#hiero II

[ltwilliammowett]

The Mast

One of the most important elements of a ship are the masts, because this is where the sails are attached that serve to propel the ship.

History

The oldest evidence for the use of one solid masts comes from the Ubaid site H3 in Kuwait, which dates back to the second half of the sixth millennium BC. There, a clay disc was recovered from a sherd that appears to depict a reed boat with two masts.

A painted clay disc with a diameter of 6.5 cm from site H3 with a design reminiscent of a boat with two masts, second half of the sixth millennium BC

In the West, the concept of a vessel with more than one mast to increase speed under sail and improve sailing characteristics developed in the northern waters of the Mediterranean: the earliest foremast was identified on an Etruscan pyxis from Caere (Italy) from the middle of the 7th century BC: A warship with a furled mainsail attacks an enemy ship and sets a foresail. An Etruscan tomb painting from the period between 475 and 450 BC depicts a two-masted merchant ship with a large foresail on a slightly inclined foremast.

Tomb of the Ship, mid-5th century BC

An artemon (Greek for foresail), which is almost as large as the main sail of the galley, is found on a Corinthian krater as early as the late 6th century BC; otherwise, Greek longships are uniformly depicted without this sail until the 4th century BC. In the East, ancient Indian kingdoms such as the Kalinga are thought to have been built in the 2nd century BC. One of the earliest documented evidence of Indian sail construction is the mural of a three-masted ship in the caves of Ajanta, which is dated to 400-500 AD.

This Ajanta mural depicts an ancient Indian ship with high stem and stern and three oblong sails attached to three masts. Steering-oars can also be seen. Location: Cave No. 2, Ajanta Caves, Aurangabad District, Maharashtra state, India, 400-500 AD

The foremast was used quite frequently on Roman galleys, where, tilted at a 45° angle, it was more like a bowsprit, and the scaled-down foresail attached to it was apparently used as a steering aid rather than for propulsion. While most ancient evidence is iconographic in nature, the existence of foremasts can also be inferred archaeologically from slots in the foremast feet, which were too close to the bow for a mainsail.

Fragment of mosaic depicting "navis tesseraria", a messenger and police boat of the African fleet, 2nd century AD

The artemon, together with the mainsail and the topsail, developed into the standard rigging of seagoing vessels in the Imperial period, which was supplemented by a mizzen on the largest cargo ships. The first recorded three-masters were the huge Syracusia, a prestigious object commissioned by King Hiero II of Syracuse and developed by the polymath Archimedes around 240 BC, as well as other Syracusan merchant ships of the time. The imperial grain freighters that travelled on the routes between Alexandria and Rome also included three-masted ships. A mosaic in Ostia (around 200 AD) shows a freighter with a three-masted rig entering the harbour of Rome. Specialised ships could carry many more masts: Theophrastus (Hist. Plant. 5.8.2) reports that the Romans brought in Corsican timber on a huge raft propelled by up to fifty masts and sails.

Throughout antiquity, both the foresail and the mizzen were secondary in terms of sail size, although they were large enough to require full rigging. In late antiquity, the foremast lost most of its tilt and stood almost upright on some ships.

By the beginning of the early Middle Ages, rigging in Mediterranean shipping had changed fundamentally: The spars, which had long since developed on smaller Greco-Roman ships, replaced the square sail, the most important type of sail in antiquity, which had virtually disappeared from the records by the fourteenth century (while remaining predominant in northern Europe). The dromon, the rowed bireme of the Byzantine fleet, almost certainly had two masts, a larger foremast and one amidships. Their length is estimated at 12 metres and 8 metres respectively, somewhat less than that of the Sicilian war galleys of the time.

Multi-masted sailing ships were reintroduced to the Mediterranean in the late Middle Ages. Large ships became more common and the need for additional masts to steer these ships appropriately grew with the increase in tonnage. Unlike in antiquity, the mizzen mast was introduced on medieval two-masted ships earlier than the foremast, a process that can be traced back to the mid-14th century based on visual material from Venice and Barcelona. To equalise the sail plan, the next obvious step was the addition of a mast in front of the main mast, which first appears in a Catalan ink drawing from 1409. With the establishment of the three-masted ship, propelled by square sails and battens and steered by the pivot-and-piston rudder, all the advanced ship technology required for the great transoceanic voyages was in place by the early 15th century.

In the 16th century, the cross-section of the masts was made up of several pieces of wood and held together with ropes and iron rings.

A lower mast with sections from 1773 to 1800

In order to achieve a greater height, the lower mast is extended, so that a total length of up to 60 metres can be achieved, measured from the keel. From lowest to highest, these were called: lower, top, topgallant, and royal masts. Giving the lower sections sufficient thickness necessitated building them up from separate pieces of wood. Such a section was known as a made mast, as opposed to sections formed from single pieces of timber, which were known as pole masts.

This is a section of HMS Victory's main mast

The forces of the sails on the mast construction are transferred to the hull construction by standing and running rigging, forwards and aft (stern) by stays, and laterally by shrouds or guys. In order to enable sailors to climb up into the rigging, which is particularly necessary for the operation of square riggers, rat lines are knotted into the shrouds like rungs of a ladder. The upper end of a ship's mast is called the masthead.

Mounting

The mast either stands in the mast track on the keel and is passed through the deck or it stands directly on deck. In the first case, the opening must be neatly sealed with a mast collar, otherwise water will penetrate into the living quarters. If the mast is on deck, it must be supported from below on the keel so that the loads do not bend the deck. Practically every sailing ship therefore has a more or less visible vertical support through the cabin.

Masts are usually supported by the standing rigging. The shrouds pull the mast downwards with several times its own weight and thus prevent it from tipping over.

Traditionally, when a sailing ship is built, one or more coins are placed under the mast as a lucky charm (according to my theory, the coins were also used as money to pay Charon the ferryman in the underworld if the ship sank); this custom is still practised today. Just as a horseshoe was nailed to the mast to bring good luck.

Mast types

For square-sail carrying ships, masts in their standard names in bow to stern (front to back) order, are:

Sprit topmast: a small mast set on the end of the bowsprit (discontinued after the early 18th century); not usually counted as a mast, however, when identifying a ship as "two-masted" or "three-masted"

Fore-mast: the mast nearest the bow, or the mast forward of the main-mast. As it is the furthest afore, it may be rigged to the bowsprit. Sections: fore-mast lower, fore topmast, fore topgallant mast

Main-mast: the tallest mast, usually located near the center of the ship Sections: main-mast lower, main topmast, main topgallant mast, royal mast (if fitted)

Mizzen-mast: the aft-most mast. Typically shorter than the fore-mast. Sections: mizzen-mast lower, mizzen topmast, mizzen topgallant mast

Some names given to masts in ships carrying other types of rig (where the naming is less standardised) are:

Bonaventure mizzen: the fourth mast on larger 16th-century galleons, typically lateen-rigged and shorter than the main mizzen.

Jigger-mast: typically, where it is the shortest, the aftmost mast on vessels with more than three masts. Sections: jigger-mast lower, jigger topmast, jigger topgallant mast

When a vessel has two masts, as a general rule, the main mast is the one setting the largest sail. Therefore, in a brig, the forward mast is the foremast and the after mast is the mainmast. In a schooner with two masts, even if the masts are of the same height, the after one usually carries a larger sail (because a longer boom can be used), so the after mast is the mainmast. This contrasts with a ketch or a yawl, where the after mast, and its principal sail, is clearly the smaller of the two, so the terminology is (from forward) mainmast and mizzen. (In a yawl, the term "jigger" is occasionally used for the aftermast.)

Some two-masted luggers have a fore-mast and a mizzen-mast – there is no main-mast. This is because these traditional types used to have three masts, but it was found convenient to dispense with the main-mast and carry larger sails on the remaining masts. This gave more working room, particularly on fishing vessels.

Cock, John. A treatise on mast-making , 1840.

Fincham, John. A Treatise on Masting Ships and Mast Making , 1854. Kipping, Robert. Rudimentary treatise on masting, mast-making, and rigging of ships , 1864.

Steel, David The Elements and Practice of Rigging, Seamanship, and Naval Tactics, Including Sail Making, Mast Making, and Gunnery , 1821.

Steel, David. Steel's Elements Of Mast-making, Sail-making and Rigging , 1794.

Layton, Cyril Walter Thomas, Peter Clissold, and A. G. W. Miller. Dictionary of nautical words and terms. Brown, Son & Ferguson, 1973.

Harland, John. Seamanship in the Age of Sail,1992

Marquardt, Karl Heinz, Bemastung und Takelung von Schiffen des 18. Jahrhunderts, 1986

[whencyclopedia]

Syracusia

The Syracusia was an ancient sailing vessel designed by Archimedes in the 3rd century BCE. She was fabled as being one of the largest ships ever built in antiquity and as having a sumptuous decor of exotic woods and marble along with towers, statues, a gymnasium, a library, and even a temple.

A New Approach

Ancient seafaring is usually perceived as a cabotage maritime navigation. The term comes from the French verb caboter meaning “traveling by the coast.” People of antiquity (Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans) usually sailed following the coastline and did not take the risk of going too far out on the high seas. Nevertheless, there are sources confirming that there were exceptions, and the first of them took place as far back as the 3rd century BCE.

In Sicily, under the ruling of king Hiero II of Syracuse (270 – 215 BCE), a ship with stunning dimensions was built. The material used for the construction of that giant boat equated to the material for 60 regular ships. What was more, that vessel was meant to leave the secure coastal lanes and to cross the Mediterranean Sea. The ship was given a name – Syracusia – and represented what could be called “the first liner of antiquity.”

Continue reading...

[armatofu]

El "primer crucero del mundo" fue diseñado por Arquímedes. El primer barco colosal del mundo, no muy diferente a un moderno crucero en forma y función, fue diseñado y construido por el antiguo matemático griego Arquímedes. El enorme buque marino fue construido en el siglo III a. C. y fue encargado por Hiero II de Siracusa, el último monarca helenístico (griego) de Sicilia.

[transgenderer]

Actually, the only known Roman fish tanks - tanks in the present-day aquarium sense - are associated with transporting fish for long distances, fishmonger shops and kitchens. Athenaeus of Naucratis, a Greek historian circa 200 AD, describes a ship built by Archimedes at the behest of the tyrant Hiero II, which had a live tank built into the bow and was constructed of lead and wood. During the construction of the airport at Fiumicino in 1958-59, a boat with a live tank (navis vivaria) built with wooden boards and coated with lead was unearthed near what was the entrance to the Claudian harbor. The presence of holding tanks at some fishmonger’s shops have been found in the market of Ostia and also at private houses in or near the kitchens. None of these, however, are made of marble or constructed with glass sides.

[hashirun]

naniniwala ka ba sa density?

In 250 BC, Hiero II, the King of Syracuse, suspected that his crown, which he commissioned a goldsmith to make, was not made of pure gold. He suspected that silver was added in making the crown, so he tasked Archimedes to verify but without damaging the crown.

Archimedes mulled on the problem for days. Finally, the solution occured to him while taking a bath. When water spilled as he submerged his body in the bath tub, he realized that the amount of water spilled was equal to the space his body occupied.

Archimedes knew that silver has less density than gold - any weight of silver occupies more space than its equivalent weight in gold. So what he did was weigh the crown, then he got a chunk of pure gold with the same weight as the crown.

Next, he submerged the chunk of gold in the water and took note how much water it displaced. Then he repeated the same step with the crown. He noticed that the crown displaced more water than the chunk of gold. While it was the same weight, the crown took up more space meaning it was made with material with less density.

And that was how Archimedes proved that the goldsmith was a scammer.

So my answer is yes, naniniwala ako sa density.

Also, when in doubt, take a bath. Eureka!

[roskii]

I got two Aus for Zelda currently.

We first have the one with most development.. the coup au.

This one Ganondorf is a good person and found himself in the middle of a coup in Hyrule during a visit... The king's sister, Dazel takes the throne and orders for her men to kill Zelda (she's literally 1 at that point) Ganondorf and Hiero (a Sheikah researcher for the royal family) plan a coup for 15 years while Ganondorf raises Princess Zelda and trains her in the Gerudo canyons.. Everything goes well til Hiero addresses they need the Hero to also aid them..and he found him! An Ocarina maker, Link. This kid isn't even the Hero so really why is this Sheikah insisting they have Link tag along.

Then we got the broken au

This au takes place in the main timeline, particularly the doomed timeline . A century after the events of Zelda II, Ganondorf reincarnates as a Gerudo male..but Queen Zelda of old orders for every gerudo male to be killed to prevent another rise of Ganon.. Ganondorf is a wanderer trying to stay alive. Soon meets a hylian named Link (a looter and a loner a bit. Shy as hell) and they start to travel together trying to curse Ganondorf from the curse his past life and Demise inflicted upon him.

Princess Zelda, the carrier of two triforces, granddaughter of Zelda and link (from Zelda 1 and 2) is actively looking for Ganondorf..her triforces telling her he's back.

[samasmith23]

Evangelion: You Can (Not) Marathon — (Part 7)

Neon Genesis Evangelion, “Episode 7: That Which is Manmade/A HUMAN WORK”

Continuing my Evangelion re-watch marathon with NGE, "Episode 7: That Which is Manmade/A HUMAN WORK"! For my thoughts on the previous episode, click the link to the post below:

I’ve gotta be honest... I always remembered this being my personal least favorite episode in the entire series. While it’s NOT a bad episode by any stretch of the imagination, since it still contains a lot of incredibly entertaining action and character beats, it always felt the most filler-y due to now detached the plot feels from the overarching Angel attacks and NERV versus SEELE storylines. Honestly, this episode left less of a lasting impression on me than even Episode 14, (of which the first half is a literal clip show) or the fan-maligned Episode 10 (I actually really love that episode and feel the amount of hate it gets is heavily unwarranted).

With all of that out of the way however, let's dig in!

Something interesting to note about Gendo’s office in this opening scene. The Sefirot, or “Tree of Life” pattern (which is an important religious symbol within Kabbalhaism, or Jewish mysticism) present on both the floor and ceiling here was completely absent in the previous episode when Misato received approval for Operation Yashima. I initially would have guessed that the absence of the Sefirot pattern was simply because of the scene in Episode 6 taking place at daytime instead of night like the current scene is, but in a later episode the Sefirot pattern is present during the daytime lighting as well. So it seems like a legitimate animation goof there! Whoops!

Secondly, many other fans have pointed out that the shadow formed by the silhouette formed by Gendo sitting at his desk heavily resembles that of a Star of David, leading to many fans pondering exactly what meaning this usage of religious symbolism is meant to convey, especially since Anno and other members of EVA’s staff have publicly denied there being any real depth behind all the religious iconography lifted from Christian, Judaic, Kabbalist, Buddhist Hindu & Shintoistic folklore outside of aesthetic purposes to distinguish the series from other mecha-anime at the time.

Except, I personally do feel that there is legitimate meaning to be derived from the symbols utilized in scenes like this one.

For instance, the silhouette of Gendo’s desk is placed directly above the Sephirah on the Tree of Life known as “Keter,” which within the context of the Kabbalah specifically refers to Hebrew term for “crown.” Additionally, the hexagram shape of the Star of David is meant to represent divine creation through the unification of both the contrasting elements of fire & water as well as the masculine & feminine powers. This imagery is supported by Margaret Starbird in her article “The Archetypal Mandala of the Star of David” for the blog The Book of Threes, wherein the author states: “The mandala of the hexagram, also known as the ‘Star of David’ is much older than Judaism, older even than history! As an archetypal symbol for the sacred union of the opposite energies, it is the ‘yin-yang’ of western civilization. Formed by the intertwining of the ‘fire’ and ‘water’ triangles (the male ‘blade’ and the female ‘chalice’) this symbiol represents the masculine and feminine principles in perfect union, the ‘sacred marriage’ or ‘hieros gamous’ of the ancient world. [And] in India the symbol represents the ‘cosmic dance’ of Shiva and Shakti, and the Jewish Kaballah suggests that the Ark of the Covenant contains, in addition to the tables of the Ten Commandments, ‘a regular hexagram representing a man and woman in intimate embrace.’”

The gendered symbolism of the hexagram becomes significantly more evident as the show progresses, particualrly in-relation to the both the logo of Gendo's employeers, SEELE, as well as the mask worn by humanity's progenitor Lilith. Both share the exact same single inverted-triangle design, signifying the feminine without the presence of the masculine.

This not only serves to convey humanity's state of incompleteness as percieved by both SEELE and the Angels (who are the descendants of Lilith's male counterpart Adam), but it is also reflective of both the patriarchal gender roles that are deeply interwoven into the Kabbalistic creation (i.e. Eve being born from Adam's rib instead of the same soil that God constructed both Adam & his first wife Lilith from, as well as Lilith being banished from the Garden of Eden and forever cursed to live as the "Mother of All Demons" after she refused to be sexually submissive to Adam).

Therefore, an individual can interpret the hexagram-shape of the silhouette of Gendo’s desk in-conjunction with its placement towards the "Keter" sephriah on Tree of Life diagram symbolizing a "complete" unification with God through the elevation humanity to Adam Kadmon, a Kabbalhistic figure that according to Medium writer James William Hollibush, refers to, "the 'primordial man' or the 'celestial man.' Adam Kadmon is said to be the first emanation of God, and he is the archetype of all humanity."

In large measure, these theological symbols are indicative of both SEELE's overarching plan of evolving both Lilith and humanity as a whole to a similar plane of god-like existence comparable to that of Adam and the Angels, as well as Gendo’s personal god-complex and selfish desire to initiate his own version of Human Instrumentality that is separate from SEELE's vision in order to reunite with the soul of his dead wife Yui.

Plus, the hexagramic dichotomy between the masculine and feminine is heavily reflective of Shinji’s struggles and failures to connect with and respect the women in his life as part of his psychosexual Oedipus complex. As the series progresses, both Shinji & his father Gendo will function as avatars for the "original sin" in the EVA universe. That "original sin" being misogyny, or man's distrust & mistreatment of women that originated with the conflict between Adam & Lilith (which again parallels Kabbalistic folklore).

Lol! While I stated earlier that this episode was the least memorable for me, I’ve never forgotten the image of Shinji & Pen Pen respectively simultaneously eating their toast and fish for breakfast while arching their heads backward! It’s such an iconic image in my head!

Sigh… Misato here is totally me when first waking up in the morning… well… with the exception of drinking beer for breakfast since I personally don’t drink at all (alcohol just tastes terrible IMO)! Also, in the ADV dub Misato called her beverage “sake” when that’s clearly a Yebisu Beer can… lol!

The contrast between how Shinji perceives Misato and how his classmates Toji & Kensuke perceive her is incredibly interesting. While Shinji views Misato as a lazy slob due to him living under her roof and witnessing just how messy and unprofessional her home life is, Toji & Kensuke instead view Misato as this smoking hot babe who acts like a composed government agent. This dichotomy is likely an intentional act on Misato’s part, as she presents herself the exact opposite way in her professional life and in public than how she actually lives in her own private quarters.

It’s this element of Misato’s character which makes her relatable to many fans despite her flaws, since she heavily reflects a kind of realistic contrast between how people behave and present themselves in public and private settings. Just how much of our true selves do we feel comfortable sharing with the rest of the world? How much are we willing to open the walls of our hearts and souls to others? Which parts of ourselves to we express in public are genuinely reflective of who we truly are as a person, or just a facade to shield our own private insecurities from the rest of the world?

Oh boy! Some important info drops in this scene where Shinji’s testing EVA Unit-01’s cooling systems! In addition to remembering Unit-01’s creepy v*gina-eyeball from Episode 2 and questioning just what exactly is an Evangelion, Shinji comments on how the LCL liquid in the Entry-Plug smells like blood but is comforting, which is reflective of the Freudian symbolism of returning to the mother’s womb that’s fully on display with the EVAs. Also, Ritsuko briefly mentions the shipment of EVA Unit-02 from Germany, as well as NERV HQ receiving severe defense budget cuts, foreshadowing both the appearance of a certain red-haired pilot in the very next episode, as well as SEELE and the JSSFD’s invasion of NERV in The End of Evangelion!

Even more important info drops! Geez… I guess this episode isn’t as much of a filler episode as I originally remembered it to be now that I think of it…

So in addition to Gendo discussing the Human Instrumentality Committee’s plans to construct Evangelion Units-06 & 08 overseas (foreshadowing the Mass-Production Evangelions we later see in The End of Evangelion), Ritsuko partially reveals to Shinji the truth behind Second Impact 15-years earlier. Namely that contrary to publicly available information, the Second Impact was caused not by a meteorite colliding with Antarctica, but rather by a research expedition team uncovering the frozen remains of the 1st Angel, only for said-Angel reawaken and cause a near-apocalyptic explosion that obliterated the entire southern continent and wiped out half of the Earth’s population. Additionally, Ritsuko elaborates that the purpose of the Evangelions is to prevent a potential Third Impact which would fully eradicate humanity, now that the Angels have returned.

Nice bit of visual contrast to the first breakfast scene with Misato now presenting herself in a much more serious and professional manner in her own apartment as she prepares to attend an important conference meeting being held at the ruins of “old” Tokyo!

Now this is very interesting! A private Japanese industrial corporation has actually developed its own version of the Evangelion known as “Jet Alone,” which overcompensates for the EVA Units limited battery supply without an umbilical cable by retrofitting a literal nuclear reactor onto its back!

What I find so fascinating about this scene at the conference is the back-and-forth exchange between Ritsuko and the company’s executive as both of them raise equally valid arguments: while Ritsuko points out the very obvious safety risk of attaching a nuclear reactor to a giant robot designed to engage in hand-to-hand combat, the executive points out how NERV’s budgetary spending on the previous EVA vs. Angel fights has resulted in the depletion o financial and food resources of entire nations (plus the machines being operated by fallible human pilots).

However, the executive can’t help but undermine his position by making misogynistic remarks by comparing EVA Unit-01’s berserker rampage back in Episode 2 to a “hysterical woman.” Yeesh! While this does serve as an unintentional double entendre considering that Unit-01 possesses the soul of Shinji’s dead mother Yui Ikari, that executive’s sexism was completely uncalled for and I can’t help but share Ritsuko’s frustration and offense to the executive’s remarks here (especially given her own tragic background with her late mother).

Lol! Misato’s such a hypocrite! As much as she previously criticized Ritsuko and the executive’s back-&-forth arguments as being “childish,” Misato’s acting pretty dang childish herself by kicking a locker in frustration while cursing up a storm about how much she wants to kick said-executive’s ass! Also, I can’t help but agree with Ritsuko’s takeaway that the executive is, “Just a show-off begging for praise and adulation, petty and not worthy of attention,” given how he resorted to juvenile sexism in order dismiss NERV’s efficiency, severely undermining any reasonable arguments he might have had. Also also, her burning the Jet Alone plans is simultaneously a nice touch whilst also highlighting her own juvenile hypocrisy! She and Misato truly are alike despite being so different, Lol!

And of course something goes horribly wrong during Jet Alone’s activation test, as the mecha refuses to accept any computer commands and begins walking aimlessly as it’s nuclear rods and cooling vents begin to overhear, transforming this robot into a literal walking nuclear meltdown!

Also, while I can’t help but laugh at Misato’s snarky jab of, “It looks like this robot is as badly behaved as the idiot who built it,” since it does serve the sexist executive right, I simultaneously feel dirty for laughing since said-sexist executive’s failure is at risk of causing a nuclear fallout, which isn’t a laughing matter at all…

Also also, Ritsuko seems strangely unmoved by the seriousness of this situation. Suspicious?

Misato’s response to the statement that it would take, "An act of God," to stop Jet Alone’s forward momentum before it inevitably melts down is very intriguing: “Acts of men are better than acts of God.”

While this line serves as a lead-in to Misato planning to utilize the Evangelions to stop Jet Alone, Allison Keith delivers said-line with such strong conviction that I can’t help but wonder if this is also meant to further foreshadow Misato’s traumatic past with the Angels during Second Impact, just like the uncomfortable look she gives in the earlier scene when Ritsuko is explaining the events of Second Impact to Shinji?

Also, nice bit of extra detail there with the dirt on Misato’s dress, face, and hair there! Kudos to the animator’s over at Gainax!

Lol! Not only is the company President golfing during a time of serious crisis, but his voice acting in the ADV dub makes him sound suspiciously like George W. Bush. So the president of the company which produced Jet Alone is essentially two infamously terrible U.S. Republican presidents merged together (i.e. Trump and Bush Jr.)!

Yet again Ritsuko seems to be taking the Jet Alone crisis unusually calmly… definitely suspicious…

Also, I’m curious as to what the significance behind the shut-down password to Jet Alone’s nuclear reactor being “Hope” is.

Also also, dang does Misato look great in that futuristic radiation suit!

Aww… while Shinji might not pilot the EVA for selfless altruistic reasons, and while he might berate Misato for her lazy and unhygienic lifestyle at home, he does legitimately care for her safety when she announces her intention to deactivate Jet Alone’s reactor from the inside!

And Misato gives a more sincere peace-sign to Shinji here than the one she previously gave to his class during the parent-teacher day scene earlier!

This entire chase sequence between Unit-01 and Jet Alone is FREAKING epic, although I can’t help but chuckle at how funny Jet Alone’s arms look when they move as Shinji struggles to prevent it from walking towards a populated area!

Lol! Misato pulls a George Lucas by stating, “I have a bad feeling about this,” when she opens the reactor! And Shinji also adds some humor to the scene with Spike Spencer’s line delivery of, “Stop running you bastard!” Double lol!

Dang! The sequence of Misato desperately struggling to manually push the control rods back into place upon realizing that the fail-safe password and program was deliberately sabatoged, along with a Shinji struggling to contain the increasing radiation heat leaks as Jet Alone is about to enter nuclear meltdown before suddenly shutting down operations was absolutely intense! And yeah it’s obvious that Ritsuko was involved with the sabatoge given her earlier suspicious reactions to the crisis as well as her thinking to herself that Misato was a “crazy fool” to try and play the hero and stop Jet Alone on her own. This is explicitly confirmed when Ristuko is later meeting with Gendo in his office to inform him that aside from Misato’s intervention, that their plan worked.

This goes to show that NERV is not exactly the benevolent peacekeeping organization that Shinji and even Misato believe it to be, as Gendo & Ritsuko we’re willing to risk a literal nuclear meltdown (presumably they would have stopped the meltdown at the last minute even if Misato hadn’t interfered, but still!) simply as a means of reinforcing NERV’s position of power by sabotaging any and all competition from foreign parties in their defense of humanity against the Angels. These events, combined with the covering up of the true events of the Second Impact to the general public, as well as the seedy mass production of future EVA units, definitely indicates that there is something incredibly shady occurring beneath the surface with NERV. That there’s far more to this organization’s agenda than simply defeating the Angels…

Huh… Kensuke just provided a level of meaningful insight to Shinji that I never would have expected to have heard from him. Even though Shinji expresses continued annoyance and embarrassment at Misato’s messy home-life (the exact same behavior she previously demonstrated at the start of the episode), Kensuke states that it simply means that Misato considers Shinji a part of her family because she’s willing to show him a side of her life that she’s unwilling to show anyone else.

That’s actually a really profound observation on Kensuke’s part! It harkens back to my previous analysis about Misato hiding specific characteristics of her personality in public and in the workplace, only expressing her true feelings in private and in the presence of those she legitimately cares for. In this regard, Misato truly does view herself as a surrogate mother figure to Shinji despite her shortcomings, and this only serves to strengthen the bond she and Shinji share as a found family, further providing meaning to both of their existences.

What a neat note to end the episode on!

So that was NGE, "Episode 7: That Which is Manmade/A HUMAN WORK," and overall it was actually a lot better than I remember it being! While still probably not one of my personal favorites from the series, this episode was incredibly important in regards to further fleshing out Shinji & Misato’s relationship as well as beginning to expose the shady corruption underlying NERV as an organization, as well as providing some important information and foreshadowing concerning Second Impact, EVA Unit-02 and its ginger-haired pilot, and the Mass-Production Evangelions! So definitely NOT a filler episode like I previously wrote it off as!

Next time will be Episode 8, meaning that it’s finally time to meet the Second Child... Asuka Langley Soryu!

[myclutteredbookshelf]

Book Review: Half-Blood Blues

Author: Esi Edugyan

Published: 2011

In their review of the novel, The New York Times compared Half-Blood Blues to the classic Humphrey Bogart film Casablanca. It's not a completely outlandish comparison, as both tales are set in World War II and have plots regarding a love triangle and the characters' struggle to obtain visas. But where Sam the piano man plays a minor role in Casablanca, Esi Edugyan brings the Black musicians to the forefront in her novel.

Half-Blood Blues follows two narratives: one set in the late '30s, following a jazz band consisting of both Black and white musicians trying to exit Berlin to record an album in Paris, and one set in the early '90s, following the only two remaining band members, Sid and his friend Chip, as they travel to Poland in search of Hiero. The novel explores the frustrations of the Black Americans, who came to Europe to escape the racism of their home country, only to be faced with it once again under Hitler's regime, and how the world of jazz continued to live even after being banned by the Third Reich. Various jazz players appear throughout the novel, from Louis Armstrong to the Goldene Sieben, but I do wish that Edugyan had considered showing more of what the jazz scene was like in Berlin before the bans, as most of story focuses on the band fleeing for their lives rather than the music they make. We don't actually get to see them perform as a group before circumstances force them apart.

Read the full review on My Cluttered Bookshelf.

[thewomanofrevelation]

daniel mirante, hieros gamos/details i, ii [x]

[francesco-de-angelis]

De voluntades nocturnas en prosa (ii).

En ésta noche blanca, de lejana soledad, de espacios conocidos y caos sideral, mi cuerpo intenta descansar sin éxito.

Las paredes ya no hablan, no relatan del exterior más que un silencio absoluto y la quietud de una jornada sin viento.

No espero movimiento alguno, ni dentro ni fuera, que me anime a reflejar una luz de no sé bien qué faro.

He experimentado el amor más profundo a la vez que espero un regreso imposible, no anunciado, inesperado y hasta milagroso.

La esperanza de un náufrago que llegó a una isla deshabitada, esperando en ella el abrazo cálido de un hogar en invierno. Construyendo como puede su choza y aguardando la llegada de no se sabe quien ni que cosa.

No espero nada de mi mismo y me hundo en la profundidad de la habitación. Mis manos arden y mis ojos se cansan, de tantas horas sin dormir.

Ya van mas de cien otoños, en medio de una tormenta, sin anuncios ni desenlaces, al menos útiles para cortar un ciclo.

No hay preludio, sólo recuerdos, recuerdos de palabras de amor, que al revivirlas provocan la paz en mi alma. ¿Serán el combustible para continuar funcionando? ¿O en cambio, el combustible debe provenir del propio sujeto? ¿Seré capaz de vivir sin el aliento que me dan tus ojos, o tendré que luchar por ellos?

Muchas preguntas para una noche blanca, solitaria, silenciosa y lejana. Como he dicho: - no debiera. No obstante mi humanidad, es tan frágil, me golpea y la hiero. No hay vuelta atrás ni futuro previsible.

¿Qué más puedo pedir que tenerte a mi lado?

Desearía que vinieras, sí, y por siempre, también, pero, no vendrás. Al menos hoy, al menos ésta noche.

[mythoscorner]

Queen Hera

The source is blue

This is my commentary

Beginning Encyclopedia readings about Queen Hera

Hera was, according to some accounts, the eldest daughter of Cronos and Rhea, and a sister of Zeus. (Hom. Il. xvi. 432; comp. iv. 58; Ov. Fast. vi. 29.) Apollodorus (i. 1, § 5), however, calls Hestia the eldest daughter of Cronos; and Lactantius (i. 14) calls her a twin-sister of Zeus. According to the Homeric poems (Il. xiv. 201, &c.), she was brought up by Oceanus and Thetys, as Zeus had usurped the throne of Cronos; and afterwards she became the wife of Zeus, without the knowledge of her parents. This simple account is variously modified in other traditions.

Going based off gut feeling Heista is the eldest with Hera being the twin of Zeus at least time wise, however I'm not sure if that would cause conflict with Kronos eating his young as there isnt any record that I've seen stating Kronos also ate his daughters.

However that doesn't mean he didn't, I believe he absolutely ate all the children he could as in my own experiences Kronos is a fearful being to say the least.

But this is a loose reading of an Encyclopedia, I would like to read the Apollodorus and find for myself what I think.

Being a daughter of Cronos, she, like his other children, was swallowed by her father, but afterwards released (Apollod. l. c.), and, according to an Arcadian tradition, she was brought up by Temenus, the son of Pelasgus. (Paus. viii. 22. § 2; August. de Civ. Dei, vi. 10.) The Argives, on the other hand, related that she had been brought up by Euboea, Prosymna, and Acraea, the three daughters of the river Asterion (Paus. ii. 7. § 1, &c.; Plut. Sympos. iii. 9); and according to Olen, the Horae were her nurses. (Paus. ii. 13. § 3.) Several parts of Greece also claimed the honour of being her birthplace; among them are two, Argos and Samos, which were the principal seats of her worship. (Strab. p. 413; Paus. vii. 4. § 7; Apollon. Rhod. i. 187.)

Most common belief is Argos was her proper birthplace from what I've gathered and that the sisters or the Horae were the ones to nurse her.

I've noticed golden horses adorning her armor as well, I wonder why she appears as such in my visions.

Her marriage with Zeus also offered ample scope for poetical invention (Theocrit. xvii. 131, &c.), and several places in Greece claimed the honour of having been the scene of the marriage, such as Euboea (Steph. Byz. s. v. Karustos), Samos (Lactant. de Fals. Relig. i. 17), Cnossus in Crete (Diod. v. 72), and Mount Thornax, in the south of Argolis. (Schol. ad Theocrit. xv. 64; Paus. ii. 17. § 4, 36. § 2.) This marriage acts a prominent part in the worship of Hera under the name of hieros gamos; on that occasion all the gods honoured the bride with presents, and Ge presented to her a tree with golden apples, which was watched by the Hesperides in the garden of Hera, at the foot of the Hyperborean Atlas. (Apollod. ii. 5. § 11; Serv. ad Aen. iv. 484.)

Beutifull but no real notes here.

The Homeric poems know nothing of all this, and we only hear, that after the marriage with Zeus, she was treated by the Olympian gods with the same reverence as her husband. (Il. xv. 85, &c.; comp. i. 532, &c., iv. 60, &c.) Zeus himself, according to Homer, listened to her counsels, and communicated his secrets to her rather than to other gods (xvi. 458, i. 547). Hera also thinks herself justified in censuring Zeus when he consults others without her knowing it (i. 540, &c.); but she is, notwithstanding, far inferior to him in power; she must obey him unconditionally, and, like the other gods, she is chastised by him when she has offended him (iv. 56, viii. 427, 463). Hera therefore is not, like Zeus, the queen of gods and men, but simply the wife of the supreme god. The idea of her being the queen of heaven, with regal wealth and power, is of a much later date. (Hygin. Fab. 92; Ov. Fast. vi. 27, Heroid. xvi. 81; Eustath. ad Hom. p. 81.) There is only one point in which the Homeric poems represent Hera as possessed of similar power with Zeus, viz. she is able to confer the power of prophecy (xix. 407). But this idea is not further developed in later times. (Comp. Strab. p. 380; Apollon. Rhod. iii. 931.)

I refer to Queen Hera as such out of respect for her authority and power because I know Zeus treats her with respect and love. He is simply superior in power and ability, but he does not abuse that to degrade her or put her down, rather he lifts her up with him. Ive noticed that if you actually work with Lord Zeus he talks about her quite often, he loves her deeply and I know she loves him.

Wether or not she is truly of equal power, he still respects her council and she is still bold enough to face him and tell him if she sees something is even remotely off.

That is a boldness and a spirit I so admire and adore, the ability to stand up for ones self no matter who it is. She has my endless respect.

Her character, as described by Homer, is not of a very amiable kind, and its main features are jealousy, obstinacy, and a quarrelling disposition, which sometimes makes her own husband tremble (i. 522, 536, 561, v. 892.) Hence there arise frequent disputes between Hera and Zeus; and on one occasion Hera, in conjunction with Poseidon and Athena, contemplated putting Zeus into chains (viii. 408, i. 399). Zeus, in such cases, not only threatens, but beats her; and once he even hung her up in the clouds, her hands chained, and with two anvils suspended from her feet (viii. 400, &c., 477, xv. 17, &c.; Eustath. ad Hom. p. 1003). Hence she is frightened by his threats, and gives way when he is angry; and when she is unable to gain her ends in any other way, she has recourse to cunning and intrigues (xix. 97). Thus she borrowed from Aphrodite the girdle, the giver of charm and fascination, to excite the love of Zeus (xiv. 215, &c.). By Zeus she was the mother of Ares, Hebe, and Hephaestus (v. 896, Od. xi. 604, Il. i. 585; Hes. Theog. 921, &c.; Apollod. i. 3. § 1.) Respecting the different traditions about the descent of these three divinities see the separate articles.

And this is why we read and we don't take all of what one author(s) say(s) about a god as law.

Homer is a wonderfull author(s) in the sense that the storys are theatrical and intresting, however one must wonder how much of it was played up for the drama and how much was actual documentation of how the gods acted towards and with eachother.

Homer is also known for making the majority of his woman portrayals as women of jealousy trying to overtake men or get back at them, even siding with Hesiods interpertation of Pandora being the worst and first woman to ever be made. I doubt this entry is so simple. We don't even know the half of what went down to bring them to that point. What we do know is what we have now and what we have now is experiences and stories brought to us by those who practice and converse with Deity's regularly.

I am more likely to trust those who practice with said Deity's than an author making money centuries ago

Still, I won't entirely brush off Homer for this I just dispise homers view of Hera and specifically the women interpertations written by Homer. And I am here to learn, ultimately.

Properly speaking, Hera was the only really married goddess among the Olympians, for the marriage of Aphrodite with Ares can scarcely be taken into consideration; and hence she is the goddess of marriage and of the birth of children. Several epithets and surnames, such as Eileithuia, Gamêlia, Zugia, Teleia, &c., contain allusions to this character of the goddess, and the Eileithyiae are described as her daughters. (Hom. Il. xi. 271, xix. 118.) Her attire is described in the Iliad (xiv. 170, &c.); she rode in a chariot drawn by two horses, in the harnessing and unharnessing of which she was assisted by Hebe and the Horae (iv. 27, v. 720, &c., viii. 382, 433). Her favourite places on earth were Argos, Sparta, and Mycenae (iv. 51).

These are important notes to remember if you are a practicing Hellenic Pagan and want to know more About Hera and her likes or dislikes.

Favorite places were Argos, Sparta and Mycenae. I'll have to give those places a look some time and read up on them more.

Final

Respecting the real significance of Hera, the ancients themselves offer several interpretations: some regarded her as the personification of the atmosphere (Serv. ad Aen. i. 51), others as the queen of heaven or the goddess of the stars (Eurip. Helen. 1097), or as the goddess of the moon (Plut. Quaest. Rom. 74), and she is even confounded with Ceres, Diana, and Proserpina. (Serv. ad Virg. Georg. i. 5). According to modern views, Hera is the great goddess of nature, who was every where worshipped from the earliest times. The Romans identified their goddess Juno with the Greek Hera

I really must read the Apollodorus

We still possess several representations of Hera. The noblest image, and which was afterwards looked upon as the ideal of the goddess, was the statue by Polycletus. She was usually represented as a majestic woman at a mature age, with a beautiful forehead, large and widely opened eyes, and with a grave expression commanding reverence. Her hair was adorned with a crown or a diadem. A veil frequently hangs down the back of her head, to characterise her as the bride of Zeus, and, in fact, the diadem, veil, sceptre, and peacock are her ordinary attributes. A number of statues and heads of Hera still exist.

[classicalmonuments]

Altar of Hieron (Great Altar of Syracuse)

Syracuse, Sicily

3rd century BCE

195.8 m. in length (!!!)

It was built in the Hellenistic period by King Hiero II and is the largest altar known from antiquity.

The structure is aligned roughly north-north-west to south-east-east, and is located in the Neapolis, slightly to the southeast of the Greek theatre. Almost nothing except the foundations of the structure survive today. The structure was partly built from masonry blocks and partially carved from the living bedrock. The altar itself is 20.85 metres wide and 195.8 metres long (exactly one Doric stade). It sits on a crepidoma with three steps - at base this is 199.07 metres long and 22.51 metres wide. This makes it the largest altar known from the ancient world.

The upper surface of the altar was divided lengthwise into two levels of different heights: the western half was perhaps 6.06 metres high, and the eastern half was significantly taller, rising to a height of perhaps 10.68 metres. There was a cornice and a Doric triglyph frieze running around the top of each level. The whole structure was covered in plaster, which was used to smooth out imperfections in the stone and for the fine decorative details. The overall structure of the altar mimics that of small fire altars which are common votive offerings in Sicily.

There were stairways on the eastern side of the altar at the northern and southern ends, which led up to the lower level of the structure. Each of the staircases had an entranceway which was supported by two telamones. The feet of one of the norther one telamones are still in situ. It is unclear whether it was possible to access the higher level of the structure.

The altar was part of a larger complex. Below the structure, on the eastern side, there was a natural grotto, about 18 metres deep which contained votive offerings, some of which were deposited in the Archaic and Classical periods, long before the altar was built. To the west of the altar there was a rectangular open space with a water-proofed basin in the centre, surrounded by a u-shaped stoa. A propylon on the western side of this compound allowed access to both the open space and thus to the altar itself. In Augustan times, this open space was planted with trees in order to turn it into a sacred grove.

[girl8890]

JK | Hieros Gamos (II)

BTS ML | Mood Board

Summary: After a fight with Jungkook that leaves y/n even more confused than before, one last argument with her family has her running to find her own answers. One of those answers, was already waiting at the door for her. 

Paring: God!Thanatos!Jungkook x Goddess!reader

Genre: greek gods!au, soulmate!au, smut, angst, some fluff 

Rating: 18+

Warnings: family arguments, confused reader, running away, mentions of past war/murder, secrets reveled, flirting, past masturbation mentioned, inexperienced/virgin!reader, heavy petting, dry humping, thigh riding, clothed sex, horny jk, kinda dom!jk, nipple play, jk is just so much in loveeee~

A/N: This part is much longer than part 1, so sit back and get comfy! I’m really getting into this mini-series now, and this part is a doozy. Secretes are revealed, connections are strengthened as well as broken, and I may have hinted at what y/n’s powers actually are… hehe. Enjoy part 2! 

Part I | Part III

。・°°・°°・。 。・°°・°°・。 。・°°・°°・。

Time has always been different for gods. A year for mortals is a blink of the eye for gods. That’s why when a month past since you last saw your invisible friend, you didn’t expect it to hurt so much.

A month should have been nothing, but in reality it was everything. Knowing him for so long, and being in the dark about the world for so long, the longest you’ve been okay with staying away from him was for a few days because talking to your family was like reading ancient script from a wall. But after the fight you two had, where you couldn’t help your anger from not only your family keeping secrets from you but your best friend too, it really hurt you.

Still does.

Your family has been asking what’s wrong, and you always have an excuse. Not wanting to tell them the truth, or admit it out loud, either. That someone they don’t know about is haunting your mind. Your friend has always haunted your mind, though. It just wasn’t until night fell that you allowed him too. When his voice would tickle your ears and consume your mind, you always found yourself reaching under your dress to feel just how much his voice alone affected you.

But you don’t want to think about that right now. You want too scrub your frustrations away into this piece of clothing that you have been washing for the past twenty minutes. You don’t want to think about how pretty his voice sounds... or how much you long to touch him just once... not even how you imagine his lips-

You scream out your frustration, hating yourself for letting these thoughts consume your every waking thoughts, and then start scrubbing the piece of clothing even harder. Making the water in the basin slosh around so much that it tips over the edge in small waves. 

“Wo-wo, there little miss! Worrying about things that haven’t happened yet, shouldn't affect the clothing,” Your aunt, Clotho, pushed her hands out to you like that would somehow sooth your frustration.

You blow out a puff of hot air, and instead of giving your aunt any of your attention, you take the wet piece of clothing, and the rest of the clothing that have gone unwashed, and leave the room. That doesn’t stop your aunt, including your other aunt, and mother, from searching for you later. 

It was while you were sitting on a ridge of the cave that looked out to the rest of the world. The only spot in the entire cave that could be considered a window when compared to a normal home. You look out at the dead earth that surrounds the cave, taking note of a soul that's drifted too far away from the entrance of the underworld and how it soon dissipates into thin air. Probably grabbed by the reaper of souls or even the River Styx’s guardian. 

You longed for a life like there's. Even if something as messily and gruesome like reaping dead souls, and rowing those souls across a river doesn’t sound at all fun, but it’s better than being stuck in a cave for all of eternity for no reason. This isn’t even your job, and your stuck here! Not because of a godly punishment, or because you even wanted to be stuck here. Your birth in this spot was the only reason. 

The fates coined this cave as there's, so this is the spot people travel to when they want to seek out their abilities. You, on the other hand, don’t have a single power that leads people to find you in this cave. Heck, you don’t even know what powers you have worth something like that. You’ve never had the courage to go searching or practicing for it. You can choose to leave—or you should have the choice to leave—to go find out exactly that, but yet, you’re still here. 

“Why- “the long-“ “face, darling.”

Unlike most people, you don’t find the fate sister’s talking annoying when they speak like this. Your brain is wired for it now, after spending every day since birth hearing it.

“You know why,” You say without looking at the fates.

The fates glance at each other, and all three of them shrug their shoulders at the same time.

“We can't read your mind, daughter.”

“Trust me-” “We’ve tried.” “Ow!”

You grin when you hear your aunt, Lachesis, yelp in pain from undoubtedly getting smacked in the back of the head by your mother. Not because you find your aunt’s pain enjoyable, but you love the bound the three fate sisters have. You also knew they tried readying your mind before, but I guess that’s just a part of one of your own useless abilities worth mentioning. Although, having the ability to keep even your own fate and mind as off limits to them is special in its own way. Otherwise they would have found out about your invisible friend and that’s a no-go. 

“Nothing any of you can fix. How about that.” You say rhetorically like you’re breathing out air. Knowing no matter what your frustrations are, it will be heard by the wrong ears to know about them. The fates never wanting to give you clear answers.

You look over at the three of them when a moment of silence has passed, and they’re all wearing the same expression: unconvinced. Unconvinced that they can’t solve your problem, which they can. They just choose not to help. Granted, an hour ago your focus was more on your invisible friend, but now that your family is in front of you, they just remind you of what’s been bothering you for what feels like forever.

You roll your eyes at them. “Fine! You want to know what’s wrong?” Your harsh wording make their eyes widen, but they all sober at the same time. Always ambiguous with their emotions. “I want to leave.”

That makes the fates break up in a frenzy. All three of their minds racing at what you just admitted.

“You can’t!” Aunt Clotho shouts. “Why would you?” Aunt Lachesis questions. “You won’t,” Your mother, the most inflexible of them all, Atropos, demands.

You huff out in anger, sliding off the ledge of the cave you’ve been looking out on, and stomp your feet like a child. “Why not? I hear story after story of the world outside of this cave. I want to explore it. I want to live out there.”

Your mother steps forward, breaking up the placement she usually stands in next to her sisters. “Y/n, darling, you can’t. Your travels will lead you down rocky paths. One’s that have sharp rocks, and dark fellow travelers.”

You grit your teeth, hating the riddle she just bestowed on you. “How would you know? None of you can see my fate!” They all gasp in unison. “And I’m done being told I’m going to die if I leave this cave! Your all so- so - ugh!”

You smack your sides harshly, unable to put into words what you were never given to announce your hatred of their constant protectiveness. Instead of letting any of them sway your decision, you walk away from them. They don’t follow you, and that’s how you want it this time. They never do follow you.

Never for you.

You run right into your room, and pack a bag. The only reason you didn’t do this eons ago is because you had a friend you didn’t want to leave behind, but your done waiting for answers from him too. Your done waiting for answers that are right outside this cave. Answers to questions you’ve not even let your mind wonder too for awhile.

You know who your father is. He’s the main reason you thought your family wanted to keep you locked up in a cave like this, but you always wondered how having a primordial god as a father was possible, and why he bestowed your mother the gift of pregnancy—a gift he shouldn’t have been able to give.

Another question that floated into your mind a lot: What were the other gods like in person? You’ve seen only few come in and out of the fate’s cave. One being the queen of the underworld herself, but that was many moons ago. Is there a moon god? There must be. You knew of the house of Nyx, and about all her children that your family warned you away from. Aunts and uncles that’s blood was so taped your family didn’t consider them their own blood since the war. But, who was the one that resided as the personification of your favorite rock in the sky? The part of the sky that keeps the tides calm?

You have so many questions, but one question...

One question that should have been answered for you years ago, but only you could answer… who are you? Who are you really? That’s a question you can only answer yourself, and it’s the hardest one to answer. An answer you’ll only find by leaving this cave and exploring the rest of the world.

You finish packing a satchel that you made for yourself one day while you were board. You look down at the many sewed in fabrics, and run your hand across it. Although you had fate’s blood in you, sewing wasn’t really much of your thing. You were pretty good at it, though. This being your first and last piece of fabric you ever sewed, and it still being kept together even though you made it years ago. Something you sewed while talking to your invisible friend…

Your eyes become glossy when you think about leaving him, but you shake your head at the thought. This is no time for second guessing yourself. He made his choice to keep you in the dark, and that was the end of it. No turning back.

You pick up your bag, hoist it over your shoulder, and head for the entrance of the cave.

☙❦❧

It wasn’t your fault everyone around you kept life outside these cave walls a secret. It wasn’t your fault that your only friend kept his life a secret, either. Truthfully, it was all formed in a plan to protect you. Protect you from the god who would want to smite you down for just being who you are.

The daughter of Atropos, the inflexible fate that could cut a lifespan at a flick of her wrist. See anyones future thoughts, and present and past thoughts too because of her connection to her sisters. But even with all these gifts she bestowed upon you, your fathers adventures mind took over. You were nothing like him, not really, and the fates were all too young to remember what he was like unpersonified.

So when he came as a ghostly figure, one that not even Jungkook could touch, your mother did not believe him when he told her his name. When he told her he wanted to make a god with her, she believed him even less. But you we’re born somehow. Not by hieros gamos, or even the shaping of clay. A simple poke to Atropos’s belly and she had you within nine months.

Who knew someone so infertile, could make a goddess like Atropos plump like she was? She never got answers as to why he wanted to make your mother pregnant, and besides casting your fate before your birth, none of the fates had a say in your life. Not to the extent they were used to, at least.

But your father was still your father, as absent as he was. Telling you who your father is was the last time any of the fates bestowed you with knowledge of your life. Not that Zeus would want to kill you for having such a Titian like power. Not how you somehow formed a connection with the god of death before you even hit two hours old. But the name of your father they did tell you. It was something trivial to them because even if you wanted to meet him, you really couldn’t. Not unless he wanted you to. 

Your father is the name of a personification, and the name of a place that mortals and gods alike feared to be sent too one day.

His name was Tartarus.

And that’s exactly where you planned to go.

☙❦❧

The second your feet crunch against the open worlds surface, Jungkook’s wings itched. He knew you were out of the cave the second you breathed in the toxic airs. Luckily, he was already in the underworld, talking to Hades about plans with the overflowing amount of souls that have been coming in lately. One second Jungkook was there… then the next second he wasn’t. Feeling the pull to you instantly, and having no thoughts of trying to repent it. 

“I’m not sure, Jungkook. Don’t you think-“ Hades turns in the direction of where Jungkook once stood. He glances around the throne room, seeing no one but Persephone there with him. “Where’d he go?”

Jungkook has never flew faster in his life. Even during the war, he never flapped his wings this hard to pick up speed. With that thought, he slowed his pace a bit. Right when he got in front of Charon to think about what exactly he was going to do. You are out of the cave. You are free. The fates and him never discussed what he was allowed to do if you ever did that! He hasn’t thought about the possibility of you leaving in years. 

But there you were, in his line of sight now. Outside of the cave and walking towards the entrance to the underworld. 

He looks around at the lost souls, seeing you right at the edge of them. To far away to see him, but at the same time, you’ll be deciding to walk through the souls and see him soon. You don’t know enough about the world to go too deep or understand anything about the underworld. The fates cave being at the outer edge of it all.

Charon, the person that allows souls to cross the River Styx, looks over at his winged brother. He’s frantic. Pacing back and forth along the shore, wings sucked into his body, and he’s constantly putting on and taking off his hood. Like he’s not sure how he wants to look right now: dark and mysterious, or like an open book and angelic. Charon would usually ignore the god of deaths antics, but he’s scaring away the souls that have tolls for him. Even if they’re just spirits, there’s more mortals than nymphs around. Seeing the god of death’s skeleton form is making them all cower away from the shore and the deity.

“Jungkook, why must you pace here?” 

Jungkook doesn’t stop looking towards you. You’re still trying to figure out how to get through the crowd of souls that you, in all rationality, could just walk through.

“I-I… nothing,” Is all Jungkook can say in response to Charon’s question. Paying him no mind and only focusing on what’s important to him right now. 

Charon raises a curious eyebrow. Never seeing Jungkook so flustered before. Jungkook has always been a confident god. One that would use his sickle and deathly face to scare others away from him if needed, and didn’t care how other’s perceived him for it. But now, he doesn’t even have the sickle! Leaving it in the throne room where he was once talking to Hades in.

He follows Jungkook’s line of sight, and sees a women standing at the other side of the mass of souls. 

“You could just go and talk to her, you know?”

Jungkook stops his pacing, looks over at Charon and squints his eyes at him like that was the stupidest thing he’s heard all day. “I can't just do that!”

“Why not?”

“She doesn’t know me.”

“Then why are you pacing the shores like you’re trying to reheat the sand?”

Jungkook rolls his eyes, and continues his pacing. “Because I can.”

It’s Charon’s turn to roll his eyes. One soul has become brave enough to pass Jungkook, only glancing at the being she only sees as bone. Giving Charon the coin her living loved ones buried her with. She enters the boat, and Charon hopes other’s will be as brave as this mortal to pass the skeleton of a man... but no one does.

As cool and collected as Charon usually is, there has already been problems with too many souls in the living world dying because of the war between countries, so having problems on the shores would not be good either. Although no one has made a fuss about the line to the boat not moving yet, souls tend to get antsy after awhile, especially if they have no coin to give the boatman to begin with. 

“You know a person has to give me a coin to cross the River Styx, don’t you Jungkook?” Without looking at the boatman, Jungkook nods his head. “You should probably make sure she has one. If she wants to cross, that is. She does know that, doesn’t she?”

Jungkook stops his pacing again, digging his boots into the sand as he stops. You probably don’t know that, but that’s not what makes Jungkook stop in his tracks. He sees the souls around him, scared to even look at him, but he doesn’t care about that either. None of them are moving in the like besides the one mortal women that entered the boat. Starting a crowded line even though some of them probably don’t even have a coin to cross. 

Jungkook has seen what happens when souls get frustrated. He also sees the bag you’re holding. All it takes is one soul to realize...

“Are you alive?”

Scratch Jungkook’s thoughts from before. Now he's never flown faster in his life. 

☙❦❧.

You were waiting in the line of souls to get on the boat, not wanting to be rude and pass right through them, when an older male soul asked you, “Are you alive?”

You look over at the ghost of a man, not knowing what to say. Although your family has told you very little about the world, you know that souls tend to grab onto anything living. You only knew this because it was one of the fates sayings they used to say to you so much. A saying that always made you jitter in the cold even if it was warm where you lived. 

Every mortal is afraid to die. So afraid, that even after death they will fight to live. 

You glance around, realizing other souls have turned around to look your way. All of them wanting to look at the living girl that took the one souls attention. You try to lie, but even to you is sounds false, “N-no! Just waiting to get on the boat.”

The man squints at you, unbelieving. “Did you die with that on?” He points to your bag over your shoulder, and by the way you look at it he knows you didn’t die with it, or die at all. “I knew it! Your a living soul... Please help me! I shouldn't have died! It wasn't my time.”

“U-ugh...”

“Help me too! I don’t have a coin because I died at sea. Do you have a coin too spear?” A older male soul says to you, joining the conversation. 

“What coin-”

“Please tell my daughter I'm sorry.” “I didn’t mean to jump off the roof!” “I don’t deserve this!” “Help us!” “Help me!”

So many souls were gathering around you, that you don’t know what to do. You’re crouching on the floor, now surrounded by many souls. You cover your ears, wanting their pleads to stop, and shut your eyes tight. You’re so overwhelmed by everyone and have never been around this many people before. Only small groups of five or six have ever visited the fates before. This group of souls stretches out to the hundreds! 

You’re wishing them to go away. Praying to whatever god that could hear you to make them go away. You would even go back to-

Before you could finish that regretful thought, you’re suddenly no longer surrounded and being hoisted in the air. Gasps and even a feminine scream is heard from below you. 

You grab onto the being that’s saved you, but keep your eyes shut. Feeling woozy in the air, but grounding yourself by holding onto the person even tighter. It's a hard body, and one with dipped shoulders. Your face is buried in whoever your savors is neck, and your arms are grasping at their back. Holding on for deer life as you fly through the air. Your legs are wrapped around the person’s middle, and strangely enough when you squeeze the person closer to you they squeeze back. Keeping you as close to them as possible as you fly away from the swarm of souls. 

By the time you feel you’re savor and you hit land, you’re too sacred to let go of them. They don’t mind, though, because they actually sit down with you in their lap when they realize your not letting go

“A-are we safe now?”

Your savior chuckles at your question, and your eyes shoot open wide when a familiar voice is heard. “Not sure. Would you stop holding onto me like this if I say we are? If your answer is anything else but no, then definitely not.”

You know that voice... you’ve heard that voice in your dreams before and in person too for years. You let your arms and legs go slack around him, feeling your bag fall off your shoulders while you’re still sitting in his lap. Then you slowly pull your face away from his neck. Looking up at your invisible friend for the first time...

“Ghostie?”

He smiles down at you, although it looks strained. “Hi, nae salang.”

You blink. Process everything. Then say without thinking, “You’re really pretty.”

Your face instantly lights up like the sun. You physically feel the heat that’s radiating off of your face. You’re so embarrassed by what you just said.

Jungkook doesn’t find it embarrassing, though. He bites his lip to fight the real smile trying to bloom on his face. Thanking all the gods, even Zeus, for giving him the looks that he has and creating a reaction like that on you because of it. 

“I-I meant...”

“I think you meant I'm drop dead gorgeous! Hotter than the Helios himself, am I right?” You playful smack his shoulder at the teases, but you can’t help the small smile from forming.

So this is what your friend really looks like. Sharp jaw that could cut glass, smooth skin that make your fingers itch to touch him, and raven black hair that looks so soft you want to run your fingers though it. Not to mention the lip piercing and a eyebrow piercing. You knew that body piercing existed. Your own family looking down at the new trend for some reason, but seeing them on your friend now is making your stomach do flips. We don’t even need to get into the tattoos. The beautiful art work printed on his skin has you wanting to know what it feels like to trace every symbol on his arms. 

And you feel the hard body underneath yours. There's not a single layer of fat on him. Completely clean all over. Your starstruck, really. You never knew what to expect if you saw him in person like this, but even now that you’ve seen him in person, you have a grueling question that slips past your lips as soon as it pops into your head.

“Why didn’t you let me see you before?”

Jungkook remains neutral in front of you, but inside there's a roaring fire being lit. Not only is he touching you for the first time, feeling your beautiful body still wrapped around him that he’s been itching to even brush across all this time. Finally being able to let you see himself too, is truly a blessing in disguise. But even now that you’re both visible to each other, he’s tongue tied coming up with answers to your question. 

He knows he should tell you the truth now. He wants to tell you, but there’s still that never elongating fear still lingering in his mind telling him you’ll hate him - be afraid of him even - if he tells you everything you’ve wanted to know for years... like who he really is. 

After a moment of silence, and watching the turmoil cross your friends eyes, you do something you never thought you would be able to do... you reach your hand out, and touch his face. Cupping his cheek and smoothing your thumb out for comfort, but in reality it’s because you can’t help yourself and want to touch him. 

“You can tell me. I won’t be mad, I promise... I’ll swear on the fates if I have to.” He chuckles at you bringing up your family in such a joking manner, but that just brings him to the realization of when he swore on the actual fates. 

He’s touching you... currently having you in his lap... so he broke his promise to the fates. 

They never swore on it with blood, not even on a body of land like the Styx, but it’s a broken promise nonetheless. Having you here, though, in his arms where you’ll forever be safe, is worth any destruction that comes his way from here on out.

He breathes you in, the aroma coming off of you smelling like roses and honey, and he holds it in for as long as possible. Only blowing it out when you start to blink up at him in confusion.

“I... didn’t tell or show you who I was... because... I was afraid you would-... hate me?” Real smooth, Jungkook. Even after he ends his explanation, that ended up somehow sounding like a question, he mentally smacks himself. 

Why the fuck is it so hard to talk to you right now?

“Afraid I'd hate you? You haven’t even told me your name yet, so how would I know who you are?”

Jungkook screws his eyes shut, not wanting to face you when he tells you the truth.

“My names Jungkook.” I quite gasp his heard from you, but he doesn’t open his eyes. The sound not helping his current predicament. “I'm the god of-”

“Death,” You finish for him. “I know who you are.”

You wiggle in your spot on top of him, feeling a little shocked, but don’t get off of him. That just serves to wake up other parts of himself, so he wraps his arms around you tighter, around your waist, and stopping you from moving. Your movement making his eyes go wide, and having to face your equally surprised face. 

You raise an eyebrow at him, glancing at his arms on your waist. He makes them go slack again, and hoping your innocent mind doesn’t realize something is now probably poking you in the ass.

“Why would you think I hate you?” You ask, not understanding why Jungkook is now acting weird, but ignoring it for the time being.

He clears his throat, and tries to seem relaxed again. “Because of how the fates talked about me to you.”

“And that is...”

Now it’s Jungkook's turn to blink in confusion. “You’ve got to be kidding me. They never told you anything about me?”

“Oh! No, they told me a lot of things about the house of Nyx. But what I'm not understanding is why would you think I care?”

Gut punched. Smack in the face. Floored. These are all the different kinds of emotions that Jungkook is now feeling. 

“I’m so confused.”

“How do you think I feel,” You say, unimpressed. 

If this entire time Jungkook didn't tell you who he was because of stories from before you were even born, your going to punch him. And you tell him just that... he laughs.

“Well, I guess I’m gutting punched then,” Jungkook says, feeling incredibly lighter about the situation now. Even after you actually punch him in the shoulder, which Jungkook barely felt because of his layer of muscle in his bicep. He didn’t even flinch, but now your fist is kinda sore. Your eyes go wide for a second, unbelieving that god has this much muscle on him. 

You then glance around the cave, trying not to think about Jungkook and how amazing his everything is, and you see that he flew you to the other side of the cave. You wondered why so many of the fates stories of this place were so gruesome. Especially the part of getting across the River Styx, when the souls judgement would be given. Looking around the cave now, it’s kinda peaceful. Not that you wanted to stay in that part of underworld. You’ve spent to much of your life in a cave to ever stay in one for to long again! But, looking around at the cave that’s filled so many stories with terrible tails, you think it’s a stunning sight. Sparkling walls with moisture and the souls passing by add to your curious mind. Wanting to know what their living lives were like.

Jungkook watched silently as you took your fill of the rest of the underworld. You only living in a part of it since you were born must have been overwhelming, but the look on your face now didn’t make him think you were overwhelmed. You made the same look when you thought about…

It suddenly dawned on Jungkook that you’ve only ever lived in a cave, so this one must be reminding you of your family. Granted, this cave is much different then the one you lived in. Still full of rocks and no flowering green in sight, but having eerie dripping of unknown water and random passing souls is very different from the fate’s cave. Basically, much worse then the cave you lived in.

“You okay?” Jungkook asks. Wanting to make sure you’re not regretting leaving. You look back at Jungkook, smiling softly when he probably caught your wondering eyes and not wanting to worry him about it.

“I’m okay. Just thinking about my family, and how they lied about so much to me.”

“About what?”

You look around the cave again, letting go of him with one of your hands to gesture to it all. “This place and how it’s so-...“

“Terrifying,” Jungkook interrupts. “I know it can be-“

Beautiful.

Jungkook is stunned silent. Your lips did not move, and yet he heard you. You look at him now, concerned about his silence, but Jungkook is totally shell shocked.

He knew this was possible. Being able to hear the person you did hieros gamos with’s thoughts. But that’s just it. You both never did the act itself. This should be impossible, your connection together should be impossible, but yet it all is happening to him and to you. Maybe leaving the fates cave let this be possible, but it has so many emotions flowing through Jungkook right now. This little instance, hearing you just think the word beautiful, is just another reminder of what you two are to each other. Your not just a regular girl to him. Not that Jungkook has ever forgotten, but it’s way more then just a god loving a goddess. It’s entirely more.

Your souls are connected for eternity, and right now your soul looks absolutely marvelous to him. 

“You’re beautiful too,” Jungkook says without thinking, but doesn’t feel embarrassed about it either. He doesn’t care if it makes you ask questions because in this moment you can ask him anything right now, and he would answer. You could ask him to burn the whole world to the ground, and he would do it. This spark through your connection has turned Jungkook into putty, and you’re now looking at him like he’s just given you the moon.

“Oh,” you say in the smallest of voices after a moment. “Um- thank you… J-Jungkook.”

Jungkook grips your waist tighter for a second. Hearing you say his name for the first time is making him want to fly around the universe. He feels like he’s on the god damn moon at this point. Your just so… everything. Your everything to him. You make the god of death blind to the world. Only wanting to ever see you in his line of sight and hear you say his name on repeat into his ear.

While Jungkook continues to look at you with stars in his eyes, it makes you squirm in his lap again. This time Jungkook doesn’t stop you. He relaxes his hands and lets your bodies rub together. Softly groaning and make you raise an eyebrow at him when your butt knocks into his ever growing cock in his pants. All his senses are going haywire. He didn’t think hearing a single word from your thoughts would get him like this, but truthfully, everything about today has been surprising.

He’s not someone that could be easily seduced, but he swears he’s bewitched by you right now. And you’re slowly realizing what it is that keeps bumping into your thigh. You stop moving, and take in your current situation. Nibbling on your bottom lip when it dawns on you that you’re in the lap of the god of death, and how he’s looking at you like he wants to eat you.

What dawns on you even harder, is that you like it. You shouldn’t like it. You should be mad at him! He’s kept so much from you, so you shouldn’t be caving to your secret desires - but at the same time, there hasn’t been a moment since seeing him in person, and finding out who he was, that you’ve been mad at him. Is it okay to just let things go like this? Is that string of a connection you keep seeing between you two that makes you like this?

Your not sure when you started seeing that connection, or feeling it even, but it’s glowing right now. Getting brighter and brighter, and you’re not sure what to do with it. Wanting to reach out to it, but at the same time not sure if you should.

You stutter out his name, wanting to grasp onto something you know. All your other confusing emotions making you feel hotter for some reason. “J-Jungkook... I - um...”

He hums as an answer to his name, pulling you closer to him by your waist. You place your hands on his chest, but you don’t push him away to create distance. In fact, there’s becoming less and less distance between you two as the seconds tick by. The pull of that bright connection pulling you both towards each other like magnets.

You’re so inexperienced with this feeling, but you’re matching it to the feelings you get at night when you only had Jungkook’s voice to go off of. It’s making your face heat up with the rest of your body. Your mind is spinning.

“W-what’s happening?” You ask Jungkook who looks equally in a daze as you feel. Right before your lips touch, something you’ve both been craving to know the touch of for years, you get a response that rocks to your core.

“What is right.”

And then your lips are joined. A first kiss for you, and the first that mattered to Jungkook. A kiss you’ve never felt before, and a kiss that Jungkook has been craving longer than you know about. The bonds between you two pulsed, and you both gasp when you feel it. Staring into each other’s eyes like you can’t believe what just happened.

You don’t know what it is, and he has a good idea. You don’t care about it anymore, and neither does he. Jungkook pulls your body flush against his, reconnecting your lips to each other’s in the process. You whimper at the rough kiss, and it has Jungkook groaning into your mouth. Wanting to pull more noises like that from you. Enjoying the taste of your lips on his, and feeling you vibrate on top of him when he touches your bottom lip with his tongue.

It’s a frenzy of kisses between the both of you. Your very much inexperienced, but Jungkook is just happy to taste you. Happy and used to taking the lead. Forgetting how innocent you are, he grabs ahold of your ass in his two hands. Squeezing the squishy flesh. You gasp into his mouth, letting him take the opportunity to touch your tongue with his. Your tongue is hesitant, but curious - letting Jungkook’s consume your mouth completely.

You feel how your body is shaking. How your mind is only concentrating on the man underneath you like it’s never had before. It’s an experience you don’t want to stop, and Jungkook doesn’t even have the ability to stop it.

Jungkook starts to move your bodies, rubbing against each other. You feel his cock that was once poking at your leg drag over your clothed core. It has you squeaking, and Jungkook chuckling by the cute noise.

“So sweet and innocent,” He says against your lips, in fucked out daze. You hold onto his shoulders, keeping your eyes screwed shut, as he continues to move your bodies against each other with his hands on your ass. The feeling is intensifying as your movements get rougher, but the way Jungkook is looking down at you right now is making you want that feeling so much more. You want to be good for him.

Something inside makes you do it. Makes you feel brave enough to let out your first moan, and just like you hoped, he loved the sound. Jungkook detaches your lips from each other, groaning a deep “Fuck,” that goes straight to your core that he continues to grind against. “You sound so lovely, y/n.”

You bite your lip, turning red when his praise has even your insides tightening. You stutter out his name again, trying not to combust by the way you want to suddenly mold into Jungkook’s skin. Meanwhile, Jungkook is trying ever way possible to become your skin.

He nips at your ear, gliding his tongue across your lobe and enticing more high pitched noises from you. He then drags his tongue downwards, licking the salty surface of your neck. All while watching you in the corner of his eye, seeing your face contort in so many different faces he’s never seen before on you. He loves every one, and wants to see them all on repeat. Maybe even forever if you’ll let him. 

Continuing his decent, he raises your head with his hand at the back of your neck. Tipping your head backwards gently so he can get better access to your chest he’s now exploring with his lips. Everything about you tastes and feels so amazing! So amazing, that when you start meeting Jungkook’s movements with your own his eyes roll into the back of his skull. Feeling the warmth of your pussy through his pants and your thin undergarments. He groans against your chest when at just the right angle he can feel some of your wetness leak from you.

The urge to pin you against the ground and fuck your virginity away is strong, but looking back at your face has him resisting - as hard as that is. He doesn’t want to be the guy the fates expect him to be and one your don’t deserve. A type of god that horns on girls and takes them however he pleases. Not caring about when or how. That’s not Jungkook. Not with you or any other girl he’s been with in the past.

He’s never been selfish, and he’s not going to start now just because his mind is in a frenzy. “Put your hands back on my shoulders, nae sarang.”

It takes you a few seconds to process his words, not even realizing your hands slipped from his shoulders while he was attacking your neck before. “O-okay.”

You slowly place your hands back on his shoulders, not sure what to do or what Jungkook was going to do. He then lifts your body up, positioning your core right on his thigh. As much as he loved your wet core grinding on him before, it ended ups being too much. Jungkook has been alive for many years, so simply grinding on each other won’t get him off, but he also didn’t want to push you to what would get him off if you continued the way you were.

When he places you on his thigh, you shuffle a little to get comfortable. He then places his hands on your lower back over your dress this time, rubbing the soft fabric you’re wearing and comforting you while he does it. Jungkook then smirks up at you, making your eyes widen a little for a second at his sudden dirty expression. “I’m going to make you feel so good, y/n. Do you want to feel good, nae sarang?”

You swallow against the lump in your throat - hands shaking as you grasp onto his shoulders tighter. You don’t even know what could make you feel even better than before, and your a little nervous to find out. This is Jungkook, though. The friend you’ve had since the beginning of your life. The friend you’ve wanted to always feel this good with, but couldn’t in the past out of nerves and the problem of never being able to touch each other. Now, you want him to touch you in ever way he can.

So, you give him permission to take your everything. “I want you to make me feel good, Jungkook... please.”

Jungkook suppresses a groan, surprised by how dizzying your words just got him, and pushing the thoughts in his head as far in the back of his brain as possible. Jungkook then positions his thigh higher, making sure it’s directly against you, and begins moving you back and forth on his thick thigh. The feeling is instant. Before, it was brief feelings of pleasure that had a rest in between each movement, but now it’s a constant.

You grabs onto Jungkook’s shoulders even harder, digging your nails into his shirt, trying to place all your feelings there, but your mouth still opens up to let out even higher pitched moans and whimpers. Your toes are curling, it feels so good. When one of his hands greedily grasps at your ass again, instead of just empty moans your voice fills with his name. His name falling breathlessly from your lips and pushing every syllable into his ears. “Jungkook! Oh my- mmm!”

Jungkook can’t take it anymore. He pulls your body closer to him, still shifting his leg so you don’t stop feeling is thigh on your most intimate parts. He then starts attacking your chest again with long licks and kisses. Wanting to touch you even more, and more intimately then before. While your still screaming out your euphoria above him, he slowly pushes one of the straps of your dress off your shoulder. You feel it fall, and get red in the face for what feels like the tenth time today when you realize your left breast is exposed to him.

The only indication that you resist this is with a small gasp, but it’s soon covered up by another moan when his thigh rubs your clit just right through your undergarments. Jungkook takes this as an invitation. Licking his lips before he attaches them to your nipple. Sucking on the bud and feeling you vibrate all over uncontrollably because of it.

His teeth nip at the bud, and his tongue licks at the surface. Your head is spinning. You’re so sensitive, more than you thought you would be, and all this overstimulation is putting your stomach in knots. “J-jungkook I-… I think…”

Jungkook’s eyes widen, but he doesn’t stop. Grinding you harder on his thigh, and using all the tricks he can do with his tongue on your nipple. And he’s got a lot of tricks. Swirling around the bud, and sucking. Nibbling, and licking. Pulling, and flicking. 

Your wetness is soaking his pants now, making his thigh raise even higher to touch as much of it as possible. Wanting to feel how much he’s affecting you right now like you’ve affected him for eons. All the while his cock is dripping pre-cum in his pants right now, and he’s trying his best to ignore it by paying attention to making you feel as good as possible. 

Jungkook hasn’t had anyone since you were born. Since the hieros gamos somehow formed between you two; and his love for you became inevitable. He wants to hear you scream his name for the first time while you cum. He wants to be your first everything, even though he’s never had the urge before. He wants to teach you all the tricks of making love, and watch your sensitive body quiver as you make it through his first teaching.

One more rough thrust against your clit and flick of his tongue in your nipple, has you seeing white. Somehow also sees the night sky’s stars too as your orgasm ripples through your body in waves. It feels like it’s never ending. You’re screaming out his name, burying your face in his neck, and feeling like you’re wrapped up in heat. In Jungkook’s heat.

He holds you through your tremor of an orgasm. Embracing you tightly to him, and kissing your temples. Praising you on how good you did, and how sexy it was to watch.

Jungkook is done for. He can’t let you go. He wants to keep you in his arms forever, and tell the fate to have their Demeter moment with a different child. Your his. You’ve always been his. And Hades forbid anyone that tries to take you from him...

He wants to tell you how he feels - what you mean to him - but he doesn’t have to. Right before you drift off, your orgasm making you utterly exhausted… you hear him say it without words...

I love you.

-

-

-

Final

。・°°・°°・。 。・°°・°°・。 。・°°・°°・。

River Styx - Styx is a river that forms the boundary between Earth and the Underworld.

House of Nyx (Goddess Nyx) - the personification of night. Most known to be scene as a shadowy figure, Nyx stood at or near the beginning of creation and mothered other personified deities such as Hypnos (Sleep), Death, and Erebus (Darkness). The house of Nyx consists of all the deities that were born from Nyx and stayed loyal by her side.

Tartarus - the deepest part of the underworld where mortals and gods are put after they defied the higher gods (Zeus, Hades, etc.,) to suffer for eternity. The primordial god, Tartarus, is the pit itself. He was the body of the pit itself rather than an athropomorphic deity.

Helios - God of the sun. 

Charon - the son of Erebus and Nyx (Night), whose duty it was to ferry over the Rivers Styx and Acheron those souls of the deceased who had received the rites of burial. In payment he receives a coin that was placed in the mouth of the corpse.

[gardenofkore]

The House of Hiero II of Syracuse (IV-III century BC)

check here for the Women of the House of Hiero II of Syracuse

check here for the related Epirote branch of the House of Agathocles of Syracuse (III century BC)

[mmikmmik2]

If you were to sort the Infinity Train cast(s) into the Major Arcana a la the Persona games, which Arcana would you give everyone?

anon I had SOOOOO much fun thinking about this, thank you so much for sending me this. I sorted all the major characters, plus a few other entries, based on a mix of Arcana symbolism, Persona series character archetypes, and general vibes. I came up with answers I feel pretty good about for all but four of the Arcana. (Was really tempted to say Strength is every human character who doesn't board the train because they can handle their problems on their own lol.) This is going to be a long-winded post, so I thought I’d post just the list as an image (which hopefully won’t be too blurry!) rather than wrestle with Tumblr formatting trying to make a short list, and put a big text wall under the readmore talking more about my picks.

If this list does end up illegible, the same info is under the readmore as text! Plus some characters for Magician, Strength, Justice, and Death that I didn’t want to add to the “official” list because they’re more based on headcanon. (Although my reasoning for some of the “official” picks is pretty weak lol.)

One-One as 0. The Fool

Oh my gosh, what am I?

IT is great at fleshing out character backstories and families, so One-One at the beginning of S1 is one of the few characters who really feels like a blank slate. He's got a lot of his baggage back by the end of the season, and I think One and One-One are more similar than they seem at first glance, but S1 does seem to have been very formative for One-One and how he thinks about what he's supposed to be doing and how he relates to other people. So it does kind of feel like his fool's journey.

Alrick Timmens as I. The Magician

The magician begins the journey... by beefing it on a dirt bike, dying, and sending his wife flying off the deep end. Rip.

Alrick was an engineer like Amelia, so I could see him suiting some of the themes of the Magician, like conscious thought and manifesting ideas. His apparent playfulness and insecurity are similar to the Magician characters in Persona.

Kez as II. The High Priestess

“We can’t make this decision for you, Kez.” “You know what to do.”

I thought really hard about making Kez the Magician because just like every Magician since Persona 3, she's dumb, horny, and insecure dlkjasfdkl

(and also her showing up at the start of the story arc and being helpful but also super needy is very Magician)

But the idea of "intuition" really does suit Kez. Sometimes her intuition is as bad as her conscious reasoning, but I think that's a lot because she's so confused about what happened with Jeremy, and Morgan making Kez feel like she did a bad thing by helping him.

Tuba as III. The Empress

She made me feel like I was warm all the time.

Tuba's a mom. Sorry, this one's not that deep, haha.

Simon Laurent as IV. The Emperor

Highest number! I'm the leader now.

Simon has a lot of issues, but the one that felt the most prominent to me was his unhealthy relationship with power, authority, dominance, and rules. Another quote I considered using here was what he said in Grace's memory of meeting Amelia: "I never thought I'd get to see the Conductor with my own eyes. He's perfect! Everything finally makes sense again." In his emotional crisis, he thought everything could be fixed just by the existence of a huge, scary, powerful, male authority figure, even if they weren't doing anything helpful or informative.

Atticus as V. The Hierophant

I like to think that our stones are sturdy and handsome, like the Corgis that crafted them.

Atticus is a figure of traditional authority who deeply loves the history, society, and culture of his people. He often provides spiritual wisdom and encourages Tulip to get out of her own head and engage with the world around her. Also in Persona, Hiero is the Dad Arcana so it's very funny to me (a) to make the little dog be Hiero and (b) that the little dog really does have the strongest Wholesome Dad Energy of the whole cast.

Jesse Cosay as VI. The Lovers

Don't tell me what to do. I'm not going to be a part of anything like this, on or off the train.

This was my first and easiest pick lol, Jesse is sooooo Lovers. Like, the focus on choice and personal values and relationships? Yep, that's Jesse. It works on an "actual meaning of the Arcana" level and a "vibes with the Persona characters" level lol... popular, upbeat, and having such an identity crisis.

Lake as VII. The Chariot

I'm my own person, who is getting off this train!

I don't know if Chariot captures all the ways Lake grew over the course of S2, but I feel like they had the most externally focused conflict of all the IT characters, which suits Chariot. They've been fighting to stake out their personhood from start to finish, and they took action and used their willpower to achieve that goal. Also they have at least a little jock energy which is a prereq for Chariot tbh.

Frank as VIII. Strength

I dunno, I kinda imagine him as a simple man and easily underestimated, but with a lot of heart. The Cat may say they're keeping things casual but I don't think she'd take him with her on her private vacation unless he had some kind of inner toughness that would let him stand toe-to-toe with her.

Morgan as IX. The Hermit

I need to be alone right now. Kez... maybe... we can talk later.

I like that Morgan embodies toxic self-isolation and stonewalling and rejection, but that she seems to be moving towards the positive aspects of Hermit and taking some time to calm down and process and think. I like it when characters can embody the best and worst of their Arcana.

Tulip Olsen as X. The Wheel of Fortune

We have to adapt to the changes in our lives. It's the only way things can get better.

Tulip has a lot of themes and conflicts, but this one is a clear standout as the most important. I also like it for Tulip because, while she has to handle a lot of difficult and even traumatic situations, some of the change that challenges her isn't as unambiguously bad as e.g. the death of a loved one. It really is just change itself she's struggling with, and that's Fortune babey. Also, from the perspective of the train itself and lots of other characters, by reversing Amelia and One-One's positions again and changing how One-One administrates the train, Tulip is the one giving the wheel a spin. That's fun.

Lucy as XI. Justice

One of my friends once described the Justice characters in Persona as "the ones the player character is ultimately accountable towards", and I like to think of Lucy as kind of being that for Grace (...since Hazel has excused herself). Lucy is the Apex kid we see Grace interact with the most, the first Apex kid Grace admitted to herself that she had harmed (see Grace very briefly showing distress and then regret when Jesse points the harpoons at his face and she stops him), and the first person to confront Grace when she came home in The New Apex.

Min-Gi Park as XII. The Hanged Man

I don't know if we'll sell a single album, but we'll figure that out as we go.

Min-Gi sacrifices his "realistic", "sensible" goals for a more personally (spiritually, even?) enriching life that's beyond his control and outside of the expected norm. Like the Hanged Man, who dangles foolishly upside-down, but as a deliberate choice and in a state of serenity and enlightenment. I also think this arcana suits a reading of Min-Gi's character development as starting off going slower as a way to stall and live in denial, but then going slower with deliberation. Compare his arrogant insistence on refusing to act in The Astro Queue Car to his patience and care in The Castle Car and The Train to Nowhere.

Jeremy as XIII. Death

This isn't about the death of his family - I'm thinking of his reluctance to admit his number was going down. He cared about Morgan and Kez, and it's possible both that he may have really wanted to stay with them despite his exit and that that might even have been a healthy choice - they're real ass people with feelings and everything, not holodeck characters. But I also think Jeremy was using his life with them to avoid moving on out of that fog (because it was hard and it hurt and he didn't want to think about what that would mean for him and Morgan) and Morgan was enabling him.

Ryan Akagi as XIV. Temperance

Maybe the experience is the point. I wasn't just rushing you. I was rushing myself.

I think this one speaks for itself. Also, the other quote I considered putting here, from The Art Gallery Car: "You told me I can't appreciate the song without taking in the rest of the album. I need the whole package."

The Cat as XV. The Devil

I always do the right thing.

Honestly, this is one I really wasn't sure about. The Cat isn't a great pick for a lot of the meanings of Devil. She is definitely consumed by material comforts, and the short-term rewards of ignoring her issues at a long-term cost, though. This is more of a "vibes with Persona characters with this arcana" pick... Devil characters tend to start off being somewhat exploitative or even antagonistic towards the player character, and gradually showing a more conflicted and genuine side.

Amelia Hughes as XVI. The Tower

There's a hole in the universe where Alrick used to be.

Amelia's life is defined by catastrophe and upheaval - both those she's suffered and those she's inflicted on others.

Hazel as XVII. The Star

I'm going to keep loving you like you're still here.

When I think of "The Star" as a small but inextinguishable light in the darkness, Hazel seems like the obvious choice. Although we left her deeply wounded, I think she still has a flicker of her hope, faith, and purpose.

Grace Monroe as XVIII. The Moon

But it's unfair for me to tell you how to understand yourself. I mean, I don't even fully understand me.

Grace is probably the most complex and dynamic character on the show and hence one of the most difficult to place. I considered Empress, Strength, Devil, and Judgement for her... I think ultimately, lies and illusions are the most unifying theme of her character arc. Also, from a Persona angle, her pursuit of status out of a lack of true self-worth reminds me of Ai and Mishima.

Alan Dracula as XIX. The Sun

Brought together by the majesty of a superpowered deer!

I'm sorry dkjasfklads this is largely because I thought it was funny to have this completely inexpressive dead-eyed deer as Sun akfk but also... like... it kind of works okay!!! Think about the genuine joy and comfort and positivity he brings to Lake and Jesse (and me)!

The New Apex as XX. Judgement

"Then what are we gonna be?" "Guess we'll have to figure it out?"

This is kind of a Persona mythology gag again because of Judgement being a group social link near the end of the narratives of P3 and P4, when the protagonists have pierced through the lies and actually figured out who the villain of their game is and are ready to really start making progress.

0 as XI. The World

Ah, train does it again!

It's an ending and the completion of a journey, but also the beginning of a new one. And the world is literally what the passengers receive at the end of their train journey. Welcome home.

[opportunistic-chicanery]

Reposting this from my personal because I didn’t use the Cyberchase tag for it last year and this is important. 

Some of you might know Hacker’s first name is Hieronymus (said in episode 4: Sensible Flats). It’s most likely a reference to this guy. The wiki page even sounds exactly like Hacker.

The guys is from Syracuse which was also the hometown of Archimedes who also lived during this era. And it turns out Archimedes was a relative of Hieronymus’s grandfather, Hiero II.

Why is this important? Well Archimedes is in this show too if you’ll remember.

You can even see the family resemblance! Notice the eyes, nose and hands. They even both wear bowties if that means anything.

But there’s more. If you look at crowd shots of Mount Olympus, you can see a lot of borgs who resemble Marbles.

Notice the lightbulb hats/heads. If you Google ‘Greek Marbles’ this is what comes up.

A bunch of Greek sculptures REMOVED from Greece and that are now in ENGLAND. And Marbles has a British(?) accent. His Canadian voice actor sounds like he’s attempting one anyways.

And if that doesn’t convince you that they’re connected, in the Wikipedia page, it says this:

Lord Byron is the father of Ada Lovelace who is ALSO in the show.

But this is not as deep as it goes. If you’ve ever wondered where Sleight O’Hand comes from and how a shape could be Marbles’s nephew, the answer is Archimedes. Although the show never states that the two are brothers, they do seem to have a close working relationship. However, the real tell to me is that Archimedes and Sleight are the only characters with Irish accents (that I can remember). And they’re both shapes based on triangles.

Hope this blew your mind. I’m pretty mind blown right now.