#even in a recent story athena straight up tells him he's not one of them | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

loreolympusanalysisforfunsies · 4 years ago

Text

How to put this-

What are the ethics of using queer coded characters and themes in a narrative that has no explicitly queer characters?

Welp, that question can be asked of many stories in media. Like, a metric shit ton. A lot. But since Lore Olympus is the flavour of the week (month? year?) for my brain, that's what I'll be applying this question to. And right away, asap, I'm talking critically about Lore Olympus. Critically as in taking a subject and thinking about what themes are in it and what those themes mean to me as a reader, not critically as in badmouthing it. Also, I'm no expert and I've only read my favourite chapters fifty million times, the other chapters maybe three times. So there's stuff I could have missed, please feel free to correct me. Also also I will be using the word queer a lot because that's what I am and what I'm talking about.

Just wanted to make that crystal queer.

Alrighty, queer-coded characters in Lore Olympus. Hello Eros, nice to be talking about you again. He's a fan favourite for some pretty good reasons. Compelling romantic sideplot, clear adversary to the asshat, and he's just plain fun. There can be plenty of heavy content when he's around, but he's also the guy that lightens the mood. Some of the faces he makes-fucking priceless. And hoo boy does he come off as the gay best friend. Romantic advice, shopping trips, make overs, the squeeing, those are some very old tropes. But he's not the gay best friend. Or at least, so vaguely bi/pan/etc that it can be written off as none of the above. The only hint we get that he's not straight is that orgy mentioned waaay back in the beginning. After that we get his backstory with Psyche and no mention of other interests since. The gay best friend trope was made when hollywood and equivalents stopped being quite so nasty to the LGBTQ+ community, but not quite to the point of queer positivity. It took signifiers that were used maliciously in the past (feminine aspects and interests) and put a humerous spin on them. Ah look, it's a guy that can expertly apply make up, how funny and nonthreatening he is. Maybe it was that funny and nonthreatening bit that the author was going for. Both Persephone and the readers just endured some pretty awful shit, so here's a new person for her support system that isn't threatening at all and brings along some lighter atmosphere. Super flamboyant and never shown to be sexually attracted to her-that's perfect, in you go.

And honestly, seeing a man that's in a relationship with a woman whose also in touch with his emotions and feminine side, that's pretty great. But it comes in a narrative completely without queer characters. When I first saw him I was pretty sure he was a stereotype. Now that I know he isn't, I feel mixed. Straight dudes should be able to be soft. But a story with so many characters, that talks seriously about their complicated inner lives, with all these romantic relationships, all that with no queer representation? Ehhhhhhh-

Getting to the endpoint a little early there, so onto the other queer coded characters. Most notable are Athena and Artemis. Athena is very androgynous in her design. And Artemis has a very telling moment with Persephone in which she tries to push the conversation away from the danger zone of her personal feelings. A loud, embarrassed exclamation that she isn't attracted to anyone? Yeah I've seen that one before. And here's where I'd like to think somewhat positively, because this is going somewhere. It might just be a similar line as Persephone, being torn about her membership with the eternal maidens. Or Lore Olympus Artemis may very well be a lesbian or asexual as her mythic counterpart has been. There's a lot of potential in her storyline.

Heck, there's a lot of potential all over this story. Greek mythology is filled to the brim with LGBTQ+ people. Skip Zeus and Apollo, because fuck those guys. We've got Achilles and Patroclus as the most well-known, but to be fair the mortals don't heavily feature in this one. Athena was bi, Hermes was bi, Dionysus isn't born yet but again, super bi. Aphrodite and Poseidon are both in open relationships within the story, and oh hey bi the way in the myths. Just saying, the greeks were very very gay.

But even if they weren't. Guess what. When you write a story of your very own, you can make your characters be anything. Case and point with Hera. This is a very, very different version of Hera. Sure, she can be capricious and act on a whim. But this isn't the same goddess that committed cruelties against women that Zeus forced himself on. At least to our knowledge. Nerp, this author has reinterpreted her to be a very sympathetic woman, and that's without changing what she went through. Hera was always someone that endured a lot of crap from her husband, but I didn't feel bad for her when I read her stories in class because hey, she was a vindictive shrew. By changing the patriarchal perspective that has some pretty strong opinions on women scorned, to the perspective of a woman author sympathetic to the woman character who is constantly shit on by everyone around her, the author has improved on the original subject material. Change, it's a good thing.

Ok, queer themes. Again I'd like to make a point right away, and the point here is the themes I'm about to talk about don't just affect queer people. These are lived experiences for many. But being kept naive of an outside world, being unable to explore your sexuality, people trying to override you when you tell them what's best for you and your body, are all things that deeply affect the queer community. There's a very good reason this fandom has so many LGBTQ+ members. Many moments in this story are affirming to us, and that's a good thing. This story also has a lot to say about gender roles. Persephone is the most recent of women that people are looking to use for their own selfish advancement. Hera has a very powerful line about sacrificing her power and potential to make Zeus feel comfortable and happy. And boy is that a line that fits millions of women and afabs throughout history. Making people comfortable by keeping a part of yourself shoved down, whether it's your ability in a field of work or your identity. Or maybe your disability. Or your religion. Your background. Lore Olympus hits pretty hard with a very real feeling of sacrificing bits of yourself to make what people see more palatable, easier for them to deal with. Hera and Persephone have breakdowns over these forced versions of themselves, the facade that's too much to keep up.

These problems don't exist in a bubble. They are problems that weave through many different subcultures and peoples. And unfortunately, some affected people can be excluded when such problems are addressed. I don't think the author decided to be exclusive on purpose. The kindest interpretation is that this simply isn't something that affected her directly, so she either didn't think to include it or didn't feel comfortable writing from a pov she doesn't share. The less kind interpretation is that she wanted to appeal to as broad a demographic as possible, and decided this was the way to do it. I'm not inclined to think that way of her, because she's showed herself to be very empathetic and thoughtful with pretty much every other aspect. But when we become so close with a piece of media, a story that touches us so deeply, one that strives to be realistic in themes like abuse and trauma, the question comes up. What about us? Do we exist? Are our problems seen? The end result of a narrative using queer-coded characters and themes without explicitly being queer is a disconnect. A feeling of separation from a story and characters that I otherwise feel very close to. A worry that these problems are only seen by, only affecting, heterosexual and cisgendered peoples. And I realize this would be hard to cover for someone who hasn't written queer characters in this story yet, someone who may or may not be LGBTQ+ themselves. But even so, even though there would be mistakes and bad faith critics and all else, I would rather she try. I would rather be seen.

#lore olympus #lo #lgbtq+#long post #tw abuse #lo persephone #lo hera #lo artemis #lo athena #lo apollo

14 notes · View notes

laurazepamwrites · 4 years ago

Text

The Chemicals between us ~ Chapter 13

After their visit to Pix Elle, Mei and Angela had tried the other addresses of the missing omnics without further luck. One had refused to let them in at all and the other address was abandoned altogether, the premises ransacked of what little possessions left. The only thing to remain was the strange Omnic graffiti again. After this Angela insisted on some downtime to collect their thoughts by going to the fashion museum then feeling inspired by this, went shopping for ‘just one new pair of shoes and a dress.’ The boot of the car now loaded with a number of high end bags, they made their way to the bustling Port of Calais to find answers at Hubs most recent place of work. Seagulls screamed overhead and the salt in the air was strong. Huge cruise ships and cargo containers lined the docks. They parked close by and followed the signs for the shipping and logistics companies further along. Mei looked around as they walked past surly looking men, huge cranes unloading steel containers and security droids scanning for anything illegal. She caught sight of a sketchy looking Omnic in shabby clothes who stopped to give her and her companion a look of suspicion. Mei glanced away quickly and kept her eyes peeled for the Global freight logo. Luckily she did not need to search far.

‘Hey hey hey you ladies cant be down here!” A large man wearing a hi vis jacket and hardhat shouted across to them in a french accent. “Cruise ships are on the other side! Bloody tourists..”

“Is this Global Freight?” Angela asked, ignoring him.

“You health and safety? You're not due to next wednesday.”

“My name Is Amander Muller and this is Lin Chang, we’re looking for Hub 0.5. We understand he works here?”

“You police?”

“Non monsieur, we’re journalists for the Connexion. Might I know your name?”

He scratched his stubble of a beard and looked them both up and down. “Too pretty to be pigs I guess..names Vic Dubrand. I'm the foreman here. Now why are you after that rust bucket Hub?”

“He may help us with a report we are working on but have unable to locate him. Even his wife hasn't seen him for days.” Said Angela.

“You think I have? Look lady, Hub came to work as usual then never shows up again. Far as i'm concerned he don't work for me no more. Already got a bot to replace him.”

“How was he? When you last saw him?” Mei asked

Dubrand smirked at her. “Its an Omnic sweetheart, you think they have feelings or bad days like we do? He comes to work, does what hes programmed to, goes home. Ah mind you, he did argue with some other bots down by the old containers last week. I think they were some layabouts with no jobs causing trouble.”

Mei and Angela exchanged glances. “When was this?” Angela asked.

“Dunno exactly, about two days before he disappears.”

“Did you see the Omnics he argued with again?”

“Non, they just come by, paint their stupid propaganda and leave. Hub scrubbed most of it off.”

“Where's the container?”

Dubrand turned and vaguely gestured behind him. “Somewhere over there, I don't give a shit about what Omnics get up to as long as they know their place. Not much else to tell you.” He adjusted his hard hat and began walking back to his site office. “You get hit with a falling container not my fault!” He added before shutting the door.

“Charming man..” Mei said bitterly.

It only took them a couple of minutes to find the container Dubrand mentioned. It had been scrubbed hard to dispose of the spray paint but the strange code was just about visible. It was the same they had found at nearly every site an Omnic had disappeared. “This cant be a coincidence can it?” Asked Mei, kneeling down to run her fingers over the paint which flaked off at her touch.

“Its certainly suspicious, but keep in mind there are posters and art everywhere for pro and anti Omnic. This could just be the latest one..see? look over there, there's a sticker that says ‘Humans cant be trusted.’”

“I think you're right, but I'm going to send Athena a picture of this code just in case.” Mei replied, taking her camera out and taking a few snaps.

Angela looked at her watch. “Good idea..we should head back, not much else to do until the rally tomorrow.”

They headed back along the docks and to the street where they had left the car. As they walked Mei noticed Angela glance around behind them. “Act normal Mei and walk straight past the car.” Mei frowned up at her. “Whats wrong?”

“We’re being followed. Look ahead and stay calm.”

Mei did as she was told and resisted the urge to look behind her, she had no idea who was following them or how far behind but she was glad Angela had experienced enough to know they were in potential danger. She followed Angelas lead and soon the doctor led them to an alleyway. Angela pulled Mei behind her and took out her gun, aiming it at the entrance then at the head of their stalker who turned into the alley seconds later.

“Whoa whoa whoa! Lady, that's a bit much!” The shabby, rust speckled Omnic Mei noticed at the docks threw his hands up in surrender.

Angela kept her pistol well aimed. “Who are you and what do you want?”

“Sal! My names Sal, short for Shipping analysis lo-”

“What do you want!” Snapped Angela.

“Gee are you always this cranky? Can you put the gun down? it's making me very nervous.”

Angela narrowed her eyes at the strange Omnic and lowered her weapon but kept a firm grip on it. “Talk.”

“I heard you, back at the docks? You said you're looking for Hub..I know him.”

“You're not the only one so why follow us? What do you know?” Asked Angela.

“Know you’re not reporters. Old Sal here knows the media cares not for me and mine unless its something bad. You think they care if we go missing? If I had a mouth I'd spit!”

Angela began to raise her gun again. “If you have no viable information than..”

“I saw Hub get taken!” Sal exclaimed, cowering slightly. “He..he saw some strange omnics graffiting at the docks. He told them to clear off but they just stood there, Hub didn't move either! I couldn't understand what they were saying, we Omnics speak to each other in Omnicode but I couldn't understand this. It was like another language but Hub.. he understood. He let them go. I tried to talk to him after but he was acting weird..said he needed to ‘wake up’. Then Dubrand shouts at us to get back to work but I followed Hub home that night. I was worried..I watched him walk to the front of his apartment and the same image was there, he just stares at it and looked like he was waiting for something.”

“Did you try to talk to him at all?” Mei asked, feeling slightly unnerved by Sals story.

“I shouted his name and was about to go to him but a car comes round the corner, black windows. I couldn't see who was driving. Hub he..he just gets in! I think they saw me. They didn't drive away until I left. I can't go to the police, they don't care and then you ladies show up!”

“Can you read the code on the painting?” Mei showed him the picture she took at the docks but Sal just shook his head. “Nothing Ive seen before. We Omnics all speak the same code, its how we communicate. Its how the defected had such an upper hand in the war. But this? This is just gibberish!”

Angela holstered her gun. “Sal, I think you need to come with us. From what you have seen I think you may be in danger.”

Sal shook his head and back off. “No thanks lady, still don't trust you. You could be the bad guys for all i know..oh I think I made a mistake talking to you. See Sal you just need to keep ya head down and shut up. That's what Dubrand always told ya..Ol Hub is probably just fine.” He backed up to the end of the alley and briskly walked away muttering to himself. Mei looked from Sal to Angela. “Do we follow him?”

“It would draw too much attention trying to force a twitchy Omnic like that in the car, besides we need to get this information to the Commander as soon as possible. Has Athena come back with any results?”

Mei checked her phone for any contact. “No, not yet.”

“Lets go. We’ll head back to the hotel and write up what we know so far, this isn't good Mei. I dread to think what this could all mean.”

-----------------------------------------------------------

Ana and Satya watched each other intensely, waiting for the other to make their move. Satyas gauntlet glowed as she prepared to manipulate a cube of hard light between her fingers and Ana had her sleep dart aimed at her heart.

“Ill ask again..what are you doing?” Satya asked coldly.

“Would you believe me if i said i was the cleaning lady?” Ana smirked.

“You kill a vishkar employee and you make jokes?”

Ana tutted. “Oh shes not dead, just asleep. You are welcome to join her unless you power down that glove of yours.”

“You think to challenge me?” Satya scoffed. “Do you know who I am.”

“Yes my dear I know who you are. I wonder if you do.”

The question confused Satya and the lack of focus showed in the hardlight that quivered in her hand. Ana saw the lapse in concentration, she could have shot her there and then, wipe Satya’s computer and leave the way she came, but she decided not to. Instead she placed her sleep dart at her feet, kicked it away from her and raised her hands, all the while smiling at Satya. As quickly as the sleep dart had fallen still on the spotless carpet had hardlight binds wrapped around Anas wrists. Ana looked down at the near transparent, crystal blue solid light. It was hard not to admire the craftsmanship behind it.

“Well you caught me, and what will you do now I wonder?” Ana cheerfully asked. “Call security? Police? Maybe you and I can have a little chat before you do that?”

“Silence! Before I bind your mouth too.”

“A pity my dear, wouldn't you like to hear what an old Overwatch Captain has to say?”

The binds flickered for a split second but Satya held firm. She could not keep this up for longer. Focusing hardlight was incredibly difficult which made Architects highly valuable. Soon she would need to make the decision to call security, drag her there herself or release her and talk. She had surrendered after all and the curiosity over this womans strange actions were dulling her focus.

“Who are you?” She eventually asked.

“My name is Captain Ana Amari. I am not here to hurt you or anyone else Satya. I'm trying to prevent that from happening to anyone.”

“Why have you come here?”

“Because Vishkar are potentially a threat, and you are much easier to get to then Mr Korpal. I wonder dear..do you know who you work for?”

The binds cracked and loosened before solidifying once again. “How dare you.” Satya breathed hard. “Vishkar is building a better future for humanity, we have built home for the displaced, we-!”

“Impose martial law to control people? My dear you are not unintelligent, did you ever stop to think what Vishkar was doing was unethical?”

“We...I..I just want to make a better world.”

Ana smiled sympathetically at her. “So do we Satya, but i don't think you’ll get the world you want by being Sanjay's puppet.”

The binds disappeared completely in specks of light that glinted as they fell. A bead of sweat ran down Satyas face. “I owe him everything.” she said weakly.

“No dear, i think you owe yourself that credit.” Ana said, pulling the microchip from the computer. She handed it to Satya. “Take it. I don't think what I am looking for is here after all.”

Satya took it from her cautiously. Ana fished in her bag and pulled out a small notepad and quickly jotted down something, tore the page out and gave it to Satya.

“This is my personal number, listen to your gut feeling and you call me when you really want to change the world.” Satya stared at it, plagued by questions and her head swimming with confusion. She opened her mouth to ask Ana more but instead a soft “ Oh!” escaped her lips as she felt a quick sharp prick on her arm. Looking down she saw a tiny dart sticking in her skin like a small insect, she felt woozy.

“Im sorry Satya but I really must be going.” Ana said sincerely, like she had stopped by for a visit with an old friend. She gently took the Architect's unresisting arm and sat her down on the sofa. Ana brushed a loose strand of her behind her ear. “Nxt time you see Sanjay..ask him. Ask him about Talon. Soon you will understand.”

Satya mouthed silent words, unable to speak, her eyelids grew heavier and heavier. She heard the door to her office shut softly, the ding of the elevator as it arrived on its floor. She slumped softly onto her side.

“Am I a puppet?” She thought before falling asleep.

------------------------------------------------------------

Mei tossed and turned in the hotel bed, struggling to sleep. It was more frustrating here, she was on a mission and needed to be rested. As soon as they returned from their strange meeting with the Omnic named Sal, Angela had called back to base and updated Morrison on their investigation. He was concerned with their findings and warned them to be cautious and to find out what they could at the rally. She looked at the time on her phone. It was almost two in the morning. Feeling the insomnia defeat her for now she opened up her messages to check for the millionth time if she had any feedback from Athena. As she expected there was none, but something did catch her attention. Athena had set up a private network for the occupants of the Gibraltar base to stay in contact when out in the field or on opposite ends of the building. Mei occasionally checked it for messages, usually very late at night. Most of the time she noticed Junkrat was also awake at stupid o clock in the morning, just like he was tonight. Mei considered messaging him but what would she say? Her first thought was ‘Haha turns out this mission was a lot bigger than you thought.’ But that wasn't very becoming of her, she thought maybe she could just say hi, but she felt awkward doing even that. Especially if he poked fun or even ignored her. Still, she did wonder why he was up so late and so often. Angela mumbled something in her sleep and rolled over, Mei yawned and decided it was time to try and sleep again before she got herself annoyed again over the Junker. Still, he did prove to be a good distraction as Mei was soundly asleep a short time later.

Mei woke up before her alarm the following morning, she had quietly slipped out of bed, washed and changed before heading down to the breakfast bar alone. She kept checking her phone, no update from anyone back at base. Mei took note of the time, It was nearly eight in the morning, another ten hours to go before they were due at the extraction site. She mulled over what they had found out from yesterday's leads and kept coming back to the strange conversation with Sal. Who were the Omnics who spoke to Hub? Had he really just left with them on his own accord? And what about the strange code on the graffiti? Did it connect to the strange language Hub apparently used? Mei had begun to wonder how much of Sal’s story was even credible. She jumped slightly as a coffee mug was placed on the table, jolting her from her thoughts. “Sleep well?” Angela asked brightly, sitting opposite Mei.

“I think so, how about you?”

“Hmm the pillows were too soft.” Angela complained, massaging the back of her neck. “Still, the mattress is a lot better than my one back at base.” Mei smiled in response and absent mindedly pulled apart the croissant in front of her.

“Nervous?” Angela asked.

“I guess? I'm worried how the rally will go. They start off with good intentions..but you know how some get.”

“If that happens we leave as quickly as possible. We’re not in a position for combat and we can't give ourselves away. Just stay with me and we’ll be fine.” She gave Mei a reassuring smile which Mei returned, the anxiety still gnawing away at her. They finished up their breakfast and headed back to the room to start packing their belongings. Mei trying to coax an angry snowball to go into sleep mode and to be placed in a large duffel bag again and Angela delicately placing her new clothes into her luggage with as little creasing as possible. It was past ten in the morning when they checked out and loaded the car with their suitcases. They planned to be at the rally location by midday to get a good spot for surveillance so had spent some time wandering the streets and had a light lunch at a local cafe near to the square where the rally was to be held. As midday approached they headed to the square, it was already filling with people and omnics alike. Some held placards with pro omnic slogans whilst others opted for banners and flags. The atmosphere was jovial as music began to play as sound checks were being made on stage. Angea and Mei inched further forward,opting to be close to the stage and the large marquee next to it which Mei assumed was for the organizers and guests.

“Over here Mei.” Said Angela, signalling to a free space by the metal crowd control barriers. “So now we wait.” She said, leaning on the barrier. “Chances are nothing will happen so may as well try to enjoy ourselves. There's a band playing after the speeches.”

“I’m not sticking around so you can have a dance.”

“You’ve really lost your sense of fun.”

“We’re working!”

“We’re blending in, go on - shout something pro Omnic!”

“Angela I really don't want to draw attention to my-Owww!” Mei whined and covered her ears as Angela winced, most of the crowd copied their behavior and complained loudly as the speakers on stage blasted a high pitch feedback.

“Désolé! Je suis désolé! Sorry everyone!” An omnic rushed to the mic to apologize for the noise. “Bad soundcheck but we’re almost ready to begin!”

“Huh, earlier than expected.” Noted Angela as she looked at her phone which had started to vibrate. “Hello? Jack?” Angela answered her phone and looked confused. “Hello?” She looked at her phone and pressed the screen. “Weird.” She said, hanging up. “Maybe he called by mistake.”

“What do you mean?” Mei asked.

“I couldn't hear him, just strange noises..maybe there's a bad signal here.”

“Maybe..” Mei hoped it was something that simple, looking around she noticed some omnics still recovering from the harsh feedback noise. Some were shaking their heads, others looked rather dazed. It must affect them more than humans. “What if he was calling about the code?” She asked Angela. The Doctor was already on it and had her phone pressed to her ear. “No..nothing.” She said hanging up. “Can you try?” But Mei had the same result, she even tried Winston and Reinhardt, stranger still was that she had full signal on her phone. Out of the corner of her eye she saw an Omnic stumble on the spot..her anxiety started to flare up and she barely heard the announcement on stage. She heard the crowd cheering louder and she glanced up at the stage, her eyes widening.

“Angela..its Liberte..!” But Angela was fully aware the presumed missing Omnic had made a sudden appearance. The crowd cheered as the artist came on stage. “Maybe it was personal reasons after all.” She looked up at Angela who was frowning at the Omnic, “What is it?” Mei asked, following her gaze. Liberte had reached the microphone and simply stood there, not greeting his audience, not saying a word. The cheering had died down and there was awkward laughter and mutterings from the crowd. “Maybe this is a live art piece!” Mei overheard someone say.

Liberte stood silent a minute more then very slowly his head began to raise, it jerked to the side suddenly as if he just got shocked. He began to speak. “Brothers, sisters. What a sad sight you are before me..” The crowd murmured, confusion rippling among them. “We have been victims from the day we were born from our Mother Omniums into this ravaged planet. We have been made scapegoats to Mankind's own failures. We have been murdered, mutilated and made into slaves by our oppressors!” Mei looked through the crowd, some were nodding their heads in agreement, others looking nervous. Some humans had already begun to leave, she saw some of the Omnics affected by the high pitch noise from earlier and felt her stomach knot. They stood completely still, heads down, no glow to their eyes. As if they were sleeping. “Angela…?” She said nervously.

“We’re leaving. Nice and easy and keep calm” The doctor said, taking Mei’s arm and turning her around. As they began to push back through the crowd Liberte continued to speak. “You traitors that slave under human rule.” His head jerked violently, his eyes flashed. “You cowards that live in fear of flesh and blood! We are the stronger race!” Liberte screamed and jerked. “ We are the cure! - Jerk- We will rise from the ashes of our dead and the bones of our oppressors!”

The crowd was getting stirred up as humans and Omnics alike tried to leave, there were shouts for Liberte to leave the stage and a bottle was even thrown at him, the glass smashing on stage yet he did not even flinch, shouts for uprising, shouts for a new crisis. Scuffling broke out nearby in the crowd and one of the sleeping Omnics was shoved hard, falling to the ground. Mei looked back and hesitated. “Angela wait!” She shouted, making her decision and rushing back to the fallen Omnic. She crouched by him and shook him but there was no light in his eyes and he made no movement. “Leave him Mei!” Angela grabbed her and half dragged her upwards on to her feet. She had her phone pressed to her ear again. “Dammit!” She shouted, still getting no signal to contact base. “This was planned! We need to get out of here before a riot happens.”

“Liberte! Angela look at Liberte!”

Liberte was jerking more violently, his eyes flashing from blue to red, he gripped the microphone stand to support himself and a burst of sparks flew from circuits on his neck. “The eye is lost but the eye will open! It's time to wake up.” A final jerk and his eyes went dead and his head slumped forward, mirroring the ‘sleeping’ Omnics standing like sentinels in the panicking crowd. Slowly his eyes glowed red and he raised his head, a strange sound erupting from the speakers. High pitched noises of different frequencies almost sounding like a song as it pulsated from the speakers. It took a few seconds for Mei to realize Liberte was making the noise. “Wha..What is that?”

The strange noise stopped and Liberte began to laugh as oil started to drip from his red glowing eyes, his omnic mouth and from joints in his body. “The eye is opening!” He screamed as his body jerked and crackled from exploding circuits within him as he slumped forward and fell from the stage.

“We need to get to him! Mei, head to the barriers.” They went back on themselves, finding it much harder as the crowd pushed back against them as they tried to leave. More projectiles were being thrown and the atmosphere increasingly heated. Mei saw the fallen omnic on the ground, his metal fingers twitching, she barely registered him this time, she was scared and felt incredibly exposed. Angelas hand on her shoulder was the only thing keeping her grounded as her small frame was shoved and pushed by those around her. She gasped and ducked as something smashed against a wall close by. The shouting was getting too much..she could hear sirens blaring and getting closer. “Keep going, almost there.” Angela said. Fuelled by adrenaline they reached the barriers, Angela vaulting herself over them and reaching back to help pull Mei over. She felt instantly safer with the barriers between them and the increasingly angry crowd. As she caught her breath she spotted Liberte sprawled on the ground below the stage, Angela was already rushing to him.

“Liberte? What happened? Who did this to you?”

His eyes had gone back to their normal blue, he was gasping like his body was in pain. “Where-am-I?”

“Sshh It's ok, its ok. We’re gonna help you, we’re getting you out of here.”

Mei’s head snapped to the crowd as the shouting suddenly began to change pitch to frightened screaming. More pockets of fighting were breaking out and others had started to rush the barriers, she backed up against the stage, broken glass cracking under her feet.

Liberte gasped and reached up, pulling at Angela's shirt. He rasped and gurgled. It was an awful sound, an awful sight, as the oil bubbled as it leaked from him like blood. His eyes began to flicker and dull. His voice crackled as he tried to speak. “The-They are-c-c-calling.”

“Who? Who's calling? Liberte..? Liberte!?” Angela shook him but his eyes were now dull. He was dead.

“Angela! Behind you!”

Angela felt something claw viciously at her back, She scrambled up, half stumbled over libertes dead body and fell against the stage, spinning herself she aimed her pistol and fired. One of the ‘sleeping’ Omnics fell heavily to the ground, a smoking hole between its eyes. Angela and Mei looked on in horror as the omnics that stood silent were now very much animated and attacking whatever was near them, their eyes glowing red. Mei watched as the one she tried to help had risen from the ground and was viciously attacking someone. She felt sick.

“Mei! Down there!” Angela pulled her along after her, pistol in hand, towards a small side street lined with boutique shops and cafes that had closed for the rally. The graffiti with the strange code was hastily painted on one of the shutters, wet paint dripping down the metal. Mei looked over her shoulder as she ran and faltered, stopping in her tracks as people ran past her to escape.

“Hub..?”

It was him. The gentle looking omnic from the photograph with Pix Elle, he staggered down the street towards her, swiping and grabbing at anyone that came near, a spatter of crimson blood across his metal face.

Angela fired and shot a red eyed omnic that had burst from an adjourning street, it crashed to the ground, its eyes slowly burning out. ‘ How many are there!?’ Thought Angela. ‘ Is the whole city affected?’ An omnic pushed past her and she aimed her pistol, it raised its hands and cowered before her, its eyes blue. She lowered her weapon and the omnic continued to run. ‘ Only certain ones ?’ Close by a shop window smashed and she heard more sirens and shouting back towards the square, the combat medic in her urged her to return and help the wounded but with no valkyrie suit or medical supplies what use could she be? No, get to extraction. Just keep moving. “Mei keep going, I’ll cover you!..Mei?” She was here, she was next to me!” . “Mei?!” Angela screamed, desperately trying to see her through the rush of panic and terror.

Hub shambled slowly towards Mei, his head jerking as Libertes did and he was struggling to stand. Whatever was causing this seemed short lived. The omnic weakly grabbed at anything that got to close as they ran past but his grip was too weak. Mei winced as he stumbled and fell to his knees, a lone drip of oil running from his eye and blending with the blood. Mei crouched down slowly, picking up an empty bottle left in the street and tentatively stepped forward.

“Hub..?” She said gently and took a step forward. “Hub, my name is Mei..I..I know your wife. Pix Elle?”

Hub stayed motionless, he remained on his knees and seemed fixated on the slow drip drip drip of oil as it fell to the ground. His head jerked at the mention of his wife's name.

“I don't know what's happening to you Hub.” Mei took another step forward. “But I know it's not your fault.”

Drip drip drip

“Its ok..we can help you.” Another step.

Drip drip drip

“We can find Pix Elle. We can try and stop this..”

Drip drip drip

Mei was close to him, he was ignoring everyone that rushed by now, she was sure he could hear her, understand her. She knelt in front of him.

“I know you’re in there Hub..I know you don't want to do this. None of you do..im so sorry this has happened..”

He slowly raised his head, oil now leaking from all eyes. He looked like he was crying. “Pix..Pix..Pix.” His head jerked with each word.

“We’ll find her ok? Lets find her.” Mei smiled warmly at him and slowly held her hand out. Hub looked at it and his eyes started to flash back to blue. “I..I..”

“It's ok Hub..” She said softly.

“I..”

She could hear the low hum of engines overheard and the crowds were getting thinner, maybe the French authorities were taking control of the situation. Close by a window smashed, Mei flinched at the sound and Hubs eyes flashed to red, He snapped his head at Mei.

“Hub no !” Mei fell backwards as he launched at her, she scrambled back desperately as he clawed at her legs, his metal digits painfully scratching her, Mei kicked him hard in the face, one of his eyes cracking from the force. She struggled back and attempted to stand but Hub snatched her ankle and pulled her down roughly, the side of her head hitting the pavement as she fell. Mei gasped in pain and instantly felt nauseous and her vision blurred, she was barely aware that she was screaming. She thrashed viciously and felt his grip weaken, using the opportunity to pull herself up more before she smashed the bottle down on his head with all her strength, his grip slackened and finally he let go. Whether she killed him or not she did not know, her mind race and before she knew it she was half running half feeling her way away from the Omnic. “Angela!” She tried to scream, her voice feeling hoarse. “ Angela!”

But she was too disoriented, she had no idea how far she had run and no idea where she was now. She felt people running by, the ringing in her ears adding to the confusion. Someone tried grabbing her wrist and shouted but without her glasses she couldn't tell if it was someone trying to help or harm her, she wrenched her arm free and ran once again but she was feeling more sick by the second, she stumbled on something and she reached to steady herself, feeling cool brick wall beneath her fingertips. Mei involuntarily leant against it and slid to the ground, catching her breath and fighting the urge to vomit. She was sure she heard her name over the distortion in her head, but the world was too blurry to make sense of, her glasses cracked and useless. The throbbing in her head was intense. She tried to sit up but the pain made her feel more nauseous. Over the ringing noise she heard her name being shouted again but maybe she imagined it. Mei blinked trying to focus, something was in her eye, she blinked again, It was wet and red and hot. Mei gave a startled cry, squeezing her eyes shut and tried once again to move, her body feeling like lead, panic bubbling in her stomach and chest growing tight as her mind began to catch up on what was happening. She needed to find Angela. With effort she braced her arm against the wall and attempted to push herself up, ignoring the urge to throw up and the pain pulsing through her skull. Suddenly hands were on her pushing her firmly back down, Mei yelled in alarm and lashed out, her fist connecting hard with whoever was in front her.

“Ow! Fucks sake woman, you wanna be left here?”

Her hair was sticking to the blood on her face as it began to dry. “J-Junkrat?”

“...Gotta keep still ok Mei, dunno how bad you are. Just focus on yer breathing before shock gets to ya alrite?” He gave her arms a reassuring squeeze.

Mei gave a small whimper in reply, trying to touch the bleeding wound on her head. Jamison grabbed her hand and held onto it.

‘Nope, no ya dont wanna touch that ok. Trust me it's not that bad, just a lil nick.’ He reassured her.

Tears now joined the blood streaming down her face as her choked on a sob. “I can't..I can't see”

“Yeaahhhh...ya glasses wanna bit o’ glue i won't lie. But don't worry about that kay? Lets just get you moving.” He reached up to his communicator. “Yeah hi, whoever's listening I found Frosty- I mean Mei! Mei! I found Mei..yeah she's ok, bit of blood. Maybe concussed to fuck...Uh huh..yeah..yeeaah..ok bored now bye!” He reached into one of the leather wallets on his belt and pulled out some gauze. “Sorry this might hurt.” He said, pressing the gauze against the wound.

“Ahh!” Mei squealed in pain.

“Told ya. Keep it pressed on coz we gotta move, Jesus Christ what the fuck happened here?” He crouched next to her, hooking an arm around her as she gingerly placed hers around his shoulders. “Ok on three..three-!” He vaulted her up onto her feet with ease but the sudden movement threatened her stomach and her head felt like it was about to split.

“Ahhhoowww oww owww! Why did you do that?” Mei whined loudly.

“Your up aren't ya? I don't fancy hanging around! Fucking hell you are tiny!”

“Can someone else come get me?” Mei whimpered.

“Ok down you go.” Junkrat replied bluntly as he began to lower her.

“No no no no!” Mei clung on to him in panic, her nails sharply digging into him.

“Yeah that's what I thought...”

#The Chemicals between us #Junkrat #meihem #mei ling zhou #junkmei #Overwatch #fanfic #Im aliiiiive!!

11 notes · View notes

goddessdoeswitchery · 4 years ago

Text

Hellenic Polytheism 101 Transcripts: Pillar of Hellenic Polytheism Sophrosyne

Hello and welcome to today’s episode of Hellenic Polytheism 101, where we will be moving onto to the next pillar of Hellenic Polytheism: Sophrosyne, which is, essentially, moderation, prudence, self-control, self-discipline, or temperance based upon thorough self-examination. Since we are coming up on a holiday season in the US, this seems like the perfect time to focus on Sophrosyne, and to remember it’s opposite, hubris, and how to avoid it. It is also important to remember that even in Ancient Greece, it was well understood that Sophrosyne could be taken too far, something we also understand still today.

“Earth shaker, you would not consider me sophrosyne if I were to fight with you for the sake of wretched mortals” Apollo says this to Poseidon in the Illiad, as Homer brings us a look at what Sophrosyne would mean to the same deity who brings us the Delphic Maxims, such as know know thyself, know by learning, exercise prudence, praise virtue, nothing in excess, know who is the judge, keep secret what should be kept secret, take sensible risks, be well behaved, be self disciplined, be sensible. This is not the only example in Homer’s work of Sophrosyne. In fact, there are a really a lot of them. I would definitely suggest you read both of them and look closely for examples of sophrosyne. Homer was very sensitive to the need for Sophrosyne in society and in an individual. On an individual level, sophrosyne prevented people form getting into serious trouble, both with themselves and on a religious level. After all, someone exercising sophrosyne would be very unlikely to become a spider after being cursed by Athena, right? On a modern level, someone exercising sophrosyne is less likely to face personal problems as well. You won’t wind up drinking to excess and getting into a car accident. You won’t find yourself challenging someone better than you to a fight. You won’t find yourself taking on more tasks than you can manage. You won’t find yourself spending more money than you can spare on things you don’t need. By exercising sophrosyne you can avoid a lot of trouble. On a societal level, we should try to exercise that same self control and temperance. After all, there is no reason for any country to spend more than 56 countries combined on defense spending. There is no reason for a city to cut taxes and not invest in repairing roads or assisting those who need it the most. There is no reason for a group of friends to go out in the middle of a pandemic to a bar just to have a good time. We can bring the ideals of sophrosyne to our own lives and encourage others to do the same, through voting and talking to others and being an example.

When we do not practice sophrosyne, we tend to fall victim to hubris. For someone who has spent any sort of time practicing Hellenic polytheism, we should all know exactly how bad hubris is. We’ve all probably seen it or heard it online. Recently, there was a lot of talk of witches online cursing the moon, specifically aimed at making Artemis or Apollo angry. Now, in the end, it was revealed to be some big hoax, a lie they told to make other witches start saying things about how they could tell someone had hexed the moon because their own spells weren’t as effective. Then the original hexers could say “Ha! We told you witch craft and the gods weren’t real, see? These guys said they noticed a change but we didn’t do anything, so clearly they must be faking!” The whole ordeal was a perfect example of what could happen if people fell victim to hubris, and many more sensible folks online pointed out that it was hubris, believing anyone could have an affect on a deity by cursing the moon. We’ve all seen other examples of hubris. Hellenic polytheists who say that Artemis would never let a man worship her, or a straight woman, or a woman who has had sex with a man. People who gatekeep, projecting their personal bigotry onto the Theoi. We’ve all come across. Hopefully, most have us have rolled our eyes and ignored it.

Even in mythology, hubris is painted to be among the worst things a person can be. Niobe lost her sons and daughters to Artemis and Apollo after she bragged to Leto that she was better than Leto for having more children. Arachne, turned into a spider for daring to compare herself to Athena. Antigone’s father, who lost his son and his wife for believing that his life was higher than the law of the gods. Oedipus refuses to accept his own fate and wound up falling victim to it because of his hubris. Ajax, believing he was entitled to the armor of Achilles and being driven mad and eventually killing himself. Icarus, flying to close to the sun, too prideful to listen to his father’s warnings. Orestes taking it upon himself to avenge his father by killing his mother and being driven mad. Greek stories are teeming with examples of people who have fallen victim to hubris. In many of these stories, sophrosyne is pointed to as a virtue to aspire to strictly to avoid it’s opposite, hubris.

And yet, we can also take sophrosyne too far. For example, in the Bacchae, Pentheus holds himself as a champion of sophrosyne, as fails to understand that by being overly self-controlled and self-discplined and holding himself up as the model of sophrosyne, he ignores the moderation and temperance part. He tried to force everyone listen to him, to oppose the Bacchic rites, and, in the end, his obsession with only a part of sophrosyne causes his own death. The Ancient Greeks understood that there was such a thing as being too controlled. There was such a thing as a fatal exaggeration of one side of the many-sided virtue of sophrosyne. Thus one of the biggest keys to sophrosyne is moderation. Nothing in excess says one of the Delphic Maxims, not even self-control and self-discipline.

As we go through this holiday there a lot of ways you can apply sophrosyne to your life. One of the dangers of the holidays is becoming over-extended. For example, I have a large family. Like…..over 100 people kind of large. So large that we could probably fill a high school basketball stadium kind of large. It’s also got a lot of different branches. Mom’s side, which has dad and mom in separate houses. My ex-stepdad, whose family we still see. My dad and his family. My dad’s ex wife and her daughter and her kids, who I’m also close to. My girlfriend. My kids’ dad and his family. I always joke that we’ve got our own little 12 days of Christmas skit between grandpa jones, grandpa long, Uncle Cody, Uncle Andrew, my dad, his ex wife’s house, my girlfriend, the kids’ dad, his family, and we’ve still got to squeeze out time for our own holiday celebration too. Factor in the fact that, like most customer service based companies in the US, my job doesn’t allow us to take more than half of Christmas Eve and all of Christmas day off. Sure, we’ve got the Sunday before and after when I’m off as well, but that’s barely 3 days for 4 states and 10 places to visit. Factor in the budget for all those places and all those gifts, not to mention the drama that comes around when we decide where we’re having Thanksgiving at and you can understand why I bring up being overextended as a danger of the holiday season. Now, maybe that isn’t a problem for you. Maybe you become over extended by volunteering to work too many hours to help your more Christian friends have time off. Maybe you offer to do too much during Thanksgiving and wind up having to wake up at 5 am to get started on a meal that you can’t believe you promised to cook. Maybe during Halloween, you spend too much time focused on parties or trick-or-treating and realize that you would have had a much better time sitting at home, watching Halloweentown with a bowl of candy and some friends. Either way, we all tend to push ourselves too hard, especially once the holidays roll around and we start wanting to do everything so we can get every experience. We need to remember sophrosyne during this time. Exercise self-control and stay home when it’s something you want to do. Exercise self-discipline and avoid getting gifts when you can’t afford it, there is no shame in saying “Look, finances are strapped and I can’t manage more than X”. Exercise moderation and remember that you can’t actually do everything. Be prudent and accept the reality of whatever situation you are facing. Practice sophrosyne.

Thank you for listening to today’s episode of Hellenic Polytheism 101 where we discussed another one of the Pillars of Hellenic polytheism, Sophrosyne. Today, I relied on the Odyssey, The Illiad, Sophrosyne: Self Knowledge and Self-Restraint in Greek Literature by Helen North, A Period of Opposition to Sophrosyne In Greek Thought also by Helen North, Mythology of the Greeks by George Grote, and the Wikipedia entry for Sophrosyne. Remember, all links to the resources I used can be found on my tumblr at goddessdoeswitchery.tumblr.com, along with a transcript of today’s episode under the tag “Transcripts”. I look forward to speaking with you all again on October 18th, where we will be discussing Eusebia.

#hellenic polytheism #hellenic polytheism 101 #transcripts #sophrosyne #pillars of hellenic polythiesm

7 notes · View notes

skepticalcatfrog · 5 years ago

Text

Stay Ahead and Stay Alive Chapter 1

First Chapter Next Chapter

Summary: When Bill Denbrough starts his third summer at Camp Half Blood, everything seems perfect. He's finally getting used to his cabin, he gets to see his friends again, and he's even getting the hang of fighting with a sword. But that perfection is quickly turned on its head when his little brother goes missing. Bill is determined to do whatever it takes to find him, even if that means he and his friends need to go to the Underworld.

Pairings: (Eventual) Reddie, Stenbrough, and Benverly

Word count: 3,254

Author's Notes: New series! This one isn't Sanders Sides, because I've recently gotten very into the It fandom, and I figured I'd try something new. For those of you who are currently reading Among The Stars, don't worry, that will still be continuing. Chapters might just be coming out a little slower than usual. Now, on to the important information! As some of you may have noticed, there's a new category under these notes. That's because this fic will be switching perspectives between the main characters from chapter to chapter. Enjoy!

POV: Bill Denbrough

I held my brother's hand tightly as we ran up Half Blood hill towards the camp boundaries. We weren't running from anything, just wanting to get to camp as fast as possible. I smiled when I saw the pine tree at the top of the hill, using my free hand to point towards it.

"N-not much further!" I glanced at my brother. "Think y-you can m-ma-make it?"

"Yup! You've got nothing to worry about!" Georgie said confidently, speeding up a little bit to prove his point. I just smiled a little wider.

We ran all the way up the hill and stopped only once we were sure we were past the boundaries, sitting down to try and catch our breath. We looked at each other then started laughing, for no reason in particular. I leaned back into the grass to get a better view of the sky. Georgie did the same. Everything was quiet for a moment, aside from the chatter from the other campers in the background. I just watched the clouds pass by. Then something (or someone, rather) blocked my view.

I smiled up at one of my best friends, Stanley Uris. He was the head counselor of the Athena cabin, and had been going to Camp Half Blood the longest out of all of us. Six years as of this summer, nearly twice as long as how many years I've been here. His eyes were a dark silver, like a sky full of storm clouds. He had brown hair, which was almost untamable due to how curly it was. If you got close enough, you'd notice freckles across his cheeks. Not that I'd ever gotten that close. He dressed like that kid in class who got straight A's every year, all button down shirts and khaki shorts. He offered me his hand and when I took it, he helped me stand up again.

"Hey, Bill. When did you get here?" He asked me, letting go of my hand quickly as soon as I was standing.

"Just now." I told him. Georgie stood up and was next to me again. "W-w-what about Richie and Eddie? Have y-you heard anything from th-them yet?"

"I have, yeah. Richie's only been here for four hours and he's already been to the infirmary twice. Eddie's taking care of him." Stan said. He gestured towards the infirmary. "It's nothing serious though, so he should be out again soon."

"Figures." I laughed. "S-s-sometimes it's li-like he does it on p-p-p-purpose."

As if on cue, Richie Tozier sauntered out of the infirmary, followed closely by a clearly frustrated Eddie Kaspbrak. Richie was a Hermes kid, which meant he was prone to getting into trouble. And more often than not, he would end up getting hurt. Then he would go to the infirmary, where he would be patched up and then scolded by Eddie. Eddie was an Apollo kid. He was probably one of the most qualified people in the infirmary, because he knew an unhealthy amount about diseases. He was like a tiny ball of anger and medical supplies. As they got closer to us, I could hear their conversation a little more clearly. But they didn't stop walking, so we just had to walk right alongside them.

"Arts and crafts? Are you kidding me? How do you get hurt in arts and crafts?" Eddie's nose scrunched up as he spoke.

"It's the beads, Eds. Their sharp edges will get you when you least expect it." Richie shrugged.

"The beads?! The beads are round, Richie. They have no sharp edges." Eddie's mouth was running a mile a minute, like a fast-forwarded recording. "The box says three and up. Are you over three? Because last time I checked, you were. But sometimes I can't tell based on how often you do stupid things. First it was the rock wall accident, now this. You do know that we don't have contests at the infirmary, right? You won't get a prize for being our most frequent customer."

"It was an accident!" Richie held his hands up in an 'I surrender' motion. Then he finally noticed me, Georgie and Stanley. "Hey, Stan the Man, answer me a question. Is it possible to cut yourself on a bead?"

"Maybe if it broke in half, then it might have a sharper edge. Otherwise, no, not possible. Especially not by accident." Stan shook his head.

"Aha! I was right." Eddie poked Richie on the shoulder. He suddenly remembered that there were other people there, and turned towards me and Georgie. "Oh, hi, by the way."

"Hey." I waved at him.

"Hi!" Georgie waved even more enthusiastically. He looked up to my friends for some reason, which was probably a mistake. Really the only good role model in our group was Stan.

"Speaking of our good friend Bill, what are your plans for this summer Mr. Son of Aphrodite?" Richie nudged me with his elbow. "Maybe finally asking Beverly out?"

Oh, right. Beverly Marsh. Beverly was the current Oracle of Delphi, plus the girl who I'd had a confusing relationship with since I first got to camp. Everyone thought we liked each other, and I guess it was kind of true, but there wasn't really anything there anymore.

"Since when do you like Beverly?" Stan asked, looking around at everything except for me.

"I-I-It's complicated." I sighed. "Long story sh-short, I'm p-p-probably not going to ask her out."

"Did you know that they kissed two years ago? There weren't many witnesses, but there were a few, so you can ask them if you don't believe me." Richie said, his voice just a little too loud for my liking.

"Oh m-my gods Richie c-c-could you please just be quiet?" I hissed, my charmspeak kicking in near the end. Some children of Aphrodite, including me, can use charmspeak. To put it simply, it's kind of like hypnosis. For example, when I said that, Richie finally decided to shut up.

"Speaking of Beverly…" Stan muttered.

There she was, waving at us from the mess hall. Her curly red hair had grown a bit since she'd cut it near the end of last summer, but her icy blue eyes were still the same. She also had freckles, and when I say freckles I mean a lot of them. She walked up to us, hands in her pockets.

"Hey, guys! I haven't seen you yet, when did you get here?" She asked.

"I've been here the whole time." Stan crossed his arms. He stayed at camp year-round, instead of leaving at the end of the summer like the rest of us. I never really knew why, but he always said it was because he knew he'd be safer there.

"Well obviously I know that, you do that every year. But I haven't seen any of them yet." Beverly gestured to the rest of us. "What have you guys been up to?"

"Me and Billie just got here. We ran from the car all the way up the hill, and it was so fun!" Georgie told her, practically jumping up and down from excitement. A small smile grew on my face and I nodded, confirming the story.

"Richie got here a few hours ago, but he's been too busy in the infirmary to do anything." Eddie scowled "He's already been there twice in the four hours he's been here, and I've had to take care of him. I thought that maybe this year he wouldn't get hurt as much, but I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up. Like seriously, how hard is it to just-"

"That's nice, Eddie." Beverly cut him off. The rest of us let out a sigh of relief, because we knew that if she hadn't done that, then Eddie could've gone on for hours. "I've got to get going, but hopefully I'll see you guys later!"

"Y-yeah, hopefully!" I waved as she walked away. Richie started clapping quietly.

"Bravo, encore!" He teased. "You're a true poet Bill, you really do have a way with words."

"Leave him alone, Rich. At least he tried." Stan's sharp gray eyes glared at Richie.

"Yeah, a-at least I t-tri-tried." I echoed. Sometimes I just didn't know what to say, but for some reason Stanley always seemed to be able to think of something. "Georgie and I still need to g-get settled in, so we'll b-b-be in our cabin if you n-need us."

"Okay. I actually have to go too, they'll probably need counselors to deal with new campers." Stan nodded.

"I'll go too then." Richie went to follow Stan.

"Richie, you're not a counselor. The whole camp would be in flames if you were a counselor. You can go with Eddie, I'm sure you'll be able to find something to do." Stan pointed to our blond friend, who was indignant.

"Nope, no, not a chance. I have important things that I need to do, and I don't need Richie to be there while I do them." Eddie protested.

"Too bad then, I guess." Richie wrapped his arm around Eddie's shoulders, which Eddie immediately pushed away. "Looks like we're stuck with each other, Eddie Spaghetti."

"Fine. But I really do have work to do, so don't be distracting." Eddie turned around and started walking away, Richie following him.

"Alright, well, just find me if you need anything. If we don't get a chance to talk then I'll see you tomorrow." Stan waved and went back to his cabin. Georgie and I went to ours as well.

The Aphrodite cabin was definitely intense, if you were looking for a way to describe it. The first thing you'd notice would be the smell of things like perfume, hairspray, and nail polish. It would hit you like a brick wall the second you walked through the door. Posters of various celebrities were all over the pink walls, and a circular rug sat in the center of the room. There was a row of beds on one wall, and another one on the opposite side of the room. Everything was very neat and orderly, except for a few stray love letters. They came to the Aphrodite cabin regularly, since most of my half siblings were the subjects of many crushes at camp. Multiple small chandeliers hung from the ceiling, being the only light source aside from the windows. Overall, it was never boring in cabin 10. There was always some sort of activity, and no matter what it was, it always caused excitement.

My brother and I put our bags down on our respective beds, and unpacked all of our stuff. Some other campers had gotten there earlier than we had, and were already settled in. By the time we had all of our stuff put away, we had to go to the mess hall for dinner. The tables were sorted by cabin, so I didn't get to sit next to any of my friends. The table for the Hermes cabin was always more crowded than anywhere else, because it held all the children of Hermes, as well as kids who didn't know who their godly parent was yet. I remember staying there for a while at the beginning of my first year at Camp Half Blood. It was where I'd met Richie. After dinner, we all sat around the campfire for a little while. We sang songs, talked, and told jokes until it was completely dark out. Georgie looked like he was about to fall asleep where he sat by the end of it. I couldn't blame him, the first day of camp was always tiring. We walked back to our cabin and got ready for bed.

It felt like forever before I started to fall asleep. I was tired, but for some reason I just couldn't sleep. I got there eventually, but then I was woken up by a tapping on my face. I opened my eyes, and what I saw was Georgie sitting next to my bed and tapping me on the forehead.

"Georgie, w-what are you s-s-still doing up?" I whispered. I didn't want to disturb anyone else.

"I'm not tired. I slept for a little while, but then I woke up, and now I'm not tired anymore." Georgie explained quietly, a small pout on his face.

"Well what do y-you want me to d-d-do about i-it?" I asked.

"Let's go on an adventure!" Even with the whispering, the excitement in his voice was clear.

"Georgie, you know we're n-not supposed to be out thi-this late." I shook my head.

"Since when do you care about the rules?" He asked. I couldn't deny that he was right, I'd snuck out even later than that many times. I hesitated.

"Fine." I reluctantly got out of bed. My brother grinned.

"Yes! I knew you'd do it!" He stood up.

I quickly got dressed and grabbed a flashlight from my bag. I looked out the window. The magical barrier around the camp kept bad weather out, but I could tell it was raining outside the border.

"Get your j-j-jacket." I told Georgie. We usually ended up wandering outside the boundaries of camp anyway, so I figured wearing our jackets would be a safe choice. "It c-could be cold in the ra-ain."

"Okay." He nodded, getting his raincoat.

We left once I had my jacket on. I put the hood up, because since it was a dark color, I would be less visible. Plus it would protect my head when we were in the rain. I didn't turn my flashlight on yet, either. I knew we were outside the barrier when I heard the pattering of the raindrops hitting the hood of my jacket. I flipped the switch on my flashlight and saw the beam of light spring forward, illuminating a path ahead of us.

"Well, we're h-here. What now?" I asked, glancing at my brother. He looked around and thought for a moment.

"Let's go… that way." He pointed towards a forest that had a dirt road cutting through the middle. He immediately started walking, and I had to walk a little faster just to keep up with him.

I slowly started to lose my nervousness about being in the woods that late. We weren't even supposed to be out of our cabins at night, let alone out of the camp completely. It was like a free meal for monsters. But I'd left camp so many times before that I barely thought about it.

"At least the t-tr-trees block most of the r-rain." I held out my hand and only felt a couple of raindrops hit it.

"But there are still puddles on the ground!" Georgie stepped in one of the puddles, then frowned and looked down at his feet. He didn't have rain boots on, only sneakers. "Oh… now my feet are all wet."

"D-d-do you want to g-go back to camp?" I reached out and took his hand. He had a tendency to run off when he saw something interesting, and I just didn't want to lose him.

"No, I'm fine." He shook his head, starting to walk again as if nothing had happened. "They'll get dry again in a little while."

"Okay, if you're sh-sure." I nodded.

Suddenly, a steep hill stood right in our path. It was so tall that we couldn't see what was on the other side. I let go of my brother's hand.

"I'm just going to ch-check and see i-i-if it's safe on the other s-side." I looked at Georgie, and my charmspeak kicked in. I knew he probably would've done whatever I said anyway, but I wasn't going to take any chances. "I n-need you to stay right here until I get back, okay?"

"Okay." He nodded. I started to walk away, and he stood completely still as I did.

I climbed up the side of the hill. It was steep, and the grass was slick with rain, so I had to hold on to trees to stop myself from slipping. It was even more difficult to climb down the other side. I didn't fall, but I did slide about half the way down. Once I regained my footing, I looked around for a moment. All that was on the other side of the hill was more forest, there didn't seem to be anything too bad. I was about to turn around and climb back up the hill… and that's when I heard it.

"BILLIE!" My brother cried out from the other side of the hill.

My eyes widened and I could feel my heart beating. I turned around and started running, but I didn't get very far up the hill before I fell forward and slid down again. I got back up and tried again, now covered in mud. I used the trees to brace myself as I dashed up the hill as fast as I could. I slipped again when I got to the top, and sliding down the other side felt almost like falling into Tartarus. At the bottom of the hill, I was met with my worst fear. A puddle of water, stained red. My brother was nowhere to be found.

My hand started to shake, and my grip tightened on the flashlight I was holding. I started to run, as fast as I could, back the way we'd come from. I didn't stop to think, I didn't stop to collect myself, I just ran. My hood flew off of my head, but I didn't care. When the camp was in my sights I sped up. The second I was past the border I stopped, looking around frantically. No one would be awake, I wasn't even supposed to be awake, so who could I go to? I could only think of one person who might be able to help me.

I opened the door to the Athena cabin as quietly as I could in my panicked state. When I saw Stanley, I knelt down next to his bed and put my hand on his shoulder. He was completely asleep. I shook him a little bit.

"Stan? Stanley?" I tried to be quiet, but it wasn't easy. "Stanley Uris I s-swear, if you don't w-wake up right n-n-now-"

"I know, you can't sleep, but that doesn't mean you have to-" Stanley muttered. He opened his eyes, but his eyelids were heavy from drowsiness. When he saw me, he seemed to wake up a little more. "Bill? Why are you here, you're supposed to be asleep. And why are you covered in mud?"

"I'll explain l-later, right now I just n-n-need your help." I told him, wiping the tears from my face.

"What's wrong, what happened?" Stan sat up, suddenly becoming much more alert.

"I-I-It's Georgie, he's m-m-m-m-m-" I could barely get the word out. Because saying it made it real, and I knew it couldn't be real.

"It's okay, just breathe." Stan was about to take my hand, but he hesitated, and decided against it. "Everything's going to be okay. Now, do you think you can tell me what happened?"

"Georgie… is m-missing. We w-were out in the w-w-woods, and I l-l-left him alone, and now..." I burst into tears, burying my face in my hands. "Shit, I left him a-a-alone!"

Stan seemed surprised at my sudden outburst. "Are you sure? Are you sure it wasn't just a bad dream?"

"Y-y-yes, of course I'm sure!" I looked up again and met his eyes. "And I n-need you to help me f-find him."

38 notes · View notes

chezgender · 5 years ago

Text

Medusa (Nikki/Tommy)

A new fic here. A sort of Greek mythology AU, featuring a sad Nikki and a cute Tommy. Oh and also, soulmates trope!

I hope you’ll like it, let me know what tou think about it!

Plot: Nikki and Tommy have been friends for a few months now, but Nikki has never shown his eyes. There’s a secret behind this.

Warnings: mentions of past abuse, mention of rape (in the context of a Greek myth)

The first time Tommy had met Nikki they were in a bar, and the drummer hadn’t seen his eyes. It was a boiling Saturday in Los Angeles and, despite the temperatures, Sixx was in full glam mode, dressed in black leather, with jet-black hair, black everything. Tommy looked kinda stupid in his high-waisted tight denim and yellow shirt. Figuring something out about Sixx had been nearly impossible since that dark and thick fringe made it impossible to see Nikki’s eyes. Like a curtain on the stage of an unknown theatre, like a cloud hiding a mysterious moon that could move seas.

Even when they started hanging out regularly, Nikki never took hair away from his face. It seemed like he wanted to avoid eye contact, so Tommy thought he had some strange issues. Though, after a few months of friendship, Lee still hadn’t seen the older’s eyes.

*****

“Your parents are amazing.” Nikki commented once they were outside Tommy’s house. The bassist had been welcomed like a son, he almost felt home for the first time in so long.

“Well… they are, yeah. Don’t you ever miss yours?” Lee asked, offering a cigarette to his friend, who accepted gladly. They were walking towards the Rainbow, as the night was falling on the city.

The bassist frowned, his voice dropping all of a sudden. “I hope they’ll rot in hell.” He commented and finally lit that cigarette, indulging in a long drag that seemed to calm his nerves a little.

Tommy changed the subject to avoid making him angry.

*****

“What color are your eyes?” Tommy asked once, before sipping loudly his chocolate milkshake.

It was one of the many dog days on the Sunset, and the two friends were sitting at a cheap café where Athena’s boyfriend worked. Athena was Tommy’s sister and he was very protective over her since they had always shared everything. Lee had asked Nikki to hang out together while he checked on that guy, and they took the chance to buy a drink. Finding relief to the heat seemed to have become Los Angeles’ priority, and staying with Nikki had become Tommy’s priority.

Hearing that question, Nikki turned to Tommy and flashed a grin that looked almost bittersweet.

“Green.” He so said, before finishing his iced coffee and looking away, without letting Tommy watch through his sunglasses. Who the fuck wore sunglasses inside a bar?

The drummer sighed and let the topic off, settling down for that small answer.

Their day went for the best until Tommy had to go home.

*****

The first time Tommy had seen Nikki with the fringe away from his forehead, the bassist was rocking a ponytail.

Pretty weird for him, to be honest. His hair looking still wet and dark with sand in between the messy locks.

It was more or less 6 pm, the drummer remembered it because there was a beautiful sunset and the two of them were on the beach, in a desert place in Santa Monica. The sun was slowly drowning in the sea, painting it orange and yellow and light shone bright, yet delicate, invading the air and filling everything with sudden peace.

Nikki was looking at the sea, sitting on the wet sand, diving into so many thoughts.

“Sixx,” the taller called him, appearing suddenly by his side. The bassist winced in surprise and immediately looked away, avoiding any eye contact. Tommy was starting to think all of that was some kind of joke. “don’t worry, just wanted to know if you wanna go home now.”

The bassist let his hair down again, his fringe covering his forehead and eyes. “Get you in ten, if you wanna go.”

To be honest, Tommy didn’t want to go away, and so stood at Nikki’s side and spent minutes and minutes fantasizing about those oh so secret eyes, wondering how the sunset light would change that mysterious shade of green.

They then walked towards Tommy’s van and spent the trip in silence, listening to Cheap Tricks on the radio.

*****

Tommy had recently gone living on his own, finally away from his family. It hadn’t been hard, besides money, and anyway he loved the idea of being independent. He had already invited Nikki multiple times and they wanted to use the place to rehearse, even though they were only two instruments. They just had to settle down, they were going to find a singer and a guitarist very soon. They liked playing together anyway, because they had a very pleasant chemistry.

“Can I use your shower?” Was the first question that Nikki Sixx asked a Tommy that had just got out of bed. The bassist was standing at the front door, hands in his pockets and sunglasses on, of course. He was also visibly sweating, it was way too hot outside.

“It’s 7 in the morning and you came here to ask me if you can take a shower?” Lee whined, scratching his eyes and yawning. He needed a coffee, right in that moment.

“It’s 2 pm.” The older pointed out. “And yes, I totally did.” Tommy was doubtful but decided not to ask any question: he didn’t want to know why Nikki needed to use his shower at 7 am, or 2 pm, or any time in the day. He probably got kicked out of his apartment, again.

“Yeah, come in.” He then said, sighing and letting the bassist in. “Be home.” he added, knowing there was no need to tell Nikki where the bathroom was. He had been in that house almost every day.

“Of course, thank you T-bone.”

They didn’t talk too much: Tommy gave the bassist a clean towel and told him not to mess up things in there. Nikki laughed, more like a small giggle, and soon he disappeared in the bathroom. As Tommy heard the water running, he decided to finally put some clothes on: a simple t-shirt and grey sweatpants for comfort. He waited for Nikki to come out, sitting on the sofa that in many nights had hosted Sixx, and listening to some music with a cold coffee in hand.

Each time he thought about Nikki, the whole eyes thing would come to his mind. Nine months of friendship, and he had never seen those eyes. Often he wondered the reasons behind that unusual, weird choice. Lee knew that Nikki was pretty introverted and the only way to get to know him very well was music, which bounded them like brothers. Another way to know a person is through their eyes because eyes are the window to the soul, but maybe Nikki didn’t want anyone to see his soul.

Tommy had realized his feelings for Nikki, recently. Feelings that were well above friendship and, even if he refused to name them or to talk about it with anyone, he knew that he couldn’t ignore them forever.

Maybe that was the reason why he felt the desire, the need to look into those eyes and see if there was the same spark, the same warmth that Tommy felt every second they spent together.

But at that point, he wasn’t even sure Nikki could feel anything at all.

And anyway, Tommy had thought to be straight for his whole life and now, Nikki happened? Shit was weird as hell. And also painful, because he was pretty sure Sixx, despite being pretty open-minded, would’ve never accepted him as gay, bisexual or whatever the hell he was.

The sound of the bathroom door being opened -that thing was creaky as fuck-, distracted Tommy from all those thoughts. He looked at Nikki with the corner of his eye, trying not to be too damn obvious, to notice his damp hair and his face, finally free and visible. He turned around suddenly, staring at the bassist, who looked into Tommy’s dark irises. None could manage to look away.

“It’s a nice green.” Tommy simply said, staring right at him and standing up. He slowly walked towards the older, to enjoy each emerald shades that adorned those beautiful eyes. And everything was almost unreal, dream-like, Tommy was afraid he’d never have a second chance.

Nikki remained silent, doubtful, playing with his own hands. “Thanks. Never heard that compliment.” He said, looking kinda sick.

“Dude, you look pale. Are you okay?” The drummer asked, frowning at Nikki’s reaction. He made him sit on the sofa and gave him clean clothes -a T.rex shirt and sweatpants-, waiting for him to get dressed. “You need some water?” he asked, as he looked at Nikki’s moves: kinda graceful and totally different from the ones he had on stage. He was shaking lightly and Tommy wished he could hug him; but he knew Nikki was very reticent about physical contact.

“Would be great, thanks.” the older said as he sat down on the sofa again, and Tommy soon handed him a glass of fresh water, with some sugar. Nikki drank it in a few seconds while the drummer sat with him. “Have you ever heard the story of Medusa?” the black haired guy asked, all of a sudden.

That was so out of context that Tommy didn’t even know what to answer: he frowned, not understanding how it could be related to their topic. “In school, I guess? Don’t remember much.”

Nikki sighed lightly, crossed his legs and lit up a cigarette, immediately taking a drag from it. “Alright, lemme tell you a story. Medusa was a gorgon, the only human of three sisters which represented moral, sexual and intellectual perversion. She was a beautiful woman, graceful enough that every living creature would look at her.”

Tommy raised his hand like a schoolkid: “Okay, but wasn’t she the girl with snake hair and stuff?” he remembered some things about Greek culture. They didn’t study much of it in school, but he had always found it incredibly interesting.

“Yes, lemme get to it. One day Poseidon, king of the Seas, fell in love with her and wanted to lie with her.” Nikki kept on talking, his voice was quiet, almost like he was hurt from that same story. Like he had lived it on his skin, somehow, like it was part of him. “But she didn’t, so he forced her. He raped her and she tried to hide her face behind Athena’s statue. The Goddess punished Medusa for her vanity, turning her into a monster.”

“Wait, how is Medusa considered vain? She was assaulted!” Tommy exclaimed, at that point, he was really invested in the story. And suddenly the ancient mythology felt so real, so everyday-like, and T-bone thought about all the girls that went through the same path in different ways.

Nikki shrugged, suddenly getting up: “I don’t know Tommy, I’m not Athena. I can’t believe your Greek ass didn’t know this story.”

“Anyway, why are you telling me this?” Tommy asked, making himself more comfortable on the sofa and following Nikki with his gaze. It was weird to finally look into his eyes, and see the light in them. The rage, the desire to wreck everything, the need for freedom. To be honest, Nikki wasn’t so different from what Tommy had imagined to that point.

“When I was very little, Nona told me this story and warned me about a thing: once I’d become an adult, I’d be able to turn people into stone without my control, like Medusa.” Sixx sat down on the table, looking right in front of him, where Tommy was, burning him with his gaze. Unintentionally, because Nikki wasn’t very used to glance at people while they could see his eyes, so he just looked rather creepy. “Because of my past, you know? I told you my childhood was kinda fucked up.”

“And that’s why you never let your eyes be seen by anyone, right? But it shit didn’t work on me.” the taller stated, fidgeting his legs as usual. Nikki had grown used to it, so he wasn’t even bothered anymore.

“Nona told me another thing. Do you believe in soulmates, Tommy?”

T-bone’s eyes widened in surprise at the question: “Soulmates…? Never really thought about it.”

“Well, she told me the only person who could resist to this would be my soulmate,” he concluded, taking another drag from the cigarette and blowing it in the heated air. Tommy was speechless, which was unusual for him. His mind was a mess, trying to connect all the dots and form a coherent thought, a decent answer to that.

“You gotta be kidding man…” he whispered. Not decent, but still an answer. The drummer laid down on the couch like he needed some more moments to realize. And Nikki, slightly worried about him, sat down next to his friend again and took his wrist to feel the pulse of his quickened heartbeat.

“I’m not, I’m shocked just as you. I don’t think I’m gay or anything, soulmates ain’t a thing you decide.” he sighed as he let the other’s arm and put the cigarette off in the nearest ashtray.

Tommy finally looked at him with a little smile. He always had that innocent, joyful sparkle in his eyes. He was the total opposite of Nikki, but none of them was bothered by that. “Hey it’s alright, I wouldn’t mind it anyway. As you said, a soulmate isn’t someone you can choose;“ he paused for a few seconds, looking at his friend with the corner of his eyes, "and I gotta say I’m okay with you being mine.”

“Are you saying it doesn’t weird you out?” Sixx was finally smiling, too. He almost never smiled, and Tommy felt a pleasurable stabbing sensation in his heart every time he witnessed those lips curving in a shy, cute manner.

“Listen, I might be slightly gay for you and anyway, after hearing this story, nothing can weird me out.”

“Stupid.” the older chuckled, before realizing what Tommy had really said: “Wait, are you gay?”

“No? I don’t think so…” the drummer mumbled, unsure about the best words to use. But maybe at that point, spilling the entire truth would’ve been better than keeping motherfuckin’ secrets. Secrets ruin friendships, and Tommy wasn’t intentioned to lose Nikki. “I mean, I realized I have some feelings for you, don’t wanna name them yet, but if we’re soulmates it means something, right?” he so dared to say, and Nikki’s reaction came quite unexpectedly. Tommy was expecting a ‘fuck you’ or something, but instead, his lips found Nikki’s in a kiss. A delicate and maybe awkward kiss, because none of them seemed to have the guts to deepen it.

“I- uh…” Nikki fumbled, but the look Tommy gave him was so full of feelings that the bassist kissed him again, almost like he was possessed.

And this time everything felt natural, which meant fast and violent and full of unnamed feelings. Nikki bit the other’s lip, making him gasp visibly at the sensation. The vibrant green of Nikki’s irises seemed to shine with a new feeling, which Tommy couldn’t really tell.

“Do you think things are going to work?” the bassist asked in a hushed voice, his forehead pressed against Tommy’s.

“Which things?”

“Us,” Nikki cooed, turning his head away from Tommy. His rosy cheeks showed new shades of his heart and Tommy was so glad and surprised. “are we going to make it?” he asked, his voice was full of worry, of that kind of pain only lonely people endure.

He had never thought he was destined to have a soulmate. That only happens in fairy tales, he would tell himself, and then proceeded with falling in love with people only to hurt them in the end. Because none of them were his true soulmates. His fate was to be alone, he had hurt too many people to trust himself anymore.

The taller then smiled softly, cupping Nikki’s face and smiling at him, before kissing his cheek. “Always, no matter what.”

“What a romantic motherfucker. I’m gonna get diabetes.” the bassist playfully complained, his smile would reveal all of his feelings. He really couldn’t believe Tommy was alive and well, that nothing had happened when their eyes met, when their lips touched. That there were no tears nor desperate situations.

"At least you know what you’re signing for.” Lee clicked his tongue. They fell silent, then, Tommy looking at Nikki and Nikki looking at the old and ruined, but oh so familiar, sofa. The atmosphere was quiet. There was some uncertainty, still, in fear’s fault.

A gay relationship, in the 80s, between two guys trying to become famous. That could’ve blown everything up, destroy their life-long dream. Was it worth the risk?

Nikki sighed. “Do you think we should make it public?”

Tommy frowned, his eyes veiled with the same preoccupation that darkened Nikki’s: “I don’t know, that might be a bad idea. But what do you think?”

“This is gonna be our secret, at least for now.” Nikki agreed, his hand found Tommy’s. Their fingers intertwined shyly, and Lee strengthened the hold.

“By the way, you can sleep here if you wanna. Since you got kicked out.” He said after a few moments of silence, and Nikki clicked his tongue at him:

“How do you know it?”

“Because you woke up earlier than 6pm, which, for the record, you never do.”

Nikki laughed: “Alright, alright, I have my stuff in the car.”

“Fine, go and take it so we can find some place for your clothes.”

In the end, Nikki didn’t sleep on the sofa anymore. The bed was pretty small for the two of them, but they could arrange it by sleeping on each other despite the extra hot temperatures. Nikki was feeling home like never before, and it was the most beautiful sensation. He would’ve phoned Nona, sooner or later, to tell her he had found his soulmate like she had said.

#motley crue fanfiction #tommy/nikki #tommy lee x nikki sixx #Terrorcest #nikki sixx x tommy lee #nikki sixx #tommy lee #Motley Crue #Terror Twins #greek myth au

63 notes · View notes

seolhe · 5 years ago

Note

I was wondering,,, why do you say the dark wife is one of the worst books you've read? I read it a few years ago, and I dont remember anything about it tbh, so I'm curious

Oh boy, where do I start? I had a lot of problems with this novel, both as a Greek myth retelling and from a writing standpoint. Now, keep in mind that I read thisabout 2 years ago, so I might be forgetting some small details here and there, but I’ll try to explain the main reasons it bugged me so much. So buckle up, because this is gonna be a long one.

Characters: All the characters are two-dimensional and poorly developed. None of them have any amount of nuance or depth.Zeus is moustache twirling villain who is evil for the sake of being evil. Hades is as good as Zeus is evil, endlessly noble and selfless and devoted. I genuinely can’t remember a single defining trait of Persephone? She’s such abland and generic protagonist, nothing really stands out about her in my memory other than her obsessive pining over Hades and hatred of Zeus. A lot of this feels like it’s pulled straight from the shallow and occasionally downright inaccurate readings of Greek myths that have become so popular in recent years, especially on places like tumblr (Zeus as an evil rapist, Hades as a pure cinnamon roll, Persephone descending willingly into the Underworld, etc.).But there are also more confusing takes on these characters, like turning chaste virgin goddess Athena into a self-centered, promiscuous lesbian (not to say that being a lesbian or being promiscuous is bad, it’s just such a strange interpretation of Athena’s character that doesn’t make any sense)And don’t even get me started on poor Charis! Charis, Persephone’s first lover in the book, exists solely to be raped and killed by Zeus. She’s fridged to show us that Zeus is BAD and giving Persephone a reason to hate him. The author’s treatment of this character is lazy and offensive. I’m sure this is something that won’t bother all readers, but as someone with a deep love for the mythology, I found the portrayal of the Greek gods franklyinsulting. Plot:“Three thousand years ago, a god told a lie.”Here we run into a big problem with the narrative. We’re told from the very prologue that the story of Hades and Persephone we’re familiar with is a lie, a narrative created by Zeus, and this is Persephone’s attempt to set the record straight.These are the first lines of our story: “I am not my mother’s daughter. I have forfeited my inheritance, my birthright. I do not possess the privilege of truth. The stories told by fires, the myth of my kidnap and my rape, are all that remain of me. Forever I will be known as the girl who was stolen away to be the wife of Hades, lord of all the dead. Andnone of it is true, or is so fragmented that the truth is nothing more than ashadow, malformed. The stories are wrong. I am not who they say I am.I am Persephone, and my story must begin with the truth.Here it is, or as close as I can tell it.”Well, this doesn’t really make any sense when, at the end of the story, Zeus is defeated and thrown into Tartarus. Why does this narrative survive into modern day when Hades and Persephone won? Why is Persephone only able to tell her story now, after thousands of years without Zeus in power? Speaking of Zeus and lies, the justification for the whole “What, Hades is awoman?!” thing really doesn’t make any sense. We’re told that Zeus calls Hades “lord” of the dead as a joke, Hades even refers to it as a “slur” in the story. The reason given for this is that Hades is only attracted to women. Well, if that’s the case, why doesn’t that same logic apply to Athena, who’salso shown to be attracted only to women? Or to Persephone for that matter? Same-sex attraction, even between women, is never shown to be frowned upon in their society, so why would Zeus single out Hades for her attraction to women? And why do all the other gods apparently go along with that “joke” to the point that Persephone literally didn’t know Hades was a woman until she meets her in person? And why, again, did this idea of Hades being a man survive into modern day? The story is constructed so poorly on so many different levels. There are so many threads that are just dropped entirely. For example:- The story starts with Demeter confidently proclaiming that Persephone will become the queen of the gods, setting up this big rivalry between her and the daughters of Hera and Aphrodite. This plot never goes anywhere, in fact, I don’t think it’s ever brought up again after the first chapter, and Demeter basically spends the rest of the book cowering before Zeus. - There’s a significant plotline about Pallas having Persephone try to deliver a message to Athena, a plotline that is unceremoniously dropped without anyresolution. After all the build-up, there’s a throwaway line about Pallas giving the note to Persephone right before the big showdown with Zeus, and that’s the last we hear of it. We never see it delivered, we don’t get to see Athena’s reaction to it, we don’t know how this impacts Pallas, if at all. In fact, Pallas basically doesn’t show up at all after this point. Then there’s the main conflict of the story: Zeus wants Persephone, and as we’re told over and over and over, Zeus always gets what he wants (the author really beats this into our heads). We’re never really given any motivation for any of Zeus’ actions, so this conflict feels weak and contrived. It doesn’t help that we get so much build-up for what a terrible threat he is, and then Persephone defeats Zeus, the most powerful god, feared by all, in like… two pages? It’s such a weak and anticlimactic end to the story.

There was also some sort of convoluted plan concocted by Zeus to, idk, have the dead rise up and overthrow Hades? For some reason? Again, we never get any clear motivation from Zeus. As far as I can remember, we’re never told why he hates Hades so much, or why he wants to overthrow her. I don’t even remember if the author explained what Zeus was going to do with the Underworld without Hades there to rule. I’m sorry, I genuinely can’t even remember the details, but it was just reallybadly set up and, once again, easily solved in a few pages.And that’s really the main problem with the story, everything is so easily solved. Our good guys all get happily ever afters with no sacrifices and no consequences for anything, and there’s always a quick and easy solution to any threat or conflict. Mythology:So how does it hold up as a Hades and Persephone retelling?Well, not great, imho. A lot of classical elements are incorporated into this retelling, but they’re stripped of any meaning or importance to the plot. The pomegranate? It’s there at their wedding, but it never figures into the greater narrative.Demeter causing famine by bringing infertility to the fields? She does freeze the world in this story, threatening everlasting winter, but unlike in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, it’s not an act of agency on her part, refusing to submit to the will of Zeus and fighting to be reunited with her daughter. Nah. She’s just being manipulated by Zeus and it’s used as a cheap reason to tear our lovers apart.And somehow, I don’t even know why seeing as it doesn’t tie into Demeter freezing the earth or Persephone eating the seeds of the pomegranate, butPersephone is still forced to spend half the year on earth and half in theUnderworld.In the epilogue, we see her in modern day New York*, acting as psychopomp (for some reason???), happily guiding the souls to the afterlife, which we’re told is her duty for the half of the year she spends above ground. I’m just so confused as to what the author was even going for here. Where did this come from? It doesn’t originate in the original myths, but it’s also not explained (as far as I can remember) in the book.*This isn’t a problem with the book per se, and it’s 100% a matter oftaste, but I personally really dislike it when mythological figures appearin a modern setting, especially when the author has to put them in anAmerican setting rather than the geographical location of their origin, whetherthat’s Greece or Egypt or Scandinavia or what have you. Romance: Hades and Persephone are destined soulmates and instantly fall in love pretty much the moment they first set eyes on each other, which doesn’t allow for any growth or progression of their relationship. They’re instantly deeply and madly in love with each other and their feelings never change over the span of the story. They spend most of their time together staring lovingly into each others eyes and when they’re separated for literally 3 days Persephone basically spends her entire days languishing in despair.It’s ridiculously melodramatic and cheesy, which again, personal taste thing,I’m just really not into. Other writing issues: - The worldbuilding is pretty much non-existent. The story doesn’t feel grounded in any particular time period or cultural context, and you never get any sense of the setting, or how the world works and what this society is like. - The pacing was really poor, either dragging or exploding into rushed action. - A lot of page time is spent on describing things that doesn’t really further the plot or has any thematic relevance. One example would be the garden of metal and precious stones Hades made for Persephone. It’s cool I guess? But what purpose does it serve? We also waste a lot of time which could be better used developing the characters or moving the plot forward on watching Persephone play with puppy Cerberus or petting Hades’ horses (see poor pacing). - There’s a lot of talk about Persephone having some sort of grand destiny, and that her actions have been prophesized. This is never properly explained and it only serves to weaken Persephone’s story arc, stripping her of agency by implying that she doesn’t really have a choice in the matter. Prophecy and destiny are story elements that have to be handled delicately and are easy to screw up, and they’re just dealt with so clumsily here. - Also the writing was just… not very good.I’m sure there are more things I could dig up and complain about, but I feel like this is probably too long and rambly already, so I’ll stop here.

Obligatory disclaimer:This is obviously just my personal opinion. There are a lot of people who love this book (going by Goodreads ratings, I am clearly in the minority) and I am genuinely happy for them! I also mean no disrespect to the author who seems like a genuinely lovely person.

#Anonymous #book stuff #ranty rant #queer books #greek mythology

3 notes · View notes

sobasically · 6 years ago

Text

Hey guys! Muse here! And it’s time for your daily dose of Greek mythology.

So everyone has at least a basic understanding of the Greek pantheons. They all live on mount Olympus and are lead by lightning god Zeus and wreak havoc on the earth with their antics. But there’s a shit ton more to the Olympians than meets the eyes.

So what exactly are the olympians? The answer isn’t as straight as you’d think it is. For one thing, the olympians can get hurt and die like any other human. They are victim to the same vices as any other person. The difference is they don’t have to face the consequences. They ‘die’, they reform. They get hurt, they heal. They do something shitty, meh. Olympians will be olympians. In essence, they are humans minus the limits.

Frustrating right? The Greeks knew this. But they couldn’t say anything about it unless they wanted to have their life royally fucked over. Kinda like politicians :D

Anyways, there were 12 main olympians. Technically there’s 13, but more on that later.

First you have the original siblings:

Zeus: the youngest and most powerful. He is the god of the sky and weather. Zeus is the most hyper masculine asshole you will ever meet. He could be fair and stuff but usually this was just because his antics caught up with him. Most of the time he was a horny, competitive, burn your eyes glowing hypocrite. This dude saw someone hot and thought “damn I’ll tap that.” And he did. Against their will. And it always resulted in suffering for everyone else. You can’t stop him. Believe me, the gods /tried/.

Then there’s Poseidon, god of the ocean, fertility, and horses (in his pre-Hellenistic incarnations). Poseidon is similar to Zeus in that he is also horny as shit. But he was 8 times more violent and petty. You do not want to piss him or his many many many many many many many children off. Just look at what happened to Odysseus. Of all the gods you don’t want to piss off- and dammit you do NOT want to piss off the gods- Poseidon is number 2 on the don’t list. (Hera is #1 on this list for reasons to be discussed later)

Hades is the king of the dead and the eldest son, therefore the rightful king of Olympus. Yeah, according to Greek law this dude should be ruling. But, because Zeus sorta saved their asses from their dad and Hades drew the smallest straw he has to rule the realm of dead people. No he isn’t the ‘god of the dead’ and does not judge them or kills people. He just rules them. Nothing else. He keeps order in the land of the dead and that’s it. Apparently he’s really good at it. The Greeks were terrified of him. (If only he ruled Olympus. Maybe stuff wouldn’t be shitty)

Then you’ve got the sisters

Hera, wife of Zeus, goddess of women and marriage, queen of Olympus, Craziest bitch alive. Does that sound harsh? No, it isn’t. She’s fucking insane. Hera has a serious jealousy problem. Her husband is always cheating on her and she can’t punish him (believe me, she’s tried.). So she does the next best thing to calling out her husband. She makes his victims lives literal hell. His lovers are smited, cursed, driven mad, and his children face the same (though often unsuccessfully). Don’t even think of looking at her temple the wrong way otherwise you will SUFFER.

(If I die suddenly after this. You’ll know who did it.)

Demeter is one of the more chill olympians. She’s goddess of the harvest. When she’s happy, people prosper. When she’s not happy... everyone starves. It’s not so terrible though. When she lost her daughter she traveled the earth performing miracles and stuff. She’s one of the gods that have an entire cult to her, the Elysian mysteries. She was one of the ones who inspired the idea that death is a drab thing, that one can be reborn. Long story short, Demeter/Hades for Olympus rulers 2019.

Finally, you have the lesser known, oldest sibling, Hestia. She’s the goddess of the Hearth and is an eternal virgin (by choice). Not much is known about her. But from what is, she’s a kind hearted and fair person.

Then you have the sorta related but not Goddess:

Aphrodite, Goddess Of Beauty, love, lust, and being petty bitch #2. Born from Nut-SeaFoam (her name means that, fyi), Aphrodite is a sexy boobed (seriously this is constantly mentioned), Golden/flower dyed haired bitch. She gets jealous easily and flirts with everyone. Like, she’s done a shit ton of horrible things. And everyone has the hots for her. The olympians tried to contain her with marriage. The problem is they married her to the least attractive god and assumed she’d be ok with that. She wasn’t. She cheated with Ares. On a side note: she’s also a war goddess. Like, she can fight and win. Don’t piss her off.

On to the children.

Ares is the only child of Zeus and Hera. You can really tell by his sexual appetite and uncontrolled rage. He is the god of offensive war. As in running into battle covered in blood half naked because you are so pumped up for war that you are also horny. He is notorious for not thinking things through and being a bit of a coward when someone displays even slight superiority. His sorta sister Athena has to drag him in by the ear and remind him that to win a battle you have to think things through. Which is why people like her more.

Athena is the goddess of wisdom, crafts, and defensive war. She was born in armor screaming a war cry... from Zeus’s Head. (She could technically be the daughter of Metis, Titaness of Logic and first wife of Zeus, since he ate her.) She is a daddy’s girl and brilliant strategist. She’s chaste and organized. Many generals trust her as their patron. Athena is actually described as being a bit androgynous. She does happen to have a bit of a superiority complex, like most olympians. But as long as you take her counsel seriously and don’t try to rape her you’re good.

Hephaestus is son of Hera, born from her thigh, and disabled god of metalworking and the forge. Like, he has a limp. Now he isn’t ‘ugly’ per say. He isn’t Olympian attractive by far, but I like to think he’s average man attractive. Of course, Hera was disgusted by his affliction and flung him from Olympus (“this bitch ugly. YEET”-Hera). Interestingly enough, the olympians still rely on him to make their weapons and stuff. Hes clever, he figured out how to catch his wife cheating on him. So the dude gets more shit than from the Olympians than he deserves.

Apollo and Artemis are the twin archer gods of the sun and moon.

Apollo is god of the sun, music, poetry, divination, and rational thought. He’s incredibly attractive and yet does not have a lover. In fact, his luck with lovers is.. non existent. Either they die, reject him, or turn into trees (not that that bugs him too much). When he isn’t consumed by loneliness, he is busy writing songs on his lyre and reciting poetry for the muses. He’s also incredibly athletic, and was known to play discus a lot (not as much after the incident).

Artemis is the goddess of the hunt, childbirth, and wilderness. She is incredibly chaste and demands the same from her followers. She loves animals and children and hanging out with her ladies. Artemis is described as this tall, muscular lady. Amazon’s probably looked up to her as the ideal body. For the most part, she was pretty decent, a bit of a stickler for her rules but still.

Then you have Hermes, messenger of the gods and trickster. This dude is the definition of a little shit. He’s constantly pulling pranks on heroes and the gods. He’s even the patron of thieves. Don’t shoot the messenger though, just cause the dude is snarky doesn’t mean what he says isn’t true. Hermes is the direct voice of the gods. So you have to begrudgingly listen to him. Fun fact: he was able to talk as a baby.

Last but not least is Dionysus. Dionysus is god of wine, (ceremonial) madness, and Death (in early incarnations). He also has a cult of his own. But they are less friendly and more horny. Dionysus is this chill dude who casually emits this maddening vibe. His hobbies include drinking, partying, and making women eat their sons. He’s a youthful looking man who occasionally has horns. He was basically the Greek version of Charles Manson. Hestia gracefully stepped down to let him become the final and most recent addition to the olympians.

Naturally, there are many many more gods and many many more stories about why and how these gods became the way they are and stuff. But this wouldn’t be a summary blog if I droned on about all of it would it? So I stop her, stay tuned for more on the gods and their adventures, from Greece and beyond.

Ciao! -The Muse

#Muse #Greek Mythology #🌙#the olympians

9 notes · View notes

kdenbibi · 7 years ago

Text

Endless Chapter 6

Warnings: none

Authors note: holy shit ya girl updated, yes its currently 2 in the morning and I have work tmo but do I give a damn? No Anyway I really hope you guys enjoy thank y’all so so so much for being as patient as you are I can’t tell you hoe much I appreciate it, anyway lemme shut up, it’s been a while since I've done this and I forgot if people actually wanted to be tagged in it anyway hmu if you do ilysm feedback is always appreciated -Admin A

It was one of those mornings where you wake up a minute before your alarm goes off and sleep is pulled from you forever.

Okay I'm being dramatic but who can blame me, it's so early the sky was still dark, not even the birds were up yet. Thankfully, due to being a human punching bag the last few weeks the sharp pain shooting up my feet from the freezing floor did nothing more than wake me up. I felt like a zombie as I shuffled my way towards the expansive kitchen of the base, I could still easily get lost in the place, thankfully I knew exactly where the essential spots were, like the kitchen, the training room for our daily sessions, the little rooms I could hide in to avoid said sessions, all in all I had a system.

I sat on the countertop staring blankly at the fridge, my brain still in the process of waking itself up. I took the rare moment of silence to break down all that had lead me to this moment.

I remember telling Jon, at his request, everything that went down with Nightwing in detail. He went to my house that day, after school we decided it was high time to come clean with each other about our powers.

The sun had made another rare appearance but did nothing about the bitter winter air nipping at any exposed skin, we walked fast, I wanted to get out of our uncomfortable uniforms and into my Superman PJs my mother gifted me ironically after I told her about my childish crush, if you say Superman isn't even the least bit attractive you're straight lying to yourself.

When we finally got in I wasn't surprised to see my the apartment was empty, minus cheezers our pesky cat who sprawled himself out on Jon's lap as soon as he sat down.

"Want anything to drink?" I yelled over my shoulder from the kitchen, I rummaged through our refrigerator waiting for his response. "No thank you!" He chimed in from my couch, his voice was always light, I’d noticed, it carried through the air like a breeze.

I came back in the room with a can of coke for myself tucked under my arm and two half eaten bags of chips squished in my hands, I plopped in the recliner adjacent to him, not before ungracefully tossing the junk food in his lap of course, and sat back with a sigh.

He stared at me with those ridiculously pretty eyes, a nervous expression on his face as he waited for me to speak, his fingers were running through cheezers fur absentmindedly. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to?" I offered after taking in his expression.

"No no!- I want to tell you I do, I'm just not sure how you'll take it." I shook my head at the taller boy, popping a chip in my mouth. "You don't gotta trip chocolate chip- I don't think there’s anything you could say that would change how I see you, powers or not your still my Ramen buddy." I finished with a wink. His nervous smile broke into a real one. He cleared his throat, opened his mouth, then closed it.

He did this a few more times before I stopped him.

"How bout' I go first?" He nodded releasing a breath.

"Well, it started when I was younger, I can't pinpoint exactly where I got them, I just realized after a while the string of luck I had wasn't just luck, it was something else entirely, something watching my back at every turn."

He nodded along, an unusually serious expression gracing his soft features."For awhile it was just that, a helping hand that lead me out of sticky situations," I shook my head taking a long drink of my soda. "Up until that night on the roof that is." He nodded once more, his fingers rhythmically tapping along his knee.

"What do you think triggered it?" He asked sounding more stern than I'd ever heard, I eyed him before shrugging off his strange behavior. "I'm not sure really, I think its because I was scared, I mean any other time the light has come out hasn't been in a situation where I felt that unsafe." I laughed thinking of the boy wonders face as he flew across the roof. "And then at the bank well, you were there." He leaned back against my couch, cheezers lifted his head to stare at the boy in displeasure before laying back down.

"You're mom isn't a meta?"

"Not that I know of- as long as we're not counting her inexplicable ability to know when you're lying, although that may just be a 'her' thing." He shot me a smile, but a second later his face returned to it's neutral state, his head turned slightly as if he heard something he didn't like. "So it must come from your father- I think." He offered, I gave him a half smile, my nails tapping against the smooth metal of the now nearly empty can.

"I wouldn't know." His baby blues widened. "(Y/n) I'm Sorry-I didn't know.."

"Oh it's okay! He peaced out before I could really know him, so I got lucky." His face remained uncomfortable, as if he was guilty for asking, so I reassured him. "Really I've made my peace with it, after all, can't really miss someone who was never there." Jon nodded before abruptly standing.

"I uh, I need to go to the restroom!" He said, I cocked a brow at my friend's outburst before motioning in the direction of the bathroom, I chocked it up to him simply being nervous about telling me, I walked over to the recently disturbed cat and placed him in my lap. His big brown eyes stared back at me as I scratched behind his ears. "Is it me or is that farm boy acting all kinds of weird?" The animal simply blinked before resting his little head on my arm. "Yeah, that's what I thought you'd say."

Jon's POV

I practically ran to the bathroom, turning on the water to try and hide all the noise I could. I quickly yanked out the expensive and inconspicuous flag ‘pin’ Damain had given me, I brought the tiny microphone to my mouth knowing he could hear me. "Was that good enough?" I couldn't hide my irritation with the young Wayne, he had me spying on my best friend, her personal story she trusted me enough to share was just information for the kid to put in his computer, it made my chest sink, I felt like garbage.

"Yes, although I wouldn't be surprised if she caught on, your acting skills are awful." I could hear the smirk in his voice, the earpiece he'd given me to hear the questions he wanted to ask felt even more uncomfortable than before. "Excuse me if I'm not good at lying!"

"You aren't lying to anyone, I simply was apart of the conversation, besides, you're one step closer to being ready for the team."

I felt stared at my reflection conflicted.

I knew what I did wasn't necessarily lying but it still felt wrong, like I'd used her trust for something bad. On the other hand this opportunity- this team they were building, it was my chance to finally step outside the huge S shaped shadow my father cast- I could become a hero all of my own.

Yes, I was conflicted, and Damian's smug voice in my ear wasn't helping anything.

"-kent? Are you even listening to me?" He spoke, voice rising in impatience. "Honestly no, now do you have what you need?" There was a moment of silence on Damian's end, the sound of tapping on a keyboard could faintly be heard before he finally responded.

"Yes but-"

"Good." I yanked the earpiece out of my head and crushed it, along with the microphone, between my fingers. I have no doubt in my mind I'd just destroyed a thousand dollars worth of equipment but that was the least of my worries, the guilt was still there, but it seemed to wash down the drain with the remains of the machine. With a deep breath I made my way back out in the living room, (Y/n) sat there, doing absolutely nothing but still looking like someone from a movie, her head snapped up as she noticed my presence. "You okay there Jonny boy?" I smiled at her nickname, taking my previous spot on the couch now much more relaxed. "Yep! Just needed a moment but now I'm ready." Her pretty brown eyes stared at me unsure. "You don't have to tell me if you're uncomfortable, I understand-"

"No! I'm okay really! I promise." Finally that smile returned to her face as she nodded, gesturing me to continue when I was ready."I'm Kryptonian! Well half Kryptonian anyway!"

(Y/n)'s POV

I stared at the bright grin etched into his face, an uneasy smile on mine as his words bounced around my skull.

Because if he was Kryptonian that meant-

Wait-

"Your dad is- you oh, oh okay that's um oh man am I allowed to know this? Is this legal? Oh, oh man, oh jeez." He suddenly rose from his seat and made his way over to me, a wide smile on his face. "Relax, (y/n), trust me okay? Everything's alright." I laughed rubbing my temples in the process. "Okay okay, so um, wow this is-" the blood drained from my face as I realized our previous conversations- the late night, sugar high induced conversations where I openly gushed over how fine Metropolis's space savior was.

"You let me sit there and talk about how hot your dad is?! To your face?! Jonathan Samuel Kent we are fighting- not really cuz’ you'd probably mop the floor with me but yes! Definitely fighting!"

We spent that afternoon talking about everything, good and bad. He told me he was scared he'd never fill the shoes of his father, I told him I was afraid I'd never understand what I could do, it wasn't until later that evening when my mom came home from work did we realize how long we'd been talking, she offered him a ride home but he just smiled and politely declined.

I was brought back to reality by the helpful AI program we knew as Athena spoke to me, her automated voice calmly called out from one of the many speakers littered around the base. "Miss (Y/n), the time is approximately 5:34 AM, would you like me to initiate your 'get ready playlist?" I looked around the empty room, still not used to having to talk to someone without a body. "Uh no thanks Athena, I don't wanna wake anyone else up." I spoke in a whisper afraid to disturb my teammates sleep. "Robin is currently in the gym, would you like me to alert him of your presence?"

"Oh absolutely not, no thanks A."

"Okay miss (Y/n), if you need anything don't hesitate to call me." I gave her a friendly wave off as I made my way towards my room, unsatisfied with what I found in the refrigerator.

It still felt pretty unfamiliar living somewhere without my mom, not waking up with her music blasting throughout the walls was a very foreign concept to me. Few weeks back, when Nightwing first came to my house to lay out the ground rules of what exactly was gonna go down, my mother was less than thrilled.

"So you want my daughter to move into some secret location? Not only that, but live with a bunch of other teenagers with incredible abilities and just you to supervise them?" Dick shot her a smile bright enough to blind someone if they looked directly at it.

"Misses (L/n), I get why you'd be concerned I really do, but this is all for the benefit of these kids, besides she almost an adult." He paused at the glare my mother gave him. "-but, but, yes, I would be there to supervise the team, not just me though, other hero's will come in to help train them." My mother was silent as she processed his words, she glanced at my face, taking in my hopeful expression before sighing.

"...If I say yes, I get to know where this facility is right? Just in case I need to go down there and whip some sense into somebody."

"Absolutely! And if it makes you feel better Jon's gonna be there with her." At this my mother visibly relaxed, I knew she trusted Jon so before this impromptu meeting I made sure to let Dick know about it, just in case she needed some extra convincing. "Well, I guess I can't say no, especially with her giving me those damn puppy eyes."

This time I brought myself back to reality, when I came to just in time to realize my feet had taken me somewhere that wasn't my room, to the training gym. I paused wondering why on Earth I walked there only to be met with quite the sight.

Robin, beating a training dummy like it personally hurt him, I still had yet to find out his identity, no one had actually, so no it wasn't a surprise to see his iconic mask adorning his face. He thought it was best if everyone remained anonymous, something about secret identities - but full disclosure at the time, I wasn't paying attention, I was too busy trying not to stare at the green kid a few feet away from me, i shit you not he was green, like head to toe green- that and I couldn't agree, mainly because I didn't even have a super persona yet, so when it was brought up I laughed and told the other members my name. "If you were smart you'd keep some form of anonymity, at least until we can trust each other." Robin scolded, The other four people in the room stayed silent, and I couldn't help but scoff. "You expect us to trust you when you're gonna have that mask on 24/7?" His glare turned to me, I tried not to flinch. "If you want to expose yourself fine, but I refuse to be apart of it." And with that he walked off leaving the rest of us in an awkward silence.

"Well, he's just a bundle of joy now isn't he?" I said watching his retreating figure, Jesus the kid even walked like he was pissed off.

"Real life of the party." The tall boy to my right spoke, he left quite the impression too, being that he looked like a blue iron Man, ya know suit of badass armor kinda guy. He was introduced as the blue beetle. I looked at him with a smile, relieved the rest of the team wasn't as stuck up as the bird boy.

"I can't imagine you'd wanna wear that the entire time either."

This earned a laugh from beetle, and much to my surprise, instead of taking off a helmet it seemed to disappear, a light flash of blue with it as his face was reviled. "I'm Jaime Reyes, nice to meet you." I grabbed his hand with a wide smile. "(Y/n) (L/n), I'm sure you hear this all the time- but holy shit that's cool." He laughed again, this time the sound was clear, no longer blocked by, well whatever was on his face moments ago. It was nice, the kinda laugh that made you want to join in.

"If we're really saying fuck it to Grumpy's rules I'm Garfield Logan." The green boy spoke from behind me. I shot him a smile, he returned a smirk, his sharp canines peaking though the half smile. The only other girl in the room remained silent, weighing her options before she quietly spoke up."Rachel." Was all she spoke. I gave her my friendliest smile before walking over. "It's nice to meet you, I'm so glad there's another girl here." She met my eyes, a hesitant smile on her face as she agreed. "It is...nice, thanks for thinking so." Her voice was level as she spoke, I almost couldn't hear her over the two loud boys now chattering like they were best friends.

I turned away from the shy girl to look for my friend. Noticing his unsure stare I walked over to him, away from everyone else.

"Yo, you okay over there farm boy?" Jon looked up from the floor, his eyes uncharacteristically troubled. "I'm fine!- just a bit, I don't know nervous? All of you guys are so great I mean, I guess I'm just scared I won't be able to keep up." I stared at the large 'S' on his chest, looking for the right thing to say.

"Umm?? Have you met yourself, are we talking about the same Jon Kent? We'll have to be worried about keeping up with you if anything." He gave me a bashful smile, looking down at the symbol on his chest then back to me.

"Don't give up before you've even started you dork." I said patting his shoulder and motioning for him to join the conversation, which he happily did after a small nudge.

That was weeks ago, Robin still, with his stubborn ass, kept that mask on. I wish I could say things were okay between me and the stern boy but they weren't, I get the feeling he wasn't too pleased to be here.

Whenever we would train, Dick was there to supervise, and since Robin was the most experienced out of all of us, he was in charge for most of the training- scratch that, it's more like the royal ass kicking he dished out.

I got the feeling he didn't like me very much, mainly because of the whole, almost throwing him off a roof thing, but the feeling was mutual. He just, he rubbed me the wrong way, like he genuinely believed he was above everyone else and no one could match him in anything. Not to mention the way he had to comment whenever I'd fail.

"You're stance is terrible, you're just asking to die."

"Do you enjoy your face meeting the mat (L/n)? Because you seem to do that every time we're in here."

He was just one of those people you had to try not to throw out of the nearest window whenever he opened his mouth.

"If this is your attempt at stealth you're fired."

I rolled my eyes dispite him facing the other way and walked into the gym room. "If I wanted to sneak up on you I could, don't get it twisted boy wonder." I knew I was bullshitting, he knew I was, but there was no way I was backing down from a fight with this asshole. He turned, wiping some sweat from his brow with a small towel, I could feel the squint get gave me through the rubber mask. "Why are you here?" I shrugged making my way to the closest bench and taking a loud seat. "For your information- I wanted to get an early start with my training." "Really?" He questioned leaning against the silicone dummy.

"Yes."

"In that?"

I looked down to my PJs and gave him a shrug. "I could be in a fursuit and I'd still kick your ass." His face scrunched up in confusion before he scoffed."I have no idea what that is but don’t make me laugh, you'd be lucky to get me on the ground for a second." He turned back towards the dummy before sending a swift kick to it's neck, I flinched from the loud smack that echoed across the walls.

Confidently, he spoke again, without even turning back.

"You got lucky once- never again."

The way he said that would have sent shivers down my back, had I not been raised a bad bitch, but alas, I was.

I quickly stood marching over to the male. "Okay let's go-"

My back hit the mat, the air from my lungs escaping with the force I was smacked against the floor. His smug face leaned over me. "What was that you were saying? I don't think I heard you (L/n)." I groaned before throwing myself up, glaring at the figure before me. "That was just the practice round-" his hand shot forward to, I assume toss me like a rag-doll again, but this time I was ready, I grabbed his wrist, stopping it mid swing and a force of golden light pushed us apart. He smirked from across the mat. "Without your powers you're as defenseless as a baby- you need to learn not to rely on them." I bit back my retort about his hairline being as defenseless as a baby because 1. It didn't make sense- I was just mad and 2. The son of a bitch had a point.

So I sucked up my pride and rolled my shoulders, cracking my neck with a satisfying 'pop'.

I gestured him to come forward with my hand.

"Then teach me."

#endless #Damian Wayne #older!damian wayne #damian wayne x reader #damian wayne imagine #dc #dc imagine #Jon Kent #older!jon kent #jon kent x reader #poc imagines #poc reader insert #poc reader #Jaime Reyes #jaime reyes imagine #garfield logan #rachel roth #beast boy #raven

62 notes · View notes

garecc · 7 years ago

Text

The Hidden Oracle+1

Chapter 9

This is not okay. / 'Pollo suddenly collapsed. / I'm begging, send help.

Apollo sighed as we walked, I spared a glance in his direction. He was shivering, I grimaced. “My coat isn't as wet as yours, and you're clearly shivering. Lets trade.”

“No.” He said immediately.

“No? Apollo your cold. I don't mind-”

“Artemis. Keep your coat. I don't need it, your cold too. Don't deny it, I can tell when your lying.”

“But-”

“Artemis.”

“Okay.. Okay fine…”

“It should be easy to get to camp right..?” Apollo asked walking towards the border.

“I doubt it. Seems like a straight path ahead, but woods are easy to get lost in. It’ll be anything but easy ‘pollo”

“Hmm... Say, Meg,” He turned to our young master.

“Yeah..?”

“I didn't get a chance to ask. It your name short for Margaret or Meghan?”

“Margaret McCaffery, but don't call me Margaret” Meg stated.

“Alright, then Meg.” He turns to me “Artie, did she agree to be a hunter?” Apollo asked.

“What..? Apollo, I can't accept hunters as a mortal.." I frowned. Could I? Its unlikely but maybe I could.. "probably cant. I didn't ask, and I'm going to wait until this is all over”

“Wait, hold up. You're telling me you didn't ask the homeless maiden to join your girl's club?” He asked incredulously.

“...Yes?”

“Slow down. Join your girl's club? What are you talking about?” Meg inquired.

“My hunters. I explained them earlier did I not?”

“Yeah but… I didn't know I could join.”

“You can't. Not right now anyway.” Meg pouted.

“Anyway,” Apollo cut in. “We can see camp from here.”

I glanced up, expecting to see the vague outlines of the buildings, but the sight in front of us was breathtaking. The camp was about 3 square miles in size, full of meadows, woods and strawberry fields. On one edge it boarded long island, and the other borders were rolling hills. Below us was a dense woods.

I always forget the beauty of this place. Beyond the woods, you could see the buildings, the cluster of twenty cabins. (You could see Apollo’s shining from here. I always ask myself why the entire building had to be gold. Yeah, it's pretty, but hard to look at sometimes) The Hearth glowed warmly from this distance. The amphitheater, The arena, the dining pavilion, and even the canoe lake were visible from here. It looked beautiful. With seeing the camp came a dull sense of comfort. We were so close to safety. The big house loomed in the distance, Chiron would be in there. We were so close, yet so far.

In the far distance, my sister's statue glistened in its full glory. The Athena Parthenos. After thousands of years it was finally where it belonged. Athena had always been my favorite sister, the hours we spent debating the best strategy for hunting certain monsters are some of my fondest memories with any of my sisters, I could feel the power from the statue from here.

Apollo probably wished the statue was of himself, but he’s like that. I looked at him again, my eyes lingering on the red marks around his nose and mouth. I caused those. I hurt him. He noticed that I was staring. “Artie. I'm fine ” He insisted. He really was shivering a lot.

“I hurt you,” I said miserably.

He looked up at me, frowning. “You protected me.” He countered, he sounded completely sure of himself. I envy his confidence sometimes.

“Not well enough!” I took a step back, If I had protected him we should have never been in that situation in the first place. If I had protected him we would still be gods on Olympus and none of this would have happened. Nothing he said would change that.

“But you did protect me. I would have breathed in that smog and died if not for you. Alright? You did fine”

Before I could argue, Meg spoke. “How come I’ve never heard about this place? Do you need tickets?”

“It's a secret haven for demigods” I responded, forcing my voice to stay steady. Apollo glanced at me sideways. Our conversation certainly wasn't over yet. “The magical borders keep mortals and monsters out. It's safe here. Humans would only see farmland, and if they come in they will find themselves wondering out-”

“I ordered a pizza one time!” Apollo blurted out. I stared at him for a long moment before I found myself laughing. Actually laughing. I had forgotten how pleasent laughing is.

“Did you now brother? Tell us the story of the time you ordered a Pizza.”

Apollo stared at me before he smiled brightly. The first actual smile I had seen from him all day. It was good to know he was still capable of it in these dire circumstances.

“Well, it was… what? 8 years ago? I was at the camp, I had gotten quite the offering to heal this girl. And after I had finished, these two Hermes kids, looked like they might be twins but they certainly weren't, they asked what would happen if they ordered a pizza. And as it turns out, no one ever tried that before. So bam! I take out my phone and dial for pizza. They seem a bit iffy about sending the guy all this way, but I'm a god, I convinced them. So then this mortal guy, ends up so lost, appearing randomly on edges of camp, He kept trying to get in but the wards didn't know how to handle it, so it was hilarious. Anyway, yeah. I could probably go into more detail but that's the jist of it.” As he spoke his voice gained back some enthusiasm. I smiled.

Before anyone could speak, Peaches took a mouthful of dirt. Then spit it back up. Yes, peach demon. Dirt tastes bad. How surprising.

“He doesn’t like the taste of this place,” Meg said.

“No kidding. It's dirt.” I stated pointedly stepping around the prechewed soil. Apollo snickered.

“Maybe at camp, we can get him some plant fertilizer to eat. I’ll try to convince the demigods to allow him in, They let in a hellhound dog, what's the difference between that and a dirt munching peach toddler? but it would be helpful if he doesn’t bite their heads off” Apollo studied Peaches, the fruit being clung to Meg as it muttered something about peaches.

“Something doesn’t feel right.” Meg started chewing her nails. A bad habit. “Those woods…Percy said they were wild and enchanted and stuff.”

“No kidding.” I deadpanned. “My hunters complained about it.” Trying to get them into camp was a nightmare. But, in all honesty, being in the forest felt more natural than the city. “Come on, the woods aren't that bad!” I was already beginning to recognize where animals had recently been. Apollo looked apprehensive, I smiled at him. He has always felt out of place- No… that's too strong of a statement. Uneasy? Yeah, I’ll go with that. Apollo has always felt uneasy in forests, being surrounded by trees brings back some painful memories for him. Painful memories that shouldn't be poked at.

He stumbled over roots and plants. I laughed under my breath. This is what I lived to do. Make my way through dense forests, hunting with my maidens, living life in the wilderness. I hardly struggled with making my way forward. But Meg and Apollo? My young master and brother could hardly make their way forward through the greenery.

“Artie! How do you walk through this.. This mess so easily? It's like walking through spaghetti!”

“Do you want to know how?” Both nodded, eager to learn my secrets.

“Practice. Hundreds of years of practice.” Apollo groaned and Meg looked annoyed.

Apollo was looking around like he expected the Dryads to lunge out of the trees and strangle him. He got this pained look in his eyes and I knew what he was thinking about. I slowed down to match my pace with his.

He looked at me, I smiled weakly, wanting to reach out and just pull away the thoughts of Daphne. Gods... I still want to strangle Eros for what he did to my brother. Daphne’s death absolutely destroyed him. For hundreds of years, he seemed like he was always on the edge of tears. Then came Hyacinthus and he was happy and then Zepheros came and killed him.

I would have torn him limb from limb if not for the fact he was under Eros’s protection. I couldn't have him hurting Apollo any more than he already has.

It took years for him to even become a semblance of happy again. And here we were, nearly 3000 years later and he still nearly breaks into tears whenever they are mentioned.

I attempted to meet his gaze but he shifted his eyes away “You okay?” I asked quietly, hoping he would respond.

He stared at the ground, stumble walking over roots and brush. “I’ll be fine Artie..” He murmured, still not looking up.

“Okay. Just.. tell me if you want to rest a bit okay?” Code for: If being surrounded by dryads gets top overwhelming we can take a break.

Meg watched out whole exchange wordlessly.

We hiked for what felt like hours, and my mortal body was starting to get hungry. Normally, Apollo could navigate by the sun and me the moon, but the canopy was so thick we couldn't see the sky.

I realized we had passed the same boulder 3 times. Not even I can hike flawlessly it seems.

“Don't you have any hiking skills? Reading Tracks-”

“Yes. Yes, that is literally what I do. But this forest is enchanted… And as it seems, not even I can navigate it flawlessly.”

“Maybe Peaches can help.” Yes. What a wonderful idea. Ask the demon peach baby for directions. Meg turned to her karpos. “Hey, can you find us a way out of the woods?”

For the past few miles, Peches had gotten quite nervous. Muttering peachy warnings under his breath. His face flushed bright green. He made a scared barking squawk sound, then dissolved in a swirl of leaves.

Meg shot to her feet. “Where’d he go?”

It was nowhere in sight. Megs summon must have only had so much time. Or He’d sensed danger and abandoned us. The latter was more likely. Though meg had grown attached to the peach demon, I didn't want to hurt her. (But we god's got attached to humans, so I had no room to judge.)

“Perhaps he went scouting,” Apollo suggested. “Perhaps we should—”

My brother's hands flew to his forehead and he stumbled back, his eyes widening. He looked like someone had slapped him,

“Apollo?” I stepped forward uncertainty. “What's wrong?” He made a gasping sound, he whimpered stumbling over to me.

“Assist me, sister, we cannot remain here.” My eyes just about bugged out from my head. He only reverted to old English when something was seriously wrong. Or when he was trying to be sophisticated or really angry. But I doubted the two latter

“What's going on?” I demanded.

“Just- let's go!” He grabbed my wrist, dragging me forward. We fled blindly until we reached a significantly clear stream over a bed gravel.

“Apollo, we can't go through the water, we’ll freeze-” That fact did not deter him. He waded shin-deep into the ice cold stream before he fell to his knees. A pitiful yell bubbling through his lips.

I didn't have much of a choice now did I? I ran in after him, the water was so cold it felt like needles biting into my skin. Meg was not far behind. “Brother, you need to get up-”

“You didn't…? You didn't hear it..?” I felt my stomach drop to my feet, hear what?

This eerily reminded of a memory I still had from thousands of years ago. When Apollo first became the god of prophecy, the first prophecies he delivered made him physically sick, he didn't know how to channel them into tangible ideas and words. But of course, that was thousands of years ago. But it did remind me of that.

“Hear what!” Meg asked.

Apollo didn’t respond. Instead, he cried out in pain and collapsed face first into the stream.

So it looks like I'm carrying him. “Help me lift him.” Meg and I pulled him from the stream and I stumble-dragged him across the water. We set him on the ground. Apollo was shivering violently. I pulled his sodden coat off and threw mine over him. Good thing we didnt swap earlier.

“What did you hear. Don't go crazy on us.” My voice was serious. He laughed hysterically, I felt my own heartbeat start to pick up as goosebumps crawled up my arms. Why was this happening? He was fine! A few broken ribs, but this isn't warranted! I felt my blood run cold as I came to a shocking realization. What if the Nosoi had poisoned him? That was the only answer I could think of.

“I.. I heard..”

Before he could finish his face screwed up in pain, a violent shudder running through him. He audibly whimpered. Steam started rising from his clothes and I wanted to scream and cry and curse at Zeus. If the Nosoi DID poison him, there was a good chance he would get worse very quickly. His eyes glazed over and his mouth hung ajar.

All I could hear was the blood screaming in my ears. I found myself shaking him awake, telling him to get up. I couldn't lose him. I need him. I can’t do this alone.

I was blind to my panic.

I wouldn't watch him die.

I wouldn't watch my baby brother die.

Meg shoved me and slapped him. Hard. “GET UP!” She yelled. That seemed to break through his trance, he sat up, and immediately started retching. He vomited, I dragged him to his feet after a moment. He made a weak sound of protest. “Meg, help me carry him.” She rushed to his other side. He murmured something under his breath. I didn't catch what. He was pale, and his shivering only grew more violent as we stumbled along. He suddenly started giggling, it sounded wrong. Unnatural even.

“Keep it together brother. Please. We’ll get to camp soon, okay?” He didn't respond, instead, his head lolled to the side as he passed in and out of consciousness. My palms were sweaty, my steps misplaced, and I was terrified we were too far to get him to camp quick enough.

“We need to get him to camp, right now,” I told Meg. From the steam rising from his clothes and the heat burning through his clothes, I assumed he was running a high fever of 106 or so. Dangerously high. He only woke up to laugh hysterically, as we stumbled forward he finally went completely limp in our arms, his eyes rolling back into his head. My heartbeat steadily rose, but I had to stay calm. I had to get him to safety.

As we were running, my foot got caught in a dip in the ground, I stumbled forward, my ankle twisting, pain shot up my leg for a moment, It took a lot to ignore it, but we had to get him to safety. I bore most of his weight. Finally, finally we reached the edge of camp. We exited the woods by a campfire where a group of teens were making smores, as soon as they saw us they went for there weapons. “DEMIGODS!” I screamed, not even bothering to mask the panic in my voice. “I AM ARTEMIS. WE ARE IN DIRE NEED OF ASSISTANCE”

[FIRST]

[PREVIOUS]

[NEXT]

#the hidden oracle #the hidden oracle+1 #the hidden oracle plus one #trials of apollo #lester papadopoulos #i just took a break of posting theese to scream non-stop #I AM NOT THROWIN AWAY MY SHOTKDASDKFH

5 notes · View notes

elizas-writing · 7 years ago

Text

Do Not Let Joss Whedon Touch My Girls: Featuring an Analysis of His Scrapped Wonder Woman Script

With the mass success of Wonder Woman, hopes rose back up for the future of female-led comic book movies. But the worry may settle back in with news of Joss Whedon to direct, write, and produce a Batgirl film for the DC Extended Universe (and he’s already on board with Justice League’s post-production writing and directing). Why does this matter? Well, it turns out once upon a time, Whedon was originally set to write and direct Wonder Woman over a decade ago, but left the project in 2007 due to creative differences. And just last month, his scrapped script was leaked online, and to be brutally honest, it’s shit. Easily one of the worst things I’ve read, and I had to read Twilight for the first time in a college class.

I already lost trust in Whedon as a good writer, especially with what he pulled in Avengers: Age of Ultron, so this script just doesn’t help my trust at all. And here I am to tear it apart, because dammit, someone’s gotta do it.

DISCLAIMER: I REALLY DON’T GIVE A SHIT THAT BUFFY AND FIREFLY WERE GOOD

Okay, for some reason, any time someone brings up that Whedon is a bad writer, I always see at least one person with severely unhealthy geek loyalty go “But what about Buffy and Firefly?” I don’t give a shit, because that’s not what I’m talking about. What matters for this piece is how Whedon handles women in comic book films, especially in the recent years. I’m sure if you rewatch something like Buffy now, you’ll find some of the feminism that was groundbreaking for the late 90s/early 2000s to be dated by 2017 standards. Times change fast, and so do audience expectations. No writer is without flaws or above criticism, and I hate people trying to blindly defend them even when their writing is so painfully awful. Do you watch Pixels and defend Adam Sandler because he did 50 First Dates? Do you watch The Last Airbender and defend M. Night Shyamalan for The Sixth Sense? I don’t think so. Please set aside the geek loyalty for once and have some capacity for critical analysis. I know most of y’all learned it in your high school English classes.

Part I: Damage to MCU

Now I want to preface this as to why I’m especially bitter about Whedon as a writer. And what better place to start than his work with the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

Before Whedon went to work with DC, he was with Marvel Studios and wrote and directed the monster hit and fifth highest grossing film of all time, The Avengers. He went on to create Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, write and direct Avengers: Age of Ultron, and creatively consult with other MCU films. Unfortunately, Age of Ultron spurred fury from audiences with an ever-so unnecessary and forced romance between Bruce Banner (Hulk) and Natasha Romanoff (Black Widow) where the only thing they have in common is sterility, so they can be satisfied on a fulfilling relationship without babies. Did anyone proofread this and tell Whedon this was awkward and creepy? Not to mention there was little to no precedence since the first film clearly established the strong distrust between the two?

And any potential for Black Widow being a compelling character was just thrown out the window. That great monologue from Loki confronting her about the “red in [her] ledger” in Avengers? The possible repercussions from her leaking all of S.H.I.E.L.D’s secrets, including her dark past, to the whole world in Captain America: The Winter Soldier? Her fear of losing her friends because of the crimes she committed? “Love is for children?” Nope! Let’s focus all of her problems on her sterility and not on the fact that she was never given a choice to begin with! Goodbye continuity and goodbye Black Widow movie!

But just as insulting is reducing the character of Wanda Maximoff (Scarlet Witch). Not only did they erase her Jewish-Romani heritage AND have her volunteer for Neo-Nazi experiments, but all her complex mental health issues and her reality-bending powers are diminished to “she’s weird.” She has little to no development, looks more child-like than anything (by God, how old is Wanda supposed to be in this universe anyway?), and she honestly reads more like a discount River Tam. And this affected her in future films as Captain America: Civil War doesn’t bother to develop her further beyond her instability and ends with her in a straight-jacket. Classy.

So with this in mind, you can imagine the animosity of the idea of Whedon trying to tackle a female-led superhero film again with another comic book movie universe. Somewhere he lost his touch, or, as we soon find out, he probably wasn’t a good writer to begin with.

Part II: Joss Whedon’s Wonder Woman AKA Steve Trevor: The Movie

Whether or not this draft was even close to being the final script for the project way back when, I don’t know. But that doesn’t matter, because as is, it’s pretty damn awful. This was the same guy who gave us Buffy? Wow. Plus it feels appropriate to talk about it now given the successful release of Wonder Woman as directed by Patty Jenkins and compare what we got versus what could have happened.

For starters, why “AKA Steve Trevor: The Movie” you may ask? Well, one of the biggest problems of this script is that it’s mostly from the perspective of Diana’s love interest, not, you know, the title character. All the background of the Amazons is reduced to just five sentences in the beginning, and they take up only the first 20 or so pages of the 116 page script. Their past is never further explained, you don’t get to know any of these women-- who are described as “almost inhuman” (7)--, and Diana is severely underdeveloped. She talks on about what she really should be and how she can be more than what she is, but that’s all we get. She never gets a backstory or a solid reason to leave Themyscira besides following this man she just met because Athena must have sent him for her. She even seems estranged from her mother for being rule breaker (even though Diana is in the right), and they never talk about their problems or resolve anything in the end.

But no, instead of creating positive female interactions, we have all the time in the world devoted to Steve Trevor and, oh my fucking god, he’s just the most insufferable douche canoe in the history of ever. He’s a constant downer and always talks down to Diana for her curiosity and compassion. And there was enough to make a list of all the awful things he says to her (with some context of course):

Page 17, when Diana wants to learn more about Steve because she sees his arrival as a sign: “So my imminent death is, wow, all about you.”

Page 17-18, Steve tries dropping the subject and ushering Diana out: “I’ll call you. I mean it. Let’s keep in touch.... ‘Let’s keep in touch’ is American for get the hell out of my face.”

Page 18, Diana STILL wants to understand Steve: “Can’t. Is that another new word for you? Means ‘are unable to.’”

Page 18, A man and woman bickering must mean they’re in love cliche: “You and I have nothing in common.”

Page 19, What the actual fuck: “Your mom is Queen of Crazy Town but she’s right to be scared. You wanna stay as far away from the real world as possible. They’d eat you alive, Princess.”

Page 27, An Amazon warrior who’s trained since childhood has to stay hidden from a warlord: “You’re not ready to deal with these people. No offense.”

Page 57, If I had to read this whole paragraph, so do you (also, teeheehee he was sitting on the lasso of truth by accident): “I think you’re dangerous. I think you mean well but you’re looking for trouble and you’re wildly adept at finding it. I think you’ve got delusions of grandeur and some actual grandeur, which is confusing. I don’t like confusing. I hate the fact that I’m so attracted to you, just touching you is overwhelming and I keep hoping you’ll turn around so I can see more of you naked.”

Page 58, Whedon apparently forgot to add dismantling toxic hypermasculinity to his brand of feminism: “There’s a reason men don’t like to talk about their feelings.”

Page 83, Didn’t we just have a montage of Diana SAVING PEOPLE: “And it never occurred to you that you’re the reason it’s getting worse?”

Page 83, Again, THERE WAS A MONTAGE OF HER SAVING PEOPLE: “We’re human beings, Diana, and that’s something you will never understand.”

Page 84, Oh, my fucking, god: “You’re not a hero, Diana. You’re a fucking tourist.”

So, yeah, Steve Trevor just gets increasingly worse as the story progresses and has no idea how to talk to Diana without criticizing the most mundane things she does. And she just lets him get away with saying this, and he always seems to have the last word like somehow he’s always right! Pretty much every adaptation of Diana shows a woman who is the last person you’d fuck with because she could kill you in an instant if she wanted to. Hell, in a Justice League comic issue, Batman just keeps an empty box of Wonder Woman’s weakness as a dramatic reveal that she has little to no weaknesses.

If Whedon actually bothered to give a damn about her character, Steve would have figured out after the first insult to shut his mouth.

To make it worse, the unnecessary arguing is solely used to promote the stupid idea that if a man and a woman argue, it must mean they’ll be a couple in the end, which is a stupid, god awful trope and doesn’t make for a realistically healthy relationship. Yes, Diana and Steve still argued in the 2017 movie, but they were realistic arguments about their conflicting ideologies about war, saving people, and human nature. And neither of them were wrong, so they spend most of the movie trying to meet halfway with each other. But instead of compelling dilemmas like that, Whedon just made it all about Steve and his inferiority complex and only gives him a sad backstory. I didn’t give two shits about this guy; I was waiting for Strife to just kill him.

The villains felt like a last-minute addition to give the plot conflict after only about forty pages. Honestly, I zoned out and do not remember the specifics outside of destroying Gateway city just cause and some commentary about gentrification. I was already so pissed off with the rest of the script that I couldn’t be bothered to care about the villains, their motivation or the fate of Gateway City.

Oh, and remember the awesome stuff Diana did like running through No Man’s Land, flipping an armored truck, and leaping building to building? Fuck that shit! After one bullet to the chest, she’s knocked unconscious for six hours! And later on, Strife drops a building her which renders her unconscious again! Both times afterwards, she wakes up half-naked to Steve treating her wounds which is just freaking creepy. She’s constantly put in the male gaze while also being called a whore and bitch about five times, has to do a sensual dance to see Bacchus where all these men just stare at her, BUT also seems to be horrified seeing a run down Gateway city with sex workers galore (okay, weren’t the Greeks pretty open about sexuality? How is this shocking to Diana?).

There’s also a far too long drawn out scene where Diana gives up to save Steve, who is anything but redeemable, and spends about ten pages in the middle of a jungle weak and defenseless because apparently Whedon wanted to keep the whole “if her wrists are bound, she loses her power” bullshit as an excuse to give her a low point. It comes out of nowhere, and I don’t even know much about this version of Diana to really care; I just want to finish reading this terrible script already.

I just keep thinking of all the bad ass, rocking scenes of Diana in the movie we got, and her being reduced to weakness and submission because bullshit reasons is completely out of character. It’s almost like Whedon never sat down and actually fucking analyzed a Wonder Woman comic in his life. Watching this...

and this...

AND THIS (you see the point I’m making yet?)

... and reading Whedon’s Mary Sue version of Wonder Woman is like comparing the action in 300 to the action in The Last Airbender. Anything interesting he could have incorporated from the comics or other TV/film adaptations into his script and save the bad writing was tossed out the window, and as a result, the titular character who’s supposed to be the protagonist, is obnoxiously one-dimensional. But hey Joss, at least you got to make a running joke how much she hates guns and make a throw away line about Aphrodite going crazy and getting plastic surgery (71)! GOOOOOD FOR YOOOOU.

Sigh... I don’t know what else to say folks. This is just awful writing, and thank God it never saw the light of day because it would have destroyed a great character. The only good this script did for me was that I appreciate the film we got way more, and am so thankful there was a team behind it that knew to treat their characters respectfully, tell a cohesive story, and rework cliches for an enjoyable experience. And it further cements why I don’t trust Whedon to so much as touch Batgirl or any female-led comic book films again, because I don’t put it past him to mess up character development like he did with Black Widow and Scarlet Witch and what he could have done to Wonder Woman.

And before you go “but wait Eliza,” need I remind you one of the last times we saw Barbara Gordon’s character grossly mishandled, she was only there to be paralyzed and sexually assaulted AND she and Batman fucked?

Yeah, I thought so. Let this GIF be a reminder what happens when no one steps in to tell their male coworkers this is a bad idea, especially in regards to female characters who are more complex than just being pretty and punching things. Give the reigns to someone besides Whedon or get a team that will criticize his bad characterization choices before he fucks another superheroine over.

#wonder woman #joss whedon #avengers #avengers age of ultron #age of ultron #dc comics #dc #mcu #dceu #marvel #marvel comics #editorial #my writing

21 notes · View notes

themyskira · 8 years ago

Text

THAT Wonder Woman script, part 1 of what the fuck did I just read

Around 2005, Joss Whedon, who has recently been attached to an upcoming Batgirl movie, was hired to write a Wonder Woman movie that never got off the ground.

In an interview, Whedon described the movie he’d envisioned thusly:

She was a little bit like Angelina Jolie [laughs]. She sort of traveled the world. She was very powerful and very naïve about people ... [a]nd ultimately her romance with Steve was about him getting her to see what it’s like not to be a goddess, what it’s like when you are weak, when you do have all these forces controlling you and there’s nothing you can do about it. That was the sort of central concept of the thing. Him teaching her humanity and her saying, OK, great, but we can still do better.

Some years after the project got canned, a 2006 draft script was leaked, and proved to be every bit as terrible as Whedon described and worse. I skimmed it a few years back, and with all the renewed talk around it in the wake of the Batgirl announcement I foolishly decided to try to actually read it for real.

And oh, do I have some notes.

We open with the following text:

IN THE TIME OF THE ANCIENT GREEKS, THE MOST POWERFUL WARRIORS ON EARTH WERE THE AMAZON WOMEN. PROUD, MIGHTY AND CUNNING, THEY WERE NEVER DEFEATED IN BATTLE.

LEGEND TELLS THAT ARES, THE GOD OF WAR, GREW JEALOUS OF THEIR POWER AND HAD THEM IMPRISONED, THEIR WRISTS BOUND IN MYSTICAL CHAINS — CHAINS THAT ROBBED THE AMAZONS OF ALL THEIR POWER.

SHAMED AND IMPERILLED, THE AMAZON QUEEN HIPPOLYTE PRAYED TO ATHENA, GODDESS OF WISDOM, FOR DELIVERANCE FROM THEIR SLAVERY.

THE AMAZONS VANISHED FROM THE EARTH.

Okay, so… there are already a few things I’m not a fan of here.

One: right from the outset the Amazons are being defined solely as warriors. All of their qualities are linked to their martial prowess — “proud, mighty and cunning”. The Amazons of Wonder Woman comics have always been powerful warriors, but it’s a skill they’ve cultivated alongside their prowess as scientists, makers, artists and priestesses. I’ve found that when Wonder Woman writers choose to define Amazons as fighters to the exclusion of all other interests, the result is a very militant, xenophobic and primitive people with a distinct whiff of straw feminism.

Two: really, Joss? Of all things, you had to keep the “Wonder Woman loses her powers when her bracelets are chained?” bit?

Three: “the Amazons were the best until things went wrong and they had to pray their way out of it” this origin story is boring as shit.

But enough of the Amazons. It’s time to meet the real hero of the story. The one we’ve all been waiting to see. Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for…

EXT. SKY - DAY.

We see the roiling grey fury of a storm — and an old twin engine prop plane roars into frame from above us.

She bucks bravely amidst the wind, rain and crackling flashes of lightning. We can hear her practically shaking apart.

INT. PLANE - CONTINUING.

Inside, the noise is even worse. Boxes of cargo, most with a red cross, shake and pitch with the plane.

The pilot holds the steering column as it bucks. Maybe 30, kind, determined eyes in a workingman’s face.

…LAAAAAAAME DUUUUUUCK!

I’m not being a smartass, that is Steve’s actual call sign, which he uses as he shouts into his radio trying to hail his guys on the ground. He’s getting only static in return.

STEVE This is Lame Duck, I got a force gazillion hurricane in my face! Visibility is zero and my readings are… […] …they’re shot! My instrument panel’s having serious emotional issues; I am lost at sea.

As the storm batters his plane, the voice of a South African bloke called Ben crackles through on the radio to advise Steve that he may be heading towards some bad weather. Ba-dum-tsh.

Steve deadpans at Ben and then the communications cut out with a “scorching pop” and lightning hits the left propeller. Being the hero of this story, Steve “stubbornly” hangs on, but the plane is bucking wildly and there’s no mistaking it— he’s going down.

Then suddenly he’s out of the storm, the rain and the clouds clear and spread out below is a lush, pristine island. Our rugged hero shakes off his bewilderment and manoeuvres the plane towards a river, “the thing most resembling a landing strip”.

It’s a messy landing; the plane skids along the river and slides out of control down a hill before hitting a couple of big trees mere inches ahead of a near-bottomless ravine. Steve’s wrist is broken and one leg is caught under boxes, and as he’s trying to figure out his next move, there’s a thump on the roof.

The door is tugged clean off its hinges. A silhouetted girl stands in the newly-made opening.

CLOSE ON: THE GIRL.

To say she is beautiful is almost to miss the point. She is elemental, as natural and wild as the luminous flora surrounding. Her dark hair waterfalls to her shoulders in soft arcs and curls. Her body is curvaceous, but taut as a drawn bow. She wears burnished metal bracelets on both wrists, wide and intricately detailed. Her shift is of another era; we’d call it ancient Greek. She is barefoot.

BARF. Just go back and compare this to the way Whedon describes Steve — “Maybe 30, kind, determined eyes in a workingman’s face.”

When Whedon introduces Steve, the main thing he seems to want us to take away is that this is a Good Man trying to do right. When he introduces Diana, the actual titular hero of this movie, he just blathers like a hormonal teen about how fucking hot she is, except not just hot because who could use such crass words to describe a woman as spectacular and— and elemental as she?! She is nature itself, friends, wild as the luminous flora! her dark hair a waterfall! the taut curvaceous girl of my manic pixie dreams!

Like. Are you even listening to yourself, Joss?

Anyway, The Girl looks about curiously; apparently she’s never seen anything like a plane before. “It’s hollow…”

She’s wary when she notices Our Hero, who babbles a bit to the tune of ‘hey do you speak English, could you get to a phone and call for help, my leg is pinned’, before The Girl casually pulls the boxes off him one-handed, studies him for a moment and concludes, “You look horrible.”

Not because he’s injured, mind. It’s because of his stubble. She’s thoroughly perplexed by it, since as we know gender is a strict binary and women never have facial hair of any kind especially since obviously Amazons have a strictly 21st century Western concept of female beauty except oh wait.

Then the realisation hits her.

She reaches for his face, touches it. Realisation breaks her face into a wondrous grin.

DIANA You’re a man.

STEVE Wow. No gettin’ anything past you…

But he’s as mesmerised as she, neither of them moving as her fingers sensuously trace his face.

THE ROMANCE. She is captivated by his masculinity, he belittles her, and they are both entranced.

They trade names, the plane lurches ominously over the ravine, and Diana scoops him up and tosses him to safety. “You feel safer now?” she asks, as he lands hard on the grass.

ANGLE: STEVE has fifteen sharp, gleaming spears in a semicircle around his head.

They are held by fifteen women, armoured and helmeted in the greek style. Backlit enough to be dark and almost inhuman.

STEVE Nnyeaaybe…..

Ha-ha! Champagne comedy!

Also: what’d I tell you? Militant, xenophobic and primitive. How long d’you think before the straw feminism rears its head?

Next scene! Steve is marched into the Amazons city, accompanied by Diana and encircled by a grim company of Amazons. Steve’s hands are bound with rope, the other end of which is held by “the enormous, austere HEPHESTIA, captain of the guard”.

Steve tries to ask if he can use their phone, and Hephestia responses by yanking the rope and sending him sprawling. Diana rushes to help him up, but Hephestia ignores him entirely, admonishing, “It is not to be spoken to.”

YEP HE WENT THERE. WHEDON’S AMAZONS ARE ANGRY IRRATIONAL MAN-HATERS WHO REFER TO MEN AS “IT”.

Hephestia goes on to berate Diana for breaking the “First Law”, telling her that “By all rights your fate should be his” and “You should have killed it.”

Fuck’s. Sake.

Then Steve gets his first sight of the city.

THEMYSCIRA. It’s a vision of a city, nestled in the lush green hills. Greek in many aspects, it has an organic look that is particular to the Amazons — not just straight stone columns.

More than a hundred women are visible, walking, talking, weaving, forging — there is an arena near the bottom with women training at games and swordplay.

Hey, look at that. First indication so far that the Amazons are something other than primitive sword-wielding thugs.

STEVE (continuing; whisper) Where the hell am I?

DIANA This is Themyscira. Home.

STEVE Whose home?

DIANA The Amazons.

STEVE (looking at her) The Amazons are a legend.

DIANA We are? (considers) Good. We should be.

GOOD LORD THIS IS TERRIBLE. And what the fuck is with Diana’s casual arrogance here?

They walk through the city, attracting stares wherever they go. A friend of Diana’s, Aethra, hurries over and falls into step with her. After ascertaining that, yes, this is a fabled man-creature and they are taking him to the Queen, what do you think her first question is?

She falls into step, whispering into Diana’s ear. Diana looks briefly shocked.

AETHRA (continuing) Well, I would’ve. While you can…

SHE ASKS IF DIANA FUCKED HIM.

WHAT THE ABSOLUTE SHIT.

Cut to the Queen’s chamber.

HYPPOLYTE is every inch a queen: noble, beautiful, thoughtful. She is middle-aged, but very much in her prime.

Apparently being attractive is a prerequisite for being a queen now. Also, Whedon has trouble settling on a spelling for her name, as we’ll see.

She is approached by CIRCE. An older woman, Circe is honest and humble, but her eyes pierce well beyond common sight.

(No, it’s not that Circe. I don’t know why Whedon gave her the name of one of Diana’s most prominent rogues.)

CIRCE The Guard returns, my Queen.

HIPPOLYTE Is it what we thought?

CIRCE (nodding) A man.

HIPPOLYTE All this time… and the Gods still mock us. Alive?

CIRCE (nods) Hephestia would have killed him on the spot, but… she was not the first to find him.

This news tightens the corners of Hyppolyte's mouth.

Groan. Yes, Hippolyta, the gods are mocking you by inflicting man on you. That is what’s happening now.

Wait, no, I take that back. Somebody is definitely mocking you right now.

Cut to the throne room. Hippolyta’s on her throne, Steve on his knees before her under Hephestia’s guard. Diana stands by him, and women crowd about the room.

Hippolyta binds Steve with a familiar-looking lasso and interrogates him. The one thing she wants to know: if they fix his plane and help him on his way, will he promise never to speak of the Amazons to anyone? Steve says he won’t, but when Hippolyta presses — what if you were offered money? power? what if you were tortured? — he admits that he could not stay silent if his friends or family were threatened.

Anyway, it doesn’t actually matter because it turns out that Hippolyta was only exploring this line of questioning to demonstrate why there is no solution other than to kill Steve (and I guess so that we could see what a Pure and Heroic Hero Steve is). It’s his life against thousands of Amazons, which is why the First Law says that any man who sets foot on the island has to die, obviously.

At which point Steve gets his self-important on and is like ‘UM EXCUSE ME YOUR MAJESTY but if I don’t get the supplies on my plane to the refugee camp I was headed for, then a fuckton of sick and starving refugees will die, YOU MONSTER.’

Hippolyta considers this, and asks him what he’d say if she could guarantee that the supplies get to their destination — after she murders him. Steve stares at her a moment, then: "Deal.”

So Diana’s like “MOTHER NO!” and Hippolyta is like “MOTHER YES”. Except then for some reason she instructs Circe to take Steve away and feed him and tend to his wounds because I guess she’s too tired to murder him tonight, no need to rush the process.

Then Hippolyta kicks everyone out so she can argue with her daughter.

HIPPOLYTE We came here to escape the tyranny of men.

She holds out her hands as she speaks and Diana places hers begrudgingly in them — Hippolyte turns them palms up as the light glints off Diana’s bracelets.

HIPPOLYTE (continuing) Your wear the symbols of our subjugation but you don’t know what it was like. When these were bound, and we were powerless. The pain, the shame… no Amazon will ever be bound again. […] Steve Trevor may be an honest man but he connects us to a world more brutish and mad than the one we fled. […] He cannot peaceably stay and he cannot be allowed to leave. Do you not see?

DIANA (eyes locked on Steve) I see only murder.

HIPPOLYTE (sees Diana staring) Your eyes are clouded.

DIANA They are clear, mother. Maybe for the first time.

She starts to leave.

HIPPOLYTE I envy the luxury of your clarity. (Diana stops) I am Queen of Themyscira. My responsibilities weigh heavily on me. It’s simpler for those who’ve never had any.

so yeah basically this scene is all about Our Hero and how his heroic heroism puts Diana on a path to becoming Wonder Woman. She’s been living a life of blissful naivety on her island, and then this man comes along and is ready to die so that innocents may live, while Diana’s isolationist people would rather kill to save themselves, and in an instant her eyes are opened “maybe for the first time” and GOSH AREN’T YOU LUCKY A MAN CAME ALONG TO TEACH YOU HOW TO BE A HERO.

Nighttime now. Steve is gloomily pacing his ‘cell’, which is actually a big, comfortably furnished room. Diana, doing a Batman, steps out of the shadows behind him.

DIANA Why don’t you care?

He turns, not particularly surprised to see her. She comes close as she talks. There is an attraction between them that neither of them mentions — or possibly even knows about.

UGH GO AWAY JOSS.

She wants to know why he’s so willing to throw away his life. She wants to know about his world, and what it is he believes matters more than saving his own skin. Steve is uncommunicative; he doesn’t know what she wants him to say.

DIANA (thrown) I… I wonder if there’s a reason. For your coming. Some sign, something for me to learn.

STEVE So my imminent death is, wow, all about you. You know I really should rest up, though, for the dying — why don’t [we] do this another time?

DIANA But we—

STEVE (ushers her out) I’ll call you. I mean it. Let’s keep in touch.

This is a recurring theme in their interactions. Diana reaches out, trying — often somewhat ignorantly or naively — to understand or to help, and Steve bites her head off for being a spoiled, selfish little princess who knows nothing about the real world.

Speaking of which!

DIANA I don’t like your manner.

STEVE And I don’t feature spending my last night on earth playing Discovery Channel for some bored debutante.

DIANA I’m just trying to understand.

STEVE Understand what?

DIANA You. Your world.

STEVE You can’t.

DIANA “Can’t”?

STEVE Can’t. Is that another new word for you? Means ‘are unable to’.

DIANA But you won’t even—

STEVE You and I have nothing in common.

He crosses to the banquet table.

STEVE (continuing) Has there ever been a day when you didn’t have everything you wanted? Have you ever been hungry? (chucks the pear to her — hard) Been cold? Worked twenty hour days underground for no pay, been spat on, stepped on, shot at… (approaches her again) Your mom is Queen of Crazy Town but she’s right to be scared. You wanna stay as far away from the real world as possible. They’d eat you alive, Princess.

DIANA I am an Amazon.

STEVE Yeah yeah, bend steel with your bare hands… in my world, you wouldn’t last a day.

UGH.

So Diana wanders out of Steve’s cell and towards Athena’s temple, “lost in unhappy thought”. Aethra catches up with him and — you guessed it — SHE STILL WANTS TO KNOW ABOUT STEVE’S DICK.

AETHRA (behind her) At least tell me you looked at it.

Aethra wants to know why Diana comes to Athena’s temple every night. What is it she asks the goddess for?

DIANA I… I ask what to ask. To know… what I want, to be content… (quiet passion) I am not what I should be. I can be more, I was meant to be more, I know it. To do something worthy. (looking off) I ask Athena what that is.

AETHRA And you think she’s answered.

DIANA (turning, urgent) Can it be coincidence? That a man should drop straight from the sky after all this time?

So, if we’re following this logic… Diana asks the goddess “what [she needs] to be content” and to be the person she was “meant to be” — and the goddess responds by dropping a man in her lap.

Joss Whedon is such a Great Feminist Writer, y’all.

Also, Aethra’s response to this?

AETHRA (smiling) You really think you’re the only woman on the island thinks that was her prayer being answered?

Because evidently Whedon’s Amazons are deeply heterosexual and desperate for cock.

Diana confesses her unease, and Aethra gives her some completely meaningless advice.

AETHRA Then don’t be a child. Don’t ask for guidance, for permission; don’t ask for anything. Tell Athena what you want. Maybe then you’ll hear her reply.

yes because making aggressive demands of the gods and failing to observe proper respect has always historically gone well for the greeks.

Diana spends the entire night praying. In the morning, a falcon (which isn’t Athena’s bird, but who cares about research) alights in front of her and she stares at it.

Our Hero is led into the royal hall, bravely prepared to meet his death. As Hippolyta prepares to mete out his sentence, the proceedings are interrupted by a stampede of animals. Screeching falcons swoop into the hall and land on Hippolyta’s throne. Huge snakes carve a path through the crowd, followed by a pair of giant panthers and no I have no fucking idea where Whedon is going with this either because he never follows up on it at all.

Diana enters behind the panthers, cloaked and hooded, and announces that she is invoking the “Right of Trial”.

STEVE Trial by what?

Diana pulls off her robe in one swift motion.

AETHRA Combat, of course.

Beneath is the outfit: the burnished eagle breastplate, the deep red of the cloth bodice, the skirt, a greek’s, leather strips low in the middle and cut higher at the hips, dark blue with diamond-shaped silver inlays. The gold sandals matching the wristbands and tiara. A sword is on her hip, which she pulls, pointing at Steve with it.

DIANA (to the assembled) This is the law. If I can defeat Themyscira’s greatest warrior in single combat, judgement on this man will be mine to render. He will live, return to his world… and I will go with him. […] If this world of his is truly mad, I would know why. I would know what it is we all fear so terribly. (pointedly, to Mom) I consider it… my responsibility.

And who is Themyscira’s greatest warrior? Well, I think we all know the answer to that.

So Diana has to fight her mother to save Steve’s life.

But it’s more fucked up than that, because Joss has made Hippolyta the symbol of all of Themyscira’s insular, xenophobic, backward tradition, while Steve represents the hero Diana aspires to be — all-American, prepared to sacrifice himself to defend the helpless.

So in practice this reads as Diana choosing to reject her people’s (primitive, wrong) culture and embrace the (good, heroic) American Way.

Anyway, Hippolyta hefts her sword and they fight. Steve continues to be a smartass.

AETHRA This must seem strange to you.

STEVE No, my mom and I did this all the time.

The fight is relentless — “In Amazon training,” Joss tells us, “they don’t teach retreat”. What with the Amazons being ruthless savages and all. Hippolyta gradually starts to get the upper hand, sends Diana to her knees and brings her sword down “with all her might” on Diana’s shoulder. It shatters on Diana’s skin.

For a moment, only the clatter of the shards on stone.

Then Diana is back up in a flash, swinging at her mother with brutal force — Hippolyte blocks and pulls Diana close.

HIPPOLYTE In his world, it may not be the sword that will break. You will be weakened, and reviled, daughter: death is out there. Here you are safe, you’re strong, you are a princess and there they will make you nothing now will you yield?

Diana looks at her with intensity, but no malice.

DIANA I can’t.

HIPPOLYTE. (quietly) I know.

She steps back, throws her broken sword down. […] Hyppolyte grabs Diana to her and embraces her fiercely, both women exhausted and emotional.

Hyppolyte kisses her head, takes it in her hands, inches from her face. She whispers ungently:

HIPPOLYTE (continuing) Remember who you are. They will take everything from you but that.

…aaaaand I guess that’s that, then? Hippolyta breaks her sword on Diana’s shoulder, fights her to a standstill, and then, “give up now? what, you don’t? oh okay well I guess I give up instead, then”.

Steve and Diana fly out. Joss takes the time to tell us that Diana is wearing “a simple white tunic (which on her is anything but simple)” which oh my god keep your boner to yourself mate.

Also let’s just pause to note that at this point Diana’s only motivation beyond a vaguely-articulated desire for direction is The Boy. In most modern versions of Wonder Woman’s origin, Steve is a catalyst rather than the motivating factor in Diana’s journey forth into Man’s World. Rucka’s Amazons recognise the gods’ hand in Steve’s arrival and realise that greater forces are on the move; this spurs them to choose a champion who will be both ambassador and protector. Pérez’s Diana actually wins the mantle of champion and the responsibility of defending the world against Ares before the war god’s machinations bring Steve’s plane down.

Whedon’s Diana has no mission or calling. She just met a boy and decided to follow him home.

#whedon does wondy #this is long and painful and i am sorry #wonder woman

219 notes · View notes