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prazinos · 1 year

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Athánati Omorfiá

Series Part One → Part Two !

Rating : G (Pure Fluff) Future chapters may have explicit content.

Summary : Eddie Munson, tour guide for the British museum in London, is passionate about his work, and is infatuated with an ancient statue called 'The Beauty Of Stéphanos'. But what will happen when he crosses paths with a man who looks exactly like the statue he is so enamoured by?

Eddie's a tour guide at The British Museum.

He didn't think it would be a long term thing, but he found out he really likes history and he's actually pretty good at it.

So here he is, hair in a bun and wearing a black jumper, looking more sophisticated than usual. Showing a group around for a tour.

And you know Eddie, as soon as somebody starts talking about something he's really interested in, he's spewing out as much information as he can. So you can imagine his reaction when a boy asks

'Um, why is this man in a lot of the paintings, mister?'

Eddie beams at the little boy with large framed glasses.

'Well, this man was named Stéphanos. He was a human like you and I but, he was gorgeous, I mean really; you saw this man and you would have immediately fallen in love with him--if you'd please follow me--here is a statue dedicated to him. The artist said that the Gods came to him in a dream stating that a statue would be made of Stéphanos' Eddie spoke.

'Was he prettier than Aphrodite?' the same boy asked.

'No, nobody is prettier than Aphrodite, but it's believed that she gave him his gift of beauty' Eddie stated

After a long tour, and quite a few more questions about Stéphanos, Eddie was back at the statue of Stéphanos; just admiring him. Eddie had quite the fascination with him, he truly was gorgeous. I mean, his soft looking hair, broad shoulders and soft eyes. The moles dotted on his face and neck.

'You really like him don't you' a voice spoke from behind Eddie.

Eddie laughed, 'yeah, he truly was gorgeous' he said, not turning around to face the man.

'I like him too, he's close with the Gods you know' the voice spoke again.

'I mean yeah that's the theory'

'I don't believe it's a theory'. With that Eddie turned around to face the man; but his breath was caught in his throat, the man in front of him looked exactly like the paintings. Down to the moles he admired so much.

'I'm Steve'

Eddie seriously couldn't believe it. He had to be dreaming, right?

Maybe he's just a doppelgänger. But why would he say he's close to the Gods? Why not, he was close with the Gods.

'Do you have a name or are you just going to stare at me?' Steve asked, grasping his bookbag, almost nervously.

'I-yeah I do-have a name' Eddie practically whispered.

Steve chuckled, 'do I get to know your name? Or are you really into being the mysterious hot guy'

'You think I'm hot?' Eddie gasped. The man, who looks exactly like Stéphanos, the man who was wanted by all, including some Gods thinks that Eddie, Eddie! Is hot?

Steve blushed, looking around the museum, avoiding Eddie's eyes before laughing airily

'I mean yeah, I don't see why that's a big surprise to you' Steve said

'Well I mean you literally look exactly like the guy that everybody was in love with during ancient Greece' Eddie babbled.

Steve looked behind him, looking at the large statue, almost...nostalgically? Eddie couldn't make it out. Before Steve head turned back to Eddie.

'Only during ancient Greece?' Steve questioned amusedly.

'I mean-no of course not, you're hot, super hot-I mean, wait no-'

'Relax, I was fucking with you' Steve laughed loudly, Eddie listening as his laugh echoes against the walls of the museum.

Eddie looked down at his watch, 4:45pm. Shit. Almost closing time but he wants to keep talking to Steve. Maybe he can give Steve his number; is that too soon? No. Yes. No. Maybe? Oh what if Eddie gave Steve his business card? Shit, Eddie doesn't have a business card.

'Shit, I gotta go my friend is having a baby shower for her cat' Steve said looking at his phone.

'Her new cat?' Eddie chuckled

'She's...weird. Her and her girlfriend got a cat yesterday and so they're throwing it a baby shower'

'That is...'

'Weird?'

'in a good way, yeah' Eddie finished.

The two chuckled before the intercom crackled and an old soft voice spoke

'The museum will be closing in ten minutes, I repeat, the the museum will be closing in ten minutes!'

'We should-'

'yeah' Steve finished

'Wanna walk out together?' Eddie asked

'Yes!' Steve said, rather quickly 'I mean, yeah sounds good'

Eddie chuckled at Steve's flushed face

'Well I've just got to grab my backpack, you're welcome to come with' Eddie smiled. To which Steve nodded.

As Steve entered Eddie's office, he was shocked at the décor. Eddie didn't seem like the kind of guy for his office to be practically covered in metal band posters. I mean, he just thought he really liked the colour black, and that he just liked his hair long.

No, Eddie was a metalhead. And God, did Steve have a thing for metalheads.

'Alright, we can head out now' Eddie said, bringing Steve out of his horny thoughts.

Steve nodded before briskly walking out the door.

As they walked down the steps Steve turned to Eddie, noticing his backpack that was covered in pins and patches from metal bands.

'I'm going this way' Steve said pointing to the right.

'Oh, I'm going this way' Eddie said pointing to the left.

'You know, I really like the museum' Steve smiled awkwardly

Eddie pulled the bun out of his hair, smiling at Steve, 'So I'll be seeing you more often?' Eddie questioned

'definitely' Steve answered, handing a slip of paper to Eddie.

As Steve walked away Eddie looked at the piece of paper,

020 *** *** ~Steve <3

Holy shit.

Holy Shit.

Eddie got his number.

Eddie stared at the phone number, red creeping up his neck to his cheeks.

He nearly dropped his phone pulling it out, and immediately punched in the number into his contacts.

Eddie wouldn't message him until he got home yet, didn't want to seem too desperate to talk to Steve, though, he clearly was.

Hey it's Eddie from the museum 5:47pm

Oh hi! I've been waiting for you to message :) 5:52pm

So...how's the cat baby shower? 5:54pm

It's interesting to say the least, do baby showers do name reveals? 5:55pm

I think so? I've never been to a baby shower before 5:55pm

They named him Succulent 5:56pm

Succulent? 5:57pm

My friends, their entire apartment is full of plants, so naturally they needed to name their cat Succulent 5:58pm

Oh yeah, of course. Makes total sense now 5:59pm

Haha :) 6:00pm

Eddie smiled at his phone, who still says haha in text messages these days?

He knew it would seem awkward for now but when he (hopefully) got to know Steve better, the conversations would flow smoother and be less awkward.

But he couldn't stop smiling, even as his cheeks started to hurt.

After he finally calmed down, Eddie pulled out his laptop from his backpack and immediately started doing more research on Stéphanos; he couldn't help but blush at some of the images depicting a statue of Stéphanos in a tunic that barely covered his torso, giving a delicious interesting sight of Stéphanos' abs, and now Eddie couldn't stop thinking about if Steve had abs

Stéphanos, believed to be born sometime in 540 B.C - 560...Multiple theories saying he was the son of Aphrodite or blessed by Aphrodite...The Greek Gods loved him...Some stories stating his beauty was a blessing and a curse...Born with beauty, but cursed to spend eternity searching for his soulmate.

Jesus, Stéphanos had it rough.

But there was no way that Steve was Stéphanos right? It's all mythology, it's called Greek Mythology for a reason, right?

AN : Yk I'm actually really excited about this series. I don't know how much attention it will gather but maybe it'll gather quite a bit.

When I figure out Ao3 properly I'll upload this to there as well

lmk what y'all think, it's a wee short but future chapters will be longer.

I also am gonna try uploading a new chapter every Saturday AEDT time, maybe earlier if I get really into it.

(everybody that requests to be in the tag list will be added lmao)

BYE BOZOS!!

#steve harrington #steddie #steve harrington x eddie munson #steve x eddie #eddie x steve #eddie munson #stranger things #alternate universe stranger things #Immortal!Steve #Tour guide!Eddie #stranger things au #museum au #steve #eddie

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cyan1decandy · 2 months

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About Aileen Berwick

Aileen's character sheet

Warnings: everything said in this is said as if it's from Aileen's perspective; mentions verbal abuse; short instant of physical abuse resulting in a scar; pureblood supremacy beliefs (not from Aileen)

Blood status: half-blood

Father: Torence Berwick (PUREBLOOD)

Mother: Natasa Cosmatos (DECEASED MUGGLE)

Home: Irondale

Additional notes: metamorphmagus

Key points in her life:

Aileen’s father came from a strict pureblood family. His family formed an union with the Black family via Iola Black. The two never had any children together, much to the dismay of both families.

He was sent to Greece for work where he met a young muggle woman whom he fell in love with. By the time he completed his assignment, she was pregnant with Aileen.

Not wanting to abandon her, he brought her home to Scotland. Understandably, his parents and the Black family were upset with him. The families become more upset upon learning that Iola had been messing around with a muggle man. Eventually Iola moved out of her shared home with him and married Bob Hitchens and was disowned from the Black family. The Berwicks were soon to follow with their son.

Forced out of the Berwick vacation home, he and his lover are forced to find a new home. They settled down in Lancaster, where they planned on raising their child together.

However, Aileen’s mother wasn’t able to survive giving birth to her. This devastated her father greatly. He tried his best to raise her on his own but every time he looked at her, he was reminded of his love. The townspeople that he grew acquainted with prior to Aileen’s birth grew concerned when they noticed him hardly leaving his home and would constantly hear baby Aileen crying.

On Aileen’s first birthday, he couldn’t deal with the pain any longer. He took her to Irondale and dropped her off on his sister’s doorstep. He returned to his parents’ estate to beg for forgiveness.

Aileen’s aunt had also been disowned by their parents, but it was due to her being a squib. Despite the strange circumstances, she did take in Aileen. As she grew healthier, her hair changed from the chestnut color that her mother gifted her to carnation pink. This greatly shocked her aunt.

Aileen’s aunt finally received a letter from her brother explaining the family situation. This greatly infuriated her but she tried not to take it out on Aileen. It was hard for her, though. Especially when Aileen reached ten and still hadn’t shown any magical abilities. Yet another disgrace to the Berwick name. She became more bitter with each passing year.

The way her aunt treated her caused Aileen to become reserved. This translated into her hair as it slowly returned to the chestnut color she was born with.

Aileen started spending more time outside, often not returning home until well past dark. It always ended in a fight but it was better than dealing with the verbal abuse all day.

She mostly spent her time observing all of the witches and wizards, often mimicking their wand movements with a random stick she found. Every time nothing happened, she felt even worse about herself.

On the eve of her sixteenth birthday, as she sat at the riverbank, she threw a rock in frustration. The impact of it was much harder than it should’ve been for a simple throw. When she glanced at her reflection in the water, her eyes were glowing a much lighter shade of blue than her natural eye color.

She panicked and rushed home. Her aunt was ready to reprimand her until she, too, noticed Aileen’s eyes. She placed her hands on Aileen’s cheeks and wiped away the tears.

After calming Aileen down, she sent an owl to both the ministry and her brother regarding what happened. Aileen’s father surprisingly left the Berwick estate as soon as he read the letter.

Aileen is surprised to see her own father, the man that had abandoned her as an infant. She wasn’t sure how to feel about seeing him after all these years, especially when the first thing he told her was that her grandparents were willing to take her in. While she wasn’t happy living with her aunt, she knew that her grandparents would likely be far worse.

“They’d be willing to look past your blood status as long as you renounce Natasa and claim to be Iola’s daughter.”

“They’d forgive my past sins if you agree.”

“My sister has told me about your ability to change your appearance. I’ll show you how Iola looked before she disappeared.”

Seeing Aileen hesitate confused her father. He began berating her until it grew to a head by him comparing her to his “good for nothing sister.” Aileen tried standing up for herself and her aunt but was met with a harsh slap across the face. The stones from the family ring adorning his finger dragged across her face.

Overwhelmed, Aileen left the home and didn’t look back. She followed the river, completely disoriented and her cheek bleeding. As she walked by one of the many floo flames she’d witnessed witches and wizards use for travel, an older man appeared from it. It startled her so much she screamed.

Eleazar Fig became her tutor for the remainder of the summer as she remained in Irondale. At first, her aunt wasn’t keen on the stranger constantly entering her home. But as time wore on, she grew used to his presence. Aileen’s hair even returned to the carnation pink from her early childhood. It was an emotional day when she had to bid farewell to Aileen so she could go buy her school supplies and attend Hogwarts for her fifth year.

The mark on her cheek served as a constant reminder of how much of a disgrace she was. She hid it behind her hair constantly.

Combat: defensive. She isn’t the best when it comes to aim, as she’s still adjusting to her magic and using a wand. Once adrenaline takes over, her aim improves significantly.

Relationships:

Sebastian Sallow: positive. He was the first of her peers to show her kindness and she feels indebted to him.

Anne Sallow: positive. She can see herself in Anne and only wishes the best for her.

Ominis Gaunt: very positive. Despite how much she cares for Sebastian, she sympathizes with Ominis’ hesitancy and disdain for the Dark Arts.

Imelda Reyes: neutral. She likes Imelda’s competitive attitude.

Duncan Hobhouse: hates. She holds the venomous tentacula stunt over his head.

Amit Thakkar: positive. If it weren’t for him, she would’ve failed astronomy.

Everett Clopton: negative. She believed they could be good friends until she witnessed him bullying others. It reminded her too much of her aunt when she was younger.

Natsai Onai: positive. She quickly became one of Aileen’s best friends.

Garreth Weasley: very positive. What started as a loyal friendship quickly blossomed into something deeper in her heart. They constantly collaborated on his new ideas.

Leander Prewett: neutral. She doesn’t know Leander all that well but he seemed decent enough.

Lucan Brattleby: positive. He was very helpful in teaching her better dueling techniques.

Poppy Sweeting: positive. She started off being nervous around beasts, especially large ones, but Poppy helped with her fear.

Professor Sharp: negative. He doesn’t appreciate her encouraging and helping Garreth.

Professor Weasley: positive. She sees her as a mother figure.

Headmaster Black: very negative. This is due to both her blood and her father's betrayal of his sister.

#hogwarts legacy mc #hogwarts legacy #hogwarts legacy aileen berwick #cc shares her oc

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transorkos · 1 year

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The Oathkeeper’s Awakening

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Orkos did die when Kratos stabbed him, but something, someone, brought him back….

—————

“Son of ink black and the endless void, awaken.”

The rush of air filling his lungs took Orkos by such surprise it hurt, sitting upright and grasping at his stomach. The sharp pain of the knife was still fresh in his memory, but when he looked down, there was no blood. No scar at all, save for the ones from his oaths. His eyes darted around, realizing he was no longer in the sun dappled fields of Sparta, but instead in an ornate room, sitting on a large table. He recognized the architecture as Olympian, but wondered if he was in the nicer part of the Underworld as opposed to the Asphodel Fields or any other dank corner. Maybe being the son of a god had its perks after all.

He tried to stand up, but found himself unable, his whole body aching. Being dead sure did hurt, he mused, wishing his crutches were still with him. Though since he was dead, he supposed he did not have to be in any particular rush to be anywhere. Maybe he would sleep more.

Just as he prepared to lay back down, the tall door behind him opened, and entered a vaguely familiar face. He quickly sat back upright, squinting slightly.

“We’ve met before, haven’t we?” He posited.

“Yes, when you were just a child, when your mothers brought you to Olympus.”

“Ah, yes… forgive me, my memory is foggy, but since we are both dead, I guess we will have plenty of time to catch up, yes?” Orkos offered an appeasing smile, though it quickly faded when the woman spoke again.

“Oh, you are not dead. Well, you were dead, but not anymore.”

His expression went blank for a solid thirty seconds, the inner cogs of his brain working harder than the ones in the statue of Apollo. He backtracked mentally, as if to reaffirm that yes, Kratos did stab him. He remembered pain, but also relief, as everything around him faded… and then he woke up here. Was he having some strange post-death hallucination?

“Your mind does not deceive you, Oathkeeper.” She placed her hand on his shoulder, “for your service to Olympus, Zeus has rewarded you with a second chance. A second life.”

Orkos stared at her as if she told a joke in poor taste. Never before had Olympus interfered with his life, save for his father, but he supposed he did not really count. “Since when did the king of the gods care about my fate?”

“Since we became aware of Ares’ treachery.” She sat down next to him. “You did us a great service, Oathkeeper. Laying down your life in service of Olympus.”

“I… was just doing what was right.” He did not have the energy to tell her his actions had nothing to do with Olympus. Personally, he could care less if Olympus flourished for a thousand years or burned tomorrow. He acted out of his own desire for revenge against his parents, as weak as he was in the process. If it were not for Kratos, he would have never had a chance to act at all. Did that mean he used the Spartan, like all others before him? He shuddered at the thought, guilt prodding his heart. Kratos was the first person in a long time to show him kindness, and he hated to imagine that he could not repay him. Perhaps that is why he was so willing to lay his life down.

“Hm. Regardless of intentions, you have been rewarded. However… there is a caveat to this gift.” Her gaze was stern, forcing Orkos to make eye contact. He fiddled with his fingers, finding the eye contact uncomfortable, but holding it out of respect.

“You must leave Greece. Your tenure as keeper of oaths is complete, and if you are found to still be alive, Ares will hunt you down, and make you wish you remained dead.”

Orkos found memories itching at the back of his mind of the last time he saw his father. He instinctively tensed up, as if preparing for a moment to flee once more, but exhaling as he remembered he was in no current danger.

“Yes, yes, that makes sense. Ehm… you don’t suppose I could say goodbye to Kratos, before I leave?”

The woman laughed briefly, a sort of chiding laugh reserved for parents when their child tells them some outlandish tale. She shook her head, regarding him as if he was not a full grown man. “No. The Spartan must remain unaware of your resurrection.”

“Because he would ask to resurrect his wife and child?” Orkos blurted this out without thinking, quickly shutting his mouth after. The woman’s relaxed expression grew slightly more intense, answering his question wordlessly. He cleared his throat nervously, rubbing his beard.

“Well, ahah, I do appreciate what you have done for me, truly. I am in a bit of a conundrum though, for this is happening so fast. I… I am afraid I do not know where to go. Or even how to go!” He gestured to his body, specifically his back, a bit exasperated.

“Yes, we know.” She returned to her feet, gesturing for a guard to bring something in.

“There is a ship leaving that will take you somewhere far away, where you may start anew. From there, you will be beyond your father’s reach. You will not be alone, however.”

The guard lead in an admittedly massive ram with shimmering golden wool. Orkos recognized it from illustrations, but he could hardly believe he was seeing it with his own eyes.

“The Golden Fleece? But I thought—“

“The Fleece is armor crafted from the wool of this ram. As a sign of goodwill, we give the creature to you. It will protect you, and be a beast of burden in your travels.”

Orkos heaved himself up from the table. His body still ached, and it was hard to stand without crutches. Limping awkwardly, he approached the ram, offering his hand for it to sniff. It did so, bleating lowly, allowing him to get closer. Inwardly he could not help but be excited, as he was never allowed a pet before.

“I cannot thank you enough, truly… ah, apologies, I still do not remember your name.”

“I am Athena.” She responded simply, approaching him and producing two new crutches. “My brother Hephaestus forged these himself, they will serve you well.”

Orkos did something he found himself not doing often— smiling. He had never received gifts of such thoughtfulness, regardless of if he had to die to get them. He slipped his arms into the crutches, finding them a good fit, feeling his body pain ease greatly. “I truly do not know how to thank you, Athena, this means so much to me, more than you could ever understand.”

“You can thank me thusly,” she approached him again, placing her hand on his shoulder and forcing him to look at her again.

“Leave Greece. Never return. Your time here is done. Do we have an understanding?”

Orkos felt anxiety trail up his spine again. He knew what this was about. It is not that he particularly was a threat, it was more so that his mere existence as living could set Kratos against the Olympians. There was always more than one motive behind a God’s gift, he found. With slight reluctance, he nodded.

Athena relaxed then, smiling and patting his shoulder. “Excellent. Your ship is waiting. So long, Orkos, may you find peace.”

She left without ceremony, leaving him alone with the ram. He shuffled out of the room, looking across the glimmering sea that lay before him. Even if he was given a choice, he realized he had a better chance at happiness out there than he ever did here.

#god of war #gow #orkos #athena

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twotrojanwomen · 1 year

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Helen's Farewell

In the morning, when I wake, the smell of the corpses roasting of funeral pyres remind me of the foul nightmare I have lived in these past two decades. [1] Each day, those fallen in battle are given their rites and released into the starless void of eternal rest, and each day, when I wake, I am met with their mothers and daughters and sisters creeping through my chambers, attending to my needs all the while whispering to me that their sons and brothers and husbands died on my behalf. I can do nothing to ease their pain, gods know I've tried, so I spend my days in silence, speaking only to manage the home. [2]

Today, however, I have no grief to soothe but my own. For it is not bodies that burn below my towers windows, but Troy itself. The cries echoing off the city's wall and the rush of men sealing any possible passage into Paris' home tells me that it is the Achaeans doing. I am not surprised. There were whispers in the corridors saying that the Greeks have fled, worn down and lacking their champion and a large wooden horse left with a single soldier as offering to Athena. What fools they were to drink themselves unconscious at the first sign of victory.

I stayed away from the revelry. In these past years, I promised myself that I would observe better, not allow myself to be swept away with pretty words or a rough hand. I know that I was right to stay by my loom, weaving by the light of a small fire by my window, but now hours later, I hear the screams of young maidens, and I still can't help but regret it.

It always circles back to regret for me. In my life, I have made one choice of my own. It wasn't borne from love or lust, as most think it to be, but from understanding. Paris was so like me at the time. We knew the cost of our beauty; we had both already seen the consequences of it. He saw me for who I was and I him, for we were the same person. But all the same, I went with him to Troy.

Perhaps I was wrong. I've had the thought recently as our arguments grow more frequent and my distance becomes more constant that he never saw me as more than a doll. I was gifted to him by the gods, that much we all know, but I had believed he saw more than that. Was I just deluding myself? Is it just that no man can see beyond their lust? Or am I truly meant to be a doll for their entertainment and use? I can’t stand that thought but at times it feels overwhelmingly true.

I suppose, in the coming hours we shall see. Perhaps I am the doll I am made out to be. Useless now that I have expressed a will of my own. [3] I know I must make my way down to the temple of our lady Athena. For sanctuary of course, stepping foot in the streets would no doubt result in my being torn limb from limb, but also to ask her final guidance.

I have yet to decide how I will face my once husband. It will end in my death, of that I am sure, but what part will I play? I suppose, I shall leave it to the gods and men to decide. And so, this shall act as my final farewell.

[1] Butler, Samuel. trans., The Iliad of Homer Book XXIV, (San Diego: Canterbury Classics, 2011), 355.

[2] Scott, Michael, “The Rise of Women in Ancient Greece," History Today 59, no. 11, November, 2009, https://search-ebscohost-com.login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca/login.aspx?direct=true&db=rch&AN=45086611&site=eds-live&scope=site. 34-40.

[3] Katz, Marilyn, “Ideology and ‘The Status of Women’ in Ancient Greece,” History and Theory 31, no. 4, December 1, 1992, doi:10.2307/2505416, 70–97.

[Image Credit] Hellen and Paris, c. 380 – c. 370 BC, Side A from an Apulian red-figure bell-krater, Tales of Times Forgotten, 602 x 494 cm, https://talesoftimesforgotten.com/2019/08/24/what-did-helen-of-troy-look-like/.

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thebadboyfanclub · 4 years

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She Will Learn (Rio x Reader)

Look I will let y’all in on a little secret, the way this account is going to work is by me seeing your requests, making a mental note to finish them and then getting an idea for another imagine that wasn’t requested but can’t move on until I write it so.... Enjoy!

P.S I chose Greece cause I am from there and I never see us anywhere

(Y/n) had met Rio when she was about to graduate college, a business major that was striving for being the first millionaire in her family. She came from a lower middle class first generation immigrant from Greece, her parents were troopers for successfully raising her and her siblings, they never had things to spare yet they had enough to be respectful.

He saw her at a restaurant, completely overdressed and accessorized like she was dining in France, however she somehow made it look like she didn’t think about what she was going to wear, like this was her natural way of dressing, her nails were done and he noticed how... soft her hands looked.

What intrigued him was that she was extremely kind to everyone, she smiled brightly at the waiters and she would often reach over to her friends for a touch of encouragement of just a simple caress, she exuded confidence that made you feel like you would never dare to touch her, still she carried herself with elegance and in a graceful manner.

“Excuse me, can you tell me who are the girls at the table over there?”

“Oh they haven’t been here before but I can tell you they are here to celebrate for the girl in the red dress, it’s her birthday”

“Oh is it? Send them a bottle of champagne please”

“Right away Sir”

He was never the flashy type of guy, he never cared for stuff that showed his status or economic achievements, people that had money knew to never flaunt it carelessly. When it came to her, he felt the need to show off, to woo her and catch her eye, she had this sense of luxury, she looked like she took care of herself way too much to let men not treat her anything less than that.

He watched her face switch into surprise when the waiter came with the bottle of champagne, a few seconds after that her gaze went to him, as the waiter pointed towards him and then proceeded to open the bottle of bubbly.

She had noticed him when she entered for a few moments, although she decided that since it was her big night she wouldn’t waste time gawking at good looking men, she had saved money for months to be able to afford the finest for her big day, every year she wanted her birthday to be like the life she wanted. She send him a smile as her hand went to her heart to show gratitude for the gift.

Except that didn’t feel like enough, she felt like she could push it a bit more, try her luck just a bit, she looked too good to worry about a man turning her down, he would have to be mad or blind to do so.

She walked to him with the glass of champagne in her hand, giving him the chance to take her in. Her legs were exposed as the dress went to the middle of her thigs, they shined and looked so smooth making him wonder how good would it feel to touch them. She had a figure of a dream, as her hips swayed with every step, her posture was proud and she walked like a supermodel, if he didn’t know the owner he would have thought she was the one that had not just the restaurant, the entire block.

“I don’t think we’ve met, I’m (y/n), I wanted to thank you for the champagne, you really didn’t have to”

“I wanted to darling, I’m Christopher but people call me Rio, how wonderful to meet you”

He said, taking her delicate hand in his and pressing a light kiss on soft skin. He could smell the lotion of vanilla she had chosen to moisturize her skin, settle yet unforgettable. His raspy voice made her flustered, trying to mask it with a smirk and confidence, he was intriguing to her, the cool, calm and collected exterior that suited him so much.

“I wish I could stay and talk but I don’t like leaving my friends by themselves”

“I understand darling, we’ll be in touch”

It had been years since then, he had managed to not only stay in touch with you but make her the queen of his life. She was an asset that he so desperately needed, he trusted her with his life and knew she had the best intentions for him, her loyalty was iron made, her degree came in handy when he needed to handle business in a discreet manner, she was the master mind behind a lot of his negotiations, her brilliance on playing the trophy wife that didn’t know anything in front of others was the secret behind his success.

She is his secret weapon, so secret that no one knew she even existed, the few that did didn’t even know her name and the people that knew were the most trusted ones that worked with Rio for years, she liked to be under wraps, walking in and out of the building with the men Rio had hire to protect her and the rookies wondered who was she, he only called her with pet names when others were around but they could only address her as “Miss”, she was the miss of the mister and his most trusted soldier.

Despite that, (y/n) was no fool. She had broken up with Rio and called of the engagement several times, making Rio go wild every time. She wasn’t unreasonable, Rio was out of line a lot of the times, especially when Beth came in the picture, his men feared her just as much as him, maybe even more, so when she found out they had done such major damage multiple times but still took them back in, she would pack her stuff and leave without warning, leaving her ring and a note that wrote “goodbye” behind. That’s when he would hook up with Beth, make up for the loss of his queen, yet when he had manage to convince her to come back and buy her a new ring every time, he felt like he was on top of the world.

“Be honest with me Mick, who did this to him?”

“Everything points in one target, Beth”

“Of course. Thank you Mick, I got him”

She stood by him throughout his healing process, waited patiently until he was back on her feet, took care of his bullet wounds and had many sleepless nights to make sure he was alright. She was his wife to be after all, even kept in contact with Rhea and Marcus, made sure they were alright and taken care of in any way, shape or form.

“Are you ready mama?”

“Almost, can you help me with the necklace”

They were there when Rhea got the call from Beth, acting like there friends even though she caused Rios life and invited her for drinks. Rio knew (y/n) was boiling, wanted to take revenge for what Beth had caused and this time he understood, so they got dressed up to meet her instead of Rhea.

As Rio approached and took the necklace in his hands he saw it was the necklace he bought her for their one year anniversary, her birth stone surrounded with diamonds. When (y/n) let her hair down he got a whiff of her scent, still making him feel weak in the knees, he got closer to her and wrapped his one arm around her, his lips found the nape of her neck and left light kisses. She closed her eyes for a second to enjoy the feeling of warmth and lust he brought her.

“You look beautiful princess”

“It’s my first time meeting her isn’t it?”

“What have you planned gorgeous?”

“That’s for me to know and for her to find out, let’s go daddy”

She knew exactly who she was. Seeing the back of her head made her want to pull out her gun and blast her right then and there, that wouldn’t be classy now wouldn’t it? She approached the clueless woman and sat on her left side, leaving the right seat empty for Rio to join later.

“Can I get dirty martini please? Thank you dear”

She instructed the bartender before taking off the faux black fur coat to reveal a Split Floor-Length Sleeveless Spaghetti Strap Pullover black dress. The first thing Beth noticed about the young woman that sat next to her was the big diamond ring that she wore on her ring finger, mentally thinking of what that girl had done to earn it

‘she probably hasn’t worked a day in her life’ she thought, making herself feel a little bit better, she had to admit that she looked really pretty, the jewelry she had on complimented her skin tone and the dress looked like it was custom made. (Y/n) waited for her drink to arrive before she looked at Beth and got ready to reveal her identity.

“You must be Beth, I don’t believe we’ve officially met. I’m (y/n)”

Beth looked at her puzzled. How did the young woman that looked like she was some old mans pretty young thing to show off knew her. (Y/n) was smiling as she took a sip of her cocktail, knowing damn well that Beth had already made up her mind about what type of woman (y/n) was and completely missing the purpose of this meeting.

“How do you know my name”

“Oh I know everything about you, where you live, the names of your children, your sister Annie and your friend Ruby. Rio has told me all about you”

“Rio? How-”

“I know he doesn’t talk about it, I like to be invisible to the public eye... his secret weapon as some would say. I also know you are waiting for Rhea”

“She ain’t comin”

Beth heard Rio’s voice and her eyes went wide with fear. (Y/n) let out a soft giggle and took one more sip of her drink as Beth turned to look at him like she had seen a ghost, judging by how pale she had gotten she was more of that vibe than he was.

“Excuse me, can we get a glass of neat whiskey for the gentleman? Thank you so much”

(Y/n) ordered once more before hoping off her chair and joining Rio. He snaked his arm around her and brought her as close to him as he could before placing a kiss on her cheek.

“How you feeling mama?”

“Oh I was just having a chat with Beth”

“A-are y-you”

“His fiancé? Yes, we are planning on getting married on my homeland during the summer, aren’t we daddy?”

(Y/n) started rubbing Rios back as she smiled at him, she was super excited for her wedding, he had given her complete control to do whatever she wanted, it was her big day and he knew better than to object to anything.

“Oh we have to show her something”

Rio reached for his pocket and (Y/n) looked over at Beth who was in the verge of a mental breakdown. Rio pulled out his three bullets that the doctor had pulled out from his body, (y/n) wanted to throw them away but he insisted in keeping them, reminding him how he cheated death.

“Lung, spline, shoulder”

He put each one down in front of her. Beth had terrible aim and for once (y/n) was thankful that one of their rookies missed the shots. Beth stayed silent, taking in all the information, not only was he alive he also had a woman he was planning to marry, calling him “daddy” right in her face, she looked like she was straight out of a magazine and even thought she was kind to her that terrified her more, her entire life was crumbling in front of her.

“Now I think you understand that you are in a bit of a jam, Christopher has agreed that I should decide your punishment since he wanted to kill you-”

“Don’t, do that. I’m sorry babydoll, she will learn”

Beth had tried to leave in the middle of (y/n)’s sentence, making Rio grab Beth by the arm and restrain her from doing so. (Y/n) stayed stoic and just watched the scene unravel, she knew Rio would never allow anyone to disrespect her. As Beth sat back down Rio smiled (y/n) before taking her hand once more and placing a kiss on her knuckles. (Y/n) reached for his face and caressed his cheek with her free hand making Beth sick to her stomach, he had never looked at her like that, with such admiration and love.

“It’s alright, I will let it pass this one time”

“Go on mama”

“I feel like it would be too easy to kill you, such an easy way out. So now you will work for me”

“What?”

Beth felt her stomach twist at the statement. Working with (y/n), having to do daily tasks for her, a woman she had no idea even existed an hour ago, now she had work under her and take orders from her directly, for a second she thought that death would be better. (Y/n) left Rio’s side for a second and took Beth by the shoulders, standing right behind her, Beth’s eyes fell on her shinny ring, that only felt like someone was rubbing salt over her wound, he had probably spend a fortune for it. (Y/n) leaned closer to Beth getting next to her ear and causing goosebumps on Beth’s body.

“Think of it as an assistant or maybe help Rio with anything he needs but mostly you will be on call for anything I need. Since you wanted to outsmart Rio and spit where you eat, I need some help to plan the wedding and also take care of our business. What do you think darling?”

“I think it’s an excellent idea”

Rio was pleasantly surprised. (Y/n) was one of the most intelligent people he knew, bring Beth so close to her and making her work for their wedding even though she knew she had slept with him was a very cruel and mentally humiliating way to punish her.

She truly was one of the greatest choices he had ever done, no one could compete with her, she held such power that made Rio feel like he could not only trust her but also submit to her, let her take the wheel and not having to worry about anything going wrong. As he watched her look over at Beth there was no comparison, (y/n) had such way of carrying herself, that je ne sais quoi as some would say, she was the embodiment of female divine energy.

Rio knew that her leaving him all these times was a game of push and pull, making him work for her and a mental slap in the face, yet every time he ran to her like an obedient dog and begged for her to come back and take her spot as his queen in the palace, promised her and gave her everything she wished for, every ring was bigger and better than the one before. It wasn’t like he did it because she wanted it, he was the one that wanted to spoil her, give her everything under the sun, she deserved everything and he was for sure not going to hold back for his sweet little princess.

“And then when all of that is done... Rio can take care of you, I feel like it would bring bad luck to our household if we killed someone before the wedding”

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aimee-maroux · 4 years

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Plato-nic Love (Part I)

I sadly didn’t finish the whole story in time but this is part one of Seren and Plato’s epic love story for the ages XD

Illustrations were done by the wonderful @sigeel 😍😍😍

So this submission is by the two of us!

Plato-nic Love

Seren poured a libation of wine and started working on the grapevine that had been growing in the family garden for a while. At first, her mother had tried to get rid of it but it had proven the essence of indestructable life and so they had accepted its presence much like Seren had come to accept the presence of its patron god. She was about to cut off a branch to use for making a crown later on when she heard a familiar voice. "How is my favourite bacchae?" She sighed. It had been about a year since she had agreed to become his faithful follower and needless to say she was still the only one. "Do you know what day it is?" Seren started frantically going through all the calendars she had studied, from the reconstructed Attic calendar to the Roman calendar before and after the Julian reform -what moon phase were they in again? "You always think we don't care about these things but I have a sursprise for you." Dionysos flashed her a bright smile. "What?" she said flatly. A surprise from a god couldn't possibly mean anything good.

"I SAID: I have a SURPRISE for you!" Confetti and flower petals started raining down on them and from above sounded a rustic melody played on pan pipes. Seren looked up to see Hermes sitting on a treebranch, grinning as he played the instrument his son invented. "Ha ha, very funny, Hermes." Dionysos took Seren by the shoulders. "He was supposed to play the Time Warp. Because it's exactly ONE YEAR TODAY that you became my bacchae and do I have a surprise for you!" "Yeah, you said so. But maybe it would be better if-" "Nonsense! As your patron god I am exceedingly generous. You see, I have noticed your infatuation with Plato." "You don't say." "Yes. Anyway, Hermes was so nice to pay grandfather Kronos a visit and relieve him of a little artef- well, details, it doesn't matter! What is important is that you will get to meet Plato!" "Really?!" There was a nagging voice in Seren's head that told her to be careful but Dionysos had just told her she'd get to meet Plato! "Really. All you have to do is take my hand. But I have another gift for you. Hermes, come down here!" The messenger god swung himself lazily from the tree and floated down until his winged sandals touched the ground. "My brother pointed out that you might have difficulties speaking ancient Greek fluently so he will grant you the ability to speak it like a native for as long as you give up your native English." Seren gaped. "That... is surprisingly thoughtful of you." "Hermes, do it! And no nonsense like giving her a lisp or a foreign accent!" "Of course not. Why would I do that?" Hermes grinned at Seren. "I'd not even be there to see it." "What? Now? Wait!" Seren cried out as divine magic rearranged the synapses in her speech centre. "I did not agree-" "She'll speak fluently once you arrive in Greece," Hermes said, "Once you return, the magic wears off." Dionysos gave his brother a suspicious look. Then he beamed. "Perfect!" Dionysos clapped enthusiastically. "Hold on tight!" He pulled her into his embrace and Seren instinctively hugged him. The world around them began to blur and the heavens seemed to turn back as they sped through time and space. There was a sudden jolt and the world was clear once again. Only, it looked strange. But not strange enough for Seren not to recognise her patron god had spoken the truth. This was ancient Athens! She felt a nasty queasiness but she was much too excited to care about that just now. She had known about polychromy but the sheer explosion of colours in the city made her heart sing. The reconstructions were mere shadows of the vibrant paint on the statues, buildings, and clothes. And the Akropolis! It looked majestic even now but the ruins were nothing compared to the magnificence of colour and architecture. Seren stood in awe, even though they were miles away down in a sidestreet. Potters had laid out their painted vases and other works as they created new ones. Seren couldn't decide what to see first, jumping this way and that until the unsavoury sound of regurgitation briefly diverted her attention. Dionysos leaned against the mudbrick wall of a house and puked his guts out. "How can you be so chipper?" Dionysos groaned, wiping his mouth. "You're mortal!" We travelled both time AND space. You should be barfing like a youth at his first symposion." But Seren just ignored him in her euphoria. "It's Athens!" she cried. "ANCIENT Athens!" "That fleet-foorted son of a-" "What? What is it?!" "Nothing, nothing. Everything is fine. I just..." Dionysos leaned against the mudbrick house. "Hermes could have said something about the inconvenience of travelling." Seren shrugged. Who cared, they were already there. "I want to see EVERYTHING!!! The sculptures! The pottery! The architecture! The clothes..." "Speaking of which..." Dionysos grinned. "We should get you something less 2020. If you want to meet Plato, we need a certain disguise. And you want to look your best for him, right?" Seren screwed up her face. "Plato isn't about looks. He's about the beauty of the soul." "Well, if you want to go dressed in that tasteless pink sweater and leggings combination. But let me tell you, nothing looks better on a woman than a finely woven chiton." "Yeah, you're not at all biased." "It's one of the few things even Apollo and I agree on, so it must be true." Seren would have been happy just roaming the streets of ancient Athens for a couple of days. Or for however long this time thingy would allow. The prospect of meeting Plato both exhilarated and terrified her.

Dionysos bought her an elegant chiton in the extremely crowded agora. Seren hardly suppressed a squeal when he paid with real ancient drachmae. Only they didn't look ancient at all. "Why is nobody staring?" she asked, as another group of people walked past them without paying them any mind. "Did you put glamour over my modern clothes?" Dionysos laughed. "No need, honeybee. This is Athens. At a time like this they get tourists from all over the world. One strange, foreign costume is not going to turn any heads." He pulled her away from the merchants and splendour of the agora into the entrance of a seemingly abandoned house. "Put it on," he said, handing her the chiton. "Don't peek!" she reminded him before she changed into her new garment. It felt cool and pleasant on her skin and the quality of the linen was indeed fantastic. Despite the loose fit the fabric was so delicate it hugged her figure in an almost revealing way, making her feel exposed. "Is this really acceptable dress?" she asked. "Only with this worn over it." Dionysos came up behind her, closing another layer of cloth over her shoulders with simple dress pins. "You look great, honeybee," he said sincerely. "Plato can consider himself lucky. You got the brains, you got the looks, and even that austere, joyless personality to match." "I get the impression you don't like Plato much." Dionysos slung the belt around her waist and fastened it. "What gave it away? My graffiti, my groaning everytime you bring him up, or the charming way I speak about him?" "The graffiti was a pretty obvious hint." "I hope you appreciate my gift all the more, honeybee." "I do." She smiled. "But I don't think I could appreciate it any more than I already do. This is a dream come true. The most exciting day of my life. More exciting even than Delphi." "Be careful not to tell Apollo," Dionysos warned but he looked pleased. "Sure. If I ever run into him I'll remember it." As they stepped outside, the streets were empty. "Where is everybody?" "Oh, it must be time to crown the victors." "Victors? Of what? It's too cold to be July, isn't it?" "Not the Panathenaic Games." Dionysos smiled broadly. "It's not an athletic contest. Today..." He made a dramatic pause. "Is the last day of the Great Dionysia!" "Oh." Seren was disappointed. "So we can't go and watch any of the plays?" "I'm afraid it is too late for that. But I can show you my theatre and the temple with my cult image if you want."

Seren politely admired the simple wooden log that was supposed to be a representation of Dionysos and genuinely marvelled at the masks that had been dedicated below it. She patiently listened to Dionysos as he recounted the story of the very first Dionysia in Athens and how he used to mingle among the crowd every year to watch what the people of Athens had put on the stage in his honour. Once they arrived at the theatre it was already empty but it was a stunning sight all the same. Seeing everything intact and in its full glory filled Seren with unknown joy. The decorations, both permanent and temporary, were as colourful and flamboyant as the god they honoured. When they made it back to the streets of Athens, there were already groups of shouty drunk people roaming about. "Victory parties," Dionysos explained when he saw Seren's face. "In fact, we are about to attend one too. But first..." A purple mist shrouded the god's body and when it dispelled, his simple chiton had given way to a slutty ankle-length skirt that hung low enough to expose part of his bum cheeks, his arms, wrists, and ankles adorned with golden jewellery. "I know you practiced with the aulos. You're gonna be a flute girl." Seren startled. "What? No! I'm not nearly good enough!" Dionysos shrugged, making his golden bracelets clink. "I don't think I need to tell you that other kinds of women are not allowed at symposia. Unless you want to play the role of a hetaira..." "F-Flute girl is fine."

They arrived at a house that obviously belonged to someone well-to-do. "A group of revellers is about to show up here any minute. We'll join them to enter the symposion. Trust me, they're too drunk to realise we don't belong." Seren nodded nervously. "Now would be the time to ditch that respectable dress." Reluctantly, Seren freed herself of the protective extra layer of clothing and received the aulos flutes Dionysos handed her. The revellers did indeed show up. Loud and obnoxious, it was impossible not to notice them. A man in his late 20s or early 30s led the group. Half-naked and well into his cups, crowned with a wreath of ivy and violets, he was all but carried by two sturdy lads who looked like they were half-naked professionally. "Come!" Dionysos tugged on her arm and they danced along, she awkwardly, he with a grace and confidence she envied. The leader of the group pounded against the door and yelled for "Agathon". Seren's heart skipped a beat. "Is that... Alkibiades?!" she whispered to Dionysos. "The very same." "We are at THAT Symposium?!!" "We most certainly are." Seren gaped at the man who would eventually be the ruin of Athens by defecting to Sparta and then to Persia. He rattled the door, shouting "Agathon!" and dropped his single piece of clothing in the process, quickly picked up by his lads. Seren shrieked when the man suddenly leaned heavily on her, his arms reeling for support. Dionysos was quick to jump to his other side, taking most of the load off his bacchae. "AGATHON!" Alkibiades yelled once more, in the manner drunks yelled on their way home from the pub after closing hours. He kept demanding to see Agathon with a heavy tongue until a servant boy finally opened up and led them to the andron. Alkibiades managed to stand on his own, stumbling towards the host of the party while announcing how completely and utterly wasted he was. "Let's bring the bacchic spirit to this lame party!" Dionysos cheered. Seren gazed around with stars in her eyes. The room was bright with torches and the klinai were populated by men both young and old but all shirtless and all with crowns of ivy on their heads. She looked more closely at the guests while Alkibiades spoke to Agathon, probably congratulating him for his victory. But none of the symposiasts looked like any of the artworks she had seen of Plato. They were most likely created after his death anyway. "Soooo..." She leaned on Dionysos' shoulder. "Where is Plato?" Dionysos gestured at the kline at the very end of the room, occupied by two young men. "The dark-haired one."

"THAT is Plato?! I thought he'd be at least in his 30s!" Dionysos grinned a smug grin. "He wrote the Symposion in his late 30s. But this, honeybee, is the year the titular symposion actually took place. The first year of the 91st Olympiad. Or, as you would say, 416 BCE." Seren gaped at the young man seated on a couch with a blond youth. He had long, curly hair crowned with a wreath of ivy like all the symposiasts, young and old. A strong, Greek nose gave his face a distinct personality. Who would have thought the man Seren knew only from his words and artwork showing him as an old man could be so... hot. The blonde guy leaned over, whispering something to him. Maybe they were flirting. It wasn't anything unusual back in the day, Seren knew that. But they seemed to be about the same age. Shouldn't- "Play, flute girl," Dionysos nudged her with his elbow, "I'll clear the kline for you."

Seren watched him shimmy over to the pair and tried to remember how to play the aulos. She had practiced so much but right now it felt as if she knew nothing at all. Her idol, Plato, might be listening! Her cheeks burned as she blew into the wooden instrument, the tune an embarrassing version of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". Despite playing the role of a dancer, Dionysos sat down with the two no doubt aristocratic young men in his usual impudent manner. The blond youth's face turned sour. "What is the meaning of this?" "I came for the entertainment." "We are very well entertained by each other's company, thank you." Dionysos gave the blonde guy a cheeky grin. "Does your company agree?" He crawled on the kline until he basically sat on Plato's lap, prompting the young philosopher to blush. How cute! "Some people can be such a dull affair, talking about nothing but themselves all the time." The angry blond yanked Dionysos off Plato. "This was a philosophical symposion before you arrived!" "Yes. And to shame! You are celebrating a victory at the Dionysia. Where is the revelry?" "There are countless symposia all over Athens. Why did you have to come and ruin this one?" "You know exactly that I didn't ruin anything. But please, if you have any grievances take it up with my master. Alkibiades." "You know what? I will!" The blond aristocrat got up from the kline and grabbed Dionysos by the wrist, effectively pulling him off the kline. He dragged the god behind him as he made for the door, leaving Plato all alone on his bed of colourful cushions. Dionysos winked at her as they passed and it was at that moment that Seren noticed that his "friend" was the only one wearing laurel instead of ivy. Did they just... cock-block Apollon? But not all is lost, she reasoned, if Plato likes Apollon, he likes blondes, right? Right?

Shyly, Seren sat down next to the man whose teachings she still hadn't figured out. And maybe neither did he. He was so young and handsome. She was close enough to smell his heavy perfume and either oil or sweat or both made his chest gleam in the firelight. It really was quite hot in here. He didn't fit the stereotype of the philosopher at all, being so young and handsome and quite brawny. But no matter how hot he was, his physical appearance was dwarfed by the beauty of his brain and thoughts. His intelligence was that much hotter. That being said, Seren liked to think she would be less flustered if the man were old enough to be her father. But he was not. He must be about her own age. "We got rid of the other flute girl." "Wa-What?" "You must know there were already celebrations with heavy drinking last night. Surely you played at Alkibiades' place or some other house?" Seren nodded timidly. "So Pausanias suggested we refrain from drinking tonight and we ended up sending away the flute girl as well. A shame, because before you came in, it was all boring speeches of the old men assembled here. I enjoy the delightful harmony of music much, much more." "You don't like philosophy?" "Of course I do, but not at a drinking party celebrating the Dionysia. You're not from here, are you?" "Ahm, no?" "I don't think I've met a Spartan flute girl. Most of them come from Peiraieús." Seren laughed nervously. What the fuck, Hermes?! "I hope it's not a problem?" she mumbled. "No, no. I'm just surprised. Do you have a name, dear?" "I... I am Seren." "Seiren? What a fitting nickname! My name is-" "I know who you are!" Seren gushed, "I-I-I admire you greatly, Plato!" "Oh?" To Seren's great relief he smiled. "So you have seen me compete?" "Uh, yes, of course!" Seren would be thrilled to see him at any competition, really. "It's just a silly name my wrestling coach gave me. To intimidate my rivals, he says." "I like it!" "You like my broad shoulders, Seiren?" Seren blushed. "No, that's not what I, uh..." "It's all right. Lots of women admire them." "Ahahaha." Was he flirting with her? Or just bragging? "You may be an outstanding athlete," she said, "But I admire your words even more." "My poetry?" Now it was his time to blush. "Did you play it?" "Not yet." Seren decided to be bold, "People want to hear the same songs, Sappho, Pindar and the like. But... But maybe you can teach me how to play yours?" "No I... I burned them all." "Why would you do that?" "I wanted to focus better on my studies. Maybe I made the wrong call. Mousaios, the guy who just left? He said music is like medicine and can create harmony between opposites, that a musical education is helpful in the study of philosophy. Ah, I don't know. I don't want to bore you, flute girl." "You're not boring me, Plato. Please, tell me your thoughts!" And then, all of a sudden, a large drunken group walked into the room and joined the party, Dionysos among them. There was noise everywhere, and Plato leaned in very close and asked: "What do you say, Seiren. Shall we make our excuses and leave?"

to be continued...

#Quarantined Bacchae #The Last Bacchae #fanfiction #The Last Bacchae fanfiction #Linda Sejic #fanart #The Last Bacchae fanart #Seren Calvert #Dionysos #Hermes #Platon #Plato #Apollon #Apollo #Seren x Plato epic love story for the ages?#Plato x Apollo missed romance #I hope you have a good laugh #written with love

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sigmadolos · 2 years

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𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐇𝐄𝐄𝐓 ――

𝐁𝐀𝐒𝐈𝐂𝐒 ――

full name. Sigma nicknames / aliases. Little bird , ( i feel like im forgetting some so may add ) size. 6ft (bc i said so before canon did :/) age. 26 appearing zodiac. Taurus spoken languages. Fluent: Greek , Japanese , English , Italian , French , Spanish , Russian ( not written cursive) Learning: Irish , German , Chinese. And he knows bits and pieces of several other languages to be able to have a basic conversation with guests

𝐏𝐇𝐘𝐒𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐋 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐒 ――

hair color. half white , half frost blue eye color. silver skin tone. very fair body type. slender dominant hand. ambidextrous , typically chooses his right posture. upright but very graceful and welcoming , seems confident most of the time. prone to flighty , nymph-like movements when excited ( however it drastically changes to slumping and making himself smaller when panicking ) scars. deep ones on his upper forearm and ankles from the shackles cutting in during his enslavement which are very sensitive , the back of his head near the base of his hair just a bit lower and behind the ear , a few near his hips & his back tattoos. none birthmarks. none most noticeable features. either his hair OR how warm his eyes are when playing casino manager role.

𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐋𝐃𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐃 ――

place of birth. N/A ( Will answer Nafplio, Greece ) hometown. N/A ( Will answer Nafplio, Greece ) siblings. N/A parents. N/A ( Will speak about a mother and father )

𝐀𝐃𝐔𝐋𝐓 𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐄 ――

occupation. casino manager ; terrorist current residence(s). the sky casino close friends. Nikolai Gogol , Fyodor Dostoevsky , a couple of his staff but only as a manager not his real self relationship status. verse dependent financial status. formerly completely broke , now extremely wealthy from casino success. driver’s license. Possesses an International Driver's License ( is it real ? that’s for him to know. ) criminal record. None , up till his ties with the Decay of Angels were revealed. vices. None particularly

𝐒𝐄𝐗 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐑𝐎𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄 ――

sexual orientation. pansexual ( preference to men ) preferred sexual role. dominant turn-ons. neck kisses , marking , teasing , pulling his hair , eye contact , hearing his partner , turn-offs. restraint without warning , excessive force (he doesn’t mind some force but anything super aggressive nope) love language. he’ll adapt to his partners. literally anything , he’ll take anything and give anything. relationship tendencies. adjusting behavior according to what his partners like ; surprise gift giving , sharing things he’s passionate about , taking care of them , lots of nicknames especially in greek ( i literally have a list ) , worship-like devotion , flirty teasing , learning about things his partner is passionate about , quoting lines of poetry or greek sayings , doing near anything for his partner , the list goes on and on. he’s very loving.

𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐂𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐄𝐎𝐔𝐒 ――

character’s theme song. fall from the sky - arilena ara , though admittingly whenever i hear Gambling Man - the overtones i think of Sigma too bc the casino theme. hobbies to pass time. painting , sketching , sculpting , reading mythology from various cultures , gambling with those skilled enough , but normally he’s busy memorizing clients information , habits , etc. mental illnesses. Panic disorder brought on by triggers , Extreme Low Self-Esteem ( it literally does not exist he has no value on himself ) left or right brained. Right but quite a bit of left for certain things phobias. there’s not a term , but chains & handcuffs. Being bound isn’t it , but those specific items will set off his panic disorder if they’re directed at him self-confidence level. confidence ? High in the casino , significantly lower after. Self Worth/Value ? You literally cannot get lower then him.

tagged by: @soukouku & @parieha tagging: idk who hasnt done it yet

#study || beneath the perfect mask #i forgot i made this tag besides just my headcanon tag #whoops...#hcs || tragedy was sewn into your soul

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nataliedanovelist · 3 years

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GF - How A Star Is Born ch.VIII

A Hercules AU, founded by @evaroze, whom this fic is a gift for. I hope y’all like it!

ch.VII - ch.IX

AO3 link

~~~~~~~~~~

A year after Dipper’s first victory and it felt like Gideon had died a thousand deaths.

Dipper became the most famous hero in all of Greece. He defeated every single monster or villain he had come up against, from angry warthogs that he served to the king on a grill, to wicked shapeshifters, to mad ex-girlfriends of Stan’s. No foe could stand against this hero in any way, shape, or form, and unfortunately this was very bad news for Gideon and Bill.

Bill left his minion alone to smoke and recover from being burned alive, shaking with red anger as he watched the fallen god press his hands into concrete with his teacher by his side, smiling proudly. “I can’t believe this! How is that little twerp still alive?!”

“W-W-We still have time…” Gideon whimpered, curled up and lying on his side.

“I’ve got twenty-four hours to get rid of this bozo!” Bill screamed as he towered over his slave. “The scheme I’ve been setting up for thousands of years is going up in smoke thanks to you! And all you can say is WE’VE STILL GOT TIME?!” And Bill snapped his fingers once more and Gideon was engulfed in flames, crying and yelling in unbearable pain.

Pacifica, with her back to the chaos, was smiling at the hero and enjoying the show all around her. “Tough luck, looks like Dippin’ Dots is hitting every curve you throw at him.”

Bill’s red instantly went away as he stared at the young woman before him. His eyes squinted happily and he floated to her side. “Hm, maybe I haven’t been throwing the right curves at him…”

“Don’t even go there.”

“See, Llama, he’s gotta have a weakness, everybody’s got one. We just need to find out Pinetree’s.”

“I totally did my part,” Pacifica scoffed. “Make Marshmallow over there do it.”

“He couldn’t handle him as an infant.” Bill sneered. “I need someone who can… handle him as a man.”

“Look, I’ve sworn off man-handling.” Pacifica snapped and walked away.

“Well, hey that’s good!” Bill laughed, making the young woman stop. “Cuz that’s what gotcha into this jam in the first place, isn’t it? You sold your soul to me to save your father’s life. And how did the guy thank you? By throwing you out when no one wanted to marry you and give dowry? He hurt you real bad, didn’t he? It hurt that no one wants the bratty little Llama, didn't it?”

“I get it, I learned my lesson, okay?” Pacifica croaked as she held her forehead.

“Hey, hey,” Bill cooed and placed a friendly hand on either one of her shoulders. “I tell you what, since I feel sorry for you, I’ll make you a new offer. You give me the key to taking down Wonderboy, and I’ll give you the thing you want more than anything in the whole Multiverse: your freedom.”

Pacifica’s eyes widened and her pupils shrunk as her mouth hung open.

~~~~~~~~~~

Through the fast-pacing, slightly-overwhelming year, the Temple of the Gods became Dipper’s sanctuary. At night, he would sneak away from prying eyes and visit his family, feeling all of his stress and pressure melt away.

Now not only bound to a small journal, Dipper and Mabel could talk more freely. Even more so now that Dipper funded a statue of the young muse to be put in the temple, and now a Mabel made of stone could hug him and punch his shoulder and talk and skip around him, even if she couldn’t feel his warmth or if she risked breaking bones, but he had god-like strength, so who cares? Their bond became even stronger as they swapped stories and got to know each other very well. Many times Mabel would happily sit criss-cross and listen and watch as her twin brother retold his victories to her.

This evening, however, Dipper seemed very tired. He sat at the foot of the huge statue of the Ruler of the Gods and Mabel looked down at him softly before sitting next to him in her statued-form. “Hey, what’s the matter?”

Dipper blinked and shook his head. “N-Nothing!”

Mabel smiled cockily and poked his ribs to lightly tickle him. “C’mon, you can’t hide anything from me. What’s up?”

The young hero sighed and leaned back with his hands on the steps behind him. “It’s just… I’m the most famous person of all in Greece, right?”

“Right.”

“And I’ve beaten every monster I’ve met, right?”

“Right.”

“I’m even an action-figure.” Dipper added as he threw his hands up in the air.

“Yeah,” Mabel said slowly. “So?”

Dipper looked at his long-lost sister and asked her heavily, “So why am I not a god?”

Mabel’s eyes widened in realization before she looked down at her long dress. “Oh.”

“To rejoin the gods, I gotta become a true hero.” Dipper restated. “What, am I missing something? Did I do something wrong?”

“No,” Mabel said quickly and patted his shoulder reassuringly. “You’ve been doing great! And hey, you’ve only been at it for, what, a year? You’re just… not there yet. Remember, there’s a difference between being a hero and a true hero, but you’ll get there one day, I know you will.”

Dipper smiled at her and said, “Thanks, Mabel. You’re right. I just have to be patient.”

“Besides, you’ve got plenty of time.” Mabel reminded him with a giggle. “It’s not like you’re gonna die soon or something.”

Dipper laughed alongside her, though he couldn’t quite shake the desire that he would rather be home sooner or later.

~~~~~~~~~~

Dipper walked back to his very large house after going through the lush garden. He had tried not to have a home so big but he had earned so much gold that even after donating to the orphanage he grew up in and many other causes like feeding the poor and providing housing for the homeless, he still had more money than he knew what to do with and Stan seemed to really enjoy living in the lap of luxury, so they met halfway and had a very nice house that was big but not so big that they required five maids.

Dipper entered his home and could see candlelight coming from down the hall. The old man must still be awake. The young hero smiled and moved down the hall to tease his teacher, but as he turned a corner, he was met with something that scared him much more than any monster.

“STAN!” Dipper dashed to him and was on his knees, the old man lying on the cold floor with a dripping candle by his side, a miracle the house hadn’t been caught on fire thanks to being made of stone. “Stan, can you hear me?!”

Dipper helped the unconscious man sit up to get a good look at him. He appeared more dead than alive, but the hero refused to believe it. He scooped the old man up in his arms and ran as fast as he could to the doctor, praying to the gods that Stan would be okay.

~~~~~~~~~~

Mabel was humming to herself as she emerged from her room, having finished meditating and projecting herself onto a statue to talk to her brother. She grew worrisome, however, when she saw her great-uncle sitting at the front steps of the temple, holding his face, covering his eyes, and breathing heavily, like he was struggling with his emotions.

“Grunkle Ford,” Mabel said softly as she hurried to his side and put kind hands on his shoulders. “What’s the matter?”

He looked up at his niece with heavy, shining eyes that refused to cry. “It’s Stanley. He’s running out of time.”

~~~~~~~~~~

“These things happen,” A doctor calmly explained. “As a person ages their bodies start to fail them gradually over time. From what we can tell, Stan had a heart attack. Slight damage to the heart, nothing extremely life-threatening, but a good sign that his time is running out. I wouldn’t quite count the days yet, but I would also advise you value your time with him while you can. I’m so sorry.”

Dipper was now left alone to dwell on the news. He knew Stan wasn’t exactly young, but he always seemed unstoppable, so lively, that the idea of him dying was scary and already made the young hero very mournful. He made himself get up from his stool in the hallway to enter the door his teacher was in, but he was surprised to find Stan standing up and slipping on his cloak. “There you are, let’s blow this joint already.”

“Stan!” Dipper scolded. “What are you doing out of bed?!”

“What, I’m fine now, kid.” Stan waved Dipper’s worries away casually. “Relax. Let’s just go home, I got a bottle of expired grape juice waiting for me.”

“Stan, this is serious!”

“Look, I don’t blame you for being worried, but I need you to trust me on this.” Stan said firmly with kind brown eyes, giving Dipper a firm pat on the shoulder. “I’m fine, okay?”

“But…” Dipper allowed Stan to lead the way out of the room and throughout the hospital for the quiet night. “But… you’re dying.”

“In a way we all are, kid.”

“But…”

“Dipper, listen to me.” Stan interrupted and gave the young hero a stern look as they walked down the street of Thebes. “I’m an old man, I’ve lived a very long life. I’ve known I was dying for a long time, but none of that matters to me. All that matters is that you become a true hero and get to be with your family, whether I get to see it or not.”

“But… I want you to see it.” Dipper sighed. He was very tired. He could feel so much on his shoulders, he always felt like the entire world was on his shoulders, and as they days wore on it was getting harder to ignore. He sat at a large fountain in town-square and looked at his mentor heavily. “I know you won’t be around forever, but… you’re like family to me, Stan. I want you to see me become a true hero. I want to make you proud. I want you to see me in the stars like you want.”

“Hey hey,” Stan sat next to him slowly and patted his back. “Way to get all sappy on me, hero. And where’s all this coming from? I am proud of you. I’ve always been proud of you. Since day one, I’ve been so proud of you and happy I got to teach you. I know you’ll make it someday, I know you’ll be up in the stars and be with your sister, and that’s good enough for me.”

Dipper smiled sadly, a bit overwhelmed but still appreciative. “Still, I… Am I doing something wrong? I thought I’d be a true hero by now? What more can I do?”

“Being a true hero is something you gotta discover for yourself.” Stan said and poked at Dipper’s strong chest. “You gotta look inside all this squishy stuff. Dig a little deeper. But you got something I’ve never seen in anybody, and I know that’s gonna make you into a god someday, just you wait and see.”

Dipper still couldn’t shake the feeling like he didn’t want to wait for someday to come, but he still smiled and thanked Stan for his words.

~~~~~~~~~~

Miraculously, despite his lifeline being short, Stan was just as energetic and lively as always the next day. Dipper tried to talk him into resting, but the old man refused and was there for all of Dipper’s obligations. Stan was right by his side for the opening of the newest gym, he happily partake in lunch with Dipper and the mayor of Thebes, and in the afternoon they went home to change into nicer togas for a modeling show.

Stan said something about a quick nap and went to his room to snooze the warm afternoon away. Dipper chuckled and was nearly scared to death when a soothing voice from beside a pillar said, “Oh this is what heroes do on their days off?”

Dipper grinned and greeted her warmly. It had been a long time since he had last seen her. “Wow, Pacifica! It’s great to see you again, I… I missed you.”

Pacifica approached slowly and smiled slyly at him. “Thanks, Dippin’ Dots. Man, you look good, but rough. When was the last time you had a break?”

“Oh, I rest, Stan…”

“You know I never really thanked you for saving my life, did I?” Pacifica interrupted. “How about dinner?”

As much as a date with such a beautiful girl made Dipper want to do a backflip, his immediate concern was leaving Stan alone for too long. “Oh, I dunno, Stan’s got the day booked and…”

“He’ll be okay, he’s taking a nap, isn’t he?” Pacifica asked. “He can rest, you can get some fresh air and some food. Come on, my treat.”

Dipper smiled sheepishly and she put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed, baby blue eyes sparkling at him like a beautiful spring sky. Swallowing, the young smitten hero nodded. “Okay, sure.”

#GF #gravity falls #gravity falls au #gift #fanfiction #stangst

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jeannereames · 3 years

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Writing Historical Fiction (Well)

From an anonymous ask:

"What advice would you give to someone who wants to write about Alexander?" Sorry I didn't clarify, I was thinking of writing a fictional novel (but do not plan to publish it, lol)

If you’re just writing for yourself with no plans to publish, you don’t have to worry about constraints like wordcount and publishability. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to sell mainstream historicals. Selling a genre historical is easier (historical fantasy, historical mystery, historical romance). But there’s a reason it took me 30 years to get Dancing with the Lion into print. Yes, some of that time I was actually writing it, but much more was devoted to finding a market for it, and notice that I did, finally, have to sell it as genre even though it isn’t really. (It was that or shelve it forever.)

Yet if you’re asking for my recommendations, I assume you want to write something that’s marginally readable. Ergo, what follows is general advice I’d give anybody writing historical fiction.

For historicals, one must keep track of two things simultaneously: telling a good story, and portraying history accurately enough. It’s possible to do one well, but the other quite badly.

First, let’s look at how to write a good story.

There are two very basic sorts of stories: the romance, and the novel. Notice it’s romance small /r/. A romance is an adventure story; in romances, the plot dominates and characters serve the plot. A novel is character-driven, so plot events serve character development. Dancing with the Lion is a novel.

Once you’ve decided which of those you’re writing, you have a better handle on how to write it. You also need to know where you’re going: what’s the end of the story? What are the major plot points? Writers who dive in with no road map tend to produce bloated books that require massive edits. That said, romances will almost always be faster paced, in part because “what’s happening” drives it. Whereas in novels, the impact of events on characters drives it. Exclusive readers of romances are rarely pleased by the pacing of novels. They’re too slow: “Nothing is happening!” Things are happening, but internally, not externally.

Yet pacing does matter. Never let a scene do one thing when it can do three.

You will want to pay attention to something called “scene and sequel.” A “scene” is an event and a “sequel” are the consequences. So let’s say (as in my current MIP [monster in progress]) you open with a fugitive from the city jail racing through the streets with guards following: he leaps the wall of a rich man’s house and ends up in the bedroom of a visiting prince. That’s the scene. The sequel is the fall-out. (House searched, prince hides fugitive, prince gets fugitive to tell him why he’s running.) Usually near the end of the sequel(s) to the first scene, you embed the hook to the next (a slave of the rich man has been found murdered outside the city walls). The next scene concerns recovering the body and what they discover (then fall-out from that). Etc., etc., etc.

That’s how stories progress. Or don’t progress, if the author can’t master scene-sequel patterns.

It also means—again—you need to know where you’re going. Outlines Are Your Friends. But yes, your plot can still take a sharp left-hand turn that surprises you…they almost always do.

When I sat down to write Dancing with the Lion, I knew three things:

1) I wanted to write about Alexander before he became king.

2) I wanted to explore his relationship with Hephaistion.

3) I especially wanted to consider how both became the men they’d did.

With those goals in mind, I could frame the story. Because I always intended Hephaistion to be as important as Alexander, the novel opens in his point-of-view to establish that. And because I didn’t want to deal with Alexander as king, the novel had to end before he became one. History itself gives a HUGE and obvious gift in the abrupt murder of Philip. Where to open was harder to decide, but as I wanted to explore the boys’ friendship and its impact on their maturation into men, I should logically begin with their meeting, and decided not to have them meet too young. From there, I spun out Hephaistion’s background, and his decision to run away from home to join the circus, er, I mean Pages. 😉

IMO, Alexander’s story is Too Big to do in a single novel, or you get an 800+ page monstrosity like Chris Cameron’s God of War. The author must decide on what piece of the story she wants to tell. (Or, like me, view it as a series.)

So that’s (in a nutshell) how you construct a story.

As for the historical side, there are three levels here:

1) What the world looks like (details).

2) The events that take place.

3) How people living in that world understand life, the universe, and everything.

Number two is probably the easiest. Numbers one and three require deeper research on all sorts of things. Sometimes historical novels spend all their time on number one and completely forget number three exists.

The past is a foreign country. Just as you wouldn’t (or at least shouldn’t) write a novel set in Japan (if you’re American) without learning something not only about the physical country but also the customs…same with stories set in the past.

This is why the Oliver Stone movie failed. He put modern people in a costume drama. He didn’t understand how ancient Macedonians (or Greeks or Persians) thought. So he committed crazy anachronisms like the oedipal complex between Alexander and Olympias. Freud may have named his theory after a Greek hero, but it’s largely a foreign idea to the Greek mind. (Whether it’s valid at all is a topic for another day).

The author has to let ancient people be properly ancient.

Problem: what do you do when they’re SO foreign they’re impossible to understand for modern readers—or their attitudes are outright offensive?

Well, if you don’t plan to get your story published, you don’t have to worry about that. Or not as much. But if you want to share it with others, you might still want to consider it.

There are two basic approaches:

1) Introduce your world through a “stranger” who enters it.

2) Spread out more “modern” views among various characters in the story, to give modern readers something familiar to hang onto.

The first of those is by far the most common. So in Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander, Claire Randall—quite literally a modern woman—introduces the modern reader to Jacobite Scotland. As she learns about her new world, so does the reader, and in Claire, the reader has a voice to express both their fascination and their horror of that world. In Judith Tarr’s Lord of the Two Lands, she uses Meriamon, an Egyptian priestess, to enter the Macedonian world of Alexander. Judy can then contrast Egyptian and Macedonian cultural values in order to explain them. Meriamon asks questions the reader wants answers to—or Niko (or Alexander) ask questions of her about Egypt.

The second choice (which is what I did in Dancing) is to identify cultural mores likely to offend modern readers: indifference to slavery, glorification of war and conquest, Greco-Macedonian attitudes towards women, and Greco-Macedonian attitudes towards sexuality. Then to assign one of the characters to voice a more modern view. Alexander gets to be a proto-feminist, and I gave points of view to two women. One of those women, I made a slave. Hephaistion gets to express a more modern view regarding the horrors of war. Sexuality was a bit tougher, but I used the boys’ atypical relationship—that the younger is the one of higher status—to illustrate Greco-Macedonian assumptions about what a male-male relationship should look like.

That approach presents more hurdles, but for my purposes, I preferred it.

I harp on this because it’s the biggest problem for historical fiction: not having historical characters! It wrecks what might otherwise be decent research into the details. No matter how much you look up what they ate, how they dressed, the way their houses were laid out…if you have them behaving anachronistically, it’s a bad historical. Or if you have circumstances that just wouldn’t occur.

Let me give an example. I’ve said before that, when I started writing the novel in December of 1988, Dancing always began with a run-away boy (Hephaistion). But in my initial version, he showed up in Pella incognito. The more I read about Macedonia, however, the more I realized that was virtually impossible. There just weren’t that many Hetairoi. He’d have been recognized, and probably sooner rather than later. So I went back to the drawing board and, instead of having him try to hide, he comes right out and says who he is, and that he wants to join the Pages. It might take away the “mystery,” but set up more interesting dynamics: would Philip let him stay? What would his father do? Etc.

That requires the author know enough about the culture to know what’s possible, probable, and impossible. It also requires the author to be willing to change original plans in order to reflect reality, not insist on doing ___ anyway.

A good example of jettisoning history in favor of “what I want to do!” can be found in David Gemmell’s Lion of Macedon. So many, many things wrong with that book, starting with his choice to make Parmenion a Spartan for no historical reason whatsoever—but (I assume?) because Spartans Are Sexy. Parmenion likely belonged to the royal house of Upper Macedonian Pelagonia. Although even if he didn’t, absolutely nothing suggests he wasn’t Macedonian, and quite a lot says he was. The whole duology (with included The Dark Prince) was essentially Blue Boltz ™ Epic Fantasy Does Greece. The fact he actually included a bibliography in back, and got weird, isolated details right only added insult to injury.

Yet Gemmell was a best-selling British fantasy novelist who knew pacing and how to spin a good yarn. For a reader with zero knowledge of Alexander, it would stack up as a predictable but tolerable fantasy set.

Remember that as an historical fiction author, your job is to practice the art of getting it right. If that isn’t important to you, please God, write something completely made up.

At the spectrum’s other end is Showing Notecards on Every Page. You’ve done ALL that hard research, and you’ll be damn sure the reader knows it!

Um, the reader doesn’t care. The reader wants to be transported to another world. How locals in that world shoed horses (or if they shoed horses at all) is irrelevant. It matters only if your main character’s a farrier. And even then, it matters only if said-farrier is having a conversation with someone else while shoeing a horse.

If people want all the little details of history, they’ll read a history book.

Now, how much detail is “too much” can vary from reader to reader, and often has something to do with the genre.

Regular readers of historical fiction are fans because they enjoy history. So they’ll expect proper world-building. But they don’t want the Dreaded Information Dump. Weave in details. The Dreaded Information Dump is a common beginning-author error across the board, but especially bad in certain genres, such as historicals, fantasy, and SF.

What’s an “information dump”? It’s where the author provides details the reader doesn’t need at that point in the story. What the character looks like, is wearing, their family background, what they had for breakfast….

As mentioned, details should be woven into the story organically. What your character had for breakfast matters only if, later, it’s giving him/her gas: “Damn those beans in my breakfast burrito!” Some details may be useful to set a scene and prevent characters from walking around, having conversations in a void, but again, a light touch.

Similarly, One scene, One head. We do NOT need to see everything from each character’s point of view. No, really. We don’t. And dear God, please don’t “head-hop” inside of scenes (unless you’re writing omniscient, but be sure you know what omniscient IS). Drives me BUGGY.

Anyway, back to the Notecard Showing Problem. As noted above, genre expectations and reader preferences often dictate what IS “too much detail.” Generally, historical Romance (the genre) and historical mysteries go lighter on detail than historical fantasy or plain historicals. That’s because the former two have genre conventions that work against it. Romances preference the love story front-and-center at all times, and mysteries have a mystery to unravel. E.g, they’re plot driven. By contrast, historical fantasies tolerate more world building because world building itself is a feature of fantasy (and science fiction too). And the appeal of mainstream or literary historicals IS the world building, so you get massive novels like Ken Follet’s Pillars of the Earth.

I’m blathering now, but hopefully this gives pointers not just about writing Alexander, but writing fiction period, and historical fiction in particular.

#historical fiction #writing #the writing life #writing how-to #Alexander the Great #Dancing with the Lion #ancient Greek fiction #scene and sequel #asks

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reallifesultanas · 4 years

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Portrait of Pargali Ibrahim Pasha/Pargali Ibrahim pasa portréja

Of the many particularly colorful individuals who surrounded Suleiman I, Ibrahim Pasa, nicknamed “makbul” (favorite) and “maktul” (executed), was one of the most interesting characters.

Origin and life as a slave

Ibrahim was around the same age as Suleiman, so most probably he was born around 1495 in Parga, Northeastern Greece. However he was most probably not a typical greek, because he spoke a slavic dialect, near to croatian. This is not surprising, since in the Parga territories a lot os slav family lived. Maybe Ibrahim's family was one of them, or maybe he came from a mixed slav and greek family. Some sources even suggest he was an Albanian. We don’t know too many things on his natural family, except that his father was a sailor or fisherman.

It is not known surely when and how was he captured. There are old legends, without any valide evidence. One of these stories says that he was captured by Türks and then he found himself at the slave market, where a widow from Manisa bought him. This woman raised him very well, educated him, taught him how to play violin. They say when Süleyman arrived to Manisa as a governor he heard the violin play of Ibrahim. He immediatelly started to search for the source of music, when find Ibrahim. He was charmed by his musical and as well as other talents and took him into his princely household. There with time a strong, life-long friendship formed between the two youngster. It sounds very nice, but doesn't really seems plausible.

There is another story, which seems more accurate and there are second-hand evidences to support this theory. It says that Ibrahim was captured during Sultan Bayezid’s reign (somewhere between 1499-1502), by his Bosnian governor, Iskender pasha. This governor and his daughters (Hafsa and Mihrişah) raised and educated him. The pasha's daughter, Mihrişah, nicknamed Ms. Haci, was the one who raised Ibrahim. In his later letters, Ibrahim also often refers to the woman with love: "the crown of good deeds and the infinity and purity of good things last until the day of judgment." The woman eventually died in 1527, and Ibrahim said plenty of prayers for her soul.

The friend of Şehzade Suleiman

Ibrahim's life turned upside down, when he met with Prince Süleyman in Edirne. Ibrahim stayed there with the daughter of Iskender Pasha, while Suleiman was sent to Edirne by his father to took care of the western border of the Empire, until he returns from campaign. This meeting most probably took place around 1514. Iskender Pasha's family was very influential, so it is not surprising that they could met with the prince during his stay in Edirne. It is not known that Ibrahim and Suleiman were simply became friends in Edirne, so he held his departure with Suleiman; or the family of Iskender Pasha gave the talented and educated Ibrahim to the prince as a gift.

Either way, Ibrahim went with Prince Suleiman to his Manisa province, where their long and close friendship developed over time. They were both ambitious, intelligent youngsters, so they certainly woven their dreams together about the future of the empire. Suleiman lived difficult times as a prince, in vain was he the only heir, his father watched him with sly eyes, waiting for his son to made some mistake. The young prince desperately needed a trustworthy and understanding friend. It may have been this vulnerable period and interdependence that led to such a close friendship between them. Ibrahim’s salary at this time was 3 asper for a day according to one of the Manisa records. He is listed in this record as the fifth slave, “Ibrahim the Albanian”.

The friend of Sultan Suleiman

When Suleiman ascended the throne in 1520, all positions were filled in the divan by his father's old pashas. This did not make it easy for Suleiman to start his own reign, as the pashas did not accept the young man as a monarch. Previously for years, Suleiman had to hide his interest in politics and desire to the throne in order to survive, which is why the pashas thought he was not capable to rule. In the meantime, however, Suleiman and Ibrahim very cleverly devised how they could take control of the empire. Suleiman was not strong enough to simply dismiss the pashas he didn't like, so he took advantage of the fight between them, disintegrating them from within.

Meanwhile, he appointed Ibrahim as the head of his quarters, who could thus have been with the sultan on a permanent basis. It is likely that Suleiman relied heavily on his friend in this early period, and they certainly discussed together the current political situation. In addition, Suleiman publicly acknowledged and introduced his friend, with whom he shared everything. The Venetian ambassador then wrote of Ibrahim that he is like the heart and breath of the Sultan. Moreover he reported Ibrahim’s appearance also: “Ibrahim was a thin man, with small face, pale, not very tall, and graceful”.

In June of 1523, Suleiman was finally able to dismiss Piri Pasa, the Grand Vizier, who caused him the most trouble. Everyone expected Suleiman to appoint Ahmed Pasa, who he otherwise liked, to replace Piri Pasa, but to everyone’s astonishment, Ibrahim Aga was appointed to hold the highest office in the empire.

The new Grand Vizier

Ibrahim had been a close friend and confidant of Suleiman but his appointment was clearly due to Suleiman's desire to get rid of his father's old pashas so he could play by his own rules. Suleiman was also fed up with the political struggles within the divan, as the battles between the pashas were at the expense of the rise of the empire. Ibrahim's rise prevented members of the political elite - which Suleiman hated so much - from getting close to the sultan at all. Not only did all the pashas lose their special status - thus becoming equal to the others - but they could no longer share their thoughts and views directly with the sultan, but could only communicate with the ruler through Ibrahim. By making Ibrahim his liaison, Suleiman hoped to be able to isolate himself from the political games between the pashas and at the same time make the figure of the sultan even more formidable and inaccessible.

Nevertheless, Ibrahim was a unprecedented Grand Vizier in many other ways. First, the relationship between the Grand Vizier and the Sultan has been only formal since Mehmed II. Especially after the creation of the new palace (Topkapi), the meeting of the two became even more ceremonial. Because Mehmed's new palace further increased the distance between the Sultan and his men. The second court was the one that accommodated the divan council, so the pashas could enter there under the leadership of the Grand Vizier, but the third, innermost court was the private area of the Sultan, and no official of the council could enter, not even the Grand Vizier. Council members could meet with the sultan in a separate room only at the border of the two courtyards, on certain days after council discussions. In contrast, after Ibrahim's appointment, he was still free to enter to the inner court, to the sultan's private territory, just as previosuly, when he was in charge of the sultan's residence.

However, Ibrahim's appointment was also unusual in other respects. Ibrahim had not previously held any military or administrative duties, so he rose to the highest position without any experience. Although he took part in Suleiman's first two campaigns, he never held any responsible position, be it logistical, strategic or military, he was only with Suleiman during the campaign as his close friend. Since it was essential until the early 16th century that all positions could only be worn by experienced, fit people, Ibrahim’s sudden rise was shocking. Although surprising appointments have been made in the past too, they have always been preceded by marriage. If the sultan wanted to elevate a relatively low-ranking pasha to a high rank, he married off one of his sisters or daughters to the man. Ibrahim's rise in this aspect was also exceptional. He became a Grand Vizier, without a dynastic marriage. Never before had there been a Grand Vizier who won the position solely and exclusively for the love of the Sultan. It is precisely for this reason that the appointment of Ibrahim was sharply criticized by both the common people and the elite, and was even regarded as a bad and fatal omen for the Ottoman House. Suleiman could not let people to think like this, so he devised a clever plan to made them accept Ibrahim as his grand-vezir.

The contradictory marriage of Ibrahim Pasha

Suleiman’s ingenious plan consisted in preparing a marriage for Ibrahim that would force people to accept him as a Grand Vizier and as member of the political elite. The way to do this could not be to marry one of his sisters to Ibrahim. This would only have further increased the hatred of the people towards Ibrahim. That is why - and of course for other reasons - the theory that Ibrahim married to Hatice Sultan, Suleiman's sister is not true. This misunderstanding may be due to the fact that the wedding was followed by a very lavish ceremony that lasted for two weeks in Hippodrome Square. The event was also honored by the Sultan himself. Suleiman, his personal entourage, his court and the Janissaries were all present, and the whole city celebrated Ibrahim’s wedding. The splendor that characterized the wedding and the personal presence of the Sultan, prompting modern historians to believe that Ibrahim had married one of Suleiman’s sisters. However, for today this theory has been 100% refuted. So the reason for the huge celebration was not a princess bride, but the persuasion of the people.

The selection of the bride was also done with great care. Suleiman eventually chose a woman named Muhsine Hatun, who was none other than the granddaughter of Iskender pasha. Muhsine was the daughter of Mihrişah Hatun's sister. Mihrişah was who raised Ibrahim. So the two youngsters must have known each other long before the wedding. Because of this, of course, the question also arose in many people's minds that perhaps the two fall in love in their youth? And maybe Ibrahim finally get a good rank, so he could marry his beloved woman? The answer is a clear no. If there would have been love between the two, Suleiman would have arranged the marriage immediately after his accession to the throne, since Ibrahim already had great wealth and palaces, even before his appointment as Grand Vizier. On the other hand, there is evidence that Muhsine did not agree to the marriage at first. It was degrading for her to marry a former slave of her family. Eventually, of course, they convinced the woman that the wedding would bring great glory to their family, so in October 1523 the wedding was announced. At the same time, preparations began, for example, Suleiman ordered a huge amount of sugar from Cyprus for the ceremony.

So it seems that the wedding was planned from the first minute as a grand event and was deliberately held in the spring, as the weather by then certainly allowed to celebrate at outside venue, so the people of Istanbul could celebrate with them. The fact that the wedding was planned with such immense public attention, as well as the exceptional splendor that characterized the entire wedding, and the dynasty’s so committed support for it all suggest that Ibrahim’s marriage was a huge event of political significance.

But why was this marriage so needed for Ibrahim?

Because Iskender Pasha’s family had tremendous political influence. Thus, the acceptance of such an influential family clearly indicates that Ibrahim is worthy to be a member of the political elite. So the wedding became one of the most important days of Ibrahim’s life and by then maybe Muhsine’s heart had softened towards her future husband. Ibrahim's happiness was heightened by the fact that his parents and two siblings could also be present at his wedding, as he brought them to Istanbul after his appointment as Grand Vizier. This act was considered relatively novel, but later several pashas acted in a similar way: they brought their families to Istanbul where they converted Islam.

After the bride’s first rejection, Ibrahim and Muhsine’s marriage eventually turned into a love marriage over the years. The phrases in their letters, such as “my dear, my love,” and “your lover Ibrahim, who is yearn for you,” all suggest that a sincere, loving relationship has finally developed between them. They also had a child, Mehmedşah. The couple remained married until the execution of the pasha. Contrary to legends, Suleiman did not execute the little son of Ibrahim Pasha, the child died of an illness a few years after his father, in 1539. Muhsine lived the rest of her life as a widow. She had a small mosque built in the Kumkapi district of Istanbul, known as the “Mosque of Ibrahim Pasa’s wife”.

Ibrahim Pasha, the Grand Vizier

Soon after his wedding, Ibrahim had to embark on a long journey to Egypt, where Ahmed Pasha, the beylerbey rebelled against the sultan and declared himself the sultan of Egypt. There was also a personal contrast between Ibrahim and Ahmed, as everyone expected Ahmed to be appointed grand-vezier after Piri Pasha's retirement. Certainly the rebellion was caused by the fact that Ibrahim became the Grand Vizier instead of Ahmed. Eventually, Ibrahim triumphed and executed Ahmed's pasha. However, he did not go home immediately, but traveled across the province, reforming the very backward military and administrative system of the province. Thus Ibrahim essentially modernized the Egyptian province.

As Grand-Vezier, Ibrahim was very open to Western culture and sought to reach a peaceful agreement with Western states. Because of this, a great many have condemned the pasha and suspected that in vain he had converted to Islam, he never denied his roots. This was certainly the case, but it is a fact that the interests of the empire coincided with those of Ibrahim. The empire was not in such a material, military, or political position that it should have been at war with the Western states. Of course, the common people did not understand this and extremely hated Ibrahim for it.

Ibrahim had an extraordinary yearly income: 150 000 ducat and Suleiman increased this over the years. With this money he could easily do building projects. He built mosques, schools, dervish lodges, hamams all over the Empire from Mecca to the Balkan. He had a special talent for architecture. One of Suleiman’s first activities as Sultan was to order the renovation of Topkapi Palace. In this, Ibrahim in particular took part and most of the renovation was carried out on the basis of his ideas. Moreover as a very cultured man he was devoted to arts, this is why he was the patron of poets and writers.

Ibrahim could not keep himself out from the fight between the mothers of Suleiman's sons. Since his relationship with Hürrem, Suleiman's favorite consort, was notoriously bad, it was clear that he supported Mahidevran Hatun and her son against Hürrem and her children. As a close friend of Suleiman, he already knew Mahidevran from Manisa, and he was also present in the times around the birth of Mustafa, and was involved in the education of the prince. It was natural that he was on Mustafa's side. However, the alliance between the two was not always clear. As a child, Mustafa was extremly jealous on Ibrahim for spending so much time with his father. There is a known case when the Sultan first gave a spoon to Ibrahim at a communal meal, which made Mustafa furious. According to another story, the sultan sent a seddle with jewels to Ibrahim, but Mustafa also loved it, so he ordered Ibrahim to make the same seddle for him. Ibrahim, understanding the situation, gifted the saddle to the prince. The Grand Vizier's excellent situational awareness and intelligent conflict management softened Prince Mustafa and eventually their relationship was settled. It is difficult to say whether this alliance was also politically active. It was quite natural that, as Grand Vizier, Ibrahim sought to maintain a close relationship with the eldest prince.

Downfall

Ibrahim was never really popular, but after a while no one dared to speak out against him because they saw how much the Sultan liked him. As early as 1525, during a Janissary revolt, his palace was also targeted. And in 1526, this was repeated, but then, in addition to the Janissaries, simple people also revolted against him for placing bronze statues from Buda, which was forbidden in Islam, in the garden of his palace. He regularly gave more and more examples of his love and admiaration for Western culture. In addition, it was constant during his Grand-Vezirate that someone accused him of secretly continuing to live as a Christian.

Unfortunately, Ibrahim thought he was on an equal footing with the sultan. He regularly referred to himself in diplomatic meetings as "the real power behind the Ottoman Empire." Also, despite Ibrahim's best efforts, he was unable to fill the imperial treasury sufficiently, but rather he emptied it. In addition Hürrem Sultan, who already the wedded wife of the Sultan, the mother of six of his children, certainly sought to make the sultan aware of all Ibrahim's mistakes. The sultan may have had a hard time recognizing the situation and seeing what his loyal friend had become, so he was probably complaining about it to his wife, who was trying to convince him that Ibrahim had no place in the political life of the empire anymore.

We do not know what was the last drop in Sultan Suleiman’s glass, but finally in 1536, during Ramadan, he invited Ibrahim to a feast. The pasha unsuspectingly accepted the invitation. He wanted to return home to his palace after the dinner, however, Suleiman persuaded him to stay in his old room in Topkapi Palace that night. Ibrahim agreed. Soon after, the executioners went into his room and strangled him. This method of execution was a custom for members of the dynasty, the pashas were not usually executed in this way, but by beheading. Suleiman must wanted to execute Ibrahim quietly, quickly and, as an old friend, he gave him "clean" death.

Ibrahim's body was secretly taken away from the palace and was buried in an unmarked grave, probably near a dervish lodge. This is how the Sultan's old friend, his ally died. The man for whom, Suleiman broke several traditions.

Used sources: E. Turan - Marriage of Ibrahim Pasha; L. Peirce - The Imperial Harem; C. Imber - The Ottoman Empire 1300-1650; S. Faroqhi - The Ottoman Empire and the world around it; L. Peirce - Empress of the East

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A sok különösen színes egyéniség közül, akik I. Szulejmánt vették körül, a „makbul” (kedvenc) és „maktul” (kivégzett) becenevekkel jelzett Ibrahim Pasa volt az egyik legérdekesebb karakter.

Eredete és korai élete rabszolgaként

Ibrahim nagyjából egyidős lehetett Szulejmánnal, 1495 körül születhetett Parga-ban, a mai Északkelet-Görögország területén. Valószínű azonban, hogy nem görög volt, hiszen egy a horváthoz közeli szláv dialektust beszélt. Ez nem meglepő, ugyanis a területen rengeteg szláv kisebbség élt, így az is lehet, hogy Ibrahim közülük származott, vagy kevert családból. Egyes források szerint albán volt. Családi hátteréről nem tudunk sokat, csupán annyit, hogy édesapja halász vagy tengerész volt.

Az, hogy mikor és hogyan szakították el családjától a mai napig vitatárgyát képezi. Vannak régi legendák, melyek erősen tartják magukat, pedig semmi bizonyíték nincs rájuk. Az egyik ilyen történet szerint török kalózok ejtették fogságba (esetleg a devsirme rendszeren keresztül), majd a rabszolgapiacon találta magát. Ott egy maniszai özvegyasszony vette meg, majd kiemelkedő oktatásban részesítve felnevelte és megtanította hangszeren játszani. Hamarosan Szulejmán herceg az erdőben sétálva meghallotta Ibrahim hegedűjátékát és azonnal elcsábult tőle, összeismerkedett a hasonló korú fiúval és magával vitte hercegi udvartartásába. Ott aztán idővel szoros barátság szövődött a két fiatal között. Bár igen kedves történet, valószínűleg nem igaz.

Van egy másik történet, mely sokkal hihetőbb és több közvetett bizonyíték is utal erre. Eszerint Ibrahim Bayezid szultán uralkodása alatt egy háború során (valamikor 1499 és 1502 között) esett török fogságba, nem máséba, mint a bosnyák beglerbég, Iszkender pasa fogságába. A pasa később lányainak adta a fiút, akik felnevelték és megfelelő oktatásban részesítették szolgájukat. A pasa lánya, Mihrişah, becenevén Haci asszony volt az, aki felnevelte Ibrahimot. Ibrahim későbbi leveleiben is gyakran utal az asszonyra szeretettel: „a jócselekedetek koronája és a jó dolgok végtelensége, tisztasága tartson az ítélet napjáig”. A nő végül 1527-ben hunyt el, Ibrahim pedig rengeteg imát mondatott a lelki üdvéért.

Szulejmán herceg barátjaként

Ibrahim élete fenekestül felfordult, amikor - feltehetőleg 1514-ben - találkozott Szulejmán herceggel Edirnében. Ibrahim éppen Iszkender pasa lányának kíséretében tartózkodott Edirnében, míg Szulejmán herceget apja küldte oda, hogy vigyázza a birodalom nyugati határát, amíg ő keleten háborúzik. Iszkender pasa családja igen befolyásos volt, így nem meglepő, hogy találkoztak a herceggel edirnei tartózkodása idején. Azt nem tudni, hogy Ibrahim és Szulejmán egyszerűen barátságot kötöttek e Edirnében, ezért tartott távozásakor Szulejmánnal; vagy Iszkender pasa családja ajándékként adta a tanult és művelt Ibrahimot a hercegnek.

Akárhogyan is, Ibrahim, Szulejmán herceggel tartott annak manisai tartományába, ahol hosszú és szoros barátságuk idővel kialakult. Mindketten ambíciózus, intelligens fiatalok voltak, így minden bizonnyal együtt szövögették álmaikat a birodalom jövőjéről. Szulejmán nehéz időket élt hercegként, hiába volt egyetlen örökös, apja árgus szemekkel figyelte, fia mikor követ el valamilyen hibát. A fiatal hercegnek nagy szüksége volt egy megbízható és megértő barátra. Ez a kiszolgáltatott időszak és egymásrautaltság lehetett az, amelynek következtében ilyen szoros barátság alakulhatott ki közöttük. Ibrahim fizetése ebben az időben 3 asper volt egy napra az egyik maniszai jegyzőkönyv szerint. Ebben a jegyzőkönyvben úgy szerepel, mint az ötödik rabszolga, “Ibrahim az albán”.

Szulejmán szultán barátjaként

Amikor Szulejmán 1520-ban trónra lépett, minden pozíciót apja öreg pasái töltöttek be a divánban. Ez nem tette egyszerűvé a hatalomátvételt Szulejmán számára, hiszen a pasák nem fogadták el a fiatalt, mint egyeduralkodó. Szulejmánnak ugyanis éveken keresztül el kellett rejtse érdeklődését a politika és trón iránt, hogy életben maradhasson, emiatt pedig a pasák alkalmatlannak gondolták. Mindeközben azonban Szulejmán és Ibrahim nagyon okosan kitervelték, hogyan vehetik át az irányítást a birodalom fölött. Szulejmán nem volt elég erős ahhoz, hogy egyszerűen elküldje a neki nem tetsző pasákat, emiatt kihasználta a közöttük lévő ellentétet, ezzel belülről bomlasztva őket.

Mindeközben Ibrahimot kinevezte lakrészének fejévé, aki így állandó jelleggel a szultán mellett lehetett. Valószínűleg Szulejmán ebben a korai időszakban nagyban támaszkodott barátjára és minden bizonnyal közösen tárgyalták meg az éppen aktuális politikai helyzetet is. Emellett Szulejmán nyilvánosan is elismerte és bemutatta barátját, akivel mindenét megosztotta. A velencei követ úgy írt ekkor Ibrahimról, mint a szultán szíve és lélegzete. Emellett beszámolt Ibrahim külleméről is: “Ibrahim vékony, alacsony ember, kis arccal, igen sápatag”.

1523 júniusában végül Szulejmán képes volt nyugdíjazni Piri Pasát, a nagyvezírt, aki a legtöbb gondot okozta számára. Szulejmántól mindenki azt várta, hogy az általa egyébként kedvelt, Ahmed Pasát fogja kinevezni Piri Pasa helyére, azonban mindenki megdöbbenésére Ibrahim Agát nevezte ki a birodalom legmagasabb hivatalának betöltésére.

Az új nagyvezír

Ibrahim közeli barátja és bizalmasa volt Szulejmánnak hercegsége óta és kinevezése egyértelműen annak volt köszönhető, hogy Szulejmán szabadulni akart apja embereitől és saját szabályai szerint játszani. Szulejmánnak emellett elege volt a divánon belül dúló politikai harcokból, hiszen a pasák egymással való csatározása a birodalom felemelkedésének rovására ment. Ezért meg akarta állítani a versengést, Ibrahim felemelkedése pedig meggátolta, hogy az elit tagjai egyáltalán a szultán közelébe juthassanak. Ezzel nem csak, hogy minden pasa elveszítette a kegyenci státuszát – ezzel egyenlővé válva a többiekkel –, de a gondolatait, nézeteit sem oszthatta meg többé közvetlenül a szultánnal, hanem Ibrahimon keresztül tudott csupán kommunikálni az uralkodóval. Azzal, hogy Ibrahimot tette meg kapcsolattartójává, Szulejmán azt remélte, hogy el tudja magát szigetelni a pasák közti politikai játszmáktól és ugyanakkor még félelmetesebbé és elérhetetlenebbé teheti a szultán figuráját.

Mindazonáltal sok más szempontból is formabontó nagyvezír volt Ibrahim. Először is, a nagyvezír és a szultán kapcsolata II. Mehmed óta csupán formális volt. Főleg az új palota (Topkapi) létrehozása után vált még ceremoniálisabbá a két személy találkozása. Mehmed új palotája ugyanis még tovább növelte a távolságot a szultán és emberei között. A második udvar volt az, mely helyt adott a tanácsnak, így ide a nagyvezír vezetése alatt beléphettek vezírei is, ám a harmadik – legbelső – udvar a szultán privát területét képezte, ide pedig a tanács egyetlen hivatalnoka sem léphetett be, még a nagyvezír sem. A tanács tagjai egy külön szobában találkozhattak csupán a szultánnal a két udvar határán, bizonyos napokon a tanács megbeszélések után. Ezzel szemben Ibrahim nagyvezírsége után, továbbra is szabadon bejárhatott a belső udvarba – a szultán privát területére –, épp úgy, mint kinevezése előtt a szultán lakrészének felelőseként.

Azonban Ibrahim kinevezése más szempontból is rendhagyó volt. Ibrahimnak nem volt korábban semmilyen katonai vagy adminisztratív feladata, így minden tapasztalat nélkül emelkedett a legmagasabb pozícióba. Részt vett ugyan Szulejmán első két hadjáratán, de sosem viselt semmilyen felelősségteljes pozíciót, legyen az logisztikai, stratégiai vagy hadászati, csak Szulejmán mellett volt a hadjárat alatt, mint közeli barátja. Mivel a kora 16. századig alapvető volt, hogy minden pozíciót csak tapasztalt, rátermett emberek viselhettek, Ibrahim hirtelen felemelkedése sokkoló volt. Ugyan korábban is történtek meglepő kinevezések, ezeket mindig megelőzte egy házasság. Ha a szultán egy viszonylag alacsony rangú pasát akart magas rangra emelni, hozzáadta a férfihoz valamely lánytestvérét vagy lánygyermekét. Ibrahim felemelkedése e téren is kivételes volt. Egyenesen a lakrész felügyelőből lett nagyvezír, dinasztikus házasság nélkül. Korábban soha nem volt nagyvezír, aki csak és kizárólag a szultán szeretete miatt nyerte el a pozíciót. Ibrahim kinevezését éppen emiatt mind a köznép, mint az elit élesen kritizálta, sőt rossz és végzetes ómenként tekintettek rá az Oszmán Ház szempontjából. Ezt nem hagyhatta Szulejmán, így fondorlatos tervet eszelt ki Ibrahim elfogadtatására.

Ibrahim Pasa ellentmodásokkal teli házassága

Szulejmán zseniális terve abból állt, hogy olyan házasságot készít elő Ibrahim számára, amivel az emberek kénytelenek lesznek őt elfogadni, mint nagyvezír. Ennek módja nem lehetett az, hogy egyik testvérét adja Ibrahimhoz. Ez csak tovább növelte volna az emberek gyűlöletét Ibrahim irányába. Épp ezért - és természetesen más okok miatt is - az az elmélet, miszerint Ibrahim Hatice szultánát vette volna feleségül, nem igaz. Ez a félreértés abból eredhet, hogy az esküvőt nagyon pazar ünnepség követte, mely két hétig tartott a Hippodrom téren. Az eseményt maga a szultán is megtisztelte jelenlétével, egy, az Ibrahim Hippodromon lévő palotájában külön neki épített kioskból figyelve azt. Ott volt Szulejmán, személyes kísérete, udvara és a janicsárok, valamint az egész város, így mindenki Ibrahim esküvőjét ünnepelte. A pompa, mely az esküvőt jellemezte, az, hogy a szultán személyesen is jelen volt rajta, a modern történészeket arra buzdította, hogy azt higgyék, Ibrahim Szulejmán egyik testvérét vette el nőül. Azonban mára ez 100%-ban megcáfolódott. A hatalmas ünnepség oka tehát nem egy hercegnői menyasszony volt, hanem az emberek meggyőzése.

A menyasszony kiválasztása is nagy gonddal zajlott. Szulejmán végül egy Muhsine Hatun nevű nőt választott, aki nem volt más, mint Iszkender pasa - Ibrahim elfogójának - unokája. Muhsine az Ibrahimot felnevelő Mihrişah asszony testvérének lánya volt. Így a két fiatal minden bizonnyal ismerte egymást, már jóval az esküvő előtt. Emiatt természetesen felmerült sokakban az a kérdés is, hogy talán még fiatalkorukban szerelem szövődhetett kettejük között? Ibrahim pedig végre a megfelelő rang birtokában feleségül kérhette őt? A válasz egyértelmű nem. Ha szerelem lett volna kettejük között, Szulejmán trónralépése után azonnal elrendezte volna a házasságot közöttük, hiszen Ibrahim már nagyvezíri kinevezése előtt is nagy vagyonnal, palotákkal rendelkezett a szultán jóvoltából. Másrészről pedig bizonyítékok vannak arra, hogy Muhsine eleinte nem egyezett bele a házasságba. Degradált ugyanis neki, hogy egy korábbi rabszolgájukhoz menjen nőül. Végül természetesen meggyőzték a nőt, hogy az esküvő nagy dicsőséget fog hozni a családjuknak, így 1523 októberében bejelentették az esküvőt. Ezzel együtt pedig az előkészületek is megkezdődtek, így például Szulejmán hatalmas mennyiségű cukrot rendelt Ciprusról az ünnepségre.

Úgy tűnik tehát, hogy az esküvő az első perctől kezdve grandiózus eseménynek volt tervezve és szándékosan tavasszal került megrendezésre, hiszen az időjárás ekkorra biztosan megengedte a külső helyszínen való ünneplést, így pedig Isztambul népe velük együtt ünnepelhetett. Az, hogy ilyen hatalmas nyilvános odafigyeléssel zajlott az esküvő tervezése, valamint a kivételes pompa, ami jellemezte az egész esküvőt, illetve az, hogy a dinasztia ilyen elkötelezetten támogatta azt, mind mind arra utalnak, hogy Ibrahim házassága egy hatalmas, politikai jelentőséggel bíró esemény volt.

Na de miért volt jó Ibrahimnak ez a házasság?

Azért, mert Iszkender Pasa családja hatalmas politikai befolyással rendelkezett. Így az, ha egy ilyen befolyásos család elfogadja Ibrahimot vejeként, egyértelműen jelzi, hogy Ibrahim méltó arra, hogy a politikai elit tagja legyen. Az esküvő Ibrahim életének egyik legfontosabb napja lett tehát és addigra talán Muhsine szíve is megenyhült leendő férje irányába. Ibrahim boldogságát tetézte, hogy szülei és két testvére is jelen lehetett az esküvőjén, őket ugyanis nagyvezírré való kinevezése után Isztambulba hozatta, ahol áttértek az iszlámra. Ez a cselekedet viszonylag újszerűenek számított, később azonban több pasa is hasonló módon járt el.

A menyasszony első elutasítása után végül Ibrahim és Muhsine házassága az évek alatt szerelmi házassággá alakult. A leveleikben előforduló szófordulatok, mint a „kedvesem, szerelmem” és a „szeretőd Ibrahim, aki epekedik érted”, mind mind arra utal, hogy végül őszinte, szerető kapcsolat alakult ki közöttük. Egy gyermekük is született, Mehmedşah. A pár házas maradt egészen a pasa kivégzéséig. A legendákkal ellentétben, Szulejmán nem végeztette ki Ibrahim Pasa kisfiát, a gyermek néhány évvel később, 1539-ben betegségben hunyt el. Muhsine asszony özvegyként élte le élete hátralévő részét. Muhsine asszony egy kis mecsetet építtetett Isztambul Kumkapi kerületben, mely mecset úgy ismert, mint „Ibrahim Pasa feleségének mecsete”, és épp azon a környéken van, amelyet később róla neveztek el.

Ibrahim Pasa, a nagyvezír

Esküvője után Ibrahimnak hamarosan hosszú útra kellett indulnia, ugyanis Egyiptom beglerbégje, Ahmed pasa fellázadt a szultán ellen és kinvezte magát Egyiptom szultánjává. Ibrahim és Ahmed között személyes ellentét is húzódott, hiszen mindenki Ahmed pasa kinevezésére számított Piri pasa nyugdíjazása után. Minden bizonnyal az a tény okozta a lázadást, hogy Ahmed helyett Ibrahim lett a nagyvezír. Végül Ibrahim győzedelmeskedett és kivégeztette Ahmed pasát. Azonban nem indult haza azonnal, hanem körbeutazta a tartományt, megreformálta az igen elmaradt katonai és adminisztrációs megoldásokat. Így Ibrahim lényegében korszerűsítette az egyiptomi tartományt.

Ibrahim nagyvezírsége alatt igen nyitott volt a nyugati kultúrára és igyekezett békés megállapodást kötni a nyugati államokkal. Emiatt nagyon sokan elítélték a pasát és azzal gyanúsították, hogy hiába tért át az iszlámra, sosem tagadta meg gyökereit. Ez minden bizonnyal így is volt, ám tény, hogy a birodalom érdekei egyeztek Ibrahim érdekeivel. Nem volt olyan anyagi, katonai és politikai helyzetben a birodalom, hogy háborúskodnia kellett volna a nyugati államokkal. A közemberek azonban természetesen ezt nem így látták és rendkívül gyűlölték Ibrahimot ezért.

Ibrahim rendkívüli éves jövedelmet tudhatott magáénak: 150 000 ducatot, melyet Szulejmán évente emelt. Ennyi pénzzel könnyedén tudott építkezési projekteket végrehajtani. Többek között építtetett mecseteket, iskolákat, dervis szállásokat, fürdőket a birodalom egész területén Mekkától a Balkánig. Különös tehetsége volt az építészethez, melyet jövedelmeztetni tudott Isztambulban is. Szulejmán egyik első tevékenysége szultánként az volt, hogy parancsot adott a Topkapi Palota felújítására. Ebben pedig Ibrahim különösen kivette részét és a felújítás nagyrésze az ő ötletei alapján valósult meg. Emellett mint igen művelt férfi, különösen elkötelezett volt a művészetek iránt, így a költők és írók támogatójának is számított.

Nagyvezírsége alatt nem tudott kimaradni a Szulejmán fiainak anyjai között dúló harcokból sem. Mivel Hürremmel, Szulejmán kedvencével köztudottan rossz volt a viszonya, egyértelmű volt, hogy vele és gyermekeivel szemben Mahidevran Hatunt támogatta. Szulejmán közeli barátjaként már Manisából is ismerhette Mahidevrant, emellett jelen volt a Musztafa születése körüli időkben is, részt vett a herceg nevelésében. Természetes volt, hogy Musztafa pártján volt. Azonban kettejük szövetsége nem volt mindig egyértelmű. Gyermekként Musztafa kifejezetten féltékeny volt Ibrahimra, amiért az olyan sok időt tölt apjával. Ismert egy eset, amikor egy közös étkezésnél a szultán Ibrahimnak nyújtott először kanalat, ettől Musztafa feldühödött. Egy másik történet szerint pedig a szultán egy díszes, ékköves nyerget küldött Ibrahimnak, ami Musztafa tetszését is igen elnyerte. Musztafa herceg megparancsolta Ibrahimnak, hogy csináltasson számára egy ugyanilyet. Ibrahim megértve a helyzetet, a nyereget a hercegnek ajándékozta. A nagyvezír remek helyzetfelismerése és intelligens konfliktuskezelése meglágyította Musztafa herceget és végül viszonyuk rendeződött. Nehéz megmondani, hogy politikailag is aktív volt-e ez a szövetség. Az ugyanis teljesen természetes volt, hogy nagyvezírként Ibrahim igyekezett közeli viszonyt fenntartani a legidősebb herceggel.

A hanyatlás

Ibrahim sosem volt igazán népszerű, egy idő után senki sem mert szót emelni ellene, mert látták a szultán mennyire kedveli, azonban továbbra sem szerették. Már 1525-ben is egy janicsár lázadás során palotája is a célkeresztbe került. 1526-ban pedig ez megismétlődött, ekkor azonban a janicsárok mellett egyszerű emberek is fellázadtak ellene, amiért az iszlámban tiltott Budáról származó bronz szobrokat helyezett ki palotájának kertjében. Túlzott nyugatiasságára rendszeresen adott újabb és újabb példákat. Emellett pedig nagyvezírsége alatt állandó volt, hogy megvádolta valaki, miszerint titokban továbbra is keresztényként él, az iszlám vallástcsupán alcaként vette fel.

Sajnálatos módon úgy gondolta, hogy egyenrangú a szultánnal. A diplomáciai találkozókon rendszeresen úgy hivatkozott magára, mint a "valódi hatalom az Oszmán Birodalom mögött". Valamint, Ibrahim legnagyobb igyekezete ellenére sem tudta kellőképpen megtölteni a birodalmi kincstárat, inkább ürítette azt. Emellett minden bizonnyal Hürrem szultána, aki eddigre már a szultán hites felesége volt, hat gyermekének anyja, is igyekezett elérni, hogy a szultán Ibrahim minden ballépéséről tudomást szerezzen. A szultánnak nehéz lehetett felismerni a helyzetet és látnia, hogy hűséges barátja mivé lett, így valószínűleg nejének panaszkodott erről, aki igyekezett őt meggyőzni arról, hogy Ibrahimnak nincs helye tovább a birodalom politikai életében.

Nem tudhatjuk, hogy mi volt az utolsó csepp Szulejmán szultán poharában, de végül 1536-ban, a Ramadán idején magához hívta Ibrahim pasát lakomázni. A pasa gyanútlanul elfogadta a meghívást, majd a vacsora után haza kívánt térni palotájába. Szulejmán azonban meggyőzte, hogy maradjon régi szobájában aznap éjjel. Ibrahim beleegyezett. Nemsokkal később a kivégzők bementek szobájába és megfojtották. Ez a kivégzési mód a dinasztia tagjai számára volt szokás, a pasákat általában nem ilyen módon végezték ki, hanem lefejezéssel. Szulejmán minden bizonnyal csendben, gyorsan akarta kivégeztetni Ibrahimot és mint régi barátnak megadta neki a "tiszta" halált.

Ibrahim testét titokban vitték el a palotából és temették el egy jelöletlen sírban, valószínűleg egy dervis szállás közelében. Így végezte tehát a szultán régi barátja, szövetségese, aki miatt több tradíciót is megtört.

Felhasznált források: E. Turan - Marriage of Ibrahim Pasha; L. Peirce - The Imperial Harem; C. Imber - The Ottoman Empire 1300-1650; S. Faroqhi - The Ottoman Empire and the world around it; L. Peirce - Empress of the East

#pargali ibrahim pasha #ibrahim pasha #suleiman the magnificent #suleiman i #süleyman #KanuniSultanSüleyman #süleyman I #hürrem sultan #hürrem #roxelana #mahidevran hatun #mahidevran #muhsine #muhsine hatun

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carebearbliss · 4 years

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SuperM travelling in Europe

Baekhyun - Spain

So excited to spend the holiday with you, he’s in beagle mode all the way

His enthusiasm is infectious though so you’d honestly have the best of times with him

Makes sure you’re always smiling or laughing (at his jokes)

Playing fun little games when you’re sightseeing, like who gets to the landmark last will have to buy dinner

Plans to become the ultimate tourist, incl. matching floral blouses and khaki shorts

By the time you get back you’ve got tons of goofy pictures of the two of you posing weirdly next to statues and landmarks

Just a really chill vacation honestly, a good balance between relaxing and actively sightseeing

Taemin - Hungary

Taemin strikes me as someone who is able to appreciate beauty in all its forms

You two would stroll around the city of Budapest and just take in the history and charm of all its buildings

Museum dates!!! Also the type of person who’d walk hand in hand with you and then suddenly stop dead in his tracks just to admire whatever building caught his attention

Generally wants to take it slow (the sightseeing, I mean), not really the type to plan elaborately what you guys want to see and when, just kind of “let’s wander around and see what we find” kind of guy

Which kinda gets you two lost more than once during the trip, but neither of you really care since you’re just happy to be someplace so beautiful together

Jongin - France

Matching outfits are a must!!! It just happens naturally ngl

I think going on a trip with Jongin would make you see new sides of him, like he’d just completely let his guard down and you’ll see his casual, laidback side :)

Generally okay with almost anything you’ve got planned, whether it’s going shopping, sightseeing or just walking in the parks or along the river

He’d rather leave any planning / map reading to you (in case he accidentally gets lost)

Since he’s been to France before, would think along with you as to what would be worth seeing and also show you around a little if he knows the way

You’d end up going on a romantic boat trip and have dinner with a nice view of the Eiffel Tower

Taeyong - Greece

Taeyong would be so excited for this trip (!!), especially because he’s never been to Greece before and it looks so beautiful on the pictures he saw

Lowkey obsessed with taking pictures of the scenery (no worries he won’t forget to take pictures of the two of you)

Aside from maybe a couple of places he really wants to see, just wants to be able to relax together with you

Definitely wants to stay somewhere close to the beach so you can stroll along it during the evenings and watch the sunset (or sunrise, if you’re ambitious)

Would love to get to know the country on a local level, like the food, history, culture, even its people and the music there

Absolutely doesn’t mind staying in a couple times, he’d definitely be up for that too as long as he gets to spend time together with you ;]

Ten - Sweden

Holds photoshoots in the middle of the street (they turn out pretty aesthetic and professional too)

Would perhaps be curious as to how the nightlife is in Sweden, would definitely want to explore Stockholm at night too!

You two would have the best of times bouncing off on each other’s enthusiasm/energy, just lots of joking and teasing around

Shopping is a must, whether it’s designer clothing stores or random vintage places (and everything inbetween)

If there’s some kind of musical/theater play/art exhibition going on, he’d love to take a visit just to see what it’s all about

If he passes a street performer he’d probably join in on the performance and start dancing along to the music

Lucas - Italy

Lucas lowkey reminds me of stereotypical Italians (in a good way) ngl

And honestly, I think Lucas would fall in love with the country within days

Definitely would take you out on romantic dinners, both of you dressed to the nines and sipping on some wine

Really wants to make the most of this holiday with you, basically would take you anywhere that’s popular, famous, aesthetically pleasing, and so on and so forth

Extra af when he’s taking pictures of you, holds the camera at weird angles just so he can get the perfect pictures of you

Truthfully, he’d spoil you for sure, would be the person to surprise you with expensive gifts of jewellery he found you looking at when you passed the store

Goes all out to make sure you’ll remember this as the most romantic (and most extra) trip, but above all just wants to make sure you have the time of your life

Mark - Switzerland

Marvels at the beautiful scenery no matter how many times you’ve seen it or how familiar it’s starting to get

Wouldn’t really have anything on the agenda, might even take on a tour guide so neither of you would have to do much planning and you’d get to see everything noteworthy

Definitely up for a boat trip, maybe even rafting if you’re up for it too

Lowkey splurges on souvenirs to take home for his family and friends and the members lol

So excited throughout the entire trip, just a lot of “oh Y/N have you seen that it’s so beautiful!!”

I’d see Mark as someone who’d still want to be active on a trip, like renting bikes and cycling or maybe even hiking

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lady-griffin · 4 years

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Avatar both Korra and Aang legends?

001 | Send me a fandom and I will tell you my --

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Favorite character: Aang, Katara, Toph, or Zuko (I can’t decide)

Least Favorite character: Pakku (his sexism was only really “solved” by Katarina being the granddaughter of the women he was once betrothed too – it felt forced and weak. I also didn’t like him letting Katara call him grandfather (or a version of that), but not Sokka.

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): Zutara, Kataang, Zuko x Mai, Sokka x Suki, Mai x Ty Lee

Character I find most attractive: Katara, also definitely June

Character I would marry: Sokka or Suki

Character I would be best friends with: Katara or Suki

a random thought: Are the combo animals their own unique species or are the animals in the Avatar world able to reproduce with different animals and just over time, those half babies were able reproduce as well, and thus becoming their own species.

That would explain the existence of both Solo Animals and Combo Animals. Example: Bears (Solo), Armadillo Bears and Platypus Bears (Combo)

If that’s the case does that mean, the interspecies mixing happened millions and millions maybe a billion years ago, if so, is that why solo animals (cats, bears) are so rare while combo animals are the majority?

Solo animals are super rare, which makes me think Bosco was like a super expensive/valuable gift to the King - showing his status as King.

Turtle Ducks are the greatest thing ever.

An unpopular opinion: I never really thought “The Great Divide” was as awful as people make it out to be. It’s certainly not my favorite, but I was surprised when I learned how much people truly hated it.

My Canon OTP: Kataang

My Non-canon OTP: Zutara

Most Badass Character: Azula, also Kyoshi

Most Epic Villain: Azula and Ozai

Pairing I am not a fan of: Azula x Ty Lee (I don’t hate it, but given how toxic their relationship was, I can’t say I’m a big fan)

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another):

Not a character, but I thought that having Fire Lord Sozin banned homosexuality (in the comics) felt very weird to me and not in line with the Fire Nation. Out of the three remaining nations, the Fire Nations seemed the most “progressive” in terms of equality for women or more accurately for the goal of world domination they were willing to used everything and everyone they had.

It’s also interesting see how each nation and their relative status in terms of morality and their relation to female warriors/fighters/

The Fire Nation (Bad) has the most female fighters. We see actual women in the army, female prison guards, as well as the most individual named fighters/characters – Azula, Ty Lee, Mai, June, Lo and Li. Azula’s teachers must have been on an entirely different level than everyone else, as neither one was a fire-bender, but yet they were charged with being Azula’s mentors and teachers in regards to fighting and fire bending.

The Northern and Southern Tribes (Good) have pretty sexist views. Sokka is pretty sexist in the beginning (he had to learn that from somewhere), in Katara’s introduction all the men left (not all that were capable) and Sokka felt as the only teenaged male it was his duty to be in charge/protect everyone.

We literally have episodes that explored the sexism of The Northern Tribe and it literally takes Katara throwing down with an old man from them to start to change. And to my knowledge, there are only two named female water benders – Katara and Hama, maybe the healer in the northern tribe had a name(?), but the fact that I would have to look up her name, if she has one (proves my point). Her name is Yugoda. We don’t have any non-bender female fighters for the Water Tribes.

The Earth Kingdom (Neutral) has Suki, Avatar Kyoshi and the Kyoshi warriors (unnamed), June, and the girl from Jet’s gang, but the only living female earth bender we ever see is Toph, aside from her we only ever see male earth benders.

The Air Nomads (Strive For/Good) seem to treat everyone as equals, but women and men lived and were raised separately.

So, it just felt lazy to say oh the fire nation is ruled by an oppressive regime and the regime is bad and banning/outlawing same-sex couple is also bad – so there.

When I think you could’ve had a very interesting story, when the Water Tribes who we’ve seen have the most backwards views on women, being the nation to ban same-sex marriages/relationships.

Avatar was very good on the whole – “It’s not that simple” and “Oh god, it’s so much more complicated - so, I think it would’ve been a very interesting storyline to have The Water Nations have been the ones to ban same-sex relations, while maybe the Fire Nation maybe took after some ancient (Greece/Roman societies) where some thought a soldier would fight harder if they were fighting and protecting their lover/love.

Also, maybe in the recovery period. The Fire Nation wants to have same-sex be legal, but as they were were literally trying to take over the world and systematically tried to destroy other nations and colonize, the Water Tribes don’t want their traditions and customs being dictated by those of the Fire Nation. I don’t know, that could’ve been very complicated and nuance story.

It just seemed lazy to me and sort of ignoring what they’ve already set up in their canon universe, on purpose or not.

Favorite Friendship: Momo and Appa, Aang and Sokka, Aang and Zuko, Aang and Toph… Aang with anyone really

Character I most identify with: I don’t think I really identify with anyone, but when it came out, definitely Mai.

Character I wish I could be: Mai or Ty Lee

Avatar: The Legend of Korra

Favorite character: Korra

Least Favorite character: Varrick, Unalaq (weak villain), Mako (at times)

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): Korrasami, Bolin x Opal, Korralin, Kai x Jinora, Makorralin (…I’ve read a lot good smut of these guys, so yeah...)

Character I find most attractive: Asami

Character I would marry: Asami

Character I would be best friends with: Jinora

a random thought: Why did they have Korra sleeping on her bed with shoes on in season one… that will forever bother me.

An unpopular opinion: I’m have no idea if this is unpopular, but I think Bumi getting air-bending was such a copout. There was something very interesting about the child of two of the most powerful benders (literally his dad is the avatar and his mother was the avatar’s water bender teacher) being a non-bender and that really could’ve been explored. It felt “cheap” to give him air-bending…I was never a fan of that

Also, it bothered me that the Tenzin, Kya, and Bumi all had skin tones that matched perfectly with their respected powers/lack of powers and also they all dress with that same mind set. As one of the first mixed families we really get to see, It would’ve been nice, if their styles of clothing were different or combos of Air Nomad, Water Nation and Earth Kingdom (given where they lived).

Having only Tenzin be the only we see dress as an Air Nomad and later Bumi (when he gets air-bending) definitely gives credence to the idea that Bumi definitely had a reason for thinking he didn’t truly belong in the Air Nation.

I think Legend of Korra loss a good opportunity of introducing the first mixed families/kids, but still had them dress in regards to their respected element

It felt weird that Bolin and Mako, dressed with their specific element color.

Especially since Republic City was this huge diverse city, with influences and people from across the four nations.

My Canon OTP: Korrasami

My Non-canon OTP: Korralin/Gender-Reverse Korralin

Most Badass Character: Korra

Most Epic Villain: The Red Lotus

Pairing I am not a fan of: Makorra, I was a huge fan of them when it started, but honestly as the show continued and looking back at it, their chemistry was off after the second episode. They had such a great set-up with the gazing end and music, but after that it was downhill.

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): Not so much a character, but Aang and Katara and their relationship with their children never felt right to me.

In general, though, I think the creators struggled in finding the right groove for many of the characters if not all of them, at one point or another.

Favorite Friendship: Korra and Asami, Korra and the Airbending Kids

Character I most identify with: Jinora and Ikki

Character I wish I could be: Asami

#catradidsomethingwrong #ATLA #ATLOK #Avatar The Last Airbender #Avatar #avatar the legend of korra #the last airbender #The Legend of Korra #Legend of Korra #Korra #Aang

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aion-rsa · 4 years

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How Xena: Warrior Princess used Greek Myth

https://ift.tt/327z9ZK

First of all, sorry if this bursts anyone’s bubble, but sadly Xena: Warrior Princess is not a ‘real’ character from Greek myth. Whereas Hercules and Iolaus from Hercules: The Legendary Journeys are both important characters from Greek mythology, the three most important characters in Xena: Warrior Princess – Xena, Gabrielle, and Callisto – are all original characters with entirely original stories.

Xena does have things in common with some characters from Greek myth. Most obviously, the Amazons (who appear in the series and adopt Gabrielle as their princess, but Xena is not one of them) are a ‘real’ Greek myth – not a real people, but a mythical tribe who appear in numerous stories from Greek mythology. They were described as a tribe of warrior women, who cut off one breast to make it easier to shoot arrows – oddly enough, the show left out that detail!

The closest non-Amazon character to Xena is probably Atalanta, a huntress who killed centaurs with arrows (with both breasts intact), won a wrestling match against the male hero Peleus, and refused to marry until a suitor could beat her in a foot race, which no one was able to do without cheating. The goddesses Artemis and Athena, who both appear in the series, had traditionally masculine attributes as well, and Athena is especially similar to Xena as she was associated with war (as well as the male god of war, Ares), but they were both completely divine beings, and so were considered a bit different to mortal human women.

Keeping it real

The series did include lots of elements from ‘real’ Greek mythology. Numerous Greek gods and goddesses turned up over the course of the show, from famous Olympians like Ares, Zeus, and Aphrodite, to less well known deities like Nemesis (goddess of justice), Morpheus (god of dreams), and Discord (in Greek Eris, the goddess of discord). Some early episodes were inspired by stories from Greek myth, like Hercules freeing the Titan Prometheus from being chained up and having his magically regenerating liver eaten by a giant eagle every day (Season 1’s ‘Prometheus’); the story of Odysseus, known by his Latin name Ulysses in the show, and his long journey home to his wife Penelope (Season 2’s ‘Ulysses’), and Season 1’s brief glimpse of the Trojan War in ‘Beware Greeks Bearing Gifts’.

For the most part, rather than directly adapting specific myths, the series used characters, elements and ideas from Greek mythology to create new stories. As a 1990s show, the series used the blend of arc plotting and standalone episodes that was common at the time. This meant that the show, like an anthology show, could do different types of stories in different episodes, allowing it to incorporate not just the tragic and dramatic tone of some Greek myths, but the comedic and light-hearted tone of others as well – for in the ancient world, playwrights used mythological characters and themes for both tragedy and comedy.

Ancient Greek playwrights would mess around with the stories people thought they knew to surprise their audience and keep their attention. The famous story of the witch Medea murdering her own children, for example, was an innovation of the playwright Euripides, adapting earlier stories where they were killed by accident or killed by other characters. So what Xena (and parent show Hercules: The Legendary Journeys) was doing was exactly what ancient Greek dramatists did, taking ideas and characters people know and playing around with them to create something new.

Remixing the myths

One of the interesting things about Xena: Warrior Princess was the way the show took place in a vaguely described mythical time which seemed to cover millennia of not just Greek mythology and legend, but even well-known, real and dateable Roman history. For the ancient Greeks and Romans, there was a sense that the distant past was a time of myths, and that gods and heroes and monsters walked the earth long before their own time. However, they also had a fairly strong sense of there being a rough chronology to these stories. Certain myths happened in a certain order, and there was a clear progression of ‘Ages’ with different events belonging to different periods. The Titan Kronos was in charge first, then he was usurped by his son Zeus. Mankind was created by the Titan Prometheus, and Woman inflicted on them as a punishment to Prometheus by Zeus (ancient Greek myth was not as feminist as the show it inspired, as you can tell!).

The Greek poet Hesiod outlined five Ages of Man. The Golden Age was the reign of Kronos, when men lived like gods. When Zeus took over, the Silver Age began, and men were now inferior beings who had to work for a living. The Bronze Age was an age of strong, warlike men who were destroyed by Deucalion’s flood (the Greek equivalent of the story of Noah’s Ark). Next was the Age of Heroes, and this is where myth starts to meet legend and pre-history. This is the period when the Trojan War supposedly took place – the war is fictional, but the city of Troy is real (it’s at a site called Hissarlik in modern Turkey) and so were the Greek city states described in the stories, so this war can be placed in a real timeline of human history, at around 1200 BCE, even if the war as described in the stories never really happened. The final age was the Age of Iron, Hesiod’s present day of around 700 BCE, an era of misery and toil (Hesiod was not much of an optimist).

Xena throws all of this chronology out of the window and blends everything together into a glorious mish-mash of myth, legend, and history. The 10-year Trojan War is covered in a single episode set at the end of the siege. Heroes from different stories appear in no particular order. King David of Israel turns up – he lived around 1010-970 BCE, which would be a couple of centuries after the Trojan War.

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Most bizarrely for a show supposedly about Greek mythology, substantial chunks of Roman history are thrown into the mix as well, forming major story arcs across the years, especially in the fourth season. Producer Rob Tapert is obviously keen on this period because he later produced the STARZ Spartacus series – starring his wife, Lucy Lawless, a.k.a Xena – which features several of the same characters including Julius Caesar, Crassus and (briefly) Pompey.

Even when using real historical characters, though, Xena folded in decades’ worth of history. Most of the characters and loosely adapted plotlines follow the collapse of the Roman Republic and the beginning of a monarchy under the emperors in the first century BCE, and although it’s loosely adapted to say the least, there are lots of genuine details. Julius Caesar really was kidnapped by pirates as a young man (and had them all executed later on) and the power struggles in the dying years of the Republic really did feature an alliance between Crassus, Caesar, and Pompey, and the famous love affair between Mark Antony and Cleopatra. The British Queen Boudicca, or Boadicea, however, lived over a hundred years later, and although Julius Caesar invaded Britain twice, he never actually conquered it (it was the later emperor Claudius who did that) so even the Roman historical chronology is all over the place.

There’s something kind of wonderful about this ‘throw everything at the wall and see what sticks’ approach to chronology. There are lots of fun depictions of Julius Caesar in pop culture (from the dude with the surfer hairdo in Tapert’s Spartacus: War of the Damned to Kenneth Williams camping it up in Carry on Cleo) but none are quite as off-beat as Karl Urban repeatedly trying to kill Xena and even escaping the underworld after death to create a new reality where she never met Gabrielle, in an attempt to save himself. And the idea that the first Empress and possible serial killer (depending which ancient Roman rumours you believe) Livia was really Xena’s daughter – and a formidable warrior – is rather fun too.

Playing in other cultures’ sandpits

It wasn’t just time that Xena jumbled up whenever the writers felt like it – the series also included plenty of gods, myths and heroes from other places that had nothing to do with Greece or Rome. From Norse gods (including Loki and Odin) to Hindu gods, to Tau Chinese characters, to the early medieval British hero Beowulf, Xena’s “time of ancient gods, warlords, and kings” and “land in turmoil” could be anywhere, anywhen. This gave the writers great freedom in choosing the stories they wanted to tell and playing with them in new and creative ways, as well as allowing them to cast a diverse group of actors to play them.

Casting black actresses Galyn Gorg and Gina Torres as Helen of Troy and Cleopatra respectively was reflective of academic movements throughout the late 1980s and 1990s to recognise the importance of black Africans to Mediterranean culture, and it has been argued that the real Cleopatra was black, as while her ethnicity was primarily Greek (her Greek ancestors conquered Egypt), her grandmother was a concubine of unknown origin. But the wide range of sources of inspiration Xena drew on meant that they could largely cast actors suited to their roles, regardless of skin colour. Although the goddess of Love, Aphrodite, was somehow still portrayed as a slim, ditzy blonde in pink, which is not a representation the ancient Greeks would have recognised – their statues of Aphrodite are a lot more rounded in body shape and wear even less clothing!

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Xena: Warrior Princess, like a lot of great shows from the 1990s, was a series full of good humour and creativity that didn’t take itself too seriously most of the time, but was still able to land a dramatic punch when it turned its mind to it. It’s a method of making television that, when done well, can give audiences the best of all worlds, and perhaps one that might see a bit of a comeback if audiences start to tire of heavily serialised, grimdark TV. The series’ approach to Greek mythology was like its approach to story-telling in general – use the things that you think will work, don’t be afraid to change things, to mix it up, to mess things around, and tell whatever story you want to tell using whatever tools are available to you to tell it. The ancient Greek playwrights would have been proud.

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