#Zeus honestly probably was being merciful here | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

frogwiththephatahh · 2 months ago

Text

I really like the Leveling System in God Games

I think it's really interesting how Athena's trial is written. She's the goddess of wisdom, so everyone, including Zeus, knew she was going to use her wits to convince each of them. And Zeus seems to have set up each God in the order of easier to hardest.

Only for it to backfire in his face.

Apollo's up first. And honestly, I don't think he wanted to be here for the sake of arguing against Odysseus. He literally opens up his first with, "you all know I'm a fan of catchy songs." Which is a very fitting thing for the god of music to say. I think, no matter what Athena said, Apollo was going to agree just for the sake of being included in a catchy song. But I don't think Zeus knew this.

Obviously, he would know Apollo's intentions- being part of a song. But Apollo says a "catchy" song. Not just a song. I think Zeus believed he'd come up with an argument in order to get more time in the song. But Apollo, as a true enjoyer of music, would know there's only so long he can stretch his time before the song lost it's catchiness. And he's right. His part is an earworm, even if it's short.

Then there's disciplined, strict Hephaestus. Who has a very solid argument against Ody. "Why should I give him my support? He sacrificed his own cohorts." Odysseus doesn't deserve mercy because he showed no mercy to his own men. This is a good case, and one Zeus probably agrees with. But the thing about Hephaestus is that I don't think he was EVER on Zeus' side to begin with. Instead, he seems more like he was waiting for Athena to give an answer, daring her to prove him wrong. And she gave him a satisfying enough answer for him. Yes, Odysseus sacrificed his crew, but they also disobeyed him multiple times, and then literally stabbed him in the back. And that's also a valid argument. Hephaestus isn't hard to please.

Now the levels are getting harder. We're at Aphrodite. Leaning more into the mythology itself rather than the characterizations we're given in Epic, Aphrodite is notoriously a very vain, very prideful goddess. Just like Zeus, she wouldn't want to change her mind so easily. And, famously, she was also one of the only gods to sit out on the Trojan War, seemingly because of a disdain for conflict. Which is why Athena mentioning the war and fighting doesn't do anything to pierce Aphrodite's shield.

Aphrodite is the goddess of love. So of course her argument mentions Odysseus hurting the people he loves. It's interesting, however, that she specifically mentions his mother and not any of his crew, friends, or his wife and son. I think this actually says a lot of Anticlea. "Claimed to love his mother, but let her die of a broken heart." None of the rest of Ody's family is "heart broken." Penelope and Telemachus still have hope that Odysseus will return. They're still alive, fighting every day to keep his place as king, even in the face of adversaries who want to hurt them. But Anticlea can no longer do that. Her disappointed that she waited so long to see her son, only for him to never make it home, must be immeasurable. And according to Aphrodite, Odysseus did this on purpose by antagonizing Polyphemus.

Is this a good argument on Aphrodite's part? No, not really. Obviously, it was stupid of Odysseus to reveal his name, but he wasn't doing it to purposefully spite the cyclops. We know this. He was doing it as a warning, so that Polyphemus would always remember what happens when he chooses not to have mercy. It's a good sentiment, on Odysseus' part.

What's interesting about Aphrodite is that we never see Athena truly convince her. There is that moment right before Ares enters where Athena asks her to reconsider her decision. I, personally, think that Athena was going to mention Odysseus' other loves- his wife and son. And Ares choosing this exact moment to interject is most certainly planned.

It's not that Athena was using "old tricks." It's that Aphrodite was about to start agreeing with her.

Ares' part is by far the most interesting to me- because he's the most right! "What kind of sick coward holds back his powers while his friends get devoured?" We've seen Odysseus think his way out of tight spots before. We know he could have spent longer trying to find a way around Scylla. Ares knows this, too.

And the way Athena goes about convincing him otherwise is fascinating to me. She could mention that Ody is "just a man." He can't possibly be expected to have the energy to think his way out of every situation. By the time he gets to Scylla, he's exhausted after three years at sea. Of course he wouldn't be thinking clearly. But Athena knows Ares wouldn't care about this.

Instead, she appeals to Ares' on a more human level. "You want more bloodshed? Then set him free!" Ares, as the literal god of bloodshed, would love that shit. Now, I've seen Ares be called a hypocrite over this, as he was literally just talking about how Ody let blood shed when it didn't need to be.

But it's actually fitting. Ares isn't just the god of bloodshed and violence, but the god of war. Odysseus standing by and letting his ALLIES die is shameful to Ares. That's not how you win a war. You don't sacrifice the many for the good of the few. Odysseus instead killing enemies as a means to get home is a much more honorable act than letting his comrades die. It's the message Ares has probably been wanting to scream in Odysseus' face for three years.

I think this is why Ares is so far up. Because honestly, it doesn't take MUCH for him to agree with Athena. But that "much" takes a lot to get to. Because anyone who didn't know Ares would try to be actually reasonable, and point out Odysseus' circumstances and why he came to make the decisions he did. Ares is Athena's brother. And her rival god of war. She knows him. And Zeus underestimated that.

Then we come to Hera. This is speculation, but I think Hera is in the same boat as Hephaestus. She was always willing to agree with Athena, she just wanted to see what kind of argument Athena could come up with. But unlike Hephaestus, she's hard to please. Athena's first tactic is going all in, giving the reason why she, personally, is drawn to Odysseus. "He's got the mind of a genius." To which Hera answers with, "Try Harder." She immediately sees through Athena, and knows she just named the first good trait that came to her mind. Throughout her verse, Hera is waiting for Athena to give her "one good reason." One good trait, is what she's looking for.

This one is also interesting because it takes a moment for Athena to appeal to Hera specifically, like what she did with Ares. "Never once has he cheated on his wife." Which is a hilarious dig! For those out of loop, Hera is the wife of Zeus, a serial adulterer. Zeus has more children with mortal women than he does with Hera herself. So of course she'd be against cheating. But THEN you remember that Hera is also the goddess of marriage. So of course she's won over by the mention of Odysseus' faithfulness to his wife and family.

I don't remember who said it, but I do recall a post mentioning that it's strange Athena didn't immediately mention Odysseus' family and his need to get back to them. I think this was actually smart on her part. Hera could have easily shot back with, "okay, but what about all the men he let die who also had families and wives waiting for them?" So I don't really think that argument would have worked anyway.

Zeus is technically the final level, but I don't think he thought of himself like that. At the beginning of God Games, Zeus names all the other gods then says, "OR me." That doesn't mean, Apollo OR Hephaestus Or Aphrodite Or Ares Or Hera Or Zeus. It means Apollo, Hephaestus, Aphrodite, Ares, and Hera OR Zeus. As in, convince the other gods, or just try to convince me.

Zeus sees himself as just as hard to convince as all the other gods combined. And he's pretty much right. Considering he denies Athena's wishes, even when she won the game.

#the oddyssey #epic the musical #epic the wisdom saga #this has been in my drafts for so long i needed it finished

38 notes · View notes

danwhobrowses · 2 months ago

Text

One Piece Chapter 1127 - Initial Thoughts

And we are back

Chapter came out a little later than usual but finally we're here Elbaf has started and Nami has been whisked away

I guess as the Danes would say Leg Godt!

Spoilers for the Chapter, Support the Official Release too

Yamato's cover has Inuarashi being visited, the Daimyo of Kuri also is alarmed by the missing people

We seem to be in a land of giants

All the houses have a lego aesthetic it seems, including some trees

But they are alarmed by a fire in a forest

Yggdrasil, aka the Norse World Tree that is meant to hold all the realms, is worried about because of the fire, it seems the country is tied to the tree

What's interesting though is that they mention reporting to the Sun God

I wonder if the Sun God is a mantle or maybe someone poses as one

Giant bees have also been found KO'd, they're called Stingermols

The giants remain confused, even reporting tremors due to the 'Ear God's collapse

The Ear God is apparently a giant rabbit, we just throwing out the title of god for anyone in Elbaf?

We go to the also-lego Big Steinn Castle, where Nami is being kept

So she's been beating the Stingermol, thanks in part to Zeus

Nami panics though, calling for the monster trio

'I'll even take Usopp' girl the disrespect just because he's cuter

To be fair Nami should be alarmed about the fact that she changed clothes

I did criticize it last chapter to being too like her Onigashima attire but I gotta give credit that it's an actual skirt this time and not just plain underwear

Nami hears Usopp's voice and follows something that catches her eye, but she trips on the lego floor

AHHHH HEDGEHOG! It's Adorable!

But in Nami's panic she startles it and angers the poor thing

Usopp meanwhile is outside, in the mouth of a giant cat in a crown

Nami uses Zeus to shock the Hedgehog, but the momentum takes them off the ledge and it falls on the cat, which also electrocutes

Usopp's new outfit seems to be more Asterisk and Obelisk inspired, the beard I can live with but the tache is a bit much

The cat survived electrocution, so Nami and Usopp are forced to run

They wonder how they got there, and consider that it's the Absinthe causing hallucinations

Usopp tests the theory though, and gets the catspaw

They fall from the castle, Usopp KO'd, and at the mercy of the giant cat - now transformed into a lion

I wonder if the crown had something to do with that, its first crown broke during the hedgehog fall

Nami of course prioritizes herself, and uses Usopp as a meat shield

But Sanji calls out to Nami

The Monster Trio arrive to defeat the Lion; Ifrit Jambe, Gear Fourth and Santoryu

The Lion KOs and reverts to a cat

Uhhhhh not feeling that eyeguard Zoro

Luffy no, we don't eat cats, we also don't eat dogs, don't take Trump's comments seriously

Oh they ate the Ear God...oh this could be bad XD

Sanji of course comes to flirt with Nami, while Nami expresses relief having been saved after Usopp died (disclaimer Usopp did not die he's just slightly injured)

Sanji's attire is much more medieval knight, kinda suits him but also kinda doesn't, there is a bit of Germa energy in the silhouette

Luffy's outfit though is near perfect, just can't really see the straw hat over the horned helmet

Zoro though doesn't look good, it's just too much I think, removing the goggles would go a long way but the shoulder guards would kinds be restrictive, honestly the outfit probably would've suited Sanji better (minus the goggles) and Sanji's may've suited Zoro better imo

Luffy of course is thinking about food, Zoro wants to check the safety of the crew first, while Sanji is also thinking about food, mainly the stingermols and their nutrients

Nami ends the chapter taken aback about how unfettered the trio are, and we still have no clue where we are

Annnnd there's the break

Well that answered no questions XD

Elbaf is definitely giving off weird energy, lego seems to be a wider theme than just the Big Steinn castle. It's still throwing me how it was kinda proportional size, the Yggdrasil tree is so far the only natural formation.

As I mentioned the outfits are more miss than hit right now, maybe it takes getting use to but Zoro for the love of god take those goggles off, or at least pull them to your forehead. It does seem though that only the East Blue Saga lot were the only ones whispered away, no word on Chopper or the Sunny at the moment, and nothing that presents itself to explain how they got here.

There being an Yggdrasil implies they are in Elbaf, but at the same time we've seen no ocean, we've seen the coast of Elbaf but it was called 'War Land', so maybe this is a different section of Elbaf? A different 'land' if you will like a 'Toy land'. The fact that a giant rabbit is deemed a god gives off Skypeia vibes too, but if Luffy can beat it I don't see how any giant would struggle (maybe they needed the holy hand grenade?).

But yeah, colour me puzzled to say the least

#one piece #one piece spoilers #op spoilers #elbaf arc #elbaf #straw hat pirates #monkey d. luffy #roronoa zoro #vinsmoke sanji #usopp one piece #nami one piece

10 notes · View notes

ekmerald4 · 4 months ago

Text

It's even better considering the Saga starts with the most tame of all songs. In Suffering, we only see the *familiar* sides of Odysseus. His love for his wife, his wits in baiting the Siren into showing him the way to avoid Poseidon. So til this point, it's PRETTY MUCH safe territory where we're all like "Oh it's just good old Odysseus". Also, while it was pretty obvious that "Penelope" was a siren (at least to me), I like how it was made kind of believable putting aside the "Daughter" comment. You know, you WOULD expect Odysseus to become scared of the water at this point.

And then BAM, Different Beast. Notice how even putting aside the instrumental (which is brutal by the way), this man Is not just ruthless – one could argue he's *cruel*. He could have, you know, slit their throats. BUT NO. He *cut off the Sirens' tails* before throwing them to drown. Which was, well, brutal. (REALLY GOOD, but still, brutal.)

Scylla's voice? HELL YEAH. It was so good. Odysseus sounds So resigned by the beginning of Scylla. He's not even Trying to weasel his way as usual. He's not Trying to save anyone anymore. He's just ensuring his own survival. Just as Scylla says ("We must do what it takes to survive"/"We are the same"). His reaction to Eurylochus's confession was REALLY interesting. Honestly, it's possible that he just had a moment of "Well, considering I cannot even trust You anymore, I don't need to worry about you either, so just light up the torches already" since he was Already numb enough to not care. Still, considering his reaction later (when he tried to appease Eurylochus in Mutiny for a moment) I'd say he just didn't think it mattered anymore. He already placed the blame of what happened With Poseidon on his own mercy, so whoever opened the wind bag did not matter anymore.

Mutiny? Probably my second favorite song. Already starting with the same Melody as Luck Runs out, as if to say "This is the climax, this is where it peaks". Now Eurylochus's hypocrisy here is also really intriguing. Makes me wonder whether it was because of the argument Odysseus presented him with in Puppeteer? When he said "There's no length I wouldn't go, if it was You I had to save." When Eurylochus suggested they leave the other men behind. Basically, he realized that if Ody is going so far as to sacrifice their men, he would go so far as to sacrifice Eurylochus too at this point. And then "If you want all the power, you must take all the blame" Well Wellll, I'd say that sounds like Odysseus just taking the Reigns COMPLETELY, not involving Eurylochus, and basically just Eurylochus fearing for his life at this point because clearly Odysseus doesn't care about his Second in Command's opinion anymore, and he's a Different Beast now. (Or rather, Odysseus started doing what Eurylochus did before. Remember when he said "Let's just raid the place" in Full Speed Ahead? And then always assuming the worst and being cautious in "Luck Runs out"? And then "Let's cut our losses you and I and let's run"? Odysseus thinks like that now, so he no longer needs Eurylochus the way he did when he tried Polites's approach.) Eurylochus becoming so Damn hopeless that he cannot think rationally anymore ("Ody we're never getting back home" :() And they both just sound so damn shattered. Eurylochus almost out of it at this point, Odysseus desperate. I'M SURE YOU GET IT.

And then, Thunder Bringer? My favorite song! I adore it. It's perfect. Zeus in this Is just the definition of Divine indifference, so you CANNOT blame me for being obsessed, okay? Not when he sounds LIKE THAT. It's also So cool because it almost seems like Zeus is doing EXACTLY what Poseidon did, just with a different approach. Same lesson, different teaching techniques. Poseidon is one straightforward ruthless guy, Zeus is one manipulative little shit. I am still trying to figure out what he means when he speaks of Pride (Is it just a way to refer to Odysseus' pride as king and Captain? Something else?) But he's clearly doing something, I'd say. I mean he's giving him a choice but he's also steering him in a certain direction. "Why do I have a feeling they'd lose?" Coming from the King of the gods himself, the almighty all-knowing king of gods. Not His first time, by the way, considering he makes Odysseus feel like he has no choice in The Horse and the Infant when Technically he did IF NOT FOR HIM? Basically saying "You can do that, but then I'll doom your kingdom so". If not for his (and the Gods who join him in chorus) intervention, it would have been possible to spare the infant. So the choice was there, but Zeus (and the gods) got rid of it. Am I making sense? I hope so. Basically he gets Odysseus to do his bidding the first time by taking away his choice, and now he does the same by giving him the choice. Kind of ironic, considering deceit is Odysseus' field of expertise. He kind of starts the "Ruthlessness is Mercy" cycle and now he's insuring its completion. Then "King Of Ithaca", why Exactly would he feel the need to point that out THEN ESPECIALLY? Remind him of home, just randomly? Then, again, RANDOMLY Penelope appears in the sky, shrouded in golden light that kind of looks a bit too Zeussy. I mean, sure, it could have been a hallucination, but uhh (THAT HAPPENED IN THE STREAM? RIGHT?! I CANNOT FIND IT AND I AM REALLY HOPING THAT THE FACT I WAS WATCHING THE STREAM AT 3:30 AM DID NOT MAKE ME DELUSIONAL) But also, the way he's toying with Odysseus is just, well, not nice. Then the final piano :( It was so damn peaceful and sad and WHY.

GUYS EPIC THE THUNDER SAGA??????

Okay I'll try to break it down to songs, spoiler alert y'all

Suffering — I'll be singing this FOREVER I loved it so much, and I INSTANTLY KNEW THEY WERE SIRENS like Jay wouldn't miss the opportunity with the sirens to torment Ody with missing his wife.

Different Beast — I LOVE THIS THIS IS AMAZING. Also the fact that the crew was basically cheering Odysseus on for being "the monster" from now on, but as soon as being the monster meant sacrificing them too, they instantly turned on him. So like, being the monster was a good and nice thing, when it was to protect them, but then it suddenly becomes evil when it's used against them (I understand it, I just. Find it interesting.)

Scylla — SCYLLA'S VOICE??????? EXCUSE ME?Also THE FACT that right after admitting to opening the bag, Odysseus told Eurylochus to light six torches... Like. He kind of wants Scylla to do the dirty work?

Mutiny — OKAY I DIDN'T SEE THE CREW STABBING ODY FROM BEHIND, I DIDN'T SEE IT COMING BUT I LOVE IT... Also the reverse Luck Runs Out moment.

Thunder Bringer — I. I don't have any words. None at all. I love it. Every single note.

#Aaaaand of course the exchange between Eurylochus and Odysseus was heart-wrenching but I am sure we all knew that haha #Mutiny is just an uncontrollable landslide that keeps getting worse and worse the more the song proceedd and it was so well-done #epic the musical #epic the thunder saga

63 notes · View notes

star-of-zeus · 4 years ago

Text

Misconceptions of Zeus

@adri-le-chat has very kindly passed on an ask to me for an informative post talking about some misconceptions of Zeus and some epithets that counter them. I’m very excited for this opportunity to talk/rant about how great Zeus is and how he doesn’t deserve the bad rep he gets, so here goes! I’ll just be listing the misconceptions and explaining the epithets/general things that counter them below.

1. He’s an absolute jerk. I would like to first point out Zeus's epithet Panellenios (of all the Greeks) to counteract the jerk part in a way - he's a very "accessible" god, contrary to popular belief. He’s not elitist, you don’t need to have specific qualifications/traits or anything to worship or work with him - you just need dedication! He is also called Zeus Pater (father), god of fatherhood/parenthood as well. How could I counteract this misconception without also talking about Zeus Xenios (of hospitality) and Zeus Phyxios (of refuge). How could a god of hospitality and of refuge be a jerk? He was the one that punished the jerks for being jerks and being mean to guests/refugees and such.

2. He will get angry at you easily. I saw someone on one of the discord servers I’m in talk about someone that said Zeus will sic demons on you if you misbehave and... what? Zeus Melikhios can translate to "merciful" and not just "mild" - his wrath could be appeased even if you incurred it. He isn’t an unnecessarily rage-y god, he is fair and just and if you got the punishment he doled out.... honestly you might have deserved it! He's divine justice, you're not gonna be stuck down by Zeus for making a small mistake. He's called Zeus Palamnios (punisher of m-rderers) not Zeus "punisher of you who forgot to give offerings that one time".

3. Zeus is always a bearded old man This one is a more harmless misconception of course, but the thing that disproves it is quite interesting so I’m going to talk about it anyways. Zeus was worshipped as a giant snake and a child. Yes, you heard me correctly, a giant snake and a child.

Even if in one perspective Zeus Meilichios was simply one aspect of Zeus, in another he had to be treated as an independent figure. He was often portrayed differently too, as a gigantic snake. - p.91 of On Greek Religion by Robert Parker

Meilichios/Melikhios is a Chthonic epithet of Zeus, and it can also counteract the notion that Zeus is only an Ouranic god. In actuality, quite a few Ouranic gods had Chthonic aspects! Hermes, Demeter, and Persephone are “mixed” gods as well in that they have both Chthonic and Ouranic aspects.

There are at Aegium (in Achaia) other images made of bronze, Zeus as a boy and Heracles as a beardless youth, the work of Ageladas of Argos. Priests are elected for them every year, and each of the two images remains at the house of the priest. (Descriptions 7.24.4) - p. 38 of Priesthood by Leopold Sabourin

So, not only was Zeus worshipped as a boy, he had a whole priest for his worship as a child!

4. He sleeps around a lot.

This is probably the most common misconception that people have about him, so let’s get down to it! As Zeus is a very powerful god and the king of all, kings and warriors alike would claim him as their father. Alexander the Great claimed that he was the son of Zeus-Ammon. As Ken Dowden puts it in “Zeus”:

If someone wishes proudly to claim that some hero or tribe is descended from Zeus, another adultery will usually be added to his list. This is how family trees (‘genealogies’) work.

Quite a few of his supposed adulteries simply stem from men who didn’t know their fathers and wanted to lay claim to importance through their heritage. People who also wanted explanations of how a place or thing came to be would do the same. Additionally, even when looking at the myths, Zeus doesn’t have a sh-t-ton of children at once, they take place over time, here’s an explaination that I found on labrandeus’s blog:

I’m not stating anything new when I say that in popular culture people like to portray Zeus as this horny guy who just can’t keep it in his pants. But what is new I think is when I say that the myths actually don’t support this. Yes, you heard me right. If you look at the myths carefully, it turns out that Zeus isn’t the hopeless womanizer many people think it is. The key factor here is time. When we think of the Greek myths, we often don’t have a clear time frame so we imagine them all taking place at the same time. But that’s not the case. The myths take place over a long period of time. I’ll give you an example to make it more clear: The Iliad names two living mortal children of Zeus: Sarpedon and Helen. Heracles lived one generation before them, he is already dead at the time the Iliad is taking place but one of his sons is fighting in the Trojan war. So, Alcmene, Heracles’ mother, is said to be the granddaughter of Perseus, son of Zeus and Danaë. Danaë again is a descendant of Epaphus, son of Zeus and Io. Epaphus and Sarpedon lived about 480 years apart (the Wikipedia page of Epaphus also has a nice illustration). That’s a long ass time.

So, even in the adultery that Zeus does commit (also keep in mind, of course, that the myths are a product of their time and do not reflect the gods in their full capacity) it isn’t a series of children in quick succession, it’s some children over time. His children in myth also had importance and a role: a lot of them moved on to defeat monsters that were plaguing humanity. As Adrian and I like to say, Zeus plays 5-D chess. I hope that this post helped clear up some misconceptions that people had. Zeus is a wonderful and multi-faceted god who I am honored to serve and call my patron. He doesn’t deserve the bad rep he gets in pop culture and modern media, and I hope a few of you understand that better now then you did before. :)

#zeus #zeus deity #zeus worship #hellenic polytheism #hellenic gods #greek mythology

769 notes · View notes

greekbros · 3 years ago

Text

"greek-Bros": Rat Tail

*Every god has their secrets....this is the tale of Ares's secret*

Dionysus, Apollo and Hermes: *chatting away about stuff*

Ares: *comes in sort of dancing after a long day of WAAAARRRHHHHH* do do do, de do *takes his helmet off, revealing a slightly long but thin braided rat tail just gently unravel down his shoulder*

Dionysus, Apollo and Hermes: *stop everything and just stare at the literal war crime against humanity that was hiding under Ares's helmet this whole time* (̲̅ ͡ಠ_ಠ)̲̅.......

Ares: *goes over to a fountain to wash up like some homeless dude.*

Dionysus: *raises arm and over dramatically points at Ares*......OH SHIT. A RAT!....tail.

Ares: *turns around nonchalantly* ugh....yeah....yeh guys didn't know?

Apollo: Oh really? Did you HONESTLY think we would even suspect the existence of that........THING?!?

Hermes: Yeah man, I mean... really? A rat tail????

Ares: Ugh...yeah...I mean, it's convenient.

Apollo: SO IS SLAVERY AND GENOCIDE BUT YOU DON'T SEE THOSE BEING PUBLICLY ACCEPTABLE!!!!

Ares: ok I'll bite, why do you guys have such a problem with my hair style?

Apollo: *deeply offended and disgusted by it* oh how do I put it.......ITS FUCKING HORRID.

Dionysus: *personally feeling like Ares could do better with a mullet or something* yeah ugh....looks a little out dated

Hermes: *actually having the insatiable craving to just pluck it right off* ugh...*sweats profusely* .......*does the grabby hand thing and just kinda is mesmerized at the possibility of just easily ripping that tantalizingly thin braided strand like an satisfying ASMR video* ....hhhhnnnnggggg.

Ares: .... First off, fuck off. I ain't getting rid of my "Leonidas's rope". Second, you guys don't understand how hard it is to maintain this look and third off Aphrodite braided it herself so ain't losing that too.

Apollo: Oh there's your accomplice.

Dionysus: I always knew she was an enabler how toxic of her to do so.

Hermes: ....*slowly sneaks closer*

Ares: *slowly backs away.* Screw you guys, I'm going to get a snack. *Covers his rat tail with his hand while he runs off*

Hermes: *like a predator who has been triggered by the running of his prey* must. yank. *

Apollo: *grabs Hermes's collar* no no. I have a plan.

Hermes: *whines* ....but...it would have been so....ﾟ.*･｡ﾟsatisfying ☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ

*later*

Ares: *eats his 3rd gryo*

Dionysus: *tries to lasso the rat tail*

Ares: *moves like 3 inches*

Dionysus: *lassos an amphora, pulls the lasso without realizing he has pulled the wrong thing and gets the whole bottle to the face*

Ares: *reaches for the amphora but he notices it's gone.*..........*shrugs and goes get another*

Dionysus: ow.

*later again, in Hephaestus's secret lab*

Apollo: So...do you have any suggestions?

Hermes: *playing with what looks like a stim toy because he got bored* c:

Hephaestus: hmm...yes.... Ares's unfortunate choice of hairstyle is a challenge...but...I do have an idea. *Pulls a rope and a overly complicated Rube Goldberg-esk guillotine the cuts a pumpkin in half* .....

Apollo and Hermes: *both feeling that was WAY too much* ....

Hephaestus: .....

Apollo: ...um... don't you have something a little less..... drastic?

Hephaestus: *lying through his teeth knowing the plan was to at least save his marriage by just killing Ares* ....I apologized dear half-brother...but I'm afraid that is beyond my capabilities.

Apollo and Hermes: *look at each other*

*later*

Ares: *standing in the middle of a platform with ropes and such tied to different places on his body and only the one tied to his rat tail actually does anything*.....are you sure this isn't going to emancipate me for my 'rope'

Hermes: Wut? Oh no of course not, me and Heracles just wanted to do...ugh...an experiment. *Holding on to one rope on a pulley system*

Heracles: *has been brought from his room to harass Ares, holding on to the other*

*later after that failed spectacularly*

Dionysus: *puts a raw steak on his face from earlier* ....so....no plan?

Hermes: no....and I've already satisfied my craving to yank that thing off. Honestly it probably wouldn't have been interesting anyway.

Apollo: *massages his temples* that disgusting, trashy and absolutely repulsive little yarn weff is getting to me.

Dionysus: guys let's be real here ....are we all really going to let Ares's braid really bother us?

Apollo: I REFUSE to relate to another god who wears THAT behind his occipital region of his head.

Ares: *comes in* alright that's it, I'm sick of you guys being so fucking weird about my 'rope' and honestly it's not like you guys have something to hate either! Apollo you and your stupid bowtie on your head makes you look like a poodle! Dionysus I don't know what the shit is going on with your hair so for fuck's sake get a haircut and Hermes.....ugh....YOUR HAT WINGS PISS ME OFF....sort of.

Apollo: *not actually bothered by that comment considering its removable*

Dionysus: *scoff* I see you're jealous of my mane dude.

Hermes: *wings droop* :c

Ares: See? Doesn't fucking suck for someone else t-*hears a snip* .....

Apollo, Dionysus and Hermes: 👁️👄👁️

Artemis: *with a pair of scissors, has just cut the rat tail*...wut?

Ares: *absolutely speechless*......

Apollo: *surprisingly thankful* ARTEMIS! What on earth was that act of mercy for? :D

Artemis: wut? You guys don't have the urge to cut the tails off of rats or anything? Just me? Ok.

Dionysus and Hermes: *wanting to laugh like crazy but slightly feels like Ares is going lose his shit so their just quite*

Ares: *turns around in disbelief* ..........you... little....

Artemis: *unloving gives Ares his rat tail back* whatever Ares, fucking gross looking thing anyways. *Walks away*

Ares: *kneels down in defeat*..........

Apollo: well well well it seems everything is back to normal.

Ares: *sees that Artemis left the scissors, sees only red* .....well....looks like we got to go *picks up the scissors, looks at the trio* BALD.

Apollo, Dionysus and Hermes: *suddenly happy feelings gone.

*later*

Zeus and Hera: *waiting for the Olympians to arrive at the meeting*

Ares: *walks in a fresh buzz cut sits down*

Apollo: *expressionless and with his hair sloppily chopped in various places, looking like it was a home job*....

Dionysus: *slightly similar but he's feeling like a sheered lamb* .....

Hermes: *has a slightly messy version of a buzz cut but there's a really sloppy fade*

Zeus and Hera: *honestly have no idea what happened and look at Ares*

Ares: *has the look of satisfaction on his face*

Apollo: *sits down and slumps over*

Ares: *doesn't even have to turn his head*

Apollo: I hope you choke on those brass balls of yours because I hope you enjoy retaliation.

Ares: Name a place and time and we'll trade hands you pansy.

Apollo: man slut.

Zeus: BOYS!

Apollo: I SEE YOU DO NOT SEE THE ATROCITY YOUR SON HAS COMMITTED!

#greek mythology #greek gods #hellenistic #greek bros #greek myth memes #greek posts #dionysus #ares #Apollo #Zeus #Hermes #Hephaestus

30 notes · View notes

wickedpact · 3 years ago

Text

A ranking of all the TTT stories in order of how much I liked them.

(Oh god this is so long)

1 My Mother's Axe

BABY ANDYYYYYYYYYYYY. Honestly this one had the trifecta of developing a character's motivations, developing a character's backstory, & developing their personality. The story starting out with Andy teaching Nile to use the axe was so charming and fun, and you could feel that chemistry they had in Opening Fire, the way they teased and bickered with each other so naturally. I loved the wedge between them on the subject of the axe, how Nile was perhaps a little too young to understand Andy's feelings about whether or not its the 'same' axe. I also love how the axe is obviously the symbol of the franchise and hugely important, but you never get a sense of exactly how important it is to Andy until you read the story.

I love the entire Ship of Theseus theme, and how it feels so natural that for Andy she has to get attached to the idea of things rather than the things themselves because she'll always outlive the things themselves-- the axe is symbolically her mom's axe, even if physically it isn't. And I love how she clearly clings to that concept so tightly. "This is the labrys she held in her hands...." IT GETS ME.

And the fact that this sense of BELONGING, of FAMILY, of CULTURE is so important to Andy that she clings to it (figuratively and literally) with both hands. And of course it's important to her, she spent so long alone that the woman doesn't even remember her birth name. That axe (or the idea of that axe) is all she has left of her mother and that family/culture she was born into.

PLUS on that note I love how Andy doesn't remember if her mom was her actual biological mother, but it doesn't matter to her. This woman was her mother in all the ways that counted. And how her mom BETRAYED AND KILLED Andy but Andy loved her so much that she avenged her and carried her axe for thousands of years. THOUSANDS OF YEARS!!!!!!

I also loved how the story transcends the timeline of the whole franchise and seeing Andy through the years. Loved seeing her with the varying squads and with varying axes. Also baby Andy was so cute. It was cool seeing her so young. like holy fuck. Andromache The Scythian, Immortal Warrior (but smol). Love that.

Also I think this one is one of the few ttt stories that doesn't suffer from length problems.

tldr: goddammit greg you've done it again.

2 Zanzibar and Other Harbors

Zanzibar my beloved. I've said before, but it's downright comedic how little regard there was for Joe and Nicky's character designs in this story. The same person who does the colors for the regular comic did the colors for this one too, and you can tell, every panel of this story was Beautiful.

Ik there was A Lot of criticism of this one (lmao @ how the fandom had no idea what was to come) but I thought a lot of The Discourse was a bit dramatic. I did think Nicky came off as a little oblivious to Joe's feelings in this story, but I've said before, I honestly think that was a 'tone not translating' thing. It felt like Nicky was nagging Joe for [checks notes] saving innocent people, but Joe was so amused by Nicky's complaints I really do think it was supposed to come off as teasing.

Plus I know the 'Joe running off into danger and Nicky reluctantly following' dynamic wasn't popular (I'm a pretty meh on it meself) but I did love how Joe's impulsiveness (if you want to call it that) was interpreted as heroism and not hot-hotheadedness. All of the examples Nicky and Joe talked about included Joe explicitly saving people. (and it also took A Lot for the nazi to actually provoke Joe).

I also feel like their characterization here was closest to the movie canon-- the bit where they hear the woman scream and Joe goes running in to save her while Nicky swoops in on Joe's heels to comfort her while Joe and the nazi were fighting reminds me of the train car scene. Joe had suggested First that they go find Nile because she needed to be protected, and Nicky later added that Nile probably also needed emotional support. Similar reactions.

But it was So Good, the themes of queer community and the enduring nature of queer culture are Not themes you see in media that often and it was such a delight how it was done. Also it's one of the few more modern TTT stories that has a completely valid excuse for taking place when it did. Chef's kiss.

3 Passchendaele

I love the Duality between seeing baby Andy and then seeing Mama Andy in the very next issue. This story doesn't have a ton of meat to it, but the entire concept of Andy adopting a war orphan straight off the battlefield PLUCKS MY TENDER LITTLE HEARTSTRINGS, and I think it's especially poignant for comic!Andy. I think most people wouldn't think twice about movie!Andy doing something like that but comic Andy is so hardened and almost cruel sometimes, and seeing that even for her the world hasn't beaten all of the compassion from her yet is SO!!!!!!! this woman contains MULTITUDES okay, she's violent and angry and tired and Done but she's also so kind and compassionate and THE STRENGTH OF HER!!!!! Also the idea of her and Yitzhak co-raising a kid together is so damn cute. It was #mysterious pre-Yitzhak-story but now it's cute. holy fuck. It's cute.

& the headbonk panel of her and Zeus lives in my heart. anyways.

4 Many Happy Returns

I Know people weren't thrilled about Booker being in this one, but I've developed a pet-peeve about that: this story was *not* booker-centric. Booker only exists in this story to the extent required to explain the importance of the gesture Nile makes towards him. If there was a story about Booker making some grand gesture of kindness to Nile no one would be saying it was Nile-centric. bc it wouldn't be! Booker exists in this story to explore Nile's kindness, its not about him. I saw that a couple times and it bothered me. anyways.

AAAAAAAAAA I loved this one, the art was beautiful, I loved how Andy Nile and Booker were drawn (like their comic selves but.. more looking like actual people). I loved Andy and Nile's Bants, how Andy wanted to jump right in and Do Violence but Nile was basically telling her to hold her horses.

I feel like I'm just repeating the post I made on this story a few days ago, but I LOVED how Nile's plan revolves not around violence or Cool Mercenary Skills but on Nile's own life skills (as she canonly did a lot of minimum wage job-hopping before the marines in comics canon). Her plan used her skills, not the skills of an immortal warrior, and HER SKILLS were in fact more useful for the situation! lov to see Nile's resourcefulness and planning skills.

AND HOW NILE WAS PROBABLY WATCHING BOOKER??? it's so Much bc 1.) nile knew booker A SINGLE DAY and yet he made such an impression on her emotionally that she had to keep an eye on him and 2.) she said in the movie she wanted Booker to get off free with an apology. Yes she's a member of the team but that doesn't mean she's necessarily going to follow orders like a good little soldier. I also love how she convinced Andy to go along with it. her HEART, her KINDNESS, her THOUGHTFULNESS, UGH.

5 The Bear

Honestly I have like no negative things to say about this one other than a.) character design issues which is less about the story itself and is more of a 'tog comic in general' criticism and b.) too short, but it was supposed to be a tease, so.

But I loved Yitzhak, I wasn't expecting to really like him at all but like I said in my other post, he tickled me. I love characters who are Kind™, especially if they have little reason to be so given their backgrounds. Chef's kiss. Lov him.

6 Bonsai Shokunin

I know this one was a little controversial bc of the outsider POV but whenever I see people upset about that they never point out that the Outsider Guy (the samurai) existed as a reflection on Noriko. His ideas are explained in the text to develop hers. The whole story follows how she gave mercy to a scared young man and in response he murdered Noriko, repeatedly! Who gave him the right to inflict such pain and suffering on the world? In his opinion, the lack of response from the gods was his permission. And for Noriko-- over and over again she dies and suffers because she gave mercy, which lines up with her ideas in FM about how it's their fate to rule mortals and if they don't align with that plan/fate/whatever then they suffer. It shows some background to those ideas and how they developed in her mind outside of Ocean Madness™. Additionally, his idea of 'the Gods have done nothing to strike me down so it's fine if I do these things' kind of explains how Noriko may justify her own morally corrupt actions-- she's died so many times and it's never stuck. Maybe if she did die any of those times, or while she was in the water, maybe that would've been a sign she was doing something right, or at least doing something normal. But she hasn't died. Fate isn't done with Noriko yet. And maybe there's a reason for that. In her mind, it's just not a very pleasant reason, is all.

There were things I was kind of meh about tho. I did kind of wish we saw something of Noriko and the team, or smth explaining the way she was before her dip in the pool-- personality, likes dislikes, etc. but it wasn't bad or anything. It was super vague tho, I had to read it a few times before I got what it was going for. Liked the art. Liked the bonsai metaphor. And of course I Respect the decision to use the 1300s (1200s? I don't remember off the top of my head) rather than using the last 200 years.

7 Strong Medicine

Honestly looking back, this one made me kind of sad because both this one and Bonsai Shokunin explored character's ideas on Fate and The Divine and how that intersects with immortality and I totally thought that theme would be continued, especially with Love Letters. But Then It Wasn't™.

Admittedly.... I had to re-read this one to remember most of it. I liked Booker's ideas on God, 'The conductor of the symphony just may not be very good at his trade' but the plot itself was kind of forgettable. Some fuckin cowboys try to kill a doctor (their second) because he couldn't save their sickly brother. Book tries to stop them, gets killed, and then comes back and kills them all before they get the doctor. Alright. I liked the artstyle because the characters were ugly in a similar way that leandro's are, but way more bearable.

I love the Irony of Booker concluding that there is no such thing as fate or destiny and nothing has meaning, AS HE UNKNOWINGLY SAVES MERRICK'S GRANDFATHER FROM BEING KILLED. Booker getting fucked over by life/god/destiny yet again. It also kind of explains about where the fuck hell Merrick's interest in immortal mercenaries even came from.

I originally had this one a lot higher and then I thought about it and moved it down like two spots.

8 Never Gets Old

I liked seeing Booker interact with his kid. And we got a name for the kid! Philippe was a little bitch though, he was a little obnoxious. I liked how Booker was so thrilled to experience a restaurant with his kid (and since we know he was there before, it can be assumed he went with all of his kids and yet he was so charmed each time). It fits with his line to Nicky in the moon landing story about how you don't appreciate beautiful things 'unless you have someone to share them with'. It was charming to see Booker interact with his kid, and to see him so happy. Also lmao @ Booker's big fat Ye Olde Crush on Andy.

However at the same time it was like.. of all the things to write about,,, I guess? Booker's Night Out...... alright. Especially since Book had so many stories.

I don't know, it was alright. The old man killing him really came out of nowhere, (but the 'Salut, asshole!' panel was funny tho).

9 How To Make a Ghost Town

I've hit a point where talking about these stories has gotten less fun. I liked this one but I felt like Achilles getting lynched was not really necessary for a story that was already tragic (a story that already involved Achilles doing a lot of suffering at the hand of bigots). When we first got the blurb for this story I thought it would be about Andy returning to the squad and making friends with Booker after losing Achilles and them butting heads on the idea of family and when to cut off ties. So a little bit of my underwhelmedness about this one might be just my expectations being different.

Honestly I was pretty interested in Andy and Achilles' relationship and I would've liked to see more of them-- like, what was their dynamic like? What did they love about each other?

But anyways Andy leaving and Achilles getting killed anyways feels so pointlessly tragic (which I suppose is the point..... I don't like tragedies) she left to save him and yet people killed him anyway. Meh.

I did love the bits about Andy wanting to have a domestic life (Andy and her multitudes again) and the little detail about how she buried her axe near the road but he buried his guns under his bed-- he was an escaped slave, he never had the luxury of assuredness like Andy did. It was a sad story.

10 Lacus Solitudinis

'You put this one above love letters crim??? how could you???' easy, lmao.

There was stuff in this one I liked. But to talk about stuff I didn't like: (I'll keep it brief, I know ragging on this story has been done time and time again)

UH, setting aside the 6 year cold shoulder between Joe and Nicky, I thought their chosen method of conflict resolution was... bad at best. Nicky's inability to talk about his feelings was also annoying, especially since the entire point of this story is a fight Joe and Nicky had, and yet we don't get both sides to the story, which is...... important? That fact is especially annoying bc in the absence of Nicky explaining his side of the story, it's absolutely a possible (and admittedly probably unintentional) interpretation of the text that we do get that Joe routinely resolves conflict between him and Nicky by simply cutting Nicky out of his life entirely until Nicky just. caves? Even if it takes years?

WHICH i could get into that interpretation and how fucked up i find it. but im not going to. out of restraint.

I don't know, I think there are a lot of interesting ways to go about this conflict but 'Nicky wants to kill a guy and Joe refuses to acknowledge his existence until he stops because he thinks Nicky is too much of a Good Boy to get his hands dirty like that' ('I wont watch as the world turns his (...) compassion into something ugly'. ) wasn't.. how I would've done it. (I mean you know Joe doesn't give a shit about what Nicky is doing in a moral way, because Joe doesn't even care or mention that Booker is killing those cops too. Joe only cares because he doesn't like the idea of Nicky changing in a way he finds undesirable.)

admittedly I've said before, I do like the emphasis Joe's reaction puts on Nicky's kindness. Joe has a complete inability to cope with Nicky simply Not Being Kind. It speaks to the steadiness of Nicky's compassion all those years. but still that fact doesn't make it the conflict feel worth it

hm. I said I would be brief and I wasn't.

oh well. basically I thought there was interesting conflict potential there but it wasn't done the way I would've liked, and the way it was done leaves a lot of disturbing (and again probably unintended) interpretations to lie.

What I did like? Andy and Joe having that pessimist/optimist dynamic. Joe nerding out about science. Andy not being impressed by The Achievements Of Man. I loved Booker needling at Nicky about his outdated slang and also trying to give him Older Brother advice practically in the same breath. I loved Booker giving The Worst relationship advice ever and Nicky being like 'I Will Not Do That, Ever, Thanks.' the family vibes were so good. The Joenicky vibes left a lot to be desired tho.

11 Love Letters

I talked about my problems with Nicky in this story (and Lacus Solitudinis). I don't know, the story isn't bad but I do hold a little bit of a grudge towards it because its very existence begs the existence of a solo Joe story and we didn't get one. If we never got this story, then we could happily count Lacus Solitudinis and Zanzibar as The Joenicky Stories™ and move on with our lives. sigh.

I remember when we first got the blurb for this story I was really curious about why Nicky specifically + the setting, and the answer kind of feels like 'the author had an idea for a story like this and saw ttt as a good enough place to utilize that idea'. Plus I was really underwhelmed by the Romantic Sentiment in the letter. If you look at it line-by-line, the majority of the letter is actually Nicky talking about how lonely and disturbed he is, rather than actual,, yknow,,, Romantic Sentiment. I mean, compare the van speech and this letter and this letter is just kind of meh in comparison. I liked nicky calling joe wise! and I liked the brief sun/moon metaphor! and otherwise it was eh. It didn't even have cute squad banter, which is why Lacus Solitudinis is above this one.

12 An Old Soul

Nun orgy. Nun orgy?????? Nun orgy.......

The whole story felt like a setup to have a nun orgy. Why did Booker have abs? Why did they do that to Andy's nose? ?????? the art was good at least.

nun orgy.

#tales through time spoilers #obviously #long post #seriously dont open that read more unless youre committed to scrolling past all these Words

32 notes · View notes

gaarasgirlfriend · 4 years ago

Text

claimed

bakugou x reader - demigod/pjo au!

in which the son of ares guides the cute new camper to her cabin

“dude have you seen the new arrival? she’s smokin’ hot! 10 drachmas says she’s an aphrodite kid.” kaminari, son of apollo, told his friends.

hours ago, kaminari was on his way to bother chiron again, wanting to go on a quest because he was ‘bored out of his mind’ but before he could even get a word out he was met by a stranger. a very beautiful stranger. a stranger who kept glancing down at chiron’s hooves.

ah. she was new to the camp.

chiron was telling the girl about the camp’s layout, pointing over to the volleyball court where kaminari’s sister, jirou, also a child of apollo, was playing with momo who was a daughter of athena.

“i know it’s a lot to process.” chiron said, a sympathetic smile on his face.

“no kidding. the other day i was just taking a nap trying to do my algebra homework and now you’re telling me that greek gods exist and that medusa and minotaurs are real and would very much like to kill me.” the girl said.

“the woes of being a demigod...” chiron mused.

the centaur looked up to see kaminari watching the pair, “ah kaminari my boy, come here.”

‘gladly’ he thought, checking out the girl.

“y/n this is kaminari son of-”

“kaminari, son of apollo. it’s a pleasure.” kaminari grabbed her hand and kissed her hand.

“do all children of aphrodite do this? because i’m more creeped oout by this than any gorgon sister honestly.” y/n said, taking her hand back after kaminari kissed her hand.

“i’m actually a child of apollo but i’m sure that my good looks confused you~ it’s okay~” he chuckled.

“this whole interaction will be so funny if i ended up being a child of apollo.” she suddenly mentioned, which made the blonde-haired boy freeze up.

“i- are you-” he started to say.

“don’t worry though, it’s my mom who left.” she said, with a slightly hurt tone that kaminari picked up on, after feeling the same way for 13 years he could recognize another lonely person from a 100 miles away.

he suddenly smiled, “ don’t worry, you’ll find family at this camp.” he patted her back as he directed her over towards the cabins, waving bye to chiron as he left to scold mineta, a satyr, for harassing yet another wood nymph again

“bet you’re hoping that you’re not part of that family after flirting with me.” she snorted.

kaminari’s face flushed, “it’s a habit!”

currently he was telling the bakusquad (nickname given by mina after the five of them were on a quest) about the girl he was with earlier.

“ i hope she ends uo being your sister. that’ll really teach you not to flirt with every girl you see.” sero, child of hermes, said while shaking his head.

“i guess falling for relatives runs in the family. izuku’s dad for example.” mina joked. izuku’s father, zeus, wed his sister, hera, who had no children at this camp out of loyalty.

“be careful saying shit like that you pink haired dumbass! you never know when zeus is feeling less merciful than usual.” bakugou, son of ares, seethed.

“aww! bakugou~ you care for me~” mina teased the boy who was sharpening his sword.

a pair of crimson eyes rolled as the owner scoffed, “better pray to morpheus because that would only happen in your dream you fucker.”

the group laughed at the blonde boy who continued raging at the pink-haired girl.

“anyways, i’ll take you up on your offer kaminari! we had an aphrodite kid two weeks ago so i don’t think we’d have another one so soon.” kirishima said.

the redheaded son of hephaestus was sitting on the floor, tinkering with some weapons, with sero and mina sitting down with him.

“me too.” bakugou’s gruff voice called out.

the group looked back at him, eyebrows raised.

he gave them a wicked smile, “i’m just praying that she ends up being a child of apollo.” he started to cackle, the rest of the group, excluding kaminari, joining him.

“where is she now? i want to meet her!” sero said, standing up.

“yeah me too!”

“same here!”

“i was going to show her around but then jirou and momo took over. jirou said that i ‘wasn’t to be trusted with any girl’. it hurt! i wasn’t going to pursue her until after she got claimed!” kaminari sighed, shaking his head.

“as they should. they probably saw you kissing the poor girl’s hand and decided to save her.” mina said.

“yeah, yeah, whatever. anyways sero! you ready to fight bakugou?” kaminari said.

the boy got his sword and stood up, “been ready but you were on that tangent about that chick.”

“whatever. anyways let’s start.” bakugou said.

meanwhile while they were fighting, you were with momo and jirou. it really surprised you when you found out that they were brother and sister, given his bold personality and jirou’s chillness.

“okay so sero is going to show you to the hermes cabin, where you’ll be staying at until you’re claimed.” momo explained to you.

“got it! is sero a son of hermes?” you asked.

“yes, he’s been at this camp since he was 12. most of the campers have been here since they were 12 but once in a while we get an older kid like you.” jirou explained.

“how about you guys? how long have you been here?” you asked curiously.

“we actually arrived together. we went to the same school and we er, ran away together after a cyclops attacked us while we were camping.” momo said.

“oh gosh, that was probably terrifying.” you mumbled.

“it was. but luckily there was a satyr there who helped us.” momo said.

talking a bit more, you guys finally made it in front of the arena where sero supposedly was. the arena was a huge conference building that towered over most of the other buildings. it was between the cabins and the armory.

“oh my god, this is the arena?? it looks like the roman coliseum! it’s huge!” you said, amazed by the big building.

“wait till you see the amphitheater and climbing wall.” jirou snickered.

“a climbing wall? what?” you looked at jirou.

momo chuckled, pulling you inside of the building, “come along now.”

walking inside of the building, you were met with about 50 people inside of the building. a few of them spared you a glance or waved to momo and jirou but other than that, everyone went back to their training. the room was lined with dummies and weapons. the sounds of angry grunts, yells, and swords clashing seemed to fill the air as you looked around in amazement.

‘holy shit! that kid’s hands are glowing! and he’s? making the dummy levitate? who is he the child of and can i have magical powers too?�� you thought to yourself.

you looked towards the back of the arena to see a small group circling two swordsmen. one of them had black hair and pale skin, although he seemed to be knowing what he was doing, he was losing to the other guy.

‘oh damn.’ was your first thought when you looked over at the blonde haired boy.

he was tall, with a muscular build that was adorned with a black tank top and sweats which was a bit strange as most of the other campers were donned with the standard orange shirt. but you weren’t complaining. he looked good. his body was coated with sweat, and his muscles flexed with each swing of his sword. he was gaining distance on his opponent. his crimson eyes were narrowed in concentration, a slight scowl on his face as the black haired boy dodged his sword.

that soon ended when the blonde guy suddenly disarmed the ravenette, his sword clanging on the floor as it fell about 5 feet away. the blonde boy had his sword pointing at the other boy’s chest, his own chest heaving up in down.

the black haired boy sighed, with his hands up, “i give up.”

the blonde haired boy smirked, and you could feel yourself almost gasp.

you would’ve believed in all of this greek mythology shit a lot sooner if they showed you this boy. he was literally carved by the gods themselves.

the boy went over to his friends as the small crowd dispersed. a red-haired boy handed him a towel.

“hey sis! hey momo! bold of you to show your faces around these parts when you stole y/n from me.” kaminari said.

jirou rolled her eyes, “i have a legal obligation to protect all women in this world from you. thank god the hunters of artemis haven’t met you. you would’ve been killed on the spot.”

“whatever! hey y/n! missed me?” kaminari said, walking up to you.

“how could i miss the guy who may be my brother even though he flirted with me?” you chuckled.

he suddenly looked up to the sky, “whoever y/n’s parent is please claim her! u-unless it’s you dad!”

they laughed at the boy’s dumb antics. kaminari then took them over to where his friends were sitting.

“hey guys! this is y/n! she’s new here so be nice! looking at you bro~” kaminari said.

you looked over to see he was talking to the guy who won the fight. your eyes made contact with his before he suddenly looked away with a small ‘tch’.

“he’s like that sometimes. you get used to it. i’m kirishima, son of hephaestus, nice to meet you!” the redheaded boy said as he was putting together a weapon. he seemed like a very kind person.

“hey girl! i’m mina, daughter of dionysus!” the girl with pink hair waved to you.

“i’m sero, son of hermes! i’ll show you to your temporary cabin!” the black haired boy grinned.

“nice to meet you all! i’m y/n, like kaminari said and i hope we get along!” you said.

you looked over to bakugou since he didn’t introduce himself yet, “and who might you be?”

“...bakugou, son of ares.” he mumbled.

“son of ares huh? that makes sense. he’s the god of war right? you were amazing with that sword! well granted i don’t know much about swords or anything like that but it looked badass! you too sero, you did amazing!” you said.

“thanks! i wonder what kind of weapon you’ll wield...” sero said as he tapped on his chin.

kirishima suddenly jolted, “y/n! you have to let me build your weapon once you find out what you like!”

you nodded, “of course!”

“we’re gonna be heading out now! bye y/n!” jirou and momo called out to you.

“bye guys, thanks for showing me around," you called out to them.

you turned back to face the group when sero suddenly said, “we should probably head out soon too-” he was interrupted when a young boy around the age of 8 or 9 came up to him,

“sero! you’re still gonna train me right? i haven’t gotten the hang of my new sword that kirishima built for me.” kirishima grinned at the fact that the young boy was taking training so seriously with the weapon he built for the boy.

sero squatted down to the small brunette boy and ruffled his hair, “of course lucas! let’s go over to that dummy to practice!”

“yay! thank you sero!” the boy said, energetically dragging the older boy towards the dummy.

sero looked behind him to look at you, “sorry!”

you only smiled back, “it’s okay!” if a kid as cute as lucas ever asked you to do anything, you didn’t think you could say no to him either.

“well now that sero’s plans have been foiled i will take it upon myself to deliver y/n to the cabin of hermes.” kaminari declared.

“oi dunce face, i’ll take her. after what happened earlier i don’t think you’re to be trusted with another girl for at least another 100 years.” bakugou snorted, earning a laugh from you.

kaminari pouted as bakugou gestured you to follow him. the remaining bakusquad members only stared at the leaving duo as they made their way out of the arena.

“no way.”

“i agree.”

“bakugou just offered to walk a girl back to her cabin? kaminari did you hex me again?” kirishima said.

“so what’s the story behind the nickname dunce face?” you asked as you walked beside the tall boy.

finally being close to him you could see him even closer. he had faded scars littered all over his arms, but there was a scar that was underneath his collarbone that stuck out to you. it was quite big, probably from a monster’s claw. his skin was slightly tanned, from being outside training, you assumed. his spiky hair looked very soft and you had to stop yourself from touching it. but oh lord did you want to pat his head.

bakugou snorted in response to your question, “that idiot was in a prank war with the hermes cabin. he tried to hex them but messed up and ended up hexing himself to be dumber than usual for a whole 24 hours. amusing as it was, it was tiring taking care of him.”

you laughed, “i barely know the guy but i can say with full confidence that that is something he would do.”

his lips quirked up for a second butt you didn’t seem to notice, “yeah he’s a dumbass.”

“how long have you been at this camp? and how long did it take for you to get claimed?” you asked curiously.

he shrugged, “about 6 years. a hellhound attacked me while i was on a school trip but chiron was disguised as my substitute teacher so after a phone call to my mom, we arrived here. it took about 3 days for ares to claim me. it was right after a game of capture-the-flag, my team won courtesy of me. i guess dad was so proud he decided to proudly show me off or something.” he smirked.

“woah, that’s cool!” you said, looking at bakugou in amazement.

“damn right it is.”

a few minutes passed as you guys walked towards the cabin.

“how’d an idiot like you even find this place? a satyr help you?” he suddenly asked.

“yep. his name was mineta, i think? i was about an hour away from this place before a hellhound attacked me. mineta was nearby oogling at some chick and he helped me here.”

bakugou suddenly looked at you, “MINETA? that perverted bastard? i hate his ass, he should be fed to cerberus.”

“i agree with you on that one buddy, while we were hiding he kept on staring at me. what a creep. but he was pretty helpful when we were running away. guess he decided his life was more important than a pair of boobs and actually got serious.”

bakugou’s ears suddenly got very hot as he sputtered, “y-you idiot girl! you’re even more perverted than that dumbass mineta!”

you only laughed in response.

“we’re here.” bakugou said.

you guys had reached the cabins and you were gazing at them in awe. all of them were huge. there was one that was made out of pure gold, one was made of silver, one looked like a mini aquarium, another was covered with barbed wire and housed some very loud kids. you guessed that that one was the ares cabin.

you saw a kid with half red and half white hair come out of the black cabin that looked like a haunted house. he went up to the house in the center of the half circle of cabins to meet up with the green-haired boy walking out of the cabin that had a big lightning bolt etched into it.

“woah…” was the only thing you could say.

“okay bye.” bakugou said, suddenly walking towards the cabin cabin that had a pair of kids wrestling in front of the doorsteps as other kids cheered for them.

“huh? wait!” you grabbed his hand.

“let go of my hand dumb idiot!” he said, a small blush on his face.

“you have to walk inside with me! I don’t know anyone.” you pouted at him.

he rolled his eyes, “only if you let go of my hand.”

once you let go of his hand, you guys headed inside.

the cabin was normal enough, but it was slightly bigger than the other cabins. you assumed it was to take in unclaimed demigods such as yourself. it was filled with about 50 bunk beds. but only about 20 kids were in their bunks, most of them taking naps.

“incoming!” you heard a feminine voice say from above you.

before you could look up, bakugou pulled you into his body as he moved towards the right. a storm of water balloons that seemed to be enchanted was hurled at the stope you were standing at.

“rin! you said you would finally get them outside the cabin this time! at this rate the apollo bastards are gonna win.” you heard a girl say.

“relax yuki! i’m gonna make it this time i can feel it!” rin said.

“sorry about that!” they both called down to you.

you paid them no attention. how could you when you were chest to chest with bakugou right now? you could feel his firm chest against yours and you could’ve sowrn you felt a set of abs underneath that thin tank top.

“dumbass, you didn’t even move out of the way. just accepted your fate, huh?” he teased.

he gently pushed you away and saw the slight blush you had on your face, “did being that close to me have that much of an effect on you?”

“shut up~” you whined as you hid your face in your hands.

he chuckled and you suddenly looked up at him, he was cute when he laughed.

“hey! are you a new camper?” an orange-haired girl walked up to you.

“looks like it, poor thing has been following this aggressive bastard all day. i saw them in the arena!” the blonde boy next to her laughed. he was suddenly elbowed in the stomach by the girl. you decided that you liked the girl.

“i am! y/f/n unclaimed and at your service,” you said.

“so lame…” you heard bakugou mumble underneath his breath. it was now your turn to elbow him.

“i’m kendo! this is monoma! both children of hermes!” the orange-haired girl said.

“i bet she’s a demeter kid. i get nature vibes from her.” monoma said.

“what the tartarus does nature vibes even mean?” bakugou asked. was he getting offended on your behalf? how sweet. also what the hell was tartarus?

“she looks weak-” bakugou’s eyebrow twitched in annoyance at the boy’s response.

“anyways! we’ll take over from here bakugou!” they walked away, motioning for you to follow them.

you took a step towards them before glancing at bakugou, “thanks for bringing me here bakugou! it was nice talking to you, you’re a fun guy to be around!” and with that, you walked away.

‘a fun guy? me?’ a ghost of a smile appeared on his lips.

it suddenly dropped, “oh shit.”

he suddenly looked up towards the sky, “dad, please tell me you kept it in your pants for her mom.”

the sky gave no response.

“ya know, i usually hate the color orange but i’m liking this shirt! makes me feel like i’m apart of something exclusive!” you told kendo as you checked yourself out in the bathroom mirror.

“i know the feeling girlie! but you look good in that shirt! also what’s up with you and bakugou? you two a thing?” she teased to which you blushed in response.

“n-no! i mean he’s cute but-“

“aha! i knew it! you two are so cute! but i’d wait until after you get claimed… ya know… so you know for sure you’re not siblings.”

“oh it’s fine! it’s my mom who’s gone!” you said.

“oh then you’re good!” she smiled at you.

“but does he know that?”

your smile dropped, “uh oh.”

“DUDE! can’t believe you’re in the same boat kaminari was in!” kirishima howled as he clutched his stomach.

“SHUT UP BEFORE I HAMMER YOUR FACE IN WITH THAT NEW SHIT WEAPON YOU MADE!” bakugou growled.

“i mean i would ask her if it’s her mom or dad that’s gone.” kirishima said after calming down.

bakugou went quiet. he often did this when kirishima said something that bakugou did not think of. like this for example.

“thanks.” he mumbled very quietly. to the untrained ear, it would’ve sounded like bakugou said nothing. but kirishima knew better, “go get her buddy.”

it was finally time for the campfire and you were excited! granted, any situation that called for s’mores made you happy. walking to the campfire where most of the students were, you waved at monoma and kendo before heading over to where kaminari and sero were.

“hey guys!” you smiled at them.

“hey y/n! liking the shirt!” sero said.

you laughed, “finally one of you guys!”

“how was the hermes cabin?” kaminari asked you.

“chaotic. there was a prank war going on between your two cabins. but it was kinda fun! monoma swiped me some apollo kid’s bow but i had no idea what to do with it.” you shook your head.

“y/n! hi! ohh i see you’re finally one of us now!” mina said as she arrived with bakugou and kirishima.

“yep!”

“gather around campers!” chiron said before starting the camp fire songs.

you couldn’t really participate, as you didn’t know any of the songs, but you were still enjoying the experience.

“hey.” a gruff voice called out to you, breaking you out of your stupor.

“bakugou! woah you’re actually wearing the orange shirt for a change… consider me impressed.” you teased.

with a minuscule smile on his face, he sat down next to you on the tree log as you both stared into the fire. his body heat was arguably hotter than the fire itself. he was very warm and you wanted to cuddle up in his arms.

“so how was your first day of camp?” bakugou asked.

“kind of crazy honestly, never thought that satyrs or centaurs would exist. nor did i expect to be attacked by a scary ass dog while i was just strolling through the city. but it is nice to finally get some answers as to who i am. plus i met some pretty cool people along the way.” you looked into his eyes and grinned.

he laughed, “yeah, i find kaminari cool as well. even if that shithead is currently burning his tongue with that marshmallow.”

you rolled your eyes and punched his arm, “i hate you.”

“hate me? you’ve literally been following me around today like a little duckling. i don’t know if you could call that hate.” he nudged her with his shoulder.

“who else was going to show me around? kaminari? would you have let him?” you mused, leaning a bit closer to him.

he chuckled, a smile on his face, “maybe, who knows.”

he suddenly realizes that you’re very close to him and he leans back, both of your faces hot.

you realize that you need to tell him about your mother before he decides to stop to pursue you.

“hey bakugou… i need to tell you about my parents…” you suddenly say, bakugou meeting your eyes once again.

“yeah, what about them?”

“well my mother is actually-” you started before you noticed he was staring above your head. you looked around to see almost every camper looking at you. you looked up to see the image of a glowing pink dove.

“huh?” was all you could say before you looked down to see yourself in a white ancient chiton dress. you lifted your dress and saw yourself in golden sandals. your arms were adorned with gold bands. you touched your hair and felt that it was done perfectly. you felt your lips coated with gloss, so you assumed your makeup had been done as well.

“the fuck…?” you muttered before looking up at everyone.

they all were bowing to you, bakugou included.

“all hail, y/n l/n, daughter of aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty.”

“well at least he doesn’t havent to worry now.” kirishima mumbled to his friends.

“nice meeting you camie and shindou!” she waved at the pair. they were her siblings. that would take a while to get used to.

“call me sis!” camie squealed while shindou rolled his eyes at her and walked away towards the rest of the aphrodite kids.

“looks like kaminari didn’t have to worry after all.” you heard bakugou say behind you.

when you turned around to look at him, you felt him suck in a breath. did you look that different?

“looks like it.” you smiled.

“s-so what was that thing you were going to tell me?” bakugou cursed himself for stuttering. but who wouldn’t curse while in your presence? makeover or not, you were still probably the prettiest girl bakugou has ever seen.

“oh… i was going to tell you that my godly parent was my mom, not my dad.” you mumbled.

“oh?” he smirked, “and why did you feel the need to tell me that?”

you rolled your eyes, “you know why you idiot.”

“please enlighten me.”

“it’d be really weird to want to date your brother, so i just gave you the go ahead.” you said, suddenly finding the ground very interesting.

“did aphrodite make you bolder too along with that makeover?” bakugou questioned, snickering to himself.

“huh? i’ve always been bold! remember when i talked about boobs-”

he clamped his hand over your mouth, looking around the camp to make sure no one overheard.

“you’re crazy. wouldn’t be surprised if you were a dionysus kid.”

“whatever…” you rolled your eyes, a smile on your face.

a moment of silence pass as you looked around the camp, many of the campers were heading back to their cabins and you decided it was time to leave.

“i think it’s time i head out, everyone is leaving.” you said.

“see ya.” you heard him ay, a slight look of disappointment on his face.

you took one step towards the cabins before you turned back towards the blonde haired boy, “actually i can’t seem to find my way back to my new cabin. could you help me out?”

he smiled, “you really are a dumbass.”

#bakugou katsuki #bakugou x reader #bakugou demigod au #bakugo x reader #bakugo katsuki #bnha #bnha x reader #my hero academia #my hero academia x reader #bakugou katsuki x reader #bakugo katsuki x reader #demigod au

377 notes · View notes

littlesparklight · 4 years ago

Text

Island Stone, Stone Island

Perseus is as alone on the island of Sarpedon as he’s not, to his distress.

After circling the island, Perseus chose one of the villages he'd spotted as his landing spot. It seemed a logical choice - actual people ought to be friendlier than the Gorgons, particularly when he explained what he had arrived for. Others had probably attempted the same feat before him, but he came armed with divine arms and assistance, which would make all the difference.

Dusk made the shadows long and the burning sky was turning into a blue-toned memory, and the settlement was quiet.

It was too early for people to have gone to sleep, surely, so where were they? Perseus walked past the first couple buildings and smiled, rather relieved, at the shadowed figure by the doorway.

"Greetings, I---" Perseus squeaked, clutching the mirrored, fully metal shield to himself in both hands, as if he might need protection from a statue.

For that was what he had walked up to. A statue of a middle-aged woman with fine creases in the corners of her mouths and eyes, eyed that were staring emptily out at nothing at all and yet filled with a terror that curdled Perseus' gut. She had a hand raised, another thrust behind her. He looked down, and wished he hadn't. There was a ten year old child crouched behind her, his head tilted up at an awkward angle underneath his raised arms. The woman had been surprised, the child, however, had been made to look, and the tears tracking its way down his face could have been a marvel of artistic skill if their existence had been due to hammer and chisel and polishing.

It was not.

It was not, it was not, and Perseus skittered back, slamming up against the wall of the house while his heart thundered in his chest like horse, previously grazing in all relaxed confidence of safety, but spooked by spotting a predator creeping closer among the high grass.

It should, perhaps, not have been a surprise. Everyone knew of the Gorgons' terrible power, and if everyone knew, the monstrous women must have used them at some point so such rumours could spread. He just hadn't expected this. He honestly had expected the island to be empty by all but the Gorgon and animals, perhaps. The villages he'd spotted on his flyover had seemed like a terrible idea, especially this one, that was, as far as he'd understood the Phorkides' directions, rather close to the Gorgons cave. Why would anyone choose to live close to terrible dangers like the Gorgons?

Maybe these people hadn't chosen. Maybe they had lived here before the Gorgons, or hadn't known the Gorgons lived here until the women decided they were no longer interested in or willing to share. Or maybe this was retaliation, spread vastly beyond the able warriors who could be a real threat, when the mortals got too afraid of living close by to beings that could and did turn said mortals into stone, if not these particular ones. There was no way of knowing, but that, honestly, made it even worse as he glanced sideways to the statues of mother and son again, to their frozen, tear-streaked faces cut in such realistic relief it would have been a mercy to find out they were nothing but statues, had never been anything but statues.

That wasn't the truth, however, for once those fine patterns of wrinkles on the woman's face had been cheerfully mobile, and the gleam of pale stone on the boy's bared teeth had been white teeth, not stone.

There was a fine, staccato clattering in the air. Perseus froze, and the noise silenced. Looking down, slowly, he felt ridiculous but not really relieved to realize it'd been his seal ring, the one his mother had given him two years ago, the one she'd ripped from her father's hand as she'd begged him not to force her into the chest, that had been tapping against the the inside of the shield. Okay. Only him and his nerves. Swallowing down the growing clump in his throat, one that had returned since it'd been dispelled with Hermes and later Athena's appearances, Perseus pushed away from the wall.

The village was empty, and yet it was not.

Lengthening shadows turned empty doorways into abysses, gathered between the buildings. Were thrown long and growing from the statues, and more than once Perseus whirled around, harpe drawn and shield held up, to nothing. Nothing but horrified, scared expressions, to tears frozen forever in excruciatingly detailed perfection.

There was a litany in Perseus head, running over and over, and when he turned around one of the last houses on the opposite end of the village and stumbled, it turned into a shout.

"---mes, Immortal Guide, keep your hand over me!" Staggering around, fumbling with his sword, Perseus stared down at the half of a body laying there, torso gone from the navel upwards, a scattering of fragments spread out over the partially overgrown street, scattered far apart. Probably by animals. "Oh, blessed--- Ah!"

Perseus skittered backwards from the broken statue without looking, and slammed into something.

He froze as it hit the ground with a spine-chilling crack, echoing so loudly in the air it sounded like a horn rung before battle, and just as damning. Trembling, he stood there, but he could hear nothing. No footsteps, no slide of scale against scale, no hissing. There was only him and the statues here. Which had once not been statues. Slowly, Perseus looked over his shoulder. Stared at the two entwined statues he'd accidentally pushed over and slapped a hand over his eyes. It did not stop the tears. Then he had to slap it over his mouth, and then he had to give up completely, bending over and throwing up.

"Perseus, wha---" Hermes' voice in the dead silence rung far too loudly, harsh against the empty windows and open doors, the shattered statues. Perseus flinched, but what with being too busy turning his insides into outsides, he couldn't get up and be polite. He sobbed instead, an ugly, gurgling sound past his vomiting. A sigh, and then the god landed, his shadow on him warm compared to the chilly air. A hand reached out and combed through his hair. He'd forgotten to put on the helmet, still heavy against his hip where it was in the bag. "Oh, hey, no. They're dead, Perseus. They're dead and they have been dead for years by now. You didn't kill anyone. And if you did, you freed them."

A hand in his hair and another rubbing his back, too warm for mortal hands, heavier than they ought to be and Perseus felt it even past his leather corslet. Hermes' weight behind him was a towering suggestion and a blanket, almost, and it dulled the horror if only for the demand on his attention. Taking a couple heaving breaths and taking the wineskin he was given with no thought, Perseus realized only as something glittering fresh and nearly sweet hit his mouth what he might be drinking. He couldn't stop however, and it cleansed his mouth as well as pushed away the hollow knot in his gut, so he took several full swallows before he gave the skin of nectar back.

"I--- I. Is... the whole island, like this?" Perseus asked, before he could stop himself. Above him, though not as high as before, Hermes sighed.

"The whole island," he confirmed, squeezing Perseus' shoulders, and his hands were smaller now. "This village was the closest, and the Gorgons left it to last. Not sure if they gained some cruel amusement from the mortals being unknowing of what was happening elsewhere and living seemingly in peace with their dangerous neighbours, but they didn't move against them until someone here realized everyone else was dead."

Perseus, finished now and the nectar refusing any stray attempt by his rebellious stomach to be expelled, licked his lips and slowly stood up, picking sword and shield up as he did so. Hermes, though he was usually much taller than him, though yet rather much shorter than Athena, was now no taller than a mortal. Those twilight dark eyes, usually sparkling with mischief, were dark as Hermes looked him over with a twist to his mouth and then fished out the helmet out of the kibisis for him.

"They could plan, so they sent out what warriors they had. After the Gorgons had dealt with them, they came for the rest." Hermes shrugged, and the nonchalance would've hurt if Perseus wasn't feeling so wrung out. "Why didn't you land closer to the cave? There was no reason to see this."

"I wanted a safe approach," he mumbled, rubbing his face. "And I figured, anyone that lived here, would be happy to see me, and they'd have more knowledge of the surroundings than I could pick up on a quick flyover in the dusk. And they can't be asleep yet, anyway."

"Ah." Hermes stared at him with a strange shine to his eyes, but the little smile on his face warmed Perseus far more than he thought it might, and he cleared his throat, his cheeks warming up. That only widened Hermes' smile, however. "I see you have thought this through. No wonder Athena decided to help as well, past our father asking her to."

"Where i---"

"She'll come when you need it," Hermes said, a finger to Perseus' lips, and then he looked down, and Perseus looked down too, but going cross-eyed wasn't very comfortable, so he looked up again into that same strange little gleam. "Besides, I'm here, aren't I?"

"Ah--- That you are, Lord Hermes," Perseus said and cleared his throat again, but he was smiling, now, though the blush was stubborn in lingering.

"Here, then." Hermes lifted the helmet and leaned in at the same time, unerringly pressing his lips against Perseus' even as the dropped the too-large helmet on top of Perseus' head.

A strangled little noise escaped Perseus, muffled by soft lips, so incredibly soft he would have thought they might belong to a girl, and the nectar in his stomach wobbled uneasily but the heat suffusing him settled it and his knotted shoulders both.

"Be strong and quick, gold-begotten son of Zeus, and you can save your mother and cut down the number of the Gorgons who hunt mortals for sport. When you do, I want to hear no 'lord' in front of my name!" Hermes said quietly against his lips, and his sweet-smelling breath stealing away the chilling evening air, and then the god disappeared in a rainbow shimmer.

Exhaling sharply, Perseus frowned despite feeling better. Cut down on the number. He could only kill one out of three. The others would still plague mortals, then. Or would the gods do something about them, too, in time? Hopefully. He could only focus on Medusa at the moment, the only mortal one as she was. Looking around, he shuddered at the broken statues and the other dark figures he could see. It wasn't yet dark, or late, enough that he could steal safely towards the cave, and all these people deserved better, didn't they?

Perseus used up another several hours to pluck the flowers nearby, especially the hill nearly overgrown with mint. He left a little bunch near almost all statues he could find, and then set off again, and found he was yet not left with peace of mind. There were statues here too, in the wilderness towards the cave. A few animals, and more human ones, though these all had weapons in their hands or slung over shoulders and backs. At least they had died ready.

Shifting his jaw and fiddling with the helmet, which kept wanting to slide down over his forehead and down over his eyes, Perseus gripped the harpe more tightly in hand and straightened up. That kept the helmet better balanced and allowed him to see.

He wondered again what Hermes had done to gain this helmet, if it did indeed come from Hades himself. Surely the Receiver of Many wouldn't hand it over to be used by a mortal, even one a mortal son of one of his brothers? He still remembered Hermes' wink as he presented the helmet, and knew he'd get no answer. Maybe that was for the best.

He did not get used to the statues.

Each an every glancing sight of them, past a tree or a stand of bushes, around a cliffside as the ground grew rougher, sent Perseus' heart into thundering scare, and then it was forced to settle with no resolution. He kept expecting them to move. Started to think that they were moving as soon as he turned his gaze away, stone ghosts of people long dead following him in the hungering envy that he alone of them might survive, or, hopefully, that they might lend him some luck towards his success.

Of course, ghosts, if there were any, couldn't see him either, could they? He was invisible. He passed hares and something that looked like large mice, kind of, just above their heads, and they didn't so much as twitch for his presence. Birds made no warning calls. He could just as well not have been there. It was reassuring, and it meant he didn't do more than pause as he found the cave, opening black against the dark, considering it and listening. He heard nothing, and so he flew in, the tips of his toes just above the sand-covered, stony floor of the cave.

It wasn't until he was the tip of a tail past a bend that Perseus froze and then nearly tipped over in his hurry to turn around, staring down the way he'd come. He couldn't just walk around that corner without being sure they were asleep. He was invisible, yes, but a stray look - it could still kill him, couldn't it? Just because the Gorgons couldn't see him didn't mean he might not accidentally meet their eyes, if they were awake.

Slowly, ignoring his once-again trembling hands, Perseus lowered himself to the ground and started to back up.

Hefted his bronze and silver shield, and once again it was fortunate he was invisible. There was no way to peek around the corner and not give himself away if he'd been visible and trying to do this with his back turned. Holding his breath, Perseus shifted the shield around, this way and that, and kept backing up until he had a slightly distorted but clear view of the niche beyond.

The Gorgons were huge.

There was no way of telling how tall they were, reclining and entwined as the three were, but by a guess, Perseus was sure he would be a fair bit shorter against them than he was compared even to Athena, towering goddess. They were huge, and there were tusks and fangs bristling from surprisingly sweet-lipped mouths, there were wings that even in the darkness shone with an impossible razor edge, and there was coil upon coil of scales. Each of the three Gorgons sported a tail in place of legs, and those were each as broad as Perseus were between the shoulders, and thicker than him when their full mass was taken into consideration. None of that took into account the huge claws, or the many, many snakes that spilled from each of their heads.

Who was even who?

Staring at the reflection with a growing sense of panic, Perseus realized he couldn't tell. He had, somewhere, thought it would be obvious who of them would be mortal, and which of them were not, but all he could see was the same pale colours against the dark, impossible to tell apart when he could just barely see them at all.

"Medusa is the one in the middle."

Perseus jerked so hard he almost slammed the shield into the rock wall he stood next to, the helmet thunking down over his face. Frantically, he pushed it back up and looked around.

"L-lady Ath---"

"Quiet, Perseus," Athena commanded, her voice soft but implacable. She stood a couple steps behind him, frowning at a spot just slightly off from where Perseus actually stood; him speaking up had clearly guided her on the way, but not revealed him completely. "The Gorgons can't hear me, but they can most certainly hear you. I don't need to know where you are to assist you. Medusa is the one in the middle, and I will make sure you strike true. As a mortal son of the Father of Gods and Men, you are more than strong enough to behead her, and I know I don't need to hold your hand; you've already proven to be able to plan."

Athena shone faintly in the dark cave, and her gray eyes, soft like mist, were nearly lambent, especially past the rim of her helmet, worn properly seated on her head this time. She wasn't wearing the aegis, but a bronze corslet was about her chest and a shield and spear were in her hands. It was a reassuring sight. Nodding to himself, Perseus took a breath and looked down at the view reflected in the shield again.

He could fly right over them, but that was quite a distance to be so close. The length their tails, even when twisted around each other in bunching coils, were longer than two men were tall. Who knew what senses the monstrous women possessed, especially with so many extra, if tiny, heads. Just because he was invisible didn't mean they might not be able to sense him if he lingered too close too long. It did look as if there might be space for him to sneak along the wall behind them, however, and he could get behind Medusa and only then rise up in the air. Passing by the head and shoulders of one Gorgon would be less time spent that flying in a creeping pace up the length of them.

Exhaling sharply, Perseus made sure the shield was in his hand, the harpe sword in the other.

He took another couple steps to the side, freezing at a shadow out of the corner of his eye, but no. It was just another statue. A man clutching a toddler in his arms, and Perseus couldn't imagine they had been here in the cave originally, which meant the Gorgons had carried it here. A basket hung underneath, filled with dried meat.

Stomach turning and trying not to let his thoughts run wild with what sort of meat it could be, Perseus dropped his gaze to the floor and slowly backed up, feeling like it took forever with the coils in the edge of his right-hand vision, until he hit the cave wall. The Gorgons were now stretched out in front of him to the right and there was, just barely, enough space for him to creep along the wall and not touch any of them. The wings were a fluffy mess of half-extended limbs Perseus wasn't sure how they could be comfortable sleeping like that, but as long as any discomfort didn't wake them up, he didn't care. The wings also made sure any snakes were draped over the feathers and didn't reach the ground, but he would tread carefully anyway. The shield was harder to deal with, since he couldn't put it on his back, but holding it out at an awkward angle in front of him, it just barely passed unhindered above the first Gorgon's head.

Right.

He could do this.

This close, he could see strange horny growths on the snakes' heads, as well as each of the tiny scales that covered them. They weren't actually particularly small snakes, as their heads were the size of his mother's fists, and that wasn't at all reassuring. They'd seemed so small from a distance, but the Gorgons were indeed very big.

His feet shifted the sand every time he put them down, and far too loudly it seemed, but neither Gorgons or any of the snakes that made up their hair moved. Their tusks and fangs were the length of his longest finger, and thicker than that at the base. Not daring to breathe as deeply as he might need as he stopped behind Medusa where she lay sandwiched between her two immortal sisters, Perseus froze in the middle of wanting to shift on his feet. Still. Careful. He was very fortunate Medusa slept with her wings tucked mostly under her, or this would have been even more difficult.

As it was, it was still awkward, and nerve-racking.

Feeling like he was as rooted to the ground as a great old oak tree, he finally managed to make himself almost hop straight up, which was enough to trigger the wings to catch his weight and lift him off the ground. Keeping the shield between himself and the Gorgons below, just to be safe, Perseus curled his legs close to his body the moment he wouldn't risk kneeing Medusa in the back of her head, and only partially because he couldn't afford to wake her; mostly the idea of putting his knees into that mass of snakes was deeply unsettling.

Looking down at his reflection in the mirrored surface of the shield and shivering at a distant reflection of another statue in the cave, but at least not the old man with the toddler, Perseus shifted his grip on the harpe. It felt like his pulse was in that soft spot between thumb and forefinger, throbbing against the hilt as he slowly tilted the shield, keeping his eyes on its rounded surface instead of looking down.

Slowly, Medusa's forehead came into view, soft little dips between each snake where they grew from her forehead and the forehead itself. Her brows were heavy near the center of her forehead, and nondescript dark against her vaguely paler body and snakes. If she'd been human, would she have had dark hair?

Perseus shook his head free of that thought, distracting as it was, but only very carefully lest the helmet tip down again. Focused at the reflection, Medusa's strong, long nose and the bristle of fangs and tusks below, generous lips. Well, maybe he could see why the Earthshaker might have been interested in the Gorgons, but he could not imagine the interest ever being so strong as to sleeping with one of them.

Two snakes trailed down along Medusa's neck and collarbones, and Perseus cursed silently. He could still do this, but the snakes gave him less leeway to position the curved protrusion of the harpe where he needed it to be. It wasn't easy to keep staring at a reflection, but if Medusa, or her sisters, woke now, he would have a greater chance of still killing her like this than if he was staring straight down at her face.

The edge of the blade met subtle resistance, and Perseus didn't let himself hesitate, or wonder if he had the right angle, or would be strong enough. Athena had said he would be, and he had lifted rocks larger and heavier than any of men on Seriphos had been able to do when he was ten. The lack of a swing and momentum might have been and obstacle to anyone else, but Perseus tensed his muscles and hewed as if hacking through a stubborn piece of wood.

Medusa jerked, a single, convulsive twitch of her great body, her eyes snapping open and even with the protection of the reflection, his head turned slightly away, Perseus could swear his lips and tips of his nose felt numb, a creeping down the back of his neck while red blood spurted from the severed veins and Medusa's neck turned into a gushing fountain.

Something else followed the spray of blood.

Perseus, busy as he was with shoving his sword into the belt and grab onto Medusa's tipping head by one of the limp snakes that grew from her head, had one stunned moment to stare, caught there in the air.

There was a colt, a white colt with tiny, equally white wings past the gore, staggering through the air and flailing its sharp little colt hooves. There was also a baby, a baby as smeared with gore as the colt, tipping down Medusa's torso and landing with a wail in the Gorgon's lap, just as the colt landed with a thump on the outermost Gorgon.

"Wha' th'--- Medusa!" the Gorgon shrieked, a ringing, awful sound, and Perseus flew straight up, away from seeking eyes that couldn't see him but which threatened his soft flesh even by incidental exposure. "Euryale! Murderer! Barbarian! Cheating, awful rat!"

Sthenno was howling behind him, joined by the newborn baby and, soon after, what must be Euryale. The winged colt dashed past him, Perseus too distracted by his own flight to account for something that couldn't see him and would probably not avoid him even if so. They collided, the colt smacking into Perseus hard and sending him spiralling off into the cave wall. Metal rang as shield and helmet met rock, and Perseus could feel the Gorgons' eyes on him as he staggered up in the air.

"<i>Killer</i>! Face us, you cowardly little mouse!" Sthenno launched herself from the niche all the way across the cave in a long, sinuous arc with her wings extended, arms out and claws stiff. Perseus yanked his foot out of the way of a clumsy, but far too knowing attempt to grab him.

"Naughty, murderous mouse, awful thing!" Euryale followed, pulling her sister up, but Perseus was out of the cave now and flew straight up, staggering in the air as if he was drunk while he tried to get Medusa's head into the kibisis while also not stopping his flight. They could not see him. They could not, but he was afraid of somehow giving himself away by some manner he couldn't even predict and then they'd catch him and he'd be dead.

Medusa's head was - mostly - inside the knapsack, and Perseus pushed Hades' helmet up from his eyes, reoriented himself since he'd flown halfway across the island instead of towards water, and dashed through the air.

Behind him, no longer on the ground, the Gorgons were howling, mournful and enraged both. They were both closer than he would have thought and kept vaguely following in the right direction and what if he couldn't get away? What if the gods' help hadn't, and wouldn't be enough? What if he would fail now, after succeeding, and his mother would never know how far he got, but it would also not matter because Polydektes would marry her if he didn't get back with the head.

He would not let that happen.

"Perseus!"

Hermes appeared in the distance, a beacon of light and power, and Perseus knew it was stupid to fly straight at him with the Gorgons so close, but he also couldn't not. So he did, clutching the kibisis' strap to keep it from smacking him in the back and to keep it from jostling so much it risked Medusa's head falling out.

"Hermes! What do I---"

"Back towards the Graiai, Athena will delay Sthenno and Euryale, but your speed is of the essence. Fly past their lake and don't stop," Hermes commanded, looking nearly straight at him despite the helmet, which cut through Perseus' building panic and empty head but also doused him with a surprising chill.

"But I was going to give them their eye back," Perseus protested, feeling strangely unhappy at the idea of not doing that, which he'd thought he would have had time for.

"The Gorgons will stop to help their sisters. You on the other hand need to survive. Go!"

Hermes reached out, somehow touching his shoulder as if he'd meant it, and Perseus went, tearing through the air and away from the empty, statue-filled island and the approaching howling of the Gorgons.

#greek mythology #perseus #hermes #athena #gorgons #lightart #potentially part of a somewhat longer perseus fic #at some later point #for now there is this

10 notes · View notes

mythologyfolklore · 4 years ago

Text

Ares and Athena through the years - Ch. 05

Chapter five: Caught and Exposed

Athena was weaving a wedding outfit and a blanket for her half-sister Persephone.

The spring goddess would soon be officially married to Hades, the King of the Netherworld.

The dress and cover would be Athena's wedding gift.

But then she heard somebody's voice swearing outside.

Looking out of her window, she saw Hephaistos pass by in his wheelchair, sputtering all kinds of curses. Tears were running down his brown and dirtied face, which was distorted with fury.

It didn't take Athena's genius to know, what was going on.

Probably Aphrodite had cheated on him and Hephaistos had finally found out.

Athena couldn't help but feel sorry for him.

Aphrodite and Ares had been in a relationship long before the crippled smith had come along and had both been incredibly unhappy, when Zeus and Hera had married the love goddess off to the young god of smithery. Athena could understand, that Aphrodite didn't love this husband and that Ares was jealous. For that she didn't blame them.

But still, Hephaistos was a bright god and just as smart and talented as Athena was. They enjoyed competing over who was the better sculptor and inventor and most of the time, it was a draw. He was sensible too, most of the time, that is. She considered him her equal.

And if you ignored his deformed, crippled legs and the grime he was always covered in, he didn't even look that bad either.

He was a sweet guy and deserved better than being married to the promiscuous … woman, that was Aphrodite. She didn't love him and Athena suspected that the love goddess was currently cheating on her husband with either her established lover Ares or with Apollon, who was extremely handsome and charming and had tried to win her over several times.

However, Aphrodite was underestimating how cunning her husband could be. And if Athena knew him at all, she could be sure, that he now was in his smithery, concocting some perfidious revenge plot. Normally the black-haired god was kind and generous, but if he was wronged, he showed no mercy. Hera had already been on the receiving end of his vindictiveness and Aphrodite would be no exception.

Most other gods knew by now not to mess with the divine smith. He was wasn't the man for fun and games.

Just a few hours later, Athena's suspicions were confirmed.

She was watering her olive trees, when she heard a terrifying scream and nearly dropped her garden hose in shock.

When she peeped over her garden wall, she saw Hephaistos roll out of his palace.

“HEY, EVERYONE!!!, he shrieked, “DO YOU WANT TO SEE SOMETHING FUNNY?! COME HERE AND SEE WHAT A WONDERFUL WIFE APHRODITE IS TO ME! LYING IN MY BED WITH DESTRUCTIVE ARES, SHE IS! YOU'LL FIND THEM LYING THERE AND THE SIGHT MAKES ME SICK! THEY'RE TRAPPED IN MY NET AND WILL WANT TO GET AWAY, BUT I WON'T LET THEM! NOT BEFORE ZEUS GIVES ME BACK THE BETROTHAL GIFTS I GAVE FOR HER HAND! COME ON! IT'S A REAL SPECTACLE! SHE'S AS SHAMELESS AS SHE IS BEAUTIFUL! AND HE TOO!!!”

Now Athena really dropped her garden hose.

Seriously? They had made a cuckold of Hephaistos in his own marriage bed?! What the Tartaros was wrong with them???

A moment later, all the male gods of Olympos were darting out of their palaces and running towards Hephaistos' house. Except for Poseidon; he was at home in the sea, bed-ridden, if Athena remembered correctly. That gave her an idea.

She really shouldn't join the crowd, it was indecent. But her curiosity was too strong.

So she closed her eyes and concentrated. She became a little shorter, her long black hair shortened and turned blue, her skin grew a bit darker, her frame turned male and her sea blue eyes turned coal black. Poseidon would be pissed, but who gave a damn? He was grumpy all the time and she had a plan to execute.

So she hurried to join the others, but when she got there and followed them to Hephaistos' bedroom, she didn't believe her eyes: there, trapped under an adamantine net, lay Aphrodite and Ares. In Hephaistos' marriage bed, as he had said. Hardly able to move at all. Exposed in an extremely compromising position.

For a few moments, everyone just gawked at the sight.

Then Hermes started laughing. Apollon joined in. Until almost everyone was cackling and jeering, except for the exposed lovers, obviously. Even Athena couldn't help but chuckle at the situation. Hephaistos only smiled in grim satisfaction.

That is, till the other gods began to comment on what they saw.

“Damn, what a sight!”

“They sure look hot like that!”

“Hey, I wouldn't mind swapping with Ares.”

“I want to be next!”

“No way, I want a turn, when they're done!”

“STOP TREATING HER LIKE A PIECE OF MEAT, YOU BASTARDS!!!”, Ares roared and struggled harder under the net, but to no avail.

Finally Zeus stopped laughing and called everyone to settle down: “Now, now, everyone. This is not a laughing matter (even though the sight is hilarious). You two”, he turned to the trapped pair, “brought this upon yourselves. Sleeping in your husband's or brother-in-law's bed, really?”

Athena could make out Ares' face twisting in scorn, as he scoffed: “That's coming from you?! The only ones here, who weren't born out of wedlock are Hephaistos and myself!”

Ares had a point there.

The cutting reminder also got the others to finally stop laughing.

Zeus on the other hand was not impressed. “If you don't count myself and my brother Poseidon here, yes, that is true. And now to you”, he turned to Hephaistos, “Let your brother and wife go. This is simply-”

“Oh no”, Hephaistos snarled, “First, give me back the bridal gifts I paid to you, when you jumped in as Aphrodite's father! And then we can talk! I refuse to be married to her any longer!”

Zeus lifted an eyebrow and refused: “This is a marital matter, not the public spectacle you made of it. I have no obligation to comply with your demands.”

The fire god's face flushed with fury, but before he could protest, “Poseidon” stepped in: “Let's not turn this into an argument. Brother, just give him back the bridal gifts. You stepped in as her father, because she has no real parents. As such, you too are responsible for her actions.”

Zeus huffed, but nodded his assent.

Meanwhile, Aphrodite was crying a torrent and sobbing in shame and horror. Ares was desperately trying to shift them both into a less embarrassing position (he was failing) and growling curses at everyone.

Athena was starting to feel bad for them, even though they'd had it coming.

Therefore “Poseidon” turned to Hephaistos: “Now that this is settled, don't you want to let them go?”

Hephaistos scoffed: “Oh Erebos, no! These two owe me reparations as well! They made me a cuckold in my own bed, so why would I possibly release them?!”

Athena considered for a second what her uncle would do.

Then she pleaded with Poseidon's voice: “Come on, let them go. I promise, that he shall pay whatever penalty you ask for – pay in the presence of all the gods.”

But the smith shook his head: “Earth-shaker, as noble as your plea is, you're asking too much of me. These two-”, he scornfully nodded towards the adulterers, “-are as unreliable as they come. If I release Ares and he runs off immediately, will I get no compensation?”

Athena knew that Hephaistos was right. Ares and Aphrodite would run off as soon as they were free and honestly, she wouldn't blame them; perhaps, if she had been in this situation, she would do the same (not that it would ever happen, but still).

So “Poseidon” offered: “Hephaistos, if Ares indeed runs off without paying compensation, where it is due, I myself will pay whatever price you ask for.”

Under the net Aphrodite was still crying.

Ares had ceased his insults to everyone and was now trying to comfort her, hugging her protectively and shielding her from their view as best as the net chain allowed.

Athena couldn't help but find this endearing.

So these two really loved each other after all. The goddess of wisdom had assumed, that their relationship was superficial, that they only liked the other for their looks. Apparently she had been wrong for the first time in her life.

And as she looked down at the wheelchair-bound smith, she could tell, that he was having the same realisation – and that his resolve was cracking.

“Come on”, “Poseidon” coaxed good-naturedly. “You're going to divorce her anyway and surely you'll be better off without her. So, even though Ares should be the one doing it, does it really matter, who compensates you? Besides, we all know I have far greater wealth than he does.”

I hope this is something my uncle would say …

Because sure, Poseidon was not a good person (in fact, he was a horrible person), but he was nothing if not generous. And even though he would be angry, that she had promised compensation in his name, he surely would forgive her, once she'd tell him that he now could call in a favour from Aphrodite.

Eventually “Poseidon”'s bargaining, the lewd comments of the other gods and the way the humiliated couple acted shattered Hephaistos' resolve.

“You know what?”, the blacksmith god spoke, “Screw it. I can't think of an excuse to refuse you any longer.”

He rolled his wheelchair over to the bed and lifted the net.

Of course, just as predicted, Aphrodite and Ares immediately made a run for it and vanished through the window within less than a second.

Zeus shook his head, then he sent everyone home and went back to tend to his own business.

“Poseidon” stayed behind, telling everyone that “he” had to negotiate the bargain that was to be paid.

Hephaistos threw a glare at the window the injurers had fled through, before turning and scowling: “I fucking told you so!”

“Now, now, nephew. We all saw this coming, so how about you tell me, what you're asking for me to provide?”

“Right.”

Athena almost frowned at the long list – Poseidon would have her head – but only nodded in acknowledgement.

Hephaistos chuckled: “Pondering how you will tell our uncle, that he will pay a price you promised me, Athena? And yes, I know it's you.”

She shrugged and turned back into herself. “What gave me away?”

“Please, we all know that Poseidon is at home in his crystal palace under the sea. Forby, he wouldn't do something this nice for both Aphrodite and Ares! He would have laughed with the others, like the old horndog he is!”

“Point taken. So what are you going to do now?”

The blacksmith sighed: “I will officially divorce her and then … I don't know. Lead the single life and do my job, I guess.”

“I'm so sorry”, Athena told him gently.

“Don't be”, Hephaistos contradicted. “None of this is your fault. It's all theirs. Shit …”

He buried his face in his hands. “… I knew, that she wasn't in love with me. I'm not blind or naïve, I could see it in her eyes. But she told me that she loved me – at least in some way – and you know what? I actually believed it – wanted to believe it! And yes, I knew about her affairs, yet I accepted them and kept swallowing my pride. And how did she repay my tolerance? By fucking my brother in my marriage bed! Seeing this … that was just the last straw, you see.”

“Of course, I understand”, Athena assured him gently. “One can only take so much infidelity.”

Hephaistos went on: “And I even knew about this thing with Ares, but I didn't take it seriously … I thought it was just a tryst and … damn, I just wanted to believe, that she only likes that crazy fucktard for his looks. Well, now I have seen the truth … have seen how they interact with each other! Oh, fool that I was! She loves him! She actually loves him!”

“I know”, Athena confirmed sadly. “The feeling is obviously mutual too. Has been for a long time.”

The smith inhaled sharply. “So everybody knew, that these two were a serious item, except for myself? Perfect, just perfect!”

“I didn't think it was that deep”, the wisdom goddess defended herself. “I mean, with them being, who they are-”

Suddenly Hephaistos laughed, startling her.

“So the goddess of wisdom is capable of bias and prejudice? I'm surprised, Athena – and not in the good way.”

That stung.

Of course Athena had been called out before, namely by Ares and Poseidon, who were both envious of her. So she had always brushed it off.

Hearing such a waspish remark from Hephaistos was an entirely different matter. She simply hadn't pinned him to be the snappish type. He had to be exceedingly hurt.

“I'm sorry”, the smith whispered, “I didn't mean to lash out at you. It just … everything is just too much.”

“I know, I know. Hey. Need a hug?”

“Yes, please.”

They spent the next hour with her hunched down and him bawling relentlessly into her shoulder.

Finally, he calmed down and thanked her.

She nodded in response and took her leave. After all, she still had a lot to do (and in addition, she'd have to clean her now messy shoulder from the tear stains and snot).

A few hours later, Poseidon's far-speaker buzzed on the night table next to his sick bed.

He groaned, but reached over and picked up.

“Hello?”, he rasped into the speaker.

To his surprise (and agitation), it was Athena's voice that answered: “Hello, uncle, it's me, Athena. I have some bad and some good news. But first, wanna hear something … uh, something you'll probably find funny?”

#Greek Mythology #athena #hephaistos #ares #aphrodite #zeus #poseidon #apollon #the olympians being themselves #the golden net incident #tw: humiliation

8 notes · View notes

dumbledearme · 6 years ago

Text

chapter forty-nine—eternal mess

read Child of Land and Sea here

Act V — Walking On Water

Part XII — To be a true hero, kid, is a dying art. Like painting a masterpiece, it's a work of heart.

Hermes kissed his son's forehead and murmured a blessing in ancient Greek. Then the Three Fates themselves took the bodies of Luke and Ethan away.

Andy asked Zeus to light up the top of the Empire State Building with blue colors and the god nodded. He didn't seem to care if it was a weird request or not; he just did it.

The Stoll brothers were fine. Mrs O'Leary had dug Chiron out successfully. Katie Gardner reported that she'd seen Rachel run out of the Empire State Building at the end of the battle. Nico di Angelo came into Olympus to a hero's welcome and so did his father. Clarisse marched in and the god of war proclaimed her the best warrior he'd ever seen. Hera seemed pretty upset Anthony had saved Olympus and murmured something about not being able to destroy him now. Dionysus thanked Andy for keeping his son alive.

The army of Poseidon, the ones who had defeated Typhon, marched into the throne room. Tyson saw Andy and smashed her in a Cyclops hug. Poseidon walked in and even forgave her for sitting on his throne. And for the first time in her life, her father embraced her. He was warm like a regular human and smelled like sea breeze. Andy felt like this huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She hadn't realized how much she was needing a hug. "Dad-" she cried softly.

"Shh," Poseidon said. "No hero is above fear, Andy. And you have risen above every hero. Not even Hercules-"

"POSEIDON!" a voice roared. Zeus had taken his throne. "Are you too proud to join us in council, my brother?"

"I would be honored, Lord Zeus." He strode over to his throne and the Council convened.

Zeus started this long speech about the bravery of the gods that seemed to last forever. While he spoke, Andy went to join Anthony who was still sitting in the same place where he had held Luke's body. He hadn't moved a muscle, not even when the Fates took Luke from his hands. Andy knelt beside him, took his hand and kissed it, but he didn't even seem to register her presence.

"As for my brothers," Zeus said, "we are very thankful... erm, thankful for the aid of Hades."

The lord of the dead nodded. He had a smug look on his face as he patted Nico on the shoulders.

"And of course," Zeus continued, "we must... thank Poseidon."

"I'm sorry," Poseidon said. "What was that?"

"There is no way I will be saying it again," Zeus grumbled. "Which leaves us the matter of thanking our young demigod heroes, who defended Olympus so well – even though there are a few dents in my throne." He called Thalia forward and promised his help in filling the Hunters's ranks.

Artemis spoke up. "You have done well, my lieutenant. You have made me proud, and all those Hunters who perished in my service will never be forgotten. They will achieve Elysium, I'm sure," she said glaring pointedly at Hades.

He shrugged. "Probably." Artemis glared at him some more. "Oh, all right," he grumbled.

Thalia beamed with pride. "Thank you." She bowed to the Olympians and limped back.

"Tyson, son of Poseidon," Zeus called. "Doesn't miss many meals, does he? Well, Tyson, for your bravery in the war, and for leading the Cyclopes, you are appointed a general in the armies of Olympus. You shall henceforth lead your brethren into war whenever required by the gods. And you shall have a new... um... what kind of weapon would you like? A sword? An axe?"

"A stick!" Tyson said.

"Very well," Zeus looked disappointed. "The best stick that may be found."

All the Cyclopes cheered.

"Grover Underwood of the satyrs," Dionysus called. "Oh, stop chewing your shirt. Honestly, I'm not going to blast you. For your bravery and sacrificed, and blah blah blah, and since we have an unfortunate vacancy, the gods have seen fit to name you a member of the Council of Cloven Elders."

Grover collapsed on the spot.

"Oh, wonderful," Dionysus sighed. "Well, when he wakes up, tell him that he will no longer be an outcast, and that all satyrs, naiads, and other spirits of nature will henceforth treat him as a lord of the Wild, with all rights, privileges, and honors. Now drag him off before he starts groveling."

Athena called Anthony and he took a long time to move. He stood before the gods, but he seemed to be a miles away. Athena approached him, touched his chin and made him look at her. "You have exceeded all expectations," she told him. "You have used your wits, your strength, and your courage to defend this city, and our seat of power. As it was once said, 'It takes a great deal of courage to stand up to your enemies, but even more to stand up to your friends.'"

Anthony winced like that was the last thing he wanted to hear.

Athena didn't let go of him. "Now, it has come to our attention that Olympus is... well, trashed. The Titan lord did much damage that will have to be repaired. We could rebuild it by magic, of course, and make it just as it was. But the gods feel that the city could be improved. We will take this as an opportunity. And you, my son, will design these improvements."

That got his attention alright. Anthony blinked and stared at his mother, stunned. "Me?"

Athena smiled. "You are an architect, are you not? You have studied the techniques of Daedalus himself. Who better to redesign Olympus and make it a monument that will last for another eon?"

"I... I can design whatever I want?"

"As your heart desires," the goddess said. "Make us a city for the ages."

"As long as you have no statues of Andy Jackson," Dionysus commented, "or I might never return here."

"Make plenty of statues of me instead," Apollo suggested.

"And me," Aphrodite agreed.

"Hey, and me!" Ares added.

"All right," Athena snapped. "He gets the point. Statues. Behold Anthony Chase," she said, "official architect of Olympus."

If Anthony had been miles away before, now he was a whole world away. Andy could see his mind working furiously as he walked back to the stones steps to sit down.

"Andy Jackson!" Poseidon called startling her.

She went to stand before them.

"There she is," Zeus said, "Olympus most disliked demigod."

Ares and Dionysus chuckled.

Andy felt herself blushing. "Okay," she said knowing they wouldn't be kind to her. "Bring it on. Give me all of your hate. But I saved your divine asses and I won't bow to you."

"We can certainly make you bow," Ares threatened.

"A great heroine must be rewarded," Poseidon ignored them. "Is there anyone here who would deny that my daughter is deserving?"

Zeus sighed. "The Council agrees that this unfortunate little brat will have one gift from the gods."

Andy stared at him. "Any thing I want?"

Zeus nodded grimly. "I know what you will ask. The greatest gift of all. Yes, if you want it, it shall be yours. The gods have not bestowed this gift on a mortal hero in many centuries but... Andromeda Jackson – if you wish it – you shall be made a goddess. Immortal. Undying. You shall serve as your father's lieutenant for all time."

Andy blinked. "A... goddess?" the word sounded completely alien in her mouth.

Zeus rolled his eyes. "A dimwitted goddess, apparently. But yes. With the consensus of the entire Council, I can make you immortal. Then I will have to put up with you forever."

"That means I can smash her to a pulp as often as I want, and she'll just keep coming back for more," Ares mused. "I like this idea."

"I approve as well," Athena said, though she was watching Anthony.

The entire idea was so ridiculous Andy started to laugh. Her laughter echoed on the stone walls and the Olympians watched her frowning. She held her stomach and laughed some more, until she heard someone say, "I think she lost it."

Andy looked up at them again. "I can't believe you just offered me this," she gasped. The Council was silent. "A goddess. Ha ha! Have you met me?" she asked them. "I'm like... I'm a... I'm a mess! You want to make me an eternal mess? No!"

"No?" Zeus said. "You are... turning down our generous gift?"

"No, thank you?" Andy smiled. "I'm sorry. I'm honored and everything, I just... don't think that was your brightest idea."

The throne room shook. "What did you say to me?"

"Don't get me wrong," she rushed. "I meant with all respect in the world. It's just... I want to... I want to live. And I want to die. When... you know, time comes." She gave Hades a weary look. The gods glared at her. It was the second time Andy refused immortality. She cleared her throat nervously. "But... um... if your offer still stands, there is something I do want."

Zeus took a deep breath. "If it's within our power."

"It is," she said. "But I need your word. Swear on the River Styx."

"What?" Dionysus cried. "You don't trust us?"

"Someone once told me, you should always get a solemn oath."

Hades smiled. "Guilty."

"Very well," Zeus growled. "In the name of the Council, we swear by the River Styx to grant your reasonable request as long as it is within our power." The other gods muttered assent. Thunder boomed. The deal was made.

"Well, then, here is what I want. From now on, you will recognize the children of the gods," she said. "All the children... of all the gods."

The Olympians shifted uncomfortably.

"Don't you see? All this war... all this death... brother fighting brother... and what for? Demigods who felt abandoned by their parents. They felt angry, resentful, and unloved, and they were not wrong."

Zeus's nostrils flared. "You dare accuse-"

"You dare deny it?" she cut him. "Will you look down on me and say that it is fair to put your children in the world and not once show them that you care? I say no more undetermined children. Claim them. Claim us. Don't leave us out on our own at the mercy of monsters. Protect us. Give us shelter. Bring us to camp so we can be trained right, so we can survive."

"Wait a sec-" said Apollo, but Andy ignored him.

"And the minor gods," she added. "Nemesis, Hecate, Morpheus, Janus, Hebe... they all deserve a general amnesty and a place at Camp Half-Blood. Their children shouldn't be ignored. You couldn't fight this war without us, which tells me that we matter. Calypso and the other peaceful Titan-kind should be pardoned. They did nothing wrong and it's not fair what has happened to them. And Hades-"

"Are you calling me a minor god?" Hades bellowed.

"No," she smiled. "But your children will not be left out. They should have a cabin too. Nico has proven that. No unclaimed demigods will be crammed into the Hermes cabin anymore, wondering who their parents are. They'll have their own cabins, for all the gods. We all matter and we are all welcome at camp. Because we're family."

Ares opened his mouth to speak, but Andy didn't let him.

"You need to stop trying to get rid of powerful demigods. We're going to train them and accept them instead." Finally, she stopped and glanced around the room expecting them to argue. But no one seemed to have the words.

Zeus snorted. "Oh, are you done?"

"Andy," Poseidon started carefully, "you ask too much. You presume too much."

"I presume nothing. I've watched my friends die," she reminded them. "The light left their eyes. And you know, all they wanted was to be loved, to be respected. By you. How is that much?"

That's when Aphrodite gave her a standing ovation. She walked up to Andy. "Ah, Andy Jackson," she said with a bright smile and tears in her eyes. "Such a beautiful surprise. You're so much better than the other Andromeda. All this love you have... I thought it was just for the boy, but you have enough for them all, don't you? The last time I saw someone love this deeply... Helen," she said dreamily. "But Helen was different from you. She was selfish. She'd let world burn as long as she had Paris, because her love was exclusive to him. But you kept the city safe, your family, your friends, and us."

"Okay, I think you're going to far kissing her ass-" Ares started to say.

"No," Aphrodite stopped him. "I've seen loss too. My daughter..." her voice faltered. "But even in the darkest hours, something brings me hope. The rest of you might not understand it. But Andy..." she focused her eyes on Andy. "Andy sees it too. The loudest love is that which is said in silence. Whatever it is you desire, Andy Jackson, shall be yours." Aphrodite reach out her hand.

Andy felt a chill when she touched the goddess. "You flatter me," she said thankfully. "I'm only human."

"Doesn't that just make you outstanding?" Aphrodite whispered.

"She is correct," Athena said, suddenly, surprising everyone. "We have been unwise to ignore our children. It proved a strategic weakness in this war and almost caused our destruction. Andy Jackson, I had my doubts about you, but perhaps" – she glanced at Anthony – "perhaps I was mistaken. I vote that we accept the girl's plan."

"I don't like you," Zeus felt the need to tell Andy. "Not one bit. You are presumptuous. You are rude. You don't know your place and you raise your voice to those more powerful than you." He let out a painful sigh. "But I suppose..."

"All in favor?" Hermes said and all the gods raised their hands.

Andy smiled at them. "You won't regret it. We will make you proud."

"Honor guard!" Poseidon called. The Cyclopes came forward and made two lines from the thrones to the door – an aisle for her to walk through. "All hail, Andromeda Jackson," her father said, "savior of Olympus."

Hermes met her at the door. "Turning down immortality," he said looking at her curiously. "You mortals... Always full of surprises. You know, it was decided Typhon was a freak series of storms and nothing else."

"How bad is the city?"

Hermes shrugged. "Not too bad. The mortals are shaken, of course. But it's New York. I'll help them get back to normal."

Andy nodded. "I owe you an apology," she said looking at her own feet.

"And why is that?" he asked bitterly.

"I thought you were a bad father," she admitted still avoiding his eyes. "I blamed you. Like he did. I thought you knew about his future, but didn't care enough to change it."

"I did know."

"But you knew more than that." Andy raised her eyes and faced the god. "You knew everything. You understood what needed to happen. You trusted he would make the right choice when the time came... and he did. I'm just sorry that you never got to tell him... how much faith you had in him."

"No one can temper with fate," Hermes said miserably. "Not even a god. If I had warned him what was to come, or tried to influence his choices, I would've made things even worse. Staying silent, staying away from him... that was the hardest thing I've ever done."

"I know," Andy said. "But he found his path. He saved us all."

Hermes sighed. "I shouldn't have blamed the boy," he said. "Anthony... when Luke visited him... I knew he was the only one who could get to him, who could reach out and find him in there." He shook his head. "Kronos isn't dead, you know? You can't kill a Titan."

"Then-"

"I don't know," Hermes grumbled. "None of us do. Blown to dust. Scattered to the wind. With luck, he's spread so thin that he'll never be able to form a consciousness again, much less a body. But do not mistake him for dead, Andy. He is not. My son's the one who died. Believing I didn't care about him."

Andy grabbed the god's hand. He stared at her surprised by the physical contact. "Weren't you listening to me in there?" she said. "I told you. Us, your children, we just want a little of your attention. Exactly because we love you. If we didn't, it wouldn't hurt so much when you don't answer. And Luke hurt the most. I think it's pretty obvious that he loved the most too."

A tear streamed down his face and he squeezed her hand.

"You have other children," Andy told him. "I expect you won't make the same mistake."

Hermes's shoulders sagged. "We'll try, Andy. We'll all try to keep our promise. And maybe for a while things will be better. But we gods have never been good at keeping oaths. You were born because of a broken promise, weren't you? Eventually we'll become forgetful. We always do."

"You can change."

Hermes laughed. "After three thousand years, you think the gods can change their nature?"

"If there is one thing I've learned from this war, is that Hope won't leave us unless we tell it to. There is always time for changing. Luke did. And you can too."

Hermes seemed surprised. "You think he really loved me? After all that happened?"

"I'm sure of it."

Hermes nodded. "I'll give you a list of my children. Will you see that they get to camp?"

"I promised," Andy said. "And I don't forget my promises."

"Andy Jackson," Hermes shook his head. "You might just teach us a thing or two."

The goddess of wisdom was also waiting to talk to Andy. It was proving a hard task to leave Olympus without calling attention. Athena's gray eyes blazed when she faced Andy. "You will stay a mortal," she said accusingly like it was a horrible thing.

"Yes."

"You gave us pretty good reasons," she sneered, "but I'm no fool, Andy Jackson. Aphrodite isn't the only one who can see right through you."

Andy hesitated. "I don't-"

"My son." Athena stepped forward and Andy had to fight the urge to run away.

"I love him." She held the goddess's stare with difficulty. She had never said it like that, so raw, so true.

Athena made a face. "I once warned you, Andy Jackson, that to save a friend you would destroy the world. I was mistaken. Like Aphrodite said, you saved both your friends and the world."

"Anthony did. And Luke. And Clarisse, and Silena, and Thalia, and Grover. I didn't do anything alone. A lot of people gave their lives so the gods could remain."

"True," Athena said. "I acknowledge it. That is why my warning will be brief: think very carefully about how you proceed from here. I have given you the benefit of the doubt. Don't mess up."

"I won't."

Athena shook her head. "I might let you have him," she said, "but I will never understand what he sees in you."

"Finally," Andy smiled at the goddess. "Finally something we have in common."

#andromeda #andy jackson #anthony chase #andony #fanfic #dfcrosas #genderbend #child of land and sea #walking on water #fem percy jackson

2 notes · View notes

lilacmoon83 · 4 years ago

Text

Finding You Always

Also on Fanfiction.net and A03

Chapter 228: Aggressive Negotiations

Emma walked into the interrogation room with a soda in hand, while her father watched from the window, arms crossed, and a bit of a glare. This guy was sleeping with underage young men for money, so she knew there was no way he wasn't going to get hard time. Her father and she, for that matter, had zero tolerance for this kind of thing. Le Fou was lucky the young men were teens, for she knew if they had been children, her father would have put life on the table and advocated to put him in general population, which meant Le Fou wouldn't have made it to his first dinner.

Since it was teens, which still infuriated them both, they were going to make sure hard time was done by him. But in exchange for talking, they were going to offer to let him do his time in with the restricted population, which offered more protection. Honestly though, even then, people like Le Fou ended up having accidents even in restricted population. Either way, she needed him to talk and it was better if he talked to her, because she knew if her father came in to question him, he was in no mood to be merciful. The combination of Summer being accused of murder, Goldie's tirade against their mother, and Le Fou's disgusting acts, Le Fou was lucky he was facing her instead.

She put the soda down in front of him and sat down in the chair across from him.

"Okay...so I'm not going to waste time and I'm going to level with you. My father wants to charge you with first degree assault of a minor and soliciting underage prostitutes and throw you to the wolves in general population, which means you'll be dead by lunchtime tomorrow," she said. Le Fou turned white as a sheet.

"It...it wasn't like that! They...they were willing partners!" Le Fou insisted.

"No...they were kids selling their bodies to creeps like you for money. That's a crime and if he's pissed enough, he'll tack on the pedophilia charge and trust me, my Dad wants to rip your head off right about now," Emma replied.

"Unless…" she continued.

"Unless?" Le Fou asked.

"Unless you give us the information on our real target," Emma replied.

"If you're looking to bust other...solicitors, I can name them all for the right deal. But it has to be good...these people are the worst," Le Fou said.

"I'm actually interested in that list, but there's another target that takes priority," Emma replied.

"Who is that?" he asked.

"Your former co-star," Emma replied.

"Goldie?" he asked.

"The one and only. Give her up and my dad will talk to the judge. You'll get twenty years with the possibility of parole in ten. And he'll make sure you're in protective custody," she offered.

"Twenty years! And I have to serve at least ten of it!? That's not a deal!" Le Fou cried and then nearly jumped out of his skin, as David pounded on the window from outside. Le Fou couldn't see him, so Emma painted the picture for him.

"Yeah...it is a deal, unless you want him coming in here. His little peanut is being accused of murder here by your former and disgraced co-host, because she has some kind of grudge against the love of his life and you might be the one that can clear all this up," Emma said.

"Oh...and you're a pedophile, so he wants your guts on a stick or perhaps his sword, rather," she added. Le Fou glared at her.

"I'm not a pedophile!" he growled.

"Oh you will be in the Storybrooke Mirror in the morning edition and probably on your own show when they find out you were arrested," she said.

"Look...you're right, Goldie hates your mother, but it's not like anyone actually believes your little sister killed anyone. I mean, you said the evidence is circumstantial at best," Le Fou reasoned.

"True...but if you know anything about that evidence pointing at her though, then that means you're an accomplice. An accomplice to murder, if Goldie turns out to be Nora's real killer. That on top of the charges you're already facing...that's life," Emma said, knowing she had him in the corner. Le Fou began to panic.

"I...I want a lawyer," he said, as he let out a frightened yelp when David came into the room.

"I'm...I'm not talking to you!" he cried.

"You'll get your lawyer...cause you'll need it," David said.

"What...what do you mean?" he asked.

"Mr. Boots...your boss, has been murdered. I just got the call from my brother," David revealed, which was also news to Emma.

"What?!" Le Fou cried.

"You...you can't possibly think that I had something to do with that! I've been here!" he shouted.

"True...but Mr. Boots fired Goldie this afternoon and she's unhinged. Sounds like a pretty good reason for murder. If you know anything about what she's been up to...now is the time," David offered.

"Or lawyer up...and take your chances in court. But if I know Goldie...she'll throw you under the bus for kicks and giggles," he added, as he started to walk away.

"Wait!" Le Fou called and David smirked.

"Yes?" he asked.

"Goldie...she had me erase the tapes outside Nora's room the night she died," Le Fou replied.

"Why?" Emma questioned.

"Because they showed Goldie going into Nora's room around the time she fell from her window and then leaving," he confessed.

"Do you have the original footage?" she asked.

"I deleted it, but they might still be in the cloud or something," Le Fou replied.

"Do you think JJ's friend can find them?" David asked.

"Hopefully," Emma replied.

"I told you everything I know and basically implicated Goldie in the murder! I want a deal!" Le Fou cried.

"We'll make sure the judge knows about your help at your arraignment in the morning," David said, as he led him to the holding cell.

"For now...you should make that call to an attorney," he said, as he let him use the station phone.

"Hey Emma...my friend said the Inn's security cameras were hacked. It was child's play so you might want to have Granny hire someone to beef up the network," JJ called, as he sat at the desk.

"Wow...that was fast," she said.

"I told he was good. He sent these to me and said there was definitely a breach from the television studio itself," JJ said, as he pulled up the file.

"That matches Le Fou's story that he altered the security tapes from the Inn," Emma said.

"Yep and my friend found the original version floating around in the cloud. They were deleted, but it's the Internet so nothing's ever really gone," JJ said, as he pulled up the footage for Emma and her father.

"There she is…" Emma said, as they saw Goldie go into Nora's room with her.

"She used her," JJ said bitterly and Emma put her hand on his shoulder.

"I'm really sorry...but we will get this crazy bitch," Emma assured him. A few moments passed on the tape and they saw Goldie hurrying out of the room.

"That time stamp matches the moment that Nora was heard screaming and seen falling from her window," David said, as Emma paused the tape.

"We've got a double murder on our hands," Emma replied, as James and Xander entered the station.

"Did you find her?" David asked.

"We found her car abandoned at the Harbor," James replied.

"Which means she probably fled to Pleasure Island," Xander added.

"Then we need to go there and extract her," David said.

"Whoa...I think it's best if we formulate a plan, before we go in. We all know how unpredictable that place is and how unreliable magic is there," Xander replied.

"Then what do you suggest?" David asked.

"I know it best...I'll go, undercover, of course. A quick glamour spell is all I need," Xander replied.

"Okay...be careful," David said. Xander nodded and left. He would first pick up a glamour spell from Gold and then head to Pleasure Island in an undercover mission. David sighed.

"I'll finish processing Le Fou," David said.

"I'll put out the BOLO for Goldie," James said, as he went to his computer.

"Well…I'm going to head home since we're waiting on Gramps to get us an inside picture of where she might be on Pleasure Island," Emma said.

"Sounds good...I'll be going soon too. Your mom will be very anxious to know that Summer is in the clear," David replied, as he hugged her and cradled her head.

"Night Dad," she said.

"Night Em...kiss Hope for me," he called, as she grabbed her coat and left. He and James finished up for the night too and Leroy arrived for the night shift, leaving him with the watch of Le Fou in the holding cell.

~*~

"And if you're just joining us, we're discussing a murder of one of our own. That's right, aspiring independent reporter, Nora Bradley, was murdered in that place. The mysterious Storybrooke. She managed to find her way into the mystical world where fairy tales are alive and real. But it appears that things are not so magical at the moment. We're hearing that it might have been none other than Snow White's daughter that ended Nora Bradley's life, leading us to conclude that these people...these Charmings are just as dangerous as we have been predicting for years! They brought a near apocalypse on our country in Seattle years ago and ever since, our worlds continue to bleed together in very unpleasant ways. When will this end? Why does this family get to walk free when they are so obviously dangerous…" Eva looked up, as the broadcast cut off and saw her husband there, having pressed the pause button on her phone.

"Eva…" he said, with slight frustration.

"I know...I couldn't help it. After Goldie said that she had a colleague that released her story to the public, you know, out there...I had to see how bad it was," she replied.

"Those podcasts are always bad though," he reminded her.

"Except that it's not just the podcasts this time and I think I know who Goldie's colleague is," Eva replied, as she presented him with a morning edition of the New York Times.

"Fairy Tale Murder?" he said, reading the headline.

"It's basically Goldie's story in article form and look at the byline," she replied. He sighed.

"Elias Grimm…" he stated.

"We need to stop him," Eva said.

"How?" Paul asked.

"I don't know...but maybe we should talk to Aesop. He knows his family the best and there's a reason that Zeus didn't want his family line involved in being the author. This narrative is deceitful," Eva said.

"And I get that, love...but unfortunately, he has a right to publish whatever he wants and the newspaper does too," he said. She sat back, knowing he was right.

"Then we go to Henry. He's the real author and I think he should counter this. If they'll publish Grimm...then they'll publish Henry. He's a household name now," she said. He smiled and kissed her forehead.

"Fighting fire with fire...the Charming way. But can we please go back to bed for a while?" he asked. She nodded, as they joined hands and went back up into the loft to their bedroom.

~*~

Goldie walked into the bar and took a seat at the bar.

"You're all over the Internet. You made quite a splash. From reporter to double murder is quite a feat in such a short time," Grimm said, as he poured her a drink.

"Do I detect a hint of admiration in your voice?" she asked, as she took a large gulp of the drink.

"It certainly makes for a good story, though going all homicidal maniac was a bit too soon," he said.

"Well...it's not my fault that no one will believe that Snow White's precious daughter isn't capable of murder," she scoffed.

"And then Mr. Boots forced my hand. The question is...how do I get back on the air without returning to Storybrooke," she said. He smirked.

"Actually...I might have a solution for that. Finish your drink and follow me," he said, as he tossed his towel down.

"Spike...take over for me for a while," he ordered to one of his employees. Goldie finished her drink and followed him out.

"Where the hell are we going?" she asked and he pointed to the vast structure in the distance.

"Whoa...I don't remember there ever being a massive castle on Pleasure Island," she said.

"There wasn't...until a few days ago," he replied.

"Who lives there?" she asked. He smirked.

"The Evil Queen," he replied simply.

"Regina Mills?" she asked in confusion.

"Oh no...not that Evil Queen," he said, as he initiated a text. Seconds later, they were snapped up in a poof of magic and into the castle Throne room.

"The New Evil Queen," he announced, as Goldie looked to the Throne to find none other than Rodmilla Tremaine sitting upon it.

~*~

David quietly entered their darkened bed chambers and quietly undressed. It was about two in the morning and once he had his sleep pants on, he gently slipped into bed next to his wife.

"Mmm...hi," Snow murmured in a sleepy tone. He smiled.

"I was trying to not to wake you," he said.

"Mmm...we share a heart. I felt you coming, even in sleep, but honestly I was only half asleep," she said, as she cuddled against him and he took her in his arms, before kissing her head.

"Besides, you know I sleep best in your arms," she whispered.

"So...did you find anything?" she asked. He snorted.

"Oh yeah...but I didn't know if you wanted me to go into it now. It's a lot," he replied.

"Well, I do...so spill," she said, as she pecked him on the lips.

"Well, Goldie was fired early and then ran Mr. Boots down in the parking lot just a couple hours ago. We have her on video doing it," he replied.

"Oh my gosh...is he okay?" she asked.

"I'm afraid not...and we now know that she murdered Nora too. We got Le Fou to flip on her. He hacked the footage from the Inn and erased her from the security tapes. We got the real footage back though and it shows her going in and out of Nora's room at the time of her death," he replied.

"Why kill Nora?" Snow asked. He sighed.

"I hate to tell you this, but based on what we know, she probably did it for the sole purpose of trying to frame Summer," he replied.

"Because she hates me," Snow realized.

"She's unhinged, Snow...and that's not on you," he reminded her.

"I know," she affirmed.

"So...did you get her?" she asked. He winced.

"Dad and James found her car abandoned at the harbor," he replied.

"So Pleasure Island...out of our reach," she said.

"Maybe...but Dad is actually on his way there, undercover of course, to see what's going on. If they're building some sort of insurgency, then it's about time we're clued into it," David said.

"But they know magic is resistant there. Do you really think they would risk coming here where it's not?" she asked.

"I don't know. Jekyll is there and who knows what he's cooking up. We need to find out what is going on there. I don't like Dad going there at all...but if we're going to stop them, then we need to know," he replied. She nodded, not disagreeing with that and then shivered.

"Her teaming up with someone like Jekyll or Grimm is unsettling, to say the least," she admitted.

"I know, but I promise we're going to stop them. True love always wins," he told her. She smiled.

"Always…" she replied, as she kissed him.

"Just as long as there are no more curses and finding each other," she said. He chuckled.

"No more...we ended the curses after the last one and while I will always find you, hopefully, I'll never have to again," he said, as he kissed her passionately.

"So...should we go to sleep or…" she said, trailing off and he smiled.

"I like or better," he said and she giggled, as he kissed her again and their passion consumed them.

~*~

Leo awoke the next morning and after cleaning up, he walked onto the balcony and noticed that, overnight, Arendelle had taken on a lot of snow. That wasn't really unusual. It was November in Maine, but he didn't remember Scuttle predicting blizzard level snow and it was still snowing.

"Snow is deep this morning," he said, as he heard Elsa come back into their chambers.

"I don't think it's a blizzard...not a normal one anyway," she said.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"I mean it's forty degrees and sunny in Storybrooke and the rest of the realms. This isn't normal," she replied, worriedly. He frowned.

"Magic…" he realized and felt her cold hands on him.

"Oh my God…" she cried, as she recoiled from him when she noticed that her touch had left frost on his skin. She looked at her hands in horror and fear crept inside her again.

"Am I doing this?" she asked.

"No...you've had control of your powers for a long time," he replied.

"But...this is how it was before. I caused an eternal winter in Arendelle before!" she cried.

"You did...but you were frightened then and had no control over your power. That's not the case here. You're in complete control and not frightened at all," he replied. She calmed a bit.

"You're right...but then what is this?" she asked fearfully.

"I don't know...but we've been through this before. Let's go ask my parents and Aphrodite. If anyone will know, it will be them or her," he replied calmly. She nodded and she was about to take his hand and then recoiled.

"Come on," he said softly, as he used his magic to poof them to his parents castle.

~*~

Goldie casually walked down the winding steps of the Tremaine castle that morning, after having cleaned up, and joined her hostess at the long formal dining table. Servants were prompt and served her breakfast and coffee.

"I could get used to this," she admitted, as she started eating.

"And if we succeed, then perhaps you will. But already, you have proven to be a bit of a loose cannon," Rodmilla said in a measured tone.

"Hey...it's not my fault that no one will believe that Snow White's precious daughter couldn't possibly murder anyone," Goldie said, as she swallowed.

"And then Mr. Boots fired me for it," she said, as she speared some eggs with her fork.

"He had to pay…" she replied.

"Perhaps...but if we are really going to go up against the Charmings, we must not act rashly," Rodmilla said. She scoffed.

"Fine...then what exactly do you plan to do?" Goldie asked. She smirked.

"I have magic now, thanks to Dr. Jekyll. And when I make my debut, I will find a way to draw blood from the two idiots. With their blood, Grimm can create any narrative we want. Plus, we have a few other ideas if that doesn't work," she said.

"Fine...but until it's time to enact some plan, what about getting me back on the air. You need a counter narrative to air to people if you're really going to build an insurgency to go against the Charmings," Goldie replied.

"Don't worry...you'll have your fancy television studio and a show that will broadcast to the entire United Realms. And with my magic reinforcing it, they won't be able to turn you off," Rodmilla answered.

"I hope this studio comes with a nice dressing room and a makeup artist then," Goldie said.

"Of course...whatever, as long as you tow the line," Rodmilla replied.

"If it means destroying Snow White and her perfect life...then I'll do whatever is needed," Goldie replied.

~*~

David finished the last of the pancakes and set the plate on the table, as he sat down with them. This morning, it was just them, Summer, Bobby, and Natalie.

"Thanks for breakfast," Natalie said.

"Of course...and you're eating for two after all," David replied.

"Yeah...except I literally have no idea what I'm doing. I'm not sure I've ever even held a baby," Natalie said.

"Oh...you'll do fine and we'll be here through all of it. Trust me...we're excited for our new niece or nephew and we'll be happy to help with everything," Snow assured. David smiled at her.

"Yeah...we've done this a few times," he said, as she smiled back at him.

"Do you think Johnny will find out that I'm pregnant?" she wondered.

"Even if he does, it won't matter. He's not getting out of prison. And I realize that anything can happen and we have had prison breaks before. But if the worst does happen, we'll make sure he never gets near you or the baby," David said.

"Really?" Natalie asked.

"Bald Mountain is still completely protected and if needed, we'd make sure you and the baby went there if something happened," David replied.

"You've thought this all out?" Natalie asked.

"You're my sister and I take the job of protecting my family and the people I love very seriously," David replied. She smiled.

"Thanks...guess I'm not really used to that," Natalie said.

"Where did you grow up? You never really talk about it," Summer mentioned.

"Unless that's too nosy," she added.

"No...not at all. I bounced around with Mom quite a bit. She was...involved in the collecting. Mostly of artifacts and valuable things for Clayton. I was in Atlantis a lot, but I didn't really get that most of those people weren't there by choice when I was little, Mom didn't let me wander around the compound too much," she said.

"I met Johnny when I was a teenager. By then, I was educated to think that was all normal and that we were entitled to all the treasures we were collecting," she continued.

"By then, I had developed a great love for the fascinating artifacts we were trying to find and collecting. I got my degree in archaeology, anthropology, and a minor in literature. I traveled with Johnny a lot after that," she said.

"So Clayton was grooming him to take over one day?" David asked.

"Somewhat. He was being prepared for it, but he also knew that his father had no intention of allowing his aging process to progress and was pretty sure he was going to either succeed in gaining the power of the chalice or die trying," Natalie replied.

"Good thing it was the latter," Bobby mumbled. Natalie smirked.

"We agree on that. Johnny may have idolized his father and wanted to continue on for him, but Clayton was neglectful. He had no time for him until he was almost an adult," she said.

"That doesn't surprise me at all," Snow said.

"Johnny has a chip on his shoulder. He knows that Clayton was always disappointed that he was of Divine blood," Natalie replied.

"You mean Aphrodite," David deduced. She nodded.

"Clayton was always angry that he wasn't able to Sire a child with the Goddess. Johnny knew it," Natalie said.

"That's really sad," Summer mentioned.

"Do you know anything about his mother?" Snow asked curiously.

"Not much, other than her name is Callista Stavros," Natalie replied.

"Stavros? Isn't that the name that Clayton used under the curse?" Bobby asked.

"It is...I wonder if she's out there somewhere," Snow wondered.

"She is, indeed," Patricia said, as she arrived.

"Good morning," David greeted.

"Good morning...I'm sorry to intrude, but I'm here to actually talk about the very person you were talking about," she replied, as she sat down.

"Don't tell me...Callista Stavros is one of the thirteen that we're trying to take down?" David asked. She nodded.

"She is, indeed," Patricia replied, as she opened the folder to reveal a beautiful, middle aged woman.

"What do you know about her?" David asked.

"Almost nothing...this woman is a ghost, but she obviously was very involved with Clayton and likely helping him run his entire operation. She's like the woman behind the curtain...but I have intel that she may be making a rare public appearance in a couple days," Patricia replied.

"Where are we going this time?" Snow asked.

"Washington DC, the Smithsonian to be specific. They are having an event and a rare collection of Greek Mythological artifacts is on display for one night only," Patricia replied.

"Is she planning to steal them?" David asked.

"No...she owns them all. Probably things that were once a part of Clayton's collection that weren't in Atlantis," Patricia replied.

"Then why is she holding an exhibit?" Natalie asked.

"It's a setup...for us, isn't it?" Snow asked. The Major nodded.

"It's looking that way," she said.

"But we should still go or we might not get another chance at her," David replied.

"That's my thought. Storybrooke's Atlantis museum probably holds a lot of things she wants back. She'll probably have something planned to try to capture you two and seize the chalice. We need to be prepared for anything," Patricia said.

"Then we'll be ready and we'll need to put a team together," Snow said.

"Well, an exhibit on Greek mythology...we should bring my brother and Aphrodite for sure," David said.

"I'm not missing this one either…" Natalie said.

"With Bobby...that's seven. We can go talk to them right now," David said, as they finished up and put the dishes in the sink.

That was when Elsa and Leo arrived.

"Hi honey…" Snow greeted, but then noticed the worried looks on their faces.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"We're not sure...but Arendelle is under about two feet of snow," Leo replied.

"I don't know what's going on...my powers are under control and I'm not agitated. Yet I'm freezing anything I touch again," Elsa said worriedly.

"I'm texting my brother now," David said, as a few moments later, he and Aphrodite arrived in a puff of orange smoke with their children.

"We came right away," Aphrodite said, as she approached Elsa and waved a hand of magic over her.

"We checked too and it's still snowing in Arendelle even in your absence. I'm not sure you're doing this at all," James said.

"Then what could it be? The Snow Queen has been gone a very long time," Snow replied.

"I don't know...this is above me too. Let's return to Olympus and call on Athena. If anyone knows...it's her," Aphrodite said.

"Uh...I hope so, because something is definitely up," Leo said, as they saw his entire body become alive with cobalt lightning.

"No one touch me...I could send you across the room," Leo said. Bobby ignored him and did just that and much to everyone's surprise, he seemed immune to the out of control magic.

"Kid...what the hell?! I could have just sent you flying," Leo scolded.

"But you didn't...I had a hunch," Bobby replied, as he tested Elsa and touched her hand. They were shocked to see that her powers were not freezing him.

"Cool…" Bobby said.

"Look!" Summer called, as she pointed out the window to reveal that Misthaven was now having heavy rain and loud, violent thunder and lightning.

"Okay...let's get to Olympus now. If the elements are out of control, I have no idea how or why," Aphrodite said, as she transported them all there.

"And just breaking...it looks like Arendelle isn't the only place that is having weather problems. While Arendelle is being buried in deep snow, it appears that Misthaven is experiencing a raging thunderstorm that has already dropped almost two inches of rain. Our studio has reached out to the royals of both Kingdom, but have yet to be answered…"

~*~

The reporter droned on and the mysterious, elder man smirked, as he enjoyed his drink. It had been too long since he had known life and he was enjoying his freedom immensely. He did not know what his next move would be, but this place allowed him the anonymity he needed to figure it all out.

"I can't believe that stupid mermaid is taking my position at the reporting desk," Goldie complained, unaware that the elder man was listening.

"Relax...Rodmilla says the studio is ready and you can go live momentarily. I've written your script and everything," he said.

"And you think if I attack the royals and blame this on them that I'll be believed?" she asked. He shrugged.

"By enough people...yes. The Charming children have elemental magic, along with Queen Elsa. That's what this looks like. Claim the kids are causing this with their out of control magic...and enough might believe it. The Charmings are constantly causing trouble and my article is blowing up now that it was picked up by a widely circulated newspaper. I'm telling you...public opinion is about to turn against these hallowed heroes," Grimm responded. Goldie smirked.

"Then let their downfall begin," she said. The elder man smirked. Perhaps he now knew exactly how he would play this. If his granddaughter was deemed too dangerous to rule eventually, he could swoop in, reveal himself when the time was right, and reclaim his Throne with ease…

~*~

"That's right...I can assure that Elias Grimm's article is completely false. Summer Charming did not kill anyone, let alone Nora Bradley," Henry said, as he spoke into his phone. He had been up since six taking calls from reporters and publishers trying to get information on his family. With all the events of the previous evening, he probably had a long day of writing ahead.

"I'll have more chapters dropping soon with the real story, I assure you," he said, as he hung up and Ella poured him a cup of coffee.

"Thanks…" he said and she rubbed his shoulder.

"I hate to tell you this, but the weird weather has everyone whipped up into a frenzy," she said.

"We should find my grandparents. Chances are they are on this, but are as confused as us at this point," he said, as he stood up and the television blipped. The screen changed and they saw Goldie sitting at a news desk.

"How the hell is she on the air?" he asked.

"Good morning United Realms and welcome to the newest news broadcast in all the Realms, direct from Pleasure Island. I'm Goldilocks and it seems that the weather is once again out of control in several places," she said.

"Apparently Queen Elsa must be upset, because Arendelle is buried under snow and her husband, the illustrious King Leo, darling son of Snow White and Prince Charming, must be throwing a tantrum, as Misthaven is getting flooded with a violent thunderstorm," she reported.

"You can't change the channel...how is she doing this?" Ella wondered.

"I don't know...but we can't reach her on Pleasure Island and she knows it," Henry replied, as he got a text.

"That's my Mom...she says that she's with my grandparents at Olympus," he said.

"Let's go...Lucy, we need to go!" Ella called, as they gathered their daughter and then left for Olympus.

~*~

Xander sat at the bar in the Saloon, as he quietly observed the comings and goings, undetected. So far, he had seen Goldie and Grimm boasting about some broadcast, which was now playing. To his surprise though, Rodmilla Tremaine suddenly entered the establishment with Dr. Jekyll and looked around the entire place. If those two had teamed up, it was definitely trouble.

"Attention please!" she called, but was promptly ignored.

"A demonstration of your authority will be the only way to get their attention, I assure you," Jekyll advised. She smirked and Xander's eyes widened, as magic erupted from her fingertips and exploded several of the lights. The entire place stopped to stare at her.

"Magic shouldn't work here!" one of the patrons claimed, as she placed her gloved hands on her hips.

"Yes, well, thanks to the good doctor, this is a new kind of magic, backed by science," she claimed, as she used it to shove the man against the wall.

"The time has come for those that have made us outlaws in this place to pay, but that is only possible if we rise up. The only way to do that is to rally behind me," she said.

"If you want revenge and power, you must join me! The last Evil Queen was a sore disappointment, but I will make her look like a kitten!" Rodmilla announced. One scraggly looking man stepped forward.

"You expect us to believe that you and four eyes really have a chance in going up against the Charmings and all their magic?" he asked. Jekyll smirked.

"I have come very close to defeating them before. I can assure you that we are working on multiple ways to combat them and orchestrate their defeat," Jekyll said.

"So you can explode some light bulbs and push us around. That's nothing compared to their power, especially if they can control the weather," he said.

"Dissenters will be dealt with severally," Rodmilla replied. He scoffed.

"Whatever," he said, but they were all stunned when she struck him with magic and he fell dead to the floor with a hole in his chest.

"Anyone else want to question my ascent to the Throne?" she asked and there was silence.

"Very well...then you kneel before your new Queen!" she demanded and they slowly did so, forcibly joining the cause.

~*~

They arrived at Olympus and Aphrodite went to her viewing pond.

"Athena…" she called and the woman soon became visible.

"You sound troubled, sister," she said.

"Something very odd is going on in the United Realms. The elements seem to be out of control," Aphrodite said. Athena frowned and then appeared before them all.

"Are you sure?" the Goddess asked.

"My powers...I don't feel like they are out of control, but no one can touch me, I'm leaving a trail of ice behind me, and my Kingdom is buried in snow," Elsa said.

"Yeah...and I am apparently causing a monsoon and no one can touch me unless they want to get electrocuted," Leo added, as she observed the lightning that was literally alive all over his body and Elsa's frosty trail behind her.

"Except me...I can touch them. Seems I'm immune," Bobby said, as Snow put her hands on his shoulders. Athena smiled.

"You are all the elements, young one. Your element of earth makes this so," she said.

"Do you know why this is happening?" David asked. Athena waved her hand so she could observe the storms in the two separate Kingdoms.

"Stars...how did I not anticipate this…" she muttered.

"Anticipate this?" Athena asked.

"I'm afraid that now that Blue is gone...there is no keeping him back," she said.

"Keeping who back?" Elsa asked, as the Goddess turned to her.

"Your grandfather,"

#Snowing #SnowxCharming #Charming family #OC Charmings #AU #original season 9 storyline #Fandral the Dashing #Rose Red #Dashing Rose #Prince James #Aphrodite #Prince Goddess #romance #adventure #family #drama #Finding You Always #the epic continues

0 notes

coolsecrettwin · 7 years ago

Text

Wonder Woman Review

FINALLY! A good DC movie.

You know how I know it was a good DC movie? I gave a shit about the main character. Not just the main character, but lots of the characters.

If you have not seen Wonder Woman yet, go see it because there will be spoilers ahead.

Pros about this movie, because God there are a bunch.

Wonder Woman is directed by award winning director Patty Jenkins.

Gal Gadot is freaking wonderful as Diana.

She brings such a life and soul to this character, something that I have not seen in comic movies in a while. We get to see her grow up into the woman we know as Wonder Woman. She is a brave, selfless, caring, compassionate woman with a nativity to her once she arrives in the “real” world.

There is a distinct difference in this story from the mythology of the Gods and the Amazon women compared to the world she visits at the height of World War I. With mythology there is a sense of honor in battle and personal vendetta, where gods must fight one on one using swords or must know the opponent’s weakness. Diana later brings up the impersonal use of a machine gun in battle, and how a soldier cannot see who he is killing.

When I saw the trailer for the first time I wasn’t sure in what direction the filmmakers were going to go with Chris Pine’s character. I figured he was going to be a soldier, and Diana was going to have to get him back to fight in the war and there was going to be a line about “Women are not welcome here.” Or him trying to hit on her. I was so ready for that situation to be in this movie. I didn’t want that situation to come, but I was ready.

THANK YOU ZEUS, FOR SURPRISING ME.

Chris Pine is fabulous as Steve Trevor. He is clearly a man used to the real world and the tragedies that come with the real world because he has seen what horrible things people do to each other because of the war. He has seen battles between men without honor. And it is this experience in the battlefield matched with Diana’s innocent compassion to help people that make this duo one of the best relationships in a super hero movie EVER.

Steve is with her from the beginning. It is not about her being a woman and him being a man. It is about how they work together to accomplish their goals. They are equals and they help each other.

In the first act, Steve is the fish out of water on the island. It is such a breath of fresh air to finally have a story line that does not revolve around a man from a different world saying, “No, my way is right, you are the ones out of line.” She points out some of his ridiculous ways of life, like having a watch tell a person when to wake up, sleep, or eat. The watch, which later, becomes so, so important to his character.

The Lasso of Truth is another win.

The boat scene when they leave is also a joy. We see the two interact and learn more about them. Steve is unmarried, and does not want to make Diana uncomfortable by sleeping next to her. But we learn that she has no problem with this. It’s almost like the writers of the film realized that not everything has to be about sex, or that people don’t really need to think about sex to just catch a few Zs. Like, this scene isn’t awkward. Those who think it’s going to be about sex make it awkward. And of course that sets up the line about, “[The book] says men are needed for reproduction but not crucial for pleasure,” which had me in stitches. I hope every man takes this line to heart.

When Diana gets to London, it is her fish out of water story, but an enjoyable one. For instance, I figured Steve would be embarrassed to have a strange woman walking with him, or she would get in trouble for doing something crazy. But he is concerned about her and does not want for her to get in trouble. Her childlike wonder at everything made me smile. When she sees a baby for the first time or when she eats the ice-cream and sincerely compliments the man who makes it. She has a beautiful soul in a dark reality.

I love Etta Candy! She is another soldier behind the scenes of this war. I can assure you without her, Steve probably wouldn’t have been able to find his hat.

When Diana gets to the front, I saw the greatness of this film. She sees for the first time the savagery of human warfare and stops to listen to people who are suffering. She wants to help every one of them. And Steve, knowing that the evil won’t stop by helping them, has to tell her that she cannot help them. There is nothing she can do until she fights the source of the evil. That is where his realistic eye meets her optimism. They both learn from each other.

Her love for all does not weaken her. She does not shut down her emotions to fight for people. She opens her heart and uses her compassion to fight for those who need her.

The battle sequences are freaking amazing.

The last part I will specifically praise is when I teared up.

You know how I knew I genuinely cared about Steve? When I hoped they would have gone the cliched route and he had time to jump out of the exploding plane and have Diana jump to catch him and let them live and be married and live happily ever after. I did not want this man to die.

When Steve makes the choice to sacrifice himself, he goes to Diana, who cannot hear him because an explosion deafened her. Steve is running out of time and he quickly tells her something that we cannot here, and he leaves his watch with her and leaves. He doesn’t have time to repeat what he said so she can listen.

I thought that was going to be it. The tragedy of their relationship heightened because she never got to hear his last words to her. And honestly, I would have been fine with that. My heart was already ripped out at this point. I mean, how powerful would that scene have been if we nor Diana knew what he told her.

However, they do grant us some mercy and allow her to somehow remember what he said with sound. :/ Don’t really know how I feel about that. But still, an epic sacrifice and it makes Diana stronger because she sees the compassion for good in humans through Steve, hardened by war, but still able to see hope.

Now, the cons about this movie, thankfully are very few and I will be brief.

The villains, are the Germans, have german accents, but do not speak German, like, at all.

And are generally forgettable. I would have liked to learn more about the poison doctor because she was hella creepy, but nah.

One thing that I still don’t know how I feel about is making Aries an actual entity in the plot. Throughout the story, Steve is constantly grounding us in the reality of the war, and the way I thought they were going to go was that Diana realizes that Aries is not an actual being that she can fight, but that she would see there is a bit of war and ability to create war in all humans. And this concept for war was something she was going to have to battle to protect humanity.

But no, instead David Thewlis, this guy:

Is Aries, the fucking god of war.

And Diana battles him in an epic showdown, which if I forgot it was Professor Lupin then I could enjoy it a bit more.

And really those are the only complaints I have so overall, freaking great movie.

It leaves you with a feeling of kick assery and if you had a shield and the God Killer, you too could take on an army. I have a feeling lots of kids this Halloween are going to be dressed as Wonder Woman.

#wonder woman 2017 #spoilers

2 notes · View notes

littlesparklight · 4 years ago

Text

Zeus’ Necessities

This short fic is a meditation on necessity and fate, kingship, and, also, infidelity, without discounting the personal responsibility of that. I love diving into, like, the metaphysical and supernatural side of worldbuilding, and while it doesn’t seem to come up much in most treatment of Greek myth, it is easily right there for the making of it.

So, this is a conversation between Zeus and Ananke, as much as one can have a conversation with the primordial deity of cosmic necessity.

Sitting up on Olympos' highest mountaintop, Zeus, the king of Olympos, ruler of the sky and thus one-third of the world, closes his eyes and stretches his awareness out. Up, out, in. Beyond. Ananke meets him partway, becoming like a shawl made of stardust around his shoulders, a crown wrought from the core of the Earth on his head, and no imperative of anything specific at all on his tongue.

It's a relief.

But he'd known that, for otherwise he would have known, would have had to, come up here. Today, he'd come up here because he'd wanted, because he had a question, and by Ananke's presence, they are willing to entertain him. Which means the answer doesn't matter anymore, it's over and done with, and he truly was as much at the mercy of Ananke as everyone and everything else.

It feels like betrayal, though that's ridiculous. Ananke can't betray anything, for they are threaded through the cosmos and will only as it may be. They have no care, no interest, no desire beyond what they are. It makes them even less of an individual than some of the other primordial gods are, like Nyx and Erebus, who barely concern themselves with the actual world as it is. It makes Ananke supremely straightforward, though that would be little obvious if one didn't have long awareness of working with them directly.

"Zeus," they greet, his name less a word than it is a feeling, a collection of sensations and phenomena (rain, the charged energy of electricity, driving need, radiant light, the taste-smell of ripe fruit and corn, force and arrogance and dogged determination, and at the edges, traces of cold, Chthonic mist). "What is it?"

They probably already know, since this has to do with them, or rather, what they are and what they have done, which is, in the end, the same thing. But they ask anyway, perhaps because that's how conversations works, perhaps because there is the tiniest of slivers of some individuality underpinning Ananke which means they can ask questions like that because it might amuse them to make him spell it out.

It is probably that. Zeus sneers, then sighs. Capitulates for the inevitable, like he always has to do, though this is a much smaller inevitability than the usual ones he is handed from Ananke.

"There were so many mortal women that caught my interest in such a short time, and then, as we drew back a little, I practically lost complete interest. Why?"

"You ask that, yet you already know, otherwise you wouldn't have asked." There's no obvious depth to his awareness of those words, no clear emotion carrying them, but Zeus can still swear they are shaded both with chiding and teasing.

"I don't like it," he says, mutters, low and reticent. Not quite accusing. "It makes me feel used."

A pause. Then laughter, actual laughter rings around him, echoing like any laughter ought up here on the mountaintop, being immediately snatched away by the wind. It also makes him quake down to the very core, threatening to spill him out over eternity, a far vaster distance of reality than any but the most primordial deities - and most of the time, not even them - could cover.

"Your lust is your own. You would stray with or without external forces. You proved that with the first one," they say, and there's a touch at his shoulders, dizzying and yet weighing more than the whole of the solar system and it keeps him rooted. That's not a lie, either. He would, and they both know it. He does have far more control over himself nowadays, however. "You move both gods and mortals as it will be, because it has to be, oh Father of Gods and Men, but you so often watch and ache for it, separate because you see what will be done and most often have little part in it. Perhaps it was you along with your brother because it was to keep you humble when you finally understood. In the meantime, there was always your wife's disapproval."

There's a kiss to his forehead, all the Earth and outer space in it, and Zeus closes his eyes and exhales. Annoyed, and at peace. No less displeased, honestly, and he feels a little duped when this is certainly a lot more than, say, only Leda for the necessity of Helen's existence in the greater chain of events that ended with the war. But it'd been more than that, hadn't it? And here he was now, understanding how part of his nature had been used against him for whatever the necessity of it was, and he can see why. A woman's (and thus a goddess') contribution to a child's existence is heavier, takes more time, resources and effort. Aphrodite took her turn in this, but that only emphasized the time it took, and if the goddesses should've done as he and Poseidon - and, in smaller contribution, his sons - had done to shoulder some of the responsibility, it would have taken a lot more time. And if the specific span of time was sensitive, it couldn't take a lot of time. In the end they are all related, tied as closely together as there are vast gulfs between them, and one of them joining with a mortal is, functionally for the effect it has on the resultant offspring and their potential effect on the world, the same as another.

So, then, the least amount of time and effort on the divine side of things to make it happen when and where it has to. When it's necessary it do. At least Poseidon had had to do it more than him, but Poseidon is not burdened by any of this knowledge, and even if he was - would he care? Would he actually understand?

Zeus sighs, tipping his head back to stare up at the darkening sky. There are stars peeking out towards east, with a line of disappearing fire still colouring the horizon to the west. It's as beautiful as it was the first time he saw it, looking at the sky as a day-old child. Whatever the need was it be done back then, the effect will keep echoing forward through the blood of humanity even if it is really only the direct offspring of a mortal and a god who will notice the effects of what having a divine parent means.

Ananke hasn't left yet. They are wrapped around him warmly, impressing no greater need on him than companionable silence. Still, it's they who speaks up first, gentling them past a vague question Zeus has never asked but has harboured for a long time.

"It's you because it has to be." That's reassuring, and damning.

"It's me because I marked myself, didn't I?" Zeus can't help the edge of sourness, understanding the chain of events that led to this, that both made him and had him make himself into what he is, and put himself here, one of the direct mediators of Ananke. The Moirai are as well, but they deal more with humans in specific, different ways. It's not the same, but they are both, well. Necessary.

"Few can become dying and rising gods," they whisper, Chthonic chill and life-giving radiance in the feeling of those words. "And doing so young leaves marks, yes. But if you weren't you, it might have been Apollo instead to hear like this."

Zeus knows Apollo almost does even as it is, so closely attuned to Fate and the ephemeral background works of cosmos as he is - what Zeus has to impart to his son by himself, Apollo understands with barely a nudge or two. Zeus is glad it isn't more than that, though. Apollo has enough work, his delightfully radiant son, and this is--- He freezes, frowning.

"Am I here merely bec---"

"Zeus." The ringing proclamation of his name could've shattered him and spread his essence out over the cosmos if Ananke hadn't taken care. "You would not have needed to be one of the rulers to do what you are doing; the power behind the throne can be more total than the throne itself. You are here, as you are and with your brothers, because of you."

"All right."

He sinks back into his seat, relaxing a little. So it wasn't ananke that he be the ruler of Olympos; that was reassuring, maybe childishly so. It was, rather, because it suited him, because he'd wanted it, because he'd thought it necessary and that he was one of the few that could do it. Because he'd thought it his right. So he was here because he'd searched it out, because it'd seemed reasonable to him, Poseidon and Hades that they divide the rule between them. Reasonable and fair, when there were three of them, though Zeus holds a sliver's edge of higher authority. Poseidon hates it like nothing else and always has to test him at every twist and turn.

That's something, at least. But so many things he's had to do were because it was necessary they were done, or made into happening, and no one that didn't know could know that (and if he told, they would most often forget anyway). All of this because it's not, after all, as if there is a plan. Zeus knows that more intimately than anything else, by, well, the necessity of the thing. One event builds on the next, some events get fixed in advance, in shape and form and thrust of them, because of past events, or because of the general flow of everything up until a point, but none of that is predetermined in its entirety. Prophecy for humans are as iron-clad as they might be possibility only, and human choices make or break them; building blocks that might make future necessity and fate, or were made into fate because of something past.

He sits there, watching night spread over this half of the world, and, slowly, smiles.

"It's beautiful."

Maybe he's a little annoyed still, but mostly it's fine. He just hopes there's nothing going on right now that has him acting unknowingly as willed, but if there is, he won't know until later, anyway.

"It is."

Ananke suffuses him, cosmic pleasure at the sight and meaning of it, and then they depart, leaving Zeus alone on the mountaintop.

#greek mythology #greek gods #zeus #ananke #lightart

10 notes · View notes