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freakingholland · 4 months

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Lovebirds times two - YJ!Dick Grayson x fem!reader

A/N: Is this another fluffy fic that contributes to the “Dick Grayson looks gorgeous and can have any woman” trope? Maybe! (yes) But we deserve happy Dick alongside happy Spitfire, okay? I’ll write something agst-ish some time I promise!

Warnings: not proofread! fluffy af, a couple of swear words, slightly suggestive dialogue but nothing nsfw. If I missed anything, please let me know!

Summary: Heroes do get to attend weddings every once in a while. It's especially exciting, when it's a dear friends' ceremony.

Word count: 1.4K +

If you enjoyed my work, you could buy me coffee here: Ko-fi.com/freakingholland

questions/requests/ideas here! - rules here

masterlist (needs a proper update)

“I love these two with my entire heart but HOLY FUCK— I really don’t feel like getting ready today…” you whined sheepishly as you were in the middle of putting moisturizer over your freshly washed face. You and your significant other were in the middle of your preparations for your dear friends’ wedding. It was Artemis and Wally’s big day.

“Don’t even get me started. I told you we could get somebody to get your makeup and hair done. You can’t complain now.” Dick responded with slight frustration in his voice. It was obvious that he wasn’t actually mad at you, just not necessarily content with the fact that despite being in a committed relationship for so many years you still had trouble with making use of the benefits that came along with dating one of the Wayne’s sons.

“No, no don’t get me wrong babe I would appreciate that, it’s just— I feel a bit lazy today, wish I could just snap my fingers and get ready magically. If you know what I mean.”

“—plus, I don’t trust people with my face and hair, being comfy in my own skin is my top priority for today. I can’t wait to get there and have fun with our fam. I’ve been really looking forward to tonight.”

Dick walked over from the sink where he was previously finishing brushing his raven, still slightly wet and disheveled bangs. He had a towel wrapped tightly around his hips as he had just gotten out of the shower. The entire bathroom smelled like his strongly, yet freshly scented cosmetics. Seeing Richard in his work uniform and in his Nightwing suit is one thing, but seeing your partner clean and well-rested in the comfort of your shared apartment is another thing. Regardless of your lengthy relationship you still felt butterflies circling around in your stomach at this rare sight.

He wrapped his arms tightly around your hips and rested his chin in the crook of your neck, tickling you with his hair.

“Me too hun.” He responded while exhaling deeply against your bare, moist back. His warm embrace prolonged for another couple of seconds. You could easily tell Dick also felt sentimental about being home and being able to enjoy normal life. Whatever normal life means.

“Kay- I’ll let you do your thing now.” Before leaving the bathroom to start dressing up Dick took your face in his calloused hands and planted a quick kiss on your forehead. Dick crinkled his nose.

“God you’re pretty.” He was shaking his head on his way to your bedroom.

With a genuine smile on your face, you continued with the preparations.

You did not let slight sluggishness take over your body and you managed to get ready within an hour. Dick didn’t have the opportunity to see your outfit yet, after he had finished getting ready, he slumped on the sofa to watch TV and kill some time as he patiently waited for you to get ready. You walked into your living room and as soon as your partner heard your shoes click on the floor, he quickly turned to examine your look for the festive night.

“Oh wow- love. You look fantastic.” He quickly got up from the sofa to take a closer look. He soaked up the joy that you brought him with just your groomed appearance and a genuine smile, while eyeing you up and down with a huge grin plastered across his unwearied face.

Dick was wearing a black tuxedo paired with a white button up shirt, a black bowtie, and black oxfords. He also sported a watch with a black leather strap.

“You don't look too bad yourself sir…”

“—who am I kidding, GOD I love your hair! It’s so shiny!”

He chuckled at your answer and swept a strand of his thick bangs to the side.

“I think we should speed up this whole wedding thing and actually rent out a venue, you know?” you continued. After you said that your and Dick’s eyes laid on your engagement ring.

Dick sincerely cares about your wishes when it comes to retaining of your personal aesthetic, it took him a couple of visits at different jewelry shops in Gotham to choose a proper engagement ring. Despite knowing you well he still needed someone’s assistance - or rather mental reassurance that he’s making the right choice. That’s why Dick invited Bruce to participate in the important opting. They ended up choosing a white gold band with a small emerald-cut sapphire.

Talk about cheesiness. But the said cheesiness is one of the reasons why your bond was and is so strong. Your lives don’t stray from the hardships and sorrow in spite of the additional, demanding chapter that is your partner’s and your service as a literal heroes. Both Dick and you have your problems and traumas, but the two of you putting in the effort to communicate well, be patient and to keep your spirits up is what works well - as your relationship’s binder.

“And my hair is all that it takes for you to say that?”

“—I’m starting to get worried that we might be together just because you think I’m so fucking sexy.”

“We’re also together because of your humbleness…” Your answer caused Dick to roll his eyes. The grounding remark didn’t stop him from giving you a peck on the lips. As your lips parted, he threw a quick glance at his watch and slowly started going towards your kitchen. He went to grab a set of keys that was lying on the island, as well as a previously prepared bag of necessities such as band aids and emergency trainers.

“Are we ready my beautiful lady?” he offered you his arm in a jokingly chalant manner. You quickly grabbed your clutch bag and a coat.

“Ummm, I think we are now.” After double checking if you have everything that both of you needed to comfortably celebrate among your dearest companions as well as your precious gift, you started walking towards the door of your apartment.

Your best friends’ wish was to get married in Gotham City regardless of it being your usual work location. The ceremony was set to take place in a small palace, close to the border of the city. When you had arrived at the scene it was drizzling, the air felt very humid and had a pleasant earthy scent. But said weather didn’t interfere with the charm of such a special evening.

After the lovely wedding ceremony everyone drove to a beautifully decorated restaurant. The tables looked very minimalistic, even so the entire place was filled with beige and light pink flowers – carnations, lilies, roses. Artemis’ effort really paid off because the place looked both elegant and warm. Partially because of a gentle glow that bathed the entire area.

The newlyweds were beaming with happiness. They looked physically relaxed now that the official part of the evening was over. They were making sure to spare some time for every single guest, whether it was to chat with them or to take a picture. Right before one of the hot meals you managed to catch them and take the two to the side, in order to give them their special gift.

Both of them teared up when you and Dick handed them a large oil painting of the pair, which was based on a photo from a trip that the four of you went on a couple of years ago.

“There is no way! You guys! That’s beautiful, I really don’t know what to say…,” said Wally. Artemis was so taken aback that she remained silent while her now husband continued his thanks. Their eyes were glistening with happy tears and that warmed your heart.

You twirled with a slight laugh escaping your lips. Dick’s strong arms quickly embraced your figure to keep you closer to his warm body.

“I’m so glad we chose that photo for the painting. They were in awe.”

“I was in awe when I saw you in that outfit. You’re right, I’m getting us a venue tomorrow.”

“And you laughed at me when I complemented your hair!” you playfully smacked Dick’s chest. He couldn’t help but chuckle at your faux mad expression. That was the Y/N that he fell in love with.

He slumped his shoulders to close the distance between you two as you softly swayed to the rhythm of a slower song.

“I’m so glad that I have you angel.” He leaned into your ear and whispered.

“Soon to be Mrs. Grayson. All mine.”

If you get the “god you’re pretty" reference I love you.

Stay whelmed xx

Tori

221 notes · View notes

aspoonofsugar · 8 months

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Neo's Hecate = The Triple Goddess

Trivia is the Roman name of Hecate, Goddess of witchcraft, crossroads and ghosts. Neopolitan is Roman's Hecate, so her birth name is Trivia. Is that really all there is?

Obviously not. Or at least, Neo's allusion to Hecate can be read in multiple ways. Sure, it might have been an unplanned reference, but by this point (either willingly or not) Neopolitan has grown into Hecate's role. So, let's analyze ice-cream's girl allusion to better understand her story, with a focus on volume 9.

WHO IS HECATE?

Hecate is a Greek Goddes, who is later adopted by the Romans with the name of Trivia. Her origin is probably more ancient than Greek culture, though. In short, she is a foreign deity, who gets integrated into Greek religion. Similarly, Neopolitan is an unplanned character shoved into the narrative. However, she finds her place in the story and grows into herself.

Here are some of Hecate's most famous attributes.

Hecate is the Goddess of crossroads and magic. In particular, she is the master of darkness and the queen of ghosts to the point she is linked to nechromancy. She also rules over demons called Empusas, who are half woman and half beast (either a cow or a dog usually). They eat human blood and are linked to fire. Finally, Hecate is a psychopomp deity (like Hermes/Mercury), so she moves freely among Earth (human world), Olympus (world of the gods) and Hades (world of the deads).

Hecate is often depicted with three bodies and three heads:

She holds torches and keys, which are symbolic of her ability to guide people in the underworld and to travel among dimensions. Sometimes, she can appear as a dog, which is her sacred animal.

Hecate is one of the Goddesses associated to the moon. In particular, she is the falling moon to Artemis's crescent moon and Selene's full moon. According to other traditions, she is a part of Artemis/Diana. This Goddess is the Moon in the Sky, Artemis on Earth and Hecate in the Underworld. Whatever the case, both Artemis and Hecate have a triple nature to them.

This triple nature makes Hecate an example of Triple Goddess in modern Neopagan religions. The Triple Goddess is the archetype of a female deity linked to the three phases of a woman's life. Youth (Maiden), Maturity (Mother) and Old Age (Crone). Her male counterpart is the Horned God.

As you see, Hecate is hard to define. Just like Neo. Both are ambiguous and difficult to grasp. Still, let's try to understand ice-cream girl better by using this mysterious Goddess. Let's focus on three things (obviously :P):

Hecate's link to the number 3 and how it is used in Neo's story

Hecate and Artemis's bond and how it mirrors Neo and Ruby's

Hecate's imagery and attributes and what they mean for Neo

The first is an analysis of Neo's interiority (microchosm). The second explains Neo's role in the story (macrochosm). The third offers a synthesis and a conclusion (balance).

RULE OF THREE (MICROCHOSM)

Hecate is known for her three heads and three bodies. Neo is a normal human, but the number 3 still comes up in her design:

Pink, white and brown. Strawberry, vanilla and chocolate. The three flavours of the Neapolitan ice cream. The three sides of Neo's self:

We are ruled by thirds. In fashion we compare no more than three colors. Our personalities are defined by the id, the ego and the super-ego- always warring vying for control. But our goal is harmony. Balance. (Roman Holiday, chapter 13)

According to Freud, the human mind is made of three parts. The id is where fear and wishes lie. It is a primitive and instinctive force. The superego is society’s expectations. It is where morality and ideals are. The ego is what balances the other two parts. It mediates between wishes and duties.

As per Roman Holiday, Neo is a combination of Neopolitan (pink), Vanille (white) and Trivia (brown). So, Neo's color scheme is a metaphorical representation of id, superego and ego:

Pink represents the id - Neopolitan is Trivia's pink imaginary friend. She embodies everything the child is forced to repress, like her pink eye and her wish for freedom.

White represents the superego - Vanille is Trivia's surname and a shade of white. The Vanilles want their daughter to fit into society and despise her disability, which makes her "odd".

Brown represents the ego - Trivia has brown hair, wears brown clothes and a brown contact lens. She is conflicted between her parents' expectations and her own wishes.

In her childhood, Trivia is unbalanced because her family forces her to repress her id. She cancels her pink side and projects it on her imaginary friend Neopolitan. So, Trivia undergoes a transformation and claims this part of herself back:

As the old saying went, “You can’t put the moon back together”. At times you had to destroy something to make something even better in its place. When Mama had shattered Neopolitan in front of their burning house, Trivia finally understood that she had been broken all along. Losing her friend was Trivia’s first step toward putting herself back together and embracing her true, best self. (Roman Holiday, chapter 11)

She re-arranges herself and her three parts:

Pink becomes the color of Neo's ego (her truest self). She stops hiding her eye and dyes half of her hair pink. Similarly, she embraces her Neopolitan persona more.

Brown becomes the color of the superego. It is a color linked to Neo's female authority figures like her mother (Carmel) and her teacher (Beatrix Browning). It is still present in Neo's color scheme, but much reduced. Similarly, Trivia is still there, but feels more like a mask than Neo's real self.

White becomes the color of the id. It is the color of Neo's family name, which she sheds. However, Neo still loves her parents, so her semblance dyes a lock of her hair white as an unconscious response to their death.

Roman Holiday is the story of Trivia Vanille's death and Neopolitan's birth:

As far as she was concerned, Trivia Vanille was buried under that mess, too. Neopolitan was the sole survivor. (Roman Holiday, chapter 26)

Neo leaves behind her parents and their strict rules to become a living manifestation of the id:

She just wanted to do whatever she wanted. And for the moment, what she wanted was to help Roman set the world on fire. (Roman Holiday, chapter 26)

Neopolitan does whatever she wants, even if it hurts others. She embraces her deepest wishes and chaotic emotions. This is the character we meet at the beginning of RWBY.

Well, Neo's arc in the series is to discard this person and to become someone new once again. After all, Neopolitan's name is linked to renewal and transformation. "Neopolitan" comes from Naples, which means "new city" (neo + polis). Naples's fantastic origin itself is a story of death and rebirth. According to the legend, this Italian city is born from a Siren, who dies for love. Her body transforms into the city and gives new life.

Similarly, Neo is a character able to be reborn countless times (neo = new + poly= many). So is Hecate, whose name may refer to the Greek number 100, as the Goddess is said to have one-hundred forms.

Our Neo/Hecate is then a multifaceted force, who goes through destruction just to embrace creation.

Neo's change in the series starts with a loss:

She loses both Roman and her inner balance:

There was one thing To help escape the misery And now it's all disarrayed You took my whole life away You sent me back to nothing Now you'll pay

So, she needs to rebuild herself once again:

We must live with balance But balance is blind (Lost her world) Vengeance is a riptide In a fairy tale, she'll find Inside A new me, I'm ready But who will I find? Inside I've gotta let go but could I lose my mind?

Volume 9 is where this inner transformation takes place. This time the new found harmony among id, superego and ego is not described by Neo's three colors. Rather, allusions are used.

In the Ever After, Neo is associated to three different Wonderland / Through the Looking Glass characters:

The Hatter, who represents the id

The Cheshire Cat, who represents the superego

The Jabberwocky, who represents the ego

THE HATTER - THE ID

“Well, I'd hardly finished the first verse," said the Hatter, "when the Queen bawled out 'He's murdering the time! Off with his head!'" "How dreadfully savage!" exclaimed Alice. "and ever since that," the Hatter went on in a mournful tone, "he wo'n't do a thing I ask! It's always six o'clock now.”

The Hatter is a Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass character. He is famous for the Mad Tea Party, where he, the March Hare and the Dormouse chat with Alice. The original book reveals that the Hatter "killed time" while singing, so Time refuses to run normally for him and his friends. As a result, they are stuck in an eternal tea-party, as it is always tea-time for them. In the 1951 Disney movie, instead, he celebrates Alice's unbirthday.

Neopolitan has been stuck in time since Roman's death. She can't move on, so she focuses all her energies on revenge:

So close to closure The one thing you need Underneath a monument with a dedicated plea

Killing Ruby becomes Neo's One Thing to the point she organizes a special tea party of her own:

Ruby's unbirthday party, to be precise:

Cinder: And you… should have never been born…

Where she can dissolve Little Red in a cup, as if she were a sugar cube:

Kill for kill Eye for eye Blood for blood It's time to die Retribution tastes so sweet

The Hatter is a hostage in his tea party and Neo is a prisoner of her revenge. Both are consumed by their inability to go on. Both have killed time and can't face their future.

In Neo's case, the reason why she murders time is pretty clear. It is a coping mechanism to avoid grief:

In Wonderland, the Hatter can drink tea at every hour. In her fantasy world, Neo can stay with Roman forever:

Neo-Roman: Y’know once Neo realized where she was, everything changed. Always loved the idea of a place to run away from it all. Do whatever you want. I offered that to her back on Remnant.

This is also why the first thing Neo does after landing in the Ever After is to evolve Overactive Imagination and to kill the Jabberwalker:

The creature is symbolic of death, as they kill Afterans permanently. So, Neo metaphorically negates her grief (the Jabberwalker) through illusions (her semblance).

At the same time, Neo enters the Ever After and gives in to her id. She has her desires and instincts control her completely. She loses all filters:

(Then suddenly) Scratched through the surface And you've found a key Unlocking what you thought was safe inside a box But it's somehow been set free (Finally)

Overactive Imagination's evolution is a physical representation of this psychological process. Neo spirals throughout Mistral and Atlas, but in volume 9 she hits rock bottom and stops acting rationally. She becomes the incarnation of her anger, which manifests through her semblance. Her illusions are typically silent. However, in the Ever After they speak, as Neo is letting her inner voices out of the box:

Say something real Do you only speak in riddles, chatterbox? I'm waiting for your ugly mouth to spit it out

This is why she becomes a chatterbox. She tries to communicate through her creations.

In particular, she makes an imaginary Roman (the Hatter), who looks and sounds like the real deal. He becomes the dominant voice in Neo's mind and speaks to and for her. His presence highlights Neo's inability to accept Roman's death. She hides in a lie. Just like Trivia used to cower behind her imaginary friend Neopolitan. As a child, Trivia can't accept Neo is a part of her. As an adult, Neo can't accept Roman isn't with her anymore. In this way, Neo's first real human connection gets reduced to an imaginary friend. This is the tragedy of Neo's adventure in the Ever After.

All happens because Neo surrenders herself to the id (her inner world). Still, it can't last forever. The id is a powerful source of energy and drive, but it is also destructive. So, Neo self-consumes until she has nothing left:

Neo-Roman: (voice in Neo’s head) You’ve finally done it! Little Red’s gone. With your Semblance stronger than ever now, we can take over this whole absurd place! Why not? Offing Little Red can’t be all you wanted… Right?

She puts so much into destroying Ruby, that she ends up empty. A vessel for others to take advantage of.

Curious Cat: You’ve lost something most important, haven’t you? And now you have nothing left. How delightful! An empty host, perfect for me to fill.

THE CHESHIRE CAT - THE SUPEREGO

The Cheshire Cat appears twice in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. The first time, he guides Alice at a crossroad and points her towards the March Hare's house. The second time, he appears at the Queen of Heart's croquet game as a giant head. The Queen and King are offended by his presence and want to behead him. Still, he is a head without a body, so the execution of this death sentence is complicated. Eventually, he simply fades away and disappears.

The character is inspired by the saying "grinning like a Cheshire Cat", whose origin is unknown. Among the many hypothesis, there is one about a grinning cat-shaped cheese. The cheese was cut from the tail, so that the last part eaten was the head of the smiling cat.

In RWBY, the character who alludes to the Cheshire Cat is not Neo, but the Curious Cat. Still, Neo and the Cat's stories are intertwined, as they destroy each other. The Cat possesses Neo and Neo kills the Cat.

Both characters eat and get eaten. They eat like the two wolves of Ruby's Little Red Riding Hood. They get eaten like the cat-shaped cheese, until only a floating head remains. A head separated from the body. A mind detached from reality:

“We’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.” “How do you know I’m mad?” said Alice. “You must be,” said the Cat, or you wouldn’t have come here.”

Neo and the Cat are mad, so they meet in the Ever After. However, their madnesses are opposite:

Neo loses herself in fantasy (the Ever After) and runs away from the real world (Remnant). She lets her unconscious feelings (id) run wild.

The Curious Cat is trapped in fantasy (the Ever After) and wants to reach the real world (Remnant). They are consumed by an imposed purpose (superego):

Curious Cat: I’m not like the other Afterans here, I’m cursed with curiosity. I need to know everything!

Blacksmith: A terrible thing to have a broken heart… And there’s nobody to send them (the Cat) back to the Tree for repair.

So, Neo and the Cat are foils, which is why they share the song Chatterbox. Both blabber non-stop. However, Neo's illusions speak her truest self. The Curious Cat instead uses smart words to hide their real intentions. Neo shows her inner beast (the shadow), while the Cat wears a mask (persona). So, Neo is the embodyment of the id and the Cat is her estranged superego. They are an external force, who comes and takes control of Neo's life:

The possession is a metaphor of Neo's state of mind. She goes from moving many characters around to becoming a controlled puppet. From shouting to radio silence. This switch is conveyed through the Curious Cat speaking through and for her.

This is Neo's nightmare, as her life is a struggle to be heard. Among other things, Neo refuses devices that make her sound robotic. She dislikes artificial voices because they sound fake to her. And yet, the Curious Cat forces Neo to speak their words. The Cat becomes Neo's new voice.

This is the result of Neo losing her inner drive:

NeoCat: She has no attachments to your world. Nothing to return to.

She is left with no wishes nor fears. She is a living id, who transforms into a walking superego. However, both extremes are wrong. A person is made of both her id and her superego. Both parts are needed to make an individual, which is why Neo is asked to face herself once more:

The Tree has the girl confront the pain and grief she has been ignoring. And yet, these feelings are what saves her:

NeoCat: No! These cracks, these feelings! I can’t… I can’t!!!

Thanks to them Neo gets back in control of her life. Symbolically, the Jabberwalker she kills in the beginning appears to finish the Cat off:

In this way, the cycle is complete and Neo's ego can finally surface.

JABBERWOCKY - THE EGO

Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!

The Jabberwocky is a nonsense poem Alice finds in Through The Looking Glass. She initially can't read it, but then she realizes the verses are written in mirror-writing. She holds a mirror to the text and the poem appears. Despite being able to read it, though, Alice can't understand it:

"It seems very pretty," she said when she had finished it, "but it's rather hard to understand!" (You see she didn't like to confess, even to herself, that she couldn't make it out at all.) "Somehow it seems to fill my head with ideas—only I don't exactly know what they are! However, somebody killed something: that's clear, at any rate."

The poem conveys two main ideas:

It tells about a slaughter:

He took his vorpal sword in hand: Long time the manxome foe he sought— So rested he by the Tumtum tree, And stood awhile in thought. And as in uffish thought he stood, The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame, Came whiffling through the tulgey wood, And burbled as it came! One, two! One, two! And through and through The vorpal blade went snicker-snack! He left it dead, and with its head He went galumphing back.

It is impossible to understand, as it is full of gibberish and invented words

This is true for RWBY's Jabberwalker, as well:

They embody death, as Afterans killed by this creature are negated ascension

They jabber as they walk, which is why they fail to communicate with others

How does this relate to Neo? She kills the Jabberwalker, but assimilates them in her illusions. This happens because the creature is Neo's mirror. They reflect our Hecate in the making.

The Jabberwalker is a monster of grief who dies unheard:

Jabberwalker: Stop… It… Cease! No! NO! NOOOOOO!

Neo is a villain whose grief stays unrecognized:

Ruby: If you’re looking for an apology, you’ve wasted your time!

Not only by others, but by Neo too. She kills a part of herself in the Jabberwalker. Her most vulnerable and real part, that wants to communicate:

Say something real Do you only speak in riddles, chatterbox? I'm waiting for your ugly mouth to Say something real Do you only speak in riddles, chatterbox? I'm waiting on your ugly mouth to spit it out

She is a chatterbox that screams, but is not listened to. She can't talk, then she gains the ability to speak through her semblance. And yet, she can only be heard. Never understood. Similarly, Alice eventually learns how to read the Jabberwocky poem, but doesn't comprehend it.

This is why the Chatterbox song is so mysterious. Is it about Neo? The Cat? Both? Who sings what? Are they singing to each other? Or is it Ruby singing to them? It is impossible to say, just like it is impossible to grasp the full meaning of the Jabberwocky.

So, this song is about Neo and the Cat, but plays while RWBYJ fight the Jabberwalker. That is because the monster represents Neo's frammented self. They are the girl's ego, which is so broken and confused she herself negates it. Her journey in the Ever After, though, helps Neo find inner clarity:

(Waiting for it Sugar-coated All you need is here Come and find what Redefines you Make it crystal clear)

By the end she sees herself crystal clear:

Neo-Roman: To have what they have. What a thing, huh?

Her true wish is the same as ever. She wants a real connection. To succeed she has to let go of an imaginary one:

As a child, Trivia lets go of Neopolitan and finds Roman. As an adult, she lets go of Roman to find someone else. Trivia dies and Neo is born. Neo dies and someone new is born:

Blacksmith: She will have the chance to return her broken heart… And becomes something new. Such is balance.

Life from death. Creation from destruction. This is what transformation is. Symbolically, Neo kills all her three parts. She murders the Jabberwalker (ego), she rips the Curious Cat to shreds (superego) and finally releases Roman's illusion (id). Now, she is ready to move on.

HECATE AND ARTEMIS = SHADOW AND LIGHT (MACROCHOSM)

Hecate/Trivia and Artemis/Diana are two intertwined Goddesses. In particular, Hecate is sometimes described as a part of Artemis's triple identity. This Goddess is:

The Moon in the Sky (The Crescent Moon to be precise)

Artemis/Diana on Earth (Goddess of hunt)

Hecate/Trivia in the Underworld

Doesn't it remind you of anyone?

Ruby is

Associated with the Crescent Moon (Crescent Rose)

The best Huntress of all

A Red Grim Reaper with a Scythe

She is the Artemis (Crescent Moon) to Neo's Hecate (Falling Moon). This is why Neo's role in volume 9 is to play Ruby's Jungian Shadow:

In analytical psychology, the shadow is an unconscious aspect of the personality that does not correspond with the ego ideal, leading the ego to resist and project the shadow. In short, the shadow is the self's emotional blind spot, projected as archetypes.

The shadow is everything that is repressed or hidden. In Ruby's case that is her emotions over loss and grief. So, Neo becomes what links Ruby to these feelings of death. Just like Hecate/Trivia is the part of Artemis/Diana, who appears in the Underworld. This is why Neo and Ruby fall together in the Ever After.

During their fall, Neo transforms in three people Ruby cherishes: Oscar, Yang and Penny. What do they represent?

They are linked to future, present and past. In particular, Oscar is waiting for Ruby outside (future), Yang is in the Ever After with Ruby (present) and Penny is lost (past).

They are the three people Ruby's conflict is focused on in the Atlas Arc. In volume 7, Ruby disagrees with Oscar on telling Ironwood. In volume 8, Ruby and Yang fight over what to do. In volume 9, Ruby must overcome Penny's death.

These two meanings are linked to two roles Neo fulfills towards Ruby. That of Triple Goddess and that of Goddess of crossroads.

1- The idea of past, present and future ties into Hecate being a Triple Goddess:

The fates are a representation of this Goddess and a declination of the Three Hecate Sisters, also known as Maiden, Mother and Crone. They are archetypes linked to three different phases of life. Youth, maturity and old age. In other words, past, present and future.

As Ruby's Hecate, Neo often brings up past, present and future throughout volume 9. Here is a quick list:

Ruby and Neo's fall in the Ever After (Penny is past, Yang is present and Oscar is future)

Ruby's first meeting with the Blacksmith, which is followed by the appearance of Neo's Jabberwalkers. There Ruby sees three weapons. Penny's sword is Ruby's inner child (past). Alyx's knife is the role Ruby is currently trying to fulfill (present). Summer's axe is who Ruby wishes to become (future)

Ruby's fight with Neo's Jabberwalker, where Ruby hallucinates three people. Cinder is the foe Ruby lost to (past). Penny is her current inner demon (present). Salem is the villain Ruby must eventually face (future)

Neo's crazy tea party, where Neo destroys Ruby by using three loved ones. Penny is a dead friend (past), Oscar is a friend Ruby could kill (future) and Little is a friend that dies (present)

Past, present and future haunt Ruby, so that she can accept who she was, understand who she is and move towards who she will be:

Past Ruby: So, are you a Huntress? Like the ones you read about in books? Ruby: I… I don’t know… Past Ruby: They always saved the day, didn’t they? Always knew what to do. Always won in the end. Ruby: But… life isn’t like a fairy tale… Past Ruby: That’s right! It’s up to you to make things better, isn’t it? Everything all depends on you! Your sister needs you, your friends need you, the whole world needs you to keep fighting, forever and ever, against an invincible monster that took your mother! Past Ruby: Mom was the best… but even she failed. That doesn’t seem fair. None of this seems fair. Ruby: But… What am I supposed to do…? Past Ruby: You can do whatever you want. Be whoever you want! You don’t even have to be Ruby Rose… So, what are you gonna be?

2- Neo brings to the surface Ruby's inner conflicts. She starts with the three struggles Ruby faces in Atlas and she keeps going by using her Jabberwalkers to re-create Atlas's destruction twice:

Finally, she has Ruby fight her inner demons all at once:

Neo-Ironwood: Who were you to think you knew what was best for Atlas? Neo-Pyrrha: I was the best and brightest Beacon had to offer. But I traded my life so my friends could live! Neo-Penny: Just like you were too late to save me at the Vytal Festival… I died in Atlas too, didn’t I? (walks towards Ruby) Can you imagine what that's like? To be completely and utterly failed… time and again… (kneels down to Ruby) by someone who meant the world to you… Neo-Pyrrha: How many more people are going to die because of you?! Ruby: I’m trying to save everyone! Neo-Ironwood: And yet with all your best intentions… Have you ever stopped to wonder if you’d done more harm than good?! Ruby: It’s not my fault…! Neo-Ozpin: How many more lives do you have to ruin before you realize you’re not cut out to save anyone?! Ruby: NO!!!

This happens because Neo is a manifestation of Ruby's id. Just like Hecate is a Goddess linked with crossroads and choice, Neo forces Ruby to transform.

Ruby's hidden self and her conflictual feelings are intertwined in Neo, who is the part of herself Ruby refuses to aknowledge until it explodes.

Let's juxtapose these two scenes:

Ruby: What is this about? The White Fang? Roman Torchwick?

Ruby: Is that seriously what this is all about? You still blame me for what happened to Torchwick?!

In volume 4, Ruby asks Tyrian why he is after her and mentions Torchwick. In volume 9, Ruby is surprised Roman's partner wants to avenge him. This happens because throughout Mistral and Atlas, Ruby starts shouldering too much responsibilities by herself. Her whole ego becomes intertwined with the duty to stop Salem. By doing so, she neglects other parts of the self:

Maria: You know, you don't give yourself enough credit. Ruby: Oh… Thanks. Maria: That wasn't a compliment.

Which leads to the shadow suffering and festering. Inside Ruby, the shadow is her grief and trauma. Outside, the shadow is Neo. A secondary villain with a revenge agenda, which is nothing compared to the threath Salem represents. And yet, Neo's personal grudge grows until she becomes dangerous for Ruby's own existence:

Neo-Roman: You don’t deserve to die, Red. You deserve to be broken down… Torn apart… wiped from existence.

In this context, Ruby refusing to empathize with Neo is really Ruby refusing to empathize with herself:

Give me anything But this symphony of technicolor rage You call it righteous, meaningful It's anything but love Don't take me for a fool I know this all too well so Leave your tears to someone else cuz It's not just you who lost it all

Neo kills the Jabberwalker because she doesn't want to accept Roman's loss. Ruby doesn't see Neo because it would mean to look at her own pain.

The end result is bad for both girls. On the one hand Ruby is overwhelmed by trauma and chooses to disappear. On the other hand Neo realizes how empty she is after Ruby is gone. That is because shadow and light can't live without each other. They need to integrate, which is what Ruby and Neo do by the end.

Both see themselves more clearly, so they are finally able to empathize with each other:

Their conflict almost kills them, but once they get throught it they are ready to become better versions of themselves. They die and are reborn:

Since she had used her Semblance for the first time to create a butterfly with one pink wing, one brown, with white spots all over- then sent it out her bedroom window and watched it flutter away until she lost sight of it and let it go. (Roman Holiday, chapter 11)

Like two butterflies, who step into a brand new phase of their lives.

HECATE (BALANCE)

Neo's story is about finding balance inside and outside:

Inside- As a child, Neo is too repressed (superego), so as an adult she becomes uncontrolled (id). Her arc has her grow more balanced (ego).

Outside - In volume 9, Neo is Ruby's shadow (id) and brings out all of Ruby's negative emotions. By the end, though, Ruby is able to understand Neo and feels sympathy for her. This is because our LRRH doesn't refuse her own shadow anymore.

In other words, Neo is an id character, who has to integrate both with herself and with the world around her. This fits Hecate, who is a Goddess linked to the Underworld. The Ever After itself is a representation of this kingdom for three different reasons:

It is the world before (under) Remnant

It is the world of the deads (buried under)

It is the world of the unconscious (buried inside)

This is why Neo's semblance grows more powerful while there. Hecate is the queen of ghosts and Neo grows powerful enough to rule the Ever After with her materialized spirits (illusions). On a deeper level, our lady of the deads must face her own grief. So, like other characters, Neo goes through the stages of grief. In particular, Neo's stages are represented by her reactions to different characters:

The Jabberwalker she kills (negation)

Ruby she stalks and tortures (rage)

The Roman she materializes (bargaining)

The Curious Cat she is controlled by (depression)

All these meetings are a part of her journey to find both acceptance and herself. Maybe this is why throughout volume 9 she progressively becomes more and more Hecate-like. As a matter of fact, she aquires many attributes of the mysterious Goddess.

She gains her personal Empusas:

The Empusas are Hecate's demons, who look like girls with some odd body parts. In this case, Neo's heterocromia.

The Empusas are usually monsters linked to fire that appear as half-dogs. Here, Ruby sees the Jabberwalker with Cinder's head.

She finds her own Horned God:

The Horned God is the Triple Goddess's companion in neopagan religions. The Jabberwalker is a horned creature associated with Neo.

She commands a pack of dogs (the Jabberwalkers) and she herself plays the part of Ruby's dangerous wolf. This fits with Hecate's sacred animals being dogs.

Finally, she stands beside a wicked torch:

Torchwick-illusion is her companion in the Underworld and a symbol of her friend's lost soul. She even uses Roman's voice to lead Ruby towards death. Just like Hecate holds torches to guide mortals in the Kingdom of the Deads.

Despite all this, there is still an attribute missing: keys. They represent Hecate's ability to travel through worlds. However, Neo is stuck in the Ever After:

Jaune: So Neo can’t go through the door…

This happens because she has still to fully bloom into Hecate (herself). However, she is making progress and by the end of volume 9 she reaches acceptance. A necessary step to grow.

In particular, she dispels her illusion of Roman. She overcomes her grief by overcoming her own fantasies. This is interesting because it is the opposite of what happens in Roman Holiday:

“He caught a lock of her hair and showed it to her. It was white. “This is new. It suits you,” he said. Why would she have done that with her Semblance?” (Roman Holiday, chapter 26)

There, she represses her sadness over her parents' death, which manifests in her illusory white lock of hair. In the series, though, she lets go of an illusion to move on. Why is that so? That is because Neo herself is a combination of illusion and reality:

“Roman shook his head. “Show them who you really are.” Neo changed back into herself, but swapper her school uniform for her favourite suite. Roman handed her her parasol. (Roman Holiday, chapter 22)

Roman Holiday is the story of how she realizes illusions are a part of who she is. Volume 9 is where she learns she can't live in a world made only of illusions. So, she chooses to face herself for real:

Once she emerges from the Tree, she will gain her allusion's ability to move freely between dimensions (psychopomp) and will go through the door. She will leave her fantastical world (the Ever After) and come back to reality (Remnant).

#rwby #rwby volume 9 #rwby meta #neopolitan #neopolitan (rwby)#neo rwby #ruby rose #roman torchwick #curious cat #jabberwalker #once upon an allusion #my meta

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idontknowwhatimdoinglol · 7 months

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Blood of Zeus characters at the store

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

(a special thanks to the amazing @randomfangirl2718 for helping me come up with this <3)

lets do this :)

Zeus: *holding heron up to a walmart screen*

Hermes: *taking a picture of the oh so touching moment*

Apollo: *laughing his butt off behind her hermes*

Dionysus: ITS THE CIRCLE OF LIFEEEEE

Artemis: *shaking her head in shame* I do not know any of them. I do not know any of them.

-----

Heron: why are we here again?

Artemis: because hera needs more bird seeds to feed her pets and we are running low on snacks *she eyes apollo and ares*

Ares: i apologize, but apollo had challenged me and i will not back down from such an easy challenge of eating.

Apollo: if it was so easy then why did you lose *he teases*

Ares: lies! of course i beat you

Apollo: well since its unclea how about another challenge? i challenge you to lift the heaviest weight in the store

Artemis: apollo no-

Apollo and Ares: *runs off*

Artemis: why cant they listen for once. *she groans*

-----

Random store clerk on the p.a: Zeus, please come to the front of fthe store to retrive your delinquents.

Zeus: *goes to the front*

Apollo: *turns his head in shame*

Hermes: we can explain this time we had good reasons

Zeus: those are?

Everyone: *silence*

Zeus: alright we'll deal with this when we get home. where is artemis and heron?

Random store worker: are these the two your looking for? *gestures to an annoyed artemis and a wet heron*

Zeus: ....yes

Heron: we wanted to free the lobsters.

Artemis: he wanted to free the lobsters *she grumbles*

Dionysus: cool! we stole wine.

Apollo: ..we broke half the shelves in the store

Random worker: youre all never welcome to shop here again you realize that right?

-----

Artemis: ok everyone, since we got banned from the last store for wine stealing, lobster freeing, shelf breaking reasons *she side-eyes her brothers* let's not do that this time.

Everyone: *nods and runs off*

Artemis: this is going to end badly isnt it?

Ares: has going out with them ever ended good?

-----

*in the stores garden section*

Artemis: sometimes i just dont get why they cant understand that they have to follow rules even if they are gods, you know i appreciate this alot. its hard to find someone who just listens *she pats the squirrel on the head.

Daphne: look at all of these beautiful flowers hyacinthus.

Hyacinthus: they are very pretty

Random person: ya, to bad they throw the ones they dont sell out. *walks away*

Daphne: we have to save these flowers! *she starts grabbing the flower boxes*

-----

Hermes: can you beilive they just give out free food here?

Dionysus: i know right! its awesome!

Hermes: that stand over there is selling wine sample's

Dionysus: ya, to bad its only one cup per person. *gets a look* unless...

Hermes and dionysus: *runs through the store with the wine tray and open bottle*

-----

Apollo: so you see if you just apply the darker shade of tanner then youll be beach ready in no time *he says to random people looking at tanner*

Apollo: dont you agree heron? *blank space where heron was* this is why we need a leash for him *he grumbles*

Heron: *lost somewhere in the store*

-----

Evios: *sneaks a small item in his pocket*

Kofi: *takes the item and puts it back on the shelf*

Evios: seriously? That is the 20th time man

------

Alexia: *sees a punching dummy*

Alexia: *starts practicing*

Radndom people: *stares at her*

Alexia: what? It's what it's for.

-----

Zeus: *flirting with some girls*

Hera: *death glaring the girls*

aphrodite: Hera, you mustn't glare at those girls. they do not know that he's married. it's not that big of a deal

hera: oh really? so it's alright with you that Ares is doing the same thing?

Aphrodite: *angrily storms off to yell at the girls near Ares*

-----

Artemis: we're gonna have to find a new store aren't we? *she drinks her pop*

Ares: we knew that the second we walked in

Aphrodite: *screaming in the background*

- - - - - - - - - - . o 0 O 0 o .- - - - - - - - - - -

#boz zeus #blood of zeus #boz #bloodofzeus #bloodofzues #heron boz #seraphim boz #hermes boz #boz apollo #boz ares #greek mythology headcanons #grreek mythology #greekmythology #blood of zeus x reader

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thegrapeandthefig · 1 year

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Hair offerings: historical context, purpose and uses

Offerings of hair, locks of hair or ritual hair-cutting is quite a regular occurrence in ancient sources and textbooks discussing various religious customs of the ancient Greek world. It also seems to be a fairly forgotten offering in a modern context, which is why I wanted to delve back in and write this post. I will be focusing on laying out the historical contexts in which we find this specific offering in order to understand the core logic behind what it means to offer a lock of hair to a deity.

Rites of passage

It is impossible to mention offerings of hair without touching on the topic of “rites of passage”. However, this is an umbrella term that encompasses different kinds of rites or life events depending on the environment and stage of life of the participants.

Kourotrophic hair-cutting

Arguably the most common example of offerings of hair is the one done by boys, typically when entering adulthood (typically referred to as paides or ephêboi), but there are important variations depending on the era and local customs, with the youngest example known being the one of a 4-year-old boy in the 3rd century BC.

Kourotrophic deities typically refer to Apollo, Artemis and the plentitude of local river gods. However, this is far from being the only gods considered kourotrophoric since we also have evidence that includes Poseidon, the Nymphs, Asklepios and Hygieia in that group.

There were several occasions for which young boys would offer their hair. In Athens, later sources mention that the 3rd day of the Apatouria festival included the ritual cutting and offering to Artemis of the hair of the young men who officially entered their phratries after having made an offering of wine to Herakles.

In a wider context, kourotrophoric deities are concerned with the growth and well-being of children and adolescents. It seems common that offerings were made pursuant to a vow, often done by a parent while the adolescent is still a child (or even just born). Their purpose is to help assure successful maturation, but they seem to work by establishing a positive relationship with the kourotrophic deity. These rites unfold over a long period of time: there is a vow, a period of hair growth that might last for many years, and then, a ceremonial cutting.

Pausanias gives us an example of ritual growing of the hair for the river god Alpheios in his story about Leukippos, stating he “wove the hair he was growing for the river Alpheios in the same way that maidens do.” (Pausanias 8.20.3)

The organization of the final cutting seems to have been a familial event that included the participation of the parents, if they didn’t even make the offering themselves on behalf of the son. Three inscriptions from the island of Paros in the 3rd century AD describe the offering of “childhood” or “ephebic” hair done by a parent to Asklepios and Hygeia, instead of being performed by the boy himself.

A noteworthy example from Thebes shows the participation of a brother instead of the parents (see image below). In this case, the dedication of the hair, shown braided, is made to Poseidon by Philombrotos and Aphthonetos, sons of Deinomachos. David Leitao rules out the possibility of this inscription being about a votive, in favour of it being a rite of passage for two reasons: firstly, the locks that are sculpted in relief on the stele are long and carefully braided, and reminiscent of the braids frequently seen elsewhere on the heads of boys and adolescents in Greek sculpture. Secondly, Poseidon seems to play an important role in the growth of children in Thessaly in particular.

Further reading for this section:

→ Closterman, Wendy E., A. Avramidou, and D. Demetriou. "Women as gift givers and gift producers in ancient Athenian funerary ritual." Approaching the Ancient Artifact: Representation, Narrative, and Function. A Festschrift in Honor of H. Alan Shapiro (2014): 161-174.

→ Barbanera, Marcello. "Dressing to Hunt: Some Remarks on the Calyx Krater from the So-Called House of C. Julius Polybius in Pompeii." Approaching the Ancient Artifact: Representation, Narrative and Function. A Festschrift in Honor of H. Alan Shapiro (2014): 91-104.

→ Ochs, Donovan J. Consolatory rhetoric: Grief, symbol, and ritual in the Greco-Roman era. Univ of South Carolina Press, 1993.

Votives

Last but not least, now that the heavier ritual uses have been covered, is the topic of hair offerings as a way to say “thank you”. Similarly to how the offering of hair from young boys to river gods came as a petition for safety, we find locks of hair being used as thanks to surviving dangerous situations like illnesses or an escape from a disaster.

A Hellenistic epigram names the rescue from distress at sea as reason for a ritual hair-cutting, where a man named Lukillios shaves off his hair for Glaukos, the Nereids, Melikertes, Poseidon and the Samothracian gods as thanks for surviving the incident.

Another example is one told to us by Pausanias concerning the cult of Asklepios and Hygieia in the city of Titane:

“Of the image [of Asclepius] can be seen only the face, hands, and feet, for it has about it a tunic of white wool and a cloak. There is a similar image of Hygieia; this, too, one cannot see easily because it is so surrounded with the locks of women, who cut them off and offer them to the goddess, and with strips of Babylonian raiment. With whichever of these a votary here is willing to propitiate heaven, the same instructions have been given to him, to worship this image which they are pleased to call Health.” (Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.11.6–7)

While it is impossible to know the exact reasons why each of the women offered their hair to Hygieia, the idea that it was in return for health sounds the most logical.

In the sanctuary of Zeus at Panamara in Caria hair was either enclosed in a small stone coffer in the form of a stele and set up in the precinct with an inscription placed upon it, or placed in a hole in the wall or hung upon the wall with a small label placed upon it. The former was probably for the wealthiest citizens, while the latter reserved for those with less means. In the case of the former, the hair itself was no longer visible, but the stele and inscription were. In the case of the latter the hair remained visible in conjunction with a label that named the dedicant. The care put into storing the locks in these examples is telling of an offering that is symbolically charged and likely lasted a lifetime, due to the durability of hair.

Similarly, an epigram in the Palatine Anthology, attributed to Antipater of Thessalonica poetically tells of the hair offering of a young man to Apollo:

“Having shaved the down that flowered in its season under his temples, [he dedicated] his cheeks’ messengers of manhood, a first offering, and prayed that he might so shave gray hairs from his whitened temples. Grant him these, and even as you made him earlier, so make him hereafter, with the snows of old age upon him.”

While this epigram is clearly related to the idea of hair-cutting for young boys, as it refers to the growth of the first facial hair, it also begs the question of the quality of the appearance of the first white hair. Aside from being a poetic call to the blessing of living a long life — long enough to know old age — we might want to wonder about what it would mean to offer one’s white hair within the logic of transition from adulthood to seniority.

Further reading for this section: → Draycott, Jane. "Hair today, gone tomorrow: The use of real, false and artificial hair as votive offerings." Bodies of Evidence. Routledge, 2017. 77-94.

Final thoughts

If there is something to take away from the historical uses of hair in the religious setting of the Ancient Greeks, it is the idea of transition. From the entrance into adulthood to death, hair offerings come up at key moments in one's life, or at least, in answer to brushes with death, placing hair in a very important position. It is a highly personal, intimate and symbolic offering.

While this post isn't the place to discuss modern reinterpretations, I think the key to integrating hair offerings in reconstructionist practice comes down to asking yourself the question of what the milestones in our modern lives are and what they mean, alongside other life-changing events.

#hellenic pagan #hellenic worship #hellenic revivalism #hellenic reconstructionism #hellenismos #hellenic paganism #hellenic polytheism #hellenic gods #offerings

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mylordshesacactus · 3 months

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LOVE, WATER, FIRE

What is your best writing advice?

"Show don't tell" doesn't mean what you think it does. Learn it better, and free yourself from a half-understood mnemonic.

When you show, you slow. Learn THAT one backward and forward as well; it won't fix pacing issues overnight, but it'll help you understand what causes them.

Writing fanfiction? Go back to the source material FREQUENTLY, or you'll lose all sense of the characters and end up writing someone unrecognizable.

If you struggle to block out action sequences, genuine advice? Think in terms of combat rounds in D&D. Not literally, of course, nobody should be taking rigorous turns, but: Play out the action in your head. If six seconds have gone by, everyone in this sequence should have done something. That thing could be charging into melee range--noting that this extra combatant is running toward the fight but hasn't gotten there yet. It could be reloading a weapon. It could be clutching their side in shock and wheezing. They don't need to be Selecting A Combat Action, but fight scenes become incoherent when you lose track of who's doing what. When you forget about Goon #3 and then have him show up again doing something that doesn't remotely track with where you last left him. YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE TO INCLUDE THEM IN THE NARRATION if they're not important! If two seconds ago your protagonist kicked a guy off the dock, we can safely assume they'll spend at least the next several "combat rounds" climbing back out. But at any given moment, YOU should know where everyone is, what they're doing, and why.

But most importantly:

Anyone purporting to give The End-All Be-All Writing Advice is either delusional or a scam. Yes, including or perhaps especially famous bestselling authors. What works for them won't necessarily work for you, and there are plenty of people who don't even like their work. You're never going to be whoever's advice you try to mimic. Write your stuff, not theirs.

Do you prefer urban fantasy or high fantasy?

Yes!

Genuinely though. They're both good and they both serve their respective narratives in some way. In general I'm more drawn to high fantasy, personally, but I'm never not going to be interested in a well-done urban fantasy.

Pedantic nitpick though, these things are not the opposites they are being portrayed as. I think what the question was GOING for was actually "low vs high fantasy" which is a completely separate concept. Words mean things! But also, I'm not an ass, and the intent was pretty clear.

(High Fantasy: This story is set in a completely separate world from ours, with no crossover into our known and lived reality. ANY completely separate world, regardless of technology level! STAR WARS IS HIGH FANTASY. This is not an opinion, this is a genre fact.

Low Fantasy: The story is set partially in our world or includes crossover or other intrinsic connections to a realistic world that follows the same rules and expectations of our world. Isekai and portal fantasies like Narnia fall into this category, as do hidden-world/veiled-magic fantasies like the Bad Wizard Lady Books, Percy Jackson, and Artemis Fowl; and also a lot of true-anthropomorphic fiction like Watership Down, Warriors, etc. Note that "low fantasy" does NOT mean "gritty" fantasy or fantasy that focuses on the lower classes instead of nobles, nor does it mean a low-magic pseudo-medieval setting

Urban Fantasy: A story with fantasy tropes and themes that takes place in an urban setting. Can be low or high fantasy!)

What is the worst thing you've ever created?

Okay so this one time in high school me and my best friend Sam were trying to make lemon bars at his house and to this day we do NOT know what the hell ingredient we neglected to add to the lemon bars

but given the state of the results, there is a non-zero chance that the ingredient we forgot was flour.

#askmeme #not today satan I do not shittalk my work #i learn from it

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apollosgiftofprophecy · 11 months

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Sup any angsty Apollo hc you have? I’m hungry and desperate for yummy angst to gobble up and cry myself to sleep :]

Okay, this took a little while because life, college, and July fourth happened lmao

So. I like to think about just when the purposeful emotional/psychological abuse started and when the physical abuse started between Zeus and Apollo so...TW for abuse talk.

Because, well, when Apollo was young there isn't really a need for Zeus to crack open the bolt - however, we also know from canon that Apollo was subjected to the bolt in his younger years.

Now. To the headcanons!!!!!

During the first thousand or so years of Apollo's life, Zeus was an actual good dad to him (especially compared to Ares). He spoiled both twins excessively because sweet! A couple of kids who aren't failures! Look at them!!! They're already so good with a bow!!! They're so talented!!!

In the Discord, it was mentioned that in Ancient Greece fathers usually took charge of their sons while the mother taught the daughters, so if we apply that to Apollo's life, I think we can assume that maybe, perhaps, there was some psychological abuse going on, but nothing hardcore - probably along the lines of "make me proud or earn my eternal disappointment" *points at Ares*.

The first time Zeus has to actively punish Apollo was because Gaea ordered it - Apollo killed her son Python, and Zeus (being the guy he is) would cave to her wishes. I actually have a fic in store for this convo so here's what I'm thinking:

Zeus would, of course, instantly point the blame at Gaea and deny he had any choice in the matter (even though he has gone against her wishes before...eyes the Titans in Tartarus).

Apollo, who's only paternal figure so far in his life is Zeus, wouldn't question this and only think about how unfair Gaea is (and to be fair, Python had it coming...).

When Apollo returns and he and Artemis are goofing off on Delos, the events of And By The Sun's Light happens and this, I believe, is when it starts slowly trickling into physical abuse zone.

Think about it. You are Zeus, powerful king of the gods, a new, proud father to a couple of twins that you already favor so highly.

Then one day, they both - by happenstance - gain a new domain at the same time.

Oh shit. You think. That's strange. But you shrug and hand them off to Helios and Selene, two of the most powerful Titans on Olympus.

Of course, you still keep an eye on them. You're not stupid, and get biweekly reports from their mentors on their progress - and the unease starts to trickle in.

It increases, in particular, when Apollo starts to amass other domains alongside his music, poetry, prophecy, healing, youth and light.

Truth, knowledge, harmony, ect. are all absorbed into his power arsenal and you, the king of the gods, are now sweating.

This was not suppose to happen, so now, I believe, is when Zeus started to use the "light" zaps (as stated in-series) from his bolt to keep Apollo in line. He doesn't want him to get any ideas after all.

Unfortunately for Zeus, that isn't enough to deter Apollo.

(Sidenote: I also think Zeus didn't want Helios to take "his" place - after all, abusers don't want a positive version of themselves in their victim's lives)

Enter stage left: The Olympian Rebellion.

Ohohoh...

"shit I need to ramp it up" thinks Zeus as he stares at the faces of his wife, brother, and his favorite children.

And ramp it up he does. Of course, Apollo's first stint as a mortal happens here, and man. is it bad. Troy's king is the perfect tool and metaphor for Zeus's own rule to give Apollo (and Poseidon) a taste of what else may happen if he (they) continued to defy him.

It sucks, of course. Apollo's very adamant about it not being a picnic. And for a while, after it's all over, it seems like all's well.

Of course, Zeus doesn't lay off the zaps every now and then, but it's nothing compared to later in Apollo's life.

He even considers Apollo's request to free Prometheus and grants it, because isn't he just such a considerate father?

Really, the first time he had to go gunho on Apollo with the bolt was when he and Heracles got into a fistfight - but really, what kind of king would he be if he hadn't prevented Apollo his sons from tearing Heracles each other apart?

After all, he can't show favoritism now can he?

*insert huge THIS IS SARCASM sign here*

But then...Asclepius happens. This upstart thinks he can meddle with what belongs to the gods? Well, Zeus will teach him a lesson on death - and how permanent it can be!

...he didn't take into account how Apollo would react to his son's death.

Nor the rebelliousness of the action itself.

*Alder rubs her hands together*

alrightly gang. THIS. This is it.

Apollo is turned mortal for a second time, but to Zeus's displeasure, it's actually a pretty good time for him. Admetus is friendly, and the two hit it off rather well - too well, if Apollo's very blatant, embarrassing affection is anything to go by.

Well. This just won't do!

Hmm...Thinks Zeus. What's another punishment that will let the lesson sink in?

He looks down into the Underworld.

Perfect.

So Apollo becomes a god again. He's still pretty sad, but he's feeling better - even moreso when Zeus says he's decided to make Asclepius immortal! He'll be the god of doctors!

Ecstatic, Apollo immediately agrees...and then is forced to watch as Asclepius is locked up and he's forbidden from seeing him.

Not only that, but now...Zeus brings out the eagle eye and the big guns. He alternates between nitpicking Apollo, and praising him.

And he also cranks up the voltage on the bolt, so the lesson lingers.

The Trojan War happens. Zeus simultaneously indulges and denies Apollo's wishes.

And then. *Alder gleefully rubs hands* AND THEN.

ROME HAPPENS.

BUCKLE UP THIS IS WHEN IT GOES DOWN.

Helios fades, and Apollo inherits his power. Think about that. Apollo, an already powerful god inherits the power of a Titan. And not just any Titan, but Helios.

That's a hella lotta power.

...and that's a hella lotta threat in Zeu-oops, sorry, Jupiter's eyes.

(Now Jupiter I think has differences from Zeus, but I haven't really devoted any time to drawing that line between them so stuff may change here. However, Jupiter/Jove had a emphasis on family, so my little spin on that...is right here >:))

Jupiter, like Juno, has the domain of family in Rome. He's seen as the Ultimate Dad TM. And you bet he uses that to manipulate the hell out of Apollo.

"A good son wouldn't do [insert perceived slight here]"

"What kind of example are you setting for your brothers?"

And most of all...

"What would your mother think of your attitude?"

Ow. Talk about a punch to the gut.

So yeah. Rome is when things got BAD. The bolts became a lot more constant. The emotional/psychological abuse was unbearable.

Apollo barely had anybody to go to. His options were limited.

...but the one place he did feel comfortable in was with Commodus.

(hahah, yes, I managed to reel Copollo into this too lmao)

In a classic Apollo move, our favorite god goes from one toxic influence (his father) to another (his boyfriend), really showing how ingrained the normalization of abuse/toxicity in Apollo's life is.

He has no red flag sight. He has no alarm bells.

He could walk right into a situation where the word "abuse" is labeled in CAPS and Red and he'd just go "oh shit, what did I do now?"

And his father is all to happy to "let him know" what he did "wrong".

Thanks for coming to my TEDtalk hoped this was a good ride! :D

#the oracle speaks #riordanverse headcanons #the trials of apollo #harmony & order #apollo #zeus #abuse #emotional abuse #parental abuse #physical abuse #asclepius #commodus #helios #copollo #artemis #leto #toa python #python

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teenage-mutant-ninja-freak · 1 year

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Helloo!!

I saw your witchy s/o post while looking into the tmnt tag and I'm so freaking happy someone finally wrote for a reader that practices witchcraft!!!!

If it's alright with you, and if you accept asks (I tried to look for rules but so far saw what you don't write) could I have the tmnt bois (especially Leo) with a witchy s/o that works with deities and dragons?

If not then it's totally fine! Hopefully Tumblr doesn't eat my ask so have a good day!

abso-fucking-lutely!!!! this is so fun and as a folk practitioner who works with deities this is right up my ally. If it's ok with you, I'm not gonna include dragons as that's not a practice I'm familiar with and I wouldn't want to get anything wrong. But deities I can do! I'll switch up the deities each time so there's something new with each of these as well.

Leo

"Can't, sorry, Loki said the vibe is off" you begin to leave the room and Leo is just following you like "What vibe? Who's Loki? Why is he telling you no?"

you're shuffling tarot cards and the fool pops out so you say, looking up, "I get it babes, please don't interrupt my reading like that, though" and Leo is so confused like "I din't say anything" and you just say "Not you, Loki"

eventually he tries to play into it like "Would Loki be ok if we didn't smoke cleanse the house today?" and you're just like "...yeah, I guess. But if you start feeling ill soon you'll know it's because he's pissed at you"

Leo does start feeling sick so you tell him to make an offering

he's never felt more stupid that when he pours wine into a glass on your alter but he soon feels better again and it freaks him out that it worked

"So he's a trickster god?" lots of questions like this and each time you're just like "Yes, he's a trickster, no he isn't going to hurt me, yes he fucks with me sometimes but it's all in good faith"

Raph

You wake up from a really bad nightmare

"I thought your Goddess was supposed to have power over dreams?"

"She does, something must be wrong"

you look in your offering cup and the wine has fucking moulded

"ah shit, it's mouldy. Better get her a new one"

after that you have peaceful dreams

you come home with a bunch of white roses and Raph is all "are those for me?" and you politely have to let him down and tell him they're for Selene

any time Raph has a bad dream you joke that it's because he's fallen out of favour with the Goddess for how he's treated you

fast forward to a time you and him get in a big fight and he has the worst sleep/dreams of his life for a week straight.

he comes crawling back to you practically begging you for forgiveness.

Selene gets a big offering after that

Mikey

You're clearing a space in his room for your alter since the two of you moved in together

"I need a large space, Hades like a big alter"

"What's he compensating for?" Mikey jokes

and you just shoot him this look like "Don't fuck around when it comes to him"

not even 10 minutes later one of his drums breaks

you're just like "serves you right"

you come in one morning with a cup of coffee and Mikey gets all excited like he's about to get breakfast in bed and you have to tell him that it's for Hades who likes his coffee black.

kinda freaks Mikey out when you hold a funeral for each of the dead rats you find in the lair but you have to remind him "I'm a death witch and I worship the lord of the underworld. What else am I meant to do?"

Donnie

honestly he mostly just leaves you to it

he's pretty good with his hands so when you told him you worship Artemis he made a clay stature of her for your alter

you told him he'll be in her good books after that

that night Donnie caught 10 foot clan soldiers

"well, she is the Goddess of the hunt... I told you she was happy with you"

He really takes an interest in your devotional activities

always asking questions about why you do that or the significance of this

#tmnt #witch series #witch s/o #witch so #witchy s/o #witchy so #deities #deity worship #witchcraft #tmnt x reader #tmnt imagine #tmntxreader #tmnt donnie #tmnt mikey #tmnt leo #tmnt raph

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mask131 · 2 months

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The myth of Apollo (1)

Loose translation of the article “Antique Apollo: Shadow and Light” (Apollon Antique: Ombre et Lumière), from the “Dictionary of Literary Myths” under the direction of Pierre Brunel.

THE ANTIQUE APOLLO: SHADOW AND LIGHT

In her “Nouvelle Mythologie de la Jeunesse” (New Mythology for Youth), wrote for the French school students under the rule of Charles X, madame Tardieu-Denesle tells the story of how Jupiter charged Apollo with the mission of spreading light throughout the universe: as such, every morning the god climbs in the Sun Chariot to ride through the sky until night. These poor students were such misinformed and taught to confuse two very different gods: Apollo and Helios. But miss Tardieu-Denesle can be easily forgiven, because the confusion between the two deities has been existing since a very long time…

When we want to associate the name “Apollo” with ideas, we associate him with “light”, “harmony” or “balance (equilibrium)”. Apollo means to us the Athens of Pericles, the sunrays descending upon the Acropolis, the “sôphrosunè”, this wisdom made of moderation and whose principles had been engraved on the façade of the temple of Delphi. We usually oppose (and Nietzsche greatly helped reinforced this antithesis) Apollo’s serenity with the barbaric drunkenness of Dionysos. The idea of Apollo as a god of light and harmony existed as early as Antiquity, but it does not correspond to the original character of the god – a god which has a dark face, obscured in mysterious shadow… For Apollo is a disquieting and complex god of contrasts, solar and chthonian at the same time, a bearer of life and death.

I/ The problem of the origins

The hardships of understanding the origins and the personality of Apollo appear as early as the examination of his epithets. The god is said to be “Lukeios”, an adjective that the scholars have for a very long time tied to “lukè”, the light. This etymology fits very well the most famous nickname of Apollo, “Phoibos”, “the clear”, “the shining”, “the pure” – a name that is found as early as the first lines of Homer’s Iliad and Hesiod’s Theogony. This already paves the way for the assimilation by Apollo of Helios – a fusion that already appeared within a 7th-6th century BCE text known as “The Homeric Hymn to Apollo”: “It is there that appears the ship of Apollo, the Archer Lord, under the appearance of the celestial body that shines in bright day”. This assimilation will be later reaffirmed by Aeschylus’ “Bassarids” (Bassarae?) in the 5th century: Orpheus claims in the play that the Sun is also called Apollo. In a similar way, Aeschylus identifies within the “Xantriae” Selene, the Moon, to Artemis, the daughter of Leto and sister of Apollo.

And yet Apollo, “the light one”, is also called “Loxias”, “the skew one”, “the dark one”. According to an information within the “Etymologicum Magnum” (642), this name can be explained by the character of Loxô, a daughter of Boreas that raised the young god. Let us admit this, and let us admit that the oracles of Delphi were in truth very clear: writers, nonetheless, were more concerned with dramatic effect than reality, and as such they started spreading the idea that Apollo always expressed himself in an ambiguous way, forcing mankind to interpret his predictions, with a risk of misunderstanding them and causing disasters. Aeschylus wrote in his “Agememnon”: “Yet I speak the language of Greece. Loxias does too: yet his oracles are obscure.”

Herodotus shared numerous stories about the misfortunes of mistaken humans, such as Cresus who was unable to understand that the great empire he wanted to destroy was his own and that the “mule” he had to fear was Cyrus, son of a Mede and a Persian.

The obscurity of Apollo is also found back within his ambiguous relationships to the chthonian world. He is the killer of a female dragon (drakaina) that guarded the very ancient oracle of Gaia the Earth at Delphi (according to the “Homeric Hymn to Apollo”). A famous statue depicted him as a “sauroctonus”, a “lizard killer”. He is also “Smintheus”, the “destroyer of rats” according to “Iliad”. But at Epidaurus, within the temple of his son Asklepios (whose symbolic animal was the mole, another chthonian beast), snakes crawled among those who practiced the incubation ritual. A snake also wrapped itself around the staff of the physician-god, a deity who himself sometimes appeared as a snake (Pausanias, II, 10, 3). Another son of Apollo appeared sometimes as a snake: Trophonios, who had his own underground oracle at Lebadeia. As for Apollo “killer of rats”, he might have originally been a healing rat-god: it is implied by the numerous analogies between the Greek Apollo and the Hindu Rudra (the motifs of the bow, the disease, the mole, the rat, poetry and obliquity).

As such, translating “Lukeios” by “luminescent” feels incomplete, unsatisfying. The Ancients had proposed themselves another explanation. Apollo Lukeios might have meant “killer of wolves” (lukos). “And you, god that destroys the wolves, destroy the army of our enemies” (Aeschylus’ The Seven Against Thebes), “Here is the Lycian Square, dedicated to the god killer of wolves” (Sophocles’ “Electra”). This depiction of the god is not absurd, because there are many links between Apollo and the wolf. According to Pausanias, Danaos obtained the kingship of Argos because the god sent a wolf attack a flock, and the new king had a sanctuary built for Apollo Lukios. In the same city, it was known that wolves were offered in sacrifice to Apollo. The Lyceum of Athens, dedicated to Apollo, was, also according to Pausanias, named as such in homage to a hero named “Lukos”. On coins, Apollo was sometimes associated with wolves. Apollo was a master of wild beasts, like his sister Artemis. Destroyer of wolves, protector of wolves, or maybe himself a wolf, as once was Zeus Lukaios? Indeed, according to Servius, it was under the shape of a wolf that Apollo managed to get close to the nymph Cyrene… But it might be an abuse of the theriomorphism explanation, with a risk to derive into a polytheriomorphism: after all, what can prevent us to turn the Apollo of Delphi into an ancient dolphin-god, since Apollo supposedly jumped over a Cretan ship under the shape of a dolphin (Homeric Hymn of Apollo).

There is a third explanation of the epiclesis Lukeios, which is probably the most convincing of the three. Apollo is supposed to come from Lycia, a land of Asia Minor. It is why he was called Lukégenès, “Born in Lycia”. However, it is true that “Lukegenes” is sometimes translated as “born of the wolf” – according to Aristotle’s “History of Animals” Leto, to escape Hera’s jealousy, turned herself into a she-wolf. But it is also true that this version of Apollo’s birth does not correspond to the one claiming his birthland was Delos. Antoninus Liberalis, in his “Metamorphosis”, to reconcile what seemed like contradicting stories, decided to make Delos the place where Apollo was born, and Lycia the place where Apollo went immediately afterward – even adding that Lycia was named as such by Leto because wolves showed her the way. Let us note anyway that there are many sanctuaries of Apollo within Asia Minor ; that his sister Artemis is also strongly tied to Asia Minor ; that in the “Iliad” the god fights alongside the Trojans, not the Achaean ; finally, that the palm-tree of Delos under which Leto gave birth (Homeric Hymn) is an Oriental tree…

The many interpretations of the word “Lukeios” do not exhaust the many hypothesis conceived about the origin of Apollo. For some he is an Indo-European god, close to the Hindu god Rudra. Others also claim that he is Indo-European, but rather say he comes from the North, highlighting his link to the Hyperborean. These same people like to point out that the first Greeks were nomad shepherds, and that the word “apella” (“assembly/gathering of the people”, but also “sheepfold” according to Hesychius) is very close to “Apellôn”, the name of Apollo according to the Dorians. The myth comes here to the rescue of the etymology: Apollo himself owned many different flocks, and acted as a shepherd for both Laomedon and Admetus. Dumézil analyzed all three functions typical of Indo-European societies within the speech Apollo addresses to the goddesses in the Homeric Hymn: the first (magico-religious sovereignty) appears within his allusion to the oracles, and to the lyre that is tied to the songs and dances of cultural celebrations ; the second (war) appears with the mention of the shooting bow ; the third (wealth, fecundity) appears in the gold that covers Delos, as a promise of a future prosperity.

For other scholars, the name of Apollo was originally “Pelun” – the god was as such the mythical ancestors of the Pelasgian. Finally, the “Homeric Hymn” itself gives us another path: the one leading to the Aegean world, especially Crete. Apollo of Delphi entrusted his Delphi temple to the guardianship of Cretan men from Knossos. And according to Pausanias, it is a Cretan that purified both Apollo and Artemis after the murder of the dragon – and it is a Cretan too that won the first victory at the Pythian Games.

As Robbe-Grillet wrote, the successive interpretations, by being piled up onto each other, erase each other. We can only conclude that Apollo does not have a singular origin, but that his historical personality is an amalgamation of gods coming from various countries – a succession of strata. The other epithets of the god unfortunately do not enlighten us. Apollo is called “Puthios”, but is it because he allowed the corpse of the dragon to “rot” (puthein), according to the Homeric Hymn ; or is it because, as an oracular god, he “informs” (puthestai) those that ask him questions (according to Strabon). Are the names “Paian”, “Paièôn” and “Paiôn” related to healing (the most traditional reading) or to a victory song?

#greek mythology #apollo #greek gods #apollon #helios #ancient greece #the myth of apollo

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pelideswhore · 2 years

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things we learn from the odyssey:

telemachus is hot (he has inherited odysseus’ eye and face/head shape and also his hands)

telemachus is shy and bad at socializing, cannot start/hold conversations

telemachus has two dogs

telemachus loves his mum, thinks she’s beautiful and takes care of her loads

and his dad! he wants to know everything he can about him

telemachus “why can’t you be more like your cousin” ithacides. telemachus and said cousin have never met.

menelaus regrets having started the war

hermes does not like working (who’s surprised)

odysseus is survivor of sexual assault

nausicaa looks like artemis

odysseus is the second best archer in the achaean army (after philoctetes, hercules’ bestie, aka the guy that killed paris)

circe sings while she works!

odysseus and his crew join/leave circe in autumn

agamemnon and achilles are continuing their feud in the afterlife through their alive sons

athena likes to show herself as a man to mortals. like. she does that a lot.

telemachus has trouble sleeping

menelaus displays symptoms of himbo malewife

telemachus has autism. i don’t make the rules.

the odyssey supports homeless people. fuck you america.

telemachus sneezed and penelope interprets this as an omen of death.

odysseus has, like, a dozen “that’s my girl” moments regarding penelope and it’s the cutest thing ever

odysseus was named by his grandad, and his name means “the annoyer”

there was wedding music playing during odysseus and penelope’s reunion <3

it took a month to get odysseus to leave for troy

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dccomicsimagines · 1 year

Text

Truth or Dare Valentine - Young Justice Imagine

Requested by Anon - Can you please do a young justice x reader imagine where the team just finished a mission and is just sitting in the cave bored so they decide to play truth or dare. A lot of juicy secrets are revealed and the reader also confesses their feelings for another hero (your choice)

Requested by Anon - Can we have a Valentine’s Day with the team?

Author’s Note - This are late. I’m sorry.

***

“Wally, slow down. I need to see how you do it.” You shoved at his shoulder. The two of you were sitting on the floor in the living area of the cave. Homework covered the coffee table as you struggled through calculus. Wally knew what he was doing somehow.

He sighed, leaning away from his page so you could look. “To use the power rule, multiply the variable's exponent n, by its coefficient a, then subtract 1 from the exponent.” He pointed to the quote in the book.

“English please.” You sighed before copying his work. Wally rolled his eyes and went back to it, but left his paper in your view.

“Are you cheating?” Kaldur’s voice cut you like a knife. You and Wally flinched, turning to find Kaldur taking a seat in an armchair with a book in his hand.

“Not really. There’s no cheating in Calculus,” you said. You felt heat on your cheeks, going back to copying Wally’s work before it was noticed.

“(Y/N) is the cheat. I’m just here.” Wally smirked when you smacked him.

Kaldur hummed. You peeked at him to find him reading. Taking a deep breath, you tried to relax and focus on trying to puzzle what Wally was doing.

A creepy laugh came from behind you. You rolled your eyes. “Shut up, Rob.”

“What? I can’t be whelmed at how hard Calculus is for you.” Dick hopped over the couch and sat beside you. He cupped his chin, resting his elbow on your textbook. “It’s not that difficult.”

“Says the math geek.” You elbowed him hard. He groaned, rolling on the floor like you killed him. Wally gave you both an annoyed look while Kaldur ignored all of you.

“Guys, guess what?!” M’gann flew into the room. She grinned, clapping her hands excitedly. Conner followed her. He looked bored, but a hint of a smile pulled at his lips at M’gann’s excitement. You almost rolled your eyes.

“What, babe?” Wally looked up suddenly. You wondered if he gave himself whiplash.

“Red Tornado said we could have a Valentine’s Day party!” She let out a squeal, landing next to Dick.

You quickly looked down at your homework, hiding your expression. The others seemed excited, but your heart fell. Valentine’s Day wasn’t a good day for you.

“We’re going to feel the aster.” Dick nudged your side. “What do you think, (Y/N)?”

You forced a smile on your face. “It’s great. Lots of fun.” You glanced up. M’gann was fooled by your grin, but Dick looked slightly alarmed. You quickly went back to your homework.

“What is Valentine’s Day again?” Kaldur asked. You blushed at his words.

“It’s the holiday of love.” M’gann sighed. “People confess their love for others, and be romantic. They also give a lot of candy, and you give out valentines for those you care about.”

“It’s a lot of fun.” Wally blushed. “But Valentine’s Day is only two days away? Are you going to get everything ready in time?” He frowned slightly when M’gann got a glimmer in her eye.

“That’s why we’re all going to get ready for the party.” M’gann took a small notebook out of her pocket. “Artemis, Zatanna, and Raquel are on their way. Now we’re going to divide up the tasks...”

You swallowed hard, knowing you were stuck. “Are you okay?” Dick whispered in your ear. You just shook your head, tightening your hold on your pencil to stop your hand from shaking. Dick’s hand rested on your back.

Taking a deep breath, you kept copying Wally’s work until you got to where he stopped. “I’ll be right back.” You gave everyone a false smile before practically running out of the room.

Luckily, you made it to your room before your lungs stopped working. You curled up into a ball and let yourself soak in your emotions for a few hours.

***

“So M’gann has a list.” Dick unfolded two pieces of paper. You held back a groan when you saw both were written on front and back. You, Dick, Zatanna, and Artemis were at the local big box store. Dick seemed awed by the experience while Zatanna and Artemis just seemed happy to spend money that wasn’t theirs.

“Let’s divide and conquer.” Artemis snatched one paper out of Dick’s hand. “Z and I will take this one. You and Mopey can take the other.”

You flinched at the nickname. Artemis was teasing, but it stun. Dick gave you a smile as Artemis and Zatanna grabbed a cart and headed off.

The store was decked out in red and pink. You felt sick.

Dick took a cart, gesturing toward the baby’s seat. “Want in?”

You smacked his arm. “Only if you go in first.”

Dick laughed. He rolled the cart into the store and straight into the Valentine’s section. You dragged your feet behind him, trying not to think too much.

He tossed bags of candy in the cart along with decorations. “You know we have to get valentines to give out?”

“Amazing.” You narrowed your eyes when he stopped by the display of valentines. He chuckled before picking a set of Justice League valentines with temporary tattoos inside.

“What ones you want?” Dick crossed his arms, eyeing you carefully.

You swallowed past the lump in your throat. “I’m only doing this for M’gann.” You grabbed the first box you saw and tossed it in the cart. Dick hummed, eyeing the box you tossed in.

“Paw Patrol, huh?” Dick laughed. You couldn’t even crack a smile. “Well at least the snap bracelets will have everyone feeling the aster.”

You just shook your head. “Can we just leave this section please?”

Dick shook his head. “No, we still got things to get.” He went to the next aisle. “What’s wrong? You’ve been...off ever since M’gann mentioned having the party.”

You rubbed your temples. It was going to get asked eventually. Old memories drifted back. Your heart dropped to the floor. “I don’t like Valentine’s Day.”

“Noted.” Dick eyed you carefully as you both stopped by a wall of stuffed animals. “Why?”

You took a shaky breath. “Well...you know how schools do the thing where you can pay like a dollar to send a carnation to someone.” You kept your eyes on a stupid looking bear with a giant heart in his arms.

“Sure, I’ve heard of it.” Dick shrugged. “My school does that, but to the extreme.”

“Rich people.” You snorted, shaking your head. “Well, I’m not well liked at my school.” You made your eyes drop to your feet, digging your toe into the floor. Dick shifted next to you. “I mean I hang out with Wally, but he’s a nerd, so...I’m not very popular.”

Dick snorted. “He is a nerd, but go on.” He kept his eyes on you. You felt a blush burn to your cheeks, but you kept your eyes on your feet.

“They did the carnation thing last year and I got one from someone I didn’t really know. She was in one of my classes though and I liked her.” You bit your lip when Dick touched your arm. “It said to meet her behind the school, so like an idiot I went. When I got there, she and her friends were there, laughing at me. Apparently, it was a joke.”

“That’s horrible.” Dick wrapped an arm around you. You let him, tensing slightly at the touch.

“Yeah, well, they had their laugh, called me a loser and said how no one would ever like me,” you chuckled humorlessly. “It kinda soured the holiday for me.”

Dick hummed. “Fair.” He nudged your arm, getting you to look at him. “I’m sorry.”

You shrugged, looking up at the ceiling as you blinked back the tears. “I’d rather we keep this between us.”

“Wally doesn’t know?” Dick raised an eyebrow. You and Wally went to school together.

“I didn’t tell him. He just thought I had allergies that day. He’s not very bright when he doesn’t want to be.” You felt a real laugh work it’s way out of your chest.

Dick nodded, picking up the bear you had been looking at and tossing it in the cart. “Fast feet, slow brain,” he chuckled.

Laughter bubbled in your stomach. “Good one.” You held your hand up for a high five. Dick smirked, slapping your hand with a grin. “How much more shopping do we have?”

“Not much. Most of our list was candy.” Dick handed the list to you before pushing the cart along. You followed him. The bitter feeling eating at your heart was dampen slightly. You hoped you could keep it up for the party.

***

Over the next day, the cave was filled with pre-party jitters. M’gann was everywhere, making sure the cave was properly decorated in all places. You sighed as you quickly realized the only place to get away from Valentine’s Day was your room.

That being said, on the day of the party, you struggled to leave your safe space. M’gann insisted everyone wear red or pink. You were wearing a red shirt with Dracula on it. It gave you some satisfaction, but not enough to open the door and join the party.

You paced your room. A lump formed in your throat. You could hear the laughter from those girls. Pressing a hand against your chest, you tried to slow your heart.

A knock came from your door. You jumped, almost letting out an embarrassing shriek.

“(Y/N), the party is starting,” Raquel said through the door. “Please get out here before M’gann sends Conner to drag you out.”

You let out a slow breath, calming your racing heart. “I’m coming.” You opened the door to find Raquel leaning against your door frame. She was wearing a red sweater with pink hearts on it. A smile pulled on her lips at the sight of you.

“At least you’re wearing red.” She crossed her arms, studying your shirt. You almost blushed. “Dick mentioned that you aren’t a fan of Valentine’s Day.”

“Blabbermouth.” You rolled your eyes, stepping out into the hallway and closing your bedroom door. “He promised he wouldn’t tell.”

Raquel just shook her head. “Yeah, but we were worried about you.” She smiled, nudging your shoulder. “Besides he asked me to make a Valentine’s Day box for you, so M’gann won’t be sad that you didn’t make one.”

The blush crept onto your cheeks, betraying you. “Thanks. I couldn’t bring myself to make one.”

“It’s okay. I get it, trust me.” She nodded down the hall. “I know it’s going to be hard with the décor and everything, but try to have fun. Think of it as a regular party.”

You closed your eyes. Maybe Raquel was right? Just pretend it was a normal party. You felt a slight weight lift off your chest. Suddenly, it was easier to breathe. “That’s a good idea.”

“We’re all your friends, (Y/N). Today is about new memories.” She hooked her arm in yours and pulled you along. “Come on, we got candy to eat and Wally to make fun of.”

You laughed. “Wally’s already made a fool out of himself?”

“Of course, he’s practically planning on proposing to M’gann.” Raquel shook her head, giggling as you both entered the party to enjoy the show.

***

The party remained pretty lame until about ten o’clock. Red Tornado, who had been supervising, left for Watchtower duty. Everyone sat around the living room, watching the end credits of a rom-com.

“So...should we make this party more interesting?” Zatanna asked, getting to her feet once the zeta tube went quiet. She turned off the tv.

“What do you mean?” M’gann sat up straighter, eyes widening. Conner watched her with a smile.

You bit your lip as Wally perked up. He had been moping since his failed attempt to kiss M’gann earlier. “Could we play truth or dare?” Wally said with a sneaky smirk. You met his gaze and rolled your eyes. He just wrinkled his nose at you.

“I always wanted to play truth or dare.” M’gann floated out of her seat.

“What is truth or dare?” Kaldur whispered to you. You winced.

“Truth or dare is a game. Basically, one person asks you if you want to give a truth or take a dare, you chose one and you have to answer honestly or do the dare,” you said softly. The others began to debate playing the game. Dick and Artemis were against, everyone else was for it except for Conner, who seemed indifferent.

“And if you do not answer or perform the dare?” Kaldur raised an eyebrow.

“Then you do the other and if you refuse both, then there is usually some kind of punishment.” You pursed your lips. “It can be fun.”

Kaldur nodded, quietly watching the debate before the two of you.

Artemis stood up, holding up her hands. “Fine, but I want to lay down a rule. We have a right to refuse any dare or questions that are disgusting.” She looked straight at Wally.

“Hey, why are you looking at me? If anything, you should be worried about Raquel,” Wally said, pointing at Raquel as if she was the murderess at the end of a detective novel.

Raquel rolled her eyes and laughed. “As if.”

“It sounds reasonable,” Kaldur added.

“Let’s play.” M’gann spun around in the air. “Can I go first? Someone ask me.”

Wally opened his mouth, but Dick slapped a hand over his mouth. “Truth or dare, M’gann?” Dick said, grinning.

“Rude.” Wally pouted, pushing Dick’s hand away.

“Dare.” M’gann giggled. Conner gave Dick a warning look. Dick just smiled.

“I dare you to shift into Black Canary and give Wally a lecture about common decency.” Dick chuckled his evil little laugh. You exploded with laughter along with everyone else. Wally turned as red as his hair.

M’gann shifted into Black Canary, floating down to her feet and standing over Wally with her hands on her hips. “Wallace West, how many times must we go over how to eat with your mouth closed? I don’t care how many calories you need to eat. Close your mouth when you chew. Very simple.” She leaned down and demonstrated. Wally’s eyes were wide. You sensed he was enjoying this a tad too much.

“I think this confirms he has a crush on Black Canary as well as M’gann, huh?” Zatanna whispered, giggling. You made a note to humiliate Wally with this later.

“Well, I’m feeling the aster now,” Dick said once M’gann finished and shifted back to herself. “That was great, M’gann.”

“Thanks.” She sat back next to Conner. Conner took her hand, looking at her in the way you all knew they were talking via mind link to each other. M’gann smiled before looking around the room carefully. “So I get to ask next?”

Dick nodded. “Anyone, but me.”

You wrung your hands. Luckily, she had her eyes on Raquel. “Truth or dare?”

“Truth.” Raquel grinned, sitting back in her seat with a confidence you envied.

M’gann thought for a second. “If only you and one other person is the last two people in the world, who would it be?”

“That’s a tough one.” Raquel rubbed her temple in thought. “I guess I would probably pick someone in this room.” She looked around, smirking when her gaze fell on Kaldur. Kaldur avoided her gaze. “I guess I’ll have Kaldur.

“Ooo,” Zatanna and Artemis said, giggling like mad. Everyone laughed while Kaldur just gave Raquel a shy smile.

Raquel looked around the room. Wally raised his hand. “Pick me. Come on,” he whined, almost falling out of his seat.

“Oh fine, Wally. Truth or dare?” Raquel shook her head.

“Dare,” he said, puffing out his chest.

Dick laughed. “This is going to be good.” You pressed your hand over your mouth to hold back the volcano of laughter that threatened to escape. It took all you had not to get your phone out to record.

Raquel smirked. “Okay...” She pursed her lips in thought. “I dare you to not talk for the next half an hour.”

Wally deflated. He opened his mouth, but quickly closed it.

“Oh my god, silence. For once.” Artemis sighed loudly, making everyone laugh.

Wally crossed his arms, glaring. You snapped a picture as your phone was unable to stay in your pocket. Wally’s eyes flashed at the sight. You didn’t realize then, you created your worst nightmare.

***

Over the next half an hour, you learned Conner went commando on a regular basis, that Dick was involved in the creation of the make out closet at his school, M’gann liked to pretend to be Black Canary with Conner (that one might have scarred the whole team), and that Artemis would rather marry the Joker than anyone else in the whole world.

Kaldur took a dare. Conner dared him to go out and find a seashell. He did that with ease. M’gann took Conner aside afterwards to explain how dares were supposed to be more...interesting than that.

You only had to reveal that you wet the bed until you were ten. Embarrassing, but you would live.

Meanwhile, Wally stayed quiet. He kept looking at you strangely. You wondered what was wrong. It was funny, but you were starting to have fun, forgetting it was a Valentine’s Day party.

“Okay, Wally. You won your dare,” Raquel said when her phone’s timer went off.

“Good.” Wally smirked at you. You raised an eyebrow at him. “So I get to pick someone, right?” Raquel nodded.

“Wasn’t that nice? Being quiet?” Artemis mocked, tossing a pillow at Wally. Wally caught it, unamused.

“Har, Har.” He threw the pillow back at her. She dodged it with a laugh. Wally looked straight at you. “(Y/N), truth or dare?”

A chill ran down your spine. Goosebumps rose on your skin. You didn’t like what was in his eyes. “Truth,” you said. Truth was safer than dare, you thought.

“Okay.” Wally smirked, a dangerous glint in his eye. “Why does everyone at school call you Gullible Rose behind your back?”

Time froze. Your blood ran cold as you felt the smile drop from your face. Tears filled your eyes. Wally just smiled rather evilly.

Everyone else fell silent at your expression. Dick got to his feet. “(Y/N), don’t answer that,” Dick snapped. His face flushed.

“What? Are you scared?” Wally rolled his eyes, watching you. You glimpsed a brief hesitation in his eyes. You bit your lip. Wally didn’t know, he didn’t mean any harm. At least that’s what you tried to tell yourself.

You took a deep breath. “It’s okay.” You gave Wally a shaky smile. “You really don’t know? Or are you being mean?”

Wally blinked in surprise. Everyone glanced between the two of you. “(Y/N), you don’t have to answer. You can ask the next person,” M’gann said, frowning slightly. You were sure this broke her illusion of Truth or Dare.

“No, it’s okay.” You held up a hand. “The last thing I want is for Wally to claim I didn’t play by the rules. I mean I already copy his homework.” You let out a fake laugh that no one joined you in.

“(Y/N), you don’t have to.” Dick crossed the room and sat down beside you. “You really don’t.”

Letting out a breath you didn’t know you were holding, you looked straight at Wally. “Last Valentine’s Day, I got sent a carnation at school. It said to meet my special someone behind the school. I did, only to find a group of the popular girls there to call me a loser and make fun of me. That’s why they call me Gullible Rose. Stupid really, because it was a carnation, not a rose, but whatever.”

Raquel patted your shoulder in support. Wally’s shoulders dropped. His mouth twitched. You knew he knew who the people were in the story, but honestly, it hurt to say their names.

“That’s why...oh, I’m sorry, (Y/N),” Artemis said genuinely. Zatanna nodded beside her, tears in her eyes.

M’gann started to cry. Conner hugged her. “(Y/N) was bullied. I thought that only happened in movies,” M’gann said, muffled by Conner’s shirt.

“I’m fine, guys. I’m over it.” You waved your hand, trying to smile. However, a frown kept pulling at your lips. Your eyes burned with tears.

“No, you are not.” Kaldur reached over to pat your knee. “And that is alright.”

Wally jumped to his feet. Everyone looked at him. You blinked at how red his face was. His hands trembled. “M’gann, you still have eggs in the fridge?”

“Yes? Why?” M’gann sniffled, pulling away from Conner.

Wally sped to the kitchen and came back with the two full egg cartons. “We’re heading out.” Wally balanced both cartons in one hand and held the other out to you. “Come on, (Y/N). It’s time for some revenge.”

You blinked before that smile you been trying for finally appeared. “Really?”

He nodded. You took his hand and stood up. “Really.”

“Wait, are we doing what I think we’re doing?” Raquel laughed, rubbing her hands together in glee.

“Batman is going to kill me, but it’s worth it.” Dick nudged your side, smirking.

M’gann and Conner looked confused. Artemis and Zatanna quietly explained it to them and soon all four were grinning in anticipation.

Kaldur held up a hand. “I should be worried, yes?”

“Nah, you’ll be fine.” Raquel kissed his cheek and took his hand to lead him out of the room.

Wally handed you a carton of eggs. “Thanks, Walls,” you whispered as you both followed the others toward the zeta tube.

“Hey, you’d do the same for me.” Wally winked at you. You laughed for real, lighter than air.

***

After leaving Kaldur and Raquel as lookout, the rest of the team stood outside your former crush’s house. The lights were off, but her car was in the driveway.

“So what’s the plan, Baywatch?” Artemis whispered. She gently tossed an egg in her hand.

“(Y/N) gets to throw first.” Wally nodded for you to take an egg out of the carton in your hand.

“I think you should go for the car,” Dick whispered softly in your ear. You rocked on your feet, biting your lip. Butterflies fluttered in your stomach. You didn’t know if they were from excitement or fear or a mix of the two.

You opened your carton and took the cool egg in your hand. It was smooth, you rolled it with your fingers. Wally gave you a smile. “Go for the car,” he said. “She loves the car.”

M’gann tittered behind you, eyes wide with an innocence akin to a child using a swear word for the first time. Artemis and Zatanna hushed her.

“The car huh?” You rolled your shoulder before throwing the egg. It splattered against the rear windshield. A giggle slipped out of you at the sight. “That was fun.”

“Feels good, doesn’t it?” Artemis said as she threw hers and got the side mirror. “Best part if she doesn’t catch it, she’ll have fried eggs on her car in the morning.”

“Ooo, let me get the other one,” Zatanna giggled, taking aim. She threw her egg, but it was a weak throw. As the egg began to fall toward the driveway, Zatanna whispered, “Tih eht edis rorrim.” The egg disappeared only to appear shattered on the other side mirror a moment later.

Everyone laughed, trying to keep quiet. “Nice save,” Dick chuckled softly. He threw his egg, hitting the tail light of the car. “Feeling the aster tonight!”

M’gann hushed him. “Don’t we have to be quiet?” she said through the mind link. A nearby house’s lights turned on. Everyone froze.

“Duck.” Wally grabbed you and pulled you down behind a nearby trash can. Dick, Artemis, Zatanna, and Conner crouched down. M'gann blended in with her Martian camouflage. A shadow passed by the window of the house before the light turned off again.

“We should go. I don’t want you all to get into trouble,” you said, getting to your feet.

“Come on, we have to get rid of all these eggs.” Wally stood back up and threw another egg. It slammed against the trunk. “Besides, we won’t get caught.”

You bit your lip. Taking the cool egg in your hand, you threw it and hit the back bumper.

Everyone kept tossing until only one egg was left. You glanced at Conner, who stood watching the other houses. He hadn’t taken a turn. You went to him and handed him an egg. “Last one. Make it count for me.” He frowned, but you smiled at him brightly.

“Are you sure?” Conner eyed the egg before glancing at the car. “This is your revenge.”

You glanced back at Wally who was goofing off with Dick. “Yeah, go ahead. Besides, this is good life experience for you.” Conner raised an eyebrow. “M’gann will think it’s cool.” He looked at M’gann who quickly looked away blushing.

A rare smirk pulled at Conner’s lip. He took aim. Your eyes widened as his muscles tensed. Wally clapped a hand on your shoulder just as glass shattering filled the night air. The team froze.

The car’s rear windshield was gone. The car alarm blared. Conner bit his lip. Lights turned on in the former crush’s house as well as every house on the block. “Run,” Wally shouted, grabbing your arm to pull you with him.

Everyone ran in different directions. Wally scooped you up in his arms and sped through the backyards of the houses. You couldn’t stop yourself from laughing breathlessly. Pressing a hand against your mouth, you tried to keep quiet.

“That’s the last time we let Conner egg something,” Wally chuckled, slowly to a stop outside of a closed convenience store. He set you on your feet.

Laughter bubbled out of you. “Noted.” You leaned against the store window and caught your breath. “Thanks Walls. I honestly wasn’t looking forward to this day or the party.”

“I’m sorry I brought it up like I did. I was an ass.” Wally crossed his arms, looking down at his feet. “And I’m sorry I didn’t realize what happened earlier. I should have known.”

You shrugged, brushing off invisible dirt from your jeans. “It’s not your fault. Besides, you made it better. I can’t wait to hear about this at school.” You nudged his shoulder as you both started to walk toward the nearest zeta tube. “I hope the rest of the team got away.”

Wally winced. “They’ll be fine, I hope.” He blushed. “Or we’ll die by Batman’s hand.”

You rolled your eyes, snorting. Looking up at the night sky, you let out a deep breath. Your heart fluttered. Valentine’s Day wasn’t so bad with a group of friends that would do anything for you. You glanced at Wally again and wrapped your arm around him. He laughed, half hugging you back.

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lumityfication · 10 months

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ranking my favorite percabeth scenes (in pjo only not hoo) because i need to get this off my chest

(disclaimers that this is def pretty percy centric but that’s bc pjo is from his pov, i haven’t reread hoo recently enough!! and ik the first scene im mentioning is also very popular but i feel like we can always be talking about it more. this is my ramble i can do what i want)

1. for me my favorite scene in any rick riordan book will be when annabeth takes the knife for percy in TLO and then when they’re on the rooftop afterwards. she’s literally his achilles heel. he didn’t tell her where his weak spot is but she took the knife anyway. Get back no one touches her. him letting her feel the spot on his back. You’re cute when you’re worried your eyebrows get all scrunched up. sorry i’m crazy

2. when they got paired up for war games in BOTL and percy said “nice” and annabeth just said “your armor’s crooked” and fixed his straps. I think about it so often

3. annabeth sitting with percy at the poseidon table in BOTL. She was sitting next to me. i mean Right next to me. him saying he liked the fact that she broke the rules to sit w him. the other campers looking….. they’re besties your honor

4. when they’re doing the cabin inspections in TLO and annabeth is cleaning up her stuff in the athena cabin and she’s like This whole thing with beckendorf and silena makes you think about what’s important. about losing people that are important and percy short circuiting and thinking abt how he could only focus on the earrings she was wearing. i hold them in my hands

5. percy’s panic when he thought annabeth was going to go with the hunters of artemis. he literally just got her back he was so scared that he’d lose her for real this time … the way he stutters makes me spin in a circle really fast like i just love the ttc angst pushing them into realizing what they truly mean to each other

6. underrated SOM moment is after scylla and charybdis when it’s just percy and annabeth in a little lifeboat before arriving at circe’s island, and when percy snaps at annabeth and she apologizes hes like i can’t resent her we’ve been through so much together there’s no point in holding a grudge…. my babies!!! (SOM percabeth is just too underrated like to me it’s when they really start to understand each other, what makes them tick, what the other has gone through, it puts them on the same page which sets up their dynamic in the rest of the series)

7. when annabeth is passed out in SOM and they have the fleece on her and percy whispers “you’re a genius” to her because he promised to tell her that if they made it out alive 😭😭

8. percabeth in the attic in TLO getting the great prophecy and reminiscing and then locking eyes and percy remembering another time they were alone together when annabeth kissed him in mt st helens. crazy scene it’s CRAZY

9. annabeth’s reaction when percy shows up back at camp after being at calypsos island. he was the bravest person i’d ever known… he’s…. HES RIGHT THERE!! is just SO ICONIC and her hugging him so fiercely :(((( he literally crashes his own funeral and annabeth being mad at him but also clearly incredibly relieved makes my heart ache even if it’s silly. such a tragedy that we don’t get annabeths pov in pjo because i would have loved to know how she was feeling in the like two weeks where she thought percy was gone

and then there’s obvious ones like the underwater kiss, “a kiss for good luck it’s kind of a tradition right”, mt st helens, aphrodite looking like annabeth, giving up immortality, and pretty much everything percabeth in TLT i feel like is discussed so much too bc of the show lmao

anyways girls when they reread pjo and notice even more little percabeth moments every time they read it 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫🤯🤯🤯😭😭😭😭😭😭

#sorry if i clog up the tags w these rambles but if anyone else feels as insane as i do abt these moments i want to be discussing it #percy jackson #percabeth #percy jackon and the olympians #pjo #annabeth chase

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aurumacadicus · 9 months

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There are still a couple weeks left to read The Lightning Thief, but we're voting for our next book now so we have plenty of time to get it for the first day of reading on October first! Book summaries are under the cut! Each new title is in bold for clarity.

If you'd like to join the book club, now or for the next book, feel free to send me an ask and I'll give you the link to our Discord!

The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women by Kate Moore

The Curies’ newly discovered element of radium makes gleaming headlines across the nation as the fresh face of beauty, and wonder drug of the medical community. From body lotion to tonic water, the popular new element shines bright in the otherwise dark years of the First World War.

Meanwhile, hundreds of girls toil amidst the glowing dust of the radium-dial factories. The glittering chemical covers their bodies from head to toe; they light up the night like industrious fireflies. With such a coveted job, these “shining girls” are the luckiest alive—until they begin to fall mysteriously ill.

But the factories that once offered golden opportunities are now ignoring all claims of the gruesome side effects, and the women’s cries of corruption. And as the fatal poison of the radium takes hold, the brave shining girls find themselves embroiled in one of the biggest scandals of America’s early 20th century, and in a groundbreaking battle for workers’ rights that will echo for centuries to come.

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

A female apothecary secretly dispenses poisons to liberate women from the men who have wronged them – setting three lives across centuries on a collision course.

Rule #1: The poison must never be used to harm another woman.

Rule #2: The names of the murderer and her victim must be recorded in the apothecary’s register.

One cold February evening in 1791, at the back of a dark London alley in a hidden apothecary shop, Nella awaits her newest customer. Once a respected healer, Nella now uses her knowledge for a darker purpose – selling well-disguised poisons to desperate women who would kill to be free of the men in their lives. But when he new patron turns out to be a precocious twelve-year-old named Eliza Fanning, an unexpected friendship sets in motion a string of events that jeopardizes Nella’s world and threatens to expose the many women whose names are written in her register.

In present-day London, aspiring historian Caroline Parcewell spends her tenth wedding anniversary alone, reeling from the discovery of her husband’s infidelity. When she finds an old apothecary vial near the river Thames, she can’t resist investigating, only to realize she’s found a link to the unsolved “apothecary murders” that haunted London over two centuries ago. As she deepens her search, Caroline’s life collides with Nella’s and Elizas in a stunning twist of fate – and not everyone will survive.

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

The boys of Huaxia dream of pairing up with girls to pilot Chrysalises, giant transforming robots that can battle the mecha aliens that lurk beyond the Great Wall. It doesn’t matter that the girls often die from the mental strain.

When 18-year-old Zetian offers herself up as a concubine-pilot, it’s to assassinate the ace male pilot responsible for her sister’s death. But she gets her vengeance in a way nobody expected—she kills him through the psychic link between pilots and emerges from the cockpic unscathed. She is labeled an Iron Widow, a much-feared and much-silenced kind of female pilot who can sacrifice boys to power up Chrysalises instead.

To tame her unnerving yet invaluable mental strength, she is paired up with Li Shimin, the strongest and most controversial male pilot in Huaxia. But now that Zetian has had a taste of power, she will not cower so easily. She will miss no opportunity to leverage their combined might and infamy to survive attempt after attempt on her life, until she can figure out exactly why the pilot system works in its misogynist way—and stop more girls from being sacrificed.

Artemis by Andy Weir

Jazz Bashara is a criminal.

Well, sort of. Life on Artemis, the first and only city on the moon, is tough if you’re not a rich tourist or an eccentric billionaire. So smuggling in the occasional harmless bit of contraband barely counts, right? Not when you’ve got debts to pay and your job as a porter barely covers the rent.

Everything changes when Jazz sees the chance to commit the perfect crime, with a reward too lucrative to turn down. But pulling off the impossible is just the start of her problems, as she learns that she’s stepped squarely into a conspiracy for control of Artemis itself—and that now, her only chance at survival lies in a gambit even riskier than the first.

The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang

An epic historical military fantasy, inspired by the bloody history of China’s twentieth century and filled with treachery and magic.

When Rin aced the Keju—the Empire-wide test to find the most talented youth to learn at the Academies—it was a shock to everyone: to the test officials, who couldn’t believe an orphan from Rooster Province could pass without cheating; to Rin’s guardians, who believed they’d finally be able to marry her off and further their criminal enterprise; and to Rin herself, who realized she was finally free of the servitude and despair that made up her daily existence. That she got into Sinegard—the most elite military school in Nikan—was even more surprising.

But surprises aren’t always good.

Because being a dark-skinned peasant girl from the south is not an easy thing at Sinegard. Targeted from the outset by rival classmates for her color, poverty, and gender, Rin discovers she possesses a lethal, unearthly power—an aptitude for the nearly-mythical art of shamanism. Exploring the depths of her gift with the help of a seemingly insane teacher and psychoactive substances, Rin learns that gods long thought dead are very much alive—and that mastering control over those powers could mean more than just surviving school.

For while the Nikara Empire is at peace, the Federation of Mugen still lurks across a narrow sea. The militarily advanced Federation occupied Nikan for decades after the First Poppy War, and only barely lost the continent in the Second. And while most of the people are complacent to go about their lives, a few are aware that a Third Poppy War is just a spark away…

Rin’s shamanic powers may be the only way to save her people. But as she finds out more about the god that has chosen her, the vengeful Phoenix, she fears that winning the war may cost her humanity…and that it may already be too late.

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

Simon Snow is the worst Chosen One who’s ever been chosen.

That’s what his roommate, Baz, says. And Baz might be evil and a vampire and a complete git, but he’s probably right.

Half the time, Simon can’t even make his wand work, and the other half, he starts something on fire. His mentor’s avoiding him, his girlfriend broke up with him, and there’s a magic-eating monster running around, wearing Simon’s face. Baz would be having a field day with all this, if he were here – it’s their last year at the Watford School of Magicks, and Simon’s infuriating nemesis didn’t even bother to show up.

Carry On – The Rise and Fall of Simon Snow is a ghost story, a love story and a mystery. It has just as much kissing and talking as you’d expect from a Rainbow Rowell story – but far, far more monsters.

Here, The World Entire by Anwen Kya Hayward

After being accused of desecrating Athena’s temple and subsequently cursed with monstrousness, Medusa lives alone on the outskirts of the world, secluding herself from everyone so as to keep both herself and the rest of the world safe. When Perseus comes to ask for her help, Medusa tries desperately to make him leave, but no matter what she does, Perseus stays. As the days wear on and she reveals more about the events that led her to the cave, it becomes obvious that there is a choice to make: stay safe and alone, or re-enter the world with Perseus. One question still remains, however: what does Perseus want?

#polls #book club

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toaarcan · 6 months

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One of my favourite spaceflight facts is that, due to some heavy technicalities on what the universally accepted definition of an astronaut is, and the intense secrecy surrounding the Soviet Union at the time, the entire Vostok program, AKA the thing that first took humans into space, technically doesn't count and everyone just agrees to ignore that.

Submitting my claim that Vostok is actually the cutest spacecraft ever, which is an entirely normal statement.

When they sat down and defined what counts as a successful manned flight, part of the requirements included the astronaut(s) landing in the vehicle. But Vostok didn't do that. Instead, the Vostok cosmonauts ejected from the vehicle after re-entry and parachuted to the ground separately. This continued until the later Voskhod missions, where they ripped out the ejector seat so they could fit more guys inside (and on the second one, one guy and an inflatable airlock so one of them could do the first spacewalk), and put in a rollcage so that landing inside the vehicle wouldn't turn them to goo.

But by the time Voskhod 1 blasted off from Baikonur, all of the Mercury flights had already been flown, so this means that, according to the rules, America technically completed the first manned space flights.

Another technicality was added to the list a couple of years back, when the guys that make the rules futzed with said rules in order to deny Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson astronaut status, because fuck 'em. Now, in order to be an astronaut, you have to actually do something on the flight, otherwise you're just a passenger. And many of the Vostok flights were indeed more like passengers than crew. The Vostok spacecraft is pretty much a big satellite with a passenger compartment and a re-entry module, and it's fully automated.

So why didn't these technicalities get called out? The USA and USSR were never shy about trying to embarrass each other, or make each other look foolish on the world stage. One of the biggest reasons why we know the Moon Landing Conspiracy Theory is total stupidity is that the USSR congratulated NASA on the successful landing, because if it had been recorded on a soundstage in Area 51, the Soviets would've been the first to call bullshit.

Well, part of it is just that the Americans didn't know about the specifics of the Vostok program at the time. Whereas the American space program was a very public affair with cheering crowds showing up to watch every launch, the Soviets were much, much more clandestine than that. Baikonur is in the middle of the Kazakh desert, and the Soviets were keen to lie about anything that went wrong.

When their attempt at a moon rocket, the N1, endured four successive failures on launch, mostly caused by the Soviets lacking the funding and the facilities to properly test the thing, and instead just had to launch fully built rockets and hope they worked, the Soviets simply scrapped the last two and declared that they'd never intended to go to the Moon and were all about Earth orbit instead.

The N1 was actually more powerful than the Saturn V, but because it never reached operational status and the Soviets preferred to pretend it didn't exist, the Saturn V remained the world's most powerful rocket until Artemis 1 flew last year. A similar situation is happening now, with SpaceX's Superheavy being more powerful than the SLS, but also being basically a giant bomb at the moment.

Most Americans had no idea how Vostok worked, and didn't even know what it looked like. They didn't get to see what a Soviet spacecraft actually looked like up close until the Apollo-Soyuz mission in 1975.

Behold, the setting for the most expensive handshake in history.

By the time the full details came out, the world had known that the Soviets did it first for decades, and challenging that doesn't really do much for anyone besides the people that want to go "Um, ackchully" about everything.

Additionally, the rules weren't even written yet at the time, so there's even less reason to start changing shit up now. Vostok might be technically breaking the rules, but nobody cares, and downplaying the immense technical achievements of Sergei Korolev, Yuri Gagarin, and everyone else that worked on the early Soviet spaceflights on account of a rules quirk that wasn't even written yet is just kinda dumb.

(Random sidenote, Korolev was the chief designer of much of the USSR's early spacecraft, including the R7 rocket that carried both Sputnik and Vostok into space, and still carries some of the Soyuz flights to this day. And, like pretty much every major achievement of the USSR, he wasn't Russian. He was, in fact, Ukrainian.)

#Vostok #Vostok 1 #Yuri Gagarin #Sergei Korolev #Apollo #Soyuz #Apollo-Soyuz #N1 Rocket #R7 Rocket #Voskhod #Space Flight #Space Travel #Space #History

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scriptorsapiens · 8 months

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Classicstober Day 5: Chiron (𐀐𐀂𐀫)

Since I'm trying to stay away from direct depictions of the divine, and Chiron is a fully divine son of Cronus, I decided to focus on Chiron's students. From the top and going clockwise they are Medus, Actaeon, Aristaeus, Achilles, Asclepius, and Jason.

Medus (𐀕𐀈) was the son of the sorceress Medea (who we will meet later) and Aegeus, the king of Athens and the father of Theseus (who we will also meet). After Theseus returned and claimed the throne of Athens for himself Medus and his mother were both forced to flee. Mother and son have a fascinating story that eventually leaves Medus as the king of Colchis, but that's a bit too much to share here. Design-wise, Medus takes after his mother in palette, though his hair is a bit darker than hers, and even wears some of his mother's Colchian metal jewelry; I doubt Medea would let her son, even in exile, look shabby.

Actaeon (𐀀𐀪𐀓𐀲𐀂𐀃) was the demigod son of Aristaeus and a great hunter. The versions vary, such to the point I don't think there is a single definitive version, but all of them involve the same two elements: he offended a goddess (usually Artemis) and was killed by his hunting dogs. The way I would tell it, Actaeon was a great hunter and as a demigod had a very high opinion of what he was owed and allowed to do in the world. For this reason, when he stumbled upon Artemis and her hunters bathing, he did not look away and instead came back to spy on them. Artemis therefore turned him into a deer and allowed his hounds to devour him. I borrowed from early classical depictions of Actaeon by depicting him with antlers.

Aristaeus (𐀀𐀭𐀲𐀂𐀃) was the demigod son of Apollo and the mortal Cyrene, who eventually went on to found and rule the city that bears her name. The city is located in modern Libya, so I decided to depict Aristaeus as a Libyan. In addition to being Chiron's student, Aristaeus had apprenticeships with many gods, and after he was made immortal by Gaia he became the patron of many of these rustic arts, most prominently bee keeping. In Boetia he is often depicted with wings, like a wind-god, so I decided to mix that in too.

Achilles (𐀀𐀑𐀩𐀄) and Asclepius (𐀀𐀱𐀐𐀠𐀃) are going to appear later, so all I will say is that Achilles is wearing a Mycenaean panoply.

Jason (𐀂𐀀𐀰) sucks, all my homies hate Jason, but he was one of Chiron's students so he gets to appear here. In Edith Hamilton's Mythology (which, rereading now is VERY MUCH a 1960s white man's book) he is described as having long hair and wearing a leopard skin cloak. Descriptions of Classical characters are rare, so when I find them I run like hell with them. I offset the 'prettiness' of his long hair with a more rugged chin and some sailor's stubble.

Chiron (𐀐𐀂𐀫) is depicted as the small figure in the middle. To differentiate him from the more bestial centaurs I have borrowed from the Classical tradition of depicting him with clothes (though I draw the line at human legs).

#classicstober #medus #actaeon #aristaeus #achilles #asclepius #jason and the argonauts #chiron #greek mythology #mycenaean #linear b #greek myth art #tagamemnon

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the-al-chemist · 8 months

Text

On This Wild Night — Part Five

Notes: there are five consecutive lines of this chapter that reduced me to tears whilst writing. They’re not even sad or happy or anything, I’m just an emotional mess. A warning for drunken dad dancing and an incredibly lightly described intimate scene. Anyway, thanks to all who’ve been reading, especially those who have liked/commented/reblogged along the way. Means the world as always. Lots of love x

Previous — Masterlist

Arthur Weasley was drunk. Artemis had never seen him this drunk before. She might have actually preferred drunk Arthur to regular Arthur. Drunk Arthur was definitely more fun to dance with.

“Muggles call this one ‘the sprinkler’,” he informed Artemis, demonstrating a dance move.

“That’s a great one,” replied Artemis, copying him. “Arthur, what actually is a sprinkler?”

“I have absolutely no idea!”

Artemis laughed out loud as Arthur stopped ‘sprinkling’ and started to bob up and down, pinching his nose with one hand and wiggling the finger of the other hand.

“Where did you learn to dance like that?” she asked him.

“At a wedding, of course! Muggleborn friends. Excellent fun.”

“As fun as this wedding?”

“No, this is the best wedding I’ve ever been to,” said Arthur. He suddenly stopped dancing, and leaned in towards Artemis. “Don’t tell my wife I said that.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t.”

“It’s not that I didn’t enjoy my own wedding. But, as a rule, weddings are more fun when you're not the one getting married. Less stressful, much less pressure.”

“Even if you’re making a speech?”

“Ah, that’s nothing,” Arthur said, swiping each of his hands across in front of his eyes with the two first fingers extended in a V-shape. “Just do what Ron and I did before ours.”

“What was that?”

“Drink.”

Artemis grinned. No wonder Arthur was dancing so flamboyantly.

“No, I love weddings,” Arthur continued. He put his fists in front of his chest, stuck his elbows out to the sides, and flapped them like a bird. “A whole day dedicated to people being in love with each other, and bringing their families together. What could be better than that?”

It was lucky, really, that the music was so loud. It meant that Artemis was able to get away with not saying anything in response to Arthur’s question. She forced a smile, and nodded her head in time to the music.

“Of course, today is a bit different,” said Arthur, not seeming to notice Artemis’ discomfort with where the conversation was heading, “because Harry’s been a part of our family for so long. It’s just that it’s all above board now. Official.”

“Yeah. Right,” said Artemis, her smile slipping from her face.

“It’s funny, him being my son-in-law. You know, I already thought of him as a son, in some ways. Molly, too. Adding the ‘in-law’ bit seems formal. Legal. I think it’s a bit of a downgrade, don’t you?”

“I dunno.”

“I think they need a new word. For sons and daughters that aren’t technically yours but might as well be. Maybe out-law. That would definitely suit you.”

“What do you mean, me?”

“Well, you’re already part of the family. Have been for years, haven’t you?” Arthur started to walk backwards without taking his heels off the ground between steps. Artemis had stopped dancing. She might have stopped breathing. “Maybe we should start calling you our daughter-out-law. I’ll suggest it to Molly later. I think she’ll like having a name for what you are to us. Naming things makes them less complicated, I’d say.”

Artemis threw her arms around Arthur with such force that he stumbled slightly, and almost toppled over.

“Sorry,” she said, letting go and using her arm to steady him. “I just… Thank you for saying that, Arthur.”

“What?”

“That I’m family.”

“Why would you not be?”

“Well, I’m not married.”

“Doesn’t matter. At the end of the day, all that comes down to is a signature on a piece of paper. Family is more than that. It’s not about blood, or paperwork, it’s about love. Just love.”

“You know, Muggles say that love is all you need,” Artemis said, within a smile that she didn’t even have to force.

“I’m not surprised. They’re ingenious, Muggles are.”

Artemis giggled as Arthur started to dance away from her, his daughter-out-law, and towards Fleur, his daughter-in-law, who regarded him with a look that was made up of amusement, endearment, and disdain, each in equal measure.

The music changed abruptly, and became slower. Artemis smiled as she recognised the song, and looked to see who she would need to congratulate on their superior taste in music.

She turned towards the gramophone and saw Charlie stood next to it, pocketing his wand and looking straight at her. She sighed, and crossed her arms in front of her chest, though she felt considerably less angry now. At some point in the last two hours, her burning rage had given way to a mild niggling annoyance without her even realising it.

Charlie walked over to her and held out his hands.

“May I?” he asked, and she looked at him sceptically.

“Depends. Are you still planning on moving to New Zealand?”

“No, I’m not.”

“Then yes, you may.”

“Thank you,” said Charlie, smiling so that his dimples showed and fine lines crinkled at the corners of his eyes.

He took her hands in his, and led her to the doorway of the marquee, where the music was a little quieter, and there was less bustle and noise from the party guests. The cool air of the garden brushed Artemis’ skin, a welcome change from the cloying heat that had built up inside the marquee, and the crescent moon could be seen hovering over the outline of the house. Charlie placed Artemis’ hands on his chest and slid his own around her waist so that they came to rest on the small of her back.

“So,” said Charlie, stepping slowly so that the two of them swayed ever so gently from side to side, “I spoke to my mum.”

“And?”

“I told her the score, and she’s going to stop hassling you now.”

“Thank you,” Artemis said, her voice barely more than a whisper.

“You’re welcome. I also did a bit of thinking, and I came to realise that I’ve maybe not been the best boyfriend in the world today.”

“How so?”

“Well, I’ve neglected you a little. I mean, I left you at the church so I could… ush, and again at dinner with Percy and Audrey so that I could suck up to Kingsley. Then I was mucking around with my brothers after the speeches, and I didn’t take you back to the house after you fell over, which would have stopped the whole fiasco with Mum.”

“Charlie, none of those things are bad.” Artemis frowned. “We are our own people, we don’t have to be together all the time. And I didn’t need you to take me anywhere, I was fine.”

“I know you were. If I’m being honest, I mainly came over because I didn’t want to look like I didn’t care as much as the others,” Charlie admitted. Artemis nodded; she had guessed as much. “Still, I feel bad about it now. Not just that, but... It’s just that today was always going to be kind of difficult emotionally for everyone, and I’ve been trying to make sure things are okay for everyone, and I forgot that maybe I should’ve been making sure things were okay for you. That today was going to be difficult for you, too.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, like at dinner. I was trying so hard to impress Kingsley that I didn’t really think how hard it must have been for you to be there opposite Teddy. I know how much he reminds you of Tonks, and I just stole Kingsley away from you and left you to deal with that on your own.”

Artemis said nothing. Charlie moved his left hand off her waist and used it to push a strand of hair back from her face, and she felt some of the tension that had risen in her when he mentioned Tonks’ son dissipate.

“And I acted like a total arse when you were upset about what Mum said to you.”

“It wasn’t your finest moment,” Artemis agreed, and both of them grinned. “But it wasn’t mine either. I shouldn’t have threatened you or shouted at you like I did. I overreacted a bit. I’m sorry.”

“Apology accepted, but I shouldn’t have needed you to shout or threaten me to talk to Mum about it. It was obvious that she’d upset you, I should have gone to her voluntarily to sort that out for you. At the very least, I should have been more sympathetic about it. And I don’t think you’d have reacted that badly if I had been a bit more… attentive to you earlier in the day. I’m sorry.”

“Apology accepted.”

“Thank Merlin for that,” said Charlie, and he lifted Artemis’ hand to his lips. He kissed the heel of it, then closed his own hand over it. Artemis smiled.

“Why weren’t you being more attentive?” she asked him. “You normally are. Even your mum and Ginny said so.”

Charlie paused before answering, “I think… I think my head’s just been a bit all over the place today.”

“Because of Fred?”

“Mainly. And Tonks. And Ginny.”

“Ginny’s right there.”

“I know, but it’s weird. She’s the youngest of all of us, and… I don’t know. She’s meant to be the baby, and now we are at her wedding.”

“Yeah. I understand.”

“And I don’t know why, but as soon as all of us siblings get together, we all suddenly revert to being like we were when we were kids.” Charlie grinned sheepishly. “I know that’s not really an excuse, but…” He swallowed. “Like I said, I’m sorry. Are we alright now?”

Artemis nodded. “More than alright.”

As she rose up onto her toes to kiss him, Charlie smiled hopefully.

“So, does that mean you’ll try and catch the bouquet for me?” he asked her.

“What’s the prize money?”

“Ten Galleons, including the two I put in.”

“That’s not bad,” said Artemis. She considered it for a moment, her eyes narrowed with scepticism. “You’re not going to spend all that money on dragons, though, are you?”

“No, ‘course not. I was thinking that I’d take you out for dinner.”

“Dinner?”

“Fancy dinner. One of those places with all the tiny little portions. I’ll buy you the world’s smallest ever Bakewell tart.”

Artemis pursed her lips and cocked her head.

“Will you wear that suit?” she asked.

“I will if you wear that bra.”

“Deal.”

“Just remember, this place is going to be really classy.” Charlie raised his eyebrows. “You can’t go taking your knickers off at the dinner table.”

“I probably just won’t wear any.”

Artemis gave Charlie a mischievous smile. He chuckled as he placed a kiss on her forehead, before resting his chin on top of her head.

“I love you.”

“You too.”

The song ended, and another started, faster and more lively than the one before. A broad smile spread across Artemis’ face as she recognised the tune. Judging by the way Charlie’s lips had twitched into a near-smirk, he’d chosen that one, too. He really was attentive. Either that, or he just knew her far too well by now.

As the tempo of the music increased, so too did the rate at which they swayed side to side, their feet dancing them to the centre of the room. Charlie lifted her arm above her head, and pushed her gently so that she spun underneath it, before catching hold of her waist once more.

Artemis’ smile grew wider still. He was more fun to dance with than anyone.

“Weasleys, assemble!”

Charlie and his brothers gathered by the gramophone as the female guests made their way into the middle of the marquee, ready for Ginny to throw the bouquet. Charlie could just about pick out Artemis’ bare feet amongst the high heeled shoes, stepping lightly as she moved restlessly through the throng of women.

“I don’t understand why I ‘ave to join in,” Fleur was saying to Bill. “I am already married!”

“It’s just a bit of fun,” Bill replied, kissing her on the cheek. “And I think that you’d be good at it.”

Once Fleur was in the crowd and out of the way, George brought out the bag of Galleons.

“This is it, lads,” he said. “Only one of us can win all the gold.”

Ginny closed her eyes, and threw the bouquet backwards over her head. A split second later, it was carnage.

The little crowd of women turned into a mob, a mosh, a scrum, scrambling and tackling each other to try and grasp the bunch of flowers. The brothers laughed and cheered them on from the sidelines, and after a minute or two of jostling, a hand appeared, rising from the rabble, clutching the now-crumpled bouquet. Each brother strained to see who that hand belonged to.

“YES, AUDREY!” bellowed Percy, throwing his fists into the air.

Somewhat begrudgingly, George handed Percy the bag of Galleons, and Percy shook each of his brothers’ hands in turn.

“Thank you, gentlemen,” he said pompously. “Pleasure doing business with you all.”

“What are you going to spend your winnings on, Perce?”

“Well…” Percy sniffed, and adjusted his glasses. “I'm thinking I might use them to purchase an engagement ring.”

Ron looked stunned, and Bill clapped Percy on the back. George hugged him, and Charlie shook his hand again, before Percy ran to Audrey, his arms outstretched.

“Well, fancy that,” a deep, reverberating voice said behind Charlie. He turned to see Kingsley Shacklebolt watching the women mingle in the centre of the marquee.

“I know.” Charlie shrugged. “All those Quidditch players, and not one of them caught the flowers.”

“I really thought it would be Tiny.”

Charlie followed Kingsley’s gaze to where Artemis was standing on one leg, rubbing the arch of her bare foot, as she chatted with a couple of women Charlie recognised from the Quidditch matches at school. Her eyes were still lit up from the exhilaration of the chase, her untameable hair had come almost completely loose, and there was a dark scuff mark on her shin. He smiled.

“At least she looks happy,” Kingsley said. Charlie wasn’t sure if he was addressing him or just thinking out loud, but he nodded anyway. “That’s what matters.”

“Yeah.”

“For a long time, I thought I’d never see her this happy.”

“So did I.”

“I should‘ve known that she would be. She might have had to fight for it, but she always was a fighter.” Kingsley chuckled, a rich, melodious sound. “She was such a tough little thing. Wild. But you know that.”

“I do,” said Charlie, his eyes still on Artemis. He laughed quietly to himself. “She still is.”

“No, that will never change.”

“I wouldn’t want it to.”

Kingsley patted Charlie on the shoulder, slowly and just once, and Artemis caught sight of them watching her. She ran towards them, holding one side of her dress up so she wouldn’t trip on the hem. As she approached them, Charlie shook his head in mock-disappointment.

“What was that?” he asked her. “Pathetic attempt at catching a bouquet. And you call yourself a Seeker!”

“Tell you what, Charlie, next wedding we go to, you can have a go. I doubt you could do better, especially against that Audrey.” Artemis looked over her shoulder at Percy and his soon-to-be fiancée, a dark look on her face. “That woman is feral. You have no idea.”

Charlie and Kingsley exchanged glances over the top of Artemis’ head.

“I’ll take your word for it,” Charlie said, trying not to laugh. “I’ll add her name to the list of women who scare me.”

“Is my name on that list?”

“I think it might be on there twice.”

Artemis nodded, clearly satisfied with that answer.

“I actually came over to say goodnight,” Kingsley told them.

“Are you off?”

“I am. It’s tiring work, this politics. But I’m sure I’ll see you soon, Tiny. You look beautiful tonight, by the way.”

Charlie stepped backwards and averted his eyes so that Artemis could say goodbye to Kingsley in private. When he felt her return to his side, he held his hand out for Kingsley to shake.

“It was good seeing you again.”

“You too, Charlie,” said Kingsley, shaking the hand Charlie extended to him. “Perhaps you would like to go for a drink next time you are in the country. You can tell me more about those dragons of yours.”

“Yes, that sounds great. Thank you, Mr…” Charlie stopped mid-sentence and corrected himself. “Thanks, Kingsley.”

The Minister for Magic bowed his head, and walked off to find the bride and groom. Charlie turned back to Artemis and put his arms around her shoulders.

“No fancy dinner for us, then,” he said with a sigh. Artemis smiled as she leaned against him, playing with the ends of his loose bow tie.

“That’s a shame. I was really looking forward to you wearing the suit again.”

“I can just wear it around the house some time. You can feel free to do the same with that bra, if you like.”

“I dunno.” Artemis took her hands off Charlie’s tie, placed them on her ribcage, and started to wriggle. “It’s actually not that comfy.”

Charlie watched her as she squirmed.

“Is it not?” he asked. She shook her head, and her nose twitched. She was lying. “Should we go home and take it off?”

A wolfish smile played on Artemis’ lips. Charlie took her right hand in his left, and they went off to say their goodbyes before they left the marquee.

Outside, the night had grown colder still. Charlie let go of Artemis’ hand and draped his jacket over her shoulders. She held out her arm, and he took hold of it, and with a sound like a firecracker, they disappeared from the darkened garden of the Burrow, and reappeared in the hallway of Artemis’ old house.

It was strange, the way things changed, Charlie thought, as he kicked off his shoes, and she pushed his jacket off her shoulders, letting it fall to the ground. She’d lived here when she was a child, before he even knew her. Before the first time he ever saw her, eleven years old and tiny and dishevelled and lost and all alone.

She’d lived here when she was thirteen, the age she was the first time he hugged her, he thought, as he held her in his arms. She unbuttoned his shirt and let that fall to the ground, too. He took hold of her wrists to reposition her hands, the way he had when she was fourteen, and he taught her to ride a broomstick.

She led him up the stairs, and he followed her — he always followed her — hand in hand, like they had been at sixteen, clinging to each other for comfort in the middle of a storm. At the top of the stairs he unzipped her dress, and she stepped out of it, almost bare, and so vulnerable, as vulnerable as she had been at just seventeen, when she was going through the unimaginable. He’d been there then. He’d seen it. He’d seen her through it. She got through it. She always did.

Her hands were at his belt, and his trousers were removed, exposing his legs. He’d tried to run from his feelings, he really had. He’d managed it for years, but… she placed his hands on his chest — the chest that held his heart, the heart that beat for her — pushed him into the bedroom.

His lips met hers, the way they had that very first time, as adults, on the edge of the forest whilst the world burned and raged around them. He’d thought that it was all over, that it was the end for both of them. But it wasn’t the end. It was just the beginning.

And as they sank down onto the bed — they’d had that first time in this very bed, too — and their bodies melted together, he knew that this was a beginning, too. Every moment, every single moment, was the first moment in the rest of their lives.

He’d loved her for half his life. He still loved her. And she loved him.

And that was enough.

It was enough.

“You know, after that I think I might be pregnant.”

At the sound of Charlie’s comment, Artemis lifted her head from his chest and stared at him. She was going to say something sarcastic, but at the sight of his boyish grin, she laughed instead. She lowered her head back down and felt his hands running through her hair. Placing her hand on his torso in front of her, she started to let her fingers dance over his skin, tracing patterns in his map of freckles like constellations. There was still one small doubt at the back of her mind.

“Charlie?”

“Yeah?”

“Would you say that I’m a part of your family?”

Charlie’s chest rose and fell as he took a deep breath.

“I would, yeah,” he said, quietly. Artemis’ eyebrows stopped knitting together. “Why do you ask?”

“Oh, no reason. Just something your mum said earlier, when she was trying to marry us off.”

“What was that?”

“It’s nothing really. Just that if we got married I’d be a real member of your family, that’s all.”

Charlie shifted his position so that he was propped up on his elbow, and Artemis moved off his chest.

“She said that to you?”

“It’s fine, Charlie.”

“No, it’s not.” Charlie shook his head, and brushed her cheek with his thumb. “That’s not okay, Artie. I’ll talk to her.”

Artemis blinked at him.

“What?” he said, and he raised his eyebrows at her. “I can do that now.”

“Do you want me to make you a certificate?”

“Very funny.”

“I mean, if you really want to talk to her about it, you can. You can do it when we go back to help take down the marquee tomorrow.”

“See, the thing is, I was thinking that maybe we don’t need to help. I mean, how many people does it take to put down a marquee, really? Maybe we just shouldn’t go.” At the look on Artemis’ face, Charlie grinned sheepishly. “I’m only joking. If you want me to mention it to her I will. Promise.”

“Nah, don’t worry. I actually spoke to your dad, and he said marriage was just a signature on a bit of paper and didn’t matter.”

“Definitely won’t be mentioning that to Mum.”

“Best not,” said Artemis, and she shuffled so that she and Charlie were lying face to face. “I just wanted to see what you thought, that’s all.”

“Right. Well, I’m with Dad on this one. You’re definitely my family.”

“I know that. I was thinking more about your actual family.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I always thought that I was kind of one of you, like I belonged. But after your dad’s speech about loving us because we love you, and especially when your mum said that, it made me think that maybe the only reason they think I fit in is because you do. That they love me for you, and not for myself, if you see what I mean.”

“I do see what you mean, but that’s not how it is at all. I don’t come into the equation. They love you. Just you. How could they not?”

Artemis didn’t say anything. She rolled over to look up at the ceiling, where through the skylight she could see the moon but not the stars. She felt the mattress move, and knew that Charlie had done the same.

“Would you ever want to do all that?” he said, speaking into the darkness. “Get married and have babies and everything?”

Artemis frowned. She didn’t really like babies. As much as she loved Victoire and Dominique for the simple reason that they were Bill’s children and her goddaughters, she wouldn’t want to have to be the one with them strapped to her all day, every day. Not to mention that she still struggled to even look at little Teddy Lupin, the way her own mother had struggled to look at her. If that was any indication of what she’d be like as a parent, she was better off not being one.

And if Arthur was right, and marriage really was just a signature on a piece of paper and weddings were less fun when they were your own, what was the point? Especially if it meant sacrificing a part of yourself, like Ginny had been worried about, she wasn’t sure she wanted that either.

Yes, it would make Molly happy, but it wasn’t really Molly’s choice, was it? It was hers. She made her own choices. She did what she wanted. She was free.

“No,” she said eventually. “Never. What about you?”

“I don’t know. I kind of always thought that one day I’d get married and have children, but I’m not sure if that’s something I actually want or whether it’s just because that’s what everyone else does, and what they all expect me to do as well.” Artemis felt Charlie shrug beside her. “Maybe one day. Definitely not now, though.”

“But one day you might?”

“Maybe. I really don’t know.”

“And if you do, what then? What about me?”

There was a pause, and then Charlie sat up. He turned so that he was facing the headboard, and pulled Artemis upright so that she was sitting facing him. Keeping hold of her hands, he ran his rough fingertips over her palms.

“Artemis, I don’t know what I’m going to want when it comes to getting married or having children, but I do know that I’d never want to do all of that — any of that — with anyone but you.”

“But I don’t want to do any of that.”

“I know. Listen,” he put both of Artemis’ hands into his right, and placed his left on the side of her face, his thumb resting on the small scar on her right cheekbone. “If it comes to the point where I have to make a choice between having none of those things with you or having any one of those things with someone else, I’m going to choose you. I will always choose you.”

“You can’t know that for sure.”

“I’m more sure of that than I am of anything else in the world.”

Artemis raised her eyebrows at him.

“Even dragons?”

“Even dragons.”

She leaned forward and kissed him, slowly, and deeply, and lovingly. When their lips parted, they stayed with their foreheads resting together.

“You know, I don’t like babies, but I do like kittens,” Artemis whispered. “Maybe we could have some of those instead.”

Charlie pulled his head away from hers and frowned.

“How?” he asked, his expression of disconcertion growing more pronounced by the second.

“You can just buy them, Charlie.”

“Oh,” Charlie exhaled. He looked suddenly relieved. “I thought you meant as in…”

“Ugh, no!” Artemis recoiled from him. “How would that even work?”

“I don’t want to know,” Charlie muttered. He shuddered, and then composed himself again. “What about dogs? You like dogs, don’t you?”

“Yeah, but I’d prefer a cat.”

“You already have Fergus. Let’s get a dog.”

“No, a cat.”

“Dog.”

“Cat.”

“Baby?”

“Dog.”

Charlie smiled triumphantly.

“I’m glad we agree,” he said, and lay back down with his head on the pillow. Artemis stayed seated.

“Wait,” she said, twisting around to look at him. “So, does this mean we’re actually getting a dog, or was that a hyporhetorical thing?”

Charlie laughed, not unkindly, and reached out to stroke her arm.

“You know, I’m actually being serious. Let’s get a dog. A really big one. One I can train to pin you to the ground when you’re being annoying.”

Artemis batted him gently and he laughed again.

“You really want us to get a dog?” she asked.

“That’s what I said, isn’t it?”

“I heard. This just seems like a very laid back way to decide to get a dog, that’s all.”

“Do you want it to be more formal?”

“No, I just—”

“I can make it more official if you like,” Charlie sat back up. “Do you want me to get down on one knee?”

The daring look in his brown eyes and the smile causing his freckled cheeks to dimple were obvious, even in the very dim moonlight. Artemis reached up and pushed his red hair back from his ever-so-familiar face. That boy. That man. That person she’d grown to love. She smiled, as much to herself as to him.

“Yeah. I do.”

THE END

#artemis hexley #charlie weasley #on this wild night #harry potter fanfiction #charlie weasley x oc #hphm fic #hinny wedding #the weasleys #weasley family #arthur weasley #bill weasley #percy weasley #george weasley #ron weasley #audrey weasley #fleur delacour #kingsley shacklebolt #charlie weasley smut

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