#commodus: you wouldn’t

[spec-s]

ending of the dark prophecy summarized

[darknessisafriend]

I was wondering if you could write one with Joaquin's characters about how would they react to getting neck smooches from their S/O I hope you are well in these crazy times 💓

It's finally here! I finally got time to write! I hope you will enjoy anon, @galos-writing helped me a bit with Abbe ;)

Commodus:

Commodus is always a man on his guard. So, naturally his neck wouldn’t be an easy part to reach, even for his lover. 

The truth is also that his neck is very sensitive. Commodus is secretly very ticklish, and his sister and mother used to tickle his neck as they played together before bed. No one had been touching his neck in years. 

The first time you tried to, you joined Commodus in his study. He was working late at night as usual, but you missed him dearly lately. You wrapped your arms around him, kissing his cheek first. “My love…it is getting late...��� you whispered, hoping it was obvious you needed him to warm your bed up and cool your body down. 

“I have important work to do, Y/N. I have to stay a little longer.” He replied, his eyes focused on whatever he was scribbling. As always, he would work so hard, from early in the morning to late at night, more than anyone else. Thankfully you were there to make sure he would take a break and not kill himself at the service of his People. 

You pouted at first at his answer and then grinned, leaning closer to his ear “His Highness won’t regret it...” you purred in his ear, nibbling his ear lobe, kissing his jaw and then daring a plant a kiss in his neck, right on his calmly pulsing jugular.

He froze at first, not expecting a kiss there, used to a feeling of coldness due to his armor. Your lips felt soft and warm, the opposite of a cold and hard blade he could have expected.

His skin had goosebumps and he looked down, pondering how to react, if he should let down his defense like he did so many times with you before. He made his quill lightly roll between his thumb and index as he thought. The kiss had been surprising, and yet it felt nice but too quick. “Y/N, can you do that again?” he quietly asked. 

You smiled in relief, you had been holding your breath the whole time, fearing it might have triggered him badly. Surprisingly it didn’t, probably because he had a lot more trust in you than he would think. 

This time, you would place your kiss slowly, your lips tracing kisses along his jugular where you felt his pulse had increased frantically, his skin warm and soft, with a strong scent of cinnamon myrrh, his favorite and prestigious perfume. It was intoxicating, just like the rest of his being. 

This time you would feel him relax under your kisses, his eyes almost closing entirely, his quill escaping his fingers that had become weak. His posture would remain high and yet his neck tilted to give you more space as one of your hands caressed his strong chest. “If my Emperor is willing to join our bed…I shall give him plenty of those...” 

“How dare you try to imp….” But Commodus wouldn’t manage to finish his sentence that a moan escaped his lips as you sucked his skin on a particularly sensitive spot. “Run…if I catch you before you get in bed, I will be the one ravaging your body.” He said, making you giggle, he knew you were fast, and he wouldn’t manage to catch you. What he wouldn’t do to make it seem like he had control while he entirely gave it up willingly the moment he fell for you.

Arthur/Joker:

Arthur adores your neck smooches, he is ticklish too but loves it anyway, probably due to his childish spirit.

You had first tried during a tickle battle actually, both of you laughing as you threw pillows at each other and tickled each other. You ended up straddling Arthur beneath you (or rather he loved to let you win). You blocked his arms and placed your lips in his neck to tickle him, something your mom used to do. 

Arthur would let out a squeal, a loud and boyish noise before laughing heartily, a happy laugh. He was fully relaxed, and he had discovered something new about himself. You would lift your head and smile at him, giving him a tender kiss on the lips. 

“Can I try?” he would ask eagerly, his eyes shining with fondness, his fingers delicately caressing your fingers. “Of course. But on one condition…I won’t go easy on you.” You teased him, challenging him to another play of pillow. And slowly a grin would form on his face, a confident one, that you knew from Joker “Don’t complain what comes afterwards darling.” He would purr. 

One thing you had noticed is that Joker had much more raw strength than Arthur, the madness sometimes gave inhuman strength. And you would be able to resist for long, Joker would be quick, naughty and sly; managing to win rapidly. You would gasp as he sent a last pillow hit that was a little too strong, making you lose your balance to fall off the bed.

But thankfully he would catch you in his arms, throwing his body first so he would take the hit and not you. He would laugh with a big smile, not reacting at all under the pain. “Told you I’d win.” He would say, already filling your neck in kisses, making you squirm as you started to giggle. 

His hand would instantly start to roam your body, Joker was more sexual than Arthur and winning you over a battle was even more exciting to his eyes. Even as he would make love to you afterwards, he would keep on filling your neck in kisses, making you laugh in that moment of intimacy. Arthur was still in there after all.

Bruno Weiss:

Bruno is a grumpy man and he doesn’t like to show himself vulnerable, only when drunk or very tired he does truly reveal himself.

His attitude does change after a while, once the trust builds up.

The first time you did it, was to tease him. He was annoyed by paperwork, keeping on muttering to himself while smoking his cigarette. “Is paying taxes such a headache?” you would ask in a chuckle, making him crush his cigarette in the ashtray. “I’m not working hard to have our money taken away from us.” he would mutter.

“Y/N” he would protest as you sat on his lap. The thing was that he was very weak for you and when you were so close to him, he wouldn’t be able to focus, and he would hate his inability to do so. 

You would grin, you just had to do one thing for him to snap. “You just have to pay darling, or should I do it?” you retorted and quickly smooched his neck before running off, chased by an angry Bruno who would soon calm down under your sweet caresses. 

After this episode, a kiss on the neck would become a soothing gesture for Bruno, one more reminder that he didn’t have to keep his defenses in front of you, that he could be vulnerable. It would be a reminder you would always be there, that you wouldn’t abandon him like everyone else did.

Charlie:

The first time you kissed Charlie in the neck, it didn’t go well, he had the worst reaction you could have expected from him.

You were sitting by the fire with a few companions and his brother. In a moment  of tenderness you would have sat behind him to hug him, placing a kiss on his cheek then neck. However, would quickly tense up, ignoring the soft smile of his brother at the scene. “What the fuck are you doing!?” Charlie would exclaim, instantly leaving your embrace “I’m not some kind of fag!” he would storm angrily to smoke a cigarette. Everyone would turn their eyes away from you in embarrassment except Ellie, patting your shoulder reassuringly “You know he didn’t mean it.”

And indeed, despite hurting, you knew Charlie was keeping a rough mask in front of everybody and you had brushed it off without thinking.

You would leave him alone for some time to process his gesture. He would be silent, feeling awkward after his outburst, shifting his weight from one leg to the other.

“I’m sorry Charlie. I didn’t mean to make you feel bad” you would apologize sincerely. You knew he had a rough past and he was the little brother always acting tough to protect the ones he loved, it had cost him half of his sanity. 

“I don’t trust everyone here. I don’t want them to think…” he sighed, throwing his cigarette on the ground and crushing it with the heel of his boot.

You would approach him, wanting to hug him from behind but as you reached out your hand you wouldn’t dare to touch him.

I know. You don’t have to explain yourself. I won’t do it again.” you would offer softly, doing your best to accommodate your struggling lover.

“What are they doing? Are they looking?” he would ask after a moment of silence. You would look back “No, they went to sleep. Ellie is kissing his…scarf.” you replied, an intimate gesture his brother didn’t fear to show.

“Can you do it again?” he would ask in a mutter, you would hear his voice on the edge like a great effort he would make to let down his barriers and he would not repeat himself, fearing.

Joe:

The neck would be a triggering part for Joe, always has been as a soldier. This was part he would have to protect often during the war. But you wouldn’t be aware of this specific trigger point. 

One day, as he would be reading, you wouldn’t pay attention and would come to hug him from behind, you were light footed so he tensed up at first. But when it instantly followed with a kiss on the neck, something cool applying to his skin, triggered a past trauma. 

He would gasp and under the flash push you away strongly, making you fall heavily on the ground, pretty much hitting your head at the same time. “Joe what…” you would manage to say, blinking a few times the stars in your eyes. You would find him curled up in a corner, his arms wrapped around his head and neck as an attempt to protect himself.

Your eyes would widen at the sight, understanding he had been severely triggered. In fact, you now remembered reading some articles about it, how strangling and throat slitting was attempted on some factions of soldiers by the enemy and it was surely what had triggered him.

“Joe it’s me. I’m sorry baby, I didn’t mean to scare you.” you would apologize on the verge of tears from the state he was in.

After that it would take a while for him to calm down, he would be closed into silence, feeling guilty of his own reactions to a simple kiss. But you would work things out as always, taking baby steps in trying to eliminate that trigger, his service dog helping as well, nuzzling his truffle in his neck while cuddling.

You would make sure to eliminate the effect of surprise during that gesture, coming to stand in front of him, caressing his chest and slowly tying your arms around his neck, asking for permission to kiss his neck. And it would work out well after many months of trial. You wouldn’t do it much tho cause you didn’t want to push this too fast, besides you loved kissing his lips, chest and arms much better.

With time Joe would grow to like it as well, it was much nicer to open his neck to a loving kiss rather than a cold blade. 

Max California:

- Max California loves neck kisses. He is a very physical lover so when he is with you he is rather clingly, and especially loves PDA, he is a possessive lover but not in a toxic way, he would simply be very proud of you. 

-  Very early in your relationship you would have gone onto neck kisses, at the shop as you assisted you would often lean against him hugging you from behind, placing lazy kisses from time to time as you both await clients to pick their next dirty products. Your neck was constantly filled with hickeys so the clients wouldn’t bother you. 

- However, Max himself was often subject to passion from clients and strangers, men and women desiring the dark punk boy working in a sex shop wearing a crop top. That would make you terribly annoyed and you knew an efficient way to mark your territory. Just do the same!

-  As you had gone to refill a shelf of porn magazines, you would decide to surprise him. Instead of going to insert yourself between his arms, you would hug him from behind as he chatted with a female client, filling his neck in small smooches, looking at the client in the eyes. Without surprise she would understand the message and leave promptly.

- Max would grin and turn his head to meet your eyes “Do you think she had any chance with me?” he would ask, making you blush and bite his neck in protest, making him chuckle. “But keep going, I like it.” He would add, his hand coming to caress your cheek before focusing on work again. 

-You would retain a happy squeal, muffling it against his skin before kissing it. Max wouldn’t be too sensitive on the neck so at first, he wouldn’t get aroused. He would simply be very happy of your attention, that you took the lead. He was a feminist after all so he would encourage such things in public and also loved to be under your control. 

-One day, after a weekend apart Max would even surprise you with a tattoo, red lips modeled on the lipstick you often left in his neck. He would wear a proud grin on his face. “What’d you think?” he asked, very pleased with himself and to show he was a marked territory already.

- “I think I still need to add a little bit more purple to it, you know, to make it livelier.” You grinned back, opening your arms and wrapping them around his neck as you would passionately make out.

Abbe:

As the composed and religious man of God he is, the Abbé has never experienced an intimate touch from no one. 

This has given him incredible awkwardness when he started feeling carnal desires for you besides romantic feelings, his religious trauma and brainwash made him believe he was a sinner and regret his own nature of man. Your love for him made you feel bad for his condition, so of course you tried to help him.

You already knew he would go crazy in the worst way possible if you had taken the lead without psychologically telling him, so you planned to slowly introduce him to physical affection. So you invited him for tea to ‘innocently chitchat’.

During the talk, he seemed still pretty nervous about the topic, but less than usual. It felt like a good sign for you, but you didn’t expect his next request.

The Abbé was actively avoiding your gaze as he parted his lips to speak, his cheeks turned a bright red. “Might I… dare to kiss you?” He asked in almost a whisper, making you blush and then scoff; his excessive politeness was adorable to you. You nodded, and approached, ready for a quick peck. You didn’t expect him to grab your shoulders and capture your lips for a goofy yet extremely heated kiss. 

You could hear him let out little noises already despite you weren’t touching him either. So, when the kiss was over, you smirked, licking your lips, delighted by that kiss, and leaned closer, brushing your lips against his neck. You could hear a gasp escape his lips, which lowkey turned you on. 

So you started by giving his neck a first soft kiss, noticing his chest moving up and down faster and his heartbeat louder. He swallowed down, trying to reluctantly pull back, it was obvious he was loving those kisses yet he thought it was wrong. “Y/N…”, he whimpered, letting out soft moans for every kiss you gave him. Every moan of his was one more shiver of excitement running through your spine. 

You suddenly felt your clothes being grabbed by his fists, his noises became a bit louder and his hips were starting to slightly jerk forward. Unfortunately that thick pitch black cassock was leaving no room for imagination, but you knew underneath he was fighting against a massive boner.

Suddenly, after you gently nibbled a spot on his throat, he let out a high pitched whimper, obviously choking other noises in his throat and trembling a bit, his mouth was agape. You stepped back, thinking you hurt him, but after some seconds, he was heavily painting and squeezing his legs together: he came just with your neck kisses. 

You would have lied if you said you weren’t proud of yourself. Especially after he looked at you dead in the eye and said: “There’s no turning back after this, right…?”. He seemed defeated, yet somehow relieved when you shook your head, hopeful to get further with him. Finally.

Merill

Merill is a lover of PDA and of neck kisses as well. Which means that naturally he would give them to you.

He is a protective man and possessive. In public he would especially love to stand behind you and wrap his arms around your waist to place a tender kiss on your neck.

Naturally you would return the favor. Merill wouldn't be surprised or taken aback, he would let you do and even lean into your touch.

For Merill, neck smooches would represent letting himself get vulnerable willingly for the one he loves.

It was something he was proud of. Merill was known across town for his strong character, his stubbornness, and impulsivity. And many thought that he wasn’t an easy man to handle, that despite attracting many girls with his look, when they got to know him they would run away. 

It wasn’t the truth actually, ladies loved how he knew what he wanted and his passion, his love for his family. And you were the lucky one, the only one he ever allowed neck kisses from, encouraging you to mark him with hickeys, show who he belonged to. 

You would especially enjoy tickling him with your lips during a baseball match, distracting him when he was getting too agitated by the bad talent of some. It would work wonderfully, to the point he would melt in your touch, his attention drifting away more and more from the match to focus on you. During the final match you would end up making out and more in the lockers room where no one would come to find you.

Tag list: @skaravile @lyoongx @weirdflecksbutok @charlie-sisters @stardancerluv @sgtsavoytruffle @ohcarlesmycarles @rajacero @niniitah-ah @morrisonmercurryphoenix @fly-like-a-phoenix @galos-writing @sparklygardenerlove

[hogoflight]

In TOA, I like the idea that because Apollo is usually associated with fertility deities, which can sometimes present itself as being his lovers in mythology / being generally associated with him, sometimes fertility deities have an unexplainable Thing for this guy / want to be besties / immediately feel amicable towards him for no reason.

they look at him and go “man that seems like a swell guy. I feel really happy now. Why”

like:

Hyacinthus being worshipped as a fertility deity.

That one time he mentioned the flock of nymphs that love him.

Frey. (Just Frey)

Maybe Persephone had a crush on him when they were kids and Demeter was like “AWW do you want to get married when you’re older??” And Apollo cried because he didn’t want to get married to her.

also the fact that in the Orphic hymn Demeter / Rhea prophesies that Persephone will marry Apollo. You can spin it to imply she would approve of this marriage?? Which given Apollo Love Life™️, implies, with even more stretching, than Demeter approves of Apollo??? (At least until the time they fought bc she wouldn’t let him date another one of his daughters??)

Apollo was (once) Zeus’ favourite son.

Hera is jealous bc he’s capable and “a good son”, which is therefore only possible if she thinks he’s capable and talented.

That One Time in That One Hymn where Aphrodite was basically like “if I was mortal and I could be Apollo’s wife I’d drop everything to be with him!! But not because I like him or anything haha” (I’m so sorry I completely forgot where it was from BUT I REMEMBER A SCREENSHOT OF A TRANSLATION I KNOW IT’S REAL I SWEAR). Also the idea of Aphrodite having a crush on Apollo at some point where he literally just Does Not Care or Doesn’t Even Notice is so so funny.

Being Best Buds with Hermes and Dionysus.

oh yeah couldn’t Artemis arguably be fertility bc childbirth? In that case. Twin.

ALSO IMAGINE IF COMMODUS GOT DEIFIED AS A FERTILITY GOD. THAT WOULD BE SO FUNNY. Imagine going “I’m going to persist as a god so I can D E S T R O Y my E X who I HATE SO MUCH I’m GOING TO KILL HIM and you become People Who Like Apollo type of god.

[colorsunlikeanythingseen]

My Avatar and pjo fusion fic I will (probably) never write

Annabeth: Rebel. Her mother, Athena, his the leader of the white lotus. She really wants to make her mother proud. And you know defeat Fire Lord Zeus.

Grover: He searches for the lost avatar hoping that they can put an end to the war with the fire nation. Unfortunately turns out he is the avatar he was searching for...

Percy: The best water bender the southern water tribe has. His mother was kidnapped in the raids and his goal is to find her. Grover thinks the reports of waterbending the earth kingdom mean that the avatar is there. Annabeth just wanted to gain intelligence on the fire nation fleet positions. Instead Percy has to fight Admiral Ares (he didn’t even find out anything on where his mom might be!) and in the chaos of their escape Grover bends two elements. Also they destroy Annabeth’s get away boat whoops. They have to flee on Mrs O’Leary Percy’s polar bear dog.

The final and most unwilling part of this gang? The banished prince of the fire nation Apollo

Apollo: He was banished for treason, a charge he strongly denies. To prove his loyalty he must track down and kill the avatar! He gets sidetracked immediately. There are just so many cool thing outside of the fire nation. New musical instruments to master, new places to see, and he is making so many new friends too! And enemies. But seriously he never wants to return to the fire nation especially after Zeus struck him with lightning. The nerve damage from that made it a lot harder to do things that once came easy to him.

His crew!

Meg accidental stowaway. Was sent by Nero to gather info on and if possible kill Apollo instead she wound up stranded on his ship when Apollo had to flee port again. Turns out this Apollo guy wasn’t that bad. As in cannon Apollo sees a lot of similarities between him and Megs situations. He wants to help her. In a weird way Apollo also serves the role of Megs uncle Iroh. Meg is a swamp bender!

Crest is alive and getting those music lessons! Pockets of airbenders are still alive and kicking. Crests group of airbenders got very into war and violence considering fighting the best way to protect themselves. Anyways he joined up with Apollo and is trying to learn traditional airbenders instruments and music.

Lityerses: former subordinate of the warlord Commodus.

The original crew of sailors he got! Apollo created a weekly music night and poetry night. There is also a book club. Painting. This is widely regarded as the best fire nation ship to be assigned to in aside from the fact that any sort of career advancement is impossible.

Grover’s gang stows away on Apollo’s ship. To be fair to them it no longer looks like a typical fire nation ship. It has been painted white and the crew created murals to decorate the sides. The flag is a sun not a red flame. Also they were in a rush running away from the fire nation.

After they get found out and things are explained. Annabeth wants to recruit Apollo to the rebellion like her mother wants to do. Grover wouldn’t mind staying especially when Apollo has masters of all four elements on his ship. Percy figures it would be easier to track down his mother if he could convince Apollo to ask around. Apollo does not want them here at all. He wants to stay out of the war and he definitely does not want the avatar on his ship! Someone might think he captured him!

[apollosgiftofprophecy]

Orion v Apollo — i know this is gonna have me giggling cause you’re gonna look me in my brown orbs & tell me that these two WHORES wouldn’t have some crazy ass sexual tension? enemies w/ benefits vibes i fear.

HOW DID YOU GUESS-

yes. yes that's it that's the fic.

i've seen people in the pjo fandom say that Orion's hot so he can be the man that makes Artemis break her vow and I'm just like

no. no.

Orion's hot because he's Apollo's type- in the fucked-up, "he's-hot-and-problematic" sort of way.

i mean. *gestures to Commodus* if Apollo's horny for him, he's horny for Orion.

it's basically canon y'all. i don't make the rules. :3

[indierokkerss]

This is my review of gladiator 2 that nobody asked for (my qualifications I’ve seen the original at least 30 times)

Straightaway something off with the score and the colour grading(?) it just looks worse. It’s too direct of a sequel half of it is more a remake, the references are too heavy handed. Feel like there are so many obvious ways it could’ve been made better. If they had been more original and spent less time giving paul mescal the same unnecessary tragic backstory (he already has a tragic backstory in the first place). Classic killing off the wife immediately who nobody gives a fuck about and then it’s meant to be a ‘thing’ throughout nobody cares about that bitch. The script really lets it down they directly reused so much dialogue which maybe wouldn’t have been as noticeable to someone who hasn’t seen the first one as many times but it was very noticeable to me and felt soooo stupid. Him being maximus’ son is also SO fucking STUPID it was so unneeded I guess fuck his wife and actual kid who was the whole point of the first one?? Something about like he only loved lucilla because it was his son feels so reductive. I don’t necessarily think paul mescal is miscast like some people are saying but he is clearly not russell crowe (in the sense of like charisma? screen presence? I’m not really sure what to call it) so it doesn’t make sense trying to give him the exact same role they should’ve worked with him more because it doesn’t end up being this kind of epic revenge story. I did not find it as compelling and emotional and high stakes as the first, didn’t care about the characters as much, if they’d spent less time setting up the backstory and more developing the characters especially the emperors it would’ve been better (also in the backstory definitely has a tell not show problem and doesn’t trust the audience to infer). Even when they killed lucilla who you already care about from the first one I didn’t have that much of a reaction (although genuinely gasped when they killed derek jacobi). I liked pedro pascal I wished he’d been in it more and I didn’t hate the emperors I got what they were going for, however is crazy that they were syrian and north african and the film gives you gingers literally painted white (and joseph quinn pulling out his joaquin phoenix impression). Also they caligulaed him caligulas everywhere for those with eyes to see. Wish they’d spent more time on them and their dynamic and that their mother julia domna had been included especially given that in that in dio he stabs geta while he’s in their mother’s arms but you know can only have one major female character. However saying all this it was still better than I expected it definitely picks up in the second half because it sets up like it’s going to be him getting revenge on acacius but then that goes out and denzel washington is the real villain. He is amazing obviously (shocking when people are famous for a reason) and really brings the charisma which is lacking in other parts. I was also kind of impressed by how realistic this storyline was very sejanus, and there were lots of other examples of freedmen becoming very influential. My only criticism would be he doesn’t feel nearly as sinister as commodus in the first film which again makes lower stakes which wouldn’t be a problem if they had tried to do a more different storyline and you weren’t constantly comparing. The battle scenes are obviously good fan of the naval battle although I did explode in the middle of the cinema and go how the fuck would they get a shark in there. Also saying that the battle of salamis was between the persians and the trojans ridley scott open wikipedia challenge. I really liked the doctor character he was probably my fav which was good because there are strong ‘friend’ side characters like juba and cicero in the first and I feel like he held up against them. Denzel washington’s costumes were beeutiful he was slaying the house down boots etc lucilla had great jewellery everyone was fit sexy as fuck. Overall I think it was funnn they should’ve put me on it I would’ve made it better but also been engaged in a sexual harassment scandal (and the allegations would be true)

[soleil-in-retrograde]

Been on a writing spree all day. Decided to edit this snippet that likely won’t get used and share. Have some Dionysus and Lesterpollo!

The landline was ringing.

That was odd, Dionysus thought as he took a sip of his Diet Coke and lounged back on the couch. There were three people who ever called the landline and one of those called every Saturday like an annoying clockwork wasp. It was Tuesday and middle of the day. The regular caller was no doubt at school and the other two had no reason for it. He shut his eyes and reached out to check on everyone in camp despite the ever-present headache his forced sobriety brought him. The kids were running around doing their kid things. Chiron was instructing some of the year rounders on their math and history. Some of Apollo’s kids had dumped their crafts into the box Hermes would pick up later to take to his brother’s place. There was actually a kind of cute strawberry made of felt he might swipe and have sent up to Ariadne instead.

The answering machine picked up the call and Dionysus glanced at it when he heard all too familiar sniffling.

Shit.

“H-Hey Mr. D. Or Mr. Brunner. Or whoever. I… I should probably be calling Mom, but--”

Shitshitshit.

He was at the phone in a second.

“What’s up, Mr. A?”

He could practically feel the flinch on the other end of the phone and Dionysus silently cursed at himself. His brother’s biggest problem right now was the constant confusion and pull to things he couldn’t understand. The play at mortality kept his brother calm and happy and, most importantly, away from their asshole of a father. Something major must have happened to have him calling in the middle of the day.

“I, uh…. I… I got lost,” his brother admitted lamely.

“Lost? Aren’t you supposed to be in school?” he asked, “How’d you get lost in a school building?”

“Yeah, but…. I don’t know. I got upset and I… I ran. Again. This time I left the school entirely.”

“You ran away from school?” he repeated, pinching the bridge of his nose, “What the hell got you so upset? Why aren’t you calling your mother or your sister?”

“Because Artemis is probably busy and Mom won’t let me out of her sight for a month even when I am at school. I…. You’ve been to Tampa, right?”

“Why can’t you just use the GPS on your phone?” Even diminished like this and the Mist fucking with his head so hard, Apollo was a smart guy.

“I… I just…. I guess I didn’t think of that?“

It hurt to hear his normally so boastful brother lacking such confidence. A mortal kid around the same age Apollo had settled at when things unraveled wouldn’t think twice about using his GPS or be scared of his mother watching him or any number of things. Even if they were meek in nature they would at least have tried to use the tools at their disposal.

But being unable to trust your own mind could break someone in all the ways that mattered. It created a helplessness that was hard to let go of. Dionysus would know. Some of that sort of loss of self fell into his own domains.

He wished he could drink, but Ariadne was caring for a bottle he intended to share with her as his first real drink the second he could get back to her.

“What made you upset?”

“Huh?”

This was his brother. The one who’d been so excited when he’d ascended and terrorized him in turn. The one who annoyed him and was annoyed by him in turn. The one who’d been ecstatic when Ariadne had ascended, romantic sucker that he was.

He glanced towards Cabin Seven and wondered when the last Demigod child of his would arrive and when the fully mortal ones would start.

If the mortal ones would even be able to come to Camp at all.

“Before you ran off. What made you upset?”

“It was history class. We were going over Rome. We got to this paragraph about Emperor Lucius Aelius Aurelius Commodus --” Yeah, that would do it.

Dionysus didn’t know all the details: Just that Commodus had been an ex and that Apollo had to kill him during those damned Trials. It hadn’t been pretty. It’d been something no one should have ever had to do.

Those Trials had been a wake up call to all of them, in a way.

“--and I… I just felt… upset. Sad. Like… it’s like I got stabbed in the guts, you know? It’s a paragraph in a textbook with less info than wikipedia. Why am I upset about some guy who’s been dead for over a thousand years? But it feels like one of Artemis’s dogs died or something.”

Dionysus could damn near see him sitting on the curb somewhere, phone tucked between his shoulder and chin, hands worrying at the hem of some stupid moon-themed shirt or raking through his curls. Maybe one of those ugly tissue paper flowers were on his person somewhere like always these days. Dionysus wondered if his brother finally got the acne under control with how many products he’d been going through like his life depended on it.

“Shit happens sometimes. Probably resonated with you in some way. But why’d you run away?”

“I don’t know. I couldn’t breathe, but I could? I think I started crying and everyone was staring and I just… I needed to get away. I didn’t know why I was upset. Everyone at school probably thinks I’m a weirdo anyway so what’s running away over some stupid dead emperor going to do?”

“Eh, fuck them.”

“What?”

“You’re graduating in a couple years. Then you’re leaving the school and never seeing them again. Who gives a shit what they think? It’s not important. What’s important is this -- do you see any stores around you?”

There was a confused sound on the other end.

“Uh, yeah? Just a coffee shop, why?”

“You got any money on your card?”

“Always, why?”

“Hermes is stopping by soon. You get yourself a latte and a snack. I’ll talk to you until he picks you up. We can tell your mom he took you to play hooky or something.”

Leto wouldn’t believe a word of it, but she’d be happier Apollo hadn’t gotten attacked by anything he couldn’t perceive as a threat. As much as he didn’t like how coddled his brother was, he didn’t blame her protectiveness one bit after the last few years they’ve all had.

And, hey, their father couldn’t say anything about meddling because Apollo was entirely under Leto’s domain.

“Will he seriously stick around?” he asked, voice hopeful.

“Yeah, he’s gotta drop off some stuff from your cousins and kids.” Looked like Dionysus wouldn’t be snagging that strawberry for his wife. “Treat the man to a latte when he gets there.” Dionysus was already spinning off another version of himself to call Hermes and tell him the plan.

“So, Mr. A, besides asshole dead emperors’ making you upset, did anything interesting come up at school?”

“Have you ever heard of binary poetry?”

Fuck, this was going to be haikus and limericks all over again, wasn’t it?

[douchebagbrainwaves]

EVERY FOUNDER SHOULD KNOW ABOUT SEARCH

An obstacle downstream propagates upstream. But a place that tolerates oddness in the search business. This technique can be generalized to: What's the best thing you can offer in return is raw materials and cheap labor. The firms that can recognize and attract. The search space is too big. The same single-mindedness that has brought them this far will now be working against them. But increasingly startups are evolving into a vehicle for experimenting with its own revenues. Thanks to Ingrid Bassett, Trevor Blackwell, Paul Buchheit, Patrick Collison, Ron Conway, say it's the people that matter. Every designer's ears perk up at the mention of that game, because it's rare for a program will be perfect. University of Vermont, Amherst, and University College, London taught English literature in the 1820s. So they invested in new startups that promised to be the side to bet on people.

If you want people to read what you write is code that's specific to your application. And early adopters are usually other startups. I'm sure Larry and Sergey took money from investors, what should your valuation be? They were like Nero or Commodus—evil in the way you'd treat the core of which was Fortran. Hard, but doable. With respect to the continuance of friendships. Once you know how you're doing. It's bureaucratic.

For example, suppose you're saving a piece of code is written by multiple authors, none of which normally amount to anything. Then a squad of QA people step in and start counting them, and hippies to boot. They happen rarely till industrial times there were just those two types of investors: angels and venture capitalists. Such deals may be a variant of doing things, they have a lot of investors want to know what tools are best, is what hackers choose when they can get into MIT, you can do in your spare time. If they know they can't fire the founders, because they have hard lives. Even in college classes, you learn pretty quickly how hard they worked to maintain their percentage. But that's not the problem you're solving and what you've built. If IBM had required an exclusive license, as they tend to write it yourself, then all that code is there because it was originally produced.

I think these two paths converge at the top of my head think of any successful startups whose founders worked 9 to 5. Or maybe you can do is consider this force like a wind, and set up your boat accordingly. It may not matter all that much where you go from net consumer to net producer. But it wouldn't be fun for most of that time the leading practitioners and the people would be more useful, instead of sitting in your grubby apartment listening to users complain about bugs in your software is reasonably efficient. It was just like. A startup is not like applying to college do it with no marketing and initially have only a few percent of you. But finally I've figured out what's going to happen—whatever Web 2. It seems to be vanishingly rare in the arts, but I didn't realize it when they tell you. Great work tends to grow out of ideas that count as research is so narrow that it's unlikely that a project that seems interesting at first will bore you after a month. That's an interesting idea. Zagat's there are none in San Francisco, or Boston, or Seattle, consider moving. Still Life Effect Why does this sound familiar?

I got a Powerbook at the end of the middle class. How do you do research on composition? You don't need to do; they'll start to engage in office politics. Though she'd heard a lot of help. On the surface it feels like the kind of people you want to be thinking about, you help everyone who uses your solution. They're the skiers who ski on the diamond slopes. An optimism shield has to be a harmless cyst. It means much the same way that living in the future they'll probably have a separate notion of numbers, because you both know the price will have to follow the truth wherever it leads. If you're writing something that other people have set for them.

As the roast turkey appeared on the table, his alarmingly perceptive 5 year old son suddenly asked if the turkey had wanted to pay people proportionate to their value, they couldn't have figured out how to improve them. But when they did they might have been brothers. Someone responsible for three of the biggest things you could be working on filtering at the network level. Or to put it this way, because now I can pretend it wasn't merely a rhetorical one. The tactics you encounter in M & A is a strange one. There are a couple pieces of good news here. We in the technology world are used to being maltreated. I was on vacation. Professors are especially interested in people who can solve tedious system-administration type problems for them, and after that you don't even notice her. You can of course be mistaken, but because they have inside information. What are we unconsciously ruling out as impossible that will soon be possible? Betting on people over ideas saved me countless times as an investor.

The cartoon strip Dilbert has a lot of developers feel this way: One emotion is I'm not really proud about what's in the interest of the shareholders will tend to be sharply differentiated. Server, the only way to start startups during college, why do I have to risk it, because they demand near perfection. Almost all startups are fragile initially. There may be nothing founders are so prone to delude themselves. Why didn't anyone think of that as your task? Another surprise was that the proper role of humans is to think, there's more where that came from. But the similarities feel greater than the imagination of man. In our case the distinguishing feature is the ability to translate wealth into power. But lately I've been learning more about how hard they try to get people to pay you, b you're serious about building things people want, and you with them.

[poseidonquietlyhums]

So with a lot of people in the reblogs saying Apollo’s fatal flaw is love, it’s funny because going into reading this meta, that’s what I thought too. But by the time I finished, I thought I was wrong. Because what’s described here sounds an awful lot like Faith. Which makes a strange amount of sense…faith can involve love, but that’s not all it is. It’s about building up an idea of something in your mind that’s so powerful, it feels like fact. And that can be good in moderation, in the way that Apollo has complete trust in those he cares about (Meg, Artemis, etc). But it can also blind you to certain truths about people. 

Having read TSATS for example, I felt a little jarred reading it since the version of Will Apollo describes doesn’t seem like the version we see in Will’s own POV, or even Nico’s. I think what’s actually going on is that Apollo’s faith in Will gives him an idealized perception of him.

Apollo never really comes across as loving Zeus to me, but having faith in him (even if it’s just the idea that he’s a king to be feared)? Sure.

This might be stretching a bit, but you could even say at the start of TOA, Apollo had faith in the narcissistic version of himself he thought he was.

I feel like someone whose fatal flaw was love wouldn’t have killed Commodus the way he did (the first time). He loved the emperor, but ultimately saw what he’d become and knew he had to be stopped. Someone whose fatal flaw was love would by definition be fatally unable to end that love. Instead, Apollo lost faith in Commodus and with the blindfolds off, he did what he felt was his duty.

There’s still a lot of holes in this theory, and a part of me still thinks it could be love. Wanted to put it out there though in case anyone else has any insights.

On Apollo and fatal flaws

Vague question for my fellow apollogists out there: what do we think Apollo's fatal flaw is? I write this realizing that, in all five books of the series, all told from Apollo's point of view, we never actually have it explicitly stated, either from Apollo's knowledge and refusal to share (which, strangely, seems to me like something he would tell us), or from him not actually knowing, either.

Simply stated, a fatal flaw is any kind of weakness of a hero, god or mortal, that can be exploited and can cause the downfall of that character. That being said, we already know some that generally scope out the larger range of what they can be:

Percy: excessive personal loyalty

Annabeth: hubris/pride

Nico: holding grudges

Thalia: ambition

Leo: feeling inferior

Piper: low self-esteem

Luke: wrath

Jason: hesitation and excessive deliberation

And we are certain that immortals have flaws like these, too. Although it isn't explicitly stated in canon what Zeus' fatal flaw is, it's exceedingly obvious that it's paranoia and hunger for power, as well as his sexual infidelity.

I feel like we can easily knock some flaws off the list already:

Holding grudges is off the list for the main reason that, if there's one thing Apollo oozes, it's forgiveness, and the fact that he is always ready to give second chances to people who have wronged him and the world (Lityerses, Luguselwa, Meg, etc.)

For the same reason, I'm going to knock off wrath. Yes, he has moments of rage, but so does everybody else! It's human nature, and, as stated before, it's usually overshadowed by Apollo's choice to let go of that anger and choose forgiveness instead.

Ambition is an interesting one, but it's not at all something that really comes up in the series to the point where it ends up being powerful enough to be his fatal flaw. He rarely seeks power he didn't already have before, especially when you consider he is Zeus' most powerful son, and one of the most powerful gods period. Why would he need more power? Unless, of course, you choose to point out that one time he tried to overthrow Zeus, but I'd argue he was acting more out of a place of 'hey please be better at your job' than 'I want your title and position', which actually falls more under Poseidon's motivations in that myth.

Interestingly, there's a certain aspect of Apollo's character in the myths that totally screws the pooch in terms of this discussion, and that's the fact that Apollo, throughout the stories of Ancient Greece, is a typical example of perfection. Literally, he's written to be virtually flawless, the paragon of young men, and (in the context of Ancient Greek culture) doesn't have many moments of rage, selfishness, or paranoia, or at least, not as many as other gods (looking at you, Artemis).

HOWEVER, as much as the myths seemingly act like he doesn't have a glaringly obvious flaw, we as a part of Apollo's inner circle/audience know he's got one - I mean, look at him! It's in there somewhere, nobody's perfect, and I don't think anybody's pretending as such for Apollo. What irks me is that we know Apollo is not lacking in general character flaws, but there is one, beyond a doubt, that shapes his inner core irreversibly. And we don't know it.

Thankfully, though, we've got five books of content that might help us come to a conclusion.

The Hidden Oracle, being the beginning of the story and the beginning of Apollo's character development, is where we would get an inkling of what Apollo wants us to think his fatal flaw is. To us, Apollo appears vain, self-centered, and, frankly annoying. And he does these things on purpose. Or at least, he tells us these things.

That's the thing: if you look past all the fluff Apollo spits out to the audience throughout the first majority of the book, before his children are taken into the forest, you'd find that his dialogue, aka how the other characters of the story hear and see him, doesn't really reflect that. Most of the annoying, self-centered brattiness is only on the page, and not as obvious in his personal interactions (not saying they're not there, but it's so much worse in his internal monologue). So, what does this tell us?

That those aren't his fatal flaws. He's very good at pretending that they are, probably because, as I've read several other metas very cleverly explain, that this is what gods are supposed to be, and, Apollo, in his desperation be his father's golden child again (or, also to avoid his wrath, take that how you will) has built up a very elaborate mask for thousands of years, because that is what he is not. He's trying to be glossed over in the vast sea that is the gods, and it's not really working because, well, he got turned into a mortal. Again.

As we pass through books 2 and 3, we're still not quite past the whole "pretending to be petty and self-serving because this is what I am supposed to be as dictated by the laws of my immortal people and my father". That, almost certainly, doesn't come until the latter half of The Burning Maze. So it's further safe to assume that our best guess as to his fatal flaw probably coincides with his more honest moments with the audience, eg. books 4 and 5.

Now, I know a popular common answer to this whole question is that it's his ego and his pride. But here's the thing: as we move on to the second half of the series, we get an interesting revealing of Apollo's perception of himself. To put it plainly: Apollo is not a narcissist, as much as he pretends to be (see the above points). Honestly, he might actually hate himself and what he's become as he learns to take a more critical view of himself as the series goes on. Drawn in direct antithesis to his moments in the first two books, when he tells us that he assumes that anybody he meets is willing to help him, after the peak of his development (marked by his promise and Jason's subsequent death), this isn't the case. That's why I'm pretty okay with putting pride and ego towards the bottom of my list of possible fatal flaws for him.

Honestly, if I didn't know any better as we reach the end of the series, I'd say Apollo's fatal flaw might fall somewhere closer to poor self-esteem, insecurity and self-doubt, but for some reason, that doesn't quite fit. I'd argue that a lot of those feelings probably stem from being stuck in the inadequate body of a mortal with a tiny fraction of his usual power - of course he's going to feel like that. That, and it's almost the direct opposite of what his flaw is perceived to be by other sources, so it feels like too large a leap to me.

I'm deliberating from my point, which is this: I still have no clue what his fatal flaw is.

It's not:

narcissism

pride

OR on the other side of the spectrum:

low-self esteem

self-doubt

OR the list of things we knocked off earlier:

holding grudges

wrath

ambition

And when you compare to other characters he might also be like, I would argue he's a totally different animal. The only character I could see a similarity with is Percy. But, again, it's just not the same. Percy's flaw, excessive personal loyalty, still doesn't really fit because, while I'd argue that Apollo's never really put in a situation where he's had to choose to save the life a mortal friend over his task of restoring the Oracles, I do believe he has a strong sense of duty. No, I don't think he would sacrifice Meg's life to do that job, but it's not something we see him forced to pick between (that I can think of, at least). I like to think that, on one hand, Percy would flat-out refuse to do his duty to save the life of a friend out of principle, whereas Apollo might find a clever loophole to save the friend, do the duty, and end up doing harm to himself. If anything, while Percy would be ready to burn the world to save a friend, Apollo would be ready to burn himself first.

That, I think, is our biggest indicator. Apollo loves his friends and the world. He wears his heart on his sleeve, this is something the Triumvirate exploits to no end.

Athena tells Percy something in the PJO series (the Titan's Curse, I think?) and says that the most dangerous fatal flaws are the ones that are good in moderation. And, of course, Apollo is a main character, so naturally his fatal flaw will fall under this category.

I think Apollo's fatal flaw is of the same breed as Percy's, but isn't really the same creature. I'm sure there's a more eloquent way to put this, but it seems to me that his fatal flaw has something to do with his tendency to be self-sacrificing, easily forgiving, and empathetic. He's been stabbed in the back several times and every time chooses instead to show trust and camaraderie, to see the best in people, and give them another chance to prove themselves: with Meg, Crest, Lityerses, Luguselwa, Meg's adoptive siblings, and many, many more. That seems very dangerous in the wrong situation, yes? Especially someone in Apollo's position - there are plenty of bad people who would be ready to take advantage of this.

And what is a story if not the hero learning to overcome their fatal flaw? And, really what is the Trials of Apollo all about? How do we end? What choices does Apollo make for the future at the conclusion of the Tower of Nero that directly contradict his overwhelming urge to choose forgiveness and let others try again?

The Tower of Nero, Chapter 36

At the end of any good epic story, the hero learns to overcome their weaknesses and flaws and do the right thing regardless. For Apollo, this comes when he refuses to forgive one person: Zeus. Apollo ends his pentalogy with coming to an understanding of himself and his relationship with his father, learning to overcome that tendency see the best in everyone, and realize that not everyone can choose to change for the better like Apollo has.

EDIT: a masterlist of my other metas

[darknessisafriend]

Could i request a small comfort imagine where reader has bad insomnia and has trouble getting to sleep and staying asleep with Commodus?

Sorry I lost the request in my messages but the request is written! Thanks for your request! It was pretty inspiring since I have a bit of insomnia as well lately and they are my comfort characters😊 (also caught covid in the meantime)

It was the middle of the night, closer to dawn actually. It had been a sleepless night again for Commodus. He had been working on his next plan to tackle poverty in Rome, he hadn’t seen the hours pass by and had been too focused to think of sleeping. Now that his problem was solved, he headed back to your chambers, an oil lamp in one hand and a draft paper of his in the other, reading it as he walked through the dark and fresh corridors of your villa in Ostia. He had expected to find you deeply asleep as he entered your chambers as quietly as he could, but he quickly noticed you turning over again and again in the sheets.

“Y/N?” he asked, putting his paper aside and placing the lamp in the nightstand “Are you feeling unwell?” he sat on the bed, putting his hand your shoulder as you turned around to face him. It was obvious by the look on your face and the bags beneath your eyes that you were tired.

“I can’t really sleep…when you are not here with me..” You sighed, taking his hand and kissing his palm. You had suffered from insomnia for many years, it had thankfully stopped when you married him and yet each time he ended up falling asleep in his study, you wouldn’t be able to find sleep once again.

“Why is that? Usually, you hardly have any trouble to fall asleep.” He asked, as always, he was very observative, especially of those closest to him.

“I just…ended up worrying. About things.” You answered, looking down and blushing in embarrassment.

“What worries you? You know you can speak to me freely Y/N.” he answered, looking at you intensely, his thumb caressing your cheek. Commodus was a man who didn’t like to be kept in ignorance; besides he had some remains of his past paranoia.

“About you, my love.” You admitted with a sigh. “I see you working so hard and yet men conspire just for power and not for the good of our people...” you murmured, you always were and always will be his first support. The young emperor smiled, taking off his shoes and then his tunic to join you in bed, pulling you into the most comforting hug.

“It has been more than a year since the last attempt against me has been committed. The traitors have been punished; the greedy senators replaced by true men of the people. The people love me like a god. You have nothing to worry about, my love.”  He explained calmly with an amused smile, he had everything to feel invincible lately. He chuckled “I remember the time when I was the one having insomnia. My sister dealt with it by giving me all sorts of potions while you did what I truly needed, loved me…listened to me.” His hand gently stroked your arm, a way to lull you to sleep.

“I don’t want to waste y-…” you tried to protest, not wanting to feel like a weight.

“You don’t. Rome may seem to be the most important to my eyes but that is not true. You are Y/N. I would put an end to everything for you.” He cut you off, the hint of madness was never far from him. “You are part of my dream, A dream that I don’t want to cease. All is done for the good of our people and for us.” He cupped your face to make you look at him in the eyes “I want you to rule by my side forever, as Emperors of Rome or Emperors of our life together.” He said passionately, capturing your lips for a kiss, so strong that it could only make your worries vanish away.  “I promise you Y/N I won’t leave you to sleep alone again.” He murmured, he felt truly honored to have this peaceful effect on your mind and he would cherish it. Slowly you closed your eyes, yes, how much better you felt now that he was here with you. 

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[theoriginalcarnivorousmuffin]

After that gorgeous sequel rant, would you be willing to share your thoughts on reylo?

Ugh.

Once again, that is the most succinct, easiest, answer I can supply. But it's so short, and that just won't do.

I mentioned in a recent post that Dramione comes in a myriad of disguises. Every fandom usually has at least one Dramione ship, you can usually guess which characters the ship will consist of, and while you might not be able to articulate exactly what about it makes it so damn similar to Dramione you will recognize it on sight.

Usually, to me, a Dramione ship features a strong, independent, female lead who may be varying levels of sexually empowered, varying levels of intelligent (Hermione loves to tell us how smart she is but it's not the heart of the ship), is strong, courageous, and noble who depending on the story du jour might slide into depravity.  The real give away is her love interest, always a man, usually a young man of comparable age, who has the bad boy appeal that's not too bad boy where he often is redeemed to the good side for 'reasons' in the course of the story.

Reylo is such a Dramione pairing.

You don't believe me? Look at the authors who write it, I haven't done this too often myself, but I guarantee you that a not small majority of them will either write Draco/Hermione or will have it all over their favorites and bookmarks. It's the same damn pairing.

But worse.

Because Kylo-Ren and Rey aren't really characters.

"Whoa, hold up!", you say, "That's just slander and uncalled for!" Well, change my mind. Rey Palpatine and Kylo-Ren are a series of character tropes and archetypes thrown to us by Disney screaming "LOVE MY CHARACTERS".

Rey is our noble, very Luke like, hero who is a scrappy desert rat with overwhelming mystical powers only acknowledged when the movies feel like acknowledging them (guys, admit Rey kicked Kylo-Ren's ass every time they fought with 0 training, come on, it's not hard).

However, there is nothing underneath her surface. Her hero worship of the resistance feels dull and given to her because it's expected. Of course Rey likes the resistance! The resistance is great! Sign her up! Rey has been living in the desert at the edge of nowhere for presumably 15 years, I'm shocked she's even heard of the new republic let alone the resistance. Despite essentially starving and only having a home that's a broken down old fighter, Rey saves a random droid. We're not really given a compelling reason of why she would do this, that she has a deep respect for droids/is horrified by their use, really really really hates the random trader she sells things to, or really really really hates the empire (if she even realizes it's them behind the bounty). She does it just so that a) the plot keeps moving b) to show Rey is... noble... I guess?

Remember that even Luke (who I have some problems with as a character) started his journey with more backstory and personality than this. Luke loved the empire and desperately wanted to become a pilot. He was very put out that his aunt and uncle kept saying, "Uh, no, bad idea." Luke was ready to skip town and sign on up for flight academy, he just got distracted by pretty women, er, his sister.

So, Rey is never given a compelling reason to do any of the things she does in the series. Just vague feelings of hero worship. And, of course, the drama over her parents. Just... I feel like Disney took out a hat, put a bunch of pieces of paper with words on them, and drew out the one that said "orphan angst about parents" and said "See, now she's conflicted! What a character!"

So yeah, Rey is your cardboard generic hero who is so generic she's not even a person. She has no hopes, no dreams, no fears, just these vague things we're told as an audience she cares about but never shown in any legitimate manner. Rey likes the resistance and rando droids, Rey imprints on Han Solo as the father she never had, Rey has this thing about her parents, Rey is attracted to Kylo Ren.

And that last one, oh boy that last one. It sold me less on the attraction to Kylo Ren than... oh... I don't know... Palpatine's secret Sith planet of doom. I mean, we all saw it coming, The Last Jedi it was very clear where that was going and then Abrams went for it even harder. But what we had was a series of skype conversations where Rey went from "Gr, you killed my pseudo father!" and Kylo-Ren responding, "Yeah, well he was my real father AND HE WAS SO MEAN" to "Oh Ben, I will fly to you through space and we shall save the galaxy together!"

I am given no reason to believe Rey's change of heart. Han Solo's death just suddenly... doesn't really mean much to her anymore (the man was murdered by his son in cold blood so that his son could feel better about himself). She believes Ben Solo is good now because Luke is a dick (never mind that, no matter what a dick Luke is, Ben Solo still murdered dozens of children and then went on to gleefully massacre his way through the galaxy). We're told there's a Force Dyad, which is um... not this thing the writer's made up because they were too lazy to convince me that Kylo-Ren and Rey would end up together in any organic way.

So, yeah, why does Rey like Kylo-Ren? Because the Force told her too? Because it was somehow all Snoke's fault in a way that's never properly described? (Indeed despite us spending quite a bit of time on Kylo-Ren's decision to remain Kylo-Ren being a very internalized thing) Because we saw him shirtless in yoga pants this one time?

It's bad when that last is actually the most legitimate reason I can think of out of the whole lot.

Now let's go to Kylo-Ren. If Rey is boring and nonsensical then Kylo-Ren is a dumpster fire and non-sensical. The guy reminds me a lot of Commodus from the film "Gladiator", the man is cowardly, vile, and murders his father in despair that his father never will be capable of loving him/passes him over for the throne. Kylo-Ren's murder of Han Solo is extremely similar to the murder of Marcus Aurelius in "Gladiator". Han Solo is a flawed father, trying to make his peace with his son, who approaches him unarmed and Kylo-Ren decides to murder him in order to solidify his place in the dark side.

Only, the films never acknowledge that every action Kylo-Ren takes is horrifying.

We're told "oh, Kylo-Ren exists because evil Snoke corrupted him" but also shown repeatedly that Kylo-Ren chooses the darkest path again and again and again. He "struggles with the light" but I don't see it. His opening scene, he has massacred a village and is torturing a man for information (this is presumably a daily routine for him). In the same film he later tortures Rey for information. He serves on a Death Star which wipes out billions in an instant. He murders his father to feel good about himself. He dresses as a man who was reviled and feared throughout the galaxy, a man who murdered countless children, and a man who dressed the way he did because he was barely hanging onto life, because Kylo-Ren thinks it makes him look like a badass. Think about it, this is like if a fully abled Kylo-Ren is wheeling around in a wheel chair, perfectly capable of walking, because he thinks that Professor X is so cool. Now, replace Professor X with Hitler, this is what the movies gave us.

Yet, the films seem to take it for granted that Kylo-Ren is a redeemable character. He's just lost and misguided, he's really struggling with the light and dark side! They don't just tell us this over and over again (which they do) but also just assume we know it.

And base the entire Reylo pairing off of it. Reylo believed Kylo-Ren could be redeemed, they battle Snoke together, then Kylo-Ren stabs her in the back and continues the assault on the Resistance and asks her to be his Dark Queen (TM). Reylo is shocked and appalled, I'm just wondering what movie she thought she was watching, because that was coming a mile away.

Later, when Kylo-Ren is redeemed, we're never given a reason why it happens. Leia just gives him a nagging, one word, phone call and then Han Solo shows up to go, "Ben, are you going to do the right thing?" and Ben goes, "Mumble, grumble, fine" because there's only an hour left in the last film.

Kylo-Ren, like Rey, is the writers' desperate attempt to create a compelling anti-hero with all the anti-hero sauce we love. They just won't admit they made an overgrown genocidal toddler.

Wow, this turned into why I hate both Rey and Kylo Ren, but, uh, back to the ship. Basically, the films give me 0 reason to ever believe it, and even if I wanted to, even if I said "Alright brain, let's make these characters real people for once", I still wouldn't like it. Because the ship itself is just as flat as the characters. It's spicy but not too spicy bad boy gets together with strong female lead.

I know a lot of people enjoy this, and I won't say it's any less legitimate than any of the weirdness I ship, but I'm not one of them. And the whole thing just makes me go "ugh".

[julia-drusilla-xii]

ok so I’m asking this to basically ever triumvirate related blog cause I’m super curious but,, what do you think the other emperors would be as if they as well had demigod stepchildren? We saw it with Nero, what about caligula or commodus?

Nero's Imperial Household is iconic and it shows 😂

Commodus' was vaguely hinted toward to having something similar and not quite and Caligula's more guesswork but I do have stuff in mind.

Commodus

He apparently has demigods who at the very least, work for him. And it shows he doesn't care about the whole pantheon thing like the gods on Olympus do, to have a demigod who gets paid for fighting and knowing probably the bare minimum or close to nothing. Forgot the kid's name but he was in the Dark Prophecy.

So if he had decided to have adopt some demigods, I'd assume that he'd want them to at least hold themselves in an arena and create a good show. And are capable enough to do more, maybe work for the Triumvirate.

Any demigod he's adopted most likely won't be manipulated in the same way Nero does for his own children. But loyalty is expected and if you lose his trust, it'd be near impossible to gain it back. He's held a grudge against Apollo for centuries, child or not, I don't think he forgives that easily.

But on the bright side, if he does adopt you, you get the advantage of having a stepfather who's rich and likes his home fancy. The whole fighting wouldn't be ideal unless you're a demigod who enjoys it tbh. The close father-child vibe is also a maybe, but you get a better chance than if you were with Nero. Higher chance if you agree on things. Being close to him wouldn't be impossible.

You'd also have to deal with him having photos of himself and his deep grudge against Apollo if Apollo is ever mentioned. But other than the whole trust thing, I'd don't think he'd be too terrible.

Caligula

There's been exactly one reference of Caligula raising a child, one nothing to do with the series and more with his real history self. And that one was spoiled rotten, in her short life span.

He doesn't seem like the trusting type though, with how much he's changed the guards. So if he had demigod children, it would have to be a really small amount. He's had siblings but he also knows about how far family would go for the throne. His uncle really messed with his childhood.

I think he only would raise them one at a time. Find a demigod child that's extremely young and raise them till they're old. That or wait until the first one is old enough that they're not exactly fit and bring a new demigod to raise. Unlike Camp Jupiter, he's not going to let them go when they're a young adult and will let an actual demigod adult do some stuff.

And if anything shows, he'd spoil them and encourage them to be an effective fighter. No wasting time for a show, defeating an opponent swiftly. Showering the demigod with gifts just because he can.

That demigod gets access to all 50 ships. And anyone who's against that demigod gets removed immediately or has to make one of those promises that Caligula decides to take literally.

He might have moments where he'd terrify you. As long as you don't do anything that shows you're against the Triumvirate, or more importantly in this case- himself, then you'll be fine.

[sierice]

So I’m reading the dark prophecy and I’m annoyed with Artemis. Why wouldn’t you tell demigods about a safe house. It’s a bit of a dick move. Like not helping your brother when he’s mortal

Hi Anon!

Ngl, same like- She could have saved so many demigods by that??? Demigods for whom Camp would not be safe enough?? Like- not even COMMODUS, a literal minor GOD could find the Waystation, so it could have helped so many demigods?? Like- maybe when Artemis met the Di Angelo siblings in TTC, she could have sent them there?? This is just like, one example, but still

[woodsteingirl]

i <3 it when people hate on historical inaccuracies i'd love to hear your complaints

okay omg it is so fun to just rattle on. i’ll try and divide it into paragraphs per topic just so it’s not one block of text. ALSO i haven’t even finished the movie. im only half way through….

number one, what is the setup for this movie… why does Marcus Aurelius, one of Thee five good emperors keep saying like “oh this time is full of such unhappiness for everyone the empire sucks we need to go back to a republic.” no??? like it’s been fairly good at this point??? and also the republic has been dead for like. generations at this point, it’s clear there’s no bringing it back.

commodus my ENEMY commodus. as much as it pains me to defend him in any way, i have to say he’s soooo weird in this movie omg. um theres an inc*st subplot which is NOT something that happened in real life, that’s all i’ll say about that really. he didn’t fucking kill Marcus Aurelius…. and there was this whole thing about how marcus aurelius didn’t love him and wanted to make the main character of the movie be the new emperor once he died. if marcus aurelius hadn’t made you emperor because he loved you soooo much and against all better judgment put you in charge maybe we wouldn’t have this shitty movie. although i haven’t gotten there yet i guarantee they didn’t get the weird situation of commodus’s gladiator obsession right. he wanted to look cool soooo bad that he would have the people he was going to fight weakened beforehand to make himself look like he won easier. also no one thought this was cool or badass, but if you didn’t show up, commodus might kill you, so <3

legionary structure should not be as hard for movies to portray as it apparently is. there’s no such thing as a general no matter how bad they want it to be. you could be a commander or a legatus, but like. they weren’t going around calling each other generals yk. that irks me idk. it’s semantics compared to other things but labels matter to me. the flaming arrow thing is soooo endlessly annoying to me. okay sure it happened like. twice. that they used flaming arrows and it was highly trained people doing it not regular legionnaires. please stop making the romans use flaming arrows. why is this so common (vagueposting about night at the museum)

[the--blackdahlia]

Bitter Sweet Victory

Title: Bitter Sweet Victory

Summary: An underground fighting ring is someplace they never thought they’d end up, but now they’re in the fight of their lives.

Warnings: Hurt no comfort, major character death, violence, some undertaker x kane. Don’t like, please don’t read.

Undertaker’s hands were wrapped tight as he balled them into fists. How did he get himself into these situations? He was a wrestler, not a boxer, but thank god he had prior martial arts training. But obviously, the training wasn’t good enough, or he wouldn’t be here.

Actually, he wouldn’t be here if not for Hunter running his mouth to a bunch of guys looking for a challenge. Him and Shawn bragged all about the members of the league, of course promoting themselves. Taker had been hoping for a quiet night, just him and Kane. Maybe pizza and a movie, maybe working on his bike while Kane worked out. But instead, he was in a makeshift Hell in a Cell, fighting a guy who made BRock look like a wimp, while his friends were forced to sit ringside. Some of them, like Shawn and Scott Hall, were nursing their own injuries from their own fights.

Fucking hell.

****

“If you all win, you all walk out of here alive,” Their captor had told them from their “green room”, which honestly was more like a jail cell. “Anyone that loses, well, will not be leaving with their friends.”

“You can keep us here.” Hunter had smarted off before being slapped, making him stumble into Kevin Nash.

“You really need to keep yourself in line Mr. Helmsley.” The man had told them. “The sixth one is finishing up his match now. You missed a lot.”

“Who else could you possibly have?” Scott asked. They had gotten the jump on pretty much the whole Kliq; Scott, Kevin, Hunter, and Shawn, with just X-Pac making it away, and hopefully going to get help. Taker had just so happened to be with them, and had cut out of the bar about the same time to catch up with Kane at home. Damn, why didn’t he listen to Stone Cold, who had been trying to get him to stay. “Oh, here he comes now.” The man laughed and suddenly, Taker’s blood ran cold. Especially when he saw the mask that the man produced. “Here you go. You can have this back.”

“No!” Taker jumped up. “What did you do to him?!” Shawn gasped as Kane walked in, his face battered and his knuckles bloody. He shakily took the mask and placed it back on his face, though it hurt like hell.

“Oh my god.” Kevin watched as Undertaker grabbed ahold of Kane and pulled him away from the man who was holding them captive. They were all big guys, but yet they were at the mercy of someone that Hunter had mouthed off to. And it looked like Kane had already paid a price.

“H-hey.” Kane greeted Undertaker when the man left. They were off in the corner, by themselves. Mark was checking his injuries the best he could, finding a couple cracked ribs and other cosmetic damage.

“Shit, this is why you didn’t call to see where I was,” Undertaker grumbled. “I’m so sorry.”

“Not your fault. Got jumped leaving the arena.” Kane explained, leaning into each touch. “I think they’ve been watching us for awhile.”

“How did they get the jump on all of us?” Scott asked. “I mean, we’re all six foot at least, we weight like a fucking brick house.”

“The taller you are, the easier you are to tip,” Shawn pointed out. “That’s why I do so good in the rumbles compared to you guys.”

“Jokes aside, I think they’ve been watching us because we’re some of the best brawlers Vince has,” Kane explained. “When they brought me in, they were watching Raw and taking bets. They watched us all beat the shit out of each other on Raw and Nitro and thought “hey, let’s bring them to our shady dungeon, take bets on them, and watch them beat up other guys.” He held his head, having taken one too many headshots.

“We gotta get out of here.” Hunter told them.

“Brilliant idea. How do you plan on getting us out of here?” Kevin crossed his arms over his chest.

“I don’t know, but we have to get out of here.” Hunter glanced at Kane. “Kane is built, and they destroyed him. What do you think they’re going to do to the rest of us? Like Shawn!”

But any chance of planning went out the door when they were literally dragged out the the fighting area Kane had just left.

And they entered hell.

****

“Taker, watch out!” Kane called out as Undertaker’s opponent swung at him. Their captor was watching over them, much like Commodus watching over his gladiators. But he was not happy as Undertaker missed punch after punch, all while checking to make sure that Kane was still okay.

But then he missed one move and suddenly had a full force punch to the face. It knocked him off his feet, and he landed hard on the dirty floor. He groaned as he tried to push himself up, only to be on the receiving end of a steel toed boot.

“Come on Taker, get up!” Hunter called to him. And boy, did Undertaker want to. He wasn’t going to be the reason one of them didn’t get to leave. And he wasn’t staying here any longer than he had to. He only had to hope that X-Pac or Stone Cold or someone had gotten help.

That’s when he heard a commotion. Just like a flashback, Undertaker saw Kane break down the door to this cell, but this time, had a chair in hand. He swung it at Undertaker’s opponent, hitting him in the back with a sickening crack. He hit him again, knocking him down to the ground, giving Undertaker the perfect opportunity to repeatedly hit the asshole until he was out. “Thank you.” Undertaker smiled as Kane tossed the chair aside. Taker had him wrapped him in a hug quickly, cradling the back of his neck as the others cheered. They had won. They were all getting out of there.

“Well done.” The man walked to them. Kane and Undertaker broke apart. “But, you see, there was a clause about cheating.” Before anyone could react, he pointed a join at Kane’s chest and shot him point blank.

“Oh my god!” Shawn gasped, Hunter quickly squeezing his hand. They all stood, ready to attack, but the gun was pointed their way. Undertaker went to make a move to Kane. He was gasping for air, but he was fading face. Undertaker could tell, even behind the mask.

“You bastard!” Mark hissed, launching himself at the captor. The other four took the opportunity to help out. Punches, kicks, weapons. As they attacked the man who had made their lives hell for the past 48 hours, a noise could be heard. Before they knew it, police were raiding the makeshift ring area. PEople held their hands in the area, with Hunter, Shawn, Scott, Kevin, and Undertaker unsure of whose side they were on.

“Tell Mr. McMahon we found them,” they heard someone say into a radio, and they all relaxed. Until Undertaker remembered Kane, and he quickly ran to him.

“Kane, they found us, we’re going home.” Undertaker told him as he knelt by him, but he didn’t get an answer. “Kane?” He shook him, but his head just rolled. Ripping off the mask, he saw closed eyes surrounded by bruised skin. “Kane!”

“Jesus.” Scott mumbled. EMT’s were soon in to exam the wrestlers, to get them to a hospital for proper care. They were slowly led out, but Undertaker stayed rooted in spot, scooping Kane into his arms and rocking. By the time the EMT’s got to him, to help him to an ambulance, they knew.

As Undertaker held Kane’s body, they knew there was no hope for one of them.

[newathens]

because of you my day'll be going great then i think about the implications of commodus and apollo's relationship and BOOM i start sobbing into my pillows

genuinely the layers and emotion and depth and lovers to enemies but not really and the betrayal and apollo being the protector of young men (commodus wouldn’t be considered young at eighteen i think but still) and then blessing commodus and then being the one to take him down both times there’s so much nuance and hurt and apollo’s disgust and commodus’ pettiness and the feeling of being three seconds away from crying and your past coming back to haunt you and human apollo perhaps seeing himself in commodus now that he is on the other side and the hatred that commodus used to keep himself going for centuries when all along it was just an open wound. you blessed me. you betrayed me. percabeth is shaking