#like �� Zeus was probably the love of her life and he doesn’t even respect her as a person anymore

[literallyjusttoa]

I’m in my feels about Leto rn.

She a mom!!!! You don’t understand she’s a MOM!!!! And she was left all alone after the titan war (most titans were banished to Tartarus) and then she fell in love with this guy with all these red flags but they were genuinely in love!!! They sang songs and talked about deep things and Leto and Zeus LOVED EACH OTHER!!!!! And then she was made to suffer so much for it but she never took any of it out on her kids, and then they were basically taken away from her by Olympus!!!! And she was alone again!!!! But she loves her kids so so much so she built a safe place for them on Delos to come home to!!!! And she knows she can’t protect her kids from the monster the man she loves has become but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t try!!!! Leto tries so hard!!!!! And both of her kids fucking love her with all they have!!!!!!! Family is so important to all of them despite the fact that one member has become a horrible dickwad!!!!! They love each other!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

[writing-n-memes]

A list of things I don’t like about the Percy Jackson show in no particular order because I’m a hater

- Sally talks back to Gabe. She’s supposed to be a silent rebel and book Sally would never jeopardize Percy’s safety because she’s angry with Gabe. Because I think the writers forgot, the WHOLE reason Gabe is there is because she is protecting Percy with his presence

- Annabeth is too stoic. Obviously, tv Annabeth has emotions and expresses them but it’s very limited in my opinion. Book Annabeth is emotional about everything. She is quick to anger, pride, sadness and to not show it because she’s ‘too smart for that’ is dumb. She’s 12 and emotions are normal

- Instead of Percy seeing the fates cut Luke’s string, it’s annabeth. Annabeth may be closer with Luke, but it should not be her to be aware of Luke’s fate. She’s too close to Luke to be analytical. Percy seeing it made him realize the prophecy is about Luke. Percy is the main character and should give Luke the knife. Also, Annabeth giving Luke the knife wouldn’t be nearly as meaningful because she’s always had faith he would turn around; even after he trapped her under the sky in titans curse. Percy trusted Luke to do the right thing at the exact right time

- Grover is a whole different character. The only example you need to know he’s not book Grover is tv Grover straight up lying/manipulating the god of war to his face. Book Grover is brave but not like that. He has too much respect and fear for the gods. Don’t get me wrong, I like tv Grover, he’s just not accurate to the book

- Misdirect of Clarisse being the lightning thief. What was even the point? Just seemed very random

-Fight scenes were lacking. I can’t entirely explain it, but I was bored for every one of them. Hate to bring the movies into this, but at least the movies had interesting fight scenes that had me on the edge of my seat

- Poseidon was basically a saint in the show, which is a big no no. I’m not saying he can’t be likeable, but Poseidon was NOT that nice. First of all, he wouldn’t go against Zeus like that. Not for Sally, and certainly not for Percy. He would do some minor rebelling, but he would not directly fight or disobey Zeus for either of them.

- Despite the last point, they showed too much of the Olympian’s bad sides. They absolutely would do all of this stuff in the show and more, but Percy shouldn’t be made aware of this yet. Percy knows the gods aren’t great in book 1, but he doesn’t quite know the extent until he finds out about the story of the oracle in book 5. This is why he’s more bitter in heroes of Olympus. He knows more about the god’s bad sides. If book 1 Percy knew/saw all the stuff about the tv show gods, then he probably would’ve led his own rebellion against the gods and Kronos.

- Gabe’s death? Come on. What happened to ‘If my life is going to mean anything, I have to live it myself’ (don’t know if that’s the exact quote). Sally deserved to kill Gabe. Percy could’ve done it, but Sally made the choice for it to be her. Ignoring the fact that Gabe wasn’t abusive, just a general jerk so he didn’t deserve to die, but also, the death being an accident felt easy. Sally killed her husband and she had zero remorse for it. She used his dead statue body to sell and use the money to go back to college and follow her dream of writing a book, while also meeting the real love of her life, Paul Blofis

- Kind of made this point already, but I’d like to specifically point out Athena being too cruel. Not to say she isn’t cruel, because she is. However, the show made it clear too early on. Annabeth is the favorite child up until mark of Athena, that’s why she’s so distraught over her hat losing its invisibility power. Annabeth always had Athena’s respect up until that point. Athena wants to protect Annabeth from Percy in the original series. She would not just try and kill her. At least, not in book 1

- Changing Medusa’s story. I understand to a degree why they did it. There’s been a lot of talk the past few years on social media about what Medusa’s story means to them. They did show Medusa as a victim, but immediately disregarded it because she uses it as an excuse to… kill children for no reason. Might as well have kept the original story in at that point. Not to mention Poseidon sucks, but only in this story, and he’s a saint for the rest of the show. Feels like that makes it worse

- Deadline didn’t matter. They miss it, but it doesn’t matter for no reason. Every book has a deadline, including in every spinoff so what’s going to happen with future seasons? Is the timeline going to be ignored because it was fine the first time? Or are they going to backtrack and say, ‘Ok, THIS time limit matters. Ignore the fact there was an exception the first time’

- Luke is too tamed. Too apologetic. He’s supposed to be angry. So sure he is right that nothing will stand in his way. Not any friend or family could talk him down at this point. We’re not supposed to sympathize with him. Not yet. He is the main villain at this point and there should be no sign of redemption yet. May’s story (his mom) happened way too soon. It was told in the last book for a reason. So Luke could gain sympathy and make Percy question his side; he does question it but doesn’t “trust” Luke until he gives him the knife 100-200 pages later.

- Annabeth was there for Luke’s betrayal. She should not be there because Annabeth is supposed to be a Luke defender for the whole series basically. ‘Luke was wrong, but he can change’ basically. I don’t know how she’s supposed to defend him when she experiences his betrayal firsthand instead of just hearing he betrayed everything she believes in. This is important because it’s the main conflict between Percy and annabeth through the series; Annabeth’s loyalty to Luke. Also, little side note: This is an example of tv Annabeth being too stoic. Book Annabeth would do what she’d have to in this situation, but she’d be a crying mess. Which is fine! Having emotions is normal!

- Dialogue is stiff. I don’t know why it is, but some things just don’t flow. Even direct quotes from the books doesn’t feel right sometimes. Maybe it’s because they rushed filming and should’ve done more takes to get it right? I don’t know. I don’t doubt the actors talents so I’m not blaming them. Walker Scobell did great in the Adam’s Project and he was only 12 I believe! He didn’t have a single line that felt stiff in that movie but his lines along with the other mains seemed a little off at times.

- Kind of goes along with last point; some dialogue is accurate to the characters, but not in the context it’s used in the show. Here’s an example that someone else pointed out and I agree with them completely. Percy’s line about Thalia having a pine cone’s fate is so out of character. Would Percy say that to Thalia in Titan’s curse? Probably. But would book 1 Percy insult and dishonor Thalia’s death after finding out she sacrificed herself for her friends? Absolutely not. Percy thought her story was brave and tragic. Percy would say that line in other cases, but he would not say it under those circumstance.

- Kind of the opposite of previous points, but why is Hades so nice?? They made him into a silly guy and play it off for laughs. It’s supposed to be a serious scene. There’s humor everywhere else in the series so use that humor somewhere else. Hades is angry because Percy ‘stole’ his helm and hates him for the rest of the series. How are they going to make this guy lock Percy up in the last Olympian and fight him? This is the guy Nico is scared of, which is why it was brave he stood up to him. This is the guy who told his son that he wished he died instead of his sister. Just doesn’t seem right

- They figure everything out too fast. They figured out who Medusa and Procrustes is right away. This series is kind of like an introduction to Greek mythology to kids who don’t know anything about it. It’s about learning, but also building up the tension. Knowing something is wrong, but not knowing what. I don’t care that they were all told Greek myths growing up and that 2 of them have been training for years. Learning something in the classroom doesn’t mean they will automatically know what to do in a real life scenario. Monsters are supposed to TRICK. That’s what happens in almost every book.

- Why were there four pearls only for them to lose one? When I first read the book, I didn’t think about them needing more than three so it felt super unnecessary

- I know I’m pointing out too much about each god that appears but I don’t care. Ares admitting he loves his family is soooo weird. Pretty sure he would take over and destroy most of them

- tv show watchers don’t know how close Luke and Annabeth are. Those two barely interact and they tell us a couple times they’re close from lines like ‘She’s like a sister’ and whatnot, but it doesn’t accurately portray the care they have for one another. It doesn’t help that Annabeth barely reacted to his betrayal in the show

[telvess]

Record of Ragnarok Hades (headcanons?) 🔞

Partly headcanons, partly Hades x Minte, because I didn’t have anything original to say about Persephone trope.

warning: mature

Okay, Hades is lonely. He has his duties, he’s King of the Netherworld after all and I think he doesn’t even realize it himself how much he needs someone’s attention. Most of his free time he spends with damn parrot… and besides it his other social interaction are with servants or demons. Due to some deadly circumstance, Adamas had to move to Hades’s realm, but he seems to be too proud to live in his brother’s palace, so he probably has his own piece of territory where he rules over… something. That’s why I don’t believe they speak often, probably on occasions. Still that makes him the most presence in Hades’s life. Poseidon isn’t chief god, which mean he cannot freely roam after Bifrost incident and Zeus is busy being the God Father of Cosmos. Hades is wealthy, tall, handsome man, respected by basically everyone, so it’s no wonder that women are all over him the moment he appears in Valhalla. I see him as very resistant to their charms, but he still remains polite in refusing. Once in a while he may find interest in some lady, but it’s nothing more than a fling. He makes it perfectly clear for her that he doesn’t look for serious commitment. I don’t see him being fussy, he can find any woman pretty and as long as she knows a little, he would be content. The biggest turn off for him is being foolish or too self-absorbed, which usually goes hand to hand with grandiosity. On the other hand, he might get caught off guard with some good smile, he secretly has a weakness for them. Same goes with loud laugh, he likes when a woman loosen up a bit and behaves more naturally in his presence. I can see how he takes his responsibilities very seriously. When some other small deities ask for help with demons, he has no resistance in joining his soldiers and leads them into battle. That’s how he meets his potential love interest. She might be some lost nymph (of mint) who was drawn into the fight. When Hades tries to help, she act like Megara from Herkules (1997): I'm a damsel. I'm in distress. I can handle this. Have a nice day - so he stands there, almost disarmed by her nonchalance as she narrowly escapes death for the fifth time. Once the fight is over, his curiosity takes over and he wants to get to know her better. If the demons just destroyed her home, he doesn’t mind to offer her accommodation in his palace, which only an idiot would deny. Hades definitely isn’t the type of man who falls in love at first sight. But he seems to enjoy thrill - troublesome people naturally attract him, so he can easily find a common ground with them. When they arrive to the palace, Hades would treat her almost as an old friend he didn’t see in ages. It’s easy for him to break the ice but much harder to open up. Hades would give her a tour and answer all the question about the palace. If she doesn’t mind, he invites her to eat together or proposes chess match. He can even teaches her how to play. At first they would talk about anything in particular. After some time there’d be questions: about Hades’s brothers or how he became King of the Underworld, how nymph ended up on her own, what’s their origin etc. Then it would come time for a light-hearted banters and jokes, and suddenly something change even if they didn’t cross any big line. One day Hades would simply realize that he seeks for nymph’s attention. He likes her voice, he likes her minty smell, he likes her melodious laugh. He goes to her when he’s agitated because her presence calms him down; he’d simply sit beside and listen to her voice. All these signs are enough for him to understand situation and once he realizes that, feelings escalates very quickly to the point that may surprise both of them.

When the wind blew very hard, large drops of rain began to fall from the grey clouds. Someone not familiar with Helheim would misread it as a bad morning, but that was very regular beginning of the day in that realm. Despise weather Hades was heading to the garden. The one of the very few place in Helheim where flowers and fruits grew. Almost constant lack of sunlight was quite a challenge after all. — You’ll get soaked completely — Hades said with smirk. The nymph turned to face him. Her rosy cheeks and nose were such a contrast on usually very pale skin of hers. Hades couldn’t deny that the hairs that clung to her forehead gave her a charm. — That’s fine by me — she answered — I like rain. Hades came closer, way closer that nymph expected, but she didn’t step back. She observed how his eyes moved to her lips, watched them for awhile and then made all the way back to her eyes, looking for silent consent. The air around them changed, became heavier. Time stopped. Then Hades slowly raised his hand to her face and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Nymph could breath again. He smiled as he lend a hand that she accepted. — Shall we? — Hades asked. He led them inside.

Hades doesn’t want to make her uncomfortable by rushing things. He isn’t blind so when he starts courting, he’s sure that she returns his feelings. They play their little games: try to flirt a bit and then pretend to be innocent. It brings them joy and good laugh, that’s their way to strengthen bonds. Their first cross-the-line moment would happen out of blue.

The carriage left the inn and moved at a steady pace back to the castle. Hades sit arm to arm with Minte. Leaning over, she watched at the landscapes. Seemed bored to Hades. As he checked the view from his side, his hand reached her knee, just below the hem of her dress. Much to his own satisfaction, skin to skin contact caused a surprised gasp. Hades didn’t react to that and continue to caressed nymph with his fingers as if nothing happened. He was slowly moving up. The feeling of her soft, warm skin started awaking something inside his belly and below. — Fine — Hades heard her angry voice — You won. Before she finished sentence, her hand reached his cheek and forced him to look at her. Without hesitation, nymph’s lips closed gap between them and moment later Hades tasted something he had longed for a very long time. It wasn’t gentle at all. The kiss was quintessence of desire, hunger and passion. Hades tasted her tongue and listen her muffled moans, the heat that awoke in his body was almost uncomfortable. He felt her curious fingers on his chest, looking for a way to get under clothes. Hades was bemused by mint scent and all he could think of was her on him right now. As time passed, he realized that his hands were roaming freely over her body, playing with hairs, caressed every inch of naked skin he could find. Knowing what was coming excited him. Only if sudden stop of carriage didn’t bring them both back to their senses…

Once they take the relationship to the level of intimacy, Hades crave it daily. He wants to experience this newfound physical world that he has never shared with anyone like this before. Hades is so into praising. He is original, does not repeat old patterns, although he has a soft spot for the word ‚magnificent’. What’s interesting - he’s not used to being praised (do not confuse with ass kissing), so he may be surprised when he hears a few nice words in bed for the first time. Hades prefers slow love-making over quickies. He likes to take his time, enjoys a moment and completely relaxes in his lover’s arms. I don’t see him as a fan of morning sex either, he likes to make a whole ritual out of it. A whole day of desire, a nice dinner, maybe a walk or a bath together. He really adores massages as a foreplay. He doesn’t have one favourite position. As long as is not something too demanding, he would go with it. In his opinion sex should be pleasant, not a challenge. Doesn’t mind at all being small spoon or gives up the initiative, just not all the time. Hades is sweet lover but he has a bit firm side - it’s properly balanced. After session he wants to cuddle and talk about anything in particular until they both fell asleep.

[reflection-s-of-stars]

You are someone I have always known

Or, an Eposette barricade day/birthday fic for the lovely Mina @jewishdainix !!!! Sorry it’s a day late, and I hope you like it!

“Hi.”

“Hey.”

That was as far as their interactions went most days. Cosette would see the flashing of cold blue eyes and a ratty jean jacket, and she’d wave instinctively. Not because she wanted to talk to Eponine, which she didn’t, especially not outside a therapist’s office, but because it was polite.

So Cosette was disturbed, one bright June morning, to realize that Eponine’s absence rattled her immensely.

It had become a comfort to her, it seemed, to see that face every Wednesday. Yes, it was the face of someone from a time she never wanted to relive in a hundred years, but the face itself was unaffected by that time somehow. Her face, her clothes, her walk, the way she nodded her head to say hey or hi or hm, had all become fixtures in Cosette’s life.

This, as has been said, was an unpleasant realization. Just because it’s comforting to have common fixtures in your life doesn’t mean you have to like those fixtures. 

Still, her relief at seeing Eponine walk out the door next Wednesday was noticeable, if not to them both. 

~

“I like your hair.” 

“Thanks.” 

Compliments were new territory. Yes, the electric shade of green Cosette had dyed her hair was shocking, but most of those who saw it just stared. 

She hadn’t gotten the chance to mention it before they were through their respective doors, but she liked Éponine’s hair just as much. It wasn’t dyed, but a muted shade of red that had been regaining a brilliance and a luster that she hadn’t seen before. A stylist wouldn’t have dreamed of touching hair like that with green dye. 

The second unpleasant realization of the last three weeks was that Eponine was so pretty. Like, Greek myth pretty. One of the wood nymphs in the myths storybook her papa had gotten her for whatever reason resembled her. It had told the tale of Ekho, talkative accomplice of Zeus, struck down by Hera and worn away by Narcissus. The doodles of Ekho looked like Éponine’s past life or secret twin. 

That was all Cosette could think about in therapy. She discussed other things: dying her hair, going bowling with Marius (whom she was over, thank you very much) and his friends, seeing her Papa in the suburbs and her mother at the cemetery. But life was routine enough that she could recite it from memory, and what was really on her mind was the fact that the client who left before her looked like a minor goddess in a storybook and had complimented her on her brand-new neon hair. 

Her therapist probably couldn’t tell all that just from listening to her talk. 

~

“Didn’t I see you hanging out with Marius Pontmercy on Sunday?” 

“Yeah, we met up with some of his friends and got ice cream.” 

Cosette’s hair was fading. She’d thought about going blonde, but the risk of looking a bit too much like Enjolras was just a little more than she was willing to take. So she was letting her roots grow out. 

Ice cream had been fun. They couldn’t go to the bar anymore since Grantaire was so set on getting sober, but a root beer float tasted better than normal beer anyway. A strange sensation had been Courfeyrac’s effusive praise of her hair as he craned his left hand for Marius’s right. They had held hands for the whole evening. Cosette had never liked it when Marius wanted to hold her hand for hours on end, but Courfeyrac seemed to like it just fine. 

There was no jealousy involved. Just them, hands clasped like a lock, and her, looking on silently. Eating her ice cream, laughing at Musichetta’s jokes. 

Wishing she could fall in love like that. 

Not with Marius again. That was nice for a few months but she didn’t need to do it again. Just someone, anyone, that would make life’s routines and fixtures feel more hopeful, more special. 

She mentioned it in therapy. Her therapist smiled to himself. That meant something good, it had to. 

That night, like she hadn’t done in years, Cosette made a wish in the fountain at the mall. 

~

“Were you there-“

“Yeah. What’s going on?”

It turned out Eponine lived in the building that Marius and Courfeyrac lived together in. Cosette had seen her going out as she left their place. The hair and eyes weren’t easy to miss, but she only noticed Eponine after the fact because she’d been sobbing like a little kid. 

She said it was nothing, and soon it would be nothing. Yes, Papa was in the hospital for heart trouble but he’d be out soon. No, she couldn’t be too far away from him but she had a place to stay and it was a four-minute drive from the hospital. Yes, it was all going to be just fine. 

It had to be fine, because her Papa was all Cosette had. 

He’d known her mother well, and when she was dying she said he would take care of everything. Everything meant Cosette, and he embraced her like his own. He loved her as much as any father loved his daughter, if not more. And she loved him more, if it was possible, because he’d chosen her of all little girls to love. They stood proud side by side, and they leaned on each other if they needed. 

And Cosette knew she wouldn’t be able to lean on her Papa if everything didn’t turn out fine. 

New routines sprouted from harsh soil. An everyday four-minute drive to the hospital, sitting with Papa, planning out the future if he got better and the future if he didn’t. A second four-minute drive, eating Marius’s leftovers and asking Courfeyrac to go to her place and water her plants. Tumbling asleep at midnight, leaving her phone off do not disturb, waking up tired. 

Seeing Eponine in a new hallway. That bit was nice.

~

“Where’ve you been?”

“All over.”

Papa came home after a three-week stay in the hospital. The doctors had a list of all the things he wasn’t allowed to do, which included living by himself. Cosette was in the process of moving all her things to his house. 

He had told her not to worry, that he was an old man and that these kinds of things would happen. She was young, she ought to enjoy her life. She fought back, she did, but Papa had a way of winning arguments that really made her understand why he was so often compared to an ox.

So, after her long break, Cosette was back in therapy. After this she was going out to get Papa the last of his meds, and after that she would go to sleep no matter what he said or did. 

Routines were blending like dream logic, it seemed. The daily drives were longer, the appointments shorter, and Papa’s habits replaced those of Marius. There weren’t sudden changes, but everything was in a different place now. 

And yet, here was Eponine, headed out of the same door she always was. Like the changing of seasons: Eponine walked past and the sun gleamed. Eponine skipped a Wednesday afternoon and the wind stung Cosette’s face. Her beautiful hair was the spring, her footsteps were the fall. 

A fixture of the spinning of the earth since they were little kids. It wasn’t magic, nor was it destiny. Just Eponine. 

That was better, somehow.

~

“Can I get your number?” 

“How come?” 

“Marius, Courfeyrac and me are going to hang out tonight. I know you know them, I just thought I’d ask if you wanted to go?” 

“You want to hang out with me?”

“Why not?” 

“You know there are a lot of reasons why not, Cosette.” 

“I do.” 

It all just hung in the air for a second. Chill wind. 

“I still want you to come.”

“Does Marius?”

“I don’t see why he’d mind.” 

“What about-“ 

“You don’t have to go if you don’t want to,” Cosette said. “But if you do, then I can text you. We can make it a thing.” 

“A thing?”

“A routine. Something we do together.” 

A lot of words went unsaid that day. They didn’t know what would be said, or when, or how. That wasn’t part of the plan. 

“Here,” said Eponine. “Give me your phone and I’ll put it in.” 

Cosette could feel herself smiling. 

They went to the movies with Marius and Courfeyrac that Saturday. The week after that was the bookstore, because it was so close to September already and Eponine needed new textbooks. The wind changed from sweet to minty, but nothing was too much now. The time passed. 

Eponine took Cosette to dye her hair neon green again. 

[xu-ren]

Genshin gods and their connection to demonology and mythology

I’m no expert on demonology nor mythology, simply someone that enjoys both and the connection between them and Genshin Impact. I think that Mihoyo did a splendid job on the choices they made when deciding which demons in The Lesser Key of Solomon to use. Anyways, I hope that you enjoy. 

Barbatos

Barbatos in demonology is one of the earls of hell, ruling thirty legions of demons and has four kings as his companions to command his legions. His name seems to derive from Latin 'barbatus', bearded, old man, philosopher. He is the 8th demon in The Lesser Key of Solomon, while Pseudomonarchia Daemonum listed him as the 6th demon.

So far it does not really have anything to do with Genshin, except maybe the fact that Barbatos refers to Morax as old man when his name means old man, so that’s a little ironic.

Barbatos is very known for his command over archery, which is why Barbatos in Genshin uses a bow.

Alright, here is the fun part, Barbatos, unlike some of the other demons in The Lesser Key of Solomon, doesn’t have anything to do with foreign gods. Foreign gods in this case refers to gods not belonging to the Abrahamic religions.

In fact, Barbatos is a fallen angel and was once of the order of the virtues of heaven. This is a delicious piece of irony, given that Barbatos’ godly form greatly resembles an angel.

Barbatos takes upon the name ‘Venti’ as a mortal. The name Venti is most likely Latin instead of Italian. Venti in Latin means wind, and can either refer to the entirety of the four wind gods that serve Aiolos, the Roman Lord of the Winds, whose Greek counterpart is Aeolus or a specific type of wind spirit in Roman mythology, whose Greek counterpart is known as Anemoi Thuellai. The wind spirits are violent storm winds, sons of the monstrous hurricane-giant Typhoeus and were kept locked up in Aiolos’ floating fortress. 

The four wind gods that served Aiolos are Aquilo, the north wind, Favonius, the west wind, Notus, the south wind, and Vulturnus, the east wind. Their greek counterparts are Boreas, Zephyrus, Notus and Eurus respectively. I brought this up because of the Knights of Favonius. 

Another of the four winds gods appear in Genshin, although this time with a Greek name. Andrius, the Wolf of the North, is also known as Lupus Boreas. Lupus is the Latin term for wolf while Boreas, as stated above, is the Greek god of the north wind. In conclusion, the name Lupus Boreas itself more or less means Wolf of the North. 

Morax

Morax in demonology is one of the presidents of hell, ruling thirty legions of demons. His name seems to come from Latin 'morax', that delays, that stops. He is the 21st demon in The Lesser Key of Solomon.

So far, similarly to Barbatos, the only thing that has anything to do with Genshin is his name, mostly because rock is the most likely to be able to endure time.

Morax appears as a great bull with the face of a man, which is interesting in a Chinese context, as Liyue is based on Ancient China. In the Chinese zodiac, an ox has a fixed element, which is earth. The Chinese zodiac sign Ox is disciplined and orderly in his or her thoughts and actions. They are known for the strength of body, mind, and character, and tend to be very conservative. They do well in business, not because of ingenious inventions or clever self-promotion, but by hard work and long hours. Sometimes considered old-fashioned, Chinese Oxen are well-known for their moral fiber. They live by a code that may no longer be popular, but they have a clear sense of what is right and wrong. While others may see them as slow and plodding, inside, they are romantics who want to look at the world as it once was (or at least how they know it was).

This makes the ox a very fitting animal for the Morax we know in Genshin.

Furthermore, another belief for his name is the Egyptian goddess Maat, the goddess of truth, balance, order, harmony, law, morality, and justice. This makes it fitting for the Morax in Genshin in my opinion.

Alright, back to demonology, Morax teaches Astronomy and all other liberal sciences, and gives good and wise familiars that know the virtues of all herbs and precious stones. The precious stones part is fitting for the Morax in Genshin but also the fact that Morax in demonology likes to teach, just like the Morax in Genshin.

Morax descends upon Liyue as a dragon. Dragons in East Asian mythology is commonly associated with good luck, propitiousness, power, and nobleness. In ancient times, only emperors were allowed to use a dragon as a symbol. This is probably used to further reaffirm Morax’s position as the highest of the adepti. The colours used in Morax’s dragon form are simple, brown for the earth and gold for the gold that flows in his veins. Even if he did not create Mora, it is typically said that immortals bleed gold, which is commonly known as ichor.

“The Dragon is believed by the Chinese to present power and valiancy, excellence and determination, dignity and divinity. A dragon is believed to have the powers to overcome obstacles to see success. He is spirited, confident, enthusiastic, intelligent and determined.”

As a mortal, Morax takes the name ‘Zhongli’. Chinese names are a bit more difficult to decipher, compared to Latin names since they depend more of the characters used to make up the name as compared to just the sound of the name. Different characters in Chinese could make the exact same sound but mean very different things. Zhongli’s name in Chinese characters is 钟离, the Zhong in his name means clock while the Li in his name means leave. A interpretation of his name would be off the clock, symbolising his retirement. 

His name is likely from a figure in Chinese mythology, 锺离权, Zhongli Quan, one of  the Baxian, the Eight Immortals of Daoism. Zhongli Quan is also sometimes known as , 汉锺离, Han Zhongli because he is said to have lived during the Han dynasty. In legend, he wields a large fan which can resurrect the dead and transform stones into silver or gold. The Zhong in his name is actually the same Zhong used in Genshin’s Zhong but in traditional Chinese as opposed to the simplified Chinese used in Genshin. 

Baal

Baal in demonology is a Duke of Hell, with 66 legions of demons under his command. His name comes from a Canaan and Mesopotamian god, specifically the god of fertility and storms. The Semitic word Baal means lord or master, and the ancient people believed he was in charge of all of nature and humans. He is the 1st demon in The Lesser Key of Solomon.

Baal in Genshin forms herself as a ruler or lord and master of Inazuma. Unlike Barbatos, who is mostly absent or Morax, who descends once a year, Baal seems to be a god that rules with an iron fist, appropriate for someone whose name means lord or master.

Baal in Genshin claims that her ideal is "nearest unto Heaven," calls her body the "noblest and most eminent of all in this world," and sees her reign as eternal which is again, fitting for someone whose name means lord and master.

Baal in demonology is also commonly associated with Satan or at least as his primary assistant. The arrogance shown in Baal in Genshin is therefore fitting, given that Satan was once Lucifer, the most perfect of angels before he rebelled against God and fell to heaven. He too believed that his ideal was the nearest unto Heaven and that his body is the noblest and most eminent of all in this world. Another interesting factor is that Baal in Genshin believes that humans are not deserving of visions, similar to Satan’s reason for his rebellion against God, for he believed that humans did not deserve God’s love or protection.

Baal as a god was believed to be the "giver of life" and mankind was dependent upon him for providing what was necessary to sustain the farms, flocks and herds. Baal was the god of fertility and storms, it is fitting as storms meant lighting and therefore electricity. In Ugaritic and Hebrew, Baal’s epithet as the storm god was He Who Rides on the Clouds.

The question on how a powerful ruling god, similar to Zeus in Greek mythology, became known as a demon is fairly simple.

“According to the Old Testament, after the Israelites wandered in the desert for 40 years, they arrived in the fruitful land of Canaan where the prime deity was Baal. Before they entered the Promised Land, the Hebrew people were warned not to worship the pagan gods of Canaan. However, after wandering in the desert for all that time, they weren’t quite sure that their god was the right choice since the Canaanites were living it up on the fertile soil. Many split their allegiance and decided to worship both their god and Baal.”

Many pagan gods were demonised by the Abrahamic religions as the Abrahamic religions did not allow worship of gods that weren't their God. They called it idolatry and deemed it a sin.

Baal’s primary prophet was Jezebel, if you are not familiar with the Abrahamic religions, she is symbolically associated with false prophets. The original Jezebel instituted the worship of Baal and Asherah on a national scale and violently purged the prophets of Yahweh from Israel. Through the centuries, the name Jezebel came to be associated with false prophets. By the early 20th century, it was also associated with fallen or abandoned women. In Christian lore, a comparison to Jezebel suggested that a person was a pagan or an apostate masquerading as a servant of God. By manipulation and seduction, she misled the saints of God into sins of idolatry and sexual immorality. In particular, Christians associated Jezebel with promiscuity. The cosmetics which Jezebel applied before her death also led some Christians to associate makeup with vice.

Personally, given that the records of Jezebel are mostly from Abrahamic religions, I would advise that it be taken with a spoonful of salt. I mentioned Jezebel because she was said to have violently purged the prophets of Yahweh from Israel, similar to how Baal in Genshin purged the vision holders in Inazuma.

[aiyaar]

Nico di Angelo was ten years old when his life went to hell. He never felt so devastated, so ruined. The only person who cared about him, his family, his everything was gone.

Nico hated all of them. He hated sister for leaving him behind, as if he was nothing, just to die afterwards and leave him completely alone. He hated those stupid huntresses of Artemis for taking his sister away from him. He hated Annabeth Chase, whoever it was, for falling off the cliff and making them go on this quest. But most of all he hated him. Percy Jackson. The ultimate hero, so strong and cool. He hated everything about him. He let him down. Percy Jackson let his sister die.

It was already a month since Bianca left this world. A lonely, cold month. Grieve still strangled him. This month has passed in a blur.

Nico passed an empty street, not even bothering to lift up his head. Snow was falling from the white sky and Nico shivered slightly from the cold. He needs to find some warmer clothes.

The city clock struck twelve, sound cutting through the silence. Another day has come. As if Nico cared. Suddenly he stopped, absentmindedly looking at the date on the billboard. 28th January.

Nico titled his head. He didn’t even know his birthday was coming. He always loved his birthday, so excited to modestly celebrate it with Bianca. Bianca…

A lonely tear rolled down his cheek, followed by another. Nico didn’t bother to wipe them, letting them fall.

“Happy Birthday to me.” He said in a shaky voice, sitting in the snow right in the middle of the street. Nico buried his face in his palms, trying to quiet down choked sobs.

Nico di Angelo was eleven years old when he lost himself.

*

Nico di Angelo was eleven when he started to chase the dream of making his sister come back to life. He was obsessed with the idea, almost going mad in the company of hurt and angry ghosts.

Minos had promised him that he’ll see Bianca again. And Nico believed. What else he could do. He was alone. He was hurt.

Why can’t she talk to him? Why she doesn’t want to show up? She doesn’t want to see him. She despises him. She doesn’t want him.

Nico heard rustling sound under his boots. He picked up the newspaper, catching the date with his eyes. 1st February.

Well, another year passed. Nico didn’t care that he missed his birthday. But a little ache didn’t want to leave his heart as he remembered how Bianca smiled at him the day he turned ten.

And then, months later, she showed up, just to say him that he has to let go. Just to make Nico know that this plan wouldn’t work. Minos was a liar. He used Nico. His only hope was trampled.

Misery was what Nico felt. The weird, nasty feeling crawled up to his throat.

Aside from that, one image didn’t want to leave his mind. His face lived in his head, not wanting to leave. His stupid smile, green eyes, tousled hair. Why Nico keeps thinking of him?

Why did she want to talk to him, not Nico? This stupid guy, with his annoying grin made Nico want to- What?

Nico freezed, trying to finish this though. Did Nico want to kill him? Hurt him? No, it was something else. He felt weird every time he heard his name. Percy Jackson.

Nico di Angelo was twelve when he started to realize something about himself.

*

Nico di Angelo was twelve when he wanted to rip out his own heart. Abnormal, disgusting. He was sick of himself. He felt nauseous at the very thought of it.

It can’t be true, no. He’s mistaken.

He was lying on his bed at his father’s castle, staring at the ceiling. He couldn’t sleep. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw his face. Those gorgeous green eyes, goofy smile, tousled black hair. His mind was ranting: Percy Jackson, Percy Jackson, Percy Jackson.

Nico felt like he was about to cry. Why is he like this? Is he broken?

He looked to the side, at his night table. A bouquet of red roses stood there. An hour ago Persephone strode to his room with these flowers and a weird expression on her face. She silently put them in a vase and went back to the door. She stopped there, turning her head a little to look at him.

“Happy Birthday.” Was what she said. Then she left.

So it was his birthday. He’s thirteen now.

Nico stared at the flowers, a little bit shocked. She remembered about his birthday. His father didn’t even bother to check up on him.

Hades only cared about their deal. Nico was very hesitant about that. But after all, he agreed.

He just thought that if he does that then maybe Percy would… Like him? But he didn’t.

Percy Jackson hated him. He screwed everything up. It was horrible. He had to fix it.

So he did the best thing he could. He had to prove to Percy, to his father, to everyone that he is worth something. He was just a kid and the battle was scary. He was scared. But he was a hero.

Everyone respected him, some people wanted to be his friends. He even wanted to stay at camp. Nico was happy but only for a moment.

Days after the battle the whole camp started talking about how Percy and Annabeth finally kissed and got together.

Nico left without a warning. Not like he had anyone to warn. Not like anyone cared.

Nico di Angelo was thirteen when his heart was broken.

*

Nico di Angelo was thirteen when Percy Jackson had gone missing. Annabeth Chase went feral. And Nico promised to help. Of course he did.

He was actually worried. What could happen to him? Nico only knew that Percy was alive. It was somewhat reassuring.

Something bad was about to happen. Nico knew it. New demigods at Camp Half-Blood. One of them is a son of Zeus. That was a bad sign.

And now that Nico knows about romans…

Today was 28th January. His birthday. He already got used to ignore this day. Nico just marked the fact that he was fourteen now.

The door of his room swung open. Nico sat up on his bed, seeing his father in his usual black robes.

He stood there in silence for a minute or so, awkwardly staring at his son.

“Um, did you want something?” Nico said, nervously fumbling with the ring on his finger.

“Yes.” Hades came closer to his bed. “Well, not really. It’s just…” Lord of the Underworld sat on the corner of Nico’s bed. “It’s your birthday.”

Nico blinked, processing what his father was trying to say.

“Yeah, I know. Thank you for reminding me.” He finally said, scowling at his father. Like he ever cared about Nico anyway. “If that’s all you wanted to say-“

“No.” Hades looked strangely awkward. “You made me proud this year, you know?”

Nico’s eyes widened. Was his father trying to praise him?

“I wanted to say that I’m… Grateful. You made me make right choice. And what I said about you before… I’m sorry.”

Nico was more than shocked at this point. He felt awkward and Hades didn’t look better.

“Anyway, I vaguely know that mortals usually make gifts for the day one came from mother’s womb. And I thought that maybe you should spend time with your… peers?”

“What are you trying to say, dad?”

Hades took a deep breath, as if he was nervous.

“I want to give you a present. So that you will be able to go wherever you want, in those places where teenagers usually spend time.”

“You want to give me a car?” Nico asked, puzzled.

“No, you’re too young for that. I’ll give you a chauffeur, he’ll be helping you go to the mall or something. Because, well… I’m not able to do it for you.”

Nico blinked again, titling his head to the side.

“A chauffeur?”

Hades looked embarrassed for a moment. Then he put on a stern expression, standing up.

“Objections are not accepted. You should be grateful.” He strode off to the door. Then he stopped. “Happy Birthday, son.” He closed the door, leaving Nico alone in the dark room.

Nico di Angelo was fourteen when he received his first birthday present.

*

Nico di Angelo was fourteen when he met him. Will Solace.

It felt like a dawn after long, cold night. Will was his blessing, his salvation. And Nico didn't know what did he do to deserve someone like Will.

They've been dating for a couple of months, wonderful, amazing months. And Nico was genuinely thankful for everything Will had done to him.

Nico woke up at the knock on his door, blinking through the gloom of Hades cabin. He didn't know if it was morning already, because black curtains prevented any gleam of sunshine from crawling into his cabin.

Still, Nico knew exactly that it was early and he knew exactly who was outside, because there was only one person in this world who dared to wake him up.

Nico got out of bed and staggering came to open up the door.

Will Solace stood on the threshold. He was wearing his usual winter jacket and a scarf, a blinding smile on his face. He seemed to be particularly happy today and, judging by the flush on his face, he was running.

"Hey, Neeks." He ruffled his hair and came in, closing the door behind him as Nico shivered from the cold winter air.

"Good morning." Nico mumbled, still half asleep. "What time is it?"

"7 a.m."

"Why did you need to wake me up so early?"

Will looked him in the eyes, taking Nico’s cold hand with his warm one, which is weird, considering Will was the one who had a walk on winter air.

"Do you know what day it is?" He looked excited.

"Um, no, to be honest. I don't pay attention to the calendar." Nico sat down on his bed, wrapping himself in a blanket.

Will looked shocked.

"Are you serious?! I mean... It's 28th January!"

Nico's brain needed a moment to process what exactly Will wanted from him.

"Yeah. So?"

"So?! It's your birthday!"

Nico sighed.

"Guess I'm fifteen now. That also explains this." He pointed to his bedside table, where black envelope was perched on the top of black box. "Probably from my father."

Will looked at him, then at the envelope.

"So, like... Happy Birthday."

"Thank you." Nico got up again, reaching for the box. "Now go so I can change."

"Ok." Will strode off to the door, a strange expression on his face. Though Nico didn't pay much attention to it.

Nico opened the envelope. There was a thick wad of money and an invitation for a dinner. Nico will come, of course, but not today. In the box lay watches and a book in Italian.

The day went by as usual. Nico had a walk in the woods with Will before breakfast, then they were busy with their camp activities.

In the evening, right before they were about to go to the campfire, Will took his arm and told him.

"How about we won't go to the campfire today?"

"But you like-"

"I don't need to go there everyday. Especially today. Come to your cabin in twenty minutes." And he hastily strode off in the direction of the cabin thirteen.

Nico came in after twenty minutes to be met with dozens of candles around his room. Will was standing in front of him, holding a cake with fifteen lighted candles perched on it.

"Make a wish." He whispered as Nico came closer.

Nico looked him in the eyes and didn't know what to say. So he just did what he was told. Will smiled brighter.

"I baked it myself." He said proudly. "Well, Cecil helped me."

He put the cake on the table, now fumbling in his pockets.

"I have something for you, actually." He said, pulling out a small box from his pocket. "I don't know if you're going to like it but..."

Nico didn't hear what Will was saying as he opened the box with trembling hands. He pulled out a sun pendant on a thin gold chain. The sun looked just like the tattoo on Will's shoulder.

Nico couldn't hold back a tear that rolled down his cheek. Will watched him attentively, stopping his ranting when he saw it.

"Nico, what's wrong-"

The next thing Will knew, pale arms was wrapped tightly around him, Nico's face buried in Will's chest.

"Thank you." Nico said in a small, shaky voice before pulling back. He placed the sun pendant on his palm, watching it glisten in the candle light. Tears still rolled down his cheeks.

Will looked at him, his eyes filled with warmth and understanding. He always understood. His sunshine was so alone, for so long. All Will wanted was to make him happy.

Will moved to embrace Nico in a tight hug, kissing the top of his head and then lifted his head with long, gentle fingers on his chin.

"I love you so much." He said. "You're such an amazing person. You're brave, gorgeous, smart, brilliant. Beautiful." He wiped the tear from Nico's cheek. "I will love you with all my might. I promise."

And with that he gently kissed Nico, making him smile while the tears of joy kept rolling down his cheeks.

"I love you, Will."

Nico di Angelo was fifteen when he found his happiness.

[doubleleoenergy]

Medusa

She looked right through me, and I turned to stone. Medusa, Medusa, I've been here alone. And I crumbled to pieces my body, my weakness, is on the floor. And the wind will blow and blow, and I won't be here no more.

Pairing: Medusa!Natasha Romanoff x Reader

Warnings: 18+ ONLY, mentions of rape/almost rape, loss of virginity, fingering (female receiving), lots of smutty goodness

Word Count: 2122

Author’s Notes: I wrote this for the Greek Mythology Writing Challenge via: faeryloki. Using the prompt of Medusa. I was super nervous and excited to write this, I hope you all enjoy!

Natasha, Natasha, you REALLY shouldn’t be here. It’s not the first time she’s visited the temple since Athena’s wrath turned her into the VILE image that everyone feared, but she couldn’t HELP it. Something about returning to the place where she had lost EVERYTHING, the place where she felt so helpless and small when she now felt so POWERFUL sent adrenaline rushing through her veins.

Athena’s TEMPLE, who would’ve thought she’d end up here, but she just HAD to. Was she really going to pay her respects to the Goddess? To the statue of the woman who had clearly been ENVIOUS of her beauty long before her beautiful spirals turned to SNAKES? She should be pissed, but Natasha was only mad at POSEIDON at this point, the one who had raped her and sent her on her path towards pain and destruction.

Her calloused fingers reached out to touch the smooth doric column, running them up and down the simple fluting that ran vertically along the tall stone. She used to LOVE this place, loved sitting on the porch in front of the stone and gold deity inside. It was her safe haven, which was ironic given that Athena was KNOWN for being the Goddess of War. But Athena was so much MORE than that, she was badass enough to have been born by Zeus and Zeus ALONE. She was a beautiful virgin, something Natasha had once been TOO.

Natasha’s thoughts were interrupted by a blood curdling SCREAM drifting from the inner temple. Brows furrowed and footsteps remained light along the temple floor as she walked inside. That’s when she noticed the man and the MAIDEN.

The man was tall and muscular, his dark curls piled high atop his head. His chiton was slightly open, his body pinning down the SMALL woman below him. Her hair fell loosely down her back, her peplos ripped and tattered along the floor by her side, her chiton that was pinned in place pulled open to reveal her bare body underneath. The woman was MORTAL, but her body could rival any Goddess in the way that it was displayed perfectly against the porch steps.

“Please, I beg of you, let me go!” The woman shrieked, tears staining her rosy red cheeks. “I’m a VIRGIN, please.” The words brought Natasha back to her past, banging her hand on the column beside her as a way to demand the attention from the room.

“I believe the maiden wants to be let GO.” She snarled. The man released his hold on the damsel below, standing up and turning to face her.

“Oh yeah? And who are you to tell me what to-” He trailed off, eyes meeting hers, instantly knowing his fate. The serpents along her hairline stood in defense, hissing at the man who DARED to rest his eyes upon hers. His fate was quickly sealed, his body groaning as inch by inch was encrusted from his bare feet to the top of his head in STONE.

The woman who had just almost become the man’s victim watched in HORROR at the sight of him encapsulated in stone, her own body frozen where she lay in front of the statue of Athena. She wanted to pull her chiton tight around her body again, feeling uncomfortably bare in front of Natasha, but she couldn’t move her hands. Though she wasn’t STONE like the man, it was only her mind that kept her from moving. 

Her eyes moved from the now statuesque man to the other woman. The moment she set her sight upon Natasha she knew just who she was. Her chiton was TIGHT against her skin, her hourglass figure accentuated by the taut fabric. Brown sandals adorned her feet, her eyes following up to the woman’s face, the serpents moving side-to-side against her head.

“You’re MEDUSA.” She croaked, letting go of a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. The woman’s attention turned from the stoned figure to the damsel in distress again, taking a stride forward in the direction of her voice.

“That I AM, but you can call me Natasha.” She boasted. Natasha moved to stand in front of the other, hands resting on her hips. “And what was a beautiful maiden like you doing in here with such a VILE mortal as he?” Her head tilts, the serpents going back to rest against her skull.

Her heart feels like it’s beating out of her chest, glancing to the stone man and then back to Natasha. “I-I was just admiring Athena’s statue, talking to her...which I often do. The man came in after me, introduced himself and sat down with me. Before I knew it he...he…” Tears are welling up in her eyes, swallowing the large lump in her throat as she FIGHTS them back.

“Shh...it’s okay now my dear maiden...you’re SAFE…” Natasha cooed, dropping to her knees in front of the woman. “I’m surprised you’re even talking with me, most mortals would run away AFRAID of me by now...well, those of whom I hadn’t yet turned to STONE…” Natasha’s eyes roam the damsel’s body, licking her lips until she meets her gaze again. She still doesn’t see fear in them, not like how they looked at the man who had almost RAPED her.

Y/N manages to shake her head, not wanting to remove eye contact. Even with the serpents, Natasha was BREATHTAKINGLY beautiful. “No, I’m not afraid. You saved my LIFE. I am forever grateful to you, Natasha.” She doesn’t know why she moves to bow her head to the woman. She wasn’t even a real GODDESS like those who had temples made in their honor, but the Gods and Goddesses were not here to save her, not like NATASHA.

“Grateful, huh?” Her lips curl into a flirtatious smirk at the bow. “Well, would you like to SHOW me how grateful you are?”

The maiden bites her bottom lip, eyes darting from Natasha’s gaze to her plush lips and then back up again. She sits up, her chiton falling the rest of the way off of her shoulders, her face inches from the woman's. The serpents are silent, none jutting out to bite her even though she was so CLOSE. They didn’t feel threatened by her presence.

Natasha grips y/n’s chin in her fingers, her nails digging softly into the skin. She closes the gap between the two, velvet to velvet lips crashing together. This is the maiden’s FIRST kiss, Natasha can tell, especially from the way she seems to not move them at all against hers. Natasha is doing all the work, her tongue jutting out to help part the woman’s lips, crushing theirs more closely together. The rhythm Natasha has set helps the maiden ease into it, figuring out what to do with her lips as they continue.

The hand that once cupped the maiden’s lips moves down to cup one of her breasts, Natasha massaging the soft skin, eliciting a groan of pleasure from y/n. She’s never FELT like this, never been touched by anyone, and for some reason it made her feel an ache in her core that had never HAPPENED. Not sure what to do with her own hands, she moves them around Natasha’s neck, interlocking her fingers together to keep them in place. This breaks Natasha from the kiss, her lips trailing across the woman’s jawline and placing hot kisses along her neck. She pulls back, making sure she can look the maiden in the eyes once more.

“I need you to verbally say what you want, beautiful.” She herself had not been given the option to CHOOSE in the temple when Poseidon used her body, she would NOT let herself turn into a ravenous monster such as he was.

Y/N’s cheeks flush a bright red, her fingers careful against the woman’s neck not to touch the serpents, all eyes on HER. “I-I’ve never done this...any of this...but I want you to touch me.” She whispers. “Your touch feels so GOOD.”

A verbal okay to continue, that’s all Natasha needed before her lips crash against the fragile woman’s again, her hands moving to push her back against the open chiton she had once worn. “Then I will make you feel good with my touch...show you what it feels like to be a GOOD girl.” Her hands trail down y/n’s sides, her mouth kissing from her collarbone to her breast, taking a red nipple into her mouth and sucking softly on it. The feeling makes her other nipple harden, her back arching to get more of the woman’s lips on her. 

Somehow her body felt COLD from a breeze ripping through the temple, yet so hot under Natasha’s lips. Fingers moved down her y/n’s chest, reaching her outerfolds that were already sheen and glistening with wetness.

“My my...you may not know what to do but your body sure DOES.” Natasha takes her lips from the woman’s nipple and moves them to the neglected one, two fingers circling that bundle of nerves the maiden probably didn’t even realize she HAD below her legs. 

“Oh my goodness!” She cries out, her legs instinctively moving to close but Natsha’s knee nuzzles between them, keeping them apart.

“My beautiful MAIDEN, you mustn’t move. If you want to feel good, like I said before...you’ve got to be a good girl.” There’s that phrase again, good girl. She did WANT to be a good girl. Y/N’s fingers busy themselves in the ripped cloth of her chiton beneath her, trying to keep from bucking her hips into Natasha’s fingers. She wanted to do as she was told, wanted to FEEL good.

Natasha’s fingers stopped their motions against her clit, moving them to y/n’s lips. “Open.” She commands, the maiden below opening her mouth wide enough to let the fingers in. “Get them nice and wet for your cunt.”

A shiver runs down her spine, sucking on the thin fingers before Natasha decides they’re wet enough with saliva and pulls them away, moving one of the fingers down and pressing it between her folds. She can now feel the wetness she’d produced, using that and the spit from her finger to push into her.

Y/N’s eyes close tight, her walls also tightening instinctively around the finger inside of her. She’s not used to this, but she cannot help but feel thankful for the way Natasha was pleasuring her body. Once her body relaxes Natasha moves the finger in and out, warming her body up before she pushes the second finger inside. The serpent's hiss at the woman crying out in pleasure, moving along her head to get a better view.

“Look how PRETTY you look on my fingers, taking them in your cunt so well. It’s so tight, but you want them to fit, don’t you? You want to be a good girl and keep them inside.” Her pace quickens, the maiden’s moans bouncing off the stone walls of the inner temple. Natasha is clearly pleased with herself, eyes taking in the sight of the woman coming undone below her.

“Open those eyes, beautiful. Want you to see how proud you have made me.” Her eyes flutter open, her stomach in knots as she feels a tightness she has never FELT before. “Natasha, I...I feel weird.” She shushes her, eyes darkening at the thought of what’s to come.

“That’s a GOOD feeling, your body wants you to let go, to cum all over my fingers. And you can do that, I want you to do that as long as you LOOK at me.” Being the MEDUSA made eye contact not possible for most, others refusing to look at her just for who she was. The maiden, however, looked at her with WANT, with LUST, and she couldn’t help but feel powerful with all eyes on her for once.

Y/N’s body starts to quiver, a final cry slipping out of her mouth as her walls tighten around Natasha’s fingers, keeping her gaze on the woman above her as she releases her orgasm. The fingers inside her continue to pump in and out, coaxing her down from her release before they are pulled out, leaving the maiden feeling EMPTY.

Natasha sits up, towering further over the woman as her lips curl around her fingers, sucking the sweet juices from the skin. Once they have been stripped of their sweetness she pulls them out with a pop, a sigh of excitement leaving her lips.

“You did AMAZING, my beautiful maiden.” She moves her body next to the woman’s on the porch, eyes briefly meeting the gaze of Athena’s statue before she brings her attention back to her naked lover. “Now I want you to do what I just did to ME.”

[toushindai]

Hades characters listed oldest to youngest according to me

Based on a combination of canonical text, myths, and outright headcanon. I'll try to note which is which.

Chaos - I mean, obviously.

Nyx - I imagine she's co-generational with (maybe slightly older than?) Uranus and Gaia, who are parents to the titans. (Or, to use the language of the game, I suppose, "the rest of the titans")

Charon - idk it just feels right. In Japanese, Hypnos refers to Charon as an older brother. (Thanatos, curiously, doesn't use kinship terms for Charon at all in Japanese.)

Aphrodite - I am committed with unwavering firmness to the headcanon that Aphrodite, like the Furies, is born of Uranus's castration rather than Zeus x the titaness Dione. You can't change my mind on this, don't try. I think that mortals may believe the Zeus/Dione story, though, given that Achilles calls Demeter the eldest upon Olympus.*

Megaera - First of the Furies... but Aphrodite is older. Given that I perceive Aphrodite as a kind of estranged sister to the Furies, this seems like the kind of thing that would annoy Meg to no end.

Tisiphone - I feel like outside of Hades Game I more frequently see the Furies listed with Tisiphone first, then Megaera, then Alecto. If that's meant to indicate something about their mythological ages, it doesn't seem to be the case in the game.

Alecto - Megaera calls Alecto her "youngest sister."

Thanatos - The Japanese text of the game makes Thanatos elder than Hypnos. By the way, I place the Furies as older than Thanatos&Hypnos mostly because Meg will use a nickname for Than but Than will only call Meg by her full name, which I've chosen to interpret as an age/respect thing.

Hypnos

Demeter - Achilles calls her the eldest upon Olympus, which I know I'm contradicting by having Aphrodite up above; see my note above&below on Aphrodite for all of that. That she is the eldest of the first-gen Olympians seems a fairly solid belief. In Japanese, she refers to Hera as older at one point, but unlike my surprise at the Japanese making Than older than the Furies, I think this is genuinely counterfactual to the reality of the game (and I actually F10'ed it).

Hades - game-canonically and myth-canonically the eldest of the brothers.

Poseidon - and doesn't he just have middle brother syndrome?

Zeus - game-canonically and myth-canonically the youngest of the first-generation Olympians, although he can be considered "eldest" in the sense that the other five mythcanonically spent their first years of life in their father's stomach.

Cerberus - Echidna's children were born around the time of the Gigantomachy, I believe...? I'm fuzzy on this bit.

Persephone - Placed here just because Demeter is older than the rest, though I'm not firmly committed to the idea that she's the oldest of the second-gen Olympians.

Athena - Second-gen Olympians are ordered based on feelings in my heart and nothing else.

Ares

Artemis

Hermes

Dionysus - Honestly in Hades Game canon Hermes feels a little younger, but mythologically it makes more sense to me personally to have Dio be the youngest of the Olympians, so.

Dusa - As Perseus apparently predates Theseus & the Minotaur. It seems that she didn't start working at the House until well after Zagreus's birth, however.

Asterius

Theseus - obviously co-generational with Asterius, but probably a bit younger?

Skelly (Odysseus) - Skelly's approximately here even if he is "Schelemeus," as the strongest statement in that direction is that Asterius recognizes the name, but this is MY post and I've put him here because I think he's Odysseus.

Patroclus - usually older than Achilles by a few good years.

Achilles - was already famous on Olympus before Persephone left it, but apparently was not in the House at the time, as he never met her until the postgame. Which indicates something spectacularly dreadful about how long Patroclus's shade may have been standing in line in Erebus.

Sisyphus - nb that Eurydice, Orpheus, and Sisyphus all seem to have met Persephone when they first came to the Underworld. For the sake of how I envision things, I'd actually love it if Sisyphus were much earlier in the whole business (an early Example of what happens if you cross the Olympians), but given that he apparently was in the Underworld during Persephone's original tenure, and Persephone's original tenure was long enough after the Trojan War that Achilles was already a well-known hero before said tenure began......

Eurydice - I place Eurydice as older than Orpheus just because she's a nymph.

Orpheus - one thing I just remembered is that while Persephone was present when Orpheus attempted to retrieve Eurydice, she is surprised to find that he's been made court musician while she was out--perhaps meaning that Orpheus died after she left the Underworld.

Zagreus - wow, he's baby! Like I did not set out to make this post to prove that he's baby but apparently he really is baby.

---

* Trying to follow the game's style of reconciling disparate myths, my thinking is essentially that Zeus likes to lie and say that everyone on Olympus is related to him. Aphrodite rolls her eyes and plays along for the prestige; similar stories exist about Persephone, which is "why the myths we in the real world know say that Persephone is Zeus's daughter" (in much the same way that the in-game "Hymn to Zagreus" is "why the myths we know say that Zagreus and Dionysus are the same god"), but Demeter is less fond of those rumors and contradicts them at every opportunity.

[greekbros]

"greek-Bros Headcanon: The Big 6"

Zeus:

-Pretty much everything about him is pretty standard, including him being your regular man. Flaws and all. Oddly enough he isn't that truly complicated as an individual, after all, all mankind IS mostly modeled after him and few other gods.

-As he and the others were assigned their devine positions, he started taking up attributes of the sky and his own consignated animal the eagle, like feathers instead of hair, incredible eyesight and a tendency to create electricity with excessive movement or emotional outbursts. He's towering and under his more comfortable toga he's fucking BUILT.

-He's a rather decent father by ancient Greek standards, yes almost everything he has done according to mortal men have happened. Of course his own children weren't going to argue against him. However, he always has his offspring and so on in mind. He tries to interact with his children in meaningful ways as much as he can or want, regardless he isn't a forgetful man....just a 'busy' one.

-In spite of his powerful and stern demeanor, he is always constantly at odds with his own inner demons. He's ALWAYS questioning his past actions, he laments his terrible and questionable decision he had ever impulsively but he does take up the traditional mantle of "masculine density" and rarely shows his emotions. When he does show his emotions, it's either heartbreaking or a loud storm targeting said source of destress.

-He deeply loves Hera in every sense of the word, but he has "such a big heart he can't just keep it to himself", quote Zeus. Regardless, he still acts on his impulses and is the root of all his problems. Legend has it, his very essence accidentally created King Henry the 8th and many other historical heartbreakers.

-In spite of making up many of the rules of humanity (with extra help of the rest of his siblings), human mortals have always had a terrible habit of breaking these rules. Zeus has made so.many of these rules that he's just stop keeping up with keeping mortals in place. He just kind of let's things happen. At this point of his existence, his only concern now is to make sure other gods are following their rules.

-He HATES child sacrifices. Mostly because when a living thing gets sacrificed it comes in flesh and blood directly to the land of the gods. So naturally, there is a complete population of "ascended" mortals and animals in Olypmus....and he already has his hands full. Plus he just doesn't like the principal of it all. He genuinely hates children getting hurt in the first place.

-HIS list of enemies is a kilometer long. It includes everything that's a titan, some of his own children (and grandchildren), Hera to a very small extent and Hades.....even though there has been literally NOTHING that has proven Hades is a threat to him.

-The main reason why Zeus adamantly believes that Hades is out to get him is because of HOW he assigned Hades to be god of the underworld..... basically, he asked Hades to check a dark cave.....and closed the cave entrence while he and Poseidon ran off. Hades ironically doesn't care about this and has no real intensions of taking revenge on Zeus for anything, the fact Zeus haphazardly gave him a wife and lives in constant paranoia gives him solence.

-He is extremely defensive of Hermes and Dionysus. Inspite of his claim of loving all his offspring equally, he feels a deeper connection to Hermes considering that he was to be considered the "prodigal usurper" before Dionysus, meanwhile Dionysus is his youngest son with the most responsibility for a god so naturally he's going to keep a closer eye on both just a little bit more. In terms of familiar respect, Athena and Apollo are tied as his most "important" children.

-After Athena's birth, Zeus's mental fortitude, better judgement and intellectual integrity has completely been capped. He constantly has headaches, tends to make terrible decisions, tends to be forgetful, and goes through terrible flashbacks to anything that can come to mind. He still loves and respects his daughter but he has to admit her very presence gives his a headache. It's rumored that his brain is 2/5ths of what it use to be.

-He has no control over Hera and never will. After several take overs, a very nasty scroll call from Nyx for threatening to harm Hypnos, and having several lovers killed by her, he's completely decided that fighting her or arguing with her. He would still end all.of existence for her.

-The only entities he truly fears is Nyx, Gaia and Aphrodite. Nyx being a more intimidating foe of his, Gaia being his own grandmother and Aphrodite being a she-titan who for reason decided it was cash-money as fuck to just take residence in Olypmus.....that....and a good small chunk of his afairs were caused by her and her son Eros.

-He STILL has no idea how Heracles inherited his THICCNESS. He may consider himself thicc but Heracles couldn't have gotten from him.

-He adores all his followers and considers them worthy of answering their prayers.... Except for one. Lycaon.

-He loves giving Hera pet names but due to her burning anger towards him, she won't let him....even though she loves the pet names he gives her.

-He has many professional relationships and alliances with other gods. However he has had a long on-going distrust of the Sumerian gods. He just finds them to be a little too private in comparison to the rest of his fellow gods. That and he's actually jealous of their near perfect beards. His beard tends to sprout stray down feathers.

Hera:

-She was assigned to be the goddess of marriage and the household, however, she has assigned herself as the goddess of the mind, heart and soul. Because as it turns out, she causes more boughts of madness more than Eris and Dionysus combined. She also controls female intuition and matters of personal strength. She's the force that helps feel when something isn't right or when you feel like you need to do something important wether being benign or malignant. She basically IS your emotional support mom/aunt, but she controls you and your emotions. However she actually uses this ability in moderation.

-She is considered as "Step-Mom" by most of Zeus's out of wedlock offspring. She's always extremely shrewed, vindictive and most of the time outright nasty....but that's about it. She will attempt to get you once or twice but if she senses that it could be a massive waste of her time than she'll just make your life a smig shittier. However, she not an "evil" step mom, more of a step mom who has to get use to her step-children, it will take some work for both parties but deep down she's just angry at Zeus.

-She hates Zeus's children, but she isn't heartless, quite the opposite, children are children in her mind regardless if it's hers or not. She'll make it hard for you but if you ask her for help or ask her in the right manner, she will be delighted to help.

-She is your quintessential woman, she loves jewels, the finer things in life, small animals (especially birds) and she can be either the sweetest or the meanest. After all, like Zeus who created MAN, she created WOMAN. Legend has it she actually let the rest of the gods collaborate as a way to make them feel better. Or at least that's how she puts it, turns out Hermes and Aphrodite made a deal to make more like "them" than Hera intended. While MAN was built pretty close to Zeus's intended design, WOMAN was designed with Aphrodite's beauty and tender nature, while Hermes gave "a dirty mind" much like how MAN were given. Basically WOMAN and MAN are completely equal in everyway regardless of "differences".

-Shes also adopted some inhuman attributes, she grows feathers on some portions of her hair, she feels insecure about them but Zeus adores this because it reminds him that's birds mate for life. Her feathers look more like feathers of a peahen and seamlessly blends with her hair.

-Her ONLY desire is for Zeus to stop cheating on her. She literally wants nothing more. That, and for Dionysus and Apollo to stop steal her dresses for their own endeavors.

-She loves her biological children and their offspring but somehow they keep disappointing her. Ares loves a woman who cheats on Hephaestus and Hebe is in love with the son of the woman who Zeus cheated with. She believes it's karma but at the same time she couldn't be less surprised.

-She loves Hephaestus, but due to his limped leg and his more rugged appearance, she barely tolerates looking at him. Which is strange because Hephaestus heavily resembles Zeus.

-She knows the truth about Erichthonius. He's also her favorite grandson. She has her eye on almost everything, she actually saw the whole drama between Athena and Hephaestus. At first she wanted to intervene but after she noticed this consummated a child and saw how Athena took initiative to take care of the child regardless of her chastity, it gained a little more respect for Athena. Being raised to be a wise young man by Athena and being Hephaestus's biological son, Erichthonius has been secretly considered the most successful grandchild to her.

-Her favorite animals are birds, Zeus as a webbing present gave her the chance to create birds. Thanks to her, the skies are filled with songs.

-She doesn't have a lot of enemies, however, Aphrodite is a big contender against her. While Hera controls the integrity of women, Aphrodite controls their emotional and sexual impulses. So Hera is at constent odd against her...that...and the main reason why Hera married her off to Hephaestus because she wanted to make amends to him....not make his life anymore worse than it already is.

-Hera is aware how most of Zeus's children feel about her, but she appreciates it dearly when one of them does something nice for her....even though she probably demanded it or care for it.

Poseidon and Amphitrite:

-Hes absolutly BOMBASTIC. He's the most carefree of his brothers, most physically fit and considered the most handsome.

-His marriage is ironically WORSE than Zeus's, but he and Amphitrite consensually agreed to pretend nothing is wrong.... apparently it works like a charm and they barely fight. However this is considered a massively concerning situation to Zeus and Hera because the both of them know that a relationship that doesn't regularly express their grievances...often end sour.

-Like his siblings, he's adopted physical attributes that correspond to their environment. Apparently, he has grown gills, his 'beard' is actually octopus tentacles and he has scales in certain places. He can shapeshift into many aquatic creatures.

-Unlike his brothers, his offspring are genetic tossups. One can look relatively ok, another can be a cyclops for no reason. His most famous child is Triton, but the poor lad is a rather simple and humble young mad who has very little aspersions in life. Poseidon tries to encourage him to do something productive but Triton just sort of falls below average in popularity.

- He's the best horseman in all of Greece, in fact his love for horses only rivals his love for literally trying to destroy humanity and his wife.

-He has a love/hate relationship with his nephews. However if you would ask him which nephew he dislikes the most, it would be Dionysus. Oddly enough, Dionysus actually likes to antagonize Poseidon, mostly because he's actually more strict than his dad. It wasn't until the invention of the dolphin that made Dionysus's and Poseidon's relationship between each other a little better. Poseidon has a less innocent hatred for Athena, after losing patronship over Athens, he's sworn vengeance over her. However it's more akin to sending really annoying Facebook messages rather than epic natural disasters. Once a year, he enjoys terrorizing Athens through changing the spring water to saltwater for a few days, make all the horses aggressive and give "oddly constent" tremors.

-If it wasn't for Zeus proposing to Hera first, he would have married her instead. Even though the two had married different people, it always seemed the two had a very interesting chemistry.

- Even though there may be a serious discourse on who it's Theseus's father. The reality is Poseidon doesn't actually want to claim Theseus as his own for mysterious reasons.

-He never sent a different bull to Minos, Poseidon took the form of a bull and cursed Pasiphaë. This was the first account of a god that WASN'T Aphrodite and Eros to have caused someone to be sexually attracted by magic. This has been a family secret between the big 6 for years because if any other gods found out they could just will people's passion, the world be in a state of pure chaos. Poseidon however has an even dirtier secret, he didn't use his godly powers on Pasiphaë, instead he just found a way to get her specifically attracted to him in bull form by using an old recipe for an aphrodisiac from the sunken city of Atlantis. He doesn't tell the truth about this because he's an asshole that way. He finds it more useful to have the other gods believing he had something in reality he didn't have.

- He has a fun hobby of naming his horses the most adorable and somewhat random names, like "Peach Basket", "TootsieFoot" and ect. It ended up being a traditional way of naming race horses in racing derbies.

- He has absolutly no love for humans. He enjoys that mortals worship him and such but the fact he has an entire ocean at his and his wife's disposal, he honestly feels that he has very little need for mortal worshippers....at least this is what he originally thought until his power was contested by an ocean god named Dagon. Long story short, Poseidon no longer takes mortals for granted anymore....and likely never will.

- Poseidon is Olypmus's most prolific warden, like Hades, Poseidon has his own prisoners of war. Most of them being titans, monsters, giants and occasionally malignant gods. It's even argued that he's a much more strict jailer considering being sealed away by Poseidon is a death sentence.

-His greatest pleasure is people enjoying themselves in water in positive ways. Swimming, playing games, and gently interacting with marine animals. However his greatest distain comes from mortals misusing his ocean.

- He has a professional relationship with mostly other Greek water gods and anything related to water. He monitors the water nymphs, consoles all horse-like beasts and so on and so forth.

- She has equal control of the ocean just like her husband. In fact, she has equal control of half of everything Poseidon has. Apparently this is what helps their marriage and it almost makes up for Poseidon's eccentric behaviors.

- Not much is known about her, but based on her interactions, she's a lot more nicer and more gentle than Poseidon when it comes to leadership. She's generous, eccentrically fabulous and has the same energy of a 1920's rich hamptons housewife.

-Shes genuine friends with all of the goddesses and she rarely plays on a specific team. She's a bizzarly lucid gal who loves to lend a shoulder to cry on.

-She and only she has the semi-chaotic energy to tolerate Poseidon and his afairs.

- If Poseidon wants to do something, he would HAVE to ask Amphitrite for permission. After all it isn't "Your side, your rules", it's a partnership between a married couple.

Demeter:

- Controlling over the domain of the earth and harvest, you'll always see some type of vegetation growing on her. It mostly appears as if she fashionably placed strands of wheat grain, fruit flowers and leaves inductive of the season. She and Hestia are the only ones of the big six who don't have animal based attributes. Demeter is also the tallest of the sisters.

-Her input in important matters usually revolve around conservation, providing sustenance and extra maternal perspective. It's contestant as well that she can even be more motherly than Hera, even at her most grim demeanor.

-She is a loving and doting mother. She's the most gentle of the goddesses and yet she can be just as harsh when she needed to.

-She consideres the earth her personal garden, but she shares it with world. Her favorite activity is to create new and exciting plants with Persephone (Or Kore as she prefers to call Persephone) and spending time with her.

-She has other offspring but she doesn't make a fuss about their fathers and their lack of presence. As long as she can keep all of them safe, it's all she needs and cares about.

- Demeter can easily put everyone in Olypmus to their knees. The gods and by extension mortals all have to depend on her and her harvests. When Persephone was taken, she placed all the whole of Greece in a state of famine.

- She use to love and trust Hades, but after he had haphazardly taken Persephone away, all that changed. She keeps a serious eye on Hades since than and has a deep resentment for him and his actions. She barely acknowledges him when he's present but she's still cordial. After a few years however, her attitudes towards him mellowed seeing how Persephone looks forward to seeing Hades every winter.

- She would have married Zeus if his eyes weren't set on Hera. Like Poseidon and Hera, there has been speculation that he and Demeter would have been a better married couple considering both of their personalities would have complimented each other. But that belongs in the "stray line".

-Being the goddess of the harvest, she mostly tends to the matters of farmers and gardeners. By extension, she has an extremely healthy relationship with other vegetation gods, especially Dionysus. Whom oddly enough is treated more like an adopted son rather than a nephew.

- She adores all of her nieces and nephews equally, mostly because she sees that all of them have utilized her gifts to the world in the proper manner. She adores the Bois, because each other of them represents an important value in cultivation.

-She tends to be an anxious woman, and at worst a worrywart. However, she always tries to keep a level head when she desperately needs it.

-She loves animals just as much as she does plants. She in fact helped console in the creation of everything based on how things could tend to themselves without the intervention of the gods. Her ingenuity help give rise to what is considered the concept of the circle of life and the food chain.

-She has an amazing connection between her sisters, prior to being assigned their domains, the three of them would often play with each other and stay close to their mother Rhea. The brothers would always be rummaging around the place and would often tease their sisters.

Hestia:

- The eldest and most lackadaisical sister, she's the more tomboyish of the sisters and loves to rough house.

-She has dark hair with ember roots, the brightness of which increases with emotions. Her physical attributes is her hair always looking alive with flames and being able to increase the temperature in her body.

-Shes a stocky, jolly woman who loves to work in the kitchen whip up something special. She's mostly known for her amazing recipes and her staff of Vestals. She may not keep herself up to the standards of her sisters, but she sees beauty in herself just the way she is.

-The Vestals in her domain are sadly those who "failed to keep the sacred fire lit", that must be sacrificed to the flame. Hestia dispises this punishment, but sadly it seems rarely any of her so-called priests listen to her. Everytime when she receives a vestal, she welcomes them with open arms, a big warm hug and a heartfelt apology for thier suffering. She than mentors them in the ways of the hearth, the real ways straight from the source.

- Like Demeter, she has a massive soft spot for her nieces and nephews. Dionysus again seemingly being the common favorite due to his fun loving personality and his contributions. In a strange sense, as a gift for finally proving himself worthy of a seat in Olypmus, she gave him her own. Hephaestus is another favorite of hers. She often times invites Hephaestus to her domain to have a chat, she often feels for him and tries her best to give him his over due affections in the form of baked goods, interesting items she has been gifted through the hearth and such.

-She isn't a political person to begin with, what one does with their business is their own in her mind. So when she gets called up to converse in such matters, she either stays out of it or she determines herself if it's worth her time.

- She has a mild aversion to water. Poseidon often teases her by flicking a small splash of water, but it just peeves her a little. Mostly because water droplets just sizzle on her and it feels like a little lactic acid itch to her. If someone were to have dumped water on her, it would be feel like as if some dunked boiling water with itching powder on you. She always feels warm so she tends to """cool""" herself down with molten magma or bonfire. When she enters flames, it can depend on where it came from; underworld fire often feels like stepping into one of Costco's Freezers for a little bit and normal earthly flames feeling like a little cool breeze to her.

- She has the most communication between her and her worshippers out of any god. So I. Truth, it's actually easy to envoke her through flames and hearthing.

-She isn't just a goddess of the hearth, she's also the goddess of cooks, bakers, female blacksmiths or the wives of blacksmiths, and glassblowers. Thus she has an extremely healthy relationship with Hephaestus.

-The reason why she chose to be a virgin is actually a simple reason. While Artemis represents chasity for childhood innocence and Athena represents chasity for matters of country and country men, Hestia's chasity is all about personal choice and freedom. Why have children of her own when her vestals are basically her own children, she feels love and responsibility for each of them. The reality is she's not into men, in fact if she wanted to relinquish her chastity, she would want a loving wife. But she isn't interested in marriage or a relationship either. She's as she puts it "far too free for anyone". So in truth, she represents freedom of choice and the firing passion that comes with compassion.

Hades:

-He's what you'd expect from someone who lives most of his life in the underworld yet at the same time not. He's tall, pale, has jet black slicked hair, extremely eloquent and distinguishing. He always trails low hanging mist, seemingly gliding throughout, his eyes glow a warm yellow and speaks in a soft but booming voice. He's not as muscular as his brothers, but he is rather dashing.

-He's more akin to being a classical depiction of a gentleman vampire than a god. Due to his occupation, he's developed a very professional disposition. He greets, guides and consoles the dead. At first he might seems intimidating and even at times callous, but he has your best interests at heart and is a fair ruler. Oddly enough if it wasn't for his aesthetic and his reputation of being ruler of the underworld, he would probably be more comparable to an Arthurian ruler.

-Out of all his siblings, he's the least problematic. He keeps to himself so often that it could be YEARS before anyone would hear from him.

-He's a dedicated and simple man of business, and he takes his job very seriously with a healthy amount of exceptions.

-The "reality" of his chance encounter with Persephone was actually before her kidnapping. He met her while taking a chariot ride and had a passing conversation with her, completely unaware she was Demeter's daughter. After coming back to the underworld, his minions found a bizzare type of mold growing deep in Tartarus that consumed souls. In a panicked state, he than kidnapped Persephone in the hopes she would help the situation, she was glad to be of service and was escorted back to earth. After such a strange ordeal, the two of them kept meeting in secret until Persephone decided to stay with Hades for an extended amount of time. After consuming the food of the underworld by mistake, the story starts returns back to the original.

-He doesn't have much of an opinion on his nieces and nephews. He enjoys Hermes's equally hardworking personality and friendly disposition, he's had Apollo make occasional appearances to give Tartarus some form sunlight, he seems to tolerate Dionysus's slacker behavior but he seems have a very strange connection to Dionysus on a "spiritual" level. However he has extremely low patients for Ares. He isn't too fond of him due to the fact the Ares makes his job a lot for tenuous when wars breakout and his occasional sneaking around the underworld to bother the other chthonic gods.

-He may rule over the underworld, but he's not THEE ruler. He's sort of the equivalent to a king in comparison to Nyx, who is more of an empress. By extension, the ruling regions of the underworld organized rather similarly to a medieval monarchy. Thus creating what the Christians assume is how hell looks and functions like in The Discoverie of Witchcraft, The Book of Spirits, Pseudomonarchia Daemonum, The Lesser Key of Solomon, and Dictionnaire Infernal. Surprisingly, Tartarus actually has nothing to do with anything that the book has to offer.

- The Elysian Fields were created for two very interesting reasons, it was a gift to Persephone for her to feel more comfortable in the underworld and a safe place for those who didn't fit in purgatory or the deeper part of Tartarus. In fact Persephone rules over the fields while Hades rules over the rest.

-When he was first given Cerberus as a pup, Cerberus was dark grey covered in little black spots. As he grew older, Cerberus's fur became darker to a solid black. Ironically, Hades believed Cerberus was going to be spotted throughout his life.

-He unfortunately has no offspring of his own, but he and Persephone isn't above adopting either. Much like Hestia, Hades has a surprising amount of apprentices, apostles and proteges that all are adopted lost souls. Many of them ranging in different ages and such. Charon kept mentioning there had been a small gathering of child wraiths at the banks of the Styx. Apparently many of them being abandoned children who's parents never gave Obolus Obviously, Hades had to make an exception, obviously he wasn't going to let orphaned children fend for themselves in the banks of Styx, so....he now has many wonderful and rambunctious ghost children simply living out there time.

-He's literally the richest god. He didn't expect to accidentally inherit the Earth's worth in wealth. Apparently, there's an on going joke that Gaia gave this wealth to Hades as a form of revenge against Zeus and Poseidon. That....and Gaia actually likes Hades more.

-Zeus and Poseidon were, are and forever regretful that Hades rules the underworld basically hoarding wealth like some posh dragon. Ironically, Hades has 0 idea that he actually owns any of the wealth, that's right, he literally doesn't know anything about the precious metals, gems and such. He assumes his wealth comes from the sheer real estate and number of souls collects. If you ever found out about his incredible amount of monetary control, he probably wouldn't have any idea what to do with it.

-Hades has a professional relationship with Nyx, however, Nyx has decided he's an "adopted neighbor husband". She's extremely affectionate to him as if she was married to him. Hades however, is a dedicated husband and tries him best to make it clear that they're friendly neighbors and not by any means lovers. She doesn't care and still treats him as such. He doesn't know why but all he knows is that she is a powerful, primordial super goddess who lives in the underworld with him. Another ex-lover of Hades was Minthe, who in truth barley added anything for Hades in terms of a meaningful relationship, it was mostly just a lover's affair. After some time, Hades figured that his time was better spent working. After he married Persephone, Minthe attempted to take her revenge by trying seduce Hades back.....let's just say Persephone left her a little green.

[samwisethewitch]

Polytheism

Most pagan religions are polytheistic in nature, meaning they believe in multiple divine beings. This is one of the hardest parts of paganism for outsiders to understand. In a culture where strict monotheism is treated as the norm, it can be difficult to wrap your head around the idea of worshiping more than one god.

Ironically, monotheism — the belief in a single, all-powerful creator deity — is a relatively new invention. Zoroastrianism, the first monotheistic religion, is only about 4,000 years old. In the big scheme of things, that really is not a long time. Evidence for polytheistic religion dates back much, much farther (like, up to 40,000 years). We could argue that polytheism is the natural state of human spirituality.

Within pagan communities, polytheism is often described as a spectrum, with “hard polytheism” on one end and “soft polytheism” on the other. Hard polytheists believe that every deity is a distinct, separate, autonomous spiritual being. Soft polytheists believe that every deity is a part of a greater whole. As we’ve already discussed, extreme soft polytheism isn’t actually polytheism at all, but monism — the belief in a single divine source that manifests in different ways, including as different deities.

Hard polytheism is pretty straightforward. Norse paganism is an example of a hard polytheist system. Most Norse pagans believe that Odin is distinct from Thor, who is distinct from Freyja, who is distinct from Heimdall… you get the idea. Each of these gods has their own area of expertise over which they preside. If you’re dealing with a love matter, you’re probably going to seek out help from Freyja rather than Thor — unless you have a close, ongoing working relationship with Thor. (We’ll talk more about these types of close working relationships in a future post.)

Soft polytheism can be a little harder for people coming from a monotheist system to wrap their heads around. I think Jeremy Naydler describes it best in his book Temple of the Cosmos (here discussing Kemetic/Egyptian polytheism): “Shu and Tefnut are distinct essences dependent on Atum for their existence… The image often used in ancient Egyptian sacred texts concerning the gods in general is that they are the ‘limbs’ of the Godhead.” Shu and Tefnut, who are described in mythology as Atum’s children, are an extension of Atum’s creative power. However, they are also distinct beings with their own thoughts, feelings, and agendas. (It’s worth noting that we also have myths describing Atum’s birth. He is not a supreme being or a timeless force like the Abrahamic God.)

Monism is soft polytheism taken to its logical extreme. In her book, Wicca For Beginners, Thea Sabin describes it this way: “Think, for a moment, of a tree with a thick trunk that splits into two large branches. In turn, smaller branches grow from the large ones, and still smaller branches from the small ones, and so on. Deity is the trunk of the tree, and the God and Goddess are the two main branches. The smaller branches that fork off of the two big ones are the worlds gods and goddesses…”

If you’re not sure what the difference between soft polytheism and monism is, here’s a good litmus test: If you believe in the existence of a supreme divine force, you’re a monist. If not, you’re a polytheist.

Many pagans are somewhere in between hard and soft polytheism. For example, you may believe that Zeus and Jupiter are different versions of the same deity, filtered through the lens of Greek and Roman culture, respectively — but you believe that Thor is distinct and separate from Zeus/Jupiter, even though all three of them are gods of storms.

To make things even more complicated, there are some pagans (and some atheists, for that matter) who believe that the gods exist less as autonomous beings and more as archetypes within mankind’s collective consciousness. Their stories resonate with us because they serve as mirrors for different parts of ourselves. In this sense, we create the gods in our own image.

This belief is how we get “pop culture pantheons.” Some people work with fictional characters as archetypes in their spiritual practice. After all, if Sailor Moon is the ultimate representation of feminine power for you, what’s stopping you from putting her on your altar? Some pop culture pantheons have actually broken through into mainstream paganism — there are a lot of Wiccans who work with Merlin, believe me.

This interpretation is a bit different from polytheism, and could really be its own post (or several), so for the sake of keeping things short and sweet I’m not going to go any deeper into it. If this interests you, I recommend reading the work of Jungian psychologists like Clarissa Pinkola Estés and Robert A. Johnson. You may even want to check out The Satanic Bible by Anton LeVay for a particularly spicy take on the idea that we create our own gods and devils.

Just know that you can still practice paganism, even if you aren’t 100% sold on the idea that the gods literally exist.

Your take on polytheism doesn’t necessarily have to match up with the historical cultures you take inspiration from. For example, you may be a hardcore monist, but find that you’re drawn to work exclusively with the Norse gods. Or, you may be the hardest of hard polytheists, but find that the Kemetic gods are the ones who really speak to you. This is all totally okay! One of the benefits of paganism is that it allows for a lot of personalization.

Now that we’ve got the types of polytheism out of the way, let’s address the other big question that comes up when pagans discuss polytheism with monotheists: Does that mean you believe all those crazy myths are true? Once again, the answer depends on the pagan.

Just like some Christians are biblical literalists who believe that the Bible is a factual historical account, there are some pagans who believe that their mythology is factually true. However, many pagans accept that these stories have fantastical or exaggerated elements, but still convey a spiritual truth.

There are multiple Norse myths about men being transformed into dragons by their lust for riches, the most famous of which is probably the story of the dwarf-turned-dragon Fafnir. (Yes, Tolkien did steal that plot point from Norse mythology. Sorry.) These stories aren’t really about the dragons, though — they’re about the corrupting power of greed. The stories are true in that they teach a valuable life lesson that resonated deeply with ancient Norse culture. But did dragons really roam the earth in ancient times? Probably not.

This is one of the most important skills for any pagan: finding the spiritual truth in a myth or story. If you read a myth about Artemis transforming a man into a deer because he spied on her while she was bathing, what does that tell you about Artemis? Next time you read or listen to a myth or folk tale, try to find the message at the core of the story. You may be surprised by how this changes your understanding of the mythology.

If you’re interested in paganism but aren’t sure where to start, it might be helpful to gauge where you fall on the polytheism spectrum. Are you a hard polytheist, a soft polytheist, or somewhere in between? Are you a monist? Do you believe the gods function more as archetypes? Write it down so you can look back on it later.

When we talk about specific pagan traditions in future posts, I’ll point out where they fall on the polytheism spectrum. If you’re looking for a path that is compatible with your own beliefs, this is one thing to keep in mind.

Finally, know that your beliefs about the gods might change as you continue to learn and grow. That’s a natural part of religious exploration, so don’t try to fight it!

[specsforwoo]

Son of Lachesis | Demigod!Jung Jaehyun

Parent Deity: Lachesis (Goddes of the String of Life; the Second Fate)

Allegiance: Hades

Dark Humor was a thing

He probably picked it up from his dad

His dad was this super successful thriller author

So they had this huge penthouse in New York but Jaehyun was your normal edgy emo teenager

He claimed to hate his life, hate his family, hate his friends

But like, his dad wasn’t bothered by it???

At first Jaehyun thought it was because his dad just didn’t care about him

But then he started to realize that his dad was the same way

He would rather disparage himself in the name of humor than anything else

It was more of a coping technique but oh well

And for some reason, Jaehyun’s senior year of highschool, he moved to Korea

Still doesn’t know why tbh

Something about his dad telling him that it was safer for their family to be closer together

But like his family only comprised of himself and his dad

And his beagle Chu-Chu but that’s it

As far as he knew, he didn’t have any family in Korea

But surprisingly, he fit in well

His last year of high school went by quickly

And soon he was accepted into the medical examiner’s program @ KAIST

What?

He felt more comfortable around cadavers than live humans

It wasn’t weird he just had hella social anxiety

He had a real gift for it too

He could just look at a body and be able to tell how they died

He was oddly able to tell how long ago they died too

He was actually starting to get creeped out by it

So he started talking to the only person he could ever confide in

His dad

It was a long weekend off of uni

And the Friday before he got into a huge argument with his toxicology professor about the substance that one man ingested that led to his death

His professor swore it was Croton tiglium

And he doesn’t know why but something in his gut was screaming that the diagnosis was wrong

So what did he do?

He stole the toxicology report to review it

And he barged into his professor’s office claiming it was actually Daphne mezereum

What scared him the most was that he could swear the man who was lying helplessly on the table was the one who told him what the poison was

So back to his dad’s apartment

Jaehyun was in tears explaining what had been going on to his dad

And sure his dad was the one to lighten up any room he could

But his dad just laughed

And for the first time he actually felt like he was going crazy

He thought that if anyone would be able to help him understand it would be his dad

I mean what was that Ph.D in psychology hanging on the wall for then

But his dad placed a hand on his shoulder and talked to him very calmly.

I think it’s time that you met your mother.

Sniffing, he looked up

I thought she had been dead since I was a baby.

Sorta…

How can someone be ‘sorta’ dead?

She’s more like… undead?

Suddenly a gray smoke started swarming around his feet.

And a young woman, dressed in black with a rose in her hair appeared behind his dad

Jaehyun almost screamed

Dear, Many people are in need to relief so why are you calling me up?

She spoke and her voice was as light of as the mist swirling around her feet

She looked up and made eye contact with Jaehyun

Dear, you know how dangerous it is for them to meet their other parents… why is he here?

She didn’t break eye contact with Jaehyun as she spoke to his father

It’s time he knew. Maybe Taeyong or Yuta could help him? They’ve been through this before.

The anxiety and stress was piling up on Jaehyun until he couldn’t stand it anymore

Knew what? Who is this? Why is our apartment filling with smoke? What have Taeyong and Yuta been through before?

You are a demigod Jaehyun. The woman spoke up, inching closer to his side.

My son, the son of Lacheses.

Lacheses…. The goddess of the string of fate.

I’m the son of a death goddess.

He burst out laughing

He couldn’t tell if it was from shock or denial

Everything made sense

His ominous ability to tell how people died

How long they would live for

So you are telling me Taeyong and Yuta are demigods too?

He looked between his mother and father

Yes, sons of Themis and Bia, respectively of course.

So that summer Jaehyun ended up going to camp with Taeyong

He didn’t feel that comfortable in the Hades cabin, and ended up rooming with Sicheng in the Achelios cabin instead

He also tended to help out with medical care when super dangerous competitions were taking place

If he remembered correctly, Sicheng asked him to because your weird ass ability to tell how long people have to live comes in handy so I can override it.

He said it with all smile on his face too, like people thought Jae was creepy

He is still actively attending uni, still the top student is his toxicology class, despite his prof throwing the hardest cases his way

HE EVEN GOT AN INTERNSHIP AT THE POLICE STATION YAY JAEHYUN

But camp is his life now

He never knew what he would have done if he didn’t have the support system that he did because of it

Yuta is his best friend

Partly because they are apparently first cousins

But also because they just mesh really well together

Whenever Yuta is fighting or practicing

He is there to makes sure to call game before anyone gets fatally injured

It actually got close one time

But other than that

His life is really normal

He eats out a lot

He studies a lot less than he should

He has made lasting friendships

And he has the hugest crush in the world that he refuses to reveal

hey , you

Just tell me! You know I can keep a secret from the hyungs!

Cue Jisung pestering him as they run the track at camp

How do I know that?

Taeyong still hasn’t found out that Chenle and I sneak out every Saturday to go to the arcade and that we were the ones who broke his cat mug.

Good Point.

Sooooo?

Still not telling.

Honestly though, not like it wasn’t obvious enough

Sometimes he wonders if everyone is oblivious to him staring at the back of your head while you run rounds for Sicheng

Or how his eyes follow your figure when he spots you in a crowd

Dude has it bad

And might be a little possessive too

He saw Taeil hug you once and he refused to talk to Taeil for a week

Until Kun saw what was going on and forced them to make up

But you

Girl you might have an even bigger crush

Who knew volunteering was so fun when you got to see Jaehyun every day

Highkey only Renjun knows that you both like each other

What? Renjun knows E V E R Y T H I N G

At least he is like ‘passively’ helping Jaehyun score a date with you

And by ‘passively’ I mean he straight up walked over to you and asked you if you would want to grab dinner with Jaehyun on Thursday, something about studying for toxicology finals

And by ‘passively’ I also mean him straight up telling Jaehyun that you were going to be a the hole in the wall diner on 53rd street a 7 o’clock and if he didn’t show up he was going to kick his ass

So you both showed up

You with study materials

And him with flowers

Johnny told him that flowers were always the way to go

And Jaehyun was beyond embarrassed and confused when you looked up and saw him standing there in a button down shirt that definitely wasn’t his holding a bouquet of flowers

And you were sitting there in sweatpants and your glasses falling down the bridge of your nose

So he did what he does best

Laugh it off

Oh, these are to thank you for helping me study.

Of course, you didn’t have to get me anything though.

In his head he is sitting there cussing Renjun out while also trying to create that empathy link with Yuta so he could tell Yuta to go beat his ass

But he brushed it off and starts studying with you

Only after ordering pecan pie and hot chocolate

Because everyone needs snacks for studying

Right

But you suddenly looked up and stared him straight in the eyes

Why do you even need my help? Aren’t you like top of this class, and IDK you can talk to dead people? Just ask them what happened.

Jaehyun is back to being embarrassed and this time he can’t laugh it off

Well– ummm— you see– Renjun— I—-

Oh for Zeus’ sake can’t you just say that little twerp set us up on a date?

Well… yeah, yeah he did.

YoU — umm— you can leave if you want, I understand if you don’t like me

Why would I leave. And you shouldn’t understand because you are a great guy, of course I like you.

You gave off a cheeky smile before stealing a bite of his pie

Y’all started off really casually

Like a group date here and there, nothing alone

Something in Jaehyun told him it wasn’t going to get serious unless he made the first move

Your father was probably to blame

Zeus was known for being a little aloof when it came to love

But Jaehyun

God Jaehyun had no guts whatsoever

Not until his best friend from New York came to town

Jameson had come to visit over his own spring break, claiming he wanted to see why Korea was so special and “Jeff” as he knew him, never returned to the US

And Jaehyun had taken you with him to the airport, better than dragging along Jeno or Jungwoo, who for some reason was terrified of planes themselves, and Yuta was out of town for a competition and Johnny was still passed out from last night’s party

And when Jameson stepped off the plane, he came barrelling towards Jaehyun, screaming JEFFFFFFERRRRRYYYYY as loud as he could and tackled him into a hug.

After that he began speaking in English a mile a minute

To say you were a deer caught in the headlights was an understatement

Jaehyun obviously wasn’t fazed, he was able to talk back to Jameson at the same speed, not even stuttering

So you felt kinda lost, shrinking away from the boistering boys, opting instead to starting rolling his friend’s luggage to the car

Jaehyun caught wind of your suddenly shy personality and cut off his friend to instead walk over to you

In a much calmer voice, and this time in a language you were actually able to understand, Jaehyun asked if you wanted to be introduced to his friend

You nodded and Jaehyun grabbed your wrist before shutting the trunk of the car.

Pulling you back over, Jaehyun spoke in English again

You could barely make out something along the lines of This is my friend, Y/N, daughter of Zeus.

You gave a small wave and bowed, hoping he wouldn’t speak to you directly, prompting you to speak in your broken tongue.

Just a friend, or something more? Jameson smirked at Jaehyun before looking back over at you

A friend that you can’t have. You couldn’t really understand what Jaehyun said but you could tell that whatever was said, he wasn’t happy about his friend’s comment.

After that you all got into the car where Jaehyun made you sit in the front seat, holding your wrist the entire time, in obvious view of Jameson

Things died down for a while and it went back to the usual

You were still on the track team (more like Pegasus Racing team but whatever)

And Jae came to cheer you on at every game

And Jae was still top of his classes @ KAIST

And you came to cheer him up when the workload got to much for him

But it STILL wasn’t serious

So one night

Specifically, Jameson’s last night in Korea

Everyone decided to head out to Hongdae to go club hopping (pls tell me you people know what club hopping is)

And you were all having fun, dancing, most were also drinking, especially Jameson

Jaehyun somehow ended up being DD after a brutal battle of scissors, paper, rock

So he was sitting there on the side lines, nursing straight tonic water watching everyone else get shit-faced drunk

You weren’t any better to be honest

Jameson started having a habit of trying to get you alone or get you to dance with him

So you thought that if you had to deal with that all night you had to have a couple shots in your system.

PSA TIME PEOPLE!!!!!! PSA!!!!! If someone in your group keeps trying to get you alone or get you to dance with them, both men and women, DO NOT I repeat DO NOT resort to drinking to deal with it. If they don’t get the hint by you avoiding them, tell them straight to their face that you don’t want to be with them. If they still don’t get the hint, seriously consider just leaving wherever you are. Under no circumstances is it okay for them do that. PSA OVER!!!!

Jaehyun had been watching you try to avoid Jameson from the bar all night and after Jameson came up behind you and grabbed your waist he was done

The vision of fully sober, properly pissed off, ready to throw punches Jaehyun was not a pretty sight

Thankfully, at the moment he had enough self-control in his system to not deck his friend straight in the throat

He instead opted to grab your wrist, much more forcefully than last time, and drag you out the back door of the club into the alley way

Then, much more gently, backed you into the wall of the club

He was so close that you could feel his breath on your forehead

Muttering to himself in English, you couldn’t understand what he was saying

Suddenly he looked down and his eyes kept snapping from yours to your lips

I’m probably going to do something I regret right now

Poor you couldn’t even understand him because of him still speaking in English

Next thing you know he was kissing you, pushing you up further against the wall, wrapped his arms around your waist, pulling you closer

After he let go, worry flashed across his face, like he finally realized something

Oh my god, did that bastard hurt you?

He started checking your arms and wrists, even running his hands along your waist to make sure there wasn’t bruising there

For once, Jaehyun actually had the guts

He ended up calling everyone rides, and left early with you so he could take you out on an ‘official first date’

To an ice cream shoppe

Mind you average temps in Korea during, let’s say March is still around 28 degrees Fahrenheit @ night

He realized his mistake after seeing you sit there in the booth, shivering as you picked up your ice cream

So he quickly shrugged off his jacket, wrapping it around your shoulders and grabbing your hands in his to warm them up

First date was still a success in his mind

And all the dates there after

Renjun takes full credit for your relationship, but so does Sicheng, they actually fight about this

Jameson actually isn’t in Jaehyun’s life anymore

And Jaehyun is madly in love with you

Proposes after he graduates, in front of all of his friends, @ the stupid little hole-in-the-wall diner that he claims was his first real date with you

While they all scream JEFFFERRRRYYYY in the background.

really tho, Yuta has it on tape, along with Doyoung forced feeding Jaehyun wine, and him sleep talking about your first official date, all of which he plays at your guy’s wedding

Good luck having all of these idiots as brother in laws :::)))))

[naferty]

Tony Stark lives a very promiscuous life. Often the first thought that comes to mind at the mention of his name is his sluttish behavior. It’s no secret he has sex. It’s in his title, under his resume, and listed on the very top of his wiki page.

Bottom line, he has sex, and a lot of it. He knows it. The public knows it. The avengers know it. The problem lies with the people who speak out against it. Against him. 

The public. His rep. Pepper. Rhodey when he’s having a bad day. Good ol’ one-eyed Nick when Tony so much as looks at an agent. Steven fucking Grant Rogers. 

It’s no secret he has sex. It’s also no secret the Avengers live with him. It’s also-also no secret when Tony returns after an impromptu night out. Back to his home. Where the Avengers are also residing. Using the same living space. 

This leads to many interactions with his teammates after doing the dirty with whoever caught his fancy. Natasha and Clint don’t give a damn. They’ve probably seen and heard worse and this doesn’t even scratch the surface for them. Bruce is way above something so trivial. To get offended at the idea of someone doing the reproductive tango is beneath him. He has more important things to do, like curing diseases and changing the world. 

Sam is kind of like Natasha and Clint. He doesn’t care but he is thoughtful enough to remind Tony that “it’s not love without a glove, man,” and makes sure he didn’t go off and created the next generation of Stark. Rhodey is awesome and offers him a glass of water, asks him if his wallet and keys are on him and reminds him to eat up for the next bout while also reminding him to enjoy it while it lasts because age is catching up and erectile dysfunction is a bitch. The asshole. 

Thor pats him on the back and congratulates him on another job well done. Then goes off to ramble about how if Tony had Asgardian years on him he’d nearly rival Zeus himself. Not a great thought when you considered how the greek lightning god sired nearly half of the pantheon over there. The thought of Tony being the father to half of the Avengers is something he never wants to imagine ever again. 

Then there’s Steve Rogers. Captain America himself. America’s golden boy. Mister sensibility and preacher of ‘self-respect’ and ‘have you no shame, Tony?’ and no, Rogers, Tony has no shame and plenty of self-respect, otherwise he wouldn’t be going out in the first place.

Tony has heard the ‘Captain America is disappointed in you’ spiel so many times that he’s learned to easily tune it out, but on one particular night, after what should’ve been a satisfying and enjoyable night out with this handsome blond and legs that went on as far as the eye could see was ended with him walking out unfinished and frustrated he wasn’t in the mood for a scolding. 

Tony retaliated. He argued back every point, made sure to give as much as he took and gave no room for Rogers to corner him. It lasted for sometime. Tony recalls catching some of the Avengers in the corner of his eye coming into the room, standing by the door a few seconds and turning right back around to leave. If Tony was in their place, he’d to the same, too. 

The argument went on what felt like forever until Tony finally shouted, “Why do you care? You want to fuck me yourself or something, Rogers?!” 

The silence that follows was near deafening. Rogers had no words for that. He glared at Tony with a look that could kill a man, but miraculously Tony was still standing and Tony could clearly see a strike of red across Rogers’ face that didn’t come from their earlier shouting. 

Tony got closer. “Is that it? You want to fuck me, Rogers?” 

Rogers didn’t say anything but didn’t back away either as Tony took another step closer. Then another and then another. Their noses were nearly touching now. 

“Fuck me, then,” Tony said, expecting Rogers to push him away and walk out of the room in a huff. He never saw Rogers pushing him against the wall and kissing him so roughly his bottom lip tore from the impact coming.

He also never saw Rogers taking him on his word and fucking their frustration out all through the night. Rough and fast with no regards of condoms. They clearly didn’t think it through and obviously one of them woke up with regrets the following morning. 

Rogers got up long before Tony and cleared the room of any evidence of his presence. The message was loud and clear. ‘Never talk about this.’ 

Not a problem. One-night stands are Tony’s specialties. Granted, he’s usually the one to leave before the other wakes up, but he guesses that’s his karma for the year. If anyone could leave Iron Man on the receiving end, it’s Captain America. 

Tony never mentions it. Never shows an inkling of it. They act like nothing ever happened. No difference in behavior, whether the Avengers figured it out or not. However, Tony can’t help but smirk when he does catch Rogers eye and feels vindicated when Rogers glares right back. 

The days go on. Tony does what he does best. Makes money, flies Iron Man and sweet talks the curvy brunette who’s caught his eye and he knows he’ll be joining her tonight. 

It goes as planned. She takes him to her place. Small, a little messy, but all that matters is the bed. His blood has been pumping since before they reached her door. Tony is ready and the moment the door locks he’s on her. 

He pins her against the wall and leans down to kiss her. The moment his lips touch hers he pauses. His stomach rolls. Nausea hits him. 

He pushes himself away, worried he’s going to throw up on her. She asks him what’s wrong but he shakes his head. 

“Nothing, I-” 

The nausea goes away. Strange. Perhaps he drank a little too much? Impossible, he only had his usual three glasses. He’s taken more without so much as a spinning room. 

He clears his throat. “Where were we?” 

She comes close and runs her fingers over his neck. He shivers. It’s not a good shiver. It’s a shiver of disgust. There’s a prickling sensation where her fingers run over his skin. 

Does he have a rash? 

He touches the spot and feels nothing out of the ordinary. He shakes it off. Must not be his day then. He tries to kiss her again, manages to make contact and even feels her lips part, but just as before his stomach rolls and this time it’s with a vengeance. He twists away and heaves. Nothing comes out but damn does his stomach make an attempt. 

He heaves again and is not helped when she puts a hand on his shoulders and rubs. The prickling sensation burns on his back. He pulls away and take deep breaths. 

“Sorry, Darling,” he says, “I guess tonight is not my night.” 

She doesn’t look happy. Tony isn’t either. He had been looking forward to it, but his body has other ideas. 

“Perhaps another night, then?” she suggests. “I just so happen to be free tomorrow.” She runs her fingers on his neck once more. He shivers in disgust on cue. 

“I’ll call you,” he’s out the door before she can finish telling him he doesn’t have her number. He makes it halfway down the street before his suit comes flying down and takes him home. 

Rogers is there to meet him, already frowning, already glaring at all his life choices. 

“Don’t bother,” Tony tells him as he passes by. Spitting, more like. “I couldn’t even get to first base.” 

“They came to their senses?” Rogers taunts. 

“More like my body decided to catch a bug.” Tony grits his teeth. “I’m open to try a lot of things in bed, but throwing up on someone is not one of them.” 

“You need to take something?” If Tony didn’t know any better, he’d say Rogers sounded worried for him. 

“No, it went away. I just need to lie down.” 

Rogers is suspiciously quiet after that. No, ‘you should look after yourself,’ or ‘go to medic and get looked over.’ Tony rolls his eyes at Rogers’ dismissive attitude and leaves. He’s not in the mood for it. 

[godsofhumanity]

Do you have any headcanons/opinions on the Titans’ other siblings (elder cyclops, hecatoncheires, giants, etc.)

hellllllll yeahhhhhh ❤

THE CYCLOPES (Brontes, Steropes, Arges)

ok so in terms of the age order of Gaia's first few groups of children, i think that the Titans came first, then the Cyclopes, and then the Hecatoncheires.

i've already said this before, but i like the idea the Ouranos was the first being ever created by any primordial ever, and i think that Gaia also didn't know exactly how she did it (after all, there was no one to teach the primordials, right?)

and so, Ouranos comes out and he's completely super-powered and he's effectively on par with the other primordials.

but then Gaia and Ouranos create the Titans, and i think that when that happened, Gaia was creating them with the intention of creating helpers for herself- beings to take care of the Earth.. and this meant that the Titans didn't really need to be super-charged the way Ouranos was.

and we know that Ouranos named the Titans "titans" because they were "puny"- they were always trying to "over-reach" to Ouranos' level.

BUT! i think when Gaia creates the Cyclopes, she was doing it with the intention of creating bigger, stronger children. i mean, i think she definitely loved her Titan kids, but she wanted to create something even bigger than before.

i think Gaia was very proud of Ouranos as a creation, and she wanted to see if she could do it again- so i like the imagery of her moulding the Earth into these little clay figures, and then she breathes life into them and they grow rapidly in size.

and i think that when they were "born", the clouds gathered and rumbled, and there was lightning everywhere... and that's how the Cyclopes were named- Brontes ("thunder"), Steropes ("lightning") and Arges ("bright").

Hesiod describes the Cyclopes as having "violent hearts" and i like to interpret this as meaning that the Cyclopes have a lot of emotion. they feel a lot- just like their mother.

i think that when Ouranos became aware of the Cyclopes' presence, and he chucked them into Tartarus, that scarred them deeply. and when Cronus freed them, only to imprison them a short while later again, they were filled with an immense distrust of the gods (understandably!).

still, the fact that the Cyclopes were willing to forge the lightning bolt for Zeus during the Titanomachy indicates to me that they weren't cold-hearted, and that they could be reasoned with.

i also think that the Cyclopes are highly intelligent beings. they're very skilled with metal-work obviously,, and i like the idea that after all the shit they've been through, Zeus really does honour them and treat them well.

in the Asclepius myth, the Cyclopes are killed by Apollo in a rage, but i like the version where Zeus brings them back :D

also, i like the idea that the Cyclopes taught Hephaestus how to forge stuff and how to be a blacksmith. i think that they are really supportive of Hephaestus and the four of them have a really close relationship.

i think that Hephaestus addresses them sometimes as "Lord Brontes" etc. etc. just as a sign of respect. the Cyclopes are a proud race, and i think that they appreciate being addressed like that- after all, they are older, and wiser and just as worthy of such a title as any of the other gods are.

in terms of individual personalities, i think Brontes is the self-designated leader. he's the oldest, and he's the most sensible. i think he likes to sing/hum while he works :)))

Steropes is more serious than his brothers. he's the middle child and i think sometimes he can be really scary,, but he appreciates those with confidence (not to be confused with: arrogance), and i think he tells awesome jokes.

Arges is the youngest. i think he can be a little quiet, but he's very light-hearted and friendly ^-^

about Polyphemus- i think he and the other Cyclopes are kinda disregarded by Brontes, Steropes, and Arges. they are not brothers and don't really have any obligations to each other as far as they are concerned.

THE HECATONCHEIRES (Cottus, Briareus, Gyges)

after Gaia made the Cyclopes, she created the Hecatoncheires, also called the "Hundred-Handers".

when she made the Cyclopes, i think she made them just to have a little fun. but when Gaia made the Hecatoncheires, i think she made them with the intention of creating beings powerful enough to destroy Ouranos.

Ouranos pretty much got rid of the Cyclopes as soon as they were born- and i think this was a real wake-up call for Gaia concerning the true nature of her husband.

and Gaia is a super maternal being- there could be no greater pain for her than having her children separated from her like that. so she was super pissed at Ouranos when she created the Hecatoncheires.

and i think she channelled all that anger into them. where she had earlier taken time to create clay forms for the Cyclopes, i think Gaia just straight up placed her hands on the Earth and summoned all the rage within her- and that manifested into three great, strong, hulking creatures- the Hecatoncheires.

because Gaia made them with the intention of deposing Ouranos, i think that the Hecatoncheires are more violent and angry than their Cyclopean or Titan siblings.

i don't think that they're particularly intelligent- they're not dumb, but they're not geniuses- but they ARE extremely skilled fighters.

as with the Cyclopes, i think the Hecatoncheires matured to adulthood as soon as they were born. and like 5 minutes later, Ouranos came and they battled.

during his fight against the Cyclopes, i don't think Ouranos broke a sweat- but during the fight against the Hecatoncheires, i think they were the first creatures to ever make Ouranos bleed.

and that was pretty frightening for Ouranos. i think that the Hecatoncheires probably could have won, but since they were technically still just children, and lacked proper fighting experience, they were eventually defeated like the Cyclopes and sent to Tartarus, much to Gaia's despair.

also, i like the idea that the Titans witnessed the defeat of the Hecatoncheires- i think it helps us understand why the Titans were so reluctant to fight Ouranos.. i mean, if the Hecatoncheires barely scratched him, what hope did they have? at the same time though, i like the idea that Cronus saw Ouranos bleed- he knew that his father wasn't invincible and that's where he got the courage to fight him from.

compared to the other "giants", mythographers often say that the Titans were "large", but that idea just doesn't gel with me. i think that they were a normal size for regular gods, but significantly smaller than the Cyclopes and the Hecatoncheires.

anyways, similar to the way the Cyclopes had a lot of trust issues, i think the Hecatoncheires definitely were a little doubtful about Zeus.

there's later versions of the Titanomachy that suggest that the Hecatoncheires fought on the Titans' side, but i reject this version. if Cronus locked up the Cyclopes, then i definitely think he'd have locked up the Hecatoncheires also. it doesn't make sense why he'd imprison one and not the other.

there's another version as well that suggests that the Hecatoncheires were not monstrous at all- they appeared as regular men but were called "hundred-handers" because they lived in a city called Hecatoncheiria ("hundred-arm"), and they rescued the citizens of a city called Olympia. again, i reject this because what's not awesome about having 100 hands?????????

we don't really hear too much about them in later myths, but i think that they went into retirement and are living their best life :)

Briareus, in particular, is mentioned as being given a wife by Poseidon- Cymopolea (who was Poseidon's daughter). and i think that they are very happy together and are in love <3

i'm not sure about the rest of the Hecatoncheires. maybe they had wives as well ^-^

TYPHON

Typhon is best known for his rule as the final challenger for authority over the cosmos, and as such, i think he was born much much much after the rest of Gaia's children- during Zeus' rule in fact.

however, i think he was "created" by Gaia during the Castration of Ouranos.

what i mean by this is that Typhon was born from two eggs, and i think these eggs were created around the time that the Titans first began to fight against Ouranos. but he only hatched during Zeus' rule.

regarding his parentage- some say that he's Gaia's child, some say that he's Cronus', and some say that he was Hera's child alone. well,,, i like the idea that all three of them had some role in the birth of Typhon.

in the Homeric Hymn to Apollo, it's suggested that Hera was furious with Zeus for giving birth to Athena by herself, and so she prayed for a son stronger than Zeus and thus became pregnant with Typhon. in the Iliad, Gaia gets pissed at Zeus for destroying her Giant children, and decides to slander Zeus to Hera, who, in her anger, goes to Cronus for advice on destroying Zeus. in this myth, Cronus gives Hera two """""""""special"""""""" eggs and tells her to bury them so that Typhon can be born.

now,, i really like both of these versions so my hc is that Gaia is the primary progenitor- she created Typhon- but Cronus and Hera both gave Typhon part of their power in order to strengthen him and make him pretty undefeatable.

so what i'm saying is that all three of them had a role in Typhon's birth. i think Hera was angry at Zeus about Athena, so she goes to Cronus and he tells her about Typhon.

this version of events makes sense to me because i think it really emphasises just how angry and hurt Hera was by Zeus- i mean,, you know things are bad when you're resorting to conspiring with your estranged father who tried to murder you as a child.

also, this isn't "canon" i don't think, but my hc is that Typhon was created by Gaia as a back-up in case the Titans were really unable to defeat Ouranos. this would explain how Cronus knew about Typhon, and also why Typhon never ended up fighting Ouranos.

Typhon usually ends up being thrown into Tartarus or gets Mt Etna thrown on top of him by Zeus. tbh, i like the Mt Etna version.

in Greek mythology, gods never die. so i imagine that after a few hundred years of being crushed by Mt Etna, Typhon regathers his strength and that's when he meets Echidna,, and they fall in love, and i think Typhon still likes to make trouble for Zeus through his monster children, but i don't think that Typhon attempts to usurp Zeus again- he's lost interest.

in terms of personality, i think Typhon is pretty violent, but he also has a super short attention span. he has pride, but i don't think it's his weakness.

also, i like Apollodorus' description of Typhon as appearing humanoid from the waist-up, but like a serpent from the waist-down.

THE GIANTS

okay tbh i don't have really have any hc's for the giants. their myth is so vague and sparse and there really isn't anything solid about them T-T sorryyyyyy

[celestialices]

QUEST!

Greek Mythology x Haikyuu

Haikyuu!Ensemble x Reader

Summary: You were just a perfectly normal student at The University of Tokyo, when suddenly a bunch of 'normal boys', as they call themselves, appeared in your life and started to squeeze themselves into your life. Always saying something like "You're a goddess, we need to take you back to Olympus" (you brushed it off, saying that it was just a silly compliment) and even absurd sentences such as "You got Medusa's eyes" and "You're really Medusa's daughter!"

You really want a peaceful school year, but the universe beg to differ.

004: THE END OF A NEW BEGINNING

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To say that you were surprised by this outcome would be an understatement. Being childhood friends with Hirugami Sachiro, the university’s so-called “hottie”, is a pain in the ass.  Though Hirugami’s a dependable best friend and dotes on you like an older brother, he’s a little shit. He teases you every time he has the chance to, but knows his boundaries. He never leaves your side too; always knows what’s on your mind since he is very “observant.”  The biggest disadvantage of being his best friend, is his fans. Students flocking over you to ask questions about him was tiring. The only one that ruins your day. 

It was bearing, at first, because you thought it’d be cute when you’re one of the reason why Hirugami has a lover. But you didn’t expect it to be.. like this. You had to hide often just to stop them. Ambushing you, preventing you from leaving the university’s premises, it was all too much. That’s where Hoshiumi Korai comes in.  Your friendship with Hoshiumi is... mystifying. You didn’t even know how you tolerated being friends with him in the first place, but it surprisingly lasted up until now. Seeing that you and your childhood friend are indivisible, Hirugami arranged plans for you and Hoshiumi to meet after they became friends through volleyball. “Korai-kun, this is my childhood friend I was talking to you about. From now on, we’ll all be friends, so please get along!” Ever since that day, Hirugami pushed everything and made sure to schedule a hang out for the three of you, thrice a week. There isn’t a day during your high school years that you didn’t see Hoshiumi’s face, that’s all because of Hirugami. And yeah, that’s how the two of you got along somehow. Basically, what Hirugami has, you have to have it too. And vice-versa. But having Hoshiumi as your friend set out a vast of benefits for you. Not only he’s reliable and gives great advices (to your surprise), he’s quick to get irritated. And that managed to save yourself from the crowd plenty of times. His impatient self terrify a bunch of people, so you tend to stick by his side as long as you can. 

The bond you three shared is as tough as old boots. People say that a friendship between three people would never work, saying that one is always left out. That doesn’t mean that you never had misunderstandings, hence you always manage it before it gets out of hand.

So where are they when you need them?  Your legs are about to give up from squatting, hiding yourself in the bushes in order to escape Hirugami’s aggressive followers. You know you look stupid, but it’s better than to be chased by people, right? You checked your phone, seeing no reply from your friends made you want to cry. The text was an hour ago, meaning you’ve been hiding for an hour now. Just what on Earth are they so busy for that they can’t even check their messages?

You just wanted to go home, your mother and little brother, Yuki, are probably waiting for you. Classes ended two hours ago, so they’re probably concerned about your well-being already.  It’s been quiet for too long, so you decided to look up. No fans sighted. Contemplating on whether to just run towards the gate, or stay for a few more minutes until hopefully, a good friend finds you. You let out a deep sigh, about to risk it all when all of a sudden someone shouted your name. Letting out a yelp before looking up from your hiding place, you desperately prayed for your life. Only to see Yahaba Shigeru waving at you. Well, at least he’s close to what you’ve asked for?  Yahaba Shigeru, also a student at your university. A friend of a family friend. Oh, did I mention, an admirer of yours? 

He is handsome, not going to lie. But he’s not really your type. Yahaba is a calm and carefree guy, but also a show-off. If you’re given a dollar every time he pried your attention, you’ll probably become the richest in Japan.  “Hello, Yahaba-san.” You awkwardly greeted with a smile. Maybe after a few exchange of words, you’ll ask him to walk you to the gates. He probably wouldn’t mind, in fact, he’ll probably die of excitement.  “Are you hiding from Hirugami’s fans again?” He chuckled, making you flustered on how he caught up so fast. It’s no secret that you’re the university’s source of information regarding Hirugami. It was embarrassing. “I’ll walk you home, if that’s okay with you.”  Not wanting to turn down his offer, you instantly answered. “Oh, that’s kind of you. Sure.” You cringed a little for your fast response, he won’t think you’re eager to walk with him, no? You don’t really bat an eye at Yahaba, nor answer his advances. False interpretations of a friendly action would hurt a lot.  This won’t take long, I can do this. Standing up, you grabbed your things and walked towards him. He offered to take your bag but you politely declined, thus the fiddly walk begins. 

The stroll on your way home is noiseless, you were utterly astonished that Yahaba didn’t say a word while walking side by side. For far as you know, he isn’t like this; he always has something to say. You want to ask him how he’s doing, but too shy to do so. Your conversations are always one-sided, making you feel a bit bad.  Nevertheless, you’re thankful.  Relieved that your house wasn’t faraway from the university, you reached home in a span of minutes. You glanced at Yahaba after the both of you stopped walking, noticing that he’s already looking at you expectantly. Uh oh. You were afraid to ask him to enter with you out of respect, but he’ll agree no matter what. You just wanted to rest for now, unable to handle a guest in your current state.  “Onee-san!”  Thank God for Shibayama Yuki. Your eyes went from Yahaba to Yuki in a flash, looking at him with wide eyes. Begging to save you from this situation.  “We have a visitor. Hurry up, Mom’s waiting for you.” He said, bowing apologetically to Yahaba.  It took a lot of self-control to refrain yourself from smiling. Instead, you also bowed to Yahaba. “Thank you for walking me home. I’ll see you tomorrow.” You grinned and happily marched towards your house. The house you live in was a basic Japanese one, its build is similar to the other houses, considering that you live in a private subdivision. It’s also big enough for the three of you, and enough for family friends to stay in.  And it a nice house won’t compare to the family you’ve got.  Your mother is a strong woman, she raised the two of you alone. Worked hard to give you and Yuki a lovely home, three meals a day, and all the basic necessities a mother should provide. Anything you ask for would be given in less than a day, sometimes you think she’s spoiling you too much. But in reality, you know she just wants the best for the two of you. She’s amazing.  As for your brother, Shibayama Yuki, he’s a bit shy and gentle. He often likes to keep it to himself, but managed to have a friend. Yes, he has only one. It worries you but he assured that one true friend is enough. He’s also into volleyball, a very hard-working and determined “libero” of his team. Shibayama helps you in anyway he can, always acting as the older one by protecting you from the world. Conclusion, it was perfect. You consider this all as a blessing, you’re grateful for the life you have. Every once in a while, you question yourself on what you did on your past life to have a life like this.  Placing your shoes on the shoe rack, “I’m home.” You say out of habit and glided to the living room. You were greeted with a frowning mother and the visitor Shibayama told you about, having a serious conversation. “You’re here!”  “Yahoo!” Oikawa entered the chamber, immediately smacked by Iwaizumi for breaking the silence and made everyone flinch by his sudden appearance. “Iwa!” Oikawa whined, he doesn’t understand why Iwaizumi consistently hit him, and why he doesn’t ask him to stop either.  “Shut up, Oikawa!” Iwaizumi hissed. How can he be so slow-witted at times when he’s the son of Athena? “I just wanted to up the atmosphere!” Oikawa whisper-shouted. Iwaizumi only sighed, already used to his attitude.  Currently, the chosen deities for Zeus’ quest (minus Sakusa) are gathered together. They’ll be promptly briefed on what to expect, what to do, and their responsibilities to solve this problem before it grows.  This is the first time the deities encountered a major problem that needed the superior gods’ inclusion. Of course everyone will be terrified! Is Medusa’s daughter really dangerous? They don’t know anything about her, it’s safe to assume that she is.  And what’s more terrifying is that no one in the Twelve Olympians noticed a powerful aura in Earth. They’re watching humans from time to time, how is that possible? Is Medusa’s daughter more powerful than Zeus? That’s not possible. But then again, they live in a strange world with thousands of possibilities. Oikawa counted the amount of deities present in the room. Ten. He frowned, did someone refuse to participate in this quest? It should’ve been thirteen as far as he knows, and Sakusa is already in Earth. “Who didn’t chose one?” Eyes were landed to him.  There he goes again. Iwaizumi exhaled, Oikawa is rather weird. One moment he's bubbly and often tell cheerful remarks, next he's saying or asking confusing and alarming words.  “What do you mean?” Akaashi Keiji, son of Ares and Aphrodite, sent by war-god Ares, asked. He’s flustered by Oikawa’s sudden question, totally not understanding it at all. Akaashi is a soothing and composed god. He’s also blunt, calling out the deities on the foolish acts they do. He analyzes everyone and got a hold of their personality, but could never seem to know what’s going on in Oikawa’s head. “Kuroo is visiting Asami at the moment.” Kita Shinsuke, chosen by Demeter, answered. “As for the thirteenth representative, I don’t know either.” He added, also confused on why there’s only twelve of them. Kita doesn’t sugar-coat his words, making a lot of deities afraid to hear his comments. He is straightforward, giving precise answers only. He also does what needs to be done, no one can sidetrack him. His mature way of thinking resulted to him becoming one of Mt. Olympus’ pillars, everything he worked hard for will eventually lead to a something extraordinary, just like Demeter always says. “I heard Hephaestus didn’t send one.” Ojiro Aran, representative of Zeus, replied. Aran is also one of Mt. Olympus’ pillars, an intelligent and a fully-fledged god, that’s what he is. He often solve everyday problems in Olympus along with Kuroo, especially the twins’ mess. Aran is a very reliable god, he’s one of those superior gods everyone looks up to. People often compare him to Zeus, saying that he should ascend the throne as he is the best candidate for it.  “Isn’t that.. illegal?” Suna Rintarou, sent by Hades as a form of punishment from sneaking earlier, questioned. He’s a bit lazy sometimes, but also rebellious. Only he can do that. He appears to be a quiet and nonchalant god, but Suna is expressive to his thoughts; saying what he wants to say that often gets him in trouble. If only this wasn’t a serious situation, they would’ve laughed at Suna’s question. His comments are humorous.  “I asked Ennoshita about it, since he’s the son, you know? But he said Hephaestus didn’t say anything.” Sugarawa Koushi, son of Hebe and Hercules, chosen by Hestia, shared. Under his calm and gentle personality, he’s actually a mischievous god. Overall, he’s one of the helpful and kind gods, and one of Hestia’s trusted servants of Eophertia. The representatives chosen are mostly the ones who’ve passed a year or more after getting their blessing. The only ones that came from this year’s batch were Kageyama Tobio, son of Aphrodite and Himeros, dispatched by Aphrodite due to his formidable dedication, and Kunimi Akira, sent by Hermes and will act as the messenger between two worlds.

Not too long after Oikawa entered, the doors of the chamber opened again, revealing Kuroo Tetsuro in his glory. He walked with confidence, sitting in the center as he is “the son of Zeus and Hera.” 

“Finally, you’re here.” Komori Motoya, a descendant of Apollo but lives with Artemis, spoke. He was sent because he’s the only one who Sakusa talks to, and everyone likes him. A friendly and outgoing god who encourages a lot of deities. Who wouldn’t like him?  “Sorry.” Kuroo apologized. Short and straight-forward. “Asami’s doing well, if you’re wondering.” Kuroo is serious when it comes to conflicts in Mt. Olympus, but he’s usually a laid-back god who likes to provoke others.  It’s like the amount of tension lessened after what Kuroo said. They’re all dying to visit Asami too, if only she was placed in Eophertia, things would’ve been easier.  “Anyways!” Oikawa interrupted. “Do we even know where to search? There’s a thousand places on Earth! How would they expect us to finish this quickly?” He complained. Obviously pressured on the amount of expectations given to them.  “Agreed,” Kunimi spoke, pretending like his father doesn’t have anything to do with this. He could ask him, but he’s certain Hermes will just mess with him. “If the Twelve Olympians weren’t aware of a deity wandering on Earth for the past 18 years, what can we even do?”  “I think Sakusa already encountered one.” Komori announced. Glances were thrown on him. And a chorus of “what” and other incoherent words were followed. “I think! I’m not sure!” He shrieked, distressed at the stares he’s getting.  “Quiet down.” Athena suddenly engaged in the conversation. Everyone looked at her, confused at how she suddenly appeared in the chamber without anyone noticing. The power of a goddess. “Yes, we were informed that Sakusa Kiyoomi run into one, but he wasn’t sure. Still, we’ll start from there.” She declared.  “How..” Akaashi mumbled. But didn’t mind to continue it, at least they’ve got a good start.  “Where is it, Mother?” Oikawa asked. Cliffhangers are undoubtedly not his thing.  “Tokyo, Japan.” 

THE TWELVE REPRESENTATIVES

Ojiro Aran - son of Zeus and Mnemosyne.

Kuroo Tetsuro - son of Zeus and Hera. 

Iwaizumi Hajime - son of Poseidon and Amphitrite. 

Suna Rintarou - son of Hades and Persephone. 

Sugawara Koushi - son of Heracles and Hebe.

Kita Shinsuke - son of Demeter.

Kageyama Tobio - son of Himeros and Aphrodite.

Komori Motoya - son of Aceso. 

Sakusa Kiyoomi - son of Hygieia. 

Oikawa Tooru - son of Athena.

Akaashi Keiji - son of Ares and Aphrodite.

Kunimi Akira - son of Hermes. 

A/N: Hello! I wrote this instead of studying for my exams later, it’s a bit short but longer chapters will come :)) Forgive me if there are a lot of typographical errors, I was suffering from a writer’s block while writing this, I don’t know why. Notes, reblogs and comments are really appreciated! It motivates me whenever I read some reviews :D I’ll probably update again two days from now unless my brain acts up again. Please look forward for it.  If you have some questions or wanting to be added to the taglist (or chat with me!) please send an ask <3  Thank you for reading!

[antiloreolympus]

4 Anti LO Asks

1. Does anyone honestly think Minthe is going to come back? She’s a star witness against them and Persephone just physically disfigured her. I doubt she’s ever going to change her out of her plant form, tbh. Rachel seems cruel enough to have Persephone either destroy the plant all together, or plant her in a tiny garden to be stuck in forever than actually let Minthe be free of the torture Persephone is putting her through. Rachel clearly hated the Minthe centric episodes too (which going off her editor was probably their idea anyway), so the more they just torture and/or ignore Minthe the happier Rachel will be. The only case of Minthe coming back is for some more petty drama, but it’s more likely they’ll just forget about it after all of an hour of being concerned.

2. you know what sucks? apollo was having upward momentum in the past few years of people discovering his queer romances and people begging for apollo/hyacinth retellings and then rachel came in and killed all of it by her nasty, lied about r*pe plot to make persephone's actual r*pist look better and her fans infesting any greek myth tag/group so no one can talk about apollo positively without LO fans ruining it. Thanks for killing growing hope around LGBT+ greek myth content, rachel! thanks a lot!

3. What I don’t get is Rachel claims LO is all about “reclaiming” female sexuality and it’s like ok, where though? Because she shamed women for choosing not to have sex and had them ousted as liars anyway who were totally having sex the whole time and they’re stupid for even thinking they could lie without it (Athena and Hestia, maybe Artemis too), she shamed women for having consensual sex but (gasp) they weren’t married to the man in question! (Aphrodite, Minthe, etc), and though she maybe could have had a point about how cheating is bad, she only condemns Minthe, Thetis, and Leto, but Hera can happy cheat on Zeus all she wants with his brother (who also shows no qualms about it and cheating on Minthe as well) and still frame her as good in it, but everyone else is bad? What?!

And especially with Persephone. She shows some exceedingly conservative, christian views that Persephone can’t even look at any other man other the man she will marry, and any sex she had outside of him must be made into SA because again, why would a story about “reclaiming” female sexuality actually let women actually control their sexuality? Such as having consensual sex outside of the designated love interest? Don’t be silly. She cannot be a young woman who has had experience and a life outside of hades, it just can’t be! More so, as she is now in therapy, Persephone’a main concern is not trying to work through her genuine trauma, it’s only making sure she’s sexually available at all times for him as a wife (a requirement hades quite literally told her! And Persephone felt shame and doubt about!) and that’s it, you know, like a tradwife is concerned about. Persephone doesn’t care about her body as her own nor even considering that she as a woman with autonomy has the right to say NO, she only cares if hades can get off sexually with her and that she doesn’t disappoint HIM. Rachel doesn’t even let her think “hey, maybe Hades, my perfect grandpa of a boyfriend, will understand my boundaries and respect my choices to not have sex when I’m not comfortable”. No, Rachel drills home that Persephone MUST ALWAYS be open to sex with him, and she better get over her very real sexual trauma now or else Persephone will be replaced! Being sexually available is her main purpose as a wife, doesn’t she know? Hades said so! She can’t work out her issues for herself, she has to do it so Hades can have sex with her and Persephone doesn’t fight back or reject it! It’s all incredibly nasty, and frankly a right wing reactionary’s dream of a comic. It’s basically an unintentional psych-op of claiming to be this progressive, feminist piece being given to millions of impressionable young girls to shape their views of relationships and sex when really it’s more conservative and regressive than any conservative school or church gathering they could ever go to.

4. What I find very frustrating about LO is Rachel wrote it that everyone looks down on Persephone for being a “stupid village girl” (which doesn’t make sense given she’s a daughter of a big six traitor and literally an olympus champion in a bunch of competitions as well as the face of her mothers company) but? Rachel made that their society? She’s the one who purposely made ALL of olympus and the underworld (and likely Poseidon’s kingdom too) into modern metropolises with huge emphasis how much better and advanced they are over mortals and Demeter who still rely on the land and are thus “behind”. Even in Persephone “growing up” is not her doing anything she’s comfortable with or bringing nature back to their lives, it’s becoming as minimalist and “modern” as Hades and everyone else. Minus the one tree she grew, she has to entirely forgo who she is and her nature (quite literally) to be “accepted” by everyone else. She cannot be herself, she has to be what she’s expected to be. You can’t frame it theyre bad for judging her for being more nature based, then make a point that she should leave it all behind and she’s better off forgetting it to be modern and devoid of nature entirely? Why even make it a this or that battle anyway? Why can’t they live in harmony? It’s clear she has a positive bias towards modern everything and a negative one towards nature, but this is just ridiculous. Rachel, you’re going to seriously shame farmers and nature itself? Really?? Even hades is myth was a lowkey farmer! He has chickens! Cmon!

[littlesparklight]

I had a conversation with a person regarding Zeus' relationships with his kids. This person held the opinion that most of them probably hated him, even Athena due to her participation in the rebellion against him. They also hinted that Hera and Poseidon probably hated him too. I said that I'm not entirely agree. While, yes, they could fear him sometimes, I don't think they specifically were against him all the time. What can you say about this person's statement? Sorry if you already answered something similar.

Haha, well, I have said something similar a couple times, both of my own need because I can't shut up and because of asks! I don't mind doing so again, but like... it doesn't really matter what arguments I bring forth, here.

People who hate Zeus and think he is THE WORST and that everyone else in his family hates him all the time because he is THE WORST aren't going to be convinced because they're very invested in Zeus being the absolute most terrible, ever. I mean, I think they're wrong, but that's me.

But to try, again...

Athena specifically is ridiculous to say she hates him, even if I, too, definitely have problems coming up with reasons why Athena would have participated in the rebellion (I usually think of it as her simply wanting to give Zeus something to think about). The thing is, there's the scholia which specifically introduce Apollo into the rebellion, instead of Athena, exactly because people thought it odd Athena would be against her father. And in the Iliad itself, Book 8;

"[...] but my father Zeus is mad with spleen, ever foiling me, ever headstrong and unjust. He forgets how often I saved his son [...] And now Zeus hates me, while he lets Thetis have her way because she kissed his knees and took hold of his beard [...] I shall know what to do next time he begins calling me his gray-eyed darling."

This is a lot of bellyaching to do from someone who apparently has no other feelings but hate for their father, no? She's being very dramatic, despite that, just earlier, when she protested Zeus forbidding them all to help their own sides, he immediately went "I'm not being serious" to her. Especially that "and now Zeus hates me"* bit; like, being treated like this this is unprecedented for Athena, lol. She is so used to having his indulgence, why the hell would she hate him? (Why does anyone think that Zeus would be indulgent and love someone like he clearly does Athena when they only hate him in return? If he's so awful as they think he is, why would he be as generous as such a situation implies, when he'd then get nothing, not even the affection of said individual, out of it?)

(*Like, all I'm seeing here is the equivalent of an eight year old throwing herself dramatically on her bed, crying hysterically about how DADDY HATES ME!!! when all he did was lightly rebuke his daughter over something.)

Zeus and Poseidon? They absolutely have a contentious relationship and, most of the time, probably don't get along very well at all. Just look at Poseidon's reaction when Zeus throws his weight and position around specifically against Poseidon alone when he's ignoring Zeus' edict not to interfere in the Iliad. And he is in the rebellion too, yes. But I don't think they hate each other, or, if we're to be specific, I don't think Poseidon hates Zeus. Dislikes him, a lot of the time? Sure. I get the feeling he thinks he should've been in Zeus' position (not accepting the rather thin "Zeus wasn't swallowed like the others and is thus the oldest" reasoning), even with Zeus having shared his power, and what he's shared Poseidon is clutching on to for dear life and denying that Zeus has any higher position. I could be convinced if one wanted to make Zeus and Poseidon's relationship specifically a shitty one, where Poseidon doesn't like him/hates him, but it'd be one among several where no, most of them don't hate him.

Zeus and Hera... contentious, problematic, mutually hostile sometimes. Hate him? If she hated him she would leave. And no, I don't accept "she can't leave/divorce him"; go read the Wooden Bride myth (it's on Theoi.com) and tell me she can't leave (if only via forcing Zeus to potentially do it). Connected to this is the sentiment I see sometimes that Hera only married him for power, only stays in the marriage for power and like.

She has power anyway.

Yes, the goddesses are in a worse position than the gods, but they do not suffer under the exact same sort of patriarchy as mortal women in this time/place (or even in later actual Ancient Greece). Is it equal, is it good? No. But Zeus respects the decisions of those goddesses who decide to not marry, and, like, for the ones who's been involved with him/married to him, they don't have to remarry and are as free as they could expect to be. Hera specifically invokes the power of her status as a daughter of Kronos and Rhea - and thus equal to Zeus in standing - in the Iliad. She wouldn't be powerless even if she left him.