#certainly not to Paris.

[chqnified]

"we should go on a backpack trip across Europe" ....... Excuse me?!

[gingermintpepper]

“Your hair’s gotten longer.” 

It’s conscious effort that keeps him from tucking the strands behind his ear, from taking the knife at his hip and shearing it all off. He keeps his stance focused, attentive, there’s little else he can do when he’s taken so completely after his mother when it comes to his hair. His father scratches his chin, the clouds of his beard snaking about his finger like mist parting for mountain-peaks. Ares’ chin is still child-smooth. He can feel the tickle of his over-long fringe against his soft jaw. There’s no heart in his chest, but still he feels as though a pulse is lodged in his throat. 

Father sighs, put-upon, disappointed, and Ares feels a slight tremor start in his calves from holding himself so tense. “Well done, Ares. Go clean yourself up and get some rest. Phoebus will want to look you over later.” 

He should be ecstatic to be praised by his father. Over-the-moon with joy. There should be pride emanating from every pore of his body, the blood on his skin should be sweeter than ambrosia. 

Instead, he bows, manages a soft ‘thank you, Father’ around the lump in his throat and immediately flees the room. A mild ‘make sure to trim your hair’ hits the back of his head like a spear through the skull. He almost wishes the great door had slammed on his foot so he would have reason to feel this horrid in his retreat.  

Phoebus Apollo is waiting for him in his infirmary. 

He’s gilded as ever, gold from crown to heel. Perfect like the statues they carve of him in his temples. He has a smile for Ares when he sees him, a crinkle at the edges of his pretty eyes from the weight of his joy. Ares is waiting to see the crack in the marble, to see if that’s the chip that’ll reveal his fangs.

���Brother,” he greets, and his voice is warm - like the arms that embrace him, his voice is so warm, “Welcome back. I’ve heard you’ve done well.”  

There’s a tremble in Ares’ fingers he hadn’t noticed before. Strain from carrying his sword for so many days, a throb from wounds he hadn’t noticed he’d accrued. “Heard? There’s already gossip?” 

Phoebus blinks, disarming, demure, coquettish, “But of course,” and Phoebus’ voice is honey to Ares’ gravel, the juxtaposition is grating on his skin, “It’s Olympus. The gossip began long before you set your course.” Those warm hands lead him further into the room, bodily sits him on the chaise, pulls his helmet from his head. It’s all one, unbroken motion, “It’s summer alas, so I could not watch your war myself, but I hear it was quite the decisive victory.” 

A thousand thoughts run on horseback through his mind then. 

Did Father overhear some terrible slander that pre-emptively disappointed him? Was Ares’ victory merely a rumour, a bet his father hadn’t bothered to take? Was the gossip more enticing than the stark truth? That Ares wasn’t some child toddling about in the shadow of his sister, that his sword and spear weren’t merely for show - he’d think such a thing would warrant celebration. Not -

“Oh my,” Phoebus is in front of him, pleasant warmth more sticky heat with how close he’s pressed himself into Ares’ space. From this angle, Ares can see the multi-coloured flecks of his eyes, like shards of golden glass suspended in ichor. From this angle, with his hand so gently holding his hair, were Ares to blink too hard, he’d swear Phoebus looked just like his mother. “Your hair’s grown long again.” 

He pushes Phoebus off with such force that he bangs into the wall. It’s Phoebus, it won’t make even the impression of a scratch on him, but Ares wishes it would. Wishes he’d hit his shoulder or crack his neck or hit his head just hard enough for all that perfect, gilded gold to bleed. 

“I’m only here for you to heal me,” the tremble in his hand extends to his shoulder now. He flexes and unflexes his palm. Gods what he would give to just have a sword - “Don’t waste time with the pleasant-work.” 

Phoebus huffs, adjusts the fit of his himation, “...Only because we’re meant to be celebrating your victory.” He crosses the room in two great strides, his hair a swirling tempest behind him as he gathers his poultices and wraps. “The only reason I’ll not throw you from the window is because we are meant to be celebrating your victory.”  

There’s not enough acid in his tone for this to truly be a fight. Ares’ jaw clenches, he bites out a terse, “How benevolent.” 

“Aren’t I?” He’s got nectar and his sutures in hand, that focused look falling upon his face when he switches from overbearing busybody to Paeon of the Gods. “Now strip unfaltering Ares, let us see the measure of damage done to your indomitable flesh.” 

(Somewhere between the fifth set of stitches and the gentle frown that crosses Phoebus’ face when he notices the persistent tremble in his fingers, Ares pins his eyes to the far wall and asks, “What does it mean when Father says ‘well done’?” 

Any other sibling would mock before they gave a true response. Any other sibling would laugh and dismiss it, would say that praise is praise and any lingering ill feeling is just the worst of the war still fogging his mind. Phoebus does not answer immediately. He doesn’t make a single sound. The question settles like fetid water between them, unignorable, the scent right there on the tip of the tongue yet firmly unacknowledged. Ares closes his eyes and tries again to settle his squirming so he does not interfere with Phoebus’ work.  The metallic snip of scissors cutting thread breaks the silence. Phoebus bids him to sit up and slides his warm palms up his back until his fingers tangle gently in the ends of his hair. He twists the dark red strands until he’s gathered it all into a neat handful, holding it loosely as he switches his scissors for his shearing blade. “You should know it was not praise,” Phoebus says softly. The first of Ares cut hairs fall like viscera from his head. Phoebus treats each cutting with the sacredness of a blood-sacrifice. If he focused on the moment of tension right before the blade cuts though, Ares thinks he can imagine the agony of his sister’s sacred birth. “It is acknowledgement. Father thinks you’ve done well so he says ‘well done’.”

Gently, Phoebus releases him. Ruffles his head so all the extra hairs fall like red rain to the floor. Ares runs his fingers through the ends now curling against his ear. “Has he ever told you ‘well done’?” 

A laugh, warm and gilded, “No, and it would not make you feel better if he had.” 

Ares swallows down a thousand different questions. Phoebus wouldn’t answer them, he’s infuriating like that. Instead, he clenches his teeth, the phantom of Father’s dizzying tangle of grey cloud-hairs persistent in the corner of his eyes. “Cut it shorter.”

Phoebus doesn’t protest. He never seems to say a word when it really matters.)

[bluespring864]

Our two big fierce rivals with a long amicable chat at practice (during which Nole for some reason felt the need to specify that they are not taking showers together?!)

source: Eurosport Tennis

[ardri-na-bpiteog]

Maybe I'm being boring and No Fun and it's Not That Deep but it's my blog and I can say what I want 😠.

But my whole thing about people on the internet constantly talking about how Paris is so shitty and terrible that it causes psychiatric distress in tourists is that:

The primary reason for it is not that Paris is uniquely awful, it's because Paris is heavily romanticized in media leading some people to have extremely high expectations that are not met when it turns out to be a large city with the typical large city problems.

"Paris syndrome" affects an extremely small number of people and is largely noted in Japanese tourists, who come from a country that is uniquely safe, clean, and orderly. The vast majority of cities in the world are significantly dirtier, more chaotic, and more dangerous than many areas of Japan.

Paris is in the top 10 most visited cities and France as a whole receives the most international tourists of any country in the world. Obviously some experiences are going to be negative, but it's clearly not widespread enough to deter the millions of tourists who visit Paris every year 🤷.

I think if you go to Paris with the realistic expectation that it's a major city with one of the highest population densities in Europe and a metro area population of over 18 million people and will not be a perfect, idealised theme park, you can enjoy the city for what it is.

[wield-the-mighty-pen]

I love you Marinette, but literally what is a normal girl

[violinfantasy]

goated line up for the final

[alwaysalreadyangry]

the fact that renee gladman— renee gladman! — is writing in the paris review about reading lots of lesbian romance novels and how she enjoys fake marriage and shifter plots and also talk of nipples “pebbling” which is one of those uses of words in every fanfic that irrationally annoys me — go off. incredible. can’t wait for her book that is partly a conversation about it romance novels and partly excerpts from her own romance novel.

[transwolvie]

But okay legitimately I saw people dunking on France abt the Seine cleanup and how much it cost and the breaking news abt it still failing those tests for feces.... and they STILL made the poor Olympians swim in it?? It's got doodie in it!

[nicoscheer]

I’m not crying you are crying yes I’m crying

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How is he not freezing to death

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His fucking eyes 🫠

Come on Barbie let’s go party

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Love the leadmill for posting this story like half an hour before Miles went on 🤣 like for a millisecond I was like huh Alex what you doing

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Love love that SETLIST (and the little commentary about the transition songs and especially “commentary”) (also damn sure it ain’t correct cause there are videos of cry on my guitar and never taking me alive so …)

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Okay but like why he looking so pretty in that BeReal like he’s performing live and still it looks like he’s posing fucking model

I am living for all them Maxie pics

INTERSTELLAR DRESSED IN LEATHER DRINKING BITTER BOY

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She has also uploaded a bunch of videos to her Miles Kane highlight

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Miles slowly waking back up at around 1pm 🫶🏽🤣

[astrothii]

the urge to put obi-wan, anakin, and ahsoka as hector/paris/cassandra in any potential iliad/epic-adjacent au verses the urge to put them as athena/odysseus/polites

[pynkhues]

https://x.com/dhampirdulac/status/1849982223048495436

oh I love that. Lestat, the 18 century France' equivalent of a hillbilly

I meannnnn, he is and he's not? His father's still a Marquis, even if they're broke and living rurally (and Lestat as the youngest would be a Lord, but not have the same weighted title as Augustin, his eldest brother, would), which is one of the reasons Lestat takes a different surname in Paris - he doesn't want to be affiliated (or tracked down).

Also as the OP points out, the time period that Lestat's arriving in Paris is basically like, minutes before the French Revolution, so anti-aristocracy / anti-wealth sentiment is on the rise, and Lestat being a jobbing actor (who, importantly, started as a cleaner / ticketer / dresser at Renaud's, which is said in the books at least to be a pretty tiny theatre and deliberately contrasted opposite the prestigious theatres, although who knows if the show will follow that path given Armand's retelling) from the countryside might've actually been less political in the environment that he was in than if he was either Parisian or open about his aristocratic roots.

It's an interesting thing to think about though, and I'm really curious as to whether or not the show goes into it. It's definitely a part of his dynamic with Nicki, who's completely untitled, but much better educated, and I really do think could be an interesting layer to his relationship with Louis too if the show decides to go there.

[gingermintpepper]

Why did Apollo favor the trojans in the Illiad?

So, dear Anon, I've been thinking about how to answer this question since I got it a couple days ago and I think I kind of want to make something clear before I get into it.

The Iliad by itself as a poem only covers some of the events that occur in the final year of a long protracted conflict that had been brewing for at least two decades and was an active war for ten. Within the space of the Iliad itself, the motivations and affairs of the major players are often referenced but there are many, many parts of the story that are not there because they belong to a different story cycle that has been since lost or was never recorded with words. In the space of the Iliad Apollo's motivations are questioned a lot - his pride is questioned by Poseidon who thinks Apollo should be just as angry at the Trojans as he considering Apollo was treated equally as poorly by Laomedon while they worked together. His honour is questioned by Hera who chastises him for taking the Trojans' side when he'd proclaimed that Achilles would live a long life and prosper at Thetis and Peleus' wedding. His own sister calls him a coward for refusing to fight when Zeus gives permission for the gods to go wild on the battlefield. For all that there's this image of Apollo in the Iliad as some staunch and unwavering protector of the Trojans, believe it or not, I largely think of Apollo as neutral in the war.

Which, I suppose, comes back to the question - why did Apollo favour the Trojans? The truthful answer is that I don't know. The Iliad and all its connected stories isn't something I've done enough research on to have an answer or a reference to an answer off the top of my head. The reasoning I'm aware of is that Apollo was a Patron God of Troy and really a god doesn't need any reason besides that to protect his people but it's not like Apollo abandoned the Greeks either. Calchas is the biggest example of that I can point to - descended directly from a priest of Apollo and one who attributed his mantic power to the god, Calchas was pivotal in ensuring the Greeks even got to Troy in the first place.

From a personal perspective however, I think Apollo was more dedicated to the house of Priam than he was the city of Troy itself. Apollo's affection for that house and all its members ran deep - from his admiration of Hecuba and Hector to his love and attempted courtship of Cassandra to his blessings given to Helenus, Deiphobos, Cassandra, Troilus and even his partnership with Paris - Apollo loved the house of Priam. When you think about the times Apollo lashes out against the Greeks, it's generally because they've done some nonsense to earn his ire. The plague was caused by Agamemnon disrespecting his priest, his aid in the slaughter of Patroclus was because he didn't respect him, his minor grudge against Diomedes too was because he tried to test Apollo's mettle and well, the less said about Achilles the better. Apart from his obvious favouring of Hector in the skirmishes, Apollo doesn't really oppose the Greeks. He has a ton of reasons to by the time the Iliad rolls around, including avenging the death of two of his sons, but he remains mostly satisfied with conducting his father's business and overseeing the war from a somewhat professional perspective. To me, it's always been less about Apollo caring about the fate of Troy as a city itself and more about him just really wanting to protect the people in the city that he's come to love and respect.

Of course, I encourage you to take my words with a big tablespoon of salt - like I said, I don't really know enough about the facts in particular to give a solid, confident answer but I can give you my interpretation of it. Maybe consult someone like @littlesparklight for a more comprehensive and grounded response 🤔

[myauditionfordrphil]

Silver ya bronze pe hi kush ho jao, gold nahi aane wala 👍

[phosphorus-noodles]

i finished it.

[sincericida]

ANDREW GARFIELD

with a fan at the Valentino Womenswear Spring/Summer 2024 after party as part of Paris Fashion Week 2023, in Paris, France.

[bitegore]

update: i have decided christian imagery and religious symbolism is okay but only if it's as cool as it is right here.