#we love Telemachus

[averagecontentenjoyer121]

Eh, changed my mind have this

Chapter 9: Healing

“And that’s what’s happened,” Athena finishes saying. “Huh. . . . . . . . . . Uh, I- I’ll be thinking this over at my loom. . .,” Penelope stutters, still in shock with eyes wide open. “So, dad’s,” Telemachus says, tears forming in his eyes. “I don’t know. But I can’t believe that he’s gone,” Athena says with a determined look on her face, “I just have this feeling.” Penelope exits the room with a cheer from a half drunken crowd. Telemachus follows her out to cover her, so no suitors get any ideas. Athena smiles at the show admiring how Telemachus figures he’d strike fear into the men, well as much as a 13 year old boy could.

That night Athena began to lie down having spent the entire day there attempting to become used to the pain in her left. However before she could rest Telemachus burst in, holding something behind his back whilst having a glowing smile on his face. “Mom’s been teaching me how to sew and so I thought I’d make this for you,” he’s proudly as he thrusts forward a crudely made stuffed owl. More so a pillow with vaguely defined owl aspects, “do you like it?’’

“Indeed, thank you so much,” Athena says, charmed by the pillow's shotty quality. “I thought I’d make you this so it wouldn’t hurt so much when you slept.” A genuine smile crept up Athena’s lips feeling the thought and care that went into the wonderful owl. “Good night Athena!” Telemachus cheerfully yelps like a happy pup, as he exits the room. As Athena lay in bed another familiar voice made itself known, “Time for sleep,” Hypnos buzzed out in his strange accent. “I think I’ll be fine on my own,” Athena says, caught off guard by her visitor sticking his head through the top of the window, seemingly upside down. “I guess you could tr-“ Hypnos begins saying before stopping and quickly taps Athena on the head causing her to instantly fall asleep. “Sleep tight princess,” Hypnos mockingly says while jumping out the window for a second time that day.

Athena woke up the next morning thinking she was still talking to Hypnos. She reached out as if trying to stop someone that wasn’t there only to realize what had happened. She felt embarrassed from letting someone get one over her. She tried to get out of bed only to slip on her pain, having forgotten what it felt like from being coddled by sleep, as she stumbled forward she caught herself with her uninjured arm. She let exhaled frustration form her nostrils. She lifted herself trying to balance on her splitting foot pushing through several grumbles and groans. Once she had gotten steady she ever so slowly began walking towards the door. Step by step she pushed forward, even though her body felt like it was stepping on a splinter the size of a branch each time. She had finally made it to the door having nearly bitten her lip off in trying to focus on something other than the pain. The chorus sang praises in her mind as she finally achieved something that took her a day to do. Walk to the door.

She pushed it open, still wobbling with each push forward. Athena gazed out into the empty dining hall where the suitors typically gathered. Seemed as if they’d retreated to wherever they camped out. She winced as the air brushed against her glowing eye. Athena moved around the house trying to get familiar with its layout when Penelope walked down from her room. “Oh, good morning Athena.”

“Morning Penelope.”

“You don’t have to call my Penelope each time, call me Penny.”

“I'd like to stick with Penelope if that’s alright.”

“Eh, whatever makes our guest comfortable. Oh do you need me to help with your hair,” Penelope said pointing towards the top of Athena’s head. Athena reached up feeling the fraying hairs that were usually curled. “Yes please, that’s be wonderful.”

Penelope led Athena up the stairs into the room her and Odysseus used to share. Penelope pulled over a chair and helped Athena to the floor. She the. Sat in the chair and began to meticulously comb and thread Athena’s hair. After an hour of work Penelope had finished. Athena’s hair now curled to perfection, shocking Athena in awe at her skills. In a moment of admiration and blind confusion Athena said, “Thank you mom,” with such familiarity that an outsider would think they were related. Her face then began glowing red having realized what she said. “I- I- I mean P- Penelope,” she said, tripping over her backpedaling. Athena got caught up in the feeling of finally being a part of a family for once that she had forgotten they weren’t related. “Your welcome sweety,” Penelope said with a mischievous smile on her face.

Athena shuffled out of the room with an awkward smile on her face. Penelope sat there smiling at how awkward Athena acted. It reminded her of when she first met Odysseus. After making her way to the bottom of the steps she decided to wander around the city. As she limped her way through the town she saw a dog laying on the porch of a house, an elderly couple cooking fish, a woman watering flowers she’d taken care of for years, and two boys chasing each other around. She had made her way to the gates. She went through the gate, into the salty air surrounding the beach. She made her way to the sand staring out into the sea.

“He has to be out there,” she says to herself as the waves roll in and out. She then sat down, reflecting. As she pondered the events of the past 2 years a dead fish had washed ashore beside her. She was suddenly ripped away having remembered the siren. What happened to her and why did she help me were the thoughts that shouted in her mind. She leaned down and picked up the fish, taking it with her as she walked back toward Ithaca.

whenever she had gotten back to the palace it was once again flooded by suitors. Astonished by their speed, Athena starred in disbelief. “Oi, you’s a beggar?” Shouted one of the swine, causing the eyes of the men to fall on her. “Maybe she’s ’ere for the throne,” chuckled another. “Perhaps she came to party?” said another in a horrid tone. “Maybe she’s in need of a walking stick judging by that limp,” snarled another. “Boys, boys. Calm yourselves. That’s no way to talk to a fine lady,” said Antinous, attempting to be charismatic. “I don’t need your help,” she said, pushing him aside by palming his face. “Is that your way of saying thanks wench!” Shouted the immature voice. Athena turned around staring down at him, her glowing eye peering at him through the shadows on her face. “Oh big bat wants to say somethi-“ he gets cut off by Athena decking him in the jaw. She turned away heading back to the guest room where she resided as Antinous lay there squirming in pain. Telemachus began cheering for Athena but was shut up by the stares of the suitors.

This night the transition from one day to another wasn’t as seamless as the first. When Athena awoke she could recall hearing singing in her dreams. This continued day after day through the years and so did her growing collection of stuffed creatures made by Telemachus. Each getting better and better, but the first would always hold a special feeling to Athena. She got into several more fights with the suitors when one of them over stepped making sure to keep the family as safe as she could in her permanently debilitated state. Hermes appeared here and there to say hi to his great great grandson and gossip with Athena, albeit he would talk and Athena would listen. Dionysus showed up once attempting to convince Athena to drink, offering that it’d make her forget about the pain she was in, but she declined. Hephaestus would have Hermes send Athena new armor and weapons that he made for her. Hypnos would always annoy Athena each night finding a way to out-wit her so he could help her sleep. She would spar with Telemachus to grow his skills and aid Penelope in weaving.

[witless-winion1]

Telemachus, crying that he finally gets to meet his dad: “For twenty years, I never could outgrow you”

Odysseus, the short king, also crying: son, you are several inches taller then I am

[official-english-major]

Telemachus's life post-Odyssey has the potential to be so funny bc bro is suddenly going from the son of, essentially, a single mom to the son of two VERY in-love middle aged sweethearts who never had to learn boundaries about what is/isn't appropriate to say around their kid.

Penelope: I knew that "beggar" was you the whole time, you know.

Odysseus, laughing: Oh, really?

Penelope: You can disguise a lot of things, but I'd know that ass anywhere.

Telemachus: I am begging you guys to keep it in your pants for ONE family dinner.

[tyrannosarahsrex8]

Found a clip explaining song 40, the last song in epic the musical, (spoilers?) is a duet and this headcannon came to me lol.

Text if my hand writing is too hard to read:

Panel 1:

Odysseus: okay, okay. Time to reunite with Penelope. aahhhh

Athena: she’s outside your bedroom

Telemachus: I-I’m sure it’ll be okay?

Panel 2:

O: wish me luck

A: you’ll be fine

T: good luck!

Panel 3:

A&T: …

[psychicsamlover]

Everytime I look at Telemachus I feel so much joy in my heart.

Like... He just fought a bunch of men who had been threatening him and his mother for years (and he didn't die! although he was very close to it). He didn't really want to hurt them (but he also chose a weapon that would allow him to fight groups of them at the same time), but he did it anyway because he had to.

He finally met his dad and cared more about not living up to his expectations than about the fact that he just saw someone's head being chopped off right in front of him by his dad (but hey that was a man who threatened to break his hands so that's okay).

And then his dad said "no more bullshit, you are the sweetest joy I've known, you're strong as you are, I love you so much and I can't wait to know you better".

And then he goes to tell his mother good news, they probably hug (as they should) and cry some happy tears before and after Odysseus and Penelope reunite (there's just so much happy crying in that palace).

And he also has a cool bestie goddess who's literally willing to die for him (honestly same) and will probably teach him more cool spear moves.

And look at him. He's so cute and badass at the same time. My favorite type of character. There's so much light and kindness in his eyes, but now we also know that he can "do whatever it takes to keep his *family* safe".

[backpackingspace]

Odysseus with his head in his wife's lap, happily not paying attention to anything, humming one of athenas song and carving something

Some random guy: your majesty----

Odysseus: not bothering to sit up: whatever my wife decided is fine.

[arrowheadedbitch]

Spoiler for Ithaca saga

"Used to say I'd make the storm clouds cry for you

Used to say I'd capture wind and sky for you

Have you in my arms prepared to die for you

Oh how time has flown"

Has me SCREAMING because he said that when he saw baby Telemachus and then HE ACTUALLY DID IT

Poseidon, the wind bag, the war and the whole journey, HE REALLY DID ALL THE THINGS HE SWORE HED BE WILLING TO DO FOR HIS SON RAAAA

[khuuxu]

They're stuck in my head...

[fan-kingdoms]

extremely silly epic the musical thought:

so imagine that everything in ithaca has settled down, suitors and families dealt with, kingdom up and running, etc. now that there isn’t an active crisis in the country, athena has to return to her usual godly duties and can’t be around all the time— she still drops in to train telemachus and check on the general state of affairs, but she can’t Always be on ithaca when she has an entire domain to rule over/business on olympus. so she comes by less often, which telemachus is obviously very sad about (she is kind of his only friend, after all)

and now imagine athena, who obviously cares about telemachus very much (and is well acquainted with his not-so-subtle abandonment issues), deciding to leave a token with him to comfort him during her absences. so she tames an owl for him, a beautiful barn owl with a massive wingspan and honey-colored feathers, because of course her student/friend deserves nothing but the best

(more under the cut bc i care for your dash)

athena gives the owl to telemachus so A. he has a loyal animal companion again (he’s been down ever since argos passed) and B. so he knows that athena might be away from ithaca, but she’s never really gone, she’s still with him

telemachus is overjoyed and he names her after one of athena’s many epithets: Acraea, meaning “of the heights” (yes, because she’s a bird. he’s not the most creative prince on the planet). and he absolutely ADORES this owl. takes her everywhere with him— to the marketplaces, on the royal hunting grounds, she even sits on the arm of his chair while he and his parents hold court. no one sees telemachus without seeing acraea perched on his forearm, or on his shoulder, or even plopping down right on his head when his arms are busy (he looks especially silly like that, average-sized prince with a very large bird roosting in his hair, but no one would dare to tell him. not because he is the prince, but because he looks so entirely happy that they don’t want to ruin it)

so everyone knows about telemachus’s (very large, very beautiful) owl friend acraea

at this point— after the trojan war, the slaughtering of the suitors, athena’s odyssey-canon appearance in order to stop more bloodshed— it’s common knowledge on ithaca that athena favors the royal family. the bards sing about odysseus’s patron all the time, and telemachus is the heir to the throne.

so now imagine. that the wires got crossed somewhere and now the entirety of ithaca thinks prince telemachus is casually carrying the goddess of wisdom around on his arm.

it all makes sense— it’s very clearly a special bird, with its size and the way its feathers seem to glitter in the light, it is attached to the ithaca royal family (it sits court with them! it must be advising them!), and it literally has one of athena’s names. that has to be it, right? right??

and one day at the market telemachus notices that more people are bowing to him than usual. as the prince, he’s used to signs of respect, but he always considered himself friendly and approachable. one of the fishermen even kneeled to him as he walked past, isn’t that strange? and when one of the guards asked him to come over to the armory and help take stock of their weapons he seemed to direct his eyes at acraea when he said “if that’s alright with you.” at first telemachus thinks it’s an odd series of coincidences, until one day a servant who came to his room to deliver a message bowed to his owl before even addressing him

and on one hand telemachus wants to immediately clear up this misunderstanding so people will stop being weird to him (and his owl) again. on the other hand, the opportunity to royally fuck with the entire island is just too good to pass up and who knows, athena might find it funny

so he starts talking to acraea more often and more loudly, publicly asking her for advice and pretending to consult with her before he makes a decision. he has her fly beside him more often to show off her wings, and best of all, he brings owl treats with him everywhere to see the look on people’s faces when they see him feeding “athena” a treat and telling her to behave. odysseus is mildly concerned that using athena’s image like this might offend some god and cause them more issues all over again. penelope thinks it’s fucking hilarious.

TLDR: athena gifts telemachus an insanely pretty owl so he doesn’t miss her too much post-odyssey and now all of ithaca is convinced that telemachus’s emotional support animal is actual literal athena

[sea-jello]

so telemachus did not know odysseus was back until the start of ichbw, which means he came back from his diplomatic mission to see the DEAD BODIES of the guys whove been harassing him and his mom for years, and just decided to ride the wave and throw down alongside whoever the hell was killing them

[averagecontentenjoyer121]

I’ve been Hades pilled for the past week and have seen studying the art. So I decided to make some of my favorite artists here on Tumblr some presents.

Merry Halloween

Hope y’all like them @gigizetz, @irunaki, and @sloanslone

[sweet-angeleye]

Posting this before I forget lol

[dkunknowing]

bromance is real

[rin-sith]

Let me release some character headcanons into the wild real quick, specifically about Odysseus and his family. And by headcanons I mean my canon-compliant (as far as I'm aware) interpretation of their characters and arcs.

Penelope: A quiet, gentle, book-smart girl underestimated by everyone and considered "plain" especially next to Helen. Odysseus was the one who saw her for the interesting amazing person she was, hence why she fell in love with him.

She's logical, introverted, a bit of a nerd, and a little shy; she prefers to remain in the background instead of the spotlight. When Odysseus is away for 20 years and she deals with the suitors Penelope grows to be more resolute and bold, having to step into a leadership role even if she doesn't prefer to do so. She can kick ass if she has to (both verbally and physically) but doesn't enjoy doing it herself (setting her apart from the usual Spartan.) Even over the years, she remains introverted, preferring her books and her son's company over politics, battles, and annoying strangers.

She admires Odysseus for his bold leadership, his talent for improvising and handling crowds and attention, his cunning, and his battle prowess, the fact that he has and would never diminish or humiliate himself to impress or please anyone (even her), as well as his undying loyalty. Moreover, his bold, adventurous energy has always made each day an adventure and without him, her life feels really empty and dull. She's always been the steady, level-headed one in the relationship who doesn't shy away from telling him when he might be making a mistake and grounding and supporting him when he needs it.

Odysseus: A bold, somewhat reckless, confident boy who grew into a decisive, cunning king. Penelope was the one who saw his good heart underneath his carefree and somewhat condescending demeanor, acknowledging him for the well-intentioned person he really is hence why he fell in love with her.

He's got the smartest mouth in all of Greece and can talk his way in or out of *almost* anything. He's more street-smart than book-smart, able to improvise, lead, and think on his feet. He's unafraid to speak up and talk back (even to the gods), which has gotten him in trouble countless times (not that he'd ever stop.) During his 20-year-long ordeal, he naturally became more ruthless, less over-confident, and more willing to do what was necessary to reach his goal, but he never actually lost either his good heart or his true values, only covered them up because he thought he had to. Before and after he was a natural leader and diplomat, a cunning and strong warrior, and someone who isn't afraid to be in the spotlight and take responsibility when he has to. If anything, he tends to blame himself too much. Although after his return his trauma and bad experiences leave him more hesitant and insecure in his leadership than he's ever been; it takes a while and a lot of support for him to grow back into it and stop seeing himself as the monster and the one who is to blame for the deaths of his entire crew.

In Penelope, he admires her intelligence, her steadiness, her undying loyalty, and the fact that she will always ground him, call him out, and support him in often the same breath. He's always been the decisive one in the relationship with better people skills, but without her reassurance that he's doing the right thing, he is only half as confident in any decision made. He finds strength and assurance in knowing that she would follow him to the ends of the earth, but also keep him from straying onto the wrong path without hesitation.

Telemachus: While inheriting his father's bold, fearless attitude, he has also his mother's gentleness and dislike for politics. Growing up seeing how dejected and miserable she was because of his father's absence, he has developed a positive, sunshine attitude, also to brighten her life a little.

He's both naive and not at the same time; being bullied by the suitors for so long, he knows human depravity very well, but being stuck in Ithaca, he doesn't understand the sacrifice and pain that comes with being a hero. He's somewhat of an ambivert—book-smart like his mother but also fearless like his father. Mostly he's just a kind, good person who wants to bring light to the people in his life that he cares about and will always choose to greet the world with open arms when possible.

When his father returns, he becomes the new light in his life as well, helping him to open his heart again after what he's been through and giving him new hope in the way that Polites used to. He admires his mother's intelligence and dedication, and her endurance and ability to step out of her comfort zone and confront bad people when she has to. In his father, he admires his leadership, his loyalty, his endurance, his battle prowess, and ruthlessness—his ability to do what he has to do. Telemachus sees his own inability to be so ruthless as a shortcoming, even though Odysseus is more than happy that his son is not like him in this regard and tries to shield him from anything that may change this.

[mer-acle]

no listen consider Telemachus being the one to get athena into 'grumpyly resting owl" mode bc he gives her puppy eyes and athena cant say to him she just cant more than pen or oddy or anyone really. Telemachus totally doesnt abuse this power lol

Athena is just like "I have trained withstanding Ares' puppydog eyes for like 3000 years this should not be my weakness" Meanwhile Ody is like Good work son XD

[thelucidduchess]

Okay so I was listening to We’ll be Fine for the 10846382th time and I noticed something.

At the end of the song, Athena says, “You’re a good kid.” Which is super cute but it made me start to think.

Telemachus is twenty, so technically, he’s a full grown adult. Odysseus probably wasn’t too much older than him when he left for Troy. Athena is calling someone who could get married and have children and go to war a ‘kid’?

Well… yeah. She’s right.

It reminds me of when you’re reading a book when you’re a child, and you’re like “Wow, these characters are my age! So cool!”

But then as you grow up, you realize that “Oh no, these are children. They have no place in all of this.”

I feel like something similar is going on inside Athena’s mind during that song.