#his father for obvious reasons and rhea because he and the other stomach siblings were not raised by her

[happyk44]

I think the "Marie raped Pluto" AU is pretty interesting when considering how Hazel struggles to really place her mother in a negative light or recognize that her behaviour was abusive. In any other situation, Hazel will quickly rationalize her mother's actions, even if recognizing that they were unhealthy and painful.

But there is no rationalization for her actions in this AU. Gaea had not yet started to sway her mother's thoughts. Even if she had, I don't think Hazel would be able to rationalize what happened to her father as not her mother's fault the way she can do with the abuse she faced at her mother's hands.

The implication in canon is that Hazel getting stuck with the curse wasn't anticipated by Marie. But even if it had been, I think Hazel would be able to ignore Marie choosing to have her to get around the consequences of her greed. Because she loves her mother and wants to believe that, no matter what, her mother genuinely loves her too.

But remove the consent and Hazel can't look past it the same way. Part of it is because Marie's abuse is no longer reflected specifically on Hazel. So she has no choice but to recognize it instead of swatting it away. The other part is Pluto's reluctance to tell her specifically because he does not want to mar her view of her mother, despite everything, which forces her to recognize the difference in how they care for her - Marie hating Hazel for something she was warned about, something Hazel didn't ask to deal with versus Pluto loving her in spite of what happened because he recognizes her innocence in the situation, understanding how important her mother's love for her is and not wanting to take away from that.

[miairviin]

Panemorfi

Hello and happy Sunday! The college I am attending in Greece has put together four excursions for us, one of them being the downtown tour of Athens I took last week. Today was the second one. We loaded onto the buses at 9:30 in the morning and after two and a half hours and a quick coffee break, we were in the mythical city of Delphi. 

Delphi is famous for a few reasons that date back to ancient times. Firstly, Delphi is home to the famous Oracle of Apollo, Pythia. Here, the Oracle was able to enter a dreamlike trance and predict the future. The prophecies she told were believed to be given to her from Apollo. Ancient Greeks would travel far and wide to ask the Oracle questions regarding their future. Even Oedipus tried to make his way to the Oracle to find out who his true father was. Of course he ran into a slight hiccup on the way, fulfilling a prophecy that was handed down by none other than the Oracle. But that is a story for Google if you are curious. 

Another piece of history that put Delphi on the map is the myth of Cronus and the stone. Refusing to even give his children the chance to take his power, he would swallow them all whole. Rhea, his wife, was horrified by this and devised a plan to protect her children. When Zeus was born, she fed Cronus a stone wrapped in baby’s clothes in place of Zeus. When Cronus realized it was a stone, he threw it up and it landed in Delphi. This made Delphi the center of the mythological world. It is cleverly known as the “Belly Bottom Rock” and in the museum we visited, we got to see it! Cronus’ luck did however, run out. Because his mother spared him, Zeus was able to grow older and more importantly, stronger. He slayed his father and took the crown for himself. In the process, he freed all of his siblings from Cronus’ stomach. This marked the beginning of the reign of the 12 Olympians. 

The aforementioned museum was our first stop in the sacred city of Delphi. The museum was mainly statues of various Greek figures and the two women who accompanied us did act as a tour guides, but I decided to just wander aimlessly. (Are you surprised, Mom?) I did hear bits and pieces about the artwork. For example, I learned that the bodies of the statues were all carved from one piece of marble and if they wanted to attach arms, those were sculpted from a separate block of marble and attached at the end. This is why there are many statues with no arms. 

After I decided I had seen enough statues, a few friends and I hiked up to the actual site of the ruins. Of course looking at statues that were built centuries before America was even discovered was impossibly interesting. It is mind boggling to try to imagine the time the sculptor was working in. Then you are forced to consider how impressive it is that they sculpted these beautifully ornate sculptures from a single block of marble. And those sculptures have survived all of this time. That on its own is enough to constitute a trip to these sacred grounds. But there is so much more. 

As we hiked up the mountain surrounded by ancient altars and columns, I was convinced that the beauty would end or at least remain stagnant once I reached a certain point. But I was wrong. With every little increase in elevation, the view got even more magnificent. The mountains were covered in lush green trees, the sky was vast and bright blue, the clouds delicately resting on the mountain peaks like stretched out cotton balls. The ancient architecture was impossible to ignore. Time did not take a single ounce of dignity or sophistication from the columns and altars that decorated the hillside. It looked fake. I felt like I was going to run into a green scene or a painting. There was no way these views were real. 

Lunch was, no surprise, amazing. Our first course was still the traditional Greek salad and Spanakopita (Greek Spinach pie) followed by what I believe was a grilled or baked cheese circle? To be perfectly candid, I had no idea what it was but it was fantastic. The main course was grilled chicken with rice and lemon. For dessert, we had an extremely moist cake that I would compare to Tres Leches but with more of a citrus taste rather than the creamy taste of Tres Leches. 

The town was freezing, but incredibly beautiful. It was another instance of finding what I believed to be the perfect view, climbing up another flight of stairs, realizing this in fact was the perfect view, but after another flight of stairs, coming to the conclusion that I was wrong again. This happened too many times to count, but I had absolutely no problem being wrong. The mountains were topped with snow and stood as a majestic backdrop for the skyline of houses all crowded together with red roofs. There were many Greek Orthodox churches in the town, so bell towers with crosses stood out among the houses. For obvious reasons, the Greek word I leave you with today is panemorfi: beautiful. Because there truly isn’t a more fitting word for Delphi other than panemorfi.