#Out of Battle (OOC)

[sprucestairs]

Hypnos wins a bet (and a fight) by being left-handed.

Hi I had this idea after noticing that Hypnos holds his quill in his left hand and I thought, huh. Greek warriors like say, Achilles, probably never fought against left-handed people because it was considered like a curse or whatever to be left-handed. Anyway I then proceeded to do 0 research about this and instead write fanfiction.

Another day of mindlessly signing in the visitors to the house, and sneaking in a couple naps so he could do his actual job.

Sure it was boring, and repetitive, but Hypnos found enjoyment in such things. It was almost calming, in a way. When he wasn't getting yelled at for slacking off, that was. Speaking of which...

"Hypnos."

Ah, shit. Than had that look on his face again. The one that meant he was confident he was going to prove someone wrong. Then he stopped dead in front of him.

"I believe that you could beat Achilles in a fight."

...What?

There was no way. Achilles? ACHILLES? Who was hired specifically to be the head of security for the house and personal trainer for Prince Zagreus? THAT Achilles?

"I also may have already placed a bet that you could." Of course he did. Hypnos kicked him in the leg.

"WHY would you bet that I can beat ANYONE in a fight? Let alone Achilles- he's like- one of the greatest warriors the mortal world has seen!"

"But he was mortal. And shades are notably weaker then their living counterparts." Thanatos countered, decidedly ignored his attempt at kicking him.

"But *I* am a poor fighter. Remember what happened with Sarpedon?" Thanatos just waved him off.

"Please. That was because there were far more people trying to fight us, in the midst of a war. This will be a one-on-one fight in a controlled arena." Hypnos narrowed his eyes at him. Thanatos gave him a shit eating grin.

"I'll help you train for the fight, of course." Of course. There was no way out of this one. His brother had made the contract completely airtight. He sighed.

"Fine. Where?"

"There's plenty of training areas in Elysium. I'll find one somewhere near where you reside." Whatever. He nodded half heartedly and turned back to his endless list as his twin exited with a flash of green light. He was actually excited to sign in the countless deceased mortals who ventured across the river Styx now. Better then getting his ass kicked.

~~~

He went home immediately after his shift ended. Knowing Than, he'd barely have time to get a power nap in before he came clanging in with the sound of funeral bells.

True to character, Hypnos was in fact awoken by a clamour of tolling bells, tearing him away from the realm of Sleep where he had been weaving dreams.

Thanatos either didn't notice his glare, or just didn't care.

"Where do you keep your weapon? I can't see it anywhere." He asked instead. Hypnos rolled his eyes. Why waste his time and energy in crafting a place to put his sword when he can just keep it immaterial until the rare occasion he required it. Stopped it from getting lost, as well. His brother appeared unimpressed by the simple instrument.

"You've seriously never made a more... personalised weapon?"

"No need." He grumbled. "This is plenty personalised. I can wield it well enough."

"C'mon then." Than motioned him towards the exit.

The training area Than had found was pretty close by, to be fair. It also happened to hold an unattended spear.

"From one of those hero shades." His brother explained. "It was dropped when Zagreus and I were fighting some of them. I'll have to return it at some point." Hypnos couldn't help laughing at that.

"YOU stole a hero's weapon? Why?"

"It's not stolen!" Thanatos countered. "I'm just holding on to it until I can find the rightful owner. Besides, Achilles fights with a spear. You've got to know how to beat a spear-wielder."

Okay. Well. The spear was here regardless, and it WOULD be better to train against the weapon that Achilles would be using. The twins started out with simple moves, ones their mother had taught them when they were very young. Hypnos, surprising himself, managed to get into the flow of training quicker than Thanatos.

"Damn thing's like an an amalgam of my regular weapons." Thanatos grumbled. "Can't remember how my next move's supposed to go." They continued on for what felt like forever. Eventually, though, the ever present exhaustion plaguing Hypnos grew too large to ignore and he had to return to his realm. The last thing he saw was his brother, resting at his side while planning further training.

This became something of a routine between the two. For a good few days or nights, or whatever passed for such underneath the earth, they would each attend their separate duties in the house and later meet in the same arena to hone their skills. Hypnos almost managed to forget that this whole thing, all this quality time with his brother, was to help him win a bet.

Almost.

Though of course, eventually the day came when he would have to face Achilles in combat. And of course, most of the House had become aware of it some way or another. And Hermes. Because the messenger God knew just about everything except the future. (That was a job given to one of his own many brothers.)

"Alright there, Hypnos?" Zagreus slung one arm around his shoulders as he spoke, bringing him close to say, in an exaggerated whisper, "remember, his heel is his weak spot." Hypnos's only answer was to roll his eyes. If no one had known about that weak spot, Achilles would've come to the underworld far later.

He found himself... nervous. He often was, the few times anyone had bothered to task him with something important, but this was different. In a way, this fight placed his own honour and status as a God on the line. Even though it was a carefully controlled arena, and mostly recreational, if he lost this fight, he would become known as the god weak enough to be bested by a mortal shade.

Zagreus seemed to realise he wasn't in the mood for jokes, switching to a rambling tale of his latest (and probably vastly exaggerated) attempt at reaching the surface. He was only partly listening, though. He was busy trying to fine tune his plan to best Achilles. He knew he had far less stamina than the other gods, but how did that compare to mortals? One trained as a warrior, at that. Was it possible that Achilles could be faster than him? He just didn't know, and wouldn't until the fighting began in earnest.

Thanatos had tried to reassure him that it was impossible for a mortal to come even halfway to the abilities of gods, but he was a pretty pathetic god. And he wasn't blind, he knew the way his brother fought. He could tell that he'd been holding back when they fought together.

~~~

He stood in the arena proper now, Achilles at the other end. He seemed slightly puzzled by something, though Hypnos couldn't think what it was. Probably the fact that he'd actually shown up to the fight at all. The Champions of Elysium were sitting in the place of honour amongst the crowd of onlookers, the hastily appointed judges of the fight. Glancing around the rest of the crowd, he couldn't spot the King or Queen, nor his own mother. Though he did spot more of his siblings than just Charon and Thanatos, and he tried not to think about the things they would say when he got his teeth knocked out. Also Hermes. Seriously, with the amount of jobs that guy had, how did he find the time to come down to the underworld so often?

The signal was given to start, and Achilles began to stalk towards him, weary of any sudden tricks that the god might pull. But sudden tricks really weren't his thing. He stood his ground, fully aware that his opponent had a longer weapon that he could start using any time.

Rather, he used the shade's approach to study him. He still unconsciously held the habit of favouring one leg, the one that had been fully invulnerable in life. He lacked a shield, gripping a longspear with both hands. And as conditioned in the rules of this fight, he wore no armour upon his clothes. There was not much else Hypnos could learn by standing around like an idiot, so he began to focus on actually fighting the man still moving towards him. He had the shorter weapon, he would have to find a way to get in close.

Something in the shade's eyes seemed to shift, with a barely perceptible change in the atmosphere. The battle had begun. No more standing and thinking, just fighting.

Well, either way it would be over quickly.

Achilles threw caution to the wind in charging, hoping to catch the usually lethargic god off guard. Unfortunately, Hypnos did just about the opposite of what he expected and moved closer, giving himself the advantage with his shorter weapon. Achilles seemed strangely unbalanced in how he countered. Was Hypnos using techniques that he had never seen? No, he was no war-fighting god, that couldn't be it. Maybe it was the way he moved? He knew that gods often moved differently to how the mortals expected, maybe this was such a time.

He was tiring quickly, in spite of the endurance training that his brother had him undertake. The god of sleep simply couldn't stay awake for too long. He just needed to focus, to quickly find a weak spot in the defences of his opponent.

...There.

Achilles' habit of hiding his vulnerable heel made him unbalanced. All Hypnos had to do was strike low, and the great warrior tripped over his own feet. The rules of the fight dictated that the first one to fall to the ground for any reason would be the loser. And so Hypnos, stunned, was announced the winner of the fight.

He quickly found himself in the middle of a crowd of siblings he hadn't seen in decades, Ker even said he'd done well! And she fought with Ares' war band, so she had pretty high standards of what a good fighter looked like.

Achilles just shook his head, apparently in good spirits despite his loss. He congratulated Hypnos on beating him before going to talk to a few other shades. Zagreus thought the whole thing was hilarious, teasing his old mentor about the loss.

Even Hermes had stuck around to chatter at him for a while, and Hypnos found that he actually quite appreciated the energy the Olympian god brought.

After most had left, and Hypnos was once again alone with his closest companions, he recalled the strange way Achilles had seemed unbalanced, asking his brothers about it.

"I knew something like that would happen." Thanatos answered him, cryptically. "It's why I even made that bet."

Belatedly, Hypnos realised that he didn't even know who he had made the bet against. He was about to ask Charon what he thought, but he spoke first.

"Your fighting hand. It's different from most."

Hypnos squinted at his hands suspiciously.

"Seem like pretty normal hands to me"

Charon let loose one of his terrifying laughs.

"Yes, they certainly are. But you choose to hold your sword in your left hand. The warriors of Greece only train with their right."

Hypnos blinked. The warriors of Greece only ever trained to fight with one hand?

"What happens if a warrior was used to using their left hand?"

"Then, they would be turned away or taught to fight with the other hand I assume." Charon answered.

Thanatos had been trying to move slowly away from the conversation, but Hypnos dragged him back.

"You knew the only reason I could win that fight was because Achilles never trained against an opponent who was left-handed." He said, getting right in Than's face. He poked an accusing finger at his brother too, just to really make sure he got the point.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Hypnos." He tried to hide his face so Hypnos couldn't see the way he smiled.

"I made that bet because I knew that your godly strength would be what won you the fight." Hypnos didn't believe a word of it. He tried to yell at his twin, but Thanatos started laughing.

"What's so funny? Cut it out!" He complained, but for some reason he was laughing too.

Charon watched them amusedly, reminded of the times when the twins were young, and would argue about things that didn't matter. Even then, they would forget their arguments for the laughter that came from the ridiculous words they were saying. Truly, the bond that existed between twins, forged by the Fates was unbreakable. Even though they had spent years without speaking to each other, now they could laugh and joke as though none of it had ever happened.

~~~

"YOU WERE HOLDING BACK, THAN!"

"YES, FROM DOING MOVES THAT WOULD WORK WITH A SCYTHE BUT NOT A SPEAR!"

"STOP FIGHTING WITH WEAPONS YOU DONT KNOW HOW TO USE!"

"THEN YOU WOULDN'T KNOW HOW TO FIGHT A SPEAR WIELDER!"

...blood and darkness, they could get loud. Hypnos was now repeatedly smacking Thanatos, who was lain on the floor, with a pillow he'd found from the many scattered around. Charon found that he couldn't quite recall when they had even begun this, lost as he was in his thoughts. Growling, he moved between the pair, both of whom were still laughing, and confiscated the pillow by throwing it into a far off corner.

"Awwww, that one was my favourite." Hypnos complained. He wouldn't put it past his brother to actually have a favourite pillow, but that wasn't the main issue right now.

He playfully swatted at the pair while telling them to get back to their usual duties. Both rolled their eyes in unison. It was kind of unsettling, actually, but Charon would never admit to such outloud.

Eventually, with much playful arguing between the three brothers, Charon did manage to convince Thanatos to leave with him so Hypnos could rest. They could settle whatever argument they'd been having another day, and both he and Charon probably had a lot of work to catch up on.

[fortjester]

girls when they stumble back over a fic they read and disliked (bc it was ooc af despite compelling plot points) and they're trying not to read the new chapter bc they promised themselves they wouldn't fucking read any more of it

[thanatologie]

anyway, i really am sorry i've been a space cadet lately on both blogs, here's why:

[clegfly]

Getting REAL sick and tired of how omori TikTok views sunny.

Like, they view any scene of him being emotionally vulnerable, affectionate, or even just making an expression outside of just being completely neutral as “mischaracterised”. He’s not some cool, stoic, unwavering badass, he is a traumatised teenager. Don’t cry whenever he dares to give his friend a hug or (god forbid) be SAD about something??? Isn’t like. Part of the point of his development about him allowing himself to break down the repressive walls he built when he shut himself in? And being able to rely on his real friends instead of imaginary versions? And isn’t the game like. Meant to SHOW that he still cares about them despite isolating himself?

It’s really stupid to get mad at a character like that showing emotion or affection personally, especially since he’s not used to expressing it properly after so long. But that’s just me

[akdw]

If Heroes of Olympus ever gets a show adaption, I hope they take the time to fix all the ooc moments and in general all the little details that make ppl not like this series as much as the og PJO

[iappearmissing]

i love this. love volo just casually strutting back into the village after threatening a child with violence going 'hey wassup u wanna know what happened?'

AND they let him walk back out

[sonchiildren]

Beerus happens to be one of my favorite Dragonball characters and I fully ignore ANY of the dumb decisions the Super Anime made with his character at times.

[twardsthesun]

Ooc.; So. *clicks tongue* like.

Like this post if you'd like an interaction from Lillie?

If ur multimuse pls lmk whom for.

Keep in mind I WILL be picky bc of energy, not wanting to get overwhelmed and ESPECIALLY wanting something from which i can actually build a cool interaction with if our muses have potential i can readily see

[atopvisenyashill]

looking back i DO wish i whacked rhaenyra more in that one ask i got about “it’s just kind of stupid for rhaenyra to execute one of her siblings right” i got really focused on that show moment from alicent’s perspective because…shamefully i will admit………….as an aligon shipper i was like how dARE THEY DO THIS TO ME like i’m still heated tbh i know how they wanted that scene to hit and i did NOT feel it on the alicent/aegon end.

but like that’s the point i’m always on about, is the kinslaying thing is SERIOUS and there’s simply no way for rhaenyra to recover politically from publicly executing or being explicitly linked to aegon’s death when she’s ALREADY facing maegor allegations!! and rhaenyra knows this it’s why she’s so angry at daemon. optics are simply so much more important for her & if she’s trying to take the throne while she’s a woman and she’s got these fucking andal/first men looking kids, she can’t just DO SHIT LIKE THAT. and how do i know she can’t recover politically? it’s bc she doesn’t lmao helaena is the precursor the city needs to explode in part because of the kinslaying taboo!!! nyra’s a woman clearly aware of the optics, she talks about how she’s perceived constantly when she tries to emulate visenya, when she does her ding dong ditch routine with aemond, when she slaps whatshisface and talks about fear, even if she’s colossally bad at judging how her actions will look, she knows how shes SUPPOSED to be looking. so it was like rhaenyra. that’s a dumb ultimatum and you KNOW it’s dumb, there's NO WAY these people will forgive you for executing YOUR OWN BROTHER after your party (regardless of who is to blame, again, something she KNOWS) just murdered his child while he was sleeping in bed.

so that was why that convo annoyed me to the level it did. i didn’t love the sept scene for example but at least the general conversation they were having fit the characters - the stubborn rhaenyra “we need to sue for peace” vs the frustrated alicent “we live in reality not your head” IS a common argument w those two, so i do Get what they’re going for on a character level. but the finale scene didn’t feel like an argument between two people who have known each other their whole lives, there simply weren’t enough low blows. i think rhaenyra could get away with out and out killing aemond bc of the luke death but literally anyone else named targaryen looks just soooo bad so it was frustrating not only for rhaenyra to stupidly suggest this but then alicent crumbling immediately made me gasp at my screen i was so mad.

[ultimateutopia]

[ :) ]

[slaanxsh]

something something slaaneshi daemons not only play with notions of dominance, but also of submission and this makes them gross and incomprehensible to daemons of khorne especially, who are all shards of Khorne, most domineering of the gods

[whimsyc0tt]

☕️ + your research (the benefits of battles)?? It sounds really interesting :]

They're asking me about my THEORIES!!

Okay, to make a long (several pages MLA cited with sources) story short, Pokemon have WAY more say/consent in their ownership to a human trainer than people often think. Poke balls are made as a secure containment for Pokemon so they can live in an ideal environment and be easy to carry/store as needed, but they have little to no actual capturing power! The reason you need Great/Ultra balls for more powerful Pokemon is because they need a more advanced environment to enrich them. Your battling and weakening them increases the chances they accept you not just because you're superior in battle, but because you've proven you have what it takes. Pokemon choose to stay with you because of their immense respect for the bond they share with their trainer!

This is incredibly important to battle because the lesser educated human might consider Pokemon battling/gym circuits to be some kind of horrible creature fighting ring where humans are forcing Pokemon to beat each other up for money when in fact the money and the renown is hardly the important part of battling!

Battling exists in nature. Wild Pokemon battle each other all the time to increase their abilities and test each other's strengths. It's a mutually beneficial relationship. Prey Pokemon will battle other prey Pokemon to increase their defenses and strengths so they can survive, and Predator Pokemon will battle other Predator Pokemon to get better at hunting/defending their territory! And of course Predator and Prey Pokemon battle for dominance, food, and safety. It's all in an effort to keep each other strong so they can continue their species's survival! And from that, new moves and defense mechanisms are developed.

But humans have a miraculous ability to bond with a Pokemon and help them increase their power tremendously. You never see Pokemon in the wild that can get as powerful as some trainers have nurtured their team to. So trainers benefit from having Pokemon who can do amazing things that humans need help with, as well as companionship and community witch is essential for human survival, and Pokemon get the benefit of increased power and training, as well as care and companionship themselves! And the most important thing to me (see paragraph one) is that they chose to be with you. If a Pokemon stays with you, they made the choice to enter with you into this bond where we all grow stronger.

Look forward to a published research paper coming soon!

[darabeatha]

ㅤㅤPOSSIBLE dual muse blog

[theyoungwclf]

So this has been blown the hell up, but now we have them sending me unhinged ass messages and then blocking again. Might as well let it be known to the world since apparently they are collecting screenshots even though I haven't deleted any of my posts.

It's the main character syndrome for me. I made a singular joke about someone blocking me around the time I was talking about Robb's sexuality. I wasn't going to name you because I didn't care, but now you're acting like this?? I didn't twist words, the way you worded what you said was disrespectful as hell, and based on this message and how you're acting I would say I was right. Find some perspective, heal from it and maybe all will be well.

Taking something that wasn't that deep to begin and twisting it to make it seem like I was attacking you really reeks of attention seeking and it's clear as day that I dodged a bullet that you decided to block me.

[pokemon-duo-nene-and-rui]

rui coming back from another regular trip from studying in the woods: hi nene ^_^

nene: ......whatcha got there?

ogerpon latching onto rui and following behind him:

rui, holding a handmade berry smoothie: a berry smoothie ^_^

[wallcreeper-and-oro]

terminal.find(HIP 74890) terminal established connection.find(omni_net) connection established omni.id.vericode(Y/N) (Y) {vericode entered} connection verified - lancer 910372

[Coryander can be heard, she takes a shaky breath in]

fuck.

{audio recording pauses} {audio recording resumes}

[Cory takes a steadying and begins to speak in a detached monotone]

uh okay. 

this is lancer 910371, callsign Ouroboros, of the Cypriot, Dido’s Divers Free Company.

[another slow breath in and out]

uh mission report regarding.. recovery from WASP-132c.

so not sure who i'm going to send this to and i don't care what the client said about confidentiality.. i just need to talk..

so we were sent to WASP-132c to recover some damaged tech from FirstCom era, old hard-suit models, not sure why the client wanted them. none of my business. i wish they’d- [she sighs]

whatever. 

okay so we go down to WASP-132c, make landfall, fine. everything looks good, just like the Cypriot’s scanners said, some local fauna and flora but no sign of anything hostile. 

….

got to the facility. everything is fine. buncha old FirstCom stuff there, nothing too weird. old research base i think? not sure, it doesn’t.. it doesn’t really matter. uh so we get the fucking. sorry. [her voice raises] no. no i’m not i don’t give a- 

{audio recording pauses} {audio recording resumes}

[Cory resumes, voice back to flat neutral]

apologies. so we secured the payload, that was fine, base was so old we just walked in and out. walking back to the landing craft,

and then.. 

[she curses under her breath, voice muffled takes a few deliberate but shaky deep breaths, it doesn’t ease the strain in her voice]

then the hard-suits start leaking nanites 

[her pace picks up, so does her breathing]

and-and suddenly there’s greywash everywhere and then out of the facility come people. like humans. actual humans. we-we knew there was organic life but not- but not humans. and they’re angry, i-i don’t know but they’re angry. they’re speaking in a dialect i don’t understand but they’re pissed, and they have guns and then fuck greywash was everywhere, and it’s-  it’s eating through Liza’s fucking- 

[her breathing is shallow and fast]

and then one of the humans got on her cockpit a-and i-i-i 

i-i h-had to 

[she sniffles]

i-i j-just didn’t know what to do and they were on top of her a-and 

[Coryander breaks down, racking sobs can be heard for a minute or two]

[there is the sound of a door sliding open and rushed footsteps before Thebe’s voice can be heard, deep and soft, a clear note of worry tinged with weariness of its own]

heeey heey c’mere 

[the sound of someone sitting down, bodies shifting closer]

i know ma belle.. i know 

[Coryander’s voice is muffled by fabric as she’s racked by deep choking sobs]

i-i-i w-wanna g-go h-home

okay.. we can do that, i just need you to breathe right now okay?

[Thebe breathes deeply in. and out. and Cory does her best to match it]

great job, just like that, in… and out.

[the sobs slow after a few shaky breaths from Cory]

hey hey its okay alright, she’s okay, you’re okay…..

it’ll be okay.. 

[Coryander’s breathing begins to slow]

what were you doing Cory? you know you should be resting too..

u-uh 

[Coryander sniffles]

i-i was tryna record a briefing, we gotta tell someone… 

okay.. here let’s get that turne-

{audio recording pauses} {audio recording resumes}

[Coryander’s voice can be heard again, still raw but more composed, she sounds tired]

okay.. 

[she takes a deep breath]

okay uh sorry about that, 

uh okay, okay. 

things didn’t go to plan… the hard-suits are un-salvageable… in short they had some sort of HORUS tech i think? greywash. lots of it. the suits kinda disintegrated.. and anything left we coulda gotten…. there was an un-documented human presence on the planet the client didn't tell us about.. they got the rest..

[a pause then she takes a steadying breath] 

Lancer Liza- uh callsign Sour Patch was hurt in the process, she’s recovering in the ships’s med bay, damage was sustained to the mechs of all lancers, uh.. next stop is a repair shop i guess… it’s gonna cost.. 

[there’s a deep sigh] 

uh Lancer Ouroboros signing off..

{audio recording ends}