#alexithenes

[brasideios]

The Fire and the Flood

The Alexithenes re-write is finally finished!!! I'm so happy I could do a silly little dance! (Maybe I am doing one, haha!) 🥳🕺🏼

In the year 427 BCE, Alexios allows Socrates to lure him to Athens for the summer. During his stay in the city, his relationship with Demosthenes, not yet a general of Athens, will change significantly… But as the war rages on, will the pressures of the messy world beyond Athens' walls bring the pair together or drive them apart?

Further details under the cut!

The Fire and the Flood (67533 words) by brasideios Chapters: 22/22 Fandom: Assassin's Creed - All Media Types, Ancient History RPF Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Alexios (Assassin's Creed)/Demosthenes General of Athens (d. 413 BCE), Herodianos/Thaletas (Assassin's Creed) Characters: Alexios (Assassin's Creed), Barnabas (Assassin's Creed), Original Characters, Lykinos (Assassin's Creed), Timotheos (Assassin's Creed), Rhexenor (Assassin’s Creed), Hermippos (Assassin's Creed), Alkibiades | Alcibiades (c. 450-404 BCE), Sokrates | Socrates (c. 469-399 BC), Demosthenes General of Athens (d. 413 BCE), Deimos (Assassin's Creed), Thaletas (Assassin's Creed), Herodianos (Assassin's Creed), Kyra (Assassin's Creed), Kleon | Cleon (d. 422 BCE), Nikias (c. 470-413 BCE) Additional Tags: Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Falling In Love, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, One Night Stands, Lust, Smut, Fluff and Smut, Oral Sex, Anal Sex, Anal Fingering, Edging, Developing Relationship, Historical References, Angst with a Happy Ending, Romance, Injury Recovery, Found Family, Meet the Family, Family Issues, survival guilt, Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Loss, Grief/Mourning, Lost Love, The power of puppies to provide comfort, Rare Pairings, Domestic Fluff, Healthy Relationships, Not Canon Compliant, Established Relationship, Canon Universe, Kassandra is Deimos (Assassin's Creed) Series: Part 1 of The Fire & The Flood Summary: In the year 427 BCE, Alexios allows Socrates to lure him to Athens for the summer. During his stay in the city, his relationship with Demosthenes, not yet a general of Athens, will change significantly… But as the war rages on, will the pressures of the messy world beyond Athens' walls bring the pair together or drive them apart? This story is not canon compliant. Alexios isn't immortal and his father is Nikolaos.

[jpdoingwords]

Assassin's Creed Odyssey Fanfiction

Three long fics and a bunch of shorts, drabble, and incomplete fics. Multiple ships, mostly mlm, some het.

All works are rated M unless otherwise noted, because there is canon-typical violence at times and there are multiple mild sex scenes. Some of these works are explicit - please be sure to check before reading if you aren't into that.

All on AO3 unless otherwise noted.

Assassin's Creed Odyssey Fanfiction

The Good Spartan

aka. the Alexidas The Good Spartan Summary: It's 431 BCE. Brasidas prepares to take up his first major posting, unaware of all that lays before him in the coming years of the Peloponnesian War. The story is told almost entirely from Brasidas' perspective and follows him from before his first major historical action at Methone to his last, at Amphipolis. This is a crossover between AC Odyssey and Thucydides' history, The Peloponnesian War, favouring Thucydides. I am being as historically accurate as I can, game canon is paid lip service at best. Historical notes are included at the end of each chapter.

Another Life: [Alternative Ending of The Good Spartan]. Summary: Brasidas survives the Battle of Amphipolis, thanks to Alexios' visit to the Underworld; but even before the battle, he knew he'd never go back to Sparta. He's no longer a good Spartan, nor willing to make the sacrifices required to go on pretending to be one. He just needs to persuade Alexios, and recover from his wounds… and together, find somewhere they might have a little peace.

Hunger, Desire, Anger, Roads [WIP] A collection of short pieces of writing and some art associated with characters (including OCs) and events around The Good Spartan, as it's currently published and alternative versions. These include threads taken from the original version of the fic and reworked; alternative points of view which develop characters who necessarily have no voice in the published fic; and a variety of other exploratory pieces set within this AU. They're all part of the framework around which The Good Spartan grew - and continues to grow.

Another Kind of Odyssey

aka. the Thalexios The Warmth of Home Summary: After the events of Odyssey, Alexios has been hiding from the world, loitering in the northern regions of Greece. When he decides to return to Athens for the winter, Demosthenes seeks him out for a job only he can do - whether he wants to or not. This leads him to cross paths with Thaletas again, discovering that this old flame burns the brightest of all.

Love Me in Storms [WIP] Summary: Following on from the Warmth of Home, Alexios and Thaletas face the challenge of making their relationship clear to their families back in Sparta, with mixed results. This fic fills in some relatively large gaps left between the original Warmth of Home (now completely rewritten) and Unfinished Business (rewrite currently underway), as well as taking some of the plot points out of Unfinished Business entirely and putting them here, in this new context. This is necessary to smooth over some serious timeline problems

Unfinished Business Summary: Stentor arrives at Stymphalos, where Thaletas and Alexios settled four years previously. He comes with a message: Alcibiades is in Sparta, and wants to see Alexios - urgently. Answering this request will sweep them into events they could not foresee. I’ve used many historical details to make this story and glossed over some others. I’ve added footnotes to expand on all of that, including references where applicable.

The Turning Tide Summary: Spring, 413BCE. The Peace of Nikias has ended. Sparta and Athens are at one another's throats again. Before the Peace, Sparta was having few successes; but they have a plan they hope will turn the tide against Athens... Against this backdrop of renewed hostilities, Alexios and Thaletas are called upon to complete a mission for King Agis, which will test them and their relationship in ways they haven’t been tested before...

In the Heart of Things Summary: 412BCE. Reunited after a difficult year, Alexios and Thaletas have been sent to Chios by King Agis to keep an eye on the situation there as the theatre of the Peloponnesian War shifts eastwards, into the islands. There, they will discover more than they could have bargained for about themselves and their people, and what it is that lies at the heart of things...

A Few Olives Summary: Alexios decided to buy a farm. Thaletas went along with it. But the plan was not what he had expected, but then nothing ever had been with Alexios. This is the story of a relationship that has grown up in difficult times, and peace is now the hardest thing to deal with. Thaletas struggles to know himself, and Alexios doesn’t understand. Sometimes things must break before they can be reformed.

The Fire and the Flood

aka. The Alexithenes This series is rated E. An Athenian Summer Summary: Early in the War, Alexios allows Socrates to lure him to Athens for the summer. During his stay in the city, his relationship with Demosthenes, not yet a general of Athens, will change significantly... But as the war rages on, will the pressures of the messy world beyond Athens' walls bring the pair together or drive them apart? This story takes liberties with canon; as much as possible, I try to keep characters true to their game-selves; original characters are mostly secondary characters, though of necessity I have provided Demosthenes with more character than he had in the game.

The Blue Cloak Alexios and Timotheos are flirting with the idea of being an item when, in order to help the brothers move past the events in canon, Alexios comes up with a plan to further Lykinos' dream of being a poet in Athens. Things take an unexpected turn when Alexios finds himself waking up aboard the Adrestia wearing a cloak he has never seen before.... aka. drunk Alexios gets himself into a situation. This is the edited version of a story previously published as So it is With Us. This version has an additional chapter added at the end and has been rewritten in parts, particularly the first half.

Short and Experimental Pieces

aka. The Deimos fic Shadow-Twin He felt like neither Deimos nor Alexios. They were two skins he’d shed - and what remained now? What new skin might he grow? Who might he become? They’d all demanded answers of him at one time or another. They’d all asked where he’d been when he went out, what he’d been doing. With concern or with curiosity or what they perhaps thought of as friendship. What they meant was: Let me in. Tell me who are you. He gave always the same reply: a grunt. How could he answer that when he didn’t know?

From the Darkness, Light: Brasidas & Deimos!Kassandra Having failed to keep his involvement in the assassination of the Monger in Korinth under wraps, Brasidas is sent by the Kings to Paros on a 'special mission' which he suspects is a punishment. His task is to find a missing lokhagos, but what he uncovers is far bigger and darker than the abduction of one man.

aka the Herodietas (Thaletas x Herodianos) Rising to the Surface: Rated E for the first two parts. After the events during the Mykonos arc of the story, Thaletas is left behind to face the consequences of Alexios' actions. Herodianos, who has been his loyal friend for a long time, does everything he can to comfort him - and so the hands of the Fates are set to work. This was an exercise in writing - Smut, Fluff and Angst, a chapter for each, in that order. Features the power of puppies to dispel the pain of existence.

It Was Just Red (Gen). "Nothing ever ends poetically. It ends and we turn it into poetry. All that blood was never once beautiful. It was just red." Kait Rakowski This story was prompted by a post I saw recently on Tumblr. It showed Kass sitting at the empty table back in Sparta during the final dinner scene, against which the poster had written something along the lines of: this is the best possible ending – the least amount of Spartans left alive. The following work is an exercise in exploring what that outcome might look like, and seeks to detail some sense of the possible shifting feelings Alexios might have around losing his whole family, mostly at his own hands (a version of the game I’ve never played and frankly never will) and to explore the main question this post prompted in me: Is there a way in which I might believe this could be the best outcome? Fair warning: This work doesn’t honour the game timeline, and as always, I'm disinterested in strict compliance with canon. It’s canon divergent from the get-go simply because it’s Alexios, anyway.

Odyssey Shorts Summary: This is a collection of odds and ends I wrote alongside longer pieces, mainly in response to prompt lists. So far, these consist of: Four based on the tarot: Alexios as a teenager throwing himself into the sea to Anais' horror (an early version of a piece included in It Was Only Red); Brasidas finding himself in the Underworld (a tiny fix-it fic); a tentative beginning to a Daphnae fic I've always contemplated writing; a scene with Demosthenes and Alexios which fits nowhere else; two snippets of modern day AU with an Alexidas focus; and a random Brasidas x reader which I have never written before and quite likely won't again. I will be adding to this collection in time, as I continue working through existing beginning and maybe a few little new things.

[jpdoingart]

Masterlist

Some of my original work is available to buy as prints here. If you are interested in having any of the work you see here made available to have as a print, feel free to ask. It's easy to arrange! 😊

You can also access the full visual archive of my posts here.

Personal Favourites: 2022 || 2023 || 2024

Fanart

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey

Alexios: Bow Study || Bright Colours || On Holidays || Head Studies Brasidas: Collection || In ‘Spartan Scene.’ || Wreathed in Gold I || Being Woken || At the Beach || Like a Saint || Like a French girl? || Black and White || Wreathed in Gold II || Head Studies || Watching the Wrestling || Contemplation || Pomegranate Nikolaos Thaletas: Thaletas || Head Studies Herodianos: Character Design Ship: Thalexios - Beneath the Trees || Fic Cover: Love Me in Storms || Tender Ship: Alexidas - Collection || Trying New Things || A Private Moment || Stormy Seas || Forehead Kisses || On Holidays || A Shady Spot || PFPs || Brasideia 2023 || Oof Ship: Alexithenes: One Night in Athens Ship: Herodietas - Painting

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla

Male Eivor: Armour Study collection || Armour Study 1 || Armour Study 2 || Head study Ubba Ragnarsson: Collection Ship: Ubba x male Eivor: Collection || An Intent Look Sunniva Ivarr & Halfdan Ragnarsson

Other Media:

Hades (Game): Ares: Collection || Modern Ares Ship: Thanares Ship: Zagares - In Elysium The Sandman: Dream of the Endless (Trapped) Pyre (Game): Volfred Sandalwood

Original Characters

Roman:

Hand of Fortuna (published novel): Lartia || Lartia tipsy Gates of Janus (WIP novel): Titus Lartius || Titus Lartius and Juventa

Spartan:

The Good Spartan (fanfic, on AO3): Antidas: Collection || Scene - Panel One || Pose Studies || Smiling || Redesign (w/ short hair) Adimantos: Collection || Pose Studies || Relaxing || Violence || Violence continued Bardas

Hollow Lakedaimon (WIP novel): Eukleidas

Spartan Scenes: In the Gym || It Started with a Thwack || The Palaestra (Trad media) || WIP The Gymnasium || Training the Horses || Adimantos, Brasidas, Antidas

Ancient art redraws:  Spartans Hunting Boar ||

Other:

Arity (WIP novel) : Jimmy || Two Portraits The Artist (WIP novel): Fred || Agricultural Worker (1920's) Lief & Ember (Minecraft OCs) : Sleeping || Lief portrait Colour Studies: Man in Sea || Sadulaev (Olympic Wrestler)

Art of Things Other than People

Colourful Things: Colourful eggs || Egg = Olive? || Colourful Things ||Trees || Flowers in the Clouds || Olive Tree || More Colourful Things|| Symbolic self-portrait ||

Realism: Landscapes: Ancient World (sketches) || Sparta ||

[brasideios]

Why is it that, as soon as I have just one more chapter to write, it suddenly feels impossible to actually write it? My brain is so annoying.

[brasideios]

I wanted to write some fic this week, but I really didn't mean to begin with rare-pair smutty fluff (fluffy smut?).

*shakes fist at the Alexithenes* why you gotta be like this?

Also, it was super fun to write so such is life :)

[brasideios]

Rewriting and editing is hard sometimes, but there are perks in being able to revisit fave scenes to hopefully make them better.

Demosthenes prepared to go, too. He caught Alexios into an embrace and kissed him warmly. As he released him, he said, ‘Be careful. You know that a dog is more likely to bite when it’s cornered.’ Alexios nodded. ‘We’ll be careful.’ He sighed, and moved towards the door, though he paused again, turning back to ask, ‘Did you learn anything else of use yesterday?’ Alexios said, ‘Not really…’ Then he remembered the scroll, and grinning, he took it from the pouch at his waist. He held it out towards Demosthenes, saying, ‘Lyra asked me to return this to you, though.’ Demosthenes flushed, recognising the scroll at once; he stepped forward to take it from him, but Alexios didn’t let go of it, anchoring him there. Playfully, he said, ‘I didn’t know you wrote poetry?’ ‘Oh,’ he said, flustered, wanting to turn away but not wanting to leave the scroll in Alexios’ possession. ‘It wasn’t worth mentioning.’ ‘I had some time to read yesterday afternoon...’ he said teasingly. The warmth in his look was too much for Demosthenes; he felt heady with affection suddenly, and strangely shy... He let go of the scroll, turning back to the door. He opened it, and found Otus there, about to enter, his hand up to the latch. The younger brother jumped a little, then frowned at Demosthenes’ burning face, the silly smile that he was trying to hide; and behind him, Alexios smiling broadly. He chuckled. ‘What have I interrupted?’ Demosthenes said, ‘Nothing at all!’ at the same moment Alexios said, ‘I just learnt that Demosthenes writes poetry.’ Otus smiled mischievously. ‘He does. Has done since he was an ephebe. Some of his best work has been written very recently, though. Especially a series of love poems…’ Alexios raised his eyebrows. ‘Love poems? Interesting.’ Demosthenes’ face was afire. ‘I’m late for work,’ he said, pushing past Otus. He said over his shoulder, ‘Come back safely – both of you.’ ‘We will, that’s a promise,’ Alexios called after him. ‘And then you can tell me all about these love poems.’ The only reply he got was the sound of the street door closing.

I love when these two tease Demosthenes mercilessly 😆

The original version of this story was *so* much worse than I remembered, it's taking much longer than anticipated to fix, but it's going to be so much better when it's done, it's worth it (So I keep chanting to myself lol)

[jpdoingwords]

The Blue Cloak

I've finished the edit and additions to the fifth part of my rare-pair Alexithenes and am adding it back onto AO3 🙌

[This was published previously as So it is With Us, but I always disliked the title so I finally changed it.]

Details below:

Rated: Mature Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply Category: M/M Fandom: Assassin's Creed - All Media Types Relationships: Alexios (Assassin's Creed)/Demosthenes General of Athens (d. 413 BCE) Alexios/Timotheos (Assassin's Creed) Characters: Alexios (Assassin's Creed); Demosthenes General of Athens (d. 413 BCE); Euripides (c. 484-406 BCE); Original Characters; Timotheos (Assassin's Creed); Lykinos (Assassin's Creed); Alkibiades | Alcibiades (c. 450-404 BCE) Additional Tags: Fluff; Smut; Mild Smut; more suggested than detailed; No Angst. Language: English Words: 17,580 (Complete).

Read on: AO3

[brasideios]

Tagged by @softest-punk thank you 😊

Last song: Run Right Back by the Black Keys.

Currently reading: Catch 22 by Joseph Heller, which is one of my all time favourites. Also, making my way through @aeide ‘s Kassidas fic, Exile, by increments, when the brain will allow 😊

Currently watching: I’m having a musician biopic spell, so to speak; the unexpected fave so far is Nowhere Boy, loosely about John Lennon’s early years, mostly around the relationships with his mother and aunt who raised him. I have no idea how accurate it is, but what a story regardless.

Current obsession(s): the Black Keys (again); Alexithenes [the ship] (again); sitting in the sun (when there’s sun to be had); and this new trick I’ve learnt with my schnauzer, where if I face dive onto my bed, he immediately flips onto his back and starts writhing around like a lunatic. It’s hilarious.

Tagging @ainulindaelynn @sleeplessincarcosa @erzsebetrosztoczy @findusinaweek @mini-uzzy @aeide @merelyafigment

[brasideios]

I was tagged by @cataliinaa thank you! 🤍

Rules: Tag some people you want to know better and/or catch up with, then answer the questions below!

Last Song - the Way of the Ghost from the Ghost of Tsushima soundtrack. I love this soundtrack.

Three ships: I’m shipping OCs pretty hard atm but as no one knows them… Alexidas, Alexithenes and Zagares are my all time faves, but with a few exceptions, almost anything involving Alexios & Ares I’m interested in reading.

Currently Reading: A short story collection called First Love & other stories by Ivan Turgenev. Russian, from ~1850. Nearly done with it. It’s very good.

Last Movie: Rewatched Dunkirk. I love it so much. I could wax lyrical but it’s too early lol

Craving: coffee! Still haven’t had the first of the day.

I think nearly everyone i know has been tagged for this so just a couple @woodsman2b @myriath Hope you’re both well 🤍

[brasideios]

To my dismay, I found myself with Thucydides in my hands again this morning and I’m horrified to discover I’m seriously considering turning the Alexithenes into actual historical fiction instead of the very flawed, pure fanficcy thing it now is and - gods.

*shaking myself by the shoulders* Are you really considering writing a second The Good Spartan-scale fic? Really?

The answer is unfortunately, deeply yes.

[brasideios]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love 💗

(I sent it to both of your blogs because im a dumbass and mixed up which one is your main🙈🙉🙊 love you ❤️❤️)

Thank you for the ask, dear Reb! 🤍

(And no worries about two asks, glad you’ve not found the other four to add to the confusion! 😆)

I've had some sun in the last couple of days, actually sat in it and let it perk up my poor wilty soul - so here I am to answer with a little more vim than recently.

Anyway! Let’s see - my fave fics I’ve written and which are still up on AO3…

1. Top of the list has to be The Good Spartan. (ACOd, Alexidas). I’m actually happy with how it turned out (which is rare). It really gave me the chance to explore a whole lot of ideas I'd been percolating for years about the entirety of Odyssey as a work of *cough* historical fiction (still love it, even though it's basically all wrong). Plus, our beloved Brasidas deserves a voice.

2. An Athenian Summer. (ACOd, Alexithenes). This is a pure ship fic. I'd had the idea of these two hooking up sitting on the backburner of my mind for a couple of years when I finally found the energy to write it; and it just flowed outta me real easy. It’s light and a little silly and perhaps overly fluffy for most people, but that's how I roll a lot of the time.

3. Shadow-Twin. (ACOd, no ship.) My most recent fanfic at this point (I think?), and again, giving me the chance to dive into a concept I'd been nursing for a long time when I wrote it - namely, how could Deimos ever become human again? I think it captured a lot of what I feel about all of that - and somewhere deep down I still want to write a follow-up one day.

4. The Turning Tide. (ACOd, Thalexios.) This is the third in a 5 part series of long fics, but of the five it's my fave. There's some scenes in it that I think are pretty much the best fic I've written after the Good Spartan - albeit, it's probably not the best piece of writing overall.

5. The Gods Only Know. (ACV, UbbaxEivor.) This is the second part of a (once) three part series, but I like it best. It's something to do with having felt like I'd 'found' Ubba as a character in writing the first part (Snatched Moments) so I really enjoyed exploring his childhood etc in this part.

That's the list! There are a couple of fics I took down that might've made it onto this list - but I still stand by this selection :)

[brasideios]

So after three days of writing this new WIP, It Was Just Red, it’s become clear to me that I’m writing a multi-part fic in response to this post from weeks ago:

Talk about inspo coming from unexpected places…

[It’s me boy, i’m the fan-post speaking to you inside your brain listen to me boy leave the other WIP we don’t need her, come with me and write this new WIP we’ll have angsty times in ancient greece …]

😆 Annnnyway…. I’ll probably start posting sections on AO3 in the next few days as most are quite short, almost standalone pieces, so they are quick to write and polish up.

It’s taken such a weird form, I kinda don’t think of it as a story but something more like a dream (or nightmare) sequence.

There’s a lot of angst, implied pining, internal monologues, and scenes that don’t quite fit into a chronological narrative (yet? maybe it will all tie together in the end?) but somehow, that’s the only way I can really get at what I’m trying to get out here.

It is loosely about a ship (Alexithenes), but so far, this is definitely not fluff and I suspect it’s never going to be.

[Note: I am not directly sharing the original post or tagging the poster intentionally. I have no interest in getting involved in anti-Spartan or more specific character-based discourse - I respect the fact that other peoples opinions differ significantly from mine about these things; I just wanted to acknowledge the inspiration behind this piece of work.]

[brasideios]

Last Seven Lines

I was tagged by @softest-punk to share the last 7 lines I wrote - Thank you 😊

This is from my rewrite of the Fire & the Flood (the Alexithenes). It’s very much taken it’s own direction in the last couple of days.

The last lines I wrote with no context:

Otus shook his head, and sighed sadly. ‘Three days later, he died in his sleep.’

Alexios was quiet for a long moment. ‘What happened, with the breach?’

‘They patched it up eventually, though not through any action on Maia’s behalf. She remains just as she was – unapologetic and cruel.’ He smiled a little shyly, glancing at the misthios as he added, ‘You’ll meet her one day, and see for yourself.’

Tagging with absolutely no pressure @aeide @sleeplessincarcosa @ainulindaelynn @theinkandthesea and anyone else who might want to jump in 🤍