#please for the love of somebody do better

[sxgakookie]

Summary: Your boyfriend, BTS’ Jung Kook, has a new, sexy persona that he’s showing through his music. But when it causes some of your insecurities to bubble up, he makes sure that you understand that you’re the only one for him. Genre: Fluff (idol!Jung Kook x Reader) Rating/Warnings: Adults Only (Body/appearance insecurities, kissing and sexual touching, suggestive ending) Word Count: ~ 1.5k

Tonight was not the first night you’ve attended one of Jung Kook’s concerts. You love watching him work the crowd, dance with his backup dancers, and give the audience the best show he could possibly give. But tonight, due to the new creative direction Jung Kook’s music was going in, you had a lump in your throat and jealous feelings in your chest, as he introduced his guest feature for the night. 

She was beautiful. As they performed together, Jung Kook looked so happy and you could tell he was having a lot of fun. It was silly, you knew, because the whole performance was strictly professional, but you still felt hurt when he danced a little too closely with her and brushed up against her, especially as her outfit was designed to be sexy and revealing. The choreography was very sexually suggestive, as was the song itself. You couldn’t help your insecurities from showing, and the negative thoughts came in as you wondered if Jung Kook found her attractive. Maybe even more attractive than you. 

“Excuse me.” You tapped on the shoulder of the security guard Jung Kook had hired for you. The tall man leaned down, so he could hear you over the screaming crowd. “I’m not feeling well… Can I be taken home, please?” 

You knew Jung Kook would be worried, wondering why you left his show early, but you didn’t care in that moment. All you wanted to do was hide in your bed, and let the tears you’re holding finally fall. 

Dating an idol is hard, especially as someone who is so far away from that life. Jung Kook is constantly surrounded by beautiful women, either fellow musicians who he creates music with, or his female fans, who throw themselves at him. You trust him, and the more logical side of you knew that Jung Kook wouldn’t hurt you. But you also felt insecure, and in your weaker moments, you grew frustrated with that side of his work. It was difficult being in love with somebody who you constantly felt you had to share with the rest of the world. 

When Jung Kook’s concert ended, his toned body was dripping with sweat and running on adrenaline. He made his way backstage, expecting to see you there, waiting for a kiss and to walk back to the dressing room. But when you were nowhere to be found, his brows furrowed. 

“Hey, where’s Y/N?” He asked a member of his security team. 

“She asked to be taken home early.” One of the men responded. “She didn’t give us too much detail, only that she wasn’t feeling well.” 

Jung Kook nodded as he patted himself dry with a towel, getting himself ready to go back home to you. He hoped you were alright, and he thought of what he could do to possibly make you feel better, whatever the problem might be. 

“Baby?” He whispered, barely cracking the bedroom door. “Are you awake?” 

No answer. The room was dark, but Jung Kook could make out your figure in the bed, covered by blankets. He assumed you had already drifted off the sleep, until he heard sniffles. Jung Kook’s eyes widened in surprise, and he felt his heart sink. 

“Y/N?” His voice was gentle as he walked to your side of the bed. “What’s going on, baby?” 

He knelt down on the floor to be eye-level with you as you laid on your side, and he turned on your bedside lamp to see your face. Jung Kook’s lips were turned downwards in a deep frown, seeing how red with tears your eyes were. 

“I don’t know if I really wanna talk about it.” You murmured. If your sad tone didn’t break his heart, Jung Kook would’ve cooed at your adorable pout. 

“That’s ok, baby.” He said softly. “Although, if you’re upset with me, I’d like to know why so I can make it better. I don’t want you to go to bed sad.” 

Jung Kook was genuinely so confused at what could’ve gone wrong. He knew you enjoyed going to his shows, and he thought tonight would be fun for you both. Clearly, however, there was something else on your mind. 

“Do… Do you think I’m pretty?” You mumbled, sounding silly even to your own ears. 

“Of course I do.” Jung Kook said, his furrowed brows showing his confusion. “Baby, where is this coming from? Did I say something wrong?” 

“Don’t you think she’s pretty too, though?” 

“She?” He asked, before slowly piecing together who you were talking about. He sighed, sad that you would ever let your mind drift to those awful places. “She’s not pretty like you are, baby. Not to me.” 

“Promise?” 

“I promise.” Jung Kook replied. His tattooed hand tenderly brushed a piece of hair from your face, before he wiped a tear from your cheek. “Can I lay in bed with you, honey? Is that ok?” 

Jung Kook knew when you get sad, and in your own head with your insecurities, he needed to be gentle with the way he treated you. It wasn’t the first time he helped you fight off your bad thoughts. You nodded, and Jung Kook whispered a quiet “thank you”, before slipping into more comfortable clothes and sliding into his side of the bed. He delicately turned you to face him, so you could be eye to eye with him as he talked to you. 

“Can you tell me what specifically hurt your feelings?” Jung Kook asked, interlocking his fingers with yours in between your bodies. 

“It’s stupid.” You said, ashamed of your feelings. 

“It’s not stupid.” Jung Kook pushed back. “If it hurts your feelings, and makes you feel bad, then it’s not stupid. Not to me.” 

“Ok.” You whispered. “The… the dance, and the outfits. She’s so pretty and she was dressed so sexy and I know it’s stupid-“ 

“Not stupid.” Jung Kook intervened, determined to stop your negative self talk. “Not stupid at all.” 

“Sorry. Not stupid.” You sighed. “But she was dressed so sexy and you were so close to her, and I… I’m not that sexy, you know? She’s so much cooler than me and I think sometimes you would rather be with someone like that.” 

Jung Kook’s heart shattered at the confession. He never thought while practicing the choreography, or doing the dress rehearsal, that any part of that could hurt your feelings. He kicked himself for not thinking of that, but he knew he needed to explain why. 

“I’m sorry that I didn’t think about what that would’ve felt like to you, baby.” Jung Kook said, squeezing your hand. “I never wanted to hurt you, or be disrespectful. I don’t think of her in that way at all, which is why I okayed the choreography and the outfits, when I probably should’ve been a little more thoughtful. I’m sorry.” 

“Now I feel bad.” You smiled softly. “I don’t want you to change the way you express yourself because of me and my stupid insecurities.” 

“Not stupid.” Jung Kook corrected. 

“I love that you want to be more mature and sexy in your music and performances, I think that it’s fun. I don’t want you to feel bad about it. But… I don’t know…” 

“But what, baby?” He encouraged you to continue your thought. 

“Sometimes, I wish that side of you could just be for me. I know that’s selfish.” You roll your eyes at yourself. “But I wish I didn’t have to share you.” 

“You don’t share me.” Jung Kook said, a frown on his face. “You’ll never have to share me with anyone. Listen, baby, it’s just for entertainment. It’s fake, and it means nothing to me outside of my work.” 

Jung Kook pulls you closer to him, making you smile when his strong, tattooed arm wraps around your waist. You giggle as his lips find your ticklish spot on your neck, and he slowly climbs on top of you, smiling as he peppers little kisses to your skin. 

“When I come home, and I get to spend time with you, that’s real.” He murmured in between kisses. “This is when I’m not putting on an act. This when I’m not performing. It’s real love, and nobody else gets that but you. Ok? I’m all yours.” 

“Ok.” You smiled, your giggles slowing down. Jung Kook lifted his head so that his eyes could meet yours, sparkling with adoration for you. 

“You’re the only woman I love.” He promises. “You’re beautiful, you’re sexy, and it takes everything in me not to touch you constantly. Please, don’t think I’ll ever see another woman the way that I see you. And if you ever need a little extra love, to remind you of that…” He trailed off, his hands sliding under your shirt, caressing your skin. “… I’m more than happy to help you remember.” 

“Kookie!” You squealed, feeling his hands make their way up to your breasts as his lips find your neck again. 

“There’s my favorite, pretty girl.” He smiled into his kisses, happy to turn your sniffles into the playful giggles he loves so much. “Wanna make you feel beautiful tonight. I love you so much, Y/N.” 

“I love you too.” You responded, throwing your hands in his hair and wrapping your legs around his waist. You knew from the love marks your boyfriend made on your neck, that you’d wake up the next morning exhausted and feeling so, incredibly loved. 

[digital-nova]

Manipulative whumpees

hear me out. whumpees who know that acting vulnerable and weak can earn them things. whumpees who exaggerate their injuries/illness in order to be taken care of.

maybe it starts when they escaped/were rescued from whumper. they haven’t been treated kindly in so long, and caretaker is just so gentle. they’re exactly what whumpee needs - kind, attentive, and would do anything for them. anything, whumpee realises, so long as they’re helpless and weak.

“i-i’m sorry, i’m just not up for it today. could you do it for me, please?”

“i don’t mean to be a burden, but…”

“are you sure? well, if you would rather do it for me…”

it started off with small things; asking for favours, being lazier than usual, just generally just being more demanding. until whumpee realises that they can’t stop.

maybe they’re desperate to keep the affection, refusing to let themselves recover to make sure caretaker is always worried about them. whumpee needs someone constantly reassuring and taking care of them - they can’t go back to how it was with whumper…

maybe whumpee wants to take advantage of caretaker. if they’re around to all the work, why bother getting better? they can just keep faking and let caretaker do everything. (queue carertaker-turned-whumpee and whumpee-turned-whumper)

would caretaker snap back? force whumpee to take ownership for their deliberate self sabotage and start using ‘tough love’ on them?

and how would whumpee react to this? would they just have to be more manipulative?

“i thought you cared about me?”

“i’m sorry, just don’t send me back there!”

“you’re no different to whumper.”

or would caretaker feel too guilty to say anything? after all, whumpee has been through so much. it wouldn’t be right for caretaker to deny them recovery, right?

does anyone else notice how whumpee is behaving? other members of the team, friends, etc? does somebody else have to call out their behaviour to caretaker? if so, how does caretaker react?

just

manipulative whumpees. there’s so many possibilities

[rodolfoparras]

I've been staying quiet about how much I love cheating tropes and I'm so happy to see someone talk about. I just like the idea of a bit of a taboo sex ok? And I have so many scenarios I love and either want to write about or did write about.

Having a big strong "straight" (but not really) dude ride you while he's on the phone with his girlfriend/wife? Delicious. Or even better honestly, eating him out while poor little thing is trying his best to stay quiet. Him whining and crying and breathing heavily all while he's trying to sound normal...

Teasing him and playfully degrading him while fucking him, telling him you'll breed him and knock him up and how will be explain *that* to his wife? Coming over and spending time with him, acting like you're just close friends or coworkers while having dinner with him and his wife. And he is squirming the entire time because he's full of your cum and still sore sensitive-

But also since I'm such a switch and can't help thinking of the scenario that's other way around- sleeping with boyfriend's/husband's dad and/or brother and letting him know just how much better they are at keeping me satisfied 🤭 Him calling and me being all like "Sorry babe, your dad's keeping me busy teehee"

Or orrrrr- him being part of a sports team and being out of commission for whatever reason and one day he gets a video and it's just me having fun with his coach and teammates 👀

ANYWAYS- let's pretend like I don't love this trope as much as I do

-🔮

WHEN WRE WE GOING TO SEE THESE PIECES POSTED PLEASE I NEED THEM ALL

or of course the insanity that is your sister husbands pining after you, her younger brother

He’s liked ypu ever since he saw you at a club or some caffe but he never managed to get your number and the very next day he met your sister and things started snowball into the wrong direction til he got stuck in a. Commited relationship with her so now the sweet thing jerks off to whatever picture you send to your sister because you just want to update her on your life and he goes absolutely insane when you come to visit, hogging your personal space and pretending this is what it means being close with your brother in law, or even sneaking downstairs after his wife has fallen asleep just to hang out with you because he knows you’re sleeping on the couch for the night probably in only your boxers and hopefully no shirt, who will blatantly check you out while you watch some movie playing on the tv, or how he will be a sick little pervert and listen in when you’re jerking off, getting himself off at the same time, or going tense when you mention meeting some guy and now he’s interrogating you like crazy because who is he why haven’t you mentioned him before and you cant understand why he’s so obsessed with the random dude who will do anything to prevent you from going on the date but of course you’ll end up going anyway so he’ll wait up for you maybe with a few drinks in your system and you’re confused as ever wondering why he up, but you don’t get to think much more before he smashes your lips together, mutters the word slut between each kiss because how dare you see somebody who isn’t him

[lucianalight]

I think the key here is that Agatha survived (as she was supposed to) and Billy actually died. Thus Billy was meant to go with Rio while Agatha was not. Since Billy jumped into another body instead of going to the afterlife, he essentially broke the cycle of life and dead. That's what Rio is angry about, not the act of surviving. I do think that line could have been written better (and yes, please stop using that word mcu), but I don't think it's entirely ooc for Rio to pursue Billy for this. For the same reason, she doesn't want him to bring back Tommy. If Billy and Tommy just start jumping into another body every time they die, they would essentially live forever, which they're not supposed to. Also, I think Rio should've been equally pissed about Thanos just snapping half of everyone and everything away, which broke the same rule.

@catlady48 I waited to read this interview with Jac to answer your comments.

She specifically says they developed Rio as neutral the way nature is. And that Rio has no real control over circumstances of somebody's demise. We also know she can't kill people and that she needs for Billy to turn himself in. She can't take Tommy as well. Because technically neither Billy nor Tommy are dead. Otherwise there wouldn't be an issue for Rio to take them. They just don't have bodies because their physical bodies depended on the existence of the Hex. The Hex is gone and Billy can jump into the closest dead body because of his magical abilities. Tommy can't and needs his help. So they survive. If Rio is like nature why would she care that they found a way to keep living? Many other creatures find ways to survive in weird and more terrifying ways. It's how nature is.

Jac says she did research theories about time for ep 7. Which I think it's one of the reasons that makes ep 7 fantastic. Because it not only matches the mcu world building about the workings of time and free will from Loki series, but also it's close to actual scientific theories. According to this world building in mcu free will exists, nothing is set to stone and people keep making new branches of time aka universes by their different decisions. Therefore "this person is supposed to die at this time" doesn't match the world building. In Nicky's case Rio can offer time because Nicky was ill. Some fatal illnesses can be delayed but can't be healed so it makes sense with the world building.

Moreover taking Agatha instead of Billy doesn't really fix the Billy-can-reincarnate-if-he-is-killed problem. So if Billy should have died why take someone else? This is a plothole that bothers me.

I agree about her being angry with what Thanos did. Because the dusted people didn't die, they ceased to exist. Since no one actually came back from afterlife. But erasing Death from that plotline is Russo's fault.

There were issues with these last episodes. Billy was a bit inconsistent with his characterisation in episode 5/6 and I thought the way they wrote out Jen was really messy. And the way they wrapped it up was also questionable. Also, the Agatha and Rio dynamic seems to be inconsistent as well and that actually bugged me more about Rio's characterisation than the balance thing. No idea what happened with these episodes, but it is a drop in quality in my opinion. Then again, this is the mcu, expectations are low.

I didn't find issues with these but I agree that there was a drop in quality. And I think it's mainly because they didn't take time to show us more of Agatha's background and her relationship with Rio. We should have seen more of her backstory before and after Rio. We should have seen why she thought her only way to survive was killing witches. We should have seen what her love and life was like with Rio and before Nicky. That way their final fight would have been more emotionally charged rather than feeling anticlimactic. Because we would have known the depth of their hurt and pain and what they have lost. And the pov change from Agatha to Billy happened too soon. We should have seen that fight.

Imo Agatha, as the protagonist, has the messiest most unsatisfying arc and there are still so many questions about her went unanswered that should have been explored in a series focusing on her. I wish they'd spent more time on her and showed us what they had talked about for writing her story, instead of keep telling us those details in interviews like how Rio and Agatha have so much history. Show, don't tell rule etc.

"He is an abomination. He is disrupting the sAcRAd balance."

This is the line I have a lot of issues with in regard to the portrayal of Rio. Rio is the original green witch, which makes her also Death. She was meant to symbolize the duality of life and death and their inseparable connection. The constant cycle of birth, growth, death in nature. Maiden, mother, crone. The mother nature.

And nature, has no balance. Let alone a "sacred" one(honestly if I hear the word one more time in mcu I'm gonna scream). In fact chaos is the most natural state of nature and evolution, and the flow of life, is about nothing but survival.

Now the story of course can make up its own rules and world building. It doesn't have to be factually correct. But they developed Rio as a force of nature. Not evil, not kind and motherly. A reality that exists and can be both and neither.

As a character she understands that Agatha's coven and her mother considering her evil and a monster of nature is wrong. If only they teached her instead of shunning her things would turn out differently. She understands that Agatha trying to survive her execution is not evil, it's just her trying to survive.

She fell in love with a survivor. Why she's calling Billy an abomination for the same thing? And Billy hasn't kill anyone to survive. He just jumped in an already dead body.

So this line is directly in contrast with her characterization. I understand that they wanted to up the stakes for Billy to get Agatha sacrificing herself for him. But I don't like the way they went about it because it's inconsistent with what they established from the start.

[bunnyramen]

If I see one more skinny Aziraphale… may someone help them.

[lith-myathar]

.

[lock-my-feelings-in-a-jar]

[pyrriax]

ANYWHO goodnight tumblr i'll be back on the art grind tomorrow i think 🙏

[eternallynamelessvoid]

I think I’m getting carried away with my characters again. Just a little obsessed. I mean, why bother telling your friends you want to die when you can tell your mental-besties?

At least They want me alive. Maybe I should make a list of them- well their abbreviated names. Wouldn’t want IRL people to find this. I Do Not wish to get sent to a mental hospital, I think I would actually just die.

Anyways, Lists. [What I’m naming characters below]

STB - 1a

NOA - 2a

RBN - 3a

CTH - 4a

SHO - 1b

CDR - 2b

SAP - 3b

CLN - 4b

IRI - 1c

HTH - 2c

ANM - 3c

[no fourth]

Maybe later I’ll add what they are for me, like what they do.

[Also I think it’s important to note that this is not me having DID, I am NOT a system. These characters are glorified chat-boxes.

The difference is that people in Plural-Systems are real, my characters, no matter what, won’t be fully real.]

[possum-tooth]

good morning gay people in my phone

[urlocalmagicalcat]

really long rant (happy rant) in the tags, mostly towards @synthetic-lavender /vpos

romance repulsed aros and romance favourable aros are both cool and valid but because i never see anything about us: shoutout to romance indifferent aros. romance neutral aros. aros who just couldn't care less. aros who have a conflicted relationship with romance. aros who are fine with romance in some contexts but not in others. aros who don't mind romance when it's not amatonormativity being shoved down their throats. aros who haven't yet figured out their feelings about romance. aros to whom romance is Just Something That Exists. y'all are rad as hell and it's okay not to 'pick a side'!!

[somnolent-scout]

Reading Arkan Cosplay's health update made me actually cry for a minute..

[starringvincentprice]

hi guys :) <----------(late on a film essay that's worth 15% of my grade because I can't succinctly say what Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror says about American Militarism)

[liqu3d]

THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN ME!!!!! GO AWAY KHEIROSIPHONE

The discord server and fanfics made me brainrot over Kheirosiphon and Kheiroscarab. I now think they're cute.

[ruthytwoshakes]

team furries twoooo. And scalies. And whatever birds are.

please share and donate to this family of four, the youngest being only 2 1/2 years old. They need funds to safely cross to Egypt. If you donate something, send me a message with proof and I’ll draw you something nice as a thank you :)

Species and concept art under cut!

Sniper: so for some reason I was under the impression that Crocs were native to new zealand. They are not. Uh. Well. yup. 👍 it fits his personality. snappy n dangerous but real easy to get around if you just zig-zag. Why the long fa

Spy: Grey Fox. I was gonna go with a wolf because of his fursona but fox fits better wahhhh. Also means that scout is half fox! I’ll show that in more detail one day. Probably.

Medic: just like his Doves! The tail coat is actual his real tail. Featherrrrrs. Why are his nasty claws out? I don’t know he’s kinda weird like that.

Demo: TIGER!!!!! He’s always kinda reminded me of Hobbes from Calvin and Hobbes :) why did I draw him so cute. Somebody stop me before I draw them all adorable ough.

Engineer: the bulllllerrrrrrrrr. Sorry. He’s a bull, with a nose ring. Epic. Hooves for hands, gunslinger would look like a hoof too, gotta design that later.

Heavy: big badass brown bear. Love him. Instead of bullet he has honey sticks. It costs four hundred thousand dollars to harvest honey… for 12 seconds.

Pyro: fucking dragon. hell yeah. In pyroland they see themselves as a unicorn. Baller.

Scout: Bunny scout truther over here. You can thank @/teamfurtress for that. Please check them out, commissions are open! In my version he’s a hare but that is significantly less fun to say lol. Jackrabbit kinda guy.

Soldier: regular ole dog. ouppy to da max. He’s the most dog of the alol time and I’m tired of pretending he’s not. THE STRAPS ON HIS HELEMT ARE HIS EARS. HIS BIG TEETH AND OPEN MOUTHED SMILE. THE WAY HE MOVES. DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?!???!??????! That’s a grown man with dick n balls what am I doing

Some designs for the side characters that I couldn’t be arsed to finish. Saxton is kangaroo because of corse he is. Admin is a bat because she never leaves her room, Pauling is mouse because is cute, Zhanna is bear like big brother, Merasmus is praying mantis, and Gray Mann + Olivia Mann are vultures! She’s so fluffy oh my god

Concept time. I fell in love with wrinkly floppy dog sniper. Adorable. Unfortunately I already had a dog so he had to go </3 kangaroo sniper was also axed. rip girl. Lots of diff designs for admin! Curtesy of @stangeranfanficion (thank u for the ideass) eagle soldier because it’s funny. Also zebra Pauling! I really like this one. If I make a horse au she’s going to be a zebra.

[anotherlongstoryshort]

Things about the Wisdom Saga that have plagued me all damn day

Legendary

Whether intentional or not, Miguel's Telemachus really sounds like a younger version of Jorge's Odysseus. And that hurts.

"If I fight those monsters, is it you I'll find?" The layers. Could he go out and hunt for his father? Could he find his 'legendary' strength within himself? Or will Odysseus be the 'monster' he finds?

"Somebody help me, come and give me the strength" And his call is answered T_T

20 years.

Antinous fully interrupts this bop. Rude.

Ayron sounds legitimately scary and Telemachus taking a stand is so O.O

Little Wolf

I wanna fight this guy. Love that Athena agrees. (The beat of the song and sharp bursts of vocals really emulate blows.)

The quaver on "I don't know how".

Athena is immediately charmed by Telemachus' enthusiasm. She sounds so fond.

The fact she sees heart in him as an advantage when it was Odysseus choosing heart over mind that drove them apart. Guh.

Did she tell him to bite Antinous? XD

"Oh, maybe I pushed you a bit too hard." The change in her perspective is already so apparent - she wouldn't have admitted a mistake or miscalculation to Odysseus.

We'll Be Fine

"I had a friend before..." A FRIEND? FRIEND?!?!

An admission that she didn't fully appreciate what Odysseus was going through, that she feels guilty for having "missed it all".

It's unclear to begin with if she's come to Telemachus for Odysseus, or to try and replace him. Both are equally heart-breaking.

"I don't know who your friend is, I don't know what he's like" UNKNOWINGLY ECHOING HIS OWN THOUGHTS IN 'LEGENDARY'. NO IT'S FINE I'M FINE.

"The best day of my life because I got in a fight and I didn't die! :D" Telemachus, child, please.

"We'll be fine" using the same run as "this is my goodbye" T_T

Him immediately offering up friendship to Athena, like Odysseus once did, must hit her so hard. "You're a good kid." Yes he is - because he's more like his dad than he knows.

Love in Paradise

"Old friend..." FRRRRRIIIIEEEENNNNNDDDDD!!!!!

10 years.

The memory fragments sounding so fraught and chaotic together, hitting harder because they're hitting Athena all at once. She missed a lot.

"She's my wife." "Anyways..." Calypso, girl, please.

Love that they're singing completely different melodies through the first half of this song for two reasons: because Odysseus is revisiting previous motifs, once more trying to hold onto the man he was, and also because it shows Calypso is not willing to compromise on what she wants.

"Last I checked goddesses can't die." We'll come back to this later.

Then Odysseus realises he is truly trapped and he sings along to Calypso's melody in muted horror.

POLITIES OUT HERE STILL HAUNTING THE NARRATIVE.

Just the words "open arms" are enough to confront Odysseus (again) with all he's lost. All he hears are screams.

And the one he screams out for is Athena.

"He needs my help." NO KIDDING GO GET YOUR BOY.

God Games

"Father, God, King..." There's a lot to unpack in that fun family dynamic.

"To untie apprehensions that were placed on that Greek?" Zeus is like, nobody likes that guy, why do you care?

The gods being called out like X Factor finalists is everything.

So there's a great contrast against the previous song - unlike Calypso, Athena is matching each of her singing partners with their tone and beat as she convinces them. She isn't winning by 'imposing her will', she's meeting them where they are.

Rational arguments work until Aphrodite, where Athena says "please" for the first time. She softens to appeal to Aphrodite, which is why Ares has to step in.

The way she says his name XD

Ares' lines sound like as much of a fighting chant as 'Little Wolf' did, which makes it all the better that the mention of Telemachus is what gets her to 'fight back'.

"His son's my friend!" YES HE IS. And Athena of all people declaring "a broken heart can mend" is fascinating. Can't help but wonder if she's talking about herself coming around to forgiving Odysseus.

"Never once has he cheated on his wife." Handwaving the source material is worth it for this line ALONE.

Zeus is so pressed by everyone openly knowing he cheats on Hera. Stop doing it then my dude.

Ares sounding genuinely concerned for Athena is doing things to me. Goddesses can't die, huh?

Her time motif flitting in and out like a weak heartbeat.

The soft piano of 'Warrior of the Mind', touching on a whisper of 'Legendary', then rising to a triumphant crescendo as Athena regains herself. I will be forever haunted by visions of Odysseus and Telemachus helping her to her feet.

And then, finally, she faces her own father and begs. Because Odysseus and Telemachus deserve a chance to be father and child.

The parallel, by the way, of Athena entering this saga to help an outnumbered Telemachus, and now closing it with him/Odysseus unknowingly helping her win her own battle too. JORGE HOW DARE YOU T_T