#and it's only the first chapter

[shoefaced2]

everyone before chapter 4: we should give ralsei a blunt because it'd be soooo funny haha.

everyone after chapter 4: we should give ralsei a blunt because he fucking needs one. for the love of god.

[cerealmonster15]

PITAYA DRAGON COOKIE PLEASE WEIGH IN ON YOUR BATTLE WIFE'S NEW LOOK

[egophiliac]

we were fucking ROBBED

[loveletterworm]

That one cutscene where Kris talks to Tenna alone makes me a bit sad...

I've also realized that even if I draw Kris entirely normally, as long as they're next to Tenna they look like a tiny child the size of a pea. This can also make me a bit sad if I try hard enough

[halfmoonstruck]

so sooooo many moments i will be thinking about forever. but these ones in particular wanted to be drawn first

[literallyjusttoa]

I think I'm gonna make a reblog chian of all the little phrases and Apollo uses throughout ToA, now that I'm rereading it. Bc like, he has such a unique way of speaking, and I really wanna dig into it, you know? Ok let's start.

He says "heavens help me" instead of "heaven help me" using the plural the same way demigods do with "oh my gods". I'm guessing this is an acknowledgment of other pantheons? Or I'm looking too far into it, I've just never heard this phrase with a plural "heavens" before.

He calls Cade and Mikey "Ruffians" . And he makes fun of the arrow for being Shakespearean.

He also refers to people as "Mortals" a lot here, which I remembered him doing, but now I want to keep track and see if he keeps that up throughout all the books, or if it peters out near the end.

"I thought how amusing it would be if I could make the snake tattoos around his neck come alive and strangle him to death" I honestly love how violent Apollo's thoughts can be sometimes. Like, you can tell he's someone who has done shit like this before.

I also want to keep track of all the little anecdotes Apollo brings up, so we'll start with the guitar contest against Chuck Berry in 1957, which apparently ended with him getting repeatedly stomped on.

"But something told me this was not she" II love how it's the little things that really get across how old Apollo is. Rick could've easily just said "It wasn't her" or something, but instead he had Apollo phrase this in a way that is far more formal, and more reminiscent of the grammatical patterns of old english. Idk it's just really cool.

(Side note that's not connected to Apollo: Meg's glasses are black? I feel like I've been living a lie, I've been coloring them red for years lol)

God his metaphors are just so striking. Like, I can imagine the phrase "Whatever was left of my pride turned into ice water and trickled into my socks" but I don't want to, because that's such a visceral feeling. I like that Apollo inadvertently proving how poetic he is by making the reader as uncomfortable as possible.

I think I'm gonna start crying out "Horrors!" when I'm upset to. I think I deserve that level of drama.

ahh the classic "My blessings upon you!" Again, I love how every little line characterizes him. Either it's overly formal, like before, or subtly arrogant, like here, or both. It's so fun.

I need to write him saying "Sacred Sibyl!" more. Because that is such a fun little term. Rolls right off the tongue, honestly.

I think I'm gonna leave it there for now, but trust that I will definitely be adding more to this later. Bc Lester-speak is so fun to really look into.

[parksrway]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHEIK!!!!!!!!!!!!!! this au has been ruining my life for 4 years now

[szynkaaa]

His travel companion asked him if it really was necessary to kill every single enemy they encounter, so he decided to push the yaoguai back into the ground

based on the One Piece scene with Luffy and a zombie

[buttercupshands]

can you even call it a warm up if I'm going to bed without drawing anything big

and a sketch I made while sitting in the park today

[two-ii-tango]

"new sexyman?" and its just spamtons fuckass ex husband. Where do you think that little shit got his swag from .

[loveletterworm]

I was finally able to bring myself to draw some of the various cutes outfits from Chapter 3 (I wanted to draw them as soon as I saw them but I ended up being in shock by the time I was free to do that.)

I should probably start chapter 4 some time today...It's already getting too risky to put it off much longer...

[ricky-mortis]

Yesterday was the 100th anniversary of The Great Gatsby being published, so I drew Gatsby and Nick to celebrate :)

[falling-star-cygnus]

girl threw them over her shoulder and dead-sprinted, no WONDER her name is Kouign-Amann [get it? because the pronunciation is like 'queen?']

i'm a sucker for characters strong enough to just HEAVE their partners into the air like it's nothing, like- it's one of my favorite tropes and it doesn't get utilized NEAR ENOUGH with the girlies

[chaoslibra]

♪ ༘⋆ ᴅʀᴀᴡɴ ᴛᴏ ʏᴏᴜ — t.todoroki smau

//

i. stranger danger iii. practice session

ii. shush boykissers 𝄞 m.list

you were already a pretty light sleeper under normal conditions, so it wasn't surprising that the loud creaking of the floorboards woke you up in the middle of the night. at first you just assumed, that tomura had gotten up to get himself a glass of water and were ready to go back to sleep without a second thought. but something didn't feel right. the steps felt heavier, too heavy for someone who had just rolled out of bed.

immediately your chest tightened. thoughts raced to your head about who the intruder could possibly be. one thought in particular clung to you, but you refused to let yourself entertain it. everything rational within you screamed for you to text tomura and get both of your asses out of here. and yet, not a second later you had hushed across your room to hear the intruder better. your ear was glued to the door, trying to make out any sound. 

there were only a few more creaks, followed by a heavy thud. the steps were a lot lighter now and the floorboards didn't creak anymore. it was safe to assume that the person had taken their shoes off. but why? if they had broken in, why would they bother taking their shoes off? you knew, you should be a lot more terrified, but for some reason you were just confused. 

a deep breath escaped your lips before you slowly pressed down the door handle. this was a stupid decision. you knew full well, that you should have probably run the other way the moment you had heard any type of noise. the smartest decision would have been to climb out the window and use the little ledge on the window sill to climb over to tomura's room and wake him up. instead you gently pushed the door open and stepped into the pitch black living room. 

you couldn't hear any steps. the sudden dead silence enveloped you like an eery, dark cloak. you had expected to see a figure move through the room, but there was none. there was no way you had imagined all of it, was there? from the door to your room, you could see the entire living room. to see the kitchen, though, you would have to round the corner, because the wall from the entry hallway that connected to the kitchen island blocked your view to it. there was a slight rustling sound again, followed by the fridge being opened? you'd never heard of people going through fridges, when breaking and entering, but in all fairness, in this economy, you couldn't blame them for trying. obviously they didn't know your brother well, though. if they did, they would know his fridge wasn't worth opening. there was never anything worthwhile in there, except for energy drinks, ice cream and half empty take-out containers if you were lucky.

"fuck's sake!" a deep voice hissed.

you were pretty sure now, that it was a guy, but you couldn't place the voice. that was much more relieving, that it should be, but a man you didn't know was very likely to be safer, than the ones you did know. still, you grabbed tomura's keys from the little bowl in the entry way – careful not to let the keychains dangle. you tiptoed over to the kitchen, the cold metal of the keys digging into your skin. you kept close to the wall, so he wouldn't see you, but by the time you reached the kitchen island, he was already walking back toward the living room. you could only hope, that he hadn't seen you yet. you pushed your body into the wall, as if that would make it swallow you. 

he stopped walking. you decided to take that second to try and at least make out some features. he was dressed so dark, that his frame almost entirely blended into the pitch black background. he was wearing a hooded jacket, hiding any feature you would have otherwise maybe seen, beneath it. his arm shifted, at least that's what you assumed it was, since your eyes still hadn't gotten used to the dark. that proved unnecessary a second after, because his elbow hit the light switch. the sudden shift in lighting momentarily blinded you and somehow turned off the alarm signals, that should have told you to get the fuck out of there.

"not running off this time?" you jumped back hearing the playful tone of his voice.

blinking a few times to get used to the very bright light, you stared up at him. when you recognized who he was, you felt both relief that he wasn't some psycho killer and a little annoyed that he had obviously noticed you a bit ago and messed with you for whatever reason. you had been right about him wearing all black, though. his thick hooded jacket covered his pitch black hair almost entirely. it didn't however cover the shit-eating grin, that he was staring down at you with.

"to be fair, you were a strange man in my brother's apartment." you crossed your arms in front of your chest. "and i was in a towel."

"fair enough." he laughed pulling the hood of his jacket down. 

even though you hadn't really looked at him, when you had bolted out of the room yesterday, you had seen his face a bunch online before. he had been everywhere together with the rest of lov, when their first single blew up. now that dabi's face was lit entirely, you could see the black ink snaking its way up his neck from below his jacket. there weren't any on his face, but he had more than enough piercings to make up for it. just from a quick glance you could see little silver balls adorning his right eyebrow, three more on the left side of his nose and he had snake bites. his black hair was tousled into every possible direction, sticking out in messy spikes. he was taller than you and a good bit broader, too, though that could just as well be the thickness of his jacket.

"didn't mean to wake you up, by the way." he unzipped his jacket and lazily dropped it onto the kitchen island. even though the hoodie that he was wearing under it was baggy and obviously intended to fit loosely, you could see the broad shoulders underneath it. the tattoos from his neck obviously continued under the collar of his hoodie.

"you're good." you smiled, awkwardly shifting your feet.

he just nodded and slumped onto the couch. you assumed that to have been the end of your conversation and where just about ready to leave, when he spoke up again. "i'm dabi by the way."

it was kind of funny that he felt the need to introduce himself, when you both knew, that you were aware who he was. maybe he just thought it was the polite thing to do. 

"y/n." you said quietly. you weren't sure if tomura had mentioned your name. himiko had told you earlier tonight, that tomura had never mentioned you, so you probably were right to introduce yourself. dabi just hummed, resting his feet on the coffee table next to three open cans of monster and the bag of chips tomura had opened sometime before you had moved in. his eyes turned to you again, looking at you, almost as if he was trying to remember something.

"wait, i know you." you furrowed your brows looking back at him. "didn't you say you didn't like lov on twitter bout a week ago?"

if only you had taken the advice of the smarter part of your brain and climbed out the window when you had the chance. you laughed awkwardly, wishing you could be anywhere but here – preferably somewhere six feet under ground. and not right in front of the bassist of the band, you had publicly claimed hating, even though it had been for a joke. the whole thing had blown up completely with their vicious fans literally blowing up your phone with hate comments and threats. you remembered vividly that somehow dabi, of all people, had found your post and even commented. tomura had found the entire thing hilarious, because of course he did. but he had never mentioned to dabi that the person who had made that viral post, was his sister.

"i didn't actually mean that." you choked out an awkward laugh. dabi's head tilted to the side. he stared at you so intensely now, as if he were genuinely curious about the explanation. you just then noticed how brightly blue his eyes were. which was only accented with the black color that was smudged all around his eyes. and it looked like he was wearing black mascara as well. "i honestly just wanted to mess with tomu. never expected that shit to blow up the way it did."

he looked at you for a good second, as if he was processing what you had just said. and then he just snorted out a laugh. "so what i'm hearing is you don't actually think we suck?" 

"didn't say that, did i?" you decided to be petty and mess with him a little. as payback for him messing with you earlier. from the way his eyebrow raised, you assumed that he hadn't expected that answer. "wait for real?"

you just shrugged, trying your best to keep a straight face. he kept his bright eyes on you, trying to gauge your expression for any sign if you were being serious or not. he gave up a few seconds after.

"come on, you're killing me here."

you laughed seeing how invested he seemed to be. it was kind of nice to see, how serious he was taking this, especially since you know how much the band meant to your brother. you decided to make him suffer no longer.

"i'm kidding." it was funny to watch the actual relief on his face. "most of your stuff's actually really good."

"just most, huh?" he leaned back on the couch very quickly switching to his grin from before. you stared at him with a deadpan expression, which of course, he found even more amusing.

"obviously not what i meant." you rolled your eyes.

dabi let out a soft chuckle, still actively amused by annoying you. even though, he was sure, that you weren't actually as annoyed as you tried to look. and he would've been right. "you have a favorite?" 

"hm?"

dabi grinned seeing your head tilt, not understanding what he wanted from you.

"favorite song, i mean." 

the question left you more stumped, than it probably should have. you had been honest with dabi, you really did like all of their music. both the heavier rock songs they played and the very few slower songs they had – even their covers were usually very nice to listen to. even though, tomura usually asked you for your opinion the moment, they released anything, you had never really been able to pick a clear favorite. though you had been able to give him an answer earlier, that was usually heavily influenced by the way you were feeling on that particular day.

"don't think i could pick that easily." you shrugged. "but i've been listening to blue from the new ep a lot."

something lit up in his eyes, when you said that. it was subtle enough, thought for you to not really register it as out of the ordinary. dabi just hummed in response, not commenting on your choice at all. silence befell the two of you. the realization hit, that it was probably well over four am in the morning and though, tomura had the ability to sleep through five fire alarms blaring at the same time and would not be woken up by the two of you just talking, you should probably sleep at some point, if you wanted to at least pretend to pay attention in your 8am class.

"i should probably head back." you said, already turning on your heel, when dabi stopped you.

"hold on." he got up from the couch and was now standing barely two feet away from you. "give me your number."

"huh?" you couldn't help but stare at him for a couple seconds. the surprise on your face was palpable and probably really obvious, but you had genuinely not expected him to say that. especially not as demanding as he did. he just smiled, completely ignoring how you had reacted, which you were sure he was doing purposefully. 

"you live here too, now. 's only fair, i give you a heads up when i'm coming over." he explained.

that made a lot of sense, actually. and it was really considerate of him. you quickly hushed into the kitchen and grabbed a little piece of paper from one of the cabinets. you quickly scribbled your number on it and handed it to him. he thanked you and haphazardly folded it before letting it slip into the side pocket of his pants. it didn't really occur to you, until then, that you had given an entirely strange guy your number, but you figured, that it wasn't that much of an issue, considering that tomura was close to him. 

"it was nice to meet you, dabi." you smiled at him. " good night."

"night, y/n."

♪ ༘⋆ ʙᴀᴄᴋꜱᴛᴀɢᴇ ᴘᴀꜱꜱ

⋆ everyone in the band is a boykisser.

⋆ himiko leans more to women, but she's had crushes on boys before (she just loves love).

⋆ touya is the only one of the guys to have had been with women before. though unlabelled, tomura and spinner have both only dated guys.

⋆ tomura will deny it, but him and touya have kissed before (on multiple occasions).

⋆ the band practices under the basement of the black wing, that keigo let's them use for free, since they play gigs in the bar for free and that brings in a lot of people

⋆ keigo actually hadn't intended of having y/n work a full shift, but she did well enough, that he decided to skip the trial shift and immediately hired her

⋆ rumi and y/n immediately clicked within ten minutes of working together. on that note, rumi spent about twenty minutes teaching y/n about the bar and the rest of the day relentlessly bullying keigo and bitching about shitty customers

⋆ himiko immediately forced both y/n and rumi to stop working when she and the band ( - dabi obviously) walked in, because she was so excited to meet tomura's sister.

⋆ they spent an hour getting to know each other and it would have been more, but spinner came up from the basement to drag her to practice

⋆ y/n had fully expected ochaco to leave, when her friends called her to go out for ice cream with her and had not at all expected to be invited. himiko tried sneaking out with them, when they went down to say bye to the band, but spinner caught her

⋆ ochaco calls all her female friends muses. she has a folder dedicated to each one, full of pictures she took (with consent ofc). himiko’s folder was already twice the size of the average when the two were still friends.

[ taglist open ]

tags: @fictionalcharactersownmyheart @hktfbuo @commonmisery @lsunncy @kyiyoko @seijuroww @themultifandomgirl @samm1e13 @kalulakunundrum @porusuniverse @oddball08 @starseclipsing @jlly1 @softasshadows @peachesvault @starzzworld @starrmage @letsgolulu @cristy-101 @brixmeeler @skeletonmoths @togeswrld

ignore the timestamps

header made by @koznme ily

[ilions-end]

i finished statius' ACHILLEID. thoughts thoughts thoughts:

i knew going in it was a VERY short unfinished epic, but i didn't know it would be FUN?? if i ever get that time machine, FIRST THING i go back and find one publius papinius statius, i lock him in a room, and i'm NOT letting him out until he's finished the achilleid!

achilles is statius' BLORBO in a way neither homer, quintus nor virgil have blorbos. statius likes achilles to be strong and pretty and graceful, but most of all ENDEARING even when he fails. and he fails a lot, because this is him still figuring out how to be an adult, not to mention a prophesied legend literally everyone is waiting for to step up

the one thing that gets tiring is just how many prophecies permeate the achilleid. nothing's left to chance, there are so few unknowns. even ODYSSEUS was aware that from peleus' wedding there would come a child destined to be a central warrior in an upcoming gigantic war.

as it stands, the achilleid is more of a... thetisiad? she is very centered in the narrative (we spend more time looking at things from her point of view than achilles') and there is SO MUCH SYMPATHY for her, oh my gosh!! she loves ONE person, her son, the only worthwhile thing she got out of a traumatizing marriage, and she despairs that he's fated to die young in a silly human war.

also i'm a deidamia defender forever now. so three-dimensional, so clever!

aughhh i love how much characterization statius puts in, even in the small scenes! my favourite example is odysseus and diomedes as they walk up to lycomedes' place (literally just moving characters from A to B). diomedes teases odysseus, and odysseus is delighted to be teased. that night we're told odysseus CAN'T SLEEP because he's too excited about showing off his plan the next morning!

the unveiling of achilles is completely different from the chagrined defeat/"achilles is a fucking idiot" ways i've heard it retold! i love that it's collaborative, it's a mutual triumph. it's just as much achilles (who's been suffering in gender dysphoria hell for a year) longing to be exposed as it is odysseus LIVING for showing everyone (especially diomedes?) how clever he is. it's not just the shield and the spear and the bugle, it's odysseus playing the part of the siren, whispering in achilles' ear that he knows who he is and describing how glorious he will be on the trojan battlefield. it's achilles' grateful relief at being ALLOWED not to pretend anymore as he rips off his own dress even before the bugle calls

also it's very important to me that the moment he's no longer hunching over trying to make himself look small and inoffensive, we're told achilles is taller than both odysseus and diomedes

i KEEP IMAGINING how good statius would have made the rest!! especially because as book ii ends, achilles regards odysseus as a cool uncle; he's the guy who rescued him! i want to think statius would have put in the big mystery quarrel achilles and odysseus are said to have had early in the war, something to drastically change that affection. i want to know how statius would have handled troilus, and the gods. augh statius you roman BLUEBALLER

an assortment of story beats still revolving in my head:

chiron is such a sweetheart!! he's SO gallant with thetis, he's so affectionate with achilles. he HIDES HIS TEARS when achilles leaves, awww

statius writes out phoinix completely. as a phoinix stan i object. sure chiron can raise young achilles, but i NEED phoinix to tend to him as a baby

i enjoy how achilles EXPLODES into a mess of teenagerly hormones when he first sees deidaima. it's so funny that thetis is looking on (and we get my favourite simile of the achilleid, of a herdsman delighting in a young bull snorting and foaming at a beautiful heifer) like "aaaaand there's my son's sexual awakening. i see! well, we can use that" and THAT explains why achilles is so willing to commit to the female disguise

(listen. listen. few things mean more to me than the love between achilles and patroclus. but achilles is a teenage boy at the age when a fucking breeze will give him a boner, and deidamia is the most beautiful and the cleverest of her sisters. i really enjoy a story where achilles and deidamia are neither "fated eternal true love" or one's a sneaky opportunist. it's much more compelling that they're both knots of budding emotions and bodily feedback)

i notice that statius never uses the name pyrrha, he doesn't seem to have a fake name at all, just "achilles' sister"

lycomedes is SO honoured and proud that thetis is entrusting her daughter to him. i feel sorry for lycomedes, he seems so earnest and hasn't done anything to get tricked

the one thing i can't forgive statius for is that after spending SO much time establishing that achilles and deidamia (who knows he's a guy) are genuinely into each other, it feels like statius goes OUT OF HIS WAY assuring us that their first sexual encounter is rape. sure they talk right after, deidamia forgives him, AND i understand there are social rules that makes deidamia more "honourable" and "worthy" when she resists, but like. sigh.

aLONG with the previously mentioned interplay between odysseus and diomedes as they walk up to lycomedes' court, there's a simile where they're both starving wolves on the hunt. so sexy it's almost illegal

the feast scene is SO FUNNY omg. all of achilles' careful feminine training dissolving because odysseus and diomedes are there with their boundless masculinity for him to feed off of. deidamia practically WRESTLING achilles back down on the couch every time he forgets himself and behaves too much like a man. odysseus chatting with lycomedes SPECIFICALLY trying to rile up achilles, and then after the women have left (achilles dragging his feet and looking back, YEARNING for their male company) odysseus specifically praises the maiden's "almost masculine" beauty (because ohh he suspects. he just needs to prove it in the morning. he can't SLEEP for it)

when they depart, achilles earnestly swears to deidamia that no other women shall ever bear his children. i find it interesting as a reminder of the social rules of its era. neither of them expect achilles to be sexually exclusive, just not fathering potential heirs. which again makes me wonder about the contraceptives in ancient greece

on the ship towards aulis, diomedes begs achilles to tell them all about his feats and training with chiron, and achilles is so shy about it! who can blame him! diomedes has a WAY more impressive track record

odysseus is SO good at firing up achilles' outrage at paris even as he's just catching him up on what the war's about. and he's so pleased at how easily achilles' outrage can be directed! you KNOW that would have developed in such an interesting way AUGH THE REST WOULD HAVE BEEN SO GOOD.

[critter-covenant]

critter yuri strikes again, I like to think they're both a little stupid