 11 year olds talk about other 11 year olds? its supposed to be from patroclus' perspective and i just feel like when shes writing him as a kid he still sounds, thinks, and talks like a grown adult. sometimes he doesn't even sound like patroclus he just sounds like madeline miller.

which brings me to her characterization of patroclus in general. just fucking horrific was her inspo troy (2004)? she made him this medic twink who only heals and even when he finally does fight in achilles armor its like he gets kills on pure luck and you're supposed to be shocked. patroclus in the iliad is 1. older than achilles and 2. a great warrior! this is why achilles lets him don his armor in the first place because he KNOWS how good patroclus is on the battlefield. also patroclus has anger and rage of his own! he is not a smol uwu baby don't PISS ME OFF! his kill count crazy. idek where she got the medic thing from there's like one (1) scene in the iliad where patroclus helps an injured solider in the camp but he is most certainly not the medic of the greeks. he's dull in tsoa. he has hardly any personality outside his love for achilles.

next is her thetis. this, i think, enrages me more than anything else. thetis is a character of grief. thetis is a goddess who, for all her power, is ultimately unable to change the fate of her son. she may be a little overbearing at times, but NOTHING like how she is in tsoa. madeline miller makes her a homophobic (?) helicopter abusive mother (i say ? on the homophobia because im not sure if it was homophobia or if she just hated patroclus specifically. if it was homophobia the stupidity of making an ancient greek god homophobic speaks for itself) thetis doesn't even hate patroclus in the iliad, in fact, thetis is the one who preserves his body and keeps it fresh and prevents it from rotting while achilles waits for his new armor and then goes out to fight hector. she tells achilles he could lay there for a year and she would keep him unchanged. in tsoa, she forces them apart, and tells achilles if he does not sleep with deidamia, she will never let him see patroclus again. this is insane to me. thetis would not set her son up for s/a and force him to sleep with someone against his will. and mind you this occurs after she's already stated clearly that thetis is a victim of rape herself. i assume this is madeline miller's way of asserting that achilles has no attraction to women while still being able to have his son in the plot later. this again, is stupid to me. if you want to argue achilles may have been gay, fine, homosexuality was complicated in ancient greece and you could potentially make the argument his sleeping with women was to uphold a reputation but i think it's more accurate that he was probably just attracted to both. however i think you can make him explicitly gay in a retelling without adding sexual assault to his story. i also find this especially distasteful because in actual antiquity achilles is the one committing sexual assault. (if i had a nickel for every time madeline miller made a character who canonically assaults someone else a victim of s/a while removing the fact they commit it themselves from the story i'd have 2 nickels. which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice, right?) in general i find it very weird how madeline, on multiple occasions, demonizes a woman from mythology and makes her into a villain she simply is not. this y'alls "feminist retelling" author? oh okay.. i guess! (her deidama is an antagonist in this too, as a hysterical jealous Other Woman)

i also felt she imposed too many modern standards/heteronormativity onto achilles and patroclus' relationship. like i said with patroclus, making him the weak defenseless healer and achilles the badass warrior. very much giving one is strong and masculine and the other is nurturing and feminine. changing the aspects of their other relationships so its like they've only ever loved eachother and no else which isn't necessary. achilles and patroclus could (and do, in the iliad) sleep with other people and it would not diminish how intense and true their love for each other is!!

over all she sanitized the story, flattened it and butchered all the characters with a sprinkle of fetishization and misogyny on top. the book is frankly boring and underdeveloped too. this is honestly not as in depth of a review as i would like to give but like i said i don't have access to the book at the moment so i just stuck to the core grievances i remember having

(also thank you, you stay hydrated too!! <3)

[ljjsims]

Greek Goddess Legacy Challenge: Generation #5 Persephone: Complete

You may bow now: The Queen of the Underworld has arrived! Please welcome Persephone to the stage!

When you were younger, your mother used to call you little Kore (maiden). a name as forgettable as your mother seems to think you are. You love her, really you do, but you wish she wouldn't be so strict. You need to be inside the house before dark. Hell, you can't even leave your mothers property, because she is so scared you'll meet bad people… How are you supposed to know what you can bring the world if you can never try to become someone? You want to make a difference! So when you meet a young man standing at your mother's fence, you take your chance and tell him to take you home. Finally free from your mother's clutches you can finally discover the world and yourself.

Little bit explanation with the sheets: - First sheet is for describing your current generation, with the challenges you need to do each life-stage. Also, because I love the myths, a bit of mythological background. May it inspire you :) - Second sheet is the preparation sheet for this generation, with important characters for your story. It is technically optional, but I love seeing sims with a backstory in my world, so I would highly recommend it. - Third sheet is for your gens children. They all have their own little challenges if your interested in those. I try to make all of them a bit different from each other, so it doesn’t get boring. Your heir is also on this sheet, but I’ve put their challenges on their own sheets. Stay tuned for those ;) - Fourth sheet is completely optional. If you want sims with names from the myths and love making sims to see them in your world, this is for you! All with a little mythological background ofc, you know me.

Next Generation is Hecate! Previous Generation was Demeter First Generation is Gaia

The Greek Goddesses Challenge by LJJ-Sims is a challenge based on the ancient mythical creatures and stories from Greece. I fell in love with Greek mythology in high school and have not let that love go since. In this challenge you will follow 10 deities in their journey through life. Every goddess has a different take on and goal in life. Special about this challenge?  All your kids have little challenges of their own, not only your heir. These challenges are optional, so if you feel like these are too much or just too restricting for you: by all means let them go. I also have sheets for characters that you can make before you start each generation. This gives your challenge a lot more personality and makes it frankly easier and more fun!

A little disclaimer: because I made these gods and goddesses into a legacy challenge, the relationships in the myths don’t exactly match the relationship in this challenge. There is a lot of keep it in the family in mythology, to put it lightly. And apart from the fact that you can’t do that in the Sims, I don’t really like that part. So I didn’t include it, thus the inconsistency. An example: Ares is now Hera’s stepfather instead of her son, which she conceived with her brother  and husband Zeus. This inconsistency can also be found in the stories. It’s just based on and not copied exactly, as Sims live lives that are a lot shorter than those of immortal gods. And it takes a way from the creativity if we just copy the myths. Even if we wanted to do that, it’s quite hard, as every myths has its fair share of variations and some are just completely different stories.

I use the MCCC-mod to alter the length of life states. You can find the days-years ratio here: the boring stuff.

[glitchy-creations]

Update of this post!

I did all of the sketches for the character pairings I wanted to do for this ship dynamic and decided that I wanted to colour this one first! This one is with my Telemachus design and my oc Pyrrha!

I’m going to include more info about Pyrrha under the cut because it’s gonna be a lot and I don’t want to obscure y’all’s scrolling 👍🏻

Pyrrha info

To start, Pyrrha’s “original” name was also Ambrosia (I liked the irony of a demigod child of Hades having a name that mean “immortality”), I have since given her the nickname Pyrrha (based off her hair colour lol) to help differentiate her from my goddess oc of the name name!

Pyrrha originally started as a Percy Jackson oc from like my middle school days. Every now and again I allow myself one “Mary Sue” type character, and Pyrrha was that character for PJO. I have a hand full of other OC’s and Pyrrha is literally the only one who’s a child of the big three, I don’t even had a Roman demigod who’s one of the big three. Pyrrha was pretty much just an amalgamation of things i thought were cool about the universe; so she’s a demigod child of Hades and is a Hunter of Artemis who’s lived a rather long life. I was still wanting to keep close to canon lore as well even back then, so she’s always been way older than the other characters to adhere to the fact that Hades never broke the pact he made with his brothers about not having more demigod kids after WW2. She has since grown to be a more “Greek mythology media in general” oc like Ambrosia. With that in mind, her lore does tend to change based off the lore of whatever media she’s in!

Her General Lore;

In the past two years I think, I’ve decided that she’s originally from Ancient Greece, Sparta specifically.

Her mother was a mortal and came from a well off family though was a very independent woman. She was a “follows the beat of her own drum” kind of person.

While she never seemed interested in marriage (she actually never married) she was someone who valued fidelity. She was quite upset with Hades when she discovered that he was married while he was seeing her and was very sympathetic towards Persephone.

Despite that, she did love Pyrrha very much and the two were close when Pyrrha was young.

Pyrrha’s mother did, however, die when Pyrrha was young. She didn’t know her father outside of the stories of the gods and her maternal grandfather was always busy so Pyrrha grew up a very isolated and lonely childhood.

Pyrrha did seem to inherit her mother’s independence so she never seems bothered by the loneliness. She would usually keep to herself and entertain herself by learning to hunt and use a bow.

Pyrrha would later be sent to train under Chiron. I haven’t decided how this came to be, but I’d probably go with the idea that Hades had a hand in it. Maybe he saw her talent in archery and thought Chiron could help train her, or maybe he thought Chiron would offer a more stable, fatherly role for her.

She thrived under Chiron’s guidance and would excel in almost anything she did. Chiron would become a fatherly figure to Pyrrha and he was the one who gave her the nickname “Pyrrha” in the first place.

Note: I personally like this Reddit comment when I come to estimates ages of the characters in the Iliad so it’s what I have roughly based Pyrrha’s age on! She’s roughly three years younger than Odysseus.

Pyrrha did meet a young Achilles while with Chiron. She’s roughly eight years older than Achilles so ngl she thought he was a little bit of a brat (I the idea of little Achilles having a little bit of an inflated ego because he’s a demigod, had a prophecy about him, or a little bit of both lol). The battiness did mellow out over the years 👍🏻

Despite their little “rivalry”, Pyrrha did see Achilles as something of a little brother for lack of a better word. She did care for him, he just annoyed her more often than not 😅

This is a common occurrence with Pyrrha mostly because she didn’t have a strong family unit before Chiron. She tends to apply familial titles to the people she’s close to and care for.

Pyrrha would train with Chiron for most of her early life, though she would occasionally travel if the urge struck her. This was especially common in her later teen years. She would occasionally travel to Ithaca or other closer city-states.

She met a younger Odysseus a couple of times when she would visit Ithaca, but they weren’t like best friends. It was more like “oh, there’s that quiet girl who’s surprisingly good with a bow who I bump into every once in a while.”

When Pyrrha was roughly 22 she tried twice to join the Trojan War. It was more out of a desire to bring Helen back home to Sparta than for glory or anything. She may not have lived in Sparta for many years, but there was still some loyalty there. Of course she was denied both times primarily because of her gender.

She met Artemis sometime after (perhaps a year or two later when Artemis was not helping Apollo and Troy) and devoted herself to Artemis (the nature of how the hunt works varies depending on the media). I should probably mention that Pyrrha is aroace, so she also has no desire to marry or have any sort of romantic/sexual relationship with anyone.

As I mentioned in the second image, Pyrrha met Telemachus when he was 10. I imagine he was like the embodiment of child like curiosity so when he saw this strange woman with red hair and a bow walking around Ithaca’s marketplace, he just sort of started following her (Telemachus honey….no…)

Long story short, Telemachus ended up growing on Pyrrha and she sort of just started teaching him archery. Of course Penelope knew what was going on (Pyrrha promptly brought back little Telemachus home when she realised she was being followed) and was okay with it as long as Telemachus wasn’t getting in trouble.

Again, as I mentioned in the second image, Pyrrha and Telemachus started to form a “mentor-student” type relationship over the next ten years. He was also the one to decide first that Pyrrha was kind of like a big sister or an aunt figure to him. She also had a very good relationship with Penelope.

Once Odysseus returned to Ithaca Pyrrha would become closer to Odysseus as well. It definitely would prompt her to visit more often.

Everything after that is kind of dependent on what media she’s being included in.

Lore that’s subject to change:

The nature of Artemis and her Hunt is one thing that’s subject to change. This also ties into Pyrrha and her apparent eternal youth or “immortality”.

I think most are familiar with how the hunt works in PJO; young women vow themselves to Artemis, reject romance in all forms, and are given semi-immortality as long as they keep their vows and aren’t killed in battle. As Pyrrha was originally a PJO oc, this was the original reason for her young appearance.

Outside of PJO, I generally think of the hunt as it was depicted in mythology. I think this Reddit post does a good job at kind of summarising/explaining the hunt in mythology. Pyrrha would absolutely devote herself to Artemis for life given she is aroace, it wouldn’t be a big life altering decision for her and would probably provide her another sense of community or familial support in her mind (she would see the other hunters as her sisters as they are sister in arms so to speak.)

This would then bring her semi-immortality into question. I feel like it would probably depend on the media’s lore, or it just wouldn’t be questioned. Perhaps Artemis gave it to her as a gift as she had sworn herself to Artemis for life. Perhaps she’s garnered the favour of another god or maybe her father had something to do with it. Idk, I kind of don’t want to make it too specific to where it can’t be a flexible detail.

Even her demigod status is something that is (very rarely) subject to change. This is mainly in reference to Blood of Zeus and maybe the Hades games. I’m not sure if either media grants Artemis any kind of group of hunters (BoZ definitely hasn’t shown any evidence of one, though Artemis hasn’t been shown as a main focal character…yet).

This prompted a little discussion with me and a friend where I mentioned that if she was given god status at any point, she’d probably be a goddess of kinship; particularly if non blood related kinship. Obviously, this would be because she had a tendency to form familial bonds with close friends as such.

This point, however, hasn’t been fully fleshed out. BoZ hasn’t really explored the idea of a mortal becoming a god (not sure if it will be touched on in future season) and I’m not super familiar with the detailed lore of the Hades games. My biggest concern is keeping Pyrrha’s lore as close to the media’s canon lore as I can which is why these are flexible detail points.

I think that’s all I have for now! If you made it to the end, thanks for taking the time to at least skim my ramblings lol. I don’t want this to get any longer than it is, so if anyone has any suggestions feel free to ask me!

Also Pyrrha and her lore is not meant to be taken seriously as a part of actual Greek mythology. I have tried to keep as close to mythology as I can while having creative liberties for my of and her “universe”, obviously she’s not a real mythological figure and shouldn’t be treated as such! She was made just for fun! 💕

[apollosgiftofprophecy]

Sup any angsty Apollo hc you have? I’m hungry and desperate for yummy angst to gobble up and cry myself to sleep :]

Okay, this took a little while because life, college, and July fourth happened lmao

So. I like to think about just when the purposeful emotional/psychological abuse started and when the physical abuse started between Zeus and Apollo so...TW for abuse talk.

Because, well, when Apollo was young there isn't really a need for Zeus to crack open the bolt - however, we also know from canon that Apollo was subjected to the bolt in his younger years.

Now. To the headcanons!!!!!

During the first thousand or so years of Apollo's life, Zeus was an actual good dad to him (especially compared to Ares). He spoiled both twins excessively because sweet! A couple of kids who aren't failures! Look at them!!! They're already so good with a bow!!! They're so talented!!!

In the Discord, it was mentioned that in Ancient Greece fathers usually took charge of their sons while the mother taught the daughters, so if we apply that to Apollo's life, I think we can assume that maybe, perhaps, there was some psychological abuse going on, but nothing hardcore - probably along the lines of "make me proud or earn my eternal disappointment" *points at Ares*.

The first time Zeus has to actively punish Apollo was because Gaea ordered it - Apollo killed her son Python, and Zeus (being the guy he is) would cave to her wishes. I actually have a fic in store for this convo so here's what I'm thinking:

Zeus would, of course, instantly point the blame at Gaea and deny he had any choice in the matter (even though he has gone against her wishes before...eyes the Titans in Tartarus).

Apollo, who's only paternal figure so far in his life is Zeus, wouldn't question this and only think about how unfair Gaea is (and to be fair, Python had it coming...).

When Apollo returns and he and Artemis are goofing off on Delos, the events of And By The Sun's Light happens and this, I believe, is when it starts slowly trickling into physical abuse zone.

Think about it. You are Zeus, powerful king of the gods, a new, proud father to a couple of twins that you already favor so highly.

Then one day, they both - by happenstance - gain a new domain at the same time.

Oh shit. You think. That's strange. But you shrug and hand them off to Helios and Selene, two of the most powerful Titans on Olympus.

Of course, you still keep an eye on them. You're not stupid, and get biweekly reports from their mentors on their progress - and the unease starts to trickle in.

It increases, in particular, when Apollo starts to amass other domains alongside his music, poetry, prophecy, healing, youth and light.

Truth, knowledge, harmony, ect. are all absorbed into his power arsenal and you, the king of the gods, are now sweating.

This was not suppose to happen, so now, I believe, is when Zeus started to use the "light" zaps (as stated in-series) from his bolt to keep Apollo in line. He doesn't want him to get any ideas after all.

Unfortunately for Zeus, that isn't enough to deter Apollo.

(Sidenote: I also think Zeus didn't want Helios to take "his" place - after all, abusers don't want a positive version of themselves in their victim's lives)

Enter stage left: The Olympian Rebellion.

Ohohoh...

"shit I need to ramp it up" thinks Zeus as he stares at the faces of his wife, brother, and his favorite children.

And ramp it up he does. Of course, Apollo's first stint as a mortal happens here, and man. is it bad. Troy's king is the perfect tool and metaphor for Zeus's own rule to give Apollo (and Poseidon) a taste of what else may happen if he (they) continued to defy him.

It sucks, of course. Apollo's very adamant about it not being a picnic. And for a while, after it's all over, it seems like all's well.

Of course, Zeus doesn't lay off the zaps every now and then, but it's nothing compared to later in Apollo's life.

He even considers Apollo's request to free Prometheus and grants it, because isn't he just such a considerate father?

Really, the first time he had to go gunho on Apollo with the bolt was when he and Heracles got into a fistfight - but really, what kind of king would he be if he hadn't prevented Apollo his sons from tearing Heracles each other apart?

After all, he can't show favoritism now can he?

*insert huge THIS IS SARCASM sign here*

But then...Asclepius happens. This upstart thinks he can meddle with what belongs to the gods? Well, Zeus will teach him a lesson on death - and how permanent it can be!

...he didn't take into account how Apollo would react to his son's death.

Nor the rebelliousness of the action itself.

*Alder rubs her hands together*

alrightly gang. THIS. This is it.

Apollo is turned mortal for a second time, but to Zeus's displeasure, it's actually a pretty good time for him. Admetus is friendly, and the two hit it off rather well - too well, if Apollo's very blatant, embarrassing affection is anything to go by.

Well. This just won't do!

Hmm...Thinks Zeus. What's another punishment that will let the lesson sink in?

He looks down into the Underworld.

Perfect.

So Apollo becomes a god again. He's still pretty sad, but he's feeling better - even moreso when Zeus says he's decided to make Asclepius immortal! He'll be the god of doctors!

Ecstatic, Apollo immediately agrees...and then is forced to watch as Asclepius is locked up and he's forbidden from seeing him.

Not only that, but now...Zeus brings out the eagle eye and the big guns. He alternates between nitpicking Apollo, and praising him.

And he also cranks up the voltage on the bolt, so the lesson lingers.

The Trojan War happens. Zeus simultaneously indulges and denies Apollo's wishes.

And then. *Alder gleefully rubs hands* AND THEN.

ROME HAPPENS.

BUCKLE UP THIS IS WHEN IT GOES DOWN.

Helios fades, and Apollo inherits his power. Think about that. Apollo, an already powerful god inherits the power of a Titan. And not just any Titan, but Helios.

That's a hella lotta power.

...and that's a hella lotta threat in Zeu-oops, sorry, Jupiter's eyes.

(Now Jupiter I think has differences from Zeus, but I haven't really devoted any time to drawing that line between them so stuff may change here. However, Jupiter/Jove had a emphasis on family, so my little spin on that...is right here >:))

Jupiter, like Juno, has the domain of family in Rome. He's seen as the Ultimate Dad TM. And you bet he uses that to manipulate the hell out of Apollo.

"A good son wouldn't do [insert perceived slight here]"

"What kind of example are you setting for your brothers?"

And most of all...

"What would your mother think of your attitude?"

Ow. Talk about a punch to the gut.

So yeah. Rome is when things got BAD. The bolts became a lot more constant. The emotional/psychological abuse was unbearable.

Apollo barely had anybody to go to. His options were limited.

...but the one place he did feel comfortable in was with Commodus.

(hahah, yes, I managed to reel Copollo into this too lmao)

In a classic Apollo move, our favorite god goes from one toxic influence (his father) to another (his boyfriend), really showing how ingrained the normalization of abuse/toxicity in Apollo's life is.

He has no red flag sight. He has no alarm bells.

He could walk right into a situation where the word "abuse" is labeled in CAPS and Red and he'd just go "oh shit, what did I do now?"

And his father is all to happy to "let him know" what he did "wrong".

Thanks for coming to my TEDtalk hoped this was a good ride! :D

[spaceofentropy]

I was reminded of the pure delight that is the work of @shitpostsampler, and got the thought that in a modern AU Dustin would absolutely be into tumblr and shitposting, and he would totally ask his mom to put her crafting skill to good use for a gag gift to a friend.

Claudia is not sure what this stuff exactly makes reference to, but she's a good, supportive mom, and she likes that Dustin seems interested in her cross stitching, so she goes along and embroiders a little, weird sampler for Erica's birthday.

And from there, it's a deluge of personalized cross stitched things, each pattern carefully chosen by Dustin, while Claudia takes care of the rest.

Did I decide which pattern Dustin woul pick for each kid, teen, and Hopper and Joyce, either as a nice gesture or a gentle jab at the people in his life? Yes I did, of course!

(All the links are to the shitpostsampler store where you can buy their patterns, 95% of 'em being sold at pay-what-you-want prices).

Hopper - When I was younger I didn't understand why "may you live in interesting times" was considered a curse in ancient Greece.

Joyce - You will be ok. You have no choice.

Robin - Choose people who choose you

Steve - Patience my ass. I'm gonna kill something

Billy - Guide 4 teens: Tell the cops nothing. The the paramedics everything. Ur eyebrows are fine.

Billy (after he and Steve have been together and out long enough that Dustin had to listen to Steve wax poetics about Billy's ass-ets one too many times) - Be a bad ass with a good ass

Max - BRB, going feral

Mike - Momma didn't raise a quitter but she did raise a fool and it turns out those two things are a terrible combination

Will - If it weren't for the limitations of my corporeal form, I would have killed God and rebirthed the world in love and kindness

The rest is gonna get in a reblog because tumblr is having a hissy fit with 10 links already, it won't save the post if I try to add more... 🤦‍♀️

[adaines-furious-feast]

I know nobody cares but this can’t live in my head

I have an OC. I’ve never had an OC for a fandom before but this is maybe the best character I’ve ever made so I thought I’d share her here because I have nowhere else to share here. 

Dottie Cruller. This is long. I’m sorry.

Dottie, or Doughrethy Cruller, is the daughter of Lady Donetta’s younger brother. She is a person shaped doughnut. Her parents both died in a boating accident when she was six and she was adopted by her aunt and uncle – mostly because they couldn’t get her aunt’s inheritance if they abandoned her.

Dottie is 15 at the beginning of the campaign. She is a bard with a love for history and really learning about the politics of the world. Her favourite question is “how would everyone react to this”. So her bardic inspiration comes in the form of “remember in xyz battle when this thing happened”. She’s the kind of nerd that really admires the cool kids, so she really likes the princesses, but she also asks for plausible deniability when they’re up to something because Queen Caramelinda is her favourite person. She gets an acceptance from the queen that she doesn’t get from her aunt and uncle.

Dottie is disabled. She needs a walking stick and has chronic pain. It’s really a role of the dice at the start of every day as to whether that’s going to limit her movement or not.  

The original idea or trope I was playing on for Dottie was the “we must sacrifice someone pure and innocent to succeed” kind of thing. It dates back to Ancient Greece and is still used today. But what if that sweet innocent sacrifice had the strongest will to live?

I have mentally played the whole ACOC campaign with her which I know is not how this works but I tell myself stories to get to sleep and this is one of them.

So Dottie starts the campaign with very low self-esteem, mostly because she is frequently reminded that she is not part of the royal family and if she doesn’t make herself useful she will be thrown out. But as, first, her bardic inspiration is useful during the ambush – her uncle tells her explicitly to stay in the carriage but that doesn’t happen – and then in Comida where her understanding of the political map of the world comes in useful she starts to get more confident.  

She is also... very good at lying. Because she’s always thinking about what other people think, so she’s great at masking. That and she grew up in close proximity to the best liar in Candia, though didn’t realise his biggest lie until too late.  

So after the tournament, she makes a show of going to the Cathedral to pray partially because she does believe in the Bulb and wants protection, and partially because she knows how this will look to people. After her truly miraculous survival in the Cathedral ambush, she does multi-class as a cleric, though not a healer. Dottie is all about trying to understand the world and her place in it.

Dottie believes she is unlovable. Not only to her aunt and uncle – her aunt has never been cruel to her, but she’s never been loving either – but to anybody. And especially to the Bulb. Because when you’re six years old and your parents are both killed in an accident, you’re told that the Bulb needed angels, the Bulb needed them close to it, they’re in the loving embrace of the Bulb. But when you were also in that accident, and didn’t die... well, doesn’t that mean that the Bulb doesn’t love you? You’re not even good enough for the Bulb. And while, when she was six and sitting after her parents’ funeral pondering this, a very nice citrus yellow lady told her that wasn’t the case and she was lovable, that fear always been internalized in her. Then, after battle after battle where she really should have died, but didn’t, it feels more and more like not even the Bulb loves her.

Dottie’s birthday takes place during the trip back to Castle Candy, and is forgotten by everybody. Which is understandable given, you know, a war just broke out. And she doesn’t mind too much. But a Sweet Sixteen has got to be important in Candia. So when she gets back, and finds in her chambers a box with a label wishing her a happy birthday in what looks like Queen Caramelinda’s handwriting, she’s so sure this is a good thing. Except for the watersteel razor blades under the box lid. She doesn’t die, but is unable to cast magic until someone else uses a staff gifted to her by Captain Chedder – for saving the life of a cheese sailor – to do a greater restoration.  

After Jet’s funeral, Caramelinda reminds her quite bluntly that Dottie’s not her daughter. A conversation with Jack is the first time since her parent’s funeral that she’s said aloud that the Bulb doesn’t love her. At this point, Dottie doesn’t know if her aunt is alive or not. She’s assuming the worst because everything else is the worst. At that moment, her entire family is dead. The only family she has by law is an uncle who is a traitor and has told her for the past 10 years she doesn’t matter and the royal family will just throw her away. And while her head knows that’s wrong, she’s now wondering if maybe he knew more than she did. She knows the Rocks are hurting, but now she’s wondering if maybe she doesn’t matter as much as she thought she did after all.

When it comes to Saccarina, Dottie doesn’t immediately flip to her side, but given she feels distant to the Rocks and is trained to be a political advisor, she happily sees a role for herself beside the new queen and accepts her as the queen. Dottie also doesn’t feel like she would stand out as being “broken” in Saccarina’s court. It wasn’t that the Rocks were abelist, but she didn’t see people like her there. She does in Saccarina’s marudas. However, Dottie doesn’t spend much time with Saccarina, as she’s captured in Buzzybrook. She’s unable to move fast enough to get back to the portal.

She finds out that her uncle has told everyone that she was kidnapped by the Rocks, and he is very worried about her. She begs Grissini not to take her back there, and actually manages to win him over when she saves his life during an ambush that is quickly foiled, but there’s not much he can do. At Castle Candy, Calroy plays the role of worried guardian for all of five minutes, long enough for Grissini to leave, before placing Dottie in the care of the church, where she’ll be an assurance for them that he plays his part of the bargain.  

Dottie has not spent the past 10 years learning how important it is to be two faced to fail on the final exam. She dutifully plays the part, and actually manages to get the nuns fooled long enough to catch some gossip, that her uncle may be trying to sweeten the deal – no pun intended – with a certain gluten-filled emperor with a marriage. Dottie considers going along with it. She hasn’t heard anything about Saccarina in this time and for all she knows they’re all dead. Being close to the emperor wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing. She sends a Sending spell to Grissini, disguised as a prayer to the Bulb, asking for advice. His advice comes on the night of the siege on Castle Candy, before the Rocks troops have been spotted, when he comes into the tent where she is being held and tells her in no uncertain terms that this would be terrible and while that loaf of bread is a war hero he would be a terrible person to have to spend any amount of time with.

Dottie wouldn’t play a major role in the siege. She is one person – two with Grissini. But she does take Grissini out of the fight against the Rocks, so that’s good. The only grudge she really has at this point is against her fucking uncle, but confronting him doesn’t go so well and he manages to escape. At least until the King finds him.

This is the first time Dottie learns about Cinnamon, and is horrified. She becomes even more horrified when she learns about how Cinnamon got so big, mostly because this is going to be pretty hard to smooth over politically. But Dottie still pledges herself to Saccarina after the battle. The Queen is going to needs someone who knows how to sweet talk people and, while she doesn’t intend to be quite as deceitful as her uncle, she learned how to be manipulative from the best. If you’re going to upend an entire religious system, you’re going to need someone who knows how to talk good.  

Does Dottie ever get over her belief that she is unlovable? Yes, because Grissini shows her that isn’t true. He is the first fatherly figure she has had since she was six and, even though she’s almost an adult now, she welcomes having that fatherly figure in her life.  

She also gets the title of Marquesa of Muffinfield when her aunt is found dead (whether the wound is self inflicted literally or just metaphorically is never determined). It’s something that Dottie held at great importance after the escape from the castle because she was not going to let her fucking uncle take her birthright. That anger at him was the only thing that kept her going.

Anyway, that’s Dottie. Nobody has read this long, I know, but if someone has, I hope you like it. I love her, she’s the best character I’ve ever written. I love the idea of having a character who is every part the trope of “innocent sacrifice” who keeps living and is convinced that god hates her because she keeps living. I also love Grissini’s character, and mourn the alternate universe where he ends up an ally, because I think it could have happened.

[mask131]

I saw your Greek Mythology masterpost, and wanted to hear your thoughts on an idea that's been swimming around in my head for awhile.

I've been inspired by Rick Riordan, because of course I have, and I like the idea of gods in the modern world.

The modern ideas of the gods are very different from the ancient interpretations, but that's kinda by design, no? Gods are fluid concepts that adapt with the culture that worships them, and our culture is very different from Ancient Greece.

I want to see the gods in a story where they're forced to basically "adapt or die." They need to adapt to the modern world or lose their importance.

Since it's low hanging fruit, I'll use Zeus as an example of what I mean. He's both the god of justice and very rapey, which contradict by our modern standards. In my concept, he either needs to adapt (stop being so rapey) or die (lose one of his most important deific domains).

This would reconcile the dissonance between the "original" gods and our modern interpretations, since that's basically the point of the story.

Also, to add more pressure on the gods, there's probably a younger generation of gods that could replace them if they fail to adapt. I struggle to believe that the gods stopped banging each other and having kids just because their worship fell out of fashion. There's definitely some newer gods running around. This could even connect to the myth/prophecy of Athena's younger brother.

So, this is basically the basic of my take on the Greek gods in the modern world. Thoughts?

Ps. Congrats on being my first ask ever

:3 Being someone's first ask is always such a cute honor. :3 You can't see it, but I'm blushing

Don't worry about someone accusing you of copying Rick Riordan by "placing gods in the modern world". Rick Riodan is just the last author in a long line. Neil Gaiman did it before with Sandman and American Gods. The Wonder Woman comics did it. Pratchett did it in Discworld ; Douglas Adam did it in The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul... And there's works about this idea dating back to the early 20th century.

However that being said, reading your outline strongly brings to mind American Gods by Neil Gaiman which is precisely about this - a generational conflict between older, traditional gods that are about to die from lack of worship, and a newer, younger generation of deities based on modern concepts (television, internet, cars, stock market...). So probably go check this novel to find more inspiration or see what was already done so that you can use the things that were not done.

For example I adore your idea that "The gods didn't stop banging" - having the ancient Greek gods give birth to new gods more adapted to the world or part of modernity is an absolutely cool idea that to my knowledge has never been done before (as outside of demigods and heroes, most works about Greek mythology in modern days just have the god stop having children with each other for some reason...)

Plus this is literaly what Greek mythology was about, generational conflict. It is filled with this. The Titans overthrew the primordial order of Ouranos. The Olympians destroyed the rule of the Titans. Zeus had to constantly fight not to get overthrown by his children. And even among mankind it is a constant struggle of younger ones overthrowing the old. I think you have something going on with this idea of a younger generation of gods. Why doesn't the Greek mythology simply continues in the modern world? A lot of potential here.

After that, when it comes to your example of Zeus and his "rapist" persona, I strongly suggest you go take a look at all the scholarly analysis and expert texts about Zeus to find the delightful implications of each of the gods traits. (And this is true for all the other gods). I made a post about Zeus and his immense lust and why it is not like people thought and why the Greek Zeus wasn't as much of a rapist as people painted him out to be (the real serial rapist was the Roman Jupiter, the Greek Zeus was much safer, though still a man-whore and a constant cheater). It is my "Why does Zeus has such a messy love life?" post, with a first part here and a second one here. (But maybe you saw them before since they were in my old masterpost)

And in them I reminded people of something that all analysis books and advanced manuals about Greek mythology explained (at least in France - I definitively need to translate on this website some excerpt from French texts about Greek mythology) - why is Zeus such a lustful guy who can't keep his d*ck in his pants? And it isn't just because he is lustful by nature - there is a deep religious reason behind this (just like behind all of the gods' characterization). Zeus title is "Father of Gods", "Father of Men", "Father of the World". Zeus isn't just a king - he is the archetypal father, the universal father. And this isn't just a fanciful title, it is one of his fundamental aspects, meaning it is in his nature to constantly "give birth" and find companions to spawn gods and men. The same way Ouranos gave birth to three different species in one go ; the same way Kronos had many children and couldn't stop having them despite the prophecy - in Greek mythology there is this topic that the king needs to procreate, as the ruler of the universe is also the fundamental procreation power that keeps giving birth to the other deities that will shape the universe ; and to the heroes that will save and civilize said universe. Zeus' role as a cosmic, endless father can even be pointed out in how he is one of the rare (if not the only) male god in Greek mythology that has the power to LITERALY give birth to children - to Athena through his head, to Dionysos through his thight, pointing out that his role and function WILL make him give birth to children even if women aren't around to do the job.

And once you consider this fact, the consequences and possibilities you brought forward become very deep, very fascinating and a true gold mine. In the post Me-too world, Zeus (Zeus/Jupiter if you decide to take the Greek and Roman deities as one, though myself I like to keep them separate) literaly is perceived and seen as the symbol of all those powerful tyrannical men of patriarchy who keep enforcing their lust onto women. Which is already a remnant of an ancient mindset from long-gone society (again in Greece women had no rights and no freedom) - but if Zeus needs to stop sleeping around... This actually doesn't just bother him because he is sex-driven. It will bother him or cause problems because his title is the one of the father, and he is a procreation/creation force. A sterile father is a useless father - like the Fisher King of the Arthurian legend. What does it mean? Does it mean he will have to find other ways to create gods and heroes? Does it mean he will need to retire? Does it mean his entire personality and attributes will change? Does it mean another "Father" will arise? Does it mean the male-led world of the Greek pantheon will be reversed as a cosmic "Mother" take the first role?

Of course it is for you to find out - but what I am trying to say here is that when exploring such an idea as yours, you have a full and open world of endless possibilities. If you ever feel restricted and limited don't be - because gods aren't just characters. They are poetic concepts, political implications, religious metaphors, sacred entities, with each of their attribute, each of their personality trait, each of their relationship being deeply symbolic of something. Do the gods in modern day adapt to the modern society and cultures? Do they still maintain their old views and symbols from Ancient Greece into the modern world? It is for the creator to decide - but if you need inspiration or to help build anything else, just consider how changing a god or goddess attribute actually touches them deeply into their very function and essence, and how it is all tied to a question of culture and religion. I think you'll find all character and plot development coming naturally to you in such a way.

Maybe it wasn't the answer you were expecting sorry about that X) But I am definitively looking forward for more of your project in the future, and if you want to chat more about this don't hesitate - I am always encouraging people to spin more and more stories about Greek mythology!

[death-and-other-myths]

The Song of Achilles

By Madeline Miller

I'm an uncultured swine and have never read Homer's Iliad. But I have read The Song of Achilles, and wrote an unhinged review/recap as I completed chapters!

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

So I’ve been hearing about this book for a while. All I know about it is that it’s Greek? (Roman?? God I wish I paid more attention in school) and is a romance story of homosexual nature. And everyone says it’s really powerful and is going to make me cry. 

I’m like six chapters in and I can already tell I’m going to cry at some point. Not just because of the story, but because of the incredible amount of care in the writing. These prose are BEAUTIFUL. Not one word is wasted and Madeline Miller is just exceptionally talented with describing heady emotional things. I’m wowed. 

So this story is told from the perspective of Patroclus. He is a prince! And his father is an abusive piece of shit. Just an awful, boorish human. 

One year, their kingdom gets to host “the games” (I’m assuming like… the Olympic Games) and Patroclus is too weak to compete in the kids competitions, but he watches some kid from the neighboring kingdom just decimate the competition. He’s fast and blonde and a wonder kid. So it’s awesome that his father quite literally tells Patroclus “That’s what a son should be.”

See? This guy is such a dick!

Patroclus’ mother is mentally handicapped. It’s mentioned she has a scar on her temple from where her father once hit her. So that’s awful. 

Oh, also Greek gods and goddesses are a thing in this world! Like a legitimate thing and not just legends or part of a religion or something. They come down and hang out with the mortals all the time like it’s totally fucking normal. I love it. 

When Patroclus is nine, his father drags him to compete for some random princess’ hand in marriage, and poor Patroclus is the only suitor that’s younger than twenty. Like… what was the thinking here, Dad? What the fuck? The princess, Helen, is rumored to be crazy beautiful (she’s wearing a veil) and these guys are falling all over her. Her father makes the suitors swear to protect her always, and even little Patroclus takes the oath because everyone else is. Helen is asked to choose a man, and of course doesn’t choose the nine year old. And this all just reinforces to Patroclus that he is small and weak and not enough for his father. 

So ten year old Patroclus is standing in a field one day when some fat, noble asshat kid comes and bullies him. Like… even though he’s a prince, the noble kids still pick on him. And his Dad doesn’t give a shit. They get into an argument over some dice and the fat kid stumbles and promptly EXPLODES HIS HEAD ON A ROCK. Patroclus is just like… horrified. The noble family demands punishment and Pat’s Dad is like “Whatever I’ll just banish him. I never liked this kid anyway.” — So Patroclus is sent to a neighboring kingdom and stripped of his title. 

Well thank god this neighboring kingdom’s King is actually a good guy. He takes in lots of orphans and banished kids apparently. Patroclus sleeps in a big bunk with a bunch of other kids and totally blows his shot at being social and making friends when one of the boys asks if he wants to play dice. Pat is like “DICE?!?! FUCK YOU NO!” Because he’s still traumatized from accidentally killing someone over dice. From then on, he spends his days eating alone in the corner.

The prince, who happens to be that beautiful blonde kid he saw win the race, comes and eats with the boys and is the friendliest and most charismatic ten year old ever. As the story goes, he’s half god. His father once tackled a sea goddess, raped her, then forced her to stay on land and give birth to his half god kid after a year. When her year was up, she left immediately. I mean WOW. Ancient Greece was pretty brutal I guess, so I shouldn’t be surprised? And Greek mythology is also riddled with stories of rape and non-consensual shenanigans. But YIKES. 

Well anyway, this kid’s name is Archilles and he’s good at everything, but totally humble and kind. Which really gets on Patroclus’ nerves. So he’s hiding out in the storage closet one day because he’s just so fucking done with everything, and Achilles finds him. He says the drill master (fighting instructor guy) is looking for him and he’ll be punished if he doesn’t have a good reason for missing spear class. 

Patroclus, who is so traumatized from accidentally murdering someone and being banished by his father that he has nothing to lose, is like “Well, just tell them I was with you all morning. That way they can’t be mad.” And Achilles is like “Cool. I don’t lie, though.” So Pat says “Then how about I come with you to your music lessons?” — and he does!!

(By the way, I am doing this book such a disservice in the way I describe dialogue. Please know that literally every word, including the way these boys speak, is absolute poetry. I’m translating as best as my stupid sausage fingers can.)

So Patroclus goes to lyre lessons and is captivated by Achilles’ music skills. It reminds him of how his mother loved music. And Achilles must have been touched by the reverence with which Pat watches him, because when he goes before his father, he totally spins the story that he asked Patroclus to skip drills to come with him. His king Dad isn’t even mad. In fact, he says “I’ve been asking you if you want to take any of the boys as friends for years, and you refused. Why this one? He’s small and weird and I heard he killed a guy.” — And Achilles says “He surprises me.” And nothing more. 

From then on, Achilles and Patroclus do everything together. Patroclus even moves into his bedroom and sleeps there in his own bed. They get into a little fight one day when Pat comes to watch Achilles do his drills (because he never trains in front of the other boys… because there’s a prophecy that he will be the greatest warrior of their generation and his god mother said she doesn’t want anyone knowing how amazing he is yet). Well even at 10 years old, Achilles is an amazing fighter. And Patroclus, being a dumb kid, is like “FIGHT ME OH MY GOD I’M SO IMPRESSED BUT ALSO HATE YOU AND I’M ALSO YOUR BIGGEST FAN BUT LET’S FIGHT.” And Achilles is like “Nope. Don’t ask me again.”

For the rest of the year they are best buds. I guess Patroclus had to get that last bit of jealousy out of his system. He is insanely happy being Achilles’ best friend. He doesn’t have nightmares about heads exploding anymore. They do everything together. Even the king invites him to anything Achilles is a part of. 

Every so often, Achilles goes to visit with his Mom at the beach. One morning, he comes back and says his Mom wants to meet Patroclus. — This is adorable because it means Achilles has been telling her about his bestie. But also kind of terrifying because she’s a god that was raped and hates mortals. So Pat goes down to the beach and this mermaid goddess selkie lady comes and talks to him. She sounds terrifying. Black eyed and sharp mouthed. She basically says to him “You know he’s going to be a god, right?” — Pat is like “Um, yes.” — and she’s like “Good. You’ll die soon enough.” Like damn she really does hate mortals. (With good reason lol)

But I feel sorry for Patroclus. That’s still not a nice thing to hear. Achilles finds him hiding in an olive grove and they have a sweet talk about it. Achilles isn’t even sure how he’d become a god (his mother thinks if he becomes famous enough, the gods will favor him and bring him into the gang. It’s happened with half-god heroes before). He’s more interested in being a hero and doesn’t think being immortal sounds fun. Patroclus is relieved by this and they run off to do 12 year old things.

In the next chapter, they’re 13 and so are all the foster boys, so basically this palace is full of puberty right now. Sleeping with the servant girls is very commonplace, but Achilles never wants to (despite his father encouraging him) and Patroclus is too awkward to speak to anyone except for Achilles. But Pat is ALSO THIRTEEN and starting to have sexy dreams himself, just not about servant girls. Patroclus and Achilles are sitting on the beach one day when Patroclus fucking goes for it. He kisses his best friend, and it’s super nice, but Achilles’ reaction is to RUN AWAY. So Pat is immediately like “Wow I fucked up.”

Things only get worse when Achilles’ angry god Mom appears and chokes him out like “You fucked up.” — she’s so pissed at him for doing this, she demands Achilles be sent away from hero training somewhere far off where some mortal kid can’t derail her plans. Things are so awkward between the boys that Patroclus doesn’t even say goodbye when he leaves in the morning. He pretends to be asleep while Achilles looks torn about it. And then his friend is gone.

Poor baby is all sad the next day. So sad, in fact, he wanders out to the woods and has a moment of clarity (or stupidity?) and is like… well I’m no where near the ocean, so I guess it would be safe. And he runs after Achilles (who has a good 6 hour head start on him). Patroclus runs for hours and finally stops to catch his breath, and hears a noise that he thinks is bandits. He’s tackled… but it’s Achilles! — Who had a feeling he could come and fucking WAITED for him. YAY!!

I so expected the next chapter to be “5 years later…” or something. And Achilles comes back after training. But yay! I like this better. The friends get to stay together and everybody is cool about the whole “kissing on the beach” thing and it’s never brought up. Patroclus even has this cute moment when he’s running where he thinks “If I ever see him again, I will do everything in my power to be cool and not piss off his god mom.”

So then Achilles’ teacher shows up because it’s late and he hasn’t arrived at the mountain yet. And to their surprise, he is a CENTAUR!! Like an older, badass centaur named Chiron who has been around longer than most gods. So even though they’re gods and crazy and what they say goes, he has some sway there. I love… that the kids are freaked out by the centaur lol. They’re like CREEPED OUT. And it’s made even worse when they have to ride on his back because it’s getting dark and they need to get up the mountain. This is such 13 year old behavior. They’re being respectful, but Patroclus narrating is like “eeeuuughhh.”

Turns out Chiron is totally cool and teaches them whatever they want to know. It’s not all about fighting (I’m picturing Phil from Disney’s Hercules lol). He teaches them stuff about the forest and healing and surgery and how to cook. And eventually he teaches them how to fight. And when Achilles asks “How am I?”

He’s like… “Umm that prophecy is totally true and you are going to fuck so many people up when you’re grown up. I literally have nothing to teach you. You’re already a god ordained warrior and you’re only going to get stronger.”

Achilles: “Cool! I don’t want to fight in wars yet, though.”

Patroclus: “How about me?”

Chiron: “Nah, you’re pretty bad at this. But did you ever want to be good?”

He’s like… nah, not really. So Chiron is like “Cool! Ima show you kids how to weave baskets!”       

One day Achilles’ mom shows up and she is piiiiiiissed. She probably would have killed Patroclus had Chiron not showed up and talked her down from her murder ledge. Whatever he and Achilles say to her makes her agree not to murder Patroclus, so there we go. The years peel by with idyllic days. The way this is written is so beautiful. My fumbling descriptions really don’t do it justice. This book is just tender. It’s so pure and sweet. 

So the boys are 16, and even though Patroclus has been pining after Achilles after all these years, he’s been doing such a good job of not being obvious about it. He might get caught staring every now and then, but is otherwise incredibly fearful of 1. Ruining his friendship with Achilles and 2. Being castrated by his angry fish god mom. 

There’s a cute part where Patroclus gives him a carved wooden statue for his birthday that is him with a lyre. 

Okay so one day, after the boys have a conversation about how much older they both look (there are no mirrors on the mountain lol) — Achilles comes back from a visit with his Mom and says he asked her what she thinks of where they live on the mountain (in this beautiful rose quartz cave with stars painted on the ceiling and just beautiful scenery all around). And she begrudgingly admits that she can’t see them on the mountain. (It’s not explained why, but let’s all take this blessing and not complain)

So with this new found bit of intel, Achilles is like YEP. Ima kiss the heck out of you now. And they have a really sexy but also sweet scene in chapter 10. I appreciate that everything is both sensually and tastefully described. I think it’s pretty obvious that Achilles has liked him all this time too, but was also afraid of his angry god mom killing his friend. They pal around basically being boyfriends for a few weeks and are wondering if they should tell Chiron about their relationship when a messenger from Achilles’ father shows up. He says he needs to return home at once for business. 

So dang it. The boys are not happy about this. They would much rather just stay on the mountain and kiss in the crystal cave forever.

They arrive back at the palace and fucking Thetis (angry fish god mom) is on the front steps. Apparently, Helen, the princess Patroclus met when he was 9 years old, has been kidnapped. Some prince from Troy came over and took her, so now everyone is rallying to help. 

This line is both horrible and hilarious to me:

Only an easterner would do this. Everyone knew how they dripped with perfume, were corrupt from soft living. A real hero would have taken her outright, with the strength of his sword.

Like it’s okay to kidnap the lady, but do it with honor lol.

Peleus (Achilles’ Dad) announces that not only will he send any man that wishes to go (everyone is like.. clamoring to sign up)… but he informs the crowd that Helen’s Dad had a bunch of heroes promise to protect Helen seven years ago, and Patroclus immediately SHITS HIMSELF. He’s like OH FUCK THAT WAS REAL? I THOUGHT IT WAS A DREAM! Peleus pulls Achilles and Pat aside after dinner and says he thinks this would be a great opportunity for Achilles to lead an army and take down Troy, but Achilles says he’s not into the idea. He says he knows about the oath Patroclus swore, but the boys try to argue that it doesn’t count because his father disowned him. Peleus is surprisingly cool about this and says “Let’s just see how things pan out.”

So the next morning, Patroclus wakes up and Achilles isn’t there. He’s not worried at first. But as the morning goes on, and he looks literally everywhere, even the beach where he goes to visit his scary Mom, Achilles is literally nowhere to be found. He gets it out of Peleus’ advisor that Achilles is with his mother and he doesn’t know when he’ll be back. So Patroclus is bummed…. FOR A WHOLE ASS MONTH while Achilles is gone (I guess… we all just… forgot about Helen? Or maybe things move slower in Ancient Greece). 

Well either way Patroclus is sick of waiting, so he bursts into the king’s throne room and does this thing… called “supplication”… that I have never heard of before. But he puts a hand on his knee and grabs the king by the jaw, and he DEMANDS that Peleus tell him where Achilles is. Supplication is I guess… the act of… putting a king in a strong hold and it’s some kind of honor-bound thing that makes them have to tell the truth no matter what. (It’s recognized by the gods). It’s not considered a nice or polite thing to do, but apparently it’s a thing. Peleus squeals that Achilles’ Mom took him away to some small island… and I love this transformation from Patroclus. He’s just like “Okay neat, now give me money.”

So the king fucking does, and then he gets on a boat and sails like a badass to some remote little island where everyone sends their princesses to learn how to be sexy. It’s like Ancient Greece charm school island. Patroclus uses a fake name and enters the castle, finds that the king is old and decrepit, the guards are shitty (playing dice), and everything is run by this princess who is crazy beautiful but really shallow. 

She invites Patroclus to dinner and invites the girls to dance for him. She joins them. And during their dance Patroclus realizes the princess’ dance partner is FUCKING ACHILLES. DRESSED LIKE A GIRL. Achilles spots him and interrupts the performance to tackle hug him, which sends the princess into a total fit. 

APPARENTLY… Thetis the angry fish god mom didn’t want her son fighting in a war?? She thought it was too soon?? So for some reason her solution was to… kidnap him… and force him to pose as a woman on Hot Girl Island until the whole thing blew over. I am very confused at the reasoning there. MOREOVER Thetis forced him to MARRY the princess and have sex with her, so now she’s pregnant!!

Patroclus is of course devastated. Achilles is very uncharacteristically flustered and feels awful. His mom basically forced him to and promised that if he had sex with this broad, she’d go fetch Patroclus and bring him here. Patroclus is like “Oh my god you sweet dumb boyfriend, she NEVER DID. I had to put your father in a chokehold to figure out where you are.” And Achilles realizes he’s been tricked and feels bad. 

They work it all out though and return to the palace. The old king is surprisingly fine with all of this as long as the baby gets to keep Achilles’ name. And Achilles, who is usually the nicest dude ever, is so cold to this princess. He’s not mean to her? But he acts like she’s invisible. Even Patroclus is like “Dude cut her some slack. She was tricked as much as you were.” But Achilles is all “Nope. I love nothing except my boyfriend.”

LIKE WHAT IS THETIS THE ANGRY FISH WOMAN UP TO?? I thought (and so did Pat) that she WANTED him to fight. Why was he even summoned back then?? If she wanted to keep him safe he could have just stayed on the mountain banging in the crystal cave. 

I will hand it to this book, it keeps taking turns I didn’t see coming. Twice now I expected Achilles to be taken away and come back some battle-hardened, evil dude or something. 

But to hear he’s just been crossdressing and hiding from war is pretty unexpected.

Oh geez so one night, Diedemantra (that is not her name. I can’t remember anyone’s name) — the PRINCESS has some guards go and grab Patroclus and she demands an audience with him. She says some truly awful things to him, about how ugly he is and she can’t believe Achilles chose him over her and she just SOBS for like a really long time, and Patroclus… because he is a sweet boy… actually really wants to comfort her. This quickly turns sexual. He totally isn’t into it, but she’s like… DEMANDING. And he goes through with it because I think he feels really sympathetic towards her? This is a wild scene and I can’t believe Pat does this… It’s Chapter 13 and he doesn’t really clarify if he ever tells Achilles, but it seems to bring both of them some closure. Achilles for feeling betrayed over them sleeping together, and Diedreoamtis over knowing Achilles is going to leave and he’ll never see him again. 

So the whole time she’s gone, in isolation because she’s pregant, the boys have to stay at this island palace. Thetis still wants to keep Achilles hidden and away from the war, so he has to keep pretending to be a woman and Pat has to keep pretending to be Chirondes, some random dude who lives there now. 

One day, a ship comes. And it’s carrying Odysseus and Diomedes, who threaten to tell everyone Achilles has been crossdressing if he doesn’t come fight in this war. They ALSO drop a bomb that Thetis hasn’t told them the full prophecy. 

Achilles will be the greatest warrior that ever lived if and only if he goes to fight in Troy. If he doesn’t, he will start losing his god powers and wither away and die old and useless and having never done anything with this life. Oh, ALSO? If he goes to Troy he’s going to die. He’ll die young and die a crazy famous hero. 

WHAT THE FUCK??

I’m over here with Patroclus like… about to cry.

But Achilles can’t imagine a life withering away and not achieving greatness. Pat totally understands… so our boys are OFF TO WAR. But not before Patroclus goes up on a mountain to scream at Thetis like a little badass. I love how gentle he is. And how soft. Until he’s pissed off and then he’s the ballsiest dude ever— grabbing kings by their chins. Screaming at goddesses that hate him. He gets out of Thetis that there’s more to the prophecy. That Achilles will die if Hector dies first. So we don’t know who Hector is, but Patroclus is like “Okay now we gotta keep this asshole from dying.” Thetis has also gotta be touched at how much Pat cares about defying the prophecy and saving his boyfriend. But she is also so SO PISSED at mortal men. 

Alright so our boys are off to war. 

Everyone sails to Troy. When they get to the island before Troy, the wind just STOPS because apparently Artemis is pissed off that there’s about to be so much bloodshed. So the kings are like “Hey let’s have a wedding to appease the gods and make a big sacrifice with cows and stuff.” — One of the kings has his 14 year old daughter brought in. And she’s all excited, thinking she is going to marry Achilles (he agreed, because why the fuck not. They need that wind.) — and the kings fucking AMBUSH HER and KILL HER as a human sacrifice before she or Achilles knows what’s going on. And it traumatizes him for a good few days. Sweet baby has never seen anyone die before. So this war is off to a great start. 

But Artemis, like a fucking weirdo, is like “Okay thanks for slaughtering that 14 year old. I’m done being pissed now. Enjoy your war.” So the wind comes back. And the war starts. And after a few days of wallowing, Achilles goes out there and does the thing. He’s even the first person to throw a spear and kill a Trojan, which is great for morale. Achilles and Patroclus realize pretty quickly that Achilles is totally made for war. He’s CRAZY GOOD AT IT. So whatever trauma he was getting over heals very quickly, and our boy becomes a killing machine overnight. 

Achilles doesn’t enjoy the MURDER part of it. He never hurts anyone that is unarmed. Only people that are coming at him with the intention of killing him, but I think he’s pretty entertained at how easy this is for him. Like a game. 

Patroclus, sweet baby, is forced to fight at some point. Everyone is generally cool with him being there as Achilles’ companion, but eventually he has to play soldier and get in there. The battle sounds terrifying. You feel like you’re right in there with Pat and the noise and the chaos. But no one can touch him. He realizes it’s because of Achilles. ANy time a man looks at Pat and runs at him, Achilles kills them easily. He basically just STANDS THERE the whole time and does nothing and I don’t blame him because that’s what I’d do too. 

That’s not to say Pat is useless. He’s really good at surgery and being a doctor and volunteers in the tents. He also encourages Achilles to “claim maidens” aka young girls stolen from the villages they’ve plundered. Only when they get them back to the tent, they clean them up and feed them and make sure they’re safe. The first time he does this, it’s so cute. The girl doesn’t understand Greek so to show her that he means to harm, Patroclus grabs Achilles and kisses him like “See? I don’t want you” lol and she becomes his best friend in the camp beside Achilles. Learns Greek and hangs out with him while his boyfriend is off fighting. She helps more maidens that get brought into their group (all the soldiers are like DAMN Achilles, you horn dog) — having no idea he is hella gay and just saving all these women from THEM. 

This war goes on for like 4 years. It’s rumored that Helen doesn’t even like her husband and ran away to Troy for safety. Pretty soon all of the guys get grumpy like WHY ARE WE EVEN HERE? THIS SUCKS!!

It’s also wild to think that Achilles and Pat are like 20 now. Wow.

MOTHER. FUCKER. 

I finished this whole ass review/description for this book, and it was perfect, and then my ipad totally crapped out and DELETED IT ALL!!! AAUGHGHGUGHG that hasn’t happened to me in so long… I go through such incredible lengths to make sure I never lose any writing. I’m so gutted. 

So here’s like a shitty, watered down version of the last 25% of this book as told by someone a WEEK after they finished it. AUGH!!!!!!! AUGUAGAHGHAUGAGUGH.

Basically… like…okay. This war goes on for fucking ever lol. All the soldiers are pissed. The gods are apparently infighting with each other over this. At one point it’s like, festival time and the humans piss off the gods by arguing with each other, so they put a plague on the war camp. The gods really suck, by the way. Greek gods are just straight up crazy people. Everyone is dying of these horribly painful boils, and Achilles and Argmennon get into an argmennement. Argemenon steals Briesis (original saved maiden) as a personal slight to Achilles, since she’s technically a war prize and apparently not a person? With thoughts and feelings? We’re all horrified.

Achilles starts to get real ego-driven. Pat is over here freaking out because his best friend just got kidnapped and will likely be raped and Achilles is all about his pride and says “Everyone is going to think I’m a weakling. ARGMENNON NEEDS TO APOLOGIZE FIRST!”

So Pat goes to Argemonon’s tent and says Achilles refuses to fight until he apologizes, and if he rapes or hurts Briesis in any way, Achilles is going to use that as an excuse to kill him. So Argmenon is like “Cool bro thanks for the heads up. Real cool of you to betray your boyfriend by telling me this.” and agrees not to hurt Briesis. Pat gets his attention, by the way, by SLITTING HIS WRIST and BLEEDING all over the tent saying “I swear on a blood oath that my words are true! If you hurt that woman Achilles WILL kill you!” And Argemennon is like “JESUS OKAY! I believe you, just STOP bleeding on all my shit!”

Pat goes back to Achilles, and Achilles is PISSED. (But also concerned over Pat’s wrist). He wanted Briesis to get hurt so he’d have an excuse to murder this guy – which again – Pat is just like, horrified by. I should also mention that at some point, Briesis confessed to Pat that she loves him, and wished she could be with him and have kids together. He is hella gay, but loves her like a sister best friend and just really wants to protect her. So Achilles goes on for a few weeks being a dick (Argemnon is also being a dick, but at least he’s not hurting Briesis) – and the Greeks are getting their asses handed to them by the Trojians because Achilles refuses to let his army fight. 

Thetis shows up with more grim prophecies from the gods. Like “Achilles will only die after the best of the [M-word-for-their-country-of-origin] dies.” And Pat is like “Huh… you are the best of our men, though. What a weird riddle.” And I’m reading this like…sobbing.

Eventaully the Trojans break into the camp and start murdering everyone and burning the ships.

Pat is begging Achilles at this point (because by now it’s been like 10 years and we have women and children and families in here). He HAS to fight. But Achilles refuses. So Pat comes up with this idea…. “Well what if I put on your armor and pretend to be you, and inspire the men to fight and defend the camp? Then it’s like we rally the troops without you actually having to go back on your stupid, pointless pride?”

And Achilles goes…. “SURE!!”

(It’s more nuanced than that, and to his credit, Achilles is worried sick. Begs the chariot driver to just do a lap and come back ASAP) Normally he’s there to kill anyone who looks at Patroclus. 

Pat is so cute wearing this armor, and totally does an incredible job pretending to be Achilles. He even kicks ass and kills a couple people, including this HUGE HULKING GENERAL even though Achilles begged him to not put himself in danger. Well Pat does really well, but ends up dying in battle. Hector kills him. The best of the M-word-country-of-origins is dead.

The soldiers manage to bring his body back, but Achilles DOES NOT TAKE THIS WELL. 

Just like… totally unhinged broken, hugging the body in his bed all night. Inconsolable. When they finally get him to let go of Pat’s body and have a funeral, Briesis tears into him and says what we’re all thinking: “Dude he’s only dead because of your pride. Everyone loves this kid. He’s like the nicest, sweetest, cutest dude in this camp. He knew everyone’s name. He delivered all the babies. Like. He only went out there because he wanted to protect us and you were too busy being a prideful dick trying to make a point and HE’S DEAD AND I HATE YOU AND AAHAHHHHHH!!!!” and Achilles is like “I KNOW!!! DON’T YOU THINK I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING MURDERED NOW? Bring on the prophecy. I’m done. I’m so fucking done. Let’s do this. Where’s my sword?”

So Achilles spends the next few days being a fucking demon on the battlefield. He murders a great many important people, including injuring a river god. Like he’s just unstoppable. He kills Hector. Then… weirdly… drags his body behind the chariot and like… drags it around camp for a few days. FOR A FEW DAYS. Just beating it up for funnies. Like a crazy person. 

Eventually though, he gets shot by Paris with a special arrow from Apollo. And he dies. 

All of this is relayed to us by Pat, by the way, who has been here all this time as a spirit. In Greek mythology, you can’t pass on to the underworld until you get 1. A funeral and 2. A tombstone. Everyone knew Achilles was going to die eventually, so they put his ashes with Patroclus’ ashes (as he requested). Pat wonders if he can feel it when their ashes are combined, but he can’t. He can’t see Achilles until they’re both in the underworld. 

So one day this little piece of shit named Pyyros comes to the camp. He is Achilles’ son that Thetis stole and raised to be a bloodthirsty asshole away from humans. And he’s basically Geoffrey. He’s also, hypothetically, what Achilles could have been if he wasn’t raised by his father and grew up with someone sweet like Patroclus. 

Pyyros is 12, but he’s like… horrible. With his help, they eventually topple Troy. But he also wants to rape all the women in the camp, and when Briesis runs, he kills her with a spear. HATE HIM. Also?? When the kings ask him what he wants to do with Achilles and Patroclus’ grave, he’s like “Fuck Patroclus. Leave him off the tombstone. He’s a nobody.”

So ghost Pat is like… HORRIFIED. This means he’ll be trapped on earth forever. He haunts Odysseus’ dreams and begs him to try to change this kid’s mind, and he tries, but fails. 

So the book ends with Ghost Patroclus sitting (and sobbing) by Achilles’ grave, watching tourists come and pay their respects for months or possibly even years. Meanwhile, Pyyros gets murdered on the ship home becasue the kings collectively decide he’s an asshole. I’m glad everyone can agree on something for once. Like murdering this awful demon child.

Thetis shows up and talks to Pat. She’s still cold, but oddly remorseful. She asks Pat to tell her everything he remembers about Achilles. And Pat gushes for paragraphs and paragraphs about all of their happy memories. And the great, kind person Achilles was before he got tainted by war and the promise of greatness. Thetis probbaly has a growth moment, realizing HEY maybe there’s more to life than training your kids to be unstoppable killing machines. This whole final chapter is so sweet. Patroclus, despite everything, loves Achilles so much. And Achilles, even though his ego got in his way near the end there, really always loved Patroclus. He never wanted him to get hurt or be put in danger. 

Thetis surprises Pat by writing his name on the tombstone next to Achilles’, and he gets transported to the underworld immediately. And there he reunites with Achilles, and that’s the end of the story. 

Here’s that excerpt:

“I have done it,” she says. 

At first I do not understand. But then I see the tomb, and the marks she has made on the stone. ACHILLES, it reads. And beside it, PATROCLUS. 

“Go,” she says. “He waits for you.” 

IN THE DARKNESS, two shadows, reaching through the hopeless, heavy dusk. Their hands meet, and light spills in a flood like a hundred golden urns pouring out the sun.

When I picked up this book, I didn’t know it was a retelling of the Iliad. And my stupid uncultured ass had never read the Iliad. But what the author did that was so cool was she took a character, Patroclus, who was pretty minor in the original story, and wrote the book from his perspective. And blew out this whole beautiful romance between him and Achilles, when apparently this is only speculated in the ancient text (But I mean… Achilles going berserk with anger after Pat gets killed is pretty telling). 

In my original review, I wrote that I had a little trouble connecting to the characters. I think just because of all the formal ancient-speak. But after a week of thinking on it, I take that back. I really love how pure Patroclus is. He’s just so GOOD and so sweet and gentile in a world that is raw and barbaric and cruel. You experience the outrage with him. This feeling of standing around a war wondering why we’re even fucking doing this when Helen doesn’t want to be rescued at all. It’s just an excuse for a bunch of men to flex their power and get a bunch of people killed.

I like Achilles a little more now that I’ve had time to percolate on him. He’s dealing with having been primed for greatness since birth, and taught to seek his value in that. Also, he was told his choices were basically to persue greatness or wither away into uselessness. So of course he got really prideful and easily insulted near the end there. It was hella shitty that he was willing to have Briesis and a bunch of innocent people killed to make his point. That was where he messed up. And that’s why Pat became almost like… a sacrifice for that decision. Which Achilles was properly devastated by. 

These boys love each other so much and feel so star crossed in a world that feels determined to ruin it for them. I loved the last chapter where Pat and Thetis have a heart to heart and she shows him a great kindness by writing his name on the tombstone. I just loved that. 

I’m still going to give this book a 6.5 out of 10, but I really did enjoy it. There were just some parts that were hard to get through because I was so frustrated by the arrogance of Achilles and the kings!!!!

Deadass Rating: 6.5/10

Unofficial theme song: “The King” by Lor

[oddwriter]

15 questions 15 mutuals

Tagged by my sweet @exlibrisfangirl, thank you love 💛

1. Are you named after anyone? YES! Maria von Trapp and Maria from West Side Story. I swear to god if you start singing either Maria-song I will punch you. You need a special license for that.

2. When was the last time you cried? Now as I'm writing my exam paper. . . rip

3. Do you have kids? no, but I do currently work as an intern in a kindergarten in my journey to be a pedagogue/educator for kids from 0-6 years old, and they're plenty atm.

4. What sports do you play/have you played? badminton when I was younger, and danced some mtv/funk at some point

5. Do you use sarcasm? with added ✨ sparkles ✨

6. What’s the first thing you notice about someone? what vibe they give off. Call it neurodivergency radar

7. What’s your eye color? blue like a scandinavian child

8. Scary movies or happy endings? angst with a happy ending anytime

9. Any talents? writing, the ability to disassociate within seconds, does that count? make an insane amount of playlist when I don't need to. Can also do needlecraft like knitting, crochet and embroidery. Can be very efficient when time needs it, but right now I don't wanna do anything so the efficiency is looooow

10. Where were you born? Copenhagen, DK almost 29 years ago

11. What are your hobbies? writing, knitting, music, world building, play video games, storytelling in any format

12. Do you have any pets? no, just the fruit-flies I can't get rid off atm

13. How tall are you? 1.68m

14. Favorite subject in school? Classics. A real sucker for Ancient Greece and the mythology.

15. Dream job? I think it's pretty much established that I should be a writer

This was a fun act of procrastination, so I think the next should do some procrastination too!

@an-anonymous-friend, @soldmymoralstothedevil, @thatpandayouknow, @thelovelyreader, @carry-on-my-wayward-wuffles, @notdeadjack, @dianaothemyscira, @otterlyrandom, @gabavaldman, @dollopheadedmerlin, @electoons, @nimji-s, and anyone else who feel the need to do something they shouldn't be focusing on <3

[ichika27]

OnS Chapter 122

Hmm... I’m still feeling weird but I’m starting to watch anime again. I was thinking of reading this the same time as the chapter that’s coming after this but eh... separately is better.

Mika enters Yuu’s memories and finds himself in Ancient Greece. He and Yuu meet up and realized they’re both in their younger forms. Mika thinks it’s cause being child-sized uses less energy as well as Yuu himself has an innate desire to be back in his childhood when everyone else was still alive.

Yuu says he remembers nothing of Ancient Greece and asked Mika if his age is making him senile and Mika’s reply is basically “Yeah, you’re usually this dumb.” lol

The two hide when the First Progenitor and the others walked by. They wonder if they’ve been spotted and in the middle of that, Yuu says he thinks that since Mika is now his demon, their memories are mixed together and this isn’t solely his.

(The other progenitors look like their demon selves which doesn’t make sense timeline wise but There’s probably gonna be an explanation. I sadly can’t take their pictures together properly)

Mika is worried they’ve been found out as the last time he travelled back to Yuu’s memories, he’d been caught. He noticed though that Shika Madu seem pretty weak at the moment and wonders why. What they didn’t know is that elsewhere, the First Progenitor is being drugged to weaken him.

While he’s in that state, Rigr decides to finally go inside the First’s memories.

The two are trying to figure out their current situation and finds out that while the people in the memory world can’t see them, they’re all solid and not just holograms (and I mean that both ways). This meant they could both still get injured and so it’s better if they steer clear of Shika Madu for their own safety.

Mika and Yuu decide to just head the opposite direction from where the First is going. Yuu remembers Shika madu’s mansion and the real Mika in the casket and the two head there to see.

Yuu describes the Mika in the casket as a "prettier version of Mika”. While he doesn’t remember the details, he does remember that he used to come there all the time to talk to the Mika in the casket. This frustrated Yuu as he could feel the memories inside of him but can’t tell what exactly they are.

Yuu asks Mika if he doesn’t remember anything - if Mika and the kid in the casket are the same, it means Mika would esentially have the dead kid’s memories, too, right? Mika thinks about it but could only remember hearing a stupid voice saying his name and Yuu says that voice was him lol (but says he’s not stupid).

Realizing they’re not gonna get any valuable information at this time, they decided that it’s time to go futher back.

But first, snack break! For Yuu-chan only though. Yuu goes back to the real world to eat and replenish his energy while Mika gets everything ready. After he eats enough he gets called back in. Mika says they’re going way further back.

Yuu returns to find out a door is in the way. Mika can’t open it although he’s able to take a peek. Yuu asks what Mika saw and Mika just tells him to see for himself and that whatever it was, it’s making Mika question what Yuu truly is.

Yuu steps forward and opens the door to his past.

--

Well, I gotta say I’m so glad I read this late cause it means I won’t have to wait a month to read the next chapter lol. This is pretty exciting! I agree with Yuu, this feels like watching them go on an adventure.

I actually like this chapter and I’m enjoying it. I love their dialogue, their interactions, and their expressions - they can be funny and cute but it didn’t take away from how exciting this chapter was cause of what they’re currently doing. I ended up smiling when they were snarking at each other, too. It feels like something I missed out on since their actual childhood was cut short by the apocalypse and they got separated. Now in this little memory world adventure, they can be dorks to each other.

It’s weird seeing Mika see his past and probably real self in the casket and just... not react like it’s a big deal. He doesn’t feel like he’s this other person until Yuu points out that technically, they’re probably the same person.

Again, I like the subtle jabs toward each other: Yuu saying the angel Mika is prettier than the Mika with him and Mika calling Yuu stupid when he finds a chance (and Yuu sort of accepting that the 2nd time). I missed just them talking to each other without much angst involved.

I’m excited to see what Mika saw on the other side of the door! I’m also excited to know what would happen once Rigr gets in the memory world, too. Is it the same memory world since Shika Madu was able to do that several chapters ago? And if it is, what would happen if Mika and Yuu meet up with Rigr? A fight or an alliance?

Also, why did the progenitors appear here in their current looks? Some of them are even in their demon forms. Could it be because that’s all Yuu know them as at the moment? Or is it because Yuu is connected to Asuramaru (his first demon)? Or maybe it’s cause of Shika Madu being powerful enough to connect to that memory world too so it’s a mix of the past and the present... ugh, so many possibilities.

Haha anyways, all the answers I’d find out soon. Hopefully. ^_^

[ljjsims]

Greek Goddess Legacy Challenge: Generation #6 Hecate: Complete

Ready for a bit of magic? Please meet our next generation: Hecate!

You are, like your mother, neither good nor bad. You're not evil, but you know sometimes for good to happen, you need to do bad things. You are the perfect middle of both your sisters. You have dedicated yourself to protecting those who ask you to and need it. When you and your sisters find a secret passage to a magical world, you don't need to be asked twice to participate in it! As it turns out, you and your sisters have a talent for this strange power. You and your sister Macaria decide to use this for good. But, sometimes, you do find yourself drawn to the ancient spells, which are a bit dangerous. A bit of mischief isn't evil, right? You might even be able to use these dark powers in the future!

When you were younger, your mother used to call you little Kore (maiden). a name as forgettable as your mother seems to think you are. You love her, really you do, but you wish she wouldn’t be so strict. You need to be inside the house before dark. Hell, you can’t even leave your mothers property, because she is so scared you’ll meet bad people… How are you supposed to know what you can bring the world if you can never try to become someone? You want to make a difference! So when you meet a young man standing at your mother’s fence, you take your chance and tell him to take you home. Finally free from your mother’s clutches you can finally discover the world and yourself.

Little bit explanation with the sheets in this challenge: - First sheet is for describing your current generation, with the challenges you need to do each life-stage. Also, because I love the myths, a bit of mythological background. May it inspire you :) - Second sheet is the preparation sheet for this generation, with important characters for your story. It is technically optional, but I love seeing sims with a backstory in my world, so I would highly recommend it. - Third sheet is for your gens children. They all have their own little challenges if your interested in those. I try to make all of them a bit different from each other, so it doesn’t get boring. Your heir is also on this sheet, but I’ve put their challenges on their own sheets. Stay tuned for those ;) - Fourth sheet is completely optional. If you want sims with names from the myths and love making sims to see them in your world, this is for you! All with a little mythological background ofc, you know me.

Next Generation is Athena! Previous Generation was Persephone First Generation is Gaia

The Greek Goddesses Challenge by LJJ-Sims is a challenge based on the ancient mythical creatures and stories from Greece. I fell in love with Greek mythology in high school and have not let that love go since. In this challenge you will follow 10 deities in their journey through life. Every goddess has a different take on and goal in life. Special about this challenge?  All your kids have little challenges of their own, not only your heir. These challenges are optional, so if you feel like these are too much or just too restricting for you: by all means let them go. I also have sheets for characters that you can make before you start each generation. This gives your challenge a lot more personality and makes it frankly easier and more fun!

A little disclaimer: because I made these gods and goddesses into a legacy challenge, the relationships in the myths don’t exactly match the relationship in this challenge. There is a lot of keep it in the family in mythology, to put it lightly. And apart from the fact that you can’t do that in the Sims, I don’t really like that part. So I didn’t include it, thus the inconsistency. An example: Ares is now Hera’s stepfather instead of her son, which she conceived with her brother  and husband Zeus. This inconsistency can also be found in the stories. It’s just based on and not copied exactly, as Sims live lives that are a lot shorter than those of immortal gods. And it takes a way from the creativity if we just copy the myths. Even if we wanted to do that, it’s quite hard, as every myths has its fair share of variations and some are just completely different stories.

I use the MCCC-mod to alter the length of life states. You can find the days-years ratio here: the boring stuff.

[ohmydamgods]

My heart aches for Annabeth. There’s just so much that she’s gone through only for her trauma to be pushed to the side. The fact that her father tried to reject her as an infant and then never truly attempted to connect with her, but then started a new family right in front of her is just crushing. I wonder how many times Annabeth witnessed her father putting aside his work and his “priorities” to play with the same half-brothers she was told not to talk to. Wasn’t she a priority? Wasnt she important enough for her father to put work aside for? Or was that a privilege reserved for her half-brothers. She was continually ignored in her own home so her father could focus on his work and new family. One that he actually wanted. And the way that she was treated hurt so bad that it drove a seven year old to pack up her things and run away.

Then she was on the streets. Constantly running and looking over her shoulder with only a hammer to defend herself. Not to mention the hammer would barely work against the monsters chasing her considering it wasn’t made out of celestial bronze. Once she met Luke, Thalia, and Grover she was only happy for a short time. Thalia was killed. Protecting her. How often did her step-mother tell Annabeth that she would only put the people she supposedly loved in danger? Guess she was right.

Once at Camp, all she does is train. Day in and day out, she’s training. Learning how to better use her dagger, studying Ancient Greece, learning the myths. Anything that could get her a quest. Because maybe she couldn’t get her dad’s attention, but if she worked hard enough, she could get her mom’s. But that never came either. The only person who ever payed attention to her was Luke. And it hurt so much when he got his quest because not only did Annabeth not get hers, but Luke was leaving her. And there was the possibility that he would die out there. When he came back, something was...off and for once in her life, Annabeth couldn’t figure out what was wrong. Then Percy arrived, and some random kid with no training whatsoever gets picked for a quest over her. But she just has to suck it up.

Annabeth completes the quest with Percy and proves herself but then finds out the only family she had betrayed and abandoned her. As time goes by Luke manipulates and torments her again and again by fighting with her, forcing her to hold up the sky, and showing up at her house to convince her to run away with him. Eventually, she had become super close with Percy, but the prophecy she heard when she was younger never leaves the back of her mind. Suddenly, the Titan War is just around the corner and Percy doesn’t even want to be around her. He’s out in the Caribbean with some mortal while Annabeth is preparing to say goodbye to both Percy and Luke. Who are probably the only people who ever actually cared about Annabeth. Then the Titan War is finally here and not only is she stabbed, but she witnesses Luke kill himself and has to respond to him asking if she loved him because it’s their final moments together even though she’s a child. When it’s all over she thinks that she could just relax and spend time with her new boyfriend, but even that falls through.

Then, the only person who she feels comfortable and loved around is gone for months and then won’t stay in place once she finally locates him. After she does find him, she won’t get any alone time with him because she’s on a quest for gods who do not and will never care about her in the slightest. Next, her mother sends her on a suicide mission all by herself, and even though she completes her quest, she’ll never be enough for Athena. Then she falls in Tartarus?? And drags Percy down with her. Can you imagine the guilt she has to carry knowing that the person she cares about the most is there because of her?

Now things have slowed down, and she’s managed to save the world and she can finally spend some time with her boyfriend in college. But she will never live a normal life. She’s bound to have PTSD and while therapy would help, there are constant reminders of what she’s gone through everywhere. She never had a childhood or got to experience “normal things” like sleepovers and going to parties. She was constantly abandoned and discarded and that’s not something that will ever leave you. She deserved so much better

[10moonymhrivertam]

Concept Fic!

It kind of fell apart once I put it to paper, likely because there’s not any obvious stakes here. I’m partly sharing just to share, partly wondering if y’all have ideas on where it could go. Gonna leave author’s notes included for now

Sandman (TV), Hob, Time Travel, Orpheus

Stuff that didn’t make it from my head to the page included

• him mentioning what he said about death before I made him too nervous about it

• the fact that his complaints were that things were moving so fast lately, too much technology crammed into the last two centuries, then right behind it complaining a century was too long

• I think I’m conceptualizing this as “yes the 2022 meeting happened but Dream was so happy to lean on habit and Hob was so happy to see him that Hob didn’t ask his name and Dream forgot to give it” but was wishy washy about it

• Looked at the Pronounce Names yt channel for non-English pronunciations

*****

“Hey.” The careful word finally broke through Hob’s fear and confusion and made him lift his head. There were two people who’d squeezed into the narrow alley after him. It seemed the man had spoken, squatting in front of him, but the woman was still standing behind him, casting a look of concern over them.

“Hey,” Hob said slowly. “How did you -” His voice was shaking too badly to finish the sentence and make sure he conveyed his meaning - just a moment before, the man had been among the many speaking an unfamiliar language out on the main streets, where Hob was getting stares for his clothing and complete inability to communicate.

“A gift I inherited from my father, though it doesn’t come as easily to me. Are you alright?”

“No.” Hob dropped his head again, pressing his forehead into the knees he was hugging to his chest.

“What’s wrong? Maybe we can help.” The man smiled warmly - well, he was more boy than man, really. Possibly younger than Robyn had been when he died. And maybe honesty would bite him in the ass, but somehow, someone was speaking the latest English to him, despite the Grecian architecture and Ancient Grecian fashions and carts and - he swallowed hard and freed a hand to push his hair out of his face.

“Best as I can figure, maybe I...pissed off...time?” He guessed wildly. His maybe-savior rocked back on his heels, eyebrows rising. “It’s just - I was drunk, and I was a bit maudlin, so I was complaining.” He took a breath; muttered to himself: “It’s like when I was thirty all over again.”

“I’m guessing that was longer ago for you than it seems.” The boy said it so...levelly. Like it was normal. Right. Ancient Greece. The kid probably believed - knew(?) - that the gods could walk among them if they felt like it. Wait. A gift I inherited from my father - was he talking to a demigod?

“Well, if I’m right, it hasn’t even happened yet,” he said, surprisingly lightly, because his chest still squeezed at the idea of just giving out the truth.

“When do you belong, then?”

“I don’t think our calendars exactly match up.”

The boy huffed like Hob was being difficult, and - fuck, that was fair, he did have an idea.

“Think I might be a few thousand years off-set,” Hob admitted.

“What did you do?” The boy sounded almost in awe of him. “You said you weren’t even speaking to him directly?”

Before he could open his mouth again, a shadow fell over the mouth of the alleyway. The woman turned and gave a little wave. The shadow nodded and - greeted her? It would make sense. He stepped into the alleyway with more ease than the rest of them had, and he stopped behind the woman. All at once, the air punched out of his chest. He knew that hair, that face, those eyes. He craned to see if there was a ruby around his neck, but he was at entirely the wrong angle. When his stranger spoke, it was in what was probably Ancient Greek, and Hob would swear on whatever was handy that he heard the word ‘Orpheus’ in there. [Orpheus, where have you been? Your mother’s been looking for you.]

Orpheus spoke over his shoulder and gestured at Hob, seeming to ask his stranger a question. His stranger looked at him and frowned. [Sorry, we were on our way. We met someone having some trouble. Any ideas?]

“Who are you?” He asked. Hob blinked.

“That’s different,” he said dazedly.

“Different?” Orpheus pressed. “Oh, do you know Morpheus?”

Hob had several thoughts on that name that he had to pack away very, very quickly, because he was already dealing with too much else.

“Yeah, a bit. He knew my name when we met, but - I don’t think we’d done this.” Hob gestured vaguely in a way that he hoped encompassed the alleyway. “Hey, what’s your friend’s name? Because if I’m making the right assumptions, then it got butchered bad when it got anglicized.”

He repeated the word that Morpheus had said, and then concentrated and said: “Eurydice. Oh.” He grimaced at the sound of it.

[man this was so good in my head a minute ago. I think maybe he actually had the courage to mention the death thing in the version in my head and that was what Morpheus interrupted and I can’t quite figure out how to keep this conversation on track on paper]

“What’s going on? You say we’ve met before?” Morpheus nearly interrupted.

“Yeah, sort of, um - I think I pissed off time?”

“You spoke with him?” And Morpheus had definitely changed over the years, because Hob was pretty sure his stranger wouldn’t have outright scoffed like that.

“No, but as far as I’ve gathered, I’ve never spoken directly with death, either, and I’m well past six hundred now.”

“You know neither Time nor Death...yet you know me?” He asked skeptically.

“We’ve met a few times.” He did not dare say that they were friends.

“In the Waking or the Dreaming?” Morpheus asked, and that - wouldn’t have made sense before, but he felt it should now that he had a name for him.

“I was awake, I think,” he said, bewildered. Orpheus said something in Greek, and Morpheus fired back at him. [Dad, he’s got a lot going on, you’re stressing him out. / His story is awfully lacking in detail, wouldn’t you agree?] Hob suspected things would’ve gotten heated if it weren’t for a voice out in the street, calling for Morpheus and Orpheus. Morpheus’s face melted into something soft and fond at a speed that took his breath away. Hob recognized a name in what he said - Calliope, though the stresses were different - [Down here, Kalliope] and then there was a fifth person in the alley. There was a lot of Greek once she got there, back and forth between them all, but Hob was eventually invited by Orpheus to come along with them.