#I like to think after he lost his admin powers he also his height so accurate I guess!!!

[cosmic-chemist]

Made a human Romeo version I’m crying he turned out smaller on accident

[sillysnaildraws]

And on another note, please ramble about my favorite character Romeo and any headcanons you have about him

The silly Bri'ish man? Well, better strap in, imma ramble your ear- no, that doesn't make sense... imma ramble your eyes out??

Whatever, god. Where do I start?

TW for an abusive family near the end. if that makes you uncomfortable, don't read it because I don't want to make anyone uncomfortable. I will put a "keep reading" tab to make it easier to avoid.

I do see Romeo as a little skinnier than Xara and Fred, purely for the sake that he definitely relies on his powers a little too much. I mean, we see that in the game, he rarely isn't flying around and using teleportation. So with that, not only would I imagine he is thinner but also most definitely has very soft hands, and hands that are quite small compared to his partners, Xara and Fred. Though he kinda looks like a twink when I draw him with his cunty little poses and clothes, which was NOT intended. Sorry, Romeo..

I definitely think he hates feeling small. He isn't short in my head, compared to most characters, he is an average height, taller than most. But when it comes to taller characters like Axel, Aiden, Mevia, Xara or Fred, he looks small and he hates it. Especially compared to Xara and Fred because he only comes up to their shoulders. It's why I imagine he flies all the time, so he can be higher above people and feel big. Though there is a "good" small, as I would describe it, which is specifically when he is cuddled up against Fred and Xara. Feeling small in a more protected and loved way rather than a weak and vulnerable way.

I do imagine he is a bit insecure, which is related to his shit family, and will get defensive and snappy when someone points it out. He would probably struggle with saying "sorry" too, especially with the ego he has to almost protect himself. Romeo has this strange thing where he wants people around but also tends to push them away at the same time, which only further affects his mental state.

Like, you can't tell me Romeo is perfectly mentally well, he is quite unpredictable and definitely has mood swings all the time. Kinda like a cat but worse, he might be grumpy and not want to be touched but all of a sudden, he's draped over Fred and Xara, demanding cuddles. Though I imagine he can be a bit of a tease too, finding fun in playing little games.

After losing his powers, he definitely lost his confidence too. After all, he felt that his powers were all he had and was all that was important about him, which creates the little wet pathetic mess he becomes. But he doesn't stay like that, after a lot of time and healing, I'd imagine that confident, very close to arrogant personality of his would come back but not so... horrible? Is that the right word? I'd imagine Xara wouldn't mind putting him in his place though if he tried anything stupid. In my mind, I have an Admin oc called Amy who helps revive Fred, so the three are back together and healing with each other.

But like I said, even after they rebuild their relationship with each other or how much they love each other, she wouldn't hesitate to suplex him if he acted up. Then again, she would have done that before!

Gotta love him, even though he definitely does have tantrums. But for some reason, it works so well with a power hungry Admin who definitely has a problem with being too controlling. Which I created a whole backstory to explain why he feels the need to be in control. I'll get into that now.

I wrote about this in an AO3 fic but not in lots of detail. I see him as someone who was born into a family with brown hair and green eyes, so his unusual red hair and blue eyes are quite strange. But his family, instead of being normal and just going "Oh, cool. You have bright hair and eyes" they are dicks instead, using his differences to call him a disappointment or a freak. Though his family aren't the best, if it wasn't apparent. The parents are quite controlling, which is where I derive his need to be in control from. Trauma, put simply.

And, unfortunately, most of his relatives let themselves be basically molded into carbon copies of his parents and are quite horrible towards him, going as far as forcing his head under water before laughing at him when they let go. Though a young Alex and Steve protects him a few times when they saw it. His parents tried forcing him to dye his hair and wear contacts, which at first he refuses but eventually, once broken down, yields.

Upon seeing this, Alex and Steve are worried and Alex, being the hothead she is, goes to shout at the parents though Steve manages to calm her and instead get him away from the family, offering him a place to stay with them. A least a year goes by, and he'll be around sixteen and his red hair has grown out again. His parents find the place and the confrontation leads to him running away and meeting Fred and Xara.

[princessjungeun]

It’s Normal: Chaeryeong x Reader

Request: hi love, i was going to request a scenario where itzy are your best friends and they comfort you when your parents don't show up to your graduation but i wasn't sure if this topic is triggering or not and i was wondering if it fits your rules?

‼️CW: Family Issues ‼️

So the way I wrote this, I read the ask wrong cuz once again. Your favorite Admin can’t read. So the reader is Chaeryeong’s girlfriend and the rest of the girls are the best friends. As always, I’ll redo it if you don’t like it 🥺

High school was an incredible four years, especially for you. You came to Korea the summer before high school. Thankfully you were hip to kpop and k dramas so you had a basic knowledge of the Korean language. That and the Duolingo owl that popped in your emails every day you missed a 10 minute Korea. lesson.

On the first day you met Lia, a fellow freshman. She was perhaps the nicest and smartest person you ever met in your life. She also spoke English fluently so you could easily communicate with her. In addition to her, you also met her friends Yeji, Ryujin, Chaeryeong, and Yuna. Although Yuna was two years younger than you all, she was very smart and skipped 3rd and 5th year in elementary school. Hence why she’s graduating with you all. The six of you took on high school together, not letting anything get in your way...kind of.

Sophomore year you realized rather quickly that you had a gigantic crush on one of your best friends, Chaeryeong. Lia and Ryujin told you that Chaeryeong liked you too but you never believed them. In addition to this, Chaeryeong was still quite shy when it came to talking about her love life. As much as she wanted to confess to you, she was too shy.

Until one day your best friends were fed up with the two of you being such chickens. Ryujin and Yuna devised a plan which Lia and Yeji followed through with. They locked you two in a room and didn’t let you out until you both confessed. You both ended up confessing after almost 12 hours, shortly after you fell asleep on the floor with her in your arms.

That was truly the only bump in the road between you and your friends. But now it was graduation day, the day you six looked forward to since the beginning of high school.

“Baby come on we’re lining up.” You pulled Chaeryeong’s arm and led her to her spot in line before finding your spot. The music played and you all walked to your seats. Thankfully the way the students were arranged was by homeroom, so you got to sit right in between Yeji and Yuna. Whereas Ryujin and Chaeryeong were the opposite side from you. Lia on the other hand was Valedictorian so she was in her own section in the front.

You saw Yuna out of the corner of your eyes, she was scanning the crowd for her parents. When she found them she smiled widely then pointed them out to you. Yeji did the same thing but slightly more descreet.

Yuna asked you “where’s your family?” You kept you eyes ahead and answered “don’t know. Definitely not coming though.”

•

•

•

The girls knew you had a rocky relationship with your family. It was best described as disfunctional and chaotic. When you were younger, things were better but as you got older that wasn’t the case. Especially as you started nearing the end of high school.

It was now to a point where you loved your parents, but you did not like them. They didn’t seem to really care anymore about anything you did. The support they once showed disappeared. In place of it was harsh criticism and unkind words that were forever engraved in your mind.

However the only one who knew very well about your current situation (besides Chaeryeong of course) was Yuna. You spent much of your time in her house. So much so you called her mother and father “mom and dad” than your own parents.

It broke Chaeryeong and Yuna’s hearts that there was nothing they could do to fix it. Chaeryeong especially. She constantly voiced that she wanted to help but you always told her not to worry. Always telling her you can’t necessarily fix what’s already been broken, it takes two sides to fix the problem. And one side isn’t even there to think about fixing it.

•

•

•

“And now we will have our Valedictorian speech. Please welcome Jisu Julia “Lia” Choi.” Your principal a moved so Lia was now standing at the podium. She stepped down and pointed at the microphone. “It’s too tall...” Everyone laughed as they moved it for her height. Lia started her speech “Hello everyone-” Yuna shouted to her happily “HI LIA UNNIE!” From that moment forward you and Yeji made sure Yuna stayed quiet.

As they called names for diplomas as well as awards you cheered for your friends. When they called your name, you went up and accepted your several awards. You saw Yuna’s parents smiling proudly at you, waving a taking pictures.

After you all got your diplomas and the ceremony ended you all found your parents. In your case your “parents”. You and Yuna found her mom and dad and greeted them. Her dad and older sister talked to her while her mom spoke to you.

The woman wrapped you in a warm hug “I’m so proud of you sweetheart.” You smiled and said “thank you so much eomma. And thank you for always being here for me...truly it means a lot.” She moved a stand of your hair behind your ear, “of course, and i’m sorry your parents weren’t here...” You responded “it’s normal. I’m just happy you all are here and that’s all that matters.”

You left them so Yuna could have her moments with them, after all they were her family to begin with. Looking around you saw hundreds of other students, your eyes scanning the crowd until you saw Chaeryeong.

Her older sister pointed you out and she immediately ran over, hugging you tightly. You kissed the top of her head and laughed “what’s got you so excited all the sudden?” She interlocked her hand with yours “I just love you that’s all.” She smiled then dragged you over to her family. You knew her family very well, and they adored you at that. However, you always seemed to get just a little nervous around her parents.

“Y/N! Congratulations on your awards, were so proud!” Chaeryeong’s dad congratulated you with a wide smile. You talked to her parents a little bit before meeting back up with your friends. You decided to go home then meet back up with each other in an hour.

•

•

•

You walked into your house, as usual it was pretty quiet. “Hello? Anyone home?” You called out loudly so your parents could hear you. Walking upstairs you saw your dad asleep in his bed, but your mom was awake. “Where were you?” She asked with an attitude. You responded “my high school graduation.” She rolled her eyes and looked back at her phone “so nowhere important”. You sighed, and walked to your room.

You wished you had a better relationship with your parents but you knew it wouldn’t happen. They just didn’t care. They made sure you had the necessary things to live like clothes and a home and access to good healthcare. But supporting you and having an actual relationship with you? That ship sailed at least 5 years ago.

Quickly you yanked off your cap and gown, leaving it in the plastic covering in your closet. You changed into shorts and a cropped t shirt and your favorite sneakers. “Hey I’m going back out.” You poked your head in your mom’s room. She responded blankly “ok tell your eomma and appa I said hi.” You sadly nodded before bolting our the house before tears could leak from your eyes.

Your mom found out long ago that you called Yuna’s parents eomma and appa. It slipped out one day when Yuna’s parents gave you a gift on the last day of your freshman year. Her parents didn’t seem to mind and constantly called you their daughter anyways. When your actual mom found out she didn’t care, as expected. The worst part was she acknowledged the fact that they weren’t your parents but they cared for you like they were. That’s what hurt the most.

•

•

•

When you got to the usual meeting spot for your friend group, a convenience store in between all of your neighborhoods, Chaeryeong was already there. “Jagi?” She hugged you when she saw you looked upset “what’s wrong?” You responded “just family things, the usual.” Quickly you wiped away the few tears that fell before placing a smile on your face.

“Hey love birds.” Ryujin came with Lia on her back, the older girl smiling happily. You all looked around before you saw Yuna sprinting down her street yelling “IS HE STILL THERE?” You all laughed and shook your heads.

The youngest of you all held herself up on a wall as she said “my neighbor’s dog was trying to kill me. Oh my god. Phew.” You asked her “Your neighbor Mrs. Park?” She nodded still trying to catch her breath. You all laughed harder “her dog is a Chihuahua!” Yuna whined “OK BUT HE IS FAST AND VISIOUS.” Yeji finally walked over, already knowing the topic of conversation “oh please Bija is an angel. He loves us.... just not you.” She whined and led you all to your destination, your favorite ice cream place.

•

•

•

As the night started to fall you all sat around a table outside, laughing about memories you made during high school.

“Remember when Lia fell asleep and we drew on her face?” Yuna smiled at the memory of your first sleep over as a 6 friend group.

“And that time Y/N pretended she didn’t speak English so she could get an easy A+ during year 2.” Yeji pointed to you with her spoon.

“Oh! That time Yuna got gum stuck in her hair and had to cut it so Ryujin cut her hair too.” Chaeryeong chimed in.

“When Yeji auditioned for that company to be a trainee because she lost that bet. Then she got in and didn’t tell us until she declined the offer.” You spoke up.

Yeji responded “in my defense I had no interest in being a YG or SM trainee...i’d rather JYP.” You all nodded in agreement.

“Remember when we locked those two in a closet until they confessed. And then they did and are now the power couple of our whole grade?” Lia pointed to you and Chaeryeong.

You looked at your girlfriend, eyes filled of love. Slowly you saw her cheeks heat up, your friends teasing her loudly. She turned her face into your shoulder out of embarrassment. You patted her head and placed a kiss on the top of her head before saying “i love you all so much. Thank you for giving me your friendship.”

All 5 of them looked at each other and shared a collective “awwww” before surrounding you in a group hug. You were always going to be grateful for your best friends and girlfriend. They filled that hole of love that you lacked for so long.

[diveronarpg]

Congratulations, KIERSTEN! You’ve been accepted for the role of CLEOPATRA with an approved FC change to Anais Mali. Admin Rogue: More than anything, Calina is one of the characters I've been most excited to see brought back to us, and I couldn't be more thrilled that you've captured her so well! Calina's such a balance between warmth and cunning, between drive and connection, and you really drove home her humanity. Her intelligence and fortitude clash so well with her loneliness in this way that really sang to my heart throughout your application, and the para sample blew me away. I love her with every ounce of my being, and I know just from reading this that you'll go beyond the distance and reach new heights with our lovely new Queen. We cannot wait to see what you have in store! Please read over the checklist and send in your blog within 24 hours.

WELCOME TO THE MOB.

Out of Character

Alias | Kiersten

Age | 21

Preferred Pronouns | she/her/hers

Activity Level |  I’ve never written a day before in my life…haha…unless…? (see here: https://catherinedaly.tumblr.com/ and https://isabellagagliano.tumblr.com/ :* ) Also, school is about to let out so I’m going to have so much free time that y’all will wish I had something else to do, or somewhere else to be.

Timezone |  EST

In Character

Character | Calina Sokolova – Cleopatra → With a face claim change to Anais Mali, please? uwu

CALINA

origin: Greek

meaning: beautiful, lovely; the moon

SOKOLOVA

origin: Russian

meaning: falcon; hawk

CLEOPATRA

origin: Greek

Meaning: glory of the father

What drew you to this character? | Well, it’s no secret that I’ve been dying to complete The Trifecta ™but I think I even surprised myself when I turned my attention to Calina. It’s been so long since the mesmerizing Cleopatra took the stage and, with each passing day, I find that I miss her more and more. She’s startlingly different from both my Catherine and Isabella. Both Isa and Cat are led by their heart, but Calina is decidedly not; she’s terribly bright and practical—a diamond in the rough that’s not yet been fully excavated… But, could Verona handle the savant in her unfettered brilliance and whip-quick wit? Is the city prepared to kneel out of their own volition, rather than being so savagely forced?  This girl turned woman turned phoenix has been scorned one time too many and she deserves to assert herself as an entity far greater than just being Faron’s loyal shadow. I’m eager to give her what’s due, and more!

What is a future plot idea you have in mind for the character? | Where do you see this character developing, and what kind of actions would you have them take to get there? 3 future plot ideas would be preferable.

I WILL NOT BE TRIUMPHED OVER: He picked her to be a general, and a general she will be; the King may have fallen, but the Queen is more than capable of continuing the legacy. Calina, of all people, knows that the Vasiliev man would roll over in his grave to know if she even considered so-easily conceding to the Veronesi and their brutally unforgiving ways. I would love to get the chance to explore the Sokolova woman PICKING UP WHERE FARON LEFT OFF. His roots in Russia run deep and wide, still viable even though he no longer lives. I like to think that Calina inherited his network, considering she was his right hand. However, such power holds great responsibility—and danger. The late Vasiliev’s connections were no secret to Damiano and his group, which places her in a precarious position: to work at intertwining her newly inherited network with the Montagues or keeping it tucked against her chest. After all, they took from her, so why would she give anything?

TURN YOUR WOUNDS INTO WISDOM: Her heart is a fickle thing that’s not yet stopped its beating–even with all that she’s lost–and now she’s looking for something that cannot be so easily taken from her. Alexander Rallis seems to have cemented himself firmly within Montague ranks and while this is what initially drew Calina to him, it’s not what makes her stay; she’s a wraith looking for a soul to tie herself to, and he’s her best bet. But, the Sokolova woman isn’t taking her heart into account when she decides to interact with him more. What started as a tactical attempt to grow closer to Alexander for the sake of learning what it takes to be the Montague consigliere has become somewhat muddled, at least on her end.

Calina knows desire like the back of her hand; she knows lust intimately, but is damningly inexperienced with feelings and how quickly they can strike. What she feels towards Alexander is an uncomfortable mix of a girlish crush and well-tamed, heady desire (though she’ll vehemently deny any feelings of affection for the man of war). I’d love to EXPLORE THE DYNAMIC BETWEEN ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA (bonus points if he somehow finds out her words were ingenuine, at first) and how far she’s willing to go in terms of her own ascension within Montague ranks. But for now, for Alex, she’ll string her words together in the most beautiful of sentences; she’ll even drench them in his decadent gold, if it will coax the great Antony from his armor long enough so that she may come to understand what lies underneath; she’s vying for his mind, but not prepared for what else (his heart, perhaps?) might come.

I AM NO BIRD AND NO NET ENSNARES ME: Mona Chen, the Keeper of Sparrows, is her target; The Dark Lady is a fine price to tuck in one’s pocket. Damiano made his desires clear when he assigned the Sokolova woman to lure Mona from her Capulet-leaning ways into ways that better align with Montague ideologies, and Calina refuses to fail. I’m excited about CALINA RELYING ON HER PAST TO ASSIST HER while she tries to court Mona for the sake of the Montagues. She’s done well enough to stifle her memories of her time within halls of debauchery, but they’ll soon become her greatest asset–a sharp contrast to her belief that they were her Achilles’ Heel. How far is Calina willing to go to pull The Dark Lady to the Montagues’ side? She’s no stranger to using her body to get what she wants and she sees the way Mona watches her–closely, as though she’s waiting for the woman from Russia to slip up and return to her roots. If Mona thinks she’ll be able to make a Sparrow out of Calina, so be it; what the owner of The Dark Lady doesn’t know–that Calina refuses to return to that lifestyle–won’t hurt her. If white lies and gilded interest are what it takes to bridge the gap between Damiano and Mona, so be it.

Are you comfortable with killing off your character? | Only if it’ll cause the maximum amount of pain possible.

In Depth

In-Character:

PARA SAMPLE–

They don’t give him a funeral. They barely acknowledge the vacancy he’s left behind, the lives upended by his untimely departure–both here, and in Russia. Calina’s not surprised by this, not  at all; hosting a funeral for a man murdered by someone supposedly on the same side as he was would be… Tricky, to say the least. And in not giving Faron Vasiliev the proper burial he deserved, the unspoken message is clear: all that glitters is not always golden.

In the days after Faron’s demise, Calina is reminded of a cruel lesson she was remiss to keep in the forefront of her mind: everyone–no matter how highly they’re thought of, no matter what they bring to the table–can be replaced. Measure for Measure is gifted to Matthias before Vasiliev’s body coldens; her loyalty, too, is transferred to Damiano, the hefty price Faron paid to free her from her contract in Russia symbolically falling on the shoulders of the Montague king. She knows better than to bite at the hand that feeds her, so she remains stoic in the presence of those of whom haven’t earned her trust–an amount that, when totaled, can be counted on one hand and one hand alone.

Calina sighs into the darkness of her room, into the lush bedding that surrounds her body. She collects her scrambled thoughts as neatly as she can; she gathers those too-raw and fragmented memories that can’t have her attention–not now, maybe not ever–and and shoves them to the back of her mind, bringing others to the forefront so that she may concoct a plan to ensure her safety here in Verona–here, permanently, as she’ll be damned before she ever calls Russia ‘home’ again.

First and foremost, the Sokolova woman is acutely aware of the target on her back, no matter how curious Damiano may be about her silver tongue and whip-quick mind. The interest of the Montague can quickly wane; the lavish lifestyle she’s come to familiarize herself with can be snatched away without so much as a passing glance. Her attachment isn’t to the items, but rather to the intoxicating feeling of security–to knowing she’ll have a home, to knowing she’ll not have to worry about where her next meal will come from–and she’s not willing to lose it without giving it her all.

Secondly, she needs allies. In a game of chess, the Queen is the most valuable piece on the board and Calina knows, though no one can see, that there’s a crown atop those wily curls of hers and she won’t let it fall. She’ll gather people like pawns, find a niche for herself in Damiano’s kingdom and create a buffer. The people sing of Antony’s accolades, of Gertrude’s steadfastness in the middle of disasters and more, but it’s time they’ve learned a new song: a song of Cleopatra, the woman who didn’t cut others at the knee, but rather coaxed them to kneeling out of their own volition.

Last, she knows that she must now work twice as hard to take what’s hers; she’s come to terms with taking three steps forward followed by two steps back. The newly-inherited title of emissary suits her far better than soldier, but not nearly as well as advisor. To say that she’s not become comfortable with the power Faron was wise enough to imbue her with would be a lie; the Sokolova woman relished the way he saw her as an equal, and she wants that same attention still, even though he’s gone. But, good things take time and she’s got plenty of it.

The King is dead; may God save the Queen.

She’ll not give them a chance to not give her a funeral, too.

INTERVIEW–

What does your typical day look like?

“I wake as early as my body will allow,” the Sokolova woman says, “which is earlier than some, but not others. I’ve broken my habit of favoring the night—thankfully.” It’s a lie, of course; her affinity for night and its darkness have been seared into the very marrows of her bones, what with her past as Madame’s precious драгоценный камень bleeding over to her present and eagerly waiting to devour her future. “Bast is a spoiled little thing; as soon as I wake up, she’s kneading at my side or sitting on my chest until I get up and feed her. In a way, she’s akin to an alarm clock.” A fond smile graces her visage at the thought of her Russian Blue–a gift from the Zaitsevs, longtime clients of hers and Faron’s that took note of the way she tended to their feline and his desire for her lithe fingers to stroke his silky silver fur while maintaining her focus and wit on the matters at hand. “I feed her, and then I have a cup of збитень while perusing Il Giornale. On my way to work, I might pick up a pastry from one of the bakeries I pass.“

Moments of peace before she slips into her role as Montague emissary and client charmer. But, of course, this little journalist need not know of her underground dealings.

Rather, Calina gives him what he wants–something palatable; something honest; something that piques his interest enough to get him to write it down, but not enough to ask more. “Once I leave my darling for the day, I typically don’t make it back until the evening. I spend my time working remotely in The Capital Library as often as I can. Offices are too stuffy for my liking. I’d rather be surrounded by thousands of books filled with rich history while crafting communication strategies for my clients.”

Where is your favorite place in Verona?

The answer that first comes to mind is bittersweet and far too personal: her favorite place in Verona is—was—Faron’s home—untouched and uninhabited since his demise. It leaves a bitter taste in her mouth, much like the сельдь с луком that her late mother was so fond of. The memories are nothing but quick flashes, though she can feel the goosebumps rising on her skin; she can feel Faron’s phantom touch along the small of her back, and can hear Alyona’s honey-drenched laugh as she playfully turned the hose from her azaleas to her gleeful daughter. But, Calina knows herself and she knows herself well; she’s far too proud to falter, especially in the face of a nosy reporter. So, she does what she does best: she chains the memories and thoughts before they have a chance to run wild; she shackles them together—two pieces of her irreparably-broken heart—and shoves them into a dark corner of her mind that’ll be ignored until something else taunts the perpetually-grieving beast that resides in her chest.

The journalist prompts again, curiosity evident in the slight furrow of his brows and in the way he doesn’t allow her to mull over her answer, to pull palatable words from her arsenal of languages. The Sokolova woman notes his softly spoken impatience, adding it to her list of observations—that he’s recently had coffee, the familiar scent of the drink lingering between them; that he’s not as seasoned as other journalists she’s come across, as he’s more concerned with what she says rather than what she doesn’t or won’t say; and that he’s not as subtle as he’d like to think, with his blue eyes that graze her frame in more instances than just one.

“Verona is such a beautiful city,” Calina muses at last, warmth coloring her words as though she’s speaking of a dear friend. “But, caro mio, if you must make me choose—“ a gusty, nearly dramatic sigh billows from her lacquered lips “—Lamberti Tower. There’s nothing quite like reaching the top and looking at the breathtaking scenery below.” A well-manicured finger twists at her brown curls. “Should you find yourself there, I highly recommend The Hathaway.” It’s sinful–how delicious and dangerous the drink is. “But, be careful—it’s practically impossible to just have one.”

What has been your biggest mistake thus far?

Were she a less professional woman, she’d have laughed in his face. She’d have parroted his question back at him, incredulity coloring her words and displeasure marring her now-placid expression. Calina Sokolova, making mistakes? No, she is far too meticulous, far too critical; she scours over every word, every shift in body language or facial expression, cataloguing it all in her mind so that she may act appropriately. Years spent morphing herself into whatever her clients wanted—a simpering coquette, a lustful breath against the shell of an ear, a body meant to be used and discarded soon after—have served her well.

Women like Calina don’t make mistakes. Calina doesn’t make mistakes. She cannot afford to do so.

“Oh, дорогая,” the woman says at last, a hint of mischief glinting in her dark hues as she leans back in her plush chair, “would you believe me if I said I’ve not yet made one?”  

What has been the most difficult task asked of you? (tw: allusion to terminal illness)

The Sokolova woman’s most difficult request was something that wasn’t asked at all. It wasn’t something she could stop or something she could pass to somebody else. No, the most difficult task for the princess of the dark alley was commanded. Not even she, freshly-graduated from Novobisrov State University and armed with the knowledge of old and new, could disobey the order… All she could do was helplessly watch.

The decline was cruelly slow, seemingly stretching time just far enough for her to take a second to hope. It’s both a blessing and a curse, that fickle thing called time. It gives as easily as it takes, tricking you into thinking there’s a chance when it’s only prolonging the inevitable. Может быть, мы уедем из России - найди другого доктора в другом месте, a frustrated Calina suggested long ago, her pride rearing its ugly head deep in her chest. Her mother couldn’t die. She forbade it…

…And in the end, it didn’t matter.

Her protests fell upon deaf ears, as did her pleas. Her prayers remained so damningly unanswered that she couldn’t help but blame herself for halfhearted attempts, so she only prayed more—desperately, angrily, fearfully. Calina bruised her knees with how often she fell to them in the name of the Redeemer–to a God her mother held so much faith in, to a God she once believed existed. When left motherless, possessionless, and poor, she only further dug her heels in, deciding that she’d never be made a fool in the face of time again. She sells her body, the notion of kneeling for less-than-holy reasons no longer distasteful, for at least it—unlike the time she wasted praying—yielded results. It paid for her rent, her food, her existence.

“My mother once told me it’s ill-advised to say you’ve already experienced the worst of things,” she murmurs.  “She said it tempted Fate and angered it so that it didn’t rest until it outdid what you thought was the most terrible of all.” Alyona Sokolova never said it, the light in her eyes snuffed out before she ever got the chance. Calina likes to believe she would have, had the illness not first taken her mind. Clearing her throat and finding her voice once more, the emissary tacks on,  “And mother knows best, да?”

What are your thoughts on the war between the Capulets and the Montagues?

A soft and disapproving hmmph comes first, and it is punctuated by an unimpressed response: “It’s brutish–the whole idea of it.” Wars fought for the sole purpose of destruction did nothing for either side; a pity, truly, but she expects nothing less from the crowned men that perpetuate its continuance. Both Cosimo and Damiano are bullheaded, though she does give them some credit; they’ve both picked women to be their Underbosses—women who know that cold calculation will always prevail over hot tempers and wounded prides.

Calina continues, “Ask any Veronesi why the two families feud and you’ll hear dozens of stories, each a bit different from its predecessor.” It’s one of the things she loves and detests about language—how malleable words are, how easily they diffuse as they’re passed from person to person. Calina tucks a loose curl behind her ear, golden ring glinting against the afternoon sun that shines through opened curtains. She pauses thoughtfully as though she’s considering an idea she’s not yet had, head canting just slightly before she venturing, “They’re going to run themselves and Verona ragged.” Fights can only last for so long. There’s nothing sustainable about war, nothing sustainable in pulling the downtrodden into the battles that they’ll never live to reap the benefits from.

Here, bodies are expendable; minds are not. Calina’s made sure to prove herself worthy of being grouped into the latter time and time again; her recent promotion within Montague ranks is only one of dozens of accolades she’s destined to earn. Spoken with the finality of a woman who has other matters to tend to, she closes with, “Adesso, corrispondente… Should you desire a more in-depth answer, ask them why they’re fighting. Ask them what the goal is.”

Extras: If you have anything else you’d like to include (further headcanons, an inspo tag, a mock blog, etc), feel free to share it here!

EXTRAS:

MBTI: INTJ - The Architect + | independent, jane-of-all-trades, driven -  | judgemental, blunt, secretive

ZODIAC: Virgo - 22 September + | logical, responsible, orderly -  | critical, obsessive, perfectionist

TEMPERAMENT: Choleric + | ambitious, confident, practical -  | uptight, impatient, uncomfortable around emotion

RICE PURITY TEST SCORE: 48

LOVE LANGUAGE(S): acts of service + physical touch

HEADCANONS:

In Novoborisk, Calina studied both history and linguistics (with a concentration in translation and translational studies). Before the tragedy of losing her mother, she planned on working as a professor while also researching ancient civilizations.

Alyona Sokolova stoked the burning desire to know in her precious daughter from her very first breath. Because of this, Calina is voraciously inquisitive; years of sharpening her mind and her tongue have created a well-spoken woman with undeniable charm.

Calina knows five languages, including her native language of Russian—English, French, Macedonian, and (most recently) Italian. She wants to learn more, should she ever get the opportunity.

She has a Russian Blue cat named Bast–a nod to Ancient Egypt and her dream to study civilizations of the past.

On her right hand, she wears a golden signet ring that she never takes off. It belonged to Faron—a ring he’d outgrown years ago but still kept as a reminder of his past. Now, it now belongs to her—a ring that fits perfectly on her right ring finger as a reminder of their pasts.

MOCK BLOG:

https://cleosokolova.tumblr.com/

PINTEREST BOARD:

https://www.pinterest.com/diaphcnous/calina-sokolova-the-savant/

[kpopfandomcult]

Get Away | mafia au | chapter one

Pairing: Wong Yukhei / Lucas x reader  Genre: Angst? Warnings: Gore Summary: Wong Yukhei, better known as Lucas by his mafia, family, and friends, is the leader of one of the most dangerous mafias called Neo Culture Technology, better known as NCT. Lucas is known for being notorious, rude, calculating, and emotionless. Y/n is the exact opposite of him. She’s sweet, kind, thoughtful, and caring. When they run into each other on one fateful day, what could possibly be in store for the good little girl that has piqued Lucas’ interests? Chapter: 1/? Note: A BIG THANKS TO @kkookies FOR HELPING ME FINALIZE THE PLOT!!!! PLEASE GO GIVE HER SOME LOVE!!!! HER WORK IS A M A Z I N G!!!! ~Admin CB

It has been two weeks since Lucas escaped prison. It wasn’t easy to get away but it was doable. He had to stay low for a little bit, which he didn’t like at all. He’s a busy man. Things to do, people to see. His right-hand man, Taeyong, is the one who told him to stay low. He knew he was right but he hated the idea of it. Nevertheless, he did as he was ‘told’.

Eventually, Lucas got tired of waiting around and decided to ‘sneak out’. Of course, no one was going to stop him if he walked right out the front door, but they’d either: follow him or nag his ear off about how much of a bad idea it was. So, he snuck out with ease around nine-thirty at night. He honestly didn’t have any idea of what he wanted to do; he just wanted to get out of that stupid house.

As he was walking around the town, he spotted a lot of red clothing in a small group. He mentally cursed as he saw it was the red bastards; aka a rival mafia called ‘The Red Hounds’. They, along with many other colored mafias, were enemies to NCT. It was quite easy to tell who was apart of what mafia since they stupidly always wore their color. Usually, they’d have bandanas with some sort of marking on it, so not everyone with a colored bandana was accused of being in a mafia. 

Luas quickly steered down another street right after seeing them. It’s not that he was afraid of them or worried about the fact that he was outnumbered, no, no. He only had a pistol without any extra ammo. He always carried it around with him, but he didn’t think he’d have to use it tonight; he didn't think he’d have to use any sort of weapon tonight, so that's why he only had his pistol. He sighs as he hears one of them shout something about seeing him, making him curse. 

He quickly took off running down the street, weaving around people as he went. He could hear multiple footsteps trailing after him, hearing them run into people and knocking people down. Lucas would turn around and take all of them if he weren’t in a highly-populated area. He’s killed many people in his lifetime but he doesn’t want to kill innocent people. He may be a cruel, terrible person, but killing the innocent wasn’t his choice if he got a say. He’s also supposed to be hanging low right now and if anyone recognizes him, that’d be bad for everyone. 

I smile goodbye to the last customer, telling them to have a good night. I let out a sigh of relief as the café door swings closed. Both of my coworkers that were working this shift with me had decided to take off together. I mean, they are dating and we weren’t too busy at the time, so I didn’t mind. 

What I did mind was when they didn’t come back and left me to handle all the customers. Since it was only me, the process was quite slow which caused many people to become angry with me which resulted in my patience running thin and to start to get aggravated. 

As soon as the last customer walked out the door, I felt euphoria take over my being. I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy in my entire life. 

I wipe off the counters and clean mostly everything, wanting to leave a little work for the two hooligans that ran off. I clock out and head towards the door, realizing I had forgotten to flip the sign. The ‘OPEN’ side flips to the ‘CLOSED’ side as I stare out the window for a moment, watching a few people walk by every once in a while.

I turn to head towards the break and locker room, wanting to get out of my uniform. As I’m a couple feet away from the door, I hear the bell above the door jingle. I let out a loud sigh and spin around, ready to shout at whoever it was that we are closed.

My words get lost as I see the beautiful stranger in front of me, making me bite my lip. I shake my head as I realize that I had just considered doing overtime just to serve this man some coffee. ‘There’s another coffee shop right down the road,’ I think as I start to walk towards him.

“Sir,” I say as I see him look out the window, looking both ways rapidly. I roll my eyes as I get no response. “Sir,” I reply louder, starting to become a little concerned when he started to pull the blinds down. “Hey, dude!” 

I seemed to have got his attention by the way he stopped moving for a few seconds to look at me. “What?” he snaps, going back to what he was doing. I huff as I march over to him. “Don’t you know how to read?” I say louder and ruder than I intended, making me feel guilty. I cut myself some slack seeing as how I had a tough day and we were closed already.

The man finishes with the blinds and stands to his full height, making me marvel at how tall he is. He stares down at me for a moment with an unknown look. “What?” he asks with a slight smile as if I was messing around with him. 

“Are you deaf too? Dude, we are closed!” I say as I cross my arms over my chest, becoming angrier by the second. I was ready to go home. 

His amused look gets wiped away as he hears me shout. “Shut it!” he whisper-shouts before running to the wall to shut the lights off. I gape at him as he does so, not believing my eyes. 

“Hey! What’re you doing? Get out of here before I call the police!”

He glares at me as he starts to march towards me. “Listen, you’ll be doing no such thing. Now, you either shut it or I’ll make you,” he whispers deeply. I freeze up at his words, slowly backing away. 

“Look, if you want money, just take it! I—” I begin to shout before he rushes to me and presses me to the wall, clamping his hand over my mouth. 

“Last chance. Shut it or I’ll—” He’s cut off from shouting outside, making me jump and him to curse. He quickly grabs my arm and drags me to the back, pushing me behind the counter. 

“What are y—” I go to shout once more when someone starts to bang on the café door. 

“Open up, Wong!” I jump out of my skin and instantly start to head to the break room to get my phone to call 911 when the mystery man suddenly pulls out a gun. 

“Stay there or I will shoot you,” he says lowly in such a dangerous tone that it makes goosebumps crawl over my skin. My heart begins to pound as I watch him look to see how many bullets he has. He then looks towards the door as he hears the glass on it shatter. I cry out and duck down behind the counter, my cry barely audible from how loud the glass shattering was.

I silently curse out my boss for not paying to get the panic button behind the counter fixed. ‘We won’t get robbed,’ he said. ‘That’s what phones are for,’ he said. If I live, I’m suing him.

“Well, well, well, look who it is. You’re out of jail, I see. What’re you doing on our side of town, Wong?” I hear a new voice ask. The mystery man, known as Wong by these men apparently, gives a dry laugh as he studies them. 

“Your side of town? You make me laugh, Porter. I own this entire town, no the entire state, no,” he trails off before continuing, “the entire country,” he finishes confidently with a cocky smirk. “Hopefully the world, one day.”

I listen to him talk as I try to figure out who he is. ‘He’s obviously someone with a lot of power if he’s confident enough to say he owns the entire country. Who is he though?’

‘Porter’ laughs as he starts to walk around the café. “The whole country? C’mon, Wong. I know you aren’t that stupid.” ‘Wong’ doesn’t say a word as he just stares at them with an intense glare. I was glad that only Wong was able to see me, I didn’t want the other men to see me. Wong seemed to have somewhat good intentions. I mean, he did make me hide before the other men could see me. 

I’m brought out of my thoughts at the sound of someone yelling and slamming their hand onto the countertop, making me jump. “Shut up! You have no right to say that!” I hold my breath as I go rigid, hearing my heart pound in my ears. ‘What part did I miss?’

“Oh? And what’s this?” 

I’m confused about what the man is talking about until I feel a sharp pain on my scalp, being forced to stand up by him tugging on my hair. “Why, aren’t you a pretty thing? She your new playtoy, Wong?” I cringe as the man caresses my face, making me push him away from me. 

“Don’t touch me!” He chuckles at my words, making me wonder why all these men tonight continue to not take me seriously. 

“Aww, why, doll-face? You—” He lets out a scream as a bullet suddenly flies through his chest. I scream as he does, feeling blood splatter onto me. Gunshot after gunshot rings out in the café, making me quickly dive back under the counter. I hold my hands over my ears as I squeeze my eyes shut, hoping this was all just one bad dream. 

The gunshots and screams slowly come to a stop, making me shakily taking my hands off my ears to hear better. I let out a shout of terror as I see Wong walk towards me. I instantly start to crawl away, quickly getting up to run. 

“No! Please! Leave me alone! Don’t kill me!” I pleadingly shout as I run, seeing the dead bodies on the ground, blood splattered and pooling everywhere.  I cry out as Wong grabs ahold of my arm, harshly tugging me back to him. I stare up at him with complete fear in my eyes. 

“You aren’t going anywhere.”

» Masterlist «

» Previously | Next «

» More with Lucas «

[fearofaherobrine]

Roleplay Server Log #386

“Octagon and Enix, Spleef, Bird Dad”

[CP] Is holding his no longer flaming baby and is letting Notch visit with the others when he feels the shift in the mainframe and he shudders a little-

[Fangbo] Notices his reaction. - Did Aether pull your hair or something?

[CP] - No...- He looks over at the mainframe- The seeds have shifted...

[Fangbo] Oh? You're sensitive to that? Maybe one of the big multiplayer servers changed host sites or something.

[CP] - Maybe...- He takes Aether and hands her back over to Notch- Just give me a moment

[Notch] Any reccomendations to keep her from getting cold again?

[CP] - Keep her out of the way of the vents and if she does catch on fire again, well, you know it wont hurt you yet

[Flux] Digs through the diaper bag and finds an extra blanket-

[Notch] Got it. Where are you headed?

[CP] - The main frame

[Notch] I'd say be gentle but you know how to conduct yourself.

[Jeb] He does????

[Flux] - He'll be fine

[CP] Ignores Jeb and touches the servers letting himself be pulled in and he looks to see what happened-

-There is now a very big server next to the one he's been calling home-

[CP] Snickers and goes to inspect the new bigger server-

-It's already super overbuilt. There are a faintly ridiculous number of players running around and the chat is full of random emoticons and leetspeak. There are quite a few large sculptures with just random words and pixel art from various 8bit games. There's a spleef dome rising over part of the town as well. The spawn is a sort of open waiting room with the basic server rules posted on a series of white colums in a circle. People are hustling in every direction but the spot he's standing in is relatively quiet.

[CP] - Oh joy, fresh prey

-He's immediatly struck with the feeling of being scrutinzed-

[CP] Focus' on the feeling to see what it is-

-There's a bit of a cough from above him-

[Octagon] You look lost friend. I hope you're not here to make mischief. - The figure is unmistakably a NOTCH, but he has a full long beard plaited like a dwarf and a name floating over his head like a player.

[CP] - Oh fuck off

[Octagon] Now that's not very nice. And here I'm being super polite too.

[CP] - I just  came to find out what had been placed next to our server and if it were a threat

[Octagon] Then we're neighbors! How wonderful! You can see my name, what's yours? -Chuckles- Though I can probably guess.

[CP] - The others usually refer to me as CP

[Octagon] Hops down from the pillar and stands next to him. He's average height for a NOTCH, so shorter then Cp- Pleased to meet you then! I wouldn't have a player name, like this- he indicates the floating bar- but my brother tagged me.

[CP] - Your brother?

[Octagon] Yes! Let me see if I can get his attention. I think he'd be more your speed anyway- He does some whisper typing and then waits-

-A Herobrine basically steps out of his shadow and makes a show of stalking and menacing the NOTCH from behind before tickling his ribs with a gigantic grin-

[Octagon] Dissolves into wild laughter - BRO!

[CP] - Oh joy- He's dead pan

[Enix] Speaks with the most sinister voice Cp's ever heard outside the mansion, it's practically an oily sound. - What? No sense of humor?

[CP] - Only when it comes to murder or teasing my wife

[Enix] A brine with a mate? Did you wed an Alex? Lucky man.

[Octagon] You have a wife? That's so sweet. Is she nice?

[CP] - Another brine, and it's none of your fucking business

[Enix] Shrugs- Suit yourself.

[Octagon] He lives next server over!

[Enix] Lounges against a pillar. - So how's the neighborhood around here? Our admin changed hosts.

[CP] - Well it was quiet, but don't expect to be able to just hop over, it's a private server

-There's a bit of commotion as a few players spawn in and stand for a moment. The native NOTCH and brine make a show of stiffly waving at them and doing a few player hops-

[Octagon] Sounds quiet.

[CP] - Again, it was, but I suspect we'll be picking up a fair amount of noise from your server here

[Enix] Not much to be done about that. This is a kids server.

[Octagon] Little players really liven up the place!

[CP] - Ours is a sanctuary for brines

[Octagon] So you don't have any players at all?

[CP] - Occasionally a few that we trust explicitly will come on, but otherwise, no

[Octagon] But who pays the bills?

[CP] - We have our ways

[Enix] Clever, and close with secrets I see. Well we're set up decently well too. The head admin thinks we're both players.

[Octagon] Snickers-

[CP] - Pathetic

[Enix] Scoff if you want. It's a good gig.

[Octagon] Some of us like kids you know. He and I keep the griefing and hacking to a minimum so everyone has fun.

[CP] - We're brines!  We're supposed to grief!

[Lie] Slips into the server, having been wondering what was taking CP so long and so had traced his path through the office.  She appears right behind her husband-

[Octagon] But they're just kids. It would be mean to grief them. They'd just cry.

[Enix] Hides a growing smile behind one hand - You wouldn't burn down some little kids clubhouse would ya?

[CP] - I have in the past

[Lie] Sighs- CP...

[CP] Stiffens and turns around- Lie...

[Enix] Laughs- I think someone just got busted!

[Octagon] All smiles- Hello miss! Welcome to our server.

[Lie] - Hello, I apologize if my husband has been harassing you

[CP] - Why are you here?

[Lie] - You were taking a very long time checking on our daughter so I figured I'd see what was taking you.  Oh, and you also griefed your father, she pooped right after you left apparently and Jeb had to show him how to change the diaper

[Octagon] You have a daughter too???

[Enix] Scoots closer- You're a Herobrine! A female Herobrine???

[Octagon] Gets closer as well- My stars!

[Lie] Hesitates a little- Yes, a newborn, and yes I am a female brine...

[CP] Growls as the other two get closer to his wife-

[Octagon] Congratulations! I had no idea that was even possible!

[Enix] I hope she didn't inherit her dads temperment. He's a bit rude.

[Lie] - He's better than he used to be

[CP] - Speaking of our daughter, we should be getting back to her

-There's a bit of commotion and a player with a silly skin runs up to Octagon and places a sign before typing on it-

[Octagon] Oh dear, that's not allowed. I'm sorry I have to tend to this. It was nice meeting you.

[Enix] Watches his brother rush off. - Yeah, likewise. Sorry about the noise, we have so many players, this place is like a madhouse. Even the Nether and Aether are noisy as all get out. Only the End is quiet.

[Lie] - Our Aether is noisy sometimes too

[CP] Groans at his wife's joke-

[Enix] Stares at her for a long moment and then lets out a rather evil sounding laugh- That's excellent! You named your child after the NOTCH realm mod didn't you???

[Lie] - Yes, we did

[Enix] I love it! What are your thoughts on players? Your hubby seems none too keen on them.

[Lie] - It depends on the player themselves, although I really have no room to judge since I used to be one

[Enix] Oh now things start to make sense... this means someone in your circle can get out. How intriging. I spend most of my time with players.

-A few players are creeping around a little watching them-

[Enix] Hang on- He turns quickly and gives them a freaky grin-

-There's some excited jumping and the avatars sprint away merrily-

[Enix] I save my A-game for more adult multiplayer games mostly.

[Lie] Motions at CP- He's the one who dragged me in initially

[CP] - Lie!  Let's go!

[Enix] Something on fire Cp?

[CP] - You're being annoying!

[Lie] - Adult multiplayer?

[Enix] Gives her fingerguns- I slay at Overwatch, TF2, COD, I know how to do remote logins.

[Lie] - Okay then

[CP] Flumps on his wife a little-

[Lie] - Really CP?

[CP] - I would think you'd want to get back

[Lie] - Why?

[CP] - So we could finish what we were doing~

[Enix] Ah, is it adult playtime?

[Lie] - It was until the baby figured out how to set herself on fire

[Enix] You don't sound panicked so I'm going to assume it's a normal thing for a child brine to be on fire.

[Lie] - Considering it's one of her father's powers?  Yes

-Another small group of players spawn in and wave -

[Enix] Just play it cool.

[Lie] - Well we should be leaving soon anyways, but I'll be sure to let our head admin know about you guys

-messages in chat-

-Whoah Pretty hair! O-O-

-Red Herobrine! Super talllllllllllllll-

[Enix] Thanky. Come back and visit if you want. Just walk stiff and follow the rules.

[Lie] - We will- She stands near CP and he lets both of them out and back into the office

[CP] Helps Lie out and both of them can hear Aether getting fussy-

[Notch] Back again? How did it go?

[Fangbo] Is making faces at Aether to make her giggle-

[Lie] - Well the new neighbors have a brine and a NOTCH

[Dofta] oh dear... do they get along at least?

[CP] - Their relationship is brotherly

[Lie] Goes to take her fussy baby from Notch-

[Dofta] Oh good. [She's still upset about the incident with Mb and Echo the other day]

[Notch] That's a relief at least.

[Lie] Picks up on Dofta's emotions- Hey, it wasn't your fault.  It was actually the NOTCH's fault that MB was up for deletion

[CP] - Yeah, and they are way too cheerful

[Fangbo] Cheerful is bad?

[Yster] Well I can think of worse things.

[Jeb] Is looking at a screen on the mainframe - that's a big server...

[CP] - The head admin just thinks that they are players, they hit each other with name tags

[Notch] That's actually kinda clever. They're just living there?

[Jeb] Is looking up some info on the server. - Oh man...! I found the stats for it.

[CP] - Yeah well can you move it farther from ours?

[Locklear] - Are you really being territorial over a digital space?

[CP] - Yes!

[Jeb] The owner is a rather sweet-looking little old lady. And no, I can't move it. The placement is decided by the hosting service. They just got a packet near yours.

[Yster] I got the impression he was territorial about everything in general.

[CP] - Then I'll find a way to move it

[Notch] Just leave it be please, it sounds like they might be decent allies.

[CP] Grumbles-

[Lie] - Should we be heading back?

[Notch] I think so, Aether looks sleepy too.

[Lie] - Yeah, I think it's nap time

[Lie] Once back home they say goodbye to Notch and go inside. CP lays down on the bed with their daughter and Lie watches as he falls asleep with her, taking a screen shot as her daughter sleeps soundly on her father's chest. With a giggle she decides to check on CN and looks around for the child-

[CN] Is digging around in the food trunk for a snack-

[Lie] - And what are you doing CN?

[CN] Yelps and quickly turned around- Lie!

[Lie] - Are we getting a snack?

[CN] - Yeah...

[Lie] - I see, well after your snack, do you want to go for a ride with me?

[CN] - Sure! Where are we going?

[Lie] - Just to Docs place, there's some stuff I need to tell them

[CN] Quickly eats an apple- Okay! I'm ready to go!

[Lie] Smiles and follows CN out to the stable where he selects a horse and then follows her to the front of the house so she can get on Beau. The stallion is happy to be getting out and prances a little- Easy there, we're just going for a short ride

[CN] Climbs on his horse and follows Lie towards Docs house-

[Doc] is dozing in the sun near the spawn, hir dragon tail is draped over a few of the headstones and the small wall-

[Lie] - Guess we won't have to go so far- She trots over to Doc- Hey Doc? I've got some news...

[Doc] blinks sleepily- mm? Oh. Hi lie, Cn - Xe yawns - I didn't sleep worth a damn last night...

[Lie] - Because of the server shift?

[Doc] You felt it too huh? It was that, and the noise...

[Lie] - CP felt it from out in the office. He also went to investigate and it's where I found him

[Doc] Groans- please tell me he didn't already piss everyone off?

[Lie] - Not yet, but there is a brine and NOTCH over there

[Doc] Hunkers down into a tidy, alert crouch- Now you have my full attention.

[Lie] - They have taken on a brothers relationship and the server admin just believes that they are players.  It's a server for kids

[CN] - For kids?

[Doc] No wonder it's so noisy. They must have a lot of players for all the activity I've been picking up on.

[Lie] - It looked like it too.  Jeb looked up the stats for the server and said it was massive

[Doc] Interested tail flick - and the brine and the NOTCH? They're just living there? Are they really into babysitting or something?

[Lie] - I'm not sure, CP talked to them longer than I did.  But he's currently napping with the baby.  Their names are Octagon and Enix though

[Doc] How odd. Well at least it's nothing bad. I'll make my way over with a welcome cake or something, but not right now. I'm so tired... - They lay their head down with their chin in the grass. - I can't even sleep in my bed right now. Buff decided to evict my cobweb collection and it's annoying as hell listening to him whistle and bump around cleaning stuff.

[Lie] - I'm sorry to hear that

[CN] Nudges his horse closer to Lie- Lie?

[Lie] - Yes?

[CN] - Could...  Could I go over there?

[Lie] - Well, I don't see why not, but you'd have to move stiffly like the players

[Doc] Thanks Lie. They might be suspicious of you too since you're smaller then a player.

[Lie] - That's true, but they just seemed awed at how large CP was.  They're kids, they might not think much of it

[Doc] Perhaps. And if their Herobrine doesn't shade his eyes, they might be used to a few anomalies... - They sneak their tail fluff over their eyes and shift to a more comfortable pose. Like a balled cat.

[CN] - Could we...  Go now?

[Lie] Hesitates a little- Are you sure you want to CN?

[CN] Nods his head-

[Doc] You guys have fun then, and be careful. Cn, you're not used to being around players, they can be impulsive and even destructive.

[CN] - But they're kids!

[Lie] - And they don't realize we're real and can feel pain

[CN] - Oh...

[Doc] They're just playing from behind a screen. Dying is a minor inconvenience. And they can't talk except in the chat and passing stuff like signs or books back and forth.

[CN] - Okay

[Lie] - Lets put our horses in with the skeletal ones here CN, then we can go

[CN] Nods in agreement and jumps the horse over the low fence-

[Lie] Does the same with Beau before creating an opening- See you in a bit Doc

[Doc] -is already asleep again-

[Lie] Makes the opening and guides CN through, both showing up at the spawn of the other server-

[CN] Looks around and bounces a bit in excitement-

[Enix] Runs by playfully chasing some players and stops- You came back so soon, and you brought a child? I thought your little one was a newborn? - He leans down to get a better look at Cn-

[Lie] - This is my NOTCH, CN, he heard their were other children here and wanted to come visit.  CN?  This is Enix

[CN] Takes a step back and moves a bit behind Lie-

[Enix] He's a bit timid huh? - He realizes the kids he was chasing have snuck up on him and are peeking at him from behind a pillar- Excuse me for a sec- He turns quickly and teleports right in front of them with a pickaxe in one hand. The kids leap and run like the dickens- Hehehe. Works every time.

[Lie] - And not just on children

[CN] Is looking up and around at everything there-

[Lie] - Go on CN, if you want to go explore then go.  I'm sure Enix or Octagon can teleport you to me when you want to

[Enix] Perhaps I can show you around in the meantime? We've got quite a community of budding pixel artists.

[Lie] - Sure, I'd love a tour.  Go have fun CN

[CN] Doesn't need to be told twice as he rushes off-

-The town is full of people rushing back and forth, some of them are even running little shops to trade things with other players. The chat is full or random talk as well, mostly about school and gossip. The houses are laid out on a basic grid and they vary in quality and materials-

[CN] Wanders around and checks everything out, reading the chat and getting confused about some of the things being talked about-

-A few avatars stop to look at him and there's some activity in the chat-

-There's a little guy LOLz.-

-Mini Notch wtf?-

-Neat skin!!!!11!!1-

[CN] Tries to figure out how to talk in chat without being too obvious- THanks?

-Wanna play with us???-

-SPLEEF-

-Agian? OMG. -

[CN] - Spleef?  What's that?

[FollyCloud] You run around on snow with a shovel and try to cut the snow out from under other people!

[CN] - Sounds easy enough...

[BlockofFred] We have our own big stadum! Octagon keeps it set up!

[SilverMilk] We need one more person though....

[CN] - Okay, I'll play

[CaptainPurple] I call little guy!

[BlockofFred] I want Folly!

[SilverMilk] I'll message RobbinTime and meet you there.

[CN] - You can call me CN

[CaptainPurple] Cool!

-The others are all bouncing and sprinting ahead-

[CN] Follows, forgetting to move stiffly-

[BlockofFred] Watches him curiously- You move weird...

[CN] - Uh, it's...  Mods

[BlockofFred] Oh! Neato1!

-The group approaches a board covered in game rules and a button in the center.  The group hits the button and CN follows suit-  The end up in a lobby where the players are partnering up and going to the designated areas for a match.  As they cross a line of purple blocks, it sets their spawn point for the arena-

[CN] - Whoa...

[SilverMilk] Comes back with another player, their nameplate is RobbinTime - ready!

[CN] - Okay, so how do we do this?

[CaptainPurple] Nods at RobbinTime and they each hit a button on the wall-

[CN] Follows suit and the trio are teleported to an arena.  Their inventories have been cleared and they now only have an iron helmet and a diamond shovel-

-The other three are facing them from across the snowfield-

[SilverMilk] Just use the shovel to knock the snow out from under them, and don't fall, okay?

[CN] - Got it- He gets ready and his vision is briefly obscured by a countdown timer and when it's time to go he races forwards with the others

-There's a lot of scurrying and jumping, snow is flying everywhere and BlockofFred is the first to fall-

[CN] Jumps over a gap to try to get behind the other team.  He manages to knock RobbinTime down- Yes!

[CaptainPurple] Shoves Cn out of the way just as FollyCloud swings to knock the ground out from under him-

[CN] Stumbles and falls- Oof!

[CaptainPurple] Is now chasing FollyCloud around and they're swiftly  running out of blocks to stand on-

[CN] Shakily stands and starts running to head FollyCloud off-

[FollyCloud] Manages to drop CaptainPurple and turns his attention to Cn-

[CN] Is having a bit of a stand off, not sure how to proceed and is looking for a safe route-

[FollyCloud]Chases him into a corner and takes a swing at the block under him-

[CN] Falls and it's at this point that he realizes that there's lava beneath the snow.  He panics and without thinking he shifts into his bird form and flies up-

-WHOAH!-

-How did he do that??????-

[CN] Panic and flies to the far side of the arena where there's still snow and he shifts back, pressing himself back against the door-

-HACKER!!!1!1!-

[Octagon] Tps into the arena and looks around with his hands on his hips and his black eyes narrowed in annoyance-

[FollyCloud] Jumps around- He did something weird! He's cheating!

[CN] Starts breathing hard- There's lava down there!

[Octagon] Stalks over to him- well yes, that's kinda the point of not falling. Who are you?

[CN] Is trembling a little, looking for anyway out- C...  CN...

[SilverMilk] He was moving weird...

[FollyCloud] He turned into somethign small!

[CN] Is really wanting Lie right about now-

[Octagon] Very quietly- I'm not sure what you're playing at, but you've thrown the gauntlet down now. If he knocked you down and you cheated back up, then the game can't end until you fall.

[CN] - But...  That's going to hurt (String of numbers)

[Octagon] I'm aware of that, but you won't be deleted.

[CN] - But...  But...

[Octagon] Just swats the block out from under him-

[CN] Falls with a yell and doesn't manage to transform quickly enough this time, hitting the lava and screaming in pain before popping back into the Spleef lobby.  He immediately takes off at a run to try and get out with tears forming at the corners of his eyes-

[Octagon] Reassures the other players before tping to his location. Or course Cn is moving but he's close by- Wait a minute!

[CN] Stumbles and turns quickly terrified-

[Octagon] Easy there little NOTCH. That was nessesary.

[CN] - It...  It hurt...  So much...- CN leans up against a wall, they are mostly hidden from sight

[Octagon] Sorry, but once you start a Spleef game that's the only way to end it. There's no way out of the arena except to auto tp when all the opposing team has dropped and hit respawn.

[CN] - I didn't know that!

[Octagon] I hear that a lot. Most of the players here are children and they tend not to read rules carefully.

[CN] - I...  I just wanted some new friends to play with...- He's still shaking and a couple of tears roll down his cheek

[Octagon] Kneels down and pats his shoulder- Are you lost? Did you wander in from the void?

[CN] Shakes his head- My brine brought me because I asked her...

[Octagon] There's another Herobrine on the server????

[CN] - She visited earlier...

[Octagon] Blinks- The white-haired brine?

[CN] Nods- Yeah, she's my brine

[Octagon] Would you like me to find her for you?

[CN] Nods-

[Octagon] Reaches out for his hand - then that's what we'll do. I'm Octagon by the way.

[CN] - You already know my name...- He cautiously takes the offered hand

[Octagon] Uses his free hand to try and get Lie's attention in the chat-

[Enix] Notices and pauses from pointing out different types of planes someone has built high above the harborside- Oh dear... it seems your NOTCH had a bit of an accident.

[Lie] - Is he okay?

[Enix] He respawned, but Octagon says he's okay. Just a bit shaken up. It seems he decided to join a game of Spleef with some players.

[Lie] - Oh dear, take me to him?

[Enix] Of course. - He takes her hand and tps her to Octagon and Cn. The two of them were passing through a small park when the others appeared.

[Lie] - CN...

[CN] Runs for Lie and hugs her-

[Lie] - Shhh, it's okay, I know it hurt

[CN] Is sniffling-

[Lie] - Thank you for helping him Octagon

[Octagon] Well... I didn't help much. I kinda had to drop him to end the game...

[Lie] - I see, I'm going to guess he shifted forms to avoid the lava?

[CN] Hugs Lie a bit closer as she rubs his back-

[Octagon] Yes. He set off several accusations of cheating and hacking.

[Lie] - Oh CN...  I'm sorry, he's never really interacted with players before and he's never died before either

[Octagon] Well he's welcome to play, he just needs to stick to safer things.

[Enix] Wait, he's not lava-proof?

[Lie] - What games would be alright?  And no, he's not

[Octagon] Makes an expansive gesture, - this is a good place to start. - The park around them has several groups of kids playing. Some are doing parkour on little obstacle courses, and others are clearly playing tag or hide and seek- There's a hedge maze too, people like to see who can solve it the fastest.

[Lie] - Alright, maybe next time.  I think somebody has had enough excitement for now

[Octagon] I understand. Kids get overwhelmed.

[Enix] One's first death is also no small thing.

[Lie] - Yes, I remember my only death so far, I'd never wish it on anybody.  Thank you for letting us visit- She creates a way home and the other two get a brief image of spawn as Lie passes through with CN

[CN] After a couple of hours he flies over to Firebirds tree-

-Firebird's sitting in one of the higher spots writing in a book, His tail dangles down like a brightly colored banner,-

[CN] Spots the tail and make a beeline for it. He turns back mid air and barrels into Firebird, pulling him into a hug-

[Firebird] Woah CN! -Nearly falls backwards as CN slams into him, but doesn't. He hugs CN back with one arm- What's up with you?

[CN] Looks up, his eyes still red from crying- I... I died...

[Firebird] Oh dear... I'm sorry you had to experience that.. I don't like it either..

[CN] - I was playing a game with some... With some players and beneath the snow was lava! I tried to fly away! They all started calling me a hacker!

[Firebird] Players can be like that... It's alright... -pets CN- Players don't see us the way we do.

[CN] - It hurt so much, and that other NOTCH made me fall into it...

[Firebird] He did what? -Angry bird? Angry bird-

[CN] - He said that was the only way to end the game...

[Firebird] I doubt that...

[CN] - That's what he said! He's on the server next door if you don't believe me!

[Firebird] I'll have to have some words with them...

[CN] Snuggles in closer to Firebirds side- Can I stay here tonight?- He's still a bit shaken up

[Firebird] Of course you can. Do you want to stay up here with me? Or do you want a bed?

[CN] - I'll stay up here...

[Firebird] Alright. -Shifts around so he can keep writing with CN in his lap-

[rainagainstmywindow]

No Control

So here it finally is! My Big Bang fic for this year! I’m so happy to be finally posting and I really hope you like it cos I worked really hard! Huge shout out to all the admins of the @pjohoobigbang for being patient with me and organizing this whole thing! Also a massive thanks to my two awesome betas @strugglinginthedatabase and @poison-for-breakfast for not only getting me out of many slumps but also geeking out with me about the books! And of course to my artist @nightowlagainsttheworld ! Enjoy!

*****EDIT here’s the link to the art

Thalia Grace, daughter of Zeus and lieutenant of Artemis, made her way quietly towards the Big House of Camp Half-Blood where Chiron was waiting for her. The old centaur had chosen his human form for their meeting and was seating by the fire when she walked in, a blanket covering his fake human legs. His smile was warm but his eyes told her he was all business today. “So glad you could make it.” he told her, “Please, have a seat.” Thalia did as she was told, anxious to know what this whole meeting was about. “Were you surprised to get my Iris message?”

Thalia and Chiron had always kept good connection with each other, but it was mainly due to their links to the Hunters and the Campers respectively. “Yes.”

“It’s nothing bad,” he reassured her. After a pause he added, “Annabeth is fine.”

Thalia eased a little, but -as always- was uncomfortable by how easily Chiron could read her.

“I need a favor, one that might include you donating some of your time to the camp.” Chiron could tell that the idea didn’t particularly settle with Thalia. “I’m asking now because I know Artemis has given your hunters a bit of a break at the moment. Not that you’re not still busy.” He added the last part to appeal to her pride, which he knew resembled the one of another certain demigoddess, but it just made Thalia even more suspicious.

“What is it?”

“I want you to teach.”

Thalia allowed herself a small chuckle. She always felt like she had to be extra professional around the old centaur. “Teach what exactly? I know you have no shortage of great fighters. Unless something’s happened…”

“Nothing’s happened, my dear child, and you are right we have no shortage of great fighters that can teach how to throw a javelin or archery. But we both known that for some those are not their only weapons.”

Thalia started to get an idea of what Chiron was leading up to and couldn’t help but feel like he was over-estimating her. “Chiron, I…”

“You’re the eldest-”

“Well technically Hazel is.”

“You’ve been managing your powers for longer.”

She thought of Jason and how he flew through the skies. She thought of Percy’s surprise at her fear of heights and his promise to keep it a secret. “That doesn’t mean anything, not with us.”

Chiron leveled her with his dark eyes. She was once again reminded of just how old he actually was. With a jolt of surprise she realized that one day she might look like that, untouched by time but carrying the weight of it nonetheless. “You’ve grown more than you could think, Thalia. You understand things I don’t think they do yet. You can help them.”

Thalia suddenly felt very nervous and very small, which was embarrassing. She was the eldest. They listened to her, right? “I don’t know-”

“At least try it, Thalia. That’s all I ask. You won't be alone. I'll try to give you pointers every once in awhile.”

She took a long breath, not daring to meet his eyes again.  Something didn't feel right, but she couldn't think of any reason to deny him. “Okay.”

***********

I hate mornings. There’s no reason that any sane person should wake up before nine a.m. When my alarm blared fifteen minutes ago, at 6:45, I was in the middle of a perfect dream about picnics and Annabeth’s tan legs, a rare novelty nowadays. It'd probably been the first good night’s sleep I've had in weeks. I don’t see why I had to trade that for the painful trek to Zeus’ Fist. I especially don’t get why I wasn’t even told the details of this ridiculous meeting.

I’m still dwelling on self pity when Nico sulkily appears next to me. I’ve gotten more used to his silent walk and I’m barely fazed. He grunts an incoherent ‘good morning’ and I nod back. In many ways Nico and I are polar opposites, but we both agree in our hatred of mornings. He looks like he got out of bed and walked straight to the clearing without really stopping but to maybe brush his teeth, which is probably exactly what he did. It’s what I did, anyways. Which is why Hazel, fresh faced and cheery as ever, looks extremely out of place between us. “Morning!”

I force a smile for her because it's impossible not to. “Hi, how's Frank?” Hazel has stopped by often enough since the war ended, but I haven't seen Frank in a while.

“Busy. He says hi.”

“Do you know what all of this is about?” Asks Nico.

I tell him that I was just about to ask them the same question. I gathered it was probably a head counselor meeting but Annabeth didn't know anything about it when I told her last night and those are alway held in the rec room.

“Well it must be important because Chiron called Jason too.” Adds Hazel.

“What?”

“Yeah, Piper told us yesterday that Chiron called Jason late last night. Told him to come in as soon as possible. He should be here soon actually.”

I'm suddenly wide awake. Chiron called Jason, both Nico and Hazel, and me to a meeting in the woods? I exchange a glance with Nico. “Is Thalia here?”

“Jason’s sister?”

“I don't know,” answers Nico, “I hope not.”

We both know that if she is, it means a quest. Big Three children are not gathered all at the same time at random. Last time we were we had to follow a magical flower around the Underworld and I ended up wiping a Titan’s memory away. Long story.

We walk in silence the rest of the way. Hazel keeps looking at me and I can hear her whisper something to Nico but I don't pay attention to what they're saying. I'm trying to keep my temper in check, to convince myself that Chiron doesn't actually expect me to go on some ridiculous quest. Not now.

I walk without thinking, letting my feet lead me down the familiar path and subconsciously following the tug of the lake. When we finally get there, Chiron is talking with  none other than Thalia Grace, in all her punk glory. I dig my nails into my palm and curse.

“Nice to see you too, Percy.” I open my mouth to apologize but she waves it away. She understands. “Relax,” she tells me, “it's not what you think. We’ll explain once Jason gets here.”

She is in no hurry and there's a warm smile, or at least Thalia’s version of a warm smile, on her face as Nico officially introduces her to Hazel. Thalia wants to know everything about her experience with the Amazons and both girls start talking excitedly. I'm still not fully at ease, but at least it isn't a quest.

I wish Jason would hurry up already.

“There you are, Jason my boy!” Chiron finally calls ten minutes later as Jason jogs towards our small group. He looks as confused as I feel.

“Can you tell us what's going on now?” I ask. I add please after I realize how blunt I sounded. This is Chiron after all.

It's Thalia who answers, though. For the first time I notice that she actually seems a bit nervous. Only someone that knows her well could tell since her expression is as hard and as fierce as ever, but I notice how she fidgets with her bracelet. “Well, Chiron called me a few days ago to express his… concern towards a particular aspect of… us.”

“By ‘us’ you mean Big Three kids, right?”

“Yes.”

“Okay,” says Nico, arms crossed, “what about us?”

Thalia looks really uncomfortable which half amuses me and half worries me. “Well…” She looks at Chiron for help.

“You're powerful.” He states.

Nico rolls his eyes. “Water is wet.”

I stifle a chuckle but elbow him anyways. “What Nico means is that you've always known this. What’s ‘concerning’ you now exactly?”

“What if you blow up another volcano?”

I'm immediately taken aback with Thalia’s comment. “That was one time!”

“What if Jason causes a tornado?”

“What are you talking about?” It seems like the thought never even occurred to her brother.

“What if Nico brings back a dead person he can't control?”

“What's happening?”

Jason looks from his sister to me, puzzled. Nico looks honestly offended. And Hazel seems to actually be considering what Thalia is saying. “Chiron,” this conversation is getting us nowhere, “what's going on?”

“I've asked Thalia to come and teach you control over your powers.” I don't bother hiding my snort of laughter, but Chiron ignores me. “She's the eldest of the current Big Three children as well as an experienced hero. I can think of no one better for the job.”

An old wave of jealousy comes flooding back, the exact same feeling I had all those years ago after I realized I wasn't going on the quest to save Annabeth from Atlas. I push it aside now though and process what Chiron is saying. Does he think we’re out of control? I look at Jason who is practically the poster boy for control, at Hazel who has shown incredible precision when we've needed it the most. Even Nico has managed to always pleasantly surprise with his power, each time they've randomly manifested they've pretty much saved my life.

Does he think I’m out of control?

What if you blow up another volcano?

“What exactly would we be doing?” Hazel is pretty much the only one that has accepted the idea right away.

Thalia has gone back to looking uncomfortable but I'm having a hard time feeling sorry for her. If I remember correctly, she was the one that lost control and hit me with lightning last time we were here. Granted, I almost dumped the lake on her, but that was a conscious decision.

“I haven't decided yet. I think we should learn what triggers each one of us first.”

Anger. Panic. Helplessness. We all know what makes our powers surface.

Jason, being Jason, back-tracks a little. We need to sort some things out before we get to that point, he tells Thalia. He is pretty busy in New Rome at the moment, what with  just barely being named Pontifex a few days ago, and Thalia has the Hunters. Not to mention the fact that I need to graduate high school and I'm already a semester behind. I was hoping to use my new free time to catch up on homework (Gross, school work over the summer. Thanks Hera).

“For now,” Thalia assures Jason, “we can meet for a couple of hours during the morning. I'm sure Reyna and Frank can handle the camp while we figure out the schedule. The Hunters will be staying here for a couple of days too.”

Thalia ignores the look I give her. Hunters and campers don't exactly hate each other but things get tense fast, and she knows it. Is Artemis okay with her hunters taking a break for the sake of Thalia teaching a class that's supposed to be recreational? It doesn't seem like her at all.

“Chiron suggest we should start straight away, so we’re meeting back here tomorrow at the same time.”

None of us say anything for a while. We’re all waiting to rush off and tell someone about this ordeal. It's Nico who breaks the silence by stating “It’s settled then” and proceeds to walk away. Hazel waves sheepishly at me and Jason, tells Thalia it was nice to meet her, and follows her brother out of the clearing.

I know Thalia and Jason haven't seen each other in a while and I'm itching to find Annabeth and Grover, so I quickly excuse myself too. “I'll see you tomorrow then.”

I'm walking away when I hear Thalia. “Wait!” She calls out. I turn on my heel, certain she’ll make fun of my hair or tell me my fly is down or something. “Just give it a shot, okay? Just… try.”

I don't know how to answer. Her face is barely guarded and, even though it hasn't aged in years and I've started to look older than her, for the first time I sense how much younger I am. “Okay.” Whatever is actually going on here, she's noticed it too.

By the time I leave the clearing most campers are probably done with breakfast and are heading to their daily activities. I myself have a sword-fighting class to teach in half an hour, according to my watch. Nevertheless I head to the Dining Pavilion and I’m not surprised to find Annabeth  waiting for me in the Poseidon table. She doesn’t say anything as I slide in beside her. I’m not going to fake enthusiasm with her.

“What was it about?” Annabeth finally asks.

I tell her, forcing any sort of resentment towards Thalia out of my voice since I know she’ll defend her (and I know she’ll be right). I’m acting childish by getting angry at Thalia, but I’m choosing to divert my anxiety towards our old jealous feuds. When I’m done explaining she tries, and fails, to look sheepish, not meeting my eyes. I know what she’s going to say.

“Honestly,” Annabeth starts, “I think it’s a great idea. And I know you think Thalia-”

“It’s not that.” I can’t stop thinking about the look in her eyes. I agree with Chiron. She is the best person for the job (of course I’ll never admit it out loud but I know it anyways), but Chiron had plenty of chances to do this in the past. It doesn't make sense to do it now. “It’s not about Thalia.” I know that if I think about it too hard I'll realize something I don't like. Suddenly, I don’t feel like talking about it anymore.

Annabeth notices my change of heart and drops any sort of argument about Thalia I know she’s tempted to start. “When’s the first meeting?”

“Tomorrow.”

**************

“-he was just acting really weird.” Hazel finishes. She couldn’t possibly imagine why a class like this might bother Percy so much, even I’m guessing. But I’ve got a pretty good idea.

“He’s got his reasons, Hazel.”

“Which are?” She is concerned for him, but prying is the last thing he probably wants. She stops and pulls me aside so that we're facing each other. “Should I know something? About… us?”

Maybe she’s not only concerned about Percy. “What do you mean?”

“…What happens to our powers as we get older?”

I haven’t forgotten how Hazel died. People tend to forget that she’s a powerful demigod, but I don’t. She doesn’t either apparently. “I don’t know.”

“Why would Chiron be so concerned about us learning control now then? Why not when Percy was younger? Or when he found out who our father was?”

The timing seems strange to me as well, but it could be a number of things or nothing but a coincidence. “I don’t know, Hazel.” I try to reassure her even though her questions have made me even more suspicious. “It’ll be fine.”

“Nico,” she pulls me to a full stop this time, just a few feet away from the dining pavilion, “tell me what you really think.”

I sigh. “I think this is definitely weird and I don't buy Chiron’s excuse for it. I also think that maybe we’re all overreacting because we’re still on edge from the war.”

She looks a little more relieved, grateful even that I'm being honest with her. “Okay.”

******

Piper greets me with a dazzling smile as she open the door to her cabin. “How was it?”

I walk towards her, aware that Lacy, along with another one of her sisters, is observing us from the corner of the room. “Fine,” I say, my voice clearly guarded. Piper casts a glance towards her sisters and a few seconds later I hear them shuffle out of her cabin. Only when I hear the door close behind them do I bend down to kiss her. “Thalia was there.” She raises an eyebrow at that. “And Nico and Hazel, and Percy.”

She completely pulls away now. “What?”

“Thalia is going to teach us how to ‘control our powers’ apparently.” I see her physically relax at the knowledge of this not being about a quest.“She didn’t seem too excited about it.”

“How come?”

“I don’t know she seemed… nervous.” Piper gives me a look. We’re both thinking the same thing: Thalia doesn’t get nervous. “And Percy wasn’t too happy about it either. Thalia told me it was just how they got along but…”

“But they’re friends right? She went looking for him when he disappeared.”

I haven’t forgotten the jealousy I felt towards Percy after seeing how worried my sister was over him. “It didn’t seem like they hated each other or anything. Plus it wasn’t just him. Nico wasn’t thrilled about the idea either.”

“They’re probably nervous. You guys are really… powerful.”

“So are you,” I argue, “you literally lulled a goddess to speak with you voice!” She looks like she wants to argue but I continue. “I mean, Katie Gardner can grow plants at will. Kayla con manipulate sunlight. Frank can turn into pretty much anything.”

Piper’s eyes are steady. “Yeah but not like you guys. I can’t cause a natural disaster.”

I asked Thalia about Percy making a volcano explode after everyone else left. Apparently he caused an earthquake underneath Mt. St. Helens when he was fifteen and ended up waking the giant that lived underneath it. I remember hearing about it on the news too. People were hurt, half a million had to be evacuated. That was almost two years ago. I know he’s only gotten more powerful since then. It makes sense Chiron would want us to know how to reign in our power better, but still...

We sit side by side on her bed. She grabs my hand. “I don’t think you guys have to worry about anything. Maybe Chiron had been thinking about it for a while and wanted to try it out with a smaller group first, the hardest group, before making an actual activity at camp.”

She doesn't sound too confident. “Why bring in Thalia then? She can't stay here and teach.”

“Maybe Chiron wants her to train you guys so eventually you teach-”

“Piper.”

She sighs. “I know. Something's definitely up.”

She starts chewing on her lip, finally giving up the look of fake enthusiasm she greeted me with. I immediately feel guilty about weighing her down with my own worries. She's got enough on her plate. She might not show it, but Leo’s death is more present than ever. It's only been a few weeks after all.

“Have you been talking with Nico again?” She immediately turns away and attempts to hide how her hands shake as she makes her bed, but I notice. She's been pestering Nico ever since the final fight with Gaea. She won't accept Leo is dead until he confirms it. I wish he just would, because without it it's hard to not hope he's still out there, but Nico downright refuses. A few days ago he admitted to me that it was because he simply couldn't find him. He seemed a little embarrassed, but I understood why he preferred not telling anyone else. I haven't even told Piper. “Pipes, I think you should-”

“I should what?!”

“Piper.”

“Forget about him?! Is that what you want?! Because no one else seems to mind-” Whatever she was going to say next gets caught in the sobs that suddenly rack her body. I rush forwards to her and wrap my arms around her. What was I going to say? I don't even know. I just wish she wasn't so miserable all the time now. I wish I had Leo back.

I kiss her forehead and try to soothe her by rubbing circles down her back, but her cries cut through me, and suddenly it's very hard to keep my own composure. I haven't really let myself fully embrace it all. Somehow I've managed to trick my mind into thinking that Leo is just away, that any day now he’ll descend onto camp atop Festus and apologize for taking so long. But every day he hasn't.

“I think about him every day too, Piper,” I whisper by her ear, embarrassed by how my voice cracks, “I don't know what to do. I just- I can't see you like this.”

She looks up from where she buried her face in my chest. I can't meet her gaze; I'm properly crying now. I curse myself for blubbering like a child. She wipes my tears away with the back of her hand and gently pulls my face to meet hers. When I look into her beautiful, puffy red eyes I lose it. I'm sobbing almost as bad as she was just a few seconds ago. She takes my glasses off and takes my face in her hands before hugging me tightly to her.

I think we're finally mourning Leo.

“I can't just accept he's gone, Jason.” I can't either, it's as if my whole being simply rejects the mere possibility.

I manage to get a grip on myself after a couple minutes. I pull away from Piper slightly to wipe away my tears. “Sorry. I'm ..sorry. I'm a mess.”

“Don't be,” she tells me, not bothering with her own tears, “we’re both a mess. We have a right to be.”

With a huff I pluck down on her bed. My thoughts return to the meeting this morning, but they're half-hearted. The significance of whatever might be going on there seems to have diminished. Piper sits beside me, resting her head on my shoulder. We stay like that for a while. I can still hear her crying beside me.

“Hey,” she calls in an attempt to lighten the mood, “I've been meaning to ask you. And I get if you don't want to, or want to stay at the camps. It makes more sense-”

“What's up, Pipes?”

Her eyes are still puffy from crying and her hair is sticking up at random places, clearly she was just getting ready when I walked in because she's also still in her pajamas. Being head counsellor she gets to be the last one up (or at least that's her interpretation of the title). She still looks amazing to me though. Somehow it seems very intimate to see someone like this, which is new for me but I love it anyways. I realize I probably look like a wreck too.

She plays with the peeling nail polish on her thumb before answering. “I want you to go to school with me in L.A.”

I wasn't expecting that at all. I hadn't really thought past this summer that much. I didn't know she wanted to go back to mortal school. “Actually,” a slightly guilty look crosses her face, “I kind of already registered both us.”

“Oh.”

“I know I should've definitely told you first! But I was on the phone and I dunno I just kind of blurted it out!”

“It's...yeah. I mean I just didn't know you wanted to go back to L.A is all.”

She runs a hand through her face. “Yeah. I figured I should probably spend some time with my Dad, y'know. Sit him down and explain everything.” She takes my hand. “But I really don't want to be away from you now.”

“Ok.” I just blurt it out.

“What? Really?”

“Yeah.” She smiles at me and I smile back until I realize something. “Wait! Does this mean I'll stay with you and your Dad? In the same house?!”

She laughs at me, the morning’s meeting completely forgotten.

********

Hazel convinced me to get to the clearing earlier. Thalia is already here. She greets us both with a smile. Hazel and I are armed with our swords but Thalia doesn’t have any weapons out. I know her bow and arrow will appear if she needs them and she has her Aegis bracelet on, but it doesn’t seem like we’ll be using any weapons today.

A few minutes later Jason walks in. He’s right on time, not a minute before and not a minute after, which I find annoying but I still wave back at him. He hugs Thalia and looks politely curious, but I can tell that some of our trepidation has made its way to him.

Percy is five minutes late. It doesn’t look like he overslept.

“Okay,” Thalia starts, throwing Percy the stink eye which he happily ignores, “I thought we’d do something fun.”

“Your version of fun usually isn’t that fun,” I point out. She waves me away but we all seem to agree.

“Normal training session, but no weapons allowed.”

“So a completely abnormal training session?” Percy mumbles.

She throws her bracelet to the ground along with about a dozen other weapons. I make a mental note to never sneak up on her. Once she’s done, she looks at the group expectantly. Jason throws his coin in, Hazel her spatha. I cave in and throw my own sword in. Only Percy is left.

“It reappears in my pocket”,  he explains.

“What about the watch?” Thalia asks, pointing at the shield Tyson disguised as a watch. He rolls his eyes but throws it into the pile anyways. She makes him promise not to use the sword. “Alright then.” There’s a scary grin on her face as she rubs her hands together, sparks crackling off her knuckles. “Let’s go.”

Thalia decides to pair us off like a “normal training session” but takes a different approach to what I would've personally done. Where I would've grouped her, Jason, and Percy together and paired Hazel with me, she decides to pair Hazel with Percy and me with Jason. “I'll take it easy on you today and observe,” she tells us. Percy raises an eyebrow at me as if to say Not what I expected, how about you? I shrug back and face Jason. We're both pretty stumped as to what we're supposed to do. If anything this is making me realize how much I rely on a sword. Percy and Hazel seem to be playing a weird game of tag where Hazel lunges towards him and Percy side steps her.

Jason, ever the good student, takes a page out of Hazel’s book and lunges. I'm not fast enough and he manages to catch my wrist. I'm about to swing at him with my free hand when I remember that the whole point of this is to use our powers. What the hell? I stomp the ground and a large crevice appears at Jason’s feet, not much unlike the one I called up all those years ago to save Percy and Annabeth from that skeleton warrior. They little souvenir still adorns the dining pavilion to this day.

Jason is forced to step back but doesn't let go of me. He's about to pull me down with him when I feel the wind pick up, making him regain his balance. This is starting to look more like hand-to-hand combat than anything else and I'm pretty sure Jason can beat me at that no sweat, but we're both trying to do what Thalia wants to see. I can tell he, like me, is going through his list of tricks.

I slowly call for the dead to rise out of the crevice I created, reaching out with my mind. Jason concentrates on picking up the wind so we only grapple a little, our focus elsewhere. I can start to see a skeletal hand make its way out when suddenly Thalia tells us to stop. We all immediately do. I realize that the strong breeze was not only due to Jason, but Percy had managed to create a smaller, weaker version of the hurricane that usually engulfs him in a fight. He's also bleeding from a cut above his eye. Hazel looks guilty and keeps apologizing. My guess is she chucked some sort of precious metal nugget at his head. I almost laugh but then I see Thalia’s face.

“That was hard to watch.” It was also hard on us. We, except maybe Hazel, are breathing hard. Usually I'm pumped with adrenaline when I use my powers, and only as a last resort. Summoning them with no real incentive took some effort. “You were distracted and awkward. You know that you won't be able to take your time like that in a real battle, right?” Real battle?

“In a real battle we’d be armed and scared out of our minds,” argues Percy.

“We're not always armed.”

“But we always start with a weapon!”

“That's your problem! You rely too heavily on your weapons!”

I don't know if she's addressing all of us or just Percy. I missed their back and forths. Either way, they both have a point.

Jason steps in. “Whoa guys, settle down.” Percy shoots Thalia one last angry look and walks towards the lake to take care of his cut. “C’mon Thalia. It's only our first practice.”

I feel that uneasiness again. Thalia is taking this too seriously. Maybe I'm just not fully acquainted with Lieutenant Thalia but this doesn't seem like some light-hearted idea from Chiron. I think she's starting to understand that too. I wonder what instructions the old centaur gave her.

I turn to Hazel, her eyes are trained on Thalia’s face. She's been skeptical all the way, but she's choosing not to show it to see where this is going. Smart plan. “Yeah, Jason's right. I mean we're not used to it yet,” she says

Thalia glances at Percy. “Fine. Let's go again.”

She doesn't change the partners and it doesn't get easier. By the end we're all soaked in sweat and I'm ready to take a long nap. Of course none of us can do that since the day’s barely started at camp. I wish we had Roman baths here. All of us that have been to Camp Jupiter have been campaigning for them but Annabeth still has us at maybe.

Afterwards Hazel asks “Why did you think she paired us up like that?”

“I don't know.” She can collapse underground tunnels and Poseidon is the Earthshaker but Jason and I made no sense. Pairs didn't make sense, period.

“Maybe she thinks frustration triggers our powers.”

I consider it. “Well it definitely works for her.”

She shrugs and we drop the conversation, heading to our respective activities, both still clearly weary about the whole situation.

************

“-I don't know that's what Jason said,” finishes Piper. She's only half paying attention to her sculpture. I haven't even tried to examine my blueprints as she tells me about the training session this morning. I won't get to see Percy until tonight so she got to hear about it from Jason first.

“Thalia does seem very on edge lately. I think she's avoiding me actually.” I don't mean to sound hurt but Piper notices anyways. “I mean I get it, she has a lot on her plate and she has to spend all the time she can with Jason.”

“No she doesn't. Even Jason thinks something is up. Not just between Thalia and Percy.”

“It is pretty weird timing.” I've tried not to think about how the whole thing actually does bother me slightly. I want things to not be complicated for once in my life. “But I trust Thalia and Chiron. They're just not used it.” I try to change the conversation. “So what did Jason think? About the whole high school idea?” After being away from her dad for so long Piper decided to go back to mortal school. She wasn't big on the idea of not getting to see Jason as often, so she told me she was going to ask him to start school with her.

“He's really on board with it actually!” She's smiling again which is nice. I haven't seen many of those from her since Leo. “He's kind of nervous about spending time with my Dad, though.”

“Oh please! There isn't a parent out there that wouldn't love him!”

“Which is what I told him.” She tries to go back to her sculpture but it's stopped looking like anything a long time ago. “What about your Dad? Does he approve of you dating a delinquent?”

“Hey, all charges against my delinquent have been dropped!”

She chuckles and I go back to my blueprints. I actually haven't seen my Dad in a while. I sent him an iris message before heading to New Rome and a text after the fight with Gaea to let him know I was alive, but I keep putting off going to San Francisco. After hearing about Piper’s plans to go back to L.A I make a mental note to schedule a visit with my mortal family.

I finally catch up with Percy at the stables; a mare is pregnant and Will has Percy check in on her a couple of times a week. “How is she?”

“She's about ready to not be pregnant anymore.” The grey Pegasus neighs irritably and he chuckles. “More than ready actually.”

“How was everything today?” He's probably guessed that Piper told me everything. He knows what I'm asking about. He chews on his lip. I can tell he's debating whether or not to tell me what he actually thinks. “That bad, huh?”

“No, I mean… something just feels off y’know? Like she's not telling us something.” I don't know what face I make but he drops the brush he's holding and takes my hand and tries and easy smile. “We're probably reading too much into it. Old habits. For all we know she's anxious to get to whatever project Artemis assigned the Hunters this time.”

“Yeah.” Old habits. “You're probably right.”

He kisses me so I don't start thinking too much about it. I will eventually, but not now. His lips actually manage to tug a smile out of me. “There she is.”

Idiot.

**********

We haven't been able to beat the Hunters at capture the flag for years. I no longer wonder why. Lieutenant Thalia is like every drill Sergeant I've seen on TV except she can call down lightning. She insists on her ‘no weapons’ policy and I suspect it's so we don't try to attack her because we're all about ready to do so. Even Jason shot her a wolf stare after his tornado flickered and she struck the spot right next to him. Needless to say she makes it really hard to hold back.

I haven't been able to control my powers quite as well as I used to. Probably because, ever since Tartarus, they've been easier to call. I used to have to reach so hard until I felt an aching pull. It was last resort, always in the heat of battle. I can see the same strain in the others. However they've been using their powers, it hasn't been for the reasons I did down there.

It's intoxicating. I'm afraid they'll realize that, how freeing it is. How so utterly in control you feel.

Hazel is currently wrapping what used to be a block of gold around my ankles. She summoned it a couple days ago and has been practicing at molting it. By now it's basically like play doh under her control, but it still takes a lot out of her. I can feel the beads of sweat running down her forehead just as easily as the icy mist of the hurricane I'm currently maintaining around me. I can sense the water in her tears as lose droplets sting her eyes. I could reach out and grasp the water in the plasma of her blood if I wanted to.

I have to concentrate on this hurricane or I'm going to lose the delicate hold I have on my restraint. I make it bigger and urge it to move towards her. I try to envelope her in it so that she completely loses focus and I can move my legs again. The force of it knocks me back, but my feet are still secured by the gold so I end up doing a very Matrix-like backbend and then springing upright again. The move is so ridiculous it makes Hazel crack up and her focus finally shatters. The gold melts away so I'm left standing in a very expensive puddle.

“Okay I guess that's enough for today.” Thalia calls out. She tries to sound irritated but I can tell she's also amused. “I want you guys to bring armor tomorrow to see what Hazel can do with that.”

“I can only control precious metals,” she reminds Thalia, “and I've only seen Celestial Bronze used in weapons here.”

“There's some in the armory and Cabin 9 always has some around.” I add, but it's true. We rarely use it for armor, opting to save it for weapons instead.

“I've just been thinking,” continues Thalia, “what exactly is considered precious? You've been able to summon different types of granite and stone right?”

“Yeah.”

“Like the schist.” Nico and Jason shoot me a look. “It's a rock!”

Thalia ignores me. “There's value to any metal, especially the one we use to protect ourselves from monsters. Gold and silver are only considered riches because we give them that value.”

“So you're saying that any metal is precious?” Asks Nico. “That Hazel could  possibly control any and all metals?”

“Pluto is supposed to control all the riches under the earth, right?” Jason adds. “Makes sense.”

We all let that sink in. Hazel is already insanely powerful, the fact that she could have Magneto-esque powers is pretty alarming. She tries to act normal even though I can tell the idea also makes her nervous. She gives us her cheeriest ‘see ya later!’ when Thalia finally dismisses us, but it comes out pretty shrill, and runs off with Nico close at her heels.

“And don't think I didn't see you today, Kelp Head.” For a second I think she's talking about my little stunt with the hurricane but then she nods to where I was  just standing. Huge cracks cut the ground exactly where my feet were a few seconds ago. “Earthshaker indeed.”

Later that day I'm walking back from a sword fighting class with Jason. He's been helping me out since it keeps him busy while he's at camp. We're just passing the Big House to head to the Amphitheater when we run into Annabeth storming out. She spots us and I'm about to ask what's wrong when Clarisse bursts out behind her and heads for the cabins. “What was it this time?” I ask after Annabeth greets me with a kiss.

“She insists that we start work with her cabin first! Which is ridiculous since we all agreed to finish the expansions to the Dining Pavilion and we still need to finish some of the newer cabins!”

Jason is vaguely alarmed by Annabeth which goes to show he's used to this kind of thing and actually knows her. Most run the other way at the sight of a pissed off Annabeth. I can't blame them, but after five years I only notice how her exasperation brings color to her cheeks, making her even hotter than usual. “She's starting to panic.” I tell her. She knows; it doesn't make dealing with her any easier, though.

“Clarisse doesn't seem like someone who panics over remodelations,” says Jason.

“She’s not. She's starting college in September.”

“She’ll be the first along with Travis in a while to do so,” Annabeth explains, “and it's especially hard to leave now y’know.”

Jason nods. I can tell he's still not used to the normal Greek life-span which is basically short and painful. “How long is a while?”

Annabeth goes silent beside me.

I know we’re both thinking of Beckendorf, who of course was all set for college until I left him to be blown up in the Andromeda. I take her hand and start walking. “C’mon, we're going to be late.” Jason gets the hint and doesn't press it.

It's bizarre to think that it's only actually been a little over a year. We celebrated the one year anniversary of the Battle of Manhattan a week ago. It was especially gruesome to hear Jake Mason talk about their fallen brother when they'd just lost Leo too. As I looked around, I realized that almost all the head counselors were different than last year. Most, like Will and Jake, had stepped up after their siblings had died fighting. Will was made head counselor mid-battle, after Michael disappeared in the bridge I collapsed. That would make it the second time the mantle had been passed on that way for Cabin 7, since Michael only became head counselor after Lee Fletcher died a year earlier in the Battle of the Labyrinth.

Clarisse nearly broke down when it was her turn to talk about Silena.

“You'd think they'd gotten used to it by now.” Neither me or Annabeth were paying much attention so Jason nods towards several groups of people who seem to be staring at us as we walk. “You guys have been dating long enough for it to be old news, right?”

Well considering I was only here for two months after we got together and then disappeared for the other ten… “Who says they're looking at us?”

Annabeth laughs. “Yeah. They better hope Piper doesn't catch them ogling her man.”

Jason blushes but chuckles along when I punch his arm. I wrap my arm around Annabeth so I can press a kiss to her temple. I’m here now.

**********

I'm exhausted. The point of controlling metal with your mind is supposed to be that it's easier than actually picking it up and hurling it yourself, right?

WRONG!

After two hours every single one of my muscles are screaming for me to stop. Thalia was right. It didn't matter that they boys’ armor wasn't Celestial Bronze or Imperial Gold; I could control it. It's much harder though. Even though I haven't stood up from this boulder in over an hour I feel like I've run a marathon.

Thalia's instructions were simple: get the boys to stop fighting by pulling them away from each other. Simple. Simple? Even though it's obvious they are going pretty easy on each other, it still feels like I’m physically pulling them away by the collar. And my tugging doesn't seem to be bothering them nearly as much as I hope. I'm concentrating on keeping Percy in place by willing his breastplate to keep still, but it only slows him down. I try the same with Jason and eventually Nico to no avail.

I'm so tired and so frustrated that with one final tug I bring my hands together, clapping so hard my palms sting. The second my hands come together the three boys fly towards each other -guided by their breastplates- and smack so hard against one another that I'm sure they hear the clang all the way to Half-Blood Hill.

“Yes! That's what I'm talking about Hazel! Well done!” No one really shares Thalia’s enthusiasm but Nico manages to shoot me a pained smile that ends up looking quite gruesome since his mouth is bloody from head butting the other two boys at maximum speed.

Strangely, I'm not feeling the effects of that last pull. I actually feel better. The knots that have been forming in my shoulders for the last two hours actually feel looser and my potential headache is gone.

I shrug it off. I've done way more damage than manipulating some rusty breastplates. I guess I just needed to get used to the metal.

I'm walking towards Jason and Percy who are still groaning on the floor when a rustling from the trees stops me. I'm not the only one that hears it because in a flash Percy springs off the ground and uncaps Riptide, the rest stand tense. We hear it again and this time I notice something (someone?) behind the trees. Percy immediately dives towards the thicker forest ignoring whatever it is Thalia tells him. A few seconds later we hear a loud bleat and an ominous oompf!

We all scramble to see what's happening. At first my brain is confused by what it's seeing. Whatever was rustling behind the trees Percy seems to have tackled it to the ground. Furry hindquarters stick up, goat legs ending in shiny hooves. For some reason an ill-fitting shoe dangles from one. Then I remember that Greek fauns, satyrs, are much different from the ones in New Rome. That's what it, he, appears to be. This one in particular accepts the hand that Percy offers to lift him off the ground with great gusto and proceeds to hug him like one would a brother. Behind me Thalia exclaims “Grover!” and rushes to join the embrace. A memory of the strange hours after the battle with Gaea surfaces; he fought alongside the Greeks, alongside Percy and Annabeth. I'm sure they introduced us but I don't remember much of the moments after the fighting stopped. Just Leo flying atop Festus. Leo exploding above me, all of us knowing we'd never reach him in time…

“Why didn't you tell us you were coming, G-man!” I'm brought back to the present by Thalia and Percy’s excited chatter. Jason and I stand awkwardly while the little reunion takes place. Nico leans casually against a tree but I detect a ghost of a smile. Finally Percy realizes we're still here. “Oh hey sorry. You remember Hazel, right? And-”

“Jason,” the satyr finishes, “of course, of course.”

He shakes Jason's hand and then takes mine. I wish I'd paid more attention the first time we got introduced because I immediately like him. He seems a bit shy, fiddling with his hands and playing with the reed pipes hanging from his neck, but he stands straight and smiles broadly. I wonder out loud why he and Jason never properly met all those months he was at camp.

“Oh I don't get to spend too much time at camp anymore I'm afraid.” He answers. “Lord of the Wild business never ends.” Lord of the Wild? I make a mental note to underestimate him. “Which is why my girlfriend is always mad at me which is why I should go meet her right about now.” Percy is visibly disappointed and looks like he's about to argue but Grover stops him. “Don't worry man I'll be here all week.”

Both boys clap each other on the back one again. I hear Grover whisper something to Percy making a fleeting dark look pass in his eyes, but the next second it's gone and they're all smiles again. Thalia hugs him again too. “I'll be at Camp for a little while too -long story- so we have to do something.”

The satyr agrees and tells both Jason and I it was nice to see us again. “You too, Nico!” This time my brother actually smiles and gives him a wave before Grover disappears into the forest.

Thalia finally let's us go after that. As we walk out of the forest Percy's in a better mood than I've seen him in weeks. “You're really close with him, aren't you?”

He smiles sheepishly. “I mean, yeah. He's my best friend. He brought me to camp, went with me and Annabeth on our first quest and a bunch of others after that.”

“He also brought Thalia and Annabeth in, right?” Asks Jason.

“Yeah, along with Luke. He seems to have pretty good instincts when it comes to Big Three kids. He found Nico too.”

“No wonder he's Lord of the Wild.”

Percy smiles proudly as we compliment his friend. I try to focus on his good mood but can't help but revert back to wondering what Grover told him that made his smile vanish for a brief second.

*******

Ever since my birthday, I haven't been big on picnics. But since a picnic on the beach for Grover -it was Annabeth’s idea- is the only day Thalia’s letting us have off from practice, I'm not complaining. Especially after yesterday's session.

My sister finally decided to zero in on me. She'd tortured Hazel and now it was my turn. I knew it was going to be bad when I arrived at Zeus’ Fist five minutes early and she was already there looking all excited. You can tell she's excited because little sparks of electricity bounce off her spiky hair.

“I've been wanting to teach you this trick for a while now,” she told me as I made my way towards where she was standing. She pulled out a hunting knife and told me to get closer. Then, she knitted her eyebrows in concentration. A few moments later I gaped as the long blade started to be encapsulated by tiny rivets of electricity. It was like watching those videos of spiders building their webs but a hundred times faster and with bluish, purple static. I watched as her grasp on the handle tightened making the tendrils thicken. She'd wrapped her blade in lightning.

Just then everyone else decided to arrive. Nico and Hazel were transfixed by the blade but Percy kept looking at Thalia. I guess she did look pretty crazy, grinning like a maniac and holding her mutated knife. Finally he said: “Is that supposed to be a cheap replica of the Master Bolt?”

“Ha ha, Jackson.” She rolled her eyes at Percy and with a flick of her wrist made the knife go back to normal. “It's what we’ll be working on today.” Percy arched an eyebrow and Nico did his best to look bored (which, given that that's his default expression, wasn't hard). Their mood significantly rose when she announced we could use our own weapons. “Don't get all excited, I just think Jason needs a little incentive to pull this trick out of him.”

I was grateful for the vote of confidence. I could tell that Thalia was less than impressed by my lightning-calling skills. In battle, Thalia called down thunder every few seconds and still managed to have enough strength to fight like a beast. For me it's always been last resort because it takes a lot out of me. She thinks it's lack of practice. I'm not sure I agree.

She made the others stand in a circle and joined them as well. I was to try to electrify my sword while they took turns lunging at me. Where does she come up with these drills? Which seemed unfair to me because 1) it would be impossible to properly concentrate, and 2) she hadn't really explained how to do it in the first place.

Hazel went first. Her cavalry sword gave her a wide berth and she almost got me but I side-stepped right into Nico’s attack. This time I used my sword to deflect the blow. All the while I thought about calling down lightning. By the time I got to Percy the hairs in my arms when standing upright because of the static, the sky rumbled above me. “Concentrate on the blade! Redirect the lightning!” Thalia shouted at me as I met her spear.

It was a blur for a while. I was stuck in between concentrating on sparring the attacks and willing the static to engulf my sword. At one point I saw a spark fly but it might've been from the force of meeting Nico’s sword. Thalia kept shouting out advice. It was pretty unhelpful but then I caught a piece that maybe had a point. “Use your own body to conduct it onto your sword! It has to pass through you!”

It was a scary thought, willing yourself to be struck by lightning, but I knew from experience that it wouldn't kill me and I'd done crazier (dumber) things.

I finally called down the strike I'd been feeling creep on and redirected it towards me.

The hard part was concentrating it in the sword. I'm pretty sure that if it hadn't been Imperial Gold it would've been shredded to pieces. And while Thalia laughed delighted, the rest backed away. Smart since I doubt they can sustain electricity the way Thalia and I can.

My sister electrified her own spear - easy, barely broke a sweat- and struck once again. What she didn't know was that it was taking all of my strength just to keep up the little “trick”. The same fatigue I get from calling down lightning the normal way attacked me but twice as hard. There was a tugging in my gut that was was getting so painful I almost doubled over. Her first blow brought me to my knees.

“I think that's enough, Thalia.” She completely ignored Percy, who seemed to have noticed I couldn't go on for much longer. I drew on a last reserve of strength, determined to keep going, and the tug lurched violently. “Thalia stop!”

Then I blacked out. Again.

I woke up in the infirmary to a Percy and Nico that could barely hold in their laughter because at this point me passing out is a cosmic joke designed to make me look like an idiot. Hazel at least bothered to look concerned. But no Thalia.

“She's off somewhere sulking and beating herself up about it. Don't worry.” Percy's words didn't make me stop worrying at all.  Nor did the worried glances Nico seemed to steal when Percy wasn't looking. I'll have to ask him what exactly happened after I passed out later.

I know I should've gone looking for Thalia then, I don't really enjoy making my sister feel guilty, she already did that long enough during all those years she thought I was dead, but I didn't.

She's been avoiding me ever since. I was hoping to get a chance to talk to her today since I knew she couldn't skip a picnic thrown by Annabeth for Grover, but so far she's been stalling by refereeing arm wrestling matches between her Hunters and the Ares Cabin.

“What I'd really pay to see is for her to go against Clarisse,” says Piper beside me.

“I thought you liked Clarisse.”

She chuckles. “Are you going to talk to her, or are both of you still avoiding each other?”

“She's avoiding me!”

Piper gives me a stare that says really? because maybe she's a little right. Thalia might be avoiding me but I haven't really tried to talk either. If I'm being honest I'm still pretty embarrassed about the whole thing. Plus, I was hoping these training sessions would be a way for us to bond more. I could tell she was excited to get to train with someone and not be worried about electrocuting them, to talk shop about the joys of having Jupiter/Zeus as a father and all the fun side-effects it comes with. I didn't want her to think I couldn't take it.

“You guys need to start getting used to talking to each other. Trust me, it's weird at first but then it's so easy.”

“It's different for me and Thalia, Pipes. You know that.”

She rolls her beautiful eyes which today decided to look a dark, hazely green. “How is it different? I met a whole cabin of siblings I didn't even know existed when I was sixteen and believe me it was pretty weird at first, especially with Drew. But, at the end of the day, they're family, y’know? They get it.” She takes my hand. “Just talk to her.”

I sigh but stand up from the blanket we spears out in the sand. Piper shoots me one last smile as I make my way towards my sister. It seems the arm wrestling has turned into just wrestling so she doesn't hear me coming. “C’mon, Sherman! You can take her!” I hear Clarisse roar somewhere behind the wall of Ares kids that have formed around two grappling figures on the floor. Thalia is a few feet away laughing along with a blonde huntress in silver cargo pants to match her own. They don't seem too worried about losing.

She turns around when she hears me come up behind her. “Oh hey, Jason!” Both their smiles melt away. Usually the hunters act fairly nicely around me but Thalia’s blonde friend doesn't seem too happy about having to stay at camp and, from the looks of it, she blames me. “Helen can you gives us a moment?” Helen gives me one more intimidating look and then walks away to join the angry mob around the wrestling match.

“Hey, I just wanted to-”

“Wait. Jason, before you say anything I just wanted to say, I'm sorry.” The apology seems to taste bitter in her mouth. I know she doesn't do this often. “I shouldn't have pushed you so hard.”

I don't want her to think she can't. I don't want her to go easy on me. “No, you're right. I need more practice and that trick could come in handy. And if you can do it, I should be able to too.”

Her face seems to soften. “Just because I can do it doesn't mean you'll be able to too. I don't think that's how it works.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, look at Nico and Hazel. Same parent but they both represent different aspects of their Dad. Greek and Roman.”

I think she's just trying to make me feel better. “Jupiter isn't that different from Zeus.” She raises her eyebrow at me as if saying wanna bet? “Plus, we don't have just one parent in common.”

I feel like a kid throwing a tantrum, but I don't care. So what if I want to be more like my big sister. Sue me.

“Hey, c’mon J look at me,” I peel my eyes away from the floor and look at hers. At least we have that in common. “When have you seen me fly? Or control the winds like you do?”

“I-”okay she's got a point there- “you probably could if you tried.”

“Oh I’ve tried!” She looks a little pale for some reason, making her freckles stand out. “Heights are just not my thing.”

Wait. “You're afraid of heights?”

“Yes, okay!” Her tone tells me to drop it, but a little warmth spreads across my chest nonetheless. I can tell it's something that really embarrasses her, but she chose to tell me anyways to make me feel better. She rolls her eyes at my smile. “Shut up.”

I follow her to where everyone else is sitting. When Annabeth sees us she slightly nods her head towards where Nico is sitting a slight blush on his place cheeks. She's keeping her boyfriend’s mouth shut by stuffing it with food.

A thought crosses my mind as I watch Percy try to avoid Annabeth's hand. Thalia and I, we divide our father’s power between each other. Nico and Hazel do the same. But not Percy. The full power of Poseidon, Percy represents it all by himself.

*******

“Gods Nico just talk to him.”

My cheeks go bright red as Hazel catches me staring at Will. He's just sprawled there basking in the sunlight, what am I supposed to do?! At least she's embarrassed as well, fanning her face in that old-fashioned way.

I'm actually quite surprised about how she's dealing with the whole situation. She lived most of her life in the 1930s-1940s, so I would've understood some trepidation, but she only gave me a wide smile and thanked me for trusting her. When she caught on about Will she was delighted. She loves the idea of me and a doctor or something. Or maybe it's the fact that literally no one hates Will. It's kind of creepy.

“I do talk to him.”

“You told him his fly was down two weeks ago. That doesn't count.”

As always, Percy has perfect timing. “What are we talking about? Why does Nico look like a tomato?”

“Nothing!” I make the mistake of glancing at Will when I notice him standing up and suddenly Percy's face breaks into a grin worthy of any Hermes kid. “Shut up!”

“Oh. My. Gods.”

“Percy I mean it!”

Annabeth doesn't look any more innocent than her boyfriend. “I might've heard a rumor or two about him”- she nodded her head towards Will- “having a crush on you.”

Hazel actually squeals.

“We are not talking about this.”

“Fine,” says Percy, laying down on Annabeth's lap, “I guess we’ll just have to wait for him to make the first move.”

“I hate you all.”

Grover, followed by Piper, takes the final spot on our picnic blanket and Hazel and Annabeth are kind enough to keep quiet. Annabeth stuffs her boyfriend’s mouth with grapes before he can say anything but she stills shares a look with Piper.

Piper’s probably known since she has the whole Aphrodite cabin at her disposal and Percy will eventually tell Grover. By some idiot move I told Jason myself.

Great, now everyone knows.

I would complain but it's such a normal, embarrassing problem to have that I end up having to suppress a smile. Normal. The concept seems so foreign to me, but here we are having a stupid picnic by the beach and hearing Grover play terrible versions of Hilary Duff classics on his reed pipes. It might not be a mortal’s version of normalcy, but it's as close as a demigod gets.

“Where’s Jason?” I ask Piper.

“Talking to Thalia. I finally convinced them to stop acting like children and actually communicate.”

“Ah yes,” exclaims Percy, “communication. One of Thalia’s fortes.” Annabeth slaps his arm. “Ow! What? She's great at death threats.”

“You'd know.”

Normal. Annabeth and Percy playfully arguing. Normal. Hazel gushing about Frank and what a good praetor he is. Normal. Jason and Thalia finally walking towards us, Jason looking awkward until she puts him in a headlock and musses his hair making him laugh. Normal.

Yet.

Piper keeps looking to her right, but Leo’s gone. I searched for his spirit, but I never felt him die. I didn't tell them this though; there are worse things than death. Loss is torture enough, I couldn't bear to add false hope to the list.

Thalia laughs along, but she's worried. Guilt plagues her nervous hands as they dig into the sand. I remember the panic in Percy's voice as he told her to stop, how he snapped at her for being blinded by her own power. I remember her silence as they both dragged Jason to the infirmary.

Grover shoots Percy and Annabeth concerned looks when he's sure they won't notice, because even though they've gained the weight they lost and no longer look like ghosts, they're exhausted. Everyone at camp has heard them scream themselves awake.

Then there's the issue of these training sessions. Training for what? What else could they possibly throw our way?

“Hey.” Everyone noticeably goes quiet as Will sits besides me. There's barely enough space so our knees are touching. I get the very distinct urge to run.

“Hi!” Hazel’s smile practically touches her ears.

I try to focus on a) not running away and b) not looking at him. I see him reach for the grapes in my peripheral and quickly focus on my hands. Suddenly I'm very aware just how crowded it is. I try to lean back as far as I can and catch a breeze to myself. Everyone else’s chatter fades to the background.

Will leans back too, this time I allow myself to look at him. I guess I've been avoiding him. The second Thalia arrived it was like a bubble burst. “What's up?” He asks. He seems concerned; this close I can admire how his long eyelashes frame his eyes gold in the sun.

I want to tell him about everything, but I don't want to corrupt him. He's light. And maybe I don't have to talk about, maybe I can just forget and pretend nothing strange is going on. “Nothing,” I answer, “I've just been a bit busy-” I nod towards Thalia- “ that's all.”

I don't think he buys it but he smiles at me anyways. “Okay.” He takes my hand and I don't even care that everyone notices, or that he doesn't let go.

*****

“Dionysus.” Chiron hadn't seen or heard from the god of wine in days. “Come to finally celebrate our victory?”

“Victory?” He huffs and tries to brush some of the lint from his grey and purple striped suit. “Maybe here. Olympus is tearing itself apart trying to allocate blame! Zeus isn't happy! Not happy at all!”

Chiron paused to take in the day. Beautiful. He could hear the laughter coming from the beach where his heroes now celebrated their friends, themselves, being alive. He hoped for his father’s power, to freeze them in this moment and spare them from the darkness that was to come. “Who will it be this time?”

“It seems they have narrowed down on Apollo.” Dionysius scoffed, as always irritated by his half-brother. “No wonder. Had we had the power of prophecy…” The god left the thought there. “What about you? How has your little task played out so far?”

Chiron clenched the railing of the Big House. To have to prep the children to be presented… as if there were lifeless weapons instead of feeling, thinking beings. To have to betray them for the sake of the gods… “When have they ever let down Olympus?”

“Good! At least I'll have some good news to bring to Zeus!” With a puff that left the scent of tangy grapes in the air, the god disappeared.

Chiron had actually thought he'd trained his last tragedy. Finally, heroes that would get to enjoy the riches of the world they'd help save.

Oh, how cruel the Fates were.

********

Thalia’s officially lost it. She's decided to zero in on me today. She has to repeat herself because my brain doesn't really process when she says it the first time.

“I-” she points at herself and jabs a finger at my chest as she continues- “want you to bring this-” she motions to the dead squirrel at her feet- “back to life.”

I understand that I've done things similar to this in the past. It wasn't until recently that I was able to deal with non-humans, though. At first I looked confused, did she want me to control its corpse or something? Get more practice with animals? (It sounds gruesome but it's quite doable for me) But she shook her hair as she saw the thought form. Alive. She wanted it to breathe again.

“You're insane.” Not even Jason pipes up to defend his sister. Percy and Hazel look at her as if she's grow a third eye. “That's impossible, way out of my reach.”

“I know you can do it.”

“I could get in trouble for even attempting to do it.” My warning comes out as a low hiss.

“Just try it, Nico.” She's been holding my gaze the whole time but suddenly a nerve jumps in her forehead. She doesn't actually want me to do this. This is Chiron speaking through her.

“No.” I feel everyone stiffen around me. We've all been pretty hesitant about this whole ordeal, but up until now no one’s downright refused to do it. I'm now certain these training sessions won't benefit us at all, though, and I refuse to cross that line. Tartarus itself didn't make me.

I must admit I tried it once, after Bianca died. People’s souls or spirits (whatever you want to call them), I’ve always been able to sense them. It's how I can summon ghost for brief periods of time, call on the skeletons of the Underworld to my service. If I reach hard enough with my mind, I can barely stroke their essence. I briefly give them some of my strength so they can materialize if they are ghost or move if they're a body. I figured that if I focused hard enough I could fully grasp an essence that had seized to exist in the mortal world, and give it enough of my strength to come back.

And so that's what I did. I guess Bianca knew me too well, because she hid away from me. Not many could, but she was a daughter of Hades even in death. I tried it on the first ghost that appeared to me instead.

I knew I'd made a mistake as soon as I closed a hand around Minos’s essence. I immediately felt my own seep out of me, but it wasn't restoring what had been lost during his death. I was just making a dead person have a physical form again. Alive but not living. It made me want to explode with how wrong it felt.

I thought I'd do anything to bring my sister back, and since then I've caved in and allowed myself to crack. But not that. Not ever.

“I won't do it, Thalia.”

She flashes her eyes at me but I see past it. Underneath it all, I see relief.

******

Chiron hears Thalia Grace stomp her way into his office before he actually sees her. He knows exactly what he'd see if he turned around. He hadn't fully processed himself what he'd last asked her to do.

She'd looked at him incredulous. After the incident with Jason she'd warned him not to push too far; it was clear to him that she was now fully distrusting of what he'd told her were his intentions initially, and was only sticking around to figure out what this was actually about. Her warnings, of course, were nothing new to the old centaur. He'd said the same thing to Dionysus when he was first ordered him to do this.

“He didn't do it.” She tells him.

Chiron’s aware that the gods expect him to convince her to go back out there and not come back until the boy has at least attempted to do what they want to see, but he just nods. Good, he thinks. Nico has enough to deal with already.

“I'm done. I'm taking my hunters and leaving right now.”

A vice-like grip seems to take hold of Chiron, reminding him that the gods have other, less friendly, methods to obtain the information they seek. “Thalia.”

“I mean it. If you don't want to tell me what's really going on here, fine! But I won't be a part of this!”

“Thalia. Don't you trust me?” He tightens his fists at his sides. If there was any other way… “Because Annabeth, does. Luke did.” At the mention of his name her anger seems to slightly melt away. “I know what I'm doing.”

“Do you?”

“Yes.” He finally turns to look at her. He makes sure she listens to him, really listens. “I know exactly what I'm doing, Thalia. I know I'm asking a lot from you, from the others, but we’re almost done.” Then I'll give them the truth, Chiron thinks. He knows Zeus is listening.

She sighs. “Percy. He's next, isn't he?”

Something happened after Jason collapsed, but Thalia wouldn't tell him. He knew Thalia wasn't easily shaken, but somehow this had. Chiron suspected it had something to do with the special interest the gods had taken on Percy. With the rest of the children they seemed to be speculating, but with him they were sure.

“Yes.”

*********

“C’mon Jackson! I've seen you do it!”

“You've seen me make a few cracks on the floor!”

Thalia rolls her eyes at me. I should've known she'd come after me next with the way I snapped at her after the whole Jason incident and how badly her attempt with Nico went. “I'm not asking you to do anything you haven't done before. I took the necessary precautions and everything!”

“A change of venue hardly counts as necessary precautions!” I should've known something was up when Thalia suggested we go on a hike. This is the farthest into the woods I've ever walked -it took us hours- and I've been getting lost in here since I was twelve. We must be close to the Western Hills of the Camp. “Last time I almost tore a volcano apart and it almost killed me!”

“Details!”

“They had a funeral and everything!”

She makes a frustrated sound in the back of her throat. I'm uncomfortably aware of the others watching us, their eyes following us the way one would follow a very important ping pong match. Why does she care so much about this anyways?

“How would this help me have more control over my powers?” I ask, my voice lower. “What I did back then is the definition of losing control.” And you don't want to see me lose control now. She catches the look in my eyes and seems to read my mind. I can't believe she’d push me after the incident with Jason.

I hadn't allowed myself to touch that part of my powers since Tartarus. Most of my nightmares consist of re-living that moment. The moment I felt something inside me shatter irreparably. The moment I turned into everything I've been fighting for five years.

I don't even remember calling on my powers. I just saw the strain in Jason’s face, Thalia looked mad. I felt anger hitting me in waves and suddenly I was telling Thalia to stop. But I did more than that. Her eyes widened, but she wasn't looking at Jason, who had just collapsed. She was staring at me in horror because she couldn't move. I was holding her in place, willing all the water in her body to stay static. It was only for a second, the others didn't notice, but she’d felt herself lose control of her own body and probably felt my tightened fists even though they hung at my sides.

Much like they do now.

“You're suppressing them, building pressure,” she argues, answering my questions.

“Who made you the expert?”

“Chiron, dumbass, remember?”

We don't stare away from each other as Hazel steps in between us and starts telling us to calm down. Neither Jason nor Nico were bold enough to intervene, but Hazel only sounds slightly irritated.

Thalia just won't shut up though.

“I can't believe we're having the same argument as always! You just can't stand anyone but yourself being in charge!” She spits in my face. Hazel places a hand on my chest. I've gotten so close to Thalia that we're practically squishing her in between our taller frames. “You're not the hero, remember?!”

I'm only half aware of pushing Hazel aside and Nico’s cry of protest.

                          The hero’s soul, cursed blade shall reap

“Don't you dare throw those lines at me!”

“OR WHAT?!”

I don't get a chance to retaliate because just then Nico raises a solid, black wall of obsidian between us. “THAT’S ENOUGH!”

My adrenaline drains in a second. I turn in time to watch Jason help Hazel up. I pushed her aside. An apology dies on my lips when I catch Nico’s eyes. Dark, angry eyes.

What am I doing?

‘I won't tell on you, but you have to promise to keep my sister safe.’

‘Promise.’

‘Tell him...tell him I'm sorry.’ She ran off before I could stop her.

What am I doing?

It's like nothing's changed. I'm arguing with Thalia. I'm letting down Nico.

But what's my excuse now?

The wall of obsidian slowly melts back into the ground. Thalia and I stare at each other in shock. I know what she's thinking by the look of guilt that frames her eyes. We could've hurt someone. I was about to hurt her. I was so close to losing control; my temper rose in an instant. I look down at my feet and sure enough there are cracks there. Nico stopped us just in time...stopped me.

I turn to Hazel. There's an angry red scrape on her elbow. I want to melt right into the ground along with the obsidian. I want to melt all the way to Hell where I belong. “I'm...so sorry,” I choke out. I said the same thing to Bianca Di Angelo’s ghost.

*******

I'm worried about Percy. I'm worried about Annabeth. I'm worried about the real reasons behind this damn training sessions. I'm worried and I can't think. I can't think because I can't sleep. The calm from the picnic didn't last a goddamn second.

Thalia probably didn't know it, but she was pushing too hard, harder than she'd done with Jason. It isn't like before, when we were younger. Even back then our powers scared me. Watching Thalia and Percy fight by Zeus’s Fist all those years ago had been the most awesome display of power I'd ever seen. They were more intimidating than I'd ever imagined any of my Mythomagic figurines would be in real life. Now, I know that was only a fraction of what we can do.

I would've done anything to have powers like them when I was ten. I didn't understand what it meant, the pain you'd have to undergo to tap into that part of yourself. I didn't understand that something inside you had to break to reach them.

When Annabeth and Percy fell I hoped they'd come out untouched by that vile hellhole. They've always been stronger than me. No matter what happened, Percy had never lost hope. He was good. I hated him for it. I could look into his eyes and know they would never look as angry and as bitter as mine did, and I envied that. But it also made me want to be just as brave, made me trust him despite everything. I realize now it was unfair to put him on such a pedestal.

It makes me angrier than anything that I lived through down there. I never minded them taking hope from me, I didn't have much to begin with, but Percy...Annabeth...they are true heroes. They've earned hope.

After I broke up their fight, I was the one that suggested Thalia go talk with Annabeth. She looked like she needed it. No one really knew what to do. We’d been pretending everything was fine and in a second we dropped the front and it was impossible to get it back. For some reason I felt calmer than the rest. Pretending has always made me edgier.

“You need to find out why they’re training us,” I told Thalia. We weren't skirting past the obvious any longer. “I’m sure Annabeth will figure something out.”

She gave Percy a side glance as she dove back into the forest. He flashed one right back, Later. Whatever discussion they should have it wasn't going to be in front of us.

Jason followed his sister and Hazel looked down at her scraped elbow. My anger at seeing Percy push her aside had been painfully poignant, like a stab in the heart, but it was momentary. Percy tried to step towards her and apologize once again but she put her hand up. “Don't, Percy. It's fine.” It wasn't, you could hear it all over her tone. She simply meant she'd get over it, but right now she wanted to leave. So she did, and suddenly it was just me and Percy.

Only then did I notice that we were almost the same height now, that seventeen wasn't too far from fourteen. We'd never been too far apart. But he, unlike me, had shouldered two Great Prophecies.

He seemed to notice it too. “When did you grow up?” I don't know if he was asking me or himself.

It was very subtle: his shoulders drooped down so that he was properly hunching, he slid his hands through his face with a deep sigh. Suddenly, he wasn't The Percy Jackson. He was just Percy.

Bianca used to wake up hours before I did on Christmas Day and place presents under our tree. I caught her doing it at the hotel once. I didn't make a sound; for the first time she didn't look like my older sister, but like the eleven or twelve-year-old she was. She looked like she was playing at being an adult, and for once I noticed how childish it all seemed. I remember feeling sad and guilty because no one did it for her. The next morning I was set on telling her I knew, but she seemed so excited for me to open my presents that I never did.

Percy looked like she did placing those presents.

“Since when do you take care of me?”

I felt guilty all over again. “I'm sorry.”

“Nico, you don't-”

I'd forgotten about the argument. I could only hear the echo of Thalia and Percy's  voices getting louder and matching the ones inside my head. And watching Percy come undone in front of me then, the words just tumbled out of my mouth. “It was stupid of me to go looking for the doors! If I'd just thought it through or told someone…”

“Nico…” He looked a hundred years old. Exhausted, concerned. “Nico it wasn't your fault...any of it...you being there…it shouldn't have happened.”

I felt very small then. I like to remind people how old I truly am all the time. Truth is: I've never stopped feeling ten and petrified.

“You were there alone.”

I was and, even though I knew they were probably looking for me, they didn't find me. What's more darkness to someone who is already made out of shadows? “I'm always alone, Percy. That wasn't going to change in Tartarus.”

“I'm the one that's sorry. You didn't deserve that. I did.” I wanted to tell him it wasn't true but he didn't let me. “When I got there they were all waiting for me. I killed them all without thinking twice about it.”

“You had to, Percy! We all do-”

“I know it's what I am. But not you. Not Annabeth. You're different.”

“No we're not! What are you talking about?!”

He chuckled and it was so cold. “It's all I've ever been good at. They know it.” He pointed a trembling finger at the sky. “They know what I did down there. They crave that power...I crave that power.”

I looked at the cracks he'd made on the ground to avoid his eyes and allowed myself to wonder how far he'd gone if I didn't step in between him and Thalia. He'd been down there longer. I know that if I had, I would've crossed that line, the line I've been avoiding since Bianca died. What choice did he have down there but to let himself break.

What does that make him now?

“No.” He was right. I didn't deserve Tartarus. Neither did Annabeth. Neither did he. “You're scared of what you can do; you're aware of the hurt it can cause,” I told him. he wasn't consumed by it. He rejected it. “You're still the hero I met when I was ten. That's why I'll always fight beside you, Percy. It was never about the gods.”

Thunder rumbled above us, but he didn't jump.

***********

At first I think it's Percy who's entered my cabin, then I distinguish the lighter tread and decide it's Thalia. We haven't properly talked since she came to camp, not like I've wanted to anyways. She's been putting that off.

“Hey,” she peers over my shoulder to look at the plans I'm currently working on, “what you've got there?”

“Just some sketches for the cabin expansions.”

She doesn't seem that interested. “Nico wants us to talk,” she tells me. Thalia's always been terrible at small talk.

“What about?”

“What are we training for Annabeth?” I put my pencil down and turn to face her. Her eyes are nervously scanning my face for answers. “Chiron made up some bullshit about wanting us to learn to manage our powers better but it's the opposite of it! It's like he wants to see-”

“-exactly how powerful you really are?”

“Yeah.”

I knew better than to believe what Percy told me. He didn't buy it either. None of us did. I also know that if Chiron approved he would've told a better lie. “I don't think this was Chiron's idea.”

“I know. Artemis seemed too relaxed about it.”

“Have you talked to her recently?

“She never stopped communicating with us but not face to face, no.”

“I saw Dionysus a few days ago talking to Chiron...Chiron didn't look very happy.” I add.

“That'd be the first god to show up in a while.” She'd probably been thinking of this since her first meeting with Chiron. A million thoughts seem to be racing through her head. “Chiron didn't seem like himself at any of the meetings we've had. Like you said, he never looked quite happy about what he was asking me to do. I figured I could wait and see how it panned out in training before coming to any conclusions but today…” Her eyes widen. She's said too much.

Something happened, something she doesn't want me to know about. “Why did Nico send you to talk to me?” She opens her mouth but can't seem to articulate whatever excuse she was going to tell me. I hold her eyes. Everyone always tells me my stares can be pretty intimidating. I learned from the best. Thalia made a pretty intimidating twelve-year-old. “Thalia.”

“Percy and I-”

“Don't tell me you were fighting again?” Percy told me what's happened afte Jason passed out the other day.

She looks away. “I guess it got a little out of hand-”

“You two are so childish! Why can't you just-”

“Annabeth!” It's been awhile since she raised her voice to me. It's the twinge of panic that keeps my mouth shut. She pinches the bridge of her nose. “I...I pushed too far. He got so worked up and...I don't know why I fed into it.”

She doesn't have to say more. “Where is he?”

“I left him with Nico.” I immediately stand up but she catches my arm. “I think he's the best person he can talk to at the moment.” I try to shake her off but her grasp is like steel. “It's not him you should talk to right now, Beth.”

I want to go to Percy. I want to be alone with him and rub the space between his eyebrows because he scrunches it up so hard when he's worried. I want us to drift into our peaceful bubble where only the two of us exist and we can pretend we’ve stopped hurting. I don't want to find out the gods’ new scheme, the Fates’ new wretched turn to our already messed up life.

But I don't run to Percy like I want to. Instead I march towards the Big House, the remnants of Thalia’s steel grip still pressing against my arm.

Dionysus is here. He's sitting beside Chiron, who's in his wheelchair, out on the porch. Something like relief crosses Chiron’s face as I stomp up the steps. “Anniebell!” At this point Dionysus just does it to get under our skin. “So glad to see your cheerful face as always!”

“What are you playing at?!” I growl.

His ironic cheer melts off his face right away, the usual discontent replaces it.

“Perhaps it'd be best if we took this inside.” I want to tell Chiron that I don't care who hears me, but his eyes dart quickly to the right and I notice Harley. He's dragging parts for the beacon he's built for Leo back to his cabin but has stopped to check out what's going on. His eyes dart to Dionysus then to me.

I shoot Harley a quick smile then turn back to Chiron. “Fine.” They both follow me inside into the living room where the fireplace is already lit even though it's probably 8 AM and close to ninety degrees outside. I wait until I can't see Harley through the window to speak again. I meet Dionysus’ purplish eyes. “What have they sent you here for?”

“Typical of demigods! First they're begging us to talk to them and when we finally show up this is what we have to face?” He huffs indignantly. “You always thought so highly of yourself Annalyse-”

“You know that's not my name.” I want Chiron to speak up but he just stares sadly at the flames. “And I know Zeus sent you to check in on the training sessions.” He's listening to me now. I walk up to him so that our noses are almost touching. “What's. Your. Game?”

“I don't have to inform some mortal girl on the business of Lord Zeus.”

I grab him by the cuffs of his stupid grey suit. “Annabeth that's enough!” I whip my head towards Chiron, hot bile churning in my stomach. He's stepping in for him? “Annabeth.” I know what that tone means. I let go of Dionysus.

I stand fuming while the wine god pats the wrinkles out of his suit. I try to search Chiron’s face for an answer but it's like stone. For the first time since I've known Chiron, I can't read his expression. He's never shut me off, and it scares me more than anything Thalia told me earlier. Instead he turns to Dionysus and I have to stand there feeling how I assume everyone else always feels when Chiron and I have a silent conversation.

“They deserve to know,” he finally says.

To my surprise, Dionysus doesn't object. “He's gonna make me stay another millennia here, you do know that? Right?” Chiron stays silent, looking at him expectantly. “Look kid,” he finally starts, looking up at the ceiling with a pained expression, “Zeus really screwed up, okay?” He winces as the sky rumbles. Before, I would've worried about us being blown to bits. Now, I don't even look up. “With the Titans, and the Giants...he's let his ego get in the way-”

“I already know all of this. Get to the point.”

Annoyance etches his face but he doesn't stop. “Maybe the most recent war made him see things more clearly. Maybe he didn't like his Queen doing what she pleased with his heroes. Either way, he did some digging around of his own after the whole Gaea incident. The Titans AND the Giants rising so close to each other...it seemed almost-”

“-orchestrated.” A heavy stone of dread finally settles in my chest. I'm almost relieved. Of course the idea had entered my mind. I don't believe in coincidence and after defeating Gaea so easily I knew she couldn't have been behind it all. “Who-”

Dionysus shakes his head. I know he's already said too much but I want to press him for more. I need to know. But he holds his hand up before I can say anything. “Zeus wants to be prepared this time around. He's ah ‘sharpening his best weapons’, one could say.” There's a slight undertone of disgust as he says the last part, never looking away from me. “We can't know for certain what role each will have due to our lack of Oracle, I'm afraid, but surely that'll be fixed soon enough. In the meantime we can make sure no potential is being wasted.” I cling to his words, taking in the double-meaning behind them. “Now, if you'll excuse me, I have an appointment to be blast to bits.”

He vanishes before I can ask anything else.

Chiron reaches to touch my hand but I pull away. I can see the hurt in his eyes but I don't care. “Annabeth, you have to understand…”

“Understand what exactly? You could've warned us! Told us sooner!”

“You know I don't have much choice-”

“You couldn't stick up for us...for me?” I can tell my words are killing him, but I mean them too much to keep them quiet. It's barely been a couple of weeks. He knows, more than anyone, how much we need the time.

“I tried...Annabeth these are the gods we're talking about. What could've I've done?”

“Anything! Everything you could and then more because it's what we've have to do!”

His old, tired eyes are glassy with tears. He has always protected me, when everyone forgot he always remembered I was a kid. I can't count the times I've bawled into his chest or sought a comforting word and found it. I want to do that now, but we both know what he's trying to tell me. He lets me in just a crack and I finally understand.

We're going to war again.

“I'm sorry.”

********

I watch everyone’s face fall as Annabeth tells us what Dionysus revealed. We're all  seated inside cabin 13 except Annabeth who is standing up. Jason and Piper are seated on my bed, Thalia and Percy on Nico’s. Nico himself is sitting beside me on our small couch.

“He mentioned the Oracle. Something about restoring it somehow,” Annabeth continues. She seems to be talking more to herself than anyone of us in particular, too immersed in the millions of possibilities that are probably racing through her head. “If the gods are all meeting as we speak they're probably looking for someone to pin the blame on-”

“Wait,” Jason interrupts, “but didn't you say my dad admitted to messing up? Why pin it on someone else?”

“Zeus would never admit he made a mistake,” answers Percy. For someone who knows the power of names he sure doesn't mind throwing them around. “He’ll have to punish someone to cover up. It won't be a mortal. It was too big and too close to the Titan War. Didn't you see him in the Acropolis?” They all remembered the Lord of the Sky snapping at a couple of the Olympians after the fight.

“It all comes down to the prophecies,” Annabeth insists, beginning to pace now. “The biggest excuse for the gods not to intervene isn't their laws. They won't meddle with prophecies, especially ones that say hand picked heroes get to fight for them.”

“So what?” Thalia interjects. “They won't do anything to stop whoever set all of this in motion until they've got a prophecy?”

Annabeth shakes her head. “Only a god can restore The Oracle. They'll have to. Plus, we can't do it for them unless we have a prophecy! Which is how their messes are usually cleared up.”

“Gods don't meddle, you said so yourself,” argues Thalia. “If they supposedly did nothing wrong to begin with, why would they try to fix it?”

“Not them,” I can tell Percy has been following his own train of thought, “whoever they end up blaming, whoever they punish. They'll separate themselves that way and send whoever they decided messed up.”

Annabeth stops pacing and looks at Percy. They exchange a look, and suddenly I realize what Percy might be implying. They'll never fight alongside us as immortals...but immortality can be taken away.

I don't know if everyone thinks what I do, but we all go quiet. Before, we would've been jolted awake by such critical information, but we're all so palpably tired now. I turn to look at my brother, whose eye bags have become almost permanent under his eyes. Aboard the Argo II we all seemed so much more energized. I realize now that those were our ‘imminent danger, scared-out-of-our-minds’ selves. We were pushing so hard because we could see the finish line; we were tired then too, but we could handle it because we knew it was almost over. Now they're telling us it's barely even begun? None of us are eager to jump into action.

Before we would've gone to work, now we simply drift apart, a silent agreement passing between us all to do nothing until absolutely necessary. Piper tugs at Jason’s arm, whispering a quick bye to the others. She's barely had time to properly mourn her best friend. Thalia follows her brother out the door. Annabeth and Percy are the last to leave, their fingers loosely locked together. Nico and I watch them all go.

“I should probably send word to Frank,” I say after a while.

Nico doesn't take his eyes away from the door. “You leaving already? I could shadow travel you back to Camp Jupiter if you want.”

In light of recent events I'm not too keen on air travel. For the first time I allow myself to feel hatred towards Jupiter and all the Olympians, but force it right down almost immediately. It's not good for us to hold grudges, Nico once told me, it's our fatal flaw. “No, it's okay. I'll ask Frank to send a veteran.”

“It'll be okay.” Nico finally turns to look at me. Somehow that doesn't sound as reassuring coming from the boy that lies awake at night haunted by nightmares. “Whatever happens, we'll get through it. We've done it before.”

“Not all of us made it.” I think of Leo and it becomes much harder to keep my anger down. I wait for Nico to try to reassure me again, but he's always been too honest. He can't promise me that.

He stays silent and goes back to staring at the door. After a while I decide I can't put off calling Frank much longer and head towards the volleyball court where they keep a hose. I look back at my brother as I'm closing the door behind me. “Nico,” he stares up at me, ���we’ll be fine.” He nods and tries to offer me a smile but it comes out more like a grimace. I turn around and close the door behind me.

It's not that sunny today. Hopefully it's enough to get a decent rainbow going. I could ask Chiron for one of the few cellphones but I doubt Frank is close to one at Camp and I want to see his face. I'm almost to the forge when I hear Will coming out of the pegasus stables. “Hey Hazel!” He catches up to me, all smiles. “Did your training session get extended or something? Percy was suppose to check on the mare-”

“Yeah,” I lie, “Thalia got a little excited.” I briefly remember Percy telling us about a pregnant pegasus he and Will have been taking care of. I've been dying to meet her since he mentioned it at the picnic. “Maybe I could help.”

Will’s face lights up, almost literally. Nico is right, he looks like the improved version of Octavian. I didn't really get sun god vibes from him, but Will almost embodies sunshine. “Yeah of course! After seeing you ride Arion I don't think she’ll be any trouble at all!”

I follow him to the stables and make a silent promise to get in touch with Frank later in the day. “How far along is she?”

“Oh she's almost there!”  He pulls out a giant glove as I enter a section that seems more spacious and my eyes widen. I didn't realize it was that kind of check up. “Don't panic on me now, Levesque. I just need you to calm her down. I have Percy help me since he can talk to her.” He pulls out a stool and sits behind the grey mare grazing in the corner. My nerves melt away the second I set eyes on her. Her wings are so silky that they almost look like silver, her big brown eyes scan me nervously.

“It's okay,” I reassure her, slowly walking towards her and softly placing my hand between her eyes. I try to not pay any attention to whatever Will’s doing and find myself chatting nonsensically with the mare. “What's her name?”

“Misty.”

I tell Misty about the strawberry fields, and babble about the unicorns back in Camp Jupiter until Will is finished. I don't know how much time passes but I'm grateful for the distraction. I pat Misty one last time and follow Will outside. I don't even realize I'm hungry until my stomach growls. I haven't really had time to eat anything, nor have I felt inclined to until now. “C’mon, I'll buy you something from the Camp store.” I try to decline but Will waves me away until I gratefully accept.

He buys me a muffin and gets a sandwich for himself, then we make our way to the Hearth where a small, mousy girl is tending to the flames. I smile at her and she looks at me curiously before smiling back and placing a small finger to her lips. “Thanks,” I tell Will as he sit beside me, “I needed that.”

“Don't mention it.”

We eat in silence. I watch as Will waves to everyone and how they all wave back, unable to not mirror Will’s smile. I stare at the door to my cabin and will Nico to come out. I imagine his gloomy, tired face breaking into a grin when he sees us, and him walking towards us and chatting away. But the door stays closed. “Hey,” I know I'll pay for this later but I go on anyways, “do you mind checking in on my brother?”

Will swallows the last of his sandwich before asking: “Is something wrong?” When I don't answer his gaze momentarily shifts to the angry scrape on my arm.

“He's just in a mood.”

He looks skeptical but nods anyways. I guess he has enough experience with us all and knows better than to push it. He calls a small later over his shoulder as he walks towards cabin 13 and I feel a little lighter. I'm glad Nico now has Will. He's good for him.

Now all I want to do is talk to Frank.

*******

Thalia sits beside me at the base of the Zeus statue inside cabin 1. Piper wanted to stay with me but a fire erupted inside the Aphrodite cabin (something about too many hair straighteners being plugged in) and she had to rush there before actual people were set on fire (again). Thalia's old things are still in the corner. I wonder if my father would get mad if I asked Annabeth to remodel the place, make it feel less like an ominous temple. I turn to ask Thalia what she thinks about it and realize she's crying.

“Gods, Thalia…” I awkwardly put my arm around her. “It'll be fine-” I stop abruptly when I notice that what I thought were sobs shaking her body, is actually a laugh she's failing to contain. Maybe she's finally losing it. She catches a glimpse of whatever face I'm making and properly starts laughing. It sounds insane and it's starting to make the corners of my mouth twitch. “Stop it, you sound crazy.”

She manages to tone it down to a few chuckles and wipes her eyes, smudging her mascara so she looks like a blue-eyed, tiara-wearing raccoon. “Aw man,” she exclaims, “Dad sure outdoes himself, doesn't he?” There isn't much humor left in her voice. “Although I must admit it did warm my heart to know he considers me one of his greatest weapons-”

“Thalia.”

“-every child's dream, truly.” I look up to the statue above us nervously. “Oh don't worry, J. Daddy knows better than to wreck his precious toys.”

“Thalia c’mon.”

“Sometimes I wish he'd let me die all those years ago, y'know. I would've had a hero's death and be done with it-”

“Don't say that.” I take her hand and she meets my eyes. I understand what she's feeling because I'm pretty angry myself. But, unlike her, our father has pretty much ignored me my whole life. I don't know him enough to feel the betrayal I know she probably feels. “It'll be okay.” It sounds lame even to me but she smiles anyways.

“I don't think it's ever been okay, but…” She shrugs. Just like that she's pulling herself together again. It scares me to see her so undone but I also realize how much she must trust me to lose control like that in front of me. “...we've never had much of a choice.”

“They don't control us, Thalia. As much as they want to, they can't.”

“That doesn't sound very Roman of you.”

I'm feeling pretty un-Roman, yes. “So we’re caught in a war again?! I won't fight because he-” I point at the statue- “needs saving! I don't really care much for making him proud at the moment.” Once again I glance nervously at the huge marble Zeus and adjust my glasses which, in my flurry, started to slide down my nose. I don't know where that came from. I guess I've finally hit my rebellious, teenage streak.

Thalia looks amused. She's smirking, so that can't be good. “You really are my brother, aren't you?” Maybe she wasn't amused, maybe she was...proud? “And yeah, you're right. I won't be fighting for him. I don't know what difference it'll make when the time comes, but I at least want him to know that.” She pulls me into a headlock and starts messing up my hair. She really liked doing that. “I love you, little brother.”

*******

I jump when the door creaks open. I'm surprised to find Will’s face poking in, “Can I come in?”

I don't really feel like talking but I find myself muttering sure anyways. He joins me on the floor (the couch was too comfortable for my liking), resting his weight on his elbows and spreading out his long legs in front of him. “So Hazel’s worried about you.”

“Did she send you?”

“Yep.”

“Figures.”

I can feel him searching my face for any hint as to what happened. “Do you wanna talk about it?”

“No!” I don't mean to raise my voice. I turn to apologize but he shakes his head.

“It's okay.”

I uncross my legs and mirror his pose so our arms are touching. I can feel his bare bicep against my shoulder. “Hazel helped me out with Misty,” he tells me, “she did a great job. I didn't get kicked once!” He shifts his weight to his left arm so he can bring his hand up to place a loose strand of hair behind my ear. “I predict we’ll have a healthy, male baby pegasus this time next week.” He grabs my chin with his long archer’s fingers and tries to nudge my head towards him but I don't buck because...well because I'm stubborn, okay? Instead he places a kiss to my cheek and keeps on babbling. “I don't think Porkpie and Blackjack will be too happy about having another, cuter, smaller pegasus around. They're always fighting over Misty and now they'll always lose to him.”

The sides of my mouth twitch slightly and I can see a triumphant smile spread across his face. Still, he soldiers on. “But maybe once he's born we’ll finally figure out who the father actually is! I know Percy's got his money on Blackjack but that seems like favoritism to me, Porkpie can be quite charming-”

He stops abruptly as I let out a chuckle. “Okay,” I tell him, “you win! Just please stop.”

He laughs, and in a fit of bravery rushes in and kisses me. We both stare wide-eyed at the other as he pulls away. I brush my lips with my finger, convinced they can't possibly be the same after being pressed against Will Solace’s mouth. My first kiss.

“Oh Gods! Nico, I'm sorry.”

“It's okay,” I whisper, my fingers still on my lips.

“I'll leave!”

“No!” I'm shaken out of my daze as he stands up. I reach for him and catch his wrist, and gods I'm blushing so hard. “Stay,” I clear my throat which has suddenly gone very dry. “I mean, only if you want to.”

He looks petrified but eventually nods and sits back down next to me, both our backs against the foot of Hazel’s bed. I don't notice I'm still holding his wrist until I  realize that the loud thumping I feel beneath my fingers is his racing heartbeat. In my own moment of bravery I intertwine my fingers with his.

It's easy to forget what Annabeth told us when I'm willing my palms not to sweat and when my lips can't stop tingling.

**********

We should've left Percy's cabin a while ago. I'm pretty sure he just missed his sword fighting class and Malcolm must be waiting by the climbing wall for me, but neither one of us moves from his bed. It's only a couple degrees cooler inside the cabin and the combination of summer weather and the heat from Percy's body against mine is making me drowsy. I trace circles on his chest absentminded until he catches my hand. “If you keep doing that I'm definitely going to fall asleep.”

I stop. “Sorry.”

“S’okay.”

I sigh and will my entire body to disentangle itself from Percy. He catches my arm as my feet touch the floor. “We can't just stay here,” I tell him, “they're probably already looking for us.”

He groans and hugs me from behind, placing a small kiss on my neck then burrowing his face on my shoulder. “If they wanted to find us, they'd know where to look. Let's just stay here a little while.”

It's tempting, so tempting to just stay here inside our bubble and ignore everything else. “We can't. Percy…”

“What?”

“We can't just act like what just happened didn't happen.”

“Why not?”

I turn so I can properly glare at him. “Why?! This changes everything!”

“No, it doesn't.” I want to argue. I want him to be annoyed by me and roll his eyes at what I have to say. I want to yell and have him yell back. But all my anger melts away when he tucks a strand of loose hair behind my ear. “We’re still graduating. We're still going to college. You're still going to design a whole city for our camp.” I only told him a few days ago about my ideas for New Athens. “Our plans are still there, Annabeth.”

“They won't ever leave us alone.”

He pulls me closer to him. I could almost count all the different shades of greens and blues in his eyes. “They don't matter.” He kisses me, first on the lips then down my jaw, all the way to my collarbone. It's hard to to focus on the bleak aspects of life when you can feel Percy Jackson’s warm breath against your chest. He pulls me back down into the bed so we're facing each other. After a while he says: “You're staring at me.” I am. He's taking this whole mess too well, his features look completely calm.“Stooop,” he whines.

“Are you blushing?”

“What? No,” he totally is, “it's just really hot in here.”

I laugh at the duality of Percy Jackson. One second he's peppering you with kisses, the next he's embarrassed if you stare too long at his face. I'm so happy in this moment it's scary. He probably notices the shift in my eyes and his smile melts away. Why is he so calm about this? We seemed to be on the same page as me a while ago in Nico’s cabin. Thalia even mentioned they fought earlier!

He presses him forehead against mine. “Stop thinking.”

But I can't. All I can think about are Chiron’s sad eyes as he said sorry and the million possible enemies we’ll have to face and how I just can't anymore. “I can't.”

His lips are against my ear now. “I know, Annabeth. I hate it too. But I'm not giving up now.”

I turn around and kiss him again. I kiss him because just now he sounded terrified, because he's probably been freaking out about this since Thalia showed up and he hasn't let it ruin a single moment with me. I kiss him because I wish I wasn't so powerless and actually had a say in my own life. And he kisses me back because he feels it too.

“Hey,” he says after a while, breaking away from the kiss, suddenly looking nervous, “I have to tell you something. It's not bad,” he adds quickly. Slowly his smile comes back and he looks straight at me and we're both twelve and jittery again. “My mom’s-” he lets out a shaky, embarrassed laugh as tears pool in his eyes- “she's pregnant Annabeth!”

All my drowsiness melts away immediately. I sit up and start saying something but falter and all that comes out is something between a shriek and a gasp. And I'm crying and so is he, but we're also laughing and if someone were to walk in on us now we’d probably look insane.

I look back at him once again, and it hits me. I rush forwards and take his face in my hands, searching. I search the bags beneath his eyes and the brand new sun freckles above his nose. I search in the one slightly crooked front tooth as he gapes at me in confusion through his tears, and in the spot on his left eyebrow that always looks messy.

I search and search, but I never find it. And maybe that darkness comes back when Thalia pushes too hard, or in the middle of the night when we realize our nightmares are actually memories. Or when we realize that the wars will never stop.

But right now Percy’s going to be an older brother again.

Right now, we're nothing but light.

*******

EPILOGUE

It took Percy Jackson two hours to convince the cops not to tow his car (with heavy help from a few tricks Hazel had taught him on how to control The Mist) and another hour to wedge the Prius out from the two trees he'd swerved into, all while being slowed down by his constant sneezing. He finally caught his breath as he rested his hands on his knees and admired his handy work. Both car doors were heavily scratched and the one on the driver’s side had a dent from where Percy banged it against the tree trunk as he tried to open it, he'd also busted a headlight and the mirror that'd been on Meg’s side lay pathetically on the floor. Yeah, he was definitely grounded. He checked his watch even though the dark sky already let him know he was very late indeed. With a sigh he opened the door and sat behind the wheel. His head had started to throb and he let out final sneeze before he put the keys in the ignition and attempted to start the car. “C’mon,” he grumbled, placing his forehead against the wheel as he turned the keys a second time. It took him another two tries but he finally managed to start the car.

As he drove back to his apartment, stuck in traffic and painfully congested, he tried to convince himself that he's denial to get involved in whatever trouble Apollo was going to cause was going to hold up. It wasn't working. For the first time in seven months he allowed himself to think about what Annabeth had told them inside Nico’s cabin. The Oracle. An enemy so strong they'd coordinated the last two wars.

He thought he'd have more time.

When he finally made it to the apartment it was almost midnight. The combination of his head cold and the guilt at making his extremely pregnant mother worry were enough to make him hesitate at the door, but he finally turned the key and pushed his way into the dimly lit apartment.

Sally Jackson was wearing the same tye-dye dress she'd wore earlier in the day when she prepared snacks for Apollo and Meg McCaffrey, Paul was sitting beside her in the kitchen.

“Mom, I'm so-” he was interrupted mid-way by a sneeze followed by a groan.

“Oh Percy! What happened now?” In a second she was right beside him guiding him into an armchair and heating up the kettle. Before he could explain further he was wrapped in a blanket, a warm mug of tea in his hands.

“It's fine, Mom. It's just a cold.” She didn't look any less worried, making Percy's guilt flash back. “I'm sorry. I was in a field and there wasn't any signal. Plus, I couldn't even get to my phone because these dumb cops-”

Paul raised a hand and stopped him right there. “What about the cops? Percy, did you get arrested?”

“What? No! They just wanted to tow the car.”

Sally brought her hand to her hip in a very motherly way. “Perseus Jackson you'd better not have crashed that car!”

Percy winced as he remembered the scratches on the door. He looked towards Paul but thankfully he seemed more concerned about his stepson and Sally getting worked up than whatever damage was done to his vehicle. “Cut him some slack, Sal. Clearly, it wasn't his fault.”

Sally sighed and slumped back down onto the chair she'd been sitting on before. “I know, I know. I'm sorry. I was just so worried, Percy!”

“I know. I'm sorry, Mom. Things just got out of control.” She went back to looking worried. Her son had inherited her habit of knitting her eyebrows together when they worried. “But I dropped them off now. It's okay.” Even though he didn't know for sure it wasn't true, Percy still felt like he was lying. And he hated lying to his Mom, but she'd already stayed up so long and she looked exhausted. “Let's just all go to bed, okay?”

She looked at her son and then at Paul, finally surrendering and nodding as she absentmindedly rubbed her swollen belly. Before she went to her room she kissed Percy on his temple and placed the back of her hand against his forehead. He rolled his eyes and once again reassured her he'd be fine. He didn't pull away when she hugged him tightly to her though, after being away from her for almost a year he didn't mind her fussing over him.

He said goodnight to Paul and his stepfather patted his shoulder, following his wife down the hall to their bedroom.

Once they were gone Percy stayed on the armchair and finished his tea, debating whether or not he should try to Iris Message Annabeth and if she'd even answer. He finally got up and rinsed his mug at the sink with one hand and held the blanket atop his shoulders in place with the other. He groggily made his way to his bedroom and practically fell face first onto his mattress, groaning as the pounding in his head increased. Maybe calling Annabeth could wait until the next morning.

He was just starting to fall asleep when his phone buzzed in his pocket (now it decided to work?). It was only for emergencies which meant very few people had his number and most of them could've easily Iris Messaged him. He reached into his jeans and pulled it out, squinting at the brightness. It was Annabeth. He propped himself on his elbow and picked up. “Hey. I almost Iris Messaged you just now. What's up?”

“Sorry! Did I wake you up?”

“No, I just got here actually.”

He could hear her pause at the other end of the line. “How come? Why do you sound weird?”

“I got a cold.” Another sneeze overtook him to further confirm his statement. “Oh and...Apollo came by.”

“The god Apollo? What? He hasn't been seen for months?” They both had had their suspicions as to why. Now, Apollo had confirmed it for Percy. Zeus had finally chosen who to blame.

“Yeah, well he's mortal now apparently. We're the same clothe size.” Percy could almost see her pinching the bridge of her nose and starting to pace inside whatever Boston hotel she was staying at. “Any luck with your cousin?”

She sighed and let out a stressed out little laugh. “Oh yeah he's fine. He died, but he's taking it rather well, all things considered.”

“What?!” Percy silently cursed and peered out his door to make sure he hadn't woken up his parents. “What do you mean died?” He shout-whispered into the phone.

“It's okay he was resurrected in Valhalla!” Annabeth sounded like she knew she was crazy and had made her peace with it.

“Man, crazy day huh?”

She laughed, properly now. “Yeah! What's new?”

They both stayed quiet for a little while, neither one eager to break the silence because they knew what came next. Percy was eager to get inside his bed and take a ten hour nap, but he knew he wouldn't sleep much that night. “When are you coming back?” They couldn't slack off on their training now. Percy almost missed his worry towards the SAT that morning.

“Tomorrow.”

She sounded quite crestfallen but he knew it wasn't about leaving Boston. “Hey,” he tried, his throat was getting sore, “we won't get involved until it's totally necessary, right? They might not even need us.”

One could still hope.

There was some static ruffling from her side of the line and then a deep sigh. “Right. Okay. See you soon.”

“Okay. I love you.”

“I love you.”

[cosmic-chemist]

romeo brainrotting here r some stupid little hcs i made up about him.... theyre prolly stupid i almost never share hcs LOLLL 😭😭😭

_

After losing his admin powers he had a hard time adjusting to being a regular human so there was alot of times where he tried doing things like flying/floating and he'd just fall flat on his face… there was probably a time he accidentally fell from a balcony due to force of habit LMFAOOOOO

Also this probably doesn't fit in the canon but i like to think there was “Admin residue” (ew that sounds weird LMAOOO) left over when he lost his powers so there was times he'd “glitch” in a way and take the forms of other people or even his admin forms for a few seconds to long periods of time

Was tall as FUCK as an admin and after he became human he lost so much of that height n became average sized and he was PISSED !!! (addition to this he was taken aback when he was impersonating jesse because he was very short in comparison to romeo)

In Between and after going back to the underneath to try n help people like he promised he'd do in the ending he resided in a cabin outside beacontown,, his little house wasn't super far away from beacontown but it was also not super close, considering a lot of the citizens(understandably) don't trust him all that much LMFAOOOO, he almost never visited beacontown due to that and it was mainly jesse n his gang that went to visit him or vise versa

[ruleandruinrpg]

CONGRATULATIONS, GLORIA!

You have been accepted for the role of SVETLANA GAVRIKOVA. Admin Bree: I knew when I first wrote her that Svetlana, with all her ruthlessness and fanaticism and ambition, would be a tough nut to crack, but Gloria, you handled her with ease. From the “what drew you” section to your headcanons and extras, you brought her to life in ways even I hadn’t imagined, and I knew, when I finished reading, that there was simply no other decision to make. Your para sample was chilling, and I hope it sets a precedent for what we can expect from you and Svetlana on the dash. Well done! You have 24 HOURS to send in your account. Also, remember to look at the CHECKLIST. Welcome to Ravka!

OUT OF CHARACTER

ALIAS: Gloria

PREFERRED PRONOUNS: She/her

AGE: 21

TIMEZONE & ACTIVITY LEVEL: With summer here I have a lot more free time I can dedicate to roleplaying, but I will obviously get busy from time to time. I can promise to pop online and do my replies every second day at least. On a scale from 1 to 10, I would say a solid 7.

CURRENT/PAST ACCOUNTS: I have several, but here’s an example X.

IN CHARACTER

DESIRED CHARACTER: Svetlana Gavrikova

Svetlana (  Светлана )          ↳ Russian          ↳ light, world

Svetlana for all the light in the world, soft and sweet, represents everything her parents ever wanted her to be. See, they didn’t want their little girl to have to suffer from need for anything, for jealousy and wrath to bloom in her heart – and they didn’t know until it was too late. How could they? Svetlana was kind to them, always, until the last second they laid eyes on her. She saw how hard her father was trying to give everything to her and how her mother turned the littlest to the most, she saw them and loved them even though they could never understand her. She could not disappoint them by reveling her poisonous mind, could she? She did not want them to know that the wolf inside her swallowed the lamb, they saw her as, in whole.

Yalena (  Елена )

        ↳ Russian         ↳ torch, corposant

Yalenka, ptichka, my little bird, her parents used to call her. She remembers, or rather, has these faint, spiderweb-like shreds of memories about the way she was before. Before the war. Before the ruination. Before her mouth was full of sharp teeth, hungry for destruction, hungry for blood and flesh and death. She remembers her pretty, pretty dresses, adorning her slender figure as she ran through fields of flower and tall grass. She remembers how her heart filled up with joy at the smell of daisies and freshly baked bread and new books. And she remembers, the faintest of them all, so very distantly as if it wasn’t even her, the forgiving, kind nature of her being. It is strange, truly, she thinks, how she doesn’t recognizes herself in those memories. Not her voice, not her words, not even her own face. 

Gavrikova (  Гаврикова )        ↳ Russian        ↳ spiritual, intuition

They came from long generations of merchants, spreading out around the whole of Ravka. A big family, strong and proud and influential in their own way. She’s been told she has so many cousins around Ravka and even on the other side of all the borders, she couldn’t even count them. Their name was known, perhaps not to nobility or royalty, but to the people depending on their cargo and those living on their lands. And yet, when Svetlana was taken to join the First Army, there was nothing to be done, no begging, no amount of silver and gold could prevent them from pushing her towards the front line of the war. She didn’t mind, even then, there was already something blooming in the deepest, most hidden corners of her heart. A thirst for something new, the unknown terrors of bloodshed, everything her parents tried to protect her from, in the past sixteen years, so desperately. Now, when someone hears the name Gavrikova, they do not think of merchants. They think of a woman with hair like flame and claws of iron, a woman with a heart made of ash and thunder and ruination. 

WHAT DREW YOU TO THIS CHARACTER? 

Oh my gosh, from the second I read her teaser, I was in love. She was something I’ve been looking for in a female character for quite some time now, always wanted to experience someone who’s untouched by feminine machinations and breaks through the burdens in front of her like a bull. She makes me excited, proud and sad at the same time because even though her story cannot be called stereotypically tragic, I can see the girl she once was being so foreign, so distant to who she is today. Loosing herself ( or perhaps finding her true self ) carries a kind of beautiful tragedy. To me, Svetlana is the embodiment of a storm and I don’t want her to die down, to be tamed, ever. If she has to go one day though, I want her to leave unimaginable destruction after herself, I want her name to sound like a curse for years and years after she’s gone, I want her to be remembered as chaos itself. 

Her brash hunger for ambition, her untamed thirst for the blood of her enemies, the way she does not want to limit herself in any way, nor does she let herself be held back by anything or anyone.  She is the kind of character I would usually be interested in, I’ve always liked strong females that have straight goals and aspirations, who know what they want and have fire in their personalities. Svetlana is especially unique in to me because she doesn’t handle things in a stereotypical feminine way, she doesn’t try to manipulate people, to charm her way into others hearts and get her way like that. She is strong and fierce and she has no interest in pleasing people with her behavior, she simply doesn’t care how others perceive her (unless it comes to the Darkling’s approval, of course). I love Svetlana because she has so much possibilities and yet sometimes the way she sees things could be the biggest burden in her way. I want to give her the chance to see that clawing her own, violent way to the top might not be the only one, or that perhaps it’s not even what her heart really yearns for. A girl made of fire and lightening and everything frightening, she still has weaknesses, weaknesses that could be her downfall so very easily, no matter how much she believes she is invincible. She needs to face those weaknesses, accept them and battle her own self to be able to conquer the world the way she desires.

WHAT FUTURE PLOT IDEAS DID YOU HAVE IN MIND? 

carnal flower / bloody rose: I want to see her interact with the Darkling, for sure. She is not blind, she can see his obvious ignorance towards her achievements and it not only angers her but motivates her to do more. She is going to prove it to him that she’s exceptional in every way he can imagine and she doesn’t care that he thinks he’s seen hundreds of her kind before and will see hundreds after her. There is only one Svetlana Gavrikova and she will make him see, make him understand. He doesn’t scare her, not really, he makes her burn inside with this dark desire for approval, for recognition, the thought of him makes the beast in her scream and claw at her inside manically. She will show him, she will and when she does, he’ll understand why they all fear her.

three mile island / one way road: I cannot wait to see the dynamic between Svetlana, Adrik and Fyodor. They seem like such an interesting trio with their hunger for destruction, their devotion to the Darkling and the way nobody can stand in their way. I am entirely fascinated by Svetlana’s relationship to them both separately and the three of them together as well and I know that no matter what, they will raise hell in the most exquisite way. I want to see them go on missions for the Darkling, I want to see them interact in a casual setting, see them training together or just simply watch their story unfold side by side.

you smell like love / taste like ash: There is a kind of hatred in her heart towards the Sun Summoner she didn’t know she was capable of feeling anymore. It’s not only fed by the jealous rage for occupying all of her sovereign’s attention, but there is something in her … something she cannot quite put a finger on, something that drives her up the wall like nothing else. Perhaps, Svetlana thinks, there is a part of her, a part long lost and forgotten that is awoken by Gemma, a part untainted by death and dust and ruination, a part she thought she’s lost the second she first slit a man’s throat. She does not miss that part of her and she does not want to be reminded of it’s existence. I want to see her punish Gemma for something she thinks she caused, to see her with bloody eyes and a foaming mouth at the height of her very worst.

WOULD YOU BE WILLING TO HAVE YOUR CHARACTER DIE?: Absolutely, if the plot requires it I am all in to give a twist to things by saying goodbye to her.

IN DEPTH

IN CHARACTER PARA SAMPLE(S): 

I.

tw: gore

This is the closest she’ll ever get to being in love. She looks down at her fingers, tainted by the sticky, warm, crimson life force of the corpse she’s still sitting on. Mesmerized, still so endlessly fascinated. 

This is the closest she’ll ever get to being in love, she thinks, this feeling, this thrill that presses the air out of her lungs, this excitement that makes her heart beat fast like she’s been running. She won’t find anything else completing her this way, like two parts of a puzzle, fitting together so precisely, so perfectly. Her eyes close for a moment only and a sigh of pure ecstasy falls past her brims as pale digits dig into the still fresh wound. She feels the flesh under her fingertips, the artery still filled with blood and for a fickle moment she thinks there is pulse too. Mesmerized.

This is the closest she’ll ever get to being in love. She raises her hand to her mouth, eyes still shut close, brims open hesitantly and she’s tasting it. Warm and rusty and full. It tastes like victory, tastes like power.

This is the closest she’ll ever get to being in love. She stands up, long hair falling onto her shoulders as she walks to her horse, she can feel eyes on following her every move. Tries to imagine how she might look, with blood smeared across her face, a rare, content smile taking over her countenance.

This is the closest she’ll ever get to being in love. And no one will ever understand.

ll.

She remembers the first time she saw him. Tall and dark and intimidating. Tall and dark and intimidating and so, so deliciously unknown. He moved as a shadow among the others and Svetlana watched him with wary eyes for years. She’s watched him move around the king and queen like he was above them, but in a way it was only visible to the most perceptive eyes. She’s watched him be feared and admired by the Grisha and the people of Ravka equally. She’s watched him from far for so long, the first time she’s been right in front of him, for a mere second only, but she thought she already knew him.

And then he raised those cold, dark eyes at her and she knew, she was wrong. She didn’t know him, she never will. But he knows her. He knows the deepest, darkest corners of her mind like it was his own. She felt stripped from all her secrets, all her pride, left naked in her most vulnerable. It was only a second, that’s all he’s given her of his time, but Svetlana felt as he’s taken a part of her with him. A part he hasn’t given back still. A part she feels she needs to earn back.

Pale digits press into the arm of the girl, Sun Summoner, they say, fingertips leaving a mark after themselves. She leads her through the hallways of the Little Palace, expression unreadable but there is pride shining in her eyes. They enter the oval shaped room and there he is, sitting in his mahogany chair. Tall and dark and intimidating. And Svetlana waits, waits for him to look at her, for one second only, to give her back that missing part. He doesn’t. All his attention is focused on the the pale femme beside her.

She’s angry. She could scream. She could kill. She wants to kill. Kill her, kill him, kill them all. Is this how jealousy feels like then? Is this the poison she’ll end up choking on?

CHARACTER HEADCANONS: 

When she was seven, she accidentally cut her thigh with a butcher knife. It left a long scar from her left knee to the middle of her thigh and although she’s gotten a significant number of other scars through her service in the First Army and as an Opricniki, it is her favorite to this day. When she’s frustrated and alone, she often runs the tips of her fingers over the silky skin of the now healed wound.

Although she’s stripped herself off of most believed signifiers of feminity, she wears her crimson red lipstick like war paint. It has a dramatic effect with her porcelain skin, fire hair and charcoal Oprechniki uniform. She’s been called beautiful before as she crosses the dimly lit hallways of the Little Palace, but she’s been called terrifying so much more.

She much prefers using knifes or her bare hands, when it comes to battle, to guns. It’s more personal, the way the blade plunges into another’s flesh, the way she can feel it under her fingertips: heartbeat slow, slow, slow down until it’s no more.

Svetlana usually sleeps on her side or on her stomach with one hand under the pillow, fingers wrapped around a knife. She likes having a lot of pillows in her bed, she’s been told that as a child she always fell asleep arranging them in some kind of order only known to her. She is also a very light sleeper, always on alert, always ready to protect herself from whatever danger.

She doesn’t mind the taste of blood, be it her own or someone else’s. Of course, she will not go around sinking her teeth into people, but during battle it often happens she gets hit on the face and her lips start bleeding or perhaps an opponent’s life force finds it’s way into her mouth.

Her favorite fruit is pomegranate. She used to read a lot about Greek mythology and the story of Persephone and Hades has always been oddly endearing to her, the whole concept all so poetic and beautiful.

You could call her a health craze in a way, she is practically obsessed with her physical health, except when it comes to smoking. She is obviously in shape as it is required of her, she trains almost every moment of her free time and stays away from everything that could be bad for her body.

It might be strange, but Svetlana loves flowers, red ones in particular, roses and tulips and poppies. 

Svetlana enjoys physical pain to a certain point, it gives her a kind of thrill she cannot even experience when taking another life either. It reminds her of her own mortality, it fills her lungs with fire and excitement. She would never hurt herself on purpose, it is not her style, but she definitely doesn’t mind getting a wound or two during battles.

She finds fountains strangely beautiful, they calm her down. There is something in the soft sound of water paddling and the precise little statues that mesmerize her.

Svetlana knew she was interested in human anatomy ever since her brother’s gruesome accident. The blood and flesh and guts never intimidated her, she’s always wanted to learn how everything worked. Perhaps, in another life, when her hunger for ruination was less prominent, she would have been a healer of some kind.

She has no love for the Grisha and yet ever since she was chosen as one of the Darkling’s private guard, she has a new found fascination with them. She doesn’t go unnecessarily close, doesn’t interact with them if she doesn’t have to but she is perceptive and she learns more and more about them every day.

EXTRAS: Here’s the Pinterest board I made for her: X

PERSONALITY:

                              ‘   She was born of fire, of unhampered desire; strong as stone. She’s as lovely as the ash that coats the devils tongue   ’

USUAL MOOD: Svetlana seems unapproachable at all times. Svetlana is unapproachable at all times. It often seems as if it is impossible to catch her in the right time, she can be seen in the midst of sharing private jokes with Adrik or Fyodor one moment and the next she is pure ice, cutting into everyone that dares to disturb her. There are woman you could feel the coldness of a corpse coming off of them, there is nothing and no one that can reach deep and hard enough to touch her. She doesn’t take offense very easily but does not allow people to speak to her disrespectfully, to Svetlana, it’s a matter of demanding the rightful treatment attached to her title. She is temperamental and unpredictable and it’s almost impossible to read her mood –– although it’s safe to guess she won’t be all sunshine and smiles no matter when you try to interact with her. 

CLOTHING STYLE: She remembers especially enjoying the color peach once and those flimsy, soft materials her dresses and gloves were made of. They were nothing compared to what the nobility in Os Alta wears, but they were exquisite among the ragged clothes of peasants and soldiers. Now, she wears the charcoal uniform of the Oprichniki with more pride than anything else. She earned her place among them, she was picked from hundreds of thousands of soldiers, she was chosen and she won’t let anyone forget it even for a second.

HABITS: lip biting, gritting teeth, running fingers through hair, clicking tongue, frowning

POSTURE: Always straight, confident and demanding respect, she’s been compared to a cheetah both in the way she moves and the way she fights. She is a good soldier, disciplined and strong and the way she carries herself represents all they fear her for. Svetlana stands, sits and walks in an impeccable manner, it’s something he didn’t have to learn or try hard to achieve, it comes naturally to her. 

VOICE: Her voice is a bit deeper than people expect it to be from looking at her. It gets a bit raspy in the early mornings ( most likely a side effect of all the cigarettes she is so fond of smoking ) but that disappears once she shakes off sleep. Her words always have an edge to them, she doesn’t necessarily have to raise her voice for that –– and although she does not back off from a loud argument, those turn physical with her rather quickly..

SOCIAL SKILLS: Generally speaking, she could be probably good with people, but again, she doesn’t like or care for most of them very much, if at all. She is exceptional in finding people’s weak spots, is incredibly observing, but generally, she is not very good in social situations. She knows how to be civil and how to sell herself, of course, but it doesn’t mean she is on the top of her game all the time. Comforting someone, making them feel better about something seems almost impossible to Svetlana, if she tries, she usually only makes it worse and so she tries to avoid situations where her empathy ( or the lack of it, rather ) is being put to work. She doesn’t care for being liked, only recognized for her achievements and so she finds no reason to try and be on her best behavior.

FAMILY:

FATHER: Vladim Gavrikova ( 58 ) –– She remembers watching him, saying goodbye to him every morning before he sat up on his carriage, leaving to go to the fair or visit nearby cities to sell their merchandise or occasionally get together for some kvas with other merchants and village people. He’s always treated her so kindly, so gently, like she was the softest of flower petals of the most beautiful rose in the garden. Sometimes, rarely when she thinks of him, Svetlana believes the devotion her father had towards her, towards giving her everything she could possibly need, would still impress her. But then she remembers, if her father knew her now, if he saw that her Yalenka, ptichka, his little bird is the most dangerous of all the predators, perhaps he would be repulsed by her.

MOTHER: Olesya Gavrikova ( 55 ) –– Her mother was kind too, but differently. In a hesitant way, kind yet always kept an arm lengthy distance between them. As a child, it was hard for Svetlana to understand, to wrap her mind around why her mother didn’t tuck her to bed every night with tears of love in her eyes or why she with warily, like she was afraid she could disappear any moment. Did she hate her because it wasn’t her dying instead of Pyotr? Was she blaming her? No, Svetlana realized later one, she was just broken. Broken by the loss of her son, by the possibility of loosing her daughter too. And so when she was taken to the First Army, the last thing she remembers of her childhood home, the picture still lives vividly in her mind, even after ten years, her mother was on her knees. She didn’t cry, but her mouth opened up in horror, the kind of horror Svetlana never saw again, no matter how much cruelty she saw or cause. Her mother face said “here it is, here goes another part of my soul”.

SIBLING(S): Pyotr Gavrikova ( deceased ) –– They were born seven minutes apart, together from the moment they opened their eyes for the very first time, Their relationship was just like every other sibling relationship, they bickered and fought and made up and were there for each other, always. And yet when he fell, fell under the carriage at the summer fair in the village, Svetlana didn’t feel as if she’s lost a part of herself. She watched his skull crack open under the pressure of the wheel of the carriage, blood, blood, blood and brain and all she felt was fascination. Perhaps that was the first time she knew, knew she was different somehow. That’s when they started whispering behind her back “cold girl, doesn’t even mourn the loss of her brother”. But she did mourn, on her own, strange way, she did. Not with tears and sadness like her parents, not with forcing loneliness on herself, but my remembering him. Remembering him every waking moment of her life, remembering right until one day she didn’t anymore.

OTHER(S): N/A

PET(S): Svetlana is currently not capable for taking responsibility for another living creature.

PHYSICAL TRAITS

EYE COLOUR: baby blue

HAIR COLOUR: red

HEIGHT: 5"10’

BODY BUILD: slender, lean, athletic

GLASSES/CONTACTS: N/A

TATTOOS + PIERCINGS: N/A 

NOTABLE PHYSICAL TRAITS: Her red hair and charcoal uniform.

PERSONALITY

STAR SIGN: aries

TEMPERAMENT: choleric

VIRTUES: persistent, resourceful, ambitious, rational, adaptive, loyal, perceptive

VICES: bloody thirsty, easily bored, moody, vengeful, cruel, impatient, temperamental

ALIGNMENT: lawful evil

birthdate:

April 5th

She came into the world with a head full of crimson hair and a scream that let the whole neighborhood know that indeed, Svetlana Gavrikova was born. Her mother always told her that giving birth to her was surprisingly easy, much easier than she though but she was scared, terrified of what would happen. See, Olesya was tired, so tired after giving birth to her brother only minutes ago and she thought exhaustion will take her before she can deliver the second child. But then she saw it, the little face of her baby boy, the desperate crying of his voice and she loved him. She loved him more than she though she could love anything in the world and then she knew she has to fight for that other child, still in her belly, struggling for life. So she pushed and screamed in pain and there Svetlana was. They wanted their children to be healthy and perfect. And she was. She was.

The most significant Aries traits in Calla’s personality:

                +  passionate  +  independent  +  determined

                 -  impatient  -  impatient  -  opinionated

gender identity & pronouns — Svetlana identifies as cis female and it’s not something that occupies her mind too much. The thought of being viewed as an object or weak, to be treated with less respect just because of her gender makes her terribly angry. If anything, women are the future and she intends to show that to the whole world and every single person who tried to shut her up about it. Perhaps if she was born in a different age when girls were generally viewed more equal, she would be lacking some aspects of her brash personality. She had to work twice as hard to show them all how capable she was. Capable to be in the First Army, capable to be a warrior, capable to be chosen among the best.

sexuality & romantic preference — Sex and romance takes up very minimal place among her interests, therefor she identifies as asexual. She views it as such a small, insignificant part of life, a distraction, nothing but a burden between her and her goals. The whole concept of love itself seems too mundane, too simple to her to take a real interest in it. Of course, from time to time, she does take interest in someone in her own, strange way but it’s always short lived and brutal. Svetlana doesn’t exactly have a preference, she simply appreciates beauty. The problem with any kind of yearning for another awakening in her is that she despises rejection. She appreciates beauty, she does but her thirst to taint it, to destroy it is much stronger. She will leave you behind shattered and ruined, no matter if you agreed to play her game or not.

Some quotes that remind me of Svetlana:

“I’d call her a storm, or tornado, but they are destruction without purpose. Her? She look’ll you in the eye as she tears you open, just to see how much you’ll bleed.“

“She was born of fire, of unhampered desire; strong as stone. She’s as lovely as the ash that coats the devils tongue.”

“She was ice cold to the bone, but I swear, she burned like rum on fire.”

“I love death. I love the way it buzzes in my ear; the way it sends love letters to my ribs. I love the beckon, the chase. The destruction of frailty, a splice of honey-bone. Death teases me with divine morbidity. And do i answer?“

“Her sincerity was so bruising that people sometimes confused it with eccentricity. She always—but always—did what she wanted, and when she wanted. Without asking anyone for permission. It was a strong feature of her character.”

“She wanted a storm to match her rage.“

“You think I’m not a goddess? Try me. This is a torch song. Touch me and you’ll burn.”

“She lifts a wand of mascara, leans into the mirror, weaves threads of liquid onyx between her thick eyelashes.she sets it down, selects a brush, and her cheekbones glow sharp after. Has she used highlight, or dusted them in mercury? She uncaps her lipstick, stains her lips sanguine, and blows a kiss. Rose petaled, ruby-red, coated in bold vermillion; blood that has dried.”

“She’s a mess of gorgeous chaos and you can see it in her eyes.“

“Maybe some women aren’t meant to be tamed. Maybe they just need to run free until they find someone just as wild to run with them.”

“She’s the girl ablaze; her kiss burns like whiskey, her touch trails fire, her eyes burn brighter than city light. She’s the girl ablaze; who flames like the sun, the moon and stars. She will ignite.”

“How fine you look when dressed in rage.”

“Girl has a matchstick mouth. / Girl with wounds burning loud & easy through her. / Girl says the ache is gone, then breaks mother’s chinaware. / Girl wanted to see other things fall apart, too.”

“She was not soft. She smelled like cigarettes, leather, and ground black coffee. And when you inhaled, she burned your lungs the way that made you want to do it again.”

“Her soul is filled with silent scars, they reek indifference.”

ANYTHING ELSE? 

I loved writing this application and following the process you were making this rpg happen. Good luck with acceptances !

[wetrumpfeed]

Afternoon MAGAthread: YOUR WEEKLY PRESIDENTIAL RECAP!

HAPPY SATURDAY DEPLORABLES!

This is u/Ivaginaryfriend and im back with all things spicy & dank from the past week! For those that missed any past recaps you can check those out here!

Sunday, March 24th:

TODAY'S ACTION:

President Trump Delivers a Statement Upon Departure

🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:

MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!

No Collusion, No Obstruction, Complete and Total EXONERATION. KEEP AMERICA GREAT!

Good Morning, Have A Great Day!

SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:

MAGAthread - AG Barr's Letter Summarizing Mueller Report Findings

r/The_MuellerMeltdown is open for salt mining business!

“Collusion Hoax” just uploaded on President Trump’s YouTube channel

Sebastian Gorka: "The only reason we had the Mueller probe was because Hillary Clinton lost & they had to have the coverup for everything they did to spy on another presidential campaign. This is the biggest political scandal in America history."

Grandmother gets free from home invader, grabs handgun, warns him to leave, then shoots when he advances. Protecting her grandchildren ages 3, 5, & 12. Why do dems want her defenseless?

🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:

Just wanted to give a welcome to all the newbies who have recently seen the light due to the nothing burger that was Russian collusion. TD welcomes you with open arms as long as you are here to MAGA!

SALT MINE THREAD MUELLER REEEEEEEEEEEEEEPORT SHOWS NO COLLUSION AND NO OBSTRUCTION - REDDIT SUICIDE WATCH IS CRANKED UP TO MAXIMUM

Chug, chug, chug...

The absolute state of reddit right now

Alert! Salt overflow. We need more miners! Join the salt mining party at r/The_MuellerMeltdown

Monday, March 25th:

TODAY'S ACTION:

Proclamation on Recognizing the Golan Heights as Part of the State of Israel

President Trump and The Prime Minister of Israel Make Remarks

President Trump Participates in a Bilateral Meeting with the Prime Minister of the State of Israel

President Trump Participates in a Photo Opportunity with the 2018 Stanley Cup Champions

President Trump Meets with Caribbean Leaders at Mar-a-Lago

🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:

“No matter your ideologies or your loyalties, this is a good day for America. No American conspired to cooperate with Russia in its efforts to interfere with the 2016 election, according to Robert Mueller, and that is good.” @BretBaier @FoxNews

“The Special Counsel did not find that the Trump Campaign, or anyone associated with it, conspired or coordinated with the Russian Government in these efforts, despite multiple offers from Russian-affiliated individuals to assist the Trump Campaign.”

“Breaking News: Mueller Report Finds No Trump-Russia Conspiracy.” @MSNBC

Video

President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu Deliver Remarks

Today, it was my great honor to welcome Prime Minister @Netanyahu of Israel back to the @WhiteHouse where I signed a Presidential Proclamation recognizing Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights. Read more: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/proclamation-recognizing-golan-heights-part-state-israel/ …

WSJ: Obama Admin Must Account for ‘Abuse of Surveillance Powers’

(Retweeting Brian McNally) The #Caps won a Stanley Cup so they get to spend the next hour here touring and meeting the President in a private event.

(Retweeting Philip Pritchard) Hanging out in the Roosevelt Room, waiting to head into the oval office. #stanleycup @NHL @WhiteHouse @HockeyHallFame @Capitals 0

A team of great champions!

(Retweeting Scott Abraham) The Stanley Cup and the Caps with President Trump in the Oval Office. What a picture!

(Retweeting Don Jr.) Christmas came early this week.

(Retweeting Tom Fitton) Tom Fitton on @RealDonaldTrump Russia Mueller Probe: 'They've KNOWN There Was NO Collusion" And, by the way, @DevinNunes is one of the most consequential congressmen in a generation...

SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:

You guys were right

BREAKING: Pence calls for the removal of Ilhan Omar from the House Foreign Affairs Committee

Donald Trump: Time to Investigate the Left for ‘Treasonous Things’

We're drowning in salt! Time to send some back to CNN! #SendEmSalt

I'm done with the Left for good.

Pentagon Notifies Congress it has Authorized $1 Billion Transfer to Begin New Border Wall Construction

CREEPY PORN LAWYER FACING 50 YEARS FROM 2 COUNTS OF CA INDICTMENTS. HE STOLE HIS CLIENT’S SETTLEMENT MONEY AND PUT IN PHONY TAX RETURNS TO SCAM A $4M LOAN FROM A BANK. WHAT A FUCKING SCUMBAG!

🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:

Media, Libs, Cucks and Shills BTFO by Netanyahu during press conference with GEOTUS: " I brought you a case of the finest wine. I understand you're not a great wine drinker. But could I give it to your staff? I hope they don't open an investigation on it."

FUCKER TWEETED THIS AN HOUR BEFORE HE WAS ARRESTED. MY SIDES 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Avenatti doesn’t feel so good

Hey @MichaelAvenatti - It looks like you'll be the one spending time behind bars after all. #basta

I'm not a trump supporter, but this is how I imagine all you guys right now lmao

Tuesday, March 26th:

TODAY'S ACTION:

Executive Order on Coordinating National Resilience to Electromagnetic Pulses

Seven Nominations Sent to the Senate

President Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Nominate and Appoint Personnel to Key Administration Posts

First Lady Melania Trump Visits Nicklaus Children's Hospital

President Trump Meets with Prime Minister Netanyahu

President Trump Participates in a Senate Republican Policy Lunch

🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:

The Mainstream Media is under fire and being scorned all over the World as being corrupt and FAKE. For two years they pushed the Russian Collusion Delusion when they always knew there was No Collusion. They truly are the Enemy of the People and the Real Opposition Party!

(Retweeting Tom Fitton) Let’s be clear, neither Mueller, Obama FBI, DOJ, CIA, Deep State, etc ever had good faith basis to pursue @realDonaldTrump on Russia. Russia collusion was a hoax & a criminal abuse, which is why @JudicialWatch will continue to fight for truth in fed court. https://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/press-releases/judicial-watch-statement-on-mueller-report/ …

“What we’re seeing on Capitol Hill right now is that the Democrats are walking back any charges of Collusion against the President.” @ByronYork @BillHemmer Should never have been started, a disgrace!

The Republican Party will become “The Party of Healthcare!”

“A Catastrophic Media Failure”

Thank you to the House Republicans for sticking together and the BIG WIN today on the Border. Today’s vote simply reaffirms Congressional Democrats are the party of Open Borders, Drugs and Crime!

“Proclamation on Recognizing the Golan Heights as Part of the State of Israel”

“I think this is probably the most consequential media screwup of the last 25 to 50 years. It is difficult to comprehend or overstate the damage that the media did to the Country, to their own reputation or to the Constitution. An absolute catastrophe” Sean Davis @TuckerCarlson

Video

Video

The Fake News Media has lost tremendous credibility with its corrupt coverage of the illegal Democrat Witch Hunt of your all time favorite duly elected President, me! T.V. ratings of CNN & MSNBC tanked last night after seeing the Mueller Report statement. @FoxNews up BIG!

SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:

REDICULOUS - Jussie Smollett won't be prosecuted on charges he faked attack

Former Michelle Obama aide tried to intervene in Jussie Smollett probe

Cocaine Mitch is silently laughing hysterically

Fair Warning: Trump Campaign Distributes Memo Telling Media To Steer Clear Of Collusion Conspiracy Theorists "At a minimum, if these guests do reappear, you should replay the prior statements and challenge them to provide the evidence which prompted them to make the wild claims in the first place"

Troll level 1,000,000,002.1! Mike Lee's Velocipede Machine Gun Speech

DOUG COLLINS HAS RELEASED GEORGE PAPADOPOULOS'S TESTIMONY. DIG PEDES, DIG!!

🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:

Why is CNN here so early?

⚖️ Jussie Said The Magic Words ⚖️

No words needed.

Good morning to everyone who wasn’t indicted for extortion yesterday.

Mitch McConnell just trolled the Democrats with this video on Twitter

Wednesday, March 27th:

TODAY'S ACTION:

Vice President Pence Participates in a Bilateral Meeting

Memorandum on Federal Housing Finance Reform

President Trump Participates in a Bilateral Meeting

President Trump Presents the Medal of Honor

🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:

.@GreggJarrett: “Trump-Russia 'collusion' was always a hoax -- and dirtiest political trick in modern US history”

Video

Just met with @SundarPichai, President of @Google, who is obviously doing quite well. He stated strongly that he is totally committed to the U.S. Military, not the Chinese Military.... ... ....Also discussed political fairness and various things that @Google can do for our Country. Meeting ended very well!

We are here today to award America’s highest military honor to a fallen hero who made the supreme sacrifice for our nation – Staff Sergeant Travis Atkins...

(Retweeting Hannity) #HANNITY EXCLUSIVE TONIGHT: One-on-one with @realdonaldtrump — the President’s first interview since Mueller found no collusion! Tune in at 9PM ET!

(Retweeting The White House) Video

(Retweeting Verney & Co.) Video

SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:

Ben Garrison, Spicy AMA

YOU PATRIOTS ARE TOO MUCH! WELL OVER THREE TONS OF SALT ON ITS WAY BACK TO CNN!!! #SendEmSalt

Chicago PD releases full Jessie Smellit case files. Links in article

Undaunted By the Facts, CNN Continues to Push Collusion Conspiracy Theory

Wikipedia Editors Paid to Protect Political, Tech, and Media Figures

PRESS BRIEFINGS, INTERVIEWS, RALLIES:

WATCH PARTY: Hannity interviews GEOTUS on Fox News at 9PM ET

🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:

REPORT: An unnamed source familiar with Kim Foxx' thinking told me the reason she dropped charges against Smullett was because his phone records showed over 200 calls and texts from Kamala Harris and DNC operatives. Prove me wrong.

No evidence to support our claims, let’s just form a mob.

Something feels different about Trump. He is scorned. He's fucking pissed. It's one thing to take him head on, it's another to trash his reputation. They tried to destroy him and the son who bears his name. WRONG. FUCKING. MAN. Hell is coming, cucks.

16 felonies .. just disappeared into thin air..

Amen

Thursday, March 28th:

TODAY'S ACTION:

Memorandum on Extension of Deferred Enforced Departure for Liberians

Executive Order on Adjustments of Certain Rates of Pay

President Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Appoint Individuals to Key Administration Posts

President Trump Delivers a Statement Upon Departure

🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:

Will be heading to Grand Rapids, Michigan, tonight for a Big Rally. Will be talking about the many exciting things that are happening to our Country, but also the car companies, & others, that are pouring back into Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, North & South Carolina & all over!

The Fake News Media is going Crazy! They are suffering a major “breakdown,” have ZERO credibility or respect, & must be thinking about going legit. I have learned to live with Fake News, which has never been more corrupt than it is right now. Someday, I will tell you the secret!

Mexico is doing NOTHING to help stop the flow of illegal immigrants to our Country. They are all talk and no action. Likewise, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador have taken our money for years, and do Nothing. The Dems don’t care, such BAD laws. May close the Southern Border!

FBI & DOJ to review the outrageous Jussie Smollett case in Chicago. It is an embarrassment to our Nation!

Congressman Adam Schiff, who spent two years knowingly and unlawfully lying and leaking, should be forced to resign from Congress!

Wow, ratings for “Morning Joe,” which were really bad in the first place, just “tanked” with the release of the Mueller Report. Likewise, other shows on MSNBC and CNN have gone down by as much as 50%. Just shows, Fake News never wins!

Very important that OPEC increase the flow of Oil. World Markets are fragile, price of Oil getting too high. Thank you!

Video

Video

The Republican Party will become the Party of Great HealthCare! ObamaCare is a disaster, far too expensive and deductibility ridiculously high - virtually unusable! Moving forward in Courts and Legislatively!

We have a National Emergency at our Southern Border. The Dems refuse to do what they know is necessary - amend our immigration laws. Would immediately solve the problem! Mexico, with the strongest immigration laws in the World, refuses to help with illegal immigration & drugs!

On my way to Grand Rapids, Michigan right now. See you all very soon! #MAGA

Beautiful #MAGARally tonight in Grand Rapids, Michigan - thank you, I love you! MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!

Massive overflow crowds in Grand Rapids, Michigan tonight. Thank you for joining us tonight! #MAGA

MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!

Working hard, thank you! #MAGA

SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:

Letter from House Intelligence Committee Republicans calling for Adam Schiff's resignation

Holder gets absolutely rekt by VP Pence!

#RidiculousBullshit

92 percent of illegal immigrant families ignore deportations

Rand Paul announces Amendment to Mueller Report Resolution That Demands Release of Obama’s Communications Concerning Decision to Investigate Trump Campaign.

PRESS BRIEFINGS, INTERVIEWS, RALLIES:

Watch Party: President Donald J. Trump Rally Grand Rapids, MI. 3/28/19

🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:

!!!SALTY!!! And so it has begun. The first of my 50 lb. bags of salt has already arrived at CNN. Oh, to be a fly on that wall...

Almost to capacity just before 7pm!

JFK IN A TRUMP HAT WILL BE THE BEST THING YOU SEE ALL DAY!

Get em Tom!!!

Friday, March 29th:

TODAY'S ACTION:

President Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Nominate and Appoint Individuals to Key Administration Posts

Presidential Permit

President Trump Delivers a Statement Upon Departure

President Trump Delivers Remarks

President Trump Meets with Linda McMahon

🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:

On this Vietnam War Veterans Day, we celebrate the brave Vietnam Veterans and all of America’s Veterans. Thank you for your service to our great Nation!

This has been an incredible couple of weeks for AMERICA!

The DEMOCRATS have given us the weakest immigration laws anywhere in the World. Mexico has the strongest, & they make more than $100 Billion a year on the U.S. Therefore, CONGRESS MUST CHANGE OUR WEAK IMMIGRATION LAWS NOW, & Mexico must stop illegals from entering the U.S.... ... ....through their country and our Southern Border. Mexico has for many years made a fortune off of the U.S., far greater than Border Costs. If Mexico doesn’t immediately stop ALL illegal immigration coming into the United States throug our Southern Border, I will be CLOSING..... ... ...the Border, or large sections of the Border, next week. This would be so easy for Mexico to do, but they just take our money and “talk.” Besides, we lose so much money with them, especially when you add in drug trafficking etc.), that the Border closing would be a good thing!

Had the Fed not mistakenly raised interest rates, especially since there is very little inflation, and had they not done the ridiculously timed quantitative tightening, the 3.0% GDP, & Stock Market, would have both been much higher & World Markets would be in a better place!

Robert Mueller was a Hero to the Radical Left Democrats, until he ruled that there was No Collusion with Russia (so ridiculous to even say!). After more than two years since the “insurance policy” statement was made by a dirty cop, I got the answers I wanted, the Truth..... ... ...The problem is, no matter what the Radical Left Democrats get, no matter what we give them, it will never be enough. Just watch, they will Harass & Complain & Resist (the theme of their movement). So maybe we should just take our victory and say NO, we’ve got a Country to run!

So funny that The New York Times & The Washington Post got a Pulitzer Prize for their coverage (100% NEGATIVE and FAKE!) of Collusion with Russia - And there was No Collusion! So, they were either duped or corrupt? In any event, their prizes should be taken away by the Committee!

A huge thanks to @HeatherNauert for serving America at the @StateDept. Great work! I’m proud to have you join the Fulbright board!

SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:

'Get Serious and Stop Rewarding Illegal Immigration,' Border Patrol Agent Says to Congress

UNBELIEVABLE: Dems replace POW/MIA flags with transgender pride flags

Federal judge rules DOJ must hand over Comey memos

WINNING: Florida bar reverses no-hat policy after objections from MAGA hat wearer

U.S. Attorney General Barr to release redacted copy of Mueller report in mid-April

#MeToo: Woman claims Biden kissed her without consent backstage in 2014...."Why is the vice-president of the United States smelling my hair?"

🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:

Doubt many people will see this but just wanted to give my respect for our Vietnam veterans! Thank you for what you did! We greatly appreciate you!

Let's compare Bill Clintons '98 IG Report to Pres. Trump's '19 IG Report.....

My reaction reading r/The Mueller trying to move the goal posts

Fresh Garrison! A Gallery of LOSERS!

He's right behind me isn't he?

Saturday, March 30th:

🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:

In honor of his past service to our Country, Navy Seal #EddieGallagher will soon be moved to less restrictive confinement while he awaits his day in court. Process should move quickly! @foxandfriends @RepRalphNorman

SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:

Trump cuts all direct assistance to Northern Triangle countries Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala

I wanted to post this picture in honor of my based 91 year old Mom who is moving to assisted living today. She had a health issue a few months ago and the medicine is effecting her memory now..:( But she still knows who her favorite President is...:)

Former Deputy Asst. Attorney General: Kim Foxx Faces Up to 20 Years in Jail if Convicted of Corruption

Feeding the crocodile hoping it won't eat him first! Link in comments

🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:

Laughs in American

Look at this poor child. She’s one of MANY. Maybe one of them or their parents will speak out. Or maybe they’ll be silent because pedophilia is ok if it defeats DRUMPF.

Neocons in one picture

What did he mean by this?

SO MUCH WINNING, STILL NOT TIRED OF IT!!

With out further ado, some tunes to get you jamming through all this winning:

Ain't No Mountain High Enough

Dreams

Come Together

People Are Strange

Dream On

On Melancholy HIll

MAGA ON PATRIOTS!

submitted by /u/Ivaginaryfriend [link] [comments]

[robgrayofficial]

HAPPY SATURDAY DEPLORABLES!This is u/Ivaginaryfriend and im back with all things spicy & dank from the past week! For those that missed any past recaps you can check those out here!Sunday, March 24th:TODAY'S ACTION:President Trump Delivers a Statement Upon Departure🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!No Collusion, No Obstruction, Complete and Total EXONERATION. KEEP AMERICA GREAT!Good Morning, Have A Great Day!SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:MAGAthread - AG Barr's Letter Summarizing Mueller Report Findingsr/The_MuellerMeltdown is open for salt mining business!“Collusion Hoax” just uploaded on President Trump’s YouTube channelSebastian Gorka: "The only reason we had the Mueller probe was because Hillary Clinton lost & they had to have the coverup for everything they did to spy on another presidential campaign. This is the biggest political scandal in America history."Grandmother gets free from home invader, grabs handgun, warns him to leave, then shoots when he advances. Protecting her grandchildren ages 3, 5, & 12. Why do dems want her defenseless?🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:Just wanted to give a welcome to all the newbies who have recently seen the light due to the nothing burger that was Russian collusion. TD welcomes you with open arms as long as you are here to MAGA!SALT MINE THREAD MUELLER REEEEEEEEEEEEEEPORT SHOWS NO COLLUSION AND NO OBSTRUCTION - REDDIT SUICIDE WATCH IS CRANKED UP TO MAXIMUMChug, chug, chug...The absolute state of reddit right nowAlert! Salt overflow. We need more miners! Join the salt mining party at r/The_MuellerMeltdownMonday, March 25th:TODAY'S ACTION:Proclamation on Recognizing the Golan Heights as Part of the State of IsraelPresident Trump and The Prime Minister of Israel Make RemarksPresident Trump Participates in a Bilateral Meeting with the Prime Minister of the State of IsraelPresident Trump Participates in a Photo Opportunity with the 2018 Stanley Cup ChampionsPresident Trump Meets with Caribbean Leaders at Mar-a-Lago🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:“No matter your ideologies or your loyalties, this is a good day for America. No American conspired to cooperate with Russia in its efforts to interfere with the 2016 election, according to Robert Mueller, and that is good.” @BretBaier @FoxNews“The Special Counsel did not find that the Trump Campaign, or anyone associated with it, conspired or coordinated with the Russian Government in these efforts, despite multiple offers from Russian-affiliated individuals to assist the Trump Campaign.”“Breaking News: Mueller Report Finds No Trump-Russia Conspiracy.” @MSNBCVideoPresident Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu Deliver RemarksToday, it was my great honor to welcome Prime Minister @Netanyahu of Israel back to the @WhiteHouse where I signed a Presidential Proclamation recognizing Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights. Read more: http://bit.ly/2I18If9 …WSJ: Obama Admin Must Account for ‘Abuse of Surveillance Powers’(Retweeting Brian McNally) The #Caps won a Stanley Cup so they get to spend the next hour here touring and meeting the President in a private event.(Retweeting Philip Pritchard) Hanging out in the Roosevelt Room, waiting to head into the oval office. #stanleycup @NHL @WhiteHouse @HockeyHallFame @Capitals 0A team of great champions!(Retweeting Scott Abraham) The Stanley Cup and the Caps with President Trump in the Oval Office. What a picture!(Retweeting Don Jr.) Christmas came early this week.(Retweeting Tom Fitton) Tom Fitton on @RealDonaldTrump Russia Mueller Probe: 'They've KNOWN There Was NO Collusion" And, by the way, @DevinNunes is one of the most consequential congressmen in a generation...SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:You guys were rightBREAKING: Pence calls for the removal of Ilhan Omar from the House Foreign Affairs CommitteeDonald Trump: Time to Investigate the Left for ‘Treasonous Things’We're drowning in salt! Time to send some back to CNN! #SendEmSaltI'm done with the Left for good.Pentagon Notifies Congress it has Authorized $1 Billion Transfer to Begin New Border Wall ConstructionCREEPY PORN LAWYER FACING 50 YEARS FROM 2 COUNTS OF CA INDICTMENTS. HE STOLE HIS CLIENT’S SETTLEMENT MONEY AND PUT IN PHONY TAX RETURNS TO SCAM A $4M LOAN FROM A BANK. WHAT A FUCKING SCUMBAG!🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:Media, Libs, Cucks and Shills BTFO by Netanyahu during press conference with GEOTUS: " I brought you a case of the finest wine. I understand you're not a great wine drinker. But could I give it to your staff? I hope they don't open an investigation on it."FUCKER TWEETED THIS AN HOUR BEFORE HE WAS ARRESTED. MY SIDES 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣Avenatti doesn’t feel so goodHey @MichaelAvenatti - It looks like you'll be the one spending time behind bars after all. #bastaI'm not a trump supporter, but this is how I imagine all you guys right now lmaoTuesday, March 26th:TODAY'S ACTION:Executive Order on Coordinating National Resilience to Electromagnetic PulsesSeven Nominations Sent to the SenatePresident Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Nominate and Appoint Personnel to Key Administration PostsFirst Lady Melania Trump Visits Nicklaus Children's HospitalPresident Trump Meets with Prime Minister NetanyahuPresident Trump Participates in a Senate Republican Policy Lunch🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:The Mainstream Media is under fire and being scorned all over the World as being corrupt and FAKE. For two years they pushed the Russian Collusion Delusion when they always knew there was No Collusion. They truly are the Enemy of the People and the Real Opposition Party!(Retweeting Tom Fitton) Let’s be clear, neither Mueller, Obama FBI, DOJ, CIA, Deep State, etc ever had good faith basis to pursue @realDonaldTrump on Russia. Russia collusion was a hoax & a criminal abuse, which is why @JudicialWatch will continue to fight for truth in fed court. http://bit.ly/2uBxYAP …“What we’re seeing on Capitol Hill right now is that the Democrats are walking back any charges of Collusion against the President.” @ByronYork @BillHemmer Should never have been started, a disgrace!The Republican Party will become “The Party of Healthcare!”“A Catastrophic Media Failure”Thank you to the House Republicans for sticking together and the BIG WIN today on the Border. Today’s vote simply reaffirms Congressional Democrats are the party of Open Borders, Drugs and Crime!“Proclamation on Recognizing the Golan Heights as Part of the State of Israel”“I think this is probably the most consequential media screwup of the last 25 to 50 years. It is difficult to comprehend or overstate the damage that the media did to the Country, to their own reputation or to the Constitution. An absolute catastrophe” Sean Davis @TuckerCarlsonVideoVideoThe Fake News Media has lost tremendous credibility with its corrupt coverage of the illegal Democrat Witch Hunt of your all time favorite duly elected President, me! T.V. ratings of CNN & MSNBC tanked last night after seeing the Mueller Report statement. @FoxNews up BIG!SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:REDICULOUS - Jussie Smollett won't be prosecuted on charges he faked attackFormer Michelle Obama aide tried to intervene in Jussie Smollett probeCocaine Mitch is silently laughing hystericallyFair Warning: Trump Campaign Distributes Memo Telling Media To Steer Clear Of Collusion Conspiracy Theorists "At a minimum, if these guests do reappear, you should replay the prior statements and challenge them to provide the evidence which prompted them to make the wild claims in the first place"Troll level 1,000,000,002.1! Mike Lee's Velocipede Machine Gun SpeechDOUG COLLINS HAS RELEASED GEORGE PAPADOPOULOS'S TESTIMONY. DIG PEDES, DIG!!🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:Why is CNN here so early?⚖️ Jussie Said The Magic Words ⚖️No words needed.Good morning to everyone who wasn’t indicted for extortion yesterday.Mitch McConnell just trolled the Democrats with this video on TwitterWednesday, March 27th:TODAY'S ACTION:Vice President Pence Participates in a Bilateral MeetingMemorandum on Federal Housing Finance ReformPresident Trump Participates in a Bilateral MeetingPresident Trump Presents the Medal of Honor🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:.@GreggJarrett: “Trump-Russia 'collusion' was always a hoax -- and dirtiest political trick in modern US history”VideoJust met with @SundarPichai, President of @Google, who is obviously doing quite well. He stated strongly that he is totally committed to the U.S. Military, not the Chinese Military.... ... ....Also discussed political fairness and various things that @Google can do for our Country. Meeting ended very well!We are here today to award America’s highest military honor to a fallen hero who made the supreme sacrifice for our nation – Staff Sergeant Travis Atkins...(Retweeting Hannity) #HANNITY EXCLUSIVE TONIGHT: One-on-one with @realdonaldtrump — the President’s first interview since Mueller found no collusion! Tune in at 9PM ET!(Retweeting The White House) Video(Retweeting Verney & Co.) VideoSIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:Ben Garrison, Spicy AMAYOU PATRIOTS ARE TOO MUCH! WELL OVER THREE TONS OF SALT ON ITS WAY BACK TO CNN!!! #SendEmSaltChicago PD releases full Jessie Smellit case files. Links in articleUndaunted By the Facts, CNN Continues to Push Collusion Conspiracy TheoryWikipedia Editors Paid to Protect Political, Tech, and Media FiguresPRESS BRIEFINGS, INTERVIEWS, RALLIES:WATCH PARTY: Hannity interviews GEOTUS on Fox News at 9PM ET🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:REPORT: An unnamed source familiar with Kim Foxx' thinking told me the reason she dropped charges against Smullett was because his phone records showed over 200 calls and texts from Kamala Harris and DNC operatives. Prove me wrong.No evidence to support our claims, let’s just form a mob.Something feels different about Trump. He is scorned. He's fucking pissed. It's one thing to take him head on, it's another to trash his reputation. They tried to destroy him and the son who bears his name. WRONG. FUCKING. MAN. Hell is coming, cucks.16 felonies .. just disappeared into thin air..AmenThursday, March 28th:TODAY'S ACTION:Memorandum on Extension of Deferred Enforced Departure for LiberiansExecutive Order on Adjustments of Certain Rates of PayPresident Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Appoint Individuals to Key Administration PostsPresident Trump Delivers a Statement Upon Departure🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:Will be heading to Grand Rapids, Michigan, tonight for a Big Rally. Will be talking about the many exciting things that are happening to our Country, but also the car companies, & others, that are pouring back into Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, North & South Carolina & all over!The Fake News Media is going Crazy! They are suffering a major “breakdown,” have ZERO credibility or respect, & must be thinking about going legit. I have learned to live with Fake News, which has never been more corrupt than it is right now. Someday, I will tell you the secret!Mexico is doing NOTHING to help stop the flow of illegal immigrants to our Country. They are all talk and no action. Likewise, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador have taken our money for years, and do Nothing. The Dems don’t care, such BAD laws. May close the Southern Border!FBI & DOJ to review the outrageous Jussie Smollett case in Chicago. It is an embarrassment to our Nation!Congressman Adam Schiff, who spent two years knowingly and unlawfully lying and leaking, should be forced to resign from Congress!Wow, ratings for “Morning Joe,” which were really bad in the first place, just “tanked” with the release of the Mueller Report. Likewise, other shows on MSNBC and CNN have gone down by as much as 50%. Just shows, Fake News never wins!Very important that OPEC increase the flow of Oil. World Markets are fragile, price of Oil getting too high. Thank you!VideoVideoThe Republican Party will become the Party of Great HealthCare! ObamaCare is a disaster, far too expensive and deductibility ridiculously high - virtually unusable! Moving forward in Courts and Legislatively!We have a National Emergency at our Southern Border. The Dems refuse to do what they know is necessary - amend our immigration laws. Would immediately solve the problem! Mexico, with the strongest immigration laws in the World, refuses to help with illegal immigration & drugs!On my way to Grand Rapids, Michigan right now. See you all very soon! #MAGABeautiful #MAGARally tonight in Grand Rapids, Michigan - thank you, I love you! MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!Massive overflow crowds in Grand Rapids, Michigan tonight. Thank you for joining us tonight! #MAGAMAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!Working hard, thank you! #MAGASIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:Letter from House Intelligence Committee Republicans calling for Adam Schiff's resignationHolder gets absolutely rekt by VP Pence!#RidiculousBullshit92 percent of illegal immigrant families ignore deportationsRand Paul announces Amendment to Mueller Report Resolution That Demands Release of Obama’s Communications Concerning Decision to Investigate Trump Campaign.PRESS BRIEFINGS, INTERVIEWS, RALLIES:Watch Party: President Donald J. Trump Rally Grand Rapids, MI. 3/28/19🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:!!!SALTY!!! And so it has begun. The first of my 50 lb. bags of salt has already arrived at CNN. Oh, to be a fly on that wall...Almost to capacity just before 7pm!JFK IN A TRUMP HAT WILL BE THE BEST THING YOU SEE ALL DAY!Get em Tom!!!Friday, March 29th:TODAY'S ACTION:President Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Nominate and Appoint Individuals to Key Administration PostsPresidential PermitPresident Trump Delivers a Statement Upon DeparturePresident Trump Delivers RemarksPresident Trump Meets with Linda McMahon🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:On this Vietnam War Veterans Day, we celebrate the brave Vietnam Veterans and all of America’s Veterans. Thank you for your service to our great Nation!This has been an incredible couple of weeks for AMERICA!The DEMOCRATS have given us the weakest immigration laws anywhere in the World. Mexico has the strongest, & they make more than $100 Billion a year on the U.S. Therefore, CONGRESS MUST CHANGE OUR WEAK IMMIGRATION LAWS NOW, & Mexico must stop illegals from entering the U.S.... ... ....through their country and our Southern Border. Mexico has for many years made a fortune off of the U.S., far greater than Border Costs. If Mexico doesn’t immediately stop ALL illegal immigration coming into the United States throug our Southern Border, I will be CLOSING..... ... ...the Border, or large sections of the Border, next week. This would be so easy for Mexico to do, but they just take our money and “talk.” Besides, we lose so much money with them, especially when you add in drug trafficking etc.), that the Border closing would be a good thing!Had the Fed not mistakenly raised interest rates, especially since there is very little inflation, and had they not done the ridiculously timed quantitative tightening, the 3.0% GDP, & Stock Market, would have both been much higher & World Markets would be in a better place!Robert Mueller was a Hero to the Radical Left Democrats, until he ruled that there was No Collusion with Russia (so ridiculous to even say!). After more than two years since the “insurance policy” statement was made by a dirty cop, I got the answers I wanted, the Truth..... ... ...The problem is, no matter what the Radical Left Democrats get, no matter what we give them, it will never be enough. Just watch, they will Harass & Complain & Resist (the theme of their movement). So maybe we should just take our victory and say NO, we’ve got a Country to run!So funny that The New York Times & The Washington Post got a Pulitzer Prize for their coverage (100% NEGATIVE and FAKE!) of Collusion with Russia - And there was No Collusion! So, they were either duped or corrupt? In any event, their prizes should be taken away by the Committee!A huge thanks to @HeatherNauert for serving America at the @StateDept. Great work! I’m proud to have you join the Fulbright board!SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:'Get Serious and Stop Rewarding Illegal Immigration,' Border Patrol Agent Says to CongressUNBELIEVABLE: Dems replace POW/MIA flags with transgender pride flagsFederal judge rules DOJ must hand over Comey memosWINNING: Florida bar reverses no-hat policy after objections from MAGA hat wearerU.S. Attorney General Barr to release redacted copy of Mueller report in mid-April#MeToo: Woman claims Biden kissed her without consent backstage in 2014...."Why is the vice-president of the United States smelling my hair?"🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:Doubt many people will see this but just wanted to give my respect for our Vietnam veterans! Thank you for what you did! We greatly appreciate you!Let's compare Bill Clintons '98 IG Report to Pres. Trump's '19 IG Report.....My reaction reading r/The Mueller trying to move the goal postsFresh Garrison! A Gallery of LOSERS!He's right behind me isn't he?Saturday, March 30th:🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:In honor of his past service to our Country, Navy Seal #EddieGallagher will soon be moved to less restrictive confinement while he awaits his day in court. Process should move quickly! @foxandfriends @RepRalphNormanSIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:Trump cuts all direct assistance to Northern Triangle countries Honduras, El Salvador, GuatemalaI wanted to post this picture in honor of my based 91 year old Mom who is moving to assisted living today. She had a health issue a few months ago and the medicine is effecting her memory now..:( But she still knows who her favorite President is...:)Former Deputy Asst. Attorney General: Kim Foxx Faces Up to 20 Years in Jail if Convicted of CorruptionFeeding the crocodile hoping it won't eat him first! Link in comments🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:Laughs in AmericanLook at this poor child. She’s one of MANY. Maybe one of them or their parents will speak out. Or maybe they’ll be silent because pedophilia is ok if it defeats DRUMPF.Neocons in one pictureWhat did he mean by this?SO MUCH WINNING, STILL NOT TIRED OF IT!!With out further ado, some tunes to get you jamming through all this winning:Ain't No Mountain High EnoughDreamsCome TogetherPeople Are StrangeDream OnOn Melancholy HIllMAGA ON PATRIOTS! #robgray

[nicemango-feed]

The Beast of Blasphemy Takes Another

Mashal Khan…

A young bright-eyed Mass Comm. student at Abdul Wali Khan University, who called himself a Humanist…was shot and beaten…his body was still being beaten after it had stopped moving. 

I made the mistake of clicking on one of the blurry videos circulating. It's something I can't ever unsee. 

Mashal is one of the latest victims of Pakistani religious extremism. My heart breaks…every time. And every time it’s harder to pick up the pieces and move on.

  There have been so many victims, taken by the same monster…the same darkness that resides in too many Pakistani hearts.

It’s time to ask ourselves, how many amongst us think ‘blasphemy’ is a crime…

It’s time to *really* ask what the state’s contributions are to creating an atmosphere ripe with hatred, intolerance and extremism... 

Full story here

In a land where diversity is not accepted, where we have to denounce Ahmedi’s before we can even get a passport…

From the blog. Yes this is what we have to sign to get a #Pakistani passport. In this century. http://pic.twitter.com/P5JgENmpF9

— Eiynah -- (@NiceMangos) June 18, 2015

In a land where ‘blasphemy’ is officially a crime, punishable by death or imprisonment…don't you see...?

The seeds for this are sown already.

Where politicians simply questioning the blasphemy law are murdered again and again…

(articles linked above)

Their murderers celebrated by thousands of people. 

Full story here

Funerals like Mashal’s empty, Imams refuse to lead the funeral prayer…

Full story here

And in stark contrast murderer's funerals are heavily attended, mourned, showered with rose petals

full story here

This is what Pakistan has become. This is what it’s viewed as on the global stage.

Youtube stars snuffed out, Singers murdered..journalists attacked…children slaughtered…all at the hands of these religious extremists who’s thirst for religiosity is never quenched. They threatened the now late singer turned preacher/evangelist  Junaid Jamshed too. 

Full story here

*He*...a right wing Islamic preacher fled the country amidst accusations of blasphemy. 

No one is immune, no one is safe…there is no legitimate reason for this law to exist. It can be used against anyone, any time. Even it's supporters…like Junaid Jamshed were not safe from having it thrown back in their face. 

A warning to all those who support blasphemy punishments now…this can and will come for you too. 

All this happens in an environment where the Prime minister himself supports blasphemy punishments. And then we act shocked…"how did this happen?" We say… come on… you know how this happened.  

There are now rumours that these accusations of blasphemy were purposely floated about Mashal Khan to silence his criticism of university admin. I don’t know how true this is, but sadly it wouldn’t surprise me. 

Do read this thread on how the false accusations against #MashalKhan were just a means of silencing his rightful criticism of Uni admin https://t.co/gVIo50iAbR

— Dr. Naveed Alvi (@Nav_Derm) April 17, 2017

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What chance does someone like Mashal have when these charges are brought against him, when it’s so easy to whip up a furious mob intoxicated on religion in Pak-istan, ’the land of the pure'. 

It doesn’t even matter if those charges are true or false. That is completely irrelevant, but sadly it’s been a huge part of this story. Well intentioned people…desperately trying to prove Mashal was a non-blasphemer, a pious ‘good Muslim’, in who’s dorm room they found prayer mats, and other religious items. 

Things I found in #Mashal Khan's room today: 1. Prayer Mat (Jai Namaz) 2. Quran-e-Pak 3. Picture of 4 Quls 4. A picture of Surah-e-Rehman

— Mansoor Ali Khan (@_Mansoor_Ali) April 15, 2017

Buying into this ‘good Muslim/bad Muslim’ dichotomy is where the problem begins in the first place. Why can’t we be a people that leave matters of religion in the private sphere, why can we not tolerate even slight differences in opinion? Why do words and questions fill so many with murderous fucking rage? Why can’t we teach our children to celebrate our differences? 

And…whats wrong with blasphemy? If you believe in an all powerful god, then he should not need you to stomp out the life of anyone who so much as breathes a word questioning that god’s prescriptions. Can he not withstand even minor scrutiny, this all powerful god? 

We have to ask questions to progress, we have to stop glorifying religion. Dial it waaaay down…Pakistan exists perpetually on a tipping point. It tips every day…and innocent lives are lost. That’s on us - it’s time to speak out, throw your hat in the ring, make your mark…do your part for a liberal and tolerant Pakistan. Speak up for minorities, speak out against injustice.

I’m sure that poor, dear Mashal was a good Muslim…all the evidence points to it. But I wish we lived in a world where this just. didn’t. matter. to Pakistanis. People who are not following Islam the way you want them to are also good people, so are people who don’t follow it at all, and so are people of each and every minority faith that exists in Pakistan. In fact the worst people you will find in Pakistan are those who think there is only one rigid way to follow religion, and that is their way, coincidentally. Those are the one’s who try to police the thoughts and words of others. 

Everyone has a right to exist in safety…it’s sad that this even has to be said, no one should be murdered or punished over words and differences in opinion. 

Pakistan is the country that produced Malala, but it is also the country with the harshest rejections for her. 

If Pakistan wants to exist in an increasingly globalized world in the 21st century, where different opinions and sources of information are at our fingertips, its going to have to pull itself out of this sinkhole of extremism, otherwise it will continue to fail. 

That’s an effect on all it’s people collectively. 

It’s time to rid ourselves of the mindset that thinks a backwards blasphemy law should exist, it’s hurting us all. 

I have seen another argument floating around Pakistani Twitter that disturbs me. It’s the “Blasphemy laws are being misused/manipulated against innocents” - No. That’s garbage…there’s no legitimate way to use a blasphemy law. Blasphemy is as simple as ‘a difference in opinion’. If you use this argument you are indirectly condoning some instances of punishment for people with differing opinions on religion. 

Some day you could be that person, depending on the group judging you. 

We are all Mashal Khan, because that could be any one of us..no matter how religious you think you are, it’s not enough to satisfy insatiable blasphemy laws.

We are all Salman Taseer

We are all Asia Bibi (not killed, but imprisoned)

We are all Shahbaz Bhatti

We are all Sabeen Mahmood

Do not forget these names. 

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Important to remember: yes, while those who have killed people like Mashal Khan and Salman Taseer are Muslim, often the victims too are Muslim. It is voices like theirs we must fight for. Those who generalize and demonize Muslims are not doing that, In fact they are part of the problem. 

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From a western, ex-muslim Pakistani-Canadian perspective like mine…it’s getting harder and harder to have this conversation on an international level, because there’s always some who will jump on our voices and use them to cast our own loved ones in a bad light. I feel like i’m forever walking a tightrope. Call out illiberalism on all sides, abandon tribalism so we can have these conversations honestly. 

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