#also apollo's relevant again

[heliological]

here's my proposal for renaming all the main series ace attorney games so their names make thematic sense. thank you

aa1 - ace attorney: trials and tribulations rfta - phoenix wright: ace attorney aa2 - ace attorney: spirit of justice aa3 - ace attorney: dual destinies aa4 - apollo justice: ace attorney aa5 - ace attorney: rise from the ashes aa6 - ace attorney: justice for all

[blicketdabest33]

Y'all remember that MCYT PJO au I asked for help with awhile ago? WELL HERE'S THE CABINS AND MY EXPLINATIONS BEHIND THEM!!

#1 Zeus Cabin: Jimmy, Joel Jimmy: He's a Zeus kid, but everyone somehow forgets about it. Joel: He's competitive and strong. Also, because Jimmy is his half brother through godly parent, i get to make a fun bit about him dating Lizzie. And one of his origins in Afterlife SMP was a thunderborn

#2 Hera Cabin: Scott Scott: Scott's whole thing is loyalty. Hera is the goddess of marriage and is insanely loyal to Zeus. However, I feel like Hera should get at least one affair. So now Scott can use peacocks as weapons.

#3 Poseidon Cabin: Skizz Skizz: Poseidon kids tend to be really, really loyal to a fault and heroic, both qualities I think Skizz possesses.

#4 Demeter Cabin: Sausage, Shelby, Bdubs, Stress Sausage: This man built Sanctuary in a jungle and has flowers in his hair. He sells wood. There is no other place to put him. Shelby: Mushroom gnome, spooky mangrove witch, powerful storm witch, i need not continue. Bdubs: Moss man. Stress: SHE HAS FLOWERS

#5 Ares Cabin: Martyn, False Martyn: His planet is Mars, which is the roman version of Ares. He ended Limited Life in such a violent way, i can't help it. He was also red for the majority of Secret Life. False: I just feel like False should get to kill people more often.

#6 Athena Cabin: Grian, Pix, Owen, Xisuma Grian: This sums it up pretty well

Pix: Smart man. Archeologist and definitely a nerd. I wanna see him skipping out on training just so he can read history books. Owen: He likes to explore and discover new things in Pirates. In Rats, he's a tinkerer. In New Life, he's an explorer who wants to study hybrids. In Empires, he's a Llama who's curious about how humans work. Just a very curious character overall. Xisuma: Admin. I'm not elaborating.

#7 Apollo Cabin: Gem, Oli, Lyarrah Gem: She is an Apollo kid because of her Empire in S2. She's the sunlight princess. Apollo kid. Oli: MUSIC. MAN. Lyarrah: She writes the captions for the hermitcraft recap.

#8 Artemis Cabin: Pearl Pearl: Y'know, Artemis could've just like... had a kid, even though she took that oath. It wouldn't even have to be with a guy. Gods can change to whatever gender they want. Anyway, Pearl gets to be an Artemis kid because her symbolism is moon, she loves dogs, and will commit murder and hunt at night.

#9 Hephaestus Cabin: Doc, Mumbo, Tango, Impulse, Cub, Zedaph, Fwhip, Iskall Doc: Redstone Mumbo: Redstone Tango: Redstone Impulse: Redstone Cub: Redstone Zedaph: Redstone Fwhip: Redstone AND has a red scarf (don't ask me how that's relevant) Iskall: Redstone

#10 Aphrodite Cabin: Keralis Keralis: Okay, I don't know why, but Keralis gives me the vibes of a very charming person. His voice is nice to listen to, so imagine how useful it'd be if I gave him charm speak.

#11 Hermes Cabin: Scar, Etho, Joe Scar: Trader Scar, scammer extraordinar. Etho: All i must say is Shady-E's. I get "jack-of-all-trades, master of none, often better than master of one" vibes from him. He's funny, he's mischievous, it just works. Joe: Comedy man. Excellent delivery. And, yet again, i look at this man and go "That right there is a multi-talented man with a habit for mischief."

#12 Dionysus Cabin: Joey, Beef Joey: *points at his season one empires theme* i need not say more Beef: Idk, food. I don't really have a reason. I don't know too much about Beef.

#13 Hades Cabin: Zloy Zloy: Zombie man. He writes the Hermitcraft recaps in the dark at 2am with nothing but pure spite.

#14 Iris Cabin: Katherine Katherine: SHE. HAS. COLORS. and also I couldn't put her in Demeter cabin because Shelby is already there and i am NOT excluding Nature Wives from this au

#15 Hypnos Cabin: Bigb, XB, Wels Bigb: Sleepy stuff, right? WRONG. Gaslight. Go in everyones dreams, make fake prophecies, peace out, and cause chaos. XB: I look at his fanon design, I see an alien, and I go "aha he sleeps" Wels: This guy (@dingdinghq) said so and i completely agree. Something about sleeping in S6.

#16 Nemesis Cabin: Edit: wels not here no more

#17 Nike Cabin: Ren Ren: VICTORY. I don't know much about Ren's story in the Life Series, but I look at this man and see someone who has won a lot.

#18 Hebe Cabin: 

#19 Tyche Cabin: TFC TFC: Man goes mining and gets really lucky. That's it.

#20 Hecate Cabin: Lizzie, Cleo, Jevin Lizzie: Witchy vibes. Also, Arson. Cleo: Arson. She uses her magic for Arson. Jevin: He's a magic slime. Also, Arson. All Hecate kids love Arson.

[jennrypan]

Let's go down the line of fuckassary: LONG ASS POST AHEAD.

1: Gaia looked and acted like everyone else. She should've been WAY angrier, she should be pissed at Persephone for bringing about winter first of all. Should be pissed that she was a sleep and NOTHING got better over the centuries. But sure, she's giggling and happy.

(I liked that she shoved her hand in Ouranos' chest tho.)

2: It's soo funny that people keep SAYING that Persephone and Hades have true love but the comic hasn't showed us that ever 🤨, like if anything those two losers are obsessed with each other. Be so fr.

3: Once again..this should be Persephones story/POV but its in Hades' always. Fascinating.

4: "You have to spend 3 months away from your sugar daddy" OH NOOOO BUT WEVE BEEN APART FOR SO LONGB 🥺. God. At this point does she even NEED to be in the Mortal Realm fr?? Like..Demeter, Metis and Rhea are back now so..what's her purpose there.

5: The way Gaia just isn't. Gaia is baffling. Anyways. Demeter FINALLY found out what happened to Persephone but she's not..having a moment with her daughter?? Not talking to her about it?? Okay.

6: As usual. They're eager to have sex cuz that's the only thing they do. "I can't wait to see that ass--" ..how very Zeus and Posedion of you quote on quote romantic 🤨

7: She gets her coronation but..didn't she already have that when she married Hades?? Ig not then. Also..Apollo just got a slap on the wrist, not surprising.

DEMETER GOT PUNISHED MORE THAN HIM??? Hell the Titans got punished more than that bitch what the fuck??? God.

8: The disrespect to Zeus is so. 😶 Zeus would literally not sit back quietly for this shit the fuck??? Also..Hera didn't divorce Zeus all those years and now she did ?? And she's what..gonna get with Echo now??? Fascinating. Zeus needs to start tossing rocks. Rachel did Zeus and Heras relationship so fucking DIRTY!!!! GOD!! FUCKING DAMMIT. I hate how she wrote them. Anyways.

9: The Mortal Realm is a lot easier cuz Hades is there?? YOU WERE BORN THERE!!! ITS YOUR HOME!! You ungrateful ass spawn. It wasn't that fun cuz you didn't have a man there?? Insane.

10: The way Persephone clearly doesn't love her own mother is sickening actually. Like..we can't even have them talking to each other?? Dancing?? Even the comment about her doesn't have that much emotion. Also..Dionysus' hair looks goofy, and I guess Hades is all for bringing back mortals now despite making a big stink about it in season 1 but whatever. Yay Semele.

11: "hera just gives him busy work" ..He's literally the king. Literally-- oh my god. "His powers having been the same" which..MEANS WHAT?? And the way Zeus would literally not be happy about this shit is so-- UGH. God it's infuriating. Hades and Posedion clearly don't give a shit about their brother if they aren't concerned about his fucking powers 'not being same'??? Die.

12: Echo needs to stand SEVERAL feet away from Hera. That ship is so god damn tasteless and unnecessary. If you're gonna give hera a new love interest. Maybe give them actual moments?? Make it make sense!!

13: "Ares is still a dog!" *cue laugh track sound*, god this is so..why ?? Ares, baby I'm so sorry people keep disrespecting you in every iteration 🤦‍♀️

14: ignoring the Artemis bit cuz she wasn't relevant for any of the major plots and she still isn't. Anyways. Hades stay the FUCK away from Thanatos. "They can have conversations" oh?? How fascinating. Hades just NOW deciding to care about Thanatos doesn't make up for years of his neglect.

15: Persephone, Ares and Aphrodite should beat Eros' ass for being useless about Apollo. I still think that. Eros is an ass of a friend.

16: 'new powers' ..Girl your powers are basically your old powers with one extra step. Shut UP!!! anyways. (No one cares about kassandra, sorry not sorry. Who was worried about that )

17: Hades and Persephones millionth drabble of nonsense fluff. They're not saying anything new, nor are they doing anything new. I do like the art tho. It's just..baffling how..they're relationship started soo much nonsense and we're suppose to see it as a good thing??

THIS is a good ending??

Nevermind the fact Persephone didn't spend time with her friends or her MOTHER, nevermind the fact Zeus and Posedion don't even get to speak to their mother either.

Hera, Hestia and Demeter don't have a moment with Metis either.

Like..what was the point of bringing them back if you weren't gonna bring it to a satisfying conclusion?? Absolutely insane

Also..Eileithyias design is ass. It's sooo boring. It's literally just pilot Hebe but darker. Oh wow she's yellow with purple eyes??? Insidious. Also she just looks boring and bland to be the daughter of the literal king and queen but sure. Give us nothing.

And..again with making the children boring copies of one specific parent! Macaria is so..boring to look at just like Melinoe. Also...hades can..have kids now?? 🤨 okay.

So basically..this was insane from start to finish.

This wasn't a good conclusion. It was absolutely a wreck.

[hogoflight]

INCREDIBLY UPSETTING (me. It’s upsetting me.) HYPOTHETICAL VARIATION OF HYACINTHUS’ DEATH & REBIRTH:

OK we’ve got “Apollo grieves Hyacinthus so so so much he will not let him fully die and he becomes the Hyacinthus flowers”. And he is somewhat sentient as flowers. But how would Apollo feel, knowing and realising that every single year, Hyacinthus is dragged up from death to be reborn and split into thousands of little pieces of himself, to feel every single piece of himself dying and rotting and decaying individually, mere months after feeling a remote shadow of the life he once had? And this happens every single year!

WORSE THOUGHT: WHAT IF HYACINTHUS ASCENDS. and Apollo sees him alive again and he cries and sobs and clutches him so so tightly and is so relieved that he’s back and Hyacinthus is crying and laughing and holding him upright and they embrace and for a few months everything is so, so wonderful. Then Hyacinthus falls… ill. He shows signs of being poisoned. Soon, he cannot leave their bed, and sooner, he is gone once more. Apollo is utterly and wholly inconsolable, but not as inconsolable as he is next spring, once he sees Hyacinthus standing, once again, at the gates of Olympus, shaken and silent and slightly colder than he was last time.

How would they cope? Desperately holding and kissing each other (and yeah also doing each other) out of fear the next day may be one of Hyacinthus’ last, and as a way of trying to show how much they care without actually talking about anything? What if Hyacinthus grows jaded and his self-disgust takes root and grows as he sees how completely destroyed his Apollo has become out of worry of grief for him? How would Hyacinthus feel, knowing that even through climbing out of the underworld, through Greece, up Mount Olympus and through its gates, Apollo could and would only look at him like he’s already grieving for him (or maybe he never stopped)? What if they grow to feel deeply sick at the sight of each other for a tense, uncomfortable while? What if this snaps one day when Hyacinthus is very, very late for his usual arrival, when Apollo suddenly realises he chose to stay down, alone in Greece, Without him, to avoid seeing him again?

And what if, eventually, they learn to live with this cycle? What if they move to Hyperborea when Hyacinthus arrives (OKok this doesn’t make wider sense but IT’S OK) so they can see the world together, see what’s changed in the year he was gone, and spend the more of the moments they have gently basking in each others’ presence while they have it? What if every time Hyacinthus is brought above the ground once more, he visits places and friends he’s made in Greece, catches up with them, brings souvenirs and gifts and greetings to Apollo once he reaches him?

I imagine Aphrodite fits into this by either being the one to carry Hyacinthus into Olympus every time, out of care, or helping Hyacinthus on his journey to Olympus. which is very relevant bc he could choose to just stay in Greece during spring But also Of Course he goes to Olympus (almost…) every single time bc that’s where his love is. (His journey up to Olympus is therefore motivated by love and there’s no better person to guide that journey than the goddess of love herself!)

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

hello again everyone i'm putting on my tinfoil jester hat & passing out Hefty grains of salt. its batshit theory time!

in short: i think Julie is gonna get violent & might end up killing someone - or she'll at least try. and i'm pretty sure something terrible is gonna happen to her.

in long: hoo boy. strap in

first off, i'd like to say that i love womens' wrongs And rights! all of this is said with utmost affection & respect for Julie. i love it when characters do terrible things, its interesting and so tasty for the story and their development <3

second disclaimer: most of this is just based off of what we have / know as of now. which is, admittedly, not much! so despite having short arms, i may be reaching very far! i'll get the based-on-knowledge part of my thoughts out of the way before getting into the more abstract I'm Just Making Shit Up At This Point part (educated guessing, yk yk!)

not sure where to start so i'll begin with what starting this line of thinking - flower symbolism. I've gone a little bit into it in a previous post from a while back (where i just made observations about the neighborhood map), but i'll restate the relevant parts. there are two flowers in the neighborhood with greek myths attached, and similar ones at that: the hyacinths outside of the Post Office, and the sunflowers outside of Frank's house.

most people know the hyacinth myth! Apollo, while playing metal frizbee with his (male) mortal lover Hyacinthus, Apollo's thrown discus bounced off of the ground and accidentally hit Hyacinthus in the head, killing him - then Apollo turned the spilled blood into the hyacinth flower. in another - popular - version of the myth, the wind god Zephyrus was jealous and blew the discus off course to kill Hyacinthus. as for sunflowers: Clytie, a nymph, was in love with Apollo and grew jealous of his relationship with a princess, Leucothoe. Clytie informed Leucothoe's father of the relationship, and he buried Leucothoe alive as punishment. Apollo turned his murdered lover into a sunflower. two flowers attached to greek myths about Apollo falling for a mortal, and that mortal gets murdered by a jealous non-mortal.

next, I would like to bring attention to This Concept Artwork from 2021. now i'm not gonna use this as a definitive "oh this exists so it must mean-" but there are always elements of concept work, especially Canon concept work, that sticks or can allude to themes or information that will be revealed later in the story. concepts are concepts for a reason - it means there's a solid idea that's being explored in depth, most times for use (especially that deep into the story crafting).

specifically, right now i'd like to look at the type of flower Julie is holding. pansies. normal ones + the primary fucked up pansy. pansies are symbols of love - both romantic and platonic, but predominantly platonic. it can also symbolize nostalgia, thought, admiration, remembrance, and can even be used as an "i'm sorry" flower. in victorian times, it was often used to represent forbidden/secret love.

stick with me, i'm getting to the point i promise

now, another thing is how much of Julie's character (meta-wise & in regards to the WH show as a production) is centered around love. her house is the "cutest" or most feminine one in the neighborhood, and it's downright infested with hearts, from the windows to the bushes to the chimney. she exists as Frank's foil, and it's almost definitive that she was meant to be Frank's love interest (there's just. so much evidence that there's no way that's not it). and just look at her! she looks like a love interest! if WH was a real show that i sat down to watch, i'd see her and immediately go "oh, ok, that's her base role"

this contradicts with what we know of her character - Julie seems big on platonic love, loving her friends, but other than that? she very much steps around what her house/character design is trying to say. she's hopscotching right over what the production wants from her. the only thing she kinda sticks with is the whole flower thing

but. but but but. i wonder! after the update, I'm pretty confident that the neighbors are influenced by the "script" and the workshop, even if they're not aware of it. see: the difference in how they act in the "recovered media" (where they behave more like they're characters playing out a bit, their dialogue has no natural lulls and it just sounds like a (really good) script) vs the 14 audios & the phone calls (natural dialogue, they seem more layered & like actual people instead of just characters, there's no set shenanigan - they're just doing their own things). and we can assume that the latter audios are from the neighbors off-script off-the-air.

despite this, they still somewhat try to fill their roles. the question is: how much of that is authentic, and how much is them still feeling that pressure to perform? just like how We as people feel pressure and expectation from societal rules/norms, even if we're not conscious of it. like, say... kids growing up thinking being queer is wrong, even if they've never been directly exposed to / made aware of homophobia/transphobia. We fill in the absence of being told "this is right" with "it must be wrong", and We act accordingly

so apply that to sapient puppets who were (again, most likely) made with set relationships, dynamics, and character details in mind. they're meant to be This Way, even if they want to be That Way, and that internal "programming" has to conflict, at least a little. like how I've seen Clown mention that homophobia will/may be a theme, and the only way i can see that happening among puppets who have never been directly exposed to it is if the above happens: they feel pressure from something they're unaware of. expectation from a "higher" plane of existence. as above, so below.

OKAY NOW WE'RE GETTING TO IT I PROMISE! blend this all together into Frank & Eddie catching feelings. they weren't meant to fall in love. they're not supposed to be together. it's - from the perspective of Playfellow & society (in the time period WH was active/created) - wrong.

Julie is supposed to be with Frank. Frank is supposed to be with Julie. in a way, they are together - they're best friends. they're foils. they were created to compliment each other and click. in the media audios, they're almost always together. if one of them is in a scene, so is the other.

so what happens if Frank starts to pull away? if he starts to spend more time with Eddie - what if Julie feels like she's being pushed out? what if she asks Frank to come play, only to be told he already has plans with Eddie, and if Julie tries to join in, what if Frank tells her no?

if it were me in this situation, I think I'd start to panic a little. everything has always been the same - it's always been Frank and Julie. that's how it's supposed to be. Frank and Eddie, well that's just - that's just wrong! and if, at this hypothetical point in the story, things are tangibly starting to degrade/go wrong, Julie might cling even harder, panic even more.

you see where I'm going with this? what i meant with the flower symbolism and what it could point to?

their world is falling apart, and Julie's one constant - Frank, her best friend, her grumpy rock - is pulling away. for Eddie. the mailman. and so what if the jealous "lover" takes action? Julie can make things go back to normal. she needs Frank, and in her mind she's losing him, but she can't lose him. she can't. and maybe that little whisper of expectation that she can't hear but feels nonetheless, fuels this fire. it makes her feel justified, makes her feel the need to act and "correct" this. maybe if she gets rid of the distraction, Frank's love and attention will be hers once more.

i mean, people do insane things when they're under that much pressure. from current probably-horrible events, a loss of control in their own life, their closest person seemingly distancing themselves, subconscious pressure from societal expectation. especially when it comes to love - platonic or romantic. w/ Julie, i'm pretty sure it's platonic in regards to Frank. though she is bi, so you never know! could be both!

and maybe it won't be about Frank & Eddie, if any of this turns out to even a little right. maybe there's a factor I'm not considering or haven't seen yet. but i really do think that there are things pointing to it.

like yeah, the Concept Art linked above. the caption saying "liar", the specific species of flower, Julie holding it over her mouth as if keeping a secret, the hammer. not sure if the person standing over her is her primary puppeteer, an abstract, or something else (it seems cracked?) but that's not what this theory is about!

then there's the flower patch - both behind her in the concept art, and the one behind her house on the map. it's striking me now that the two look very similar. they have mostly the same flowers, even. blue/yellow/white/orange "daisies", some daffodils, what i think are roses (it's hard to tell specifics on the map). an odd choice to make them so similar (unless it's coincidence!).

when I first saw the patch, my immediate thought was "holy shit is that a body dump?!" bc it's oddly green compared to the rest of the map, it's placed at a noticeable distance behind Julie's house - as if it's supposed to be "hidden", and it's the lushest spot in the neighborhood. now, to provide a counterargument to my own claim: it could be very green because that's how things are shaded, it looks like it's at a distance from the house bc the map is 2D, and its the lushest spot bc Julie's all about flowers - also, i doubt flowers would spontaneously grow since we can assume none of them are real. it's a puppet world of props. but who knows.

(and okay this might or might not be relevant but we can assume Julie is the one who made the chalk drawings on the path, right? i think there's a spiral in front of her house. just making a note of it.)

and there's just how much "pressure" seems to be on Julie compared to the others. she doesn't match her house. she doesn't fit her "role" the way she's meant to. AND OH AND I ALMOST FORGOT - by the swingset, there's now a bowling ball and what looks like red scissors. idk about you guys but i associate scissors with Eddie. he's all about crafts, after all! now i'm really reaching but hey? murder weapon? Julie does seem fond of bowling balls... that's a perfect bludgeoning weapon to have on hand (in abundance!)

in conclusion, i just think Julie has major potential to do some deliciously fucked up stuff. in fact, i hope she does! it could be handled/done in an absolutely fascinating way, and could have intriguing consequences.

who knows, maybe i'm right about her trying to get rid of Eddie (not out of malice or anything, just fear & pressure), and there'll be a whole thing where he keeps on coming back, completely unaware that she tried to off him, bc he's a puppet and it's probably really tough to kill something that wasn't really alive in the first place. i mean, in This Observation post i made about some new map secrets, there's a strange window shine on the Post Office door that could be spelling out either "nexus" or "new us". that plus the apparent extra hands/faces behind the door... Eddie is quite accident prone. who's to say he's not used to being replaced by himself? it's not like he'd remember. or is that the reason his memory is bad? holy shit wait - no wait this is a tangent. sorry. this post is about Julie lmao maybe i'll make a different post for this Eddie Thought i just had bc ough. ough...

and also, before anyone tries to come at me - because there's always people who twist words to Start Shit or misinterpret/miss the point - i'm not saying that Julie is like... homophobic. or hates Eddie. or is a "jealous crazy-" just. yk? and if you think that, maybe reread the post. or take a reading comprehension class &lt;3

AS FOR THE SOMETHING TERRIBLE HAPPENING TO JULIE. this is based on Two things and also Vibes. this section will be mercifully short compared to the rest of this clusterfuck of a post

so in the Livestream Trivia doc compiled by @/theneighborhood watch, yes i'm referencing this again sorry, there's this tidbit:

that, plus This Artwork, which features Julie (they're her shoes!) standing at the edge of an apparent chasm (the edge of the set, i assume) paints an interesting hypothetical picture. maybe she wanders a little too far and falls off the edge of her world. maybe she discovers something and Wally has to do something he doesn't want to do, but "needs" to. hey, who knows. maybe she is gonna hurt / try to hurt someone, and in an attempt to save them / stop her, Wally pushes her - either accidentally or on purpose, either way the end result would be the same. now I'm just pulling things out of my ass so lets move on lmao

then there's the Unknown Record in the website's media section. i actually recorded the audio and sped it up - i'll post that video later - and it seems to be an excerpt from Alice in Wonderland. the only part of it i've been able to clearly pick out is "Alice found herself falling down.... down... down..." followed by, presumably Alice speaking - who's high pitched voice reminds me of Julie's. so that's another point in the Julie Goes Bye-Bye Via Rapid Descent theory. or just goes temporarily missing! it could be that the only relevant part of the above trivia tidbit is the "falling down a cavern", and not the "never seen again" part. but it could. be. both.

though! though. Clown has stated that if all the neighbors were to take on roles in Alice in Wonderland, Wally is the one who would be Alice. which follows his direct connection to the spiral/eye pit, and the phrase "down the rabbit hole". so it could be either or. it could be both! it could be neither! this is all speculation, which brings us to....

the end! we made it! i hope you're still carrying your Hefty grains of salt! soon you'll be able to fill a large chicken-shaped shaker with it all!

[happyk44]

Cracking open my Religio Romana handbook to check out what's going on next month and, since my Saturnalia post is making the rounds again, decided to write down some for anyone that would like to write some Jason/Reyna/Camp Jupiter religious shenanigans throughout the year 👍

This isn't all of them btw! I just grabbed a couple that seemed most interesting for their respective months or most relevant to the Roman babes

January 11th and January 15th: Carmentalia, two feast days in honour of Carmenta (goddess Juturna also celebrated on the 11th)

February 13th to 22nd: Parentalia, commemoration of ancestors and the dead in families

February 22nd: Caristia, family pot luck in spirit of love and forgiveneness

February 23rd: Terminalia, in honor of Terminus

February 27th: Equirria, first of two horse-racing festivals in honor of Mars

March 1st: original New Year's Day when sacred fire of Rome was renewed; Matronalia in honor of Juno Lucina; also considered the dies natalis (birthday) of Mars

March 14th: second Equirria

March 15th: Feriae Iovi, sacred to Jove (Jupiter)

March 17th: Agonalia in honour of Mars

April 1st: Veneralia in honor of Venus

April 21st: Parilia, rustic festival in honor of Pales, Roman patron goddess of shepherds and flocks, and the dies natalis (birthday) of Rome

April 23rd: Vinalia Priora, the first of two wine festivals

May 9th, 11th, and 13th: Lemuria, festival of the dead

May 15th: Mercuralia, in honor Mercury; Feriae (free day) of Jove (Jupiter)

June 3rd: anniversary of the Temple of Bellona

June 7th to 15th: Vestavia, in honour of Vesta, June 9th specifically is a die religiousus to her

June 24th: festival of Fors Fortuna

July 6th to 13th: Ludi Apollinares, games in honor of Apollo

July 14th to 19th: series of markets or fairs - not religious

July 17th: anniversary of the Temple of Honos and Virtus, sacrifice to Victory

July 23rd: Neptunalia, held in honor of Neptune

August 23rd: Vulcanalia in honor of Vulcan

September 1st: ceremonies for Jupiter Tonans (the Thunderer) and Juno Regina

September 20th to 23rd: days set aside for markets and fairs

October 7th: rites for Jupiter Fulgur (Jupiter of daytime lightning) and Juno Curitis

November 4th to 17th: Plebeian Games

November 18th to 20th: markets and fairs

December 1st: ceremonies at temples for Neptune and for Pietas

December 3rd: Bona Dea rites for women only

December 17th to 23rd: Saturnalia in honor of Saturn with public ritual on the 17th

Side note that I am not an academic, not religious, not a pagan, and not spiritual in any way. I just like reading about mythologies and how those stories/deities used to be, and still are, worshipped by people. Also helps when coming up with religions and stuff for stories. But that's it, I have one book and access to google/wikipedia and that's the depths on my knowledge on Roman polytheistic practices 🙌

[babyrdie]

Achilles stan are really hypocritical about Alexander now, did you see that?

No, I didn't see it.

I saw people mentioning something about Achilles and Paris, now there's this ask and I'm starting to wonder if the recent ask an anon sent me about Paris was a discreet way to test me (this one, where I explicitly say that I really don't care about Paris discourse). I honestly don't know where the hell this weekly Achilles vs Paris debate came from, so I'm really confused. It's a Tumblr debate and I just didn't see the original post? Is it an debate imported from another website? I don't know. But other than Apollo and Paris killing Achilles, I don't really see what relevant connection these characters have to each other. They also don't even have the same role or the same archetypes, which once again leaves me wondering why this comparison even exists in the first place.

But here we go: my opinion is that no one is a saint. In most of these X vs Y discussions, I'm simply going to consider both characters as not being people who would be considered good today. And it's the same case here.

Achilles killed Tenes despite being warned not to do so (he was warned by Thetis, so he certainly knew she was serious), sacked cities (including not all of them were Trojans), enslaved people (both men and women. Some were sold, others remained. Some were sexual slaves, like Briseis and Diomede), committed a murder inside a temple (Troilus), dishonored a body (Hector), practiced human sacrifice (Patroclus' funeral. And you can see from the narration that it's not a case of "ah, but human sacrifice was cultural and accepted") and stopped the winds just to demand Polyxena's sacrifice (I still wonder how the hell he stopped the wind). He isn't a saint.

Paris ignored Oenone's prophecies about the fall of Troy and abandoned her (she was his first wife. And unlike Cassandra, she wasn't cursed. He didn't listen because he didn't want to), stole Menelaus (I'm not even talking about Helen. He took Menelaus' treasure too. Honestly, at that point Paris knew he was bringing war to Troy and didn't care if he felt so comfortable that he even took the treasure), depending on the version kidnapped Helen, taken city (Sidon), killed a guy because he was jealous of him with Helen (Corythus. Who is his son, by the way) and he ignored the Trojans' requests and continued the war. He was a prince, so I guarantee you he had slaves too, and slaves are indeed mentioned in Trojan territory (e.g. Lycophron writes from the point of view of a slave watching over Cassandra). He isn't a saint.

Yeah, Achilles isn't just a cute guy in love and suffering for his boyfriend, but Paris is also not just a cute and harmless little thing. People paint Paris too much as harmless useless. So my honest opinion is that this discussion is a waste of time because neither of them is the pinnacle of morality. It's reminding me of the Achilles vs Odysseus debates, which were equally pointless because Odysseus, like Achilles and Paris, is also not an immaculate crystal. The Clytemnestra vs. Agamemnon debates were also another pointless thing because sometimes they even cited something they both did but only against one (e.g., Clytemnestra ridiculing Cassandra's status as a Trojan captive in "Agamemnon" and Agamemnon doing the same to Hesione via Teucer in "Ajax"). At this point, I think it would be interesting to read Greek mythology without trying to do morality rankings. I also already talked about this in this post.

So that's it, that's my opinion. I haven't ignored any asks I've received so far, but if I receive one more ask about fans and haters of characters and morality in Greek mythology I'll probably ignore it because I think my opinion is already pretty clear (It's even in my post about my blog). I also talked about this in the Hades Odysseus controversy.

[theoihalioistuff]

Natural 'Love Remedies' in the lanscapes of ancient greek myths. Part I: The White Rock

Sorry for the long post in advance, there are too many references and too much scholarly discussion to make a short snappy post. I abridged as much as I could :)

The White Rock is first mentioned in passing in the Odyssey, as part of the westward journey that the shades of the suitors undertake as they're led to to the underworld:

And they passed by the streams of Okeanos and the White Rock [Λευκάδα πέτρην] and past the Gates of the Sun and the District of Dreams. (Od. 24. 11-12)

This passage has at first glance little thematic relevance to the rest of the attestations to come (if you're interested in theories see further reading below), but I'd be remiss not to mention this first source for a "White Rock". The rest or these sources refer specifically to the White Rock of the island of Leukas (the Leukadian Rock), which was said to have the property of relieving the lovesick from their passion. According to Menander (in Fragment 258 quoted in Stabo's Geography):

It contains the temple of Apollo Leucatas, and also the 'Leap', which was believed to put an end to the longings of love. As Menander says, "Where Sappho is said to have been the first, when through frantic longing she was chasing the haughty Phaon, to fling herself with a leap from the far-seen rock, calling upon thee in prayer, O lord and master". Now although Menander says that Sappho was the first to take the leap, those who are better versed than he in antiquities say that it was Cephalus, the son of Deïoneus, who was in love with Pterelas. (Strab. 10.2.9)

Strabo is presumably quoting Menander's lost play The Leukadia. Unrelated to love but still interesting, Strabo continues:

It was an ancestral custom among the Leucadians, every year at the sacrifice performed in honor of Apollo, for some criminal to be flung from this rocky look-out for the sake of averting evil, wings and birds of all kinds being fastened to him, since by their fluttering they could lighten the leap, and also for a number of men, stationed all round below the rock in small fishing-boats, to take the victim in, and, when he had been taken on board* (alternatively: resuscitated), to do all in their power to get him safely outside their borders. (Strab. 10.2.9 continued) ~~ This might be seen as somewhat paralleling Pausanias 10.32.6 for those who are curious.

According to Wilamowitz 1913 (again see further reading below), Menander chose for his play a setting that was known for its exotic cult practice involving a white rock, and conflated it in the quoted passage with a literary theme likewise involving a white rock. There are two surviving attestations of this theme, in which falling off the white rock is apparently a metaphor for fainting (due to lust and wine respectively):

One more time taking off in the air, down from the White Rock into the dark waves do I dive, intoxicated with lust. (Anacreon PMG 370)

I would be crazy not to give all the herds of the Cyclopes in return for drinking one cup [of that wine] and throw myself from the White Rock into the brine, once I am intoxicated, with eyebrows relaxed. Whoever is not happy when he drinks is crazy. (Euripides Cyclops 163-168)

Sappho's legendary (and unfortunately fatal) leap off the Leucadian Rock to relieve herself of her love for the handsome Phaon (a figure that deserves a post of their own) is found also in Ovid's Heroines:

Here, when, weeping, I laid down my weary limbs, a Naiad stood before my eyes. She stood there and said: ‘Since you burn with the fires of injustice, Ambracia’s the land to be sought by you. Apollo on the heights watches the open sea: summoning the people of Actium and Leucadia. Here Deucalion, fired by love of Pyrrha, cast himself down and struck the sea without harming his body. Without delay love turned and fled from his slowly sinking breast: Deucalion was eased of his passion. The place obeys that law. Seek out the Leucadian height right away, and don’t be afraid to leap from the rock! (Ov. Her. 15. 165–220)

Finally, according to the mythographer Ptolemy Chennos (know for his bizarre stories) as quoted by Photius in his Library:

Those who leapt off the cliff are said to have freed themselves from erotic desire. And this is the story that lies behind it: it is said that, after the death of Adonis, Aphrodite wandered about in search of him until she found him in the city of Argos in Cyprus in the sanctuary of Apollo Erithios. She carried him away [for a funeral], having told Apollo about her love for Adonis. Apollo took her to the Leucadic Rock and ordered her to jump off the cliff. As she leapt, she freed herself of her love. They say that when she inquired about the reason, Apollo replied that as a seer he knew that whenever Zeus felt desire for Hera, he would come to the rock, sit there and free himself from the desire. Many other men and women who suffered from lovesickness got rid of it when they jumped off that cliff. (Photius Bibliotheca. 152-153. Bekker)

What follows is a long list of people who are said to have jumped off said cliff, some surviving while others not (in any case, quite darkly, all were relieved of their passions). Notably Sappho, the most celebrated leaper, is not mentioned.

The fact that Zeus is mentioned as only sitting on the rock and not hurling himself from it is interesting. Nagy 1990 (see below) notes the similarities between the Leucadic Rock and the "proverbially white" Thoríkios pétros ‘Leap Rock’ of Attic Kolonos (Sophocles Oedipus at Colonus). He also notes the double etymology of "Thoríkios" as derivable from the noun thorós ‘semen’ (e.g. Herodotus 2.93.1) as well as of the verb thrṓiskō ‘leap’ (which can also have the side-meaning ‘mount, fecundate’ e.g. Aeschylus Eumenides 600), and connects it with one of the myths that is said to have taken place on this mountain:

Others say that, in the vicinity of the rocks at Athenian Kolonos, he [Poseidon], falling asleep, had an emission of semen, and a horse Skúphios came out, who is also called Skīrōnítēs. (Scholia to Lycophron 766)

Poseidon Petraîos [= of the rocks] has a cult among the Thessalians … because he, having fallen asleep at some rock, had an emission of semen; and the earth, receiving the semen, produced the first horse, whom they called Skúphios. (Scholia tο Pindar Pythian 4.246)

According to Bednarek 2019 (see below), in view of Ptolemy’s humorous intentions in his collection of weird narratives, the story becomes a sort of "sophomoric riddle": What cure does Zeus have to administer "repeatedly" (εὶ ἐρῶν … ἐκαθέζετο καὶ ἀνεπαύετο), while sitting down, presumably alone and in secrecy, that clearly only provides a temporary relief, and provides an aitiological name for the White Rock, to free himself from his desire?

All this long-winded post just to make a fucking joke about Zeus having a wank. Worth it.

~~ Cape Lefkatas

Secondary Sources and Futher Reading (these are only the ones I mentioned in this post, apparently there's a lot to say on the subject):

Greek Mythology and Poetics, Gregory Nagy 1990. Ch. 9. Phaethon, Sappho’s Phaon, and the White Rock of Leukas: “Reading” the Symbols of Greek Lyric. https://chs.harvard.edu/chapter/chapter-9-phaethon-sapphos-phaon-and-the-white-rock-of-leukas-reading-the-symbols-of-greek-lyric-pp-223-262/

Levaniouk, Olga. 2011. Eve of the Festival: Making Myth in Odyssey 19. Hellenic Studies Series 46. Washington, DC: Center for Hellenic Studies https://chs.harvard.edu/chapter/17-penelope-and-the-penelops/

Bednarek, Bartłomiej. “Zeus on the Leucadic Rock. White magic of an obscene passage in Ptolemy Chennos.” Acta Classica 62 (2019): 219–27. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26945053.

Sappho und Simonides, Untersuchungen über griechische Lyriker by Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, 1913

[mylittleversaille]

you should check this journal article out:

Graf, F. “Women, War, and Warlike Divinities.” Zeitschrift Für Papyrologie Und Epigraphik, vol. 55, 1984, pp. 245–54. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/20184039. Accessed 26 June 2024.

Thanks for the recommendation! It was an enjoyable and interesting read!

I'm not sure if you were using this article to argue a certain perspective or interpretation of myth or if you thought it was relevant to my post about pop mythology but I'm gonna use this to elaborate on a few points I've been making about the gods. My disclaimer is that I am not a historian or a history major or a classicist; I have fairly limited formal education in the Classics and I am, at best, an amateur. This is my opinion but if someone has additional context or if I'm wrong about something, please let me know.

Aphrodite Areia:

*will probs address Ares and his associations with women in a separate post*

Although that one post I made was lacking in nuance (bc I was ranting), I have gone into further detail in other places; I acknowledge that Aphrodite as a goddess has associations with war, among other things like politics, sailors, marriage, and city defence. I'm not denying that the αρεια epithet exists or that there were not statues of armed Aphrodite. She was absolutely Αφροδιτη 'ωπλισμενη and νικηφορος and εγχειος.

I'm also aware that she was likely an import or at least syncretized with near Eastern goddesses like the Phoenician Aštarte or Babylonian Ishtar, something Graf himself mentions in his article. Interestingly, Aphrodite is not unique in her near Eastern influences though. Graf also writes that "... the old statue of Apollo at Amyclae with its spear derives from the iconography of the Oriental Warrior" (Graf, 1985, p. 251). Does this make Apollo, as he existed to and was worshipped by the Greeks, a war god? I would argue that it makes him warlike, just as Aphrodite can be warLIKE, but they aren't principally gods of war. Or, for example, Zeus was attributed the male equivalent title αρειος, but he's not considered a war god. Just because a god has a certain epithet or is depicted with certain attributes does not mean that they were worshipped as the presiding authority over that particular thing or experience.

Moreover, αρεια as a reference to the statue of armed Aphrodite that existed in Sparta is further robbed of its uniqueness, and thus its ability to set Aphrodite up as a proper goddess of war by the extreme militarization of Spartan society. Plutarch, for example, writes about the Spartans that "They worship Aphrodite in her full armour, and the statues of all the gods, both female and male, they make with spear in hand to indicate that all the gods have the valour which war demands". So all gods have warlike attributes in Sparta which tracks for a society steeped in a warrior culture. Aphrodite, then, is not a distinct war goddess in Sparta, rather that all gods are more warlike including her.

In Corinth, she was the tutelary deity of the city, its divine guardian and patron. This brings with it some association with war and politics. Graf even mentions that she was depicted as armed in at least one instance in Corinth, where once again Middle Eastern influences are evident (Graf, p. 251). Moreover, as all tutelary deities, the people under her protection prayed to her for the defence of the city. However, once again, her military qualities in this regard aren't unique to her. Tutelary deities of other cities (popularly Apollo and Athena but we also see Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, and others) would also haven been honoured for the protection of the city and its people as well as success in battle.

My ultimate point is not to deny Aphrodite's warlike attributes. There absolutely are instances, statues, or places where she is referred to as armed and warlike (such as in Sparta, Cyprus, Corinth, etc.) but she isn't principally a goddess of war. She is principally the goddess of love, beauty, sex, fertility, etc. These are attributes that are universal to her in place and time. However, a lot of people want to make her a goddess of war first and a goddess of all these other things second. This takes away from the fact that there are existing goddesses who are principally associated with war, such as Athena.

I've also usually heard people using this to somehow make Aphrodite seem "cooler" or more "interesting" which betrays a (probably unconscious) dimension of sexism to the entire argument as it is presented in pop myth takes. If you cannot respect a goddess/woman/character that is presented with traditionally feminine qualities-- and love and beauty absolutely are seen as feminine in our society-- then you value traditional masculinity more than traditional femininity. If the only way you can make someone cooler/more interesting is by giving them traditionally male qualities, such as martial prowess, chances are you see things associated with femininity as inferior.

And this is primarily why the whole Aphrodite Areia thing irritates me so much. People want to hold her up as a goddess of war while ignoring all the other things that she was far more commonly worshipped for by ancient peoples (which is what pop myth does). Sure, she can be warlike in certain circumstances, but she's still predominantly a goddess of sexual union.

At the end of the day, though, stories exist to be told and retold. Change is natural and expected in that process. Still doesn't mean everyone has to agree on everything.

[blueskiesandstarrynights]

ok so because the brain worms have completely taken over, I've been completely rotating the idea of the stranger things kids godly parents and it won't let me go so here are my headcanons for their godly parents with probably not enough thought put into them-

Dustin as a son of hephestus is probably a really low-hanging fruit, but it's low-hanging for a reason. He's constantly making all sorts of shit and he's constantly thinking about the science before his own life. Plus, I'd just love to see him with fire abilities. see how that plays out.

Stobin I bounced around with a couple ideas. I initially had them as mischief-causing children of hermes, but then I had a better idea- Daughter of Athena Robin and son of poseidon Steve. Here me out ok, her affinity for languages plus her ability to improv plans and stories really gave me those vibes and for Steve, he already spends a bunch of time in the water (swim captain, lifeguard) and he kinda gives me the vibes that he would enjoy just sitting at the bottom of the lake and just chilling (robin is so jealous he can speak in a language she can't and demands to figure out how to speak it too) (Side note I considered making steve a son of aphrodite as a close second bc of the charmspeak and such but poseidon won out)

Max I decided on as a daughter of zues. I loved the idea of giving her that much power plus the tragedy that comes with being a child of the big three. idk less thoughts and more vibes with this one, but I think it could also present some fabulous big brother steve moments with this kind of circumstance. If I were to write this I prob wouldn't follow the pjo plot exactly bc none of these characters are a 1:1 of any pjo counterparts, but I really like the idea of her turning into a tree for some time and accidentally coming back. It would kinda be reminiscent of the coma she's in right now and it could be fun to play with.

Lucas I was really vibing with as a son of apollo. Obviously, because of the ranger thing, I'd love to see him with a bow and arrow, but also because of the healing. @andiwriteordie made an excellent thought post about lucas with healing abilities in reference to him as a water bender and while I think some things would change bc atla and pjo are vastly different worlds, I think the core ideas of Lucas being a healer are still there and I rlly vibe with it. Plus, I. Really like the idea of Glowing Boyfriend. Also I think there's plenty of angst to be said with Lucas trying and trying to heal tree!max with apollo powers but that can't beat zues's spell on her.

This one I haven't had as much thought on, but I loved the idea of Erica also being a child of apollo, but specifically a roman one. It would take a bit for them to realize the difference esp bc I don't think apollo has many changes between greek and roman form and I think it could create an interesting dynamic. less thoughts here but I may have more as I continue my HOO reread. I would love to see her as an archer plus I'm obsessed with that trope of the healer talking to their patients like "you dumb motherfucker stop doing stupid shit and landing your ass here again." but on the other hand, her with plague powers would be so funny. dustin tries to give her this superhero "with great power comes great responsibility" speech and he wakes up with hay fever the next day

Speaking of something I need to reread more info on, I was kinda vibing with the idea of El as a daughter of Hecate. I think her working with magic could be really interesting, but I also don't wanna say much till I've finished my HOO reread and I've read more of Hazel's scenes.

Mike I think would make such a good son of athena. He always has a clever plan ready and things often go wrong when people don't follow his plans. Slightly less relevant but I think his creativity as a DM could really match up with this as well.

Now, Nancy I had a bit of a hard time with. I considered Athena because she always seems to have a plan as well, though I'd take her for a different aspect than, say, Robin, since Nancy kinda blanks out whenever things go off the plan. I briefly considered Nemesis since she's the god of revenge and balance and that felt appropriate, but Athena felt a little more on target.

Eddie I'm kinda vibing as a son of Hermes, that chaotic jack of all trades kind of son of hermes. this one is also mostly vibes, but if I have more thoughts later on I'll add them.

Argyle as a son of demeter i think works well because those kids always gave me very chill vibes and I think that would work well.

Will, I actually saw this somewhere, is a clearsighted mortal. It kinda ties back into his canon true sight and lines up well. I really like the idea of him spouting prophecies, plus, he can instantly see monsters for what they truly are which is really something considering

Jonathan is a child of one of the big three, Hades. I felt it kinda fit with his loner persona and I loved the idea of him shadow traveling, plus him attracting monsters frequently leaves him immensely guilty bc his brother who can see through the mist can spot the monsters immediately and it ends up being the little brother looking out for the older brother??? then in this hypothetical au they run away from home which leaves joyce utterly crushed btw. and by they I mean Jonathan ran away and Will followed after him. Jonathan hated feeling like he was putting will in danger, but will just couldn't leave Jonathan alone with the monsters he couldn't spot 100% of the time or as accurately. it's an utterly vicious cycle. Lowkey considering having jonathan run away with the Wheeler’s, I imagine they’d have an adjacent attitude to annabeth’s stepmom in regard to the monsters. plus I think the angst of Jonathan attempting to shadowtravel them into camp and he finds himself halfway down the hill on the other side as will is banging on the magical shield around camp unable to get in as a monster advances to be utterly delicious.

If I were to write this, there’d probably be no defined main character. Certain drabbles/one shots will focus on different characters, so just bc steve’s the son of poseidon doesn’t mean he’s gonna be the main character like percy.

[witchhazelevesque]

There's a lot wrong with c*leo but one thing that just doesn't make any sense and that I haven't seen addressed before is the way that Leo believed that being with Calypso was his destiny.

So, the way Calypso's immortality is portrayed after HoO is inconsistent at best. There was never any indication in the text that her life force was tied to Ogygia, but then she's suddenly mortal in ToA. She's lost the ability to do magic, but then starts to get it back somehow. She's supposedly no longer a titan but unlike Lester, who has also lost his immortality, she retains all her memories of her thousands of years. As I've seen some people discuss before, making her mortal is just an attempt to put her and Leo on more equal footing.

It's like how Emmie was an immortal, from Apollo's power, before she joined the Hunters of Artemis, but then when she left, she had to give up her immortality? Now, she did this so she could grow old with Jo, but if that wasn't the case, it read like she would still have been turned mortal either way. Like her immortality was payment to Artemis for her patronage. From what I remember that isn't the case, but it played out like this.

At the end of Blood of Olympus, Leo is the one that brings up that Calypso might not be an immortal anymore when she leaves Ogygia, but he had no reason to think this based on what is in the text. It feels especially strange considering that Leo, out of all the seven, has always been the least versed at matters like magic and immortality and how they operate. They are not things that make sense to him, as he says multiple times, like when he's trying to understand how the Athena Parthenos works. There is no basis for this change in her immortality, no foreshadowing, no anything. In ToA, we are given scenes where Calypso reminisces about her life before she was imprisoned on Ogygia, where she was an immortal. Her curse is that heroes come to her island and then they always leave. It is not that she and the island are intrinsically linked in any way that means she fades or changes without it. Again, this feels like RR's way to mitigate the fact that Calypso is literally thousands of years old.

The text of the books actually does the opposite of set up this shift, especially in Leo's mind. Throughout HoH and BoO, Leo refers to her as an immortal: "Leo wished he could sound as confident as Calypso. Then he remembered that this annoying fifteen-year-old girl was actually the immortal daughter of a Titan"; "Even among the Hephaestus campers, Leo had never worked with anyone as intuitive as this immortal gardener girl". "That didn't just happen, he told himself. I can't be in love with an immortal girl. She definitely can't be in love with me. Not possible."; "Just Leo's luck. A super- hot immortal girl was waiting for him on Ogygia, but he couldn't figure out how to wire a stupid chunk of rock into the three-thousand-year-old navigation device."

And no point until the final scene of BoO does Leo think that she will no longer be an immortal after she leaves Ogygia.

RR also includes the word 'girl' with each of these uses of the word 'immortal', as if to cancel out the fact that she is, again, millennia older than Leo.

(Leo even refers to her as a woman at one point, which she is.)

Despite where you stand on the whole, 'oh, she's mentally a teenager' thing (I think I've made my own stance on this clear but that's not the point of this post), it's so ingrained in the text of the entire last two books (the only ones where she's relevant) and only referenced at the very end that it might change, that Calypso is an immortal.

And the entire premise of this series is based on the fact that immortals do not stay with mortals.

Leo is a demigod. He grew up with his single, human mother who only ever mentioned his father in his capacity as Leo's father. When he finally meets Hephaestus, Leo insults him, calls him out for not claiming him when he was supposed to, for never caring, and for letting Esperanza die. For not being present. For letting Leo's entire life take the route it did.

The only wisdom he gets from Hephaestus is that nothing lasts.

Leo's hope of an entire future with Calypso can be seen as him desperately wanting to rebel against this idea, or to embrace the idea of reusing what doesn't last for something else. He does both of these things with rebuilding Festus at the cost of the Argo II. If you want to get metaphorical about this, then it's him trading his home and his crew for a way back to Ogygia. He wants a place to belong and someone to love him fully. Leo has struggled with loneliness and feeling out of place his entire life; it makes sense that he wants this.

But he's also seen first-hand the way that immortals are fickle and move on easily, how they can't get involved with mortal affairs. There's a whole camp full of other children to attest to that fact. The way gossip is portrayed in the series makes it clear that he must know about all the drama from the original series. He must know at least some part, if not everything, of what Piper and Jason's mortal parents went through because their immortal partners did not stay. His own life was so deeply influenced by this fact.

It could be argued that he's letting go of the past, or that he's taking a leap of faith, but the thought that things might not work out with Calypso never even crosses his mind. This isn't a recognition and acceptance of a risk that Leo knows because it has shaped the course of his life. This is an entire erasure of a major conflict in both the books as a whole, Leo's life and the lives of his loved ones. It just feels like setting Leo up to be devastated when Calypso inevitably behaves the way an immortal behaves.

TLDR: Leo knows full well that immortals don't stay in romantic relationships with mortals, but for some reason he's written to plan his entire future around a romantic relationship with an immortal.

[blicketdabest33]

FINAL CABIN PLACEMENTS I DON'T WANT TO EDIT IT AFTER THIS

So many of y'all had so many good ideas (and since a lot of these i came up with without any real reasoning) here's my updated version that i think fits A LOT better

#1 Zeus Cabin: Jimmy, Joel Jimmy: He's a Zeus kid, but everyone somehow forgets about it. Joel: He's competitive and strong. Also, because Jimmy is his half brother through godly parent, i get to make a fun bit about him dating Lizzie. And one of his origins in Afterlife SMP was a thunderborn

#2 Hera Cabin: Scott, Impulse, Ren Scott: Scott's whole thing is loyalty. Hera is the goddess of marriage and is insanely loyal to Zeus. However, I feel like Hera should get at least one affair. So now Scott can use peacocks as weapons. Impulse: According to @dawnfire7 Impulse is known for loyalty, which i did not know. He's also known to hold grudges. Perfect Hera kid. Ren: He's apparently known for loyalty (and i didn't really like his Nike placement anyway)

#3 Poseidon Cabin: XB XB: Something about water temple guardians

#4 Demeter Cabin: Sausage, Shelby, Bdubs, Stress Sausage: This man built Sanctuary in a jungle and has flowers in his hair. He sells wood. There is no other place to put him. Shelby: Mushroom gnome, spooky mangrove witch, powerful storm witch, i need not continue. Bdubs: Moss man. Stress: SHE HAS FLOWERS

#5 Ares Cabin: Martyn, False Martyn: His planet is Mars, which is the roman version of Ares. He ended Limited Life in such a violent way, i can't help it. He was also red for the majority of Secret Life. False: I just feel like False should get to kill people more often.

#6 Athena Cabin: Grian, Pix, Owen, Xisuma Grian: This sums it up pretty well

Pix: Smart man. Archeologist and definitely a nerd. I wanna see him skipping out on training just so he can read history books. Owen: He likes to explore and discover new things in Pirates. In Rats, he's a tinkerer. In New Life, he's an explorer who wants to study hybrids. In Empires, he's a Llama who's curious about how humans work. Just a very curious character overall. Xisuma: Admin. I'm not elaborating.

#7 Apollo Cabin: Oli, Lyarrah Oli: MUSIC. MAN. Lyarrah: She writes the captions for the hermitcraft recap.

#8 Artemis Cabin: Pearl, Gem Pearl: Y'know, Artemis could've just like... had a kid, even though she took that oath. It wouldn't even have to be with a guy. Gods can change to whatever gender they want. Anyway, Pearl gets to be an Artemis kid because her symbolism is moon, she loves dogs, and will commit murder and hunt at night. Gem: Someone really wanted these girls to be sisters, and I think Gem and pearl should get to hunt at night and be fierce together. Oh, and she's got the whole deer aesthetic.

#9 Hephaestus Cabin: Doc, Mumbo, Tango, Zedaph, Fwhip, Iskall Doc: Redstone Mumbo: Redstone Tango: Redstone Zedaph: Redstone Fwhip: Redstone AND has a red scarf (don't ask me how that's relevant) Iskall: Redstone

#10 Aphrodite Cabin: Keralis, Skizz, Bigb Keralis: Okay, I don't know why, but Keralis gives me the vibes of a very charming person. His voice is nice to listen to, so imagine how useful it'd be if I gave him charm speak. Skizz: Person in the tags said he was really charming and you can't help but love him. I agree. He's here now. Bigb: Smooth talker. Someone (i think it was Scott) said in one of their videos "It's hard to kill him while he's talking". Charmspeak. Ma man, go do chaos.

#11 Hermes Cabin: Scar, Etho, Joe Scar: Trader Scar, scammer extraordinar. Etho: All i must say is Shady-E's. I get "jack-of-all-trades, master of none, often better than master of one" vibes from him. He's funny, he's mischievous, it just works. Joe: Comedy man. Excellent delivery. And, yet again, i look at this man and go "That right there is a multi-talented man with a habit for mischief."

#12 Dionysus Cabin: Joey, Beef, Cub Joey: *points at his season one empires theme* i need not say more Beef: Idk, food. I don't really have a reason. I don't know too much about Beef. Cub: Someone said Cub was really laid back, i liked this idea, he's here now. C'mon, go make ur empire.

#13 Hades Cabin: Zloy Zloy: Zombie man. He writes the Hermitcraft recaps in the dark at 2am with nothing but pure spite.

#14 Iris Cabin: Katherine Katherine: SHE. HAS. COLORS. and also I couldn't put her in Demeter cabin because Shelby is already there and i am NOT excluding Nature Wives from this au

#15 Hypnos Cabin: Wels Wels: @dingdinghq said something about sleeping during S6 and i completely agree

#16 Nemesis Cabin:

#17 Nike Cabin:

#18 Hebe Cabin: 

#19 Tyche Cabin: TFC TFC: Man goes mining and gets really lucky. That's it.

#20 Hecate Cabin: Lizzie, Cleo, Jevin Lizzie: Witchy vibes. Also, Arson. Cleo: Arson. She uses her magic for Arson. Jevin: He's a magic slime. Also, Arson. All Hecate kids love Arson.

[kotamagic]

It's that time of the week again where we dive again into Lore Olympus...

According to the nurse, Zeus' organs are working fine, but he's still comatose and they don't know how to get him out of it.

Also, glad to see no one (relevant) is falling for the fib that Hebe poisoned Zeus. As far as anyone that knows her is concerned, she was close to her dad. There was no indication of any bad intentions. Still, Hebe left (at Apollo's shitty advice), so at the very least, it's cause for suspicion. Hebe was definitely scared and upset, and that's why she accepted Apollo's advice.

This was definitely smart. Keeping Persephone in the loop about this stupid meeting without forcing her to face Apollo was the best thing to do. It's also a good idea in case some fucky shit goes down at that meeting. I suspect Apollo will do something super shady, and having a "leak" to someone out of Apollo's reach means that something can be done about it.

It makes perfect sense that the goddess of magic would have a huge, private library. Those old texts on the verge of crumbling? "Magic" in the broadest sense of the term, has existed since humans grew an imagination to explain why the world works the way that it does. It's old AF.

So, this research is to try finding Erebos so that Persephone can ask if her powers were what got fudged with when she ate the pomegranate. Possibly, but we shall see.

This guilt is TOTALLY understandable, but none of those injuries were Morpheus' fault. That shit is ALL on Kronos. (Possibly and unintentionally Melinoe's as well.)

Morpheus was legitimately trying to help, and I feel Kronos took advantage of their nervousness to cause mayhem.

I'm very glad that Persephone asked if they were OK after those incidents. Even if Morpheus is too scared to open up about it, Persephone is letting them know that it's OK to talk about it.

Oh, is the purple asshole having second thoughts about his actions? Too bad. Also, guessing that's Ouranos talking in Apollo's mind. Oh, so the others don't have a say in the matter? We'll see about that.

I'm pleased to see that the other gods take Apollo about as seriously as they should. And by that, I mean not at all. The amount of "Fuck you, Apollo" in this meeting ranges from violence, to Nope, to sarcasm.

Remember this classic? Same vibes.

*chef's kiss*

This asshole really thought Persephone was going to come to this meeting and take his shit? No way in Olympus, Underworld, or the Mortal Realm. I don't doubt he wanted her in close proximity to try using her powers.

DENIED, BITCH!

Also, really appreciate the threatening vibe Hades is giving off.

Another good reason for Persephone to stay in the Underworld--- if Hades gets mad at Apollo (as seen here), there is the very real risk that he'll (intentionally or not) weaponize Persephone's fertility goddess powers to thrash the ever-living fuck out of Apollo.

I plan to do a second post regarding other points of note for this episode, but that will have to wait until I've gotten some sleep.

Anyway, thanks for coming to my LO post!

[iamanathemadevice]

A really long, excellent post about what's happening with Reddit and why, including how LLM companies scraping its hosted material has massively increased server costs for the company, but the way Reddit has chosen to solve the issue is just the worst option.

And also this:

Reddit is the only major social media company that relies almost entirely on unpaid, volunteer moderators to enforce the rules of its site. On the one hand, it’s an example of a multibillion-dollar corporation getting free labor. On the other hand, Reddit is such a good, human-feeling website because it relies on an moderation model more reminiscent of old internet forums where moderators are entrenched in their communities and, rather than simply enforcing a set of uniform rules handed down from a giant corporation, are helping to grow and shape the communities that they're a part of.  

Even if many moderators like what they do and enjoy some of the power that comes with moderating and guiding a community, they bring unmistakeable monetary value to Reddit the corporation. Li was the lead author of a paper published last year that found Reddit moderators work at least a collective 466 hours per day, which would cost Reddit a minimum of $3.4 million a year at a wage of $20/hour. 

This $3.4 million number isn’t an estimate of the actual value those moderators bring to Reddit, however. Li wrote that these moderators essentially make Reddit a “viable” website and business. Notably, the company was valued at more than $10 billion in 2021. 

“There’s this question of what is a fair value exchange between online volunteers and companies that might rely only on volunteer cases,” Li said. “We traditionally think of all this volunteer work as a labor of love. But at the same time, this is really valuable labor for companies, and the moderators go through so much stress and pressure, and trauma to do this work.”

The only reason Reddit is able to sell any ads at all is because their moderators and the communities they've created prevent (most) of the site from becoming a cesspool. 

What Reddit is doing with its API is somewhat hypocritical, then. Huffman says that Reddit is not profitable. He also says that third party companies should not be able to make money from Reddit while Reddit itself subsidizes them in the form of API access. This may be the case with AI companies that make billions and do not add any value to Reddit. But with third-party apps and mod tools, this argument breaks down. 

Some third-party apps make money, but they also bring Reddit more users and increase the company’s cultural relevancy and strengthen its communities. There is no guarantee that people who previously used third-party apps will suddenly start using the clunky official app once those apps go away. More importantly, apps like Apollo make moderating Reddit easier because of the moderation tools that have been built on top of it. In this sense, Apollo is providing a service to Reddit by making life easier for its moderators who, again, are unpaid. 

Reddit makes money from user content, volunteer moderators, and third party apps make it easier for them to make money. So of course, they are shitting on users, moderators, and third party app makers :(

So, so stupid.

[ind1c0lite]

I do not frequently message people online but I absolutely Needed to communicate to you how entranced I am by your copycat au oh my god. I read the initial comic and I had to go for a jog around my apartment I was so floored. Absolutely fantastic work thank you so much for sharing!!!!!!!

What with capcom calling the switch port of aa4-aa6 the “Apollo Justice Trilogy” (which I have dubious feelings on) I’ve been thinking a lot about Apollo’s role in aa5 & aa6 (esp aa5) and your au is just. so perfect for reflecting more of Apollo and his story from aa4 forward into aa5. The potential within it to actually consider things like Apollo still being a very fresh-faced & inexperienced lawyer in the grand scheme of things and feeling inadequate for both 1) being unable to save Phoenix (in the moment, obv everything ends for the best) and 2) being unable to adequately help Athena, him having to grapple with the thought that he has yet another mentor who has betrayed him again, bringing up what’s actually touched on (though not enough imo) in the original dd of him feeling like an inadequate defense lawyer because he can’t be 100% certain of a clients innocence (tho ofc in this case it’s Phoenix instead of Athena) (“of course he’s innocent he’s the Turnabout Terror! ………but Kristoph Gavin was the Coolest Defense in the West…”, the added layer of making him have to consider Phoenix committing Clay’s murder and the two possibilities being 1 - Phoenix actually did commit the murder (awful) and possibility 2 - Phoenix didn’t commit the murder but he’s intentionally trying to let whoever did commit the murder go free for unknown reasons (bonus points - (Apollo thinks) Phoenix is leaving him in the dark again) (also awful) (obv as you mentioned at this point Athena and Apollo have no concept of a phantom villain so that’s not an option lol) …eugh it’s all so good…

And all of this on top of keeping Klavier relevant in a meaningful way (continuing the story from aa4) And having to deal with the potential fallout he would feel from Yet Again being the one to tear down Phoenix Wright with his own hands (plus the later fallout of how he would feel knowing he was (at least partially successfully) yet again manipulated and used as a tool specifically to harm Phoenix Wright) + the parallel of having Athena, yet again, having to stand in court and be able to do absolutely nothing to help those close to her (just like when she “failed” Simon) + potential Trucy fallout from having a father willfully disappear from her again. Even if she 100% believes in Phoenix’s innocence then that still means her father is intentionally covering something up and intentionally taking an action that will remove himself from her life (either via jail or via execution) and god damn that’s gotta sting + if Simon hears about this and thinks the Phantom is at play again either 1) feeling helpless and unable to prove anything because he’s stuck in the hospital and he just has to sit and watch the Phantom ruin another family right in front of his eyes or 2) (if he doesn’t Quite realize the Phantom Is Phoenix rn, he just thinks Phoenix has been tricked into covering for the Phantom) then he’s watching someone make his exact same mistake right in front of his eyes and the Phantom will continue to run free yet again eugshdhhcgsgshsh and oh my goddddddd don’t get me started on the parallels between Phoenix and Edgeworth having their roles reversed from Turnabout Goodbyes (even if it isn’t actually Phoenix, Edgeworth (probably? maybe?) doesn’t know that) basically just. Oh my god. Stellar fucking job with this. Sorry for all the rambling I just desperately needed to communicate to you how fantastic of a concept this is and thank you so much for sharing it. (also apologies for my rambles that are probably pretty off base from precisely what you have in mind for this au, obv some of what I rambled about is likely either blatantly wrong/opposing your vision, or just hasn’t been revealed yet, but I saw the two comics and the profiles and basically immediately started spiraling /pos, consider them au’s of your au lol) (also on the off chance you ever want to further discuss your au just say the word and I Will come off anon lol)

OUGHHHHH ANON I A M !!!!! I WAS N O T EXPECTING A WHOLE ENTIRE ESSAY IN MY INBOX ABT RAMBLINGS ON THE COPYCAT BUT I AM GRINNING E A R TO EAR ABOUT THIS IM SO GLAD YOU LIKE IT SM!!

I ALWAYS LOVE HEARING PEOPLE RAMBLE!!! YOU HAVE PICKED UP E X A C TL Y WHAT IVE LAID OUT AND WHAT I WANT TO DO WITH THIS AU SO WELL I JUST

I HAVE NO WORDS IM VERY HAPPY TO HEAR THERES SOMEONE JUST AS EXCITED AS I AM ABT MY OWN LIL AU HJGKHLJHGJ

I am always happy to talk more abt my au whenever anon!!!!

[icy-watch]

THE SUN WILL COME- I was not expecting a possession plot, but "this may as well happen" because the law of the land is that if you're a mentor to a successor, you're going to end up in Situations(tm.) Especially these types that wouldn't happen to you normally. Get debuffed. 😔 Can't exactly let him sweep the whole show so we need increasingly more ways to bench him for the day. Speaking of sweeped. "I don't think Macaque will come back to help them fight, but he'll def going to make an appearance and offer some help." As if this show is done using that edgy bag of fluff as a feather duster. Or as if Macky himself is done putting himself into Situations(tm.) We've been watching him talk shit all series until someone is forced to kick his butt and awaken more traumatic memories so NATURALLY this guy decides the best course of action is to...and I had to do a double take at that because I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Not only is he fighting POSSESSED WUKONG WITH NO MERCY right after all that from the Samadhi Fire episode, but he pushes Wukong's hands down AND THROWS HIMSELF BACK UNDER HIM. He deliberately put Wukong above him, he let himself get pinned down. Also aw, look at him believing in MK's wild plan of getting the staff back and going along with it. Anyways, the logic here was "I need to get Wukong AWAY from MK" so by doing that, Wukong is sliding them across the floor and away from LBD, giving space between them and MK as he rushes forward, and Macaque can increase the distance by flipping and kicking Wukong further back. Putting himself in a vulnerable position was the best way to get Wukong to budge out of the way. Reckless, but effective. - MK is the Sun and Wukong is the Moon, the Warrior. - "Something is going to happen to Wukong and he's going to fall to the darkness." [Noted by Icy to be similar to Spider Venom.] - "It's going to have to do with MK becoming very powerful and casting a shadow over Wukong. Something with his self doubt? His fear that Wukong chose incorrectly?" Look at all this stuff you said!! in the context of Shadow Play when you said it, nah. Wukong has always been the sun, that wasn't what Macky was trying to say, nor was the monkey eaten by shadows in the play anything to do with Wukong. whether MK is the hero or the warrior does bounce around however, and maybe that episode by our foreshadowing monkey is going to be kinda relevant in S4 :) but hey! Apollo's banana peel! Wukong did fall to darkness and become illuminated by the moon as Macky had to go and play hero, they role swapped! You were technically right! MK doesn't cast any shadows with self doubt tho and becoming stronger than him 🫡 And of course, you can see the reused fight animations from s1 ep 9, rest assured, it will happen again with different scenes from that same ep.

I was kind of expecting some kind of possession plot at some point, seeing how DBK was possessed by the Lady Bone Demon shortly after her being released. I was surprised it was Wukong and not any of the others, tho.

Hmmmm