#ask; paion

[unavernales]

Cum - paion, Rhodes, din, Alena, pasha ❤️

cum — how long does it take to make them cum? do they have any kinks relating to cum? do they like when their partner(s) cum(s) inside them? do they like cumming inside their partner(s)? do they like when their partner(s) cum on any of their body parts? do they like cumming on any of their partner(s)' body parts?

paion: a very big fan of cumming on his partner's (or partners') ass so he can lick it up after appreciating the view. he's got a decent amount of stamina and doesn't like to cum first. rhodes: is a disgusting little freak. would love to lick cum off the floor or wherever their partner tells them too. likes being cummed on (face especially) rather than inside, but a creampie isn't out of the question. likes messy. it takes a while to make them cum but they're having a good time the whole way there. ondinea: cum inside of them or they'll start crying. way too sensitive and cums embarrassingly quickly. shy about cumming on their partner but seeing their squirt dripping down their partner's chin... never builds stamina. alena: also disgusting but in a housewife way. cum in their ass please. sensitive but builds up some stamina. pasha: he has a breeding kink both ways. that's how you end up knocked up by a white man, pasha. good stamina. takes a lot to take him apart but it's worth it for the show.

[apollosgiftofprophecy]

not sure if anyone's asked you this before/yet, but so you have any opinions or thoughts of the relationship between all of the pantheons? general relationship and possibly some more personal ones?

I've read many different headcanons and fanfiction where people have mentioned their thoughts on it, but nothing they've ever gone into detail about.

there's nothing really preventing them from interacting *👀 I keep remembering the smallest tiniest hint of freypollo we got* but that doesn't mean they go out of their way doing it, yk?

OKAY SO-

The pantheons I'll be mainly focusing on are the Greek, Roman, Norse, & Egyptian ones. I'll probably make little nods to other ones too tho :3

Don't be surprised if this mainly centers on Apollo XD He's my guy <3

GREEK & ROMAN

Let's kick it off with these two!

"But aren't they the same-?"

Nope! The Roman pantheon started off as their own sets of gods - the thing is, they had very little myths written down so we don't know much about how they were characterized :(

Howmever. We do know that when they were synchronized with Greece's gods, you can see the little differences between them - for instance, the Roman gods were more Forces Of Nature than gods who went out and Did Stuff, like Greece's.

Jupiter for example! He didn't have the "fucks around" rep Zeus does! Jupiter from the Roman's perspective didn't go out and do much. He rooted on Aeneus, yes, but the myths of his children weren't quite as popular in Rome as they were in Greece (probably because they were. ya know. Greek heroes, and not Roman)

And Apollo. Oh, Apollo...the only major god who didn't have a Latin equivalent.

Rome loved you so much they adopted you and went "no. no. he was always here. no we aren't lying. see? he's in the Dii Consentes!" XD

Fun Fact: Apollo is basically multiple gods in a trench coat. Paion (Mycenean), Smitheus (Mycenean), Aplu (Etruscan), Apaulinus (Hittie), Grannus (Celtic), ect were all Apollo-equivalents who historians have concluded to be past incarnations of Apollo!

which is INTERESTING because...do those gods still exist in the RRverse? Are they connected to Apollo in some way? Are they little voices in his head? DO THEY HAVE DRINKS TOGETHER?

I have questions and I need answers.

Greek & Egyptian

Saving the Norse for last because we all wanna save Freypollo for last <3 the best for last lmao

RIGHT OFF THE BAT I'M GONNA SAY THAT ZEUS DOESN'T LIKE THE OTHER PANTHEONS! I BET HE DOESN'T!

Which sucks for him because Apollo has friends in Egypt XD

I do think Apollo and Horus would be friends! Not only are they both associated with the sun in some way, but they were actually identified with each other when Greece met Egypt!

Greece: Oh so you have a super-powerful son of the king of the gods associated with light? So do we! :D

Egypt: Oh my gosh we do! :D

You know the myth of Typhon? Apollo transformed into a hawk to escape, and you know who has a hawk head?

Horus. :D

also Horus took over the thrown from Osiris - sure, not in an overthrow way but still. he overthrew Set and claimed the throne

sounds like something we all want hmm...

Also, I headcanon that Helios and Ra go WAAAAYYYY back and Apollo only met Ra like. once. before Isis did her blackmailing and Ra disappeared.

SO WHEN RA CAME BACK, WHICH WOULD HAVE BEEN DURING HOO BTW, APOLLO HAS NO IDEA! HE'S ON DELOS AT THAT POINT! THEN HIS TRIALS!

So when he rolls up to the next sun god meeting he sees Ra and is like "wait what who are you- OH WAIT!"

And Ra's like; "WHO LET THIS CHILD BE PUT IN CHARGE OF THE SUN???"

Apollo: I'm over 4,000 years old-

Ra, pointing: BABY

(Headcanon that Ra & Amaterasu are like. the defacto sun god 'leaders' who keep the meetings rolling. Amaterasu was very tired when Ra disappeared and she had to wrangle these fiery gods together XD)

(Also Helios thought Horus was a lil' upstart XD)

Finally, I also saw someone else mention that Apollo could have learned some Egyptian magic and used it to create the border of CHB!

Headcanon Hecate snuck along with him and it's their little secret :3

Greek & Norse

HERE. WE. ARE.

LEMME GET MY MAP OUT

SO.

Green highlight is where Greece is. Blue is where Hyperborea is (see this post for details)

In that post, I came to the conclusion that Apollo Totally Definitely Has Met Norse Gods BECAUSE OF HIS WINTER VACATIONS!

AND IF YOU LOOK ACROSS THE BALTIC SEA-

STOCKHOLM.

AND WHERE DID APOLLO MEET THAT HOT GOD WITH A TALKING SWORD???

A TAVERN. IN. STOCKHOLM!

FREYPOLLO LIVES (<-knows very well it's basically already canon XD)

Fun fact: the people of Hyperborea were most likely the mythological avatars of the Norse people! :D

SO I CONCLUDE-

Apollo takes a trip across the Baltic Sea and flirts in the Stockholm tavern and that's how Freypollo happens <3

Other Pantheon Thoughts

Hindu: This thought came while I was creating my @underrated-lovers-of-apollo-poll - Apollo & Indra!

They shared an elephant ride that one time! Wouldn't it be fun if they also kissed? :3

also Indra is a storm god with thunder and lightning think of the angst-

Shinto: Amaterasu taught Apollo Japanese when he discovered the haiku for the first time - sadly, only Athena ever bothered to learn it to experience the haiku in its fullest. pushing my sibling agenda again haha

Because haikus always sound better in their native language <3

Hittie: This connects to the 'Apollo trenchcoat' thing earlier - if Apollo is like. the current form of Apaulinus, would the Hittie pantheon like. drop in from time to time like 'heyyyy we miss you <3'

Apollo: *trojan war flashbacks*

Apaulinus was heavily associated with Wilusa, whom historians have confirmed was Troy, and Apollo's first temple doesn't show up under AFTER the bronze age collapse and the war happened BEFORE that happened meaning HE WAS APAULINUS WHEN THE WAR HAPPENED MY HEART-

i need to look into more pantheons. it's so much fun making these connections and coming up with headcanons for the RRverse :3

[olympushit]

Is there a myth about Ares that you don't like?

Yes, there is!

The Myth where Zeus tells him that he is the most hateful god...

Well, from my point of view, Athena asking for Zeus' permission to hurt Ares is so so cruel! And Zeus agreeing to this is even more unacceptable! Like, how can you agree for your child to lethaly hurt your other child? And after that Zeus had the audacity to say that to Ares' face? Really? That's pure hypocrisy!

Ares may have been bloodthirsty and all, but plotting against him like that, his own father is unacceptable! And then blaming it to Hera, saying that "You got that from your mother" (metaphorically) is way worse.

But in the end, Zeus says that he cannot see his children in pain and he orders Paion to cure Ares. To be honest with you, I don't know how to feel about it, does Zeus care or not? If you ask me maybe he does, maybe he doesn't. What really matters is that he behaved awfully towards his child!

Thanks for the question, my inbox is always open! 📩📬

[inquartata30]

Parallax

Fandom: Mass Effect Rating: Mature Warnings: Graphic Depictions of Violence, Major Character Death, Minor Character Death, Politics Relationship(s): Lexi T’Perro/OC (Thaia Kallistrate), Benezia/Aethyta, Benezia/Aethyta/Shiala Characters: Lexi T’Perro, Thaia Kallistrate (OC), Aria T’Loak, Matriarch Benezia, Suvi Anwar, Nakmor Drack, Vetra Nyx, Cora Harper, Matriarch Aethyta, Shiala Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, Enemies to Lovers, Fake Dating, Slowburn, Original Characters Summary: 55,000 years ago, the protheans won a Pyrrhic victory over the reapers. From the ashes of the Prothean Republic and the rusting hulks of the reapers, the ancient asari grew into a galaxy-spanning empire. Two people on opposite sides first meet during an abduction that threatens to upend the tenuous armistice between the Asari Empire and the Terminus Systems. Decades later, they face each other again as forced allies and unwitting political pawns when the galaxy’s three major factions collide.

Chapter 1: High Salinity

It was bugging the ever-loving fuck out of her. The dossier Thaia and the rest of her squad had been given indicated that their target, Lexi T’Perro, was a pirate. But Thaia had met a lot of pirates over her centuries of service to the Empire, and Lexi wasn’t anything like any of them. Something was off. And it bugged the fuck out of her. After getting the attention of her squadmates, Thaia gestured toward the smallish cell holding their irate captive. “I’m telling you, she doesn’t look like a pirate.” “Why’s that?” asked Paion, their sniper. She was a Specialist Third Class a couple centuries younger than Thaia, but still had the full set of commando face tattoos like everyone else. Hers were red where Thaia’s were white—the only element of the mandatory tattoos that was theirs to pick. “Pirates don’t usually wear lab coats, for one,” Thaia said. Lexi finally spoke up for the first time since they’d reached the prefab base. “I’m wearing a lab coat because I’m a physician. Tell me, do you each possess one lonely brain cell? Or do you share a single cell between the three of you?” Lovely as Lexi’s voice was, the things she said hurt more than getting fucking shot. “Also,” Thaia said, “pirates usually eviscerate people with sharp knives, not sharp words.” “I’m good with a scalpel. Would you care for a demonstration?” Lexi asked.

Read the rest of Chapter 1 on AO3

Note:

This started with an “enemies to lovers” prompt from@skyllianhamster for Thaia and Lexi. Right after came a ton of brainstorming for a situation that would have these two start as Actual Enemies, which is how this AU was born. Initially, it was supposed to be more Mirror Universe like, but I discovered that the constant dark anxiety of getting backstabbed (often literally) that is the atmosphere of a mirror universe was too much for me to handle. Trust doesn’t really exist there, and I wanted an alternate universe where there could be trust and love that wasn’t practically guaranteed to be duplicitous. Well, once the work’s put in on both sides. So the asari are an Evil Empire, but we aren’t talking something like Star Trek’s Mirror Universe. More like adjacent to it. Some characters are still fundamentally themselves despite changes of circumstance or at first glance (and second or third, in some cases) appearing different from how we know them in whatever canons they exist. Others are absolutely the complete opposite of who they would be in other stories. Matriarch Benezia, Liara, and Skyham’s OC Fejla Na’vis in particular. As in, canon Fejla would burst into tears if she stepped on a bug, which, well. Not at all so much here. This fic was also supposed to be a one shot and so I’d started it on a writing app on my phone. Even though it grew beyond a one shot, its first draft was still exclusively written on my phone, writing time on my laptop being reserved for my main fic.

Anyway, on re-reading it, I figured it’s time to share.

Benezia, Aethya, and Shiala draw from the Trinity (@dr-jekyl and @theivorytowercrumbles) versions of themselves—and then deviate toward mirror universe-type tendencies. Musahir Ordaca and Farizah T’Soni belong to @theivorytowercrumbles, Fejla Na’vis and Nefraellynx T’Sein to@skyllianhamster. While Fejla is the opposite of herself, Nef is more “like she always is, except now she’s trustworthy.” In another AU, Nef once sold an unwitting Thaia a ship she’d stolen from the leader of the Blood Pack—without informing Thaia of the shuttle’s original owner—so this was quite the change.

[ascendancy-echoes]

Chapter 27: Oaths

After Kallisto’s attempted pep-talk on faith, Ismene pocketed the pendant in her apron and went back to the useless but distracting task of taking stock of her supplies. She had barely looked up when Janus was dragged into the church by Belinay and Silence. Both of which, of course, ignored her presence. Ismene watched as Belinay tied up Janus to a column, then talked to Silence who left before Belinay gloated to this ‘Janus’ and exited the building, walking out of sight.

Janus Ashtear had glanced her way, but said nothing. Not that he could, he had a cloth gagging him so he couldn’t speak. Instead, he closed his eyes and wheezed through shallow breaths. Ismene knew that kind of breathing. The human had asthma and without treatment, would suffer greatly. Although Ismene had never seen anyone die from it, she remembered the medical journals she had read in Paion’s clinic and knew asthma could be fatal if left untreated.

As an apothecary and healer, it was Ismene’s duty to help heal the sick. But this was a human, one of the monsters who probably killed her parents. So why did Ismene feel compelled to help him? Ismene bit her lip in frustration, so tightly it was a wonder she didn’t draw blood. She turned her focus back to recounting her supplies. She was going to stay out of all of this as much as possible.

Less than half an hour later, Silence and Belinay returned with another human. Ismene watched Janus’s eyes widen in panic at the sight of the new human being tied to another column. Again, Belinay and Silence ignored her presence and left without looking her way or saying a word to her.

Ismene was content to ignore this human as well when she heard them ask Janus about their daughter. That caused her to look up and watch the conversation unfold. While she could barely hear Janus because he spoke so softly and his voice was hoarse, she caught enough to know what was going on. If she heard Janus correctly, Russ had managed to capture Janus, the humans’ child was missing through some kind of magic portal and now they were holding on to the slim hope they would escape and find their child.

Ismene scoffed quietly to herself. Even humans had a stupid belief in faith. While she still doubted that Oz was going to summon Lavos, Ismene felt the humans were being naive to believe they stood a chance now. They were powerless and outnumbered.

~o~O~o~

While Ismene sulked in the church ruins, Oz called for everyone to gather around as the morning sun made its way higher into the sky. Even though Oz had called for the meeting, Belinay quickly took charge.

“Since the threat of being caught in disguise is gone, we will begin the process of dealing with the guards so the king and queen are outnumbered and unguarded.” Belinay explained as she produced some vials of dark liquid from a bandolier under her robes. She handed one to each of the Mystics gathered around. “As discussed before, a small force will remain with Oz and our hostages while the rest of us go to the castle.”

“What are these?” Russ asked, accepting the vial in his hand.

“A simple potion that will bestow the ability to disguise yourself as a human much like my power,” answered Belinay. “Temporarily though, unlike my ability.”

“What exactly is in this potion?” asked Russ as he peered at the vial.

“Don’t ask questions you’ll hate the answers to,” Belinay replied, waving her hand to appear as a human woman with black hair, wearing a blue uniform.

Russ looked down at the vial, feeling reluctant to drink the potion but he knew he had to do what was expected of him. He looked around at the others for reassurance and guidance and saw none of the others hesitated and drank their potions.

It was an unsettling and surreal sight to see his companions morph into humans. Belinay’s spell was like a wave of shadows that replaced her appearance with that of her disguise. The potion’s effects were more akin to their forms shifting to that of human in appearance, hiding any signs they were ever Mystic. With everyone else disguised as humans, dressed in the same uniform as Belinay, everyone’s eyes went to Russ expectantly.

Russ took a breath and drank the contents as quickly as he could. The liquid was thin and had a bitter and faintly metallic taste to it, followed by an acrid and dry aftertaste. It made Russ want to gag and spit it back up, but he couldn’t fail again. He closed his eyes to focus on breathing and persevering through the potion’s taste and the unsettling sensation of the disguise taking hold. The sensation was brief and Russ opened his eyes to look down at his human hands. Tawny fur was replaced by bare skin, olive in complexion and suntanned. It was unnerving in a way Russ couldn’t place.

For a heartbeat, Russ found himself curious as to how he looked, based on how everyone else had changed thanks to the potion, but he was quickly given a crossbow by Silence and told to follow Belinay into the forest and towards the castle. There was no time for idle curiosity. Russ cast a quick glance back at those who were staying back with Oz, hoping that Ismene would be there.

Seeing Ismene’s tail vanish back into the church ruins, Russ sighed and followed the others to the castle. He began to worry that Ismene would never forgive him even if victory was assured. Pushing that worry aside, Russ focused on following Belinay through the forest and away from the church ruins.

~o~O~o~

Ismene heard Oz call for everyone to gather around. She slithered past Janus and Lucca, pointedly avoiding eye contact with them and stood by the remains of the doorway to humor Oz with her presence. Oz cast a smug glance her way before turning his attention to the Mystics gathered around him and Belinay. She watched as Belinay took over the meeting. Seeing Belinay use her sorcery gave Ismene some cause to wonder how often she had run into her while Belinay was disguised. It didn’t surprise her at all when everyone unquestioningly drank whatever concoction Belinay had given them. They were all zealots blindly loyal to her and Oz.

Everyone, but Russ. Russ, ever the anxious follower, was the last to drink the potion only after seeing what everyone else would do. Ismene watched with some reluctant curiosity as her fellow Mystics were transformed into humans. “Freaky” would be the best way Ismene could describe the whole thing. Despite now looking human, there was enough of their appearance that Ismene could tell the people before her were still the Mystics she knew. Eye shape and color, the way they stood. Most uncanny of all was perhaps Russ. It wasn’t so much of a stretch to change from feline to human. He still had his oddly colored eyes and his fur, or rather his hair, was still the same tawny dark blond.

Utterly unsettled by what she witnessed and sure that Oz was satisfied by her brief appearance, Ismene slithered back into the church ruins to find Lucca struggling against her restraints. Ismene stood by for a moment as she watched Lucca muttering to herself and squirming in the ropes that bound her.

“Forget it human, those stupid cuffs keep you from using your magic and Belinay tied the knots pretty tight. You and your friend aren’t going anywhere,” she finally sighed, annoyed at Lucca’s persistence.

Lucca looked up, surprised to see Ismene was talking to her. She stopped struggling against her restraints and sighed. Closing her eyes for a moment, she asked Ismene why they were doing this.

“Why are they doing this?” Ismene asked back. She shrugged and answered, “Cuz they’re fucking idiots hellbent on revenge against your kind. I’m just as much a prisoner as you are in all this bullshit. Those assholes out there made me come along for the ride. I’m just a healer, damnit.”

Lucca looked up, squinting slightly. Although slightly out of focus, she could see that, despite the fierce scowl on her face, Ismene was probably the most harmless Mystic she had ever seen besides the Daemon that now lived outside of Truce. Lucca wondered why the others had forced Ismene to come along. Maybe they needed her to heal them in battle.

“You’re a healer?” she asked quietly.

Ismene rolled her eyes. “Did I stutter, human?”

Lucca looked past Ismene towards Janus. Janus had grown quiet after explaining what had happened. Part of it, Lucca knew, was that Janus had a tendency to become non-speaking in times of great stress. The other part, the one that worried Lucca the most, was that Janus’s breathing continued to struggle. He needed medicine and they were both tied up and far from any help. There had to be some reason they were being kept alive. Lucca knew that the other Mystics could have easily killed them both, but they hadn’t. It was a longshot but Lucca wondered if she could get this Mystic to sympathize with her for even a second and help Janus.

“Please, my husband… he needs help,” she pleaded. “He- When his magic is drained, it hurts him a lot. He gets asthma and-”

“I know… Been trying to ignore that wheezing since he was dragged here,” Ismene interrupted.

“Please!” Lucca begged, tears building up in her eyes. “You said it yourself, you're a healer. There has to be some reason you’re keeping us alive. He’ll die if he can’t breathe. Help him, I beg of you.”

Ismene scoffed and looked over at Janus. His eyes were closed and his breathing was getting worse. It was a sad sight… and it reminded her all too much of when Russ was younger and needed comfort when he suffered those unexplainable night terrors and the times he fell ill. She also remembered overhearing Belinay talking about wanting Janus alive for the ritual.

“Fuck it all…” Ismene cursed as she slithered over to her satchel and opened it up. She tried to convince herself she was doing the stupid human a favor so she wouldn’t have to listen to his pathetic wheezing breath as she dug around for something to stop Janus’s breathing troubles. She was only keeping them alive for Oz’s and Belinay’s sake. Eventually, she pulled out a satchel of dried leaves. With an annoyed sigh, she remarked to herself, “There. It’s not ideal but it’ll do.”

“…. What is that?” asked Lucca. She eyed Ismene suspiciously.

“Belladonna,” Ismene replied, slithering back towards Janus.

“What?! I won’t let you poison my husband!” Lucca snapped, now more scared than ever. “I said I wanted you to help him!”

Ismene stopped and turned towards Lucca. She rose up on her tail to appear taller and hissed, “I’m not going to fucking poison him, dumbass!”

“Belladonna can help treat breathing problems… IF you know what the fuck you’re doing,” she added curtly. She turned her attention back towards Janus.

“Unlike some people here, I’m a healer, not a killer,” she concluded as she counted out a couple of small leaves in her palm. She pulled a small mortar and pestle out of her apron and crushed the leaves in it, turning the dried leaves into a powder. This wasn’t going to be ideal, but the only way she was going to get this to work was to burn the leaves in the mortar and blow the smoke in Janus’s face.

“Hey, human! This is going to suck for a few seconds, but I need you to keep breathing and inhale the smoke, got it?” she snapped at Janus. Looking back at Lucca for a moment, she added, “He’s going to cough a lot before it gets better so don’t complain.”

With a flick of her fingers, Ismene summoned a small flame and set the dried powder on fire. Taking a deep breath away from the rising smoke, Ismene turned to face Janus and blew the smoke into his face. True to Ismene’s words, Janus began to cough violently. So much so, Lucca wondered if he’d break free of his ropes or hurt himself.

“That’s normal, just give him a moment,” Ismene deadpanned, setting the mortar and pestle down. “There might be some side effects but he won’t suffocate now.”

As his coughing subsided and his breathing eased, Janus slowly opened his eyes and looked towards Lucca. Lucca could tell he was a bit disoriented, maybe tired from everything that had happened, but he was breathing a bit more normally.

Lucca sighed in relief. She looked at Ismene and said, “Thank you.”

“Whatever,” Ismene muttered, picking up the mortar and pestle and slithering back over to her supplies. Just as she settled in, Oz appeared at the doorway. Ismene ignored him for a second before looking up and smiled slightly.

“Yes, Elder?” she asked calmly, almost saccharine in her tone.

“Don’t start that shit with me, Ismene,” Oz growled.

Ismene placed her hands in her lap, still smiling and eyebrows raised. Sounding astonished, she sweetly remarked, “But you asked me to be more respectful. Is there a problem?”

Oz levitated over towards Ismene and said “I heard all that shouting and coughing. What the hell is going on here? And drop the fake niceties, I don’t have patience for your bullshit.”

Gesturing towards Janus, Ismene calmly and flatly replied, “That human was having an asthma attack. Those can be fatal. Belinay said she wanted him alive for your plan so I treated his breathing. Trust me, a dying human is rather annoying to listen to.”

Seeing Oz eye Janus, Ismene continued, “Don’t worry, they’re still helpless and drained of their magic.”

Oz huffed and turned to leave. “Be sure that’s the only help you give them… Understood?”

“Understood,” Ismene replied politely, although she was glaring at Oz since his back was turned. Of course, she didn’t intend to be kind to Janus or Lucca, but she also didn’t enjoy being bossed around by Oz. After Oz left, Ismene noticed Lucca looking her way. She glared at Lucca and said, not even bothering to phrase the word as a question, “What.”

Lucca spoke softly as she said, “You called us killers…”

Ismene didn’t like where this conversation was heading. She got up once more from where she had been sitting and slithered over to Lucca. In an angry whisper, she cut to the chase. “Yes, I did. Because you are. Him, you… maybe it was your precious king or queen, doesn’t fucking matter. Magic-using humans killed my parents and several others that tried to get revenge for the war. The others lost their fathers or their mothers, but I lost both before I could even remember them. You stole that from me, human.”

“If you two are gonna chit-chat about your fates, do it quietly… I need to concentrate,” she added, her voice beginning to crack.

Slithering back over to her supplies, Ismene kept her back to Lucca and Janus. She fought back the tears that started to trickle down her face. Even if she spoke out against revenge, she had always deep down wanted for the humans responsible for her parents’ deaths to pay for what they had done. Now they were going to. Even if Oz couldn’t summon Lavos, Ismene realized the others actually stood a chance of defeating the other humans. Guardia would finally fall. Her parents’ murderers would get what they deserved.

So why was this feeling so wrong?

[weedzkiller]

to @unavernales ( for paion )

"paion, may i ask you a question?" solum asks as they wipe splatters of marinara sauce from the stove. it had bubbled more than they expected, but paion loved it, and that was what mattered. they never minded cleaning up anyway. and it gives them something to do while they ask a question that's been brewing for..... weeks, honestly.

still, it can't bring itself to ask him directly. it can't even look at him! why is ze so embarrassed! "when lennox was..... helping me get ready for you, he knew a lot about what you like. how to get you to touch me." solum's cheeks burn. "and i was wondering..... how fae knew all of that. do you talk about things like this, with him? or have you.... have you fucked each other?"

[mournus]

"purple is a pretty color. i wear a lot of grey and black, but i think yellow's my favorite." and he can't help but think that haru would look rather cute in yellow. bright just like her.

"i--" shit. would it be bad to tell them after the fact that he's been a doctor this whole time? well, he wasn't trying to treat or diagnose him-- he just wanted to help! "i'm a doctor, actually. for children with cancer. i help them manage symptoms and try my best to get them into remission. i work at a hospital, so i don't really have my own office like most doctors. i also help with nonhumans. like the members of the crew if they have any concerns about their health. so if you ever need any help with stuff like that, you can ask me."

"Purple and yellow look pretty together." Said with... no particular... motivation... just a casual observation... no big deal...

A doctor? Panic set in. Eyes widened - but only for a second. Oh. One who helps children with cancer. That's a good doctor, not like the bad ones who had hurt Haru.

"Wow Paion is so smart and kind!!" Did he have any health concerns? He quickly tried to think of one as an excuse to keep Paion there for longer. Uh... Quick!! "Haru's ankle hurts." She lied, lifting her leg and putting it across Paion's lap. "What can Paion do?"

[elysiumxii]

also in addition to that… does beomsoo prefer milf alena or unmated alena? on a purely feral and horny level

"Now every time I see Alena I want to mount them and pump every hole full of so much seed they're carrying my triplets... does that answer your question?" The demon answers, currently halfway through composing a text message to Paion, asking him round to help build the baby bounce.

[rightwheretheyleftme]

Artemis and Apollo in Sappho’s poetry 🏹

“Son of Zeus and Leto

... come to your rites ...

after leaving woody Gryneia […]”

“[…] all the men shouted high and clear

invoking Paion¹, the archer skilled in lyre […]”

“Goldenhaired Apollo, whom Leto bore after mingling with the cloud god, the mighty-named son of Kronos.

Artemis swore the gods’ great oath:

‘By your head, I will always be a virgin

unwed, hunting on remote mountain peaks.

Do nod in assent for my sake.’

She asked and the father of the blessed gods nodded yes.

Deer-Shooting Virgin Huntress: gods and mortals address her by this mighty name.

Love, that loosener of limbs, never draws near.”

¹ This is one of Apollo’s names, it was used in hymns when his healing abilities were invoked. This line is part of a song where she tells the story of Hector and Andromache’s wedding.

[foul-humors]

Revelation

A small, weathered airship broke through the cloud layer below Azys Lla. The ancient allagan facility remained hovering in the sky as it had for five thousand years. Not by coincidence, one of the passengers of the airship found her earliest still-existing memories taking place there. Nighean smirked fondly at the fuzzy memory: How she'd been summoned to the facility like other creatures of the void, and how she'd seduced Paion, the lead researcher of the team that summoned her. How she'd broken free of her bonds, freed her fellow voidsent, and when the researcher asked the reason for her fury, she explained that she controlled her own fate.

She stood on the deck of the airship, arms folded. The two-man crew of the small craft managed the controls and mechanisms under the close watch of the half-dozen black-robed cultists. Or, rather, as close a watch as the half-panicked cultists could be, not accustomed to flying. At her side, a smartly-dressed Roegadyn with two, thick black horns sprouting from the sides of his head, seemed just as unbothered by the flight as the demoness at his side. He smirked at the sight of the facility. "Ah...thar she is..." the Roegadyn commented, satisfied.

Nighean nodded. "Dear pilot, pray guide us along the western edge of the floating continent. We seek a red structure, with a short, central column wrapped by lesser spirals. Tis solitary upon its rock.” The pilot muttered something in response, but seemed to acknowledge her. “Lord Heartsnatcher?" She spoke the Roegadyn’s name - a title, really - and waved her hand to some objects moving towards them from the facility.

"Ah right ye damned souls, hop to! Aronz, Jajalolo! Aim yer cannons to the second bell and deal wit them sharks!" the Roegadyn commanded. A hyur and a lalafell moved to the starboard side of the deck, wrapped their legs into the railing, and aimed their rifles. A volley was released under Heartsnatcher's direction, and moments later, another. The objects - allagan scouting drones - were downed swiftly.

"Got em', m'lady!" the hyur exclaimed.

"Most excellent, Aronz." She looked to Lord Heartsnatcher, and gave him an approving nod, then held her hands to the sides, channeling magic. "Mayhap the rest of this trip should be quieter." As more drones approached, to them, the airship would simply vanish from the skies.

Without further hinderance, the pilot brought the airship to the island in question, and all of the cultists - save Lord Heartsnatcher - stepped off and began making sure there was nothing there to get in their way. Heartsnatcher remained with Nighean as she addressed the airship crew...a miqo’te man and a hyur woman who looked less happy by the second.

"I am to understand one of you knows aught regarding the operation of Allagan Tech?" Nighean asked. The non-pilot nodded and raised her hand nervously. "Wonderful. You shall accompany us."

"Now wait just a minute! You said nothing about-!" the pilot started. Lord Heartsnatcher cut him off with a backhand.

"M'lady di'n't see fit ta speak ta ya. Keep yer comments to yerself," the Roegadyn growled.

Nighean sighed, and turned to disembark. "Lord Heartsnatcher, tis most unnecessary to strike him. He merely speaks from a place of concern for his companion." She looked over her shoulder. "Pray do not worry. I have no intention of seeing either of you come to harm, so long as you continue to cooperate." She motioned for the woman to follow as she moved down the gangplank.

Lord Heartsnatcher grumbled at the pilot. "Yer lucky she's runnin' tha show." He paused at the gangplank. "I'm doubtin' ya will leave yer lass behind, but if'n ya do, know I'm gonna boot her off the rock. But hey...mebbeh you'll catch 'er, aye?" He chuckled.

Setting foot on the flying island, Heartsnatcher hopped a bit in place to test how solid and stable it was. "Huh. Queer stuff, 'at," he muttered before looking to Nighean. "Might I have a moment o' indulgence, m'lady?"

"You may," the demoness replied, looking over the building.

"What be our purpose, 'ere? I thought yer Order, ‘at ‘Nevermorn,’ was headin' this way soon."

Nighean nodded. "They are...yet I would be sure there is naught to compromise me ere they arrive."

"Ah. Makes sense. Ya sure ya ain't the one wot likes books an' thinkin'?" He chuckled...though the sound caught in his throat as Nighean shot him a glare. With a bowed head, he muttered, "Er, beggin' yer pardon, m'lady."

One of the cultists approached. "The facility is wide open, my lady."

Nighean nodded. "Thank you, Miss U'hana." At that, the group made their way into the building, with the cultists leading, guided by Lord Heartsnatcher. Nighean kept the engineer close to her side, cooing to the young woman."Worry not. I shall keep you safe."

The nervous woman gave the demoness a troubled glance, first into those vivid amber eyes, then at Nighean's horns. Nighean smiled warmly and shook her head. "Indeed do I know your thoughts. You wonder if you can trust a creature such as I." She laid her hand on the young woman's shoulder, her vicious talons in full view, yet not presented threateningly.

"You're voidsent, right?" the woman asked.

Nighean nodded. "Indeed, but tis never been my want to use people, then discard them. Rather would I put you to work, and reward you appropriately. Thus do I expect to engage your services in the future."

The woman hesitated. She was nervous enough, still expecting the feminine creature at her side to turn on her at any second. "The part where you kidnapped us isn't really working in your favor, if that's your goal."

Rather than strike her, Nighean chuckled. "Mayhap not, yet I fear it was necessary." The hall opened to a large room with smashed specimen tubes strewn about the area. The tubes were filled with strange, chimeral creations, though nothing seemed a threat. The cultists reported to Heartsnatcher before the Roegadyn turned to the pair.

"Nothin' ta stand in yer way, m'lady!" he said with a nod.

Nighean nodded. "Tis most appreciated, Lord Heartsnatcher. I should think this will take a moment, so a few to watch over the entrances, and the others to rest until they switch."

Lord Heartsnatcher grinned. "Aye, 'at'll do, m'lady." He turned to gather the cultist and issue his orders. Nighean looked to the woman.

"Pray tell me your name."

"Eh? Tara." the woman replied, furrowing her brow up at Nighean. "Look, no offense, but can we get this over with?"

Nighean nodded. "Very well, Miss Tara. Pray find a terminal, and see to its operation." A vial of blended plant matter appeared in her hand. "Tis my goal to analyze the contents of this vial, and query the system for records which relate to it."

Tara nodded, and set about her task.

A few bells went by before Lord Heartsnatcher approached the pair. "Beggin' yer pardon, m'lady, but...."

Nighean cut him off with a raised hand as she watched Tara work. "You wonder: Should I not know already how to operate this? Should I not have gained the knowledge through Esoterica? And should it not be so, why not turn to one of our own?" Her gaze drifted to the Roegadyn.

He nodded. "Aye, m'lady."

Nighean shook her head. "Long ago was I here, and long ago did the systems come to know me. Those parts connected with the systems that remember will reject my query. Those not connected with such have not the information we need."

The Roegadyn rubbed his chin in thought. "Aye. I s'pose 'at makes sense. But then, wa’t of our own? Why not one o’ them?"

“My taint upon them may yet be recognized by the system.” Nighean answered simply, then looked back at Tara as the woman closed up the derelict terminal and turned it on. Heartsnatcher grinned. "Oy! Excellent work, lass! Wot was wrong wit' it?"

"Power was disconnected," came the reply.

"Wot?"

"It had nothing give it energy."

"It took ya that long ta figure 'at out?"

Tara rolled her eyes. "You think you could have done better?" She held out her hand to Nighean, making a grabby motion. The voidsent chuckled, and set the vial in Tara's waiting hand.

"Well...no, 'spose not," Heartsnatcher replied, realizing he didn't have the foggiest idea how even the simple magitek put out by Ironworks functioned.

The terminal's lens projected a floating, holographic interface, and Tara studied it for a moment before poking at it methodically. "Please identify this sample," she stated clearly, holding the vial out to it. As the other cultists began to watch, curiously, a separate light from the terminal focused on and enveloped the vial, causing it to float out of Tara's hand. It beeped quietly for a bit before returning the vial to the woman.

"Searching, Searching. Match found. Substance identified as 'Aetherochemical Substance V-1632-GE' with unknown flora contaminants."

Tara looked back to Nighean and Heartsnatcher. Nighean mouthed something, and Tara looked back to the device. "What's Aetherochemical Substance V-16...3...?” She paused. The terminal beeped at her.

"Please restate query."

Tara shook her head. "What is the previously identified substance?"

The terminal beeped. "Standby. 'Aetherochemical Substance V-1632-GE' was created by Team Leader Paion with the assistance of co-leader Adrasteia." Nighean laughed at the mention of Paion, then gave pause at the second name, her usual confident smirk vanishing. The name made her mind itch, though she couldn’t figure out why.

The terminal continued: "V-1632-GE is an experimental cleaner for aetheric corruption common to creatures of the World of Darkness. Note: the substance has not been approved for mass production, however, and the line was not continued."

Heartsnatcher asked, "Oy! Why not?"

"Clarify," the terminal responded. "Would you like to know why it was not approved, or why the line was not continued?"

"Both," Tara answered, curious. A cleanser for void corruption was worth pursuing, and it wouldn’t make sense to just toss it aside.

Beep. "Though the reaction can be sustained theoretically indefinitely, the cleansed aether remains in the solution until it is drawn out, resulting in temporary suspension of the reaction. Though there exist means to draw the aether out, methods which draw it out fast enough to allow for practical application have proven to be dangerous."

Heartsnatcher looked to Nighean. "'At wot happened ta yer servants in La Noscea?" Nighean nodded in response.

The terminal continued, unconcerned with Heartsnatcher's question. "The experiment line was not continued due to the sudden unavailability of Paion's team."

"What happened to them?" Tara asked, starting to wonder if the substance in her hand was toxic to her. Before the terminal responded, Heartsnatcher asked Nighean, "T'ink this has ta do wit ya?" Again, Nighean nodded, smirking lightly.

Beep. "Searching. Searching. Searching. Searching. Detailed information limited due to data corruption. Summary: All team members dead or missing."

"What happened to them?" Tara asked.

Beep. "Detailed information regarding this matter is limited due to data corruption. Cross referencing with team member biographies. Data has been manually added by Paion regarding the disposition of team members Adrasteia, Bethzatha, and Iaret. Each are listed as 'deceased' according to this data. Cause of death is suicide."

Nighean tilted her head. Lord Heartsnatcher asked her, "Doesn' match up wit yer mem'ries, does it, m'lady?" Nighean nodded in agreement, but seemed unconcerned. Tara looked back at the two of them, then at the substance in her hand, then at the Terminal.

"Is there evidence to verify this?" Tara asked.

Beep. "Analyzing available records. Standby. Standby. Standby. Analysis complete. Physical and recorded evidence are available, however incomplete. Independent review may be required to verify Paion's entries. Would you like to proceed with the review?"

"Aye," Heartsnatcher said.

"Yes," Tara spoke at the same time.

Nighean said nothing, folding her arms, a smirk returning to her lips. The terminal beeped at them, and stated, "Note: These recordings have been automatically selected, and may be irrelevant and-or incomplete. Compiling. Standby." Even for Nighean, it seemed to take the system a long time to compile the data, though this was far from due to the actual passage of time, which was mere minutes. "Compilation complete. Projecting"

As the scene materialized in the air before them, two hyur - a man and a woman with greying hair - could be viewed. He had eyes of soft blue, and her eyes, at first, appeared a curious shade of amber. Closer inspection would reveal her right eye's iris was a flat black. Both were dressed in the garb of Allagan researchers, and stood tensely in a hallway. The man's arms were folded, face stern. "He volunteered."

"Do not speak such lies to me!" she replied, upset. She stared at him, scrutinizing him.

"Oi, she talks like you," Heartsnatcher mutters. Nighean shushed him, focused on the scene.

The man in the recording threw up his arms in exasperation. "Fine, he didn't!" With a grunt, he continued. "But I've told you. Until we reestablish contact with the ground, sacrifices have to be made if we are to make progress!"

She shook her head. "Paion, can you not see the reality you face? Those who left had the right of it! The Empire is gone!"

He scoffed. "Since when did you care about the Empire? You always pursued the research for its own sake."

"Truly do I wish to see our research bear fruit, yet I am not blind to reality! We are done, volunteers or no!"

He reached out to brush her hair from her face. "If you truly think that way, then please leave, my love...but I'm staying. I won't let this go to w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-" He was cut off as the scene stuttered and vanished.

The terminal beeped. "Data of the remaining scene is missing. Skipping."

When the images returned, the woman from earlier sat at the end of a bed in a small room. She was contemplating some manner of tool in her hand which resembled a cross between a syringe and a handgun. She didn't spend long on it before pressing the tip to her arm and pulling the trigger. She winced as the syringe instantly emptied, but for a moment, nothing else seemed to happen. Then she grimaced, clutching at her chest and falling to the ground in clear pain. Once more, the scene vanished.

Again, the terminal beeped. "Data of the remaining scene is missing. Skipping."

"I guess she did commit suicide...assuming that was Adrasteia," Tara commented. "But it looks like she didn't m- Oh, here we go."

The same scene returned, but the room was in disarray, furniture knocked about. A feminine figure stood in a shaded corner as Paion - the man from earlier - approached. "Adra? Is that you?" Though his expression was calm, there was fear in his voice.

"Tis indeed," she replied. Her tone was calm, yet her voice had an unnatural quality to it. The cultists looked to Nighean. The voice was terribly similar to the voidsent's own.

"What...what have you done?" Paion asked on the recording.

She stepped out of the shadows. It was the same woman from before, but her clothes were torn and singed, doing little to hide her beautifully twisted form. Patches of scales streaked across her body, and a quartet of under-developed horns sprouted from beneath her hair. Paion backed away, frightened.

"I have taken control of my fate." As the woman on the recording spoke this, Nighean's eyes went wide, and she took a step backward.

"Data of the remaining scene is missing. Skipping."

"No! Halt! Cease playback!" Nighean suddenly called out.

"Recognized banned user. Command rejected." Nighean stared as the recording resumed, unrelenting. Neither Heartsnatcher nor Tara requested it to stop. She could have blasted the terminal, but something stayed her hand.

The new scene took place in a lab of some sort. Paion was thrown into view, crashing through the equipment. He grunted, and moved to his feet with effort. The twisted woman he'd called 'Adra' earlier approached from that direction. As she loomed over him, his eyes darted around the lab, resting on a staff nearby before looking to her. "Please stop this! You're destroying everything we've done!"

"We shall be your slaves no longer, Paion." was her reply.

"I...what was I to do?! You...you made yourself into one of those creatures! I couldn't simply let you roam free!" He reached for the staff, but she lashed out with swiftly moving talons, slicing through the table it rested on.

"YOU HAD FORCED MY HAND!" she screamed as he jumped away, now backed into a corner. Her talons retracted, and she looked over her hand before her eyes snapped to him once more. "Pray speak honestly. How long would you have assured me everything was to work out for the best? How long ere I was made another 'volunteer’?” She laughed scornfully.

"It...it wouldn't have happened! Adrasteia...I loved you." Tears welled up in his eyes.

Adrasteia sneered. "Twas your research you loved. Admit the truth: you restrained me out of jealousy. Jealous that I succeeded where you failed." She backed him against the wall, then grabbed his arms and lifted him, amber eyes glowing hellishly.

"Please, Adra! The...The process...it has made you paranoid! The subjects have always been psychologically unstable! Let me help you!"

She laughed scornfully. "You think me paranoid? My mind has never been so clear. Yet I shall not reject your offer." She moved to lock her lips with his, whispering, "You will help me. Your aether will empower and susta- ARGH!"

With a cry, she dropped him, back arched in pain as an assault came from behind. Suppression units had entered the lab and were firing at her. As she recoiled, they lashed out with mechanical ropes, trying to restrain her. Talons swiftly extended, she sliced through them. With her focus now off him, Paion grabbed the staff. He spoke arcane words, and aether swirled from it, forming into a dark gate.

"Adrasteia tis Diafthoras, I rebuke thee in the name of Hydaelyn! Through your sins you have made yourself an enemy of this star and all life upon it! You have become a wretched creature of the Dark! I banish you forthwith through this gate and to your new home! Be gone from this world!"

She screeched in anger, struggling against the aetheric binds as they dragged her through the gate.

The scene vanished once more.

"End of compilation. Note: Automatic analysis suggests Adrasteia's death has been misreported. The system suggests that her status be changed to 'missing'."

As the recording stopped, everyone in the area was quiet. Tara looked around at all them, puzzled, clearly missing some key information. The voidsent woman looked uncharacteristically stunned, if not outright frightened. Lord Heartsnatcher broke the silence.

"So...we know her true and proper name, then," he spoke with a somewhat sinister tone. Nighean looked to him sharply, but before she could say or do anything, two of the cultists sprang forward, staves held forward. Before they could even get a few syllables out, Nighean stretched forth with her talons and sliced one to ribbons. She was not fast enough for the other, however.

"Adrasteia tis Diafthoras, stop in place and heed my command!" the cultist ordered.

Nighean froze, then turned to the cultist, hatred in her eyes. "DARE you use my name against me?! Dare you after aught that I have done for you?!" Her voice had power behind it, but it was undirected. The cultist quaked. "WELL?!"

Lord Heartsnatcher chuckled, and looked back at the frightened man. "Go on, lad. Ya got the false Lady's ear, then." Nighean's eyes turned to Heartsnatcher, the burning hatred there focused on him. Still, she seemed unable to act.“Our true Lady bid us ask her a question, did she not?”

The cultist swallowed and spoke clearly, "I command you to tell us the truth: Who was responsible for the attacks on the Mirrors of Adrasteia and their servants?"

Nighean growled, her visage becoming harsher by the second. "I was."

At that admission, everything - event ambien noises - went silent. It was as though the sound was snuffed out like a candlelight. When it returned, another woman - the spitting image of Nighean, though seeming as an eastern noblewoman by her dress - entered. The cultist pointed his staff at the new one, but Heartsnatcher held his hand up. "M'lady. My true lady," he spoke, kneeling before her. "We have done as you asked."

"Esoterica," the first Nighean growled.

"Melodia," she second replied calmly, nodding to her counterpart in greeting. "Truly do I think we should have a word."

"Think you that these treacherous worms will not use our name against you in time?" Nighean Melodia asked. Nighean Esoterica tilted her head.

"You were want to promise them a family. Twas I who offered them what they craved: Power." Lord Heartsnatcher grinned at Esoterica's words. His grin didn't last long, however, as Esoterica continued. "Yet, unlike you, I was never want to trust any mortal."

"Eh?" Heartsnatcher grunted, before the realization struck him and he bellowed, "Bind her!"

The staff-wielding cultist found himself unable to speak the words, already silenced by Esoterica’s magic. Esoterica waved her hand dismissively, not taking her eyes from Nighean Melodia. The simple gesture begat horrific movements of power, and cultist began screaming. Their expressions wrenched into agony and horror as they melted into piles of flesh, cloth, and bone.

"By the twelve!" Tara shrieked, pushing up against the wall behind her.

Esoterica looked to the woman. "How curious...you are not sworn to us." She looked to Melodia. "We had those among us that might solve the problems of Allag tech, and yet you bring her? Mayhap you did not trust Heartsnatcher after all. Most proud I am of you, Melodia, that you would consider such a possibility and plan around it. Ah...truly would this have been an enjoyable game, had I known we were playing."

Esoterica looked back to the woman, and waved her away. "Go. Your freedom was promised, and I am not want to break our deals, whether made by myself or...my other self." At this last bit, she looked to Melodia. Tara was frozen by terror until Esoterica looked to her and bellowed, "GO!". With that, Tara fled from the area before the creature changed her mind.

Esoterica grabbed her counterpart’s hand, teleporting them away as she said, “Again, Melodia...we need to talk.”

[unavernales]

fantasy, lingerie, marks, strip for lennox/paion......... someone's curious.......

fantasy — do they have any sexual fantasies they'd like to try out? have they ever gotten to act on a sexual fantasy?

the thing about paion is that he has a thing for virginity. purity. virgin brides on their wedding night, angels, even white lingerie really gets them going. he's not proud of it, but... well. lennox doesn't have many fantasies that he hasn't acted on. it's his job, after all, to be selfish. though he'd love to fuck a god. have someone so powerful open, tender, begging for fae.

lingerie — do they own lingerie? if so, how often do they wear it? what kind of lingerie do they like to wear the most? do they like when their partners wear lingerie for them?

fae has a drawer of lingerie he enjoys donning every once in a while. he's apathetic about his partners wearing lingerie, unless it's humiliating for them. if it's humiliating? oh, he's into it. as stated prior, paion enjoys when his partner wears a pretty lingerie set. especially when it's frilly. lacy. white maybe with hints of pink or baby blue.

marks — do they like being marked? do they like marking their partners?

neither of them like being marked due to their respective lines of work. paion will mark if asked to, but he isn't particularly inclined to do so. lennox has a kink for destroying and defiling. so. i assume the answer should be obvious.

strip — does your muse like stripping for their partner(s)? do they like when their partner(s) strip(s) for them? do they like their partner(s) stripping them naked? do they like to strip their partner(s) naked?

paion enjoys doing the stripping, always most comfortable being the one to serve and care for his partners. lennox is bossy and likes to remind his partners that they are beneath him, so he loves when they do the tedious work. fae will do the fun stuff for his own pleasure, but the nitty gritty? you can do that for him.

[spannycattheogony]

Alternative Theogonies 6: The Theogony of Pherecydes of Athens

Chapter 6: The Theogony of Pherecydes of Athens (c. 465 BC)

Pherekydes of Athens BNJ 3F42 as cited in Apollodorus Epitome 2.7.5: Amaltheia was Aimonios’s daughter, who had the horn of a bull. But this, as Pherekydes says, had a power so as to provide food or drink, whichever one might ask for, ungrudgingly.

Pherekydes of Athens BNJ 3F46 as cited in Pollux Lexicon 10.139: In Pherekydes (Aorte) is one of the Kyklopes.

Pherekydes of Athens BNJ 3F50 as cited in Scholiast L+ on Apollonius of Rhodes 2.1231-41a: Pherekydes says that Kronos appeared in the guise of a horse and had intercourse with Philyra daughter of Okeanos and because of this Cheiron was of a dual nature.

Pherekydes of Athens BNJ 3F44 as cited in Scholiast L+ on Apollonius of Rhodes 3.467: Pherekydes says that she [Hekate] is daughter of Aristaios son of Paion.

Pherekydes of Athens BNJ 3F45 as cited in Eusthathius on Iliad 6.378: ‘Pherekydes relates that Daeira is the sister of Styx.

Pherekydes of Athens BNJ 3F7a as cited in Scholiast L+ on Apollonius of Rhodes 2.1248-50a: Pherekydes says in Book Two that the eagle sent against Prometheus was the offspring of Typhon and Echidna daughter of Phorkys.

Pherekydes of Athens BNJ 3F7b as cited in Philodemus on Piety 42.12: the eagle … according to Hesiod (ate at the liver) of Prometheus was their offspring [of Echidna and Typhon] says Pherekydes the Athenian.

Pherekydes of Athens BNJ 3F11 as cited in Scholiast L+ on Apollonius of Rhodes 4.1515: Phorky’s offspring, the Graiai, Pemphredo and Enyo and Deino.

Pherekydes of Athens BNJ 3F16b as cited in Scholiast L+ on Apollonius of Rhodes 2.992: Pherekydes says in Book Two that Ge produced on the shore of Okeanos golden apples as gifts to Zeus when he married Hera. the serpent, an offspring of Typhon and Echidna, having a hundred heads and cries of all sorts, guarded them.

Pherekydes of Athens BNJ 3F16c as cited in Eratosthenes Constellation Myths 3: For Pherekydes says that when Hera married Zeus and the gods were bringing gifts to her, Ge came bearing golden apples <with its branches>. When Hera saw them she marveled and said that they were to be planted in the garden of the gods that was next to Atlas. She set a serpent of enormous size as a guard to keep the apples from continually being snatched away by that man’s daughters.

Pherekydes of Athens BNJ 3F16c as cited in Hyginus Poetic Astronomy 2.3: For Pherecydes says that when the marriage of Jupiter and Juno took place, Terra came bearing golden apples on branches. Juno admired them and asked Terra to plant them in her gardens, which extended to Mount Atlas. Because the daughters of Atlas continually snatched the apples from the trees, Juno was said to have placed the serpent there as a guard. {From Star Myths of The Greek and Romans: A Sourcebook, translated by Theony Condos, published by Phanes Press, 1997, p. 102.}

Pherekydes of Athens BNJ 3F16d as cited in Scholiast NAB on Eurides Hippolytus 742: Pherekydes says that [the Hesperides] are born from Zeus and Themis.

Pherekydes of Athens BNJ 3F54 as cited in Scholiast L+ on Apollonius of Rhodes 2.1209-15a: Pherekydes relates in his Theogony that Typhon fled to the Caucasus while being pursued and that when the mountain was set ablaze, he fled from there to Italy, where the island of Pithekoussai was cast about him.

Pherekydes of Athens BNJ 3F55 as cited in Scholiast L+ on Apollonius of Rhodes 1.760-2b: Pherekydes says that Zeus had intercourse with Elare daughter of Orchomenos and when she was already pregnant forced her beneath the earth, afraid of the jealousy of Hera, and Tityos was yielded from the earth. For this reason he is also called earth-born.

Pherekydes of Athens BNJ 3F56 as cited in Scholia BDEGQ on Pindar Pythian 4.160b: And Artemis’s swift arrow hunted down Tityos ... so that one might desire to touch what is possible for him to love] that he died at the hands of Apollo and Artemis, Pherekydes says.

Source: Felix Jacoby’s Die Fragmente der Griechischen Historiker I-III, translated by William S. Morison, published by Brill’s New Jacoby [database], 2011.

[italian-landscapes]

La Divina Commedia di Dante Alighieri, Inferno, canto V

English version below.

A little poetry, you filthy sinners!

The story is set in the Castle of Gradara, at the time ruled by the family Malatesta, Lords of the close Rimini.

It’s well known in Italy because of the tragic story of Paolo and Francesca, narrated by Dante in his famous poem “La Divina Commedia” (Inferno), that took place here.

The story goes that Dante and his mentor Virgil (famous Roman poet) meet two twin souls in the lascivious circle.

They are throwing away by an unceasing wind with the carnal sinners and, unlike the other damned souls, they are the ones that “flying” together. Called upon to tell their story, the fair Francesca da Polenta tells her story to Dante: she had been promised to the powerful Lord of Rimini and Gradara, Gianciotto Malatesta, an ugly, bad, ferocious man. Gianciotto’s younger brother, Paolo, was sent to take her to Rimini for the marriage. Unfortunately, Paolo was a very handsome man, and of course (this remember me an endless series of fairy tales, but it seems to be a quite real story) she fell in love with him. Anyway, the wedding took place (no way to be called off, in those times).

Dante asks Francesca (she only speaks, while Paolo goes on crying all the time), how they fell in love: she replies him that, while the two alone were reading about Lancelot and Guinevere and their kiss, that was the moment when they turned pale and kiss each other. Not long after, her husband caught them “together” and murdered the two of them. As they died in mortal sin, they were sentenced to hell’s lascivious circle, but they at least stay forever side by side. Undoubtedly (at least for me), the best Dante’s canto of all his work.

Così discesi dal cerchio primaio giù nel secondo, che men loco cinghia e tanto più dolor, che punge a guaio. 3

Stavvi Minòs orribilmente, e ringhia: essamina le colpe ne l’intrata; giudica e manda secondo ch’avvinghia. 6

Dico che quando l’anima mal nata li vien dinanzi, tutta si confessa; e quel conoscitor de le peccata 9

vede qual loco d’inferno è da essa; cignesi con la coda tante volte quantunque gradi vuol che giù sia messa. 12

Sempre dinanzi a lui ne stanno molte: vanno a vicenda ciascuna al giudizio, dicono e odono e poi son giù volte. 15

"O tu che vieni al doloroso ospizio", disse Minòs a me quando mi vide, lasciando l’atto di cotanto offizio, 18

"guarda com’entri e di cui tu ti fide; non t’inganni l’ampiezza de l’intrare!". E ’l buon maestro a lui: "Perché pur gride? 21

Non impedir lo suo fatale andare: vuolsi così colà dove si puote ciò che si vuole, e più non dimandare". 24

Or incomincian le dolenti note a farmisi sentire; or son venuto là dove molto pianto mi percuote. 27

Io venni in loco d’ogne luce muto, che mugghia come fa mar per tempesta, se da contrari venti è combattuto. 30

La bufera infernal, che mai non resta, mena li spirti con la sua rapina; voltando e percotendo li molesta. 33

Quando giungon davanti a la ruina, quivi le strida, il compianto, il lamento; bestemmian quivi la virtù divina. 36

Intesi ch’a così fatto tormento enno dannati i peccator carnali, che la ragion sommettono al talento. 39

E come li stornei ne portan l’ali nel freddo tempo, a schiera larga e piena, così quel fiato li spiriti mali 42

di qua, di là, di giù, di su li mena; nulla speranza li conforta mai, non che di posa, ma di minor pena. 45

E come i gru van cantando lor lai, faccendo in aere di sé lunga riga, così vid’io venir, traendo guai, 48

ombre portate da la detta briga; per ch’i’ dissi: "Maestro, chi son quelle genti che l’aura nera sì gastiga?". 51

"La prima di color di cui novelle tu vuo' saper", mi disse quelli allotta, "fu imperadrice di molte favelle. 54

A vizio di lussuria fu sì rotta, che libito fé licito in sua legge, per tòrre il biasmo in che era condotta. 57

Ell’è Semiramìs, di cui si legge che succedette a Nino e fu sua sposa: tenne la terra che ’l Soldan corregge. 60

L’altra è colei che s’ancise amorosa, e ruppe fede al cener di Sicheo; poi è Cleopatràs lussurïosa. 63

Elena vedi, per cui tanto reo tempo si volse, e vedi ’l grande Achille, che con amore al fine combatteo. 66

Vedi Parìs, Tristano"; e più di mille ombre mostrommi e nominommi a dito, ch’amor di nostra vita dipartille. 69

Poscia ch’io ebbi ’l mio dottore udito nomar le donne antiche e ’ cavalieri, pietà mi giunse, e fui quasi smarrito. 72

I’ cominciai: "Poeta, volontieri parlerei a quei due che ’nsieme vanno, e paion sì al vento esser leggeri". 75

Ed elli a me: "Vedrai quando saranno più presso a noi; e tu allor li priega per quello amor che i mena, ed ei verranno". 78

Sì tosto come il vento a noi li piega, mossi la voce: "O anime affannate, venite a noi parlar, s’altri nol niega!". 81

Quali colombe dal disio chiamate con l’ali alzate e ferme al dolce nido vegnon per l’aere, dal voler portate; 84

cotali uscir de la schiera ov’è Dido, a noi venendo per l’aere maligno, sì forte fu l’affettüoso grido. 87

"O animal grazïoso e benigno che visitando vai per l’aere perso noi che tignemmo il mondo di sanguigno, 90

se fosse amico il re de l’universo, noi pregheremmo lui de la tua pace, poi c’ hai pietà del nostro mal perverso. 93

Di quel che udire e che parlar vi piace, noi udiremo e parleremo a voi, mentre che ’l vento, come fa, si tace. 96

Siede la terra dove nata fui su la marina dove ’l Po discende per aver pace co’ seguaci sui. 99

Amor, ch'al cor gentil ratto s'apprende, prese costui de la bella persona che mi fu tolta; e 'l modo ancor m'offende. 102

Amor, ch’a nullo amato amar perdona, mi prese del costui piacer sì forte, che, come vedi, ancor non m’abbandona. 105

Amor condusse noi ad una morte. Caina attende chi a vita ci spense". Queste parole da lor ci fuor porte. 108

Quand’io intesi quell’anime offense, china’ il viso, e tanto il tenni basso, fin che ’l poeta mi disse: "Che pense?". 111

Quando rispuosi, cominciai: "Oh lasso, quanti dolci pensier, quanto disio menò costoro al doloroso passo!". 114

Poi mi rivolsi a loro e parla’ io, e cominciai: "Francesca, i tuoi martìri a lagrimar mi fanno tristo e pio. 117

Ma dimmi: al tempo d’i dolci sospiri, a che e come concedette amore che conosceste i dubbiosi disiri?". 120

Ed  ella a me: "Nessun maggior dolore che ricordarsi del tempo felice ne la miseria; e ciò sa 'l tuo dottore. 123

Ma s’a conoscer la prima radice del nostro amor tu hai cotanto affetto, dirò come colui che piange e dice. 126

Noi leggiavamo un giorno per diletto di Lancialotto come amor lo strinse; soli eravamo e sanza alcun sospetto. 129

Per più fïate li occhi ci sospinse quella lettura, e scolorocci il viso; ma solo un punto fu quel che ci vinse. 132

Quando leggemmo il disïato riso esser basciato da cotanto amante, questi, che mai da me non fia diviso, 135

la bocca mi basciò tutto tremante. Galeotto fu ’l libro e chi lo scrisse: quel giorno più non vi leggemmo avante". 138

Mentre che l'uno spirto questo disse, l'altro piangëa; sì che di pietade io venni men così com'io morisse. 141

E caddi come corpo morto cade.

The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri, Inferno, Canto V, Translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Thus I descended out of the first circle   Down to the second, that less space begirds,   And so much greater dole, that goads to wailing. There standeth Minos horribly, and snarls;   Examines the transgressions at the entrance;   Judges, and sends according as he girds him. I say, that when the spirit evil-born   Cometh before him, wholly it confesses;   And this discriminator of transgressions Seeth what place in Hell is meet for it;   Girds himself with his tail as many times   As grades he wishes it should be thrust down. Always before him many of them stand;   They go by turns each one unto the judgment;   They speak, and hear, and then are downward hurled. "O thou, that to this dolorous hostelry   Comest," said Minos to me, when he saw me,   Leaving the practice of so great an office, "Look how thou enterest, and in whom thou trustest;   Let not the portal's amplitude deceive thee."   And unto him my Guide: "Why criest thou too? Do not impede his journey fate-ordained;   It is so willed there where is power to do   That which is willed; and ask no further question." And now begin the dolesome notes to grow   Audible unto me; now am I come   There where much lamentation strikes upon me. I came into a place mute of all light,   Which bellows as the sea does in a tempest,   If by opposing winds 't is combated. The infernal hurricane that never rests   Hurtles the spirits onward in its rapine;   Whirling them round, and smiting, it molests them. When they arrive before the precipice,   There are the shrieks, the plaints, and the laments,   There they blaspheme the puissance divine. I understood that unto such a torment   The carnal malefactors were condemned,   Who reason subjugate to appetite. And as the wings of starlings bear them on   In the cold season in large band and full,   So doth that blast the spirits maledict; It hither, thither, downward, upward, drives them;   No hope doth comfort them for evermore,   Not of repose, but even of lesser pain. And as the cranes go chanting forth their lays,   Making in air a long line of themselves,   So saw I coming, uttering lamentations, Shadows borne onward by the aforesaid stress.   Whereupon said I: "Master, who are those   People, whom the black air so castigates?" "The first of those, of whom intelligence   Thou fain wouldst have," then said he unto me,   "The empress was of many languages. To sensual vices she was so abandoned,   That lustful she made licit in her law,   To remove the blame to which she had been led. She is Semiramis, of whom we read   That she succeeded Ninus, and was his spouse;   She held the land which now the Sultan rules. The next is she who killed herself for love,   And broke faith with the ashes of Sichaeus;   Then Cleopatra the voluptuous." Helen I saw, for whom so many ruthless   Seasons revolved; and saw the great Achilles,   Who at the last hour combated with Love. Paris I saw, Tristan; and more than a thousand   Shades did he name and point out with his finger,   Whom Love had separated from our life. After that I had listened to my Teacher,   Naming the dames of eld and cavaliers,   Pity prevailed, and I was nigh bewildered. And I began: "O Poet, willingly   Speak would I to those two, who go together,   And seem upon the wind to be so light." And, he to me: "Thou'lt mark, when they shall be   Nearer to us; and then do thou implore them   By love which leadeth them, and they will come." Soon as the wind in our direction sways them,   My voice uplift I: "O ye weary souls!   Come speak to us, if no one interdicts it." As turtle-doves, called onward by desire,   With open and steady wings to the sweet nest   Fly through the air by their volition borne, So came they from the band where Dido is,   Approaching us athwart the air malign,   So strong was the affectionate appeal. "O living creature gracious and benignant,   Who visiting goest through the purple air   Us, who have stained the world incarnadine, If were the King of the Universe our friend,   We would pray unto him to give thee peace,   Since thou hast pity on our woe perverse. Of what it pleases thee to hear and speak,   That will we hear, and we will speak to you,   While silent is the wind, as it is now. Sitteth the city, wherein I was born,   Upon the sea-shore where the Po descends   To rest in peace with all his retinue. Love, that on gentle heart doth swiftly seize,   Seized this man for the person beautiful   That was ta'en from me, and still the mode offends me. Love, that exempts no one beloved from loving,   Seized me with pleasure of this man so strongly,   That, as thou seest, it doth not yet desert me; Love has conducted us unto one death;   Caina waiteth him who quenched our life!"   These words were borne along from them to us. As soon as I had heard those souls tormented,   I bowed my face, and so long held it down   Until the Poet said to me: "What thinkest?" When I made answer, I began: "Alas!   How many pleasant thoughts, how much desire,   Conducted these unto the dolorous pass!" Then unto them I turned me, and I spake,   And I began: "Thine agonies, Francesca,   Sad and compassionate to weeping make me. But tell me, at the time of those sweet sighs,   By what and in what manner Love conceded,   That you should know your dubious desires?" And she to me: "There is no greater sorrow   Than to be mindful of the happy time   In misery, and that thy Teacher knows. But, if to recognise the earliest root   Of love in us thou hast so great desire,   I will do even as he who weeps and speaks. One day we reading were for our delight   Of Launcelot, how Love did him enthral.   Alone we were and without any fear. Full many a time our eyes together drew   That reading, and drove the colour from our faces;   But one point only was it that o'ercame us. When as we read of the much-longed-for smile   Being by such a noble lover kissed,   This one, who ne'er from me shall be divided, Kissed me upon the mouth all palpitating.   Galeotto was the book and he who wrote it.   That day no farther did we read therein." And all the while one spirit uttered this,   The other one did weep so, that, for pity,   I swooned away as if I had been dying, And fell, even as a dead body falls.

[inquartata30]

WIP Friday

tagged by @jennserr thanks!

tagging @natsora @fogsblue and @jt-boi-n7 no obligations

So this is the start for an asari empire AU that was prompted at some point and has gotten away from me. The Empire AU isn’t the nicest universe, but I couldn’t bring myself to write a Mirror Universe level of bad place. (MU episodes in star trek make me anxious as fuck for the entire episode).

Thaia couldn’t keep it to herself anymore. It was bugging the ever-loving fuck out of her and now she was going to share so it it would bug the ever-loving fuck out of her squadmates, too. “She doesn’t look like a pirate.”

“Why’s that?” asked Paion, their sniper.

“Pirates don’t usually wear lab coats, for one.”

Their hostage, Lexi, according to the dossier, finally spoke up for the first time since they’d reached the prefab they were using as a base. “I’m wearing a lab coat because I’m a physician, not a pirate. Tell me, do you each possess one lonely brain cell? Or do you share a single brain cell amongst the three of you?”

Lovely as Lexi’s voice was, the things she said hurt more than getting fucking shot. “Also,” Thaia said, “pirates usually eviscerate people with sharp blades, not words.”

“I’m good with a scalpel. Would you care for a demonstration?”

“We’re not giving you a scalpel,” Minyae said. 

Lexi settled back against the wall behind the small plasteel bench she was sitting on. “Such a shame. I hope using your collective brain cell didn’t cause too much strain.”

Thaia paced, trying to settle down, but it was still bugging the fuck out of her. She needed to get it across to her squadmates how fucked they could be before they all ended up entirely fucked over. “Seriously, think about it. We picked her up in a verified lab that had actual scientists and doctors working there. And the stuff they were talking about was—”

“Kallistrate, stop thinking so much,” Paion said. “Out loud, especially.”

“And stop fucking pacing,” Minyae added.

Thaia leaned against the prefab’s wall, reflexively double checking the status of the cell’s security measures. She’d keep her thoughts to herself, but she wasn’t about to stop thinking. Since the moment her squad had descended on the lab, nothing about this counter-piracy mission had felt right, including how the target pickup had been easy. Too easy. Unless there was a significant sum of credits offered, pirates always fought back. Now, as far as Thaia knew from the briefing, no credits had been offered and so they’d been told to expect resistance. 

There had not been.

Instead, everyone in the lab had their hands up and kept them there when the team had gone in, no one had even verbally objected—aside from the target, who’d had plenty of objections and made them all so sharply they should’ve drawn blood—and they’d exited the lab less than five minutes after entering. No shots fired. From what Thaia had observed of the data displayed on terminal screens, a lot of it was statistical—a subject Thaia had studied as part of a remote undergraduate program—and the rest had looked a lot like the stuff her aunt, a biochemist, sometimes brought home. In other words, it all looked legit, and none of the chemical compounds were biochemical weapons related, either. Then Thaia ran a records check and discovered a fucking mountain-high stack of medical credentials under the name Lexi T’Perro—apparently a psychologist as well as a physician—and the photo ID and DNA were a dead-on match. So, either Lexi was a reformed pirate, an undercover pirate with fifteen educations to match, or she really was a doctor like she claimed and not a pirate at all.

And doctors were non-combatants. Doctors were off-limits. Doctors were to be left alone because they healed people. Commandos were supposed to protect them.

Not only was abducting a doctor and holding her for ransom morally and ethically wrong, but it also teetered on the edge of war crime.

Maybe she should bring that up. Even katastra, despite their reputations, didn’t commit war crimes. And this squad wasn’t even katastra. Just the regular type of counter-ops squad in the Empire’s military. 

Before Thaia could mention anything, Calchas, their XO, walked into the room. Paion and Minyae got to their feet and Thaia straightened up from the wall.

 Once Calchas had their full attention, she said, “Good news: the hostage has been verified as the correct target, despite being a doctor.”

“As I’ve been saying,” Lexi said.

Calchas scowled at her. “Shut it.”

“Tell me there’s not mo—” Paion started to say.

At the same time, Thaia said, “We should let her—”

Calchas cut them both off. “Bad news: she’s the doctor for Omega’s controlling syndicate.”

“Fuck,” Minyae said. “You’re telling me we’re holding Aria Fucking T’Loak’s doctor?”

“Worst news,” Calchas said. “Her mother is Aria’s top and longest-serving lieutenant.”

“So we’re letting her go?” Thaia asked. “The right thing to do aside, that’s also the sane thing to do if we all don’t want to die. Because Aria will come after Lexi herself and she’ll mercilessly slaughter us in the process.”

Calchas shook her head. “Mission’s still a go.”

Thaia gaped at her. The fuck. Maybe the Katastrae, the specialized division her former unit was part of, did some questionable and devastatingly brutal things, but they’d never fucked around with doctors or medics. The fuck was a standard commando unit doing pulling shit like this? ”You have to be fucking kidding me.”

“Did my XO misspeak, Lieutenant Kallistrate?” Captain Nasrin asked as she stepped into the room. “I didn’t hear her misspeak. The hostage stays our hostage. We play this right, no one dies. No one on our side, anyway. But this means we need to shore up our defenses and prep for a heavy assault.”

[ascendancy-echoes]

Chapter 20: False Normalcy

Later that morning, as Ismene and Russ entered the workshop, Ismene let out a heavy sigh and said, “Russ, you don’t have to do any work today. I’ll be okay.”

“I can work,” Russ retorted. “I don’t need to rest, Izzy.”

“I’m just trying to be nice,” Ismene replied. “You were imprisoned by Nocturna. I can’t imagine the last two months were great for you.”

“I’ll be fine,” Russ replied, reassuringly, although the slip in his accent hinted that he was annoyed that Ismene was fussing over him. “Can we just drop the matter and get to work? It’ll be good for me to get back into a sensible routine.”

Ismene sighed and nodded. She turned and slithered to the back room where she immediately got to work measuring out some dried mint and other herbs to grind in her mortar. Grinding the plants into a fine powder relieved some of her frustration but she still found herself fuming silently towards Oz and Nocturna. She should be happy Russ was back but she was equally mad at Oz and Nocturna for taking him away in the first place and Russ’s return reminded her of that fact.

Neither spoke to the other as they worked. Ismene kept glancing in Russ’s direction as she worked. He was mumbling something under his breath as he slowly put together small boxes of cough drops and other medicinal products that didn’t need a prescription from Paion.

After several silent minutes, Russ said he was finished and he was going to take the delivery and return when he was done.

Ismene frowned. The fear that he wouldn’t return nagged at her mind, but she tried to stay calm and remind herself that Noctis Arbitra had assured them both that he was free now. She let out a small sigh and said, “Okay… Please be safe.”

Russ only nodded before departing with the small basket of deliveries and order booklet.

~o~O~o~

It didn’t take long for Russ to reach the general store and deliver the order. As he was placing the items onto the counter for the shopkeep to collect, Russ found it odd that no one seemed surprised to see him. Hadn’t they missed him these last two months? He found himself so distracted by this fact that he was a bit startled when the shopkeep asked if he was alright.

He nodded and quickly claimed he was just tired, thanked them for their payment and left. Russ could have gone home back to Ismene, but he had a lot on his mind and only one person he could trust. Making a detour to Belinay’s shop, he found it was closed. Belinay had never been one to open shop early in the morning and now Russ suspected he knew the reasons why.

Still, he knocked on the door and hoped she was there and not at the Order’s headquarters.

Moments later, the lace curtain on the door’s window parted slightly before the door unlocked and Belinay poked her head out. Her eyes gleamed as she silently gestured for Russ to hurry in before anyone noticed.

Belinay quickly shut the door behind Russ and locked it. She clapped her hands together and said, “What brings you here Russ? Did you sleep well?”

Russ nodded. Then he explained how no one in town seemed surprised to see him given that he had been gone for two months. He expressed concern about what to tell everyone besides Ismene if they did ask where he had been.

“First, take a deep breath,” Belinay remarked. “Everything is going to be fine.”

Looking thoughtful, she added, “I suppose I should have told you before but I did slip into town a few times disguised as you just so no suspicion would be roused.”

“Don’t fret, everyone knows you’re not one for small-talk and it was easy to say that you were simply busy and needed to get back to work,” she added.

Russ didn’t know how to feel that Belinay had masqueraded as him but at least he wouldn’t have to lie to the town about his whereabouts. One less thing to worry about. He sighed and nodded.

“I trust things are fine with Ismene?” asked Belinay.

“Y-yeah… she seems to accept that I was simply imprisoned for the last two months. It feels wrong to lie to her but I know it’s for her safety,” Russ answered.

“Good. Now hurry back to her,” Belinay urged, opening her shop door. “She’ll no doubt worry if you’re late getting back. We can talk more later.”

“Thank you, Bel.”

“It’s my pleasure.”

Belinay watched Russ head back towards his house. She was glad he trusted her so blindly. It would make things easier for her over time. Once Russ was out of sight, she closed the shop door and locked the door. She had a busy day ahead of her.

~o~O~o~

Somehow life for Ismene and Russ managed to return to as normal as was possible. Oz, Nocturna and the other members of Noctis Arbitra left them alone, much to Ismene’s relief. Russ, of course, knew it was because it was now his job to report any dissent. Not that there ever was. Ismene didn’t actively complain about Oz, not after what happened. As he reported to Oz one day while on deliveries, Ismene was still very angry about the whole incident but she admitted she was wrong to have acted the way she had in the past. Russ assured Oz that he doubted Ismene would ever show him disrespect in public or actually do anything against him and Oz accepted this report.

Ismene wasn’t the only one who Russ had to lie to. One morning at the market, he ran into Nabal and naturally his friend had questions.

“Why-why-why were you so b-busy?” Nabal asked. “Every-every time every time I saw Ismene, she said you-you were out-out, you know, ffffor-fora-collecting stuff.”

“Yeah I’m sorry, Nabal,” Russ sighed. He had already thought of a lie in case he was asked why he had supposedly been busy. “We wanted to make sure we had enough willow bark and mushrooms, you know?”

Nabal nodded. He looked thoughtful for a moment before asking, “Do you w-want to go ffffish-fishing to-tomorrow? Now that-that you’re not busy?”

Russ remembered they had planned to hang out and fish before things had become complicated. He nodded, not considering if Ismene would mind. He figured she probably would want him to have some fun, he certainly needed it.

“Sure, I’m sure Izzy won’t mind,” he replied. “I’ll meet you there at our usual spot in the morning?”

Nabal nodded and departed to finish his own shopping, bidding Russ a farewell.

~o~O~o~

Just as Russ had expected, Ismene didn’t mind that he wanted to spend time with Nabal. He told Nabal as much as they set up their fishing lines. He didn’t tell Nabal why she was glad he wanted to get out of the house and do something normal. Nabal didn’t need to know about the whole ordeal with Noctis Arbitra.

The morning was cold and foggy, but the beach was quiet and it suited the two friends just fine. Russ cast out the first line, then turned to see Nabal still trying to get the bait on his hook. He smiled and offered his pole to Nabal.

“Here, I’ll get that for you,” he offered.

Nabal thanked him and traded fishing poles. As Russ easily affixed the bait to the hook, Nabal asked, “Is-Is everything okay, you know, betw-be-with you and Ismene?”

Russ handed back the fishing pole and took his own from Nabal. He was puzzled for a moment before he realized that Ismene had probably been irritable towards the others as she worried about him.

“Everything is fine,” he replied. “Why wouldn’t it be?”

Nabal shrugged and cast out his line. “Just won-wondered… She seemed, you know, mad…”

“Well everything is fine,” Russ reassured.

A silence fell upon the beach as they waited for some fish to bite. Russ thought of a myriad of excuses for Ismene’s demeanor in his absence that wouldn’t undermine the secrecy they needed to maintain. Just as he settled on the most plausible excuse, Nabal spoke.

“I-I’m thinking of-of-of asking Rina out,” he stammered. “Like, officially.”

Russ stared out at his line. “Oh yeah?”

Nabal nodded. “Y-yeah.”

Russ smiled and nodded. Rina was another Naga in town, someone else who worked at the tavern with Nabal and Kallisto. Nabal had mentioned her before, how she was apparently very pretty, a thing that Russ privately didn’t understand but outwardly was supportive to Nabal about, and that the two of them often spent a lot of time together outside of work.

The comfortable silence resumed on the shore. Between the two of them, they caught a few fish and discussed various topics such as work and the changes in the rules since Oz assumed the mantle of Elder. As the two friends decided to call it a day, they heard a horn through the fog coming from across the waters. A ferry boat was departing Truce for Porre. It was a reminder of the world beyond their shores.

“You-you ever th-think the humans will ever stop hating us?” Nabal asked. “I know-know we t-talked ab-about it before…”

Russ shrugged. Deep down he felt like humans would always hate their kind. It felt like a certainty. Once, when they were much younger, he had shared Nabal’s views that maybe someday things could change but he knew better now. Not when Oz and Noctis Arbitra were intent on keeping humans out of Alastori.

“I don’t know,” sighed Russ as he began to pack up his belongings and the fish he had caught. He really didn’t want to discuss the subject. “They haven’t stopped yet.”

Nabal nodded and packed his own fishing pole and tackle box, as well as the one fish he had caught. He thanked Russ for coming out and hoped they could fish again before the weather became too cold.

Russ felt the same. He was about to suggest the next weekend when he suddenly remembered that it would be Demon King’s Night.

~o~O~o~

Two days before Demon King’s Night, Russ found a chance to ask Belinay what was expected of him. He felt a measured amount of relief when Belinay assured him that he could and should go to the ceremony and festival with Ismene as he had in years prior. She explained that only Nocturna was ever truly expected to be at the Elder’s side for the opening ceremony. The others opted to attend as masked agents, but she assured him he didn’t have to.

The night of the ceremony, Ismene and Russ stood in the back of the crowd. Ismene had made it a point to be further from the plaza for Russ’s sake, considering his pyrophobia. Even so, Russ found this year he wasn’t afraid. Maybe it was facing the fear through his training, but for the first time in his life, the large bonfire didn’t cause him any distress.

After the speech and the lighting of the bonfire, Russ and Ismene made their way towards the area selling food. The smells of spices and cooked meat filled the air as well as the scent of sweet treats like caramel apples and sweetened popped corn.

Ismene went straight towards the beer tent that had been set up by the tavern, declaring, “Let’s get some drinks. I know I need one.”

Russ followed. He had tried alcohol once or twice on festival nights but had never really enjoyed the taste or felt the need to seek it out. Still, Ismene kept assuring him he just had to find the ‘right stuff’ as she put it, but she also never pressured him to drink.

The two of them found the evening bartender, Kallisto, running the bar in the beer tent. A Naga like Ismene, Kallisto could be seen pouring a drink with her tail while passing out mugs of beer to her customers and taking their money. Between customers, Kallisto picked up a stein from under the counter and took a sip.

“Drinking on the job?” asked Ismene as she approached the counter.

Kallisto smirked and replied, “I’m sampling. There’s a difference.”

“I don’t sample my work,” Ismene replied. “What do you got?”

“Plenty of lambic beer. The raspberry is good as usual,” Kallisto answered. She looked over her kegs and listed the choices. “I also have some peach, black currant… cherry, blueberry… and strawberry. I have some hard cider but it’s on the dry side this season. I swear the orchard can never have a consistent stock.”

Russ had no idea what he wanted. He was curious about almost everything Kallisto had listed but he found himself unable to make a decision. He looked to Ismene for guidance. She readily ordered the hard cider and Russ knew he didn’t like dry alcohol.

Handing Ismene her drink, Kallisto looked at him. “What about you, Russ?”

“Uh… I don’t know,” Russ confessed. He shrugged and said, “What do you think?”

Kallisto looked thoughtful, almost pensive, for a moment before pouring a dark amber liquid into a glass. “Try the peach. This batch is a bit on the sweet side so you probably will like it.”

Ismene started to get out some coins to pay when Kallisto gestured for her to put her money away.

“No charge.”

Ismene looked surprised. “Seriously?”

“What? I can’t be generous for one night?” asked Kallisto with a grin. “Go enjoy your drinks and stop by if you want more.”

With a slight shrug and a thanks, Ismene took her cider while Russ picked up the glass that Kallisto poured for him. He thanked Kallisto and followed Ismene to get something to eat.

“No problem,” Kallisto replied. Russ couldn’t be sure but he thought she mumbled something else under her breath before sneaking a sip from her stein again.

On their way to a booth selling grilled fish, Ismene took a swig from her cider and glanced at Russ. She asked, “Aren’t you going to try your drink?”

Russ took a sip. The drink was fizzy and definitely tasted like peaches. It took a few sips but Russ found he liked the drink and he began to absentmindedly drink it as they walked.

“Don’t finish it before we get some food,” Ismene smirked. “We’ll have to go back to get more.”

Russ took another sip and said, “She did say we could get more if we wanted.”

Ismene smirked. It made her happy to see Russ enjoying himself even though she wasn’t a huge fan of the crowds or being anywhere remotely near Oz. She and Russ had been through a terrible ordeal and deserved a good time.

After getting something to eat, the two of them finished their drinks then watched some musicians play a few songs before getting some sweet treats and returning to the beer tent where Kallisto treated them to another round of drinks, insisting it was in the spirit of the holiday.

Between the good food and free drinks, Ismene and Russ found themselves having a good time. They were soon joined by Nabal and Rina as well as Iados and Nameia. Russ was grateful for everyone’s company. Even with what had happened, he found himself feeling really lucky to have friends and someone like Ismene in his life. Maybe it was just the beer helping him relax, but it almost felt like he and Ismene had never been through what they had in the last two months. 

Eventually, Ismene told him she was ready to go home. While Russ wanted to stay a bit longer, he knew that when Ismene was done socializing, she was done. Bidding farewell to everyone, Russ followed Ismene home as the festival fireworks had come to their finale.

As they walked home, Russ looked at Ismene and smiled. He glanced up at the starry night sky and said, “I know it sounds dumb, Izzy… but I’m glad we’re together… I’m really lucky to have you.”

Ismene smiled. She was glad that she had Russ. Having someone that understood her better than anyone else helped against the angry loneliness she had felt for years. She hoped that the incident with Noctis Arbitra and Oz was far behind them. All she wanted now was a peaceful and quiet life with Russ.

[templarhalo]

Alicia Moloc Chapter 3

“Alicia!”

The girl weaved through the crowd of serfs.  She was was tall for a six year old girl. She wore a simple brown chiton with a belt of leather with a bronze buckle in the form of  a Bull's head   Her hair flew loosely and her brown eyes sparkled with amusement only a child could feel.

“Alicia!” Epistolary  Aristotle yelled.  With a grin, the girl ducked right. She looked up  and saw her target:  An air duct that had been carelessly left open by a chapter serf. She had spotted it on her way to her lessons. With a leap no normal six year old could have done, Alicia pulled herself into the vent.  She giggled  as she heard Epistolary Aristotle curse.

After a few minutes  of crawling, Alicia emerged from the air duct to  her destination.  Something much more interesting than her lessons on history, grammar and mathematics, all subjects she had grasped with ease..   

The training hall of the Minotaur’s 1st Company.

The hulking forms of the finest Astartes in the chapter collided and separated in a wave of gene-forged flesh and Hellenic curses.   

When Astartes trained in hand to hand combat it was usually done  by each squad in a tightly choreographed sequence laid out by the Codex Astartes that kept them moving back and forth across the training hall.   The Minotaurs did the exact opposite.  The company was split in half. fifty on one side, fifty on the other. They wrestled and fought until one half had won.  When the Minotaurs went to  war, battle lines, cohesion and and any semblance of order on the battlefield disappeared. They were their executioner’s axe, a thunderbolt thrown by the High Lords at those who defied the Emperor

As such, they excelled when order broke down and two armies clashed.  In the maelstrom of war, they were an eye of rage and unspeakable brutality.  

Alicia loved to  watch the 1st Company fight.  Her heart  began to beat quickly, She wanted to join in. But until her father said she was old enough, she would observe. Her eyes taking in every maneuver, every blow, every splatter of demigod blood.

Eventually, Captain Haiman Evangelos called a break.

Alica ducked behind some ammo crates.  

“Having fun?” her father asked.

Alicia turned to face her father. Despite his size, her father had a habit of showing up unexpectedly   “Hello father.”  Alicia said.

“I’m surprised Aristotle hasn’t found you by now.” he  said.  

I know! This isn’t the first time I’ve come here.” Alicia said with an adorable grin.

Epistolary  Aristotle ran through the training hall.  The members of the 1st company all smiled.  Some snickered

Aristotle stared at Alicia.

“You child, are a pain in my ass.”

“You're a pain in my ass too.” she replied.

That night, Asterion met with Reclusiarch Ivanus Enkomi and Chief Librarian Hekate.

Asterion’s quarters were plain,  a simple throne, some of Alicia’s drawings  and a desk of finely carved bronze were all that occupied. it.

“This is the third time in a month she has snuck off to watch the company train.” Hekate said.   “She prays to the God-Emperor daily for a chance to wage war beside her brothers.” Ivanus said  

Asterion mulled it over.   Both Ivanus and Hekate knew their lord tended to  brood over decisions. Not out of indecisiveness, because he was headstrong and favored the most direct course of action, but because his time as chapter master had taught him caution.

“It would be good for her to  begin some basic hand to hand training, maybe some bladework” Asterion said.

“And since she’s sneaking out from lessons, you could provide some more vigorous subjects, Hekate.”

“It would be my pleasure my lord.” Hekate said.

Alicia dodged her father’s blow.  At twelve years old, her physical and mental abilities had progressed far quickly than Hekate had predicted.   Many of the finest Veterans in the chapter bore scars from training their liege’s daughter.  

“Half of her genome is that of the Emperor’s own praetorians, it is no wonder she is so skilled.” Chief Apothecary Paion said.

But that was only half the reason, the other half was that she was a Minotaur.   

And all of her was her father’s daughter.

Asterion lunged at her with his spear. Alicia rolled and stabbed with her xiphos. Her father blocked with his shield . Sweat poured down his face.  Asterion’s bionics huffed and snarled as he lunged again.   

His mistake.

Alicia lunged left and raked her blade across her father’s back.  “First blood father.”  she said.  This was the first time she had ever inflicted a blow on him.  The spear came around, Alicia blocked and lept back.  Asterion lowered his spear.  “You have learned much  Alicia.” he said with a smile.

She never saw the spear knock her of her feat.

“You still have much to learn.” he said.

Alicia growled and stood back up.