This is an ask blog for Celestial Encounters, an AU made by @sainteclectic that you can find extra information about here. Basically, HMS and all the other albums are deities, while Whole (Harmonia) is just some guy who works at a corner store. HMS (or Pathos, Logos, and Psyche) are the primary gods, and they created or formed the other gods as offshoots of themselves, representing aspects of their power or performing duties for them.
Asks are preferably directed at someone specific, but you can also just shout into the void and see who answers. blog rules and further information about the characters are below the cut, but here's the short list:
Pathos (he/she/they) is the god of the moon, emotions, and justice. Under her are Castor (CiD; he/him), the god and entropy and injustice, and Thalia (Fine I'm Fine; any), god of celebration and euphoria.
Logos (she/her) is the god of the sun, logic, and progress. Under her are Pollux (The Before; she/her), god of apathy and downward spirals, and Theseus (...you know; he/they), god of perseverance and change.
Psyche (it/they/rarely she) is the god of the stars, the soul, and the underworld. Under it are Charon (Handsome Devil; he/they/it), god of judgement and passing on, and Lethe (Forest for the Trees; he/it), god of mania and overgrowth.
Aaand Harmonia (he/she), a normal mortal who doesn't know what he's doing here either.
Rules
I honestly don't really have anything except for being generally respectful of the blog owner and not getting too rowdy. {suggestive stuff is fine, use your best judgement on that kind of thing} go wild go crazy
Longer bios
pathos is the god of the moon, emotion, and justice. she gives humans their feelings, compassion, and drive to do what they feel is just. he has a strong sense of justice himself, though that sense might seem intense and destructive at times. despite his seemingly righteous goals, he's often blinded by them and is reckless as a result. she's driven purely by emotions, being a conduit for the feelings of humanity, and often doesn't think things through. logos despises their perceived immaturity, believing her to be too rash and emotional to know what's best for mortals.
logos is the god of the sun, logic, and progress. she grants humanity reasoning skills and technological advancements. she enjoys seeing them develop, but she's grown to dislike mortals for all their flaws and failures. still, she's devoted to giving humanity a flawless future - but she doesn't take their feelings about that into account, only what's "objectively" best for them. she approaches things from a purely practical perspective, not caring much for the emotions of the mortals who will be affected. this constantly puts her at odds with pathos, who thinks her methods are ruthless and cruel.
psyche is the god of the stars, the soul, and the underworld. they represent the spark of life in all things, the driving force that makes them unique. in return for giving humanity their sentience, it sacrificed its own personal identity, instead becoming a vessel for the wayward and damned souls that stay trapped behind their mask. it's exhausted from its duties of managing living and dead souls, as well as keeping logos and pathos from destroying humanity with their constant bickering. they like to go and watch the humans when it gets stressed out. it makes them happy to see mortals living their lives, using the gift of free will they granted them.
harmonia is a normal human living in a semi modern setting. the setting is sort of mixed with a bit of fantasy, because they still know gods exist and worship them and all that, which basically just means there's temples to them instead of churches. he's a minimum wage worker, painfully average, depressed, and barely presentable. she doesn't interact with many people outside of coworkers and customers, and she's certainly never interacted with literal deities before... until now.
thalia is a god of celebration and euphoria, especially after hard times. she represents the kind of overjoyed catharsis you get when you're finally free from your problems. he's worshipped in dances and song, and though they're more of an underground worship god than mainstream one these days (and she prefers it that way), many celebrations like graduations or weddings still include a toast to thalia as part of their tradition.
theseus is an interesting case. he was a human who strived to attain godhood by replacing his body with animal parts, hoping to be inhuman enough to ascend to godhood. logos respected the grind but hubris is still a crime, so they should probably punish his soul post death. pathos got into a debate over the fact logos is the most hubris person ever, of course she'd say that, and psyche allowed him to be a minor god of persistence and change as a compromise. he's more like a patron saint than a god in his own right, people pray to him for minor things these days, like personal growth or doing good on a test.
castor is the god of entropy and injustice. despite this, he's not generally a misanthropic god. instead, he's the god you turn to when you need strength in the face of an uncaring universe. fighting an oppressive system, getting vengeance for your suffering, seeing the beauty in decay, that kind of thing. he's representative of pathos' domain in justice and the cruel world that requires it! the emotional motivation to do better is nothing without the logical understanding of how to do it, though.
his twin pollux is the misanthropic one, representing apathy and downward spirals. she's the embodiment of the kind of nothingness you feel while trapped in depression. despite this seeming like an emotional thing, it's instead symbolic for the pit you can fall into when you can't feel emotions healthily. so she serves under logos because, while logos represents progress, that doesn't mean anything without the emotional drive to move forward.
charon is a chthonic god, specifically of judgment and passage into the underworld! charon is under psyche, who's The god of the underworld {taking care of souls and all that}, and he's basically a collector of souls that try to escape them - think thanatos trying to take sisyphus, who refused to die naturally. but it often gets into trouble with psyche because it likes to "play with his food" before taking them to it. they appreciate a good game of cat and mouse, and they respect those particularly crafty mortals that successfully elude them. meanwhile psyche just wants him to do his fucking job.
lethe is a nature god, but in the same way early nature deities like pan also represented madness. he's a god of doomed journeys, mania, and overgrowth. he's the voice in your head that tells you to leave the well-trod path and lose yourself in the gnarled branches and twisted pathways. legend says you might enter his domain if you get lost in the woods, and if you do, you might never escape... used as a cautionary tale to keep kids from wandering off, but people also make offerings to it before going traveling or hiking as a way to avoid their journey ending poorly.
The first thing Harmonia hears is the sound of waves. In front of him is a massive ocean, surface shimmering with what look like stars. Over the seemingly endless ocean is a sky of actual stars, which shines with vibrant colors he's only seen in books. The sight is so beautiful, she almost misses the figure standing on the shore.
How she did that is a mystery, considering they stand far taller than any human could. It turns to face Harmonia, and its face is nearly as breathtaking as the sky above.
Half of their face was covered by a porcelain mask, and the other half... Moth wings line an eye filled with sorrow, freckles twinkle on their cheeks like starlight, and their lips purse with worry. As it approaches Harmonia, dark cloak shining in the ocean's glow, he becomes increasinglyāand somewhat alarminglyāaware of just how tall they are.
They reach down to her with an arm that probably dwarfs her entire body.
"Oh, Harmonia..." It frowns. "Are you afraid of me?"
Rationally, he absolutely should beāthey're a literal god, one of the most powerful gods out there, and very bigābut their face holds no malice. In fact, it seems almost... guilty.
Harmonia bites her lip and looks away. "I... don't know. I don't want to be."
There's a sigh.
"I'm terribly sorry for scaring you..."
...Huh? She's apologizing? He looks back up, unable to keep the incredulous look off his face. The god's eye twinkles with... what looks like fondness?
"Really, I am. I haven't talked to a living mortal in... a very long time." With said mortal too shocked to respond, it continues. "AhāI haven't even introduced myself, and after you were so kind too... My name is Psyche."
Psyche extends its hand to shake, looks down at Harmonia's much smaller hand, and winces apologetically at how awkward the difference must be. It is certainly awkward to shake hands with a god, but with nothing else to do in this absurd situation, he does it.
"I, uh, know that." He cringes. "Fuck, that must sound so disrespectfulāShit, is swearing disrespectful. Agh, I just did it again, I'm so sorry, I promise I'm not trying to fuck this upāah, god damn it. Wait, you're god. Ughhh..."
Harmonia hides her face in her hands, red with embarrassment. He already embarassed himself in front of a god once, but at least that was accidental. Now, the literal god goes out of its way to apologize to her, and sheā
His thoughts are interrupted by the sound of laughter.
The noise is soft, delicate yet beautiful, like the wings that adorn their face. Harmonia looks up to see Psyche with its hand to its mouthācovering a smile that he hadn't realized just how much he wants to see.
"Ah, I apologize, I don't mean to laugh at you." Her eye crinkles from the smile. "You're just... very cute."
Harmonia blinks. Did... did he hear that right? Did the god of the underworld just call her cute?
"Um... Thanks?"
Psyche looks on fondly for a couple seconds before the look turns to regret again.
"Oh... I'd really love to chat more, but I'm sure you have very important things to get back to."
Shit. Right, he's technically still at his job right now. This is going to be an ordeal to try and explain to Laika.
"Yeah, uhāI don't think I'm supposed to be having divine visions on the clock?" Harmonia lets out a nervous laugh. "But, you know... When I'm done with work, if you want..."
The brown tomcat meows, batting at his hair in response. Not really helpful in trying to figure out how to appease a god, but at least he's trying. Do cats even know about the gods? That's a philosophical question she's not going to touch.
"What are you doing?"
Harmonia jolts back upāhitting her head on the top of the kennel in the process. The source of the voice holds back a laugh as he whines.
"Laikaaaa..." He turns to Laika, who holds a syringe in her hand and an amused expression on her face. "Help meeee..."
She tilts her head. "What, did you go to bed late again?"
Harmonia rubs her aching head. "No, it's not thatāI mean, I did, but that's not my problem."
Gesturing for him to scoot over, Laika gives Meatloaf the antibiotic while he continues.
"I just ran into a godāgoddess?āon my way to work, Laika. Ran into, knocked them overāa god!" Harmonia groans. "Andāand I was looking stuff up, you know, haven't gone to a temple in a while, and..."
She raises an eyebrow. "And?"
"...I'm pretty sure I just upset the god of the underworld??"
Laika stares for a moment, processing the ahsurd situation Harmonia somehow found herself in.
"...You think it's going to drag you to the underworld for accidentally running into it?"
"I don't know! I have no idea, I just..." She puts her head in her hands.
{What a mess.} {You wouldn't be freaking out?} {We all know she's too pathetic to do anything about it.} {It's their fault anyway.}
Huh? Those aren't customers. He looks around for the source of the whispers, but it's just himāand a very confused Laika.
"Did... did you just hear that?"
Laika furrows her brow. "Are you, like... good? Do I need to tell the kennel supervisor you have to go home early?"
"Uh..."
The offer is tempting, considering Harmonia is currently freaking the fuck out, but she can't afford any occurrence hoursāWait, what is he thinking? He just heard voices of... hang on. She closes her eyes.
{Great, you made it worse.} {I did? It's not my fault!} {Should we explain?} {Fuck that, this isn't our mess!}
As soon as Harmonia opens his eyes, the voices stop again.
"...I think I'm hearing the voices of the damned."
"What the fuck do you mean, 'you're hearing voices of the damned'?!"
...Yeah, that's probably a reasonable reaction to that information. Laika runs a hand through her braids and takes a sharp breath.
"Okay, okay, don't freak outā" A pause. "...Alright, well, you can freak out a little at hearing damned souls. Maybe it's some kind of vision?"
I'm gonna sign off with (-!?) from now on since I'm the anon that is normal about Pathos
Rhetorical or not, Pathos is extremely beautiful ^_^
-!?
(you know, most people find me scary! gods are pretty intimidating, after all. lots of people are complimented every dayāsomeone right now is smiling because a stranger said their hair looked cool! it's not my hair though, is it?)
Hey, Logos! What are your opinions human feelings like curiosity and determination? Feelings that can be both productive and damaging to themselves? And donāt worry, I donāt bring such a question without an offering! Here, have this little mech!
-Teal
[Oh...! What a fascinating little thing. It looks to be primarily decorative, but I could certainly fix that. A few more gears in the back, a simple servo motor thereāYour offering is... appreciated.]
[...Right, back to the topic at hand. There is a difference between curiosity and folly, between determination and stubbornness, and yet humanity often treats them as the same thing. Certainly, there must be a drive to innovate and learn new things, or everything stagnates. Even the animals of the world understand this, as simple as they areāscavenging, nesting, exploring their territory...]
[And yet, animals know the line between curiosity and folly. They know, of course, that foolishness will lead to their doom. They know when to turn and run in the face of danger. Humanity doesn't seem to share this sensibility. It allows them to progress far beyond what animals are capable of, but it's also their downfall. This dichotomy creates in me a dichotomy of my ownāfascinated and deeply, deeply frustrated.]
hey pathos! can you only feel the emotions of humanity, or can you sense emotions from the other gods too? or maybe just Theseus bc if his origin?
also i think all your wings are super cool! 0v0
-@circles-n-spirals-alike
(oh, thank you!)
(and yeah, it's just mortals and Theseusāwell, I can feel animal emotions too, but they're weaker since their feelings are way simpler. I gave all the living things on earth my capacity for emotions, so they all share a kind of... emotional energy source with me? everything humans feel, I feel tooāthe stronger the emotion is, the easier it is to reach me.)
(there's a lot of pain and sadness and anger, of course... but! there's plenty of joy in the world too. so I think it's worth it.)
PSYYYYYYYYYYCHEEEEEEE! THE GUY YOU RAN INTO AND TOTALLY HAVE SOME SORT OF CRUSH ON IS PANICKING AND THINKS YOUR GONNA SMITE HER OR SOMETHING FOR DISRESPECTING YOU SOMEHOW!!!!
also hi charon how ya doing mate?
-@circles-n-spirals-alike
{Oh no, oh no... Oh, I didn't mean to offend! Oh dear, poor thing, she must be so stressed outā}
ā hey what's up, i'm just chillin' ā
{CHARON, A LITTLE HELP HERE??}
ā fuck, i don't knowācan't you just, like... send a vision or something? so she knows you're chill? ā
{ThatāIt's an... unconventional use of divination, but I could? Maybe... Okay. I can fix this.}
logosā¦ hiā¦ do you like flowersā¦ I have.. flowersā¦ gives you these
[Cornflowers? Flowers are more of... his thing, but I don't mind wildflowers. They have practical use, after all, being essential in maintaining the balance of the ecosystem.]
HARMONIA DONT WORRY THEY LIKE YOU š anyway, how do you feel after humbling a god?
-@circles-n-spirals-alike
<I... have no idea? What do I even do? Should I pray?? Make an offering or something??? I just knocked over a fucking god. This is so far outside of my wheelhouse and I'm totally going to be late for work.>
Psyche moves through the crowd of mortals going about their daily lives. Despite their statureāyou can only compact divinity so muchāthe people don't pay them much mind. It wonders if they can somehow sense the emptiness inside, like a cheaply made statue crumbling apart.
{Oh, shut up.} {You're so depressing.} {So mean.} {You shut up too.}
It digs its nails into its palms as it continues down the sidewalk, trying their best to ignore the dissonant whispers inside of them. Like the name suggests, the restless souls are hardly ever still. Some of them quiet when seeing the world they remember, comforted by the scenery, but others only get angrier. Her head poundsā
And then it pounds again, this time onto the concrete below.
"FuckāHoly shit, I'm so sorryā"
Another voiceāone outside of itself, it realizesārings out over the others. In front of Psyche, sitting on the pavement too, is a mortal. Her hair is frizzy, her jeans are tattered, and there's a name tag on her jacketāHarmonia.
"It, um..." Psyche fumbles {in a very undignified way for a god}. "It's alright, really. I wasn't paying attention."
Harmonia frowns and runs a hand through his hair, freckled nose scrunching up when he hits a snag.
"No, Iāit's my fault, I'm late for work and totally rushing. Here, uh..." He stands up and extends a hand out to Psyche. "Are you hurt? I have a first aid kit if you need itāI trip a lot, hah, always have one on meāOh, but no pressure! I mean, we just met after all, andāWait, what am I saying? I'm just offering bandages. Um, still but no pressure, y'know?"
As the mortal stumbles through her offer of helpāsomething thoroughly unnecessary, considering its godhoodāPsyche can't help but stare. Harmonia doesn't have to take the time to help them. Human lives are short and precious. Why waste them like that? And besides, it would just make her more late for work. There's no reason to be so kind, and every reason to not be, and yet...
And yet he is. Offering out a hand, still anxiously stuttering apologies. Choosing to help. The gift of choice that it gave her. What a beautiful thing.
{Her or humanity?} {You're staring.} {Holy shit, yeah, you haven't said anything.} {Why are we even helping?} {...Good point.}
The souls come back in full force as blush rises to its cheeks {embarassed or flattered?}. It should really say something. A thank you, an apology, anythingābut it's all so loud, and she's so kind, and their chest aches from the joy and the stress. It has to go. Now.
-
And that's how Psyche found itself sitting at the edge of the sea of souls, knees to its chest, watching the waves.
"Damn, you look miserable." A hoof kicks the sand beside them. "Well, more miserable than you usually look."
Psyche grits its teeth. "Thank you, Charon."
It can't see him, but it knows he raises his hands in mock surrender.
"Alright, alright, I get the memo. You want time alone?"
It's a stupid question, and they both know it. Psyche never has any time alone. Still, the company of others is better than the company of the dead.
"...No."
Charon plops themselves down on the sand beside her. "Gotcha, I'll just be quiet thenāand you know how hard that is for me! So be grateful, yeah?"
Psyche can't help but snort, earning a grin from its ferryman.
"Back again? If I didn't know any better, I'd say you liked my company."
Deep within the forest, gears turn on mechanical wings. Wax feathers curl up around a being made of light. There's silence.
Lethe sighs, taking a seat on the underbrush beside her.
"Y'know, lots of mortals leave their shit behind when they get drunk out here. I could probably find some whiskey in the bushes."
"...Nah, not worth it."
It frowns and leans up against a tree. Ivy creeps up the trunk where he rests.
"Look, you don't think I want company too?" Eyes of shadow raise up to meet his, so he continues. "It's not like the folks who get lost out here are that coherent. Exhausted, drunk, manic... whatever else. At least you can hold a conversation."
His companion scoffs. "You call this a conversation?"
