#demeter is a good mother who wants to protect her daughter from a man literally kidnapping her

[redactedresearch]

i wonder about the modern retellings of persephone's abduction and how it reflects society's (children of all ages) views of their mothers

[winns-stuff]

demeter’s character assassination is so disappointing. she doesn’t deserve to be painted as a villain just for standing in the way of hades and persephone. i don’t support how controlling she is with persephone (i think kids need the freedom to grow from life experiences while having support from their parents to help guide them) but i do believe demeter is justified in her disapproval of hades. she knows from firsthand experience how nasty hades can be to others, so of course she would be worried for her young inexperienced daughter. i think demeter should warn persephone about these dangers and allow her to make her own decisions, instead of controlling her. however, this alone doesn’t make demeter a villain (in fact it makes her a multifaceted and interesting character with realistic flaws). there are stans out there that are really putting demeter on the same level of villainy as apollo bc they both “control persephone”. you’re gonna equate a worried mother to a rapist? wow..um... anyway, the only reason demeter is seen as such a bad person is bc rs keeps framing her that way. the most egregious example of this is the newest ep where demeter calls persephone home to publicly shame her for leaving the tgoem. everything demeter does in this ep feels out of character. when did demeter ever care about what persephone wore? when was persephone being in tgoem ever about demeter wanting to keep persephone a virgin? (iirc demeter never explicitly said she wanted persephone to “stay pure”.. enrolling her in tgoem was always about keeping her safe from ppl who wanted to take advantage of her fertility powers) it feels like rs is trying to find ANYTHING to make demeter look worse than she actually is. imo rs is trying to make demeter a part of the tgoem/purity culture plotline, when she never really was in the first place. demeter controlled persephone to protect her from ppl trying to take advantage of her. tgoem is about staying a virgin aka lo’s depiction of purity culture. now all of a sudden rs is suggesting that demeter was only controlling persephone to keep her a virgin. any reasonable person can see that demeter is trying to keep her daughter safe from predators (albeit in an over-controlling way) her disapproval of HxP isn’t some ploy to reinforce purity culture

tldr: rs is warping demeter’s character to make her a villain by pretending she is controlling due to purity culture instead of being a justifiably worried mother

I agree completely, the way no one took in acknowledgement that the decisions Persephone is making is literally going to end her life essentially is so infuriating and frustrating. Hades has already been using Persephone’s fertility powers by accident, it’s been confirmed by the comic itself. What does this mean you may ask? It means that no matter what, Persephone is going to be used by Hades and she will be chipped away piece by piece as centuries go along and she won’t even be able to do anything about it because it doesn’t matter if Hades doesn’t want to use her and it doesn’t matter if Hades loves her because that’s her destiny, it’s her destiny to be used by others because of this godforsaken incredibly stupid fertility goddess plot story. The fact that no one cares about this at all shows how little they actually care about Persephone.

In fact, let’s get into that. Why is everyone so pleased at them being together in the first place? Everyone used to hate the thought of them being together which I completely understand but why did they just all of a sudden allow her to be with him? He’s still an asshole, he’s still very self centered, he’s still a man child, he’s still incredibly short tempered, and he still doesn’t know how to regulate his emotions. There’s no change from the man they grew to hate to the man he is now so why exactly do they believe they’re good together now? If they really cared about Persephone they would understand just how terrible this sort of relationship would be for her. We see Persephone giving up literally everything to be with Hades and Hades not giving up anything in return, we see Persephone communicate things with Hades and being the first to actually start those conversations yet we don’t see anything coming from his end. There’s so much taking from him, he takes everything from Persephone and has the nerve to beg for me from her and if everyone’s so up her ass about her relationship why are they okay with her being in a relationship like that? The whole main cast of LO genuinely it feels like they staged all of this.

I genuinely believe that the main crew allowed this shit to happen on purpose because they just despised Minthe so much and they probably believed that she wouldn’t be a good queen so they needed a replacement. They probably knew about Persephone from Hermes and Artemis and allowed for her go into Artemis’ house finally after they decided that she would be a good match. They knew that it was her first time in Olympus, they knew how nice she was, they knew how innocent she was, they knew probably that she was a virgin. Hell I think they probably believed that she would be the only person in Olympus to actually tolerate and be tricked by Hades’ pathetic manipulative tactics, and with the cherry on top they knew that she essentially looked like a flower nymph which is confirmed to be a literal kink for Hades. They knew she was the full package and good enough for Hades to be all over and they never even blinked when it came to actually considering how she felt about the whole thing.

That’s why everyone’s so fucking fine with this bullshit they wanted this to happen and they groomed her into being a “lovely” bride for Hades. They got rid of every single doubt she had and made Hades seem like such an amazing guy just so they could rush them into intimacy and babies because they knew that Persephone didn’t have the heart to say no to him.

And that folks is my own little AU for the whole wedding and everything because there’s no fucking way. No fucking way at all.

[supercasey]

So I've been playing The Hades Game like fucking mad for the last few weeks, and although I'm not very far in it (at least, I don’t think I am; I’ve only beat Hades once!), I'm absolutely in love with it! Anyways, a certain idea has been kicking around in my head for awhile now, so I thought I'd share it with y'all; feel free to tell me what you think of it! (Warning: spoilers for when you beat Hades the first time!)

Anyways, I've already seen a really cool AU post for if Demeter raised Zagreus on the surface by herself (which you can find HERE; please check it out, the outfit for Zag alone is an amazing concept, and I love the artwork!!!) but I keep thinking about an AU where, after Zagreus dies at birth, Persephone runs away and takes his wrapped up body with her.

On the surface, she reconnects/reunites with her mother Demeter, and with her aid, the two of them manage to resurrect the newborn baby, though now he has more white in his hair than anything else. After that, Persephone sends Hades a letter to tell him that Zagreus is alive and well (because she actually has some fucking class), before proceeding to raise Zagreus on the surface with her mother, far away from the entrance to hell. The Olympians also help her out a bit, but mostly they just help by hiding Zagreus when it’s necessary.

(The rest is under a cut ‘cus this got a bit long, sorry!)

Years pass in relative peace, until Zagreus is about as old as he is in-game (I think he’s around 20-25ish???) and is living well, working with his mom and grandma to take care of their gardens and live peacefully away from mankind; he especially loves tending to the animals and guiding lost mortals to safety. However, one day while foraging for fruit in the deepest corners of his mother’s signature garden, Zagreus happens across a strange man in long robes, who introduces himself as Thanatos.

The two men get along swimmingly from minute one, and after agreeing to meet with each other again soon, they leave and tell their families/friends all about the experience, having no clue who they are to each other. After all, Thanatos was told growing up that his lord’s first wife died giving birth to their first and only child, who was a stillborn, and Zagreus thinks his father died of disease (his mom didn’t have to heart to tell him anything bad about his dad). Needless to say, they’re gonna be in for quite the shock soon.

Cue Hades losing his shit and calling on Thanatos, Megaera, and Achilles to go find his progeny and bring him home; he gives them special permission to leave the Underworld without any resistance, trusting Than to lead the way back to Zagreus. Achilles is less than thrilled to be performing such a morally grey task for his master, but Meg and Than are eager to prove themselves, so he begrudgingly agrees to help, even if it hurts his conscience to do so.

Persephone and Demeter also freak the hell out on their end, scared shitless by the fact that Death incarnate has just met their son/grandson, and they’re worried that he plans on coming back again soon. Demeter suggests sending Zagreus to live with the Olympians until this all blows over, but Persephone disagrees, wanting her son to stay nearby in case he grows ill (it’s implied that she’s a bit overprotective of him, mostly because she’s afraid of him dying again; this also means she refuses to let him know that he’s in any danger, believing it would only make things worse for him in the long-run). Frustrated but understanding her daughter’s pain all too well, Demeter at least convinces her to call on the Olympians for aid, which Persephone agrees to do.

The gods promise to help of course, but... well, they're low-key lying; they wanna see how this plays out first.

After several days of traveling through hell (literally), the “let’s kidnap Zagreus” gang makes it to the surface, and they immediately head to Persephone’s garden. All this time, Zagreus has no idea that he’s being targeted, so he goes about his chores as usual, only to run into Than again, and hey, he brought some more friends for him to meet! Zagreus is friendly with all of them, being raised to be very polite by his guardians, and while he’s busy chatting with Than and Achilles, he doesn’t notice Meg sneaking behind him. Just as Zagreus is rattling on about how the animals have been faring this summer, Meg stabs Zagreus in the back with a blade coated in Hades’s blood, cursing him to belong to the Underworld again.

With Zagreus now unconscious from a sedative that was mixed with the blood, the trio hurry off with him back to the Underworld, but not without Persephone seeing what they’ve done to her son. Horrified, she begins to sob, and winter arrives in the mortal world without so much as a fall season in-between this and the summertime.

When Zagreus comes to, he finds himself in a bedroom similar to the one he has in the game, but it’s much cleaner and has less objects of personal value to him. Hades is standing at the foot of his bed when he wakes up, and very calmly, Hades tells Zagreus that he’s his father, and that from now on, Zagreus will be living in the Underworld with him and his people, where he so obviously belongs. It’s a shame his mother can’t be here, of course, but they just need to wait awhile, that’s all; surely she’ll come to her senses and return home soon, now that her husband and son are here.

Zagreus jumps out of bed and faces his father as soon as he’s done monologuing, ready to tell him off for what he’s done, but to his shock, Hades hugs him as soon as he’s on his feet, and admits that he’s waited for this day for a long, long time. He asks his son to please just accept that this is his home now, and despite still being a bit surprised (and subtly hugging Hades back because Longing), Zagreus tells him straight up that he can’t, that he has to get home, especially with winter coming in a few months!

Dejected but not overly surprised, Hades simply nods in acceptance, but he still warns Zagreus that it’s no use trying to fight it; he’s stuck here, now and forever, so he may as well get comfortable and try getting along with him, because no one’s going anywhere anytime soon. Zagreus is horrified, but he nods nonetheless, unsure of what to say or do just yet.

Later that night, as Zagreus is struggling to sleep in this new, unfamiliar place, Achilles comes to him and apologizes about what’s happened, and although he can’t magically fix everything for him, he tells Zagreus that it actually is supposedly possible to escape; it’s just that no one’s ever done it before. Driven by his desire for freedom and the thought of reuniting with his mother, Zagreus tells Achilles that he’s going to find a way out, no matter the cost. Achilles congratulates him on his tenacity, but warns him that it won’t be easy. Still, he’s willing to help Zagreus as much as he can.

From then on, I imagine the game playing out very differently from the original, with a rather frazzled and scared Zagreus trying to get home to his mom and grandma, but with none of his training from Achilles in this AU, he has to rely on something his mother taught him; his connection with earth and all it’s inhabitants. Or, in his case, his connection with the spirits of animals (a cross of his dad and mom’s powers). That’s right, I’m making The Hades Game into a fucking Pokemon-ripoff, but still with some rouge-like elements mixed in (mostly with Zagreus not keeping his animals after runs).

Having royally fucked up in not stepping in sooner to protect Zagreus, the gods end up helping him out by sending down animals associated with them for the young god to tame for a run (I’ll come up with them later). They usually offer a selection to choose from, and from there Zagreus can build up a team and use it to try and escape the Underworld.

To replace weapons, I like to think he’d have “signature” animals that can help him out for any of his runs, specifically ones from Achilles, Poseidon, Zeus, Demeter (once he reaches the surface at least once), and eventually even Hades gives him one if they bond together enough ((yes, it’s Cerberus... kinda; it’s a puppy version of him, otherwise he’d be OP as fuck)). Zagreus’s signature animals can all be given names, and they keep certain skills that they pick up through enough experience battling in the Underworld for Zagreus.

As for story-line stuff, Zagreus ends up in a very fish out of water situation as he tries to get to know everyone in Hades’s house (he’s still our kindhearted Zag, after all, and he knows most of them aren’t to blame, not even really Than!) while also focusing on his goal to get home to his mom. Hades ends up being a lot nicer to him in this AU, perhaps overly so, as he’s trying to make his son like him more in order to make up for lost time (and fill the hole in his heart that Zag’s initial death as an infant and Persephone leaving with him created). It’s part of the reason he’s even letting Zagreus try to escape; he wants him to learn that it won’t work on his own terms (and maybe also scare the kid so bad that he comes running to him for comfort afterwards).

Also, I should really note that Zagreus is 100% a sweet country farm boy in this AU, and he has no idea what the fuck is going on with pretty much anything in the Underworld, much to everyone’s astonishment. For example:

Meg: Gods, it must be weird getting used to everything down here, huh? Sick of stepping in bat shit yet? Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it, and Dusa’s pretty good about cleaning it up to begin with. Zagreus: I mean, I guess? It’s not that different from chicken shit tbh. Meg: What the fuck is a chicken???

After that... yeah, I dunno. I’ll try playing Hades some more, see if I think up anything else that could be interesting, but for now, I hope at least someone ends up liking this dumb AU (if not, I’ll still like it... might even try my hand at drawing for it a bit tbh). Again, please check out the person who’s post/art I linked earlier in the post, ‘cus their art is really awesome and inspired me to include Demeter more in this AU!

[daughterofzagreus]

Assigning Zodiac Signs to Greek Gods

Zeus - Sagittarius 

*sigh*, my sign. During Sag season too, LMAO.

Sag is ruled by Jupiter, which is Zeus's Roman counterpart. And it's fitting. It's the planet of expansion and good luck which relates to Zeus. He was the only one of his siblings who wasn't swallowed by his father, which makes him pretty lucky to me. Zeus is a cheating fuckboy, with a love for chasing tail that is the root cause for about 90% of all the issues and conflicts in ancient Greek mythology...that's a pretty typical Sag male move. It's no secret that Sags can be hoes (I say this with love🤗). According to the myths, Zeus was actually a pretty fun, jovial guy who loved a good party, singing, dancing and some drink (the word "jovial" comes from his Roman name Jove/Jupiter). He's impulsive and has a bad temper when angered, though. All fairly Sag tendencies.

Poseidon - Pisces

Pisces is ruled by Neptune, the Roman counterpart to Poseidon. It makes sense that the god of the Sea would be a water sign. Uncle Sy was an emotional MESS in Greek mythology, he's been described as emotionally unstable, temperamental and moody. I'm sorry Pisces but (as someone with a Pisces mother) I can definitely see it. He was quite a hoe too, so I don't know if it's just a mutable sign thing (In which case, welcome to the Hoe club, Pisces👏🏾). His moods and emotions change like the tides (like Pisces), so he's either in a very good mood or a very bad one. Apparently he was quite the sweetheart when in a good mood, as well. Although, man gets a lot of good PR from the Percy Jackson series😒.

Hades - Scorpio

Obvious Scorpio is obvious💀. Scorpio is ruled by Pluto, which is the planet of death and rebirth. Makes sense, as Hades rules over the underworld. Pluto is also Hades's Roman counterpart. Hades isn't technically an Olympian because he doesn't stay in Olympus, his kingdom is in the underworld. I think that's significant because Scorpios like to keep to themselves. The stereotype of Scorpio is that they're morbid, secretive and mysterious. Into the macabre. Kind of like an intellectual brooding, which all fits for Hades. He's not an unfair guy, though. Likely, more on the misunderstood side. I think the fact that only a few people (like his wife Persephone) understand him shows that he doesn't open up or get vulnerable easily or with just anyone. A very Scorpio trait.

Hestia - Cancer

We don't know much about Hestia's personality. She's demure, simple and rules over the hearth and home. Cancers tend to be family oriented. If not, they do have a significant relationship with their home (be that their actual house, or their hometown. Wherever "home" and the family is). The hearth is the centre of the household. It keeps the home warm and provides a place for the whole family to gather around to commune or just feel safe. So, I think that's fitting.

Hera - Virgo

Oh gosh, I can't help comparing her and Zeus's relationship to Jay-Z and Beyonce 😔. Bless her heart, that Sag man has her looking a fool. A complete fool 🤡. Anywho, Hera is beautiful and a perfectionist. Very regal, and strives to maintain perfection. Besides being the queen, Hera is also the goddess of motherhood, monogamy, family marriage, home and protector of all married, so I imagine that she's quite conservative and that (despite the fact that her family is a hot, hot mess) she likes to present the image of the perfect family, kind of like a first lady. She just brings to mind the type of wealthy lady-of-the-manor Virgo woman who runs a tight ship (i.e.: the house/the estate).

Demeter - Cancer 

I was debating on whether or not to make sis a Pisces. But, Cancer is linked to the mother and maternal instincts, which I think is fitting. Cancer is a very maternal sign (at least, there's a lot of significance with Cancer and its relationship to motherhood). The most famous myth involving Demeter is about her daughter Persephone being kidnapped by Hades, and how that affected her emotionally. Demeter is described as being very maternal, protective and kind and embodying a very specific type of love, the "mother's love". One the flip side though, she's also quite OVER-protective. She really does embody some of the more negative traits of Cancer as well such as smothering and being a bit over-bearing with her love. She also strikes me as the type to be emotionally manipulative and play the melodramatic "after all I've done for you, how could you be so cruel to your own mother😭" and "so what are you going to say at my funeral now that you've killed me😔" victim card that overbearing mothers like to use so much. But she doesn't play when it comes to her babies and loved ones.

Ares - Aries

Obvious Aries is obvious😠. Do I even need to say anything? Aries is ruled by Mars, which is Ares's Roman counter part. The planet Mars symbolizes raw masculine energy (you get words like "martial arts" from that), and so does Ares. Both Aries the sign and Ares the god are loud, quite aggressive, and they like conflict (they find it quite funny, and they can move on from it pretty quick, it doesn't really distress them). There's also the passion and explosive temper. Ares is also brave, strong and straight forward. He's also incredibly protective of those he loves. According to Greek mythology, the first murder was committed by Ares when he killed a man who raped (or tried to rape) his daughter, so don't fuck with an Aries's loved ones.

Athena - Capricorn

Capricorn is ruled by Saturn. In astrology, the moon (which rules Cancer - Capricorn's opposite compliment) is The Mother. It's soft, maternal and nurturing. Saturn is The Father. It's the planet of obstacles and boundaries and is a very harsh, stern planet. Success will come, but only after learning some very hard lessons. If the moon is like a emotional parent that coddles and nurtures their child (Cancer), then Saturn is that strict, tough parent that teaches their child (Capricorn) from day dot that the world is going to be cruel and unfair, and so they want to break you to make you stronger and prepare you for the world. That's what I get from Athena. Athena was born fully grown and fully clothed (in battle gear, at that). She literally came into the world with her guard up. She's the goddess of wisdom and battle strategy (among other things), so she's very pragmatic and somewhat cold (not cruel, but just realistic). She's Zeus's favourite child, which links to her ruling planet being The Father. She's kind of like the embodiment of the woman who works in a male dominated field (which, she does) so she has to work harder, adopt more masculine traits and develop a harder exterior in order to survive and thrive. She's not the most emotional or vulnerable person either, and it's noteworthy that she never had a childhood (again, she was born fully grown), so she's never had any of the innocence and naivete.

Artemis - Cancer

With the twins (Artemis and Apollo), Apollo is the sun while Artemis is the moon. Since Cancer is ruled by the moon, it makes sense that Artemis would be a Cancerian. This is the third time I'm bringing up Cancer being maternal, but here we are. Artemis has a close relationship with her mother (she killed this one woman's 7 daughters, because said woman was talking smack about her mother), but Artemis also acts as a foster mother for a lot of different people. She's nurturing, compassionate and protective. Artemis is the protector of young women, and women in childbirth (right after she was born, she helped her mother deliver her twin brother, Apollo). She has a group of huntresses (which any girl is allowed to join, so long as they forgo marriage) and she basically becomes like an adoptive mother towards them (she also, in general, likes to take in strays. She’s goddess of moon and hunting so she spends more time in the wild and at night, whereas Apollo spends more time in civilization in the daytime).

Apollo - Leo

Obvious leo is obvious 🦁. Leo's ruling planet is the sun, and is symbolized by a lion with a ~fabulous~ golden main. Apollo is the sun god (among other things). He drives the sun chariot every day and is always described as having long blond (or ✨golden✨) locks, a golden tan, and is just ridiculously bright and golden overall. Hence his other name being "Phoebos Apollo" (Phoebus meaning “bright”). Leo rules the 5th house, which is basically the house of having fun and being yourself, which matches Apollo. He's one of the more active and fun personalities. He's an over achiever (God of music, poetry, prophecy, archery, young men) and is considered to be the most beautiful male god on Olympus. Like most Leos, humility is not his greatest strength, to say the least. He's dramatic, loves attention and likes to stand out and be the sun (around which everything revolves), like a leo, too.

Hephaestus - Taurus

I really don't know why, and I'm exhausted from writing so much for everyone else. I really don't know which sign to put him in, but Taurus seems to match him. Mainly because he's patient and calm. He's a kind(er) soul who just minds his business and does his work. I know Taurus gets a bad rap for being "lazy", but Taurus actually are quite hard workers. They just like to work on their own terms, and usually the more "slow and steady" type (but still hard work with results). Tauruses also love beautiful things, and Hephaestus is an amazing craftsman who's created the most beautiful jewelry that's ever been made. Taurus is also a very possessive sign that is easily prone to jealousy when it comes to their romantic partner. This is exactly how Hephaestus is when it comes to his wife, Aphrodite (who frequently cheats, since she never wanted to marry him in the first place). The fact that Haphaestus STILL loves her and tries his best to prove himself to her an impress her by making all that jewelery for her (even though it's clear that she just doesn't love him, and the relationship won't ever be what he wants) is something a Taurus would do, as they are solid, committed people. Once they've decided they want to make a relationship work, they're fully committed to it. He does have a temper, but it's generally a long fuse, and he seems to function by the law of "don't start none, won't be none". Very Taurus. They mind their business and they don't start mess...but they will end it. The Taurus fuse is very long, but once it goes off...

Aphrodite - Libra

Obvious Libra is obvious😘. Libra is ruled by Venus, the Roman counterpart of Aphrodite. As the goddess of love and beauty, I don't think it's all that surprising to have Aphrodite be a Libras. Libras could flirt for their nation. They're also a bit vain, like Aphrodite, and they can be people pleasers. But, it's well intentioned. Libras are the scale because they like balance and harmony, and they generally don't care for discord or unpleasantries. Aphrodite is the mother of the goddess Harmonia (goddess of harmony) as well. The vanity also comes from their artistic love of beauty, as libra a generally a very creative sign. If the libra themselves isn't creative, they at least appreciate creativity and art.

Hermes - Gemini

Obvious Gemini is obvious. Gemini is ruled by Mercury, which is the Roman counterpart to Hermes. Gemini are multifaceted which makes sense for Hermes as he does a lot of different things. Kind of like a jack of all trades but master of none kind of deal. Hermes is one of the smartest gods in a witty, inventive and humorous way. He was Zeus's second favourite child and his favourite son, and has a more trickster vibe to him. A bit of a scam artist. Hermes is also the god of travelers and thieves. Man just has a way of charming people into liking him, which is a very Gemini trait. As the messenger for the gods, Hermes is also the god of communication (probably a bit of a gossip)...and lord knows Gemini's can talk your ear off. Hermes has a pair of sandles with wings to help with his messenger duties, so he's very fast and is all over the place, since he was so much to do and is always on the go (Gemini rules the 3rd house which is the house of, among other things, short distance travel).

Dionysus - Aquarius

The laid back stoner of the group. And a cult leader. He not only invented wine, but was also the god of substance use, ecstasy and madness. I find it hard to describe Dionysus just like I find it hard to describe Aquarius. I know that traits, but they're just too complex to be able to describe in a single sentence.​ Like Aquarius, Dionysus and his cult originally was a place where marginalized people could feel free. Sticking it to the man and whatnot, which goes with the activism and revolution that comes with Aquarius, along with the idea of paradise.

[daddyjackfrost]

List the Olympians (+Hades and Hestia) in order form favorite to least favorite, and why <33

omgomgomgomgomg

okay! this actually took a little time cuz i had to really think it over. fair warning, the percy jackson fan in me is highly biased.

favourite to least favourite;

- Hades (is this obvious? yes. okay, beside being like chill and a loyal husband, he is SO cool. his power increases day by day! the increasing number of dead really does nourish his power. AND! his punishments? *solve this is puzzle* what a guy.)

- Apollo (he’s cool. LOL no okay, i know most of the myths about Apollo and yk he ain’t really a good guy, tho none of them are. everything he is the god of, are things i love and enjoy, plus he’s bi! so, respect 😌)

- Artemis (my QUEEN. she’s sexy what can i say. and i’m pretty sure she’s like the biggest lesbian every which i have to respect. i could be wrong don’t come at me she’s also this feminist icon and i love how she kinda did her own thing? and killed the men who tried to dishonour her.)

- Hestia (my soft queen. i really think that she’s just this kind goddess and from what i know, i love her. i love that her priorities were family and community and that everyone seemed to have kinda worshipped her. plus! i have this wicked idea in my head that even though she was kind, she would be the ultimate downfall of her siblings. *wink wink*)

- Dionysus (i love him. tbh, he and apollo could be tied, but i only recently started reading more about him. i have a lot to say about this guy, mainly because he was SO complex. Dionysus teaches us to become more than what we ordinarily are. He represents pure freedom, emotion, pleasures, nonconformity, and chaos. he’s also so chill?? like yeah he’s done some bad things (i found 3 major things) but he’s better than Zeus and therefor i love him)

- Hephaestus (he’s really powerful. that’s all i gotta say. he literally trapped Hera and literally blackmailed GODS. he’s an icon r u kididng me. also! tho he’s strong, he keeps a pretty low profile and apparently he’s nice and has a heart of a child. wait he also tried to rape athena— i take it back. he’s not an icon. idk man. i think he’s pretty skilled and i would love to watch him work.)

- Hermes (i would rob a bank with him, no cap. apparently he was a hoe tho. i feel like hades liked him. i like him mainly because he’s a sneaky piece of shit, and he’s considered the protector of human heralds so imma assume he’s nice. i don’t know if hermes has done anything like SUPER seriously bad, but i think he’s cool)

- Aphrodite (okay, i don’t hate aphrodite! i actually love her and her whole aura. i honestly think she needs to get over herself tho. a war? over an apple? ma’am pls. tbh, i think the goddess was bad tempered and quick to jealousy but she did protect those who worshiped her to some extent so, respect i guess. i think she could’ve kept it in her pants tho)

- Athena (NO I LOVE HER SHE SHOULD BE AT THE TOP BUT recent discoveries has bumped her down a bit. during my pjo phase, i wanted to be a daughter of athena SO bad. there can be many things said about athena, but she isn’t the goddess i thought she was. yeah, she’s super cool, and she’s good at war and giving dumb heroes courage, but eh. i think she’s hot. i just think she had a dark side and so here she is)

- Demeter (tbh i forgot her😀 so. i think she should just lay off hades and persephone. such a hover mother🙄 i think she’s pretty cool tho. very reliable and besides famine and extreme drama, i don’t think she’s ever done anything really bad? OH OH SHES A BAD BITCH THO. she’s also a pretty good mother. she loved persephone and u can see that with the way she defies zeus. zeus is a bitch for raping demeter)

-Ares (i almost forgot him omg. i think ares is under appreciated. he’s kinda only associated with war? and there aren’t many myths about him. i think he’s portrayed pretty negatively tho he did do some negative things. ares was kinda an assholw ngl. not like, SUPER bad, but i think he had daddy issues. oh oh!! i think i read somewhere that he never raped anyone and never considered women inferior to him, so, respect. i like him. i think we could be friends.)

[okay i’m ngl, these three are my least favourite. i literally like everybody above this]

- Poseidon (sigh. he’s a bitch. he’s moody and bad-tempered and so greedy. i think his powers are SO COOL THO. literally i also wanted to be a daughter of poseidon because r u dumb??? oh he’s such a misogynist tho. and a serial rapist?? keep it in your pants?? i don’t necessarily think he’s evil, mainly because our concept of good and evil don’t apply to myths and gods so. i just think poseidon is petty and i would like to give him a wedgie.)

- Hera ( a BITCH. sorry, that’s my pjo self talking. she’s so jealous and vengeful?? like sorry miss girl, ur pus*y just aint it. that’s ur fault. i really think hera and zeus should have gone to couples therapy. i think hera is petty but also rightfully so— her husband SUCKS. she killed dionysus’s while family tho😐 and did a whole shit ton of rude and bad things. i think hera should have killed zeus and retired and then lived among humans and found a nice human man who wouldn’t cheat. idk man. i’m always so conflicted with hera. do i like her? no. but do i feel bad? yeah.)

- Zeus (🙄 enough said. i don’t like zeus. at all. fuck zeus WAIT DO NOT that’s all. i think he’s a bitch and kronos should’ve just sat on him or something.)

WELL. that was... yeah. that was a mess. thank you for asking this tho! i had so much fun.

[bittybattybunny]

Did Kai have any sort of family after losing her foster family and becoming the Demon King? Or did she only have her husband?

Yes actually!!! A lot of Kai’s own story involves her own found family collection (i say collection just. cuz she tends to outlive them)

I’ve briefly mentioned she has a few kids and you see them in one of my sketchbook tours

but she also has a group of friends who she was close to

and the opening chapter of one of her ‘stories’ involves her dealing with the loss of a close friend she considered family (she even tried to go through legal means to see him but when humans turned around and said fuck you she snuck in. I can actually post this writing if people wanna read it?)

She also has some of her adoptive family still alive tho the bloodline is thinner. The Hellsing family she was raised in still exists to a point in her story (before the great catastrophe at least) Her whole ‘became the demon king’ thing happened when her uncle attacked her but she was able to get her sister in law and unborn nephew to escape while she distracted the rest (i have a whole ass animatic planned for this to the song “monster” from frozen’s musical. someday. someday I’ll be able to sit down on it weep)

This nephew was the one who hired Ren to help find “the king of fear” as she was known at that point. Alex is a good boy. His son was the one who went to find his great aunt after Ren’s death and she fully became a fallen god and offered her a place to stay and just. try to relax. She ended up falling into a deep sleep for a while and his family was the ones to build the ‘tomb’ she normally rests in when ever she has these extreme ‘low energy’ periods which can last between 5 years to her longest one was 5000. Typically she’ll rest for between 20-50 years at a time. and there’s a legit reason she does this too. But that’s not about family---

Point is that family is still very fond of their matriarchal demoness and she helped them found “Prometheus” a group to help humans deal with monsters and monsters live in peace. (cuz boy howdy do people have trigger fingers) there are other groups in their world with either similar goals or ones to ‘suppress’ monsters (example: The Order is a group who sees monsters as tools and lesser beings. sometimes Prometheus is forced to work with them and normally they send strong demons or dragons and such so that The Order can’t do anything to their operative. it was on one of these collaborations that Kai kidnapped Booberry from them. she regrets nothing.)

Kai often just refers to the current descendant as just “her nephew” as she’s too lazy to shove the amount of “great” in front of it because she’s old. there’s only one case of a niece and that’s where the bloodline ended (again that’s another story all together)

When Kai woke up after the Great Catastrophe alone she ended up meeting a young man named Leo (who if you look in Kai’s tag on my blog you can see him!) Who she bonded with and she likes hanging out with (and there’s other things but I’m not gonna talk about it)

There’s also her ‘generals’ and a few of them are gonna show in TLC soon (just a brief cameo) A group of 4 who’ve met Kai in a few incarnations and they always tend to get along. Original names were Matt, Trisha, Faith, and Maki is Maki (she’s an elf so she lives longer) Current names are Byron, Tiffny, Jacob and Maki. These four actually form Ren’s party when he’s trying to find his wife at the actual start of “Nightmare’s Dream” and you learn they each have a connection to Kai through the story.

Matt/Branden/Byron; he’s featured in the writing I mentioned up top, he’s kinda similar to Leo in the way he interacts with Kai as an almost human morality pet for Kai. He used to be Kai’s student when she was teaching, and his father was the warden at the jail her friend Sammy was in (this is the friend she lost) Matt can see through her disguise when she’s showcasing nightmares. Kai can cause hallucinations on targets using her ‘fear’ hence her title “king of fear” and normally they are only visible to her and her target. But Matt can see them.

He ends up getting in trouble a few times; once with a tribe of demons who want to turn children into imps, once with the literal Anti christ, once with a haunted house. And each time Kai was there and ends up saving him.

Matt later is in an accident and ends up reincarnating as a winged human named Branden and has all his past memories. So when he starts working at Prometheus as one of their ‘informants’ (aka he goes to gather information in both human and supernatural affairs. he’s referred to often as the angel of trust because of his silver tongue) and he meets her again he shouts something from one of his classes with her causing her to snap back on reflex until she realizes (running joke is Kai loathes Julius Ceaser and if you say his name she always whips around shouting “WAS A SLUT AND A HARLOT” in a very aggressive tone. It makes people laugh when she does and she always gets embarrassed afterwards)

The two of them end up working together for a while and become good friends (and maybe a bit more but they never state really) but then when with his new work partner Trisha (nicknamed angel of death, she works in the sector that deals with cleanup) he ends up betraying Prometheus and Trisha rips his wings off and kills him (this is the context between the ‘redraw’ meme I do every few years of a man with a bleeding back drowning)

Trisha is also someone who grew close to Kai (hence she killed Branden because his folly led to Kai nearly going berserk) but she was killed by a sleeper agent from the order. And this is how Kai lost two of her close friends.

Now backing up to Sammy the inmate one; he was with her when Kai met her first child, the young moon goddess Artemis. Arty is a constant for the demoness ever since she picked her up in the woods (her arc also has one of my favorite kai lines: (which i can’t find the direct line but)

Sam shuddered as he looked around the woods, “Do you ever feel like there’s 100 eyes watching you?”

“Yes but it didn’t work out so we broke up.” The demon responded flatly as she looked around with a deep set scowl.

While she was out with Sammy when he was hunting they ended up finding a little girl who turned out to be a new goddess and her elder sister was kidnapped by the embodiment of Greed in his attempt to become a god. Kai ends up stopping this but also kinda ends up becoming Arty’s mom. While she doesn’t raised Arty fully she does do a lot of teaching and such for her and does refer to her as “her daughter” and Arty calls her mom. when the great catastrophe occurs, Arty is one of the few gods who remained when the rest went to new ‘realms’ or simply vanished and is considered one of the main gods of their world because of this.

And then there’s her son Ganon, an Orc Lord she adopted when his village was ruined. he currently poses as her ‘demon king’ while she pretends to be the chancellor (this is the ruse she uses. normally heroes will fight the ‘king’ and lose but if they actually are a threat or have poor reasoning she kills them from behind. this is also how the story starts as someone found a spell to try and incapacitate her buttt)

There’s also morte and her daughter demeter (I’ve shown them before, a set of necromancers) who she’s very friendly with. Demeter even calls her aunty Kaya and loves to sit on her lap and such during meetings. (i have one snippet when Kai was recruiting someone to their side but hadn’t told her yet she was the REAL demon king and Demeter was sitting on her lap laughing) Morte is thankful to Kai for saving her circus (Morte runs a circus that helps those stuck in limbo pass on but at one point demons of sin over took it in a way to gather souls)

There’s also her friend Ciera, the daughter of the girm reaper. she’s Kai’s best friend for the most part of her life, and is the one who helps Ren when the gods of life and death try to prevent him from reincarnating again (which is like other things a whole other story) (she also briefly shows in Bone Stealer at one point. While visiting bunny’s sick grandmother, Bunny and Steve run into Ciera as she’s leaving. Steve stops Bunny from attacking her) She’s over all chill.

There’s also Nicki. Kai’s ‘twin’ brother. He’s the ‘bad guy’ through the arc that contains Leo and sets up ‘the great Split’ that Kai will cause (this is lore/plot stuff) He originally was raised to hate her by their maternal Uncle who’s a arch mage like Ren however he’s fallen due to his hatred of Kai’s birth. Nicki is not really her brother (in the first life) but a failed clone of the demoness. When Kai is reborn Nicki gets to actually be her brother and the two get along really well and he’s very protective of his sister now that he understands what her actual deal is and not the bs his uncle fed him. Before the rebirth too Nicki helped kai solve some stuff and worked with her until his death (unlike her, he was not immortal)

And then Kai actually has two bio children with Ren! Akito her son takes after her and he’s the one who takes over her role as the true demon king of Tir-Na-Nocht so she’s able to die and try life again, and a daughter, Rei who takes after Ren in looks but... she’s a himbo. pure moron. she got her grandpa’s himbo gene strong. She’s a cat girl who works with her brother and she is the head of the guard.

Aki actually has his own story where he grew up in a ‘mundane’ world but then his entire class got ‘isekaid’ to another. it gets shown that this isn’t truly the case. the great ‘split’ mentioned above was Kai literally broke the world in two realms. She made one primarily humans and high tech and then the other was magic and mostly monsters. there are a mix of both but it cut down heavily on the murder. She raised Aki in the human side for his and Rei’s safety due to them being the children of a fallen god (mama worries) and Aki inherited his mother’s odd ‘status’ “Hero/Demon King”  so he has to not expose his demon nature and also stay below the radar (it turns out the person who summoned them was attempting to break a centuries old treaty) until his mother and father can figure out what happened to him (thankfully he can go to a church and his older sister Arty can act as a messenger but there’s a bit of a time split in the worlds) That world is actually the one “Fae Rules” takes place in o7o.

She also is friends with a dead prince named “Shade” (yes this is who you think it is) as well as her ‘cousin’ Sena (who she loves to give shit to)

And in her second life she obvs has her brother, cousins, her father (her father’s boyfriend/her manny), aunt’s etc!!!

So yes; she had family other than her husband!!!! And she cherishes them all.

[alatismeni-theitsa]

answering LO/anti LO asks:

(1) Let’s also not kid ourselves, it’s creepy Smythe imagines the majority of her female characters as “PoC” and they only exist to be sexualized, infantilized, and be props for the male characters (Persephone is Hades’ prize, Psyche is a prop for Eros, Aphrodite is a literal sex object, Minthe is nothing but Evil incarnate, etc). As a person of color myself and as a woman, I do not feel represented, I feel insulted and mocked, though I’m sure her lily white self thinks she’s a beacon of progress!

(2) Did you read today episode of Lore olympus? It was so creepy. Hades watched on a tape how few years earlier teenage (around 15-17 years) persephone was sitting NAKED on him when he was drunk. Then he rells demeter about amazing pink goodess and how he wants to ask zeus is she available. Demeter freaks out and wants to get him more drunk so he wont remember her. And he is mad about that demeter protect her teenage doughter from a wine addicted old man.

Oh and also fandom didn't see anything wrong with moment when persephone ended up naked in front of him (and at that time she was an teenager) and they were like oww so cute he acted like an gentelmam and i was like bitch were? And level of oversexualization persephone in this episode was highlike showing her butt when she run or many svenes when she was nacked and this wouldnt be bothering me if the fact that in this episode pernephone was teenager. It was sick

(3) I don't think anyone can deny LO made Webtoons a big platform in the West but at this point they're big enough to let LO fend for itself and start promoting other works to get more people reading, especially now as LO is getting more criticism that Rachel won't listen to and dropping numbers. It'd be like Netflix only promoting Stranger Things or Amazon only promoting Ms Maisel. It's rude to the other series that are better in views/numbers but also isn't a good business practice either.

(4) I’m so glad i found your blog and the anti lo tag, everyone seems to love this comic... granted i’m not overly familiar with greek mythology but i know a bad story when i read one. Persephone really gives Bella Swan a run for her money in stupidity. She’s just such a bad character.

(5) I don't agree with the WHAT ABOUT THE KIDS! take that video took since i don't think young women are just that dumb to be manipulated by a comic, but the rest was on point. Smythe can't take criticism, she openly lies about her storytelling, she botches what could be interesting elements, Hades is downright creepy, the relationship is horribly toxic/imbalanced and he's aware/seems to relish in it, the teenager is way too hypersexualized, etc. Wish Webtoons would promote other comics...

(6) OOOF that video was rough to watch but way too true. I really never noticed how damn near father/daughter-like Smythe made her version of HxP be (&the power imbalance) and framed it as the only healthy relationship in story & claims its "supposed to be uncomfortable". Why would you want your audience to be uncomfortable supporting the main relationship? Though it was funny that the commentator said she obviously has a fetish for older men. He must not know she's pushing 40.

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(1) As I said in another answer, I am not sure if she imagines them as poc? She had casted White and Black people for most and maybe they wants to say some of the characters have “Black vibes“??? (which is weird ngl) Honestly, I don’t know. Plus, you cannot make a person Black in a predominantly White area and not talk about their experience or their different culture. Persephone made it a big deal that she was from a different area (Sicily) but she never mentioned she looked different than the locals.

I think if anyone from the main cast, someone on our screens most of the time, was Black or generally not looking like the average Greek we would know it because of references. So maybe Smythe just wants the African American and/or Black vibes for her characters and not actual Blackness. Everyone is like “deities can be whatever race you like“ and they forget that many times being a specific race gives you unique experiences, as well as advantages and disadvantages.

Psyche has probably an African mother and, unfortunatelly, she wasn’t depicted very respectfully.

I am Greek and not even I feel represented by any of those characters even those who are clearly white and old deities of my culture. (That is because they are just “White” and not “Greek” culturally). Smythe doesn’t know how to write cultures...

As a PoC, do you feel like we have any indication that certain characters (except Psyche) are not White? Because I haven’t seen such a thing. As I mentioned, I don’t even think they even act like Greeks but that’s another story xD Because of the setting, I see them as charicatures of White Americans who don’t even have the white American culture.

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(2) Yesss I read it!! And I hadn’t thought that she was so young back then! Jeeeez!! Smythe sexualized her even in the episode where she was barely legal!

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(3) That’s probably a good idea. More works need to be advertised so everyone getst an equal chance. Betting only on one horse won’t give profit to Webtoons.

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(4) Welcome!! Here, take some tea with salt!

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(5) It’s true that young girls are not going to be influenced only by this comic and then go ruin their lives with abusive men. It’s just that there is this general culture of women having more value the younger and more innocent they are, while for the men it’s the opposite. This comic and other works are part of a bigger problem which tells girls it’s ok to meet this behavior in an older man and you should want to be with such a man when you are 19. Again, it’s not only about this specific comic. But we have to start fixing this culture by beginning from something, right?

I am glad that you agreed with the rest of the points. That means the youtuber says what most of us think and want to express - but we don’t dare because the LO fandom will eat us alive.

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(6) I wanted to hear someone else talk about the problems of LO but at the same time it made me uncomfortable because it talks about difficult issues. There are some dynamics appropriate for certain ages. You CAN write about unhealthy relationships and leave the reader decide for themselves but now when your audience also has teenagers and when the HxP relationship is presented as the GOOD relationship in the story. Smythe went as far as to have the storyline with Apollo so we can see how Good Hades is in comparison.

Ah yes, she just likes men her age! But I think he was kinda correct on the “Daddy and Little“ kink xD Especially after I took a glimpse of that NSFW picture from her patreon with the spanking.

[x-mentalia]

Thank you for your submission, the mods have accepted your application into the ring. Please have your blog ready by 06/02! Name: Olena Shevchenko

**I just want to say something really quick: Within my app, there are some vague mentions of things like abuse (like child abuse and spousal sexual abuse) but I didn’t put much detail, there’s only mentions in passing as needed. I just wanted to give a heads up before anyone goes in and gets surprised. Thanks!!

Name: Olena Shevchenko

Country: Ukraine

Alias (Optional): Vesna

Pronouns: she/her

Age: 36

Species (Mutant/Human): Mutant

Group: X-men

Appearance (1-2 Paras): Olena stands at a fairly intimidating 5 feet 10 inches, and has a naturally strong body shaped like a barrel, complete with a strong stomach and noticeable biceps and leg muscles. She’s a big girl, that’s for sure, never having been very small. She does carry some extra weight on her hips and thighs, making her look soft, but she’s actually very strong and resembles a weightlifter. Her chest grabs attention most places she goes, boasting a G cup these days after two children; but the rest of her body is proportioned so she doesn’t look too top heavy. She has very short light golden blonde hair and big blue eyes that are sharp like a hawk’s. Even through the things that she’s seen, her face is still fairly youthful, with hardly a hint of crows’ feet, or 11s between her eyebrows, or laugh lines marking the outsides of her natural downturned pout. Really, she has sharp, sculpted beautiful features upon her face that have lent her a few too many objectifying comments that usually included her body too. Her hands are far from feminine, rather with wide knuckles and palms and short nails, too busy with work to deal with pampering.

Face Claim (OCs must answer): It’s not that important but I do use the model Sveta Utkina as a reference. Even though her body type is totally wrong and she’s grown her hair out since I started using her, I’m still in love with her face.

Personality: Overwhelming and overbearing are traits typically associated with Olena. She talks, a lot, and she’s awfully nosy, unable to get her nose out of other people’s business. She almost always has something to say, but it’s typically good-natured. Her somewhat lacking knowledge of English being noticeable with incorrect grammar and searching for unknown words, coupled with the way she feels all emotions so intensely, tends to make her come across as tactless; but rest assured that everything comes from the bottom of her big heart. She was born with a maternal instinct and a passion for caring for others, and she always goes more than out of her way to make it known that she cares. She’ll take care of you even if you protest and tell her you’re fine. And she seems to have this instinct that tells her something is wrong, whether someone isn’t feeling well or something bad is going to happen; it isn’t a power, it’s just a weird instinct that tends to be right.

She’s weird—so weird—and doesn’t give a damn if somebody thinks so; her purpose in life, after all, is not to please others with her existence. The way she rambles about obscure subjects, especially medical cases and phenomena that she’s experienced in her nursing career, shows that she’s not very affected by the gory or the macabre, rather finding it all fascinating and worth examining to learn from. You can find her watching disgusting horror movies and she will just be picking apart the inaccuracies of the gore. She’s also extremely blunt with her words, lending from the fact that she’s not well-versed in euphemisms or anything else non-literal in English. She will speak her mind; and although she’s not the most eloquent in English, a fact that sometimes bothers her a little, she will not mince her words and make everything as clear as she can, speaking her mind freely. She isn’t private about herself or her thoughts, only hiding things to protect her family. This can easily be traced to her abusive childhood, and her loveless former marriage, spanning years of being unable to speak her mind or do as she pleases; now, she uses her ‘freedom’ to make up for lost time.

Oh, and it’s terribly obvious that Olena usually sees things in black and white. Good and bad, no in between, because, at heart, she is an incredibly fierce woman. Though many may see a loving mother and friend, she is also a fighter, unafraid of getting her hands dirty. And though she is affectionate, often calling others sweet pet names, she has a bit of a fatalistic, pessimistic streak that pushes her to always be ready. You might never have met someone so protective of their children, but Olena would walk backwards into hell for her daughter and son. People who have wronged her—her parents, her ex husband—are often Olena’s motivation for doing things, to show she can be so much better than she was always assumed to be.

She is wild, passionate, and untamed, having the ferocity of a dedicated warrior. She is thoroughly dedicated to her causes and to her allies and friends. She is a lionness, waiting to pounce.

Strengths: Physically strong; great control and skill with her powers; generous; well meaning; thoughtful; openminded

Weaknesses: Proud; often lets her emotions take control; overbearing; crass; forgetful; nosy

Backstory (2-3 Paras): On August 24, 1981, a pair of twins were born in Kyiv, a boy and a girl. The boy, named Orest, quickly became his parents’ pride and joy; while the girl, Olena, became an afterthought. The couple were never interested in having a girl, which became amplified when they had three more boys over the next several years. All four of the boys were treated with care, even though the family was essentially in poverty; whilst Olena was meant to take care of the home and the younger boys while their parents were working. She had little freedom, not even being able to make her own choices about her appearance, and for her whole childhood she had very long hair and was forced to wear unsightly clothes, as her quickly developing body gave her a bad reputation and was a subject of her parents’ constant torment.

Living somewhere like Ukraine, and having abusive parents, can really throw off a sexuality crisis even more; and the poor girl just thought she was going crazy when she began to have strange thoughts. But it was never at the forefront of her mind, as Olena’s powers first began to show up when she was twelve—a private emotional outburst led to a dead field bursting into bloom with dandelions. She didn’t have much time alone to mess around with these strange abilities, however, until she was a few years older. Despite being very intelligent and making high marks in school, Olena’s parents just wanted her to get married, as they believed taking care of a house and having children was all she was good for. At the time, the legal age for girls in Ukraine to marry was 17; so in 1998, at the age of 17, Olena wed Anton, a man several years her senior

Olena entered the marriage with a lack of affection for Anton, and a plan. She agreed to marry the creep, who had an obsession with her (or rather, her body), and ride it out for a few years so she could obtain a degree. She was actually successful in not consummating their marriage for a couple of years, as she used her nursing program as an excuse as to why she wasn’t home; when she was actually finishing shifts at her job and classes at the medical school, she would stay out even later so she could mess around with her powers in private and become more familiar with them, discovering some fascinating things.

Eventually though…

Kalyna was conceived and born in 2001. Olena still had enormous contempt for her husband, but she felt nothing but love for her daughter. Having completed her nursing degree the year prior, she didn’t have much time to recover after the birth before going back to work in the children’s ward of the hospital she worked at. With Kalyna in the care of the mother of a friend, Olena worked her fingers to the bone to make sure her daughter would have a good life. On days off, she would take her baby to the outskirts of the city, avoiding Anton, and have quiet time whilst practicing with her powers.

It was an uptick in crime in an adjacent neighborhood that first drove Olena to really test out her abilities as a heroine. Enlarging and manipulating some pitiful plants growing between cracks in the sidewalk helped her apprehend a shooter one night, making the plant wrap around his leg and cause him to trip and fall, keeping him in place while help came.

Symon was born when Kalyna was 3 years old, and Olena was still working herself to death at the hospital, though she loved her job dearly, almost as much as she loved her children. She had practically no rest, in between working and caring for her kids and gaining a reputation as a quiet vigilante. Never letting herself be fully seen, the strange occurrences with the plants became linked with a figure that became known under several names, including Jaryla, Kupala, Lada, Vesna (all of which being Slavic pagan deities relating to plants), and even Demeter; but Vesna seemed to stick the most, both in the press and in public opinion. And public opinion was still split in Kyiv, and Ukraine at large, among mutants. There was (and still is) distrust of the government, questioning many of their decisions; though mutants did not technically have legal discrimination, they were still treated poorly by many government officials. But much of the public saw mutants as the children of or even new reincarnations of the old pagan gods.

And some of those mutants sure could protect them even better than the police.

Caring for sick children by day, helping needy citizens by night… Olena embraced the Vesna figure and eventually made herself a costume so she could disguise herself while putting herself out to help more. Though she was based in Kyiv, and her schedule was restricted by her job and her family life, the figure of Vesna gained national attention, which even began to spread to a few other countries. It was the strongest and most empowered Olena had ever felt.

In 2010, Olena filed for divorce. In 2011, she was free, and had custody of her children because of the case. Kalyna and Symon, now 10 and 7, held contempt for their father as well, since he was never a caring figure and always very cold and distant to them. They stayed in Ukraine a couple more years, during which time the childrens’ patronyms were changed to matronyms, and they legally bore their mother’s maiden name. At the height of her notoriety, and when political issues were rising, Vesna vanished for months. This, of course, was when Olena and her children immigrated to the United States, along with many other Ukrainians.

Moving takes time and settling, but their new home within New York state was so much more comfortable than the life they had been leading before. With all intentions of gaining full citizenship in the United States, Olena initially took up a low-key life, not taking on any trouble so she could keep up her eligibility as a candidate for citizenship. She became restless, however; and a few months in, the figure Vesna popped up in America, known by Americans who kept their eye on international oddities and mutants.

Olena was surprised, however, to find out the much more polarized opinions of Americans about mutants. She was helping people with her powers…and they wanted her dead, simply because of her powers? It didn’t make much sense. Even with the thought in mind that some mutants did bad things with their powers, it just wasn’t right to stop all mutants ‘just in case.’ Being incredibly strong willed, the only option for Olena was joining the X-Men to help figure out some solution. Holding a civilian job and caring for her two teenage children while living off-campus and having to go to the headquarters for training proves to be an extremely busy life, and she runs the risk of possibly burning out; but quitting is not an option.

Mutant Questions

Plant Manipulation: The power to control plant-life. Having had her powers since she was a young teenager, being well-practiced, and already being an established heroine, Olena has wide mastery over her powers and can be considered very strong. Olena is capable of creating plants from thin air. She can also make existing ones healthier. The ones she creates are always of the highest quality.

She recently discovered the ability to create hybrids, although this is not fully developed. Olena can drain the life out of a plant, which will give her more physical strength. She’s not exactly Captain America but she’s in better shape than the average person. She can detect the health of an existing plant, and tell whether its conditions are good or if it’s being harmed (and diagnose if it’s getting too much or too little sun or water, or if the soil is bad).

She can bring dead plants back to life, although this is more taxing on her. Olena needs a higher caloric intake to be able to use her powers consistently. She also needs regular doses of sunlight and plenty of water.

Plant enhancement: The power to augment, grow or bring plants back to life and even create them. Olena can increase the amount and health of plants, flowers and other produce, heal and otherwise nourish them and influence environment to reach and stay on the ideal range to help plant-life flourish. She can accelerate their growth and even create them from nothing if needed.

Plant growth: The power to influence the growth of plant life. Olena can influence and accelerate the growth of plants, causing them to mature with supernatural speed, grow to unusual size, and produce in abundance. She can cause plants to grow from seeds to full-grown plants in moments, cause them to flower and produce fruits, seeds, etc. outside season, cause a cut plant to grow roots and other similar feats. This extends to fruits, vegetables, vines, flowers, and branches.

Plant generation: The power to generate plants. Olena can generate plants, including vines, moss, fungi, and parts of the plants, such as leaves, seeds, fruits and flowers, and manifest them anywhere she wants. She does not need to do this in soil, and can even make trees grow on the floor inside. Generating poisonous plants causes a trace amount of the poison to enter her system, and can make her sick, depending on the severity of the poison auses a trace amount of the poison to enter her system, and can make her sick, depending on the severity of the poison and how much was generated. This extends to fruits, vegetables, vines, flowers, and branches.

Vine manipulation: The power to control vines. Olena can create, shape and manipulate vines, tendrils, stems or runners of the plant with a growth habit of trailing or climbing stems or runners, the specialized stems, leafs or petioles with a threadlike shape that is used by climbing plants for support, attachment and cellular invasion by parasitic plants, generally by twining around suitable hosts. The user can cause vines to grow, develop thorns, move/attack, mutate vines by rearranging DNA structure and revive withered or dead vines.

Chlorokinetic combat: The power to utilize plants in combination of physical combat. The main usage of this is chlorokinetic whip generation, in which she creates vine that she can easily use as whips and lassos. 

Drawbacks:

Like an actual plant, Olena needs plenty of sunlight and water to effectively use her powers. Being cooped up inside and working can be extremely draining on her, and she will need some time to recoup. She also requires a high caloric intake, especially if she is creating and/or enhancing high amounts of edible plant matter. Just in general, she burns lots of energy and calories while using her powers. They can also dehydrate her quite a bit.

Creation of plants is limited to her own knowledge of plants. She can’t just make something she’s never heard of, and she can’t do it just by looking at a book or online. I hope that makes sense. Basically her powers are limited to her personal knowledge. She could make a tree shoot up out of a concrete floor; but unless there’s some sort of earth directly beneath it, the tree (or whatever plant) won’t survive.

If she creates any sort of poisonous plants, Olena runs the risk of some of the poison also materializing inside of her body. Although it won’t be as effective as actually ingesting or touching the plants, creating a large amount will up the dosage inside of her. Also the worse the poison, the more toxic the effects in smaller dosages.

The existing plants that Olena may enhance to be healthier and live longer can still be affected by the soil and weather. While they’ll last a little longer than usual, they are still, unfortunately, capable of losing the fight eventually.

Really, using her powers can just drain her energy, especially if she’s creating too many plants. She has built up some resistance but is also prone to over working herself and pushing her limits too far, which has led to burnout before.

Lit Writing Sample:

Someone close to you has just discovered you are a mutant, how does your muse react before the other can reveal their feelings?

“Sestrenku…”

Olena set her jaw firmly when she heard the tone in her twin’s voice. She and Orest had always been more alike than they ever wanted to admit, even in adulthood when they lived a world apart. And she knew he was feeling serious about a suspicion he’d been having. And Olena had a sneaking feeling she knew what he was thinking about. They’d been close their whole lives, even when their parents were in control and Orest had had much more freedom than his sister.

“Orest,” she supplied evenly, transferring the phone from between her ear and shoulder, to now being held in hand. She would at least give him the benefit of focusing all her attention on the conversation, rather than splitting it between him and cutting coupons. He deserved as much. An angel, he was, like their younger brothers.

“Lenku, I know there has always been something amiss. You have always been hiding something from me; which, I will admit, is impressive, but some secrets are too big to be hidden effectively.” His voice was calm, and mostly even, though shaking slightly. His timbre had always been a touch more delicate than Olena’s.

“I came out to you years ago,” she replied loudly, and lamely. That probably wasn’t what he mean; and even her sexuality had been no surprise, as twins always have a special connection.

“I think there’s another coming out that you need to do, though.” She could hear him shift. He was a very large man, nothing about his body delicate, and he’d never been capable of being quiet. “There was always something else you were running off to do whenever you had the chance. And all those times Mariya wasn’t able to watch the kids for longer and you begged and begged for me or someone else to keep them on nights you worked because you needed to stay out longer…”

Olena swallowed thickly.

“And those weird things always happening in your neighborhood, or the one near it.”

She remained very still for several moments, silent, idly studying the metal blades of the kitchen scissor blades, not unlike the pair she had used to cut off her braid twenty years before. Oh, she knew exactly what her brother meant. The clues were really too obvious, and she was fortunate that it had taken this long for it to come up. Orest remained quiet too, ever so patient, just waiting for her to feel comfortable.

Finally, she inhaled softly, and expelled a long breath. “Are you asking if I am one of them? The extraordinary people? The…mutants?” She spoke the last word in English, softly, as if someone was listening in. She only ever spoke in Ukrainian with her brothers, occasional English slang words sneaking in based upon each sibling’s knowledge. And mutant almost felt like a slang word.

“Da.”

Olena licked her lips, pausing, then replied, “Yes. Yes, I am, Orest, and I’ve hidden it from you and Mykola and Havryil and Kyrylo for so long because I didn’t want to potentially put your lives in danger just for being associated with me. People never really knew what to think in Ukraine, but…it’s so much worse here in America, some humans want us dead simply because some mutants use their powers for bad things.” The flood gates were open as Olena poured out her thoughts, spilling from her head and her heart. She rested a palm on her forehead as she confessed, feeling weak and defeated. “All I ever wanted was to save people and keep them safe and now I’ve wrapped myself up in this gigantic thing, trying to solve a problem for the whole world. And the kids know but I don’t ever let them anywhere near my dealings because I want them to be safe too. Orest, if any of you—you, the boys, the kids—were ever harmed because of my associations, I don’t know what I would do, because it would be my fault. And so I only ever hid it because it was for your safety.”

Clearly he was stunned by the outburst, as Orest initially replied with his own silence. Olena panted softly as she caught her breath after her impromptu rant—she was prone to them, as her twin knew, but they sometimes became embarrassing. “It makes sense that you didn’t tell us,” Orest finally replied. “I read about mutants in the news sometimes, and the dangers they’ve faced.”

She licked her lips as she waited for him to continue.

“As long as my sestrenku is a hero, however… I will always be proud. You must be working very hard, having your job and being a mother and also being a hero. You’d best be taking care of yourself!”

Olena felt herself relax when her brother’s response was favorable, and she released a little laugh, though it came out sounded nervous, as she was still coming down from her little emotional outburst. “Bratku, not once in my life have I ever taken care of myself, and you know that just as well as I do.”

“Nonsense, the day you walked out on that dick, what’s his name, is the best thing you’ve ever done and you’re still benefitting from it. So tell me more about this mutant thing, if you can? Unless you’re sworn to secrecy. In which case, tell me and I swear I won’t tell anyone else.”

The woman chewed on her lip, wondering where to begin. She supposed there was a nice place to start. “Vesna. You’ve heard of her? The heroine?” A pause. “That is me, the one with the plants. I am literally the hero Vesna.”

She heard him lean forward, obviously enthralled. “No! Really? That’s awesome! You will have to tell me all about it! What you can actually do! How long have you had them?”

She giggled, now excited about sharing secrets with her brother, something they had never really been capable of as children, as she had always been forced to watch him and their other brothers from behind some sort of electric fence. “I was twelve! Imagine going through puberty with powers!“