The Problem With Thessaly

I’m sure plenty of fans would agree with me that there are certain elements of the Sandman comics that are going to be very difficult to adapt for television. I don’t envy the mammoth task Neil and the creative team on the show have ahead of them. But one element in particular which has been on my mind frequently is how they are going to introduce Thessaly to our screens.

It’s not just that she’s a TERF. It’s that she’s a cold, cruel, selfish, and inconsiderate bitch who only ever thinks about herself. Oh yeah, and she’s a huge TERF. There isn’t a single likeable element to her.

And yet.

We are supposed to somehow believe that our main protagonist, idiotic as he may sometimes be, depressed and seriously down on his luck as he is, will fall head over heels in love with her.

Sorry. But it ain’t happening. Something has gotta change. So here are my thoughts on how they could fix the Thessaly Problem.

Under a cut for comic spoilers (and its a bit long)

I kinda get the reason it happens in the comics. Kinda. I can’t remember the exact quote, or where I read it, but Neil explained it as “two people who you know are absolutely not right for each other and no one who knows them can understand why they are together.” He purposely wrote it to be a really weird match that didn’t make sense.

From Dream’s perspective, at this point in the story he has just had some of his biggest romantic disasters slapped in his face (at one point literally) all within a very short space of time for an entity as long lived as him. First Calliope, then Nada, and then Alianora, and he is hurting from all of them. Having to face his romantic failures one after another within the space of a few years AFTER having to go through 70 odd years of relentless suffering trapped in a glass prison has GOT to mess with your head. So I think Thessaly is basically the worst rebound in history. They are only canonically together for a few weeks but he somehow falls head over heels for this plain, dull, horrible person. 100% this is a rebound. He’s messed up. So yeah, I kinda get it.

From Thessaly’s perspective it seems she just really liked the idea of being the object of someones attention and desire even though she never returned his feelings and left him the minute he stopped devoting all his attention to her (god she really is a bitch).

So why don’t I think this will work in the show?

Because the show is a kinder universe than the comic. Dream is different in the show. He is already more thoughtful, warm, compassionate, and has a better self awareness when it comes to his shortcomings. He’s also a far more romantic character in the show, which is probably thanks to Tom Sturridge’s excellent performance and likeability and absolutely maddening sexual chemistry with literally every character he interacts with (his pretty face doesn’t hurt either). You just have to look at his scenes with Calliope to know that they are playing up the romance and kindness there when in the comics Dream is extremely cold to Calliope throughout their very short interactions.

Given the news that the writing team on Game of You will include trans writers specifically to cover the sensitivities of honouring Wanda, I don’t know how they will adapt the transphobia she suffers at Thessaly’s hand, or whether they will include that at all - personally I think they should remove it. Not to make Thessaly more likeable, but because it reinforces a really wrong view of witchcraft and magick that modern witches and pagans are working extremely hard to reject. Not to get too deep into these topics, but transphobia is a fucking plague in those communities and the last thing we need is more people thinking everyone who practices witchcraft is a fucking TERF. The comic even goes so far as to imply the actual MOON is transphobic. Like WTF? The moon isn’t fucking transphobic and “womb magic” is stupid. If I ever have to read the words “divine feminine” in a witchcraft FB group again I’m gonna scream.

Anyway my point is that I don’t think those scenes in the comic are necessary and there are plenty of other ways to adapt that story without resorting to transphobia.

The other issue is that if they do keep it in, they somehow have to deal with the fact that their protagonist is seemingly totally cool with dating a transphobic murderous bitch. Um. Yeah, not cool Dream. I think the show is going to do everything it can to make Dream MORE likeable and based on what we have seen so far I definitely think that’s the route they are taking.

So yeah Dream won’t be falling in love with a TERF in the show, that I am sure of.

The thing is, the best way they can deal with the Thessaly problem is also the simplest - Don’t include her. Just don’t write her into the show. Simples.

Because we already have a character in the show universe who technically doesn’t exist in comic canon, who knows magic and the occult, and who is MUCH more likeable and kind whilst still being a bit messy and selfish and totally a terrible match for Dream... Oh, and who also happens to be played by possibly the most well known actor on the shows main cast list.

Johanna Constantine.

Jenna Coleman is a fairly big name and one of the primary stars for the show. At least Netflix seemed to think so since her face was all over the marketing and she was included in basically every cast interview, even though her character only turns up in 1 and a half episodes. She is also playing a new version of an already well known character in pop culture and I am convinced Netflix is already considering spin off options for her. So there is no way they aren’t going to include her in future episodes of the Sandman.

Except thats where Netflix has a problem if it wants to stick to comic canon. Lady Johanna Constantine only turns up in one more Sandman story, and John Constantine doesn’t show up again at all in the comics.

So my piece of speculation that I’m almost 90% certain will happen, is that they will bring back modern Johanna Constantine in an extended or adapted role based on another character.

My money is on Thessaly. Remove Thessaly, replace her with Johanna.

I’m not just saying this because I think Johanna and Morpheus hooking up will be hot (it will be, don’t deny it. My bisexual ass knows a hot couple when I see them). But because it makes sense.

Yeah okay we have that pesky little rule about the Endless not dating mortals - but that rule currently doesn’t exist in show canon either, so theres no reason why they can’t just also scrap that for the sake of some sexy, messy, and definitely disastrous bi4bi action.

All jokes aside, with only a few tweaks to the story in a Game of You, you could seemlessly fit Johanna into it. She can be in New York for a specific case, hell, maybe Barbie and the sudden appearance of Martin Tenbones on a busy New York street IS the case she’s investigating? She can still find a way to break Hazel and Foxglove into the Dreaming AND when Morpheus shows up they can have another tantalising showdown like they did in episode 3. It works better with Johanna tbh. She actually cares about people, the motivation is there for her to want to save Barbie and protect people from supernatural sources. We can just make the storm and the collapse of the apartment block be caused by George or the cuckoo or something (or not have it happen at all since I am also practically certain that Wanda is NOT going to die in the show).

This ALSO means that much later on, when Lyta is having her breakdown and destroying the Dreaming, having Johanna being the one to protect her from Morpheus rather than Thessaly also adds a more human element to it. Morpheus has never been a killer, but sometimes his duties demand it. He goes to kill Lyta to prevent the Kindly Ones destroying the Dreaming. If it is Johanna blocking him instead of Thessaly, their motives align. Johanna would protect Lyta for the simple fact that she won’t let a supernatural creature harm a human (as much as she can - sorry Kevin), and Morpheus, being hesitant about killing anyway, would be easily talked out of it by Johanna. “Find another way to save the Dreaming, I won’t let you harm her.”

It just adds an emotional weight that isn’t there with Thessaly, who only protects Lyta because she made a deal with the Kindly Ones in exchange for more centuries of life - an ironic request when Morpheus (and Death) are keeping Hob Gadling alive simply so he can be Dream’s BFF.

It just works for me. Scrap the “no mortals” rule and you can have them have the messy disastrous relationship that doesn’t work out. It is far more believable that Johanna Constantine could break Dream’s heart - she’s already a known heartbreaker in the show (sorry Rachel). It’s a doomed love story a modern audience can get behind, makes sense, the actors already have insane sexual chemistry, and it could definitely hit all those story beats needed to get the show to a version of the Kindly Ones whilst also actively improving it.

I may first and foremost be a Dreamling shipper, but talking in terms of canon I very much want Morpheus to have a passionate short-lived heart breaking affair with Johanna. Fuck Thessaly. Keep her relegated to comic canon. Morphanna all the way.

And THAT is how we fix the problem with Thessaly.

Give us Dream and Johanna please!

(And I’m serious because how could you not after all the signs?)

Okay, after today’s Lucienne and Matthew news, which very likely mean unbridled moping in the rain, can I just say the following:

I’ve basically felt from day one they should replace Thessaly with Johanna. For a million reasons. Mostly because it makes show-narrative sense, but also because I’m selfish and would love to see less bi-erasure in fandom (it is a lofty goal, I know). So we see a bi woman have f/f AND m/f relationships and don’t just hype the same sex one and then ignore the other one as “straight”, as usually happens.

I’m still wildly convinced (well, hunch-style 🤣) we’re getting ConstantDream in the show. I’ll be embarrassed about it later if it doesn’t happen yet will survive, but I wrote a million times about it, so may I just draw attention to two of many:

The cinematography/framing (so many romance shots!)

His eyes in the lower one (you know when they get all sparkly with a slightly golden glow, right?)

The rain!

Her saying, “None of us can be trusted.”

Matthew saying he doesn’t like her in S1 (which is a direct mirror of the scene we’ve talked about, where he says to Lucien that he never liked Thessaly).

The way it already makes sense (Dream took Johanna’s nightmares away—she could just dream of him out of gratefulness or whatever. Same thing as with Thessaly really, easy to do).

The soundtrack. Yes, we have musical clues, read the meta.

Slight spoilers, proceed at your own risk…

The fact we’ve literally no news about AGoY and know that Wanda/Ruby have been rolled into one, which could totally mean Wanda’s arc has been changed (she doesn’t need to die in a storm/collapsed building, she might as well die in a fire).

The way that Johanna would protect Lyta for all the right reasons because of her experience with Astra.

And did I mention the rain? THE UNGODLY AMOUNT OF RAIN.

Need I go on?

Pyrrha Dve and Pyrrha of Thessaly: Survivors of the Flood

“If I’m God, I can start over. The flood, you know? You can wash things clean. That’s all the end of Earth was … making things clean.” --Nona the Ninth, p. 435

“You want Gideon the First, and Gideon the First is dead. He’s not coming back. Oh, God, Gideon,” said Pyrrha, suddenly. “Gideon … G—, you died for nothing.” --Nona the Ninth, p. 390

tl;dr: Pyrrha Dve shares a name with Pyrrha of Thessaly, one of the only two survivors of Zeus’s great deluge in Greek myth, which might connect to why Pyrrha alone seems to remember G1deon’s real name from before Jod’s “flood.” Unpacking this allusion brings to light other suggestive parallels between the two Pyrrhas’ stories, including:

Zeus and Jod’s destruction of the Earth with the intent to replace flawed humanity with a new, pious version of humankind who would worship them as gods

how the Greek Pyrrha survives without Zeus’s knowledge by hiding in her husband’s “chest” (sound like someone we know?)

Pyrrha of Thessaly’s role in repopulating Earth by disturbing her “mother” Gaia’s grave and casting her bones (aka stones) to the ground, from which arose the new human beings (who else disturbs “Earth’s” Tomb?)

and some other more out-there parallels, including a connection to the tower in the River; some thoughts on Zeus, Jod, and cannibalism; a verrrry tangential connection between Pyrrha and Gideon Nav; and thoughts on other survivors

So, following the release of Nona the Ninth, we’re now all familiar with Jod’s conception of the end of the Earth as a literalization of the flood myth with him as God.  Afterwards, he claims he brought back all his friends without their memories – and, based on his discussion of renaming Ulysses and Titania and the fact that the Lyctors’ old names are all dashed out, many of us have assumed with new names.  But somehow, Pyrrha Dve seems to remember her necromancer’s original name.  What’s going on with that?

I don’t have an explanation, but I do have a very interesting parallel, which is almost entirely not the same thing while still justifying writing meta! :P  (I mean, if you’re looking for an explanation, my best guess is that Jod talks about altering memory through changing the brain’s biological structures, suggesting that the soul still remains a blind spot of his.  Pyrrha no longer has her physical corporation/brain and is solely existing in Gideon’s body, so maybe there’s something there?  Soul memories, idk lol.)

Lots of past meta I’ve seen about Pyrrha Dve’s name has focused on Pyrrhus of Epirus, who gave his name to the term “Pyrrhic victory”: a victory whose losses were so severe as to call into question whether such a “victory” was really worth it at all.  On that reading, Pyrrha’s name is a nod to how attaining Lyctorhood was a Pyrrhic victory for Gideon and the other Lyctors, because they had to sacrifice their most beloved companions (brother, wife, best friend, etc.) to achieve this “lesser”/imperfect Lyctorhood.  I’ve also definitely seen people point out how the name Pyrrha itself comes from the Greek adjective “πυρρός”, which can mean flame-colored or redheaded: clearly apt for our girl/my wife Pyrrha.  I think all of that is right, and also I think tazmuir was drawing on yet another mythological parallel for Pyrrha’s name: that of Pyrrha of Thessaly, survivor of the Flood.

Pyrrha of Thessaly and Pyrrha Dve

In Greek myth (well, more or less, depending on the version – I’m quoting Dryden’s Ovid here, so Roman reception, but I’ll stick with Zeus to make things easier), Zeus decides to wipe the Earth clean after judging humanity irredeemable.  When he shares this plan, the other gods immediately complain that, should he destroy humankind, “Neglected altars must no longer smoke,/If none were left to worship, and invoke.”  Interestingly, he immediately reassures them: “Lay that unnecessary fear aside:/Mine be the care, new people to provide./I will from wondrous principles ordain/A race unlike the first, and try my skill again.”  In other words, after the cleansing flood, he’s going to create a new crop humanity to worship him and his pantheon at those neglected altars … sound like anyone we know yet?

However!  Two humans survive Zeus’s deluge: Deucalion, ruler of Phthia in Thessaly, and his wife Pyrrha.  Here’s where it gets especially intriguing, because depending on the version you read, this Greek Noah and his wife survive for different reasons!  Ovid’s Metamorphoses has them surviving because they’re the two best people around – the most holy, upright, worthy, etc.  But in other accounts, such as that in the Bibliotheca of Pseudo-Apollodorus, they actually sort of sneak past Zeus.  Deucalion’s father is the Titan Prometheus (whom you may remember from other Zeus-defying escapades like “giving humanity fire”), and Prometheus instructs Deucalion on how to build and provision a chest that will survive the flood.  Thus, when Zeus goes to destroy humanity, Pyrrha survives inside Deucalion’s chest until the flood ends and the two reach dry land and propitiate Zeus.  (OK, so it’s an actual physical wooden trunk, BUT ALSO Pyrrha survives by hiding in her husband’s chest I’m just saying.)

After surviving, the two ask the gods (usually Zeus through an intermediary) how to repopulate the planet.  They are told to “throw … your mighty mother’s bones” to the ground – a suggestion that horrifies Pyrrha, who refuses to defile her mother’s grave, crying out, “Forbid it Heav’n, said she, that I shou’d tear/Those holy reliques from the sepulcher” (we’re back to quoting Ovid here btw).  But after carefully pondering their instructions, they find a different meaning: perhaps, Deucalion suggests, “This Earth our mighty mother is, the stones/In her capacious body, are her bones.”  So they gather up “Gaia’s bones”, i.e. rocks from the ground, and when they cast those stones behind them, new human beings spring up from where they fall.

Pyrrha’s calling Gaia her mother, her disturbing Gaia’s remains from their “sepulcher,” and Gaia’s “bones” repopulating the Earth are all very interesting!  It probably goes without saying that there’s a Gaia-Alecto connection here (in fact, I think you could even say John makes that connection fully textual when he calls himself John Gaius, if you read it as a Lyctoral name).  I read the Greek Pyrrha’s identifying Gaia as her mother as a neat inversion of the parental relationship between Pyrrha and Nona (note that in the myth, Gaia isn’t Pyrrha’s actual mother – that’s Pandora, while her dad is Prometheus’s brother, Epimetheus (which technically makes Gaia her paternal great-grandmother)).  Our Pyrrha is, obviously, involved in unearthing (heh) Alecto’s body from the Tomb, just as the Greek Pyrrha felt she was being called to disturb her mother/Gaia’s resting place.

Alecto the Ninth Speculation: Gaia’s Bones and the Resurrection

All of the above I think is reasonably textually supported, but with the last “parallel” – the repopulation of the planet from Gaia’s bones – I’m going to step off the deep end, lol, and move away from literary analysis of existing parts of TLT to pure speculation about the future.  First off, the key caveat is that, obviously, I don’t think Tamsyn Muir is trying to write a literal beat for beat version of the Greek flood myth with Pyrrha Dve, so I think the actual likeliest explanation here is that the actual limit of Pyrrha Dve’s connection to Pyrrha of Thessaly is just that both (sort of) survived their respective divine “floods.”  But I do have a couple thoughts about directions that “Gaia’s bones” and the resurrection could point at, which I’ll list roughly from most to least likely; and I’m also interested in hearing others’ ideas.

I think this parallel could pay off in one of two directions: either the Resurrection in the past or something in the future, in Alecto, involving a collaboration between Nona/Alecto and Pyrrha.  In the past, we obviously don’t know yet how the Resurrection actually went – John’s confession in Harrow’s Alecto-dreams didn’t extend that far – but it’s easier to speculate (and to pick out speculative parallels).  It certainly seems apparent that Jod’s going to be majorly drawing on Alecto’s power to do it – just as Zeus claimed he was creating a whole new crop of humanity to worship him, but was actually digging up Gaia’s bones to make the magic happen.  Making bodies from earth and stones is a classic mythic motif, so I don’t think the Pyrrha flood myth is necessarily being referenced here, but there sure is something neat about John’s making Alecto’s body “from the dirt, my blood, my vomit, my bone.”  Beyond that, some versions of the Greek flood myth suggest that humanity’s nature was changed by being reborn from stones, with Ovid writing, “Hence we derive our nature; born to bear/Laborious life; and harden’d into care” (the Greeks were generally huge fans of the pun possibilities between λαός (people) and λᾶας (stone)). You could maybe connect that to the suggestion that there seems to be something slightly off in Jod’s new version of people – the sickliness that affects necromancers?  (I don’t think that’s quite right, though, because you’d expect stones to be harder, not brittler and easier to break.)

But the myth isn’t just about how Zeus uses Gaia’s bones to resurrect humanity – it’s also about how Pyrrha and her partner (Deucalion/G1deon) bring back humanity.  Maybe the importance of Deucalion in revitalizing humanity via Gaia could pay off if it turns out G1deon has a key role in the Resurrection (Jod keeps talking about how he has “big plans” for Gideon’s arm, and he even says that “G—’ll be easiest” to bring back, although in context I think he just means that he won’t have to wipe as much of his memory because he wasn’t even at the compound)?  I think that’s a reach, though, and that the arm is just important so he has biomaterial on hand (lol).  But the reachiest possible connection here is to say that maybe Pyrrha’s going to play a role in some future Resurrection: something in Alecto the Ninth that resolves Jod’s “missing math” (the people he didn’t bring back, possibly the souls clogging up the river?) and brings more people back, or brings back people “correctly.”  Certainly, in terms of any role Pyrrha could play in collaborating with Alecto/Gaia in something like a resurrection or rebirth of humanity in the next novel, it’s worth noting that she is now strongest remaining link from Alecto back to Nona, with all of Nona’s compassion and love.

Remaining Errata

OK, that’s all for immediate parallels from the meat of the Greek flood myth! But there are some remaining pieces of the myth that caught my attention, so those get to go at the end of this piece of meta.

The Tower

Whatever’s going on with the massive new Tower in the River is obviously going to be important!  I have a LOT of thoughts about this, but that is for another meta.  What I’ll say here is that, while I think the clearest reference there is to the Tower of Babel (what with Nona being the only person who can still understand all languages), another famous mytho-religious tower-y structure often identified with the Tower of Babel is the towering pile of mountains that the Greek Giants built to reach the gods when they tried to challenge Zeus et al.  Per Ovid, observing the Giants’ building this tower was one of the things that made Zeus despair at the current state of the world and decide to set off the flood that Pyrrha survived in the first place.

Cannibalism

Other reasons Zeus was angry enough to flood the earth: eating human flesh! One of the impieties that drove Zeus to damn the first version of humanity was King Lycaon daring to test whether Zeus was truly omnipotent by serving him human flesh.  Go on, dive in, I know y’all are thinking of that bit in Harrow where Jod says, “Ten thousand years since I’ve eaten human being, Harrow, and I didn’t really want an encore.”

Gideon Nav as Pyrrha Dve’s Achilles?

Finally, Phthia, which Deucalion and Pyrrha ruled, was later Achilles’s home. You could possibly say something here about our Pyrrha and G1deon as not-parents to Gideon, who ~invaded~ the planet of Priamhark Noniusvianus, just as Achilles invaded the city of Priam in the Trojan War.  I think that’s probably squinting too hard, buttttt you could still make the case.  Also, that takes us full circle back to the other Pyrrhus that Pyrrha could be named for, because Plutarch seems to suggest that Pyrrhus (he of the Pyrrhic victory) got his name from family tradition because Deucalion and Pyrrha were the first rulers after the flood in Epirus.

Other Flood survivors?

OK, I have no idea what to do with this piece, but obviously Pyrrha isn’t the only potential “survivor” of Jod’s “flood” – the fleeing trillionaires (or potentially other human outposts?), etc.  Similarly, some versions of the Greek flood myth suggest that in addition to Pyrrha and Deucalion, a few other humans slip through, such as Cerambus, grandson of Poseidon.  This seems kind of tangential, but hey, if someone named “Cerambus” shows up in AtN and seems to know a lot about Earth without Jod’s blessing, we should probably listen to him! ;)

Sources

Ovid’s Metamorphoses The Pseudo-Apollodorus Other Greek and Roman flood accounts overview Pyrrha and Deucalion in Greek and Roman writing On Pyrrha, Deucalion, stones, and puns

Hellinikon: thoughts

Hellinikon is a vast area in the southern suburbs of Athens where the old airport used to be. After the international airport was relocated, the area was used for sports venues during the Olympic Games in 2004 and then as a refugee camp. The area  was eventually abandoned which essentially turned Hellinikon into an expanded dead land. There have been a lot of discussions for investments in the area throughout the years, which were delated because privatization has traditionally not been well received in Greece (I both agree and disagree with this negative sentiment) but recently the land‘s been bought by LAMDA Development which belongs to Greek multi-billionaire Latsis family. LAMDA Development has publishized all the plans for the urban regeneration and the environmental upgrade of the area for quite a while. Despite not being familiar with the region, I was always interested in the developments of the Hellinikon issue and I thought it would be fun to just lightly rate the benefits and flaws of the huge project. And it is huge indeed, I recently found out the whole region is three times as big as Monaco and twice as big as Central Park in New York. Or, maybe, Monaco is that small. Well. Nevermind.

The Marina

Features: 

A marina that accomodates 337 moorings up to 80 meters.

A 6-star hotel in front of the marina.

Retail shops and entertainment venues. 

Thoughts:  Okay, a marina is not a big deal, especially amongst the (how-many?) marinas that Attica has. To my understanding, this one is going to be a large and particularly upscale one. Entertainment venues are to be expected but I am a bit sceptical about the retail shops. However,  YES to the 6-star hotel. I don’t mean Greece should be flooded with 6-star hotels - not at all - but the country relies on tourism so much that having at least one self-acclaimed 6-star hotel is probably good for the... prestiggggge XD  

Rate: 4 / 5

The Integrated Resort

Features: 

high-rise hotel 

state-of-the-art Gaming and MICE facilities

Thoughts: A luxe hotel just behind the 6-star hotel? Is there a crying need for it? I’m not that against it being high-rise and a Casino though. The Casino in Loutraki is somewhat far and the Casino in Mt Parnetha doesn’t cater to sea lovers. And this one will surely be a brand new posh thing so if you want to lose your money by the sea, this will be your new dream place I guess lol

Rate: 4 / 5 

The Marina Residential Tower

Features: a high-rise tall building with 200 apartments

Thoughts: It sounds stupid and unimportant but I actually like this one. If non-Europeans read that, well long story short Greece (and most of Europe) does not have skyscrapers for reasons that are associated with the region’s historical monuments. But if this building is not visible in the horizon from the Acropolis (most likely, it’s quite far), then I like it and I am all for it. 

Rate: 4,5 / 5

The Beach

Features: free-access 1km long beach with 50 m average width

Thoughts: A beach in Greece, a drop of water in the ocean. However, it will be free-access (who would save them from the wrath of the nation if it wasn’t? XD) and it’s surely a long beach (I still prefer our trademark coved bays though.) I can’t think of negatives, it’s what you’d expect. 

Rate: 5 / 5 

The Aquarium

Features: the new “world class” Aquarium, some sources say it will be the largest in Europe and part of it will be underwater

Thoughts: The only decent aquarium Greece has is in Crete island and still it cannot compete with the good aquariums around the world. Should Greece, a country so deeply associated and dependent on the sea, lack a proper eligible aquarium? Okay, it depends on what someone thinks of aquariums. If it’s more like what you’d call a wildlife sanctuary, I support it. Let’s take for granted that it will fit all criteria for health care, endangered species preservation (when needed) and ideal conditions for the hosted sealife as well as have primarily an educational purpose. The site says that the Aquarium will complement the existing Ocean Centre of Research & Technology. It sounds hopeful and sensitive.  If these are the actual designs, I freaking love them.

Rate: 5 / 5 just don’t disappoint me make it good and eligible 

The Seafront Area

Features: 

Beach villas

Luxury hotel

Marina for small boats

Thoughts: ...What...more luxury hotels?!  I assume the large marina will be suitable only for big boats (for super rich dudes) but somewhat rich dudes have rights too. This corner is kept for somewhat rich dudes. 

Rate: 2 / 5 it would be 1 for pointlessness but we stan somewhat rich dudes

The Exhibition Precinct

Features: 

transformation of the old airport into an Aviation Museum

renovating the Eero Saarinen building of the old airport to an Exhibition Center

Thoughts: The renovation is definitely needed but I don’t know what good a vague exhibition center will do for Athens with its already existing exhibition centers. Maybe I am wrong though, this whole area aims to be upscale so they ‘ll probably have plenty exclusive exhibitions. The Aviation Museum is a HUGE thumbs up, I love that they respect the history of the place and they incorporate it to the new project.  BTW this sculpture in the design is from another country and I hope they WON’T bring something like this here too, no offense

Rate: 4 / 5  

The Metropolitan Park

Features: supposedly the biggest park in Europe and one of the biggest coastal parks in the world and will include lakes, arable land (?!), thematic regions and interconnection with all other areas. 

Thoughts: This is of course necessary at the least. Athens needs some greenery badly. Urban areas lack large parks. I hope it will indeed be as expanded as they claim. I also hope Latsis will have a guard in every corner though. Urban green places sadly don’t have a lot of luck in Greece and I am already pessimistic. 

Rate: 4,5 / 5 because of my pessimism

The Sports Facilities Complex

Features: what the title says

Thoughts:  I don’t know, I technically can’t be against sports facilities but what Athenian will get out of their way to reach Hellinikon to play sports... IDK I may be thinking with my provincial mind. Obviously, they target wealthy tourists more than Greeks anyway which is what irritates me.  It says they will host professional teams and international events though. They will also restore the Olympic facilities that are located there which was absolutely necessary. Hmmm I don’t know, I am as indifferent for this as I am for sports in general, so maybe don’t listen to me.

Rate: 3,5 / 5

The New Urban Innovation and Business Centre

Features: 

educational facilities and research institutions

student campus and housing

model business park

residential developments

hypermarkets, biggest shopping center in Athens

hotels

Thoughts: Yes, yes, ok, meh, no, no. The thing with the hotels starts becoming a joke. Does Athens need a bigger shopping center? I would replace the shops and hotels with simply more park. The campus and research institutions save this. 

Rate: 3 / 5

The Mall at Vouliagmenis Avenue

Features: Another Mall

Thoughts: The site calls it “Shopping Center” so I just hope it is the aforementioned one, simply in a detailed description because I don’t dare imagine two massive shopping centers next to each other. Again, it’s a no, even if things work a little differently in Athens, overall I would say that Greek people and “hypermarkets” and malls don’t get along very well. Greeks always prefer their local shops downtown or even the posh shopping streets but hardly ever the Malls. (Or, at least, a curse seems to have fallen on nearly all these shopping complexes in Thessaly.) Thus, this shopping center that is quite far from Athens downtown and also has Glyfada’s upscale shops right next to it (and the future retail shops in the new Marina) will have a lot of competition to face from the locals. Too much ado about nothing.

Rate: 1 / 5 one point if they make it pretty 

Let’s see if they pull that off...

The Good Counselor: Chapter 9

Book Three in the Hades and Persephone series. Seventy years have passed since Elysion was created, and Persephone's efforts to conceive a child with Hades have been in vain. But a secret rite on Samothrace might bend the Fates and give her all that they have dreamed of, or pave a path of untold suffering.

Chapter 9

He knew better than to speak with them before the first full moon of winter. He had only to recall his first visit to remind himself why. Even if a message from Olympus meant for Hades were urgent, he would always beg it off for at least a week.

Hermes sat in Charon’s boat, tapping his foot on the bracing, smoothing the golden feathers of his winged sandals, and trying to avoid eye contact with the dark cloaked shade of an old woman who sat opposite him.

“My husband sacrificed a ram to you,” she said suddenly.

Hermes started, then remembered that she hadn’t yet drunk from the Lethe. Though a shade, she wasn’t yet part of Asphodel. He could hear her. She was scowling at him. “What, to me?”

“He wanted to sell sheep across the water, to the Thracians. I told him not to go into business, but no… did Stavros listen to me? No!”

“What happened?”

“You don’t know?!”

“Uh…”

“The fool, I knew it! I told Stavros you wouldn’t listen to his prayers! ‘I know sheep, not trade, Agathe, but trust the gods , because I gave Hermes a whole ram , Agathe!’ Foolish pious man he was…”

“That’s enough,” Charon hissed.

The shade cowered and fell silent, but pursed her lips and glowered at Hermes until the boat scraped against the opposite shore.

“Welcome home,” Charon said to her and pointed his oar beyond the ghostly reeds at the poplar shaded stone pathway. “The Trivium is that way. Go to the spring beside it and wait. You are to be judged by Rhadamanthys.”

The woman gathered up her skirts and plodded along the path, disappearing from view. Charon pushed off and shook his head. Hermes shrugged. “What?”

“With all your infamous wiles and trickery,” the Boatman said, “could you have at least lied to her?”

“And tell her what?!”

“Nothing comes to you? There was a bad star, a storm of the ages, or the evil eye struck, or any one of the many Olympian excuses. Or even that yes , you’d listened, but no, there was nothing that could have been done.”

“There are too many offerings… how could I have known their circumstances?”

“ You guide the wayward dead back here. Speak to them and find out. Or lie vaguely, if you prefer. It comes to you easily enough.”

Hermes scowled and slouched back, crossing his legs. The palace gates came into view at the end of a short path bordered with tall stalks of asphodel. Charon stilled his boat and Hermes debated whether or not to have the last word.

“What is your purpose here, Psychopompos?”

“Your King summoned me today. And since I was on the way, I also bear a message from our Queen to yours.”

“Hmm.”

“It’s a good thing that Hera wants to befriend her. Good for everyone. Persephone is the only child of Zeus she’s ever been kind to, so can you please, please do your part to not ruin it?”

The Boatman didn’t reply.

“Not for me, but for her.” Hermes leapt into the air, thankful to be on the other side of the Styx. Ever since the fateful day he had appeared before Hades and Persephone at the command of Zeus to return her to Demeter, he had carefully abided by Persephone’s edict that he not cross the Styx except by Charon’s boat. It was ploddingly slow, made worse by the shades that often made the journey alongside him, and worse still by the unpredictability of Charon’s temperament— he never knew whether Charon would be gratingly dour, or spend the entire trip needling him.

The air was dank and chill, but he could feel the spray from the falls beside the palace on his face and it was refreshing after the stifling stillness of the Styx. He raced upward, torchlight guiding him to the throne room. He could hear Persephone’s voice inside.

“…on the full moon exactly between the first of Spring and the Solstice.”

“The seeds have already burst and reached into the soil by that season. Petals have fallen and the fruits have begun to pull on the branch. The weave of this is strange—”

Hecate whipped around as Hermes alighted on the balcony. He stumbled back.

“Oh it’s… you… It’s almost the— I suppose it’s the last quarter moon, isn’t it?”

Persephone made her way back to her throne and sat down, folding her hands in her lap as Hecate shuffled closer to the Messenger, toying with him.

She extended a bony finger. “The long-toothed wolf makes the pup yelp, eh?”

“There are old gods above, too. But they’re ageless, and, well, you are too, but… I normally see you when you’re…”

“When I look to have more pounce than prowl?”

“Well, yes.”

“Cross the still waters more, whelp, and the boatman’s call might lead you to a wiser world. But if the withered wolf makes your tail tuck away, I mark that the pawns of Olympus have no heart for the splendor and shades of Chthonia.”

Persephone sat up. “What brings you here, Hermes?”

Hecate slid into the shadows, the crows feet around her eyes deepening as Hermes picked at a fingernail. He bowed to one knee and held a scroll aloft. “A letter. From the Queen of Heaven.”

Persephone stood and extended her hand. Hermes stepped onto the dias and handed her the papyrus, the seal marked with the eye of a peacock feather. She broke it and started unrolling the scroll, then stopped. Hermes stood waiting. “My husband summoned you, no? He’s below, in the courtyard.”

Hermes shifted. “Oh. Yes.”

No wayward gossip for you, Persephone thought. When Hermes was out of sight she walked to the desk and unfurled the missive.

Hecate hobbled closer. “Queen of Heaven, says the nipper at heels. A crown of twigs that lays claim to the forest of the cosmos…”

“Likely not self applied.”

“We can hope that the crow but wears the peacock’s feathers. What says the consort of the sky god?”

Persephone scanned the words. They weren’t in Greek, or Theoi, but in the hieroglyphs of far off Aegyptus. She wrinkled her brow. What reason did Hera have to encrypt a letter? Persephone had only learned that language a quarter century ago, and had yet to master the spoken tongue.

My dear sister Queen,

I hope this finds you well. Your absence has produced a dreadful series of storms that has blanketed Thessaly in a lovely frost, but lost several ships near Crete, or so Poseidon tells me.

No matter. I look forward to your return and what we spoke of before your departure. Every passing day with my husband and his infernal sons convinces me that your ways below the earth should be reflected above. I don’t want to speak of this on Olympus. There are too many eyes and ears here. Perhaps in your realm, if you would be so kind. I know you have much faith in your people.

I cannot leave now. There are matters I need to see through. And you are often busy in the Spring, but perhaps Summer might be a better season for us to visit Elysion together.

Please write soon.

All regards,

H.

“The serpent asks the sparrow to nest on the ground,” Hecate rasped.

“Why do you say that?”

“She knows well that the Pact of the Pomegranate binds you to the fields when the sun soars highest, yet asks you to walk with her into these sunless halls while the fruits grow above.”

“I’m sure it’s completely innocent. When I spoke of the Agreement with her and Amphitrite, it seemed she hardly knew anything about it.”

Hecate thinned her lips. “The serpent smiling through a cloak of blue feathers is still a serpent.”

“I don’t trust her either, but she is trying to befriend me, and the last thing we need is to make an enemy of her. Besides,” Persephone said, reaching for a stylus. “If she is sincere, we could affect meaningful change in the world above. Wouldn’t you prefer that to mortal women being treated as little more than chattel, or your followers being stoned or exiled?”

Hecate clenched her jaw.

“She is clearly scared and alone.” Persephone held up the scroll.

“Serpent or worm, wolf or lapdog— be certain you know which beast you see. The Queen wore a thousand masks before you first saw your own reflection.”

“I’ll be cautious. But I’m not going to raise a wall between her and me.” She rolled the scroll until Hera’s words disappeared. She whittled the end of her papyrus reed to a sharp point and dipped it in the ink.

“What words will you send to the mountaintop?”

“The truth. That I’ve never returned to Chthonia in the spring or summer, in accordance with the Pomegranate Agreement, and I don’t ever intend to do so.”

***

“Hold,” Aidoneus said in the dream tribesman’s language. He stepped back and dug the pommel of his sword into his palm to stretch his tendons and relax his grip. As he clenched and unclenched his fingers around it, Aidon watched the deep wound on his forearm knit back together then disappear entirely.

Icelos Phobetor, chieftain of the Oneiroi, waited. His shape drifted from shimmer to shadow as he lowered his dagger and spear.

Aidon wiped the sweat off his brow. “You may enter, Psychopompos.”

Hermes dropped to a knee knelt at the entrance to the courtyard. When he stood, he looked up at Aidon, but his eyes were drawn to Icelos. Twice as tall as him, the shifting mass kept a roughly human figure, massive weapons suspended within hazy fists, cloudy muscles rippling. The color drained from Hermes’s face. “What… who…”

“He doesn’t speak Theoi. Don’t bother,” Aidoneus said, replacing his helm.

“What are you doing?”

“Practicing.”

“What for?!”

Aidoneus glowered at him through the eye slits. “Chthonia stands between your world as its former masters. Should the Titans ever escape Tartarus, I need to be ready. Stay where you are, Hermes.” He looked up at Icelos and spoke in the hollow tongue of the dreamworld. “Last time. Advance.”

Hermes winced, first at the unfamiliar words, then the clash of bronze. “It’s been forty thousand years, Aidoneus—”

“And if you want another forty thousand,” he said, grasping the spear to pull Icelos toward him and thrusting harmlessly into his immaterial form with a riposte, “I cannot afford to rest on my laurels.”

Icelos jerked his spear back and Aidoneus dodged aside. The heavy spearhead slid by him, a hair's width from his shoulder, and struck the cobblestones with a clang. His helm vanished and swallowed the rest of his armored form, and he silently rolled backwards. Icelos lunged and hacked at the ground around him with his knife, hitting nothing but stone. Hades waited. He trod silently, then leapt forward. Arm cocked, he reappeared and cleaved Icelos’s spear in half with a hard blow, then stood. “That’s enough for today. Thank you for your time, friend.”

Icelos silently bowed and vanished, taking the broken spear with him.

He inspected the nicked edge of his sword, then sheathed it, leaning the scabbard against the wall. He’d hone it later. Aidon removed his helm and sent it away through the ether. Hermes was shifting from foot to foot, agitated since the first clash of bronze. He was always on edge whenever Aidon wore his armor. They’d taken away his wife for half of each year, and each year passed quietly. Did the Messenger still fear that he would make war on Olympus?

Let them worry on that , Aidoneus thought, so they don’t think they can take anything else. Still, he couldn’t tolerate Hermes’s fidgeting. His armor melted and rippled into the more familiar shape of his black tunic and himation as they walked toward the courtyard gate.

“Your wife sent me to see you here. I was willing to wait in the throne room.”

“Given that you read her missives earlier this year, I don’t blame her for dismissing you. I have a task for you,” he said. “Come with me.”

Aidoneus walked quickly toward the grotto and the pool beyond. “Wait outside.”

Aidoneus knew Hermes wouldn’t move an inch into the room until he was under the water. The Messenger had seen enough for one lifetime when he’d barged in on him and Persephone.

Aidon removed his sandals, his himation and tunic, then his loincloth, and left them in a crisply folded pile on the divan. He pulled his hair free of the torc and dove head first into the water. He swam to the bottom, coming to rest cross legged. The rush, the darkness, the utter silence of the water was welcoming. A respite. Aidoneus opened his eyes with only black stillness to greet him. It was warmer at the bottom and he let the heat seep into his flesh and bones. He’d begun sparring with Icelos early in the morning, and should have gone most of the day. He hadn’t expected Hermes so soon, and his request of the Messenger would not be an easy one. Aidoneus knew that just one misplaced word or distracted thought would beget a torrent of gossip among the gods, and cause him and Persephone, and likely Demeter, endless problems. He rolled his neck, then slowly surfaced, his shoulders breaking the dark water. With a flick of his wrist, he lit the room, the torches illuminating the sapphire and diamond inlaid ceiling above. “You may enter.”

Hermes poked his head in the door and scanned the dim room, empty but for Aidoneus chest deep in dark water. He waited for Hermes to take stock of the room, then spoke.

“Who on Olympus would have a silver lyre?”

Hermes raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

“It is a gift for a mortal.” The boy’s eyes widened and Aidon could see the wheels turning in his head. “It is not so grand a favor, Hermes. I allowed a mortal to use my own helm once.”

“Yes, but the Stygian nymphs were the ones who actually handed it to Perseus.”

Hades rolled his eyes, despite himself. “Of course they did. What living mortal in their right mind would cross the Styx, enter this palace, and meet face to face with the Lord of the Underworld to ask of him a favor?” Aidon slowed his tread under the water until only his head bobbed above the surface. Warm water crept up his neck, soothing him. “It’s beside the point. And before you ask, my reasons for this are my own.”

“I didn’t ask. I know you better than that.”

“You created the first lyre, no?”

“I did. But I traded it almost as soon as I made it.”

“For what?”

“A herd of cattle.”

Aidoneus stared at him, water dripping down his scalp.

“It was a joke. It’s a long story.”

“There must be more than one silver lyre on Olympus. Which of the Muses would have one? Calliope? Erato?”

“They do, but not the kind you’re looking for. The only silver lyre is Apollo’s.”

He exhaled and disappeared under the surface for a long moment then came back up. “Of all the gods to which you could have given it…”

“He doesn’t use that particular one often, but he does treasure it above all others. If I told you what Euterpe had to do just so she could touch—”

“I don’t want to know,” he said. “Turn, would you?”

Hermes complied, facing the wall. “Who is the lyre for?”

Aidoneus hoisted himself up out of the water and shook out his hair, then stood and wrapped his himation around his waist. “A hymnist named Orpheus, who lives on Samo—”

“Him?!” Hermes spun back around. “The one you said has been putting the gold scrolls in the mouths of the dead?”

“The same,” he answered, throwing the long end of the dark cloth loosely over his shoulder, careless of how it lay. It wouldn’t be on for long. Persephone was meeting him upstairs after this business was over.

“And here I’d guessed you’d ask Zeus for his life for that. Not grant him a gift!” Hermes rolled his tongue on the inside of his cheek. “Wait; isn’t he Apollo’s son ?”

“He is.”

Hermes laughed. “My lord, forgive me, but I thought you had an actual task for me. ‘Excuse me, Apollo, I need to borrow that magical lyre of yours and give it to your musically and poetically gifted son who composes hymns about you . You can have it back in thirty years or so when he’s dead.’ That is what you want?”

“Yes.”

“And you’re sure you can’t tell me wh—”

“No,” he said firmly. “All I need is discretion. Especially if you are going to Apollo. I don’t want him to know that it was at my behest.”

“He takes no issue with you.”

“You told me yourself that he is still… resentful… of how Aphrodite publicly humiliated him on Persephone’s behalf. It’s doubtful he would forgive that any time soon.”

Hermes nodded. “If anything he detests Aphrodite for it, not Persephone. Aphrodite and I— well, he has no quarrel with me, you know, and she and I… are…”

Aidon closed his eyes and massaged his temples with his fingertips. His voice dipped in register. “Is that why Ares has been making an absolute mess of Argolis for the past month?”

Hermes winced. “Possibly?”

“Your affair with her has created a season of headaches for us down here. It’s not just soldiers we’ve received. The city was ransacked. Women, Hermes. Children .”

“Take it up with Ares. I didn’t tell him to start a war.”

He sat down on the divan. It was always someone else’s fault with the Olympians. Any time he had asked after the causes of mortal suffering he’d been met with a chain of pointing fingers. It wasn’t even worth it to lecture the boy.

“It won’t be difficult, I promise. Apollo is my friend.”

“Just make sure.”

The Messenger paused for a moment and tilted his head, suspicious. “You’ve never, and I mean never engaged in intrigue, my lord. Why this?”

He tilted his head up and stared Hermes in the eye. “It has nothing to do with Olympus. I swear that to you on the Styx, Hermes. It concerns our own matters in Chthonia, only. And you’ll know the answer soon enough, if our efforts are successful.”

“Our?”

Damnation! Aidon could have kicked himself. The crack in the levy was already there. Best repair it before Hermes made any suppositions. “I want my wife’s name kept out of this, Psychopompos.”

Hermes stared at him, and Aidon knew that he was trying to divine the reason. The Trickster was wise with emotions. He could see around the slightest bluff, the quickest lie. Hermes relaxed. “Think nothing of it, Aidoneus. I’ll do it.”

“You have my gratitude.”

“Any messages for Zeus?”

“No. Likewise, I take it?”

Hermes shook his head.

“You may go. Charon will be along shortly.”

“Aidon… since I’m doing you this favor, is there any way you could reverse the decree and I could just… come and go the way I used to?”

“That decision is for the Queen alone,” Aidoneus said, smiling dryly.

Hermes opened his mouth to say something, then deflated. He bowed quickly and disappeared through the doorway.

“He will be as true as any whelp to a good master. ”

Aidoneus turned to see Hecate, standing on the surface of the pool, her aged reflection perfectly mirroring her in the still water.

“The pup’s yapping is not the sole storm in my mind. You are not only swimming against the river, you try to force it from its banks. These are not your ways. Or mine.”

“Have our ways given my wife a child?”

Hecate slowly walked toward the deck, the water undisturbed, then padded soundlessly across the limestone. “The words of the Fates—”

“Contradict themselves. You tell me that. They told me that Persephone and I would be as fruitful as the land of the dead, and they told herwe would have three children. So it is up to us, then. Just as it was our ordained actions that created Elysion.”

“The river forks ahead, Aidon. It spreads before the sea beyond. And too many tributaries flow into a whirlpool. Lives will be churned. Swallowed. I see agony. Suffering.”

“If I do not go to Samothrace, then we suffer the fate of never knowing if this was our one chance. I’m not about to let it slip through our fingers.”

“And so you sail with your queen. What of the other ships that sail alongside you?”

“It’s a fertility rite. Suppose the mortals have a poor harvest, as they did after our last efforts… Persephone and I can set it to rights before the first chill of winter. We would have months to do so.”

Hecate’s face fell. “The passing parts of seasons concern me little, Aidoneus. It is winters counted together as mere moments. It is the ripple that builds until it sends all ships to the deep.”

“I have faith in ananke, Hecate. I’m not abandoning what you taught me, or you, or what I believe. And the hymnist himself follows our ways. I feel, in my soul, that this is right. More so than anything we’ve tried before.”

She nodded, but her lips pursed as she looked up at him. “If this is your course, and if you sail with clear eyes and strong heart, who am I to stop you?”

* * * * * *

Sorry it was late today! So that's it! Thank you so much for reading the free preview of The Good Counselor. I’ll keep you up to date on the release, and any new developments with the show that will be based off my books, Pawns of Olympus.

Hi my name is Andrés, I'm 28 years old and I'm looking for a co-founder partner for OLYM 3, a video game and betting startup that aims to change the world of online games.First of all I apologize because my level of English is not good. This is precisely why I am looking for a co-founder who is native to English to adequately complement the profile of the company. My native language is Spanish, so we can have an app in English and native Spanish.In a few days I will start learning English, so in a few months we can begin to communicate better.NAMEFirst of all, let me explain why the name: In Greek mythology, the Titanomachy was a ten-year series of battles fought in Thessaly, consisting of most of the Titans (an older generation of gods, based on Mount Othrys) fighting against the Olympians (the younger generations, who would come to reign on Mount Olympus). The war was fought to decide which generation of gods would have dominion over the universe; it ended in victory for the Olympian gods.“When Zeus became an adult, he took Metis daughter of Oceanos as his accomplice, and she gave Cronos a drug to swallow. Under its influence he was forced firstto vomit up the stone, then the children that he had swallowed. Along with themZeus fought the war against Cronos and the Titans. They had been fighting for tenyears when Ge foretold that Zeus would be victorious if he took as allies those whohad been thrown into Tartaros. He killed Campe, who guarded them, and loosedtheir bindings. And then the Cyclopes gave Zeus thunder, lightning, and the thunderbolt;they gave Hades a helmet; and they gave Poseidon a trident. Armed withthese weapons, they defeated the Titans, threw them into Tartaros and set theHundred-Handers to guard them. As for themselves, they cast lots for dominion,and Zeus received power in the sky, Poseidon power in the sea, and Plouton power inthe house of Hades”. The three Olympic gods Zeus, Poseidon and Hades conquer the universe. This is how OLYM 3 was bornThe OLYM3.COM domain I have already registered.THE IDEAThe idea is to develop an "Olympus" of games, that is, an application that allows users to play video games and bet money among themselves increasing competitiveness and changing the online game ecosystem. These bets can be in 1vs1 games or even 3, 4 or 100 player tournaments. Fictional example Two users (Player 1 and Player 2) wish to play a game of CS: GO by betting 10$ each. They download and install OLYM 3. They choose game. Duration. Amount of money. And they make the bet. The winning user gets 18$ and OLYM3 earns 2$ as commission.Diagramhttps://i.imgur.com/9KRvRhL.jpgMinimum Viable ProductThe MVP should be an application that allows players to bet on a game in a basic way. Maybe we could start in 1vs1 games or small tournaments in a few years old game like Rise Of Nations or any shooter that uses small resources. Although this must be made clear when we start working. Remember that I am not a programmer, I can have in my mind very nice ideas but impossible to develop. Therefore, the MVP will adjust to what you as a programmer can develop.THE PLANSThis is a Startup, that is: A human institution designed to deliver a new product or service under the conditions of extreme uncertainty. We do not know who our customers will be or what our business model will be, the only thing we can do is go out to the market and test hypotheses. Since we do not have the money to invest, what we will do is look for help for startups that provide us with web hosting. Starting from this base, I think we should go to Azure, Amason AWS, google etc, get a pack of help to new companies and get hosting and assistance. After this, we launched a beta version of the web and the application and we go to the market to get customers via forums, twitter, facebook, etc. If everything goes well and we manage to do something interesting, we will go looking for private investors. Angel.co could be an option. https://i.imgur.com/I5yqVaf.jpgTHE REQUIREMENTSFor all the above I want to make very clear the type of founder needed to avoid confusion from the beginning: I'M NOT LOOKING FOR AN EMPLOYEE: Unfortunately I learned that not everyone can be a founding partner with my personal experience. I tried to open a business with a good guy, but a bad entrepreneur ... and the experience was terrible.That's why I'm looking for an enterprising, active person, who does not want to be an employee but wants to build a great company in the future. 1) Full-stack programmer y basic knowledge of HTML to develop the beta of the web: I have no idea about programming so if you are not Full-stack but you think you can develop, no problem. The idea is to make the MVP in windows it is the easiest and fastest. We could also analyze the options of doing it in Android. 2) Experience: Experience is important but it is not fundamental. I have read that the ideal is to work with programmers who have at least 1 year of experience. However, if you do not have experience but consider yourself qualified to join the project, go ahead, it is not an impediment to contact me. I myself do not have experience but I feel like it and I am eager to build a company for the future, and I am able to lead the company strategically. If you are an inexperienced student but have enough programming knowledge to develop this application, go ahead and send me a private message. Of course, the lack of experience must be replaced with a total involvement and a determined entrepreneur spirit.3) Commitment: Availability of 4 hours a day, 5 days a week for the next 2 years. If you do not have time, you are not sure about undertaking or you have other obligations the best thing you can do with your projects since undertaking involves too much work and commitment.4)English as a native language:4) My native language is Spanish, so it is essential that your language is English or you have sufficient level of English to be able to write complex texts.My job will be marketing, strategy, social media & branding. I also know something about design, so I can design the web. Your job will be to develop the application. Although together we must help each other, you must know what I am doing and I must know what you are doing. The company will create it together. BASIC LEGAL ISSUES.All legal matters will be reflected on a sheet and we will sign them with hellosing or similar services in a partnership agreement. Here I leave the fundamentals. OLYM 3 estará divida así:ACTIONS OF THE COMPANY 51% for me. 49% for you If any of us retires from the company to the first year loses 90% of shares. If any of us retires from the company in the second year loses 80% of shares.EARNINGS50% for me 50% for you If any of us retires from the company to the first year loses 95% of profits. If any of us retires from the company in the second year loses 80% of profits.EXCLUSIVENESSNone of us can work for any company that competes in our market.SALE OF SHARES.None of us may sell shares to third parties without the consent of the other.These are some of the main guidelines then we will talk about deeper things like conflict resolution, economic problems, what to do in case of dissolution, etc. All this we will collect in a document and as I said, we will use an electronic signature or FAX service to sign the contract. ADDEDAs final thoughts, I want to insist on the fundamental profile of a co-founder. I do not look for an employee, this is not my company it will be our company, it will not be my idea, it will be our idea, we have to work side by side, fight against everything to make the company profitable. So please, if you do not have time if the idea does not convince you it is better that you do not join the project.It is impossible to launch a company if one of the founders does not love the idea, as I said, IT WILL BE OUR IDEA, OUR COMPANY. I'm not going to give you orders, we should both have initiatives, we should talk almost every day, we should try new things. So before contacting me, ask yourself the following questions:Am I willing to dedicate 2 or more years of my life to a betting and videogame company? Am I excited about the programming? I think the idea can be good?If the answer is yes, join and we are going to found a great company. If you do not like this idea, if you are not passionate about this odyssey, if you do not have time or if it does not attract your attention, it is better that you look for other projects, it is impossible to join a project that you are not passionate about.Keep in mind that if you join, we will spend whole years together, we will have to work together, help each other, feel the company as our own, the fault of success or failure will be both, we need, ultimately, passion. With nothing more to add, thanks for reading the post and I am delighted with any suggestion, criticism, questions, etc.A greeting!Andres.

Thessaly, Johanna and a weird meta about musical motifs (amongst other things)

Send me asks about everything Sandman-related!

As a little intro: A lot of people in the fandom want to see Thessaly cut from the TV adaptation, or at least see her changed substantially. I am not necessarily one of them because I don’t think it’s always necessary to blur the lines between fiction and reality that way, and I would be alright with portraying her in a similar way as in the Audible adaptation (where a lot of things have already been changed to make her character more palatable to 21st century audiences). It would also make Morpheus look a bit less morally grey (I mean, he falls in love with someone who is essentially a terrible person, knows it and doesn’t seem to give a shit. Then again, he often is morally grey, and people like to forget that ;)).

Having gotten that out of the road: I *do* think that “A Game of You” is hard to translate to the screen. I absolutely love it in the comics, but I think it’s one of those arcs that is tricky to do well for TV. I’d even go as far as saying it might be a dealbreaker for some people who haven’t read the comic/are show audience only, and it might jeopardise a potential S3. Not because of Thessaly or the plot as such, but because it operates on a similar plane as The Doll’s House, which was jarring to a lot of people in S1. And The Doll’s House has a far more straightforward arc and more Morpheus in it—AGoY has none of these things. I’d personally love to see it, but I would also love to see Morpheus’ full arc being brought to the screen, so I am a bit conflicted. I still think, and of course that’s just a personal opinion, that it would be best to just have little bits and bobs inserted into Season of Mists and do the whole Cuckoo arc as an animation, but that’s just me.

@tickldpnk8 and I already speculated wildly about S2, and sole speculation it is, but maybe you want to check out that post. I’m getting carried away here...

After that longwinded intro: Are we going to get Johanna instead of Thessaly?

What I actually wanted to write about is why the longer I think about it (and I’ve been thinking about it since S1, I'm really that sad), the more I can’t shake the feeling that they *will* replace Thessaly with Johanna. And the fandom is totally divided about it—some love the idea because they had undeniable chemistry in S1, others hate it for various reasons (doing Johanna dirty, keeping Thessaly "intact"--you name it).

I personally think it might actually elevate the story because it would make Morpheus look better (*if* that's what we want--I'm not really sure I do), and that’s what show-only-fans seemingly gravitate towards. As already hinted at, Thessaly/Murphy always seemed a rather unfathomable relationship, and it didn’t just make Murph look stupid, but also, as already mentioned, morally grey and not very discerning in his choice of women (hmm, maybe he just isn’t ;)).

Falling for Johanna wouldn’t be any of this. And it would be so easy to show why it went horribly wrong without making either of them look bad, and you could still feel for both of them. If we think about Johanna’s worst nightmare (literally), it’s what happened to Astra. So she would absolutely and unequivocally support someone like Lyta, who worries about her child. And she would do it for all the right reasons, and not because she’s a selfish bitch who just wants a longer life or is generally spiteful.

And it wouldn’t be hard for Morpheus and Johanna to hook up either. They could even leave the original idea intact: Thessaly just dreamed of him, and they started talking in dreams, bla bla bla. We already have the set-up for that in S1. Morpheus took away Johanna’s nightmare. She could just be grateful, relieved, whatever, and dream of him. Done. And we don’t even need to explain that at great length, because in the comics, we never really see them hook up anyway and just find things out after the deed. Although I personally *want* to see them get hot and heavy on screen, but that’s just me having my mind in the gutter because why would you not to show two sexy people with so much chemistry doing exactly that. However, I’ll survive the disappointment if they don’t—just 😂

But it’s not just the plot. It’s also everything we’ve seen in S1. I have already talked about this in other threads, most recently with @orionsangel86, but literally every shot with them in S1 was framed as a romance shot: the proximity, the play on height difference, the camera angles, the lighting. These are deliberate choices, either to hint at what’s to come, or to set up a distraction, MacGuffin, whatever.

Then the mention of “None of us can be trusted.”

Or the RAIN. I mean, I am so surprised no one has commented on that waterfall of RAIN when they say goodbye (or I’ve just not seen it). You cannot read the comics and ever believe again that Morpheus and rain, no matter where, doesn’t hint at terrible relationship outcomes.

Musical themes, oy!

But the thing that really got me was the use of musical motifs, and I am unfortunately showing my background from a former life here because I can never listen to a movie soundtrack without getting analytical about it. Johanna’s theme is called “Johanna & Rachel”, and it would be easy to just think of it as that. And yes, it is a love theme, but it doesn’t just play for Johanna and Rachel. It plays in Morpheus’ and Johanna’s last scene as well.

And here’s the kicker: Dream’s and her theme complete each other, as in: They both have what the other one is missing. They are musically extremely close, but not identical. Let me explain:

If you think of the opening lines of both of their motifs in scale degrees (like 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-(1)), they look/sound as follows:

Johanna (her motif begins right at the start, so I didn't timestamp it)

1-(minor3)-7-(2)-(1) | 1-(major3)-m7-1

If I put all of “her” scale degrees in a row, they are: 1-2-3-7

Dream (you actually hear his leitmotifs, and their subtle differences, best in his scenes with John Dee):

1-(7)-(6)-(5)-(4) | 1-(7)-(6)-2 (video is timestamped)

1-(7)-(6)-(5)-(aug4) | 1-(7)-(6)-2 (video is timestamped)

If I put all of “his” scale degrees in a row, they are: 1-2-4-5-6-7

Morpheus is missing the third (3). Missing the third, which s considered one of the most consonant intervals and DYNAMIC, also hints at his character, but that just as an aside.

Johanna has the third (both in its minor and major form). 

Johanna is missing the fourth, fifth and sixth.

Morpheus has them, in various forms (major and augmented—especially augmented intervals are highly unstable and create a lot of friction).

What they share/have in common are 1, 2 and 7:

The tonic (1) is what everything else hinges on. The supertonic (2) is musically fraught with tension and seeks to resolve into the tonic--back to base or a conclusion/resolution, if you will. The seventh (7), both as a leading note or subtonic, is also that: Tension that needs resolved.

So all they have in common is tension that needs to resolve into some sort of resolution.

(And before we are pointing out the obvious: of course both tunes have more notes in it respectively, but we are talking about the main motifs.)

What’s also super interesting is where their overall themes are going. Johanna’s is initially darker, but it actually has a lot of ascending lines and “light” before plunging back into darkness.

Morpheus’ seems a lot more regal (for lack of better term), but the lines are mostly descending. This becomes even more apparent when we are not just listening to the opening theme, but to the several variations of his theme (his presence can be felt literally everywhere, even in Desire's theme).

It just freaked me out majorly the moment I heard it for the first time in contrast. But I like to over-interpret musical stuff because I just hear it so clearly. I *do* believe that composers do these things on purpose, even if just subconsciously, because we can't separate what we know about a character from how we perceive them musically (I do it as well). Of course that doesn’t always mean that it’s exactly the purpose I am thinking of, or that it hints at whatever is to come. My brain tends to run away with these things.

But yes, musically, they are totally "on track", so let's run with it. I'll admit my embarrassment later when this all goes into a completely different direction ;)

(Also tagging @honeyteacakes in this since I encroached on your comments recently)

I read your post about replacing Thessaly with Johanna and while it is interesting I disagree. I think it would have a positive effect to show someone not accepting trans identity because she believes God wouldn't and then being proven wrong directly by an Endless. Morpheus is not a saint and not a bad person either like you have said so him dating one such as her is not out of the realm of possibility in the slightest imo.

I guess I can understand your view on it. Actually showing a transphobic character get disproven by the Endless is a powerful message indeed, but I disagree on your point about Morpheus. Comic!Morpheus can be a dense moronic fool but Show!Morpheus is not. Show!Morpheus needs to be sympathetic to the audience and I think the show will tread very carefully around these topics to avoid any possible accusations that their protagonist is either a transphobe, or okay enough with transphobia to date and supposedly "fall in love" with a transphobe. It's just not gonna happen imo.

I think if they decide to keep Thessaly as a future lover for Morpheus, the far more likely option is that they will make HER more sympathetic too, and avoid all the transphobic parts of her. I personally don't think this will work, because the Sandman fandom is already vocally against Thessaly and I think the show attempting to make her sympathetic in any way isn't gonna go down the way they may hope it will.

So I do think the options for Thessaly are either 1. Keep her character faithful to the comics - aka a transphobic murderous bitch/witch who will screw over anyone for more years of life - but remove the Morpheus/Thessaly romance completely, or 2. change Thessaly's character to be more morally grey, no longer a transphobe, who is sympathetic to the audience as a sort of femme fatale perhaps? Who Morpheus could actually have chemistry with before she ultimately breaks his heart.

Either option works for me but not both. I won't accept Morpheus being with a transphobe. I will be so fucking pissed off if the show takes that route. Also I ship Morpheus/Johanna and I want her to come back in a bigger role rather than just come back as Lady Johanna during the French Revolution. They'd be a fool not to keep Jenna Coleman as a regular and so they are gonna have to find a place for her. I'd rather a Morpheus/Johanna romance than a Morpheus/Thessaly romance so even if they do keep Thessaly just to shove her transphobia back in her face I hope that nothing happens between her and Morpheus.