#support: ares

[goldoanheart]

@lionscion

[ Maze ] - Unfortunately, it would seem that when the remodeling took place, some hedges were haphazardly strewn about every which way... With you in the middle!

Of course as soon as Ares had the layout of this place memorized, these elemental creatures decided to remake it anew.

Perhaps he wound up caged in this labyrinth of the garden's pruned remains as a precaution against kicking up more ruckus. Or a punishment for it. Taking advantage of his "patrons' " distraction in his latest bout of trouble probably didn't give them much confidence he could 'behave' the rest of the night.

He wouldn't know until he escaped this place, though the distant mutterings of idle chatter and music did much to ease his concerns about this being some kind of surprise trap at least. More free space in his head to fill with how to go about navigating this place. Had he a good weapon, he could always just cut through this stuff, but --

"Professor --"

He remembered his teammate from the Rusalka mission well, having caught his figure at the edge of his eyes while studying a section of the massive walls of hedge. Stuck here together, he posed his ideas after a small pause.

"-- I've heard clinging to a side of wall always leads to a maze's exit, but -- "

With his Earth-branded hand, whose glow somehow seeped through his glove, he pointed to the top of the wall.

" -- if I were to stand you on my hands, perhaps we could get a better idea of where precisely to go."

Kurthnaga does not like the feeling of being trapped, not after how long he had spent within Goldoa's walls. But the maze is even more imprisoning than that, at least within Goldoa, he'd had his family with him, but this was nothing more than another sick game of the elementals that had been taunting them on and on all evening.

"Ah, hello Lord Ares." He does not know how he looks anymore, he has been avoiding mirrors since he had been crying, but he can't imagine that it paints a picture of a very well put together professor, or even person at that.

"Oh er... I'm afraid that since these hedges are rather tall, I wouldn't be able to see over them even if I were to be held up by you. Quite unfortunate that you ended up running into me if you were intending to look over and find a way out, given my short stature."

[princepsumbra]

[ Garden ] - Need to get away from the thick of the party for a moment? Step outside of the dance hall, where Garreg Mach’s own vaunted gardens await, gracefully decorated to take on new life for the duration of the evening.

---

There were only so many people Ares could exchange brooches with while the majority were spinning around on the dance floor. The ballroom had reached its limit for now, at least until there was a lull in the songs, so he turned his attention towards the gardens.

With the chill as it was, he didn't expect much better chances here, but if nothing else he could appreciate the quiet while counting up the brooches lining his little charm.

Suddenly, a streak of blonde cut his count short, tugging up at the corner of Ares' eye.

"Leo," Ares greeted with a nod. He did seem to know a lot about plants, didn't he? At that illusory market, before they'd gotten thrown into the abyss and…

"Good to see you well again." A very marked improvement from the bloody corpse that had weighed on Ares' chest while wandering that darkness.

Minutes earlier--or it could have been hours, given how loosely time flows here--he'd derided people carelessly plucking flowers off the expertly cultivated bushes.

Now, however, he understands their reasoning. Just one perfect bloom is all he seeks. He'll even remove it from one of the plants hidden in a corner, so none will see his transgression.

She'll forgive him for it, and that's all that matters.

There. Fingers close around the rose stem, pressure increasing on the delicate growth. He can feel it start to bend when a familiar voice calls his name.

"Good evening, Ares," Leo replies. He hopes his voice hides the snap of the rose stem. "I'm also relieved to see you faring well."

Keeping his contraband behind his back, he raises his free one to the brooch adorning his chest. "Thankfully we won't have to haggle prices on these mementos, hm? A feather, for your collection."

[mydairpercabeth]

Ares saying he hates his own kids and the worst day of the year is when they visit him makes my heart break for Clarisse more. Clarisse fights so hard for scraps of her father’s attention and Ares sees her as just another nuisance. He doesn’t care about her unless she’s able to serve him. But Clarisse (like Annabeth) thinks she just has to work harder for him to love her. In her mind, it’s all her fault. Which is why she is so angry when little punk Percy strolls in at twelve years old, no training and unclaimed, and immediately defeats the minotaur. In three days hes already got the gods attention and his father claimed him. Of course she’s angry.

[moonlit-typewriter]

“With all due respect, which is none,”

- Percy Jackson, probably

[kindnessoverperfection]

Please, if you can, take a moment to read and share this because I feel like I'm screaming underwater.

NPD (Narcissistic Personality Disorder) stigma is rampant right now, and seems to be getting progressively worse. Everyone is using it as a buzzword in the worst ways possible, spreading misinformation and hatred against a real disorder.

I could go on a long time about how this happened, why it's factually incorrect (and what the disorder actually IS), why it's harmful, and the changes I'd like to see. But to keep this concise, I'll simply link to a few posts under the cut for further reading.

The point of this post is a plea. Please help stop the spread of stigma. Even in mental health communities, even around others with personality disorders, in neurodivergent "safe" spaces, other communities I thought people would be supportive in (e.g. trans support groups, progressive spaces in general), it keeps coming up. So I'm willing to bet that a lot of people on this site need to see this.

Because it's so hard to exist in this world.

My disorder already makes me feel as if I'm worthless and unlovable, like there's something inherently wrong and damaged about me. And it's so much harder to fight that and heal when my daily life consists of:

Laughing and spending time with my friends, doing my utmost best to connect and stay present and focused on them, trying to let my guards down and be real and believe I'm lovable- when suddenly they throw out the word "narcissist" to describe horrible people or someone they hate, or the conversation turns to how evil "people with narcissistic personality disorder" are. (Seriously, you don't know which of your friends might have NPD and feels like shit when you say those things & now knows that you'd hate them if you knew.)

Trying to look up "mental health positivity for people with npd", "mental health positivity cluster bs", only to find a) none of that, and b) more of the same old vile shit that makes me feel terrible about myself.

Having a hard time (which is constant at this point) and trying to look up resources for myself, only to again, find the same stigma. And no resources.

Not having any clue how to help myself, because even the mental health field is spitting so much vitriol at people with DISORDERS (who they're supposed to be helping!) that there's no solid research or therapy programs for people like me.

Losing close friends when they find out, despite us having had a good relationship before, and them KNOWING me and knowing that I'm not like the trending image of pwNPD. Because now they only see me through the lens of stigma and misinformation.

Hearing the same stigma come up literally wherever I go. Clubs. Meetings. Any online space. At the bus stop. At the mall. At a restaurant. At work. Buzzword of the year that everyone loooves loudly throwing around with their friends or over the phone. Feels awesome for me, makes my day so much better/s

I could go on for a long time, but I'm scared no one will read/rb this if it gets too much longer.

So please. Stop using the word "narcissist" as a synonym for "abusive".

Stop bringing up people you hate who you believe to have NPD because of a stigmatizing article full of misinformation whenever someone with actual NPD opens their mouth. (Imagine if people did that with any other disorder! "Hey, I'm autistic." "Oh... my old roommate screamed at me whenever I made noise around him, and didn't understand my needs, which seems like sensory overload and difficulty with social cues. He was definitely autistic. But as long as you're self-aware and always restraining your innate desire to be an abusive asshole, you're okay I guess, maybe." ...See how offensive and ignorant that is?)

Stop preventing healthcare for people with a disorder just because it's trendy to use us as a scapegoat.

If you got this far, thank you for reading, and please share this if you can. Further reading is under the cut.

NPD Criteria, re-written by someone who actually has NPD

Stigma in the DSM

Common perception of the DSM criteria vs how someone may actually experience them (Keep in mind that this is the way I personally experience these symptoms, and that presentation can vary a lot between individuals)

"Idk, the stigma is right though, because I've known a lot of people with NPD who are jerks, so I'm going to continue to support the blockage of treatment for this condition."

(All of these were written by me, because I didn't want to link to other folks' posts without permission, but if you want to add your own links in reblogs or replies please feel free <3)

[eaissilyy]

their lil chicken wings

[bitegore]

Zionists want you to conflate Judaism and Zionism. Zionists want you to believe that Judaism cannot exist without Zionism and that all Jews are Zionists. Zionism would have Jews believe that a Jewish state is the only way that they can be safe from antisemitism and will point to any instance of antisemitism as proof that Zionism is the solution- so Zionism wants gentiles to be antisemitic in their support of Palestine. They want you to conflate all Jews with Zionism and the state of Israel, and they want you to treat all Jews regardless of political affiliation as the face of Israel. Antizionist Jews exist, and incidences of antisemitism ostensibly acting against Zionism will not help dismantle the forces propping Zionism up.

Don't do their work for them.

[gingermintpepper]

Okay, let's finally talk about EPIC's Apollo

I feel very compelled to say, first of all, that I do not dislike Epic. In fact, I am very fond of Epic and have been following its production and status very eagerly! I attend all the launch streams, I watch all of Herrans' update videos; I am, at the end of the day, a fan and I want it to be known that my words are spoken out of love and passion as much as they are spoken from a place of critique.

So really, what my problem with Epic's Apollo?

In the briefest possible terms; the choice to have Apollo be defined by his musical aspect in God Games is thematically strange. And not in the 'oh well in the Odyssey, Apollo was important to Odysseus and his family so it's weird that that wasn't kept in Epic' strange, strange in the sense that Odysseus' character arc since My Goodbye has been getting more and more obviously Apollonian and so it is positively bizarre that when we get to meet Apollo, the god seems entirely disinterested in him and his affairs. So much so that he is not even defined by any station that would indicate that he has been watching over and protecting Odysseus and his family.

What do I mean by 'Odysseus has been following an Apollonian arc'? I'm so glad you asked!

Remember Them is the last song in which Odysseus explicitly uses his sword until Mutiny where he must use it to defend himself against Eurylochus' blade. He uses it to help enact the plan to conquer Polyphemus and, due to Polites dying in that battle, Polites who wished for Odysseus to put the blade down entirely and embrace a post-war life, Odysseus also retires his sword. This is an action that symbolically separates him from Athena - and the image of Odysseus as a traditional warrior set for him in Horse and Infant - as much as My Goodbye physically separates him from the goddess and her war-ways - from this point onwards, Odysseus will no longer be leaning on Athena's wisdom or methods to solve his problems. Likewise, he will no longer be able to rely on her protection.

Odysseus thusly solves most of his upcoming problems through diplomacy and avoidance. He approaches Aeolus - a strange and ambiguous god (both in gender and in motivation) and appeals to them for help. Circe too, he approaches not with wishes to conquer or for revenge, but for the safe returning of his men and an alternate way forward. In all of these scenarios, there is some Apollonian element which is subtly interweaved alongside the influence of other gods; it is with a bow and arrows that Polyphemus' sheep is slain (and thus it is this Apollonian element which is at the root of Odysseus' spat with Poseidon), it is a vision of Penelope that warns Odysseus that his men are about to open Aeolus' wind-bag, Circe's peace offering to Odysseus is to refer him to a prophet of Apollo who has since died.

In this way, Apollo is walking alongside Odysseus for all of his journey after Athena departs - even in the Underworld, he is guiding him. It is Tiresias' proclamation that is the last straw for Odysseus, it is by the power of a mouthpiece of Apollo that Odysseus decides to embrace his ruthlessness. It is with the bow and arrow that Odysseus subdues the siren who sought to trick him, likewise, Odysseus does not attempt to undermine or escape the fate of paying Scylla's passage price - he knows of the doom about to befall the six men and quite unlike the rest of the journey until this point, he does not fight against it. This all comes to a head on Thrinacia where it is a blade which sacrifices the sun god's cow and brings destruction upon the crew once more.

My point with all of this is that when I heard the teasers for God Games years ago, it made perfect sense to me that Apollo would be Round One - he is not Odysseus' adversary and has no reason to oppose Athena's wish to free him. From other teasers about what will happen in the climax of Epic, Apollo will still be walking alongside Odysseus - it is Apollo's bow that Penelope will give the suitors to string. Likewise, it is Apollo's bow that will prove Odysseus' legitimacy and identity. That bow will be the power by which Odysseus hunts his adversaries and cleans out his palace - it is Apollo who is the avatar of Odysseus' ruthlessness, not Athena.

So tell me, truly, what was the point of having Apollo raise a non-argument in God Games? Why have him appear unconcerned, aloof and slightly oblivious? Why have him appear in his capacity as the Lord of Music at all?? And if the intention was never to make Apollo an active player in Odysseus' life like he was in the Odyssey, why keep Odysseus as a primary archer?

The answer of course is that Apollo is inextricable from the fabric of the Odyssey - his influence and favour exudes from Odysseus just as much as Athena's. In Athena's ten year sulk, it would have been Apollo who kept Telemachus and Penelope safe. It would have been Apollo protecting Odysseus from Poseidon's gaze as he travelled the seas (according to the Odyssey anyway)

Forgive me for not being excited about something that I thought was being purposefully set up. I was extremely ecstatic about all of the little Apollonian details that litter the sagas because I know where this story ends up (loosely) but all God Games did was reveal that maybe those Apollonian details were not intentional at all, but merely the ghost of the Apollo who persistently haunts those he favours, even if he cannot explicitly come to their aide in an adaptation.

[onigirisamurai]

Emblem Lucina now down, Kagetsu turns to watch Rosado’s portion of the fight. Rosado swings, yet the enemy still stands. But the way he’s standing...

“An opening!” Not one accessible from his position, and likely not one Rosado can recover fast enough to take advantage of, but an opening all the same. 

Thinking as quickly as he’s able, he grabs Rosado to pull him aside, opening a space for their teammate to take advantage of what they can’t. “Eliwood! Quickly, now!”

Golden Deer Team rotated to the left.

Next: @pheraed !

welcome to the REAL space jam

[BOEL] - ROUND ONE, BATTLE NINE.

[badwolfarcadiabay]

[princepsumbra]

@lionscion sent:

Sat on what were once a much grander set of steps leading to the upper floors, Ares kept his ears open for the sound of footsteps. The flutter-flop of delicate and sopping pages was the only other thing keeping silence at bay in the meantime, carefully leafing through each to try and introduce some dry air to this tome's margins.

Noticing the formulae and arcane sigils filling it was inevitable when he had nowhere else to look without risking a tear, and the more he flipped past, the more pieces seemed to stand out to him. Notes from his reason classes, he realized, were where this vague sense of familiarity came from. Forced on him as mandatory for graduation, and thus dutifully attended, he nevertheless struggled on tests no matter how much he studied. The only thing keeping his grade afloat was the type of magic Ares recognized as what this tome belonged to.

Something he saw in no hands besides those of the filthiest Lords he had the displeasure of serving as a mercenary. That history, and a desire to understand the enemy's weapons of choice, were what he used to justify why understanding it came so much easier to him than other magics, and cast aside any more questions that came to him while he waited.

Finally the sound of footsteps creaked out of the library entrance, and Ares stood with book in hand to meet them. "Professor," Ares called, holding the book up as he approached. "We found this amongst the refuse in the cellar. Is it yours?" Ares dared not risk pages fusing together, so it sat open, eyes unable to keep from drifting to the sigils again.

Though he was only in the lower level classes, he had still learned enough to know this tome was far more advanced. "I tried to save what pages I could," he explained as he balanced its spine on one hand, "But I wouldn't know how to judge its condition for battle--"

Suddenly, for the briefest of moments, a chunk of the tome's text flashed a deep, purple glow -- the same section Ares had been reading to himself as he spoke. It was one of the simpler sections he recognized from classes as the beginning of an incantation.

No other signs of life sprung from the pages after that, and after a moment he returned a confused but curious gaze to Leo. "Perhaps it can still be of use after all." In any case, he offered it to the other.

He needs a break from all the dust.

A tall order, given the decay of their surroundings, but holding his collar over his mouth and nose only does so much. He hopes the other two don't see the lingering fear behind his eyes, or the jump of his throat every time he swallows.

She'd been swift with that dagger. Blurred the lines between mercy and duty as it bit into skin and severed.

Fingers twitch with the urge to run his neck. Fascinating, how quickly a nervous habit is born under the right set of circumstances. He latches onto what passes for a door handle a little too forcefully, and for a moment, he imagines it's Kleio's neck.

Blinking away the image, he lets the door creak open and fall a few inches shy of closed as he exits. The familiar sound of pages rustling greets him. He follows it a few paces to his left, prepared for a fight if necessary.

He's pleasantly surprised to find Ares sitting on the worn steps, tome in hand. "Ares," Leo greets, eyeing the book. He can't quite make it out from here, though judging from the color, it's not one of his.

Before he can say anything else, purple light erupts outward, bathing the space with an arcane glow. Leo's quick to grab the tome from Ares, jamming a thumb onto the open page before it falls closed with a wet thump.

"Let's not alert any unsavory eyes or ears to our presence. Magic in Fodlan is different enough from the tome-based spells I grew up with; there's no telling how it works here."

Now he reads the front cover, deciphering the sigils for Bohr. An interesting piece of magic indeed. "And this was lying in the cellars?" He's even more relieved that Brynhildr miraculously remained by his side, instead of suffering this damp fate.

"Thank you, Ares. I'm sure I'll find a use for this."

[hermesmoly]

An underrated Kronides dynamic we don't often talk about is Hestia & Poseidon, or more rather Poseidon's one-sided proposal towards her:

Homeric Hymn 5 to Aphrodite 18 ff (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C7th - 4th B.C.) :

"Nor yet does the pure maiden Histia (Hestia) love Aphrodite's works. She was the first-born child of wily Kronos (Cronus) and youngest too, by will of Zeus who holds the aigis,--a queenly maid whom both Poseidon and Apollon sought to wed. But she was wholly unwilling, nay, stubbornly refused; and touching the head of father Zeus who holds the aigis, she, that fair goddess, sware a great oath which has in truth been fulfilled, that she would be a maiden all her days. So Zeus the Father gave her a high honour instead of marriage, and she has her place in the midst of the house and has the richest portion. In all the temples of the gods she has a share of honour, and among all mortal men she is chief of the goddesses. Of these three Aphrodite cannot bend or ensnare the hearts."

First of all good move on Zeus to respect his elder sister's wishes (regardless of the type of ruler you see him as he was very fair in this situation), second it's interesting seeing the word sought, like it was a stubborn request on Poseidon's (and Apollo's) part up until Zeus gave his verdict. Also interesting is the supposed timing of these proposals, considering Apollo is his fellow rival it implies Apollo was an adult/old enough to seek Hestia out. If they sought Hestia at the same time, does that mean that a.) Poseidon wasn't married to Amphitrite yet? (In one way that's logically impossible if Triton's daughter Pallas is Athena's childhood friend, which implies Amphitrite and Poseidon married early enough to have Triton to be old enough to have Pallas) Or b.) that he was already married but would be willing to divorce Amphitrite if Hestia had said yes?

I like to think that Apollo and Poseidon's proposals happened in different time periods, Poseidon during or after the Titanomachy (in which Hestia just said no/would think about it and just never responded) and during Apollo's proposal is when Hestia asks Zeus to let her be a virgin goddess. (It just seems weird to me if a Poseidon- especially a married Poseidon- would just seek Hestia's hand out of the blue with no hint of intentions before, unless he specifically did that to compete with Apollo though that seems unlikely.)

It leaves me just asking why Poseidon wanted to marry Hestia. I personally think he wanted to marry her because he had a crush on her (the same way a kid would have a crush on an older girl in movies) and that he was a littleee bit jealous that Zeus and Hera were lovers/married and wanted a sister-wife for himself (which yes, incest is ew but this is greek mythology we HAVE to abandon the "incest is bad" metric when it comes to gods. Most of the gods during the Titan era married their sibling/cousin so Poseidon may have had a similar mindset).

Also kinda interesting that Poseidon loved Hestia and Demeter and was able to respect Hestia's wishes but not Demeter's. Smh bro.

[princepsumbra]

The battle rages on.

Beasts erupt from above and below, arriving too quickly for them to properly deal with. The horrible winged creature above rains ice and frost indiscriminately. Blood slips down his cheek from a superficial cut somewhere underneath his eye.

Allies flow around him, weapons held steady despite their clear exhaustion. Melibeous sits unmoving in its box. Leo's gaze sweeps across the ruined manor not as a soldier, but a tactician, weighing odds that are clearly stacked against them.

Their duty may be to help this tiny creature; that does not mean they need give their lives.

"Retreat!" Leo shouts above the din. Scowling, he climbs onto the rickety staircase, ignoring the ominous creaking. "Fall back! We'll be overrun if we continue at this rate!"

It's not a decision he makes lightly--many among their number may see this as weakness. He will accept their ire after they survive this.

There's another crash nearby. "Take Melibeous back to Poliades. If we fall here, who will protect the creature?"

insatiable

[fabledfoxglove]

Tfw you’re doing some real deep tough love tarot and your deities still make it EXPLICITLY CLEAR that they love you and they’re supporting you on your journey :’’’)

Brb I’m crying

[applecidersstuff]

Just saw someone on TikTok say that when it comes to the elections CHB and CJ would all hate The Guy, but the ares cabin would be divided 50/50 on love and hate, and I was like-

Ares was the only god who was respectful when it came to women, he was the one in a consentual relationship, he has no record of rape unlike all other Olympian gods and he KILLED a rapist. He killed a rapist who attacked his daughter and was on trial for that and was found NOT GUILTY.

The ares campers were raised by their SISTER. And the reason why they only have one sister is because all the others died as children before they got to camp because of abusers, trafficking and rapists.

If an ares camper would even think about supporting that they would be disowned by Ares himself.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

I've been stickered once again!