#they'll have different dynamics with Apollo

[starsloverxz]

People who say why Apollomes? You have Crocus and Hyacinthus!

Are so weird because like.... Do you think the dynamic is the same?... Like do you realize we like the ship because of the dynamic and characters involved not just because it's gay? XD

Your superficiality is showing mate😗

[11queensupreme11]

What if Percy was a guy in arsenic blues?

OH GODS

first off, i can tell you that the love interests would change. goodbye to hades and poseidon!

it would also be VERY hard for percy to gain poseidon's affections. he probably would never be able to get on his good side, lets be honest. since he's a guy, poseidon will be EXTREMELY strict with him.

a daughter gets you nothing in the world of ancient greek gods, no glory, no honor, no respect, NOTHING. the most you can do with them is marry them off or keep them with you forever if you really like them. but a son? that's different. a son means power, honor, and glory, and poseidon expects exactly that. he will train (abuse) percy into being a powerful warrior and god, he must also take his studies seriously. any mistakes, any signs of imperfection will be met with harsh punishment. "you are my son, why do you continuously fail to do this simple thing for me? you disappoint me" etc etc. he wouldn't bother protecting him either. he's a man, what man needs protection? "if you can't defend yourself, you're worthless to me". percy would have a terrible time with him and honestly, poseidon would probably discard/kill him off rather quickly for pissing him off so much

hades would care for him, but he won't be as affectionate and protective. with fem!percy, he had to be delicate and protective over her. girls are precious you know? if you don't take care of them, they'll get stolen away and married off to scum! but a boy? they're the ones doing the stealing. he'd shield a fem!percy from unsavory gods, but he'd encourage male!percy to take what he wants "just be a gentleman about it, don't be uncouth like the others 😌". he'd care and dote for him, but don't expect the same level of coddling as he did with fem!percy

beelzebub and apollo would remain the same tbh. apollo has had many male lovers (he especially has a thing for princes) and beelzebub genuinely doesn't care about gender. they're the ones who would have a pretty similar dynamic with percy regardless of the gender

[jojotier]

Of course what Leucippus does isn't as bad as what Apollo does, but it isn't leagues better or anything is what I meant to say. It just reminds me too much of Zeus-Callisto thing, sorry. It's plain clear that Leucippus had the goal of wooing and marrying her while she clearly wanted to have nothing to do with marriage and men. His plan is even called a trick. And given the lack of sorrow on Daphne's part and how she also joins the nymphs in killing him, just implies that she did not appreciate being deceived by him this way.

The fact that they (nymphs) hadn't seen his body could very well be because he hadn't spent much time with them. The text says he became close to Daphne "very soon." But regardless, he doesn't rape her or seem to show any intent for it. I'll give him that.

And just to clear it up, I was not at all making any comments about trans people. Simply for the fact that I just don't see any such elements in the tale. It's a tale about a man disguising himself to get close to a woman he loves and facing the consequences for that. Interpreting him as trans is certainly a unique take that I hadn't thought of before, though don't feel the text itself supports it much. But of course that's why modern retelling exists, and the beauty of the myths lie in the fact that they can have many interpretations (sorry if I sounded rude or confrontational)

You're fine! I kind of reckoned that you were going with the more straight forward reading rather than the Trans one, but I just wanted to cover all my bases there

You're definitely right that there isn't much textual support for it, and to clarify, I'm still pretty new to different versions of Greek mythology in and of itself- but I can still recognize a few of the tropes that seem to have carried on even beyond the Greek canon, like the trope of someone disguising their gender to get close with someone they love! I'm more familiar with Shakespeare and the early Jacobean period, but the trope shows up there as well, albeit in an inverted gender and with happy endings for the ladies who disguise themselves (As You Like It and Twelfth Night)

Considering that, it does make me wonder where the myth originated in the first place- like the metatextual context for it. A lot can be said about how Daphne should have been seen by her contemporaries, whether hers is a story about a woman punished for not submitting to the pressures of her time or whether she's meant to be a comfort for girls to know that they're not alone in feeling sorrowful of what they'll be forced to do, or even whether she's meant to be read as being in triumph, leaving Apollo with only some of her hair to claim as hollow victory; but with Leucippus, the reading changes too.

Because if Daphne is rightfully angry at the deception, how does that change her dynamic with Apollo? Does the story become about how women can't hide forever from the world of men? Is it about how the only way for a woman to escape to transform herself? And what does it mean when a disguise is the death of one, but the salvation of the other?

[buds-and-baubles]

hey! I'm wondering if there's a comic you'd recommend to start with on Apollo and Midnighter? I'm reading Superman and the Authority right now, and I can't remember if you said that one did a good job with them or not lol, but I like the characters and I'd like to read something quality. 😊

heya, thanks for sending the ask! i actually needed to take a second to skim through the superman and the authority story to answer this because i had some thoughts about it but hadn't fully read through.

so... in terms of only looking at apollo and midnighter it wasn't in my opinion good. the implications of that midnighter would cheat on him and if he did he would brush apollo off, apollo's lack of speaking up regarding use of force and preferred no-kill policy, and other points that i gotta explain a bit more.

i do not think apollo would be like 'oh my god i was a fan of you'. would he still admire clark's work as superman and find him great? yeah but in the context that apollo always compares himself with a scrutinizing gaze. despite the fact that apollo isn't a bad guy, he always measures people like engineer, swift, and heroes with a lens that he needs to shape up. that they'll never fall to corruption. not really from a fanboy sense but a.. sense of understanding?

he wouldn't be quiet regarding the policy i mentioned. while apollo doesn't enjoy killing, he does it if he finds it absolutely necessary. unless he's super pissed off, he makes it quick and even then a lot of the time he's merciful.

comparatively of what i know about superman, their primary difference is whether they do or do not kill. apollo's got some snark to him and he's very obviously gay, but those are the differences. they're both intelligent sun-powered supers who fight to make the world a better place and their biggest problem besides their few weaknesses is their human-like nature and emotions.

as for midnighter cheating? hahahaa that's a nope. i'd argue that midnighter functioning without apollo for long periods of time is difficult. you leave him alone too long and he'll succumb to listening only to his computer brain, not cheating. a man who has everyone in the crosshairs but apollo wouldn't do something like that.

the premise of the story is for the most part is interesting. i love to see more queer superheroes out there and challenging harmful rhetoric, but morrison didn't really get apollo and midnighter.

that's even outside of them having the civilian names of lucas trent and andrew pulaski. what made the original apollo and midnighter unique is that they didn't have that or a secret identity. also, chopping off apollo's glorious long hair.

as for a reading list to know about them, here's one i've been using!

want to warn in advance that wildstorm is like 90's dc cranked up to an 11 and is marked as mature accordingly.

apollo and midnighter's introduction is in stormwatch vol 2 (1999) issues #4-6. they make appearances a tad bit later on but it's brief confusing time shit. then i'd go with the authority vol 1 (1999-2002) issues #1-12 which are where you really see them shine *badum ts*

the rest of the reading list will take you from there! i'm fairly certain these lists include of the comics that you should tread carefully on the ones that people say to disregard/avoid but if you like to suffer like me, you'll read them to know why people say it was bad.

sorry it's kinda a wall, i had some definite thoughts about superman and the authority which if i had to guess.. also ties into the follow-up warworld thing with them.

i'm just a little tired of apollo being delegated as only m's significant other who doesn't say much, is killed for the sake of his partner's development, left behind to focus on him doing activities that force him into a nuclear family dynamic, you name it.

think of it as if in they made every appearance of clark into an accessory to a relationship because he was out about his sexuality and forced into a role of there's nothing outside of his relationship and he's the one to stay home to cook, clean, etc. people would be pissed, right? but those who know and care about apollo are significantly smaller than superman sadly so it's questioned less.

thanks for your ask <3

hope you enjoy reading about the world's finest couple, the team they were on, and their precious and precocious daughter jenny quantum.

[the-firebird69]

He's more like a real stupid as you warlock are real stupid and they're going down fighting everybody they take a little signs like they're winning and they lose. You're not very good at stuff and we figured out something her son doesn't like them and they're in the way of actually doing something and it's true and we are coming up with alternate plans and doing things to do what you get now and Apollo and goddess wife just did part of it and I said and daughter helped.

-massive armies are going into the tunnels and they're more like armies and huge ones from the pseudo empire and they're fighting the warlock

-tons and tons of other stuff is happening and it's a fight and it's going on but that's a huge one and the more like a screaming victory over us because our son will be stuck here with them these smelly loser people and they don't get it they're going to engage the next group which leave one already roll off which will be minority warlock and they will of course ruin them as they're rooting the pseudo empire during this process Trump is getting ruined. His numbers are dwindling he is experiencing heavy losses he's not going to make it he himself is going to be terminated and infighting between the warlock will destroy him and he's treated like another party and it's mostly by bja says he's consuming things and he's really not. And Trump's forces are being cut in half every two days and it is miserable being near them and he is a horrendous loser and he is a little gay boy and sticks to our son and takes a beating right now he wants to sell his company's and we're going to sit down and purchase them.

-there are a couple other things as a pseudo empire is getting hit and destroyed they're coming to Florida in large numbers and they're building more stuff and a lot of it is going to help them curb the people here and it is it is a huge amount of stuff they're doing one thing is they are starting to remove ships from the river and the harbor and it's true and it's a pseudo empire and they are doing it all over they're doing it in the Peace River and the chaloosahassee and it's going on right now and it's not a ton of them it's like one every hour and no they're coming out the other way inland and there's a lot of it and it's going to go on for quite a while and it will start pushing water through the underwater rivers and up and past the diamonds and then the ships on the outside will get blasted with water and fecal matter they'll be forced to take those out it'll hit the river then the flow increases and it will dig the crevasse all the way to the bottom in the middle and the rate of the water flow will increase due to the dynamic and it will not slow down so it's good it'll flush the place out pretty soon the whole area will be without this crap it does signify a big change but not humongous they'll be still groups going down and people have different ships here for the water and tons of them they already have a bunch but they'll be more and Trump on his way out is going to make things a lot simpler and the garth and company will be out. And it won't it be very long by the way right now the warlocks are fighting pseudo empire lots of times Trump is going in first and he is getting his ass handed to him and pretty soon his forces will be cut in half again. And very soon he will be very small and I write down right now Dave aka Dan decided to town he's headed to town to try and mess around with our son later at Walmart and people don't want him there and they're going to try and keep him out it's easier they said throughout the day it's going to become easier and we're going to take their territory and it will continue and there's a lot of it and we're mining. They're getting smaller everyday and their presence is shrinking and there are people will start to get smoked in the rings it's because of the war in the tunnels with these pseudo empire and the pseudo empire is starting to come down on them again and they're going to fight it by going down into the tunnels and they'll probably not getting knocked out by the pseudo empire and DJ will then face them and they will be crushed and it won't take very long all this is going to happen to the next few days these armies of shrunken considerably but it's true this a huge percentage of the population that's probably only one or 2% the size of PGA and Trump is about 4% the size of bja and fight each other and minority more like her 7% the size of BGA and he's going to probably fight them all and miscellaneous is 3%. So they get up to 20% and it's going to cost him damage and eventually he'll face foreigners who will wipe them out. And he's a huge a****** to them and I can't wait because it's such a prick and we know that he's going to get hit very badly. They don't like his stuff it's just another Mac it is a stupid one and me and dumb and angry and hateful and and really annoying for a long time. This is what's going on right now is leading up to it all the stuff in town all the court cases the fleet is shrinking of the warlock it is now about 6 billion no it's about 9 billion from 10 billion last night which is a big loss the pseudo empire is about 14 billion so one place they're getting strong but that goes away quick because of fueling and they lose fuel depots they took and it knocks them out pretty quick there's a few other things happening we're going to get you in a moment

Thor Freya

Olympus

It's a nice day it's going to be nice out and cool and breezy and sunny and I wish I was there but I guess it's a living nightmare and he says you can probably sit it out but the max would be watching and they were watching before so he's not really getting it and it's about kidnapping in there very hot to try and do it and he says that we should be sending in characters summer clothes and they do it with these girls but it was not the same thing I'm going to suggest it and we're going to check it out and he says we have to and we're moving on it in a moment. He says we make it to tie them up and it might be real advantage and they see it too

Katya Equiz

[sirjo-esque]

Okay so here's the rundown. There are 3 characters who refer to our boy Odysseus as Ody. Eurylochus, Calypso, and Apollo.

Before we even get into the nuances I wanna point out that he has only been called Ody after Act 2, when we start seeing him from other people's perspectives.

And also that it's much easier to write the nickname "Ody" into music instead of the multi-syllable-d Odysseus. But we're going to ignore that!

Now when I was starting this out, I was thinking, "oh, maybe it's characters who think they're close to him" but that didn't make a lot of sense to me because of Apollo, who isn't even implied to be the Sun God whose cattle was killed. My other two guesses were "people who think they're on his side" or "people who don't intend to be against him," the latter of which I found to be a satisfying answer. (Also click on the links to see some Tumblr posts that may have contributed to my rant here or could add some more nuance to it thanks <3)

Let's examine this character wise.

1. Eurylochus

Eurylochus clearly wants to support Odysseus, right from his first appearance. He believes in him as captain, and tries to be a good friend and subordinate. At the same time, it's pretty evident that they are fundamentally different people.

This is highlighted every time Eurylochus and Odysseus disagree on the line of action they should take. Whether it's raiding the Lotus Eaters, or running from the Cyclops' cave, or asking the Wind God for help, or rescuing the crew from Circe, or the consequences of Scylla leading up to killing Helios' cow, they seem to constantly be on opposing sides. (I'd get into this further, but that's a rant for another day.)

In spite of this, Eurylochus seems to want the same things as Odysseus. He doesn't mean to be a hindrance; they just have different perspectives on what is best for them. In the end, don't they both want to get everyone home? [EURYLOCHUS] Ody, we're never gonna get to make it home You know it's true

Eurylochus calls Odysseus "Captain" nearly the entire musical, up until this moment. So, what's changed? The power dynamic. The crew is sick of everything that's been going on, they all want to go home. They'll endure the unavoidable hardships and losses as best they can. But when Eurylochus sees Odysseus sacrificing crew members, he's not all that into the "necessary evil" sentiment Odysseus likely has towards this decision. And it all boils down to this: To Eurylochus, everyone needs to get home safe. To Odysseus, everyone means "as many people as possible." They have different definitions of what "the greater good" is, though in theory, it should be the same. When Eurylochus says Ody, he's appealing to his friend. Someone he thought would understand. Whenever he referred to him as Captain, he was following orders. He put himself in check, pretending he was okay not talking about it, okay with being kept in the dark. That's why he falls back to saying Captain immediately after he tries to presume Odysseus' position and only messes things up further. Eurylochus is reaching out to someone he doesn't actually recognize.

All this to say, Jay could have easily had Eurylochus not use the nickname to get the point across. Adding it in gives us that extra piece of nuance, which was heartbreaking even before we got the Wisdom Saga.

Thinking thoughts and I love when people in Epic refer to Odysseus as just Ody because it does seem to reveal a little about their characters. I will expand on this later, my phone is dying now though.

[cupcakestreets]

If you had a crossover of 4 different fandom characters that are stuck in a group and must work together, who would you choose?

Great question... I think I want Ingo from Pokemon, Apollo Justice from Ace Attorney, Gingerbrave from Cookie run, and Silver the hedgehog from Sonic to work together. Because I think they all have unique skills that would make an interesting mix in dynamics also they're all very polite. I think they would get along well enough to work together. They also all have their quirks that I personally find really adorable, also I really like the idea of this tiny Cookie going "Be Brave" to the human counter parts. Silver is a little naive so he follows their lead but does everything to help. Ingo and Apollo are also loud ass people I think Apollo shouting "Im Apollo Justice and Im Fine!" And Ingo shouting "Bravo! I think I'll try this too!" And they both shout they'll be fine, when nervous! Idk what they will be working together on but I think they would be an interesting team!!

[clea-dessendre]

Also! 7, 4, 19 and 31 for Aymeric/Mathilda and if you would like to answer 18, 12, 22 for Hades/Apollo/Hythlodaeus

omg i’m so so so sorry I started answering this ages ago and got stuck on something and left it in my drafts but TY SO MUCH FOR THE ASK ILY 💗

romance asks here

aymeric x mathilda

7. Favorite date activity?

anything where they just get to be alone and talk. dinner, a walk, something. aymeric likes treating maty to dinner because a) he enjoys cooking and b) it's a way to really lavish personalised attention on her, to do something exclusively for her, just to make her happy. maty loves the intimacy and dedication of it, though she also wishes she had something equivalent she could do for him.

4. Their favorite physical feature on each other?

[mathilda voice] everything? have you seen that man?

in all seriousness, maty is particularly struck by the piercing blue of aymeric's eyes, particularly against his dark hair. there's a softness and a depth to them that mirrors aymeric's personality and she adores that.

aymeric is equally fond of maty's whole package, but particularly adores her smile. the way it lights up her whole face, even when a small, uncertain one, and reveals her warmth and passion. ... he also perhaps should admit that he's often drawn to staring at her always-exposed thighs.

19. Describe how they communicate

most frequently in recent years, through letters that mask as much as they reveal. out of fear that they'll be intercepted and used against aymeric, they're somewhat formal and never go too into depth, but there's an intense warmth in them if one knows what they're looking for.

when they do finally meet in person, there's always some ice to be broken again, as both wonder if the other still cares as much as they do. inevitably, however, they fall back into animated chatting, sitting close, eyes locked on one another as they catch each other up.

apollo x hades x hythlodaeus (ty SO MUCH FOR ASKING ABOUT THEM and I will try not to add anything re: endwalker content here)

18. Is there any way they disappoint each other?

besides apollo being the queen of chaos, hythlodaeus enabling her, and hades (pretending to) suffering through it? apollo and hyth occasionally are annoyed with hades' locking himself away (apollo was furious that he did not tell her personally when he became emet-selch) and there have been some tense moments where apollo has perhaps gotten a little crazy and/or reckless, or outright disobeyed the convocation (and emet-selch has been one of the members censoring her for it), or just been incorrigible, and it's annoyed hades (and very occasionally, even hyth).

but the greatest disappointments came right at the end: apollo walking away from the convocation (and the plan to 'save the star'), hades' being willing to sacrifice half the population, and, well... no spoilers.

12. Do they have similar goals? If they clash, how do they deal?

all three are deeply passionate about protecting/serving their people, with hades and apollo particularly fervent. they may differ in the specifics at times (hades and apollo especially in their roles as emet-selch and azem, as the volcano story demonstrates), but they always know the other is doing what they think is best, trust in them entirely, and love them dearly for it. when they do clash, they've had some serious arguments. apollo and hades are both quite stubborn, but hyth has learned how to get them past it and get them talking. these arguments typically end with both acknowledging the value of the other's approach, and even admiring their actions.

22. From the outside looking in, what is their dynamic like?

from the outside, they seem to have a kind of sun and moon dynamic, with apollo and hyth being warm, open, and affectionate and hades working hard to make it seem like he’s the complete opposite. but both apollo and hyth know better: they know how much hades loves, how sentimental he is, and how precisely he shows it.

[thevindicativevordan]

A Bisexual Superman

If I had waited literally one more day I could have talked about this in my big Jon Kent post. Oh well this will be my 69th post, so it works out, and I said I would do a follow up post if need be so here it is: Jon Kent has come out as bisexual!

More in the IGN article but now it's officially out there. So what to make of it? At first I was in denial about what in hindsight was a patently obvious attempt to set Jon up with Jay. Was hoping for Apollo to join the Superfamily as an official member, which might still happen, but now he'll be overshadowed by Jon. When the Bleeding Cool article hit though, I pretty much accepted that Jon would be LGBT and predicted that he would be bisexual. Only reason I didn't bring it up in the big Jon post was I didn't want to talk about the concept before it was official. I'm sure it's a compromise between what Taylor wanted, which was probably for Jon to just be gay, and the higher-ups wanting to avoid stepping on the toes of the CW. Now Jon can date boys in the comics and the CW can either incorporate that into their take on Jon, or they can just have him date girls since that doesn't "invalidate" bisexuals. Also doesn't invalidate his feelings for Kathy or Irma which is nice, Jon's already a bit of a continuity clusterfuck, let's not make it worse.

As for the idea itself? I have no problem with it. Wanted Jon to have his own traits that separate him from his father, and now he does! Pretty much guarantees he's never going to get erased and also that he's likely never getting deaged either. Tradeoff is that you would never have gotten a bi Jon if Taylor hadn't gotten the book. Never could happen with Clark but this opens up storytelling opportunities for Jon that will help him grow beyond his dad's shadow. Much the same way that Kara being a woman or Kenan being Asian or Irons being black are core parts of their identity, being bi will definitely be something that is a big part of who Jon is going forward. Real question mark is Jay: what exactly is the intent for this character? Obviously he's the first man Jon has felt sexually interested in, what are the long term plans here? Jay specifically I have mixed feelings on and this quote from the IGN article kinda lays out why:

Given Jay's journalistic leanings, there are certainly comparisons to be drawn between this relationship and the classic Lois Lane/Clark Kent dynamic. However, Taylor stresses that Jay plays a much different and more proactive role in Superman's world.

"Jay has his own fight," Taylor says. "He’s obviously an effective journalist, and Lois Lane is his hero. But Jay is also a refugee from Gamorra, so his experience also reflects Clark’s. While this has fortunately changed over the years, historically, Lois has often fulfilled a damsel role. Jay Nakamura will never be that. He and Jon will tackle many things side-by-side."

Drawing parallels to to the Clark/Lois relationship is pretty much the opposite of what I want for Jon. Really hope that Jon and Jay have a different dynamic going on between them. Taylor says it will be different, and I've read someone's theory on what the long term plan for Jay is which goes back to the original 5G plans. If their theories are correct then Jay will be a very important character to Jon in the same way Lois is for Clark but also there will be a very different relationship between the two down the road. Very curious to see what the long term plan is here.

Will throw out one controversial opinion about all this though: I never want Jon to get married. Elseworlds like DCeased can have him get married but I never want to see that in the manline continuity. I want him to have a whole host of love interests that readers are constantly shipping him with, constantly hoping they'll be the one he ends up with, but he never puts a ring on any of them. Reason being is that I think romance drama has been something the Superman franchise has been without for too long because Clark can't end up with anyone besides Lois. There's never any real chance he's going to end up with Maxima or Lori or any other female LI in the main continuity (with the biggest competitor to Lois being Diana unfortunately). Jon doesn't have that one LI he's destined to end up with, and I hope Taylor isn't planning to make Jay that. Tomasi tried to position Kathy as Jon's one true love and I didn't like that either. Give Jon some of that Spider-Man love life, let him date Jay, but also have him date other girls like Yara or Jenny Quantum down the line (what can I say I just really love that 5G idea), and let him date other boys (maybe Tim Drake or Bunker or another civilian not in journalism). Keep his love life exciting and chaotic, that will keep people invested I think.

Hope this really brings a new level of excitement and interest to the character!

[icaruskey]

okay ok before I start I need to mention that I've literally only just started putting the p&p bits in so outside of the dynamic between Hades and Persephone I've not gotten into it much. And there's gonna be some queer going into the weeds because reasons

Basically, I was inspired to bring pride and prejudice into the story cause like. The first "real" meeting between Hades and Persephone is going to be at a formal event introducing newly minted godlings.

Should probably explain that

In this day and age, Greek mythology has a lot of potential squicky implications, especially if you want to stick a little closer to certain story beats than LO does. Like... Zeus being obsessed with Persephone. So. Very. Obsessed. Not only is the guy married, but he's her father. Not touching on how the 12 are like all related.

I'm not super comfortable trying to put modern morality on what are essentially a distilled version of a collection of a massive amount of an entire region's worth of stories that span multiple cultures and time periods. Cause that's the super cool thing about Greek mythology! We all know the main pantheon got taken over by the Romans, but did you know that the reason we have so many inconsistent characters amongst the gods is because individual cities and towns and families had their own versions of the gods?

It's also how gods like Apollo and Artemis end up taking over different aspects. Basically as time moves on and certain gods gain favor over others, they'll get older stories wrapped into their own and thus suddenly Helios is out, Apollo is in for the sun god (rip Helios. At least Artemis takes on Selene's name).

So, how does one solve that problem? I want to acknowledge the history behind modernized Greek mythology, and I don't want to force these characters into a modern morality. But I am still telling a story to a (nonexistent) fictional audience, and it needs to appeal to that modern morality.

The answer is reincarnation!

Specifically, in my story, the gods aren't entirely immortal (thank you Norse mythology for the inspo). They do stop aging, and they can live forever if they're not killed. But they can be killed. Sorta like vampire rules. They are vulnerable to certain things, not yet figured out. But like a sword through the side is gonna hurt like a bitch, but so long as they get timely treatment they'll be okay. And some gods (like Apollo), whose aspects in part revolve around healing or regrowth having a healing buff.

The aspects is the important thing. When a god dies, their aspect is reborn to a new godling. The only way one can tell a godling from a normal baby is through their ears. Pointy ears, but not overly long. Just regular pointy, so it's easy to miss. Godlings don't have their powers properly manifest until after they've finished puberty (yes this is so they have second puberty. Godhood is trans). But their aspect (music, archery, animal care) may be attracted to them as people.

Like LO, there is literally an Olympus (New Haven), Mortal Realm, and Underworld (Twilight). There's also the Mists, a place beyond Twilight where those who wander are forever lost. Dis, my Hades, is the oldest god of the current incarnations. He is not the first Hades, but there haven't been many.

Twilight is an interesting beast, and this is in part because I'm converting something I've been working on since 2016 into this. This underworld is sentient and the Hades character is as much a mouthpiece for it as they are a caretaker of the dead. And, unfortunately for Dis, Twilight is very aggressive about making its will known. It has infected Dis and honestly, it should've driven him mad and/or killed him long ago. He's just very stubborn and is trying to avoid putting someone else through what he's suffering.

Okay so for the Pride and Prejudice bit. Dis is v much Mr. Darcy. How could he not be? This dude is not only Hades, who is associated with the wealth of the earth (hello, his Roman name is Pluto). But he's extremely cold and distant, being the only of the Royal Four who rarely ever leaves his realm (the other three are Poseidon and Demeter who rule the sea/earth of the Mortal Realm respectively and Zeus, who rules New Haven). And he is prideful. He doesn't think anyone else could handle his burden and hides any potential weakness behind a veil of cold disdain.

He's also like 5'1" and has used a cane since he was a godling. Let's just say his unusual appearance makes him more jaded to most besides Hephaestus. In fact, his unusual appearance is in part what pushes Kore (Persephone) away initially. Because in this story, Kore only learns they are a godling when Twilight decides its time to find a replacement and literally opens a rift into the Mortal Realm, dropping Kore into Twilight. If Dis hadn't found them, they likely would've died.

So Kore is taken to Apollo to be healed and later goes to live with Dionysus and Demeter to learn about their powers and master them. Dionysus is an ex of Dis's, so Kore gets to hear a lot about this god who saved them, gets a bit of a crush on this vision of Dis they have in their head. And then when they meet at this gala thing thrown to introduce the godlings to the gods and magical beings of the realms... well, if you expect Adonis, you're going to be disappointed.

And me thinking of how that meeting happens and Kore's disgust and Dis's cold pride and disdain is what got me thinking about Pride and Prejudice to begin with. I've got to map that out into the greater mythos.

But I have thought a rather unfortunate amount about Dionysus and Kronus so

should I talk about Pride and Persephone? mind, it's still not gonna be like an "official" project. If something ever comes of it it'll be a surprise to me