#we all can tell who is zeus' favorite work. it's basically him

[taetr4ck]

man hyunjin is so beautiful bro himself thought he had a filter on when he literally didn't like what is he made of how can someone be so effortlessly majestic looking 😔

- ☄️

oh my god you're so real for this 😧 hyunjin is so effortlessly breathtaking 😭 no amount of adjectives are enough to describe how beautiful he is. bro is the filter HIMSELF like. what is the SECRET

[aita-blorbos]

AITA for trying to eat a golden cow me and my crew found on an island after I attacked my captain for sacrificing 6 of our men?

Okay, so—I'm an adult man. I've been away at sea for a long while, twenty years in fact. The reason I left so many years ago was because I was sent off to fight the Trojans in a war. It was tense, and anxiety inducing as shit—but somehow we won because our captain managed to get us through it all. My captain (who I'll just call O for this story) is someone I've known for a long time. He's the brother of my wife, and we've been close for a very long time now. But, like.. okay, hold on, let me just keep explaining.

So, after we win the war—and after he apparently drops a baby off a tower because the mighty sky God Zeus told him to, we head out at sea. But I find out we have no food supplies. So I go to tell him we ran out. His response—'Oh, no worries! Let's just watch where the birds fly and see where they go so we can find somewhere to hunt food'. I think—'Okay, okay, kinda reasonable'. We find an island, and one of our scouts (who I'll call P) says he sees an island in the distance. But we see this weird glowing shit that we think is fire? So I decide to suggest we raid the place just to make sure there's no time to waste. But O refuses, and decides to straight up head into the island with P alone so they can find food themselves and so no one ends up dead. I'm thinking we don't actually know what's gonna happen, but.. hey! Hey, he's the captain here, right? Better to trust him. So he goes in. He comes back. Apparently these weird ass fucking alien things told them there was a cave to find food, so we search for it. We find it. We head inside. There's a bunch of fucking sheep everywhere, but hey! Free food, right? So we kill one. Then this MOTHERFUCKING CYCLOPS comes out. Not even kidding! Not even kidding—it comes out, and is like 'You killed my sheep.. it was my favorite.. blah blah blah'—and proceeds to LITERALLY ALMOST KILL MY CAPTAIN!! IM THINKING—HEY! MY CAPTAIN WILL GET US OUT OF THIS! AND HE TRIES! HE OFFERS THIS THING WINE THAT IT TAKES FOR SOME REASON, TELLS IT HIS NAME IS 'NOBODY', AND IM THINKING—MAYBE WE'LL GET OUT OF THIS! HA! NO! NO, IT PROCEEDS TO MURDER SEVERAL OF OUR MEN WITH OUR CLUB. SO WE'RE FREAKING THE FUCK OUT! BUT WE ATTACK ANYWAY. LONG STORY SHORT, P FUCKING GETS CRUSHED AND DIES. WE ESCAPE. BUT HEY, WE NEED FOOD EVEN THOUGH ALL OUR FRIENDS ARE DEAD, SO WE GO BACK IN AND BLIND THE THING! IT STARTS LIKE CRYING FOR SOME REASON?? AND THEN WE HEAR THESE OTHER DISTORTED VOICES WHO TURN OUT TO BE OTHER CYCLOPSES! WHO ARE THE LITERAL SIBLINGS OF THE CYCLOPS WE FOUGHT. I'M PANICKING AND THINKING WE SHOULD RUN, BUT NOOOOO.. turns out the Nobody thing ended up working though because the other Cyclops bitches left. So we go to get the sheep and leave. But then the captain turns right back around for some reason, and starts LITERALLY YELLING AT THE THING!! HE EVEN SAYS HIS NAME, THE NAME OF HIS KINGDOM, AND BASICALLY ENDANGERS EVERYONE JUST CUZ HE WAS BEING LIKE 'HEY BITCH LOL GET FUCKED YOU GOT SPARED BY A KING'. BUT I DONT SAY ANYTHING CUZ I GOTTA BE LOYAL, RIGHT??

I.. I don't even think I can say everything he did here to be honest. This man did so much shit! He willingly goes up to this weird ass island in the sky and gets help from a wind god who keeps whispering to all of us to open the bag—and I try to resist, but I can't cuz of the weird ass god magic shit, so I open the bag! We get blown all the way back to the 'Land of the Giants'. TURNS OUT THE MOTHERFUCKING GOD OF THE SEA HIMSELF IS THE CYCLOPSES DAD! HE KILLS HUNDREDS OF OUR MEN. BUT WR STILL HAVE THE WIND BAG SO O OPENS IT AND WE LAND AT THIS ISLAND THAT BELONGS TO A SORCERESS WHO TURNED OUR MEN INTO PIGS!! O GOES TO SAVE THEM EVEN THOUGH I'M LIKE 'Dude you're gonna fucking die you don't even know what she can do' AND SOMEHOW SUCCEEDS!! WE GO TO THE UNDERWORLD. I SEE P AND O'S MOM IN THERE. IM TRAUMATIZED. AND AFTER WE SEE THIS WEIRD ASS DRUG DEALER LOOKING PROPHET GUY, O SUDDENLY HAS A ANIME VILLAIN ARC MOMENT AND SHOUTS ABOUT HOW HES GONNA BE A MONSTER NOW. WE SAIL OUT. WE FIND SIRENS, SO WE KILL 'EM! BUT HE ORDERS WE 'CUT OFF THEIR TAILS AND LET THEM DROWN'!! CUZ THATS TOTALLY A SANE THING TO DO!! AND THEN WE SAIL THROUGH THE LAIR OF SCYLLA. I ADMIT I OPENED THE BAG CUZ I FELT KINDA BAD TO BE HONEST. O IS LIKE 'Ay man it's cool just take this torch real quick', SO I DO! SIX OF OUR MEN, ALL OF WHICH WERE HOLDING TORCHES (I THREW ONE DOWN WHEN I REALIZED WHAT WAS HAPPENING), PROCEED TO LITERALLY DIE. SO WHEN WE LEAVE AND I REALIZE HE JUST KILLED OUR MEN, I'M LIKE 'HEY MAN WHAT THE HELL???'. HES LIKE 'NAH BITCH I CANT SAY ANYTHING', SO I'M LIKE 'DUDE FUCK YOU' AND I START FIGHTING HIM! ONE OF OUR CREW MEMBERS STABS HIM AS HE LITERALLY THROWS ME TO THE GROUND. AND AFTER HES OUT, I HAVE TO CONVINCE EVERYONE NOT TO KILL HIM. WE FIND AN ISLAND WITH COWS. WE GET THERE AND TIE HIM UP. THEN WHEN O WAKES UP AS IM ABOUT TO KILL A COW, HE HAS THE AUDACITY TO BEG ME NOT TO KILL IT EVEN THOUGH WE HAVENT HAD FOOD IN SEVERAL WEEKS! I'M DESPERATE AT THIS POINT, RIGHT? SO I DONT LISTEN AND STAB IT. HE STARTS YELLING AT ME AFTER, SAYING WE'RE ALL DOOMED. WE RUN BACK TO THE SHIFT AS THE SKY GOES CRAZY WITH THUNDER. ZEUS SHOWS UP! I GET BLASTED CUZ O CHOOSES US TO DIE INSTEAD OF HIMSELF. AND NOW IM STUCK IN THE UNDERWORLD WRITING THIS..

God.. I feel like I'm talking to a therapist. Point is—am I the asshole?

[imaginechb]

ᴏɴᴇ | ꜱᴜɴꜱʜɪɴᴇ

I was seven when my mom died, and my life was turned upside down forever. Wait, can your life be turned upside down if you don't really have a life yet? Whatever.

I was seven when she was killed. And I promise I'm not going to run to the rooftops and sing fight song, but I do feel it's important you know how I got to where I am.

Let me start over. My name is Renae Gold, and I'm half Greek god.

My mother was a woman named Bella Gold, or Isabella, but nobody ever called her that. Same reason nobody really calls me Renae. It's too formal.

My mom met my dad one day when she was nineteen and playing guitar in Central Park for cash. She didn't live there, she was just traveling down the East Coast, so they met totally by chance. Or maybe he saw her from above and decided to come say hello. Anyway, one thing led to another and I came to be, but then one day just before I was born, he had to leave her. The reason why? He was the god Apollo, and he needed to be back up on Olympus, doing godly things.

My mom was angry, and rightfully so, so she named me Daphne, after the woman my father loved who turned herself into a tree just to escape him. She did this to torture him. Basically, my middle name is a giant 'screw you' to the god who broke her heart.

So that's me. Renae Daphne Gold. Call me Rae. I'm eleven years old, and one day I'm going to be a hero.

My mom was a funny woman, and really pretty too. She had long blonde hair that was always either braided or wavy, like a waterfall cascading down her back. She had blue eyes and freckles just like mine. She loved climbing trees and playing guitar, and her favorite song was Calico Skies by Paul McCartney. This must've been why dad took a liking to her.

But like I said, she died when I was seven.

I was at school when it happened, so all I know about her death is what Chiron told me. She was attacked by monsters, and I had to go with him and live at some summer camp for demigods.

Chiron is the activities director at Camp Half-Blood, my home. He basically raised me after that. Him, and of course my siblings in the Apollo cabin.

The Apollo cabin is the only home I can really remember. It's golden on the outside, and homely on the inside. It doubles as a makeshift infirmary, even though we already have an infirmary. My bunk is the comfiest thing in the world, top bunk on the left wall closest to the door. My half-siblings all live in there with me, and we're all pretty close. We sing campfire songs and hug it out, and our head counselor is Lee, and he's the coolest guy in the world.

Anyway, back to the war and stuff. Can you tell I have ADHD?

I'm basically writing this so there's a written account of what it was really like for us during the war, or for most of us anyway. Most of us didn't get to be the hero. Most of us didn't get to go on dangerous quests and save the world six times. Most of us aren't the Percy Jacksons, or the Annabeth Chases, or even the Grover Underwoods.

For most of us, it was a lot of waiting.

I suppose I should start with the field trip to Olympus. It was the winter solstice, which meant it was time for the gods to assemble and discuss things like crops, weather, death, and the latest Britney Spears album. Chiron wanted to take some of us there to see what it was like, meet some minor gods, get a taste of what they do and learn some of our history. You know, boring museum type stuff.

Chiron had been gone for a few months, away on some "official Camp Half-Blood business" with Grover the satyr, but he came back for Christmas and stuff, so he took us on the solstice trip while he could.

So we went, toured Olympus, and sat through godly meetings like the world's most uncomfortable 'bring your child to work' day. For some of us, it was our first time ever meeting our godly parents.

That trip was when Zeus's master bolt went missing.

The gods all have some sort of powers or domain they rule over. For Zeus, it's the sky. His weapon of choice is his master lightning bolt, and it had been stolen while we were there, setting this whole thing into place.

After the trip, Chiron pulled all of us into his office. At first I thought he was going to lecture us about passing notes while in godly business meetings, but he didn't. Instead, he told us about Zeus's bolt, and he asked us if any of us had taken it. He said don't be afraid, and to come forward so he could help us, but I was pretty sure anyone who came forward would get a good smiting from the gods themselves.

Nobody came forward.

After the holidays, Chiron had to go back to whatever he was doing before, and we didn't see him again until June. He left us alone with Mr. D, which I don't think I'll ever fully forgive him for.

I don't think Mr. D likes me very much. It's probably because he associates me with the Stolls, which is unfortunate for me for many reasons. Connor and Travis Stoll are my best friends, but they're always getting us into trouble that I always have to get us out of. They're sons of Hermes, and they love to prank and pickpocket, and they've even broken into Chiron's office before.

But if I'm being totally honest, I don't think Mr. D likes anyone that much.

Mr. D stands for Dionysus. Yup, the Dionysus, god of wine and all that. To make a long story short, he upset Zeus one time and Zeus made him work at Camp Half-Blood as punishment. It's totally unfair. I don't see why Dionysus crushing on Zeus's favorite wood nymph means we have to be punished for it, but that's how Zeus saw it apparently.

The time Chiron was gone was spent doing our everyday activities; cabin chores, training, lessons, the usual. I spent a lot of time swimming and playing volleyball with Connor, Annabeth Chase, a twelve year old daughter of Athena, and Luke.

Luke is a super awesome guy. He's one of the oldest counselors at camp, but he's always really nice. He's got this cool scar from a quest he went on and he's got some of the coolest stories. He's also an amazing swordsman, the best at camp.

He plays volleyball with us because he's Connor's brother, and he's close with Annabeth since they came to camp together.

Volleyball is my second favorite activity. I've played it all four years I've been at camp, and Connor likes it too, so we play a lot together.

If volleyball is my second favorite activity, my first favorite is playing guitar. I started playing right after my mom died, when I inherited her acoustic. I play my guitar at the nightly campfire, and sometimes I even write my own songs with it, but I've never played them for anybody but Connor.

Sometimes I feel like I wouldn't make it in the mortal world. As far as demigods go, I don't have the most experience. My notable skills include guitar, bracelet making, volleyball, and annoying Annabeth Chase. When I feel like this, I remind myself that Connor has made it this far, and if he can do it, I'm pretty much in the clear.

The one thing I've wanted my entire time at camp is to go on a quest. I just want one, that's all I'm asking for. Just a chance to go out there and prove that I'm not useless or dainty. I'm not just some guitar playing little girl. I'm a strong eleven year old demigod who can kick some major monster butt.

But any time a major quest comes up, it's given to the older, more experienced campers, or children of the really strong, important gods. Which doesn't exactly include my father. He's good at many things; like looking into mirrors and picking up girls, or driving them away. He isn't exactly the Olympian you'd call on for assistance in battle.

His children are considered much the same. We're the musicians and the poets, the artists of camp. We're the healers and if we're lucky, even the field medics. Every now and then you get an incredibly skilled archer such as my brother Michael. I've made it my life's mission to be as good as him one day, that way I can challenge him to a shoot-off and get to say I beat him.

My ultimate goal in life is to prove everyone wrong about Apollo kids, and prove that I can hold my own around here. One day, I'll have Clarisse shaking in her boots.

I was overjoyed when Chiron came back. I figured he'd come back and tell us some cool stories around the campfire, that he'd tell us about his mission someday. He liked to do that. Anytime he had to leave (which wasn't often), he would come back and tell us stories of what he was doing.

This time was different. When he came back, he looked somewhat relieved but at the same time, unsettled by something. Like he got through a haunted house with no jump-scares and was left waiting for one for days after. It was like the killer clowns and the ghosts all decided to follow him home.

Because soon after Chiron's return came the arrival of a kid named Percy Jackson.

Hey everybody! I'm so sorry sunshine took longer to get out than I was planning. Lots of personal stuff happened in May and June so I had lots to deal with, but here it is! If you want to read all of Sunshine at once I have a Sunshine masterlist on my main masterlist, and I will also be tagging every part with the tag 'sunshine by rae'. Thank you so much for reading! :)

Rae

[theunholygrails]

Foolish Games Part 2

Masterlist

A/N: Introducing new characters and some drama! Percy is still sexy as ever :'(.

Warnings: BJ

I woke up to a door slamming so hard it joined the symphony of my pounding headache. I groaned, hoisting myself over the back of the couch to investigate to intrusion. A brunette head of long sweeping hair rushed through the foyer, barreling towards the kitchen. A familiar mop of black hair hurried after.

Reyna was speaking so fast in Spanish my brain scrambled to keep up. I noted lots of curse words followed by a series of sentences too fast I was surprised she even knew what she was saying. Percy was answering in slow measured words, probably fighting a hangover of equal measure. I ducked behind the back of the couch, reaching for my phone plugged in on the coffee table.

It was noon. 2% battery and a couple messages from friends. Nothing from my ex thank gods. Five from Annabeth being nosey. I opened my uber app, squinting in the sunlight breaking through the cream curtains. I managed to get my driver secured.

A door slammed and I winced, peaking to check that they were in another room. I did not immediately spot my dress in the chaotic. I grimaced remembering the midnight swim. When I sat up I finally noticed the white tshirt I wore and the basketball shorts. And then I went rigid remembering what happened after the swim.

“Motherfucker,” I whispered.

Now I really had to get out of this house. I checked the arrival time of my driver. Three minutes away. Great. I made my way on shaky knees to the large wooden front door. My keys were still in the collection dish. I grabbed them quietly and turned the door handle a fraction of an inch before another door slammed open and Reyna came barreling back into the foyer, brown eyes landing promptly on my guilty ass. Behind her, Percy pursed his lips into a thin line and raised both of his hands to lay on top of his head. His biceps strained nicely against the thin t shirt.

“The fuck is this?” Reyna whispered.

“Nothing. Absolutely nothing,” I babbled.

“It’s just Noa, Rey. Gods,” Percy said.

“I can see that, Percy!” She snapped. I was glad her spear was not strapped across her back this morning. “Why is she sneaking out of my house in your clothes?”

“People were swimming last night. Her clothes got wet.”

“I’m sure the fuck they did.”

“Zeus, Rey! You ended it with me. Why does it even matter?”

“Because I still fucking love you! I’m sorry, okay?” She burst out crying and Percy instantly pulled her against his chest. The memory of being in those arms drove me out the door like a nest of hornets.

~~~~

“I’m just saying. You have nothing to feel sorry for,” Annabeth paused to sip her iced coffee. “Unless they get back together and then you sleep with him. But as of right now, you’re good. Trust me. Been on the Percy train. We’re still friends. You’ll get over it. Just a harmless rebound for both of you.”

I groaned, laying my chin on the cool metal table parked outside our favorite coffee shop positioned between our New York apartments. Just two Manhattan women enjoying their Sunday afternoon. The air was cooling as fall neared. I pulled my baseball cap closer to the top of my sunglasses.

“Should I call him?”

“Maybe tomorrow. Let him deal with his relationship drama. Reyna is a lot to deal with. Still nothing from fuckface?”

“Nope and that’s fine.”

“Good for you. We will hydrate you, get you a good dinner, hit the gym before work in the morning and then get back on our bad bitch mental track. Agreed?”

~~~~

“Good Monday, yogis,” I chirped from my desk at the corner of my studio.

The third class was beginning to trickle in and I was settling into my rhythm. Hot yoga was next and hopefully I would sweat out all the negativity I’d allowed lately. I was in the middle of emailing back a potential client when someone rapped at the wood of my desk. I glanced up to a blonde male who waved gently.

“Heya, sansei Noa,” he said.

“That’s karate. Can I help you?”

“Do you do trial classes?”

I hit send on my email and closed my laptop. The guy was built like a poser with the defined muscles and chiseled jaw but his voice was soft and tempered. He was clean shaven and dressed like a basic gym bro.

“Normally you have to schedule them beforehand because of class size,” I gave my standard answer.

“Right, my bad. Sorry. I was just passing by the front and it looked like the kind of place I needed right now. Can I go ahead and pick a date then?”

I was staring too long into his pale blue eyes, honed in on the polite response. A nice change from the daily demanding consumers. “You know what? Ive got space right now if you like? Have you ever done hot yoga?”

A brilliant white smile showcasing sharp canines. “My favorite.”

“Perfect. I just need a name, number and email to get you a file started.”

He leaned large hands on my desk. “It’s Luke Castellan.”

Before he could give the contact information, I cut him off. “Wait. I know you.” His tanned skin paled significantly.

“I…”

“You’re supposed to be dead!” I blurted out.

His eyes skated around the room and he leaned in closer. “That’s not supposed to be public knowledge. I assume you’re a demigod?”

“Luke, you trained me. We took fucking sculpting together. The Apollo table was right next to the Hermes one for fuck’s sake.”

He winced. I heard a murmuring from the rest of my class I was disturbing with my volume. I collected my shock finally. “Take a seat if you want. We should talk after class. I need to start.”

“Okay. Thank you. I’m sorry Noa.”

I waved him off and walked over to my yoga mat. I sat cross legged and drew in an even breath to smooth out my emotions.

It was a slow 30 minute class. Each pose and movement dragged on. Finally, I dismissed the group and nodded Luke outside. He was waiting on the bench outside of the studio I split renting with a few other instructors. I sat next to him, wiping sweat from my face with the towel slung over my pink sports bra.

“Alright, talk,” I said.

“Not much to say. I was given a second chance at my hearing. Here I am. Starting over.” A shrug of well-defined shoulders. The muscles flexed beneath his gleaming sweat. His red tank top stuck to his chest and stomach. “I wish I remembered you, truly. That time is such a blur in my life.”

“It’s ok. You were a lot older than me and to be honest I had a massive crush on you so I probably hid most of the time.”

A surprised smile slipped across his lips. “I’m assuming the betrayal helped you get over that?”

I laughed outloud, slapping his knee. “No shit! So where are you staying these days?”

“Just around the corner actually. Got a job at the local gym.”

“Yeah I bet the fuck you did.” I squeezed his forearm between both of my hands. I wanted to roll my eyes at me falling back into my school girl giddy at him. Betrayal of the gods aside. He was even more gorgeous than ever. The scar down his face gave him a dark sexy vibe. Like a bad boy even though he claimed he was rehabbing himself now.

“So how, did you feel about the class?”

“I mean, I’d like to sign up for it a couple times a week, that’s for sure. And I’d like to take you out to dinner to make up for not remembering a beauty like you.”

I almost bit my cheek biting out the response of “Yes!”

“You’ve got my number,” he said, chuckling quietly. “I’ve got to get to work.” He shouldered his gym bag and excused himself.

The bike back to my apartment was spent reliving my tween fantasies about bad boy Luke. I opened my apartment door and screeched seeing a man sitting at my kitchen counter. Percy turned to face me.

“You know you live in New York? You should really lock that.”

“It was!” I snapped.

A quick grin. “Yeah. But it was easy to break into.”

I dropped my bag onto the floor and brushed past him to get a protein shake from the fridge. “I have to shower and get prepared for my night classes.” I told him.

“I know. I’m sorry I didn’t call earlier.”

I shrugged. “I didn’t either.”

He paused, studying my face in the shitty lighting of the single bulb hanging between us over the counter. “Are we good, Noa?”

“Of course. What’s a little head between friends?”

“Okay…I can’t read you. Can you not play tough just for a minute?”

I chugged the shake and set the bottle down between us. I leaned my arms on the chilled counter, bun knocking against the light. “Honestly, Percy. I’m fine. We are good.”

“Reyna moved back in.”

“You’re engaged again?”

I drank from the empty bottle to give myself something to do. He watched me with those green eyes. He’d known me for far too long. He was nearly impossible to deceive, but I was determined today. The fact that I had dreamt of fucking him two consecutive nights was irrelevant if he was off the table. Even if his lips did look incredibly juicy tonight. Even if they had done near illicit things to me just nights ago.

“I don’t know. She said she wanted to work on things. And it’s her dad’s house, so I can’t ask her to go and I don’t want to go to my mom’s and admit defeat.”

“You know you could stay here, Perc.”

He worked his jaw silently, then rubbed his hands over his face. “Thanks. I do know. Even if we aren’t officially back together, I think we should work on it…” he trailed off.

“And not tell her about you eating me out?” I leaned closer because I was mean to both him and myself. Because I knew this top combined with this angle gave him a simple opportunity. And he took it.

His tongue slid out between his lips as his eyes flicked down, stayed, then dragged deliberately back up. “Probably not,” he agreed.

For a long moment neither of us said anything. He had more to lose now than me. We were no longer on equal playing fields. So, I left the ball in his court. “I’m going to go shower.”

I was done washing in the first ten minutes. The second ten was giving him a little wiggle room to decide. I had my hand on the faucet to cut off the water that was beginning to go cold when I heard the door creak open. I watched through the fogged glass, catching a hold of my breath. I watched as he tugged his shirt off. My stomach flipped over itself when he reached for his jeans. What had I done?

The opening door let in a rush of cool air, perking my skin to attention. My eyes raked unapologetically over his naked, aroused body. His dark hair quickly slicked against his stubble covered jaw. His eyes were no longer the sea green but murky like the deep water of the ocean.

“Hey,” he said quietly, cautiously.

“Hey,” I giggled, reaching out to touch his rough jaw. He winced, catching my hand with his. “We probably shouldn’t kiss again.”

“Sure, whatever you want, Percy. What can I do to you?”

He groaned, turning his mouth into my palm, scraping teeth against the vulnerable skin. “Touch me,” he said.

My free hand instantly planted against his chest, scraping at the muscle. His eyes fluttered closed, head tilting back to expose his throat. I slid my other hand into his thick hair, tugging it tightly between my fingers and pulling to grant myself more access to the strong column of his neck. I bit it first, backing him into the tiled wall when he shuddered. I kissed over the reddening skin and moved my hands to his flat stomach, feeling the shuddered breaths beneath my touch.

“Like this?” I asked.

His reply was unintelligible. I kissed down his chest, moving my hand lower still as I went. When my fingers brushed over the v-line of his hips, I shifted my route away from the center and to his thighs. An annoyed grunt escaped his lips. “Hush,” I scolded, getting my knees under me. The now cold water was hitting the back of my neck and flowing down my body. I placed my hands on the inside of both his thighs, trailing them upwards and upwards until he nearly contorted when I gripped him. He let out a scandalous string of curses that quickly turned to moaning silence when I took him into my mouth.

He unraveled in minutes and I let him cum all over the breasts I had teased him with earlier. I rose in front of him, my own rosy cheeks mirroring his. “Now we’re even.”

[theladyofdeath]

Tempting the Fates {Chapter 4}

Summary: It’s the final semester of Aelin Galathynius’ collegiate career and she is so beyond ready to be done. Her schedule is packed full of nursing classes and labs designed to test her knowledge and hone her skills for the real world and her “big girl” job. However, she needs one last elective to graduate, so she decides to study a subject she’s always been fascinated by: Mythology. Who would have thought that a class about gods and goddesses living complicated lives would end up complicating her own in such an unexpected way?

Word Count: 2550

Chapters will be posted every Wednesday.

Tempting the Fates Masterlist

Shelby’s Masterlist

Tara’s Masterlist

Apollo

– God of light, prophecy, inspiration, poetry, the sun, music and arts, medicine and healing

Aelin tried to convince herself that she got up and got ready two hours early for class because of her busy schedule. She kept telling herself it was for the meeting she had with her advisor, about a possible internship at the end of the semester.

She knew that both reasons, while extremely important, were full of shit. She knew she’d showered, blow dried and curled her hair for Rowan. It wasn’t that she was trying to impress him. She’d already done that and the chance she had to be with him had come and gone.

No, now it was about proving to him that even though this class may be a gen ed, she was taking it seriously.

Dropping the class had crossed her mind. She really didn’t need to take it, she could still find a different one to pick up. But she didn’t want to think about the sort of impression it would leave about her.

If there was anything to know about Aelin Galathynius, it was that she was not a quitter, nor did she run from her problems.

Or heartaches.

With one last look in the mirror, and a whistle from Lysandra, Aelin was out the door and hurrying across campus. She grabbed a coffee on the way, but avoided her usual place, knowing full well that Rowan enjoyed the same famous cafe that she did.

He wasn’t there yet when she got to the hall, but she took the same seat she had the class before.

She wondered if Rowan would be looking for her this time.

She quickly shook the thought away.

With her hot coffee on the corner of her fold up desk, she was pulling out her notebook and a pen, waiting anxiously for class to begin.

For him to walk through the door.

Apparently he liked to be right on the dot, though, because students continued to wander in, but he did not.

She was tapping her pen against her notebook, doing her best not to stare at the clock. She was just anxious for her day to start. It wasn’t that she wanted to see Rowan.

Professor Whitethorn, she amended in her head. She had to quit thinking of him as Rowan. She couldn’t think of him like that anymore, his body pressing into hers, lips on her neck, as he—

Shaking her head, Aelin sighed and suddenly realized that the rest of the class had hushed. She was so focused on reprimanding herself for her highly inappropriate thoughts that she hadn’t noticed him come through the door and begin setting up for class. When she dared to glance towards the front, she found his eyes on her. He quickly looked away, going back to his laptop and setting up the PowerPoint on screen.

Maybe he hadn’t been looking at her.

Maybe it had all been in her mind.

But she didn’t think it had been.

He had been watching her.

“Happy Thursday, class,” he began, as the title page of his presentation flashed onto the board. “Glad to see you all showed up again. Must mean my first class didn’t suck.” Quiet laughter thrummed through the room. Aelin couldn’t muster a laugh, though. “On Tuesday, we covered the basics. So, today… Sorry, we’re doing that again.”

More laughter, especially from the pretty, flirty girls up front.

Aelin couldn’t help but roll her eyes.

Which, when she settled her eyes back on Rowan, he definitely saw.

Come on, get your shit together, she chastised herself. With her back straightened, she gave him her full attention.

She took dutiful notes, but his slides didn’t hold much in the way of information. They were mostly headers, with a few bullet points. Most of the important information, information she knew would be critical for homework or exams, came straight from Rowan’s mouth.

It was clear that he loved mythology, that it wasn’t just a class his aunt had tossed his way and told him to figure it out. He was a trove of knowledge and she noticed he had a habit of going on slight tangents when he got going on a topic he was clearly interested in.

After a student asked him to clarify what he meant about Hercules not being Zeus’ only son, he ended up talking for nearly twenty minutes about what the beloved Disney movie had gotten wrong. Aelin had stopped taking notes and was watching him go on and on about how Hades, while god of the underworld, was not necessarily a villain. He just had a job to do. A job that had rules that must be followed, or the consequences could damn not only him, but others involved. His eyes found hers again and the amused smile on her face fell as she made the correlation between their own situation and the story.

They held each other’s gazes for far longer than was appropriate, and Rowan cleared his throat, going back to the PowerPoint, and the  predetermined lesson plans he’d made, which didn’t include children’s movie breakdowns.

She watched him.

She listened.

And she found it all fascinating. 

Rowan peeked at the clock after going on and on, and stilled, rubbing the back of his neck. “Well, I guess I’ll end there. There is an assignment due by tomorrow evening. You can find and submit it online. It’s an opinion piece. I want a little insight as to why you were so interested to take this class, or what you’ve found fascinating so far.” He sat on his desk, his legs hanging over the side, his feet nearly touching the ground as he leaned back on his palms. Aelin found it charming. “You’re going to write a short essay telling me of your favorite deity. It could be one I’ve talked about so far, or one I haven’t. It’s your choice. But, tell me why they are your favorite. Give me a little depth. And, remember, this is a college course. Grammar counts.”

The clock struck nine-thirty and everyone began packing up. Aelin had been so captivated by his voice that she had to snap herself back to reality.

She quickly packed up her bag, alongside the other students around her. She noticed then how young they all were, and she was willing to bet that she may be the only senior on the roster. As she was descending the stairs, she found Rowan’s eyes on her again, but he looked away as his attention was taken, thanks to the group of girls who’d been sitting in the front row. She heard vague questions of whether they could all write about Aphrodite, since they all related to her.

The scoff Aelin thought she’d kept to herself had apparently been out loud, since not only Rowan looked at her as she passed, but so did the three girls. With his attention on her again, she decided to give him a little wave.

“See you later, Professor Whitethorn.”

If there was some extra sway to her hips, it wasn’t on purpose.

At least that’s what she told herself.

Two and a half hours later, Aelin was starving. She’d just gotten out of an extremely complicated lab and she could barely focus over the growling of her stomach. Twice, the instructor had looked over at her, half expecting to find a dog stashed under the table she was working at.

So when the class let out, she was hurrying toward the cafeteria ready to get a salad from the salad bar and a big ass slice of pizza.

It was all about balance. 

As she was waiting in line to fill her plate with salad, she heard a voice behind her.

“Are you actually getting lettuce or just filling your plate with ham, cheese, and croutons?” 

Aelin looked over her shoulder to find Chaol, her ex, suppressing a smile.

Aelin chuckled. “If it’s the same price, you may as well pile up on the good stuff.” 

Chaol gave her a small smile. “Fair enough. It’s good to see you, Aelin. You look good.”

Things hadn’t ended the best between her and Chaol, but that had been just after freshman year. At least now when they ran into one another, they could have nice little conversations like this one.

No hard feelings.

“You too,” she said, and he did. He’d been in an accident the year before. They weren’t sure he was going to walk again. In all honesty, it was just good to see him on his feet.

“How long until your class?” He asked, sliding his tray along behind hers.

She glanced down at her watch. “About forty five minutes. You?”

“This is my long break,” he sighed. “I’ve got an hour and a half, but didn’t feel like leaving campus. Want to have lunch with me?”

“Sure.” Her smile wasn’t forced, it was easy and she was glad they could even do this, when three years again, they could barely be in the same room.

“I assume you’re getting a piece of pizza after this,” Chaol said with a smirk, nodding towards her plate. “So I’ll grab us a table while you get the rest of your lunch.”

She scoffed but nodded, and went off to get a slice of pizza. When she ordered her pizza, she also got a slice of cheesecake. It was his favorite, something she hadn’t forgotten, but it didn’t hurt that she liked it, too.

Finding him in the cafeteria, she sat down at the table across from him. “How’s Yrene doing?”

He blushed, and Aelin had to admit it was adorable. After his accident, he’d fallen for his physical therapist, and she was just as smitten with him. It must have been all the one-on-one sessions, because Chaol had never been one to let someone in. Aelin had met Yrene early in her med classes, but Yrene had specialized in PT and graduated in less than three years, taking as many classes as she could manage and even studying through the summers as well.

“It’s going good,” he said, at last. “We, uh, just moved in together, actually.”

Aelin lifted a brow. “That was fast.”

Chaol shot her a look.

Aelin laughed. “I didn’t mean it like that. I meant, good for you. I like Yrene. A lot. You two are good together.”

Chaol cleared his throat before taking a bite of his salad. “Thanks.” 

Aelin chuckled, taking a bite of her pizza.

Chaol blinked. “What?”

“You get so uncomfortable when it comes to feelings,” she said. “Always have.”

His eyes narrowed at her. “That’s not true.”

Aelin stopped mid-chew and raised a brow.

Even Chaol couldn’t help but chuckle at the expression. “Yeah, yeah. Whatever. What about you? Seeing anyone?”

Aelin hesitated, then said, “No.”

A slow grin appeared on Chaol’s mouth. “Didn’t sound so sure about what one.”

Aelin shrugged. “Better be nice or I’m not sharing this magnificent cheesecake with you.”

Holding up his hands in placation, Chaol went back to his salad. Rowan was a dangerous topic, one she wouldn’t share with anyone but Lysandra, so she summed it up quickly. “Met someone I thought I hit it off with. Turns out we didn’t work.”

He slowly nodded. Aelin knew he’d had a couple failed relationships between her and Yrene. “I get it, I’m sorry. Still sucks.”

Shrugging again, she turned to her salad. “It happens. Not a big deal. So if you’re living with Yrene, does that mean you and Dorian broke up? Or is he playing house with you, too?”

Chaol leveled her with a look. Chaol and Dorian had been best friends long before they came to the University of Orynth. They were both from Adarlan, both trying to get away from overbearing fathers, and decided college across the country was the way to do it. They’d been roommates every year and Aelin couldn’t even imagine Chaol living with anyone except Dorian. But now he was. “He moved into an apartment with Manon this semester when I moved in with Yrene.”

Aelin blinked. “Blackbeak? He moved in with Manon Blackbeak?”

Nodding, Chaol went on. “Apparently, they’ve been dating for about a year, without anyone noticing.”

Something in the way he said it told Aelin that he had noticed, but when Dorian had his mind set on something, there was no stopping him. And apparently, he’d decided to date one of the most terrifying women on campus.

Aelin’s response was eloquent. “Wow.”

Chaol grinned. “I like it when you’re caught off guard. It’s satisfying.”

With a scoffed she nudged his leg with the toe of her sneaker. “Well, I don’t. Dorian will be getting a very angry phone call this afternoon.”

“I’ll be sure to give him a warning,” Chaol promised.

Aelin chuckled, taking the last bite of her pizza. “It’s good to see you all happy, though. Really.”

Chaol’s eyes softened. “Thanks, Aelin.”

She nodded. “Even if I am terrified that Dorian will get eaten alive.”

Chaol laughed, and she had forgotten how nice Chaol’s rare, hearty laugh was.

She meant it. She was so happy for them, both of them. It was interesting how things changed over the course of a few short years.

Their conversation continued, as did the laughs, and before she knew it, Aelin glanced down at her watch. She had less than fifteen minutes to haul ass back to the nursing building for her next class. Chaol, who had much longer to sit with nothing to do, assured her that he could handle her trash and told her to get to class. With a hug, and a promise that they’d have dinner soon, all of them, even Manon, Aelin was hurrying out of the cafeteria building.

Somehow, the entire time she’d been having lunch with Chaol, she hadn’t noticed the set of pine green eyes watching her.

Rowan’s own break had been at the same time as hers, but the gen ed building was much closer than wherever she was having to run off to, so he had longer to sit and— there was no denying it— brood. They were halfway across the room, so he couldn’t hear any of their conversation. He had no clue who the tall man was she smiled at so often, but clearly they were very familiar with each other with how easily they talked. And he made her laugh. A lot.

Rowan wasn’t sure why that was what grated on his nerves the most, but it unsettled him.

Seeing Aelin with someone else, someone clearly her own age, it all unsettled him. He didn’t like it. Almost as much as her parting words in class had.

See you later, Professor Whitethorn.

It’s like she was mocking him, yet at the same time, she clearly wasn’t. She was doing exactly as he’d asked of her, seeing him as her professor, not as her boyfriend.

No, he reprimanded himself. Not boyfriend. Hookup.

They’d had sex one time, that didn’t give either of them any claim over the other. It was a hookup and nothing more. And she was his gods-damned student.

She was off limits, in every way possible.

Yet he couldn’t figure out why seeing her with someone else, someone she should clearly be interested in instead of him, had him seeing red.

[bloodnikki]

If we retold Hads and Persephone as the mcu

This was brough up in the ScarletStrange discord of Hades and Persephone verison of Stephen and Wanda. But like, here’s my casting of each MCU character in my personal au and how they would play up the role.  Wanda is Hades. Everyone may think Stephen but no. Wanda is played up as the Scarlet Witch, a great, dark powerful force that is unmatched but really she’s just a lady that would like to be left alone and watching cartoons with her dogs. That’s totally Hades of her and we respect that.

Stephen is Peresphone. He’s new to the world of Gods and magic but a fast learner. He doesn’t really fit in to the ideas that others have set for him and while he tries to make his own path it greatly upsets his teacher Wong.

Wong is of course Demeter. He is Stephen’s teacher and looks out for him. Wong thinks the worst when Wanda takes Strange into her kingdom (understandably so) and will risk nearly anything to save him.

Tony is the Zeus like character. He is somehow the source of a lot of drama and yet never seems to think he’s the drama.

Nat is  Athena. She’s smart and a war goddess. Seems fitting.

Nick Fury is Ares. (I know roger is like the forever solider but I don’t think he’s an Ares as much as Nick “always be ready for war” Fury)

Hulk is  Hephaestus. He is a master at building/makin things and at one point had some body issues he had to work through.

Hermes is Quicksliver but he is awful at giving messages. He will give one that is basically the same but it comes off totally different. He is the source of a lot of misunderstandings. 

Clint are a mix of Artemis. 

Sam should be Apollo. I gave it some thought (and I couldn’t think of many anyone that best fits god of light, healing and future telling more than this man. Like, he is all about helping his follow soldiers heal through support groups he helps run and he totally seems like a person that is quick to read a room and she where things are going. Plus, wings kinda make me think of light)

Roger is Chronos. I was going to be like he’s a mix of the twins but like he’s a man that time travels a lot. Be the god of time.

Bucky can be Poseidon.  

T’Challa is aphrodite as I can see him trying to explain the importance of opening one’s heart to love and talking to Wanda about moving on from grief.

Shuri would be Eros. I feel like she would try to be match maker because it’s something to do and to support her brother. She’ll rope Peter into helping her. (Totally not doing this to study up on how their magics work) 

Deadpool is Pan. ?? Wait, Deadpool isn’t in the mcu. ‘I am in this. It sounds like fun and I live for the chaos.’ Uh??? No, if Deadpool is forcing himself into this he is gonna be Discord not Pan. 

‘What will I be?’ Peter, you’re a spider. You know who you have to be.

Thor and Loki are themselves. Because it feels weird to recast them as gods when they are gods. 

The cast is so big that I know I forgot a few heroes but I think I put on a lot of fan favorites/the ones I know a good deal about in the mcu. 

[strangerthings4theories]

S3 Is Billy’s Superhero Origin Story - Not The END Of His Story

If you’ve been following my meta, you’ll know I’m in the middle of a discussion of Billy as the mythological “god-king” who dies and lives again. Well, in my next post, I was going to compare him to the three brother-gods of Greek mythology (Zeus, Poseidon, Hades). However, I need to bring up an important point first.

Stranger Things has already raised Billy to “god” status. 

The show is about superheroes - El, Kali, and others like them - facing off against the forces of evil. And superheroes are often modern-day gods with god-like powers. A few are lifted directly from ancient mythology (Thor, Loki, etc). Sometimes, if they aren’t full-fledged gods, they have gods for parents, making them demigods (such as Wonder Woman, who’s the daughter of Zeus in the recent movies).

In S3, Billy becomes a superhero. By becoming a superhero, he becomes a demigod. And, as I’ll explain, the Duffers have already tied that to his resurrection.

>>Explore the definition of “demigod,” and we run headlong into Billy.

When we look up “demigod,” Google comes back with this:

a being with partial or lesser divine status, such as a minor deity, the offspring of a god and a mortal, or a mortal raised to divine rank.

If we look up lists of demigods in mythology, we get some interesting results, like the Greco-Roman Hercules. Hercules was known for his incredible strength (!!), as well for performing The Twelve Labors of Hercules. Among these are slaying the Nine-Headed Hydra and the Nemean Lion.

Oh look it’s Hercules vs. the Hydra/Lion. I’d say Lion because killing it was the first labor of Hercules. Also the Mind Flayer doesn’t have nine symbolic heads yet, that’s probably coming in a future season

Because of his association with the Nemean Lion, Hercules is often depicted in ancient art as wearing a lion skin:

In Roman works of art and in Renaissance and post-Renaissance art, Hercules can be identified by his attributes, the lion skin and the gnarled club (his favorite weapon); in mosaic he is shown tanned bronze...

Gosh. Where have I seen that before?

Damn. A quick Google search about demigods, and we’re already knocking on Billy’s door. I haven’t even talked about him as a superhero yet ;_;

>>Superheroes could be considered modern demigods.

Like I said in the intro, superheroes often embody the “demigod” archetype. They’re gifted with powers that put them a cut above the average human. Some even have explicitly divine origins. This gives them a striking similarity to the demigods of old myths, such as Perseus, Achilles, and our favorite lion-killer, Hercules.

Isn’t it weird how Billy looks like Perseus and Achilles and Hercules though

>>Billy’s S3 storyline mimics a superhero origin story.

Peter Parker gets bitten by a radioactive spider and becomes Spiderman. Eddie Brock is possessed by an alien symbiote and becomes Venom. Billy Hargrove is possessed by an interdimensional monster and becomes... well, Billy Hargrove, but with the added bonuses of superstrength and super-healing.

One article I read has a line about Eddie Brock in The Amazing Spider-Man (1988) that I find especially eerie:

The symbiote enhances Brock's strength and endurance, and since the guy was already addicted to working out, the result is almost equal to Spider-Man in raw power.

Hi there, Billy. How ya’ doin today.

The same article points out that, over his 40-year history, Venom has slowly morphed from a villain to an anti-hero. Look up the definition of anti-hero and you get this:

The term anti-hero has been provided to those who act as superheroes for some time and villains for another. It is not a surprise that fans usually like anti-heroes more due to their rebellious nature...

Oh look. It’s Billy’s trajectory from S2 (villain) to S3 (a villain who becomes an anti-hero). But I’m sure that’s a total accident. Wanna bet he’ll go from “anti-hero” to straight up “hero” in future seasons

But it gets better...

>>The Duffers have already told us S3 is Billy’s superhero origin (!) story.

In the first scene of S3 Ep 4, Max and El are hanging out in Max’s room. Max shows El two comic books and asks, “Which one?” 

I don’t know about you, but that bit always gave me a weird vibe. It’s just one of those things that seems... purposeful... like it has a hidden meaning. So, following my instincts, I took a closer look at the scene.

Y’all.

Y’all.

Look at the comic books.

On one side, we have Wonder Woman. On the other side, we have the Green Lantern. Framed this way, they’re presented to us as dueling opposites. or a superhero dream team, but that’s for future seasons

Wonder Woman is El. The scene tells us this by having El ask about her. She’s drawn to her, sees herself in her.

The Green Lantern is Billy. In S3, he’s the opposing force to El’s Wonder Woman. Also, Green Lanterns draw their power from the aid of magic rings.

Huh. Interesting.

If you need more evidence, just juxtapose the comic book shot with this shot from Heather’s house:

Would you look at that. Max is in the middle, with Wonder Woman El on the left and the Green Lantern Billy on the right.

Furthermore, the Heather’s house shot happens at the end of Ep 3. In the very first scene of the next episode, we get the comic book shot. The juxtaposition in time suggests they’re linked.

Now look again at the Green Lantern comic book.

Origin issue.

Origin issue.

ORIGIN. ISSUE.

Are y’all seeing this.

Not only is Billy a superhero on par with El, he’s also coming back to kick ass. S3 was his origin story, not the end of it. The Duffers are telling us so.

The death and resurrection plotline shouldn’t surprise us. Superheroes die and come back all the time. Just check out this list of superheroes who have done exactly that. Batman, Captain America, Spiderman, Superman... seriously, it’s old hat by now. (The list notably includes Jean Grey, who I consider El’s X-Men alter ego. Kinda makes me think she’s gonna die and rise again too)

It makes sense that superheroes can cheat death. Like I explained, superheroes are basically demigods - humans who are more than human. 

What better way to show you’re more than human... than to beat the one enemy common to all humans everywhere?

»»————-　✼　————-««

P.S. Billy’s superhero status probably explains why he gets an El-and-Kali-style nosebleed in S2 ;) FORESHADOWING, BABY

Oh and I love the idea of Superhero Billy SO MUCH that I made a music video about it...

»»————-　✼　————-««

The “Billy Is Alive” Meta Series

[yamayuandadu]

Circe by Madeline Miller: a review

As you might have noticed, a few of my most recent posts were more or less a liveblog of Madeline Miller’s novel Circe. However, as they hardly exhausted the subject, a proper review is also in order. You can find it under the “read more” button. All sorts of content warnings apply because this book takes a number of turns one in theory can expect from Greek mythology but which I’d hardly expect to come up in relation to Circe. I should note that this is my first contact with this author’s work. I am not familiar with Miller’s more famous, earlier novel Song of Achilles - I am not much of an Iliad aficionado, truth to be told. I read the poem itself when my literature class required it, but it left no strong impact on me, unlike, say, the Epic of Gilgamesh or, to stay within the theme of Greek mythology, Homeric Hymn to Demeter, works which I read at a similar point in my life on my own accord.

What motivated me to pick up this novel was the slim possibility that for once I’ll see my two favorite Greek gods in fiction, these being Hecate and Helios (in case you’re curious: #3 is Cybele but I suspect that unless some brave soul will attempt to adapt Nonnus’ Dionysiaca, she’ll forever be stuck with no popcultural presence outside Shin Megami Tensei). After all, it seemed reasonable to expect that Circe’s father will be involved considering their relationship, while rarely discussed in classical sources, seems remarkably close. Hesiod’s Catalogue of Women and Apollonius’ Argonautica describe Circe arriving on her island in her father’s solar chariot, while Ptolemy Hephaestion (as quoted by Photius) notes that Helios protected her home during the Gigantomachy. Helios, for all intents and purposes, seems like a decent dad (and, in Medea’s case, grandpa) in the source material even though his most notable children (and granddaughter) are pretty much all cackling sorcerers, not celebrated heroes. How does Miller’s Helios fare, compared to his mythical self? Not great, to put it lightly, as you’ll see later. As for Hecate… she’s not even in the book. Let me preface the core of the review by saying I don’t think reinterpreting myths, changing relations between figures, etc. is necessarily bad - ancient authors did it all the time, and modern adaptations will inevitably do so too, both to maintain internal coherence and perhaps to adjust the stories to a modern audience, much like ancient authors already did. I simply don’t think this book is successful at that. The purpose of the novel is ostensibly to elevate Circe above the status of a one-dimensional minor antagonist - but to accomplish this, the author mostly demonizes her family and a variety of other figures, so the net result is that there are more one dimensional female villains, not less. I expected the opposite, frankly. The initial section of the novel focuses on Circe’s relationship with her family, chiefly with her father. That’s largely uncharted territory in the source material - to my knowledge no ancient author seemed particularly interested in covering this period in her life. Blank pages of this sort are definitely worth filling. To begin with, Helios is characterized as abusive, neglectful and power-hungry. And also, for some reason, as Zeus’ main titan ally in the Titanomachy - a role which Hesiod attributes to Hecate… To be fair I do not think it’s Hesiod who serves as the primary inspiration here, as it’s hard to see any traces of his account - in which Zeus wins in no small part because he promises the lesser titans higher positions that they had under Cronus - in Miller’s version of events. Only Helios and Oceanus keep their share, and are presented as Zeus’ only titan allies (there’s a small plot hole as Selene appears in the novel and evidently still is the moon…) - contrary to just about any portrayal of the conflict, in which many titans actually side with Zeus and his siblings. Also, worth noting that in Hesiod’s version it’s not Oceanus himself who cements the pact with Zeus, it’s his daughter Styx - yes, -that- Styx. Missed opportunity to put more focus on female mythical figures - first of many in this work, despite many reviews praising it as “feminist.” Of course, it’s not all about Helios. We are quickly introduced to a variety of female characters as well (though, as I noted above, none of these traditionally connected to the Titanomachy despite it being a prominent aspect of the book’s background). They are all somewhat repetitive - to the point of being basically interchangeable. Circe’s mother is vain and cruel; so is Scylla. And Pasiphae. There’s no real indication of any hostility between Circe and any of her siblings in classical sources, as far as I am aware, but here it’s a central theme. The subplots pertaining to it bear an uncanny resemblance to these young adult novels in which the heroine, who is Not Like Other Girls, confronts the Chads and Stacies of the world, and I can’t shake off the feelings that it’s exactly what it is, though with superficial mythical flourish on top. I should note that Pasiphae gets a focus arc of sorts - which to my surprise somehow manages to be more sexist than the primary sources. A pretty famous tidbit repeated by many ancient authors is that Pasiphae cursed her husband Minos, regarded as unfaithful, to kill anyone else he’d have sex with with his… well, bodily fluids. Here she does it entirely  because she’s a debased sadist and not because unfaithfulness is something one can be justifiably mad about. You’d think it would be easy to put a sympathetic spin on this. But the book manages to top that in the very same chapter - can’t have Pasiphae without the Minotaur (sadly - I think virtually everything else about Pasiphae and Minos is more fun than that myth but alas) so in a brand new twist on this myth we learn that actually the infamous affair wasn’t a curse placed on Pasiphae by Poseidon or Aphrodite because of some transgression committed by Minos. She’s just wretched like that by nature. I’m frankly speechless, especially taking into account the book often goes out of its way to present deities in the worst light possible otherwise, and which as I noted reviews praise for its feminist approach - I’m not exactly sure if treating Pasiphae worse than Greek and Roman authors did counts as that.  I should note this is not the only instance of… weirdly enthusiastic references to carnal relations between gods and cattle in this book, as there’s also a weird offhand mention of Helios being the father of his own cows. This, as far as I can tell, is not present in any classical sources and truth to be told I am not a huge fan of this invention. I won’t try to think about the reason behind this addition to maintain my sanity. Pasiphae aside - the author expands on the vague backstory Circe has in classical texts which I’ve mentioned earlier. You’d expect that her island would be a gift from her father - after all many ancient sources state that he provided his children and grandchildren with extravagant gifts. However, since Helios bears little resemblance to his mythical self, Aeaea is instead a place of exile here, since Helios hates Circe and Zeus is afraid of witchcraft and demands such a solution (the same Zeus who, according to Hesiod, holds Hecate in high esteem and who appeared with her on coins reasonably commonly… but hey, licentia poetica, this idea isn’t necessarily bad in itself). Witchcraft is presented as an art exclusive to Helios’ children here - Hecate is nowhere to be found, it’s basically as if her every role in Greek mythology was surgically removed. A bit of a downer, especially since at least one text - I think Ovid’s Metarphoses? - Circe directly invokes Hecate during her confrontation with king Picus (Surprisingly absent here despite being a much more fitting antagonist for Circe than many of the characters presented as her adversaries in this novel…) Of course, we also learn about the origin of Circe’s signature spell according to ancient sources, changing people into animals. It actually takes the novel a longer while to get there, and the invented backstory boils down to Circe getting raped. Despite ancient Greek authors being rather keen on rape as plot device, to my knowledge this was never a part of any myth about Circe. Rather odd decision to put it lightly but I suppose at least there was no cattle involved this time, perhaps two times was enough for the author. Still, I can’t help but feel like much like many other ideas present in this book it seems a bit like the author’s intent is less elevating the Circe above the role of a one note witch antagonist, but rather punishing her for being that. The fact she keeps self loathing about her origin and about not being human doesn’t exactly help to shake off this feeling. This impression that the author isn’t really fond of Circe being a wacky witch only grows stronger when Odysseus enters the scene. There was already a bit of a problem before with Circe’s life revolving around love interests before - somewhat random ones at that (Dedalus during the Pasiphae arc and Hermes on and off - not sure what the inspiration for either of these was) - but it was less noticeable since it was ultimately in the background and the focus was the conflict between Circe and Helios, Pasiphae, etc. In the case of Odysseus it’s much more notable because these subplots cease to appear for a while. As a result of meeting him, Circe decides she wants to experience the joys of motherhood, which long story short eventually leads to the birth of Telegonus, who does exactly what he was famous for. The final arcs have a variety of truly baffling plot twists which didn’t really appeal to me, but which I suppose at least show a degree of creativity - better than just turning Helios’ attitude towards his children upside down for sure. Circe ends up consulting an oc character who I can only describe as “stingray Cthulhu.” His presence doesn’t really add much, and frankly it feels like yet another wasted opportunity to use Hecate, but I digress. Oh, also in another twist Athena is recast as the villain of the Odyssey. Eventually Circe gets to meet Odysseus’ family, for once interacts with another female character on positive terms (with Penelope, to be specific) and… gets together with Telemachus, which to be fair is something present in many ancient works but which feels weird here since there was a pretty long passage about Odysseus describing him as a child to Circe. I think I could live without it. Honestly having her get together with Penelope would feel considerably less weird, but there are no lesbians in the world of this novel. It would appear that the praise for Song of Achilles is connected to the portrayal of gay relationships in it. Can’t say that this applies to Circe - on this front we have an offhand mention of Hyacinth's death. which seems to serve no real purpose other than establishing otherwise irrelevant wind god is evil, and what feels like an advert for Song of Achilles courtesy of Odysseus, which takes less than one page. Eventually Circe opts to become mortal to live with Telemachus and denounces her father and… that’s it. This concludes the story of Circe. I don’t exactly think the original is the deepest or greatest character in classical literature, but I must admit I’d rather read about her wacky witch adventures than about Miller’s Circe. A few small notes I couldn’t fit elsewhere: something very minor that bothered me a lot but that to be honest I don’t think most readers will notice is the extremely chaotic approach to occasional references to the world outside Greece - Sumer is randomly mentioned… chronologically after Babylon and Assyria, and in relation to Persians (or rather - to Perses living among them). At the time we can speak of “Persians” Sumerian was a dead language at best understood by a few literati in the former great cities of Mesopotamia so this is about the same as if a novel about Mesopotamia mentioned Macedonians and then completely randomly Minoans at a chronologically later point. Miller additionally either confused or conflated Perses, son of Perseus, who was viewed positively and associated with Persia (so positively that Xerxes purportedly tried to use it for propaganda purposes!) with Perses the obscure brother of Circe et. al, who is a villain in an equally obscure myth casting Medea as the heroine, in which he rules over “Tauric Chersonese,” the Greek name of a part of Crimea. I am honestly uncertain why was he even there as he amounts to nothing in the book, and there are more prominent minor children of Helios who get no mention (like Aix or Phaeton) so it’s hard to argue it was for the sake of completion. Medea evidently doesn’t triumph over him offscreen which is his sole mythical purpose. Is there something I liked? Well, I’m pretty happy Selene only spoke twice, considering it’s in all due likeness all that spared her from the fate of receiving similarly “amazing” new characterization as her brother. As is, she was… okay. Overall I am definitely not a fan of the book. As for its purported ideological value? It certainly has a female main character. Said character sure does have many experiences which are associated with women. However, I can’t help but think that the novel isn’t exactly feminist - it certainly focuses on Circe, but does it really try to “rehabilitate” her? And is it really “rehabilitation” and feminist reinterpretation when almost every single female character in the book is the same, and arguably depicted with even less compassion than in the source material?  It instead felt like the author’s goal is take away any joy and grandeur present in myths, and to deprive Circe of most of what actually makes her Circe. We don’t need to make myths joyless to make them fit for a new era. It’s okay for female characters to be wacky one off villains and there’s no need to punish them for it. A book which celebrates Circe for who she actually is in the Odyssey and in other Greek sources - an unapologetic and honestly pretty funny character -  would feel much more feminist to me that a book where she is a wacky witch not because she feels like it but because she got raped, if you ask me. 

Circe evidently having the time of her life, by Edmund Dulac (public domain)

[rascherri]

alright. i feel like i just need to spit this out because it’s been replaying in my head for days. it is perfectly fine to enjoy and like hera as a character. i certainly did! her snappy sass was the best. however, what we’re not going to do is act like she’s some kind of girl power feminist icon. nor are we going to act like hermes and apollo are some how enablers of their father’s infidelity. and i’ll explain why!

apollo and hermes are both bastards, and if the show wasn’t obvious enough about it, hera despises them. it’s questionable if that’s even a strong enough word for her hatred. that said, it is so much worse in cannon mythology. 

speaking on apollo’s behalf, his mother is leto. when hera found out about her being pregnant with the twins via zeus, she makes it so leto can not give birth on any land that the sun shone on basically. when that doesn’t work, she sends a monster to hunt her across the earth after the birth of the twins. she even goes as far as to send a giant after her with the sole order of forcing himself on her. 

apollo, therefore, has absolutely no allegiance to hera on that alone. she is, in all manner of ways, “the evil stepmother.” even if we don’t bring up how he in greek mythology loves his family and is zeus’ favorite son, the above paragraph is enough, by all means, not to be on her side. that said, i also have to point out that he initially comes to his father and bids him return home at once, but says explicitly to electra, “don’t worry, i wont tell hera. i was born out of wedlock, too. just like your son.” followed by, as per closed captioning, ‘melancholic music’. he knows exactly what is to follow in the wake of hera’s rage. he knows her wrath well, and goes out of his way to minimize it. both for a woman not unlike his own mother, and his soon to be younger brother, not unlike himself. are the parallels not glaring enough to see?

hermes was born a bastard, but his most defining origin story is how he stole apollo’s cows, lied about it, and what happens after. at some point, he is brought before zeus to be chided for his theft and dishonesty. hermes swears that if zeus makes him his messenger and herald, he will never again lie. he makes hermes his constant companion thereafter, and when zeus went to earth, usually his son went with. 

so with this, we can greatly recognize that much of hermes’ life as a god is affected directly by his father. he can not lie, and that much would put him in a position to be more related to his father than hera. not to mention, hermes is a messenger god who was originally zeus’ exclusive herald, before also being asked by hades to be his. it is willfully ignorant to act as though by siding with hera over his father’s cheating that it will not automatically endanger his life as a god, if not his life in general. it also comes into play that again, hera loathes zeus’ trysts and the bastards that result. however well liked by other gods hermes is, he will always be a bastard and hera is not one to forget. 

hera has every right to be angry, and to be petty, and to be vengeful. zeus is a womanizer and a cheater. but they are both also tyrants and use the people around them as pawns. you can not expect two lesser gods, that are also zeus’ sons, to side with hera knowing full well the consequences of going against the god of olympus himself. they do what they can and they do what they must, both for those vulnerable and undeserving of what both zeus and hera intend to/have already forced upon them.

anyways. tl;dr --- hera and zeus both share the title of tyrant as much as they do villain. their own selfishness is put on display in this show, and everything after is simply everyone else responding to it. to blame apollo and hermes for deciding to do what was best for not only themselves, but for multiple (innocent) others, is gross and absurd. 

[wizardysseus]

i was thinking about once upon a time (abc) in bed this morning so i decided to write this list

subject to change, since awhile ago i was in the middle of season 6 when they took it off netflix and i never quite got around to picking it back up. i’m gonna finish if it kills me i promise

top 5 things about once upon a time

5. anna frozen

when ouat introduced frozen characters, most fans decided the show had jumped the shark. they were not wrong. however, it was this very thing that allowed the show to be fun again! after an excruciatingly bad season 3 (we will get to that), bringing on anna and elsa literally transported directly from their own unaltered story in cheap ass versions of their unaltered movie costumes allowed the show to let loose and do... basically whatever it wanted. this became the hallmark of the show for those who stuck with it: absolutely not making sense at all, but being fun about it. post-season-three ouat becomes a totally different soap opera from season one, but by god you are never bored.*

personally, the flashback episode where anna annoys rumpelstiltskin and gets the better of him and he’s so fucking mad about it is like top 10 episodes**

4. 2x16 “the miller’s daughter”

this episode is just another personal favorite. it exemplifies what this show was really good at when it was good, and also where everything went wrong. i think cora is a great example of a good ouat villain, i think the twist on the rumpelstiltskin story is great, i think the dramatic beats really work.

...and in typical ouat fashion, cora immediately dies and two more villains we don’t care about at all are introduced. (sonequa forgive me you know i’m in love with you but tamara was nothing. it’s not your fault.) yes we get that great scene of snow aggressively doing archery practice while listening to “bad reputation” but was it worth killing off a compelling villain just as you’d dug into her story?

3. the commitment to regina’s redemption

and lana parrilla in general. i mean i’m gay and she’s hot but the worse the show got, the more acting lana gave it. and this is just speculation, but i think lana is more comfortable with drama than with camp? because regina becomes a much more interesting character as someone conflicted and on the path to redemption than as a villain. and by god, they were gonna redeem regina.

if only she had been gay we really could have had it all.

2. rumpelstiltskin

the sweet spot with rumpelstiltskin for me was seasons one and two when he was unabashedly bastard, there was an attempt to make him sympathetic but nobody except belle actually liked him, you weren’t quite sure how much he knew, he was pulling all the strings, and he was just really fucking weird. it will surprise no one who follows this blog to hear that that is my type of wizard.

1. season one

it’s a good season. it’s a good season. there are some bad things about it, but it was extremely watchable. it was doing fairy tales with occasional disney nods in a (mostly) cohesive fashion. the lore and the magic hadn’t sprawled out of control yet. it had the strongest relationship, imo, between emma and henry, and emma and snow. as for iconic episodes, most of the greats are here, plus sebastian stan as the mad hatter and giancarlo esposito as a series regular. the crowning moment for me is the scene at the end of skin deep, when regina confronts gold in the town jail and he reveals that he remembers his real name (after beating the shit out of belle’s dad with his cane obviously). god. that is some good television.

worst 5 things about once upon a time

5. the adoption politics but everyone knows this one.

4. WASTING the talent

you had the love of my life sonequa martin-green and gave her nothing. you somehow scored oded fehr as jafar and gave him nothing. you had giancarlo esposito and regina literally forgot he existed. i will kill you

3. rumpelstiltskin.

it’s no secret that robert carlyle was acting circles around most of the cast; my opinion is that the showrunners felt that if they committed to either his redemption or his villainy, they would never find someone else with the talent to fill his shoes as bastard wizard. so they flip-flopped on him every half-season, which ruins his story longterm, slowly kills the light in robert’s eyes, and gets reallllllly old. it’s also no secret that my favorite rumpelstiltskin is bastard wizard, but they screwed over belle BIG time in the process and for that i will never forgive them.

also like. the rumpelstiltskin fairy tale is antisemitic to begin with and they did not minimize that by comparing him to a lizard and naming his storybrooke counterpart mr gold. they just. did that.

2. THE FUCKING NEVERLAND ARC GOD IN CHRIIIIIIIIIIIST THAT HALF-SEASON IS EXCRUCIATING

1. captain hook

*it’s my opinion that if you are bored, you’re watching a hook-centric episode. every time i dropped the show and forgot about it for months at a time, it was because i had been in the middle of an episode about hook and just could not get through it. how do i describe all the things i don’t like about what killian hook jones did to the show? with subpoints!

1a. the episode where gold gives him back his hand and he never changes.

**this is actually the same episode i mentioned about anna and, like i said, it’s one of my favorites and not at all boring. look, i’m not pretending this list isn’t subjective as hell.

remember when hook blackmailed mr gold into magically reattaching his hand, which gold has been keeping in a jar, because hook has a date with emma and wants it to go well? but also, gold tells him that if he reattaches his hand with dark magic, it will turn him evil? and then hook spends the episode doing evil things, only for mr gold to tell him “i was just messing with you! the hand was not evil, you gave yourself permission to be evil ;)”

yeah, that’s basically hook’s mo.

1b. episode where emma tells him his brother is lying to him and he learns the exact wrong lesson from this and never changes.

so emma goes to the underworld to get hook back after he dies (while being evil and doing villainous things). they find his brother down there, too, and emma senses that he has a dark secret (because he does) and is lying to them (because he is). but hook always idolized his older brother, so he won't believe her. when emma confronts the brother directly, hook interrupts to rant to her about how he knows what this is ~really all about.

actual dialogue:

HOOK: i don't need proof to know what's really going on here. emma, when are you gonna admit that this isn't really about my brother? EMMA: what else would you think it was about? HOOK: us. you think if you can prove that liam is a villain, then i’ll somehow feel like i was less of one.

who... would EVER come to that conclusion. and why is the lesson he learns at the end “perhaps i do deserve saving after all” (another direct quote), and not “NOT EVERYTHING IS ABOUT YOU, BECAUSE EMMA WAS LITERALLY RIGHT ABOUT YOUR BROTHER LYING TO EVERYONE”????

1c. the emma dark one arc, where hook never changes.

this would be the arc that leads up to the above underworld arc, and it is deeply dumb, entertaining, and hard to explain. suffice it to say, during this whole arc, killian (along with emma) has all the powers and ~~~Darkness~~~ of the dark one (formerly rumpelstiltskin). unlike emma, he is not aware of this for most of the season. the moment he finally finds out, he turns on emma and goes through with all the revenge plans he’s apparently been holding onto since season two.

it’s supposed to be sympathetic, because emma made this choice for him to be a dark one, which is clearly awful, when he didn’t want it. so i get that. but on the other hand, it is..... boring. because (a) it's nothing we haven't seen him try to do and fail at before, his motivations really aren't that complex. and more importantly, (b) he was the dark one the whole time! the only thing that changed, that made him act evil, was finding out about it. at that point, it's not the ~~~Darkness~~~ making you do evil things. it’s just you. because you’re a dick.

how is this arc resolved? well, he dies. after the underworld arc (which i very much enjoyed tbf), a sizable part of robin hood’s death episode is devoted to people telling emma to slow down and grieve for killian, since at least two arcs have revolved around her inability to let hook go when he is literally dying or dead. (it’s been said a million times but being his girlfriend really sucked the personality out of emma and i miss her.) and in the end he just... comes back anyway. no explanation given; he says it must be a reward from zeus for killing hades... while he and emma make out literally in front of the coffin of robin hood... who actually died fighting hades. killian died half a season before. while he was evil. and emma reverts to tearful girlfriend.

it’s insulting. it’s grating. and it is a Killian Hook Jones Guarantee that his episodes will involve some measure of this.

like, is it more or less the same shtick that the writers kept giving rumpelstiltskin, too? backsliding and screwing over his love interest who gets less and less say in the matter? yes. definitely. the crucial difference is that i, personally, love rumpelstiltskin, while i find hook boring and not self-aware. but clearly i have had a lot of fun complaining about him! again, this is not an objective list.

conclusions

this show ran for 7 years. it got cancelled not because it deserved to, but because no one liked the soft reboot. it was on until 2018.

[chemiste]

a flower to the sun ~ h.s.

masterlist

tattoo design

You were about three shots in when Vicky decided it would be a good idea to play Bet On It with you and your friends at the bar. 

The girls and you were in the rich, wealthy side of LA where all the fat lawyers and trust fund babies went to hang out. Sure, it wasn't really your scene being college students who could barely afford one drink but fortunately some of those fat lawyers thought y'all were pretty cute and would just send drinks over your way; all you had to do was smile and wave and the deed was done. 

“What's Bet On It?” Eve asked as she sipped her Blue Martini. 

“I’ll explain it, Bet On It is where we pose a challenge for you to go do and if you succeed we owe you a favor!” Christy exclaimed with excitement for the game, you giggled and nodded.

“Okay I'm ready let's go!” You shouted happily, slamming the bottom of your fourth shot back down onto the table as a declaration. 

“Lydia, I bet my favorite cherry lipstick you won't go get the bartender's number.” You said. 

Lydia blushed immensely as the girls giggled. She glanced slightly over her shoulder to see the tall blue haired bartender strut around serving drinks. Lydia's eye had been on her for a while and it was only a matter of time until one of the girls egged her on to go for it. 

Lydia sighed and took another shot from the table then walked over. The girls all cheered as they watched her approach the bar nervously and immediately start hitting it off of the bartender. 

“Okay, I think we can bet she won't be back for a while so let's continue.” Christy said with a chuckle. Vic glanced around at the four of you then finally settled her eyes on your form. 

“I pick... Y/N!” she said. 

The girls oohed as Vicky looked around the room thinking of a challenge she could use for you. She gasped as her eye caught something and looked back at you. 

“I dare you to walk up to that guy over there and ask to get a tattoo with him!”

 All three of you immediately snapped your heads to see who she was pointing at. 

Over in the corner at a secluded table with a few other people was a tall man wearing sunglasses on his head, a white T-shirt and flared blue jeans with heeled boots peeking out from under the hem. 

He looked to have a bunch of tattoos down one side of his arm and a couple on the other, hence the reason Vicki picked him. He looked pretty hot for only the side of his body... which might have been another factor. 

You turned back to her eyes wide open, “Oh my gosh I could never!” 

You laughed, swirling your finger on the top of the pink cocktail you had in front of you. Vicki blew raspberry at you. 

“Tell you what, if you can go and at least ask him for the tattoo without falling into a fit of giggles I will let you wear-- no I will let you have the purple high heels you always steal from me whenever we go to the bar downtown”. 

At that, you immediately stood from your stool, “All right I will be back ladies! Maybe with a tattoo and maybe a bruised ego, we don't know, we shall see.” 

The girls giggled as you finished one of the many drinks on the table before heading over, a little liquid courage helping your nerves. You were pleasantly drunk at the moment so this might have not been your best idea but you were halfway over, no turning back now. 

Just as you reach the man you realize that he looked a little familiar, his side profile looked out of this world, immortal, like Zeus had sculpted it for himself or something.

You push that thought aside, thinking that it was just the alcohol and tapped him on the shoulder. A look flashed through his eyes that seemed a little anxiety-ridden but it was soon gone when you started out your next sentence. 

“Hey, I know I'm a total stranger but will you go get a matching tattoo with me?”

You swayed a little in your spot and reached out to grab his forearm to put a steady hold on yourself. Instinctively, he wrapped his arm around your waist to keep you from falling over.

“Wait what?”

He responded while sizing you up, wondering if you were insane. 

You nodded eagerly, “yeah I've always wanted one but I'm kind of a pussy and so I've never been able to finally go in with a sketch I like and my friends over at that table bet for me to come ask a stranger if I would get a tattoo with them because it be the only way I could get one cause I would have someone else to decide with and they pointed you out so I'm here now.” 

The man fully turned to you and damn you were so happy that Vicki had a 6th sense because this man was gorgeous. He had so many little tattoos from your glance to his arm still wrapped around you that somehow all worked together seamlessly on his skin. 

His eyes were just so sparkly; the green in them made you mesmerized. He really did look familiar so you're asked.  

“Hey do I know you from somewhere?” 

The man in front of you seemed to straighten out a little, tensing under the scrutiny of your eyes scanning him. 

He reached up to rub the back of neck, “maybe you've seen me… I don't know I could have just one of those faces.” You were still not convinced but it didn't really matter. 

“All right, but you better not be a serial killer or something shady like that,” you clasped your hands together in front of you, “Tattoo with me; yes or no.” You asked again. 

The man looked back to his group slightly, the eyes of a couple of his friends there subtly watching the situation play out. They all looked very amused and you couldn't blame them, you probably looked like a lunatic. But, the boy in front of you turned back with a smile and cackled. 

“Why not!” 

He stated and you threw your hands up and cheered, “Great! Do you by any chance know a tattoo shop anywhere?” You questioned him as he put money on the table, and started walking with you through the crowded club. 

“Yeah we're really close to Sunset Boulevard, I think I know a place.” You reached for his hand as he pushed through the crowded dance floor, afraid you might lose the handsome stranger in front of you. 

Right as y'all got to the door, you waved back your friends who hollered out in their excitement. 

You were gobsmacked at the crazy situation. 

The handsome man in front of you was going to get a matching tattoo with you. 

A tattoo. 

Once you made it outside, you realized that trusting the man in front of you might not be the safest idea but your brain was still a little fuzzy and he looked kind so... you just went with that. 

You crossed the intersection and started walking down Sunset Boulevard, the man next to you shying away from any glazing eyes that came upon his face as you walked. Thankfully it was dark enough that no one seemed to stop and chat with either of you but you wouldn't even know why they would want to. Maybe they just thought he was hot like you did. 

“Hey, so what's your name?” You asked, realizing that calling him gorgeous in your head wasn't going to solve many problems. 

“Oh I'm Harry.” He answered. 

“Y/N, nice to meet you!” 

“You too.” 

“I swear though, are you like a Walmart clothing model of sorts, I swear I feel like I've seen your face... I don't think I could forget your face, it's pretty perfect.” You stuttered once you realized what you had said. Harry just chuckled and squeezed your hand that he was still holding. 

In no time, he was opening a door and leading you into a tattoo parlor that had a giant Shamrock on the door sign. The people in there seemed very important, all either drinking out of diamond encrusted glasses or smoking huge cigars, the farther back in the bar you went, the more like you felt you shouldn't have been there. 

He led you through a couple doors making you realize he probably knew the place better than he led you to believe. 

He knocked on a door in the back; a man opened the door a few moments later and looked up at you and Harry. His eyes lit up and he pulled Harry into a hug. 

“Hey H, been a long time! How are you?” 

“I'm doing well. We want to get a tattoo,” Harry said to the tattoo artist as you both walked into the room. 

The artist nodded his head, “sure, sure, what's your name love?” You realized he was talking to you after a moment as you had been mesmerized with all the pretty designs on the wall. 

“My name is Y/N and this will be my first tattoo so I'm very excited!” 

He chuckled slightly at your enthusiasm and introduced himself, “My name’s Freddy.”

The walk sobered you up a little bit so you decided while the boys were chatting to go through a couple of the designs. There were flowers, arrows, boats, people, eyes, names; basically anything you could ask for. 

As you flipped through the tattoo sheets, H set his phone down on the counter to help his friend grab something from a top shelf. You looked over to his phone case and something on the cover caught your eye. Glancing over your shoulder, the two men were engrossed in a quiet conversation. Your curiosity got the better of you and you reached out to slide the phone closer. 

Upon further inspection, you could see that between the phone and the clear case was a slightly wrinkled piece of paper with a small poem scribbled out on it. 

She fell so naturally into my arms

Like a flower to the sun. 

~ Atticus

“Harry?” 

“Hm?” He turned back to you, one eyebrow raised slightly when he noticed his phone in your hands. 

“What about this?” 

Harry walked over and took the phone back, looking at the small poem and then back to you. 

“Are you sure?” He asked hesitantly, you nodded while you rang your hands together, teetering back and forth on the balls of your heels. 

“Unless it’s too important to you, I totally respect that.” 

H shook his head when you said that. “No, it’s actually kind of perfect.” 

You smiled his response, both of you taking a moment to relish in the fact that you were actually doing this. Harry popped the phone case off and pulled the small note out, handing it to the tattoo artist. 

Freddy looked down at it, “Do you guys want it typed out? Or written like this?”

 “Maybe typed out would be nice, like a subtle cursive.” You nodded along with Harry’s comment. 

Freddy walked over to the computer to type it out on the poem for the pre-ink outline. 

“So how do you want this?” Harry asked you as you both sat down on the small couch in the corner of the room. 

Taking a hold of his arm, you turned it, examining all his tattoos and spaces left unmarked. You looked at his right arm and pointed to the inside of his forearm. 

“We could each get a line of the poem right here?” 

Harry and you looked at each other with grins on your faces. 

“Well you did drunkenly stumble into me at the bar so it’s only right I have the first one.” You rolled your eyes and chuckled, “Then I’ll get the second one.” 

A quiet beep! alerted both of you to Freddy who held two small sheets in his hand. 

“Who’d like to go first?” 

You raised your hand and let out a quick breath, “I’m gonna go before I second guess myself.” Both of the men chucked at your statement while you hopped up onto the tattoo chair in the center of the room. 

Freddy pulled your right arm over onto a small table he lowered to the perfect height and wiped it down with an alcohol wipe before applying the outline. 

“You like it?” He asked, checking for your approval. 

You gave him a thumbs up and he got the tattoo gun fired up. You tensed at the noise, becoming more aware that this would probably be pretty painful. Leaning your head back, you squeezed your eyes shut and tried to breathe normally. 

A gentle hand rested on your thigh, “Hey,” Harry said quietly, causing you to open your eyes and turn to him. 

“I’m a little bit scared, needles aren’t my thing.” 

You whispered, eyes flitting over to Freddy who now was testing the gun out before holding your arm down. 

Another hand turned your chin away from the tattoo artist and your eyes rested upon a much closer Harry. 

“Just look at me the whole okay? It’ll feel like a long pinch but I promise it will be over before you know it. Just squeeze my hand when it hurts okay?” 

You swallowed and nodded and heard a small ‘3,2,1’ and then a weird tingling sensation on your forearm. You gasped slightly and Harry went to wrap his arm over you so you wouldn’t move. He smiled and nodded encouragingly, maintaining eye contact with you the whole time. 

It was nice and… a lot more of an intimate gesture than you’d experience with someone in months. 

You looked at his face, seeing the stubble that hadn’t broken through the surface of the skin, the small mole by his lip, the bit of blue at the bottom of his left iris. 

He was remarkably captivating to say the least. A sweet blush appeared on his cheeks, “Thank you.” 

“Oh, did I say that out-loud? Oops.” 

You both giggled slightly, trying not to move too much for Freddy’s sake.

 “You’re pretty captivating too.” 

Now it was your turn to blush. 

After what seemed like only 10 minutes, Freddy was giving you the “all done!” You finally looked over to your arm and grinned like a maniac. 

“I love it!” You showed H and he nodded approvingly. 

“Now, up! It’s my turn.” He whined, you laughed while Freddy wrapped your forearm and re-cleaned his tools. Harry didn’t even flinch at the needle but you still held his hand for moral support. 

While his thumb rubbed your hand back and forth, you used your available hand to lightly trace his other tattoos with your finger tip. 

“Do any of these have special meaning to you?” You questioned, scrunching your brow with you saw Late Late scribbled into his skin. 

He shrugged, “I mean some of them do but others I just really liked.” 

You sighed, “I think tattoos are really interesting but I never can pick something I really like… I’m always afraid I’d hate it later.” 

“What about the one you just got then?” Harry asked, a bit of concern filling his features. 

You gave him a small smile, looking down as if you’d become more bashful. 

“No uh, I’m quite happy with it. I’m glad I was able to get it with someone.” 

You cleared your throat and looked into his eyes more intently, “Harry-- Thank you for doing this, you didn’t have to at all but I appreciate it.” 

“Honestly, I’m glad you fell into my arms, I needed some more ink and this seemed like fate.” 

The buzzing suddenly stopped so you looked over to the complete tattoo. 

“There you go H, another tattoo in the bag!” Harry got up from the chair and you both went to compare tattoos under the big light in the corner. 

“You want a photo?” Freddy asked as he put the final piece of machinery back. Harry handed his phone over to him and you took the wrapping off for the picture. 

Harry set a hand on your waist to move you in front of him and stretched your arm out with his to show off the full poem on both of your right arms. 

“You ready?” He mumbled into your hair and you let out a shaky, “yea”. 

I mean, who’s gonna blame you? A fine-ass man had just pressed you into his front and spoke to you like you were a diamond. Freddy snapped a few pictures and handed the phone back, note now back in its original home. 

Your eyebrows shot up in realization, “Oh! Who do I pay for this?” You asked Freddy, but he just looked to Harry who stuck his hands up in surrender when you frowned a bit. 

“I may or may not have already taken care of it?” 

“Harry!” 

“I know, I know! Don’t worry it’s not that big of an expense for me I promise.” 

You lightly smacked him on the chest, eyes widening guess a bit from the feeling of a very toned pec. 

“Well still, I owe you big time! I made you get a tattoo with me and now you’ve paid for it, literally. Lets go get food or something!” 

You didn’t let him get a word in before you were waving by to Freddy and tugging him out of the bar and down the street to your favorite diner on the strip. 

You opened the door and gallantly gestured for him to enter, “After you.” 

He tipped a pretend hat to you and entered. It was nearly empty since it was around midnight but there were a few stragglers at the counter, probably nursing the pre-headache of a major night out. 

Harry did the thing again of tucking his head down and led you to a booth in the corner, sitting down in the seat facing the wall. You slid in onto the worn red leather seat and turned the menu to H, pointing on one of the meal choices. 

“I always get this one and a chocolate milkshake, but you can get anything.” 

“Nope that sounds good, an All American Burger is always appreciated even if I’m not a big meat eater.” 

You put the menu to the side and flagged the one waitress in the room, “Are you a vegetarian?” 

“No I’m a pescatarian but not for allergy reasons so I can easily cheat the diet.” 

You chuckled at that and turned when the waitress made it over to your table. She looked to be around your age and very tired judging by the ketchup stain on her apron and the state of her bun. 

Upon her glance to Harry, her eyes lit up with recognition but she kept a professional nature and stuttered out, “W-What can I get you?” 

“Two number 4’s please and two chocolate shakes.” 

You answered, looking back and forth between a strangely bashful Harry and amazed waitress. 

“Uh, yeah of course.” She mumbled and left, but not before taking a double look at H.

You quietly slammed your hands onto the table, “Okay, what’s up? That reaction was super bizarre.” 

You leaned back against the booth and crossed your arms (being careful to not hurt your new tattoo) and raised an eyebrow, “You definitely are more important than you led me to believe. So what are you? A Tom Ford model or something?” 

Harry met your eyes with a small smirk, dimples popping through. 

“Well, I do use Tom Ford cologne.” 

You rolled your eyes, “Oh come on, so you are a model! What do you model for?” 

“I--uh, have modeled for Gucci a bit but not a lot.” 

“No shit that's pretty cool.” You leaned forward across the table closing the space between y’all considerably. 

“Does this mean that our waitress will probably ask for your autograph before we leave?” You asked in a whisper. 

He did the neck rub tick again, “Maybe a picture, I don’t know.” 

“Wow so you are a hit! What else have you modeled for?” 

“Um well--” 

“Here’s your food,” the waitress interrupted, setting down your plates and the two shakes, you lit up like a kid at Christmas and took a big slip of your shake before giving a thumbs up to the girl in front of you who was still not-so-subtly staring at H. 

You fake-coughed and that seem to snap her out of the trance she was in. 

“Oh, I’m so sorry it’s just-- I wanted to say I was at the Greek Theatre last Wednesday and you were amazing!” 

Harry’s posture released and he smiled, “Thank you so much darling, that’s very nice of you.” 

“Would you mind signing something for me? Only if thats okay!” 

Harry nodded and she quickly fumbled her phone out and-- 

“Harry, your face is on her phone cover?!” 

You sudden exclamation of this caused the girl to go bright red but Harry just kept smiling that scribbled below himself on the pink border as if to not cover up the face. 

“Here you go.” 

“Thank you!” She swiftly skittered away and you looked at H with an explain right now look. 

“I may or may not have undersold myself?” 

“You think? What did she mean about the theatre? Are you a performer as well?” 

You picked up your burger and took a bite, still watching and waiting for the answer. Harry let out a breath and took a couple fries from the plate, popping them into his mouth and chewing, giving him a couple second to figure out how to tell you. 

“Did you ever listen to boy bands in high-school?” 

“Uh, not necessarily, I do remember a few radio songs that the band would always play at pep rallies and football games.” 

“Okay, do you think you could name those songs?” 

You took a sip of your shake and nodded, “Yeah, um, there was Roar by Katy Perry, uh-- Royals by Lorde, and Oh! Best Song Ever by--” 

“One Direction.” He answered for you. 

“I’m still not following, are you one of the boys in the band or something?” 

Harry just took a bite of his burger. 

“Oh damn, are you serious?” 

He nodded, you were pretty surprised and a little disappointed in yourself cause of course you knew 1D, Eve had been obsessed with them in high-school. Maybe you didn’t connect the two is because you were used to seeing the sweet 16 year old face on the Eve’s cover of J-14 instead of this fine-ass man in front of you. 

You laughed as a thought hit you, “Wait, so I remember a little about the band... You guys separated right? Does this mean you were performing solo on Wednesday?!” 

“Oh, uh, yeah.” 

You smiled brightly and squeezed his hand resting on the table, “That must be so cool, how are you feeling about it? Everything fun? I bet being on stage is great... All your fans singing with you!” 

He grinned, “Actually it’s been so different but still amazing, it was only my second show by myself but the same adrenaline rush from the first one. I miss the lads but honestly it’s great to be singing my writings now.” 

“Do you think I’d know any of your music?” You asked, pulling your phone out of your back pocket and typing in his name to Spotify. 

Embarrassment flooded your system when you realized you only knew his first name. Begrudging you asked, “Hey, can I get a last name for the search?” 

His eyes widened a bit but not in a judging way but more of a please way. 

“Styles.” 

“Oh wow, you really are a rock star with that name.” 

You scrolled through his page and clicked the first one in the album. 

“Meet Me In The Hallway… no way, I think I’ve got this on a chill playlist.” 

You both ate while listening to a couple of his songs play from your phone on the sticky table. It was nice, just enjoying each others presence. It could’ve been weird since you’d only met a few hours ago but getting a tattoo together had bonded y’all in more ways than you’d thought. 

“Oh shit, is it okay that you got a new tattoo? Is twitter gonna break or something now that you have half a poem with a weird girl from a club?” 

Harry let out a big laugh that had your insides feeling warm. 

“It’s alright, I don’t think they’ll freak out too badly.” 

You swirled your straw around, slurping up the leftovers, “You underestimate fangirls Mister Styles.” 

He hummed in agreement and finished his food. Right before you went to the counter to pay, your phone buzzed a couple times.

the girls!

Vic: Y/N you didn’t die did you?

Nope! No kidnapping victim here!

I got the tattoo!

Christy: WHAT

Eve: OMG YOU DID!!!

Christy: VICKI LOOK WHAT YOU’VE DONE

Vic: i’m proud

Lol y’all are too much

Eve: We’re gonna leave the club and head home, did you need a ride back with us?

Nah, I’m just hanging with my tattoo buddy so I’;; text y’all when i’m heading home.

Eve: Okay we love you!

Christy: love u

Vic: are you gonna get some?!!?

Lydia: WAIT WHAT HAVE I MISSED?

You blushed at Vicky’s crude comment and stuck your phone back in your pocket. It was easy slipping out of the dinner and onto the street. 

“Where’s your next show?” You asked. 

“I’m off to Nashville the day after tomorrow.” 

“Wow, so your tour is revving up isn’t it?” 

He nodded. 

“Where do you think your favorite place is scheduled on the tour?” 

“I’m quite excited for the O2 Arena in England.” 

“Fun, when you get back we could catch up if you wanted, I mean we are tattoo buddies now so it only seems right.” 

Harry agreed happily and you put your number in and your nickname as ‘tattoo soulmate’ with a stupid profile picture taken quickly on the street. 

“Do you think you could send me those picture of the tattoos? I won’t post them or anything cause I don’t really want your PR hunting me down but I’d like to have them for the memory.” 

“Yeah no problem, it’s not that big of a deal if you post it, but you just need to know that you might get harassed by noisy fans and as much as I hate to say it, stalked by paparazzi just for being a new friend of mine.” 

Harry’s face had shifted into something ridden with guilt so you just gave him a comforting smile and rested your hand on his shoulder, “Don’t worry, a friend of mine is studying in Public Relations and Media so I understand.” 

A few seconds later, an unknown number bing!ed your phone and the pictures came rolling in. 

“Say cheese!” You called out suddenly, catching Harry with a surprised expression for his profile picture. 

You looked at the small clock at the top and scrunched your nose at the late time displayed on the LED screen. 

You looked up at Harry, “Do you happen to know where I could get a taxi that’s not gonna murder me at this time in this section of LA?” 

“I’ll take you home.” 

Waving your arms in denial, you said, “No I couldn’t let you do that. I’d only be putting you out of your way.” 

“Nonsense, my car is back at the club and trust me, I’m your safest driver tonight.” 

Well, he did have a point. 

“Ugh, I’m gonna end up owning you my first born if this keeps up like this aren’t I?” 

You got back to his car in pretty good time, thanks to his long legs and your naturally fast pace. 

“Oh course it’s a Range Rover.” You mumbled, earning a laugh for the rockstar getting into the driver’s seat. You gave him your address and off you both went.

You lived in a house with the girls. It was close to UCLA where you all went. The house had been this horrible tan color when you all first got there but quickly painted it a light blue that always looked so pretty against the sunset skies of Los Angeles. 

Your room was the last one on the left upstairs and throughout your college years it had been re-decorated many a times. Right now there was a calm blue on the walls, queen bed in the corner by the window and various art pieces and magazine cutouts taped on the wall above your desk. 

You had a dresser against the wall by the door and then pictures. Lots of pictures on the wall to the right, many of them where some you’d taken with friends and others were landscapes and stranger shots in LA. It was a fun hobby to have and it helped that you’d been able to sell a lot of them to shutter shock for some extra cash. 

Harry pulled in next to the curb and you unblocked yourself, turning towards him fully. 

“Thank you so much for the ride, it would have been a bitch to find transportation tonight.” 

“Don’t worry darling, not a problem.” 

You grinned, “Let me know when you’re back in town and we can catch up if you want.” 

Harry let out a content sigh, “I’d like that.” 

You hopped out of the car and ran up the steps. He waited for you to unlock the door and step through the threshold before driving off. You giggled to yourself quietly and closed the door, re-locking it. 

With heels in one hand, you crept up the stairs quickly and into your room. After getting ready for bed, you heard a small bing! from your phone you had plugged in on your night stand. 

You crawled under the covers before grabbing it. 

tattoo buddy

H: you got inside alright? x

yup! thanks for the ride btw

H: of course x

good luck at your next show!!

H: :) x

night tattoo buddy 

H: night x

And with that, you turned off the light.

masterlist

a/n : i was thinking a 2nd part but i wanted to know y’all ideas if you have somewhere you’d like the story to go. lmk in the comments if you’ve got an idea

[stanandcharleyandfriends]

Eileen Nagle sees her family in video chats and drive-by visits, but that hasn’t made up for the lack of warm hugs in the nine months since the pandemic led her nursing home to shut its doors to visitors.

Enter Zeus.

“Zeus is a friendly little snowball, very happy,” said Nagle, 79, after the peppy bichon frise paid a visit to her room at Hebrew Home at Riverdale, overlooking the Hudson River in the Bronx. “Petting and playing with the dogs breaks up the day and gets you to forget about yourself for a while.”

Hebrew Home has had a pet therapy program for 20 years; tiny Zeus and gentle giant Marley the Great Dane are the current snugglers in residence. Now, the activities department is expanding the canine corps with two new recruits in training to give residents more of the affectionate physical contact that has become so scarce and precious in the coronavirus era.

“It’s uplifting to have Zeus come and visit me, especially with COVID and being restricted to my room,” said 80-year-old Jeff Philipson, beaming as he ran his fingers through Zeus’ silky white fur while the dog clambered on his bed. “I talk on the phone every day with my daughter and my son, but that’s as good as it can get for now.”

When the pandemic lockdown began in March, dog therapy was suspended along with most other activities at the nursing home.

“I decided we needed to re-energize the pet visiting program since there’s no outside visitation allowed,” said Daniel Reingold, founder of the pet therapy program and president and CEO of RiverSpring Health, nonprofit operator of 103-year-old Hebrew Home. “They’ve been on the floors bringing happiness and unconditional love to residents and staff alike.”

The dogs belong to staff members who bring them to work every day. But the program doesn’t allow just any dog.

“It has to be a combination of the right owner, right dog and right temperament,�� said Reingold, whose own rescue dog, Kida, is one of the new recruits. “The dogs have to be assessed, follow basic commands and be able to cope with wheelchairs, elevators, medication carts and all the other things they’ll encounter on a floor.”

Cats are also used in the pet therapy program — but only robotic ones. Hebrew Home has numerous lifelike animatronic cats that purr and meow as residents hold them in their laps and stroke their fur. “The cats are especially soothing to people with dementia,” said Catherine Farrell, director of therapeutic activities, primary dog handler and owner of Marley.

“The love of an animal is incredible,” Farrell said. “It releases endorphins, reduces blood pressure, reduces anxiety. For people here who had animals in their life history, seeing dogs triggers memories and opens communication.”

While Farrell has to remain 6 feet away from residents and wear a face mask and plastic shield, Marley can plop his head on their beds as they pet him.

“To break through the social distancing barrier is really important,” Farrell said. “It’s one of the only ways they’re able to touch another living being and gain satisfaction from that physical connection.”

But it’s not just about petting a dog, said Olivia Cohen, dog handler and assistant director of the therapeutic activities program. For some residents, the interaction can break down barriers and open communication and emotional expression, she said.

Cohen recalls one woman who was struggling with anxiety and having trouble coping with the new environment when she moved into the home. “Nothing would get through to her to help her,” Cohen said. “But when I brought the dog to her, her complete affect changed from crying to having her face light up and telling stories about her own experiences.”

For resident Elizabeth Pagan, dog visits are a welcome respite from the isolation she has endured since she’s been restricted to FaceTime visits with her children, grandchildren and terrier-dachshund mix Ruby.

“It means a lot to me, makes me feel good when I pet the dogs,” said Pagan, who’s recovering from a stroke. “My favorite is Marley. He gives me a lot of comfort.”

[cherry-selfship]

Hiya!! how about

Poseidon

Athena

Aphrodite

Hermes

for Spencer and for Sam

Hera

Ares

Hestia

Dionysus

and for the both of them

Zeus

Persephone

Hypnos

Calliope

Euterpe

Terpsichore

so i'll organize them by who they're answered for! this is really long, too. sorry in advance for the long post. but this was fun to answer all these. 

-----------------------

SAM

Hera: How did you first start your romantic relationship with your f/o(s)? How did the way you feel about each other evolve to get to that point?

- so... sam and i had been around each other for a little while, he kind of took me in after we initially met, and it was about six months into playing librarian for the boys with a massive crush on sam that he finally opened his mouth about his crush on me. we went from friends to lovers.

Ares: Are you ever protective of your f/o(s)? Are they ever protective of you?

- despite being about the weakest person in the supernatural universe, i would readily throw hands for my fiance. he is, of course, the one always protecting me, i protect him in that i patch him up when he comes home injured

Hestia: What makes you and your f/o(s) feel at home? 

- each other? the bunker, pie, movies in the dean cave, snuggling in a big comfy armchair, hot cocoa, each other. easy peasy. being snuggly and warm around people who care.

Dionysus: What do you like to do with your f/o(s) for fun? Is there anything fun you’d like to try with them?

- sam and i watch movies. a lot of movies. he likes comedies, i like action movies. we compromise with things like deadpool. ( i think our deadpool watch count is currently over 2 dozen. )

Zeus: How did you first meet your f/o(s)? How did you feel about each other at first?

- i hit a werewolf with my car. i was hunting the same werewolves the winchesters were, and i decided that i had the gall to hit a man with my prius who looked like he could rip the car in half. sam decided i was worth getting to know after that, and i thought he was good looking. so i tagged along with him and dean.

Persephone: How different are you and your f/o(s)? How do you deal with each other’s differences?

- sam is athletic, i am not. sam is big and strong, i am not. sam is very bookish and smart, that i am. honestly, he is just about my polar opposite. athletic, strong, a badass, basically vegetarian at this point. i am not. but we make it work. sam knows i wont go jogging with him and i point and laugh at his salads but he still makes me a killer burger when i want one lol. 

Hypnos: Do you like to sleep together or share a bed with your f/o(s)? If so, what position do you sleep in? Does anyone hog the blankets, or have a stuffed animal, or have nightmares and need the other for comfort? Anything else along those lines?

- purely because sam is Large, he is a blanket hog. a massive blanket hog. it works though, because he tends always to be warm so i'll just cling to him in bed. problem solved. 

Calliope: Do you have any poetry or literature excerpts (or other quotes) that suit your ship?

- happily ever after is not a fairy tale, it's a choice. 

+ our happily ever after was our choice, after all :)

Euterpe: What song(s) suit your ship best? Any particular lyrics that fit well?

- ( don't fear ) the reaper, blue oyster cult. 

All our times have come

Here but now they're gone

Seasons don't fear the reaper

Nor do the wind, the sun and the rain

We can be like they are

Come on, baby (don't fear the reaper)

Baby, take my hand (don't fear the reaper)

We'll be able to fly (don't fear the reaper)

Baby, I'm your man

Terpsichore: Have you and your f/o(s) ever danced together? What kind of dancing? Formal dress or completely informal jamming out in your home?

- rocking out to random songs when we're alone is practically mandatory. 

SPENCER

Poseidon: Do you and your f/o(s) like to travel? If so, where do you like to go? Is there anywhere you’d like to go that you haven’t yet?

- i love travelling, spence travels for his job, we both want to see paris. ive been trying to plan a trip but his schedule is so messy. 

Athena: Are your f/o(s) interested in any particular hobby or interest of yours? Have you taught them about it, or let them watch you, or anything similar?

- spencer loves watching me write. i'm a writer, i have published books. he sits and watches me click away on my laptop like its riveting tv. 

Aphrodite: How do you and your f/o(s) like to show love to each other? Feel free to include your love languages, if you find that helpful.

- spencer leaves little notes around the apartment for when he leaves, tries to be the gentleman when he's home. he's very actions-based, and i have to reassure him a lot that i'm not going anywhere. 

Hermes: Was it love at first sight? Slow burn with lots of pining? How fast did your relationship progress?

- it was annoyance-to-lovers. spence was a bit of an annoyance initially, but his quirks grew to be endearing. we knew each other about six months before he asked me on a date, which we had to postpone thanks to a case. however, once we were official it went rather fast. a year and a half after that first date we were married. 

Zeus: How did you first meet your f/o(s)? How did you feel about each other at first?

- he may have spilled coffee all over my favorite led zeppelin shirt, which subsequently smelled like a starbucks for about two weeks. he was annoyingly endearing at first, he told me that he thought i was intimidating, which i think is hilarious. 

Persephone: How different are you and your f/o(s)? How do you deal with each other’s differences?

- spencer is very quiet and reserved, bookish, and i try to be more outgoing and loud. he says i'm extroverted enough for both of us. 

Hypnos: Do you like to sleep together or share a bed with your f/o(s)? If so, what position do you sleep in? Does anyone hog the blankets, or have a stuffed animal, or have nightmares and need the other for comfort? Anything else along those lines?

- there's a fair bit of snuggling involved, especially after spence gets home from a case. i think he wants something happy in his life, after all the darkness of his job, and i try to be that. 

Calliope: Do you have any poetry or literature excerpts (or other quotes) that suit your ship?

- i am not telling you it is going to be easy - i am telling you it is going to be worth it. 

+ sure it's difficult, with spence travelling, the fear of the dangers in his job, but it is so very worth it. 

Euterpe: What song(s) suit your ship best? Any particular lyrics that fit well?

- just the way you are, bruno mars

'Cause you're amazing

Just the way you are

And when you smile

The whole world stops and stares for a while

Terpsichore: Have you and your f/o(s) ever danced together? What kind of dancing? Formal dress or completely informal jamming out in your home?

- i have discovered that spence has a record player, and he will put on either classical, or 1940s big band music, and we will push all the furniture to the walls, and he tries to teach me to properly dance. 

[365days365movies]

March 9, 2021: Orpheus (1950) (Part One)

Greek mythology was my first mythological love.

And yes, that is ironically a very cliché thing to say about Greek mythology, since it’s by FAR the most popular and well-known mythology in the Western world, but...what can I say, I’m a sucker for the classics.

When I was 6, my mom got me a copy of the Odyssey, followed by D’Aulaire’s Book of Greek Myths, and that book was my SHIIIIIIIIIIT. From the Titanomachy to the Trojan War, from Decaulion to Daedalus, from the Lernaean Hydra to Ladon, and from Zeus to Dionysus (my second favorite Olympian), I LOVE Greek mythology.

There have been countless adaptations of these stories over the last century of so, some better and more faithful than others. We got Blood of Zeus (which I...genuinely dislike) on Netflix last year, Lore Olympus is a fantastic webcomic and modernized retelling of the universe of stories in general (fuck Apollo, that’s all I have to say), Hercules by Disney is fun (though extraordinarily inaccurate), and who doesn’t like some Percy Jackson (the books, not the movies)?

Today’s entry won’t be the first of the Greek mythology stories this month; after all, it’s DEFINITELY fantasy, so there were going to be a few entries in here. Some will come pretty close to each other later this month, but for this one, we’re jumping forward 10 years from The Thief of Bagdad to 1950. Let’s get back to France, shall we?

Famous for his adaptation of Beauty and the Beast is Jean Cocteau, legendary French surrealist filmmaker. His stylings definitely capture a sort of practical magic, compounded with clever angles and fascinating visual and practical effects. It’s evident with the classic fairy tale, which I would’ve done this month had I not already seen it. So, instead, we’ll be looking at the middle film in a trilogy known as Cocteau’s Orphic trilogy. This is, apparently, the most important one. And that makes sense, since it’s focused upon...

Is Hadestown good? I’m real tempted to find a way to watch it, and it sounds like it’s just up my alley. I’ll probably check it out one of these days.

Orpheus was (maybe) the son of Calliope, the muse of poetry, and Apollo, god of music. Maybe. Parentage differs based on the retelling. No matter the parents, he was renowned for his charm and grace, as well as his voice and music. He was loved by animals, nymphs, and maidens alike. He was invited to be the Bard of Jason’s DnD group (AKA the Argonauts), and used Bardic Performance to inspire his comrades (and also helped them overcome the sirens by singing EVEN LOUDER).

But the one whom he loved most was his wife, Eurydice. Unfortunately, a satyr (AKA horny horned half-goat man) chased her right into a viper’s nest, where she was bitten and died. Orpheus was CRUSHED, and his song was so depressing that even the gods cried. They said, “Dude, go to the Underworld, get back your lady from Hades, please!” And he did.

Hades, the old romantic that he secretly is, agrees to let Eurydice’s soul, on one condition. That he doesn’t look back at her as she follows him out. Orpheus agrees, but the man can’t stop himself from looking back to make sure that she’s there. And she was...and then she wasn’t. So, our sad boi fucked up, and then...well, it’s spotty. 

See, some people say that he stopped worshipping Dionysus (his previous patron), and the wine boi’s female followers tore Orpheus to pieces as punishment. Some say that these same women got a liiiiiiiiiittle too into the Bacchanalia (think orgies, but religious and violent), and ripped him apart in a frenzy. And some say that he only took male lover from then on, and women tore him to pieces for not paying attention to them (also, possible homophobia). You know, it varies. Still, we can agree on the ripped apart by women thing. His head could still sing, and as the women threw his body parts into a river, it sang a song so beautiful that the rocks and branches in the river refused to strike it. His instrument of choice, a lyre, was eventually interred amongst the stars as the constellation Lyra.

The story of a pained artist searching for a lost love and losing her is all over the goddamn place, with the crazy-ass Moulin Rouge being a solid example of it.

But OK, let’s finally begin Orpheus, or Orphée to be more accurate. Gonna be a weird ride, I guarantee it. SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Recap (1/2)

The story starts with a recap of the original myth, and notes that it doesn’t need to be limited  by time and place. This sort of story, after all, could happen anywhere and at any time. And in this case, that time and place are 1950s-era France, where we quickly meet famous poet Orpheus (Jean Marais).

At a café, he meets a friend, the Editor (Henri Crémieux), where they speak on Orpheus’ fame, which is not well-liked in a cafe frequented by poets. Also arriving there is a young drunken poet, Jacques Cégeste (Édouard Dermit), who is accompanied by his patron, known only as...the Princess (María Casares). Come on, guys, can we give our female characters names, please?

Anyway, Jacques quickly gets into a drunken brawl with other patrons, which leads to the arrival of the police at the café. They forcefully arrest him, but before they can, he’s hit by a couple of motorcycles, and potentially killed. The police bring Jacques back to the Princess’ car, with the help of her driver Heurtebise (François Périer). For unknown reasons, she summons Orpheus to help them. He agrees, and goes with them to the hospital.

Or he would be, if they were going there. Instead, as they drive off, Orpheus discovers that Jacques is dead already. They aren’t going to the hospital. Instead, they head to a mysterious mansion, as ominous and oblique poetry plays on the radio. They’re soon accompanied by the men on the motorcycles that killed Jacques, who work for the Princess. The plot fuckin’ THICKENS.

Back at her mansion, they bring the body of Jacques upstairs, much to the confusion of Orpheus, whom the Princess keeps calling stupid whenever he asks questions. However, he’s not proving her wrong, as she immediately convinces him that she’s actually dreaming at the moment. Although...maybe he is?

She sits in front of a mirror, which breaks...somehow. Frustrated, she commands Orpheus to wait there for her to return, as she goes to check on Jacques and her men. Like me, Orpheus is confused. This gets worse for me, though, as the Princess goes to the other room and tells the dead Jacques to get up. AND HE DOES. Well, Jacques’ a zombie, I guess. He identifies the Princess as “his Death”, which she agrees to. She tells him to hold on to her coat, and then...

...I got questions. I GOT QUESTIONS HERE.

They go through the mirror, and the Princess’ henchmen follow, just as Orpheus walks in. He also has questions, and he tries to go through the mirror, to no avail. Completely confused at this point, he passes out against the mirror, alone in the mansion. And then...he’s outside.

Yeah, he’s just outside now, and waiting there is Heurtebise, the chauffeur! Orpheus is freakin’ out, and Heurtebise has no answers for him, but has been told to take him back to town once he...arrived. OK. Still questions.

In town, the disappearance of Orpheus is being discussed by a police inspector, his wife Eurydice (Marie Déa), and her friend Aglaonice (Juliette Gréco). Aglaonice doesn’t seem to like Orpheus very much, as she’s trying to convince Eurydice that he’s cheating on her. And that’s hard to argue, since he was last seen with the Princess. However, just as there’s about to be a scandal reported by a spontaneously appearing journalist, Heurtebise and Orpheus arrive home.

After a rough encounter with the journalist, he arrives home to a relieved Eurydice, and an enraged Aglaonice, whom Orpheus also dislikes heavily. He’s apparently forbidden her from entering his house, and tells her off. The Inspector leaves too, and asks Orpheus to come to his office to discuss the matter of the missing Jacques.

Eurydice reminds Orpheus that Aglaonice is dangerous, as she runs...the League of Women. Well...I think we know what role Aglaonice is going to play by the end of this. Her and her League of Bacchanalian Women, get me? Yikes. Anyway, the conversation turns into an argument, when the EXTREMELY ornery Orpheus basically just storms off, being a DICK to his poor wife. And when he goes upstairs to his room, he actually sneaks out of the window.

Meanwhile, Heurtebise comes into the house to offer an alibi to the pained Eurydice. While she doesn’t quite believe it, the two share some time together and seem to bond. However, when he smells gas from the stove, Heurtebise lets it slip that he committed suicide by using a gas stove. He covers it up before Eurydice notices the slip-up, but...OK. So, “the Princess” is death. Going by the traditional Greek myth, she’s some form of psychopomp, and the world beyond the mirror is the Underworld, I can only assume. OK...I can dig it.

Orpheus, meanwhile, is at the car, listening to the strange radio poetry and writing it down. The, uh, “Princess” is busy as well. Like a ghost, she walks into the household and watches Orpheus as he sleeps. A narration refers to her as Orpheus’ death. Funny, I’m pretty sure that’s going to be Aglaonice’s role.

Two days later, Orpheus is increasingly obsessed with the poetry from the mysterious radio and its odd messages. While Eurydice seems to mock this obsession, Orpheus also seems to be far too enraptured in it. But, interestingly, the messages seem to be coming from nowhere known. However, it’s all beginning to affect their marriage greatly.

On the phone, the Inspector comes calling, and Eurydice asks Heurtebise to answer the phone. He does so, and soon after, we see the phone float into place, as if placed there by a ghost. That’s confirmed as Heurtebise phases to the outside from nothing, where he meets Orpheus and informs him of the message. The two decide to head to the Inspector in his car, rather than the mysterious talking car.

While Orpheus goes through town, looking for the Princess rather than the Inspector, there’s something that I wanted to mention here. Call it an interpretation. Apparently, Heurtebise is often considered an angel by critics and interpreters. However, I’m gonna suggest that he’s actually supposed to be a representation of Hermes, the messenger god and a psychopomp who escorted souls to the Underworld. Not sure about the Princess yet, but Cocteau apparently never meant for her to be portrayed as actual death. Interesting.

Meanwhile, at the Inspector’s office, both Aglaonice and Orpheus’ poet friends (supposedly) are accusing Orpheus of being involved in Jacques’ disappearance. The Inspector turns them away, just as Heurtebise and Orpheus reconvene in town. While Orpheus didn’t find the Princess, Heurtebise says that she came by, saying that he could stay with the married couple for now.

Speaking of the Princess, we see her at night, staring over Orpheus. And her eyes are...strange. They seem artificial, and it bothers the EVER-LOVING SHIT out of me. And the whole affair isn’t helping Eurydice either, as she’s tired of Orpheus’ obsession with the car, and is planning on going to Aglaonice for advice. Heurtebise tries to stop her from doing so, but she insists. But when she goes...the motorcyclists come for her. And she’s dead. As proven when the Princess arrives through the mirror.

Alongside her comes Jacques, acting as the Princess’ servant. She notes to him that their work isn’t easy, and couldn’t be done if she were dressed in the way the humans portray her. So, she is seemingly Death, or at least an aspect of Death. Obviously, as we’re talking about the Greek story, we can assume that she’s meant to be Hades in particular. But, we’ll see. It’s also confirmed, by the way, that the mysterious messages are indeed Jacques’ poetry, recited by him on the radio waves from beyond the grave. Neat.

Heurtebise is clearly upset with what’s just happened to Eurydice. He asks if the Princess actually had orders to kill Eurydice. She avoids the question, and guesses correctly that Heurtebise has fallen in love with Eurydice. He confirms this, and counters with the fact that the Princess has seemingly fallen in love with ORPHEUS. The plot fucking THICKENS.

Good place to pause, I think. Halfway mark and all. See you in Part Two!

[astriefer]

ℙ𝕒𝕣𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝔸𝕌!

Just about a girl conquering the former Preator and the daughter of Zeus' hearts. And of all hunters, in fact.

It's not Theyna for anyone who might think. Just let those girls be cool parent's figures together!

They did not meet in the regular way.

In short, The girl was captured and Reyna happened to be in the next cell... some events happen and they become closer. Some running, fights, and angst lead to the small girl being very connected to Reyna.

Reyna takes care of the girl since the girl seems to be afraid of anyone else.

The hunters agree that she'll stay until they find her a new home. Maybe half-blood or Camp Jupiter.

Reyna grows more and more attached to this kid. And because no other person actually wants to get involved with the girl, and the girl's fear as well, it's mostly up to her to make her comfortable and comfort her in times of need.

Singing a lullaby to calm the girl at night. She has frequent nightmares and it breaks Reyna's heart. So she sings to her, Specifically the song they sang as they were held captive together.

They arrive in CJ and after some discussion, Hazel and Frank start searching for a new home and family for the small girl.

Reyna gets it hard. That night she understand how much she cares for the child.

She is being very protective and goes everywhere with her. She works hard to make her open up to more people (hell knows it's no good to be with one person ALL the time)

Yet it's not hard to tell Reyna like spending time with the girl. The little lady can sure warp Reyna around her little finger.

She manages to get the girl to be less strict around Thalia. She also recruits Frank and Hazel to help. She believes their nice and open nature will help.

She's there all the time to offer comfort. Yet the girl seems to like the Preators, even though she's acting very shy and careful.

When she want to take the girl for dinner Hazel pulls her aside to ask if she really want to find the girl home in New Rome.

At first, Reyna doesn't know how to respond. She wants the girl to have a family... and she wants to be part of it as well.

That realization makes her come to Thalia and ask just that. She doesn't want to leave the hunters, and she doesn't want to leave the girl in New Rome. So the simplest solution is to bring the girl with them. Permanently.

At the start, all the other hunters (and Artemis) firmly disagree.

Because well, their journeys can be dangerous. And their training area is not a place for straying children.

And of course, someone will have to watch over the girl.

And if there's an attack or they'll have to camouflage or hide? The girl will only slow them down.

And the hunters is a place for YOUNG MEDIANS. Not small children.

Reyna is desperate to get the girl to stay. She tries to convince Artemis but fails. She tries enough to wear out Artemis makes her threat to turn her into a doe.

The girl is worried about Reyna's tiredness and worry and she dares to ask Thalia what she can do to make Reyna feel better.

Thalia is half amazed by the consideration of the child. She has her own reservations, but she truly sees how deep the bond between Reyna and the girl is.

She dismisses the kid with something like "She's just worried for you, to be well." Or some cheesy thing.

She makes her own conversion with Artemis, pointing out what a teaching lesson adopting the girl could be.

I mean, the hunters are their own family, not interrupted by the human world and less affected by what happens in the camps. As they live longer, you can imagine they're starting to be more strict and pay less importance to tenderness and to be responsible for someone. They're mostly care-free apart from their duty to Artemis and to their sisters.

So basically that's half lame so imagine she makes some good explanations of how the girl could benefit them.

When Thalia comes tells Reyna the girl could stay, they find out the kid ran away.

Reyna is shocked and runs to the woods to search for her. If course Thalia is running right after her with the thought, 'we can't lose the girl a moment after we agreed to take her in.'

Reyna is worried as heck and calls for the girl. Damn it monsters, you are not the important thing right now.

They're in the forest for what feels like hours. Reyna and Thalia are still searching. Reyna lashes out on Thalia because she's so tired of fighting against the world to give the little girl the family she deserves.

Thalia breaking the news to Reyna

Reyna just jumps on Thalia from happiness and gratitude. She catches herself quick enough but her heart is still pounding.

Then they hear the little girl soft singing and They run to her.

Some monsters coming in their way, making bad puns and demand the kid to be their rightful finding.

Thalia smacks them off while Reyna and the girl have a heartfelt conversation.

Reyna and Thalia both didn't get to grow in a normal, loving family. Or at least, their parents never actually been there for them. So Reyna promises to the girl she WILL be there for her.

She promises that the girl does not cause any pain for her, but the opposite. They even makes a pinky promise. (She clarify this beacuse the kid run away because she thought she's making Reyna feel bad).

They return to the hunter's camp where Artemis announces the kid would stay. The kid is so excited to stay with Reyna, she almost tear off Reyna's hand.

Yeah. Parent a child traumatized bby with immortal dudes. A piece of cake.

At start they all like "ugh get it away we need to concentrate." Beacuse again, the other hunters aren't mean, they just thinks it's not the society or the place to raise a child.

They dosn't feel comfortable around the girl in the start. You can say it's mutual.

The girl stays close to Reyna (and Thalia at times). She has a habit of hiding behind their legs and peek at the others when she's afraid or nervous.

She still very careful. Encouraged by Reyna and Thalia she tries to come on the better side of the hunters. They also convince some hunters to give the girl a shot.

Many of them still very well reserved, but... they feel a little jealous by the shiny, huge smiles the little girl gives Reyna and Thalia.

They all just starting to be more friendly. Play in lyre for her, give her a fresh apple from a tall tree (She just gasps and looks admiringly at them)...you name it.

The hunters fighting over who will teach her archery. That's fun.

"You trained Sophia 100 years ago! Now it's my turn!"

"Stop acting like a baby! You--" "You're the baby! I'm 97 and you're just 56.I'm way more skilled!"

Eventually they agree to divide the responsibility of educating her between whomever want to teach her. So Reyna gets face to face combat, Thalia is responsible for the knowledge of tracking and self-defense (and the introduction to Rock music) .some other hunter teaches Math, antoher teaches her about nature and animals, etc.

The girl is latina. She also has pointy ears (not human? And the hunters have no idea whether she is a demigod or not.)

Reyna being Protective Mami™

Thalia joins.

Probably all the hunters ends up beings protective aunts who will secretly coo at her when she doesn't notice.

Awkward stories time!

Reyna telling her about the journeys of the the seven and also some inside-information about them.

When she first met Percy she asked if after he became a guinea pig he liked lettuce better, then pouted when he agreed (only because Thalia gave him the look). She made a deal with Thalia that if he did, she'll have to eat lettuce at dinner.

Her favorite of the seven is Frank. She loves his hugs after she grew familiar with him (it... takes time).

Both Thalia and Reyna tell her the stories of Jason, Thalia's brother, and Reyna's closest friend. The gratitude all he has done by passing on his life story to their beloved one, and to anyone willing to listen.

She also fascinated by Annabeth, but who isn't actually?

She heard so many stories of Camp half-blood from Thalia. About Camp Jupiter from Reyna. She also likes to call Percy "seaweed brain" but it's just the cutest and without any repulsion.

Her being friends with Estelle Blofis

They're building snowmen in winter, sand castles in summer, eating blue pancakes and cookies made by Sally Blofis together.

Estelle Is the first friend she makes who is in her age.

Piper and the little girl singing together is just the best?

All the hunters having heart attack from the cuteness.

The girl telling Reyna that even though Piper is a great singer she likes singing with Reyna the best. She wants to kill Reyna doesn't she

Leo showing her his gadgets (after Reyna make sure they're unexplosive)

She doesn't get to see Centaurus in her journeys with the hunters so she's so thrilled to meet Chiron. She asks for a ride and Chiron awkwardly agrees. It's offensive for Centaurus to "give a ride" to someone, but she's so polite and looks at him like all her dreams come true.

She says it's the best thing she's done in her life and all the hunters are very offended.

The hunters crushed CHB in Capture the Flag that visits. Revenge accomplished.

The best thing for Reyna and Thalia is to see how shiny and nice their kid is. She was so afraid and alone. Now she has the hunters and both camps. She's opening up, and it's more than they could have wished for her.

Yup. The hunters love their new "recruit".

A.N.

Yeah, I like this au. A lot. If you guys will like it I'd be glad to make more headcanons about this! All you need to do is let me know!

Wish you enjoyed this!

[chequeredwhitpost]

Episode 4 - [So I’m Dating A Sorceress] >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

(The Next Day) | (School)

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I’m walking with Darci through the school-- since apparently nothing serious enough happened to shut the place down. But thankfully, yesterday at lunch went great. It was amazing to eat lunch with both my friends and my boyfriend. 

“You’ve got that ‘dream-boat’ look on your face again, Arya.” I hear Darci say.

Glancing over at her as she snickers, I ask her what she’s talking about. 

“You’re daydreaming face! The face you make when you’re thinking about your boyfriend, you know?” 

“How did you…?” 

“Oh, trust me, I get the same look when I’m thinking about Tobes. My dad’s always calling me out for it, too.” 

“Hmm..”

Darci suddenly gasps, grabs my wrist, and hauls me off in the direction of a group. 

“Claire! You’re back!” Darci exclaims, letting my wrist go. 

She goes to hug Claire but instinctively pulls back before they do. 

“You’re not sick anymore… right?” 

“Nope!” 

“Awesome!” 

They hug, as my presence is noticed by Toby and Jim.

“Hey, Arya.”

“Sup, Lake.” 

He frowns.

“What’s wrong?” I ask.

“Nothing. I just,-- you know you don’t have to call me ‘Lake’, right?”

“Oh, sorry. Just a habit, I guess.” 

I turn to the duke.

“Hey, Tobes.” I smile.

“Sup, Arya.” He waves.

When Darci and Claire pull away laughing, all eyes fall on them. 

“That was one killer cold!” Darci stumps, “We gotta celebrate now that you’re back!!” 

Toby balls his hands up into fists excitedly. 

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

Darci squeals, looking at me and Claire and Jim. 

“Double date!”

“Triple date!” 

Toby and Darci look at each other, Toby being confused.

“Triple? Who else do we know that’s dating?” 

Darci looks at me, pleadingly. 

Toby gasps.

“No way! You have a boyfrie--” 

Darci quickly covers Tobes’ mouth. 

“It’s a secret!!!” She whisper-shouts.

Claire’s face lights up and she realizes the news. 

“No. Way. Who is it??” 

Darci looks at me, begging me with her expression for permission to tell. I cross my arms and scoff.

“Fine. But this information does NOT leave this circle!!” 

“Got it!” 

“Understood!” Pipes Toby.

Everyone looks at Jim.

“Why would I want to tell? Your secret’s safe with me.” 

I nod at Darci, giving her permission to tell.

She squeals like a fangirl-shipper. “It’s Douxie!” 

The dust I feel on my cheeks comes to life, painting my face with pink and red blush. Toby and Claire gasp.

“You’re dating HIM??”

“Keep your voice down, Claire!!!” I hiss.

Toby snickers, “I told you that you were gonna wanna swoon.” 

I grumble under my breath, “Tch.” 

“Ok, you have a lot to explain later!” 

“Fine, fine. But I think he has to work tonight.” I mention. 

“Who, Douxie?” 

“Yeah. So, let me text him and see what’s happening. I’ll tell you guys what times work best for us.”

“And Toby and I will text you what we’re planning on doing for the date.” Darci nods to me. 

I return the gesture.

“Yeah. It’ll be good to get out.” Claire pips.

 The bell rings and we all split. 

“See you guys tonight~!” 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

As I’m sitting in history class, half-listening to Ms. Lilinud teaching the class, I’m holding my phone underneath my desk and texting Douxie about what his work schedule looks like for tonight. 

__________________

Arya: Hey, love, so our news of being together may have reached out just a bit to Darci, Claire, Toby and Jim. Though, for now, they’ve promised not to tell anyone.

Arya: But they’ve invited us out to a triple date tonight and I was wondering how long it looks like you’ll be on the clock? 

Douxie: Well, my shift’s over at 5:30 tonight, and I’m going in at 3:30. 

Douxie: What were they thinking of doing for the triple date?

____________________________

I text him all the details and then go into my contacts and text Darci what I learned.

I tell her that he’ll be working until 5:30 and she tells me that they were thinking of catching a movie at the theater. Toby’s pick. (And he’s keeping it a surprise, apparently.) Something tells me it’s going to be a scary movie… The cliche. And that we’d be going to a fancy steak place, too. Sounds great, and I really look forward to it. 

I sigh, putting my phone away to listen to the class lecture… boring. 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

(Time Skip)

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

It’s 5:53 right now, and I’m finally done getting ready for the date. I hear a knock at the front door and go to get it. (It’s really helpful that Jake’s over at a friend’s house tonight…) When I open the door, I find a very casual -- yet charming -- Douxie waiting on the front steps. He sees me in my attire and sort of just melts in his stance. 

He shakes his head, snapping out of my ‘magical’ trance. I laugh softly to myself and notice the flowers in his hands. They’re lilies, my favorite kind. He chuckles, rubbing the nape of his neck nervously, as he holds the bouquet out for me to have.

“For you, love.” He says, 

I smile, thanking him as I take them and quickly rush them to a vase. (After letting him in.) Once I add some water and put the lilies into a golden-clear colored vase, I turn to Douxie and we head on out. (Quick stay, but still.) 

I lock up the house behind me and we start walking for the restaurant. On the way, idle chit chat is made. 

…

“You look beautiful.” He tells me.

My cheeks turn pink as our hands brush up against each other while we walk. 

“And you look… charming, in the best way possible.” 

“Why thank you, love.” 

“Love?” I quote him.

“What’s wrong? Don’t like it?” 

“No, no, I like it! It’s just sudden… Is all…” 

“Hmm.. You know, you’re actually quite adorable when flustered.” 

“Douxie!” I giggle.

“Ah, come on, you know you like my flirting.” He nudges into me, 

I sigh contently, “I suppose you’re right.. I cannot deny a good liking to puns and flirts.”

“Yeah, that’s the Arya I know.” 

I lean closer to him and take his hand in mine. We walk the rest of the way, which isn’t very far, admiring the town at sunset. 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

When we arrive at the restaurant, we find Toby and Darci, and Jim and Claire sitting at a round table outside. It’s nice out, so I don’t really mind. But by the looks on Darci and Toby’s faces, we just missed an awkward moment. (Which I think is dodging a bullet, so whatever.) 

“Hey guys!” I greet them.

They all look to us as we approach -- Toby and Darci smiling like children on Christmas morning. Stupid but adorable. Douxie helps me into my seat, pushing me in, before taking his place right next to me. I pick up my menu and notice that a lot of the prices are through the roof. 

“Yikes! This place IS fancy!” I joke.

I earn a few laughs, before Toby brightens up and turns to Darci.

“Only the best for my Darci.” 

“Aww, T.P.” She swoons. 

Everyone goes to their menus. 

“Ooh! I heard the Duck Confede is stellar. I think I’ll get that.” 

“Same! O-M-G, when I went to Paris with the fam, the duck was amazing!” 

“Aaah, Pari~! Ze city of love! Tell me more?” Toby leans in closer to Darci, as I continue to browse the selections. 

I hear Claire talking about Paris in the background, but I don’t really tune in. I look over at Douxie and see him browsing the food, too.

“Hey, have you been here before?” I ask.

“Yes, but not as much as you’d think.”

“What’s your favorite thing to order here? I could use a recommendation right now, haha.” 

“I really like the stew and the steak. And their mashed potatoes are rather good too.” He leans in to whisper, “It’s a secret recipe that I have yet to slip out of the chef, haha.” 

“Hah. Well, you are always looking to improve your cooking!” 

As the table shifts suddenly, and Jim starts repeating the word ‘ow’, Douxie and I turn our heads to the two best friends, suspiciously…

O...Okay? Well, anyways… 

Darci turns her attention to both Claire and myself.

“So, Claire, Arya… You two both saw the first Danger House, right?” 

“Isn’t that a horror movie?” I ask. 

“You guessed correctly!”

“I don’t do great with horror movies…” 

Douxie chuckles from beside me, to which I roll my eyes-- smirking.

Darci turns to Claire, narrowing her gaze, “I haven’t seen it.” 

“O-M-G, well, where do I start?” 

As I listen to Darci explaining the movie’s basic plot, I notice Toby and Jim whisper-fighting behind their menus. ...Weird… 

I notice one of those familiar faces approaching our table in the restaurant uniform. 

When she gets to our side, she looks up from her notepad and sees Douxie and I, and we instantly recognize her. 

Zoe sighs and narrows her dagger-like glare onto Douxie. 

“Welcome to Minty’s Dining, where everything is perfectly in place. What can I get you on this lovely evening..?” She asks, as if she hates it here. 

I wouldn’t blame her if she has to greet people like that everytime. ‘Where everything is perfectly in place’? That’s weird. Really weird. 

Darci looks at Zoe and points to her menu.

“Ok, level with me,” 

As Darci is asking her food question, Toby turns to Douxie and I and starts making conversation.

“So, how long have you two been dating?” He asks,

“Not very long. Just since Saturday.” 

“Really? You two are being so… couple-y. It’s like you’ve been together longer than that.” I shrug, “Well, we’ve been friends since practically ever. You could just say that we’re really close in bond.” 

Douxie chuckles, laying his gaze on me, adoringly. I smile back just as strongly. 

“You two are such a cute couple.” Clarie notes. 

“Thanks. I could say the same of you and Jim,” and I turn to look at Toby, “And you and Darci.” 

“That’s awful sweet of you, but please, don't stop.” Toby jokes.

It earns a chuckle out of me.

As Zoe explains the ‘duck feet’ meal isn’t all that is says, Claire starts to sway back and forth in her chair, as if she’s really dizzy. She grabs her drink of water and takes a drink from it….

Toby whispers-shouts at Jim, something that I don't catch, but it clearly affects him. 

He takes his own menu and passes it to Zoe.

“Steaks all around! Thank you, Zeus. I’m sure you’re busy.”

“My name is Zoe.” She sighs, “Whatever. How do you want your steak prepared?” 

“Well done.” Jim answers,

“Well done~!” Toby says, followed by the same answer from me and Douxie.

Zoe hardly even looks at Claire before… 

Claire lets out a roar? 

“Raw! Dripping with blood!” 

I lean back in my chair instinctively, all sorts of freaked out. Douxie does the same. 

Everyone else looks at Claire, like she’s gone psycho.

Claire realizes what she’s said and quickly covers her mouth, shocked. Zoe gives Claire an impressed look, before writing that down.

“As you wish.” She smirks, “Six steaks, one extremely raw.” 

“I’ll be back with your orders shortly,” Zoe walks off. 

Douxie’s voice is slim, and quiet, but I still hear him when he asks me, 

“Tell me you saw that too…?” 

I nod. 

Claire stands up, suddenly freaked out with herself, and looks to Darci for help.

“Darc’? Bathroom?” 

Darci gets up to go with her and Toby starts panicking.

Douxie looks at me, questioning if I’m going to go with, which I probably should, but probably won’t. 

Claire looks back at me with sad eyes and I cave in. I get up and go to go.

I hear a thud, and a whimper and look back at Toby, wincing in pain. 

“The other… rule three…!” He squeaks. 

Dunno what that’s about, but it makes Darci freak.

“T.P! Are you OK? What happened?!” 

She clicks her tongue, looking to me, “I’ll be right there.” 

I sigh, looking at Douxie with a reassuring, and hopeful smile.

“I’ll take care of Claire until you get there.”

I follow Claire to the bathroom.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

We open the door to the lady’s room and walk in. I turn on one of the sinks and motion for Claire to come closer. 

“Here, try splashing your face with some cold water.” I suggest,

She nods and does what I say. 

“Come on, Claire, pull it together!” She tells herself. 

She looks in the mirror and sighs, before splashing her face again.

“That was quite a show you pulled out there. Any idea what happened?” 

“No. I just don't know what came over me.”

“Well, I think I might know…” 

Claire splashes her face again, and the lights here in the bathroom shut off. My suspicions are only confirmed when Claire’s reflection doesn’t follow her actions in the mirror. Instead, her face freezes in view. 

When Claire comes up and wipes her eyes, she sees her frozen reflection and questions it. 

“Uhh…” She hums.

Claire reaches her hand to touch the glass but her image comes to life. -- Which is enough to freak anyone out, really.

“Helloo~, darling!!” Says a harmful voice, “Claire, is it?” 

Claire backs up into the sink behind her. 

“This. Is. Not. Real!” 

I sigh, biting my nails, “I’m afraid it is, actually.” 

I step into view of the first mirror. 

“Hello, Morgana.” 

“Why, if it isn’t little miss Arya Sithers. My little ‘experiment’ from way back when. You were fun all those years ago~.” 

“This isn't a game, you know.” I snap. 

Claire, now breathing heavily, grabs onto my arm and hugs tight, confused.

“Arya? What is going on?!” 

“Can’t say. Don’t know. Not yet anyways.” 

“Oh, there’s that daring spirit of yours! I always did adore that part of you. You might even say that you got it from me~.”

“Bullshit. Now, this is how this is going to go--” 

“Ah, ah! Now, now, spirit. Be a good little pet and play nice.” 

“You do not own me.” 

“ARYA WHAT IS GOING ON!!?” 

“Claire, be quiet for like, two seconds, ok?” 

Claire’s ‘reflection’ in the mirror looks at the original.

“Ahaha, sorry dear. Did I scare you?”

“T-this isn’t real!” Claire rubs her eyes, “I’m-- I’m imagining this!” 

She tries running for the door, but gets held up by an invisible force… Or not really. More like… Magic.

“Claire!!” I cry out.

“Morgana, release her!! Now!!” 

“That’s funny. It almost sounds like you’re telling me what to do?” 

“I did! Let her go!” 

Morgana puts Claire down inside the restroom, slamming the door shut lock. 

“And you,” She says towards Claire,

I grab the maiden and pull her close. I will protect her.

“You think I’m just a reflection that you can run away from? I am under your skin.”

What? 

“No. You didn’t!!” 

Claire looks down at her hands, horrified. 

“Get out of me!” 

She slaps herself, hard.

“Claire!! Don't! That’s not gonna work!” 

“She’s right, you know~.” 

I glare daggers into the mirror, which reveals now Morgana’s form instead of Claire’s.

“Give me one good reason to not tear you apart! Right here! Right now!” 

“Because. You don’t want your date to end so soon, do you?” 

“Is that a threat?” 

“A threat for you? No. It’s a threat meant for HIM. Your precious Hisirdoux.” 

“Shut up!!” 

Morgana’s laugh echoes through the stalls. Now really freaking out, Claire starts walking backwards in between the line of stalls, 

“Stop it!” She cries.

She starts running herself into the doors.

“Claire! I just told you! That’s not going to work!!” 

I try to go to her, but a physical magic grabs me and hauls me back-- right into the wall. I grunt, my vision going hazy. A yellow light crawls out of the mirrors and approaches Claire. Morgana… No! 

“My! You are strong! Strong enough to wield my weapon. Strong enough to be my gracious host. You open up a big enough door and something’s bound to escape.” 

What… is she talking about?

“The portal… The sickness… The signs under my bed!” 

“You already told Gunmar all he needs to know, but since I’m out and about, I thought we kill Merlin’s Trollhunter! As soon as we get him alone!” 

“Claire…! No!!” 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I black out for a second. But it’s not long before ‘Claire’ is waking me up, aside Darci.

“Claire? What happened!!” 

“I don’t know. She just… fainted.” 

“Arya!”

I feel water splash me on the face. I open my eyes, a heavy pain all across my backside. Darci lets out a breath of relief and helps me up. 

“Arya are you OK?” 

“More like … K.O.ed.” I groan.

I glance over at Claire as Darci is checking me for bruises or broken bones. But her eyes glow yellow, and I know it really happened. Morgana… took Claire. 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

[End Chapter / Episode 4]