#daughters of troy

[falling-skyzz]

wonderlust ....

[trek-tracks]

You know, it’s a shame we got the Picard S3 we did and not a season-long Mamma Mia situation where Bev keeps belting out disco numbers with Troi and Guinan while Jack Crusher sends out wedding invitations to his three possible dads, Picard, Riker, and…I don’t know, Data or something

[gingermintpepper]

One of my biggest pet peeves is the assumption that something has to be sad for it to be tragic.

I've always been a big believer of the 'Apollo has an awful love life'/'Apollo is plain unlucky with love' line of thinking but it does bother me that the general reasoning for that statement is given to the concept of 'Apollo is somehow undesireable and thus rejected' (Cassandra/Daphne/Marpessa) or 'his lovers die young and thus their love is unfulfilled' (Cyparissus/Hyacinthus/Coronis). I personally think that's a very unfortunate way of looking at things - not only because it neglects the many perfectly cordial entanglements and affairs Apollo has had, both mortal and divine - but because it presents a very shallow interpretation of the concepts of love and loss and how loss affects people.

Apollo can still grieve lovers that have a long, healthy life. The inherent tragedy of an immortal who knows his lovers and children will die and cannot stop it does not stop being tragic simply because those lovers and children live long, fulfilled lives. The inherent tragedy of loss does not stop being tragic simply because someone knows better than to mourn something that was always going to end.

What is tragic is not that Apollo loves and loses but that loss itself follows him. Apollo does not love with the distance of an immortal, he does not have affairs and then leaves never to listen to their prayers again. He does not have offspring and then abandon them to their trials only to appear when it is time to lead them to their destinies. He raises his young, he protects the mothers of his children, he blesses the households that have his favour and multiplies their flocks that they may never go hungry. He educates his sons, he adorns his daughters and even in wrath he is quick to come to his senses and regret the punishments he doles out.

Apollo loves. And like mortals, there will always be some part of him that wishes to protect the objects of his affections. Apollo, however, is also an emissary of Fate. He knows that the fate of all mortal things is death. He knows that to love a mortal is to accept that eventually he will have to bury them. There is no illusion of forever, there is no fantasy where he fights against the nature of living things and shields his beloveds from death. Apollo loves and because of that love, he also accepts.

And that, while beautiful, is also tragic.

[angelmush]

nice things lately (posing the stuffed animals when i make the bed, animal magazines in the mini library down the road, my aunt + uncle’s giant new cat they adopted on accident and are in love with despite their best efforts)

[comma-tose]

Borderlands really has a common theme of dad's doing something insanely stupid that they believe is for the benefit of their children, only for it to really screw up their kids lives.

Sure it doesn't have it in EVERY game but it's common enough for it to be a pattern.

You got the obvious one of Jack imprisoning Angel because she can't control her powers, with him believing it's the right thing to do while it very obviously isn't (especially once he started y'know using her as a battery), leading to her betraying him and sacrificing herself to help stop him.

Then you got the Calypso twins being kept on an isolated planet by Typhon DeLeon, because he believed it was the only way to keep them safe despite them feeling like they were being imprisoned, leading them to go full cult leader and go try to take what they believed was "rightfully theirs", which ultimately lead to their deaths.

And then you have Felix betraying Fiona and Sasha, stealing the ten million dollars from them, believing that it would get Hyperion and Vallory to lose interest in the girls and go after him instead, which ultimately lead to them being chased across Pandora by bounty hunters and putting them in life threatening danger.

Also all three of them die (Felix's death being dependent on the players choice), with their deaths at the very least being indirectly caused by their daughter, as an act of revenge for their mistreatment. Angel helping the Crimson Raiders leading to Jack's death, Tyreen killing Typhon with her powers, and Fiona being able to shoot Felix and let him explode along with the money.

...So what I'm saying is maybe it's time for some of the fathers in borderlands to get some mandatory parenting classes.

[reyenii]

— you took everything from me.

[troythings]

family

[tachyon-at-rest]

Slightly spoilery of Star Trek Lower Decks episode S04E04:

Things we know about D'Vana Tendi:

Alias "Mistress of the Winter Constellations"

(new) Alias "Tip of the Moonlit Blade"

(new) Tendi says they’re barely the fifth-largest family in the Syndicate

And thus I now give my brain poisoning to you. (Couldn't be sure which works better) :

Which of course references this ole gem

[book--brackets]

Summaries under the cut

The Forbidden Library by Django Wexler

Alice always thought fairy tales had happy endings. That--along with everything else--changed the day she met her first fairy

When Alice's father goes down in a shipwreck, she is sent to live with her uncle Geryon--an uncle she's never heard of and knows nothing about. He lives in an enormous manor with a massive library that is off-limits to Alice. But then she meets a talking cat. And even for a rule-follower, when a talking cat sneaks you into a forbidden library and introduces you to an arrogant boy who dares you to open a book, it's hard to resist. Especially if you're a reader to begin with. Soon Alice finds herself INSIDE the book, and the only way out is to defeat the creature imprisoned within.

It seems her uncle is more than he says he is. But then so is Alice.

Troy by Adele Geras

The Siege of Troy has lasted almost ten years. Inside the walled city food is (Malacca). and death is common. From the heights of Mount Olympus The Gods keep watch. But Aphrodite. Goddess of Love. is bored with the endless. dreary war. Aided by Eros's bow. the goddess sends two sisters down a bloody path to an awful truth: In the fury of war. love strikes the deadliest blows.

Casson Family by Hilary McKay

The four Casson children, whose mother, Eve, is a fine-arts painter, have all been given the names of paint colors. Cadmium (Caddy), is the eldest; then Saffron (Saffy); Indigo, the only boy; and Rose, the youngest. When Saffy discovers quite by accident that she has been adopted, she is deeply upset, though the others assure her that it makes no difference at all. Saffy is the daughter of Eve's twin sister, who lived in Siena, Italy, and died in a car crash. Grandad brought Saffy, as a very small child, back from Siena.

At Grandad's death he leaves something to each of the children. To Saffy, it is "her angel," although no one knows its identity. How Saffy discovers what her angel is, with the help of an energetic new friend, lies at the heart of this enchanting story.

Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth by E. L. Konigsburg

A lonely girl discovers a magical world and a new friend when she meets a young witch on Halloween.

Unicorns of Balinor by Mary Stanton

After a terrible riding accident, Ari cannot remember anything of her past and is sent to live on a farm with foster parents. What Ari doesn't know is that she is not from our world, but from Balinor, a land of sorcerers and unicorns! Her parents, the King and Queen, sent her to Earth to protect her from a raging war before they were banished from their homeland. Now Ari--Princess Arianna--has found the road back to Balinor. As she struggles to remember her heritage, she must face the challenge of restoring peace to Balinor.

The Divide by Elizabeth Kay

When Felix and his parents visit the Divide in Costa Rica, a place where the waters that run down to the Pacific and Atlantic oceans separate, he faints and wakes to discover an amazing back-to-front world where mythical creatures are real and humans and science are legend.

Phantom Stallion by Terri Farley

When 13-year-old Samantha returns home to her family′s cattle ranch in Nevada, she′s worried. She moved away two years ago to recover from a bad fall off her beloved mustang, Blackie, and she′s still not sure she can get back in the saddle. Her new colt doesn′t seem to like her, and the other ranchers treat her like the boss′s spoiled daughter, and Blackie has been missing since that fateful day. But that′s just the beginning. When Sam suddenly finds the fate of a mysterious mustang who may or may not be the missing Blackie - resting in her hands, she has to learn to be a real cowgirl, ready or not.

Miri and Molly by Annie Barrows

Miri is the only single child in the middle of a family with two sets of twins--older brothers and younger sisters. When the family moves to an old farmhouse Miri accidentally travels back in time to 1935 only to discover Molly, a girl in need of a real family to call her own.

Sixty-Eight Rooms by Marianne Malone

Almost everybody who has grown up in Chicago knows about the Thorne Rooms. Housed in the Children’s Galleries of the Chicago Art Institute, they are a collection of 68 exquisitely crafted miniature rooms made in the 1930s by Mrs. James Ward Thorne. Each of the 68 rooms is designed in the style of a different historic period, and every detail is perfect, from the knobs on the doors to the candles in the candlesticks. Some might even say, the rooms are magic.

Imagine—what if you discovered a key that allowed you to shrink so that you were small enough to sneak inside and explore the rooms’ secrets? What if you discovered that others had done so before you? And that someone had left something important behind?

Hitler's Daughter by Jackie French

Her name was Heidi, and she was Hitler's daughter.

It began on a rainy morning in Australia, as part of a game played by Mark and his friends. It was a storytelling game, and the four friends took turns weaving tales about fairies and mermaids and horses. But Anna's story was different this time: it was not a fairy tale or an adventure story. The story was about a young girl who lived during World War II. Her name was Heidi, and she was Hitler's daughter.

As Anna's story unfolds, Mark is haunted by the image of Hitler's daughter. He wonders what he would have done in her place if he had known his father was an evil man leading the world into a war that was destroying millions of lives. And if Mark had known, would he have had the power and determination to stop him?

[incorrectfabfifteen]

Duela: Alright, time to play my favourite game: "Who the hell hasn't died yet?" On the still alive team we ha- *looks at Dick, Bette, Mal and Karen* Wait, how do we only have four? How did everybody else die? Tula: Crisis Charley: That Wildebeest invasion Hank and Dawn: *together* Armageddon Donna and Lilith: *together* Superman robot Garth: Blackest Night... Wally: Doctor Manhatten... Roy: Savitar... Duela: Duela: Did someone piss of a god or something when we were 14?

[malfiora]

behold, everyone being proud of Jason as a Titan (dialogue under the cut)

New Teen Titans #31 (1987)

Jason: Okay if I take that as my exit cue, Wonder Girl? Batman still doesn't know that I was on the Blood case, unless he caught me on TV...in which case I'd better by a case of bottom lotion. It's been fun, and I'll be proud to do it again –when I get good enough to count.

Donna: You did fine, Robin – and thanks.

Dick: From what I hear, you were a lot more useful than I was, Jason.

Jason: Dick...

Dick: If you get in any trouble when you get home, tell the old man to call me. I'll let him know how it took you and all the Titans to bail me out –

Dick (continues): – and he'll get off your case real fast.

Jason: Like I said, it's been swell!

[happyvoltz]

troy and tracy

[neonphoenix]

Do you suppose the Titans ever think about the fact that they're all getting constantly reanimated to save the world one more time while their children remain dead.

[redeemed-wren]

Thought too long about Hermoine daughter of Meneleus and Helen and got sad

[last-of-the-lot]

Okay so I have been obsessed with EPIC for a while now, and I was scrolling recently and found this little snippet floating around. Looking at the person made me think of Vex'ahlia from Critical Role, which immediately made me think of a Critical Role/Epic AU.

But instead of the normal dynamic of Odysseus and Penelope my brain immediately defaulted to Percy being the one waiting at home and making this challenge to the suitors to string Vex's old bow. And like... I don't argue with my brain when it comes to creativity. Then it started to snowball. I do not need to write an AU right now, but it won't leave my head.

Oooooh I have so many thoughts.

[minlicious]

let’s take a minute to talk about hecuba. hecuba, who saw her own husband die, hecuba, who’s daughter was cursed for not wanting to sleep with a god, hecuba, who had to wait days to get back the body of her favorite son, hecuba, who went from being queen to being a slave within a matter of days. hecuba who lost everything and everyone important to her and not being able to do anything about it.