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I FINALLY DID IT

Apollo x Admetus x Alcestis my beloveds

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The Tumblr Experience

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MONTAGUE: yeah Romeo keeps locking himself in his room and writing edgy poetry. No idea why. BENVOLIO: you know you can ask him right? He’s right there MONTAGUE: no way I’m asking a teenage boy why he’s sad *LEAVES*

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“Medusa was a rape victim and priestess who became an African goddess” THATS IO THAT’S IO’S STORY YOU WANT IO NOT MEDUSA STOP STEALING IO’S STORY AND FORCING IT ON MEDUSA FOR FUCKS SAKE-

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yeah like, David IS an asshole and all that. but somehow the whole "call me when you're back in Edinburgh. - Glasgow." line really just. made me incredibly sad

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Antagonist analysis time!: David Nelson edition (Nick's older brother)

I wouldn't be surprised if Stephane Nelson was more homophobic when the boys were younger. It would explain why David keeps referencing variations on "Dad's not gonna like this" in reference to Nick and Charlie.

And it would make a lot of sense. It reminds me of the quote from I think Bruce Springsteen about how when we miss our fathers, we try to emulate them because it's our only way of feeling closer to them. I think David emulates some version of his father he misses. You see that he behaves that way for him either way when he consistently references him and brings him into the conversation nearly every time he's homophobic or biphobic:

From bringing up "I bet you haven't told Dad yet, have you? Oh my god, image what Dad's gonna say" when he's not there to a direct seeking of approval in "Dad agrees with me" when he's there.

When Nick says he's bringing Charlie, he asks if he can bring someone too. When the whole family comes, he knows it'll be about that, so he tries to take control of the conversation that he can't stop from being about Nick and Charlie by attempting to guide it (and out Nick) himself.

It's then after Nick draws focus by saying he doesn't care about their dad's opinion of him and leaves the room that he says he's "making a scene". Because he's taking their father's attention away from him.

David views Nick as competition. Competition for their father's attention, which is in short supply anyways. He doesn't want to admit that it being in short supply is bad because he doesn't want to blame his dad, so instead, he blames Nick for "stealing" the attention. Because then he can believe that if only Nick would stop "making a fuss", his relationship with his dad would be sufficient and the only thing stopping his dad from giving him the appropriate amount of attention is Nick, not his dad.

And not only is it only after Nick draws attention away from him at dinner that he makes this "attention-seeking" comment, but it is also only after he sees his dad trying to leave without saying goodbye before then in the same conversation forgetting where he goes to school (a wonderfully performed one word line, also. it clearly takes all David's strength to even admit he's wrong enough to correct him and say "Glasgow"). It's only after the window of attention to receive closes completely that he goes on his full rant on the phone, and it's only after his perception of his father has been made fragile with Nick's comments and his father forgetting things about him that he now has to re-emphasize the narrative he tells himself tenfold to make it secure again.

And one more pertinent thing he says on that phone call is that Nick is being over-dramatic. Because if Nick isn't being over-dramatic when he says that their Dad doesn't care and it's messed up for him not to visit more, then that means Nick is right. And if Nick is right, then David has to admit to himself that his Dad is in the wrong, that his Dad is hurting him. That his Dad doesn't care enough about him. And he can't do that.

One last thing he also does is blame Charlie. He says on that phone call that Charlie must be influencing him to be more attention seeking. He also uses the phrase that season "turned my little brother gay" and continues into the next season to describe Charlie as attention seeking. Because he can't truly allow himself to blame Nick either.

His inability to truly blame Nick is the same reason that when we meet him he's teasing him about what he thinks is a girlfriend texting him. He's overstepping and we know from Nick he's been a jerk in the past as well, but the behavior he's exhibiting in teasing him about a girl is something you only do as a misguided attempt to get closer to someone. He's missed Nick too.

It hurts to blame his dad, so he blames Nick. But it hurts to blame Nick too...so he blames Charlie. Charlie who he doesn't know. Charlie who doesn't hurt to blame. Charlie who thinks his dad would blame. Blaming Charlie isn't admitting something he's lost. He hasn't lost Nick, but admitting that takes us all the way back to admitting that he has lost his father. If Nick has become an attention seeker who ruins everything by stealing the attention from their Dad that would be his, that he would visit more, would care more, would remember more, would come to Christmas if it just weren't for Nick. But of course, deep down, that's still his little brother. His innocent little brother so anything that's "caused" his Dad's behavior must not be his fault either. Yes. It must be Charlie's.

It's Charlie's fault Nick is taking his Dad's attention away from him and in season 3, do you know what else is Charlie's fault? That Nick's attention is taken away from him. He only calls Charlie an attention seeker for having an eating disorder on Christmas. Christmas: the day that his dad doesn't show up, in the conversation Nick started with "you know Dad's not coming". He brings up Charlie out of nowhere in direct response to Nick saying their Dad won't come because he makes empty promises.

His dad isn't there; he doesn't wanna blame his dad, but in his dad's absence, he also misses his brother - who's been preoccupied recently with Charlie. There. It's all Charlie's fault. Not Dad's. And when he needs him, not Nick's.

Really, I just realized that that phone call didn't happen for no reason. He was upset enough about dinner that he needed to call someone and vent. At the end of the day, that's what happened. He wasn't making a snide comment. He went somewhere private and called someone he trusted to talk at length about what had happened. That isn't just about Nick being bi. But he couldn't bring himself to admit that he was actually venting about

"David, you have not grown into the man I thought you would become."

And that is also why I would like to shout out the character and Alice Oseman for the inclusion of Nick's Mom calling not David but Stephane out when he tells David "you have not grown into the man I hoped you would become". Because she's right. A brother saying that to his brother and a father saying that to his son are NOTHING alike. She knows immediately how deeply to the core that will cut David and that Stephane didn't even consider it. It is a great "who's the real enemy" moment that reminds us "this is not the non-homophobes versus David, actually. It's a family with a homophobe inside it protecting themselves from the man who left them. It's a mother protecting her children from him." And, as she said, he has no right to side on their disagreement because he has "not been a parent".

He has no right to choose sides when he has no consideration for the utter desperation they face for him to pick theirs. To pick them.

Every bully is just someone desperate for approval. From peers, from authority, and saddest of all: from parents.

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This week in Iliad Tumblr;

The artist community goes WILD as the enigmatic "Forcefemmed Agamemnon Anon" leaves their mark on almost every single artist's inbox. Achilles fans stunned with the sudden uptick of art of the Lord of Men in a dress. "I just didn't know he was serving like that, maybe I am on the wrong guy's side," one reports.

In other news, blogs are beginning to make waves in the medical field as more and more people are beginning to have sudden god-given epiphanies that Machaon is actually an interesting character. Many report waking up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, and feeling compelled to make a post about the famed son of Asclepius lest they themselves fall to illness. Researchers in the field are beginning to theorize that it may be a curse from Asclepius himself in recompense for the lack of offerings after the decline of the COVID-19 pandemic.

And finally, a touching community story as thousands of silenced Trojans and Achaeans are given a long awaited outlet to voice their true stories lost to the annals of time via the newly created Trojan & Achaean confessions blog. Some express regret at the breakthrough due to the disappointing revelation that most of the ponderings of the famed warriors of the past were about impregnating their generals.

That was your weekly Iliad Tumblr update. I am reporter azi coming to you from the Achaean encampment, good night Ilium!

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i stand in front of my mirror. slut, slut, slut i say. and there he appears. paris of troy. suddenly, next to him, achilles of pthia. i run away screaming because i forgot the amount of sluts in the achaean and trojan camp.

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Sword hero, where is your knightly honor

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Sometimes I read Rising of the Shield Hero Fanfics and read about how the other three heroes are idiots and that it’s better if they were dead or they were punished and I can’t help but think:

Ren is 16 when he’s killed by a murderer to save a friend and sent to another world.

Itsuki is 17 when he gets hit by a truck, either on the way to or from school.

Motoyasu is 21 when he is murdered by the two women he led on.

Shield Hero, despite it’s flaws, is a fascinating way to look at unreliable narrators. We see the narrative through Naofumi’s eyes mostly, and that’s probably why the three other heroes are idiots, or horrible people because to Naofumi, they are. He’s incapable of seeing them in any other way.

But then, you have to think more carefully about the narrative presented then. Naofumi’s appearance in Melomarc is easy, he’s the only one who is still alive when summoned, and then everything sort of clicks into place.

The other three are dead, most likely. The world taking the form of a game and them treating it as a game makes sense - they don’t know any better, this is a situation they’re unfamiliar with, it’s a coping mechanism. The other three heroes are flawed, yes, but they pull their own strengths and weaknesses with them.

Ren doesn’t interact with his party - Did he always play like this, or is it because he’a scared that, much like his friend, he’s going to lead them all to their death?

Itsuki is prideful, a black and white view on justice - Is he really that much of a prideful ass, or was he bullied in his youth perhaps? Is his self-esteem in one world is low, so he reinvents himself in an attempt to be better in a new one and goes overboard.

Motoyasu acts without thinking, finds it hard to frane things within context - Truly an idiot, or is it because the last time the took the time to think his next action through, he’d been stabbed by the two people he did something stupid with?

Maybe the manga and light novels paint a better picture of this, shows them as bigger, badder people. Maybe Motoyasu really is an idiot. Maybe Itsuki is a prideful prick. Maybe Ren is as cold and standoffish as he presents himself to be.

But, I can’t help but think: They were killed in their previous life. And Naofumi is a heavily biased narrator. Who else could they be?

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Motoyasu: "Let me get this straight" more like let me run this bi you.

Itsuki: Let's pan this out.

Naofumi: Let's ace-ess the situation.

Ren: I'm gay.

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they say “all’s fair in love and war” and “everyone’s allowed to make mistakes”, but when i, paris of troy-

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Me when I catch myself thinking "I wonder what it's like to be chosen by somebody" but then I remember my best friend chooses to be my best friend and my mutuals choose to follow me and the minimum wage employee chooses to give me sincere kindness that I remember years later because I was going through a hard time and it meant a lot

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I headcanon that Cadmus was kinda insecure of his physical appearence, especially after he arrived in Greece not only because he was a foreigner but also because he wasn't conventionally attractive by greek standards. But when him and Harmonia started to know each other better as he was serving her father he noticed how she's always looking at him and asked her: "Why are you staring like that?", to which she replied with: "I cannot help it that you're god-like handsome, can I?" and after saying that he would feel his face burning but then he would roll his eyes while trying to act nonchalant and be like: "Ah, yes! Me and my huge nose and my moles and my hairy body. Very handsome." and she would say. "Yes." And that would make him lost his words and blush, because he would finally realize that she finds him handsome specifically because of the features he disliked.

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adding highlights to my drawings while not knowing or ignoring where the light source is