video / open to both courts

[oursavinggrace]

[the image on the lockets is clearly from inside the cave system that whole moon hunt is taking place in. jason seems to be taking a break, and while he's pretty dirty and scuffed up (and definitely not enjoying being underground), he attempts a smile anyway.]

I know Nico and Rachel were talking about us doing the whole Greco-Roman myth storytime thing regularly, when he shared the whole "Hades and Persephone" story the other month, and switching off between Greek and Roman stories, and I guess since I'm still our token Roman, I might as well do a Roman myth.

[he's babbling a little. sorry.]

To be honest, most of the Roman myths are just Greek ones with the names changed, but the story of Romulus and Remus is all Roman. Mostly because it was their way of explaining why Rome was the most powerful city in the world.

[which is...honestly a pretty roman kind a thing to do. at the very least, none of the other demigods plus rachel should be surprised.]

So there was a princess named Rhea Silvia. Her uncle, this guy named Amulius, seized power and had all the legitimate male heirs killed so no one can challenge him. Rhea Silvia was dating the god of war, Mars, and she ended up giving birth to twin boys, Romulus and Remus.

Amulius was scared that Romulus and Remus would grow up and overthrow him, so he had them put in a basket and abandoned to die in the Tiber River. Y'know because that worked out great in the hundred other stories where they just abandon the baby out in the wilderness somewhere and hope it'll die.

[seriously. atalanta? oedipus? ion? that shit never works and no one ever learns.]

So anyway, the river just carries them to safety, and they're found by a female wolf called Lupa who raises them for a while. She's, uh, actually still around, and still trains new Roman demigods. They're just not usually babies these days. I spent a while with her when I was little, but I think most people go to her when they're a bit older, and just for a few months before they're sent to the Roman camp.

[he's getting off track. jason's mouth twists, stretching the little scar at the corner of his lips, and his shakes his head and continues.]

Anyway, so eventually Lupa left Romulus and Remus for a shepard to find, and they were raised by him and and wife until they grew up. They eventually find out the truth about everything and go kill Amulius, but instead of taking over a co-kings, they decided to make their own city instead.

So they found a place they liked for their city, but they couldn't agree which hill to put it on. They argued about it a lot and looked for signs from the gods to decide who was right, but they even disagreed about the results of that and eventually Romulus just started building the wall of his new city.

Remus was annoyed and started making fun of his brother's wall and jumped over the wall to point out how easy it was to get over, and Romulus was so angry he killed Remus. Romulus went on to finish his city and named it "Rome" after himself.

[jason looks more than a little embarrassed at his own roman-ness, now that he's actually going through the details of this dumb story. this was clearly a mistake.]

So...yeah. I guess it's supposed to mean that Rome is the best city ever because it was founded by a demigod, but in hindsight I'm not sure why everyone's so proud of a founded who killed his own brother because they had a really stupid argument. But Rome did go on to become the most powerful city in the world for over a thousand years, so...whatever.

[jason frowns, glancing away. okay, so maybe storytime was kind of a stupid idea. he'd just wanted a distraction from the whole "hanging out in uncle hades' domain for an extended period of time" thing, alright?]

Comments

[Action]

[fell_to_hell]

[Nico takes a seat next to Jason. He's not as tired as the others, but, then, he's not typically claustrophobic or noctophobic. Besides...it doesn't hurt to rest, despite how pressed for time they are in finding the Moon.]

Founded on bloodshed and political power, which pretty quickly became Rome's legacy. One of Italy's greatest prides.

[He may not be a Roman demigod, but his roots are Italian, and he can't deny that makes him partially connected to Rome.]

Not a nice history, but Greece doesn't have a nice one, either. Especially Sparta.

[Action]

[oursavinggrace]

[it's not quite claustrophobia, just...is there a word for fear of being buried alive by your godly uncle? still, he seems grateful for the distraction, and nudges nico's knee with his own.]

Well, we don't exactly have the best present either. Everything about this pantheon is kind of a mess, honestly.

[Action]

[fell_to_hell]

[The word is "baby" in Nico's opinion. He raises a supremely ironic eyebrow.]

What's not a mess about incest galore?

video;

[smithwork]

[ Hiccup looks equally as Fuck This, I Need A Sit-Down when he flicks on his locket's video, dirt scuffed over his face where he chills out alone. He listens intently, an open expression easing the tension over the past couple of days. ]

I've heard all about Rome's wonders and that it's the hub of the civilised world, I've just never had time to go. Its stories sound as crazy as ours on Berk, even though we're so far away up in the north past Valir. [ After a moment's thought, he tacks on, ] Pretty sure the Latin for that is Gallia? Sorry, I've been getting the impression off other people that I'm a throw-back from an earlier time, I might be getting the names of places wrong.

Are you really a Roman?

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[oursavinggrace]

You mean Gaul? [wow, that's like...Iron Age kinda stuff.] I mean, yeah, Gallia is right, just...huh. Yeah, it does sound like you're from kinda far back.

[and far north, but he's not nearly familiar enough with other myth and regions to guess anything for sure. something nordic maybe?]

I'm Roman, but it's probably not the kind of Roman you're thinking of. That Rome fell out of power a long time ago. It's still around, but it's mostly just a tourist thing these days. I'm from New Rome, in the U.S. [uhhh when was the new world discovered? shit.] Um, that's a continent to the west across the ocean from Rome and all that.

video;

[smithwork]

Viking.

[ Said with a shrug since it already explains more than he could, apparently. ]

Oh, it did? It's still going really strong, as far as I was aware. [ Wait, what. ] A continent to the west? I've mostly flown eastward past Sviar to the aspen forests, that's where I was charting prior to coming here. What's the Yew-Ess like?

[Action]

[wisestcamper]

Most people can ignore the little details they don't like in stories. [Annabeth was sitting nearby, her back against a wall, her eyes closed. Her draken-bone sword was stretched across her lap, and her hands were folded on it. She had probably looked like she was sleeping, but she'd been listening! Her eyes opened finally and she smiled some.]

Or they just don't know that part. That's a lot more detailed than I ever read the story.

[Action]

[oursavinggrace]

[tilting his head in her direction, jason manages a slight smile.]

Chiron didn't even tell you guys that there were Roman demigods. I'm not surprised that he wasn't really teaching you guys in-depth Roman myths.

[Action]

[wisestcamper]

Yeah, sort of. It's more like...we just saw the Roman stuff as an extension of our parents. I don't think it ever really occurred to us, at least not to me, that they'd be different people.

[Although, thinking about it, she probably should have. Athena and Minerva were nothing alike, after all.]

action;

[truesight]

[ Rachel is absolutely listening with her chin in her hand, and it's only in part because of how tired she is. this hero business is tough work, okay. so tiring. running around in a cave ( which you'd think this Oracle would be used to but nope this is way different ) with a weapon that kind of makes your arm hurt to use after a while, but. anyway. so she's all ears during Jason's story, because she's unashamed to admit that story time, of any variety, still tends to help her relax. she's a big kid like that.

she'll even quietly clap at the end ]

That story's kind of sad. But I was pretty excited to learn that Lupa is still around. I mean, I knew she was back home, but. Yeah. [ a beat, a tired smile. she's still got her head in her hand, but the other waves expressively as she talks ] I'm just trying to imagine what it would be like if Camp Half-Blood had someone like that look after demigods before they got into camp. It's like a test, almost, right?

action;

[oursavinggrace]

[it's easy for him to just brush off the whole "training with lupa" thing, since he barely even remembers his and she took care of him as much as she trained him. but thinking back on the stories he's heard about her, jason frowns and leans his head back against the rock wall.]

It's kind of exactly like a test, since...Lupa and her wolves apparently eat any demigod she thinks is too weak. I think I prefer Camp Half-Blood's methods, really.

action;

[astrapi]

[ Thalia listened to her brothers story quietly, leaning against a nearby wall. She'd gotten used to the journeys like this with the hunters and therefore wasn't all that tired. Or maybe that came with the abilities granted to her as a Hunter. It'd be nice she had arrived with some of the hunter's special camping equipment, but when did she ever have that good of luck. She probably would've arrived without her bow and knives if they didn't just appear when she needed them.

At the end of Jason's story, Thalia let out a small huff of a chuckle. ] Nice story, Jason. It reminds me of the ones that I used to tell you. [ with a teasing smirk. ] Except less brutal.

action;

[oursavinggrace]

What, were you trying to toughen me up even before Lupa and the Romans? Who's bright idea was it to leave you in charge of a kid?

[the teasing is lighthearted at worst. he's happy to have thalia here, actually nearby for once and not about to be dragged away again for another few months by the hunters. he can't ever blame her for joining up -- hell, she'd thought he was dead when she joined, and it clearly suits her -- but that doesn't mean he doesn't quietly hate how it keeps her away so much.]

action

[mesmerism]

[ Piper is seated next to Jason during his story, but out of the camera's frame. Once he's done, she scoots back closer and sets her cheek on his arm. ]

One more story for the collection of messed up Greek and Roman tales told in Drabwurld.

action

[oursavinggrace]

[gosh, what'd you do that for? pretty sure the drabwurld would have preferred your pretty face over scarface here.

as soon as piper's leaning on him, he immediately returns the favor and drops his head against hers, cheek resting against choppy mahogany hair.]

We might end up running out of stories someday, if we really are stuck here permanently.

video;

[notyetlegend]

[She raises an eyebrow slightly when he says Rome. He certainly doesn't look Roman, no more than Hiccup looks like a viking she supposes. Then again, she's never seen either and is just recounting the tales that she's heard from the Lords and her father - her mother's never had any political liaisons with Romans that she would've had to learn to deal with eventually. So that's what she goes with.]

My father an' th' other lords battled Romans, but I never knew their history was so complicated.

[It sounds like a legend at the very best.]

video;

[oursavinggrace]

[he probably doesn't look roman because he's an american teenager from california.]

I think a lot of people kind of forget that their enemies are people too, with their own culture and history and myths and all that. It's easier not to think about it, when you're fighting against them.

[but he doesn't want to sound accusatory or anything, so he goes for a smile.]

Where are you from? You sound kinda Scottish.

video »

[aliased]

[ pinged by wolves.] They were raised by a wolf?

video »

[oursavinggrace]

[he knows your wolf obsession by now. it's kind of cute.]

Yeah. A wolf goddess, actually.

[video]

[enjoymyatelier]

[did somebody say MYTHOLOGY

...but he does home in on one particular part and...]

...you do have to wonder why the go-to solution always seemed to be leaving children out in the wilderness. I'm suspecting there may be something lost in thousands of years of retelling, but wouldn't word eventually get around...?

Anyway, it's not really that surprising that they honored Romulus given how successful Rome ended up being, but I'm certain different cultural mores came into play, as well. Killing for the sake of pride wasn't really as frowned upon then as it is now.

sorry for the late! plot things happened and jay's tags fell by the wayside ; ;

[oursavinggrace]

[oh man, you found the right cast if you like mythology.]

The gods probably had something to do with it. They do like their tragic heroes, and they aren't exactly above helping to make those stories as dramatic as possible.

[yes, he speaks from experience.]

Video

[athousandcurses]

[Have an excited face appear on screen, if the locked could be called a screen, watching in fascination, almost a little too close.]

Truly, that is the story of the founding of Rome? I have never heard it before! Would you tell another? Do you know any Greek stories?

[Sorry, she... has an odd fascination with anything from outside of Ireland.]

sorry for the late! plot things happened and jay's tags fell by the wayside ; ;

[oursavinggrace]

[woooah chill, please hold your locket a safe three feet from your face to avoid eye damage and all that.]

Uh, I know some. But you're probably better off asking Nico. Or basically anyone else from our world.

[he is kind of the token roman.]

video.

[quest]

Huh. You know, for the time I spent at Camp Jupiter, I actually didn't learn very much about the Roman pantheon or any of their stories. [ which, now, in retrospect? he... actually kind of regrets! because he knows enough about Greece, but his knowledge of the Romans is still sorely lacking. ]

video.

[oursavinggrace]

Yeah, well. From what I heard, you had a lot going on while you were there.

[y'know, trips to alaska and fighting giants and being praetor and all that. he knows plenty well just how busy all that keeps you.]