#all my books are just like oh yes here is this Ancient Greek and this is what their clothes are called

[englishlotusflower]

Trying to design period accurate costumes for Antigone for my Drama A level.

WHY DOES EVERY REFERENCE BOOK TREAT ANCIENT GREECE LIKE ONE COHESIVE WHOLE!?!?!!?!?!?!

Like, I know there's got to be a difference between what they would have worn in the Mycenaean age and what Sophocles-era classical greeks would have worn and Hellenistic Greeks would have worn and so on and so forth. Human beings won't be wearing the same thing without variation for over a thousand years. I know that from my other forays into fashion history.

Yet, nothing I can find is telling me about this difference, and I'll get the marks whether I can communicate the singularity of 400BCE fashions or not, but I want to KNOW so that the costumes can be RIGHT, rather than just tossing off the popular Greek silhouette.

The examiner probably won't care if there are archaic elements in there, but I would really rather do it right than counting on the examiner not being an expert in Classical Greek fashion history.

So, um, if anyone knows about the identifying features of what would have been worn by Athenian or Theban Greeks in the early 400s BCE, please please please help a very lost and confused child.

[thepersonnamedsam]

she got this - op81

pairing: oscar piastri x academic!girlfriend

summary: oscar visits his girlfriends bachelor thesis defending

word count: 1.3k

face claim: phoebe bridgers

warnings: a swear word, some angst - mentions of a panic attack

note: this is for my baby @lissyontour, you got this, pls wish her good luck for today <3

oh and it’s my first oscar fic, hihi, enjoy it

and there is some of the bachelor thesis… i had to include some of it, thanks to chat gpt

masterlist / taglist

Fuck, was she nervous. Her head was spinning and her legs were jelly - no, scratch that - her legs were liquid.

Her eyes were trying to focus on something, just something that would help her back to reality. She knew she was somewhere else right now, somewhere where she shouldn’t be.

Why wasn’t Oscar with her? Why was she alone? This was not how she planned it!

Her heart was beating, she felt it nearly pop out of her chest. It almost hurt. Oscar should’ve been here with her, but a last minute meeting with Zak just threw her plans overboard.

Her breath quickend and her hands searched for the only safe thing she could think of, her phone. Her fingers quickly glided over the screen and Oscars answer made her hold her breath for a second.

Standing in front of the auditorium, the heavy red doors made her uneasy. It’s gonna be time soon.

Oscar had to hold himself back not to text her that he was actually sitting in the front row and waiting for her to enter the room. He knew it was cruel. But he just had to do it.

He was so much more nervous than her. He watched her write that bachelor thesis for over six months now. At every race she was sitting in his drivers room with at least ten books and her laptop. Only just for the last five laps she came out of the room to watch him race.

He appreciated her coming, she could’ve just stayed at home and studied, but she always came with. Multitasking her way through her studies. And he was so proud of her. There was no way he would miss her final step of the way.

And he knew his cruelty was all worth it, as she stepped into the room and her eyes spotted his. Her whole face lit up and he could almost spot some tears of relief.

„What are you doing here?“, she mouthed. A small smile on her lips. „Supporting you“, he mouthed back, matching her smile.

„Welcome Ms y/l/n!“, her professor welcomed her. „I am exited to hear you defend your bachelor thesis about; How Greek Mythology influenced modern literature.“

She smiled at her favourite teacher and took out her thesis. She closed her eyes for a second, breathed in and out again. She was ready. Oscar knew she studied English literature and oh did that make her sexy.

But he had no idea of Greek Mythology or modern literature by any means. Yes, he read her thesis at least twice, but did his brain understand anything she meant? It did not. Being the smart one was all her job.

„Welcome Professor McAllister, dear colleagues, guests and friends. I hereby welcome you dearly to my defending of my bachelor thesis: How Greek Mythology influenced modern literature.“

Oscar listened intently and always smiled when she looked at him for reassurance. His heart was swelling with proudness. He soon had a girlfriend with a bachelor degree.

„In the vast tapestry of literary evolution, Greek mythology stands as an enduring thread, weaving its timeless narratives into the very fabric of modern literature. As contemporary authors navigate the labyrinth of inspiration, they find themselves entwined with the rich tapestry of gods, heroes, and mythical creatures that originated in ancient Greece.

The resurgence of interest in Greek mythology can be traced to its profound impact on archetypal storytelling. From the lofty heights of Mount Olympus to the depths of the Underworld, these tales resonate with universal themes that transcend temporal and cultural boundaries. Authors draw from the exploits of Zeus, the sagas of heroes like Achilles, and the tragedies of figures like Oedipus to explore complex facets of human nature. The gods' capriciousness mirrors the unpredictable forces that shape our destinies, while the struggles of mortals against divine intervention echo the perennial human quest for agency in the face of cosmic uncertainty.

Prominent literary figures, from James Joyce to J.K. Rowling, have paid homage to Greek mythology, infusing their works with echoes of ancient narratives. The hero's journey, a concept rooted in the mythic structure of heroes like Perseus and Hercules, serves as a narrative template for protagonists in contemporary novels. These echoes are not mere nostalgic nods; they represent a perennial dialogue between past and present, a dialogue in which timeless themes find new expression.

Moreover, the enduring allure of Greek mythology lies in its malleability. Authors wield the myths as allegorical tools to explore issues ranging from power dynamics and hubris to the nuances of morality. The Hydra of Lerna becomes a metaphor for societal challenges that sprout anew when seemingly eradicated, and the labyrinthine trials of Theseus mirror the complexities of modern ethical dilemmas.

In essence, the enduring influence of Greek mythology on modern literature is a testament to the universality of its themes and the perennial resonance of its characters. As authors continue to delve into the wellspring of ancient tales, they discover not relics of a bygone era, but rather a living reservoir of inspiration that fuels the imagination of generations, perpetuating the eternal dance between the ancient and the contemporary.“

Her voice angelic as it could be, drew in people who never even heard of the topic. You didn’t have to be interested in Greek Mythology to listen to her thesis, because she delivered her speech that even Oscar understood and left him wanting to know more about it.

My god was he proud. He was in awe, his beautiful girlfriend standing up there, speaking about her passion and delivering it in a way he never thought she could.

Even the look on Professor McAllister made him proud. She looked at his girlfriend with a proud smile, nodding along with her and reassuring her. She was gonna ace this.

Oscar was snapped out of it when the whole auditorium clapped. She was standing with the biggest smile on that stage. Oscar just had to get a picture of her. His new wallpaper.

„Thank you, Ms y/l/n. This was magnificent! We‘ll just discuss real quick and we‘ll be back with your grade. You can be proud of yourself, Ms y/l/n“, Professor McAllister told the young woman on stage.

And as soon as they left the room, she squealed and ran to Oscar. He opened his arms and let the girl spring into his embrace. „Hi“, he whispered. „Hi“, she whispered back. „I thought you weren’t coming?“

He laughed, a real deep belly laugh. „I had to surprise you!“ She hit his shoulder and said: „I hate you, but I’m glad you came.“

„You did so well, my love. I am so proud of you! We have to celebrate afterwards, anything you want.“

The time together was cut short, when the door opened again and the four professors walked in again. „Ms y/l/n, please, have a seat“, her professor said and pointed to the chair sat in front of the four.

She nervously walked over to them and smiled at them. „No need to be nervous, you did well, you can be proud of yourself.“

They talked stuff Oscar didn’t understand. But when he saw a big smile form on her face, he knew she received the best grade she could’ve. Proud, that’s the only word that came to Oscar’s mind.

„I love the boys“, she told Oscar. He smiled up at her and said: „I know you do, but only I can celebrate with you today.“ She giggled and would’ve almost kicked her feet, if it weren’t for the others in the room.

Professor McAllister handed y/n her diploma and told her they’d see each other at official ceremony. After that, Oscar and his girlfriend almost sprinted out of the auditorium.

oscarpiastri

liked by yninsta, landonorris and 82‘729 others

oscarpiastri how did we get from that to this?

view all 22‘219 comments

yninsta the first one is NOT me, idk where you got this from

user1 weren’t we all at that point during our studies?

user2 yes, yes we were

yninsta glad i wasn’t alone…

oscarpiastri so it was you

yninsta oop-

landonorris congrats, y/n! when we gonna get a lecture about greek mythology from you?

yninsta any day you want

landonorris now?

oscarpiastri no, now she’s busy with me

landonorris ewww, my eyes are scarred, don’t ever come back to the mclaren garage

oscarpiastri i didn’t mean it that way

yninsta he did

landonorris you’re just kids

user3 we love an academic wag

user4 so proud of you, y/n!

mclaren congratulations, y/n, next podium is for you 🍾

yninsta thank you, admin

yninsta thank you, baby

oscarpiastri i am so proud of you, darling

loganseargant i cannot believe i have a friend with a bachelors degree…

yninsta better believe it, american boy

user4 do u even know what a bachelors degree is..?

user5 american slander, we love it

alex_albon we are all proud, y/n

user6 we really are

yninsta thank you all so much, i love you guys so much

georgerussel63 oh no, she’s getting sentimental, let’s stop here guys

°°°

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[alatismeni-theitsa]

There are many things I will never forgive Rick Riordan for but the number 1 (one) thing I will always hold against him is how he treated WWII in the entire series.

To quote the PJO wiki, "[...] World War II, in the books, is described to be a huge fight between the children of Zeus and Poseidon on one side and the children of Hades on the other.

The events of World War II resulted in the pact of the Big Three, because their children were affecting the course of history too much. It was decided more demigod children would be dangerous for the mortal world."

Just. What the fuck. There are so many things that are wrong with this.

There is nothing that he can do to excuse or salvage this. He could rewrite the whole series, I don't give a fuck. This should not have happened in the first place.

I don't care if he wrote the first book in 2005, he was and still is a grown ass man with a high education from what I've read, he has no excuse. WWII has affected millions across the globe with the descendants of all too many families even having to deal with the generational trauma that came from that time period alone AND dealing with heavy deniers of the many atrocities and war crimes that were committed whilst their grandparents and great-grandparents are having hallucinations of all of their traumatic experiences (can you tell i'm speaking from experience?).

Ironically he holds (Ancient) Greece on such a high pedestal, calling it the birthplace of Western Civilisation (it isn't), and yet you can tell he obviously knows very little about the damn country whose culture he's been appropreating for almost two decades now. Making Hades the father of 3 (three) terrible war criminals in the war that, you know, Greece had been and still is greatly affected by to this day. Which is, you know, his fucking home. That he and all the other characters supposedly care about oh so much (I have so many bottled-up negative emotions about these books and absolutely no safe space to let them out, theitsa, you have no idea).

You may think I'm overreacting or taking this too seriously but I honestly couldn't care less. This is not a topic you can just joke about or treat light-heartedly. Yes, it was mentioned as an atrocity in the books, but it was still mainly treated as just "Hehe silly fight between gods! Secret History ooo!~".

Simply saying that WWII was bad is not enough, Rick, it's actually the bare minimum. You need to show it at the very least some respect by not undermining its consequences to simply "This is why we don't have kids anymore!". But you're obviously not ready to hear that yet. It still baffles me that his fans are just now discovering he is not the saint they thought he was. "How could he be a zionist ??" they all ask in unison, meanwhile the signs were all there since 2005 (at the very least).

Anyway, you don't have to answer this ask if you don't feel like it, I understand it can possibly be overwhelming. You're the first person I've seen that's actually not afraid to point out Rick's bullshit despite initially liking his books, and also the fact that you are a Greek educating people on actual Greek culture, so I felt safe sharing my thoughts with you. Thank you for your time! Καλές γιορτές! 💕

You're overreacting, especially when it comes to the World Wars! In ww2 1 in 10 Greeks died in the famine, and almost everyone I know had someone in their family executed or tortured by the Germans/Bulgarians/Italians triple occupation (not to mention getting hurt or killed in battle). These situations traumatized generations of Greeks, but Rick had the immense privilege of not considering this while writing! He treated the wars like they were play-dough for his little cutsy lore, he made our arch-enemies the children of our gods, and he can go to hell for this.

I am here for all the righteous Greek αλάτι, so if you have more thoughts, bring it on!

[wistfulweaverwoman]

Could you share your thoughts on Madge?

The screenwriters/director apparently felt she was irrelevant, but she must have a deeper meaning to the series, right?

Oh wow, thank you for the question!!!

So yes, Madge's character sure does have a deeper meaning!

On the most surface level of the story Madge acts, in part, as a characterization for Katniss. As we all know, Katniss is a pretty unreliable narrator. She seems to be under the impression that she's just like Gale but here's a prime example of why she's not. Madge is Katniss's only friend, other than Gale. And she's not just a merchant kid, she's the daughter of the mayor. While Gale has a narrow viewpoint and see things much more in black and white(she claims he understands the socioeconomic differences are just the Capitols way to divide 12, but he has a really tough time extending empathy to people he doesn’t relate to, unlike Katniss who is incredibly empathetic when she takes time to put herself in the shoes of others), Katniss actually has a more nuanced understanding about the Seam/Merchant dynamic which later extends to deeper understanding to the other tributes and even Capitol citizens all really just being victims to their circumstances. With the director ditching (mostly, Gale still has a few choice words about merchants) the whole Seam/Merchant narrative her role is vastly diminished.

The pin that Madge gives to Katniss as a district token (and later the symbol of rebellion) is so much more important in the books because of who it used to belong to, Maysilee Donner, who was Madge's aunt (her mom's twin), Katniss's mothers best friend, and partnered with Haymitch in his games. It's most likely Haymitch's own experience in surviving the arena with Maysilee as a team that gives him the idea to partner Peeta and Katniss. Without Madge most of these connections are lost.

In the metanarrative Madge represents a lot more. She, through the symbolism of her name, offers salvation through sacrifice. She gives Katniss the pin:

"His eyes land on a small, circular pin that adorns her dress. Real gold. Beautifully crafted. It could keep a family in bread for months."

And then she basically risks her life to bring pain medicine for Gale, who hasn't been particularly nice to her:

When she opens it, there’s not a squad of Peacekeepers but a single, snow-caked figure. Madge. She holds out a small, damp cardboard box to me. “Use these for your friend,” she says. I take off the lid of the box, revealing half a dozen vials of clear liquid. “They’re my mother’s. She said I could take them. Use them, please.” She runs back into the storm before we can stop her.

Madge (and Mags) is short for Margaret, which is derived from the Greek word for Pearl (pearl is derived from the Sanskrit word for Pure). Peeta and Katniss are Pearls as well, so I'll expand on the pearl theme beyond just Madge.

Pearls themselves are created through sacrifice, traditionally the life of the oyster is forfeit for the gem. In some asian cultures the pearl represented the journey of the soul or spirit along the path to perfection (The Hunger Games trilogy is a retelling of Dante's Comedies- which represents the souls journey towards Paradise- the pearl symbolically represents Katniss’s inner arc). In ancient burials, mourners placed pearls in the mouths of the deceased. Since pearls apparently contained the principles of life, they hoped they could assist the dead on their journeys beyond. Mourners also decorated burial gifts and clothes with pearls.

Pearls are mentioned a LOT in the books. Here's a few quotes:

‘Well, if you put enough pressure on coal it turns to pearls!’” Effie beams at us so brilliantly that we have no choice but to respond enthusiastically to her cleverness even though it’s wrong.

He unzips the bag, revealing one of the wedding dresses I wore for the photo shoot. Heavy white silk with a low neckline and tight waist and sleeves that fall from my wrists to the floor. And pearls. Everywhere pearls. Stitched into the dress and in ropes at my throat and forming the crown for the veil.

As coal pressured into pearls by our weighty existence. Beauty that arose out of pain. Peeta rinses the pearl off in the water and hands it to me. “For you.” I hold it out on my palm and examine its iridescent surface in the sunlight.

I sit back on my bed cross-legged and find myself rubbing the smooth iridescent surface of the pearl back and forth against my lips. For some reason, it’s soothing. A cool kiss from the giver himself.

Katniss putting the pearl to her lips as both the mourner and the dead. We can actually infer that the pearl is a placeholder for Peeta.

But what exactly does the pearl represent beyond the obvious? There's the biblical symbolism and then there's literary symbolism.

There's a ton of Christian symbolism in these books, probably the most obvious being the Christ-like sacrifices that Peeta makes, he sacrifices his body to provide the life saving bread, and again in the arena which after spends three days in a cave, followed by his resurrection. The trilogy follows the Divine Comedies, Katniss as the heart and caught between Gale (the body) and Peeta (the spirit).

You shall bring from your dwelling places two loaves of bread to be waved, made of two tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour, and they shall be baked with leaven, as firstfruits to the Lord.

Above from the Bible, below from The Hunger Games

It was the boy. In his arms, he carried two large loaves of bread that must have fallen into the fire because the crusts were scorched black.

Below is a quote from the Bible (Revelations) describing the 12 gates of Jerusalem. It could be written off as a coincidence, 12 gates, 12 districts, except that the 8th gate is the Cotton Merchants' Gate, which correlates to District 8, which is the district that manufactures textiles and uniforms.

And the twelve gates of the city were twelve pearls; each single gate was made from one pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass. 

In literary symbolism Pearl, (the daughter of Hester Prynne in the Scarlet Letter), represents several things. Pearl was the physical manifestation of Hester's sin (adultery), the pregnancy therefore making it apparent she had sinned. At the same time Pearl was a blessing, as without her she would have most likely committed suicide.

 “… Had they taken her away from me (Pearl), I would have willingly gone with thee into the forest, and signed my name in the Black Man’s book too, and that with mine own blood!”

This is similar to Katniss's thinking at the beginning of Mockingjay

Peeta. If I knew for sure that he was dead, I could just disappear into the woods and never look back.

Below is a quote from the end of The Scarlet Letter:

"Pearl kissed his lips. A spell was broken. The great scene of grief, in which the wild infant bore a part, had developed all her sympathies; and as her tears fell upon her father’s cheek, they were the pledge that she would grow up amid human joy and sorrow, nor forever do battle with the world, but be a woman in it. Towards her mother, too, Pearl’s errand as a messenger of anguish was all fulfilled."

And another quote from the near end of Mockingjay:

I lean in and kiss Peeta full on the mouth. His whole body starts shuddering, but I keep my lips pressed to his until I have to come up for air. My hands slide up his wrists to clasp his. “Don’t let him take you from me.” Peeta’s panting hard as he fights the nightmares raging in his head. “No. I don’t want to . . .” I clench his hands to the point of pain. “Stay with me.” His pupils contract to pinpoints, dilate again rapidly, and then return to something resembling normalcy. “Always,” he murmurs.

I delve a bit into the Divine Comedies in this post.

[byegonnagocrynow]

An ode to the love lost

And I sit here, burned by grief of what could've been only if one of us would accumulate the courage to live our truth.

'I wonder what it would be like to run my fingers through his curls'- I didn't realise I had voiced that thought. Maybe I said it in a released sigh or a whisper, maybe i yelled, either way I don't remember. It was a harmless fleeting attraction, or so i thought. He was pretty, yes, but he was also beautiful and intriguing in its highest sense. The kind of beauty uncharted waters offer. Mesmerizing, even. He'd leave you in a trance once you set your eyes on him. Or maybe you were exaggerating. Maybe, as pointed by many to you, you simply put him on a pedestal and romanticised him. Maybe he was just another boy with toned muscles, a smile that could light up cities of darkness and hair so tangled that hung loose on top of his forehead. His eyes, oh God, his eyes! His eyes were in resemblance of late autumn leaves that brought in the joy of it being cold and festive again. His eyes were the shade of brown that feels safe enough to confide in. Those irises alone would make you want to confess your dirtiest sins, in assurance that you'd be forgiven regardless. Yet, they were treacherous enough to doubt. The kind that swirl like sweet nectar. Brown, copper eyes that held in some kind of Greek tragedy. His eyes were gentle, almost vulnerable, like a fleeting gazelle's, one fleeing from potential predators. You'd see him staring right into your soul and you couldn't help but look away. Until you'd look back at that familiar warmth of christmas socks and hot chocolate on a chilly morning while you wrote letters to your lost lover by the fire. Destined for a grand tragedy. You'd look back, timid to hold eye contact, wondering what if it was all too good to be true? Men weave beautiful blankets of lies, you were aware. But you'd find his eyes breathless, as if after a passionate kiss and you'd know. You'd know that boyish grin by heart. You'd have it memorised as if it were beats you've hummed for months. You'd know he was luring you but you had known for a while now that that allure wasn't one of malice. What you wouldn't know was if he'd ever reciprocate this affection, and that would terrify you. So much that you'd never bring yourself to confess. And just like that, a love that could've been one for the history books, died suffocating under the ruins of ancient cities.

[the-reading-diaries]

Some quick thoughts about the relationship between humans and gods in the Odyssey and in the Iliad

Hey, guys! So, for my first post I thought I'd share my current read which is actually a reread: the Odyssey. Yes, I know, it's no shock that a Greek student would be reading Homer (yet again), but it's been a while since I last read it, so I'm very much enjoying seeing Telemachus journey once more. Quick disclaimer before we start: I'm not a professional by any means, I'm in my 4th semester in uni and this blog is a writing exercise that I'm making, so there may be some inaccuracies and incompleteness because it's not my intention to pen an article, but just put materiality to thoughts, yet I'll try my best. If you'd like to, please leave a like or a comment :)

Now, getting to what I actually wanted to share here, one aspect that I find quite alluring in the Odyssey is the relationship between men and Gods. That which, in this book, is quite different than what we see in the Iliad, and I believe that this is an interesting and productive comparative exercise to make. Before getting further in this (very brief) analysis, I realized it's important to address that, considering the timeline of events and the chronological order established between these two works, I take the Iliad as a starting point and from there I analyze and note the differences in those books. Also, it's important to note that the Iliad established the paradigm of Olympic divinity in the ancient world. Well, right in the beginning of the Odyssey, in Book 1, Zeus utters the following:

" [...] ‘Oh for shame, how the mortals put the blame upon us

gods, for they say evils come from us, but it is they, rather,

who by their own recklessness win sorrow beyond what is given, "

(The Odyssey, Book 1, vv. 32-34 - translated by Richmond Lattimore)

This is quite an intriguing assertive coming from him, because it's very distant from his speech and personality in the Iliad, which reminds me of this beautiful yet bitter passage in Book 24 of Achilles talking to Priam, that allows us to take a peek on how mortals understood the actions of their gods, in this case, Zeus:

" [...] The gods

have granted to wretched mortals lives filled

with misery while their own are free of care.

Two jars sit on Zeus’ floor filled with gifts:

one with joy, the other with sorrow. A man

given a mixture of these jars by Zeus will

face ill fortune one day and good the next, "

(The Iliad, Book 24, vv. 525-531 - translated by Michael Heumann)

Now, getting into the "core" of the analysis, the odysseic Zeus seems more sober, somber, serious and distressed after seeing the gods take blame for every disgrace that happens to humans, even though mortals often overlook their advices, presages and warnings. Humans here appear to have a more independent horizon of action. Well, this is all very different if we take in consideration the paradigm of the relationship between men and god in the Iliad. In the Iliad, mortals are the "working field" for the gods, which means, it's quite difficult to put a finger on what is a deliberate action taken independently by men, and what's a god inciting/impelling the human to a desired action. In that case, the greater independence of men seen in the Odyssey allows the centrality of the debate good versus bad, which is rarely seen in the Iliad. From the moment the poet establishes the protagonists and antagonists figures, we turn to a more moral debate, in opposition to the existential iliadic debate. Throughout the initial books we can see how Athena becomes a Mentor (quite literally, pun intended) to Telemachus, who begins his journey to earn status/glory (κλέος) among the Greeks and prove his worth as the son of Odysseus. Well, here's the thing, Telemachus clearly understands that who is accompanying and talking to him is Athena, and although she advises him of x, y and z, if he chose to, he could not do so. What I mean by that is, the relationship between men and gods here seems to be much more transparent, while in the Iliad it's obscure and humans only realize that they've been under the influence of a god usually after of taking action. In the excerpt of the Iliad above, humans appear to be the passive part in the dynamic, only recipients of the will of gods, suffering because it's inherent to our nature. And the Odyssey presents us a quite different perspective, the gods are greater, and their will is more powerful than ours, but still humans are the ones who will have the final choice.

Well, all that demonstrates a change in the poetic tradition established by the Iliad, introducing new perspectives and values to the already known paradigm. This can lead us to a much more complicated and deeper debate: whether the poet of the Iliad and the Odyssey is the same, but I'll not develop this any further.

If you read all of this, 1st, are you ok? 2nd, thank you so much :)

[booksanddarkchocolate]

So here are my live reactions on the pjo finale:

- I’m not mentally ready for this yet

- Long episode tho :)

- Omg Luke opening gave me chills

- OH THEY DID HAVE THE SWORD TRAINING I WAS SO CONFUSED ABOUT THAT FIRST

- But why are they flashbacks and not just something we saw in ep2?

- I’m still confused on why they chose to reveal the Kronos thing already

- Why is Percy not wearing Annabeths necklace yet 🥺

- Damn slay Percy

- The fight didn’t disappoint I’d say

- Wait are they on Montauk 🥹

- The “please” 😭😂

- “I’m done running from monsters” babes you only just started

- AWWW there is the necklace 🥹

- I feel like Luke mentioning Annabeths arachnophobia is so random even tho he explained it 😂

- Oh hello Zeus

- That is one hell of a good casting choice for Zeus, appearance wise

- Okay Zeus letting Percy go already felt way too easy lol

- Percy you are so lucky

- They’re making Poseidon way too good of a father tho I’m sorry

- Oh I’m gonna listen to their Ancient Greek convo later and slower because I love nitpicking hihi

- I’m not sure whether I like that they changed the Greek coming natural thing, because on one side it feels like an unnecessary change, but on the other side I can still be delusional and think I’m a demigod, because Ancient Greek does not come naturally to me at all sadly

- Wait but does that still mean all demigods have dyslexia (and adhd)? I don’t remember whether they talked about it earlier in the series

- I will be so mad if Annabeth doesn’t have dyslexia and adhd (and still is also a bookworm, we’ve seen her being a nerd but not necessarily a bookworm)

- Awwww Percabeth hug

- Annabeth and Lukes relationship in this interaction was done perfectly

- Does Percy already suspect Luke now?

- That’s one hell of an accusation Percy

- But you know since he figured out about Kronos too it makes sense

- Backbiter name drop yas

- “This isn’t you” okay but how long do you actually know him Percy lol

- I’m very confused on what Luke is doing honestly

- What is he opening? And is the H on purpose, supposed to represent Hermes?

- Oh oh Annabeth is here

- Oh don’t know how to feel about that

- I do know that Leah made me cry, gods the betrayal in her eyes 🥺

- Really not doing the “names are powerful” thing huh😂

- Jason is so perfect for Dionysus

- “It’s a tree, Seaweed Brain, it doesn’t express opinions” 😂

- Leahs hair is so beautiful

- It feels so sudden that she goes to see her dad now, but I don’t remember whether it was less sudden in the books lol

- Annabeth not know what Disneyland is, oh my baby 🥺

- FREDRICK YOU BETTER SHOW HER A MOVIE THIS TIME

- “Go, be a kid” Percy is saying what we’re all thinking

- The trio is trioing 🥹

- What is happening

- That is FOUL

- What is happening part 2

- Yes please listen to your mom, don’t call him grandpa 😂

- I am patiently waiting for the Medusa Gabe scene here

- Please tell me there’s an after credit scene and it happens then

- Every time I watch the credits and every time I feel like it’s not the same

- YES ITS HAPPENING

- I have thoughts on the changes of Gabe turning into a statue but I cannot formulate them yet lol

- Ohmygod there’s a documentary

- Watching that tomorrow

Now the season is done I do wanna make an actual review of what I like and dislike both adaptation and just as a show wise

[berrypass-de-murdler]

2-48 The Secret Chamber Secret

I... need to talk to someone 😭 I'm so scared and hopeless

hmm well me and fletch are larping as aureolin and lady violet again today cuz halloween

(warning this episode has some needlessly graphic descriptions don't read before eating)

DON'T READ THE EPISODES WITHOUT READING THE BOOKS!!

VOICE: GOOD JOB. GOOD JOB. YOU SOLVED THE RIGHT MURDER. LOGICO: I hate that!! Why is there a robotic voice in this ANCIENT TOMB?

Pythagoras’ grave tilts upright and opens, revealing a tunnel!

LOGICO: And automation?? What the fuck- IRRATINO: [squeal] THIS IS AMAZING!!

They go creepy-crawly into the deep chamber. The further they go, the bigger it gets! And the more surreal… Irratino is in heaven.

They finally approach the end, discovering puzzles encrypted on the wall, and a broken statue of the Greek God himself. (YES I KNOW PYTHAGORAS WASN’T A GOD STFU)

But before they can reach the door, another puzzle stands in their way! (A murder.)

LOGICO: Gross. There’s nobody even here! How am I supposed to solve a murder with no suspects?

You see Logico, in the real world, homicide detectives don’t generally HAVE their suspects conveniently standing before them. But that’s beside the point. Irratino hears some muffled voices.

IRRATINO: Wait, Logico, listen!

The sound seems to be coming from a crate nearby. The two creep up on it, ready to strike, and throw open the top.

They find Seashell and Sable crammed in there in the worst positions, along with a snake.

LOGICO: OH GOD!  SEASHELL: out please SABLE: [squeaking]

Irratino struggles to pull them out. Seashell is like 7 feet tall, so all his bones crunch as he emerges and he cannot stand.

SEASHELL: I need to be… manually pressed… Logico help me… LOGICO: Absolutely not.

Sable however rolls out with ease once Seashell’s out. She uncurls to reveal an incredible purple velvet gown!

LOGICO: Oh, Sable! Where did you get that? SABLE: I’ve been travelling the world, searching for myself… and I finally found me! When Lady Violet showed me the aristocrat way, I knew I could never go back.

Logico is sad. Now she’s turned into just another one of those.

The snake comes out of the box too.

LOGICO: Were you two kept in there with that as some kind of torture chamber? SNAKE: Naur! That’s racist!

The snake has arms and legs, and is a person. She showcases her Archaeologist Ecru badge, and explains how she only wanted to steal that fresh body, but was kidnapped.

LOGICO: Who were you kidnapped by?? SEASHELL: We didn’t see. They were completely masked… SABLE: I can’t believe my quills are unstable.

Logico already can’t stand this ‘new’ Sable. Regardless of who the kidnapper was, one of these three is the murderer. And Logico doesn’t even need to prove it!

While Logico searches for clues, Ecru tries to force Seashell’s spine back into place, and Sable stands around pampering herself. Ecru throws a lump of dirt at her out of spite.

SABLE: AAH! Why did you do that?! ECRU: Because you’re a pansy. SABLE: Now I have to iron AND cleanse this dress! 

Irratino decides to obtain crucial information through palm readings. 

SABLE: No, don’t touch me! I can’t possibly have any more germs on me… LOGICO: SNAP OUT OF IT, SABLE!

It’s not that weird until Seashell makes it weird because he’s still lying on the ground. And being weird.

SEASHELL: Oh, that tickles… Would you mind punching my hand? IRRATINO: WHAT?

Ecru smashes the fish’s hand between her fists. There’s an awful crunch, like someone stomping on a corn chip.

SEASHELL: Ah, that feels so much better! [he says as his hand turns purple] LOGICO: I can’t take any more of this. You’re the killer! IRRATINO: Logico! You can’t assume that! SEASHELL: No he’s right. IRRATINO: Oh.

There’s not much point to that, and Logico pulls a lever on the wall. The door at the back of the chamber opens… revealing the greatest thing in the entire world!]

LOGICO: Irratino… do you think you can get one of your friends to let me address the Convocation of Countries? IRRATINO: [squee!] YES!

Logico is going to stop the upcoming war! (and P.S. - I don’t think that was really Pythagoras’ grave.)

The end!

me: i hate myself when i draw, I can't draw no matter how hard I try, why do I even bother

murdle2: hmm yes the perfect time to introduce a new character

The power of Goat Lord compels you!

See you next time murdlers!

[specialagentlokitty]

Giles x teen!reader - a demigods fate

Part 5:

The rest of the week passed and you finished all your tests, and finally you got your scores back, so you made your way to the library.

Walking in, you made your way over to the librarian and handed the paper over.

“What’s this?”

“Guess I’m not being expelled, but apparently I know have to study with you every week, so that’s great fun.”

Giles unfolded the paper and he gave you a bright smile.

“This is wonderful (Y/N), I’m so proud of you.”

He handed it back over and you shook your head, waving your hand dismissively.

“Keep it I don’t care, can I have those books?”

“Oh.. oh yes of course they’re in my office.”

Giles made his way to his office, pinning your results to the board on the walk he grabbed the books you were after and brought them out.

Giles set them down and sat with you, watching as you picked one of them up.

“What exactly is it you’re looking for?” He asked.

“I’m hoping that one of these will have something about why my monsters want the hellmouth.”

“Still no word from the uh.. what do you call it?”

“The oracle, and nope, not a damn thing.”

Giles slid the jar over to you and you put a dollar in it.

“That wasn’t even a fucking swear word.”

“No, but that was, hence the dollar.”

You huffed, rolling your eyes as you went back to reading.

“Do you not have anything that may be able to tell you more?”

“Hermes is delivering all my books to me today, he’s dropping them off at my apartment then he’s bringing one of them here.”

Just as you said that the doors were opened, and the god walked over, handing you a book then some paperwork.

“Seriously?”

“Sorry kid, rules are rules, what do you even want with this?”

Taking the clipboard you signed it and handed it back over, waving your hand dismissively.

“Come on, I went through all that effort to bring to that here, can’t I know?”

“Not unless you have anything to tell me.”

He sighed, shaking his head.

“Sorry, still no word. I’ll let you know if there is any, Chiron said he would send me with any message since apparently any demigod that comes this way gets killed.”

“Now there is no need to bring that up.” Giles said sternly.

Hermes glanced at him, and Giles quickly looked away.

“It’s coming kid.”

With that he left and you looked at the book you were given before you held it out to Giles.

“What’s this?”

“It’ll help you translate Ancient Greek, I can’t always be your point of call, learn the language, could be helpful.”

He took the book, opening the first page to see the alphabet with the translations under it in English.

“This will help a lot, thank you.”

You leant back in your chair, closing your eyes as you tilting your head back.

Giles carried on going through the book, carefully reading through some of the pages. He was going to have to spend some time studying it but he was sure he would be able to read Ancient Greek in no time.

He closed the book, setting it aside, looking at the hellhounds that were exploring the library.

It had become customary at this point, but it still made him feel at edge slightly knowing one wrong move could be the very end for him.

You had explained everything to them, and he knew because of the mist nobody else could see them thankfully.

“You can pet Rig, he’s the most calm out of the trio.”

“Oh.. oh I see..” he mumbled.

He looked down at the hellhound who had walked over at the mention of his name and he gently touched Rigs head, scratching behind his ear.

“He’s cold.”

“The have no regulated heat like real dogs, hellhounds are created from the deepest, darkest depths of the underworld, shrouded with shadows which lets them travel with me.”

Giles could see the shadows moving around his hand, and when he moved his hand away it was gone.

“They walk through the shadows like you?”

You nodded.

“All three of them Oris, Rig and Titan.”

The three hounds sat in front of him, and he couldn’t tell them apart.

He narrowed his eyes, and looked between them.

“So, how do you know which is which?”

“Rig is the smallest, Oris is shrouded by the most shadows and Titan is the fastest.”

“So, what if they’re all sitting like this?”

You opened your eyes to looked at them.

“Just say their names, they understand you. They’re smart. They understand, and if they think it’s important they’ll listen

“Right I.. I see.”

Giles reached out to scratch their ears, and he looked at you.

“Will you be going to the bronze with the others later on? I think it will be good for you, a nice break if you will.”

“No, I’ve got things to do.”

“Hunting?”

You shrugged, closing your eyes again, leaning across the table so you could lay down, resting your head in your arms.

“Or research.”

“You really need to take a day off, you aced your tests, you’ve been fighting monsters nonstop with Buffy, or on your own. You should be a teenager, go.. go party or whatever it is the teenagers do now.”

The doors were opened and the trio came wondering in.

“Oh the puppies are back!” Willow gasped.

She rushed over, sitting behind them so she could let them all and hug them tightly.

Xander and Buffy sat down, looking through the books you had been reading.

“Some light reading before bed?” Buffy joked.

“Not for me, for (Y/N).” Giles said.

Buffy looked at you.

“Sleeping on the job again?” Xander asked.

“Let them sleep Xander, I think they’ve earned it.”

Giles covered you with his blazer, knowing it wouldn’t have much affect on you.

“We’ve been trying to figure out why the monsters keep coming for the hellmouth, (Y/N) had more books delivered. Have you come across anything else?” Giles asked Buffy.

She shook her head, leaning back in her chair.

“No, they’ve been killed all the Greek monsters so I can deal with the vampires.”

“They’re exhausting themselves.” Willow mumbled.

Giles sighed, nodding his head.

“I know but they won’t take a rest, there is no other demigods coming to help, all we have is (Y/N), and we need to help them.”

“How? They won’t let us get close enough to help.” Xander said.

“Well, we start with the hellmouth and what we know about it.”

They all began discussing what they knew about it, about the vampires and demons coming towards the town, and it all came down to power.

That was the same for the monsters, they wanted that power for something, they just weren’t making it clear what it was or why they wanted it.

It wasn’t like vampires or demons you couldn’t just ask, most of the monsters didn’t talk, and if they did they just went on about the hero and the killing the hero.

Willing looked up from where she was laid on the floor surrounded by the hounds.

“How do we even kill the monsters? All Buffy can do is run them off.”

“I believe it may have something to do with (Y/N)s sword, I don’t know exactly what it’s made off but I suspect there will be something in the books.”

Everybody turned to you.

“You three take them home.”

“We would but we don’t know where the live.”

“Ah.. yes.. right… Uhm..”

Giles looked around and he spotted Rig sitting there, head titled in what he could only describe as curiosity.

“Rig, help them take (Y/N).”

The hound barked, getting up with the other two, and they paced back and forth as they waited for the three teenagers to follow.

Xander picked you up, and Buffy tried to pry the blazer from your hand.

“Take it with you I’m sure I’ll get it back in no time.”

The hounds walked to the darkest corner of the room.

“We can’t.. we don’t have that kind of power..” willow mumbled.

Titan barked, walking around her, a circle of shadows at her feet, the the other two hounds did the same thing before walking to the shadows.

The teenagers followed the dogs, and they appeared in your apartment.

Xander set you down on the couch and they began to look around, but the hounds wouldn’t let them explore too much.

“Alright, we’ll go.” Buffy said.

They left your apartment and the hounds laid near you.

After about an hour, Rig got up walked through the shadows and back to the library, laying himself at the librarians feet.

“Hello, what are you doing here?”

Rig looked up before resting his head down again.

Giles turned his attention back to the book, mumbling to himself as he tried to work on the translations.

Sighing, he got up, stepping over the hound to make some tea, and the hound followed him.

“Why do you insist on following me?”

Titan had done the same thing, trailing behind the trio happily as Willow scratched his head.

“Why does it keep following us?” Xander asked.

“Maybe it’s something to do with the monsters, we should go back and talk to Giles, see what he knows.”

So that’s what they did, they made their way back to the library, walking in to see Giles trying to walk away from the hound.

“Oh you’ve got a follower too!” Willow giggled.

“Too? You guys have one?”

Willow pointed to the hellhound next to her.

“Any clue?” Xander asked.

Giles shook his head, sitting down.

“Not a single one, I had thought perhaps it had something to do with (Y/N) being in the library, but these two seem to be wondering in their own unless their under orders.”

“Orders?” Buffy asked.

“Well, they do belong to and answer to (Y/N). Either they were told to follow us, or they’ve decided to pass some time by stalking us.”

“Can’t you find something about them?” Buffy huffed.

“I’m not exactly ancient Greek Buffy, I’m still learning how to translate these texts I’m sorry.”

Titan and Rig looked up at the books, and they jumped on the table, sniffing around until Titan found the book and knocked it to the floor.

“Oh great, they have a mind of their own, we’re going to be killed by hellhounds.” Xander complained.

Giles looked down at the book on the floor.

“Not exactly, (Y/N) did say they were smart. I think I know why they’re here with us.”

He picked up up, setting it on the table next to the translation book and a notepad.

They all crowded around while he translated the page, which took a little longer than they were hoping for but finally it worked.

“Oh yes, it all makes sense now. The hellhounds are from the Greek Underworld, they are shrouded by the mist so nobody else sees them.” Giles said.

Everybody turned to the hounds.

“Aside from Buffy, the rest of us still can’t see through the most clearly, it will take some time. So, these two hellhounds are here to give us an early warning if something is there that we may not be able to see.”

“Well that’s great and all, but there’s three of us that can’t see through it properly and two hellhounds, explain the math here Giles.” Xander said nervously.

“Oh that’s true…”

Willow knelt down next to Trigger, scratching him behind the ear.

“Is there more if you? Because we.. we could really use another for me or Xander.”

Titan let out a loud bark that shook the room, and two more hellhounds appeared.

“Great, more. The hellhounds can summon more.” Buffy mocked.

One sat next to Xander while the other sat next to Buffy.

“Great, now we all get hellhounds isn’t that just adorable.” Xander said nervously.

“Well, now at least we all have a fair chance of knowing what is beyond sight.” Giles said.

“Well, what do we call these two?” Willow asked.

Giles walked over, crouching down in front of the two new hounds who were holding parchments in their mouths.

“Let’s see…”

He took one, and opened it, taking it to the book.

“Xander, yours is called Cyrus. Buffy yours is called Shadow. Very original.”

Shadow sat next to Buffy.

“So… do we have to feed them?” Buffy asked.

“Uhm… I don’t believe we do, apparently the hounds can eat if they want, but it isn’t necessary for their survival.” Giles replied.

They all sat down, the hellhounds laying at their feet.

“So, they just follow us?” Xander asked.

“Come on guys, I think it’s cute! I mean look at their little faces!” Willow gushed.

“They’re made of shadows.” Xander grimaced.

“But they’re so cute!”

“Children, now is not the time to be debating if hounds from the underworld are cute or not.”

Everybody turned to Buffy.

She looked down at Shadow.

“Though it is pretty adorable.” She mumbled.

“You three should go enjoy yourselves, remember nobody else can see them, so, you should have no issues with getting in anywhere or anybody questioning you about the hounds.”

“What about you?” Buffy asked.

“I will carry on with these books, see what I can learn, I’ll let you know if I find anything helpful.”

They nodded and left, and Giles gathered all the books so he could head home.

Sitting on his couch, he carried on going through the translation book you had given him whole Rig sat there staring at him.

Sighing, he set the book down.

“What is it?”

Rig titled his head.

“If anybody saw me talking to a hellhound I would most certainly be shipped away…”

Rig whined, flattening his ears, looking around.

“What is it Rig? Is there something out there?”

The hound stood up and so did Giles, the moment the man was on his feet the hellhound was on the couch, curled up in his spot.

“Oh for god sake..”

Oris looked at the door before looking back at you, resting his head on your stomach, whining a little as you moved, letting out small pained noises.

You shot up, sweat on your forehead, and you swung your legs off the couch, letting the hound rest his head in your lap so you could pet his head.

You looked at the blazer in your hand, and you folding it neatly, holding it out.

“Return it.”

Oris took it and ran off while you walked to your map, looked at the few new marks.

Walking to your kitchen, you got yourself a cup of water and leant on the counter, running a hand through your hair as your stomach grumbled.

You flicked through some takeout menus that you had, trying to find something interesting.

A respected demigod, feared, and you didn’t know how to cook a single thing.

You grabbed your jacket and your wallet as you left your apartment, going to find somewhere decent to eat at

[ohtobealady]

October Prompts

4 October: Pyre

Robert scratched out his signature — Earl of Grantham — and, before reaching for the blotter, turned in his chair to take in the scene of giggling children behind him.

“Will you show us?” Little George had asked in his small, gruff little voice, and Robert chortled as he saw his wife hold up the magnifying glass to her eye. She widened it, her blue eye now quite large in the lens, and their grandchildren laughed.

Marigold reached out her small fingers to it, and Robert watched as, with a smile, Cora relinquished the magnifying glass to her.

“You must be careful. It’s heavier than you think,” he heard her caution as he turned back around and blotted the letter.

This, their sitting with the children in the library, felt warm and familiar to him. They’d done the same thing with their girls, him working at the desk here, Cora showing them some books or other, speaking to them in soft tones. Eventually one of the girls would wander over, quietly, and rest her head on his arm, watching as he worked. He turned around again and looked at the three children behind him: Marigold holding the magnifying glass up before her and giggling as George made large chomping motions with his mouth, Sybbie sitting near Cora on the sofa, pointing to a picture as Cora stroked her arm.

Yes. This felt like home.

“And that’s this?”

He felt himself chuckle a little at the sound of Sybbie’s insistent curiosity.

“Ah!” He chuckled further at Cora’s equal enthusiasm. “That’s the Gokstad ship!”

“What’s Gokstad?”

“Well, I think it’s the name of a place, darling. It’s where they found this ancient Viking ship. Can you see how large it is?”

He smiled as Sybbie’s hair tickled at her chin as she nodded.

“Is that treasure?”

“Mmm,” his wife nodded, too, and Robert studied the resemblance between them. “Isn’t it wonderful?”

He turned back to his work, locking away in some part of his mind the lovely sounds of his grandchildren’s quiet giggles, the susurrus of turning pages, the lilt of Cora’s voice she used with the children.

“And what’s that?”

“Oh, it’s called a pyre. It’s something the Vikings did.”

Robert stilled, and he listened over his shoulder.

“A fire?”

“Yes, from the Greek … or Latin, perhaps. Pyra. A large fire.”

“Like we have here in the library?”

“No.” Robert listened as his wife moved on the sofa. He listened as the page of the book was turned. “A pyre is for a funeral, darling. The Vikings thought that the smoke would help the soul of their loved one get to Heaven.”

“Like my mother?”

Oh.

Robert felt colder. The warmth that the familiarity of the afternoon had brought had been snuffed out of his chest, though the sounds of his other grandchildren still whispered and laughed softly.

It’d always been Sybil to rest her head on his arm.

“Did my mother have a fire? To help get to Heaven?”

“No,” Cora said again, and Robert turned in his chair and looked for her.

She blinked, her face turned down to her lap, and he watched as she took their granddaughter’s hand in her own.

“Your mother didn’t need any of our help to get to Heaven.”

“So no fire?”

“No. So no pyre.”

And just as he thought she might, Cora brought her eyes to his; and with his heart softly breaking, he offered her a small smile.

I love you.

She broke away. “Speaking of fire…” She stood, still holding Sybbie’s hand. “Marigold, bring the magnifying glass. I have quite a trick to show you, but you must promise to only use this great power for good, hm?”

The children jumped, smiling.

“What is it!”

Her lilt had returned. “The magnifying lens has a curve. And we can use the curve to bend sunlight to one tiny spot…” She was walking away with the children, George hopping behind her, Marigold hugging the magnifying glass tightly to her chest, Sybbie holding her hand.

“…and make a fire, Granny?”

Robert chuckled again at George’s gruff voice, now in the Great Hall, and thanked Heaven and all those in it, that the warmth had returned.

“And make a fire.”

[archoniluthradanar]

I woke up this morning to find you gone

I woke up this morning to find you gone : a Volturi one-shot

The Twilight "Zone" series-these stories have a bit of strangeness about them.

Caius' human mate - First person POV

Caius' mate goes to bed with him, then falls asleep with him at her side as he is most nights. She awakens the next morning to find him gone. Not away, but really gone. And no one in the Volturi castle has ever heard of him. Or her. How will a human convince the Volturi she belongs there, and that her mate is real and is now missing.

oooooooooooooooooooo

My name is Allie Carson. I was an American who had lived in Washington state all my life. It was a fairly normal life, that is, until I met Caius. He was handsome, almost regal in his carriage, rude when it suited him, and an old-fashioned gentleman when he chose to be. I could tell right off he was...different.

I had bumped into him on the street, literally. He had been sent, he later told me, to keep an eye on a local family here in Forks.

"Are you a cop or FBI agent? I asked him, curious.

"Nothing so mundane," he replied curtly. "Why do you care?"

I ignored the snark. "Mundane? Now you have me really interested. I would never say the work of a detective or an agent of the government was mundane."

He only smirked, which intrigued me more. I told him I was on my way to have lunch at a local diner and asked him to join me. He agreed after looking around the main street. I briefly wondered what he was looking for, but by the time we reached the diner, my mind was on the hamburger lunch deal my stomach was demanding.

We sat at a table, and the waitress came by with two glasses of water. She set them down and took out her pad. "Hello, Allie, I see you found a friend. Stranger around these parts?" she asked Caius, her eyes obviously admiring him. "What can I get you both?"

"Marsha, I'll have the hamburger lunch deal, with a Coke." I looked at my impromptu companion. "Can I get you anything...uh?"

"Caius," he said, finally smiling.

"Caius? Ok then, Caius...did you want anything?"

"No, thank you. I've eaten already," he replied, leaning back against his chair.

There was that smirk again. "I guess I'm the only one eating, Marsha." After she went to put in my order, I looked the blonde man over. "Caius is a strange name."

"It's an old family name. I rather like it," he said.

"Oh, I do too. Unusual names run in my family. Even though I ended up with 'Allison', dad once told me he wanted to name me Athena, but mom objected."

"The Greek goddess," he said knowingly.

"Are your parents historians or something? Your name, the fact you instantly recognized one of the Greek gods."

"Actually, I am a historian so to speak. I...read a lot about history. Do you like history as well?"

I was so impressed to meet someone like Caius. Here in Forks, the library had minimal books on ancient history, so I had to buy a lot of used books online. "Yes, I love history, I don't even care what era. It all interests me."

His brilliant blue eyes lit up at my words, so I must have said something right. Just then, Marsha came by with my lunch plate and a glass of Coke.

"Here you go, Allie." She turned to Caius, asking him, "Sure you don't want anything?" When he shook his head, she nodded and left us alone.

We talked about anything that came into our minds until I had finished everything on my plate. "How long will you be in town?" I asked my lunch companion.

"Two days, maybe three. Then I'll return home."

"Where is home, if I may ask." I wasn't sure if he had to keep that secret, his job and all.

"I'm from Volterra." He must have seen my frown, since he immediately clarified. "Tuscany region, Italy.

"Wait. So you're not an American officer? Interesting." His accent didn't sound Italian, but perhaps he was a transplant.

We left the cafe together, but I had to get home, and Caius seemed distracted, his eyes again scanning the streets. We bid each other goodbye and went our separate ways.

I walked across the street, still watching Caius. A young man, whose face I didn't recognize, walked up to him. They seemed to speak to each other as if they knew one another. The stranger was dressed in what appeared to be clothing from another era. He was handsome as well, and I wondered who he was. I sneezed, which forced my eyes closed. By the time I opened them, Caius and the stranger were gone.

The next morning, I left my house to find the blonde stranger standing on the sidewalk out front. He smiled when I walked over to him. "I just wanted to see you before I left," he said.

We spent the rest of the morning together. I asked him if he could reveal the name of the family he was watching. Were they criminanls, I asked him. He laughed.

"Not exactly criminals. The Cullens tend to do their own thing with no concept of the law."

Did he mean Carlisle Cullen? "Caius, Dr Cullen is highly respected here in town. We feel fortunate to have such a...a skilled physician in our small hospital, when he could find a better paying position anywhere in the country. And his family's great. I don't know them very well, but we have spoken at times. Alice is so sweet, and Emmett is a hoot."

"They've done nothing wrong...yet. I was only sent to watch them," Caius replied, trying to reassure me.

I admitted to myself I was intrigued by this man, a foreigner to my country. But I was stunned when the last day of his stay, before he was supposed to leave for good, Caius demanded to see me. Demanded.

We had gone for a walk into town and ended up at the park. We sat on a bench beneath a tree. I didn't say much, unsure how I felt about his leaving. His next words stunned me.

"I want you to join me in Volterra. Come with me and be my mate. I know it sounds strange, but it won't when I explain everything."

"It's been three days! I hardly know you, Caius! What is this all about?" I looked up at him while he stood and paced in front of me.

"I cannot tell you everything, Allie. You have to trust me when I say we belong together. I confirmed this with Marcus."

"Who the hell is Marcus? Caius, are you crazy?" I shut up when he took my hands in his and sat beside me.

"I...work with Marcus. He has a gift of recognizing relationships between people, a hundred, fifty...two. He told me you and I are destined to be mates."

"Mates. As in spouses?"

"If you wish to call it that. All I know is what I feel when I am with you. My previous mate died long ago."

Long ago, he said, when he barely looked thirty years old. My head was spinning, yet when he suddenly kissed me, my brain took the time to stop thinking while I let this man gather me in his arms and continue to kiss me. When he pulled back, I gazed at him in shock. Yet could it have felt more natural.

So I left Forks forever, binding my life with Caius', before I even knew much about him, or what he was.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

It was like any other night, Caius and me lying in our bed while we talked about the day's events. We were laughing about something that happened, when he moved to hover over me, pressing his lower body against mine. I smiled up at him while wrapping him in my arms. then kissing him. I was still human, so he had to be careful he didn't accidently bite the tip of my tongue off. Soon he would change me, and he would not have to hold back any longer.

We made love until I was tired out. He let me lie against him, our fingers entwined. "I love you, my heart," I said.

"I love you, amore mio," he replied, pulling me closer.

I closed my eyes and Caius held me until I fell asleep.

Sunlight poured through the window, waking me. I turned to my left to see an empty spot in our bed. I sat up, calling for Caius. Maybe he was in the shower, but he usually asked me if I wanted to join him. I got out of bed and headed for the bathroom. No Caius. I touched the shower wall. It was dry.

Had he been summoned by Aro for a last minute meeting or trial, and didn't want to wake me?

I quickly dressed and went in search of my mate. I entered the door of the throne room, and found no one. Perhaps they had gathered in the larger audience hall. I was on my way there when strong arms grabbed mine, pulling me back against a tall, marble-hard body.

"Felix, you startled me." When I turned to look up at him, his expression frightened me. It was as if he didn't know me. When he grabbed my arm, I struggled against the pain. "Felix, you're hurting me." Even the fearsome Felix had never harmed me since I arrived here. This was very much out of character for him.

I was unceremoniously dragged to the smaller throne room, where Aro now sat with Marcus on the dais that lacked one chair. This was crazy. Where was Caius' throne?

I was about to ask what was going on and where was Caius, when Aro rose from his throne and walked down the three steps to stand before me, Felix still holding my arms but less tightly.

"Who are you and how did you get inside this place?" His red eyes bore into mine.

"Aro, I've been here ever since Caius brought me here. And where is he, by the way. What have you done to his throne?"

I saw Aro glance back at Marcus, who was sitting still, as he usually did. The quiet one merely shook his head.

"Aro, can you please ask Felix to let me go."

Aro gave the tall guard a blink and Felix stepped back, but not far from me.

I rubbed my arms and glanced around the room to see most of the top guards standing against the wall. They all looked at me as if they didn't know me.

"What is your name, my dear," Aro asked.

I had to laugh. "You know me, brother. I'm Allie, Caius' mate?"

Aro looked aback when I called him brother. He stepped back, turned and walked slowly back to his throne, sitting once there. 'You say you are Allie, mate to Caius. Yet we know no Caius...nor you."

This was insane. I was in a nightmare it seemed.

I pointed down the line of guards. "That's Demetri, Chelsea, Afton, Santiago, Jane, Alec. Heidi is most likely out fetching tourists for your next meal. You're Aro and he's Marcus. If I hadn't been here awhile, how would I know your names or theirs? I also know you're vampires." I looked over at the empty far corner. "Where is Caius' throne? It usually sits there, at your left."

"There has never been another throne, my dear. Marcus and I are the sole leaders of the Volturi. There are no others." He spoke gently, as if to a child.

"Yes, there is! Caius helped you form the coven ages ago." I had lost my composure by now.

Aro asked me a question, I think to test my story. "And who are you to this Caius?"

"I'm his mate, from America. He brought me here 10 months ago. You promised me one year before you insisted I be changed. I have two months left. And now I don't even belong here, so it seems."

I gave a pleading look at Marcus. who was always kind to me. He stared back at me as he would a stranger.

Aro appeared to be thinking, when he suddenly stood, walked down the steps, and grabbed my wrist, saying tersely, "Come with me."

I was suddenly afraid. "Where are you taking me, Aro?" Very afraid. "Aro, please don't kill me. Give me a chance to explain!"

"Foolish human, I'm not going to kill you, or you would have been dead already." We stopped in front of our chambers, mine and Caius'. "You say these are the rooms you shared with this Caius?"

I opened the right door and walked in. "These have been Caius' rooms for longer than I know. I have lived here with him for the last ten..." My heart dropped. I looked around to find an empty set of rooms. The furniture was gone. Our belongings were gone.

I ran to the bedroom, then searched the massive closet. It was empty of our clothing and the large jewelry case Caius had bought me to hold all the beautiful necklaces, earrings and rings he had chosen for me over the months. There was nothing left behind to bear witness to his extreme generosity.

I turned to Aro. "I don't understand. It's all gone. But it was here when I woke up this morning. I dressed and left to look for Caius." I thought for a moment. If Caius had disappeared from this place, perhaps time itself, all the things he had bought for me would be gone too. It was a logical assumption that if he never existed, anything tied to him would never have been here. And I would not be here. But I was. I am.

I started to walk back to the outer door. While I stood in the corridor, I felt Aro move behind me. I awaited execution, but instead, he took my elbow and led me back the way we came.

"You're not going to kill me, Aro?"

"I said I would not. You know too much, but what you know proves some of your story. For now, Marcus wishes to speak with you."

"No problem. I know the way." He let go my arm and we walked side by side to Marcus' chambers. When we came to his doors, Aro left me there with a pleasant expression, reassuring me.

I reached up and knocked on the heavy wooden door. It opened to reveal the tall melancholy vampire.

"Welcome, my child. Come in." He stepped aside to allow me in and led me to the settee. I sat down and tried to get comfortable.

"It's good to see you again. Marcus. I'm glad you asked me here since I want to ask you, do you see me with your gift? Am I with anyone?" Caius maybe.

Marcus looked a bit surprised that I mentioned his gift. "Yes, I know about your gift. When I arrived here from America, you confirmed with Caius and me, that we were mates and belonged together. Why don't you remember that?"

Since I had arrived here in Volterra, Marcus had always favoured me, and his lack of emotion basically made him more relaxing to be around. When Caius was off on some mission with the guards, Marcus would invite me to his rooms and read to me while I lay my head on his lap. Sometimes he would comb my hair with his fingers in a soothing manner. Anything to calm me during my mate's absences.

"Sit here, child. Aro asked me to talk with you about your delusion..."

"Marcus, it's not a delusion! I'm telling you all the truth. Caius met me in America, and we spent some time while he was in Forks. He asked me to go home with him because we belonged together." How many times did I have to say it. "He checked with you, telling me you have the gift to see relationships." I shut up, too tired to speak anymore.

"I have something to ask you, child. If you want to stay here, Aro has given his permission, as long as you stay with me. Eventually if you wish, you can become my mate and I will change you myself. For now, I will ask nothing of you."

I knew what he meant. I looked over at Marcus. Dear Marcus. I had no where else to go. I nodded silently.

I stayed with Marcus for the next 4 days. He was true to his word, asking nothing of me. Instead, he did what he could to make me feel better.

He had chosen a favourite book, reading to me while my head rested on his thigh. His fingers caressed my head while he played with my hair. His soothing voice became an even drone of words.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

I must have fallen asleep. I rose up on one elbow and looked around me. I was back in my bedroom, Caius' bedroom. Everything seemed as it should be. I turned to see Caius walking from the bathroom as he was drying his hair with a towel while completely naked. I stared up at him with what must have been a look of utter shock, before I jumped out of bed and ran to him, grabbing him and kissing his face and mouth.

"Oh my god, where have you been? I have been looking all over for you and no one knew who you were and everything here was gone..."

Caius dropped the towel when I had grabbed him. "Whoa, my love, what is all this? What do you mean I was missing and everything was gone."

"Am I dreaming now?" I grabbed his hands and looked at him, my expression serious. "I woke up five mornings ago. You were not in our rooms, so I went in search of you, thinking perhaps Aro had called for you. Felix found me and dragged me to the throne room. I asked Aro about you, and he acted like he had never heard of you. No one had. I was sure he was going to kill me since I had no reason to be here and was still human. I think the fact I knew so much convinced him I had been here for the last ten months." I would have rattled on hysterically had Caius not stopped me.

"Allie, shhhh...slow down, love." Caius cupped my cheek gently, then pulled me to him. He was here, back with me, and yet it was like five days ago all over again, only Caius was the one who didn't believe me.

"I spoke with Marcus and he offered to take me in so Aro would not have to kill me. He promised me if you never came back, he'd take me as his mate and change me himself."

"Wait, Allie, what are you talking about?" He gripped my upper arms with his hands. "Who the devil is this Marcus?"

Frowning, I looked at Caius in disbelief. "God, not again."

[randoimago]

Hades for ask game

So freaking excited for Hades 2, ngl

Ask Game Here

3 male characters I love: Zagreus, Dionysus (those freaking thighs oof), Achilles

3 female characters I love: Artemis (I literally simp for her in the game. She gets all my nectar and I get nothing 🥰), Persephone (mommy sorry mommy sorry mommy--), Nyx (same thing as Persephone ngl)

3 romantic ships I love: Orpheus/Eurydice (the amount of nectar and time and love I spent to get them to sing together), Achilles/Patroclus (the amount of nectar and time and love I spent-), Zagreus/Thanatos/Meg (Hades 2 better have a poly as well is all I'm saying)

3 platonic dynamics I love: Zagreus/Minotaur (I really do love the convos and the mutual respect they have even with Theseus's bitch ass there), Skelly/Zagreus (the fact that it's the same voice actor still kills me every time, kind of like how I kill Skelly--),

3 favorite moments in canon:

Being tricked into thinking I had to fight Cerberus and feeling my heart break only for me to let out the biggest sigh (and then deal with the most annoying enemies in the game. They've killed me more then freaking Hades has)

First time hearing Orpheus sing and it's the same song Eurydice sang. The chills I got from his version and how unbelievably sad it sounded. I made a 3 part fic just because of this damn song and the different versions.

The record scratching and music completely stopping after stealing from Charon's shop. I just saw it and didn't even think about it. I barely saw that it said "Steal?" before I had already clicked it. It was just so fucking funny and I definitely let out an "Oh shit" and died to him the first time cause I was not ready.

3 favorite headcanons:

This is another series that I've done so many romantic headcanons for (and I ended up being swamped in requests too, fully expect that for Hades 2 as well)

Hypnos sharing his autograph book with Thanatos. He's just so proud and happy and saying things like, "Well, I got the Asterius's autograph" and Thanatos staying quiet even though he's definitely met Theseus and Asterius several times.

Persephone getting Hades and Zagreus a "Get Along" shirt. No way in hells would they wear it, but it would be such a funny thing for her to do and then she'd explain about the memes of the mortal world (which I can only imagine the memes of ancient greece)

Zagreus trying to teach Thanatos and Meg how to fish. Thanatos actually does a good job, but Meg gets frustrated a bit and scares off the fish (they all cheer when she does eventually catch one).

3 least favorite things about it:

Zeus is in it 😔 (yes I understand that Zeus would be in the game based on greek mythology, but anyone that's into greek mythology or knows a bit about it knows that Zeus is the literal worse).

Apollo isn't in it (I love sun daddy so much. I know he's going to be in Hades 2, but I really would've loved the interactions with Zagreus and choosing one sibling over the other. I just hope Hades 2 Apollo isn't like Lore Olympus Apollo)

I wish there was some more variations with the cast. Like I know there's different dps effects or you get more based on certain things, but I wish that it could have some aesthetic changes depending on which deity you have a boon from.

[myvirtuesuncounted]

so i finally watched the pjo finale after a long day of school (spoilers below the cut)

LUKE'S VOICEOVER OH MY FUCKING GODS 10/10 NO NOTES

finally they showed luke training percy, it would have been more meaningful at the start spending more time at camp though and showing more interactions with annabeth to establish that bond

it was really interesting seeing luke talk to percy about the gods. good foreshadowing and LOVED luke's analogy to spiders, fucking slayed.

THE WAVE THING THAT HAPPENED DURING THE ARES FIGHT!!! 10/10 NO NOTES (will be using this phrase a lot sorry not sorry)

returned the helm. hmm good yeah

annabeth giving percy the necklace!!!! ahhhh!!!

grover's 'this could've been an email' is so relatable fr

olympus looks kinda cool ngl, like a slightly modernised ancient city. i loved the brewing storms over the empire state building but it would've been better if that weather was there throughout the whole quest since that was mean to show how pissed zeus was.

i would much prefer olympus in its glam and glory from the books and the bright white tones that pretty much set olympus apart and made it so intimidating.

percy bowing his head and returning the bolt. hmmm yes shows the gravity of his meeting.

i loved zeus' whole vibe during this scene, no longer pissed about the lack of plane ride since it was perfectly made up for with zeus' insistence to continue the war. hmm the things really do come together here.

percy telling him about kronos and zeus being like 'i don't need a lecture about my father' was honestly amusing to see but delivered like percy was about to be smited just for bringing him up, yesss, really shows how zeus really doesn't want to deal with it.

is it just me or does zeus' indifference towards kronos rising and him being like 'yeah we do that sort of thing all the time' feel weird to me? maybe i'm reading into it too much because one thing that i noticed in the books was that he really doesn't like talking about kronos and acts like he still fears him (see: hades being frightened about it when percy brings it up). idk i'm prolly just nitpicking

'i will not be weakened by my brothers' 'you already are. your family's a mess' PERCY FUCKING SLAYED THE HOUSE DOWN 10/10 NO NOTES.

percy: *tells zeus that his family doesn't love him and that he needs therapy and that his daddy will come put him into place* zeus: yeah this little shit needs to die. (loved that, btw)

POSEIDON STOPPING ZEUS FROM KILLING PERCY AND SURRENDERING FOR HIS SAKE????? 10/10 NO NOTES (also the bolt looked really fucking cool in this scene)

'[percy] is a forbidden son, he shouldn't exist' 'neither should your thalia' YOU TELL HIM POSEIDON

guys we finally got the ancient greek convo that zeus and poseidon had in the books!!!! this is everything i've been wanting for ages!!!!! (also i'm no expert but it sounded really good to me, ofc i have no reasonable information to base my judgement on so don't come at me)

zeus wanting to embarrass poseidon in front of the council?? hhhh the dysfunctional relationships are dysfunctioning!!!! and looking at poseidon's face, you can see how upset he is at having his pride crushed like that but it's all worth it!!!

also zeus 'family business' is one way of describing your father returning from his retirement home to kill you all.

very flashy exit from zeus. disappointed that the 'your uncle has always had a flair for dramatic exits, he would have done very well as the god of theatre' line didn't make it. again i'm just nitpicking but i loved poseidon's sheer sass in that comment.

you can tell from my extremely detailed analysis that the olympus scene was my favourite out of the entire show. what can i say, 10/10 no notes.

lance reddick as zeus, you will always be famous. may you rest in peace

that being said, i hope whoever is recast as zeus should the show continue matches lance's portrayal because it's fucking perfect to me.

the sheer intimidation and prideful rage we saw from zeus??? the divine fury?? that needed to be established for all the gods, especially ares and hades.

the interaction between poseidon and percy was so good!!! toby stephens really gets poseidon so well

poseidon calling ares a moron is so fucking funny btw. nothing like good old uncle-nephew beef

also how the fuck did sally 'high school dropout' jackson teach percy classics-grad level ancient greek??? why would he have not learnt it at camp like poseidon assumed??

'do you dream about mom?' OH MY GODS THE POSALLY IS POSALLYING

really weird for a sea pearl to return percy in the middle of a fucking field near camp. like not even a lake???

percy staring at thalia's tree was sooooooooo (screams)

loved the welcome back that percy received but would have been more impactful if percy had spent more time at camp and we saw how he was kinda ostracised as a forbidden kid

luke requesting a meeting in the woods???? i see...

the betrayal scene was really good but i'm a little disappointed about not getting the scorpion because it felt so much more serious i feel like.

loved luke trying to recruit percy though

was backbiter always able to open portals??? i don't remember it's been like a month since i reread the pjo series.

loved how luke switched from recruiting to fighting percy right after he said 'i met your dad' hhhhhhhh so good

annabeth throwing the dagger?? slay

wow no one in that godsforsaken writers' room wants annabeth to have a single emotion. this is supposed to be the girl who says 'family, luke, you promised' and justifies luke any chance she gets. she should not be this stoic, i think.

loved how luke ran away instead of fighting annabeth. no one messes with my girl.

chiron's discussion with percy hmmmmm, feels a little early to have percy realise luke was right. like yeah in the books he heavily disagrees with the gods but it's not until heroes of olympus where he's like 'you know what, luke had a point'

dionysus being surprised at percy's name was so funny btw. and so was him yelling at the campers to get the fuck out.

PERCY ASKING ANNABETH ABOUT THALIA'S FEELINGS AND ANNABETH GOING 'percy, it's a fucking tree' FHJSFHKJSD

annabeth being scared of disney world is so funny. poor girl is still recovering from waterland

also can i just say she looks so pretty in this scene, i love the hair

percy's 'just be a kid' hhhhhhhh

grover's searcher's licence being a flower??? lmao

percy being so done with kronos in his dreams is so real of him

'did you have another nightmare' 'yeah, grandpa' 'ew don't call him that' so funny by the way

it was an interesting detail seeing that percy was telling sally about his dreams, i like it tbh

'he told me don't forget to tell your mom you love her' 'kronos, lord of the titans, said that?' 'he could have' percy jackson, you will always be famous

percy's final narration is really good, it's more optimistic than in the books, where he was like 'if you think you're one of us, that's not good' but here he was like 'yeah you're probably right, and we might need you'. it's not bad, per se, but the tone it sets is very different.

the change with sally and gabe. hmmm. well what else were they going to do? not fucking surprised.

FINAL THOUGHTS

the finale was overall so good as an episode, where the fuck was this energy for the rest of the show??? it's like they put all the action and tension into just this and ran out of it for the rest of the show. i hope the show gets renewed so i can see my babies walker, leah, and aryan again but i'm scared to see what else they (rick riordan and co) would fuck up.

[consulcato]

I didn't know what to post so I just said to myself: "Why not speak about life in Liceo Classico?" Honestly I know you guys don't care about it but hey I'm going to speak about it because I'm kinda bored so yeah 😎🤟

Let's start with a brief introduction of what is the Liceo Classico.

The Italian “Liceo Classico” is a high school major in humanities: it is possibly the only high school in the world where pupils study both Latin and Ancient Greek and it’s internationally renowned for its advanced curricula in philosophy, literature and history. The literal translation from Italian to English of “Liceo Classico” is “Classical Lyceum” but, as we anticipated above, it’s correctly translated as “humanistic secondary school” or “high school major in humanities”. The “Liceo Classico” is the oldest and most prestigious secondary school in Italy and, before 2012, was actually divided in two segments: the first two years – called "Ginnasio" or “Gymnasium” – trained the students for the second part – the real “Liceo” – which lasts three years. Now, the first two years are called "biennio" (transl. two-year period) and the last three "triennio" (transl. three-year period). Besides that, it was considered so prestigious that, up to 1969, you could not attend an Italian university of any kind if you hadn’t obtained a “Liceo Classico” diploma.

This is our week hours. The translation is:

Monday:

8.15-9.15= Italian

9.15-10.15= Science

10.25-11.15= English

11.15-12.15= Maths

12.15-13.15= Religion

Tuesday:

8.15-9.15= Latin/[Ancient] Greek

9.15-10.15= Latin/[Ancient] Greek

10.25-11.15= English

11.15-12.15= Italian

12.15-13.15= Geography and history

Wednesday:

8.15-9.15= P.E

9.15-10.15= P.E.

10.25-11.15= Latin/[Ancient] Greek

11.15-12.15= Latin/[Ancient] Greek

12.15-13.15= / (we leave school earlier)

Thursday:

8.15-9.15= Latin/[Ancient] Greek

9.15-10.15= English

10.25-11.15= Geography and history

11.15-12.15= Maths

12.15-13.15= /

Friday:

8.15-9.15= Latin/[Ancient] Greek

9.15-10.15= Latin/[Ancient] Greek

10.25-11.15= Geography and history

11.15-12.15= Maths

12.15-13.15= Latin/[Ancient] Greek

Saturday:

8.15-9.15= Latin/[Ancient] Greek

9.15-10.15= Science

10.25-11.15= Italian

11.15-12.15= Italian

12.15-13.15= /

Our school schedule is not messed up at all, actually. This is really good, considering many things. Of course, we have homework everyday and this week, for example, we had a test every day and the next days we'll have tests so yes, this is normal here. Oh, plus, not only tests, but also oral exams where our geography and history professor gives us 110 pages for the next day at 11.27 p.m. Oh, and she's a real bastard, like, she calls 8 people to her desks, does 2 questions each (things that she didn't say in class/things that aren't in the book), she continues to interrogate even when the bell of the end of the lesson rings and she gave all the people in my class a 3 (We have a 1-10 grading system, and below 6 it's a red grade, an insufficient). Like, for tomorrow, I have 130 pages plus the greek oral exam! Oh, also, today our latin-greek prof (don't get me wrong, we love her) entered our class and said "put your desks apart 😃😃" That means, there was a surprise test. Of greek. And god I went to school with 37.4 degrees of temperature (basically a fever) and pfft my mind was not working so yes 😭

These stuff that you see up here are our daily homeworks...of greek. Because yes, we have latin too for the same day!

These are the homework I had to do for today.

Ahem, so, after you cried and asked yourself why the fuck did you go to this school, you watch the clock and see it's 1 am and you think you can finally sleep, but you remember that the professor said some homework in class and she didn't put it on electronic register. With the will to live below zero, you take the enormous dictionaries.

The last step is believing that God actually exists, since you finished at 4 am and you have 2 hours to rest before waking up earlier (6 am) than the other days since you didn't understand half of the stuff that your prof will interrogate you on.

[chaotic-timelord]

TSH spoilers ahead

“My stomach burned but I felt oddly calm. Getting shot, I'd always thought, would hurt a lot more than this.” — this is the way Richard, at least at first, reacts to bring shot. Why? I never got shot so I might be wrong here, but from what I’ve heard and read getting shot usually hurts a lot. So why is Richard that calm about it? He didn’t even focus the group’s attention on the wound until in between half a page and a page later, which means he was probably so caught in the events that he barely remember he should tell them [not that it helped much, but I’ll discuss this other topic later].

My first theory’s quite simply : he was lying. Instead of passing next to a fatal point maybe the bullet just went through his skin, but it wasn’t deep enough to damage anything at all, causing surely less pain than what’d have happened if it were deep. We know Richard’s a very unreliable narrator, and by making the wound sound more dangerous than it was he might’ve tried to make it all more dramatic. Or maybe he’s lying about the pain. I mean, do we really expect Richard, who didn’t describe how it felt to be basically killed by the col when he was in the hippie’s house? [if I remember this right, he described only the events, not the feelings] In reality he was at least sitting down in pain and focusing all the attention on himself, or barely resisting the attempt to do it to see how the tensions in the group’d develop. Richard doesn’t strike as someone who’d gladly write about anything he doesn’t want to write about, so perhaps he wanted to seem braver by narrating as if he was calm during the whole scene.

Of course he might not have gotten shot at all and written he did just because of a really plain reason which’d make it all look stupid- he got a bad grade in his french test and instead of writing that decided to make up a situation where he skipped it or something sounding as ridiculous [imagine the scene : Charles and Henry almost fighting, Francis and Camilla having no idea what to do {with Camilla standing there until nearly the end like the 🧍🏻emoji, Francis probably thinking ‘oh my bacchus I need to drink. And have sex. What if I propose this to the group when Camilla isn’t listening after we’re done here?’ and Richard thinking about how to make it all sound poetic}.

Anyways, back to the theories- he wasn’t lying and was somehow lost enough in thoughts to not even notice he was shot at first. He didn’t feel it, just realised when he looked down. This seems less realistic to me than the previous ones, but Richard got surely influenced a lot by the rest of the greek class - even though he clearly didn’t belong in it - so his first though could have been a quote from a book they’d been studying, or a thought about the translation of words like ‘bullet’ and ‘death’ into ancient greek [yes, I bet Richard would have tried to translate ‘bullet’ into ancient greek. At least he can sort of justify it by explaining how he was still ‘in shock’ about getting shot and so on].

Now, the group’s reactions. As we all know, the group basically didn’t give a damn about Richard in that moment. As I mentioned before they were all busy doing / trying not to do other things [except for Camilla, and I’m not sorry at all to say she lacks a backbone. What the hell was she even thinking before the end? ‘Oh too bad my qpp and my brother don’t get along together. What should I do? Ah, right, stand here like a statue’?], and they either ignored him or thought he was kidding.

I doubt they wouldn’t have seen the wound if they had looked at his shirt, but the majority of them was distracted and thinking about other things - and dealing with an injured person wouldn’t have helped - and Richard said that he looked at /him/. The normal reaction to being in some way called by someone is looking at them in the face, not looking at their shirt. Because of what he had said they should have checked whether he was alright or not, but seeing the situation I doubt any of them even thought it. The only ones who weren’t deep enough in problems to worry about it were Francis and Camilla, but Francis was surely used to Richard lying and saying things not the way they really were, and Camilla was too - scared, worried, overthinking about what’ll happen? I can’t relate to Camilla at all, so like with Richard I have no idea what she might have been thinking back then - to worry about Richard.

On the other side, they might have noticed the wound [and silently insulted Charles for causing that additional problem]. It’s possible that they just ignored it and truly didn’t care, but I doubt it. None of them was emotionally bound to Richard enough to try to help him - plus they were so absent from reality that I’d be very surprised to find out any of them had any medical knowledge - and they must have known their lives were about to change forever, since in a very little amount of time the owner of the place started knocking on the door, so what difference did a dead or injured classmate make? He wasn’t as close as they were. He never went on bacchanals with them. And they killed Bunny, someone they were much closer to, so maybe they silently agreed to focus on what they could still try to sort out and let the owners call an hospital instead, or directly let him die in case the owners weren’t fast enough. Feel free to add anything to any part of the post - I’ve just noticed I don’t have any other idea that makes much sense on the 2 topics, but I’m sure there’s lots of theories I haven’t thought about.

[lucian379]

How did this happen?

By AclinuAzurosan

Summary:

My own take on Iruma being discovered for having a lack of wings. Snippets of before shit goes down. A somewhat crack-fic vibe (low-level) Alice is blissfully ignorant (of Iruma and his feelings) People worry (rightfully so) Iruma is too much of people pleaser Author put low effort........sorry but not really

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Chapter 1:

'How did I end up in here? I need to get away from here! They’re gonna find out!........ Why is my shirt lifting? Wait...' 

"NO DON'T-" 

*Collective gasps from the teachers* 

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Iruma Suzuki, age 14, has found himself in trouble. A great challenge any high schooler must face. Yes, Iruma is facing the dreaded... FINAL EXAM . Now this wouldn't be such a huge problem for most students, expect for the fact that Iruma has never gone to school before Babirus. Meaning he has absolutely no studying skills at all. Why should he? It's not like he was doing everything he had to survive all the dangerous situations his parents put him through. Pssh yeah that's just crazy talk. 

..................... 

'Mom, Dad, why?' Iruma thought crying to himself as his soul leaves his body. 

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Asmodeus Alice, one of the top students in not only the Abnormal Class, but among the first years as well. How would he react to seeing just how bad Iruma is at school? Would he laugh? Would he be shocked into silence? Is he disappointed with Iruma?! 

Answer, blatantly ignore all signs and cry his heart out to Iruma since the image of him being the next demon king is seared into his mind. Az......

"I'm sure you can ace the tests!! I will help you in anything you don't understand Iruma-sama!" 

"Whaa- UH, thank you Az-kun?" 

Oh Alice, when will you realize, Iruma isn't any old demon off the block. 

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Iruma Suzuki, age 14, deceased after one day of 'studying'. 

'I just don't understand anything said in the textbooks. What is this written in? Ancient Greek?' I head down to the dining room, maybe some food will help. 

"Do you want me to tell you what's on the test?" Grandpa says to me, honestly, I don't think that would help me. "Or if possible, we'll give Iruma-kun only the easy questions!" 

'Grandpa nooooo, please, I couldn't even get the easy questions right. Plus, I don't want to be caught cheating.' 

"There is no need to go so far for Iruma-sama. He will definitely score the test with F.L.Y.I.N.G C.O.L.O.U.R.S." Opera, I can't deny that when you say it with such confidence and expectation. 

*weeps heartbrokenly* 

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A classroom, filled with heavy tension, everyone with a book in their hands, "Um..." Asmodeus Alice looks upon the strange scene unfolding before him. 

"Let's leave them alone Iruma-sama. Let's study together instead and see what you need help with!" 

"Ye-yes! Ok let's do this!" 

*one quizzing session later* 

'I'm gonna die.... none of these make any sense. How am I supposed to know what any of this is?' 

'I'm HUMAN! If only I could tell them that, but then I might get eaten.........waaaahhhhh.' 

Iruma Suzuki, yet again defeated by his greatest enemy, school work. 

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Study High; the pleasure of scoring points it causes the person to get a big head on their shoulders. Who do you think became an idiot after scoring full marks on a subject he would obviously know about? 

Is it, (A) Shax Leid, (B) Saboro Sabnock, (C) Keroli Crocell, or (D) None of the above? 

Place your bets down people! 50 grim for the winner! 

......................................... 

The answer? D OF COURSE BECAUSE IT WAS IRUMA SUZUKI THE WHOLE TIME! 

Again, smile and wave boys because Az-Az over blatantly ignores the strangeness of Iruma's lack of netherworld common knowledge. Which brings us to the point before disaster strikes. 

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You know, there are moments in your life where you look back and go, "Yep, should not have done that lol." 

This was one of those moments. 

........................................ 

Clara, Az, and I are walking to Darry sensei's class on 'Demonic History.' Everything is going great! I've got full marks on 'Imaginary Creatures', I must have a talent for things like this! Az-kun said so and everyone else in class! 

Only Darry sensei isn't in class, it's.... Balam sensei? 

"Isn't that...." 

"Ahaha Iruma-sama, maybe we should come back another time."  

"Don't worry Az-kun, I'm sure Balam sensei is-" 

*slither slither up in the air* 

'AH! STOP! WAIT! NO! HUH?! WHO-' 

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'Hehe... I guess Balam is just a touchy guy? Whooooo, at least he didn't seem to notice. Haha.........I just wish he'd take these vines off my back' 

"Creatures like imaginary beings.....The research of imaginary beings.....vastly unexplored place...possible that new........DO YOU KNOW WHAT IMAGINARY BEINGS EAT!?" 

"UWAH! UH-" 

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'Balam sensei is just going over what humans are. Phew, I guess it's good that I'm human. Maybe learning from him won't be so bad.' 

'This Balam person is certainly one to look out for. Grabbing Iruma-sama like that! Oooh, at least you're keeping to yourself now.'  

'BABA SENSEI GIVE PATS! HEHEHE BABA SENSEI MUST WANT TO PLAY TOO!'  

"But the demon world is a very dangerous ecosystem, that's why demons have evolved to gain tails and wings." Balam sensei drones on walking towards his new students. 

"Even without horns, with wings at least you could es...ca...pe...HUH?!" 

'I really should be paying attention to what Balam sensei is saying but I already know all of this. Hmmmm, maybe I can pass with just getting- UH WHAT IS TOUCHING MY-' 

"AHHHH!"  "WHOA!?" 

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'WH-WHERE ARE GOING?! OH NO BALAM SENSEI! WAIT, NO STOP! WHAT'S HAPPENING?!?!' 

Balam sensei is forcefully carrying me on his shoulder. He's running so fast, turning this way and that, I've lost all sense of direction. Ugh, I feel like I'm going to throw up. 

Suddenly we burst through these doors, startling everyone inside. It's...the faculty room? Why- No wait, first I need to get off of Balam sensei. 

"THIS IS BAD!! THIS KID HAS NO WINGS!!" 

'UAAAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!' 

"Balam sensei what are you saying? No wings?" 

"Yeah, they're probably just in his back." 

"THE ROOTS AREN'T THERE! FEEL FOR THEM." 

'How did I end up in here? I need to get away from here! They're gonna find out!........ Why is my shirt lifting? Wait...' 

"NO DON'T-" 

*Collective gasps from the teachers* 

-------------(Talk about back scars)-------------

Iruma Suzuki, age 14, attack: 0, defense: ∞. 

That is, only now. You see, Iruma wasn't simply born with the ability to dodge everything that came his way. He had to learn and teach himself how to dodge. To the point where it became second nature to him. 

Iruma Suzuki...... wasn't always lucky enough to escape a dangerous situation unscathed. He's suffered, and suffered hard from the consequences of his negligent parents. 

He's scarred. He's hurt. And these scars will never go away. 

And that is exactly what he had been trying so hard to hide from everyone, even his adopted grandpa. And now everyone will know. Iruma Suzuki isn't super strong, he didn't train to dodge out of achievement, Iruma had to dodge to survive . 

"Wha-what is this?" A female teacher says horrified. 

"His back... it's..." said a male teacher this time. 

"Iruma... How did this happen?" Balam sensei, you shouldn't have done this. 

I quickly pull my shirt back on and run as fast as my legs can carry me. I can't see, I can't breathe, I feel nothing... nothing but pain and panic. Everything is blurred around me. The lights are too bright. The sounds of everything, too loud. Hide. I need to hide. I need to run away. I need to protect myself. 

'Please, stop. Don't look. Don't look at me! DON'T AT LOOK ME! '

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