Happy STS! What are your favorite scenes from your WIPs? (and if you would like share some lines <3)

So my Greek myth wip is based on the need to do Percy Jackson better since there's a lot of stuff that I'm noticing now that I'm re-reading and older. One of these things is Camp Jupiter and New Rome, because it's kinda weird that they cosplay as ancient Romans when Camp Half-Blood doesn't do that. So I wrote an explanation and I really need to re-write this so it's less exposition.

Part down below:

"Did anyone tell you why the sons of Kronos made that pact to not have any more children?"

Megara shook his head. Honestly, it had barely ever been mentioned before. He was pretty sure some people complained about accepting him since he was a pact-breaking child, but those complaints had never been a big deal. "Didn't it happen after the Civil War? I only heard about it because camp got set up right after the pact."

R.K. nodded. "Yeah. I never knew the story until Hermes told me about it, but apparently the seeds happened when Poseidon was made mortal and forced to be a slave for King Laomedon. Hermes told me that, when he returned, he hated slavery."

"Because the sea didn't like to be restrained." It was why Rome never sailed.

"I mean, yeah, but he had also made friends out of fellow slaves and watched them die. Hermes said that he made big changes when he returned and started targeting slave ships. Most of the mermaid population is made of slaves who jumped overboard."

Megara hummed. "I didn't know that."

"Yeah. Father doesn't talk about it much. When talk of getting rid of slavery started up, his kids followed his lead and became abolitionists, even became conductors on the Underground Railroad." She sighed, staring at the sea. "One of them was a woman named Caroline."

"Oh?"

"She was born free. Her grandmother wasn't. She started talking to other demigods, convincing them to help. A slave owner named Felix Wilson, a son of Zeus, heard about her."

Oh. Oh no. He knew that name.

"He got worried about what would happen if every demigod in the United States at the time were allied against slavery." Megara could imagine it. There probably hadn't been that many demigods in the country at the time, but he could imagine the effects. "When the Confederacy broke away, Felix and some of his friends tracked down Caroline." R.K. looked away from the sea, upwards, and Megara followed her eyes. "There's apparently ways to make children of Poseidon drown, if you're determined enough."

Clouds floated by, and Megara gulped. His fingers tingled, just like whenever he manipulated clouds.

"Felix fled to California, and Uncle made sure Father couldn't attack him there." R.K. sighed, resting her chin on the railing, eyes locked on the endless blue that her sister had died in years ago. "His friends killed a good portion of any children of Poseidon and Hades, since they worked together, they could find. When the war was over, Father and Uncle H demanded Uncle never have another child again, because his son had killed so many of their kids." R.K.'s neutral expression twisted into a frown. "He agreed, but said since they were too attached, that they also had to agree."

"He founded the camp," Megara said, interrupting her. "He founded the camp, but he wasn't very popular. Apparently, someone pushed him off a cliff after a year of him leading, but Jupiter pitched a fit when they tried to change the rules."

22, 25

choose violence ask game (send me more if u want!)

22. your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores

the myths replaying themselves out. i won't call out this person specifically (partially bc i dont' remember their name lmao) but i read a fic where percy totally unironically and seriously decided to fly up to olympus on blackjack and the gods were super cool with it and i just... hello? bellerophon? the guy who got bitch slapped by zeus for daring to fly up to olympus? ever heard of him? some of richard's best writing is when he's riffing on myths, and fandom (and i tbh) should do more with it

25. common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing

THE CHILD SOLDIER STUFF oh myh god i am so tired of this argument. learn about tone and framing PLEASE. also i'm starting to get real tired of "the gods said they'd do better and then they didn't :/" YEAH HAVE YOU READ ANY MYTHOLOGY EVER. but more to the point, and i blame many things for this including marvel... how do i say this. pjato, hoo, toa, etc, though they are part of a shared universe, are also things that can be examined as contained stories in and of themselves. and you can even do this book by book. "the gods are still shitty from series to series" is, fair, a valid critique of the Franchise as a whole, but i think many people would benefit from taking off the franchise glasses and instead looking at them as separate but overlapping stories

Ok so I saw Thor: Love & Thunder for the third time and I have some thoughts.

Here's a few things I wish had been done differently:

Get rid of the jokes in the opening scene. They completely ruined the vibe. It felt like Gorr and Rapu were acting in completely different films.

In general, the film could have done with a lot less "joking during a serious moment." I have no complaints about jokes in Marvel films, but it really bothers me when the jokes get in the way of emotional moments.

I know I sound like every other Marvel fan, but I think that with Gorr being the villain, it would have been a lot better for the film to be more serious.

The tone of the film varied so much between scenes it was a bit jarring.

I didn't really mind that the Guardians were written out so early. It's not their film + it would have felt too crowded.

Mighty Thor introduction was super cool though.

I also really liked the music used in the film!

A common complaint about the film that I've seen is that no one ever disproved Gorr's point that "all gods must die." In fact, the film is basically on Gorr's side, since it shows most of the gods acting like assholes.

So what I think would solve this problem would be to show the gods actually care about their worshipers.

One way this could be shown would be during Korg's "death." Instead of him surviving because "the only part of a Kronan that's alive is its mouth" (which ????), he survives because he is secretly saved by Ninny of the Nonny (who's right there! Plus, this would make one of the jokes have actual plot importance)

Maybe some of the gods in Omnipotence City could be shown as actually caring about stopping Gorr but too afraid to act in defiance of Zeus?

Don't have Korg interrupt Thor and Jane's moment on the ship!! It was so, so, unnecessary and it really ruined the mood.

The whole Gorr fight scene on that gray moon (?) was amazing. The VFX artists outdid themselves with the lighting. (rip Marvel VFX artists)

I've seen several people here on tumblr mention that they hated how Valkyrie was nerfed in the end. And yes, I agree that her excuse about not going to fight Gorr because she "would probably die" is totally out of character for her.

She's mentioned several times that she longs to die in battle and reach Valhalla, (she even goes as far as to say "if you're a viking you basically have to die in battle" at one point which both Sif AND Thor reinforce) and this is the perfect moment for that!

So I propose this: during the aftermath of the kid's kidnapping, have all of the Asgardians look to her for help. Have her realize how much she means to these people. And then instead of deciding to not go fight Gorr because she would probably die, have her choose not to go because even though she wants to reach Valhalla, she realizes that she has a duty to her people.

A lot of people had a problem with the child army but ??? Thor gave them the power to face their fears and fight! I think that's great. Would you rather have had them just stand there? Thor's awesome, but I don't think he could have handled fighting Gorr AND protecting the children from the shadow monsters.

Before we get to the ending I'd like to point out how GORGEOUS Eternity looks. One of the best parts of the film.

Ok, now my least favorite part: Gorr's wish.

It just made no sense to me at ALL to have him wish for his daughter back. He knew he was dying (he even said so himself!) and why dump her on Thor?? Poor kid would have to see her father die in front of her.

I didn't like how Gorr went from "destroy all gods" to "raise daughter from the dead" in one (1) Thor speech. Yes, I liked that he was redeemed, but that was not the way to go!!

I've been thinking about how I would have liked the film to end but I honestly can't think of anything, so here are my half baked ideas:

1. Gorr hears Thor's speech (which was nice btw - I liked the part of choosing to be with Jane in his final moments) and decides NOT to kill the gods, does nothing, and promptly dies. Who know what they do with their wish. (I'd rather not have them undo Jane's death because that was actually really well done).

2. Gorr realizes that there are some gods that do care for their people. (after Thor's speech he remembers all the gods that he killed - maybe some of them died protecting their people?) and decides that Eternity is too big a temptation for anyone, so he wishes for Eternity's gate to never open again.

3. Gorr realizes he is dying and decides that he wants to see his daughter one last time (NOT bring her to life). He wishes to see her again, and as soon as he dies, Love disappears as well.

Really liked the tribute to Jane at the end (the statue), as well as the two post credit scenes.

And those are some of the things I would have liked to see in the movie without changing too much.

Now! As a bonus here are some things that I think would have been a good idea, but would totally change the entire thing!

Have the film focus on how Thor closed off his heart because everyone who loves him dies. He doesn't let anyone get too close to him, something that's very apparent when he's with the Guardians. Once he has a re-encounter with Jane she helps him open up again, echoing her words at the end of the film. "Keep your heart open." And so Thor gets some character development!

And thanks for reading! Let me know what you think!

What's your favorite Rick Riordan series between Percy Jackson, The Kane Chronicles, Heroes of Olympus, Magnus Chase and Trials of Apollo? (or like, if you can't choose, what do you like about the series you've read?)

Trials of Apollo, no contest. 

I liked Percy Jackson a lot, it was VERY well done. Percy was hilarious and relatable, but also just super awesome, his dynamic with Annabeth was fun to read, along with his dynamic with Grover, the quests had a lot of entertaining encounters, and it had some well-executed themes that tied in with the overall conflict nicely, mostly about how parents’ and adults’ negligence and even abuse can harm their kids, the overall effects of that, and just... generally trying to get the parents to shape up, as well as the effects of not respecting others in general, like with how the minor gods and by extension, their children, are treated by the Olympians. It comes up with Percy’s relationships with both Gabe and Poseidon, and most of the campers’ relationships with their godly parents, and that’s a MAJOR cause behind the entire conflict, and one of the major things that Percy tries to make better at the end of the last book.

Kane Chronicles... it’s been awhile since I read it. I don’t remember it having as prevalent a theme as Percy Jackson did, though there was definitely social commentary on racism, with how Carter was sometimes treated, and with how people had trouble comprehending that Carter and Sadie were full siblings, since while both are mixed, Carter’s pretty dark-skinned, while Sadie looks White. It was more of a background thing though, not a major plot point. I liked the characters and the plot fine, they were entertaining, and it was good overall - but it’s not a series I’ve felt a pressing need to reread either. Only real complaint I have about it is the romances centering around Sadie. Her and Anubis were kinda cute, but it would’ve been a lot cuter if she was older than 12-13, and he wasn’t a 4000-year-old god who looked, acted, and was treated as a 16-year-old. And then the whole thing with making it a love triangle with Walt who’s ALSO 16 and Rick’s method of “solving” the love triangle... look honestly I just would’ve been a lot more ok with the romantic shenanigans there if Sadie wasn’t a middle-schooler throughout it. Overall still good though, I’d be down for an adaptation of it, but it’s one of the few cases where I hope something IS flat-out changed to make the romances more palatable.

Heroes of Olympus is where I originally fell off of the Riordanverse. There was just so long between books and I could barely remember what happened between them, and with most of the books being like parts of the same quest (especially books 3, 4, and 5), unless you were constantly refreshing your memory of them via fandom, they were hard to follow, especially with several main characters and different character dynamics to keep track of. When I went back and read the whole set of them though, getting back into the series, it was WAY better, since I could read them as a coherent whole. I could tell he was struggling to juggle all the characters, but I thought he did a fairly decent job of it for what it was. I ended up liking all the characters - ESPECIALLY Leo, I thought he was great and relatable and funny, but I also wanted to hug him - and while the quest could drag on a bit at times, there were some interesting parts there. And Percy and Annabeth’s journey through Tartarus was GREAT. 

The themes for Heroes Of Olympus overall were pretty much the same as with Percy Jackson, but with less emphasis I think. It was mostly just “the gods (mostly Zeus, really) are being crappy again, but this time we have enough support among ourselves to manage, except for when a god is technically required to defeat a Giant”. A lot more emphasis was placed on individual character arcs and circumstances, which I think was a good choice, since with so many main characters, they needed more concentrated character development in order to put them up to par with Percy and Annabeth. Plus it allowed Rick to still go into some different themes a bit, like racism with Hazel, trauma with Leo, insecurity with Frank, etc, in a way that felt natural and relevant. It helped that they were broken up into different books for their introductions, so not everything was dumped in at once.

The ending of Heroes of Olmypus... yeah the final battle with the GIants was lame as all hell, and honestly the quest ended up feeling a bit like busywork, but screw it, I did LOVE one part of the ending. The imagery of big, bad Gaia, who even Zeus is so scared of he just wants to hide away with his head in the ground, physically manifesting and being about to take everyone out, everyone losing hope... and then screaming as Festus appears and snatches her up into the sky as Leo gives a shit-eating grin and hurls fireballs at her while insulting her the whole time is just GREAT. I always giggle, and I honestly found it a lot more memorable than the Kronos fight, even if it was technically less epic. It seemed fitting for her to be taken out in such an embarrassing way, by the boy she’d personally taken the most from.

Magnus Chase... yeah that’s the only one I didn’t finish. Quick note: its been over a year since I tried it, so I’m operating off of memory here. I wanted to like it, and after reading through Heroes of Olympus (which i originally stopped reading after Mark of Athena) and Trials of Apollo, I was all hyped up for more Riordanverse... and was disappointed. The basic elements were there, and the writing itself wasn’t bad, but... well, I never really got attached to most of the characters this time, I didn’t find the quest very interesting, and... well, you see how I mentioned about the themes in the earlier reviews? I thought Rick bit off more than he could chew with Magnus Chase, at least with the first book. (I slogged through the first book, got a hundred pages into the second book to see whether Alex, who I’d heard a lot of hype about, could save it, thought Alex was only ok but not someone who saved the book, and called it quits). 

So in Magnus Chase, Rick went DEEP into the social commentary on a lot of disparate subjects, trying to really tackle homelessness, child abuse (because no duh, that’s pretty much a staple, I think the only of his series that DOESN’T have major themes around that is Kane Chronicles), Islamophobia, ableism, and... I’m having trouble thinking of the exact term for it, but Blitzen was heavily looked down upon and derided for wanting to make fashionable armor and just being into fashion in general, so... I think it’s supposed to commentary on making fun of people for having interests that are generally seen as feminine? I guess? I dunno, it was definitely social commentary on SOMETHING, but I think the dwarves having their own particular culture here hurt whatever Rick was trying to say, since social commentary is very much tied to the culture it’s in, and we only have a small taste of dwarven culture, at least in the first book. 

In any case, all these things are fine to do social commentary on, but when you’re trying to go in-depth and really address them, it helps if they’re more tied in with the overall conflict in the book, and if each issue has room to breathe. As it was, it kinda felt to me like the characters were being paraded from location to location to confront some different social issue. I just thought it was too much, too crammed into one book, and the overall conflict had pretty much nothing to do with that. Like, at the end of the book Rick tried to tie it together with some sort of “we’re a band of misfits” message, and... well, a message based on NOT fitting in with society, isn’t one that’s very satisfying or cohesive. And the individual issues, while there’s certainly cross-sectionality between, aren’t intrinsically linked, so... they just don’t mesh together very well. Not so many, all mashed into one book. Plus I just didn’t care for any of the gods, and the only characters I liked were Magnus and Sam. Blitz and Hearthstone... they were just sort of “there” for me.

I can see why people like Magnus Chase, and it’s not BAD by any means, but it just wasn’t for me. Maybe I’ll take another crack at it at some point, but I’m not super optimistic about it. As it was, I just ended up looking up the parts where Magnus met with Annabeth and read those.

Trials of Apollo though, I ADORE. Apollo was hilarious (along with the books in general), it had a pretty focused message about child abuse and abuse in general, along with how a privileged position can blind you from the travesties that are going on around you, or that you yourself cause, and I just thought the themes worked very well. Rick went more in-depth this time on the exact consequences of child abuse and the ways that a parent could abuse and manipulate their child, something that wasn’t covered as much in his earlier series, as those were more based around neglect. I’m a sucker for a good redemption arc, and I was really impressed with how it was kinda slipped in with Apollo. Like, he didn’t even know he NEEDED one, and the good guys weren’t especially pressing him on that point, it’s a realization he slowly came to over the course of several books. And you can clearly tell that he’s conceited and has issues, but isn’t actually malicious... and slowly the reader comes to the realization that he has hidden depths, that not even HE knew he had. It’s really interesting how he did some pretty bad things (or DIDN’T do, a lot of it has to do with inaction and just being uncaring), but he never comes off as being like, evil. He comes off as being an arrogant, narcissistic person at first, but then slowly finding out that beneath that is a lot of pain and trauma, and part of that persona he’s built up has been to deal with this. Watching him slowly change and grow and discover himself during the series, in a way he never had before... it’s just amazing to read. Also puts a nice cap on the Greco-Roman saga, in that the past two series had a heavy emphasis on how the gods didn’t care enough and had to have their hands forced a lot, and Apollo sort of acting as a stand-in for those other gods, showing that yes, they CAN change for the better - something that most of the gods, and even other immortals, didn’t think was possible, even as they did it.

Well that was super long. But yeah, I have strong feelings on the Riordanverse, and Trials of Apollo is far and away my favorite.

Greek Life

Author: kpopfanfictrash

Pairing: Taehyung / Reader

Word Count: 3,218

AU: Demigod / College Fraternity

Dialogue Prompt: "Are you suggesting an orgy?” (warning: this got a bit darker than intended but there’s light at the end!)

↳ part of my AU drabble game

“Alright.” Both arms crossed over his chest, Seokjin glared at Hoseok, son of Apollo. “I just want to be clear about one thing tonight.”

Without glancing up from his phone, Hoseok pushed dark Gucci sunglasses up the bridge of his nose. “Yes, brother?”

“Not brothers,” Seokjin corrected. “Anyways, this is me reminding you that your set volume cannot be over 100 decibels tonight. If we get another noise complaint, this house is toast.”

If Hoseok did roll his eyes, Seokjin couldn’t see through the sunglasses. The generally dismissive slouch of his posture was answer enough.

“Yeah, sure, whatever,” Hoseok drawled.

Seokjin’s frown deepened. “Yeah, I’m afraid I’m gonna need more than that. The last time you said you’d keep it down, we hit 125 decibels and the house nearly collapsed.”

“A gross exaggeration,” said Yoongi, son of Hades, currently curled up on the sofa. “As the demi-god of earthquakes –”

“Actually, Poseidon is in charge of earthquakes.”

“– seeing as we have no son of Poseidon in this house, I am demi-god of earthquakes, and I can inform you that the house was not close to falling down.”

“Irregardless,” Seokjin said.

“Irregardless isn’t a word!” 

Namjoon’s voice drifted from somewhere on the third floor. As son of Athena, goddess of wisdom and strategy, Namjoon took grave offense to grammatical errors.

Seokjin sighed. Rubbing his forehead, he contemplated whether his continued attempts at decency were worth it. At least if he tried, he could tell himself he did everything he could to stop chaos before it arrived. Decision made, Seokjin fixed Hoseok with his best no-nonsense glare. It was a good one, to be sure. As the son of Demeter, goddess of harvest and earth, Seokjin was the most grounded one in the fraternity.

“Hoseok,” he said. The younger demi-god looked up. “You will keep it down or I’ll personally call your father.”

The smirk disappeared from Jung Hoseok’s face. “You wouldn’t dare.”

“Oh, but I would.”

Seokjin sounded so stern, Hoseok didn’t feel like calling him out. Despite his cooler-than-thou appearance, Hoseok had major daddy issues – as in, he hated his. Apollo was a difficult guy to be be cuddly with, to be fair. On the surface, he seemed everything a father figure should be: personable, warm and awe-inspiring. Apollo was the god of the sun, healing, prophecy, music and poetry. As one might expect from the god of the sun though, he had rather high expectations for his offspring.

Hoseok didn’t care about greatness, so long as he had a good tune and good times. One time, he semi-jokingly proposed to Apollo that he become the demi-god of DJ’s and sick beats. Apollo wasn’t amused by the suggestion.

“Fine.” Hoseok placed both feet on the floor. “Dearest Seokjin, I will try to keep it down but know this,” he said, pushing a hand through his hair. “You have ruined the soul of an artist.”

Seokjin tried not to laugh. “Yeah, cool. I’ll take my chances.”

Turning around, Seokjin exited the living room into the main hall. There, he found himself face to face with what could only be described as chaos. Taehyung, son of Dionysus, absently twined grape vines up the stairs while Jimin, son of Aphrodite and Jungkook, son of Zeus, argued in front of the door.

Taehyung cocked his head while he stared at the bannister, trying to make sense of it all. As the son of Dionysus – god of wine, fertility and ecstasy – he was not unaccustomed to parties. Even his origin story at the frat involved one. When the other men showed up this year for their first day of campus, they found Taehyung entrenched in their backyard, midway through the biggest beach rager the University had ever seen.

As to his method of arrival and when, even Taehyung was not sure on the details. General merriment seemed to follow him wherever he went. The moment he decided to attend University, obviously the party followed him to his new destination.

Regardless, Taehyung was welcomed into Beta Tau Sigma (BTS) with open arms, due to the similarities he had with its other members. Taehyung was descended from a god of the Greek Pantheon, as they all were. Most mortals were shocked to learn gods and demi-gods still walked amongst them. Most mortals were blind, though and rarely saw what was beyond their noses.

Taehyung looked up, surveying the chaos before him. Kim Seokjin, eldest of the house, usually adopted a parental role to the others. At that moment, he had both hands on his hips and was attempting to mediate a fight between Jimin and Jungkook.

Already, sparks leapt from Jungkook’s fingers while Jimin’s gaze burned ruby-red with his anger.

Jimin, son of Aphrodite. 

Sweet and beautiful, with a temperament to match until you spoke ill of his loved ones. Then, all bets were off and as lovely as Jimin could be, his temper was far worse. Sweet words turned poisonous when spewed from his lips, since Jimin was also armed with the gift of persuasion. Jungkook attempted to avoid said power by not looking Jimin in the eyes.

“Look!” Jungkook said, one hand over his face. “I didn’t say your mother was easy! I just said she has a lot of demi-god children. That’s all!”

“She’s the goddess of love,” Jimin hissed, attempting to swat Jungkook’s hand down. His gaze burned scarlet in an otherwise calm expression. “Obviously she has children! You’re one to talk, anyways. How’s good ‘ol dad doing? Impregnated any mortals recently? Turned himself into a ray of light? A cow?”

“Hey! He turned Io into a cow, not himself!”

“How is that better?”

Shrugging, Jungkook nearly stumbled as he crashed into an a thousand-year-old lamp. 

Appearing from nowhere, Yoongi deftly caught this and replaced it on the counter. “Welcome,” he mumbled, drifting into the kitchen.

For a minute, Jimin and Jungkook forgot their fight and stared. 

“Dude needs to announce himself more,” Jungkook said, momentarily thrown.

Shoving both hands into the pockets of his hoodie, Jungkook revealed a small rip in the seams. Despite his grunge, Jungkook was still one of the most handsome guys around campus. It was hard not to be with his chiseled jawline, tousled hair and dark, piercing gaze. If there were a student vote on who was most likely to be a demi-god amongst them, Jeon Jungkook would be the unanimous favorite.

Still, he had problems of his own. Mainly that despite all his achievements, his father continued to insist he failed to meet expectations. A demigod of Zeus was powerful and as such, was expected to accomplish great feats. So far, Jungkook had only been the youngest person ever to climb Mt. Everest, written a collection of poems reviewed in Time Magazine, discovered a purpose for the appendix not previously thought of and contributed several designs to NASA’s most recent launch.

Zeus called it all child’s play. 

Shortly following, Jungkook stopped trying to impress his father and enrolled in University. Still, it wasn’t unusual to run into Jungkook at odd hours of the night, muttering corrections of Machiavellian theory with a bottle of wine in one hand.

All of this went to say that Taehyung understood why Jungkook was sometimes an ass. Jimin was lucky amongst them, as far as demi-gods went. He had intense, emotional power but he also had a goddess who loved him. Taehyung, on the other hand, had rarely seen his father since he had discovered what he truly was. It was hard having a father in charge of general celebration. It meant Dionysus was often called elsewhere, usually interrupting any father-son bonding time.

“Listen.” Seokjin rubbed his forehead. “You two are giving me an Athena-sized headache. Stop bickering and help Taehyung – his vines are out of control.”

Glancing at his hands, Taehyung realized Seokjin was correct. While he had been watching them argue, his vines had taken on a life of their own. They twined around his legs, the banister and sprouted large clusters of pomegranates (which, frankly, didn’t make any sense). Absently, Taehyung plucked one of them and took a large bite. Lately, he’d been very interested in pomegranates.

Clomping his way downstairs, Namjoon batted vines out of the way. “Are you going to clean this up before tonight?” he said to Taehyung, who nodded. To Seokjin, he added, “And watch what you say about my mother.”

“I was being literal!” Seokjin protested. “Your mom was literally born from Zeus’ mind, so obviously her birth was a headache. I don’t make the rules –”

“Thank the gods for that.”

“Shut up, Jungkook.”

This last statement was exclaimed by Jimin, Seokjin and Namjoon combined. Abruptly, Jungkook turned around on his heel and exited the lobby. Once he was gone, some of the red dissipated from Jimin’s gaze.

He looked sympathetically at Taehyung. “Need help cleaning?” Jimin offered, laying a hand on the bannister. 

His touch instantly trimmed the vines, sending blossoming roses over the rest.

Taehyung wrinkled his nose. “This looks… somehow worse.”

“Sorry, man.” Jimin’s lips twitched. “My botanical powers only go so far.”

With a wave of his hand, Seokjin transformed the mess into neat, tidy rows of vines up the staircase. As the son of Demeter, he had the best grasp over all earthly elements.

“There.” Satisfied, Seokjin dusted both palms on his pants. He looked curiously at Taehyung. “You alright, man? Lately, your powers have been, uh…”

It was considered impolite to comment on another demi-god’s powers; hence why Seokjin trailed off at the end. 

Taehyung tilted his head. “They’ve been what, exactly?”

Seokjin seemed distinctly uncomfortable. “Off?”

“On the fritz,” said Jimin helpfully.

“Borderline chaotic,” Namjoon added.

Taehyung considered their input. “Borderline chaotic is kind of my nature, no?”

“Yes, but…” Namjoon shook his head. “Not like this.”

Chewing on his lip, Taehyung was forced to admit they were right. His powers had always been intense, but they were usually controlled. Despite the influence he exerted over others, Taehyung could never party or grow drunk on his own power. In his opinion, this was his great curse. No matter what Taehyung did, he always found himself the eye of the hurricane, the center of the storm. He could never lose himself in the relief he provided to others; could only watch while they did.

Lately though, his powers had changed. They were darker, less controlled and had a frustrated edge. Glancing down at the pomegranate he held in one hand, Taehyung saw the seeds were an ominous shade of dark purple.

“It’s because of Y/N,” Jungkook said as he entered the room.

Taehyung’s head snapped up.

Leaning his shoulder to the wall, Jungkook stared lazily back. Power crackled restlessly about him like thunder. 

“What?” He arched a brow. “You know I’m right.”

Though Taehyung’s lips parted, he had no response because Jungkook was correct. If Taehyung retraced his magic to the moment it changed, it was around the time he met you. Or, more accurately, it was around the time you rejected him. 

Taehyung’s stomach twisted.

“Who’s Y/N?” Namjoon asked, glancing between them.

Taehyung tried and failed to look casual. “No one.”

He could barely push the words past his lips, which prompted Namjoon to arch a brow. “Doesn’t seem like no one.”

“She is,” Taehyung muttered. “She wants nothing to do with me – rightfully so. Which means that she’s no one.”

“That seems harsh, Tae,” Seokjin chastised. “How do you know?”

His gaze softened looking at Taehyung. Taehyung was the youngest amongst them aside from Jungkook, so the other demi-gods felt the need to protect him. No one else thought to, thanks to Taehyung’s abilities but in him, the others saw their younger selves. His powers drained him so often and left him feeling exhausted from their personal nature.

When Taehyung said nothing more, Jungkook sighed. “Just the usual,” he said, a bit gentler. “The same girl came to a few of our parties. Taehyung liked her. His powers got out of control. When she tried to kiss him, he pulled his powers away and she freaked. Ran out of the party before he could explain.”

“What would I explain?” Taehyung said, unable to help himself. The vines at his feet withered and turned an unnatural shade of black. “Hey, sorry about that! I’m just the demi-god of parties and wine. You got too buzzed on my power, so I tried to pull back and return your free will. Wanna hang?”

Even Namjoon had no response, rubbing the back of his neck. “Or,” he suggested. “You could just apologize about the party and offer to buy her a coffee.”

Taehyung looked up. “That’s just a temporary fix, right? Eventually, I’ll have to tell her and – let’s face it – who would stay? I’ve seen what these powers do to my dad. I’ve seen what they did to his other children. It’s pointless to become attached to a mortal.”

Out of all Dionysus’s children, Taehyung was the only one currently living. Most had been famous throughout history – musicians and actors known more for their parties than the talent they had. Many died young, unable to cope with the effects of their powers. Taehyung knew it was smart to push you away, since he couldn’t control himself and his powers often proved lethal.

Still, a pang entered his stomach whenever he thought of you. Whenever he remembered the shape of your lips, the way that you smiled and the uncertain way your fingers curled in your sundress. You laughed in two ways when you talked. One was a quiet, self-conscious giggle, but other was Taehyung’s favorite. It was more of a snort than a laugh, granted whenever Taehyung said something particularly funny.

The memory of this made Taehyung’s heart twist and he swallowed, looking away from the others.

At the bottom of the stairs, Jimin seemed distressed by his pain. He probably was; oftentimes, Jimin confused other people’s emotions for his own.

“I’m sorry, Tae,” he said softly.

“S’alright,” Taehyung muttered, even though it wasn’t.

“Can I do anything to help?” Jimin brightened. “Want me to use my powers, or something?”

Jungkook looked at him in amazement. “Are you suggesting an orgy? Dude, this hardly seems like the time.”

Jimin glared. “That’s not all my powers are good for, you jackass. I can make people forget their troubles, you know. At least for a little while.”

The tips of his fingers glowed faintly pink and Jungkook glanced at his hands, thoroughly unnerved. Jimin’s power of persuasion extended beyond simply telling others what to do. He could make someone else feel happy, sad, tired or angry – a hefty power, although it wore off after awhile and wasn’t quite as good as the real thing.

Taehyung shook his head. “No, thanks. Appreciate the offer, though.”

“Anytime.”

As he climbed the stairs, Seokjin clapped Taehyung on the shoulder. “Sorry, man,” he mumbled, understanding the fear. Truly, they all did. “Let me know if you need anything. I’m gonna bake later if you wanna stop by.”

Taehyung smiled despite himself. If there was one earthly power which could cure his longing, it was Seokjin’s cookies. “Thanks, man.”

Shooting him a sympathetic look, Jungkook nodded and Jimin poked him hard in the ribs. “C’mon,” Jimin said, jerking his chin. “Let’s go help Hobi with his playlist before Seokjin pops a vein worrying.”

A giant grin stretched over Jungkook’s face, which the rest of them should have found worrisome. 

“Cool.” Head bobbing, he followed Jimin down the hall. “Yoongi showed me this great eastern European doom metal band. Gonna see if I can get Hobi to play it tonight.”

Jimin snorted, his voice growing softer the further away he got. “Get the demi-god of the sun to play doom metal? Good luck with that, man.”

“Maybe if I tell him Mariah Carey covered it.”

The sounds of their conversation faded to nothing, leaving Taehyung alone in the hall with Namjoon. Turning quickly, Taehyung attempted to leave but was halted in his descent by Namjoon clearing his throat. 

Slowly, Taehyung looked up at his friend.

Namjoon looked back. 

No one could stare quite like Namjoon. He had a piercing gaze, as though he saw every piece of your soul and was able to size you up to expectation. It made Taehyung wildly uncomfortable, as it did most people.

“You know you’re only a half god, right?” Namjoon tilted his head. “Part of you is also human.”

“I know.” Taehyung’s voice came out somewhat petulant, though he did not mean it to be.

Crossing both arms, Namjoon leaned a shoulder against the wall. His irises glowed the gentle gold of Athena. “It’s hard to control our powers,” he admitted. “It is, but there are difficulties in any relationship. Don’t give up on your own happiness.”

A wan smile crossed Taehyung’s lips. “Are the difficulties in most relationships that the guy semi-drugs his girlfriend whenever he loses control?”

Namjoon winced. “You don’t drug them.”

“Feels like it,” Taehyung muttered, glancing down.

“Their natural impulses are already there,” Namjoon pointed out. “Your presence at parties doesn’t make people drunk. People drinking makes people drunk. You only lower their inhibitions, call out their truth, give people the freedom inebriation gives without intoxication. You grant people their truest form – which is a gift, not a curse.”

Taehyung didn’t respond. He knew Namjoon was right, at least in part. Still, there existed within him a kernel of darkness he couldn’t control. His power was linked to such horror and melancholy; it was hard sometimes to see the light.

“Hey.” Namjoon took a step closer. His voice took on that maddening wisdom which came from the goddess. “We all have burdens. Humans do too, along with demi-gods. Our greatest strengths are often our greatest weaknesses. Someone who’s confident is prideful. Someone who’s humble? Inactive. Someone who rationalizes, often fails to empathize. It’s why relationships are necessary, Taehyung – they provide balance. You can’t simply close yourself off from the rest of the world.”

Taehyung’s gaze sharpened, looking up from the floor. The vines at his feet unfurled, reminding them that while Taehyung’s power was mostly parties and fun, there was a dark side of revelry which couldn’t be forgotten. Madness and misery emerged just as often as goodness when he called true selves forth.

“Okay.” Taehyung kept his voice level.

Seeing he wouldn’t budge on the matter, Namjoon sighed.

Truthfully, Taehyung heard his advice and longed to accept it, but found it too hard. It was difficult when his chest ached for you, when he couldn’t stop chastising himself for the moment you ran from his house.

Namjoon nodded and turned down the staircase. “Let me know if you need anything,” he called over his shoulder. “Gonna go and make sure Yoongi hasn’t turned the basement into another séance, or something.”

As he left, his footsteps growing quieter, Taehyung stared the sight of his retreating back. Uncertainty entered the pit of his stomach, wondering if perhaps Namjoon was right. The sanest to date Taehyung had felt was the past year in the house, living amongst others who understood what he was.

Maybe it was foolish of him to push you away.

As soon as he thought this, his phone chimed in his pocket. The sight of your name at the top of his screen sent his heart soaring, wondering if this coincidence was something he couldn’t ignore. Pushing blue-black hair from his eyes, he unlocked your text.

Y/N: hey. I just wanted to apologize for leaving so quickly. I think I drank too much, got carried away but… I really liked our conversation. Would you want to get coffee sometime? [4:15 PM]

Taehyung’s heart constricted, his hands trembled and before he could stop himself, he was responding.

Taehyung: yes, please. When?? [4:16 PM]

 Author’s Note: hey, I just got service at the hotel so I’m posting but I haven’t proof-read as much as I usually do! Please forgive any errors, I promise to read over it again in the coming days :) thank you!

↳ part of my AU drabble game

Greek Life!All + brainstorming fundraiser ideas for the frat

~Scorned Wives: Hera & Anne Boleyn~ This page has compared several of our favorite dynasty’s members and courtiers to fictional characters who may or may not have inspired. But, which other fictional characters can you think of that share a lot in common with the Tudors? Personally, when it comes to Greek Mythology, I can’t help but associate Hera with Anne. Think about it! They follow the same pattern, except that unlike Anne who was a mortal and could be killed, Hera could not and often outsmarted Zeus (though she still had to pay a steep price). To the Romans, she was Juno, matron goddess of wives and the deity associated with marriage, magic, and fertility. Like Anne Boleyn, she was outspoken and could not stand the idea of sharing her man with other women, especially mortal women. According to one variation of the myth surrounding Hera’s stepchildren, Apollo and Artemis; after she found out that Zeus had an affair with their mother, she expressed her deep resentment towards her husband and intended to use her magic against her. Luckily (for the twins) this never happened and they were born safe and sound in a remote island. Much to her dismay, Apollo and Artemis went on to become part of the Olympians, with Zeus often favoring them over their eldest son, Ares, God of War. Whenever Hera voiced her discontent, Zeus would intentionally make her angrier by reminding her that she was his Queen, not his minister, or one of his other fellow warrior gods, but his wife and sister. Period. (Remind you of someone?) Hera was not Zeus’ first wife either. In the same vein as Henry VIII, Katharine of Aragon, and Anne Boleyn, Zeus was married to someone else previously. This deity was in fact a titan. Mentis, embodiment of intellect and wisdom. It is not specified when Zeus became interested in Hera -if he was ever interested in her at all- but somewhere along the line, his happy marriage with Mentis took a turn for the worst. Mentis was considered smarter and wiser than Zeus, and unlike her predecessors, the gods noted how it was almost a marriage of equals. Zeus was in awe of his wife’s beauty and wits, while Mentis was completely devoted to him. She did not voice complaints regarding his extramarital affairs or his capricious attitude towards other things; in this she also seemed on to embody female virtue. But one day Zeus heard a prophecy. The prophecy stated that just as he had dethroned his father before him, and so had his father to his father, so would he suffer the same fate by a son born from Mentis. When she became pregnant, Zeus acted quickly. He turned her into a fly and swallowed her. But since their offspring was an immortal, she continued to grow, causing Zeus great headaches until one day he couldn’t take it anymore. His head split open and voila! Athena was born. Athena became Zeus’ preferred child. The women Hera gave him were warriors and blessed with beauty too, but Zeus wasn’t close to them as he was to his eldest daughter. Athena was a warrior goddess through and through and she took many of her mother’s finer qualities, but had also inherited her father’s bellicose nature. Unlike the Tudors however where we know that Anne Boleyn and Mary Tudor never got along well, Hera and Athena did. Athena served as a mediator for her stepmother, and when Hera didn’t get her way, Athena would sometimes offer her help by using her diplomatic nature to convince her father, or to lull Hera’s anger. This was not initially the case. As with Anne Boleyn who was furious at Mary’s rebellion, so was Hera at Athena, simply for existing. She knew how much she meant to Zeus and couldn’t stand a part of her predecessor’s memory being preserved through her daughter. As time passed by, she came to respect, admire, and even appreciate her. As it has been stated, Hera or Juno was the goddess of marriage, magic, and fertility. She was supposed to embody female virtue. However, in some myths, she is accused of adultery, with several horrendous or deformed creatures said to be the product of her affairs with various men to make Zeus jealous. In one Homeric Hymn, Hera is listed as the mother of a hideous creature who was conceived through black magic, as a form of revenge against her husband. And who can forget Hera’s intense hatred towards her bastard stepson, the famous demigod, Heracles? Heracles or Hercules, was one of Zeus MANY bastard offspring he had with mortal women. Of all of them, he was the one she hated the most and used all her powers to make his life a living hell. She succeeded but as the old saying goes, he who laughs last, laughs best. When Hercules completed his twelve tasks, a sacrifice was made to Hera in a vain attempt to appease her. When she didn’t accept this offering, Zeus unleashed his fury at her. He imprisoned her in golden chains and condemned her to eternal torment. In spite of everything she’d done to him, Hercules rescued her from a giant who tried to rape her, then freed her, thus earning her respect. While it is doubtful that Anne's fury towards Mary would have gone to such lengths, it's no secret that both of them would not rest until either threat was neutralized. Anne was in dire need of a son and to be recognized as Henry's legitimate wife, and Mary's legitimacy depended on Anne Boleyn's failure and her maternal family's support. Overall, it was a difficult situation the two were unwillingly placed in. Given that Anne Boleyn had already confessed herself to Cromwell, and like most women of the age was highly pious, and wanted to come clean before she met her maker, she asked Kingston's wife to tell her stepdaughter that she was sorry and hoped she'd forgive her. Image: Hera (played by Honor Blackman) from "Jason and the Argonauts" (1963).

Is it too much to ask for normal?!?!??

On a quiet and unusually peaceful night an owl began to sing an eerie hoot when it was interrupted by a terrible scream as if a child had been struggling for air gasping for oxygen to begin filling their body again. Loud stomps could be heard heading to the door of a room as it swung open and with an echoed slam a tired but alert motherly voice whispered "are you alright?" As if the boy that was sprung awoke slowing down his breathing on his bed was normal. The boy managed to huff out "I'm...alright. bad...dream" which startled her more than the fact her child was dripping in sweat when -THUMP- shocked out of her frozen state the woman looked to the man on the floor with the end of his night robe draped over his head. The man with his face still planted on the floor yelled "SALLY ARE YOU ALRIGHT! IS PERCY HURT!? HE'S NOT IS HE!?" His voice was muffled as such that his words were heard as "SALLY YOUR A KITE! WHERE IS CURT!? HOPSCOTCH!?" both Sally and the calmed Percy began to laugh hysterically at Paul, Percys -step dad who had come to check on the situation after he grabbed an old golf club-. Sally's laughter died suddenly as she looked at her son with a pained expression "Percy most of your dreams are bad but you usually don't wake up screaming. Should I call your... um ... father? Or would Chiron be better?" Paul looked rather uncomfortable at that moment so Percy spoke up to help "no I need to talk to someone who I know won't like it. I need to talk to Zeuz" in the distance thunder so loud it could of caused an earthquake was heard in complaint. After a few minutes of packing things - nectar,clothes that could last months, bandages etc- Percy sent an Iris message to Annabeth Chase, Percys beloved girlfriend and daughter of Athena. For a moment their were smiles but then as soon as Annabeth asked why Percy called her late in the night, Percy explained that he needed to meet up with her and go to Olympus that made her worry but she agreed. Through the next couple of minutes Percy got a ride from Paul to pick up Annabeth and drop them of at the empire state building the current gate to Olympus. On the way over Percy and Annabeth caught up on what they had been doing during school and stuff like that until Annabeth asked the question she really wanted to know "Percy why are we going to Olympus right now? Won't we be turned away?" Percy just sagged his shoulders and looked down to his feet as though he need to answer some question of his own before he could answer her properly when he finally said "I need to talk to Zeus about something. He's not pleased either but he knows something is wrong. I need to confirm something before I can arrange my thoughts." The rest of the trip was mostly dead silent apart from the country music playing from Paul's radio you could see he was trying not to sing along to the songs because you could see him lip syncing to many of them. Just before Paul broke out into a musical they reached their destination. Usually when their going to head up to Olympus they need to ask the front desk but after the (many) times Percy has saved Olympus from falling his father Posiedon moved that he could go up with whoever he wants in any case and much to Zeus' dismay he grudgingly accepted. So they headed straight for the elevator and listened to the cheesy elevator music chosen by the sun god Apollo, they hadn't said anything since the car ride until Percy said "you know Annabeth if I'm right about the dream I had you are going to be so happy I think You would even hug Hera" he started chuckling at that very thought as a visual of it happened in his mind which left Annabeth looking at him with slight disgust but mostly left with the thought of how cute her boyfriend looked and a hint of curiosity making her ask "even the gods know my dislike of Hera, I mean even Hera herself knows this and your telling me that if you're correct on the rare occasions you are I would hug Hera?" "Correct-o-moondo Wise girl" "Have you finally gone crazy, Seaweed brain?" "I haven't angered Mr D that much yet so I'm not totally crazy, just insane enough for you~" "Oh shut up" and then Annabeth leaned in to kiss Percy as he pulled her closer with his hand on her waist. Percy thought that the kiss was so great he might start liking Apollo s cheesy song he chose so he could listen to it when he missed Annabeth... almost but no, the kiss lasted until they heard the elevator open and they started kissing half way. As they were walking past all the houses and gardens Percy was complementing it all with a little smirk knowing that Annabeth had designed them and every now and then stop to admire the works because he genuinely like the designs... and the designer. They finally made it to the main palace with Annabeth red from ear to ear and Percy grinning like an idiot. They walked into the room that was as big as ever and Zeus was sitting at the Centre like always but none of the other gods were there which Percy was kind of grateful for. "So, Percy Jackson, what do you wish to speak about?" Zeus said in a booming voice that could of easily echoed for miles "Well, no need to be intimidating Zeus it's an easy question any person or god could answer," "So what is it then!" Zeus was clearly getting annoyed "Fine. I'll get straight to the point," he took a (dramatic and unnecessary) deep breath and said "you can send people to different times can't you?" Annabeth stood in shock as she processed what Percy said and with a calm voice she said to Percy "that can't be possible Percy, I mean yes the gods are powerful bu-" "*Sigh*" she was stopped by the huff of Zeus as he pinched the top of his nose and began to speak "Jackson, where did you hear that?" "No where I dreamt it. And can I say it's going to be cold when I get there I mean isn't it winter? " "What makes you think I would send you back in time!?" "Because~, I need to actually kill and make sure that he dies. Duh" "Don't speak to me like an imbecile and I made sure that he died and was sent to tartarus!" "You said that about Kro-" he stopped mid sentence because he didn't want to remind Annabeth of Luke, mainly because of the look on her face when he was mentioned and open old wounds. Annabeth hadn't noticed because her mind was doing circles trying to understand what was going on, and she hates not knowing what was going on so "Percy explain. What are you talki-" she stopped as she finally put the pieces together. Sure it didn't make sense but it was logical that the gods could go back in time, they were immortal. They actually stopped time. Now she started getting annoyed though because she now doesn't understand what or why Percy is fighting with Zeus. "Perseus Jackson explain your dream to me right this second! "I had a dream about Harry potter which was weird then I saw that voldemort was claimed as a son of Zeus but got possessed by Kronos and J.K Rowling could see through the mist as a kid and saw this and wrote it down and now I have to go back and help Harry kill voldemort!" Percy said all that in one breath. As Annabeth slowly understood she started grinning like a maniac until she started running around silently screaming and then tackled Percy as she came up to him and screamed into Percy's chest. "Told you, you would even hug Hera" laughing as she looked up at him with the biggest smile that made Percy just melt. "ARE YOU KIDDING ME! PERCY THAT- YOU- YAY!!" "Why is she acting like that Jackson?" Zeus said looking at the demigods wit Confusion. "Harry Potter is one of Annabeth favorite book that she has. Doesn't Hera have something she really likes?" Percy said to the god trying to get up with Annabeth hugging him like a koala. "I belie-*cough* I do not need to explain myself to you and I cannot see why I am sending you back to that time" "Well i can and i did mind you and i saw this crazy guy in a fez i think.... yeah and he was in the blue box.... you know him??" This part 1... might foget about it but meh...

Guzmeria Hades and Persephone/Mythology AU Explained

Okay, here it FINALLY is. I’m so sorry for the long delay (this took a long time to type up orz;;).

This is all going under the cut bc I wrote A LOT.

Also, in case anyone hasn’t seen yet, I have two example arts for this AU. Here and here! Please check it out!

First things first. I want to explain that there are some MAJOR changes in this AU. Namely, there is no stories of rape, incest, and too much murdering like in the original myths (it’s an AU for a reason), so if you’re here for accurate myth stuff with your favorite characters, this isn’t the AU for you (sorry!). I’m just not comfortable with all that stuff and honestly it would just make it weeeeird. Plus, I changed things around, so a lot of the gods/goddesses mentioned that would be related to someone does not hold true in the AU. Basically, this is a clean slate and the characters are only related to each other how they are written below. OKAY SORRY.

and NOW:

This AU starts with Guzma, who’s born as a human to Lael Albida and Pikake. He lives a short and sad life under Lael’s roof because his father beats him mercilessly for seemingly no reason at all. His only respite in life is the kind berry farmer that lives nearby who offers him sweet fruit and shelter when his father is acting up. One fateful night, Lael wakes Guzma up and drags him outside and beats him to death with no remorse. Guzma is only 9 years old.

When this happens, Giratina (Thanatos), who has been watching this poor boy and keeping an eye on him, takes in Guzma’s soul and explains to him that he’s got an even grander life to offer him. Of course, Guzma is terrified because he’s a young boy who had just been murdered by his father, he’s in the underworld, and Giratina is in its Origin Forme, so he can barely speak. Giratina notices this and takes on a more familiar form to soothe Guzma and reveals himself to be the berry farmer all along. He tells Guzma that he took pity on his soul and horrible life and wants to give him a second chance at living by becoming the keeper of the underworld. Guzma eventually agrees and thus, he becomes Hades, the god-king of the underworld.

Of course, all of this had to be approved by Mohn (Zeus) and Lusamine (Hera) before Giratina could even do it. Mohn was delighted by his concern but marginally skeptical at making a human into a god like them.

Back to Guzma, his body still does age but peaks at 25 (even though he’s ageless at this point), but he has the power to transform to whatever he wants, even his younger self if he ever wanted to.

Now, sending souls along to pass over gets pretty mundane and Giratina is the only one that Guzma can really talk to. So Giratina gifts him with a beast friend named Goliath (Cerberus). Giratina first shows Guzma three different bugs, a pill bug (Golisopod), a spider (Ariados), and a millipede (Scolipede) and reminds him of the good deeds he did for them while he was alive (saving them from being squashed or killed). He forms them together into the three-headed bug beast and tells Guzma that they remember what he did for them and that they’re eternally grateful. Guzma is ecstatic and loves his beast very much and it loves him back!

Time goes by and eventually Lael passes away. When his soul arrives to Guzma to be sent on, Guzma holds onto him for just a moment, seemingly to get revenge on Lael for his murder. He shows Lael that he is indeed his son and makes him relive his past: Lael was horribly abused and beaten as a child but never made the effort to change. So, while Lael is revisiting his childhood nightmares, it begins morphing into Lael beating Guzma, to show him that things never changed. Lael, of course, is upset and begging for mercy (because he’s a jackass) but Guzma simply sends him along despite all the things he could do to him. After that, Guzma never sees his father again and Giratina is pleased to know that he made a good decision in making this sad boy into a god.

Even with Goliath and Giratina, Guzma is VERY lonely. He just wants someone to talk to and be friends with; plus, he’s very envious of the other gods and goddesses who are married and have each other’s company (because most of them don’t really want to stay near him nor go to the underworld). So, while brooding one day and aching for contact, Guzma looks up to the surface and takes notice of the beautiful Plumeria (Persephone).

Switch to Plumeria, she’s the goddess of spring and daughter to her father, Kauna (Demeter). Her father keeps a close eye on her and almost never lets her associate with the other gods and goddesses. His disdain for the others is so strong that he actually lives in a secluded corner of the Earth with his daughter to do as they please. Despite what seems to be “care,” Kauna isn’t a good father to Plumeria at all. He’s neglectful, rude, and nasty to her and his smothering only makes living with him almost unbearable.

She tries to spend as much time away from him as possible, usually spending her days in a flower patch that she created. One day, a little boy with black hair and a white patch in the middle, stumbles into her little area accidentally and Plumeria welcomes the change. She tells the little boy that she won’t hurt him nor get mad at him and calls him over to spend time with her, to which he eagerly agrees. This meeting between the two goes on for months and Plumeria thinks it’s cute that the little boy blushes around her a lot, clearly smitten.

Back to Guzma, he goes up to Mohn one day, asking if he can have Plumeria for a wife and keep her in the underworld with him. Mohn says he doesn’t mind but tells Guzma he can only do it if he plans on asking Kauna and her first because she may not feel the same. Guzma shrugs and runs off, leaving Mohn worried.

While Plumeria is relaxing in her field, Guzma appears from the ground, snatches her up, and takes her down to the underworld. Once there, he explains his reasons for kidnapping her and tries to justify it because he’s lonely and needs a friend and Plumeria is  P I S S E D (naturally, of course). She demands to be brought back home and Guzma doesn’t understand and he tries to explain again that he doesn’t want her to go. To further “convince” her to stay, Guzma assumes his child form, the one that Plumeria knows, and he tells her that he was the little boy all along and that he just wanted to talk to her and get to know her. Plumeria storms off, leaving Guzma alone to think about what he did. In the meantime, Kauna is looking All Over The Place for his beloved daughter. This is the beginning of Kauna neglecting his duties as god of agriculture, causing people to go hungry. Also, since Plumeria is gone as well, the seasons are shifting into autumn and winter.

So eventually Plumeria sticks around Guzma and they talk things over because he starts to feel really bad for what he did and apologizes for making excuses to her, but he genuinely did enjoy her company. Plumeria, realizing this is also a great escape from her father, takes a liking to the underworld, something a lot of the other gods and goddesses never did. So, she asks Guzma about all the things around there and shows interest and Guzma is delighted. He shows her around, has her meet Goliath, and they start to get on friendlier terms.

After six months, Lysandre (Helios) comes forth and tells Kauna the truth about his daughter’s whereabouts, telling him how that horrible Guzma snatched her away with Mohn’s approval. Outraged, Kauna immediately goes to Mohn and demands that he bring his daughter back, otherwise he’ll never allow food to grow from the Earth ever again. This, plus the increasing number of complaints from starving mortals, convinces Mohn to go down to the underworld to see Guzma and retrieve Plumeria. Lysandre accompanies him.

Once there, they find the two just relaxing in Guzma’s throne room and Lysandre rushes to Plumeria to check on her. Mohn approaches Guzma and scolds him, asking him why he didn’t just go to Kauna like he originally told him to. He also explains that Kauna has been searching high and low for his daughter and has been refusing to feed the humans. Guzma shrinks back on his throne and looks away, not really thinking he’d get caught but feeling shitty nonetheless. Then, to make matters worse, Lysandre talks about Guzma directly to Mohn, saying it was a mistake to let a human become a god because they just can’t seem to get rid of their impulses and emotions. Guzma hangs his head low and avoids all eye contact. Meanwhile, Plumeria is trying to tell Mohn and Lysandre that she’s just fine and Guzma never did anything weird. She’s extremely unhappy to hear about what her father did, but tells them that she doesn’t want to go back to the surface because she likes it down there.

Lysandre tells her that she HAS to go back because they were there to save her and Plumeria fights back, saying that she wasn’t even in danger in the first place and that, even though Guzma did it all wrong, he sort of saved her from her smothering and horrible father. This whole time, Guzma is shocked that someone actually is sticking up for him and watches Plumeria. She further explains that she got to be good friends with him and doesn’t want to just leave him like that. Mohn tells her that she still has duty to her people and so does her father and that should be her priority as well.

After a long drawn out conversation, it’s eventually decided that Plumeria will stay on the surface for six months and spend the other six months with Guzma. This, of course, is something she consents to because she genuinely wants to spend time with him AND it has the added bonus of getting her away from Kauna for awhile. Kauna is less than pleased with this outcome, but Mohn is adamant about it happening and promises to keep an eye on her to ease his worries if need be. Before she departs for the surface for six months, Plumeria spends a few minutes alone with Guzma and he expresses how happy he is that someone else actually likes him and asks to make sure she’s not doing it out of pity for him. She denies it, saying it’s genuine, and leans in to kiss his cheek.

And now for a summary of what happens next along with additional info:

Plumeria comes back to the underworld after six months and her relationship with Guzma deepens until they’re lovers and eventually married. Just before her six months with him is up, she becomes pregnant. She leaves and then comes back and halfway through their 3rd time together, she gives birth to Clementine.

Guzma and Plumeria love their little girl to death but Guzma is saddened every time Plumeria has to leave because she has to bring little Clem with her. Eventually, the separations become almost too unbearable for them to the point where Guzma sneaks up to the surface during the night to make love to his Plumeria in a secluded place (this is to avoid being seen by Lysandre during the day).

Four years after Clem is born, Plumeria gives birth to their son, Dahli. He only goes up to the surface with his mother and sister for the first few years of his life before demanding to stay down with his father. Both parents agree to it, so only Plumeria and Clem leave during every six month interval.

During their lives, Guzma still sneaks up to the surface to spend time with his family when he can, bringing Dahli along (or leaving him when he wants to be intimate with Plumeria).

Clementine and Dahli eventually had their duties as a goddess and god, respectively. 

Clementine is the Goddess of Blessed Death (Makaria) and she usually appears before mortals who were good and virtuous or those whom she pitied and made sure they weren’t left in misery. Her living on the surface for six months helps her visit those people when needed. 

Dahli is the God of Impending Doom (Moros). In a way, he’s a much more powerful being than even his father and Giratina, who is only the God of Peaceful Death, and even Mohn is wary around him. He does have a physical form but he loves the dark and night. Also, he’s the only god who can approach Arceus (embodiment of the Fates) in his own realm. Despite being feared by those not related to him, Dahli remains calm and neutral to most things, never striking anyone down or appearing to them unless they were truly evil.

20 Best New Portfolio Sites, December 2017

Jingle those bells, people! It’s December, and Santa brought you portfolio sites. This month’s theme generally seems to be minimalism with a splash of geometric decoration. I mean, there are quite a few design styles represented here, but I’m starting to spot a new/old trend coming on.

Well hey, a new trend would be just in time for January. Anyway, have a scroll down the page, and enjoy.

Note: I’m judging these sites by how good they look to me. If they’re creative and original, or classic but really well-done, it’s all good to me. Sometimes, UX and accessibility suffer. For example, many of these sites depend on JavaScript to display their content at all; this is a Bad Idea (TM), kids. If you find an idea you like and want to adapt to your own site, remember to implement it responsibly.

Nathan Riley

Nathan Riley brings us a small, classically dark website with some beautiful background effects. It’s just these effects that make the stylish-yet-familiar layout pop.

Unfortunately, they’ll be all but invisible on un-calibrated screens. Even so, the important stuff stands out, and looks just plain good.

Oh, last complaint: the contact info could and should be way more prominent.

Rainfall

Rainfall has taken a fairly common modern minimalist design, and made it stand out by mastering the art of going from colorful to monochromatic again almost seamlessly. The transition from one color theme to another feels nearly seamless.

Nick Vandermolen

Nick Vandermolen’s portfolio is dark, classy, and generally gorgeous. It also can’t decide whether it wants to be a magazine or a PowerPoint presentation. Okay, I’m kidding. Mostly.

You can clearly see the influence of both of those media formats in the general layout and aesthetic sensibilities. Even so, the experience is coherent and pretty. Also, the navigation is kind of what thirty percent of web designers were trying to do with frames in 2003. It’s a real trip.

Mensch

Mensch is an oddity that just barely sits on this side of the “portfolio” category. You see, it’s a consultancy/team building company with a focus on making the world a better place. Portfolio items tend to be things like “We developed a program to help former child soldiers become small business owners.”

If it weren’t for those portfolio items, however, it would just be a brochure site. And visually, it looks like one. It’s all white space and clean lines, with just a splash of background video.

Vintage

Vintage is on the list largely for the visuals. Not only is it just plain stylish with its geometric theme, the animations have actually managed to impress me a bit. That’s rare.

Effectlab

Effectlab might be the first Greek website I’ve reviewed. Well, Google Chrome tells me it’s Greek, anyway. It’s all Gre… I’m not going to make that joke.

Anyway, the Greek type looks darned beautiful. It’s so beautiful, I’d say it takes the stylish-if-familiar layout to another level. The light graphical and animated touches are great, too.

Zachary Johnson

Zachary Johnson has what is perhaps the penultimate evolution of the modern minimalist layout. It’s clean, it’s sexy, it’s smooth. I love the way he used pastels.

My only criticism would be the part where his text goes over his actual work. I have to admit, with the rest of the site doing so well, that’s just puzzling. We have big screens, and the people who have small screens are used to scrolling. Let us read the text.

Dixon & Moe

Dixon & Moe is one more site on this list that embraces the “minimalism plus geometry” theme. In this case, the minimalism borders on brutalism, but is saved by good typography and white space.

It’s also got little touches that make it look a bit like, I dunno… a technical manual? A set of diagrams? Like, all of the major elements on each page are given a letter/number designation. Go take a look. It’s cool.

Kuudes

Kuudes is a fantastic example of the beauty of plain old organization. There’s a minimum of fancy tricks on this site, with most of the effort going in to just organizing a fair amount of information (for a portfolio site).

Léo Guenoun

Léo Guenoun’s portfolio is very, very minimalist. Everything is text until you click your way into a portfolio piece. Then it’s pretty much just images. I’m sensing a theme, here.

Fore Design

Fore Design embraces textbook modern design, and thus joins this month’s minimalism plus geometry club. My favorite bits of the site would have to be the case studies, and the design of the blog articles on desktop screens.

They also seem to make a point of using real people’s names where they can. Whether it’s on their team page (duh), in their portfolio pieces, or on their blog, they seem to emphasize a human connection when and where they can.

Anne Thai

Anne Thai embraces the classic white space and huge text style of site. She has to, because this is possibly the single longest one-page portfolio I’ve ever seen. Thankfully, it comes with two sets of navigation. Her work is presented artfully, and color is used to let you know you’re looking at a new project in a way that makes sense.

Skinn Branding Agency

Skinn brings us more classic white space and huge text. It’s not terribly original, but it is well-done. Trigger warning for people who like headings and titles to be capitalized. This site mostly doesn’t do that…

Maciej Herbert Rodzik

Maciej Herbert Rodzik brings us back a few months to the days of post minimalism, but just a little. Aside from a little asymmetry and element overlapping, this one is simplicity itself.

It’s also one of the few sites that overlaps the project title with the project images that doesn’t overwhelmingly impact readability. I approve.

Zeus Jones

Zeus Jones wins the award for being the second site on this list to have the initials “ZJ”. It’s a branding agency, and the site sure as heck looks like it. Every part of the otherwise fairly standard design has clearly been made to fit a theme. Note the just plain beautiful typography.

Monopo

Monopo’s site is perhaps a bit presentation-effect-heavy for my taste; but I love their use of color. Also, I must admit that anyone who can make circles work as a design theme automatically gets points from me.

With the web being as “box-shaped” as it is, I can always appreciate making a theme out of any other shape.

Rowan Made

Rowan Made is, without mincing words, a fairly typical example of hipster minimalism. It’s all about that artisanal feeling. Nonetheless, it is perhaps one of the finer examples of hipster minimalism that I’ve seen in a while. Plus, I’m a sucker for well-crafted typography on pretty much any site.

I’d only try to make the text headings stand out a bit more, maybe. The headings are styles in a way that assumes the reader is going to be reading as opposed to skimming. Never make that assumption.

Studio Mast

Studio Mast spices up a fairly simple layout with little touches that are reminiscent of an art gallery. This idea is represented everything from the general aesthetic style, to the hover effects on images, to the controls on the home page slideshow.

It’s a subtle way of calling your own work art without looking too pretentious. It’s a clever touch that doesn’t get in the way of usability. I like that kind of clever.

Maksim Karalevich

Maksim Karalevich’s site is all minimalist and full of… not random geometric shapes. Cool. In fact, there’s an animated signature on the home page. Even more cool. Another thing I quite like is the way some elements are styled to make the whole thing look like a gigantic chat log. It’s not something you see very often.

Andy H. Wei

Andy Wei brings us full circle with more of that minimalism and random geometry combo in a lovely near monochromatic site that lets his paintings have all the color. There’s a hint of post-minimalism here and there, but it’s used for emphasis, which I really like.

My favorite bit has got to be the little graphical flourishes. They’re all painting-themed, so it sets exactly the right mood.

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20 Best New Portfolio Sites, December 2017

Jingle those bells, people! It’s December, and Santa brought you portfolio sites. This month’s theme generally seems to be minimalism with a splash of geometric decoration. I mean, there are quite a few design styles represented here, but I’m starting to spot a new/old trend coming on.

Well hey, a new trend would be just in time for January. Anyway, have a scroll down the page, and enjoy.

Note: I’m judging these sites by how good they look to me. If they’re creative and original, or classic but really well-done, it’s all good to me. Sometimes, UX and accessibility suffer. For example, many of these sites depend on JavaScript to display their content at all; this is a Bad Idea (TM), kids. If you find an idea you like and want to adapt to your own site, remember to implement it responsibly.

Nathan Riley

Nathan Riley brings us a small, classically dark website with some beautiful background effects. It’s just these effects that make the stylish-yet-familiar layout pop.

Unfortunately, they’ll be all but invisible on un-calibrated screens. Even so, the important stuff stands out, and looks just plain good.

Oh, last complaint: the contact info could and should be way more prominent.

Rainfall

Rainfall has taken a fairly common modern minimalist design, and made it stand out by mastering the art of going from colorful to monochromatic again almost seamlessly. The transition from one color theme to another feels nearly seamless.

Nick Vandermolen

Nick Vandermolen’s portfolio is dark, classy, and generally gorgeous. It also can’t decide whether it wants to be a magazine or a PowerPoint presentation. Okay, I’m kidding. Mostly.

You can clearly see the influence of both of those media formats in the general layout and aesthetic sensibilities. Even so, the experience is coherent and pretty. Also, the navigation is kind of what thirty percent of web designers were trying to do with frames in 2003. It’s a real trip.

Mensch

Mensch is an oddity that just barely sits on this side of the “portfolio” category. You see, it’s a consultancy/team building company with a focus on making the world a better place. Portfolio items tend to be things like “We developed a program to help former child soldiers become small business owners.”

If it weren’t for those portfolio items, however, it would just be a brochure site. And visually, it looks like one. It’s all white space and clean lines, with just a splash of background video.

Vintage

Vintage is on the list largely for the visuals. Not only is it just plain stylish with its geometric theme, the animations have actually managed to impress me a bit. That’s rare.

Effectlab

Effectlab might be the first Greek website I’ve reviewed. Well, Google Chrome tells me it’s Greek, anyway. It’s all Gre… I’m not going to make that joke.

Anyway, the Greek type looks darned beautiful. It’s so beautiful, I’d say it takes the stylish-if-familiar layout to another level. The light graphical and animated touches are great, too.

Zachary Johnson

Zachary Johnson has what is perhaps the penultimate evolution of the modern minimalist layout. It’s clean, it’s sexy, it’s smooth. I love the way he used pastels.

My only criticism would be the part where his text goes over his actual work. I have to admit, with the rest of the site doing so well, that’s just puzzling. We have big screens, and the people who have small screens are used to scrolling. Let us read the text.

Dixon & Moe

Dixon & Moe is one more site on this list that embraces the “minimalism plus geometry” theme. In this case, the minimalism borders on brutalism, but is saved by good typography and white space.

It’s also got little touches that make it look a bit like, I dunno… a technical manual? A set of diagrams? Like, all of the major elements on each page are given a letter/number designation. Go take a look. It’s cool.

Kuudes

Kuudes is a fantastic example of the beauty of plain old organization. There’s a minimum of fancy tricks on this site, with most of the effort going in to just organizing a fair amount of information (for a portfolio site).

Léo Guenoun

Léo Guenoun’s portfolio is very, very minimalist. Everything is text until you click your way into a portfolio piece. Then it’s pretty much just images. I’m sensing a theme, here.

Fore Design

Fore Design embraces textbook modern design, and thus joins this month’s minimalism plus geometry club. My favorite bits of the site would have to be the case studies, and the design of the blog articles on desktop screens.

They also seem to make a point of using real people’s names where they can. Whether it’s on their team page (duh), in their portfolio pieces, or on their blog, they seem to emphasize a human connection when and where they can.

Anne Thai

Anne Thai embraces the classic white space and huge text style of site. She has to, because this is possibly the single longest one-page portfolio I’ve ever seen. Thankfully, it comes with two sets of navigation. Her work is presented artfully, and color is used to let you know you’re looking at a new project in a way that makes sense.

Skinn Branding Agency

Skinn brings us more classic white space and huge text. It’s not terribly original, but it is well-done. Trigger warning for people who like headings and titles to be capitalized. This site mostly doesn’t do that…

Maciej Herbert Rodzik

Maciej Herbert Rodzik brings us back a few months to the days of post minimalism, but just a little. Aside from a little asymmetry and element overlapping, this one is simplicity itself.

It’s also one of the few sites that overlaps the project title with the project images that doesn’t overwhelmingly impact readability. I approve.

Zeus Jones

Zeus Jones wins the award for being the second site on this list to have the initials “ZJ”. It’s a branding agency, and the site sure as heck looks like it. Every part of the otherwise fairly standard design has clearly been made to fit a theme. Note the just plain beautiful typography.

Monopo

Monopo’s site is perhaps a bit presentation-effect-heavy for my taste; but I love their use of color. Also, I must admit that anyone who can make circles work as a design theme automatically gets points from me.

With the web being as “box-shaped” as it is, I can always appreciate making a theme out of any other shape.

Rowan Made

Rowan Made is, without mincing words, a fairly typical example of hipster minimalism. It’s all about that artisanal feeling. Nonetheless, it is perhaps one of the finer examples of hipster minimalism that I’ve seen in a while. Plus, I’m a sucker for well-crafted typography on pretty much any site.

I’d only try to make the text headings stand out a bit more, maybe. The headings are styles in a way that assumes the reader is going to be reading as opposed to skimming. Never make that assumption.

Studio Mast

Studio Mast spices up a fairly simple layout with little touches that are reminiscent of an art gallery. This idea is represented everything from the general aesthetic style, to the hover effects on images, to the controls on the home page slideshow.

It’s a subtle way of calling your own work art without looking too pretentious. It’s a clever touch that doesn’t get in the way of usability. I like that kind of clever.

Maksim Karalevich

Maksim Karalevich’s site is all minimalist and full of… not random geometric shapes. Cool. In fact, there’s an animated signature on the home page. Even more cool. Another thing I quite like is the way some elements are styled to make the whole thing look like a gigantic chat log. It’s not something you see very often.

Andy H. Wei

Andy Wei brings us full circle with more of that minimalism and random geometry combo in a lovely near monochromatic site that lets his paintings have all the color. There’s a hint of post-minimalism here and there, but it’s used for emphasis, which I really like.

My favorite bit has got to be the little graphical flourishes. They’re all painting-themed, so it sets exactly the right mood.

100+ Fonts and 1500+ Professional Graphics – only $14!

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20 Best New Portfolio Sites, December 2017

Jingle those bells, people! It’s December, and Santa brought you portfolio sites. This month’s theme generally seems to be minimalism with a splash of geometric decoration. I mean, there are quite a few design styles represented here, but I’m starting to spot a new/old trend coming on.

Well hey, a new trend would be just in time for January. Anyway, have a scroll down the page, and enjoy.

Note: I’m judging these sites by how good they look to me. If they’re creative and original, or classic but really well-done, it’s all good to me. Sometimes, UX and accessibility suffer. For example, many of these sites depend on JavaScript to display their content at all; this is a Bad Idea (TM), kids. If you find an idea you like and want to adapt to your own site, remember to implement it responsibly.

Nathan Riley

Nathan Riley brings us a small, classically dark website with some beautiful background effects. It’s just these effects that make the stylish-yet-familiar layout pop.

Unfortunately, they’ll be all but invisible on un-calibrated screens. Even so, the important stuff stands out, and looks just plain good.

Oh, last complaint: the contact info could and should be way more prominent.

Rainfall

Rainfall has taken a fairly common modern minimalist design, and made it stand out by mastering the art of going from colorful to monochromatic again almost seamlessly. The transition from one color theme to another feels nearly seamless.

Nick Vandermolen

Nick Vandermolen’s portfolio is dark, classy, and generally gorgeous. It also can’t decide whether it wants to be a magazine or a PowerPoint presentation. Okay, I’m kidding. Mostly.

You can clearly see the influence of both of those media formats in the general layout and aesthetic sensibilities. Even so, the experience is coherent and pretty. Also, the navigation is kind of what thirty percent of web designers were trying to do with frames in 2003. It’s a real trip.

Mensch

Mensch is an oddity that just barely sits on this side of the “portfolio” category. You see, it’s a consultancy/team building company with a focus on making the world a better place. Portfolio items tend to be things like “We developed a program to help former child soldiers become small business owners.”

If it weren’t for those portfolio items, however, it would just be a brochure site. And visually, it looks like one. It’s all white space and clean lines, with just a splash of background video.

Vintage

Vintage is on the list largely for the visuals. Not only is it just plain stylish with its geometric theme, the animations have actually managed to impress me a bit. That’s rare.

Effectlab

Effectlab might be the first Greek website I’ve reviewed. Well, Google Chrome tells me it’s Greek, anyway. It’s all Gre… I’m not going to make that joke.

Anyway, the Greek type looks darned beautiful. It’s so beautiful, I’d say it takes the stylish-if-familiar layout to another level. The light graphical and animated touches are great, too.

Zachary Johnson

Zachary Johnson has what is perhaps the penultimate evolution of the modern minimalist layout. It’s clean, it’s sexy, it’s smooth. I love the way he used pastels.

My only criticism would be the part where his text goes over his actual work. I have to admit, with the rest of the site doing so well, that’s just puzzling. We have big screens, and the people who have small screens are used to scrolling. Let us read the text.

Dixon & Moe

Dixon & Moe is one more site on this list that embraces the “minimalism plus geometry” theme. In this case, the minimalism borders on brutalism, but is saved by good typography and white space.

It’s also got little touches that make it look a bit like, I dunno… a technical manual? A set of diagrams? Like, all of the major elements on each page are given a letter/number designation. Go take a look. It’s cool.

Kuudes

Kuudes is a fantastic example of the beauty of plain old organization. There’s a minimum of fancy tricks on this site, with most of the effort going in to just organizing a fair amount of information (for a portfolio site).

Léo Guenoun

Léo Guenoun’s portfolio is very, very minimalist. Everything is text until you click your way into a portfolio piece. Then it’s pretty much just images. I’m sensing a theme, here.

Fore Design

Fore Design embraces textbook modern design, and thus joins this month’s minimalism plus geometry club. My favorite bits of the site would have to be the case studies, and the design of the blog articles on desktop screens.

They also seem to make a point of using real people’s names where they can. Whether it’s on their team page (duh), in their portfolio pieces, or on their blog, they seem to emphasize a human connection when and where they can.

Anne Thai

Anne Thai embraces the classic white space and huge text style of site. She has to, because this is possibly the single longest one-page portfolio I’ve ever seen. Thankfully, it comes with two sets of navigation. Her work is presented artfully, and color is used to let you know you’re looking at a new project in a way that makes sense.

Skinn Branding Agency

Skinn brings us more classic white space and huge text. It’s not terribly original, but it is well-done. Trigger warning for people who like headings and titles to be capitalized. This site mostly doesn’t do that…

Maciej Herbert Rodzik

Maciej Herbert Rodzik brings us back a few months to the days of post minimalism, but just a little. Aside from a little asymmetry and element overlapping, this one is simplicity itself.

It’s also one of the few sites that overlaps the project title with the project images that doesn’t overwhelmingly impact readability. I approve.

Zeus Jones

Zeus Jones wins the award for being the second site on this list to have the initials “ZJ”. It’s a branding agency, and the site sure as heck looks like it. Every part of the otherwise fairly standard design has clearly been made to fit a theme. Note the just plain beautiful typography.

Monopo

Monopo’s site is perhaps a bit presentation-effect-heavy for my taste; but I love their use of color. Also, I must admit that anyone who can make circles work as a design theme automatically gets points from me.

With the web being as “box-shaped” as it is, I can always appreciate making a theme out of any other shape.

Rowan Made

Rowan Made is, without mincing words, a fairly typical example of hipster minimalism. It’s all about that artisanal feeling. Nonetheless, it is perhaps one of the finer examples of hipster minimalism that I’ve seen in a while. Plus, I’m a sucker for well-crafted typography on pretty much any site.

I’d only try to make the text headings stand out a bit more, maybe. The headings are styles in a way that assumes the reader is going to be reading as opposed to skimming. Never make that assumption.

Studio Mast

Studio Mast spices up a fairly simple layout with little touches that are reminiscent of an art gallery. This idea is represented everything from the general aesthetic style, to the hover effects on images, to the controls on the home page slideshow.

It’s a subtle way of calling your own work art without looking too pretentious. It’s a clever touch that doesn’t get in the way of usability. I like that kind of clever.

Maksim Karalevich

Maksim Karalevich’s site is all minimalist and full of… not random geometric shapes. Cool. In fact, there’s an animated signature on the home page. Even more cool. Another thing I quite like is the way some elements are styled to make the whole thing look like a gigantic chat log. It’s not something you see very often.

Andy H. Wei

Andy Wei brings us full circle with more of that minimalism and random geometry combo in a lovely near monochromatic site that lets his paintings have all the color. There’s a hint of post-minimalism here and there, but it’s used for emphasis, which I really like.

My favorite bit has got to be the little graphical flourishes. They’re all painting-themed, so it sets exactly the right mood.

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A Convergence of Apollos Chapter 7 - END

God!Apollo’s POV

We arrived at the Empire State Building shortly before sunset. On the one hand, I was afraid that maybe the demigods (and satyr, and... me?) had already completed the quest, and my counterpart had fled. On the other hand, I was grateful I didn’t have to wait long for them to show up. I have a tendency to get lost in my own head when given the opportunity to think while stressed, and right then, I had nothing BUT time. Well I suppose I COULD have practiced for my concert (which at this rate I’d probably have to cancel, I didn’t think I could deal with performing at the moment) but there’s no way I could concentrate on it.

So I paced.

I was grateful that Artemis believed me enough to come at least. My tale was absurd; I KNEW that. If I’D heard another god spouting about a time-traveling mortal version of themselves, I’d assumed they’d either been tricked or was crazy.

But I COULDN’T write off what I’d seen. I’d felt a vague sense of familiarity while looking at the boy, something that said ‘Look closely and THINK.’ But another, louder part of me had screamed ‘DON’T LOOK. Don’t listen. Not if you want to maintain your worldview. If you look too closely, even you won’t be able to hide from the truth of what you’ll see.’

So I tried to avoid looking. I invented a somewhat plausible-sounding reason for why they might have appeared out of thin air. I tried to maintain my careful facade.

Then my other self smashed it to pieces.

“Do not harm her.  Don’t you dare harm ANY of them.  LOOK AT ME!  REALLY LOOK AT ME, DON’T JUST STARE THROUGH ME LIKE WE ALWAYS DID, DON’T PRETEND PEOPLE FEEL THE WAY THAT’S CONVENIENT FOR US, FOR ONCE IN YOUR LIFE, TRY TO UNDERSTAND! “

I couldn’t stop myself. I did as he asked and looked closer, into his essence, into his SOUL.

What I found shocked me. But I can’t say I was truly surprised. Part of me had already known what I’d find.

It was my own essence. My own self. Only a bare sliver, but undeniably there, and undeniably ME.

I’d freaked. I couldn’t help it. And I did what I always did when in emotional turmoil. I went to my family.

I glanced over at Artemis. She stood stock-still. To someone who didn’t know her, it might have looked like she wasn’t doing anything. I knew better. That was the look of a hunter waiting for their prey.

If my other self HAD been a trick, I would’ve felt sorry for them. Most gods knew better than to get on my sister’s bad side, myself included. We might mess with each other a little, but it was very, VERY rare for us to do something that would truly, deeply upset the other person. The times that’d happened...

I shoved the thought away before it could fully manifest. I had enough going on with my current internal crisis. No sense picking at old wounds.

I heard the sound of rapid footsteps. I glanced up.

My mortal self charged towards my sister, a look of desperate NEED on his face.

How long had he - had I - gone without seeing Artemis?

Was Zeus truly that cruel, to deny me from seeing my twin?

Who was I kidding. Of course he was.

My mortal self SMASHED into Artemis, sending him sprawling to the ground. I winced. That HAD to hurt.

He scrambled back up, winded. My sister - HIS sister - helped him up.

I looked at Artemis’s face. The look of concern and shock in her eyes... clearly she’d realized that I hadn’t been tricked or mistaken. This boy was somehow, impossibly, ME.

He babbled brokenly into Artemis’s shoulder, tears running down his face and soaking Sis’s shirt. I watched silently. I was NOT about to get in the middle of this. For one thing, my other self NEEDED this. For another... well, who WOULD? Honestly if I could reasonably give them privacy I would, but we were in the middle of New York City right near the Empire State Building, and it didn’t seem like either of them were thinking about the location at the moment. I also hoped to hear more about what my future self went through. Maybe if I knew I could prevent it, or at least make it less traumatic.

Then Artemis checked him for injuries. And things got so much worse.

At some point along my journey, I’d been injured BADLY. Really, REALLY badly. And I seemed almost ASHAMED about it.

What my other self hinted he’d done - how he hinted about these other people being held captive, with his own life as the only bargaining chip he had - it chilled me to my core. Had he done what I thought he’d done? Nearly killed himself to help save a handful of demigods?

I didn’t quite know how to feel about that. I’d never had that level of resolve. I’d never been put in a situation where I’d had to choose between my own life and someone else’s.

If I was, could I make the choice my counterpart had?

Maybe... maybe if it was Artemis or Leto. But for a handful of demigods? They were disposable. I tried to help my own children at least, but even then I didn’t always realized that they’d died until years later. I’d been striving to get better on that front, but I still wouldn’t put myself in mortal danger for them.

The closest I’d come was with my favorite son, Asclepius. When Zeus struck him down, I’d been FURIOUS. But even then, I didn’t go up against Zeus directly for fear of being destroyed. I’d taken it out in the Elder Cyclopes instead. I was still punished, but it would’ve been MUCH worse if I’d outright attacked Zeus.

What had happened - what had he - what had I - been through, that had caused me to put the lives of a few demigods above my own?

Why did he care so much?

I refocused on my other self. Maybe I could glean some answers from him.

I listened to his description of what Medea was going to do to him. What she HAD done.

I nearly threw up.

I stumbled to the nearest light pole and slid down it until I was sitting on the ground.

I- I’d nearly been destroyed. COMPLETELY.

Death was one thing, but THAT? That was MUCH worse.

And Zeus! He must have seen this. We weren’t omniscient - not by a long shot - but he would be watching me already, if only to laugh at my suffering.

He didn’t do anything.

Of course he didn’t. He didn’t even want me to help Artemis when she was captured, why would he intervene on MY behalf?

Because he would be partly responsible for your destruction, I answered myself. Because this goes beyond just sitting back and not helping. He would be the reason I was vulnerable in the first place. He would be responsible for it.

Oh who was I kidding. Zeus would just shove the blame onto someone else. Or maybe he’d just argue that I deserved it and it was my own fault I wasn’t tough enough to survive.

“I- I w-was saved. I- I- regained some of my memories. But n-not all. I- I...! ”

Wait, WHAT?! I hadn’t regained all my memories afterwards? What did I forget...?

No.

PLEASE NO.

PLEASE ZEUS, PLEASE.

“I- I- I forgot you, Artemis. I forgot you existed.”

Not seeing my sister was one thing. But forgetting her entirely?

That- that went beyond anything I could’ve imagined.

I couldn’t - not without my sister - how - how had my other self even had the strength to CONTINUE? When something so fundamental to myself was ripped away?

I could survive with being mortal. I’d done it twice before.

I didn’t know if I could survive without being able to even REMEMBER the person I was closest to.

Artemis knew me best - perhaps even better than my mother. She was my rock.

To have that swept away...

“I’m- I’m so sorry Artemis. I for-forgot you. I’m a horrible-”

From my outside perspective, I knew it wasn’t his fault - MY fault - that he’d forgotten Artemis.

But I also knew that in his shoes, I’d blame myself too.

Maybe we weren’t so different after all.

Artemis wasn’t having ANY of it.  “NO. Apollo, you are NOT a horrible ANYTHING, least of all for something you have no control over. YES, I’m shocked and angry, but not at you. NEVER at you. At our Father, at Caligula, at Medea, yes. BUT NOT AT YOU.”

Artemis... what had I done to deserve such a wonderful sister?

I teared up as my other self collapsed into my sister’s arms.

Artemis... she’d known just what to say. Of course. She always did.

After awhile, my other self calmed down enough to speak.

I almost wished he wouldn’t. That I’d never have to learn what had caused him such pain. But I needed to know. I needed to UNDERSTAND.

My other self finally said how, EXACTLY, he’d gotten that wound.

So this... this was why he’d changed. Why I’d changed. Jason... he’d been willing to die without a complaint, because he couldn’t stand someone else dying in his place.

No gods had come to his aid. But a demigod HAD.

Jason had been more willing to help, to put himself on the line, then any of my divine brethren.

Of course that’s what heroes do, a voice whispered in my head. Jason is hardly unique in that way. But you never cared about that before. So why are you being affected now?

Because it’s me, I answered myself. It was always someone else before. It wasn’t me, so I wrote it off. I wrote off all those demigods and I HADN’T CARED.

My other self’s tale wasn’t done.

It got worse.

Jason at least was a demigod hero. I would at least EXPECT heroic actions from him, even if I hadn’t fully appreciated such heroics in the past. And from the sound of it, he hadn’t just sacrificed himself for me. It had mostly been for Piper.

But Crest?

It took me a moment to even remember what a Pandos WAS. I wouldn’t have expected much of anything from one of them. And from the sound of it, Crest was a child.

And yet...!

He’d... this kid... he’d not only gone against the orders of one of the cruelest people I’d ever known in the hope of getting some music lessons, but had continued to help my other self beyond ANYTHING he would have asked for.

He hadn’t stopped either. He’d sacrificed himself for me. He’d had SEVERAL chances to leave me to my fate, and yet he’d chosen to save me even if it killed him. Even though it killed his dream.

He didn’t even KNOW me.

Abruptly I realized that I’d stopped thinking of this as happening to some other version of me, and had started thinking of it happening to MYSELF.

I couldn’t help it. Hearing what had gone down, I connected more closely with this other version of myself. I saw how I’d gone from being me to being him.

We weren’t any different at our core. Of course we weren’t. We were the same person until very recently. It was only his recent experiences that distinguished him from myself, and hearing what he’d been through, I at least had a shadow of his experiences.

I didn’t think I could ever become like this other version of myself entirely, never reach the sheer depth of his understanding and compassion for the mortals that I’d been neglecting for so long.

But I could try.

Maybe that would be enough?

Watching my other self collapse into my sister’s embrace for the third time, I decided that it would HAVE to be enough. I had to become someone worthy of the help my other self had been given. Someone worthy of those sacrifices.

I- I wanted to be a better person. A GOOD person. I didn’t know whether that was even possible. I’d done some horrible things in the past, and allowed others to occur in my ambivalence.  But I would TRY.

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My other self calmed down enough to continue speaking again after a few minutes.

He turned to me, seeming to just remember I was here. I couldn’t blame him. With all he’d been through, with all he’d lost, I’d get tunnel vision too.

He stared at me for a moment, seeming to search for words.

“Do you understand?” he asked at last, seeming to look into my soul.

“I- I think so,” I replied, my mouth suddenly feeling dry.

He seemed to consider what I said for a moment, then nodded. “There are some things you need to know. I told Percy a lot of what happened, what’s GOING to happen, so you can ask him for more information later. But there’s some things I didn’t go into. Some things I wanted to tell you in person.”

I nodded, trying to hide my anxiety.

“Our kids - ALL of them... try to be there for them more? When I went to Camp Half-blood, they- they tried to make me feel comfortable. Tried to help me feel like I belonged. Even though I barely knew them. Even though I’d only visited them in person a handful of times, spoken to them in dreams a dozen more. They still tried SO HARD to help me. They cared about me SO MUCH. They deserve better.”

Guilt twisted my stomach. I’d always felt that I should spend more time with my children. But I was afraid of what the other gods would say, ESPECIALLY Zeus. He preferred us to be hands-off if possible. I couldn’t do what he was asking...

Oh who was I kidding. It was true that Zeus didn’t like us spending too much time with our kids. He might notice if I vastly increased the amount of time I spent around them in-person, but he wouldn’t be paying as much attention to dreams, especially right now, when he had bigger things to worry about.

And I could probably sneak in a few more visits to Camp Half-blood than I did before. I’d just have to come up with some sort of excuse, like needing to talk to Chiron about something, or needing to drop off some stray demigod Artemis found who didn’t want or was unable to join the Hunt.

“I’ll try my best,” I said.

My other self sighed, “Good. Sometimes that’s the best we CAN do.”

He fell silent for a moment, his face twisting up a little. “There’s also the matter of one of my Legacies. Octavian.”

I tensed, glancing at Percy and Grover. He was talking about the Romans HERE? Now? In front of some Greeks? Sure he’d mentioned Jason before, but he hadn’t said anything to give away that he wasn’t Greek. Just MENTIONING the word ‘Legacy’ was a tip off that something was different about Octavian.

My other self noticed the look on my face and explained. “I already told Percy and Grover about the Romans. They’d need to know soon anyway, since Gaea is awakening and the Greeks and Romans will need to unite.”

I choked. Gaea was WHAT!

I opened my mouth to speak, but my other self cut me off. “I already told Percy most of what he needs to know, you can ask him for details later. I don’t know how much time I have and I don’t want to repeat myself too much.”

He took a breath and let it out. “So, Octavian. I think... he’s kind of like Commodus. I was enamored with Octavian’s promises, his vision of a future where I was head god of Rome. I fell for his flattery, ignoring any warning signs, just like I did all those years ago. Octavian, he... something’s wrong with him. I’m not sure what. Not exactly. But he REALLY hates the Greeks. I’m not sure why. You’ll have trouble forging peace between the camps if he’s in a position of power, at least as Octavian is now. Octavian... I think he’s ill somehow. After an unfortunate incident that led New Rome to believe the Greeks had attacked them - again, ask Percy - he went kind of crazy. Manic. He refused to listen to reason, and believed that anyone who questioned him would stab him in the back.”

“I don’t know whether he can be saved. I wasn’t able to save Commodus. But maybe... maybe if you catch him early, you can stop him from deteriorating too far. It’s worth a try. There’s no chance of success without TRYING.”

“Just make sure he’s not in a position of power or influence right now. He needs therapy, or medication, or SOMETHING. But if he’s able to retaliate... well, I don’t think he’d even believe ME telling him that he needs help. I can see him believing that I’m compromised or tricking him or something. And if he believes that there’s a threat, he’ll try to neutralize it. Probably fatally.”

“I don’t know whether you could get him the help he needs. Maybe there’s no saving him. Maybe there was no saving Commodus. But you HAVE to try.”

I flinched, thinking of Commodus. I HAD to kill him. The alternative was too horrible to withstand.

That didn’t make the guilt lessen.

If I could avoid having that situation again, I would.

“I’ll try. I’ll look in on Octavian, try to find some sort of help for him. I think I’ll take a closer at the Romans in general, I haven’t spent much time with them lately. I think I’ll try to get to know Jason better as well. After what you’ve told me... well, I want a chance to know my little brother for more than a few hours. I’ll visit my children as often as I can get away with, considering Zeus and the War. And I’ll try to find Crest. Teach him to play the ukulele. Even if he’s never met me in this timeline, I still feel like I owe him for what he was willing to do in yours.”

My other self smiled at me, a bit of hope entering his eyes. “Thank you.”

I felt something snap into place, threads of destiny coming undone and reweaving themselves into a new tapestry. I could tell my other self felt it too.

He blurted out, “Find Meg! She was captured by Nero, She’s in-”

The air started twisting around them. My other self cut himself off, looking back at Meg in a panic. I had a distinct feeling he didn’t know WHERE Meg was, and he didn’t have time to ask.

Meg read his look. “Albany!” she blurted out.

CRAAAACK

The air untwisted, turning shimmering shades of green, then returned to normal.

There was silence for a moment.

“What just... happened?” my sister asked.

Oh yeah. She was the only who hadn’t seen this happen before.

“That’s what happened when they arrived. Except, you know, they appeared instead of vanished. Presumably they’re back in their own timeline now.”

I turned to Percy and Grover. “We need to talk. But it can wait until tomorrow. I need to hold this concert - can’t cancel without a lot of people wondering WHY, and I don’t want to divulge what happened to everyone just yet. Not before making plans. And I’m sure you two are tired after everything that’s happened.”

Percy smiled at me slightly. “Thanks. I’ll need to tell Annabeth, she can help.”

Grover suddenly looked nervous. “Um... Lord Apollo...” He gingerly returned my lyre.

I looked it over, noticing the reason for his anxiety. A large scratch on the shell. Nothing that would impact the quality of its music, but I HAD said “not a scratch”.

That seemed like a lifetime ago.

I gave him a small smile, hoping I looked comforting. “It’s fine Grover. I should have expected it to get a little banged up, with you bringing it into combat.”

His face collapsed in relief. Percy gave me a weird look... awe? Understanding? I wasn’t sure. But he seemed happy with what I’d done.

As they walked away, I called out, ‘Oh, and Grover?”

The satyr looked back at me questioningly.

“Happy birthday.”

His face broke out in a smile. “It has been.”

I stood there for a moment, savoring this brief period of peace. Tomorrow I’d have to meet with Percy and Grover, find out what else my other self had to say about the future, what else should be changed. Tomorrow I could go looking for Meg and Crest.

But tonight, I had a concert to get to.

“You coming Artemis?” I asked my sister.

“You have room for all my Hunters?”

“I think something could be arranged.”

“I’ll see you there then.”

I vanished as the sun set on one of the most important afternoons in Greco-Roman history.

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(A/N) So that’s it for this fanfic! I’ll probably write a sequel showing what happens in this new timeline, but I don’t know when I’ll start it. I might work on something else first. Oh, and in case anyone’s wondering, Meg and Apollo reappeared back in their own timeline back in the room with the cloth. This uses a divergent timeline model of time travel, so nothing that happens in the past will impact them.