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bellamyroselia · 2 years ago

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Kid Icarus & Aphrodite-problem

Well, I guess after Ares and Apollo this was kinda meant to happen eventually. There’s a lot to say about Aphrodite… Or truth to be told, there’s a lot to say about how Kid Icarus seems to have written itself into a corner when it comes to her. I’ve already joked about how Aphrodite isn’t allowed to have things in this franchise despite the fact that she hasn’t even been introduced yet, and that’s the issue. Taking things away from Aphrodite is a risky game, because she’s probably the Olympian who indirectly has had the biggest influence over the Western civilization as a whole. You can’t really act like she doesn’t exist and compositing her with another figure is near impossible… So what to do here?

Compared to the two previous parts, this one went into a much more unexpected direction so discussion is now more encouraged than ever.

Going quickly over Aphrodite’s historical background, her name doesn’t exist in Mycenaean Linear B scripts - what this means is that just like Apollo and Hades, she wasn’t worshiped in Mycenaean Greece but instead came to be during the Dark Ages. As for where she came from, it’s widely accepted that her character was influenced by Phoenician Astarte and Mesopotamian Inanna, both of whom are goddesses associated with not just love, beauty and sexuality but also war… So yeah, come in peace Aphrodite did not. Her oldest points of worship as Aphrodite we recognize can be found on Cythera and Cyprus, and in both of these places she was worshiped under epithet Areia (Warlike). So Aphrodite in her oldest recognizable form was still a goddess of beauty and love but also a war goddess - in case you ever wondered why she and Ares were an item in the mythos, this is it, it’s all about the local war god meeting the import war goddess. But as you may have expected the idea of a goddess of love and beauty also being a goddess of war was seen as scandalous in most city states, and therefore her connections to war were mostly erased, Iliad even having a scene where it’s told that she doesn’t belong to the battlefield. But despite the erasure of her more warlike qualities, that did nothing to slow her down since she still manages to be quite conflict-happy in the mythos and she’s not afraid to go big with it. She’s definitely a goddess whose good side you wish to be on because just like being loved by Apollo gives you huge death flags, being hated by Aphrodite will always make you suffer in one way or another. And how much people tried to avoid being hated by her indeed - she was one of the most beloved Olympians, playing second fiddle only to Zeus. So yeah, Palutena’s in-game popularity is built on a lie!

Aphrodite’s influence in the mythos can’t be underestimated. She of course has at least five children with Ares, these being the twins Phobos and Deimos, the goddess of harmony Harmonia and the most important ones regarding Kid Icarus, Eros and Anteros - Pit being quite clearly an Eros-expy and Dark Pit could qualify as a darker take on Anteros, who’s already a bit more edgier than his brother, being the avenger of unrequited love. This is however just small potatoes compared to all the other myths Aphrodite has featured in; to begin, she’s actually the main reason why the constellation Pisces even exists. The most common tale says that once Typhon attacked she jumped into a river and was brought to safety by two fish, alternative story says that after she was born from the seafoam she was brought to shore by two fish (more often portrayed as ichthyocentaurs in art). She was the one who gave Galatea life on Pygmalion’s wishes and later on would end up falling for their great-grandson, for their daughter was Adonis’ grandmother. On Hera’s wishes Aphrodite made Medea fall for Jason, on Poseidon’s wishes she made Pasiphaë fall for the Cretan bull, she gave Hippomenes the golden apples to distract Atalanta during their race and she did end up causing the whole mess that led into Theseus ordering a hit on Hippolytus. Aphrodite was also the one behind Eos’ lust, as she cursed her to desire a new man every day because she didn’t want to share Ares with other goddesses. She similarly cursed Helios to forget everyone he ever loved romantically and then made him fall in love with princess Leucothoe because he had ratted her and Ares out (long myth short, sad ex desperately wanted to get back with Helios and that’s how we got heliotropes). And to round this up quickly, Aphrodite was the one who gave Pandora her beautiful looks (it was Hermes who made her a bitch), she cursed Orpheus to die terrible death (she and Persephone were having an argument on who gets to keep Adonis, Zeus asked help from Orpheus’ mother Calliope regarding it and Aphrodite saw that as an personal attack) and she along with Hera and Athena was dead-set on getting the apple of discord, which would start the chain reaction that leds into the Trojan war. She also famously wasn’t into Hephaestus, but she wasn’t into Apollo, Zeus or Hermes either so one could argue that good looks and power can only get you so far when it comes to her.

Into more important matters, Aphrodite is the mother of Aeneas, one of the last demigods. He’s first seen in the Iliad as a minor character and his origins are told in the first Homeric hymn to Aphrodite, but his influence would only end up growing as the years went by and not just in literature - you see, gens Julia believed that they descended from Aeneas. Long history lesson short, gens Julia was quite influential in the Roman society as this is the patrician family line the likes of Caesar, Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius and Nero belonged to, without them the world would be much different. Aeneas was also the main character of Virgil’s epic Aeneid, and it’s pretty much the only reason why most of us even care of the name Virgil nowadays. Aeneid’s meaning to Western literature can’t be ignored as one can easily name a work influenced by it, and if you think you can’t you’re a filthy liar - Historia Regum Britanniae makes the first royal house of Britain (the one likes of Blaiddyd, Lear, Goneril, Regan and Cordelia belong to) descendants of Aeneas and Dante Alighieri chose Virgil to appear in Divine Comedy as his guide precisely because he had written Aeneid (Aeneas also appears in Limbo, whereas the likes of Achilles and Odysseus are in much more unpleasant circles, Achilles honestly deserving worse than what he actually got). Other works such as Faerie Queene, Paradise Lost and Os Lusíadas have also been influenced by Aeneid, and that’s only the surface. Through Aeneas Aphrodite holds Western culture in chokehold, for all of this exists only because she thought Achises was hot. It’s pretty weird to think that something like Shakespeare’s King Lear or Devil May Cry exists thanks to her, that truly puts things into a whole new perspective. And you probably thought I was joking about Aphrodite’s influence over Western civilization! All roads may not lead to Rome, but surprisingly many of them lead to Aeneas and therefore to Aphrodite.

As for what’s probably the most important Aphrodite-myth considering Eros, it’s of course the tale of Eros and Psyche. It begins in a city where people had declared that local princess Psyche was as if not more beautiful than the goddess, so they abandoned Aphrodite in favor of worshiping the princess. Aphrodite was obviously angered by this, so she ordered Eros to make Psyche fall in love with something hideous as a way to humble her down. He agreed to do the deed, but once he saw Psyche he couldn’t help but fall for the princess himself - for once in his life he decided to defy his mother’s wishes and crafted a plan on what to do next, even getting the god of west wind Zephyrus on board to help him.

In the meanwhile Psyche was quite miserable, as everyone was treating her more like an object rather than a person. This didn’t go unnoticed by her parents, so they went to console oracle of Apollo for help. Considering how Apollo’s a quite petty man, the oracle told that they should abandon all hope and leave Psyche on a mountain, as she would be marrying someone feared by not only Zeus but also every other deity. Psyche and her parents were obviously horrified by this, but they did as the oracle told and she was left on the pointed cliffside. Later on Zephyrus picked her up and brought her to a beautiful palace, where a disembodied voice told her it was all hers and that she would be provided by many invisible servants while living in there. At first she was nervous to meet her husband, but after the first meeting she started looking forward to their nights together. This continued for quite some time, our main couple grew even happier together but in the meanwhile Psyche’s family was getting more depressed over her fate and she was starting to worry about them in return. Eros promised that her sisters can come to visit her, with a condition that she wouldn’t listen them if they sounded jealous and Psyche agreed. Zephyrus then brought the sisters to the palace once day came, but as expected the sisters started to get jealous really quickly and made Psyche worry if the oracle’s words about her husband being a monster were indeed true - what finally broke the camel’s back was them suggesting that he was planning to kill her and their unborn child. So when the night arrived, she had prepared herself to see if her husband really was a monster, only to be pleasantly surprised when she found Eros in her bed. But while admiring him some oil from the lamp she was holding spilled on Eros, causing him to wake up and leave. Earlier in the story Psyche had said that she’d much rather die than throw this marriage away and she was willing to live by that statement, so she goes to search Eros and atonement - in the meanwhile Aphrodite was behaving like a spoiled brat and made the whole deal about herself and how much suffering it had brought to her. She kept calling her son a horrible child for daring to defy her, refused to refer herself as his mother, said he was a good-for-nothing, loathsome seducer and threatened to replace him as he clearly wasn’t trustworthy anymore. Yikes!

In the meanwhile Psyche had wandered around to find some trace of husband, and she eventually found her way into Aphrodite’s temple. After beating Psyche for a while and having a good laugh over it, Aphrodite then locked her in a room, dumbed different kinds of grains on the ground and said that she should sort them by night if she ever wanted to see Eros again. Sometimes prompted by him, ants nearby take pity on Psyche and helped her - predictably Aphrodite wasn’t all too happy about this, so she came up with a much more deadlier task. The goddess brought Psyche to a grove and told her that she should gather some golden fleece from the aggressive sheep living in the grove. This disheartened her as she knew gathering fleece directly was a suicide mission, but she was consulted by local river deity who told her how the sheep behave and that instead of approaching them she should just collect fleece caught on foliage. Psyche did as was told and Aphrodite naturally became even more enraged, telling her to go gather water from river Styx. While Psyche found her way to Styx without much hassle, she was overwhelmed by the hopelessness of the situation - luckily for her everyone had come to the conclusion that Aphrodite was being horrible and Zeus sent one of his eagles to help Psyche to get the water.

At this point Aphrodite’s patience was running thin so she gave Psyche a box and told her to go into the Underworld, get some of Persephone’s beauty and come back with it because this whole deal of torturing her little daughter-in-law had been so hard for her and she had to look good while going to the divine theatre. After being consulted by a tower on how to actually get into Underworld without dying, Psyche did as was told and and it didn’t take long for her to be greeted by Persephone. She ignored the banquet the goddess had set up for her, told Persephone why she was visiting her and she agreed to help Psyche without a hassle - but after returning into the mortal world, Psyche’s curiosity took the better of her and she wanted to see that beauty herself. It turned out it wasn’t beauty at all but rather Stygian sleep, and it Psyche caused to drop down a like a rock.Thankfully for her Eros finally managed to escape his imprisonment at this point and he flew straight to his wife, drew the sleep back into the box and gently pricked her with an arrow to wake her up. The two had a heartfelt reunion and Eros then brought Psyche to Olympus, asking Zeus if they could now get properly married. Everyone agreed, Zeus told Aphrodite to stfu and they gave Psyche ambrosia, making her the goddess of soul. The two had a glorious wedding as equals and some time later Psyche gave birth to their daughter, either named Hedone or Volupta, the goddess of pleasure, joy and delight - because only with both a heart and a soul, can any of those feelings exist.

Now with all that out of the way, I think you can see what I meant when I titled this post as Aphrodite-problem. She’s literally too important to be ignored, be it when it comes to history, the myths in general, the role she plays in Eros’ life and even in-game references as minimal as they may be (after all, Pisces Heal has to come from somewhere). But despite all of that it’s almost like Kid Icarus wants us to believe that she doesn’t exist, but all that does is launch even more questions. Would she end up upstaging everyone else if she was around? It’s a possibility, and I guess it could also draw a lot of unwanted attention things such as why Palutena would even have angels - Aphrodite having the Erotes around is justified since she’s their mother, Athena in the other hand has no such justification. I think it could be possible that Palutena may have been intended to be in fact more of a composition of Athena and Aphrodite rather than just simply being less problematic Athena; that could explain some things, like why she has angels. Aphrodite is also actually associated with mirrors unlike Athena, mirror not only being one of her symbols but the astronomical symbol of Venus and the female gender symbol in fact is her hand mirror. However it only really makes sense from a marketing standpoint, since Athena and Aphrodite are two deities you really just can’t composite. While I can understand the basic “This is primarily for children so there can’t be anything too sexy here” reason combined with the thought of mother using her children as free labor being scummy with the added misconception of Athena being more ””pure”” when compared to other Olympians for going with more Athena-based character, all it does is create a character with an internal consistency of a flipflop.

What are things Athena and Aphrodite have in common? They’re both Olympian goddesses, neither of them are into Hephaestus, they both wanted the apple of discord, have a kill count and were worshiped under epithet Areia, that’s about it. Pretty much everything else about them is contradictory, the most obvious thing being how Athena is one of the three virgin goddesses while Aphrodite is unapologetically sexual, with all the quirks it brings to one’s life added to the top like parenthood. Their relationships with other deities and people are wildly different, and it just reaches into uncomfortable levels once you remember Ares, his and Aphrodite’s shared children and Aeneas - Aphrodite’s relationship with Eros isn’t really a problem by itself, but it has potential to become one if we want Pit to become independent from Palutena.

Starting with the easier problem which is Aeneas, it boils down to the fact Athena and Aphrodite supported different sides during the Trojan war. That alone is problematic enough, but it becomes even worse when one remembers Athena’s actions during the war. One could even view it as Athena’s villain arc just for the fact that she supported Greeks, because multiple works from Classical antiquity portray the Greek side of war as being pretty morally bankrupt, it all culminating in the lost epic Iliupersis. As for what Athena did during that time, short list includes her doing things such as ignoring the pleads of Trojan women when they asked protection against Diomedes, luring Hector to his death, telling Achilles to go kill Troilus and giving Odysseys a the idea of the horse. Quintus Smyrnaeus even goes as far to say that she and Hera were the only deities happy about the destruction of Troy, which… Yeah. That’s straight-up villain behavior. Pretty much everyone Aeneas has ever loved is either dead or POW at this point, and that’s ignoring how during the war Athena fully supported the guy who tried to kill him. With all this in mind, it’s definitely a good thing that Minerva isn’t an important character in Aeneid. Juno’s the closest thing to a villain it has, so Minerva would’ve likely been in the same boat had she been there.

Moving into the other elephant in the room, it being Ares. He’s Aphrodite’s favorite boyfriend and depending on your point of view, them having one the best relationships among Olympians is either highly amusing or just plain sad. As already mentioned they have at least five children together and if you remember my post about him you know that I think he’s a likely candidate for being Pit’s father, for he and Pit seem to share much more similarities than Pit and Aphrodite. The big wrench here is that Ares and Athena famously don’t get along, which is the complete opposite of his and Aphrodite’s relationship - so what’s the relationship even supposed to be like in the case of the potential composition? Majority the myths of them interacting follow the formula of some guy does a thing → Ares doesn’t like the thing → Athena supports the guy who did the thing, so they’re not even the type of people who autonomously interact with each other. Most of the things in question that anger Ares are however related to his children, which puts things in rather distressing light - you see, going after your lover’s children by other man/woman is pretty exclusively Hera-behavior when it comes to Olympians. Hera’s behavior in these various myths is rooted to the fact that she’s the goddess of marriage and a loyal wife, so this would absolutely not fly with a composite character. Unlike Hera Aphrodite isn’t even married to him, and she also has multiple children with other men like with the already mentioned Adonis and Anchises - so what we would have in our hands now is a character who's a massive hypocrite. One can definitely try to view the myths Athena and Ares interact through romantic lenses and after doing so one could definitely make an argument of Athena being romantically frustrated… But that still leaves way too many uncomfortable questions out in the open, like what’s the case of Ares’ and Aphrodite’s shared children. Even when Eros and Anteros are ignored, it leaves Phobos, Deimos and Harmonia in this odd limbo. Them being specifically Ares and Aphrodite’s children is important to their characters, so whose kids are they supposed to be now and where are they? Considering the way she treats Pit, I doubt Palutena’s actually a mother of any sort but it just makes me wonder who their mother is then supposed to be. Phobos and Deimos being with Palutena would actually make more sense than her having angels, since Athena is a war goddess and would therefore technically have power over twins whereas this isn’t the case with Erotes… And speaking of Eros, wouldn’t this mean that if Pit ever wants to go on his own, Palutena has the potential to become his worst enemy? Aphrodite seen in Eros and Psyche is quite an intimidating figure, even if the worst of it reserved for Psyche.

So… What have we learned here? That Kid Icarus indeed seems to have written itself into a corner when it comes to Aphrodite. That and one doesn’t need Ovid to come up with reasons for Pit to think that Palutena may not be flawless, but that’s a discussion for another day. There wasn’t even any room to talk of potential plotlines, because you can’t even be sure if she can exist by the rules Kid Icarus has set on itself. On one hand, they really badly want Palutena to be like Aphrodite - she’s the one who’s pretty, popular, widely beloved and worshiped, has an interesting history and most importantly, has Erotes as part her retinue loyal to her and only her, them helping to pave the modern day view of angels. On the other hand there are multiple things that don’t just make sense if Aphrodite doesn’t exist as herself… Not to mention that Palutena’s character would take quite a nosedive if the theory of her being intended to be more of a composition of Athena and Aphrodite rather than being simply less problematic Athena is true. The intent may have been good, just take the best of both of them and leave the ugly bits behind, but… Their contradictory natures mean that things that weren’t problems before become ones, so what actually ends up being created is this horrible hypocrite who’s a bad romantic partner and even worse mother. Considering how the games already don’t really want to acknowledge Athena’s actual faults because it would mean acknowledging that Palutena isn’t perfect, all this would do is to make it much, much worse. Palutena’s character would be ruined beyond saving and the tragic part there would be that it was by her very design. Handwaving can only take you so far when it comes to something of this magnitude.

So all in all, I think this post can be summarized to these three points:

If you’re creating something based on an already existing material with an established world, some figures are literally too important to be ignored. However if you’re still trying to pretend that they don’t exist, maybe don’t include any references to them into your work. It just draws attention to their nonsensical absence, which is the last thing you want to do.

Compositing characters is harder than it seems. If it looks like the characters you’re trying to composite may not mix well, it’s better to not composite them at all. Last thing you want to do is to create a character that’s not internally consistent.

On hindsight, maybe it was a bad idea to make the Eros-expy work for a goddess primarily based on Athena.

That’s all from me right now. What do you think? Do you think Kid Icarus can write itself out of this corner or does the series have to accept the consequences of the writing choices that have led it here? Is there even a good way to solve the Aphrodite-problem, meaning that the best way to handle it just to never bring her and people closely connected to her up? I’m interested of hearing your thoughts.

#personal thoughts #kid icarus #kid icarus uprising #ki #kiu #alt. title - watch me ramble & then lose my mid over extremely minor & trivial things

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rottingsparrow · 2 years ago

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Part 5!! Re-reading Lore Olympus :) Ep. 41-50

I just finished reading the new episode too so I have things to say about but that can wait for like in two weeks when I get there lmao Last part:

Ep 41

Simple dialogue is nice once and a while

I know they are supposed to be love at first sight but its so awful to see how they act even if i was crushing hard on someone if they acted like that id be weirded out

“Lets go the scenic route” nah she almost died let her breathe

“Who is that woman” shes 19 you referred to her as a kid

Ah yes the barley mother part of the storyline

It so weird to me its like rachel wanted her to be rich bc she loves painting poor people in a poor(heh) light

Why is it raining atm

Ep 42

PERSEPHONE STOP STANDING LIKE THAT

What a poor way of thinking hades yes you two shouldnt be together but your thought process is unhealthy talk to your therapist

You are so gross hades just dont look at her

Hades really says “sexualise her outfit”

I hate to be that bitch but apollo was right. Not about her needing to change but like in the presence of hades apparently anything is too hot for him

Why does his have a hair comb

“Youre a fertility goddess” ok so thats a whole thing bc later its seen as a myth within the community and everything so what

“This is out of the question” and it shouldve ended there

Ep 43

Also he has the right to turn it down lmao its his company

Hera wont think youre weak

Or maybe she will shes a lil fucked up

“Little goddess, I said no” wow what a normal and healthy power dynamic that isnt questionable at all

Rachel really went all out for unhealthy dynamics, boss and employee, king and citizen, 2000 smth y/o and a 19 y/o. Lets throw in teacher and student why not. Maybe even parent and adopted child

“Im king here” like i said, unhealthy.

“Oh shit i cant make her rich that would make no sense to her problems” dont worry, just make it to where she doesnt use her moms money

Also hades how stupid are you to not see shes hustling you i mean maybe at first but

I do like her wanting to be her own person even tho i think that gets muddled throughout the story

Why is it snowing now wtf

Also shes not gonna die from snow hades wtf

She can go outside on her own

Ep 44

What a weird thing to do introduce an intern

Like wtf let your employees go home

Minthe has a point

Its a very cute scene but then you like remember everything else and its like omg

Like him laughing and her being a lil embarrassed is so fun but tied with everything its a tad weird

Yeah you shouldnt persephone and yall should get boundaries

Persephone why didnt you tell on her genuinely

Dont be rude hades

Persephone has a point, no reason to be super mad

Oh btw heres apollo just incase you forgot he was bad. Did i mention hes bad?

Ep 45

I like this episode while hes contemplating his feelings and then he goes “her ass looks like an upside down heart” and i lose any happiness i had

Like youre 2000 control urself

And im not saying persephone isnt allowed to be sexual or sexualized but the age difference, hes her boss, and also at this point in time she doesnt like it so

Why did you bring the paper from work what

Ep 46

This is one of the prime episodes where minthe gets fleshed out but then rachel says sike later on

ALSO ITS ONLY BEEN 4 DAYS SINCE THE PARTY

Please people can have a day of relaxation where nothing happens

“Neither of us are relationship material” yall definitely let those lines blur

Shes right to be worried

Also hera is so racist to nymphs

“I know im trash already” me in like middle school

No its good to expand on her character

“Thats what everyone expects” is it? I mean how long have you been acting this way yknow

Like i want more context for that line

Idk is hades monogamous

Also zeus does cheat on his wife a lot maybe hades would

He dosent but

“I thought we were supposed to be messed up together” and i think showing a two sided toxic relationship is a great idea but rachel forgets to show hades being bad too most of the time

Also please see a therapist

Ep 47

He has a typewriter old man

“Why do i pay that hack” good point i mean you dont seem to listen to them

I dont get why he gets back with minthe like fear of being alone or what

I like the letter episode though, its nice to hear all of the feelings

Why is she on the roof lol

Ep 48

I love the furies(?)

Hes supposed to be so spooky in this episode hes so lame

Like i agree with them hes a dork

Wow everyone either likes or despises hades/persephone they are such characters

Has anyone heard of a neutral opinion

Minus his employees i guess

Ope he has glasses

Ep 49

I love the random characters getting names its so silly yet fun to me

Hecate please unpop ur collar

Good talk hecate

Does he not care thats the king

In the “salutations” panel hecate loses all meat and becomes very long

Also if these are laws why does no one follow them

Or wait is weekly nark an olympus based newspaper

I always thought he asked “which eye did you take the picture with” but he doesnt so ig im thinking of something else

Also what the fuck just ban him or smth

Ep 50

Yeah artemis maybe it would be easier too if you paid better attention

Shut. the fuck up apollo

Also how is artemis getting taken advantage of here

Love hermes

Hc him as a gay man personally

“There are rules” that literally are never listened too

Also artemis sucks at listening wtf

Like wanting to talk and getting onto someone are two different things

Also like once again, artemis feels likes choosing to be unaware yknow

#anti lore olympus #lore olympus #my opinion #lo critical #lore olympus critical #random thoughts

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godsofhumanity · 4 years ago

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Do you have any headcanons/opinions on the Titans’ other siblings (elder cyclops, hecatoncheires, giants, etc.)

hellllllll yeahhhhhh ❤

THE CYCLOPES (Brontes, Steropes, Arges)

ok so in terms of the age order of Gaia's first few groups of children, i think that the Titans came first, then the Cyclopes, and then the Hecatoncheires.

i've already said this before, but i like the idea the Ouranos was the first being ever created by any primordial ever, and i think that Gaia also didn't know exactly how she did it (after all, there was no one to teach the primordials, right?)

and so, Ouranos comes out and he's completely super-powered and he's effectively on par with the other primordials.

but then Gaia and Ouranos create the Titans, and i think that when that happened, Gaia was creating them with the intention of creating helpers for herself- beings to take care of the Earth.. and this meant that the Titans didn't really need to be super-charged the way Ouranos was.

and we know that Ouranos named the Titans "titans" because they were "puny"- they were always trying to "over-reach" to Ouranos' level.

BUT! i think when Gaia creates the Cyclopes, she was doing it with the intention of creating bigger, stronger children. i mean, i think she definitely loved her Titan kids, but she wanted to create something even bigger than before.

i think Gaia was very proud of Ouranos as a creation, and she wanted to see if she could do it again- so i like the imagery of her moulding the Earth into these little clay figures, and then she breathes life into them and they grow rapidly in size.

and i think that when they were "born", the clouds gathered and rumbled, and there was lightning everywhere... and that's how the Cyclopes were named- Brontes ("thunder"), Steropes ("lightning") and Arges ("bright").

Hesiod describes the Cyclopes as having "violent hearts" and i like to interpret this as meaning that the Cyclopes have a lot of emotion. they feel a lot- just like their mother.

i think that when Ouranos became aware of the Cyclopes' presence, and he chucked them into Tartarus, that scarred them deeply. and when Cronus freed them, only to imprison them a short while later again, they were filled with an immense distrust of the gods (understandably!).

still, the fact that the Cyclopes were willing to forge the lightning bolt for Zeus during the Titanomachy indicates to me that they weren't cold-hearted, and that they could be reasoned with.

i also think that the Cyclopes are highly intelligent beings. they're very skilled with metal-work obviously,, and i like the idea that after all the shit they've been through, Zeus really does honour them and treat them well.

in the Asclepius myth, the Cyclopes are killed by Apollo in a rage, but i like the version where Zeus brings them back :D

also, i like the idea that the Cyclopes taught Hephaestus how to forge stuff and how to be a blacksmith. i think that they are really supportive of Hephaestus and the four of them have a really close relationship.

i think that Hephaestus addresses them sometimes as "Lord Brontes" etc. etc. just as a sign of respect. the Cyclopes are a proud race, and i think that they appreciate being addressed like that- after all, they are older, and wiser and just as worthy of such a title as any of the other gods are.

in terms of individual personalities, i think Brontes is the self-designated leader. he's the oldest, and he's the most sensible. i think he likes to sing/hum while he works :)))

Steropes is more serious than his brothers. he's the middle child and i think sometimes he can be really scary,, but he appreciates those with confidence (not to be confused with: arrogance), and i think he tells awesome jokes.

Arges is the youngest. i think he can be a little quiet, but he's very light-hearted and friendly ^-^

about Polyphemus- i think he and the other Cyclopes are kinda disregarded by Brontes, Steropes, and Arges. they are not brothers and don't really have any obligations to each other as far as they are concerned.

THE HECATONCHEIRES (Cottus, Briareus, Gyges)

after Gaia made the Cyclopes, she created the Hecatoncheires, also called the "Hundred-Handers".

when she made the Cyclopes, i think she made them just to have a little fun. but when Gaia made the Hecatoncheires, i think she made them with the intention of creating beings powerful enough to destroy Ouranos.

Ouranos pretty much got rid of the Cyclopes as soon as they were born- and i think this was a real wake-up call for Gaia concerning the true nature of her husband.

and Gaia is a super maternal being- there could be no greater pain for her than having her children separated from her like that. so she was super pissed at Ouranos when she created the Hecatoncheires.

and i think she channelled all that anger into them. where she had earlier taken time to create clay forms for the Cyclopes, i think Gaia just straight up placed her hands on the Earth and summoned all the rage within her- and that manifested into three great, strong, hulking creatures- the Hecatoncheires.

because Gaia made them with the intention of deposing Ouranos, i think that the Hecatoncheires are more violent and angry than their Cyclopean or Titan siblings.

i don't think that they're particularly intelligent- they're not dumb, but they're not geniuses- but they ARE extremely skilled fighters.

as with the Cyclopes, i think the Hecatoncheires matured to adulthood as soon as they were born. and like 5 minutes later, Ouranos came and they battled.

during his fight against the Cyclopes, i don't think Ouranos broke a sweat- but during the fight against the Hecatoncheires, i think they were the first creatures to ever make Ouranos bleed.

and that was pretty frightening for Ouranos. i think that the Hecatoncheires probably could have won, but since they were technically still just children, and lacked proper fighting experience, they were eventually defeated like the Cyclopes and sent to Tartarus, much to Gaia's despair.

also, i like the idea that the Titans witnessed the defeat of the Hecatoncheires- i think it helps us understand why the Titans were so reluctant to fight Ouranos.. i mean, if the Hecatoncheires barely scratched him, what hope did they have? at the same time though, i like the idea that Cronus saw Ouranos bleed- he knew that his father wasn't invincible and that's where he got the courage to fight him from.

compared to the other "giants", mythographers often say that the Titans were "large", but that idea just doesn't gel with me. i think that they were a normal size for regular gods, but significantly smaller than the Cyclopes and the Hecatoncheires.

anyways, similar to the way the Cyclopes had a lot of trust issues, i think the Hecatoncheires definitely were a little doubtful about Zeus.

there's later versions of the Titanomachy that suggest that the Hecatoncheires fought on the Titans' side, but i reject this version. if Cronus locked up the Cyclopes, then i definitely think he'd have locked up the Hecatoncheires also. it doesn't make sense why he'd imprison one and not the other.

there's another version as well that suggests that the Hecatoncheires were not monstrous at all- they appeared as regular men but were called "hundred-handers" because they lived in a city called Hecatoncheiria ("hundred-arm"), and they rescued the citizens of a city called Olympia. again, i reject this because what's not awesome about having 100 hands?????????

we don't really hear too much about them in later myths, but i think that they went into retirement and are living their best life :)

Briareus, in particular, is mentioned as being given a wife by Poseidon- Cymopolea (who was Poseidon's daughter). and i think that they are very happy together and are in love <3

i'm not sure about the rest of the Hecatoncheires. maybe they had wives as well ^-^

TYPHON

Typhon is best known for his rule as the final challenger for authority over the cosmos, and as such, i think he was born much much much after the rest of Gaia's children- during Zeus' rule in fact.

however, i think he was "created" by Gaia during the Castration of Ouranos.

what i mean by this is that Typhon was born from two eggs, and i think these eggs were created around the time that the Titans first began to fight against Ouranos. but he only hatched during Zeus' rule.

regarding his parentage- some say that he's Gaia's child, some say that he's Cronus', and some say that he was Hera's child alone. well,,, i like the idea that all three of them had some role in the birth of Typhon.

in the Homeric Hymn to Apollo, it's suggested that Hera was furious with Zeus for giving birth to Athena by herself, and so she prayed for a son stronger than Zeus and thus became pregnant with Typhon. in the Iliad, Gaia gets pissed at Zeus for destroying her Giant children, and decides to slander Zeus to Hera, who, in her anger, goes to Cronus for advice on destroying Zeus. in this myth, Cronus gives Hera two """""""""special"""""""" eggs and tells her to bury them so that Typhon can be born.

now,, i really like both of these versions so my hc is that Gaia is the primary progenitor- she created Typhon- but Cronus and Hera both gave Typhon part of their power in order to strengthen him and make him pretty undefeatable.

so what i'm saying is that all three of them had a role in Typhon's birth. i think Hera was angry at Zeus about Athena, so she goes to Cronus and he tells her about Typhon.

this version of events makes sense to me because i think it really emphasises just how angry and hurt Hera was by Zeus- i mean,, you know things are bad when you're resorting to conspiring with your estranged father who tried to murder you as a child.

also, this isn't "canon" i don't think, but my hc is that Typhon was created by Gaia as a back-up in case the Titans were really unable to defeat Ouranos. this would explain how Cronus knew about Typhon, and also why Typhon never ended up fighting Ouranos.

Typhon usually ends up being thrown into Tartarus or gets Mt Etna thrown on top of him by Zeus. tbh, i like the Mt Etna version.

in Greek mythology, gods never die. so i imagine that after a few hundred years of being crushed by Mt Etna, Typhon regathers his strength and that's when he meets Echidna,, and they fall in love, and i think Typhon still likes to make trouble for Zeus through his monster children, but i don't think that Typhon attempts to usurp Zeus again- he's lost interest.

in terms of personality, i think Typhon is pretty violent, but he also has a super short attention span. he has pride, but i don't think it's his weakness.

also, i like Apollodorus' description of Typhon as appearing humanoid from the waist-up, but like a serpent from the waist-down.

THE GIANTS

okay tbh i don't have really have any hc's for the giants. their myth is so vague and sparse and there really isn't anything solid about them T-T sorryyyyyy

#cronus 🤝 horus: having no chill when it comes to bodily fluids #anon #anonymous #asks #hc #the cyclopes #the hecatoncheires #typhon #brontes #arges #steropes #briareus #cottus #gyges #long post

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wallgirl · 4 years ago

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The Little Nereid Part two

2200 words, part two of a five six part fanfiction

Poseidon x OC

Dynamene, youngest of the 50 Nereids, has lived most of her adolescence as a servant alongside her sisters at Poseidon’s palace. But with her coming-of-age birthday and other developments, what she initially thought was just admiration of her master blossoms into something stronger and more passionate… and painful.

Categories: Romance, angst, unrequited love, coming-of-age, earn-your-happy-ending; no NSFW content

---

Once she had collected herself and spent enough time admiring the bracelet on her own, Dynamene rose from the bed with a sigh and went to her door. No doubt her family would be wondering what her running was about.

Upon opening it, several of her sisters nearly fell into the room.

“Why-! What are you all doing here?” Dynamene gasped, quickly stepping out of the way.

“We heard you received your gift, and we didn’t want to disturb you, but we were just so curious…” One of the nymphs tweedled her fingers.

“Ah, yes! My birthday present from Lord Poseidon!” Dynamene beamed and held her bracelet-clad hand up to the light, allowing her sisters a good look at it. They crowded around in awe, cooing with admiration.

“Dynamene! Are you alright? Ianeira said you came running like a madwoman from Lord Poseidon’s quarters…” Actaea halted with relief at the sight of Dynamene showing off her new bracelet. “Oh, I get it now. So he did give you your gift himself, did he?” She gave Dynamene a rather knowing grin.

Dynamene blushed. “I mean… Yes, he did. I was very surprised.” She began to turn the beads of the bracelet over in thought. “I’m very happy with it. It’s even mother-of-pearl.”

“So it is!” Actaea stepped closer to get a better look. “It goes so well with the pins I gave you. You look absolutely spoiled now.”

Dynamene giggled. “I do have to say that I’m very happy with the presents I’ve received thus far.”

“Then you’re going to be even more delighted here in a moment,” another sister called from the far end of the hall. Slender Callianassa stood holding her treasured lyre in both hands. “Why don’t you all come down to the sitting room here? I’ll play you anything you’d like, Dynamene.”

The sisters crowded together down to the large sitting area, one of over a dozen spread out throughout the palace. Dynamene took a place of honor, draped on the side of the couch closest to where Callianassa perched on a gilded chair. “What would you like to hear, Dyna?” Callianassa asked, lightly strumming the instruments strings.

“Play me something by Erik Satie,” Dynamene said thoughtfully. Her thoughts continued to drift back to that moment in Poseidon’s quarters, where she had stood face-to-face with him.

“Oh, Erik Satie! That’s furniture music,” Thoe scoffed from where she had begun brushing Actaea’s hair.

“You’re so old-fashioned, Thoe,” murmured Callianassa. “Let’s see… I’ll start with the Gymnopedies, Dyna.” She began to softly pluck at the lyre.

Dynamene gave a sigh of contentment and allowed herself to close her eyes. It really had been such a wonderful day thus far. She felt so lucky and at peace to be here, surrounded by her loving sisters, enjoying a calm afternoon on her birthday. The golden sunlight washing in through the open windows caressed her skin with warmth. The gentle, bittersweet melody began to envelop her, and she found herself picturing Poseidon’s unwavering grey gaze. The tender somberness of the song brought to mind the emptiness in his eyes. How was it that someone so beautiful, so mesmerizing, felt so completely cold and void?

And yet a powerful aura emitted from him wherever he went. He was heartless, but he was also smart and strong. What he lacked in sentiment he made up for ten-fold as a god with his vast knowledge of the ocean and his subjects.

The ocean, his domain… How fitting for a man as unfathomable as he.

The sound of familiar footsteps echoing along a distant hall brought a stop to Callianassa’s playing, and Dynamene looked up. The rest of the Nereids halted whatever they were doing and stood; those footsteps could only belong to one person. Dynamene quickly got to her feet as well, straightening her peplos with quick hands. She felt that strange tingle returning to her veins, creeping from her wrists up her spine.

Lord Poseidon entered the room, and the fifty sisters immediately dropped to a quick curtsy. As the eldest, Ianeira stood at the head of the group, ready to engage their master.

He said nothing, as he was typically wont to do, for a moment, taking in the room. “We will be receiving Lady Hera here tomorrow afternoon.”

Several of the sisters tilted their heads or tapped their chins in reaction to the news. Lady Hera didn’t visit that often, but she was one of the few Olympians to make it a point to see her brother from time to time. Unfortunately, Lord Poseidon and Lady Hera didn’t often see eye-to-eye, and her visits often ended with him annoyed and her in a rage.

“I will be meeting with her in my quarters. There is no need to prepare the guest suite,” he finished.

That part wasn’t unusual. Poseidon did his best to keep his interactions with his family private affairs, usually entertaining them in his sitting room in his private quarters. The sisters exhaled silently in relief. Hera was always polite to them when she visited, but she had incredibly high standards of cleanliness, not unlike her brother. Preparing a suite for her was always nerve-wracking.

“Of course, my lord,” Ianeira replied. “We will see to it that the palace is fit to receive her.”

His instructions finished, Poseidon turned and left as abruptly as he had arrived. Dynamene stared after his vanishing figure, her hand lingering on the bracelet.

“We have our instructions,” Ianeira said, turning to the others. “We’ll start the preparations after lunch.”

With that, most of the sisters returned to their leisurely activities, some breaking off to have lunch early. Callianassa took her lyre up once more, and Dynamene returned to her perch on the couch. But her mind was now racing with the news of Hera’s visit. Hera usually came to Poseidon’s palace with one goal in mind…

Convincing him to marry.

It was just in her nature. As the goddess of matrimony, she worked hard to pair up her relatives and see them happily settled. A loner like Poseidon who refused to take a partner irked her to no end. Dynamene wasn’t entirely sure what her end goal was in seeing Poseidon married, but that mystery was best left to the Olympians who knew her well. Perhaps she considered Poseidon’s refusal to marry a personal affront to her own nature as the goddess of marriage. No matter her persistence, however, Poseidon would never bend. That was why their visits always ended in both parties with a sour mood. Dynamene often wondered why he bothered to entertain her coming in the first place, but then again, Poseidon was a pragmatist in these matters. He probably allowed her to make her arguments simply to keep the peace between him and her – and by extension, her husband Zeus.

Not that Hera herself was someone to trifle with on any accounts. One disastrous visit 700 years ago had ended with Hera punching a column that upheld Poseidon’s personal balcony, completely levelling it in the process. It had taken forty skilled workmen seven days, working day and night, to restore it to its prior condition. Hera was the most feared goddess of the Greek pantheon, sheerly on account of her wrath. Not to say that Poseidon could not take her in a fight; he mostly certainly could, and he would win. But Hera’s destructive fury wouldn’t leave him unscathed, if things came to blows.

Dynamene swallowed and forced herself to come back to her senses. There was no point in letting her fears run away from her. Since that incident so long ago, Hera had been largely successful in reining in her violence around her brother and his palace. Nowadays, when she visited, only harsh words were exchanged.

And yet, Dynamene found herself dreading Hera’s arrival. Was it because of Hera herself?

Or was it because of the topic that would no doubt be broached yet again?

“Alright, sisters,” Ianeira called, clapping her hands. “Lunch is ready for all. We’ll begin work after.”

With a sigh, Dynamene pulled herself from the couch. There was no use worrying now.

Several hours later, with the great entrance hall freshly scrubbed and polished, and the special velvet carpets laid out, the Nereids’ work was done for the day. Dynamene slipped out onto one of the smaller balconies overlooking the ocean for a breath of fresh air. She inhaled the scent of the seawater with relish; as a sea nymph, it would always be her favorite scent. The door softly opened and closed behind her, and Actaea stepped forward in the moonlight to join her.

“Finally, everything pristine and in its place,” her older sister sighed, gazing out at the ocean. “I’m sorry the latter half of your birthday was so dull.”

“No, it’s fine,” Dynamene smiled. “I got to spend plenty of time with all of you, and several nice presents to boot. I’d say it was a pretty fine birthday.”

“Always the optimist,” Actaea tousled her hair fondly. “Well, I’m glad you enjoyed it. You won’t have another for the next century!” She sighed, voice full of reminiscence. “I cannot believe you are a woman now. It seems not long ago, when we first arrived here, you were hiding behind our skirts and shrinking behind furniture. And now look at you; a smart, well-read, considerate young lady.”

“I still don’t feel that… grown up,” Dynamene confessed, looking down at her hands. “I still look so childish. And I’m still so clumsy.”

“Coming-of-age is just the line drawn by the world, the official cut-off point between child and adult. The task of growing up is a giant blur; not one you can compartmentalize. Give it time, and you’ll feel grown-up soon enough.” Actaea smiled kindly.

Dynamene took a deep breath, deciding to share what was weighing on her mind. “Truth be told, I am… worried about Hera’s visit tomorrow.”

“Oh, everyone is worried about that,” Actaea laughed. “But she’s been well-behaved these past several centuries, no? I don’t think we have much to fret about.”

“Well, yes, but… It’s not just Hera’s temper. I mean… She always comes to talk to Lord Poseidon about one thing,” Dynamene continued lowly, twisting her hands.

Actaea looked mystified for a moment, then her eyes widened lightly as it dawned on her what Dynamene was referring to.

“If Poseidon marries, we’ll have a lady-of-the-house,” Dynamene ventured. “And I suppose I’m just worried about what that would mean for us.” She turned her bracelet over on her wrist. Its iridescent surface caught the moonlight in haunting cool hues.

Actaea was quiet for several moments. “Dynamene, you know as well as I do that Poseidon will never take a bride,” she said softly.

Dynamene looked up at her older sister’s face. There was something she couldn’t place in her sister’s eyes. She slowly turned her face back to the ocean, gripping the balustrade tightly. “You’re right,” she replied. “It’s not something we should worry about.” A tight pricking sensation came to her chest.

Actaea squeezed her shoulder comfortingly. “We should head to bed now, little sister. We’ll want our energy for whatever Hera brings our way tomorrow.” She grinned dryly before going back inside, leaving Dynamene alone again with her thoughts.

Dynamene gave the dark ocean with its frothy foam one last longing glance. Her thoughts had been in a dizzy whirlwind all day long, it seemed. She desperately wished that she could go down for a swim, just to clear her head…

The more she considered it, the better it sounded. The idea was tantalizingly delicious in the face of the strange weight in her heart. With quick, quiet footsteps, she rushed through the dark palace and down those 150 steps to the shore. She took a moment to take in the vast ocean again, with its white foam crests and the soothing rush of its waves. Stripping off her peplos and chiton, she folded them and placed them atop a nearby rock, making sure the pins gifted to her by Actaea were wrapped well within. Dynamene looked down at her wrist, momentarily debating taking off the bracelet as well, but couldn’t bring herself to remove it. Surely, as mother-of-pearl, it would be just fine in the seawater, wouldn’t it?

With eager steps, she waded into the cold ocean water, allowing the spray of the waves to pelt her skin in its soothing rhythm. She closed her eyes, forcing herself to concentrate. Her older sisters were much more skilled in joining themselves to the water, but she still needed more time to focus her energy. Before long, her body began to slip away in the ocean, melting into foam. She gave a sigh of contentment. Although they might spend the majority of their lives in humanoid form on land, the Nereids were really most at home in the sea, their source of life and spirit. The dark, powerful waters cradled her fluid form, not unlike the weight of that presence she cherished back on land.

With her body now joined to the water, her essence little more than a current, she slipped deep into the darkness and allowed her thoughts to melt away.

---

Author’s notes: A new sister added to the bunch. The Nereids asides from Dynamene are:

Actaea – caring sister

Callianassa – musically inclined sister

Eione – tomboy sister

Thoe – rude sister

Ianeira – oldest sister

I did my best to pick names for them that are each unique, to help differentiate them. These are all names of Nereids mentioned in real Greek mythology, but the resemblance largely stops there.

Now we’re starting to bite into the meat of the story; the main conflict. You know, Poseidon is a really static character to have as a love interest, but I have plans to flesh him out a little bit more in the next parts, so it doesn’t seem like Dynamene’s in love with a freaking statue (though with the way he acts most of the time, she might as well be)

What is the time period this fic takes place in, you ask? no one asked that

Well, it’s kind of an anachronism-stew situation. If we try to put a time on when Poseidon rose to power as king of the oceans, we might be able to slap the date on that as 1000 BC, roughly around when the Greek Pantheon as we know them started to be widely worshipped. Assuming that the Nereids came to serve Poseidon around the same time period, and that it’s been 1000 years since, that puts us around the year 0. However, Erik Satie composed the Gymnopedies in the late 1800s. So who knows? I’ve given up on making it make sense

#record of ragnarok #record of ragnarok poseidon #poseidon #poseidon x oc #fanfiction

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365days365movies · 4 years ago

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March 12, 2021: Jason and the Argonauts (1963) (Part Two)

Probably shouldn’t have talked so much in the first part...

Well, it’s all good. Epic-length Recap for a movie about an epic tale! Greek mythology, man, what can I say? Other than, of course, let’s keep going! Part One of the Recap is right here!

Recap (2/2)

OK, so where were we? OH RIGHT, Heracles fucked up!

See, Talos is a bronze giant with various origins. In one case, like in the movie, he was built by Hephaestus. He was built with a single vein, which ran from his neck to his ankle, and contained a golden ichor that sustained him like blood. Said vein was protected by a nail in his ankle, and he would bleed out and fall to the ground useless if it were removed.

So, sure, I could talk about the fact that Talos only encountered the Argo on the return journey, after they’d gotten the Fleece already, and that all he did was throw rocks at them as they passed the island of Crete (which he protected), only for...somebody who’s coming in later...to put him to sleep, allowing the group to pass. But, uh...

Yeah, that’s cool as shit. Which the Argo basically FUCKED for now, Jason speaks with the figurehead of Hera, and asks for some advice. She simply says to look to his ankles. I like where this is going. She also tells him that this is Heracles’ fault, which I’m sure pissed her off even more, given their history. That’s confirmed when Jason and the remaining Argonauts make it to shore, and Heracles is still holding the staff, the great idjit.

Jason quickly formulates a plan, and the Argonauts keep Talos’ attention while he gets close to observe his ankles. He notices a large stopper in the back, and sneaks up behind him to remove it. And once he does, the ichor releases itself. And it looks...awesome? Holy shit, it looks awesome.

And Talos falls to the ground, broken and dead, but at a cost. He falls on top of the frail Hylas, almost certainly killing him. Damn, poor dude. They repair the ship, and also try to find Hylas amongst the rubble and on the beach. An extremely guilty Heracles pledges not to leave the island until he finds Hylas, alive or dead.

The rest of the Argonauts aren’t happy about this, and refuse to sail without the guy who’s inarguably the most powerful amongst them all. Jason decides to burn his last bit of help from Hera, who informs ALL of the Argonauts that Hylas is dead, and that Heracles is not fated to accompany them any further. Which, yeah, is similar to how that plays out in the myths. And so, off they go to find a blinded man named Phineus, on Hera’s command.

Phineus (Patrick Troughton), meanwhile, isn’t having the best time in the world. On the island of Thrace, the seer Phineus is being attacked by the vicious Harpies, pictured here as demonic women with the wings of bats. Phineus, see, was punished by Zeus or revealing the future to mankind, and was both blinded and beset upon by the Harpies for all of his days.

The Argonauts save him from the Harpies’ recent torment, and Phineus agrees to help them IF Jason can permanently free him from the Harpies. Jason agrees, although Zeus is seemingly pissed off by this promise. The deed is accomplished by having Phineus serve as bait to the admittedly badly composited Harpies, and the Argonauts capture them by using nets to trap them.

And no, that’s not how it goes down in the original myth. But, since the Wind Brothers aren’t in here, there’s not an option for an aerial chase between them and the Harpies, which...holy shit, I NEED this to be in a modern movie, can we remake this? Please? PLEASE??

Now that they’ve completed their side of the bargain, Phineus feasts and gives them directions to Colchis: go through the Clashing Rocks, and head from there to Colchis. Without the protection of the gods at this point, Phineus offers them a clay token of some kind, and they part ways. The Argonauts make their way to the Clashing Rocks, which seem totally fine. But Argos is suspecious of this, not trusting Poseidon and other gods of the sea. They observe another ship coming through the Rocks. And it initially seems fine...until...

The rocks tear the other ship apart, and also cause the deaths of one of the Argonauts as well. The other ship sinks, but Jason insists on going through despite this. He says that the gods want their entertainment. Zeus overhears that, and says that he’s going to far with that comment. However, and unhappy Hera agrees with Jason, that the gods themselves are going to fair with this gambit.

In their little game in Olympus, Hera is left with only one movie, which she enacts as Jason throws the clay token into the sea. And from it...

Holy shit, it’s Triton (Bill Gudgeon)! A merman (and eventual father of a Little Mermaid), Triton was the son of Poseidon and the sea goddess Amphitrite. A messenger for his father, Triton is one of the most prominent symbols of the sea gods, which aren’t limited to Poseidon. And while he had absolutely nothing to do with the Clashing Rocks, he did encounter the Argonauts on their journey back. But yeah, not much to his appearance there that warrants mention.

What DOES warrant mention is what happens afterwards. See, the Argonauts row like hell, and they make it through with Triton’s help. But Jason sees a survivor of the other ship’s destruction. That survivor is...Medea (Nancy Kovack).

WHAT

Um...no. Medea, see, is the daughter of the King of Colchis, Aeëtes. She’s the head priestess of Hecate, and a powerful sorceress in her own right. She meets Jason on Colchis, and definitely had no ability to leave the island on her own, or even with other people in general. Once meeting Jason on Colchis, she quickly fell in love with him, and agreed to show him to the Fleece IF he pledged to get her off of the island. He agrees, and the two get married.

But Jason DEFINITELY doesn’t rescue Medea from a shipwreck, that’s for goddamn sure. Still, OK, I’ll deal with it. Jason and Medea introduce themselves, and the group heads towards Colchis. In the process, Jason decides to scout on the island alone, to the anger of Acastus. However, Jason’s now learned exactly who Acastus and his father are, and accuses him of trying to kill him. A fight ensues, and Acastus is thrown overboard. Son of Poseidon Euphemus (Doug Robinson), is sent after him, but the traitorous Acastus kills him, and disappears beneath the ocean waves.

On Colchis soon after, Medea heals Jason’s wounds with the nectar of a native flower, then invites him and the Argonauts to the performance of a ritual to Hecate, goddess of sorcery and magic. Also attending this ritual is Medea’s father, King Aeëtes (Jack Gwillim). There, he waits to meet with Jason, whom he invites to dine with them that evening, along with the Argonauts.

Jason is a bit caught off-guard by this, but they accept. At dinner, Aeëtes reveals that he knows he’s come for the Fleece, to take or steal it from Colchis. He’s been warned of this not by Medea, but of Acastus, who managed to make his way to the island after all. Dick. Jason and the Argonauts are imprisoned by Aeëtes and his men.

That night, Medea goes to pray to Hecate, the goddess of darkness who gave her the gift of foresight. In love with Jason, she decides to betray both Colchis and Hecate’s will in order to save Jason and his Argonauts. And as she goes to free Jason, this is a great time to talk briefly about one of the most complicated characters in Greek mythology: Medea. This is gonna be a little long, so you can skip it if you wanna just get back to the movie.

See, here’s the thing about worshipping a chaotic evil Greek goddess: you've gotta be a little chaotic evil yourself. And Medea...oh boy, Medea. In order to escape her dad, Medea distracts him by killing her brother. Yeah. She made amends for that act with the gods, and then helped to heal Atalanta, and defeat Talos. She also helped Jason’s dad, and Jason eventually fell in love with him, with some...help from Hera. That help resulted in Medea helping to kill Pelias, then fleeing to Corinth with Medea, where they married.

But 10 years of being married, Jason decided it would be a good idea to cheat on the terrifying chaotic evil sorceress for a younger woman. Which is when Hera, the GODDESS OF MARRIAGE, finally abandoned Jason. Medea, meanwhile, LOST it. She gave Jason’s new fiancée a poisoned wedding dress. She killed the bride AND her father in one fell shot when she hugged him. In front of him, she KILLED THEIR TWO SONS, then took the FUCK OFF FOREVER, leaving Jason a broken fucking husk, partially because of his own stupidity.

So, you can see why this little union here is a...mixed bag of emotions.

Medea pleads with Jason to flee with his men, without the Fleece in hand. Seeing that she can’t convince him away from it, she forces him to bring her along, and she will help him steal the Fleece from the tree where it rests. Jason and Medea free the Argonauts, and Medea tells the how to escape. They then head out to obtain the Fleece.

However, Aeëtes figures out pretty quick that Medea’s betrayed him and Colchis, and sends his men after them. Acastus, meanwhile, has headed out to get the Fleece for himself. Dick. And unfortunately, he finds it before Jason and Medea get to it.

And yet...when Jason arrives there to get it, the Fleece is still intact. And that’s because Acastus wasn’t able to take it, having been killed by the Fleece’s guardian...the Lernaean Hydra?

Um...wow. That’s a few hundred miles out of its natural distribution. Also, it’s alive? How? Hercules killed the SHIT out of it, a long-ass time ago! And in case you weren’t sure, no, this isn’t in the original myth. However, it’s a dragon guarding the Fleece instead, so...I guess they made a compromise? Shame, too, because the Colchian Dragon has the ability to create soldiers when its teeth are buried in the earth, similar to the Ismenian Dragon that was used by Cadmus.

...Sorry, went a little overboard. Anyway, Jason kills the Hydra (with no help from Medea, by the way), the Argonauts arrive to help him grab the Fleece, and Aeëtes and the Colchians follow after them, pissed off. Aeëtes prays to Hecate to deliver...the Hydra’s teeth. Interesting. If this is going where I think it’s going, then I will be VERY happy.

Aeëtes and his men collect the Hydra’s teeth, and set off after the Argonauts. They catch up, and they shoot Medea with an arrow, KILLING HER? WHAT? But then, Jason uses the Fleece to heal her wounds, and brings her back to life. OK, fine, fine, you can give the Fleece that bullshit superpower if Medea gets to live. Just then, Aeëtes shows up, bearing the Hydra’s teeth. He preys to Hecate once again, and throws the teeth onto the ground. And...

HELL YEAH, IT’S THE SPARTOI, BABY!

These undead soldiers created from the Dragon’s Teeth were originally sown by Cadmus, on command by Athena. He made them defeat each other, and therefore escaped their wrath. The Dragon itself was sacred to Ares, so this whole thing had some other implications.

In the Jason myth, Aeëtes made him sow the teeth in order to win the Fleece, and he did. Jason also defeated them in the same way that Cadmus did: he threw a stone amongst them, confusing them enough that they fought each other to figure out who threw the rock. But in this movie...in the movie, they’re just fighting. And I love it.

Look, I can never claim that Harryhause’s effects aged particularly gracefully, but this shit is still pretty goddamn awesome. Honestly, I’m having a ball watching this climactic fight between the skeletons and Jason’s crew. And this fight has consequences! The Spartoi here actually do kill some of Jason’s men, and end up forcing Jason himself off of a cliff into the water!

He escapes, and makes his way to the ship, just as Hera tells Zeus that the game is now over. He claims that it isn’t at all, and Hera looks on as Jason and Medea reunite on the ship. He gives the a reprieve, and...

WAIT WHAT??? That’s IT? It ended so...abruptly! We don’t even properly get a resolution, or see Jason return to Thessaly, or...THAT’S IT” ARE YOU GODDAMN KIDDING ME? WHAT THE HELL?

...See you in the Review, I guess. Damn.

#jason and the argonauts #don chaffey #ray harryhausen #todd armstrong #nancy kovack #honor blackman #ary raymond #laurence naismith #greek mythology #argonauts #argonautica #apollonius rhodius #user365 #365 movie challenge #365 movies 365 days #365 Days 365 Movies #365 movies a year #movie recap

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paladinwife · 3 years ago

Note

I'm sure you're already gonna get some but just to be sure, all of the mythology asks for Raiden :> (both of them or either, your choice <3)

Me blasting Rules of Nature as I answer this

Also because this is a lot this will just be Metal Gear Raiden! Baal will have to be separate

Zeus: How did you first meet your f/o(s)? How did you feel about each other at first?

So I’m still working through this, but: my theory is that the people that hurt and nearly killed Elise were involved with the Patriots (not that she knew), and so her pursuing revenge resulted in her basically accidentally walking in on the plot of MGS2. She and Raiden run into each other this way some time shortly after the whole incident with Rose (where, in this timeline, he won’t forgive her and refuses to take her back). After their chance meeting they actually start bonding and see each other more and more.

Hera: How did you first start your romantic relationship with your f/o(s)? How did the way you feel about each other evolve to get to that point?

And this jumps off perfectly from the last question! Like I said, after their meeting, they start getting closer and spending some actual time together. At some point, Raiden realizes he’s following Elise like a puppy, but he’s nervous considering how badly his last romantic relationship went. Eventually, though, his feelings win out and he does approach her about dating, and Elise is happy to accept.

Poseidon: Do you and your f/o(s) like to travel? If so, where do you like to go? Is there anywhere you’d like to go that you haven’t yet?

Raiden and Elise travel a lot for their careers, but I think they really want to travel together. First priority is to go somewhere with a nice beach and just have a relaxing time, I think. But there are so many countries they want to see together when they have the chance.

Demeter: What’s your favorite season, and how do you like to spend that season together?

Elise loves autumn - not only is it her birth month, but the weather is lovely, and she loves to have some tea and enjoy the leaves changing color. Raiden doesn’t have particularly strong feelings on any season, but he appreciates how happy autumn makes his wife, and also that’s it’s Wife Birthday Time. Besides, he has some unfortunate memories associated with spring.

Athena: Are your f/o(s) interested in any particular hobby or interest of yours? Have you taught them about it, or let them watch you, or anything similar?

Elise, particularly after getting some cyborg augmentation in her arms and hands, starts getting really interested in visual art, especially painting. Raiden doesn’t know shit about art, but he knows that what his wife creates is super cool and he’s so proud. Also, Elise is a bit of a fitness buff to try to keep the human parts of her body strong and healthy, and Raiden is more than happy to watch if not join her just for the fun and moral support.

Apollo: What do you like best about your f/o(s)? What does your f/o(s) like best about you?

Ask this question to either of them and their first response will be “everything”. They adore each other. If Elise had to pick one, it would be his strength - not physical (though she is impressed with what he can achieve there), but the fact that he just keeps going despite everything. She had a lot of admiration for him in that regard and does her best to stay strong too. If Raiden had to just choose one, he would choose her heart. Not only is she the first person to treat him kindly and let him just exist as himself, but he sees the kind and gentle way she handles other people. She has a lot of love in her heart for others, and he doesn’t see a lot of that, so he thinks it’s beautiful. Also, he’s quick to add, she’s smart as hell and he admires that so much.

Artemis: Do you have any LGBT+ headcanons for you f/o(s)? Do you share these identities? Feel free to share anything else special about your LGBT+ identities.

They’re both bi as hell. I’m aware that most of Metal Gear is very bi, but Elise and Raiden are both extremely bisexual and love each other in an extremely bisexual way.

Ares: Are you ever protective of your f/o(s)? Are they ever protective of you?

Oh, both. Mutual protectiveness. Raiden being protective of her is obvious, but at any given time Elise is ready to fuck up anyone that would dare hurt him any more. Also they’re both more than ready to fight each other’s shitty exes.

Hephaestus: Do you and your f/o(s) ever like to get gifts for one another? What kind of gifts?

Yes! I’ve previously addressed Raiden’s tendency to get Elise cheesy souvenirs when he travels - he likes getting her little things like that. He also likes picking up things that remind him of her. Elise is also aware of Raiden’s tendency to not get things for himself, but one time she bought him something nice that she thought he’d like and he has treasured it ever since. It’s not about the actual thing, but more about the fact she loves him, right? She also apparently gets him t shirts that say silly things because he loves them.

Aphrodite: How do you and your f/o(s) like to show love to each other? Feel free to include your love languages, if you find that helpful.

Raiden kind of struggles to figure out his own love language and shows love in multiple different ways. I think, though, his primary one is quality time, and he very much appreciates just being around Elise. Second is physical touch, as he ends up really loving giving physical affection to her and the warm feeling of her skin. Elise likewise dabbles in all of them to a degree, but she tends towards acts of service - she will constantly go out of her way for him in a way that isn’t lost on him. She also does have quite the way with words that makes him feel all warm and fuzzy.

Hermes: Was it love at first sight? Slow burn with lots of pining? How fast did your relationship progress?

Raiden fell very very fast. He was like a puppy following her around. In spite of his trauma, or maybe because of it, he melted at her kindness and care right away and couldn’t get enough. Elise was a little slower, but I feel like she was surprised at how fast she fell. They were both careful in progressing the relationship, given their trauma, but it’s hardly a slow burn.

Hestia: What makes you and your f/o(s) feel at home?

Raiden’s answer is Elise herself. Before he met her he didn’t have anything that strongly felt like a home - recall that Rose got mad at him for having a mostly empty bedroom because he didn’t come back to it often. It was Elise being there that made him want to come home more often. It’s less about the location and more about coming back to her, you know? Elise’s answer is actually similar - she’s not from where they live now and has moved around a lot in her life. Her attachment is more with him than to the place.

Dionysus: What do you like to do with your f/o(s) for fun? Is there anything fun you’d like to try with them?

Actually? Watching movies together at home. Raiden has a strong interest in that kind of thing, and watching them at home means he doesn’t have to try to pretend to be “normal” around others, whatever that means. It’s kind of been their thing since their first date. They certainly try lots of fun things together, but that one is special.

Hades: Would you ever consider a pet with your f/o(s)? What kind of pet? If you already have one, what is the pet like?

Honestly he deserves a dog. Again I’m leaning towards a bigger dog, but I think he’d love any dog. Just give this man a dog and he’ll dote on it. I’m particularly fond of a GSD for him because he kind of reminds me of one.

Persephone: How different are you and your f/o(s)? How do you deal with each other’s differences?

Honestly, more similar than you’d think. Aside from some shared trauma, they’re both very strong and persistent, and they’re full of compassion for others. I just think their strengths lie in different places. Really the similarities helped them bond quicker.

Nyx: Do you have any children with your f/o(s)? Would you ever consider children (biological or adopted)?

Well, I’d consider John (normally mothered by Rose, but now mothered by Elise herself) their son. I also made the mistake of referencing “children” to Justice, implying more than one, so uh. Watch this space.

(Thanatos answered here!)

Hypnos: Do you like to sleep together or share a bed with your f/o(s)? If so, what position do you sleep in? Does anyone hog the blankets, or have a stuffed animal, or have nightmares and need the other for comfort? Anything else along those lines?

Anyone who has played MGS2 knows Raiden is not naturally comfortable sleeping with other people. It takes him a while, but he does get to that point with Elise. Even better is that he finds that Elise soothes his insomnia and troubles with nightmares a lot. They tend to sleep hugging each other, by Elise’s request but with his enthusiastic consent.

The Erinyes: How does your f/o (or f/os) respond to someone mistreating you? Do they confront the person? Do they comfort you?

Raiden. Gets. Furious. He can’t stand the thought of someone mistreating his wife. He would fight them if necessary. But at the same time, Elise isn’t that different: hell hath no fury like Elise pissed off that you’re mistreating her husband, who has been through enough.

The Moirai: What is your “happy ending” for your ship? How do you end up? What kind of life do you want together?

It’s for them both to finally be at peace. They’ve been through so much, and now that they have someone that they can truly trust, they can finally let their guards down and just exist peacefully. I think that’s the happy ending for them, regardless of everything else about how they end up.

(Calliope answered here!)

Thalia: Discuss any fluff ideas you have for your ship. What kind of affectionate or sweet scenarios do you like best for this ship?

Raiden really likes holding hands with Elise. Not only is he tickled by how tiny her hands are, but he finds it very soothing. Sometimes it’s hard for him to pretend for the public to be a completely normal un-traumatized person, but her touch and her hand put him at ease. He asks to hold hands with her a lot.

Melpomene: Here’s your dedicated angst question: discuss any angsty or hurt/comfort ideas you have for your ship.

This is hard, since I see this as such a happy ship. But the one thing is: when it comes to their first child, instead of faking a relationship and devastating Raiden, Elise probably tells him what’s going on and goes into hiding to protect her and their child. She probably had to have his first child alone and desperately hope that he would come back to her alive, and that’s a pretty painful thought.

Euterpe: What song(s) suit your ship best? Any particular lyrics that fit well?

From Take My Breath Away, the titular song for the ship:

That’s pretty painful but also very fitting.

Erato: Does any canon ship remind you of your ship (if you like those)? What tropes or ship dynamics apply to your ship?

Remember the girlboss/malewife pair from FMA and how iconic that was? That’s them for sure.

Terpsichore: Have you and your f/o(s) ever danced together? What kind of dancing? Formal dress or completely informal jamming out in your home?

Oh definitely they would. Elise is the only one with formal dance training, but Raiden is a romantic at heart and wants a dance with her, formal or not. I can see them just slow dancing in their house, so happy they’re in love.

#thank you Adrian!#oh goodness this was a lot #ask to tag #take my breath away (with raiden)

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mythologyfolklore · 4 years ago

Text

Ares and Athena through the years - Ch. 17

Chapter Seventeen: The gods during the dark age

“My, those were a few messed up mortal centuries!”, Zeus exclaimed.

The legendary kings of old were no more and the last heroes had finally passed away; Menélaos and Helene, who had been granted a prolonged life, had died together and their souls had been carried away to Elysion, where many of their friends were waiting for them.

“Now that this mess is over, I think mankind should have a break – preferably several centuries.”

“U-huh”, Apollon agreed. “The Age of Heroes is over now. Soon the people who worship us will forget how to even write. The old cultures are dying.”

“So they won't remember us? We will be forgot?”, Hera asked, bewildered.

“Not really”, Zeus soothed his wife. “We will remain in their collective memories. In a few centuries, they will relearn how to record things and stories. They will remember us again and this time, they will write about us. Mankind won't forget us, just where our worship came from and who we once were.”

“But can't we just make them write everything down now, instead of letting them forget?”, Athena objected.

Zeus shook his head. “No, my child. We have been meddling way too much lately. Humanity doesn't need us now, it needs rest. It needs time.”

The goddess of wisdom sighed sadly, but didn't protest any further.

What were centuries to humans were but decades to the gods.

During that time, they focussed on their own lives.

And on their family.

Eris had damaged the bonds between the gods during the great war, but now it was time to repair their family ties.

Of course Eris and Ares' twin Enyo received a house ban; Zeus was now hundred percent done with the quarrelsome nature of his daughter and of the daughter of Nyx. Not only he – the other Olympians applauded, when he announced his decision.

It was a lot more peaceful and a lot more quiet.

Without Dionysos' constant partying it would have been too quiet.

It had been ten Olympian years now and Ares was still travelling the world.

Sometimes he wrote letters to them, but he wasn't much of a writer and his messenger bird needed a while to get to Olympos from wherever its master was.

None of the Olympians would have admitted, that they were happy about the war god's letters. Except for Aphrodite of course; she was quite openly joyful every time the divine vulture arrived with as many letters as it could carry in its talons.

Today was such a day.

They were holding council, when Iris came in.

Zeus rose from his throne. “Iris, this better be an emergency. You know that no one is allowed to disturb the council meetings of the Dodekatheoi, unless the matter is important.”

Iris cleared her throat: “Forgive me, my king, but here is a letter from Ares.”

The meeting was forgot instantly and everyone jumped up.

The eleven Olympians gathered around the rainbow-haired messenger, until Hera snatched the roll of papyrus from Iris' hand.

“Let us see it!”, Aphrodite demanded.

“Everybody settle down!”, Zeus commanded. “Hera, give the letter to me. Let's gather around Hestia's hearth and I will read it to you all.”

So they all did.

Hestia eyed them curiously, as they all gathered around her warm and friendly fire.

“My dear sister, our goddess of the hearth”, Poseidon spoke, “We want to have a little family moment in your peaceful presence.”

Hestia smiled through her flame and it became just a little brighter, as her aura of domestic harmony spread out.

As they all sat down on the floor, Zeus unrolled the scroll and began to read:

“9th Maimakterion¹ (I think)

Dear family,

sorry for not having written to you in a while. Been kinda busy lately. I just arrived here. I'm being on the move a lot, so I don't stay in one place for long enough to have something to write about …”

Zeus huffed: “And he's not even telling us where he is!”

“Read on”, Hera urged.

Her husband went on: “I'm kinda on the other side of the world right now. Kinda boring here in Polynesia – oh, so that's where he is – but it's fun to fly above the Pacific Ocean with the wind. The ocean is so huge, that I need ages to find the tiniest islands. And even longer to find islands where gods live. The communication is awkward, because I don't speak their language and vice versa. Worse, they seem to speak, if not a whole other language, then at least a different dialect on each island. Even using sign language is problematic sometimes. But they seem friendly enough and they do seem to understand the concept of host and guest exchanging presents. There are a few things I have memorised so far, mostly a bunch of prohibitions called Tapu². Some of them are pretty dumb, if you ask me. Then again, once I manage to tell them about my home land, they would probably think some of our traditions pretty stupid too (reasonably so, if you ask me). The peoples of Polynesia have no writing system and neither have their gods.³

So yeah. I'll be staying here for a few mortal decades. Boring as it is around here so far, it's also weirdly relaxing and maybe I will finally get the hang on those Polynesian languages and their culture, which is pretty similar between all these scattered islands (luckily for me). Perhaps then I'll be able to tell you guys more.

That's it.

Sorry for this letter being so short, but there really isn't much to write about right now (also I'm running out of writing material). Maybe I'll go to Australia next.

Sending you gifts from the indigenous gods. They may be simple compared to the last ones, but they were made with love, so you better appreciate them.

Lastly, I'm fine and hope you're too. I'll let you know, when I come to Australia and how long I will stay there, so you too can write to me and tell me how you're doing. I haven't heard from y'all in a while and … well, I just think about you guys a lot. Wish you were here.

Love and miss you all and wishing you happy early or late birthday, because I can hardly congratulate you all punctually.

Always yours, Ares.”

Zeus rolled the letter up. “That's it. The letter really is way too short. Such a shame.”

“Show us, what else he sent us!”, Aphrodite demanded.

The King of the Gods rolled his eyes, but opened the magical bundle the letter had been attached to.

“Ah, look at that!”, he cried, when he pulled out a huge-ass shell. “I think that one is for you, brother.” And handed it to Poseidon.

The sea god laughed and cradled the shell in his lap.

Afterwards each and every of the Olympians received a present of some sort.

Athena grinned, when she was handed a harpoon.

“Don't even think about it!”, Poseidon snarled.

“Too late!”, the wisdom goddess smirked.

“Ah, this is also for you too, I think”, Zeus said, when he fished out a bundle of scriptures written on tree bark, probably because Ares had run out of papyrus.

Athena skimmed over a few of them and smiled. Ares had sent her an account about what he had understood about the culture of the people there so far. How thoughtful of him.

“Here are a few recipes for Hestia – oh, he even has some gifts for Hades and Persephone! Flower seeds and … oh great, more of those creepy masks. Hades will love them.”

“Did he not send anything for me?”, Hephaistos inquired glumly.

Zeus searched through the package. “Doesn't look like – ah, here! 'Dear brother, sadly I haven't found a people that knows metal work so far, so have some photographs.'”

The divine smith beamed and took the stack of photographs.

“Show them to us, pleeeease!”, Aphrodite begged.

Hephaistos handed them around, so the other gods could look at them too.

After the gods had passed the pictures around with lots of chatter, they each tucked their respective souvenirs away and sat in comfortable silence.

Eventually Aphrodite whispered: “I miss him so.”

“Me too”, Hephaistos agreed quietly.

“As do I”, Hermes admitted. “Even though he calls me squirt and pipsqueak all the time.”

Athena spied Zeus and Hera clasping each other's hand – they missed their son too, even though they didn't say it.

Even she herself did miss her prick of a half-brother.

It just seemed too quiet around here, even with Dionysos throwing a party at least once a week. It felt wrong, not seeing him every day, not hearing his dumb suggestions and annoying rambling about violence and the horrors of armed conflict, seeing his throne empty in the assembly … and having someone to spar with. She couldn't even train with Enyo, because the goddess of bloodlust and violence had a house ban (and Zeus was showing no sign of lifting it anytime soon).

Even not hearing the inevitable insulting nicknames felt off by now.

It was lonely without her volatile counterpart.

Not that she would admit it.

A few months later, the Olympians got a letter saying that he was in Australia.

“You wouldn't like it here”, Ares wrote. “The part of the continent where I'm in is unbearably hot (the deserts of Egypt are a dream compared to that) and the gods around here are actually ancestral spirits, rather. They're really benevolent, but you wouldn't like their life style. They're nomads, which honestly is no wonder, because the great desert is … well, pretty damn dry, so staying in one place wouldn't make any sense. They live as hunters and gatherers, just like the mortals here do. Australia has a unique flora and fauna though. In other words, it's fine, if you're tough and can live without the comfort of our civilization.

Btw, I've heard stories about a rainbow snake, who is asleep during dry season and shouldn't be woken up from their slumber. I think I'm gonna wake them up.”

A few weeks later, he updated them: “Waking up the Rainbow Serpent was a shitty idea. The indigenous gods and mortals are now pissed at my stupidity (and my disrespect). The Serpent was really pissed at being disturbed, caused one Tartaros of a thunderstorm and set the whole area underwater. But hey – this place really could use the rain.”

The Olympians laughed; this was just such an Ares thing to do!

Not long after, they got a letter from the New World.

Ares was in South America and travelling up the continent. He would then move on to North America, he wrote, and once he was done there, he would cross the Atlantic and stay with the Norse gods for a while, before returning to Hellas and Olympos.

Zeus put the letter down and sighed: “I hoped that he would return to us right away, as soon as he's back on our continent.”

The other Olympians nodded glumly.

But there wasn't much they could do; they couldn't keep Ares from visiting his old friends, especially when he was so far away.

A few Olympian years later, Ares had finally got his arse up to leaving the Americas and the first European pantheon he stayed with was the Norse one.

“Welcome, Ares, son of Zeus!”, Óðinn greeted the Olympian. “Your father told us, that you were on a journey. I hope your travel was safe?”

“Yup!”, Ares grinned. “Safe and fun! Sorry for just showin' up here, but thanks for havin' me anyways. So good to be here and see y'all! How're ya doin'?”

“Just fine, thank you”, the one-eyed god replied.

“HOLY COW, ARES, IS THAT YOU?!”

Before Ares could respond, he was pulled into a bear hug by a giant of an As with flaming red hair and eyes.

“Hey, Þórr”, Ares choked, squirming in the thunder god's embrace. He didn't worry about the three-quarters-Jötunn crushing him, but damn, he couldn't breath!

“Oh, sorry!”, Þórr laughed sheepishly and put him down.

The Hellenic god gasped for air, before grinning from ear to ear. “Missed ya too, man!”

Ares, who wasn't exactly a small man either, still barely reached up to the Norse god's shoulder and had to stand on his tippy toes to hug the other back.

“What have you been up to?”, Þórr asked.

“Travelling the world, meeting new people, seeing new places – oh, hey, Týr and Freyja!”

“'Sup”, Týr responded and Freyja waved.

Óðinn cleared his throat: “Anyway, my friend, how about you settle down first? Let's find a place for you to stay. And once you have rested a little, how about we throw you a celebration worthy of a divine guest such as you?”

Ares beamed: “Awesome! Your hospitality is one of the greatest things around here – apart from your battle prowess, of course!”, he added with a wink and everyone laughed.

He was received with all honours and it had been a while since he had felt home like this.

The panthea abroad had been nice and all, but their definition of hospitality was completely different, sometimes downright dubious. This was what he knew; the Germanic and Hellenic peoples had their hospitality in common. And the crazy parties of the Norse gods were right up his alley.

He had been invited to stay in the halls of Óðinn himself and that was fine with him. While the one-eyed god had his own brand of creepiness (which was reflected in his Kenningar: Raven God, Father of the Slain, Father of Victory, Hanged God, Foretelling God …⁴) he was a fine host … most of the time.

That evening he was laughing and dancing with his hosts (and watching out for a certain trickster, who likely would try to prank him).

A few of the gods were looking on in envy, as Ares danced wildly with Freyja, laughed heartily with Þórr and even had an arm wringing match with Óðinn (turned out the Allfather was a lot stronger than he looked) which ended in a draw.

There was some amusement, when Ares got into a little spat with Óðinn's blood-brother Loki.

The trickster had the tendency to roast everyone, when he was drunk – good to see, that this hadn't changed in all those centuries.

The Æsir just rolled with it, obviously having heard it all before.

Ares on the other hand (though he too was used to being roasted) had no intention to let it slide and perhaps escalate; this was a party, not an assembly or battlefield.

After a short banter with the trickster (that he lost, because even drunk Loki was more eloquent and witty than him), he just made short work of it and carried the smaller god off, to where he knew Loki's own house to be.

“Foxy jerk made trouble again?”, Sigyn deadpanned, when she saw her drunk husband squirming on the taller god's shoulder.

“Just some roasting”, Ares told her and dropped the fire giant unceremoniously. “Not really trouble. Still, I think he needs a nap.”

“Sure does”, Sigyn snarled.

Ares almost laughed, when the tiny goddess dragged Loki off, grumbling about how “the foxy jerk” made nothing but trouble and so on.

Olympos, 4th Poseideon⁵

My dear love,

thank you for telling us you're in Asgard.

Your children and I have been anxious, since you haven't written to us in a while.

We're doing okay and it's good to know that so are you.

We hope you have lots of fun in Asgard.

But you really should come home soon.

We miss you all so terrible, even your parents and – you won't believe it – even Athena misses you! Of course she would never admit that, but I know she does; women just know these things, you see. Things down on earth are starting to get interesting too. This one city in Italy, Rome is its name, is showing great ambition. The Italian gods are starting to get more ambitious too. Venus is a bit obnoxious at times and it pisses me off, because Aineías was my son, not hers! And don't get me started on Mars – I know, you hate him.

But to more pleasant things; the rest of our family is okay too, but your father has been very glum lately, I don't know why.

Hephaistos is working on improving his far-speakers and cameras even further, though he did that just last year. Oh well, I guess a genius is never truly satisfied.

Eris and Enyo are alright too, I think. At least Athena says so – she meets them more often than I do. Athena is in a bad mood, because she has no one to spar with – she's complaining that sparring with Enyo just isn't the same.

But I must go now, your mother is stress-baking again and I want to get at one of her delicious cakes.

I love you lots, we all do.

And we miss you.

Please be back soon, Ares.

In love, Aphrodite.

Ares grinned and tucked the letter into his magical bag.

“So Daddy's Owl misses me too, huh?”

---

1) Maimakterion: the Attic month from November to December. I allowed myself a small anachronism here, because the Attic calendar was likely invented just a bit later than where my story currently is. The Attic calendar is a lunisolar calendar and was used in Athens. The month Maimakterion is named after an epithet of Zeus. 2) Tapu: "Consecrated/Forbidden/Prohibited/Cursed" (also "tabu" or "kapu", the spelling and precise meaning depend on the region), the traditional prohibitions of the Polynesian peoples. The origin of the word "taboo". 3) The only known exception is the Rongorongo glyph system from the Easter Island, which hasn't been deciphered yet. 4) Those are genuine epithets of Odin. 5) Poseideon: the Attic month from December to January. I think you can guess who this one is named after.

Bonus: I sincerely apologise for my treatment of Australia. I had to write this from the POV of an entitled Greek god who is used to ... well, Greek culture. And the ancient Greeks were rather snobbish towards the rest of the world.

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lets-talk-appella · 5 years ago

Text

Night of the Living Greeks

Pitch Perfect Horror Week Day 1 - Costumes come to life.

Summary: Chloe has a great idea for a group costume-Greek gods and goddesses. Everything is fine, at least, until the costumes come to life. For Horror Week 2019 Day 1 - Costumes come to life.

Word Count: 7.5k

Rating: T

AO3 and FFN

A little cheat sheet:

Zeus - God of the air, uses lightning bolts as weapons. Ruler of the gods and doesn’t let anyone forget it. Cheats on his wife Hera, like, a lot. Poseidon - God of the seas and water. Controls water. Often is annoyed with Zeus. Feuds with Athena a lot because of a whole thing with Ancient Athens. Hades - God of the underworld. Creepy dude. Generally not one of the 12 Olympians and an outcast. Hera - Goddess of marriage. Queen of the gods. Married to Zeus and knows about his infidelity, which is ironic. Athena - Goddess of wisdom and battle strategy. Often takes leadership role. Feuds with Poseidon because of the Athens thing. Artemis - Maiden goddess of the Hunt. Great archer. Apollo - God of poetry, music, and the sun (sort of). Ares - God of war and battle. Tends to be blustering and violent. Aphrodite - Goddess of love. Often meddles in places she isn’t welcome. Demeter - Goddess of agriculture. Her daughter was Persephone. Dionysus - God of wine, parties, theater, and madness/insanity. Often drunk. Hermes - God of trade, messages, and trickery. Hephaestus - God of fire, metalworking, and stone work. Is one of the 12 Olympians, so that’s why he’s on this list, but he isn’t talked about in this fic.

-------------------------------

It started the way these things always start in books and movies: with a curse, a Halloween party, and a writer who doesn’t otherwise know how to start.

More than that, though, it started with a call from Chloe.

“Do you want to come back to Barden for a Halloween party?”

Aubrey blinked, trying to fend off the whiplash Chloe tended to give her. “Hello to you, too.”

“Yeah, hi,” Chloe said in a rush, and Aubrey could picture her impatient wave. “What do you say? Halloween back here?”

Pinching the bridge of her nose in thought, Aubrey rose from the armchair in her lodge and began to pace the floor, glancing out the window to where her camp counselors were coaching the latest Fortune 500 company employees over the tire swings.

“Uh, isn’t it on a week night this year?” Aubrey asked, mentally counting out the few remaining days to Halloween.

Chloe’s sigh made the phone crackle in Aubrey’s ear. “Yeah, but it’s Halloween! You could be a little late to the Lodge the next morning, right? No one would blame you. And you’re the boss, so it’s fine, right?”

“I don’t know…” Aubrey mused slowly. “This is kind of prime time for corporations to rent us out as a horror camp…”

The horror camp had been her idea, and business boomed around Halloween.

“Can’t someone cover for you? Please? Aubrey, it’s been months since you’ve been here.”

Aubrey fought against the smile she could feel threatening to take over. “If by months, you mean three weeks, then—”

“Look, you don’t even need a costume! The Bellas are doing a group one, and I already picked your part out.”

“Do I get to know what the group theme is?”

“It’ll be a surprise,” Chloe said, voice gleeful.

“I… you said on Halloween? As in, Halloween night?” Aubrey asked, pivoting in place as something occurred to her.

“Yeah!”

“Isn’t that the same night as Alpha Gamma Omega Epsilon’s usual party?”

“Oh, is it?” The innocence in Chloe’s voice could not have been more falsified.

“Chloe!” Aubrey hissed through the phone, gripping it more tightly than necessary. “You know how those psycho sorority girls get about their annual Halloween party.”

Alpha Gamma Omega Epsilon had had a monopoly on Barden Halloween parties for as long as anyone could remember. Which was insane, really, because it was Halloween, but that was Barden tradition; no one else dared to host wild parties that night. If they did, the sorority would find some way to either stop it before it started or shut it down within minutes.

Chloe made a noise somewhere between a scoff and a tsk. “They’ll be fine. Besides, it’s my last year, so, really, we’ll never get this chance again… so…”

Even as Chloe trailed off, Aubrey let her head fall back in defeat. She knew perfectly well that the only reason it was Chloe’s last year is because it was also a certain brunette goblin’s last year, but that didn’t change the fact that Chloe was right and they should live for the moment.

“Fine!” she said, cutting off further begging. “I’ll do it.”

“Awes!” Chloe squealed her victory, loudly enough for Aubrey to jerk the phone from her ear. “It’s going to be amazing, I promise.”

Aubrey hummed. “Still, watch out for the sorority sisters. They’re a bunch of bitches, you know.”

As she spoke, a loud voice yelled from the background on Chloe’s line. Aubrey immediately identified the voice as Amy’s, and needed no further explanation.

“Sorry, what’d you say?” Chloe asked once Amy had quieted down.

“I said they’re a bunch of bitches.”

“Oh, for a second I thought you said ‘witches,’” Chloe laughed, but Aubrey’s mood only darkened.

“That too,” she said, returning to her armchair.

Chloe scoffed again. “It’ll be fine! See you on Halloween!”

And without giving Aubrey the chance to argue further, she ended the call.

----------------------------

When Aubrey stepped into the Bella house on Halloween, she wasn’t surprised to stumble directly into Bella chaos. Most of the Bellas were in the sitting room, getting dressed in costume and showering her with a chorus of greetings as soon as she walked in the front door. She was positive that some, if not all, of them had skipped classes that day for the celebration. What did surprise her, though, was the costume choice; each of the Bellas seemed to be dressing in…

“Sheets?” Aubrey asked dumbly, staring. “Uh, what exactly—”

“Happy Halloween!” a familiar voice called, and Aubrey turned almost directly into Chloe’s tackle of an embrace. “I’m so glad you’re here!”

Aubrey returned the hug automatically, trying her best to keep red strands of hair from her mouth; Chloe’s curls seemed much more wild and unruly than usual, and the powerful scent of hairspray that followed half a second later told Aubrey the style was on purpose.

“Happy Halloween!” Aubrey replied as the hug ended and Chloe stepped back. “Um, Chloe, what is all…” Aubrey trailed off, gesturing to the sitting room at large and the flurry of Bellas.

“Costumes!” Chloe chirped, picking up a bundle of the sheet-like garments from the couch and shoving them into Aubrey’s arms. “Here’s yours! We’ve already got everyone figured out, so you’ve got Athena. Not bad, honestly.”

“Oh…” Aubrey said, comprehension dawning slowly as she examined the bundle; what she’d taken to be sheets was actually a Greek-style toga. “Athena? Like, the Greek goddess Athena?”

From across the room, Stacie called out, “She’s doing a theme to piss off the sorority.”

Ignoring the slight flutter of her stomach, Aubrey nodded once. “Ah.”

“That’s not the reason!” Chloe protested, but then almost immediately started to look guilty. “Well… not originally. I was thinking about it already and… well, it’s an added bonus,” she said with a wink.

“Mmm.”

At that moment, Amy extracted herself from the throng of Bellas in the sitting room with a huff, straightening her toga. “Question,” she directed to Chloe, then glanced at Aubrey. “And, yeah, hey, um… Aubrey?”

“Yes?” Aubrey asked, expecting a question.

Instead, the confusion on Amy’s face cleared instantly. “Great, just checking. Aubrey. Got it this time.”

“Uh—”

“I do actually get wine with this, right?” Amy continued, turning back to Chloe. “Because I’m the lord of wine, so I feel like that should be included. For authenticity purposes,” she added, her voice half an octave higher than usual.

Chloe winced delicately. “Dionysus is the god of wine, winemaking, grapes, theater, madness, and—”

Amy’s eyebrows lifted. “Sooooo is there a Chardonnay or something I could—”

“Fridge,” Chloe sighed, waving vaguely toward the kitchen.

“Authenticity, right?” Amy repeated, already making a beeline for the kitchen.

Chloe sighed again, but before she could say anything, Cynthia Rose’s voice called out “Has anyone seen my lightning bolt?”

Aubrey looked to where Cynthia Rose stood in the middle of the sitting room, scanning the floor for something. She wore a toga like everyone else, but was set apart from the others by a gold circlet resting atop her head.

“Lightning bolt?” Aubrey asked slowly. “So she’s…”

Chloe beamed at her, apparently pleased she was catching on. “Oh, yeah, she wanted to be—”

“I’m Zeus,” Cynthia Rose declared loudly. “King of all you aca-bitches.”

Aubrey stared in disbelief until a movement from the corner of her eye startled her and she gasped; what she’d originally taken as a lump of black fabric on the couch rose, and Lilly’s face loomed into view under the dark hood of her costume.

“Oh, sorry,” Chloe said softly, following Aubrey’s gaze. “Lilly’s been pretty into—”

“Chloe, I really don’t think this is my style,” another voice—the complaining tone of which made Aubrey smile in recognition—said, and Aubrey looked past Chloe to see Beca descending the staircase. She was in costume, holding a blue plastic trident that was about as tall as she was, with her hair in braided with blue streaks that perfectly matched the color of her eyes. Aubrey instantly knew why Chloe had chosen that particular Greek god for Beca; sure enough, when Aubrey glanced over, Chloe was staring at Beca very unsubtly.

Aubrey cleared her throat.

Chloe jumped back to life. “What are you talking about?” she asked. “Poseidon is so you.”

Beca rolled her eyes, reaching the ground floor. “Aubrey,” she deadpanned by way of greeting.

“Beca,” Aubrey replied just as stiffly, not missing the little smile Beca gave her, the only crack in their cold exchange. Aubrey returned it; she was happy to see Beca, too.

Beca looked back at Chloe, her eyebrows drawing together. “Chlo, I don’t even really like water, or swimming, or the ocean, or—”

“But your eyes are so blue,” Chloe interrupted, then looked horrified with herself.

Beca’s mouth opened, then closed. She blinked several times rapidly and muttered, “Have you seen your eyes?”

Chloe’s cheeks reddened, though she looked pleased.

Aubrey shifted in place, pointedly clearing her throat once again. She didn’t know how the other Bellas survived if it was like this all the time, because honestly.

“Oh, uh, um,” Beca stammered, her own blush forming as she seemed to remember Aubrey’s presence. “Who are you gonna be, then? Chloe kind of assigned—”

“She’s Athena,” Chloe interrupted, surveying Aubrey with a kind of satisfaction. “She’s perfect for it.”

“Athena, yep,” Aubrey nodded. “The, um… wisdom goddess?” It had been a while since she’d taken any kind of mythology class.

“Wisdom and battle strategy,” Chloe clarified.

Aubrey wondered why Chloe knew so much about all this.

“Right,” she said. “So who exactly is…everyone?” she asked, gesturing broadly to the sitting room at large, where the rest of the Bellas continued to ready their costumes.

“Totes!” Chloe actually clapped her hands together in excitement. Beside her, Beca gave Aubrey a look of the deepest sympathy. “Ok, Beca is Poseidon, god of the sea. Lilly is Hades, god of the underworld.” Chloe leaned in conspiratorially, and Aubrey mirrored her unconsciously. “Hades isn’t technically one of the twelve Olympians, but it was him or Hephaestus, and she really, really wanted to be Hades. It’s Lilly. And, um, Cynthia Rose is Zeus, god of the skies and technically the one in charge of the rest. Um, then…”

Chloe craned her neck, pointing out more of the individual costumes. “Over there, Jessica—I think that’s Jessica—is Demeter, who is all about agriculture. Then Ashley—or, maybe Jessica—is Artemis, goddess of the hunt. Flo—”

“The hunt?” Aubrey asked, confused. Behind Chloe, Beca just shrugged.

“Think archery and running,” Chloe clarified.

“Gotcha.” That explained Ashely’s cheap fake bow and arrow props.

“So anyway, Flo is Hera, goddess of marriage. And she’s also married to Zeus, even though he cheats on her a lot. Amy, as you know, is Dionysus, Emily is Aries, god of war, and—”

An arm wound itself over Aubrey’s shoulders at the same time a familiar perfume filled her nose. “And I’m Aphrodite, goddess of love,” Stacie said, close enough to Aubrey’s ear that it made her shiver. “So if you need anything love-related, let me know,” she added with a wink before strutting back into the sitting room to join the others.

Aubrey blinked, voice lost somewhere in the depths of her chest. It wasn’t until she felt Beca’s smirk and an unusual warmth in her cheeks that she regained any sort of brain power. With Herculean effort, she managed, “Um, did you say Emily is the god of…”

“War, yeah,” Chloe answered nonchalantly. “She’s actually taking to it really well.”

In the sitting room, Emily waved around a plastic sword, pretending to slice and dice Flo, who was doing a great job of ignoring her.

“Maybe a little too well,” mused Beca, watching her.

Aubrey was about to agree when Amy wandered past, arms full with a bottle of wine and a second bottle of something that looked suspiciously like tequila.

“Amy, that’s not wine,” Chloe said, her tone sharp. “What happened to authenticity, exactly?”

“Umm. Ummmmm.” Amy’s eyes darted between the three of them. “Well, you know. Um, I’m also god of madness, and tequila is basically the same thing?”

Chloe closed her eyes. “Fine.”

Aubrey almost felt bad for her. Almost. “And you are?” she asked, giving Amy the chance to make her escape and bringing Chloe’s mood back up.

“Oh! I’m Apollo,” Chloe smiled. “The god of the sun, music, and poetry.”

Beca’s face twitched, struggling to hold back a smile.

Aubrey nodded, fighting against her own amusement. “I could see that.” The role fit Chloe perfectly. She did a quick mental count, trying to pair each of the Bellas with an Olympian. “But doesn’t that leave—”

“Chloe, what does the messenger god actually do?”

Aubrey’s heart sank at the impassive mask that came over Chloe’s face; Jesse thumped down the stairs, looking fairly ridiculous in his own costume. He was holding a long staff with what looked like little fake snakes winding around it. It reminded Aubrey of something she’d seen on ambulances or associated with doctors, but it wasn’t exactly the same design.

“Deliver messages?” Beca answered Jesse’s question with a single raised eyebrow.

“Hermes?” Aubrey asked as Jesse reaches them, wrapping his arm around Beca’s waist.

Chloe nodded, not looking entirely pleased as she tore her eyes from Beca’s direction to meet Aubrey’s. “We needed a twelfth, and Beca said Jesse could do it.”

“The Trebles didn’t have their own group costume?”

Jesse shook his head, the standard boyish grin in place. “Guys don’t really do that. Besides, Benji really, really just wanted to be Houdini again, so our hands were tied.”

“Such fragile masculinity,” Beca said sardonically, patting Jesse’s stomach and pulling him closer.

Chloe shifted next to Aubrey.

Jesse puffed out his chest in indignation. “Hey, I wanted a movie theme, but—”

A loud thud echoed against the front door, cutting Jesse off and startling everyone; Aubrey spun, staring at the door with sudden trepidation.

“What was that?” Flo asked.

“Was it a bird again?” Amy muttered.

“Poor little guy,” Emily said softly.

Once again, movement from the corner of her eye caught Aubrey’s attention; she looked over in time to see Lilly pulling out a fork from nowhere. She shuddered.

“I’ll look,” Jesse volunteered, and, taking his arm from around Beca, moved over to the door and glanced through the peephole before opening it slowly.

Around Aubrey, the Bellas had fallen quiet.

Jesse opened the door wider, then made a small sound of surprise.

“What is it?” Chloe asked sharply, her tone suddenly tense.

“Well, uh…” Jesse trailed off and stooped for a moment, reaching for something outside. He picked up whatever it was, rose and closed the door, bringing it inside. Chloe’s breath caught audibly when they realized what it was: a brick with a note tied around it.

“What the…”

“Oh shit, that could’ve taken out a window,” Beca said. “We got lucky.”

“Um, here,” Jesse said, untying the note and handing it to Chloe. “I think it might be for you.”

Eyebrows drawn together, Chloe took the note and unfolded it, her expression darkening as she read what it said.

“What is it?” Aubrey heard herself ask. Around them, the Bellas drew closer, all trying to get a closer look.

As soon as she sees the words—letters cut out of a magazine and pasted on the paper—Aubrey’s stomach dropped.

Chloe read the message out loud, her voice tight. “‘You should have moved your party. Now you’ll feel our curse.’”

It was signed “Alpha Gamma Omega Epsilon.”

Amy spoke first. “Why do people keep signing hate mail they write with magazine letters?”

---------------------------------

“Okay, you can look,” Aubrey said, examining her reflection in Chloe’s floor-length mirror.

Behind her, Chloe opened her eyes, the mirror displaying her every reaction. “Aubrey!” she said happily, entire face lighting up. “You make a great Athena!

Aubrey readjusted her toga for maybe the eleventh time even as she double-checked her braids. “I don’t think Athena was blonde, but it’ll work.”

Chloe shrugged with indifference. “None of us really fit the profile of Ancient Greek gods and goddesses, so it’ll be fine.”

Before she could stop herself, Aubrey fired back, “Well, none of us except for Beca’s eyes, right?”

In response, Chloe gave a wry smile. “Stacie seems to have missed you,” she said, and Aubrey pursed her lips.

“Are you really okay with Jesse being here?” she asked. It was a deflection, and they both knew it, but it worked.

Chloe’s smile faded and sunlight seemed to leave the room. “It’s... fine,” she sighed. “We did need twelve, so, I guess.”

A twinge of sympathy shot through Aubrey’s chest. “The numbers work out, so focus on that. Strategy for the overall plan, right? Great group costumes? Make the sorority mad?”

“Right,” Chloe said, seeming to steel herself. “It’s fine. And forget the sorority, they’re not my priority.”

“Even though they’re throwing bricks at the house?”

“A cheap scare tactic. It won’t work.”

“If you say so.”

“I do,” Chloe said firmly, setting her shoulders. “Now, where did I put your owl? Some guests should be getting here soon, we should be totally ready.”

As soon as the stuffed owl Chloe had bought Aubrey as a prop—”Owls are the most famous symbol of wisdom! You have to have one!”—was located and secured safely in Aubrey’s arms, Chloe declared her party-ready.

“Okay, now all we have to do is go downstairs and—”

A huge boom sounded from the floor below, shaking the house and making Aubrey stumble. Screams followed, tearing through her like a knife; she met Chloe’s eyes, which were filled with alarm that Aubrey was sure was mirrored in her own.

Without a word, they seemed to reach the same conclusion.

Chloe strode to her door and flung it open, and they raced down the steps to find the source of the noise.

They stopped at the foot of the stairs, staring into the sitting room where the rest of the Bellas were gathered. Every one of them stood staring at a blackened, slightly smoldering spot on one of the walls. The air around Aubrey felt dry, crackling almost, and the room smelled like ozone.

“What happened?” Chloe gasped into the stunned silence.

Aubrey did a quick survey of the Bellas, doing a headcount: Stacie and Cynthia Rose were inspecting the wall, Amy had opened the bottle of wine and was drinking directly from it, Flo was glaring at something but looked unhurt, Ashley and Jessica were accounted for (though for some reason Jessica was holding what looked like a container of oats with Stacie’s name written in Sharpie on the outside and Ashley held a real bow and set of arrows).

Aubrey did a double-take, certain that Ashley’s Artemis weapons had been fake earlier.

“What in the world—”

“It’s a curse!” Emily burst out suddenly, hands balled into fists at her side. “The sorority put a curse on us!”

“Curses aren’t real,” Aubrey said slowly, shocked at Emily’s uncharacteristic anger.

“Yeah, that’s crazy, right?” Beca’s voice floated in from the kitchen, where she stood leaning against the sink and sipping from a plastic cup of water. “Just, like, chill.”

“Then what just happened with my lightning?” Cynthia Rose asked loudly, gesturing to the wall.

“Your… what?” Chloe asked slowly, expression filled with confusion.

“My lighting!” Cynthia Rose repeated, becoming agitated. “It got all hot and sizzly and then blew into that wall!”

“I… but wasn’t it just tin foil?”

“I thought so, but it was—it was like it became real!” Cynthia Rose exclaimed, and Stacie nodded.

“It’s true,” she said. “It started glowing, and it… well. You can see the wall.”

Flo stepped closer to Cynthia Rose, her eyes flicking between her and Stacie in what Aubrey would guess was suspicion.

“But that’s not possible…” Chloe said quietly, looking more confused than ever.

A chill ran down Aubrey’s spine and she shivered, instinctively glancing to the corners of the room. There, the cloud of darkness that was Lilly in her Hades costume was creepier than ever, seeming to emanate a strange chill. Aubrey noticed that the rest of the Bellas seemed to be giving her a wide berth, as if they also sensed something off.

Aubrey dragged her attention back to the char mark—lightning strike?—on the wall, only for her stomach to flip and roll when she met Stacie’s eyes.

Stacie was positively staring, gazing at Aubrey as though she was trying to memorize her.

“Um, what—”

A loud screech echoed around Aubrey’s mind, scaring her half to death. The stuffed owl in her arms suddenly became much heavier and started to shift. Aubrey wondered if she was about to drop it, until, with another shifting weight, a live owl threw itself from her with another angry screech as it unfurled its wings and started to fly around the sitting room.

Several of the Bellas started screaming again, ducking and covering their heads. Emily started jumping up and down, waving her hands as if trying to catch the owl as it flew madly around them. Aubrey pulled Chloe out of the way as the owl circled back, confused in the confined space. Through the chaos, Aubrey glimpsed Ashley nocking an arrow into her bow and pulling the string back to fire—

The sound of shattering glass filled the room, and cool air rushed in from outside through the newly broken window. The owl immediately changed its flight path and made for the escape route that Ashley had created with her fired arrow. Within another second, the owl made its exit, soaring through the broken window pane with ease and off into the evening sky.

Silence fell.

Aubrey stared uncomprehendingly at her empty hands, brain refusing to connect the stuffed owl—a toy—Chloe had given her with the live owl that had just flown out the window.

“How…”

“You saw that, right?” Cynthia Rose asked sharply. “You all saw that?”

“Yeah, I… and the lightning…” Jessica murmured.

Chloe stared at nothing.

A horrible idea struck Aubrey then, one that sent her stomach rolling yet again with molten anxiety. “Beca,” she started, “do you want to go surfing?”

“I’d love to!” Beca answered immediately, then paused. “Um,” she frowned. “I’ve never been surfing, but that sounds awesome.”

Aubrey took one deep breath, then another. “I think… I think we are becoming our costumes. Like our costumes are coming to life.”

Chloe’s eyes snapped around to meet hers. “Costumes don’t do that! Curses are not real, okay? It’s ridiculous.”

Aubrey hesitated. “You do realize that was a haiku, right? Poetry god?”

Chloe blinked in shock, the reality of the situation apparently hitting her.

“Listen,” Emily said angrily, beginning to pace, “if it is this stupid curse, let’s just go to the sorority house and beat a solution out of them!”

“Woah, there, we need to think, we need to plan—”

Stacie interrupted, plopping herself down on the couch, “Yeah, why fight when we can love?”

Jessica shook the container of Stacie’s oats in her hands, the sound getting everyone’s attention. “All this negative energy is clouding the atmosphere,” she scolded. “We should really have more air-cleansing plants in this room, guys.”

“Focus!” Aubrey exclaimed, hands flying to her temples.

“You’re so shrill, Aubrey,” Amy protested, emerging from the kitchen with a bunch of grapes. Aubrey hadn’t seen her leave the sitting room. “It’s giving me a headache.”

Beca made a disapproving noise. “Yeah, okay, while you guys do whatever, I think I’m gonna go for a swim.”

Aubrey rounded on Chloe, desperate for someone to have sense. “We have to cancel the party.”

“What? Noooooo,” Amy drew out, alternating taking sips of wine with popping grapes into her mouth.

Chloe held up her hands in a placating gesture. “Aubrey, I know it looks bad, but let’s not jump the gun. I think, you know, it could still be really fun.”

“Are you insane?” Aubrey argued, stunned at the reaction. “Chloe, if more people come in more costumes, they might turn into their costumes, too! Do we really need actual werewolves and—and real slutty nurses running around?”

“Yes,” Stacie and Cynthia Rose said simultaneously.

Flo snorted in annoyance. “For someone who is supposedly married to the goddess of marriage—”

“The costumes could be worse, right?” Ashley said. “At least none of us were in hideous monster masks or anything.”

“Well, Legacy still turned out looking like—” Amy began meanly, but Aubrey had heard enough.

“We need to cancel the party, Chloe,” Aubrey insisted again, more firmly.

Ashley plucked aimlessly at her bowstring, making it vibrate. “They’re picking us off like this. If we have more people here, who knows what might happen.”

Chloe hesitated, but eventually gave a single, glum looking nod that seemed to darken the entire house.

“I’ll make the calls!” Jesse volunteered, jumping up from the couch and surprising Aubrey. She’d forgotten he was even there, quiet has he had been. “Guest list?” he asked Chloe.

“Eager beaver.” Beca muttered darkly from the kitchen, but Jesse didn’t seem to hear.

Stacie and Flo watched the interaction closely, their eyes flicking between Jesse and Beca as if they were engaged in a tennis match.

“Here, just use the list in my phone,” Chloe agreed, unlocking it and handing it over. “And, Jesse, don’t go anywhere alone!” she added abruptly.

“I’ll go with,” Jessica volunteered, moving to stand beside Jesse. “I need to do a pantry check for cereal anyway.”

Another silence fell as everyone stared at her.

Beca took a sip of water.

“Okay, so, how do we fix this?” Ashley eventually asked, breaking the spell as Jesse and Jessica went into the kitchen together. The question was directed at Aubrey, but before she could say anything, Cynthia Rose cleared her throat.

“Woah woah, why are you asking her?” she asked indignantly. “I’m the ruler of this whole thing.”

“Calm down, Zappy,” Beca said sharply. “Though, yeah, I really don’t like Aubrey being in charge right now either.”

“What?” Aubrey gaped. “Beca, Athena is the goddess of strategy. It makes sense for me to plan.”

“More like the god of talking too much,” Beca quipped.

Even as Aubrey tried to contain her sudden annoyance, Stacie half-rose from the couch and glared at Beca. “Hey, just because you and Chloe aren’t—”

“Why don’t we just… go with the flow?” Beca interrupted, her eyes flicking quickly in Chloe’s direction and then away again.

“Flowing wine, what?” Amy perked up immediately.

Emily growled in frustration, running a hand through her hair. “Why can’t we just storm in there and start punching?”

“We don’t even know if we have powers!” Aubrey protested. “Don’t you see, we have no idea what we can even—”

A weird rushing noise filled her ears, and the next thing she knew, she was somehow absolutely drenched with water that had seemed to come out of nowhere. She sputtered, disoriented and gasping.

“Looks like we do have powers,” Beca said, and Aubrey whirled to see her smirk.

Anger coiled in Aubrey’s chest, though she knew she was being unreasonable. “Beca, I swear—”

“Don’t fight!” Chloe said quickly. “It’s only making it worse! We need to work together to break the curse.”

Beca’s eyes flicked in her direction and her expression softened. “Fine,” she muttered and, with a wave of her hand in Aubrey’s direction, Aubrey was miraculously completely dry again.

“Okay,” she managed, attempting to control her impatience. “So it seems like we have powers, but what about the physical form? I mean—okay, Emily, you might want to punch people but I bet you’re limited by your body.”

“What?” Emily looked at her blankly.

“Try doing something strong,” Aubrey suggested. “See what happens.”

“Alright then,” Emily said grimly, and strode toward the nearest wall, fist raised and ready to punch it.

“Woah there!” Flo said quickly, and together she and Cynthia Rose were able to haul Emily back from the wall. “We don’t need any more wall damage! We need the security deposit when we move out.”

“But—”

“I meant, like, lift something heavy,” Aubrey said quickly, diffusing the situation.

“Oh. Um, sure.” Emily strode over to the couch that Stacie still sprawled on. She kneeled down, slid her hands under it and tried to lift it; nothing happened besides a fair amount of strain and mumbled curses, and a moment later, Emily stopped trying with a huff. “Stupid couch.”

“That’s what I thought,” Aubrey murmured, a grim determination filling her. “We can’t rely on strength because we’re still us with our regular bodies. We need wits.”

“And our powers,” Beca mumbled audibly. “Just saying.”

“We don’t all have magic water-bending,” Flo snapped.

“Yeah, I really think we should get to know the sorority girls before attacking,” Stacie suggested. “If we know how they love, we can take them down.”

Cynthia Rose wiggled her eyebrows. “I like that plan.”

Flo scoffed angrily, but before she could start yelling, a paper airplane soared through the air and knocked directly into Chloe’s temple.

“Ouch! What’s this? Were you trying to miss?” she asked, holding up the paper airplane and glaring in the direction it came from.

“Nope,” Jesse said, returning from the kitchen with Jessica, who now carries Amy’s Shredded Wheat along with Stacie’s oats. “It’s a message, letting you know that everyone on your list has been texted or called, and the party is officially off.”

“Miss anything?” Jessica asked, returning to her place next to Ashley, who laughed a little.

“Nope,” she said, “just the usual fighting. Kind of like there are only three main characters here.”

“Great.”

“Right!” Aubrey jumped in, clasping her hands together as she tried to think of a plan. “Okay, what we’re gonna do is, um… think Trojan Horse?” she asked the room.

Stacie leaned forward, interested: “I haven’t tried that variety before, is it any good?”

Aubrey cringed. “Ignoring that. So, basically, we—”

Amy raised her hand. “By saying ‘ignoring that,’ you’re not really ignoring it, are you?”

“Basically,” Aubrey plowed on, very intentionally avoiding eye contact with Stacie or Chloe. “We make it look like we’re sending them a peace offering, maybe, like—”

“Doves in a box?” Flo suggested.

“Um, something like that,” Aubrey replied. “I was thinking more—”

“Wine box,” Amy said.

“Mailbox,” Jesse added.

“We can think about that later!” Aubrey cut them off, feeling a headache starting to form behind her eyes. “The point is, we set up a gift of some kind and then infiltrate the sorority house.”

“And then we pulverize them! Yes!” Emily cheered, pounding a fist into her palm. “Excellent.”

Aubrey tried to backtrack. “Or we just have a diplomatic meeting—”

“I want to add to my collection,” Lilly rasped from the corner, making nearly everyone jump. Jessica, who was closest to her, moved several inches away.

“You guys,” Chloe cut in abruptly. “Beca’s missing! Do you think she and Jesse are—”

“I’m right here!” Jesse said, and for some reason, Stacie and Flo glared at him venomously.

“Unfortunately,” Stacie mumbled.

Jesse tilted his head, “What? Didn’t catch that.”

Without missing a beat, Stacie answered, “She can’t find Beca.”

Aubrey glanced to where Beca had been leaning against the counter. Her empty cup was set down, but she was nowhere to be found.

“Maybe the sorority got her?” Cynthia Rose suggested fearfully.

The room seemed to darken.

Ashley stepped forward, shouldering her bow. “No, they didn’t. I’d have noticed if they were after her.”

Aubrey stared at her, confused.

“Um, hunting, remember?” Ashley said. “I know these things.”

“Oooo-kay,” Emily said, drawing out the vowel.

“She’s probably swimming,” Amy slurred from the couch. The bottle of wine next to her was empty, and she’d started on the tequila.

“What?” Aubrey asked, confused.

“Well she said she wanted to go about five times. You guys suck at listening,” Amy pointed out. “She’s probably just in the Treble Pool.”

Some of the light returned to the room, renewing Aubrey’s hope. “I bet she went to swim on a whim!” Chloe exclaimed happily.

Aubrey straightened her spine. “We have to go get her and tell her about the plan. You guys do agree to the plan?”

Emily winced. “Well—”

Flo waved her off. “Yes, already, goddess of strategy, stop asking. Let’s go.”

Aubrey led the march out of the Bella house and across the yard, aiming for the bushes that separated their house from the Treble’s. She could hear the heavy bass from the sorority party just down the block, and was certain that if she looked in that direction, she’d see the glow of the party lights hanging above the house like a fog.

Stacie walked next to her, staying closer than probably necessary. Aubrey didn’t mind, though, not when Stacie’s Aphrodite powers somehow made Stacie’s presence even warmer and more welcoming than usual.

“You know,” Stacie said quietly, “I’m not sure why the sorority girls even care if we had a Halloween party. We have different friends anyway, so it isn’t like we’d steal their guests.”

It wasn’t what Aubrey was expecting her to say, and she tried to hide her disappointment while she started picking her way through the bushes separating the properties.

“No idea,” she said. “Maybe just a pride thing.”

Stacie hummed thoughtfully, but didn’t say anything else.

When they’d finally pushed through the foliage and spilled out into the Treble yard, Aubrey caught sight of Beca immediately. She was floating on her back in the pool, fully clothed, as currents pushed her along slowly in some sort of lazy river that Aubrey was sure had to be of Beca’s own design.

“Oh hey, guys, jump in,” Beca said, picking up her head to look at the group. “I bet I can make a wave pool.”

“Do you know how bad pool chlorine is for local plants?” Jessica asked.

Aubrey clicked her tongue impatiently. “Beca, get out of the water.”

“What for, brainiac?”

Cynthia Rose leaned in. “How about you get out of the pool before I electrocute it with lightning?”

Beca raised an eyebrow. “Would you do that?”

“I can try.”

“Neat,” Beca said, sounding bored, but the currents carried her to the edge of the pool. She sat up, resting on top of the water rather than sinking in, and stepped out casually. Her clothes and hair remained perfectly dry. “This water thing is so cool,” she grinned. “Why exactly do you want to change back?”

“Because Emily wants to murder people, Lilly is scarier than usual, Jessica has pack-bonded with whole grain, and Chloe can’t stop rhyming,” Aubrey reeled off.

“I can stop!...Pop,” Chloe said sadly.

Beca pinched the bridge of her nose. “Fine. I assume you aca-nerds came up with a plan?”

Amy swayed on the spot. “We’re gonna Trojan Horse it. Classy stuff,” she slurred, hiccupping.

Beca stared. “You’re kidding,” she deadpanned.

A paper plane cut through the air, hitting Beca directly on the forehead. Growling, she unfolded it and read out loud, “‘Nope. Trojan Horse.’ Really?” she glared at Jesse. “You had to send this?”

Jesse winced. “Message received,” he said sadly.

“Listen, Aubrey,” Beca began, her tone tight and controlled. “Trojan Horse worked back then, but it’s tired.”

Aubrey shook her head. “No. It’s the best strategy.”

“That strategy isn’t even from this millennium! Can’t we come up with something new and original?”

Chloe ran a hand through her hair. “Aubrey, maybe Beca’s right. There might be a better way to fight,” she suggested.

“Yeah, like using our fists!” Emily said.

“Or our powers,” Cynthia Rose cut in, sounding impatient. “I could try feeding them rocks or something. Or blasting them with more lightning.”

“I can summon an army from the dead,” Lilly murmured.

“I can set booby-traps?” Jesse suggested.

“I can make them drunk,” Amy said, stumbling over nothing and nearly toppling into the pool.

Aubrey lifted her hands, cutting them all off. “Woah, okay, hang on, let me think,” she said. “I can come up with something.”

The seconds dragged by as Aubrey struggled to come up with any alternative plan. Her mind felt cluttered, filled with too many potential plans and strategies, and her thoughts raced around and around, until they became more like the owl flying aimlessly inside the house than like anything remotely resembling a plan.

While she struggled to think of anything, Ashley fired an arrow through a birdhouse, using it as target practice.

After a long moment during which Aubrey had come up with nothing better than their current options, Chloe stepped forward and brushed her fingers lightly along Aubrey’s arm. “You know, Aubrey,” she said quietly, “part of being wise is knowing when to use your team. And if I don’t stop rhyming, I’m going to scream.”

Aubrey took a deep breath, expelling it through her nose slowly. “Alright. Let’s do this. Bellas, huddle! And Beca?”

“Yeah?”

“Get in here. Let’s plan.”

--------------------------------

“Just so you know, Jesse and Beca aren’t meant for marriage.”

Aubrey almost fell from her perch in the tree.

“What?”

“It’s true,” Stacie echoed Flo’s sentiments with authority. “No chemistry there. Make your move, Ginger,” she said, glancing up at Chloe, who was on a higher branch concealed in the tree.

“I have no idea what you mean, jelly bean,” Chloe insisted with as much dignity as she could muster. Which was not much.

“I can’t wait until her curse wears off, good lord,” Jessica muttered, snacking on the Shredded Wheat.

“I know these things,” Flo said imperiously, twisting around on her own branch to look at Chloe. “Goddess of marriage. It’s not gonna happen.”

“And as the goddess of love, I gotta say, Chloe and Beca really—”

“Look who’s talking,” Flo muttered.

“Shh!” Aubrey cut everyone off, her phone having conveniently chosen that moment to beep with a notification. “Text from Jesse,” she said, and the others fell quiet.

They’d collectively decided that if they were going to use their newly-acquired Greek powers, only a few of the Bellas would actually be heading the attack on the sorority. Because Beca, Cynthia Rose, Amy, and Lilly all had the most active powers, they had decided to enter the building. Emily and Ashley had also gone in to act as the muscle. That left Aubrey, Chloe, Flo, Stacie, and Jessica keeping surveillance from within a tree (Ashley’s idea) because it allowed them to watch the sorority house while remaining hidden. Jesse, then, had taken a strategic position in between the two groups so that he could act as messenger and pass along news to either group. Thankfully, he’d exchanged his paper planes for texting.

“‘Friendlies have entered the building. Hold your position,’” Aubrey read out loud to the others, internally approving of Jesse’s insistence on using militaristic language. Her father would be proud. “Okay, this is it. Time to see what happens.”

Another text followed shortly after, reading simply, “Phase 1.”

“It’s starting,” Aubrey said to the others just in time for the first roll of thunder to reach their ears. The plan was for Cynthia Rose and Beca to work together and use their godly powers to create a storm inside the sorority house, disrupting the party with a slew of thunder, lightning, rain, and wind.

The thunder continued, building to a constant roll that shook the very tree branch beneath Aubrey. Under the noise of that, though, came the distinct sound of many voices whooping and cheering.

Aubrey turned to Chloe, confused. “Are they… celebrating?”

“Probably think it’s part of the show for the party,” Stacie mumbled, sounding irritated.

Sure enough, another text from Jesse arrived: “Moving to Phase 2.”

Aubrey shuddered; they’d been hoping that a little indoor storm would be enough to get the sorority sisters to reverse the curse, but apparently not. That’s why they’d sent in Lilly.

Seconds later, the cheers turned to screams of pure terror.

“Holy shit,” Jessica breathed, and Flo crossed herself; Aubrey privately agreed. She wouldn’t even imagine what the inside of that house would look like with Lilly raising her dead army inside it.

Aubrey expected to feel it at any second—the lift of the curse, which would rid the Bellas of their powers as soon as the sorority witches crumpled under the onslaught, but nothing happened. She exchanged another look with Chloe, full of grim uncertainty, when something almost imperceptible changed in the air, the smallest shockwave traveling through her chest.

Then the sound from the sorority party crescendoed, a rising cacophony of screams now mingled with an unnatural laughter that sent unease firing down Aubrey’s spine, interwoven with garbled shouting and rising music, thudding with heavy bass and erratic electric threads that grated against the inside of Aubrey’s skull, pressing outward from within so that it felt like there was something trying to escape from within Aubrey’s own mind, and no matter how tightly she pressed her hands against her ears, the terrible sounds fed off one another and grew until—snap!

Silence.

Aubrey’s hands fell from her ears. She looked at each of the Bellas in the tree with her, their expressions mirroring the blatant confusion and fear she felt.

Whatever that was, it hadn’t been part of their original plan.

Aubrey’s phone chimed. “Phase... 3???” Jesse had sent, apparently as uncertain as they all were.

“What happened?” Stacie breathed, but Aubrey just shook her head.

“No idea,” she said, but then something changed inside her chest.

It was like an object inside her had fallen away, leaving her empty and confused. She felt different, suddenly uncertain about their plan or any sort of strategy. The sunshine around them dimmed, and Aubrey caught Jessica staring at the oats and cereal in her hands in confusion.

“I think—”

“Did it work?” Chloe asked. “Is it over?”

“You didn’t rhyme,” Aubrey pointed out, growing excited. “Flo! What are the odds of Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds staying together forever?”

“Hmm?” Flo looked over skeptically. “They’re fine, but celebrity marriages, you never know.”

“Chloe, say something else.”

“Like what? Just anything?”

“I hate Shredded Wheat,” Jessica mumbled, still staring at the box in her hands.

“I think we’re good!” Aubrey exclaimed happily. “Ladies, we can get out of this tree now.”

They slid off their respective branches, climbing down carefully. At one point, a branch snarled itself in Aubrey’s hair and she had to work to free herself, but eventually, her feet touched the grass and she breathed a sigh of relief.

“But I don’t feel different?” Stacie said once they were all on the ground. She patted herself up and down, spending far too much time adjusting her boobs.

“That’s probably okay,” Chloe said with a grin, her eyes flashing to Aubrey.

The sound of pounding footsteps rushing toward them made Aubrey turn; Jesse sprinted toward them, panting and out of breath.

“Hey!” he managed between gasps for air. “I don’t know what happened over there. Things got really…”

“Weird?” Aubrey suggested.

“Yeah. I think I’m back to normal, though,” Jesse added, also patting himself down for whatever reason. “No more urges to send messages.”

“We’re good here, too,” Aubrey said with a glance at the others.

“Nice! So that means—”

“No more curse, aca-bitches!” Amy’s loud voice startled everyone as she reappeared at the end of their driveway. “I saved the day!”

Behind her, Beca, Cynthia Rose, Lilly, Emily, and Ashley all straggled into the Bella yard. They looked a little worse for wear, and Aubrey noticed that they all seemed to eye Amy wearily. Even Lilly was sure to keep her distance.

“You’re okay!” Chloe said in relief, rushing toward Beca. At the last minute, she performed a weird little jerking motion, as if stopping herself from flinging her arms around Beca’s neck.

“Yeah, no, we’re good,” Beca muttered, talking mostly to Chloe. “The curse they put on us is broken.”

“Those bleach-blondes won’t be bothering us anymore. Crushed it,” Amy said proudly.

Aubrey stared. “What happened?”

“Uh…” Beca hesitated.

“Yeah?”

“Well,” she began, eyes again flicking to Amy. “Cynthia Rose and I made a little hurricane. I made the sinks burst and then made it rain, and Cynthia Rose made it lighting and get stormy, but everyone there thought it was a theme thing.”

“Cool theme, though,” Emily added. “And yeah, that wasn’t working, so then Lilly summoned, like… dead people. Lots and lots of dead people,” she shivered, looking uncomfortable. Aubrey hoped she wasn’t going to have nightmares. “Ashley and I rounded up as many of the sorority girls as we could. They knew what we wanted, but kept laughing at us, even though their guests were seriously scared.”

“So how…?” Aubrey asked, still confused.

Each of the Bellas shifted uncomfortably. Finally, Beca spoke up. “Amy,” she said with finality and a little awe. “It was Amy.”

Amy bowed grandly. “Thank you, thank you, hold the applause. Actually, no, just applaud.”

“What did she do?” Stacie asked.

“She… broke them,” Ashley answered slowly.

Aubrey blinked.

“God of wine and madness, remember? Insanity?” Amy reminded them. “I just made everyone go on a little trip. Laughing at nothing, talking to walls, running in circles, dancing on tables. Even made a few do mermaid dancing, thank you.”

“It was scary,” Emily admitted.

Aubrey recalled the wall of noise that had hit her in the tree and made her cover her ears. She winced, unable to imagine what the snapping of all those minds must have been like to witness up close.

“And then the sorority girls got scared and agreed to end the curse,” Beca finished the story. “When they saw what Amy could do, well… they ended it, and everyone went back to normal. I think their guests left, though.”

“Just like that?” Aubrey asked.

“Well, they should have thought before cursing us with godly powers,” Amy said proudly. “Should have checked to see what our costumes were before making them come to life.”

Aubrey had to hand it to Amy; she was impressed. With all of them, really.

“So…” Chloe hedged. “Party back on?”

Aubrey hesitated. “Chloe, I don’t think—”

“Hell yeah!” Beca interrupted.

“Let’s do it!” Amy agreed.

Jesse plucked Chloe’s phone from her hands. “Already back on alerting the guest list.”

Aubrey shook her head, laughing as she recognized defeat. “Fine!” she said, throwing her hands into the air and accidently catching Stacie’s eye. Stacie winked, and once again, Aubrey’s chest fluttered.

What a weird way to spend Halloween. But there was nowhere she’d rather be.

#pitch perfect horror week 2019 #HW191 #bechloe #staubrey #aubrey posen #chloe beale #beca mitchell #okay listen this is basically satire #more comedy than horror #greek mythology

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atlas-of-a-human-soul · 5 years ago

Text

Αιώνια αγάπη (DT AU), pt. 13

13: Love is the death of duty

Summary: Three testimonies, two mistakes, one sentence. Find out the punishment Hermes faces as three most important women of his life take the stand.

Warnings: angst

Word count: 3.4k

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Special thanks to @godlydolans for being in the story as Yashi Singh!

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Αιώνια αγάπη (DT Modern Greek god/frat! AU) MASTERLIST

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Overwhelmed, lost and very much prepared to do whatever it takes to protect her children, Y/N steps forth, pushing both her babies behind her as she breaks eye contact with the gods she knew and loved and looks wildly at the ones she didn't but could easily guess who they were.

"Oh, this is going to be so much fun!" Hecate chuckled, her laugh echoing as she fell back into a chair, not even bothering with courtesies. After all, why should she? She wasn't avenged for her death and pulling her soul out of the Underworld for the purposes of burying her ex husband was the only thing she cared about.

Hera didn't hesitate, walking toward Y/N as her eyes tried to take a better look at her grandchildren. It's been too long since she had a chance to see a youngling, let alone ones who are her own blood.

Y/N stepped back, each of her hands pressed against her kid's backs as she pushed them closer to her.

Like a lioness backed into a corner, Hera thought.

"I can tell why my sons fell in love with you now. You're absolutely ethereal. For a human, of course." The backhanded compliment forced Y/N to bare her teeth, faking a smile without the need to cover up the fake part, making it clear she doesn't appreciate the goddess coming any closer.

"I'd very much like if you'd stop walking, Your...heavenliness?" Y/N paused, unsure how to properly address the goddess without insulting her and putting her children in more danger than they already are. She couldn't afford to slip up now.

"Hera is fine, dear. However, I'm afraid you can't take the kids with you when you're on the stand. Someone's going to have to take care of them and as their grandmother I am willing to give you a blood oath that no harm shall befall either of your little ones." Hera spoke plainly, stating not only she cares but she would go as far as to make the unbreakable vow to protect them. The vow no god made in history thus far, one that conditions her death should she fail to uphold her promise.

"Like you protected Apollo and Hermes?" Y/N remarks, watching a flicker of hurt and surprise pass on Hera's face as Y/N's words aimed to hurt the goddess and it seemed as if she succeeded.

Glancing back at a helpless Hermes, Y/N gulped loudly as her heart ached for him.

What could have possessed him to do the crime he did? What crime did he commit at all? He spoke of vengeance, but never did she believe he'd go through with it. He's always been unpredictable and she can't deny she loved that about him, but right now, in this particular moment, she held it against him for his unpredictability put her children at risk.

Did he even know about the kids? Did either of them?

"I swear to you on my life, you can trust mother with them." Apollo speaks up, attracting Y/N's attention, feeling his own heart stop once her troubled eyes meet his with ease, the trust she has in him still shining through when she nods reluctantly, letting up on the four year olds holding onto her legs.

Hesitant still, Y/N watches as her mischievous babies waddled slowly over to their grandmother, looking up at her as if she's the most peculiar person they've ever seen.

And in a way she is. Her hair is molten gold, a leaf crown woven into the locks that broke sun-rays to rainbows. She did look like something out of a fairytale, inhuman even to the ones who don't know any better. And her kids didn't know any better.

"Shall we begin? While most of us are immortal, some don't have the commodity of waiting forever." Zeus huffed, glancing at Y/N and her offspring with underlying disgust he could hardly cover up.

"Wait! Don't I get a single moment with Apollo and Hermes first?" Y/N questions, the panic cracking her voice so blatantly no one could miss the desperation behind it.

"So they can temper with your true feelings? I think not. My sons have done enough damage to you as it is." Zeus states, showing Y/N that it's time to take her seat.

Eyes brimming with tears chained themselves to where the only two men she ever loved stood, each of them facing a horror of impending doom. Apollo wanted nothing more than to wrap his arms around Y/N and the kids, just for one moment. Hermes wished for Y/N and the kids to return to Earth and forget about all of this more than anything because if him being with her meant she'd die for his sins, he'd rather not even see her let alone touch her.

But all Y/N could see is how different they seem. They didn't have that light aura around them, rather a gloomy one. Each of them dressed in warrior clothes didn't lessen the weight on her heart either, adding onto the worry she couldn't shed.

What if she says something that ends up being their doom? What if she causes them to die? After everything that's happened, the years of loneliness she's suffered in as a single mother while the future she hoped for disintegrated, she still wanted them to be happy. The only comfort she found in the hell she's felt inside her soul is that both of her guys were alive and together. She didn't break their brotherly bond and they were back home with their loved ones.

She never thought they'd fuck up everything. At least not in her lifetime.

Reluctant and on edge, Y/N sits down right between Yashi and Hecate, each of them representing the past evils Hermes did and each of them more than willing to bury him should they wish so. Hecate most of all.

Hecate played with her long black locks, the purple ends flashing every once in a while as she leaned closer to Y/N and talked in hushed tones.

"You really had me fooled."

Y/N turned to her, giving her a sideways glance before her eyes returned to her children and Hera who crouched beside them, charming them with a little light show at the palm of her hand.

"I'm actually kind of proud of you. It's my blood that allowed you to do so."

"You left me no choice." Y/N responds harshly, sending a quick glare in her direction before turning her attention to Apollo and Hermes, each of them quiet and lost in thought as it seemed.

"You had a choice, you just made the wrong one. You think with your heart and not your head and I tried to show you that listening to your heart will only help you wind up dead. It killed me in the end - not Hermes, but you."

"I would like to call Yashi Singh to testify first." Zeus interrupts the small exchange between Hecate and Y/N, showing Yashi where to stand as she glided across the marble floor, her hair flowing freely at the back. It's a sort of visual joy of the heavens. It's confidence and strength, natural and pretty just as her stance.

"Now, my dear. Would you mind telling me Hermes' greatest crime against your heart?" Zeus tried to keep his voice light, purring at her as if manipulating the woman to speak the most rotten, horrific deeds she could think of.

Yashi lifts her chin up ever so slightly, her lips set in a firm line as her hands clasp together at her midsection.

"Hermes had no trouble lying to get close to me. He hadn't even bat an eye when he took my maidenhood under false pretenses. After all he had done, I was lucky enough to find someone else to cradle my broken heart. My story did have a happy ending, but Hermes showed no mercy toward my future. If he had his way, I'd have ended up alone and disgraced, disowned by my family. Thanks to Athena, I was lucky enough to have time to form a plan and get rid of him and his brother." Sparing Hermes a single glance, Yashi raised both eyebrows at the once so loved god before she smirked. Apollo looked toward Athena who shied away from his eyes, clearly ashamed she worked against him before. He wanted to know why she did it in the first place, but he already assumed why. Zeus forced her, told her it's her duty to do what she can to protect her loyal servants. She didn't have a bloodline like many others for she remained a virgin, but those who served her, worshiped her? Those were her loyal subjects and she protected them vigorously whenever she could.

"I think he committed the same crime hundreds if not thousands of times and that's just his crimes of breaking hearts and draining once hopeful souls. I'm certain he's done much worse in his time. I do believe he deserves the harshest punishment of all."

"Thank you, child. You make take your seat and Y/N can take your place now." Zeus states with a feigned smile, making Y/N's skin crawl as she realized it was her turn to stand and tell the truth. She had no choice. Not if she wanted her kids to remain alive because she was sure Zeus would harm them otherwise.

Passing by Hera, she finds the goddess wrap her fingers around her arm, stopping her for a single moment to utter a few wise words.

"You're pure of heart and your word means more than anything they say. Keep that in mind."

Gulping loudly, Y/N found herself tempted to run toward Hermes and Apollo, ask them to rise up and fight Zeus and end this torture, but Hera is right. She is pure of heart. She can use that against them.

"What is the greatest crime my son has committed?" Zeus smirks, knowing Hermes was completely off the rails the entire time he knew Y/N and he expected her to be the most significant nail in his son's coffin.

"He loved me." Plain and simple, Y/N turns sideways, her eyes finding his as if they've been dying for a single glance, for the love he could offer just by looking at her.

"Hermes is anything but perfect, but he's also done what is necessary. He's always done the right thing, even when the rest of us couldn't understand it just yet and even if it's the hardest possible thing he could have done in the world. Hermes' biggest crime against me is that he loved me just as much if not more than I love him." Emphasizing the present tense, proclaiming her love for the infamous god, she turned back to Zeus defiantly.

"He burned down the Kappa house and most of your belongings. He lied to you. He impregnated you -" Zeus began, each fact spoken louder and louder as he counted until Y/N interjected, stopping him from bashing Hermes any longer.

"With all due respect, both of your sons did that and I don't see Apollo tried for that. It's the most ridiculous medical miracle, but they both did and I don't hold them leaving against them. It is my heart that caused that and I alone am to blame for loving them both too much. The very heart that is pure, which means if I do not hold any hate for him, no reason exists for either of you to. Hermes is a good soul and you should release him." Out of breath, Y/N found herself on fire with her nerves sparking up as every moment passed she felt herself grow stronger, more sure of herself. Without waiting for Zeus to speak and send her on her way, Y/N crossed the short distance between the stand and where Hermes was held on his knees with his brother a step behind him.

She threw herself at the god, wrapping her arms around him so tightly if he were human his ribs would crack under the pressure. She longed for a touch of his skin, but all she found was a long black cape under her fingertips, and gold plates right under her arms instead of his shoulders.

"Return to your seat, Y/N Y/L/N." Zeus ordered sternly, but she rebelled long enough to stand and grip Apollo who came closer, hugging over Hermes who felt his soul tear itself up only to be made new again with the pounding of his heart being so deafening.

"Are they mine?" Apollo whispered in her ear, frantic at the possibility of having an answer.

"Valerie is." She managed to respond before one of the guards rudely grabbed her by the arm and ripped her away from Apollo with a ruthless tug, causing her to stifle a pained groan.

"DON'T FUCKING PUT YOUR HANDS ON HER!" Hermes jolted, his voice echoing the hall as he watched the guard drag her back to the stand and release her from his hold.

Apollo gritted his teeth, not only because he was so fucking confused about what she meant, but also because he wanted nothing more than to rip into the guard and take his life with his own two hands. He'd choke the life out of him, snap him like a twig before throwing him into the Underworld, allowing Hermes to decide on the best form of torture for him.

"I believe I asked you to return to your seat. If not, I'm more than happy to show you what happens when someone disobeys a god." Zeus quipped, his lips curling to the left as he formed a half smile and his forehead no longer creased as his wicked implications came to life and Y/N quickly nodded, doing as she's told. She knew the threat was against her children, you didn't have to be a mind reader to see that.

Crashing in her seat, she could hardly breathe as she heaved with a fury of untold confessions to her favorite gods and hateful words at Zeus and all those who liked to play with human lives.

"Maybe you should. There are two of those snot monsters." Poseidon speaks up, rubbing his chin devilishly as a wicked grin spread across his lips.

Y/N's eyes widen, her hands gripping the chair she's in as she lunged forward to jump and protest, but Hecate outstretched her arm instinctively in front of her, stopping Y/N from doing something rash that she couldn't take back.

"Or perhaps I could tell my story and you can stop being such an ass? Have your forgotten Hera made an unbreakable vow?" Hecate raised her left eyebrow, standing up with ease as she challenged one of the supreme gods no one dared to second guess before. She waltzed toward the stand, keeping her gaze set on Poseidon who looked to be seething already.

"Or you can just return to the Underworld where you're supposed to be rotting! Perhaps you could be taught a lesson or two as Sisyphus is?" Poseidon snickered, placing his hands on his hips.

"Perhaps spend a few nights pleasuring me and I'll forget about all of this?" He offered, finding Hecate more than irritated.

"Maybe I'll bring back Medusa and have her do it for me? I'm sure she'd like to look you in the eye at least once." Hecate remarks and Y/N finally realizes this is all just a distraction for them to let go of the idea of even looking at her kids.

Hecate is...protecting her?

"Either way, I have a few to say to Hermes." She glances over her shoulder at her once consort, narrowing her eyes at him.

"He cheated on me, lied to me, abandoned me and then some. After all, he tried to kill me too. He just couldn't do the job right. Makes me think he didn't really want me dead, rather a way to exercise his demons on someone. Whatever. I don't really care what happens to him anymore, but if it's up to me, let him live the rest of his mortal life on Earth. Take away Underworld and watch him suffer for it while he's living a mundane life with Y/N and the brats she bore."

Without realizing it, in her first attempt of kindness in centuries, Hecate made a mistake.

"He tried to kill you?" Poseidon interrupts, watching her closely.

"Zeus, my brother, where did you bring Hecate here from?" The question alone unsettles both Hermes and Apollo, who is already well prepared for disaster.

"What are you trying to say?" Zeus frowns, realizing he had more trouble bringing the goddess to Mount Olympus than Y/N from Earth.

"I think Hecate here is dead. Just a shadow of her former self." Poseidon looks back to the goddess who lifts her head up high, strolling toward him with all the confidence in the world.

"You had to reassemble her soul from Tartarus to have her shadow here, didn't you? Poseidon keeps prodding, now making Y/N nervous. She still didn't know for sure, but she was pretty certain Ethan...Hermes is on trial for Hades' death. He was the only one missing in the hall and that's the only despicable thing Hermes wanted to do once he returned home. If Poseidon gets a whiff of what happened to Hecate, then what would happen to her?

"Who killed you, Hecate?" Zeus grabbed her by the shoulders roughly, shaking her violently as a rag doll while his rage filled voice chilled everyone around him to the bone.

Thunder rolled in, electricity sparking around the hall in unpredictable spots and once Y/N saw Hera cover her kids with her body, she knew they were safe and it helped her lessen the burden of her soul.

"Y/N did." Poseidon concludes, chuckling so loudly, so maniacally that his beauty truly didn't matter anymore. His rotten soul shocked more than his good looks, forcing Y/N to remind herself to breathe because the way this is going, she's in deep shit and she knows it.

Hecate turns to Y/N helplessly shouting: "RUN", but where? How? She's a human with everyone she loves trapped there as well. There's no where to run, especially not when two guards form by her side out of thin air, dragging her forth and pushing her down on her knees besides Hermes.

"Mommy!" Two tiny, terrified voices rippled through a sudden onset of hushed voices and small fights that erupted between the other gods.

But Y/N could barely hear anything after her kids screamed. She watched them trash against Hera as they fought to get to her side. She sensed Hermes lean toward her and his breath tickle her neck.

She didn't hear him whisper a promise that he wouldn't let this happen.

She didn't see nor hear Apollo being restrained just behind her as five guards struggled to hold him down. Apollo felt like a caged beast, breaking through anyone who tried to stop him from protecting Y/N and Hermes. He couldn't bear what would happen if he didn't. His duty as a god of Mount Olympus is to protect the gods and do what he must in order to serve his father for an eternity.

What is eternity without Y/N's gentle touch? What is eternity compared to his brother's love? Nothing at all. The love he bears for Y/N, for Hermes...for that little girl Y/N told him is his and possibly the boy as well? That love is the death of duty he swore to ever since he became aware of his existence.

He tried to reach Y/N, but she seemed frozen in her spot, her eyes laid upon her children in the far right as Zeus came closer, all the way until he stopped in front of her and the son he could barely call his anymore.

The next thing Y/N heard was what sealed her fate.

"Taking a life is an unspeakable crime. To take a gods eternity? It. Is. Unforgivable. You are both sentenced to die."

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Tags: @mutuallynotmutual @lanadeldolans @xalayx @accalialionheart @gia-kerks @historyheart @heyits-claire @daddygraysonsbitch @fallinginlove-16 @lanadeldolans @beautifulfound @thearachna-kid @dinnerwiththedolans @graydolan12 @justanotherfangurl272 @dxlansfxck @godlydolans @flowery-dolan @dominatedolans @buckysjuicyplums @ethanhes @dolandolll @dolanstwintuesday

#ethan dolan #grayson dolan #dolan twins #dolan twins greek god au #ethan dolan x reader #grayson dolan x reader #apollo #hermes #ethan dolan fanfiction #grayson dolan fanfiction #ethan dolan angst #ethan dolan au #ethan dolan fic #ethan dolan fanfic #grayson dolan fanfic #grayson dolan fic #grayson dolan au #grayson dolan angst

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belizedeservesbetter · 5 years ago

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Hercules is Bursting At the Seams With Potential

or, It’s Roger Bart’s World and We’re Just Living In It

Short Version: Right now it’s good but not great HOWEVER with some work this could be really spectacular

Long Version:

The production of Hercules presented by Public Works did exactly what it was meant to do. It brought in crowds, put the entirety of the Public Works community (all 200 of them) onstage and showed producers this is a viable project worth pursuing, be it on Broadway, a Disney park/cruise ship or simply available for licensing.

In all, I liked it. But I didn’t love it, which was a little disappointing to be honest, especially because Hercules is my all time favorite Disney movie. But it is easily (easily!) fixable and could be amazing if they put the work into it.

I’m gonna divide this review/commentary/whatever into three parts:

1. The Good

2. The Bad

3. What I Think They Should Do Moving Forward

So here we go. And I guess I should say there’s going to be a bunch of spoilers here, but if you’re reading this I’m assuming you’ve seen/loved the movie so you already know the plot.

1. The Good

Every moment of this show is filled with an extraordinary amount of heart. You can tell everyone involved with this production loves the source material and wants it to soar. You can tell the entire cast is having a blast and loves being there. The material itself is full of heart because that’s exactly how it was written. The leader of Public Works made a speech at the beginning saying how Hercules is about what it means to be a hero and she’s exactly right. That message is the beating heart of the show.

The length of the show was also pretty nice. My problem with a lot of these film adaptations, Disney ones especially, is that they take a relatively short film and fill it with filler songs/moments in order to fill a 2.5 hour show. Frozen suffered from this. It didn’t need to be that long. However, Hercules was only 90 minutes with no intermission! There was little to no filler! The story, while at times a bit clunky in the beginning, doesn’t take any scenic routes to fill time. This kept the plot moving at a mostly good pace and I was never bored or looking at the song list to see how much longer we had left. I could focus completely on the cast and show without feeling like it was dragging on forever.

And the cast was so good too. Krysta Rodriguez has always been a fav of mine and I was thrilled to see her playing this role. She was fun and spunky and was in great voice. If anything, she didn’t have too much to work with.

Jelani Alladin was FANTASTIC. He was the perfect Hercules. If producers decide to move forward with this show and take it to Broadway, Alladin better stay. He was charming and fun and funny and sang the hell out of “Go the Distance.” But what really impressed me about him was the dramatic moments and how personal and impactful they felt. There’s this great moment when Hercules talks to Zeus and Hera after becoming the hero of Thebes where he breaks down and has his wonderful moment with Phil and that whole scene was so good. He really lets you see Hercules’ insecurities at that moment and the way he was able to be subtle but still project to an outdoor audience of over a thousand was remarkable.

James Monroe Iglehart was great as Phil, as was Jeff Hiller and Nelson Chimilio as Panic and Pain respectively.

The costumes were really cool (with one glaring exception but we’ll get to that later). I especially enjoyed Hades/the gods costumes, because they looked enough like their movie counterparts while still being unique to the show. The way they did Hades’ makeup was super cool, like they pulled him right into the real world. Likewise, the Muses had some really cool costume changes throughout and they all looked amazing.

One of the more impressive aspects of the show was the puppetry and special effects, which felt grounded in a more Greek theatre kind of style and I thought it worked very well. The puppetry of the monsters specifically was super cool. The Hydra looked fantastic, as well as the three Titans. This production of course wasn’t given a lot of money, but much like The Lightning Thief, they worked with it. They were in these cool pieces that different actors held and when they came together they looked great. They were bright and bold and drew on older theatre techniques which I liked a lot. The special effects, especially in the latter half, were also good. How they did the Underworld was simple but effective and made a wonderful stage picture, especially the moment when Hercules saves Meg from Hades. How they made his life string turn gold looked really cool as well.

In terms of musical numbers, what worked best was the songs we all know and love. “Go the Distance” was simply staged, which made the emotion of the song far more effective. “Zero to Hero” was a blast and took all the best parts from the movie and put them on stage. “I Won’t Say (I’m In Love)” was divine, just as I expected it to be. “A Star Is Born” was genuinely uplifting and joyous, since they brought out all 200 members of the cast and everyone was so happy to be there and it was the perfect way to end the show.

There were 5 new songs, and while I wasn’t a fan of most of them, I really really liked “Bolts of Thunder” and thought it was a fun way to musicalize the big fight scenes with the Titans towards the end. The Muses also wore these incredible 90s girl group inspired jumpsuits that were spectacular.

Speaking of 90s girl group Muses, there were two moments when they heavily channeled this vibe and I wish they did more of it. “Bolts of Thunder” with the jump suits and the reprise of “Gospel Truth” after “One Last Hope” where they wore these late 80s/early 90s workout video outfits. Those moments were artistically bold and really emphasized what worked in the original movie, but I’m gonna talk more about that later in part 3.

Of course my favorite part of this production was Roger Bart. He stole the entire show. Whenever Hades is on stage he has the best lines and the funniest moments and he just has a way of making every line feel both biting and passive aggressive. He was absolutely incredible and the perfect choice for Hades. This production gave us more Hades than the original movie, but I wanted even more Hades. Bart has always been an actor near and dear to my heart (Young Frankenstein was my jam) and I was so glad to see him onstage again.

2. The Bad

Unfortunately, a good portion of the show feels clunky, both stylistically and in content. The book was perfectly serviceable, taking a good portion of its lines from the films. But it felt too slow in the first half and too fast in the second, which was also when things got more interesting. For example, there’s a whole song about Hercules not feeling accepted at the Agora and there’s a long scene after that song but later on when Hercules defeats Hades, that takes literally 2 seconds. Likewise, the show over explains certain exposition points (and is not subtle in any way, shape or form) and doesn’t explain other things. Though really there isn’t much exposition at all, as this show assumes you’ve watched the movie dozens of times.

That doesn’t always work well.

I went with a friend who hadn’t seen it in a while and afterwards he asked about what happened to Meg that made her sign her soul over to Hades. I knew because I’ve seen the movie so many times, but the show kind of brushes right over it. If you’ve never seen the movie before, which will definitely be the case with some people, it might be a little difficult to keep up with.

Stylistically, this show was all over the place.

In my opinion, Public Works presented three versions of Hercules:

1. The gospel version

2. The 90s nostalgia version

3. The Greek inspired version

I’m going to go more into this later, but these three versions would have worked if they could have seamlessly blended into each other. As of now, it’s incredibly jarring and distracting and would sometimes take me right out of the show.

For example! Hercules wore a traditional toga. Meg wore this

Yes this is Mal from Disney’s Descendants and yes Meg wore basically this but she had shorter hair and purple heel boots instead of gray. Hercules’ toga and this together looked almost absurd to be honest.

And side note: Disney has been on a kick recently where they think pants equals feminism? Someone needs to tell Disney that women can wear dresses and still be feminist

Anyways

The choreography was pretty basic, but it’s hard to fault them this when the choreography is meant to be for a crowd of 200 people with ages varying from 5 - 80. There were a lot of step touch and wave moments. There was one really cool dance break in “Zero to Hero” that made me think about how cool some of these big production numbers could be if they got some good dancers in there.

I wish the Muses were better. They were so low energy during “Gospel Truth,” which made the evening start off on a lower note than it should have.

The pop culture references were really weird and out of place, mostly because of their specificity. The pop culture references in the movie are purposely vague and more “modern” references than pop culture, which makes the movie timeless. The pop culture references here might date the show in the future. There’s two that stood out specifically, one being when Hercules says “I know the Wobble!” before doing it, the other when Panic starts doing the Hercules Mulligan rap (you know the one) from Hamilton when Hades asks him if he knows Hercules.

The rest of the new songs weren’t great either, and I’m gonna talk about each of them separately

“To Be Human” - This one definitely felt like a first draft of “Go the Distance.” Interestingly enough, I feel that an edited version of “Proud of Your Boy” from the Alladin musical (also written by Alan Menken) would have worked a lot better.

“Uniquely Greek Town Square” - bad

“Forget About It” - I’m all for giving Meg more songs, but this was decent at best

“A Cool Day In Hell” - I desperately want Hades to have a solo, but not this. It was cheesy and felt out of place. Roger Bart sold the hell out of it, but of course he did cause he’s Roger Bart and incredible and amazing

“Uniquely Greek Tough Town” - not to be confused with “Uniquely Greek Town Square,” this song didn’t feel uniquely Greek at all and was, well, bad

“To Be Human (Reprise” - fine, I guess. Jelani Alladin made it good but the lyrics weren’t great. They rhymed “fail” with “frail.”

3. What I Think They Should Do Moving Forward

Like I said before, this show has so much potential! I think it could be so good! This is my favorite Disney movie so I really want it to go to Broadway! If they do, there’s a couple things I think they could benefit from.

The best Disney Theatricals productions draw heavily from the culture/country the story takes place in. The Lion King, which draw heavily from Kenyan culture and reinvents the source material is the best example of this. I think drawing on Greek theatre conventions/styles would work well here, especially if Disney threw some of that good Disney money at it. I’d also like to see them lean into the Greek myth aspect of it a bit more.

However, what also made the original Hercules movie so fun was its modern flair that felt both timeless and very 90s, which was fun. In this way I think the Muses and all the supernatural characters should draw more on this 90s flair while the mortals draw more on the Greek theatre conventions. I think with incorporating some Greek into the 90s and some 90s into the Greek, this could work really well. During “One Last Hope,” all the ensemble members wore those fun workout video outfits. I think it would have been fun if they wore togas still, but with sweatbands and leg warmers. Something like that to blend them together more. A theatrical beauty blender, if you will.

In all honesty, I just want something bold and inspired. Give me something interesting!

The show would also benefit from heavy edits to the newer songs and a good troupe of dancers, but that would of course happen in a possible commercial transfer.

Lastly, as with just about anything, throw some Disney money at it! Make it shine!

Normally I’d end this with a “Go see it!” or a “Don’t waste your time on it!” but this run is already sold out and lottery winners have been predetermined. So if you’ve won the lottery and are going, you’re in for a treat! The show is so fun and so enjoyable. I only critique it so heavily because I love the movie so much and have been wanting a musical adaptation for a while now. But I also know it’s Public Works and it’s free and it’s in the park and it’s fun and you can eat ice cream while watching it. If you didn’t win but live in NYC, give the lottery a go! I saw the lottery crowd waiting for winners to be drawn and it was incredibly crowded, so be aware of that.

Or, if you didn’t win the lottery/don’t win standby lottery, go over to the Belvedere Castle and you can listen in on the show. You’re only seeing their backs, but I saw a bunch of people there watching/listening the whole time!

#hercules #broadway #jelani alladin #krysta rodriguez #disney #review #voice

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godsofhumanity · 4 years ago

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aight @xdeusxmachinax you asked for it.

let me introduce y’all to my cronus x rhea AU <3 i could go into a LOT more detail,, but i think i should probably just leave it at whatever’s under the cut, because otherwise it’ll literally go on for several pages.

for the record, let me just say that i did this uquiz to determine what kind of fanbase your characters would have and for my characterisation of both Rhea and Cronus, i got “people will not shut up about how they deserve better”, so that might give you a little insight into how i’ve imagined them...

so we all know the usual Gaia-got-fed-up-with-Ouranos’-bs-and-decided-to-kill-him story... well, i haven’t changed that part, it still fits in the story

here’s where we get into my AU- Cronus, in this version, while cunning, is also pretty noble and brave.. that’s why when all his siblings are a little hesitant to fight Ouranos, Cronus steps up and gives everyone a pep talk about how they can’t continue to live in oppression like this and how they need to stand up for themselves and fight to save the world from Ouranos’ tyranny

Gaia’s pretty proud of her son’s courage, and awards him the scythe, and with the Titans now invigorated with new-found pluck, they agree to follow Cronus’ leadership and help him defeat Ouranos.

at first Cronus doesn’t really have bigger plans for the future- he knows that he needs to defeat Ouranos, but after that? who knows.

that is- until he has a little aside with Rhea. now, in my AU, Rhea’s a bit of a girlboss, and while nothing’s really official between her and Cronus, it’s pretty obvious that they’re an item, even though they haven’t said anything.. anyways, Cronus thinks that it makes sense for Oceanus, their eldest brother, to become king after Ouranos, but Rhea tells him that he should be king, because he was the only one who didn’t hesitate when it came down to deposing Ouranos.

and the other Titans agree with Rhea, including Oceanus. it’s clear to all of them that, despite Cronus being the youngest, he’s the leader of the Titans, and they’re all happy to follow him because he’s a good guy.

anyways-- fast forward to the actual battle, and there’s a little incident that occurs where Ouranos tells Cronus that he’s a fool, etc. and, seeing the way Cronus looks at Rhea, Ouranos tells him that Rhea will eventually betray him the way that Gaia betrayed Ouranos- and that, as his father, it’s his duty to look out for his son’s best interests, and then Ouranos kills Rhea in front of Cronus (oh yes, we love us some tragic love)

but Cronus loves Rhea so much, he can’t deal with the idea of her dying, so he prays really hard, wishing that he just had a little bit more.. time

and time actually reverses to just a few seconds from before Rhea was killed!!! Cronus is still a little hazy about what happens, so he’s unable to save Rhea (again) but he tries to reverse time again, and he ends up going all the way back when the Titans had first gathered together to come up with a plan to kill Ouranos, and now Cronus is fully aware that he’s a god of time (he didn’t know before)

so now with his cool time powers, stuff happens, and Cronus defeats Ouranos, and he takes over from him, becomes king with his pretty girlboss queen, Rhea, and everyone’s happy.

UNTIL! Hestia is born not too long after, and at first, Cronus is really fucking happy to have a daughter.

but then the more he looks into his daughter’s big baby eyes, the more he begins to think about Ouranos’ final prophecy to him- that a child of Cronus’ will rise up against him and depose of all the Titans.

and eventually, Cronus can’t take it anymore- he and the Titans worked so hard to depose of cruel Ouranos- Cronus even lost Rhea a few times in the process. under Cronus, peace and justice has been restored, and the kingdom is happy. and now some spoiled brat is going to come along and destroy everything?? Cronus begins to see little Hestia as a threat,, not because he doesn’t want anyone else to be king, but because he doesn’t want the peace in the kingdom destroyed. so, when Rhea leaves the house one day, Cronus decides to swallow Hestia whole, and that’s that.

Rhea returns and is, understandably pissed off with Cronus, but Cronus explains to her everything, and at this point, Rhea still loves Cronus, and he still loves her. She finds it hard to believe that such an innocent child could do all this harm, but she has faith in Cronus, who had previously liberated them from Ouranos, and while she doesn’t like what happened, she convinces herself that it’s just a one-off thing.

But then Demeter is born, and the same thing happens. Then Hera, then Hades, and by the time Poseidon is born, Cronus has become a completely different person- he’s cold, he’s paranoid. Now he doesn’t even try to comfort Rhea. and Rhea herself has become so distraught over the loss of her children, and she absolutely despises Cronus and what he’s become.

she goes to Gaia and begs her mother to relieve her of the pain of living with a madman, but Gaia tells her that she can’t, because Rhea is with child again. but this isn’t good news for Rhea, and she begs Gaia to just take the child from her,, that she can’t bear it. Gaia takes pity on her daughter and reminds her of the prophecy about one of her children deposing of Cronus and tells her that the child within her will save the land and his siblings.

this is pretty shocking to Rhea because she thought this whole time that her children were dead. but upon learning that they’re actually still alive and can be brought back, she’s renewed with energy, and decides that it’s time to take Cronus down.

then it’s just the usual Cronus swallows a stone instead of Zeus, and thinks nothing of it, and Rhea gives baby Zeus to the nymphs to care for.

fast forward to several hundred years later- Rhea goes down to the nymphs to visit Zeus for the first time in her entire life, and there’s an emotional heart-to-heart between her and Zeus, who has heard so much about his mother but never met her.

and Rhea tells him about her plan to free Zeus’ siblings and depose of Cronus. and Zeus is super pumped and excited and he’s like, “hell yeah i HATE that guy!” and Rhea tells him that she doesn’t hate Cronus at all- she hates what he’s become, and that she needs Zeus to fulfill the prophecy so that Cronus doesn’t have to bear the burden of being king anymore- Rhea doesn’t love Cronus anymore, she hasn’t for sometime, but she does feel pity for him, and she refuses to continue watching as Cronus poisons himself.

anyhow, then Zeus meets Cronus and they fight and all Zeus’ siblings are rescued, and eventually Cronus himself is defeated, and he’s weakened by the fight, although he’s not dead.

Zeus, for his mother’s sake, imprisons Cronus in Tartarus, not with the other Titans who had sided with Cronus, but in one of Nyx’s caves, where he dwells forever, sometimes receiving prophecies and stuff.

Rhea lives with Zeus and the rest of the Olympians in Olympus, occasionally providing her counsel, but for the most part, she’s just retired and living the good life <3

and that’s it! congrats if you read all the way down to here ^-^

#lolol if you're wondering why i've thought so much about this it's because i was actually going to make this into a comic #who knows.. maybe i will #i have lots of ideas... but no time ://#replies #hc #rhea x cronus #oc tag

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lilacmoon83 · 5 years ago

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Finding You Always

Also on Fanfiction.net and A03

Chapter 195: One Heart

Snow and David appeared at home in their living room and they looked around in confusion.

"Why would he send us here? It's hardly hiding," David said and Snow looked out the window, only to find Regina and Emma there, putting up a shield.

"That's why...they know they can't hide us," she said.

"So we're prisoners now?" he questioned in irritation. She crossed her arms over her chest and looked at him.

"If it means keeping you safe from...from…" Snow said, as she struggled to say the words.

"Snow…" he started to say, as she crumpled into his arms.

"She's going to hurt people…" Snow cried.

"We'll stop her," he promised.

"How? We can't banish my other half. We tried that with the Queen and now she's back!" Snow cried.

"The only way to deal with my other half is to…" but the words died on her lips.

"Don't…" he hissed.

"Don't even think that!" he said in outrage.

"I need you...I can't live without you…" he said, his voice thick with grief just at the possibility of losing her again.

"If she gets to you…" she started to say.

"I'll be fine…" he finished for her.

"Will you? Can you honestly tell me that your other half isn't fighting to get out and go to her right now? Because I know us...we are them. He wants her as much as you want me," Snow said fiercely. He sighed.

"I won't hide...so we hide the chalice," he replied.

"How?" she asked.

"Good question...that's what we need to figure out," Regina said, as she and Emma appeared in the house. They sighed in relief, as the rest of their children and David's father appeared as well. Summer and Bobby ran to their parents and they hugged them fiercely. Snow and David looked up at Regina, knowing that they also had to discuss what Bobby had just done and what it could mean.

~*~

Aphrodite covered her mouth in horror and felt the bile rise in her throat, as they arrived on the smoldering Mount Olympus. They had no warning and never had a chance. She knew for a fact that Athena had been in her Temple and wasn't surprised when she appeared alongside Hermes and herself.

"How could I not foresee this…" she uttered sadly. Aphrodite and Hermes hugged her.

"You couldn't have known...and Seth would have been in your blind spot. He's a Titan," the blonde admonished.

"She's right," Poseidon said gravely, as they saw him beside Zeus' charred Throne. There wasn't much left of him, but the body was clearly that of his youngest brother and Athena's father.

"Father and I rarely saw eye to eye...but I did love him," Athena said.

"Of course you did. Zeus was difficult at best, but not even he deserved this," Hermes agreed. Aphrodite sniffed and felt James' arms around her waist. She turned to him and finally collapsed in his embrace. He hugged her fiercely against his chest and rested his head on hers, as he stroked her back.

"I'm so sorry, my love…" he whispered to her. She pulled back and looked at him with wide eyes.

"I...I need to get you and the children out of Storybrooke," she said in a panicked tone.

"We're not leaving you…" he protested.

"James...I can't protect you and our babies from him! My magic is no match!" she said frantically, as she turned to Hermes.

"I need to take them to another sector...far from here," she said.

"I can speak to Fandral...I'm sure his home realm could provide a safe place," Hermes agreed.

"Hold on...I'm not leaving you here with that monster!" he protested.

"James...you have to. I can't lose you and our children," she cried.

"And I can't lose you...I won't," he replied fiercely, as he kissed her passionately.

"We will face this, but we will do it together," he admonished. She didn't like it, but did not press further at the moment, as they tried to determine the other deceased.

They found a corpse near Zeus and determined that it was Hera. Among the other dead was Ares, Hestia, and Hephaestus. They would have all died instantly, without warning or a chance. Seth had returned for revenge and enacted it with a vengeance. And they knew this was only the beginning for him and none of them knew how they would ever be able to win against the most powerful Titan to ever exist

~*~

Rose came out of the bathroom that evening in a long, red satin nightgown and had forgone her white robe. She saw her husband, standing on the balcony just outside their chambers, brooding as he usually did when he was troubled. She padded out to join him and slipped her arms around his waist, as she rested her head on his back. He turned and swept her into his embrace, as he held her tightly against him. After a few beats she lifted her head and caressed his face.

"Talk to me, my love…" she requested. He looked down shamefully and she cupped his handsome face in her hands.

"I know you have a past...and there is nothing in it that you could tell me that would make me love you less," she promised.

"My love for you only grows, every day and that will never change. My love for you could never fade. It can only become stronger," she added. He sighed and placed a kiss on top of her head.

"You know that woman," she said, making a statement rather than asking it as a question.

"Unfortunately…" he answered, as he took her hand and led her inside. He sat down in a comfortable, oversized chair and pulled her down into his lap. They had spent many evenings in this chair by the fire in their chambers, curled up together, holding each other, kissing and even making love. They had read there together and he had told her many things about his past, but never this story in detail. Not because he had been hiding it, but rather he didn't see the point in such details. She knew he had a past and she knew he had been with other women. He was over fifteen hundred years old, after all. It would have been unreasonable to think otherwise and she never cared to make him dredge up the unpleasantness in his past. Their life was so happy and full of love that she was just fine leaving his past where it lay. But now it seemed that a piece of it had arrived and she would now need to know about it.

"That woman...her name is Amora and she wields a particular kind of magic that is very destructive, not physically, but rather the worst kind of destruction. Emotionally, mentally...even spiritually," he said.

"Amora...she is the Enchantress I read briefly about in one of the books from stories of your realm," Rose recalled. He nodded. Her memory was nothing short of impeccable.

"Yes...she delights in destroying relationships and marriages, so naturally I was not her usual mark," he explained.

"I guess something about me drew her to me though," he added.

"Well...you are strikingly handsome," she mused, as she caressed his face and pecked him on the lips.

"Anyway...I didn't know who she really was obviously and we entered a relationship. I was not in a relationship with anyone else at the time, which is why it was puzzling that I was a target for her at all," he continued.

"And you fell in love," Rose deduced, but he looked at her sharply.

"I thought it was love...it was nothing compared to what we have. Not even close, you must understand that, my angel," he stressed and she gently caressed her hand along the back of his neck in a soothing manner.

"I know...I know that what we have is beyond anything ordinary," she assured.

"When I found out who she really was...I was heartbroken at the time. I asked her why she did this and she claimed that she wanted to add an Asgardian warrior to the notches on her bedpost," he said shamefully.

"I'm so sorry, my love," she cooed.

"Don't be...it taught me a very needed lesson. I realized that I had broken many hearts myself in my frivolous love life. I vowed then and there that I would never take pleasure in the flesh if my heart was not in it," he said, as he caressed her face gently.

"I vowed that if I was lucky enough to find love...real love...that I would cherish it," he continued.

"It was only a few years later that I fell through that portal and found my way to you," he added, as he pressed his forehead against hers.

"And I know how much you love me. Are you really worried that she might use her powers to tempt you away?" she asked. His eyes widened.

"No...never!" he refuted.

"What we have...our love is too powerful for her. You are everything to me, my darling Rose," he promised.

"I never thought for a second that she could lure you away...but you still seem so uneasy. What is it then?" she asked. He sighed.

"Because she does not take rejection well. Those that have rejected her advances in the past...she then goes after the ones that she has been rejected for," he explained.

"Then you fear she will come after me and the children," she surmised.

"If she does...then it is not banishment she will suffer this time," he promised.

"Unfortunately...she is not the only problem it seems," Rose mentioned. He sighed.

"No...our friends are facing an even more dire situation and this Seth...if he can kill Gods, then I fear for us all," he said.

"Oh Fandral…" she fretted, as she rested her head on his chest.

"Don't worry, my angel. I shall protect you and our children to my dying breath," he promised.

"I know you will...but I cannot lose you," she fretted.

"You are my life," she confessed and he caressed her face.

"As you are mine and I promise that I plan to try my best to survive any battle ahead," he said, as he gathered her in his arms like she weighed nothing and stood up, as he carried her to their large bed.

"No more of any of that unpleasantness tonight, my love," he said, as he lay her down on the bed.

"Mmm...I agree," she purred, as she pulled him down with her by his collar. Their lips parted briefly, as he stopped for a moment. He sensed something amiss, but it quickly faded.

"What is it?" Rose asked. He smiled at her.

"Nothing…" he promised, as he joined her in bed and for the moment, all that mattered was them and their love.

Outside their balcony, Amora smirked deviously and once he had sensed her, she wisely disappeared and then reappeared in the garden below their room.

"You may have moved on, Fandral...but I never quite did. Never has anyone affected me the way you did. Your Rose is a lucky woman...I do hope nothing happens to her," the Enchantress said, with a devious smirk, as she disappeared.

~*~

Blue worked late in the office at the convent, doing the books, as this was her role these days. After the debacle with the Black Fairy, she had effectively been stripped of her leadership role and was lucky to even be allowed to keep her wings. Tinkerbell was head of the fairies now and had reduced her role to this. She knew she should be grateful for that even and not in a prison cell. Snow and Charming had taken mercy on her and even returned her wand to her. But without a leadership role, it didn't do her much good and she was watched very closely these days. She would never return to power; they had promised that, but opted not to lock her up. She knew she should feel grateful, but she was bitter. Most of the other fairies shunned her now, which was why she chose to work in the evenings after most had retired for the night.

"I guess being a night owl is more appealing when everyone hates your guts," a voice said, interrupting Blue, as she did some filing. She recognized the voice, but somehow it was different and there was an edge to it that made the hair raise on the back of her neck. She turned to find Snow standing there, but her hair was short again and she was wearing a short, black leather dress and stilettos.

"Snow…" Blue uttered, but then she realized that this was not the Snow she knew.

"You can call me Winter to save confusion," she said nonchalantly.

"You're her dark half…" Blue deduced.

"Yes...the Evil Queen has returned and decided to separate us. I think she somehow thinks Snow and I will destroy each other, but she's going to end up regretting this," Winter responded.

"Because now that I'm unhindered by the other half, who insists on forgiving everyone that's wronged her in favor of giving hope speeches...I'm going to go after everyone that's ever wronged me and my Charming," she hissed, as she glared at the disgraced fairy. Blue swallowed thickly.

"I never wronged you…" she refuted, which made Winter let out a bitter laugh.

"Don't tell me you actually believe that, you deceitful gnat!" Winter growled, as she slowly walked toward her, while Blue backed away.

"Firstly...you tried to sabotage mine and Charming's true love…" she reminded.

"I thought I was doing what was best!" Blue argued.

"Best for you!" she snapped.

"You wanted me to leave the Kingdom after he saved me that day from the Woodcutter. You were scared of the true love sapling that was born between us that day and its power, because you knew we would eventually have far more power than you; power you couldn't control," Winter continued.

"I had a reason to be scared! Look at you...look at all the strife you both have had to endure for love. You may have a powerful true love that few can comprehend, but from where I'm standing, the price of that love is far too high," Blue retorted, which made Winter furious and her hand went around the fairy's neck.

"I should cut out your tongue for that…" she hissed.

"Our love is worth every bit of strife...our children are worth it all, you fluttering nuisance," she growled. Blue glared at her.

"Well...you defied me and decided to fight back that day. You got your Charming," she growled back.

"Oh, but your treachery didn't stop there, did it?" Winter questioned.

"You lied to us about the wardrobe," she raged.

"You know why I did. Gepetto was desperate to save his son. Just as desperate as you and Charming were to save your daughter," Blue countered.

"Emma needed us! She was the only one that could break the curse and save us all, including you," Winter spat.

"I didn't know you'd go into labor early. I thought you'd go through the wardrobe still pregnant," Blue reminded.

"Without Charming, because to hell with our love, right?" she growled.

"You can stop with your melodramatics. Your daughter fared far better than we thought she might. Merlin gave her the book and David ended up outside the curse. She came to us at ten instead of twenty-eight," Blue argued.

"No thanks to you…" Winter snapped.

"I can't believe my good half forgave you!" she raged, as she stepped back momentarily and released her hand from Blue's neck. As expected, the fairy dodged toward her desk and scrambled to get her wand out of her desk. Winter laughed and kicked her away from the desk, easily confiscating the wand for herself.

"You did exactly as I knew you would. Thank you...it saved me the time of tearing this place apart for it," Winter said, as she looked at the wand.

"You see, until Charming separates and we can wield the Chalice together, I need a little magic to help me with my revenge," she added, as she wrinkled her nose at the color.

"Not really my color though," she said, as she shook the wand, willing it to do as she wanted and it turned white in color. Winter smirked.

"Much better," she purred, as she pointed the wand at the first person on her revenge list.

"What...what are you going to do to me? Kill me? Blacken your half heart even further?" Blue taunted.

"My black heart? That's rich, coming from you, but I can assure you that everything I do will be justified. I may be the dark half of Snow White, but you are the light half of the Black Fairy...and your goodness is highly questionable," Winter retorted.

"But to answer your question...no, I'm not going to kill you. That's too good," Winter said, as she waved the wand. They disappeared and reappeared outside the convent in the garden.

"I was going to turn you into a blue flea...but I like animals, so I'd rather not make you their problem," Winter mused and then smirked deviously.

"No...I think you'll make a far better lawn ornament for the birds to land their droppings," she continued. Blue opened her mouth to scream, but she was silenced, as Winter used the wand to turn her to stone. She grinned in satisfaction.

"Much better...no one has to listen your grating voice anymore," she said, as she waved the wand and disappeared. She reappeared out by the Toll bridge and idly walked across it.

"Yes...this place will do perfectly," she mused, as she used the wand to clear enough of the trees away and with another wave, a castle rose into the sky. It wasn't overly large, but it didn't need to be. There was enough room and luxury for her and Charming, as well as their children. She knew they would resist at first, but eventually would come to realize they were their parents as much as their light halves were. The bridge now served as a walkway over the babbling creek into their castle and she went inside.

"Soon my love...you'll join me here and help me make everyone that has wronged us pay…"

He couldn't resist separating forever, for just like Snow and her Charming shared one heart, so did she and her Charming...

~*~

"Well...your vault is definitely out since the Queen is back and I'd say maybe we could put the Chalice in Aphrodite's Temple, but I'm guessing that's no longer an option either," Emma mentioned, as Aphrodite and James appeared in a puff of orange smoke.

"You'd be correct," the Goddess said, as Snow went to hug her.

"Everyone that was on Olympus when that blast hit is dead. So far, it seems that me, Hermes, Poseidon, Athena and a few others have survived," she said.

"I'm so sorry…" Snow told her.

"Thank you...but there is little time to mourn. We have much greater problems," she said gravely.

"Are you talking about what Bobby did?" Snow asked a bit fearfully.

"I'm afraid so," she replied.

"But...he doesn't even know what he did," David argued, as he put his hands on his son's shoulders.

"It doesn't matter...this is uncharted territory and if Seth thinks there is someone that could stand against him...he'll seek to eliminate them," she said. Bobby's eyes widened in fear.

"I'm sorry sweetheart...I don't mean to scare you, but I also need you to know how serious this is," she added.

"I have a feeling you have hidden powers that we have only begun to realize," she continued.

"Does that mean that I might have to fight him?" Bobby asked.

"Oh that's not happening," David refuted.

"Absolutely not," Snow agreed.

"He's just a little boy...we can't put this on his shoulders," Snow refuted.

"I'm with Mom...if this falls to anyone, it's me. I'm the Savior," Emma added.

"You're also pregnant and your mother and I are done relying on you to fight these battles Emma," David argued, as he looked at the Goddess.

"We have the Chalice...we'll face him," he said bravely.

"That would be preferable and though you are both more powerful than any of my charges...we're talking about a being that not even Zeus could defeat," she reminded.

"Zeus didn't have true love's magic," Snow reminded in return.

"We still need to assess the lengths of Bobby's powers," Regina said, as Snow and David looked at her incredulously.

"I'm just saying that if he really has some hidden power, there are ways to release it and it would protect him. I think we all know that Seth doesn't care if he's just a child," she continued.

"She's right…" Leo realized.

"And it's not like he'll be alone. We all have magic and we all helped take down Gothel. It might come down to that again," Emma agreed.

"I want to know about my powers," Bobby said, as he looked up at his parents.

"The mountainous region to the east, just beyond Bald Mountain is isolated and abandoned enough that it would be a good practice ground to test his powers," Hermes offered.

"I don't like this," Snow fretted.

"Me either," David agreed.

"Mom...Dad...I want to do this. It's okay. Emma was the Savior that broke the curse. Maybe I'm the Savior for this," Bobby told them and they knelt down before them.

"Sweetheart...your father and I do not want you burdened by such a weight on your shoulders," Snow said.

"Your mother is right...we never wanted Emma burdened with it either," David told him.

"I know...but it's okay. I know I'm still a kid, but all my siblings have a pretty clear path. Emmy is the Savior and the Sheriff of Storybrooke now. Leo has animals. Eva is a healer. Summer has her dancing. And then there's me. I want to learn more about my magic. I want to be a Knight...like you Dad," Bobby told them and David took a deep breath at that.

"If I have hidden powers...I wanna know," he added and Snow recalled the last time she was in a sleeping curse. She had taken that curse voluntarily to escape Jekyll and buy her husband time. And instead of the red room, she had spent her time during the curse in Morpheus' Temple, with her youngest grown son, who had only been a baby at the time. She had never received any good explanation at how that was even possible and now she was wondering if it was connected. Were Bobby's powers far beyond just that of wielding the element of earth? Had he used his hidden magic, even as a baby, to come to her while she was in the nether realm? Was Bobby meant to stand on the front lines against the strongest evil they had yet to face?

"If that's what you really want, sweetheart. I think I hate it...but I love you so much that I won't deny you what you want," Snow said softly.

"Me either buddy...but you have to know what's required here. You'll be training almost non stop with Regina, Aphrodite and probably Rumple in magic," David warned. He nodded.

"And when you're not learning your magic, you'll be with me or Fandral to learn the skills you need to become a warrior," he added.

"I'm ready Dad," he promised, as his terrified parents hugged him between them.

"Then you better get a good sleep, because we start bright and early in the morning," Regina said, as she disappeared in a puff of violet smoke. James and Aphrodite left next to return to their mansion in Storybrooke, while Leo returned to Arendelle and Eva to her home at the loft with Paul. Emma and Killian retired to their room in their apartment-like quarters in the finished basement, while Snow and David saw their youngest children off to bed, before retiring themselves. The United Realms was supposed to have been a new beginning, but it would seem that it had also brought some very new problems.

~*~

David gently put his hands on her shoulders, as she twirled her ring and stared out the window of their bedroom.

"I'm so sorry, my love," he offered, as he pressed a kiss to her hair.

"This was not how this evening was supposed to go," he mentioned. She turned to him and sought comfort in his arms, as he cradled her head against his chest.

"Is she calling to you? To your darkness?" Snow asked.

"My focus is here...on you," he promised, as he kissed her tenderly.

"I just can't believe any of this is happening," she said, as she relished the warmth and strength of his body against hers.

"I know...I wish I could make it all go away. I wish we were still dancing the night away at our anniversary party, without a care in the world," he agreed. She smirked.

"But that's just not how our lives usually go," she joked.

"I guess not…" he said.

"I have never been a revenge driven person…" she mentioned.

"I know…" he said.

"But it's always been there. I bury it well, but it's there. The resentment, the anger, the urge to punish those that have hurt us or tried to keep us apart," she admitted.

"Snow…" he started to admonish.

"No Charming...I need to acknowledge this part of me, because now she is free and she is going to do some things that I will be very uncomfortable with," she continued. He sighed.

"Okay...I'll be honest too then. There is part of me that would feel great satisfaction if a few people that wronged you were made to pay for hurting you. Hell...there's a part of me that wants to deliver that justice for you and as much as I hate to admit it, it is stirring inside me like it never has before," he admitted.

"Your dark side...it wants free to be with mine," she reiterated. But he shook his head.

"I won't let him out...we can't go there," he promised. She sighed.

"As much as I wish that were true...I think we both know that it's only a matter of time before she finds a way. I know her, Charming...I know what I will do to be with you so I know what she will do to have you too," she reminded.

"You know it's not in me to leave...you can't ask me to leave," he stated. She nodded.

"I know...I was just so scared earlier. You know me...my first instinct is to run," she mused.

"Even after all these years...it's a hard habit to break. But just like it did not stop the Queen's evil back then...it won't stop it now. I know that running isn't the answer," she stressed.

"But I certainly did not think it was having our youngest baby stand on the front lines with us," she added. He sighed.

"I know...I hate it as much as you," he promised.

"But you and I will be there with the Chalice and fight right beside him," he added.

"Charming...this is a Titan we're talking about. Someone who is not just a little more powerful than Zeus was...but infinitely more powerful," she reminded.

"Zeus didn't have true love's magic on his side and as much as we don't like it, maybe that is the reason our children have magic. As much as we don't like it sometimes...I think we both know that this is destiny," he stated.

"You really think true love can defeat even him?" she asked. He smiled.

"I know it can...and it will. We will...together, as we always have," he promised. She knew it wouldn't be that easy, but she had faith in their love. It had been momentarily shaken, but she knew that there was truly nothing that they could not overcome and though the road ahead of them was likely very rocky, she knew that love would win. She melted into his kiss and he swept her into his arms. She smiled at him.

"It's late…" she reminded.

"I know...but it is still our anniversary and I intend to make love to my beautiful wife of forty years…" he responded. She smiled and bit her bottom lip at that. Even if it was just for a few hours, she would relish becoming lost in him and their love...

~*~

His subordinates wisely stayed out of his way, as he stomped around the courtyard of his dreary palace. They rarely saw him anything other than calm and composed so it was very unnerving as he was practically losing his mind over a child.

"This cannot be...no one rivals my power…" he growled.

"Sire...I doubt this brat could ever do that. He'll just be another in a long line of foes that you have vanquished," Mim boasted, but he glared murderously at her.

"You don't understand!" he snapped.

"That brat should not have been able to nullify my sonic spell...I once paralyzed Zeus with it. I would have killed them all years ago had it not been for some clever trickery on his part," Seth raged.

"He's just a boy...he can't be that large of a threat," the Queen refuted, but he glowered at her too.

"A boy that you are protecting!" he lashed out.

"He's my grandson!" she argued.

"No...he is the son of your enemies!" he argued in return.

"I don't understand...he's just a boy! He wields the element of earth and that should hardly be a threat to you," The Queen admonished.

"You are for the brat...I knew you weren't really one of us," Mim accused.

"Keep talking and you won't need to worry about being banished again, you old hag," the Queen warned.

"Enough!" Seth bellowed.

"It is not just his elemental powers that concern me, though I don't think you quite understand how powerful the element of earth truly is," he continued.

"Then enlighten us, my Lord," the Queen requested.

"To control fire or thunder is an explosive, with obvious strength and power," he lectured.

"Wind and water are often a more subtle force and wildly underestimated, for sometimes, they can be far more destructive than the obvious powerhouses of fire and thunder," he continued.

"And then there is Earth. It is more than moving rocks and shaking the ground beneath one. It involves the incredible ability to connect one's soul to the earth and move it at will. It is not normal magic that allowed him to do this. That's why he has no idea what he did!" Seth explained.

"Then what was it, My Lord?" Mephisto inquired.

"An ultra instinct...a hidden power that could have catastrophic repercussions for us all. The boy must die…" he announced. The Queen frowned and felt a spark of fear ripple through her.

"I don't understand...what is this instinct? And we cannot be sure that Bobby really has hidden power. He is the product of true love…" the Queen said, but he cut her off.

"The product of the truest loves and this ultra instinct connects him to his earthly element, which in turn will allow him to wield not just unprecedented magic, but all the elements," Seth informed. That shocked the Queen to her core as well.

"That will make his parents quite desperate to protect him," Mephisto mentioned.

"Indeed...he will not be easy to eliminate, so I expect you to exploit that angle if possible," Seth ordered and the other being nodded.

"And you…" he said, as he turned to the Queen.

"Whatever affection you have for this child had better not cloud your judgement. He must be eliminated before he comes into his full power," Seth warned. She swallowed thickly and nodded.

"I understand...you'll get no interference from me," the Queen lied, as the lot of them dispersed. The Queen walked away and Mim called to her.

"Where do you think you're going?" Mim questioned. The Queen seethed at the other woman's intrusive inquiry. She definitely needed this one eliminated so she wouldn't be able to whisper in Seth's ear. She couldn't do it herself, lest she wished to incur the Titan's wrath, but she knew someone that would be willing to do so for her.

"I just unleashed my nemesis' darker half on this town and I suspect dear, sweet Snow is a mess over it. I want to bask in her torment, of course. Plus, I need to keep tabs on her dark side as well," the Queen said, simply, as she disappeared and reappeared inside Rose and Fandral's library. It was the middle of the night and the two guards on duty fell asleep at the wave of her hand.

In her time learning magic, she recalled seeing many books in Greek in the Dark One's library. And she recalled, upon using her magic to translate the title, one called Ultra Instinct. She had never paid it any mind, but now she needed to know what this was all about. She was almost positive that he wasn't telling her everything and educating herself on this might be the only way to save Bobby.

~*~

The last thing David remembered before falling asleep was Snow spooned against him, both of them bare and sated from some very passionate lovemaking. He held her warm body against his own, but when he suddenly felt the absence of her warmth, it startled him awake.

"Snow?" he called, as he opened his eyes and found himself in their bed, but not in their bedroom. Instead, the bed was in the a Temple that looked like Aphrodite's, the same surroundings that he and Snow had found themselves in the first time they met her. He got up and then quickly realized that he was still naked. He started to grab the sheet to put around his waist when he heard a voice.

"Mmm...no need to cover up. I'm very much enjoying the view," Winter purred. He turned to find her standing there, scantily clad in a glittering white negligee that left little to the imagination.

"Hello my love…" Winter purred.

"You're...I'm not your love. You're not Snow," he refuted with a quiver in his voice. She sighed.

"I am...and you know I am or you wouldn't be so hot and bothered by the sight of me right now," she mused, with a smirk, as she was enjoying his obvious reaction to her state of dress or rather lack thereof. He sighed in frustration and grabbed the sheet, before wrapping it around his waist.

"I know all the right moves with you, my Charming…" she said.

"Doesn't matter...I know what you want and you're not getting it," he refuted.

"Well, if I don't get my way with you...then that would be a first," Winter teased. He sighed.

"Okay fine...you want to play that way, then we will," he said, as he faced her.

"You're right...you are my wife and you're the part of her that wants revenge for all the terrible things that have been done to her and no one understands that better than me," he stated.

"I know...I know that part of you wants to make them all pay for me," she purred, as she caressed his handsome face and pressed herself flush against him.

"But it won't make you feel better. You think it will...but it will only leave you feeling empty," he argued.

"I would usually agree with that, except I'd never feel empty with you by my side. We deserve justice against those that have wronged us," she argued in return.

"Justice yes...but that's not the same as revenge. We get justice every day just by being together and so in love that no one that has wronged us can even comprehend it," he continued.

"That's what we've been telling ourselves all these years. Meanwhile, evil has never let up on trying to tear us apart. It's time we strike back against those that have meant us harm," she implored, as she took his hands in her own and then caressed her face.

"I know that there is part of you that agrees with me and that is warring inside you to get out. You need not fear your darker half. He means you no harm, just like I mean no harm to Snow," she added.

"But you mean harm to others," he refuted.

"Only to those that deserve it," she retorted.

"It's a slippery slope. When you're done serving up your own brand of justice...you'll look for other injustices to right and by then, the lines will be too blurry and our heart would too blackened. What is wrong would become right and there would be no returning from that," he warned.

"Our love would anchor us...I know it would," she disagreed.

"We deserve this…" she urged.

"Maybe...but that doesn't mean we should do it," he argued.

"Mmm...I've always admired your sense of righteousness," she mused, as she caressed his face and drew him into a kiss. He kissed back and his hands found their way to her waist, as she kissed him with wanton passion and almost aggressively. It was exciting and like always, she was like a drug to him. He was an addict that couldn't get enough and she was his drug of choice. He felt his darkness stirring in him in response and his eyes widened, as he quickly pulled away.

"No…" he refused, as he backed away. But she remained unfazed by his denial. She knew it was only a matter of time until she lured his darkness out, especially now since he had tasted her own darkness himself, even as he disappeared back to the physical plain.

"Soon my love…" she murmured.

~*~

Paul awoke in the middle of the night and glanced at the clock. It read three-thirty in the morning and he found Eva's side of the bed empty. It wasn't entirely unusual. Sometimes his wife experienced insomnia, especially in times of great strife. It was because she felt things so deeply that often led to this. He got up and padded out of their bedroom and down the loft stairs. Sure enough, he found her curled up on the couch with her phone, listening to something and as he got closer, he realized it was one of those intrusive podcasts that had popped up in the last five years since the events in Seattle. Five years to the outside world of course and only weeks for them.

"And if you're just joining us, we're discussing the events of that day in Seattle. Who were they and was that really magic that we all saw? Many theorists have suggested they are not of this world, whether that means from space like extraterrestrials or another dimension, which actually seems much more likely. Many theorists are more interested in the why than who though. Why were they here and with that kind of power...should we fear them? Then there is the where. They disappeared five years ago without a trace and yet it is thought to be naive to think that the danger is over. Of course, the who is the question everyone keeps returning to and if you follow this podcast, then you know the theory I aspire to. I believe they are exactly who the tabloids claimed they are just weeks before that day. Snow White and Prince Charming. That's right. Fairy tales, people. Some say that's crazy. But is it any crazier than aliens or lizard people? Any crazier than those that believe the earth is flat or that we never went to the moon? I don't think so and neither should you. And before you say that the tabloids are hardly credible sources, I have it on good authority that some of their information came from the dark web. It turns out that this theory has been out there for a while, people. There is talk on the dark web that there is a place on this planet where these people...these fairy tale characters live. It's hidden by magic and it's hidden in Maine. That's right people...a town in Maine. So if you seek the truth like I do...then you'll join me next week for a live broadcast in Maine. That's right...from a little town in Maine called Misty Falls. Rumor has it that strange things happen in the woods around this extremely small town and word has it that the land of fairy tales is hidden near here. So join me and seek the truth…"

Eva looked up and saw her husband standing there. She looked at him sheepishly and turned the app off.

"Hi…" she said. He smiled at her.

"Hi...what are you doing?" he asked. She shrugged.

"Couldn't sleep...so I decided to freak myself out more and listen to the crazies on the Internet," she replied. He sighed.

"Eva…" he started to say.

"Except they're not so crazy. Misty Falls is only seven miles from here! It's the town that Dad and Emma arrived in on the bus from Boston all those years ago, before they found their way to Storybrooke," she reminded.

"I know...but they're not going to find us," he promised.

"Stranger things have happened, Paul," she argued and he couldn't refute that argument.

"This Seth...what if he decides to destroy the barrier? I mean, he doesn't seem like the type that will stop at just ruling the United Realms. There's a whole world out there for him to conquer," she surmised. Damn...he hated that she was right.

"Maybe not...but whatever happens, we'll deal with it. But you will drive yourself crazy if you keep listening to those conspiracy nuts on the Internet," he chided. She huffed.

"I know...but seriously, once you start listening, it's hard to turn away. Like car wreck," she complained. He chuckled and took her hand, as he pulled her up.

"Be that as it may...you need to get some sleep," he said. She agreed and allowed him to lead her back upstairs to their bedroom. She knew he was right and they literally had to be ready for anything, for they had no idea what the next day would bring. With all that was facing them, it could literally be anything...

#Snowing #SnowxCharming #Charming family #OC Charmings #AU #The United Realms #Rose Red #Fandral the Dashing #Dashing Rose #original season 8 storyline #Dark Snow #Dark Snowing #The Evil Queen #romance #adventure #family #Finding You Always #the epic continues

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loretranscripts · 6 years ago

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Lore Episode 1: They Made a Tonic (Transcript) - 18th March 2015

tw: horror, bodily mutilation, blood, disease, death, vampires, pseudo-cannibalism

Disclaimer: This transcript is entirely non-profit and fan-made. All credit for this content goes to Aaron Mahnke, creator of Lore podcast. It is by a fan, for fans, and meant to make the content of the podcast more accessible to all. Also, there may be mistakes, despite rigorous re-reading on my part. Feel free to point them out, but please be nice!

Hollywood is… obsessed. Sure, we often think of obsessions like sex, violence, gigantic robots and of course, epic battles between good and evil. But another obsession of Hollywood is vampires. You have to admit though, that there’s a lot to love about vampires. Immortality, wealth, power, and superhuman abilities such as flight and strength. Yes, they come with trade-offs, such as incredibly bad sunburns, but every movie I’ve seen, and I’ve seen a lot, believe me, tends to show vampires that are fairly happy with their lot in life. My exposure to the world of vampires happened in the late 1990s, when I was in college. A friend of mine recommended the Anne Rice novel, Interview with a Vampire. I devoured that and many of the sequels. They’re fun reads! And they certainly set the tone for a decade or more of vampire-centred entertainment. I won’t touch on the vampires of the Twilight books, mostly because I haven’t read them. But I will say this: those books, however lambasted they have been by critics, have shown that popular culture’s love of all things vampire is as undying as the creatures themselves. I’m Aaron Mahnke, and this is Lore.

When most people think of vampires, they envision something that is a purely European creature: a foreign accent, Victorian Era dress, and dark manor homes and castles. It’s a common visual language for most of the western world, so I don’t blame bad movies and books for portraying that image, but it’s one small facet of a legend that has hundreds of expressions. The single most prominent historical figure attached to the modern notion of vampires is of course Vlad III of Wallachia, otherwise known as Vlad the Impaler. Vlad was the ruler of a small Eastern European kingdom known as Wallachia. He ruled from 1456 to 1462. He was known as Vlad the Impaler, because he preferred to execute his enemies by impaling them on stakes. The Ottomons called him “Lord Impaler” after entering his kingdom to find forests of impaled victims. Vlad was a violent guy, you see, rather bloodthirsty, you might say. Now he, like his father before him, belonged to something known as the Order of the Dragon, a group established to protect Christian Europe from the invading Ottoman army. Vlad’s father, Vlad II, was known as Vlad Dracul, which meant Vlad the Dragon, from the Order of the Dragon. When Vlad III rose to power he took the hereditary title and was known as Vlad Dracula, the son of the dragon. That name might sound very similar to the most famous vampire story in the world, and that’s because Bram Stoker, when creating his famous creature of the night, used Vlad III as his inspiration. Well, part of it, but we’ll get to that more later.

The roots of most vampire stories can be traced back to superstitions rooted in ancient cultures all across the world. Western Europe played host to countless stories of reanimated dead known as “revenants”. These were animated corpses which climbed out of the grave to torment the living. The word “revenant” comes from Latin, which means “to come back”. And come back to do what, you might ask? Well, I’m glad you did. At first it was just to terrorise the living, but as the centuries passed the legend became more specific. Revenants were said to return from the grave to torment their living relatives and neighbours. What was key though, was that revenants were specific people, not anonymous zombies of our modern horror genre. These things had a past, and a purpose. Now, in Norse Mythology, we can find stories of creatures known as draugr, “again-walkers”, who would return from the grave and wreak havoc on the living. These creatures possessed superhuman strength, they smelled of decay, and they were reported to be pretty ugly in appearance. They could enter the dreams of the living and while they were doing that, it was said that they left tangible objects near the sleeping victims, so that when they woke up, they would know that their dreams were more real than they feared.

Let’s go back earlier than the Middles Ages though. The legends of some ancient cultures spoke of creatures that, while not immediately similar to the vampires we know today, nonetheless share many core characteristics. First we have the Greek myth of Empusa, who was the daughter of Hekate. Empusa was said to lure young men, at night, and then feast on their blood, before moving on to the main course, their flesh. Another Greek tale involves Lamia, a mistress of Zeus, who becomes cursed by Zeus’ wife Hera, and is doomed to hunt children, devouring them. Stories of undead creatures, or creatures that feed on the blood of the living, seem nearly as common as written language itself. I mean, even on the small, isolated island of Madagascar, there are legends of a creature known as the Ramanga, which was known to attack nobles, drinking their blood and eating their nail clippings. Yeah, I said nail clippings. Deal with it.

Are vampires real? I’ll let you make the final decision on that, but what is clear, is that most of these stories find their genesis in the human need to explain the unexplainable. For instance, early Europeans used the myth as a way of explaining why a corpse wasn’t decomposing at the normal rate that they expected. You can see evidence of this in Bulgaria, where graves dating back over 800 years, have been opened, to reveal iron rods that have been driven through the chest of the skeletons. And in a time when it was very common to bury someone that was thought to be dead, only to find out that they weren’t really dead, you can imagine that stories would quickly circulate that the dead were coming back to life. As a result, Taphophobia, the fear of being buried alive, swept Europe and the United States. Now, of course, when medical science caught up, people got more practical. They built alert systems into graves, just in case the person woke up and, you know, wanted out. Now, I realise that being buried alive sounds like a rare occurrence, but it happened frequently enough that many people were sufficiently paranoid about it to actually spend time looking for a solution.

One of these people happened to be a medical doctor, a man named Adolf Gutsmuth. Now, in 1822, and driven by the fear of being buried alive, he invented a “safety coffin” for his own interment, and then he tested it out himself. Tested it out? You bet! Doctor Gutsmuth allowed himself to be buried underground in his new “safety coffin” for several hours, during which he had meals delivered to him through a feeding tube. He enjoyed a wonderful meal of soup, sausages, and a lovely local beer. Sounds like a great date night destination, doesn’t it? Now, Doctor Timothy Smith of New Haven, Vermont, was another paranoid inventor. He created a grave that can be visited still to this day, if you happen to be passing by Evergreen Cemetery, in Vermont. It was a crypt, buried in the usual manner, but it had a cement tube positioned over the face of the body, and a glass plate was affixed to the top of the tube at ground level. Doctor Smith died a real, natural death, and was buried in his fancy coffin with a view. He never woke up, but early visitors to his grave reported that they had a clear view of his decomposing head, until condensation obscured the glass decades later. Side note: vampires no longer scare me. Waking up inside of a small box buried six feet under the surface of the earth is what true fright looks like to me.

Now, another culprit in humanity’s use of the vampire label, was porphyria. It was a rare blood disorder, but modern science has pretty much closed the case on that one, saying that it’s too far of a stretch to connect the two topics. Rabies, of all conditions, has also been used as an explanation for the rise of the vampire mythology. Surprisingly there are a lot of commonalities between them, such as a sensitivity to light and garlic, as well as altered sleep patterns. But the most recent medical condition with a strong connection to vampire mythology was actually Tuberculosis. Those who suffer from TB had no vampire-like symptoms though, and that’s what makes this one a harder connection to explain. It’s also, incidentally, where one of my favourite New England legends comes into the picture. Ladies and Gentlemen, meet Mercy Brown.

Lena Mercy Brown was a young woman who lived in the latter half of the 19thcentury, in the rural town of Exeter, Rhode Island, and she was a major player in what is now known as the “Great New England Vampire Panic”. Stories like hers can be found repeated all across Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont, echoed in the lives of others in similar situations. And the results have surprising connections to both the modern idea of vampires, as well as the ancient stories, as we will see. The first person to die in Exeter was Mercy’s mother, Mary Eliza. That was December of 1882, and she fell victim to what was then called “consumption”. Consumption, because, as the disease of Tuberculosis ravaged the body, the person would appear to waste away; consumed, if you will, by the illness. She, of course, was buried, because, well, that’s what you do with a loved one who passes away. The next year though, Mercy’s sister Mary Olive died, at the young age of 20. Same illness, same symptoms, same process. I’m not sure when exactly the people of Exeter, Rhode Island started to wonder if the deaths were connected , but it might have been then, or it might have been a few years later when Mercy’ brother Edwin took ill. Edwin, though, was smart. He packed up and moved across the country to Colorado Springs, which had a great reputation for the healing properties of its dry climate. When he finally returned from the resorts out west, some years later, he was alive, but not doing so well, and in December of 1891, he took a turn for the worst. That was the month that Mercy herself became ill. Her Tuberculosis moved fast. They called it the galloping kind, and it moved through her body quickly, like wildfire. By January, 1892, she was dead, and the people of Exeter were more worried than ever. You see, they suspected something… supernatural.

Now, this was surprising, considering how close Exeter is to Newport. That’s the seaside city known for the summer cottages of the wealthy, folks like the Vanderbilts, the Asters, the Wideners, the Wetmores. It was the pinnacle of educated society, yet just a handful of miles away, one small town that should have known better, was about to do something very, very creepy.

Edwin was still alive, you see, and someone got it in their mind that one of the women who died before him, either his mother or one of his sisters, was somehow draining him of his life from beyond the grave. They were so convinced of this, you see, that they wanted to dig them all up. Yes, all of them. Once they received the father’s permission to do this horrible thing, a group of men gathered in the cemetery on the morning of March 17th, and began to dig up the bodies. Now, what they were looking for was any evidence at all of an unnatural state. So, blood in the heart, blood around the mouth, or other similar signs. The first body, of Mary Eliza, the mother, was satisfactorily decomposed so they ruled her out. But of course she was, you might say, I mean, she had been dead and buried for a decade. Mary Olive was also in a normal state of decomposition. Again, being dead for ten years usually helps convince people that you’re really dead. But when they examined Mercy’s body, a body that had not been buried because she died in the middle of winter, and so had been put inside of a stone building inside the cemetery that was essentially a walk-in freezer, they discovered a remarkable state of preservation. Shocking, I know. So what did they do? Well, these superstitious folk did what they learnt from their ancestors. They cut out Mercy’s heart and liver, within which they found red, clotted blood, they burned them on a nearby stone, which, by the way, is still there if you ever visit the cemetery, and then, mixed the ashes with a tonic. That tonic was then given to Edwin, to drink. Yeah, Edwin drank his own sister’s liver and heart. Did it work? No, of course it didn’t work. Edwin died less than two months later. What it did do, however, was set up Mercy Brown to be known as the first American vampire.

As unusual as an event like this must sound, you might be surprised to learn that it happened quite frequently. In 1817, almost a century before Mercy Brown’s exhumation, a Dartmouth college student named Frederick Ransom died of Tuberculosis. His father was so worried that the young man would leave the grave and attack the family, that he asked that he be dug up. Ransom’s heart was cut out, and burnt on a blacksmith’s forge. Even Henry David Thoreau heard tales of these types of events, and he mentioned one in his personal journal. In September 26th, 1859, he wrote: “The savage in man is never quite eradicated. I have just read of a family in Vermont who, several of its members having died of consumption, just burnt the lungs, heart and liver of the last deceased, in order to prevent any more from having it.” So of course, word spread about what happened to Mercy Brown, as it usually did when a body was dug up and carved into to pieces like that. Mercy’s case, though, actually made it into a newspaper called The New York World, and it made quite an impression on the people who read it. How do we know? Because a clipping from that article was found in the personal papers of a London stage manager after his death. You see, his theatre company had been touring America in 1892. He evidently read the story, found it inspiring, and saved it. Inspiring so much so, that he sat down a few years later, and wrote a book. Who was this man? His name was Bram Stoker. And the book? Oh, I’m sure you’ve already guessed it by now. It was Dracula, published in 1897.

Lore was produced by me, Aaron Mahnke. You can find a transcript of the show, as well as a bibliography of the source material, at our website, lorepodcast.com. If you enjoy scary stories, I happen to write them. You can find a full list of my supernatural thrillers, available in both paperback and ebook formats, at aaronmahnke.com/novels. Thanks for listening.

Transcriber’s Notes:

(These notes a purely from me, the transcriber, and have nothing to do with the official podcast or Aaron Mahnke).

1) The word draugr does not in fact mean “after-walker” as the podcast seems to state, and actually derives from a Proto-Indo European word meaning “deceive”. There is, however, a related term aptrgangr, which does mean “again-walker”, and is thought to be pretty much synonymous with draugr.

#lore podcast #podcasts #aaron mahnke #vampires #Interview With A Vampire #dracula #mercy brown #new england #taphophobia #folklore #1 #transcripts

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gallifreyandemigoddess · 7 years ago

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Listen, I have a lot of emotions about “The Burning Maze” and everything that unfolded in this particular book. It destroyed my soul in many ways, but it also gave me an immense amount of satisfaction and joy.

But, to start it off in the same way that I’ve started my other two posts about “The Hidden Oracle” and “The Dark Prophecy”, I will start with my favorite sun god, Lester Apollo.

I’m really happy with how profound his character development has become.

“All of this,” I announced, “is my fault.”

You can imagine how difficult this was for me to say. The words simply had not been in the vocabulary of Apollo.

We have this former Olympian who was used to having everything he could ever desire and who was arrogant and self-centered (though in the first book he admitted that his self-centeredness was a pretense, something to hide how lonely and heartbroken he actually was, more specifically on the twenty-seventh chapter, on page 258) I add the source to show that I’m not making shit up. And through the course of his trials he has, in a way, grown to accept his fate as a human.

He still laments his fate, and he still wishes he could become a god and leave all those problems behind, but he has grown to understand what it means to be a human, and to accept his emotions and to feel.

“In times past, I would have scoffed at any nymph who dared to call me poor thing. Now, Mellie’s show of concern caused a lump to form in my throat. I was tempted to rest my head on her shoulder and sob out my troubles.”

“Gods wouldn’t normally mourn the loss of a griffin, or a few dryads, or a single ecosystem. The longer I was mortal, the more affected I was by even the smallest loss.”

There are several parts where he is gentle to Meg and to Grover when they seem to be hurting. The Apollo from the first book would have never done that, he would’ve cared only about himself and his own feelings.

The few times he mentioned how much he missed being a god, he wasn’t thinking only about how he could simply pass his duty to the demigods and return to the safety of Olympus, he was also thinking about the lives he could’ve saved had he still been the god of healing.

This part, however, shows great depth because in the past (around the first book maybe), he wouldn’t have given the choice a second thought, he would’ve just left:

I wondered, if my own father, Zeus, appeared to me just then and offered me a way back to Olympus, what price would I be willing to pay? Would I leave Meg to her fate? Would I abandon the demigods and satyrs and dryads who had become my comrades? Would I forget about all the terrible things Zeus had done to me over the centuries and swallow my pride, just so I could regain my place in Olympus, knowing full well I would still be under Zeus’ thumb?

Also, the little fucker tried to sacrifice himself so many times in the story I was about to tear my hair out. I lost it when he actually impaled himself with the Arrow of Dodona, I was very, as the scientists call it, shooketh.

“Let my friends go,” I said. “All of them. Then you can have me.”

The emperor’s eyes gleamed like a strix’s. “And if I don’t?”

I summoned my courage and issued a threat I never could have imagined in my previous four thousand years of life. “Ill kill myself.”

On a familiar note, Apollo is starting to realize that perhaps Zeus had a valid reason for sending him down to Earth as a mortal, which shows more growth, because on the last books he had only seen his punishment as something unfair.

“I began to wonder if maybe, just maybe, Zeus had been right to send me to earth, to correct the wrongs I had allowed to happen.

Sassy Apollo is the best thing to happen:

“Girl, I see you- I felt like saying- You are not subtle, and we really need to have a talk about crushing on dryads.”

“Full points for vagueness, girl, but I want the dirt.”

Supporting (and charming) Apollo is also an amazing thing:

“Such a gorgeous blade held by the most beautiful woman ever to walk the earth. (No offense to the billions of other women out there who are also quite enchanting; I love you all.)”

Also, this part in which he was literally the Dad Friend?

“Meg!” I chided. “Sit back and buckle up, please. Grover, stop eating your seat belt. Your setting a bad example.”

Just imagine this scene please, “Meg summoned her golden swords. Grover fumbled for his reed pipes. I prepared to run away screaming.” because I pictured little Lester shifting uncomfortably on his spot as his friends prepared to fight like in a scene of The Avengers, and he just, he had nothing.

The time in which Meg was a straight up savage:

“Unbelievable,” I muttered. “After four thousand years, I am still discovering new things.”

“Like how dumb you are,” Meg volunteered.

“No.”

“So you already knew that?”

Caligula’s character.

Caligula wants to be the new fucking sun god, and his whole plan to extract what is left of Apollo’s divinity? Fucking twisted but at the same time so...I don’t know how to explain it. I hate his character and I would die if anything happened to Apollo (I’d be damned if by the end he doesn’t go back to being a god) but at the same time, that plan shocked me to my very core. Its unnerving and unsettling but it makes sense. He always wanted to be seen as a god.

On the past book, the second emperor revealed turned out to be a former lover of Apollo, but on this book, it is shown that Caligula’s personality startled the god since ancient times. I find it curious how he seems to have history with each emperor.

Finally, Caligula laughed. “Well done!” He patted my shoulder, then snapped his fingers. One of his servants shuffled forwards and handed me a heavy pouch of gold coins.

Caligula whispered in my ear, “I feel safer already.”

After that, I stayed away from Rome for decades. It was a rare man who could make a god nervous, but Caligula unsettled me. This particular part though, I could almost feel the sexual tension, and no one can convince me otherwise that this wasn’t Caligula flirting with the disguised Apollo.

Another thing I found really interesting is the explanation for when Apollo became the new sun god, and his words to Helios nearly at the end of the book:

“But I remember you- your brilliance, your warmth. I remember your friendship with the gods and the mortals of the earth. I can never be as great a sun deity as you were, but every day I try to honor your memory- to remember your best qualities.”

Now let’s move on, kids.

Let’s talk about Piper, Grover, and Jason for a moment.

I had forgotten how amazing Piper McLean was, specifically, how caring and sweet she is? She comforted Meg a lot of times thorough the book, and she was such a badass too? I love her? She’s the best? How could anyone hate her?

I also like how well she clicked with Apollo. It was cute.

Piper gave me a wry smile. “That’s nice. I like that. You’re sure you’re not the god of wisdom?”

“I applied for the job,” I said, “but they gave it to someone else. Something about inventing olives.” I rolled my eyes.

She burst out laughing, which made me feel as if a good strong wind had finally blown all the wildlife smoke out of California. I grinned in response. When was the last time I’d had such a positive exchange with an equal, a friend, a kindred soul? I could not recall.

I liked this too:

Piper arched her eyebrows. “Are you sensing a disturbance in the Force?”

“Please,” I muttered. “I’m sensing my usual bad luck.” Because RELATABLE.

Grover is still a sweet, dorky child. I like that we had more information about him as the book proceeded, specifically that he is yet to see Percy again (when will we have that reunion? I don’t know, but I need that to happen asap) and that he has never been to Camp Jupiter. All those months he had been in Palm Springs dealing with the natural disasters happening all around and with the disappearing dryads. It warmed my heart how he was so happy to go back to Camp Half-Blood, to his home.

I wasn’t expecting the news of Piper and Jason’s breakup, but I like that at least we got an explanation and that it was rational.

“You’re wondering who you are without all the pressure.”

Piper loves him, but their relationship had a wrong start.

Hera messed with their memories, made them start dating for a reason that did not exist. Her mother, the goddess of love, made her believe that she needed to have a boyfriend to be a proper daughter of Aphrodite. It’s only reasonable that after everything ended and they tried to settle down she’d realize that she doesn’t know where that leaves her. She needs time to decide who she is- not the daughter of Aphrodite, not as one of the Seven of the prophecy- as her own person.

And even when they’re not a couple anymore, they’re still partners.

It struck me how easily they talked together, even about difficult things, and how well they seemed to understand each other.

Jason Grace. This part is certainly harder to write.

Let’s start with nice things:

“I tried to talk sense into Zeus. I told him it was wrong to punish you. He wouldn’t listen.”

I stared at him blankly, whatever remained of my natural eloquence clogged in my throat. Jason Grace had done what?

Zeus had many children, which meant I had many half-brothers and half-sisters. Except for my twin, Artemis, I’d never felt close to any of them. Certainly, I’d never had a brother defend me in front of Father. My Olympian brethren were more likely to deflect Zeus’ fury by yelling Apollo did it!

This young demigod had stood up for me. He’d had no reason to do so. He barely knew me. Yet he’d risked his own life and faced the wrath of Zeus.

My first thought was to scream ARE YOU INSANE?

Then more appropriate words came to me: “Thank you.”

Jason took me by the shoulders- not out of anger, or in a clinging way, but as a brother. “Promise me one thing. Whatever happens, when you get back to Olympus, when you’re a god again, remember. Remember what it’s like to be human.”

A few weeks ago, I would’ve scoffed. Why would I want to remember this?

Now, however, I had some inkling of what Jason meant. I had learned a lot about human frailty and human strength. I felt…different towards mortals, having been one of them.

“I promise,” I told Jason.

I really loved that part. I think it defines exactly the kind of person that Jason Grace was.

All right, let’s move on.

His death. Jason Grace’s death.

I won’t describe the scene, out of respect, but I honestly think that (while he didn’t deserve to die) he died as a hero, and that it is the only thing that matters. He died to protect his friends- his brother and his ex-girlfriend- and he knew what would happen, he was ready for it. He made his choice. It hurts, of course it does, but he had a hero’s death.

Other parts I liked about the story:

How were heroes with accessibility needs supposed to enjoy this death trap?

Grover summoned the cry of Pan again.

You humans. You’re why we gods can’t have nice things. Are you sure, Apollo? Because I’m pretty sure that Percy Jackson could do a flawless PowerPoint presentation on how wrong you are.

That could be my life motto, I thought. He takes a lot of damage. Same, Apollo, same.

Imagine this scene, please, because it honestly gave me life:

Behind me, Grover wrestled with Coach Hedge, who was desperately trying to claw open a family fun pack of grenades while cursing the tamper-proof package. Apollo is trying to be diplomatic and remain calm while they’re being threatened to life, and behind him are two satyrs wrestling over opening or not a big pack of grenades.

The Ares-so-lame video that went viral in mount Olympus that Apollo was definitely not responsible for uploading.

I enjoy running people over in a chariot as much as the next deity, but I did not like the idea of being the guy run over. Honey, now you know how demigods feel.

Apparently, Hephaestus throws great pool parties.

If a goat wears a goatee, is it a man-tee?

Apollo’s bitterness towards his family: “The Olympians allowed Zeus to strip me of my powers and toss me to earth. They’ve done half Caligula’s job for him. They won’t interfere. As usual, they’ll expect heroes to set things right.” Tune down the salt, Apollo, not a month before that moment you were one of the gods that expected heroes to fix everything.

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

Mount Olympus Mega-God lottery.

The oracle’s riddles; the little game they had to solve to get to her.

The multiple mentions of Apollo’s love handles.

Imagine this, please: I still have nightmares about Hermes skating through Olympus with his big hair and gym shorts and high striped socks, listening to Donna Summer on his Walkman.

Carry him away! I prayed, knowing that no god would listen. Please, just let Tempest get him to safety. This part wrecked me. How pained everyone was to Jason’s death, how a former god knows that his kind never listen to those kinds of prayers because they don’t care.

The maze giving Apollo the middle finger.

Apollo’s imminent rage and heartbreak when the maze used Hyacinthus against him.

Apparently Camp Half-Blood has a satyr school for young satyrs that want to be protectors?

Very few people look as good in tights as Spider-Man. 100% agreed.

Who cared about Apollo? I DO, BITCH, I DO.

How Apollo thought of his family when he was under Medea’s spell. Of his parents, of his twin sister.

The heartbreak that came with Crest’s death. How much it affected Apollo. The poor thing was just a child, and he died to protect them.

REYNA AVILA RAMIREZ ARELLANO IS GOING TO APPEAR ON THE NEXT BOOK. YES. MY QUEEN.

How Jason wanted to fulfill the promise he made to the sea goddess he met with Percy all those months before.

Leo’s arrival broke my heart. He couldn’t say goodbye to Jason. I pictured Piper and Leo’s reunion a million times, but I never imagines that.

I found myself crying. It was ridiculous, gods don’t cry. But as I looked at Jason’s diorama in the seat next to me, all I could think about was that he would never get to see his carefully labeled plans finished. As I held my ukulele, I could only picture Crest playing his last chord with broken fingers.

This line: “I would not allow those who had sacrificed themselves to do so for nothing.”

And the ending: But from now on, I would be more than Lester. I would be more than an observer. I would be Apollo. And I would remember.

Everything that happened on this book has shaped Apollo, has made him more human. I think on the next book his promise of being more than an observer (or remembering) will come true- I think he will be stronger than before, because he wants to honor the memory of those that died for his cause.

I want to see Reyna interact with Meg and Apollo, but most of all, I’m kind of worried for Thalia Grace. She deserves to know what happened to Jason, but I know that it would break my heart. She could react in so many ways…It’s only going to be painful.

But I’m so ready for it! (NOT)

As a whole, I loved the book. I’m really looking forwards to “The Tyrant’s Tomb.”

#trials of apollo #trials of apollo the burning maze #toa #apollo #lester papadopoulos #my opinion as usual #meg mccaffrey #piper mclean #grover underwood #percy jackson #pjo #toa spoilers #trials of apollo spoilers #jason grace #reyna avila ramirez arellano #the burning maze spoilers #rick riordan #book review #Greek Mythology

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