#but just hades and nyx isn’t for me

[lililasagna]

some disjointed thoughts about Nemesis and Melinoë (and Hecate and mommy issues)

I’ve been having lots of thoughts about the dynamic between Nemesis and Melinoë, and by extension both of their dynamics with Hecate. Hades 2 technical test spoilers to follow, obviously

First let’s talk about Hecate and Melinoë. Hecate raised Melinoë! She cares about her! But their relationship is not healthy by any means. Hecate is the only parent Melinoë has ever known, but out of loyality to Persephone she refuses to be Melinoë’s mother, and very harshly pushes back on the idea when Melinoë even suggests that she views Hecate in a maternal way. (Notice the difference to how Nyx treats Zagreus, and says he will always be her child.) Hecate raised Melinoë in a very militaristic way, for the obvious reason that they are at war, but isn’t it kind of nuts how even when playing hide and seek with very small child Melinoë, she frames their playtime in the context of hunting and killing titans? Enter Melinoë’s desperate need for approval. Yeah, it’s cruel when Nemesis says that killing Chronos “isn’t personal enough” for Mel. Unfortunately, she is right. Throughout the techtest, Melinoë continuously questions herself and other characters on how to keep up the motivation to save a family she has never known. She struggles deeply with this. My impression is that at this point, she is fighting To Make Hecate Happy. She is constantly vying for (and getting!) her teacher’s approval. She doesn’t question Hecate almost ever, and that’s in fact Bad for Melinoë. Melinoë needs to kill Chronos for Herself, and she’s simply not there yet.

Now, I noticed two things that made my alarm bells ring in regards to Melinoë, Nemesis and Hecate. Nemesis very clearly cares about Melinoë, even her digs at Melinoë are poorly disguised concern for her. She’s worried about Melinoë being sent out on her own by Hecate, she thinks Melinoë is a pushover to Hecate (she’s right), and she lets Melinoë call her “Nem”, even when they are fighting, without a comment. Meanwhile Hecate Hates Nemesis. She cannot deal with Nemesis questioning her judgement and expects complete obedience from her because of a pact she made with Nyx, while at the same time wishing she hadn’t made the pact because she cannot stand Nemesis to the point of wanting to throw her out of the encampment completely. Now this sucks for Nemesis of course, but what concerns me More, is how Hecate speaks to Melinoë about Nemesis.

Hecate actively discourages Melinoë from even cordially talking to Nemesis, to the point of acting disgusted when Melinoë uses her keepsake. Odysseus asks Melinoë to “smooth things over” between Nemesis and Hecate, implying Melinoë has in the past had to go between them. Hecate doesn’t respect Nemesis as a person, because Nemesis doesn’t respect her as an authority (nemesis still obeys Hecate, just not in a way Hecate likes)

I’ll write up these thoughts in more detail at some point but for now I want to leave you with this thought that made me sad: Characters constantly tell Melinoë she looks just like her mother and express pity and concern for her. Have you seen Nemesis? Do you think anyone has told Her how she looks like her mother? Of course Nemesis needs to keep reiterating her stakes in this struggle, because Hecate sure isn’t acknowledging them.

[choicesmaychallenge24]

MAY 2024 PROMPTS

Have fun! Take liberties! Be weird!

Playlist Inspo

SPOTIFY || YOUTUBE

Deity Inspo

(extensive list of Dieties can be found here)

Zeus

Power, Oak tree, unfaithful

"Statistically, you've got better chances being struck by lightning"

Hera

Marriage, revenge, peacock

"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned"

Poseidon

Ocean, earthquakes, horses

"stormy eyes"

Demeter

Wheat fields, middle child, poppy

"...moods that changed like the weather"

Apollo

Harp, medicine, prophesy

"...like they were the sun"

Artemis

Wilderness, moon, archery

"lets go lesbians, lets go!"

Ares

War, strength, hated

"Don't be a boar"

Athena

Wisdom, strategy, owl

"You're giving me a headache"

Hephaestus

Inventive, disability, overlooked

"...Like a volcano about to erupt"

Aphrodite

Pearls, swan, passion

"You know ___ is an aphrodisiac"

Hermes

Guide, messages, travel

"That's just an eloquent way of saying, 'fuck you.'"

Hestia

Home comforts, Eldest Daughter problems, gentle

"Sometimes a family is (insert found family here)"

Dionysus

Wine, celebration, mania

"I heard it though the grapevine..."

Nyx

Mysterious, rest, starlight

"Goodnight, My Love"

Hades

Rich, death, responsibility

"who's a good puppy?"

Quotes

"You wish to be considered righteous, but not to act with justice." (Eumenides)

"Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish." (The Bacchae)

"Isn’t it delightful to forget how old we are?" (The Bacchae)

"I was born to join in love, not hate - that is my nature" (Antigone)

“I have no love for a friend who loves in words alone.” (Antigone)

“Have you ever been struck by a sudden desire for - soup?” (The Frogs)

Dionysus [doing everything wrong], "Like that?" (The Frogs)

“If you try to cure evil with evil, you will add more pain to your fate.” (Ajax)

“Which would you choose if you could: pleasure for yourself despite your friends, or a share in their grief?” (Ajax)

“I ask this one thing: let me go mad in my own way.” (Electra)

"Oh, it is easy for the one who stands outside the prison-wall of pain to exhort and teach the one who suffers” (Prometheus Bound)

“In childbirth grief begins.” (Medea)

"I'll take care of you."

"it's rotten work."

"Not to me. Not if it's you." (Euripides)

“Love, stealing with grace into the heart you wish to destroy, love, turning us blind with the bitter poison of desire, love come not my way. And when you whirl through the streets, wild steps to unchained rhythms, love, I pray you, brush not against me, love, I beg you, pass me by.” (The Love of the Nightingale)

“There is a time for many words, and there is also a time for sleep.” (The Odyssey)

“Be strong, saith my heart; I am a soldier; I have seen worse sights than this.” (The Odyssey)

"Any moment might be our last. Everything is more beautiful because we're doomed. You will never be lovelier than you are now. We will never be here again." (The Iliad)

FASHION INSPO

From Dolce & Gabbana

STORY INSPO

Many of these stories have different tellings and variations, embrace whichever version you most enjoy.

Echo and Narcissus (painting) (story)

Pandora's Box (painting) (story)

Arachne (painting) (story)

Hades and Persephone (painting) (story)

The Gorgon Medusa (painting) (story)

Cygnus (painting) (story)

Theseus, Ariadne, and the Minotaur (painting) (story)

Daedalus and Icarus (painting) (story)

Eros and Psyche (sculpture) (story)

Orpheus and Euydice (painting) (story)

Myth of Sisyphus (painting) (story)

Cassandra (painting) (story)

The Fates (painting) (story)

Atlas (sculpture) (story)

[cautiouscrab]

Rant time cuz this has been eating me alive for the past few days

So, I think it’s quite obvious that Hypnos is my favorite character. I love his design, his voice is funny, and his story (when thought about critically) is actually quite…depressing.

It’s depressing in the sense that his family (ie Nyx and Thanatos) only appreciate him when he becomes useful in their eyes. They’re only proud to be related to him when he does his work at the House of Hades.

The only comfort in this thought is that Thanatos at least apologizes for every mean comment he’s said to hypnos in the past.

Anyways this rant totally isn’t brought on by the fact that I just reached the “you’re not irreplaceable” scene in my current save rn-

[lovelyyandereaddictionpoint]

Back with event with Crewel daughter after the guys trying to steal Persephone gem/crown, she still invite what limited guests she can for the Plentiful Harvest at her school, where her dorm and villainess school ( Black Cat Academy) have plenty of harvest of Persephone and Nyx as the two dorm from opposite schools are in a good relationship for centuries, and also Crewel daughter is very popular with the villainess school to the point she sometimes get invitation to go there

Let's say Ruggie, Malleus, Lilia, Idia, Rook, and Vil went to the harvest festival

( now separately pls for this ask )

Let's say they see her wearing a toga that looks liked a wedding dress as it's represented how Persephone return to the underworld with Hades, and they teases her making her blush, but she did admit she wanted to married someone who she love and doesn't mind if the person who she love have flaws, rich, or poor, as long as he's educated, able to listen, and make her happy and to not cause her harm she be happy to married them, just need her father and grandparents approval as it's custom for her home

Well first and foremost Crewel’s daughter doesn’t blush and if you do it's only lightly because you can keep your cool like that

Who’s daughter do you think are 

And the Princess academy you attend would not be welcoming to your Night Raven friends 

Especially friends that have already been found to cause trouble 

Hence your own punishment and double crossing in the first place

But let's say we pick a different venue 

A neutral ground for both the Black Cat and the Princess Academy 

inviting RSA and Night Raven as well (and maybe Noble Bell if their students cough cough Rollo behave)

To celebrate a day for a Plentiful Harvest the schools will choose their patrons to represent a greek goddess or god depending on the artifact or descendent that’s present

While Harvest isn’t the typical time period to celebrate Persephone you still maintain her image

If only to honor the surviving relative of Demeter who is the main focus of the event

Thus you fashion yourself in a form fitting white dress only slightly modernized from the Ancient Greek bridal dress

Finally able to pull away from the various rituals and festivals  

You sit and relax as you watch different students compete in a retelling of Demeter and Persephone’s story letting the lucky few from Night Raven slip:

Ruggie Bucci

“Nishishshi is the lucky bride not happy with her groom? Maybe trading him out for me?”

As happy as he is that he’s getting free food all throughout the event he’s not happy you’re wearing the equivalent of a wedding dress and hanging on the arm of someone who can barely stand to look you in the eye Idia

You tell him about your preliminary wants in a husband 

skillfully dancing around who in your circle could fit that description

He’s slick in his own way and notes that you weren’t necessarily excluding him 

It bothers him but he’s not discouraged

You quite clearly informed him that you have options and last he checked he fit all those things just fine

Not that he wouldn’t mind changing anything about himself to do that

But it seems he won’t have to 

“Well if you ever decide to really be a bride one day it wouldn’t be too much trouble for the lucky guy to be me.”

Malleus Draconia

“You look divine, (Y/n) more so than usual. In truth I plan to see you in the position of a bride, any requirements suggestions?”

Unlike you he has one requirement and that's you

He takes you telling him this as an obvious sign that he’s allowed to court you

Blatantly revealing your requirements automatically has him especially excited 

He’s heard humans recently haven’t been fond of long term commitments so this is reassuring

It helps with any lingering desires to burn the the crops away out of sheer spite

He doesn’t love that you're pretending but if it means the real wedding is with him he can stomach it

“Then for the future do you favor this style? Me? I could hardly care what you wear for that day it’ll look gorgeous because its on you���but in the end it will be coming off anyway.”

Lilia Vanrouge

“Enjoying your play-marriage?” 

He’s a seasoned fae and he’s pleased that you know what you want

Not to worry about your family’s approval that he’s sure he can easily win

A general knows how to negotiate

a parent knows how to offer the illusion of choice

He knows how to do both on the daily

Not to mention the fact he knows he’ll be a good husband for you 

Or at least he will make sure you believe that before he gets that ring on your hand

Either way is fine 

it's up to you

not really

“Hmm do you want a Winter wedding or a Summer one?“

Idia Shroud

“Uhhh-so being married, huh? Like the highest tier in a love simulator, huh?”

He’s been overwhelmed with all the extrovert activities he’s had to take part in today and all without getting to rely on Ortho

You were there but he could barely think straight before his hair was turning pink and he felt like passing out

Too many times had he actually touched you today within the rituals of the Plentiful Harvest

So to hear you so easily lay that out…he’s writing that down 

This obviously means he’s gaining favor with you for you to so clearly lay out what you desire from him

He’s most definitely the smartest guy you know 

And he’s well-versed in how to respect women cringe compilations told him so 

Now to marry your teacher’s daughter that's like the pinnacle of the forbidden lovers trope

The perfect game with Professor Crewel as the mega boss

It wouldn’t be easy but it sure will be interesting

He just has to get the right strategy down 

And Idia Shroud is never one to back down from a good game

“Just wait for it, (Y/n)! I can be the ultimate groom for you!”

Rook Hunt

“Madamoiselle Crewel you resemble a goddess in all your beauty!” 

Ever prepared to listen to you he’s pleased with what he’s hearing

It's been euphoric watching you all throughout the day for the event 

Your beauty is next to ethereal when you reveal something about yourself

And he’s swooning 

Despite his incessant devotion to you he can’t help but watch stalk from afar only to discover something new about you

Its always exhilarating 

It’ll be even more so when he makes you aware that that's exactly his prerogative

“Madamoiselle Crewel your hand is a prize for those who should earn your love! Those willing to persist in the hunt for the beauty you hold within and out. Shall we commence in a life-long chase?”

Vil Schoenheit

“As expected you look gorgeous, I only wish I could have taken the my place by your side.”

He’s already on it

Even working your family relations has been something he’s working to gain

His beauty stems deeper than just looks

All he’s waiting for is you

And while that may take awhile he’s aware this is a marathon 

not a race

So as long you stay within reach and never forget how perfect you both are for one another

He’ll be fine with that

“Surely, you’re aware of what your words mean to a young man like myself? Now I can’t have you off with anyone lesser, now can I? Not that I’d let you anyway but decorum is something we both have an affinity for.”

[victimsofyaoipoll]

Round 1

Propaganda Under Cut

Megaera

She's the First of the Furies, which means she's in charge of punishing tormented souls in Hades. She is canonically the ex-girlfriend of the playable protagonist, Zagreus, and one of his three love interests he can romance in the game. Despite the fact that Megaera and Zagreus canonically had a very messy (but passionate) relationship prior to the events of the game, in fanworks she's often shoehorned into the role of wingwoman and/or Mean Lesbian (tm) in favor of the pairing up Zagreus with another of his love interests (the grumpy but affectionate Death Incarnate, Thanatos). The Thanatos/Zagreus pairing is massively more popular than any pairing featuring Megaera...despite the fact that in the game, Thanatos/Megaera/Zagreus is not only totally plausible, but entirely possible to achieve within canon. Literally, a throuple situation is achievable in game, and she still gets sidelined. Fanworks also have a tendency to paint the Megaera/Zagreus relationship as purely sexual and therefore not as "deep" or "romantic" as Thanatos/Zagreus, despite, again, plenty of in-game dialogue and events that indicate both Megaera and Thanatos have fallen in love with Zagreus on their own terms. Justice for Megaera.

she's one of two romanceable characters by the bi male protagonist and the other one is a man. people will write literal essays about the protag's relationship with his male love interest but she is reduced to "haha she pegs him. step on me" despite being an extremely interesting and multifaceted character in her own right. also people try to claim her ship is incest because in original greek myth she was the daughter of nyx who raised the protagonist and he believed she was his mother for a long time but their relationship was changed to be a boss/employee one in hades. and the protag's male love interest actually IS the biological child of the protag's foster mother but nobody wants to talk about that lmao....love you meg

There's so little fan content of her or the canon ot3 she's in because everyone just focuses on the 2 dudes 😔

Meryl Stryfe

Specifically in the 1998 anime she was made to be the love interest to the protagonist, Vash the Stampede. However, upon the introduction of the morally questionable gun-for-hire traveling priest Nicholas D. Wolfwood, few people have must interest in letting such a heteronormative pairing slide. Meryl is pushed on Vash, and Wolfwood is pushed on Meryl's coworker and best friend Milly Thompson, and that simply won't DO. Meryl is often depicted as bitchy and uptight, or on the flip side used as a wingwoman to nudge the two boys together. Fortunately they are not too unkind and will pair her with her partner Milly rather than writing her off completely, but it's hard to say she's as beloved as the true tragic and doomed-by-the-narrative romance of the story.

fandom loves to either act like she doesnt exist or make her the wingman friend

She’s sooo spunky and actually isn’t technically even a romantic interest of the male lead in the manga so it’s dumb how ignored she always is. She’s committed to her job, she loves danger, and she has ten billion guns on her at all times

[pepsiiwho]

Hey I’m just very curious- do you think you could expand on your thought here: “Persephone isn't a good mother and, imo, would have a very strained, tentative relationship with her actual son (and now daughter hahahahah damn....)”? It’s not a common take I’ve seen- at least in the parts of the fandom I frequented- and I’d like to know more about where you’re coming from. Like I know Nyx isn’t a good mom- particularly to Hypnos- but it’s way less common that I see people saying Persephone is a bad mom.

To be clear, I’m not disagreeing or being confrontational or anything- I’m genuinely curious to hear your thoughts. Also what’s all this about the timeline implications? I don’t have a computer to play the early access on and so I have to hear about it second hand. All to say if you could tear yourself away from Hades 2 long enough to formulate a coherent response I’d be eternally grateful.

Sure! I just got to the final boss in hades 2 so I probably need a break. Ignore the shaking and cold temperature of my skin, I'm normal! Long post under the cut!

Okay lets see, first thing: any nyx or Persephone freedom fighters out there who wanna defend their mommies or whatever do it somewhere else, I don't give af. This isn't directed at you, I just gotta cover my bases. Anyway,

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure Persephone (Pers) loves zagreus, I won't say she doesn't. She lost him once and that grief drove her to leave hell entirely, leaving her husband and home behind for solitude of her own creation. You don't get grief like that unless you loved someone, or the thought of someone, deeply. But, having said that— she was gone for (functionally) all of Zagreus' childhood, adolescence and a non-zero portion of his adulthood. A charitable read of their situation was that she wasn't absentee by choice, not knowingly at least, and if she knew she would've never stayed away as another woman raised her child and her husband abused said child because of her toll on his mental. My read is that she left, abandoning her husband and baby and when Zagreus went to find her she wouldn't even come back with him. He reached out, found her, begged her to come back and she wouldn't. The reasoning for WHY is something I've forgotten honestly, I haven't played HADES story mode all the way through in years, but regardless she didn't instantly come back and will herself into her son's life. Any deniability she had was gone by that point, imo.

And let's say, for argument, she came home and instantly was heavenly and kind and loving and everything zagreus needed then— doesn't change the fact she abandoned them.

I don't think you get to be a good parent when you missed all of your child's most formative years. That sort of loss is something you don't get back, time that doesn't get to rewind just because you made a mistake. I think a common fandom take with hades fans is that the family is fractured but whole by the end and everything is okay. That's nice, I guess, but I think it's boring and uninteresting. I much prefer a read that zagreus moved heaven and hell (literally) to get to his mother and he finally got what he wanted and still wasn't satisfied. She wasn't the goddess he expect. Not the. mother he expected. She was .... something else.

Theres a degree of negligence in her actions that just are unavoidable.

Unless I'm completely misremembering the events of the first game, (which is a real possibility, me and my best friend have done so much insane HC talking over the years canon and Fanon get blurry quickly—) I think she's a bad parent. And this isn't even touching on how her absence made Hades a worse parent and abusive figure to his son. I think of that quote from... somewhere, that was something to the effect "an abused child's saddest realization is that they didn't have a normal parent and (1) abusive parent— they had (2)" Zagreus had to have thought that if she hadn't left, abandoned him, he wouldn't have to endure what he does.

As for time line mess: it's too vague. (It's funny you sent this when you did, I actually was just talking about this with my bestie, all of 15 minutes ago. You cursed me, witch)

So assuming I understood hades lore, with only the first game as our point of reference (no myth, no outside media, just the in game text) Hypnos, Zagreus, Than and Meg are around the same age. Thanatos and Hypnos are twins, meaning they're the same age and it's implied that meg grew up around the twins and zagreus as well. Zagreus openly references their shared childhood with nyx and achilles and probably other characters I forgot. But what matters is that if they grew up together that tells us one of two things:

Gods are functionally made like human children are. Not for a purpose or function but just because the parent wanted them (or had an accident) and then a aspect is applied to them at birth/conception OR

Gods are created by their parents to fulfill some sort of need that the parent didn't/couldn't/shouldn't do themselves. This seems to be the more textually supported answer, if Nyx and her fucking high school football team worth of children mean anything.

Neither option is one I like, because they don't make much sense to me in relation to humanity but that's neither here nor there. Personally, I think godhood should work like the concept of storks do in that when humanity needs a new figure to pray to or invoke, a child is 'born' and delivered to the parent. So, by this logic, the base needs of human begins would come before all else right?

So just within Nyx's family, the ages should really go Chaos > Nyx > Fates [?] > Hypnos > Than > Charon > etc etc etc. Because human beings must sleep before they die and then die before they're transported to hades and so on and so on.

But in THIS model, Hypnos and than would be considerably older then humanity and everyone else in the house, hades included. Which means they'd be far too old to have grown up which zagreus. Or maybe zagreus is way too old to be acting so childish? It's hard to say. Neither answer is particularly satisfying. That also doesn't even bring into account the olympians. And don't event get me STARTED on Melione. God. The timeline has major implications for her and her story depending on where she falls on it.

But that's a whole other rant. Like this is already getting long as shit. I hope this made sense and I'm glad you asked! I enjoy going on my senseless rambles.

Well, back to the horrors (hades 2) <3

[xsezzie]

TickleTober Day 16 : Sweets

Characters: Thanatos x Zagreus

Warnings: Short!

Pairing key: & = platonic, x = romantic!

I have been playing Hades again lately and I have missed these two losers hehe

"What are these?" Thanatos stared curiously at the bowl that Zagreus had brought back to the House of Hades.

"I grabbed them before I died, no idea what they are but they smell nice, I guess." Zagreus' relaxed but cheeky smile was too much for the reaper to protest against. He watched as his lover unwrapped the strange ball and without hestitation, popped it into his mouth.

"Uh... what if that was poisonous?"

"We will find out if I emerge from the pool in a moment."

Thanatos sighed, he knew there was no reason to worry but he couldn't help it.

"Well, I am not dead, and these little ball-like treats are sweet and tasty. In conclusion, you are going to try one."

Snapped out of his thoughts, and seeing a hand holding one of these "sweets" approaching his face, Than swatted it away and watched as Zag pouted when the little treat rolled across the dirty floor.

“Aw, come on Than. Open up!” The Son of Hades stepped closer with another piece of candy, inching it closer to his mouth again, “Just try one, would you?”

“Zag…”

“Than~”

“Zagreus…”

“Thanatos~”

“Son of Hades…”

“Son of Nyx~”

“Stop this childish nonseheheense! Ah! What are you doing!?” 

Zagreus had begun poking his partner’s ribs with one hand and doing his best to stick the candy into his mouth with the other.

“Come on, Than. You know you want to try it.”

“S-Stop ihihit Zag! Mmmph!!!”

The God of Death tried to hold his mouth shut through his giggles as Zagreus continued to experiment with what spots were ticklish. 

“You know Than, it’s almost as if you are ticklish or something.” The Son of Hades decided to ditch the candy entirely and tackle Thanatos onto the bed, softly prodding and kneading his ribs and sides.

“Surely the mortals will be less afraid of death if they saw you like this, right? I think this suits you more.”

“Heheh- HAHAHA ZAHAHAHGREUS STOHOHOP THAHAT!!” Thanatos threw his head back and tried to hide his face and protect his torso at the same time, but he only had so many hands to use.

“What is it that mortals say? Tickle tickle tickle~”

“ZAGREHEHEHEUSSS I swear I will tell you f-fatheheheher!!!”

Zagreus made a mock gasp, “Oh no, whatever will I do? Thanatos is going to admit to my father of his doings with his son? Oh no, oh no.” The sarcasm and teasing oozed from his tone.

He was right though, if Thanatos said something then Hades would not only know what they get up to in private, but also know that he was ticklish of all things.

“HAHAHAH ZAHAHAHAG PLEEEHEHEHASE!!!” Making the mistake of putting both his arms up to try and push his offender off, Thanatos unfortunately found Zagreus’ hands digging under his arms which just caused him to squirm and laugh even harder.

“Look at you, I have never seen you make such a face or noise. I shall relish this moment forever.”

“Y-You are sohohoho dehehehead!” 

“You say that but I know you will just revive me every time.”

Zagreus released Thanatos from his tickle attack and before his companion could retort he popped a candy into his mouth.

“There, sweet, isn’t it?”

Thanatos’ face contorted for a moment as the felt the rush of sweetness fill his mouth, a flavour that was not often tasted. 

“Hmph… not bad, Zag.”

[diamondangelkitten]

Polyam Week Day 3:

Date Night

Eris had noted that with every step her and Emmeline took back to Amaurot, her friend had more of a skip to each step. Laughing silently to herself, she had to physically hold back the chuckle that threatened to escape her when Emmeline started humming a song. Shaking her head and smiling, she questions her friend.

“Exactly what part of coming home to Amaurot has made you so excited this time?”

Emmeline comes to an abrupt halt, turning back to her friend and blushing. 

“Sorry, I’m behaving a bit like a school child aren’t I?”

“Don’t apologize.” Eris waves a hand in the air, smiling, “It’s cute.” 

Emmeline smiles and holds out her arm to her friend, who links arms with her, and they proceed to skip down the road. Emmeline leans her head onto her friend’s shoulder,

“Hades and Hyth have planned a date for tonight. When I sent them Hemera and Nyx to let them know we had finished our work earlier than expected, I received a message from Aria letting me know that we had plans for tonight. I wonder what it could be?” 

Eris raises an eyebrow, already having a good idea of what the men had planned. She discreetly summons her familiar, a rather unassuming and gentle moth. It comes to land on her shoulder and she whispers to it, “Is it time?” before then stating, “Eleanora.”

She’s happy Emmeline is busy humming again as she’s happy to continue to keep her in the dark for as long as possible. After another 30 minutes of walking and pointing out all the interesting flora and fauna, Amaurot’s gates stand before them. Emmeline turns to smile at Eris, putting her mask on, before breaking into a run into the city. Eris laughs, dons her mask, and chases after her. The two wind their way through other Amaurotines going about their day. While most will gasp at shock in the beginning, once they see the mask of Azem, they’ll laugh or call out questions as to her adventures. Eris never thought this would be her life, protege to Azem and best friends with her and her partners, but she wouldn’t have it any other way. 

Shortly before they come to Emmeline’s residence, Eleanora comes up to meet them. 

“My, my. Not back even 20 minutes, yet the whole town has heard of your arrival.” 

Emmeline laughs deeply, “Can you blame me? The world is wide and beautiful and gorgeous, but Amaurot will always be my home.” She turns to bow to Eris, “Now ladies, if you’ll excuse me, I have to get ready for tonight.” 

Eleanora winks at Eris, before catching her to-be sister-in-law by the arm. “Nonsense! Hades has been talking my ear off about it for the last week! Isn’t the date only tonight?”

Emmeline cocks her head to the side, before agreeing, “Yes, but I need to get ready! Shower, change, do my hair.” 

Eleanora shakes her head. “No, no, come with me! It’s been ages since we’ve hung out just the three of us. Why don’t we have a spa afternoon? There’s plenty of time before tonight.” She looks Emmeline in the eyes, “I promise I won’t have you late for tonight.” 

Emmeline shifts her weight from foot to foot. This was rather unusual behaviour from Eleanora. They were fairly close, but they didn’t often do things together. But it had been a while since she really got herself glammed up and she could use the help. Plus she probably owed Eris for getting them both covered in mud and all manner of nasty innards from creatures. She casts a glance to Eris, who is just looking at her with a small smile on her face. For a brief moment, she wonders if the girls are hiding something, but quickly dismisses the idea. They would tell her anything! 

She eventually nods, “Okay, Eleanora.” She gives a deep smile, “It’s been a while since I’ve been properly pampered. Not that Hades doesn’t give a good massage, nor Hyth for that matter.”

Eleanora holds up a hand, a small grimace on her face, “I don’t need to know the details.” She chuckles, throwing an arm around Eris and Emmeline, “Come on, let’s go.” 

Eris sighs as the clerk does her hair. She looks over to Emmeline who looks more relaxed than Eris has ever seen her. She giggles a bit as her friend has her toes and fingers being painted while getting a hair massage. Eleanora motions to her and they both smile at the fact that Emmeline is absolutely clueless as to it all. A short while later, after they’ve all been pampered and had nails and hair done, they walk through the markets, catching up on all what’s happened in Amaurot. Emmeline thanks Eleanora for the time together and Eleanora hugs her a bit tighter. 

Once they’ve made their way back to Emmeline’s building, they are greeted by another familiar face. 

“Echo! What are you doing here?” Emmeline questions. 

The Convocation Record Keeper smiles. “There was a package dropped off for you at the Capitol. I heard you were back in town and I knew that Emet-Selch was stuck in meetings for a while.”

Emmeline gives the Record Keeper a hug, allowing Echo to smile and wink at the two girls behind her. “That’s so sweet of you! Thank you!” 

Echo’s smile deepens, “It is my absolute pleasure. It is good to have you home, Azem.”

Emmeline is positively giddy now. “I wonder what this is!” As she moves to open the gift, Eris intervenes, “Why don’t you go up and open it? We’ve all been on our feet a lot today. Take the time to enjoy your gift before tonight?” 

The other girls agree and all hug Emmeline before bidding her a good night. She thinks their behavior is still a bit odd, but with an hour to go before her date with Hades and Hythlodaeus she hurries over to their shared home, near the top of the building. As soon as she enters their residence, she smells the most delectable scent and finds a bouquet of flowers, almost as big as Echo’s familiar! There’s a card before it that reads, “We’ve missed you, our darling flower. We hope that one of these may compliment you tonight. P.S. You should open your present dear.” 

Slightly confused, she pulls at the thread holding the package together. Once open, it reveals a beautiful shimmering dress of deep purple and blue. The shimmering effect makes it look like stars in the evening sky. In fact, as she looks closer, she can make out different constellations. Her eyes start to tear at the gift, before she quickly dabs at them to not let her makeup ruin. She also finds some dainty earrings and heels, though she appreciates that Hades obviously chose the heels as Hyth would have chosen much taller and strappy heels. She takes her time getting dressed in the mirror and applying the jewelry, thinking of the time when they’ll come back home and help each other undress and reacquaint themselves with each other. She shakes her head to clear her mind, before she gets all hot and bothered, and then with one final glance at herself in the mirror, dons her mask and teleports to the restaurant that Hades and Hyth said they’d meet her at. 

She’s surprised to not find a queue of people there, as it’s a rather popular establishment. She greets the host, who immediately takes her to the reserved area. As she enters the elevator, her heart starts to beat faster. This seemed too much to be just a regular date. Normally after her trips, they would stay home that evening to catch up. The host bows after opening the door for her. She enters the room and is immediately blown away. Her boyfriends stand behind a beautifully set table, in suits no less, with no masks on. She quickly takes hers off and after slowly walking towards the table, she can’t help herself but run around to them, where Hyth and Hades have already moved into position to catch her in a hug. 

Tears fill her eyes, as she looks between the two faces looking down at her. “What… what’s going on?” 

Hades rolls his eyes, but the soft smile on his face warms her heart. “Only you would be worried about something bad at a time like this.” 

Hyth chuckles, “To be fair, we haven’t done anything this grand in a long time. We really should change that.” 

Hades murmurs his agreement, before continuing to Emmeline, “We’ve missed you Emmeline. We will never begrudge you your life’s work, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t spend every idle moment thinking of you.” 

She reaches up to kiss him, and then Hyth, as it’s true. Every moment she’s away, she thinks of them. She often falls asleep holding on to their crystals, wishing she could feel their warmth. 

Hyth pulls her closer to him, as he says, “We’ve wanted to do this for a while, and while most in Amaurot would say why rush, when you have all the time you want to be together, we thought, well, why wait. Why have even one more day where we are not officially recognized as us.” 

Deep down she knows where this is going, but her head, more specifically her mouth, hasn’t caught up to this. “What.. what are you saying?” 

Hades catches her left hand, while Hyth catches her right. In unison, as if they had practiced this, which they probably had, they each kneel down onto one knee while also grabbing the other’s hand. 

“Emmeline,” Hyth begins, “Since the day I was born, I knew I was fated for two people. Who those people would be, I had no idea. Ever since I laid eyes on you both,” he turns to Hades, pressing a kiss to his cheek, “I knew I would follow you to the ends of the earth. Never once have I worried that our strings should break, nor once worried that one of you would break my heart. You have both cherished and loved me for who I am and I would happily live out the rest of my existence with you.” 

Emmeline has tears in her eyes, as Hades gently squeezes her hand. He looks deeply at her, then Hythlodaeus, before looking out the window behind them to Amaurot. “The night you left Emmeline, Hyth was lying on my lap, and as I played with his hair, all I could think about was how perfect that evening would’ve been, if only you were there to share it with us. I take it for granted all too often for having you both in my life. I know I am not the easiest man to get along with, but you have both stuck around, even when I have lashed out when finding myself. I hope you know I strive daily to be someone worthy of your love and adoration.” He squeezes her hand while lifting Hythlodaeus’ to his lips to kiss. “I love you Hythlodaeus and you, Emmeline. Will you do me the honor of marrying me?”

Hythlodaeus lets go of Emmeline’s hand to throw his arms around Hades, “Yes, always, yes.” The two kiss, and Emmeline strokes Hades’ hair. He pulls away from Hyth and raises an eyebrow at her, surprised to hear her so quiet. 

“I cannot in good conscience say yes until I too have said my piece,” she smiles. “I love you both so much. You both comfort and stabilize me. I know that with you, I will always have someone to fight at my side. You never look down at me, but support me in my endeavors. Wherever you are my dears, that is where my home is. I wish that you could come with me, or that I could spend more time in Amaurot, but then I would not be who I am, and I love the fact that you would never want me to be anything less than who I am. But know this, should you ever have need of me, I would drop everything and run to you. You are my world. My life is your life. I cannot imagine a day without either of you.” She tugs Hades’ hand and he stands up, bringing Hyth with him. “Hythlodaeus, Hades. With the knowledge that I will continue to drive you insane but that I will always love you more than life itself, I would love to be your wife, if you would do me the honor of being my husbands.” 

Hythlodaeus swoops in and steals her lips in a kiss. She laughs before deepening the kiss. Eventually she pulls away and jumps into Hades’ arms, kissing him deeply too. Hyth wraps them in a hug, and eventually they just stay in there together, breathing each other in. 

A knock at the door sounds, and their host asks if they are ready for dinner. They look at each other, and then Emmeline’s stomach growls. Hyth bends over in laughter, while Emmeline blushes. Hades smiles and shakes his head at her, before telling the host they’re ready. The rest of the night flies by with good food and dancing on the balcony overlooking Amaurot. As the sky fades to night, Emmeline thanks them for her dress and wonderful evening. 

“I don’t think anything will ever top this,” she says, laying her back on Hades’ chest, while Hyth leans against him. 

“Hm, we do still have our wedding to plan,” Hyth winks at her. 

Hades groans, “I’m going to have to pull out the planning book in the morning.” 

“You have a book?!” Emmeline gasps in surprise. “Can I see it?” 

“No, not until it’s ready.” He pecks a kiss on her head. “At least let me knock out the options we don’t want. 

Her and Hyth wink at each other. “Yes dear,” Hyth says, “Just tell us where to show up and when. Preferably give me some more notice so I can dress us up.”

Emmeline then realizes, “Wait! Where Echo and Eleanora in on this?” 

Hades chuckles, “Eleanora yes, but I think Echo deduced it when Hyth left the package with her this morning.” 

She shakes her head, “I think Eris suspected too.” 

Hyth nods his head, “Oh most definitely. Her moth has been watching us for the last 20 minutes.” 

Emmeline gasps, as she finally notices the moth on the rosebox. “Luna!” If it was possible for a moth to look displeased, it did. She tapped impatiently, as if waiting for a message. Eventually Emmeline sighed and rolled her eyes, before smirking, “The date was excellent, I said yes, and now we’re going to continue dancing, and who knows where the night will take us.” 

“Oh I know!” Hyth chirps up. She turns back and winks at him, and when she turns around to face the moth again, it’s already flown off. She then moves back to her fiances and kisses them both deeply. 

Hades starts playing with her dress, “How about we let you corrupt us, and we’ll dance in the streetlight on the way home, yes?” 

She gasps in delight, “Is my incorrigible nature rubbing off on you?” 

He pulls her tightly against him, “It always has.” 

She laughs, and quickly threads her arms between her fiances. “You heard the man, Hyth! Let’s head home.” 

They grab their masks and depart the establishment after thanking the host and owner profusely. As they twirl and dance the way back to their home, Emmeline has one more question about the dress. “How did you choose the colors Hyth? They’re all so different but work so well together.” 

He smiles, “That’s simply really. They match the colors of our souls.”   

A few blocks down, Eris sits with Eleanora, Themis, and the now engaged throuple’s families. They had been impatiently awaiting news and eventually Eris sent her familiar, even though most of them had tried to tackle her to stop her. However, when the moth returned, those same people were the ones who had jumped for joy first and started opening the champagne. Eris couldn’t help but shake her head, a very good date indeed.  

[extinct-fish]

this is what I have so far for the first chapter of Death Oath

No matter what fanfic I write, Koto is always Makoto's twin sister, and she will always be chaotic.

The two sat together smiling like idiots. Without either knowing, a flame had begun to spark, kindling the bonfire that would be their love. Suddenly, a car horn and a girl’s voice could be heard: “MAKOTO- HURRY YOUR ASS UP!” “Oh- Koto’s calling, gotta go.” “Alright, wanna meet at the coffee shop tomorrow?” “I have work though.” “That’s fine, I can just pick up a coffee for you.” “You don’t even know where!” “Would be funny if you were closeby.” “Yeah, I guess.” “Welp, cya tomorrow, Makoto!” “Later.” Makoto headed to the car where Kotone was just sitting, driver’s seat because it was her car. Makoto hopped into the front seat, buckling up. “Who was that?” Kotone asked as she started to drive. “Oh, someone I met.” “You think he’s ready to deal with me?” “I mean- I dunno. He did say he was gonna get me coffee tomorrow.” “But you work at a coffee shop, though!” “Yeah, but I doubt he’ll stop by Chagall Cafe. There’s plenty of other coffee shops- hell, he could go to a Dunkin’ around the corner for all I know.” “Isn’t that an American brand though?” “What? Did you want me to list something else?” “I dunno, Starbucks?” “I heard Mcdonald’s has coffee though.” “Yeah, I think so.” “Anyways, he’s pretty cute, and he’s got a tumblr.” “What’s the Tumblr?” “Nyxing-thanatos, if I remember correctly.” “Thanatos? Did he mean Hades?” “No- Koto, Thanatos is the God of Death, Hades is the god of the Underworld, we’ve had this argument several times!” “I know, I just like to piss you off!” “Tomatoes aren’t fruit.” “You uncultured swine! Tomatoes are fruits!” “Ketchup is a smoothie.” “FUCK YOU!” Makoto laughed mischievously from counter-annoying his sister. Kotone just rolled her eyes as she kept driving. Makoto looked at the hand that Ryoji kissed, remembering the velvet-soft hands and the gentle, innocent kiss. He couldn’t help but smile to himself. “Did pretty boy over there get you smiling like that?” Kotone teased. “Wha- no- Koto!” Makoto’s face reddened from the embarrassment. “If he can handle my unmedicated ass, then I’m pretty sure he’s good.” “Koto!”

[kaleidoscopic-quiddity]

TSATS thoughts

spoilers obviously, you have been warned

yeah wow i am glad i didnt spend money on this book

im not sure if it was the WORST rrverse novel but uhhh,, its definitely up there

ive read fanfictions that better captured the vibe of the rrverse and solangelo specifically than this book did

so many different things about tsats bothered me so im gonna list them off to make myself feel better

will felt ooc, not in the way annoying ppl who only like fanon solangelo say he was but in the i actually read TOA and enjoyed it way

i get that going through the underworld and tartarus was going to be rough on will but he was just SOOO whiney and judgey it was really annoying to read at parts

also the whole storyline of will being a hater about the underworld was so uneccesary like youre telling me will solace, bisexual 2000s/2010s texan boy, healer to a couple dozen diverse kids at chb, literal battlefield medic, would find death and darkness inherently bad and untolerable?? rather than something to reconcile and make piece with??? even though hes literally dating the son of hades????????

like, something very interesting COULDVE been done with will’s character and his feelings towards nico’s past/trauma

picture this:

will, who bases his self esteem on how ‘useful’ he can be to people feels that he has to care for and ‘fix’ nico for nico to love him, he feels inferior because he cant fight as well on his own but he CAN heal people but nico isn’t letting him do that so he feels rejected and insecure

whilst nico doesnt want to let his trauma consume or define him, he also feels like its an inescabaly horrible part of himself that he cant get rid of, and will’s urge to ‘fix’ him makes him feel both unaccepted and that he cant share the worst parts of himself with will

they argue because from nico’s perspective it feels like will is trying to be his therapist and not his boyfriend, and from will’s perspective it feels like nico is pushing him away and if will isnt able to be ‘useful’ to him he fears he wont be loved any more

reconciliation comes in the form of will learning that his self worth isnt determined by how much he can do for other people and that nico loves him for him, and nico learning that part of accepting his darkness is letting people see the worst parts of him and trusting them to still love him not in spite of, but because of who he is

boom, i just came up with a way better, more in character, relationship conflict storyline off the top of my head if i do say so myself

okay back to the other shit that bothered me

why did will not have a weapon?? like??? we literally have that scene of him and chiron stress packing for tartarus and neither of them thinks that will should be armed in some way???

yes obviously will is primarily a medic not a fighter but still, its just such a dumb choice narratively

related to will’s abilities or lack thereof, what was with all the singing will did? he literally said himself in BOO that his sonic whistle was one of his only ‘musical’ abilities and that his talent lied with healing, we’ve seen him heal people w/out siging numerous times, why was this a thing??

also, the fucking care bear stare light blast thing, WHAT

will giving nyx hay fever also bothered me but i’ll admit that has more to do with me just not vibing with plague!will as a concept rather than it being a bad writing choice

speaking of nyx she was so boring

boring villain, boring motives, boring fight, all just boring af to me

the pacing of the book was so weird too

like the jumping back and fort between the trip to/through tartarus and the flashbacks with gorgyra was grating but dealable

but the fact that it took like HALF THE FUCKING BOOK to even get to tartarus was excruciating

there was NO need for all the underworld shit to take that long im sorry

nico also felt ooc, like over the course of TOA he obviously gets a bit softier and dorkier and i really genuinely like that but in TSATS i swear he was laughing or crying every 3 paragraphs and traumadumping to anyone who was (or wasnt) willing to listen like it just didnt feel like nico

all the solangelo pet names, gags

like significant annoyance and glow in the dark boyfriend and will’s various ‘death boy’-esque nicknames worked because they were (affectionate) digs at each other and not used every other sentence, ‘my little ball of darkness’ had the same energy as pookiebear

hazel only getting mentioned like twice was a fucking violation and im genuinely mad that reyna was only kind of mentioned once

like,, i already think thanks to fanon the friendship between jason and nico was/is given way more relevance than it actually has, but reyna was the one who felt all of nico’s pain, who shared her own trauma with him, who watched him kill bryce lawrence, who joined the hunters just like bianca, youre trying to tell me she wouldnt be on nico’s mind literally just as much as jason???

nico and piper have literally never been friends any idk why this book tried to make it seem like they are

im not against a nico/piper friendship or anything but like,,, nico ‘will not share my pain with others unless its literally forced out of me’ di angelo calling up a girl hes barely friendly accquiantances with and crying in front of her as he tells her all about his latest traumas, as her gf who is quite literally a stranger is also there? wack

speaking of bad writing and ooc-ness from nico the story of how he asked out will was terrible

‘i wanted a private date but the dyrads misunderstood and set up a big extravagant public gesture’ feels like something id find in a wattpad fic circa 2015

also theres no way nico went from his levels of internalised homophobia and shame and self loathing in HOH/BOO to publically coming out in front of the entirety of chb and asking will out in literally less than 6 months tf

the real-but-not-real dream with bianca and maria felt so uneccesary and disingenuous to nico’s character like he’d already accepted bianca’s death and that his old life was behind him and to have hades somehow ‘break the rules’ to bring them back to talk to nico was just so fucking jarring

also HADES being the one to send nico the prophecy, putting the responsibility of rescuing bob on his shoulders and retraumatising him and putting him in a position where he could very much die??? the fuck happened to ‘i want you to be happy’???

yet another instance of bizzare ooc-ness in this book ig

bob reffering to nico and will as his sun and star is just,, never rlly explained lmao

also bob is just, kinda, there, despite being the driving force behind the quest in the first place

i thought we’d get some actual will backstory, get to know more about his relationship with lee and micheal and his time at chb or his experiences growing up queer but no

all we got was that will used to travel around the country with his mom and they were attacked by evil pidgeons in nyc once which is how will’s satyr found him in the first place, cool i guess

i didnt mind the story of will and nico’s first kiss as much as their getting together but it still felt really fanfiction-y and cliche ngl

percabeth were WAYYY too fucking chill about solangelo going to tartarus and shouldve tried much harder to disaude them from going

also ik obviously the book isnt about them but it wouldve been nice for their survior’s guill re: bob to be expanded on a bit more, or even just,, better than rick and mark did it

i fucking hate the cacodemons i hate them SO much its SUCH a dumb narrative choice like literally who tf convinced them this would be a good idea and how can i fight them

i refuse to call them cocoa puffs, the REAL nico di angelo would never, do you hear me

also for a hot second there i thought the implication was that nyx had sexually assualted nico and i was like WOAH thats a bit much for a book for 11yros

honestly it still kind of reads that way since taking nico’s trauma, a part of him, and making something else living out of it without his consent is certainly a violation

not necessarily saying an SA-esque storyline has no place in the rrverse or middle school fiction, i think those topics can be tackled in a way thats appropriate for kids, but it felt out of place in TSATS to me

tartarus want nearly as scary or despair evoking this time around, it was just a dredge to get through and only a bit less boring than all the underworld stuff

i do appreciate that rick and mark were obviously having fun with all the body horror elements

i find it weird that will was, like, THAT broken up about him and nico ‘murdering’ octavian when in BOO he literally spoke about how he’d shoot him if he was better at archery lmao

i get hes a healer obviously there was gonna be some complex emotions there but idk it felt uneccesarily melodramatic

why was chb empty?? no like genuinely why

it contributed nothing to the story and doesnt even make sense since surely some of the year rounders have dead or abusive guardians

like??????? im genuinely confused by this writing descision what purpose did it serve to have chb empty????

i genuinely laughed at the geryon reveal because it was so out of left field, gay rights i guess

the fact that will didnt tell nico abt his talk with persephone felt weird and the talk itself was weirder

yeah overall id give the book a generous 4/10, it if was a fanfic id probably rate it higher but this was a real published book written by rick so im pretty disapointed

heres to hoping chalice of the gods is better

[smallraindrops-blog]

Wake Me From This Dreaming: Interlude

Hypnosx WMFTD! Y/N

Word count:5.6K

Warnings: Trama, angst, no beta

Notes: omg. Thank you everyone for waiting. Life has been super crazy lately. I hope you guys enjoy this. Don’t have much to say but we are nearing the end. Also this won’t be the last interlude. We might be meeting some important people soon.

The masterlist

Enjoy.

~

(Ancient)

It wasn’t that often Hypnos was on the surface. 

The sea crashed against the cliffside, white seafoam and wet sea weeds left between the dark, jagged rocks. 

Not leaving a single mark on the dirt path, Hypnos floated over the beaten path to the  rocky beach. The waves crashed loudly against the land, like a twin to the roaring of a lion.

The sand, pure white and glittery in the moonlight, looked unlike anything seen in the underworld. 

A moment of hesitation, then Hypnos landed on the loose sand, his bare feet unused to the sensations. Immediately he wiggled his toes, shivering at the oddness and let out a quiet chuckle.

He kicked at it with a grin, the arch of sand in the moonlight glittered before returning to be among the millions grains of sand. 

He picked his tunic, bunching it up in his hands and began walking down to the beach. He saw places like this in countless mortals’ dreams but there had been something calling him to this one, to a maddening need to understand.

His footsteps trailed behind him like a shadow and he grinned at the sight then a rushing wave came onto the land. Cold water lapped at his steps, and he shivered in utter delight. 

How marvelous, no wonder mortals often dreamed of water, of land and sensations. Someday, they will have names for all these places and one day, they will write them down on their own creations of stone, then paper. 

For now, they will worship the gods in quiet, dark caves as they whisper, their clay forms made strong by the warm, immortal fire that Prometheus had stolen for them. It was a rebellious act that Prometheus was paying dearly for and would for a very long time.

So much had changed and Hypnos was curious what would come next. If he was with his sisters, the three fates and their heavenly tools, he might have begged for a peek at the grand tapestry and they would deny him just as they did everyone else. 

The home of stars and void offered nothing like this. At home, everything just was and always will be until the last star died out. 

With a happy sigh, he wandered along the beach, admiring the simplistic beauty of it all. 

“Hypnos.” Thanatos called out. 

His voice had gotten deeper since they last spoke, another sign that his twin was coming into his powers, bringing mortals to their final rest. Thanatos will have the last sleep but Hypnos will have all of the ones that come before death. Their dreams and nightmares were Hypnos’ as well, and he found that he was greedy for all of it. 

Hypnos paused in mid step and turned with a cheeky grin.

“Why, isn’t it my favorite twin! Come join me, the water is horribly cold.” Hypnos said with a laugh. The water rushed over his feet as if punishing him for his rude words. 

Thanatos’ disapproving scowl only deepened, his feet untouched by the earth and sea. His scythe, both a tool and a symbol of Thanatos’ duty, gleamed silver in the moonlight.  

“You know Mother Nyx doesn’t like you leaving the underworld, Hypnos. Especially since Master Hades had been kind enough to not kick us all out.”

At his brother’s words, Hypnos scoffed. “Just because they won over the Titans doesn’t mean everything belongs to them now.” 

“Actually, it does.” Thanatos said wryly. His lips twitched however, as if for one moment even he had to admit to the insanity of it. Master Hades had been ruling for quite some time but the ripples of effect the war between the titans and gods still echoed. 

Hypnos suspected that the ripples would reach the end of time itself. He also knew they hadn't seen the true consequences of the war. Not yet.

Many of Nyx’’s children had rebelled against Hades’ rule and if Hypnos was a little braver, less desperate for his mom’s and Thanatos’ affection, he might have counted himself among them.

Hypnos shrugged, his eyes darted down and he wiggled his toes, getting sand between them. The whole world was quiet, but Hypnos could feel every single mortal and immortal soul that was asleep, all lost in his misty domain. Quiet murmurs of lovers in the dark, of exhausted mothers whispering a bedtime story for their babies lingered around him like a ghost. 

“Why did you come up?” Thanatos asked finally, trying to sound like he didn’t care but Hypnos heard the curiosity underneath.

Maybe it was wrong, but Hypnos was tempted to lie. He met Thanatos’ golden eyes - and he looked so much like their mother in that moment, that Hypnos felt that familiar pang of shame, not being more like Thanatos.

“Mom- I mean, Mother Nyx and I had a disagreement.” Hypnos admitted. “She told me If I must behave like a mortal, I might as well join them.” 

Hypnos threw out his arms, letting his tunic fall into the water as he gestured toward the whole beach. Toward the infinity of uncaring stars. “And I must admit I already like what I am seeing. Maybe I will go to them in the morning and-  and maybe eat with them and when they have their parties I will join them in song and dance!”

Thanatos stared for a long moment, his eyes widened in shock. Then he tossed his head back in honest laughter, surprising Hypnos. 

“Stop laughing.” Hypnos ordered but his serious tone was ruined by his own laughter. “Stop!- You know I laugh when you laugh.”

“Maybe you will become a hunter or- actually no, you will have to gather berries since I have seen your aim- Oh! Will you have little babies with a mortal?” Thanatos chortled and at the thought, Hypnos laughed hard enough he had to wrap his arms around his stomach. 

Just like that, the anger Hypnos felt melted away like it never existed, he couldn’t remember the last time he and Thanatos had laughed together. 

A gust of wind blew past them, pickling at his exposed skin. Hypnos took a deep breath, letting the chill fill his lungs, the cold reminding him of home. He signed as their laughter died down.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to drag you between me and mom.” Hypnos said. 

“You didn’t.” Thanatos crossed his arms, the signs of his earlier joy already fading. His mouth went tight, “But you can’t do this, she needs you in the house - even if you are having a disagreement- and I can’t protect you from Master Hades if you are running away like a child.”

Hypnos slumped, he actually enjoyed seeing - touching, smelling, feeling- what morals saw in their faded dreams. And this was the first time in a long time that he and Thanatos were talking without their mother’s watchful eyes on them. 

“I know.” Hypnos murmured, taking one last glance toward the millions of stars in the skies. He took in the feeling of sand between his toes, the chilly water against his skin and the smell of salt. 

Thanatos sighed, “Come along.”

Hypnos looked up to Thanatos, a question on his lips but Thanatos had already left, returning to the Underworld.

For a moment, he allowed himself to wonder if he would have been happier as a moral, to just dream and live amidst the beauty of the world. 

When he vanished, the inky black of the sea rolled upon the land and filled in the space of where his footprints marked the sand. Another wave crashed, then another and another, wiping away any sign of his existence.

~

Eventually mortals learned agriculture, their brow sweaty with heat of the sun, their hands buried in the cool dirt of the world, a place that their bodies will one day return to. 

Then homes were built, many filled with families then cities were formed along with government institutions - and torn down by the bloody delights of war or greed- and society was born. Amidst the ever moving arrow of time, storytellers and bold artists and mad inventors and Greek heroes dreamed and created and fought and died. 

Hypnos dreamt with them, often in amusement but occasionally he would paused in quiet admiration, not letting them know of his presence.

In a way, Hypnos grew along the side of mortals, their dreams were his, their nightmares were his as well

Only he never thought a moral could trap a god, let alone that god being his own twin.

Nyx’s purple lips were thin, her head bowed. Her dark hair was a veil against her pale skin. When Hypnos caught his mom in the right lighting, her hair was like the night sky itself, filled with shining stars among the void. 

“But how?” Hypnos asked once more, his eyes widened as he looked at Charon who seemed just as lost. 

His twin had been bound and sealed away by a mortal king. Something so impossible that Hypnos wondered if he was somehow caught in a dream without realizing it. He pitched himself. Hard. 

They haven’t even known until afterwards, it had been Ares that freed him and helped bring righteous justice upon the arrogant moral. 

Good. Hypnos thought, his nails digging into his palms. I hope Sisyphus never knows peace.

A boney hand rested on his shoulder, a quiet show of support. Hypnos glanced up at Charon, wishing that his older brother could make this go away. That he could bring Thanatos out of his room.

It seemed like just yesterday he and Thanatos would play in Charon’s boat, dipping their hands into the styx waters, gasping with delight when their sister, the river itself, returned their touch.

Charon groaned, his violet eyes locked onto Nyx. ‘Did that mortal have the help of a god? He must have, it can’t be possible otherwise.” 

“We don’t know yet.” Nyx paused, “But it is possible that Mania had a role in it somehow.”

The name alone made Hypnos flitched, the goddess ruled before his mom did and she did not take kindly to being overthrown. He was too young to witness it but he remembered how exhausted Nyx had been, her voice worn out and her eyes hazy.

The underworld was a complete disaster and he couldn’t blame his mom for giving it over to Hades even if another part of him felt she should have fought harder for it. This was their home from home, the last place they were mostly together.

Eventually Nyx sent them away to their duties. Something that Hypnos ignored with the best intentions. He drifted along the hallways to where Thanatos’ room was, the candlelight dancing with the shadows.

Thanatos’ doors were a reflection of him, imposing and untouchable. Hypnos studied the careful details of butterflies dancing around an inverted torch. At the bottom of the door was a pile of dead butterflies, some in the middle of falling toward their doom.

It made Hypnos’ own door, decorated with poppies, lambs curled up asleep and wispy clouds, seem childlike. It was rare for him to feel embarrassed about it but right now he did. It was another reminder that his twin was outgrowing him.

Hypnos sighed, not letting himself get intimidated by a bloody door of all things and knocked on the heavy door. 

For a long moment, nothing happened.

Hypnos knocked again, loudly and for as long as he could. 

“Thanatos?” Hypnos called out. “Hey, open up. Your favorite twin is here!” 

Nothing.

Hypnos frowned, his hand dropping down. Maybe Thanatos had left his chambers? 

“Thanatos?” Hypnos called out one more time. His voice lingering in the empty hallway.

Thanatos never responded.

~

(Part 14)

“Did it feel like this for you?” Hypnos asked, his eyes darted over to the door that his moral had closed. You were gracious enough to allow Hypnos and his twin some alone time before Master Hades’ meeting.

But all he wanted to do was call you back. He longed for the comfort of your hand on his back. For you to just be near him. Was it pathetic? Probably but Hypnos didn’t care. 

Hypnos forced himself to face Thanatos. Odd how they were so alike but different at the same time. He saw himself in his twin and wondered if Thanatos saw the same thing Hypnos did. 

It might be foolish but Hypnos hoped he did.

“No.” Thanatos admitted, not meeting Hypnos’ glance. Thanatos was hunched like a prey that was painfully aware of nearby predators. His lips thinned from stress. 

The hearth’s fire danced and crackled loudly in the still room and Hypnos curled a hand over his rolling stomach.

“When.”Thanatos paused, closing his eyes. “When it happened to me, I couldn’t do anything, everything I touched died regardless if I wanted it to or not. Plants, beasts, everything. It was out of control. My emotions were like a stormy sea.”

“Oh.” Hypnos murmured, his eyes widened. “Is that why-“

“Yes.” Thanatos sighed.

Silence took over again. Hypnos opened his mouth then shut it. He never knew Thanatos to not have control over his powers. Hypnos was the problem child and regularly claimed victims for an unexpected nap time. 

Hades may or may not have been a common victim of Hypnos’ powers.

For Hypnos, his godly powers flowed like a river for him, often overwhelming him until he learned how to control it. Now it was dried up and Hypnos feared it might not ever return. 

“I can’t reach it at all.” Hypnos confessed, “I can move things sometimes but that's it.”

“I see.” Thanatos repiled, rubbing his mouth thoughtfully.

“What fixed it?” Hypnos bit hard on his thumbnail, watching Thanatos’ expression change into a grimace which told Hypnos that he probably wasn’t going to like the answer. 

“I had to relearn everything. Everything.” Thanatos warned. “That and patience. It will be hard, it tested even me and you know that out of the two of us, I was the most patient one.”

Hypnos slumped into his chaise with a groan, covering his eyes with a hand. He won’t cry, he told himself. Not in front of Thanatos.

He didn’t hear Thanatos get up and jolted when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Thanatos was looking at him with a small, brotherly grin. One that Hypnos returned hesitantly.

“I know you can do it. You always had an unusual affinity for the powers and burdens of Sleep.” Thanatos said. “I don’t think even Chaos or our mother had such control over it.”

“You’re not just saying that?” Hypnos asked, his eyes stung with unshed tears. He couldn’t remember the last time Thanatos said anything kind to him.

“Of course not.” The complete and utter faith in Thanatos’ voice was enough to finally break Hypnos and before his twin could escape, Hypnos caught him in a rib cracking hug. 

With a rueful smile, Thanatos patted Hypnos’ back awkwardly.

It will be fine, Hypnos told himself, it had to be.

~

(Current)

With his heart dropping into his stomach, Hypnos looked over the disaster that Zagreus had created. 

Pain. Paaaain. This was actually causing him psychological and physical pain.

Hypnos might not be the most tidy soul around but this was something else. He bit down on his tongue as he went through his ledger. It was riddled with mistakes, misspelled names, no causes of death listed or causes of death with no names listed. Somehow he even messed up the dates.

Worst of all, Zagreus had taken up doodling pictures of Cerberus next to Hypnos’ doodles.

Hypnos’ doodles of his mortal and Monie were sacred, damn it.

“Your father was right to fire you.” Hypnos murmured bitterly, glaring daggers in the direction that Zagreus had fled. Zagreus didn’t even hesitate to shove the paperwork at Hypnos’ chest the moment their eyes met.

For a brief moment he made eye contact with his mom and he offered up a smile. But she turned away.

Hypnos told himself that it didn’t hurt.

With a huff, he went down the list, promising revenge on the godling. Maybe he could pay off a numbskull to bite Zagreus in a very unpleasant area. Or he could have you do something embarrassing to Zagreus during a fight now that you were allowed out of the house again.

Near the bottom, Hypnos spied a poorly written poem about Thanatos and his muscular arms. 

Oh blood and darkness, there were some things Hypnos didn’t need to see. With a loud gagging sound, he wrote Zagreus’ name in large, blocky letters and sent the offensive scroll to Hades’ desk. 

Hypnos knew a lost cause when he saw one. 

With a fresh scroll and quill in hand, Hypnos waved forward the first shade. Hypnos wrote the information down like he always did, and slowly he worked though the line between yawns, ignoring the surprise stares from the shades that knew him. 

They were polite as they spoke to him, as it was his right as a god and their place as a shade. Yet it didn’t remove the weight of their staring, the way their eyes lingered on his bared feet.

Bared feet that were touching the ground. 

For a moment, he felt like he was back in Hades’ private office, everyone’s eyes on him. A memory of dull blue eyes flashed his mind, the fall of dirty flame red hair flashed in his mind and Hypnos pushed it away and shoved it into a box that was labeled ‘Do. Not. Look. Or Think about it. Ever.’. 

“Next, please.” Hypnos chirped, waving the shades along. As he did, he noticed that his fingers were trembling. The quill unsteady in his grip.

‘Apparently the mortal just sucked the powers right out of him.’ One shade whispered as they passed Hypnos, gawking at him. Like Hypnos wouldn’t hear them.

The other shade clicked their tongue, ‘Poor little thing. Guess he didn’t fight hard enough.’

Of course, everyone heard what happened from the pitying glances he felt people gave his back, like he wouldn’t know. Hypnos wasn’t surprised but for some reason, that caused a rare, burning anger to bloom like a scarlet flower in his chest. 

What gave them the right to look at him like that? To… to judge him for what happened.

His back stiffened unwillingly but he tried to keep the smile on his face. Because really, he was fine and everything was normal even if he didn’t have all of his powers back, so he had to stand here - because everything was fine, he didn’t need his powers to do his job- and act like he was happy to be back and working like normal. 

Because he was.

Everything was normal - Hypnos most definitely did not want to scream until he lost his voice and maybe kick Pyrrhus in the unmentionables repeatedly for doing this to him- and he was fine. 

He was fine. 

Everything was just fine.

~

Hypnos wondered if since Gods were made of powerful, burning stars and morals of simple clay, then what is a god without power made of?

Dust? Or something even more worthless?

He suspected he wouldn’t like the answer. 

~

His whole body ached.

Each step caused needles of sharp, lingering pain to shoot up his ankles. In the rare moments Hypnos was on the surface, he had seen the work farmers, laborers and slaves did, day in and day out.

Hypnos wondered how mortals didn’t fall apart after a hard day of work. With a soft groan, he rolled up the scroll, more than ready for his break. His bed was calling to him with every single step he took.

“You’re limping.” Your husky voice reached his ears first, then he felt your hand on his lower back.

Hypnos was torn between melting into you, letting your solid form take his exhausted weight or to pull away and act like everything was fine -because it was.- his eyes saw your concerned expression, and with a smile, he straightened up.

“It’s fine.” Hypnos said, stepping forward to keep walking. He winced, something that you noticed immediately judging from your narrowed stare.

“Hypnos-“ you tried but Hypnos shot you a look that made your eyes widened in surprise.

“I’m fine. Really. Let it go.” Hypnos warned. 

He had joked about you carrying him around everywhere, to be the comic relief for everyone but the thought of more pitying stares made his guts turn sour. It was bad enough before when people were just annoyed at him.

You stayed quiet, trailing behind him like a faithful sentinel. Guilt churned in Hypnos’ chest, twisting his insides so much that his shoulders hunched. 

It was like his anger was a rotten, dark oil that coated everything. He wanted to reach deep and yank it out so he could feel his own powers of heavy warmth and sweet dreams return. All there was bitter anger now, dark and slimy and suffocating. 

Hypnos stopped abruptly, turning around to meet your stare, acid words ready on his tongue. 

An ugly part of himself thought he would see pity in those intense eyes of yours. Just like everyone else. Sometimes it seems like you could see everything about him with just a single glance.

Only he saw concern. Then he saw the quiet love plainly written on your gentle expression. 

Not even his own mother could look at him, not without the shame clear in her catlike eyes. It was a reminder that Thanatos had hid away from everyone - from Hypnos, from their own mother- after what happened for a long, long time.

Thanatos’ words haunted him, he had all the time in the world but Hypnos didn’t know if he could keep going like this. 

Hypnos thought he finally understood why. This was horrible and he just wanted to lash out at everything for doing this to him. Maybe he should follow Thanatos’ example and lock himself away until he could be normal again. 

His lips parted but no words came out. The rage inside his chest wilted like a dying flower. You didn’t hesitate, opening your arm in a quiet offer of a hug, the other hand gripping the spear tightly.

There was a soft, broken sound that filled in the hallway and it took him a moment to realize that it was coming from him. With a shaky breath, Hypnos took the offer. 

The press of your solid form against his was a relief, and you held on tightly, as if you knew that Hypnos needed that. Tears burned his eyes but he didn't let them fall. Your cloak spilled over, hiding Hypnos away from the world. 

“I’m sorry.” Hypnos choked out, his arms around your waist. He may be a god, supposed to be powerful but all he wanted right now was to curl up against you and never leave your arms.

“Don’t be, my love.” You comforted him with a tight squeeze, moving the spear behind his back like it was a shield.  “I got you. Whatever you need from me, it is yours.”

Hypnos wanted to lighten the mood, crack a joke about getting him dinner and a deep glass of something alcoholic, that you should just carry him around like he joked about before but all he did was hug you tighter. 

He didn’t know what he needed. He just wanted to be normal again. He didn’t like this helpless, angry version of himself. 

You and him stood there for a long moment then Hypnos took a shaky breath and pulled away just enough to look up at you.

He offered up what felt like a weak smile. “Maybe let's just take a nap together?”

“Done.” You said, pressing a kiss against his forehead.

Hypnos closed his eyes and tried to will away the hopeless feeling that he will never be his old self again. 

~

Hypnos reached deep, deeper inside of himself than he ever allowed before, trying to find something that might not ever come back. 

A fleeting, untouchable dream.

~

Eyes that burned like liquid fire, matted red hair and nails that dig into his flesh and Pyrrhus laughed and laughed-

Hypnos jerked awake, his heart racing as he tried to reclaim his breath. You were already awake, running a smoothing hand though his damp curls as you held him close to your chest. Your deep voice was a gentle murmur of sweet nothings.

Each time Hypnos closed his eyes, all he saw was Pyrrhus’ wild blue eyes staring down at him.

His center, his godhood was a dim thing and no matter how hard Hypnos reached for it, it didn’t resonate. Just like Thanatos never responded to his calls.

Hypnos swallowed, his hands gripping you too tightly but you didn’t complain. You just kissed his cheeks, his forehead in comfort. 

He wanted to say something, to break the overwhelming weight over everything. 

No words came.

He couldn’t breath, everything was suffocating him. 

Mad laughter filled his mind, Pyrrhus was in control once again and Hypnos was nothing.

With a grunt, Hypnos jerked away, nearly falling on his face as he stumbled out of his bed. He grabbed onto the wooden beam of his canopy bed with damp palms, nails digging into the wood. The silver gleam of the stars mocked him, a poor imitation of his once home, of the stories he loved. 

He wanted to rip it apart.

“Hypnos? Breath. Now.” You ordered sharply, standing next to him, your large hand on his back. Hypnos blinked, surprised that you were so quick even though he knew he shouldn’t be.

It took everything for Hypnos to obey your order but he did. The breath he took was sharp, almost choking him but he took it.

“Now let out.” You told him, your hand rubbing up and down his back in gentle circles. And he did.

“Again.” You told him, your tone gentling. 

His lungs burned as he breathed again and again but slowly, the pain eased up. Mostly. His head was throbbing in what might be the worst headache he ever had. Even after dealing with the nightmare that was Zagreus’ paperwork.

With a pitiful sound, he crumbled against you, his face hidden in your chest. For a moment, Hypnos allowed himself to pretend that he could hear your heartbeat, he knew it would have been strong and steady just like you. 

“I’m so tired.” Hypnos whispered, his hands curling into fists against your skin. Your hand didn’t pause nor did you tell him to go back to bed; you knew what he actually meant.

“I know, love.” Your voice was a quiet rumble, one that brought comfort. Sensing that Hypnos didn’t want to go back to the bed, you guided him toward the spot in front of the hearth. 

The chaise was soft as a cloud and Hypnos sunk right into it. 

The fire had died down to ruby red embers and you got to work right away. Hypnos watched, admiring the way your muscles flexed under scarred skin. Each movement was graceful and sure.

When the flames were strong, you joined him by sitting next to him on the end of the chaise, one leg folded under the other. Your hand reached for his legs, placing both on your lap. Your hand cupped his ankle, rubbing along the jut of bone idly.  Hypnos made a soft, pleased hum as you massaged the sore muscles and tendons.

The fire crackled and popped loudly in the stillness. The light from the flames were warm, casting shadows and enough light to make the silver constellations gleamed in the dark. 

Your hand moving down to his foot in a trailing caress. With thick, strong fingers; you pressed and keened the soreness away. Hypnos watched with heavy lidded eyes, a blush steadily growing on his cheeks.

This may have been the most intimate you and him had been since… everything that happened.

Another thing that Hypnos felt guilty about, he just hasn't been able to muster up anything beyond kissing. Not that you complained.

Done, you switched to the other leg. 

Hypnos licked his lips nervously, wanting to say something but the silence felt too heavy to break. So he didn’t. 

Eventually, your hands to moved his claves, using long strokes to work the muscles. Heat crawled up the back of his neck. You were the only one to take care of him like this, each touch gentle and loving. That was enough to prompt him to speak.

“You know you don’t have to do this.” Hypnos whispered, still feeling like he was too loud in the stillness. 

“I want to.” You said plainly. 

Your eyes met his, and you were looking at him like he was something precious. Like he wasn’t a god without his powers, that he caused this to happen to himself. Unable to bear it, he tore his eyes away. 

That ugly bloody flower reblogging in his chest, the anger burning as it grew. 

He didn’t deserve to be looked at like he was a treasure, to touch with gentle hands, like he was still worth something.

Yet he let you. 

Since his first breath, sleep and Hypnos were one and the same. Just like mortals were made of clay and Prometheus’ ever burning fire. To imagine otherwise, was to imagine a night sky without the stars and moon.

Yet here he was. 

Hypnos listened to your steady breathing, curled into the safety of your arms, body cushioned by the softness of his beloved chaise. Monie was unreachable, the river lethe had lost its’ keeper, the eyes of his mask was blinded by darkness. 

His powers were lost to him. Hypnos was now something empty. He was nor fire or clay

Yet his moral, his shade remained as his watchful guardian. An unbroken fixture when the rest of the world fell apart.

“If I never woke up, what would you have done?” Hypnos demanded quietly in the warm firelight, watching your expression.

You shifted, as if surprised that Hypnos even asked, then you stopped, and moved closer. You braced one bulky arm over his head, blocking him in as you held his stare. 

Hypnos almost broke it, almost unable to bare the weight. It felt like you had peeled everything away and all that was the raw hurt with a single glance.

A calloused hand cupped his chin, holding him place.. Mortal eyes but utterly beautiful in their intensity. 

“What do you think, love?” You asked, a thumb caressing his cheek. Hypnos flitched at the questions. He didn’t know or rather, he didn’t know what the correct response was. 

Hypnos shook his head, mute despite all the tumultuous emotions inside his chest.

Then you spoke, your tone deep as the dark, soft as warm velvet. “I would have stayed. When I finished one book, I would have picked up another to read to you. Then another. And one more after that one. And if I had read every single book you have…”

You paused and Hypnos realized he was holding his breath, awaiting for the rest of your answer. There was a faint smile on your handsome face and hypnos ached to reach up and kiss you. “I would find you new stories and so on, until I read every single story that ever existed. When I finished the very last one, I would start all over again.”

Hypnos covered his face with a trembling hand, unable to stand the tenderness in your expression.

He chuckled wetly, “And you claimed not to be a romantic.” 

You huffed out a laugh, brushing his curls with gentle hands. “For you? I will be anything and everything.”

Hypnos took a trembling breath, trying to find his strength. He felt your lips against his forehead. 

“Hypnos?” Your tone was patient, gentle. 

With a strength that he didn’t really feel, he met your eyes again, full with love.

“You can be as angry as you need to be.” You told him. “I don't care how loud you scream or weep, I will be here and I won’t let go.”

Hypnos felt like he had been dipped in ice. “I- but… I- “

“I am here, for the good and bad.” You whispered, so close that your eyes were unnerving in the firelight, god-like for a single, breathless moment. “I love you, Hypnos. Every single beautiful and ugly parts of you. All of it.” You said, like your words weren’t tearing him into impossibly small chunks.

For the first time since Pyrrhus had placed those horrible chains on him, since his mother had looked away from him once more, since Thanatos’ carefully picked words, since he had to lay everything out in front of Hades and everyone that matter, since everything… 

Hypnos let himself breathe, really breathe.

It was sharp and painful and he wasn’t ready for how much everything burned, like a purifying fire. Tears rolled down his flushed cheeks and he gasped for more breath. 

For a single moment, he thought back to the very first mortals, nothing but clay and wondered if they felt pain at the painful revelation of their flaws. Were they happy when they understood or did they weep for the past? 

Hypnos wailed like a broken thing as he held onto you.

And you… a mere shade. A dead moral, no longer clay, only an immoral flame that won’t die until the unraveling of the universe. His beautiful, imperfect mortal. His love.

You were the one to stay in the end of it all.

[koiyan-hades-kid-with-a-system]

I Don't Care That Much

Lore excerpt

Koiyans first night of sleep apnea

Koiyan never came out of her room to avoid crossing Hades’ path and making him even more angry that she was still in the underworld. Unfortunately for them, Hades always knows who is in his domain. Hades was in his office late at night when he felt her soul stir in unease. Hades sighed and continued his work until he didn’t hear her breathing. Hades didn’t notice at first but then a voice in his mind said that it was too quiet. Hades shrugged it off for a second before realizing that mortals needed to breathe and there was a mortal in his house. He scrambled out of his chair, tripping over his sandals as he ran.

“Shitshitshitshitshit-” Hades repeated like a mantra as he scurried down the hall to the room where Koiyan was staying in

He busted open the door and saw the kid asleep on their bed but no motion from her chest. Hades immediately woke Koiyan up, the fatherly side of him taking over his disdain for the girl. She woke up with a start, taking a deep breath in as she lay in the bed.

“Damn it girl, you can't just stop breathing out of nowhere kid!”

“I did?”

“You did.”

“Oh.”

Koiyan looked blankly at the roof of the canopy bed.

“Sorry.”

“What are you even sorry for, girl? You can’t control what your body does when unconscious.”

“For pulling you out of your work.”

“The work can wait. It’s just about shades final destination.”

“Isn’t that important?”

“...It can wait.”

Koiyan let out a small chuckle, the faint smile fading from her face after a beat of silence. Hades sat on the edge of the bed, looking at the bare room. Hades never usually had guests that weren’t shades or his relatives so the guest rooms were neglected. The newly dusted room only had a bed, bedside tables, and an empty shelf. Hades shifted in his spot, seeing not even the bare necessities were present in the room for a child like them.

“What do you like child?” Hades tilted his head to look at the ceiling, avoiding to look at the kid.

“... The night sky.”

“Then we shall install that into the ceiling then.”

“You don't have to do that.”

“You are staying here for a while now. It is only necessary for the room to reflect you.”

“You’re allowing me to stay?”

“Haven’t I been allowing you to stay ever since you came down here?”

Hades stood up from the bed and strode to the door, his back facing Koiyan.

“And do eat more. I have been hearing the servers worry about you after your meals. Do you really only eat just a part of your meal? Not even a fifth of the food?”

“The servings were too big…”

“That is only the correct serving size for a child your size what do you mean the portion is too much for you?” Hades' voice grew a bit irritated, not at Koiyan but at who had been taking care of the child before Zagreus found them.

“I’m just used to eating smaller.”

“Fine, your servings will be smaller but do try and eat more than what's given. You’re just skin and bones and that much will not satisfy you.”

Koiyan let out a small hum of acknowledgment before Hades exited the room, gently shutting the door. Hades let out a sigh and opened his eyes to see Nyx just standing there when she hadn’t been standing there before. Hades almost jumped out of his skin.

“Nyx!” Hades quickly quieted himself to a whisper from his startled yelp, “What are you doing here?”

“I was going to check on the child myself but it seems like you have had it covered,” Nyx gave a sly smile.

“It was only because she had stopped breathing, Nyx. Nothing more than that.” 

“What was that about installing the night sky in their room?”

“Just something to let her get acclimated to the world down here.”

Nyx gave a knowing smile, seeing through Hades’ apathetic demeanor

“We shall get that situated tomorrow morning then,” Nyx nodded before disappearing in black smoke, leaving Hades in the hallway.

Hades sighed, dragging his hands down his face at the interaction. He didn’t see the kid as his family, but when her soul stirred again, Hades almost ran back into the room before sensing that she was alright and taking his hand off of the door handle. He banged the palm of his head to his forehead, trying to knock some ‘sense’ back into himself. She’s just a product of an affair. She is nothing, but Hades couldn’t help but worry.

“For the sake of me, that kid will be the end of me.”

[maebird-melody]

WIP Wednesday

Thanks @bluewren for tagging me!

This is a bit from a Hades fic I’m working on about Hypnos. Funnily enough, I got the idea from a dream I had.

The god of sleep does not dream.

Dreams are for mortals. A way for them to experience a little more life even while their bodies rest. When Nyx spreads her cloak across the skies and Hypnos lays his blankets over the land, their lives continue on in the realm of the mind. Hypnos watches over them from afar, sending them to sleep as exhaustion settles into their bones and drowsiness makes their eyelids grow heavy. This is his duty as Sleep, the brother of Death, to grant them this little death from which they can wake.

He envies their rest, sometimes. That when sleep takes them, most of them awake refreshed. It is so unlike his own experience of sleep—a perpetual weariness that settles around him like a fog, drawing him forever into darkness.

No, Hypnos does not dream. But in those moments between his own waking, when his eyes fall shut and oblivion takes him, his mind wanders to the mortal realm, where he can experience the dreams of those short-lived beings secondhand.

Tonight, he’s observing a milkmaid’s dream. She doesn’t notice the spectral figure floating just outside her perspective as she offers a cup of milk to a young boy. The boy doesn’t see him either. He isn’t real. Dream figments like him have no conscious thoughts of their own, they are merely a projection of the dreamer’s mind onto the formless world of the subconscious.

The milkmaid talks of little things with the boy, mostly nonsense words that would make no sense to the waking ear. But Hypnos is the lord of sleep, and he can discern meaning even amongst the meaninglessness.

“Did you catch the cow in the fields?” the milkmaid asks.

“I couldn’t find her. I think she’s in the trees with the birds.”

“Well, let’s look together, then.”

The cup of milk vanishes and the dream shifts from the warm interior of a home with a hearth to a wide field skirted by tall trees, a blue expanse stretched above them. They take one stride, and the milkmaid and the boy suddenly move from the center of the field to the cover of trees. She shields her eyes against a sourceless brightness as she peers up into the canopy.

Sure enough, the cow lounges lazily betwixt two branches, eating the leaves off the tree. Her legs are tucked under her as though she were lying in the grass.

“Come on down,” the milkmaid calls. “It’s almost milking time!”

The cow moos in response as she ceases her eating. Rather than climbing down the trunk, the cow merely appears beside the milkmaid, who leads her back towards the barn. The walk this time is slow and seems to stretch on forever as the cow, the milkmaid, and the boy loop through an endless swathe of meadow. The barn, meanwhile, remains a distant structure on the horizon.

“Augh, not again!”

Hypnos suddenly jerks awake, torn away from the pleasant dream of the milkmaid and into the present by a familiar voice. He has to remind himself where he is. I am in the House of Hades. I listen to the shades and record their cause of death.

He puts on a bright smile and greets the newcomer with a bubbly, “Welcome to the House of Hades! Where death is our life!” As he finishes this greeting, he blinks in surprised recognition. “Oh? I wasn’t expecting to see you climbing out of the river today.”

Prince Zagreus, son of Hades, grimaces as he shakes the river’s blood from his hands. “I might need to have a word with the house contractor about setting out some towels,” he grouses as the sticky substance dries brown against his gray skin.

Hypnos checks his board and spots Zagreus’ name at the bottom of the list of recently deceased. “Ah, the doomstone gotcha, huh? Have you tried standing still? Maybe then you won’t get hit!”

“Thanks, Hypnos,” Zagreus responds as he scrapes a flake of dried blood off his arm. “I’ll keep that in mind next time.”

“Anything to help!” Hypnos waves the prince onward as the next shade in line steps forward.

if you have something you want to share as well, consider this an open invitation!

[looseinthecatroom]

Just realized something. Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t this

Our first canonical indication that gods (other than Hades who we already know is bigger then everyone for some reason) ACTUALLY ARE that much bigger then Zag / Melinoe (and mortals)? (Like I know Meg and Than + Nyx have big models in game, but it’s close enough that it could have been an aesthetic thing?? And Persephone and various mortals are at least comparable to Zag so like...?)

So size difference shenanigans with the Olympians confirmed. Big Ares, big Aphrodite, big Dio. I am looking respectfully. >.>

[chthonicgodling]

@marscats37 - re: this [which is re: this]

1. Yeah I make that face anytime I wrITE ABT ANY OF THIS??? Just wait til I finally finally FINALLY get around to drawing specific beats from that Thanatos court scene like I’ve been meaning to all the past year dfgkfk I s2g I’ll get there and we’re all going to die about it AHH

2. OH BOY IM SO GLAD YOU ASKED ME THIS! I’m about to make everything worse!

For a very long time Nyx for some goddamn reason considered Thanatos one of her favorite golden children, so perfect and respectful 🥺 and she without fail all the time believed all of his sweet little lies and - even when time and time and time again he was caught bullying Hypnos/his siblings, surely it wasn’t ALL THE WAY his fault and she. was able to make excuses for him which of course Thanatos manipulated the hell of. Also I think she was mildly afraid of him subconsciously?? Nyx, like Seph, is absolutely delusional and just wishes all her kids would get along, nevermind the fact that some of them are trying to maul the others

Nyx isn’t malicious she’s just REALLY that dumb :(

She grew out of this eventually but like only within modern canon aaughgh..,,, like many years after Maci, Thanatos would pray on Eury, who was horrified to discover (via Epi) that Nyx knew full well what Thanatos was capable of and was turning a blind eye to it all in the hopes that maybe he’d just stop or maybe it wasn’t as bad as Maci had made it seem after all or.,, hhhhh well

Anyway though in ye olde ancient canon as detailed abridged (LOL) within that post, there’s a couple things I cut out to keep it all concise (LOOOOOOOL). One of which was that during that trial conference, after Maci pissed off her cruelly petty father enough for him to decide to utterly abandon her, and when he called everyone back into the throne room - Seph, Thanatos, Nyx, and Hypnos -

before he could even start to speak, Nyx had actually interrupted him first and. had the absolute audacity to address them and plead for mercy for her son - just the one, ignoring the other who had suffered at his hand who was RIGHT. FUCKING. THERE. His own twin brother. and you know what for that matter AND Maci, who’d essentially spent half her childhood and teenage years seeking refuge in Nyx’s house and THIS is how Nyx stands up for her??? By saying fuck the both of you I choose my piece of shit son?!?!?! after listening to HOURS of Maci and Hypnos painstakingly describe everything Thanatos had done AND WHILE THEY WERE BOTH ACTIVELY BLEEDING ON THE FLOOR THIS ENTIRE TIME FROM WHEN THANATOS HAD TRIED TO MAUL THEM AND GOTTEN CAUGHT EARLIER IN THE DAY??????

soooo fun for Hypnos to know that out of all the kids his mother couldn’t care less about the one she’d decide to stick up for would be Thanatos, once again very cool and fun

This is truly indefensible but I’m obligated to say in Nyx’s defense that yes Thanatos was manipulating her too, the second Hades and Maci had left them alone he’d turned to her like 🥺Mama help this all got so out of hand🥺; and that Nyx for the longest time thought this was being fair to ALL her children, how could she turn her back on any of them even if he’d done bad things?? It took a long time for her to realize that making excuses for Thanatos was the equivalent to turning her back on ALL of them. Once again she’s not malicious she’s just dumb and trusting (DOESNT MAKE IT MUCH BETTER)

Many years later she was finally the one who ratted out Thanatos to Maci and Tory when Thanatos gloated to her that he was toting around new secret weapon Chal, and that’s literaly how everyone found out about her but I digress….

[virgils-muse]

Persephone, Hermes, Eros

Ooohh!!!

Okay okay I love how Sicily has always been to the Greeks this place of gods and monsters, that was sort of seperate from the world of mortals, and apart of that was because of the popular myth of how Persephone and a BUNCH of other deities (like Artemis notably) were hanging out with her and having a fun there when Hades opened up the raft from the underworld and kidnapped her. For that reason, Sicily is sacred to Persephone & Demeter (it’s also where my father’s from!). The story around how Demeter and the other gods found out where Persephone was kidnapped is also really interesting. While this was all going down (or around the same time as the search) one of Artemis’s huntresses is getting chased down by this river god, so to save her, Artemis turns Arethusa (the nymph being chased) into a river. And as a river, she seeps into the earth, traveling around underground till she reaches the underworld and see Persephone. She then resurfaces and informs Demeter of what she saw. Also another fun fact, Hecate personally escorts Persephone anytime she leaves/returns to the underworld.

Hermes is really cool, because as the god of travelers there’s this interesting duality/relationship he has with Hestia that isn’t expanded upon much in myths but is probs a really important part of Hellenic culture. Xenia is essentially this code of hospitality the ancient Greeks followed. If you had a home, and a traveler came knocking on your door, you were obligated to take them in and provide them with food and comfort, and in exchange they would provide news and stories from the outside world. It was this guest/host relationship that’s explored in many myths, like a LOT of them. And ofc, Hermes is the good of travelers and Hestia is the goddess of the hearth and home, so there’s this relationship of balancing out with domestic life welcoming those on the move, and I just think that’s really cool.

Eros is so weird to me bc, as a primordial deity, the myth of his creation is just. So wild. Nyx, as a bird, lays an egg in Erebus and apparently that’s like a really intimate and erotic act because Eros is produced out of it. And like I know that isn’t the most insane creation story of the deities but idk. I just think it’s kind of funny.