The Sun Always Sets

Alek | They/It | 25+ | Gay Boy Supreme

Personal Account (art account is @hellhunde)! I primarily ramble/post sketches about my ocs and reblog stuff I'm interested in (though it's mostly my ocs).

WHO THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?

( Fate & Faith Pixels by Arboret )

My current brain fungus at the moment is my story Destiny Conviction! If I'm talking about ocs, it's likely them. You can read some more about them on Toyhouse! They also have a blog @destinyconviction

its manly and cool if you're topping/giving but womanly and bad if you're bottoming/receiving (at least with men). Same sex relationships between warriors is accepted and common, but like. Marriage between same sex couples isn't a thing. You're expected to marry a woman and have kids.

Its based on the old roman top/bottom discourse. Did you know there was discourse about if Achilles or Patroculus topped. Bc usually the older party would (patroculus) but the great hero??? Achilles?? A bottom?? Which i mean. In current day obviously he was but back then it was really scandalous. There were rumors among his enemies that Julius Caesar was a huge bottom. Catulus got called a bottom for writing flowery poetry and he made a really filthy poem in response about how much he tops. Like this was a whole thing.

It is the main trio of Cato/Aurelius/Augustus 😔 there's a lot I haven't said here but I'll try to summarize.

Cato's relationships:

Augustus: explained before but he still kinda loves him. Cato just wants Augustus to respect him, but isn't fully willing to bend to whatever Augustus wants anymore.

Aurelius: really likes him. The emperor himself respecting Cato makes him feel nice, no one can really disagree with the emperor. But there is the undercurrent of like, its not CATO that they're respecting.

Augustus's relationship:

Cato: his wife.....he really wants Cato and his relationship to go back to the way that it was.

Aurelius: they were roommates at the academy (and maybe fooled around with each other) and they're amicable bc Augustus is a diplomat for him but Augustus is REALLY not happy that he's indulging in Cato's "delusions".

Aurelius's relationships:

Augustus: academy friends and respects him. Genuinely he does. However, he has something that Aurelius doesn't (Cato) and that fucks with him. He does not understand how Cato fell for Augustus.

Cato: He thinks he's fun. He thinks Cato clawing for power in a male dominated world is really interesting and he loves messing with it. He knows he's in control of everything, so he likes to give Cato the leash in a sense to see what he does with it.

My Cato..... Cato is a recently out trans man in Doggy Rome and trying soooo hard to be seen as a man by his society (this includes getting misogynistic with it sometimes. Especially with his daughter juno. Sorry girl <3). His transition has put his marriage in a precarious spot with his husband Augustus. BUT Aurelius, the Emperor of Dogma, had taken interest in his case and has been giving Cato the respect that no one else will. Cato finds a lot more comfort and security with Aurelius and the two begin having sex behind Augustus's back. Cato feels bad about this, but not enough to stop because Aurelius lets Cato feel like a man (ie lets him top). Their dynamic is a lot more than that (Its a kind of like. A dissection of the fact that Cato might be on top, but Aurelius holds all of the real power), but I'll leave the sexual dynamics there.

I'll answer all the juno and juno/modesty questions together!

Sadly, most of Modesty/Juno stuff is going to tow the line of nsfw bc Modesty is a sex worker (she chose the name Modesty to be funny). I can't even show her full design bc she is always naked. The two meet because Modesty is one of Aurelius's concubines (and also assassin for him) and Augustus is one of Aurelius's diplomats.

Modesty's side of the relationship is that she likes Juno and thinks shes fun to mess with. Juno, despite being presenting very tough and confident, is actually really really shy and easily flustered about sexual stuff. Modesty also likes that Juno has actual principles and isn't shy about saying what she means. Modesty is around for a lot of political meetings, so someone that refuses to speak between the lines is a breath of fresh air for her.

Juno's side of things, are that...woman hot. And actually listens to her talk about things she wants to change and is passionate about. She's a lesbian and doesn't fully know how to process the feelings around it. She hasn't had the chance to ever explore those feelings before (she didn't have many friends bc of her rowdy nature, and the only other women in her life were her sister penelope and her (former) mother Cato), and it all just scares her. A bit. Lmao.

Juno is also playing in the societies dominant/submissive-male/female dynamics. She wants to change how women are treated, bring feminism to dog rome etc etc, so she acts more traditionally masculine, BUT...She is a really big bottom and has a complex about it. Its hard for her to marry those two things on TOP of only liking women.

I’m so interested in Augustus’s and Cato’s relationship. I’ve been in a similar relationship where my partner didn’t accept me transitioning and it was… BAD!!!

Could you tell me a bit more about their earlier relationship and how much it’s changed to now??

I’ve also seen the Chow Chow on Artfight (can’t remember their name OOPS) what role do they play??

Cato and Augustus met at The Academy (name pending) which was basically the place wealthy aristocrats sent their young adult sons to learn philosophy, combat, etc etc all the shit men are supposed to know. Augustus was there as a student (and also Aurelius was his roommate), Cato was there as an indentured servant of the academy.

Cato acquired a large amount of debt after his father's passing (his mother died giving birth to her second litter. None of the pups survived.) and it was decided he would work at the Academy until it was paid off (which was unlikely for Cato to actually do in his lifetime). Augustus and Cato met while he was doing some cleaning duties and hit it off. Cato considered Augustus more tolerable than a lot of the other boys (He was nice and didn't explicitly sexually harrass Cato constantly) and Augustus was really smitten with Cato.

They did/do love each other, but I don't think it was anything more than just surface level puppy love (pardon the pun) and like...young adult lust. Augustus promised once he graduated and they got married to pay off any debts to Cato's name, and how could Cato refuse an out like that? They got married, and had children (twins Juno and Penelope) and were happy for a time.

Later on into their marriage, Cato starts to feel like he traded one life of servitude for another. Dogman society is crazy misogynistic (the romans were... actually insane) and all the freedom Cato felt being free from debt fizzled up and was replaced by feeling like a servant to his husband. Their relationship started to crack as Cato refused to have any other children with Augustus (in part bc of the fear of dying like his mother and also he was genuinely distressed being pregnant in the first place), which made Augustus frustrated since he wanted a son. This finally reached its peak as Cato changed his name, and started trying to tell Augustus he is a man.

Now, look. Augustus, is an EXTREMELY insecure man. He was called "soft-hearted" a lot as a pup, and how he treats Cato (even before transition) was considered pretty unmanly and like the classic "whipped husband" misogynistic caricature. He doesn't wanna get his hands dirty or for people to be mad at him, but he's also a big baby when things don't to his way. He """accepted""" Cato not wanting to have more children, but Cato should accept his feeling of disappointment after he was the one to pay off her debt. Cato wanting to be a man feels like the ultimate emasculation to Augustus. Proof that he allowed his wife to run wild and that he'd been too lax. It feels like Cato is turning HIM (augustus) into a woman. And he cannot stand that. Its like his final line. Even worse that his friend Aurelius IS indulgining in Cato's fantasy, which feels like someone is taking his wife from him.

Augustus isn't violent in his feelings, he isn't saying these things outloud (again he doesn't like people to be mad at him), but he feels them and they bleed into how he interacts with Cato a LOTTT. The two are still married, but Augustus really wants it to go back to how they were in the honeymoon phase, and Cato wants Augustus to just accept him how he is.