#OBVIOUSLY ares is not a smart guy but you gotta stop pretending like he should have expected percy to win

[es-3]

y’all GOTTA stop pretending like ares was so stupid and dumb for fighting percy at the beach. bro is a GOD his opponent was TWELVE

[estherroberts]

and nothing ever does begin like nothing ever ends

chapter four: symbiosis 

fandom: ars paradoxica, his dark materials

words: 1252

rating: T

characters: jack wyatt, esther roberts

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series masterpost

September 5, 1939

"uh, excuse me, miss? you're in my seat." jack is trying his best to be polite, jesus, he really is, but he loves that seat and the girl sitting in it is so small that he could just move her himself and he's had a really stressful morning.

"i thought it was open seating." she turns to face him, her tone truly unamused, as her snake daemon periscopes out of her sleeve.

he thinks better of the argument and sit down next to her, tess curling up at his feet. "you know what, you're right. i'm jack, this is tesserin."

"esther. and you met ritsa."

she didn't make the joke. he can't believe it. in all the years since tesserin settled, every single new person—

"is that a jack russell?"

great.

"because my cousin abigail has one— i mean, as pet, her daemon's a rabbit, but they're so cute!"

no. way.

"thank you," tess answers for them and shoots him a happy look. "i'd like to think i am."

"you're welcome. so what are you majoring in?"

"atomcraft and Rusokov particle physics. Dust, i mean. i'm studying Dust. you?"

"same, actually! you didn't need to dumb it down for me.”

he couldn't have hide his astonishment even if he'd tried. he stammers out, "there aren't...many.. women— i mean, it's— it's not bad that you're pursuing it, that's awesome, i just—"

"i'm used to being the only girl," she tells him with a shrug. "i was the only one studying philosophy at undergrad too."

as the professor walks in, he whispers hurriedly, "you smart?"

"hell yeah. are you?"

"damn right."

she reaches out and shakes his hand just as professor logan makes it up to the front of the room, pig daemon in tow.

October 17, 1939

"so, what's a hispania novan guy doing at mit?"

jack is only half pretending to be offended when he replies, ”oh, you mean a mejican guy? cuz, my country has enough pride that we have our own name, instead of being a knock off brand of someone else."

"wow. that was low, jack wyatt, if that's even your real name,” esther flashes him a grin and ritsa flicks her tongue happily at him.

"racist,” tesserin tells her, tail wagging.

"okay, that's fair."

jack hesitates only slightly. “actually it's not my real name.”

"holy shit."

"you try writing getting a paper published in new denmark, the land of the free, and being denied cuz you're not a white guy."

esther gives him a look.

"okay, that's fair."

“are you going to tell me your real name?”

“hell no.”

she considers this for a moment before shrugging, and asking him, “so does it work? does having a white guy’s name really help?”

“mhm.”

“cuz, i had an ex who called me ettie. E-T-T-I-E, but i could always spell it E-D-D-Y and take a page out of your book.”

he can tell by the way ritsa tightens on her wrist and how she won’t meet his eyes that just mentioning her ex was rough. he also knows just how proud she is of her name and the hebrew woman she was named for. “it’s not worth it, not for you.”

“how’s that?”

“you’ve gotta become a pioneer, esther. make this field more accessible for all women, y’know, that kind of thing.”

“why won’t you pioneer with me?”

he shrugs and exchanges a look with tess. “we’re not in it for the glory. we’re in it for the fun.”

esther grants him a smile. “fair.”

May 11, 1940

“carefully… take your foot off the break.”

the car rolls forward ever so slightly and esther jams her foot on the brake so hard they both fly forward in their seats.

“FUCK! it MOVED!”

“yes.”

“but i thought— i thought you had to have your foot on the gas for it to go forward?”

“no, esther, come on, you know your basics! this is simple shit!”

“i mean, obviously i know the philosophy behind the way a motor vehicle works, jack wyatt, but— it just— it took me by surprise, alright? the fact that it moves when you aren’t even doing anything wasn’t a responsibility i expected.”

jack, who has really been trying his best not to laugh, loses it. he doubles over and clutches tesserin closer to his chest.

ritsa hisses ever so slightly but esther hushes her, and lets out a nervous chuckle of her own.

when jack finally catches his breath, he sits up and tells esther, in his best teacher voice, “when you take your foot off the break, be prepared for the car to move forward. once it starts moving, you can slowly, slowly, put your foot back down on the break. are you ready?”

“i think so.” she exhales slowly, then nods, setting her jaw. “yes. i'm ready.”

December  15, 1941

esther pulls away from the hug as one of the guys from their chem class wolf whistles from across the quad. she’s looking down, and jack can see her wrist going white where ritsa tightens around it.

he takes her hands, careful to avoid touching the snake as he does so. “you know i don’t give a shit what they think. we both know it’s not like that.”

she nods, laughs bitterly, and drops his hands. “you know, i’m sure my family would be fuckin’ delighted to hear i was interested in a boy.”

he furrows his brow. he distinctly remembers esther mentioning an ex… it’s odd that she never told her family about him, if they would be so happy, unless— oh. well that certainly makes a lot of sense.

jack doesn’t comment, only holds his arms out for esther to hug him again.

she rolls her eyes but wraps her arms around him again, hanging on tight.

he wants to tell her that she’s okay, fuck whatever the magisterium says about homosexuality, she’s his best friend and his opinion of her hasn’t changed at all, but he’s pretty sure she’s strangle him handily for it. besides, the fact that basically the whole world is at war with the magisterium should be enough to prove them wrong about this shit anyway.

instead, once they break apart, tess begs at esther, who lets ritsa down to ride around on her back. “thanks!” she barks happily and runs in little circles, the snake hanging on like a collar with her chin resting on tess's head.

January 3, 1942

jack and esther don't stop looking at each other the entire time they open their letters. the alliance of developed anomalous resources, or ADAR, approached them three weeks ago. they offered a way to help the war effort, a way to do philosophy, a way to set aside the parts of their identity that restrict them from moving forward in the philosophy community. no one can block your way when they don’t even know your work exists.

esther and jack had each taken a long multiple choice test, filled out a survey and been sworn to secrecy.

either they both got accepted, or they don't go.

“dear mr. wyatt, we are pleased to congratulate—”

“dear miss roberts, we are pleased to congratulate—”

“YES!”

“YES!”

jack knows that esther’s face breaking grin is matching his own. “we fucking did it!!”

“we did, holy shit, we did.” she looks like she’s about to cry, for god’s sake.

he gives her a hug, and then sticks his tongue out at her daemon, who mirrors his expression gleefully.