#hades this is not me selling my soul to you i would be Very Bad at building things

[braisedhoney]

if i think about hadestown persephone and hades too long i will explode i think. on the other hand if i do not think about them i will implode i think. fascinating paradigm.

[curiousaromantic]

I just found a wild crossover idea of TGCF x PJO in my drafts and I wanted to share it with you guys aklsskmdjsd

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I just had the most random thought ever.

I was looking for PJO fanfics and it just came to my mind that Nico has the tittle of Ghost King in the PJO universe if I'm not wrong (i think it was bc he defeated Minos and bc he can summon the dead and well, son of Hades ok?) (also– after he defeated Minos, didn't that give him a position in the Undersorld where he could judge which soul goes to which place in thd Underwold? . Correct me if I'm wrong, its been ages since I read PJO & HoO)

Anyway, thinking about the words Ghost King, of course I inmediatly thought of TGCF and the calamities of its universe, which are called Ghost Kings, who are Hua Cheng, Crimson Rain Sought Flower; He Xuan, Black Water Sinking Ships; Bai Wuxiang, White No Face; and Qi Rong, Green Lantern something-else-that-i-don't-remember.

Imagine if somehow the characters of PJO were transported someway into the world of TGCF. Although, I think it could be possible for both stories to exist in the same universe and world, because If I am not wrong, in the PJO universe gods of different cultures exist at the same time but most demigods remain ignorant at that until HoO happened and yeah.

If a TGCF and PJO crossover were to happen, i think it would be like same way the crossover between the Kanes & Percabeth went or Magnus & Percabeth again (i haven't read those books so i could be writing pure nonsense just now. Fck, i really need to get back to my intense phase of Percy Jackson fan).

Anyway, let's think that the PJO cast somehow has to go on a mission to China and bc they are in territory out of the reach of the greek gods, they are in big danger.

The crew (which I think would be made of the Seven, Grover, Thalia, Solangelo & idk who else, like i said my mind isn't fresh regarding PJO hehe) ends up being chased by ghosts who they think are monsters trying to kill demigods (not much of a difference considering that the ghosts are planning on selling them as snacks in Ghost City bc for some reason these weird foreign humans smell very funny).

Percy and company also don't know that it is the Ghost Festival (i forgot the name it was given in the novel aaaaa, it was long ok? Im sorry for my bad memory, plus im wriring this at 3am) and that's why there are a lot of ghosts out there. They only realize they aren't monsters and it is the Ghost Festival until Annabeth connects the dots and points it out to the rest (she did her research before coming to complete a quest in China, and also because my girl is exicted for the chinese architecture).

Unfortunately, knowing the ghosts aren't monsters doesn't change the fact that they are being chased by them, and because many of the ghosts are Savage it is quite difficult to deal with them due to the fact thag physical attacks do little harm to their souls and their weapons also cannot harm them bc they aren't gods. They don't know how to deal with ghosts; well Nico can and it is what saves their asses, although because these ghosts are not residents of the greek—

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And like, that’s all I had in my draft, I don’t remember when I wrote this 😂, I just remember that I wanted PJO characters to meet and wouldn’t it be interesting for them to realize how different are chinese gods (Xie Lian vs Greek Gods FIGHT) and then becoming good friends with Hualian?

Imagine Sally Jackson with Paul and Hualian becoming foster parents to all this teenage demigods that have been through a lot?

[bi-disastersoup]

R'alma Crissen Lore Masterpost

Hi! Let me introduce you to the complicated mess that is my WoL. I like to write about him frequently, but I'm still developing him as a character. This will probably be updated as I come up with new lore for his personality/backstory.

Wol vs Azem sheet Azem's Familiar Design (or Why Does R'alma Have a Tail?) Azem Lore Masterpost

The Basics

Name: R'alma Crissen Race: Rava Viera (technically not actually, see below) Gender: Male Pronouns: He/Him (They/Them is acceptable for the confused) Sexuality: Definitely Gay (and Maybe Bi, unknown)/Probably Demisexual Height: 5'7" Age: 26(ish? I guess?) Nameday: 32nd Sun of the Fourth Umbral Moon (Aug 31st) Birthplace: Thanalan Tribe: Raptor Family: R'crissen Nunh (father) R'manafa Jhaz (mother) Combat Jobs: BLM/DRK/RPR/DNC/SGE (in that order) Non-combat Jobs: BTN/ALC

The Beginning

Alma Crissen was born a Miqo'te to the Raptor tribe of the Seekers of the Sun. She spent her entire childhood in Thanalan, and because of this she considers the region to be her home. She had long black hair streaked with red, and mismatched eyes, one dark green and one bright teal. Her skin was pale for a Sunseeker, since she spent most of her time indoors studying rather than out hunting with the rest of the tribe.

Her tribe and family were largely hunters of great skill and renown, known for their marksmanship with a bow. R'alma, however, showed an incredible affinity for magic and spellcraft rather than martial prowess, which made her feel like an outcast in the tribe. While no one went to any lengths to make her feel unwelcome, neither was there anyone from which she could learn to wield her magicks. And so, feeling as if on some level she didn't quite belong, she dreamt of the day she would set out on her own to find her place in the world.

She only made it as far as Ul'dah before her destiny found her and swept her away on what would prove to be the journey of a lifetime.

The Reincarnation

After the disaster with the Crystal Braves in Ul'dah, R'alma was thoroughly distraught and in a very bad place mentally. Unsure if she'd be able to return there to continue her studies as a black mage, she instead took up the greatsword and began her journey down the path of the dark knight.

It was also around this time that she met a shady peddler in Ishgard selling potions that he claimed were supposed to reveal the true nature of a person's soul. Not being in the right mindset to make decisions, and believing the man when he said the effect was only temporary, she bought and took one. As it turns out, the potion did exactly as advertised. The effect was not, however, temporary, and R'alma spent the next several years in the body of an Auri woman.

As an Au Ra, R'alma's skin was a dark, vibrant red, with dark scales and horns, and brilliant amber-yellow eyes. Her hair was still red-streaked black, the only feature to have stayed in the transformation.

It wasn't until her travels to Othard and the Azim Steppe some time later that she learned why her transformation had been permanent. As it turned out, her soul was from the Dotharl tribe of the Xaela, but had been somehow displaced during reincarnation. Sadu of course recognized her right away and gave her the name that she had been previously known by. R'alma preferred to continue going by the name given her by the parents that had raised her, however, and kept the Dotharl name secret.

Apollo's Gift

Sometime after the events of 5.3, R'alma decided to try experimenting with attuning to Azem's memory crystal, similar to how she did with Fray/Esteem during her training as a dark knight. In doing so, she was actually able to connect to him subconsciously across time. They spoke together several times, during which she learned that his name was Apollo, that he had vivid dreams of his myriad future lives (hers included), and that while biologically male, he often identified as female depending on his mood and disposition, hence why Hades and Hythlodaeus would often refer to Azem as "she".

Eventually, as matters with the Telophoroi were coming to a head and the journey to Sharlayan drew near, Apollo insisted that R'alma needed to stop contacting him, that she needed to live her own life in the present rather than constantly looking back to the past. As a parting gift, he offered to use his creation magic to alter her body into something more closely resembling his, so that she would have something to remember him by. The new form kept her signature red-tipped black hair, as well as one of her yellow eyes, and the bright teal one from her Miqo'te form that matched his own, giving her ties not only to his past but also to hers as well.

The body that Apollo gave her was that of a familiar that he had been working on designing. Though that was the official story, the reality was just a bit more selfish. In truth, Apollo knew that R'alma would be traveling to the past and meeting both Hades and Hythlodaeus in Elpis, and he wanted it to be in a form that they would recognize and feel comfortable around. Hythlodaeus was aware of Apollo's familiar concept, and would recognize it immediately as his, especially if it was running around with a soul of the same color.

And that is how R'alma ended up as a male Viera-but-not-really with a fluffy tail and cat eyes. In tribute to Azem, and because he is now biologically male, he prefers to go by male pronouns. I hesitate to call him trans, only because the decision was not one that he made himself for actual identity reasons, so.... It's Complicated™.

Aether-Searing

Dark arcane markings twisted and flowed in seemingly random patterns up the front of his torso, spread across his narrow shoulders, spilled down his back, and snaked down both arms. It was an artistic mixture of constellations, mathematical diagrams, and rudimentary symbology that he had somehow managed to keep largely under wraps. Some of the markings were purely arcane in nature, designed as a focus or enhancement for his spellcasting. Most of them, however, told a story or represented some important event from his travels. Much of it was likely indecipherable at the moment due to his injuries, though. All the same, it clearly made for quite the spectacle. "By the Twelve," Alphinaud breathed in awe. "What in–" "Aether-searing," R'alma cut in by way of explanation, his voice feeling thick and uncharacteristically gravelly in his throat. He cleared it before going on, but the thickness remained. "Been working on it for a while. Since we first came here. Different symbols and images that have meaning to me." Moving gingerly, so as not to aggravate his joints, he reached up and tapped his collarbone, where a line twisted and snaked like a ribbon in between an arrangement of simple shapes in varying size and orientation, about eight in total. "This one is us. The people I care about most, wrapped up together in a thread of fate."

He went quiet then, partly because talking sapped what little energy he still had, and partly from embarrassment. This time he could feel the warmth creep into his cheeks as his mismatched eyes stayed trained pointedly on the floor. This wasn't something for anyone else to see, necessarily. He’d done it mostly for himself, and for those whose stories he felt needed to be told, to be remembered. Aether-searing wasn't exactly a pleasant experience, but it was far from painful, and it allowed him to paint the canvas of his skin in private, without the need of another party's expertise or input. It was a technique he'd found detailed in a book in Noumenon shortly after their arrival, and it had served his needs perfectly for an idea that had been formulating in his head for quite a while.

The arcane tattoos that R'alma now sports on his body is an ongoing project that he's been working on since shortly after arriving in Old Sharlayan. As further tribute to Azem, and to all the Ancients who came before, as well as many of the people he'd met himself on his travels, and even to himself, he has committed his body as a canvas for telling the stories that need to be remembered. The symbols are designed in such a way that only he knows what they mean, dreamed up and applied in a stream-of-consciousness sort of manner. Two actual phrases in Eorzean script can be found among the mysterious artwork: "Remember Us" along his back, and on his shoulder "Listen to our heartbeats".

Many of the symbols right now, however, are purely arcane in nature and are meant to help focus his magic. There are a few larger, blockier shapes on his arms that he added just to get rid of the lingering feeling of Zenos inhabiting his body, and that he intends to remove or replace once the memory of that experience has faded enough.

[thegeneralguy]

The Champion of Olympus - Poseidon´s Passion

Out of all the three realms connected to the earth, the sea was by far the most extensive one. An entire underwater universe lurked beneath the surface, with more diversity in its inhabitants than both heaven and earth. Poseidon was the ruler of that realm, with the responsibility of maintaining the planet itself in balance. Oceanic currents and tectonic movement were crucial for the mortals´ survival. The god of the sea had inherited the realm after the Titanomachy, given to him by the true embodiment of the sea, Oceanus. He and his titan spouse had given birth to many of the phenomena Poseidon had to keep in check.

But the normally boisterous god was unusually quiet, sitting down in his chariot heading back to the cold depths of his kingdom. The words of his brothers resonated within him. Could it really be possible for Typhon to escape? And more importantly, would he be able to protect all the creatures under his rule? Keeping balance was Poseidon´s primary priority, which made the whole situation even more alarming for him. He took the reins tying the hippocampi pulling his chariot and pressured them to move faster. He had to reach the Oceanic Retreat, also known as the sunken city of Atlantis, to consult with the court about his next course of action.

The palace was located in the center of the underwater capital, adorned with bright gems and bright colorful coral. The city was so deep under the sea, it was unreachable by Apollo´s power. But despite the lack of sunlight, luminescent beings shone brightly to light the streets and buildings. Poseidon´s chariot floated over the gates of the palace and parked on one of the numerous sea gardens, which were filled with creatures and coral normally found on superficial reefs. Triton, Poseidon´s heir, and most trusted advisor greeted him from the gates of the palace.

"That bad huh?"

He asked as soon as he caught a glimpse of the god´s grim visage. The muscular deity approached his son carrying his massive trident with ease, the muscles in his arm pulsing with supernatural strength. The strength to make the earth shake and the ocean rise. Both gods rushed inside the palace to his throne room, while Poseidon put Triton up to date. The young deity was eager to learn the ways of Olympus, for when it was his turn to rise to the throne, so he listened carefully every time his father complained about their extended family.

"How fitting of uncle Zeus to find a way to try to compete with all of you. But if what he and Hades said is right, then we have no time to waste."

"It won´t be so easy son. Our job is to keep balance, and granting divinity to a mortal can very much upset the natural equilibrium of the planet. Just remember where we´re standing right now."

The city of Atlantis, once a thriving metropolis of the ancient world, had fallen victim to the whims of a fallen hero´s delirium and a heavenly dispute. After being defeated by the patron city of Poseidon´s niece, the Atlanteans fell into despair. They managed to get the favor of the god of the sea, who granted power beyond belief to their heroic leader. But this human wasn´t meant to rise as a new god, so the rest of Olympus rejected him, and punished the city by sinking it to the depths of the ocean.

While Triton pondered on his father´s worries, they reached the throne room. A glowing golden throne adorned with all kinds of underwater flora and fauna was in the center of the room, surrounded by a half-circle of different chairs more modest, but still ornamental to symbolize the sea´s royalty. Poseidon stood in front of his throne and slammed the enormous trident on the ground, producing an explosive sound that resonated within the entire ocean.

After a couple of seconds, the god of the sea´s call was answered by the most prominent figures in the oceanic realm. A representative for both the Oceanids, sea nymphs and the Potamoi, the rivers of the world, were the first to appear. Poseidon´s spouse Amphitrite also arrived fast and took her place right next to her husband. Polyphemus came next, the representative for the cyclops who were all devoted to the god of the sea. The old man of the sea, Nereus himself, showed up next. His relationship with Poseidon was more like a truce than a hierarchy, but Nereus´ connection to the ocean realm´s mortal creatures, including his daughters, was a good reason to keep him as an ally. The last one to show up was Styx, the embodiment of the river of the same name coursing through Hades´ realm.

As the court of the sea assembled, Triton took his seat on the right of his father and watched as the gigantic god paraded his muscular physique floating across the room.

"As some of you may know, I was summoned by Zeus for an emergency meeting. It seems the original monster is trying to break free from Tartarus. Is that true Styx?"

Automatically all eyes turned to the river´s seat expectantly. After Hades and the chthonic gods, the underworld river was supposed to know all the happenings of the realm.

"I have heard some rumors, but Lord Hades hasn´t told me anything. Things feel pretty normal in the underworld though. I haven´t sensed any fluctuations within my currents, which are pretty sensitive for any changes in the realm."

"That's very strange, but the fates wouldn´t lie. There is no way they would fall victims of a simple rumor."

Answered Poseidon meditating on the river´s answer. Styx was known to be direct and efficient, seeking to form a bridge between the realms so mortal souls reached their resting space safely. It wouldn´t bother to try and deceive the rest of the deities, especially on such a delicate matter. But then, who was lying? Triton raised from his seat and continued talking, trying to explain the situation his father was telling him about a couple of minutes ago.

"It seems the king of the gods has called for a new Champion to be chosen."

"Is that true Poseidon?"

Asked Amphitrite looking at her husband with worry in her eyes. Poseidon´s days of violence ended eons ago, and she was worried a heavenly competition like the trial of the Champion was going to get the worst out of her husband again.

"Zeus commanded each of the twelve Olympians to choose a champion. As you can imagine, I´m very reluctant to do so again."

Answered Poseidon with a serious tone. The last thing he wanted was to put his subjects through another catastrophe, but something smelled fishy in the whole situation. He wasn´t keen on trusting his family, but the odds were too high. He had to assume the worst in order to prepare. Nereus rose from his seat, his long white beard filled with barnacles floating around him, and talked in a raspy voice that sounded like a shipwreck crashing in the bottom of the sea.

"You have to make a choice Poseidon. We cannot risk Typhon getting out, it would mean extinction for our kind. Your newfound love for balance will have to wait until this situation is resolved."

"How dare you tell me how I should act old man. Remember I am the god of the sea, one of the twelve Olympians, and your ruler. I know what is best for my kingdom."

Growled Poseidon angrily, as his trident caused the floor to shake with fury. Nereus smirked slightly, knowing he reached the god´s weakest spot: his authoritarian nature. No matter how he tried to hide it, Poseidon was infatuated by battle and carnage. And he was going to demonstrate to all the sea that the king still had the will of expanding the realm. A Champion of the sea on earth would create the perfect opportunity to take over the terrestrial plane.

"Leave the sentimentalism aside Poseidon. You have to make a choice. Will you risk the present´s balance to secure the future?"

Everyone looked at the silent god of the sea. Poseidon hated Nereus, but he was right. Balance is not worth it if the future is put in doubt. He had made his choice. As hard as it was, he had to gift a mortal again with divinity. Triton stared worriedly at his father. The advisor knew what his king was capable of, and it scared him. But in the end, the risk had to be worth the benefits. He reached to touch his father´s giant shoulder.

"Father…"

Poseidon then raised his trident, as a powerful twisting current propelled him upwards, going through the open roof and heading for the surface. If his brothers wanted a Champion, they were going to have one. For the sake of the ocean, and the balance of the future.

  It was a peculiarly cold day on top of the St. Helena frigate. Ltjg. Gabo Ramirez was making his usual rounds on the top deck, making sure everyone was doing their respective tasks. The young man had joined the navy in hopes of finding some stability in his chaotic life. He had always felt attracted to the sea, its vast expanse offering the peace of mind that a problematic orphaned child needed. Growing up on the coast let him escape very often to meet his secret lover. He got infatuated when he was very young, and his mother was still alive. She took him to the beach every day to collect different treasures like seashells or pieces of broken coral in order to make jewelry out of them. Young Gabo felt proud he was helping support his widowed mother.

His father was a fisherman, but he barely had any memory of him, because he died when Gabo was barely a toddler. His mother told him his fishing ship sank during one of the common hurricanes predating on the beautiful Caribbean coast. But even though the sea had taken one of his progenitors away, Gabo couldn´t help but fall deeper in love with it. As he grew up, money grew tight. His mother tried desperately to provide for her son, so he could go to school and do something with his life. Life pushed her to more desperate means, selling herself so her son could have a future. In the end, things turned out grim for the poor boy.

He still remembered the stormy night when someone knocked on the door of their little apartment. A tall police officer told him the bad news. They found her on a bench close to the harbor. His mother died trying to protect her son. His childhood ended on that instant, and he was thrown down an administrative rabbit hole that turned his life into a living nightmare. He jumped from orphanages to foster homes over and over again. He felt like the world had betrayed him, taking his greatest love away from him. The sweet child turned into a sour teenager, who caused trouble and mischief wherever he went. His only refuge was still the sea. After all that had happened, it was the only place where Gabo felt grounded and alive. After his mother passed away it became his greatest love.

After he miraculously made his way through school, he decided to leave Puerto Rico and enlist in the U.S. navy. He was conscious his life needed to take a turn for the better, so he was mentally prepared for whichever challenge the tough military system was going to throw at him. The problem was, he was not physically ready for them, struggling through the first years of training. A life of chaos had left him with a scrawny underfed body, which was agile enough to get him swiftly out of trouble, but not strong enough to face it.

He remained adamant on his decision, and he endured the painful years of training, swallowing his deep survival instinct of fleeing before he was entirely committed. Gabo was used to swiftly getting out of trouble, thanks to his more cowardly nature. But he studied hard, put his life on track, and was rewarded for it. Now he got to spend a life together with his love, the sea, watching its waves flow into the horizon. A blue paradise extended before him.

Ltjg. Ramirez diverted his gaze from the ocean and went back to realizing his tasks to their full extent. The frigate was on standby close to the arctic sea, between Greenland and Europe, so there wasn´t a lot to do. The wind outside was pretty cold, nothing but dark water and a few small icebergs in the surroundings. He went back into the ship to finish his active shift and get something to eat in the cafeteria.

"Hey, Ramirez! Come here, we´re playing poker. This asshole has been running his mouth about beating you all afternoon!"

Said Lt. March calling him to one of the tables, where some of his crewmates were gathered. The person running his mouth was Lt. Krass. He and March were Ramirez´s superiors, but they had grown to like the mousy kid. His skills in gambling were known on the whole ship and made his crewmates and some of his superiors very interested in testing his skills. Life on the streets had taught him everything he needed to know to be a good gambler, and he had a good poker face to finish his killer combination.

"I can gladly take all your money off of you sir."

Said Ramirez laughing as he sat on the table to play with the cards. Sailors had to enjoy every second of interaction, or else they started suffering some mental issues that came with the constant isolation and lack of new stimuli.

"I´m telling you kid if you didn´t look like a toothpick I would´ve beaten your ass for taking a week´s worth of salary."

Said the much bigger Lt. March in an intimidating way, but just with the right amount of joyfulness to let Gabo know he was joking. He could probably pick the small junior lieutenant and throw him overboard if he felt like it.

"Give him a break March. It´s not his fault you´re a dumb player. Besides, I´ll get that money and will take you to a nice bar with it when we touch land again."

Laughed the equally big Krass punching his mate on the shoulder. In fact, Ramirez was probably the smallest man on board. The 24-year-old barely made the height cut on the recruiting process, and although he had gained some muscle mass from the rigorous training, it wasn´t enough to get close to his crewmate´s giant sizes. But his appearance was what caused his crewmates and superiors to gain a certain fondness for the young recruit. He was the runt of the litter.

After a while of laughing at Krass´s dumbfound expression as Ramirez managed to beat him and take all his money as well, the boys called off the night and everyone was in their chambers by curfew. Ramirez laid on his bed feeling the soft movement of the waves rocking his bed, enjoying the sensation. He thought about his mother and the beach in his childhood, as his memories carried him to deep sleep, completely ignorant of the approaching menace on the cold waters of the ocean.

 All sailors woke up at five in the morning, swiftly getting out of bed and lining up to clean themselves. Gabo woke up agitated. He had a strange feeling, but he couldn´t exactly distinguish what was going on. He also had strange dreams that night, about a giant black whale stalking the tumbling frigate, whilst he watched powerlessly from the deck of the ship.

"Not a very good night kid? It must be that guilty conscience for stealing from your favorite superior."

Said Lt. March, who was directly in line in front of him. Ramirez managed to get a nervous laugh out.

"It´s nothing, sir. Just a bad dream."

March looked at him with concern. He really cared for the well being of his subordinates, and he was worried being on the sea for so long was starting to take its toll on the novice sailor. He knew the young junior lieutenant was very passionate about his work, but he was still inexperienced to recognize the effects of long-term isolation.

"Listen Ramirez. I´m your superior, but we´re a team. There´s not a lot to do today, so why don't you take it easy just for a day."

The young recruit smiled broadly at the big man in front of him.

"Thanks, sir, but I can handle work. I know what I signed up for."

Lt. March smiled back, impressed at the discipline of his subordinate. This kid was going to go far he thought, as both made their way into the small shower cabin. While they were undressing, Krass approached March and whispered something to him quietly. Ramirez couldn´t hear a word, but judging by March´s expression it wasn´t good news. Krass then left the bathroom, and March turned around to face Ramirez. His big chest was inches away from Gabo´s face, and his lower part was tightly covered by a small towel.

It wasn´t a secret Ramirez was into both men and women. All his crewmates respected his orientation and felt comfortable around him. So much they didn´t mind parading themselves naked from time to time, testing the young recruit´s self-control. It was harder in the beginning, but now Gabo was used to it, casually having conversations with his fellow naked sailors. He still enjoyed the show, only silently and respectfully. He has had few sexual experiences in the past, but nothing to boast about. Still, his crew was untouchable for him, the comradery far outweighing the lust.

March was another story though. The man sported an impressive physique build through years and years of discipline and hard training. His chest was very prominent, followed by a big muscular gut that was still a couple of inches behind. Powerful arms capable of pulling even the heaviest anchor hung to his side, and tree trunk legs supported the almost 300 pounds man. He was also a good head taller than Ramirez, making the younger sailor a dwarf in comparison. Even though Ramirez tried his best, he couldn´t help but feel a certain level of attraction for the muscular man. After gawking at his superior´s body for enough time, Gabo looked up to hear what he was about to say.

"It seems there is a storm heading our way. It´s gonna be a full day of work after all Ramirez. You´ll get your chance to shine."

Ltjg. Ramirez never faced an open sea storm on his few months on board, so he didn´t know what to expect. A feeling in his gut was telling him to pretend he was sick to stay under the deck, but Gabo was no coward. He was going to do his work and prove why he was there among those big burly men. He finished showering and looked at himself in the mirror.

His dark brown hair was neatly cut in a conscription cut, perfectly square and short. His young face had a scar on his chin product of a street brawl a couple of years ago, but his features still retained the innocent look that came with youth. His beautiful light brown skin was free of any blemishes. His smooth body had slight muscle definition, but more because of little body fat than actual lean mass. He quickly glanced inside the towel to look at his manhood. He couldn´t be disappointed because there were smaller dicks around, but he was nowhere near to someone endowed. He was more like on the average to the low part of the scale. He was feeling good and confident about himself today. Gabo quickly put on his uniform and rushed outside to start his tasks for the day.

He headed up the deck to quickly brush the floors, check the analog temperature measurements and check that the lifeboats were in a good state. People quickly mobilized after news of the storm spread around. The captain made a formal announcement during lunch, telling the crew they should brace for the storm in the early hours of the night. No one seemed to be too scared about it, making their usual jokes and talking loudly lie every day. Still, the feeling in the pit of his stomach was starting to bother Ramirez. He had a bad feeling about today. And as a kid from the street, Gabo knew trusting his feelings was crucial for survival. The nerves were causing him to barely touch his food.

Lt. March noticed the kid staring quietly at his tray. It was unusual for the lively Latin kid to go dead silent, so he approached and sat down next to him.

"Don´t worry kid, it´s just a storm. Occupational hazards. It will be gone sooner than you think."

Even though Ramirez loved the sea, storms were always a cause of anxiety for him. He was reminded that a storm killed his father. And worse of all, a storm was raging the night he found out about his mother. Storms were a bad omen for him. He turned around to face the rugged, but the concerned face of his superior.

"I trust you, sir. It´s just I have a bad history with storms."

"I assure you kid, it´s gonna be a better night than one with you taking all my money."

The light-hearted joke made both men laugh, as the tense aura around Gabo dissipated. He trusted his lieutenant. He saw in him the father figure he never had. They finished eating their meal and dispersed around the ship to finish the preparations for the bad forecast. When the sun started setting down is when the dark clouds started gathering over the frigate. Strong winds pushed everything exposed to the surface, and increasingly agitated waves crashed against the ship, making the most remote corners of the shell creak under the water´s pressure. Ramirez finished his tasks on deck and looked to the horizon for the last time of the day. An ominous dark mass was approaching the ship. Little droplets started falling from the sky. They were the last preface of what was about to come. The junior lieutenant went back under deck quickly as the slow rain turned into a tempestuous downpour.

He found his crewmates in the cafeteria as usual, but there were no games this time. Everyone was eating quietly, expectant of the first order barked through the loudspeakers. March wasn´t there, nor Krass. Ramirez assumed that command was having a meeting about the current situation. He sat down on a corner with his tray, unable to take a bite. All his instincts were telling him to run, to get out of there swiftly, so he could survive. Ramirez was fighting his innate fleeing nature. He kept reassuring himself why he got enlisted, why he was doing everything he was told to. He wanted stability, he craved it. But a part of him didn´t want to leave his past self behind. It was what kept him alive for so long after all. But he couldn´t go back to fleeing from his problem. And most important of all he couldn´t let his crew know he was so scared. Bravery in the face of adversity was a virtue after all. This little sacrifice was for his future self, and no one else.

The sailors left the cafeteria quietly. One by one they retired to their chambers. Ramirez followed his crewmates and was able to go to bed early as he didn´t have any guard shift that night. He zoned out for a while, unable to reach deep sleep. After a few hours, around midnight, the alarm made him jump out of bed and get dressed. He got out of his chambers to see all his crewmates heading for the upper doors. The hallway was lit red, and a reverberating sound echoed through the passages of the frigate. Ramirez tried his best not to fall due to what he assumed was disorientation until the entire crew including him were thrown to the side. He wasn´t dizzy, it was the waves crashing against the ship that caused it to rock back and forth intensively.

When he made it to the upper deck, his fellow sailors were all running to their stations. Many went to prepare the lifeboats, while others reinforced the previously tied up materials so the storm couldn´t blow them again. Ramirez went to his emergency station next to the edge to secure the supplies he was supposed to. The sky was completely painted black, like the furious sea bellow him. Rain poured down intensively, and an icy wind blew with all force against the ship and its crew. Ramirez was freezing, his frail body more exposed thanks to its lack of body mass, and the tempestuous currents kept throwing him around like a little leaf during an autumn breeze.

A big wave crashed against the frigate, making the vessel lean completely to the opposite side. One of the crates on the opposite side of Ramirez got untied and came sliding fast towards the terrified recruit, who was holding on to the rails on the edge for his life. He turned around just on time to see the giant box charging against him, and closed his eyes preparing for the inevitable. He immediately heard his name echo in the distance and felt a powerful pair of hands push him from the back out of the crate´s trajectory. Ramirez looked back just in time to see his protector Lt. March flies off the board into the raging waters below.

"Lt. March!"

Screamed the tearful junior lieutenant. His fear was completely erased in an instant, triggering his quick reaction speed. He grabbed a safety rope next to him and without thinking he threw himself into the mouth of the beast. The black waters of the sea swallowed him whole. The only thing he felt was a bone-chilling sensation taking over his entire body, as he swam in the direction of his superior.

"Kid what are you doing here?! You crazy son of a bitch!"

Said March in a mixture of awe, anger, and gratefulness.

"It´s my duty to protect my crew lieutenant! Quick, grab the rope!"

He handed over the rope to the more experienced March, who started tying a strong knot so the crew could pull them out. Their brief moment of relief ended in an instant, as another giant wave stroke from their side this time, separating the young Ramirez from his lieutenant. The crew started pulling the rope, just to get only March back on board. The big man immediately perched on the edge and frantically searched with his eyes for the young subordinate.

"Ramirez! Ramirez!"

But only darkness remained, with no sight of the young recruit. Meanwhile, Ramirez struggled to swim against a powerful current. He considered himself a good swimmer, having grown close to the water. But no matter how hard he kicked and flailed, the underwater stream kept pulling him downwards. The cold was starting to numb his senses, as he let out a last bubble of breath and his unconscious body was dragged into the infinite abyss.

 Ramirez then woke up surrounded by complete darkness. He was laying on a rocky wet floor, dripping wet and feeling breathless. He coughed a couple of times, expelling a good amount of water out of his lungs. He stood up, but couldn't see anything around him. There was no breeze, no sound, absolutely nothing. He was about to take a step when a strong voice made him freeze in his tracks.

"Lt. Ramirez. I´ve been looking for someone like you."

"Who are you? Where am I?"

"Those questions don´t matter anymore child. You´re under my protection, that´s all that matters."

He then heard a resounding metallic sound against the rocky floor and was completely shocked by what he saw. The trident of the god of the sea emitted a powerful glow, which then seeped into the cracks on the bedrock bellow to illuminate Ramirez´s surroundings. He was inside a big air compartment under what it seemed to be the ocean, and in front of him was an extremely muscular man holding a giant trident. Poseidon then approached the young lieutenant, holding up his chin with his strong hand.

"You will do just fine. Your potential is unmeasurable, and you know the meaning of suffering and the price of balance. A noble soul like you will be of great use to me and my realm."

"I have to get back to my ship sir. Please help me, my crew is in danger."

Said Ramirez nervously while he scanned the god in front of him with his eyes. The prominent chest was probably as wide as Ramirez holding both of his arms to his sides, with strong protruding abdominal muscles supporting it. He had the biggest arms he had ever seen, even among the famous bodybuilders he always liked to watch on the internet. His lower body was even more powerful. He was only wearing the lower part of a short white robe, with gold accessories adorning his wrists and belt. Two penetrating blue eyes glowed like the deepest of oceans, set as the highlight of a rugged but beautiful face. The cherry on top was a luscious chestnut-colored beard falling right on top of his upper chest. Poseidon noticed the way this kid was looking at him and smiled broadly. He liked his ego stroked like all the gods.

"The ship was spared. But that passion is what I´m looking for. A loving protector, who is strong enough to crush anything on his way."

He pointed his trident towards the young lieutenant and smiled.

"Meet me on the base of Mount Olympus in Greece by the next full moon. I will grant you the true love of my kingdom, in exchange for your loyalty and strength. I´m counting on you."

A blue light came out of the trident, completely enveloping Ramirez. The cold sensation was gone, together with the exhaustion he felt before regaining consciousness. When the light faded, Poseidon was gone. The air bubble around him started popping, letting water in again. Ramirez was quickly swallowed by the ocean, having only time to briefly hold his breath. Once he could not hold it any longer, he coughed only to find out he was able to breathe normally underwater. He also thought about how he practically was immune to the pressure of the sea above him, not feeling any strain on his body.

He took off his uniform so he could swim better, leaving him only wearing the pair of black boxer shorts he had on, and started exploring his surroundings. The light the trident had infused on the ground remained there and formed a path leading the young sailor forward into the darkness. After swimming for a while, he found the strangest creature he had ever seen. A beautiful horse with the tail of a fish was waiting at the end of the illuminated road. The animal looked at Ramirez, and he immediately knew what he had to do. He floated towards the hippocampus, and rode on its back, grabbing its neck as the animal swiftly swam towards the surface.

He must have been pretty deep thought Ramirez because it took a long time until he saw the weak rays of sunlight replace the absolute darkness he was in before. He could feel the water caressing his body, but it opposed little resistance to the fast creature and the young sailor on top. It also wasn´t cold like before, but getting warmer the more the sea horse carried him through the vastness of the ocean. He was fascinated by its massive expanse and could feel its sheer power pulsating through the water.

They passed all kinds of sea creatures like schools of fishes, dolphins and even a few whales. Ramirez´s connection with the sea grew stronger, together with his love for it. He was so enthralled by the fascinating view in front of him that he missed the sensation the stronger current was causing on his body. The swirling water quickly surrounded him, tying him to the back of the hippocampus and constraining his limbs. Ramirez felt a dull pain product of the waters slowly pulling his limbs and spine further away from each other, rapidly adding inches to his height until the formerly short sailor reached a towering 7 feet height. The pulling didn´t stop there though, as each bone grew to form the canvas for the muscle that was coming in next.

The warm water caressed and massaged each individual muscle, transferring the titanic strength of the ocean to them. The legs holding on to the hippocampus started growing first. It looked like water was being pumped directly into his skin. Quadriceps strong enough to crush rocks between them formed on his upper legs, with edges carving themselves out of the gigantic muscles. His calves were pulled apart and rearranged by the current until two diamond-shaped calves replaced the former toothpick lower legs. His feet grew even bigger for a man his size, necessary for the swift propulsion underwater. The growth moved to his butt cheeks, the sensation finally making Ramirez aware of what was happening to him. He felt a strong cramp in his ass, as both glutei raised further and further from the back of the sea horse. His underwear strained to the maximum under the pressure of the new watermelon-sized ass cheeks.

Ramirez watched his lower body turn into the one of a card-carrying professional bodybuilder. The sensations invading his body were too intense for him to remain calm. He felt incredible awe for the creatures that were crossing through his sight. He felt the warm and pleasurable caress of the water on his body. He felt the strong rocking of the hippocampus´ swimming. And he felt a crushing pain as the pressure in the water reformed his body. He let go of the creature to grab his stomach in pain. He felt like the water was suctioning each individual brick in his abdomen out, and he was quickly left with a powerful eight pack cut into his midsection. His Adonis belt protruded out of his sides, and his serratus muscles carved themselves so deep it looked like the man had developed gills.

Ramirez then felt the current push him from the back of the sea horse, and the sailor fell to the back watching the creature swim away from him. He immediately began swimming trying to reach it, but his newly developed lower body still moved clumsily lacking the coordination needed to move such a heavy mass. Ramirez focused all of his strength on reaching the hippocampus when suddenly a strong water current propelled him forward and he was able to reach the creature. He then realized he was practically flying underwater, enjoying the freedom of moving like a torpedo through the ocean. He swam graciously together with the hippocampus, both dancing synchronized to the rhythm of the waters.

Small whirlpools formed around his brown nipples, sending waves of pleasure through the man and increasing their size to fit into the new gigantic chest that was about to come. His pectoral muscles squared on the lower end, and then pushed further out inflating like two water mattresses. The water was putting so much pressure on his upper body the sailor felt his bones were going to get crushed. Ramirez was left with a herculean chest powerful enough to fight the roaring waves of a tsunami. His shoulders were next, as each deltoid inflated bigger than cannonballs with enough strength to lift an anchor above his head.

He then felt the current pull his arms so hard he thought they were going to be ripped apart. The pressure in his muscles made him wince in pain, while his triceps dripped and grew like marlin´s dorsal fin, pushing the former noodles to the sides of his body, and his biceps inflated like water balloons about to pop due to their sheer size. Massive sinews formed on his upper arms, and his hands grew massively muscular, wide enough to push large amounts of water on a single stroke.

He examined both of his new arms when a cramp in his back made him bend forward and scream in pain. He felt the water vibrating on his spine, spreading the sensation to every muscle like a flare. The upper back started extending and rounding up like a turtle shell, and the lats on each side protruded so far, he looked more like a giant T instead of a V. His back was by far the strongest muscle on his body, designed to propel the new man through the chaotic waters with ease.

The current then swirled around his neck, starting to choke him. The traps raised to connect to his ears and complete the growth of the monstrous back. He could hear his grumble grow lower as his neck expanded with muscle, leaving his head looking like a tiny pin on a godly body. The pain was overwhelming the young sailor. He opened his mouth to let out a painful scream when suddenly water flowed into his body with intensity. Veins started popping out of his limbs, improving the oxygen saturation, and therefore endurance for the giant.

Large veins popped on his lower abdomen, and then he felt an excruciating pressure pushing behind his manhood. His penis then started inflating, far surpassing the limits of the already strained underpants, which were ripped off by the strong currents. His newly improved appendage kept growing and pulsing so much, Ramirez thought it was going to explode. It stopped growing at almost a foot in length, and a jaw-breaking girth. It looked like a glass bottle that was hanging from his legs. His balls were next, inflating to an equine size and falling heavy between his monstrous legs.

Male hormones combined with divine power started flowing through his body, boosted by the invading water current inside of him. He felt a cracking pressure on his head, which grew proportional to the new body size. His angular face grew more masculine, his jaw broadening into a thick square, and his brow pushing further over his eyes giving him a menacing look. His nose then cracked and widened, while his lips plumped a bit more. His already short dark brown hair retreated into his scalp, leaving him with a short buzz cut. The amount of testosterone in his body was so high, his hairline receded a little bit. His face was then invaded by a permanent shadow with the potential of growing a thick beard. The rest of his body sucked in his body hair, leaving his smooth. His beautiful brown skin darkened a bit more. His pores then started producing a small amount of oil, that gave him a shiny look and helped him oppose little resistance to the forces of the sea, making underwater travel far easier.

The current then stopped forcing its way into his body and released his limbs from their invisible shackles. Ramirez started touching his body incredulously, incapable of dimensioning the change he just went through. He felt the raw power of the sea pulse within him. He touched his face and felt his young skin under his fingers. His scar was gone too. The sight of the new man might have been bizarre, due to him still looking young despite his overwhelming masculinity. Ramirez was so distracted by his new body, that he missed the waters getting slowly more superficial and the hippocampus turning around and leaving back into the abyss.

The sailor propelled himself further into the shallowing waters when he was suddenly greeted by the figure of a beautiful young man sitting on an underwater rock. He couldn´t be older than the junior lieutenant, although his presence and demeanor felt older than civilization itself. His long hair flowed along with the current, glistening with silver light. He had the carved body of an Olympic swimmer, with defined and strong limbs made to love underwater and a very wide back developed from physical activity in the sea. He was also completely smooth, the only hair on his body remaining on his head, eyebrows, and long eyelashes. He beamed a white smile as radiant as the sun at the stranger.

Ramirez approached the young Adonis with a dumbfounded expression on his face. Even though his sexual experience was limited, he was very familiar with the feelings of lust invading his body. Only this time, they were overwhelmingly strong, almost clouding his entire conscience. The man got up from the rock and touched Gabo´s muscular chest.

"Father was right, you turned out better than expected."

He had a melodious hypnotic voice almost too beautiful to be coming out of a hunk like him. Ramirez looked down at the man caressing his body. His knees shook nervously, while he let himself be seduced by the apparition before him. But something in his mind suddenly snapped. He felt the pressure from before again, only this time inside his thoughts as if the water was rinsing the old cowardly nature of the sailor. For some reason, the situation didn´t feel right. He was the one supposed to be doing the seduction, not the other way around.

He took the young man from his legs and pulled him close to his body raising him to his same height. He then proceeded to passionately make out with the stud, both their tongues dancing in each other's mouth. Ramirez felt like sea spume was filling his head, making it harder and harder to focus. He started losing his grip on reality. Like waves carving and molding the strong rocks underneath, the magical power carved out a new man out of the young sailor. More and more dominance asserted itself into his persona, replacing the old more submissive nature. His body language was a dead giveaway of what was happening in his mind.

The sea hunk noticed how his lover´s kiss started to grow more aggressive, invading his mouth with a strong tongue. His big hands started squeezing the young man´s ass, ways of pleasuring a person during sex being engraved in his memory. Years of experience pushed their way into the new man, his face growing more rugged with lines of age and his body gaining more thickness that comes with years of labor. His giant manhood was already grown at full mast, stroking the cheeks of his prey like a sea serpent just before attacking and spreading his self-produced oil on his skin. The young man then guided the hard rod to the entrance of his body, pushing down ever so slightly to get the head in.

The hunk had been with many lovers before, but this was still considered to be a very big phallus. He carefully slid down in order to accommodate the muscular man´s size inside of him. Ramirez kept fighting the tide inside his head. He was scared of changing, of letting go of who he was. A part of him still wanted to flee and pretend none of this had happened. But remembering his hometown beach stopped his train of thought. He remembered the beautiful waters shining in the sunlight, of all the creatures dependent on them, from little crabs on the beach to the big metropolis of the world. The ocean´s ecosystem was the most important one in the world, and it had to be protected. The love he felt for the sea turned into a massive tidal wave inside of him that finally broke down all his mental barriers and completely dragged his old personality out of existence. He didn´t have to flee anymore, he possessed the strength to break the earth and part the ocean. He could destroy anything that got in his way of protecting what he loved.

Ltjg. Gabo Ramirez was reborn in the form of Gabriel, the name his mother had originally given him, and the new protector of the sea. The last bits of his personality evaporating like the sea breeze under the scorching sun. His young lover watched in awe as the eyes of the titan started to glow, and a deep blue color washed his former brown irises away. Once his manhood had entered the hunk completely, he started thrusting back and forth with the strength to shake the earth. He was a god among men, and he had the right to be pleased. Still, he liked to share the pleasure with his lovers, and care for them. He liked feeling like the strong protector he was born to be. The young sea hunk smiled broadly knowing the transformation was complete, and let himself be completely dominated and pleased by the titan inside of him.

 The sun was already setting when Gabriel came out of the warm waters. He wasn´t in the frosty northern sea anymore but the warm coasts of southern Greece. He was only wearing the bikini strap the young hunk had given him once they parted ways, along with a kiss and the promise of meeting him again. Gabriel looked at the vast sea before him and smiled. He was going to do whatever it took to protect his new home. He was going to honor his Lord´s will by conquering and crushing anything in his way. He still had a couple of days before the full moon, which should be enough to get to Mount Olympus. He then thought about all the life and all the pleasure he could have on his way. He was going to bless a lot of mortals with his sexual prowess. He took one last deep breath before heading inland, his nostrils filling with the salty smell of the sea breeze along with his own radiating masculine scent, his skin shimmering under the setting sun. The giant then disappeared into the prairie, ready for whatever challenge the world may throw at him.

In the distance sitting next to a cliff was Nereus, watching the newly chosen one walk towards his destiny. He found the Olympians obnoxious, but he had to admit they did a pretty fine handiwork. The new man looked like he jumped out of a perverted fever dream, with enough power to shatter the earth with each step.

"He really does feel like he looks, father."

A joyful voice said on the back. Nereus turned around to see his own son Nerites staring playfully at him. The young god loved to play around but was filled with respect for his father. The beautiful merman smiled broadly at the old man, who gave him an approving nod.

"Well done son. I knew Poseidon needed a little push. I´m glad to see his opus got your sign of approval."

"It´s going to be an interesting time after all. Life is just fun."

Said Nerites enthusiastically as both gods stared into the distance wondering about the Olympian´s intricate rivalries and plots in the sky.

[itskyleeyo]

hadestown brain dump (songs)

SPOILERS FOR HADESTOWN/THE STORY OF ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE

ok so it may have been more than a few days, but what're you gonna do about it?

so i wanted to do another brain dump, and i wanted to listen to hadestown, so i'm doing a song by song brain dump as i go along. this means that my thoughts are going to be even more stream-of-consciousness style (if that's even possible.) also i'm talking specifically about the original broadway cast recording bc i haven't listened to any other version. (also this was completed across multiple months so it is even more chaotic lmao).

also i highly recommend that you listen to the musical and/or pull up the lyrics as you go along! enjoy!

road to hell. the way andre brings in the chorus is flawless please. also the way that hermes is both a narrator and a character in the story he's narrating? beautiful. "the king of the mine." he sounds so nice here for some reason. also love his self-introduction "maybe it will turn out this time" no it won't but thank you for trying. also breaking the fourth wall to acknowledge the chorus and crew is so nice, here comes reeve ;) mans sounds like an angel. you can hear amber's voice stick out of the chorus and i literally love it so much. i'd die for amber gray but we'll get to that later.

any way the wind blows. the fates literally sound so perfect together. Eva's intro throws me off every time, she sounds so pretty. dear god the harmonies with the fates hit so different. can this cast please narrate my life? there's the wind comparisons ;D the "ooos" are so good. "and it ain't because i'm kind" idk i just like how andre sounds here. oh and the funny behind "so i took him underneath my wing" because hermes has wings on his helmet and shoes.

come home with me. orpheus is so oblivious but i love it. also eurydice is literally such a mood. the wordplay with "come again". the "oh, he's crazy" is my favorite part of the whole song. also eva's voice acting is so good.

wedding song. the way she says "lover"? my ass cannot handle this. eva sounds so smug in the beginning of this song and i love it. "sing the song ;)" eurydice is so fantastic. the chorus of "la" is so pretty. eva joining in during the end is just. so perfect.

epic i. hell yeah introduce the king and queen (both literally and figuratively). reeve's falsetto <3 the way orpheus looks to hermes for approval throughout the musical. hermes narrating over orpheus singing.

livin' it up on top. HELL YES THE QUEEN HAS ARRIVED. i love amber gray so much. the gravel and the rasp. please step on me. also i love the idea of persephone being the wine aunt, especially because media usually portrays her as soft and breakable. the way she says "haaard". the way the music gets more upbeat and energetic when hermes says "the world came back to liiife!" the instrumental/dance? break is so good. please kill me with that trumpet good sir. the leadup to when amber starts singing again. orpheus really knows how to give a speech. "i will ;)" amber please step on me i am not joking.

all i've ever known (intro). thank you for the intro king. the music is so pretty. the way it picks up with the piano part <3

all i've ever known. eva sounds so pretty dear god. yay more wind references! the wordplay with "hold". and also the references to hot and cold throughout the musical. "i don't wanna ever have to let you go." lol ironic because she ends up going with hades. "i knew you before we met, and i don't even know you yet." the fucking wordplay. like holy shit. the "love at first sight" feelings. this line gets me every damn time. the wordplay from 2:10 - 2:38 is so fucking incredible. i lose it every time istg. the instrumental portion is so pretty. the wind! "we'll always be like this" i fucking love irony so much. its so underrated and adds so many layers to the story.

way down hadestown. amber gray. that's it. "you either get to hell or to hadestown, ain't no difference anymore". i fucking love this line so much. not really sure why but the delivery is perfect. also the whole thing with it being a train? i love that so much. all the allusions and comparisons they can make are fantastic. more amber gray appreciation. and ofc. the fates. more fantastic instrumental breaks. "and you better forget about your wishing well." this line is so good but so sad because its literally persephone saying that "hey, fair warning, life is shit down there" and i feel bad for her. like the way she's super sassy and shit, but just stops singing when hades gets there, you can tell that she's definitely not ok. speaking of hades, holy shit patrick page. sounds so fucking fantastic. thank you for existing good sir. eva with the breathtaking single lines. and eva's voice standing out when she sings "ground".

a gathering storm. the constant references to weather and nature throughout the whole musical. eurydice with the common sense. the wind again! "did you hear me, orpheus?" he did not, in fact, hear her.

epic ii. the different names for hades in each epic make me so happy. hades thoughts: "i think my wife might not come back cause i'm super controlling. whatever shall i do? oh, i know! be even more controlling!" lmao dumbass motherfucker. that might not work out so well. i fucking love the transition into "chant" so much.

chant. this is one of my favorite songs from the musical. the wordplay within the entire song is so fucking fantastic. hades singing about desire and then orpheus singing the "song of love" was definitely done on purpose and i'm living for it. every single one of eva's lines make me emotional. ma'am why are you good at everything?? the band! more weather references! patrick page singing "lover" hits different. orpheus singing about hades and persephone being blind and deaf. lmao irony because he's not paying attention to anything around him. the wind! weather! "the song of love" is what brought orpheus and eurydice together, but orpheus' devotion to finishing it is what drives eurydice to hades. "did you think i'd be impressed" i was right ;) it didn't work out so well.

hey, little songbird. the strings <3 patrick page is a god (lol i'm so funny). how does he manage to make manipulation sound so good? bird references! the vocal contrast! eva's voice has this kind of "innocence" to it. especially compared to patrick. not sure if that's on purpose or not, but i love it. also the low note kills me every time. the octave jumps between patrick and eva's voices is just. ugh. and also eva's entire second verse is so fucking good. the emotion she portrays in her voice is so spectacular. seriously hades with the manipulation is so interesting and its so good. (manipulation is not a good thing i just mean that its done so well in the show. do not manipulate people!)

when the chips are down (intro). "your ticket ;)" yes pls sir i'll take a ticket cause life sucks ass.

when the chips are down. i fucking love the fates dear god. gambling references! eva has literally one line and still owns my heart. the band! "shoot to kill" sounds so good like i love it so much pls. also this fucking line "cast your eyes to heaven, you get a knife in the back" is so good. i'm gonna have to get into quite a few lines throughout the musical in a different brain dump because i have so much thought.

gone, i'm gone. darling eurydice. its not your fault that you're starving stop apologizing. "talk of sin" lol she do be going to hell. that's funny. the harmonies.

wait for me (intro). the piano. heremes trying to change the subject hurts my heart. and orpheus' reaction is so sad please. "no.." just rip my fucking heart out, why don't you?

wait for me. the transition. andre coming in clutch with the narration. reeve sounds wonderful, as always. the fucking fates. just kill me already. they literally sound so good. the strings' build up between the "la"s. the chorus. the buildup at the end.

why we build the wall. the total 180 in the vibes. call and response has a special pace in my heart. mr page killing it again. god, hades is such a piece of shit and its perfect. he really is a master manipulator. fuck capitalism. the chorus sounds so good. i want to platonically smooch all of them. jesus fucking christ burn capitalism to the ground. the end is amazing. also the not-so-subtle references to slavery/forced labor.

why we build the wall (outro). i'd die for andre. "anybody want a drink?" yes ma'am. yes please. (don't drink, kids) i love you so much.

our lady of the underground. its so jazzy! jesus fucking christ. oh my fucking god. i would literally sell my soul for amber gray. what did we ever do to deserve her? god the raspiness fucking kills me. also love that she breaks the fourth wall to acknowledge the band. when she comes back in after the instrumental break? consider me dead. "what the boss don't know, the boss won't mind" she sounds so good here. also i love that she straight up doesn't give a fuck about hades here.

way down hadestown (reprise). hell yeah i love reprises. the fates. andre. the chorus. i love them all. i'm such a whore for reoccurring lyrics. the strings! fuck capitalism! eva's emotions are just so fucking good. "you've already forgot?" holy shit. this shit hurted. the "ahh ooh"s are so good.

flowers. the intro <3. eva sounds so pretty. the fucking symbolism in this song is incredible. i'm gonna get into this in another brain dump bc it's a very sensitive topic. the fact that she can't actually fully remember orpheus makes me so sad. so pretty <3

come home with me (reprise). hell yeah another reprise. the way the music is much more upbeat when orpheus shows up. their excitement! eva's vocal emotions are literally so fantastic pls.

papers (intro). "young mannn" kill me patrick. train references! hell yeah persephone. the way andre gets louder when he says "raised up his voice." eva <3. reeve just always sounds so pretty. ohmygod the laugh. kill me good sir. mans straight up admits to owning people and is like "it's cool tho cause they signed a piece of paper. def not taking advantage of people that are literally starving or anything. it's fine." fuck you hades. go step on a fucking lego. orpheus is so sad :(

papers (instrumental). yes. sounds so good. i'm imagining an epic chase scene. the transition into nothing changes <3

nothing changes. respectfully? the fates could kill me any day and i'd thank them. the weather reference! that "anyhow" is so fucking good istg.

if it's true. another one of my favorites. pop off intro. the broken "is this how the world is?" sadly, yes. "but everybody knows that walls have ears." is literally such a powerful line to me for some reason. it does a great job of bringing in the chorus. and by calling the workers "walls" it shows that hades views them as "less than." they aren't even referred to as people. "what's the use of his backbone if he never stands upright." oh my god. because they literally cannot stand upright. anais mitchell is literally a fucking genius. fuck the 1%. gambling references! the chorus backing him is just so pretty. the way orpheus looks to the chorus for advice and support. "we're standing." ugh its so good.

how long. oh my fucking god. amber fucking gray. (that's it, that's the post). the way she sounds resigned/disappointed when she says "i've had enough" makes me so sad. there are no words to describe how i feel about 0:25 - 0:41. like their relationship is strained, and super mega fucked up, but it's obvious that they still care about one another. the emotion in their voices throughout this song is fantastic. the play on light and dark. also more bird references! how they view themselves/their self importance. hades is a most importantly king. persephone is most importantly a wife. it really show that hades views power as more important than anything else. "nothing comes of the songs people sing." holy fucking shit. cause their song is the "song of love," but they can barely stand each other and their relationship has fallen apart. persephone commenting on his love of power over his love of her. amber's voice during "the earth must die" is so nice and for what? god i love her. they sound so nice together <3

chant (reprise). another favorite hehe. the strings! it's all just so pretty. when the piano comes in i die a little. the self realization coming from the chorus when they're like "oh shit, this is wrong. i don't deserve to be treated like this." is so fucking fantastic. the "young mannn" again! hades really be like "manipulate her! make her depend on you financially! i've been ding this a while kid! i know how to successfully control women!" reeve sounds so pretty pls. the way that eurydice has basically become part of the chorus (since she's just another worker now). more self realization! the different ways that hades and orpheus view the "song of love." "sing before i kill you so i can use it to manipulate my wife and make her feel like shit." patrick's voice tho.

epic iii. reeve coming in with that falsetto like nobody's business. orpheus really about to bite you in the ass with your own damn song. amber gray <3. the "ooo"s in the background. the way the music picks up when reeve gets to the "la"s. it's just so fucking good. that falsetto again. orpheus really looked at the king of hell, a literal god, and said "i want to ruin him psychologically" and it fucking worked. which is some of my favorite irony because hades wouldn't have shit if it weren't for that fact that he's a good manipulator and takes advantage of the needy. that last line <3

epic iii (instrumental). i have no words for how fucking beautiful this is. i so desperately want an extended version. like for real love this so much. if i get married, i want this to be the song for the first dance.

promises. eurydice is so proud of him for finishing. the way that eurydice realized that she cares about him more that material objects. wind and weather references! "if we can do it so can they!" she sounds so excited. :( "hand-in-hand" lol nope. not them refencing wedding song, anyway the wind blows, and then giving their "i do"s. absolutely heart wrenching.

word to the wise. the fates. pls step on me ladies. the lyrics throughout this are so fucking good. lol hades being damned. cause he's the king of hell. honestly its solid advice tho. humans are really fucking stupid.

his kiss, the riot. give us them adjectives king. " how dare people want rights! >:(" hades is really trying to make himself the good guy rn. the music! 2:15 - 3:03 is so good pls. the lyrics are just so spectacular.

wait for me (reprise) (intro). hello again andre! hermes literally says "he's trying to psych you out and manipulate you. he wants you to doubt everything" and orpheus says "are you sure tho?" and then procedes to doubt everything. the way the music changes is <3. the song transition.

wait for me (reprise). my absolute fucking favorite song in this musical. the first fucking lyric is so good. it really sets an expectation for the song and i am not disappointed. lyrics that talk about how fucked up any single person's brain is are so fucking cool to me. god i love this song. how soft the first set of "wait for me"s are. the support/pressure from the chorus. the entire exchange between hades and persephone. the way amber's voice sticks out of the chorus. the fates coming in clutch again. train references! more brain talk! amber gray please end me. eva sounds so pretty. and the final note is so good!

doubt comes in. the long intro that builds up suspense. the first time that orpheus's "la"s aren't echoed by the chorus/music. wind! weather! the fates sound so pretty like always. reeve genuinely sounds so scared. the way the music picks up and the chorus joins in when eurydice starts singing. the music is so unsettling and i love it. god i love his voice. 3:44 - 3:57 always hits so different. you realize just how much she means to him. how it all goes to shit when the music reaches the climax. the fact that the music clashes on purpose. the sadness in their voices.

road to hell (reprise). it all comes full circle. god andre sounds so sad. the way you come to really hear the lyrics because there's no upbeat music to distract you this time, "its a tragedy" lol because the actual written story is a tragedy. "i learned that from a friend of mine" poor orpheus :(. the way the chorus slowly joins in and the music slowly picks up. the "can you feel it" is literally so fucking powerful. fuck yes amber. fuck it up queen. amber and eva sound so nice together. the "its a love song, its a sad song" is so sad. the final lyric is just. ugh.

we raise our cups. yes pls amber. this song is so pretty. good night queen.

[thermie]

h h hewwo owoo 22 / 23 / 29 / 31 / 34 / 50 / 58 / 61 / 88 in any order, and u can also just. pick only those that u want :3

hhhh-ewwwo? I did say I wanted to chat and I desperately do not want to do work or studies so buckle in for a long post (derogatory). 22. role model? Oh man, I don’t think I have any, like, specific ones for entire things, though I do fall in my hero-worship phaes and then fall out of them like everyone else. I think that taking an entire person and being like I wanna be like them is... not for me though. But I do look up to some people for specific things - I look up to, weirdly enough, Abigail Phylosohpytube who I didn’t watch before her coming out for her graceful coming out video though she admits that the experience wasn’t obviously as smooth. I look up to lots and lots of people for their ability to create and their art (not gonna tag my fav artists bc am tiny and do not want people to look at me, but i do be reblogging). I look up to people like ConcernedApe Stardewvalley and Supergiantgames Hades for their ability to put so much soul in their work, smth I aspire to do. I look up to @not-poignant for, among other things, their idk how to say it best, wisdom in understanding and communicating with others and with myself? I’ve learned a lot by just sort of being in their periphery and seeing how they articulate their thoughts and choose to be kind and witness other’s pain. Hell, I look up to twitch streamers and youtubers sometimes (the recent nice trait I’d like to have if I ever went into bigger content production is how ibxtoycat deals with parasocial relationship realities). 23. strange habits? Hm. I don’t think drinking tea whenever I need a pick-me-up is strange, that’s just probably forcefully assigning a British nationality to me. I think my insistence on misspelling words in a way I think is lowkey funny might be one, I say thamks bc it feels softer, or thank bc it’s funny, I say sleeb, I say finkers or tryink or otherwise replace g with k for lulz. I also don’t know if it counts as a habit but I have a small leather band around my wrist that’s been there for a year soon. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm I probs have like, stranger habits but I can’t recall rn. 29. best way to bond with you? Hmm. Well, if you show initiative and are explicit about wanting to spend time with me, that’s already a big chance of me spending time with you. And then if our interests match and I don’t think that you’re like, young in a way that automatically puts me in a position where I don’t feel comfortable really being myself around you bc in my head I have to look out for you (it has happened with two of my friends, sigh), and we regularly spend time together, voila, friend acquired. It simultaneously doesn’t take much and takes a bit to be my friend and bond with me - it’s easy af to become a casual friend cuz I’m always open to new people, but there has to be a level of trust to become like, a close friend. Respecting my boundaries, talking shit with me, being explicitly committal about wanting to bond with me are big steps that way. 31. what outfit do you wear to kick ass and take names? Uh, I don’t do neither, but a current fave that is reasonably badass is my black tshirt with like, a ritual circle and a deer skull. V edgy, 10/10. I also used to have like a real edgy tshirt with a jester and some dice that said the game of life, but I threw it out bc dysphoria. or maybe I put it at the back of my closet along with one other shirt In Case I Get Top Surgery so I can wear them then. 34. advertisements you have stuck in your head? Many, such is the nature of advertising, alas. I have managed to avoid most of it tbh though, so the only place I am forced to sit through ads so they stick is my scrabble capitalist nightmare app where I play and always beat haha my coursemate. And they have adds for those shitty apps where you have to solve a puzzle that ends up failing in the add and like, drenching a man in green goo. I find those kinda fascinating tbh. Who plays these games? Who plays these shitty shitty games whose ad has to be “prove your IQ“ to make you want to prove yourself to play them? Oh and also, the insidious nature of ads in media I consume - the mcelroys have gotten me informed about many many things bc they do it in a funny way. Have you heard about squarespace? What about meundies? I also literally installed honey yesterday that I knew abt bc of the relentless adds and I wanted to save, uh, 2.50 from my minecraft server purchase (and then spent some time googling how they make money before giving up. just say u sell my data, that’s easier than not knowing what part of this makes you money). I was tired and in a weird mood, ok. 50. what made you laugh the hardest you ever have? It’s always the stupidest jokes, what matters more is laughing together with someone and getting caught in a laughing loop. I still remember laughing with my siblings until our stomachs really really hurt bc I think one of us said a rug was vomit-colored and it was funny in the moment. How many times have I laughed like that with you too, vit. I know that Laura’s one is nostrilatu, right? :D :D It’s just something that catches you off guard, I think.

58. four talents you’re proud of having? Oh shid. Hm. 1) My ability to analyze data and understand the basic building blocks of something. Makes me cool at studying and sexy at explaining things to my course-mates. 2) Not a talent more like a skill that I’ve worked hard on through therapy - but my inner positive voice/healthy parent is very strong and automatic (something I was sure would never happen). A good example is me going out for a walk, my phone dying so I can’t listen to music, when I went in my head “well I can always make music in my head. do-do-do *drum sound*“ and I could feel the wave of self-reprimand cresting but before I could actually hear any negative comments the positive voice said with a light of a thousand suns NO THAT IS ACTUALLY CUTE AND SEXY and just haaaaaaah. 3) I sing good. Need to sing more. 4) I think I’m good at making conversation. Even with people I don’t necessarily like or want to talk to. More of a skill again but whatever. 61. favorite line you heard from a book/movie/tv show/etc.? Do not come to me and ask for favorites, witch. Uh, I have some quotes in my notes app, like 7 from Pia’s writing :D. But imma go with “It’s a serious thing just to be alive on this fresh morning in the broken world“ by Mary Oliver. It counts, ok. Or, wait, something I will for real one day either crosstitch of commission shitpostcalligrapher: “t’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something. “What are we holding onto Sam?” “There’s good in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it’s worth fighting for.“” 88. your greatest wish? Hrm. Right now? To have like a couple days with no responsibilities and without the outside world bearing on me as heavily, to be tiny tiny tiny so I’m invisible and can drink tiny tea on a tiny leaf. Uh, in general? My recently formulated wish or a goal is stability/peace. Then everything else becomes ok because you can bounce back to stable ground between feeling shit or everything happening so much. And I’ve sort of reached that. Also like, half a million euros would be nice too so I can get a house and a car and go on a few trips abroad. :D // there’s two ask memes in my blog recently, go wild

[werewolves-blog]

SnapDragon’s Merchant Thoughts

So the game started a day late which made me very sad but whatever. Then I woke up from my nap and realised the game had started. I looked at my role and discovered I was a merchant. I spend the first five minutes wondering what the actual fuck, but that is besides the point.

Merchants huh? That is new. My objective is having the most money at the end of the game as living Merchant. Which is in fact an interesting concept but not entirely new. It debuted in ext-300 under the name “Bandits” but instead of working together we work against each other and we don’t know who we all are.

We get money by selling items. And we spend money by buying them. So my initial prediction is that we are here to play stock market and that items are the stock. In my honest opinion some items will be worth a ton and some will be worth nothing. For example in my opinion Protection items will be worth a lot so merchants have to chose between keeping them to protect themselves or selling them and get lots of gold. The same applies to weapons because it can be used to eliminate loot piñatas.

We are also the literal definition of loot piñatas. As in the role personified. Therefore claiming will be risky if not doing it at all.

So now a LOT of setup speculation. “You are a Merchant. You are here to exploit the chaos and make your fortune” is the fluff text. Therefore I’m gonna assume this is going to be a slow game with roles that can exploit the loot piñata mechanic. No extras joined so that rules out Undead since they cannot abuse loot piñatas. Vamp however live on recruiting loot piñatas so that is my lock-in for evil faction. Vamp however need a supporting evil faction. Coven fits this role to a T. With 18 players I’m going to assume 1 VM and around 4-5 coven. There is also the supporting cast of more merchants. My initial guess is there is more than 2 but less than 5 so 3-4 is my guess. The amount of merchants also influences the amount of coven there is.

On the topic of village roles. We talk about a loot piñata game. Therefore we talk about Thieves. Thieves will be the bane of our existence since it will make keeping items risky as all hell. Then we have some RuneSmiths, apothecaries and blacksmiths.

My final idea of a setup will be VM+1 Harpy, 1 Witch, 2 Djinns, 1 Furie, 3 Merchants -> 8 evil/neutrals. This leaves room for 10 villagers. With 3 merchants I’m going to assume 2 thieves, 1 runesmith, 1 apothecary and 1 blacksmith and 5 random roles that are going to be close to Vampire and Coven related roles. Stalkers/Militias/Gravediggers/Revivers and the lot. My guess is going to be 1 Stalker, 1 Militia, 2 gravediggers, 1 reviver as the final village roles. I exclude seers because they are too swingy for this setup. Except for maybe the novice seer because they would also see us as neutral and give us an incentive to claim.

On to some more merchants discussion since I think I barely scratched the surface at this point. I as a merchant want to win from the other merchants which means both staying alive as long as possible while making the largest amount of money existing. But I think there are also some drawbacks to buying and selling. I think that every merchant gets the same night options offered with no price visible. Therefore if we all want to buy the same items the price will be high because competition. If nobody wants to buy an item the price will be low. The trick I think is going for items that are not as desirable as other items but still better than the bad items. Avoiding the competition, going for the bargains. My other guess is that craftable items are worth near nothing because… well… they’re craftable. The obvious exception being Armour items (If they are craftable, I don’t have much knowledge of the BlackSmith yet).

My second thought related to merchants and selling is that selling to a fellow merchant will inflict penalties of some sort. Either being that you sell for low or sell for very high and they lose money. The other option being a bonus in that selling to a merchant will make money for both of the merchants. On that topic of protection items. I think they sell for high, but giving them to a fellow merchant is not something you’d want to do because they then can sell them the next night for also a lot of money. Then another thought. If items decrease in amount over the game they will become more valuable. That is if they end up in the GY or get used or anything.

That brings us to the next topic. What items are we able to expect over the course of this game? My guess is mainly consumables and renewables. Runes + Armour + Weapons + Potions. I think Demonic Relics are out simply because they’re rare and they would be worth a fk tonne to the lucky soul who winds up with them ergo they swing the market too much. On the same note wolf items are out too assuming a vampire. As for starting items I think Merchants will start with some. Armour + a random item. This is because we have to buy N1 and will lose money if we don’t sell so we need to have the option to sell N1.

This also brings us to the 3th Merchant thought: Trade-routes. My guess is continuously selling to the same person brings a bonus or malus depending on the items being sold. The idea being that selling to the same person establishes a trade route which will give more money depending on if you sell different items to them but less money if you sell the same item continuously. This gives us Merchants the dilemma of having to choose between maintaining a trade route or selling for gold.  

On another item topic: Popular buys will become more expensive to buy as the game progresses. And as the game progresses the items we will be presented will also increase in value. This brings me to another point that I previously didn’t even consider. There may be relic items in the game and we get the option later on to buy the relics that can trigger/remove their effects (Demonic Eye and Heart of Hades). The flaw with this is that we as merchants may decide to not buy the relics so a possible DemonCult can never trigger them. And the possible demonic items that are in the village may turn out to be useless if we never buy the trigger items. This is a very specific scenario though.

On to the next topic: Council. I think council is in the game and every merchant worth their salt wants to be on it. This is because Council can generate items out of thin air.

My last thought: Outlaws. If we try to sell to an outlaw they will just take the item and we will generate no money.

 To the last point: Strategy, I’m going to employ a high-risk strategy. With potential thieves etc keeping items is a waste of inventory. This also makes sure I can buy high later on when I believe the value of items increase.

 N1:

Okay so apparently we’re able to leave the fking town. This puts dirt in my setup speculation since I do have to eliminate coven over a numbers issue. Perhaps if it was more than 20 I would have allowed coven to remain as a viable option. If all supposed 3 of the merchants are able to leave -> 4-basement, 5-coven 6 village with the 3 loot piñatas leaving. Merchants I think are balanced around them becoming loot piñatas at all points in time which allows for the coven. Instead I’m putting in a subfaction war. Subfaction war also fills in with the chaos because subfactions want to finish each other off to detriment of the village often. There is also no council which is kind of disappointing. Then again it’s maybe good because whoever as merchant gets on the council has a definite advantage. My proposed setup is this:

VM, MS, IL, 2 GD, 1 Stalkers, 1 Militias, 2 Thieves, Novice Seer, 3 merchants, RS, BS, Apothecary, LM, Mortician.

I’m also given the Potion of cleansing buying option so I’m not gonna rule out Damned and Demoncult just yet.

I start with as predicted: Armour and a Hvísla Rune (low cost item). I’m obviously going to sell the Hvísla for 4 gold to make some money for next nights purchase. I will keep the Armour for now eventhough keeping it does not fit in my high risk playstyle. The armour is worth 31 gold at this point. I am also going to buy cleanse potions because of the volume of the items that is. All items are tier 1 items so I’m going to assume the value between the three does not vary a whole lot so 2x cleansing is more than 1x weakness eventhough weakness costs less. The other choice was Fjat Rune which costs as much as the 2x cleansing potions.

Then we go to a second alternate setup. One involving Outlaws. Merchants and Outlaws have synergy. Outlaws want to collect items while Merchants want to sell them. Therefore it would not totally be out of the question that this is a potential combination. It also poses a second neutral faction to support the vampire because both Outlaws and Merchants want the game to not finish too quickly. Collecting items and selling items etc. This poses as help for the very confirmed Vampire who wants the game to start slow even if they’re found early. This WILL eliminate the novice seer since there will be too many neutrals and instead puts in a drunk or even a regular seer. A possible setup for this would be: VM, 3 Merchants, 2 Outlaws of varying degrees, 2 Thieves, 1 RS, 1 BS, 1 Apothecary, mortician, (drunk) seer, 1 stalker, 1 militia, 2 gravediggers, whatever.

I’m not sure if I consider my ability anything strong. In general I don’t really give a crap about who I transfer items too, I just want to make bank. The only thing it does is identify potential merchants in the early game and/or find potential evils later in the game. However I’m still using the ability to generate visits AND to find a potential Merchant N1. I’m using it on the one who nukes the everloving SHIT out of the game in Gandhi who I’m also going to transfer my Hvísla to.

I have also already identified Tomyris as a potential Bandit/BoB/Merchant due to the “new faction confirmed” comment. Same with Gilgamesh referse psychologying the shit out of everybody.

On the topic of things already being proven false

-          No council

-          Price options are visible so no invisible bidding against other merchants

The rest has to remain to be seen.

[theoi-crow]

so I’ve been working with aphrodite on and off all year who originally came to me in a dream at a rough time in my life where I completelg lost myself and occasionally I’ve been trying to make a connection with apollo but I haven’t really focused at all on him the past month or 2 and suddenly last week I had this sudden feeling that he was upset with me and a few days ago I came to your blog hoping your asks had been (would’ve checked sooner but I got a mild concussion from falling down (1)

(2)the stairs last week… not fun but I was low on energy and focus from it but so your asks were obviously closed so I ended up going through your apollo tag hoping to find some insight on what to do if he’s upset with you and ran into the song apollo after reading more about him and whatnot on your blog and omfg I suddenly felt a warmth next to me and I got this clear image of a shaggy haired sandy blonde boy in my mind and we ended up sitting here listening to music together and honestly

(3)for me he felt like a teasing older brother and also had a guiding vibe and it was so interesting to be able to finally officially feel the difference between him and aphrodite because for me she’s kind and gentle and she’s like the best friend who will sit and listen to your complaints and roll her eyes with you when you get objectified by ur mom’s best friend’s son again and sympathize when you get your heart broken and apollo is like a teasing older brother and very warm and I came across

(4)a song that I could’ve sworn he was telling me reminded him of him and artemis and honestly it reminded me of my twin and me as well (brother by kodaline in case you’re interested) and it was so wonderful but… is he a jealous god? Cuz I think he felt neglected and I thought that even more so cuz that night after having gone thru ur blog I’m p hecking sure ares came to me in a dream and in said dream apollo didn’t like that I was talking to him and I’m not sure what to do about that😪

(5)also sorry for the spam I just needed to get that off my chest. I honestly would love to work with ares but I don’t wanna make apollo upset but I also already kinda have persephone (and hades a bit) on a back burner because well honestly I was feeling a little overwhelmed even though I’d love to work with them as well (tho I can feel their patience with me, like they know I’m not ready but they give me v parental vibes lol and ares also gives me big brother vibes it’s v interesting okay sorry

-----------

Omg are you okay?! How's the concussion?

My they/them wife had one a few years back and I had to take them to the hospital! (They're doing a lot better though, thank the gods. Though my little dog is always nervous to be right behind them since he caused the concussion last time.) 

Please don't apologize for putting in multiple asks, I don't mind how many you put in so long as you number them just so I don't get confused with other asks and you did that so I'm happy, plus I encourage it because writing it down helps the one asking as much as it helps me. ^^

Because it's a lot, I'm going to break it down just to make sure I answer as much and as well as I can. Please don't feel bad, I do this for every ask that requires more than 2 inbox entries.

"so I’ve been working with aphrodite on and off all year who originally came to me in a dream at a rough time in my life where I completely lost myself"

Isn't she amazing?! She did the same thing to me, she came to me when I was in the middle of a crisis. There are SO MANY devotees who say Aphrodite showed up when they needed her the most. 

"and occasionally I’ve been trying to make a connection with Apollo but I haven’t really focused at all on him the past month or 2 and suddenly last week I had this sudden feeling that he was upset with me"

Hmmmm… sometimes when we think a god is upset with us, it's actually a bad experience with parental figures/authority that's projecting and pretending to be a god. I made a post about it here: (LINK)

This can also be your shadow self: (LINK)

It could be your shadow self that is projecting the thought that Apollo is annoyed with you.

This is the feeling that I'm getting from Apollo because even though you initially had that feeling of him being upset with you, you added this: 

"and a few days ago I came to your blog hoping your asks …. your asks were obviously closed so I ended up going through your Apollo tag hoping to find some insight on what to do if he’s upset with you and ran into the song Apollo after reading more about him and whatnot on your blog and omfg I suddenly felt a warmth next to me and I got this clear image of a shaggy haired sandy blonde boy in my mind and we ended up sitting here listening to music together and honestly for me he felt like a teasing older brother and also had a guiding vibe and it was so interesting to be able to finally officially feel the difference between him and aphrodite…"

He could have also given you a bit of insensitive to look him up because he wanted you to personally feel his energy. And your right, he does feel like a teasing older brother (the other day he was teasing me about a joke Hermes made that just went over my head and then I later caught 🤣) but he does guide me, here's guiding me as we speak. But this is what I mean when I say "It could be your shadow self that is projecting the thought that Apollo is annoyed with you." 

"because for me she’s kind and gentle and she’s like the best friend who will sit and listen to your complaints and roll her eyes with you when you get objectified by ur mom’s best friend’s son again and sympathize when you get your heart broken"

UGH, WHAT A CREEP! Aphrodite totally understands and she'll keep reminding you that you are more than what others think of you. And she understands the complexities of love and how it really changes people and helps them grow. Keep working with her, she'll teach you to see your true worth.

"... Apollo is like a teasing older brother and very warm and I came across a song that I could’ve sworn he was telling me reminded him of him and artemis and honestly it reminded me of my twin and me as well (brother by kodaline in case you’re interested) and it was so wonderful." 

You have a twin? No wonder Apollo wanted you to hear that song. You both have that in common. You can also add Artemis and work with both of them as a representation of you and your twin as well. Or focus on the twin aspect of Apollo. Either way, I can see why he wanted to talk to you. 

"but… is he a jealous god? Cuz I think he felt neglected"

Apollo has SO MANY followers. I sense this is your own guilt projecting. It's okay for you to take breaks from gods. Don't think that he'll feel like you are ignoring him, he'll occasionally nudge you and try to get your attention if he senses you are having medical problems because he's the god of health. Because you just went through a concussion, I'm not surprised Apollo is sending you messages and is trying to get your attention. He did the same thing with my wife. After their concussion Apollo was suddenly everywhere, encouraging them to go to the doctor, reminding them to take meds, etc. 

" I thought that even more so cuz that night after having gone thru ur blog I’m p hecking sure ares came to me in a dream and in said dream apollo didn’t like that I was talking to him and I’m not sure what to do about that"

You said that your mom's friend's son is harassing you right? Ares likes to work with people because he helps them learn to stand up to bullies and those that are harassing others.

Dreams represent a lot of things.

I believe that both gods were on your dreams but it wasn't jealousy (Apollo and Ares not only work with me but they work really well together. Apollo opened Sparta while Sparta loved Ares. Apollo also encouraged his Spartan soldiers to be molded in the image of Ares which is why Sparta had Ares in chains so the spirit of the god of war would never leave Sparta. Plus I usually ask Ares, Apollo and Hermes to help me exorcise my home or whatever place I'm renting for the night. Hermes takes the lost souls where they need to go while Ares fights demons and Apollo purifies the negative energy with his light.)

But I sense it was more of an argument as to who you should work with first. I sense Apollo wants you to focus on your health first while Ares wants you to focus on defending yourself. 

"also sorry for the spam I just needed to get that off my chest." 

Please don't apologise. You numbered them and I really appreciate that.

"I honestly would love to work with ares but I don’t wanna make apollo upset."

You won't. Apollo isn't a jealous god. He knows the value and benefits Ares will bring in your life, he just wants you to focus on him first especially because he's telling me it seems working with too many gods right now will be overwhelming for you. It is possible and there are devotees who work with multiple gods at once (like me who is currently working with 6+ gods. Here's an example of how I juggle my time with them: (LINK))

"but I also already kinda have persephone (and hades a bit) on a back burner because well honestly I was feeling a little overwhelmed even though I’d love to work with them as well (tho I can feel their patience with me, like they know I’m not ready but they give me v parental vibes lol"

They understand. That feeling is just to remind you that they'll be there when you're ready. Think of it as them sending you a hug energy now and then. 

"and ares also gives me big brother vibes it’s v interesting okay sorry."

No need to apologize! Especially when you talk about Ares because as I've said before I can talk about Ares ALL DAY!!! I grew up with him and he's the reason why I always attract these scary looking people who end up being super dorks and puppies like a tatted up vicious looking bike gang watching over the girl scouts who are selling in a sketchy neighborhood but they're doing it to make sure the girls don't get hurt or kidnapped. 

Just the other day I was right outside of school sitting on a bench when a creepy dude started to ask for my number and just wouldn't take no for an answer. I suddenly felt Ares's energy when a cop came out of nowhere and asked him if he was a student. He wasn't. "Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to leave, you're bothering the students." I was so thankful because he's always watched out for me that way so yes he is most definitely like a big brother although he gives me "war-dad" and "papa bear" vibes and his rock in Athens is literally the most comfortable rock in the world!!!! I miss it everyday! 😭

I'm sorry it took me this long to answer your asks, between going to Greece and starting school it was impossible to be in Tumblr besides re-blogging every few seconds I got to be on it. 

I hope this helps! 

May the gods be clear about what they want so they may guide you into a more fulfilling and spiritually prosperous life. 

[griffinsandpeacocks]

Loony Two’s Writing Challenge Prompt 1: The Captain’s Heart

  Adam sighed as he walked off L’appel de L’océan, his pride and joy, well except Ben, but as far as earthly possession’s went his ship was his one true love. Ben was his son and Adam loved him more than anyone else on the earth. Since Belle had passed away Ben was really the only person he had outside the crew. He sighs as he goes about the dock his First Mate had taken Ben and he was making sure the ship was fully supplied and stocked before they left again, though first Adam would need to find them a job to do. So while Jean showed Ben the ins and outs of managing L’apple de L’Ocean, Adam was walking abroad the boards of the dock looking about for his typical contacts that gathered information on jobs. 

“Oiy, Adam, over ‘ere!” A loud voice calls. Adam looks over to see it’s the dock master Uma, who’d taken over for her father some years ago, and had a rather aggressive temperament due to her mother who’d run off into the sea or so her father claimed. She was a fine Dockmaster, and she had her own ship and crew so Adam felt no urge to argue given she kept everything inline, at least here at the docks. 

“Yes, Uma? Is there something I can help with?” Adam asks and she snickers, she nods and waves him closer as she turns to start walking away. Adam jogs up and starts walking by her, she’s roughly Ben’s age but he had known her for quite some time, her age wasn’t an issue, some might think her gender was, her First Mate was quick to deal with those fools though, luckily she kept him restrained for the most part. Harry was hot tempered and given what Adam knew of the Captain that was his father it was no small wonder he was.

“Depends on if you find his pay well enough worth it. He says he’s never been out to sea it makes him nervous supposedly like setting foot into a kingdom as an opposing Lord. His words too, I can take you to meet him if you’re interested in the job?” Uma says and Adam shrugs. 

“Depends on the pay but I’ll transport him wherever he’d like to go so long as the pay justifies the distance.” Adam says and she nods and leads him to a seedier bar on the docks and they go to a dim corner where a candle burns a blue flame and a sullen looking man sits playing with a small blue stone he glances there  way and pulls up a neutral face as he sits up hand closing around the stone.

“Dockmaster.” He greets looking wearily at Adam. Uma takes a seat and Adam follows suit the stranger wears dark colors and was on the paler side, his eyes catch Adam though, they seem to shift between blue and grey. 

“Hades. This is Adam Florian. He’s Captain of L’apple de L’ocean. He’s looking for a new job for his ship and crew and he’s been known to help transport people as well as cargo. He might take your job, I’ll leave you two to talk it over. Play nice on my docks.” She walks away and Hades looks at Adam with a curious look. He rolls the stone through his fingers and takes a deep breath.

“So she found a french man... Great...” Hades sighs looking around nervously it would seem but Adam can see this man isn’t nervous though he should be in this bar. Though the man’s name and choice to remark on his nationality makes Adam twitch.

“Is that a problem?” He asks and Hades shakes his head, then shrugs.

“Depends, it could be good or bad. are you superstitious?” Hades asks and Adam scoffs shaking his head grinning.

“Most sailors tend to be. Depends... Are you asking if I refuse to go to certain ports and waters, or are you asking if I believe in the Underworld?” Adam asks and Hades glares and his eyes flicker a fiery blue.

“Don’t mock me, Florian, you were cursed to be a Beast, I’ve been to the Moors, that fay was a grudge bearing hypocrite but if you don’t temper that pride you’ll end up pissing off another fay, or someone worse.” Hades growls and Adam straightens in his seat paling. 

“Alright... You’re well informed.” Adam says and Hades chuckles.

“I never forget a name. She was gloating how you’d be doomed to a beast forever as you were such an arrogant ass and now that your appearance matched your heart you’d be beastly forever and blah de dah... I was there for... A vacation from my duties. I’m going there to pick up my daughter. I need your help to go there so I can meet her, and get back safely.” Hades says Adam pursed his lips and leans in.

“You mean to tell me you’re The Hades and what, your daughter is in danger from who, your wife?” Adam asks incredulous and Hades laughs and smiles all white teeth and fire in his eyes. 

“No! Well, yes I am The King of The Underworld, but Perse wouldn’t hurt anyone I care about, not intentionally. Hera on the other hand... I’m married thus she thinks I should look no where but at my wife. She’s a testy one got angry being married to my pig brother. Can’t blame her but I’m already not the favorite in Olympus, I don’t need more reason for them to lash out at me.” Hades says leaning back in his chair his hair spills out of his hood and Adam notes it’s bone white. 

“Alright... Hades... I’ll humor you. I can take you to the Moors. What can we expect if we do catch attention?” Adam asks and Hades looks pale and he shrugs. He looks down and then to the side.

“That I’m afraid I don’t know. I can tell you I don’t want to go out on a ship but Poseidon agreed I could use the seas to hide Mal for a bit as that is his dominion, I just need to tell him the ship he needs to keep afloat. I’m not looking forward to this; I’ve never been out to sea. Only crossed the five Infernal rivers... I might be able to swim but I’ve never enjoyed being on large bodies of water. So my job for you captain is to get me to the Moors, then get me and Mal to Taenarum, well the cape near it... Mal and I can get to the gate I’ll take her through from there.” Hades says and Adam sees the man shift his gaze and clutch tighter to his stone. 

“Hades... Odd to see you here.” A smooth voice says and Adam glanced over to see a large tan man slide into a seat at the table hair a smooth rich brunette and sees how Hades goes rigid. 

“I came to visit Poseidon. So I’m securing a Captain and his ship to get out to sea. He insisted I come and see his newest daughter.” Hades says smooth and nonchalant. Zeus snickers and looks Hades over.

“A bold choice for him, why weren’t you at Olympus when he brought her?” He asks and Adam gets an odd itch to hit the man something in his general demeanor and bearing bothered him. 

“I was away looking into several natural disasters that could lead to an influx to my kingdom. So Adam, I’ve got plenty of wealth to give you and your crew if you could be so kind as to get me out to him?” Hades asks and Adam nods sensing Hades wants out of the conversation.

“Aye we can cast off once my son and quarter master get back after making sure we’re seaworthy. Knowing Lumiere he’ll have the ship ready in the morning and no later unless heaven and hell move to stop him, even then he’s a tenacious man, he’ll get around it.” Adam says rising and Hades nods.

“Then I’ll meet you on the docks later.” He says and Adam nods and leaves hearing bits of the conversation as he goes he can tell Hades is uncomfortable and he almost wants to stay at the least to encourage the other to be some semblance of polite. He hears several remarks on how Hades must not be very welcome here and a few more... Cutting comments on Hades in general.

It’s a couple hours later and Adam is walking back from a tavern further inland after a nice hot meal and some revelry with s few crewmen. He’s sees a few women in rather revealing dresses and passes by not interested in what they’re selling. They flirt with him but none follow, until he passes a darker alley and a lone woman steps out smiling at him with painted rose red lips.

“Hello there handsome... Care for a bit of rest and relaxation?” She purrs and he paused, she’s blocking his path forward and he sighs.

“I’m sorry mademoiselle, but I’ve a heart for only one mistress and that’s the sea. Might I pass?” He asks and she pouts.

“A handsome man like you doesn’t want any company?” She teases moving in closer and Adam moves back to a wall and leans back and away from the woman.

“I’d rather not. I’m not interested I’m afraid, my wife though she passed still holds my heart and interest.” Adam says getting agitated he fights to hold his temper down. He holds his hands up and gently keeps her at arms length.

“Ah, but surely you’ve desires? You’d deny yourself that comfort?” She asks pouting and He grits his teeth.

“Ma’am, I am sorry to tell you but you’d not get a response from me, only my Belle could. If you’ll excuse me I’ve a crew to check on aboard my ship.” Adam says and she pouts and moves back hands sliding to her hips as he turns he doesn’t expect the sudden pain in his shoulder, he bellows in rage some of the lingering Beast comes out in the roar and he turns sharply nails darkening as they lengthen to claws.

“I suggest you halt there Missy, you see I need his help and I’m not above a bit of violence tonight.” Hades says and Adam looks to see the dark stone alight in fire in Hades’ hand Adam snarls as the woman runs off and Hades grabs his arms quenches the flames and pulls Adam along through twisting paths until they’re at the docks. Uma is walking but stops staring at them. Hades speaks first.

“He got stabbed, can you help him?” He asks Uma nods and starts using her rarely used magic to treat the stab first washing it then healing it. Adam relaxes slowly and smiles at her.

“Thank you Uma, and thank you for getting me out of that Hades.” He says Hades shrugs awkward with praise he looks away. Uma helps Adam stand from the barrel he’d been sat on as Hades manhandled him. 

“So, you got uncomfortable need any other help or is it just to the Moors than the little cape of Greece?” Adam asks and Hades sighs.

“Just that... L’appel de L’ocean, right? She’s yours?” Hades asks and Adam grins wide, his kingdom and castle.

“Yes, she’s my soul, Belle’s got my heart unless she wills it to another.” Adam says and Hades paused remembering Adam’s comment to the harlot.

“She was your wife. I’m sorry for your loss.” Hades says and Adam shrugs looking at the gold band at his hand.

“She left this world a couple years ago. No need to feel sorry for me. Just kindly don’t mention it around Ben. He still misses her, I do too I won’t lie but seeing that look on his face isn’t something I like seeing.” Adam says and a man walks up long black hair and a wide grin on his face as he does a spin and flourished bow to Uma then looks at Hades.

“Hello, Dockmaster! Lovely to see you! Alright Hades, you said this was important and Hera can’t find out until you know she can look after herself so... What ship am I paying special attention to?” He asks and Adam realizes this must be Poseidon. 

“L’appel de L’ocean. It’s Adam Florian’s ship.” Hades says gesturing to the Captain and the tall tan man glances to Adam and grins.

“You’re the one that has that white stallion Phillip! Aye you’ve my word the waters will be fine and fair for your voyage. Also I’ll apologize in advance for how terribly Hades is gonna handle this.” Poseidon says and Adam chuckles as Hades shooed the other away.

The next morning Hades is near the ship looking at it nervously and he boards looking unsteady on his feet and the crew all grins and teases good naturally as they bustle about getting the ship  ready to cast off. Adam watches the sick look on Hades only get worse the further they get out until Hades is retching off the side of the ship. 

Adam hands off the wheel to Ben and goes and grabs Hades by the arm and moves him with him as he does several tasks with some of the crew who give sympathetic smiles to Hades who just tries to focus on breathing and some of the things Adam shows him. Eventually Adam has Hades actually walking the ship though he wobbles a bit he isn’t stumbling like he’s drunk and isn’t as constantly sick. 

Ben’s a great help side tracking the god and having him tell him stories of Greek myth and legend though eventually as well studied as Ben is it leads to questions that Hades wanted to avoid. He’d been spinning tales most of the day non-busy crew members would stop and listen making comments on the stories and Hades views on them. Ben grows curious and asks about the Titans and Hades goes green.

“Yes... They exist... Thankfully locked in Tartarus. I...” He turns lurching to the side of the ship and retching gasping as his head and eyes are swimming and the voices in his ears are screaming and the water below isn’t helping it’s dark and he starts shivering. Adam asks Lumiere to make some ginger tea and pulls Hades to his quarters and has him focus on knot work as typically it helped him to focus on something with his hands if he felt unwell. He talks with Hades trying to keep his mind preoccupied and Ben comes down with the tea looking sheepish.

“Don’t worry about it. Bad memories haunt you, it’s the way it is.” Hades says shrugging and Ben nods eyes growing distant and Hades winced and asks if Ben had heard of Icarus and launches into the tale when Ben shakes his head looking curious.

The next few days it’s Hades moving about trying to not get sick and the crew giving him things to do to keep him somewhat okay rather than full blown seasick. It’s only a few more days when Ben decides he’ll start an old song he used to hear constantly. It brings smiles to the crew who join in and soon everyone but Hades and Adam are singing. Eventually the crew and Ben go silent pointedly staring up at Adam who’s at the helm manning the wheel and staring forward. Hades is near him staring at the setting sun though now he’s looking over curious. Adam sighs before taking a deep breath.

“Tout seul, Tu t'en iras tout seul, Coeur ouvert, A l'univers, Poursuis ta quete, Sans regarder derriere, N'attends pas, Que le jour se leve..” Adam sings the crew and Ben smile as they burst into the next verse Adam smiling as he sings along and Hades watches smiling softly himself enjoying the way Adam looks so peaceful though how and why the man loves being out on open water Hades will never understand. The french words sound nice and Hades watches Adam admiring the man as he watches him sing. He can’t stay on his feet the sway of the ship makes him unsteady and he’d learned that just makes him sicker so he sits on a crate and crosses his arms over the banister watching the sun sink into the ocean and listening to the song until he falls asleep smiling. 

Adam later carries the sleeping god to the quarters he’s bunked in and lays him down smiling as a hand snags his the half asleep man mummers something in greek goes bright red and lets him go his eyes going wide as he quickly rolls over and covers his head with his pillow. 

“I’ll just assume it was a compliment.” Adam chuckles and goes to walk out as Hades grumbles into his pillow is hair flickering at the ends with blue flame. “Please don’t light my ship on fire.” He calls shutting the door on a muffled scream into the earlier mentioned pillow.  He chuckles as he goes to his own quarters and Hades smiles softly into the pillow. Maybe, this, wasn’t so bad. Adam laid down and chuckles the misgivings about the job at the starts gone. He almost looks forward to the next couple of days. Both men fall asleep smiling.

[chronicbatfictioner]

Exchanges and Compromises - Chapter 3

Crime Alley, Seven Years Ago

The instant 13-year-old Jason Todd saw the blood rushing out of the girl that his buddy had just shot, he knew it was wrong. The shopkeeper of the shop they were robbing was doing the right thing, pressing on the wound hard while screaming at the phone with EMTs. Hopefully the girl would make it - so Jason hoped as he chased after his buddy Chris. His 'buddy', air quotes included. Chris had promised that the gun would be empty. Instead it spat out a bullet right to the girl's chest.

They had ran, scared. But Chris was no match for Jason and he caught up easily. 

"You promised the gun would be empty, Chris! You said it was all about the money!" he growled as he punched Chris, again and again and again. "You lied!"

"Stop it, boy!" an adult voice barked, caught his arms, and bodily lifted him up.

"I'm just...!" he sputtered. "He-- he shot the girl and I'm... I'm... he shouldn't hurt anyone ever again!"

"Yeeeah..." the cop who hoisted Jason away drawled, "...doesn't look like he can hurt anybody now, does he? Dispatch, get me the medic to the alley a few blocks from the shop..." he added, calling into his walkies. "The girl will be okay, kid."

"It's not... he shouldn't..." Jason swallowed around the lump in his throat. "She's someone's daughter..."

"Ain't we all. So how about you come with me, now..." the cop was not threatening. But Jason knew better. Gotham City's cops are not to be friendly with, not especially for people like him. Not especially when he looked like he'd been beaten up on top of having beaten up someone else.

So he dodged the cop and hightailed it out of there, ignoring the yells and skipped left and right and up the fire stairs and into opened windows and door and get out the other side. He was still huffing and puffing, trying to catch his breath, when he realized that he'd made good gains on the cop - obviously too rotund and not designed or trained to do a little jogging.

It had been nearly three months since his mother died and left him alone to fend for himself. Yesterday, he had gone and actually helped someone - a pretty black-haired lady - from attackers. He had bricked one of the stealthier attackers that the lady did not see. She then taught him how to punch in a way that would not hurt his wrists - in case there are no bricks in the future where he would find himself in the same situation. 

He had not used the punch on Chris, largely because it was rather specific and Jason was rather frantically angry while he was punching Chris. The woman had said that the punch would eliminate evil from within someone. Or was it immortality? Regardless, he was pretty certain that Chris was not immortal - he seemed pretty shocked and in pain from Jason's punches.

He wondered what would happen if he'd punched Chris and it had been the 'evil' in him that got away. What would evil look like, Jason pondered inwardly. Would it look like an ugly monster, or a shiny pretty devil? Or is there no evil and just Chris himself? Would Jason have killed Chris if the 'evil' turned out to be his soul? What would that make Jason, then - evil, too?

Jason finally slumped down as he leaned on the walls, feeling the immense weight of his remorse. It was his fault. He shouldn't have agreed with Chris to rob the convenience store. But he needed money, and convenience stores would always have money. It was supposed to be empty, too, and it was his fault that he didn't check to see if the store was empty or not.

"You have seen the error of your ways, I presume."

He would have jumped in surprise if he had not recognized the voice. The lady again. The black-haired, pretty lady from yesterday who rode a really fancy motorcycle that she had left in an alley - unlocked and didn't even occur to her that someone could haul it away within seconds. It was until Jason saw her fighting a good dozen of people in ninja suits - the comical movie ninja uniforms in all black and head scarves and all; not actual stealth suits like the history books would describe - that he realized that this lady was not concerned for her bike. She probably could beat up whoever-stupid-enough-to-take-the-bike to pulp.

Much worse than what Jason did to Chris. 

"The girl... she shouldn't have gotten shot. Chris was just... He just did it for the sake of it..." Jason muttered. A drop of tear fell from his eyes, and he brushed it off brusquely. "I'm not... she didn't even do anything..."

The lady stood in front of him, bending a little to look at his face. She was still quite young - probably about her early 20s. Her eyes were green, Jason noted, looking rather crystalline even in the dim lighting of the alley. "You are pure at heart, boy, but your journey cannot begin here." she said. "Come! Let us clean you up and perhaps get some calories into you. Allow me to lead that good heart toward its righteous place."

A small voice in the back of his head warned him that there are bad people who would take young children like him - boys or girls - and sell them off to be prostitutes.

But then again, what difference would it make for him, anyway? He was already selling himself some. Maybe with this woman as his pimp, he would at least get some form of protection.

He was still worried, even after a week of lavish and luxurious hotel rooms across the Eastern Seaboard, in which the lady - Talia, that was her name - had set him up in while she "tends to business." He was not being sold, yet. Probably was still being groomed to be sold to the highest bidder or whatever.

Either way, Jason tried hard to mind his manners. This lady could be his meal ticket out of hell, --or the embodiment of Charon and would personally deliver him to Hades. Whatever. Things looked nicer than back in Gotham, anyway. There were plenty of books and internet and reading materials for him to spend his time with; and then food and nice clothes that looked simple, yet he knew each piece would have paid his old apartment's rent for a good several months. Plus the travel. Jason knew that he would need something called a 'passport' to get out of the country; but he never seen or know whether he has one or not. The travel used private jets, he and Talia would simply walk through a private airport, get into a private jet, and off they go. Jason only knew where they were because the pilot would call out the name of the airport and country they would land in before actually landing. 

When they finally arrived at where Talia claimed to be 'home', a small child of about three years of age toddled toward her gleefully just as they went past the massive front door that Jason tried so hard not to gawk on.

"This is my son, Damian," Talia introduced. "You shall teach him the ways of the world out there, yet under no circumstances will you take him in person out of these gates; am I clear?"

After the lavish and luxurious things he had seen in the past two weeks, Jason had come to a conclusion that Talia is a very, very rich woman. Her warning about not leaving the gated complex that is located somewhere in Africa sounded quite logical to Jason. Hell, even if this place is in the middle of Manhattan, Jason knew he still would not want to get out; not especially with a toddler. Not unless they're in a fully armored vehicle with about a dozen of armed guards, maybe. "I get it." he replied. "Where shall I start?"

Talia nodded. "First, we dine. And then you may rest for the remainder of the day. Tomorrow morning, you shall start your training. I would also prefer my son's caretaker to be adept, not just smart."

"Sounds good to me." Jason remarked. "Thank you, for everything. I mean... for trusting me and all..." he added, feeling a little embarrassed at his lack of manners.

Talia's glare at him seemed a little sad. "Once upon a time, Jason Todd, I had wished for someone to be the ultimate warrior; the strongest of them all... My Champion. Alas, he was not to be. And then you walked in to my life." she said. "You shall be the strongest of them all, and teach my son to be strong at all cost, yes?"

"Definitely." Jason nodded, looking at little Damian - black haired and green-eyed, just like his mother. "We're gonna be good buddies, aren't we, Damian?" he asked the little boy. Damian lifted an eyebrow in a near perfect imitation of Talia's haughty glare, changed the glare's direction toward his mother, and back at Jason.

"You shall be more than buddies, Jason," Talia gave him a wry smile. "For now, let us dine. Father might join us later for supper.”

[olympivnshq]

congratulations clara ! your rendition of PERSEPHONE was well-rounded, and we appreciate that you went out of your way to read the different versions of her myth, and deeply grateful that you understand our vision in representing each part of her myth the good and the bad in an honest way. we can’t wait to see how she develops under your care with your second faceclaim choice: BLAKE LIVELY.

☆ﾟ*・ﾟ  OOC INFO.

Clara, 25+, she/her, GMT 11+ Sometimes I drink so much coffee I can hear colours and I have a bulldog called Lola and she is the most stubborn person I know.

☆ﾟ*・ﾟ  DEITY  —  GENDER. AGE RANGE.

PERSEPHONE — FEMALE. 29-33

☆ﾟ*・ﾟ MORTAL NAME. JOB/OCCUPATION. BOROUGH/NEIGHBORHOOD.

Laurel Attwell. 29-32

Her Office is in the Upper East Side and, while it might feel as though she lives there, she rests her bones in Hell’s Kitchen.

Laurel is a Wills and Estates Attorney for high net worth clients. Her favourite part of the job is putting her clients’ affairs in order so that they (and their families) might be at peace after they pass. She is not so adept at tolerating the families who choose to ignore the wishes of the deceased but has been known to relish defeating them in court should they contest the Will.  Laurel also sits on a board for Legal Aid NYC and is passionate about finding representation for people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

☆ﾟ*・ HOW WOULD YOU PLAY THEM?

Persephone, Dread Queen and protector, maiden and bringer of spring, is a Goddess of two worlds, irrevocably and continually changed by each. Like the spring that follows in her steps she is warmth and vibrant life and hope. She is the daughter who loves her mother, who runs wild with nymphs by streams and gathers flowers in meadows. She is the maiden, dragged into the Underworld where she became its queen. She saw that her throne was not below her husband’s chair but beside it and under his gaze she, like death, became certain, constant. When she was called back to Olympus, she accepted Hades’s offer of partnership as she accepted his pomegranate seeds for, even as she desired, needed, to be with her mother and to bask in the light of the world, she would not abandon her new kingdom entirely. Just as spring chases away the cold before it marches into summer so did she learn to become relentless, undeniable. And yet, she is patient. Hers is a patience born of waiting, but it is not an idle patience. She is as the stream, slowly wearing its way through a stone. As was decreed by Zeus through each cycle of her life she enters the Underworld a Maiden and leaves a Queen.

Laurel was stolen away from her mother by the idea of a city and the practicality of a job. She escaped her backwoods, nothing beginnings, clawed her way to college, and then to a respected law school. The spectre of her past haunts her. She is too pretty, too young, too something that is anathema to an older gentleman in a suit to be taken entirely seriously in her role as attorney, selling her soul for the whims of wealthy old clients who cannot see her worth. And then there is the mother she has not entirely escaped, who calls too often (whose calls she relies upon, craves, even). She escapes sometimes, when it becomes too much, when her nerves fray and she chips the pomegranate red polish from her nails until her cuticles bleed. They say she is high-strung, wound too tight, lacking an appropriate work-life balance (as if it were something finite to be achieved and not ever evolving due to circumstance; like her desire to work were something she could neatly switch off). Farmers markets and community gardens are a temporary salve but often she craves more. The isolation of a private cabin in the woods. A shack off grid in the mountains. Somewhere she is unreachable, surrounded by nature with only her own thoughts. Somewhere that she can breathe. She thinks she might escape permanently, some day, but the thought is always tinged with sorrow; she fears she will miss this city if ever she leaves it. Regardless, it is a problem for a later day, a different season of her life. For now she remains in the city, tethered by contracts and leases and promises.

answer these questions: 1. would you like your character to be entering the roleplay at this stage in the plot, with or without their memories?

I would prefer her to be without memories if possible, or at least to be in the earlier stages of regaining them. I’d like to explore the trickle of memories and how she reconciles who she was with who she believes herself to be.

2. are they more likely to stand with the pantheon or against it?  ( if you are choosing a god they may endeavour to dismantle it for whatever reason )

Persephone’s view of the Pantheon would likely depend upon a number of factors including where her mother stood, where her husband stood, and how the Pantheon’s actions might affect the mortals. Her mother stood against the Pantheon once before so it is not outside the realm of possibilities that Persephone would do the same, though she would likely need a very good reason to take a stand at all.

3. what is their stand on mortals?

Persephone views mortals as ephemeral, but more lovely for it. Their lives are fleeting and yet one mortal can achieve much in their lives. Or they might squander it, accomplishing little. As Queen of the Underworld, Persephone has a great fondness for those who make the most of their short lives and it is to these she grants reincarnation and the chance to earn a place on the Islands of the Blessed. As a Goddess of Spring she nourishes the mortals as she brings life back to the world.

She cares for them in life and in death, likely having a more compassionate view of them than many other Gods and Godesses.

☆ﾟ*・ GIVE US A SAMPLE OF YOUR WRITING!

CHOOSE AT LEAST one OF THE FOLLOWING OPTIONS

A SAMPLE PARAGRAPH:   writing sample redacted for privacy

☆ﾟ*・ ANYTHING ELSE?

A pinterest board. It’s new! But I will add to it: https://pin.it/pzjsrilw3ev7e5

Lyrics:

I said oh my god I see you walking by

Take my hands, my dear, and look me in my eyes

Just like a monkey I’ve been dancing my whole life

And you just beg to see me dance just one more time

***

My heart’s been borrowed and yours has been blue

All’s well that ends well to end up with you

Swear to be over-dramatic and true to my

Lover

***

Oh don’t you wonder when the light begins to fade?

And the clock just makes the colors turn to grey

Quote:

“Tenderness and kindness are not signs of weakness and despair, but manifestations of strength and resolution.”  Kahlil Gibran

[calamity-bean]

harlots 2.05

An episode in which things REALLY start to get serious! Not that that should come as a surprise, really — after all, we’re in the back half of the season now, y’all! In season 1, this was about the point when the merry revels and domestic drama started to really make room for murder and conspiracy and other awfulness (not there wasn’t awfulness in the earlier episodes as well). In this season, we’ve still got the revels, we’ve still got the domestic drama in spades, and we’ve known all along there was disaster simmering in the background ... But by the end of 2.05, I think we can safely say that it’s begun to boil.

Scattered thoughts, reactions, rambling, and screaming under the cut.

Well we started off with another TALLY HO scene so give me a moment to wrestle my soul back into my body real quick!

Actually, technically we started with Margaret, Nancy, and Emily Lacey sprawled drunk on a couch together, passing around a pipe. Which really is utterly, charmingly timeless in how much it resembles many of my own girls’ nights? And this is something I love to see, and we were fortunate enough to see a good deal of it in this episode: FRIENDSHIP. Companionship. Support and solidarity — the “five-headed beast” defending one another, Amelia confiding in Rasselas for guidance and support, even some tender reconciliation between Mags and Will! I’m in love!!

That said ... There are serious fractures in many of these relationships already, and I’m sure we’re going to see even more stress applied. Emily Lacey is a weak link in the five-headed beast, but I can’t fault her for that. She’s in a tough position. Also, while it’s possible, the timing of her announcement makes me REALLY doubt she’s pregnant.

Also did I mention AMELIA AND RASSELAS cause oh my god!!! I’m so happy we haven’t forgotten about their friendship!!! The little forehead kiss! The hug!!

Rasselas’s boyfriend has apparently passed away, though, which made me WEEP and write a whole lot of frowny-crying faces in my notes. :’( The way Lydia has him lay his head on her shoulder would be SO cute if it weren’t, y’know, Lydia.

On another Amelia note ... I have a lot of thoughts about the Violet / Amelia / Hunt situation, and a lot of fears. As I’ve said many times, I really love all three of these characters. None of them have done anything WRONG in regards to this little quasi-romance, really, but it’s a BAD situation, it’s just a perilous and uncomfortable quagmire that is NOT fair to any of them. Hunt’s whole demeanor toward Amelia this episode was incredibly adorable and sweet, but it’s really hard to watch knowing that this surely is gonna end in one or all of them getting hurt.

GOD seriously though I was cringing SO HARD for him throughout his proposal and et cetera ... Like it was honestly really fucking cute and respectful, I may have squeed a bit at certain points (in between watching through my fingers because the secondhand embarrassment was too much), but knowing what he doesn’t know is AGONY.

IMMENSELY pleased by Hunt’s character development and trajectory in general this episode, though. We’re getting so much of what I’ve wanted to see from him all along (see this post and this one): his faith in the law as the ultimate arbiter of right/wrong has been shaken, and he’s acknowledging his moral uncertainties and taking a more proactive role in going after the true criminals. Would have been perfectly happy to see him reach this point without a romantic element to spur his conscience, but I’ll take what I’m given. Still worried about the love triangle situation; still wish he would release Violet from her indenture and pardon the rest of her sentence for such a petty crime; but I’m overall really pleased with his direction this episode nonetheless.

Another big part of this episode was our very own Hades and Persephone. As a ship, Fallon and Lucy are not my jam. As a dynamic, it’s REALLY difficult for me to parse how much of this is Lucy manipulating him, or simply saying what she thinks he wants to hear, and how much is Lucy getting suckered in by his dark charms and letting herself get carried away or even fall for him. His grooming of her continues, and for the moment, at least, she seems more than happy to be groomed. (Though there ARE hints she might be playing him ... That mention of Kitty was a little out of place.) I’d be lying if I said I'd never gone home with a weird guy who immediately showed me his knife collection, though, so ... Don’t know that I have any room to judge her taste in men.

I’ve saved the most significant and least pleasant plot arc for last ... the Spartans and the Vestal Virgin. There is a LOT to unpack here. There is a lot to be said about Harcourt, and how we see him gaslighting Isabella, and how the plan was doomed from the moment he walked into Golden Square — not solely because of the necklace, but simply because he is far, FAR too clever a beast to have been fooled by the way Charlotte was acting. There is a lot to be said the immense consequences this is going to have for Charlotte in terms of both external and internal conflict, and SUCH chilling resonance in Lydia’s line about how, “Your mother was never strong enough to help with new girls. You surpass her in every way.”

But for now, I’ll simply mention the thing that struck me most: The shit Lydia does? Kidnapping virgins? Is literally no secret from anyone in her house. Oh, the Spartans might be, but the Vestal Virgin party is an ANNUAL ENDEAVOR. Every goddamn year, for decades, Lydia has been kidnapping, drugging, and selling a virgin. All her girls know it’s happening at least to some extent, even if they don’t quite know the details or that the “new girls” are utterly unwilling ... But I daresay Charlotte and Mags are probably not the only right-hand girls Lydia’s tried to have help her with it outright.

“Can I play Vesta again?” Anne Pettifer does not show a MOMENT’S hesitance about this party. Her entire mood is excitement. And since, before Charlotte, she was something of Lydia’s top girl in the house ... I would not be surprised if loyal, dutiful Anne has “helped” with the new girls in the past.

[alexa-t]

Venus Rising

Chapter 1 - A New Day

Part III - Work for Love

After several hours of standing still so that Apelles can become ‘inspired by the morning light shining off her beautiful body', Mina took her payment of 2 drachmas (double what an unskilled laborer was paid for a day’s work), and sat down outside the Temple of Dionysus to eat some yogurt, nuts, and honey. A younger girl with wild and dirty hair, wearing brown rags kept together with a rope belt, walks over and sits next to her.

“Gorgeous day!” she exclaims

“Not bad.” Mina replies between bites

“Yogurt?” she asks looking intently into the small clay bowl

“No it’s a pig roast, Hippa" Mina replies sarcastically rolling her eyes

“It looks like yogurt to me” she replies humming and swinging her head side to side like a young child does unconsciously. The curls in her hair formed from bathing in saltwater moved like pendulums as she rocked her head to and fro.

“You want some?” Mina offers handing her the bowl

“What did it cost you?” Hippa asks her taking a spoonful.

“Nothing.” Mina replies, remembering the blowjob she gave for the meal, “eat it! The gods know you need it more than me.”

“Working so hard, selling yourself and your soul for what? To gain worldly possessions?" Hippa balked licking the honey off her dingy fingers.

“My soul no one can have, my body I can do with whatever I please.” Mina replies, “and right now you are eating some of my worldly possessions!” she laughs as she takes back the bowl.

“Krates says...” Hippa begins

“Hippa, Krates is an idiot who walks around naked masturbating in the street!” Mina blurted out.

Just then a couple of women walk by and look at them in disgust, as if their mere presence disturbed the balance of society.

“What?!” yells out Hippa, “you have never seen people eat before?!”

“Shut up Hippa,” Mina shushes her “you want to get fined for eating in public?!”

“Why not.” Hippa replies “I don’t care, I don’t recognize their authority.”

Mina rolls her eyes and gets up, “Well I do, and I want their patronage.”

“Oh yes, the good people of Athens”

“Good people, pay good money" Mina replies

“I have all I need" Hippa says pointing to her rags.

“My dear and confused friend…” Mina begins but is cut off by that very same friend.

“I am enlightened, not confused. I do not need worldly things, the cosmos provides all.” She declares

“Meet you here same time tomorrow Hippa?” Mina asks standing up and brushing the dust from her tunic.

“I will be here.” She concurred nodding her head.

“Bye!” Mina waves as she walks away. ‘The cosmos provides’ she thought, ‘maybe it should provide someone other than that idiot Krates for a husband!’

Mina believed the world to be a wonderful and terribly dangerous place, where one must fight to survive, fight to climb the ladder of society, and fight to keep anything one has won. A small mistake could lead to living on the street, or even worse death. For a woman the world was even more dangerous, walking around by yourself you risk being kidnapped, raped, enslaved, or even murdered. Who would plead for justice for a woman with no family in the courts? No one. So she planned to be her own protector, to help her and the many other women who were betrayed by the system, that was in place to look after them. She especially wanted to become as strong as possible so that she could take care of the love of her life, Helena.

Helena who was busy working in a clinic at the edge of the city. Mina walks in and sees her helping a young doctor in bright white robes treat women, children, and some elderly people. She stood there watching her in her rose colored tunic, affectionately take care of her patients, talking to them so sweetly, taking their suffering from them with each gentle touch.

‘I will do everything for her' Mina thought to herself, ‘I will sacrifice everything, I will go into the mud so she will not get dirty, I will fight to see her live her dreams!’

As she stood there admiring Helena, she looked up and saw her staring.

“Hi!” Helena smiled, all but two strands of her honey blonde hair were wrapped up in a braided bun.

“Hi.” Mina smiled back

Helena motioned with her head for Mina to follow her into a back room.

“How was work?” Helena asks as she began to grind some medicinal herbs in a bowl.

“Good.” Mina replies while perusing the medical oddities on the shelves

“Did you see Hippa?”

“Yup"

“You have work tonight?”

“I don’t understand why you need to work here, I make enough for both of us" Mina blurts out, looking Helena directly in the eyes.

“Because I love this, I want to be a doctor!” Helena exclaims.

The statement makes Mina's mouth drop open in disbelief.

“And when they find out she is not a man" Mina says pointing to the doctor in the other room, “you will both be arrested and killed!”

“It’s worth the sacrifice.” Helena replies

“No it isn't. Nothing is worth dying over!” Mina throws her arms in the air frustrated, “What in Hades are you thinking, honestly!”

Helena puts down her bowl, then walking slowly over to Mina she hugs her tightly. The warm feeling of her lover's embrace relaxes Mina, soon all her anxiety begins to float away.

“I love you" Mina whispers

“I know you do, and I love you" Helena whispers back “but I won’t be happy just sitting at home. I want to learn and discover and help people"

“I know… but… but I don’t want to lose you"

“If you don’t let me do this, I will have lost me" Helena replies.

“Hey girls!” The doctor exclaims walking in the room, she looks at them for a moment a little perplexed, “Sorry did I walk in on a moment?”

Mina kisses Helena's forehead and begins to walk out of the room before turning and pointing to her “Dice, you better not get her killed".

[salt-hag]

I posted 2,034 times in 2021

115 posts created (6%)

1919 posts reblogged (94%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 16.7 posts.

I added 432 tags in 2021

#hades game - 138 posts

#hades - 64 posts

#kdrama - 48 posts

#acnh - 43 posts

#botw - 32 posts

#hades supergiant - 23 posts

#hometown cha cha cha - 22 posts

#zelda - 21 posts

#legend of zelda - 21 posts

#howl's moving castle - 20 posts

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#to like sylvia they didn’t really sell her as a character at all?? there’s not much to her? so i have no connection to her and don’t believe

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

Currently obsessed with how when you call Than to help you fight the furies, he says things like “forgive my rudeness” and to Meg he says “hate to do this.” Than x the furies, best friends forever

49 notes • Posted 2021-02-10 19:42:09 GMT

#4

LOVE how the cafe in gongjin has become the dumping ground/sorry I can’t return your feelings zone

51 notes • Posted 2021-10-02 18:43:36 GMT

#3

I think part of the problem with the Sisyphus side story/quest that makes it sit Not Right once you read up on mythology is that Sisyphus is just not as well developed as a character?

All of the other characters/side quests have a clearly defined, emotionally compelling goal or motivation. Zagreus wants to help out Orpheus & Eurydice and Achilles & Patroclus because we see them as charming characters who were dealt a cruel hand by fate. They are characters who are suffering, strangely grieving their loved one in the afterlife, a place where you would think grief wouldn’t still be an issue. But both Achilles and Orpheus were also somewhat responsible for their fate or are somewhat flawed!! Orpheus failed to save Eurydice the first time. Achilles is too afraid of how the fates might further fuck with him to “risk it all” - he’s willing to live out his afterlife unhappy if it means (he thinks) that Patroclus is well (his true failure is failing to realize Patroclus would never be happy without him, ugh the romance, the angst).

Whether or not we think Achilles or Orpheus are to blame or if we think they were just dealt bad circumstances, both of them have flaws and are not able to help themselves, both by their position as not being very powerful in the underworld AND due to being stuck in their own despair. This makes them interesting characters - they feel like people. It is so human to be caught in our own despair, and they’re caught in despair out of a deep love for another. We root for them.

Meanwhile, Sisyphus obviously has flaws but the game’s narrative doesn’t allow us to really confront that? Sisyphus doesn’t seem repentant. It seems like Zag and the audience are meant to sympathize with Sisyphus - yeah, megaera is so mean (good at her job). Yeah, Thanatos is so harsh (good at his job of like, taking people who should be dead to the afterlife, ok). This lack of confrontation about Sisyphus’s past is partly, I think, because he’s not a resident of the House of Hades. We don’t get a lounge nectar-drinking scene which is one of the ways characters get to personally share backstory and develop in the game. Instead, Zag/the player are told his backstory secondhand and it isn’t questioned. (If I’m wrong: I’ve seen video clips but haven’t played this yet so feel free to correct me!) But also, Sisyphus seems weirdly content in his lot. This is probably to make his situation as a tortured soul in Tartarus not as disturbing and to make him a helpful NPC, but his connections to get goods and his cheerfulness are jarring once you remember that oh, this asshole killed and tricked a whole bunch of people to get where he is today, including chaining up our best bro/bf Thanatos.

So I get that SGG have this theme of (in my reading of it at least) “these despairing or flawed characters are not irredeemable and with a little help and effort, broken bonds can be mended or put on the right track for healing” in Hades, but the way they set up Sisyphus doesn’t do this theme justice compared to the other side quests/characters, thank you for coming to my ted talk

Tl;dr, Sisyphus and his storyline don’t confront his flaws like the other characters, which is strangely less developed and out of place compared to the other characters.

75 notes • Posted 2021-02-10 18:27:55 GMT

#2

What objectively terrible writing advice do people out there have? I work in a university writing center as part of my TA gig. Time and repeat students have shown me that students don’t follow my GOOD advice. So now I want to make a list of terrible advice

82 notes • Posted 2021-06-16 06:48:08 GMT

#1

I think it’s cute how the drama started out with dusik being the manic pixie kind of character who made hye-jin do a lot of things while she grumbled… and now hye-jin is in high gear Cutesy Girlfriend mode and making dusik do romantic and aesthetic things. Get you a boyfriend who makes you frolic in the rain. Get you a girlfriend who wakes you up way too early to see the sunrise together

93 notes • Posted 2021-10-03 20:22:08 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

[howtohero]

#053 Going to Hell

Some people spend their entire lives trying to avoid going to Hell so it might surprise you that some of the most superheroic individuals in history have willingly ventured into the Bad Place at one time or another for some reason or another.

There is a myriad of reasons for a superhero to have to or want to venture down into the mysterious beyond. Perhaps they are going to rescue the soul of a loved one or the wrongfully damned or a loved one of somebody who is blackmailing them (it’s very easy to find yourself being blackmailed into performing impossible tasks when you have a ginormous secret that you’re constantly trying to protect) maybe you’re returning a lost demon to the address on its collar, maybe you’re going down there to give Hades or the Devil or Greg the Skeleton King or whoever a good butt-kicking for some villainous action. Maybe an unfortunate side effect of your extreme power is that normal human, non-hellfire, saunas aren’t hot enough for you. Maybe you just lost a bet! Whatever the reason is, it often transpires that a hero needs to a quick way into the underworld.

One surefire way to get to the realm of the dead is to commit some evil acts and then die. The classic “push an old lady into oncoming traffic and then following her” move should do the trick. But then you’re condemning yourself to an eternity of torture and suffering and that’s probably not what you were looking for! So, for the still-living-and-still-loving-it crowd, getting to Tartarus is pretty much the same as getting anywhere else, public transportation. The Ferry to Heck runs eight times a day. You’d think it would run more often what with all the dead people it needs to cart around and you’d be right and it used to run every time someone died but then there was a strike and it was a whole mess so now it runs just eight times a day and the dead people just have to wait in an orderly fashion at the docks at the edge of the River Styx (just put edge of the River Styx into your navigation app of choice I’m not gonna sit here and draw you a map). So you’re gonna have to wait with them. And they smell bad. They smell like rotting flesh and regret. It’s a very uncomfortable experience. But on the bright side, dead people often are not in a rush to get to their eternal vacation at the damnation station. So they’ll usually let you cut in line. When you get on the boat make sure you say hello to Charon, the captain, and let him know that you are a living person. That’s the only way to secure a complimentary meal that isn’t worms or whatever it is dead people to eat (usually its worms but one time everybody got grilled cheese so you could risk it but I’d let somebody know that you’re not dead). When you meet Charon don’t be nervous, he can be a little bit scary but he’s a reasonable bloke. Try telling him a joke. He likes jokes and nobody ever tells him any. Say something like “Charon my good man you look stunning, drop-dead gorgeous.” He’ll laugh, you’ll laugh, you’ll get your grilled cheese, it will be a good time.

If you’re too fancy to ride on a ferry that floats on top of the souls of the damned there are some other options available to you. You or someone you know can conjure up a doorway to hell using the dark arts. Of course, this means going on a scavenger hunt to find lizard eyes and peacock feathers and Greek coins. If you’re in a rush you can always buy one of those prepackaged doorway to Hell kits that they sell in most Wal-Marts but those ingredients are usually artificial and don’t work nearly as well as fresh ones. You can also hire a wizard guide to the deadlands for pretty cheap, a lot of them deal in memories these days and those are priceless, so they don’t cost anything! Or you can jump on a demon right as they’re about to teleport back to their fiery homes (to lure a demon to your location in the first place I suggest using peanut butter, demons love peanut butter). Alternatively, if you’re already in Heaven, there’s a train that goes to Hel whenever you want it to. Lots of things happen whenever you want them to up there. It’s one of the perks of Heaven

Once you get to Hell there are�� a variety of characters you might encounter. There’s Cerberus, the three headed literal guard dog from Hell but he (they?) are actually pretty easily dealt with. See, Cerberus is actually three times as much dog as regular doggos, so he (she?) loves dog things like playing fetch and belly rubs. If you’re going to play fetch though you need to bring three balls. For maximum distraction try throwing the three balls in three different directions. Additionally, music puts Cerberus to sleep (I wish music put me to sleep, then me and my neighbors who are in a band that I think is called “We Only Practice at Night and Gee Golly Are We Loud About It” would get along much better). Cerb’s favorite kind of music is heavy metal covers played on a harp but if you’re not strong enough or committed enough to lug a harp around with you into the afterlife he likes fiddles too. You’ll also encounter a variety of demons, dark angels, poltergeists, imps, telemarketers and all manner of ungodly evils. If you can avoid them great but if not you may have to fight some of them. They’ll probably try to stop you from freeing one of the souls they’ve come to love to torment so I hope you came prepared for fisticuffs. 

Stealing from Hell is a lot like stealing from anywhere. You’ll have to bypass the security guards as we’ve just discussed and then break any locks or riddles (they love riddles in Hell, also, speaking in rhyme) that stand between you and your goal. I actually recommend not going on this adventure by yourself. At the very least you’ll need someone who is familiar with the unholy magicks at work in the underworld but it would also be smart to bring someone who knows something about stealing things. If you can find a magician thief person that’d be ideal but there are only like seven of those and four of them are either in jail or already in Hell at any given time. You’re also going to want to avoid being noticed by whoever’s running the place on that day (all the major demons and Greg the Skeleton King have a rotation, just like I suggested superhero teams should do, maybe they read this blog). Once the Boss notices you mucking around stealing souls you’re almost certainly toast. Sometimes you can win your freedom by being a fiddle aficionado or by making some sort of horrific deal but usually that’s just instant damnation for you and your party. Then you’ll need someone else to come and save you and it becomes a whole cycle until everybody on Earth is in Hell because of you!

If you somehow, despite everything, manage to get to the soul that you’re after congratulations! Now what’re you gonna do with it? You need some means of transporting that sucker with you out of the underworld. Most jars can actually hold souls pretty well (But none as well as Jerry’s Homegrown Condiment Jars please think of us for all your eternally damned soul jarring needs!) But no containment will work as well as the person’s actual body. Plus if you get them back in their body you’ll have another couple of hands to help fight your way out of hell. Of course that means lugging around a lot of literal dead weight with you on the way in but I dunno, it might be worth it. (We did not actually authorize that advertisement and we don’t know how it got there.)

Infiltrating and exfiltrating Hell is very tricky and highly dangerous so I hope whoever you’re going in for was worth it. [Howtohero is not responsible for any eternal damnations that result from following the advice presented here.]

[mbtizone]

Megara (Hercules): ISTP

Dominant Introverted Thinking [Ti]: Meg has a quick wit, which she frequently uses to insult those around her. She’s logical, independent, and doesn’t rely on anyone to save her. When she first meets Hercules, she believes she can deal with Nessus on her own, telling him that she’s capable of handling the situation herself. She has confidence in her ability to come up with solutions to her problems without any help. Meg prefers to remain detached and doesn’t want to grow too close to Hercules. She’s clever and comes up with several ways to manipulate Hercules (claiming that she has “weak ankles” as a segue to get Hercules to open up about his own weaknesses). Meg is cynical, snarky, and believes that it’s best to isolate herself so that nobody can hurt her.

Auxiliary Extroverted Sensing [Se]: It’s easy for Meg to use what is immediately available to her accomplish a task. She manipulates Hercules using her sexuality. When Hades tasks Meg with finding out his weakness, she does so by persuading him to play hooky with her and shows him a fun-filled day. Though it’s never stated, one might infer that Meg purposely tripped down the steps in order to start a conversation with Hercules about weaknesses because she was trying to get him to admit his. Meg is comfortable in risky situations and can make shortsighted decisions without considering the ramifications when presented with an opportunity (selling her soul to Hades in exchange for her boyfriend’s life). She’s quick to leap into action (hopping onto Pegasus to get Phil in order to save Hercules, even though she’s terrified of heights). She also notices the pillar about to fall and crush Hercules and is able to push him out of the way in the nick of time, saving his life.

Tertiary Introverted Intuition [Ni]: Meg is driven by one goal – work off her debt and eventually be free from Hades forever. She experiences flashes of insight – she can tell relatively quickly that Hercules isn’t like everybody else and believes in him. Meg is good at knowing how to manipulate people and instinctively knows which buttons to push. Once Meg falls for Hercules, she becomes determined to protect him from Hades, regardless of the consequences. Meg appears to believe in universal truths about the world and humanity (everyone is petty and dishonest).

Inferior Extroverted Feeling [Fe]: Admitting her feelings doesn’t come easily for Meg. Instead, she keeps them hidden and denies the truth. Although she was working with Hades to obtain her freedom, in the end, she sacrifices herself to save Hercules. Meg is willing to make selfless choices for those she loves – she’s only a slave to Hades because she sold her soul to him in an attempt to save her boyfriend’s life. Although Meg doesn’t lead with her emotions, she is able to tap into them, as she puts on quite a performance for Hercules in order to convince him to come save the two little boys (Pain and Panic), who were supposedly trapped as a result of a rock slide.

Enneagram: 6w5 8w7 4w5 Sp/Sx

Quotes:

Hercules: Pardon me, my good, uh… uh… sir. I’ll have to ask you to release that young – Megara: Keep movin’, junior. Hercules: — lady. But you… are-aren’t you… a damsel in distress? Megara: I’m a damsel. I’m in distress. I can handle this. Have a nice day.

Megara: Megara. My friends call me Meg, or at least they would if I had any friends. So… did they give you a name along with all those rippling pectorials? Hercules: Uh, I’m, uh, um- Megara: Are you always this articulate? Hercules: Hercules. My… My name is Hercules. Megara: Hercules, huh? I think I prefer Wonderboy. Hercules: So, uh, how-how-how’d you get mixed up with the, uh- Megara: Pinhead with hooves? [Hercules nods] Well, you know how men are. They think “no” means “yes” and “get lost” means “take me, I’m yours”. Don’t worry, Shorty here can explain it to ya later. Well, thanks for everything, Herc. It’s been a real slice. [She starts to walk away.] Hercules: Wait! [She stops and turns.] Um… can we give you a ride? [Pegasus snorts, whinnies and flies to a high branch.] Megara: Uh… I don’t think your pinto likes me very much. Hercules: Pegasus? Oh, no, don’t be silly! He’d be more than happy to- Ow. [PEGASUS has dropped an apple on Hercules’ head. He looks up and Pegasus whistles innocently.] Megara: I’ll be alright. I’m a big, tough girl. I can tie my own sandals and everything. [She walks away again.] Bye-bye, Wonderboy.

Megara: Please! Help! Please! There’s been a terrible accident! Hercules: Meg? Phil: Speakin’ of disasters. Megara: Wonderboy! Hercules, thank goodness! Hercules: Wha-what’s wrong? Megara: Outside of town, two little boys, they were playing in the gorge. There was this rock slide, a terrible rock slide! They’re trapped! Hercules: Kids? Trapped? Phil! Phil, this is great! Megara: You’re really choked up about this, aren’t ya?

Megara: Looks like your game is over- Wonderboy’s hitting every curve you throw at him. Hades: Oh, yeah… I wonder if maybe I haven’t been throwing the right curves at him, Meg, my sweet. Megara: Don’t even go there. Hades: See, he’s gotta have a weakness, because everybody’s got a weakness, I mean for Pandora, it was the box thing, for the Trojans, hey, they bet on the wrong horse, okay? We simply need to find out Wonderboy’s. Megara: I’ve done my part. Get your little imps- Hades: They couldn’t handle him as a baby. I need someone who can … handle him as a man. Megara: Hey, I’ve sworn off man-handling. Hades: Well, you know, that’s good, because that’s what got you into this jam in the first place, isn’t it? You sold your soul to me to save your boyfriend’s life. And how does this creep thank you? By running off with some babe. He hurt you real bad, didn’t he, Meg? Huh? Megara: Look, I learned my lesson, okay? Hades: Which is exactly why I got a feelin’ you’re gonna leap at my new offer. You give me the key to bringing down Wonderbreath and I give you the thing that you crave most in the entire cosmos! Your freedom.

Megara: Let’s see … what could be behind curtain number one? [She pulls the cord on the side and we see Hercules behind the curtain.] Hercules: Meg! Megara: It’s alright. The sea of raging hormones has ebbed. Hercules: Gee, i-i-it’s great to see you. I-I-I missed you. Megara: [Flopping down onto a couch] So this is what heroes do on their days off? Hercules: Ah… I’m no hero… Megara: Sure ya are. Everybody in Greece thinks you’re the greatest thing since they put the pocket in pita. Hercules: I know, it’s-it’s crazy, y’know, I can’t go anywhere without being mobbed, I mean- Megara: Ah. You sound like you could use a day off. Think your nanny goat would go berserk if you played hooky this afternoon? Hercules: Oh, gee. I-I don’t know. Phil’s got the rest of the day pretty much booked- Megara: Ah, Phil-schmill. Just follow me- out the window, round the dumbbells, you lift up the back wall and we’re gone.

Hercules: I didn’t know playing hooky could be so much fun. Megara: Yeah. Neither did I. Hercules: Thanks, Meg. Megara: Oh… don’t thank me just yet. Oh! [She falls into HERCULES’ arms.] Hercules: Oops- careful. Megara: Sorry. Weak ankles. Hercules: Oh yeah? Well maybe you’d better sit down. [He carries her over to a bench, puts her down, then sits down beside her.] Megara: So… uh… do you have any problems with things like this? [She stretches out her leg and holds her foot right in front of his face.] Hercules: Uh… Megara: Weak ankles, I mean. Hercules: Oh. Uh, no. Not really. Megara: [Moving closer to him] No weaknesses whatsoever? No trick knee? Hercules: Uh… Megara: Ruptured… disks? Hercules: No. I’m… I’m afraid I’m uh… fit as a fiddle. [He stands.] Megara: [sighs] Wonderboy, you are perfect. Hercules: Thanks.

Megara: If there’s a prize for rotten judgement, I guess I’ve already won that No man is worth the aggravation That’s ancient history, been there, done that

Megara: No chance no way I won’t say it, no no It’s too cliche I won’t say I’m in love

Megara: I thought my heart had learned its lesson It feels so good when you start out My head is screaming “Get a grip girl Unless you’re dying to cry your heart out

Megara: No chance no way I won’t say it, no no This scene won’t play I won’t say I’m in love You’re way off base I won’t say it At least out loud I won’t say I’m in love

Hades: I’m sorry… you hear that sound? That’s the sound on your freedom fluttering out the window… forever. Megara: I don’t care. I’m not gonna help you hurt him. Hades: I can’t believe you’re getting so worked up about some… guy. Megara: This one is different. He’s honest, and – and he’s sweet- Hades: Please. Megara: He would never do anything to hurt me. Hades: He’s a guy! Megara: Besides, oh Oneness, you can’t beat him. He has no weaknesses. He’s gonna — Hades: I think he does, Meg. I truly think… he does.

Megara: Hercules! Look out! [She pushes him out of the way, but the pillar falls on her instead.] Hercules: Meg! NO! What’s happening? Megara: H-Hades’ deal is broken. He promised I wouldn’t get hurt. Hercules: Meg. Why- why did you… you didn’t have to- Megara: Oh, people always do crazy things… when they’re in love. Hercules: Oh… Meg. Meg, I- I… Megara: Are you… always this articulate? You- you haven’t got much time. You can still stop Hades.

Megara (Hercules): ISTP was originally published on MBTI Zone