#while with Medusa you can argue either way

[sarafangirlart]

The whole feminist thing with Medusa being victim of rape from Poseidon and punished by Athena. Whom a lot people believe to be feminist when actually demeter is there she challenge Zeus. Do you know about lilith being the first woman before eve thing? Yeah lot people claiming her as feminist icon for not submit to Adam and do people forget? She killed babies rape man and harming pregnant woman

Yeah ppl think woman harms man therefore she’s feminist. Medusa doesn’t have a single source where she helps a woman, while Athena does (tho she also has myths where she harms women but that’s another story). Demeter isn’t really feminist either since she definitely harmed countless women by basically inventing winter, but she’s still iconic and a great mom and anyone who puts Zeus in his place I will defend with my life.

[everykindofnerd13]

The biggest problem with the live action Percy Jackson series is the fact that in an attempt to make the universe more sensitive to modern and more accurate versions of Greek mythology/history in general, they make Annabeth look way worse than she ever would be. Like, I fully believe that Annabeth, while a child with skewed views, at the end of the day, is for the girls, so the fact that she gives Medusa NO GRACE, feels out of character, and the fact that she is so insistent about the purpose of the Great Arch, it’s frustrating, because Annabeth is not inept, she can understand multiple perspectives. I guess on the Medusa front, you can argue that agreeing with Medusa in any way would get her out of her mother’s good graces, but either way, I feel like her violent aggression toward Medusa after the story of Medusa is explained more truthfully is out of character for her. I dunno, it just doesn’t sit right with me. OTHERWISE THOUGH, This show is literally so amazing, and I can’t wait for the next episode!!!

[helenofsparta2]

I’d actually argue the opposite.

My issue is not that Percy is not smart in the books.  Obviously, he is. He is freakin’ brilliant.  My problem is that Percy in the show and Percy in the books are smart in very different ways.

Percy’s immediate knowledge of all the traps and monsters he, Grover and Annabeth encounter, takes away from his quick-thinking in the face of danger and his talent of improvising, two things which are vital to his character and the way he manages to defeat and outsmart most of his opponents throughout all of his adventures.

Just compare the scene at Crusty’s.

In episode 7 of the tv-show, Percy walks alone into Crusty’s water palace, and very shortly after Procrustes appears, this conversation happens:

Percy: I know who you are. You’re Procrustes. Son of Poseidon, and murderer of travellers.

Procrustes: Crusty, please. And you… you’ve got dad’s eyes. Take a load off. Relax for a minute.

Percy: The beds are a trap. That’s how you do it. How you murder your guests.

This, while also objectively being terrible dialogue, and taking any sense of tension away from the scene, tells us nothing about Percy we didn’t know before. Characterization wise, this scene has no impact whatsoever. It does not give us any inclination into Percy’s intelligence or creative way of thinking. The only thing it tells us, is that Percy knows about Greek mythology, which is a trait, we already knew about.

Annabeth defeating Crusty later, by pushing him onto one of his beds while invisible, is repetitive, boring and adds absolutely nothing to the story. It doesn’t even add to Annabeth’s characterization and is almost completely pointless.

Meanwhile, these are some of the things Percy does in the book after Procrustes managed to trap Annabeth and Grover in two of his beds:

My mind was racing. I knew I couldn’t take on this giant water-bed salesman alone. He would snap my neck before I even got my sword out. “Your name is not Crusty, is it?” I asked.

“Legally, it’s Procrustes,” he admitted.

“The Stretcher,” I said. I remembered the story: the giant who’d tried to kill Theseus with excess hospitality on his way to Athens.

“Yeah,” The salesman said. “But who can pronounce Procrustes? Bad for business. Now, ‘Crusty’, anyone can say that.”

“You’re right. It’s got a good ring to it.”

His eyes lit up. “You think so?”

“Oh, absolutely,” I said. “And the workmanship on these beds? Fabulous.”

(….)

“Ah,” I said, swallowing hard. “Sensible.”

“I’m so happy to come across an intelligent customer.”

(…)

“So, Crusty…”I said, trying to keep my voice light. I glanced at the sales tag on the valentine-shaped Honeymoon-special. “Does this one really have dynamic stabilizers to stop wave motion?”

“Absolutely. Try it out.”

“Yeah, maybe I will. But would it work even for a big guy like you? No waves at all?”

“Guaranteed!”

“No way.”

“Way.”

“Show me.”

He sat down eagerly on the bed, patted the mattress. “No waves. See?”

I snapped my fingers. “Ergo.”

Ropes lashed around Crusty and flattened him against the mattress.

This is what this scene tells us.

Percy is good at thinking under pressure.

Percy is able to quickly understand what kind of person Crusty is and uses this knowledge to partially manipulate him, and later uses his understanding of Crusty’s own traps against him.

Percy actually does know who Procrustes is, but realizes it too late, showing that he has mythological knowledge, but is still a twelve-year-old child, who is new to this world, and obviously doesn’t recognize every monster at first glance.

Characterization wise, this scene really shows us Percy’s ability to manipulate and outsmart his enemies.

Previous encounters with opponents, like the furies, the minotaur, Clarisse, Medusa, Hephaestus’ trap, and the Chimera, showed us either his swordsmanship abilities, his bravery, his selflessness, his power over water or his physical limits. But this scene with Crusty was really the first major time, where Percy defeats an opponent simply by relying on his wit.    

A talent, which later gets reinforced with other scenes like how he manipulates Charon, or figures out which god was involved with the theft of the lightning bolt.

The scene in the tv-show misses all of that.

Generally, the Tv-show completely lacks these kinds of moments. It doesn’t give Percy scenes which demonstrate his talent of quick-thinking, and improvising, and instead replaces them with him knowing more about greek mythology. This makes Percy into an entirely different character in that regard, and in my opinion makes this version of him actually less smart than his book counterpart.

In the books, Percy is arguably the best person at improvising and has one of the highest, if not the highest, battle IQ of any of Rick’s mortal characters. Be it his strategy for defeating the Nemean lion, him tricking Nereus, his battle against Antaeus, or his fight against Polybotes, to list only a few examples.

It’s such a vital part of his characterization, and such a big part of what made him into my favourite Riordan character, that I’m genuinely astounded how much they ignored it.

I really hope this problem, along with so many others gets fixed in season 2, because we as a fandom are so incredibly lucky to have found dedicated and amazingly talented actors in Walker, Leah, Aryan, Charlie, and all the others and I know all of them would kill their roles even more, if the writing would be up to par.

I seen a lot of people argue at Percy is too smart in the show but One, Sally Jackson used Greek myths as bedtime stories, she took him to museums, she did her best to teach him about the God's and monster's that were gonna come to hurt him, was he ment to not learn anything? And Two, Perseus Jackson isn't an idiot! The books are from HIS point of view and he's is an unreliable narrator that THINKS he's an idiot. He's not ACTUALLY an idiot.

[emptymanuscript]

(Super) Powers as Subplots

When I think about giving a character a power, I tend to think of it working essential the same as a subplot. Either a Subplot around using the power or the power performing in the same basic way that subplots do. 

I would argue that there are four basic types of Subplots. 

Echoing

Supporting

Complicating

Contrasting

An Echoing subplot is the same as the main plot or another subplot. The difference is really just in the characters and how they react. The situation is the same. So two people have cancer and get told they have 24 hours to live and we see how they react differently because of their personality traits. It’s about showing the power of personal character in response to the world at large.

A Supporting subplot is mostly the same but in addition to the difference in character, there is a variation on the theme. One person has cancer, one person has another health problem. The approaches to their problems inform one another but they’re different enough that the audience has to put two and two together. It’s about proving the same point a different way. 

A Complicating subplot is where the subplot has disjointed from the main plot or the other subplots, it’s doing its own thing but still manages to make the other plotlines more difficult and comment upon them if the audience does some tricky math in their head. Here one person has cancer and another wants to go fishing and take the cancer patient with them. They complicate each other’s desires, and there is comment to be made about how they are thinking about and treating each other through the complication. 

A Contrasting subplot is the opposite arc of character from the main plot or the other subplots. One Character has cancer and is dying, one has entered remission and is healing. The contrast between their arcs illuminates them both, showing what is the same and different and what broader meaning can be extracted from a whole that includes more than one way of existence. 

Apply those concepts to powers and you’re working out how to make a power comment on a person and their internal character by having something external occur that shows the internal meaning. 

An Echoing power repeats what the character is. Someone who is controlling has a power that controls. Someone who is destructive has a power that destroys. Personality “A” produces effect “1” which is a clear expression of themselves. They literally show you who they are. Professor X wants to control what happens between mutants and regular humans, so his power is control of the mind, he can read intent and force action to stop violence, because his main plot of concern is how to make people get along. 

A supporting power is one step removed. It is a metaphorical connection between personality and power. Medusa’s power is turning people to stone. The tragedy of Medusa is that she can’t trust people. Even those who should be most on her side betray her and turn her into a monster to punish her for being a victim. By being able to turn anyone who sees her to stone, until the true hero comes along, she is effectively utterly safe from people. She doesn’t even have to fight them, they simply stop being human and become statuary for her to do with as she pleases when they see her. It is a power that SUPPORTS her disconnection from humanity. 

Complicating powers are probably the mainstays of fiction. Think of Scott Summers, Psyclops from X-Men. He is a goody-two-shoes control freak. His power, blasting beams out his eyes wherever he looks, is massively destructive if he loses control for even an instant. While his power isn’t directly about control, it demands that his personality plays out in the physical world. He must maintain control or people get hurt. He has to wear protection at all times, where he is most concerned, where he will look, will bear the brunt of any loss of control. The comment is right there. Without every stating WHY he is a control freak, the power demonstrates by what it is and how he treats it the reason he is the way he is: he is trying to protect people. Control and rigidity keep people safe. He is more concerned with people safe than his own comfort or joy. 

Contrasting powers illuminate the empowered’s character by how it goes against the grain of them. What’s the standard line about werewolves since movies started? “Even a man who is pure of heart, and says his prayers by night, may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms, and the autumn moon is bright.” The contrast of a good person losing control and turning animalistic reveals their id. One of my favorite movies is Wolf, starring Jack Nicholson, Michelle Pfeiffer, and James Spader. The same power contrasts radically among the major characters. They all start off good little meek company people and shed all that propriety and social nicety. The person who is basically good, loses their inhibitions and care for society but WHAT makes them a good person shows more starkly and comes out even in the werewolf: that fundamentally they are a pack predator, they believe in community and protection, they fight for what is theirs. The person who is basically bad, sheds their pretense of innocence and shows in both wolf and human that they are selfish and only interested in what they can take. Both are dehumanized, both are dangerous, both get meaner, but the contrast between the old self and the new self shows the basics OF self. 

So, when I start thinking about, ‘hey I want to give some character a power, what power should I give them?’ I do start thinking about this. How can I make the power so that it acts to reflect internal truths about the character. The beautiful thing is while you probably have to pick a primary, you don’t have to pick ONLY that one. 

My character James in The Hidden and the Maiden has a power that primarily SUPPORTS his personality of disconnection and distrust. He lives in his brain, learning esoterica for the purposes of spell work not among society. The magic substitutes for friendship. But his Alchemical powers also let me CONTRADICT that personality flaw by letting it be most powerful when he operates in connection with others. He can command gods and fix soulds if he uses the magic he has learned to magically join with them a little. So, the support is the primary and what I mostly think of but it doesn’t limit me to that, it lets me comment through the power, the lesson I want the audience to walk away with in their subconscious: that the crutch of his power is his flaw and he can heal. 

These are tools for problem solving, how do I make my character’s powers interesting, not rules to demand a certain construction: you can only have your character’s power echo their personality. It is law. Bah. It’s just a way to hunt for the best answers, not the answers themselves.  

[thefandommind]

I said I'd repost this later and I'm exhausted so it won't be as put together as normal but listen this is one of my favorite things about interpretation.

First, op says in the comments that 10 is the Doctor mentioned, David Tennant. This is great because to each their own interpretation, but also there's at least two blog posts out there (if I wasn't tired I'd link em but you just gotta trust me for now) talking about fancasts from back in the day, and in 2012 Rachel Aaron herself cast David Tennant as Eli (I think in the same post Josef was Chris Hemsworth, this was peak 2012 I think Miranda was Felicia Day. There's the Doctor Who, Marvel, and Supernatural Tumblr influences). Good on ya op

So I don't think my voices are wildly interesting, but obviously to each their own.

As I was thinking about this I unlocked some memories, uh don't know how to explain but Benehime sounds like evil Siri. Like Apple iPod Touch, except I didn't have my iPod when I first got into this series I had a Kindle with a text reader. But it was almost the same robotic voice.

I just remember it having a drawl, it liked slowing in random parts, and speeding up in others, to the point where the voice was passable for human, but the tone and speech pattern was off putting. That's how Benehime is for me. (Like in the books the Powers have like an edge or sound to their voice that just registers as POWER OF CREATION, in opposition to the edge or sound that Demons have. But obviously that's hard to replicate)

When I was reading it to my friend, tho, I didn't replicate the speech pattern as much, but I droned my words and had a softer pitch. Because I imagine her to have a buzzing out of a voice. But she could have times where her words were harsh and loud. Closest I can think would be Uma Thurman specifically when she played Medusa.

Not a personal interpretation but lore to me specifically, I read the series to my youngest brother when he was 12, and he wanted to be able to differentiate the characters (because Powers and Demons talk in italics and don't often have "said" tags because of it), so he had me do actual voices and not just changing my voice. The voice he picked for the Shepherdess was Dobby from Harry Potter, which I did in fact do for five books. Her brothers were Elmo and Stitch, and I think the Demon Under the Dead Mountain was Voldemort.

And I've decided demons sound like evil vocaloids, wasn't kidding about that I think it's great, the Demon is one of the deep ones (I don't pretend to know their names), but Nico in her demon form is either Miku or Fukase with no in-between.

That being said the other characters are harder to pin down for me, it's like seeing faces in my minds eye, gets blury as I try to focus on them.

I imagine Nico having a soft voice, most of what she says also has the same inflection, not drawling or deadpan, but just, consistent. Most of her dialogue is conversational, since she's a quiet person she's not often arguing or "plot sharing by explaining things to other characters", and she's not often having conversations during fights, and ofc demon things are unique as mentioned. And then a lot of her conversations are observational contributions, where Eli or Josef says something to her about something else, and she adds a comment because she feels like she needs to. (I'd source pages but I'm too tired) Anyway that's me putting a neurodivergent head canon on her, masking seems like a given with Nico tho. So I feel like while she might not be exactly chirpy, her tone and voice would try and aid to a "friendly" persona with her companions.

Anyway that bitch sounds like Lydia Deetz, next character.

Eli is Aladdin. A thief is a thief and he's always kinda sounded like him in my mind. We're talking about the original here. I imagine Eli to have a very animated way of speaking, not specifically flamboyant, but kinda boyish and dramatic. I think really he sounds like a few other people but I can't think of them in this moment.

Miranda sounds uppity and in charge and she's a dozen different powerful women and I'm losing focus she sounds like Julia Roberts I think she talks proper but has an accent that you can't place and I think her words hit hard even if she whispers them. You can't help but listen. And Julia Roberts could explain anything to me.

I'm giving up I'll share Josef later when I can remember how words sound

I always find it interesting how when reading a book different people imagine the characters voices differently.

For me Nico sounds like Scylla from the song Scylla by Epic the musical, especially at the end of the song where the voice harmonizes. But when she talks I imagine her voice softer and quieter

And Eli sounds like the main character from Doctor who, I don't have an explanation for that one

[carlatsukinamistolemyhamsandwich]

Hi! I saw the post where you gave some writing ideas for DL and going over different plots. I'm thinking over an idea and wanted to ask if there is anything in the lore that could kill Karlheinz? - Also this is off topic but I know you're good at chemistry so I wanted to ask what's the best way to study organic chemistry? Aldol reactions might be the death of me.

In the games I’m fairly certain the only time Karl dies is when he gets killed by one of his sons after they’ve powered up on Yui’s blood (HDB) or fulfilled the condition of becoming Adam (again to do with obtaining Yui but in the later games). The only exceptions are the Mukami and Tsukinami LE routes where Karl’s still dead but Yui isn’t with one of the Sakamaki brothers but I know that in the Tsukinami brothers’ routes this doesn’t really get touched upon other than having one of the Sakamaki brothers taking over from Karl (it might get elaborated on more in the Mukami brothers routes but I don’t think it does?).

Anyway when Karl dies in these circumstance it’s usually through getting defeated in a swordfight (although Karl only lets the Sakamaki brothers get close enough to kill him if he thinks they’ve become Adam so I’d argue it’s not a proper defeat). I’d assume that like most vampires, you can kill Karl by impaling him through the heart (possibly with a silver blade, I can’t really remember this coming up outside of the context of Subaru’s knife) and/or beheading him. 

We know from other endings that vampires can also be killed by setting them on fire but I’d be a bit wary about using this method with Karl as I suspect he could put it out before there was any risk of him finally shuffling off the mortal (or immortal) coil. I suspect a silver bullet from a vampire hunter’s weapon to the heart would also be enough to finish him off but as with all of these other methods, it relies on Karl letting you get close enough to kill him. 

Vampire hunter bullets get mentioned a couple of times, namely Azusa gets shot with one prior to DF which results in him having to have his arm amputated and Shin gets shot with one in Kou’s DF route. If bullet hits but doesn’t hit the heart, then it can still be fatal as it leads to tissue death around the affected area which gradually spreads (thus why Azusa has to get his arm amputated).

I’m pretty sure that’s it for the canon ways to kill Karl (my apologies that it’s not a particularly exciting list). If you wanted to go for something a little more exciting, then in Carla’s LP route it’s revealed that there’s a snake in the demon world that’s venom turns anyone it bites into stone (it’s called a medusa snake). Karl has his own pharmaceutical institute so he probably either has some antivenom in stock or could easily produce some but I would absolutely love to read a fic where someone used something like this to finish him off. 

I hope that answers your question anon! 

As for the other part of your ask, I’ve put my answer below the cut! ^^

In terms of general organic chemistry advice, particularly when it comes to knowing reagents for different reactions, somewhat unhelpfully, the main thing that helped me was practise and memorisation.

I personally used Quizlet (an online flashcard website) a lot in my final years of high school and for part of my degree and I found it worked really well for just learning different reactions. If you have time I'd suggest finding maybe 10 or 15 minutes a couple of times a week to go over them (even if it's just on your phone while you're waiting for the bus) to help get things into your long term memory so you're not left cramming right before an exam :')

Reaction mechanisms are also one of those things that you get more of a feel for as you do them so past paper/online questions really are a good way to go, but here are a couple of things I would always check for if you get stuck:

- Is there an obvious nucleophile (i.e. a molecule with a negative charge or lone pair)?

- Is there an obvious electrophile? If there isn't a direct positive charge then check the molecule for partial charges. If there are multiple carbons with partial charges then look for the one that with the biggest partial charge or the one that is the least sterically hindered.

- Always check the number of bonds to each atom and charges and see if they make sense (i.e. carbon will never form five bonds, if it only has three bonds then there should be charge on it (or a radical), nitrogen will usually form three bonds, if it has four it should be positively charged etc).

- Always check that your structures match up. If you’re drawing them out and there’s a part of the molecule that’s not involved in the mechanism, it can be very easy to accidentally leave it out of one of your structures which will result in you losing marks even if your curly arrows are perfect.

- Count your carbons. Again, accidentally leaving out or adding in a carbon in chain is a very easy way to lose marks.

Whenever I struggled with a particular mechanism, I’d try to draw it out on a whiteboard or scrap of paper without looking at my notes, then check to see what I’d got wrong, go and do something else for 5-10 minutes and then have another go and I basically did that until I got it perfect three times in a row. 

One thing I also do with studying in general is find stupid ways to remember stuff. None from organic chemistry are coming to mind at the moment (as it’s been a while since I’ve had memorise anything ^^;;), but just as an example, in high school I learned the

Number of mol = Volume in mL/1000 x Concentration in mol dm^-3 

equation as Never Vandalize 1000 Cats. It’s stupid but my word did it work. Even better if you can find ways of tying things into your specialist interests (most of the equations I had to learn in physics ended up with anime related mnemonics).

I hope at least some of that helps anon, good luck with your studies! I'll be rooting for you!

[midweekblues]

The Terror, Géricault and a bit of Julian Barnes: a rant

Part 2 /?

Hello, it's me again! With more random data about a certain 19th century nautical tragedy! Come for the trivia, stay for the cannibalism!

I dunno, man, I just dig these stories. Which is weird, having worked and lived at sea, but whatever. The Terror connects to a very primal part of my brain, the same part that buzzes when I read about the wreck of the Essex, the Donner Party, Scott's final expedition or the Edmund Fitzgerald. There's a theme going on here. So back to the wreck it is!

On the first part of Chapter 5 of A History of the world in 10 1/2 chapters, Julian Barnes gives us a summary of the ordeal on board the Medusa. To summarize even more:

- French frigate Medusa struck a reef off the coast of Senegal in 1816.

- Not everyone could fit into the boats, so a raft was built. 17 people decided to stay on board the half-sunk frigate, rather than brave the ocean on that construction.

- The raft was so overcrowded that it was actually underwater in the beginning. To lighten the load so it wouldn't sink completely, they had to discard most of the food brought on board, and all of their water, leaving only wine to drink. Most of their food (mainly flour and biscuits) was at some point submerged and thus ruined by the saltwater. .

So all our supplies are either spoiled or will make us prone to delirium?  

- The raft was expected to be towed by the boats, but during the first day, "one by one, whether for reason or self-interest, incompetence, misfortune or seeming necessitty, all the tow-lines were cast aside", and so the raft was left adrift.

- On the second day, three men gave up and, "convinced that there was no escape from death, bade farewell to their companions and willingly embraced the sea".

- On the second night, there was not one but two mutinies on the raft. After the struggle, 60 remained on board.

- On the third day, they started eating some of the dead.

- After the third night, 12 more people had died. 11 of them were cast into the sea, but one body was kept on board, "reserved against their hunger".

- On the fourth night, yet another mutiny. After all the violence, a total of 30 survivors remained on the raft.

- On the seventh day, two soldiers were caught stealing wine from one of the remaining caskets. They were executed by throwing them to the sea. 

-That left 27 survivors, only 15 of them healthy enough to survive more than a few days. Their resources were extremely limited, with less than a cask of wine for drinking, and only human flesh for food. "To put the sick on half allowance was but to kill them by degrees. And thus, after a debate in which the most dreadful despair presided, it was agreed among the fifteen healthy persons that their sick comrades must, for the common good of those who might yet survive, be cast into the sea", Barnes tells us. "The healthy were separated from the unhealthy like the clean from the unclean".

There’s been a vote, Edward

- After that, the survivors decided to cast all their arms into the sea, except one sabre, "lest some rope or wood might need cutting".   Fun fact: the equipment of modern lifeboats includes not only food, water and a first aid kit, but also 1 (one) boat axe. And the reason for this is exactly the same: just in case some rope or plastic/fiberglass might need cutting . 

(My face during that particular safety training)

- And then

wait for it

a white butterfly showed up.

Now of course, that would be a good sign, right? Not because it works great as a symbol on an artistic level (looking at you, Peter Jackson), but in this case it does work on a logical level: How far away can a freaking butterfly fly? It must mean that land is near, right? Just like, dunno, same way that an arctic bird, preying mainly on fish, wouldn't stray too far away from open water, so it must mean there are leads relatively nearby, right?

Right? :____(

The survivors of the Medusa did not spot land anywhere. And our Cold Boys didn't find any leads. Life is a bitch like that sometimes. Géricault could have chosen to depict this moment in his painting, but he didn't. "First, it wouldn't look like a true event, even though it was," says Barnes. As viewers, we know this. We are ready to accept a white butterfly showing up somewhere in the Misty Mountains over Khazad-dûm to save our favorite wizard, but on a real story, a real tragedy, it wouldn't work, it would be too on-the-nose. And so the butterfly and the bird both fly away, and nothing changes, and the tragedy goes on.

- On day 10, eight of the survivors of the Medusa, convinced that land must be within reach, built another, smaller raft, from pieces of the first one, upon which to escape. But as soon as they tried it, they realised it was too frail, and gave up on the plan.

- On day 13, they sighted the Argus. This is the moment that Géricault depicts, when they first spot a ship on the horizon.

See it there? Just look where all the guys are looking (well, not all of them, but more on that later)

Yep, that's a ship, that tiny little thing on the horizon, against the rosy sky (is it dawn, or dusk, by the way? What do you guys think?), not bigger than a butterfly. Pretty impressive to have the whole composition of this massive painting, and the attention of everyone depicted, gravitate away from the viewer. Literally no one in this painting gives a flying fuck about the viewer because their eyes are fixated on their only hope, a ship that looks like it might just disappear at any moment...

Which is exactly what it did.

My dudes, this painting, and the story behind it, is peak Romanticism. The drama.

The Argus was visible for about a half hour. It gave no sign of having spotted the raft. And then it disappeared.

Ok but wait a minute, so didn't they get rescued? Well yes they did. That's how we know what happened.

The survivors watched the ship disappear, fell into despair and decided, like many of us do on one of those days, that a nap might help. So they "rigged a piece of cloth as a shelter from the sun, and lay down beneath it"

And then a couple hour later, one of them went to the front of the raft, out of the canvas, and saw the Argus half a league away (that's less than 3 km), "carrying a full press of sail, and bearing down upon them".

If this wasn’t real, we’d call it lazy writing. I mean, typical cliffhanger, our hero is gonna die, all hope is lost, finish episode there. And then next week, boom, of course the hero is saved within the first five minutes. Ugh. But life is badly written like that sometimes.

And so they were saved. Well, five of them died in the days after their rescue. Which leaves us with a total of 10 survivors from the Raft. 

Géricault read the account from Savigny and Corréard sometime in the winter 1817-1818. The painting was finished in July 1819. And sometime in 1820, Captain Crozier saw it in London, while he was on leave before joining Parry on an Arctic expedition in 1821.

And this is getting long, so I'm gonna leave it here for now. Next part will be about the parallels I see between the actual painting and the show.  If you made it all the way here: Thanks for reading! 

(here’s part 1 and part 3 )

[hellguarded-a]

≥  @hellhunted​  has sent a  prompted  message_

5, 9, 10, 11, 16. for jou, cause. she is still awake. n in a mood. :|

5.  Is your muse comfortable with public displays of affection?

to a degree, but the general answer is no.  shinjou will accept the possessive kind of affection ---  ass grabs, neck kisses, aggressive makeouts, leaving hickeys.  more often than not it’ll be him to initiate those because if he  does  commit to someone, he is incredibly possessive of his partner.  he will grumble and push you away if you try to cutely kiss his cheek or hold his hand.

9.  Is your muse attracted to any features in particular?

he likes people with bright eyes;  bonus if they’re either a sharp contrast against their hair,  or  their hair is a bright color, too.  he doesn’t find people with dark hair and eyes aesthetically pleasing.  enjoys people that look  ‘exotic,’  or have some features that make them stand out ---  this could be scars, birthmarks, certain disfigurements.  it intrigues him.

10.  Have their crushes been mostly male, mostly female, or evenly split?

he doesn’t really get  ‘crushes’  in the sense that he wishes a certain person would date him.  he only really looks at people to determine if they’d be worth a quick fuck;  be it for simple indulgence or because he actually needs to feed.  for that he usually looks for men, because he’d constantly argue that dealing with women is not wroth the hassle;  and they’re usually the ones who put up a fight.  the ones that make it exciting.  the jarring majority of women he’d met were all too willing to take everything, to simply  submit.  he likes a bit of excitement, some challenge.  someone who will keep him on his toes.  the women he’s slept with had  always  ended up dead and eaten.  some of the men survived.

11.  Have their partners been mostly male, mostly female, or evenly split?

the majority of his relationships has been with men, but he swings both ways.  despite his apparent disdain for women, he  did  end up taking one as his mate in the end.  and honestly...?  he wouldn’t have it any other way, when he looks back at his past relationships.  considering he doesn’t like soft men or  ‘twinks,’  a lot of the relationships he’s been in with males ended up making him look like the bottom  ( despite being one )  but that’s not the impression he wants to put on in public.  with medusa he can easily fool the masses into believing he’s the one in charge, while in private he gets to enjoy some gross and intense sadism from his queen.

16.  Does your muse initiate heated/sexual contact, or do they wait for their partner?

man just goes.  if he’s horny, he’s horny.  he doesn’t take no for an answer.  he’s not the kind to care about consent;  for that reason he naturally seeks out partners that share the sentiment, people that can keep up with him.  for longterm relationships that is.  if he’s just looking for an affair, he doesn’t care;  it ends up in their death anyway.

[notfeelingthyaster]

Imagine (Son of Hades! Percy; Godswapped! Big Three's kids) (8/8) or (13/13)

Blood of Olympus pt.2 - The War

Hello! If you're here, it means you probably already know - but check the masterpost for both warnings and the other twelve parts.

I want to thank everyone who followed this fanfic? Imagine? AU? for the month it took us to get here. Tell me what you thought about it, if there's anything you are anxious to see in the epilogue - yes, we'll have an epilogue!

If you like my writing, you might be happy to know that I'm starting another AU - same style, no patience for prose - this time, a daughter of Zeus! Percy. Don't worry - it bares almost no similarities to this, and part 1 will be out before the epilogue, so stay tuned. For now, good reading :))

Maybe it was the death of Malcolm, but after that night, there was something different about the crew of the Argo II. Their journey to Gaea changed them.

Will notifies them as soon as morning rises, leaving Annabeth secluded in her room and Perseus to whatever was happening upstairs - they are told not to interfere.

No one knows exactly what happened on the deck between Perseus and whoever dared to attack them - there is nothing there but sea salt and dried ichor when Frank goes to take his shift.

The screams will haunt him for the rest of his life - they pleaded for mercy, but after this journey, no one in here is a merciful person.

There's an aura - an aura Frank recognizes well, for it clogged around Hazel in her first days in Nova Roma. An aura of death. Perseus is looking at the sunrise, cleaning his gold-stained ax.

He looks happy - for the first time since Tartarus, he is humming a melody to some song that Frank is pretty sure is from Disney. Percy grins at Frank.

"Hey, man."

Frank doesn't ask. He trusts Perseus - Perseus took a whip to the back, side by side with him. Perseus fell on Tartarus for his best friend. Perseus would give his life for any of them. The son of Mars Ultor is sure he did what he had to do.

It still spooks him a little when Perseus leaves, whistling what he now recognizes as Fathoms Bellow.

They're journeying to Delos - for more half a day - and then, finally, to Athens. Frank wonders if the monsters are too afraid of them - or if Gaea just told them to stop attacking.

The fact is that, for several hours, no monster touches them again. Might be the death air encapsulating the ship's bow. Might just be their reputation.

With nothing to do, Frank watches as the sun rises and his friends starting to walk around.

Leo has no fixed hours - so he might be either awakening or going to sleep. He crosses through Frank in his post and rambles for a second - the Legionis thinks it's cute.

Leo crosses Hazel - she never wakes past eight unless she had a night shift - who is probably going to breakfast. They exchange a kiss, and Frank's heart aches.

Hazel stops to talk with Jason - the last one awake, since Perseus and Will are probably sleeping, Annabeth still hasn't left her room, and Nico and Piper went to their room after the morning announcements - probably to grief.

The blonde is uncharacteristically serious for such an early hour, but with recent news, it's expected. Frank goes back to look at the sea - and wonder if any of them will ever be free of this.

The two of them retract to the war room - to plan the attack on Gaea. They are at a serious disadvantage. It might be better for them to ride back to Long Island and try to unit the camps and plan a war - just like they did with Kronos/Mount Otris.

It's very improbable that Gaea will give the same considerations to put Manhattan to sleep. Kronos wanted power - not to destroy humanity. Gaea is a nesting mother who lost her kids - she wants chaos.

But with all giants here - wouldn't be easier to do this here? Even if they have no support whatsoever? If they tailed back to Long Island, would the giants run rampant through Europe?

They wait until after lunch - when everyone is more or less up - to congregate and vote.

"There are seventeen giants - one for each Olympian plus Trivia, Proserpina, and the Fates, except for Dyonisus who has two and the twins who share two - and nine of us."

"Fifteen" Retorts Percy from his place opposite to Jason "I killed Aristaeus - the bane of Proserpina - yesterday. And the bane of Ares... Damasen... he was a good giant. He didn't reform."

Jason doesn't argue - Perseus was the one on Tartarus - even though he wants to ask who helped him kill the giant - and if he killed them afterward.

Fifteen is still a staggering number of giants. They have no chance alone - so after Delos, they solve to make their last stand on Camp Half-Blood.

Will, Perseus, and Jason are the ones to go down to the small island. Finding Apollo is exceptionally easy: it's just a matter of following the sound of the lyre.

He laughs at their request - full-blown laugh. Jason wants to punch him - the world is ending.

"There's no need for flowers. You already have the Physician's Cure. This is a name my son gave to his union to Zagreus - life and death."

Jason wants to scream. He wants to kill Nike - who is in her island, chilling after sending them in a goose chase. But Perseus and Will are already miles ahead of him - whatever happened last night unlocked something in him, even if the gloves never left.

"You'll come to Long Island. You'll fight - for as long as needed - against Orion and Gration." It's Will - defying his own father. Jason doesn't know if he has the courage.

"Promise - on your immortality, because I don't trust the Styx."

"I could still evaporate you"

"You won't. You need us too much."

Apollo promises - maybe because he sees everything and knows more than Jason about whatever will happen, maybe because that ax still bears gold in it - and exchanges some words with Will that neither of them hear as they walk back on board to tell the news.

Will and Percy disappear into a room - it makes something stir in Jason's stomach, as he remembers that he no longer knows this Perseus, but the one he knows, he loves.

Will and Perseus talk for hours - before being invaded by Leo - only to keep talking until the next morning.

"Change course to Athens. We have the Physician's Cure. Gaea will rampage through Europe. Hercules is on her side. There's no way we can go back now."

They agree - there's no crossing Hercules little island again.

An IM from Reyna cements their decision. A group of demigods serving Gaea - including the Censor that unjustly tried Hazel and was exiled - tried ambushing she and her sister - but the Amazons and the Hunters won against them. Thalia is alive - and she drove an arrow through Gwen's eye, the traitor in Nova Roma.

The Hunters called the Pegasi - and they all set course to Athens - while Reyna followed the statue who set course by the sea. Pegasus himself is going to Athens - he fought once against the Giants, he would do again.

They reach Athens in a little more than five hours. It's the last day of their time - and they are ambushed as soon as they cross the Parthenon.

They fight well - Gaea wants Perseus and Piper, so they rally around them.

Perseus is a fighting beast himself, but he is overwhelmed by the sheer number of monsters and unable to help others. He kills the Minotaur once again - the armies of monsters are almost endless - is the battle of Manhattan all over again.

Piper strikes against the three gorgons - Medusa can't petrify anyone without petrifying her own allies - and keeps the head as a prize.

Nico is in the sky - he looks like part of the storm. The flying monsters rally around him, but Nico doesn't disappoint - his sword cuts through them like butter.

In the end, the nine annihilate the whole army - Gaea has just her giants now.

But in the fray, two griffins escape - carrying with them Jason and Hazel. Now they have no option but to follow.

Perseus almost hits his head on the wall. Why was he so dumb? Gaea was playing them. Gender had nothing to do with the sacrifice - it's just one of the sea, one of the earth. And Hazel, as much as she is a daughter of the sky, her powers exist on earth.

He could deal with the bounty hunt on him. Even on Piper - just a person to protect - but not on two. He was not expecting this. Perseus thinks Gaea must be laughing right now.

He feels guilt creep on him. That was his plan, and now two of his best friends are gone in the sky. Leo looks even worse than him - he is weeping as if the two demigods are already dead. They probably are.

Annabeth takes the reins - and they fly to the Acropolis quicker than ever. The ship slams against the ground - it probably needs repairs. But they are here.

Jason doesn't remember feeling that much pain. He wakes up, chained in a sacrificial altar, Hazel just behind him. Their powers don't answer - the chains are as dark as Perseus' ax: stygian iron. In front of them, Porphyrion and Polybotes laugh.

"We'll be glad to offer your fathers your severed heads"

He wishes to talk back - but his mouth doesn't work. It's Clytius taking his voice away, right behind them - holding a scyther that is not unfamiliar. Is the same scyther that took Uranus manhood - the same one that cut him to pieces and reduced him to the sky.

"We take an arm from the daughter of the earth, blood and flesh, so that her connection with the ground is given to our Mother, so she is able to reclaim her dominion."

There's blood everywhere. Hazel's left arm is twitching on the floor, and she lets out an ear-splitting scream, before passing out.

"We take the ability from reproduce from the son of the sea, blood and flesh, so that his fertility will be given to our Mother, so she is able to reproduce again, the ability his father took from her."

Jason feels like the world is spinning. They will... they... they want to castrate him. He sees Hazel's blood staining the marble and the floor, running through his skin, and he wants to vomit - but something is preventing him from doing so.

Hazel is paling fast - she'll be dead in thirty minutes if they don't stop the bleeding. But he can't move. He can't help. A scream strangles in his throat.

If Hazel's voice was able to cut through Clytius magic, would his powers too? If he focused enough if he stretched himself enough.

Jason forces himself to stop thinking about the chanting, and focus. He imagines Nico - with no family, losing Hazel. Or Frank and Leo. Or Perseus. He pushes and pushes.

He doesn't find a source of water - but he feels her blood. He can stop it from coming out - just for a second, just for a minute, just until they rescue them.

They are going to rescue them. They are - none of them are dying today. They have to survive this war.

Jason focuses his thoughts on good things. After this, he is going to go to college. He is going to spend time with his sister. He'll work on greek-roman relations. He'll ask the male Praetor on a date. He'll punch Octavian. Everything will be just fine.

The scyther is just over Clytius head, ready to strike when an arrow takes its place in his eye. Thalia, mounted on Pegasus, barges in. The horse is bigger than Clytius - and he takes their chains, before flying off to the arena.

Thalia cuts his chains - throwing a gladius at him. Hazel is still passed out - curled into herself in the ground. Jason stands before her, still doing his best to keep her blood inside. It won't work for long.

The giants follow them - but to no effect. The ship crashes between them, the demigods jumping off - armed to the teeth. With a scream of war, the Amazons and the other Hunters come flying in their own Pegasi.

Reyna is not with them - Jason hopes, not for the first time, that the demigod settlements are in peace. That they won't have to deal with two battlefronts.

It's not the time for petty wars. They should be here, helping, if they were not caught up in past fights of over a hundred years ago. Gaea is much more urgent than whatever they are debating.

These fighters are not enough - they are fighting a losing battle. No gods are coming, and between immortal hunters and Amazons, no one is a deity.

Jason starts thinking he is hallucinating - wishful thinking - for the sky opens, and from there descents all the Olympians and Hecate. Nike is the first to appear, guiding the chariot of Zeus, a scream of battle in her lips.

Juno is in a chariot guided by peacocks. Behind her, Aphrodite - that's not Venus, but Jason has never seen Aphrodite so ready for war. There are no doves or flowers in her - just a giant bow and arrow and a spear, riding in a horse side by side with her husband and her lover.

All twelve Olympians, plus Hades, plus the Fates, plus Trivia, Nike, Juventa, Bia, and Enyo. Proserpina is not there - nor the court of Atlantis.

Jason can't help but think is too little too late. Why they didn't show before? Before Hazel lost her leg? Before Malcolm died? Before Perseus fell? Before this journey took everything from them?

The gods pair off with their children - Hades with Perseus, Athena with Annabeth, Aphrodite with Piper, Mars with Frank, Zeus with Nico, Hephaestus with Leo, Juno with Hylla, Thalia with Poseidon.

Before pairing with Will - who looks reluctant to do it - Apollo comes to them. Jason is good enough to go - but he won't leave Hazel.

"I can't regrow her arm - not here, not now. And never, if it has been amputated by a titan weapon. The best I can do is close it."

Jason is so tired of the gods being unable to do stuff they should be capable of, but he sighs and nods. Hazel's color starts coming back, even if she doesn't wake up.

It's Trivia who comes to take the place of Jason. He stalls - he doesn't trust any deity anymore with the well-being of his friends - but they are not much, and they need him to fight. He joins Ceres as she raises a sickle to go against her bane - Asterius.

The hunters follow their mistress and Amazons divide themselves between the remaining gods - Dyonisus and Mercury - and they attack.

It's not enough. They are stretched too thin. Clytius is the only fallen one after thirty minutes of battle - Trivia burns him down in rage for her acolyte and makes a still groggy Hazel make a little cut on so he dissolves.

Perseus fights alongside his father, mounting Mrs. O'Leary as he does Cerberus. Small Bob can't die unless struck by celestial bronze, so the giant's effort to kill the creature is useless. Both of them don't hold back. It's the first time he really remembers his training with the Lord of the Dead. But mostly, he remembers Persephone too, and the gardens of the Underworld.

Percy has to go back to her. To his stepmom, and his mom, and his other stepmom. He has to go back to his life - the life he can barely remember now, but that was everything for him.

He has to go back to the gardens and the lakes, to blue cookies and bare feet. At least one of the rulers had to be in the Underworld, so Persephone is waiting for them to come back.

It gives Perseus strength. They have to win, so the earth can prosper - so that they can go back to the Underworld. So he can meet Thanatos, and play with Cerberus, and debate with Charon. So that they can be a family.

They keep fighting, but even with Perseus renewed will, there's no winning. Alcyoneus retorts them blow for blow and they tire quickly. Hades turns to him - there's a grim expression in his face when he throws his helmet to Perseus.

Perseus notices to late what his father is about to do - and is unable to prevent it.

"FATHER"

It's the first time he recognizes it. Hades has always been the lord of the dead to him - he only ever called him father in mockery. But this time, it's yelled in anguish.

"Tell Kore that I love her."

A giant blow from the Lord of the Dead makes both of them stumble. The giant falls to the floor, but not before running his sword through Hades' neck.

It's the first god to fall, and when Perseus cuts Alcyoneus' head in return, he stays dead. But it's not enough, because Hades is dead.

He'll have to tell Kore. Kore that loves Hades so much that she leaves the surface for months on end to stay with him. He'll have to tell her that he wasn't enough to save Hades.

Cerberus whine loudly and tries to wake his master - he sniffs at the ground soiled by ichor. No giant is able to approach the body or Perseus - Cerberus growls at every enemy who tries. Small Bob stays by his side, fighting alongside him.

A tear escapes his eye. After so much time, so much resentment, he didn't think he would care. His father lies on the floor like a puppet with the strings cut - and Perseus rages. He closes his father's eyes but doesn't stop - there's still a war going on, so he puts on the Helm of Darkness and goes on to join Ceres and Jason.

A scream rings through the arena - is Poseidon, noticing his oldest brother is gone. He throws his trident at Polybotes head - between him and Thalia, the giant is gone in the next ten minutes.

The god of the sea runs through the field, stepping through dead bodies and avoiding the corner where Trivia is taking care of Hazel. He clutches his brother's prone body and cries, ichor staining his clothes. Cerberus whines at his sound - it's heartbreaking.

Across the field, all four siblings cry together for their fallen brother, but none of them as badly as Poseidon. There's a cold spreading through the field - and soon enough, the sky opens again.

It's Vesta. The last Olympian - the one who stayed behind to tend to the hearth. But now, she looked as fiery as her nephew - descending from the sky with no armor or chariot. The eldest child.

Family - that's Vesta domain. Perseus never saw her fight, but she does this time - throwing herself against the closest giant - Gration.

But Hades is not the last to fall.

Between Jason and Perseus, there's no match for Asterius. Ceres cuts his head off, still sobbing for her son-in-law and brother, sobbing for her widowed child. It doesn't help when her sister falls by her side - Juno, in full battle armor, is cut in half by Eurymedon.

Perseus thinks it might be a scene worthy of being painted - her lifeless eyes stare at the sky, as her crown rolls off her and stops at the giant's feet. Hylla keeps on fighting - now joined by her mother, who changes from Enyo to Bellona.

Zeus, in rage for his wife's death, kills Porphyrion before striking against Eurymedon with his general and her daughter. Nico, even if he never cared for Juno, follows suit - there's a path of destruction behind them, where lightning bolts hit the floor and filled the ground with craters.

Dyonisus kills Elphiates with his oldest daughter by his side, but his brother doesn't die as easily. Athena is still fighting against Enceladus - Annabeth striking the giant from all angles, in perfect synchrony with her mother, with help from Nike, who shields them both with her wings.

Mars and Mercury fight against Hippolytus - but he is faster than even the god of travelers, and evade them at every turn. Frank is a dragon, and then an elephant, and a snake - but nothing hits the giant.

After a blow on the arm by Bia, Periboea spears the still masculine body of Piper. Her blood falls from in-between her legs as Aphrodite - scarier than even Ares - runs her spear through the giantess's eye, killing her.

To save her daughter, Aphrodite shifts her completely into a girl - it's jarring, and something that takes adaptation, but the only way she can keep fighting without dropping.

But it's too late, the damage is done. Gaea is awake, by the seed of a daughter of the sea. Perseus exchanges a look with Leo through the fray - Mimas is just defeated, as Hephaestus smashed his head in with his hammer, but he regenerates quickly as if nothing happened.

There's no winning anymore. The fallen giants don't rise again - the Doors are closed - but the seven remaining ones don't die either - Enceladus, Eurymedon, Orion, Mimas, Otis, Hippolytus, and Thoon - their mother healing all their injuries.

The gods that killed their banes rally together against Gaea - but it's futile. It's just like Perseus in Tartarus - there's no battling a primordial in their own turf.

Will leaves his father to battle Orion, with his sister and the hunters - as Gration lays, probably dead, across the feet of his brother, courtesy of Vesta - and joins the duo.

The three of them sprint through the muddy ground, and onto Festus. There's no winning from Gaea on the ground - but they might have one way.

"Don't let me die, okay?"

Will and Percy join hands across Leo's forehead - and try to bless him the best they can, without being gods themselves. A green sheen covers Leo - and this might be it.

Leo mounts Festus - now again a giant dragon - and rises to the sky. It is enough to attract the Earth. She leaves her battle against Vesta, Aphrodite, Bia, Poseidon, and Ceres - to go after the dragon.

"Trying to escape me, my little demigod?"

An explosion of fire rocks the sky. It's not enough to kill Gaea, but between Zeus' thunder and Leo's explosion, the primordial is unconscious.

Perseus focuses - on keeping Leo's soul in his body. Will, by his side, shines as Apollo himself - there's a sheen of sweat in his face. It might've worked

None of them have the power to kill her now - just the union of all the remaining Olympians would even be capable of rendering her asleep again.

They can't find Festus or Leo - Perseus renders this as a good sign, the sign that their powers were enough.

But for now, with her unconscious, she can't heal the giants. So the remaining gods do quick work of killing them - the last to fall is Eurymedon, with Zeus' bolt across his forehead.

The king of the gods falls on his knees and weeps. Juno is dead. Hades is dead. There are six hunters and twenty amazons remaining - from tens and hundreds.

Mrs. O'Leary died - from a stray arrow. Cerberus paws the ground where her dust is - Perseus can't even imagine his puppy back on Tartarus.

Nike - both wings pointing into different sides, spine broken by Enceladus foot - is sprawled on the ground. Her unblinking eyes stare at Athena, who is holding her hand.

"Did... did we... win?"

"Y-yes"

"Give them the... the crowns... don't forget..."

"I won't"

"There's no... no friends.... in victory. I wish I had... someone."

"I am your friend, Nike"

"My best one... don't let them forget.... champions don't die..."

"Never"

She gags in her own blood. It drips around her chin. It's the first time Perseus sees Athena cry. It hits him - they, all of them, have known each other for thousands of years.

Mars is crying by his mother's head, his spear broken on his feet. Juventa, burned blonde hair blowing around her face, hugs Hephaestus as he cries for their mother - the one that never cared for them, but that was their mother anyway.

Vesta has Hades head on her lap, while his body lays broken on the floor. Ceres is trying to calm Poseidon - but the god of the sea can't stop crying.

On the other side of the Arena, most demigods are together around Hazel - Will is explaining about Leo, but most of them look hopeless. Hazel is crying in Frank's arms.

Eight of them are here - Hazel is missing an arm, Piper went through a jarring body change and Frank has a broken leg - but eight of them are alive, and there's hope for Leo.

Perseus stands in the middle - not joining the gods or the demigods. He looks at the ichor stained floor, the upcoming battle against Gaea looming. Cerberus and Small Bob are together on each side of him.

Apollo - from where he is laying with his unconscious, but alive, sister - raises to help the demigods. None of them are happy about any godly presence - but they need treatment, so they let it happen.

Perseus is the first to break the silence after everyone is healed. Some gods are still crying - but there's no time for grief now. He doesn't look at where his father lays dead - he can't process this right now.

"We... we need to go. To Long Island. We need reinforcements - the war isn't over."

"We need to recharge" Is Hephaestus that retorts "There's no way we can fight right now. Maybe in a day or so but..."

"I don't think we have this time." Jason points "We could try and stall things, prepare... Can you send us there?"

"I can" Say Pegasus, who was fighting alongside Thalia.

Perseus wants not to care. To say that Juno or Nike deserved it. But it's not fair - not even them deserve to die, to go back to the void or Tartarus to reform or be lost for centuries.

Annabeth, however, sits in her corner with the ghost of a smile in her lips - so many demigod's lifes lost for them, for their petty struggles, and now they have to pay the price too. Everyone is paying the price now.

If they helped before, if they didn't spend months cooperating with Juno's useless plan, perhaps now no one would be dead. They could have united the demigods without waisting eight months on stupid missions to kill giants - just for them to come back.

If they stopped thinking about their "oh so bad" split personalities, maybe they could've made this journey quicker, instead of letting them spend two months going in side-quests, fighting minor gods, and retrieving useless information.

So yes, Annabeth is vindicated. This - all of this, those deaths, the ichor soiling the ground - it's their fault.

Piper feels tired. This - this body, this recognition from her mother - is all she ever wanted. But now that she has it, she can't even appreciate it. Was it worth it? She would give everything back for Perseus' leg, Hazel's arm, Malcolm, Leo.

She looks at their mismatched little family - and remembers that yesterday, they had lunch together - all of them. It was not the best moment, but they were laughing.

They could've been happy. If they weren't demigods, most of them would be in college by now. They wouldn't be broken.

Perseus solves to travel by shadows with Cerberus - he still has his father's Helm, and the immortal horse won't let him mount with it. He feels sick - that's his father's dog and his father's armor. But that's their chance of survival.

No god look at him when he melts into the darkness - it's too fresh, too painful. Part of their family is dead.

She jumps on the Pegasus, holding Hazel up - she can barely hold on to her brother in front of her. The wound is closed, but the daughter of Jupiter is off-balance - there's nothing on her right side.

Hazel closes her eyes and rests her head across Nico's back - she is so tired. Leo is gone - maybe forever - and she doesn't have an arm. There's nothing there - nothing. She goes to move and she forgets it for a second - but then she tries to hold tighter to Nico and can't.

Nico feels his sister's tears on the back of his shirt and holds tight to Frank - who is almost strangling Will in his efforts not to panic - he is flying over the sea.

Jason is behind Piper - he is the last one - and he is much more comfortable. That's his half brother after all.

They land in Long Island after ten painful hours - and Will seethes, because their journey could have been so easy, so small - but the gods were too occupied by their insignificant problems that they had to journey for months.

One after the other, they dismount just shy of the river - Jason thinks the naiads look mad when Frank vomits all over their water.

"Flying on a ship is a thing. Flying on a horse is another."

He stills looks queasy when they cross the Pavillion. There's no one there, which is weird because it's morning. There's no one anywhere.

Perseus - powered by the Helm - is the first to get there - almost two hours before them. And the first thing he listens makes him utterly mad.

"Give our soldiers back - or Nova Roma will strike back!"

It's Octavian's voice coming from the hill that harbors Thalia's tree - and Perseus sighs. He looks at himself - he needs a shower, and sleep, and food. They need traps. They don't need a second war.

He is in no condition to fight right now. So he'll have to put his diplomatic skills to use - just the reminder of his father's death sparks a dull pain in his chest - still covered in ichor and dust, his ax slung over his shoulder.

Cerberus stays by his side. Perseus sends Small Bob to Persephone through the old Labyrinth entrance - he needs the big dog, but the skeleton tiger would just be easy prey.

"TWELVE LEGION, STOP"

Perseus looks mightly tired as he takes on the scene - the greeks following Clarisse, Connor, and Lou, the Romans following Octavian and Mike Kahale. Reyna between them, with the gigantic statue.

The demigod looks between his first and his second family, none that he ever fit right, both of which he was the leader, and hold on to Cerberus.

"We - and by we, I mean nine of us, greeks and Romans, the Amazons, and the hunters - just defeated fifteen giants, with the gods. In Athens. We could've - and should've - had reinforcements."

"Percy-" Connor starts, but Percy raises a hand to stop him. There are shadows curling against his arms - his celestial bronze leg shines under the Athena Parthenos.

"I may have been gone for a while, but I'm still your leader - and their Praetor. You choose me to lead - both of you. Me, and Reyna, and Annabeth, and Frank, and Jason."

"Praetor Jackson-"

"Shut the hell up Octavian, this is all your fucking fault" Intercedes Reyna.

"I went through Tartarus - for a month - because of that damned statue, to close the Doors so you could be safe. I don't care about your petty little problems now - Earth has risen."

"IT'S A LIE, IT'S ALL LIES" Screeches Octavian.

"How can you know? You were here, raising trouble and creating unnecessary problems while we went on the freaking mission to save the world."

Octavian tries to reply, but Reyna's sword in his throat stops him.

"My father is dead. The gods are coming - but we need to stall Gaea. There's no time for this."

"I say kill him." Replies Reyna.

"I agree." Says Perseus, to the surprise of no one "We're the Praetors of Nova Roma. Our word is the law. For treason against our people, you're condemned to death, Octavian Simmons."

"Apollo will curse you for this!" Are his last words as Reyna cuts his head off. Mike Kahale backs down - no one would dare to go against them, not when Perseus is holding the symbol of his father in his hands and the Guardian of Hell in his side.

"Now that... that was solved, let's prepare for the true war. Gaea is coming - in hours from now. We have to hold on until the gods come."

They enter the Camp - the Greeks and the Romans aren't a unit, but at least they all trust Perseus, who sits on the top of the amphitheater with Reyna, and they wait until the others get there. Jason is the first to come to sit down by them - followed by the other six.

"I won't ask you to trust each other. I ask you to fight - with all that you can. Juno and Pluto, or Hera and Hades, are dead." Cries erupt from that, but silence quickly at Reyna's fulminant look "Nike, or Victory, has also fallen. Pray for your parents - burn food, whatever - so that they can take strength. They should be here in a few hours. We just need to hold on."

"Romans and Greeks - no one will survive if we don't fight. Together. For now, you take your orders from Reyna and Clarisse." It's Jason who completes.

Reyna and Clarisse sit down to discuss ideas - they don't trust each other, but are both daughters of war - and their objectives are simple. Lou goes to call her brother as Connor joins the table - Alabaster apparently refused to join the battle against the Romans.

While Romans and Greeks trade strategies and weapons, the travelers rest. Perseus is the first to fall asleep - holding his father's Helm of Darkness like a teddy bear, while most of the others keep their distance from it.

Cerberus makes the campers stay away from the eight. Two of his heads sleep and one keeps growling at whoever gets too close.

Annabeth is the last to fall asleep - she joins the strategy group for about thirty minutes before joining her quest mates behind the giant dog - it sniffs at her. She wonders if remembers the red rubber ball.

They have eleven hours to plan and rest. It's a miracle - Leo managed to knock Gaea down for 21 hours, almost a day.

At least is enough time for everyone to sleep and eat and plan traps. It won't be enough against the primordial, but it might just hold her for a while. They have no way of causing explosions to Leo's proportion - at least they have numbers.

Gaea rises from the earth like an evil mountain - she is the ground. Some of them - the ones on bare earth - die immediately, sucked into the mud as it turns to quicksand.

Frank takes the lead as the whole army charges against the goddess, striking again and again in every part they can find.

They last the three hours before the gods appear - but they lose two-thirds of their forces. Mangled corpses are everywhere on the battlefield.

The gods win - against a tired Gaea - without major losses for themselves. There's no need to recount their battle, for they will lord about it for many centuries.

What counts, however, is the deaths on the demigods' side - the ones who will be forgotten in the shadow of their parents' victory.

Connor sobs over the almost unrecognizable body of his brother, who died holding hands with Katie Gardner, being veiled by her sister, Miranda.

Hazel is helping Alabaster to find his sister, who missing somewhere in the rubble with the other 56 demigods, who are unaccounted for. The first they find is Clarisse - her still hot corpse trying in vain to protect Chris Rodriguez.

Jason holds Thalia's circlet - the only remaining thing of the Lieutenant of Artemis, who came into the battle with her mistress and died to save her. There are just two hunters alive. The sister he barely knows - and won't ever have the chance now.

Piper holds on to him - she can't bear to look as Mitchell and Ariel mourn little Lacy, killed by a fallen tree. Drew died taking a stone to the head for Piper - she doesn't know how to feel about it.

Will would help - but sadness devours him. Of his whole Cabin, he is the sole survivor. All greek children of Apollo are gone. His boyfriend is also dead - his metal foot caught on the quicksand, and he was swallowed by the earth.

Nyssa mourns her siblings - Jake, Leo, Thalassa, Kira. There's only six of them now - back to where they were just after the first war.

Reyna is alive - although with half of her face burned. Hylla - the last of the Amazons - hovers over her, tending to her injuries.

The smaller cabins help each other - there wasn't a lot of them at first, and now there is even less. Cabin 17 has no demigod alive - and won't ever house one again.

Frank is helping the legion to unearth the bodies and rescue the survivors - it's weird to see a giant mole with only an eye. He is the one who holds Hazel's hand as they have to break Lou Ellen's arm to take her from under a pillar.

Grover died protecting Juniper from Gaea's earthquakes. He became a little juniper tree, side by side with hers. Coach Hedge is the only satyr from Camp Half-Blood left.

But maybe the worst scene is where the Pavillion once was - Perseus Jackson is flicking in and off, large gashes in his torso. Hazel is the one to find him. Most of the survivors - and the eight travelers - stop to look. It's their leader, their savior.

Nico holds his head as blood pools under them - the irony, Perseus took a boulder in the chest for him, flying across the Camp at the end of the battle, and Nico was again unable to catch the hero.

Annabeth sobs over his body, screaming. She lost Luke to the gods. She lost Thalia to the gods. She lost Malcolm to the gods. She lost Leo to the gods. She lost Grover to the gods. Everyone is gone - she won't lose Perseus too.

"FIX HIM" She screams at Apollo "FIX HIM"

Apollo shakes his head sadly. In his benefit, he managed to save all demigods who still held on after battle - and most of their limbs - but Perseus is too far gone.

"FIX HIM! HE SAVED YOU. ALL OF YOU. HE DESERVES TO LIVE!"

"Annabeth, he is beyond-"

"YOU ARE GODS! WHAT ARE YOU FOR?"

"We can't, child"

Annabeth doesn't relent. She lost too much. She lost everything. They took all she was, all she had. She won't fail Perseus.

"Immortalize him."

"Annabeth, no-"

"Shut up, Nico" She barks. There's a mad look in her eyes. "You didn't let Heracles die, and he deserved it far less. Save Percy. Make him a god. You have the Fates right there."

Most of the gods look uncertain. Perseus denied immortality the last time - but they couldn't let the hero die.

"DO IT"

No one disagrees with her. Most of their friends - the ones who know Perseus better, who aren't blinded by grief - look horrified.

Nico would argue strongly - but he promised himself that no harm would come upon Perseus after Tartarus. So he backs off - better than he hates them forever than dead.

Zeus is the one who finally takes a step forward. Perseus soul is almost leaving him - it's now or never.

"All in agreement?"

The gods nod and raise their hands over his prone body. It burns so brightly everyone has to look away

When they look again, there's Perseus - still missing a leg, but better than ever. He looks like his father - uncannily so. There are tears in the corners of Ceres's eyes. Poseidon can't look.

Juventa brings the jar of nectar - she is the one who can grant eternal life, the one who guards over her mother's apples. She puts the jar to his lips, and the boy - the god - wakes up, disoriented.

"W-what... h-how am I here? I-I was with Charles and... and Ethan..." He mumbles under his breath, looking lost.

The Fates look at him - but there's no pity in their eyes. He sees again the blue line being cut - is his life. It's gone. Even before they speak, he knows what happened.

"Earthopener, The Silent One, The Rich One, Lord of the Dead. Hail Perseus, the Underworld God"

[mhdiaries]

Wave 1 Holt Hyde Journal

July 23

Woke up in a moving truck last night - in the cab... this time. But I was totally confused as to how I got there and exactly where I was going. I figured since Moms was driving it meant another new job in another new town - maybe this one will be the last for a while...

July 25

Tried to stay up so I could see what the new town looks like in the daytime but it was no use. Soon as the first ray or sunlight cracked the horizon I was out. Shouldn’t be surprised, since for as long as I can remember, I’ve been trippin’ to the music of the night. I can’t recall the last time I saw the sun... really I can’t. I used to wonder if I was part vampire but so far no fangs and no overwhelming desire to make beat juice my new drink of choice. I must do some serious sleep walking during the day though, cause sometimes when I wake up I am dressed like a complete dork. 

July 27

I put some flyers up at the Maul advertising my DJ biz. Hopefully I’ll get some bites. I know that once I get a few gigs I’ll be busy all the time ‘cause I can definitely spin some scary mixes.

August 1 

Being the new monster in town means I’ve got to figure out who all the players are so I don’t get off on the wrong claw with any of the locals. So I’ve been taking walks at night with Crossfade just to check things out. This is what I’ve peeped so far:

Count Dracula - This ain’t no mopey “Please give me a hug ‘cause I’ma vampire” cry baby. This is the original old school, dark as midnight, bad to the fang Nosferatu. There may be monsters that have been around longer but none of them have Count Dracula’s street cred. He and his daughter live on my street in what is either a gigantic mansion or a small castle. I guess you’d have to go with mansion but only because there isn’t a moat and a drawbridge.

The Mummy - Got to say there’s just something about old school monster royalty. They’re like rock stars or something I’m not the kind of monster that gets star struck but I seriously wanted to ask for his autograph. I didn’t but I thought about it. He and his princess daughter Cleo de Nile live in this palace that looks like a movie set with servants and all. I don’t know Cleo but it seems like she’s wound a little tight.

The Werewolf - There’s one Alpha wolf in his pack and he is it. I heard he could have gone pro in just about any sport he wanted but he was so much stronger and faster than the other players they said it wouldn’t be fair for him to play. He’s got a big family in a not so big house and it always seems like there is some kind of drama going on over there. The way they argue you’d think they don’t like each other but you’d be wrong. They watch out for each other and if you fight one of them you better be ready to take them all. Clawd is the BMOC - Big Monster on Campus and Clawdeen is going to have songs written about her one day. 

Frankenstein and His Bride - Mr. Stein is pretty chill for a dude who’s 8 feet tall and looks like he’s strong enough to tie knots in oak trees. Mrs. Stein on the other hand... well let’s just say Mr. Stein is a lucky monster. They live in a house that looks like a cross between a Swiss chalet and a research lab. I think they’ve got a new baby over there but I haven’t seen her yet.

The Sea Monster - He doesn't’ really live on land, at least I don’t think he does - for sure he’s got a little beach house where Lagoona Blue lives. It’s got this killer dock that goes out over the water. I saw Lagoona sitting out there talking to him one night. He never got out of the water though so I couldn’t tell exactly what he looked like but he churned serious water when he left. I think he mostly just keeps to himself and doesn’t spend a lot of time with surface monsters.

Medusa - Seems like she’s got her hiss together and is in total control of her emotions - good thing too, cause if she ever lost it, your career as a permanent life size paperweight would start right away. I guess that’s why she wears sunglasses outside of her house - even at night. Speaking of her house it looks like a building from one of those pictures at a Greek restaurant the kind with the big columns and everything. I bet the acoustics in that place are awesome. Wonder if she ever lets Deuce have parties up there? 

August 3

Have you ever met someone for the first time and it’s like you’ve known them all your life? Dude this totally happened to me last night. I was doing this bubblegum dance gig, not really my style but sometimes you’ve got to give the monsters what they want - ya know? Anyway, this absolutely smokin’ little vampire was out on the floor doing the Transylvania Trance and there wasn’t another monster in the place who could keep up so I flipped the switch to auto pilot and jumped right in there with her. When the song was over I was like, “Ula D you rock!” Then she said, “How do you know my name because I don’t think we’ve ever met have we?” I couldn’t think of a time when we had but somehow I just knew who she was. Weird huh? 

August 10

Had a date with the lovely and lyrical Operetta. She’s a bit of a diva but what a set of pipes! I took her to see this band I really like and everything was going great until this gargoyle bumps into her and almost knocks her down. I didn’t think his apology was sincere so I got hot and long story short... I got us kicked out. Operetta was embarrassed about it, and asked me to take her home. I sent her a dozen dead roses but she’s still not talking to me. My temper constantly gets me into trouble but never gets me out.

August 11

Mom found out about last night from Operetta’s dad. She says I need to do a better job controlling my temper and stop being such a hot head but it’s not like I can just become a different person. Sometimes I think she wishes I wasn’t a monster at all. Does she think I can just snap my fingers and turn into some dorky human or something? I swear sometimes I just want to ~~~~~~~~~~ ASHES! I melt more pens this way. Maybe mom’s right - wish there was like a potion you could drink to get rid of the bad stuff... oh well.

August 20 

I think I’m going to take some night school classes this year. I heard that Monster High does non-traditional classes for monsters who don’t do daylight and since I seem to fit into that crew I’m gonna sign up. There’s supposed to be this siren that gives voice lessons and Operetta’s dad teaches a keyboard class. 

September 5

I started working on this song that I want to be kinda about my life. Maybe inspiration will hit and I’ll finish it or maybe I haven’t lived long enough to write a song about my life. Anyway I got the first verse:

A twisted road plays out like a rhyme

Revealing itself a little at a time

Turn the corner Leave what’s behind

Outta sight and outta mind

Outta sight and outta mind

Guess I’ll have to see where the road leads.

[mav-wolf]

          MAVERICK RYKER WOLF.

gon·er /ˈɡônər/

a person or thing that is doomed or cannot be saved.

         BASICS.

Name: Maverick Ryker Wolf Nicknames: Mav Age: 30 years old Birthday: February 7th Zodiac: Aquarius Hometown: Detroit, Michigan Affiliation: Cortázar Cartel Occupation: Henchman Education: High School Dropout Relationship Status: Single Orientation: Pansexual / Greyromantic Children: None Pets: Shadow, bombay cat

         APPEARANCE.

Tattoos: Medusa’s head with white eyes on the back of his left hand, anubis on his right shoulder (like this), moon tarot card on his right tricep. Piercings: None. Scars: Small scar on his right eyebrow from hitting his head against a glass table; A few scattered scars from skateboarding and his job; Faded track marks on his arms and legs.

         PERSONALITY.

Traits: Introvert, sarcastic, cynical, anxious, careless, impulsive, loyal, can be manipulative, compassionate, too emotional or too emotionless, resourceful, addictive personality.

Habits: Tends to smoke a lot more when anxiety or cravings peak; Writes on his lighters so other people don’t steal them; Scratches his face or arms subconsciously when he’s nervous; Always finds time to go for a run.

         BIOGRAPHY.

Trigger Warnings: Drug use, abuse and addiction; Murder; Mental Illness.

♡  He was born at 3:36 AM on a friday and the first feeling he knows is rejection. When most parents have a child it’s something they’ve always wanted, their baby is someone they’ve anxiously been waiting to meet; yet Maverick and his brother were both accidents: unwanted and unwelcome. Their parents are too young, too reckless and too unwilling to give up the life they could still have for the lives they’ve created.

♡  The second thing he learns is that his brother is there and that seems to be the only constant. His presence is the only thing he knows to be an absolute truth no matter what, and it’s his presence that makes things a little more bearable.

♡  Their parents were present enough to ensure they’d survive but the older the two of them got, the more absent they became. They’re not there to walk the boys to school, help them with their homework or other trivial parental duties. Maverick was six and used to being alone with his brother by then. At least until the old lady who lived next door noticed that they were always alone and started coming over; bringing the boys food and spending some time with them.

♡  Maverick was fifteen and involved with all the wrong crowds. He’s not good with people and even worse at pretending to be; he’s quiet and selective, spends too much time in his own head. But that’s okay, his newfound friends accepted him for who he was and that was a good thing, he supposed, until their influence has him opening doors he should’ve never touched.

♡  The first door: Alcohol. It was socially accepted, easy, everyone did it, it was normal. But drinking for fun wasn’t good enough, a beer or two wasn’t good enough; it wasn’t good enough until everything was funny, until all his worries faded, until he could laugh in the face of his problems, until he was passed out and too far gone to think of anything else. It wasn’t a problem, not his poison, but it was where it all started.

♡  The second door was nicotine. It wasn’t a big deal and might not be what could kill him in the end, but it was the first sign that he falls a little too easily.

♡  Maverick was sixteen when Rosa, the old lady next door, died of natural causes. A couple days after, he and his brother come to the conclusion that there was nothing left for them there so they pack their bags and run away - their parents never looked for them.

♡  At the age of twenty four, he met a guy at one of his odd jobs that introduced him to the final door: heroine. And that, unfortunately, was his poison. For a while, he was a functioning user, going on with his life apparently well with just that small dose and he couldn’t really tell where it stopped being enough; the gradual increase in amount wasn’t even conscious as dependence developed into addiction and Maverick wasn’t quite sure who he was anymore, yet blissfully ignorant to his own misery. It was easier that way than to accept that he was the only one to blame for his impending decay, better than facing the embarrassment of going through his brother or significant other’s wallets when he thought they weren’t paying attention or picking pockets on the streets; all only so he could disappear for a few days at times and come back with some poorly formulated excuse.

♡  Years later, after he punched his brother bloody, Maverick finally decided to get help and went to rehab. He relapsed a couple times but finally did it, yet every day he wonders how long it’ll last. The problem was that he still owed a lot of money and his brother and him told the Cartel they couldn’t afford to pay - but they’d work to pay it off. So they did but, once their debt was paid for, the Cartel couldn’t just let them go at the risk of letting them talk - so they’ve been members ever since, the thought of anything happening to either of them if they chose to leave always keeping them from doing so.

♡  His brother remains involved with the drugs and Maverick has become a henchman for them. Life definitely didn’t turn that great for him but, honestly, he never did have high hopes.

         WANTED CONNECTIONS.

HIS BROTHER: The only constant in Mav’s life, his ride or die. The only person who knows Maverick in every aspect. They’re very, very close and would die for each other in a heartbeat. They’re best friends and whatever shit they go through, they go through together. Of course they argue at times, but they’d be nowhere without each other. Maverick, however, feels immense guilt for pulling his brother into this messy life.

HIS EX: Gender is open, but this is the first person Maverick’s ever loved (and the only one so far) but timing was terrible. They were together when Mav’s addiction was at its worst and he wasn’t even considering the possibility of getting sober. They left him because he pushed way too many limits.

CARTEL: Anything and everything??? Neither he or his brother are willing members, they got roped into it - but this has been his life for a while now and he’s just trying to do what he can do avoid even more trouble.

THE BAD INFLUENCE: Maverick’s always at the verge of relapse, talking himself out of it day after day but it’s a constant struggle. So this would be the person who keeps nudging him the wrong way and just might eventually give the final push.

OTHER: Honestly, anything else you can think of! I’m down for all the things.

[ltwilliammowett]

Cannibalism at Sea

Introduction

Before you wonder what this is all about, please read this introduction carefully. The topic is a very special and not everyone's business and who knows me and reads my stuff regularly knows that I also work a lot with pictures,although I have largely refrained from doing so here. Well for protection reasons the whole article can be found under the read more line. It should be said that this article is about cannibalism at sea and the question whether it is allowed or not. In addition there are some case examples. Whereby I tried to write this as nice and factual as possible.

When you start looking at cannibalism at sea, you get the feeling that it's all just a horror story and that it simply can't be true. Because on a well-equipped boat on a sea full of fish it seems unimaginable that you could eat your friends and colleagues. But when things go wrong in a bad way, precedents show that the vast ocean can conjure up the spectre of "survival cannibalism" surprisingly quickly. In the 18th century, this practice was so widespread that it was known as the "custom of the sea", with some unwritten rules that seafarers in hopeless situations should follow.

The rules of the game

Drifting along the open ocean in a small open boat and facing imminent death by starvation, the moral, ethical and legal implications seem rather trivial, as confirmed by various court cases. Prior to the 19th century, cannibalism was thought to be inherent in man as a kind of instinct and was therefore excusable in extreme circumstances. However, this argument is only valid if those who consume their fellow sailors have already exhausted all other organic food sources. This includes everything from candles to shoes, other leather goods and even blankets.

But the rules of the game go much further. For example, everyone on board must agree to the act of cannibalism before the first incident occurs. And then the dead must be consumed first. Once all the dead are eaten up, they have to stick in some form, or whatever was available has to be pulled to draw lots. The unhappiest one is killed and consumed first, but the next unhappiest one is appointed as his executioner. This process must be repeated until salvation comes or death overtakes all and releases them from suffering.

Examples

The Méduse, or Medusa, was a French warship captained by Hugues Duroy de Chaumareys, an aristocrat with limited naval experience. In 1816, the warship ran aground on the Arguin Bank off of the African shore. Of the 400 people on the ship, some elected to stay aboard, while the rest escaped onto lifeboats and a large makeshift raft. The lifeboats had promised to pull the raft, but after only a few minutes at sea, they cut the rope and left the raft stranded.

During the second night at sea, all hell broke loose on the raft. Some passengers got drunk on wine (the raft's only provision, in addition to some "soggy biscuits") and 60 people were either killed or committed suicide. Over 13 days of depravity, passengers of the raft drank their own urine, ate human flesh, starved, became ill, and threw weak survivors overboard. Finally, the French ship Argus spotted the raft and saved the remaining 15 survivors, though five of these died shortly after rescue.

Raft of the Méduse

During a winter storm in December 1710, the Nottingham Galley crashed into Boon Island, located near the coast of York, Maine. The 14 surviving crew members took refuge on the desolate island, eating a seagull raw. When the ship's cook died, they pushed his body into the sea. By Christmas, two weeks had passed, and the 13 survivors sheltered from the cold under a piece of canvas sail, subsisting on bits of cheese that had floated ashore from the shipwreck and some fresh water. However, without winter clothing and the means to make fire, the men were near dying from exposure to the frigid conditions.

In the days before their rescue, the desperate men resorted to eating the corpse of the ship’s carpenter in order to survive. The captain, who had trained as a butcher, beheaded and disemboweled him then cut his flesh into strips before giving it to the crew. After 24 days on the island, help finally arrived to rescue the remaining men.

The Francis Mary was on passage from Canada to Liverpool. On February 1, 1826, the ship encountered strong winds that dislodged the two of its masts. Strong waves washed away the ship’s galley and the vessel was rendered immobile. The crew survived on cheese and bread while waiting for help to arrive. American ships got close to the Francis Mary, but could not offer assistance due to the harsh weather. The food did not last long and people started to die from starvation and lack of fresh water.

On February 22, a man by the name of James Wilson perished and was cannibalized by the crew. They cut his body into fourths and hung the flesh on pins to dry it out before eating. Before their rescue by the HMS Blonde in March, eight more men would die and have parts of their bodies eaten - including their hearts.

The Francis Mary, 1826

The Peggy was an american schooner that sailed from New York to Faial Island in the Azores in 1765. After doing some trading, the crew, including one enslaved African, started their return voyage. They didn’t get far into their journey before encountering trouble when the ship was disabled by a severe thunderstorm. The storm outlasted their rations and the men began to subsist on wine and brandy and eat a pigeon, a cat, tobacco, leather, and candles.

After exhausting all of these options, the men were forced to draw lots to decide who to kill and consume. The enslaved man supposedly drew the shortest lot, but it is speculated that the men predetermined his fate. One sailor ate his liver raw and died three days later, in a fit of madness. The others pickled and cooked the rest of his body. When no meat remained, lots were drawn again, but the crew was rescued by the Susanna just before the next sailor was due to be killed.

The Franklin Expedition, who does not know the tragic Arctic expedition of Sir John Franklin who set out in 1845 with HMS's Terror and Erebus to find the Northwest Passage. They left, and then no one heard of the ship - or the 128 men on board.

Over the years, experts have been able to piece together a story of what might have happened, but it is still not possible to do so in its entirety, as parts of the puzzle are still missing. The ships got stuck in the ice and although the crew had supplies on board, they set out to search the frozen land of King William Island for a trading post.  Some men died of hypothermia, scurvy, but probably starved to death. The Inuit claimed to have seen signs of cannibalism, such as heaps of broken human bones.  Anthropologists who studied the bones found on the island supported these stories. The men's bones were broken and covered with knife marks and also showed signs of being heated, probably to extract bone marrow. One should emphasize that, in both the case of Franklin's men, we have no indication that anyone actively sought to kill anyone else for the purpose of eating them.

A 1945 photo of skulls of some men of the Franklin Expedition, bleached white by the sun, discovered around King William Island in what is now Nunavut

The Mignonette was an English yacht purchased by lawyer Jack Want in 1884, to be sailed from Essex to Sydney. A four-man crew was assembled, consisting of Captain Tom Dudley, Edwin Stephens, Ned Brooks, and 17-year-old Richard Parker. Just weeks after the crew set sail, a wave struck the Mignonette, washing away the windward fortification, causing the ship to rapidly sink and forcing the crew to escape onto a 13-foot dinghy. They were unable to bring any fresh water or food with them, beyond two tins of turnips.

The crew survived for days on turnips, urine, and an unlucky turtle, but they were becoming desperate. Tom Dudley introduced the idea of killing and eating Parker, who had become ill and unconscious from drinking seawater. The perpetrators assumed that Parker's blood would be more edible if he did not die a natural death but was killed. Stephens and Brooks agreed to it, though Brooks refused later to participate. The three men devoured Parker’s body; it kept them alive for weeks until the German barque, Montezuma, found the men after 24 days at sea.

The end of Richard Parker

Change in legislation

With the case of the Mignonette everything changed, whether it was because one did not see here the correct following of the rules as assumed or simply the feeling of such an act as a custom to watch simply no longer there. The Vicorian Era had a very different view of morality and considered many things to be outdated and babaric, so it is quite possible that this new moral perception played a big role.

The three survivors were brought to justice and although the whole population stood behind them and their actions, the three survivors were not allowed to go to court. The three were convicted of murder and should be punished by hanging. However, due to the resistance of the population, the punishment was changed to six months in prison. The three survivors never accepted this punishment.  But from then on the custom of the sea was no longer exempt from punishment, instead it is now mostly punished by imprisonment.

[prettycottonmouthlamia]

I'm not a huge fan of the "Kama is a trauma victim" interpretations, because I think it draws too many comparisons between her and Sakura. So let me kind of discuss why I feel that Sakura and Kama are different, and this should hopefully express why I don't like the fact that she is a Sakura face.

The first thing to discuss is actually the Beasts themselves. So far, the Beasts can be split rather neatly into two categories: one category are Beasts which are inherently Beasts, such as Primate Murder/Fou and Kiara. There's nothing that serves as a catalyst for them becoming Beasts, they simply are. The other category are Beasts who DO have a catalyst experience: this being Tiamat, Goetia, and Kama. (I don't know where to put Vitch here, simply because it seems like she could be a mixture of both and I'm waiting on LB6 to help clear things up in that regard. In addition, I'm also not including Doman in this list because I haven't seen a translated 5.5).

Tiamat's rejection by her creations and her subsequent destruction and banishment catalyzed her transformation into a Beast, Goetia's exposure to the vast evils of humanity catalyzed his transformation into a Beast, and Kama's incineration at the hands of Shiva catalyzed her transformation into a Beast. You could argue that all of these were traumatic experiences, but you probably wouldn't argue that the first two are trauma victims, and I think it is the same for Kama. Her trauma is a motivating factor behind her motivations in general, but it doesn't define her as a victim in the same way it did Sakura, who mainly suffered until she decided to fight back.

Fundamentally, I don't think that Sakura could ever become a Beast, even if she would become a threat to humanity (which is the case in Heaven's Feel). Sakura primarily lashed out at the people who hurt her, and was otherwise influenced by Angra Mainyu. Like Medusa, she's "fundamentally a good person, turned into a monster by the cruelness of fate". Kama isn't like that, especially when you consider the Mara aspects which F/GO doesn't seem to have a consistent way of writing which are either another side of Kama or...just Kama???

No really I wasn't joking that F/GO can't make up its mind.

ANYWAYS, the existence of Mara does make a difference. Kama/Mara is both the positive and negative aspects of love, so in a sense, unlike Sakura, Kama/Mara was already something of a monster or a demon i lasnherently. Sakura doesn't choose to try and end the world in HF (at least not to my knowledge, it's been like 8 years since I read F/SN, its a long VN man) while Kama does. This is part of why I never liked the Parvati / Kama Sakura dynamics: Sakura doesn't HAVE evil or good sides; Sakura is Sakura. Sakura, unlike Parvati, doesn't have an aspect to her that's destructive (like Kali, not that this is ever even remotely recognized in F/GO) and unlike Kama, doesn't have an aspect to her that's inherently evil (like Mara). Sakura also has an anchor in her life in Shirou, which helps her process her trauma in a way Kama doesn't.

Where Sakura's actions can be viewed as not inherently her own, that the influence of Angra Mainyu caused her to do things she never would, Kama's actions in Ooku are entirely her own. She is the one who willingly chose to become a Beast, who hated herself and her own role so much she wanted to destroy love amongst people, and those actions do have consequences. And likewise, Sakura was a character who DID have to capacity to heal on her own, thanks to the people around her who cared about her. Kama doesn't have that, and likely never would if it wasn't for Kiara being able to see into the depths of Kama's soul. While there will always be this outright tension between the two, Kiara DID see the value in her relationship with her Master, and if such a relationship ended up changing the way Kama felt and moved her away from being a Beast...well that probably helps Kiara too.

I'm not sure we'd be having this conversation if Kama wasn't a Sakura-face. The truth is, we don't know if the ending of Ooku was written by Minase, Nasu, or Minase and Nasu, although personally I lean towards the very last one. It does read a little harsh, and I don't like the way Parvati is written (by GOD girl you are DENSE), but I can kind of see what Nasu writing shines through. Ultimately, I think there is a limit to how much one's own personal experiences can justify their actions; being a Beast I do believe, in Nasu's eyes, does cross the line. There wasn't an ending to Nasu's story that wasn't ending with the defeat of Kama, and the end of all Beasts is that: defeat. Despite all of that, Nasu IS giving Kama a second chance, in a way he hasn't given Tiamat or Goetia or Fou (or maybe has on the last two, we'll never know because like Binding of Isaac: Repentance, LB6 isn't coming ou-...shit can't use that one).

To wrap up...Kama isn't Sakura. She never was, and we should probably take more time to view Kama as her own unique character, and looking at her actions a bit more objectively as a result. Also Nasu does have his bad moments writing women.

[cryptid-killjoy]

It started with Belle and Dale and the dads saw it coming. Dale was at Xigbar.  They saw it more coming when Dale’s date kept asking for River. Delta, Frank, Triton, and Sally were in a mini-tiff that seemed to get sorted out quickly, but yeah they were staying out of that one. 

TREE. That was all that mattered now. 

Mulan had her tricks. That was fun high as a kite. Thomas even let them take off the tubing to ride the tree. Koda came around to say Elsa was going to take martial arts class and Koda seemed a little smitten. Flotsam laughed when he left. “Good luck with that one. Give it the ol’ college try.” They’d to Thomas like the whole thing was hysterical. Even seeing Delta and Frank laughing afar at Zero and Frankenstein was a nice extra jolt of belly laughs. Good times. Summer and River were at it. Chip and Agnes were at it. Dale was barking around hunting River down for going off with HIS date when he’d ignored her half the night anyhow. Brigitte was securing new rides home. 

No one even knew the shenanigans that Taryn and Declan were up to while so much drama was going on outside. But, Captain Hook was causing a scene with Willem, dragging the boy around by his ear. Piper was nodding about it to the dads, “That’s how Daddy said they threw people off the top floor for throwing off his groove. Willem must have thrown off his groove real bad.” She tsked shaking her head either oblivious or uncaring to it all. Flotsam kept right on laughing, eating, drinking, smoking. It was the first time in a long damn time, shit was going crazy around them, castle walls blowing up, side walks cracking, kids bitching and arguing, drama-drama, for once no llama. There was a Madam Medusa who staggered by the dads and she weaved in close to get a better look at Flo. 

“Are you that petulant brat with the pompous, pretty, little pokerface?” She asked patting both their cheeks at once as if testing to be sure it was who she thought it was. 

“The one that won your park land on a bluff including the houseboat you lived in?” 

“Yeahhhhhh that’s the one.” Her face screwed up her mouth twisted to one side. 

“Yup. That’s me.” 

“Flosssum!” She threw her arms around them, “I miss your face. Take my house. The least you can do is give me your skin secret.” She kept petting over Flo’s cheeks practically in their lap. 

“I’ll never tell.” 

“Petulant brat. Some of us have pores!” 

“Oh come now. You look gorgeous when you can stand.” Flo was trying hard to push her tipsy lean off their body while laughing at the old woman’s intoxication and looking for help from Thomas to lift her away. “Tell her how lovely she looks tonight, Thomas.” Flotsam’s eye were bulging in that please just go with it way while begging for help, but also laughing at the whole thing. 

Even seeing Captain Hook in an uproar over his own kid had a way of making Flotsam laugh. New Zealand bound baby. None of it mattered. 

Tree. 

Happy Tree. Flotsam was in the land of Bob Ross with his happy tree and moss boas and Scoutolf the 50 Shades of Grey, not to mention her assistant Sporty Spice. Thomas was throwing his new name around like a metal earned at the Olympics. Nope. It didn’t matter to Flo if Belle’s castle burnt to the ground tonight or who was going at it this time or what the drama was. They’d see Tree and smile picturing it really being the friend that comes to visit. Even better than Tree was when they’d look back in the middle of all the now dirty ground from the party going all night even amidst the chaos, they’d see Thomas, and that smile had never been more natural, more bright, just god damn happy watching those blue eyes look back at them, those beads still swinging.  

[witchcraft-in-wonderland]

Peculiars (Pt.1)

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

Patton Boleyn was a special child, not necessarily special in the way most would describe. He was smart, yes, but he was average smart. He was skilled in things like singing art and cooking, but not profesionally.

Looking at Patton most would assume he was completely ordinary, and he was for the most part.

But Patton could do things most humans couldnt. Most people would watch him sitting in fields and wading through lakes and rivers and say it was just him being a normal energetic child.

Patton's parents knew better, they saw the way the flowers moved to face their son, and the way the lake seemed to become empty in the spots Patton swam in.

Patton's father said they would have to keep him inside for his safety, his parent said that Patton's gift was one to be nurtured, not locked away from the rest of the world.

Patton hated the days they would argue. The way his father's eyes would narrow as he yelled at his spouse over a petty incident of a flower growing quicker than it should in the school yard. The way his parent's hand clutched the nearby table as they struggled not to raise their voice at their husband.

The day Patton asked to go to the pool was the last straw. His father had panicked, words were exchanged that Patton wouldnt forget for years. So Patton and his parent had packed up their things and left. Patton found out later that they hadnt been happy in the marriage with his father either way, so Patton was glad both of them had escaped.

That was how the first nine years of Patton's life had gone, and the next five had been full of Patton hiding his gift from everyone except his parent.

They had the most vibrant garden in the neighborhood, and a little pond with a small waterfall in the backyard. Patton would watch the koi swim through the pond, manipulating the water to small bubbles occasionally so he could lift the fish out of the pond without hurting them. He had to stop doing that when the neighbor tried to catch it on camera and call the police.

Patton didn't mind having to hide, but sometimes it hurt, he felt wrong, he wanted to run around in lakes and fields like he used to, wanted to watch the water ripple under his hands, and flowers bloom where he walked. But it wasnt safe anymore, people were scared, they wouldnt trust someone like him.

Today felt different, he'd woken up same as usual, to his parent's voice calling him down for breakfast, their soft brown hair pulled back into a ponytail. It was almost identical to his own, only a little darker, and a lot less healthy from all their years of dying it as a teenager, they'd told Patton that if he ever wanted to dye his hair he would have to wait a while between sessions so it wouldnt fall out.

Then he'd gone to school and had a perfectly ordinary day, he'd done well in his classes, he talked to other students, and he hadnt caused a single flower to bloom or ripple in a puddle of water.

He was beginning to think that the feeling he'd had this morning was just nerves, until he walked home to find his parent on the front porch with a woman who had white hair with streaks of pink and blue. The woman was smiling and talking to his parent, who's face was one of shocked Awe and silence.

"Patton! There you are!" His parent threw their arms around him.

"What's going on? Who's this?" Patton put his hands in his pockets, an expression of concern on his face.

"Mrs. Hera Raven, she runs a school for kids like you," Patton's jaw clenched.

"You're not sending me away are you? I haven't done anything wrong!" Patton stepped back, he'd almost tripped into the street before his parent caught his arm, their deep blue eyes were full of a mix of sorrow and understanding.

"No one is saying you've done anything wrong dear, but people with your talents arent safe out here, Mx. Boleyn has agreed to let me take the two of you somewhere safer," Mrs. Raven was smiling, Patton noticed her lipstick was an odd blood-red color. Patton looked between the two adults, the confusion in his face only becoming more pronounced.

Mrs. Raven's face shifted suddenly to one of fear, "we need to leave, quickly, follow me," she gestured to a car.

A few minutes of driving later they had come upon a collection of oddly shaped rocks, and disappeared through the center of them.

"Now hurry up hurry up, we'll be safe once we're at the school," Mrs. Raven said, ushering them through the woods. Eventually they came upon a large building, it was made of bricks and stone, and the brick was painted black.

"Can someone please tell me what's going on?" Patton said, fidgeting with his clothes.

Mrs. Raven looked around for a few seconds, Patton noticed that, rather than both her eyes being the bright green he thought they were, one was a striking yellow color.

"Patton, you are what we call a peculiar child, it's a recessive gene in families that manifests in, as you might call them, supernatural abilities in children," she said.

"You mean theres more kids that can do what I can?" Patton said.

"Well, not exactly what you can do, they all have their own abilities, you can meet more of them here," Mrs. Raven said.

"Oh, and the main rule, now that you're here, you cant leave, if you leave the loop you will be in danger once it resets," Patton opened his mouth to ask another question.

"Loops are rewind in time created by ymbrenes like myself, they are used to protect peculiar children such as yourself, some of the children within this loop have been here for nearly one hundred years, if they were to leave, they would age until-" Patton's parent covered his ears.

"So what about Bon?" Patton asked, looking up at them.

"The same rule applies to humans, typically parents who accompany their children to the school become members of staff, it's actually quite good for the children to have multiple parental figures," Mrs. Raven said with a grin.

"Patton, I'm gonna let you go make friends while I go with Mrs. Raven ok?" Bon smiled, running their hand through Patton's hair.

"Ok Bon," Patton said. He watched the two adults leave before finally walking into the main portion of the courtyard. There were dozens of children chasing each other and playing around, and adults talking to each other on the sidelines while watching their children.

"Watch out!" Patton barely had time to react before a basketball came hurling it's way across the garden, a tree branch curled it's way around the object just before it made contact with his face.

"Wooooaaaahhh! Awesome!" Patton moved the tree back into the ground, picking the basketball up and turning on the direction of the voice. A boy that looked a year or two older than him, with red eyes and the wisp of a mustache, was smiling brightly at him.

"So you can make trees huh? That's cool," he said as he took the basketball out of Patton's hands.

"I can control water to," Patton whispered, shuffling his feet in the grass.

"Remus! Who's that!" Another boy ran over to them, this one had bright green eyes and a mass of red hair.

"New kid, he makes trees," Remus said with a grin.

"Well come on, it's your turn," said the boy.

"Can we call it a tie for today, I wanna show him around," said Remus. The other boy nodded and ran off to a group of five other boys.

"Well, I'm Remus Duke-Prince, and I can reanimate the dead," Remus said. Patton blinked a few times while trying to process this, earning a laugh from the boy.

"Patton Boleyn, I can manipulate earth and water, which I guess are kind of similar since they both make up the actual planet anyways," Patton mumbled, tapping his fingers together.

"Boleyn? Like as in beheaded Anne Boleyn?" Remus said. Patton nodded and flinched slightly as Remus let out a loud howl of laughter.

"Come on- let me introduce you to my favorite people here," Remus said, grabbing Patton's arm and running over to the group of six.

"Everyone, this is Patton, Patton, this is Roman, Logan, Virgil, Janus, Emile, and Remy," Remus said, pointing at each of the boys in turn.

"Roman Prince-Duke, yes, I'm related to the rat," Roman said, picking up a rock and holding it out in front of Patton. Patton was about to take it from his hand before Roman closed his fingers around it, when he opened them again a light blue gemstone had taken its place.

"He makes rocks boring," Remus said, laughing. Roman let out an annoyed huff before fixing the gem into a silver necklace and clasping it around Patton's neck.

"Logan Mercedes," said the boy next to Roman, he had fluffy brown hair that seemed pushed to one side of his head.

"I can breath underwater and see in the dark," Logan said before turning to the boy next to him.

"This is my boyfriend, Virgil," Logan said, moving a lock of vibrant purple hair out of Virgil's face.

"Do you want to show him?" Logan whispered to Virgil, who was fidgeting with his hoodie strings. Virgil gave a slightly nod and Logan pulled a rope out from his belt, wrapping it around Virgil's waist. Virgil bent down to unlock what seemed like iron boots fastened to his legs. The moment he'd stepped out from the shoes, the boy was a few feet above the ground, Logan holding the rope with one hand and Virgil's hand with the other. Logan helped Virgil back into the boots, fastening them back up before he took off the rope and placed it back on his belt.

"Virgil doesnt talk much," Remus said simply before turning to a boy with a large scar on his face. His skin was a dark brown, which made with yellow eyes stand out all the more obviously.

"Janus Allen, I can talk to animals," he said simply, bowing slightly and placing a kiss on Patton's hand, Patton noticed Remus shift slightly and let out a soft giggle.

"Remy Hypnos, and this is my little brother Emile," said the boy next to Janus, his skin was a lighter brown than Janus', and he was wearing sunglasses despite it not being very sunny out.

"Hes like medusa, and I can move stuff with my brain," Emile said, fidgeting with the bow in his hair.

"Well now that you've met all of us, welcome to the loner squad Patton," said Remus, clapping a hand on Patton's back with a grin. Patton thought he might enjoy it here much more than he'd first expected to.

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

Tag List:

@nerosdayinhell

@meowthefluffy

@thecolorfulolive

@thefivecalls

@melodiread

@spooky-scary-virgil

@youtuberswithalex

@boobmaster69

@januses-nap-corner

[niighteagle]

PLAYLIST. HEADCANONS. AESTHETIC. BIO.

NAME : Aizawa ‘Grim Reaper / Ghoul’ Ren.

AGE : 35.

GENDER &. PRONOUNS : Genderfluid & they/them.

SEXUALITY : Panromantic &. demisexual.

LOYALTY : Rogue.

FC: Tony Thornburg.

ROLE & MARK : Night Eagle.

INSPIRATION: Akechi Goro (Persona 5 Royal), Korosensei/Grim Reaper (Assassination Classroom), Aizawa Shouta/Eraser Head (Boku No Hero Academia), Badou Nails (DOGS), Villanelle (Killing Eve).

SYNOPSIS

Out from the Gutters and in to the frays of the elite, Ren made a name for themselves saturated in blood as the emperor’s personal assassin.  While not everyone knows Ren by their name (Aizawa Ren, surname first), they either know them by one of their designated titles: Ghoul or Grim Reaper.  Neither name was created by Ren themselves but, instead, out of fear of those buried in guilt or simply born under the wrong name that, one day, the shadow of the emperor might come for them as well.  This continued until it could no longer, leaving Ren to fend for themselves as they head back into the Gutters to figure out where they went wrong and what path they’re meant to follow now.  Ren has the ability to petrify (temporarily) with a single glance out of one eye; of which they cover with an eyepatch in an effort to not petrify every person they come into contact with.  Their mark is conveniently right under that eye as well, effectively covering the mark when the eye patch is on.

FUN FACTS

In case you read this and don’t feel like perusing my headcanons, Ren has a tendency to be in their head quite a bit as of late.  That’s, mainly, due to their equivalent of a conscience in the form of an ‘unrelenting limbic system’ response to their potential decisions.  Think of it like a video game where there are many forms of dialogue to choose from and this one is desperately trying to show Ren what the least problematic option is but, you know, they aren’t great at listening.  This is mainly important to note because when I do replies, you’ll probably see them silently arguing with themselves.

Basically, parts of their mind talk to them as though they’re entities on their own.  It’s linked back to their mind working in a stranger way than others’ and not processing basic things like emotions, empathy, etc., the way others’ would.

Ren doesn’t look the same as they used to.  Over the time that they’ve been gone, they’ve grown their hair out fully, now have facial hair and are quite a bit skinnier than they were before.  Also, there’s the eye patch.   Even without money, they still somehow tend to dress in somewhat eccentric outfits though most of them are all black.

Ren has several different residences depending on what they feel like getting up to.  One of which might be with Killer Kraken but, I’ll fix this after I talk to a future player about whether or not that’s the case.  Either way, they tend to stick to places that others might overlook like areas in the Gutters that are already overrun with people and you know they hate that but, they’re able to blend in well enough.  Lastly, they occasionally stay at Sukja’s church but, they try not to make it a habit.  They joke that they don’t want to become the next sacrifice but, part of that’s not a complete joke to them, lmao.

Right now, they’re exploring options for their life.  Whether it’s joining a grift or helping out with the church, they’re trying to figure out where they fit in amongst the chaos of it all.  They don’t plan to join either side again, mostly because they’d likely be killed the second they tried, but it isn’t totally out of the question either.

WANTED CONNECTIONS

COFFEE ORDER - Someone that specifically knows Ren as the personal assistant to the emperor rather than their true role as assassin.  The joke is that they probably had to take menial orders like for brunches and shit to actually appear as though they were, in fact, just an assistant.

STRAIGHT INTO MEDUSA’S EYES - I mean, someone had to be petrified for Ren to have found out that they had the ability, right?  It’s a temporary thing, though, so besides complete confusion, they probably wouldn’t have experienced much else (other than the person that ran once they blinked or moved away). 

JOKER & AKECHI - Enemies that can potentially benefit from one another’s skillsets.  This relationship is a strange one, they teeter on friends on occasion and other times, they genuinely want to kill one another (perhaps have even tried).  But, there’s a push and pull that keeps them together regardless.

I SHOT THE MOON - People who will/want to try to kill Ren.  Technically, they are a wanted person so, it’s viable that people want them dead for that reason.  Or, it could be another reason because generally speaking, Ren has done a lot of harm to a lot of people.  If that’s not enough, their personality is A Lot and could probably turn the wrong person right off.

EVE & VILLANELLE - Someone hunting down Ren either for the emperor or for their own personal gain.  Perhaps not sure what they want to do with them yet, just know that Ren has to be found.  In the show, it def becomes romantic (and hella toxic lmao) which doesn’t at all have to be the case here or it can, who the fuck knows.

AIZAWA & HITOSHI - A protegee of sorts, someone that Ren has taught everything they know to.  Assassinations, fighting, stealth and everything in-between, they’ve taught them everything.  This could take on a deeper connection of Ren being protective (and literally all they’re emotionally capable of atm, sorry) and the other person caring about the good ol’ Night Eagle. - TAKEN by Xian.