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ghostradiodylan · 11 months

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This is from last summer but I’m newish to the fandom and hadn’t seen it and I thought it was kind of cool to see the counselors ranked based on how good someone familiar with camp thought they’d be as actual counselors! I think Nick should be a little higher given the rope course pee pants incident he apparently handled quite gracefully and Max was left off, I assume because he’s barely playable, but should be in the upper half because he’d have all the kids saying stupid shit like “son of a binky bonky” in no time, but otherwise the reasoning seems sound.

8) Emma Mountebank

If you’ve finished The Quarry, you might be surprised to see Emma taking the bottom spot. There’s another person (who’s coming up very soon) who many would probably assume is the worst counselor of the bunch, but I actually think it’s Emma. The first clue is how much she’s on her phone the second she gets it back from the director Chris Hackett. Now, being on your phone isn’t anything new for directors to deal with. In fact, it might even be the biggest issue most directors have if they have a no-phone policy.

The issue with Emma is that she seems even more obsessed with it and her image than most normal teens. That hints to me that she’s a very self-absorbed counselor who is probably just here because she thinks it’d be fun or look good on a resume. If the game had said Emma had come to Hackett’s Quarry as a camper, I wouldn’t be surprised. You see that a lot where campers think counselors are cool so they want to be one when they get older — even if they have no desire to work with kids. Then, they just buy several sets of skorts and hang out by the tennis court all day without actually teaching anyone to play tennis. Not that that scenario has ever happened to me or anything.

These are the worst counselors. They never want to do anything and are just waiting for their next off day so they can get away from the campers. Emma tops it off by basically confirming she’s been sneaking off with Jacob all summer. I wouldn’t knock anybody too much for that. I mean, that’s how I met my wife, so I’m not going to throw much shade, but it adds up and gets her the bottom spot on my list.

7) Jacob Custos

This is probably who most people were expecting to see at the very bottom. Jacob is always hanging out with Emma, oversells his own abilities, is incredibly reckless, and is kind of an idiot. I mean, the dude pointed a loaded gun at his fellow counselors. That’s probably enough to get sent home at most camps if you’re doing that around kids.

However, we don’t see Jacob around kids and there are some hints that he could at least be the “cool counselor.” Notice, I didn’t say good, but Jacob proves several times that he’s always down to have a good time. With the right guidance, you can use someone like that to pump up kids ahead of games or pull a kid out of a bad case of homesickness.

That doesn’t make him a good counselor, but I definitely can see a world where Jacob could at least make it to mediocre. I’m not sure if I see that same potential for Emma. If nothing else, I would absolutely be getting him on the stage to do the Peanut Butter Pops song to call in campers for snack time at least once a session.

6) Nick Furcillo

Because we just don’t see much from him Nick has to rank low on this list. We do witness him being a consummate wingman for the other male counselors, which can be a good thing. If you pair him with someone like Jacob in a cabin, he can balance out that puppy dog energy and make sure kids aren’t using sunscreen for shampoo (yes, that actually happened).

Nick is firmly in the solid category of counselors, at least based on what we see. He could very well be the best of the lot, but his story doesn’t give us much time to learn about him. Though, I shouldn’t end without mentioning that his accent will definitely be a conversation starter for campers if my experience tells me anything. Just slap on that Aussie charm and at least half the camp is going to automatically think you’re the coolest dude there.

5) Abigail Blyg

Is Abigail a bad counselor? Probably not. However, we learn early in the game that she essentially doesn’t leave the art room. Some camps have counselors with specific jobs, but I’d prefer someone who’s willing to move around a bit. Even if you absolutely love the arts (or theater or sports), not doing anything else is going to make for a boring summer. If you’re getting bored, just imagine how the campers feel.

Sure, being in the air conditioning all summer is great, but the best counselors really put themselves out there and try just as many new things as the kids they’re working with. Live a little, Abi!

That said, we also see Abi being the most sensitive member of the bunch. Being more in touch with your feelings can make you an exceptional counselor if you’re paired with someone that’s a little more assertive in the cabin. I’d put Abi with someone like Kaitlyn in my youngest girl’s cabin and be pretty confident they’ll be in great hands. Abi simply ranks a little lower because she doesn’t seem as versatile as some of the other counselors and could turn into a pushover if partnered with older campers.

4) Ryan Erzahler

Ryan seems like a great counselor on the surface. Chris seems to trust him as his number one guy in the trenches and he’s usually taking charge in high-pressure situations. We also know that he’s a veteran camper, which can come in handy, especially when werewolves are stalking the camp, looking for their next bite to eat.

The issue is that Ryan seems to misuse the trust Chris gives him. Not only did he sneak his phone into his cabin (a huge no-no in the camping world), but he’s also telling ghost stories to young campers. He knows that Chris will always have his back and appears to be using that in this favor, which is never a good look for a veteran counselor. Yes, you’ve been there before, but when you start getting too comfortable, you start making mistakes.

Ryan also is a bit of a loner. We’ve got nothing against dudes who love the undead, and not every counselor needs to be as in your face as Jacob, but we need some more pep in that step, Ry-guy. I’m not expecting you to run into the mess hall singing for breakfast because I’d never ask anyone to do something I won’t. We just need some energy in that voice when we’re hanging out with campers. Some days you have to convince them they’re having fun and Ryan couldn’t do that even if they’re going to Disney World with that monotone voice.

3) Laura Kearney

Laura is probably the toughest to place. That makes a lot of sense considering she never actually came to camp for the summer. Instead, she was dealing with werewolf-adjacent things that we won’t spoil here.

What we do see is someone that’s resourceful, willing to do the dirty work, and works well with others. We also know she was set to be the nurse assistant (which isn’t something I’ve ever seen a counselor do, but every camp is different). Considering how well she handled a certain slashing during her story, we think she can probably tolerate any scrape or bruise a camper can throw at her without much problem.

Unfortunately, we don’t see enough of Laura interacting with her co-counselors to place her any higher. She might be the best counselor of the bunch, but those pesky werewolves kept us from coming to that conclusion. At the very least, we’re wholly confident that she can take care of any snake or raccoon problems the camp might run into.

2) Dylan Lenivy

Even as I made this list, Dylan’s placement surprised me. He’s kind of an idiot who’s always looking for the next quip and calls emergency services “ninety-one-one.” Can you trust someone like that? It also doesn’t seem like Dylan really believes in his director, which probably isn��t the best thing for a young counselor and, like most of these counselors, has quite the vulgar vocabulary.

However, Dylan is legitimately funny at times and kids tend to appreciate the effort even if you aren’t that funny. In fact, they tend to laugh at a lot more bad jokes than most adults I know if your delivery is on point. Plus, we see Dylan taking real initiative as both a camper and counselor in setting up and keeping the camp radio running.

That’s huge for a director. If you have someone you can trust to take something off your plate, you might well treat them as valuable as a silver bullet. Dylan might not be the best of the bunch in terms of interpersonal relationships, but he’s an asset that I’d love to see on the first day of a new summer. I just hope his taste in music is better than some of those “jokes.”

1) Kaitlyn Ka

Kaitlyn is easily the best counselor out of this bunch. She is the definition of leadership material. From the jump we see Kaitlyn taking her role at camp seriously. The majority of camp injuries happen when the counselors let their guards down and are hanging out without the campers. Even with everyone gone, Kaitlyn still maintains range discipline during Jacob and Nick’s shoot-off. She still has a good time, but lives by a director’s favorite rule: “safety never takes a holiday.”

We also know that she took over Laura’s role as the nurse assistant when Laura didn’t show up. Like Dylan, I want people on our staff that take initiative and solve problems for us. Missing two counselors for an entire summer is going to have a huge impact. If you have someone like Kaitlyn who can step up and fill that role (while still keeping up with her own responsibilities), that’s somebody you want to hold onto.

All I’m saying is that if Chris makes it through the night and isn’t calling Kaitlyn to ask her to be his assistant director next year, something’s wrong. Heck, seeing as how Chris put his entire group of campers and staff at major risk for like six years, maybe the Hackett family should just give Kaitlyn the director position at this point. At the very least, she isn’t going to be getting anyone mauled by supernatural beasts if they stick around for an extra day at their favorite summer destination.

#the quarry #the hacketteers #dylan lenivy #ryan erzahler #kaitlyn ka #Kaitlyn Ka supremacy #nick furcillo #abigail blyg #emma mountebank #jacob custos #laura kearney #max brinly #summer camp counselors

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mariatesstruther · 1 year

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good morning here’s a tlou x the office au

joel and pam are ig jim and tess, except if pam was far more confident and flirty and jim was a single father with even less patience for everyone around. at the beginning of their flirtationship, tess is in a relationship with mike, who is just? meh? he’s nice? he’s not good, he’s not bad, he’s just nice. but everyone sees the way joel looks at tess, has been looking at tess for years and years and years; they see the way sarah comes in and absolutely adores spending time with her, ditching her daddy completely in favor of spending time with “literally the coolest person ever”; they see the way tess faithfully makes both her and joel coffee every morning, even despite her claims that she “is not a goddamn coffee machine, thank you very much. everyone in here can get up to go make their own goddamn cups of coffee”; they see the way the two of them fall in love. they know it is only a matter of time (and are particularly interested in the specifics of that time, because they’re all invested in the office-wide bet of when exactly their getting-together will be)

ellie is a temp that is driving everybody crazy but also somehow simultaneously making them fall in love with her.

maria, tommy, and bill and frank, literally almost every character from game 1 and 2 under the cut!

ellie is major crushing on new hire dina in accounting, and she’s constantly hanging back there with dina and jesse, the other accountant and dina’s ex/bestie. anna is alive and super proud of her and comes to visit her on the job sometimes, which everybody adores. they all spend the day gushing to her about how awesome and whip-smart ellie is—they leave out stories like the time she and tommy set half the kitchen on fire because they put foil in the microwave

maria is ig kinda like a version of stanley that, except young and hot but still very much being slowly driven insane at this fucking job with these absolute fucking wackos. she’s their best salesman, and she’s so fucking smart about investing her money that she’s somehow absolutely loaded filthy rich on the side—to the point where everyone is a lil suspicious of what exactly she’s investing in, but whatever. she vacations in crazy expensive lavish places like luxury hotels in vegas, lake tahoe, and magnolia springs. she has also been divorced twice (not bc shes a serial cheater like stanley just bc she was too good for them and the divorce contracts she negotiated for herself were also a great way to make a lil extra money. allegedly). she is a level 10 Cat Person and has two custom-modeled cat rooms for all seven of her cats (tommy worked on a new, better, more awesome one after seeing her first)

tommy is an accountant who got hired here first as a temp as a favor to his brother; he actually really ended up loving the place, so he stayed. i think he’d be a hilarious version of meredith, not in that he has an alcohol problem but just in that he parties way to hard (and, like meredith, always somehow ends up with his shirt off) and halfway lives out of his (actually pretty lavish and cool) camper van that takes up three parking spaces and takes ten minutes to park every morning. he’s fun and friendly and head-over-heels in love with maria, who is playin a lil hard to get but only because she’s not interested in anything too serious, anything that’ll take time away from her work and her cats—she knows, somehow, that it would be serious with her and tommy. she is kindasortamaybe falling in love with him a little bit already too, so. the office also has a bet on who will get together first, between maria and tommy and tess and joel. tommy has a retired ptsd service dog named buckley that comes around the office sometimes to visit everyone and get pets and take long naps on maria’s cold feet—tommy makes sure maria knows how much buckley loves cats, too, just in case

riley is ellie’s best friend and works as a temp under marlene across the hall (she also employs abby, lev, yara, and mel), but riley comes around enough that she’s practically part of the family. she’s constantly coming over with snacks and coffees and extra smooth pens for everyone when she hangs out with ellie, so who can complain? she also has a really cute lil thing with cat, who’s temping under esther in hr. cat always cat/house-sits for maria when she goes on trips

the office is co-managed by bill and frank, with frank handling the emplyees and day to day stuff while bill mostly makes sure the walls don’t collapse in on everyone everyday (literally and figuratively. the paper business is an especially shitty one, and their building structurally is an absolute mess). 5/7 days out of the week, bill is walking around all day with workboots and his tool belt on, looking like he just came back from war

it is an incredibly good time, and it descends into chaos when a camera crew comes in to make a documentary about all of them

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anotherdayforchaosfay · 2 years

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I need 2022 to end on a high note.

This has been the hardest year of my adult life, and that's saying a lot.

This year?

Started with a letter from the IRS informing us they took our entire federal tax return because I have to pay back my "no strings attaches" stimulus check. Why? Because I'm a Disabled non-contributing member of society.

A couple weeks later we received an eviction notice, no reason provided because legally one is not required if we've lived in a place for less than a year. We had two months to find a new place. Nothing in the size we need was less than $2500/month, and everything was month-to-month. Why month-to-month? Because of the law regarding raising rent. By not having a longterm contract, the landlord can raise rent every month. Oh, and kick us out whenever they damn well please.

Began house hunting because buying a house was the only other option. FYI: there are a LOT of programs for first time homebuyers. Programs for waiving the downpayment, covering part of the mortgage, programs for the Disabled so we can afford to buy a home, etc. Get a real estate agent, a good one, and they'll find all of this and more.

Husband's previous job began cutting hours because wages are "too high." No one could work full time. Husband's paycheck was cut in half because of this.

Husband applies for new job, has three interviews and waits for almost two months while dealing with other job.

Find a house, fill out paperwork, then the person who was helping us and processing everything for extremely sick with covid. The office clerk was given the job and fucked it up. She had everything she needed, but "lost" everything and need other stuff. We were supposed to move in on June 30th. It was moved a day, so we ended up having to borrow a friend's camper while all our stuff was in the moving trucks (yes, two trucks).

Because of the delay, the cold and frozen food we had stored in the fridge went bad. It was 100 F. We lost $600 worth of food. Because of this clerk's fuckup. We didn't budget for this!

Because of the delay, the moving people we hired to load, haul, and unload ended up costing more, leaving us with nothing to tip them with. Thankfully, they didn't throw a fit and were happy with gifts we gave them.

The landlord tried pulling some illegal shit and kept our deposit while demanding $500 from us. I sent a letter to the property management company, informing them if we didn't receive our deposit soon we would take them to small claims court. I check court cases to see how often the landlords here win. They never win. The law here also states that if we did take them to small claims, the landlord would have to give us TWICE the deposit amount. If we won, which we would, the landlord would have to cover our court costs as well, bring their bill to around $7k. Giving us our deposit back was in their best interests.

Husband got the new job and just days later we get sick. At my urging, we went to a clinic and got tested for covid. Came back positive. The new job is union, so no job loss due to being sick.

Husband got only fatigue, exhaustion, and his sense of smell and taste got weird.

I got a runny nose and congestion so severe, I ended up using a netipot 4-6 times a day for two weeks. Diarrhea like I'd eaten something with gluten in it. This required eating unripe bananas three times a day. Thankfully, two of Husband's DnD players were happy to go shopping for us and drop things off. I had pain everywhere. Moving around was a nightmare. Exhaustion like I had never experienced before. A fever for a week even while I had a constant full dose of Tylenol in my system. The fever ended up damaging my brain and now I have brain fog. I did pneumonia exercises to prevent pneumonia; I have epilepsy and asthma, both of which making getting/being sick an absolute nightmare.

It wasn't until the middle of November when the last of my symptoms finally ended. The worst that lingered was a weird pain in my left calf. It made walking extremely difficult, especially when the pain migrated down to my foot and ankle. It was like my body was remembering pain I had before. I still have brain fog and no idea when or if this will fix itself.

Wildfire smoke blanketed our area, making it difficult to recover from covid, and even after the tests came back negative, I was still suffering. Said suffering was made worse by the smoke, even with two air purifiers running and every window and door closed. For several months, it felt like I was wearing a too small corset too tightly.

Finally received our deposit from the landord this month. Used that to cover the costs of a few things, plus treating ourselves because this year has been shit.

Jasper, our cat, became fatally ill and had to be euthanized two days ago. I've talked about it a lot, so no need to mention more here.

I'm unable to focus long and well enough to get any sewing done, which means adding more inventory to my shop has been slowed. I had intended to work on holiday stuff in September, but got sick with covid and couldn't work on anything until October. Now it's more like I'm preparing for nest year.

Husband has a massive cyst at the base of his spine that needs to be drained. He's had cysts there twice before, but in his 20s. We think this was triggered due what he leans on when having a break at work. It's the corner of a cement thing and it rested right there on the spot where the cyst is. He wanted to drain it at home last night, and we tried. He woke up in even more pain, and is now at an urgent care clinic. I'm signing him up for insurance today because he's been delaying it for months. The insurance is provided by his employer. It won't cover today, but I did tell him to pick up financial aid paperwork before he gets home.

I need December to be amazing, great, wonderful, full of happy things and good news. No more bad news this year, no more bad things. I need this to end on a high note of positive and not sink into shit again when the new year starts.

I am so fucking tired.

#chaosfay talks

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the-firebird69 · 1 month

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This is a Troy-Bilt trailer meant for the lawn mower what he's saying is you build a Troy-Bilt trailer with Street you know road worthy tires for a load and it's a real trailer with two wheels are larger with four wheels and you keep that simple and you can have a regular bed or a steak bed or dump bed for both sizes and ramps that actually work and that's it and then you would sell these trailers first and then we can start selling the truck and somebody says it's a good idea I'm not sure who

Thor Freya

We're going to sell these hopefully RTA so you get it at your house and it would be a trailer and probably about 30 pieces and you would assemble it and a lot of people like doing that cuz they know that it's assembled right and he has love trailers and then a small camper on the two wheel and a very small camper no bigger camper on the four wheel and it would be nice on the small camper would be very teeny but it would fold out and we know how to do it into a tent that has hard size they're thin but they're they're hard and that's what people like it's really needed but this is the idea and he has a fun idea too that you get the Troy-Bilt utility vehicle and it has the rise up cap and you're connected to the Troy-Bilt trailer tent solid or hard tent and it'd be a bridge made out of something that you can actually walk on and it would be inside the truck that would have a camper of course and people like it it would have a camper or do you pop up we just rise up the the rear end cap. So these are ideas and for a regular camper too but Troy-Bilt would be RTA so you're going to have a seriously large amount of money saved because you assemble it and all of it comes ready for you to assemble just like the Troy-Bilt did and it would be about 14 ft by almost 7 ft wide which is a decent size camper it's just a little bit smaller than what our son had he had a 17 ft but these days they can fit more in and we can sell it for about $7,500 nowadays those go for $15,000 it's half price with everything that you have in a camper that size and people would love it it would sell like madness they would love putting it together and our son wants to buy one today as a backup or you can put Ken out back. There's a huge number of things like that that he's thinking of because he's being oppressed and mistreated they think they're getting stuff and they're not getting anywhere they always think if they know about it they get it it's not true it's sort of know about it and they might not get anything. But that's not how they think. Right now we are putting together a package that package is for this type of thing and it's a full-blown trailer for an automobile and we're going to try and sell it and RTA and with the dot papers and the warranty and guarantee and everything and we would sell it to lawn mower companies I understand places like home Depot and Lowe's and all sorts of places where the 14-footer would be for two lawn mowers and they sort of get the idea now and we can have a closed utility trailer and build that up front too and you agrees that's RTA now that one you have the kit and it comes with everything except for a portion of the walls because their plywood and certain types of wood and we have all the fasteners and clips and you just go down the street will you order it really and you have them drop it off it's easier and you can get it anywhere and everything else comes in a small box like 8 ft by 6 ft by 10 ft really they put it in a couple boxes but it's really not hard to handle and you assemble the box you put it all together and when you start to get the VIN number and you go to the DMV and you tell him what it is it shows all the dot spec and you have a cut sheet that comes with it and your registered insurance that's it there you go build it they don't require you to bring it down if they do we do various friends so this is another idea this is a great one and he says to make accessories like this and work our way towards the vehicle next month and make the prototypes now and test them out all month long while we try and sell this equipment to do our pre-sales kind of thing or whatever you call it and Troy-Bilt the company is no longer in business so we like what he's saying and we want to have our lawn mowers out there they are still rolling lawns and they are doing that type of thing and we have a machine it's a Troy-Bilt and you can treat the manure so we'll try and sell that too and RTA

Frank Castle hardcastle

There's a lot of things to be angry about with this guy next door and his son I just found about 200 more so I'm going after them right now too

Duke Nukem Blockbuster

Olympus

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ecodweeb · 2 years

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Grieving with an EV: not out of range for a rural southern funeral

Death is never an easy topic to broach, but it is a fact of life that all of us will attend a funeral or visit a loved one on their deathbed. This is my memoir of the final days of my papaw's life, and what it was like relying on a fully electric Audi etron SUV to get me there.

My 94-year old grandfather was a World War II veteran, retired Greyhound mechanic, father of 5, grandfather of 4, great-grandfather to 6, and a widower since 1990. Always quick to share a story, he was known for his famous cracklin cornbread and drinking cold coffee. He loved his cats, turnip greens, and hearing about his sons hunting trips.

Wednesday, July 6, 2022

It was my first day back at work after coming home from the Southern GA campground (which was not the pleasant 4th of July we'd hoped for given a camper unrelated to our clan died in the wee hours of July 4). My dad called me and told me Grandpa was back in the hospital with an infected toe. This is the second time he's been admitted to the hospital, the first time was the last week of June for high potassium -- he was discharged the Friday we left to go camping. My dad sounded concerned and said he'd have an update tomorrow.

Thursday, July 7, 2022

My dad called and said that the infection was in his bones. They may have to amputate the left leg below the knee. He said if I could, I needed to come say goodbye to him because he likely wouldn't survive the surgery. I frantically re-packed my bags with the expectation to stay two weeks in the Memphis area. He was hospitalized in Oxford, MS - a good 1.5 hour drive away from Memphis - so I was going to have to drive to/from the hospital to see him. As I am loading the car I realize the rear tires are showing a cord. They need to be replaced immediately. My husband places the order thru his work and says I'll need to go get them from the distributer at 9am Friday and his work will put them on for me. I move around my work cases to other team members and lay down for a fitful nights sleep.

Friday, July 8, 2022

I went to the gym at 7 and did some lifting to help calm me down. I had no less than four meetings via Zoom to attend or host. I also have a strained relationship with my family, and I'm one to fret - so this wasn't going to be an easy day to keep my emotions in check. After the gym I went to the tire distributer and picked up the tires, then beelined to my husband's BMW dealership to have them installed. Our friend who is a service writer greeted me with a hug and said they'd get it worked in as soon as possible. He asked if I wanted to have the shuttle take me home, and I was OK to sit in the waiting area but my husband came around the corner and said to take his car home. So I did, and I was reminded how much I can't stand the lowering springs impact on the already harsh suspension of an electric Smart car.

About an hour or so later they called me and said the Audi was ready. I drove the Smart back up and plugged it into the public charger outside the dealership. Our friend the service advisor brought my car around and gave me another hug and told me to text him when I made it. I said I would, jumped in the car, and headed west. My first stop was the Electrify America in Statesville, NC which took me around 2.5 hours with traffic.

I managed to time it so that my first three meetings started right as I got in the car and during my charge at the Statesville station. The car finished charging before the meeting ended, and I had ample time to run into the McDonald's for a bathroom break and a burger since the next meeting wouldn't be for an hour. As I left the McDonalds, it began to rain. This would add a solid half hour delay in reaching the Asheville charger, but thankfully I was only there 10 minutes. My next long charge would be in Kodak, TN - which the rain added another half hour delay prior to arrival. The rain did let up just enough for me to plug in without getting wet.

Saturday, July 9, 2022

My next stop would be Cookeville, which is the half-way point give or take and where I go back in time as I enter the Central Time Zone. From there I stopped in Franklin (as Nashville was one solid red line on the map due to traffic), and then Jackson - which is where the rain finally stopped. I rolled into the Electrify America in Memphis just after 2am and made it to my friends house around 3:20am. I don't remember unpacking the car, I just crawled into bed and crashed hard. But it was short lived, I was back up by 8am to get back on the road to visit Papaw in the Rehab center of Oxford, Mississippi.

Sleep was deep but short. I was meeting my uncle David, his wife, my Aunt Louise, and her daughter Shannon at the rehab center at 11. Since I woke up so early, I drove down to Southaven Mississippi's Harley dealer and used the low-speed 24kW DC ChargePoint station there. It's off-network, but it works. I charged to around 90% and headed down to Oxford's McDonalds. The McDonald's has a 10kW Level 2 Blink station, I charged at it while I had breakfast for about 45 minutes before the family let me know they were close by. I drove the 2 miles to the rehab center and snagged one of the last two parking spaces -- the other taken by my family moments after I arrived. I haven't seen my aunt or her daughter in over 10 years, so there were hugs and light conversation about fostering dogs and foster failures (where you start fostering and then adopt the dog) as we made our way inside. We all masked up, washed our hands, entered our information into the computer and were given the 4-digit code to unlock all the doors of the facility. My other uncle, Barry, made it up about an hour after we got there.

We wandered down the hallway and found him laying in bed in his room. I suppose you should know that he'd been in the VA Home for about a year and in the first two weeks he fell and broke his hip. He has largely been bed or chair bound ever since that surgery. Boy did he light up when I walked in the room. As I'd find out later, this was one of his sharper days. He knew who everyone was, and his stories were coherent. We fed him lunch, and stayed with him as he slept and we told stories of our memories with him. We stayed up there 5 or 6 hours, and I hadn't eaten since I got to the McDonald's. Everyone decided to go to Olympic Steak and Pizza in Arlington, TN for dinner. Uncle David's wife rode with me, while David took Louise back to her house to let her dog out.

The ride to the restaurant was over an hour away, and we talked a lot about my relationship with my family along the way. It was really cathartic, in some ways, but it also made me feel like I'd missed out on so much too. Uncle Barry beat us to the restaurant and got a table, and shortly after we arrived David and Louise arrived -- Shannon needed to go home to tend to her own pets so she skipped dinner. The conversation was lighthearted, with everyone asking about my husband and my job and thankfully avoided topics like politics or vaccinations. After dinner we all hugged and said we'd see each other next week. I headed back to Wolfchase where I charged my car from 22-100% and then drove back to Midtown to hang out with my friends I was staying with. I was going to be spending a lot of time at Wolfchase, as I couldn’t even Level 1 charge the Audi at my friend’s home and the closest Level 2 was more than a mile away and always in use it seemed.

Sunday, July 10, 2022

I took my eldest cousin, Kristen, to see grandpa today. She’s not speaking with her dad (Uncle David) right now, and because she’s had so many not-at-fault accidents on the highway, she won’t drive long distances. I started the day out at the Whole Foods, hoping to top off my car and have breakfast. Their charger was powered off, I had to ask the lady at the front desk to throw the breaker for it. She did, and it powered up and I was able to charge at 6kW just fine. As I was getting plugged in, a retired police officer stopped and started talking to me about the car. He said his wife just got a Q7 and if they’d know these were a thing they’d have really considered it. After this conversation, I popped into the store to find a very sad breakfast buffet. I paid way too much for way too mediocre food, but I really wasn’t in the mood to eat so it was fine. After I ate I left and picked up my cousin from her apartment near Memphis State University (now called University of Memphis, but it’ll always be Memphis State to me). I told her we were going to stop at a Walmart in Collierville so we could get grandpa some deodorant and snacks.

We stopped at the walmart and we did get him deodorant, a table lamp, and some food -- mostly heat and eat “soup at hand” stuff, but I wanted him to try something new so I picked up some hummus (he hated it, but was really polite about not liking it). Grandpa was in good spirits today, his memory was better than the day before. He told Kristen that her sister was coming to see him and she’d been by a few days before. While we were there the nurse came in with his actual lunch, so we took turns feeding him. After lunch and watching some TV, Kristen and I decided we should go get our own lunch and head back to Memphis.

We ate at McAlister’s Deli -- which started in Oxford, MS -- and we had a pretty involved conversation about all the topics I don’t like: guns, government regulation, and conspiracies. At one point during the conversation I thought a guy in camo a few booths away was going to say something. I’ve never felt like I fit into this part of the world, not since I was a little child. Moments like this only reinforced that feeling. After lunch, we took the non-highway route back to her apartment and I dropped her off. She thanked me for taking her to see grandpa in my “fancy space car. “ I gave her a hug and I headed back out to Germantown to charge the car, again.

I used to work at the Best Buy that is in the parking lot next to where the Electrify America DC fast chargers are located. It was nostalgic to sit in a parking spot I used to park my Ford Taurus to eat lunch when I didn’t want to be in the breakroom some 20 years prior. Only two of the four stations at this location worked 100% of the time. One was always down, one worked some days with a phone tap and others it said available but didn’t recognize your phone or respond to a start request from the mobile app. Nobody else was at the charger this day, and my 40 minutes flew by. I stopped by Exlines Pizza and got myself “the best pizza in town,” then went back to my friend Jeremy’s home and settled in, preparing for the week ahead.

Wednesday, July 13, 2022

My grandpa had said that he wanted a slugburger -- a wartime era soy and hamburger or pork mixed burger that is a staple to northern Mississippi -- from the White Trolley in Corinth, Mississippi (where his sister lived). I decided that today I was going to work remotely from his room and get him that slugburger. So I left midtown Memphis and drove to Wolfchase Commons in Germantown to charge, then drove 90-miles to the White Trolley in Corinth, Mississippi for his burgers, drove 90 miles back to the chargers at Wolfchase, and finally drove down to Oxford to see him.

He never at the burgers. When I got into the patient area, his nurse stopped me in the hall and said “he’s in rare form today.” The lady in the room across from him closed her door, he’d apparently been yelling at her all morning. What I witnessed in the room this day broke me. He was having hallucinations, asking me if I’d seen the little grey kitten with the striped tail. He was holding a full on conversation with my grandmother who died over 30 years ago. He kept trying to stand up -- which he cannot -- and I had to sooth him back into his bed. I didn’t get much work done, I tried to do a troubleshooting session and one of the engineers didn’t show up and the one who did told me that he was going to pray for me and that (based on what he overheard as I was trying to clam grandpa down during our meeting) I should spend as much time with my grandpa as I could.

When I left I sat in the car and cried for a while. Finally I started the car and drove back up to Wolfchase to charge. There was a Rivian truck charging when I got there, but the other station was open for me to use. After charging I went to my friend’s house and went to bed, crying myself to sleep.

Saturday, July 16, 2022

It was Saturday, which meant “the family” (sans my parents who visited him M-F and took Sat and Sun off - in part because of tensions within the family about my parents care decisions, but I won’t go there) was going to visit him again. This time my younger cousin Stephanie, her husband and their three kids would be coming. I haven’t seen Steph in quite a while and was really looking forward to giving her a hug and seeing her youngest child for the first time.

They got there late, they live in Arkansas and had a lot of traffic on the way in. When they arrived, they brought Krystal burgers and my grandpa happily ate as many as Steph would feed him. Grandpa loved his grand kids and he loved his great grand kids even more -- when he could remember them. Dementia is cruel, erasing the youngest great-grands from his memory first. It was hard when he couldn’t recognize his adult kids, it was harder to see him not fully remember who is great-grandson was.

After our visit, we all went back to the restaurant we ate at the week prior. I asked if anyone wanted to ride with me to the restaurant, and Steph’s two girls yelled “WE DO” as they bolted for my Audi. I’d not spent a lot of time with these two since my mom had her hysterectomy in 2014 and I took FMLA to help care for her since dad was still working and messed up the days off for the surgery. The younger daughter fell asleep in the back of the car before we got off the highway that leads into Oxford, but the eldest sat up front with me and talked the entire hour-plus drive to the restaurant. I didn’t mind, she reminded me a lot of myself and I enjoyed listening to someone who had such enthusiasm and joy in their voice. After we ate at the restaurant, we all said our good-byes and I once again headed back to Wolfchase to recharge my Audi.

Sunday, July 17, 2022

I called an old High School friend and she said to come pick her up and we’d wander the city and talk. We ended up stopping by our old high school, which is now a church, and they let us wander around the place. We actually snuck into the closed-off portion of the place, what used to be the high school wing, via the unlocked door on the upper level of bleachers. The tenant before the Church was a college, and they’d done some big renovations to what were once good sized class rooms. It was incredibly nostalgic, and hard to believe it was the same place we spent more than half our school life in.

Afterward, we went shopping at the discount and outlet stores that were open. After several hours, we stopped at McAlister’s near her house for dinner. When we got to her house, I then got into a several-hours-long conversation with her husband about EVs, tech in general, and their camping adventures. I needed this day, it recharged my soul -- and I reflected on how thankful I was to still have friends in a city I’d not lived in for over 20 years as I recharged the car back at Wolfchase before heading to my friend’s for the night.

Monday, July 18, 2022

This would be the last time that I’d see my grandfather alive. I woke up early and headed to Oxford. Today the family was meeting with the doctors/nurses to discuss the long-term plan for Grandpa. I got there early enough to fully charge the battery from 59% to 100%. This was the first time I’d seen my dad this entire trip, but he and my mother had been on the phone a fair amount. Wounds weren’t healed, but we had a mutual situation to contend with. While waiting for the staff to arrive, I got an earful about “I wish I could fly, but they require you to be vaccinated and you can’t make me.” I decided right then and there that I’d had enough of my family and was going to go home on Wednesday.

The nurses finally met with us and basically said that they were going to try and give him a heavy antibiotic treatment to try and kill the bacteria infection in the bone of his toe. They stressed that if they didn’t see any response to the treatment within two weeks that they advised we set up hospice. We left the hospital going our separate ways and I called my mother-in-law for a shoulder to process this heavy information. We talked the hour or so it took to get to the charging station, where I charged up and then picked up another Exlines pizza and headed to my friend Ann’s house for dinner.

Ann is a dear and beloved family friend who I’ve known since seemingly forever. Her son and my Uncle (on my mom’s side) were best friends and went to school together. Ann and my Grandma (mom’s side) were close friends for a long time. Ann was like another mother to me, and I always make a point to see her if I can when I visit the city. Ann let me plug the car into her garage outlet (120v), so the car could top off a little bit while we hung out. I got her caught up on the drama of work, grandpa, my family, and life in general while we munched on the best pizza in town and polished off a bottle of wine. Again, this was much needed comfort during a tumultuous time.

Tuesday, July 18, 2022

While handling my work related meetings and situations, I kept looking at Petfinder in hopes I’d find a Siamese cat that could take the place of my beloved blind Flame Point Siamese who passed away in March. I got lucky, there was a Siamese cat in Senatobia, Mississippi. I called and the cat was still available, so I jumped in the car and went down there. I was told the cat was female and declawed, but the cat I met was male and fully clawed. Given the 45 minute drive, and the fact that the lady was like “the fact he’s a boy doesn’t change your interest does it?” I felt like if I didn’t take him, he’d be euthanized. So I adopted him.

Digger the cat would turn out to be one of my bigger regrets during this trip, but I didn’t know that he was going to mark territory despite being neutered because our ancient Lilac-point Siamese chases him out of “her rooms.” I digress, I did clear it with my friends that I could board a cat at their house for the day, and they agreed. I let Digger out of his carrier and he hid under their king sized bed in the spare room. I left him be to settle and my friends took me to the Midtown Concourse for drinks.

Wednesday, July 19, 2022

The Museum of Science and History (formerly the Pink Palace Museum) was hosting a show called “Rise UP” about the Stonewall riots and LGBTQ rights. I called a friend of mine who lives in Chattanooga and he said he’d love to see it, but he could only make the trip on Wednesday. So he drove in to town (Tuesday night actually, he stayed at an Airstream on Airbnb not far from where my friends house is), and we went to the exhibit.

The exhibit also had an incomplete history of LGBTQ Memphis -- which brought me to tears. They had shirts from MAGY (Memphis Area Gay Youth), and habits from the local order of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, along with a complete list of defunct Gay Bars from years gone by.

I couldn’t tell you how long we spent in the museum. We had to stop and I needed to sit to dry my eyes. For the first time in my life I saw my culture’s history on display in a positive light. I watched as parents - heterosexual parents - walk their children through the exhibit and explain things to them. Not even my friend from Chattanooga could keep his eyes dry during the tour.

After thoroughly crying and releasing a ton of endorphins, we hit up the gift shop where I bought a ton of stuff and had a very fun interaction with a Millennial and GenZ worker about AOL Instant Messenger.

Once we left the museum, I went back to my friend’s home to pack up my stuff as I was following my Chattanooga friend back to his house for the night before I drove the rest of the way home on Thursday. Digger the cat was not about to go back in his carrier. I spent the better part of 45 minutes pulling apart the bed and chasing him around the room before I finally managed to catch him (and get scratched to high hell) and get him in the carrier. My friend’s girlfriend told me that she almost came in the room to check on me given the commotion but said she didn’t because the last thing any of us needed was to lose the cat in another part of the house. After hugging everyone goodbye, we headed east towards Chattanooga.

My Chattanoogan friend drives a Chevy Bolt, so both of us had to stop and charge to get to his house. We stopped in Jackson, TN and then in Franklin TN and finally in Manchester before getting to his home. The stop in Franklin was at Nissan North America’s Headquarters, where we saw a Nissan Ariya SUV sitting at one of their charging stations. I didn’t add a lot of charge here, but this stop was mainly for the Bolt. I topped off to 95% in Manchester, arriving in Chattanooga with 66%.

My friend had to back the car down his extremely steep driveway. I’ve taken my Enegica motorcycle up and down this driveway several times over the years, but I just couldn’t seem to get the Audi down it... or back out of it. I had Tyler do that for me both times.

Thursday, July 20, 2022

I worked until 4pm and then packed up and headed the rest of the way home via Atlanta -- I did not have it in me to contend with the mountains and rain. I got home at 11pm and went straight to bed.

Wedsday, July 27, 2022

My dad called me and said that the doctors have advised that we transition grandpa into hospice. They said that he is in such bad shape they can’t move him from his bed or it will kill him. Any hope we had of hospice at home was dashed, he was going to take his last breath at the hospital. I was told that I needed to get ready to come back for the funeral -- they estimated 48 hours before he would be gone.

Thursday, July 28, 2022

I’d taken the Audi back to the dealer to have the rear cupholder replaced (out of pocket since they told me, only after they ordered the part, that the CPO warranty didn’t cover it). This was an in-and-out service, but they did was and vacuum the car for me. When they brought it up, I locked the car and then tried to unlock it with the remote so I could pick my driver profile and get the seats and mirrors set back to my settings. The car wouldn’t unlock. The battery in the keyfob had died once again. The service advisor replaced the battery on the spot -- making me take the key out of the rubber cover I keep it in -- and a new battery was put in. Once I got in the car, I noticed that the front arm rest was broken. This was salt in the wound for me emotionally. They got it fixed up quickly, and I headed home waiting for the inevitable news.

Friday, July 29, 2022

Before my dad called to tell me grandpa had passed, I started getting bombarded with pictures in text messages from everyone in the family. That’s when I knew he’d passed, and the call from dad confirmed it. Dad said that his older brother was driving down on Saturday from Iowa because he was about to have dental surgery when my dad called him. I was then informed that I was responsible for making the memorial slideshow/video that would play during the funeral and that everyone was going to send me pictures. There was no “do you mind,” this was an assignment and I was not thrilled with it.

Then came the argument in the group text about when the funeral would be. Many wanted to do it Sunday, and I refused. I had pushed off a tattoo session for over a month now, and I was going to get inked on Saturday and we would show up to Memphis sometime Sunday. They agreed Monday, then Tuesday, then Monday was set in stone. I dug out the old MacBook and began to use iMovie to make a slide show of the photos everyone sent me.

Saturday, July 30, 2022

I drove my Smart car (Gopher) to my tattoo appointment. Kelli worked quickly as she knew we needed to hit the road as soon as this was over. I really don’t like traveling with fresh ink, but I didn’t have much choice.

We were on the road by 2:30pm. We planned to drive until we got to the Cookeville TN area and then we’d get a hotel for the night. During my 3,700-mile motorcycle trip, I stayed at the La Quinta in Cookeville and we’d intended to stay there... except they had no vacancy. John found another hotel with a Level 2 charger near by, and we stayed there for the night. The ChargePoint charger was unable to connect to the network, but it worked with a tap of my phone and didn’t bill us for the charge.

Sunday, July 31, 2022

Before we went to bed I attempted to burn the slideshow to a DVD for the funeral home and the disc burner I had wasn’t working anymore. It was easily a decade or more old, so I placed a pick up order at the Walmart next door for a brand new DVD burner. We picked up the burner and some breakfast, then headed on towards Memphis while I burned DVDs in widescreen and 4:3 aspect ratios.

We stopped by the funeral home and dropped off the DVD. The guy said he’d call me if he had any problems with it -- thankfully he did not. After charging the car at Wolfchase, we stopped by my friend Michael’s home to pick up the floral arrangement his wife had made for us. She makes the most beautiful arrangements, and it made the car smell so nice.

After we got the flowers, we headed to the Peabody Hotel in Memphis. Why are we staying here? Well, my husband’s family has a Wildlife trust fund, and the hotel stay for this trip was being covered by the trust. We had arranged to meet with the Memphis Zoo on Tuesday to discuss funding part of their reptile cryogenics program - it was the highlight of the trip that I looked forward to since the Museum of Science and History wasn’t open on Monday or Tuesday so I couldn’t take my husband to see the Stonewall exhibit. My husband ordered the Jack Daniels package, which included a keep-sake cookbook.

After unpacking, we cashed in on the free charcuterie board and had a drink before my mom called and asked if we’d bring the flowers down to them and visit with my Aunt, Uncle, and Cousins from Iowa. So we drove down to their home in Byhalia, Mississippi and hung out for a few hours eating leftovers and sharing stories of years gone by. This was the first time anyone other than my parents had met my husband, and I’m happy that it went over much better than I expected. Around 11pm we headed back to the hotel for the night and to prepare for the big day tomorrow.

Monday, August 1, 2022

We woke up before 7am and were on the road by 7:30am to Corinth for the funeral. The memorial/viewing was to be held at the funeral home there, then we would drive to Pickwick, TN to bury him next to my granny. We stopped by Casey Jones Village in Jackson, TN for breakfast -- and I cried the entire way there. Casey Jones Village place holds a special place in my heart, it was one of my favorite places to visit as a child. Unfortunately, some things don’t age well: the breakfast was terrible, but not overpriced. The menu was extremely simple and nothing like I remember. The general store itself seemed to be less than half the size of what I remembered. They did have Level 2 chargers, which was a bonus, but we still ended up at the Walmart down the street to fully charge the car.

After leaving Jackson we made it to the funeral home. I was not exactly nervous about the state of charge and the driving I knew we had to do, but I would have felt better if we could have added some more range to the car while we spent half the day at the funeral home.

The service was great, lots and lots of great stories were told and all the flowers were beautiful. Everyone, and I mean everyone, met my husband. My mother, surprisingly, had no problem calling him “Chris’s husband,” where my sweet Aunt would stammer and say “Chris’s spouse” finally. Nobody made a scene about it. I got a lot of compliments on the video I made, and the staff at the funeral home thanked me for making a DVD that played.

We all loaded up into our cars and rode in procession from Corinth to Pickwick, about 25 miles, at a very slow pace. I was able to use my regen paddles to add a little bit of range back to the car. The grave side Military service was short and sweet, which was thankful given it was a very hot August day. Afterward, most everyone headed back to my parent’s home for dinner. John and I said we needed to go charge the car (since we had no way to do it at their house -- despite my dad being a welder, he doesn’t have a single 240v outlet we could plug into anywhere on the property).

The drive back to Wolfchase in Germantown was... stressful. There was a really, really strong headwind and I watched a 25 mile buffer drop to 10 miles in a short span of time. I ticked “avoid highways” on the nav system and that got us away from the highway with the headwind and we wound our way around western TN passing by the area my mom’s mother lived at for many years. We got on 64 (Summer Ave) and we hit turtle mode about two lights before the shopping center with the chargers. There was one other car at the charger, and we plugged in. I called my cousin and asked if her sister would stop and let me copy the video she took of the grave side service, but they were pressed for time and couldn’t. Ultimately I got that video from her via a shared Google Drive link and made a memorial DVD that I mailed out to all the surviving family.

We did not make it back to my parents house, instead we got dinner at the hotel (with a really cute chocolate duck dessert) and went to bed. It was a long, emotional day and I was ready to rest.

Tuesday, August 2, 2022

After a leisurely breakfast at the Peabody Hotel, my husband and I arrived at the Memphis Zoo around 11am and met with the head of the cryogenics department. They fed us a really great deli lunch while going over their program and its history in a PowerPoint. Afterward, we got a very cool tour of the zoo and saw the cryogenic lab.

The Zoo is working to restore the natural population of the Louisiana Pine Snake. We got to see the “snake factory” where they captive breed these snakes to release into the wild. I don’t like snakes, but their passion made me love these creatures and respect their place in the ecosystem.

After our visit at the zoo, we went back to the hotel in time to see the Peabody Ducks leave the fountain and march to the elevator to head back up to their roof-top roost for the night. I’m from Memphis and I’d only ever seen this once before. My husband attempted to get me the Duck Master package, which is where you get to lead the ducks, but both slots were already sold out for Tuesday.

Finally, after seeing the ducks do their march, we picked up my friends I’d been staying with and took them with us to dinner with the head of the crogenics program at the Memphis Zoo at the Coastal Fish Company located inside Shelby Farms. We had a wonderful dinner, talked about the Zoo’s work and non-work stuff, and just had a good time. One of my favorite parts of meeting potential grantees is the dinner (and, yes, the trust decided to fund their work).

We dropped my friends back at their house after dinner and returned to the Peabody to enjoy our last night in the South’s Grand Hotel. The Peabody has charging stations, but only the Valet can access -- my husband rode with him to ensure he plugged the car in correctly and left instructions on having to unlock the car and press the release button in the charge port before you can unplug the car.

We left at 9:30am after having one last breakfast at the hotel and stopped in Jackson for our first charge. My beloved husband drove the entire way home, since I’d been doing all the driving up to this point. I managed to sleep a little in the car, waking up at charging stops. There were no hiccups or issues charging on our way home, and we arrived home just after midnight.

Final Thoughts

I wish I didn’t have to make these trips. I spent the majority of July away from home, depending on public charging in a region of the country with very little infrastructure. Everything worked fine, and the only time I had any concern was coming back from Pickwick. Would I have taken a gas car? No, honestly I liked these baked in quiet moments to charge the car by myself. It allowed me time to think, process, grieve, and breathe. I don’t have a tally on the total cost of these trips, I do know the Electrify America charges total just over $291 and represent over 4,000 (probably closer to 5,000) miles of driving.

#blog #funeral #audi #etron #evadventures #2022

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munsonsmischief · 2 years

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obviously the push for stancy this season was obnoxious and excruciating to watch but i have some thoughts so stick with me.

nancy never wanted a nuclear family, she actually resented that idea for some time. so, why would steve ever think he’d be her future ? like even if they got back together, she wouldn’t fit into that fantasy he has in his head. but that’s just it, it’s all a fantasy to them. it’s a comfort thing for both of them. nancy likes steve around because he’s familiar and things with steve were straightforward, not complicated. she’s having issues with jonathan because of long distance and also the pressure of making it through college. same goes with steve. he’s not having any luck in love like he’s used to and what he does get is unfulfilling. he’s very unsatisfied with his love life but here comes nancy and it’s all too convenient that they’re spending so much time together again in the same situation that brought nancy and jonathan together. the thing with steve though is that i think he truly does want a family, a huge one. he’s been alone his whole life, felt abandoned and neglected by his own parents in that big house. now he’s taken in 6 kids that feel like his own with how much he watches over them and does for them. he can’t see his life being any other way than that picture. however, we add eddie into steve’s equation. eddie is different in every way from nancy. but the thing about eddie is that he fits into steve’s life. eddie is not only dedicated to a portion of steve’s own kids but he spends his time picking up “lost sheep” and taking them under his wig, protecting them and giving them a place to feel like they belong. i think part of steve realizes this and that allows him to soften up to eddie, plus he sees how much dustin cares for him and how they are with each other and his jealousy turns into an understanding. speaking of that jealousy, let’s talk about that. both eddie and steve are jealous of each other. it seems like most of it stems from dustin and how he talks about both of these figures in his life. steve thinks he’s getting replaced well eddie feels like he can never live up to who steve is to dustin. neither realize that they both are kept on the same pedestal, neither of them realize that’s possible. until they have that “heart-to-heart” bro pal moment in the upside down. whenever steve is in proximity to eddie, eddie always has his attention. steve is watching him like a damn hawk, every single flicker of movement and his eyes are on him right away. and eddie, eddie with all the confidence in the world unashamedly flirts with steve every chance he gets. he’s always in his space, always seeking a reaction and never shying away from letting it be known he feels some type of way for steve. that freaks steve out. he’s not used to that. he’s used to girls flirting with him shamelessly. he’s used to girls being interested in him. he’s used to a girl filling that role in his family because that’s all he’s know. he’s seen it in his parents, in nancy’s parents, in his old friend’s parents, in loads of families in town and all around because this was the 80s in Indiana. he can’t just start having a whole sexuality crisis in the middle of the end of hawkins (AGAIN) where his kids’ lives are on the line. he can’t start fantasizing about a life that’s different and new and unknown to him. he can’t start thinking about eddie no matter how much it makes sense to him, no matter how bad he wants to, no matter how hard eddie makes it to ignore that part of his brain itching to do something because eddie. so he does the very homosexual act of gay panicking. he reverts back to that comfort, back to that familiarity of nancy, of a hetero nuclear family. it’s interesting to me that his life isn’t a white picket fence with a three-story house and endless backyard. no, it’s him, his partner, and “six little nuggets” on the road, seeking adventure, traveling to california and beyond in a camper.

hm. i wonder who would be totally okay with living the rest of their life in a camper. i wonder whose idea it was to steal said rv. i wonder who was thrilled at the idea of steve taking charge and driving said rv. i wonder who was headbanging in the back of said rv when they were stealing it and driving away like a bat out of hell. I WONDER WHO. you know who wouldn’t be okay with all of that, though ? nancy. because nancy has her dreams, her ambition cannot be tamed. that’s her whole thing. that’s why jonathan doesn’t tell her he’s not going to school with her because of how important her dreams are to her. her life and what she wants to do could obviously chance but nancy is headstrong and tenacious and when she knows what she wants, she knows how to get it. it doesn’t seem like her dream of being a journalist and going to school for that is faltering, especially NOT for a fantasy that isn’t her own. all i’m saying is that it’s very clear that steve is bi and he was panicking and eddie was the perfect option to fit into his lil family and dustin had his two beautiful parents right in front of them. the duffers could’ve given us SO. MUCH. BETTER.

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brwnicons · 3 years

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slasher with a reader who is latina? ( like from chile and they made completos , empanadas,mote with quesillo)

Slashers x Chilean reader 🇨🇱

☆ No especificaste qué slashers querías así que hice algunos que se me ocurrieron, espero te guste <3 ☆

-> Includes: Jason, Hannibal, Brahms and Chromeskull

-> Summary: headcanons + bit of scenario, fluff, reader's gender is neutral

-> Warnings / Triggers: Mentions of food, mention of cannibalism in Hannibal's and sexual innuendo from Chromeskull at the end

Please tell me if you find any mistake

Jason

• He doesn't know a thing about the outside world, including where Chile is

• Poor boy drowned when he was just a kid so couldn't even have good geography classes

• But he's totally up for you explaining him EVERYTHING!

• And the food, omg the food, he loves everything you make for him

• The first time you showed him a completo you could swear that there were sparkles in his eyes

• It looks like those hot dogs the campers eat but is much tastier!

• Wants to watch you cook! He remembers all of the recipes and its steps <3

• He doesn't dare to help you because, big hands. And he is afraid that he'll bother you or won't be able to handle the cookware properly

• If hears you speaking in Spanish he'll instantly melt on the spot!! Even if it's just a little phrase like "it's rainy today"

• Though as he never heard spanish he first thought you were speaking nonsense

• Call him Spanish petnames and he is a flustered mess

Hannibal

• If you have Chilean accent, he knew where you were from the moment he heard you

• When you show him the Chilean gastronomy he wants to try them all, both cooking and eating them

• He'll try to make variants of your dishes with human meat but we are not discussing this today

• You'll have once time a month a week dedicated to yours local gastronomies, with some days for Chilean dishes and others for Lithuanian ones.

• Oh, you want to make some Chilean empanadas? He'll make some Lithuanian's ( kibinai ) to accompany yours!

• I've got the feeling that this man knows more languages than I can count, so I guess he'll know the basics for Spanish

• At least the minimum to nag you when you curse in Spanish, hoping he won't understand, but he does

• And as he calls you Lithuanian pet names, you would call him others in Spanish <3

Brahms

• The wall rat is well educated so at least knows where Chile is, point for him

• But he doesn't know Spanish, so if you talk to him in your mother language it will annoy him, since he can't understand it and thinks that you are insulting him

• Honestly you are just saying that the sky is blue and the clouds white, which makes his tantrum even funnier

• He'll search for some spanish dictionary and some day he'll appear in front of you to say the most grammatically incorrect Spanish phrase you've ever heard

• When you burst into laughs he gets a bit sad

• Find him and teach him and he'll be the happiest <3

• About gastronomy!!

• He is a bit strong headed so you'll have a hard time trying to add the Chilean food to your meals

• But, honestly, the first time he smells a beef empanada he jumps out of the wall and demands to try it

• Well, he can make some changes in his menu, right?

• And the first time he sees you drinking mote con huesillo

• He just stands in front of you, eyes fixed in the glass between your hands that contains that sweet orange liquid

• He stays like that for, like, 3 minutes? Only watching the peach float on top

• "Uh... you wanna try?" You say as you show him your spoon full of wheat mote

• From now on now whenever you are going to make mote with huesillo you have to make two of them, because looks like some wall boy became fond of it

Chromeskull

• Since he is loaded and probably has traveled a lot, he has likely been to Chile at least once

• Honestly he prob makes fun of how you pronounce some words

• At least they can pronounce words you silver moron

• I picture him as a huge food enjoyer and if it's from your home country he's more than willing to try it!

• He has became very fond of your Chilean dishes

• You once gave him a completo and he liked it so much now you will eat it often together

• Also you once made him some empanadas so he could eat and remember you while he was away on a work trip, but he didn't know that you did it and when he was in his car and discovered and opened the well decorated box that protected the food he started sobbing <3

• Will buy you the best cookware and tools for you to use, and the best ingredients are always at your fingertips.

• He knows how Spanish sounds but he'll liquefy everytime you speak to him in it anyway

• Spanish petnames??? Are you trying to kill him?????

• Look at what you made, now he's all clingy and making advances towards you

• Oh, but don't try to fool him by calling him insults and making it look like they're petnames, cause he'll search every word you call him and if they're inappropriate you'll have to pay for your actions

• Now the punshiment is up to you, my work here is done

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barbarianprncess · 3 years

Text

did you mean it?

read on ao3.

It’s a total of 3 significant events that led to this, her forehead knocked against his, breaths heavy and mingled, eyes wide and hearts bleeding.

The first event isn’t really an event at all. It’s a prologue, necessary context to truly understand the monumentalism of this moment. It’s the memory of her eyes, piercing and reproachful, being the first thing that he saw after losing his mother. It’s shared trauma and oreos while they’re young and naive. It’s truces and training and growing up too soon together. It’s stargazing and stupid jokes saving eachother in every possible way. It's the culmination of the years Percy spent growing, learning, and being with Annabeth, and the unknown and therefore repressed feelings that came with it. Feelings are like the sea in that way, they don’t take well to being restrained. Percy has found that you cannot box in oceans or sentiments, they always find a way to spill over and out, with no regard for the destruction left in its wake.

The second event is Dionysus deciding on a whim that the inhabitants of his camp are ‘uncultured pests’ and taking it upon himself to set up a field trip for campers to the Ancient Greek Cultural Center in New York. (Percy thinks it’s really just to distract kids that were still shaken up about the battle at camp and the losses it caused. But, Dionysus would never say so. He’s far too proud to admit to caring for the children he’s been assigned to look after.) Argus loaded all the kids he could fit into the strawberry vans, as Chiron listed all the reasons this was a terrible idea. As it turns out, his worries were in vain as miraculously, no monsters attacked, and no mortal asked too many questions. No, instead, the only hitch in his plan was the glaring inaccuracies of the Center sending Dionysus into a fit of rage. He ranted for so long, their 2 hour long field trip ended up lasting until the place closed.

Event the third is the ridiculously long line leading to the mens room at the rundown gas station they’ve stopped at, causing Percy to traipse into the woods, deep enough to know that no one other than the squirrels were watching, and pee there. Unbeknownst to him, Annabeth had decided to take a quick walk in the forest as well, (in the opposite direction of his peeing endeavor) with the purpose of clearing her head. Both returned to the parking lot after 10 minutes, with no truck in sight. The gas station lights are turned off on the inside and the door sign has switched decidedly to closed. They look at each other in disbelief.

“Percy?”

“Yeah?”

“Uh...did they…”

“They didn’t. They wouldn’t.”

“I think they would.”

“They would never-”

“I have pretty solid evidence to the contrary.” Annabeth deadpans, casually letting her hair loose and hopping on top of the miniature gas machine for motorcycles.

“But, how did-”

“No Argus.” Which means, no all-seeing eyes to double check the headcount. Percy begins to pace.

“Okay, but-”

“Two trucks.” Both of which are probably assuming Percy and Annabeth are on the other.

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“Oh, gods.”

“Leave them out of this.”

“Those fuckers.”

“Which ones?” She asks. He looks up and she’s fighting a smile. He pointedly doesn’t notice the way her mouth curls up, or the way her hair falls around her shoulders and down her back, or how pretty she looks lit up by the neon red lights of the gas stations prices, which apparently doesn’t turn off when they close.

“Do you know something I don’t?”

“I know lots of things you don’t.”

“Ha-ha. I mean about how to get out of here.”

“Ohhhhh, let me think.” She wrinkles her nose in faux concentration, tilting her chin up towards the sky. Percy is too annoyed to think it’s adorable. “Nope, not a clue.”

“Your phone?”

“Left it on the truck.”

“Iris message?”

“Percy, it’s dark as shit.” The laughter she’s been holding in comes pouring out. Nevermind that he feels his chest sigh in relief at hearing it for the first time since their quest, this is serious.

“You’re laughing.”

“Just a little.”

“You’re telling me, you don’t have a brilliant plan to get us on a truck.”

“Yes.”

“So, we’re stuck here.”

“Yes.”

“And you’re laughing?”

“You’re just really funny when you’re stressed.” She giggles. He can’t remember the last time she giggled. He missed it. He hates her.

“Oh my gods.”

“Okay, okay, look, I’m sorry. We’re halfway to camp right?” He nods. “I’m sure they’ll figure out we’re missing before they get all the way back to camp, but let's say, worst case scenario, they don’t-”

“Not helping-”

“And they make it the rest of the way back to camp. It took us four hours to get to the center, which means camp is two hours away, so if they make it the two hours back to camp before they realize we’re missing, and they drive back up-”

“C’mon ‘Beth, you know I suck at math.”

“We’re stuck here for five hours at most.”

“Five hours?”

“And that's if no passing cars let us use their phones to hurry the process up.”

“Five hours.”

She’s laughing again. “Seriously, what is so funny?”

“It’s just-” Her cheeks are red and she’s very poorly attempting to suppress her smile. “You’ve been calm in so many life or death situations, and being stuck at a gas station is what finally breaks through.”

“It’s nighttime.” She stares at him for a moment and then she’s laughing again, full bodied real laughter, and he's laughing too.

And it’s as if this gas station became their own personal Ogygia, an oasis, a resting place for them to be stupid kids again. And they don’t talk about the battle, or Rachel, or the volcano, or any of the million things set on tearing them apart. They talked about his mom getting serious about his new boyfriend, about Tyson’s underwater adventures and Grover’s searching shenanigans.

They smack talk with no real heat about who the better fighter is (Oh please, Seaweed Brain, I've been training since before you could tie your own shoes.), and argue about which ancient hero had the greatest journey (Hercules, are you kidding? Did you even read the myth?). They break into the gas station for snacks (What the fuck, Annabeth, where’d you learn to pick a lock? No, I wouldn’t prefer you break the glass, you psycho. Oh my gods, can you really break the glass?), and dissolve into giggles as they try to fit five drachma into the cash register.

They end up back outside sitting on the gas machines facing one another from three feet away.

“Your mom called me the other day.”

Percy, who’d been lazily squinting up at the murky sky, searching for any sign of stars, whipped his head to look at her. “What?”

“She called me on the phone. We talked for a bit. She said she wanted to make sure I was alright.”

“That sounds like something she would do.” He sighs and hops down from the machine, turning away from her, hoping to hide his blush from the dim light. “She cornered me on one of my off weekends, asked what was going on with us.”

“Oh.” He hears the shifting of fabric and assumes she followed him in sliding off the gas machine.

“Yeah.” It’s silent for a long time before she responds.

“What did you say?” She asks, her voice smaller than it was moments ago. He hears her scratching at the flat metal top of the machine. “When she asked, what did you say?”

He runs his finger through his hair, and one gets caught in a particularly large snarl. “Doesn’t matter.”

“It matters to me.” She whispers and gods he’s terrified but he really doesn’t have a choice when her voice wavers like that. Her words shake and every ounce of his being tells him to do whatever it takes to soothe it.

“I said we were fighting. That there wasn’t one sole reason for it, just a bunch of little reasons. I told her that I scared you when I….went away for two weeks last summer. And that you didn’t like bringing Rachel on your quest. I told her that we….. disagree about how to best handle Luke. That I probably wanted to protect you more than I wanted to listen to you.” She laughs softly and he blames what he says next on her laugh. It is the catalyst for everything that follows.

“I told her that we’d be okay. Because no matter what happens I’m always gonna love you.”

He hears her breath catch. He doesn’t have to look back to know she’s turned to face him fully. “Did you mean it?” She calls. He doesn’t answer. The words haven’t caught in his throat, they’ve spontaneously combusted in his vocal chords and he doesn’t think he’ll ever speak again.

The sound of gravel crunching gets closer until suddenly she's beside him, and he didn’t tell his torso to twist toward her, he thinks she might just be his center of gravity.

“Did you mean it?”

She’s looking up at him, and her hair smells like lemons, and her cheeks are pink, and her eyelashes go on for miles, and her sunspots are better than stars. And it’s as if she pulls the words right out of him, he’s hypnotized by everything about her.

“Of course I meant it.”

She exhales and closes her eyes and while he mourns the loss of the sight, his body moves on it’s own accord again and he’s edging closer and closer and she opens her eyes and here they are.

Their noses brush, and this time he closes his eyes, and their noses brush just so, and…

Whoa.

He was wrong, it wasn't just those three significant events that to her forehead knocked against his, breaths heavy and mingled, eyes wide and hearts positively bleeding. It’s clear he’s been waiting his entire life for this moment at this shitty gas station.

Waiting for this. Waiting for her.

They kiss for a moment or an eternity, and they fit. His hands are on her hips and hers clutch at his shirt before sliding up to his throat, and it’s like his soul is whispering, oh there you are.

And then she’s pulling back, so she has just enough space to shake her head without disconnecting from his forehead.

She's breathless when she whispers, “This is a bad idea.”

His hands trail up and down her forearm of their own accord, and when he whispers back he’s breathless too. “Yeah, really bad idea.”

Her hands slide up from his chest to his shoulders, and then she’s kissing him again, with purpose, and he’s kissing back like his life depends on it because he thinks it might, thinks if he lets go of her he’d die on the spot.

It seems his theory might get tested when she pulls back again just far enough to whisper against his lips, “Is it always like that?”

He kisses her again, once, twice, because he can’t help it and whispers back, “I don’t know, you were my first kiss.”

He’d released any serious hold he had on her the moment she hesitated, but then she’s rocking back up to meet him halfway and his entire body thinks thank the gods. He actually sighs his relief into her mouth, as his hands desperately reach for her face, some fingers tangling in her hair, and their lips are magnets, opposites that don’t have a choice but to pull together. Despite how much he wants to keep doing this forever, he has to tell her.

“I don’t wanna lose you, again.” He means not ever, but he figures she understands the severity in his voice. She’s running her hand through his hair, and his slide up and down her back, and she knocks her nose against his as she answers, “I know, me either. I’m confused, this is confusing me.” And she tilts her chin just so, like she did a million years ago, and this time he kisses her.

They kiss for an infinity, he gets to taste her laughter when she giggles at the absurdness of it all, and it’s better than ambrosia. He kisses her until he doesn’t know anything else, until his entire universe is Annabeth Chase, with her cheeks and her curls and her lips. She is everything.

And then headlights penetrate their universe, voices bring an end to their infinity, and Chiron is speaking but it’s nothing, it’s all white noise because she’s no longer in his arms, and his center of gravity is being ripped away and he hears someone ask, “What’d you guys do?”

He’s still looking at her face when she answers, “You know, tried not to strangle each other mostly.”

But, she looks back before she turns all the way around and her gaze is charged and her lips quirk with the secret they share.

He is so screwed.

#so i wrote this in like two hours and its probably a mess but. here you go ig.#aoah ch 3 will be out soon but in the meantime #heres this lol #percabeth #percabeth fic #my fic #my writing #if you comment or rb i will die for you

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babygirl-diaz · 3 years

Text

Samtember 23: Happy Birthday

2193 Words | Rated G | For @samwilsonfest

Sam felt like he was missing something when he woke up this morning. But he shrugged it off, thinking that if it was important, it would come to him eventually. So he went on his usual run, came back home to shower, make himself coffee before heading out to the base to train Joaquin. All the while, he kept getting the sense that he was forgetting something important.

As he flew up in the air with Joaquin behind him, he heard the younger man's voice in his ear...

"Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear Sam. Happy birthday to you," he sang. "Sam, get to the ground, I want to show you something."

"Show me what?" Sam asked.

"Can't tell you, man. It's a surprise."

Sam rolled his eyes behind his goggles and dove towards the ground. When he got to his feet, he looked around and found a couple of guys from the air force standing around, looking up at the sky. Curious, Sam looked up too, and his eyes widened. Joaquin had written "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SAM," in the sky.

"Happy birthday, Sam."

"Happy birthday, Cap."

The air force guys wished him.

When Joaquin got back to the ground, he gave Sam a broad smile and pulled him into a hug, much to Sam's surprise. "Happy birthday, Cap!"

"Thanks, man," Sam awkwardly pat him on the back.

"Wanna get lunch? My treat," said Joaquin.

Sam contemplated the offer. He didn't have to do anything for the rest of the day and he was far from home, so it would be nice not to spend his birthday alone.

"Okay."

They ended up at a bar, although it was only 1 PM. After a cheeseburger, a couple of beers, and a great conversation with Joaquin, Sam was a happy camper. Once they finished lunch, Joaquin headed to the bathroom, giving Sam time to finally look at his phone.

"Shit," he hissed when he realized he had 20 missed calls from Sarah as well as 5 messages asking him to call her back.

Figuring that Sarah must want to wish him on his birthday, he called her back.

"Sam! Where have you been? I've been trying to reach you all morning!"

"Hello to you too, sis," Sam chuckled. "Sorry, I was a little busy--"

"Sam, I need you to come home."

Sam sat up straight, the buzz of the beer immediately wearing off when he heard the worry in his sister's voice. "What's wrong?"

"Can't tell you that over the phone. Could you please just come back today?"

"I- I can't drive. I've been drinking."

"It's only 2 PM there! Can't you catch a flight? I'll pick you up from New Orleans."

"Okay," Sam replied. "Yeah, okay, I'll be there. Whatever this is, can't it wait till tomorrow?"

"No, it's really urgent, Sam. I'm kinda in a whole lotta trouble."

"Shit, Sarah. What did you do?" Sam rubbed his forehead.

"Just get here!" Sarah said before hanging up.

"Everything okay?"

Sam looked up to find Joaquin giving him a concerned look.

"It's my sister. She's in some kinda trouble. She needs me home right away."

"Damn," said Joaquin. "What you gonna do now?"

"Head home." Sam sighed as he looked up flights on Google.

"You driving?" Joaquin asked.

"Been drinking, Joaquin. Can't drive," Sam replied, although he felt much sober now.

"I could drive you! A road trip will be nice!"

"You've been drinking too, buddy," Sam reminded him. Joaquin looked visibly disappointed, but he nodded. Sam booked the flight and got up from his seat. "Thanks for lunch, man. This was great. Let's catch up when I get back."

With that, he gave Joaquin a quick hug before heading back to his apartment to pack.

***

On the plane, Sam tried to relax but he couldn’t.

“You alright there?” Sam’s neighbor asked.

Sam tried not to groan. So the person beside him was a talker. “Yeah, I’m good,” Sam replied and finally looked over at the person. He had to do a double-take because the guy looked so much like Steve. But that wasn’t all. Sam had actually seen him somewhere before.

“Wait… Don’t I know you?” Both the guy and Sam asked at the same time. The guy laughed and shook his head.

“I’m Toby,” he introduced himself.

“You’re the guy that plays Steve Rogers on the Broadway show…” Sam trailed off. Sam felt a pang in his heart as he continued to watch the guy.

“Yeah and you’re the real Captain America,” the guy -Toby- said, giving him a smile. “Sorry, this must be really weird,” he continued.

“You have no idea.” Sam laughed humorlessly and shook his head.

“Can I ask you something?” Toby asked.

“No, he was a terrible singer,” Sam replied.

Toby looked confused for a second before he burst out laughing. “You a mind reader too, huh? Is that your superpower?”

“I wish,” Sam scoffed. “No, but really, what was your question?”

“Is he on the moon?” A smirk spread across Toby’s lips.

“Yeah, he’s totally on the moon. Just chilling up there. I actually fly up there every uh-- Monday and Thursday and we hang out.” Sam rolled his eyes.

That made Toby laugh even more. “Man, you’re hilarious,” as his laughter died down, a serious look spread across his face, “Can I make this even weirder?” He asked.

Sam raised an eyebrow at him but didn’t reply.

“Happy birthday,” said Toby.

“How did you--”

“I follow you. Quite extensively,” Toby replied, visibly cringing. “I am kind of a huge fanboy.”

Sam blinked at him and tried to find the right words. He was flattered… but also weirded out.

“And now you look like you’re looking for an escape route.” Toby awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. “And that wasn’t even the weird part.”

“There’s more?” Sam asked, surprised.

“Yeah, I was going to ask if you would like to go out with me sometime?”

“Oh…” Sam mumbled. “Look, I’m flattered but…”

“But it’s weird. Dating your potentially dead best friend’s look alike?”

“Yeah, something like that,” Sam laughed awkwardly. “I wish the circumstances were different cause you’re a very good-looking guy. Besides, I live in D.C. and you live in New York… it wouldn’t work.” Speaking of New York, Sam looked down at his phone and realized he had no calls or messages from Bucky. He felt another pang in his heart. Did Bucky forget it was Sam’s birthday? Sam could forgive Sarah for forgetting since she was stressed out, but Bucky had no excuse.

“Hello?” Toby brought Sam out of his thoughts and Sam looked over at him to find the guy giving him a curious look. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m okay. And sorry again.”

“Oh, don’t sweat it. Can I have your phone?” Toby asked.

Sam looked at him suspiciously, but then he unlocked his phone and gave it to the actor.

“That’s my number. If you ever wanna watch the show, just hit me up and I’ll leave you the tickets. Or if you ever just wanna hang out, lemme know.” The guy gave him a charming smile that resembled Steve’s before handing over his phone.

They landed soon and Toby wished Sam a happy birthday once again before they parted ways.

Sam’s phone rang as he made his way to the exit and he quickly took it out, only to find it was Sharon. He tried not to sound disappointed as he answered the phone, “Hey Sharon.”

“Happy birthday, Sam,” she said, making Sam smile.

“Thanks,” Sam replied.

“Where are you? I was hoping to take you out to dinner tonight. Figured you wouldn’t want to be on your own on your birthday.”

“I’m in Louisiana,” Sam replied. “Just landed here.”

“Oh wow. That wasn’t in your plan until yesterday.”

“Plans changed,” Sam replied, shrugging, although she couldn’t see him.

“Well, I owe you dinner then,” said Sharon. “Catch up with me when you get back?”

“Will do.”

They said their goodbyes and hung up by the time Sam got to the exit. Sam then called up Sarah. “Where are you?” He asked.

“I’m almost there,” Sarah replied.

Sarah was there 5 minutes later and when Sam opened the passenger door to get in, he heard part of the conversation she was having on the phone. “I’m on my way,” she said to someone. “I swear Bu-- Bonnie, if you mess this up--”

Sam frowned at that. He was so sure Sarah was about to say Bucky.

“What, you too old to give your sister a hug now?” Sarah asked after she hung up.

Sam rolled his eyes at her dramatics and reached over to hug her. “How you doing?” He asked.

“I could be better,” Sarah replied.

Sam pulled apart and gave her a sympathetic look. “You wanna tell me what’s going on now?” He asked as she pulled out of the loading zone.

“When we get home,” Sarah replied. “Can we talk about something else for now?”

“Okay,” Sam sighed and let it go. For now.

They talked about Sam’s Cap job. Sarah seemed proud of him. She even said so multiple times, which made Sam smile throughout their ride to Delacroix.

“So who’s Bonnie and why were you threatening her?” Sam asked as they pulled up in the driveway.

“Oh, she’s just one of the moms in PTA. We have a fundraiser coming up but it’s hard to leave her in charge of things.” Sarah replied as she typed away on her phone.

“Then why do you?” Sam asked as he got out of the car and grabbed his backpack.

“I ask myself the same question,” Sarah mumbled under her breath, but Sam still heard it.

The house was eerily quiet when Sam and Sarah got inside. “Where are the boys?” Sam asked. But then he heard noises in the backyard and immediately became alert. “Is there someone back there?” Sam asked.

“Why don’t you go check it out?” Sarah suggested.

Her nonchalance took Sam aback but he said nothing as he made his way towards the backdoor.

“SURPRISE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SAM!”

“Shit!” Sam almost fell back when a group of about 30 people greeted him in the backyard. “What is happening?” Sam asked, dumbfounded.

“Your birthday, that’s what, Uncle Sam!” AJ laughed as he and Cass came over and hugged him. “Happy birthday, Uncle Sam,” both kids wished him at the same time.

Sam felt a hand on his shoulder and turned around to see Sarah smiling broadly at him. “Happy birthday, Sam,” she wished him but couldn’t give him a hug as she was holding his birthday cake. So Sam gave her a side hug instead.

“Is Bucky here too?” He asked when he noticed the Oreo cake Sarah was holding.

“Yeah, he’s in the back there, trying but failing to grill,” she laughed. “Go get him while I get the cake set up.”

Sam nodded and made his way through the crowd, greeting and talking to pretty much everyone.

“So this is why I didn’t get any calls or messages from you,” Sam said when he finally got to Bucky.

Bucky turned around and smirked at him. “Had I known you were waiting for my call, Wilson--”

“I wasn’t!” Sam answered a little quicker than necessary.

“Right…” Bucky trailed off. “Well, get over here so I can wish you!”

“Alright, bossy,” Sam shook his head before walking over to Bucky and giving him a tight hug.

“Happy birthday, Sam,” Bucky said, hugging him back.

They pulled apart but stayed close together, Sam’s eyes briefly trailing down to Bucky’s lips.

“You gonna kiss me?” Bucky asked.

Sam immediately looked up at him. “What? No!”

“I wouldn’t be opposed to it if you did,” Bucky replied.

“Of course you wouldn’t,” Sam laughed and moved away from him. “So you and Sarah plan this?”

“The boys came up with the idea. Sarah called me up last week and asked if I was in. Of course, I was.”

“You came all the way from New York, just to prepare for my surprise birthday party?” Sam asked, feeling all warm and fuzzy inside.

“Don’t look too happy. I did it for Sarah and the boys.”

“Right…” Sam trailed off, rolling his eyes. “Whatever helps you sleep at night.”

“Nothing does. You’re kinda in my thoughts all the time.”

Sam opened and closed his mouth a few times but no words came out.

“I’m as the kids say ‘a simp for you’” Bucky snickered at his own terrible joke.

Sam put his hand behind Bucky’s head and pulled him in to kiss him. Bucky seemed surprised at first but then he kissed him back.

When they pulled apart, Sam smiled at Bucky. “Now come on. Time for my terrible Oreo cake.”

“Hey! It’s the best cake out there!” Bucky protested. “And this time I made it myself.” He added, much to Sam’s surprise.

“I didn’t have a death wish on my birthday,” Sam joked.

“Haha hilarious,” Bucky said with a roll of his eyes.

“I’m a grade-A comedian!” Sam winked at him.

#Samtember 2021 #Samtember #Submission #Sam Wilson #Captain America #Joaquin Torres #Sarah Wilson #Bucky Barnes #sambucky

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buoyantsaturn · 3 years

Note

hey op will solace being able to deck people and will solace with a gun hcs please im beggin you

google doc for this list titled ‘will “glock” solace’ enjoy

I think will’s pretty content to keep his hidden talents a secret because everyone at camp always underestimates him anyway

like, he’s not ripped like an ares camper so he doesn’t look physically imposing, but that’s just how he likes it!! he wants to look kind and approachable while knowing that he can take down someone twice his size if he needs to :)

when he was younger, i’m thinking 10ish when he first started going to camp for summers only, he came home after his first summer crying because he wasn’t good with any of the weapons, and he was convinced he was either going to die by monster attack or get bullied by some of the bigger kids at camp because he wasn’t good at anything

now, naomi isnt the Best mom - she’s trying her best ok but she’s busy - but her baby came home crying so she’s gonna take a minute to brainstorm some ideas, which leads to: self-defense classes. maybe it won’t be great against monsters, but it’ll certainly get the bullies off his back

will knows not to use any of his new defense skills to start any fights, but he starts getting picked on at school - how is it that middle school bullies always know you’re gay before you do? - and even though will’s never the one to start the fight, he still gets in trouble for ending them

naomi assumes will’s acting out because she’s something of an absent mother, but there’s nothing she can do about that. what she CAN do is send him to camp year-round so he’ll have more supervision and a better way to get rid of some restless energy

Additionally, seeing as will’s the only character on the planet who’s allowed to own and carry a gun:

naomi tended to leave will with his aunts or uncles or grandparents whenever she would have to go on tour, so will acquired a lot of farm knowledge and ended up doing a lot of hunting

boy learned how to fire a gun at like. 8, and gets invited on a lot of hunting trips with his family because somehow he’s a better shot than the folks who’ve been hunting for 20+ years

I have this image in my head of an older will, maybe at camp or maybe at like 20, and somebody hands him a hand gun and is all patronizing like “do you even know how to use that thing?” and will loads it, aims and shoots, hits the target dead center, and then he’s all smiles like “it’s just like a shotgun but smaller!”

but again like i said, he likes to keep his hidden talents secret, tries to conform to the idea of what everyone else thinks he is, the unimposing healer who’s always on the sidelines

there are a few year round campers who know what he’s capable of (self-defense wise, anyway) because he’s had to break up a few fights before, and now new campers are simply told not to get on will’s bad side

(they assume it’s just the classic “don’t piss off the medic” and take everyone else’s word for it, which means it’s a long time before anyone else gets a glimpse at how strong will really is)

he’s just waiting for the day when someone tries to hurt him or someone he loves so he can show them just how powerful he really is, even if his “power” is in a much more mortal sense

#will solace #no this does not negate any plague powers will hc im thinking he's just a late bloomer with those #or he stops trying to develop any godly powers bc like. he can fist fight and he can shoot a gun. who needs godly weapons #ask #anonymous #OR he KNOWS he has plague powers but figures that will Literally Kill Someone whereas he can shoot somebody in the leg and theyll live

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poetrusicperry · 3 years

Text

the poets and their first summer jobs

i’ve seen some discourse about how rich all the boys/their families are, and of course there would be like very little reason for them to work, but i couldn’t help wondering who would do what for their first jobs (summer jobs bc they couldn’t work while they’re at school). andddd that led me to writing this lol

neil: so neil would have like absolutely zero time for a job between all his normal coursework/extracurriculars and his summer classes (”you know me, always taking on too much”), but i guarantee you he would still take the time to get a job and have his own money to do with whatever he chose. mr. perry wouldn’t care much because it showed neil “taking initiative” or whatever. neil would likely work at a diner as either a bus boy or a waiter. he’s super personable, so he’d always strike up conversations with people sitting at the counter, and he’d get loads of tips bc he’s cute (: he’d bring his summer school work with him to do during lulls in business, which his boss didn’t mind because it’s neil and everyone knows how responsible he is. the poets would come visit him pretty much every day (to eat, see neil, and escape the heat in the air conditioning), likely taking up a whole booth, and making an absolute mess of the area. charlie would be making spitballs, aiming at cameron and knox every time (earning a “charlie, knock it off, i told you three times already! so mature of you, really.” from cameron) and meeks/pitts would try to see how many straws they could connect to make “ultra straw.” todd would come hang out at the counter when neil was closing, admiring his pretty bf as he worked (’: neil would always make todd a chocolate milkshake with whipped cream and rainbow jimmies on the house, claiming, “we have to empty out the ice cream machine anyway” (but really he’d take the cost out of his paycheck, just wanting to make todd happy). his boss would hire him back every summer, loving how much business neil drove in (even if the poets made a mess every time they hung out and ate) and absolutely adoring how much effort neil put into what anyone else would seemingly call a “meaningless” job.

todd: you can’t tell me that todd wouldn’t look forward to working. especially during the summers, it would get him out of the house and away from his parents judging his every move. being the shy introvert he is, he’d likely do things like mowing lawns or gardening for people around his neighborhood. minimal interactions, but still decent pay (as all the people in his neighborhood were likely super rich and could afford to pay him well). the poets’ parents would hire him, after much convincing from their sons (”todd’s just trying to make some money, dad. please?”) and todd would appreciate this more than they ever knew. he’d become super familiar with flower types and he’d become a lot more nurturing after taking care of plants and grass for multiple summers. he’d keep a little journal or notebook with drawings or sketches of the flowers he’d taken care of, complete with descriptions and magazine/newspaper clippings from his mom’s better homes and garden subscription (a lot of his poetry would become nature-related as well). it would be his late night project, or something he’d do if he couldn't sleep (which was pretty common for todd). he’d call neil on the phone some nights and just gush about all kinds of flowers or tell neil how he accidentally got stung by a bee and cried about it because he knew the bee would die (all the while, neil would be listening so intently, taking note about which flowers were todd’s favorites for future use (’: the calls would have to be pretty planned, bc if neil wasn’t working, he was doing school work, or his parents were keeping an annoyingly close watch on him. but sometimes neil would call him impromptu and that made todd just the happiest little camper ever). todd’s nails would be really short (he’d cut them really often because he doesn’t like the feeling of dirt under his nails), which means he couldn’t bite his nails anymore, causing him to pick up a new anxious habit of biting the inside of his bottom lip ): overall, though, todd would like his job, and even find pleasure in being surrounded by little flowers all day. also if/when neil ever got the chance, he’d absolutely tag along to see his sweaty boyfriend in action (come on, neil would go absolutely nuts for todd in a cutoff shirt, 5″ inseam shorts, and converse mowing a lawn looking all manly and tough).

charlie: obviously, charlie wouldn’t need to work because of his financial situation, but his mom would 110% make him get a job just so he wouldn’t be around the house causing trouble/bothering his siblings for fun (”i’m hosting a lot of book club meetings for the country club this summer, i can’t have you putting spiders in the ladies’ hats again, charles”). similar to neil, mr. charlie dalton would work his summers at an ice cream/custard stand. he’d have to wear a white, short sleeve button up, a red and white striped apron, and one of those white, rectangular hats (his least favorite part HAHA, stating, “my hair is one of my best features and this just takes it all away. it’s unfair.”). the poets would visit often, both for ice cream, but primarily to give him a hard time about his uniform (”i’ll give you twenty bucks to wear this on our first day of classes” meeks would tease, completely gobsmacked when charlie showed up to their first chemistry class in his uniform, earning lots of demerits, but also twenty dollars). charlie would hate it at first, but obviously he’d adjust, being the extroverted/personable person, not taking himself too seriously and being one of the best ice cream slingers anyone had ever seen. he’d give the cute girls (and boys) extra scoops of ice cream for free, winking as he handed them their orders. like neil’s boss, charlie’s boss was even more thankful for charlie’s presence because they’d likely be raking in at least triple the income they would in a summer without him. he’d become a sundae expert, spending many dead poets meeting making them for his friends while they read poems and stories. that being said, he’d come to hate eating ice cream, publishing an article in welton’s honor demanding that they remove ice cream from their dessert menu (yes, almost exactly like the “girls at welton” prank, but he’d make the call collect this time. mr. nolan would be fed up to the point where he wouldn’t even punish charlie physically, just suspend him from rowing [which charlie wouldn’t mind at all HAHA]).

meeks & pitts: after their hi-fi success and the fact that they are seemingly inseparable, they both sought out jobs at the local radio station where they were hired as interns/assistants, running errands and picking up coffee or lunch for the station. but sometimes, when they worked pretty late, the night shift dj would let them pick the records and show them how everything worked (: after nights like that, meeks and pitts would go to one of their houses and add modifications to their hi-fi radio, staying up all night modifying and researching (by the end of the summer, they had made another hi-fi (portable) and their og hi-fi would have been morphed into a huge nationally reaching radio that they keep in the cave (since it would be disallowed in their room at welton). another job that the two of them would have would be answering calls for the station about song requests. with this knowledge, charlie and the other poets would hang out at someone’s house, calling and requesting the same songs over and over and over again. their biggest task for the summer would be organizing the shelves with all the records into alphabetical order (”duh, we should go by first name, meeks. which other way would it be” pitts would argue, only to find out that after they had spent about three weeks alphabetizing by first name, they were supposed to go by last name. “now who’s the idiot?” meeks would jeer, beginning to pull the records off the shelves). they’d also learn a lot about music from their night shift coworker, which would help in their quest to woo some ladies the following school year.

cameron: cameron liked spending his summers doing research projects for fun and just reading a whole lot, so you can imagine his displeasure at when his parents asked him to get a job (presumably to help with paying for his schooling). while upset about it, he wouldn’t complain, and took it on the chin, understanding the reasoning. he’d apply to a couple places, but ultimately end up as a grocery store cashier/stock boy. much like charlie, he’d have the same kind of uniform, but with a green apron instead. he’d spend most of his shift ringing people up at the register, being friendly and personable (something no one ever really realized about him !!). the poets’ moms would always see him and choose his register on purpose, using it as a chance to catch up or tell him to tell his parents that “the overstreets say hello!” or “mrs. anderson says hi!” pitts, meeks, and charlie would utilize cameron’s position at the supermarket to buy nudie magazines unembarrassed/slightly illegally HAHA (”come on, cameron! it’s not like you won’t be included in seeing them next year, too. we bring them to the meetings, you know that!” charlie would say, leaving cameron at a loss, reluctantly scanning the magazines and bagging them as pitts and meeks sniggered). charlie would wave, blow him a kiss, and wink as they left, “love you, richardddd.” sure enough, the magazines would make an appearance during the following school year and cameron was glad he had decided to let them buy the magazines lol.

knox: out of all the poets, i feel like our knoxious would be the least inclined to work (yes, even less inclined than charlie). his parents wouldn’t even make him get a job because he simply didn’t need to, but to everyone’s surprise, he would volunteer at the animal shelter. the poets would later find out that it was a great way to meet girls (which is why he did it lmfao so they endlessly goaded him about it). charlie would visit often, and even took a rescue puppy home, much to charlie’s younger sister’s delight. charlie even wanted to start volunteering at the shelter to also meet girls, but he was too busy at the ice cream stand (plus, he had really grown to like it there so he didn’t want to leave). another effect of volunteering made knox super interested in zoology and animals, which brought out a newer, more nurturing/caring side to him, and who knows, maybe he’d go vegetarian somehow. he’d want to pursue a career in animal science or becoming a veterinarian, but mr. overstreet was hellbent on knox taking over the firm, so it seemed like a pipe dream. knox would continue to volunteer at the animal shelter, well into his career as a lawyer, and would even go to veterinary school in his 30s (when he was a nationally famous, established lawyer) to get certification to work with animals in a broader way (:

hope you guys liked these. it was pretty fun to write, and i'd pay such good money to see neil, charlie, and cameron in their uniforms (and todd, but that’s neither here nor there). happy thursday !! let me know what you guys think of these <3(:

#dead poets society #dead poets in nyc #dps #dps headcanons #neil perry #todd anderson #anderperry #neil and todd #charlie dalton #richard cameron #steven meeks #gerard pitts #dark academia #headcanon #angelina writes

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kookie-doughs · 3 years

Text

Y/N L/N AND THE HALFBLOODS

Percy Jackson X Reader

-Y/N L/N met Percy Jackson and everything is now ruined.

Chapter 22: Then It Ended

As soon as we came, Annabeth ang Grover tackled me. We were the first heroes to return alive to Half-Blood Hill since Luke, so of course everybody treated us as if we'd won some reality-TV contest. According to camp tradition, we wore laurel wreaths to a big feast prepared in our honor, then led a procession down to the bonfire, where we got to burn the burial shrouds our cabins had made for us in our absence.

Annabeth's shroud was so beautiful—gray silk with embroidered owls— Percy told her it seemed a shame not to bury her in it. She punched him and told him to shut up. Percy being the son of Poseidon, he didn't have any cabin mates, so the Ares cabin had volunteered to make his shroud. They'd taken an old bedsheet and painted smiley faces with X'ed-out eyes around the border, and the word LOSER painted really big in the middle.

As I was still unclaimed, Hermes cabin had made me one. (Just... IDK go crazy with your shroud IG) It was fun to burn. As Apollo's cabin led the sing-along and passed out s'mores, Percy and I was surrounded by my Hermes cabinmates, Annabeth's friends from Athena, and Grover's satyr buddies, who were admiring the brand-new searcher's license he'd received from the Council of Cloven Elders. The council had called Grover's performance on the quest "Brave to the point of indigestion. Horns-and-whiskers above anything we have seen in the past." The only ones not in a party mood were Clarisse and her cabinmates, whose poisonous looks told me they'd never forgive us for disgracing their dad. That was okay with me. Even Dionysus's welcome-home speech wasn't enough to dampen my spirits. "Yes, yes, so the little brats didn't get themselves killed and now they'll have an even bigger head. Well, huzzah for that. In other announcements, there will be no canoe races this Saturday...." Going back to the cabin I finally had time to talk to Luke. Who just expressed his relief of me being fine, and how he was scared when Annabeth told everyone about me. No wonder everyone was so shocked seeing me come back with Percy. On the Fourth of July, the whole camp gathered at the beach for a fireworks display by cabin nine. Being Hephaestus's kids, they weren't going to settle for a few lame red-white-and-blue explosions. They'd anchored a barge offshore and loaded it with rockets the size of Patriot missiles. According to Annabeth, who'd seen the show before, the blasts would be sequenced so tightly they'd look like frames of animation across the sky. The finale was supposed to be a couple of hundred-foot-tall Spartan warriors who would crackle to life above the ocean, fight a battle, then explode into a million colors. As Annabeth, Percy and I were spreading a picnic blanket, Grover showed up to tell us good-bye. He was dressed in his usual jeans and T-shirt and sneakers, but in the last few weeks he'd started to look older, almost high-school age. His goatee had gotten thicker. He'd put on weight. His horns had grown at least an inch, so he now had to wear his rasta cap all the time to pass as human. "I'm off," he said. "I just came to say ... well, you know." I tried to feel happy for him. After all, it wasn't every day a satyr got permission to go look for the great god Pan. But it was hard saying good-bye. I'd only known Grover a year, yet he was my oldest friend. Annabeth and I gave him a hug. She told him to keep his fake feet on. I asked him where he was going to search first. "Kind of a secret," he said, looking embarrassed. "I wish you could come with me, guys, but humans and Pan ..." "We understand," Annabeth said. "You got enough tin cans for the trip?" "Yeah." "And you remembered your reed pipes?" "Jeez, Annabeth," he grumbled. "You're like an old mama goat." But he didn't really sound annoyed. He gripped his walking stick and slung a backpack over his shoulder. He looked like any hitchhiker you might see on an American highway. "Well," he said, "wish me luck." He gave Annabeth and I another hug. He clapped Percy on the shoulder, then headed back through the dunes. Fireworks exploded to life overhead: Hercules killing the Nemean lion, Artemis chasing the boar, George Washington (who, by the way, was a son of Athena) crossing the Delaware. "Hey, Grover," Percy called. He turned at the edge of the woods. "Wherever you're going—I hope they make good enchiladas." Grover grinned, and then he was gone, the trees closing around him. "We'll see him again," Annabeth said. July passed. I spent my daysplanning out strategies with Luke for capture-the-flag and making alliances with the other cabins to keep the banner out of Ares's hands. I got to the top of the climbing wall for the first time without getting scorched by lava. From time to time, Percy and I would walk past the Big House, he'd glance up at the attic windows, and think about the Oracle.

I tried to convince him that its prophecy had come to completion. "You shall go west, and face the god who has turned." "Been there, done that—even though the traitor god had turned out to be Ares rather than Hades." "You shall find what was stolen, and see it safe returned." "Check. One master bolt delivered. One helm of darkness back on Hades." "You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend." Percy recited. "Ares had pretended to be our friend, then betrayed us. That must be what the Oracle meant.... Or maybe Nereid?"

"And you shall fail to save what matters most, in the end." He sighed. "I had failed to save my mom and lost you..."

"So why are you still uneasy?" The last night of the summer session came all too quickly. The campers had one last meal together. We burned part of our dinner for the gods. At the bonfire, the senior counselors awarded the end-of-summer beads. Percy and I got our own leather necklace, and when I saw the bead for my first summer. The design was pitch black, with a sea-green trident shimmering in the center.

"This is so beautiful..." I smiled to Percy. "The choice was unanimous," Luke announced. "This bead commemorates the first Son of the Sea God at this camp, and the quest he undertook into the darkest part of the Underworld to stop a war!" The entire camp got to their feet and cheered. Even Ares's cabin felt obliged to stand. Athena's cabin steered Annabeth to the front so she could share in the applause. I'm not sure I'd ever felt as happy or sad as I did at that moment. I'd finally found a family, people who cared about me and thought I'd done something right. And in the morning, most of them would be leaving for the year. * * * The next morning, Luke called me. He gave me a paper, telling me to fill it out, and asked me to meet him as soon as I could. I knew Dionysus must've filled it out, because he stubbornly insisted on getting my name wrong: Dear (WRONG NAME) , If you intend to stay at Camp Half-Blood year-round, you must inform the Big House by noon today. If you do not announce your intentions, we will assume you have vacated your cabin or died a horrible death. Cleaning harpies will begin work at sundown. They will be authorized to eat any unregistered campers. All personal articles left behind will be incinerated in the lava pit. Have a nice day! Mr. D (Dionysus) Camp Director, Olympian Council #12 That's another thing about ADHD. Deadlines just aren't real to me until I'm staring one in the face. Summer was over, and I still don't know what to do. I had no where to go to. The only option I had was Percy's or maybe Hades was not joking about inviting me back to the Underworld. Sighing I decided to just meet Luke before filling it for second opinions. The campgrounds were mostly deserted, shimmering in the August heat. All the campers were in their cabins packing up, or running around with brooms and mops, getting ready for final inspection. Argus was helping some of the Aphrodite kids haul their Gucci suitcases and makeup kits over the hill, where the camp's shuttle bus would be waiting to take them to the airport. I was walking around looking for Luke. I jumped when I felt someone tap me from behind. I instinctively unsheathed my knife and turned only to see Luke with his hands raised.

"Whoa! Calm down just me." He laughed.

"Kinda weird seeing someone laugh at a knife pointed at them." I smirked sheathing my knife.

"I only laugh since its you." He smiled and ruffled my hair. "Are you done with everything?"

"Not really. I don't know whether to leave or not yet. That's why I came. Help me?" I asked him.

He turned to me and to the forest. "How about you hear me out about something... important and private... then decide?" He gestured towards the forest.

"Not planning on killing me are you?" I squinted at him.

He gasped. "Not you. Never. I would never hurt you."

I let him lead me to a shrouded area of the forest.

"How serious is this thing that you can't let anyone see? I am blindly trusting you here Luke." I laughed nervously. But when he didn't reply I felt something was off. "Luke, okay this isn't cool. How deep into the forest do we have to go?"

"Y/N remember when you said... You want to be the person I trust...? How you promised to help me?"

"Luke?" He took my hand and pulled me sharply. I winced at how hard he pulled me. "That hurts! Let me go!"

He snapped back and let go of my wrist. "I-I'm sorry... Y/N..."

As much as I knew I had to leave, I couldn't I was worried about him. I reluctantly placed a hand on his shoulder. "What's happening?"

"I did it..." I said and sat on the ground. "I swear I didn't mean to get you hurt. But, I confess to everything. I stole bolt and helm, I summoned the hound, I gave Percy the cursed shoes... And just now, I tried to kill Percy Jackson." He looked at me with empty eyes.

I shot up and looked at him in emotions I couldn't put in words. "W-Wh---" I wanted to leave and check on Percy. But once again, seeing him right now... I need to stay with him. "Why are you telling me this...?"

"Join me... please?" his voice was weak. He sounded vulnerable. "Let's serve my Lord together..."

"L-Luke... no. I-I can't do that!" I took his shoulder, "Y-You should stay with me instead. How about that, huh? L-Let's explain to Chiron and the others... come on please. I could help you!"

Nothing was working.

"Come with me..." He muttered.

"Luke, I won't join you. You have to change your mind. You can't do this."

"I can't change my mind."

"I can help you with that? How about you go with me huh? I could spend all my time doing this and that. Please, just change your mind."

He didn't reply for a while until he whispered, "Promise me."

"Promise you what?"

"You'll stay with me."

"What? Luke I wo--"

"You won't join... Just...don't stay here for the year... and stay with me."

"I-If I stay with you... what would that mean?"

"Yo-You... might change my mind."

"I'll go." I replied with no hesitation. "I'll leave camp for the year. And I'll find my parent to prove to you that Gods and Goddess aren't all bad. We'll find my parent together."

"I do my lord's bidding--"

"You can still do it. If you want to. But whatever happens... stays only between us. I'll stay with you until I change your mind. And I'll bring you back to camp."

"I would never do anything to ruin your trust in me." He knelt down. It was kinda awkward but hey... "I need you."

Worry not hero. We shall stay.

"Please..."

We'll meet again. Wait for us, we shall join you soon. Now leave.

I had no idea what happened since when I came to Luke was gone and there was no sign of him anywhere. How were we going to st---

We will meet him once we leave. Now go as our hero needs us.

I suddenly remembered Percy's state that Luke had told me about. So I ran. I ran to the Big House

***

Percy finally opened his eyes. He was propped up in bed in the sickroom of the Big House, his right hand bandaged like a club. Argus stood guard in the corner. Annabeth and I sat next to Percy, I was holding his nectar glass and she was dabbing a washcloth on his forehead.

"Here we are again," Percy said. "You idiot," Annabeth said, "You were green and turning gray when we found you. If it weren't for Chiron's healing..." "Now, now," Chiron's voice said. "Percy's constitution deserves some of the credit." He was sitting near the foot of the bed in human form. His lower half was magically compacted into the wheelchair, his upper half dressed in a coat and tie. He smiled, but his face looked weary and pale, the way it did when he'd been up all night grading Latin papers. "How are you feeling?" he asked. "Like my insides have been frozen, then microwaved." "Apt, considering that was pit scorpion venom. Now you must tell me, if you can, exactly what happened." Between sips of nectar, he told them the story.

I bit my lip trying to keep what happened between Luke and I private. It was a risky move that would not be approved by anyone after all. The room was quiet for a long time. "I can't believe that Luke..." Annabeth's voice faltered. Her expression turned angry and sad. "Yes. Yes, I can believe it. May the gods curse him.... He was never the same after his quest."

Percy was looking at me as if checking what was my reaction to his story. "This must be reported to Olympus," Chiron murmured. "I will go at once." "Luke is out there right now," Percy said. "I have to go after him." Chiron shook his head. "No, Percy. The gods—" "Won't even talk about Kronos," Percy snapped. "Zeus declared the matter closed!" "Percy, I know this is hard. But you must not rush out for vengeance. You aren't ready." "Chiron... your prophecy from the Oracle... it was about Kronos, wasn't it? Was I in it? Y/N? And Annabeth?" Chiron glanced nervously at the ceiling. "Percy, it isn't my place—" "You've been ordered not to talk to me about it, haven't you?" His eyes were sympathetic, but sad. "You will be a great hero, child. I will do my best to prepare you. But if I'm right about the path ahead of you..." Thunder boomed overhead, rattling the windows. "All right!" Chiron shouted. "Fine!" He sighed in frustration. "The gods have their reasons, Percy. Knowing too much of your future is never a good thing." "We can't just sit back and do nothing," He said. "We will not sit back," Chiron promised. "But you must be careful. Kronos wants you to come unraveled. He wants your life disrupted, your thoughts clouded with fear and anger. Do not give him what he wants. Train patiently. Your time will come." "Assuming I live that long." Chiron put his hand on Percy's ankle. "You'll have to trust me, Percy. You will live. But first you must decide your path for the coming year. I cannot tell you the right choice...." I got the feeling that he had a very definite opinion, and it was taking all his willpower not to advise me. "But you must decide whether to stay at Camp Half-Blood year-round, or return to the mortal world for seventh grade and be a summer camper. Think on that. When I get back from Olympus, you must tell me your decision." "I'll be back as soon as I can," Chiron promised. "Argus will watch over you." He glanced at Annabeth. "Oh, and, my dear... whenever you're ready, they're here." "Who's here?" Percy asked. Nobody answered. Chiron rolled himself out of the room. I heard the wheels of his chair clunk carefully down the front steps, two at a time. Annabeth studied the floor. "What's wrong?" Percy asked her. "Nothing. I ... just took your advice about something. You ... um ... need anything?" "Yeah. Help me up. I want to go outside." "Percy, that isn't a good idea." Percy slid his legs out of bed. Annabeth and I caught him before he could crumple to the floor.

I said, "I told you ..." "I'm fine," He insisted.

He managed a step forward. Then another, still leaning heavily on me. Argus followed us outside, but he kept his distance. By the time we reached the porch, his face was beaded with sweat. But we had managed to make it all the way to the railing. It was dusk. The camp looked completely deserted. The cabins were dark and the volleyball pit silent. No canoes cut the surface of the lake. Beyond the woods and the strawberry fields, the Long Island Sound glittered in the last light of the sun. "What are you going to do?" Annabeth asked us. "I don't know." Percy replied. "I got the feeling Chiron wanted me to stay year-round, to put in more individual training time, but I'm not sure that's what I want. I also don't want to leave you both with Clarisse only." Annabeth pursed her lips, then said quietly, "I'm going home for the year, Percy." He stared at her. "You mean, to your dad's?" She pointed toward the crest of Half-Blood Hill. Next to Thalia's pine tree, at the very edge of the camp's magical boundaries, a family stood silhouetted—two little children, a woman, and a tall man with blond hair. They seemed to be waiting. The man was holding a backpack that looked like the one Annabeth had gotten from Waterland in Denver. "I wrote him a letter when we got back," Annabeth said. "Just like you suggested. I told him... I was sorry. I'd come home for the school year if he still wanted me. He wrote back immediately. We decided... we'd give it another try." "That took guts." She pursed her lips. "You won't try anything stupid during the school year, will you? At least ... not without sending me an Iris-message? Both of you?" Percy managed a smile. "I won't go looking for trouble. I usually don't have to."

"You already know my plans."

"When I get back next summer," she said, "we'll hunt down Luke. We'll ask for a quest, but if we don't get approval, we'll sneak off and do it anyway. Agreed?" "Sounds like a plan worthy of Athena."

She held out her hand. Percy shook it. She gave me a hug. "Take care, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth told Percy. "Keep your eyes open."

"You too, Wise Girl."

Then turned to me, "Good luck on your own quest Droopy."

"Of course Peabody." We watched her walk up the hill and join her family. She gave her father an awkward hug and looked back at the valley one last time. She touched Thalia's pine tree, then allowed herself to be lead over the crest and into the mortal world. "I made my decision." Percy said. "What's yours?"

"I'll be leaving camp... I'm going to look for my parent..." He looked at me in shock. "I'll be back next summer," I promised him. "I'll survive until then."

"Alone?"

I smiled at him.

"Don't you want to stay with us? Mom said---"

"I want to find my parent. I need to. I'll be fine Percy."

I helped Percy to his cabin so he could pack and went to mine. To my surprise I see a middle-aged man with an athletic figure slim and fit with salt-and-pepper hair, and a very familiar sly grin. He had bags at his foot.

"Delivery for Y/N L/N."

"Uhm..."

"Hermes." He said.

I froze and looked at him with wide eyes.

"Personally packed. As a thank you for what you're about to do." He smiled softly and handed me the bags.

"H-Huh...?"

"For helping Luke."

"I..."

Don't forget her mail!

Ooh! And tell her to bring us snacks next time we meet since it'll be often now!

No it wouldn't be often! She'll be with Luke!

"Both of you keep quiet." Pulling out a mail he handed it to me. "Luke... prayed to me telling me about your plan. He asked me to help you. I don't know what or why he did it. But I know he'll change thanks to you. So do guide him."

"Sorry you lost me at the talking air..." I blinked.

Hermes laughed and showed a caduceus. "It's just George and Martha."

"Hi?"

Hello!

"I just wanted to let you know. No god or goddess could see you. No matter how hard they tried. So your secrets.. are really secrets. Good luck on your travel."

Next time we meet you should have snacks.

Then he vanished.

Staring at the letter on my hand, I was stunned seeing it was from... my mom and dad.

Sweetie,

You've made quite a friend here.

-Mom and Dad.

I immediately knew where to look. I hurriedly took my bags not bothering to check the contents. I ran to Percy's cabin and helped him out so we could leave.

Percy got a cab and looked at me worriedly.

"I'll write you. Stay safe Arthur Curry." I ruffled his hair and watched him go.

I didn't know where to go so I just went to the first secluded area I saw.

"You have more stuffs than when you arrived." I heard someone behind me.

"You prayed to your dad. I hope he knows how to pack." I sighed turning to him. Turning around I barely made out Luke from the few days I last saw him. "You okay?"

"Do you know where to look first?"

Call upon our hound.

I whistled, I don't know why. But when I did, D/N came out of the blue. Luke looked at me and my dear dog, who was probably bigger than the hound he'd summon back then. "How do feel about L.A?" I said riding on D/N and making space behind me for Luke.

~~~END OF BOOK 1~~~

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END OF BOOK ONE!!! THANK YOU FOR READING YLATHB I HOPE YOU ENJOY!! I'LL PUBLISH BOOK 2 WHEN I'M DONE OR EVEN AT LEAST HAVE WRITTEN 5 CHAPTERS OF THE BOOK 2 ;))

I HOPE TO SEE YOU NEXT TIME!!!

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