#I'm still obsessed with Achilles and Patroclus

[mintacle]

Thinking about how Achilles killed hundreds of Trojans until the river ran red and  Achilles murdering Hector and dragging his corpse with his chariot around the city walls in circles in a triumphant display, all for the death of his beloved Patroclus. Thinking about how the immense bloodshed Achilles unleashed is still such a declaration of love that to this day we are still debating the nature of their love because of it. 

Thinking about how Jason asks Bruce why he didn’t kill just the Joker, just his murderer for him, thinking about Jason asking for a proof that Bruce still loves him. 

Is it unreasonable? Yes. But isn’t all love unreasonable?

[shounenlord-sama]

New idea for makoharu in greece: So makoto and haru go to greece for a short vacation before haru competes in Athens and they visit corfu bc 1) it's an island and 2) the plot demands it. They visit the tourist spots and makoto, our classical literature enthusiast, goes on to narrate all about the historical and cultural contexts of several pieces. When they come to the statue of achilles in the achilleion palace, makoto tells haru about the story of achilles, how he is the best warrior of his generation, and compares him to haru for a bit, saying that in a way haru is also the best of his nation (at least in swimming), and how he went mad after his "best friend"'s death (bc makoto only learned about illiad in school, ok? No tumblr) haru makes a side comment about how the death of achilles is tragic, chasing death without care for himself after patroclus' death, but then the beach scene in hs2 and in s1e6 flash in his memory, and adds that he couldn't imagine experiencing such grief, and that he doesn't wish it upon himself or anybody else. Ofc makoto doesn't get the undermeaning, but anyway...

Fast forward to haru getting a dream of being in a battlefield and yet he couldn't recognize anything. Someone calls him an unfamiliar name, and oddly, he follows, and they present him a bloody, maimed corpse of an unfamiliar man, and he feels this weird, disgusting, unwanted feeling deep within him, and he gets the urge to grieve and mourn for the man he doesn't know, but he blinks and suddenly it's makoto and they're at that night in summer camp, and makoto isn't breathing. He performs chest compressions, and makoto splutters, but instead of waterit's blood, and he says "haruka" in his raspy voice. Alarmed, haru shakes makoto, only to find his hand feeling wet, and he looks down and makoto's chest and stomach are splurging blood, a deep and wide gaping, punctured wound present when it wasn't there before.

Just like the corpse from the battlefield.

The panic turns up to maximum, alarmed and afraid and desperate to save makoto. The same unwanted feeling returns, and haru is still confused why is this happening. Why makoto is dying in his arms from a bloody injury like he came from battle, why he feels something for the dead man in the battlefield, why makoto is repeating a word (maybe a name) he couldn't understand, why can't he help him. He wakes up, and he feels around beside him, looks around, and he sees makoto in the other bed, still and unmoving. The fear creeps in.

Is he...

Makoto turns on his back, and haru sighs deeply. Still, he walks to makoto to be sure. He checks his breathing, his pulse, his body if it's still warm, and he looks under the cover to check for any fatal bloody wound. He's relieved. Makoto is alive and well. Still, the fear doesn't disappear. The nightmare left haru in a constant state of worry. Did it have any meaning? Was it a premonition? Is makoto's life really going to be in danger in the future? From something as deadly as a grave injury? The anxiety messes him up, and it ruins his oh-so precious sleeping hours, as well as his concentration in training. Everybody sees it, that something was bothering haru. But he couldn't tell anyone that what's bothering him is a stupid nightmare of makoto dying in his arms and the feeling of pure wretched agony he gets every time the image of his greatest fear flashes in his mind. He never managed to admit it to nagisa before and he will never admit it to anybody else now.

He loses in the freestyle event. He performs very badly that the swim coach decides to drop him out from the medley relay. Haru gets mad at this. He tells the coach how unfair it is and how he spent hours each day training with the rest of the relay team, only to be removed without notice. How he sacrificed a lot only for it all to not pay off just because the coach "said so". Haru storms off, and Makoto offers to follow to calm him down, and haru complains how it isn't fair to be removed from the relay just bc he lost in his individual event. Makoto tells that haru has been off for quite a while, and that if he told him what was wrong, maybe he can help him. But haru can't tell him. He may cause makoto to panic, and ofc he refuses to consider that the thought plaguing his mind may come true by jinxing it. He tells makoto to just leave him, and that he will never be able to understand him or help with his problem, and he runs out of the venue and makoto follows after him. They continue to fight in the middle of the street and makoto gets hit by a car. The nightmare, nagisa's question about his greatest fear, makoto drowning, makoto at the beach in middle school, makoto's story about the warrior who went mad after his best friend's death... they're all racing in haru's mind, and all he could do in there was run to makoto's bloody limp body, clutch him towards himself and wail in agony, imploring him to wake up, because no, he almost lost him several times before, and the pain this time is unbelievably heavy, like he lost makoto to death before, and it's now happening before his very eyes. He calls for help, and the nearby locals come to assist, and haru is desperate for their help, whatever that can save makoto. He's speaking to them in whatever way he thinks that they somehow understand, and he calls someone to come with him in the ambulance, and nao comes, not wanting to disrupt the other athletes with worrying news about makoto's condition.

They arrive at the hospital and haru communicates in broken english with an equally badly English-speaking greek nurse, and when haru states makoto's name nao interrupts him, asking him why he's stating a different name for makoto's and why he's telling her that it's patroklos menoitiades? Nao clarifies that the patient's real name is makoto tachibana, a japanese citizen, not a local greek like haru makes it sound like. Haru wonders why he called makoto patroclus, and nao asks him to get some rest.

He dreams of war, of arguing with a man with kind eyes that remind him of someone, of the terrible pain of losing your most beloved, of endlessly wailing the name "patroclus", of turning mad and no longer valuing anything, including his honor and his life, for what he loved most was already gone. And then and there he realizes that the reason why he felt the most heart-wrenching agony every time his mind teased him the possibility of losing makoto in the most horrible way; why he felt the greatest fear every time fate gives him a glimpse of what it's like to lose makoto forever, where he can't follow him; why he fears the possibility of losing his best friend in a way that it almost drove him mad- it was all because he went through all of it before. He is, was achilles, and he lost patroclus in his past life, in a way that is partially his fault, and oh gods did he let it happen in this life again... makoto was, is patroclus, and he let him get hurt because of himself once again. Guilt plagues him, and images of their fight (both in the previous life and their recent) flash in his mind, and now, instead of briseis, faces of all of their friends replace her, all expressing contempt at haru. It was his fault this happened to makoto.

A different dream, this time of patroclus, asking for peace, acceptance, for him to finally let him rest, let him go.

To where he can't follow.

but no. Not yet. Haru (achilles) cannot let him go just yet. Makoto (his patroclus) is still alive. He's still here. He still hasn't left.

He comes to see makoto the next day, and he knows, feels, that the man in his dream, patroclus, and makoto, are one. He sees it, the way their bodies have almost the same shape; the way both their hairs are wild and unkempt and unruly, albeit patroclus used to have thicker and curly locks, and way darker than makoto's. The way their eyes are gentle and warm and kind and bright, and the way they look... human. The most human of all, far different from everybody else seeking fame and glory, like seeking a way to immortalize themselves. And the way they treated him, never as a weapon of war, nor a sight to behold,but rather, another human (if they do put themself beneath him sometimes). He wishes for him to wake up. He doesn't wish to experience what he did before, of losing patroclus, and everything with him. Patroclus, makoto, is the half of his soul, his most beloved, the best person in his life, and losing him is what he fears most.

(idk where I'm going with this)

Anyway makoto wakes up and he tells him everything and apologizes for both his actions in their past life and in the present. Maybe makoto all this time was also getting memories of patroclus and so was trying his best to prevent haru from doing something reckless like achilles did which led to his death against paris. Anyway they reunite in this life both as "haru and makoto" and "Achilles and patroclus". Everybody is surprised when haru returns with a slightly different personality. He becomes more open, and also more expressive about his wants and dislikes (and also his affection for makoto)

Also it would be fun if all the other gays were having recollection of their own past lives as well. Idk what drama rin and sousuke are causing as alexander the great and hephaestion. And asahi as aeneas, maybe he gets a reawakening and finds a boost in confidence when he finally earns his first gold in butterfly and gets picked for the relay after rin gets dropped out for causing gay macedonian drama. Which he doesn't mind, bc maybe he can once again worship his hephaestion's thighs, which is still worth worshipping as sousuke.

[burnin0akleaves]

Here's the draw six fanarts meme I decided to participate in 4 years late

In true burnin0akleaves spirit I didn't ask anyone for requests and just went ahead with all of the characters that have been the most impactful/important to me, so there is a high chance you've seen me draw these guys before.

By the way, unlike the rest of the blorbos here Siyra is an original character and belongs to @nineteen-rats!

Close-ups and rambles under the cut because it's my blog

Ohh the Dark Urge. My latest obsession. I love his design so much, I'm a slut for white/red color schemes, but I feel like it's a double edged sword that takes you out of the horrors he's commiting at the same time?

Durge is supposed to be murder incarnate, someone that does every fucked up thing related to death imaginable; but when you see a giant lizard eating babies or humping corpses, it dulls the effect a bit since you automatically view it as an animalistic act. Dragonborns are obviously a fully sentient humanoid race in-universe; but when the violence you're seeing is already toeing the line between horrifying and hilarious, seeing a scalie doing it just pushes it over the line. I still think it works really well most of the time and I'm very glad that this is the default durge we get! It's just funny to me that when you choose to play as the giant lizard, the dark and disgusting horror story turns into the hilariously edgy bloodfest.

Reminding everyone again that Siyra belongs to @nineteen-rats! I love this man so so so much. I am the Siyra fandom. I am the number one Siyra fanartist. He did nothing wrong and I will defend his every decision. I also hope terrible horrors befall him and that his actions keep him awake for the rest of his life. Pookie bear xoxo

COMING IN WITH THE STEEL CHAIR IT'S WILL TREATY

He is on my mind, always. I don't talk about him as much but he's probably still the fictional character who had the most impact on me as a person.

PATROCLUS! PATROCLUS!!! SIR I'M YOUR NUMBER ONE FAN!!

I got into patrochilles and the Illiad in general thanks to "The Song of Achilles". It was one of the first queer books I got to have in real life and the prose captivated me instantly, I still have it on my shelf. After reading the Illiad itself however, I hate that book so much. I'm sorry it's genuinely beautiful and I get why people like it but I can never forgive that horrible Patroclus characterization after seeing what he was originally like. Achilles too for that matter.

Hades swooped me up into its arms like I was a sick baby bird and nursed me back to health with its portrayal of the two though and for that I am forever grateful. I can't wait for Hades 2, death to Chronos.

God Half-Life is such an important series for me. My dad would let me play through a few levels since I was a child, he grew up with the games, but I REALLY played through the entire series one summer shortly before dad moved out. He was there watching me play most of it and getting to enjoy someone actually translate the game's dialogue for him for the first time.

Gordon may not speak once but I like the hints of his personality we get throughout the games, most importantly from the way Alyx talks to/about him. I have my own characterization of him obviously but I do really think you can get a good understanding of the kind of man he is meant to be in-universe just by paying attention to his surroundings. Also another reason the games were so immersive for me is that I'm just as in love with Alyx as Gordon is. I must have let her get hit only once or twice the entire time just out of how protective I was over her. I'd topple the entire Combine empire just for her hand in marriage. I rewatched the ending of Half Life Alyx recently and cried.

I read the entirety of LOTR in one week in 11th grade, carrying that damn brick of a book everyday to school and back. I'm so glad I did honestly. Frodo and Sam are my important little guys and I find myself going back to them when I need something to calm me down in a way no other series except LOTR can. I've read most of Tolkien's work at this point, but nothing captivated me like those two little hobbits. Everytime I read a bad take about their relationship I sketch them making out.

People liked seeing my drawing process before so here's the original sketch and the little notes I wrote to myself trying to set the mood. I followed like half of them.

[gemsofgreece]

Hello! Firstly, I wanted to thank you for the work you do on this blog. My mother's side is Greek and came to the US around WW2, and as I've gotten older and tried to learn about Greek culture, I've found that it's hard to find sources that aren't inundated with American pop-history. It's been really lovely being able to learn more from your blog for the past couple weeks.

Second is my question -- re: the pop history issue, I've noticed that people in the American queer community have a knack for "reclaiming" figures in history and mythology without always having an abundance of evidence for their claims. And like, I'm trans. Obviously the idea of some of things being true is cool, but it also feels disingenuous sometimes. Do you know of any good resources or books written by actual queer Greeks about either their contemporary experiences, or the history of queer people in Greece that isn't just conjecture?

Thank you again! Have a great day :)

Hello! It makes me so happy that you found my blog suitable to inform yourself on this part of your ethnic / cultural background. I hope the blog will keep being a useful source of information.

Because I am not going to lie, the way Greek history and culture, more like a snippet of it, has been almost forced into American pop culture is indeed through a disingenuous conjecture. Honestly, it's not so much a matter of accuracy per se. It's more that a niche piece of the culture has been taken and presented as almost the entirety of this culture, which eventually leads to tremendously false impressions, no matter how earnestly this niche part is explored. There is also the tendency to shape ambiguous evidence into unquestionable conviction.

I will attempt to explain why this can be a problem. Let's take the axiom - because it has reached the lengths of being treated as an axiom - "Ancient Greece was gay or Greece is gay or Greek culture was gay culture or Greece is / was a gay haven". If we really study Greek history and culture in its entirety, in a span of 3,500 years or more if we also take into acount the pre-Greek civilizations which eventually helped produce the Greek, while the existence of gay people (i.e Sappho), non-straight sexual practices (i.e erotic amphoras), ambiguous literary relationships (i.e Achilles & Patroclus?) and varied expressions of sexual desire observed especially in male deities are 100% well attested and recorded, they still comprise overall a very tiny part of the Greek civilization. Whereas it is often portrayed in western pop culture as the very essence of Greek civilization, exploration and studies of sexuality and gender identity throughout its history could amount to maybe a 1-5% of all documented knowledge associated to the Greek ethnos, its history and its legacy. Think of it this way; Greece happened to be in the epicenter of many formative achievements of humanity; spreading, contributing or improving on science, arts, extant religions and linguistics. It has been an area extremely ravaged by war because it has a very strategic position on the map. It has been in the core of three of the world's largest empires and it has been positively or negatively influential to all three (and the generator of one of them). There are so many things, struggles and achievements, to study and explore and draw from as part of your identity, that a constant foreign obsession and trivilization and sensualization of the sexual practices of people long gone eventually will start sounding disingenuous or lacking or even demeaning. Just like every individual aspires to be acknowledged and respected for more than just their sexual or gender identity (i.e skills, feelings, talents, achievements, personality), it is the exact same with culture and heritage. People want their culture to be appreciated in its entirety and not for a super niche area that is also exaggerated, if not exploited to serve foreign agendas, trends and marketing (because let's be real, not all have noble representation motives).

Okay, now I have to ask: do you know Greek? Because I can recommend you some sources, however Americans do not translate Greek works unless they are from 750 BC :)

Here's a quick heads-up:

The Greek society is a pseudopuritan society - one where people act like puritans when it comes to judging others but not at all when it comes to themselves. The gay male community has by far the biggest visibility nowadays. Lesbians come second. Other sexual orientations follow i.e bi, poly, pan. Gender (trans, non-binary, fluid etc) identities have less visibility. Asexuals also have near non-existent visibility. Most non-het non-cis people face problems in their families rather than in their studies or in urban environments. Non-cis people, especially AMAB people, might also face hardship in the workplace (like not getting easily hired).

Because the society is pseudopuritan, it tolerated and embraced and worshipped several LGBT people, except if they attempted to communicate their experience. Great composers and authors were openly gay and Greeks knew it and loved them, because they didn't explicitly involve their sexual identity in their work or because they didn't expose the pathogenies of the Greek society. If they had done that, the reception could have been different. Because of all these reasons, most of my sources will be from the perspective of gay cis men (the most visible LGBT+ community) and it will be mostly the great work and legacy they left behind, rather than their explicit documentation of the experience of living as LGBT+ in Greece.

LGBT poets and authors:

Constantine Cavafy (1863 - 1933), one of our best poets. This can be useful to you because his works are actually translated in English.

Napoleon Lapathiotis (1888 - 1944), openly gay in such times, he wrote a lot of erotic poetry.

Augoustos Korto (1979 - ), a married gay man, successful writer and activist, he has written extensively on the topics of death, depression, motherhood and love, often drawing from personal experience.

Kostas Tachtsis (1927 - 1988), poet, distinguished author and activist for gay rights during the Colonel dictatorship in the '70s. He suffered in his life and in his death as well. His murder has not been solved yet. He has written an autobiography and numerous novels with autobiographical elements. He was gay, either cross-dressing cis or maybe trans or non-cis (we don't know that back in time how exactly he identified) and had also been a sex worker for some time.

Napoleon Lapathiotis

Music:

Music won't give you direct information however it could be a way to bond with people you could connect with over similar experience.

Manos Hadjidakis (1925 - 1994), one of our two greatest composers and a rare genius, was openly yet "discreetly" gay, not out of shame but because privacy on all aspects of the human experience was absolutely essential and sacred to him. He was also an Oscar winner, although he would hate me for saying this (he threw his Oscar in the trashcan). Besides listening to his music, I would recommend watching interviews or listening to excerpts from his radio shows, because of the ease with which he could challenge anyone's intellectual capacity.

Sotiria Bellou (1921 - 1997), a lesbian or perhaps bisexual woman, she is worshipped for her unique voice, which became the ultimate symbol of the heavy-duty (underground at the time + now part of UNESCO's cultural heritage) rembetiko music genre.

TV Shows with representation:

Maestro in Blue on Netflix, a big part of the story is the romance of a gay couple suffering in oppressive families in the province

Milky Way, one of the main characters is pansexual and non-binary, and the actor is gay IRL. There is also a brief lesbian romance or a side narrative of supressed female homo- or bi- sexuality. This show will soon get in some international platform but I don't remember which one (not netflix), so keep it in mind.

Milky Way

YouTube:

There are a lot of LGBT+ people in Greek YouTube but my faves are:

ΚΡΙΜΑ by ZoePreTV: Zoe is a lesbian or bi herself (not sure but I know she's openly in a relationship with a woman) and she makes lengthy very informative quality podcasts with celebrities or everyday people, often belonging to marginalized groups, and they talk about their experiences. If you can understand Greek, this might be the best source for what you ask. I watched a fantastic episode with a trans woman and sex worker talking about her life. It is one of the greatest podcast episodes I have ever watched, hands down.

Eponimos. Zoe's best friend, who is an openly gay man, although he approaches matters of sexuality very delicately as he values his privacy a lot. He doesn't talk often about such matters (recently he did) but his channel is awesome for his lighthearted humour and the maturity of his positions. I love watching his content.

The podcast I mentioned.

LGBT+ Magazine: ANTIVIRUS. ANTIVIRUS also has this list with recent queer literature, featuring both Greek and foreign writers. Here is the link. It's in Greek though, like everything above...

Art: Yannis Tsarouhis (1910 - 1989), one of the most influential and successful Greek artists. He painted a variety of themes, he was inspired and developed Greek folk and Byzantine art, however he was also particularly notable for his love for the masculine physique and he established the classic image of the "Greek sailor" in art, theater and cinema internationally.

A great photo of Tsarouhis in his atelier.

I wouldn't consider myself well-versed in the topic, so I invite anyone who knows sources that could also ideally be easily accessible to the Anon, to give some recs in the comments. From my side, Anon, hopefully I was of any help.

[johaerys-writes]

If you were to do a fancast of your fav The Iliad characters, who would the actors/actresses be?

Oh boy careful what you ask for anon haha. I have to admit that I'm not a huge fancast person, mainly because I can usually *see* the characters in my head too clearly to be able to find a real life reference that matches that, but because of this ask I did some (extensive) research. Not all the people I've chosen are actors so not sure if they'd be able to play in a film but anyway this is fantasy land and it doesn’t matter lol.

The Achaeans

Achilles

I should preface this by saying that I've never found a faceclaim for Achilles that is close to how I imagine him; in my mind his features are quite unusual because of his divine blood, he stands out from other humans in a way that isn't easy to explain. But if I absolutely had to choose I think I'd go with a young Travis Fimmel for Iliad Achilles. He's still not 100% how I imagine him but I think some photos of his from the 90s and early 00s hit close!

Agamemnon

I honestly cannot come up with a better Agamemnon than Kostas Kazakos, the Greek actor who played Agamemnon in the 1977 Michalis Kakogiannis film "Iphigeneia". If he had longer hair it would be even better, but this is how I imagine him most of the time!

Ajax

It was really hard to choose someone for Ajax.... Can Yaman is quite close to how I imagine him, only picture him as fucking MOUNTAIN lmao.

Menelaus

I imagine Menelaus as a redhead and with a gorgeous wild mane, so I think Paul Bullion would fit this quite well!

Odysseus

Another tough one, but I looove Michiel Huisman for Odysseus, I think he would really do him justice.

Diomedes

I couldn't find a single person to match the way I envision him, so imagine him as a mix of Busola Peters and Majesh Jadu!

Patroclus

Oh gosh. Okay okay LISTEN. Patroclus is hands down THE hardest to pin down for me, even in my head his appearance changes so like... I have never managed to find anyone that is close to how I imagine him. I chose Tamino, not because he resembles Pat in my head 100% but based on vibes mostly, just those sad fucking eyes and his profile...... I'm obsessed with him face

Also just imagine him with a beard because I do picture Iliad Patroclus with a beard haha.

Tumblr is being dumb and not letting me add any more pictures, so I'll have to do a pt 2 for the Trojans (bc you bet I have more fancasts lol!! If I could give a face to every single person in the Iliad I would)

[chen-chen-chen-again-chen]

Hi, hello, hola, it's me! This is not a WIP Wednesday post (well, the WIP is always me), but it's something.

First off, thank you thank you thank you to all the beautiful people who messaged me, or commented, or tagged me in things, or even just thought kind warm thoughts at me while I've been away and not writing. Brain not working good enough to sort through the things and tag properly but you know the drill - I love you all.

Here are things I did while I wasn't writing AKA while I have Big Sad Brain:

I visited London, and had a great time - eating delicious food, flat-sitting, visiting old haunts, picking up new ones, spending time with friends, and watching too much Shakespeare. The salted beef bagels in Brick Lane are still unparalleled, there were daffodils everywhere, and I brought home too much tea but not enough biscuits.

I buzzed my hair short again, and as EarlobeGreyTea said, "it really moved your energy from bisexual to lesbian," and then followed up with, "I'm glad that I, a man, could explain your sexuality to you"

I read a lot. I read The Locked Tomb series (I'm obsessed) and fell down a danmei pit (I have consumed SVSSS and MDZS but not yet TGCF) and I have spicy hot takes on why I did not enjoy The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo or The Starless Sea. I re-read all of Ann Leckie's books. I read The Future is Disabled in a Socialist bookshop in London, and I cried so fucking hard that the gentleman in the shop asked me if I was okay. I read The Song of Achilles and Circe and wandered down the labyrinth of getting really, really into Greek myth.

Speaking of: I bought an ROG Ally (horrible name, hate it, but the console itself is fine, it's like a more versatile Steam Deck) and I played Hades. So much Hades. So. Much. Hades. And every time I met Patroclus in Elysium, I bawled, "He's so SAD! He's such a SAD MAN! I need to make him UN-SAD!"

I finally finished the godforsaken Totoro cross-stitch pictured above. As soon as I framed it, I held it up to my spouse and said, "Could a depressed person make THIS?" and he said, "Yes" and then "Good job," because he's a lamb.

When I had energy, I cooked. I learned how to make carrot ginger dressing and shogayaki, and how to velvet pork. I made some of my standbys, like applesauce pancakes and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, and felt very Smug and Very Adult for putting frozen cookie dough into my freezer so Future Me could have cookies. I introduced my family to Uncle Roger and I've never heard my mother (1) get so angry and (2) laugh so hard. When I couldn't cook, I ate food that someone else made, and it was enough to celebrate: I ate a meal! I ate food! I fed a me! Hooray!

I spent time with my beautiful friends. I spent time with my beautiful family. They are so good and they have been with me through so many tough things and depressive episodes, through bullshit and drama and tears, like that time I screaming-yelled at someone over the phone (they deserved it) during an engagement party at the cabin and then I had to walk out and pretend to be Normal and got drunk on a lot of Old Fashioneds.

I grew things. Flowers and vegetables and herbs and I accidentally made a great home for some very invasive weeds. The squirrels left only one sunflower alone (they ate the rest), but even now in mid-October, there are still bright coral-red flares of peppery nasturtium, and feathery pale pink zinnias from my caretaker at work (who is an angel), and gigantic, blue-tipped borage. My best friend moved in down the street from me, so she's only a five-minute walk away, and now I can pick flowers and stick them in a vase and walk them over to her, and I love it. I grew too many tomatoes (they got..... scary. My favourite were the heirloom tomatoes, as big as my fist, that remind me of my Lolo) and forgot about the cucumbers (they got lewd) and let myself get coaxed into growing three different kinds of mint: chocolate, grapefruit, and berries & cream (because I'm a little lad who loves berries and cream).

I bullied my spouse into watching Practical Magic with me the other evening and every time That Fucking Cop came on screen, he said, "That Fucking Cop! This movie would be good but there's too much of That Fucking Cop in it" and I felt so v i n d i c a t e d

I tried to write. I tried to write. I tried to write. I tried to write, and then let go of trying to write and just let myself do all the other things that make up living, try to amend the soil so that something good can grow there again. I tried to talk myself out of unhappiness but it's funny how that doesn't work, how only hard-fought kindness has helped me trudge out of the swamp, again and again and again.

I had one of those moments recently that felt like it could have been in one of my stories. At Thanksgiving dinner, I was sitting next to my little half-sister-in-law (a mouthful, I know). She is seven and she lost her dad two years ago and she said, "I wish my dad was here." And I said, "I know, honey. I think we all do." And she said, "I miss his piano playing," because her dad used to play piano the other way someone else might doodle on a napkin - absentmindedly, brilliantly, while wearing a faded green apron and with a dishtowel thrown over his shoulder, in between checking if the roast was up to temp and pouring someone a glass of wine. Always red wine, from the Piedmont region, which is where my spouse's Nonna is from. I asked my little half-sister-in-law, "Do you think you'll learn how to play piano?" and she said, "I don't know," and I said, "It's okay not to know." And then she asked, "Do you have a Gothita?" and we went back to talking about Pokemon, which we had been talking about for a conservative 90% of the dinner.

I wrote this. I wrote this and it felt good to feel my fingers moving, it felt good to have words spilling from me, it felt good to have faith in words again, that the words could be something good, could do something good, that the worlds could just be and it could be good, and that I could just be, and that could be good. Just being could be good. Even if I never wrote another word ever again, just being would be good. As I said to one of my friends many years ago during some deep dark down shitty times, "It's hard work, being human. Thank you for doing the work."

Take care. I love you all. ❤️❤️❤️

[mirzamsaiph]

New fic! (Yes I’m still working on my other fic I assure you)

Relationships

Apollo/Percy Jackson

Annabeth Chase & Percy Jackson

Nico di Angelo/Will Solace

Percy Jackson & Poseidon

Eventually

Percy Jackson & Triton

Nico di Angelo & Percy Jackson

Jason Grace & Percy Jackson

Percy Jackson & The Olympians

evenutally they're assholes at the start

and the middle

and practically the end

Characters

Percy Jackson

Annabeth Chase (Percy Jackson)

Apollo (Percy Jackson)

Poseidon (Percy Jackson)

Triton (Percy Jackson)

Amphitrite (Percy Jackson)

Kymopoleia (Percy Jackson)

Rhodes (Percy Jackson)

Zeus (Percy Jackson)

Aphrodite (Percy Jackson)

Athena (Percy Jackson)

Hermes (Percy Jackson)

Hades (Percy Jackson)

Ares (Percy Jackson)

Hera (Percy Jackson)

Dionysus (Percy Jackson)

Achilles (Percy Jackson)

Patroclus (Percy Jackson)

Menelaus (Song of Achilles)

Eros (Percy Jackson)

Paris

Helen of Troy

Odysseus (Percy Jackson)

There's proabably more I'm forgetting

Agamemnon (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore)

Additional Tags

I don't want to tag this as non-con but it's def a good bit dark

any mentions of SA or anything of sorts will be warned in the notes

Obsessive Behavior

References to Ancient Greek Religion & Lore

Ancient Greece

Trojan War

Politics

Time Travel

Time Travel Fix-It

Fix-It

BAMF Percy Jackson

Sassy Percy Jackson

He's so done

Canon-Typical Violence

Protective Poseidon (Percy Jackson)

but like

way way to protective

obsessive protective

Alternate Universe - Ancient Greece & Rome

Dark Apollo (Percy Jackson)

Dark Poseidon (Percy Jackson)

Work title:

Those eyes add insult to injury ( and it hurt’s so much)

Summary:

It seemed that Kronos, essentially, was a sore loser.

This conclusion became evident to Percy as he regained consciousness in the what seemed to be Greece. There stood an elegant woman, around his mother's age, in garments that were unfamiliar to Percy. She gazed down at him with concern and care. A man stood beside her, sharing her concern but with an air of wariness. His hand rested on what Percy presumed was his wife's shoulder, and his eyes seemed fixated on Percy's sword, which laying by him.

Percy's day turned worse as soon as the woman began to speak, "Young man, are you well? It appears you might be injured. Has there been another clash with the Trojans? Shall we get you to Lord Apollo's temple and to the healer within? The woman's gaze darted from Percy to her husband, whose brows creased in response.

At that moment, Percy yearned to obliterate Kronos once more.

[spectres-fulcrum]

Now I have to jump from 1777 to ca. 333 BC cause apparently Netflix has an Alexander The Great half seriously acted/half docu series coming out Wednesday and Alexander the Great was my Thing sophomore year of high school(The trailer is EVERYTHING). They better do his relationship with Hephaestion right(queerly)

They were VERY in love and very obviously. Idk why it's a debate after anyone reads how Alexander reacted to Hephaestion's death(There's more but I can't remember atm)

We had an unit on ATG in World History and I wanted to google something in whatever documentary we were watching(I think it was Alexander and Hephaestion making an offering to Achilles and Patroclus) and it led me to finding out there was speculations Alex and Phai were queer and a thing and me just recently realizing I liked girls along with boys was really like. Obsessed.

That's me though. I find out things are queer and I get obsessed. I love non queer stuff too and get obsessed but. It's just like my new AmRev phase was ignited by the Hamilton-Laurens letters that are sus as fuck. Sus as fuck as I'm like yet to find a reasonable het explanation as to why Laurens was encouraging Hammie to find a wife as a cure for his devotion to Laurens.

Under the cut is more me unlocking more memories

Of course, I watched the 2004 Alexander, with Colin Farrell and Jared Leto. They are still my celebrity conspiracy theory of they fell in love during filming and had an on and off thing for a few years and it crashed and burned(That's a very very very long essay spanning several albums because Jared Leto is still clearly extremely fucked up by it see: Never Not Love You but also Love These Days). The Babylon balcony scene was gorgeous! And I loved the flashback to Aristotle teaching all the boys. And we at least got Princess Barsine-Stateira even if we didn't get the rest of the family. For books I think The Conqueror's Wife was my favorite as I loved writing from Drypetis' pov(Hephaestion's wife, Darius' daughter. I headcanoned Bagoas as her best friend though and they were all very poly and friends besides Roxana. I was probably too mean to Roxana looking back) and she was a narrator for that book. I remember reading it on a trip down to the German Christmas market. My teacher always splurged for coach buses so it was an extra nice bus ride read. That was senior year though, when it came out. I still had nook back then, not kindle.

I think our ATG unit coincided with state testing week which is part of why we watched a documentary because my history teacher knew we'd be frazzled and classes were all messed up with that week. not that it matters but it's also is like. Placing things.

Looking at the character list on IMDB(assuming it's legit) I'm like some of these people I need reminders but I'm also like Memnon! (There was an AlexPhai fic where Memnon kidnapped Phai and they grew fond of each other) Ptolemy! Queen Stateira! Hephaestion! And once I gave it some thought I was like X and Y were Phillip's generation and didn't Z kill Darius?

Yep. I need to do some review tomorrow though. God it's gonna feel good. Honestly the trailer was so exciting I was like Alexander! Phillip's death! Darius! Darius with Stateira! IS THAT SISYGAMBIS!?!?!?!?!? (IDK but I'm gonna freak if we get Sisygambis. What if we get precious little Ochus? Drypetis? Bagoas? Please at least give us the canon queer kiss with Bagoas)

[i-never-even-wanted-to-be-here]

Hi........if you don't mind me asking, who are your favorite romantic relationship's couples in books/ manga/ anime/movies/tv series (can be canon or non-canon)? And why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before......Thanks....

Hey! Sure, I can do that.

In comparison to the big amount of ships I have I only have a handful I'm actually super serious about. So here are a few I like:

Merthur (Merlin + Arthur) from BBC Merlin: This goddamn kids show still has me deep in my feels after all this time. They're doing things to me. It's so sad that the series didn't get the treatment it needed and deserved because it was just for children. It had so much potential! The mutual trust and protection between the two is *chef's kiss*. They're soulmates in the most literal sense and belong together, are canonically destined to be with each other. What more do I need to say? And still, they're not canon. Unbelievable.

Andreil (Andrew + Neil) from the aftg trilogy: they have a super interesting, thrilling story, both the plot of the book and their relationship are fascinatingly fucked up and it draws you in. Despite their many issues and their rocky start they do have a really healthy relationship based on mutual trust, support and protection. I also like the imagine where we add Kevin and make it a throuple.

Mikayuu (Mikaela + Yuichiro) from Owari no Seraph: They're not canon but if they don't get together at this point it'd literally be unspeakably disrespectful because the way they act is so romantic, I've never seen a non-canon couple be so obviously in love. This is the most blatant queer baiting I've ever witnessed. Anyways, you could argue that they have a reason for their feelings, meaning that they're not genuine and only fabricated emotions, but idc, they're still obsessed with each other. Just because they have a reason for feeling the way they do doesn't mean that it's not genuine. Literally made for each other. The other characters also notice their fixation on one another.

Hualian (Hua Cheng + Xie Lian) from tgcf/ heaven official's blessing: I literally just finished this book series and already love them so much. It's a tragic and comedic story at the same time. I love when those genres are well balanced so that one doesn't destroy the other. They have their weird moments, like Hua Cheng being a little bit of a creepy stalker, which is why at some point I was slightly intimidated by him and completely understand why the side characters were terrified of him, but we know he's a great person and would never deliberately do anything harmful. They have a healthy relationship and as you may have noticed that's a really important aspect to me. BUT I do love angst and that's why beefleaf (He Xuan + Shi Qingxuan) from the same franchise are very dear to me as well, even though they wouldn't make a healthy couple.

Kanej (Kaz + Inej) from Six of Crows: badass characters that make me so emotional istg. But they make a power couple like no other. We stan the queen and the king. Again, a healthy couple, even though they're murderers. I just love how profound their relationship is. It isn't easy to cope with that kind of trauma and still want to be together. Also, the other two ships from soc are amazing as well.

Patrochilles (Patroclus + Achilles) from The Iliad: the OG gays. This story takes place 3200 years ago and it still makes me lose my mind when I think about it.

Caitvi (Caitlyn + Vi) from Arcane: I love their dynamic. They are both so cool in their own ways. And I have the biggest crush on Vi. I'm so impressed with this show tbh.

Yumihisu (Ymir + Historia) from Attack on Titan: Although aot/snk doesn't focus on romance at all and I like it that way, I do really like these two and I wish they could've gotten a chance.

Renga (Reki + Langa) and Matchablossom (Joe + Cherry) from SK8 the Infinity: Both are great ships respectively. The whole show is just for shipping and I love it.

Honourable mention: Khunbam (Khun + Baam) from Tower of God: I love colour coded relationships, they're kinda blue and red like Renga and Merthur. It's just funny to me that they don't romantically care about anyone else and their friendship is so intimate, at least from Khun's side, and while I don't think that they're ever gonna be a couple, it'd certainly be funny if the creator just pulled a gay trap on the readers. Reel them in with a battle based shonen webtoon and some straight baiting and then boom actually it's been setting up the queer ship all along. Oh how I'd laugh.

Honourable mention 2: Yoonmin (Yoongi + Jimin) from BTS: I'm sorry. It's just that I loved this ship when I still went to school. I hyperfixated on them because I needed something to obsess over to distract myself from my crippling depression. I don't normally ship real people because I don't want to make them uncomfortable, it's just for fun or as a joke. I am not serious about them, I just projected ship dynamics like grumpy + sunshine onto them and it brought me great joy. I even wrote a ff au when I was 14. Oh heavens, I have sinned.

[olderthannetfic]

Two of the recent asks on your blog just made me realise how fucking EXHAUSTED I am of of all the "boy who cried wolf" and "boy who vaguely heard about a stray dog looking for food in their area and decided it was obviously an invasion of rabid wolves" situations on this website, and in fandom in general.

I hate that my first thought when someone on anon talks about being groomed as a minor by an older person who "let" them interact with their nsfw fanworks, is "let me guess, is this gonna turn into a spiel about how because minors often ignore warnings and can't be trusted not to lie about their age to strangers online, everyone who posts nsfw anywhere but on places you need to be given a password or to pay actual money to access is a pedophile?" Because I've already seen every possible version of "checking out the rating, warnings, and tags and clicking "proceed" when the "this work could contain adult content" thing shows up isn't the same as consenting to see adult content" and I'm fully prepared for the day when we all get hit with "if you're an adult and don't have Minors DNI in all your social media profiles and your fandom accounts you're clearly a predator.""

And I hate that my first thought when someone on anon talks about being uncomfortable with some literature classic and getting told they're just too sensitive or equated with pro-censorship people is, "yeah, well, assuming it really went like that, people ARE gonna be on the lookout for the next big clout-chasing "Mark Twain was a horrible racist bastard for not foreseeing how the English language would evolve and not using words appropriate for a modern audience so having students read Tom Sawyer in school is basically a hate crime" or "there is sexist content in 1984 which means George Orwell was a pretentious hack with nothing of value to say about society or politics" thing, or the next person saying "Emily Bronte was just some idiotic romance-addicted white woman trying to pass a toxic abusive relationship as Twu Wuv" and proclaiming themselves the one lonely enlightened feminist in the land, or the next fic writer "Dante was just some racist homophobic creep who wrote some weird Bible fic so his blatant Self Insert could keep on harassing the girl he was obsessed with even after her death" to prove they're so forward-thinking and original and deserve to be regarded as a BNF defending fandom as a whole against the hordes of evil literature professors supposedly out to destroy it... I mean, this is the website that came up with "don't use a quote about Orestes and Pylades for your OTP because that's an incest" and "gay men shouldn't call themselves Achillean because Achilles and Patroclus might have had a pederastic relationship" yet worship Sappho as this relatable quirky wlw icon without giving a single fuck about the fact that she might be the one surviving example we have of institutionalized female pederasty, and I'd trust it to fall for a whole new MedievalPOC scam before I'd trust it to give a nuanced take on any kind of literary work, ESPECIALLY any literary work older than the early 2000s."

Sometimes I just feel the wolf could be right there howling at my door and I'd probably just say "ugh, great, those stupid kids got into my brain enough that now I can't even go about my day without imagining that there's a fucking wolf howling for no reason" and not even check out of the window. Or I'd check and still assume the wolf is just a big dog even then.

--

It's a genuine problem. Because there are still predators out there.

[sealrock]

benchmark shenanigans

my pc didn't explode!! 3 hours well spent I must say

putting everything under the cut because it got long but I'm actually really looking forward to dawntrail now;

main roster:

(andromache is missing for obvious reasons)

ok I will say the CC did not inspire confidence in me when I first loaded in my ocs, especially paris. I used the lominsa location for better lighting but the wet sheen seemed to taint my first opinion of the graphics update. the updated eye and hair textures are well done, however

for paris, the lip shine, tweezed eyebrows, and eyelashes (and subtle makeup it looks like) are kind of jarring on them. they need to look crusty!! not moisturized!!!

achille looks.. rough. the eyes on face 4 looks fine currently, but here he looks zooted out of his goddamn mind. and I've been using dark eyebrows for all my ocs for a while now, seeing him with blond eyebrows is a shock to the system

hector (and patroclus) look so good though I think I hauve covid. like face 6 got the biggest upgrade to me, they actually have good-looking noses, eyebrows, and lips!!!

tauvane looks good, not as crusty anymore! the lips are better than what's in-game currently. she kinda matches achille in looking high as hell but it's less severe

npcs:

the tatlonghari brothers are also safe. I'm obsessed with how face 1 looks, evander also got a better nose and they kept his acne marks which made me tear up with joy. his face looks a lot more round than his current model so I may end up changing it once dawntrail comes out

patroclus is back to his old face template from now on, and actually looks like he has a 10-step skincare routine now, it's great. like hector, he looks very good

I also did kirke for a bit and she looks decent!! the limbal rings look nice to me, though her lips are gonna have to grow on me

benchmark looks:

crying and screaming and throwing up at how paris looks outside of the cc, overall they look great! I may end up using my fantasia to tweak their face a bit but otherwise I don't think I'll have any issues playing them throughout the msq

achille still looks goofy asf, but that's just me unable to make face 4 look nice with this combination of colors. I actually may end up giving him a different face entirely because he doesn't look like how I imagine him. I try not to give two of my ocs the same face template but I wanna try face 1 on him to try and get him closer to his parents in appearance

oh my god hector makes me wanna bite my desk. he got the best glowup, and the new hair looks great on him!! 10/10, face card cleared, no notes

my girl tauvane looks a lot better rendered in the benchmark than cc. I also noticed her hair color is a touch darker than current, it's a nice touch!

bonus shots:

evander and patroclus look amazing with the new lighting like whaddahell. they wouldn't actually be melee dps so watching them be a viper was kinda funny

I wanted to test kirke real quick as well with limbral rings, she looked cool throughout the entire thing. and I may be wrong but it looks like they gave this hair extra bones because the bangs move with the wind, really neat!

I ran yves' elezen model through the benchmark as well since his face is custom. as I don't play elezen his skin tone looks decent to me, it's not as ashy like his in-game model

[littlemisskittentoes]

9 Favorite Books

Big thank you to @happiness-of-the-pursuit for tagging me in this! I'm actually quite new to the tumblr sphere, so I'm so excited to get involed like this.

Similar to a lot of you lovelies, so much of my current media consumption is in the form of fanfiction and rereads. So my little list here is a conglomeration of old favorites, and recents that resonated with me.

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston-- I feel like this is an obvious one, but c'est la vie. I could honestly go on for an entire post about why I love this novel and have come back to it so often. But, I think in short-- I've never read a book thats made me feel the way I did about this novel: warm, loved, optimistic, giddy... I could go on.

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller-- I've always been deeply fascinated with Achilles and Patroclus, even as a kid. Between that, the stunning prose, and the mastery of the craft in creating this story, I was a gonner the first time I read it.

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote-- This is one of the first books that really consumed me in the way that I delved further into it beyond the text. I was obsessed with Capote's relationship with Perry, and how monumentally it influenced the writing of the book, and the audience perception.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak-- I'm always a sucker for death personified in a text. But beyond that, I adore Liesel. This novel breaks my heart everytime I read it, and each time I'm grateful it does.

Night by Elie Wiesel-- This memoir was one of the first things I read that truly changed my world view. Such an important text. It's hard and painful and so necessary.

Normal People by Sally Rooney-- God, another book I could talk about forever. I love Rooney's unflinching, realist view of love and relationships. I will read anything by her, and I will love every word.

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini-- I'm not the first to include this on these lists, and I'm sure I won't be the last. Another text that intrinsically changed by perspective and way of living.

A Court of Thornes and Roses Series by Sarah J Maas-- My guilty pleasure favorite. Beyond anything, this series is special to me because it's the one that made me fall in love with reading again after distancing myself from reading for pleasure throughout my graduate program.

My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell-- An unsantized, ugly-truth view of trauma and the toll processing it can take an a young person still navigating the world. Another very difficult read, but one that made me feel seen.

I feel like this is such a lovely way for us to connect and learn a bit more about one another! So, I'd love to see some of your favorites-- @hgejfmw-hgejhsf @suseagull04 @kiwiana-writes @inexplicablymine

[nambnb]

8. What projects are you currently working on?

Thx for asking. Since I'm currently still knee-deep into my Patrochilles obsession, I'm writing fanfiction about Achilles and Patroclus based on "The Iliad" and on the "Hades Game" setting.

I'm writing on a little PZA threesome fic as an optional extra chapter to "The Price to Pay", right now, just because I can (and also because I've seen some nice fanart concerning them).

As for a bigger project, I'm currently collecting ideas for another Patrochilles fanfiction that will concern their lives from growing up together until the Trojan War and their deaths occur. I don't know what the general theme is supposed to be, as this started out as a purely PWP-centric piece. But I've accidentally added a plot to it now, so I shall just write whatever and hope for the best (as always). For now, I plan to tie this story in with "The Price to Pay", meaning the plot bits before their deaths I've addressed there will happen in more detail in the new fic.

[johaerys-writes]

How did you get into your most recent patrochilles addiction? Was it Hades Game? The Song of Achilles?

I'm not sure what you mean by most recent because I've been obsessed with Patrochilles since 2020 when I read TSOA for the first time lol so not so recent, but I guess the last couple of years I've been writing mostly Patrochilles, and this year I've only had those two on the brain, so I don't really know what to tell you 😂 I feel like they've slowly but surely replaced all my other interests, and that’s partly because there's just so much stuff out there about them (tsoa, hades game, the iliad, a bunch of other myths and adaptations, non fiction books, academic papers etc) so there is no end to how much you can research/read/watch/think about. They are chatacters that have been loved, talked about, thought about for centuries, they are in a way part of our collective consciousness I feel, both when people engage with the Iliad directly, but also through the archetypes and themes/tropes that have filtered through western literature and philosophy as a whole. Like the iliad started as an oral tradition passed down from generation to generation, and then it was written down (the first ever text to be written down when the Greeks came up with their first widely used alphabet) and people haven't shut up about this story since. Like that's just so endearing to me, the way it still sparks discussion and discourse and yeah even drama lol can you imagine, like we're still getting into arguments about Achilles and Patroclus' relationship the way Phaedrus did about Aeschylus' interpretation in Plato's Symposium lmao that's just WILD. So yeah my obsession started with TSOA but it just kept growing to encompass every piece of media these two appear in lol.

[nerdynikki94]

Guys, already at season 3, and I'm just going to say it... I'm an unapologetic Hannigram Whore. Problematic. Evil. Gaslight. Toxicity. Murder. Cannibalism. Manipulation. And psychopathy, be damned. Those two men are so fucking obsessed with each other and want to bang so insanely, it's embarrassing.

Ngl, I have to check my morality at the door for this one, like it's frequently quite hard to sit through. That being said, the connection between them is so profound and immeasurable that they are in a hypnotizing, endless circle.

To discover Hannibal, Will had to empathize with him, but Hannibal had already chosen him as his obsession. And Will's empathy towards the masked murderer pulled him even closer to Hannibal, which spurred his obsession for Will. Their entire relationship is an undeniable and vicious cycle.

That is where the true romance of their connection lies. They are star-crossed cosmic calamities orbiting one another, wreaking havoc in the atmospheres unfortunate enough to cross their paths. Their shared capacity for cruelty leaves all bystanders to become nothing but collateral damage.

I just don’t have words for how many contradicting emotions I have about these men. Like I'm not saying I'd want them to have a white-picket fence ending (the finale was spoiled for me long ago, and it honestly seems kind of fitting). Still, I'm enthralled by their magnetic draw to one another. Their chemistry onscreen - especially throughout the brilliant dialogue and phenomenal performances - makes this pairing inherently romantic. They spend their entire relationship straddling a razor-thin line of love and hate, falling so deep into that bond, that they ultimately lost sight of which side they surrendered to.

Hannibal compared Will & himself to Achilles & Patroclus. He asked him to run away with him after he realized that Will hadn't actually killed Freddie Lounds. He wanted to start a life with Will, raising Abigail. Hannibal wants to believe Will is his one equal.

It's hard to see it objectively when you know his character doesn't truly comprehend empathy. But, in Hannibal's mind, he is the scorned lover, the one that opened himself up with desperation to be safe, seen, vulnerable with the person he’d deemed worthy.

And he was rejected.

Just like Alana had said about the desecration of 'Freddie Lounds' corpse. It's a courtship. I sincerely believe that that was not merely a metaphor. In Hannibal's fucked up mind, his Season 2's arc end was proposing to Will. While his Season 1's arc was testing Will's true worthiness. And prediction (and pre-conceived spoilers about the finale abound) says that Season 3's final arc will be the consummation of that eternal vow, their inescapable bond.

So, guys, have I made it onto the Hannigram community on Tumblr? I need this, guys... Macdennis is a perpetual Shroedinger's cat meant to torture me with what if's.... , Sherlock was a quick watch and pretty brief obsession... and honestly, I refuse to watch Supernatural. So, yeah.

Even if my morality (despite this being fiction) won't allow me to ship these men as endgame, I completely fucking get it. Like, this is intense; undeniably twisted, but passionate, and intense, nevertheless.

Two sides of a blood-covered, golden coin. Ruined yet priceless; one face unable to exist in the absence of the other.

[gl4ukopis]

May and June wrap up

(Yes I'm late)

If we were villains by M.L Rio

I still don't know how to rate this book and I'll probably need a second read to do it properly. One thing is certain: I really really liked it. It's this book's fault if I reentered my 'I'm fixated on Shakespeare' phase. Now I want to read every play that is named in this book so that I can reread it and fully understand it. It's so full of subtle details argggg I love these things.

The midnight club by Christopher Pike

🌟🌟/5

This book was a disappointment, it is so ugly. I got interested in it because I watched the tv series on netflix and I adored it (I really recommend it) but mr netflix cancelled the second season and I wanted to know more about these characters, so I picked the book up. The midnight club didn't age well, while you read it you feel it's old. The characters are unlikeble and you can really tell they are written by a man, they show no depth.

Haikyuu 1 and 2

🌟🌟🌟🌟/5

I love this manga, I don't have anything to say, read it please. The characters are chef kiss.

Once upon a broken heart by Stephanie Garber

🌟🌟🌟.5/5

I was a bit disappointed by this book, don't get me wrong, I liked it but I expected more from it. I couldn't empathise with Evangeline and Jacks the way I always do with good characters. They have a great potential as characters, especially Jacks, but Stephanie Garber didn't really exploit this potential in this first book. I'll definitely read the second one.

All that's left in the world by Erik J. Brown

🌟🌟🌟🌟/5

This is the post-apocalyptic queer novel you didn't know you needed, but believe me, you do. Read this, fall in love with the characters, fall in love with the way the relationship between Andrew and Jamie develops without hurry. This is found family first and a love story second

Legendborn and Bloodmarked by Tracy Deonn

🌟🌟🌟🌟/5

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟/5

Words cannot describe how much I love and I'm obsessed with these books. Bree is a wonderful protagonist, she is human, she has flaws, she isn't perfect, she felt real to me. I also think the other characters were wonderful, Sel (my fav together with Bree), William, Alice, Nick. I loved them all. One thing I didn't like about the first book was the development of the relationship between Bree and Nick, it was too hurried and it did get on my nerves. I liked the second book better than the first one, also the ending was *chef kiss* I adored Tracy for that. Please pick these two up, I can't wait to read the third one.

Red, white & Royal Blue by Casey Mcquiston

🌟🌟🌟.5/5

Mmmmm it was like reading a romcom movie, cute, it made me giggle and laugh but I skimmed most of it cause I found some parts boring and a bit too cheesy. However, it was a great book, I'm excited for the movie.

The song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

I don't know how to rate this one sorry

Fucking yes I loved it. I adore greek mythology and I knew I would liked this book. Patroclus my baby, he really is the best of the Myrmidons. Sadly the ending felt a bit subdued compared to the rest of the book.