#not-orpheus

[mamawasatesttube]

Might i suggest 7 or 11 for the soft promts?

11. "Let me wash your hair." combined with 5. "I've got you." for Kon & Kara, requested by @clarkkent-irons !!

"Stop fussin'," Kon mumbles. His head hurts. Actually, his everything hurts, but his head gets a special shoutout. 2-for-1 special bargain! Migraine and everything else-graine!

Wait, that doesn't make sense. The "mi-" part doesn't mean head, does it? Ugh. Whatever. He doesn't care. The point is ouch. Ow.

"Gonna be fine 'n the mornin'," he adds, woozy. "Soon as sun's back. Right-o! All better."

His senses might be all wonky from the migraine and magic blast, but he swears he can hear Tim rolling his eyes.

Kara, meanwhile, does not stop fretting. "You shouldn't have taken that hit for me," she scolds, cradling him in her arms like a baby, which would be really sweet except that it's probably funny to see, because she might have shot up this summer, but he's still taller and broader. Kal's genes at work. "I wasn't paying attention, it's my fault I let my guard down—"

"You took out, like, six of those magic automatons," Tim interrupts. Thank you, Tim, that's exactly what Kon was gonna say. Except Kon probably would've said it stupider. And more slurred. Kon's head hurts. Ow. "Do me a favor and don't start arguing with him while he's already all..."

"Zonked? Whammoed... Ooh. Borked?" Kon offers. Neither Kara nor Tim seems as entertained by this list as he does, for some unfathomable reason.

Eyes still closed, he realizes they're in Tim's ensuite at Titan's Tower by the sound of the door latching into place behind them, and relaxes a little. Then frowns.

"Don' put me in Tim's bed," he warns. "I'm so muddy. Super muddy. Like... like Supernova, but muddy. Get it?" Happens when a guy gets magic blasted into the mud dimension. Which isn't a real dimension, but just the giant mud flats south of the bay. Sploosh. Splat.

Kara sighs. "Yeah, cousin. I get it."

"We'll clean you up first," Tim assures him. He squeezes Kon's limp, muddy hand and leads Kara to the bathroom. "Here, set him down in the tub."

"Sure." Kara shifts him in her arms, guilt still rolling off her in waves. Kind of like how mud is rolling off Kon in waves. Also? His head hurts.

She sets him down incredibly gently, then lingers, her fingers trailing along his cheek. "...Thanks, Kon," she says, still sounding troubled. "I can start trying to make it up to you, um... Let me wash your hair?"

Kon opens his eyes (ow, ow, lights, ow) to pin her with a suspicious look. He has seen her drag a brush through her own curls until they're sad, butchered, fluffy waves, because well the wind messes them up when I fly around anyway and why do you look so horrified, Kon? "...You don'even know what cowash is."

Kara's jaw drops. Behind her, Tim tries and fails to disguise a laugh as clearing his throat.

"Oh, you little—I'm trying to be a nice, loving cousin here, and you—"

"Tiiiim," Kon wheedles. Using his TTK hurts his brain a little right now, but he still stretches out his aura along the tub, the floor, and up Tim's legs to tug plaintively at his shirt. "Don' let her murderize my hair. I'm too pretty t'die like this..."

"I told you he'd be fine," Tim says to Kara, amusement laced through his voice. Kon huffs and closes his eyes again.

His head hurts. And he's so sleepy. Tim probably won't let Kara ruin his curls. Tim is nice like that. Kon likes him. He's pawing through the cabinet where he keeps all of Kon's favorite bath products, so Kon figures he's in the clear. He heaves a sigh and slumps further into the dry tub.

Offended or not, Kara still traces her fingers gently through his hair. It feels nice, and Kon sighs, leaning into her touch. "Mmm..."

"Okay. I'll turn the water on once you get undressed," Kara says, back to being gentle. "Think you can get out of the suit on your own, or do you need a hand?"

"Um." Kon makes a valiant attempt, sending his TTK down his own body, but the more he tries to focus on the belts and latches and zippers, the more pain blossoms behind his temples, splotches of color bursting behind his eyes. Ow, ow, ow. Ugh, now he's nauseous, too. He hates magic. "...Help?"

Kara lets out a soft, breathy laugh and strokes his muddy hair back from his muddy forehead. "Yeah, okay. I've got you."

Tim sets a couple of bottles on the tub wall and then leans down to help pull off Kon's boots, while Kara first strips off one, then the other glove, his belt, and the pouch at his thigh. He thinks he should be self-conscious and ashamed right now, but he's kind of too tired and ouch to care.

"...Thanks," he mumbles, several seconds late, when they've finally gotten him undressed and turned on a gentle stream of warm water. It's soothing against the pain, and he sighs. "Gonna go sleep now."

"Okay, Kon." Tim pats his knee. "We'll be here."

Kon hums, and then slips away.

[jube-art]

Hi! I'm really loving the centaur AU and was wondering if you have any more art you'd like to share? Do you have a favourite to draw from the bunch or someone whose design you especially love?

Either way, i hope you have a great day!!

thank you! hope you have a great day too! Im glad youre liking the au as wel! also, i don't really have a "backlog" of art, I make as i need, most of the time,

thats me.

[suzukiblu]

Hi! Think Pink makes me think of Guy.exe, so might i suggest that for wip wednesday?

Hope u have a great day and fun writing!

“Do you?” Tim asks musingly, smoothing a hand across the back of Kon’s neck, and Kon struggles very, very hard not to jerk or buck underneath Bernard as the other sets up a steady, careful pace of long, slow thrusts that are making him feel insane. He wants to move back into him so bad but doesn’t trust himself to do it without doing it too hard. Just–his self-control is already all locked into keeping his TTK from doing anything stupid again, so doing that and not accidentally bucking Bernard off the damn bed if he tries to move too much just doesn’t seem likely to happen. Like–very much not so, yeah. 

God, he wants so much more, though. 

But Tim told him to wait, he reminds himself, swallowing roughly and clenching his fists a little tighter in the other’s shirt. Tim told him to wait for him, so . . . so he can do that for him. 

[lizhly-writes]

Hi! May I ask for Fantasy DnD AU for the WIP-game?

HAPPY MONDAY i am perhaps a wee bit late but here i am anyway!!

“Fuck,” Gong Pildu says, the memories of sitting in a temple studying abominations bursting forth to punch him in the face.

Kim Dokja takes no note of the interruption.  Instead, he says, with an irritated exhale, “I’m sorry you think my description is inadequate.  I just thought Gong Pildu-ssi would appreciate would appreciate a visual description.”

[aaronstveit]

"if i was orpheus i would simply not turn around" yes you would. if you were orpheus and you loved eurydice, you would. to love someone is to turn around. to love someone is to look at them. whichever version of the myth — he hears her stumble, he can't hear her at all, he thinks he's been tricked — he turns around because he loves her. that's why it's a tragedy. because he loves her enough to save her. because he loves her so much he can't save her. because he will always, always turn around. "if i was orpheus i would simply —" you wouldn't be orpheus. you wouldn't be brave enough to walk into the underworld and save the person you love. be serious

[wolfythewitch]

Hadestown au perchance

[metamorphesque]

― Ovid, Metamorphoses

[lunamonchtuna]

[mamawasatesttube]

If the hurt/comfort promts are still a thing, can i suggest some #13 or #19?

19. "You need to eat something." also prompted by @tobias-robin, @autistic-tim-drake, and @derp-a-la-sheep! this one was popular huh

“Kara said it’s called ‘dovrosh’ in Kryptonian.”

She watches him pick at a speck of lint on his comforter. He abandons it and pulls the covers up to his chin after a moment, rolling onto his side with his back to Tim’s chair. Every line in his body radiates shame, mingled with frustration, distress, and… other feelings, while Tim is rigid, his mouth a thin, displeased line.

“In English, that more or less translates to ‘gloom sickness’.” Kon takes a slow, shaky breath and scrubs his hand over his eyes. “Kryptonians can get it if they go too long without enough sun. It was a big deal on Krypton, ‘cuz it’s…” He has to pause for a second, clearing his throat. “It’s, uh, an infection of the sunlight-processing organ. From, like, temporary disuse. Kara said on Krypton under Rao it could be fatal, but… but under a yellow sun it’s nothing. Kelex says…” He breaks off to cough, a deep, rattling sound low in his chest that leaves her unsettled. “Kelex says I’ll be fine in a few days.”

Tim lets out a disparaging tch and folds his arms over his chest. “So Kelex gave you blanket permission to sulk and refuse to help yourself get better any—ow!”

Cass glares at him, holding her hand up threateningly. “No bullying the sick.”

Tim glares right back. “He’s bullying himself! Hit him, not me! He’s refusing food and being a stubborn ass! Contender for worst patient of the decade—”

“Takes one to know one, doesn’t it?” Kon snarks back, hoarse. He coughs again, wretched and painful, and Cass winces. “Save it for next time you’re on bed rest. I told you, I’m not hungry—”

“And I told you, that doesn’t matter! You’re running a fever, sweating, and having trouble processing sunlight, so you need to replenish your electrolytes and give your body some nutrition to work with, you stupid—ow! Cass!"

“I said, no bullying.” Cass smacks Tim’s shoulder once more for good measure. Then she turns to Kon, hands on her hips. “Tim is right. You need to eat something.”

{ continue reading on ao3! }

[mishoru]

It's an old tale

[princesssarisa]

In the past I've shared other people's musings about the different interpretations of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. Namely, why Orpheus looks back at Eurydice, even though he knows it means he'll lose her forever. So many people seem to think they've found the one true explanation of the myth. But to me, the beauty of myths is that they have many possible meanings.

So I thought I would share a list of every interpretation I know, from every serious adaptation of the story and every analysis I've ever heard or read, of why Orpheus looks back.

One interpretation – advocated by Monteverdi's opera, for example – is that the backward glance represents excessive passion and a fatal lack of self-control. Orpheus loves Eurydice to such excess that he tries to defy the laws of nature by bringing her back from the dead, yet that very same passion dooms his quest fo fail, because he can't resist the temptation to look back at her.

He can also be seen as succumbing to that classic "tragic flaw" of hubris, excessive pride. Because his music and his love conquer the Underworld, it might be that he makes the mistake of thinking he's entirely above divine law, and fatally allows himself to break the one rule that Hades and Persephone set for him.

Then there are the versions where his flaw is his lack of faith, because he looks back out of doubt that Eurydice is really there. I think there are three possible interpretations of this scenario, which can each work alone or else co-exist with each other. From what I've read about Hadestown, it sounds as if it combines all three.

In one interpretation, he doubts Hades and Persephone's promise. Will they really give Eurydice back to him, or is it all a cruel trick? In this case, the message seems to be a warning to trust in the gods; if you doubt their blessings, you might lose them.

Another perspective is that he doubts Eurydice. Does she love him enough to follow him? In this case, the warning is that romantic love can't survive unless the lovers trust each other. I'm thinking of Moulin Rouge!, which is ostensibly based on the Orpheus myth, and which uses Christian's jealousy as its equivalent of Orpheus's fatal doubt and explicitly states "Where there is no trust, there is no love."

The third variation is that he doubts himself. Could his music really have the power to sway the Underworld? The message in this version would be that self-doubt can sabotage all our best efforts.

But all of the above interpretations revolve around the concept that Orpheus looks back because of a tragic flaw, which wasn't necessarily the view of Virgil, the earliest known recorder of the myth. Virgil wrote that Orpheus's backward glance was "A pardonable offense, if the spirits knew how to pardon."

In some versions, when the upper world comes into Orpheus's view, he thinks his journey is over. In this moment, he's so ecstatic and so eager to finally see Eurydice that he unthinkingly turns around an instant too soon, either just before he reaches the threshold or when he's already crossed it but Eurydice is still a few steps behind him. In this scenario, it isn't a personal flaw that makes him look back, but just a moment of passion-fueled carelessness, and the fact that it costs him Eurydice shows the pitilessness of the Underworld.

In other versions, concern for Eurydice makes him look back. Sometimes he looks back because the upward path is steep and rocky, and Eurydice is still limping from her snakebite, so he knows she must be struggling, in some versions he even hears her stumble, and he finally can't resist turning around to help her. Or more cruelly, in other versions – for example, in Gluck's opera – Eurydice doesn't know that Orpheus is forbidden to look back at her, and Orpheus is also forbidden to tell her. So she's distraught that her husband seems to be coldly ignoring her and begs him to look at her until he can't bear her anguish anymore.

These versions highlight the harshness of the Underworld's law, and Orpheus's failure to comply with it seems natural and even inevitable. The message here seems to be that death is pitiless and irreversible: a demigod hero might come close to conquering it, but through little or no fault of his own, he's bound to fail in the end.

Another interpretation I've read is that Orpheus's backward glance represents the nature of grief. We can't help but look back on our memories of our dead loved ones, even though it means feeling the pain of loss all over again.

Then there's the interpretation that Orpheus chooses his memory of Eurydice, represented by the backward glance, rather than a future with a living Eurydice. "The poet's choice," as Portrait of a Lady on Fire puts it. In this reading, Orpheus looks back because he realizes he would rather preserve his memory of their youthful, blissful love, just as it was when she died, than face a future of growing older, the difficulties of married life, and the possibility that their love will fade. That's the slightly more sympathetic version. In the version that makes Orpheus more egotistical, he prefers the idealized memory to the real woman because the memory is entirely his possession, in a way that a living wife with her own will could never be, and will never distract him from his music, but can only inspire it.

Then there are the modern feminist interpretations, also alluded to in Portrait of a Lady on Fire but seen in several female-authored adaptations of the myth too, where Eurydice provokes Orpheus into looking back because she wants to stay in the Underworld. The viewpoint kinder to Orpheus is that Eurydice also wants to preserve their love just as it was, youthful, passionate, and blissful, rather than subject it to the ravages of time and the hardships of life. The variation less sympathetic to Orpheus is that Euyridice was at peace in death, in some versions she drank from the river Lethe and doesn't even remember Orpheus, his attempt to take her back is selfish, and she prefers to be her own free woman than be bound to him forever and literally only live for his sake.

With that interpretation in mind, I'm surprised I've never read yet another variation. I can imagine a version where, as Orpheus walks up the path toward the living world, he realizes he's being selfish: Eurydice was happy and at peace in the Elysian Fields, she doesn't even remember him because she drank from Lethe, and she's only following him now because Hades and Persephone have forced her to do so. So he finally looks back out of selfless love, to let her go. Maybe I should write this retelling myself.

Are any of these interpretations – or any others – the "true" or "definitive" reason why Orpheus looks back? I don't think so at all. The fact that they all exist and can all ring true says something valuable about the nature of mythology.

[lizhly-writes]

Hi! Japan rambling for the WIP game, please!

Jung Heewon is at her apartment.  The one her parents rented over a decade ago.  It hadn’t been hard to get to, with her middle school as a starting point, even with that dense white fog blocking her sights and hanging over everything like a shroud.  Once, she knew the route from school to home so well she could walk it with her eyes closed. 

[carnationinstantbutch]

Has this been done yet

[thecollectibles]

Orpheus and Eurydice by Tyler Miles Lockett

[finelythreadedsky]

obsessed with stories where the message is that you can't bring someone back from the dead even if you can bring someone back from the dead