#No because all this has done is make me think even MORE about Asclepius is this story because that man is Trying

[gingermintpepper]

In light of my recent Asclepius and Apollo musings, I feel like it's the perfect time to post this, actually.

How do you build a human being? 

Bold question. Foolish question. But a question it is all the same. 

The memory of his father’s consternated expression is still bright behind his eyes, that unusually furrowed brow, the tension in his gentle jaw. He didn’t falter in his setting of Asclepius’ broken shin, hands perpetually steady and sure, but he hesitated for a conspicuously long moment as though reluctant to give an answer. In this body, he resembled Orpheus something fierce. The same flaxen curls of his hair, the same delicate eyelashes that stand stark against the dark brown of his skin. Often Asclepius wondered if his elder brother was nothing but a body built to suit their father’s preferences. The subtle wrinkle of skin around their eyes when they smiled was the same, and the steadiness of their hands, the soothing power of their presence. 

And Orpheus did not bleed like Asclepius did. The blood in Asclepius’ veins were as red as any human’s, any mortal’s, but Orpheus seemed not to bleed at all. Even when he’d suffered the same fall down the crumbling cliff as Asclepius had. Even when his skirts had ripped and jagged stone sliced into his shanks. 

Even so, Orpheus was unmistakably alive. His eyes were rich with grief fresher than any blood spilt from the worst of Asclepius’ wounds, his counsel too, was tempered with the wisdom of a life well lived. So even at the apex of his most perfect, inhuman beauty, Asclepius never once doubted that his brother was a human being. Just that he was more divine construct than flesh and blood. Just that their father had built for himself a son that would not break as easily as all the others. 

His father stayed silent for so long that Asclepius assumed it would be one of the million questions that would go unanswered. Then, just when the last of his bandages had been wrapped - 

“A human body is easy to build,” he’d had that faraway look on his face as he spoke, like he was speaking to the horizon. Or a version of Asclepius that was not quite here. Such things happened from time to time. “Any flesh would do. From men, or animals, or even monsters. Any flesh would do.” Their gazes had locked then, and Asclepius would never forget the flecks of gold which swirled in his father’s blue eyes, the weight of divine words rattling at the boundaries of their mortal apparatus, “But the breath of life, a living soul? That is beyond your means as a mortal man. You ought never seek it.” 

(Asclepius would remember these words when he revives a man for the first time at the age of nineteen. He’s surprised to find that his father is wrong for once. Souls are easy to source when they’re already eager to return to their mound of flesh.) 

[ashoss]

i wanna jump in on the bat x pjo au! (absolutely obsessed with it btw… the jason and cass being kids of nemesis……… galaxy brain)

(and forgive me if youve already said in a prev maybe)

but do any of the kids have additional demigod powers? like beyond the good at battle, understands greek, stronger than the average bear etc but like how percy can create hurricanes :)

i might have gone over some of their powers in separate posts but ive never really gone into depth on any of them :)

i don’t really want to give them super strong powers (like nothing on the level as the Seven lol). i think them having small sway over things would be best. (btw im going through each cabin's abilities on the pjo wiki :D)

dick as a child of hermes has a bit of increased speed, im not sure how much though lol. definitely stealthier and can sense traps and different locks and stuff. hes probably also pretty persuasive.

babs- since she isn't a demigod but instead a blessed mortal is a bit different from all of them. @pooky-chan sent me a great ask about apollo and babs and her blessing which i thought was very yummy! so babs just finds it easier to find information and find connections between things a bit easier. as they put it apollo "greases the wheels".

jason and cass's powers would be similar to eachother, since theyre both nemesis kids. they both have tychokinesis (what ethan nakamura has on his wiki - so directly controlling "the likelihood of things good and bad things happening to individuals to even out supposed good luck and bad luck") they can sense when people want revenge/vengeance on something.

(theres actually not a lot to go based on for powers for the children of nemesis so im not all sure on it)

its mostly their legacy powers that stick out- cass as a hades legacy can sense death and can actually feel or see a soul leaving a body. she could probably talk to the dead but it causes a physical strain on her. while not as potent as nico's, she could faintly see someones life aura. she can also blend into the shadows easier. (she cant shadow travel or have actual control over the dead.) shes basically Nico Lite (tm) (i also like to think she unconsciously makes the temperature colder when shes around :))

and jason as an asclepius legacy would be able to tell at a glance if there is something medically wrong with someone and has pretty good medical knowledge. (basically jason is a godsend in the medbay). he does have healing powers, but he probably doesnt figure them out until after he's revived. i think it would be interesting if he could only heal other people and not himself :)))) (he also unconsciously heals people) ((also also to foil cass he probably makes the temperature a bit warmer. like how being healed feels warm :DD)

(tim im a little unsure on atm. hes def a child of aphrodite but i do also want to incorperate athena in there too. i dont know if i want him to be like,, 25% aphrodite or 25% athena - basically his parents were demigods- but im still debating a bit between that and child of Venus, as the roman equivalent of aphrodite has more warlike associations - i.e battle strategy... soooo) he has better emotional insight and can sense peoples emotions. he has a light form of charmspeak thats mostly more about sounding Intelligent more than actually influencing people (like an authority bias. people are more likely to listen to him because he sounds intelligent and he knows what he's talking about- ex: if tim were to suggest someone clean something up, they probably would because well, why else would he be suggesting it? he knows what needs to be done.) hes also pretty crafty and has some more strategic intelligence in addition to his bat training lol.

stephanie i think im set on being a child of Cardea (minor roman goddess of hinges). if thats the case, pooky-chan sent another ask where they went over how broad hinges really were. so steph could manipulate hinges and since so many different things contain hinges it could really be a pretty powerful ability.

however i do like child of veritas (roman goddess of truth). in this case she would basically be a human lie detector, and also people would probably feel the need to NOT lie to her.

damian i legit have no clue. hes the one i have the least ideas on lmao. because for him i would also have to go into the LoA and bruce's parents, and both i dont really have anything im set on yet :p. definitely something with magic from the al ghul side tho!

[hagoftheholler]

The Crow & Raven [Animal Archetype]

Ravens and crows are different species, but they share similar spiritual meanings. Being two species that are so widespread comes with having all kinds of folklore and superstition about them, so here we are going to go over the crow archetype.

TW: mentions of murder and violent/gruesome acts

Crow in Different Cultures & Religions

Disclaimer: You won’t find how all cultures and religions view crows and ravens on this post, purely because that is a lot of research to be done and I do not want to make this post eight chapters long. Instead, I chose the religions and cultures I am most knowledgeable on and knew people connected to the religions and cultures mentioned to avoid misinformation.

Irish-Celtic Paganism: The Morrigan is an Irish Goddess of war, death and fate. Many believe that The Morrigan is simply a title for multiple Goddesses: Badb, Macha and Nemain. Regardless of how people choose to view the Morrigan, she is commonly associated with crows. The aspect of the Morrigan named Badb, a name that literally means "crow", is especially associated with crows. It's said that Badb is known to cause fear and confusion among soldiers in battle, aiming to turn things in her favor. Badb is also said to appear just before battle to warn of the bloodshed ahead.

Hellenic Paganism: In Greek Mythology, crows are commonly associated with Apollo (the God of the sun, prophecy, music and many other things). There is a story that speaks of Coronis, a Thessalian princess. It is said that Coronis was a lover of Apollo and had been pregnant with their son, Asclepius. While Apollo had been away, Coronis fell in love with Ischys and slept with him. In Ovid's poem, it is said that a crow informed Apollo of the affair. After finding out about this affair Apollo had Coronis killed and cut out their son to save him.

Raven in Different Cultures & Religions

Norse Paganism: Ravens are commonly associated with Odin, the Allfather and God of war, wisdom, death and sorcery. It is said that Odin has two ravens that act as his eyes and messengers, named Hugninn and Muninn. These ravens would fly across the nine realms to gather information and knowledge, then later fly back to Odin to inform him of all they learned. These ravens were important assets to Odin's never-ending quest for knowledge and wisdom.

It can be a little difficult to tell when certain folklore and mythology is speaking of ravens or crows, since people seem to think they are the same birds. It is common for people to name one in place of the other even though they are different species. Due to this, I chose not to mention too many stories from different cultures and religions.

Crow & Raven Behavior

Corvids in general are pretty intelligent birds. You can find all kinds of videos online showing how intelligent crows and ravens actually are. They can be seen solving puzzles, disposing trash in trash cans and mimicking humans speaking (and sometimes other animals). I've personally experienced a raven mimicking a female turkey's cackle and clucking. I'm sure that raven thought it was funny to see me looking for a turkey, only to find it was a raven. Spent a whole fifteen minutes trying to find a turkey when I saw the raven was making those cackles and clucks.

Crows in particular are known to hold grudges, too. An experiment that was done shows that not only do crows remember faces, but they will sometimes dive-bomb people they have grudges against. At the same time, they remember people who have been kind to them and may sometimes pay them a visit.

Both crows and ravens can often be found in large groups. While a group of ravens is called an "unkindness", a group of crows is called a "murder". As scavengers, both species will often take advantage of remains of the dead that they find. These things tie into the superstitions that crows and ravens are associated with death and the dead.

Ravens are generally more solitary compared to crows, typically gathering together to eat and not much more. Crows, on the other hand, are very social birds. Studies have shown that yearlings and two year old crows will help their parents with the next batches of hatchlings. Crows will even go as far as to have "funerals" for dead crows, gathering around them to observe what may have happened.

The Crow & Raven Archetypes

How you perceive crows and ravens ultimately depends on you. Everybody will have different opinions based on their experiences and their cultural/religious background. These are some associations that are generally agreed upon for both crows and ravens.

General Crow & Raven Symbolism

💀 Death

💀 Rebirth

💀 Cycles

💀 The Afterlife

💀 Mystery

💀 Intelligence

💀 Adaptability

💀 Curiosity

💀 Mischief

💀 Magic

💀 Prophecy

[300iqprower]

A character I mentioned getting screwed over by Fate due to wafiu-ism is Medb, but another that got completely screwed over is Penthesilea, and unlike Medb, I can't really identify why. She got given a bad deal in being introduced in Agatha but she is probably one of the easiest characters to drag out that dumpster fire, there is so many ways to take her character and so many relationships she has to other characters. She and Asclepius shared a writer, he must have seen that it was Penthesilea nephew, Hippolytus, that was raised from the dead, why doesn't she comment on that? In most versions of the story it is the Amazons, lead most likely by her, that accidently kill Hippolytus's mother, in this case most likely Antiope, shouldn't that be addressed? She must feel a lot of guilt over that. She is Romulus's half sister but they don't have voice lines for each other. Penthesilea is a character that had and still has a lot of ways to be explored, but they keep on focusing on this hatred of Achilles for what was a comment that doesn't really matter and it just annoys me, and TM can still do it, they can still expand on her character but it seems like they don't want to. I just wish more people would be able to appreciate who Penthesilea is as a character, the amazoness event was a good start, showing her leadership skills and also it was funny, but I just wish their was more. Also she doesn't have her iconic leopard skin cape, which is lame, give her the damn cape, it might be petty, but it shows how good of a fighter she is!

Sorry this took a while to get back to but I had to look into Penth's myths more. I knew a lot less about the Amazonians than I thought, like the fact they get their name from the belief they would cut off a breast so they could better use a longbow. Holy shit that is metal.

I feel like Penth is a character torn between Nasu's obvious adoration of greek mythology and FGO's priority of making sure there's not such thing as a strong independent female character who doesn't have some sort of caveat that makes it so they wont "Scare off" the (believed) target whale audience of insecure men. The end result is a character with a lot of qualifiers and self contradictions that are best resolved by sweeping her under the rug entirely.

I'm not against the idea of her being obsessively angry with Achilles; there's a ton of potential in that and if done right it wouldn't just boil down to "Oh this character is a badass bc we want to make sure you know this other character is an even better SUPER MEGA badass" unlike......actually I was gonna give a snarky "cough X cough" example but there's too many to pick from. Regardless, this post does a great job outlining what i mean and goes a step beyond by framing it in fate specific lore.

But they obviously didn't do that in the game. She never even had enough substance to commit to that level of deeper meaning (though the stuff that post talks about is very much hinted at in her dialogue) and that's because of the aforementioned "just pretend it doesn't exist" approach to an amazonian queen and how it's at odds with the gacha status quo. Not a real status quo, mind you, I think I speak for all of good taste when I say if Penth was a take no shit unflappable badass commander I would love her more for it not less. I'm talking about this ASSUMED belief on the part of those wringing money out of things that the only market is straight insecure men who want someone to be dependent on them. I'm sure you already know this and that it's exactly what you meant by "screwed over by waifuism" but I want to outline it because it makes clear just how at odds a character like Penth is. Her design, her mannerisms, her story relevance or rather lackthereof, all of it is them trying their damndest to skirt around the obvious. To restate what i've said time and again, these things aren't always inherently issues, but things that would normally be innocuous become problematic when you know there is a specific malicious intent.

In fact that's exactly why even though as I said her hatred for Achilles could be an incredible point of depth, it still ends up being on the list of problematic things with her.

Penth is obsessed with a man, and she specifically hates him, and even though she's clearly shown to not hate all men, her character is hyperfocused on that hatred of Achilles in order to make it "special" that she doesn't hate you (with the game as per usual being written with a clear assumption that the player is male); her 4th ascencion and bond 5 lines post name reveal are EXTREMELY on the nose about this, basically labeling you "the exception" to her not wanting to be seen as a women first and foremost, and portraying her desire for otherwise to be childish and naive.

Which brings me to the part that killed my interest in her as a character. She's retroactively de-aged which, on top of just being fucked up and so very very problematic for completely standalone reasons, means they can have their cake and eat it regarding her design. She's fixated on the events that happened at the end of her life how they define who she is, yet they don't have to actually portray her as that person. Supposedly she pulled a liz because she doesn't want to be seen as the same beautiful person Achilles fell in love with. She wants to be seen as a warrior first and foremost. Ok, if she's obsessed with being seen as a warrior then why doesnt she wear any armor? Why doesn't she have her golden belt, or her famous leopard pelt, or her crescent shield, or her helm? I'm fine with her not wielding a bow or lance, in fact IMO her (afaik completely original) ball and chain wielding along with the claws is easily her best aspect in terms of character design. But not even a mention of archery, the thing from which the amazons got their name? I'm not asking to show a mutilated chest or something, if she's younger and doesn't yet have to worry about that sort of thing that's a chance to have your cake and eat in a GOOD way! (and obviously ILR breasts are not going to be an issue with archery but baseless myths like that have affected character design before so...) But again, they don't do any of that. She's barely got anything on and nothing indicative of warrior status aside from the weapons themselves, which is such a blatant contradiction of their own in-universe reason for her appearance. If she's so obsessed with looking like a warrior, why is she wearing almost nothing and her FA is a stereotypical "undressing by waterside" portrait? Actually I know why, it's in addition to stupid eye candy garbage to the convey that this is an act, that she's obsessed with being this perfect warrior but at the end of the day under that nonexistent armor is a human being like anyone else. The mask has to come off eventually...

...even though what she aspires to doesn't have to be inherently wrong or something to live in denial of. Which brings me to the last, and arguably even more damning aspect. She's portrayed as childishly wrong. They emphasize her anger as something along the lines of denying reality and "going through a phase" even if they state otherwise. They try and dress it up with materials and such but there's a very clear tone of bullheaded recklessness she's written with, like someone who won't admit they're wrong and instead pushes back violently against being challenged. She's portrayed as arrogant, not proud. She's portrayed as brash, not determined. She's portrayed as in denial, rather than rightfully frustrated. She's portrayed as if she's a stubborn child who is in the wrong, and her one true story role having her be...THAT in agartha really makes that even more overt.

Penth COULD be an amazing character as you and that post point out. She COULD be an absolute badass with her own identity and expand on her in a dozen different ways without losing anything. But they won't, because that's not their intention. They don't WANT to write her as the best character she could be because that would go against the perceived market they're trying to cater. They would never admit it, but she's written condescendingly. Because in the context of a waifu obsessed gacha, she is patronized simply by existing.

[antiloreolympus]

10 Anti LO Asks

1. i literally do not get how LO fans HATE PJO when the whole point of the first book was calling out the preconceived notion hades must be the bad guy and instead showing hes actually fine and later hes actually one of the best parents in the whole series?? like is it only because hxp isnt perfect in it and he slept around to have bianca and nico? because its legit myth canon persephone had a boytoy in adonis and minthe was hades' mistress while married so?? idk i think they should love it :/

2. if another writer wanted to create their own retelling of hellenic mythology, what would be some ways to connect with people actually practicing hellenism so as to not make the same mistakes as rachel ? i’m asking because i’ve seen people like that frequenting this blog at times.

3. i honestly hate LOs random injects of comedy, especially during what should be serious moments. how are we supposed to feel the gravity of the situation, the tension, the fear, the anger, etc when itll immediately be undercut by some quippy one liner? it feels like RS saw how "funny" people thought mcu movies were and thought "i can do that too!". i get its not as "lighthearted" as she wants, but she cant try to be a "deep social commentary" when she cant let any of it be taken seriously.

4. WHAT. DID RACHEL JUST. COMPLETELY REWRITE THE ASCLEPIUS MYTH TO DRAG APOLLO??? I AM SCREECHING

5. Your discord must have a lot of anti-lo art, are there members with a tumblr account? If so, would you tell us?

From OP: There are a good number of people with tumblrs there but I’m not going to share any yet. The last time I shared accounts of people I was associated with or just enjoyed, they got harassed. I will ask if I could share some of their accounts though.

-----FP Spoilers/Mention-----

6. FP spoiler 189: How could you do my girl, Eris, so bad like that Smythe? Good lord her design is atrocious, and wouldn’t it be better if she was the daughter of Nyx and Erebus given her design? How tf did Zeus and Hera have a child with wings?? Eris, honey, I’m so sorry you’ve been done so dirty, you deserve better than being a bald version of Hera

7. FP spoiler Episode 189: Oof, I have a lot to say about Eris.

First of all: Why is her design so freaking ugly? She looks like an apple with some limbs and wings. This is such an uncreative way to hint at her mythos. (Get it? She has an apple-head because she used an apple to cause chaos once, isn't that clever???)

Second, why is she here??? Legit, why did we need to bring her into the story??? Why did we need yet another plot-twist??? How much longer are we going to drag this trial out???? What, is Kronos going to take the stand next???

Third of all, why exactly is everyone so intimidated by her? She doesn't seem that strong and the only thing she's done so far is glare at people and demand everyone say what she wants them to say like a spoiled brat. Hades says they're afraid she'll air out the gods' dirty laundry, but it looks like she's doing that right now, even when they try and appease her? If you're so scared of her running her mouth, why not gag her or something and lock her away in Tartarus? You did it to Kronos and he's a freaking titan, you cannot tell me locking this snot-nosed apple-bird up would be more difficult.

Fouthly, are we seriously gonna blame Eris for Persephone's AOW now? Rachel noooo, the AOW is the only thing that made this version of Persephone interesting, don't take it away from her and make it another woman's fault!

Side note: Demeter being allowed to go off on dirtbag Zeus and his brothers was the only good thing in this chapter. In fact, Demeter was the only good thing about this chapter. She deserves so much better.

From OP: So true, Demeter! Plus, imagine having the potential to be queen of the mortal realm but couldn’t because Hades wanted the volcanoes?

8. FP SPOILERS

///

PLEASE SDKWJBWBSBZKWNWS CHAPTER 189 IS SO FUNNY ERIS LOOKS LIKE GOD-DAMNED CHICKEN I CRIED OUT LOUD WHEN I SAW HER HHSJWJQBWJQJQHHQ

Rachel never disappoints with her designs they're so hilarious

From OP: B A L D

9. Fp/ SERIOUSLY?! P just has to be perfect now even the aow is not her fault. Flawless uwu self insert. She owns nothing now, not even her body or feelings. Eris is much better fitted for dreadful queen. P has no agency on her own... She does nothing by herself of course she is queen perfect you can't have faults if you don't do bad abd you don't do bad things if you don't do anything at all....

From OP: No because this made me mad. I knew the feeling was going to be blamed but I didn’t expect a whole ass goddess to be behind it.

10. Fast Pass Mention //

.

.

.Oh wow turns out that Persephone is so perfect and special that she's been blessed with beauty twice and that's why she's so beautiful and every single male character loves her and wants her

From OP: That part made me cringe. Like bro, we get it. She’s beautiful. You don’t have to justify everyone simping for her by saying she got double blessed with beauty.

[bonesandthebees]

(2/2)

Greek mythology is so fun!! I absolutely cannot read Asclepius in my head, so I'm glad you didn't pick that lmao. But Apollo really does fit the entire vibe a lot better! Theseus is a good name, but I agree in that it doesn't feel fitting in this particular scenario. The amount of thought you put into your writing is so nice to see!

Conflicts, banter and any sort of back and forth conversations and dynamics are so fun to both read and write. A story without conflict feels incomplete! There has to be something to push forward the plot and character motivations, and if it's not a conflict doing so, then there's no reason for progression at all. Dialogues in particular are so so interesting because there's so many ways a conversation or argument could progress and while there's always an ideal scenario, humans aren't ideal people and it feels much more grounding to see it be a little haphazard. But above all for Tubbo, Ranboo and Tommy, I think you did it brilliantly!

Wilbur as a character is so intriguing because there's so many different avenues to explore, which multiple fics and renditions have done but there's still so much to it? Making the horrible decisions and being a flawed person, all while coming from a place of love is such a good way to describe it. And I completely agree, the weight of the resolution is so much more impactful if there's a lot it took to get there. It feels more meaningful, and it's a wonderful way to wrap it up <3

And ah, I didn't mean it to be as self deprecating as it came across! I like writing, and I try my best to do it as regularly as I can, but I am a student and fairly busy and it's hard for me to be able to write every single day. I've definitely not been writing for as long as you have, but I've been imagining and making up scenes in my head, and reading since I could even fathom the concept of a story. I'm not saying I'm absolutely horrible at writing, I'd like to think I've improved quite a bit from when I started off, but there's still a long way for me to go. Works like yours inspire me to work for the peak I one day hope to reach! I aim to be able to recreate the scenes as they are in my head and be able to tell a compelling narrative. Writing is gorgeous and I need to do it more often.

<3 Thank you for letting me ramble!! I'll bee (haha, get it) back soon enough

(P.S Good job Spruce anon!! Nice to meet you, and everyone else :D you're the reason I mustered up the courage to send in asks at all)

Have a good day, remember to hydrate! I like that I'm a snowflake telling people to drink H2O.

- ❄️

LMAOOO glad im not the only one who can't read asclepius in my head

character flaws... they're so fun to exploit. no character is perfect and that's what makes stories interesting. tommy's conflict with beeduo in clinic is directly what pushed him to getting closer to the syndicate as a whole. the two things coincided and that conflict is the reason we got the plot we got in the first place

wilbur is so complicated and there are so many facets to his character. you can pull bits of characterization from different 'eras' of wilbur too since he's gone through so much as a character and has changed over time

im so glad my works inspire you to keep writing!!! just overall try not to get too down on yourself, but i'm glad to hear you don't. it's all about practice. the more you practice, the easier it gets <3

[vapid-slut]

A Dove Reborn; Ch.1

Warning[s]: Character death, Mentions of violence, murder, demonic possession [kinda, eh yea]

Word Count: 1.7k

Summary: Reader, a catholic schoolgirl, is brought in as a sacrifice. It isn’t until she’s payed a visit in hell that she’s given a second chance at life and vengeance

A/N: This is my first michael fic so enjoy my shitty excuse for writing I’ve been think about writing this for awhile so I really you like it. Whoever you may be [this blog is a ghost town]. Also there may be some typos because it’s late and a bitch is lazy. xoxo, go piss girl

Darkness.

That's all you saw as your limp body dragged across what felt like wood. You cried out, hoping someone would have the heart to help you. Instead, they laughed at your naiveness. Before you could think any longer, a voice interrupted your thoughts. "This is y/n she has devoted her entire life to being a good little christian. Pathetic." The woman spoke with hatred in her voice as you heard others make noises of disapproval and disdain. Your breath was shaking, you knew there was little hope for you, they didn't care about you or your life, and why should they? After all, you were just a shy little girl whose own family sent her away to a convent to get rid of her.

The skin on your body crawled as you felt the burning stares of everyone gawking at your practically naked form. The woman continued to go on about how silly you were for choosing to believe in a god who couldn't even protect you now, her voice overlapping with your screams and pleas. "Well, let's not waste any more time. The honor of tonight's sacrifice shall go to one of our newest members, Jim." If you were uncertain of your fate before, this solidified it. Tonight was the night you were doing to die.

You pleaded for your life though it was ineffective, your body tensed as you felt a hand across your face remove a few stray hairs. Before you knew it, the blade held along your neck glided with ease, your eyes began to tear as you took what would be your last few breaths. There, on the floor, your once pure body laid lifeless, upper half drenched in your blood.

Eventually, the group of heinous worshippers dispersed, some going off to eat, others making their way home. All of them seemingly unbothered by the presence of your corpse. Having your body on display for everyone to see was truly humiliating. You were to be gawked at, mocked, and then forgotten. The story of your life, no one had ever taken you seriously. Your mother hated you the moment she birthed you. Your father never stayed long enough for you to remember him. With all the time you had spent laying there, your body began releasing a foul odor, making it clear that you had to go.

The blue-eyed boy towered over your figure, his head turning slightly to face the much shorter woman with hair like that of a raven. "What would you like me to do with her, Michael?" The woman named Ms.Mead asked with a calmness to her voice, almost as if she did this often. Michael sighed, letting his shoulders fall slightly. "It's such a shame she would've made a great pet." He paused, taking a breath. "Bury her or throw her in the river for all I care, whichever is easiest." He said sternly as the woman nodded, the blonde turned on his heels to exit the once full room. 

-----

You woke up from felt like an eternal sleep. Rubbing your eyes to look around the room, it all felt familiar. The soft lilac walls and crisply made bed, this was your home. Albeit one you hadn't seen in a long time. It had been almost seven years since your mother dropped you off at a convent. You observed the room with confusion, wondering why you were here.

Suddenly the door opened, revealing your strung-out mother. Your head tilted in confusion. "M-mom?" You reached to touch her, but out of nowhere, she raised the back of her hand to strike you across the face. You brought your hand to your cheek, eyes welling up with tears until suddenly she froze. 

Everything was happening so suddenly that you cowered in fear as another woman entered the room, dressed in white, she flashed you a smile. The girl reached to hold your hand, but you immediately flinched. "Don't worry. I'm not going to hurt you." She said, her voice soft and calming. You rubbed the tears away from your eyes and took hold of her warm hand. "Who are you. W-where am I?" The girl helped you to your feet. "My name is Mallory, right now you're in hell. But I'm here to take you back t-" Before she could finish, a dark figure walked in. "Ah, ah, ah. You don't get to break satans rules, my love."  The man appeared with strawberry blonde hair and green eyes.

"Asclepius, this isn't any of your concern," Mallory said, letting go of my hand as she inched closer to the man. "It is actually, I too have been tasked with bringing Y/N back to the mortal realm." You watched as the two bickered as if you weren't in their presence, tired of sitting around like a church mouse, you decided to speak up. "Okay, what the fuck are you talking about?!" The two turned to look at you, almost shocked that you had interrupted them. Asclepius sighed before stepping closer to you. "This might seem hard for you to comprehend, but you're dead. Your purity made you a viable sacrifice for satan." He paused for a moment, reading the confusion on your face. "This place is hell."

You scoffed, finding his comment ridiculous. That was until you remembered the darkness, the voice of that wretched woman, and the coldness of the knife. "Holy shit." You said, your head falling as you realize your predicament. "So, what do you two want from me?" Mallory turned on her heels. "Well, I was sent to retrieve your soul and bring it back to your mortal body until he showed up." Asclepius rolled his eyes at the brunette, annoyed by her response. "My boss, satan, has been displeased with his son's work. He thinks you'd be a fine companion, someone to give him a push to bring about the end times."

All of this sounded insane. It was simply too much to process. Mallory could sense the fear coming off of you. "Good thing is that won't happen, so long as I have a say in it." She reached to hold your face as a form of comfort. But before you could react,  her body fell limp as the red-haired man retrieved his arm from her back, her heart in his hand as you shrieked in terror. "Shhh Y/N, there is no need to fear me, soon you'll be back to normal soon." His voice overlapped with the hissing of snakes as they slithered towards you.

There was no place to run, so instead you back into one of the four corners of the room, even then, you knew it was useless. Pain pierced through your skin as the vipers sank their teeth into your skin, venom mixing with your blood. You tried to scream, but nothing left your throat, your mind slowly fading in and out of consciousness. The man gave you a half-hearted smile. "Send Michael my regards." And with that, your world faded to black once again.

-----

The skin on your body began to prune, given the countless days you had spent floating in the river. Suddenly your heart began to beat as blood rushed through your veins, your eyes opened, the water starting to irritate them. You mustered up what little strength you had left and made your way to the surface, gasping for air.

Swimming was never your strong suit, but you noticed that there was land nearby, so used your bit of energy to make sure you got there. Once you reached the dry land, your body fell, your back making contact with the soil. You wanted nothing more than to sleep. But something caught your attention, a scent. One you weren't all that accustomed to, you felt something within, almost as if your body was fighting itself.

Your body acted against you as you stood, drawing closer to the smell. As you crept, the voices become much more vivid. One, in particular, was much too familiar. "This sacrifice is much more special than anyone we've done before." You thought for a moment, and your mind brought you back to the night you lost your life, your cries and pleas ignored just like the unlucky girl they had chosen tonight. 

You yearned to do something, but you were no match for them. That was until you watched as your skin went pale, bits of it turned to scales. Part of you was horrified, but part of you relished in this new power. Before you made a move, you heard a much deeper voice speak. "I sense something, someone, a  powerful presence." Suddenly your body was completely taken over. Your once [y/e/c] eyes had now turned to a crimson red. Without thought, you suddenly appeared behind one of the cloaked figures, something you weren't aware you could do till now.

All the rage and bloodlust inside of you reached a boil. As your arm plunged into the woman's chest, you retrieved your hand to find her heart in it, and with no hesitation, you took a bite. The look of shock on everyone's face was pure bliss. You stood, wearing nothing but the underwear you had on the night of your death, covered in blood. Many of the cult members attempted to stop you, but it proved useless as you swiftly discarded them.

The few worshippers that remained had fled, hoping to keep their lives. All that was left were the corpses and Michael, along with Ms. Mead. The blonde boy gave a look of astonishment. Before anyone could break the silence, your skin reverted back to its previous form, the red in your eyes fading as your body fell to the ground. Michael approached you, kneeling to be closer to your face, cupping your chin, now drenched in blood. 

"Magnificent, my father must have sent you." His face formed a wicked smile. You were far too weak to respond and watched as he removed his cloak and placed it over your cold body. With that, he scooped you into his arms, continuing to burn into you with his gaze.

His voice was smooth and mellow as he whispered into your ear. "Let's get you home." You shook your head in disapproval and tried to push yourself off of him, but there was no point. It was clear who had the upper hand. Slowly your consciousness began to fade once again. It was clear how exhausted you were, and eventually, you drifted into a slumber. Your fate left in the hands of a man who watched you die.

----

okay wow can’t believe i actually finished a fic for the first time, this feels great! I hope you enjoyed, let me know if you wanna be tag okay toodles!

[samtheflamingomain]

more like the hypocratic oath

Fuck the Hippocratic Oath.

I've always loved to memorize things from a young age. I'm 26, and I still see the same doctor that saw my mother 10 years before my birth. So I've spent a LOT of time in her waiting room, unchanged for decades. She has a weird obsession with lighthouses. Also, a framed text of the Hippocratic Oath on the wall.

Being the only thing to read in the room, over the years, I kind of accidentally memorized it. It's shorter than most people think.

It's never really been useful. Whenever it would come up in conversation I'd sometimes say "did you know that 'First do no harm' isn't actually in the Oath?" but most people didn't believe me. I didn't really care. It never came up, and it was never really important.

But this week alone I've read 6 references to the Oath in the news, had 3 conversations about it, and had to nope out of countless Reddit threads, all along these same lines:

"Why can't we lower the priority of anti-vaxxers who need to be in the ICU?" The Hippocratic Oath, of course! First, do no harm. Second, triage according to whoever needs the most care the most urgently. Third, forget the first two because neither of those things, not even in sentiment, are in the Oath.

There's a LOT of people who seem to have been indoctrinated into following a dogma they don't even know the contents of. They hear "Hippocratic Oath" and instantly think "First, do no harm" and then stop there. Because we think we know the gist. "Don't wield your power of being a doctor to become an evil monster." You should be right, but you're not.

If we're going to argue medical ethics, let's see what this amazing oath is really all about.

It starts out pretty normal. Swearing to Apollo. "[A]nd Asclepius, by Hygieia, by Panacea, and by all the gods and goddesses". Normal stuff. Oh, your doctor doesn't believe in Apollo? Breaking the Oath.

But then we get to the good stuff. Y'know what's so important that the Hippocratic Oath decided to address it directly and by name? Abortion. As in, "I will not give to a woman a pessary to cause abortion". Forget what a pessary is, it's an ancient medical device. So, the entire profession of performing abortions? Breaking the Oath.

But hey, abortion's a touchy subject. What about something as neutral as kidney stones? Well, "I will not use the knife, not even, verily, on sufferers from [kidney]stone[s]". Weird how if I were to walk into an ER with a kidney stone the size of a kidney bean they'd cut it out. With a knife. Verily. Breaking the Oath.

It's not all bad or oddly specific. The last bit basically says "If I walk into your house, I won't abuse you, even if you're a slave." How kind! And lastly, patient confidentiality. The end.

...Except, the Oath was rewritten in 1964. It cut out the abortion and kidney stone bits and comes in the form of modern English. Since it's not too long and wordy like the original, here's the full text of the "modern" Hippocratic Oath: (I'm cutting the first and last lines that just say 'here's the oath' and 'that was the oath', emphasis is mine to talk about after.)

"I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow.

"I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism.

"I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon's knife or the chemist's drug.

"I will not be ashamed to say "I know not", nor will I fail to call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient's recovery.

"I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know. Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. If it is given me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life; this awesome responsibility must be faced with great humbleness and awareness of my own frailty. Above all, I must not play at God.

"I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person's family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick.

"I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure.

"I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm."

Let's work backwards. The last line I emphasized because I think it comes closest to being a good argument for why anti-vaxxers should be allowed to clog up our ICUs. Doctors have "special obligations" (which isn't specific enough for me) to all humans, even the "infirm". At a glance it seems like this says "Doctors have to help people who are well as well as those who are ill" but "sound of mind" really jumped out at me. To me, it is not of sound mind to be anti-vaccine. If "infirm" is the opposite of "sound of mind", then anti-vaxxers are entitled, like all humans, to whatever "special obligations" the doctors have. Like I said, I don't find that phrase specific enough for me to accept this as an argument, but it does come close. If we define "special obligations" as "the obligation to provide medical care", then yes, put all anti-vax Covid patients in the ICU. But "special obligations" could just as well mean "the obligation to put the needs of the many over the needs of the few", which is supported by the statement's previous allusion to being a member of society, in which case, kick those fuckers out on the street.

The second point I highlighted just because this was written by and for America, and somehow they remain the only developed nation where one's "economic stability" is absolutely never taken into consideration.

Finally, my big closer. Life and death. "If I manage to save a life, great, cool. But also sometimes I'm allowed to kill people. No, I will not elaborate".

But it has another meaning: "As a doctor, sometimes I will necessarily have to kill people." This is simply one of those times. I'm serious. If not now, when?

I highlighted the very first line because I think it sets the tone for the entire Oath, and because I believe that actively choosing to treat anti-vaxxers instead of people with "lesser" problems, that choosing to allocate ICUs to people who spit on your science is violating the directive to follow the "hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps I walk". I can't imagine a 1940s TB nurse being teleported to present day, informed about Covid, taking a look at our hospitals and saying "well done".

It's a good thing it doesn't actually say "do no harm", because the Oath itself has violated that directive. As Ontario's ICUs continue to rise, doctors continue to harm society because they think triage is part of the Oath. It's not. Stop pretending it's anything more than a contract you sign when you work at fuckin McDonalds and you promise not to make dumb Tik Toks at work. Every job has its moral standards. Doctors have one of the most ethically and morally difficult jobs on the planet, yet we treat medical ethics as a settled matter.

The original was written in 275AD. It was rewritten 60 years ago. Maybe let's not wait another millennium to fix this glaring problem that isn't going to go away. In the meantime, let's try and work from actual facts and not what we think we know. A tall order these days unfortunately.

Stay Greater, Flamingos.

[fullsunalicia]

Hello! I love your writing it’s so captivating and it’s really getting me through this quarantine I just binged everything you’ve written in one day. I was wondering if you could maybe write a demigod au for taeyong?

guardian angels — LTY

taeyong isn’t exactly the picture-perfect son of ares, but that doesn’t stop him from standing up for you after a particularly nasty fight with your ex. hidden behind his soft eyes is the fervor to protect those who cannot protect themselves - like you, the helpless girl who’s only born to help and heal.

son of ares!taeyong x daughter of asclepius!reader

hello love! i’m glad my stories offer a little bit of entertainment during rather boresome times, i hope you stay healthy and enjoy demigod taeyong 🤍

Taeyong is the kind of demigod where you have to look twice to pin-point his heritage.

Often, he’s thought to be a son of Zeus, Mark’s older brother by four years. Sometimes people even assume he’s the son of Terpsichore, because he studies dancing and captivates the entire audience with just the flick of his wrist. He’s graceful and dainty, and not at all like his siblings.

That’s only because they don’t know that Taeyong lets himself be swayed every once in a while. Drunk on the feeling of anger clouding his mind, his heart pumping quickly to match the fervor of his movements. The second people see the busted knuckles and the fire in his eyes, they never think of any other god.

Taeyong is the son of Ares through and through.

He’s learnt to channel his fury into his work, lost in the movement of a smooth body roll, pushing himself to his boundaries and beyond to challenge himself. Temper? Non-existent. Taeyong is as calm as it gets. More often, he has to hold back his best friend from getting into fights rather than doing it himself.

Oh, but when he does. Soft eyes harden into diamonds. Every punch, every swing is carefully calculated. He hits the target every time.

There are two occasions on which Taeyong feels alive. In the middle of a dance medley, or when bones crack beneath his fingers and the blood pools between his hands.

The difference between him and other children of Ares is his reason to fight. Taeyong doesn’t let loose because of stupid insults or backhanded comments. The only reason he gets into fights is to protect those who cannot protect themselves. For the sake of others. Never for his own gain.

He just can’t look away. Not when you’re being cornered despite you pleading the other person to leave you alone, gaze lowered because of your fear.

Taeyong pushes through the crowd. It parts like the sea to make way for him; they recognize the look in his eyes, and no one wants to get between that. They’re more intelligent than the dude who’s trying to trap you against the wall right now, and he yelps pathetically when Taeyong grabs the back of his jacket and forces him back.

Taeyong doesn’t miss your sigh of relief the second the stranger is removed from you. He watches as you move to cower behind him, and he steps infront of you to cover your frame completely.

His kind of fight is not the one where he thinks much about it - it’s dominated by instincts, heat and the certainness of winning. Taeyong is born to slice through armies, to be the last man standing. Memories of his father etching the art of war inside his mind have not been clouded by the many years that have passed. You could say it was getting clearer the older Taeyong gets, as he starts to understand and put words into action. The stranger doesn’t faze him not one bit.

“What the hell, man?” the dude growls. He cracks his knuckles, as if he was able to win against Taeyong. It makes Taeyong smile, really - the only occasion where’d you catch him being smug. “Get out of my way, dude. I don’t wanna accidentally hurt you.”

“How about no?” Taeyong raises his head and looks the person straight in the eyes. Below his skin, his blood starts to boil, the fury flooding his senses. Claiming his birthright feels so much better when he’s doing it for a good reason. It’s easy to get intoxicated from your own emotions, be lured by the hormones that control your body. But that’s what humans do, and not demigods of war. Just because he’s not Ares’ favorite son doesn’t mean he can tarnish his father’s reputation. After all, there are several children of Athena just waiting for him to slip up so they can mock him. “It is very nice of you to not want to hurt me. But I assure you, if you don’t leave her alone, I’ll deliberately break your hands.”

He must be a mortal. The promise Taeyong makes him only tugs loud laughter out of him, roaring over the music. Exceptionally annoying. Taeyong only smiles, innocent and giddy, disorienting his enemy. As gorgeous as a flower. As deadly as the cobra hiding beneath it. Behind him, you clutch the shirt clinging Taeyong’s back. Your fingers are trembling.

What did that jerk do to you to be so afraid?

Thankfully, said jerk throws the first punch. Taeyong avoids it with ease, pushing you along so you aren’t hurt in his place. With quick movements, Taeyong grabs the hand that intended to ruin his face and turns it, dislocating the bones keeping everything in place.

The smile on his lips widens at the anguished yells of the unknown man. It’s music to his ears, his favorite sound on earth. No matter how hidden, his power is firmly rooted into his bones and his being, impossible to be wiped away. There’s no use lying about it; Taeyong will never be able to deny his love for the victory of a fight rushing through his veins, the pleasure of inflicting pain on others. “That’s one,” Taeyong purrs. He lets go of the limp hand and thrusts it against the stranger’s chest, letting him fall back against the wall he tried to pin you against. “Would you like to keep the other?”

The next punch meets its’ target.

It’s his own fault for getting lost in the feeling of the fight, really. The strobe lights are getting exceptionally bothersome, and in the split second the club had darkened and he was forced to rely on his senses, the stranger had struck. The sound was sickening, not nearly as satisfying as when Taeyong was causing it. This kind of anger was not pleasant, but easily used as fuel to the fire. He only regrets scaring you because he got hit. Taeyong clutches his nose, the grin firmly etched on his lips. His knuckles tingle.

This is going to be fun.

❀ ❀ ❀

“I’m sorry you had to witness that.” Taeyong’s apology is genuine, the hint of regret hiding in his pleasant voice. He winces not once as you clean up the cuts on his face because of the fight, eyes fixed on your pretty face. He hadn’t been able to look at you properly inside the nightclub, but now the light of a street lamp illuminated your features. You’re beautiful, heartstoppingly so. In the soft shine of the moonlight, you almost look like an angel, sent to treat his after-battle wounds. Usually, he had to do that himself in the comfort of his own bath. Your careful hands are much more preferable. “I thought he’d get the hint and leave you alone. He didn’t hurt you, did he?”

“No,” you mumble. Thank the gods, you don’t look afraid of him. The worry in your eyes softens his heart and chases away any trace of the overwhelming power rush he experienced, and all he wants is to take your hands into his and apologize again. You look so ... frail. Like porcelain. Fine china. Taeyong wants to hold you and hide you away so no one can ever scare you like that ever again. “I’m just upset it escalated like that. I mean, he deserves it, but you didn’t. I wish you wouldn’t have gotten hurt just because of me. It’s all my fault you’re bruised now.”

“Don’t say that.” This time, he does reach for your wrists. You stop cleaning the blood on his upper lip to look him in the eyes, and Taeyong has to remind himself to breathe. Never had it struck him so suddenly, the feeling of awe quickening his pulse as he looked back.

All his life, he had never been drunk in love. But he certainly understands the idiom now. You are so easy to get lost in - as intoxicating as a drug, the urge to get addicted to you numbing his mind. The heavy blush painting your cheeks. Distracting lips curving into a smile in response to him grinning at you. The sight of you is surreal. If you hadn’t told him about your father, Taeyong would’ve guessed you were a child of Aphrodite.

You finally look away, breaking Taeyong out of his stunned daze. “Sorry, I just feel guilty,” you mumble. You try to touch him carefully, clinically, so you don’t hurt him even more, but he only keeps smiling at you as you fix his mess. The feeling of you using your power on him feels soothing. Kind of indescribable. Magic had its’ own kind of feeling. It’s certainly different than his, atleast.

Would it be disrespectful to ask for your number?

“There, all done.” You lean away when you finish, and Taeyong tries to avoid shuddering as the warmth leaves with you. It’s been a long time since another body kept him warm. Even though Taeyong tells you he’s alright, you try and help him up. Your hands send electric currents up his skin wherever you touch. He likes the feeling of that. “Do you think you need help to get back to your dorms? I could call a friend to help.”

“Oh, no.” He waves you off. Did you really think he was going to let you walk him home? Just for you to wander in the darkness, with no one to protect you? “I won’t be able to sleep soundly tonight if I don’t make sure you get home safe. If it’s alright with you, I’d like to walk you. Or atleast pay your cab.”

You look at him for a very long time. Sometimes, Taeyong asks himself what people see when they look into his eyes and forget the godly heritage. Would they still respect him? “I’d like that a lot,” you confess then, smile on your lips. For the first time during this evening, you actually look comfortable with where you are.

Comfortable enough to let Taeyong intertwine your fingers. Your head resting on his arm is just the cherry on top.

As he walks you home with your directions, you fill the silence with random questions about the other. He learns about your major(medicine, of course), your list of favorites, where you would like to go in the future. Even though you have a shy appearance, words come to you easy. Taeyong catches himself quieting down just to be able to listen to your voice without any hindrance. The second you notice, you force him to talk until you’re satisfied with the shade of red dusting over his cheeks. It has to atleast match the own on your face.

At the end of the night, Taeyong is one cellphone number richer and a single kiss on the cheek closer to heaven. Baby steps.

❀ ❀ ❀

“You are glued to your phone all the damn time.” Jaehyun snatches the phone out of Taeyong’s hands and hides it in his pockets. Though there’s no reason to, his younger friend pouts and crosses his arms infront of his chest. “Did you finally download Tinder? Behind my back? And I told you not to do that without my help! Do you want me to doom your relationship?”

In a way, Jaehyun is just like his mother. Dramatic. Thinks they are responsible for relationships when everyone just goes to Eros for advice. Can’t keep their hands to themselves. In moments like these, it’s especially noticeable.

Taeyong has known him for a very long time, long before they both even cared about their bloodline. They taught each other a lot, and learnt together. In Jaehyun, Taeyong found the brother he never had, sinde he doesn’t get along very well with the rest of the Ares children. Well, there are a few exceptions. But no one’s ever looked Taeyong in the eyes and spoke honestly of how much they love him. That they’re happy to have him in their life. That they wish to be brothers forever.

Jaehyun has.

Of course it’s a given that Jaehyun is affectionate, but he’s not only that. It would be shallow to cast away all of his good qualities. The vulnerability he shows towards the people he trusts and treasures, the openness to accept anything and everything about someone. Taeyong’s very lucky to have him.

Sighing, he reaches for his phone in Jaehyun’s back pocket, but the man just slaps his hand away. “Don’t touch my no-no square,” Jaehyun deadpans. “Answer my question and you’ll get it back.”

“No-no square.” The mock drips from Taeyong’s voice. “Why in the name of all twelve Olympians would I download Tinder? Now give that back, Jaehyun, before I get it back in a way you won’t like.”

“Tell me who you’re texting first.”

“You’re so nosy.” Taeyong pouts and kicks Jaehyun in the side, who only shrugs. This is a common occurrence. Bothering Taeyong, atleast. If he doesn’t give Jaehyun the attention he craves, he’ll just get it himself. It seems like children of Aphrodite die the second they aren’t adored all the time. “It’s a girl I met at a party, okay? And she’s really nice, too. So I don’t want to mess this up.”

His best friend laughs and messes up his hair. A second later, his phone is returned, and Jaehyun turns around to get a snack from the kitchen. It’s almost scary how fast his attention is diverted. “So you have a crush? Gotcha.”

“Not a crush.”

“Don’t argue with me, I literally just used my powers on you.”

“Jaehyun!”

The man shrugs his shoulders. “Couldn’t resist. Anyways, what are you gonna do? Did you ask her out yet? I heard about this cute restaurant a few blocks away from where you work...”

But how would Taeyong ask you out? He’s way too shy to do that, and you are so pretty that you make him nervous the second you bat your eyelashes at him. If you’d ask Taeyong about war, he could tell you several hundred strategies to kill a man without using a weapon, but concerning love, he’s absolutely clueless.

If to love is to conquer, then maybe he has a chance. Of course only if he gets it together and grows some balls to ask you out, first.

❀ ❀ ❀

“Now open wide. You promised me to atleast try it.”

Taeyong grins, fingers tightly interlocked with your free hand. “I didn’t realize you’d force me so cutely, though?” he coos, effectively coaxing the blush out of you he craved to see. He has seen a lot of beautiful things in the world, but you top them all. You’re the Helen he has always been looking for. For the entire date, he hadn’t been able to take his eyes off you.

That’s right. A date.

If it hadn’t been for Jaehyun, maybe he’d still be sitting alone at home, daydreaming about you. Thankfully, his best friend had forced him to make a move, and even helped with the nerves. (There’s an advantage to having a child of Aphrodite as your closest friend.)

You’re all dressed up, so prettily he wants to kiss you. Never does his attention stray from you, no matter what you talk about, or what you do. The happiness you radiate makes him giddy, aswell. Before this, he’d been a little stressed due to the upcoming competition and the exams he had still yet to receive grades from.

You’re the best kind of remedy. He hopes you know that.

The sugary treat on the fork you offer him tastes more fruity than artifical, even though he’d expected it to be the opposite. You’re satisfied with his reaction, laughing loudly at the suprised face he pulls. “I told you, it tastes better than you expect. It’s my favorite cake from this café. I haven’t been here for long, though.”

“Why? It’s so good.” Taeyong accepts another bite you feed him almost too happily, but your expression drops after the question. As an apology, he swipes his thumb over the back of your hand. He hadn’t meant to upset you, or overstep his boundaries.

You lower your head. “My ex-boyfriend told me I’d get fat if I came so often. So he forbade me to go.”

If you weren’t holding his hand right now, Taeyong would explode. In a sudden rush, he longs to tear your ex apart limb from limb, and he breathes in deeply to stop himself from losing his mind. It’s been a long, long time since Taeyong had to hold on to his sanity so tightly. “He said what?” the man hisses as he pulls you closer, cake long forgotten. You fit into his arms perfectly, finding solace in his embrace as you rest your head on his shoulders. “(y/n), do not let anybody tell you what to do. You are your own person, and only you should be in control of yourself. Whether you want to frequent that café or not isn’t anyone’s business but yours.”

“Thank you,” you mumble. He wonders if this is how his father felt, many aeons ago, as he cradled Aphrodite to his chest and vowed to protect her. Undying love born out of lust and passion, a sweet secret wellkept for the better part of a century. Like Aphrodite had done to Ares, you have touched Taeyong’s heart and exposed it to the world, soul laid bare for everyone to see. Yet, you never think about hurting it. You cradle it in your careful hands and treat it like the most precious treasure you’ve ever seen.

Love is so powerful. How could it not belong to war, aswell? It swayed thousands, urging warriors and the weak likewise as to guard those who guard their hearts. It takes away all reason, only giving room to protect and to shield.

You and him, you’re very much alike.

You create galaxies inside Taeyong’s soul by kissing him. With your kiss, you offer him everything you have. Why? Because you know he’ll hide it forever, for no one else to see and touch. After all, it’s the same you receive from him. You’re the only one to know about an Ares child’s weakness.

Love tastes like artificial sugar and cherry coke, strangely unhealthy for someone who claims to be the daughter of Asclepius. Taeyong can’t resist, though. Your hooks have firmly driven into his heart and soul, sealing the deal forever, never to be erased.

Under the light of a thousand stars and the rising moon, witness to your bond, you let Taeyong pull you close and kiss you until you forget why you were ever upset.

❀ ❀ ❀

Taeyong will never, ever disobey you again. It’s not like he did it on purpose, since you didn’t order him around, anyway. It was a plead that fell on deaf ears as you wrapped your arms around his neck, plush lips tracing his jugular vein.

“Stay home, Tae. You have to work early in the morning...”

Eyes shouldn’t look so seductive. And it should be forbidden to be as addicting as you are. Sweet lips, soft curves below his fingers. Loud, drawn out moans when he finds that special spot. You are temptation, to the blood, to the bone. Every single thing about you screams “love me”, and Taeyong wants to do nothing else than lay you down and spend hours reminding you of why he does indeed that.

You also make the perfect hangover cure. Figuratively, and literally. There’s always a bowl of freshly prepared food waiting for him in the morning, coupled with some aspirin and cold water. He doesn’t know why you bother. The second he pouts and groans from his headaches, you pepper kisses all over his face, soothing magic etching into his cells as you work your medical wonders on him. It’s a great thing your father is the god of medicine.

He doesn’t know whether you’ll help him this time, though.

Taeyong’s nose is clearly broken. As his instincts push into overdrive, his own powers come to life beneath his skin to help him withstand this fight. He’s barely aware of what’s going on. A split lip, some broken bones - hey, he’s just helping you with your upcoming exam at this point. Ha, ha...

There’s nothing funny about your ex busting his face in at the club. In the single moment where Jaehyun abandoned him to make out with his girlfriend, this asshole managed to find Taeyong in a dark corner to beat him up. For dating “his girl”. Maybe this guy’s delusional.

Didn’t he see the marks Taeyong left all over you? Does he not know it’s Taeyong name you sigh in bliss?

He should fight back. He knows he can finish your ex off and leave him to die. But he made you a promise to not get into fights if he can’t help it, and that’s why Taeyong only avoids the many swings thrown his way. There’s already an audience gathered around them both, only a matter of seconds until Jaehyun returns and does the job for him. Jaehyun may look all cutesy and soft, but there’s a reason his girlfriend calls him a muscle pig.

It’s not Jaehyun who saves his ass. Someone slams their fingers into a specific spot on your ex’s throat, and the guy’s eyes roll back, dropping to the ground almost immediately. The sight is comical; you, standing over the asshole as you furrow your brows and examine Taeyong’s face. “Why’d you let him do that?”

“I made you a promise. Duh,” he clicks his tongue, big grin on his face. As if he wasn’t bloody all over and his entire face was pulsating. “What did you even do to him?”

“Pressure points. Learnt about those way before I studied medicine.” You step over your ex’s boyfriend to grab Taeyong’s hand and lead him out of the crowd that was watching the fight, your fingers strangely cold in his own. You must have just arrived; that explains the frost-bitten cheeks. “Taeyong, I didn’t force you to promise me so you could get beat up. I’m just worried about you, and you can’t win every fight. You would’ve won this one, though.” He can’t himself from dropping a peck on your lips, despite the frown adorning your face, his blood salty on your tongue as you swipe it over your lower lip. “Yuck,” you mumble absentmindetly.

“I didn’t want to fight him. I was enjoying the free comedy show he gave.”

You sigh. It’s almost reminiscent, the way you sit him down to swipe your healing fingers over his swollen face. A year ago, he had protected you like this. Now, you’re returning the favor. You look just as stunning as before. Maybe even more beautiful. Whatever it is, you’re out of this world. “You’re crazy,” you mumble.

Taeyong laughs. His hands find your waist, and he tugs you between his legs to have you closer. The moon makes a pretty good lighting for your pretty face. “No, I just know you’d never let anything happen to me,” he says. For the first time, his heart isn’t racing because of the fervor of a fight. It beats for you, every single pump, for the rest of his life. “My guardian angel.”

You don’t mind the taste of blood in your mouth now when you kiss him. After all, that’s what you have to get accustomed to when you’re dating a son of Ares.

[kkairosclerosis]

uncommon things i associate my deities with~

hi guys! im back from a quick hiatus! 

i recently moved to the city, but not too far from where i lived previously in the country. living in the city, however, is proving to be a bit more difficult then i had imagined, so ive been taking some weekends to go back home and ground myself again so i can feel more connected to my craft<3.

anyways, this morning, i was sitting on the porch of my parents farmhouse, looking out onto the sunset as my idiot dog ran laps around the frost-covered lawn, feeling more connected to my deities than i had in weeks. i decided, ‘hey, here a nice post idea. maybe ill talk abt the things i associate with my deities that others might not, and hopefully inspire them to as well!’ so, here it is! 

uncommon things i associate my deities with!

hermes——««

if this isnt your first time on my blog, you probably know: hermes is my patron. he has been for a while, even before i began to worship him. if you want to know more about why, check out this post. 

regardless, you can imagine that i hold very dear everything i associate with him.

in this case, it’s my dog. 

my dog is an...interesting border collie named oliver. i got into hellenic worship very shortly after getting him, and i have a very strong feeling he has a lot to do with it. 

i am thoroughly convinced my dog is a child of hermes. hes chaotic, but extremely smart. very, very fast, and spends hours running out in the yard. just running. nothing else. its even more intense when its windy, which, if you read the aforementioned post, you know that i associate the wind heavily with hermes. hermes is also the god of animal husbandry, and oliver is quite the farm animal. 

watching him run, i always get a strong sense of comfort. i know that the energy of hermes resides in him, its very clear. its almost as if his running brings the wind.  like hes running, and hermes says ‘hey, that looks fun! let me join!’ 

i, very regularly, ask for hermes protection of oliver. i do this because i know of the love hermes has for him. i can feel it. it makes me comfortable knowing hes safe while im not home with him. and i can tell it makes oliver feel safe as well.

aphrodite——««

aphrodite has always been dear to me, even before i started actually worshipping. i remember reading about her in the mythology books i frequented in the art room after i finished my projects, carrying them out to the field to just sit and read. she was an embodiment of beauty to me, and that has not changed since, so its natural that i associate her with one of the things i find most beautiful on this plane of existence: clouds.

when i was thinking of writing this post, i was sitting and looking at a cloudless sky. i was thinking: why is it that we most often consider a cloudless sky beautiful? is it because of the absence of ‘blemish?’ does a cloud signify a flaw? must all beautiful things be completely clear, or without mark? 

obviously, i thought this was ridiculous. clouds are so very dear to me. i mean, i have an entire album of photos on my phone of pictures of clouds i have taken. i have always been enamored. 

while i was pondering this, it hit me. beauty is unique. beauty is individual. thats exactly what aphrodite is about. these ‘marks’ in the sky are what make the sky beautiful to me. aphrodite is in these ‘blemishes’ because i find them beautiful. 

now, i dont mean to wrap this up in a corny way, but i encourage the people reading this to think this way about themselves. beauty is in your imperfections because they make you you. i have not seen one cloud that looks exactly like another i have seen, and thats exactly what makes them so beautiful to me. aphrodite loves all of you, and someone else does as well, so do not disrespect them by being mean to yourself. their idea of beauty is not misconstrued, so trust them. and if you dont think someone thinks your beautiful, know that i do<3.

apollo——««

apollo, to me, has always been sort of an enigma. i have a harder time interpreting his signs, especially recently, and i think that its particularly because of my recent falling out with my creative side. i have sort of abandoned my art, and it think its difficult for him to communicate with me through anything else.

one thing, however, i can feel him in is the sound of the birds in the morning. particularly, roosters.

as i mentioned before, my parents live on a farm. its natural to hear roosters first thing in the morning. some people find it annoying, but to me, its incredibly comforting. it means another morning has come. i’ve lived another day, and i have a whole new one to look forward to, until i hear the rooster the next morning. it means the sun is rising, and apollo rises with him. 

as a witch who particularly enjoys the sunrise, but has a hard time waking up to see it, the roosters serve as a sort of natural alarm clock. even if i do not physically get up to see the sunrise, i know it is happening, and i am awake for that first moment of dawn. it brings me comfort and a sense of small accomplishment, even on really difficult days.

and the days im in the city, and cant hear the roosters, its the morning songs of the birds in the part right next to my apartment building. this might be even more so, as apollo is the god of music. 

its a different type of comfort to wake up to the chill of the morning and hear the birds, knowing its a deity that loves me and wants to see me the next morning as well. i hope you, dearest reader, come to feel the same:).

asclepius——««

now, i haven’t talked about this much on this blog, but to me, asclepius has been such a pillar for me as of recent. with the pandemic and my own current health situation, i rely on him a lot for hope and support. i ask him to protect both me and my friends and family from illness or ailment, and in case of ailment, i ask him to facilitate a speedy recovery. thus far, he has never failed me, and i do not ever expect him to. i put my trust in him wholly. 

other than health, i find myself associating asclepius with cleanliness. while i see asclepius as the medic, i also see him as someone who is clean and organized. this is why i associate him with dewdrops.

now, bear with me in my explanation. morning dew, to me, feels clean. it feels almost pure, as it is one of the first forms of moisture a person can be met with during the day. 

picture it now. you wake up at sunrise, and venture out into your yard, the chill of the am just tickling at your face, cooling your nose to the touch. you take your first step off of the deck, and your bare feet sink into the grass, cold, and now wet from the dew. the feeling is shocking at first, as your feet get used to the new temperature, fresh out of the warm comfort of your blanket that sits invitingly on your bed inside. 

but the feeling is fresh. its grounding. its healing. 

that, to me, is how asclepius feels. 

sobek——««

i must be honest, sobek is the reason this post came to existence. i feel extremely strong about this one, particularly because i feel that sobek is under-appreciated and misunderstood as a god. i constantly encourage people to include sobek in their worship, as he, to me, has proven to be one of the most reliable gods i have ever worked with. i feel such a sense of comfort and love within him. i could sit in his energy for hours, days even. especially as a person who suffers from bouts of paranoia, his energy is one to learn to accept and become. 

for me, i see sobek in flowers. 

not many would see this, as sobek has this image of a tough, crocodile, protection god, which he is. but what a lot of people forget, is that sobek is also a god of fertility, particularly in harvest. in fact, sobek has done so much for my family’s farm. our garden is plentiful, and our harvests are more than we know what to do with. we end up making a lot of extra things with it, and giving it away to family friends and neighbors. i genuinely think that sobek creates abundance in our garden so he can give to our community. that is how loving i know him to be. 

however, what i specified was flowers. one of the most common offerings i give to sobek are roses. he seems to love them. sobek seems to protect that of which he loves, and roses are a symbol of love for me. i want to attempt to give him what he has given me. 

my family has a wildflower garden in front of our home. the morning i was sitting on the porch, i felt his presence, and i immediately looked to the flowers. delicate, yet extremely strong, and persevering. thats how i wish to be, and i can feel sobek in the encouragement of the flowers. 

i hope that didn’t come off too corny, although im pretty sure it did lol. i hope that this post was a good insight into my deities and how i understand them to be! again, disclaimer, not everyone experiences the gods in the same ways! some may agree with this post wholeheartedly, and some may have completely different experiences that make them disagree entirely! i am not one to gatekeep and define what the divine is, because the divine shows itself in different ways to different people. i hope you enjoyed this post, and have a wonderful day!

p.s. i love you and you’re worth it!

[coraxaviary]

Bro directors cut the eugene sledge one I cannot stop thinking about it. Did you have an inspiration for it? What do you headcanon happens after they return home???is it romantic or are they just friends?

(You can read the referenced work, Never Done, HERE)

1. Did I have an inspiration?

Not... really? Funnily enough? I literally sat down and told myself to write. Sometimes it really does work like that, where I can force something out and it’ll turn out okay. In those instances, I’m usually in the middle of a creative phase anyway, and my mind can put a spin on almost anything, if you know what I mean? I think I also was ready for another break from SiA, so I needed something else to distract myself for a few hours. So, like, I wrote the first 1000 words in the first sitting because I was kind of into the Sledge feels and then updated it approximately half a month later when I remembered it existed.

It’s kind of a strange way for me because I’m not a very patient writer. For my other reader-insert oneshots, I usually pump them out within a few hours. I remember writing Asclepius in the midst of a midnight fervor and the words just kept coming really nicely. I think it took me like a grand total of one hour to write Asclepius, including editing and re-reading? I’m a fast writer with a pretty high WPM, and I can hyperfocus when I’m really into it. Which isn’t all good because it sometimes creates pacing problems and a weird warped perception when I view my loooong works, but for my brief stuff, it’s not a bad thing. 

I think most of the imagery in Never Done probably came from mental images of Sledge’s life I conjured while I was listening to the TP soundtrack. At the time I was also reading the beginning of With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa because I had started my TP OFC fic around the time (which is not published) and I needed to reference the WWII Marine training experience. 

That was a really long aside and I go in like three different directions and I hope that was okay oops

2. Returning home headcanon???? Just friends?????

Sorry to disappoint (!) but I really didn’t have an idea of what happens after returning. For me, when I write reader-insert pieces, I’m not really as emotionally invested in them as much as other third-person fics. I think that might be because I personally don’t particularly enjoy reader inserts. They have to be really special for me to really get into (which yours definitely do, by the way!!!!). Writing a reader-insert for me is like opening a small window into a part of someone’s hypothetical life, and then closing the window when the piece feels good and finished. It’s neat and brief. I’m not sure why I think of it like that: maybe because I have a broader universe of OFC-canon that I treat as, like, my personal primary headcanon. If I were to pair a Certain Man with Reader in an insert piece, I’d feel like I was betraying June or something. 

If I had to come up with a scenario, though, I’d have to say Reader and Sledge probably remain close friends for the rest of their time together, but when it’s time to go home, they go separate ways. Maybe they send letters to each other -- I’d also like to think that they are letters that are full of emotion and fondness found in the subtext; Sledge would send botany clippings in the envelopes and Reader would send back whatever they’d like. Sledge has nice, neat handwriting that he writes with stationery from his parents’ house. Sometimes he’ll send biology sketches of animals he watches in the fields. Like most postwar friendships, they’d tend to feel different after they all go home. I think this relationship would be pretty typical in that way but also they’d each keep a part of the other with themselves forever. 

I actually did intend for the relationship to have a romantic undertone. But I love portrayals of relationships that are forged through hardship or shared trauma, resulting in a bond that might run deeper than any platonic or romantic distinction. I think/hope that comes across in most of my reader-insert writing. Sometimes I choose to make the romantics more obvious, but currently I believe less in fluff and more in emotional exploration. 

I also don’t think I ever addressed this before but it seems like a good time to? I don’t write smut or nsfw things, partially because I don’t want to and partially because I wouldn’t know how (haha). You probably remember, but typing the word “kiss” with my own fingers on a keyboard feels weird and makes me tense up because I’m laughably clean. God forbid actually describing it ?? It would explain why some of my writing is never explicitly romantic even if I would personally categorize it as so. I’m pretty comfortable in my SFW niche though. 

I always feel like I’m stepping on some toes when I write romantic attachments, knowing the IRL men had spouses. Writing a long-term relationship of Reader with Sledge would mean ignoring his wife? Which I understand would be perfectly fine if we’re just existing in the HBO War show universe, but I still have qualms. You know.

.

Thank you so much for your submission for the ask thingy. This was a fun response to write. I rambled a lot (sorry!) but it’s just how these things go :)

[fuwafuwamedb]

The King’s Dumu Lugal Pt 12 (CasGil, Gudako, Hakuno)

Previously: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 , 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11

____

“Gil?”

Gilgamesh paused as he held his vest in hand, glancing back to where Hakuno was.

“You’re leaving?”

“I promised Gudako that I would assist her with a project of hers for an hour or so on some evenings. Would you like to join me?”

He could see Hakuno hesitating, glancing down at the slumbering baby boy in her arms. She’d settled into the blankets, sighing happily after making dinner for the two of them. It’d been rather amusing to watch her fuss and pull a pan in and out of the oven in her kitchen space, mumbling to herself about next time preparing more in advanced for having company and having her promise that, should her food not turn out, they’d just go get something from the dining hall.

The food had been a little awkward in terms of how big it’d been, but it had tasted fine. It’d been far better than the average meal that the Chaldeans would provide.

“I should… probably stay with Ur. He’s been without me all day.”

“That is not what I asked, Hakuno. I asked if you wanted to join me. Our son is carriable. He would be able to safely pass through the doorway and throughout all of Chaldea.”

“I’ve never had him see more than a handful of faces in his life. He may end up crying,” the fool lamented.

So telling her that Ur had flourished under the attentions and adoration of Uruk was probably not the wisest decision he could make. He held back the comment, making a small complaint of a sound before turning back and pulling Ur slowly from her arms.

“I’m tired anyway, Gilgamesh. I’ll stay here,” Hakuno argued.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, go help Gudako.”

He didn’t care for leaving her here like this.

Ur was a good boy and would no doubt rest while Hakuno was able to unwind and have some alone time, but Hakuno was still on such a precipice with him. He needed something that would draw her to him more. Clearly his memories of being Archer were not enough. There needed to be something more.

Uruk was a good idea. The woman would adore having a kingdom and people. She’d flourish, just as Ur had done.

Hakuno was pushing him away though, motioning for him to go.

“She’s waiting for you, isn’t she?”

Sadly, she probably was.

He still took a moment to kiss the woman deeply first though, locking his eyes with hers and taking in her presence.

“Use the crib tonight for Ur. We can curl up together properly when I return to the room.”

“I haven’t slept without Ur close to me in months.”

Which meant she hadn’t slept well in months.

That would have to change. She needed rest. Relaxation. His goal would have to become simply ensuring that Hakuno had the opportunity to break away from the stress of raising Ur alone. She needed to be focusing on other things.

She did have a personality outside of childrearing. He’d seen that much.

“I’ll try putting him in the crib,” she offered, noting his lack of movement.

“Good.”

He’d push the Uruk talk for later as well.

For now, the goal was simply helping Gudako.

It didn’t take long to find her. Wandering down to the rayshift room, slowly and carefully opening and closing the door, he could see that Gudako was already perched on a seat, looking over the various monitors with the same amount of focus she’d had before.

“Caster?”

“I said I would assist.”

Gudako just stared at him a moment before nodding. “You did.”

“Did you not believe me?”

“I figured with Hakuno being your… nevermind. I just thought you’d be busy.”

He flicked her forehead for that, sitting in the seat beside hers and looking over what she had before her.

“…How do you want to begin?”

“The first thing we must do is evaluate where it is most likely for Solomon to be.”

“In a hospital.”

He gave the woman a bored look.

A hospital? Truly?

“What do you know about this man?”

“Romani was a good doctor. He had a lot of experience. He had great bedside manners. I know he was actually Solomon and was a grand caster, but he was ultimately just a doctor at the end of the day.” She turned to the computers, running a hand through her hair. “If I keep looking through ancient hospitals and palaces, I’ll find him amongst one of them. It would make sense to find him there-“

“What if he wasn’t a doctor?”

“Hmm?”

“I said, what if he was not a doctor originally? It doesn’t make sense for a man considered a grand caster to spend his days toiling away with patients. His attire and presence was that of a king. Wouldn’t it make more sense to look amongst ancient rulers?”

“Romani as a ruler?”

The woman threw him a look, that smile saying how little he seemed to know.

“Woman, consider outside of your initial thoughts. Think Solomon, not Romani.”

“I want him back because he is Romani.”

Dear gods, this woman was foolish.

“I’m sure Hakuno feels similarly. Wouldn’t it make sense that she-“

“I am Archer Gilgamesh, in the end. I have his thoughts. I have his body. I have his soul. I remember the night I took Hakuno so that I could have the boy that lays in his mother’s arms at this moment. Whether or not everyone believes that I am one and the same as my archer self is besides the point… and I don’t particularly mind since so many have had such foul experiences with that mindset.”

Between that saber and that archer, not to mention the Cu Chulainns lingering around Chaldea, it made sense he wouldn’t claim to be his archer self necessarily.

“How would Romani have been a ruler and a grand caster? That doesn’t make much sense. That’s like an Archer that’s more adept at using a sword.”

The gods were cruel to subject him to such things as this.

It was so his master would let him spend time with Hakuno though. Hakuno and Ur.

“How are you capable of being supportive and take offensive when necessary? Gudako, it is not about what one is adept at, it is about what one has time for. You’ve seen Cu Chulainn in how many forms now? Artoria as well? What people do and who they were at one point in time have little to do with one another.”

“So Romani could have been anything?”

Well, hardly. The outfit again. While not everything was an indicator, the man’s outfit alone had shown enough status. Plus-

“He had a throne, did he not?” Caster pointed out.

“True. I had figured that was more Goetia’s ego.”

She truly just wanted to see only the best of the man, didn’t she? It was almost cute.

“By the way, the rayshift records show a trip to Uruk. Would you know anything about that, Caster?”

“Records?”

Gudako’s eyes drifted to his, narrowed as she adjusted the readings on the screens.

“Why are you asking?”

“Oh, I don’t know, perhaps because technically, Hakuno should not exist here and I’m hiding her away like a fugitive in Chaldea and throwing the Association off her scent. Since they’re watching the logs that we turn in, having a spontaneous trip to Uruk for a small and fully grown individual would be a bit of a red flag, especially since no servant is small enough to be in a person’s arms.”

“…Does Hakuno know?”

Gudako groaned, wiping a hand over her face. “No. I didn’t tell her. The last time I saw her today, she was covered in fecal matter and pushing the filthier servants into the baths. I found the log when I came in here an hour ago.”

“Good. I will tell her in due time, but she has no need to know right now.”

“The rayshift is not a toy, Gilgamesh. Your son could have gotten hurt.”

“He was in my arms.”

“That literally means nothing.”

He waved her off again.

“Just… Tell Hakuno when you get back to your room, alright? I’m not keeping secrets from her. She’s been too kind in supporting everyone and you literally are handling her pride and joy now. Ur means more to her than her own life.”

“Oh?”

“…She had a little bit of depression before you came.”

What was this?

Hakuno hadn’t mentioned anything like that. Neither had Gudako, before now. Had she been upset about raising a child alone? Was it the fact that she was lonesome?

Gudako glanced at him and frowned further.

“I don’t like that look.”

“Define depression.”

“You know- down in the dumps? Feeling upset and without energy?”

“How exactly did she have depression?”

The woman groaned, wiping her face again. “Hakuno didn’t know how to handle raising a child alone. She didn’t have you around. It was just long hours and your son was loud when upset. We soundproofed her room because she was literally staying up all night to ensure that the boy wouldn’t cry, but I have a feeling she doesn’t sleep properly still. Nightingale gave her sleeping pills. I don’t know what happened to them.”

He’d look around later. Perhaps they were in that kitchen area.

“She spends all her time that she isn’t helping with her son, but originally, she was trying to do the work despite barely having Ur be born.”

“And you allowed it?”

“Have you ever tried to stop Hakuno from doing something? She’s stupidly stubborn.”

He nodded, “she is.”

“Anyway, my point is- don’t keep the Uruk trip from her. She’ll be mad, but better mad now than furious later.”

Duly noted, but still. Now he had more to consider. The woman had provided him arguments for the woman to rely more on him.

“…Do you really think Solomon was a ruler of some sort?”

“I would be more surprised if he wasn’t,” he told her idly. “An older one as well. The attire he bore and some of his speech sounded like something more towards my part of the world. I believe I’ve heard foreigners visit my kingdom with that speech before.”

Was Hakuno actually using the crib for Ur?

It now felt unlikely. She probably was holding him in her arms, allowing for him to rest against her and cry when he so chose. The fact that she had needed the rooms she had soundproofed so that others wouldn’t be inconvenienced by the noise spoke volumes towards her anxieties.

“I’m going to look again in the databases,” Gudako told him. “I only looked into doctors. Asclepius, Nightingale, apsu- ancient doctors and things like that. I didn’t look at ruler names and kingdom conquerors. It might be a better way to start. I can adjust the machines from there.”

“And if you find him? What will you do about the rayshift logs?”

“I altered them for the Association once,” Gudako shrugged. “I’ll do it again.”

Smart girl.

He pat her head lightly before heading back. If she was looking into texts, then he had no reason to stay and bother her further. The hallways were now quiet, emptied of their usual rowdy occupants. Entering Hakuno’s personal area, he could see that the crib and the two occupants had already moved from the living area.

There was a muffled music playing as he walked slowly back towards the bedroom.

Hakuno was holding a necklace in her hands, one he recognized very well. Their son was asleep nearby in his crib, lost amongst dreams of grandeur, no doubt.

“That is a king’s necklace,” Caster informed her softly. “It’s far plainer than many of my others, but it was meant for when traveling. If a thief stole that, they would only get a fraction of what they would get with an audience chamber’s necklace for a king. Those whom were proven to show good heart or prove themselves as loyal subjects would be occasionally permitted to possess one, only for melting down and creating an heirloom for passing down their generations. They’re said to bring good luck.”

“You’re back?”

Caster nodded. The distance seemed all too easy to close, the bed softer than he remembered as he settled next to her.

“I thought you’d have been with Gudako for a while longer.”

“My master had no need for a great deal of help. Her aims were misguided, aimed towards a direction that would have been unending. I simply corrected that and admitted that I did take a small trip today.”

“A trip?”

“Our son’s toy ripped.”

Hakuno paled, her eyes drifting to the crib. “Which one? Please tell me it wasn’t his lion one. He cries so hard at-“

“It was the lion, but I knew that you were in the midst of working and needed time to be away from the boy.”

“So you… fixed it?”

“I have an attendant in Uruk that is adept in a number of things. When I handed it to her, she went immediately to fix it for Ur.”

He didn’t care for the look that was forming now. She was piecing together the bits of what he was saying and it didn’t seem she was fond of what that meant.

“You took Ur into the rayshift?”

“I am a grand caster. I had Cu Caster with me as well and Merlin was not far off had I needed extra protection for our son. His wailing was so loud that there was no helping it.”

“Gil!”

“He was safe!” he insisted, pulling Hakuno closer. “I didn’t let him go. I didn’t so much as spare an inch for the motions and sounds of the rayshift. I bundled him against me and held him as close as possible to my chest. He didn’t even feel a jostling before we were in Uruk.”

“But he’s a baby!”

“Shhhh,” Caster glanced towards where the boy was shifting in his sleep. He pressed his lips to Hakuno’s forehead softly. “I had three casters, including myself on this mission. Our son was in more danger sobbing on the floor in our living space than he was in my arms going to Uruk.”

“He’s never been outside of Chaldea,” Hakuno complained.

“He loved every second, I assure you. The moment he arrived and the people came swarming to see him-“

“They came swarming?!”

“Shhhh,” he demanded again, pulling the angered woman closer and deeper into their bed and the bedding. “Allow me to finish before you raise your anger so that you may raise it properly. You’re being entirely rude to your king.”

“You should have gotten me to fix it!”

“I just told you why I did not want to do that.”

“Gilgamesh, it’s not a game. You don’t get points for going to others for help and seeming like a flawless father. I’ve been raising Ur on my own. I know how to care for him-“

“You exhaust yourself, woman, but that is neither here nor there. Do you want to hear about his trip to Uruk or simply badger me with complaints about what should have been done to resolve a problem that I resolved myself?”

She glared at him, but the complaints were stilled.

“Good.” He nodded. “As I was saying, I took our son to Uruk. He was greeted by the people who became overwhelmingly excited by the presence of him. He obviously had never seen so many people so it ceased his tears, allowing for a moment of peace.”

“And then?”

“And then we went to the palace, my ziggurat. I allowed him to enjoy the audience chamber and some lions for company while Siduri, my attendant, took his precious toy and repaired it. She asked incessantly about you, wanting to have you come to visit and wanting to inform you how endlessly handsome our son is. The woman has never been able to have a child of her own so seeing mine was a remarkable experience. She was the one who made the butter cake that you seem to have enjoyed earlier.”

“It was good…”

“Once the toy was repaired, I pulled Ur into my arms, called upon Cu Caster, and returned immediately. We settled back in the living space when you arrived back.”

Hakuno remained silent.

“My kingdom wishes to meet you, when there is time and the rayshift is no longer monitored as it is.”

“…You know about that as well?”

“I am a king, Hakuno. A grand caster at that. My insight is beyond compare.”

“…Next time just tell me that his toy is ripped. I’ll fix it myself.”

“You were covered in grime and handling an emergency. Are you telling me to bring our son to the scene of disgust simply to pull you away and repair a toy?”

“…Vladimir is a sewing expert.”

“A vampire?”

Hakuno wrinkled her nose. “He doesn’t like being called that.”

“Does that change him from what he is?”

No, it did not. She knew that fully as well. She glanced back to her son and continued to make that displeased face.

“Hakuno,” Gilgamesh pulled her closer. “Do you know what your flaw is? The only flaw that I see, as a matter of fact.”

“I don’t let you do what you want?”

He snorted, lacing her fingers with his own, pressing her hand to his lips. “No, although that is quite the flaw. Awareness is a step towards action. Reconsider your foolish ways on that account. I’m quite a brilliant mind and you’re wasting good time and energy in doubting my leadership.”

She gave him a look.

“Your flaw is that you do not take pleasure in things.”

“I take plenty of pleasure.”

“Oh?”

“I am enjoying the bed.”

“Look at the boy you’ve brought forth,” he murmured, pulling her in tight to his chest. He glanced to the crib, watching their son slumber quietly. “You did that. He’s alive and breathing, possessing the best mana circuits in the universe, because of you.”

“He may have inherited mine.”

“Did I not say best? Accept my compliments as I give them. They are not often dealt and never given unless fully meant.”

He nipped her shoulder before continuing.

“You have a king in your bed, twice earned. You have all of Chaldea around you, taking none of your mana to be around. Instead of running errands, you should be developing your magecraft. You should be in the training grounds and getting accustomed to having the power that you possess.”

“You want me to become a master again?”

“Does it surprise you? Ur would have extra safety. Since I am contracted to Gudako, it would mean that you would have another around to protect Ur and yourself. My recommendation would be a lancer, although I am open to riders as well. Archers tend to be temperamental. Assassins have their flaws, often taking to the shadows for their methods of fighting and lacking what’s necessary for defense. An avenger or berserker would be too wild. Rulers are too preachy.”

“What about a caster?”

The question was surprising.

“…They’re… weaker. I wouldn’t recommend them. Lancers have a loyal streak. They’re idiots, but they’re good defense and they’ll do what’s necessary until the bitter end. I’ve seen several examples of useful lancers around Chaldea. Sabers are not quite as loyal, although they have a leading mentality to them a good portion of the time.”

“I don’t think a lancer would be a good idea. I think I just want a caster.”

She wrapped her arms around him with that.

Ah- so she was referring to him. What a cute remark.

They would table the conversation for now. Gudako would never give him up so easily. They were at a decent bond. They’d been through many fights together. As much as Hakuno meant to him, Gudako would feel more like she lost a limb if she simply released him to Hakuno.

Still, he wouldn’t break Hakuno’s heart in such a manner.

She had done the proper thing in realizing that Uruk was the wise choice for repairing their son’s toy and allowing her some space from the responsibilities she held. He could indulge her right now with attention.

The kiss between them was soft, ended only as Hakuno pulled back so she could cuddle in his arms more.

“…Thank you for watching Ur today.”

“You fool, don’t thank me for our son. He is ours to care for. I did what was needed. You’ll find that I do that often from here on out. Rely on me properly.”

The woman was quiet, making him look down.

“Hakuno?”

She had her eyes closed. After a moment, her breathing came slower. She’d dared to fall asleep against him with that paltry appreciation.

“You little fool.”

He’d have her summon a servant soon. The extra help would come in handy if things went downhill at Chaldea.

After all, the Mages Association didn’t know she was here. If they found out, they would need to get her somewhere safe.

Most likely Uruk.  

[flightfoot]

Many of the side character’s stories and development in Trials of Apollo mirror and support Apollo’s own development

One of the things I love about ToA is how many of the other characters’ stories, their situations, their development, mirrors and compliments Apollo’s own development, reinforcing the story of how Apollo changes from being a selfish, arrogant, shallow, apathetic person, to one of the most selfless, humble, aware, and empathetic people in the Riordanverse.

Meg Mccaffrey

Obviously Meg’s story is the one that mirrors Apollo’s the most. I’ve already talked about this in past analyses however, and it’s so blatantly obvious I don’t want to waste time making a point that I’m sure all my readers already know. Maybe I’ll make another analysis focusing on Meg later, but I’ll skip over her for now.

Calypso

Fairly superficial similarities here. Calypso is also a former immortal who’s learning to deal with the loss of her powers (though not TOTAL loss) and being thrown into the demigod world headfirst. The emotional core of their experiences is different though, since Calypso’s whole thing was that she was trapped on an island (albeit a nice one) under house arrest for thousands of years. Apollo wasn’t really trapped like that. Even saying he was METAPHORICALLY trapped is a bit of a stretch, Zeus doesn’t seem to have been to involved in the day-to-day business of what Apollo got up to.

Lityerses

This one IS fairly similar actually. Lityerses is controlled and manipulated by his father, and it sounds like he’s okay with that - like he’s as bloodthirsty as his father is.

“Right.” He regarded Calypso. “I think I’ll keep you alive long enough to kill you in front of Valdez’s face. That’ll be fun. But this former god here...” Lit shrugged. “I’ll just have to tell the emperor that he resisted arrest.” (TDP 152)

But there are hints that maybe there’s more going on there. His muttering of “I hate that” when Midas casually mentions accidentally turning Lit to gold in The Lost Hero, him being glad that Apollo gave his father donkey ears, his casual mistreatment by Commodus - all of it gives the clues that maybe there’s a REASON for his attitude, for his behavior.

What it does NOT do, however, is hint that Lit could be a better person. None of any of the heroes’ encounters with Lit actually suggests that. That’s a leap of faith that Apollo makes, hoping that MAYBE, just maybe, Lit will be a better person if someone gives him a chance. If someone shows him kindness, helps him when they have no good reason too. He identifies with Lit. The hidden depths that Apollo’s shown as a mortal... they wouldn’t be apparent to a casual observer of him as a god. Heck, APOLLO didn’t know they were there! He’s constantly surprised at himself, at the kind of person he is now, at the sort of things he’ll do. Apollo gives Lit the chance he wants people to give himself, the sort of chance that he didn’t even really realize he needed. Showing him - showing Apollo - showing Lit - that level of kindness, mercy, and concern, when there’s no ulterior motive, showing it just because this is another person, and they haven’t really done anything to ‘earn’ compassion beyond that simple fact - that threw both of them for a loop.

In Apollo’s case, he really started appreciating others compassion in THO, when his children took him in, treated him as family, cared for him, said they’d protect him against anyone who gave him trouble.

“If anyone gives you trouble, Kayla will shoot them. Then I’ll curse them so bad they’ll be speaking rhyming couplets for weeks.”

My eyes watered. Not so long ago - like this morning, for instance - the idea of these young demigods being able to help me would have been ridiculous. Now their kindness moved me more than a hundred sacrificial bulls. I couldn’t recall the last time someone had cared about me enough to curse my enemies with rhyming couplets.

“Thank you.” I managed. I could not add “my children”. These demigods were my protectors and my family, but for the present I could not think of myself as their father. A father should do more - a father should give more to his children than he takes. I have to admit this was a novel idea for me. It made me feel even worse than before. (115)

It makes a difference here that his kids are helping him when he couldn’t offer anything back. If he’d still been a god, he wouldn’t have given their help much thought. He would’ve just thought that he was entitled to it, and that it’s not like he’d REALLY need them anyway. But this? This is different. They’re helping him just because they care - it’s not anything transactional. Apollo isn’t used to thinking about relationships this way - not for the most part anyway. His relationships with Artemis and Leto are solid, and he seems to have genuinely cared for Hyacinthus, genuinely loved him as a person, and cared for Asclepius quite a bit, but aside from that? Not so much. Certainly not caring about someone who’s practically a stranger.

This set an example for Apollo, one that he carries forwards to Lit. Lit also has never been shown this sort of kindness before, kindness when he’s at his most vulnerable, compassion without an expectation of a return, and most especially, compassion when he’s given Apollo and the Waystation residents every reason to reject him. And that compassion is enough to cause him to break down, to rethink his whole stance on life. Seemingly overnight, he changes from being the brutal, cruel killer who would murder Calypso in front of Leo just to hurt him that much more, to being a lost person just looking for something or someone to live for, to fight for. And having found it, he suddenly softens, becoming kinder, more balanced. 

But it’s not really an overnight change, is it? This other side has always existed, it’s just been hidden under layers of bravado and cruelty. That’s why both Lit and Apollo are able to change their mindsets so quickly - not all the aspects of what they’ve learned is truly “new”, they just haven’t applied them like this before, or not for a long time. Apollo’s experienced these sorts of caring relationships with Leto and Artemis at least, so they’re not totally a foreign concept. I’m betting in Lit’s case that he and his sister, at least at one point in time, did truly care about each other. The difference is seeing it applied more broadly to themselves by people who don’t already know them well, and then applying it to others that same way in turn.

Piper

Piper’s whole identity crisis has similarities to Apollo’s own. She was thrown into a situation where people expected certain things of her, and she just kinda... conformed to them. Which isn’t to say that she might not have chosen them herself on her own, but she didn’t really get that choice. Now that she has the time and has had a chance to think, she’s trying to find herself, figure out who she is. Her dad being financially ruined throws a wrench into it, but both of them returning to their roots, her father seemingly having more time to spend with her - those aspects are familiar. Apollo’s now figuring out who he is, now that he doesn’t have “being a god” to define him, along with everything else associated with that. His having his godhood stolen, and only now spending time really getting to know his kids and his demigod half-siblings, along with many, many others, is like how Piper’s dad now has time to spend with her, time he didn’t have before - a silver lining in this whole mess. 

Apollo’s advice to Piper seems to be talking about himself nearly as much as it’s talking about Piper.

“It’s been my observation,” I said, “that you humans are more than the sum of your history. You can choose how much of your ancestry to embrace. You can overcome the expectations of your family and your society. What you cannot do, and should never do, is try to be someone other than yourself - Piper McLean.” (265)

With how Apollo’s grown throughout the series and ESPECIALLY in TTT, this fits him as well. Apollo is more than the sum of his history, of what he has done, of what has been established by the older gods. He can choose how much of his past - and his family - to embrace, and overcome the expectations of his family, both godly and mortal, and of godly society. And he will do it by being himself, his WHOLE self, including the parts of his being that he’s been nurturing as a mortal, the compassionate, empathetic parts of himself.

Jason

Jason is a little different, because I don’t think his development, his situation parallels Apollo’s CURRENT situation, so much as Apollo’s future development. His willingness to sacrifice himself, to be the one who dies so that his friends can survive, wanting to keep secret about the prophecy so that Piper doesn’t try to stop him, so that hopefully he can keep her safe, even if it means merrily walking to his own death.... I’m expecting Apollo to get into a similar situation in TON. Though there are elements of that he’s already lived through, since he ALREADY chose Meg’s life over his own in TDP, and in TTT, he tried to conceal and downplay just how badly he was hurt to try to stop Meg from worrying as much.

Frank

Frank carries his mortality - the stick that’s attached to his life force - around with him. He’s decided that in order to lead the Legion effectively, he has to put one hundred percent of himself on the line. He can’t let fear hold him back. 

Apollo’s mortality is also on the line all the time. Originally he wanted to hide away, to cower behind others so as not to die (not that he actually tended to go THROUGH with it, either because he couldn’t or he wasn’t willing to abandon them) but now? Now he doesn’t even try. He wants to live, that’s true. But he values his companion’s lives more. He won’t hesitate to put himself on the line, to commit himself completely if he believes that it gives them a greater chance of survival.

The greater parallel however comes later, with Apollo’s hypothesis for how Frank survived his stick burning up. He believes that maybe since Frank took charge of his own destiny by willingly sacrificing himself, that he was freed from his old destiny and forged a new one:

“It’s just a guess,” I admitted. “Frank went into that tunnel knowing he might die. He willingly sacrificed himself for a noble cause. In doing so, he broke free of his fate. By burning his own tinder, he kind of… I don’t know, started a new fire with it. He’s in charge of his own destiny now. Well, as much as any of us are. The only other explanation I can think of is that Juno somehow released him from the Fates’ decree.” (393)

I don’t know how plausible this explanation is. Honestly, it kinda sounds like BS to me, especially since Jason did the same thing and HE died. But what’s important here is what APOLLO thinks happened. His explanation says as much about him as it does about what he thinks happened with Frank.

Breaking free of your fate by accepting, by EMBRACING your own mortality, putting everything on the line, sacrificing yourself completely in order to have a shot of stopping your friends from being hurt or killed... it’s similar to what happened with Jason, but with the added twist that Frank survived and started a new story, free of his previous destiny.

The destiny thing is really important. As a god, Apollo’s not ‘supposed’ to be able to change or mature. The gods seem to believe that their nature is more set in stone than mortals are. But Apollo has disproven that. He’s changed a lot, and has continued to change. He’s forging his own destiny, one different than he ever imagined it could be. And maybe, just maybe, one that Zeus won’t have control over. One that’s truly his own.

Don the Faun

Don has only a small role, but what Apollo says about him - what he thinks about him - says a lot.

“Hey, Apollo, you- you know the difference between a faun and a satyr…?”

[…]

A moment later, his body collapsed with a noise like a relieved sigh, crumbling into fresh loam. In the spot where his heart had been, a tiny sapling emerged from the soil. I immediately recognized the shape of those miniature leaves. Not a hemlock. A laurel - the tree I had created from poor Daphne, and whose leaves I had decided to make into wreaths. The laurel, the tree of victory.

One of the dryads glanced at me. “Did you do that…?”

I shook my head. I swallowed the bitter taste from my mouth.

“The only difference between a satyr and a faun,” I said, “is what we see in them. And what they see in themselves. Plant this tree somewhere special.: I looked up at the dryads. “Tend it and make it grow healthy and tall. This was Don the faun, a hero.” (398-399)

Here, Apollo’s noting that the difference between satyrs and fauns are purely societal. That there’s no inherent difference between them. Like the difference between gods and mortals, mentally, isn’t that different. Gods may be more powerful, but they’re still people, like mortals are. The differences between them, psychologically, have more to do with how society sees them, and how they see themselves. Having had his godhood stripped away, this is very apparent to Apollo. Because he’s still himself. A better version of himself, in fact, but that has nothing to do with him being mortal - not in and of itself. But with the things he’s learned as a mortal. He can be a hero, truly. Because he is just as capable of such things as any mortal.

Reyna

And lastly, there’s Reyna. She too, like Frank and Don previously, broke free from expectations to forge her own path. 

“My whole life, I’ve been living with other people’s expectations of what I’m supposed to be. Be this. Be that. You know?”

[…]

“But you showed me. When you proposed dating…” She took a deep breath, her body shaking with silent giggles. “Oh, gods. I saw how ridiculous I’d been. How ridiculous the whole situation was. That’s what healed my heart - being able to laugh at myself again, at my stupid ideas about destiny. That allowed me to break free - just like Frank broke free of his firewood. I don’t need another person to heal my heart. I don’t need a partner… at least, not until and unless I’m ready on my own terms. I don’t need to be force-shipped with anyone or wear anybody else’s label. For the first time in a long time, I feel like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders. So thank you.” (405-406)

Reyna thought that she was supposed to find a partner. Everyone else thought she needed a partner - needed romantic healing. Until Lester asked her out. Until she saw how ridiculous it was to let others expectations - or curses, or whatever you’d call Venus’s little prophecy - control her life.

Apollo has a similar thing going on with letting expectations about what he’s supposed to do, about who he’s supposed to be, control what he does - or did, at least. I’ve gone over that already, so I’ll skip past that.

But the romantic angle? About thinking - or having others think - that she needs to be healed romantically? That also falls in line with Apollo’s development. Apollo’s had a LOT of romantic relationships, and a decent number of them have ended in disaster. He seems to be convincing himself that some romance will “fix” things, like with how he convinced himself that getting together with the Cumaean Sibyl would fix things:

But that wasn’t enough for me. I was smitten. I convinced myself it was love - the one true romance that would wash away all my past missteps. I wanted the Sibyl to be my partner throughout eternity. As the afternoon went on, I coaxed and pleaded. (131)

But he wasn’t in love with her, not truly, or his love wouldn’t have turned to hate so fast when she refused him. He just really WANTED it to be a shining romance, one that would finally fix things.

He actually does seem to be finding this sort of fulfillment now, but not with romantic relationships - with more platonic, familial relationships instead, such as with Meg.

I’d always wondered what it would be like to have a younger sibling. Sometimes I’d treated Artemis as my baby sister, since I’d been born a few minutes earlier, but that had been mostly to annoy her. With Meg, I felt as if it was actually true. I had someone who depended on me, who needed me around no matter how much we irritated each other. I thought about Hazel and Frank and the washing away of curses. I supposed that kind of love could come from many different types of relationships. (192)

I don’t think he’s realized it yet, but in a way, Meg seems to be “washing away” his curse of loneliness, of feeling empty. Taking care of her, connecting with her, bantering with her - this is what he needed. To be a protector. To be a friend. Romance is fine, but they’re not the only fulfilling sorts of relationships. 

Honestly with Reyna and Piper both taking a break from romance in order to find themselves, I think that Apollo may lay off the romance for a bit after ToA’s over, work on his more platonic relationships instead. I don’t think he’d swear it off, but maybe look for something more steady than he was before. And with the experiences he’s had as a mortal, I think he could better recognize truly serious love versus a temporary infatuation.

Final Thoughts

I really love how focused this series is on developing Apollo! A lot of aspects of this series seem geared to do that, from who the antagonists are and how they act, to the storylines of the side characters. It allows a level of development for Apollo that’s deeper and more nuanced than with any of Rick’s previous protagonists, even Percy. I look forward to seeing how Rick will conclude his development. If his writing for Apollo in TON is as solid as for previous entries, I’m sure it will be worth the wait.

[hadesglance]

All hail the new queen... - 23 (Hades Original Piece)

You fought your way through the maze of the underworld to make a deal with the King…intrigued the lonely king listens…

Part One  Part Two  Part Three  Part Four  Part Five  Part Six Part Seven  Part Eight   Part Nine  Part Ten  Part Eleven Part Twelve  Part Thirteen  Part Fourteen  Part Fifteen  Part Sixteen Part Seventeen  Part Eighteen  Part Nineteen   Part Twenty  Part Twenty-One   Part Twenty-Two

Hades sighed looking down at his watch again. They were going to be late at this point so what was a few more minutes. He was sure everyone would understand. At least Zeus would, he knew everything that was going on, which meant so did everyone else.

He looked in the foyer mirror adjusting his tie. He was never good at getting it in the right place. He sighed holding it letting his hand slowly fall when he saw you walk up behind him.

You wore a simple spring dress, with a shawl draped over your arms. You looked less then thrilled to be going to the spring event with him in Olympus. You had asked him not to go, but unfortunately it was the one required event of the year. You just happened to fall into his life at the same time as all the other required events of the century…

Things fell apart for you after your father’s passing. You begged him for days to see him, to which he had to heartbreakingly tell you no. Eventually, you told the school you were taking some time off…indefinitely. Too many things happening all at once…

“Y/N…” Everything he wanted to say to you he felt he couldn’t. A distance had built up between the both of you.

“Let’s just get this over with…okay?” You forced a smile avoiding eye contact with him, “I’m feeling tired and…I really don’t want to go…”

He nodded slowly offering his arm to you as he walked toward the door, “For what it’s worth…you look lovely.”

You glanced up to him as you nose got red as you took his arm. You looked away quickly trying not to smile, “Thank you…”

He smiled for you, something he told himself he needed to do for you sake. If you were struggling to be happy he would try to be happy for both of them until you were ready. He paused at the door looking down to you again, “I will try to keep this short…but there is some expectation. As soon as my duties are done, we can go.”

“I understand…” You nodded slowly. Hades understood everything, but he still wanted you to be part of his world. That meant doing things you didn’t want to for his sake.

He opened the door stepping through to Olympus. He watched as you stepped through your mouth dropping open as you looked around at it everything. You never got the chance to see it the same and each time it always seemed to surprise you. He hoped that at least the aesthetic would brighten your world, even just for a little while.

“There’s so many flowers….” You reached out to one of the pillars nearby caressing the flowers petals.

“Persephone.” Hades whispered to you as he stepped close plucking the flower gently before placing it into your hair. He smiled at you when you looked into his eyes as he brushed your hair into place, “This is her and her mother Demeter’s celebration. Relighting the life in the world…and in us…”

Taking your arm, he looped it into his escorting you into the crowd. He nodded to several other gods and goddesses as they made their way up to the front. He stopped at the edge of the stage seeing Hera waving him up.

He sighed turning to you as worry began to fill him, “I have to go up there as a show of support to Persephone…”

“I’ll be alright.” You told him with a small smile and curt nod.

“Don’t worry, Hades. I’ll act as chaperone for a moment if you’re worried.” He heard behind you. Looking over your head Hades saw Apollo approaching with a cup in his hand, “Go on…I’ll keep her safe.”

Hades held you hands in his for a moment staring at Apollo before looking down to you, “Apollo will keep you safe, if that’s alright?”

You looked back to Apollo who held his arm out to you. You nodded slowly looking back to Hades, “If that’s alright with you…”

Hades nodded slowly letting you go. He watched you take Apollo’s arm staring up to his face. He didn’t have a moment to ponder what could be going through your head as Hera came off the stage grabbing him by the arm, “Hades, it’s time!”

Your head snapped back over to him as you saw Hera practically dragging him away, “Oh…”

“He’ll be fine. He does this every year.” Apollo told you patting your arm.

“Yes, but he’s not fond of getting up in front of people…Hera knows that…” You watched him take his place next to Persephone, “You all have eternity to do things, she could be more patient.”

“My, my, you are very brave to say Hera needs a lesson in patience. Luckily she didn’t hear you.” Apollo chuckled raising his glass to his lips.

“And if she did? What?” You looked to him eyes narrowing slightly, “Would she strike me down? A poor mortal wouldn’t stand a chance next to the fierce rage of Hera.”

“…what happened to you?” Apollo began to pull you away when you scoffed at him. The stage disappeared from view as he refused to let you get away when you tugged for him to stop.

“Apollo…let go…” You frowned looking back across the crowd as Hera took her place and began speaking to everyone, “They’re starting…”

“You didn’t seem to keen to listen a moment ago.” He pulled you out onto one of the balconies, “Now…you are not the same young woman I saved a few months ago... What happened?”

You stared at him for a long moment, “…w-why does it matter? Why does anything that has to do with me matter to any of you!?”

Apollo glanced over to the crowd seeing a few people look over curiously, sighing he pulled you away from their view, “Because…it’s our job to care about mortals…without you all there isn’t a point to our existence, is the short answer. Now…what’s wrong?”

You stated at him a long time before stepping away looking out over the sea, “Nothing…”

Apollo sighed in frustration, “Y/N…”

“No.” You looked back to him again tearing up, “The problem is…nothing…everything is good. I’m happy…I’m surrounded by people who care about me. Everything is…fine…”

“…I don’t follow…” He stepped next to you, confusion falling over his handsome features, “If everything is fine, why doesn’t it seem like you’re fine?”

“My father died, and I was sad…I mourned him, but then it was fine…” He watched you take in a deep breath before letting it out as tears fell down on the guard rail, “Everything was fine. I didn’t feel an absence o-or anger…or…anything…and-and I just feel like I should feel something, if I’m crying all the time…because I’m always crying.”

Apollo let out a long sigh looking out to the horizon as he began to understand, “Oh mortals, you feel so deeply in everything you do…Especially loss. I understand loss of a loved one…”

You looked to him seeing a great pain fall on his features for a moment before he smiled again, “Everyone deals with death differently. Even gods. I…when Zeus killed my son…I was so angry. I blamed him and my Uncle Hades…enough that I killed the Cyclops that makes father’s weapons, but killing him didn’t help ease any pain.”

“I was sent away for a while, but I take after my father, so I didn’t learn my lesson right away. We fought for years…eventually I came to realize that it wasn’t Zeus I should be angry with…He could care less about balance…it was Hades. So consumed with life and death…perfect at his job… He brought the problem up and Zeus resolved it.” He sighed shutting his eyes as his hands tightened on the railing thinking about it.

“Asclepius?” He glanced at you as you looked at him curiously.

“You’re very smart…” He smirked a little before chuckling.

“I really liked my Gigi’s stories.” You smiled at him before your eyes narrowed a little, “But I thought Zeus put Asclepius in the stars?”

“He did.” Apollo looked up sighing again heart heavy seeing his son resting high above, “And one day he promised to make him a god, a full one.”

“Why not now?” You looked up at the twinkling stars trying to imagine what it was like.

“Balance…always about the damn balance. Asclepius had surpassed us all in the world of medicine, a feat every father would normally be proud of, which I am by the way…but it’s not time for him yet, the world isn’t ready…” Apollo looked back to you, eyes full of wisdom, “The point is…what you’re feeling is okay…I reacted with anger for a long time, I…still do…there are still pains, there always will be for people we love.”

“But that’s just it…” You sighed crossing your arms, “There isn’t any pain. Hades he…he kept such close eye on me. Even after I yelled at him…so many times…he stayed. I think about my dad and all the happy things come back to me. He was a good man, and a good father. I think I want to feel upset but I have no reason to be…maybe…”

“Answer this for me then, why do you cry?” Apollo stepped close to you. When you didn’t answer him, he reached up taking cupping your cheek to look at him. You were still that curious little girl to him and he wanted to make sure you stayed true to yourself, “Don’t be afraid to admit everything your feeling.”

“Cause I feel…” You stopped short staring into his eyes. His head tilted a little as formulated the words, “…so loved…and it scares me how much love him. How perfect everything feels…”

Apollo smiled letting his hand drop from your face taking yours in his tightly as he kissed your fingers, “Hades…is a very, very lucky man to have someone like you love him so brightly.”

“Oh my…oh my…” You tensed up hearing the click clack of high heels behind you. You watched as Apollo’s eyes shifted from you to the woman behind you, “It’s so, so sweet…lovers in the dark…”

You turned around finally looking at Media walking up like a cat ready to pounce, “Why are you so…cruel?”

She laughed stopping in front of you both cocking her hip out, “Cruel? Me? I like to think of it as being honest.”

“Honest…that’s very sad of you, if you think what you do is honest.” Apollo squared off behind you as he crossed his arms over his chest.

“And you’re just a bright ball of sunshine as always, Apollo.” Meedia glared at him before returning to you, “Do you honestly think the god of the Underworld…King of his cold dark dismal land actually loves you? He could have anyone…anything…do you honestly…really honestly think he’s settling just for you? A mortal who will grow old, and frail until you’re dust…”

“I’m not going to listen to this…Apollo…” You turned and started heading for the party.

“Right behind you.” He stepped in front of Media who tried to follow you, “No…you’re done for the night.”

“Am I?” Meedia quirked an eyebrow before patting the side of his face winking before she walked past him.

You pushed past people in the crowd whispering ‘excuse me’ to get past. You just wanted to get back to Hades and go home. You glanced back to thank Apollo, but he wasn’t there. You stopped looking back through the crowd seeing him frozen on the balcony, Media nowhere to be seen.

“Looking for me?” You turned quickly hearing her voice in your ear. She smirked as she started to circle you, “Ah yes…no one to protect you right now…and you don’t wanna cause a scene, do you? Mortal girl, surrounded by gods who could simply snap their fingers and ruin everything in your pathetic life.”

“What do you want?” You hissed at her glancing up at the stage seeing Persephone speaking to the crowd as she took Hades’ hand. He was giving her back to let life spring again in the world.

“I like you…straight to the point, no filler episodes needed.” Meedia perched her chin on your shoulder wrapping her arms around your waist making your skin crawl.

Look at me… You pleaded in your head staring at Hades. You watched his hand clench and flex as his head swiveled to the crowd eyes scanning to find you, you hoped.

“I want you…to break his heart…in front of everyone here.” You looked away from Hades stepping from her rapidly, “Don’t do anything stupid, Y/N…”

“Stupid…what is wrong with you!?” Your voice rose and people moved away from you, “Why are you like this?!”

A hush fell over the crowd as everyone’s eyes moved to you both. Meedia looked around straightening up, “My dear I’m…”

“If you say a god…so help me…” You stepped toward her closing your fist at your side, stopping in front of her, nose to nose, “I feel sorry for you, Media…that you feel so inadequate about yourself…so broken that you have to bully anyone who is happy.”

“I do not feel…” You raised a finger to her face stopping her from speaking.

“I don’t care! Wanna know why?” You raised your eyebrows before pointing up to the stage, “Because I love him. I love Hades so much that your cruel and angry words cannot shatter that, and I feel sorry that you will never get a chance to feel what I feel for him because of how you act. Because you build relationships out of poison that festers and kills any hope there is.”

“…is there a problem?” Hades voice washed over you from behind. You turned seeing his concerned look ready to throw down as he stepped through the crowd.

“No…not anymore.” You smiled before pushing up on you toes kissing him deeply as your arms slinked around his neck. Chuckles, giggles, and exclamations were heard before the crowd began to clap. You were too consumed with the man in front of you to notice Media slink back and disappear.

You pulled away looking into his eyes seeing them dazzle in surprise, “I love you, Hades.”

You watched his mouth drop open slightly before it turned into a smile. He cupped your cheek letting his thumb absently caress your cheek, “I love you too.”

You smiled at him as he pressed his forehead against yours nudging his nose lightly. You stayed in the moment for little longer before your eyes widened in worry, “Apollo…”

[chimaeroid]

Totally agree, though there is also a hugely problematic issue with medical science completely disregarding treatments and cures for conditions that were developed outside of the modern medical sciences.

Like how certain areas of Africa had people getting skin ulcers. Yes, that membrane that is supposed to protect you, was getting holes. And they couldn't find a modern treatment that works to stop it. Injections didn't work. Surgical removal of the areas around infected tissue didn't work. Salves, ointments and all kinds of treatments that medical science had vetted didn't work.

Finally, they tried mud packs. They packed the areas with wet mud, and when the mud dried, it literally sucked the oils and such out if the affected area. They did this a couple times a day, for a week or two, and nearly everyone started recovering with new skin growth.

The problem was that the very high minded scientists had made a decision to relegate all old treatment to being fake, just because they had not been the ones testing them.

Which is astonishingly arrogant.

There is a parasitic worm that grows in people's legs. The female is fertilized and growing, and full of babies, and her head is near the surface of your skin, so that when you go swimming, they can release the young parasitic worms into the water to infect others.

The way you treat this, is to make an incision, and pul the head out. You take a tick of a very specific thickness, and you do a twist, one twist, every day. Do more than that, and the momma worm will burst open, and you are now dying with a bunch of parasitic worms in your body.

So after a few weeks, you finally get the work fully out if your leg, whole. And you end up with this stick with a worm wrapped around it. This was a medical practice, administered in the old days. It was a symbol for doctors, for those who had been infected and could not read.

It is still the symbol for medicine. The staff with the snakes around it. The staff of Asclepius. Those were not originally snakes, they were parasitic worms. And the staff was the medical treatment.

Most treatment of harmful conditions started somewhere. And while the placebo effect is real, as is the nocebo effect, there is also significant bias against even investigating the old world treatments.

Science has a few taboos, and they are sometimes stumbling blocks to progress. They are typically topics of death, poop, sex, and mysticism. Making a real, concerted study of these things gets you labelled as a weirdo, and nut case. Despite three of those being incredibly integral to the human condition.

So, while I do understand your point about snake oil salesmen, and phony panaceas for the weak minded, I just want to remind you that being closed to the potential of some treatments, just because we don't understand them well, yet, is also a logical fallacy.

Given the stigma, it is very hard to get funding to prove the efficacy of some of these treatments. And given the fact that humans make horrible test subjects for research, I don't think that's going to change.

But medical science is not finished growing and is FAR from perfect. We learn new stuff all the time. I could point out the way old medical texts thought of, and presented, just about any condition. Just go back a decade. Get books from every decade going back a hundred years, and try to convince me we "really have it figured out now". They only recently discovered a new organ in humans they didn't know about; the interstitium. And that discovery made a lot of things make sense, like how lymph travels through the body, why many scars don't heal right, and even how malignant cancers spread.

But, it never would have been discovered, if everyone actually thought medical science knew all the answers. To be honest, science, including medical science, is still in it's infancy, as far as I am concerned.

Just, keep an open mind to the idea that, on occasion, the treatments done for thousands of years, might actually have something that works sometimes.

The thing that gets me about a lot of pseudoscientific medicine is the baffling way in which they view the human body.

It isn’t the inaccuracy that gets to me; we have a long history of just fucking guessing how the body works. It’s not even the extreme simplicity of their models. It’s how vulnerable they seem to think it is.

I mean, the skin is a barrier. It keeps stuff in and it keeps stuff out. Yes, there is some limited permeability; if you smear the right kinds of things on your skin then a little bit will get into your body (this is how topical anaesthetics work, and why we wear gloves in chemical labs). But some people are like “smooth this acai berry cream on your skin to boost your immune system!” [note: you DO NOT WANT to boost your immune system], or “put a raw potato under your armpit to draw to toxins out of your body!” or some shit. I look at those foot bath things that fill up with yellow rust as you use them and people go, “all that yellow stuff is the toxins being drawn out through your feet!” and I am horrified at their mental model for how the body works. They know your insides are protected by skin, right? Right?? If I thought my body was that permeable I’d wear a hazmat suit at all times. What if I touch some mud that’s got Toxins in it and they all get absorbed into my body? What if I use the wrong root vegetable under my armpit and it sucks all the vitamins out of my blood instead? That’s terrifying!

“Drink alkaline water every morning to keep your blood pH high!” Friend, how vulnerable is your blood to pH changes? You know that a fairly small variation can kill you?? If I thought this worked I’d never eat fermented foods again. I’d never clean with vinegar in case my Super Permeable Frog Skin absorbed all the acid into my blood and I died of acidemia.

“This essential oil gives you energy! This one boosts your immune system!” They’re for smells! They make smells! In your view, how much of my metabolism and immune regulation are dependent on what my environment smells like?? Am I going to die because I bought the Strawberry Surprise scented candle instead of sandalwood and my body forgot how to make ATP?? What???

The extreme fragility that they perceive in the human body, with apparently no barriers or regulatory mechanisms, vulnerable to such tiny changes in diet and environment, would terrify me. If I thought of the body like this I would never leave the house.

[irrepressible-domovoy]

All the Greek asks? 😅

Oof, child. We’re gonna have a talk.

Aether- Name?

Valeska.

Anteros- Sexuality?

I am asexual.

Apollo- Gender?

I’m a woman but most certainly not a “proper lady” because where’s the fun in that?

Ares- Favourite movie?

Probably... Christopher Robin, to be honest. It made me feel like a kid again.

Artemis- Favourite time of day?

Too early in the morning to be technically morning but too late at night to be considered night. No one wants anything from me and I don’t have to be at work.

Asclepius- Favourite animal?

Pangolin!!!!

Athena- Favourite thing to learn about?

I’m a sucker for any mythology or folklore.

Atlas- Favourite myth?

Any story with Raven in it. He just... I can’t with that guy. He literally got murdered and stuffed in a toilet in one story and still came back for more because he was (I swear to you I’m not kidding) hungry and knew “the local fisherman’s wife was a good cook and even better in bed.” (The reason he knew this was also the reason he’d been murdered and stuffed in a toilet in the first place)

Cerberus- Dog or cat person?

Both are good in their own ways, though I currently have a cat named Chaya.

Cronus- Favourite food?

Spaghetti.

Cyclopes- What’s your favourite joke?

It’s so stupid, but I love this one my sister always tells.

What do you call a fish with no eyes? Fsh.

Dionysus- Favourite drink?

Pineapple juice.

Eros- Are you in love?

*snorts in aromantic*

Hades- Greatest fear?

Being forgotten or left alone.

Helios- Night or day person?

Night. The burning orb in the sky is annoying...

Hephaestus- What is your favourite form of art?

They all have their merits. The make? Stories of various kinds. To consume? Music, especially musicals.

Hermes- Do you like traveling? Where is one place you want to travel to?

Everywhere. Anywhere.

Hypnos- On average, how much sleep do you try to get every night?

I try to get 8 hours...

Labyrinth- Do you have a good sense of direction/do you get lost easily?

Hahahahaha. I still get lost in the Wal-Mart I’ve been going to since I was born. It hasn’t changed anything except for the front doors in thirty years.

Medusa- Do you have any pets?

My cat.

Odysseus- Do you finish tasks quicker, or does it take time for you to get through them?

I finish them as quickly as I can while still getting them done properly, which means certain ones are done in a matter of seconds while others can take hours.

Pandora’s Box- What is a mistake you’ve made that you regret?

I try not to reflect on the past. Nothing has been so big that anyone has died, so I’ll just let my mistakes lie.

Pegasus- What is your relationship with your parents like?

I haven’t spoken to my bio-dad in nearly six years and my mom and I aren’t bad(?) but we don’t generally have real conversations, either. (Not my fault. I’m just not interesting enough to hold anyone’s attention)

Persephone- What is your “type”?

*crickets chirping as the aroace flag flies in the background* (My grey-romantic butt is struggling so bad right now to come up with some sort of common ground for the three people I’ve ever found romantically attractive...)

Phobos- Do you think it’s okay to be afraid of things?

Well, you’re going to be afraid no matter what. The only thing is you have to make sure your fear doesn’t control you.

Poseidon- Do you like to swim?

I hate being wet.

Titans- If you could go anywhere in time, when would you want to go?

Time is... There are horrible things and amazing things in every time period, so I honestly have no idea.

Zeus- Favourite weather?

Cloudy but not rainy. Just enough sun filtering through to provide light, but no rain so I can go to the park and enjoy the lack of sun.