#Best Certified Body Shop

[betterbodyautocollision]

Collision Repair Shop 

When you bring your vehicle to us for collision repair, we conduct a comprehensive evaluation to assess the extent of the damage. Our experienced technicians use state-of-the-art equipment and advanced diagnostic tools to identify all areas that require repair or replacement – and which parts we need to make it happen! We work on all makes and models of vehicles.

[remotewatch]

nothing but a sentence 🩸

Jack Schlossberg x reader | 1.8k wc

summary: period sex with jack for anon ‼️ hope you enjoy lovely 🤍

cw: period sex, period head, certified boyfriend material jack, domestic bliss, whereee did all this fluff come from, sacrilege if you squint, messy eating, unprotected sex (VOTE IF YOU WANNA RECREATE ETC ETC), shoutout to my darling editor Sabrina @mystardustmelodyyy for saving this from limbo 🙏

minors dni get off my lawn

At this point in the relationship, Jack manages your period more than you do. You tend to forget that it requires actually going out and purchasing supplies unless he calls you from the pharmacy to complain.

“Why would they stop carrying ultras? That’s so fucked up! And the boxes are getting smaller, it’s sick what they’re doing to you guys!” It’s too easy to picture him waltzing around with three cases of san pellegrino under one arm and an overflowing snack basket in the other, phone pressed between his ear and shoulder while he yaps about pink taxes.

“Do you want canned or fresh lychee? Never mind, I’ll get both.” he decides before you can respond. “Did you want anything else?”

“I want to sleep,” you mumble. You were currently being throttled on two fronts by nauseating cramps and a vicious migraine, leaving no energy left to manage his shopping list. It was hard enough just to reach and grab the ibuprofen without alerting your uterus that you had moved, yet he’s still talking as you doze off:

“We’ve got edibles and melatonin in the cabinet, but I’ll get some mag glycinate, and are you SURE you don’t need…”

“Dealer’s choice, I trust your judgement,” you murmur. “When will you be home?”

“Alright, fair enough. I’ll be back around 6.”

“See you then. Love you.”

“Love you too.”

He finds you wrapped in two heating pads, face pressed into the couch, full water glass in the same spot he left it on the coffee table.

“I feel like I just died,” you groan, rubbing your eyes and tentatively stretching your legs.

“Come on, you gotta hydrate,” Jack rustles through the grocery bags looking for a loose water bottle with a sport cap before pressing it against your mouth. He frowns and doesn’t take it out when you try to move away.

“At least half a glass, come on. I’m following orders here.” He’s very gentle not to flood your mouth and make you cough, but you can see his eyes flicker down to watch your lips wrap around the cap (he’s only human, after all).

“Thank you,” you croak when he finally sets it down, voice slightly less raspy than before.

“Do you want a tea? I’m making you a tea.”

He’s off rustling through the kitchen for the ginger lemon amid the boxes of just ginger or just lemon, but despite his best efforts, the noise is killing you. Every shut drawer sounds like a door slamming with this headache, and Jack sounds like he’s still speaking into your ear even though he’s mainly talking to himself.

“And I’ll get started on dinner-what would you like? I’ll figure something out, don’t worry. Oh, also! I got those vaseline body balm rollers you like.”

Your eyes shoot wide open and light up as he trots over to hand you your treat.

“Oh my god, and you found the cocoa butter kind! You’re the best!”

The rich, nutty scent of the balm floods the room when you unscrew the top and gives you a second wind. This and a shower will fix you for sure, just as soon as you can make your way to the bathroom.

Jack fills in the blanks as soon as you look back up at him apprehensively and start with the vague gesturing and “would you mind…”

“Of course not. There’s no need for you be walking right now, that would be crazy!” If you weren’t in so much pain, you’d be swooning at the way he effortlessly scoops you up and walks over to set you down on the glossy teak shower stool (a million percent worthwhile at times like this).

“Do you want any more help in there?” It sounds like a joke, but you know he’d wash you in a heartbeat if you asked. You can’t help matching his smile.

“I think I’ve got it handled.”

“I’ll put dinner on, then.”

When you emerge, your headache has all but subsided, and while you’re still pretty out of it, the heat has done wonders for your cramps and stiffness. You can’t be bothered to do anything but throw on a pair of thinx and flop down onto the bed, slathering on more of your new balm just to keep smelling it.

Jack knocks at the open bedroom door with your tea and a fresh glass of water.

“If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were baking in here,” he teases as sets them on the nightstand. “Dinner is on in 30 by the way.”

The idea of leaving your bed right now sounds about as appealing as getting all your teeth pulled, but you’d never dream of eating on the scrumptious new Matouk linens; the utter disrespect!

“Can you just put me back to sleep instead?”

“Sure, of course. You want a gummy or-“

“Jack!”

“Right, got it!” And he’s skittering off to grab a vibe and towel while you untangle yourself from heating pad cords.

Jack is nearly skipping coming back from the hallway closet with a fistful of toys before rolling you as little as possible to tuck the towel under your lower half. As soon as he’s back within reach, you grab a handful of his hair and drag him down to kneel next to you. He nods at the pile of silicone on the nightstand as he playfully snaps at your elastic: “Are we feeling manual or automatic?”, but you’re already bucking your hips up to shove the underwear down your thighs and wincing at the sudden movement.

“You ok?” He drops the playful tone immediately and furrows his brow in concern. You throw your arm out to grab a toy at random, landing on a satisfier. Perfect.

“Ask me again in ten minutes,” you sigh dramatically to lighten the mood, but you’re still not feeling great.

“Roger that,” Jack bites back a smug grin -as if he’s ever needed all ten- and crawls gingerly into bed to snake one arm under your waist and accept the toy with the other.

It has to be some sort of sick joke how you’re this unbelievably sensitive when you still feel so shitty. Every single nerve ending in your clit is humming in tandem with the pulses of the satisfier; the delicious sensations ricochet up and down your body enough that even your eye sockets feel tingly.

He’s entirely absorbed in making you cum and tuned into every move you make, still glancing up now and then to check for any hint of discomfort. As much as he’s committed to pleasing you, he can’t conceal the blush creeping up his neck and down from his temples, nor his ragged breathing. There’s barely enough time to acclimate and enjoy it before you feel yourself getting drawn right over the edge.

“You’ve got it-don’t fucking move-so good to me, Jack, fuck-thank you,”

You screw your eyes shut on pure instinct while your orgasm rolls through; one of your hands fumbles for purchase in his curls as he mouths sloppily over your breasts. When you manage to take another peek at him, his eyes are all crinkled up like he’s smiling while his mouth remains focused on the task at hand. A little tug on his hair and he’s cheerily licking his way down your abdomen, really letting his tongue drag so he has more time to grind against your thigh. You can already feel the wet spot forming on his boxer briefs, such a romantic!

“Having fun down there?” you purr. Jack jerks his head up, revealing a red splotch on the point of his chin.

“God, yes. Can I lick you? Please?” You’d think he’s the one who’d just came from how breathy he sounds. You cross your ankles between his shoulder blades and readjust your grip on his hair.

“Always.”

For once, Jack shows some restraint eating you. It’s all broad, slow licks in time with your heartbeat; he falls right into a natural rhythm that reminds you of crashing waves. His fingers lace together across your stomach like he’s praying, and each adoring exhale only adds to the effect. Every time he dives back in after catching his breath, a new drip flows out hot and coppery to coat him from the nose down. It’s such a perfect mess; the harsh-edged, gleaming paint job stretching ear to ear and the little smear between his eyebrows make him look like he’s been baptized in your blood.

It’s a wonder he can even hear your faint whispers of “Jack, just-just fuck me, please,” over how shamelessly he’s dragging his face through you, but he’s always been something of a miracle worker.

There’s a long, indulgent slurp like a bathtub finishing draining that makes your thoughts blur around the edges before he allows you to pull him off you and slide your feet languidly under his shorts. You’re way too sleepy to be of much help, but he’s happy to shove the waistband low enough to tuck under his balls and half wipe his mouth with the back of his hand as he crawls back up to you.

The blood pools sluggishly towards the high points of Jack’s face, and a drop splatters onto your cheek before he can stop it. Without hesitation, he swoops down to lap it up and kiss a fainter mark in its place. Barely audible, you somehow remember to pant a reminder into his ear.

“You just gotta be careful right now, my cervix is like-”

“-right up front, I remember. I gotcha, no worries,” he presses another sticky kiss to your temple as he pushes halfway in, abs clenching to keep from slipping too deep. He’s delightful as always, but each thrust is winding your nerves tighter, making your clit ache just as much as the rest of you. Fumbling once again at the nightstand, you find another vibe designed to rest snugly between you two so he’s got both hands free to rest his chin on, just rocking away while he watches you drift off. When he hits at just the right angle, you back bows up hard enough to audibly crack in relief. Those waves of relaxation mixing with the constant rumbling from the toy overwhelm you once again, dissolving what’s left of your discomfort and tugging you towards unconsciousness.

Jack can’t hold himself back when he feels you practically sucking him back in on every outstroke, and a brazen whine bursts from his throat as he pulls out, freeing a gush of pink tinged cum. It only feels natural to lean up to kiss him and lap the residual streaks from around his lips.

“Feel better?” he sighs against you, grinning so wide the drier patches on his dimples crack and start to flake off onto the towel.

“So much better,” your words slur together, and the rest of your thoughts scatter once your heads falls back onto the pillow

“You want a hot washcloth?”

“Mmmm,” It takes you a second to piece the simple sentence together; you’re still blinking away the residual stars from your vision.

“In ten minutes?”

[99tech99]

gif by @moonstrider9904 !!!

A/N: I originally wrote a fluff piece as a submission for Summer of Bad Batch. But it’s Tech and the prompt is “Need a Hand?” How can I not be a lil spicy?? 😏

Original here.

Warnings: hand job, getting caught.

2.2k words under cut

You first met the group of siblings you learned to be Clone Force 99 when they stopped at your shop in Ord Mantel. You were rewiring some components at the counter when the little blonde girl had come dashing over first. “What’s a…Certified Preowned Assorted Parts Emporium?” she asked you, reading the sign over your stall. She had expressive brown eyes and a heavy accent.

You laughed. “Fancy name for a junkyard, kid.”

The rest of the group had caught up. Despite the fact that they were with such a sweet young girl, they seemed like an extremely rough crowd. The one with the long hair a had half his face tattooed like a skull, and the one glowering at you with a toothpick in his mouth had a sniper’s crosshair tattooed around his eye. One had lost an arm and replaced it with a scomp. There was also an absolute giant of a man who looked like he could snap anyone or anything in half without effort. Last, though, came was someone who didn’t look like he belonged at all. He didn’t have any visible tattoos and seemed to have all his appendages. He wore goggles and was walking along with his nose in his datapad. When he spoke, it was in a crisp, matter of fact tone.

“Hunter.” Face Tattoo turned. “I sincerely doubt any of the second-rate establishments on a backwater planet such as this would carry the precise components we need for the Marauder.”

“Hey nerd,” you called, only mildly offended. “Fortunately for you, you found the only first rate establishment around.” You winked at the girl. She giggled.

“The definition of first rate is debatable,” Nerd replied, fidgeting with his goggles.

“Alright, then. Let’s deal with the objective,” you shot back. “Give me the list of parts you need and if I don’t have them in stock or I can’t get them with in a standard week, I’ll settle for second rate.”

You held out your hand for his datapad. Nerd looked at Face Tattoo, who nodded. With a heavy sigh, Nerd handed it to you.

“You’ll have to excuse Tech,” said Sniper lazily as you scrolled through the list of parts. “He’s always convinced he has the only brain cells for a radius of 100 clicks.”

You had every part in stock. “C’mon,” you told the group, leading the way to your inventory out back.

After you were able to win your wager with Tech, the Batch started coming around a lot more.

Omega had been the first to capture your heart, and no wonder. She saw the best in everyone and every situation, but was still tougher and more resilient than most adults you knew. Wrecker was almost just sweet but had a knowledge of weapons and explosives that far surpassed your own. It took a minute to figure out Crosshair, but he respected someone who could dish out the sarcasm as well as they could take it. Echo and Hunter were fiercely protective of their squad, and as soon as you demonstrated that same loyalty, you were as good as one of their own. You had even accompanied the Batch on a few missions when your technical expertise would come in handy.

But Tech…It was almost a year since you had met the Batch, and despite the trust and friendship you had with the rest of the squad, you were still getting nowhere with him.

At first it seemed like he should be the easiest for you to get along with. You were both mechanically minded and loved ships and flying. But he almost never even looked up from his datapad when you were around, and when he did, he was always annoyed whenever you tried to help.

It wouldn’t have bothered you so much if you didn’t have such a silly crush on the man. He could rattle off facts for hours on just about any topic in the galaxy. You hadn’t known him to encounter a technological problem he couldn’t resolve. You were tall, but Tech’s lean body still towered over yours. And he was just as much a super solider as any of his brothers. Some of the missions you had accompanied the squad on had gotten pretty rough. Tech was right in the middle of the action, taking tactical risks and scoring hits as much as any of his brothers.

You had spoken to Hunter about your concern a few months ago. “I just don’t understand why he dislikes me so much. I don’t know what I did to offend him.”

Hunter sighed. “Nothing. That’s just Tech. Usually he might have warmed up to someone by now, but I would try not to take it too personally.”

“I’d take it personally,” Crosshair sneered as he walked by.

“Yes, you definitely should,” you quipped back grinning, “since everyone dislikes you on a personal level.”

“Want me to talk to him?” Hunter asked.

You considered. “No, it’s ok. If it really starts to bother me, I’ll bring it up myself.”

You tried to push the issue to the back of your mind, but to no avail.

When you received a message from Omega saying they had returned from their most recent mission, you made up your mind to talk to Tech about it. You headed over to the usual docking bay to welcome the Batch back. The ramp of the Marauder was closed, but you heard the metallic clicking of tools coming from underneath.

“Hello?” you called.

Tech’s voice answered. “Down here.”

Instantly you felt the sensation of butterflies in your stomach. You knelt down, leaning your head under the ship. “Need a hand?” you asked brightly.

“I do not,” he said in a clipped tone.

You held back your disappointed sigh. “Where’s everyone else?” you inquired, still trying to sound cheerful.

“Supply run.”

“And I bet Omega and Wrecker are getting their celebratory mantel mix after another successful mission.”

“That would be a logical deduction based on their past patterns of behavior.”

You examined the underside of the ship. There was quite a bit of carbon scoring.

“Oof, glad you made it back in one piece!” you exclaimed. “Looks like the last mission got pretty hot!”

“Hence the repairs,” Tech replied.

You scooted under the ship to see what he was working on.

He was trying to rewire a circuit board, but his hands were too big to access the compartment properly to remove the panel. He was holding the screwdriver at an angle. Instead of loosening the screw, the tool just kept slipping.

You leaned over him slightly, extending your hand for the screwdriver. “Here, my hands are smaller, I bet I can do it.”

“I do not require assistance,” he said stubbornly.

“I know you know how but that doesn’t change the physics of your hands. Just let me…Ugh, you’re gonna strip the screw, Tech!” you said frustratedly. You tried to take the tool from him but he held it out of your reach.

“What is your problem with me?” you demanded angrily.

“You make everything much harder than it has to be, regardless of what you do, just by being present,” he replied immediately.

You were shocked into silence. You were embarrassed to feel your eyes stinging with tears. “Well, fuck. I’ll go,” you said, starting to wriggle out from under the ship.

“Wait. Will you allow me to clarify what I mean?”

Great, you thought. Hearing in excruciating detail exactly why Tech hates you. “Fine,” you mumbled, blinking furiously to try to keep from crying.

Tech didn’t look at you, but stared up at the underside of the Marauder.

“It is hard for me to say goodbye to you before we leave on missions. While the squad does have an undeniable success rate, there are always variables that cannot be accounted for, and there is no guarantee we will return unscathed, if at all.

“Similarly, it is hard for me to watch you leave at night to return your domicile. I am well aware you are capable of looking after yourself, but I am concerned for your safety and I do not want any harm to befall you.”

Wait. This was not what you were expecting.

“It is hard to watch you interact with my brothers and sister. You have an ease with them you have never had with me. I am quite certain the issue is with me, but I am equally uncertain how to fix it.

“It is hard for me when you seem to know as much about the mechanics and systems of the Marauder as I do. I both resent and respect you for that, and I cannot comprehend how I can harbor both conflicting emotions.”

A pink tinge was apparent in his cheeks now. You could tell he was steeling himself to say something. “And in the spirit of full disclosure…um, yes…THAT gets, uh, hard too on occasion.” He cleared this throat. “Particularly one day when you were performing repairs in a certain pair of pants. I’m inexplicably drawn to you physically. But I don’t know what to do or how you would react to such a gesture.”

He lapsed into silence. Your heart was beating wildly at the implications of his lengthy speech, especially the last bit. “Tech…” you whispered.

“Thank you for your courtesy in listening. You may leave if you like.” he said returning to his usual brusque manner. Tech turned his attention back to the repairs.

“Conduct an experiment,” you suggested with a sly smile.

“An experiment?” he asked, confused.

You rolled over placing one hand on either side of Tech’s head so you were leaning against his chest. You could feel his heart beating through his armor. “Sure. Conduct an experiment and see how I react.”

He looked unsure.

“If it helps,” you whispered mischievously, “I know the pants you mean. I’m wearing them today.”

Hesitantly, Tech reached up. He ran his fingers through your hair, tucking the loose strands behind your ear. Your smile widened.

His hand lingered on your cheek. Slowly he raised his face to yours. Behind his goggles, his beautiful eyes searched your face, settling on your mouth. You couldn’t wait any longer. You pressed your lips to his. For a moment he didn’t react, but then he was kissing you back.

“How do you find the results of your experiment?” you asked, slightly breathless, when you finally broke apart.

“Very favorable,” he said. “However, tests often need to be run multiple times to verify the validity of the original results.”

You laughed softly. “I think that’s a good idea.”

He pulled you back to him.

“So…” you murmured against his lips. “You said I make that hard too?” You grinned, blushing. “May I?”

“You want to?” he asked in disbelief.

“I want everything with you,” you breathed.

Tech fiddled with his goggles. “Yes you may.”

You slid off his chest, lying sideways next to him on the ground. Your hand made its way down his chest and abdomen to the waistband of his pants.

You palmed his erection straining against his pants. He felt huge. His cock twitched under your touch. For a moment you fumbled one-handed with the closure on his pants.

Tech moaned softly as you freed him, running your hand up and down his length with a steady pressure.

“Am—am I of sufficient size?” he asked hesitantly.

Gods he was adorable. “Yes,” you said emphatically.

Tentatively his fingers wandered up your body, pausing just under your breasts.

“Here,” you said softly. You tugged down the zipper of your leather vest.

“Mesh’la,” he whispered. Gently he cupped your breast. His thumb traced a gentle circle around your nipple, causing you to shiver in delight.

His brown eyes met yours. “So beautiful, cyar’ika.”

You didn’t know how long the two of you lay there, basking in the touch of each other’s hands and lips. Neither of you were paying any attention to anything else. Not even even when the sound of voices came floating across the landing pad. Or when a pair of boots appeared. A moment later Crosshair’s head peered under the Maurader.

“Found him,” he drawled, making you both jump. “Ooh, look, if it isn’t our favorite little mechanic giving Tech a hand,” he added in taunting delight.

You heard Wrecker’s booming laugh.

You sat up to tell Crosshair off, but smacked your head on the underside of the ship. You rubbed your head, already feeling a bump. “Crosshair!”

Omega’s cheerful voice rang out, “I’ll give Tech a hand too!”

“Omega!” barked Hunter and Echo in unison. “On the ship!”

“Ookayy,” said Omega, simultaneously annoyed and mystified.

“For kriff’s sake Cross, go away,” you snapped.

He didn’t. He was very obviously staring at your tits with a sly grin. “Kitten, I’ll volunteer to give you something to really get a grip on.”

“Ugh!” you quickly zipped your vest back up and threw yourself back down on the ground.

Meanwhile Tech was struggling to contain himself back in his pants.

“Crosshair,” Hunter growled. You could tell he had grabbed Cross by the scruff of the neck and was shoving him onboard.

Another pair of boots appeared. “When you’re both, uh, decent,” said Echo’s voice, “come aboard for a debriefing. And please hurry up about it,” he added.

You turned your head to Tech. He was blushing furiously. For a moment you stared at each other, unable to believe the entire series of events that had transpired. Then you both burst out laughing.

“Next time, we’re going to my place!” you declared.

“Next time?” he asked hopefully.

You grinned and kissed him on the nose. “Mhmm. Lots of times.”

My Master List

[profoundbondfanfic]

Hello! I love the recommendations you've done so far.

I was hoping if you could provide me with some recommendations for AU Destiel Detective fics?

Thank you so much. Keep up the good work!

hey! Thank you, here are a few:

A Beginner's Guide to Communing with the Dead by suspiciousflashlight [Mature, 77k words]

Maybe it's the little girl whose disappearance turned into a murder, and whose murder turned into a cold case, and who has now apparently decided to move in with him. Maybe it's the unacceptable hole left in his life when his dumb best friend and partner in (the prevention of) crime decided to go and get himself killed. Maybe it's his brother, whose high-profile career and fantastic girlfriend and first-child-on-the-way are steadily leaving Dean in the dust. Pick one. Pick all of them. The why doesn't matter so much as the what, and the what is this: Dean is pretty sure he's going completely, certifiably insane. Sure, he hasn't started wearing all his clothes inside out, and he still showers on a regular basis (anyways, that's not crazy, just a little eccentric); but there's no getting around the fact that he just threw away his life, his career, and his reputation by dragging out his mom's old necromancy book and summoning a Class A Forbidden Entity to his attic. A cranky one, too. With horrendous bed-head.

As The Sparrow by hubrisandwax [Explicit, 18k words]

It’s 1947. Dean is an ex-marine fighting crime and a very different sort of war to the one he faced in the Pacific as a detective on the streets of LA. This city isn’t all the glitz and glamor it’s made out to be, however, and Dean finds himself tugged in to a world of life-threatening unknowns when Daphne Novak’s body is discovered. Castiel Novak, her husband, was one of Dean’s battalion mates in the war, and he's just as deadly and dangerous as he was two years ago when he saved Dean’s life during the Battle of Okinawa. Except now he’s wanted for his wife’s murder, and Dean just doesn’t believe Cas is capable of that. Is Cas really who he says he is, though? And what will Dean have to sacrifice in order to repay the debt he feels he owes?

Casicorn by everandanon [Explicit, 56k words]

When Detective Dean Winchester suddenly finds himself with a new roommate, a mysterious man who doesn’t speak but seems to somehow be connected to the department’s recent vigilante problem, he has no idea what he’s in for. The guy doesn’t know how to work a TV, brush his teeth, or even take a shower, and he stares at Dean all the goddamn time. Not to mention he insists on sleeping in Dean’s bed. While Dean is in it! Weird, right? Except the longer Cas sticks around, the less Dean starts to mind; the more he kind of dreads Cas leaving for good, actually, even though nobody really knows who Cas is or where he came from. And then, one night, Dean happens to witness their vigilante firsthand and realizes he knows Cas even less than he thought . . . (Loosely inspired by The Little Mermaid)

Chronicles Of A Serial Killer by Duckyboos [Explicit, 52k words]

Dean Winchester has the perfect apple pie life with his shy-but-sweet boyfriend in the suburbs. He has a steady, well-paid job with the LAPD and he’s charming and attractive. Really, he’s living the American Dream. It’s his extra-curricular activities that some may disagree with, as he’s also an accomplished serial killer. To date, his kills amount to around 36 and he’s never been caught. He’s employed by the law, remember? He knows how these things work.

Grounds for Murder by cinderellasleftshoe, sarcasticbones [Explicit, 199k words]

"The weirdos in that coffee shop are always dancing, or playing 'strip Clue,' whatever that is. Once there were sock puppets, and, I'm not kidding, a cookie trebuchet." "Eyeliner?" "Really, Dean? That's all you got out of all of that. That there's maybe a bangable emo guy over there?" Dean shrugged and took another too-large bite of his sandwich. He'd been a detective with the Phoenix PD Violent Crimes bureau for three years, and he'd see a lot stranger things than sock puppets, old ladies, and strip Clue.

like a thief in the night by kingdumbass [Mature, 28k words]

Plagued by nightmares since the death of his mother as a small child, Dean Winchester is no stranger to grief. After the sudden death of his brother and the unexplainable disappearance of Sam’s fiancee Jessica leave Dean reeling, the former detective turns towards alcohol to cope with the loss, but when the news of another missing peron’s case all the way out in Pontiac, Illinois jogs Dean’s memory of an old unsolved case with possible connections to the mysterious note his brother left behind, he feels compelled to pick up where he left off. Though once he rolls into town, he encounters more questions than answers. Namely: what’s real and what’s delusion? And how is the creature from his nightmares tormenting the residents of this small, suburban town?

The Trouble With Blue Eyes by FriendofCarlotta [Explicit, 14k words]

For years now, Dean Winchester has had a mutually beneficial arrangement with Castiel Novak, a fellow private eye. It’s good, it’s easy, and there’s nothing wrong with it. Well, except for one thing: Dean’s caught himself a bad case of feelings, and Cas doesn’t feel the same way.

What Once Was Sacred by saltandbyrne [Explicit, 55k words]

Los Angeles detective Dean Winchester works tirelessly to atone for the sins of his father one case at a time. When his best friend Charlie drags him to visit Sam at his new job, Dean stumbles onto a bizarre string of deaths that brings him uncomfortably close to his past. Dean can't stop thinking about Castiel, an enigmatic DJ who plays the sexiest music Dean's ever heard. A chance encounter at Castiel's house reveals that Castiel is an incubus, and Dean must face the lies and the reality of his childhood as a hunter. Dean comes to see that he and Castiel have more in common than he thought, and that guilt can be the hardest thing to cast aside.

You can also check our law enforcement!castiel and law enforcement!dean for more. Also worth mentioning the DestielNoirBang as a future source.

[meetinginsamarra]

mayprompts2024, #2 box

So, I had this idea yesterday about a funny little "box"-AU.

I supposed it would become a short ficlet (famous last words) only to find out that it has a lot of potential and I have more ideas about what is going to happen.

I already worked over 2 hours today on it (time that I didn't really have in the first place) and it is nowhere from finished. I don't want to stress myself even more and/or rush this, therefore

Behold Part One of

"The Perfect Place"

--------

Sherlock turned up his collar and plucked up his courage.

Taking a deep breath, he plunged into his mind palace and went through every detail of his plan for the very last time before he would put it into action. He recalled stalking the man for two days, very carefully as to not reveal himself, to deduce all there was to be possibly gleaned from all the minutiae he could observe.

Sherlock found no flaw in his plan (of course he didn't, he never would because he himself came up with it). It had to succeed. There would be no second chance. It was now or never.

He entered and a tiny bell chimed above the door, announcing his arrival. Into battle, Sherlock thought.

“I want to buy a boxspring bed.”

+++++

John Watson startled badly in his seat when he heard the bell chime.

He had not been looking at the door since he had been fiddling with his gun for the umpteenth time (there were no rounds in it so it was safe) because it was boring as hell in the shop.

He had brought his illegal service weapon since the fourth day he worked here as a shop assistent, hoping against all hope that some benign person would storm in and try to rob the cash register (no robber worth their salt would even consider doing this) so that finally something fun and exciting would happen to him.

John had kept his hands and the weapon hidden behind the counter and thus out of sight from the potential customers (he was possibly mad but not that mad) and now he quickly shoved it into a drawer.

John stared at the surprise customer who had stumbled into “Bernie’s Bed Shop” and - holy moly - was he a sight to behold.

On a scale from 1 to 10 the man was a certified 11. John was already jealous of the mattress that would get to hug and caress and wrap itself around this sublime body every night. Life was just unfair.

Still, John could barely believe his luck. Finally, a customer who actually (apart from being the most gorgeuos human being John had ever seen) wanted to buy a bed, even one of those ridiculously posh and expensive ones with boxsprings. Also, being the first one asking for a bed in John's three and a half terrible weeks of working (suffering) as a bed shop assistant.

Thankfully, John remembered to plaster his most winning, helpful and customer-friendly smile onto his face (it was in fact not, resembling rather the anguished expression that a trapped animal with one leg stuck in a bear trap would have) and went around the counter to welcome the god. Godsend.

“Then you are in the perfect place. Bernie’s Bed Shop offers a lot of different boxspring beds. My name is John Watson, may I show you some variants or do you already have something special in mind?”

Sherlock blinked at John. Yes, you, he thought. His throat was suddenly dry with John Watson standing so close to him for the very first time. On a scale from dull to brilliant the man was a certified genius. Simply perfect.

“Show me what you have,” Sherlock asked, slightly husky and meaning something totally different. (He meant what was under these terrible grandpa clothes John wore, of course).

Please God, let him buy a bed, John prayed silently, being painfully aware that as a salesperson he had been utterly failing.

So far, he had merely sold a pair of cheap bedsheets to an elderly short-sighted woman and a heart-shaped decorative cushion to a sloshed builder. He had tried his very best every time when a customer had set their foot into the shop, being forthcoming and friendly and polite but somehow, they had all left more or less quickly without buying anything.

John did not know why that happened every time (it was his anguished smile, obviously) but he did know that this was his last chance to score or Bernie would definitely fire him at the end of this week. John would be without a job once again and would soon have to leave London because even the terrible bedsit he lived (existed) in would become unaffordable.

"Follow me then, please." John walked to the back of the shop where the premium beds stood. "May I present you the 'Royal Metropolis Deluxe'. It has every feature a boxspring bed can have that you could possibly imagine."

Just like your deluxe body, John thought.

I have a very vivid imagination, Sherlock thought and ogled John instead of the bed.

+++++

That's it for today!

Flower Shop AU? Coffee Shop AU? Tattoo Shop AU? Nope! All outdated. I felt there is crying need for a Bed Shop AU. 🤣

tagging some people (tagging on desktop seems to work) @calaisreno @totallysilvergirl @raina-at @lisbeth-kk

[cyberdragoninfinity]

SaiouSartorius for the ask game if it's still ok~?

HELL YEAHHH always love a chance to talk about a bit of a terminally underrated gx guy

Why I like them/why I don’t: sartorius is up there with yubel in the "didnt really click with them when i first watched gx but then over time i grew to really like them" category.. he is just a certified weirdass dude who is remarkably quite kind and sweet despite the Horrifying Space Light Forcing Him Out of His Own Body and also i love that hes some 6-foot-a-million tarot girlie and his best friend since forever is a teeny tiny jock gamer. AND he cares so much about his little sister 🥺

What I like about their appearance: IT'S FUCKING BONKERSSSS the Light of Destruction doing god knows what to this poor guy's bones and body. The claws...the fangs the YELLOWING EYES??! HIS HAIR CUT IS BUCKWILD. HE HAS FOREHEAD PIERCINGS. i love it. he's pretty but watch the fuck out

Do I prefer their dub names or original names? ive grown fond of saiou a lot especially since thats how pals mostly refer to him but i do have to respect what a fucking wildcard name 'sartorius' is. transgender things are happening back there.

OTP: dont really have one! once again i am an aro truther here... i do really like qpr/platonic life partner type antics with him and aster though ;_;

NOTP: every time i see sartorius/chazz the vibes are fucking rancid, sorry.

OT3: not romantic but sartorius and sarina and aster friendship/family trio is sooo so sweet 🥺

Favourite card they use: i really respect the absolute cosmic horror abominations his entire deck is full of... i think i like Arcana Force EX Light Ruler the most. i didnt know it shares a little bit of trivia with My Dear Friend Wisel :3

Favourite moment they were in: it's gotta be when he rolls back up in season 4 and it's like 'yay the reformed bad guy's here to be a supportive part of the plot!" and then he immediately threatens to blow up a building to protect his sister. god bless

Least favourite moment: not really his fault since he was possessed by the Light but all that brainwashing alexis shit -__- cmonnnnn

Something I associate with them: metaphysical/crystal healing/fortune telling/spiritual shops that look like this

[foxieflower]

57, 31, 60, 38, 10, & 17 for the otp asks if ur still doing those?

57. Whose the serious one when grocery shopping and who likes to toss random things in the cart?

V: Vanquish definitely is the one to have a list and follow it to the T, however, he doesnt entirely stop Aywin from tossing extra stuff in there, only stopping him if it get ridiculous.

A: Aywin is definitely the certified silly boy when it comes to grocery shopping. He can shop for himself when he's on his own, but in most AUs he lets Vanquish take over any shopping like that. Grocery shopping for Aywin is "treat time" now lol

31. Can they sit side by side without touching the other or are they handsy? (lacing fingers, touching knees, etc.)

V: Its literally not possible for them to sit next to each other and not be touching each other. Whether its just an arm around Aywin or pulling AYwin into his lap, they're always just holding onto each other somewhere

A: IMPOSSIBLE. Aywin usually tends to migrate slowly into Vanquish's lap over the course of the time they're sitting next to one another. Its the best seat in the house anyway.

60. Who pulls the other closer when they’re sleeping?

V: Oh yeah, Aywin probably cant exactly pull Vanquish closer to him based on size differences but Vanquish will happily pull Aywin closer like as if hew was his security blanket (He kinda is)

A: I feel like this is on Vanquish most of the time just due to size difference lmao. I can perfectly picture a scenario where a very eepy Aywin is trying to pull an asleep Vanquish closer, and Vanquish's body just naturally reacts and moves closer to Aywin. Vanquish's tail wrapping around both of them as they drift off together.

38. Who is more sexually experimental? Who’s more vanilla?

V: It definitely depends on if its a specific au or not, but going from like the main archive, I feel like its pretty even, just in different ways. Vanquish is more likely to indulge in kinks in the leather and binding sense, vs Aywin's more fantastical use of magic. But in the end... neither of them are really vanilla

A: SKSKSK okay so like, I feel like they're both experimental in their own ways. Aywin will experiment a lot with magic. Erotic usage of mage hands, pain and pleasure thru various magical effects, clones of himself or Vanquish, and so much more. Aywin can and will absolutely dominate Vanquish's mind and senses in the bedroom if the tiefling wants that from him.

10. Describe their first date.

V: Its definitely interesting, in some AUs they actually have a real first date and in some, its more like just them finally sitting down and enjoying each others presence in front of a meal. I feel like its something in which Vanquish either makes or buys a special meal just for Aywin and there they can talk and slowly get to know each other and find out that they can no longer live another day without the other.

A: The first date for them is always something so magical, no matter what AU. I think both men find themselves nervous and anxious at the same time. They find themselves opening up so easily with one another, the connection was always instant and it grows so quickly between them. Their fingers quickly find themselves itching to mingle with one another, hands intertwining as they laugh at each other's jokes and stories. Vanquish wowing Aywin with well told tales of his past and Aywin impressing Vanquish with his wild magic. Its a date that once it starts, it just never seems to end and both men are fine with that.

17. Who’s more likely to pull the other in by the waist and kiss them passionately?

V: Vanquish absolutely loves loves loves, to pull Aywin close and kiss him as passionately as he can. Either letting him dip low, lifting him high, or bowing his body so they reach each other easily.

A: Again, just based on size alone, Vanquish. That tail of his will wrap around Aywin's waist often, pulling the half-elf in for a sudden kiss that both men melt into. I feel like Aywin is more of the "run and leap into Vanquish's arms" type of guy when it comes to those passionate kisses, which he loves to do when Vanquish gets home from work.

[shinader]

Yoshie Koda

Hey fellas I'm doing the thing again! Rambling about the OC yippee! Once again I'll be starting with describing my thoughts behind the name!!

For Yoshie, I had a few names thought up. When giving these characters first names I always consider the meaning behind the name so I go through a list of Japanese names along with their meanings. And when I can't settle on one I present it to my lovely beloved @mrfamousthirsttrap to choose for me and she went with Yoshie (好恵) which, according to the site I use, means nice favor/grace. Pretty fitting as I'll elaborate on in a minute but girl only chose the name bc it was similar to Yoshi.

As for Koda, the whole debacle with THAT will be in the next post when I introduce her husband. It's his name, after all, she simply happily took it. I never established a maiden name for her, either. Not important for the story I have to tell.

Yoshie my beloved<3 She has an important role in both the protagonist's & deuteragonist's lives. For Mr. Takeshi the Protagonist, well, she is the weapons tutorial lady. For those familiar with the Yakuza series, you likely remember Kamiyama, the illegal weapons dealer. In Yakuza 3, to unlock every weapon in his shop, you must get certified by the stranger that's training on your private beach. Yoshie is effectively the Kamurocho equivalent of that guy, keep fighting her and get access to more weapons.

Describing her like that makes her seem like a lifeless NPC only meant to be used for gameplay purposes but that is certainly not the case. Each time Takeshi gets a new certification he also gets closer with Yoshie, learning more about her and her connection to the whole story that's unfolding. On top of that, she ends up as a sort of mother figure to Takeshi, something he desperately needs.

Yoshie's connection with weapons runs deep, she's constantly training her body to use them every day, keeping maintenance on them to make sure they're always combat ready, and takes training others very seriously. Unfortunately for her, a lot of what she deals with is illegal, so she's a criminal through and through.

That criminality is etched into her body, same as a yakuza. Yoshie didn't always have tattoos, of course, but when she got engaged to a man in the Yakuza she got sleeves. If her and her husband's tattoos are overlayed on top of one another, they would connect perfectly. They are permanently bonded to each other and the darkness.

With all female characters I'm creating for this story, I want to make sure their story is deeply interwoven with femininity. Yoshie herself is mostly to do with Motherhood, as themes of Family is of course big in this story. There are all sorts of ways a family can be made, and though she's never had a child of her own, that doesn't stop her from caring for others as if they were her own. I mentioned above her thing with Takeshi, but I haven't yet elaborated on Ceddy.

When Ceddy was born, Miyazaki was understandably blindsided by the whole thing. He wasn't sure what to do in the slightest. He wasn't meant to be a father, he was barely a responsible Patriarch as it is, an actual child would not survive with him. That is, that's what he thought, but Yoshie was adamant he keep him, take responsibility for his actions, and raise him right. She, of course, volunteered her and her husband to help raise him. It takes a village, after all.

Yoshie had always loved kids. It always felt natural to simply care for them. However, due to her and her husband's jobs, it would be irresponsible to add a baby to the equation. So they decided they would never raise a child together.

Ceddy, however, was already born. His best chance was with them. So Yoshie made sure they took that chance. Though Ceddy calls her "Auntie Yoshie" she is the closest thing to a real mother he has. And she made a great call, too. Miyazaki was surprisingly a natural and if it weren't for his job he wouldn't really have needed help from the Kodas. There isn't a day that goes by that Miyazaki isn't grateful for their help with everything, though. The bond between the Miyazakis and Kodas is much, much greater than blood.

And next time, I'll put a little close on their little story when talking about Shin Koda!!

[betterbodyautocollision]

Best Paint Service Queens

For a lot of people, their vehicle is an extension of their personality and we’re here to help you get as creative as you want with your paint job. Our custom paint services provide you with the opportunity to make a bold statement and showcase your individuality on the road. From full body paint work, intricate designs, and graphics, to color-changing paint jobs and much more – we offer Queens best and most creative custom paint services!

[99tech99]

Need a Hand? - Summer of Bad Batch

gif by @moonstrider9904 !!

A/N: This was completed to fulfill week 5 of Summer of Bad Batch! The prompt was “Need a Hand?” This version is fluffy, but I’m working on a spicer version too 😏

WARNINGS: Fluff

1.9k words under cut

You first met the group of siblings you learned to be Clone Force 99 when they stopped at your shop in Ord Mantel. You were rewiring some components at the counter when the little blonde girl had come dashing over first. “What’s a…Certified Preowned Assorted Parts Emporium?” she asked you, reading the sign over your stall. She had expressive brown eyes and a heavy accent.

You laughed. “Fancy name for a junkyard, kid.”

The rest of the group had caught up. Despite the fact that they were with such a sweet young girl, they seemed like an extremely rough crowd. The one with the long hair a had half his face tattooed like a skull, and the one glowering at you with a toothpick in his mouth had a sniper’s crosshair tattooed around his eye. One had lost an arm and replaced it with a scomp. There was also an absolute giant of a man who looked like he could snap anyone or anything in half without effort. Last, though, came was someone who didn’t look like he belonged at all. He didn’t have any visible tattoos and seemed to have all his appendages. He wore goggles and was walking along with his nose in his datapad. When he spoke, it was in a crisp, matter of fact tone.

“Hunter.” Face Tattoo turned. “I sincerely doubt any of the second-rate establishments on a backwater planet such as this would carry the precise components we need for the Marauder.”

“Hey nerd,” you called, only mildly offended. “Fortunately for you, you found the only first rate establishment on this backwater planet.” You winked at the girl. She giggled.

“The definition of first rate is debatable,” Nerd replied, fidgeting with his goggles.

“Alright, then. Let’s deal with the objective,” you shot back. “Give me the list of parts you need and if I don’t have them in stock or I can’t get them with in a standard week, I’ll settle for second rate.”

You held out your hand for his datapad. Nerd looked at Face Tattoo, who nodded. With a heavy sigh, Nerd handed it to you.

“You’ll have to excuse Tech,” said Sniper lazily as you scrolled through the list of parts. “He’s always convinced he has the only brain cells for a radius of 100 clicks.”

You had every part in stock. “C’mon,” you told the group, leading the way to your inventory out back.

After you were able to win your wager with Tech, the Batch started coming around a lot more.

Omega had been the first to capture your heart, and no wonder. She saw the best in everyone and every situation, but was still tougher and more resilient than most adults you knew. Wrecker was almost just sweet but had a knowledge of weapons and explosives that far surpassed your own. It took a minute to figure out Crosshair, but he respected someone who could dish out the sarcasm as well as they could take it. Echo and Hunter were fiercely protective of their squad, and as soon as you demonstrated that same loyalty, you were as good as one of their own. You had even accompanied the Batch on a few missions when your technical expertise would come in handy.

But Tech…It had been almost a year since you had met the Batch, and despite the trust and friendship you had with the rest of the squad, you were still getting nowhere with him.

At first it seemed like he should be the easiest for you to get along with. You were both mechanically minded and loved ships and flying. But he almost never even looked up from his datapad when you were around, and when he did, he was always annoyed whenever you tried to help.

It wouldn’t have bothered you so much if you didn’t have such a silly crush on the man. He could rattle off facts for hours on just about any topic in the galaxy. You hadn’t known him to encounter a technological problem he couldn’t resolve. You were tall, but Tech’s lean body still towered over yours. And he was just as much a super solider as any of his brothers. Some of the missions you had accompanied the squad on had gotten pretty rough. Tech was right in the middle of the action, taking tactical risks and scoring hits as much as any of his brothers.

You had spoken to Hunter about your concern a few months ago. “I just don’t understand why he dislikes me so much. I don’t know what I did to offend him.”

Hunter signed. “Nothing. That’s just Tech. Usually he might have warmed up to someone by now, but I would try not to take it too personally.”

“I’d take it personally,” Crosshair sneered as he walked by.

“Yes, you definitely should,” you quipped back grinning, “since everyone dislikes you on a personal level.”

“Want me to talk to him?” Hunter asked.

You considered. “No, it’s ok. If it really starts to bother me, I’ll bring it up myself.”

You tried to push the issue to the back of your mind, but to no avail.

When you received a message from Omega saying they had returned from their most recent mission, you made up your mind to talk to Tech about it. You headed over to the usual docking bay to welcome the Batch back. The ramp of the Marauder was closed, but you heard the metallic clicking of tools coming from underneath.

“Hello?” you called.

Tech’s voice answered. “Down here.”

Instantly you felt the sensation of butterflies in your stomach. You knelt down, leaning your head under the ship. “Need a hand?” you asked brightly.

“I do not,” he said in a clipped tone.

You held back your disappointed sigh. “Where’s everyone else?” you inquired, still trying to sound cheerful.

“Supply run.”

“And I bet Omega and Wrecker are getting their celebratory mantel mix after another successful mission.”

“That would be a logical deduction based on their past patterns of behavior.”

You examined the underside of the ship. There was quite a bit of carbon scoring.

“Oof, glad you made it back in one piece!” you exclaimed. “Looks like the last mission got pretty hot!”

“Hence the repairs,” Tech replied.

You scooted under the ship to see what he was working on.

He was trying to rewire a circuit board, but hands were too big to access the compartment properly to remove the panel. He was holding the screwdriver at an angle. Instead of loosening the screw, the tool just kept slipping.

You leaned over him slightly, extending your hand for the screwdriver. “Here, my hands are smaller, I bet I can do it.”

“I do not require assistance,” he said stubbornly.

“I know you know how but that doesn’t change the physics of your hands. Just let me…Ugh, you’re gonna strip the screw, Tech!” you said frustratedly. You tried to take the tool from him but he held it out of your reach.

“What is your problem with me?” you demanded angrily.

“You make everything much harder than it has to be, regardless of what you do, just by being present,” he replied immediately.

You were shocked into silence. You were embarrassed to feel your eyes stinging with tears. “I’ll just go then,” you said, starting to wriggle out from under the ship.

“Wait. Will you allow me to clarify what I mean?”

Great, you thought. Hearing in excruciating detail exactly why Tech hates you. “Fine,” you mumbled, blinking furiously to try to keep from crying.

Tech didn’t look at you, but stared up at the underside of the Marauder.

“It is hard for me to say goodbye to you before we leave on missions. While the squad does have an undeniable success rate, there are always variables that cannot be accounted for, and there is no guarantee we will return unscathed, if at all.

“Similarly, it is hard for me to watch you leave at night to return your domicile. I am well aware you are capable of looking after yourself, but I am concerned for your safety and I do not want any harm to befall you.”

Wait. This was not what you were expecting.

“It is hard to watch you watch you interact with my brothers and sister,” he continued. “You have an ease with them you have never had with me. I am quite certain the issue is with me, but I am equally uncertain how to fix it.

“It is hard for me when you seem to know as much about the mechanics and systems of the Marauder as I do. I both resent and respect you for that, and I cannot comprehend how I can harbor both conflicting emotions.”

He hesitated. “It…is also hard for me when I see you smile or your hair falls in front of your face when you are working. Or…” he cleared his throat uncomfortably. “Or when you are in…certain positions, making repairs. I’m inexplicably drawn to you physically. But I don’t know what to do or how you would react to such a gesture.”

He lapsed into silence.

Your heart was beating wildly at the implications of his lengthy speech. “Tech…” you whispered.

“Thank you for your courtesy in listening. You may leave if you like,” he said returning to his usual brusque manner. Tech turned his attention back to the repairs.

“Conduct an experiment,” you suggested with a shy smile.

“An experiment?” He looked over at you, confused.

You rolled over onto your stomach, propped up on your elbow so your face was above Tech’s. Your hair fell forward in front of your shoulder. “Sure. You said you’re physically drawn to me when my hair is down. Or when I smile. Conduct an experiment and see how I react.”

Hesitantly Tech reached up. He ran his fingers through your hair, tucking the loose strands behind your ear. Your smile widened.

His hand lingered on your cheek. Slowly he raised his face to yours. Behind his goggles, his beautiful eyes searched your face, settling on your mouth. You couldn’t wait any longer. You pressed your lips to his. For a moment he didn’t react, but then he was kissing you back.

“How do you find the results of your experiment?” you asked, slightly breathless, when you finally broke apart.

“Very favorable,” he said. There was a pink tinge to his cheeks. “However, tests often need to be run multiple times to verify the validity of the original results.”

You laughed softly. “I think that’s a good idea.”

He pulled you back to him.

Neither of you were paying any attention to anything else. Not even even when the sound of voices came floating across the landing pad. Or when a pair of boots appeared. A moment later Crosshair’s head peered under the Maurader.

“Found him,” he drawled, making you both jump. “Ooh, and if it isn’t our favorite little mechanic too. Looks like she found something she likes,” he added in taunting delight.

You heard Wrecker’s booming laugh. “About time!”

You sat up to tell Crosshair off, but smacked your head on the underside of the ship. You rubbed your head, already feeling a bump. “For kriff’s sake Cross, go away,” you snapped.

With a final smirk, he stood up and walked onboard.

You turned your head to Tech. He was blushing furiously now. Then you both burst out laughing.

“Next time, we’ll go to my place!” you declared.

“Next time?” he asked hopefully.

You grinned and kissed him on the nose. “Mhmm. Lots of times.”

(My Master List)

Slightly 🌶️ version here

@summer-of-bad-batch

[hoperays-song]

Required Information Sheet For The Human AU: Marcus

General Information:

Last Name: Taylor

First Name: Marcus

Middle Name: Christian

Nickname(s): Markie and Mark

Pronouns: He/Him/His

Gender Identity: Cisgender

Sexuality: Demisexual

Birthdate: November 12, 1973

Ethnicity: British

Dietary Style: Vegetarian

Known Languages: English, Hindi, and ASL.

Appearance Information 

Hair Color Hex Code: #AC4F02

Curl Texture: 4b

Eye Color Hex Code: #3B3B3B

Skin Tone Hex Code: #321F0C

Beauty Mark(s): Scattered body scars and tattoos

Glasses/Contacts: Reading glasses that are worn occasionally

Height: 6’4.5”

Weight: 234lbs

Build Type: Rectangle

Clothing Aesthetic: No real word for it but jeans, tank tops, and coveralls. Mechanic?

Education Information:

Past Education: London School of Economics

Skills Education: Automotive Mechanic Apprenticeship at Tower End Mechanic Shop

Degree(s)/Certification(s): Masters in Business Management, Bachelors in Engineering, Certified Automotive Mechanic, and Licensed EMT

Career Information:

Past Employment: Automotive Mechanic

Current Job: Automotive Mechanic and Garage Owner

Company: Taylor Family Garage

Extracurriculars: Parole Work (Meals On Wheels)

Parentage Information:

Biological Parent 1: Ann Grace Taylor

Relation: Biological Mother

Relationship: Nonexistent (Disowned)

Pronouns: She/Her/Hers

Career: Stay At Home Mom

Birthdate: September 11, 1950

Biological Parent 2: Christian Arthur Taylor

Relation: Biological Father

Relationship: Nonexistent (Disowned)

Pronouns: He/Him/His

Career: Insurance Company CFO

Birthdate: April 10, 1945

Sibling Information:

Sibling 1: Lucien Charles Taylor

Relation: Biological Brother

Relationship: Nonexistent (Disowned)

Pronouns: He/Him/His

Education: University of Cambridge

Birthdate: June 30, 1970

Sibling 2: Bethany Grace Taylor

Relation: Biological Sister

Relationship: Nonexistent (Disowned)

Pronouns: She/Her/Hers

Education: University of Bristol

Birthdate: July 20, 1976

Romantic Relationship Information:

Partner's Name: Jia Saanvi Taylor ‘nee Sutar (Deceased)

Partner's Status: Wife 

Relationship: Close 

Partner's Pronouns: She/Her/Hers

Partner's Career: Primary School Music Teacher and Pianist

Partner's Birthdate: February 13, 1975

Child(ren) Information:

Child 1's Name: Johnathan “Johnny” Demarcus Taylor

Child's Relation: Biological Son

Relationship: Close

Child's Pronouns: He/They/His/Theirs

Child's Birthdate: January 29, 2004

Child's Career: Contracted Professional Actor and Singer

Child 2's Name: Nooshy Victor Peart-Taylor

Child's Relation: Adoptive Child

Relationship: Close

Child's Pronouns: She/They/Hers/Theirs

Child's Birthdate: November 3, 2001

Child's Career: Contracted Professional Choreographer Consultant

Assorted Information:

Best Friend(s): Stan Philips (since age 36), Barry Frost (since age 36), and Rosita Peréz-Harrison (since age 47)

Favorite Color(s): Dark Purple and Grey

Favorite Animal(s): Mountain Gorillas and Crows

Favorite Food(s): Glamorgan Sausages, Alu Diye Cholar Dal, and Vegetable Korma

Favorite Sweet(s): Blackcurrant Jaffa Cakes, Murukku, and Paruppu Payasam

Favorite Drink(s): Plain Black Coffee, Masala Soda, and Red Gatorade

Favorite TV Show(s): Top Gear, Chasing Classic Cars, and Wheeler Dealers

Favorite Movie(s): Now You See Me, Baby Driver, and The Glass Onion

Favorite Song(s): Big A Little A by Crass, Oh Bondage! Up Yours! by X-Ray Spex, and Mighty and Superior by Conflict

[aller-geez]

Get to know: Connie Anderson

Belongs to @thekinkyleopard

22 // Trans Female She/Her // Pansexual // Russian & Norwegian Snow Leopard Shifter

Full name: Constance Eve Anderson

Nickname: Connie, NiNi & Bunny

Date Of Birth: June 22nd 1998

Big Three: Cancer 🌞, Libra 🌝, Taurus ↗️

(under construction!!!!)

Physical Appearance —

Age: 22 looks 20

Eye Color: Sapphire Blue

Hair Color: White with black tips

Weight: 118lbs

Height: 5’3

Race: Russian & Norwegian

Distinguishing Marks or Characteristics: she has freckles all over her cheeks and shoulders but no where else. She always has her hair chopped the same way, she also does her own hair cuts. She also always has in double nostril hoops and her Medusa piercing

Personality —

Greatest Strength: Her capacity to love

Greatest Weakness: Not willing to speak up for herself

Soft Spot: Meeko, Biz and Bugs

Mannerisms: She’s extremely quiet and often fidgets with her clothes such as her sleeve ends, skirt or shirt hems. Has a hard time making and maintaining eye contact.

Miscellaneous Trivia —

Connie was often scolded for crying or showing any form of emotion while growing up with her adoptive family. After she came out as trans, it was especially hard for her to find her voice, she never had an example of what it meant to stand up for yourself. Due to constant backlash over any time she would defend herself, especially the night she was kicked out of the house, Connie stopped speaking. She has Traumatic Mutism. Later on in her life, finds herself more comfortable speaking with select people. Meeko, her girlfriend later in life, will be the one person she completely drops her guard with.

Growing up away from her siblings, she often found herself outside a lot of the time. Fascinated by bugs! She often collected them in jars, or picked them up to get a better look at them. Connie’s favorite bug is the Lotus Mantis.

Connie is insanely good at painting, but finds a lack of passion within it. She wants to create art that inflicts emotion from herself but always finds herself numb staring at her own works.

Sneeze Content —

ALLERGIES

Connie has spring time allergies! She’s also allergic to Lavender and Jasmine. Even the lab made scents can send her into a tizzy!

How severe are they?

Pretty severe, she often tries to find anyway to stay inside during the spring unable to get anything productive done if she’s struck with a case of allergies.

Do they get sick often?

She doesn’t get sick often, a lot like her brother she has a pretty good immune system. However, she is partnered with Remi’s sister Meeko, and the apple did not fall far from that tree. So often, she will catch Meeko’s illnesses.

How bad is it usually?

When Connie is sick she’s basically a shell of a person. It’s hard to get her out of bed, or to even eat. She tries her best to just stay under the covers and fight it off with tens and tons of cold meds. She is a certified baby but with a lot less complaints.

Do they stifle?

Connie does stifle, she doesn’t like to alert others that she is coming down with something or is being tormented by her own body. She will try to hide it, but essentially isn’t very good at stifling and it usually blows through anyway.

How loud are their sneezes?

Just like her brother, she’s a very polite sneezer. Due to not having much exercise on her vocals anyway, she is very quiet when she sneezes, they’re more air than sound.

What do they sneeze into?

Connie sneezes into her hand, inner elbow or sometimes uncovered :x

How often do they sneeze?

She doesn’t sneeze very often unless she happens to be in a shopping center. Those places have an ungodly amount of lavender scented things, and it usually costs her in the end.

How many times do they sneeze in a fit?

She sneezes about 2-3 times in a fit, maybe 4. It varies in severity.

Do they have build-ups or are they sudden?

Connie has a slight build up when it comes to her allergies, however, they’re very sudden when exposed to the flowery scents.

Do they sneeze in public?

Connie does sneeze in public because she doesn’t really see the issue with it? She doesn’t like to be OBVIOUS about sneezing in public, but she will if the opportunity presents itself.

Some examples of their sneezes?

ehh’Gxxtchh’iew!!

Hh’gxtch!

hihh’KXXtsh’chhu!

Ngt’chh!

hptt’CH!

GXTtt’chh!

T’Shu~

Hih’cHiew~

H’ Kkissh ~

Eh’CHiew!

Backstory —

Connie was born, Connor Steven Anderson, later changed to Constance Eve Anderson. She doesn’t have much memory before she was taken away from her family at 3, but she remembers loving her mother and siblings very deeply. She also remembers how horribly it felt to be ripped away from them all. Placed into a very strict Asian household, she often felt very insecure and isolated. When her parents realized she was a shifter, they did everything in their power to try and stifle it. They often beat, berated and restricted her for losing control of her shift. The constant abuse being the driving force of her being able to gain control of it. Yet the problems didn’t stop there. Even after isolating herself from her culture, and trying her best to appease her new parents, it all came crashing down when Connie realized she was trans, and came out to them. They kicked her out and called her a disgrace to the family name, that they should have known better when initially adopting her. It left Connie feeling more hollow than she ever had in her life. As she started sleeping on the streets, and exchanging her body for money and substances, Connie met a very kind, elderly homeless veteran, who called himself Pops. She and Pops took care of each other, he treated her like the daughter he never got to have, and she viewed him as the father she never had as well. They bonded together, kept each other right (as right as two homeless addicted people could be) and built their shelters together. One day when Connie was out applying for work, she came back to their camp to find Pops had been mugged and murdered, all their things torn through and the man gasping with his final breaths in her arms. She couldn’t do anything but hold him and cry. After several hours she was approached by a man with bright red hair and facial tattoos, Alistar. The man took pity on her and agreed to help her back on her feet. Though he had alternative motives, he found himself a soft spot for the young shifter girl, and decided she’d suffered enough in this cruel world. Al hooked her up with a studio in downtown New York, he pays the bills for it and provides her an allowance for necessities and other things. Often Al is not with Connie, but provides for her so she can have the room to discover who she is and what she wants to do. Though she is entirely grateful for the strange man, she doesn’t exactly understand why he wants to help her. Eventually, she opens up to him about her family, and he goes on a wild goose chase to reunite them.

Reference Sheet —

(Coming soon..)

[babithyn]

November 16th, 2023

tw~ ed

Hey guys, good news! I lost 6lbs within the past 3 days :) i mean its not much compared to what my goal is but im happy im below 230lbs.

I mean my highest weight was 259lbs and that was right before i gave birth to my babygirl :)

Granted, i haven’t been very disciplined so i’m kind of confused as to how i lost 6lbs. Maybe its water weight from all the swelling. I mean my feet we’re probably 4x their normal size. I couldnt even fit into my slides which were size nines and i where a seven. But i can fit in them again!

Also my bf’s hoodie use to be snug around my waist and now its loose so my stomach has gone down a little bit.

We went grocery shopping and i was doing my best to get healthy food and low c@l food. Bit i had to remind myself that i cant eat to little of food otherwise i wont have the nutrients in my body to nurse my daughter.

Another thing i have to remind myself is that the breast milk my body is making weighs about 10-15lbs. But because i’m nursing i should be loosing 1-2lbs a month. Cuz nursing burns calories surprisingly enough.

My goal is to loose another 5lbs by the end of the month. Although thanksgiving is around the corner so thats a little scary. But i might not be going to my moms for it meaning i might not celebrate it in general.

My mom had changed plans on me and is now going to her friends for thanksgiving. See that wouldnt be a problem if i didnt have a newborn and i knew her friend. But considering i dont know her friend i’m not comfortable taking my daughter or myself to some random strangers house. I don’t like meeting new people in general and you can times that by 20 now that i have a kid.

But in other good news. :) my bf and i were approved to rent a house! we get to move in on the first. Meaning we gotta start packing now. But i get to have my pupper with me!

i spent $100 to get him esa certified. So that i dont have to pay a pet fee and they cant refuse us housing or kick us out because we have a dog. So things are looking up for us!

The house is in a nice neighborhood and it has 3beds and 2 and a half af baths. Its two stories with a backyard and a garage! We got a brand new sofa and loveseat set!

The only downside to the house is that we’re going to be paying $2k a month not including utilities. And i probably wont be able to go back to work till about february maybe march. and i’ll probably only be doing part time for the first couple month’s i go back. On top of that ill have to pay for a babysitter.

Im thinking it might be more financially beneficial to just be a stay at home mom until she’s about 8-11months that way she’ll have started saying small words and hopefully have taken her first steps. then i can take her to a daycare and i can go to work full time.

but other than that we also need to get some more furniture and appliances. we need a washer and dryer, a new bed since we have a queen and our daughter loves sleeping with us. We also need a dining room table, dishes, cook wear, dressers nightstands. granted i have two dressers at my moms. its just that they’re heavy as all hell.

But on the plus side my mom and her bf are willing to help us and my bestfriend is coming to visit and said she would help us. And i’m sure my bf’s friends wouldnt mind helping its just a matter of him asking. I mean him and his friends are cops and if you know anything about first responders its that they have a huge sense of camaraderie.

Its kind of funny im dating a cop. I’ve never been a huge fan of them but it’s mostly the system that im not a fan of. it lets the bad ones get away with horrible shit.

But thats off topic. actually the bottom half of this entire post is off topic.

Anyways if you’ve read this far thank you :) Stay safe and much love thank you for coming to my ted talk:)

[halothenthehorns]

Chapter 16: WE MEET THE DRAGON OF ETERNAL BAD BREATH

"So you will not be detecting a hint of minty freshness?" Magnus grinned. He didn't even freak out this time there was going to be a dragon.

"I'll give Grover mad props if he tries to seduce the dragon," Alex nodded along, scrutinizing the book in her hands and wondering how detailed this thing was going to be if the dragon ate someone, or fell for the goats sweat talk. Either way, she was excited to find out.

"I swear you two are certifiable," Percy said in exasperation, mildly concerned why Alex was trying to set his best friend up after his last disastrous date with Polyphemus.

"Hopefully its rank breath is its main attack, which means it can't breathe fire?" Jason offered. Thalia thought it was adorable how optimistic that was but decided not to tell him that.

"We will never make it," Zoe said. "We are moving too slow. But we cannot leave the Ophiotaurus."

"Mooo," Bessie said.

"He was probably agreeing he didn't want to get left behind again," Will nodded for the poor thing. "I bet he's been mad offended this whole trip Percy never traveled with him before this."

"Do I want to know where he'd take me?" Percy asked wearily. Was Bessie going to drag him off to the alter where he was supposed to be sacrificed for his big choice?

He swam next to me as we jogged along the waterfront. We'd left the shopping center pier far behind. We were heading toward the Golden Gate Bridge, but it was a lot farther than I'd realized. The sun was already dipping in the west.

"I don't get it," I said. "Why do we have to get there at sunset?"

"The Hesperides are the nymphs of the sunset," Zoe said. "We can only enter their garden as day changes to night."

"I wish more doors had physical limits like that," Alex grinned. "Reinforced business hours."

"The rush would be mad though," Magnus imagined actual murder going on rather than the occasional trampling to get to those sales. Alex, of course, didn't seem very concerned about that part.

"What happens if we miss it?"

Thalia gave Percy the concerned and very confused stare she hadn't managed at the time while running. Like he didn't know the answer to that?

Percy grimaced. "I was hoping she'd say something nice for once, like oh, we can sneak in through the backdoor."

"The girl who has never once started a sentence with the good news?" Thalia confirmed.

"I was being optimistic for her," Percy sighed.

"Tomorrow is winter solstice. If we miss sunset tonight, we would have to wait until tomorrow evening. And by then, the Olympian Council will be over. We must free Lady Artemis tonight."

Or Annabeth will be dead, I thought, but I didn't say that.

He didn't have to. The painful squirming number he did in his seat said it for him. It was quite possible he was being attacked by an invisible assailant and just wasn't screaming out loud.

"We need a car," Thalia said.

"But what about Bessie?" I asked.

"Would he shrink to fit in a cat carrier?" Alex asked seriously.

"I vote we don't bring the world destroying cow-serpent to their front door," Jason frowned.

"I think he goes wherever he wants," Magnus uneasily reminded.

Grover stopped in his tracks. "I've got an idea! The Ophiotaurus can appear in different bodies of water, right?"

"Well, yeah," I said. "I mean, he was in Long Island Sound. Then he just popped into the water at Hoover Dam. And now he's here."

"Could he just pop you over to where the entrance is?" Magnus asked with a frown. "Isn't it a little dangerous to be taking him to where Luke is going to be? I'm assuming it's not just a child of the big three that can use his entrails."

"We don't even attempt to try that," Thalia promised.

"So maybe we could coax him back to Long Island Sound," Grover said. "Then Chiron could help us get him to Olympus."

Jason studied the book with unease. "Is it really a good idea to send Bessie to Olympus?" He didn't think it was entirely his instinctive distrust of these gods that made that sound like a bad idea.

"Do you have any other ideas?" Percy asked, clearly frazzled and still stuck on the other major time limit. "I don't think my mom can keep him in the bathtub for long!" His dad would know what to do with Bessie, he was sure of that.

Jason let it go, for now, with more pressing matters on the horizon, but he he was worried what would happen about this later. 

"But he was following me." I said. "If I'm not there, would he know where he's going?"

"Moo," Bessie said forlornly.

"I... I can show him," Grover said. "I'll go with him."

I stared at him. Grover was no fan of the water. He'd almost drowned last summer in the Sea of Monsters, and he couldn't swim very well with his goat hooves.

"Goats can swim just fine," Alex said with a weird amount of confidence, as if she spent a lot of time at the Y in more kinds of kid swimming classes than they had.

"Maybe it's his different anatomy that makes it a tad difficult," Percy suggested. He'd offered to chill with him in the Long Island Sound a few times to get his confidence back last summer and Grover had barely wanted to get his hooves in the sand, let alone near the water, so Percy had quickly let it go.

"I'm the only one who can talk to him," Grover said. "It makes sense."

"Technically we can all talk to him," Will grinned, "we just can't tell what Bessie's saying back."

"And here I thought ASL could be a good universal language," Jason looked legitimately like he was pouting over there he'd never get a chance to talk to the cow.

He bent down and said something in Bessie's ear. Bessie shivered, then made a contented, lowing sound.

"The blessing of the Wild," Grover said.

"So he can use that on himself!" Jason blurted, before breaking out into snickers.

"He's a wild animal at parties only," Percy grinned along.

"Grover's going to shove his reed pipes through your ears," Thalia promised the two idiots.

"That should help with safe passage. Percy, pray to your dad, too. See if he will grant us safe passage through the seas."

I didn't understand how they could possibly swim back to Long Island from California. Then again, monsters didn't travel the same way as humans. I'd seen plenty evidence of that.

Nico winced and was now very glad Percy didn't know about his ability to shadow travel. Just one more thing Percy could associate with him being creepy and weird.

I tried to concentrate on the waves, the smell of the ocean, the sound of the tide.

"Dad," I said. "Help us. Get the Ophiotaurus and Grover safely to camp. Protect them at sea."

"A prayer like that needs a sacrifice," Thalia said. "Something big."

I thought for a second. Then I took off my coat.

Thalia couldn't help an uneasy feeling at him using the Nemon Lion fur, even though she knew it all worked out. It had already saved Percy's life once, it was very valuable indeed to pass muster for this prayer, but she was more selfish than him and wished he'd kept it to keep her friend safe.

"Percy," Grover said. "Are you sure? That lion skin... that's really helpful. Hercules used it!"

As soon as he said that, I realized something.

I glanced at Zoe, who was watching me carefully. I realized I did know who Zoe's hero had been—the one who'd ruined her life, gotten her kicked out of her family, and never even mentioned how she'd helped him: Hercules, a hero I'd admired all my life.

"Because his life is crappier than yours," Nico recalled with a smile. "Never his attire."

"Or his personality," Percy agreed with a sharp look at the book. He hoped if he ever ruined someone's life like that Thalia wouldn't hesitate to jab him with a bow and arrow to remind him.

Nico sighed to himself even when he said something Percy agreed with he couldn't get a smile out of him.

"If I'm going to survive," I said, "it won't be because I've got a lion-skin cloak. I'm not Hercules."

"Oh that was obvious from the start," Alex grinned in a way that didn't make Percy feel better. "You'd never be enough of a lady's man to convince Zoe to betray her family for you."

"Thanks, it's what I've always strived for," Percy sighed.

I threw the coat into the bay. It turned back into a golden lion skin, flashing in the light. Then, as it began to sink beneath the waves, it seemed to dissolve into sunlight on the water.

"What would happen if Poseidon didn't accept the sacrifice?" Magnus asked. "Would he spit it back at you covered in algae?"

Hopefully, the answer wasn't drown Grover, Percy kept to himself as the awkward silence hung. Nobody really wanted to know the real answer.

The sea breeze picked up.

Grover took a deep breath. "Well, no time to lose."

He jumped in the water and immediately began to sink. Bessie glided next to him and let Grover take hold of his neck.

"Be careful," I told them.

"We will," Grover said. "Okay, um... Bessie? We're going to Long Island. It's east. Over that way."

"Moooo?" Bessie said.

"Yes," Grover answered. "Long Island. It's this island. And... it's long.

"Who needs a map when you have a satyr," Percy said proudly.

"You two officially share everything, an empathy link, a brain cell," Jason chuckled.

Oh, let's just start."

"Mooo!"

Bessie lurched forward. He started to submerge and Grover said, "I can't breathe underwater! Just thought I'd mention—" Glub!

"Not the final words anyone should have," Nico muttered. He liked the memory he had of Grover introducing himself at Westover. It was real, and those cheese enchiladas weren't bad.

Under they went, and I hoped my father's protection would extend to little things, like breathing.

"Hopefully that wasn't a bonus sacrifice we had to give extra for or something," Percy muttered. "I'm all out of bull intestines."

"I'm sure he will, he made those pearls airproof through the ocean," Jason reminded.

"If Oceanus can remember I've got faith in your dad," Thalia agreed reluctantly.

"Well, that is one problem addressed," Zoe said. "But how can we get to my sisters' garden?"

"Thalia's right," I said. "We need a car. But there's nobody to help us here. Unless we, uh, borrowed one."

I didn't like that option. I mean, sure this was a life-or-death situation, but still, it was stealing, and it was bound to get us noticed.

"I bet Hermes is so disappointed in you," Will snickered. "He's probably restraining himself from throwing Travis and Connor through the nearest hotel door to teleport them beside you and help move this along."

"Can he do that?" Percy said in awe.

"I don't know, but I'd believe it," Will shrugged.

"Wait," Thalia said. She started rifling through her backpack. "There is somebody in San Francisco who can help us. I've got the address here somewhere."

"Who?" I asked.

Thalia pulled out a crumpled piece of notebook paper and held it up. "Professor Chase. Annabeth's dad."

"He already moved there!" Magnus somehow sounded more outraged the more times he heard it. "Does he even know Annabeth's missing?!" Or care...

Percy didn't know. It's not like he could have called up and told. If he'd even thought of that himself he would have thought Chiron could somehow send a message, but he'd been a little more preoccupied with getting her back after the go-ahead from his mom.

The awkward silence lingered so long, Alex wasn't sure how to break it. She found herself wanting to hug a stranger she knew quite well by now, promise there were plenty of people who cared. Even Will got a moment of unease on his face before he shook it off, he couldn't imagine a single moment in camp without crossing her.

Thalia finally cleared her throat and offered, "um, no, I don't think he did know." She sounded almost confident about that at least. "He's used to going long bouts of silence from her, and last I heard she was waiting to send him a message if she'd be joining him there, or, err, other options available." Her Huntress threads glimmered as if she carried the moonlight around with her. Percy fidgeted with his camp beads and a grimace.

After hearing Annabeth gripe about her dad for two years, I was expecting him to have devil horns and fangs.

"I think I would have remembered that," Magnus muttered as he ran a hand through his hair.

"I thought Athena had a type for blondes," Alex snorted.

I was not expecting him to be wearing an old-fashioned aviator's cap and goggles. He looked so weird, with his eyes bugging out through the glasses, that we all took a step back on the front porch.

"Gods, I hope he didn't wear that when she was little," Nico muttered. No wonder she was always so confident in the face of monsters, if she'd grown up seeing that every day she probably was the bravest person ever.

"I bet Annabeth used to steal it to try and wear," Will grinned, causing the dopiest smile ever on Percy's face. Nico studied Percy for several moments and grew a bit concerned with himself why he'd never felt something like that. He even tried to picture Percy in such a stupid hat for a moment and still nothing.

"Hello," he said in a friendly voice, "Are you delivering my airplanes?"

"Of course, there's an app for that," Magnus muttered.

"Why is he ordering airplanes and where do I get one!" Jason grinned.

"I'm sure if you ask Annabeth nicely she'll help arrange a ride," Percy tried to say like it was no big deal, never mind the fact he wasn't even sure if she was alive or they were on speaking terms, let alone giving out such favors.

Thalia, Zoe, and I looked at each other warily.

"Um, no, sir," I said.

"Drat," he said. "I need three more Sopwith Camels."

"Right," I said, though I had no clue what he was talking about.

"It's a biplane fighter aircraft that was introduced on the Western Front in 1917," Jason cited like he was reading from a dictionary.

"So you're telling me they're not the desert, spitting kind?" Percy asked blankly. "I'm begging of you to get a new hobby than just knowing everything," Percy sighed.

Jason wouldn't mind that either, considering he still went crosseyed with no clue why he remembered stupid trivia and that same vague feeling of a library he couldn't begin to understand.

"We're friends of Annabeth."

"Annabeth?" He straightened as if I'd just given him an electric shock.

"Thalia, we talked about this," Percy gave a long exaggerated look.

She smacked him with a hardy zap for good measure, smirking as his hair stood on end and he rubbed the spot.

"Is she all right? Has something happened?"

"How do you even answer that?" Alex mock whispered.

"I think you've already said enough to get the keys and be on your way," Magnus muttered, his foot twitching uneasily like he'd be as good as his word if he had half a chance. It seemed an official good thing he'd never tried to find Uncle Fredrick even if he could bear to leave Boston.

None of us answered, but our faces must've told him that something was very wrong.

He took off his cap and goggles. He had sandy-colored hair like Annabeth and intense brown eyes. He was handsome, I guess, for an older guy, but it looked like he hadn't shaved in a couple of days, and his shirt was buttoned wrong, so one side of his collar stuck up higher than the other side.

"You'd better come in," he said.

It didn't look like a house they'd just moved into. There were LEGO robots on the stairs and two cats sleeping on the sofa in the living room. The coffee table was stacked with magazines, and a little kid's winter coat was spread on the floor. The whole house smelled like fresh-baked chocolate-chip cookies. There was jazz music coming from the kitchen. It seemed like a messy, happy kind of home—the kind of place that had been lived in forever.

It was what a home was supposed to feel like. It was no wonder to Thalia he instantly recognized such a thing, having always had one with his mom. She on the other hand had noticed the way one could trip over the wooden floor turning to carpet, which LEGO robot was closest and could be used for the best projectile, how many exits there were and which direction the kitchen was that would have the best knives and maybe a snack to steal for the road.

"Dad!" a little boy screamed. "He's taking apart my robots!"

"Bobby," Dr. Chase called absently, "don't take apart your brother's robots."

"I'm Bobby," the little boy protested. "He's Matthew!"

Percy tapped his pen against his knee as he considered why that bothered him for a moment. It took a second to realize, there was no feeling of a memory returning like he got every few paragraphs. He'd never learned this.

Not once in the two years he'd known Annabeth had she mentioned her half-brother's names. She didn't talk about her step-mom at all, he didn't even know her name, and might have pictured her as Lady Tremaine. The only reason he knew her dad's name was because she'd get angry and say the whole thing when she talked about the time he'd left her dog at the dog park or her at the store.

"Matthew," Dr. Chase called, "don't take apart your brother's robots!"

"Okay, Dad!"

Dr. Chase turned to us. "We'll go upstairs to my study. This way."

"Honey?" a woman called. Annabeth's stepmom appeared in the living room, wiping her hands on a dish towel. She was a pretty Asian woman with red highlighted hair tied in a bun. "Who are our guests?" she asked.

"Oh," Dr. Chase said. "This is..."

He stared at us blankly.

"Frederick," she chided. "You forgot to ask them their names?"

"I'm guessing you hadn't sent any pictures to Annabeth," Alex tried at a teasing tone, but it came across more sad. Sally would probably recognize Annabeth on sight without a picture.

"I get the feeling he'd forget our names even if we told him unless camels were involved," Percy shrugged off.

We introduced ourselves a little uneasily, but Mrs. Chase seemed really nice. She asked if we were hungry. We admitted we were, and she told us she'd bring us some cookies and sandwiches and sodas.

"Dear," Dr. Chase said. "They came about Annabeth."

I half expected Mrs. Chase to turn into a raving lunatic at the mention of her stepdaughter, but she just pursed her lips and looked concerned. "All right. Go on up to the study and I'll bring you some food." She smiled at me. "Nice meeting you, Percy. I've heard a lot about you."

Percy had woken up in here with such a deep-seated sense of longing, he knew in that moment as he looked blearily around it must have been there long before he'd lost all memory of Annabeth. He was slowly getting them back now, and this most confusing of all.

Just a glimpse, a small piece into her life he'd never have seen if she hadn't been taken.

Had she ever introduced her dad to him? He still didn't even have proof he'd gotten her back, that she was truly safe somewhere while he was trapped here. Was this a part of her life she'd never want him involved in, the mortal family who would never understand her?

Yet in these small, brief moments, they were welcoming and concerned. She'd talked about him to her stepmom, like an actual parental conversation had gone on at some point, at the very minimum a friendly enough one. He desperately wanted her beside him, as much now as ever. To turn and look to see how she thought of all this.

Magnus's surprise and unease was blatant enough, and that made him feel all the more concerned. What the heck kind of family was she always trying to escape? What would Annabeth say to them now for turning to these mortals for help in their desperate hour?

Other than calling him a seaweed brain anyways.

Upstairs, we walked into Dr. Chase's study and I said, "Whoa!"

"Never a good sign," Magnus gave a long suffering sigh. "Who's got the stopwatch until something explodes?"

"Hey," Percy wanted to protest, but his record really was against him.

The room was wall-to-wall books, but what really caught my attention were the war toys. There was a huge table with miniature tanks and soldiers fighting along a blue painted river, with hills and fake trees and stuff. Old-fashioned biplanes hung on strings from the ceiling, tilted at crazy angles like they were in the middle of a dogfight.

"Cool," everybody in the room muttered at once. Jason looked like he'd murder someone to get his hands on the idea of that, and Alex was clearly contemplating the passage to decide how much time she'd have before Dr. Chase caught her messing with that.

"I'll bet none of you could count the number of times Annabeth was told off for wanting to play with those," Magnus said with a hint of pride.

"I'm proud it was just once," Thalia smirked.

Dr. Chase smiled. "Yes. The Third Battle of Ypres. I'm writing a paper, you see, on the use of Sopwith Camels to strafe enemy lines. I believe they played a much greater role than they've been given credit for."

He plucked a biplane from its string and swept it across the battlefield, making airplane engine noises as he knocked down little German soldiers.

"Oh, right," I said. I knew Annabeth's dad was a professor of military history. She'd never mentioned he played with toy soldiers.

"It kind of makes him a lot cooler," Percy said uneasily, like he expected his girlfriend to appear beside him now of all times to smack him upside the head.

"At least you won't picture him with fangs anymore," Thalia snorted.

Zoe came over and studied the battlefield. "The German lines were farther from the river."

Dr. Chase stared at her. "How do you know that?"

"I was there," she said matter-of-factly.

Magnus made a pained grimace like somebody had just sucker punched his brain. Again. Of all the battles in history...

"Artemis wanted to show us how horrible war was, the way mortal men fight each other. And how foolish, too. The battle was a complete waste."

"Aren't they all," Magnus said with a shake of his head. He'd only been a dreg of humanity for a few years, but long enough to be familiar with the idea humans would fight over the stupidest things that shouldn't matter in the grand scheme.

Dr. Chase opened his mouth in shock. "You—"

"She's a Hunter, sir," Thalia said. "But that's not why we're here. We need—"

"You saw the Sopwith Camels?" Dr. Chase said.

"Your help about Annabeth," Thalia finished her rudely interrupted sentence with a scrunched up nose. It was hysterically easy to recall her little sister telling her about how easily distracted her dad could be all of a sudden, and how that could be useful when avoiding getting grounded, and very disappointing when he forgot to pick her up from preschool. Again.

"How many were there? What formations did they fly?"

"Sir," Thalia broke in again. "Annabeth is in danger."

That got his attention. He set the biplane down.

"Now we're on to something," Magnus huffed.

"Of course," he said. "Tell me everything."

It wasn't easy, but we tried. Meanwhile, the afternoon light was fading outside. We were running out of time.

When we'd finished, Dr. Chase collapsed in his leather recliner. He laced his hands. "My poor brave Annabeth. We must hurry."

"We," Alex repeated with reluctant surprise. She'd been hoping he'd at best hand over the keys when he realized what was going on, at worse they'd get a live play of why Annabeth kept running away from this place.

Magnus was smiling though for this exact same wordage. Mortals still had the makings of heroes in them. He finally realized why his mom had always said that with such a secretive glint in her eyes.

"Sir, we need transportation to Mount Tamalpais," Zoe said.

Jason shivered like his brain was trying to crawl out of his skin through every orifice. He knew, without a doubt, that would be his place to start looking for answers when he got out of here.

It troubled him greatly Percy had woken up knowing the name Annabeth and nowhere to start looking for her, and he had a place with no face attached.

"And we need it immediately."

"I'll drive you. Hmm. It would be faster to fly in my Camel, but it only seats two."

Percy winced a bit at the thought of that, hoping Zoe would be first to volunteer to be strapped to a wing...and it's not like he'd make Thalia do it, gods that was going to suck-

"Whoa, you have an actual biplane?" I said.

"Down at Crissy Field," Dr. Chase said proudly. "That's the reason I had to move here. My sponsor is a private collector with some of the finest World War I relics in the world. He let me restore the Sopwith Camel—"

"I'm starting to wonder how Minerva kept his attention long enough for Annabeth to exist," Jason muttered for himself. This guy was something else. Sally would have put her book down in an instant and had full attention. It was probably unfair of him to be weighing mortal parents, but since he had less clue about his own than even his godly parent, he was certainly riveted by the comparison.

"Sir," Thalia said. "Just a car would be great. And it might be better if we went without you. It's too dangerous."

Dr. Chase frowned uncomfortably. "Now wait a minute, young lady. Annabeth is my daughter. Dangerous or not, I... I can't just—"

"Snacks," Mrs. Chase announced.

Thalia winced and released a very tired sigh. Annabeth hadn't eaten in days by the time they'd found her, and then it had taken a very delicate process for her and Luke to convince her to eat at the start. Mrs. Chase had the bad habit of trying to soothe fears and never let anybody get a word in, constantly cutting off Annabeth's attempts to talk or warn of a monster coming by offering snacks. Like she'd been taught playtime was over and food would make it all better, when that had never happened for her.

She pushed through the door with a tray full of peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches and Cokes and cookies fresh out of the oven, the chocolate chips still gooey. Thalia and I inhaled a few cookies while Zoe said, "I can drive, sir. I'm not as young as I look. I promise not to destroy your car."

Percy choked on his imaginary cookie he wished he could have been eating, dragged away from nice flashbacks of his mom and plunked into an uneasy feeling of when that promise had been made to Gabe. He swallowed a suddenly dry mouth and hoped history wasn't about to repeat itself.

Mrs. Chase knit her eyebrows. "What's this about?"

"Annabeth is in danger," Dr. Chase said. "On Mount Tam. I would drive them, but... apparently it's no place for mortals."

It sounded like it was really hard for him to get that last part out.

"Then maybe he's using the wrong word," Alex said slowly. There might not be a right word Magnus's uncle would ever feel comfortable using, but she'd heard and lived through worse parent relationships than she was seeing on the surface right here. Maybe Annabeth was just having a disconnect and could mend this fence.

She kept watching Magnus's troubled face though and sighed uneasily for her suspicion he was homeless just like her, and clearly, this hadn't been a considered option. Not all fences could be mended, and tolerance couldn't make a family.

I waited for Mrs. Chase to say no. I mean, what mortal parent would allow three underage teenagers to borrow their car? To my surprise, Mrs. Chase nodded. "Then they'd better get going."

The relieved exhale that passed around the room gave them all a queasy feeling. They were a bit ashamed, that they were surprised it had gone so easily. Could whatever troubles that had caused Annabeth to run away been exaggerated by the kid? Were they still not hearing something major that Percy obviously couldn't pick up on after being there five minutes? Or was it just little things, that kept building over time Annabeth kept going back and forth on?

Will still sort of wished he could erase this exchange from his mind, getting this private glimpse into Annabeth's house without her permission, he certainly wouldn't be pleased if she was sitting around camp reading a book about how his relationship with his mom had gone.

"Right!" Dr. Chase jumped up and started patting his pockets. "My keys..."

His wife sighed. "Frederick, honestly. You'd lose your head if it weren't wrapped inside your aviator hat. The keys are hanging on the peg by the front door."

"Right!" Dr. Chase said.

Zoe grabbed a sandwich. "Thank you both. We should go. Now."

We hustled out the door and down the stairs, the Chases right behind us.

"Percy," Mrs. Chase called as I was leaving, "tell Annabeth... Tell her she still has a home here, will you? Remind her of that."

Percy's hand went up to fiddle with his necklace, his mind on a college ring that wasn't there but still resided on hers. Annabeth had never needed Percy to tell her anything, it was usually the other way around. He had a feeling she'd always known that.

He'd always associated her with Camp Half-Blood, where they'd met and spent so much time together. He tried to imagine if Annabeth had got a peek inside that disgusting old apartment with Gabe around and if she'd think he had it made with a roof over his head while she'd run away from this family. Or if she'd look at Smelly Gabe and understand how it felt to have a step-parent that made everything worse despite their parent's best efforts.

Regardless, he knew he'd always follow her lead on what she wanted.

I took one last look at the messy living room, Annabeth's half brothers spilling LEGOs and arguing, the smell of cookies filling the air. Not a bad place, I thought.

"I'll tell her," I promised.

We ran out to the yellow VW convertible parked in the driveway. The sun was going down. I figured we had less than an hour to save Annabeth.

He shivered at the worst time restraint of his life. If he'd even get a chance to open his stupid mouth around her again.

"Can't this thing go any faster?" Thalia demanded. Zoe glared at her. "I cannot control traffic."

"You both sound like my mother," I said. "Shut up!" they said in unison.

"Way to make me feel home away from home," Percy chuckled.

"Next time I'll even drive you off the road to get all the warm and fuzzies," Thalia rolled her eyes.

Zoe weaved in and out of traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge. The sun was sinking on the horizon when we finally got into Marin County and exited the highway.

The roads were insanely narrow, winding through forests and up the sides of hills and around the edges of steep ravines. Zoe didn't slow down at all.

"I really hope that's those Huntress reflexes, and not, you know, her vague immortality forgetting we would die on impact," Percy muttered.

Thalia didn't have an answer, but she did feel a tad more smug when she remembered Percy clutching his seat, fingers digging into the cushion like a lifeline just like she was.

"Why does everything smell like cough drops?" I asked.

"Eucalyptus." Zoe pointed to the huge trees all around us.

"The stuff koala bears eat?"

"And monsters," she said. "They love chewing the leaves. Especially dragons."

"Why?" Magnus drew out the word with painful and familiar concern if he wanted to know the answer to that.

"I'm assuming it's not for their high water content and more for the added bonus of being poisonous," Alex shrugged without concern.

"It also explains the bad breath," Will nodded like that was the biggest concern, not how they were going to get past it!

"Dragons chew eucalyptus leaves?"

"Believe me," Zoe said, "if you had dragon breath, you would chew eucalyptus too."

I didn't question her,

"You have a really bad habit of doing that," Jason pouted. It was obvious to anyone he'd be interrogating Zoe any given chance if he could.

"The less I have to pretend to remember the better," Percy shrugged.

but I did keep my eyes peeled more closely as we drove. Ahead of us loomed Mount Tamalpais.

Thalia was still watching Jason twitch every time that was mentioned and clenching her jaw against blurting out asking if he remembered something. The place obviously bothered him, but he was two when he vanished, how could he possibly have memories of it...

I guess, in terms of mountains, it was a small one, but it looked plenty huge as we were driving toward it.

"Are you literally making a mountain out of a molehill right now?" Alex asked.

"In what world is driving up to face the guy who kidnapped a goddess a molehill?" Percy yelped.

"I mean the mountain itself," Alex sighed.

"I think in this case he's making a molehill into a mountain," Magnus offered.

"I want this stupid metaphor to end," Percy groaned, and Alex obliged purely to get to the dragon.

"So that's the Mountain of Despair?" I asked.

"Yes," Zoe said tightly.

"Why do they call it that?"

"Because it causes despair," Thalia said grimly.

"Probably a translation issue," Will said brightly, "that's how a lot of things got named way back when."

Percy didn't find either answer very comforting. Couldn't one person just pretend it was misnamed and really it should be called the Fluffy Bunny Mountain of Happiness Where Annabeth Was?

She was silent for almost a mile before answering. "After the war between the Titans and the gods, many of the Titans were punished and imprisoned. Kronos was sliced to pieces and thrown into Tartarus. Kronos's right-hand man, the general of his forces, was imprisoned up there, on the summit, just beyond the Garden of the Hesperides."

"Why was he put in a garden with sunset spirits?" Magnus asked. "Sounds like he got a great lawyer to get him on community service or something."

"Remember everything you've yet heard in this Magnus," Thalia reminded. "Just because it sounds nice doesn't mean it's going to be." Her face could have been a Mist colored version of the Mountain of Despair to give them all a visual.

"The General," I said. Clouds seemed to be swirling around its peak, as though the mountain was drawing them in, spinning them like a top. "What's going on up there? A storm?"

Zoe didn't answer. I got the feeing she knew exactly what the clouds meant, and she didn't like it.

"Storm can't be worse than a dragon, right?" Magnus whispered just for Alex this time.

He didn't know why he'd been expecting a better answer. She scoffed and said, "knowing Percy's luck, the dragon's bad breath causes tsunamis."

"We have to concentrate," Thalia said. "The Mist is really strong here."

"The magical kind or the natural kind?" I asked.

"Both."

The gray clouds swirled even thicker over the mountain, and we kept driving straight toward them. We were out of the forest now, into wide open spaces of cliffs and grass and rocks and fog.

I happened to glance down at the ocean as we passed a scenic curve, and I saw something that made me jump out of my seat.

"Your dad sunbathing?" Will asked innocently.

"Godly backup?" Jason asked without hope.

"Beach party full of drunk teenagers," Alex said confidently.

"None of the above," Thalia sighed, which was probably a relief. Any of their three things just would have added to the horror movie cliche of what was waiting at the top.

"Look!" But we turned a corner and the ocean disappeared behind the hills.

Percy rubbed the side of his face where he'd smacked into the window from that sharp turn. Zoe was a true maniac with that wheel.

"What?" Thalia asked.

"A big white ship," I said. "Docked near the beach. It looked like a cruise ship."

"Only in your world have I ever considered a cruise ship a bad thing," Alex told him.

"Huzzah for being memorable," Percy sighed.

Her eyes widened. "Luke's ship?"

I wanted to say I wasn't sure. It might be a coincidence.

"The biggest honking coincidence I've ever heard," Will frowned, no matter he wished that too.

But I knew better. The Princess Andromeda, Luke's demon cruise ship, was docked at that beach. That's why he'd sent his ship all the way down to the Panama Canal. It was the only way to sail it from the East Coast to California.

"I'm just going to pause and be grateful he can't make it fly," Magnus groaned.

"I, for one, hope those monsters at least enjoyed such a scenic route. Those trips aren't cheap," Alex sniffed.

Nico resisted the reminder those monsters had probably been to busy picking their teeth with human bones to take in the view.

"We will have company, then," Zoe said grimly. "Kronos's army."

"Why can't we ever have good company come over," Percy sighed. "It's always, monsters are attacking the camp, or, monsters are invading our rescue! I want a battalion of backup to be our company!"

"What I'm hearing is that you want to make more fwiends," Will said in a disgustingly gooey voice.

"You can be the pawn," Percy rolled his eyes.

Thalia was snickering at them, but as was usual now her eyes flickered to Jason who had a constipated look on his face. She didn't see how Percy's usual sarcastic commentary could have caused that, but she was resisting the urge more every moment to rush through this already and find out what he either couldn't, or wouldn't say out loud.

I was about to answer, when suddenly the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. Thalia shouted, "Stop the car. NOW!"

Zoe must've sensed something was wrong, because she slammed on the brakes without question.

She used those with the same lead foot she had the gas. Percy clutched the seatbelt in memory only, if he hadn't been wearing one then, he probably would have sailed out the front window and gotten out first.

The yellow VW spun twice before coming to a stop at the edge of the cliff.

"Out!" Thalia opened the door and pushed me hard.

She'd reached past him with such speed he'd almost cut her hand off if he'd been able to get Riptide up in time. A pin from her jacket had clocked the edge of his eye and he'd only felt the dull throb of pain long after as he sat there rubbing it now.

We both rolled onto the pavement.

The next second: BOOOM!

Lightning flashed, and Dr. Chase's Volkswagen erupted like a canary-yellow grenade.

Percy rubbed his neck in the awkward silence that followed and asked, "think this'll make Dr. Chase ban me from dating Annabeth?"

"If he doesn't I might," Magnus muttered without actually meaning it, but it was sort of distressing he'd already lost count of how many near-death experiences Percy had been in.

"You are never allowed near any motor vehicles around me," Alex informed him.

"I don't explode them by proximity!" But Percy's protest was useless to his own ears.

I probably would've been killed by shrapnel except for Thalia's shield, which appeared over me. I heard a sound like metal rain, and when I opened my eyes, we were surrounded by wreckage. Part of the VW's fender had impaled itself in the street. The smoking hood was spinning in circles. Pieces of yellow metal were strewn across the road.

"It looked like somebody had finally exploded the wrong Barney friend," Percy admitted.

"Little to specific Perce," Thalia told him in concern. "Especially because everybody in here already thinks you're a self-proclaimed pyro."

Percy thought about it for a moment before he said, "looked like I exploded another bus?"

"Vaguely better," she sighed while Alex huffed and muttered some more she'd never even gotten to see one.

"That's what you have to say after a car exploded around you?!" Magnus asked like they were insane. "Not, what the hell!?"

"Oh, err, right," Percy turned back to the book attentively like Mrs. Dodds had just snapped at him, but it still wasn't really that convincing.

I swallowed the taste of smoke out of my mouth, and looked at Thalia. "You saved my life."

"I do that from time to time," she agreed casually.

"Now I know I should never go on another quest without you," Percy grinned.

"You'd have to kidnap me to work with you again after this," she lied just as casually.

"One shall perish by a parent's hand," she muttered. "Curse him. He would destroy me? Me?"

Percy didn't think that explosion was such a run-of-the-mill thing in his life now as he turned sharply back to Thalia. He wanted to protest, promise Zeus wouldn't do that to her. He'd saved her life on the dam, and Mr. D just had at the pier. Not to mention Apollo and Athena! They'd had more help on this quest from the gods than his past two put together. None of them were exactly acting like the end of the world was upon them, but clearly Artemis going missing had gotten all of their notice!

He wanted to believe that, he could almost delude himself for a moment it was true, but the troubled look on her face left him breathless with doubt again. Why had it taken the worst possible outcome for a goddess and Annabeth to be taken to get their attention? Where was his dad's help outside of two stupid words?

The unsettled look on Thalia's face wasn't helping to discourage these thoughts. That wasn't a line of the prophecy easily talked out of.

It hadn't worked though, Thalia was still here, very unperished. He had to hope that, like all those other prophecy's, he was missing something.

It took me a second to realize she was talking about her dad. "Oh, hey, that couldn't have been Zeus's lightning bolt. No way."

"Wasn't exactly the nuclear explosion I was promised," Percy insisted.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, next time somebody tries to kill us you can give them an exact radius," Thalia rolled her eyes good naturedly enough. He hoped that meant she was past this little snafu of thinking her dad had tried to kill her.

"Whose, then?" Thalia demanded.

"I don't know. Zoe said Kronos's name.

"She did?" Alex muttered, kicking herself as she skimmed back a few paragraphs to check. Damn, she had. They'd been saying all of the god's names so casually in here, she'd forgotten that was a warning. She twitched with stress and glared about the walls for a moment, wondering how complacent this place was starting to make her.

Maybe he—"

Thalia shook her head, looking angry and stunned. "No. That wasn't it."

"Wait," I said. "Where's Zoe? Zoe!"

Percy nearly startled out of his seat. "She has better reflexes than us! She got out right? Right!"

Thalia didn't want to lie to him again and say Zoe made it out of this. Her silence felt just as damning. She couldn't disrespect a fellow hunter by brushing it off as a joke. She was frozen, and hated herself for that indecision. "Zoe's reflexes are better than both of us put together," she finally managed. It certainly hadn't been a lack of skill to get her killed...but she still hated how it felt like lying to him. No answer at all. At least it wasn't a disservice of the old lieutenant.

We both got up and ran around the blasted VW. Nothing inside. Nothing either direction down the road. I looked down the cliff. No sign of her.

It was like Bianca all over again, Percy shivered. Were all of his friends going to vanish without a trace, one by one until the gods had taken everyone away from him and still expect him to not care!

"Zoe!" I shouted.

Then she was standing right next to me, pulling me by my arm. "Silence, fool!

Alex let out a blasting sigh of relief and shook the green hair from her face. "You could learn a lesson or two from her Thalia. How to jump out at just the right moment." Right on the edge of really feeling like another death had arisen, but before the cliché she was alive all along come-back could have happened.

"Oh, I'm aware," Thalia said, an old smile of regret that had been on her face since Zoe appeared on that cliff when Annabeth fell over.

Do you want to wake Ladon?"

"Depends on if he's a morning person," Alex shrugged.

"Nobody's a morning person," Will shook his head.

"Really? Not even a child of the sun?" Magnus asked in surprise.

"That's a stereotype," Will said tragically. "I drink coffee and smother it better than some of my siblings, but I assure you, morning people are an even more rare myth than seeing Pegasus himself."

Nico started chuckling quietly beside him, and Will felt such an immense glow he checked his arm real quick to make sure he wasn't. Thankfully not, but even that embarrassment would have been worth it to make Nico laugh, even softly like that.

"You mean we're here?"

"Very close," she said. "Follow me."

Sheets of fog were drifting right across the road. Zoe stepped into one of them, and when the fog passed, she was no longer there. Thalia and I looked at each other.

"Concentrate on Zoe," Thalia advised. "We are following her. Go straight into the fog and keep that in mind."

"The clearest instructions I've ever gotten in my life," Percy said gratefully. And he still wasn't confident he'd pulled it off without screwing up somehow. He'd blame it on the foggy outlook.

"Wait, Thalia. About what happened back on the pier... I mean, with the manticore and the sacrifice—"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"You wouldn't actually have... you know?"

Alex scowled and muttered a bit Percy never actually shut his mouth when his friends asked him to. Thalia looked plenty annoyed at him, but was clearly resisting the urge to throw an arc of electricity directly into his brain through his ear so she obviously wasn't that annoyed.

She hesitated. "I was just shocked. That's all."

"And you're usually the one doing the shocking," Jason tried and failed at a grin as the unease lingered in him too. Thalia came across as a cool, confident badass. If she was having doubts, he found his own worry about the kind of parentage he could go back to rising. He rubbed his tattoo without realizing he was doing it again as he lost focus on the room, searching in vain as always in himself for some sort of clear-cut answer about anything. Why would Thalia's dad trying to kill her, of all things, leave a sort of annoying impression? What on earth kind of life had he led that would make him think murdery attention was better than nothing?

"Zeus didn't send that lighting bolt at the car. It was Kronos.

"Whom you're still casually using the name of," Nico muttered. "Yes, invite more trouble."

"I think that's Percy's middle name," Will snorted.

Perseus Inviting-Trouble Jackson. Has a nice ring to it, Nico smirked.

He's trying to manipulate you, make you angry at your dad."

It had worked. Thalia was still pretty pissed at herself for that. They probably hadn't even needed Luke's insights for the best way to get under her skin, but it still infuriated her to no end how easily she'd been manipulated into feeling exactly what they'd wanted going into this fight.

She took a deep breath. "Percy, I know you're trying to make me feel better. Thanks. But come on. We need to go."

"Do I at least get credit for trying?" Percy asked as he still watched her with troubled eyes. He hoped it was just pessimism making him worried she'd hesitate again. He trusted her to see this quest through, surely that would be enough for her to trust herself, if not her dad, then at least Annabeth.

She stepped into the fog, into the Mist, and I followed.

Magnus felt mildly more prepared for whatever they were about to come across in this place. Couldn't be any worse than a whole sea of unknown Mist, right?

When the fog cleared, I was still on the side of the mountain, but the road was dirt. The grass was thicker. The sunset made a bloodred slash across the sea. The summit of the mountain seemed closer now, swirling with storm clouds and raw power. There was only one path to the top, directly in front of us. And it led through a lush meadow of shadows and flowers: the garden of twilight, just like I'd seen in my dream.

If it hadn't been for the enormous dragon, the garden would've been the most beautiful place I'd ever seen.

"I can't believe Grover missed out on the second paradise you came across." Jason would feel a lot worse for him though if he hadn't been held hostage on that first one, and the whole dragon thing slipped into there.

A point that Magnus was looking very uncertain about as he gripped his seat to try sinking even further into it. He wasn't screaming and freaking out about the dragon though, so, you know, progress.

The grass shimmered with silvery evening light, and the flowers were such brilliant colors they almost glowed in the dark. Stepping stones of polished black marble led around either side of a five-story-tall apple tree, every bough glittering with golden apples, and I don't mean yellow golden apples like in the grocery store. I mean real golden apples. I can't describe why they were so appealing, but as soon as I smelled their fragrance, I knew that one bite would be the most delicious thing I'd ever tasted.

"Could you eat one?" Magnus asked. "Or are they just there to tempt the foolish?"

"I bet Grover could eat one," Alex offered.

"Wasn't Luke sent to fetch one of these?" Jason leaned forward in his seat. "Something about a dragon?" His eagerness clearly wasn't abated at the idea of getting details over that.

"The apples of immortality," Thalia said. "Hera's wedding gift from Zeus."

"Why would Zeus give Hera a gift to make her immortal? Wasn't she, already?" Magnus interrupted again.

"It's the principle of the thing?" Thalia answered with no enthusiasm. "Their love was supposed to be immortal or something." Her existence proved how well that lasted.

I wanted to step right up and pluck one, except for the dragon coiled around the tree.

Now, I don't know what you think of when I say dragon.

"Mountain-sized four-legged scaley snake thing on a pile of gold," Magnus offered.

"Rattlesnake bird mix eating someone who deserves it. With any luck you meet a real one," Alex grinned.

Jason opened his mouth as if to continue the insanity.

"I'm sorry it said anything, that wasn't meant to be an invite," Percy sighed, the last thing he needed was more ideas in his head of other dragons he could meet.

"Peleaus," Will grinned. If you scratched him in just the right spot, his scales ruffled up.

"With the exception of Will," Percy agreed while glancing over.

'Will's the exception to everything,' Nico silently agreed.

Whatever it is, it's not scary enough. The serpent's body was as thick as a booster rocket, glinting with coppery scales. He had more heads than I could count, as if a hundred deadly pythons had been fused together.

Jason's mouth was still open in shock and awe and Magnus looked like he wanted to vomit his guts.

"Cooool," Alex was all but drooling at such a pristine monster she could spend ages looking at.

"Luke survived that?" Jason got his jaw working enough to cobble that together. "He came away with just one scar?"

Nobody had actually warned Thalia about that story. The first time she'd seen his scar was this day, when she'd finally seen him in person months after she'd awoken. She'd wanted to perversely know that story from then on, and yet nobody could ever tell it except the person she'd tried to kill.

He appeared to be asleep.

"No it did not make him look cute Alex," Percy said before Alex could finish looking around.

"I was going to ask if he snored?" Alex scoffed.

"No," Thalia said, "which made him all the more dangerous. Means he has great sinuses, the better to kill us with."

"So, even cooler," Alex nodded, obviously satisfied.

The heads lay curled in a big spaghetti-like mound on the grass, all the eyes closed.

"Only Percy could make spaghetti a terrifying comparison," Nico chuckled.

"I bet his mom tried to slip broccoli into it and he's holding a grudge," Will nodded.

Then the shadows in front of us began to move. There was a beautiful, eerie singing, like voices from the bottom of a well. I reached for Riptide, but Zoe stopped my hand.

"After the sirens, I'm surprised your first instinct isn't to reach for ear wax," Jason said.

"Why is your first instinct to always reach for your sword? You cannot stab all of your problems Percy," Magnus seemed to agree.

"Hasn't failed me yet," he shrugged.

Four figures shimmered into existence, four young women who looked very much like Zoe. They all wore white Greek chitons. Their skin was like caramel. Silky black hair tumbled loose around their shoulders. It was strange, but I'd never realized how beautiful Zoe was until I saw her siblings, the Hesperides. They looked just like Zoe—gorgeous, and probably very dangerous.

"I feel like Zoe would not punch you for that description," Thalia nodded in approval.

"Annabeth might not either," Magnus chuckled.

"That's how you know you won the prize," Alex snorted.

"Sisters," Zoe said.

"We do not see any sister," one of the girls said coldly. "We see two half-bloods and a Hunter. All of whom shall soon die."

Whatever humor Percy had, as always, infused was blasted away by those icy words. Magnus in particular was pretty uncomfortable with how easily they dismissed their would be sister and how passive her death would be to them.

Thalia looked like she was trying to swallow dragon breath at those words. Jason was starting to get a really bad feeling about why that would bother her so much. That most damning line of the prophecy still on the forefront of his mind, and his earlier suspicions and clearly wrong assumptions about how Zoe might know so much about the general. She'd been kicked out of her home for loving somebody she shouldn't, a hero.

"You've got it wrong." I stepped forward. "Nobody is going to die."

The girls studied me. They had eyes like volcanic rock, glassy and completely black.

"Perseus Jackson," one of them said.

"Yes," mused another. "I do not see why he is a threat."

"Thanks," Percy said sincerely. He didn't want people to take one look at him and think that anyways...wait.

"Who said I was a threat?"

The first Hesperid glanced behind her, toward the top of the mountain. "They fear thee. They are unhappy that this one has not yet killed thee."

She pointed at Thalia.

"Tempting sometimes," Thalia admitted. "But no, thanks. He's my friend."

"Thanks Thals, feel the exact same way," Percy and she fist bumped. Their friendship was so casual it honestly made the others a bit jealous, especially Nico. It wasn't hard at all to imagine his dad becoming bitter after centuries watching Poseidon and Zeus hack each other off at all hours but always quickly forgive each other while either outright ignoring, or fearing Hades.

"There are no friends here, daughter of Zeus," the girl said. "Only enemies. Go back."

"Nice to know there's no delusion of a spa treatment this time," Percy scowled. He wasn't leaving that mountain without Annabeth.

"Not without Annabeth," Thalia said.

Thalia and Percy didn't need to high-five again. The exact same look on their face spoke that action.

"And Artemis," Zoe said. "We must approach the mountain."

"You know he will kill thee," the girl said. "You are no match for him."

"Artemis must be freed," Zoe insisted. "Let us pass."

The girl shook her head. "You have no rights here anymore. We have only to raise our voices and Ladon will wake."

"He will not hurt me," Zoe said.

"No? And what about thy so-called friends?"

Then Zoe did the last thing I expected. She shouted, "Ladon! Wake!"

"Wow, tell me how she really feels about me again?" Percy asked nervously.

"Confident," Thalia shrugged. If she hadn't trusted Percy, she likely would have just thrown him at Ladon to wake him.

The dragon stirred, glittering like a mountain of pennies. The Hesperides yelped and scattered.

"Well at least now we know Zoe was the best of them anyways," Jason grinned.

The idea of this place sat like a festering wound in his mind he wanted to pick at. At least these girls didn't contribute, he'd swear he never came across them period. Which didn't track with the very solid knowledge he swore he'd been here. This could not get any more confusing.

The lead girl said to Zoe, "Are you mad?"

"Angry, yes. Delusional? Nah," Alex shrugged.

"You never had any courage, sister," Zoe said. "That is thy problem."

"I feel like there's a lot of problems going on here actually," Will waved his hand at nothing in here as he gestured at the book. "I can't think of someone in Greek mythology who doesn't need counseling in some way or another though."

"Group therapy doesn't fix everything, especially when dragons are involved," Thalia rolled her eyes.

The dragon Ladon was writhing now, a hundred heads whipping around, tongues flickering and tasting the air. Zoe took a step forward, her arms raised.

"I don't think he wants a hug," Magnus mock whispered.

"I bet he'd love one," Alex sniffed, "and nobody's ever tried."

"You'd need a hundred arms to do it fairly," Will snickered.

Percy got a strange feeling in the back of his mind and tapped his skull to make sure it was still working properly. No way did he have a memory of something about that.

"Zoe, don't," Thalia said. "You're not a Hesperid anymore. He'll kill you."

"Ladon is trained to protect the tree," Zoe said. "Skirt around the edges of the garden. Go up the mountain. As long as I am a bigger threat, he should ignore thee."

"Should," I said. "Not exactly reassuring."

"The first reassurance she's ever given though, baby steps," Will offered.

"It is the only way," she said. "Even the three of us together cannot fight him."

Ladon opened his mouths. The sound of a hundred heads hissing at once sent a shiver down my back, and that was before his breath hit me. The smell was like acid. It made my eyes burn, my skin crawl, and my hair stand on end. I remembered the time a rat had died inside our apartment wall in New York in the middle of the summer. This stench was like that, except a hundred times stronger, and mixed with the smell of chewed eucalyptus. I promised myself right then that I would never ask a school nurse for another cough drop.

Thalia was mock waving her hand in her face, but her tone was very serious. "Seconded, and I don't even attend school anymore."

Jason whistled in awe. "Must be one powerful stench to never give an excuse to leave class again."

I wanted to draw my sword. But then I remembered my dream of Zoe and Hercules, and how Hercules had failed in a head-on assault. I decided to trust Zoe's judgment.

"Hercules would eat his sandal before he'd admit the same," Will grinned.

"Grover would eat a sandal too and he's not a jerk, I don't think that's a good measure," Percy said.

Will thought about it for a moment before he refined, "Hercules would give up his lion skin coat before he'd admit the same."

"Yeah, that I believe," Percy sighed.

Thalia went left. I went right. Zoe walked straight toward the monster.

Percy felt strange. For once it wasn't him charging down to confront death. The last time he'd let a friend go in his place, Bianca hadn't come back. He wasn't used to skirting the sidelines around the monster. Annabeth's hat had still been in his pocket, but he hadn't felt the need to put it on. A cap of invisibility wouldn't have fooled this dragon for long, he'd smell Percy who would have no chance and way less experience than Zoe. Percy trusted her without question to do this, but it didn't erase the sick feeling in him something was wrong.

"It's me, my little dragon," Zoe said. "Zoe has come back."

Ladon shifted forward, then back. Some of the mouths closed. Some kept hissing. Dragon confusion.

"You say that like it's a thing," Jason smiled, clearly fixing to ask for a book on that.

Magnus frowned. "I'm more concerned you've been around enough dragons for it to be a thing."

Meanwhile, the Hesperides shimmered and turned into shadows. The voice of the eldest whispered, "Fool."

"I'm starting to think fool is a compliment," Percy smirked. "None of us ever call our enemies fool."

"I can call you a fool if you like," Thalia smirked.

"You've complimented me enough for one day," he waved off.

"And Percy's also implying he doesn't dish out the sickest burns to his enemies, so I don't see his point," Alex grinned.

"I used to feed thee by hand," Zoe continued, speaking in a soothing voice as she stepped toward the golden tree. "Do you still like lamb's meat?"

The dragon's eyes glinted.

"She doesn't smell like lamb's meat does she?" Percy muttered.

"Not unless you two stopped for gyro's without me," Thalia resisted the urge to whack him upside the head.

Magnus sighed and wished he could have a gyro now. It was probably rude or something to excuse himself for some falafel before a fight though.

Thalia and I were about halfway around the garden. Ahead, I could see a single rocky trail leading up to the black peak of the mountain. The storm swirled above it, spinning on the summit like it was the axis for the whole world.

'About that,' Nico resisted the urge to say, but his nervous laugh still made it through. He'd heard the story a thousand times about how Percy had gotten that faint grey streak in his hair. During those epic retellings of god like proportions he was sure now might have been exaggerated slightly, he'd always felt less like a freak for his crush because of the awe on the Stolls faces when telling it over the campfire.

We'd almost made it out of the meadow when something went wrong. I felt the dragon's mood shift. Maybe Zoe got too close. Maybe the dragon realized he was hungry. Whatever the reason, he lunged at Zoe.

"That girl deserves to cuss so much right now," Thalia said with full sympathy. "It's a true shame she missed out on our modern lingo just for that moment."

"I was thinking it for her," Percy swallowed.

Two thousand years of training kept her alive. She dodged one set of slashing fangs and tumbled under another, weaving through the dragon's heads as she ran in our direction, gagging from the monster's horrible breath.

I drew Riptide to help.

"No!" Zoe panted. "Run!"

The dragon snapped at her side, and Zoe cried out. Thalia uncovered Aegis, and the dragon hissed. In his moment of indecision, Zoe sprinted past us up the mountain, and we followed.

Alex was starting to feel a little twitchy. That was twice in rapid succession Zoe had almost died or she would have been presumed dead in the following sentence at minimum. She really hoped that was her pessimism talking.

The dragon didn't try to pursue. He hissed and stomped the ground, but I guess he was well trained to guard that tree.

"I hope he and Peleus have a playdate," Will said. "They deserve to get some time to stretch their legs away from their jobs."

"Only you Will," Percy told him in exasperation. Nico once again found himself agreeing with Percy, only Will would think the monsters needed more play time after nearly eating someone, but he found it kind of sweet the guy was obviously so considerate about everything he came across.

He wasn't going to be lured off even by the tasty prospect of eating some heroes.

We ran up the mountain as the Hesperides resumed their song in the shadows behind us.

The music didn't sound so beautiful to me now—more like the sound track for a funeral.

Percy tried to tell himself that wasn't ominous going forward. That Thalia and Zoe were now besties off in Huntress lala land bad-mouthing boys and shooting arrows at life-sized mannequins of him or something when he annoyed his friends. Maybe Thalia had that prophecy all wrong and the line had even referred to Bianca...but the burn of having a Di Angelo kid back on his mind hurt to bad to keep trying to pathetically convince himself.

At the top of mountain were ruins, blocks of black granite and marble as big as houses. Broken columns. Statues of bronze that looked as though they'd been half melted.

Jason's mouth went dry, he got chills the moment the first word was said. A ghostly whisper, a memory slipping through the fog of his brain. More powerful than even hearing Hylla's name had been, but so much less...meaningful. He sat quivering in his seat, his blue eyes nowhere they could follow as he strained against nothing to understand. He'd been here, this was supposed to be an important place to him, so why did it feel like another moment he'd passively earmark in a book of his life?

"Jason?" Thalia gently touched his shoulder. She expected to get shocked again, but that didn't happen. He just looked tired, and confused. She wanted to put a blanket over his shoulders and offer to get him a snack. He looked like that lost kid she'd always wanted to find.

Her heart skipped a beat when he didn't shake her off or push her away. Instead, he leaned into her touch, just shaking his head and waving at the book.

"The ruins of Mount Othrys," Thalia whispered in awe.

"Yes," Zoe said. "It was not here before. This is bad."

"What's Mount Othrys?" I asked, feeling like a fool as usual.

"You ruined my moment Percy," Thalia huffed, her hand still tight on Jason's shoulder as she addressed him. "Now how can I call you a fool when you're doing it yourself? People will think I'm copying you."

"Gotta be faster Thals, I'll call myself everything under the sun while you're busy laughing at me," Percy tried to keep his smile as light as usual, but the feeling of standing amongst black death radiating from those ruins was leaving him a twitching mess in here. Annabeth had been trapped there for days, and he didn't see her yet. It didn't help the white marble of the walls, floor, and ceiling in here had so many cracks in them by now it looked like he'd be creating more here soon if they didn't get out.

"The mountain fortress of the Titans," Zoe said. "In the first war, Olympus and Othrys were the two rival capitals of the world. Othrys was—" She winced and held her side.

It wasn't just a scratch. Will didn't have to be there to know that. Adrenaline and skill could only last one so long, even a warrior like her. His hands twitched, he came up with a bag he'd have to have a Hephaestus kid help him make that had a pocket for everything he'd need. A moment that he should have been there, and yet he'd probably been sitting around camp having a snowball fight.

Nico watched that frustration, the self-inflicted uselessness rush over and linger all on Will's face. Will wasn't alone in feeling that of course, they'd all probably felt it at least once by now. It just hit him differently to realize when Percy felt like that he could do something about it, he reacted and kept moving. Will was still going to be thinking about this for a while.

"You're hurt," I said. "Let me see."

"No! It is nothing. I was saying... in the first war, Othrys was blasted to pieces."

"But... how is it here?"

Thalia looked around cautiously as we picked our way through the rubble, past blocks of marble and broken archways. "It moves in the same way that Olympus moves. It always exists on the edges of civilization. But the fact that it is here, on this mountain, is not good."

"At least it didn't show up in New Jersey?" Percy offered. "Then we'd know we were screwed."

"Why can't anything show up in West Virginia? Nothing interesting ever happens there," Alex nodded sagely.

"Why?"

"This is Atlas's mountain," Zoe said. "Where he holds—" She froze. Her voice was ragged with despair. "Where he used to hold up the sky."

"The sky? As in," Magnus pointed uselessly up.

"That's the one," Thalia nodded.

"Uh, huh," Magnus finally seemed to decide that was to much. He was done. His brain had shut off and somebody would have to come back around later and make sure he hadn't turned into a vegetable.

We had reached the summit. A few yards ahead of us, gray clouds swirled in a heavy vortex, making a funnel cloud that almost touched the mountaintop, but instead rested on the shoulders of a twelve-year-old girl with auburn hair and a tattered silvery dress: Artemis, her legs bound to the rock with celestial bronze chains. This is what I had seen in my dream. It hadn't been a cavern roof that Artemis was forced to hold. It was the roof of the world.

"Annabeth." Her dusty, strained, terrified face had been on his mind so long he felt like it was ingrained in the back of his eyelids. She'd done what a goddess was straining to do for who knew how long? How had she even survived?

And it was all Luke's fault.

"My lady!" Zoe rushed forward, but Artemis said, "Stop! It is a trap. You must leave now."

Her voice was strained. She was drenched in sweat. I had never seen a goddess in pain before, but the weight of the sky was clearly too much for Artemis.

Zoe was crying. She ran forward despite Artemis's protests, and tugged at the chains.

Thalia's mouth was as tight as it could go, she looked like she was holding in a world-shattering scream. Holding the sky up felt like too good a punishment for Atlas after all he'd done, he deserved the nothingness of Tartarus while Luke was forced to hold this for the rest of eternity.

A booming voice spoke behind us: "Ah, how touching."

We turned. The General was standing there in his brown silk suit. At his side were Luke and half a dozen dracaenae bearing the golden sarcophagus of Kronos. Annabeth stood at Luke's side. She had her hands cuffed behind her back, a gag in her mouth, and Luke was holding the point of his sword to her throat.

The water blasted around them in a scalding burn, so hot it took a moment as Percy gasped in a breath to figure out why everybody looked like they got a bad sunburn for a moment. He tried to unclench his hands, but they shook uselessly as if fighting him.

I met her eyes, trying to ask her a thousand questions. There was just one message she was sending me, though: RUN.

Percy tried to, in here, but the effect was ruined by having nowhere to go. He just found himself in the middle of the room once more with no clue how to run to her side.

"Percy," Thalia tried to put an arm around him, but he shrugged her off with a wild look.

"I can't just sit here anymore! I have to get back to her, I have to do something!"

Thalia understood. Of course she did. The only thing that had been in her mind's eye since she found him down here was giving him just that, if the two of them could have drawn up some battle strategy to get out of here that had no chance of succeeding they'd still rather be doing that.

All she could do now was squeeze his arm and plead with Alex to finish while Percy fought against nothing. Not trying to pull away from her again, but her's wasn't the touch he needed right now.

"Luke," Thalia snarled. "Let her go."

Luke's smile was weak and pale. He looked even worse than he had three days ago in D.C. "That is the General's decision, Thalia. But it's good to see you again."

Thalia spat at him.

The surprise that had been on his face had somehow stung her more than she'd done to him. That he'd deluded himself, even for a second, she'd run to his side without intending to gut him for all he'd done. That Luke had actually looked hurt, confused even why she'd do such a thing. They didn't know each other anymore. Nothing could have ever been the same since she died.

The General chuckled. "So much for old friends. And you, Zoe. It's been a long time. How is my little traitor? I will enjoy killing you."

"Do not respond," Artemis groaned. "Do not challenge him."

"Wait a second," I said. "You're Atlas?"

The General glanced at me. "So, even the stupidest of heroes can finally figure something out. Yes, I am Atlas, the general of the Titans and terror of the gods. Congratulations. I will kill you presently, as soon as I deal with this wretched girl."

"You're not going to hurt Zoe," I said. "I won't let you."

The General sneered. "You have no right to interfere, little hero. This is a family matter."

I frowned. "A family matter?"

"Yes," Zoe said bleakly. "Atlas is my father."

Not the something Percy had been hoping he was missing. He winced like a punch to the gut. Had Zoe known all along they were headed towards another parent's hand who would happily perish her? "These books have got to stop dramatically ending on somebody's parentage," Percy scowled. "All Greeks are sort of related and none of us like talking about it!"

"That's the spirit Percy," Thalia gave him a fond clap on the shoulder just like always. Trying to hide her trembling hand just a few moments more.

[danc1ng1nth3ra1n]

friendly reminder to all you lovely folks who go out to counter idiot parades that may or may not make use of pyrotechnics:

CHECK YOUR CLOTHING

countering asshats with fire (read that as you like) is dangerous. Open fire creates dangerous smoke and gases and sparks that can easily light up, eat up or melt your clothes and cause massive injuries. 100% cotton or polyester are your best (easily accessible) bets.

So if you can (I know it's hot outside) go for thick jeans and double layer for your upper body. Wool and most general synthetics are highly flammable, so go for full cotton and/or 100% polyester. Cotton can burn, polyester can melt, but they're stronger against sparks and flames than most other fabrics. So if you can, go for cotton as base layer and polyester for second, as the potentially melting polyester still protects the cotton from inflaming and the cotton protects your skin from the (potentially) melting polyester.

Also, bring water bottles and a bandana or scarf or similar items in case you find yourself in or near smoke. Wet that bandana, cover your breathing holes and get tf outta there.

Stay safe (and please, leave the running into burning buildings to people with proper equipment)

if you'd like to be people with proper equipment, check your local volunteer firefighters (and worker's clothing online shops - you might find some affordable actually certified fireproof items there, and you might get massive discounts for buying in bulk wink wink)

Btw, non UK users here, would be genuinely super helpful if you could boost posts relating to the far right violence happening and also counter protests. A lot of UK users don’t really follow each other, and also it just helps to increase the chance of people who could go to counter protests seeing posts about what’s happening when. I know posts about our politics; and non USAmerican politics really; don’t get a lot of traction on here, but like despite the UScentrism of the English speaking user base it’s really helpful and beneficial to share these things. The situation is likely downright horrifying to those being targeted right now and it really should be a priority for us to go out and counter this to the best of our abilities

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