#and then the dude in charge of aether is like “so that was messed up. anyway come work for me

[chimeric-art]

NOPE NOT DONE TALKING ABOUT IT

So generations pass, the Kindred are all but extinct, humans have spread to every habitable corner of the world, and now the human nations are struggling with the issues that come from overpopulation and the presence of a substance that can do Anything in high enough quantities.

In most places aether is a controlled substance, doled out by their respective governments according to the rules of that society. In some places it's considered a basic need, in others a luxury, in others a dangerous drug. In almost all cases, it's been diluted and is in such small quantities that magic of the past is assumed to be the stuff of fairy tales.

This timeline mostly centers around the city of Augustine, where aether is under the strict control of an agency which accepts applications for its distribution. If a person's application is appealing enough, they can be granted massive amounts of aether, more than most people could acquire in other places in the world. Accepted applications tend to be things in the realm of "ways to better society," such as medicine, agriculture, and so on.

Although the city is prosperous, there is a dark underbelly to the agency overseeing its aether, as well as the man in charge of it...

[xxcallmemaryxx]

Okay so this is fun. Last night my phone fell under the bed so instead of just waiting til the next morning I crouched under the bed in the dark to get my phone back while my bf was sleeping lmao. How would the Ghouls react to that?

This gave me a LAUGH

Aether: immediately after hearing the phone fall he’s like “Leave. It.” He can feel you slowly pulling the covers back and tries to throw an arm around you to keep you in bed and coax you to sleep… but you’re too quick. You slip out and onto the floor before he can even reach you. So he sighs, defeated, and flicks the light on to help you see a little better. He watches your feet sticking out from under the bed and can’t help but chuckle a little at your behaviour. The loud “A-HA” that you yell out causes him to fall back into his pillows and await your return to him. The smug look at your face earns you an eye roll… but you got your phone back so who cares.

Dew: he is crawling under there with you just for funsies. He will tell you it’s to help you…but you both know he just wants an excuse to get back out of bed for no reason. “Sleep is for the weak” he tells you… “shut up and close your eyes Dew” you’ll mumble back to him in the middle of the night. So under you two go… shimmying your way further under the bed to grab your phone. Except Dew starts finding all the little things that had rolled underneath it over time, and so you both lay there for a while messing with whatever you found. A bouncy ball, some of his picks he threw across the room in a rage… even his favourite pair of socks he’s been missing. He tells you he will never let them out of his sight again!

Rain: Rain offers to go under for you to get it.. like our precious gentleman he is. He insists the chill in the air is much too cold for his little human, and you need to stay nice and warm in bed for him. So up he gets… then down, then under. He’s talking to himself about how dusty it is, how he’s gonna have to get back under there soon to clean it. You just smile to yourself. It seems he’s gotten distracted and has forgotten about the task at hand… until he sees your phone and asks you why it’s down there… and then gets back up with a slight embarrassed blush on his cheeks. He plugs your phone on charge for you and hands it back over all while you’re still giggling at him.

Mountain: Dude is a heavy sleeper. So he doesn’t even stir when the phone drops… or when you crawl out of bed to find it in the dark… or when you accidentally hit your head on the base boards of your bed frame. No. He only wakes up when he rolls over to cuddle you and you’re not there. That’s when he gets up.. notices your legs sticking out from under the bed, wraps his long, slender fingers around your ankles and yanks you right back out again. You flip around with your phone in hand and you meet his tired eyes. “If you drop it again you’re leaving it under there” he whispers to you. You whisper out a sheepish apology… he picks up back up off the floor and brings you back to bed with him. Making sure your phone is put away… and his arms are wrapped tightly around you.

Swiss: When you tell him your phone fell he laughs at you. Doesn’t offer to help you get it. Doesn’t offer to turn on any lights. Instead…. He whips out his phone and goes “I’ll time ya… see how fast you can get under there and get it” you watch him open the timer app… “if you get it in under 2 minutes you’ll win a kiss” then he presses start with no warning. So out of bed you shoot, you’re on the floor within seconds and army crawling under the bed just as fast. You spot your phone, grab it, throw yourself out from underneath the bed and then jump into Swiss’ lap. You don’t even look at the timer before you’re smooshing your lips against his. He’s laughing at how fast you you moved, he’s never seen you get up that quickly before in his life.

[ghouls-dream]

Hopefully you are still taking requests, I've been too scared to send one in. I'm sorry if this is a bit vague. I love your work💞 Can I request a smutty imagine where y/n teases dewdrop by flirting with the other ghouls just to see how angry she can get him and she ends up in deep trouble with him?

Hello, sweetheart! Firstly - thank you so much for the kind words! And secondly - im so glad you got the "courage" to ask, haha. Filth is on the way! I hope you like it 🖤

Jealous Dew x Reader one-shot (WARNING!!! HELLA NSFW, 18+)

Dew's POV 

"Oh, darn it!" Rain scoffed as he saw how one of his striped balls hit the corner of the pocket, but not getting in. "Hell yeah!" I jumped happily, going near the pool table and looking at the balls' position. We loved playing pool, especially after big rituals like tonight's. That was like a routine for us. Well the ghouls mostly - The ghoulettes had their own way of relaxing, and Cardinal always prefered binge-watching "Friends" instead of having fun with us. Sometimes it fel like he was Nihil's lost son - I can't say Copia was boring, but he was quite introverted at times.

"Don't get too upset, Rain. Maybe Mr. "Pay back time" will fail. You have luck you're not playing with me" Aether teased me as I smirked, pointing with the pool stick at him "I can take all of you!". "Everyone knows that, slut!" Swiss called out from the back as he drank his beer. I rolled my eyes, due to their laughter, and tried to ignore it. After that I bent over the table, position myself to hit the white ball in front of me when I heard the door opening... Just before I was about to hit it, my eyes focused on a very particular feminine figure... Y/N. What the fuck was she doing here?!

Y/N POV

It was the night after a ritual, which automatically meant no sleeping for any of us! Well, at least Papa's witches. Why? Because our rooms were one wall apart from the Ghoul's playroom. All of us hated that - including Cumuls and Cirrus, who prefered a ladies night with us and the Sisters of sin. The Ghouls were just too loud. Especially when there was alcohol in the whole picture and tonight... Tonight there was a lot!

I looked around the sleeping girls, tossing myself again and sighed. I couldn't fall asleep, Swiss' voice was keeping me awake as well Dew's loud banging on the pool table, so I just decided to get up, put on my black lacy dress and go see what the boys were doing. Maybe even asking them to keep it a little bit more quiet. Some of us had a morning praise at 5am! And besides... I wouldn't mind seeing them. Since all of us were friends and there was no "I'm superior" barreier between us.

I walked out of the room, feeling how the slight wind was touching my skin as I grabbed the playroom's lock. Before I pushed it, I heard Swiss' voice calling someone "slut". My mind automatically connected that with Dewdrop as I smirked and let my filthy thoughts invade my brain.

As I entered the room, all of the boys turned to me. They looked shocked. Especially Rain who I could tell even felt emberassed by my look. The lacy black dress was thin enough to cover my whole body, but it was also a little bit transparent. "Weren't you supposed to be sleeping?" Mountain asked, before taking a sip from his drink and then offering me some. I refused of course and responded sarcastically "Well we all were, but some smartass decided to put your playroom next to our bedroom. Do the math". "I told you guys" Aether pointed out as I felt Dew's eyes scanning every bit of my body. He was in the middle of a shot I can tell, by his position, but he obviously gave up doing it. He stood up, leaning against the stick and growled "So what? It's not like you listen to it every night". I chuckled at his response and sat next to Swiss, who was half-laying on the red couch next to the pool table. His hand was put on the backrest as he looked over me and raised an eyebrow "So noise brings you here? It's not something or someone else?" I heard the boys' "oohs" as I smirked at him, bitting my lip and shrugged. "You never know" - I said seductively before turning my head towards Dew. His eyes were burning with... Anger? Also I wouldn’t want to be the stick he was holding. The ghoul's grip around it was almost enough to break it in half. I could tell my his knuckles, turning white. 'Or maybe I'd like to be' my mind whispered to myself. "Won't you finish the shot?" I asked, raising my eyebrow as Aether laughed "Yeah, man. I'm getting sleepy". Dewdrop rolled his eyes, positioning himself again. His swift body movements were enchanting. 

Finally the white ball hit the red one in front of it, but no luck. "Ooh, so close dude!" Mountain pointed out as Dew sighed. 'Do it! Come on!' my mind encoureged me to do the thing I've been thinking about since the moment I entered the room. I knew that it wouldn't end well, one way or another, but I couldn't care less at this point. I got up from my seat, looking at Rain who was obviously confused on how to move on with the position of the balls on the table. Before becoming part of the Church actually, I really enjoyed gaming nights with my friends - doesnt matter what type of game we'd play. I always enjoyed them. "Need help?" I smirked at the Water ghoul who shurgged his arms and gave me the stick. "That's not by the rules!" Dew's voice filled the room. I could feel he was getting angry. I raised my eyebrow and asked seductivly, before taking Rain's stick  - "And since when do YOU play by the rules?". After those words I heard another set of "oohs" before, bending over in front of Rain. I could deffinitely tell he wasn't feeling the most comfortable in that position, since my butt was touching his front, for which I felt kinda bad, but I was enjoying every bit of it since Dewdrop's anger was growing. "Have you been working out lately?" Swiss joked as I turned to him chuckling and winked back at him, answering his joke with my own "Wanna find out?".

We actually stayed in the room for almost another hour of jokes and laughter, before Aether got in charge and as being the most responisble one of the group asked us all to go to bed. I wouldn't have refused anyway, I was tired. "Yeah, I'll see you guys tomorrow" I whispered yawning, as we all started walking out of the room, before feeling someone's hand gripping my waist and preventing me from escaping. I quickly turned around before hearing the door closing behind me, as Dew stared into my eyes. " 'Wanna find out!?' Seriously!?" he hissed against my lips before crushing his onto mine. His fingers found their way into my hair as he gripped it, which caused my head to tilt back slightly, exposing my neck to him. "Are you jealous?" I teased. "Am I jealous?! I'm fucking furious, Y/N! Do you not remember the time backstage? Or the 'please don't tell Imperator about this' situation in her office?! I'm gonna make you pay, girly!" Dewdrop whispered against my ear as I felt my kneese getting weaker, with every touch he made over my body. Next to the other ghouls, he was indeed shorter, but I wasn't them. Dew was almost a head above me. His teeth found his way to my most senstive part on my neck and bit it gently, before sucking it harder. I gasped by his action, before whimpering "Fuck yes...". He wasn't even trying to be gentle at this point and every part of my body loved that! His fingers made their way to my lady parts, feeling the wetness over them as he whispered "So you'd let Swiss try this out, but not me? Wrong...". After those words I felt how his index entered me, followed by his middle finger. I didn't even have time to react i just grabbed his shoulders and moaned, as he moved them faster and faster. "Did you like bending over Rain?" he groaned against my neck, before sucking on the same spot as before. This time i felt a small wave of pain, which made me whimper. "Answer me! Did.. You... Like it?!" Dew's voice was filled with sexual rage. "Yes!" I cried out as I opened my eyes and saw him smirking, before saying "Let's see how you'd like this then". His fingers quickly escaped my body as I sealed my lips with his own, as I felt himleading me towards the pool table. His tongue was fighting for dominance in my mouth and I gladly gave him what it wanted.

After that breathtaking kiss Dew spun me around, so I was in the same position as with Rain. My heart was going to explode in my chest, my pulse was pumping so hard I felt like fainting from all the adrenaline. Before I could make up my mind I heard a belt, being unbuckled, and soon after that a firm smack on my bare butt. Dew came once again next to my ear and whispered "I'll make you regret every single thing you did that night". After those words I felt a sweet pain rushing through my body, causing me to moan loudly. He made a few thrust inside as i grabbed the wooden side of the pool table. His hand found its way in my hair once again, before gripping it tightly and pulling my body next to his. "Dew..." I moaned louder as his other hand grabbed my neck and squeezed it gently. "Yes, Y/N?" he whispered breathless into my ear, before bitting my neck again. His movements were becoming even faster as I felt that the end of both of us was close. "Tell me how much you love this... Say it!" his voice filled the room as I shouted, panting "I love it how you fuck me! Dew... Im... Please...". Few more thrust were made into me, as I felt the pleasure building inside my lower stomach. Dew then kissed my lips roughly before bitting the lower one and whispered "Come... Now!". I was more than happy to release the pleasurable tension inside me as my voice filled the room. His grip also let go of me as I heard my name escaping his mouth before feeling one final thrust. After that there was just mine and his unstable, deep breathing... Nothing more, nothing less. We were both a sweaty, aroused mess at this point and it never felt better!

Soon after I was able to come back to reality I felt his lips brushing against my bare shoulder. This time it was tender, gentle and sensual. It had nothing to do with what just happened. "Y/N... Stop driving me crazy like this. Not that I don't like it, but... I was about to beat the shit out of both Rain and Swiss" he whispered as I chuckled and turned my head to him, kissing him gently, before whispering back "My dorky firecracker..."  

[pepperstrawberry]

Just cause it’s on my mind...

Okay, so a bit ago, I reblogged a really cool post that had ‘au drawings’ of characters. The comment I made someone seemed to take first at face value. Given how direct I was, that is fair. I realized after the fact that I did lay it on a bit thick with an almost charge of ‘you should do this’, rather then a ‘this is something that you could do’ thing. But the point where I drew the line was that they stated the idea of ‘ripping off characters’... And that is where this thought process is coming into play.

Thing is, there are no original stories. Every single one of the stories you enjoy today is based off of some remixing of characters/stories/plot-elements that came before them.

Of course just copy-pasta characters is a big no-no. You can’t just use Superman or Batman or Goku directly.

However, AU fanfic/fanart easily starts into the path of the ‘remix’, and thus the process of something that comes as close to ‘original creation’ as we can actually get.

Sure, the most famous version of this is the mess that is 50 Shades, being that it started as a Twilight fan fic. But setting aside the quality of Twilight, the problems with 50 Shades actually has little to do with being inspired/based on the concepts and characters of Twilight. In fact, of all the reviews and reticule I have ever seen leveled at that... mess, the statement of where the series was born from has always been ‘It started as a Twilight fanfic’, and not much else. Maybe the original fanfic cribbed more off the Twilight, but what we got in 50 shades was rather far departed. It lacks the vampires, werewolves,and all that. The main guy has a slightly different set of issues (likely from a lot of OOC from the original fic, which try as one might, IS going to enter into fic writing even with the best of them).

While I really don’t like bringing up those stories, they actually serve a pretty good and clear illustrative point that I’m making here (though I am trying to remember better examples that are just as universal).

The bottom line is: Nothing is original, but what is most important is that you mix, match, swirl, change, and make elements your own.

You think Gideon, Jace, Lilianna, Chandra, and Nissa sprang to live fully formed from the aether into Wizard creative’s minds?

Or what about things like Pacific Rim, Avatar, Full Metal Alchemist, and so on?

If an AU goes far enough, it has a chance to get it’s own wings and fly. The trick is what the artist wants to do and how far and how well they are able to bring other elements and ideas of their own to the table to transform the work into a ‘new being’.

If an artist is happy playing in the remix playground of AU, then that is awesome. If an artist has grown to like their version and are able to give them enough life that they could be their own thing, that is also awesome.

In the end, the bottom line is, enjoy creation and have fun. X3

Sorry if this is a bit unstructured and a bit of a ‘splat’ of an idea. There are more angles, details, and what not I feel like adding to this, but I feel like at the moment it would become kinda more unfocused. For now, this will do. And yes, one of the ideas for a fantasy comic I’m working on is -direct- with this mindset, and I’m keeping track of the changes and inspirations as much as I can as I go, because I think it’s kinda facinating to see how my ideas and what not changes as I go. What started as a simple couple of redesign sketches for the Gatewatch has changed, shifted, and swirled into something new. The basic frame work of Chandra and Nissa could be seen in the current iteration of things, but only because I know where things came from (that and the elements of their powers are mostly similar, but even then, it’s only that one has primarily fire magics and the other has connection with life/land sort of thing, which is in so much fiction... which again goes back to my point above...)

{edit}*snaps fingers* OH YEAH! Didn’t Naruto sorta start out originally in the dudes mind and sketches as basically a DBZ fan fic or something? It’s been a long time, so maybe I’m wrong...

[chimerabal]

Session 4 - So many geists.

We opened the session with a battle we set up the previous one: The party was traveling through a desecrated town seeking out any cult activity, and found two Really Angry Ghosts. Revenants? The party cleric, Mikela, tried to reason with them, failed, and was attacked- initiating group combat. My character, Uriel, took a quick 10 damage and fell prone dodging what would have been a lethal 16 more, she pretty much just cried the whole battle- got one or two mediocre hits in. The scaab, Ugly, was called from an alley over; a turn in or so he made a Grand Entrance to the battle- koolaid man style through an empty building.

Mikela and our necro-alchemist Sibyl dealt an impressive amount of damage through radiant attacks and giest-powered-spells. Sibyl dealt the final blow with a spell that I imagined looking like a more fire-y version of the ghostbusters plasma streams ripping the hostile giests in two. Extremely cool.

Post battle Mikela tried reasoning with some non-hostile looking giests that were floating around watching the battle. Impressively- thankfully- three of them came around and spoke with the party. They expressed a desire to pass into the aether, which Mikela gladly offered to help them do. She set up and began a 10 minute ritual to help first of the three ghosts move on- one that required concentration. Sibyl, needing ghosts to power her inventions and all, also decided to speak with the geists in an effort to persuade them help us save the town in the form of boo-juice. The friendliest/most helpful geist declined politely, the third ghost eagerly agreed to avenge his town and stop the probably-cult we are building up to fight against. 

This could have gone nicely, but, our cleric really, Really, objects to the concept of necro-alchemy and using ghosts as spirits as fuel. While Sibyl was speaking with the giests- getting consent and all to turn them into a power source- Mikela was unable to stop her ritual and confront Sibyl... and was getting progressively more and more angry. Just as the cleric had finished her ritual, the necro-alchemist was starting one to capture the ghost. Mikela charged Sibyl and grabbed her super-cool-ghost-storing-but-still-decorative-broach and triggered a mini-combat between the two of them.

Mikela had the broach, Sibyl acid-bombed the both of them, the broach was dropped and kicked towards my characters, Ugly flung the broach back to Sibyl. As Sibyl paused to inspect the item for damage, Mikela quick started trying to set up a ritual and force the avenging giest to move on. This Really pissed off avenging giest, and it threatened to turn hostile- shooting out some fireballs at Mikela. Sibyl also got back into the frey to tell Mikela off and smack her around a bit (which is... all they did to each other this time. a small slap fight). Damage was dealt, yelling and tears happened, and my character- for the most part- was enjoying the show up until about now like

However, with the two other party members were both crying, and the ghost was spitting fire everywhere, the whole ordeal had stopped being entertaining and Uriel was about ready to step in..... didn’t end up needing to though. Mikela finally, after a few solid throws, broke concentration on the ritual and dissolved into a blubbering teary mess. With Mikela having backed down, Sibyl was able to neutralize the angry spirit and absorb it as power. Both characters were Spent. 

Note: this was a great conflict and I’m counting on the character’s handlers to have all the details and arguments that went down because... I’m short on detail b/c I was building dice towers and this is actually a very interesting fight... and because this is the second time now the two have butt heads over Ghost Stuff :3c we have a Theme growing here folks.

Post fight Sibyl was staring into space (IS...pretty sure she ended the session Still In This State...) and Mikela was sobbing grossly on the ground. Uriel, despite this shit not being her forte at All, had to do something- suddenly becoming Party Leader. She approached Mikela and delivered silent paps, getting her pulled into a sobby bear hug. Mikela cry-ranted about hating the position she is in, having to fight and not being able to help anyone (ghost or not). She didn’t sign up for this shit. After some more (freaked and awkward) back pats Uriel summoned her monster over to take her place in the bear hug (unsure if this worked, I like to think Mikela koala clinged to Ugly just as quickly lmao).

Even after all this, that one friendly ghost stuck around with us. It tipped us off that “They are coming this way”. Uriel, staying true to last session’s decision of ‘not wanting to fuck with Them or That or whatever the fuck (cultists- its cultists)’ starts leading the emotionally broken/physically exhausted party back to town. Note: She’s the only one who realized we left some civilians we were traveling with along the cultists’ path.... but they’ll be Fine, they have an axe, we gave them an axe, they’ll be FINE. Sibyl doesn’t follow the group right away, so Uriel loops back around and offers consoling paps to her as well. When asked if she was okay, she says nothing but starts following the party.... which was good enough. 

Once in town Uriel starts knocking on doors and announcing that “The demon slaying heroes from yesterday need help, we helped you, please help us.” Mikela joins in, affirming loudly that, yes, we slay demons, and that we are with the church and would love some hospitality please. We get a dude to speak to us through a cracked door, Uriel manages to convince him to a point, but starts to flounder (largely due to my own not-great improv skills) and is backed up by Mikela. Sibyl I think is just... standing in the background, wall eyed, with the scaab and ghost... freakin’ this dude out.

 He agrees to let us in if we ditch the undead we have in our party. Mikela doesn’t want to give up the ghost (lol) and tries to persuade the dude to let our giest friend come in- against Uriel’s sound advice, “enough with these fucking ghosts” (thats a joke I didn’t say that). She has the ghost tell what it knows about cult recruitment; the cult is gaining more members by terrorizing the town with devils and shit and making them question Avacyn’s powers and protection. They then prey on civilians who’s faith has wavered and introduce them to the cult. 

During her persuasion the LOUD EVIL VOICE from the night before starts speaking from an adjacent row of houses- out of sight but still getting Uncomfortably Close. It pretty much word for word confirms what ghost friend said, but in an insufferable boisterous evil way. Both Uriel and Mikela are about to change course and follow the cult- pretty much resigned that there’s no Way they’re getting shelter now- but the man allows everyone, ghost and all, into his home (We snuck Ugly in as well.... and by snuck we mean it forced itself through the door before the kindly dude could shut it completely). And that’s where we ended, in a random strangers’ home with cultists doing some recruitment outside. 

Note to myself: if I don’t get answers out of Sibyl during our stay here I’m gonna d i e.

And like last post- im tired and not proofreading this. good luck.

[delosacademy]

Day Two

Being woken up by an uncapped water bottle falling from the sky was not how Apollo expected to wake up on his first Sunday morning back in the dorms. However, that's what happened thanks to his grumpy roommate, or in other words, his late night out and obnoxious alarm. When his alarm went off at 8am, a single hand shot out from under his comforter and hit the snooze button. Ten minutes later, the scene replayed. After the fifth time of the first ten notes of The Final Countdown, Tyche, Apollo's roommate, decided he would make sure Apollo got out of bed. He launched the water grenade towards the other side of their shared dorm. Apollo was up in a matter of moments after that. His blankets went flying and suddenly he was on his feet, sort of. He didn't really stay on his feet. Instead, he hit the ground with the blankets wrapped around his legs and body, tangling him up into a mess. Tyche wasn’t surprised but he still rolled his eyes, groaning when Apollo continued to make a commotion, taking some dramatic amount time struggling his way free of of the blankets. When he finally found his way to his feet for good. Apollo threw off his soaking wet pajama shirt and then finally stopped moving. This was nearly an hour after the alarm had gone off the first time and woken up Tyche. "Ahh! Now I'm all wet! Why would you do that?!" Despite the fact that this had happened before, Apollo sounded shocked and betrayed. School hadn't even officially started and it was Tyche's first morning back. How could he already be this agitated? "Shut up, Apollo!" Tyche rolled over and pulled his blankets all the way over him. Apollo huffed. He understood that his roommate had a long trip the day before, but seriously? A water bomb? On the first morning? That was a little bit over dramatic… Not that Apollo was ever over dramatic. "Fine, fine." Apollo grabbed some clothes and changed quickly. He was running quite a bit late for his breakfast meeting. Regardless, before leaving the room, he rolled Tyche's wheelchair up to the side of the bed. He had started to feel bad about waking him up and he figured a kind gesture might improve Tyche's mood. Apollo knew that having the wheelchair bedside, as opposed to the foot of the bed, made it easier for Tyche. However, Tyche had insisted that the wheelchair be kept out of the way after Apollo had tripped over it… three times… In one week… Tyche’s first week as a freshman. Once the wheelchair was in a convenient place, Apollo left for breakfast. ~~~ As soon as Apollo was close enough to the cafeteria table that his sister was sure he would be able to hear her, Artemis was scolding him. "You were supposed to be here forty minutes ago! We need to move on to get ready for today!" Cassie glanced up from what was left of her scrambled eggs. She had been poking at them with her fork, looking somewhat agitated, but she let Artemis handle the speaking. Apollo could never decide whether he'd rather have Cassie yell at him when she was mad at him or not. He could imagine that it would be pretty scary if she ever yelled. Her annoyed look was scary enough without a voice. "I'll eat fast." He promised as soon as his tray touched the table. He sat down between Aether and Zeus, deciding that it was the safest place at the moment. Artemis sighed. "Well, we already got the rest of the names on the clothespins this morning." Apollo reached over, grabbing Cassie’s plate and scooping her leftover eggs onto his own plate. He was effectively the trash can at their table. He nodded to show he was listening as he also forked Zeus’s leftover piece of french toast. They were preparing for the annual school wide game of Paranoid. Basically, they all snuck around attaching clothespins to each other's shirts. As the dorm leaders, Cassie, Zeus, and the twins were effectively the student senate and activities committee as well. They often got additional help for other events but they were expected to take charge. The planning this year hadn’t been as thorough as normal. The group hadn't been all together until the previous day, which wasn’t normal. The year before they had met up and hung out half way through the summer, but with it being Cassie and the twins’ senior year, they were pretty busyduring the summer. No one had even thought about it until Zeus brought it up to Cassie two days before everyone arrived. This left a lot of the grunt work to be done the morning of. Thankfully, they had been able to get some work done ahead of time. Cassie made and printed the signs to mark safe zones and list rules while the rest of them had gotten some of the clothespins done ahead of time. That morning at 8 they were supposed to finish up the last 200 clothespins before the rest of set up, but, obviously, Apollo had missed that. "After you're done eating all we have left to do is hanging the signs up for safe zones and quiet zones." "And put out the clothespins." Zeus pointed out. Artemis nodded. "Right, duh. That's a given." Zeus didn't respond, he gave Aether an amused smile and received a sigh. Apollo didn't understand how they did that. Even though Aether couldn't see Zeus, he always responded to his roommate's antics fittingly. Regardless, Apollo held back a laugh in order to get the last bite of toast shoved into his mouth. He appreciated Zeus's ability to remain unaffected by his sister's mood swings. Zeus was able to push buttons in any circumstance and didn't ever seem to legitimately bother or be bothered. Apollo chewed his last bite and washed it down with a carton of milk. "Oka-" He was cut off by his own burp. He chuckled a bit, "-ay, let's get moving." Artemis's jaw practically hit the table before the empty milk carton that had been on the table was suddenly shoved into his gut. "Oof… What's up with people and throwing liquid containers this morning?" Apollo said in a tight voice as he caught his breath. She had really put some force behind that one. "So that's why your hair is damp? I'll have to thank Tyche later." She pushed herself up from her seat and grabbed her food tray. The others did the same, leaving Apollo to sigh and then follow suit. The girls headed towards the nearest trash bin with Aether following closely behind. Zeus stayed back, chuckling at Apollo. "Dude, they left the clothespins…" Apollo looked at the table. "Well, I ain't saying anything." "Give them a second…" Zeus stood beside Apollo, waiting and watching. The girls made it to the trash, dumped their trays, quite obviously stuck in whatever conversation they had picked up in their short trip to the edge of the cafeteria. "Three… Two… One…" Zeus pointed at them at the exact moment their heads both snapped back to the table. He winked at the two of them, smirking just slightly. "A given, right?!" He had to be pretty loud to be heard from they were, but his arm wave at the clothespins was enough to get the point across. Artemis said something back but Apollo couldn't make out what she was saying. By the wince on Aether's face though, it wasn't nice. Apollo looked at Zeus, "I don't know how it is that I'm the one only one who gets hit with inanimate objects." "I'm more charming." Zeus laughed, winking at him too. "And I'm always on time." He spun on his heel to clear his plate at a trash bin in the opposite direction of the girls. Apollo decided to follow him for the his own sake. Artemis, like Apollo, wasn't a morning person. Normally, she was able to cover that with quite a bit of coffee, but apparently, ‘quite a bit’ hadn't been reached yet. After clearing their trays the boys returned to the table and helped organize the clothespins into bags. Each bag had clothespins for a different dorm floor. Once they were all sorted, each of them took the correct bag to their dorm hall to attach the clothespins to the door nametags. Thirty minutes later every student had a clothespin attached to their door and the dorm leaders were onto their next task, hanging the signs. Apollo and Zeus covered the main school building, and Cassie and Aether got the Nike center (the athletic center), while Artemis covered the cafeteria, commons, and Muses Hall (the arts wing). The bathrooms, the pool, and the weight room were always safe zones and classrooms were safe zones during school hours. The entirety of the library was a quiet zone, so you could play but if and attacker or attackee were too loud, both of them were out, the same thing went for first floor of Muses Hall and the dorms between 11pm and 7am. By the time they all met up again it was almost 11am. The game was to start at noon when lunch started which gave them plenty of time for pre-game announcements and straightening out any missing clothespin fiascos. The announcement was made from the main office over the school wide PA system. Convincing Mr. Brontes that he should let them use the PA system hadn't been too difficult, but convincing Ms. Ambrosia had been another story. They had to convince her that Apollo wouldn't cause trouble this year. The previous year Apollo had spontaneously decided to rap the rules, not particularly well. The rap alone wasn’t the problem, but the act had been cut short by Artemis which resulted in the microphone being more or less destroyed so this year they promised someone else would do the announcement. It was the only way Ambrosia would let them use the PA system again. Despite this agreement, it wasn’t really surprising when they arrived in the administration office and Apollo went straight for the microphone. "I know what you’re thinking, guys. I'll admit, last year's rhymes weren't amazing. But I rewrote them, it'll be good this time. I swear. And plus, if Artemis doesn’t attack me like last year, we won’t blow a fuse! Or the microphone." Before anyone had a chance to respond, he switched on the microphone. Luckily, Zeus was fast and expecting Apollo to try this. He jumped forward to save the day, or at least, the PA system. Apollo hadn't been expecting Zeus to be the one to come at him which resulted in surprise as he was easily knocked to the side by his friend despite having quite a few inches on him. Zeus took the microphone and started talking before Apollo could grab it back. "Heeeeellllllloooooo fellow students of Delos! This is your favorite dorm leader, Zeus, speaking! How are you doing today?” The pause was very short, not wanting to give Apollo a chance to talk. “Well, you're about to be doing better. Our annual game of Paranoid is about to start. Now, freshmen and new students, I realize you may not know what this means. Allow me to explain. Every year we play this little game, this is how it works. Each student is given a clothespin. They're placed on the name tags on your dorm doors already. Warning, if you steal someone else's clothespin we will find you and you will be disqualified. Trust Apollo, he knows." "They aren't kidding, they'll find you." Apollo chimed in from behind Zeus. Artemis was holding him a few feet away with an invisible force. Apollo had stopped struggling against it after a stern look from Cassie. "See. But anyway. The goal of this game is to collect the most of these clothespins from your fellow students by way of clipping your clothespin onto a fellow student without them noticing you. If you get your clothespin clipped to an article of their clothing and let go completely without them noticing, then you get all the clothespins in their possession. The first student to collect one hundred clothespins, wins! Now, please note, the bathrooms, the pool, and the weight room are always safe zones. You aren't allowed to play in those areas for obvious reasons. Also, no playing during class. We allow you to play in the library, however, this space is a quiet zone! You can play there but if either the attacker or attackee is too loud, both of them will be disqualified. This also goes for the dorms between 11pm and 7am, only the dorm leaders get to be the enforcers. Also, roommates… Remember, you will be living with this person for the rest of the semester. I suggest playing fairly with them and not taking their clothespins in their sleep. Just saying. But that's just a friendly piece of advice from your friendly dorm leader." Zeus took a breath and looked at his friends. "Am I missing anything?" He asked them, not caring if the rest of the school could hear him as well. Artemis and Cassie shook their heads and Apollo shrugged in response. Zeus smiled. "Awesome, I believe that is all. The rules will be posted in length in the hallways in case there are any questions. Good luck. Have fun. Don't die. Let the game begin!" He clicked off the speaker and turned to his friends. "Are you ready for this?" Artemis shook her head. "You make it sound so dramatic, it's just a game." Cassie scoffed, earning a look from Artemis. Zeus pointed at Cassie, "Even Cassie thinks that's a ridiculous statement coming from your mouth." "Cassie!" Artemis looked betrayed. "You're the one who almost burnt down the school sophomore year." Cassie said indifferently. "That was Apollo's fault!" "HEY! Was not!" Apollo yelled, drawing attention to himself as he was trying to clip his clothespin to Cassie's shirt. "Was too!" Artemis argued back. Cassie rolled her eyes and looked at Zeus as the twins continued to bicker back and forth. She received a chuckle in response. "Where'd Aether go?" Zeus asked, just now realizing his roommate had disappeared. "Hiding in his room. He didn't want to be around Apollo and a microphone. Nice save, by the way." Zeus shrugged. "If I didn't save it I figured Artemis would, which never goes well." He glanced over at the twins who were still arguing over the Disaster of Sophomore Year. Both of them sighed at the arguing twins and at the memory. "We should get them out of this office before they break something." Cassie said. "Nose goes." Zeus touched his nose quickly. She rolled her eyes and whistled at the twins. "Apollo, don't you need to go steal Tyche's clothespin before someone else does?" She raised an eyebrow at him. "Oh yeah. See you guys!" He dashed out the door. He always got his roommate's clothespin. Tyche didn't play the game so whoever was the first person to clothespin him, got his clothespin. There were quite a few students in the school who played that way. There were students who got almost ten clothespins just from knowing which students didn’t like playing. For the first few hours of the game, the halls were absolute chaos. Alliances and traps were set up, clothespins switched hands so frequently it was impossible to tell who was winning. By the time dinner came around, things were settled some. The cafeteria continued to be chaotic, however, with so many people in one place, many students took that as their chance to collect some more clothespins. Apollo showed up to dinner a little earlier than usual. He was one of the first people in line. He glanced around a lot, taking in the lay of the land. This was his last year at Delos and he was determined to win. The previous year he had gotten too sick to play effectively and the year before that had been the year Zeus won after he and Artemis almost burnt down the school. Freshman year he had been close, but he was caught stealing and was therefore disqualified. This year though, it was only the first evening and he already had seventeen clothespins. He was ready to collect some more now. He chose a table in the corner instead of the usual table that he and his friends ate at, that way he could eat without having to watch his back. He ate in peace, watching the cafeteria fill up as people arrived for dinner. At the time they usually ate Zeus and Artemis showed up. They joined Apollo at the table with their trays of food. Their usual table was still empty but they knew Apollo wouldn't move to sit with them and they really weren't that attached to their spot. They only sat there out of habit. Zeus sat down first. "How's it going, Apollo?" He looked amused by the look of concentration on his face. "Seventeen." Apollo replied. His plate was already empty. He was just preparing his attack now. "I meant like, how was your day? How was your dinner?" Zeus chuckled. Apollo blinked. "Wait, what?" He looked at Zeus. "Oh, hi. Where's Cassie?" Usually Cassie came to dinner with either Artemis or Zeus and with both of them present without her, he asked to make sure she was okay. "She went to eat with Aether by the pool." Artemis answered before Zeus could. She was sure his response would contain some sort of joke about the two of them. "Ooh, finally. Nice going, Aether." Apollo smirked. Artemis rolled her eyes while Zeus covered a laugh by taking a bite of his hamburger. "They were just making some microwave meals in their dorms and taking them there in order to avoid the game." They all overlooked the fact that there wasn't food allowed in the pool area. "Uh huh, that's what they said anyway." Zeus said before taking a sip of water. Artemis sighed. "Stop talking and finish your dinner before I scatter it, Zeus." Zeus smirked at her in response but gave in. "Okay, okay." He turned his focus completely to his food. Apollo went back to scanning the cafeteria for victims. Since he sat down he had witnessed several people attempting to steal other people's clothespins. Only a couple had succeeded. He was trying to keep track of who had the most clothespins now. When he found his target, a student with nine pins, Apollo started power searching. By now, Apollo knew most of the upperclassmen's powers. He spent a lot of time reaching out, getting a feel for their powers, and testing them out little by little. Apollo liked trying new powers though. He went for the fresh meat rather than the same old, same old. He could reach out, feel their powers, and get a general sense for the type of power someone had, but he couldn't tell you all the quirks and details that usually were learned by actually using it for a bit. With Artemis next to him he could always use her invisibility but by the time he got to the student across the cafeteria, her power would run thin on him. He didn't want to get out of range and lose it. Instead, about half way between himself and his target, he found a freshman whose power felt like Artemis's. He tapped into it, just a bit and watched as his hand disappeared. He let it go. That would work. "See you, guys." He nodded to Zeus and Artemis before getting up and walking towards his target. He stuck to the wall and didn't use the invisibility yet. He didn't want to turn invisible and have someone run into him. That would cause quite a commotion and his plan would be ruined. He got five or so tables away from the other student before taking the invisibility power he had found. Quickly, all of him disappeared from plain sight. The next step he took boomed over the noise of the full cafeteria. His eyes went wide and he looked around quickly. Was that really him? He realized his breathing was louder too. There were several students at the surrounding tables glancing towards him now. Of course, they couldn't see him, but they had heard him. There were many furrowed brows as they couldn’t see the source of the noise. Apollo would've sworn but if his breathing was this loud, he didn't want to hear his voice. Not while he was trying to hide anyway. He couldn't very well reappear now, everyone would notice. This usually wouldn't have mattered, nobody blinks an eye at people using their powers in the cafeteria, but everyone included the student with the nine clothespins he was after. Instead, of reappearing or trying to take another step, he glanced around, looking for another power he could use to finish the job. A table away he noticed one of the juniors, Rhea. He could still make this work. Rhea was the lead dancer of the dance team. Very cute if you asked Apollo. Sadly, she had a boyfriend. Apollo would've sighed thinking about it if he hadn't caught himself. No noise. More importantly at this point in time was her power, anyway. She was elastic. Apollo tapped into her power, concentrating to not let go of the other student's power as well while he did. Very slowly and very carefully he reached his hand out, stretching his arm towards his target. Luckily for him, no one tried to walk through him or his arm. He clipped the clothespin onto his target's t-shirt and then retracted his arm. The boy didn’t suspect a thing. “Aha! Got you!” Apollo whooped as he let go of both let go of both the powers he had stolen, causing him to reappear. Everyone turned towards Apollo. The student he clipped looked at his shirt sleeve in disappointment, swearing under his breath. When he looked back up at Apollo his frown turned into a slight smirk. “Apollo. You should really be paying more attention while you’re on the attack.” Artemis smirked from behind him. She had pinned all six of her clothespins on him while he had been problem solving. “I believe that means I get both of your clothespins.” She said to both Apollo and his target. Apollo turned to his twin, jaw dropped, eyes wide, in disbelief. “I can’t believe you!!!”