#WEAR THEM BIG LENSES PERCY

[kayohhey]

save me... percy with glasses... save me

[waltwhitmansbeard]

Perc'ahlia Week Day 6: Yours/Later

ahhhhh after this, only one day left of @percahliaweek!!! hope y'all are ready for this one: definitely rated e and not for everyone, if you catch my drift. also available on ao3!

Percy paces the long length of the chamber, back and forth, back and forth. He cleans the lenses of his glasses on the hem of his suit jacket, even though they've been spotless for minutes now. His speech has been circling through his mind since he finished writing it this morning, and now the cacophony of it in his ears makes him miss the approaching footsteps from behind. "You'll wear a whole through the floor, darling, and Whitestone's coffers will not fix a palace."

And just like that, the knots in his back loosen, and he turns to face his wife, who looks devastating in a figure-hugging dress with a high neckline. "I don't suppose you'd like to give the speech for me?"

Vex clucks her tongue impatiently, adjust the lapels of his suit jacket. "Now this is not the man I married. Where is the confidence of the Percy who shot off a teenager's fingers and told him his soul was forfeit?"

He pouts. "Well now you're just being cruel."

"And you're being ridiculous. It's the Council, Percy. You act like half of them aren't over for tea every other week."

"I've never had to make a proposal like this before."

"You're going to be fine. They already know you're a genius. Think of how much better Emon will be once the taller buildings have your lifts installed."

And even though he has undoubtedly done far greater and far more world-changing things in his time, he can't help but feel proud of his latest invention, a mechanical moving platform that can carry people and objects between the floors of buildings. "If they get installed."

"Percival, you weren't this nervous at our wedding! Either of them! Including the one I died in!" And he watches her eyes flick, a sure sign of danger if he knows one. "I know what will clear your mind."

He frowns. "And what might that—hello."

Because she's pushing him, sending him tripping backward as he tries to stay upright, until his back is against the wall of the guest chamber they've been given for their stay here in Emon. He's instantly flustered as she drapes her body along is, all liquid and smoke. Her lips trail up his neck, along his jawline, to whisper in his ear, "Sometimes, that big brain of yours needs to learn how to shut up."

And then she's on her knees.

Percy's head cracks back against the walls as slowly, agonizingly, she unbuttons his trousers, exposing him inch by inch. He can feel it, the surge of blood at what must be alarming speed far, far away from his brain. When she puts her mouth on him, it is teasing, just enough to make his hips jerk, not enough to satisfy the urge boiling up through his chest. Any thoughts of speeches or councils or lifts flutters out of his head like a leaf caught in a breeze; his entire world shrinks down to the size of her lips, which slowly, cruelly slide their way down the length of him.

"Oh gods," he groans, his forearm coming up to cover his face. It takes all of his strength not to cant his hips forward into her mouth and knock her backward, but she's tantalizing him, pulling back just as his breath begins to shorten and his stomach tighten.

"The gods have nothing to do with this," she murmurs, before trailing just the tip of her tongue up the underside of his cock. "No gods, no kings—just me."

"Just you," he pants desperately. The fingers of one hand curl into his hair as the other claw at the side of his thigh. "You're...everything."

She hollows her cheeks out, and his knees almost give out. She pulls off with a pop. "And who are you?" Her hand, fingers perfectly manicured but still callused from years on the bowstring, coax the answer out of him, up and down.

He can barely hear her over the blood rushing in his ears. "Yours. I'm yours."

"That's right."

And then she gets to work. His wife is known throughout all of Tal'dorei for her many exquisite talents, famed now more for her judgement and leadership than anything she ever did with a bow, but Percy can't help but pity all those who will never know how truly exceptional she is at sucking dick. Maybe it was all those years of using her silver tongue to haggle and bargain, because now, as it curls so sinfully around the head of his cock, he can't imagine not giving her everything her heart could ever desire. His fingers itch to weave into her hair, to urge her on, but far be it from him to lecture an expert in her craft—and besides, her hair looks exquisite, and she might just bite his dick off if he ruins it.

His entire body is throbbing, a hot rash of pleasure and want rippling through him like riptide, and all of his thoughts, his anxieties, his fears, his name, they've all been torn out to sea, and he is adrift. Behind his closed lids, phantom light dances as the siren he married lures him farther and farther from shore. It is no time at all before he is panting, gasping, sweating, and then the dancing light explodes, and he is spilling, keening, slumping against the wall, rent asunder and floating.

Vex'ahlia is, of course, a lady, and thus she does not let a single drop escape onto his trousers or her gorgeous dress. He is useless to help as she tucks him away and rebuttons his pants, and he certainly has nothing to give when she gives him the hardest, filthiest kiss he can imagine. When she's done debauching him, she brings her thumb up to wipe away her lipstick. "I think you ought to return the favor, darling."

Before he can say anything, there is a knock at the door. "Lord and Lady de Rolo? They're gathering in the Council chambers."

With a levity that, to Percy, borders on worrisome, Vex calls over her shoulder, "Thank you, dear, we'll be right down!" before turning her gaze back on him. "Later."

He nods fervently. "Later." Anything her heart could ever desire.

And then she's sauntering away, a satisfied swing to her hips, and Percy thoughts have been reduced to a low hum. Vaguely, he's aware that he's supposed to be giving a speech, well, now-ish, but as he stumbles forward after Vex, there is little space left in him for anything resembling anxiety. He shakes himself off and falls into an easy stride, a confident smile on his face. He's got this, because he's got her, and the last thing he's going to do is question the judgement of Lady Vex'ahlia de Rolo.

[maristocratie]

Some of my PJO/HOO + Magnus Chase headcanons

I apologize in advance for the spelling mistakes, English is not my mother tongue, I will try to do my best !

Enjoy the reading :)

Camp :

There is a winter version of the camp t-shirts for the kids who stay all year long which is an orange fleece, it is not possible that these kids are all year long in t-shirt + this fleece is a big oversized grandpa fleece

Percy :

Percy has a collection of ugly T-shirts from the gift shops of the small towns they passed through during all their quests

Annabeth :

Annabeth has a completely collapsible mug that she can slip into her bag when she goes to work for hours at the University Library in New Rome on her architectural projects. She has several of them in different colors for different drinks and she never puts tea in the coffee cup etc... because the cup takes on the taste and smell of a drink and when you drink another drink in that cup it tastes like the usual drink (it’s so specific sorry)

same when she makes a tea or coffee in their uni apartment she has a cup for each drink

Nico :

Nico has NO accent when he speaks English

Luke :

When Luke was younger he was certainly one of the oldest at camp and was like a big brother to many campers in addition to Annabeth

It happened very often that he read/tell stories to the little ones, put bandages during the trainings if the injuries did not require going to the infirmary and that he animated a lot of workshops as the one of the beads painting

He also animated the campfire in the evening and the singalongs but that was before he became a big jerk (to stay polite)

In Chiron's office there is still a box with the things Luke didn't take with him when he betrayed the camp that should have been returned to May but it was never done

Thalia :

Thalia has big feet I can’t explain why

She told Luke about Jason and he promised her that they would find him one day

She was extremely blonde when she was little

Jason :

Jason somehow knows how to play the piano.

He´s well versed in history and art history and knows a lot of random facts

At some point he has discovered contact lenses and wears them regularly when he’s doing physical activities

When he and his sister are side by side they look much more alike physically than one might think at first glance, they have the same facial expressions

Jason has small freckles on his face and shoulders that stand out in the summer even though you can see them in the winter when you are close to his face

Leo:

Leo can for sure play the drums

Frank :

Frank didn't become super thin or anything when he grew up, he stayed sturdy from the shoulders, which goes with his morphology

Will :

Will wears crocs or similar in the infirmary because he has to stand all day and can't afford to have sore feet + when he's not in the infirmary I think he wears Birkenstocks because they are more comfortable than the flip flops he wears in the books. Will = comfort shoes king

Very often during his night shift will wears the famous fleece because he’s rather cold and he wants to feel comfortable after a long day

He knows a lot about botany thanks to the medicinal plants but also because he has many plants in his bungalow and he has even placed some in a corner of the infirmary

He even has several books on plants that he reads during his breaks, big books that are a bit old and with lots of diagrams and illustrations

He has a helix piercing on his right ear and it's a gold ring

Piper :

Piper has a lot of ear piercings and she has a lot of cool jewelry. She is often asked where she found them. A big part of them are made partly by herself

Travis & Connor :

The stoll brothers are tall and skinny like not muscular just extra skinny legends. Connor is taller than Travis even though Travis is older

Connor has really curly hair while Travis' is more wavy

Magnus :

Magnus is so left-handed that he barely uses his right hand

It's canon that he's tall but I consider him taller than Jason and therefore Percy. He must be a good 6'1" minimum

He smells like head&shoulders and neutrogena intense hydration comfort balm Norwegian formula (very precise almost too precise)

not really an headcanon but I think we forget too quickly and too often that Magnus is extremely intelligent because of his looks and his natural embarrassment. And it infuriates me that he is taken for a fool.

Also, we often forget that he is an excellent pickpocket and that he and the Stoll brothers would literally be a molotov cocktail if they joined forces...

Hope you liked it !

[cauls-antique-pepperbox-pistol]

Idk if u do these kind of asks, but can u share any of ur jacival hcs?

Yeah sure!! So some of this might just be simple facts and some of these I came up together with @jjackrabbitt

Caul was born in the 1850s (1856 to be exact) and Percy was born in the 1870s (maybe 1872 or 1874. His name gives off 1, 7 and 4 vibes, so I think his birthday would be in July, maybe 11th of July. Eh, or 14th of July), so Caul isn’t only physically older than him, but actually older than him

Percy goes to sleep earlier, so that the bed is nice and warm when Caul joins later 😌 Caul is usually working late at night (sometimes he passes out on his desk, so Percy does have to go and get him every now and then), but he sleeps in long the next morning, while Percy is already out on a mission or doing other important things

Caul counts Percy’s freckles sometimes when they’re cuddling, maybe tries to kiss each one of them too

When coloured contact lenses were invented, Caul convinced Percy to wear them most of the time, cause he missed Percy’s bright, piercing eyes

Things turn a little toxic toward the setting of the first trilogy and continue throughout the whole series though. Caul is more focused on his goals and gets easily angry more often and also sometimes gets pissed when Percy does something wrong or isn‘t in the mood to make out. Caul starts to care less about how Percy feels, going as far as to mentally abusing him by taking advantage of Percy being insecure about his masculinity (he tells him to “man up” a lot and “aren’t you my big, strong man?”), he also “helps” Percy a little with certain stuff during TCoTB (he possesses him a few times), cause Percy seems to be questioning this whole plan and Caul can’t let it fail, not when he’s stuck in the collapsed loop of Abaton and its library. Speaking of which, the library is partly possessing Caul :) (to make sure the prophecy gets fulfilled) making him so much worse with every passing day and which is why he was treating Percy that way. In the far end, the library has almost completely taken over Caul

Only when Percy dies, Caul realises, for a moment, what happened and what he’s been doing. He carries Percy somewhere safe, but quickly forgets about him again (I should probably mention that in the damned au, Percy’s death is different and he has a whole scene for that 😌)

In the very beginning, Caul was genuinely in love with him though, almost obsessed with Percy. He was trying SO SO hard to get Percy’s attention. He’d visit him at the Department of Obfuscation so often and flirt with him and get on Percy’s nerves, but soon Percy started liking that 😌

Percy sometimes makes clothes for Caul :) the stuff he‘s wearing at the end of LoS is probably made by Percy

Percy sometimes kisses Caul‘s nose, cause,, it‘s pointy :^)

So I think Caul has his own special ambrosia (made out of the souls of ymbrynes) which doesn’t only enable him to use his lost peculiarity again, but maybe makes him feel less empty? Anyway, sometimes it really messes with him and he wakes up the next morning covered in tons of feathers and wings as arms and talons as feet (sometimes it’s less than that), so Percy helps with him getting rid of the feathers (it’s painful, but he’s being careful)

[fandomwriterstuff]

“Okay, crew,” Chief of Operations Annabeth Chase, a proud Minervan, held the attention of her group as she searched all of their eyes with her own piercing silver ones. “Our new First Officer, you’ve all met him. Peseus Jackson. I know at least two of you are friends with him, and Chief Science Officer DiAngelo is in an involved romantic relationship with him. I need the three of you to give us a run down on humanology so we can welcome our first and only human crew member appropriately and treat him well. My knowledge of humans is limited, but he’s not from the colonies in the Milky Way Galaxy, he’s from actual Terra,” she squeezed her face up in a common Minervan expression of distaste. “My knowledge of Terra is limited to this, which I will share with you now: Terra is a Class 2 Death Planet, humans are apex predators and the dominant species. They are reigned by the chemical imbalances in their brains and can be erratic in behavior because of it. However, despite these things, I have been advised to get a human on our team. So, Valdez, Underwood, DiAngelo: speak.” She leaned back, metallix skin glinting in the energy efficient lighting.

“First off, uh, humans are about a 2.2 on a food chain that goes to a level 5, so I wouldn’t call Percy an apex predator,” Grover Underwood, a satyr from outside the Milky Way Galaxy shuffled his hooved feet. “He’s actually a vegetarian-”

“What’s a vegetarian,” Annabeth cut in, narrowing her eyes.

“Um, well, most humans are omnivores and can eat both plant matter and animal flesh. But, because of personal choices, Percy only eats plant matter,” Grover explained.

“Humans can eat plant and animal matter?” Clarisse grunted.

“Their teeth and digestive systems have adapted to both, yes. But, again, Percy only eats plant matter, so not a scary apex predator. Plus, most humans don’t hunt anymore.”

“We’re getting off track,” Annabeth groaned. “But good to know about plant matter. Valdez, go.”

“Percy is awesome. We lived together in the academy. He is from New York City, where there are no true predators and also no real natural places, so he will adjust just fine to being on a ship for an extended period of time, but he does love his plants and having and caring for houseplants is statistically good for humans. Percy gives his names. So, we should make sure he has a leafy plant or a flower or something,” Leo added, and when DiAngelo nodded in agreement, Annabeth noted down to bring some Terran plants on board. “Also some humans have physical needs,” Leo tilted his head in confusion as he tried to explain it. “Percy uses exercise as a way to exorcise his mental demons, if you will.”

“Mental demons, is he ill? Possessed?” Annabeth cut in.

“No, but it’s how you said. They’re ruled by emotion. If we don’t have a therapist on board, he’ll need to exercise and train and use physical activity as an outlet. I suggest a training regimen with the tactical team,” Grover nodded to Clarisse, their Chief Tactical Officer.

“That can be arranged,” the Martian nodded in agreement.

“DiAngelo, anything to add?” Annabeth turned to their resident Plutonian, who shrugged his shoulders, his large black wings moving in sync with his gesture.

“If anything comes up, I’ll let you know. But if any of you make him feel uncomfortable I’ll make you regret it,” he raised a single eyebrow. His boyfriend was a big tough guy, but he was also a big softy who would pack-bond with a Roomba if he came across it.

“That’s not helpful. But thanks,” Annabeth clenched her hands.

“Oh, one thing,” Nico raised a finger. “Don’t mention that he’s from a Death Planet. Terrans don’t know they’re on a Death Planet. And it will freak him out. Don’t let him know.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Will Solace, their Chief Medical Officer squawked. “He doesn’t know he’s from a Class 2 Death Planet?”

“You don’t know you’re adaptable until you meet people who aren’t. And you don’t know you’re on a death planet until you leave it. He’ll figure it out, but don’t bring it up right away. Humans get flooded with negative hormones when their worldview is altered until they come to terms with it, and it would negatively affect his physiology and performance to be shocked like that,” Nico elaborated.

“Okay…” Annabeth sighed. “We’ll meet him tomorrow. I will see you all then and you better be on your most professional behavior.”

Nico smirked. It would surely be interesting. Everyone had preconceived notions and prejudices about humans and while Percy was a big and tough human who could kick your ass with one hand tied behind his back, he would also do anything for those he cared about and was a huge dork. And he definitely knew he was on a death planet.

So, when Percy arrived, and Nico had decorated his room with houseplants and blue blankets and decor, he was overjoyed. He would miss his Golden Pothos (lovingly named Billingsly), and his Snake Plant (William Snakespeare), and he was glad to still have plants in his life. Nico had even gotten him a plant light so they would stay alive!

He was glad to see Leo again, and Grover was his best bud so that was cool. He also got to meet Grover’s long time girlfriend Juniper, who was also a herbivore and lived solely on plant matter. The pilot, Jason Grace, was a Jovian who Percy had already formed a bro bond with, and he had taught Jason all about handshakes and high fives. He’d met Will Solace, the only person other than Nico who actually knew about human physiology. He did have to explain to Will that he had ADHD and dyslexia, so the CMO had decided to get some more Terran books on those to more adequately treat his patients. It was nice. Clarisse was a hard ass but Percy loved training with her. She taught him about more weapons than they even had at the Academy, and taught him hand to hand in various different styles.

Annabeth was confusing. Percy was convinced she didn’t like him, but he could also tell she was trying very hard not to offend him.

Probably because everyone was terrified of humans. Earth was the Australia of space after all. So, he knew that him smiling all the time was taken as a sign of aggression, like animals baring their teeth. He knew the laughter he so often emitted freaked others out because it was a non-translatable noise that nobody understood.

Percy knew they were trying, but they just didn’t know or care to know enough about Earth to understand him.

So, that’s how he ended up using plain water as a contact solution because he ran out of saline eight days ago. It’s not like he could ask Will if he could use medical grade saline for something so silly. So Percy sat in his commander chair and rubbed roughly at his eyes as they itched and fluttered.

“Commander Jackson, are you well?” Annabeth called from her position nearby, though it was loud enough for others to turn. He pulled his fists away from his reddened eyes and irritated skin.

“Oh, yeah. But my contacts have been bothering me. I ran out of solution and have been using plain old water to clean and store them in,” Percy sighed and rubbed his fingers under his eyes to readjust them.

“Contacts?” Annabeth asked, confused.

“Yeah, hold on,” Percy pulled his contacts case out of his satchel and, in an agonizingly amusing moment, he pulled his lower lid down and used his fingers to pull the contacts out and put them into the case. He heard the gasps around him and retching noises, but couldn’t see the horrified faces until he put his glasses on.

“Holy Father Pelor,” Nyssa, another Vulcan like Leo, gulped. “Did he just… remove a piece of his eyes?”

Percy pretended to be surprised, because this was just another thing to add to the “Death Planet” list: Humans can remove pieces of their visual organs when they become irritated. He loved messing with them.

“Percy, I thought I told you not to remove those in front of anyone,” Nico joined in, rolling his eyes in a very Terran gesture.

“They were bothering me, you know when they get itchy and dry it’s just easier to take them out.”

“So what are the glass and metal contraptions you wear now?” Nyssa asked against her better judgement.

“When I remove the contacts, I lose my ability to see clearly and I need glass lenses to alter my vision enough to function,” Percy explained.

“So, you removed an imperative part of your eye, and then you couldn’t see, so you made a prism that reflects light in such a way that it imitates the top layer of your eye?” Annabeth questioned.

“Essentially, yes.” He was hesitant to tell them that contacts were not a part of him, and were in fact, a foreign object. How would they react to the fact that he was actually terribly nearsighted and had to physically put pieces of flexible plastic in his eye orifices to see?

“Fascinating,” she nodded, as if agreeing with the new information. “Disgusting, but fascinating.”

[eponymous-rose]

Fic: Cold Comfort (Velora, Vex, Percy)

[AO3 | FFN | More Fic]

Major spoilers for Episode 115.

Two years after the battle with Vecna, Velora returns to Whitestone for several long-overdue conversations.

Cold Comfort

Velora stops at the shrine to the Raven Queen first, padding cautiously into the room, the stonework ice-cold beneath her bare feet, and says, softly, experimentally, "I hate you."

The shrine is empty at this early-evening hour, and so her words echo louder and more certain than she means them to. She swallows shyness with the remembered taste of ashes on her tongue, pushes past the heavy stench of blood in her nose and mouth, and says it louder, her voice cracking on the shout. "I hate you!"

There are no ripples on the surface of the small pool of blood, no dramatic flurry of feathers or dark wings curling around her. It's just a cold, stinky room.

She clears her throat, rubs her face to stop her lower lip quivering, and says, "Thank you," before turning on her heel and starting the long, slow trudge up to the castle.

She finds Percy first, after waving her way past the bemused guards and wandering aimlessly through a series of empty doorways. He's in his workshop, shirtsleeves pulled up past his elbows, weird hairy human arms covered in some sort of black grease as he scrubs with a cloth at an oversized contraption made of cogged wheels.

She watches him from the doorway, her brother by marriage, and not for the first time, her eyes catch on the rounded tips of his ears, the lenses that imperfectly correct his imperfect vision, the scruff on his chin and above his upper lip. These things, she knows, are the parts of her brother and sister that made them different and hated and neglected, the parts that made them not quite her brother and sister. Back when he'd been so terribly lost and sad, that had made a lot more sense. Now, watching him smile as he works, humming a quiet song she recognizes as a Syngornian lullaby she'd taught her sister, something twists in her chest.

When he sees her, he nearly drops the cloth in his hand in his surprise, eyebrows climbing toward his hairline. "Velora?"

She watches the expressions shift on his face: uncertainty, a self-conscious warmth, just plain self-consciousness, like he's trying to decide who to call to come deal with this situation. Then he visibly resets his stance, takes a breath, and smiles the kind of smile grown-ups rarely give her: honest, unsure, out of his depth. "Hi, Percy," she says, and leaps at him for a hug.

"You've gotten so big," he says, a little breathlessly. He's holding his hands awkwardly to the sides, trying to avoid smudging her fine clothing, but he finally relents and smooths her hair down when she beams up at him. "Not that it isn't a delight to see you, but what are you doing here?"

"Came to visit. Father and I were in Zephrah, and Keyleth opened the Sun Tree for me. It's a two-way thing, did you know that? She's opening it up again tomorrow, an hour after dawn."

Percy's brow furrows, and he takes a step back, looking her up and down. "You're not wearing shoes. Did anybody come with you?"

"Shoes are the worst," Velora tells him. "D'you know where Vex is?"

He narrows his eyes at the obvious distraction, but when she pulls him by the hand, he sighs and trails after her. "I expect she's fletching arrows in the study. What brought you to Zephrah?"

Velora hesitates at a cross-corridor, revisiting her memories of the castle, and can't quite stifle a grin when Percy would-be casually swings his hand toward the right corridor. Pulling him along with her, she says, "Father was there on some sort of diplomatic mission, and I asked if I could come along and see Keyleth."

"A diplomatic mission to Zephrah seems unusual," Percy says, thoughtfully, and she winces. He really is too smart.

Fortunately, that's when they round the corner and walk straight into her sister.

Velora yelps and flings herself into Vex's arms, dragging Percy with her into an awkward three-person hug that it takes Vex a full five seconds to settle into, out of sheer surprise. When she does, she says, "Hello, darling," in a wonderfully teary-eyed voice and plants a kiss on the crown of Velora's head—no longer as easy a task as it was when she was littler—and for just a moment everything in the world is wonderful and warm.

"I'll catch you two up later," Percy says, softly, disentangling himself from the hug. "Things were coming to a head with the clockwork mechanism, and I'd like to finish it off before taking a day to relax."

"Only one day?" Velora, cheek pressed against her shoulder, feels the shiver of her sister's barely suppressed laughter.

"A day or two," Percy says. "Three. A week. I'll take a week." And then, with an air of panic, "She's not wearing shoes, you know."

Velora backs up to yell, "Traitor!" at his retreating form, but finds herself bearing the full brunt of an appraising look from her sister.

Vex looks different, after Vecna, after Vasselheim, after... She looks different. Her smiles are a little slower to come, her laughter a little warmer, the lines at her eyes more pronounced than even her half-human side could explain. And sometimes, when she looks at Velora, she has a terribly sad smile that wrinkles the skin between her brows, and that smile didn't belong to her, before.

"Where in all the hells did you put your shoes, dear?"

Velora grins. Last year, when he and Zahra had come to visit Syngorn for the first time, Kashaw had called her a little shit for that exact grin. It's now her favorite grin to practice at every possible opportunity. "Zephrah."

Vex can't pick Velora up and carry her anymore—well, she probably could if she wanted to make a pretty hilarious display out of it—but the arm around her shoulders is vise-like as she draws her back into the study. "And what," Vex says, the same laughter still in her voice, "were you doing in Zephrah?"

Shrugging free, Velora settles into an overstuffed chair, bringing her knees up to her chest and pressing her dirty toes into the fabric. "Dad wanted to see the tree. The one Keyleth planted for Vax."

Vex falls more than sits in the chair across from her. "Oh."

Velora doesn't really want to look up, picking instead at some of the dirt caked under her toenail. "Yeah, I guess he'd sort of been avoiding it. It's real pretty, though. And he just kind of asked to be alone for a bit, I guess, you know. Talking to it. So I asked Keyleth if she could open the Sun Tree for me to come up here for the night."

"Velora. Dear." There's a long pause after the words, and Velora falls right into the trap, glancing up and meeting Vex's direct stare. "You shouldn't have come through alone. You walked up from the Sun Tree on your own?"

Probably best not to mention the detour to the Raven Queen's shrine. "No. I mean, yes, but I've done that kind of thing before. It's okay. The guards know me by now."

Vex's face crumples into a tearful smile. "Gods, you're not all that much younger than Vax and I were when we—" She swipes a hand across her eyes, then smiles bigger, brighter. "I'm sorry, darling. It's been a strange day. I'm delighted to see you, although I may have to have a word with Kiki about the age-appropriateness of sending a child to another city alone. And your hair is so short!"

Velora reaches up to it, shyly, tousling the locks that barely cover the tips of her ears. "You like it?"

"I love it."

Velora grins her little-shit grin. "Father hates it."

Vex laughs, leaning back in her chair. "Then I positively adore it."

Velora straightens, shuffles to the edge of her seat, lets her legs swing down to rest on the ground. "How are you?"

That catches Vex by surprise, and she pauses midway through what looks like a reflexive laugh. Grown-ups do that a lot, Velora has found, when she asks a question like an adult. But after the brief hesitation, Vex smiles and says, "Better every day, sweetheart. Thank you for asking. How are you?"

Velora chews her lower lip, staring down, wringing her hands in her lap. "I dream a lot. And it's never the parts of it I want to dream about, the nice people cheering, the nice people at the Platinum Sanctuary. Vax. It's... it's green light, and... and nobody says it, everybody tries really hard not to say it, but I died, didn't I?"

Silence; Velora can almost hear the lies being shuffled through, carefully selected and discarded, one by one. Then Vex says, "You did. I did, too. A while ago. We never told you the details. Our brother made a deal for my life. Kashaw raised me then, too, only I think the Raven Queen interfered before Vesh could get involved the way she did with you."

Velora meets her gaze again, steady and unflinching. "I think I've been dreaming about Vesh. I tried to tell Kashaw last time I saw him. He just sort of got scared. But I dream about her a lot."

The words hang in the air for a long, long moment until she fears the weight of them will crush them both.

Then, "Gods. Fuck," Vex says, and the first word somehow feels like a stronger curse than the second. She pushes up from her chair, paces up and down the room, breathing fast, like something caged.

Startled, Velora hops to her feet. "What is it? Is it bad? What does it mean?"

Vex whirls around, and there's a truly stricken expression on her face that's so, so much worse than the soft murmurs of death and pain and horror that find her at night. The tears begin to streak down Velora's cheeks before she's even aware she's started crying, and Vex seems to snap back to herself in that moment, face closing off into a concerned half-smile, pulling Velora into a tight hug, pressing her face to her shoulder the way she had in Vasselheim, the way she had after the fight, and Velora remembers the taste of ashes.

"It's all right, darling. I'm sorry I scared you. Nightmares are normal after what you've been through. I'll talk to your mother about clerics in Syngorn, all right? We'll find someone to help you, to talk to you."

Velora inhales, shakily, the faint perfumes barely masking the scent of forest and sweat, and says, "I'm sorry I made you sad again."

"Never, darling. Never." Vex lifts her off her feet for a moment, twirls her in a little half-spin. "I'm so glad you told me. I'm just sorry you were suffering alone."

They stay like that for a long, long time, until Velora starts to get self-conscious about how much snot she's getting on her sister's fine robes and pulls back a bit. Vex responds by bending down so they're eye-to-eye, the way Vax always used to, and brushes the tears away. "I love you, dear. You're not alone, and you're welcome here anytime." A wink. "We'll just have to figure out a way to get you here more often so you don't have to take advantage of a certain well-meaning but distracted archdruid to sneak away."

"Okay," Velora says, and when Vex sits back in her chair, she cuddles up next to her, a bit too tall and lanky now to make it comfortable, but they both pretend to ignore the discomforts of bony elbows and knees. "Did you dream? After you died, I mean."

"Not that time. But there was another time I was hurt very badly." Unexpectedly, Vex smiles, settling a hand comfortably in Velora's hair and staring at the opposite wall of the room with a warmth of memory. "I was flying above the battlefield and a spell brought me down. I was so sure when I finally went to sleep that I'd dream of falling and falling and falling, but it turned out the only thing my brain cared to remember when I was asleep was the flying part."

Velora laughs. "That's really wonderful, in a weird sort of way."

"I'm a little alarmed that you're grasping the idea of backhanded compliments so young. Feeling better?"

Velora doesn't answer right away, considering. "Yeah. I think I am. Just tired."

Another crooked smile, not quite hers. "I know. And dear? What do you think about nieces and nephews?"

Velora takes a time to consider that one as well. "I think Trinket will always be my favorite."

Vex laughs, low and warm and genuine. "He'll be delighted to hear that. Your room's all made up and ready, you know. It always is. We can talk in the morning, which is when I assume you've scammed Keyleth into smuggling you back?"

Velora, disentangling herself from the chair, manages to stay stone-faced for about two heartbeats before she bursts out laughing. "Yeah. I'll talk to you in the morning."

Tousling her hair, Vex grins. "Sleep well."

Late in the night, when the moon hangs high and she grows tired of waiting for her racing thoughts to slow, Velora begrudgingly slips on her borrowed boots and a heavy coat and treads softly out the door of her room into the corridors of the castle.

She knows how to carry herself to look a little bit older from a distance so a guard won't stop her on sight, knows how to keep to the shadows that human vision cannot penetrate. It's easy enough to slip past the outward-facing defenses of the castle and into the cold night air, watching her breath fog before her, the heat from the city below hanging in masses of fog like smoke in the air. She doesn't like looking down at the city from here, remembers with nightmarish precision how Vasselheim had looked from above, burning and burning and with the taste of her own death at the back of her tongue.

Veering away, she steps almost immediately off the well-trodden paths into snow that cracks and sinks under her weight, slowing her progress like wading through a world coated in heavy blankets that tug at her feet and legs, urging her to stop and rest.

She's breathing heavily by the time she finds the small clearing, eyes already welling up at the possibility that she's misremembered the path, that she's managed to get lost, that she'll wander forever alone in the dark. She's come out here twice before, alone both times, after Vex had shown her the spot, but there are plenty of twists and turns to trip up a distracted mind...

She finds it all the same: two trees with slightly more gnarled branches than most, and a single bench, lovingly but imperfectly constructed beneath it.

Swiping at her streaming nose and the tears in her eyes, she huffs out a breath and plops down into the middle of the bench, staring up through the gaps in the branches above at the uncommonly clear night sky. A low grunt of breath draws her attention.

"Hi," she says, softly.

Two bright eyes between the tree trunks shift closer, obscured by the fog of breath in the air, and then sleek, silvery fur glints under the moonlight as the wolf pads up to sit beside the bench and rest his head on her lap.

She scratches behind his ears, distractedly, already back to watching the stars. "You remember me, don't you? I didn't think you'd be here still. I didn't think there were wolves in these woods. The grown-ups never mentioned you. Maybe I'm imagining you."

The wolf grumbles, nosing into her hand, and she sighs, stroking his muzzle, pausing only to pick at some of the dirt and twigs caked into his fur. "Father says I can't have a pet, which means I desperately want to bring you home with me, but that's probably not fair to you."

The wolf sighs. She sighs back. It's cold outside, but between the warm coat and the wolf's heavy weight, she feels positively cosy.

A light streaks across the sky, a shooting star, and she smiles up at it. "I didn't even know I had a brother for a long time," she says. "I wanted brothers and sisters when I was little, so badly, and then there were these two tall angry grown-ups who sometimes yelled at Father but always smiled at me."

She pauses in scratching the wolf's head, just to hear his semi-inquisitive grunt, before starting again. "And now I've got Percy and Cassandra and Keyleth and Scanlan and Pike and Grog, and they're my brothers and sisters, too. And I guess maybe I thought that was how it worked, that you just kept getting more and more and more family and none of them ever went away for good."

She reaches down, pulls the belt from around her waist, and tells the wolf, sternly, "Be nice to Simon. He's very shy."

The snake twists to life, coils around her arm, clinging almost painfully to her, and she whispers, "Sorry about the cold," and lets him coil up inside her coat to keep warm.

She waits a moment or two, but the wolf doesn't seem interested in having a snake for dinner, and eventually she relaxes again. "Father talks to Vax, sometimes. At the tree. Other times. But I don't think I want to do that. I don't think I want to talk to him unless he can talk to me, too. Unless I can see him."

She closes her eyes and holds her breath for several heartbeats, fooling herself into listening for a whisper of wings, gripping so tightly to the fur on the top of the wolf's head that he whines a soft protest.

"Sorry," she whispers, opening her eyes and petting the spot she'd pulled. "Sorry." She glances up at a glint of light; another shooting star, she thinks, or just the regular stars smearing a bit with tears.

"Anyway," she says, "I'm going to head back to the castle and maybe see if I can try to dream about flying, but for a little bit, would it be okay if I talked to you instead? If I told you all the things I wanted to tell him?"

The wolf glances up at her with one baleful eye, snorts, then backs away, plopping down in the snow and regarding her with an eerily intelligent expression.

Velora draws her knees up to her chest, curling protectively around Simon, and says, softly, "I miss you," and watches the stars, and says nothing more.

[hegemoneapple]

Basilisk Eyes: Chapter 4: Fried Tomatoes

Crossposted: Basilisk Eyes by Hegemone | Completed: Chapter 4 out of 157 | T | AO3 | FFN | WATT | HPFF

Summary: As Harry Potter slays the Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets, blood and venom get in his eyes, mostly blinding him. While Harry learns to adapt, he makes some new friends. But this is more than a story of adaptation and friendship as there are threats... and Harry isn't the only one with a past that haunts him.

oO0OooO0OooO0OooO0Oo

Harry woke with a start and opened his eyes, blinking against a bright light. He closed them quickly again. It was too bright.

Something had woken him up, he realized—a loud noise. Then he heard Hagrid’s booming voice, except he was clearly trying to whisper.

“How’s Harry doin’?”

“He’s sleeping,” Madam Pomfrey hissed.

Harry grimaced. Not anymore, he thought.

“Hiya, Hagrid,” Harry sat up and groggily called out to his big friend. Then he tried to look around the room to see if he was waking anyone up, but he could barely open his eyes against the bright light. 

And he remembered. He hadn’t seen anything since his encounter with the Basilisk, well, not much anyway. Just bright lights and shadows. 

Today. Today we’ll get it sorted out. Madam Pomfrey will talk to the healers at St. Mungo's and find someone who knows what to do.

He swung his legs out of bed and felt around with his feet for his slippers. Not finding them, he located his wand and muttered the slipper spell.

He tried to open his eyes again and decided just to keep them closed.

Hagrid’s steps shook the floor as he approached Harry and he heard him settle into the bed next to his.

“How you doin’, Harry?” Hagrid asked. “Why you got yer eyes closed?”

“It’s too bright in here to open them,” Harry stated, turning toward Hagrid. It occurred to him that he must be “looking” right at Hagrid’s belly, so he angled his head up a bit to line up with Hagrid’s face.

“Oh, yeah. I heard you got venom in yer eyes,” Hagrid said. “But wait, does this mean you can see again? You can see the sunlight comin’ through the windows?” 

“Naw,” Harry made a calming motion with his hands. “It was like this yesterday, too. I can see some lights and really bright lights hurt, but I can’t see anything except the light. People kept lumos-ing their wands in my face yesterday… ” 

Talking about his lack of vision made his stomach seize up, so he cast around for another subject, “So, you were released!”

“Yeah,” Hagrid said. “I bloody hate that place.” 

“Wizard prison?” Harry asked.

“Yeah. Sucks the life right out of you… ” 

Harry could hear Hagrid rubbing his big hands together as he said this as if to warm them.

“So, why'd yer kill the Basilisk fer? Couldn't you have spared his life? Harry?” Hagrid moaned. “The poor creature.” 

“Hagrid, the monster was trying to eat me!” 

"Well, yes," Hagrid acknowledged. “So, you goin’ down to breakfast?” 

Harry’s stomach rumbled in response. He had heard Madam Pomfrey swishing around in her robes and guessed that she was close by.

“Madam Pomfrey, may I go down to breakfast?” he asked.

Her clipped footsteps approached him and he turned his face toward her but kept his eyes closed.

“Yes, Harry. We’ll be going to St. Mungo's at 7:50 am. I set up an appointment. Hagrid can take you down to the great hall for breakfast, then you need to be back here so that we can floo from the fireplace at 7:45 am.”

“What time is it now?”

“It’s 6:25 am on Monday, you slept through Sunday,” she said. “Your clothes are cleaned and folded at the end of your bed. You were missing a sock, so I duplicated the one you had. I’ll put up the curtain again,” she paused murmuring and Harry tried opening his eyes to see if the curtain helped.

“Does the curtain help with the bright light, then?”

“Yes. That’s better.” Harry sighed. For whatever reason, he felt more comfortable with his eyes open, even though they didn’t give him much more information than when they were closed. He could feel the air better with his eyes open, he realized. He could feel the gentle currents of air as people moved their hands and wands in his vicinity.

“Let me fix up your glasses, then. I can make the lenses opaque.” 

She bustled by him and he heard her tapping his glasses with her wand. She was quiet for a moment, and there was a pregnant pause. He looked up at her questioningly, wondering what she was doing.

“Oh, right. Here you are, Harry.” 

She seemed a bit embarrassed. He realized she must have been holding them out to him. He grasped them and put them on.

He was glad to have his glasses back on as he always felt a bit naked without them. He rose and went to the end of his bed, felt around for the curtain opening, and stepped into the corridor to see if the opaque lenses helped with the intense sunlight. He was relieved that they did. 

“That’s great. Thanks, Madam Pomfrey!”

Hagrid touched him on the shoulder as he passed Harry and Madam Pomfrey also left the curtain enclosure. 

“Okay, good. Harry, don’t eat too much or too fast. Take it easy, okay? And I’ll see you at 7:45,” she said as she walked away.

“I’ll just wait out here while you get dressed, Harry.” Hagrid seemed a bit teary.

“Hey, Hagrid, is anyone else still here in the infirmary?” Harry was curious.

“Naw, just you. I’ll be betting that everyone’s still sleepin’. The feast yesterday went on for a while. Lots ter celebrate,” Hagrid said.

Harry went back through the curtain to his bed and found his clothes. It took him a bit longer than normal to put them on, but once he stopped thinking too hard about it, it was easier. He realized he just needed to pretend that he was getting dressed in the dark to sneak around the castle in his invisibility cloak. That brought a smile to his lips.

“Okay, I’m ready, but can you take me to the loo?”

“Sure, Harry. It’s right over here.” 

Hagrid turned Harry by his shoulders and shoved him forward. Harry stumbled and then found his footing and started walking forward until his outstretched hands found the door. He was glad it was a small bathroom and he was able to find his way around it pretty easily. Harry got a little unnerved, though, when he wondered if Moaning Myrtle was watching him from the U-bend. He didn’t like the idea that people could watch him and he wouldn’t know it. 

He emerged from the bathroom and asked Hagrid if he was ready to go to breakfast. Harry was dreading it a bit, but maybe there wouldn’t be many people down yet.

“Yep, let’s go,” and Hagrid started walking down the corridor. Harry started following behind, walking from bed to bed as he had last night. He heard Hagrid stop.

“Oh! Harry! I shouldn'ta done that. Jus left yeh,” Hagrid said as his big hand clasped Harry’s shoulder making him lurch forward. “I’m sorry!”

“It’s all right. Just, let me hold onto you, Hagrid,” Harry said as he reached for Hagrid’s shoulder, then gave up and settled for his forearm. He ended up just holding onto the fabric of Hagrid’s shirt, his forearm too broad for Harry to get a hold.

Harry breathed a sigh of relief when he remembered that the hospital wing was on the first floor and that he didn’t have to navigate the moving staircases or the trick stairs just yet.

Harry held his breath as Hagrid opened the doors to the Great Hall and waited to hear if anyone noticed them coming in, but it seemed pretty quiet. He could tell there were at least a few people in the room from the sound of silverware and quiet conversations, but no one seemed to stop when they came in.

Hagrid led Harry over to the Gryffindor House table and his usual spot.

“Thanks, Hagrid,” said Harry as he found the table with his hand and lowered himself down onto the bench, swinging his legs over.

“You all right here, Harry?” Hagrid asked. “I’ll be headin’ up to the High Table.”

“Yeah. Is anyone else at the Gryffindor table?” Harry asked.

“No, just you. Though Percy’s sitting at the Ravenclaw table with that Prefect who was petrified. Not many other folks down here. Like I said, they’ll be lyin’ in today. Okay, I’ll be leavin’ you now.” 

Harry nodded and listened as Hagrid clumped toward the High Table.  

Harry waited for a second and listened for the pop of breakfast magically appearing on the table before him. He felt around for his plate and silverware, then carefully slid his hands forward on the table to locate the dishes. He could smell bacon and kippers and tried to discern other foods by their odors, but the kippers were drowning out all the other aromas. His fingers collided with his goblet and he grabbed it quickly before it toppled, though it splashed a bit of pumpkin juice on the table. He found his napkin and tried to mop it up as best he could and get the stickiness off his fingers. He sipped his pumpkin juice and put it down carefully to the side so that he could try finding the other food again without knocking it over.

He found a dish and pulled it close to his plate and felt around the rim until he found the serving spoon. He poked around the dish with the serving spoon and leaned close to sniff to see if he could figure out what it was. It smelled like fried tomatoes. He tried to spoon one onto his plate, but it kept slipping off the spoon. He finally gave up and shoved it back, casting around for another dish. He found the bacon and gave up trying to use the tongs to get a couple pieces and just fished them out with his fingers, hoping no one was looking. Next, he found toast. He wasn’t willing to try getting the fried tomatoes again and settled on plain toast. At least with toast and bacon, he reasoned, he was less likely to end up wearing his food.

Nibbling on bacon and toast, he listened as footsteps echoed through the hall nearing him. He felt the bench rock as someone sat down near him.

“Hello?” Harry asked, curious about who had joined him.

“Good morning, Harry,” said Percy in his usual formal manner. “How are you doing this morning?”

“I’m doing okay. How about you?” Harry asked. He wasn’t used to Percy talking to him.

“I wanted to thank you for what you did for Ginny,” Percy said.

Harry shrugged and made a half-hearted attempt at a smile. He wasn’t sure what kind of response he should give. He was saved from having to come up with words by thundering footsteps.

“Blimey, Harry, you missed a crazy feast yesterday!” Seamus’ voice exploded into the scene, as he rocked the table sitting down.

“Say, why are you wearing sunglasses?” Seamus blurted out, his mouth already full of food. It sounded like he was dragging half the platters toward himself and piling all sorts of food on his plate. Harry had eaten across from Seamus enough to know what was going on.

“I got some venom in my eyes last night, and it made my eyes really sensitive to bright light… ” Harry explained.

“Wicked!” Seamus exclaimed through a mouthful. “I heard you killed a Basilisk! With a sword!”

“Yep… Say, Percy are you going back to Gryffindor tower,” Harry turned toward Percy.

“Um. Percy’s gone, Harry,” Seamus said soberly.

“Oh, right,” said Harry, embarrassed.

“So, what? You’re blind? I thought you said the light hurts your eyes,” Seamus asked.

“I’m not blind,” Harry was indignant. “I just can’t see right now, okay?” 

“Sorry, mate. I didn’t… ” Seamus’ response was eclipsed by a high pitched squeal.

“Hair----rrry!” Harry was relieved to hear Hermione’s voice as she came running toward him, her hair swishing into his face as she embraced him clumsily from the back and settled onto the bench next to him, knocking him sideways in her hurry. She clung to him.

“Did Madam Pomfrey fix your eyes, then?” she asked.

“No, we’re going to St. Mungo's this morning,” Harry replied. “Say, what time is it?”

“Just a little after 7,” replied Hermione. He could hear her dishing food on to her plate.

“Hey, Hermione. Can you put a scoop of fried tomatoes on my toast? I couldn’t manage it earlier,” he asked quietly.

“Sure, here you go,” she said. “Do you want me to cut it up, too?”

“Nah, I think I can handle it,” he said poking around his plate with his fork and knife, locating the slippery tomatoes on top of his toast and cutting through them to stab them. He managed all right, though a few bites fell off his fork, he leaned forward hoping they fell onto his plate and not in his lap.

Seamus and Dean (who had joined them at the table) were bombarding Harry and Hermione with questions about what had happened in the Chamber of Secrets. He could hear other students coming into the Great Hall, too. Harry did his best to recount the events, but it was hard to do and eat at the same time. He resorted to nibbling on bacon and sipping pumpkin juice. He was distracted, though, thinking about the trip to St. Mungo's. 

As the Great Hall filled up with students, it was harder and harder to hear the students around him or follow the conversation.

Ron finally joined them, sitting on his other side and was really enjoying talking about what happened in the Chamber, even the parts that he didn’t witness.

Everyone was super excited that final exams had been canceled (well, except for Hermione) and that Professor Lockhart had left to try to restore his memories. Gryffindors were even more elated because they had been awarded the house cup with the addition of the 400 points earned by Ron and Harry.

Ginny, sitting next to Hermione, was pretty quiet, though, and Harry was worried that she was still blaming herself for what happened. Especially as Ron’s descriptions got more and more dramatic.

Harry leaned forward, hoping to catch Ginny’s attention and said, “Hey, Ginny. Could you take me back to the hospital wing? I need to go to my appointment at St. Mungo's.” 

Harry wasn’t sure Ginny had heard him and he was about to ask Hermione to get Ginny’s attention for him, when she answered in a small voice, “Sure, Harry.” 

He heard her sliding off the bench and felt her small hand on his shoulder.

“Your sunglasses look nice, Harry,” she said with a sniff.

Harry hoped she wasn’t going to start crying again.

“Thanks. Madam Pomfrey changed them so that the sun doesn’t hurt my eyes so much.” 

He stood up and she guided his hand to her shoulder.

Out in the corridor, Ginny turned her head toward him and muttered, “Harry, I’m really sorry about your eyes.”

Harry squeezed her shoulder gently. “Ginny, please stop blaming yourself for this. I’m going to be okay… they’ll be able to sort it out at St. Mungo's, okay? And even if they can’t,” he faltered here at the thought… and for Ginny’s sake, went on, “it isn’t your fault. You didn’t ask to be possessed by Voldemort or taken captive in the Chamber of Secrets. You have to forgive yourself, okay? I think we’re all just lucky to be alive right now, you know? It could have been much worse. Will you promise me you’ll stop blaming yourself. Please?” 

“Okay, Harry, I’ll try. But if they can’t fix your eyes, it’s going to be really hard,” she said.

They had stopped and Harry guessed it was because they were outside the door to the hospital wing. He pulled Ginny into a clumsy hug, “I was scared we’d lost you, Ginny. I’m glad you’re okay.”

“Thanks, Harry,” she said and pulled open the door.

[inwintersolitude]

- May 23rd 2020 -

Do you wear glasses? Yes, but I don't wear them as often as I wear my contact lenses.

What were/are your grades like in school? I got pretty good grades, especially in math and science classes, and in my university aeronautics classes.

Do you like sweets? What kinds? Sometimes, if I'm in the mood for something sweet. My favorite kinds are pastries and cookies.

Do you like partying? Nope. I'm past the age where partying is "typical," but I was never interested in it when I was younger, either.

How many boyfriends/girlfriends have you had? Just my husband.

Are you good at drawing? No.

Do you like sports? If so, which are your faves? I like certain sports. My favorite is baseball.

Do you play any intruments? Which ones? No, not since I was growing up.

Name a few romcoms you like, if any I generally dislike rom-coms. Meet the Parents is the only one I can think of that I like.

What is your Hogwarts house? Or do you not like Harry Potter? I do like Harry Potter, but I'm not into it enough to put myself into a Hogwarts house.

Do you currently have a significant other? Yes.

What is your biggest goal in life? Honestly, I no longer have one goal that tops all others. The next big goal is to buy a house, but I wouldn't say that's my “biggest goal in life.” Going through professional flight training and getting my commercial pilot license was probably the biggest goal I've ever had, but I've already achieved that. I had career goals beyond that but I can't achieve them now due to chronic medical problems.

Pizza or burger? Pizza.

Cookies or brownies? Cookies.

Avocado toast or oatmeal? I like them both about the same.

Asparagus or broccoli? Asparagus.

Pancakes or french toast? French toast.

Have you ever seen the Percy Jackson movie/s? No.

Ever seen Glee? No.

Did you know that Billie Eilish, Ariana Grande, and Miley Cyrus are vegan? No.

Do you like Demi Lovato? Name a song by her. I don't know any songs by her.

Did you know Natalie Portman, Joaquin Phoenix, and Simon Cowell are vegan? No.

What is one word you can never remember how to spell? I know there are a few, but I can't think of any at the moment.

What is your favorite musical? The Sound of Music is the only musical I've seen and truly enjoyed.

Tarzan or The Lion King? The Lion King.

Lilo & Stitch or Moana? I haven't seen either.

Hercules or Pinocchio? I wasn't really a fan of either.

Arthur or Scooby Doo? No preference.

Rugrats or Powerpuff Girls? Rugrats.

Ever seen Pretty Little Liars? No.

How old are you? I'm 30.

Describe your dream home It'd be about 2,000-2,500 square feet, 3-4 bedrooms, New England colonial cottage architectural style with an interesting and homey/cozy floor plan, and on a large property with woods and meadows.

Baking or dancing? Baking.

Sports or shopping? It depends on which sport, and what type of shopping. I'd rather play baseball than go clothes shopping... but I'd rather shop for electronic gadgets or home decor than play basketball.

Blue or yellow? Blue.

Green or pink? Green.

Did/do you go to a public school, a private school, or homeschool? I went to public schools. The town I grew up in had a public school system that was better than most private schools in the area.

What class did/do you take as an elective or arts class? In high school, some of the electives I took were engineering drafting, two photography classes, contemporary topics (basically a sociology/ethics class), and two Latin classes. In college, some of the electives I took were welding and metalcasting, astronomy, Boeing 737 aircraft systems, and... I think that's all, actually. I didn't have much extra time for electives in college.

Chocolate or vanilla ice cream? I like them both about the same.

Game of Thrones or the Vampire Diaries? I've never seen either.

Are you feeling overwhelmed recently? Why? No.

Make a wish: I wish there was a cure for hyperacusis. Or at least some sort of treatment that could lessen it, to be less disabling.

What is your average heart rate? I'm not sure.

Ever seen a ghost or had a supernatural experience? Explain. No. I don't believe there's anything that's supernatural. Everything can be explained by science, or has the potential to be explained by science in the future as we gain more knowledge.

How much water have you drunk today?: Probably around 2 liters.