#okay rambles from apollo's life over. not that my life is very interesting. i just like sharing

[astrxealis]

just rmbrd rn when at school fair while i was helping my class's booth and just sitting there while bands performed. the first millisecond of "i don't love you" by mcr i knew it already ... man

[purenguyening]

1, 3 and 7 for salty ask, only minimal salt required, any fandom ok

I don't know how long I'll ramble but cut just in case:

Salt ask meme.

What OTPs in your fandom(s) do you just not get?*

It's not that I don't "get" specific ships, it's more closer to "I have a hard time suspending my disbelief and going along with the bit".

There are two ships that come to mind: Toyosatomimi no Miko/Soga no Tojiko from Touhou Project and Klavier Gavin/Apollo Justice from Ace Attorney.

For Miko/Tojiko, I can completely understand the appeal of a married couple meeting again in another life (not quite on the level of reincarnation, but it does have the theme of reuniting after a long period of time). But I feel like my hang-ups is that fandom tends to portray the duo as happily married when I'm 90% sure its real life inspiration (Shoutoku Taishi and Tojiko no Iratsume's marriage) was arranged so Soga no Umako could have access to the Royal Family rather than any real love. (I have no objections to being corrected since I only know like extremely broad strokes on Asuka period politics).

Even without drawing inspiration from history, Tojiko's profiles come off as pretty distant around Miko, usually only a line or two and then the bulk of her profiles are either about herself or about her relationship with Futo. I think typically the fandom writes it off as her wanting to be private, but from my perspective it comes off as her just trying to bide her tongue because she doesn't want to talk shit about her boss (but is okay talking about a dipshit co-worker). There is a line from Tojiko's profile in Symposium of Post-Mystcism I still can't really made heads or tails over though:

Futo's idea was "We'll let Buddhism rule for now, but after Miko revives as an authority figure, we will both revive as her officers."

It's not so much the wording but what throws me off, but instead it's that I'm not 100% sure if Akyuu is quoting Tojiko here or not, it feels like it should be. If it is Tojiko, herself, saying this you could read that she's close enough to Miko to be on a first name basis, but I can't help but read it as "she holds little respect for Miko so she just opts to call her by her name instead of her title". The other thing I get hung up over is how Tojiko's profile in Strange Creators of Outer World doesn't confirm her residency in Senkai (along with Seiga and Yoshika), which, again, comes off as her wanting to be distant around Miko. If memory serves Tojiko briefly pokes her head in Futo's ending in Hopeless Masquarade and no where else, kind of adding to my personal read she's not really that close to Miko.

This isn't to say I don't think they can learn to get along, but it feels like there's a lot of buildup needed for me to buy into the idea.

In a similar way with Klavier/Apollo, I get the concept on paper (like aside from the casual banter/innuendo that gets flung around in court). Klavier is a very lonely person and hides it with his persona, and Apollo hates that because he's such an honest and forward. I think he even mentions it in Turnabout Seranade he prefers the personality Klavier shows when he works on a case over his rock star personality.

In theory there's enough tension where I can see it being very satisfying when, finally, Apollo understands why Klavier puts the front that he does and in return Klavier can be open and honest to Apollo. But I never felt like such a moment really came. Maybe there's fan works that play with this concept, but I never was interested enough to explore.

3. Have you ever unfollowed someone over a fandom opinion?

No, oddly enough. I think on tumblr I would just block the post and on twitter mute/block are the bread and butter of the Twitter Experience(TM). I feel like it takes a lot for me to actually unfollow someone, but I do draw the line when people get really aggressive about it. The obvious example are those tweets where someone will post along the lines of "block me if you like x, y, and z"

7. Is there anything you used to like but can’t stand now?*

Usually my OTP preferences stay consistent throughout the years, but they sometimes lose intensity compared to when I first like them. As of late I don't hate Phoenix Wright/Miles Edgeworth (narumitsu) but I tend to prefer searching up Miles Edgeworth/Phoenix Wright (mitsunaru) if I really want to be nit picky about ship order... It's mostly because I think it's more entertaining to watch Miles fluster Phoenix more than the other way around.

[antiloreolympus]

8 Anti LO Asks

1. It doesn’t really make sense for a long term comic such as LO to have such a drastic change in the artstyle, and even more you can’t really call it an improvement when all the interesting parts of the art style are now gone and all that it is now it’s just some basic same-face and body art style with barely any backgrounds. RS is incredibly talented for illustrative artwork and it’s really a shame she’s not doing that anymore and instead has left it to her team, with leaving them very messy sketches. The artstyle in the beginning had life and glamour and now it’s just very dull and boring. That’s not an improvement

2. I genuinely can’t think of any man in LO that’s even half way decent. Poseidon maybe? Hephaestus? Those are the only two I can manage, meanwhile the rest are either Rachel purposely ruining them because of her own biases (Zeus, Apollo, Thanatos to an extent) or are “good” men who are just creeps who disrespect all the women around them and are super creepy and obsessed over a literal teenager who acts like a child (Hades, Ares, Hermee, Eros, etc). The women aren’t much better either. 

3. About Perse making Hades childish: (this is no way defending him, just some speculation, and tbh I doubt that RS has thought this through haha) I wonder if he becomes a horny teenager around her because she’s a goddess of fertility? Would that have any affect on him? Doesn’t excuse his creepy ass behavior, but could explain it a bit, I guess?

4. Okay so I'll be honest I dont really see any reason to 'simp' over Any of the LO characters?

Also, not to start sh*t, but - I think part of the reason why some of the LO fandom does not like Zeus (and perhaps gives Hera more leeway - at least in terms of cheating) is because:

Mythologically Zeus is a known cheater / rapist (Io for example, or Semele)

They see Hera cheating a Zeus as okay (its not) because he's been known to cheat on her in the past / fans see Hera cheating on Zeus with Hades as 'justified revenge' for what he's (Zeus) put her through

I'll be honest I dont really see Zeus (or Hades for that matter) as good rulers because

Despite other deities (like Eros) doing 'acts of wrath' - they get away with it because they often have someone to back them up (like Aphrodite offering to sleep with Zeus to get her son out of trouble) - but the one time Persephone does something wrong (an act of wrath) - Zeus wants to give her the Prometheus treatment - mainly so he can feel like an in control king whos subjects respect him

The reason this sound so odd is because of RS writing choices. Zeus is a grade A d*ck who is willing to destroy a 'young girls promising career' because she made 1 mistake that one time. But at the same time the act of wrath is framed oddly because Demeter doesn't want her daughter to get in trouble so she covers it up (its like the equivalent of hiding a murder from the cops).

Zeus wanting to Prometheus Kore seems overly harsh because she is a Child. (Well a teenager) - so it adds to the "Zeus is a d*ck" card, because she doesnt have the life experience to "get away with" stuff like the other deities because she is young AND sheltered.

Like again, the whole concept of Human Laws applying to Gods is so confusing:

Would Zeus have been this harsh if Demeter had simply come forward in the first place about Persephone's murder rampage? Why did she blackmail / get other deities involved to cover it up? Is Zeus THAT much of a d*ck in Demeters eyes that she knows he would harshly punish a child for something "she didnt mean to do" (killed mortals based on a feeling?)

Why is there a motherf*cking trial in the first place? Do All the other deities get the right to a fair trial or is this a special case? (Like can any deity just offer to sleep with Zeus and he'll let them off the hook?). If the other deities had commited the same crime would the trial / punishment be the same or does Zeus just have a rage boner because he was lied to? If thats the case then why are the other deities taking Persephones side during the trial? (Ares I can maybe understand cause hes the God of War and stuff but everyone else is taking Perse's side because their either her personal friend or family member (Hecate, Hermes, Demeter, Hades etc).

Why are there certain laws like "Zeus cant get to Persephone because she has clemency in the underworld" but other deities - including Leto, Demeter and others (like Perse's nymph family) can just stroll into Hades house? Why is Hermes still on house arrest? Why are Hades + Persephone throwing a house party when shes on trial for scythe crimes??!!!

Why are the gods bound by such petty squabbles?

The way RS set up the governing "laws" in universe just doesnt make a whole lotta sense. Also, sorry this got ramblely.  

5. Tbh i don’t think that Hades acting differently when he’s with Persephone is a bad thing, as a concept. But there are many issues with this such as the fact that Persephone is barely legal and Hades act like an actual child around her. Obviously when you’re with someone they are going to act different than they do when they are at work. The problem is that Hades essentially goes from the “cold-scary king” to a 17 year old hormonal boy when he’s with Persephone. And him making out with her in a middle of a store or them golfing with diamonds or him making out with Persephone again in front of his workplace is not exactly acceptable behaviour from a king. If Hades acts all lovey-dovey with Persephone when their at their home together it’s different, but when they’re at a public place they can’t really do that. I would say that he has to keep a status about him but from what we’ve seen all the citizens of the underworld hate him and don’t respect him at all, from yelling at him to actually fighting with him, so idk how much status there is actually attached to him 

6. I swear, the majority of the “cute” HxP moments in LO just seem like a single father dealing with his hyperactive 8 year old over the supposed future intimidating rulers who Rachel is obsessed about talking and drawing their sex life. Is it really that hard to depict Persephone even acting like a smart teenager at the very least, as opposed to an airhead grade schooler? It doesn’t scream cute to me, it seems more like a father/daughter relationship. It’s just weird. 

7. i mean, i have a LO oc who's persephone's brother (fertility god) between demeter and zeus. dude got thrown into tartyrus to cover up the affair and now serves cronus. he was the god of summer, and my reasoning was demeter's seasons/harvest + summer thunderstorms. wrote a whole minific i will never post about him and persephone realizing everyone around them are assholes and healing together. so the mistress-of-zeus oc isnt that weird.

8. I’m not a Zeus stan by any means, but I do find him one of the most interesting characters, and one that RS has, in her attempts to make him be the worst ever to make Hades look better, actually way more interesting and compelling than the majority of the cast. He doesn’t lie or whine to the audience he’s some good person like Hades when he’s not, he owns that he’s a dick and doesn’t bullshit the audience into thinking he’s someone he’s not. RS tries to show us he’s a “bad” king, yet we see no proof it beyond what, he wants to uphold the law P broke and doesnt kiss Hades’ butt? That’s not a bad king, it’s a good one that he doesn’t let family ties or lust cloud his judgement, unlike Hades or Hera, for example. I don’t condone his cheating either, but it’s not fair to hate him for it, but love it that Hades cheated on Minthe so he could get into a teenager’s skirt and praise Hera for sleeping with her brother in law while punishing Zeus’ mistresses because she’s being a fake “loyal” wife. Just because he’s a deeply flawed, even a bad person doesn’t make him a bad character. Hades and Hera and even Persephone are awful people who do worse than Zeus, yet they’re loved and praised for it, all while being written with the depth of a puddle. 

[zombolouge]

⭐⭐⭐!! I'm behind on catching up with Indefensible (bc I am also in the US and have been Big Overwhelmed too, so sending positive mental health vibes your way as well), so I will leave it to you to pick a part of a fic that you are most dying to discuss!

AH bb take your time catching up, there’s no rush!! It will still be there whenever you’re ready <3 I will send some positive mental health vibes right back at you, lord knows all of us in the US really need them lol 

Okay, so my pick for this...hmmm, why don’t we talk about TRAUMA. I’ve had a lot of people comment about how I handle everyone’s trauma in the series, so I figure that’s a solid point of interest :)

I knew I was going to be writing this fic before I had actually played all the games, which gave me a bit of an advantage from a writing perspective because I actually took a HUGE amount of notes while I played. The most important of these notes were pages that I called “Lists of Trauma”. And I had one for every character. I would set them up every time I saw something in the games that would have been potentially traumatic, including backstory stuff that came to light. Then I’d write down what the trauma was, when it occurred, and how I felt it would affect them (both immediately and long term). 

Pretty much everybody gets that Miles Edgeworth is traumatized. The game does a decent job of showing some of that, by giving him PTSD and mentioning his fear of elevators, using his recurring nightmares as a plot point, etc. But Miles is by FAR not the only one in the series traumatized. Pretty much every case is enough to send someone to therapy for a hell of a long time, but it’s not always highlighted as much as Miles, and I think it’s easy to brush everyone else’s trauma under the rug because their coping methods were a little more understated. I do think the evidence is there in the games, but it’s not obvious (Capcom puts a lot more subtlety in there than I initially would have expected. Either that or I’m adding subtext on my own and giving them too much credit. EITHER WAY, it did give me a lot to study and pick apart.)

One of the biggest themes in my writing is addressing and processing trauma (lol can you tell I have trauma I have worked on processing? hahaha). I tend to lean towards doing it in healthy and productive ways, as well, so I was HYPERFOCUSED on all the events happening to each individual character. By the end of the canon storylines, I had a pretty solid idea of what people still needed to work through and how things were holding them back, which is honestly how I arrived at some of the plotlines I did. They’re all engineered to be ways to push the characters where they need to be in order to heal. Or at least to grow (full healing is gonna take decades and y’all I can’t be writing this for the rest of my life haha)

In some cases, like with Phoenix and Miles and their relationship, I knew that it was going to involve a massive breaking point to get them anywhere. It’s been decades in game-time and they haven’t taken very many steps forward, which tells me that repression is so ingrained you basically have to make them completely snap and land in a place of “nothing left to lose” before they’d take any more steps. Hence the remote location and the cold temperatures and them working together and the closet scene and the hot tub scene and the spit-take scene and the obvious trap and...etc. Really had to slam their damn heads together repeatedly for this one. 

But their trauma, while being some of the most obvious, wasn’t the only kind I wanted to address. Like, seeing everything play out with Apollo and Dhurke, I just kept thinking how fuckin badly that would mess someone up, and that isn’t even considering what he’d gone through BEFORE that (former boss was a murderer, and the ways he found out weren’t the softest. Best friend murdered, and the circumstances around it ended up with him getting physically injured TWICE. There’s a lot going on with that poor boy.) And Maya, who is forever cheery in the games, always struck me as someone who hid any negative emotions at all costs, and holy shit she has to have a few. She’s been accused of murder, manipulated by family, her sister was murdered, she had to raise her cousin from a young age, she’s been kidnapped MULTIPLE TIMES, had her body taken over by someone that DEFINITELY wanted to kill her and her best friend. On top of that, the first games make it pretty clear she has some inferiority issues, and alllll those traumatic situations would have only fed into it. I think she got really good at covering that up rather than really good at feeling confident. 

Pretty much all the characters got trauma’d at one point or another, and the timeline over the span of canon basically meant that nobody ever had much time to recover before some other bullshit was happening. It’s why many of the characters in Indefensible, sometimes more than once, have opined about it being neverending or how they were losing hope that they’d ever have a whole year that was just normal. 

I’ve included so many scenes where they are just breaking down and talking about feelings, because holy fuck they all need to. lol It’s also why I ended up jumping on the FranMaya bandwagon so hard because the way that the pair of them are traumatized and how they handle it is very complementary to each other. I think they’re both able to pull the dark out and soothe it within one another, keep each other from overthinking things, and provide a sudden rock to lean on when things get difficult again. If they didn’t have each other, I think the second half of Indefensible wouldn’t work as well, because Franziska absolutely would have snapped irreparably. But, uh, that won’t make as much sense until later. ;)

Anyways, this was long and rambly and I could probably make a separate post about each individual character’s trauma and how the fic is designed to shine a spotlight on it and get them to start processing it. I THINK ABOUT THIS STUFF A LOT, OKAY? 

Link to the fic if anybody needs it: Indefensible 

[pinkanonwrites]

Karasuno VS. Animal Crossing Villagers

Not an ask, but my own idea! Like most people I’ve been neck-deep in animal crossing during these trying times. I wanted to write how haikyuu characters would react to hearing you gushing about someone, only to find out it’s just your favorite villager!

Sawamura Daichi

Usually Daichi is a very reasonable man.

Somehow that all goes careening out a nearby window when he overhears you on the phone with one of your friends.

“Marshal is perfect and there’s nothing you can say to change my mind. Love of my life. Ideal man.”

He’s so caught off guard that he doesn’t even register the volleyball hitting him in the back of the head. The love of your life? Oh nononononono. No one else was gonna be stealing away your attention.

He pushed the roaring beast of jealousy back down in his stomach and smiled as you waved him over. 

“Daichi loooook! He’s so grumpy!” You turned your phone around to show him a picture of an adorable little white squirrel. “I love Marshal!”

Ah.

“Well, he is pretty cute.” Is all he can muster as a reply, feeling rather silly.

Sugawara Koushi

Suga would see you smiling at your phone like an idiot and scootch over to tease you about your silly expression.

His own smile would suddenly fall when you told him just what you were mooning over.

“I made Avery into my new lock screen background! He’s just the cutest!”

Luckily Sugawara is a smart man, and would ask to see your background before drawing any conclusions. He’d breathe a silent sigh of relief upon seeing that your lock screen picture was of a goofy looking cartoon eagle.

“Whaaaaaaaat? You think he’s even cuter than me?” He’d tease, squishing your cheeks with both hands until you broke into giggles. Good. Crisis averted. For now.

Azumane Asahi

Poor baby gets so nervous when he hears you gushing over your villager.

“Kyle is so cool! I’m never ever gonna let him leave I’ve never been this happy in my life!!!”

Daichi and Suga get to watch him melt into a puddle of misery on the floor.

“Kyle?” He whines, scandalized. “Cool?” Of course you liked cool guys. Guys who were tough and aloof and didn’t let anything bother them. He was none of that.

“Asahi! Asahi! Look at my new villager! Isn’t he cute?”

Then you bounded over and showed him the Kyle in question, a hyena in a leather vest. He whined out your name, blubbering as he hid his face in the top of your head. He’s just a big, silly fool.

Nishinoya Yuu

“Okay but Genji is actually perfect though? I’ve never loved anything so much in my life.”

Nishinoya’s head snaps in the direction of your voice so fast his bones cracked. Genji? Who is Genji? He doesn’t glean any information from staring at you, but his teammates can already see the storm clouds brewing above his head.

Who did this Genji guy think he was, stealing away your attention? Hogging your attention was his job.

After landing a particularly impressive receive, he’d look over to you and holler, “Can Genji do that?”

“Well he’s a rabbit and also in a video game, so I’m gonna say no!”

Ohhhhhh, the shame he feels. He must turn red up to the tips of his ears.

Tanaka Ryuunosuke

“Papi was singing yesterday! He’s just adorable, I can hardly stand it!”

Tanaka is already growling like a feral dog. He heard ‘He’s just adorable...’ come out of your mouth and it wasn’t directed at him. Your boyfriend.

Clearly he’s gotta challenge this guy for your honor, or beat him up, or, or-!”

Or almost turn into a blubbering mess the second you asked him if he was okay. You’d start panicking when he asked if you still liked him, until he asked why you thought this Papi guy was so cute.

“Ryuu...” You sounded exasperated but painfully fond as you pulled up a picture of the horse on your phone. “He just moved into my Animal Crossing village.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“So I’m still your favorite?”

“Of course you are, Ryuu!” “Ah. Heh. I knew that.”

Ennoshita Chikara

Easily the most sensible of the entire team.

“Whatcha looking at?” You’ve been staring at your phone for a good long while with the silliest expression on your face, and he can’t help but be a little curious.

“Wade! He’s so adorable I can’t stand it!”

“Oh? Do I need to be on guard? Is someone gonna try and sweep you off your feet right out from under me?” He jokes, leaning over your shoulder to get a peek at your phone.

“Only if you think a penguin is worthy of wooing me.” You respond.

“I dunno, he’s pretty cute. I might be swooned!”

“Chikara!”

“Joking! Joking!”

Kageyama Tobio

“Apollo is perfect. He’s all gruff on the outside but so sweet and gentle on the inside.”

Externally Kageyama didn’t show any immediate change in expression, quietly focusing on his drills.

Internally, boy is panicking. Who is Apollo? Why was he perfect? Why did you like him so much?

It isn’t until he misses a set and it hits him directly in the head that you realize something’s up with him. He grumbles over and grabs your hand, pulling you out of sight of his teammates.

“Who’s ‘Apollo’?” He asks as soon as you’re out of earshot. “-! D-Don’t laugh!”

“Tobio, look. This is Apollo.” You bring up your Switch and scamper over to a bald eagle and begin talking to him. “He’s gruff on the outside, but sweet on the inside. Just like you. That’s why he’s my favorite.”

“That’s-You!” He stammers, face exploding into a burning blush. “Wh-Whatever! I’m way cooler than some weird bird anyway!”

Hinata Shouyou

“There he is! The light of my life! My most perfect boy!”

Usually that’d get Hinata excited, because you’d be talking about him. Not today.

“Jeremiah! The cutest in the whole wide world!~”

And he definitely wasn’t sulking because of it. No siree.

You wouldn’t stop staring down at your phone, even when Hinata was doing his amazing freak quick. Yeah you’d probably seen it a few hundred times at this point, but still! You said it was always amazing! What changed?

At the end of practice he’d holler your name out to you.

“I only want you to watch me! Not whoever this weird Jeremiah guy is!”

“Shouyou, baby, he’s a frog.”

“...Eh?”

After you show him your Switch he buries his face in his hands, cheeks burning. “Waaaaaaaahhh, this is so embarrassing. I’m gonna die.”

You laugh and wrap him in a hug. “Don’t worry, I’ll pay more attention at your next game. No frogs allowed.”

Tsukishima Kei

All day long, whenever you’re in earshot, Tsukishima can hear you rambling about this ‘Erik’ guy and frankly? It’s starting to drive him a little bit insane.

“Erik gave me some flowers!”

“Erik said he liked my outfit today!”

“Erik invited me to his house!”

By the time you pick up on his sour mood Kei is practically simmering, and looks at you with a bitter glare.

“Why don’t you spend some more time with Erik if you’re going to be drooling all over him?”

Boy does he feel a fool when you show him a picture of the little elk in your village.

“Kei, were you jealous?”

“Tch.”

Yamaguchi Tadashi

“Rowan is so cool. And so cute! He’s definitely my absolute favorite.”

Yamaguchi’s attention snaps to you, wide-eyed. Who is Rowan?

“W-Who is Rowan?”

Yama’s a pretty shy guy, but he’s not really the type to jump to conclusions either. So if he was nervous about something you said, he’d ask right away instead of stewing in it.

Which is good for him, because now he knows that you aren’t going all mushy over another boy, just a particularly cool cartoon tiger. You’d show him the character on your Switch screen and shoot him a smile so infectious he can’t help but mirror it.

I also think Yama is the most likely to become interested in Animal Crossing after you show him! He’d want to see all your other villagers too, not realizing how far you were leaning into each other’s space as you gave him a tour of your town.

[sevi007]

Second part of “Turnabout Succession” ramblings! It’s all over the place, I’m very sorry – I jumped in between the past-present-cases so much, I got confused while writing these notes down. XD

 * So this whole uh – MASON System? Yes? This thing was WILD. What an interesting idea, both as a mechanic, as well as story-wise. I thought I would have to finish the past investigations first, and then the presents ones, but in truth, I had to jump in-between to finish one after the other. Heck, I could take evidence from the present to the past and back again! I was really mind-blown about this bit. It was a bit lengthy, okay, but super fun to puzzle it altogether, and really FEEL how Phoenix was trying over the last seven year to find the truth, and all of it. Wow. Really genius bit here!

  * Listen. Zak Gramarye? I’m honestly not sure if I like him, as a person. Not as a character – he’s a great character! But, like the rest of the Gramarye troupe, he’s actually a bit of an asshole. Magnifi is easy to say why – he used the “death” of his own daughter to get leverage over his disciples, that’s pretty ugly. Valant tried to frame his friend and partner for a murder neither of them was responsible for, just to get the stage rights. But Zak? Zak just kind of jumped everything on Phoenix AND left him there to suffer consequences alone while he went into hiding, is shown to hit a so called “friend” – Brushel – in the face multiple times, just kind of “dumps” his eight-year-old daughter without making sure that Phoenix would take her in (he just ASSUMED), he never even kept informed about how Valant is doing and thus never heard that his former partner was unofficially being accused of murder because HE had vanished in the middle of court… I could go on.

Listen, as a character and magician? Super cool. As a person? Not so much. I honestly couldn’t warm up to him if he was a real person and I was meant to interact with him. The whole Gramarye troupe is pretty dark, actually, deep down.

  * Glad that Apollo finally got to know everything he needed to know. I LOVE Phoenix, you all know I do, but I was actually a little pissed with him that he let Apollo go into cases related to his past again and again without telling him very important parts. Again and again, Apollo was caught off guard and had to force his way through cases. I understand that part of it was because the Jurist System was not yet active – but in “Turnabout Succession”, the Jurist System was being used, Phoenix was on the way of getting Kristoph down, and he STILL waited until AFTER Vera was poisoned to tell Apollo everything. I don’t understand this decision, and I was glad when Apollo finally got everything he needed to win this.

  * Kristoph actually makes me sick. HE’s an amazing character, good villain, but he literally makes me sick. His reason, especially. Everything – everyone – had to suffer so much because a) wanted to win cases and b) was so hurt in his pride when Phoenix got picked over him that he destroyed his career, his life, made his own brother an unwilling accomplice in this, had an innocent nearly considered guilty, killed a man and (nearly) the man’s daughter… I cannot even summarize it all, it’s too much. And over what? Hurt pride.

He probably got the most laughable motif out of the entire series, and he did SO MUCH damage. It’s ridiculous. (On that note, it’s very similar to von Karma’s motif, but Kristoph nearly overtook him in evil here.)

  * I absolutely loved two of the “good” characters in this last showdown. First of: Trucy. She knew – somehow – or figured out that Shadi was her Daddy, and instead of hesitating or asking anything, she was like “What is it, Apollo? Keep going! We can talk later!”. Goddammit, that girl is fifteen, and I know that deep down she is hurting (even Phoenix said it) but she was so awesome, from start to finish. As supportive and mature yet childlike as any other of the supporting characters. I was really proud of her right then and there. You’re doing amazing, sweetheart!

And second of – Klavier. The moment he realized what had happened, without a single moment of hesitation, insecurity or denial, he was like “GET HIM APOLLO!” and went out of his way to give Apollo hints to bring Kristoph down. His own brother. It would have only been normal for him to try and deny the truth, at first, but he hounded after it instead, ignored all threats Kristoph threw at him, and did his outmost to clear up his own “mistake” from seven years ago.  I was a little awestruck, I’m gonna be honest. Klavier quickly got very likeable  for me from the first second on, but this was just to top it all of “yeah he’s great”.

 * I mean the entire last trial was such a volley of evidence, testimonies and shouts of encouragement from the side, I was on the edge of my seat, and my hands shivering. When the breakdown of Kristoph came, I was cheering in victory. It was great. XD

  * On the note of Klavier -  I would really love for Phoenix and Klavier to have a post-trial talk. The moment Klavier realized the evidence was not forged by Phoenix, but Kristoph, he must have realized that he had basically part in Phoenix’ disbarment when the man was in fact, innocent. He must have felt horrible. I really would have loved to see a talk between the two men – because I don’t think Phoenix holds a grudge against the younger man, but Klavier might feel bad about it, and needs to hear that.

 * God the sound I made when I realized the hand I was using to select “guilty” or “Not guilty” was Lamiroir’s… that was so well-made. It was still the player’s decision, but we saw through her eyes – gave me chills. Really great!

 * APOLLO AND TRUCY ARE SIBLINGS! Listen I thought they are related, alright, but I was gonna be happy with like – dunno, cousins. Like Maya and Pearl! But now I’m just delighted they are actually siblings. And LAMIROIR IS THEIR MUM! Gosh. Gosh when I said “her face-model looks like Trucy’s” I was kind of joking here? XD I was… not fully expecting this. Jokingly dreaming it up, yeh, but not really expecting it. How cool! I’m super happy with this.

   Honestly guys? This was easily one of my favorite cases so far. Right up there with “Bridge to the Turnabout” – though that one had a lot of found family and teamwork, and y’all know I’m WEAK to that, so that one is my favorite so far. But Apollo Justice was AT LEAST as fun as the original trilogy – some of the extra gameplay mechanics even better, like the fingerprints or the finding of tells – and I loved the new characters as much as the old ones. (Though I miss some of the old ones, as well.) I had fun playing from beginning to end, and was so excited about the story… wow. They just keep bringing out one great game after the other, eh?

 Dual Destinies is next (I think? Yes). I’m VERY excited to start that one – I had seen it once, on stream, as a kid, but I couldn’t buy it back then… kept dreaming about it though, for almost 12 years or so. This is like a childhood dream coming true, so I’m double excited for it!

[strawberrybouvine]

Ramble about ur thoughts plz!

We wanna hear what you think!

Ok ! I just woke up from a dream about this anime and have my thoughts more in order so imma dump all them here, thank you anon lol

Warning for spoilers for Blood of Zeus !! I'm going to be talking about some plot points so if you dont want to be spoiled block the tag "blood of zeus spoilers" thank you !!

Okay so first off the designs ! I liked some of them, seraphim has a really neat design and Apollo and Hermes for instance look okay !

But gosh every one else is pretty boring/kind of typical? Like idk Zeus just looks like some middle aged guy, Ares doesnt really have a noticeable design, and Hera is pretty bland too. Like they're greek gods, go wild ! Some of the background gods have more defined designs than the central ones which like?? Why??

I guess a positive is that they're interesting enough to keep your attention but I was super bored to pieces by the story.

Like it felt very set, like it wasnt interested in going more out there with some concepts.

It felt very like just hitting beats, just trying to get to the next point. Idk it felt kind of generic to me? Like you can kind of guess where the story is going to go after the second episode.

I absoluetly did not like how Seraphim was set up as the ruler/leader of the demons and then spent the entire anime being manipulated by Hera. How is he the leader of the demons, that you have shown takes agency in battles and can fight naturally very well spend the entire build up being manipulated so effortlessly by someone he doesnt know/just met like???

ALSO HE JUST FREAKING DIES A THE END??? Like the brother that got screwed over to that extent in his life doesnt deserve a little - at the least - bittersweet end?? It just annoyed me that it was a standard good vs evil story. Also I think I just get annoyed by the whole "you're either with me or against me" type tropes cause it's like characters are so much more nuanced than that and it makes them feel very one dimensional in a way? I also dont like the trope of someone who has gone through suffering and trauma just getting hurt once more and just dying.

On the topic of the fight scenes, I felt like they didn't really have weight to them. Like the action was good ! It was fun to see the fights animated but the sound kind of throws it off? Like none of the hits feel like they have any weight and kind of just rely on the visual to get your through it. Which is weird cause I think this was made by the same people who made the Castlevania anime and that had some cool fight scenes!

If you like this anime that's completely okay ! Its cool that you can enjoy it and find it as something you love/appreciate !

This is just my opinion about why I personally am very bleh/neutral on it lol

[trans-n-enby-stuff]

!!!! We doing LGBT deities? Apollo (greek god of like 6 things, including music, medical arts, the sun, and archery) and Zephyrus (greek god of the west wind) are both bi! In the myth of Hyacinth, they were fighting over the love of this really handsome dude, Hyacinth, who eventually chose Apollo, and since gods are petty assholes, Zephyrus killed him. Apollo, mad with grief, created the hyacinth flower from Hyacinth's blood (and his own tears in some versions). It's a well known story but still

(appolo & zephyrus anon continued) also like, as a rule, nobody is straight in greek mythology. Poseidon rescued Nerites (a minor sea deity) from being turned into a shellfish by Aphrodite after he refused to accompany her up to Olympus, and in some versions of the myth, they loved each other and from their mutual love Anteros was born, who is the personification of reciprocated love. (1/?)(2/?) Zeus (god of not being able to keep it in his pants) kidnapped Ganymede (cupbearer of the gods) and offered him his current job, which Hera (god of marriage and throwing children off Olympus) didn’t like bc he was too handsome and a rival to her husband’s attention (Zeus later made Gany a constellation, which implies she was right, but it’s a hot discourse topic since Ancient Greece)(3/?) Dionysus (god of wine and chasing nymphs when he really shouldn’t) is also notoriously Not Straight, with multiple myths referring to it, but the funniest is probably the myth of Prosymnus, who helped him when he went to rescue his mother Semele from Hades, and since I want to keep this kid friendly you should probably just search it up but I promise you it’s the funniest thing you ever read(4/?) Speaking of Flower Gays, there’s a myth that’s very similar to the Apollo/Zaphyrus/Hyacinth myth that may be a variation upon that, where Crocus, in this version a lover of Hermes (god of thieves and messengers) were playing a game of discus (like Apollo and Hyacinth were doing), when Crocus died. Hermes then made the Crocus flower out of his blood, like Apollo did for Hyacinth. (There’s also another, presumably straighter version of the myth where Crocus had an affair with a nymph)(5/?) And of course, let’s not forget the mortals/demigods in greek mythology: Patroclus and Achilles are famous for the Discourse they caused, Heracles (Hercules) is bi (but unfortunately probably the most famous of his lovers, Iolaus, also happened to be his nephew, which… I mean attitudes of the time and whatever, but still, gross), Agamemnon and Argynnus as told by Athenaeus were lovers, and I could go on and on because greek mythology is GAY(7/?) On the sapphic side, there seems to be less, as I didn’t recall any before I started researching, but there’s still a couple of good stories. Sappho, an actual real life poet who was a sapphic, wrote Ode to Aphrodite, her only fully surviving poem, where the speaker (herself) prays to Aphrodite after being rejected by an unnamed woman. Sappho also named Aphrodite as the goddess of lesbians. Sappho herself is quite interesting and I definitely recommend researching her!(8/?) I personally like the story of Iphis, which, while a bit Problematique by today’s standards, is still pretty okay for a greek mythology thing, if you get what I mean. Iphis was born to a couple that was so poor they could not afford the dowry if their child was a girl, so the husband decided to kill the child if it was a girl. The wife was not down with that, and Isis (an egyptian goddes, strangely enough) visited her at night and assured her that if she had a daughter Isis’d keep her safe(10/10) But lastly, the obligatory disclaimer when talking Greek Mythology is that ancient greece hadn’t realized that pedophelia and incest was wrong, and they rarely adressed rape properly, and this is pretty prevalent in LGBT-flavoured myths, so if you’re planning on researching, take care of yourself. Also, I’m so, so sorry this god so needlessly wrong, greek mythology has been my special interest for so long and this gave me an excuse to research and I went overboard, I’m so so sorry 

~

Okay anon, firstly, please do not apologize for your beautiful mythology rambling, I love it. 

ALSO calling Zeus the god of not being able to keep it in his pants is so funny oh my god. I really can’t add anything to this because it’s so wonderful and I’m so happy you decided to share it!!!! 

~ Chris

[takaraphoenix]

Helios/Apollo: The Birth of Musica (5/5)

Sooo, time for the grand finale! ;D

How will Apollo react to his sisters finding out? And how did Helios and Apollo even get together? Because Persephone and Artemis demand answers!

Part 1 || Part 2 || Part 3 || Part 4 || (You are here) || Epilogue || The whole thing on AO3

Apollo stared wide-eyed at his sisters and instinctively pushed Helios off. The older Sun Deity grunted at the impact and glared just a little. Though Apollo was too flustered to notice, because he was focused on Persephone and Artemis.

“Bro-other”, drawled Artemis in that threatening thone of her that usually meant that she was going to throw something at him if he didn’t comply.

“It’s not what you think. You see nothing. Nothing is going on here”, tried Apollo.

“...You’re not Aphrodite. You can’t charmspeak us into forgetting what we just saw”, deadpanned Artemis and threw a pillow at him.

“How long? Why didn’t you say something? How could you look so sad and say those things inthe garden if you actually have a lover?”, blurted Persephone out anxiously.

Apollo looked ready to flee, so Helios rested a firm hand on his lover’s shoulder and guided him over to sit down, motioning for the two goddesses to follow. They did, though Artemis was glaring at him dangerously. Helios was well-aware of how over-protective Artemis was of Apollo, though Apollo himself was blissfully oblivious to all the threats she had made on his behalf.

“I don't even know”, sighed Apollo and leaned back against Helios. “Guess it kind of started when I first became the Sun God and was just... so in over my head and there was this handsome, kind guy who taught me how to ride a chariot and how to take care of the sun and...”

“I did not know that”, hummed Helios surprised, looking at the younger god. “You never told me you had a crush on me back then!”

“Because it’s embarrassing and I was just a kid back then”, hissed Apollo red-cheeked, hitting Helios on the chest.

“Well then., How did this start?”, prompted Artemis once more, eyes sharp.

“We were... I think we were in Alfheim. I think it was Frey’s turn to host our little gatherings and I hadn’t seen Apollo in many years at that point. Our schedules never really alligned for the annual Sun God meetings...”

FLASHBACK

Helios rubbed his forehead, exhausted by Ra’s complaints about Horus and Seth. Not that he couldn’t understand them. And he did enjoy those annual meetings between the Sun Gods - as many of them as could attend anyway. They met up casually among friends more often, but those grand gatherings were rare.

“So. How is your love-life doing, Helios?”, inquired Belenus curiously. “Belisama and I have been dying to invite you over to a double-date with Hecate.”

Helios winced at that. Things with Hecate had been going relatively well. They had three children together - Aeetes, Circe and Pasiphae. But in the end, there hadn’t been enough to hold them together and they broke up. Not exactly the kind of thing he had wanted to discuss today. The breakup wasn’t fresh or raw anymore. He knew it had been for the best. But he had been feeling rather lonely since then (and the troubles his children and grandchildren caused were a good distracting headache).

He just wanted to reply as someone practically stumbled into the meeting, clearly late. Helios paused as he took in the youth. Lithe, muscular body, wild golden hair, full lips and--wait. Helios knew those eyes. Those eyes were unique to only one god, but that was impossible.

“Apollo?”, asked Helios stunned. “You’re...”

“Not a little kid anymore?”, offered Apollo with a cheeky grin.

That was one way of phrasing it. The doe-eyed, sweet child Helios had instructed all those centuries ago... had really shaped up into a gorgeous young man. Helios scooted over a little, subtly offering Apollo a seat. The golden-blonde youth flushed pleased as he took said seat. How endearing and non-subtle. Helios smiled fondly.

“How have you been?”, inquired Helios interested.

FLASHBACK END

“We got really very drunk and ended up in bed together”, summed Apollo up before Helios could turn any more sappy. “And it kind of became a regular thing until it kind of became... more than that.”

“Okay. Okay”, nodded Persephone slowly, hands on her knees. “And... is there anything else that, I don’t know, that I don’t know?”

Apollo stared doe-eyed at his sisters, another blush coloring his cheeks as he tried to duck away. Helios wrapped an arm around his lover.

“We accidentally made a baby?”, blurted Apollo out. “So you’re kind of aunts?”

“...What? What?”, asked Artemis stunned, turning to glare at Helios. “You-”

“It was a mutual effort”, interrupted Helios offended.

“And a bit of an accident...”, tagged Apollo on.

FLASHBACK

Apollo was smiling softly as he laid curled together against Helios’ chest, watching the sunset. He loved watching the sunset, especially if he wasn’t the one who had to do all the heavy lifting for it. Helios was carding his fingers through Apollo’s hair with just enough pressure to make Apollo feel like goo. It was such a sweet and cozy moment, Apollo cherished those the most. He loved how... loved he felt with Helios.

“Will you sing for me?”, asked Helios gently.

That was another thing Apollo really loved about Helios. Helios loved all of Apollo, not just one aspect. They talked about the sun a lot and took rides on the chariot, yes, of course. But when Apollo got lost in some new medical methode and rambled on about it, Helios always listened vividly too. Helios would indulge Apollo in his poets - Apollo knew he wasn’t the best at those. And Helios really loved to listen to Apollo sing.

And as Apollo sang, bathed in the light of the setting sun and filled with the warmth of love, there seemed to be a glow coming from within him, surrounding both of them. The soft song ended abruptly as a baby manifested in Apollo’s lap. He yelped and hastily wrapped his arms around it before it could fall off. The little girl with the dark curls giggled delighted at that.

“Uhm... That’s... new”, muttered Apollo stunned.

“That’s... that never happened before”, agreed Helios surprised, leaning over Apollo’s shoulder to take a look at the baby.

FLASHBACK

“I’m not sure if you heard about her - Musica, my daughter”, ended Helios.

“Mh. There have been a lot of questions as to who her mother is, but...”, started Persephone and blinked.

“Hey. Athena makes babies by thinking them up!”, defended Apollo fiercely. “Apparently, I can sing them into existence in the right circumstances. Who knew.”

“Let’s get back to the question of why you’re hiding this”, requested Artemis sharply.

“I... I don’t want for someone to turn him into a plant”, whispered Apollo and averted his eyes. “It’s just... I...”

“So that’s what that look was”, grunted Persephone in understanding. “Not pain of loneliness but the fear to lose what you have.”

“Yes”, nodded Apollo, pain written all over his face. “I just... I have never been this happy before and I don’t want anyone to take it away from me. Please. Please don’t tell anyone?”

“Fine”, sighed Artemis and shook her head. “Does Selene know?”

“No. No one aside from Musica knows”, replied Helios.

Artemis looked pleased by that, making Apollo roll his eyes. Selene and Artemis had had a rivalry from day one and it was kind of ridiculous.

“I want to meet my niece!”, demanded Persephone and sat up straighter.

“Yes. Definitely. She is in dire need of some female guidance. It’s time she meets two of her aunts”, agreed Artemis seriously.

And there was definitely no getting out of this. Apollo turned to look at Helios and heaved a sigh. Helios smiled and took his lover’s hand, linking their fingers. They got up and motioned for Artemis and Persephone to follow them. It didn’t take too long to reach the home of Musica; she didn’t live far from Apollo’s place. She was standing in front of the house, with a broom in her hands, sweeping. She was humming gently, a beautiful melody. Her long, dark curls were put up and the golden-white robes she was wearing were swaying in tune to her humming.

“Musica”, called Helios out.

The girl looked up and her face brightened. “Father! Mo-”

She stopped as she saw the two women with them. Smiling at her, Helios approached to wrap his arms around his daughter and hug her.

“It’s alright. They... know. They’re your aunts, Persephone and Artemis”, whispered Helios softly.

Musica brightened up even more and charged right at Apollo then. “Mother!”

Apollo grunted - whether at the title or the impact, Helios wasn’t sure. But he hugged her tightly nonetheless, burying his face in her curls.

“Hey, sweetie. There's someone I want you to meet...”, started Apollo.

Persephone smiled softly as she watched Apollo with Helios and Musica. Guess she didn’t have a thing to worry about after all. Musica turned toward her and Artemis with a bright smile. Her eyes sparkled just like Apollo's and the excitement dancing in them reminded her of her brother too.

“It's... wonderful to meet you. I'm Persephone”, said Persephone with a gentle smile.

“It's so awesome I get to meet you!”, exclaimed Musica escitedly. “Mother speaks of you both so highly all the time! I've been dying to meet you!”

“Highly?”, echoed Artemis with a knowing smirk, causing Apollo to stick his tongue out.

“She just misunderstood that”, huffed Apollo defensively, arms crossed, making the others laugh.