round 11; Mythology; Modern Athena
Fandom: Greek Mythology
Subject: Athena Modern AU
Title: Gold, Guns, Girls
Warnings/Notes
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of pallas athena, guardian of the city, i begin to sing. dread is she, and with ares she loves the deeds of war, the sack of cities and the shouting and the battle. it is she who saves the people as they go to war and come back. hail, goddess, and give us good fortune and happiness!
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mythic. Athena is the goddess of war and wisdom, patroness of Athens and daughter of Zeus. She sprung from her father's head, after he swallowed her mother whole Her mother Metis was prophesied to bear a child that would overthrow Zeus, and being a child that killed his father, Zeus couldn't have that. He developed a wicked headache (small penance really for swallowing someone whole) and Hermes told Hephaestus to split open his head. Athena emerged from his skull, fully grown and in a full set of armor. Pretty bad ass way to be born really.
modern. I've never found much about the end of the gods' reign, I figure it's mostly because Christianity came in and swept any trace of them away. I found one book by Robert Graves that said the gods retreated to live in the woods and in caves. I thought it would be much more interesting if they just continued to reinvent themselves. That idea and Latter Days kind of gave birth to this. A character study of sorts of a Modern Day Athena. A strong intelligent woman immersed in the world of war, seeking out people who might have been followers of Athena when that still meant something and hiding who she actually is.
The world has changed and so must they, if they want to stay alive. Immortality without worship is like bread without water. They would live, but just barely. But gods do not bow. They do however, slink into the background. Finding power in other spaces. The world keeps moving, Athena finds her places among the women working in munitions factories in the new world during the second world war. Finds warriors for the homeland in the most unlikely places. She is her father' favorite daughter, new world or no. They have never been without luxury, the times are simply different. Zeus shares this new wealth with his daughter, material goods coaxed from unknowing worshipers It feels a little like she is being paid for using her power, for grooming new warriors. But who is she to complain when it keeps her in the labels these mortals place so much weight on?
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PYRAMID two door cinema club
we have seen what lies beneath the earth. everything that has ever been and will become. we have seen the world for what it's worth. everything that's in between can still be done. just one day is all that we needed so we could believe it all. in some way we already knew it, we just had to prove it all.
YEAR OF THE TIGER st.vincent
when i was young, coach called me the tiger. i always had, a knack with the danger. living in fear in the year of the tiger. italian shoes. like these rubes know the difference. suitcase of cash in the back of my stick shift. i had to be the best of the bourgeoisie and now my kingdom for a cup of coffee.
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It never ends, these wars. In her heyday her name was called to help settle conflict. In this modern world, the warriors are more likely to fall to her brother Ares. They slaughter one another in the name of interchangeable leaders and ideals. She finds them now and then, the ones who might be true followers of Athena. The ones who favour strategy and justice. It takes all her power to keep them from harm. It is exhausting sometimes. But they must be groomed, they must be protected.
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THE SUN the naked and famous
and you've won. so i go bury my head in the ground. yet i won't lose what i said. in the sound of the words and the note that it brings. no i can't feel. a thing. here it comes. the unavoidable sun. of what's just happened and what's been done. and you know, I don't remember a thing.
GOLD GUNS GIRLS metric
all the gold and the guns in the world (couldn't get you off). all the gold and the guns and the girls ( couldn't get you off). all the boys, all the choices in the world. i remember when we were gambling to win. everybody else said better luck next time. i don't want to bend, let the bad girls bend. i just want to be your friend.
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Some days she thinks maybe the idea of hiding in the woods, or making a home in a cave might be better than this. Than trying to fit into a new world where she isn't wanted. The modern age was supposed to be a high point, intellectual and superior. Athena finds herself longing for the days of the Ancient Greeks, and not just because they burned candles in her honor She hates the clothing, and the make up and the idiotic insinuations about her virginity (it never used to be such an issue.) Most of all she hates that the mortals have lost their belief in the mystical, in the very idea of magic and divinity. Oh they fight wars for religion, but ask any of them over the age of five if they believe in magic and they'll scoff. If only the arms dealer she squares off against knew he was dealing with a Greek goddess. The man would probably quiver in his expensive boots and cry. She almost wants to tell him, just for the hell of it. But that's a dangerous notion.
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LATTER DAYS mother mother
look at the guys of the modern day. gutting the goose with the golden egg. what could it be they are trying to do? what kind of hell did it get put through hey?! i ain't coming out today. no i'ma stay in my cave. all because i don't know how i should behave in the latter days.
WARRIOR kimbra
my hands are tied. but my eyes are open. this modern denial, has me broken. nothing mystical, no hullabaloo. just chemicals, and no one looking down on you. what am i thinking (if you're so sure it's rational) while the world's shrinking( but that don't make it logical)
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She misses the fact that her reputation proceeded her. Of course they've all heard of Athena, but none of them know her. They've grossly misjudged this era, these people. Or at least her place among them. She wonders if her siblings, the rest of her family is having this problem. She can do it of course, she is Pallas Athena, she can do anything. She's just not so sure she wants to. Not now. The mortals cynicism has infected her, and it wouldn't do to have a goddess who has trouble believing in herself. Perhaps it's time to retreat to that cave after all, let the mortals she has known forget her. She'll reinvent herself, find a better place. Gods never die. They just get bored.
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CROWN ON THE GROUND sleigh bells
you have your little thing. you think you're bothering. the class is ending, ending, ending. you never did know. you don't wanna know. there's another show playing in your window. the perm'nent thought of you, has never bothered you. you're gonna have to, have to, have to, set, set that crown on the ground.
PROCESSION the duke spirit
we have great fears, no tears to remember. devote yourself, promote yourself to heaven. you must, you should, you could but you'll never. don't look back, you let all the sacred get severed. oh i'll always come back. the spinning wheel of the winning field. you're the spinning wheel of the winning field.