#Olympus Group International

[twice-inamillion]

The Company 

New Friend 

A bit of smut and Story Building (Doggy style, sex, blowjob, creampie, penetration, self masturbation, fingering)

Chapter 2 

3810 Words 

(IU introduces her new friend to OC and welcomes her to the company. Little by little her friend discovers the relationship between you and IU. ) 

Over the past few months, IU and Irene have been helping the staff with auditions for the company. The company has hosted multiple international auditions in the United States, Japan, Australia, Thailand, and Canada. 

About six thousand attendees participated in the audition combined, and out of all of them, only two hundred made it to the final rounds. Those lucky enough to get a slot were invited to Seoul, South Korea, to participate at Olympus Entertainment. The attendees were divided into two groups based on ranking. The two groups would be housed in the company’s large dorms, where they would partake in training for three months.

Within those three months, they would go over intense training consisting of dance, singing, stage, individual, and group presentations. At the end of those three months, only half of the group would move on to become trainees at Olympus Entertainment. They would then be sorted out into two groups again, but this time by age, and provided with more resources to increase their chances of debuting in a girl group or as a soloist. Each trainee would be required to complete standard education and be allowed to select courses in advanced languages, singing, dancing, rapping, stage presentation, and much more. Throughout their time at the company, they would be given benchmarks to meet, and at the end of the month, each would be evaluated and ranked. The trainers would support those who receive a low ranking, while those who receive a high rank would be taken into consideration for groups and, hopefully, their debut. 

Obviously, some trainees were handpicked during auditions based on their raw talent and provided extra support by some of the trainers. Currently, five individuals are being considered to be part of Olympus Entertainment's first international girl group. 

——————

There is a knock at your door, “Sir, may I come in?”

“Sure, come right in.”

“Thank you,” as IU walks towards your desk. “I brought in the friend that I told you about. She’s a good singer, and I think she would make an excellent coach to the trainees we have in mind for debuting.”

“That’s great news; you may welcome her inside.”

IU walks towards the hallway and signals her friend to come in. You see IU walking in with Taeyeon from Girl’s Generation. She’s one of the idols you held in high regard during your younger years. 

“Hello, I’m Kim Tae-yeon from Girl’s Generation. Nice to meet you,” she said as she bowed her head. 

“Likewise, nice to meet you. I’m surprised to meet you; I wouldn’t expect some from SM Entertainment in my company.” 

“Ji-eun (IU) and I are really good friends. She told me you were looking for a vocal coach, so I wanted to try it.”

“Let’s get comfortable and take a seat,” inviting the both of them to take a seat. “First, does your company know you are here?”

“Well… yes and no.”

IU interrupts and says, “Her company knows that she is coming here based on my request but doesn’t know the reason why. All they asked her is that she doesn’t transfer companies.”

“Yes, she’s right. I came here because she said that the benefits of the vocal coach position are great, and honestly, I’m in need of some money.”

“Ohh, how so?”

“As you know, SM doesn’t have a good ratio when it comes to monetary distributions, and I was looking into putting out a solo, but they mentioned not having any funds to spare. I talked to IU about it, and she suggested applying for the position, which is why I’m here.”

You smirked a little and looked at IU before looking back at Taeyeon. “We are more than happy to welcome you as a vocal coach of your ability. I think our trainees would benefit a lot from having someone as talented as you.”

Taeyeon seems excited and smiles at IU before looking back at you, “Thank you so much for this opportunity!”

“No, thank you for thinking of us. Since you are a close friend of IU, how about we increase the pay a bit?” as you write down the amount on a sheet of paper. Taeyeon looks at the amount, “Are you sure? Isn’t this much more than what was posted online?”

“Ohh, it's fine. Don’t worry about it. I’m actually a fan of yours, and I would be more than happy to support you in releasing your solo album.”

“Thank you so much; I’ll do my best!” 

“I’m sure you will.”

————

Taeyeon starts her position as vocal coach a few days later and focuses on a handful of trainees who might be selected for your first girl group. IU is directly in charge of her to make it easier for Taeyon. She even sleeps at IU’s apartment from time to time whenever things go a little later at the training center. 

Today is one of those days as Tayeon comes back from giving a late vocal session and is going up the elevator of the large apartment complex that the company owns. She stares out the elevator window and admires how beautiful the campus is, especially at night, and is envious of it. SM is her home company, but she can’t help but compare the numerous resources that are offered here. “If I was younger, I would have loved to train here,” she said as she stared at the numerous trainees walking across campus. “Well… can’t do much about it now.”

The elevator mentions that it has arrived on the floor she selected, and it opens the doors. She walks down the hallway until she reaches the end of the hall and to IU’s apartment. Given access to her apartment, she scans her keycard and opens the door. “Ji-eun, I’m home!” but there is no response. She sees IU’s purse and phone on the kitchen counter and places her own purse on the living room couch. “Hey, are you in the bathroom?” Taeyeon walks down the hallway and peeks her head in the bathroom, but no one is there. She then hears noises coming from IU’s bedroom and walks towards it. 

Taeyeon is surprised by what she sees through the small crack of IU’s bedroom door. She sees her friend getting fucked from the back, doggy style, by a tall, muscular man. 

“Ahh… fuck! You’re reaching the back of my womb! Master, you’re too big; you’re going to mess me up!”

“Ji-eun, don’t tell me you don’t like how it feels. I thought we were close?”

“Of course not, master. It’s just that… my body is too small to fit all of you inside of me.”

“But, that’s why I like it. I love the way your small pussy feels.”

“Ahh… ahhh… then go ahead, master, enjoy yourself!”

You don’t give her a response as you pull most of your length out and lift her up in a reverse stand and carry. Taeyeon watches as the man in front of her impales her friend with a massive cock on the go, causing IU to yelp.

“I didn’t know she was having sex. Who’s the person with her?”

She didn’t have to wait long as she saw the man's face when he stood in front of the mirror. “Omg… she’s having sex with the CEO?”

“Fuck! I’m going to cum!”

“Master, go ahead! You already know this pussy belongs to you, only you!”

“That’s my girl. Here’s your reward for a good job!” You cock throbs inside of her one last time before pumping her with a large wave of cum.

“Oh my God!! I can feel your hot cum drowning my womb!” as IU makes lustful facial expressions. 

Taeyeon’s body can't help but react to what’s in front of it. Her heart is pounding fast, her breathing is heavy, and her lower region is wet. “Why am I getting horny watching my friend getting fuck by her boss? What’s wrong with me?” She then sees IU get tossed onto the bed on her back and watches as a large amount of cum comes oozing out of her. She stands up and runs away, grabbing her purse and making her way out the door. 

————

Taeyeon makes her way to the cafe on campus and stays there for about two hours. She replays the image when you cum inside of IU and wonders about the type of relationship the two of you have. “I can’t believe they were actually having sex, and I walked in on them. What am I going to do? Should I tell her that I saw them by accident? Or what if they saw me? Is it going to be awkward seeing them in person?” Many things go through her mind until she notices the time on her watch. She looked around and noticed that most of the customers were gone, and the employees were starting to clean. “I guess it can’t be helped. Let's hope they’re gone by now.”

Taeyeon exits the cafe and heads back to IU’s apartment. She opened the door and saw IU coming out of the shower in small shorts and an oversized t-shirt, “Hey, welcome back!”

“Thanks.”

“How come you’re late? I thought you got out two hours ago.”

“Yeah, I did, but I decided to go around and get a tour of the place and visit the cafe around here.”

“Aww… you should have told me. I would have given you a tour. It’s a nice place, right?

“Oh yeah… it’s beautiful. Lots of nice buildings and plants.”

“Well, the boss said he wanted everyone to feel safe and welcomed, so he designed the whole place like a college campus. There are a lot of places to relax and cafes throughout the campus. He’s so thoughtful; he’s a really good person.”

“Oh really… how so?”

“I mean… he can be cold sometimes, but if you get to know him, he’s actually sweet and thoughtful. He cares a lot for his employees and is willing to help them out. He even helped me out with my family’s financial situation, which I’m more than grateful for.”

“I’m sorry to hear about your family’s situation.”

“Noit'sts okay. I didn’t want others to find out, but it's okay now. All thanks to him for me and my family. Anyways, have you eaten?”

“No, I haven’t.”

“Okay, how about you go take a shower? I’ll order something for the both of us.”

“Sounds good.”

“Does pizza sound good?”

“Yes! SM doesn’t allow us to eat fattening foods, so I haven’t had it in a while.”

“That sucks, the company here is fine with it. I mean, as long as we don’t overdo it.”

“Really?”

Yeah, it’s great. Anyways, go shower.”

Taeyeon heads into the spare room that she’s using and gets her change of clothes. She walks to the bathroom, begins to undress herself, and tosses her dirty clothes in her laundry hamper. She notices laced underwear hanging from IU’s hamper and opens the lid to place the underwear inside properly. Suddenly, she notices a semi-white liquid on the underwear, brings it up to her nose, and whiffs. It’s a smell she’s never smelled before, and it's alluring. She sticks out her tongue and takes a small lick. The taste is bitter but not bad, and I decided to take another taste. She notices that this time, her body is having a reaction to it, and it's making her hot. 

“I can’t describe the feeling, but I suddenly feel the urge to touch myself.” She lowers her hand to her cunt and traces her folds. “Ohh… why am I already this wet?” 

She hops into the shower, takes IU’s stained panties, and uses them to masturbate. She traces her folds rapidly until she orgasm in the shower. When she’s down, she tosses the used panties back into IU’s hamper and changes them into her clothes. 

“Damn, I forgot to bring extra panties.” 

She opened the door and yelled, “Ji-eun, I forgot to bring some extra panties. Can I borrow some of yours?”

“Yeah, go ahead. They are in my drawer by the mirror.”

With a towel wrapped around her chest, Taeyeon makes her way to IU’s room and to the drawer. She opens the top, and she sees it full of jewelry; opens the second one, and it has bras. Taeyeon then opens the third one, sees it full of panties of multiple clothes, and grabs the tan one. “Hmm… it wouldn’t look good if I wore mismatched underwear, right? Hey, can I borrow a bra, too?”

“Yeah, that’s fine.”

“Thanks”

She opens the second drawer and tries to find the matching pair but notices some photos at the bottom. She pulls one out, turns it around, and sees it's a photo of IU in a comprising position. “What is this? Why does she have a picture of her posing without a bra?” She grabs another photo, and this time, it's of her on the bed with her legs spread apart and her cunt in full view. Taeyeon grabs the rest of the photos and goes through them, each more revealing than the rest. Her mind is turning, and her heart is racing from what she just found, and she quickly decides to put the photos back.

As she places the photos back, she hits something black, and it turns on a phone. She grabs the phone out of curiosity and sees the words “Master’s phone” on the lock screen. She swipes up, asks for a password, and puts IU’s birthday, but she gets it wrong. She tries two more times before inserting the date of IU’s first pet as a kid, and it unlocks. The first thing she sees is the photo app, and she is shocked at what she discovers. 

Most of them are pictures of IU completely nude, pictures of what seems to be a large cock, of IU and a cock inside of her, and multiple videos of her having sex. 

“What the…” Curious, she clicks on a video and it shows IU hiding on her desk and giving someone a blow job. She quickly slides to the next one. It seems to be around the same time with the same person, but this time, she’s having sex and is riding on someone. She fast-forwards the clip and notices that the room looks like the CEO’s office. She slides to the right, and this time, she sees you holding the photo while having IU’s face planted to the base of his cock. She exits out of the gallery and goes to the most recent event, which shows today’s date. This time it's a video of you fucking IU with her panties to the side, thrusting multiple times until you cum inside of IU and remove her panties. She watches as a large amount of cum oozes out of her friend’s cunt before you go back and insert your cock inside of her once more. 

Taeyeon’s heart is beating hard again, and she decides to send herself a video pictures and videos to her phone. She places everything back to how it was and grabs the bra she needs before closing the drawer and exiting the room. 

“I… thanks for letting me borrow some underwear.”

“No problem. The food is amount here.”

“Okay, I’ll be out soon.”

The two of them enjoy their dinner together and drink some beers before calling it a night. They each go to their rooms after brushing their teeth and close their door.

Taeyeon climbs onto her bed, pulls out her phone, goes to her downloaded folder, and pulls out the numerous videos and pictures. She goes through each photo carefully and is surprised by how small IU’s cunt is. The scene that gets her attention is when you smack your cock on IU’s pelvis right before inserting your cock inside of IU. Taeyeon gasps when she sees your massive cock split into IU’s cunt completely wide open. The sounds that her friend makes take your whole length, and the bulge she sees when it's completely inside. 

Taeyeon plays through the whole video and watches as you thrust deep inside of IU, her friend’s moaning and the sound of flesh pounding onto each other. The more she watches, the more she gets the urge to masturbate and eventually slides her fingers down past her panties. She traces her folds and moves them in sync with the video with her two fingers. She concentrates on your voice as you warn IU that you are able to cum. IU responds by begging you to fill her up with your seed and fuck her once more. As you reach your climax, so does Taeyeon, and she arches her back to the voice of your grunting, “Fuck… I’m going to fill that small womb of yours.” “Ahh… yes! Dump all your cum inside this pussy of mine, please. Make me feel like a woman.” The next thing she hears is IU’s scream of pleasure as your hot cum invades her womb. 

“Ahh… ahh… that felt much different from the other times I’ve masturbated.” Out of breath, she places the phone on the nightstand and goes to close for an early vocal session. 

————— 

Taeyeon wakes up early in the morning and heads to the studio for her morning vocal session. She focuses on a handful of trainees that have a high probability of debuting. After the session was over, she decided to try out the gym that was available for all staff and trainees. Making her way to the gym she notices the CEO running on the treadmill without his shirt off. She walks by and notices that one of the trainees in the area is gossiping about him. 

“Omg, who is he? He’s so hot.” (Girl 1)

“I think he’s one of the staff members.” (Girl 2)

“I heard that he is the CEO of the company.”(Girl 3)

“No, that can’t be. I thought the CEO was a girl.” (Girl 1)

“I don’t think that anyone has seen the CEO yet, just the assistants who came to the auditions and the welcoming ceremony.” (Girl 3)

“Ehh, that doesn’t matter. That guy over there is my type. I wouldn’t mind if he was a coach. I would definitely ask him for some private lessons.”(Girl 3)

“Shh… keep it down. Don’t let them hear you. Don’t you know that they have strict dating policies for trainees. Especially with us, who are provisional trainees.” (Girl 3)

“I’m just saying, he’s hot.” (Girl 1)

“Yeah, he has a really nice body like the guy that plays Thor.” (Girl 2)

“Ladies, I would suggest you three continue your workouts or head somewhere else if you want to gossip.” 

In unison, the three girls turn around, “We’re sorry, Taeyeon sonsengneem. We didn’t mean any harm.”

“I’m just kidding. But you three are right, he does have a nice body.”The girls laugh at Taeyeon’s comment, and they leave the area for their next session.

Taeyeon stares at you from behind, but you avoid reacting to it. You watch as she eyes you from head to toe before heading to one of the cable machines in the back. 

“I hope he didn’t notice that I was checking him out. Ugh… I still can’t get that image out of my head. Damn Ji-eun, why did she introduce me to him.” She sets the weight on the machine and begins her workout. 

After finishing her workout, she got up and got ready to head to the changing room. She only walks a couple of steps before turning back to get her phone when she bumps into you, slightly touching your limp cock.

“Good morning, Taeyeon unnie.” She turns around and sees you behind her. “Good…good morning.” 

“Distracted much?”

“Ohh, I just forgot my phone.”

“Just be careful. You could have bumped into one of the machines and gotten hurt.”

“Ye…yes, I’ll be careful.”

“Are you done with the rest of your day?”

“No, not yet. I have a meeting with IU later on today.”

“Oh, okay, I think she mentioned something out of that. I’m actually going to meet with her in my office for our daily meeting.” 

She sees your smile, and the first thing that comes to mind is her blowing you off in your office. 

“Okay, I’ll be going. Nice seeing you, Taeyeon.”

——————

Later that day, Taeyeon waits inside one of the meeting rooms for IU to arrive. She looks at the clock on her watch and notices that she’s running a bit late. She pulls out her phone and texts, “I’m here in the meeting room.”

Within a couple of seconds, she receives a reply, “Sorry, Unnie, I just got off from a meeting with the boss. I’m going down the elevator right now, see you in a few minutes.”

“Okay.”

Taeyeon pulls out her bag and some documents that Taeyeon wants to look at for the meeting when she hears a knock on the door. 

“Come in.” 

“Hey, sorry I’m late. Was real busy in the meeting.”

“No problem, take a seat.”

IU takes a seat across from Taeyeon and pulls out her laptop from her bag and opens it. She connected it to the projector and pulled out a slide of some trainees she wanted to focus on for the next weekdays. 

Taeyeon tries to pay attention to IU but notices a white stain on IU’s lower lip. “Hey, you got a little something on your lip.” 

Surprised, she says, “Oh, really? Where?”

“On your lower lip.”

“Haha, silly me. I just had a bite to eat earlier.” IU wipes off the stain on her lip with her thumb before licking it off her finger and continuing with her presentation. As IU gave her presentation, one of her pens fell on the floor. She bends over to pick it up and notices a strange white substance running down IU’s thigh and onto the floor. She stares at it briefly before returning and continuing the meeting with IU. 

Inside of her head, she can't help but scoff at IU’s lie about her “important meeting” with the CEO. She knows clearly that her meeting was just a lie to cover up their “sessions” and are fucking in his office. But like a good friend, she can’t judge her friend or her relationship, so as they exit the meeting room, she whispers to IU, “You have something running down your thigh; you might want to get that cleaned up,” with a warm smile. 

[anticomedygarden]

you're a sad sight honey but you look so cute

On the way back from the marching band's biggest performance of the year, Nico's bus breaks down. With none of his friends with him, he's completely alone, but when the chaperone puts the two section leaders in charge, he's forced to cooperate with Will Solace, his polar opposite and maybe sort of long time crush.

What could go wrong?

also on ao3

sorry it's been so long. i've been working on this long ass bastard for like a month. there will be two more chapters after this, and they're mostly done this time! everyone should be so proud.

if you can, i would recommend reading this one on ao3 because the first chapter is over 11,000 words.

minor tw for implied death of siblings and parents.

title from billy joel's 'i don't want to be alone anymore'

-

Five minutes since

Cold.

That was all Nico felt as he and everybody around him watched smoky tendrils wind their way up from the hood of the big yellow school bus, dancing playfully as if they weren't a message from God that Nico should have stayed in bed this morning and avoided this day from hell entirely.

He had been up since 3:30 a.m. His band grade could've taken the hit.

After the last kid stumbled out of the bus, uniform bag in hand, the bus driver climbed down and said, "We've got an engine problem."

Nico resisted the urge to spit back, "You don't say?", and instead turned to Mrs. Knowles, some freshman's mom and one of the newest members of the band's parent board. She had been appointed chaperone of the juniors for today's trip to New Rome University, and Nico had to say, she was not doing well.

"Um..." she started, sensing the eyes of three dozen 16-17 year olds. Her breath streamed out in white trails. "I'm gonna call the directors. If anyone here is a section leader, you're in charge."

Nico groaned internally and tried to avoid the eyes of the only other junior section leader as well as those of the rest of the teens present. Why, why, did he have to apply for low brass section leader last year?

Oh. He really shouldn't be asking himself that question, not when he already knew the answer.

But he put that thought away because a golden blond head was walking toward him across the stupid highway rest stop they were currently trapped in. Will Solace, the flute section leader and Nico's unfortunate partner for the time being.

If he made it out of this day with his sanity intact, it would be a miracle.

2 years before

Nico walked into the band room of Olympus High School for the first time with a bit of anticipation, some excitement, and a shit ton of dread. So far, his first impression of his new school hadn't been flattering, and his hopes for the next four years tanked with each step he took toward the band room.

If the rest of the school looked like ass, there was no way the band had any decent funding.

"Here's the music hallway," Percy said as they turned down the last hallway in the bottom floor of the school. "If you ever have a choir class, there's the classroom." He pointed to another door to the right. "There's the tuba/sousaphone closet. It looks like that because it used to be a boys' bathroom."

That explained the shitty tile and yellowing sink. At least Nico could say with confidence that he would never have to go in there. He still made note of it, though, since he may actually be staying at this school for a while.

"That's the color guard closet, but they haven't been able to use it this season because someone left cheese in there last season and, long story short, it got flooded."

Nico wasn't quite sure how old cheese led to an entire room being flooded, but if anyone could manage it, it was Percy. Especially in marching band.

"Was Thalia the one who left the cheese in there?" Nico asked, recalling that his oldest cousin of their group did color guard in outdoor season.

Percy's lips quirked. "No comment."

Finally, they got to the end of the white painted hallway and turned into the double doors of the band room, and Nico was immediately hit with the vivid sounds, smells, and sights of a high school marching band. He really should have expected this, but it was 7:45 in the morning and Percy had just taken him on a complete tour of the school. It wasn't exactly in the forefront of his mind.

They had come in on the side of the set up, behind the third trumpets and next to the smaller instruments' cubby. Horrid blue carpet squished under his feet, and the red painted brick walls were a true affront to his tired eyes. Dozens, probably more than a hundred, people packed into the large room, all talking, setting up instruments for practice, and milling around. As a freshman, Nico wasn't entirely used to marching band and all its attributes yet, but the month at his old school had at least helped him prepare a little.

Next was the smell. Sweat was his first impression, but spit from the brass instruments ingrained in the carpet certainly made itself known, and that wasn't even just from marching band. Rocking his trombone case back and forth, he supposed he would be contributing to that smell soon enough.

Probably the biggest assault to his senses was the noise. Everywhere, someone was testing out their instruments, tuning, practicing, or just generally goofing around. Percussionists were going through cadences, flutes were tuning against clarinets (one of the worst sounds in the world in his opinion), and he thought he heard a trumpet playing Baby Shark.

It was warm, too, with so many people blowing hot air. He could practically taste the humidity.

Someone blew a particularly shrill note, drawing his attention to the flute section. He paused. The offending member was a piccolo player, blond and blue eyed. Gorgeous.

The boy's startled eyes caught Nico's, and he looked away, a blush rising to his cheeks. "Who is that?" he asked Percy.

The taller boy didn't stop twirling his drumsticks. "Will Solace. He just started learning picc." He glanced down at Nico. "Will's a freshman, just like you, but I think he's been at Olympus for a few years. Why?"

Nico was spared answering by Percy's girlfriend, Annabeth, who was also their drum major. She stepped up onto a chair and blew her whistle, causing all noise to stop. "Everybody on the field!"

There was a mad scramble as the band rushed out the back doors, and Nico lost sight of the blond boy which was probably for the best. He couldn't, wouldn't, get attached.

He took a deep breath and tried to cast the beautiful boy from his mind and focus on his trombone.

He really had missed this.

15 minutes since

"When are they coming back to get us?" some short little guy who Nico thought might be a trumpet player asked in a whiny voice.

Frankly, Nico'd had enough socializing for one day and was ready to tell the kid to fuck off, but Will just calmly said, "We don't know yet, Hayden. You should probably find somewhere to sit and settle in. We could be here for a while."

Hayden rolled his eyes but turned around, presumably to find his friends. Nico hoped someone else had the kid's uniform bag because that would not be cheap to replace.

Next to him, Will had his own uniform bag by the hanger slung over a shoulder, and the shoes kept bouncing against the backs of his knees every time he moved, making an annoying thud noise. Nico's was in a pool at their feet.

When it became apparent that Hayden was the last kid in line to bug them, Will glanced down and said, "Your uniform's gonna get wrinkled."

Nico quickly rifled through every interaction he'd ever had with the flutist to try and figure out why he thought Nico would care about his band uniform getting wrinkled and came up with nothing.

At this point, he really didn't feel like talking, though, but Will was still looking at him expectantly, so he mumbled out an, "It's fine."

Will shrugged. "Suit yourself." Then, he turned around and walked around the bus to where Mrs. Knowles had gone. Reluctantly, Nico picked up his bag and followed him with the thought that two people were better than 34.

"Mrs. Knowles, any word on-oh." Will stopped in his tracks, nearly causing Nico to run into him in the shade of the bus. A second later, he looked up and saw why.

Mrs. Knowles was not on the phone with either band director like she'd promised but was instead holding up a lit cigarette to her mouth, and the two burnt out orange rolls at her feet told him this wasn't her first. The brunette turned around and squawked, dropping the cigarette.

"Oh, hey, I didn't hear you come around," she said with false nonchalance as she frantically stamped it out.

Fortunately, it seemed Will had decided he would be doing all the talking between the two of them. "We were just wondering if you'd heard anything about the bus? Some people are getting antsy."

And they'd only be getting worse as they realized their bus had broken down an hour into the three hour trip back to Olympus, which meant that no matter if administration called to say they had a bus ready to come get them right fucking now, it would be at least two hours until it got to them and four hours until they got home.

Nico just wanted to go home.

He shivered, and it wasn't just because of the cold. As soon as Will finished asking about the bus, Mrs. Knowles got an unpleasant look on her face. "I called Mr. D-"

"Big mistake," Nico muttered.

"-and he was no help, so I called Chiron, and he said he'd talk to transportation about getting another bus sent out. That was twenty minutes ago." Her brown hair escaping its pink claw clip swirled about her face in the cold October wind.

"Wonderful," Nico muttered.

"Did he give you any sort of timeline?" Will asked.

She winced. "No, sorry boys. You should probably go get comfy. We're gonna be here a while."

Nico did not miss the irony.

13 months before

It hadn't really sunk in yet for Nico, that this was Percy, Annabeth, and Grover's last NRU homecoming parade. Really, he had stopped thinking about anything at all except for his burning arms and legs about four blocks ago. Even the music managed to escape his mind.

But, as the band performed their nine millionth rendition of "How Far I'll Go" and Nico began to think his mouthpiece had frozen to his face, the realization trickled in. The next time he marched in these streets, three of his (only) friends would be watching from the sidelines.

The thought chilled him, more so than the cold wind that bit through his bright orange and purple uniform, cutting off feeling to his already numb fingers.

Suddenly, one of his section mates cut through his spiral. "Guide!"

He glanced down as surreptitiously as he could while holding a long metal tube up to his face to see that he was a step behind the rest of his line. He scrambled to catch up, wishing Chiron and Mr. D hadn't put him in the front row or that trombones didn't make up the first two rows of parade block.

Finally, they finished the song, and everybody brought their instruments down to attention. He took a deep breath.

Somebody in a row behind him (specific, he knew) started doing the steps chant. Left. Left. Left, right, left. He made sure his feet were in line.

They turned another corner, and he caught a whiff of pizza. Jupiter's, the most popular pizza place in the too large college town. That meant they were about three-quarters of the way through. He wondered idly how much time he'd be spending there in the next few years as Hazel dragged them to visit Percy, Annabeth, Grover and eventually Jason, Piper, Leo, and Frank, knowing he would never voluntarily go himself.

They were leaving him. He didn't see why he should have to go out of his way to see them.

The drumline slipped into another cadence, one of the more fun ones. With Percy in complete control and coasting through his final NRU parade, they hadn't done any of the boring ones yet, so kudos to that, though he was sure the freshman snares didn't feel the same.

Unfortunately, with every step, Nico's annoyance grew. The fun, upbeat cadences only served as a reminder that whoever took over as percussion section leader next year wouldn't be Percy, and in less than two years, he'd be left alone, again. (Sure, he'd have Hazel, but she was a year below him and had already made so many new friends that she clearly didn't need him the way he so desperately needed her.) By his senior year, he'd be left with nothing but holes in the spaces his cousins and the people that came with them used to occupy, vacancies unfillable by Nico's social skills alone.

At one time in his life, Nico had welcomed the emptiness because it meant he didn't have to face the biggest void of them all. But now? Well, now it was feeling more and more like the people that forced their way into his life with hammers and claws were the only thing keeping him from escaping back into that cavernous abyss, and for the first time in his life he craved that companionship like a starving man, because the eyes blinking back at him from the void were brown.

So when the parade was over, and everybody celebrated their new first place trophy, Nico didn't care that Percy and Annabeth lost themselves in each other, or that Hazel seemed to forget about him after going off with her friends, or that he had to say goodbye to Jason and get on the sophomore bus, and he definitely didn't care when pretty boy Will Solace and his friends celebrated the whole way home, filling the bus with their laughter and camaraderie.

He just sat alone on his bench seat and stared out the window until he eventually fell into a mercilessly dreamless sleep.

18 minutes since

Before Will could offer some falsely cheery placation that would make Nico nauseated, he turned and stomped back out to the other side of the bus.

Great, just great. Of course this would happen today, of all days, when he was exhausted, and already upset and wrung out.

Not watching where he was going, he tripped on a parking spot bar and ended up stumbling into the grass on the far side of the rest stop, somehow managing to find the only not yet overrun by teenagers in his dazed state.

"Hey, hey," someone said behind him, and he violently shrugged off the hand they settled on his shoulder. "Hey, it's me. It's Will."

As if that was supposed to make him feel better.

"What the hell do you want?" he asked, uncaring how harsh it sounded.

The blond held up his hands in a 'don't kill me gesture.' "Just wanted to make sure that you're alright. You seemed pretty upset."

God, we're all blonds this mother hen-y? If he pulled out a bag of granola bars, Nico would have to start calling him Jason.

"Well, I'm fine, so you can go back to your friends." He looked down at the yellowing grass.

"You are so clearly not fine," Will said firmly. "Besides, none of my friends are here."

Nico looked up in surprise. He could've sworn he'd seen Will hanging out with a baritone and a clarinet player.

He didn't say anything, though, and Will took that as a signal to continue. "Lou Ellen slept through her alarm, and Cecil got excused for a broken arm.

"You only have two friends?" His eyes widened as he realized how bad that sounded. "That came out wrong."

Thankfully, Will chuckled. "It's fine, I knew what you meant. Yeah, I guess so. They're my only two really good friends, if you don't count my siblings."

Nico didn't know he had any siblings. He filed that away for later. "I actually meant that I thought I'd seen you hanging out with more people."

Will shrugged. "I'm pretty friendly with everybody."

Right. Because Nico wasn't, and Will was just being a nice guy.

He turned away. "Well, you can go be friendly with somebody else now. Goodbye."

Once again, Will caught his shoulder, and Nico looked up. To his surprise, Will was blushing. "I, uh. I don't really want to be friendly with anybody else."

Nico wasn't quite sure what to do with that.

1 year before

"Speech! Speech! Speech!" the whole band chanted as Annabeth tried her best to shush them. They were on the track behind the Olympus football team getting ready to march halftime for homecoming, and per tradition, it was time for senior speeches.

AKA, the performance that most of the band was about to march through tears.

Clarisse stepped up first, or more accurately, into the middle of the circle. Her speech was short and sweet but somehow still inspiring. Katie Gardener went next, and then immediately after her was her boyfriend, Travis Stoll. Nico didn't think his speech was particularly sad, but his brother Connor was bawling by the end of it. Next to him, Jason was openly weeping.

Then, Grover went. Nico had never been particularly close with the clarinet player, but he was Percy's best friend, so they'd been in the general proximity of each other enough times that Nico was relatively comfortable around him. It still wasn't enough to make him cry at his speech.

It was clearly enough for Annabeth, though, as her face was swimming in tears when she stumbled into the middle of the circle, mace clutched in her white-gloved hand. "Grover, I'm not gonna be able to get through this now." She swiped a hand under her eyes.

"You got this, babe!" Percy said from the other side of the circle. Even from here, Nico could see the tear tracks from under his hat.

"God, Jackson," Annabeth mumbled. "Dammit. When Thalia did this last year, I really didn't think it would be so hard."

Of course not. Thalia made everything look both easy and painless, simultaneously the best and worst thing about her.

"Okay, here goes." She laughed. "I can't even begin to describe how much the band and all of you mean to me, and I can't imagine not being here next year, but I am so ready for it. The thought of not seeing the band room first thing in the morning every day scares me so much. It's kind of like an anchor even though it smells like sweat, and the walls look like someone rubbed rusty nails all over them; it's been a steady point, one that I don't want to give up yet, but..." She glanced over at Percy, a small smile shining through her tears. "I can't wait for our next adventure."

By the end of her speech, Percy was absolutely bawling, so Annabeth stepped to the side and hugged him, giving everyone else a welcome reprieve from the onslaught of emotion.

To his horror, Nico felt a lump forming in his throat. Why? He and Annabeth weren't even that close. He could make it through some silly little goodbye speeches.

Maddeningly, he tried and failed to swallow, each attempt seemingly bringing more tears to his eyes. This did not bode well for Percy's speech.

He really did not want to cry in front of all these people. He had a reputation, for fuck's sake.

Nico looked up and accidentally caught the teary eyes of Will Solace. The boy didn't look much better than Jason, but he somehow pulled it off. Nico tried to ignore the little flutter that sent to his stomach because just then, Percy stepped into the circle.

35 minutes since

Nico took a second to marvel at the situation he was currently in.

He was seated on a concrete parking bar at a highway restop somewhere in the state New York, and Will Solace was telling him a story about helping birth a goat at his grandparents' farm in Texas.

Now, Nico was and had always been an outdoorsy kid. Back in Italy, there was a small forest near where they lived, and he and his sister would go in there all the time to explore. He was never squeamish, either, constantly picking up frogs and lizards and bugs. At this point in his short life, he'd probably spent more time outside than inside.

But this was a bit much.

Then Will said the most horrifying sentence Nico had ever heard. "Do you wanna see pictures?"

He frantically shook his head. "No, I'm good."

Will had the nerve to laugh at him. "Of the goat, not the birth."

"Oh." Maybe he should've guessed that. "Sure."

That was how he ended up looking at pictures of a baby goat with Will Solace. He had to admit, it was pretty cute.

Will's phone buzzed with a text just then, and Nico couldn't stop himself from reading it before Will took the device away.  

Lou Ellen

just heard about the bus. so glad i slept in today

It sounded exactly like something a best friend would say, not that Nico would know because he'd been purposefully ignoring the buzzing coming from his pocket for the last half hour. It wasn't that he thought his friends would be mean or unsympathetic; quite the opposite, actually. He knew without checking his phone that Percy had already offered to come get him and that Jason was sending words of support along with the rest of his friends, but he just couldn't handle that right now, not after this morning. Besides, he was actually having fun with Will and didn't want to ruin that with emotions.

Speaking of Will, he still wasn't quite sure what was going on there. The way he'd said 'there isn't anyone else' made Nico seem like a last resort. It didn't exactly make him feel good, but the piccolo player was refusing to leave, so Nico was kind of stuck with him, figuratively and literally.

While Will was tapping out a response, the buzzing in Nico's pocket finally graduated to the ringing of a phone call. Several sets of eyes turned toward him.

He sighed and picked up his phone. "What do you want, Jackson?" He wasn't at all surprised that Percy was calling him, but he was a little surprised Jason hadn't gotten there first. Maybe Piper or Leo convinced him to wait. Whatever.

"Are you okay?" he asked. Then, almost as an afterthought, "You're not answering our texts."

Nico took a second to marvel at his friends' inability to take a hint. It did wonders for the feeling talking to Percy again was giving him. "I'm fine."

"Are you sure? I can come get you-"

"You're not driving six hours for me. I said I'm fine." He appreciated the thought, though he'd never say that out loud.

"I wouldn't mind. Or I can bring you back here and you can stay the night-"

"No, definitely don't do that." He raised his voice when he heard a girl laughing. "Annabeth, don't let him do that!"

There was shuffling on the other end. "I won't. But if you change your mind-"

"I won't, but thanks for the offer." It occurred to him then that even if Percy did come get him, he wouldn't be able to leave without a guardian's signature, and that sure as hell wasn't happening. "Tell Jason I'm fine, and he doesn't need to call me." If talking to Percy was hard, Jason would be impossible.

There were more ruffling sounds. "Why don't you just answer the group chat?"

Because he didn't want to open his messaging app and see the last text from Jason. Because he couldn't bear to see all the supportive words when everyone was leaving him. "You're breaking up."

"What? Nico-"

"Sorry, can't hear you." With that, he ended the call and put his phone on do not disturb.

6 months before

When Chiron made the announcement that morning about section leader applications, Nico hadn't really been listening. He'd seen no point; he was but a lowly sophomore, barely better than a freshman (that was a lie). He couldn't even keep himself in line, let alone an entire section. There was no way he'd be chosen even if he did apply.

But the more he thought about it throughout the day, the more it seemed like a good idea. The low brass sections weren't exactly known for their responsibility. Actually, he couldn't think of anyone in his section he'd want to lead him, even the current juniors. (Except Hazel, obviously.)

Then, Percy pulled him aside at the end of the day and said, "You should apply for section leader."

Slightly disoriented, Nico looked around the dingy old tuba closet. There were sousaphones and tubas hanging from big hooks embedded in the walls, and there were drains dotting the dilapidated green tile floor. So much for not spending any time in here. He looked back at Percy's green eyes. "Okay."

"You're smart, commandi-wait, did you say okay?" Percy looked genuinely confused at Nico's lack of resistance, and Nico tried to ignore what Percy calling him 'smart' did to his brain.

He shrugged. "Yeah. There's nobody else except Hazel I'd trust to do it, and we need two."

Percy sighed in relief. "Okay, cool." The percussionist looked around as if he wasn't sure what to do now. "I was expecting a lot more pushback. I even made a speech!" Before Nico could express how much he did not want to hear the speech, Percy continued, "I was gonna talk about how smart and commanding you are and how much you've grown in the last couple years."

The words made heat rise to Nico's cheeks, but it was quickly replaced with a cold, bitter feeling. Why was Percy telling him this now, when he was about to graduate and move three hours away? And he didn't want Percy of all people to tell him how much he'd grown. He didn't want anyone to tell him that, but from Percy, it felt like a double edged sword.

The older boy had been in Nico's life since he first emigrated from Italy, before his life had completely gone to shit. It wasn't a time he wanted to ever think about, but this conversation was doing a great job of reminding him.

He remembered being a relatively normal, happy kid when he first met Percy, and that kid idolized him, and that turned into an ill-advised crush. He couldn't stop, not even when his sister died, and he blamed Percy. He spent a long time in isolation, so long that he couldn't see it was self-inflicted. He became the creepy kid that no one wanted to hang out with. It took the combined efforts of Percy and Jason to realize that there were people in his life that didn't hate him no matter how much he pushed them away.

Now, he was terrified that they would take that progress with them when they left.

So he said, "Save it," and pushed past Percy back into the hallway, and when he picked up a section leader application, he told himself it was to make up for all the free time he would have when his friends graduated.

1 hour since

"Are you taking anatomy?" Will asked, a bit out of the blue. They'd been talking idly about the parade, mostly just discussing which freshmen threw up versus the ones they'd expected to. Apparently, none of the flutes got sick, but a bass drum player did, and a tenor sax player had to drop out from heat exhaustion. Surprisingly, the tenor sax was a senior.

"No," Nico said. "Why?" Anatomy was so ridiculously far from his interests that it was amazing he knew what the word meant.

"We have a test on Monday, and I need to study really bad," Will answered, eyeing Nico's body like it was a real life study guide, which, he supposed that in a way, it was.

He sighed, resigning himself to his fate. "Fine, but no touching." He'd learned early on in his friendships with Percy and Jason that setting up boundaries like that was important, and sometimes people weren't even offended by it.

Will's eyes lit up, and Nico barely concealed his grin. "Awesome! We're going over the skeletal system right now."

Okay, so apparently they were really doing this.

He turned to face Will. "How do you want me?"

"Lean down. I need to see your skull."

Nico pulled back. "Excuse me?"

Will was smirking. "I need to see your skull."

Never before had Nico been so self-conscious of an internal body structure. "Um, okay." He leaned down and vaguely felt Will look down at him.

"Frontal, temporals, occipital, parietals," he said, almost like a chant. "Zygomatics, mandible, maxillas, nasals. Then the palatial, ehtmoid, sthenoid, and vomer are in there somewhere."

"In there somewhere?" he said, alarmed. "Shouldn't you know where-"

"The clavicle is here-" Will pointed to the top of his shoulder, "-with the accromion side on the scapula and the sternal end by your neck. The scapula itself is right there, and it looks kinda like a fucked up wing. The humerus connects to the scapula at the glenoid fossa-"

And that's when Nico stopped listening. Who knew there were so many parts to the skeleton? Definitely not Nico, whose skeletal knowledge began and ended at 206 bones total. He didn't even know there were multiple bones in the skull.

Will pointed to his chest and said, "Ribs."

Nico frowned. "They're just called ribs?"

"Yeah," Will answered. "What did you think they were called?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. I thought they'd have a more science-y name. Like," he paused, "costole or something."

For some reason, that made Will blush. "Was that Italian?"

It dawned on Nico then that most people didn't know he was an Italian immigrant...and that he was definitely about to tell Will that he was an Italian immigrant. "Yeah, I, uh. I'm actually from Italy."

"Really?"

Nico nodded, already regretting his brief moment of honesty. "What bones are next?"

Taking the hint (thank god), Will started listing bones again, and Nico let his eyes wander.

It seemed that everybody had settled down by now, hanging out on their phones or just talking. A couple people were asleep, and there was even a group playing catch with somebody's hat. The junior color guard members were practicing with their equipment that couldn't fit in the instrument truck: tossing flags, spinning rifles, twirling batons. It was a wild sea of bright orange band t-shirts, and Nico kinda loved it, though he'd never admit that to anyone.

The orange band shirts were broken up by the purple and orange uniforms that a few shivering souls had donned in a futile attempt to stay warm. It wouldn't work; those ugly things didn't retain anything but sweat.

Under that, most everybody was wearing sweatpants or leggings with the unfortunate few stuck in jeans and even shorts. Rookie mistake. In cold weather, sweatpants and leggings were the only tolerable pants to wear under the marching band uniform, a lesson Nico learned the hard way while marching a football game in freshman year. The chafing, lack of mobility, and feeling of skin tight denim tucked into knee high, thick black socks was not worth the aesthetic. He himself was wearing black sweatpants, and Will was wearing dark gray joggers with - no way.

"Are you wearing flip flops?" The slim, navy blue shoes weren't doing anything to hide the other boy's surprisingly tan feet - he must wear them outside a lot, definitely enough to maintain the light brown color past summer.

Will glanced up from where he was studying the (apparently) multiple bones of the ankle. "They're comfortable," he said defensively.

Nico couldn't argue with that. His own three year old black Converse were ripping at the seams and covered in scribbles. At least his toes were covered, though. "Aren't your feet cold?"

Somehow, Will's cheeks turned even redder. "I don't really get cold."

"I-" he started. "How?" It probably said more about him than Will, but Nico regularly wore pants and hoodies in June. Even now, he was shivering slightly.

The red stopped spreading in Will's cheeks. "For starters, I'm not malnourished."

Nico's dropped. "I'm not malnourished!"

Infuriatingly, the blond gave Nico an appraising look. "Whatever you say."

Okay. Okay, so maybe he was a little skinny, and maybe most of his friends thought he had an eating disorder. But no matter how bad he seemed right now, he was doing better than he was 5 years ago, so Solace could fuck right off.

There was a little nagging voice in the back of his head saying, "He'll never know that if you don't tell him." It sounded like Jason. He ignored it.

Will got up and moved to Nico's side, clearly trying to change the subject. He pointed at the black-haired boy's spine. "Then the 7 cervical vertebrae with the atlas and axis on top, the 12 thoracic, 5 lumbar, and the sacrum ending in the coccyx. That's your back, and that's all the bones and bone parts I need to know."

Nico blinked. That did not seem like 206. "Okay." They just looked at each other, unsure what to do next.

Then, Nico remembered what Will said about his siblings and thought that maybe he could try some honesty, so he cleared his throat and attempted to fabricate some courage. "Hey, what you said earlier about your siblings being some of your best friends?" Will's eyebrows furrowed, obviously unsure where Nico was going with this. He plowed ahead anyway. "All of my friends are either my sister, my cousins, or  their partners, so I think you can count your siblings as your friends."

Will continued to look confused. Then, he smiled. "Thanks. That actually does make me feel less pathetic."

"No problem." If anyone could make others feel better about themselves by being an absolutely wet cat, it was Nico.

"Does that mean Percy and Jason are your cousins?" Will asked innocently.

Oh. Nico probably should've seen that coming. "Yeah."

"Cool," Will continued, completely unaware of the minefield he'd just stepped into. "It must've been really nice seeing Percy and Annabeth today, then."

"It was precious," he bit out. "Hey, why don't we go do our duties as section leaders and check on people?"

"You wanna go talk to people?" Will asked, disbelieving. Nico couldn't decide if it was more insulting that Will had already clocked his fierce antisocial nature, or that he was so easy to read that a boy he'd barely conversed with outside of the last hour could tell he was lying.

"Yep."

Will gave Nico side eye but rose. "Let's go."

2 months before

"Good morning," Chiron said to the obvious displeasure of the entire band room. It was exactly 8:03 a.m. on a Thursday in July, and everybody in the room had exactly two things in common: none of them wanted to be there, and all of them had better things to do.

Sleep, mostly, Nico thought as he yawned. When Hazel had burst into the room an hour ago and forced him to get up, he'd nearly thrown his phone at her. (And he definitely would have if he hadn't been trying to turn off his alarm without getting out from under the blanket.) He'd managed to rouse himself, though, and valiantly make it here on time. He really should get a medal for that.

"Welcome to marching band. I know most of you know me, but for anyone who might be new, my name is Chiron, and I'm your band director. Mr. D, the assistant director, is around here somewhere." Chiron looked around as if that would help him find Mr. D. "Well, I'm sure you'll see him sooner or later." Fat chance. "If you look on the folder that was on your seat when you came in, it should have your name, instrument, part, and a barcode. Inside the folder, there should be 13 half sheets of music and one warmup packet as well as a schedule and sets for the first song. If anything is missing, let your section leader know right after this."

Well, shit, he thought. That's me. No matter. He already knew nothing was missing because he and the other section leaders spent three hours the day before stuffing those bastards themselves.

"Speaking of section leaders," Chiron said, and Nico had barely enough time to think of a few choice words as he remembered what came next, "I think it's time to introduce them. Now, your section leaders are very important. If anything is wrong or you have a question or are confused about anything, you go to them first, then a drum major, then me or Mr. D." Slick bastard. It had never occurred to him how that system kept freshmen from ever talking to Mr. D. "Drum majors first. Reyna and Jason, please stand and tell everyone a little bit about yourselves."

On either side of Chiron, Reyna and Jason rose from their chairs, maces already in hand. Reyna went first. "Hi! I'm Reyna."

"Hi, Reyna," the band echoed in a poor imitation of an AA meeting, because some traditions just never died, no matter how insensitive and unfunny they got.

"I'm a senior, and this is my second year as drum major. I play French horn in indoor season, and I did color guard my first two years in marching band." She had a very serious look on her face, the one that would end up scaring most kids into never asking her anything. They were lucky this year to have Jason because the year before with Reyna and Annabeth? Everybody was constantly confused and had no idea what was going on.

Jason waved. "Hi, I'm Jason."

"Hi, Jason."

"I'm a senior, and this is my first year as drum major. I play trumpet in indoor season and was section leader for two years." He looked over at Chiron. "Am I supposed to say anything else?"

The older man shook his head. "No. Actually, everybody should say less. We want to get on the field before it's too hot or some sport steals it. Flutes, you go."

Piper stood from her door at the very front of the band. "Hi, I'm Piper."

"Hi, Piper."

"I'm a senior. I play a variety of instruments, and this is my third year as section leader."

She sat down, and Will Solace stood up, blond hair as shiny as ever. "I'm Will, flute and piccolo. I'm a junior, and this is my first year as section leader."

The introductions continued for a while, all some variation of that, and Nico tuned it out, instead focusing on controlling his pounding heart as it got closer and closer to his turn.

It wasn't that he was nervous or hated public speaking that much. He was just an introvert. Yeah, that was it.

Then it was Hazel's turn. "Hi, I'm Hazel!"

"Hi, Hazel."

"I'm a sophomore, and this is my first year as a low brass section leader." She sat down.

Groaning internally as his heart attempted to bust his rib cage and bounce out into his open trombone case at his feet, Nico rose. "I'm Nico-" if the band repeated his name back at him in a depressed monotone voice, he would actually vomit "-, I'm a junior, and this is my first year as low brass section leader." He sat back down gratefully, already considering the benefits of giving up his new role. A cursory glance around the room told him that Jason, Hazel, Reyna, and Piper were all giving him thumbs up. Kill him now.

Introductions continued, though without Nico's attention, and they finally got to warmups. That was four pages of basic exercises that they normally did on the field, but Chiron was giving the freshmen a little treat this morning.

Once they were done, Chiron told everyone to start making their way to the practice field, so Nico stood, stuffing his rolled up manila envelope in his back pocket. Somebody tapped him on the shoulder, and he turned to see a little girl (Wow, freshmen were small. Were they always that small?) (The answer was yes.) with chunky black cornrows pulled back into a ponytail (He felt like he should get points for recognizing cornrows and ponytails even if Hazel was the one who taught him what they looked like.) holding a trombone.

"Excuse me-" she paused, looking unsure, "-Mr. Nico, where is the practice field?"

He laughed internally at anyone calling him Mister, and heard from behind him Hazel giggle as well. Then, when he processed her question, he nearly said, "Just follow the rest of the band," but remembered at the last second that he was in charge of this girl and if she got lost, he would be liable, and instead said, "It's behind the high school." When she continued to look confused, he said, "You can follow me," and mentally resigned himself to this kid becoming his duckling for the day. "Oh, and you can just call me Nico."

She beamed, and her braids bounced. There was no way she was even five feet tall. "Thank you!" she said. "My name is Macy."

He nodded, and they walked out the side door of the band, down the history hallway stairs and out the back door which opened into the student parking lot. He could see Jason's red Jeep from here, the car he'd ridden to school in. Including himself, Jason was driving five people to school, Nico, Hazel, Piper, and Leo despite all but one of them being over 16. Nico could definitely acquire a car if he had his license, but he wasn't ready to learn how to drive, and Piper refused to ask her dad for anything, so she was saving up to buy a used one. Leo just couldn't afford one. If he ever got one, it would probably be one he built himself. As for Jason, his dad bought him one for his 16th birthday (a week late because the man was an absentee ass). Thus, the Jason mobile.

They followed the curve through the back lot and reached the stairs leading down to the field.

A word about the field. It was basically a soggy pit that flooded regularly from dew, surface runoff, and the creek at its back border. Because it was so wet, the yard lines were almost never marked down, which made sets fun. The only sport that was brave enough to use it was soccer, and that was only when the actual field was unavailable. Right now, at 8:30 a.m., Nico could already see dew drops glistening on the green grass. Fabulous.

They walked down the stairs behind some trumpets and set their instruments down on the padded section for the shot put practice thingy since the first day of band camp was purely for introducing the freshmen to marching band.

Macy looked at him again. "How do you mark time?"

Nico blinked, unsure where she had heard that phrase already. That was something they were supposed to learn in fundies with one of the drum majors, and he was perfectly fine with that. He didn't want to teach these kids anything more than he absolutely had to. Then he remembered the section leader meeting yesterday.

We all have some big shoes to fill, Reyna had said, looking mainly at Jason and Leo, a certain blonde and black-haired pairs' successors.

Annabeth and Percy, Percy and Annabeth. Always those two. Even after they'd graduated, he couldn't go 10 minutes without hearing them mentioned. They were practically legends at this point. Everybody knew them, but nobody could be them. Fuck that.

He'd fill the damn shoes, alright. For himself and the band, he'd try. But he couldn't do it like them. He'd do it his own way.

Macy was still looking at him expectantly when he turned back around, and he stepped forward to the front of his section. "Okay, low brass freshmen, look up here 'cause I'm not doing this again." When all the low brass that he was pretty sure were freshmen were looking at him, he set his feet in position and said, "This is how you mark time."

2.5 hours since

They only ended up checking in with about half the juniors before sitting back down in their parking spot since they couldn't get past the color guard without getting hit with something. The people they did talk to seemed to be fine, though, so they didn't feel too bad about it, and Mrs. Knowles announced that a bus was on its way, fortunately. It was also around this time that some parents started arriving to take their kids home because they were just too impatient to wait apparently.

As they sat down, Will's stomach grumbled, and Nico realized he was pretty hungry, too. "I'm starving," Will said. "Think they'd order us some food?"

Nico raised an eyebrow. "You mean the same organization that has to reuse tape?"

Will snorted. "Yeah, I guess not."

Suddenly, Nico had an idea. "What's your McDonald's order?"

"What? Why?"

Nico already had his phone in his hand and the GrubHub app open. "I'm gonna order McDonald's." The band may not have been able to send food to them, but there was nothing stopping them from ordering stuff.

The blond boy must have seen Nico open GrubHub because he didn't ask how he was gonna get the food to them. "You're really gonna pay for McDonald's to be delivered to the middle of nowhere?"

"Hell, no," Nico said as he inputted his Happy Meal order. "My dad is."

"And he's ok with that?"

"Yep." Nico's dad was attempting to make up for 13 years of absentee parenting by giving his remaining two children free range of his credit cards. "Order whatever you want."

Will still looked unsure. "That's so unhealthy."

Nico did finally look up at that. "You some kinda health nut?" With his cut features and lean muscles, it wouldn't really surprise Nico if Will did turn out to be into those meticulous health plans, but he really hoped he wasn't.

Will hesitated, then shrugged. "I'll take a ten piece chicken McNugget and a Diet Coke."

Nico nodded. "You're getting an Oreo McFlurry, too."

"If you insist."

Nico looked around to find the rest stop number and highway sign, then hit submit. "Our order will be here in 17 minutes."

Well. He supposed it was called fast food for a reason.

Just as he was wondering what they were supposed to do for the next 17 minutes, Will asked, "Do you wanna play my piccolo?" Then, probably upon seeing Nico's face, said, "That's not a euphemism. It's in my uniform bag."

Nico just nodded.

"Cool." Then, Nico got to watch Will put his piccolo together (all two parts). His own trombone was probably back in the band room after taking the storage truck home. Lucky bastard.

Will handed Nico the delicate instrument. "Here, you hold it like this." He rearranged Nico's fingers so that they were positioned correctly, left hand in front and right hand in back. "Now hold down your left index finger and right pinky." Nico did as he was told. "Try and blow into the mouthpiece."

The mouthpiece on a piccolo was far different from the mouthpiece on a trombone. For starters, on the piccolo, you don't put your mouth directly on the embouchure hole, which is exactly what Nico did, and the sound he produced consequently was more of a breathy exhale than anything else.

"Blow over it, not right into it," Will said, already laughing.

Nico glared at him but tried again. Apparently, when one played piccolo, one also had to be careful not to blow too hard because that produced a squeak akin to Annabeth when she saw a spider.

Several heads turned in their direction, and Nico was brutally reminded of the first time he'd ever seen Will. He's been learning piccolo then, too, and had made roughly the sound Nico just did.

"Gently," Will said, still laughing. Nico did his best to follow Will's instructions, and when he blew this time, nothing happened at all.

"You're such a brass player," Will critiqued, eyes full of mirth. "You're trying to buzz. Just blow gently."

Frustrated, Nico thrust the small instrument back at Will. "Show me, then, if you're so good at it."

Will smirked. "I will." As soon as he put the metal tube up to his embouchure, Nico knew he'd lost the argument in more ways than one.

Slim fingers danced over the keys, producing a beautiful stream of trills, grace notes, and crescendos, and decrescendos that he recognized as "Killer Queen", and his lips-

Well. Best not to think about those.

As he played, Nico realized that he vaguely remembered from two years ago, someone said that some flute was the first freshmen at Olympus in 5 years to make state. At the time, he hadn't cared one bit, still overwhelmed by switching schools and the permanent move into his dad's house, but he wondered now if that flute player was Will.

When the song ended, he set the piccolo down, and Nico almost asked him to play another one.

Instead, he said, "Damn, Solace," and got to watch Will's ears turn red. "There's no way I'm trying again after that."

Will disassembled the piccolo and put it back into the case, zipping it into his uniform bag with his shoes and gloves. "Everybody's gotta start somewhere."

Not after that, I don't, Nico thought. "I'll just stick to the trombone." Shockingly, failing to play the piccolo did not dishearten him in the slightest. Then, he did something very uncharacteristic of himself. He voluntarily continued the conversation. "Are you really into music?"

If Hazel were there she probably would have chided him on asking a judgy sounding question, but to Nico it was relevant. In his experience, there were three types of band kids: those who were only in it for the credits, those who were in it for the atmosphere, and those who actually cared about music. Nico tended to bounce between the last two categories depending on the day (and the music) as did most people. He'd always assumed Will was the same.

But the blond was shaking his head. "Not really, no. I mostly just do it because of my parents. They're both really into music." Then, quieter, "I wanna be a doctor."

Nico frowned, wondering why it sounded like he was telling Nico some big secret. "Do they not approve of doctors?"

Will laughed. "Oh, no, they'd actually love that idea. I just haven't told them yet because they'd get insane about it."

Nico supposed that made sense, but he also had no idea what he wanted to do with his life and was relatively new to having a living parent that cared, so he just said, "Good luck in med school."

"Thanks." Will was quiet for a moment. "Do you have any idea what you want to do?"

Nico could have laughed at how perfectly timed that question was. "No."

Will shrugged. "Well, we're only juniors."

He tried, he really did, but he couldn't just not respond to that. "You sound like every other person who's ever asked me that."

"What else am I supposed to say?" he asked incredulously, waving a hand around. "It's true!"

Nico was saved from responding by their food arriving. He tapped Will on the ankle. "Get up. We gotta get our food before someone else tries to take it."

Turning to look at the highway, Will began to rise, and all the eyes in the parking lot that were latched onto the GrubHub sign suddenly turned to them. The jealous face nearest to them asked, "Is that for you?"

Nico smirked. "Yep." Then, he walked away, toward the entrance to the rest stop. Luckily, their bus was the only vehicle parked here, so their delivery person was able to park right at the front, keeping them from the majority of the other students. Even so, a brown haired girl wearing jean shorts under her band t-shirt (how?) walked over with a red haired boy in black leggings.

The car window rolled open, revealing short blue hair and a pale, round face. "Happy Meal and 10-piece for Nico?"

He stepped forward. "That's me."

Rather than hand him the bag, the delivery person flicked their eyes between the four teens. "I'm gonna have to see some ID."

"Seriously?" Nico said. "No one else is pretending to be me."

"C'mon, man. I don't wanna drive back out here if you're not the right person."

"Fine," he grumbled, pulling his wallet out of his pocket. "Here."

The driver glanced at his license, then shrugged. "Alright. Here you go." They handed over the takeout bag, and Nico gave them a five.

Before they could roll up the window, the brunette leaned on the driver's door and said, "I'll Venmo you 65 bucks to take us home right now."

"No." They started rolling up the window.

"Wait! That's 5 more dollars than you'll make driving around for minimum wage!"

Shockingly, they pulled out of the parking lot anyway.

13 hours before

"Who's the best band?" Jason and Reyna yelled at the top of their lungs, lifting their newest first place trophy above their heads.

"OLYMPUS!" 150 people shrieked back, and for that moment, Nico forgot that this was his last year with most of his friends. Everyone was hyped up on their win and the energy from a college homecoming that nothing else seemed to matter or even exist. For that moment, it was just them and the trophy.

Then, Chiron broke into the middle of the circle and clapped his hands. "Alright, everybody, the buses are here! Time to go home."

All too soon, everything else trickled in, and Nico remembered where they were. The NRU campus was crawling with people from various high schools across the state, NRU students, people living in the surrounding city that wanted to be part of something, and alumni, and Percy and Annabeth had barely been able to spare two minutes to talk to them. He could not think about that for a little while longer, though, just like he could ignore the creeping dread of going home alone.

After packing his trombone into the cargo truck, he filed onto the junior bus, definitely not feeling anything when all of his friends went onto the senior and sophomore buses.

4 hours since

Back in their parking spot (and what a wild focal point for this wild day, huh?), Nico and Will had a pretty impressive spread going. McFlurries to dip their fries in, many and multiple kinds of sauces, two Diet Cokes, Will's nuggets, Nico's burger, and Nico's new Mythomagic hellhound figurine? The looks they were getting from the remaining students were full of jealousy, Nico could tell.

"Thanks for this," Will said through a mouthful of french fry.

Nico waved him away. "It's no problem, seriously. My dad technically bought all of it."

Will's brow furrowed. "What does he do that he doesn't care if you spend-" he paused, counting. "-$20 on some of the most unhealthy food in the world?"

Nico shoved a French fry in his mouth. "He owns a chain of funeral homes."

Will's eyes widened. "Really?"

Nico nodded. "Yeah, Elysium Funeral Homes. You'd be surprised how much money there is in that business."

"How much money do y'all have?" Will asked, sounding skeptical. Nico looked forward to blowing his mind.

"He's a multimillionaire."

"What?"

Nico just nodded, enjoying the astonishment on Will's face. "Told you."

"You really expect me to believe your dad is that rich just from owning some funeral homes?" The other boy would have been more convincing if his voice wasn't wavering.

Messing with Will was fun, but Nico figured he should let him go now. "I'm sure the $500 million inheritance from my grandparents helped."

Will gasped, making Nico laugh, and the blond threw a fry at him. "You couldn't have said that from the start?"

Still laughing, Nico shook his head. "You should have seen your face."

"Jerk," Will said, though he was smiling. "What the hell did your grandparents do?"

"Oh, you know," Nico waved his hand vaguely. "Stuff."

"You have no idea, do you?"

"No clue," Nico admitted. "They died before I was born and nobody ever explained it to me."

"Really? Does Hazel or one of your cousins know?"

Nico shook his head. "I doubt it. They died when Thalia was a year old." And none of us have any discernible relationship with our fathers, he didn't say, so it's not like we can ask them. "All I know is that they were filthy rich, and somehow, my dad got the smallest cut."

"Smallest cut?"

"Yep." If he thought $500 million was a lot of money, Nico couldn't wait to tell him how much Uncle Zeus was worth. Before Will could ask about his mom, he said, "What about your parents? You said they're into music, right?"

"Yeah," Will said. "My mom's a country singer. You actually may have heard of her, Naomi Solace, from Texas."

Country was definitely not his genre, so Nico just nodded, pretending to know who Will was talking about. He'd google her later.

"Then my dad, Apollo, made a bunch of money off ad jingles 17 years ago, the two of them met, made me, and she's on tour somewhere in Nebraska, and he's somewhere in Western Africa working with Doctors Without Borders."

"Oh," Nico blinked. He hadn't known...any of that. Had he really been going through that this whole time? He said the only thing he could think of: "That sucks."

Will laughed humorlessly. "I guess. Dad's a bit of a slut, though, so I've got a bunch of siblings. I'm not lonely."

Nico stared. "Good, that makes me feel so much better."

Will just shrugged.

Gradually, a fragment of a memory tickled the back of Nico's mind, and he tried to shut it down before it fully formed. Despite his efforts, he remembered hearing his dad talk about a memorial for a teenager that passed through his company a few years ago, before he was permanently living with Hades. The kid was 16, the same age as Nico was now. Nico didn't remember a lot about him, but he did remember the dad's name, Apollo with no last name, because it was so weird, and that he had a ton of half-siblings. His dad had been stressed about it since the father was semi-famous.

Now, Nico wasn't sure what to do. It was so awkward knowing something about someone else that they hadn't told you, especially something so deep and personal. He wasn't sure how to proceed. Did he say something? Try to offer comfort?

Unsure, Nico took a second to study Will. It had happened years ago, before they'd ever met, so it wasn't like Will would expect him to know anything or treat him differently. Besides, if Will were still grieving, surely he wouldn't be so well adjusted?

No, that wasn't the right word. He wouldn't be so laid-back. Nico certainly wasn't.

Hold on. For better or worse, this was actually a topic Nico knew about, a situation he'd actually been in multiple times. With that thought in mind, he tried to think about what he'd want if their roles were reversed.

Yeah, he definitely would not want it to be mentioned. He wouldn't want to forget about her or pretend she never existed, but with some guy he'd only been talking to for a few hours that doesn't even know about her? He'd definitely rather stay away from the topic.

But, he had been so much younger when she died and so dependent on her. Nico had no idea what Will's situation had been. Were he and his brother even close? He mentioned that he had a lot of siblings and that he was close to some of them. Was Michael one? How did one even ask that? "Hey, were you your brother close before died? Also, I know you have a dead brother." Yeah, no.

Finally, he settled on an option that would reveal neither of their dead siblings but might still be considered socially on topic. "Hey, I get it. I didn't even meet my dad until I was 10."

Will glanced over at him. "Wait, for real?"

"Yeah, it was after-" he paused. How to explain this without talking about Bianca and ruining the pleasant atmosphere they'd created by pitching himself into a depressive spiral? Then again, if he opened up about her, that could incite Will to talk about Michael, and then Nico could pretend he was just finding out.

Okay, so maybe not the best idea. He restarted. "Something happened, and he ended up with full custody of me. Instead of caring, he stuck me in various boarding schools until he found out about Hazel. Now, I see him at least once a week." That was the nice version of events, the one that didn't make him want to deconstruct his own skeleton and burn it.

Will hesitates, then opened his mouth, and Nico silently prayed he wasn't about to offer an empty apology or a hollow assurance. "That sucks," he said.

Nico snorted in surprise at hearing his own words. "Yeah, it does."

They sat in silence for a moment, processing. This was probably the closest Nico had come to talking about or even mentioning his sister in years without having a meltdown afterward. He wasn't sure how to feel about that.

Instead of dealing with it, he gathered their McDonald's trash and stood. "I'm gonna throw this stuff away. Watch my uniform please."

Will gave a thumbs up, and Nico walked towards the big brick restroom where the trash cans were.

On the way there, he contemplated what it might be like to finally talk about - his breath caught - Bianca. Beyond that, he thought about telling Will about her. He'd avoided the topic of family for so long that it had begun to feel less real and more of a concept that didn't apply to him. His cousins and Hazel were his best friends more than they were family. His dad was more of a guardian than a father. There was no one else, and none of the people close to him ever tried to bring up Bianca unless they were trying to get him to talk about feelings which never went well for any party involved.

So was he really considering doing it himself? After the last few hours, he supposed it wasn't impossible. He'd already told Will more about his home life than he'd ever told another person. Besides, wasn't everybody always telling him that sharing his feelings would be good for him? Sure, he was a little jittery, a little nauseated, but he was also lighter, like just sharing the little bit he did and receiving validation instead of pity released some of the pressure that had been stuck in him for six years. How much lighter would he feel if he released it all?

The thought scared him. He'd lived with it for this long; who was he without it?

Nico reached the trash cans and threw the McDonald's bag in then went to wash the grease off his hands. While there, he decided to go to the bathroom since the bus would be there soon.

Locking himself into a stall, he heard two sets of footsteps enter and loud laughter.

"Yeah, I saw it," one of them said. "Freaky if you ask me."

"I know," said the other one. "That guy's so weird. I never understood why Percy hung out with him."

Nico's blood ran cold.

"Beats me," the first one said. "I heard Octavian bet Solace his spot as section leader that he couldn't get di Angelo to talk to him."

"Damn, that's so bad."

"I know, right? I can't believe it worked."

The two kept talking until they left the bathroom, but Nico's ears were ringing.

After all this time, he was really still just the creepy kid who no one wanted to talk to, living in Percy's shadow. Worse, everything Will said had been a joke. A tactic to keep his spot.

Nico wheezed, pulling on the collar of his shirt. He fumbled with the stall door lock and stumbled over to a sink, trying to breathe.

A deep voice cut through his daze. "Jesus, what did you get from McDonald's?"

He looked over to the boy at the sink next to him. It was just some random kid, no one he even knew. Was that his fault? Should he know this brown haired, brown eyed kid's name? He never even tried to get to know his classmates. Not once. He always felt like he didn't need them, that they could never understand him. This day felt like proof that he was right. They didn't care, they didn't know him. They just wanted to make fun of the weird kid.

He must've been glaring because the brunet held up his hands and backed away until Nico was alone again. Like usual.

He looked in the mirror. The same kid he always saw was staring back: dark hair curling beneath his ears, dark circles under his darker eyes, freckles spread across his pale cheeks.

He hadn't changed. The world hadn't changed. Everything was still the same. He was so stupid, thinking anything was different just because he opened up slightly to some random person who apparently didn't care about him at all.

He couldn't believe he'd considered telling him about Bianca, that they might have something in common that would help them understand each other. Will probably wasn't even Michael Yew's brother.

You know what, he thought, this is stupid. He watched his reflection straighten his spine, angry resolve piercing through his eyes. Nothing was different. He could just go back to where he was when the bus broke down.

Panicking about losing Jason was infinitely better than panicking about losing something he never had.

He walked back outside and was met with a second school bus, kids crowded around it. He almost joined them before realizing Will still had his uniform bag.

Actually, he didn't need it. Someone else would find it and turn it in with minimal hazing when he accepted it in front of the band with the other kids who lost their stuff.  

Of course, that was when Will popped up beside him. "Hey, you ready to go home?"

Nico stared at him, trying to find malice in his bright face. Suddenly exhausted, he decided not to waste his energy. "You don't have to pretend anymore. I know about the bet."

Will has the gall to look confused. "What bet?"

"The one with Octavian. Don't act like you don't know." Nico snatched his uniform bag out of Will's hand. "And don't sit next to me. Figlio di puttana."

He stormed away and onto the bus, settling into the first open seat toward the front of the bus. He let his uniform bag pool on the seat so that no one sat down next to him, then he pulled his knees up to his chest and tried not to cry.

[the-algebra-thing]

god. god. this book is off the fucking wall. listen to me rn.

book two of the original percy jackson series introduced one of annabeths most integral character traits: hubris, or in broader terms, pride. and while it was perfectly functional to observe how this affected her from outside, we get our first look into her point of view in the mark of athena. this is huge for several reasons; we've already seen percys point of view, the old main character, for 5.3 books. annabeth is the only other main character that carries over in importance to the plot and to us into heroes of olympus. we get to see the internal workings of the mind that has orchestrated at least 50% of the successful gambits pulled off in the entire percy jackson universe so far. the longer the book goes on the more we are drawn in by her skill and ingenuity. literally everyone in the goddamned world looks up to this kid, and we come to understand even better how right they are to do so.

her challenge in the mark of athena is, by design, one she must ultimately pursue alone. it gets hyped up the entire story and we finally get to it when she separates from the last member of the group two thirds of the way through the book. she uses all the tools she's proven herself to be in command of to get all the way to the final obstacle, and then it cuts off terrifyingly and we leave her point of view for several chapters. when we come back, she keeps going and pulls off the greatest trick of her fucking LIFE by exploiting arachne's weakness: pride. then, when she's succeeded and she's home safe—she doesn't know it, but we even know that her friends are coming to pick her up—she pulls the most fucking CLASSIC blunder in mythology EVER. she rubs it in. it almost feels out of character until you remember that youve only been tricked into thinking annabeth is op as hell, and this is actually one of the most in-character moments she's ever had. arachne is stuck in her trap, subdued, and annabeth is so mad at her for fucking with her family for so many thousands of years that she spits acid about her clever trick and how athena will always triumph over arachne in every way, every time. arachne is so fucking mad she has a fit and manages to use her silk and her command over her children to try to kill both of them and bring annabeth down with her to stop her from winning athena's ultimate power back. it eventually leads to annabeth dragging her best friend in the entire world down with her into tartarus.

the themes previously developed throughout the book through characters like octavian and hercules about demigods not being immune to the vices of the gods that cause everyone so many problems all crop right up to bite you in the ass with incredible force. you finish the book, and they achieve their goal of recovering athena parthenos, and they fall into real, actual hell, and it is devastating, and it is exactly what the entire book spent so much time and care telling you was going to happen. when I started the mark of athena a few days ago I got the feeling that the two times I had read it previously, it was my heroes of olympus favorite, and it is proving its place so fucking successfully

[panlight]

Hey, my mind keeps going back to how the Cullen clan is barely known as the "Olympic Coven" (idk why but I think of Greek mythology). I feel like if they HAVE to have a title, not including last names, it should represent an aspect they all share rather than where they live or came from.

They travel like every decade or so, right? Different aliases are used every time they do so it doesn't really make much sense to name the whole group after ONE place (even if it is a favorite of the family).

So, what about the "Golden Coven"? Or maybe something related to the lion on their family crest? (I like to think it's kinda canon but not too in-your-face a la SM's style.) It can be a symbolic word or a term for transformation, rebirth, peace, faith or hope, family...

We could go all day talking about this and maybe even make a poll tbh.

I am firmly in the "it makes NO SENSE to call them that" camp. I fully blame the Twilight fandom wiki; they really latched on to the term (that, again, was used one single time in the back of Breaking Dawn) and people who look up Twilight info online usually get it from that source, so everyone uses "the Olympic Coven" even though the actual Illustrated Guide does not use it. Seriously, open the guide. It's "The Cullen Coven" all the way through. Also literally no one in the actual text of the books calls them that, either (source).

It also bugs me because it's, again, so Bella-centric. The only two members of the coven who are actually FROM there are . . . Bella and Renesmee. Naming it after them erases all the earlier history.

I fully believe that SM came up with that name when writing BD being like OH HOW COOL! LIKE THE GODS OF OLYMPUS! and then later, as she worked on the guide, realized like "oh hmm kinda weird to name them after a place they have only lived for three years when canonically most of these vampires have known Carlisle for way, way longer than that." And for me it's like, how many international vampires would associate "Olympic" with the Olympic peninsula in Washington state, USA, and not, like, Mt. Olympus in Greece? I'm American and I STILL think Greece when I hear 'Olympic.'

No, sir, I don't like it.

The Denali and Volturi are named after a very specific place, but they notably have been there for a very long time and don't move. The Denali coven has been there since at least the 1930s, probably longer, and the Volturi have been in Volterra for centuries. So it makes sense to tie them to such a specific place. Doesn't make sense for the Cullens.

They could be "The American Coven" or the "North American Coven" since they have lived in Canada. Technically the Denali would also fit there, but they do consider them extended family so it sort of works? Like it's the North American Coven with the Denali and Cullen branches. In this way it would mimic the Egyptian, Irish and Romanian covens.

But the Golden Coven is kind of cool, too! Meeting them for the first time, that's obviously what any vampire is going to notice about them.

"Those animal-eating weirdos" is probably what most vampires call them tbh.

I do kind of like Cullen Coven though--I think Carlisle is famous enough in the vampire world as the strangely charming weird vegan friend that naming the coven after him works; it also reinforces the family vibes by having them use an actual human last name, which none of the vampires really do. Because this dude's weird and has a job and a house and a wife and kids and pays taxes.

But literally anything but the Olympic Coven I'm begging. Sounds cool but makes no sense.

[southerndaughterofeos]

Intro post!

Hiii! I'm Aurelia, daughter of Eos. Me and some other demigods + an automaton friend go on @willows-pjo-ocs together, but I saw my girlfriend make her own blog, so I decided to follow in her footsteps!

Here's some basic information about me:

Age: 15

Pronouns: she/her

Sexuality: lesbian

Godly parent: Eos

Powers: photokinesis, limited hydrokinesis (morning dew only), and I'm a bit stronger at dawn.

Status: Happily taken by @kiaradaughterofselene

@pink-koi-lovejoy is a good friend of mine!

I like to think I'm pretty nice, so just be kind, and we're good!

Ooc under the cut

Hello! I decided to try and make separate blogs for my ocs since I have way too many for one blog

I'm also the mod of @willows-pjo-ocs and my main account is @gaygirldoodles

I also run

@kiaradaughterofselene

@glykera

@overlyprotectiveheadcounselor

@amaiahunterofartemis

@melissathetherapist

@selene-goddess-of-the-moon

#willow speaks ◇ is for when the mod is talking or just anything ooc

#willows pjo ocs ♡ and #southern daughter of dawn are both for in character stuff!

Her backstory is going to be mostly, if not completely, copy pasted from the group intro post on @willows-pjo-ocs

anyways backstory stuff

Aurelia is a 15 year old demigod daughter of Eos. She is from small town Mississippi and she came to camp closer to when she was 14, so pretty recently. She is currently dating Kiara Belvedere, as said above. She arrived at camp after an emposai attacked her. (Probably a satyr who brought her, but idk.)

She arrived at camp post the events of the Heroes of Olympus books and thus didn't fight in those same battles that Kiara did. (Once again, if there was one in toa I didn't read it yet.)

She dealt with/deals with a lot of internalized homophobia and stuff like that since she grew up in small town Mississippi.

But she never really extended it towards others. It always confused her why people would be upset about who someone loves or what their gender identity was or anything like that

But as soon as it was her who happened to be a kiss-girl (im so sorry i cannot take myself seriously), she hated herself for it. It was fine when anyone else was like that, but not her.

She ends up being able to accept herself more slowly after she and Kiara don't start dating quite yet, but are kinda talking? Do you call it that if you've been best friends for a while and already acting pretty gay around her? Idk. Seriously, Marilene (head counselor for the Selene cabin) was waiting for the longest time for them to just kiss.

They do end up dating dw

This really reminds me of Once More to See You by Mitski because Kiara really just wanted to tell everyone and everything about how much she loved Aurelia, but Aurelia was still closeted at this point. (Sorry if im making it sound like it was a bad thing that she was closeted. it's not and, good on her for taking her time and doing it when she was comfortable)

Face claim:

Tag list:

@unhinged-waterlilly @mache-of-greece @the-gods-abandoned-us @arisdaughter @kaiaalwayswins @yourlocalfallenstar @son-of-the-moonlight @luci-likes-dinoss @elixs-mythology-corner @bast-the-best26 @emdabitchass @if-chaos-was-a-boy @luck-is-crucial @love-lightning-forethought @the-prince-telemachus @pink-koi-lovejoy @fire-boy-official

[percico-sea-of-darkness]

Excuse the language in the image, but I was talking to the super famous new AI called "ChatGPT" and it occurred to me to ask it what it thought of Percy Jackson and Nico di Angelo's relationship. I was REALLY surprised by its level of knowledge.

"The relationship between Percy and Nico is one of the most interesting and exciting in the series. The two characters have very different personalities, but they learn to appreciate and respect each other's differences as they get to know each other better."

Here is the full english translation:

The relationship between Percy Jackson and Nico di Angelo is interesting and complex in the book series "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" and its sequel, "The Heroes of Olympus." Throughout the story, you see how these two characters go from having a tense relationship to developing a solid friendship.

At first, Nico doesn't seem to have much confidence in Percy and the other main characters in the group. Furthermore, he has his own secrets and motivations, which make him appear aloof and reserved. However, as the plot develops, more details about his past and feelings are revealed, making his character deeper and more complex.

Percy, for his part, cares for Nico and tries to help him throughout the story, even when Nico seems to reject his help. As the two characters interact more, their relationship is seen to grow closer and they begin to trust each other more.

In my opinion, the relationship between Percy and Nico is one of the most interesting and exciting in the series. The two characters have very different personalities, but they learn to appreciate and respect each other's differences as they get to know each other better.

In addition, the evolution of their relationship shows how friendship can overcome differences and how the support of friends can be very essential in difficult times.

I know that it is an AI, and that its information can be wrong in certain occasions, as I verified when I read that ChatGPT thinks that Trunks Briefs and Pan Son are cousins ​​(which, they don't), but the AI ​​definitely portrayed the Percico relationship very well, maybe not perfectly deepened, but, hey, it's an AI, it's just awesome, so, in my stupefaction was internally screaming with excitement.

[airasilver]

Paris Olympic organizers apologized Sunday to people offended during a tableau of the opening ceremony that critics said mocked "The Last Supper."

During Friday's ceremony, there was a moment on the Debilly Bridge over the Seine when the camera cut to French DJ and producer Barbara Butch, who describes herself as a "love activist." Butch wore a blue dress with a silver headdress and as the camera panned out, she was flanked by drag queens on both sides. Later appeared a nearly naked man painted in blue, on a dinner plate surrounded by food. He then sang as the people around him danced, and it turned into a runway scene where models walked across.

The scene has been met with backlash as people say it mocked "The Last Supper," the famous painting from Leonardo da Vinci that shows Jesus Christ with his 12 apostles at his last supper, where he announced that one of the apostles would betray him.

Several Christian and Catholic organizations around the world have denounced the moment since then. The French Bishops’ Conference, which represents the country's Catholic bishops, said in a statement that the scene was a "mockery and derision of Christianity" and it was thinking of religious followers who were "hurt by the outrageousness and provocation of certain scenes." Well-known Bishop Robert Barron in Minnesota said in a video that it mocked "a very central moment in Christianity."

U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson said on social media that it was "shocking and insulting" to Christian people.

Telecommunications provider C Spire also said it was pulling all of its advertising from the Olympics as a result of the scene.

What did Paris Olympic organizers say about controversial segment?

Thomas Jolly, the opening ceremony’s artistic director, said at the International Olympic Committee's daily briefing at the Olympic Games on Saturday that the moment was not meant to "be subversive or shock people or mock people." During the opening ceremony, the official Olympic Games social media account said the blue person, played by French singer and actor Philippe Katerine, portrayed the Greek god Dionysus − known as the god of wine-making, vegetation, fertility and ecstasy − and it "makes us aware of the absurdity of violence between human beings."

Jolly also said on French TV station BFMTV on Sunday, "The Last Supper" was "not my inspiration" for the segment, and he also spoke about the meaning of Dionysus.

"The idea was to have a pagan celebration connected to the gods of Olympus. You will never find in me a desire to mock and denigrate anyone," he said.

Still, Paris 2024 spokesperson Anne Descamps apologized on Sunday for those offended by the scene.

"Clearly there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group. On the contrary, I think (with) Thomas Jolly, we really did try to celebrate community tolerance," Descamps said. “Looking at the result of the polls that we shared, we believe that this ambition was achieved. If people have taken any offense, we are, of course, really, really sorry.”

The IOC said on social media that it took note of the apology from Paris 2024.

The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast. Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Paris Olympic organizers apologize after 'The Last Supper' backlash

They are only sorry because they need to be. They aren’t actually sorry.

[clioartfairreviews]

Clio Art Fair Reviews - A call to fame named Clio Art Fair

In a art world characterized by a proliferation of art fairs, Clio Art Fair has emerged to gain a spot in the pantheon of satellite Armory Show realities, and is officially doubled up becoming a Frieze Satellite since 2017.

Differentiating itself for the focus on independent artists, since 2014 Clio Art fair has been highlighting the work of independent artists without New York gallery representation. The raison d’être of the fair is to highlight and promote their work, while creating a platform for discovery and innovation.

The name is inspired by CLIO who in Greek mythology, is the muse of History. When Clio sings your  name  while  playing  her  harp,  your  name  is  admitted  to  the  mental  olympus  of  human history.  Reflecting  the  ambition  of  many  artists  seeking  recognition,  Clio Art  Fair  created  an alternative to the nepotism of the art world, and looks to highlight that which lives outside its domains.

Elegantly designed without booths and without commercial compartmentalization of spaces, the fair feels like a large curated group show where intergenerational artists work across media. There are no booths, no tables, no chairs in the exhibition space, instead, a team of art dealers graze the grounds prepared to trade on behalf of the artists.

Every  independent  artist  without  exclusive  representation  in  New  York  City,  can  submit  work from all over the world, and if selected, can be part of a curated international group show.

The  fair  becomes  a  window  shedding  light  into  current  artistic  practices  that  live  outside  the concerns  of  the  art  world  taking  risks  and  providing  artists  with  visibility. Through  a  series  of related events and programs, including a press preview, and multiple VIP openings, they have the  opportunity  to     meet  art  dealers,  curators,  art  critics,  art  lovers,  while  sipping  Italian champagne. A plus of the fair is free logistic assistance for the non New York based artists: free transportation and free storage in NYC few weeks before and after the Art Fair.

Most  notable,  is  how  Clio  combines  both  emerging,  middle  career,  and  iconic  independent artists  including,  Vito  Acconci,  Nina  Berman  (Whitney  Biennial  2010),  and  Thirza  Cuthand (Whitney Biennial 2019) in the same space, providing a show of substance where the quality of the work is prioritized over length of artists CVs.

The fair born in chelsea, will continue to run twice a year in the heart of Chelsea, the epicenter of the art world, nurturing artists while singing the musings of their eclectic practices.

Our journey dedicated to the reviews of previous editions of the Clio Clio Art Fair Reviews today to its first edition in 2014.

"The Clio Art Fair 2014 stood out for a mix composed of historical artists, those in the process of establishing  themselves,  or  completely  new  and  unknown  to  the  public,  as  well  as  to  the  art professionals in the Big Apple. Among the 33 artists on display, there were numerous works by established  artists,  including  some  drawings  by  Vito  Acconci,  and  a  photographic  series dedicated to the Bronx by Mel Rosenthal. No galleries were directly present at the event, which originated from the initiative of curator Alessandro Berni. "It's difficult to surprise a saturated city

like New York," says Berni. "I wanted to try with this initiative based on the denial of the gallery's role as an intermediary between the artist and the collector."

A review of all the Clio Art Fair Reviews artists included in the 2014 edition are visible here.

[andrewwtca]

Today marks five years since I was introduced to Kingdom Hearts (a very messy essay on femininity and change)

Five years ago, I was in Orlando and I was at the beginning of my gaming renaissance. Much of my childhood had been spent reading and watching TV, always sitting on the sidelines when it came to video games. I'm not sure why—I was really bad at them, sure, and to an extent, I'm still not that great. Or maybe I felt like it wasn't proper for a girl to play video games.

Nonetheless, I was getting into gaming (getting back into gaming?) and in that winter, there was a demo for some strange game.

I'd heard of it before. My dad got it for my brother on the 3DS because all of us really loved Tron: Legacy. I remember there were some random volumes of it in my middle school library (side note: why did my MS library have Days and only Days? The first volume was always checked out, but the second was always in because no one had any context. I still don't know how or why they have it), and I had read them a few times. And, most importantly, I wanted to learn more about video games and if the game was pulling such large crowds, it had to be good, right?

So I scanned the code and waited 30 minutes before they called me inside. I stood in line with some other people, most years older than me. I remember the attendant who put us into line—he said he'd been around since the first game, and he'd been waiting over ten years for this one. He asked if anyone else had been waiting and no one raised their hands. I hope he enjoyed the game.

Finally, the last group finished up and they directed us to sit on couches set up in front of TVs. We were given pairs of headphones and told that if we wanted to take photos of the game, it'd have to be a selfie of some kind. I thought that this must be big then, to have this kind of protection.

So on December 28, 2018, I played Kingdom Hearts III for the first time. I played some of the Mount Olympus world and some of Toybox and I knew nothing else other than that there were Disney characters and "I think the main character is named Sky or Sora." I was mesmerized. I promised myself I would buy the game as soon as it came out, and I consider that the moment it all changed for me.

If we're being honest, I didn't play Kingdom Hearts III until 2020. So technically, it's only been 3.5 years since I got into the series, but we're talking about introductions! Without that day, I don't think I would be here.

There are a lot of things I could talk about. A lot of things I want to talk about, have told people. I can say how the story has given me a reason to keep fighting, whether it's through just the sheer want to know how it'll finish or the hope it instills in me, that through the darkness there is light, and there will always be a darkness in the light and that isn't to be feared but to be embraced. I can say how the music pumps me up and breaks me down and makes me reflect on every choice I've made. I can say how it's gotten me through very dark times.

I'm going to choose something less conventional. I want to talk about how Kingdom Hearts helped me overcome my internalized misogyny.

I am not a girl, but I grew up as one. When I first began to come to terms with my queerness, I was met with an extreme: I needed to reject all forms of femininity to be myself. It didn't matter that being feminine did make me happy; what I was sure would make me happier was people understanding I was a boy, and boys had to hate femininity, boys had to be masculine and tough.

I tried that for a very long while, trying to reject all forms of stereotypical femininity. I didn't like to wear pink and I didn't like to talk to girls and I wouldn't read girly books and it didn't make me very happy. I'm not sure what was making me so dissatisfied—I didn't look much like a boy but my good friends kept affirming me in the ways that mattered. So...that should make me happy, right?

But I liked pink. I liked talking to girls. I liked reading girly books, I liked wearing girly clothes, I didn't like being a girl, but things associated with girlhood weren't vile to me. They were the opposite. They were right.

Between 13 and 16, I would go in very varying approached to this. A constant struggle between femininity and transness, and I was so sure that one would cancel out the other, and I was so sure that femininity was just bad. That I was bad if I was feminine, that I was bad if I acted like a girl, that I wasn't enough if I did. This wasn't about being a boy anymore. This was about me thinking that girlhood was bad.

And there Sora fucking was, helping princesses achieve their happily ever afters.

I can't describe the exact moment it clicked, but it was between me finishing Kingdom Hearts and beginning Kingdom Hearts II—2021 and 2023. I liked Disney Princesses a lot growing up, and I had a lot of figurines for them in my room. And around that time, I kept trying to find cool ways to cover them up, cool ways to make it seem like I'm so over that. Because femininity was bad, right? The entire world demonized it. Being a girl brought me nothing but pain, so I should hate it.

But this boy that I grew so attached to would help these princesses without so much as a single remark. He would fight for them, and tell them they deserved a happy ending. He was a rowdy boy, poster ADHD boy, and yet, he never once made the princesses feel like they were less for being princesses.

He never once made me feel like I was less for still liking girlhood.

I am still a boy. I still go by he/they pronouns. But as of writing this, I happily dress femininely, I've pulled my figurines to the front of my room, and I like the color pink again. The world made me think that I had to choose between femininity and happiness. Sora, strangely, taught me that they were one in the same. That femininity is not evil, that femininity simply is like the sun, the ocean, the earth. That femininity is less concrete but not any less beautiful.

It's been five years since I've gotten into Kingdom Hearts. I'm grateful for everyone who's been with me this whole time. I'm grateful for girlhood. I'm grateful for second chances.

I'm grateful for Sora Kingdom Hearts.

[nikproxima]

Where Are They Now - MTVs

With the introduction of the latest plan from NASA and the Olympus Partners to pursue not only a Martian program, but a Lunar one, it was ultimately deemed necessary to ensure that a new generation of Mars Transfer Vehicles continued to power crews out to the Red Planet without sacrificing capabilities. While the original nuclear thermal design had proved to be highly advantageous for the program, there were elements in which the design struggled - notably crew capacity and lack of full reuse characteristics. In 2020, a group at Marshall Space Flight Center, the very same birthplace of the first generation MTV, would gather to begin to design the next generation of spacecraft. Initial designs called for something referred to as the Deep Space Transport, or DST, highlighting the multi-mission nature of the vehicles, and centered much of their focus around a fully solar electric architecture using a large, rigid “workshop” module. Ultimately, this configuration would end up with intense power draw requirements and longer trip times, something that mission planners wanted to avoid in order to ensure maximum science return on the Red Planet itself. The next option explored would be a hybrid of sorts, a massive methalox chemical stage, supplemented by a nuclear powered VASIMIR thruster. These twin propulsion systems would work together for various phases of flight, with the Nuclear-Electric element doing the outward push, and the chemical stage performing the arrival burn at both Mars and departure from when the time came. Post arrival, the electric stage would ignite once more to slowly spiral down to the Low Martian Orbit customary of Olympus operations, where the vehicle would rendezvous with the Base Station and MADV for the sortie to the Martian Surface.

Endurance conducts her first test of the new VASIMIR system, fed by a powerful nuclear reactor.

In December 2027, after a long and arduous design period, the first launch of the newly named Armstrong Class MTV Endurance would be conducted by Jupiter-OPAV, carrying the largest single element - the chemical transfer stage. This would see Adventure pushed to her absolute limits, having recently completed her Block III upgrades. After a flawless flight to orbit, the great chemical stage would separate and coast free, with the OPAV pod returning to land in the California desert. Over 7 additional launches, the inflatable habitat, workshop, node and truss segments would be launched to the growing vehicle. In March of 2028, she would be visited by the crew of ACEV Kitty Hawk for checkout once the reactor had been delivered, configuring her for her service life. She was an impressive vehicle, with MTV Endurance acting not only as a fully functional Mars Transfer Vehicle, but a testbed for technologies needed to augment future human spaceflight endeavors. Her first crew would marvel at her size, and conduct final bolt tightening and maintenance work before her series of practice burns over the next few months, simulating various maneuvers. With a successful electric thruster demonstration under her belt, she would be topped up by a series of new, commercially and internationally launched methane tankers In June of 2028, Endurance would receive her crew onboard ACEV Columbia, having launched only 12 hours prior onboard an Atlas EvO. Their international crew consisted of members who had only been children when the first rotations to the Red Planet had begun, finally fulfilling their dream of walking on worlds unknown. Olympus 19 would cast off from planet Earth only 8 days after their arrival, conducting a 6 month voyage to Mars to further research at Foundation. Soon, Endurance’s sister ships would be brought online one by one, Constellation and Pathfinder - to continue the dream of human exploration of Mars. This dramatic capability increase would also see the need arise for a second MADV, to support larger crews operating around Mars. Enterprise’s sister ship, Phoenix, would be launched to Low Martian Orbit to support crews of up to 16 at Foundation as the complex expanded dramatically.

Endurance waits patiently in orbit for her maiden voyage, a gargantuan undertaking finally complete - ready to power the future of human endeavors in spaceflight.​

Minerva herself had already been modified in support of Destiny, removing her drop tank mounting points and habitation section, with those components being returned to LEO for servicing and potential conversion. What remained of her now was the core fuel tanks, solar arrays, a cargo mounting point for the Altair Common Lunar Lander, and her avionics ring. To spaceflight enthusiasts, she was a shell of her former self, but in the eyes of the Mission Planning Office, she was right where they needed her to be. An international crew of 6, commanded by Olympus 15 veteran Lance Novak would set off from Earth in August 2027, launching onboard ACEV Columbia for the short journey to the Moon. Minerva would brake into an elliptical orbit, high above the gravitational anomalies that limited Apollo’s stay in lunar orbit. On August 28th, 2027, the crew of Destiny III would board their lander, Artemis, and make the descent to the Lunar surface, aiming for the rim of Shackleton Base. Their lander, a joint project between NASA, ESA and JAXA locked on to the Russian built beacon already in place onboard their cargo lander, and soon the crew of 6 could begin their initial operations, setting up a permanent, rapidly expandable base on the Lunar surface. Prometheus and Selene would soon see retirement from Martian sorties as the Armstrong Class ramped up their operational cadence. They would spend their golden years here, servicing the Earth-Moon system as they ferried crews, cargo and more between the growing base at Shackleton, supporting crucial operations as the population of the moon rapidly grew through the 2030s. Soon, the needs of the growing base would surpass that of the original MTVs, and the great ships would be broken up in Lunar orbit, with usable components brought down to the surface to expand the growing base. Tanks would be repurposed for hydrogen storage, vital in support of the growing demands of fuel production. The MTVs would find themselves living out their days incorporated into human architectures, spread out across the lunar surface. Well, nearly all of them.

Hera’s time in service ended long before her sisters. Due to the damage sustained by Chris Taylor’s impact along with the structural failure of the robot arm, the helium coolant circuit and one of the redundant ammonia circuits were emptied long before her arrival at the world of her birth. Through the careful management of propellant and power, flight controllers were able to keep her alive all the way back to Earth. In the absence of coolant, bled off into the vacuum of space, the Valkyrie engines had their control drums locked in the neutral position and had the xenon quench fired shortly before entering the Earth-Moon system to ensure the reactors would never start again. Hera had built up too much energy during the abort to be captured at earth. She would be forced to leave her crew behind as she threw herself past their home. The final act of her propulsion system would be supporting the safe separation of the Lifeboat, burning the last of the hydrazine propellant, the last drops of her blood, to increase separation from her precious crew and give them the best odds of making it home. NASA had good reason to believe heliocentric space would become much busier in the future, and since she could not be tracked on her solo trek around the sun, Hera was made to pose as little of a hazard as possible. Hera had mostly been bled dry but as a final precaution, all her propellant tanks were opened to vacuum to minimize the risk of a breakup. One by one her batteries were discharged and isolated from the solar panels to prevent their explosion. The team behind each subsystem said their goodbyes as their respective computer, pump, or gyroscope was turned off for the final time. The final command sent was to turn off the remaining CMG and broadcast the abort repeater tone indefinitely. The message ended with a text string to be read by no one. “Thank you Hera. Rest well” Back on Earth, Hera’s lifeboat was placed on display in an annex built onto building 30 at JSC. New flight controllers are brought into the room on their third day of training where the audio recorded onboard Hera during the abort is played back, a reminder of painful day's past. The intent is to not only remind them of the stakes of the job but demonstrate that they will never run out of options in their fight to bring a crew home safe. Hera herself orbits silently between earth and Venus. Over many years a tumble slowly developed from the uneven pressure exerted on the two remaining radiators and the reflective MLI on her tanks. Despite this - she remained intact and never experienced a close encounter with any planet again. She remains the only original Olympus hardware that is left unperturbed or unmodified, free to silently observe humanity's future in the solar system.

Photos by Jay

Additional Writing by Posstronaut Peter

Read Proxima here

[abookishdreamer]

Character Intro: Cedalion (Kingdom of Ichor)

Nicknames- The Iron Kid by Hermes

Lio by his parents and others

Age- 15 (immortal)

Location- Forgia district, New Olympus

Personality- Even though he's a bit closed off & reserved, he's also incredibly tenacious, observant, and ingeniously creative.

He has the standard abilities of a god except shapeshifting. As the demi-god of smelting ore his other powers/abilities include limited pyrokinesis, partial fire/heat immunity, ferrokinesis (metal manipulation), & enhanced craftsmanship.

It's often said that his natural scent is the mixture of copper and shoe polish.

He's one of the very few demi-gods in the pantheon. Lio is of mixed heritage. His mother is Chrysanta (goddess of metal) while his father is a cyclops named Aurelius. The three of them live in a brownstone in the Forgia neighborhood of New Olympus. They also have a vacation home in Lemnos.

In Lio's room it's meticulously neat & organized, the walls painted a cool blue and steel gray. There's a section in his room dubbed the "media center"- complete with the latest flat screen television, his computer system with four adjacent monitors, his laptop, tablet, & Talos Core VR/gaming systems). His bedroom door is made out of Celestial Bronze and his footwear is exceptionally polished.

The usuals for him from The Roasted Bean are the large iced coffee, dark chocolate mochas, & chai tea. He also likes dark cherry cola, root beer, as well as his mom's mango lassi and masala chaas.

Lio has a design book filled with sketches & ideas for automatons and other tech inventions.

He never misses breakfast! Some of his favorite morning dishes include scrambled eggs (added with bacon & spinach), onion poha, set dosa (served with coconut chutney), and avocado toast. He'll also enjoy a bowl of Choco-Crunch cereal.

He loves snacking on peppered beef jerky and salt-vinegar chips!

Lio's currently on break from school. He's constantly overthinking about his induction ceremony. He doesn't care about the little cliques the students have grouped themselves in. Lio will talk to anyone who he thinks is a good person. Other godly students include Eileithyia (Ella) (goddess of childbirth), Philautia (goddess of self love), Eirene (goddess of peace), Eunomia (goddess of law & legislation), Heimarmene (Marnie) (goddess of shared fate), Eleos (Ellie) (goddess of mercy, pity, & compassion), Circe (goddess of sorcery), Eiresione (Ren) (goddess of offerings), and Morá (goddess of babies & children). Lio is close with Telesphorus (Rusty) (god of rehabilitation), Dysnomia (goddess of anarchy & lawlessness), and Theodon (god of reality, uncertainty, & fate). He'll also watch out for Koalemos (god of foolishness) during the dance class they share.

At school Lio's a part of the blacksmithing and robotics clubs & is even friendly with some of its members- including the twin cyclopes named Eligius (Eli) and Ferron.

He may have a quietly growing crush on Dysnomia, but hasn't said anything out of fear of jeopardizing their friendship. Sometimes at lunch Rusty will shoot him a knowing glance.

In the pantheon those he holds in high esteem include the three blacksmithing cyclopes, Aetna (goddess of volcanoes); who he used to have a crush on, Techne (goddess of arts, crafts, & invention), and his official mentor- Hephaestus (god of the forge). Lio greatly admires the forge god's intelligence, tenacity, & otherwordly ingenuity. His parents gave him their blessing for him to be able to intern for Hephaestus at his main forge workshop during the weekends. After graduation, he hopes to get an official internship at iCHOR Tech.

Lio also likes the messenger god Hermes.

His favorite dessert from Hollyhock's Bakery is the dark chocolate fudge-peanut butter brownies and he also likes the chocolate root beer milkshakes from The Frozen Spoon.

Even though he wasn't born with dominant traits, Lio feels very connected to his cyclops heritage. He and his father have a close relationship as well as having a good relationship with his father's side of the family. A lot of family members on his dad's side are from & live in Lemnos and Lio loves spending time there hanging out with his cousins. A notable memory was when he, his father, uncles, & a few of his cousins went lava surfing!

Lio doesn't have a Fatestagram, but he does have a PanopTube channel where he mainly posts gaming streams and tech help videos.

Even though his mom & friend own a dragon and Lio himself has thought of getting one, he hasn't followed through due to his agrophobia (fear of heights).

He respects and cherishes his mother, thinking that she's the closest thing to perfection!

His favorite meal ever is mattar paneer served with white rice and naan. He also likes the double olympian burger (with extra mayo and bacon) with olympian sized onion rings from Olympic Chef.

In his free time Lio enjoys playing video games, skateboarding, football (soccer), rollerskating, cooking (with his parents), chess, laser tag, reading (his favorite being comics), lava surfing, swimming, & spending time in the workshop.

"I wish the impurities in people were a lot more malleable than the impurities in metal."

[the-firebird69]

And I'm saying congratulations to my husband and he says thank you kind of and I get why since a lot of stuff to get here is dangerous to go through and it's going to be difficult but this is our time and we are getting there this is our work and it's a lot of it and it's going to pay off pretty soon this is going to be a miracle and we can't wait actually can't and things will change and it's they have to he's not making it and I'm not making it and our people aren't and this is needed

Hera

Also comes at a good time but it's part of the same thing is the thing of the river wash or route in the midwest or middle areas and Memphis it is a combination in the United States and it is elsewhere and people are saying this is where they were and they do get it and it's going to become massive today. And grow from here on in. This is going to be a humongous change there's going to be a lot of people involved Chinese numbers from each group and getting bigger and bigger pretty soon and finally it is kicking off a whole bunch of other things like the morlock plan and we'll have some relief we need to hire our people and we need to get serious about right now

Thor Freya

I have preliminary information they're going to share with us internally and momentarily today we have to get it out and it is about Manning and how many troops we need and you'll be very surprised

Nuada Arrianna

Not very surprised but yeah we're probably going to be surprised. There's a lot of things we have to do there's tons of projects and we have too much out there and this is going to put a huge burden on us and right now

Ppsieden and Goddess Wife

We need to get going and put this out there

Olympus

[aboutstraits]

Non-Destructive Testing Equipment Market Forecast By Industry Outlook By Forecast Period

Global Non-Destructive Testing Equipment Market Report

The Non-Destructive Testing Equipment Market research report offers an in-depth analysis of market dynamics, competitive landscapes, and regional growth patterns. This comprehensive report provides businesses with the strategic insights necessary to identify growth opportunities, manage risks, and develop effective competitive strategies in an ever-evolving market.

According to Straits Research, the global Non-Destructive Testing Equipment Market  size was valued at USD XX Billion in 2023. It is projected to reach from USD XX Billion in 2024 to USD XX Billion by 2032, growing at a CAGR of 7% during the forecast period (2024–2032).

Request a Sample Report Today @ https://straitsresearch.com/report/non-destructive-testing-equipment-market/request-sample

Global Non-Destructive Testing Equipment Market Segmental Analysis

As a result of the Non-Destructive Testing Equipment market segmentation, the market is divided into sub-segments based on product type, application, as well as regional and country-level forecasts.

By Technology

Radiography Testing Equipment

Ultrasonic Testing Equipment

Magnetic Particle Testing Equipment

Liquid Penetrant Testing Equipment

Visual Inspection Equipment

Eddy Current Equipment

Other Technologies Equipment

By End-User

Oil and Gas

Power and Energy

Aerospace and Defense

Automotive and Transportation

Construction and the

Other End-user Industries

You can check In-depth Segmentation from here: https://straitsresearch.com/report/non-destructive-testing-equipment-market/segmentation

Why Invest in this Report?

Leverage Data for Strategic Decision-Making: Utilize detailed market data to make informed business decisions and uncover new opportunities for growth and innovation.

Craft Expansion Strategies for Diverse Markets: Develop effective expansion strategies tailored to various market segments, ensuring comprehensive coverage and targeted growth.

Conduct Comprehensive Competitor Analysis: Perform in-depth analyses of competitors to understand their market positioning, strategies, and operational strengths and weaknesses.

Gain Insight into Competitors' Financial Metrics: Acquire detailed insights into competitors' financial performance, including sales, revenue, and profitability metrics.

Benchmark Against Key Competitors: Use benchmarking to compare your business's performance against leading competitors, identifying areas for improvement and potential competitive advantages.

Formulate Region-Specific Growth Strategies: Develop geographically tailored strategies to capitalize on local market conditions and consumer preferences, driving targeted business growth in key regions.

List of Top Leading Players of the Non-Destructive Testing Equipment Market -

Olympus Corporation

Baker Hughes

Yxlon International Gmbh (Comet Holding Ag)

OkoNDT Group

Applus Services

Mistras Group, Inc.

Fujifilm Corporation

Bureau Veritas S.A.

Nikon Metrology NV

Intertek Group Plc.

Innospection Limited.

Reasons to Purchase This Report:

Access to Comprehensive Information: Gain access to an extensive collection of analysis, research, and data that would be challenging to acquire independently. This report offers valuable insights, saving you considerable time and effort.

Enhanced Decision-Making: Equip yourself with detailed insights into market trends, consumer behavior, and key industry factors. This report provides essential information for strategic planning, including decisions on investments, product development, and marketing strategies.

Achieving Competitive Advantage: Stay ahead in your industry by understanding market dynamics and competitor strategies. This report delivers deep insights into competitor performance and market trends, enabling you to craft effective business strategies and maintain a competitive edge.

Credibility and Reliability: Trust in the expertise of industry professionals and the accuracy of thoroughly researched data. Authored by experts and grounded in rigorous research and analysis, this report enhances credibility and reliability.

Cost-Effective Research: Reduce research expenses by investing in this comprehensive report instead of conducting independent research. It provides a cost-effective means of accessing detailed analysis and insights on a specific topic without requiring extensive resources.

Regional Analysis Non-Destructive Testing Equipment Market

The regional analysis section of the report offers a thorough examination of the global Non-Destructive Testing Equipment markets, detailing the sales growth of various regional and country-level markets. It includes precise volume analysis by country and market size analysis by region for both past and future periods. The report provides an in-depth evaluation of the growth trends and other factors impacting the Non-Destructive Testing Equipment markets in key countries, such as the United States, Canada, Mexico, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Russia, Italy, China, Japan, Korea, India, Southeast Asia, Australia, Brazil, and Saudi Arabia. Moreover, it explores the progress of significant regional markets, including North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America, and the Middle East & Africa.

Buy Now @ https://straitsresearch.com/buy-now/non-destructive-testing-equipment-market

About Straits Research

Straits Research is dedicated to providing businesses with the highest quality market research services. With a team of experienced researchers and analysts, we strive to deliver insightful and actionable data that helps our clients make informed decisions about their industry and market. Our customized approach allows us to tailor our research to each client's specific needs and goals, ensuring that they receive the most relevant and valuable insights.

Contact Us

Email: sales@straitsresearch.com

Address: 825 3rd Avenue, New York, NY, USA, 10022

Tel: UK: +44 203 695 0070, USA: +1 646 905 0080

[timetraveltasting]

OLYMPIC MARINATED SKEWERS (6th c. BC)

I decided to go Greek for my next Tasting History dish: Olympic Marinated Skewers from around the 6th century BC in Ancient Greece. It's an Olympic year, after all! For this dish, Max focused on what an Ancient Olympic athlete might eat. To do this, he relied on descriptions found in the Oxyrhynchus Papyri, a group of manuscripts discovered during the late 19th and early 20th centuries by papyrologists Bernard Pyne Grenfell and Arthur Surridge Hunt at an ancient rubbish dump near Oxyrhynchus, Egypt. The papyri describe a dish of marinated liver with some herbs, a dish which may have been served around the time Ancient Greek Olympic athletes started incorporating meat into their training diets. Before this, dried figs, cheese, and barley bread were staples of the athlete. Of course, there was a wide variation of dishes on which athletes would have feasted during training; the Ancient Olympics were hosted for a very long time - from at least 776 BC to 393 AD (even lasting to the Roman period!) - and athletes came from across the Mediterranean area in order to compete. One of the Panhellenic Games of Ancient Greece, the Olympic games were a series of athletic competitions among representatives of city-states held at the Panhellenic religious sanctuary of Olympia in honour of Zeus. The initial sport was the stadion, a sprint inside a stadium, but more events were added over time. Speaking of time, in Ancient Greece, it would often be marked using the stadion winner's name for the four-year Olympiad.

The Olympic Games were so important that truces between city-states were enforced for its duration. While there was a long period of no Olympic Games (during the reign of Theodosius II, a fire at Mt. Olympus destroyed the venue), the Games were revived in their modern form more than a thousand years later by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who founded the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1894, leading to the first modern Games in Athens in 1896. I may have a sweet spot for Olympic history, thanks to my years working in a museum covering the topic, so I couldn't help but give this dish a try, though admittedly with a few changes according to my palate (liver is not my thing). See Max’s video on how to make the dish here or see the ingredients and process at the end of this post, sourced from his website.

My experience making it:

For this recipe, I did take quite a few liberties which affected the final texture of the dish. Namely, I used chicken breasts instead of liver (I really don't like the texture of liver) and I used ripe figs instead of dried (because they are in season and I can't resist a good deal). However, I was sure to make the marinade exactly as written in an effort to stay true taste-wise - even finally caving and hunting down a bottle of asafoetida from a Sri Lankan shop quite far away from my house. Instead of the most authentic Paximadi bread (which I couldn't find), I used barley bread from my local grocery store bakery. I think there were other ingredients in it as well, but there was definitely barley, and that was enough for me to be persuaded. Finally, I didn't have any proper skewers handy at home, so I used some XL toothpicks.

Chopping my thyme and cilantro at the very beginning, I decided to go a bit out of order on the method and make the marinade before chopping the chicken into 1-inch pieces, but I can't see this having any effect on the outcome. I was sure to whisk constantly while adding the olive oil into the red wine vinegar. It was a little hard to combine, and I initially could see some olive oil separated on top, but with continued whisking it did finally combine. I whisked in the salt, asafoetida powder, cilantro, and thyme - it was already smelling delicious! I then chopped my chicken and submerged them in the marinade. There was just enough marinade to cover them. Because I forgot to prepare the marinade the night before, I made it in the morning and gave the chicken about 7 hours to marinate in the fridge. Not as good as Max's "overnight" recommendation, but I think better than just an hour right before dinner. When I decided we were getting hungry for dinner, I brought out the chicken, skewered the pieces with the toothpicks, and laid them onto a lined baking tray. I don't have a barbecue sadly, or even a patio/balcony for that matter, so the oven was the only option for me. For the oven temperature and cooking time, I looked up a generic chicken skewers recipe to give me advice. I ended up cooking the skewers at 400 F (205 C) for 15 minutes, then flipped the skewers once and cooked another 5 minutes on fan setting to get a bit more crisp (though they never really got very crispy on the edges anyway). While they were in the oven, I prepared the Greek salad (no olives for me), figs, feta cheese, and barley bread. The skewers looked pretty nice when finished; the herbs had darkened to a dark green colour and gave the chicken a fragrant aroma. I plated everything and ended up with a quite Greek-looking meal that I couldn't wait to taste.

My experience tasting it:

Of course, I just had to try the skewers first! The chicken was very tender and the flavour was very herby. It did taste like the chicken had really absorbed the marinade, but it wasn't wet in the slightest. I can only imagine that some char from being cooked over a fire would add so much both texture- and taste-wise, but the chicken didn't need it in order to taste wonderful. I think the asafoetida did add a faint oniony flavour which I quite liked, but wasn't entirely expecting. There was so little of it in the marinade that I thought it might be lost amongst the other ingredients. Next, I tried some barley bread. It was what it said on the tin - the usual brown-bread flavour and texture. It might be a bit surprising, but I had never tried an actual fig before. I've had figs in desserts before, where they impart their flavour, but never the actual hand-fruit. This is part of why I wasn't too bothered that I couldn't find dried ones. I tried a bite of the fresh, ripe fig and was pleasantly surprised - I liked it! Very fresh and sweet-tasting, with no hint of wasp (other than their historical role in diet and cooking, most of what I have heard about figs involves wasps dying inside them...). Taking a bite of feta right after some fig was a great idea. The sweet and salty combo, so well-beloved in salted caramel and the like, was a perfect marriage in this case. I would happily pair those two again. Come to think of it, I would make this whole dish again. The marinated skewers were juicy, with a complex and very Greek flavour to them. I might even consider using this same marinade on other meats, or adding a couple other fresh herbs to it ...specifically my all-time favourite: dill. It's a keeper, that's for sure. Ancient Greek Olympians ate well. If you end up making this dish, if you liked it, or if you changed anything from the original recipe, do let me know!

Harder-to-find ingredients:

Asafoetida

Olympic Marinated Skewers original recipe (c. 6th c. BC)

Sourced from the Oxyrhynchus Papyri (c. 6th c. BC).

Cut up good liver, marinate in oil with salt, cilantro, thyme, silphium juice, vinegar; grill on a spit at high temperature; serve.

Modern Recipe

Based on the Oxyrhynchus Papyri (c. 6th c. BC) and Max Miller’s version in his Tasting History video.

Ingredients:

1 lb (1/2 kg) calf’s liver (or another protein if liver isn’t your thing)

3 tbsp (45 ml) red wine vinegar

9 tbsp (135 ml) olive oil

1 tsp salt

A pinch of asafoetida powder*

A small bunch of cilantro, chopped

2 tbsp thyme leaves

Feta, for serving

Dried figs, for serving

Paximadi or other barley bread, for serving

*Asafoetida is used instead of the once common flower, silphium. While it was thought to be lost to history, it may have recently been found in Turkey - but either way, you probably won't be able to find some. Asafoetida is thought to be its close ancestor, and is a very pungent ingredient that imparts a garlicky/oniony umami flavor when cooked. Be sure to store it in a sealed container (or two) or your whole pantry will smell sulphurous. You can find it (sometimes as hing) at Indian markets or at the link above.

Method:

Cut the meat into bite-sized pieces, about 1”.

Pour the vinegar into a large bowl, then add the olive oil in a slow stream, whisking constantly. This will help the oil and vinegar emulsify. Whisk until well mixed, then whisk in the salt, asafoetida powder, cilantro, and thyme. Add the liver, making sure the meat is coated evenly and set it aside to marinate for an hour on the counter or in the fridge overnight.

Once the meat has marinated, put it onto skewers and grill over an open fire or in the oven. I cooked mine on a little grill for about 4 minutes on one side, then I flipped them and cooked them for another 4 to 5 minutes on the other side until they were cooked all the way through.

Serve the skewers forth with feta, figs, and paximadi for a complete meal fit for an ancient Greek Olympian.

[deshpandeisha]

Overview of Airway Management Devices: Types, Functions, and Applications

The airway management devices market refers to a variety of medical devices used to maintain an open airway in patients who are unable to breathe adequately on their own. These devices are essential for emergency medical services, intensive care units, and operating rooms. The global airway management devices market size was USD 2.13 Billion in 2022 and is expected to register a revenue CAGR of 7.6% during the forecast period, according to the latest analysis by Emergen Research. The global airway management devices market is expected to witness significant growth over the forecast period due to the increasing prevalence of respiratory disorders, growing demand for emergency medical services, and technological advancements in airway management devices.

One of the major drivers of the airway management devices market is the increasing prevalence of respiratory disorders. According to a report by the World Health Organization (WHO), respiratory diseases are the third leading cause of death worldwide, with approximately 3 million deaths each year. The growing prevalence of respiratory disorders such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, and sleep apnea is driving the demand for airway management devices, thereby boosting the growth of the market.

However, there are also certain restraints that may hinder the growth of the airway management devices market. One of the major restraints is the high cost associated with advanced airway management devices. These devices require significant investment, which may limit their adoption in smaller healthcare facilities. Additionally, lack of awareness among healthcare professionals regarding the benefits of advanced airway management devices may also hinder market growth.

Get Download Pdf Sample Copy of this Report@ https://www.emergenresearch.com/request-sample/1916

Competitive Terrain:

The global Airway Management Devices industry is highly consolidated owing to the presence of renowned companies operating across several international and local segments of the market. These players dominate the industry in terms of their strong geographical reach and a large number of production facilities. The companies are intensely competitive against one another and excel in their individual technological capabilities, as well as product development, innovation, and product pricing strategies.

The leading market contenders listed in the report are:

Smiths Medical, Medtronic plc, Medline Industries, Inc., Teleflex Incorporated., SunMed, Verathon Inc., TRACOE Medical GmbH, Lumenis Be Ltd., Olympus Corporation, and Convatec Group PLC

Key market aspects studied in the report:

Market Scope: The report explains the scope of various commercial possibilities in the global Airway Management Devices market over the upcoming years. The estimated revenue build-up over the forecast years has been included in the report. The report analyzes the key market segments and sub-segments and provides deep insights into the market to assist readers with the formulation of lucrative strategies for business expansion.

Competitive Outlook: The leading companies operating in the Airway Management Devices market have been enumerated in this report. This section of the report lays emphasis on the geographical reach and production facilities of these companies. To get ahead of their rivals, the leading players are focusing more on offering products at competitive prices, according to our analysts.

Report Objective: The primary objective of this report is to provide the manufacturers, distributors, suppliers, and buyers engaged in this sector with access to a deeper and improved understanding of the global Airway Management Devices market.

Emergen Research is Offering Limited Time Discount (Grab a Copy at Discounted Price Now)@ https://www.emergenresearch.com/request-discount/1916

Market Segmentations of the Airway Management Devices Market

This market is segmented based on Types, Applications, and Regions. The growth of each segment provides accurate forecasts related to production and sales by Types and Applications, in terms of volume and value for the period between 2022 and 2030. This analysis can help readers looking to expand their business by targeting emerging and niche markets. Market share data is given on both global and regional levels. Regions covered in the report are North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. Research analysts assess the market positions of the leading competitors and provide competitive analysis for each company. For this study, this report segments the global Airway Management Devices market on the basis of product, application, and region:

Segments Covered in this report are:

Device Type Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion; 2019-2032)

Supraglottic Airway Management Devices

Infraglottic Airway Management Devices

Laryngoscopes

Resuscitators

Others

Application Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion; 2019-2032)

Emergency Medicine

Anesthesia

Others

End-use Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion; 2019-2032)

Hospitals

Ambulatory Care Services

Home Care Settings

Others

Browse Full Report Description + Research Methodology + Table of Content + Infographics@ https://www.emergenresearch.com/industry-report/airway-management-devices-market

Major Geographies Analyzed in the Report:

North America (U.S., Canada)

Europe (U.K., Italy, Germany, France, Rest of EU)

Asia Pacific (India, Japan, China, South Korea, Australia, Rest of APAC)

Latin America (Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Rest of Latin America)

Middle East & Africa (Saudi Arabia, U.A.E., South Africa, Rest of MEA)

ToC of the report:

Chapter 1: Market overview and scope

Chapter 2: Market outlook

Chapter 3: Impact analysis of COVID-19 pandemic

Chapter 4: Competitive Landscape

Chapter 5: Drivers, Constraints, Opportunities, Limitations

Chapter 6: Key manufacturers of the industry

Chapter 7: Regional analysis

Chapter 8: Market segmentation based on type applications

Chapter 9: Current and Future Trends

Request Customization as per your specific requirement@ https://www.emergenresearch.com/request-for-customization/1916

[formularunning]

Long ago BIG INTERNATIONAL SPORTS EVENTS stopped giving a FUCK to me, now they seem to me trivial events, loaded with political ideology and strong economic interests, with an obvious halo of corruption and favoritism, from the World Cup Soccer, the Super Bowl, the Major Leagues, the NBA and by of course, the OLYMPIC GAMES.

And it's not that this has started in Paris, the Qatar world cup left hundreds, maybe thousands of immigrants dead, forced to work in the desert under the terrible sun, in temperatures exceeding 40 degrees to build the stadiums where the parties, workers in slavery conditions without any nation defending freedom, democracy and human rights saying anything.

Some of the cities that were Olympic headquarters could never recover from the economic cost that an event like this brings, such as Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, the same Greece that shortly after experienced one of its worst economic crises and others whose nations practically disappeared as Sarajevo 1984, whose country, Yugoslavia, disintegrated a few years later, even the Olympics of Mexico 1968, which was DAMNED by the murder of students, only 10 days earlier, in the Plaza de las Three Cultures in Tlatelolco, and not to say Munich 1972, which would be the most modern Olympics until then in history, the first to use electronic timers, the most modern stadiums, the most advanced technology of its time, tarnished by the killing of Israeli athletes at the Olympic Villa itself by the SEPTEMBER group black is where the point is.

The Olympics emerged in ancient Greece 700 years BC, this, to worship the God Zeus, was held every 4 years, on Mount Olympus, hence the name, the purpose, besides the religious character, was the competition between the different states that confirmed Greece, nations in conflict and wars, but that for a moment, for a week, these were set aside, left weapons and exchanged for bullets, disks, jabalines, races, the fight was one of the most anticipated events where the best warriors competed naked body to body, but without getting to death, every hostile act was left for a week forbidden, even the common crime, to call it somehow, was a week of veneration, peace, a truce that everyone respected, even after confrontation and war returned.

But now, beyond the SINGING BEHEADED QUEENS, Drag Queens dancing sensually next to children, semi-naked men showing their genitals, transvestites, sexualized children, no longer gay couples, but GROUPS, the performance of the Last Supper by Drag Queens, a grotesque FREEDOM with morbid obesity, the promotion of BODY POSITIVE, i.e. the "pride" for the physical and the body, regardless of whether you weigh 130 kilos which is harmful to health, WOKE culture, PROGRESS, PRIDE, "love is love" the Rastia P D and a GROTESCO and BIZARRE Daddy Smurf belly showing his testicles blues, all of this, in an "INTERNATIONAL, FAMILY, SPORTS EVENT" that looked more like a bacanal or an 0rgy4 or a ritual on Jeffrey Epstein's island.

Even more ABOMINABLE than this: the SEGREGATION of Russia and Belarus because of the conflict in Ukraine.

Forced to attend as NEUTRAL NATIONS, unable to use their flags or sing their anthems, this, while Israel attends without any problem despite the G NOCIDIO in Gaza, would seem to be the same: an INVASION of Russia to Ukraine and Israel to Gaza, but it is not so, while Israel bombs a poor nation, civilians, women and children unarmed, defenseless, hungry, sick, mutilated, Russia fights from your to you against an army, against NATO, against the European Union, against the United States, Russia is the most sanctioned country currently and has offered the peace practically from the beginning of the conflict, those who do not want peace, are the companies, the dark interests, the arms industry, many of them, PRESENT, PROUD SPONSORS OF THE OLYMPIC GAMES.

Why is one nation forced to conceal it's identity and another not? It's not that Israel was done to the same thing Russia has, it's that no nation should be segregates