#like actually made in greek and shot it greece and all that

[mask131]

So…I followed your advice in researching Greek Myths and learning them via the Authors. And uhm…I was curious because something bugged me.

Now I’m bad at history, but as far as I knew, Laurel Wreaths were mostly common in Rome, rather than Greece? (I could be wrong) so I had like a nagging feeling. And found out that the Daphne and Apollo myth (And probably also Hyacinthus I’m looking into that) was told in Ovid’s Metamorphosis? I could be wrong, so far I’ve only seen Ovid as the original author.

Sorry- I saw your post about Arachne and thought about what other myths were originally purely Roman then were mistaken for Greek Myths and wanted to add this into a possibility-

A LOT of stuff were invented by Ovid! Myself I learned only a month ago that Morpheus was "invented" by Ovid and I was like... wow. (There were dream-gods in Greek mythology, but they were not singularized, and the persona of Morpheus as the individual god of dreams was invented by Ovid)

Now, I don't know much about the specific use of laurel in Ancient Greece vs the Roman empire, but if you ask about the origin of the story of Daphne and Apollo, they are definitively Greek and Ovid did not invent her (though he told the story in a very, very different way).

The story of Daphne's numerous misadventures was recorded by Greek authors - and while it was quite late records, which would make us wonder if it isn't a late development or invention, they all rely on older sources attesting a presence of Daphne's legend for quite a long time. The two major records of Daphne's legend by Greeks are Pausanias' Description of Greece (2nd century CE), and Parthenius of Nicea's "Erotica Pathemata" (1st century BCE). BUT Pausanias explains that the legend he collects has been known for a very long time in the area around the Ladon river, to the point of implementing itself within the worship of Apollo, while Parthenius begins his story by pointing out he is merely retranscribing the text of older sources - a book from a 3rd century BCE historian named Phylarkhos, and an elegiac poem by Diodoros of Elaia. But given these two older texts were lost, we only have the latest record, hence this feeling of "novelty" when the story is actually at least around since the 3rd century BCE...

In fact, the existence of Daphne in Greek mythology long before Ovid's Metamorphoses is also proven by how massively different the Greek records of Daphne's life are from Ovid's tale. Everybody knows the story of Daphne through Ovid, since it was the most popular and widespread one... But both Pausanias and Parthenius report the same legend, which is very different from Ovid's rewrite.

In Ovid's tale, Daphne is said to have been Apollo's first love, and that the god's feelings were caused by Cupid as a way to take revenge after being mocked (Apollo, as a talented archer-god, mocked Cupid's own archery talents). Cupid shot a love-killing arrow in Daphne's heart so that the nymph would reject all forms of love, and she became "like Diana" - by refusing any form of marriage or romance, and fleeing the company of men and rejecting all her suitors, preferring the loneliness of the woods and the pleasure of the hunt - her father, the river-god, insisted on her giving him a son-in-law and grandchildren but she insisted she wanted to remain endlessly virgin like Diana. Meanwhile Apollo had received a love-inflamming arrow, one that not only caused a deep desire and mad love within the god for Daphne, but also made this attraction stronger and more obsessive each time the god saw the nymph. As such, Apollo tried all he could to please her and woo her and seduce her, but each time he tried the love-repelling spell on Daphne caused her to flee in fear and disgust and terror ; and the more she fled, the more Apollo found her beautiful and desirable, thanks to Cupid's curse ; and thus he followed her, but the more he pursued and insisted the more she fled. Their respective love and hate kept growing and growing until Daphne, exhausted and not wanting to flee anymore, stopped by the shore of her father the river-god and begged him to transform her so that her beauty would be gone, and she would not be loved anymore. Her father turned her into a laurel-tree, but it was no use, as Cupid's power as too strong: Apollo was still in love with the beauty and radiance of the tree, and he could feel Daphne's heart beating in the plant; and similarly Daphne's hate still lived on, as when Apollo embraced the tree and kissed its branches, the tree shivered and was repelled away from the god's body. But Apollo ultimately decided that if she could not be his bride, he would make Daphne his official tree and symbol - and to this, Daphne actually agreed as she offered her "leafy branches" to the god.

That's the Roman story of Daphne invented by Ovid. What is the difference with the Greek story he took inspiration from? (Because it is very clear that Ovid's source was the story twice told by Pausanias and Parthenius ; and told by others before whose name were lost...

1: In Ovid's story, Daphne simply admires and imitates Diana's behavior. In the Greek legend Daphne was ACTUALLY one of the huntresses of Artemis. Or to be more precise Parthenius explains that Artemis found Daphne "dear" to her because she shared the goddess' life-choices, refusing to live in cities, not hanging out with other girls, hunting in the mountains with a large pack of hounds... And Artemis loved Daphne so much she offered her a gift: she would always shoot straight at her target and never miss.

2: There's no Cupid/Eros in the Greek legend. Daphne is not Apollo's first love, she is not cursed with rejecting all love, he was not cursed to love her to insanity - this whole episode was invented by Ovid. Apollo is still in love with Daphne in the Greek legend, but it is just a regular love.

3: The Greek legend has a character that Ovid completely erased. Leucippus. Leucippus was another man who was in love with Daphne but knew that she was a lonely huntress closely linked to Artemis... Understanding he could not seduce her in a conventional way, Leucippus put up a convoluted plan to win the girl's heart. He dressed himself as a woman and created for himself a female persona. He approached Daphne and pretended to be a fellow huntress ; Daphne agreed to let her join her hunting party, and she soon grew to admire this bold, strong woman so unlike the other girls of Greece and whose strength and hunting talents far surpassed those of a common maiden... In fact she grew such affection and admiration for the fake-huntress that Daphne developed a dear and solid friendship with her: it was said she was always by Leucippus' side, refused to let Leucippus away from her, and kept embracing him/her and clinging to his/her body. However, since Apollo was also in love with Daphne he grew both jealous and angry (since, as the god of truth, he knew of Leucippus' deceit), and decided to reveal the truth. He implanted in Daphne's mind the idea that she had to bathe in a given stream: she went there with her "attendant maidens" and female servants/fellow huntresses (Daphne is never said explicitely to be part of the huntresses of Artemis, but she herself lives in a group of "wild women" very similar to Artemis' huntresses so... it is strongly implied she is one of them, especially since she literaly lives like the goddess and has been gifted by her). Leucippus of course refused to bathe, despite the other girls' insistence, and since he refused still, they tore his clothes away from him... discovering he was a man all along. And since this group of women act on a Artemis' huntress logic, they did what seemed the most reasonable thing to do... kill Leucippus by plunging in his body all of their spears.

4: The Greek legend does agree that Daphne begged a third-party god to turn her into the laurel tree to escape Apollo's love-hunt, but the details are different from Ovid's tale and the story is more lacking in explanations... All we know, from Parthenius' record is that Apollo appeared to Daphne right after Leucippus was killed. Why? We don't know, but he clearly came to profit off the fact his romantic rival had been killed in shame/crime, and that he had a part to play in the "reveal" of Leucippus' deceit... But all we know is that Daphne fled Apollo, and he pursued her, and to avoid being caught by him she begged to be hidden from his sight, and thus she was turned into a laurel tree. But in the Greek legend she doesn't beg her father the river-god... she begs Zeus, and he is the one who grants her request and protects her from his own son.

Things are even worse in Pausanias' record, since he stops after Leucippus death and there is no story of Apollo hunting down Daphne in any way... He doesn't even speak of any metamorphosis ; and yet he does mention that Daphne was associated with the laurel, and that the heavy use of laurel in Apollonian rituals and games was because of the god's love for Daphne. (But from yet other sources contemporary to Pausanias' writings, such as the "Life of Apollonius of Tyana", we know that the story of Daphne being somehow "replaced" by a laurel-tree was well-known, though it wasn't always said why such a thing happened)

In conclusion, as usual with how Ovid tweaks the Greek legends, it is interesting to see how he shift the character and what the character is supposed to be about. Thanks to Ovid the image we keep of Daphne is the one of a victim fleeing in fright and fear, and her relationship with Apollo is depicted as a frightening and cruel tragedy orchestrated by Cupid... And yet, we do know that Daphne started out as a badass huntress of Artemis, and that her original story was about a man changing his gender in hope of winning her heart - to the point the involvment of Apollo was seen as a side-detail that could be omitted (Pausanias even claims that Apollo's involvment in the legend was an addition by the priests of the god, and not present in the main folktale)

Mind you I am not at all an expert on Daphne's character or story - and I am sure others are more informed than me... But that's the few things I know

[sztansescheadache]

it’s time for my top 36 as of march. keep in mind that this year is super strong (rivalling my beloved 2016 in terms of song quality) and my top 10 has 16 songs in it. they also change placements depending on my mood

1. norway - i got chills the first time i’ve listened to this song and i get them every singe time i push play on it. pure art, so atmospheric, magical, the mixture of rock and folk with gunnhild’s godly vocals and amazing lyrics IN NORWEGIAN i am just beyond in love with this song IT WAS MADE FOR MY TASTE

2. estonia - it was the first song i listened to form the eesti laul line up and i just knew nothing was gonna beat it for me. it’s just so fun, with funny lyrics and a great folk-ish instrumental. crazy party of this year for me

3. the netherlands- gabber core on my esc?????? no way i lived to see this day. i am absolutely in love with this song- the music the visuals and the touching story of this song - instant hit. europapa has infected my brain permanently. joost was right 12 points to the netherlands

4. slovenia - this just so powerful, i love the siren core aesthetic and sound of this song. raivens voice is hypnotising like of a siren, you can’t help but get immersed in it

5. switzerland - it took a while to fully kick in but i absolutely love it now. the genre mix was a little bit confusing at first but now i’m just amazed at this combination of dnb opera pop alternative and rap - and the fact that it actually works together

6. belgium - they’re back to their dark pop era and IM GLAD. the outro had me on my knees, it’ll be so big during the live

7. lithuania - the 20s are lithuanias golden age, they are finally not afraid of sending their own language and they’re doing it with class. luktelk is a banger we deserved, modern, addicting. i hope for a top 10 for lithuania

8. italy - E LA CUMBIA DELLA NOIA💃💃 a true mediterranean banger, with amazing lyrics an overall full package, angelina is super charismatic, she’s a breath of fresh air for italy for sure

9. portugal - it wasn’t even my winner of fdc but i just fell in love with this after seeing that performance. it’s so elegant, calm, the lyrics are truly moving, everything in both the song and the fdc performance is so well thought out. some people will say it’s just another portuguese ballad but i think it stands out with its grace amongst the others

10. greece - it’s pop but an experimental one, mixing reggaeton maybe some hyperpop elements even? zari is greek to its core and while being very ethnic it’s also innovative and fresh. i constantly find myself humming this song. i can see it doing really well or finishing in bottom 5 - everything depends on the staging. but i love it i hope greece won’t be afraid to continue this more experimental route

11. ireland - my alternative heart is so happy to see a song and a performer like this on esc. you either live doomsday blue or hate it - i loved it form the first listen. it’s dark alluring enigmatic angry - an experience overall

12. spain - ever since it won benidorm my brain just randomly goes ZORRA‼️ ZORRA ‼️ZORRA ‼️in the middle of the day. it’s not even a guilty pleasure it’s just pure pleasure. i love how unapologetic this song is, the message of it, pure fun and celebration

13. ukraine - i absolutely love it as i do with almost every ukrainian entry although i have to admit it grew off me a little bit. it’s still a contender for the win in may and i wouldn’t be mad tbh. it’s a well made, powerful entry, ukraine always delivers

14. croatia - same like with the previous one it grew off me a little bit but it’s still a banger. this is croatia’s best shot at getting a top10 result and i wish them all the best. it’s pure fun and craziness

15. serbia - this year lacks ballads sm, so serbia (and portugal) have the chance to stand out bringing a cool down in between the chaos. ramonda is calm and reflective and so beautiful evoking all the right emotions. it feels very intimate even on a huge stage. i love meaning of the lyrics

16. sweden - is it a basic pop song? yes? did it also brought me to my knees with this beat and the staging? also yes. like i’m the biggest sweden hater but omg i just can’t help but bang to this song. it’s addicting. the norwegian twins have a pass from me

17. san marino - the funniest thing of this nf season. this not as good as arcadia but it’s still megara with their original style and a great vibe. if san marino fails to qualify with this then idk really.

18. armenia - ITS SO CUTE. it puts a smile on my face fr. ethnic banger through and through kind reminds me of trenuletul in a way (also there’s this polish party song “prawy do lewego” and idk if it’s just me but they have such similar vibes, i would absolutely go drunk dancing to “jako”)

19. denmark - idk i think i just have to have this one very basic song that i like for some reason. this year it’s sand. it’s really pleasing for some reason. nothing special as i said but i like it

20. georgia - your token ethnic girl pop. and that’s exactly it, it is a good song in this particular genre. and for this exact reason i can’t rank it higher. it’s good enough for me to put it here. still i am hoping for a q firm grorgia like let’s be real they deserve it more than anyone (with latvia ofc)

21. finland - camp. just camp. some people say that you either love or hate it but really i think it’s just fine. it doesn’t throw me off with its weirdness but it doesn’t excite me in any way. it’s just a weird little song in the middle of my ranking. but we’ll see if europe thinks it’s too much or exactly what we need. i can see it nqing

22. latvia - it was their best shot at q (although i still kinda mourn “kur?” it was such a nice song) but idk if they’ll manage to do that. it’s a strong powerful entry, but it can get a little lost in this years mix. dons is an amazing vocalis and if we had juries in the semis i know they would appreciate this song but with current system i’m not so sure

23. france - another ok song. i don’t really like the yelling ballad type but i have to admit this is well made. i’m still hoping for the revamp

24. poland - we had better options but this is also fine. an ok pop song, that’s it

25. australia - it’s extremely dated, it gives 2016. but it kinda started growing on me???? i love the usage of the aboriginal instruments and language it’s something original and i’m here for that.

26. moldova - again it’s fine it’s ok. but it doesn’t stand out much. moldova didn’t have better options (expept tudor bumbac) but it’s a let down compared to previous years

27. uk - i had such high hopes looking at the names involved in this song but ultimately it’s a let down. i’d does nothing for me. it’s well made once again but it leaves with zero emotions. comes and goes. kinda sad that they brought such a big name and yet failed to bring an engaging song

28. austria - this is so cringy. girlie is telling me that we will rave and then pulls out the most 2002 eurodance drop known to humankind?????? i mean it’s a swedish reject and it shows. in a way it is fun but more because it’s funny. idk i don’t hate it i just have a beef with it

29. azerbaijan - i’m very happy to hear the azeri language finally debut on esc. but the song is fine at best and bland at worst.

30. czechia - i know there will be a revamp but i’m judging the current version. this saddens and a lot. aiko has so much potential and this song fails to showcase it. it’s very american pop rock esque but kinda on a budget. i wanted to se aiko on esc but not like this :((

31. malta - a few revamps too many. nothing special really, average girl pop.

32. germany - this sounds like a last place i’m sorry😭😭 they’re asking for to atp. the guy is a good vocalist but this song is stuck in 2014

33. cyprus - this is just lazy. when will the cypriot hod learn that by doing the same thing over and over again they won’t replicate their 2018 succès. that was a one time thing and buying more songs form sweden and giving them to people with vague connections to the county won’t do them any good.

34. albania - they just sabotaged themselves with this revamp. it wasn’t a particularly good song before but the english language killed any originality it had left

35. luxembourg - this is just really unfortunate. coming back after 30 years with not even a swedish reject but singing dug up from a swedish dumpster? kinda sad for them but that’s what you get for rejecting your artists ogriginal songs in favour for shwdish bought ones

36. iceland - what i a travel agency advertisement is this? it’s not even about bashar loosing, this song is just bad. the only one this year i can use that word for. luxembourg and albania are whatever but this is just unlistenable for me. hera bjork is an icon already she didn’t need a comeback especially not this one.

thank you for reading for anyone who managed to get this far. i still have many things to say about some songs and nf performances that happened while i was inactive on here. and maybe rant about the STUPID system changes that they want to implement. but i still won’t be watching esc this year. and i won’t be active on here during the esc week (exams) so i just wanted to say that this could’ve been the best esc year ever, with amazing songs visuals hosts etc. but ebu decided to use all that to promote a genocide. so instead of uniting in genocide i hope that the amazing artist of 2024 will unite in humanity and raise their voice against the atrocities that ebu decided to ignore for the sake of money

[omegasmileyface]

ok. what is in your opinion the funniest greek myth you know 🥞

hi this ask made me realize i don't actually know that many individual myth stories (i would like to change that!) and also all of them i could think of (or find) are Sad As Hell! they might be a little funny but only in sort of dark humor ways. you know? maybe Phaethon, the son of the sun god Helios who begged to take his dad's sun chariot out for a ride, perhaps to impress his friends, and was so shitty at driving it (fun fact, this is their myth for why Africans had darker skin than them. bc of getting scorched by the untamed sun. well they got the sun part right at least, 4/10 job everybody) that things got chaotic and Zeus shot him down, and he fell into the Eridanus river and drowned ? and then his sisters were so sad they turned into trees ? it might be funny bc it reflects modern stories of driving your parents' car and fucking it up so bad

anyway i think i have my answer in the form of a very brief anecdote. when i was looking around i found this, said by the traveler Pausanias in his records of traveling Greece:

[2.38.2] Fifty stades, I conjecture, from Temenium is Nauplia, which at the present day is uninhabited; its founder was Nauplius, reputed to be a son of Poseidon and Amymone. Of the walls, too, ruins still remain and in Nauplia are a sanctuary of Poseidon, harbors, and a spring called Canathus. Here, say the Argives, Hera bathes every year and recovers her maidenhood.

he says that there is a spring where Hera bathes herself yearly to restore her virginity which is just an incredibly funny concept to me. shes married. she has kids, in and maybe out of wedlock. would this work if a mortal did it? free virginity in Nauplia?

[agentnico]

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022) Review

Knives Out holds a special place in my heart. It was the movie I took my lovely fiancée to see on our very first date, and naturally both the film and the relationship turned out to be a great success. Now our 3rd year anniversary together is only weeks away, and ironically a sequel to the movie that started it all off for us has come out. Couldn’t get any more sentimental than this now can it. Was half expecting it to rain on the way to the cinema just to add to the romantic clichés. It didn’t rain though. Instead our Uber driver nearly killed us by driving against traffic on a one way street to the cinema. So that was fun.

Plot: Tech billionaire Miles Bron invites his friends for a getaway on his private Greek island. When someone turns up dead, Detective Benoit Blanc is put on the case.

Knives Out was a great whodunnit that shocked everyone by how good it was when it came out back in 2019. Not least due to it having been directed by Rian Johnson who was fresh off of making the very divisive Star Wars: The Last Jedi. However Knives Out was such a pitch perfect movie which brought the classic murder mystery to modern day, whilst still in-keeping with the old-school Agatha Christie vibe, with Daniel Craig even playing the very clear Hercule Poirot type character. The dialogue was sharply written, the performances were great and overall Knives Out was nothing short of being AWESOME. So much so that it was a box office smash hit. On a $40 million budget it made over $312 million profit. That’s a good fashioned pay-check right there. So then Netflix bought the rights to two sequels for a ridiculous $469 million, where the deal also includes a $100 paycheck to both Johnson and Craig for each sequel. Look I don’t really understand the Netflix algorithm and how it makes money, but now I REALLY don’t understand it. Knives Out was successful, but not successful with these paychecks! Again though, don’t get me started on algorithms - I don’t get them!

So Glass Onion is the first sequel to Knives Out, and one that sets out to show if Knives Out was a one trick pony or if this murder mystery is destined to be a hugely successful murder mystery franchise. The only real connection between Glass Onion and Knives Out is that they both feature the social commentary on the rich and wealthy, as well as Daniel Craig’s detective Benoit Blanc. So let’s start with Blanc himself. He stole the show in the first film with his Southern accent, and he does so again in Glass Onion. Seeing him be the fish-out-of-water by being a lower class member stuck on this Greek island with all the rich folk, it was adorable seeing him in his matching outfit be shocked and in awe at all the expensive tech and aspects of this place. When he tries a special celebrity-made hot sauce and exclaims “Oh Halle Berry! That has a kick” in his Southern drawl... honestly that was peak. Couldn’t get any better than that. Benoit Blanc is an icon at this point. He’s clever, funny, super likeable, and I would love for Craig to keep playing this character for as long as possible.

Rian Johnson is also back on both writing and directing duty, and he swaps out the cold and damp suburban setting of Knives Out to the colourful sunny holiday shots of Greece. It’s as if he’s trying to distance himself visually from the first film as much as possible to signify that this is it’s own murder mystery tale. Well, you know, just like with any Agatha Christie or Arthur Conan Doyle book. Same detective but dealing with completely different scenarios. But Ryan really establishes the light vistas of the island, and I must say I am glad I got to see it this film on the big screen rather than on Netflix (where it premieres end of December), as the setting and even the central ‘glass onion’ (yes, there really is an actual glass onion, it’s not just a metaphor) are worth seeing in their true spectacle. Speaking of spectacle, I’m also not going to talk much about the plot, as this is one of those films best seen when not knowing anything, as there are many twists and turns throughout that should be experienced in the moment. Johnson presents the movie in very non linear fashion on purpose, so as to reveal parts of the puzzle only at the exact time he intends to. Like an onion, he peels the layers one by one, only at the end revealing the entire grand plan. Does it at time become style over substance? Partially, however Johnson’s script is so cleverly put, and minus the first 30 minutes where the movie drags a little before getting to the actual murder mystery, the thing as a whole is really well paced an keeps you on your toes.

Glass Onion is also very funny. It dials up on the humour in comparison to Knives Out, and some of these new characters are even more wackier that the previous line up, with the cast all very game here. Edward Norton is evidently relishing playing the Elon Musk-type tech genius billionaire and is on top form. Kate Hudson is on a whole new level of over the top here, dancing and prancing her way from shot to shot wearing massive My Fair Lady hats and taking over the room with her exclamations. Janelle Monae plays the role that Ana de Armas had in the first Knives Out film in that she is the outsider, and the one that Benoit Blanc warms up to the most. Monae is very good in the role, but again, cannot say much about her character without spilling spoilers. The rest of the cast all play the parts well. You’ve got Dave Bautista, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr.... they’re all great, however some are a little under-used. There’s also an abundance of great if not a bit random cameos, which were really fun. Look, we get to meet Benoic Blanc’s partner in this one for one moment, and I must say that the casting choice for that was brilliant. 

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is a great successor to the original movie (though the first film I’d say is still superior) that goes bigger and wackier, and though it doesn’t always work (the first half an hour is rocky), it’s well made up by the murder mystery itself, the great cast and a solid script by Rian Johnson. It’s all very entertaining and super enjoyable. And again, Daniel Craig’s detective Benoit Blanc is a character creation that is so damn good, that I cannot wait to see him again.

Overall score: 8/10

[the-clockwork-three]

Swan Lake is a classic for a reason. Beautiful story. Amazing music. Incredible choreography. I do wish Ireland had... Literally any other ballet playing. Our cultural scene is incredibly stagnant. Just Swan Lake and the Nutcracker. Anyways this is musing from the production I saw today (technically yesterday)

The set for this production was very Greek (???) to me, especially in Act 1. (Not in the sense of the phrase but actually like Greece). There was a lot of pillars, and marblesque seats and fancy pots full of flowers. The lake was a lake in the even acts and the Act 3 ballroom is very plain. However the costume design was normal, which is to say they could be from anywhere in western Europe. But they were all sparkly so that's a plus

Act one. That's a pas de trois. You cannot convince me that that dance with the bestie and the two girls is not a valid Grand Pas de Trois. A dance together, everyone gets a solo, then they are together again. Swan Lake says polyamoruos rights. And this polyamory really want a fourth, but Seigfried keeps being like "nah it's alright, you go ahead I'm going to stay here". He is NOT interested in their advances.

Random half-joking headcannons aside, the crossbow was like really pathetic. It was pure white with what looked like delicate carvings and gems and I genuinely thought it was a pickaxe for a second before I remembered the plot. It's just.... My dude that's not going to hurt a fly it looks like your mum bought you a nice decoration. Also, if your mum gives you a crossbow in the first scene I expect you to have shot it at the evil wizard by the last one. Chekhov's gun,,,, or what I like to call it, Seigfried's stupid little crossbow

Anyway MIME STRIKES BACK. We all know that ballet is incredibly tied to mime as an artform and so the only way I'll my communicating the concept of marriage from now on is by laying one hand over the other and giving loaded looks. Anyways ballet is so silly and I love it

Act 2. Cygnets. I love cygnets. Give me more cygnets. I've also performed a lot of act 2 so the music is a little burned into my brain. Watching it made my feet hurt from remembering standing still for 3 solos

Anyways, here we meet Seigfried's first, but certainly not last, cringfail moment. He is the lands worst marksman. God help us all.

Also he proves himself to be an absolute wife guy. Odette has this lovely solo and he's just on the sidelines giving her heart eyes.

Act 3 <3 I've said it before and I'll say it again. I LOVE WHEN BALLET IS CLOSER TO ITS FOLK DANCE ROOTS. Character dance? Yummy. 3/5 of the folk dances were character. AND TARANTELLA. I LOVE SPAINISH DANCES. Rad grade 4 dance f (maybe. Possibly) is my favorite dance I have ever done for a ballet exam. If you take nothing of this watch RAD grade 4 dance f. The tamberines in the fourth dance were clearly missing their cymbals though. You can hear the dancers pointe shoes clunking against the stage, you would be able to hear the tamberines. And when they smack the thing there was the merest clink. Again as I have done the tarantella in rad grade 4, I can tell you that dancing with tamberines is LOUD

And then we have Odile. My boy you're so fucking stupid. I love you, but you are good of heart, dumb of ass. But the dance was breath taking. Of course. Fouttetes<3 and then Seigfried's pirouettes à second<3 I do think the ballerina fell out of the last fouette so she might not have done the full 32, or if she did she needs to work on her technique of stopping. Show stopping though. And? Then? At the end of the grand pas de deux????? The way Seigfried gripped Odile's hand and pressed it to his cheek. Raw devotion. It made my heart wrench. My boy is just so fucking stupid.

It's also really interesting to me that the Grand Pas de Deux goes to Odile. Odette does not get the dignity other tragic heroines get. The main dance in her story doesn't even go to her. She doesn't get the fouettes. Her love, her spotlight, her story was stolen from her. I think that's what made this veiwing of swan lake different from my earlier ones, as I understand the structure of ballets now. Also this one I'm seeing live

Act 4. May have laughed when Wizard Man crawled off stage. He was so wet and pathetic. Can neither confirm or deny.

Alright back to the idea of devotion. Seigfried to his last breath looks to the sky for Odette. He tries to give her what he gave Odile by mistake, his declaration of undying love. He presses he head to her hands with a desperation. He would try a thousand times over if they had the time. Odette for her part forgives him. She raises him from the ground when he feels the weight of his sins pressing down on him. She does not hold a grudge, but that doesn't change that she is scared. She knows Rothbart is coming, and the other swans are anxious with her. But they stay together, because that's what love is, right? Staying by someone's side, through good and bad, and forgiveness.

I'll be honest, I was not expecting a kiss. Not every romance needs one yanno. Sometimes pressing one's cheek to their loved ones hands communicates just as well as a smackeroonie. And if someone never kissed me but did the hand thing, I'd believe they liked me (note to self, possible solution to icks the idea of kissing gives you.). But then they did kiss and :D tbf it's implied that they are both super dead and on the way to heaven but that's a happy end in my books

Anyways watch swan lake. It good.

[greektravelblog]

Day 7 and 8

Oooh boy yesterday was PACKED with history. I was like a kid in a candy store haha!

After class we were delayed getting out into the city as there was a bus strike going on. But eventually we made it out and traveled to the Ancient Agora. To get there, we walked along this adorable little street that was filled with vendors selling handmade jewelry and even tiny books! The road is named to this day what it was named 2500 years ago, Platía Thiséos. And yes, it is named for the ancient king Theseus. Anyways, we entered the Agora and our tour guide began by explaining the purpose of the city.

So while the Parthenon was the symbol of the city, and later the symbol of democracy, Agora was democracy in action. It was a city center, much like downtown Martinsburg, minus the residences. The city has multiple temples including the Temple of Hephaestus.

This temple is the only one from ancient Greece who's roof is still intact! It's a beautiful construction and honors the god who helped birth Athena. Because of this, two statues would've been inside: Hephaestus and Athena. On the inside of the roof, stones had been placed after it's construction to create a domed ceiling. This was installed during the Byzantine empire when Christians entered the city and converted all pagan buildings into churches.

A small corner of a temple for all of the Olympian gods is all that is left. A train borders the ancient city, and it was constructed, before the archaeology craze, in 1880. Because of this, the entire temple was lost. However, like the World Trade Center in NYC, it was the "point zero" of the town and all measurements of the city extended from this temple.

We got to see the very first shopping mall in the entire world! Across the way stands the modern recreation, since only the back wall survived the ages. The shopping mall had two stories and is now a museum! When it was discovered, John D. Rockefeller paid for the entire restoration.

Inside the museum, remnants of the invention of democracy are shown. Including small discs that are inscribed with different names. Whenever there was a concern that someone was trying to overthrow the democracy or trying to corrupt it, the assembly would right the name of the person of concern onto these discs, and whoever had the most votes would be exiled from Athens for ten years! It was the very first type of impeachment!

Also shown, are tiny little shot glasses.

However,

Greeks didn't take shots of hard liquor. They actually refused to drink wine unless it was mixed with water, they thought it barbaric. So what was it for?

Hemlock.

These were the glasses for which execution would be carried out. They were found in what is believed to be the prison and when tested, remnants of hemlock remained in the bottom. This theory is not only backed up by testing, but by the writings of Plato who described that Socrates was charged and executed for blasphemy for saying that the human nature is self-defined (basically, do some soul searching and use some logic.) Plato describes how Socrates was forced to drink Hemlock as punishment for his crime. So you're looking at, possibly, the last think Socrates ever held before his death.

After leaving the ancient city, we went for food and boy did I have the best potatoes I've ever eaten. The pizza was magnificent and the chef was sweet. It wasn't safe for me to eat the Baklava, so he brought out a different dessert for me, without us even asking for it. Although it looked like a burnt piece of tofu, it tasted wonderfully. It actually tasted like the middle of cannoli.

Yesterday I didn't do much, so I'm going to skip over it. Today's update will be up later tonight.

Things I've taken away from today:

I wanna live here. Like, seriously

I'm one of the only ones who could've kept going on that tour. I literally didn't know I was hungry until I got to the restaurant.

I did, in fact, choose the right major, wvu just doesn't have any classes on what I want to study

The greeks had a banging society (yknow, minus the misogyny and slavery)

I literally can't feel my feet anymore.

[pursuingheavenonearth]

Mykonos, Greece: Sightseeing in Chora, June 11, 202

by David L. Brooks

Sightseeing in Chora

From the Mykonos Airport, it’s basically a straight shot to reach the environs of Chora, the old town proper. Some attempt has been made to limit automobile traffic, but there always seems a few intrepid locals who can manage to pull their cars or beat-up lorries through the narrower streets. Nevertheless, it was delightful to see where actual, although highly touristy, businesses and residences thrived. Remember my stay earlier in the week has all occurred in a rural almost pastoral setting, although rocky terrain and white-coated county homes are the norm where I’ve been staying.

My initial target for official sightseeing was to visit the array of old Greek windmills arrayed on a cliff face overlooking the ocean.  Sure enough, it is a popular sightseeing spot for a lot of the island’s visitors.  Currently, the grounds of the Windmills of Mykonos is undergoing some cosmetic redecorating and refurbishment. Even on a Sunday morning, there were a few workman busy making repairs to a stone walkway.  There are 6 to 8 smaller windmills standing in a solitary row, rather like a Pygmy-like bulwark against the Winds of Change.  Tourists were not able to enter inside a windmill, at least that was true for the ones I inspected

Heading around the Old Port

Descending the hill upon which stood the battle-ready troupe of windmills, I entered the Old City proper.  Stopping by a womenswear boutique shop that looked inviting, I was soon to understand that prices for almost anything was going to be twice (at least) of what you’d pay in Spain. So I realize that I needn’t spend time even looking since getting something for my wife or granddaughters here was a true waste of hard earned money. So I continued on my way toward my next destination: the Archaeological Museum of Mykonos. After climbing the narrow streets above the Museum, I had detoured and gone well past it as it was supposedly located at the far end of the almost circular bay around which the Old City had flourished. Upon descending and returning back toward the harbor, to my disappointment, i discovered that the Archaeological Museum of Mykonos was closed for repairs.  Tant pis! However, all is not lost because it was now well passed my usual lunchtime, and after descending a short flight of stone stairs, I was back on the semi-circular boardwalk and at the home of my soon-to-become next destination, Kavos Taverna,

Sunday, June 11 around 12 pm

Where I had lunch in Chora: 

Kavos Taverna is a busy port-side outdoor restaurant, specializing in Greek seafood cuisine and located right at far northern end of the Old Port of Chora on the island of Mykonos.

Evidently, the restaurant has been run by three generations of Kavos (assumed family name) on this very spot, right on the old harbor of Chora, the biggest town on the island of Mykonos.  The restaurant has a splendid seaside location, with ‘coastal’ tables barely a meter above the ocean water and stretching a length of 80 meters. The chef d’œuvre for this restaurant is Seafood with a capital S:  from the lowly platter of grilled sardines, which is what I ordered along with spanakopita, a Greek savory spinach pie that is typically also stuffed with feta cheese,  to a half-meter wide platter of various seafood regulars, and whole grilled fish and lobsters, all generously served with fries and a dash of greenery.  My meal was quite good, and I was glad I had ordered sliced Greek bread and bottled water to round out the meal of grilled sardines (small-sized) and the generous helping of spanakopita. The waiter who took my order did a double take when I mentioned the sliced bread immediately after ordering the spinach pie. So much so that he actually confirmed that I really wanted the bread.

The wait staff was very helpful and attentive, many were quite multilingual. But like all good eateries worldwide, ‘your mouth is where the money goes’ —meaning the larger table or better-paying customers tend to get the majority of the multiple tiered staffs’ attentions. After taking my order, I was not spoken to again by the wait staff until I was aggressive enough to call over the dining host, a younger man who spoke English quite adequately, to answer a question that came both out of my curiosity and as my employee management strategy.  When he did answer my question, I mentioned that I was ready to pay the check. What I suspect was that I had not behaved in a ‘finished customer’ way in order for the regular wait staff to recognize that I was ready to pay up and go.  Predominately, the reason was that I had not partaken in the almost ‘du rigueur‘ tiny cup of ‘mastika’,  a sweet liqueur produced with the mastika resin. Of course, I might be just a little too forgiving (undemanding) and the waiters may have not even noticed my having finished my simple but delicious meal.  But there was nothing left but a small of neatly piled sardine backbones. Maybe they thought I was an epicurean or perhaps just a famished traveler. I’m sure they’ve seen all kinds of patrons. Lucky for me, the cost was quite reasonable.

[suspicious-pools-of-blood]

Hi buddy! Its Athena, I'm sending this out to all my mutuals - what got you into writing, what inspires you, who inspires you and what music inspires you to write? what do you love about writing?

Hi Athena!

To be honest, I don't actually know when I first got into writing. Especially if we count the "daydreaming plotlines of stories that never actually get written down," I've been doing that since I was a kid. I guess I started writing in middle school; we'd get assignments in English class to write stories and I'd always get way too ambitious and perfectionist with it and have trouble keeping it as a short story haha. In eighth grade we had one such assignment that was open-ended enough that the story I came up with would have needed at least a full book to contain it all, so I ended up just submitting a chapter 1 with a "to be continued" at the end. I wrote bits and pieces here and there continuing that story, but for the most part it just lived in my brain for several years. High school English class was a lot more essay-based than middle school, but my tenth grade teacher was fond of fiction; we had one or two full short story assignments, but for the first few months we also would get weekly vocabulary homework that involved writing a (very) short story using that week's words, and I think that's what really got me into writing. Those were more like one-shots than full short stories, but it made me remember how fun writing fiction is (and it's also around that time that I started writing more predominantly angst/whump, which is now my bread and butter). I just checked my old google drive files and it looks like I started actually writing stuff down around 2017 and actually writing my main story -- which, although nearly unrecognizable now, is the same one I started in eighth grade -- towards the end of 2020.

Inspiration: I think I'm mostly inspired by (1) other media and (2) history, with heavy overlap between the two. Full disclosure, coming as no surprise to anyone who has talked to me for over 5 minutes, I watched Xena: Warrior Princess in 2020 and it permanently rewired by brain harder than anything else ever has. In my elementary school, everyone got their Greek mythology phase from reading Percy Jackson in class, but my English class was the only one that didn't read it, so none of us had that phase -- until I watched Xena, and the ancient Mediterranean became one of my primary hyperfixations. I was never much into history before, but I always loved the medieval vibe of fantasy (although I actually was never into high fantasy/magic worlds); my formative book series as a kid was the Ranger's Apprentice series by John Flanagan. (Side note, I think John Flanagan having written that series when he wasn't a writer previously was also influential for making me view writing as an activity with a very low bar for entry, so I didn't feel intimidated or like I shouldn't write just because I wasn't aiming for a career in writing.) So when I first started writing I defaulted to the generic run of the mill medieval-England-with-the-serial-number-filed-off setting that a lot of earth-like fantasy defaults to. By high school I think the setting had started to become more original, though still approximately equivalent to medieval Europe. But once I watched Xena, I realized that actually ancient Greece is so much cooler what the fuck. From there I watched some other stuff made by the same people who made Xena, including the STARZ Spartacus series, so I got generally into ancient history because of all that. I started reading a lot more nonfiction history books (as well as well-researched historical fiction, for the vibes) covering various civilizations of the ancient Mediterranean (not limited to Greece and Rome). I'm also half Turkish, so I was raised with the vague awareness that before the Turks there had been a number of great civilizations in Anatolia, from which we were partly descended (fun fact, my parents actually named me after one of those civilizations; it was one of my given middle names, but unfortunately no one told me it was based on that until after a decade of hating it because to me it was just a random girl's name and every time I mentioned not liking it my parents would be like "oh but it's a beautiful name" and I assumed it was just more of them being transphobic and not wanting me to change it to a boy's name lmao). I also sort of knew (though I didn't know the historical details) that our people migrated to Anatolia from central Asia a long time ago (tbc most Turks are genetically only very slightly Turkic, but a lot of cultural elements can be traced back to the nomadic lifestyle, even stuff as simple as our cuisine being a lot more dairy-based than other cultures in the area) and used to be nomadic warriors, what with the horseback archers and all that, so that inspired me for the whole other half of my setting. I also got into the history of the steppes, from the Mongols in the medieval era all the way back to the various peoples such as the Sarmatians or Scythians theorized to have been the basis for the Greek myth of the Amazons. And recently I started watching a Turkish show (okay, I started it like a year ago, it just has very long episodes that I have a really hard time sitting through) called Destan that is set in central Asia before the Turkic migration, and that's probably the biggest influence currently on my writing. [Stefon voice:] This show's got everything. Nomadic tribal politics and governmental organization, a strong female lead, so many strong female characters actually, horseback archery, a pet wolf, kurgans, fantastic fight choreography.

Whoops, wall of text. Here, have some line breaks.

I'll also add, for who inspires me, other writers on tumblr! For me this is more of a whump thing than a general writing thing; I used to feel suuuuuper self-conscious about writing fucked up shit (that was probably the biggest reason why I rarely wrote stuff down, because What If Someone Saw It) but now I open my dash and see way more fucked up shit than I could write lmao so idk if that counts as inspiration, but it definitely gets me past certain mental blocks to writing.

Music is a tough one, because I have OC playlists and whatnot, but those tend to be more "put them on and stare at an empty document for an hour" playlists than actual writing playlists. Sometimes I'll pick one specific song (or just a few) and put them on loop. If I have a song with lyrics associated with a specific scene, that might inspire me to write that scene, but for general writing inspiration I go more for either instrumentals or ~vibes~ music (a good example is Calyx Virago by Xandria, which fun fact is where my OC Calyx's name comes from).

My favorite part of writing is probably the end result. I write what I want to read (as evidenced by the fact that my story basically came about by putting all my hyperfixations into a blender and pouring out the results into a google doc), so I very much am the "Oh boy I can't wait for the next chapter! What do you mean I HAVE TO WRITE IT?!" type of writer lmao. That's also why I do a lot of story development in my head without writing things down, because I imagine scenes more like a movie, and then often have difficulty putting it into words in a way that sounds good. But if/when I do manage to do that well, it's gotta be my favorite part of the whole process.

[pretentious-clownery]

i would literally sell my soul to whatever demon like god there is to have a greek movie made on the song of achilles

[choicesficwriterscreations]

CFWC Writer of the Month May 2022 Bebepac

Each month CFWC highlights one of our many talented fanfic writers and this month’s writer of the month is @bebepac ! We hope you will enjoy learning more about her and her work below! Writer is selected at random. More info can be found on the navigation page.

Blog: @bebepac

How do you want to be known on Tumblr?  You can call me Bebe or Bee.

Quick Links:

BLOG MASTERLIST

See More Below!

1- When did you start playing Choices? What's the first book you played? 

I started playing choices in mid-2018 or early 2019 I think?:  TRR was between books two and three because I caught up to where the series was and had to wait for weekly releases 

I played Rules of Engagement and The Freshman at the same time.  TRR came on my radar when I saw that Leo was the Leo from there.   

2- When, and why, did you join Choices fandom?.

I saw a post on Reddit talking about the Tumblr choices fandom when was looking for TRR information between books

3- How did you pick your url name? 

Bebe is actually one of the nicknames I go by and Pac is actually because I still want to go back to school to become a Physician Assistant  a  PA-C.

4- Go back to your archive and tell us about the first post on your Choices blog. 

My first posts were TRH inspired, with pictures of the Royal Heir.   My first chapter I wrote was a one-shot called Ride With Me

5- How long have you been writing fanfiction?

I started writing in January 2020

6- What is your favorite Choices book to write about?

TRR, I use the characters, but they’re not always royal in the series I put them in.

7- Share the first fanfic you wrote with us. Do you still like it or would you change anything about it?

A WIP is the earliest thing I can find that I shared on CFWC

8- What is your favorite fic that you’ve written?

Greek Meat - in May 2020 I was supposed to spend 12 days in Greece, but due to the pandemic, my trip was canceled.  That fictionalized series was kind of the time I hoped to have with me and my good friend who planned to go together. 

9- Do you have a fic that you didn’t expect to be well received, but it was? What about one you expected to be, but it could use a little more love?

I didn’t expect The Rotten Apple to be well received, and I have gotten some very negative messages about it.  It does have a taboo storyline, but I truly enjoy writing the story, and the evolution of the characters.

I expected The Life of Riley: Book One to do better.  It made me feel like I was the only one who really wanted Riley to have a backstory,  so I created one for her that explained integral parts of her life in the canon story where she didn’t have family there to support her.  

10- What is your specialty as a fanfic writer?

Drama and angst,  I can write fluff, but fluff is not my go to.  I do promise on my page, you get original fics with dramatic flair.  

11- If you could write only angst, fluff, or smut for the rest of your writing life, which would it be and why? 

Angst.  They say you write what you know, and I’ve had to deal with tough things in my life.

12- Do you ever recognize yourself in any of your MC’s or in your writing?

All of my MCs have components of me, all are left-handed like myself.  But if I had to rank them the most like me is  My original Riley Brooks Character (most emotionally like me when I explain how my Riley reacts to things, I always put myself in her shoes.)  Mia from my series Pop’s Place and Mia’s World  My New Riley (from The Blue Honey Cafe)

13- What element of writing do you struggle with most?

Not adequately conveying what I’m thinking to the page, or giving as much detail as I should.   I know what I see, but I need to help  you see what I see.  This is something I’ve been working on.

14- Do you have any neglected work you really want to finish?

I have several series that are really close to being done. Just the Way You are (TRR x Perfect Match crossover) The Days the Earth Stood Still (TRR) 

15- If someone you know in real life (who isn’t involved in fandoms) asked to read your work, would you let them? If yes, what would you recommend they read first?

Funny:  Greek Meat Drama:  Fast Forward 

16- Are there any writers (published authors and/or fanfic writers) who influenced your writing?

@dcbbw on the fandom,  my struggle point I mentioned about my writing, is something she gave me as constructive criticism and I appreciate it.  

Giving me the courage to write when I told them I had a story idea fandom peeps @janezillow @dcbbw.  Thank you for believing in me.

17- Which one of your stories would you most like to see as a movie/series? 

Greek Meat 

18- Do you write original stories?

I write very little canon in my stories so I think of them as original and most of my storylines aren’t actually set in Cordonia.

I also write a lot of pieces based in my hometown area which I think gives them a very unique feel.

19 -  What other hobbies do you have?

Music, movies, and now that the pollening is no longer among us I want to get back into the great outdoors more until it gets too hot!

20 - What’s your favorite emoji? 

Right now it’s the red apple for my series The Rotten Apple 🍎

21: BONUS - tell us anything you’d like (if you want to).

I am very appreciative of everyone who is reading and following the storylines that I am creating.  Tumblr can feel hard sometimes, especially when you are a small blog, and I am.  I appreciate liking, commenting, and especially reblogging, as that’s how others see your work as a writer on this platform.  Thank you to all that are supporting me for supporting my writing.

[antiloreolympus]

14 Anti LO Asks

1. To the one anon: good question - how is it that the mortals dont know who Persephone is / assume she is a minor goddess and therefore its okay to mess with her but the gods (or Olympians / underworld denizens) know exactly everything about her (despite her being there only every so often and only being 20ish) - enough to say shes "wearing her signature white color" during a murder trial.

Also the reason why Persephone is wearing white is because

A). RS wanted persephone to always be "dressed as a bride" (and have Hades dressed as a groom respectively) to show that their matching / is supposed to be a visual cue that their eventually gonna be together.

B). I believe this is RS way of saying that Persephone (despite murdering some mortals) is innocent because in purity culture White = innocence, virginity, youth etc. (Even though RS explicity ssid she wanted to go against purity culture morals shes very much leaning into them). 

2. why are Psyche’s eyes yellow even in her human form? Is she sick??

3. honestly? LO is just gossisp girl at this point, espect even GG (at least in the first season) bothered to saturze the rich and was calling out how wealth and power makes them corrupt assholes. meanwhile LO is just GG season 2 and on of being like no no, the poor people are the evil people and the rich people are the oppressed ones! all while also fawning over their  wealth and status and being way into grown men wanting to bang barely legal teens and claiming to be "feminist" somehow.

4. Tumblr is well-known for broken tag system. Check the post' tags before complaining that it's op's fault. How about you guys not tag greek mythology when posting about LO? LO is not one-shot or short fancomic. It's also definitely not considered actual greek mythology. LO is years long webcomic with huge fans. LO has its own tag. Tell your fellow fans to stop using the greek mythology tag.

5. I would argue nyx is the only woman with a unique in design in LO but thats only because she looks like a deformed chicken woman. why was my night mom disrespected this much 😭

6. So now that LO is back from break and I can finally read chapter 170 - Why oh Why do ALL the female characters Have to be defined by their male love interests??? (Or really just love interests in general).

I understand LO qualifies as the "romance" genre and there are certain stipulations or I guess themes or what have you that make it romance but for f*cks sake.

Psyche being worried about Eros loving the "fake" her I kinda get, but really? Thats your most pressing concern?? Hera is defined by her garbage marriage to Zeus - King of the gods (of which is why she is Queen of the gods). Hestia + Athena are now defined solely by their relationship to each other (not the TGOEM or their respective traits of being a goddess of the hearth + goddess of war, strategy etc etc).

Aphrodite is defined by giving Persephone "relationship" advice (e.g: telling her to curb stomp Minthe because "nymphs dont take things from gods" - doubly implying that people are things to own) And by her jealousy of Persephone in the first place because Hades made a comment about how he thought Persephone was prettier than her. And also because of her "house of debauchery" (Artemis'  words) - and relationship with Ares.

Persephone is defined both by Apollo raping her and by her fated future status as Queen of the underworld (so her relationship with Hades). Hell, even the minor characters such as nymphs are defined by this relationship status / standard. Minthe is defined by her mean spirited personality yes, but Also because of her abusive relationship with Hades prior to the introduction of Persephone. Psyche is defined by her relationship woes with Eros. Daphne is defined by her relationship with Thanatos (and because shes a flower nymph) but also mostly because she looks like Persephone.

Rhea is defined by her marriage / relationship to Kronos (lets ignore the whole "fertility goddess power" plot for a second). Even Aetna is defined by Haphestus creating her! Is there not a single character (especially female) is isnt defined by their romantic love interest???Sorry. Maybe I'm overthinking this, but thats definitely how ot comes off as of late, in regard to the latest chapters.

Okay, same anon as earlier - I take it back somewhat - we have Artemis and Hecate that are not defined by their romantic relationships - but rather their lack of one.

However the way they are shown - it still comes off as a standard - "Artemis is stingy / a stick in the mud" because shes not romantically involved and is "barbaric" (according to Hera). And Hecate is still somewhat defined by her being Hades' employee (and cheerleader for him and Persephone to be together).

So technically yes, we have at least 2 characters that are not defined by their romantic interests / relationships, but they are still held to the standard of their "un-ladylike / undesirable" because their not romantically involved.

(I guess I should count Demeter, but only because shes more defined by just being "Persephone's overbearing mom" )

7. i think whats also kinda weird about this trial is like?? persephone is obvs framed as not liking the attention (bc duh) but she didnt like the previous press either, she wanted to be private, but wouldnt being with hades force her to be in the spotlight that makes her uncomfortable? also the citizens of the underworld already dislike hades, why would they want a uncontrollable felon as their queen, even if she found innocent? idk the whole thing just makes the endgame less plausible, tbh.

8. love that rachel was able to find a random deity name to name her random nymph the greek word for "beans" meanwhile apparently cant google actual greek names for even one off characters? like andrew, ellen, george, alexis, damian, luke, phoebe, sophia, and so any other english names are also greek, but she cant even bother with that? what exactly is her "research" if she cant even bother to spend 30 seconds googling greek names? at this point LO seems determined to be as un-Greek as possible.

9. wait so everyone in LO went from having no idea who persephone was, to her only showing up on ONE magazine cover, to now being the most well known person with a signature color? all in the span of two weeks with no genuine public outings? how does that make sense? also white isnt even her signature color if 90%+ the female cast and even a lot of the men ((including ZEUS) all wear it too.

10. the fact the courthouse WASNT the areopagus, aka the place in greece where they say the first ever trial ever happened and where the court system was invented, is just another point of rachel talking out her ass about being "respectful" or "researched" on greece and their mythology. its literally one of the most famous mythology spots ever with some fantastic stories to it and she's just like "nah! boring rectangle will do!" like why even both with mythology then if its this devoid of it?

11. Anons are saying Hades in the FS chapter is leaning down and talking to Persy like a child. Say it aint true.

(I wanna see. I thought RS was finally giving Persy adult proportions). 😨

12. So wait, hold up. I kinda get where RS is coming from with the law school in the underworld (because Hades is supposed to be a kinda Judge, jury, executioner situation in the afterlife when it comes to mortals and their "punishments" and whatnot). However, is RS stating that the ONLY law school / courthouse exists in the underworld? If so, why? Why wouldn't Athena be there then. She's a goddess of strategy and justice (among other things).

Also is RS really implying that Hades owns not only the banks and underworld but the law too? She really wants Hades to be a Gary Sue along side her Mary Sue - Hades controls everything that matters and since its his realm and blah blah blah rules, Zeus, king of the gods cant do anything about it.

(Which is dumb. Because you would think that because Persephone committed the crime in the mortal realm / on, or near Olympus that therefore she would be brought back there to dole out justice under Zeus jurisdiction because she committed the crime in His Realm). 

13. FP Spoiler ahead:

Why on earth couldn't the reporters have Greek names? There is so much wrong and bad with this story, yet this irks me so much. It is Brenda all over again.

14. i dont really get the point of the trial plotline, tbh. even persephone says she should be punished and held accountable, but hades is framed in the right for trying to go against that and weasel her out of it. so?? plus zeus has legit reason to punish them? persephone is a danger to others, demeter and hermes both committed treason to cover it up, and hades was harboring a fugitive of the law and is now trying to force the system to let her go. how is zeus in the wrong for this?

[in-slytherin-we-trust]

Another Time, Another Life (Draco Malfoy x Reader) Part 4/4

-> The chapter finale..... will love conquer or fall?

*Y/N/N : Your nickname

Part 1 • Part 2 • Part 3

I think I've seen this film before

And I didn't like the ending

You're not my homeland anymore

So what am I defending now?

———————————————————————

4 months later.......

“1 strawberry and peanut butter and 1 rum raisin please, both in cone.” Harry said to the young man who’s in charge of the ice cream stand.

“That’ll be 13 sickles, sir.” He replied as he flicked his wand and Harry’s order is prepared by invisible hands.

“Here you go, keep the change as a tip.” Harry handed him one galleon instead.

The young man beamed at him, “Thank you so much, Mr. Potter! Have a good day.”

Harry smiled and tipped his head before he turned around and make his way to the front area. Now with ice cream cones in both hands.

Y/N spotted him from her seat in one of the white round tables and he raised his hands higher as if to signal that he got both of their orders.

“Thanks, Harry.” Y/N shot him a grateful smile as she carefully took her rum raisin ice cream from his grasp.

“Sure thing, *Y/N/N.” He replied as he took a seat in front of her. Slumping on it as he stretched his aching body from a hard morning full of cases.

Y/N took notice of the way his body let out a few painful cracking sounds, “Renshaw’s giving you a hard time again?”

Harry closed his eyes, massaging his temples with his fingers, “Yeah.. He gave me 10 new cases just for this morning only. I’m convinced that the bloke is mad.”

Y/N snorted, “Unbelieveable, I’m pretty sure he is mad. It’s like he’s out for your blood or something.”

“Thank Godric for lunch break, or else I might’ve explode in my cubicle. You ought to come over to my floor and see the stacks of paperwork nowadays, Y/N/N. It’s mountainous! I really want to be in the field and go on missions but Renshaw still thinks that I’m not quite ready yet.” Harry replied exasperatedly.

“Well at least we got our ice creams, consider this as a consolation prize.” Y/N said as she lick some drops of it that has melted.

Harry smirked and raised one of his eyebrows, “A consolation for you or for me?”

Y/N rolled her eyes, “Whatever you have in mind, out with it, Lightning Boy.”

“How’s the thing with Malfoy going?”

“And what is this thing exactly that I have with him?”

She watched her friend rests both elbows on the table, leaning towards her, “The Ministry is full of gossipmongers, by now even every single person on my floor know that you’ve been getting daily deliveries of fancy flower bouquets among other things.” He wiggled both eyebrows her way, smiling conspiratorially.

“Since when do you thirst for gossips, Harry James Potter? I thought you of all people have better things to concern yourself with.” She rolled her eyes at him but still can’t help the chuckle that escaped her mouth.

“Since said subject of the gossips is none other than my bestfriend who has turned into a mute about said matters.” He shot back, a smug look still plastered on his face.

“Alright, alright fine..” Y/N said, “Stop sassing me.”

“Well you asked for it, you’re lucky I took no offense in you leaving me in the dark about what has happened so far.”

Y/N leaned as far back as she could in her seat, retreating into the comfort zone.

“The thing is.... I’m not sure the flowers are from him.” She sighed, looking anywhere but towards Harry.

Harry gave her a face, “How so? Do you have any other admirers that I don’t know of?”

“I think Narcissa is the one who sent the flowers on his behalf because all of them were roses, Draco knows that I hate roses. He used to sent me peonies or calla lillies because those are my favorite.”

“Well that is unexpected...” Harry muttered, “Does he really wants to win you back or does he not? That git is insufferable.”

“I mean technically he never said it outloud that he wants me back apart from the letter that he wrote... that night at the Malfoy Manor, he just said that he was sorry and that was it.”

Harry slowly reached out for her hands and holds it in his, “If it helps just forget about his sorry ass, Y/N/N. You deserve a better man and not this child who hides behind others and let them do his bidding.”

Y/N let out another sigh, but then a familiar voice made her froze on spot.

Harry seemed to take notice too and his eyes went as wide as saucers, but then she noticed it, a glimpse of pity in his eyes though he tried to hide it but to her, Harry is an open book.

“Don’t look...” He said to her under his breath as he too diverted his attention from the offender.

“Harry Potter and (Y/N) (Y/L/N)! fancy meeting you here.” A woman’s voice chimed in.

Now don’t get me wrong, her voice is the kind of voice that you would love to listen to for hours on end because of its soft and lullaby-like quality but currently Y/N would like nothing more than to make a dash for it.

Because now Astoria Greengrass stood in front of their table with her arms wrapped tightly around none other than the source of Y/N’s misery, Draco Malfoy.

It took everything in her not too let the hurt and confusion shows, under the table her hands unconsciously clenched into a fist, the tip of her nails digging into her palm, possibly hard enough to bruise.

Y/N gave her a small smile that doesn’t quite reach her eyes, “Frankly we’re as surprised as you are, Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour is the last place on earth that I would expect to bump into you in.”

“Yeah no offense, Astoria, but you hardly seemed the type to enjoy any kinds of outing to Diagon Alley. Bond Street or St. James’s perhaps, but definitely not anywhere near here.” Harry said.

Astoria let out a melodious laugh, “I had to make a quick visit to Twilfitt and Tatting’s for some fitting then be on our way, but when we passed by and saw the two of you here of course we need to say hello.”

“How...” Y/N stop for a bit to find the most proper word, “—considerate of you.” She finished with a sickening sugary smile which she hoped pass as genuine.

“Are the two of you on a date?” Astoria suddenly asked, interest flaring behind her round brown orbs.

Y/N caught Draco’s frown from her peripheral vision, but it only lasted seconds before he schooled his face into the nonchalant mask that he soo often wears.

“Unfortunately no, nothing that interesting. We’re just on our lunch break.” Y/N answered plainly.

Draco’s eyebrows scrunched together, creating a deep crease on his forehead, “You spend your lunch break eating ice creams?” He spoke all of a sudden.

Y/N raised one eyebrow, “So what if I do, Draco?”

Harry seems to find the exchange between the former lovers hilarious and currently trying hard to conceal his growing smile behind both hands.

“It just doesn’t seem very satiating compared to a proper meal.” Draco replied in defeat.

Feeling bold, Y/N decided to push things a bit further. Perhaps it’s the bubbling anger that fuels her.

“Now, now Draco dearest. Careful or people might think that you’re concerned of my wellbeing.” She bites back.

Before it could escalate any further, Harry abruptly stood, even bumping his knees on the process of standing up.

“WELL WON’T YOU LOOK AT THE TIME?!” He declared out loud with a grin that is far too cheerful. “We really ought to get back to the Ministry before we’re late, Y/N/N.”

Y/N followed his lead, “Oh my you’re right, how time flew when you’re having fun. We are truly sorry to cut this short but our bosses will have our asses if we slack.”

“Of course, we wouldn’t want to hold you up from your work. I hope to see you on another occasion, yes?” Astoria said.

“Likewise, Astoria.” Y/N replied curtly. “Enjoy the rest of your day.”

Y/N spared a glance towards Draco, “I’ll see you around, Draco.”

Draco Malfoy had the decency to look somewhat guilty and embarrassed before Harry and Y/N apparated away.

———————————————————————

True to Potter’s assessment earlier, Draco found himself getting dragged to Bond Street by Astoria Greengrass.

Why? You might ask. Isn’t this street in Muggle London? Well if you know where to look then you’d find that some hidden parts of it are home to luxury shopping for upper class Wizards and Witches.

Astoria made a beeline for a ceramics studio, the woman do love collecting unique hand-painted plates and tea sets.

“Come now, Draco. I heard they just got a new collection, shipped all the way from Greece! As you might imagine it’s mythology themed, exciting isn’t it?” She chirped, eyes darting from one display to another.

Draco sigh to himself, shopping for ceramics is certainly not on his list of things to do for fun, but he couldn’t bear to burst her bubble. Astoria is a nice person and he already did her so wrong by pursuing this relationship in the first place, not that she’s aware of it.

“Oh look! I think that one depicted the legend of Hades and Persephone, such nice colorings.” She murmured, carefully holding up a black plate with swirling figures painted in crimson and gold. “Do you know how the tale goes?” She suddenly asked him.

“I’m afraid I’m not well versed in Greek mythology, darling.” He answered sheepishly.

“Pity... it kind of reminds me of you actually.” Astoria said as her eyes found his, the intensity of the look actually unnerved him to the core.

“Oh? Want to enlighten me on why?” He asked curiously.

“Hades wanted something that is beyond his reach even with his position as the King of the Underworld. He fell in love with the beautiful Persephone, daughter of Demeter. She was everything that he was not. She embodied light, pureness, goodness, and happiness basically everything that is on the opposite end of his spectrum.”

“So it’s a story of a forbidden love, then?” Draco inquired with a raised eyebrow.

“Forbidden love, star-crossed lovers, whatever you might want to call it. Although the actual tale is more twisted because he kidnapped her to his realm.” Astoria continued with a shrug.

“Well that certainly took a dark turn.” Draco snorted. “Not that I’d expect any less from the King of the Underworld, even when the driving force was love he still managed to twist it into something vile.”

“Do you view yourself the same way?” She suddenly asked, voice quieter than before.

Draco grew still as the implication of what she’s asking hits him.

“You think that I can relate to Hades? Surely I’m not on that level of wickedness yet, don’t you think?” He frowned.

Astoria let out a ‘tsk’ noise, expressing her disapproval. “You got the wrong point, Draco. What I mean by that is that your heart is still chasing after something that the universe told you isn’t mean to be yours and yet you stand firm.”

Draco gulped, “Bollocks, she figured me out.” He thought.

Seeing how nervous he is, Astoria can’t help but laugh, making him all the more confused of the situation. “Why are you laughing? Aren’t you supposed to be mad?”

“Don’t get me wrong, Draco Malfoy. I’m still very much pissed at the way that you have used me as a rebound but I can’t put all the blame on you seeing that I myself let it happened. Deep down I knew that your heart wasn’t in it but I thought that with time maybe I could make you love me, but just by judging from the way that you still looked at her this afternoon, I finally admitted the truth to myself. I could never compete with Y/N, she was the love of your life and I’m willing to bet on my whole inheritance that she still is. So please stop lying to the both of us and go get your girl.”

Draco feel like slapping himself for the hundredth time, he really is an idiot. A piss-poor excuse of a person.

“I’m really sorry, Astoria. I didn’t mean for it to end up this way. I really thought that I could make this work too.” He said apologetically.

Astoria waved a hand in front of his face in dismissal, “Stop wasting time already! It’s fine I’ll get over it somehow. Don’t think that you’re off the hook though, I’ll find a way for you to make it up to me. In a purely platonic way of course.”

Draco smiled, “Of course, I wouldn’t expect otherwise. Thank you, Astoria.”

Astoria’s face turned mischievous, “Don’t thank me just yet, Loverboy.”

———————————————————————

Having an off day is a rare thing in (Y/N) (Y/L/N)’s life, what with her ambition and her love for her job that always pushes her to the max, there’s just no time for anything else.

But because of the faithful event of yesterday, she founds herself spending her off day at The Cross Keys. It’s a wetherspoon pub tucked away on a discreet residential street in Chelsea, her usual haunt when she needs to escape from the wizarding world. Plus the chance that she could meet anyone that she knew here is small to none which is a win for her since currently she is pathetically day drinking alone. She would ask Harry for company, but he is visiting Ginny at Hogwarts. “Good for him,” she thought.

Willing her heartache to lessen with each flute of Mimosa that she keeps on flagging the bartender for.

“Well isn’t this a sight to see!” Astoria’s voice rang out, making Y/N almost sputtered out her precious drink. The key word being almost, she managed to hold it down although she could feel some of the liquid coming up to her nasal. Not classy indeed, yet another reminder why Astoria Greengrass is better suited for Draco Malfoy than her.

Without waiting for her reply, Astoria took the seat beside her and make herself comfortable. She raised a hand to flag down the bartender, “I’ll have a glass of what she’s having.” She said.

Finding herself out of words, Y/N settled for the first thing that came to mind, “I never thought that I’d meet you anywhere in Muggle London.”

Astoria chuckled, “You’d be surprised...”

“I already am if you haven’t figured as much.” Y/N replied.

“Please don’t be weirded out but I’ve asked around and your co-workers said that sometimes you go here, and I just took my chance since I don’t know where else I might find you.” Astoria said sheepishly.

The bartender came and put Astoria’s order in front of her, “Here you go, ma’am.”

“Thank you.” She said with a smile before grabbing the flute and bringing it to her mouth.

“Any particular reason on why you decided to hunt me down?” Y/N asked.

“I think you know already, but I’m here to clear some things up about Draco.”

Y/N rolled her eyes, “Why does he always sent for others to do his work for him? You do realize that you have no reason at all to do this right, Astoria?”

“No no no...” She said dismissively, “He didn’t send me here, I came here on my own. I feel like I owe it to you for how I acted yesterday.”

“Yesterday just wasn’t everyone’s finest moment I guess, I do apologize for my rudeness too, you took me by surprise and I wasn’t ready to face all that.” Y/N said, giving her the first earnest smile. “But just so you know, I think the two of you make a handsome couple.”

“Now that is where you are mistaken (Y/N) (Y/L/N), me and Draco could never have anything real. I want more than what he’s willing to give me and I know that it’s you that’s in his heart, not me. That doesn’t make a good love story, does it?”

Y/N scoffed, “I guess not, I swear men can be so stupid. They can’t even figure out what they want for Merlin’s sake.”

“I’ll drink to that, a bunch of idiots they may be but sometimes we can’t help our treacherous hearts from growing fond of them. I guess I just haven’t found my idiot yet.” Astoria sigh wistfully. “I’m a hopeless romantic, Y/N. I longed for a great love story that would put Psyche and Eros’s to shame.”

“Never took you for someone who enjoys mythology, didn’t that end in tragedy though?” Y/N asked.

“What’s a great love story without some tragedy in it?” Astoria answered with a wink.

Y/N laugh, “You are an interesting one, aren’t you, Greengrass? Draco sure is missing out.”

“The same can be said of you, Y/L/N.” She said with a chuckle.

———————————————————————

That very same night, Y/N is laying down on her divan while reading a book with a side of Pinot Noir. A very fine way to spend her night if she might say so herself.

That is before she was interrupted by the arrival of an unexpected guest.

At first she thought that it would be Harry because he promised her that he would bring some leftover of Mrs. Weasley’s cooking, imagine her surprise when she founds that the person standing in the middle of her living room is none other than Draco Malfoy.

“Nice place you got here.” Is the first thing that he uttered, making Y/N want to punch him in his perfect face even more.

“Small talk was never your strong suit, Draco. And how do you even know where I live? Do you resort to stalking me now?” Y/N asked incredulously.

“Actually Potter helped me..” He admitted, scratching the back of his neck sheepishly.

“So you’re even in league with Harry now?”

“That is a bit of a stretch, but I can’t say that I’m not grateful of his help.” Draco said.

Y/N sigh and put her book down, focusing all her attention on him, “What do you want, Draco? You already came all the way here.”

Draco cautiously took a few steps towards her, testing out whether or not she’ll allow him to do so. When he saw her face softens, he let out a relieved sigh.

As he stood right on front of where she is still half laying down, he bend his knees so that they can be on eye level.

“(Y/N) (Y/L/N), there is no words that could fully describe how sorry I am for how I treated you in the past and for how poor I’ve handled our relationship after you’ve gotten your memory back. I am an imbecile, I know I am. You deserve someone a thousand times better than me, but I am a selfish man, Starlight. I want you all to myself, now and for the rest of my sorry life. That is if you will still have me, I promise to spend all my waking moments trying to make up for all the lost time.” He finished. “I really mean what I wrote in my letter, I’m only living a half life without you. Will you revive me, Love?”

Y/N stares at the man who holds her heart in the palm of his hand, a man who is quite literally her whole world too. How could she possibly say no when he is looking at her this way? As if she is the answer to all life’s mysteries. As if he would spend millenniums trying to unravel all that she has to offer him. Perhaps she should take a page out of Astoria’s book, perhaps this is her chance on having her very own great love story.

Draco waited patiently for her to answer, with nothing but hope and years worth of love glimmering behind his eyes.

“Win back my love, Draco Malfoy... and I’ll be yours again to whatever end.” She finally whispered out as she leaned forward and pressed their foreheads together, breathing him in.

Draco reached out his hands to cup her face softly, rubbing her cheeks with his finger, “I am never letting you go again, Starlight.”

“As you should or I won’t hesitate to punch you in your crown jewel.” She replied threateningly.

“Lovely as always, dearest.” He chuckled.

———————————————————————

A/N : This is a bittersweet moment for me because I’m very proud of what I’ve created but still sad to see that we’ve come to an end, this is my first ever piece with several parts in it, I usually write oneshot only but I definitely had a lot of fun while making this one. I hope this series can be a favorite of yours too! See you on the next story (or stories perhaps?) darlings 🥰🥺♥️ P.S. Yes I listened to “Exile” by Taylor Swift feat. Bon Iver the whole time I was writing this.

Taglist : @chaoticgirl04 @accioxdracox @randomsingingkoala @ivarlothbroks @sycathorn-slush @thescarletknight2014 @irritantive @vaeonshi @panicattheeverywherekid @maskd-hearts @capkatie @bookwormmusiclover15 @ahahanofanks @fictionalhoomanofnowhere

[onlydreamofmysoul]

Fairytale (Ficmas #8 Solangelo)

My solangelo boys are back!! This is set with them as mortals but like that’s as much as I thought about it, there’s really noting specific to know! Anyways my two boys had to make an appearance!

It wasn’t that Nico hated Christmas.

The holiday himself he could actually get on board with. Presents, family, all that crap. He even liked all the lights and sparkly things. Not that he’d ever admit to that part, but he did. It was the chaos he despised. People everywhere, everyone suddenly losing the concept of personal space. Nico was not on board with that.

So his dread for one of the busiest times of the year somehow gave the impression that he hated all Christmas related things. And his friends being, well being his friends meant that their personal mission was to make him love Christmas.

“Hey Nico!” Jason yelled, cranking up the volume of the radio. “This is like the best Christmas song, you can’t say you don’t like this!”

Fairytale of New York was playing. Nico actually loved this song. Cursing and getting to call it festive? Sign him up. He did however, have  a reputation to uphold.

“Try not to burst those eardrums.” He drawled, rolling his eyes. “We don't need you deaf as well as blind.” He said, referencing Jason’s new glasses.

“Ha ha ha.” Jason said sarcastically, but he turned the volume down a little. Nico looked away so he could hide his smile.

“You know, the first Christmas trees can actually be traced back to ancient Greece and Egypt.” Annabeth chattered as Nico accompanied her on their quest to find the star in Sally Jackson’s attic. 

“Yeah?” He prompted. He didn’t have to say much with Annabeth, but he liked that, they had an easy relationship. She always understood him, but she never flaunted it, just made sure he knew she was always there for him.

“Mhm,” She continued, tongue poking out as she dug through one box. “Although the trees like we know them today began in Germany in the 1500’s.”

“Huh.” Nico said. A gold point dug into his hand and after the initial quick draw back of his arm, he peered into the box and carefully pulled out the delicate decoration.

“Got it.” 

Annabeth looked up and grinned. “Amazing. I need to get away from all this dust.”

Nico just nodded his agreement, and followed her back down to the warm rooms below.

“Hey Nico, wanna help me make cookies?” Percy called from the kitchen, already putting on his blue apron.

Nico wandered into the kitchen and hopped up on the counter, stealing some chocolate chips. “No, but I’ll watch.”

Percy snatched the chocolate away from him. “Watch does not mean eat. I can’t make chocolate chip cookies if you eat all the chocolate chips.”

Nico shrugged. “Have you tired?” He asked, managing to take back the chips. “Because there’s really only one way to find out.”

Percy ended up smashing a chocolate bar. Nico enjoyed some very good chocolate chips.

“Here’s your one Nico!” Piper called, throwing him a very ugly and very itchy Christmas jumper. 

Nico looked at it’s offensively obnoxious colours and flashing lights and raised an eyebrow at Piper, looking at her right in the eye.

“Do you really think I’m going to wear this?”

Piper shook her head, chuckling. “Not at all. But it was worth a shot.”

Nico quirked a small smile at that. He could respect her attempt at least.

The doorbell rang and Nico’s heart stuttered. They were all staying at the Jackson’s for a couple of days and there was only one person who hadn’t arrived yet. Leo smiled at Piper and Nico ignored it, getting up and going straight to the door, seeing a blur of gold through the little fogged window. He threw the door open, and there was Will, a bag over his shoulder, a smile splitting his face from ear to ear.

“Hey Sunshine.” He drawled. Nico Helped him throw his rucksack on the floor, pulling the other boy into his arms.

“Miss me?” Will laughed as Nico tightened his grip around his waist. 

“No.” Nico scoffed, but he placed a kiss to the place where Will’s shoulder met his neck, right under where Nico’s lips rested.

Will pulled back, his long musician's fingers cupping Nico’s jaw as bright blue met deep brown.

“Well I sure missed you.”

Nico rolled his eyes, but leaned down so he could finally kiss his boyfriend. Will’s nose was cold where it nudged against Nico’s own, but his lips were warm and Nico just wanted to melt into him.

“Hey Will?” Leo asked, poking his head out of the living room. “It looks like you’ve got something on your face.”

Nico pulled away, turning slowly to glare at Leo.

“Hey Mr Mechanic?” Nico asked, his voice pleasant. “Don’t forget that I know where you sleep.”

Leo’s face paled and he vanished once more, Will bursting out laughing.

“Alright darlin’ are we going to go in or is this as much as the house I’ll be seeing for the duration of our stay?”

Nico turned back to look at Will, his arm still held tightly around his boyfriend's waist.

“Did I ever tell you how much I love it when you’re sarcastic?”

Will smirked, leaning in to press one more kiss to Nico’s lips.

“Once or twice.”

“Well I love it.”

“And I love you.”

Nico smiled, and this time he didn’t hide it from anyone. “I love you too.” He kissed Will on the cheek then grabbed his bag for him, leading him into the living room where everyone else waited.

Jason played Fairytale of New York again and Nico stooped down a little to rest his chin on Will’s shoulder as Will leaned back against him.

“I love this song.” Will hummed, beginning to sing along. His energy was infectious and soon almost everyone was half singing - half shouting the lyrics.

“When you first took my hand on that cold Christmas Eve, you promised me Broadway was waiting for me.”

Will turned in Nico’s hold to loop his arms loosely around his neck. 

“You were handsome!” Percy shouted.

“You were pretty!” Will continued, looking at Nico expectantly. Nico bit his lip and rolled his eyes, but tilted his head in acquiescence.

“Queen of New York City!”

Piper let out a whoop and Nico laughed, joining in for the rest of the song.

“Hey did you know it was the ancient Greeks and Egyptians who had the first Christmas trees?” Will asked as everyone was settling down to watch a movie.

Nico could practically hear Annabeth’s eyes lighting up.

“Yes!” She enthused as Nico rested his head on Will’s shoulder. “But the tree’s like we know them weren’t until the 16th century in Germany.”

“Yeah but they were decorated with fruit and nuts and stuff.” Nico said, half yawning as he pulled a blanket over himself and Will. He could feel everyone’s gaze on him and he looked up a little self consciously.

“What? I know things.”

Annabeth just smiled knowingly at him threading her fingers through Percy’s inky black hair.

“Okay guys, we need to take a picture of us all in our jumpers!” Piper said excitedly, already wearing hers and setting up the timer on the camera as even Sally and Paul came in for the picture.

“Oh we’re all matching!” Will enthused, holding up Nico’s as his was already on. “Come on sweetheart, just for a minute?”

Nico flipped off Leo, laughing in the corner as he shrugged on the ridiculous sweater.

“You’re so lucky I love you.” He muttered to Will as Piper wrapped an arm around his shoulders, Jason on her other side.

Will kissed his cheek. “Oh I know.”

“Dinner’s ready!” Sally yelled from the kitchen, the houses’ temporary inhabitants scattered throughout all the different rules.

“Oh my god yes.” Nico said, standing up from the couch, pulling Will up with him. “I would happily eat Sally’s food for the rest of my life.”

“What about McDonalds?” Will teased, tugging Nico’s hand playfully. Nico paused in the doorway, looking back at Will.

“Don’t make me choose.” He begged, hoping he could do that thing with his eyes that usually made people cave. Will was not people however.

“Hey Sunshine, you started this. Now Sally’s or McDonalds?”

Nico looked at the floor, scuffing his shoe against the floor. “Sally’s.” He grumbled. “But only for her cake.”

“Oh of course. God forbid there was actually a healthy reason in there.” Will teased, stepping closer, then glancing up.

“Hey look.” He whispered.

Nico did, spotting the red and green dangling from the doorframe.

“Mistletoe. Remind me not to walk through any door at the same time as Leo.”

Will tapped his arm lightly. “Hey!”

Nico grinned and looked back down, Will’s face only inches away from his own.

“Sorry babe.” He glanced back upwards and shrugged. “I mean, I wouldn’t want to ruin the festivities.” He reasoned.

“Of course not.” Will agreed, smiling and leaning closer until their lips brushed.

“Love you.” Nico breathed, just before sealing their lips properly, sliding his fingers into Will’s gorgeous curls.

“Hey guys, dinner!” Sally called once more, and Nico pulled away regretfully.

“Come on, food and then we can get back to this.”

Will beamed and followed him away from the mistletoe.

“Hey Neeks?” Nico glanced over.

“Yeah?”

“Love you too.”

All in all, Nico reasoned, Christmas really wasn’t all that bad.

[joezworld]

📁How did the ships react to the clusterfuck that was the Costa Concordia disaster? I'm willing to bet that a certain Captain Schettino is likely to end up on the ocean floor, or at least something else that's dark-yet funny in a baroque way.

Overall, reactions started out sympathetic, but rather quickly turned angry.

The accident itself was kinda-sorta Concordia's fault - she was The Ship, and if she'd been on the ball, this accident wouldn't have happened. Every ship has had a bad captain at some point, and it's their responsibility to keep the idiots in check. If the accident had ended there, it's likely that most ships would have quietly made fun of Concordia for her lapse of judgement while publicly saying that it was an "unfortunate accident".

(BTW, Concordia got raised in 2015. She's slowly being rebuilt by her insurance company. Pre-COVID, her repairs were expected to be done in 2022.)

That being said, Schettino's conduct following the crash was absolutely unacceptable. It is both accepted and expected that the captain of a ship will either be the last one off or one of the last ones off. (Going down with the ship has fallen out of fashion - someone needs to be interviewed by the authorities afterwards) The fact that Schettino jumped ship and left his passengers to die is considered extremely distasteful by humans, but is a cardinal sin amongst ships. As it stood, it was likely that he'd never be able to captain anything bigger than a Rowboat ever again, but when he started getting support from the Captain of the MTS Oceanos, the. Gloves. Came. Off.

To briefly speak on the topic of Oceanos, he was an old Greek liner who found a second life working cheap cruises. He sank off the coast of South Africa after years of deferred maintenance caught up to him. His captain and almost all the crew very quietly abandoned ship, leaving the passengers to die in the heaving 30ft seas. It was up to the ship's entertainment staff to actually perform an evacuation, while Oceanos himself kept broadcasting an SOS until help was summoned. Somehow, the only fatality of the sinking was Oceanos himself, but his captain's betrayal was not forgotten by the international ocean-going community.

So, as Schettino was getting raked over the coals, Oceanos' Captain Avranas opened his big mouth and started supporting Schettino's actions.

To put this in context, imagine if the Charleston Church shooter started getting support from the guy who shot up Sandy Hook - it was NOT a good look, and the international maritime community went from 0️⃣-💯 real quick.

Schettino had been smart enough to keep well away from the oceans since the accident, but Avranas had no such self-preservation instincts, and convinced Schettino to travel out to his home in Greece so they could present a unified front for the media.

Avranas' home was on a small Greek Island. It required two ferry changes to get to it.

Supposedly, the two of them boarded a ferry to get there.

They've never been seen since!

[kingoffiends]

Hellenistic Judaism: Secular Hellenism Upon Judea

The first part in my trilogy of these posts, where I view the book "Hellemism and Judaism", the only book I can see talking about the real influences of hellenism upon Judaism, and talk about Hellenistic Judaism in both historical ways and how to implement it into a practice as a Judeo-Pagan. Here we will discuss how Alexander the Great's conquering upon Judea/Palestine and the Hellenistic influence that came with such impacted the surrounding culture and life of Jewish people at the time.

"Even the Jews met the civilization of early Hellenism, coming in the wake of Alexander and the kingdoms of the Diadochi which followed him, as a fully secular force. This was the experience of the whole of the East. Its dominant feature was the impact made by the apparently insuperable war technique of Greece and Macedon, with which the Jews, too, gradually became familiar through Jewish mercenaries. This made its mark on the conception of the Holy War in Jewish apocalyptic and made possible the later Maccabean revolt and the Jewish expansionist policy which followed. A further deep impression was left by the strict Ptolemaic system of administration and taxation, and here above all by the typically Greek institution of farming out dues of all kinds. This became a firm institution in Judea over the centuries which followed: the power of the state was henceforward embodied not least in the hated relva. The development of the constitution of the Jewish temple state as we know it from New Testament times, with the delicate balance between high priest and Sanhedrin, also probably goes back to the Ptolemaic period."

This is the quote from Hellenism and Judaism to spark my looking into at these secular, cultural aspects here. Jewish people aren't unknown for applying other cultures and their religious things secularly. In fact, many Christmas songs? Those were written by Jewish people, in a day and age where music and entertainment were one of the few solid ways to make a living. So fun for the Jews controlling media nowadays /s, but that example isn't our focus here.

Here the author goes into more detail about Jewish people using Greek ideas and inventions. They played Greek sports like chariot racing and had good relations with Greece. Here, as I paraphrase, the author describes "good relations between Judea and Sparta", making comparison of Moses to the Oracle of Delphi as cited evidence. Whatever the real reason, all we know is we have cited letters from Jewish officials to Spartan ones over matters.

How did they write? In Greek of course!

"The situation in Judea is illuminated by the letters of the Jew Tobias to Apollonius and the king himself, which were all written in excellent Greek and beautiful handwriting by his Greek secretary in 257 nc"

We see additionally, in this quote,

"Clearchus of Soli records the meeting of Aristotle with a Greek-educated Palestinian Jew from Judea in Asia Minor about 345 BC. Although this report in unhistorical, we may conclude from it that at the time of Clearchus, about the middle of the third century Bc, there were Jews from Palestine to whom the description that he was a Greek 'not only in his language but also in his soul' could be applied with some degree of accuracy."

Aristotle? Meeting a Jew? Apparently more likely than you think, as shocking as this came across to me too. Here we see both sides taking the time to understand each other, Aristotle his Jewish meeter and his Jewish meeter the culture of ancient Greece.

"It was required of the overeer of the camp', among other thing, that he was familiar with ail the languages of the families diving in the campi, und this surely included Girock. A similar demand wan made in the Talmud of members of the Sanhedrin, so that they were not compelled to me an interpreters Unlike literary Hehrew, popular Aramaic or Hebrew conatantly adopted new Greek loanwords, us in shown by the lan guage of the Mishnaic and Talmudic literature. While it reflects the situation at later period, its origins go back well before the Christian era The collec tion of the loanwords in the Misha to be found in Schürer shows the areas in which Hellenistic influence first became visible: military matters, state admin tration and legislature, trade and commerce, clothing and household utenni, and not least in building. The so-called copper scroll with its utopian list of trentes also contains a series of Greek loanwords, " When towards the end of the first oentury ac, Hillel in practice repealed the regulation of the remision of debts in the webbath year (Deut. 15.1-11) by the pomibility of a special reservation on the part of the creditor, thin reservation wangi rena Greek name introduced into Palestinian legal language: prearbt - poreba, a sign that even at that time legal language wan shot through with Greek."

Continuing in this passage, we see how Greek itself influenced the local language. In following passages we read that high class Jewish people had "Greek-ified counterparts" to their names. I joke about Ladino being Hebrew through the Spanish processor and Yiddish being Hebrew through the German processor, but this is Hebrew through the Greek processor. These high class folk often held connections to Greece or Greek people, although the exact reason these names were then chosen is unknown.

"According to that, the high priest chose for the translation of the Torah into Greck six men from cach tribe who were distinguished by their 'paideia' and 'not only had a mastery of Jewish literature, but had also acquired a thorough knowledge of Greek. This report of 72 Jews knowing Greek at the time of Philadelphus may be an exaggeration, but we can conclude that at the time of the composition of the letter in the second half of the second century BCa knowledge of Greek could be taken for granted among Palestinian Jews of the aristocracy. Moreover, the books of Maccabees clearly show that not only the members of the Hellenistic party but also many supporters of Judas and his brothers had a command of Greek: this is the only way in which the embassies to Rome and Sparta and the tedious negotiations with the Syrian rulers are conceivable 10 There was no stopping the penetration of the Greek language even in Jewish Palestine, and the young Jew who wanted to rise a stage above the mass of the simple people had to learn it. This process was strengthened by contacts with the Diaspora in Egypt, Asia Minor and the Aegean, above all after the temple in Jerusalem attracted more and more fentival pilgrims from there. The significance of Jerusalem grew with the growth of the western Diaspora, though it continued to remain the centre of world Judaism, now predominantly Greek-speaking.14 There was no break in this development even as a result of the Maccabean revolt, but it was furthered because after Jewish independence had been won, the Hasmoneans followed a quite deliberate policy of influencing the Diaspora, which was then continued by Herod. It could not fail to affect the Jews in Palestine. From the second century Bc onwards we can trace the beginnings of a Graeco Jewish literature in Palestine (see below, pp. 88-102). Finally, one need only mention the many Greek inscriptions in Jerusalem, which only in part derive from those who had returned from the Diaspora: they do belong, though, for the most part to the later period between Herod and AD 70.14 Probably the earliest Greek inscription from Jerusalem is a graffito from the magnificent tomb of Jason, decked with drawings of ship. The tomb comes from the time of Alexander Jannacus, 103-76 BC, and the graffito is composed in the style of the Hellenistic epitaph with the motto 'Enjoy life'."

We can take a few things from this passage. More than enough folk in Judea knew ancient greek, and there was enough of a demand to translate the Torah to that language. Here is also mentioned the talks with Sparta I referred to earlier. There's honestly a lot to unpack there- including that grafittio from the tomb of Jason.

While this has been short, I wanted to provide a sample overview of Hellenistic Judea. These cultures overlap, just learning about it all really makes me feel better as a Judeo-Pagan personally.

I wish I could find that post where another Jewish hellenic polytheist talked about the actual story of Hannukah, featuring class war and all. I could make that into a while overview post itself. So while I gather for my next installment where I talk about the actual overlap of religion (featuring lots of Helios) take care!

(All quotes here are sourced from Hellenism and Judaism by Martin Hengel)

[jjba-fragmented-star]

New Reference Sheets for Chemaya and his stand, Dark Horse. I changed a lot of things in his backstory which are mostly the key events of his life. I will write his full backstory in the JoJo's Bizarre Fanon wiki which I will do with my other characters. So backstory, extras and Stand information under the cut.

Basic Information:

Name: Chemaya Alley

Birthname: Chimalley

Alias: Chem-Chem, Maya, Uncle Maya, Golden Eyed Gladiator, Immortal Shield

Namesake:

Chemaya(Shemaiah/Hebrew)= God Heard

Chimalley(Aztec)= Shield

Stand: Dark Horse/Chavel Noir(All the Dark Horses by the Trashcan Sinatras)

Nationality: Central American/French

Birthday: May 3

Zodiac/Chinese Zodiac: Taurus/Ox

Age: 2000(Actual Age)/27(Physical Appearance)

Gender: Male

Height: 7ft/2,13 cm

Weight: 96 kg

Blood Type: A+

Species: Pillar Dhampir(Pillar Man/Human Hybrid)

Occupation: Mentor, Artist's Model, Wanderer Formerly: Gladiator, Investigator, Treasure Hunter, Blacksmith

Personality:

Reliable, Pantient, Practical, Responsible, Mother Hen, Gentleman, Aloof, Stubborn, Less Talkative, Sensitive, Overcautious

Likes: His Family, Horses, Cooking, Spring season, Art, Sunrise, Traveling to different countries, Historical documentaries and books, Jasmine tea.

Dislikes: Stone Masks, Pillar Men(maybe some exceptions), Italy, Rude Behavior, his family and friends being hurt, Pomegranate fruit.

Relatives:

Unnamed Grandfather(Pillar Man)

Unnamed Grandmother(Human)

Izel(Pillar Dhampir/Father)

Fiora(Human/Mother)

Andreas McJohan Andrew Joestar(Adoptive Father)

Dimitra Iovianou/McJohan(Adoptive Mother)

Panajotis McJohan(Adoptive Younger Brother)

Elpida Zoheir/McJohan(Sister-in-law)

Zenobios McJohan(Nephew)

Leonidas McJohan(Great-Nephew)

Diogenes McJohan(Great-Great Nephew)

Hariklia 'Grace' McJohan/Bhraghad(Great-Great-Great Niece)

Ambrogio McJohan(Great-Great-Great Nephew)

Orestes Bhraghad(Great-Great-Great-Great Nephew)

Oswald Bhraghad(Great-Great-Great-Great Nephew)

Isaac McJohan(Great-Great-Great-Great Nephew)

Giorgia McJohan(Great-Great-Great-Great Niece)

Background Information:

Original Timeline

-Chimalley was born in France during the Roman Empire from the Pillar Dhampir Izel and the human woman Fiora. Izel was the child of Pillar Man who survived the massacre of his species by Kars and a human woman in Central America. Fiora was the daughter of merchants and had the ability to predict different possibilities in the future of a person based from their choices.

-He had a good relationship with his parents and a peaceful childhood but everything changed, when he was 17 he watched his parents dying infront of him him by Slave Traders and was captured to be used as a Gladiator for the Colosseum. After 7 years of being treated as an entertainment he decided to escape by freeing the other Gladiators from the Colosseum.

-He traveled across Europe, Africa and Asia to expand his knowledge in the different languages and cultures of each country and meeting new people while learning how to survive and new combat skills.

-He became one of the first stand users in the late 15th Century after being shot unexpectedly by one of the stand arrows from the man who created them and saw the potential of Chimalley to use him for his army of Stand Users. Chimalley during that time was confused, scared and wanted to be away from this man, his stand, Dark Horse, reacted to his thoughts and transported him by disappearing in a cloud of dark smoke somewhere safe.

-His pursuit for the Stone Masks started when he encounter a vampire drinking blood from a woman and a stone masks on the floor in the house of a noble man. Chimalley used for the first time his stand by trapping the vampire into binds of shadows and proceeding by drinking his blood. The woman lost a lot of blood but she was alive before the Pillar Dhampir leave with the stone mask and destroying it.

-In the 17th Century he traveled in Scotland and fell in love with the daughter of a Clan Chief, Eimhir McLeod. Their love didn't last long when a stand user threatened the McLeod chief to destroy his Clan if he didn't get Eimhir to marry him. This turned into a fight between Chimalley and the stand user which resulted the death of Eimhir and the McLeod Clan. After this event the Pillar Dhampir didn't fell in love ever again.

-During the 18th century he changes his name into Chemaya Alley and in the 19th century, the year 1883, he finds a lead to someone who has a stone mask in Greece. He arrived in the city of Argos of the Argolida prefecture in the Peloponnese peninsula, after stealing the mask and destroying it he meets a 13 years old child name Panajotis McJohan, who was a stand user like Chemaya, he traveled with his parents from Nafplio to Argos to do some errands. Panajotis took Chemaya to meets his parents and later was adopted by the McJohan family becoming the older brother of Pano.

-In 1888 before the events of Phantom Blood, He accompanied Panajotis to Liverpool, England, to discuss some important stuff with George Joestar I. They arrived in the Joestar Mansion where they met George's sons, Jonathan and Dio, Chemaya found Jonathan pleasant and kindhearted, while Dio gave a hostile aura and he knew something wasn't right with him. The conversation of Panajotis and George ended with angry shouts from the elder Joestar warning the young McJohan to never come close to his family ever again.

-After this event Panajotis and Chemaya started working as Investigators and Treasure Hunters to earn money for some years and later Panajotis works as a woodcrafter and marries Elpida Zoheir, an Egyptian woman from Alexandria. Chemaya will occasionally visiting or write letters and teach the the McJohan family about stands for the following years.

-In 1939, Chemaya goes to visit his family in Greece when he comes face to face with Wamuu, who was looking for the Red Stone of Aja. His fight with Wamuu was one of the toughest he ever had and he finished it by using Dark Horse to teleport Wamuu to another country.

-In 1987, he encounters again Dio in Cairo, Chemaya learned from him that he became vampire via a stone mask, took the body of his Adoptive Brother, Jonathan, gaining a stand via a stand arrow and wanted to rule. Chemaya became furious with Dio of the things he had done to Jonathan and his family and challenged the stupid brat into a stand fight. The Pillar Dhampir was ruthless with the Vampire and he didn't give him any chances to attack back but in the last moment Dio activated his stand ability and time stopped giving him the opportunity to run away from Chemaya. The hybrid was still angry with him but he didn't chase him because the brat wasn't his problem and wasn't worth of his time.

-In 2002 he was in Italy to buy something for his family when he came across Viktoria Erikson, a Hamon User and a SWF worker, who was chasing a occult who had a stone mask and wanted to become powerful, they where successful in defeating the occult and destroying the mask.

-In November of 2011, Chemaya died by being cut in half by a mysterious stand user.

Fragmented Star AU/EOH game Timeline:

In this universe Chemaya's past is the same as the one in the original universe but with some changes:

-In 1987 learned also from Dio that he has Jonathan's head as a trophy and in 1988 Chemaya breaks into the Mansion before the last battle to save it and putting Jonathan's head into the hotel the Crusaders where staying. Chemaya actually thought Jonathan was dead and his descendants would bury him but his was unconscious and the hamon kept him young and alive, his descendants saved his body from Dio and connected it with his head, the Pillar Dhampir without knowing he saved Jonathan's life.

-In 2002, Viktoria and Chemaya had a third person helping them in the defeat of the occult, his name was Michalis Zannos, a Greek stand user who worked as a singer in a famous restaurant in Italy to save money for his sick mother to go in a hospital.

-In 2011 he survived the killing blow from the enemy stand user by teleporting behind him and hitting him unconscious and bringing to the SPW foundation HQ.

-He is currently living in Nafplio, Greece with his three times Great Nephew and his wife.

EXTRA:

-Chemaya inherited from his mother the ability to see the difference possible futures of someone based on their choices and would advice them to choose the most sensible one.

-He is a Pillar Dhampir like his father, he is physically stronger than a vampire but weaker than a Pillar Man and unlike them he can walk during the day. Also he had a horn like the Pillar Men but he broke it when he became 16 so to blend with the other humans.

-The necklace he wears used to belong to his father.

-He is Demiromantic/Asexual

-The red mark in his jaw is made of paint and he has a tattoo on his left shoulder which resembles the Joestar Birthmark. Panajotis payed a tattooist to draw it in Chemaya's body because he considers him family.

-List of wounds from the 2nd Refsheet of Chemaya:

The wound when he broke his horn, he mostly covers it with a green headband, other times with a hat or a bandana.

He has burns in his right shoulder and left arm

Some cuts in his right arm after he fought with a big dangerous animal

Gun wounds in his left side of his chest and shoulder

Wound from a daggers in the left side of his chest

Wounds from whips during his time as a Gladiator

a wound in the center of his chest after being shot by the stand arrow

And a large cut which a reminder of his death in the original timeline on November of 2011. He remembered the previous timeline and the current one he lives.

-Chemaya has an artist eye and describe in detail any piece of art, the reason is because his Adoptive Brother, Panajotis worked as a woodcrafter later in his life and Chemaya is Artist's Model for his nephew Isaac and his mother, Kyriaki Callas/McJohan, who are both painters and a friend from Spain who is a Sculpturist.

-Chemaya every weekend cooks for his family his favorite recipes, one of them is a simple chicken soup because it reminds him of his mother who made it for him when he was a child.

STAND

Name: Dark Horse/Chavel Noir

Nickname: Noir

Namesake: All the Dark Horses(song by the Trashcan Sinatras)

Stand Type: Natural Non-Humanoid Stand, Phenomenal Stand

Stats:

Destructive Power: A

Speed: A

Range: B

Persistence: B

Precision: C

Development Potential: B

Appearance:

Dark Horse has the appearance of a giant humanoid horse made of black smoke, his has six purple eyes, his mane, tail, hands and hooves have the same colour which resembles a galaxy and has three purple cycles in his chest. He face can split up and form a mouth with fangs, he uses it mostly to eat or attack his opponents.

Abilities:

Smoke Manipulation: Dark Horse is made of black smoke, he can change and size and become solid and intangible. He can form smoky tentacles which can become sharp enough to cut opponents and in intangible form he can enter the victim's body and make them stop breathing. It can also form into gloves that covers the entire arms of his user to attack other stands in close combat.

Shadow Camouflage: The stand can become undetectable as along there is darkness or shadow. He can blend into the shadow of a person or animal and follow them.

Shadow Gates: He make gates out of dark smoke which resembles black holes to transport to different destinations in his user's will. Also they can act as dimensional storages to put personal stuff.

Corporeal Disguise: Dark Horse can take the form a regular brown and white Clydesdale Horse with black mane and tail which can be seen by non-stand user.

Weaknesses:

UV lights and when Dark Horse is in solid form his user can feel the attacks from his opponents.