Latest Posts by pandora-allan - Page 2

i learned that if you scale the history of the universe to a single year, where the Big Bang happened at January 1st 00:00:00 and the present day is December 31st 23:59:59, all of recorded human history fits within the last 12 seconds (x)

Space Shuttle Enterprise

karina + black mamba stages 

What’s Inside a ‘Dead’ Star?

Matter makes up all the stuff we can see in the universe, from pencils to people to planets. But there’s still a lot we don’t understand about it! For example: How does matter work when it’s about to become a black hole? We can’t learn anything about matter after it becomes a black hole, because it’s hidden behind the event horizon, the point of no return. So we turn to something we can study – the incredibly dense matter inside a neutron star, the leftover of an exploded massive star that wasn’t quite big enough to turn into a black hole.

Our Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer, or NICER, is an X-ray telescope perched on the International Space Station. NICER was designed to study and measure the sizes and masses of neutron stars to help us learn more about what might be going on in their mysterious cores.

When a star many times the mass of our Sun runs out of fuel, it collapses under its own weight and then bursts into a supernova. What’s left behind depends on the star’s initial mass. Heavier stars (around 25 times the Sun’s mass or more) leave behind black holes. Lighter ones (between about eight and 25 times the Sun’s mass) leave behind neutron stars.

Neutron stars pack more mass than the Sun into a sphere about as wide as New York City’s Manhattan Island is long. Just one teaspoon of neutron star matter would weigh as much as Mount Everest, the highest mountain on Earth!

These objects have a lot of cool physics going on. They can spin faster than blender blades, and they have powerful magnetic fields. In fact, neutron stars are the strongest magnets in the universe! The magnetic fields can rip particles off the star’s surface and then smack them down on another part of the star. The constant bombardment creates hot spots at the magnetic poles. When the star rotates, the hot spots swing in and out of our view like the beams of a lighthouse.

Neutron stars are so dense that they warp nearby space-time, like a bowling ball resting on a trampoline. The warping effect is so strong that it can redirect light from the star’s far side into our view. This has the odd effect of making the star look bigger than it really is!

NICER uses all the cool physics happening on and around neutron stars to learn more about what’s happening inside the star, where matter lingers on the threshold of becoming a black hole. (We should mention that NICER also studies black holes!)

Scientists think neutron stars are layered a bit like a golf ball. At the surface, there’s a really thin (just a couple centimeters high) atmosphere of hydrogen or helium. In the outer core, atoms have broken down into their building blocks – protons, neutrons, and electrons – and the immense pressure has squished most of the protons and electrons together to form a sea of mostly neutrons.

But what’s going on in the inner core? Physicists have lots of theories. In some traditional models, scientists suggested the stars were neutrons all the way down. Others proposed that neutrons break down into their own building blocks, called quarks. And then some suggest that those quarks could recombine to form new types of particles that aren’t neutrons!

NICER is helping us figure things out by measuring the sizes and masses of neutron stars. Scientists use those numbers to calculate the stars’ density, which tells us how squeezable matter is!

Let’s say you have what scientists think of as a typical neutron star, one weighing about 1.4 times the Sun’s mass. If you measure the size of the star, and it’s big, then that might mean it contains more whole neutrons. If instead it’s small, then that might mean the neutrons have broken down into quarks. The tinier pieces can be packed together more tightly.

NICER has now measured the sizes of two neutron stars, called PSR J0030+0451 and PSR J0740+6620, or J0030 and J0740 for short.

J0030 is about 1.4 times the Sun’s mass and 16 miles across. (It also taught us that neutron star hot spots might not always be where we thought.) J0740 is about 2.1 times the Sun’s mass and is also about 16 miles across. So J0740 has about 50% more mass than J0030 but is about the same size! Which tells us that the matter in neutron stars is less squeezable than some scientists predicted. (Remember, some physicists suggest that the added mass would crush all the neutrons and make a smaller star.) And J0740’s mass and size together challenge models where the star is neutrons all the way down.

So what’s in the heart of a neutron star? We’re still not sure. Scientists will have to use NICER’s observations to develop new models, perhaps where the cores of neutron stars contain a mix of both neutrons and weirder matter, like quarks. We’ll have to keep measuring neutron stars to learn more!

Keep up with other exciting announcements about our universe by following NASA Universe on Twitter and Facebook.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com.

Weird and Wonderful Irregular Galaxies

Spiral and elliptical galaxies seem neatly put together, but what happened to irregular galaxies? Irregular galaxies have one-of-a-kind shapes and many look like blobs! Why do they look the way they do? Astronomers think the uniqueness of these galaxies results from their interactions with other galaxies — like when they pass close to one another or even collide!

Looking back at the early universe with the help of our Hubble Space Telescope’s “deep field” observations, astronomers can peek at galaxies millions and billions of light-years away. They noticed that these far-away galaxies appear unusually messy, showing more star formation and mergers than galaxies closer to the Milky Way.

We also see irregular galaxies closer to home, though. Some may form when two galaxies pass close together in a near-miss. When this happens, their gravity pulls stars out of place in both galaxies, messing up the neat structure they originally had as spiral or elliptical galaxies. Think of it like this: you happen to have a pile of papers sitting at the edge of a table and when someone passes close by the papers become ruffled and may scatter everywhere! Even though the two galaxies never touched, gravity's effects leave them looking smeared or distorted.

Some irregular galaxies result from the collision between two galaxies. And while some of these look like a blob of stars and dust, others form dazzling ring galaxies! Scientists think these may be a product of collisions between small and large galaxies. These collisions cause ripples that disturb both galaxies, throwing dust, gas, and stars outward. When this happens, it pushes out a ring of material, causing gas clouds to collide and spark the birth of new stars. After just a few million years, stars larger than our Sun explode as supernovae, leaving neutron stars and black holes throughout the ring!

Not all galaxy collisions create irregular galaxies — our Milky Way spiral galaxy has gone through many mergers but has stayed intact! And for some interacting galaxies, being an irregular galaxy may just be a phase in their transformation. We’re observing them at a snapshot in time where things are messy, but they may eventually become neat and structured spirals and ellipticals.

Irregular galaxies are similar to each other, but unique and beautiful because of their different interactions, whether they’re just passing another galaxy or taking part in a dramatic collision. Keep up with NASA Universe on Facebook and Twitter where we post regularly about galaxies.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com.

“What you think, you become. What you feel, you attract. What you imagine, you create.”

— Buddha

your icon is hera??? ma’am.... pls tell me about peacocks and marriage 🥺🥺🥺

YES ANON ME TOO 💕

i fucking love hera so much!!! she and artemis are my two absolute favourite goddesses!!!

ahhh and look how beautiful they made her in Blood Of Zeus!!! she’s stunning!!

Mike Pence touched some NASA hardware that said “do not touch” — and in came the memes

Here’s how it works: we board the train. I sit at the back of the train, facing forward. You sit at the front of the train, glancing back. There is a distance, d, between us. The doors slide shut. The train lurches into motion.

If the train was moving at a perfectly constant velocity, we could pull the shades down over the windows, close our eyes, block out all other frames of reference, and believe that we were standing still, that our journey had not yet started, that it was not yet too late to stand up and disembark and still be standing at the station. But for now there is only acceleration, unmistakable, the train building, building speed, hurtling off towards the future.

It goes like this: we pass light and shade and light and shade and light.

Each time, a shaft of light enters from the very front of the train, through the engineer’s window, passes you and and travels the length of d all the way to the back of the train at 299,792,458 meters per second to reach my eyes. Then a moment’s shadow, then the next shaft of light, and so on, at regular intervals, so that in this way we can keep time.

We are constantly accelerating.

In the infinitesimal amount of time it takes for a shaft of light to travel the length of d, I have been accelerated forward ever so infinitesimally to meet it, reducing the distance each successive beam of light has to travel, narrowing the intervals between them from what you experience up in front, quickening the beats of light and shade and light and shade and light.

Time dilates.

Let’s pretend: that before we boarded we set our watches to move in sync, that they beat in perfect unison, that by some coincidence each tick marks the precise interval between shafts of light from my perspective. Let’s pretend that I am sitting here in the back, my world in order, moving with perfect regularity. The speed of light is a constant. Tick, tick, tick, for every burst of light.

Even then, in the front, though your conscious mind could not possibly begin to perceive it, you might subconsciously begin to sense the irregularity: that your watch was moving faster, out of sync, that each tick came a fraction of a nanosecond before the next beam of light; that, on a long enough time frame, you would eventually come to overtake it, that you would gain an extra second, then another, then another, time compounding inevitably until we both knew for sure that I was lagging behind.

We have to accept this: that the speed of light is a constant, no matter where we are relative to each other, no matter our velocities, no matter the directions that we’re headed. That in the equation of S = d / t, speed is distance divided by time, it is time that has to change to compensate. That if we are to exist under the same laws of physics, we have to accept the seconds, minutes, hours, days, years, all the relative differences between us.

I am seated on the back of the train, looking forward into the future. You are seated on the front of the train, looking back into the past.

i’m survivin

OMG The city of echoes sounds thrilling! Idk why but I feel like there are many parrallel stories in myths for these two... I love your other fics too but this one already hunted me down😭

introducing you to: all my WIPs

It’s the second time I’m writing this post because tumblr hates me and deleted it for no reason. Ugh. So, since I have to put some order in my brain, I’ll list here all of the wips I’m currently working on. But here comes the funny part: you get to choose one of these, and I’ll start working on it as soon as I can—and you’ll get a dt when I post it here and on ff.net. Also yes, you got it right; this is basically a way to make me start working on them faster. Here we go.

Olympus (chapter 5). If you know me and have read some of my fics, you probably already know what I’m talking about. If you haven’t, “Olympus” is a bookshop AU, in which Reyna is the owner of a cute second-hand-books shop in San Francisco, and Jason is just some guy who happens to be maybe a little too in love with the shop (and its owner).

Sugar paper (chapter 1). You’re probably so sick of me talking about this fic. This is the fake dating AU I’ve been talking about for months, perhaps?, but never wrote. I’ve already started writing the first chapter, but I don’t like it at all, so I think I’ll just delete all I’ve got and start again from the beginning. Anyway, it features Percy, Nico, Jason’s and Reyna’s families and the fabulous Hazel Levesque.

The three times Reyna fell in love with Jason (and the one time she didn’t). If you think this title screams angst, you’re totally right. Slightly—highly, actually—inspired to my shitty love life, this fic is set in the canonic universe, and takes place before HoO. I think the title is pretty self-explanatory, so I won’t give you any details; only that New Rome plays a huge role in this fic. Oh and it’s a one-shot.

Rewrite the stars. Rey is going to hate me because I promised I’d write this ages ago and I still haven’t begun. This is a Star Trek AU in which Jason is the captain of a starship, and Reyna is his cold, stonefaced, calculating first officer with Romulan origins. When he asks her out for dinner, she has to remind him of the Code they had agreed to respect back when they were at the academy. Also a one-shot.

Illicit affairs. Obviously inspired by Taylor Swift, because how can you be a jeyna shipper and not listen to Taylor Swift. In particular, this fic is going to be a three-shots based on her new album “Folklore”’s teenage love triangle. In fact, this is not exactly jeyna. It’s more a study of the Piper/Jason/Reyna love triangle in the books. Mhh I don’t know if I’m ever going to write this anyway, so let me know.

The city of echoes. I’ve been thinking about this idea for the last week and I’m so in love with it. The subtitle is “All the times Jason and Reyna came back to each other”; the main plot takes place after ToA, but I want it to have as many flashbacks as possible. This one is going to be hot and sweet and rude, all at the same time. Both smutty and angsty. It’s mainly based on the myth of Phosphorus and Hesperus—the morning and the evening stars—, always thought to be so apart, and yet being the same thing. Exactly like Jason and Reyna. Three-shots.

Keep reading

Who steps out of the shower half dressed and who exhales 'wow, I'm gay' to themselves ? For as many ships as you like!

🦝: blurb/ headcanons/ drabbles

Uh I'm not going to say *I'm gay* because I really want to do Jeyna. So is *I'm whipped* a good substitute?

So in the case of Jeyna:

Contrary to popular belief, whenever Jason steps out of the shower half dressed, humming some stupid show tune, Rey plays it super cool like it doesnt affect her at all. But inside her mind is just Wow Jason. HOLYSHITHOLYFUCK and shes mentally screaming because he doesn't know what an effect she has on him and like Jason totally knows but he acts like he doesnt notice and will basically tease her the whole time.

Thaluke (let's pretend these babies are alive/not immortal):

Its totally Luke. Luke is the definition of a simp. He will look at Thalia and his heart will just skip a few beats because he's like this beauty woman chose me of all the people she could be with. "Damn I'm so lucky" is a thought constantly in his head because he loves her so much, from her punk badges to the little freckles on her back.

Solangelo:

So it would be Will. Nico would come out of the shower and Will would be teasing him about using up all the hot water or something and then Nico will be like "for the last time, William" and turn to face him and Will's brain kinda short circuits because wow this guy is so beautiful and like he looks so good and holy fuck, hes so gay and he wants to marry Nico di angelo and his ghostly weebiness.

Tratie (this is canon, fight me):

I hc that they both dont start dating outright but more as like, friends with benefits or something. Then one day, Katie steps out the bathroom in a towel and she's yelling at Travis for finishing her shampoo and she's not completely got the soap off her body and her hair is all stuck to her head but at that moment, Travis is like wow. I love her. And then he just pauses and goes. Fuck. I'm whipped for Katie Gardiner.

Malcolm and Rachel (thank you @1ooo-w0rds for getting me to ship something that has 0 scope in this fandom)

Its Rachel. For sure. They're just roommates. He needs a place to stay close to his college and she doesnt really want to stay away from the world of demigods during the whole year she spends at her Art College. She walks into his room trying to ask him something and he's standing there in his towel and all Rachel completely loses her voice and she just mutters wow under her breath and she knows it's weird but she cant take her eyes off him and her mind is just doing a continuous chant of ohmygodohmygodohmygod I'm going to die.

Ahh I dont really ship anything else that much so I dont think I can just do headcanons randomly until you specifically request ygm

****

This sucks sorrryyy.

Feedback and reblogs are always appreciated.

@knowitowl I'm sorry I didn't saw this for a while but THANKS FOR THE TAG!!

Last song: Hold on by Chord Overstreet

Last movie: Red shoes and the Seven Dwarfs (bc Merlin is CUTE)

Currently watching: Online lectures:/

Currently reading: The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje

Currently craving: pasta with shrimp:)

Tagging at anyone who wants to do this:)))

Tag people you’d like to get to know better

I was tagged by @psycho-crazy-pineapples

Last Song: I Don’t Want to be Friends by Jake Scott

Last Movie: Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed

Currently Watching: Rewatching/Bingewatching Over the Garden Wall today as my annual pre-halloween tradition

Currently Reading: Small Spaces by Katherine Arden and Stocking and Spells by Nancy Warren

Currently Craving: apple pie

tagging: @viktorkrumn @comatose–overdose @skytlake @namida221b @moonlandingwasfaked @serooks and anyone who feels like it!

Mythology Posters Series: Enyo

A greek goddess of war and destruction, she was the daughter of Zeus and Hera, a sister, female counterpart and companion to Ares. Enyo was responsible to orchestrating the destruction of cities, and along with Eris - to whom she’s often associated -, Phobos and Deimos inflicted terror and bloodshed during the fall of Troy. The Romans identified her with Bellona.

I'm feeling lucky now.

common misconceptions of greek or roman mythology

» Nike & Dike are two different gods. Nike is the goddess of victory & Dike is the goddess of justice

» Hades is the god of the underworld & Thanatos is the god of death

» Persephone isn’t just the queen of the underworld, she’s the goddess of spring

» There’s two goddesses named Thalia, one of the muses, and one of graces

» In Greek, a name like Hekate or Kassandra would be spelled with a K, but in other languages it can be spelled with a C

» In Roman Mythology, Apollo is still Apollo (there many be other wording to how it’s spelt, but it’s still Apollo)

» Hermes could fly without his sandals as they were simply symbols for him

» The definition of the twelve Olympians changes because multiple texts decipher other gods/goddesses as being apart of the twelve Olympians

» The titans were not ultimately bad gods, some would say they were nicer to humanity and never tried to destroy humanity (this idea was popularized by Percy Jackson), and the Olympians attacked first

» There is no “Pandora’s” box, Pandora, who is actually a woman created, actually opened the box after being gifted it on her wedding day

» Not many people worshiped Ares because he was majority of the time on the losing side & he was considered too violent and difficult to have on your side 

» At first Rome’s gods had no appearance until they absorbed more Greek Mythology

» The Trojan War is still being debated as actually happening, there has been debris found that could indicate that there was a siege to the city

» Male demigods tended to have higher-than-average ambition and physical powers, while female demigods (like Helen of Troy) only were gifted with exceptional beauty

»  Death gods were pretty laid back compared to other gods & the only person/god Hades ever killed was Asclepius, but only because Asclepius was bringing the dead back to life & disrupting the cycle of life

Hey! So.. you're a gr8 fanfic author and I just wanted to ask could u make a post on Jason and his glasses? Cuz I feel they aren't appreciated enough. Thxx

First of all, thank you so much. And I'm so sorry. this came ages ago but I had ~no motivation~

My specialty is New Rome so like pre-HoO Jason and his glasses?¿

Baby Jason getting glasses because he's shortsighted and it's so huge for his face that it looks a bit ridiculous but everyone finds it adorable

Getting teased and called four eyes and nerd around the age of 11 by Dakota, Bobby and Felix.

The first time he flies, his glasses fall down and breaks and he gets really sad because it was one of his only links to his childhood when everything was better.

He constantly removes his glasses and then forgets where he leaves it.

Getting contacts when he's around 15 and he gets them in different colors like green and brown.

Reyna absolutely hates it because she's like I love your blue eyes Airhead.

He occasionally changes the frames because he's so sick of the monotony

Hating the way his glasses get fogged up when he drinks something hot so he sticks to cold drinks usually.

He never has the cloth to clean his glasses. He always uses the end of his toga or the ends of his shirt to wipe the lens.

Definitely the type to stick to plain rectangular frames though he did try owl glasses once but immediately decided it wasn't for him

Every time he does paper work his glasses slide down the bridge of his nose so he pushes it back up.

All the girls at Camp have a thing for glasses!Jason even though he has no clue why. He's always like "I look like a dork. Why would they like me?"

And like Gwen explains to him that glasses make some people look hotter for some reason and the poor boy is so bewildered by the end of the conversation

Helmets never sitting quite right on his face due to the glasses so he develops a figting style that defends his face at all times.

He doesn't like letting people wearing his glasses though he does make an exception for a few people (*cough* Reyna *cough*)

He can see well enough without them but he gets really bad headaches if he goes for a more than a few hours without wearing them.

He usually removes his glasses when he's about to kiss someone because glasses complicate stuff

So that's it. Most of it is taken from my experience wearing glasses so I think it's pretty accurate?

Please do reblog and leave some feedback because those really help.

MASTERLIST || TAGLIST

Taglist under the cut (strikethrough means I couldnt tag)

@dragoncreek319 @naerysthebidragon @theliterarymess @rimi-lekak @nyx-is-evil @tothestarsndback @mischiefmanaged011 @kuuhakublank00 @mango-pickle @xstarsarewrong @aureateargentum @aadya23 @fanvergentinanexistentialcrisis @knowitowl @kasoe21  @totallyforgotyouwerehere  @musicalkeys @angl3s-ao3 @im-ground-zero @hitchhiker-of-the-galaxy @lily-the-queen-evans @pandora-allan @stars-triumphant @hayliemyers-agentofshield

Things that remind me of: Hera

Baking for someone when they're sad.

Being the mom friend.

Knitting, crocheting things for your friends because they all deserve more soft things in their lives.

Packing an extra hoodie in your bag in case one of your friends or siblings forgets to bring one.

Having back ups of medication and inhalers in case your friend needs them. (I have allergy pills and a spare EpiPen for my friend).

Painting. Idk why, it just gives me big Hera vibes.

Praying to her when you need a mother's advice and you're too afraid to ask your mother, or you've lost your mother. She's so motherly, if you ever need a mom, she's there for you.

Being able to literally forget your own name, music taste and age but being able to basically write a wikifandom page from memory about each of your friends.

Soup. Big mom food, soup is good.

Working on your issues. Forgiving, so you can move on. But remembering you don't owe anyone anything.

When you get hurt and your friend puts on a cute band aid with flowers or cartoons on it because it helps.

Remembering to take your meds. It makes her so proud of you.

When you're kids and you plan out your whole wedding with your friends and you design dresses and make a menu and a maid of honour speech and everything. Hera loves that shit.

When your sibling goes to hospital or moves out and you cling onto their stuffed animal that you stole (or were given) and it helps you adjust to them not being near you right then. (My brother went into hospital alot with kidney problems, I have his plush giraffe, his name is Microsoft).

Waking up from nightmares and gasping because you dont know where you are but you relax slowly and melt into the mattress and feel better slowly and that's Hera. She's guiding you back to yourself, to safety, she's easing the adrenaline from your system.

Believing in soulmates.

I'm so tired so I hope the spelling is okay. I love Hera so much, she's very comforting.

Next will be Zeus himself

Me after watching 3 episodes of Blood Of Zeus. Sees the villain using a bident. And a 3 headed dog beside him. Please don’t be Hades, Please don’t be Hades- Me after seeing the entire show: *spoilers ahead*

Keep reading

I made a short MAD focusing on my Hera song is “Will” by Ayaka Hirahara

I swear when I planned the story and title, it had nothing to do with this song…O_o

but the more I listened to this song, the more “Hera” images appear in my head.  I only have time to create a short version using existing drawings… I really hope one day I can add a few more simple animations.  (I gotta figure out how to make better videos first though…@u@lll )

—

MYth x Will *MAD（マッド）is what we call a video combining manga/ animation and music.

Patreon December Lucky Drawing sketch request

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♥Support me on Patreon ♥ ♥ Read my web-comic on TAPASTIC ♥

*Completed MYth short stories: My Seasons (Hades & Persephone). Eternal Gift (Poseidon & Amphitrite). A Promise (Story before the Olympians). Will (Hera’s decision). Distillation (Birth of Athena)

*Currently updating:  MYth: Inflammation (story of Hephaestus)

Vlad ;D

tender

Hey, what do you think about Medea? I know people portray her as a cruel witch but I think she never had someone besides her than her aunt; Circe. She really deserved to be happy, right?

This is the story of the wicked villain’s daughter who whispers in the hero’s ear and teaches him how to overcome every trial. Through her magic she transmutes the most insurmountable labor into triviality, she foils the villain’s pursuit so that her father cannot catch them in their flight.

(she chops her brother into pieces and casts the pieces to the sea, so that her father’s fleet must be hindered dredging up every bloody portion so that their king might bury his son)

She is wise, and she is good, and she is wonderful, filled with wonders, and the story never thinks to ask:

Why, with all her knowledge and her power, in all the years before the hero came, did she do nothing to curb her father’s wickedness?

---

When Medea excoriates Jason for his betrayal, he snaps back in retort:

“You exaggerate your favors,” he sneers. “Should I thank you? Did you act purposefully? Or was it not the shafts of Eros, as Aphrodite willed, that compelled you to save my life?”  

---

Medea loves her children dearly, and she kills them, and in that she is beyond compulsion.

---

We might ask instead what purpose Jason served in the story, if Medea and the Argonauts accomplished all his feats for him. Did Jason on his own slaughter the six-armed Gegenees? Did he know how to withstand the fiery breath of the Kolkhis Bulls? Did he know the dangers of sowing the dragon’s teeth, how to lull the sleepless dragon into sleep?

Could he have outplayed the sirens, killed the bronze man Talos on his own initiative?

What was the point of him, then?

(the answer is: it was his story)

---

When Medea returns to her home of Colchis many years later, after all the unpleasantness with Jason is well and done, she discovers her tyrannical father has been overthrown by his brother Perses, the new king.

Unfortunately for her, this is no happy ending. Perses hopes to purge her father’s bloodline and eliminate all other claimants to the throne.

So, she kills him.

(she is good at that, killing family)

It was said that when the Golden Fleece was removed from Colchis, so too would the king be removed from his throne. Medea returns, years later, and kills her uncle and restores her father to the throne, and the old wrong is finally set right.

.

The dead are all still dead, of course.

---

After Medea kills her brother, the gods demand she must be cleansed.

The Argo sails through storm and hellish steam and darkness, and finally docks at Circe’s island. Circe slits the throat of a piglet, stains their hands with its blood. The hearth fires blaze bright, and many cakes are brought out to be burnt as offerings to Zeus.

“There,” Circe says afterwards. “All done.”

Medea sits next to her on the polished chairs, looking at the thin dark line of pig’s blood still beneath her fingernails. “I don’t know that I can ever be cleansed of this.”

Her aunt smirks. “Too bad,” she says. “Ceremony’s over. You are.”

“I just -” she says, and looks towards the Argo where Jason is waiting, and feels her throat close up with emotion. “I feel like I’m going insane. I don’t know what I’ve done. I feel like I would do anything for him.” 

“The only morality in the world is love,” Circe says. “Everything else is mere ambition. Falling headlong into someone else’s story, and selfishly living out your own.”

“I helped kill him,” Medea says. “I killed my brother.”

“He was hunting you down. They would have killed you both, if they caught you.” Circe looks meditatively into the fire. “The gods have done worse, for worse reasons. Zeus, the Cleanser of Sins, once tried to devour his own daughter.”

They are silent for a time. The fire crackles cozily, and the burnt fragrance of cake hangs in the air. “I don’t deserve any of this,” Medea says.

“Ah, that’s the cruelty of it.” Circe sighs. “You are part mortal and part divine, a truth unto yourself, consequence unmoored from judgement.” She lays a hand over Medea’s. “You don’t deserve a damn thing.”

---

When Medea kills her children, she weeps.

(but she has wept before, and gone on to do more wickedness, and so tears are neither salve nor salvation)

After her children are dead, Helios sends down a golden chariot from the heavens to carry her away, to carry away with her the bodies of her children, so that she might bury them with her own two hands in Hera’s sacred grove, safe from any further indignity or harm.

(as a sign from the gods, this might be taken as approval)

---

This is how Medea’s story goes: Time passes and wounds slowly heal. She falls in love again, and has another child. She falls into old habits and once again tries to kill her lover’s son, but this time is unsuccessful. She is forced to flee, and at last returns to her father’s kingdom. She kills her uncle. More kinblood is shed.

Her son Medus grows up to take the throne, and he is so renowned in conquest that the Aryans rename themselves the Medes, in his and his mother’s name.

He is her darling son. She loves him dearly.  

.

This is a happy ending, perhaps.

Everyone says love hurts, but that is not true. Loneliness hurts. Rejection hurts. Losing someone hurts. Envy hurts. Everyone gets these things confused with love, but in reality love is the only thing in this world that covers up all pain and makes someone feel wonderful again. Love is the only thing in this world that does not hurt.

— Meša Selimović

Not quite in the mood now to do so...Sorry;)

"I never knew I could feel so much pain, and yet be so in love with the person causing it..."

HA gotcha;)

You, a peasant: homo

Me, an intellectual: Highest Occupied Molecular Orbital

So, tell me how to be in this world Tell me how to breathe in and feel no hurt Tell me how ’cause I believe in something I believe in us