#I feel more bad for the other artist included cause I know not everyone is as lenient as me about reposting 😭

[chloesimaginationthings]

hey! wanted to let u know that someone dubbed one of your across the spiderverse comics without creding u.

tumblr doesn't let me link videos or anything like that but you can easily search it on yt by writing "The Ultimate Miles Morales"

Thanks for telling me! They’ve apparently “dubbed” (ai voices) a couple of my comics, which tbh I don’t really mind but do mind the no credit in the video or description or comments, I’m pretty low maintenance when it comes to reposting so pretty funny

I’ll see if I can do anything about it, I kinda doubt it seeing it seems like a whole account just dedicated to not crediting, but here’s my advice

- If you ever see my work (or any artist you know) reposted and not credited, just comment and credit me yourself! So at least people can still find the source someway ^^

[literalgrill]

Do NOT Support Hard Drive On Patreon

You might see friends today suggesting you support Hard Drive on Patreon today. You know, the funny video games version of The Onion? As a journalist, I will firmly tell you DO NOT GIVE THEM A DIME.

The CEO has pushed out all former staff that have built the site up to its current greatness and has been pushing the use of AI. The staff begged to have a Patreon before basically all being pushed out, but the idea was refused until now, when it will only line the pockets of a single person instead of hard working writers.

I know they might have provided laughs before, but Hard Drive is a shell of what it was once. Let it die and support the people who actually made those moments of joy possible. Don't believe me? Check out what former employees are saying below:

Kevin Podas: Okay you know what, I would feel bad saying nothing about this, so here goes:🚨SAVE YOUR MONEY🚨

We passionately advocated for a Patreon at Hard Drive & were aggressively shot down. The talent & people who built the site were pushed out. To see this now is beyond upsetting. For the past few years or so I put a lot of myself into this website. I pitched a ton of jokes, got over 120 articles published, & met a lot of great people. I'm sure if you've been following me for some time you could easily see this.

However, there is a lot of misinformation. I was eventually promoted to Managing Editor of the site & was ecstatic. Grateful for the opportunity. Felt like all of my hard work in the comedy mines was finally paying off. But things took a turn for the worst, & each day there were new surprises that affected our livelihoods. These were all very avoidable surprises, mind you.

A patreon was going to be our hail mary, but alas, for some reason, the power that be did not want it. Causing us to leave a dream job behind. "At least we did all we could," we consoled ourselves afterwards. I put a lot of myself into this project. I pitched all sorts of ideas that could have helped-- we all did. Merch collaborations, Patreon-integrated YouTube content, so much more. And most of them were shot down out of sheer stubbornness and nothing more. To see lie after lie spread, and multiple big publications and YouTubers that I am a fan of promote this Patreon under these pretenses is incredibly upsetting. There are so many receipts.

Please share this and consider pulling out if you've already put money into this. On Hard Drive using AI, also from Kevin Podas: I can't personally confirm that part aside from some of the recent header images for articles on both Hard Drive and Hard Times are being made with AI. As far as writing, it's been mentioned in the past, but I personally do not know. Maybe others do, maybe not. MORE From Kevin Podas suggesting the owner denying a Patreon being set up earlier cost an artist a job that was replaced by AI: We had a social media person who was awesome! He made the images until this AI implementation. He had to leave because ad revenue was low and a Patreon was aggressively refused.

Luca Fisher: at the risk of burning some bridges, i have to back up kevin here. i've only been part-time, in-and-out of hard drive since i got in last year, but i can corroborate that management doubled and tripled down about not hosting a patreon/crowdfunding and that many other suggestions and ideas, including mine (and ones much smarter than mine!), were shot down in really long, apocalyptic threads of everyone left on deck desperately trying to come up with ways to keep the lights on. managerially it has been messy and sad

i've written for multiple publications that have long since died, ones that were in the process of dying, and ones that, in this case, are soon to be put in the ground. it is sad and sucks every time. i don't know what could have been done differently, but i do know that a lot of great writers and content creators were left shorthanded and unhappy by the way things have gone. and it is sort of puzzling to see the sudden championing of patreon after we were all told plenty of times that it couldn't work and we should move on also, just to add my own personal two cents here, i was really disappointed by the shuttering of many different article sections on the site over the past 6-8 months. i understand cutting corners in a deficit, and i know it had to be done. that said…

all in all, i'm really sad to see this all happen. i don't fault anyone, if only because i don't really know enough about how this all can happen to make sense of it. games journalism is in a sad, sorry state, and will likely no longer be a thing in the next decade

VideoSealMan: I'm gonna say this because I think I deserve to. For months, MONTHS on end I was bugging Hard Drive management about a Patreon. Often I got ignored for a week+, but when I actually got a response I was encouraged to - of all things, write up a Google Doc pitching the concept I did it regardless. I wasn't the only one trying to sway management on a Patreon, but so fiercely was I fighting for it that last night, I was accused of making this comment directly by the CEO! With no evidence whatsoever! After I'd been gone for over a month.

I vouched so hard for Patreon because I wanted all the writers and creatives working with Hard Drive including myself to get paid better. When I actually got a response, the idea was often shut down. Eventually due to the state of my company, my pay was cut for a second time I confronted management alongside a couple other important figureheads at the org and told them that if we couldn't do a Patreon - I could no longer financially justify staying there. The answer was still no, so I left. Baffled at the decision, but whatever.

It is unendingly frustrating to know that myself and many other people who put their soul into Hard Drive LEFT because of management's absolute refusal to compromise on a Patreon, to then see them launch one anyway a month later and get over 1000 people pledging money. I'm seeing a lot of things float around about greed and people being fired. No one was fired. Everyone who left, left because they were sick of management's decision-making. And honestly, management is a lot of things but I would not call them greedy. (From my experience.) They did genuinely make an effort to pay people as much as possible. I found the pay very fair for a while. I am not disputing that I was paid what I was owed - yet management frequently feels the need to remind critics of that. Lmao, yes. I was paid what I was owed. No one is disputing payment. You did the bare minimum a business owner should do and paid everyone their due, very well done. I make no allegations of greed, cheating or foul play. I make allegations of poor management and incompetence that has fucked over other people.

Basically the only people left at Hard Drive have been there for about 2 months. They will reap the rewards of this successful Patreon I and so many others passionately fought for for so long. We will not see a dime.

I do not know the new people at Hard Drive, But I feel bad for them. They were haphazardly thrust into Hard Drive's workplace with little to no explanation on how anything works, or given any context on the state of the place. Even now managements feeds them half-truths and misinformation about other people's grievances. I am broke and have been for a while. I had to move out of my flat in Reading and back with my family because of how little money I was making. This has basically doomed my flatmate to moving back in with abusive parents, which is something I feel guilty about every day. If we had gone with the Patreon I worked myself hoarse over back then, this could have been avoided. Some of my other good pals could also not have been fucked over.

It was a bad judgment call, but it's not a crime. It's just management getting it wrong.

So should you give to the Hard Drive Patreon? I don't know! I don't think any of the new people working there to patch up the holes left by the recent mass exodus have any bad intentions. Maybe they deserve it! But it is not the same site you knew a year ago, or even a month ago. Myself and many people who were there far longer than me and did far more for it than I did are all gone now because we could not deal with management's terrible decision-making and dogass communication any longer. That's what you should know, imo

I had an agreement in place with management that I would receive the next 8 months of revenue from the Hard Drive YT channel from my leaving in November. This was a deal I appreciated, and thought was very fair on management's behalf. So far, the deal has been honoured for 2 months. However as of last night I was removed from the Hard Drive Slack without warning, and as an editor for the YouTube channel. This means I no longer have any way of verifying how much I am owed, I just have to take their word for it. I'm sure management will make their own statements full of half-truths and weird language on the many cases being brought against them - I'd take everything they say with a pinch of salt if some of the screenshots I've seen of them talking about me are any indication lol

To management; I do not want to talk to you. I want you to DM me a screenshot of how much I'm owed every month and then send me the money per our agreement until June, then we can go our separate ways. Do that and admit to your mistakes, and maybe you can recover your reputation! That's it from me, lol. If they pull out of the deal and fuck me over I'll have more to say, but most of what I know is other people's stories of incompetence and poor decision-making, lol. I genuinely get no pleasure out of doing this; I do not think management is evil - I just think they're really bad at what they do and it's cost other, more talented people, lol. You should believe the writers imo

One last thing I wanna say btw, management did often stress that no one should try to make Hard Drive a full time thing. They were transparent about that, and that is fair. I was working on it because at a few points, I was lead to believe we actually were doing a Patreon. Many other ppl have similar stories of being strung along by management changing their minds and stop-starting shit every 2 weeks. We all made the fatal mistake of overestimating our manager - who would tell you one thing one day and something totally opposite the next week lol

Hunter R. Thompson:

I'm not your dad, but speaking as a Hard Drive writer, I don't know that funding Hard Drive on Patreon is worth it

The driving talent on the back end—behind the kickass site I joined in 2019—have peaced out over the years as the site's been (in our view) increasingly mismanaged. Mismanagement like, not setting up crowdfunding before the ship sank and all its best crew failed; or publishing a screenshot of Andy Ngo pedojacketing a trans writer, complete with her deadname; or a disgruntled ex-writer getting falsely accused of shit-talk, by actual staff. I'm grateful for the writing I've gotten to produce for HD (and will forever be kicking myself for not writing even more, in the four years I've had to do it!! i'm a dumbass!!!) but it is very much no longer the site I signed up for.

I don't want to resign as a contributor altogether, because I'm open to the idea of the site recovering and bad practices being retired as finances level out-- it would just be dishonest for potential backers to not be Aware Of The Circumstances, I think.

Jeremy Kaplowitz: i truly don't want to start shit, but feel compelled to say: i want to see Hard Drive succeed w/o resorting to throwing former writers & editors, myself included, under the bus. surely there's a way to save the site without building it over the corpses of those who left. my $0.02 i don't blame anyone who wants to sign up for the HD patreon and i support the website, but that includes those who worked on it for years, have complaints, and don't deserve to be treated like bitter assholes like this kind of stuff is just objectively true, meanwhile there's these new writers who joined the site after i left (meaning, in the last ~3 months) claiming people are liars. decide for yourself if you care, but this is what happened! [Quotes this Tweet]

Seth Finkelstein: Writing for Hard Drive has been a privilege the past few years, and it makes me so angry to see people I looked up to get jerked around behind the scenes. The amount of grenades the editors jumped on our behalf is immense, and I don't think the way they're being treated is right.

Other Bits On AI: We do know for sure however that AI art has been used by the site. Its fucking owner confirms it here:https://twitter.com/MattSaincome/status/1743040541603123622. Seems the owner pushed AI written articles as well! TayFabe: My vaguetweet is making the rounds & these made me apoplectic. - owner regularly lobbied using ai. Once he tested it & said ai was writing better satire than 25% of the HT/HD writers. - ai images were used on the site & socials w/o consulting the team or disclosing it publicly I found the ai bit relevant to include bc 1) it illuminates a stark change in HD's current direction & leadership, 2) ai images have previously been used on the site and (since deleted) ig posts, 3) ai content fucking sucks, and repeatedly pushing to use it is a telling quality The "handful of writers who chose to leave" includes 2 editors-in-chief (both cofounders who wrote a combined total of >1,000 articles & defined the voice of HD), & at least 3 other editors. These guys put in WORK since 2017, so cool to be corrected by ppl who joined in Nov 2023 [Link to mentioned vague tweet from post.] More from TayFabe: owner continuously lobbied for using ai in every possible way. No one else wanted to do it, but he kept on, saying ai was writing better satire than 25% of the HT/HD writers. Also, ai images were used on the site & socials without public disclosure or consulting the team.

The owner has responded now multiple times in a private discord... Thank you for people sharing screenshots! First Screenshot:

Kevin's Response: He banned me from the server for speaking out, so no, I didn't see it. And he gave no indication of a timeline, it was just "we'll do one when *I* say so" and gave every inclination he was totally against it. It bred an environment that pushed our hands to have to leave. Screenshot Round Two:

Kevin's Response: "Starting one in 3 months" is an absolute lie. He denied it, I have screenshots and others who can confirm. No timeline was given. Just "this is what it is now" and like, I couldn't live off of that. I wanted to do more but he was allergic to good ideas from others around him.

Matt, owner of Hard Drive, responds publicly on Twitter.

Matt: Kevin, the patreon launch was delayed because I didn't think it would work. Everyone is happy that it did work. Everyone who left the site because we didn't have money to pay for creative content which didn't revenue is welcome to return home. But unclear why the hostility.

Hard Drive paid out literally every dollar it had, then a bunch more, to creative people who worked on the site. When we ran out of money, we couldn't pay anymore. We did our best.

Kevin: Right, and my point of this thread was that it was completely and totally avoidable. This is reasonable to be upset about. How could I have been any more clear?

Matt: If we knew with 100% certainly that the community would have supported us via patreon, we would have done that. We didn't know. We had tried 4 years ago and got no support. We were wrong this time. We did our best to figure it out. We paid all the money we could.

Kevin: So you knew with 100% certainty this time? Or you took a leap of faith?

Matt: It was a last gasp panic effort after ad rates got cut in half on january 1st due to seasonal spending changes. We didn't know it would work. We were embarrassed to ask for support. We wanted to figure it out.

Kevin: Every site has a Patreon. Every YouTuber, comedy group, etc. But you insisted that nobody cared about Hard Drive. Which is wildly untrue. I know you see that now, but again, I think you can see why I and many others are pretty upset. A last ditch panic effort was long overdue. A couple more things from Matt:

It was about the size of the hole we needed plugged budget wise, the time I had left of personal resources, and the past data I had about us trying a patreon (which turned out to be a bad indicator). I didn't think the Patreon would help us fast enough. I made a bad estimation

aka "if we make $1000 more dollars a month via patreon, which would be 10x what we got last time, we will not solve any of our problems. If instead we try to plow down path B, we might make it out in time." That was the thinking. I chose the wrong path, but didn't mean to Kevin also retweeted this comment from the user Matt was responding to: So you're saying that you're bad at running the business, didn't listen to any of your employees until after they were forced to leave their jobs, and now you're going to get more of the money from the Patreon that was their idea in the first place? Matt's Response: Respectfully, I made a mistake delaying the patreon decision. But keeping a comedy site alive for 9 years is not easy, there are lots of potential ideas, and think overall we've done a good and honorable job. Will leave this thread in peace now to allow people their space.

Sorry for linking to Elon's hellsite (derogatory), but sources need links so...

[mazeruffleposts]

Hashira's React Pt.1

Decided to make a series known as "Hashira's React" for different situations. It's more for the giggle factor than much else. I will not be including Muichiro for this one specifically cause he is CHILD. And I will also leave out our lovable big bear Gyomei cause I'm not entirely sure how to write for him yet. Will make another post later just for him! Other than that feel free to send prompts for this, I'd love to work out your ideas regardless if they are dorky, simple, or in this case Slightly NSFW.

Sidenote, the art used here does not belong to me, If I can find the artist I will add it just below.

Content Warning: Mentions of Nudity

Word Count: 1.8 K

Proofread? No.

Hashira's react! to walking in on Love interest!Reader in the middle of changing! They caught you changing back into your uniform after getting a wound checked at one of the Wisteria Houses. They are all goofballs and I love them~

TENGEN (+ Hina, Makio, Suma)

アイロギ@ilog_kmt on https://twiman.net/

The Uzui's had met you after a rather long mission and almost immediately fell for you. Since then Tengen has been pulling some strings so that the lot of you could go on missions together.

Had heard from one of his mice that the reason you were late for the mission meet-up was because you had been hurt fairly bad in your last one. They all decide it's a great time to swoop in and try to woo you a bit. Ya know, show they genuinely care! (And shower you with some gifts while they were at it. I fully believe the Uzui's not only spoil each other but also any other love interests!)

Suma, being the worry wart she is, came crashing into the room not even bothering to knock. Makio came next chewing her out for being rude. Lastly, Tengen and Hina followed with the gifts. (Flowers and some bento's. Food in any medical setting tends to be bland and that's not very flamboyant.)

Suma cried out as Makio tried to pull her back to her. "Did you forget basic manners?" "Makio, please she was just worried about them!" Hina's voice rand out as she walked into the room, none of them having noticed what they walked into yet. "That doesn't excuse her from busting in!" Tengen follows in quickly, eyes closed with a wide smile as he holds up the ridiculously large bouquet of your favorite flowers. "Pardon the intrusion, we heard you were-" Hina gasps, finally catching sight of you panicked and red-faced as you try to cover your bits. "O-OH!" Everyone quickly looks over to Hina, then to you. Suma squeals as Makio damn near picks her up to get her out of the room as Tengen and Hina quickly turn on their heels and dart out as well. A string of apologies is left in their wake as they slide the doors closed.

They are all blushing madly cause they on one hand felt bad about busting down the door, but on the other hand, got to confirm you are one hot SOB.

They wait until you are fully dressed before they even attempt to make contact. Starting off with apologies and Suma clinging to you saying she was sorry.

Suma may or may not have also let it slip she thought you were hot.

KYOJURO

アイロギ@ilog_kmt on https://twiman.net/

He had heard from a passing friend(everyone is this mans friend, let's be honest) that you were hurt. Right then and there he decided he was going to come bring you flowers to liven up the room while you were in recovery.

Since he really likes you, he took some advice from Uzui and got you a ridiculously large bouquet. Maybe a little over the top, but it's too late to turn around and get a different one. In his slightly overthinking state, he forgot to knock before opening the door.

He fumbles with the rather large bouquet of flowers in his hands as he paces outside your room's door, fretting for a bit if all of that is truly necessary. Tengen had told him to absolutely shower you in, his words, 'Flamboyant' gifts. And he trusts his friend's advice, especially since he had three wives who absolutely adored him. Taking a breath to steel himself, he grinned that bright smile of his and swung open the door without a second thought. "My dear friend, I have brought yo- O-oh... Oh my-" Out of sheer surprise, he dropped the flowers and covered his face. "M-MY GOODNESS! FORGIVE ME I SHOULD HAVE KNOCKED! I'LL LEAVE IMMEDIATELY!"

This man proceeds to turn around, still covering his face and run into the wall a couple of times before lamenting and flailing out his hand to find the door. It would have been endearing and a little funny if you weren't mortified that he had seen your bits.

Does not uncover his eyes till he eventually makes it out of the building, bumping into every wall on his way out and a few people.

SANEMI

アイロギ@ilog_kmt on https://twiman.net/

Had been keeping tabs on you since he realized he had feelings. The one time he's not out on patrol his crow Sorai comes to tell him that you were hurt pretty bad in a fight with a demon.

Now his mind is racing with all the ways you could have been hurt. And he wasn't there to do anything about it?

Panic.

Doesn't even ask anyone where you are, just starts opening doors and slamming them back shut until he finds your room.

Recognized you immediately and was about to start berating you until you yelled at him to get out. Why? You're naked.

It didn't even click till your hands shot up to cover yourself. Now he's standing in the doorway frozen. His mouth is opening and closing while he fumbles over words to try and say something about the situation.

"Oh- I... I, uhh..." Sanemi's brain is having a hard time trying to come up with a reply. Out of sheer will, he backs out of the room sliding the door closed uncharacteristically slow behind him. He blinks a few times, then runs his hand down his face. He needs to go find a cave to crawl in and wilt away. There's no way he can recover from this, right?

He's not even three steps down the hallway before a loud thump can be heard. When you, fully dressed now, and the kakushi look to investigate the sound, Sanemi is face first on the floor completely out cold.

And now on top of the headache he has, his nose is bleeding.

OBANAI

TheCherryBlue on DeviantArt

Similar to Sanemi, he'd been keeping tabs on your wellness and whereabouts since the moment he realized he had feelings for you. He knew you were hurt before you even had the chance to send him a crow.

Almost feel bad for the demon he was in the middle of chasing down when he heard, he made quick work of it though. Now he can focus entirely on getting to you.

Had enough sense to not bust down the door, but was too worried to wait for a reply when he knocked and walked in. Was greeted with the sight of your semi-bare ass as you were trying to pull up your pants.

Thank the gods that he has a mask so you can't see how red his face got. He doesn't even mutter any words before he slams the door and practically rushes out of the building to crawl into a hole.

MITSURI

Had heard you were hurt and wanted to come check up on you. She didn't even let her crow finish speaking before she bolted for your location. It took her a moment, but as soon as she arrived at the safe house she asked all the kakushi which room you were staying in until one of them told her.

Normally she would knock on the door for a little forewarning that she was there, calling out your name in her normal sing song-y voice, but this time she made the grave error of nearly busting down the door.

Now she's standing there panting, frozen in place as she looks at you. It takes a few moments for her mind to catch up on what she just did.

Mortified she slams the door closed and starts blabbering out apologies faster than you can comprehend that she had even seen you naked.

"-I SWEAR I DIDN'T MEAN TO BUST IN LIKE THAT IT WAS AN ACCIDENT I WAS JUST SO WORRIED WHEN I HEARD YOU WERE HURT-"

The staff on the other end of the hall from her are gawking wondering how someone could turn that red and not pass out.

Probably one of the few times you've heard her get close to actually cursing, cause let's be honest this cinnamon roll can't curse even if she tries.

She kept that up until you finally opened the door to let her know she was alright. You're not even sure she saw anything with how quickly she burst in and left. Maybe a single butt cheek, but that was it.

SHINOBU

梅雨音 on Twitter

Had come back to the Butterfly mansion to a nightmare. Damn near every room and bed was filled with injured slayers, her poor staff plus the extra help that was called in rushing around trying to tend to everyone.

She was working on autopilot by the time she got to your room. Hadn't even noticed that the sign on the outside of the private room had been labeled as "Tended" when she walked in.

Knocked on the door and promptly entered without waiting for a reply, only looking up from her patient list in time to utter your name.

She freezes, uttering a small "Ah." She immediately sees you're already bandaged up

"I see you've already been seen. My apologies, I'll leave you be to finish getting dressed."

Tries to play it off as if that blush on her cheeks wasn't from seeing you naked. Promptly takes her leave, closing the door and checking for how she missed that mark on the door. Not entirely upset that she saw you, but wishes it was under better circumstances.

GIYUU

アイロギ@ilog_kmt on https://twiman.net/

Came in to get some rest after a particularly rough night slaying. Had been running himself into the dirt chasing after that one demon and was exhausted. He misheard that he was supposed to take the second room on the left, not the first.

Our Boy doesn't know what the hell to do. His brain turned off entirely when he took note of your naked form.

His face and neck are so red, he can't help but look cause holy shit you are so pretty... And bare... And he's been staring at you, hasn't he?

He has been, for a few minutes. Your startled squeal didn't do anything but make him look at you and now he's stuck buffering. There's got to be a way to get his attention to snap back to reality, right?

Throwing something while trying to cover your bits at the same time is hard, but it works. So much for Hashira's danger sense cause that pillow hit him smack dab in the face.

Smack! Giyuu's reaction to the pillow hitting his face was a bit slow. Instead of smacking it away, his hand only managed to grab it when it collided with his face. And now he's holding it there while that buffer wheel in his head finally loads. He was staring at you, while you were naked. He ignored your cries to leave the room and that was so bad of him to do. Now that his limbs are finally following orders again, he takes a step back to close the door and give you some proper privacy. Profusely muttering a muffled apology as he leaves.

Runs into you again in the morning and can't make eye contact. His face and neck are red again.

[rainbowsky]

Hi rainbowsky....

How r you. .

Hope your summer vacations are going on well!!

Since yesterday, there are lots of posts on Twitter that Dapeng has unfollowed Yibo on weibo and also that he has not spoken anything about Yibo during award ceremony...

What are your views on it..

Hi Shakurablossom, I'm OK, hope you are too.

I'd like to remind everyone that Twitter toxic BS belongs on Twitter, not here. I closed my anonymous inbox for this very reason.

This whole thing with Da Peng is completely unsubstantiated. There is no proof that they 'unfollowed' each other, or have any kind of beef with each other, but there is evidence to the contrary.

It is true that Da Peng did follow Yibo in January of 2022, but Yibo did not follow him back at that time. I know that, because I made a comprehensive list months later of all of the people he followed, and Da Peng was not among them.

Yibo does not currently follow him, but as far as I can tell he never did at any point.

As for whether Da Peng follows Yibo anymore, that, too, cannot be verified. He follows many hundreds of people, and on Weibo it's not possible to see all of the people he follows. When lists are long like that, Weibo limits how many accounts you can see at a time, and browsing through them all is difficult if not impossible.

Even if he did unfollow DD, that's certainly no proof of a rift.

There were reports and some video clips of DD waving to Da Peng at Weibo Movie Night, and of Da Peng enthusiastically applauding and cheering for DD when he won his award, which they wouldn't have been doing if they were mortal enemies.

Look, this kind of fandom 'enmity' narrative is not good for GG or DD, and hateful fan behavior toward colleagues will only make their careers more difficult and give them a bad reputation. Despite the massive size of China, the entertainment business is relatively small, and no one can afford to make enemies.

Not only that, but as I stated before back during the whole War of Faith controversy, fan behavior can backlash against the artist and cause them serious problems. Fans should remember the Clear and Bright campaign and behave accordingly, whether they agree with the intentions of the campaign or not. The rules are real, the consequences are real.

We cannot know what is happening behind the scenes, nor how DD feels about any of it. Fans make all sorts of assumptions about these relationships, but that is all they are: assumptions.

None of the claims about War of Faith added up. They still don't. Everyone involved in that project stands to gain by DD being acknowledged and winning an award, just as much as any other actor.

Given his high profile, age and background, I'd argue it's even more so in their best interest for DD to win an award. The attention the production would receive in such a situation - and the opportunities it would lead to - would be significant. No one's so stupid, selfish or short-sighted to not see that. No one in that industry hates money that much.

Everyone involved in that project - everyone, including actors, producer, director, etc. - stands to gain by DD remaining connected to it in a positive way, by DD's fans continuing to support and champion the project, by a possible sequel happening, etc. The show had only just begun to get more opportunities to air, and potential for a sequel was genuine.

Everyone involved in that project stands to lose by DD being passed over, stands to lose by DD's fans freaking out and turning against it, stands to lose from all the negative press. There's no motive for production to suppress DD's opportunity to win an award for his role. Quite the contrary. It doesn't add up.

The information the production team provided about what happened was adequate to explain the situation. The statements DD and YBO made were emphatic and sincere. Yet, incredibly, there are people who believe he was lying under duress.

Similarly, there's no motive for DD to create a rift with Da Peng, and certainly not vice versa.

I wish people would put in more thorough care and reflection before cracking off with these conspiracy theories. They're so harmful, and such a waste of time. They poison the atmosphere of fandom and turn everything into a battle between fans and perceived enemies. They cause rifts within fandom as well, and turn friends against each other. It's not a good use of anyone's energy.

For years we've all talked here on Tumblr about how 'protective' behavior by fans is not helpful nor healthy, but somehow it's as though we have developed a case of collective amnesia and suddenly almost everyone is engaging in it as though we are living in a parallel universe where none of that past reflection had ever happened. As though when XFX are engaging in it, it's awful and deluded, but when turtles are, it's righteous and valiant. That sort of double-standard is disappointing and confusing, to say the very least.

This sort of "my fave is the victim of some terrible, outrageous Injustice and I need to go to war for them" narrative is what nearly got GG canceled. I know I'm not the only person who holds that in painful memory.

The whole War of Faith thing led to a lot of that same behavior, including people reporting the drama to the government, claiming that the director and producer do not represent proper communist values, because they put forth for an award an actor who played an enemy of communism.

Are we now at a place in fandom where we are going to start openly embracing the idea that only actors who play characters that align with certain ideologies should be worthy of acknowledgement for their efforts? Are we at a place in fandom now where we're going to try to use a repressive government as a tool against people who we perceive to be our enemies?

There is that old saying, "When you have a hammer in your hand, everything starts to look like a nail." How we look at things shapes our perception of them.

We should all know this by now. After all, we see solos constantly swearing up and down that GG and DD are mortal enemies, and claiming to have proof of it. We see how their heteronormativity and boyfriend fantasies color their ability to see or acknowledge any of the evidence to the contrary. They see things through their own lens, and they approach things in a way that helps guide their toxic behavior. Nothing - however rational or substantial - will ever convince them that GG and DD don't absolutely despise each other.

GG and DD could be filmed making out in the back of a car, could issue a joint statement saying they're friends, could come out and have a public wedding, and solos would think it was all an act they had no choice but to engage in. They'll always have some other explanation. They'll never change their minds in the face of evidence because their perspective doesn't come from the evidence, it comes from inside themselves.

In the same sense, if we want to see a conspiracy of abuse toward GG or DD, that's exactly what we'll see. If we want to believe that certain colleagues are their enemies, no one will be able to convince us otherwise.

I am here to say that there is another way of looking at things, and a completely different perspective. One that does not align with the DD victim narrative people have been pushing lately.

We have a choice about how we view and approach things, and as fans it is incumbent upon us to choose very wisely and carefully, particularly if that choice is going to lead to disruptive and potentially damaging fan behavior.

Regardless of our perspective, we should always behave in ways that support GG and DD and will not put them at risk or endanger them, their careers or their reputations.

We need to trust GG and DD to manage their own relationships and careers, and behave graciously and respectfully toward everyone they work with. It is impossible for us to know when we are creating rifts where there were none. It's impossible for us to know what opportunities are lost, what delicate situations are tipped over in a bad way, all because of fan behavior.

It's better to take the higher ground than to dig into ugly thoughts, feelings and behavior.

If GG or DD has a problem with someone, I trust them to deal with it themselves. They have platoons of high-priced top lawyers and managers looking out for their interests. They don't need fan disruption. It's not helpful, and will just draw more negative attention their way and make them look even more like traffic stars, which is the last thing need as they try to shed that image and be taken seriously as actors. It will only add more stress to situations, and another headache for them to navigate and deal with.

So I hope that we can all focus on GGDD and their projects, rather than on what we perceive their relationships with colleagues to be. It's totally unknowable, and frankly none of our business anyway.

In the absence of clear and comprehensive information, let's try to be charitable in our assumptions, and represent GG and DD as humbly and graciously as they represent themselves.

Edit: he wished DD a happy birthday, so I think that pretty much confirms that there is no bad blood between them.

Edit: more proof that they are on perfectly normal terms with each other.

[finnbbl]

Hyunjin x M! Reader - Dancer AU | SMAU | Chapter 9

Ch. 9 - Where you wanna be | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter |

| Story Masterlist |

Written: Yes

Smau: Yes

A/N: I do want to clarify that this is in fact a slow burn. I find relationships more genuine when it’s friends to lovers rather than anything else so that’s the path i’m leading this down. I’ve made Y/N to be a very touchy feely person so I promise you any affection is highly platonic with him (for now) There will not be any romantic feelings until much later on.

Warnings: Swearing (i think that’s it, let me know if i missed anything )

You adjusted your hat and jacket in the bathroom mirror as your conversation with Hyunjin played over in your head. His text implied that the other members wanted to hang out with you, and for some reason that made your stomach churn. Not in a bad way, this whole touring with famous people was really new. Maybe that was it, it was hard to believe they wanted to be around you. But then again, you had heard that this group didn’t necessarily care about others’ fame. They loved their fans and the people they worked with dearly. Maybe you had just gotten used to the entitled artists you’d previously worked with.

You grabbed your phone and headed to the dressing room. As you made your way down the hallway, you noticed you had several texts from the group chat with the girls. As you opened it to respond, you felt a tap on your shoulder behind you. Causing you to turn your head to be met with a shorter female. You weren’t sure who she was exactly, you just knew her as one of the makeup artists. “Hey, so sorry to bother you…” She trailed off as you fully turned your body around to face her. “You’re Y/N right?” She knew your name? Hesitant, and slightly confused, you nodded. “Oh great, I wanted to say you’re one of my favorite dancers, I’ve been watching your videos on social media for a while now. Can I have a photo?” She held her phone to her chest as she shyly asked. A photo? Someone wants a photo from you? It certainly caught you off guard, and left you stunned and speechless. So much you didn’t hear the dressing room door open behind you. “I mean unless it makes you uncomfortable-“

Seeing the girl’s demeanor change snapped you back into your senses. “Oh, no no not at all. Sorry It just caught me off guard.” A nervous laugh led your voice as you slipped your phone into your pocket. “We can take a photo, I don’t mind.” A genuine smile fell on your face as you stood next to her, leaning down to fit into frame. After snapping the selfie, she proceeded to thank you before heading towards the exit. You froze for a moment, there’s no way that just happened. You just couldn’t understand how someone would want a photo with you, you weren’t famous at all.

“Oh someone’s a little popular huh?” The sudden voice behind you startled you as you turned around. Turns out the dressing room door did open, because all eight of the boys stood in front of you. “No, not really.” You responded to Hyunjin with a small chuckle. “I thought you guys were waiting in there?”

“Yeah but they kicked us out, here’s your bag.” He responded as you walked closer to them. You reached out to grab it, muttering a small thank you to him. Bang Chan, as the leader, began giving out instructions to his group. Telling them to stay together and not wonder off by themselves. It was very obvious he care deeply about his members and their safety. Everyone began walking and making small talk along the way. You started to feel very awkward and out of place, and stayed rather quiet as the 9 of you made your way to the exit doors. Chan must’ve noticed, cause then he started talking to you and including you in the conversations. “You know, you did really good tonight.” This caught you a bit off guard, it was a rather random statement. “I mean.. All I did was do my job.” You started with a light chuckle. “No, I mean off stage. You were very patient and calm unlike the other ones.” The leader stated with an eye roll. He wasn’t wrong, the other dancers seemed really obnoxious. Maybe this is what Hyunjin meant earlier.

“I almost punched one of them earlier.” You added with a scoff, earning a mischevious chuckle from someone behind you. “Do it next time, I didn’t see a thing.” You turned your head around to see that it was Minho who said it. He stated it playfully, as he pretended to look around in order to add effect to his statement. The entire group started to laugh before Bang Chan chimed in once again. “As much as I’d like to see that, don’t. You’ll lose your job.” He ended his sentence with a teasing chuckle as you all neared the buses. Your feet paused as you were the last one in line to get on, behind Hyunjin. “Are you sure it’s okay for me to get on the bus with you guys..?” It made you nervous, you didn’t want to get in trouble or get anyone else in trouble. “For the last time, yes.” The blonde male grabbed your arm and started to pull you up the steps of the bus.

“Okay okay damn bro.” You yanked your arm back from his rather tight grip, “i oughta punch you after that.” Seething your teeth in slight pain, rushing him to his seat so you weren’t in the middle of the aisle. Your only worry was about someone else seeing you get on the bus with them. Rumors start rather fast. And with the way these entitled dancers acted, you wouldn’t be surprised if they started drama or made a huge deal about it. You sat down next to Hyunjin, across the aisle from Bang Chan and Felix. Everyone engrossed themselves in conversations along the way. And you seemed to be able to participate in them a lot better now.

It turns out, chan and you had actually had a lot in common. Something else that Hyunjin was right about, you and him definitely did get along. You had very similar likes and interests and it wasn’t long before the entire group had felt like your friends. At first you weren’t sure, but you definitely knew this is where you wanted to be. This is how you wanted it to be.

Taglist: @silverstarburst @virluna148 @galaxycatdrawz @onementally-unstabel-kid @uso-dakedo

[haitianempress]

Theory about the Garden of Eden Club

RANT INCOMING!!

So with this update we are finding out a lot about the club and I have several theories in mind surrounding it.

I feel like Mr. Kim is apart of making sure Idols get pressured into going to the club.

Examples:

He claims he's mad at everyone in the group and wants better for them, but he doesn't address the fact that the idols have personal issues. If he were really mad, he would fire the idols immediately, especially Lin, who has been given many chances! Something is up.

He literally hired Dong-hyun, the son of a famous person with no degree in psychology, to give therapy sessions to his idols lmao.

He also hired Castiel, whose father is a successful CEO. Do you think he doesn't know anyone at the club who could threaten the idols?

He probably makes more money from these poor idols whose mental health is declining so badly that they would do anything to succeed. He seems like the type to take advantage. He’s suspicious, sorry.

Every single artist under the company is popular due to outside forces coming into play to help boost the Idols popularity.

Examples:

Seo-yoon went to the club and got in contact with a benefactor who helped skyrocket the group's career. But with that came her failing health and eventual suicide.

After Seo-yoon's death, Mi-yeon suddenly surpasses the group in success and starts avoiding Luna. However, Mi-yeon was not feeling well in the days before her death, and she discovered the person who pushed Luna's sister into taking her life. She also commits suicide.

It's Castiel's father who is funding RK3, so he can get money back by helping cover up what happened to his son at the club. Without his support and money, they would have fallen off the charts and disbanded.

Dean literally admits that he's spying on everyone at the company for elite people. These people could include Mr. Kim or individuals associated with the Garden of Eden. He says he's a fox for a reason, and perhaps that helps him pay his bills and support X-EVO's success on the charts.

They are overworked so bad on purpose in order to make them vulnerable so they can get more Idols to go to the club and make deals.

Examples:

You heard it from Luna they HAD to be pushed to exhaustion when working hard for their debut cause it's a lot of money to prepare Idols for the beginning of their careers.

After they flopped post-debut, they needed to repay that money somehow. Seo-yoon, afraid of seeing her sister and group members hit rock bottom, sought out desperate measures.

After the idols in the club were used and then discarded, they were pushed to commit suicide so that the club wouldn't appear guilty and wouldn't have to pay them back.

Seong-hwa may have this sweet, hardworking leader vibe, but Luna has seen him exhausted and trying to hide the bags under his eyes multiple times. He is the only one in X-EVO who is like this, which is concerning. What could be causing this?

Additionally, he knew Seo-yoon was going to the club based on a picture he had of her leaving in his camera roll. Maybe he didn't speak up not just because he wanted to protect Luna, as he claims, but also because he's scared to say anything since someone is probably watching.

I think many of the idols, when they go to the club, end up selling their bodies, selling drugs, and becoming recruiters who lure other idols to the club.

Examples:

Castiel tried his hardest to save Seo-yoon from whatever was happening in the room she entered but was stopped by a man who literally tried to sexually assault him.

Idk if Dean or Castiel said this but one of them said something about watching your drinks so someone won't slip in something…

In notion, this implies that approaching strangers and drugging, groping, harassing, or even raping them is accepted there.

A lot of idols are roped in because they are caught in compromising situations where they could be exposed. The elites use this to their advantage and threaten to blackmail them if they don't go to the club.

Examples:

Poor Castiel was sexually assaulted by a man, and to prevent the story from getting out, his father paid the man and the club for their silence. But that protection didn’t extend to Seo-yoon. His father is making him work hard and physically abusing him because he can’t make much money off RK3.

Luna is heading down a dangerous path, getting involved in investigations with both her 'therapist' and the group's songwriter. They both know people who have been to the club.

They are using her to do things cause they know grief is tearing her apart and she wants answers. Not to mention Minhyuk caught her outside the club,

She shouldn’t trust anyone, even if they know people hurt by the club. Minhyuk’s full intentions aren’t clear! LUNA IS IN DANGER!!

Lin is on the verge of making the same mistakes as the other girls, but he’s acting irrationally and angrily. They are trying to keep him in line and imposing tighter restrictions on him, and his group’s poor performance is pushing him to desperate measures. Like Seo-yoon, he may seek outside help to save his group because he feels guilty.

Luna discovered that Mi-yeon might be gay or bisexual based on her crush on Castiel and her relationship with Seo-yoon, as seen from the photos and texts. But what if someone else knew this and threatened to blackmail her by releasing the photos if she didn’t comply with their demands?

That's all! What do you guys think?

[pommpuriinn]

Joohyung’s eventful time in Japan

ᤣ९ synopsis- txt was going to spend a month in Japan to continue their Japan leg of the tour including being on some Japanese tv programs for some performances. Unfortunately Beomgyu did get his ankle due to an accident, so all the performances will be only 5 members dancing while he sits on a chair on stage. Then an accident happens during rehearsals for the actual concert that leads to only 4 members dancing, and Beomgyu sitting on the stage.

ᤣ९ a/n- I’m finally working on Joohyung and I’m BEHIND LOTS of content for Joohyung 🙃. I also want to say that I don’t really see aespa’s Karina as the face for Joohyung no more, Joohyung is more alternative now then how much she gave a clean girl aesthetic during debut. Idk if that makes sense 😅 I will probably sometimes use Karina’s photo just out of habit

hair| nails

𝜗℘ Joohyung once again shock everyone with her short wavy haircut along with have it bleach blonde matching with Yeonjun and Beomgyu. Seeing the reactions was making Joohyung want to laugh, but she smack her lips trying to conceal

𝜗℘ Joohyung really protective of Beomgyu right now because he hurt his ankle and now has to use crutches to get by, so when they were walking through the airport she stay close by him and held his bag along with making sure fans didn’t get too close to them

𝜗℘ tragedy struck during concert rehearsals that scared everyone because during a quick run down of the concert Joohyung was chilling near the edge of the stage, when unexpectedly the little fireworks that come out set off without warning and some sparks went until Joohyung’s eye causing her to panic and feel a burning sensation in her right eye

𝜗℘ “fuck!” Joohyung covered her eyes and started to feel the pain in it. Everyone raced to her side, as not long she started dropping a few tears. ���Let me see?” The on site medic asked, but Joohyung couldn’t open her eye due to the instant pain she felt whenever she tried to open. “We have to get her to a hospital.” The members were already feeling stressed with having only 5 perform now they’re dropping it down to 4 made it worse. They even wanted to go with Joohyung to the hospital, but their team wanted them to focus on reblocking the choreo once again

𝜗℘ the good news is Joohyung’s vision was ok and all she had to do was wear an eyepatch and put on the medicine on and around her eye everyday. The bad news is that the concert was already half way done when she got out of the hospital, but she was still determined to go and perform

𝜗℘ Joohyung ended up surprising everyone as she changed into her stage outfit and walked in during the group’s ment. “Noona!” Taehyun ran to her immediately. The other boys follow, sadly Beomgyu couldn’t run knowing he’ll get scolded by the staff and members. So he opted to admired from afar. After the members had their moment with Joohyung she then ran towards Beomgyu giving him his hug

𝜗℘ the concert ending in tears Beomgyu just feels regretful for injury himself and seeing his Jooie injured. Once the members realized his tears they all immediately ran towards him. Joohyung squatted down and hugged his waist while also letting out tears because she’s frustrated with everything happening

𝜗℘ throughout all the different performances they had she would decorate her eyepatch by adding cute stickers that she has collected thru all her shopping trips that she been going on

𝜗℘ Japanese hosts and artists have been constantly complimenting Joohyung’s short hair causing her to get flustered and thanking them. She’s been going viral for her curly hair along with clips of the boys playing, running their fingers through her hair, and even making cats ears with strands of hair that are already up

𝜗℘ as the concerts continued Joohyung tried not to get her nerves the best of her since the incident, but when the little fireworks came out Joohyung yelped and covered her ears. She was experiencing a panic attack in front of everyone, Joohyung kept on performing despite the panicked look on her face and slight tightness in her chest. Finally the song ended and Joohyung faced her back to the crowd turning to control her breathing, Kai grabbed a water bottle and came to Joohyung’s side helped by holding the bottle since her hands were shaking and while rubbing her back trying to comfort her

𝜗℘ with promoting their new Japanese album of course they had to go to Japanese shows that have other artists, and with that they meet different groups or soloists. While the Japanese girl groups would originally always gush about Joohyung’s boys, this time all the girls were gushing at Joohyung! Openly admitting how cute, pretty, and handsome Joohyung is. The camera caught Soobin and Beomgyu in 4K side eyeing the singers. Protective mode activated. It didn’t help that Joohyung has a natural charm in the way she speaks and acts, best believe Beomgyu was a bit sulky at the girls flirting with his Jooie

𝜗℘ even though Joohyung has an injured eye she had a pretty eventful time in Japan some goods things and bad things happened, but it wasn’t the worst pretty decent time

[crusherthedoctor]

Hey all, hope everyone's doing good. Thought I should give an update on my current perspective on things around here, as it's shifted for reasons I'll get into.

In a nutshell, I'm feeling better than before... but I also think it's time for me to semi-check out of current Sonic discussion.

By now, you all know that with the exception of Superstars and Dream Team - and Jimbotnik, because of course - I've not been enthusiastic about much of the current stuff. Whether that be the likelihood that they'll continue with a Frontiers direction, the SA2 milking that has made me more sick to death of its influence than I thought was possible, the Year of Shadow in general not being all that enticing if your top ten does not include him, IDW still causing the same repetitive back-and-forths with its characteristically terrible decisions and disproportionate praise from fans who don't actually buy the comic, various other bits and pieces that plant further Eggdad seeds into people's heads, a bunch of other stuff that I'm just apathetic about while everyone else goes crazy over them... it's not been a great time for me. I'm the Garfield, and the current direction is the Monday.

That would all be one thing, but as you may expect, it's the fandom that really irks me. I don't like how it's considered necessary to make every post a bestseller in order for your opinion to be seen as valid and insightful. I don't like how you're expected to not criticise something just because it's popular or "iconic". I don't like how everyone dedicates themselves to the same old lengthy discourse that will continue to not change anyone's minds either way, since the only people listening are the ones who already agreed with them. I don't like how you have Flynn/Archie/IDW stans on one side, and an increasingly common "Japan only, no one else should ever touch the series, also the Japanese fandom is the only one with good people in it, I was born in the wrong country uwu" mentality on the other side.

And... I don't like that I've brought these concerns up so many times before when I know it'll always fall on deaf ears. Why do I do this? Why do I bother? For the fandom, I guess. But if the fandom doesn't even respect me, if my words are always doomed to ring in an empty hallway, why should I bother?

While all this has been going on, the Paper Mario Thousand-Year Door remake has been on my mind quite a bit, as it has been for a lot of folk. As someone who has always loved TTYD, as well as the original N64 Paper Mario, I'm happy to report that I absolutely adore the remake, and quickly considered it a gold standard as far as faithful remakes go. :) There's a lot of reasons for that, but that's best for another time. Anyway, after a certain point, it occurred to me... hasn't it been a while since I've been able to just relax and join in on the hype for something? Hasn't it been a while since my opinion lined up with that of the majority? Hasn't it been a while since, regardless of not actually posting, I felt like I belonged somewhere, and wasn't being made to constantly feel like I'm worthless because I'm not an artist, animator, etc?

I think this is something I've been needing for a long time now. The irony of it coming from the bing bing wahoo man is not lost on me.

After how the past few years in the Sonic fandom have felt like a classroom more than anything, watching everyone repeat the same Why ___ Is Secretly Good/Bad three hour manifestos over and over, and flogging themselves for being Not-Japanese, can you see why the simple pleasures of "hehe Vivian :3" would appeal to me? Can you see why I'd prefer to unwind? I made a valiant effort, but now, I can't force myself to keep up with shit that I'm not passionate about for the sake of a community that doesn't care about what I have to say anyway. I need to find myself a place on here that I can be at ease with.

So what does this mean for my blog? Well, nothing too jarring, just that my focus may shift a little for the time being. Despite what all of the above may imply, I'm not turning in my Sonic badge. I still love the franchise, even if I'm not so fond of its overall current direction. And obviously, I still love Eggman, that'll never change. I'll still answer asks about the series, talk about things I like, reblog stuff I like, work on Stellar, spread Egg Propaganda, and so on. But unless I'm asked about them in certain contexts (ie: "how would you improve this character"?), I refuse to talk about IDW, Frontiers, or anything else whose contents and fandom circles cause me migraines.

Not because toxic positivity, but because after the joy of gushing over Vivian TTYD, and remembering the feeling of belonging, I can't do this again. I can't change Tails calling himself Wildly Inconsistent. I can't change The End being a nothingburger. I can't change Lanolin being an arsehole. I can't change Surge's shilling. I can't change how unprofessional the IDW crew is. I can't change what they're doing with Eggman, and various other characters. I can't change any of these things, no matter how much I or anyone else rants about them, and half the time, no one is seriously listening anyway. So many words for so little results. So I need to move on, stop wasting my time, and turn my attention on things that actually make me happy instead of just... deflated. Maybe if I do that, I can belong again. Maybe when the direction inevitably changes again in the future, it'll feel like it came faster.

So yeah. That's where I'm at now. I hope you guys can understand.

[viva-blur21]

Hey everyone!:>

It's time to officially announce my own AU, which is inspired by the legendary game Five Nights at Freddy's and AU of the same legendary artist who contributed a lot to this franchise, Mobox87...

Yeah...

Yes, I know that she turned out to be not good person, and not all people support her. Personally, my opinion about her is ambiguous. I can't say anything good or bad about her, 'cause I've only heard about all this, so... All I can say that her fnaf animations and her old drawings from 2014-2016 were very inspiring to a young me back then.

I loved all her characters, who were almost no different from each other and were the same, but then I didn't give it much significance. I just enjoyed it.

Her videos triggered many emotions in me, with some inspiring, surprising, and even traumatizing me (like the video 'Death at Freddy's', where Vincent, purple guy and the old version of William Afton, kills children)... And there were other many things that I loved and did not understand in these simple, hastily drawn animations by that young girl who was Mobox at that time...

Anyways she is a legend for me (for me personally, I can't speak for others :)) since she created my childhood, and I think not just mine, but many others, and maybe someone even knew about fnaf through her animations.

Also she played a significant part in my art and drawing. Thanks to her works I developed in this and still continue to do this (and as you may have noticed, my style is inspired by hers).

Of course, she had many other projects and stories that I don't know much about, or about which I absolutely know nothing. Only her fnaf AU caught my eye more than anything else (since then I was a big fan of fnaf).

All those warm memories of FNAF and what was in those years, of course, will include Mobox's works also. Even today, watching her old fnaf videos, I feel a bit joy and a big tear of nostalgia, and continue to see in them that mystery and dark atmosphere in some way that I experienced when I was young and it still feels for me... In them, I see, to some extent, the potential and something truly unique, not just some scribbles. And yeah, I'm talking about exactly about her old animations from 2014-2016.

It's precisely because of nostalgia and in an attempt to plunge into the past a bit I create my own AU. Mobox's old AU from 2015 to 2016 that's where my inspiration came from.

And also AU applies to the first four fnaf games).

So, why not to go back in time and experience the carefree, fun and warm-hearted time, that we all love so much?

Anyways, if you are interested in my AU and in all that has been visiting my poor little head for a long time, welcome to my little world. I will be so glad if you like it and you stay to follow this blog further.

Welcome, dear guests. I really hope that you will like this place:3

PS: There I want to tell a completely different, own story, which I really hope you will accept with warmth, I will also post different stuff related to the characters there (both lore and just drawings and more). If you want to ask a question to a blog or a character, feel free to ask. There will be answers, but it takes time (please be understanding, I may need time to answer your questions, so don't get upset if your answers come later, I warned you, thank you for understanding ❤️‍🩹)

[fruitgummies01]

Never hesitate to make long posts if you want to cause you'd be surprised how long many of posts are on Tumblr when they're giving reviews and all so yeah don't feel bad or hesitate if you want to.

The review was really nice to read. it's always good to read things from other people's perceptions.

Now about your complaint you're not the only one tho, i have read another jk biased person's review and they said the same thing, many people said the same thing during BTS's doc last year. I really don't get the point of doc if you're not going to give some in depth details of how the album is made like what was the thought process, how did you chose the songs, how you came up with this that like there's so many things to talk about but BH/HYBE don't know how to do that.

With the recent work done by hybe i really feel like they just do it as if it's last min work cause they know fans will be there to support no matter what. The editing for shows, the art for albums, the concepts literally all of it is half ass work for everyone. It's like u grow big and you stop giving fks about things. this is for hybe tho not members.

Thank you for this! One thing I forgot to mention that was extremely noticeable was when JK would talk about the fans he would always refer to them as army, and "we" and "us". You could absolutely feel his connection to BTS, his members as one team, and to the fans. It is something he felt deeply about, and that really, really came across.

In terms of what you said, "...in depth details of how the album is made like what was the thought process, how did you chose the songs, how you came up with this that like there's so many things to talk about", I watched an interview BangPD gave a while ago and he pretty much explained a little behind the scenes info on the making of the album and how scooter played a major role in getting the songs and a&r. Maybe that's why none of that was included. It did cross my mind after I posted the review that maybe it's also because so much of who JK is as a person is in large part due to BTS and his members that they didn't want to get too much into that because this documentary was solely focused on him as a solo artist. But it would have been awesome to hear from some of the other staff who were with JK on his journey, who clearly adore him and were always with him.

The concert footage was really spectacular on the big screen though, especially Golden Live on Stage. Maybe it was the time constraint or the lack of access that the production had to certain footage, but it was a great first documentary, in a long career that will absolutely have more. I just hope hybe manages to get it together, because sadly idk what they're doing. Just a complete mess at that building.

[the-shy-wolf]

I’ll be posting this to Twitter tomorrow, but since I’m more active here, I’ll go ahead and post. To everyone who has supported me up to this point, I appreciate everything, more than you will ever know. Despite my claims of being an ‘edgelord’, I think it’s no secret that that’s absolutely not the case. I’m an incredibly sensitive person. So sensitive, in fact, that I’m easily stressed when it comes to certain things. I’ve been having to take frequent breaks from the internet due to my extreme levels of anxiety. My anxiety has been so bad, I now have seizures due to my stress levels being so high. Don’t worry, I am working with a therapist and psychologist with this, and with therapy and appropriate medication, I can beat it.

With that being said, I’m sorry to say I’m stepping away from the Deltarune fandom. I’m sad and extremely conflicted about it, because it was Deltarune that helped me make so many friends and meet so many people. This is my first time having a place in fandom, I was briefly involved in the Adventure Time fandom, but that was years ago and it was a brief thing. I’ve never had this many eyes on me, and it’s overwhelming. My time and the emotional investment I’ve been putting into fandom/art has felt like a second job, and I’m not okay with that. I originally started posting art, because I was inspired. It’s also helped me cope with the loss of my brother. But it’s no longer a coping method, it feels more like a chore and it no longer brings me happiness. I’ve been harassed by anon hate/criticisms mercilessly, and it’s taken a toll on me. I’m 30 years old, and if I have not developed a thick skin now, it’s safe to say I never will. Which is another thing I want to bring up: I no longer want to draw ship art of Deltarune characters, and that includes Kris and Susie. I’m tired of the shipping discourse/hate, and to be honest, I don’t want to only be known for shipping characters from a game. I think it’s made people not take me seriously as an artist at all, and it’s no longer enjoyable. I started shipping the characters because they both reminded me of my partner and I, but now, it’s all anyone ever relates my work to, and that includes oc’s. It’s frustrating. I’m a short, brown headed enby. Bram is a big freckled long haired dude. My ocs look like us. Please stop mixing the two- it ain’t that deep.

I’m sorry if this came out of the blue, but after receiving my diagnosis yesterday, I need to cut back on my stress levels, and a lot of that stress stems from fandom. Will I draw DR in the future? Maybe. Especially once new content is dropped. Idk if it will be shipping, but it’ll be something. I will, of course, continue to support all of my art friends. You’ve been nothing but kind and supportive of me, and despite my absence, I care very, very much. So much, in fact, I isolate myself from everyone because I don’t feel worthy to associate or even share my art. I know that’s a shitty excuse, but it’s true. There is a voice in my head that keeps telling me I’m not worthy to even associate. If this disappoints my friends/supporters, I’m so very sorry. It’s how my brain has always worked.

I also want to apologize for leaving my other sm accounts. I was not trying to worry or cause panic. I don’t think too many people even noticed, which is good. It’s not the first time I’ve deactivated. My hands get busy and sometimes deactivating and stepping away is a good reset button for me. But I wanted to throw all of this out there. I’m sorry if this is disappointing or upsetting, but I want to be honest. About all of it.

Thank you for reading, again- I’m so sorry. I’ll probably reactivate and post this message to Twitter tomorrow.

[halothenthehorns]

Chapter 7: WE BURN A METAL SHROUD

Will read the new title out loud without hesitation, hoping it would cause the usual round of laughter and debates what Percy would get up to.

Instead the silence of the ocean around them felt like it was trying to squeeze into the room.

Beckendorf. Percy had been trying hard to move with that pain leading him into the living who still needed him. Annabeth was shivering and beside herself, pressing on her stomach to try and convince it to stop knotting itself for knowing exactly how Silena had felt during this...but they weren't so lucky with another hero popping up from Claypso's island.

Percy wanted to reach for her. To hold her and promise it was the last funeral she'd ever have to attend. He might as well have decided to propose to Annabeth on the spot. Absolutely nothing was happening but a blank in him on how to actually act on that impulse.

Will wished he knew the perfect words to help everyone who had to feel this, but he didn't even think his dad could manage that without another gazillion years of life.

I dreamed Rachel Elizabeth Dare was throwing darts at my picture.

"I understand the sentiment," Annabeth nodded while Will got what he wanted. True it was subdued laughter, with a start like that it would take any of them a moment to wind up to their usual chaotic good time, but Will had a faint smile all the same that made his reading feel natural now.

"That's probably your most believable dream, including the ones that were actually just happening somewhere else," Alex chuckled.

She was standing in her room . . . Okay, back up. I have to explain that Rachel doesn't have a room.

"Did she annoy her dad to much and he made her sleep in the dog house, aka, the McMansion they keep outside?" Alex asked, but there was sympathy more than mocking in his voice.

"I think she'd consider that a reward," Percy reminded.

She has the top floor of her family's mansion, which is a renovated brownstone in Brooklyn. Her "room" is a huge loft with industrial lighting and floor-to-ceiling windows. It's about twice as big as my mom's apartment.

Will didn't have to wonder if she got lonely in there. She liked her cave and having her private space, something that drove him nuts when it felt quiet with only a handful of them in his cabin. Yet every meal she was down in the commons, every day she could she was striking up a conversation with someone at Camp, likely to make up for years of being in this large, empty space. It didn't feel like a wild guess she'd probably spent more time in holding cells waiting for her butler to come pick her up than in there.

Some alt rock was blaring from her paint-covered Bose docking system. As far as I could tell, Rachel's only rule about music was that no two songs on her iPod could sound the same, and they all had to be strange.

Alex laughed in appreciation. If he had an Ipod, that would probably be his tunes too.

She wore a kimono, and her hair was frizzy, like she'd been sleeping.

Annabeth sighed, an old tick of jealousy easily leaping to the surface. Had Percy ever had that kind of dream about her? Even knowing this was entangled in her coming Oracle powers and had a legitimate reason for penetrating his subconscious, she'd have still liked to hear he'd seen her pacing around in her pajamas in her cabin any of the million times she'd been stressed.

She knew it didn't matter now, honestly, there was nothing between them, but it was as easy to remember there almost had been in moments like this just as much as every other messed up feeling sprouting to the surface in this room.

Her bed was messed up. Sheets hung over a bunch of artist's easels. Dirty clothes and old energy bar wrappers were strewn around the floor, but when you've got a room that big, the mess doesn't look so bad. Out the windows you could see the entire nighttime skyline of Manhattan.

The picture she was attacking was a painting of me standing over the giant Antaeus. Rachel had painted it a couple of months ago. My expression in the picture was fierce—disturbing, even—so it was hard to tell if I was the good guy or the bad guy, but Rachel said I'd looked just like that after the battle.

Percy rubbed the back of his neck with a frown. He'd never really wanted to be described like that, even if it was kind of cool and should put the fear of Posideon into whatever monsters wanted to harm his friends again.

"Demigods," Rachel muttered as she threw another dart at the canvas. "And their stupid quests."

Most of the darts bounced off, but a few stuck. One hung off my chin like a goatee.

"The closest you'll ever get to having one," Annabeth smirked.

Percy rubbed the faintest hint of stubble on his chin. "Plenty of sealife thrives with fur, what are you implying?"

"That your face is closer to a dolphin than an otter," she chuckled, reaching out to mock pinch his chin.

Percy couldn't even be that annoyed, it was kind of a compliment, but it felt annoying all the same just looking at her. And he'd worried he'd never get that feeling again.

Someone pounded on her bedroom door.

"Rachel!" a man shouted. "What in the world are you doing? Turn off that—"

Rachel scooped up her remote control and shut off the music. "Come in!"

Her dad walked in, scowling and blinking from the light. He had rust-colored hair a little darker than Rachel's. It was smushed on one side like he'd lost a fight with his pillow.

"Clearly he didn't lose bad enough," Thalia grumbled, "it didn't finish smothering him."

His blue silk pajamas had "WD" monogrammed on the pocket. Seriously, who has monogrammed pajamas?

"Rich people," Alex crinkled up his nose as if he'd said something truly disgusting, like eating a hairball.

"What is going on?" he demanded. "It's three in the morning."

"Couldn't sleep," Rachel said.

On the painting, a dart fell off my face. Rachel hid the rest behind her back, but Mr. Dare noticed.

"So . . . I take it your friend isn't coming to St. Thomas?" That's what Mr. Dare called me. Never Percy. Just your friend.

"You're not rich enough to have a name," Magnus agreed. "You got to get a premium member birth certificate and a gold-plated social for him to know your last name. Gods knows how many 0's have to be in your account to know your first name!"

"I hope there's an unknown Jackson out there, stupid rich and giving it all to charity," Percy sniffed.

Or young man if he was talking to me, which he rarely did.

Percy had never played the 'my dad can beat up yours' stupid game on the playground, but he had a nice moment right now imagining Paul lecturing this jerk, and then Posideon just throwing salt in every engine this guy owned.

Rachel knit her eyebrows. "I don't know."

"We leave in the morning," her dad said. "If he hasn't made up his mind yet—"

"He's probably not coming," Rachel said miserably. "Happy?"

Mr. Dare put his hands behind his back. He paced the room with a stern expression. I imagined he did that in the boardroom of his land development company and made his employees nervous.

A heavy pit rested in Annabeth's stomach upon hearing that. Her stepmom used to put her hands on her hips when talking to her, and only her, never her brothers. She didn't have to ask when Rachel realized such a detail that made her feel, lesser. More like it had always felt as if it were there.

"Are you still having bad dreams?" he asked. "Headaches?"

"Oh, he does care?" Will sounded hesitant though, more surprised and only a touch pleased.

"Debatable," Percy said slowly. Nobody needed to explain to Will a parent's love wasn't absolute.

Rachel threw her darts on the floor. "I should never have told you about that."

"I'm your father," he said. "I'm worried about you."

Percy twitched, as the echo of hearing Rachel's father say that faded out by the actual concern Will put in his voice, how Will clearly imagined her father saying that. Her dad said it like he was concerned about getting into work in the morning, an inconvenience to his life and a hardship with some light traffic. Will really read that like he was worried for Rachel's wellbeing when he'd seen her in this room days ago having brunch next to him.

"Worried about the family's reputation," Rachel muttered.

Her father didn't react—maybe because he'd heard that comment before, or maybe because it was true.

"Ouch," Magnus winced like someone had thrown an actual knife at him. "How many times has he heard that to not even pretend to deny it anymore?"

There was no awkward answer in return, though Percy winced just as hard. The pervasive feeling of having his thoughts on display didn't bother him much, but he was still very aware it wasn't just his life. Rachel would be no happier than Clarisse about all the troubled faces in the room.

"We could call Dr. Arkwright," he suggested. "He helped you get through the death of your hamster."

"I was six then," she said.

Thalia felt like a hamster was chewing on her tongue. She'd grown up with that dismissive, pass it on to somebody else attitude too, their mother breezing in and out of their life only when it was convenient and they had some immediate problem.

"And no, Dad, I don't need a therapist. I just . . ." She shook her head helplessly.

She didn't know what she needed, Alex nodded to himself. Especially in a place like that, where nobody was going to help you find out the answer. He smiled faintly at Percy, who was watching the book with such a troubled frown. How much he wanted to help his friend but didn't know how. Rachel had been in here, smiling and happy with life to see him. If they hadn't worked out what she needed, Alex was positive they were at least on track to do so now.

Her father stopped in front of the windows. He gazed at the New York skyline as if he owned it— which wasn't true. He only owned part of it.

"I bet that's how Zeus looks around too though," Percy scowled.

"It will be good for you to get away," he decided. "You've had some unhealthy influences."

"The non-power hungry kind," Jason mock nodded seriously.

"You think he'd appreciate her being so down to earth, considering he wants to own that too," Will smirked.

"I'm not going to Clarion Ladies Academy," Rachel said. "And my friends are none of your business."

Mr. Dare smiled, but it wasn't a warm smile. It was more like, Someday you'll realize how silly you sound.

This man clearly thought himself a god, Nico noted with distaste. He liked to think his dad already had a special punishment ready for people like this, like having to work a minimum wage job in customer service, or constantly watching his bank account be hacked and having no way to stop his money disappearing.

"Try to get some sleep," he urged. "We'll be at the beach by tomorrow night. It will be fun."

"Fun," Rachel repeated. "Lots of fun."

Her father exited the room. He left the door open behind him.

"Why does that feel more rude than slamming it shut?" Magnus frowned.

Annabeth said with a far to knowing frown, "power tactic to make you close it for them."

Percy would have admired her evil mastermind ability more if he wasn't busy worrying why she might have so much experience with it. Surely not her step-mom? Maybe studying Athena's tactics?

Rachel stared at the portrait of me. Then she walked to the easel next to it, which was covered in a sheet.

"I hope they're dreams," she said.

She uncovered the easel. On it was a hastily sketched charcoal, but Rachel was a good artist. The picture was definitely Luke as a young boy. He was about nine years old, with a wide grin and no scar on his face. I had no idea how Rachel could've known what he looked like back then, but the portrait was so good I had a feeling she wasn't guessing. From what I knew about Luke's life (which wasn't much), the picture showed him just before he'd found out he was a half-blood and had run away from home.

"Can clear sighted mortals have you guys' crazy dreams?" Magnus asked in the stunned silence.

Annabeth wished she had a better answer for him than just what she'd pieced together by talking to Rachel these past months and a well rounded guess. She even smiled a bit for a moment, that her cousin had the same insatiable appetite as she did for her world, it was such a strange feeling for someone who looked like her to be invested in her life without fear or judgment.

But the truth was, the most dominant feeling she had at this being exposed was shame for how she'd reacted when Percy had told her of this exact dream. She glanced at him now like a train was about to plow into him. Gods, she might not do as much good as she'd originally hoped in here if Percy blew up at her over her foul words.

"Not that I was aware," Thalia answered before she could, and Annabeth tried to put it aside, for now.

Thalia only just managed not to gape because this did make some kind of sense, the Oracle dreaming of the kids involving the last Great Prophecy. It hurt more to admit that, she'd probably never seen such a happy smile on his face. Not the first day they met, not the first monster they'd slain without getting a scratch, not even the day they'd met Annabeth. Every smile in her memory always looked like it was losing a little more hope until they'd met Grover, where it was replaced by a smile of challenge to bring on the world.

Rachel stared at the portrait. Then she uncovered the next easel. This picture was even more disturbing. It showed the Empire State Building with lightning all around it. In the distance a dark storm was brewing, with a huge hand coming out of the clouds. At the base of the building a crowd had gathered . . . but it wasn't a normal crowd of tourists and pedestrians. I saw spears, javelins, and banners—the trappings of an army.

Kronos didn't have that many half-bloods on his side, right? Magnus really hoped not. He'd been imagining ten monsters to every kid who shouldn't be there, that the three they'd heard of being on that boat was probably the largest crowd Percy would have to face. It wasn't a matter of could, but of would. Percy would not cut down all those teenagers and kids...which meant they were doomed to fail.

"Percy," Rachel muttered, as if she knew I was listening, "what is going on?"

The dream faded, and the last thing I remember was wishing I could answer her question.

"And what would you have told her?" Annabeth asked that with the most mild tone, like checking the weather.

It made Percy panic just slightly what answer she was expecting, but he did so honestly, "same bad shit, different day."

Annabeth nodded like this made perfect sense and turned to move on. Percy felt angry at his own panic now. She'd been amazing in here, just like he always knew she would be. The Kiss, (the one he'd woken up remembering not the following two) had to have happened at a time when she was happy and at peace, judging by the way she'd been smiling as she leaned in. He didn't know how they got there, he wanted more than anything to remember that part, so he just had to trust her in the meantime that he wasn't going to say or think anything wildly crazy stupid in the meantime to drive her off.

The next morning, I wanted to call her, but there were no phones at camp.

"Which probably is for the best," Will nodded, though nobody was exactly proclaiming cops and firefighters were going to do much good at that place. "At minimum it probably stops the strangest 911 calls even the Mist couldn't erase."

Magnus couldn't even manage the witty remark Mr. D might do some good against the threat of child endangerment, he was probably more aware than Percy was of how useless the cops are and he hadn't even faced a supernatural problem since his apartment blew up.

Dionysus and Chiron didn't need a landline. They just called Olympus with an Iris-message whenever they needed something. And when demigods use cell phones, the signals agitate every monster within a hundred miles. It's like sending up a flare: Here I am! Please rearrange my face! Even within the safe borders of camp, that's not the kind of advertising we wanted to do.

"But what about the kind of advertising you should be doing?" Alex challenged. "Those little cards Grover once handed out just aren't promoting the right atmosphere for this place."

"A greeting card that's just kids screaming in pain would be a tad excessive," Magnus rolled his eyes.

"Don't underestimate the power of a good trailer to bait you in," Will chuckled, "with the right editing I could work with any footage we get."

"I'll keep that in mind when the strawberry fields start pulling kids underground," Nico promised.

Most demigods (except for Annabeth and a few others) don't even own cell phones. And I definitely couldn't tell Annabeth, "Hey, let me borrow your phone so I can call Rachel!"

"Annabeth might have force fed you that phone," Thalia agreed.

"Or kicked you in the face so hard for asking, you would have sailed all the way to the Caribbean and joined Rachel anyways," Alex helpfully added.

"That's called doing things the easy way, which we know Percy is incapable of," Annabeth grinned.

Percy smiled fondly and shook his head at every one of them. It felt nice to be right, proven yet again and hopefully a thousand times more how well Annabeth fit in here.

To make the call, I would've had to leave camp and walk several miles to the nearest convenience store. Even if Chiron let me go, by the time I got there, Rachel would've been on the plane to St. Thomas.

I ate a depressing breakfast by myself at the Poseidon table.

Annabeth tried to keep a straight face as she noted his lack of creativity there. He could have tried to steal her cell phone. He could have asked Blackjack for a ride to get there in seconds. He could have tried to send her an Iris Message.

He'd plowed his way across the country to talk to her, so it just made her feel a little more secure he hadn't gotten off his lazy ass to try and get a message to her, okay?

I kept staring at the fissure in the marble floor where two years ago Nico had banished a bunch of bloodthirsty skeletons to the Underworld. The memory didn't exactly improve my appetite.

"And here I thought nothing would stop your appetite!" Alex gasped in concern. "Quick, someone check he doesn't have a fever!"

Thalia chuckled and kept to herself he actually didn't eat when he was stressed, she in fact barely recalled him eating a bite on their quest to save Annabeth. Now, with that prophecy, he clearly felt like he had the entirety of the world on his shoulders, and the girl problems weren't helping.

After breakfast, Annabeth and I walked down to inspect the cabins. Actually, it was Annabeth's turn for inspection. My morning chore was to sort through reports for Chiron. But since we both hated our jobs, we decided to do them together so it wouldn't be so heinous.

"True friendship right there," Will chuckled quietly enough it wasn't meant to interrupt.

But Nico caught on that like a sleeve on a door. Who did Will consider his best friend at Camp? He usually just talked about his siblings in that aspect, occasionally the Stolls and Katie. It finally made something click in his mind he'd been absently wondering about since the beginning. Will was just as well liked around camp as Percy...but maybe he was lonely.

We started at the Poseidon cabin, which was basically just me. I'd made my bunk bed that morning (well, sort of)

"His blanket was crooked," Annabeth said tragically, "and his pillow was half-molded to the headboard."

"It wasn't on the floor," Percy shrugged.

and straightened the Minotaur horn on the wall, so I gave myself a four out of five.

"He basically redecorated for your arrival," Alex pressed his hand to his cheek, the presence of pure shock.

"I'm just impressed to go in there and find the floor most days," Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"Hey, Percy, you finally found the secret to impressing her," Jason smirked.

"And it still won't win me cabin inspection," Percy huffed.

"You don't need warm water like the rest of us," she shrugged.

Annabeth made a face. "You're being generous." She used the end of her pencil to pick up an old pair of running shorts.

I snatched them away. "Hey, give me a break. I don't have Tyson cleaning up after me this summer."

"That's not even an attempt at an excuse," Thalia looked at him tragically. "You somehow managed to be lazier defending your laziness!"

"Why bother lying to her, she'd see right through it," Percy shrugged.

"Three out of five," Annabeth said. I knew better than to argue, so we moved along.

"The fact that she didn't give you a zero is a sign of true love," Will chuckled.

Percy blushed the color of the Ares cabin and squirmed as far away into his beanbag as he could, while their legs stayed touching on the floor.

Annabeth sighed and shot Will a dirty look for spooking him and he gave a quick apology and read more loudly.

I tried to skim through Chiron's stack of reports as we walked. There were messages from demigods, nature spirits, and satyrs all around the country, writing about the latest monster activity.

"Why do your chores suddenly just sound like shit Chiron's to lazy to do?" Magnus snorted in surprise.

"Isn't that what all delegated jobs are?" Alex scoffed. "They're not even getting paid."

"It keeps them involved in daily activities, and you know, they live there! It's not a punishment to expect them to help out," Jason looked a little peeved like they'd hit a nerve while Alex and Magnus exchanged unimpressed looks.

They were pretty depressing, and my ADHD brain did not like concentrating on depressing stuff.

Little battles were raging everywhere. Camp recruitment was down to zero. Satyrs were having trouble finding new demigods and bringing them to Half-Blood Hill because so many monsters were roaming the country. Our friend Thalia, who led the Hunters of Artemis, hadn't been heard from in months, and if Artemis knew what had happened to them, she wasn't sharing information.

Annabeth sighed in relief and pressed herself into Thalia's side. The comfort of having Percy back, their ankles dancing as if wanting to cross but neither of them daring to do it, was only matched by the instant balm of knowing Thalia had been with him keeping him safe while his head was so jumbled up. She hated those long months where Thalia was so busy with her group they barely had time for an IM, no matter how happy she was for her finding her place.

Then she noticed Jason shooting Thalia a quick, searching look, her blue eyes checking for any scrapes on his sister before snapping back to the book like he'd caught himself, settling into an angry scowl before even that vanished like nothing had happened. Annabeth sat back up wearily as she glanced at Thalia, who was watching the book like nothing had happened even if Annabeth would bet on the Styx she'd seen it too.

We visited the Aphrodite cabin, which of course got a five out of five. The beds were perfectly made. The clothes in everyone's footlockers were color coordinated. Fresh flowers bloomed on the windowsills. I wanted to dock a point because the whole place reeked of designer perfume, but Annabeth ignored me.

Thalia felt her heart plummet about five feet away, remembering the last time Silena had been mentioned doing inspections, and they'd all just been sitting around making jokes. This must be close to how Artimes felt every time she looked at them. Cursed with a knowledge that no matter what you heard or did, the outcome was inevitable.

"Great job as usual, Silena," Annabeth said.

Silena nodded listlessly. The wall behind her bed was decorated with pictures of Beckendorf. She sat on her bunk with a box of chocolates on her lap, and I remembered that her dad owned a chocolate store in the Village, which was how he'd caught the attention of Aphrodite.

"That was, interesting," Magnus admitted in surprise. He'd sort of off-handedly assumed all Aphrodite's kids were from broken marriages because she'd fallen so hard in love with how in love they were they needed to be broken up.

"Yeah, that tracks," Alex nodded, he'd assumed all of Aphrodite's flings that produced kids involved every cliche Valentine attempt.

"You want a bonbon?" Silena asked. "My dad sent them. He thought—he thought they might cheer me up."

"Aww," the cynical side of Magnus immediately vanished, he should have been embarrassed by how high pitched his voice went. Sally aside, that was probably one of the sweetest things he'd heard a parent doing in here since...wow...since his mom died?

"Are they any good?" I asked.

She shook her head. "They taste like cardboard."

Alex snorted in delight. "Damn, how does her dad stay in business?"

"Overpricing the disgusting things so people don't care what they taste like," but Magnus's voice was much more joking than sarcastic that time. Alex glanced at him for the change, but swallowed and looked back away.

I didn't have anything against cardboard, so I tried one.

Breaking whatever tension had been building in the room as they all collectively laughed.

"You and Grover even share tastebuds now?" Thalia managed in between gasping breaths.

"I think all that snot coming out of Silena corrupted her tastebuds, it was delicious cardboard," Percy sniffed, then stage whispered, "I think she forgot to take the wrapper off of hers," causing the others to only double over.

Annabeth watched him in silent admiration as he sat back in his seat and glanced at her with a lingering grin. There was something in his eyes, a troubled twitch to them that never let himself settle anywhere long. Not on her, not on the book, not on the environment he thrived in with his friends, because some part of him knew. Maybe not consciously, but she knew there was a part of Percy that made this feel like an act for those who didn't know Silena's fate.

Annabeth passed.

"I always knew my tastebuds were more refined than yours," Percy smirked at her, finally conceding the impulse and hooking his ankle behind hers even if he hadn't leaned back in.

"Percy, I trust you with my life," she said with a straight face, "but I will never take your opinion on food into account."

"I'm a great cook!" He gasped in betrayal.

"Your mother and Paul are excellent cooks," she corrected, "you once dipped tomatoes into chocolate."

"Well I wasn't just going to let them go to waste," he rolled his eyes, "and I was out of ranch."

They started bickering, right there, live, in front of everyone, about who had the stranger tastebuds. It felt different from when he'd frequently done this with Thalia, there was a charge the child of Zeus had never managed to crackle to life between them as they kept leaning in closer and gesturing at the other like they were in their own little world.

Thalia sighed. She really was starting to feel like an overworked mom who wasn't getting paid enough for this. "Guys."

"-you made an olive cheesecake!"

"You like those stuffed olives, I used the same ingredients and only added-"

"Guys!" She tried a little louder, a little more stern, without much more hope.

"Stop trying to turn everything into a dessert, I thought the pickled icecream was the limit-"

"Guys!" Thalia finally put enough force into her voice that Annabeth glanced around. Then snapped upright with a guilty look around. Crap, that had not been quiet!

"Sorry, sorry," she said hastily, brushing her hair anxiously out of her face.

"Why does it not surprise me this happened because chocolate was mentioned," Alex chuckled.

Percy didn't seem very perturbed, grinning like a fool as if he'd won something, like the secret to life, while Thalia anxiously waved Will on before they all got blasted off to parts unknown by that grumpy Titan.

We promised to see Silena later and kept going.

As we crossed the commons area, a fight broke out between the Ares and Apollo cabins. Some Apollo campers armed with firebombs flew over the Ares cabin in a chariot pulled by two pegasi. I'd never seen the chariot before, but it looked like a pretty sweet ride. Soon, the roof of the Ares cabin was burning, and naiads from the canoe lake rushed over to blow water on it.

Then the Ares campers called down a curse, and all the Apollo kids' arrows turned to rubber. The Apollo kids kept shooting at the Ares kids, but the arrows bounced off.

Two archers ran by, chased by an angry Ares kid who was yelling in poetry: "Curse me, eh? I'll make you pay! / I don't want to rhyme all day!"

Annabeth sighed. "Not that again. Last time Apollo cursed a cabin, it took a week for the rhyming couplets to wear off."

I shuddered. Apollo was god of poetry as well as archery, and I'd heard him recite in person. I'd almost rather get shot by an arrow.

"And not even the rubber kind," Percy added along with a faint smile, but they could all see how forced it was. While it was nice to see some Camp shenanigans again, maybe these groups of kids working this out would even force Clarisse to work on her...issue.

This wasn't the usual friendly kid stuff though. They didn't need to see the Campers who couldn't keep a smile in place for more than a page lately to get the idea that the fun wasn't being brought back by some harmelss pranks.

"What are they fighting about anyway?" I asked.

Annabeth ignored me while she scribbled on her inspection scroll, giving both cabins a one out of five.

"Without even checking inside their actual cabin?" Will shook his head as if seriously disappointed. "For shame Annabeth, that's what you're supposed to be inspecting."

"I can inspect whatever I want to with that clipboard," she sniffed.

"She's been given to much power," Will groaned tragically. "I wasn't even involved in the fights, I gave them all equal medical care!"

"You let one of your siblings into the medical ward to write all over their charts their heads should be amputated," she corrected.

"I didn't let anyone go through with it," Will shrugged, but let it go, which made Nico wonder if it wasn't Will who had done that.

I found myself staring at her, which was stupid since I'd seen her a billion times. She and I were about the same height this summer, which was a relief. Still, she seemed so much more mature. It was kind of intimidating. I mean, sure, she'd always been cute, but she was starting to be seriously beautiful.

Percy couldn't find it in himself to be as embarrassed about that being thrown out as he probably should be, but there wasn't even that much snickering to fan the feeling. Why should he be embarrassed by something so true? She'd come in here attacking him with her lips for crying out loud.

Annabeth looked a tad more embarrassed than he did, but she wasn't going to let that one go no matter who saw. "Have I mentioned how pulchritudinous* you look lately?"

Only she could make up a word like that and Percy would still be left speechless with joy. He wanted to kiss her. He wanted to go back in time to yesterday and kick his dumb-ass for not kissing her back when he finally had the chance.

He just sat there, frozen in time like he'd been since he woke up. He wanted to be angry with himself, or his dad, but he couldn't seem to rile up the feeling in himself looking at her smiling at him.

Finally she said, "That flying chariot."

"What?"

"You asked what they were fighting about."

"Oh. Oh, right."

Annabeth sighed, completely beside herself. Only Percy could manage to make forgetting a conversation in the middle of it endearing.

"They captured it in a raid in Philadelphia last week. Some of Luke's demigods were there with that flying chariot. The Apollo cabin seized it during the battle, but the Ares cabin led the raid. So they've been fighting about who gets it ever since."

"That's, it?" Magnus asked like he really was waiting for the rest.

"Pretty much," Will nodded, studying the corners of the book for wear and tear with a tight throat.

"You didn't try to, mediate that?" Nico asked in surprise.

"Mmm, was a little busy," he hedged rather than admit he'd been on his brother's side. To many years of Clarisse bullying everyone around there to get what she wanted finally reaching its point. He'd treated everyone who ended up in the medical wing the same, but he hadn't gone out of his way to stop any of his siblings either.

He wondered if Micheal resented him for that. As the next oldest, Will had always been a level headed kid. Shouldn't he have known better? What if he'd just tried to convince his only elder brother to turn over the stupid chariot? Then maybe Clarisse would have been there all along, maybe the battle would have been over sooner?

Nico wasn't sure how to comfort someone, he was usually the one being comforted, but Will hesitated to keep reading like this was eating at him. He just did what felt natural, what Will had kept doing for him, a very grounding feeling to reach over and cautiously take his hand. Will shot him a smile. He looked surprised, but not displeased as he took a breath before continuing. It wasn't exactly a good feeling, to be constantly reminded you couldn't do anything to help, that you'd been useless back then, but Nico knew from personal experience dwelling on it didn't do you any better.

We ducked as Michael Yew's chariot dive-bombed an Ares camper. The Ares camper tried to stab him and cuss him out in rhyming couplets. He was pretty creative about rhyming those cuss words.

"I see Will wasn't exactly being original when he cussed out Hera," Alex laughed in appreciation. "You really should have credited your sources man."

"I added my own flair," he smiled wryly, "it was more than enough to claim creative liberty."

'What?' Annabeth mouthed at Percy, clearly mildly impressed about missing this.

"Will didn't appreciate Hera only paid for us to go through and not a blanket demigods are safe thing," Percy murmured. "It was a whole thing."

"We're fighting for our lives," I said, "and they're bickering about some stupid chariot."

"They'll get over it," Annabeth said. "Clarisse will come to her senses."

"Why does Clarisse have to?" Jason still looked a bit resentful.

"Honestly, when has that girl ever had a sense to come to," Thalia rolled her eyes.

Jason gave her a sour look, obviously convinced she was just saying that to stay in his...graces.

She smiled faintly to herself for the accidental pun, but she really hadn't been. She wished those boys would just be humble enough to hand it over, they could have made history, it was so rare for a male hero to do any such thing.

I wasn't so sure. That didn't sound like the Clarisse I knew.

"I really hope this isn't the hill she wants to die on though," Magnus shook his head. It was a poor choice of words as he glanced at Thalia and knew how literal that could be.

I scanned more reports and we inspected a few more cabins. Demeter got a four.

"Did you give anyone a five?" Nico asked with amusement, already having the internal back and forth if anyone would give him even a one and to stop being so mean to the kids he hadn't given a chance to know.

"The Dinonysus Cabin won," Annabeth nodded. "Pollux was lounging in the sun sipping some Kool-Aid while everyone else was scrambling."

She didn't say it with much gusto though, his twin's bunk was covered in dust and it hadn't exactly felt like an achievement. She remembered Chiron offering to remove it and just put a single in there for him so it wouldn't be a constant reminder, but the strawberries had all withered in the field the second he mentioned it and Pollux had stalked off without bothering to answer.

Hephaestus got a three and probably should've gotten lower, but with Beckendorf being gone and all, we cut them some slack.

"Oh, so it's we now?" Thalia smirked. "Was this a two-way street Annabeth? Were you helping him file those reports?"

"Someone had to make sure they were alphabetized and it wasn't going to be him," she shrugged.

"G has it too good," Percy huffed, "it should go down there with the other reject letters."

"That's not for you to decide," she patiently reminded.

"Well who's is it then? I'll take it up with them!"

"I know you would," she groaned.

Hermes got a two, which was no surprise. All campers who didn't know their godly parentage were shoved into the Hermes cabin, and since the gods were kind of forgetful, that cabin was always overcrowded.

That sounded strange to Percy's ears for some reason, as he started scratching behind one absently. It had been that way since he'd come to camp, but it still sounded weirder every time someone said it out loud.

Finally we got to Athena's cabin, which was orderly and clean as usual. Books were straightened on the shelves. The armor was polished. Battle maps and blueprints decorated the walls. Only Annabeth's bunk was messy. It was covered in papers, and her silver laptop was still running.

Annabeth grinned along at the mild laughter that came with that. Her tired eyes sank closed for a few minutes as she repressed a shiver, how her bunk looked like an abandoned crypt nowadays with how she'd been treating it, but her eyes snapped open just as quickly. Artemis had put her in here for a reason. Percy needed to get through this.

"Vlacas," Annabeth muttered, which was basically calling herself an idiot in Greek.

"Got to admire a universal language," Magnus chuckled, he hadn't needed the translation.

Her second-in-command, Malcolm, suppressed a smile. "Yeah, um . . . we cleaned everything else. Didn't know if it was safe to move your notes."

That was probably smart. Annabeth had a bronze knife that she reserved just for monsters and people who messed with her stuff.

"Which I have been on the receiving end of," Percy assured any curious minds.

"Oh, we're aware," Thalia chuckled. He had the emotional scars to prove it.

Malcolm grinned at me. "We'll wait outside while you finish inspection." The Athena campers filed out the door while Annabeth cleaned up her bunk.

"You can really see why these kids are all considered to be the reasonable and smart ones," Nico smirked.

"If you can ever find them all in one place without Annabeth, assume they've vacated their cabin for a reason," Will sighed in agreement.

I shuffled uneasily and pretended to go through some more reports. Technically, even on inspection, it was against camp rules for two campers to be . . . like, alone in a cabin.

"Like alone alone?" Alex mocked at once. "Like you two sleeping in the same room alone? Like you two being constantly joined at the hip?"

Annabeth and Percy blushed furiously, not having even considered the others trapped in here would have pieced together where she had slept last night. Their ankles retracted, and there was an actual whole inch of space between them now.

Alex felt a little bad for teasing them, but not that much when they instantly relaxed upon Will continuing to read as if nothing had happened and Magnus's tense shoulders also relaxing just a hair when he obviously had not wanted to bear the rest of this existing a second ago. His cousin wasn't about to crawl into Percy's lap and fawn all over him about being embarrassed at any rate.

That rule had come up a lot when Silena and Beckendorf started dating.

"You act like those two are the first to ever date around camp," Will rolled his eyes. "I don't know about Percy, but I learned pretty fast where not to go when two people were sneaking off."

"Percy doesn't have as much experience as us Will," Annabeth said with a faint smirk. "Remember Alexis and Chrissy? Chiron started walking around with a bucket of water at the ready for a week before they finally took a hint."

Percy decided he didn't want any more detail on that, mainly because he didn't recognize their names, and he wasn't sure he wanted to know what happened to them.

And I know some of you might be thinking, Aren't all demigods related on the godly side, and doesn't that make dating gross?

"You are one paranoid dudette, you know that Perce," Alex told him.

"I don't know who this is being written for!" Percy reminded in exasperation. Mercially nobody in here did seem to question the godly aspects to much, they were all more prone to letting that slide.

Annabeth quirked a brow why Alex had called him that, but Thalia mouthed she'd try to explain later.

But the thing is, the godly side of your family doesn't count, genetically speaking, since gods don't have DNA.

A demigod would never think about dating someone who had the same godly parent. Like two kids from Athena cabin? No way. But a daughter of Aphrodite and a son of Hephaestus? They're not related. So it's no problem.

Anyway,

"Percy's favorite word to gloss over any other context needed," Magnus for once said in relief. It didn't stop his own mind bubbling up the question what a child of two demigods would be. A quarter god and mortal and...? What ratio of godly blood and human traits would go on there?

He thanked whatever god was listening in at least his cousin didn't seem to be hopping on the teen pregnancy runaway model anytime soon regardless of the answer.

for some strange reason I was thinking about this as I watched Annabeth straighten up.

"For some strange reason," Will repeated that somehow more painfully the second time like he was trying to inhale with broken ribs. His voice cracked and he couldn't have put any more sarcasm into that if he tried.

Percy gave him a tragic look that went ignored as he let the others get their snickers in.

She closed her laptop, which had been given to her as a gift from the inventor Daedalus last summer.

I cleared my throat. "So . . . get any good info from that thing?"

"Like building robot boyfriends? Or unbreakable dunce caps? You know, for totally unrelated people," Thalia said while pointing at Percy the whole time.

"Percy hardly needs a robot boyfriend Thalia," Annabeth scoffed while Percy spluttered painfully and the others just could not seem to catch their breath lately.

"Too much," she said. "Daedalus had so many ideas, I could spend fifty years just trying to figure them all out."

"Yeah," I muttered. "That would be fun."

Percy's brain hard-glitched to Annabeth at sixty, her blonde hair more streaked with silver, her face naturally withered from smile lines and the sun rather than the exhaustion it was now. She'd probably had three arthritis surgeries by then like his mom needed-

Will kept reading after a casual breath and Percy's brain hardwired back like nothing had happened. He tried desperately to keep a straight face in hopes it would stay that way and the book wouldn't rat him out!

She shuffled her papers—mostly drawings of buildings and a bunch of handwritten notes. I knew she wanted to be an architect someday, but I'd learned the hard way not to ask what she was working on.

Jason about leaped out of his seat with joy though as he finally got the chance to ask, "hey did you read any more about Frank Lloyd Wright style houses?! I know prairie dogs came up at one point, but I can't for the life of me remember why!"

Annabeth's face lit up like he'd just become her new favorite project. "He invented prairie style!"

That was all it took for the two to go off. It took about five words before Percy was convinced they were inventing their own language on the spot. He exchanged a miserable look with Thalia, whom he was surprised to see a touch of his own jealousy in her pursed lips at how easily the two got on. He couldn't begin to guess why she'd kept such a big secret to herself, but he had confidence they'd work it out. She had to have had her reasons.

For a moment it seemed like absolutely nobody was going to put a stop to this. Magnus and Alex were starting to sign to each other, very obviously counting something even if it wasn't how people usually flashed numbers, and Will was just relaxing with a smile on his face like he was having the time of his life as usual at the chaos of this place.

So Nico finally put his hands to his ears, for once not because the idea of Annabeth's voice was annoying him. "Make it stop or I will pitch myself off whatever roof you two won't shut up about!"

Jason looked particularly put out and Nico felt bad, honestly, but somebody apparently needed to step in and remind these guys that book existed.

Annabeth was looking at him like she'd never seen him before. There was an odd smile slowly appearing on her face Nico didn't know how to react to and so was all the more glad when Will chuckled and went to keep going while Nico quickly turned to Jason and promised, "she'll drive you nuts when we get out of here going over this stuff, trust me."

"Yeah, erm, fair enough," Jason cleared his throat and seemed appeased enough to let it go, but Annabeth was still watching Nico with that strange smile he was more than happy to turn away from.

She'd start talking about angles and load-bearing joints until my eyes glazed over.

"You know . . ." She brushed her hair behind her ear, like she does when she's nervous.

"You might should be a tad concerned Annabeth," Alex told her seriously. "The boy probably knows everything from your hat size to your blood type."

"It's a mutually beneficial relationship," she assured, watching Percy's still simmering jealousy quickly flip to nerves as he snapped to waving at the book for a way out of this.

"This whole thing with Beckendorf and Silena. It kind of makes you think. About . . . what's important. About losing people who are important."

I nodded. My brain started seizing on little random details, like the fact that she was still wearing those silver owl earrings from her dad, who was this brainiac military history professor in San Francisco.

"Urn, yeah," I stammered. "Like . . . is everything cool with your family?"

Annabeth had wished she could smash her prized Deaduls laptop over his head back then, and the feeling kind of carried over now. He really wasn't as dense as Clarisse always said he was. He was just...not acting on any useful thoughts?!

The sigh that she released caused Percy to start examining his shoelaces very intently.

Okay, really stupid question, but hey, I was nervous.

Annabeth looked disappointed, but she nodded.

"My dad wanted to take me to Greece this summer," she said wistfully.

Jason felt a sick feeling at the idea of that place, like someone was describing these weird Greek gods to him again for the first time.  It was even more powerful, it felt knitted into his bones, this bad feeling of just the mention of Greece. He knew he could talk shop with Annabeth all day about the Parthenon and the Coluseiums and maybe even a Michelangelo or two, but the idea of going there gave him a pretty good idea of what sinking into a vat of acid must feel like.

He tried to shake it off, but he almost didn't want to. That rare feeling he got, of a ghost whispering in his ear was back. He'd talked to someone about this, in his past life. He'd wanted to go there and maybe had plans to do it with someone as important to him as Annabeth was to Percy...but that couldn't be right. He'd surely have one solid memory about them if that were the case...

Greece held no answers for him though. Of this he knew, so he had no choice but to let the feeling pass.

 "I've always wanted to see—"

"The Parthenon," I remembered.

Percy and Annabeth exchanged smiles. The small, happy kind they'd flash each other any day of the week in the middle of a conversation because they weren't arguing. It was just a normal feeling for a moment as they relaxed in their seat neither of them had felt in far to long.

She managed a smile. "Yeah."

"That's okay. There'll be other summers, right?"

As soon as I said it, I realized it was a boneheaded comment.

"I think I finally figured out how to make Percy a brain filter," Nico chuckled.

"And take away these moments? Nico, you'd be depriving Annabeth of so much," Will said tragically.

"I vote against extra bones being shoved into his ears," Annabeth nodded.

"Oh thank Gods," Percy put his hand to his forehead as if genuinely grateful too.

I was facing the end of my days. Within a week, Olympus might fall. If the Age of the Gods really did end, the world as we knew it would dissolve into chaos. Demigods would be hunted to extinction. There would be no more summers for us.

"So wouldn't Greece be the perfect place to go?" Alex said. He probably had a bucket list ten pages long from experience for when doomsday approached. "Scene of the crime, maybe a place the gods are at their most powerful, yada yada."

"I was a little busy but kind of considering that plan Q," Annabeth shrugged.

Annabeth stared at her inspection scroll. "Three out five," she muttered, "for a sloppy head counselor.

"Harsh," Jason winced. "Your siblings should have been consulted on that, they would have given you at least a four, if not a five."

"My siblings were to busy staring at blank screens full of ideas to deal with me half the time," Annabeth shook her head.

Come on. Let's finish your reports and get back to Chiron."

On the way to the Big House, we read the last report, which was handwritten on a maple leaf from a satyr in Canada. If possible, the note made me feel even worse.

" 'Dear Grover,'" I read aloud. " 'Woods outside Toronto attacked by giant evil badger. Tried to do as you suggested and summon power of Pan. No effect. Many naiads' trees destroyed. Retreating to Ottawa. Please advise. Where are you? —Gleeson Hedge, protector.'"

How did this feeling of dread just keep getting worse and worse? Even Will's usual upbeat charm was starting to flag with exhaustion at having to live through this twice. Grover was out there doing his best with the weight of nature on his shoulders getting mail like this?

Will hadn't seen him around camp much, he really hadn't known Grover any better than the other satyrs. Gleeson Hedge was one he hadn't heard in years, but he vaguely remembered from his first few months around camp him being one of the best searchers and protectors to get kids to camp.

It took effort to keep reading, knowing the happy end in sight, but Will kept doing it anyways for the sake of his own belief there had to be some good to be found in all this in the meantime.

Annabeth grimaced. "You haven't heard anything from him? Even with your empathy link?"

I shook my head dejectedly.

Percy didn't have to strain his mind to remember every detail of that worried frown on her face anymore, he was looking at it in person. He wanted to ask if Grover was okay now, but he knew the consequences he'd get for asking that.

He still took a quiet moment not to panic that he knew Annabeth was just as worried as he was. Sharing that somehow made it feel less smothering, and Grover was her protector first. Annabeth might have had Thalia and Luke as her first family, but Grover had been there that day too to get her home, she'd do everything he would to make sure they could return the favor, even go on a quest and make friends with a Cyclops all over again.

Ever since last summer when the god Pan had died, our friend Grover had been drifting farther and farther away. The Council of Cloven Elders treated him like an outcast, but Grover still traveled all over the East Coast, trying to spread the word about Pan and convince nature spirits to protect their own little bits of the wild. He'd only come back to camp a few times to see his girlfriend, Juniper.

Last I'd heard he was in Central Park organizing the dryads, but nobody had seen or heard from him in two months. We'd tried to send Iris-messages. They never got through. I had an empathy link with Grover, so I hoped I would know if anything bad happened to him. Grover had told me one time that if he died, the empathy link might kill me too. But I wasn't sure if that was still true or not.

Annabeth made a soft noise of disquiet, that she couldn't get in contact with Grover and put his mind at ease that she'd found Percy, that he was safe. Chiron as well. It was a feeling she knew so well, those past months of not being stressed over the whereabouts of someone had been like a dream that was finally popped being down here.

I wondered if he was still in Manhattan. Then I thought about my dream of Rachel's sketch—dark clouds closing on the city, an army gathered around the Empire State Building.

"Annabeth."

"I'm surprised it took you this long to tell her about this," Magnus admitted. "I honestly thought you'd go shake her awake. No matter how scared you are of confronting your crush with Rachel."

Percy looked at him completely wounded. "I thought we were friends, what did I do to deserve that?"

"He's just trying to impress Annabeth with pointing out the obvious," Alex rolled his eyes.

Annabeth was just smiling at the pair, because Percy hadn't denied he was afraid of his crush on her, and her cousin was just casually teasing Percy like it was Sunday dinner, something she'd only ever had at Camp and Sally's home. It felt so homely down here with these guys all constantly going at each other, and she'd never imagined before a part of her mortal family would ever mix so well with Percy.

I stopped her by the tetherball court. I knew I was asking for trouble, but I didn't know who else to trust. Plus, I'd always depended on Annabeth for advice. "Listen, I had this dream about, um, Rachel . . ."

I told her the whole thing, even the weird picture of Luke as a child.

For a while she didn't say anything. Then she rolled up her inspection scroll so tight she ripped it.

"Tell me how you really feel," Alex snorted.

"Like Percy makes me want to ring his neck more than any person I've ever met," Annabeth sighed. She didn't want to hear that Percy had been dreaming of Rachel, that he'd seen an image of a happier Luke than she'd ever known, that they were right and Typhoon was just a distraction. The briefest flare of light she'd gotten in Percy coming to her, always knowing he could confide in her just hurt so much because he was probably going to die in a matter of days and she'd never get to hear this idiot try and gloss over and summarize the most important things in their life again.

Percy's beanbag made a loud farting noise as he shifted around in it, back and forth a couple of times while he avoided looking at her, and she cracked up, letting out a chuckle just for him. It was all behind them, she kept promising herself. This was just some divine punishment from her mom or something for being so blissfully happy this fall. They just had to live through it all one more time and then they'd be free.

"What do you want me to say?"

"I'm not sure.

"If I knew what I wanted you to say I wouldn't have asked you," Percy said with a level look at her. "I do not just make up an image of you in my head to give me the best advice, I need you to do that in person."

"Well that's a relief," Annabeth smiled. "For a while there I was pretty sure you just tuned me out and only heard every other word."

"More like every five words," Percy grinned.

"At least he admits it," Annabeth nodded to herself as if confirming a long-time theory.

You're the best strategist I know. If you were Kronos planning this war, what would you do next?"

"I'd use Typhon as a distraction. Then I'd hit Olympus directly, while the gods were in the West."

"Just like in Rachel's picture."

"Percy," she said, her voice tight, "Rachel is just a mortal."

"Um, one of these things is not like the other," Jason frowned at her switching topics from tactics. "Percy's just asking you to confirm Rachel's vision, what does her being mortal have to do with anything?" Mortals playing a part in Percy's world had just been natural from the first page, despite the Mist trying to obscure them out of it, Percy had always had one foot in each.

"She's mortal," Annabeth told him scathingly, causing Jason to lean back in surprise at the sharp tone. "She shouldn't have been having visions!"

"The oracles were never mortal?" Alex asked, clearly no fear of directing Annabeth's anger to himself. "Sally has clear sight, Rachel's drawings are clearly just another level higher. It wouldn't really surprise me if Sally's books were just dreams she has, detailed descriptions of ancient Greek myths told in 'today's language'."

Annabeth huffed at these outsiders to her world, her camp, questioning this. The feeling faded as she glanced at Percy, who was watching with his own troubled frown. None of this had made any sense to him back then, and she was loath to make it worse the second time around by arguing about something she knew to be true, even if logically it still bothered her and didn't seem to anybody else. Where were the mortals in her life to believe her?

"But what if her dream is true? Those other Titans—they said Olympus would be destroyed in a matter of days. They said they had plenty of other challenges. And what's with that picture of Luke as a kid—"

"We'll just have to be ready."

"How?" I said. "Look at our camp. We can't even stop fighting each other. And I'm supposed to get my stupid soul reaped."

Annabeth could still feel that bubbling anger ready to lash out at him for talking like this. For demanding she have the answer to saving his life, for acting like the end of the world was a done deal and nothing they ever did or could possibly be would matter. She'd thought Percy was the one person who would never give up, and here he was acting just like Luke, trying to bow out of everything and leave it all to her.

She used her best pair of hiking boots to mentally squash back down that idea, knowing it for what it was now. She took an unsteady breath, remembering well the next words out of her mouth, and already preparing an apology she just hoped Percy would accept, rather than vanishing from her side again, storming out of here with his new friends and leaving her.

She threw down her scroll.

Thalia quirked a brow, imagining Chiron picking up his inspection scroll ripped and covered in mud and giving Annabeth the look. Annabeth was to distracted to notice.

"I knew we shouldn't have shown you the prophecy." Her voice was angry and hurt. "All it did was scare you. You run away from things when you're scared."

Annabeth's face was turning red from embarrassment, they could tell from the way she kept violently brushing at her hair it was that instead of continued anger.

Magnus didn't know if Alex would figure out all the signs, but he tried, 'is she talking about the same Percy we know?'

Alex seemed to get the idea, but couldn't seem to figure out the signs he wanted to say back before Will read over the awkward silence.

I stared at her, completely stunned. "Me? Run away?"

Nico still instinctively wanted to laugh, but he knew Annabeth wasn't talking bout the Chimera or some minor God on Ares's chariot. Percy would run from danger for a strategic retreat if he saw no other way.

Instead he felt what she meant more clearly than he ever would have thought for her, again. Percy had been addressing him, talking to him like nothing had happened since he'd flat admitted he liked him to his face and yet Percy never once tried to say anything to him! Percy had, as well as he could down here, run away from that conversation by literally never broaching it again. He didn't think that made Percy a coward, considering he couldn't count on one hand all the feelings he actively tried to avoid, but he could understand why Annabeth would feel that way.

She got right in my face. "Yes, you. You're a coward, Percy Jackson!"

Percy felt like that yellow carnation Persephone had once given him, flowers wilting and falling sadly to the floor while two sad bunny ears remained. She couldn't still mean that, not with the exuberant way she'd greeted him...but gods did he remember how close they were so vividly, ever angry red curve of her face...

We were nose to nose. Her eyes were red, and I suddenly realized that when she called me a coward, maybe she wasn't talking about the prophecy.

"At least you got that part," Thalia said with the expression of someone wishing to be on another planet, low gravity atmosphere and all.

"Uhuh," Percy groaned, likely to join her whether it had breathable air or not.

"I'm sorry," Annabeth managed to say around a tight throat, her eyes trying to catch his and failing as he studied what must be The Most Fascinating shoelaces on the planet. "I'm sorry for that Percy, you didn't deserve that."

"Well, you weren't, wrong," Percy said in a scary even voice. He'd been an entire emotional mess down here between her, Rachel, Calypso, and even Nico giving him heart failure. The loathing he had for Aphrodite in that limo probably wasn't healthy right now. Nothing in his life was ever easy, and now Annabeth had finally had enough of him making a big deal out of everything and was probably going to run off into the sunset with Jason or something.

"I don't mean that," she tried to tell him, her hands shaking with the repressed force not to grab his face and make him look at her. She wished she had some vellum plotter paper to map out the perfect way to make him understand that, but she didn't think these guys would sit around for half a day while she got her thoughts wholly in order. She felt to put on the spot now to manage it. Give her a monster any day to come up with a strategy, but not this!

All he heard was that she had meant it at the time. What in all the Gods names had changed?

Will was looking pleadingly at Thalia for a hint of what to do, he sure didn't want to stick his foot into this. Thalia just waved him on. They'd worked this out once, she just prayed they would again. The problem was she didn't even know who she was praying to anymore.

"If you don't like our chances," she said, "maybe you should go on that vacation with Rachel."

"Annabeth—"

"If you don't like our company."

"That's not fair!"

She pushed past me and stormed toward the strawberry fields. She hit the tetherball as she passed and sent it spinning angrily around the pole.

Annabeth was shaking her head slowly, her hands in fists like she still wanted to slug something. Probably Percy. Shit, shit, shit, was now the only coherent thought in her head. Great, perfect, shit, this is exactly the kind of thing she hoped Percy would remember!

As miserable as reliving this feeling was, Annabeth just pressed herself into her seat beside him, slowly unfurling her hand to leave her palm up on her knee and hoping he'd take the invitation when he was ready. She might not be able to think of a way to say sorry any better, but she also knew she wouldn't have glossed over this if given the chance. She'd never take away a chance for Percy to remember everything that had happened to him. This was his life, even if she wished she'd acted better in it. Shit.  "Sorry," she whispered again, really wanting him to know she meant that even if she couldn't apologize better.

He finally looked at her again, and smiled. Just a small, tentative pull on his lips, and then shrugged. She knew he'd forgiven her...eventually.

I'd like to say my day got better from there. Of course it didn't.

Alex cleared his throat and clearly felt it was time to get back to important matters. "Mrs. O'Leary has a litter of puppies and they're terrorizing everyone!"

"The fridge broke in the Big House and Percy's distraught because even he couldn't eat all that food before it spoiled," Jason made a tragic face.

"Some new camper mistakes Percy for a God and he has a panic attack because wholly crap, how has he lived this long again," Magnus smirked, this newest time of pissing off Annabeth just reinforcing that concept.

Percy chuckled again, a smooth noise that helped Annabeth to relax all the more. "Their favorite game," he explained to her.

"I like it," she nodded, honestly wishing for him that was the worst thing to happen to him the rest of the summer instead of the burial.

That afternoon we had an assembly at the campfire to burn Beckendorf's burial shroud and say our good-byes.

The smiles melted away like fire was known to do to anything after to long. Will could all to easily imagine the magical color going nuts in here, dancing in bright colors one second and then turning dim and black the next. It was probably a good thing Oceanus didn't have his own, they might have a stroke from the constant strobing colors.

Even the Ares and Apollo cabins called a temporary truce to attend.

Beckendorf's shroud was made out of metal links, like chain mail. I didn't see how it would burn, but the Fates must've been helping out.

"I heard a rumor while I was at camp that was the flame Prometheus stole for the humans," Thalia said, her tone nothing but respectful, but shooting a very obvious look at Percy. "I wonder why you haven't heard such a thing, didn't you ever wonder at its properties?" It took more than just a casual flame to melt a body, though that wasn't a thing she'd expect anyone to casually know.

It didn't get a rise out of him anyways, he just winced and gave her a lopsided scowl. She should have known better, but between Annabeth's miserable look and Percy's even more miserable state, she'd really been hoping for something she obviously wasn't getting.

The metal melted in the fire and turned to golden smoke, which rose into the sky. The campfire flames always reflected the campers' moods, and today they burned black.

I hoped Beckendorf's spirit would end up in Elysium. Maybe he'd even choose to be reborn and try for Elysium in three different lifetimes so he could reach the Isles of the Blest, which was like the Underworld's ultimate party headquarters. If anyone deserved it, Beckendorf did.

Nico wished he could reassure him that was what happened. Or even just happened to have the records on him he could 'accidentally' drop. He only hesitated because he knew Percy was about to take a trip to the Underworld with him. Thalia had just given a pretty careless stab to his memories bringing up something in five seconds, and he didn't want to continue the trend even slightly.

Annabeth left without a word to me.

She wasn't going to have her last words to him be at a funeral, no way in Hades. Some part of her had kept saying if she never bothered to talk to him again then she'd never have to say any last words to him, because obviously, he was going to just follow her around and agree he was a coward and pull her close and kiss her and promise it was all going to be okay any second now.

Most of the other campers drifted off to their afternoon activities.

Magnus could easily see how. He did his best not to flip over sleeping bags and piles of trash, it was just better to keep walking and move on and tell yourself at the next corner what your destination was.

I just stood there staring at the dying fire. Silena sat nearby crying, while Clarisse and her boyfriend, Chris Rodriguez, tried to comfort her.

Finally I got up the nerve to walk over.

"Now that takes some bravery," Annabeth said, almost as if to herself. If he couldn't manage that kind of emotional response to her, at least he had for others who mattered. It was more than possible Silena had remembered this moment when she'd been putting on Clarisse's helmet. Whatever Percy was about to say to her, she knew it would be something genuinely good and heartfelt.

Or he might just ask her if she had any of those chocolates left.

Percy heard anyways and gave her a hopeful smile. He didn't care when it had worked out in his past. He'd already forgiven her in here. How could he not with the way she made him feel just by sitting next to him?

"Hey, Silena, I'm really sorry."

She sniffled. Clarisse glared at me, but she always glares at everyone. Chris would barely look at me.

Alex felt a rising sense of anger he didn't know how he was going to act on if this guy was going to blame Percy for Beckendorf's death. Just because he'd gotten out didn't mean Percy had the obligation to save everyone, even if Percy put it on himself!

He'd been one of Luke's men until Clarisse rescued him from the Labyrinth last summer, and I guess he still felt guilty about it.

His temper instantly cooled though, and he was glad it was Percy over there rather than any other child around who might be thinking this was somehow Chris's fault.

I cleared my throat. "Silena, you know Beckendorf carried your picture. He looked at it right before we went into battle. You meant a lot to him. You made the last year the best of his life."

Silena sobbed.

Percy looked as if her mom had just appeared for round two of cooing over his 'interesting' love life. Gods, how did he always manage to make everything worse!

"It was the good kind of sob," Annabeth whispered that promise. The kind she still felt constantly on the edge of knowing he was here, safe and alive. A sob of relief and pain wound together for Silena to know without a doubt a fact Beckendorf might never have told her himself, that he'd truly loved her as much as anyone could.

Percy really looked at her again, and smiled. A completely normal one.

"Good work, Percy," Clarisse muttered.

"First time Clarisse has ever said that to me?" Percy asked with an awkward smile.

"The only time anyone's ever said that to you," Jason looked to pitifully at him to mean that as a joke though. As far as he recalled, only Will had said it to him, and they weren't even sure when that guy was actually sarcastic.

"No, it's all right," Silena said. "Thank . . . thank you, Percy. I should go."

"You want company?" Clarisse asked.

Silena shook her head and ran off.

"She's stronger than she looks," Clarisse muttered, almost to herself. "She'll survive."

Annabeth wasn't so sure, not with the move she'd pulled. She really wasn't sure if Selena expected to make it back from that trip.

A horrible image flashed across her mind, of Thalia coming back from this telling her Percy hadn't made it. If her sister had laid proof at her feet. She'd already been withering away into nothing with not knowing. She wouldn't have needed Nico's assistance to attain vengeful spirit levels soon. Her stomach heaved at the idea- and Percy finally slipped his hand back into hers. His face was to pale under his tan skin.

For once she hoped she wasn't right in thinking, the same thoughts had been flitting across his mind.

"You could help with that," I suggested. "You could honor Beckendorf's memory by fighting with us."

"Percy, nobody was asking you to stage your own funeral again," Jason groaned.

"I'm the prince of telling someone they're being an idiot," Percy rolled his eyes.

"Everybody except yourself," Magnus smirked.

"Dude," Percy groaned.

"I know, I know," he promised, raising his hands in surrender. Not a person would sit around and tell Percy how he should have been feeling, and he'd keep it that way. That didn't mean he couldn't have his fun in the meantime until past Percy reached this Percy.

Clarisse went for her knife, but it wasn't there anymore. She'd thrown it on the Ping-Pong table in the Big House.

It was such a vivid mental image that crossed Will's mind. How Percy wouldn't have even blinked, let alone backed up. Percy would have said that to Ares's face, let alone one of his kids, without caring about the consequences.

"Not my problem," she growled. "My cabin doesn't get honor, I don't fight."

Jason twined his coin agily through his fingers, his eyes flipping just as fast to Thalia and away. He wished he could blame this feeling on her, but even if he knew why he resonated with that, he didn't think it was his sister's fault. He could sense that much. He had no emotional attachment to her other than an idea in his head. He'd had more of a feeling hearing Hylla's name than any time he'd spent around Thalia. She'd been trying to tell him something, before he'd kicked up the winds and his head hurt so bad he couldn't hear a thing. The guilty looks she so often gave him, now more than ever...no. This feeling of honor, duty, an obligation to fight whether you wanted to or not he felt so compelled to speak with Clraisse about had nothing to do with any part his sister did or didn't play in his life.

I noticed she wasn't speaking in rhymes. Maybe she hadn't been around when her cabinmates got cursed, or maybe she had a way of breaking the spell.

Chris might, Nico frowned at the sudden nagging thought. He'd spent time in that Labyrinth before it had broken his mind, and then Mr. D put it back together. Nico knew from experience what kind of things and monsters you could come across down there. Maybe just enough to help pass onto his girlfriend to get out of some minor annoyance possessing her tongue.

Will chuckled, a noise that always broke through his dark thoughts nowadays, and said, "or she just ate some ambrosia."

"Oh, right," Percy nodded, though it had never occurred to him that stuff would cure minor things like that.

"Why wouldn't her siblings have just done that by now too?" Magnus asked skeptically.

"Ah, there might not have been, you know, much available. The stock isn't just handed out to anybody with a scrapped knee," Will said saintly.

"You little shit," Alex threw his head back laughing.

"Chris must have snuck in and gotten some for her," Will nodded, he was much stealthier than his halfbrothers. "Guess none of the other Ares kids thought to ask for help."

"Sounds about right," Annabeth nodded.

With a chill, I wondered if Clarisse could be Kronos's spy at camp.**

Percy might as well have gone around and slapped every one of them in the face.

It's not as if this was a wild concept, he'd had crazier plans that worked out flawlessly, that was kind of why it hurt so bad. They all would have sat around and seen it coming and done nothing to stop it.

Clarisse cared about her home. She was now showing, pretty clearly, she cared more about the grounds by refusing to fight for the people inside the cabins. None of them would have said it out loud though because they'd all slowly grown to like Clarisse a bit over Percy getting to know her.

Will sounded tired as he read that. He'd never wanted to be thrown down memory lane like a bowling ball and have to relive these months at Camp, like he could see all over again Micheal showing up in the infirmary with his hands covered in blood, having flashbacks to the red-soaked golden cloth Lee had been burned in as he cleaned up his brother and muttering to himself a revenge he'd never actually go through with on which Ares brat had done this.

It wasn't really helping Clraisse's case right now nobody in here was jumping down Percy's throat to deny it.

Was that why she was keeping her cabin out of the fight? But as much as I disliked Clarisse, spying for the Titans didn't seem like her style.

"Her style," Alex had a really twisted laugh sometimes. "What kind of style do you think the traitor has exactly? The rub your face in it kind?"

"Clarisse doesn't have a subtle bone in her body to be managing it this long," but even to his own ears Jason sounded lackluster. It could have been any nameless kid at Camp...but the truth was it was probably one of the Head Councilers by now, if not someone who had been there just as long, somebody Percy would know for Luke to so constantly be up to date.

"All right," I told her. "I didn't want to bring this up, but you owe me one. You'd be rotting in a Cyclops's cave in the Sea of Monsters if it wasn't for me."

Annabeth tipped her head to the side with interest to hear this. She had no clue how Clarisse would react, being reminded that someone had to save her, help her, and Percy really was the one most often to do it, between Heaphestus's cows he and Tyson had helped dismantle and this instance...plus apparently something to do with a sea monster?

Honestly the only person in camp whom Annabeth assumed could call in a favor like this to Clarisse was Mr. D for curing Chris.

She clenched her jaw. "Any other favor, Percy. Not this.

Annabeth balked, looking from Percy to the book with insulting surprise. She'd never heard of Clarisse agreeing she owed a favor to anyone!

He just smirked back. Yeah, he still hadn't called in that favor with Clarisse either as far as he knew. That could be fun.

The Ares cabin has been dissed too many times. And don't think I don't know what people say about me behind my back."

Me, Nico noticed with interest, not us, not Ares. Me. He really had the feeling it wasn't so much pride in her dad that was wounded, but Clarisse felt constantly disrespected for being the first person to always run headfirst into battle. He didn't care how many kids had been on this mission, he could easily envision this girl charging in first and defeating at least half the enemies before the Apollo kids drew their bows, and then she probably wasn't even given a thanks before they claimed their prize.

He saw Jason rapping his knuckle with the golden coin gleaming through two fingers rapidly on his other hand, felt the frustration radiating off of him.

"The Camp respects Clarssie plenty last I was there," he whispered quietly as a breath to him. A risky gamble, he didn't want Jason tipping Percy off, but he didn't see the harm in denying one of Percy's ideas so long as he didn't toy with eluding the right person to him, and Jason sure couldn't do that with such an assurance.

Jason gave him a smile of relief. He wasn't sure what Jason's fondness for Clarisse was, but he understood parts of it.

I wanted to say, Well, it's true. But I bit my tongue.

"So, what—you're just going to let Kronos crush us?" I asked.

"If you want my help so bad, tell Apollo to give us the chariot."

"You're such a big baby."

She charged me, but Chris got between us.

"That is the bravest man in camp," Magnus said with a mild whimper in his voice. He might rather have the dragon charge him than that girl.

"Kind of got to give him that one," Percy nodded, he'd been planning on using the lake to get out of dying.

"Whoa, guys," he said. "Clarisse, you know, maybe he's got a point."

She sneered at him. "Not you too!" She trudged off with Chris at her heels.

"Hey, wait! I just meant—Clarisse, wait!"

I watched the last sparks from Beckendorf's fire curl into the afternoon sky. Then I headed toward the sword-fighting arena. I needed a break, and I wanted to see an old friend.

Will nearly groaned in relief as he realized he was done, he could pass this mess along to the next person. His throat was soar, his hands were starting to shake. It hurt a lot more than he would have expected it to, since he'd known this was coming from the first page, but he really was not having a good time right now.

He had to lean across Nico to put the book in Jason's hands, and it was an easy excuse to prop his hand behind Nico's seat and leave it there as he stretched out in relief and Nico gave him an indulgent look as Will fell right back into his personal space.

PJOPJOPJOPJO

*That is not a made up word, but a synonym for beautiful, and it made me laugh way to hard not to share it.

**Little kid me did in fact think it was Clarisse the spy this entire time. I thought I was so clever and Percy was just confirming it here. Her dad had been so easily manipulated back in the first book, and Clarisse had been around as long as Annabeth, and then it felt all but confirmed in the fourth book when she was shown being so close to Chris, well how else would they have met except her frequent spying and reporting to Luke. Obviously Luke had probably been sending Chris in his place a few times and they'd fallen in love.

I know that's the point and I fell for it all hook, line, and sinker, but I don't think I ever would have guessed now as an adult reading this. Silena doesn't have any background before this book; but let me know your guesses. Did anybody see the traitor coming?

[jiminjeonging]

Do u think jm is the most competitive in aespa? This is something I've noticed from her comments here and there. Last year or maybe it was in January this year she did a live amd was talking about wanting to win a daesang, mind u aespa have already won a daesang for next level but this bucket list time for 2024 came after attending award shows last year where nj and ive won daesangs but I thought it was normal to want to wina grand prize too. Then I saw her talking about a rivalry she had with mj when they started training and mj was surprised which led me to belive that it was on sided from her part. Now with the solo songs, we know she is online amd knows up was viral and now she mentioned asking sm to release the solos. Sure she and aespa asked for all the solos to be released but it made me think that jm made this request bcs she especially wanted her solo song to be released to use the momentum..

Idk maybe it's just me and I don't mean this in a negative way but it just made me think. Mj recently talked about not competing with others and doing thinks at her own pace and improving and thins made me think of jm who does seem competitive to me. Jm is also the best at parasocial relationships in aespa and seems to understand the idol industry well. What are your thoughts on this?

yeah jm is competitive and i always said shes very ambitious. i think if you watch their content and dont reduce her to a 2d character everyone can see that. i think this is a good thing too. every artist wants to do well, chart well, win more awards etc etc this doesnt necessarily mean you're comparing yourself with others or feel bad when you dont chart or look down on ppl that dont chart. its about doing better than you did before, its about the goals you have. thats what mj meant when she said that. jm is really good at her job too which includes mantaining a parasocial relationship with her fans as shes not a mere musician but an idol. she pays attention to what fans want and that way she makes suggestions to company. like how mj sent selfies in sailor moon outfit when she saw her fancam was trending. i think jm had clear goals in her head ever since she was a trainee and worked hard towards it. because of her potential and ambition she was set up for that too which caused her pressure but she didnt break so she succeed. now she wants to mantain what she has but since she does that in way thats not arrogant and actually loves her fans it works. i love ppl that stand on business so i dont think theres anything wrong with it.

[heaven-s-black-box]

Notes- Modern Star Wars pt.1

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Recovery date: August 15th, 2022

Description: N/a

Notes: N/a

Parts: 1 2 3 4

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- the jedi all go to the same temple, in this au the jedi religion is no different then being Jewish, Muslim, Christian, ect.

- Caleb and Cal are neighbors, they've been besties since kindergarten (I refuse to separate these two, they are now a pair)

- Caleb's nickname is Kanan

- masters= parents (adopted or bio, a few exception cases like Ahsoka and Ani, Obi wan and Ani, ect.)

- obi wan is qui gon's bio kid, Anakin was adopted

-Ahsoka is adopted by plo koon

- while I would love to include all clones, last time I tried that I fried my modern AU, so here's a more edited list with my faves

- Jango had Boba and Omega

- Rex and Cody are brothers, they're boba and omega's cousins

- the bad batch(quintuplets) + domino twins are brothers and are boba and omega's first cousin once removed (so Jango's aunt/uncle's kids)

- pretty much everyone in the fett family joins the military to some degree

-Bd-1 is Cal's small dog, C3P0 is a golden retriever (or possibly a service dog for Ani due to childhood trauma) and R2 is a cat (maybe a tuxedo), Chewwie is one of those big super fluffy dogs, Chopper is a ginger cat, and Jar Jar is Padme's overly excitable yippy dog (couldn't decide on a breed)

- Hera and Kanan eventually adopt a wolf dog they name Dume, Chopper hates sharing attention

- Kanan adopts Ezra

- Sabine is related to Bo-Katan and Satine (somehow, I know she's the same clan so extended family!)

- After meeting clan Wren (I am writing this as I watch Rebels) I have decided Ursa was Satine and Bo-Katan's adpoted first cousin once removed

- Hera is totally Airforce, like I feel like that's the closest to her role in rebels, her and Kanan met in highschool

- their song, which later became their first dance at their wedding, is "Ain't no mountain high enough"

- Zeb is another friend of theirs from highschool, he was a year or two younger

- Zeb is a security guard, Ezra is an animal conservationist (see him and Loth wolves), his parents had a radio show where they talked about endangered species

- Kanan is a firefighter (because irony) and Cal is an elementary school teacher who is in charge of his school's fencing club

- in this au Kanan's injury comes from a job, once he's blinded he joins Ezra in his work

- Cere is a highschool music teacher, Merin is a history teacher who also has an elective cultures course, and Greez is a freelance pilot who's business is definitely totally 100% legal(/s aka he takes some shady jobs)

- Cere and Greez are neighbors, Merin works at the same school as Cere, and she meets Cal through her

- Din obviously adopts Grogu at some point, and Luke volunteers at the temple's Sunday school which is where he meets them(???)

- I feel like Luke would own a martial arts school, Leia becomes a politician like her mum, Anakin would be a robotics engineer

- Satine is prime Minister of Mandalore, Bo- Katan is either military or lawyer (she strikes me as the lawyer type), Sabine was going to join the military but ended up pursuing an artistic career, Korki wants to go into politics like his aunt

- Mandalore works like the u.s where it's a bunch of small countries a trench coat, except they're more functional... mostly

- Obi wan is either a social worker (helping other kids like Anakin) or some kind of diplomat, he only became a diplomat cause he took a few classes to spend more time with a cute international student *cough* Satine *cough* and found he was good at diplomacy

- Plo Koon and Ahsoka are body guards/ security, Plo has his own company, Ahsoka started as being in charge of marketing (I consulted my mom for Ahsoka's job and she suggested marketing because she's so bubbly)

[velvetvexations]

Discussing race and my flailing at how to handle it in my writing. I don't mean to constantly just outsource my praxis but if anyone wants to comment or has suggestions they would be appreciated. I'm really hoping this is taken in the intended spirit of "I'm a white dumbass and fully admit I don't know what I'm doing". The point of this post is that I'm painfully aware of how inadequate my knowledge and ability to deal with these subjects is.

I'm gonna break down the racial makeup of the main cast of the current stage of my project:

C - White, which is critical because the entire work pretty much revolves around issues of praxis and him being white is a part of that even though I try very hard to mostly go around race and only really speak to queer issues I can more confidently address.

Z - White, and being white specifically is not especially critical but a big part of her whole thing is that she is much, much poorer and had a much worse home life than everyone else, so I am nervous having her be anything else even though, obviously, poor PoC with bad home lives exist.

J - I made the first inkling of J waaaaay back when I was a kid, as with every other character in this post, but J was the only one who had a defined race until the past two years. His original concept was an Asian martial artist who's a very devout Christian and while I've dropped the kung fu (he knows French kickboxing for complicated reasons but he's not any better at CQB than the other brawlers) he is still very spiritual and reserved and humble etc. and I'm like ahhhhh is this a stereotype? This is a stereotype right? Ahhhhh.

A - I've ran into SO MANY PROBLEMS with A where I keep having to change her race. I wanted her to be Mongolian but then I discovered the song Genghis Khan, really loved it, and was like "oh fuck this fits her too well, it would cause me physical pain to not include it on her playlist." So I said, okay, how about a quarter Black? Not for any particular reason, it just kinna came to me like a lot of stuff does, but then I was like, well, actually maybe she should just be Black? Not that quarter-Black people don't also need representation...so it was between those two until I realized an absolutely insane coincidence that made her being Black potentially offensive, so I switched her race with Z, but then Z being Black looked way worse and for way, way more obvious reasons, so I was like "okay that coincidence is bullshit and I'm probably the only person that would have even thought of that, I'm just going to commit to her being Black." but I'm still not entirely sure.

(That coincidence is that my writing adapts the Cthulhu Mythos and has a lot of really obscure references to Lovecraft, and since A is an albino whose mother was from Tanzania it suddenly struck me that people could see that as having been an intentional nod to The White Ape, which deals with someone's ancestor having been an albino literal ape-person from Africa. This would not be an issue if not for the tiny Easter eggs to super obscure Lovecraft Circle stuff I do in fact pepper everywhere.)

W - W was a biologically artificial creation that mixed the DNA of a white woman and her Native wife, but I changed that an outright clone of one of the latter to bump of the number of PoC who aren't half-white, but everyone would still be pretending that they're their white mother's biological child which could maybe be more fucked up than if I just let them be half-white? Is this just the progressive version of being anti-miscegenation?

I'm worried I'm overthinking it but idk! I have a lot of half-white characters it feels like, because my writing spans over a century with some ancestors rooted in canonical Lovecraftian texts and some of my own devising that require positions of privilege in white society, so have only been able to introduce more color in the work's "present day". But like I said, I know mixed-race people also exist and I don't want to erase them or act like they're less PoC or something, which I'm afraid is what I'm overcorrecting into.

[emeritus-fuckers]

Yaaaaay ministry event!!!!

1. Would you say you're more likely to be a Sibling of Sin or a Ghoul? Why?

Sibling of Sin. Im weird but still within the bounds of humanity. I would likely end up in ghoul dens though, I would be fascinated with them.

2. Which Papa would you prefer to work with? Why? (Sister Imperator is included)

Outside of my personal feelings for each one, papa 3. He seems the most... personable. Im a little anxious and sensitive, i feel like it would be easiest to work with him or papa iv as a back up.

3. Are you an introvert, ambivert or an extrovert? Tell us a bit more about it.

Ambivert. I love being around people but I need my quiet time at the end of the day. I like parties, for example, but I keep to myself during them.

4. What chore do you like the most/hate the least?

Hate the most? Dishes. I have sensory issues and wet food makes me want to peel off my skin. Like the most? Laundry. I love the smell of clean laundry and knowing i have clean underwear lol.

5. Do you like to travel, or maybe you prefer to stay at home?

Both, for different reasons. I love seeing new places and going fun places (I like to identify new plants and birds) but honestly it's a relief to come home to my own bed.

6. Freebie. You've got five sentences to tell us anything you want about you.

If I could live in a natural history museum, I would. The smell of incense is comforting. I find myself staring at people a lot, I don't mean to, but I prefer watching to interacting. I crochet a lot, and make scarves for just about everyone I know. My goal is to be a tattoo artist.

This post is part of the 1250 (I think?) followers Role in ministry event. Entries for the event are now closed.

Your role in the ministry is…Tattoo artist for the clergy

You work for Papa III

Terzo is happy for you to spend a lot of time in the chapel as he knows you like the smell of incense. He suggested you crochet there when it isn't being used for anything else. He'll sit with you and write his sermons but you often end up people watching. Terzo's favourite game is to watch then tell you who is going to get together next, he loves match making. He is very happy when he gets it right.

He'll invite you along to all the parties he goes to but he always understands if you want to miss one.

He will set you up with someone if you ask or he is also really good at introducing you to the perfect people to be friends with.

He nudged you towards the Ghouls because he knew you wanted to see the dens. He made sure Omega kept a very close eye on you so nothing bad happens and you aren't allowed there unless Omega is around, because, well you know what Ghouls can be like.

But you are one of their favourite siblings, they often offer to help at your tattoo parlour, they helped you set it up. Although sometimes they cause more chaos than actually helping. But it's always good natured and fun but sometimes they do need to be gently reminded to calm down. Swiss once tried to tattoo and obscene image on Sodo when he fell asleep.

You made Terzo and his Ghouls scarves and they all were really happy with them. Terzo wore his around the Ministry with great pride right up until summer when he was too hot. He is now looking forward to autumn.

You also made friends with Primo, on your lunch breaks you go and sit in the gardens to identify the plants and birds. Primo saw you and his eyes lit up that someone else appreciated things like that. He has sooo many books on it that he lends you and, he'll often join you for a walk round the garden showing you all the new plants he put in.

You do get some rather interesting requests for tattoos. There is a wide variety of different artworks asked for, some more serious and intricate others because someone lost a bet...

~

Written by Nyx