M³ Stashed Away

So, yeah, it’s weird being born from a tree. But it’s Greek myth, what’re you going to do? As stated before, Aphrodite feels a bit responsible for the death of Smyrna, so she took the baby and locked him in a box. Perfectly normal thing to do, right? Mythologies around the world agree that this produces perfectly well-adjusted people, so you can throw away your parenting manuals.

Please don’t follow the advice of mythology on parenting.

F³ A History of Decapitation

I left Ellie, reluctantly because she still stared at the seat, for the front row that Amanda guided me to. There Mildred and Mikey were still working.

M³ Atypical Godly Feeling

So, there’s a baby born from a tree, whose name happens to be Adonis. Yes, the very good-looking Adonis, and we will get to the details of that particular story soon. Before that, though, we have to examine something very curious. After Adonis is born, “Aphrodite, already repenting of the mischief that she had made, concealed Adonis in a chest.”

F³ Sequence Break

“I haven’t been happy at home, much less happy during the holidays. It just seems so much more stressful, now,” she said.

“Was it always that way?”

M³ Love Is in The Air

Never, ever, ever boast about a trait or skill as being better than one of the gods. It’s a lesson that apparently bears repeating despite having been through this before. Unfortunately, the wife of King Cinryas boasted that her daughter, Smyrna, was more beautiful than Aphrodite.

F³ Fast Forward

“Holidays are tough. Leastways that’s what the modern image is, you know?” I said.

“What do you mean?”

“That it’s dysfunctional. People get together to supposedly have a good time, but there are fights or just nothing ever works out. It can never be Norman Rockwell, so it might as well be a sitcom of disasters.”

M³ Close Still Counts

Okay, so the thunderbolt was deflected, but that’s okay. Like with horseshoes, hand grenades, and tactical nuclear weapons, close counts with thunderbolts. The thunderbolt travels through the ground and hits Anchises that way. It doesn’t kill him, but it weakens his legs to the point he can’t stand on his own any more. He has been struck lame, even worse than Hephaestus.

F³ Matters of Lovemaking

“I’m always tired. Lately, just going home makes me more tired. There was one trip where I purposely extended the trip just so I wouldn’t have to go home, right away. I needed the extra day in a hotel just to rest because I knew when I went home we would get in a fight.

M³ Thunderbolt Aftershock

When you brag about sexually conquering a goddess, you can expect Zeus to be ticked off. He hurls a thunderbolt down at Anchises. Zeus, it must be said, is a good aim with his thunderbolts. They are his weapon of choice and has had to face down many titanic opponents (including his father) with them. He’s not going to miss. So it’s a safe bet that Anchises is a dead man.

F³ Instinctive Listening

“Leo and I have been having trouble. He doesn’t understand the pressure at work, I have. Every time I’m home it just seems like we start fighting. It’s just where I’m at right now, you know? It wasn’t even supposed to be my job, but the company laid off someone, and they need someone to do the job. I’m on my way home, this time, but I still have to teleconference and submit a plan, tomorrow.