#good news for her: Percy doesn’t know when they ascended | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

nevraeldarya · 28 days ago

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I know you already answered that the Olympians won’t ever find out about Rhea interacting with the Norse Pantheon,but will it ever come out that Rhea’s interacting with this new pantheon?Since ROR Apollo is gonna show help with Gaia I’m assuming he’s gonna have some type of interaction with the Olympians.(PJO APOLLO?).One conclusion that I think they will come to is that the ROR Gods are a new/some other Pantheon.It’s also possible the ROR Gods will be mistaken for “minor” Greek Gods.

Anyways I’m bringing this up cuz I can’t shake the idea of ROR Poseidon(and Hades) publicly asking or stealing Rhea and Nico away to join another Pantheon.I also had the amusing thought that after or while they’re fighting Gaia Apollo starts flirting/propositioning Rhea in front of Poseidon and the other Olympians.They might not give a strong reaction to losing Rhea other than PJO Poseidon and maybe Apollo if he’s crushing on her but since you said Rhea is gonna ascend maybe they’ll steal her into their Pantheon after that happens.

The reason I’m bringing this up is because of this one PJO story I read where the Olympians got offended/nearly lost their shit when Percy slept with the leader of another Pantheon and their husband💀.One of the scenes had both Husband and Wife of the other Pantheon asking the Olympians(well mostly Poseidon) for Percy’s hand in marriage.It was a smartly done thing but the God and Goddess from that Pantheon should’ve asked Percy first before telling them because we all know how Percy feels about being made immortal.It gave me a bit of second hand embarrassment for them because they were doing so good against the Olympians but in the end the Olympians had the last laugh all because they forgot to speak to Percy about it.

Is Nico or anyone else gonna become a God?He had a power boost after the blessing so he might be heading there too.Aid also said he wants him to be his heir soo…If he doesn’t ascend on his own than I guess they’ll find a way to make him one.

I wonder if PJO Apollo is gonna notice ROR Apollo pulling on his sun domain.

If they find out, which in a way they will but linking it to Rhea would be impossible cause both her and ROR Apollo know how to bullshit their way out, the first by manipulation and the second by avoiding since he can't lie.

Also you guys are gonna see some ROR and PJO Apollos interaction but NOT in the way ya'll think :)

Anyways I’m bringing this up cuz I can’t shake the idea of ROR Poseidon(and Hades) publicly asking or stealing Rhea and Nico away to join another Pantheon. I also had the amusing thought that after or while they’re fighting Gaia Apollo starts flirting/propositioning Rhea in front of Poseidon and the other Olympians. They might not give a strong reaction to losing Rhea other than PJO Poseidon and maybe Apollo if he’s crushing on her but since you said Rhea is gonna ascend maybe they’ll steal her into their Pantheon after that happens.

Eeeeeh... I can't answer this without giving a spoiler really, Rhea's ascension is ... delicate matter (⚆₋₍⚆)

now what did I plan ... heheheheheh HEHEHEHEHE ... ya'll gonna have to wait and see ¬‿¬

Some yeah

I wonder if PJO Apollo is gonna notice ROR Apollo pulling on his sun domain.

No, ROR Apollo wouldn’t draw power from PJO Apollo because his power is entirely his own. Here’s why:

ROR Gods embody their domains: They are essentially Pseudo-Primordials, deeply tied to their domains. While not actual Primordials, they function on a level where they could be mistaken for one

Examples of domain embodiment:

Poseidonas death caused the sea levels to dangerously lower because he was the supreme sea god. (the sea lost its primary stabilizing force. This drop in sea levels could lead to ecological collapse—marine ecosystems would be destroyed, weather patterns would change drastically, and life on land could face droughts and food shortages due to the disruption of the water cycle.)

Aidoneus’ death caused the Underworld to collapse since his existence maintained its structure. (The Underworld collapsing is catastrophic because it disrupts the natural cycle of life and death. Souls might be left to roam aimlessly, causing chaos in both the mortal and divine realms. This destabilization could lead to catastrophic consequences for existence itself, it's like a company without a CEO or management, it's bound to go bankrupt)

Apollo’s disappearance made the sun grow larger. Other sun gods had to step in to stabilize its size and prevent it from exploding. (Like Aidoneus and Poseidonas, ROR Apollo is the TOP Sun God since the greeks in ROR worlds are the leaders, a larger sun is extremely dangerous because it accelerates its death. The bigger a star, the faster it burns through its fuel. Without control, the sun would eventually explode (a supernova), wiping out Earth and the rest of the solar system. In the short term, the increase in size could cause extreme heat, making Earth uninhabitable and wiping out most forms of life. the people are safe now because they are in Valhalla which is in another dimension not connected to Earth.)

Brunhilde’s plan had unintended consequences:

Even if humanity wins Ragnarok, the world’s balance is upset. Humanity is unlikely to survive more than a couple of centuries at BEST.

The gods don’t need humans to survive, but humans need the gods to maintain essential functions like the sun, sea, and underworld.

In Conclusion: ROR Apollo doesn’t pull power from PJO Apollo because he is the embodiment of the sun in his world. His power is inherent and independent not borrowed.

Which means if angered and at full power ... well you don't want to know.

#ttsitsol #nevraeldarya #record of ragnarok #percy jackson fanfiction #ao3 fanfic #ror x pjo

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thessalian · 3 years ago

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Thess vs TLoVM Ep. 3

Catching up because new episodes! And yeah, the end of Ep 2 was a good place to leave it, definitely. I’ve hacked through eps 3-5, and will go back to 6 momentarily but duuuuuuuuude.

Flashback literally makes my heart hurt. Alas, poor de Rolos. I mean, it’s not that Taliesin didn’t convey it perfectly well when having Percy talk about it, but the traumatised aren’t going to have that level of detail coming out easy, y’know? And yet I still feel like I’m seeing it the way he broad-strokes described it!

Ah, Greyskull Keep. Which actually looks like a keep and not the Castle Greyskull toy originally used. (No, seriously.) It’s nice. Shame it’s going to get wrecked.

...Within two minutes of an episode starting. Is it just me or is Grog just ... it’s not that he’s less intelligent; it’s that he’s infantalised. I mean, I know Grog had his childlike moments, but a lack of intelligence doesn’t necessarily mean ... well, the baby-voice. I’m sure Travis had reasons for that, but even this early on, Grog was less infantile than ... having ... impulse control issues. I mean, I guess a voice actor has to go with what the writers have written, to make it fit the mood, but how was he not turning around to the writers and going, “You know, he had more settings than this. Grog was simple, sure, but not whiny simple; more ‘food, ale, whores, gold, big things to kill-- wait DID YOU FUCK UP MY FRIENDS?!? RAAAAAAAAH!’ simple”? I swear, if a writer was boiling down my character to its barest fucking essentials like that, I’d be foaming at the mouth.

And they’re going to the big banquet without ... erm ... an effective heads-up! Percy, I don’t think they’re going to be the problem, etiquette-wise.

...Okay, they’re not going to be the only problem, etiquette-wise. Though it’s nice to have the “What are you drinking, and why didn’t you bring some to me?” side of Pike come out this early.

“Chenga”. The recursive levels of copyright weirdness continue to amuse. Because Greyskull would technically be Mattel copyright, and they’re perfectly happy to use that, but Hasbro? Hasbro’s a no-go zone, both for WotC and straight-up Hasbro. Still, similar enough (depending on regional pronunciations) that it’s the word we all know and love. Though how they’re getting around this being a warning word without the earrings...

It’s nice to see that Vex is portrayed as remembering the etiquette shit she learned in Syngorn. Shame Vax isn’t there to back her up with-- Oh come on, Keyleth, you have travelled. And Scanlan ... well, okay, high Charisma, low Wisdom that gives him Grog-level impulse control.

Meanwhile, Vax. ...Okay, when two guards decide to chase a snake, the guards are a bit thick.

Portable necromancy shrine? That’s ... actually kind of awesome. And as ways to ensure the investment of all concern and lead into the whole Whispered One deal, that’s kind of... Okay. Wait. Book. There’s an actual physical thing that he’s actually going to steal and this is going to end badly.

As a side note, I know that a lot of people are seeing this as a lead-in to the Whispered One Ascended arc of CR Campaign 1, and I don’t doubt it, but ... I also kind of hope not because ... note that they’re avoiding using any and all straight-up D&D references. Yeah, they have Pelor and Sarenrae and Vecna, but they’re renamed. Then again, can Wizards really lay claim to the character of Arkhan the Cruel, despite having published his deets in several sourcebooks now? What would they have had to pay Joe Manganiello for that? Because I tell you this much - if they do the Vecna arc and Joe’s not in it as Arkhan, I will be decidedly put out. If nothing else, his quasi-betrayal was the perfect tension-breaker. ANYWAY.

They kept the “Wow, you’re a handsome couple” line! YES!

They also kept the leaping out the window. Ouch.

Ah. Twin-bond. That’s how they’re justifying things. ...That’s usually identical rather than fraternal twins, but whatever. Magic. We go with it.

For the record, I’ve been listening to the whole OST on Spotify the last couple of days and wondered where the hell “Pull My Beads of Love” was going to get used. ...I DID NOT EXPECT IT TO BE HERE. Though it puts the “disco ball codpiece” thing to use, I guess?

Oh HELLO CRAVEN EDGE. ...oh fuck.

You know, I don’t remember this fight going this badly in the actual game. ...Then again, there were mooks then. And Kit Buss. And a dragonborn sorcerer who earned himself a trip to Chaotic Neutral-land around about then.

According to the soundtrack, that background music is actually titled “No Mercy Percy”. And it fits oh gods I have chills and I keep forgetting Jaffe’s range. And then I remember Admiral Ripsnarl and yeah, behold my ace-crush. This is actually worse than the yelling from the original game, this ice-cold take on “Your soul is forfeit”. *shudder*

I’m sorry, how are you people surprised you’re getting arrested? You ran off a couple of dignitaries who have not openly done anything suspicious, started a massive brawl that wrecked the palace courtyard... I mean, yeah, okay, maybe if Uriel wasn’t being mind-controlled he’d think, “Hmm, maybe they’d actually have sustained less damage if they were the instigators”, so maybe their surprise is justified.

Yeah, so glad I didn’t watch this until I had three other episodes in the pipe. Might actually wait on the last episode this time too, because where I left it (end ep 5) ... that’s too perfect a place to leave it for awhile. Because I like to torture myself. More quasi-liveblog soon because GAAAAAAAAAAH this shit got creepy.

I again reiterate: I hope that parents are being careful about their kids watching this. Or at least that parents don’t blame the creators for the parents’ inability to parent effectively. I mean, my mother let me watch horror movies and M*A*S*H (which is arguably worse) when I was a kid, but she mostly watched it with me.

#Thess watches Critical Role #the legend of vox machina #tlovm spoilers

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llendrinall · 4 years ago

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A terrible question, but which Weasley has the highest body count?

Both Arthur and Molly have something under 10, from the first and the second wizarding war. Molly’s count is higher than Arthur’s.

Ginny is a zero. She is a very dangerous person and people know. On a base, instinctual level, veteran Death Eaters know to stay away from the freckled teenager. Ginny hexes a lot of people, but she doesn’t kill anyone during the war.

Ron is between 3 and 5. All after the war. All were attacking someone else. When they attack him, Ron engages in a duel, casts and counter-casts and dances around just like he would in a chess game. When they attack others, Ron flips the table and the board and finishes things in a very terminal and permanent way. (Hermione won’t admit it because she thinks it’s uncivilized, but she finds it so hot).

Fred and George are a 5. Together, because they fight together and no one can tell if it was the spell or the kick that ended Julius Mulciber. It happened during the Battle of Hogwarts except for one incident right when they had to go into hiding during the war.

Percy has killed 3 people and all of them were stone cold murders. Is killing someone in a duel a murder? From a legal standpoint it most likely is, but nobody in wizarding society considers it so. If you have your wand and it’s one on one, it’s not murder.

Percy has murdered three people. One was a mild mannered middle aged wizard. A perfectly polite and proper gentleman who was on his way to report Angelina Johnson’s location and blood status. He would claim that he was not a Death Eater and that he was merely following the rules and adhering to protocol and he would be saying the truth! Really! He was just a law-abiding citizen, someone who didn’t necessarily sympathize with the new government but who didn’t tolerate those radicals mix-breed who openly defied it.

Angelina would had been arrested and killed. Someone was going to die either way, Percy merely changed who.

The second one was also a man working at the Ministry. Actually, he came first. It was before Pius Thicknesse ascended to power. A head of department. Powerful. Influential. Charismatic.

Serial sexual harasser.

The thought “what if it were Ginny?” never crossed Percy’s mind because he couldn’t picture Ginny working in a Ministry office. In any case, it wasn’t a question of what if it were someone else, it was a question of being someone right now. Paula.

Percy didn’t kill him right away. Just because Percy was a stone cold murderer it didn’t mean it was his default mode of action. He tried to speak with him first, and with Paula. He told her he would support her if she filled a complaint. None of that worked, so Percy wrote a complaint himself that was ignored. The wizard who handled it actually burned it before Percy and told him he was doing him a favour. A promising young man like himself should be more careful about who he was baselessly accusing.

He did it on a Tuesday. The poison was slow and silent so it wasn’t until Thursday when they were told the tragic news of their dear colleague’s passing. Paula burst into tears and people used her reaction to say that she was hooking up with him, she was the one chasing him. Percy had a brief moment of panic, but he overheard an old woman in the cafeteria saying “good riddance” and over the next week Paula lost the exhaustion shadows under her eyes and Percy acquainted himself with the concept of “pattern of conduct”.

His third murder was of Mr. Wu, which is only relevant because Mr. Wu was very surprised and because Percy didn’t use magic.

Bill has killed 2-3 people, all at the Battle of Hogwarts. There was also a troll. It’s unclear if they count as people.

Oh, but you have skipped Charlie! You say.

No, I have not. Charlie comes last because Charlie is at the top. Definitely more than 18 kills but less than 45.

It’s the poachers. Dragon parts are used in potions and wand-making and many other things. There is a strong demand for dragon ingredients. Dragon reserves collect the shed scales and horns and even dragon dung, but that’s not enough to satisfy the market. They want more. Blood, liver, heart. And they are willing to pay for it.

They come get it.

And they find Charlie.

More than 18 but probably less than 45 confirmed kills Charlie.

Charlie came to dragon work believing, like everyone else in England, that the short life expectation for dragon workers was due to the dragons themselves, or rather, careless dragon work, Mum, if you are careful there is no danger. In fact, over 80% of injuries and deaths are due to furtive hunters. To be fair, they usually take measures to disguise their murders as dragon-related accidents.

The point is that Charlie didn’t come to this work expecting to be murdered and he won’t stand for that nonsense.

There is an annual dragon conference in Tanzania where all the world experts in dragon keep and dragon lore meet, and the sole reason it exists is so the Tanzania reserve would have an excuse to invite Charlie down for a bout of not-dying-today.

Charlie imparted a workshop on Romanian Longhorn’s calls, which is his actual area of expertise, not poacher fighting. That’s an unfortunate side effect of his job, much like dragon dung collection. The second night of the conference an armed group attacked the leader of the Kenyan reserve, who had been making amazing progress in winning legislative support. Charlie killed three of the poachers, scared the rest into a different career and earned a standing invitation from everyone to come work at their reserves whenever. Charlie is happy in Romania, so he declines the work offers but accepts all the conference invitations he keeps getting, happy under the assumption that people just want to hear more about Longhorn’ calls.

The Tanzanian Spiked Colossus is no longer in danger of extinction.

#harry potter #weasley #body count #verse: which weasley has the highest body count #violence mention #percy weasley #charlie weasley #textpost

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britcision · 2 years ago

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IT HAS BEEN A WHILE but it’s 3am and I’m not in bed so it’s DRAGONS O’CLOCK

And today we’re going to CHEAT

So I told you about my good good dragonborn lad, Yuriy Babin

And now I’m going to tell you more about his good good son, Havoc, aka my favourite NPC about 70% of the time

He’s a void dragonborn like his daddy, but only half dragonborn (dragonbiefling, because I refuse to allow humans to be the only monsterfuckers in the world), but he is still a very good boy

And my Havoc is an extremely good boy

He does not have any kind of disabilities or learning disorders; he’s just around 7’ tall, built like a brick shit house, and decided that since thinking too hard only made him sad, he will never have a single thought again

And when you’re about 7’ tall, massive, and have two beefy and much smarter girlfriends, approaching every person like a new friend and every situation as a fun adventure doesn’t really have consequences

He has all the sense of direction of a particularly confused duckling, which is appropriate because he is a path of the duck barbarian, and is frequently found Leroy Jenkinsing his way about town

(In spite of at least one of his girlfriends trying to keep some form of track of him; the other is perfectly happy to cheer him on and is therefore unhelpful)

Finding Havoc and bringing him back to his mom’s shop will net any adventurer a 15% discount for a month on her magical potions and wares

This discount is frequently necessary

The party already met Havoc because I’ll allow them to try and cast Message to each other without knowing where the other is, with a d20 roll to see if it succeeds

And Havoc was extremely interested to suddenly hear a new voice in his head, because heavens know it wasn’t a thought, so when the voice stopped he wandered around til he found them

Most of them promptly adopted my sweet golden retriever ass boy but he’s had a couple run ins with the cleric because the cleric tried to get Havoc to help him find the party when they got separated

Havoc, who had left the party about 5 minutes before, did not recognise their descriptions until the ranger’s dire wolf found them both

The cleric is not a fan of Havoc

Havoc is a barbarian lad, but he’s an interesting barbarian lad partially because of his heritage

And I actually don’t mean the dragon side

He’s got a nifty breath weapon that can be either gravity, star fire (radiant/fire damage mix), or for some ungodly reason a teleport, and a scattering of black scales on royal blue skin that have the occasional moving star or nebula peeking through

But see, that’s just aesthetic

That’s not what makes him interesting (although being a lovely himbo lad is justification all its own)

See, Havoc’s mom is a level 20 chaos warlock formerly known as Mayhem, who could probably ascend to patronhood under her primordial chaos spelldaddy with a little extra work thanks to a dash of extra fey heritage

(Mostly useless, but I really can’t recommend The Half Race Handbook from DMs Guild enough, it keeps shit balanced by taking primary traits from one species and secondary traits from the other; mixes beyond that are just for flavour)

And Mama wants to make sure her boy is safe on the road, so she pulled some strings, and got her sweet little boy a pact weapon

No, Havoc does not have a single level in warlock

Because in this magical land we value informed consent, and even warlock pact magic has to acknowledge that this himbo ass motherfucker cannot and will not be informed

What he does have is the only gun in the entire game

This gun is sentient, as all good pact weapons should be, and used to go by the name Pierce Braxton Percival vonKron Cheswick Fernsby Dankworth the third because yes, he’s an homage to Critical Role’s Percy and his original dark path

Havoc calls him Crunchy

And Crunchy is a throwing gun

What is a throwing gun you ask? Why, it’s a gun in a world where no guns have yet existed, in the hands of a sweet, beautiful himbo who knows that this is not what crossbows look like

Silly Crunchy, you can’t shoot. You have no arms!

So clearly he’s some kind of bad boomerang

Crunchy would love nothing more than to not come back to Havoc ever again

He’d love to be lost, or stolen, or put in the hands of someone with a single surviving braincell who he could persuade to use his trigger

But he’s a magic pact weapon

So he always comes back

Much to his dismay

The ranger’s going to be pissed cuz I told her I put a gun in the world and that she couldn’t have it and I think she’s been planning to have the rogues help her

Buuuuuuut that’s not gonna go their way 😈

They don’t know Havoc has Crunchy yet but I can’t wait for them to find out

One of Havoc’s girlfriends is also a dragonborn but she’ll have to wait for it to be 3am another bad night

And at some point I’ll get back to the actual dragon dragons on the list but fuck you guys Havoc is the best of them all and no we can NEVER let him talk to Chatsmont

#fuck i have so many good dragons #dnd npcs #queer dnd #dnd homebrew #havoc #my beloved himbo barbarian #‘you’re not the dumbest person in the world but you best hope Havoc doesn’t die’#throwing gun #My beautiful perfect son havoc

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musingsbydeepo · 4 years ago

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The Trojan War from Above

genre: i have no idea LMAO, oneshot ig?

description: Percy, Thalia and Nico ascend to Olympus to seek help from the gods for Percy's Trojan War project.

notes: hera reconciled with the demigods after TOA so they're cool now, most of the gods are pretty much casual with the saviors of olympus, post-TOA

warnings: none i can see, but lmk if you catch something via asks or dms!

word count: 1,157

"Professor Paulin assigned us a project, and we need your help."

Percy's voice boomed all across the throne room, while the Olympians -- except for Zeus, which was momentarily replaced by the Zeus Rock™ that was sitting on the King of Heaven's throne in the center of the room.

"Um, ok?"

"Son, what kind of help do you mean-"

"Anything to help Sally Jackson the Great's son!"

"It feels rather gratifying that you approach us - and I mean me, of course - rather than my daughter-"

"Well, unless you've come to do a project on agriculture, I'm afraid I can't-"

"Hard pass, Peter Johnson."

"Ugh, is it that puny punk who saved us from being dethroned again? I swear he's here every week for dinner-"

"Oh my, it's the male lead of the most romantic story of all time!"

"You're exaggerating again, Ditey."

"Am not!"

"Well, this should be interesting."

"Oh, it's that kid who set off my alarms in that god-awful amusement park - get it, god-awful? 'Cause we're gods?"

"Hello, hero."

"Hi, Aunt Hera." Percy glanced back at his friends for support. Thalia gave him a thumbs up while Nico simply shrugged. Somehow that simple movement expressed sorry man you're on your own. "Um, so we -- I mean I -- have to retell the Trojan War in my words. Except I don't really have enough concrete evidence to completely retell the story, so I was hoping you could...um...supply the missing and perhaps the blurrier parts?"

"You'd think I blessed Homer enough to accurately narrate that war, but noooo he just had to skip the start. Ugh." Apollo complained, holding the back of his hand to his forehead, then sat up abruptly. "Actually, you'd think the Greeks were living in peace, but noooo you vain goddesses just had to fight over your looks. Double ugh."

"As if you're not vain, Apollo!" Aphrodite protested, her fist clenched on the armrest of her throne.

"Yeah, but that was before I became Lester. And please, if we're not in a formal situation do call me Lester. Now can we make this quick, I have to visit Aeithales later."

"Can we please return to the situation at hand? My son is in dire need of our help!" Poseidon redirected the counsel's attention to Percy, who felt increasingly small as 11 pairs of eyes turned to him once more, 12 if you include the sunglasses his dad had put on the Zeus Rock™.

"Okay, so, uh I've got notebooks here and stuff, if you could just write down what you know-"

"Um, Percy? One teensy little problem?" Thalia tapped her friend and cousin's shoulder lightly. When Percy turned to her, she said, "New Rome U needs you to cite a source. I know NRU is pretty lax about the gods and whatever, but Prof Paul is mortal. He's not just sweep this under the carpet if your paper says 'source: Olympian Gods'."

Everyone's shoulders slumped as they took this in consideration. Even the Zeus Rock™ seemed to slip slightly lower on its throne.

"I have a solution to that." Athena announced, and everyone let out a sigh of relief. From thin air, she summoned a leather-bound book. The cover was branded and gold-leafed with The Trojan War from Above by Athena Chase, PhD, EdD, EngD, DProf, DArch, ThD, DDiv, ScD, LitD. "If everyone here could just lend me their memories about that war -- and no, Apollo, I'm not asking you to give up your memories, I'm asking you to share, which you should be familiar with now." She shot down her brother, who was starting to raise his hand.

For a few beats the entire throne room was silent, which was probably the quietest it had been since the completion of the dodecatheon. Even Bessie the Ophiotaurus kept to himself, though he usually mooed, hence the very rare silence of the Olympian throne room.

"Alright, here it is. Godly knowledge about the Trojan War condensed in a portable book. Pretty hefty, huh?"

"Um, Theney, wouldn't it be...unwise to share such knowledge with mortals? We're revealing secrets here. Doesn't that go against everything you stand for?" Ares huffed. "Besides, I should be the one offering this to you, punk. I'm the god of war, after all."

"I'm a god of war too! And besides, as long as none of you included your personal comments, it should be fine. You didn't include any right? Right?"

Silence. Again.

The three demigod were having a silent conversation using sign language -- a habit they picked up from Hearthstone, one of Annabeth's cousin Magnus's friends. The were huddled closely to each other, so that the gods couldn't see their hands.

Am I seeing right? Is that Chase on the cover? Nico signed, his eyes bewildered.

I think so. I see it too. Thalia replied.

Should we let Annabeth know? Percy asked, his teeth clenched. I mean, she's always wanted this. A complete family. She... Percy faltered. I saw it when we passed by the sirens, years ago. This could either make or break her day, maybe even her life.

Annabeth's not that dumb, Percy. Thalia scoffed as she signed.

Yeah but- Percy's sign was cut short by Athena's voice.

"Normally I would request to redo this, but it's getting late and we all have plans. Here you go, Perseus. I ask you to be careful, this book can very well start another war if it's in the wrong hands." The book flew towards the demigods' general direction, and Percy leaped to catch it.

"Uh, thank you, my lady. I'll uh, make you guys proud and get a good score on this project! Please send my regards to Grammy." Percy bowed along with Thalia and Nico. They were about to leave when Apollo shrank down to human size, simultaneously transforming his toga to jeans and a t-shirt, and patted Percy on the back.

"I'll go with you guys, I'm going to Meg's." He pulled a pair of glasses from his pocket and handed them to Percy. The frames were gold and engraved with literary and solar symbols. "This should help with reading your book. If you're ever in need of help to express yourself in this project, hit me up. God of literature at your service! Just don't call when I'm with Meg, alright?"

Percy hadn't even considered his dyslexia. He accepted the glasses with a thankful smile and said, "Uh, thanks LA." I probably won't need -- or want -- your help anyway, he added inwardly.

"No prob."

"Oh, what's this?" Annabeth picked up a book from Percy's shelf. She had never seen this book before, and it seemed expensive, what with the leather cover and gold embossing.

The Trojan War from Above by Athena Chase, PhD, EdD, EngD, DProf, DArch, ThD, DDiv, ScD, LitD

Annabeth only knew one person -- well, not exactly a person -- with those doctorates.

"Mom," she whispered.

sources: Zeus Rock™ HC, Percy calling Rhea Grammy HC and Trojan War project HC from @caffeinatedflumadiddlebutpjo; i saw an HC where Percy asks how to cite The Olympians as a veritable source but i'm not sure if it's from caffeinatedflumadiddlebutpjo as well but if you know where it's from please let me know i beg you; pretty yellow dividers from @skylightlantern

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prongsies · 4 years ago

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Baggage Pt. 2 • George Weasley

PAIRING: George Weasley x Reader

SUMMARY: Christmas is the perfect time for the Weasleys to get the family together, and maybe it’s also a perfect time to welcome some new members in

WARNINGS: Language, smol bits of angst

PART 1

_______________________________________________________________

Laughter echoed through the walls of the Burrow, over the faint Christmas music Molly Weasley was playing on the radio. The smell of roast chicken filled George’s senses as he stood in the living room with his brothers and Harry, watching in amusement as the two hoisted Fred up from his wheelchair, helping him as he took a few wobbly steps forward.

A warm feeling made its way into George’s chest as his brother neared him, taking a few little steps at a time to get used to the feeling of having to rest his weight on his legs again.

Of course, being the ever-loving twin brother he is, he held his hands out towards Fred, making grabby hands at him as if he were a child taking his first steps

��You’re a dick” Fred quips when he finally realized what George was doing. He rolled his eyes as Ron and Harry helped him back on his wheelchair, both stifling their laughter - which didn’t go unnoticed by Fred, “That how you lot see me, eh?”

“Please” George started, patting his twin’s head, hurriedly stepping back when Fred made a move to hit him in his regions, missing him by an inch, “You’ve always been a big baby”

“I beg to differ” Fred protested, crossing his arms over his chest, further proving George’s point.

The younger twin was about to retort when Molly cut him off, “Boys, please” She said, wiping away the beads of sweat that had formed on her forehead from the cooking she had done.

Removing her mittens, she instructed Ron and Harry to help help Fred up the stairs so he could get ready, before beckoning George over, “Fred’s potions just ran out this afternoon. Why don’t you go to (y/n)’s and get some more?”

“Now?” He asked, eyes trailing over towards the clock, indicating it was at least an hour before Christmas dinner - something he didn’t want to miss.

Molly followed his gaze before rolling her eyes, gently nudging her son out the door, which he made a difficult task by planting his feet firmly on the hardwood floor, “”C’mon, George!”

“I was just joking! Jeez” George laughed, finally making it easier for his mum to nudge him out. He stopped, turning to face his mother with a smirk playing on his lips, “It is quite admirable you’ve finally distinguished me Fred, mum! Tell me, did my missing ear give it away or the lack of wheelchairs?”

“I swear to Godric, George Weasley-”

“And I’m out” He rushed out the door, into the street while laughing, managing to grab his oat from the rack along the way. He trudged down the snowy street, giving his mother a thumbs up when she reminded him to invite (y/n) over to join them for dinner.

The walk to the store was shorter now, almost familiar to him as he’d been sent out there a few times after his brother had arrived home. He smiled upon seeing it, glistening with Christmas lights even if the store had been closed for the day.

He made his way to the back entrance, where (y/n) had given him a spare key, allowing him to walk into her home freely. Entering the back entrance to your potions lab, before ascending the stairs the led to your home.

He hesitated at first whether he should knock on your door or not, remembering the incident that had occurred just two days ago when he did - which led to you leaving your potion boiling for far too long, and... well, I guess you know what happened next.

His smile dropped, however, upon opening the door. As he walked in, he realized only the lights in the kitchen were on, bleeding over the kitchen island to partly illuminate the living room. There was a potion brewing in the coffee table, and beside the cauldron were vials of what George recognized were Fred’s potions.

Suddenly, he heard faint sobbing in the kitchen. Seeing noone there, he was quick to rush inside, scared that anything happened to (y/n), only to see you on the floor, leaning against the back of the island across the oven.

There was something baking inside, which George could only think to be pie, but he shook his curiosity off to kneel beside you, opening his arms. Before you knew it, you wrapped your arms around him, him doing the same to you, crying on his shoulder as you mumbled incoherent things muffled by his coat.

“(y/n)?” He said softly after a few minutes, pulling away to get a good look at you. Your eyes were rimmed red and your cheeks were flushed, a clear sign you’ve been crying moments before he had even arrived. “What’s wrong, love? Please tell me”

He cupped your face in his hands, wiping the last few tears that escaped your eyes with his thumbs as you dry-sobbed. “Here,” He stood, fetching a glass from the cupboards and filled it with water, handing it to you as soon as he sat back down.

He watched as you slowly gulped it down, wrapping an arm around your shoulder and pulling you into his chest as soon as you finished. “What’s wrong, (y/n)?”

“It’s- it’s nothing really” You took shaky breaths to calm yourself, “You shouldn’t see me like this” You laughed softly, trying to clear the air which felt a little too heavy a little while ago. You looked up at him with a smile, only to see that his worried expression hadn’t left his face, “It’s nothing, George, really”

“How is it nothing, (y/n)?” He asked, “You rarely ever cry-”

“We literally just met a week ago, Gee” You joked, nudging his waist, “Besides, just because I don’t cry in front of you doesn’t mean I am incapable of doing so”

“I know,” He sighed, “I just don’t like seeing you sad s’all. I mean, you saved my brother’s life - you made my family and I happy, but here you are...”

“Looking like an outright mess?” You offered, earning a playful glare.

Silence passed between the two of you as you both watched the pie slowly bake in the oven, catching a whiff of the blueberries you had put in there as they cook. “I miss my brother - it’s my first Christmas without him, you know?”

He nodded.

“Merlin, the last time I saw him alive, we just finished arguing because he wouldn’t let me join in the fight” You laughed, “I called him a git and threw in some very colorful words and you know what he did? He stared at me - only for a few seconds - before laughing and hugging me. He told me he’d find me after it’s over but I found him- I found and he wasn’t moving and- and-”

George hugged you to his chest as you start crying again, allowing you to let all of it out because he knows - he knows how hard it is to keep everything to yourself, to not have anyone be there for you when you feel like you’re drowning in your tears.

He had been that person as well, for months. He sat in heir shared flat above the store, crying in the living room after coming home from visiting Fred, slowly losing hope day by day when his vitals weren’t improving, worrying constantly about how they’re gonna pay the bills, how his dad was doing since he basically lives in his office now to get overtime pay.

But the difference was, he had a family to go to - he had Bill and Charle, even Percy, to cry to. A family who visits him whenever he doesn’t make contact with anyone for weeks.

He jumped at the sound of a Ding! from the oven, you pulling away from him as soon as you heard it. With a sniffle, you stood up from the floor and grabbed a napkin from the island, blowing into it before shooting it into the bin. George followed suit soon after you, silently watching you pull the pie from the oven.

With a smile, you turned back towards George, “I’ll get ready, yeah? Wait for me here”

You were the center of praise as you joined the Weasleys in the dining room, everyone raising their glasses to you in a toast for helping Fred recover after everything. Beside you, George smiled, patting your knee in thanks as he used his other hand to raise his own glass.

With that, you moved into your room. disappearing behind the door, leaving George alone.

____

As the dinner ensued, the table was filled with chatter. Hermione, who sat across you, asking about how much research you had to do to be able to get the potion right, to which you replied by jumping into the story of how you managed to burn off your full head of hair after trying it out.

This reminded Fred of the times he and George would lock themselves in their room, managing to burn off their hair as well trying to come up with something new to add to their products.

Finally, when dinner finished and everyone retreated in the living room to exchange presents, George invited you to take a walk with him outside, just to get a breath of fresh air since majority of the questions asked were directed towards you and your work.

“You family is something, no?” you remarked as Charlie’s laugh made its way into your ears, even if you stood meters away from the home, “They’re very lovely - especially Bill”

“Bill, huh?” He teased, wriggling his eyebrows at you, making your cheeks warm up.

“No!” You slapped his shoulder lightly, “He just- he reminds me of my brother”

“Well, he is the ideal older brother figure” George agreed.

You hummed in response as your eyes settled onto the night sky, marvelling at the stars. You didn’t notice, but he was staring at you as you kept your gaze above, entertaining the warmth he felt in his stomach and chest as he watched you.

“Hey, (y/n)” He cleared his throat, cheeks feeling hot now as well.

“Hmm?” You looked at him. He was fumbling with his fingers as he kept a respectable distance away from you.

“Do you... want to go out sometimes? Just us?”

“Funny, I was actually hoping Bill would come along” You joked, smiling as he gave you a flat look, “Really, though? Me? You know I’ve got a lot of baggage, are you sure you’re ready for that?”

“(y/n),” He chuckled, grabbing both of your hands, “I literally screamed at you the first time we met, do you think you’re the only one with baggage?”

You rolled your eyes, your smile now turning into a full-on grin, “So? Do you?”

“Yes,” You replied.

He grinned as he pulled you back into his arms, wrapping you in his warm embrace as you stood in the middle of their garden. When he pulled away, he was still grinning, almost squealing in excitement as he hugged you again.

“George” You laughed, “Come on, let’s go back inside!”

“You just want to see Bill” You glared at him, “I’m kidding! I’ve got a gift for you waiting in there anyway”

“I hope it’s Bill”

“Oh, sod off (y/n)”

You laughed as he pulled you back towards the Burrow, your hand in his as you smiled to yourself, knowing that somewhere up there, your brother is happy you have someone to consider as family even with him gone.

#george weasley #george weasley imagine #george weasley x reader #fred weasley #fred weasley imagine #fred weasley x reader #harry potter #harry potter x reader #harry potter imagine #harry potter imagines

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eponymous-rose · 5 years ago

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Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role C2E78 (September 24, 2019)

Tonight’s guests are Marisha Ray and Travis Willingham!

Announcement: No episode of Critical Role on Thursday, October 3rd! In place of Talks the following Tuesday, Sam will be running a one-shot (I think? I’ll be honest, I got lost in all the dates)! Tomorrow will be a major update for CR’s upcoming programming! Sam and Matt will play M:TG Arena at 4PM on Thursday for Everything Is Content! Please double-check all these dates before making any life-changing decisions based on them.

Distract yourself from my inadequate transcription skills with...

Episode 78: Between the Lines

Stats: “TO ZADASH!” was declared 12 times. The M9 have had a total of 21 steeds, 5 of which are still with them. Jester and Nott are now tied for second-most natural ones, with 52. Beau still holds the number one spot with 60. Marisha: “The best at fuckin’ failing.” Beau and Fjord have the 1st and 2nd-most natural 20s in the campaign, with 78 and 55, respectively.

“She’s still running from a lot of her past and not trying to confront it, so when things happen that smash it in her face, it throws her off a little bit, much as she tries to not care.” Travis points out that it’s interesting she didn’t try to bolt for it. Marisha: “She’s still... two ends of the magnets. The ones... the sides that deflect... reverse math. The reverse magnets.”

Fjord “didn’t take it lightly” that the Wildmother reached out to him. Paladin seemed like a natural choice. “How do we incorporate the previous warlock parts of it? I think there’s maybe an interesting solve there.” The swap to Paladin was about taking agency. Marisha reminisces about how gung-ho Fjord was about the Soltryce Academy. “Oh, you’re shoving shards in people’s arms? Sign me up!”

It was weird for Marisha to hear Beau’s dad’s voice for the first time. “I was like, ‘Oh fuck, my dad kind of sounds like a schmuck.’”

Fjord hadn’t thought of another god until Taliesin mentioned, “Let’s go god shopping.” He liked “the warm elements and imagery she was hitting him with. I love the idea of deep ocean waves, and just the calm of it.”

On Beau’s dad being superstitious---made up on the spot? “Oh no, that’s part of the backstory.”

Travis hadn’t thought about how Fjord’s now worshiping an illegal religion. Brian: “Now’s your chance to reflect.” Travis still isn’t too sure where Fjord/the group stands in the Dynasty-vs.-Empire conflict. Marisha: “None of us are really sure what’s happening.” Marisha also points out that the group is being a bit overwhelmed by the Superman effect right now, where there’s too many voices vying for their attention.

Cosplay of the Week: a very fancy Percy (by 89Styles on Instagram, photography by Weneals Photography)!

Someone asks if Thoreau’s encounter with the fortune teller has to do with Beau keeping Molly’s tarot cards. “Very astute. You have a good eye.” Brian: “All right, so you’re going to give him half a villain speech?”

Travis has “no fucking idea” what kind of plans Fjord has to serve the Wildmother specifically. “I’m just winging it.”

Travis doesn’t want to meet Oban, the Laughing Hand, etc. “Boy, we better have a get-the-fuck-out-of-Dodge ready.” Marisha: “We... should’ve gone and talked to the Gentleman.” Travis thinks it will have been worth it if they can get the Heart first. If not... Marisha notes that this felt like the most immediate threat, and they had a sense of urgency about it.

Marisha and Travis make a pact to just spar in the woods if the baddies are already gone.

Marisha is asked if she thinks Yasha’s recent actions are irredeemable. “No.” She knows Yasha’s got external influences going on. She’s only really irritated and suspicious because they don’t know how much Yasha knew about this before the fact.

Travis gets asked if Fjord would fight Yasha to the death. “Fjord doesn’t know---I also don’t know---what are the limits of this thing that’s happening to Yasha? If she just fights the whole time...”

Beau isn’t really worried by being seen as “a disaster” by the Soul right now. “She was really on team egg-it-on.” Brian: “Agennon? Is that another god?”

Fan Art of the Week: a tragic Yasha (ViolaSwimmer on Twitter)!

Fjord’s tusks having grown back in the new character art are related to Jester calling him out and positively reinforcing him, and “I was definitely moved by what Nott and Sam said” about not being comfortable with her appearance. It was also related to getting rid of the sword. “I don’t need anything but me to feel good about me.”

Beau’s opinion on the harshness of the ban from the Cobalt Soul: “Fuck your authority! Whatever, it’s fine.” She knows what they’re doing is more important right now.

Brian, after everyone dissolves into giggles for the tenth time: “Do you have any idea how high people think we are right now?” Travis: “This is root beer! This is Barq’s!”

Travis hasn’t used the new sword yet, so technically he doesn’t know yet if it talks.

Sam Facetimes in. He’s holding socks. “Are you guys smokin’ the dope???”

On going back to their first meeting spots, Marisha: “Aw, that was nice. For the five minutes we were there before Sam yelled, “TO ZADASH!””

Marisha gets asked if there was a reason Beau didn’t mention her mom in this latest lore-drop. “My mom was the rich girl, and so my dad was chasing this rich girl. So... yeah. He went to the fortune teller. Fortune teller was like, ‘Go do these things and then you’ll succeed and be recognized amongst the lords and ladies and you’ll be able to marry this woman you’re in love with.’ I envision Beau’s mom as being one of those moms where she had Beau’s back... up to a certain point.”

On the book Caleb gave Fjord: “It’s a cool book. Still not sure whether to use it or hang on to it.”

We end on Brian ascending. As you do.

#critical role #critical role spoilers #long text post #talks machina #talks machina spoilers

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thesibyllinebooks · 5 years ago

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The New Yorkers (Part 23)

Percy and Annabeth held hands the entire taxi ride to the Empire State Building. Percy couldn’t tell whose palms were sweatier. He kept casting sideways glances at his girlfriend. Annabeth wore her curly hair in a long braid, showing off some gold earrings he’d bought her for her eighteenth birthday. Or nineteenth, he couldn’t remember. Her peasant top made her look like any normal cute college girl. But she wasn’t. She was an angry demigod possibly encouraging him to be escorted to his death in the back of a beat up taxi.

He hadn’t heard more of Annabeth’s plan. She assured him that she had one, but wanted to see how things went on Olympus first. Percy hoped Annabeth wasn’t hoping for a good outcome because he didn’t think she’d get one.

“Right here’s fine,” Annabeth said suddenly. The taxi stopped.

“Hey,” Percy said gently, turning Annabeth to look at him. “Things are going to be okay.” He kissed her. Who knows, this could have been their last kiss before the gods obliterated them.

“Things aren’t okay,” Annabeth reminded him.

Percy got out of the taxi. Annabeth slid over the seats and got out on his side. She shut the door and a second later her hand was back in Percy’s, squeezing the life out of him. The Empire Sate Building loomed over them. Though they knew no one else could see it, Annabeth and Percy craned their necks to look at the large, expanding mass of land and clouds above the building. Olympus.

Percy held the door for Annabeth. As soon as they entered, a security guard gestured for them to walk through the metal detectors.

“What brings you two here today?” he asked. For just a second, his eyes glowed gold. “Appointment?”

“No, we’re dropping in,” Annabeth said stiffly.

“Right this way.” He led them to a golden elevator. The doors slid open. Annabeth pushed the button for the 600th floor.

“I know this goes without saying, but don’t say anything rash,” Percy cautioned her. “I know you’re upset but we don’t want to make things worse.” Annabeth nodded stiffly. Her neck was bright red with nerves and anger.

“I love you,” Percy said. If the gods blew them to bits in the next couple minutes, he decided those would be good enough last words.

“I love you too, Percy,” Annabeth said quietly. The elevator doors closed. The elevator shot up at an alarming speed, giving Percy a serious case of vertigo. In seconds, they shot out of the building, and Percy could see the entire city below. They ascended through the ground and the elevator stopped. When it opened. they were smacked in the face with sweet-smelling air. The sky was powder blue and the spots of grass were a lush, glowing green. Instead of dirt roads, white sidewalks gleamed, leading the way to buildings that were a perfect mix of modern and classical. Mythical creatures grazed the nearby fields.

“I know I’ve said it before but you did amazing,” Percy said, bumping his girlfriend’s shoulder.

“Thanks,” Annabeth said. “I wonder how long it’ll be before it’s all destroyed.”

“Don’t think like that.” Percy and Annabeth walked on one of the sidewalks, making their way to the throne room. Nymphs and other wind spirits flew above. Satyrs and minor deities rode chariots, directed by stoplights.

Percy hadn’t been to Olympus as many times as Annabeth. Every time he came, he was awestricken. It looked better than Elysium, and was definitely a poor reflection of the war and destruction about to take place. He had half a mind to say screw the gods and picnic with Annabeth on the lush fields of lowers. That would definitely be way less stressful.

Annabeth stopped in front of the large, golden doors. They were maybe three or four times their height. Her posture tensed and her face turned red. She clenched her jaw.

“Should we knock, or...?” Percy said.

Annabeth shook her head. She raised her hand. Wind spirits pushed the doors open. The entire room was made of glittering white marble, save for the decorated thrones surrounding the hearth. Smaller thrones for the minor gods were situated closer to the fire.

The gods were arguing- no, debating, Annabeth decided. Were they planning? They all spoke over each other, each twenty feet tall. Only half the gods were there, the ones still loyal to Zeus, Annabeth quickly realized. Zeus was nowhere to be found. Neither was Hera, which was especially good for Annabeth’s sake.

The doors slammed shut. Hestia was the first to look up. Her flame-red eyes connected with Percy and Annabeth. She raised her hand for silence. At once, all the gods stopped speaking and turned to face them.

Percy wanted to melt on the spot. He hated having so many eyes on him, like he’d done something wrong. Whatever betrayal his father was planning, he wanted no parts in it. He felt childish for thinking his dad would be there. What reason would Poseidon have to be in the throne room?

“Annabeth.” Athena was the first to speak. She resembled her statue, the Athena Parthenos, except her dress and battle gear was replaced with a white suit. She glared at Percy, which only made Annabeth tighten her grip on him, showing she had no intentions of letting him go.

“Athena,” Annabeth spat back. Gods, here we go, Percy thought.

“Someone doesn’t look too happy,” Apollo muttered. He had his usual surfer look, his blond hair falling into his eyes. His twin sister, Artemis, elbowed him. Percy wondered why she’d decided to be twenty feet tall and still look like a preteen at the same time.

“They look lovely. Athena, I told you your plan would never work. Love is much stronger than The Mist,” Aphrodite chastised Athena. Looking at her made Percy’s head hurt. Her eyes shifted from blue to green, to brown. Her hair changed color and texture by the second. One moment, her skin was porcelain and by the time he blinked, it was dark.

“So sorry to hear about Poseidon,” Apollo offered. “He’s still my favorite uncle. Though he is a shifty little traitor.” Percy shrugged. He was more interested in the god’s sweet Nike tracksuit. He wanted to ask if he’d bought it at the outlet or online, but decided that wasn’t the task at hand.

Athena frowned. “Why have you come?” she asked.

Annabeth stepped forward, dragging Percy along. The closer she got to the gods, the more of them shrank to their height. Athena remained giant.

“You can war, you can fight, you can do what you want, but you can’t make us fight your battles. You can’t make other demigods fight your battles,” Annabeth said fiercely.

Athena raised a dark eyebrow. Percy cringed. Annabeth gave him that expression whenever he said something particularly stupid. “You know we are forbidden from direct war without exhausting all other options,” Athena reminded her daughter slowly.

“So you’re going to let kids die?” Percy asked, raising his voice. Athena looked like she wanted to say, well duh. “Zeus poisoned the lake at Camp Half-Blood. Friends are going to turn against each other all because you-”

“Because of your father,” Athena corrected him rudely.

“So what? Banish him or something,” Percy said.

Demeter stepped up. Her long, thin braids were intertwined with sprigs of grain. “Poseidon has been wayward since we were children. He’s always fought with Zeus. I don’t believe banishment would stop him. And now that he is in open rebellion, he’s already banished from Olympus.”

Percy wanted to ask how many wars Zeus had started, but he didn’t think even immortal gods had time to hash all that out. “Why is all this happening anyway?”

“Poseidon wishes to rebuild the pantheon in his image,” Hestia explained. “No king or queen of the gods, all of us equal. He views Zeus as a tyrant.” Well, Poseidon wasn’t exactly wrong.

“Well, that’s not so bad is it?” Percy asked. “You guys invented democracy, right?” Annabeth looked proud at his reasoning.

Athena shook her head and her eyes flashed. “Democracy is a mortal invention. We will not upset thousands of years of tradition all because Poseidon is jealous of his younger brother. We are gods. Power hierarchy comes with the territory.”

“So you won’t change your mind? For power?” Annabeth questioned. Her tone sounded like she was giving Athena one last chance to rethink her actions.

“For tradition. For Greece. I refuse to unravel our history. I warned you of what was to come, Annabeth. I warned you not to involve yourself.”

“After you took my memories!” Annabeth snapped. She let go of Percy and marched closer to her mother. Annabeth hoped Athena wouldn’t move forward and crush Annabeth under her humongous high-heeled shoe. “You can’t call on me to fight for you for years, then all of a sudden take my whole life away from me!”

“I didn’t take your entire life,” Athena said exasperatedly.

“You took Percy!”

Percy had to admit, even though he didn’t think it was wise for Annabeth to be screaming at her mother in front of the other gods, her open display of loyalty and love for him made him feel great. He’d have done the same for her.

“Because I knew you were likely to do something irrational for him, or because of him. And here you are,” Athena said smugly.

“I didn’t do this because of Percy! I’m here because what you did- what all of you are doing is wrong!” Annabeth shouted.

Percy and the gods watched uncomfortably as Athena and Annabeth argued. Hestia retreated, taking her seat back at her hearth.

Athena sighed. Finally, she shrunk down to Annabeth’s height. Despite her youthful looks, her stern expression reflected her aura of being thousands of years old. “I wanted to protect you. The thought of any of the gods harming you- Annabeth, you’re my most prized child. I love you too much.” Aphrodite ‘awed’.

Annabeth laughed in disbelief. Percy knew immediately she was about to say something out of pocket. “Percy has nothing to do with this, I repeat. The gods all know I’m your favorite. They could kill me whether or not I’m with Percy. And because I’m your favorite, you want to protect me? What about my other siblings, who might die fighting for you? You don’t love me. You never have. I’m just the most useful to you.”

Annabeth’s fists were clenched. She shook with anger. Percy stepped forward to put an arm on her shoulder. He knew her relationship with her mother was complicated, but he didn’t think it would come to blows on Olympus. He didn’t think Annabeth would accuse her mother of not loving her right to her face.

“How can you say I don’t love you?” Athena questioned.

“I mean, you’re not the best at showing affection,” Aphrodite said.

“If you loved me or cared about me, you wouldn’t have made me,” Annabeth ground out. The words hit Percy in the chest. “My dad didn’t want kids. He didn’t want me. I ran away because no one loved me. You never showed yourself. You never check on me, or wish me happy birthday. When I finally found someone who wanted to be in my life, you took him from me. You won’t even listen to what I’m saying to you now. You can’t love me. Because wisdom, and logic, and tradition won’t allow you to do what actually loving me requires.”

“Oh, snap,” Apollo said under his breath.

Percy was just as caught off-guard. Nothing Annabeth said was a lie, though. She’d pretty much grown up an orphan, unless either of her parents needed something whether it was babysitting her twin brothers or sailing to Greece to recover a statue. As bad as he felt for Annabeth, and as afraid he was for Athena’s reaction, he was proud of Annabeth for standing up to her mother. He’d never loved her more than he had in this moment.

“Annabeth...” Athena started. She then shook her head. “I’m a goddess. I have a duty.”

“You’re also a mother,” Annabeth reminded her. She unclenched her fists and sighed. “You know what? I knew this was how this conversation was going to go. Percy and I aren’t going to let you go to war. Even if it kills us.”

Percy wanted to protest. He’d never said all that. But for the sake of defending Annabeth, he gave all the gods a stern look.

“Please, don’t do anything foolish,” Athena pleaded. For just a second, a softness was apparent in her eyes.

Annabeth didn’t respond. She turned her back on the gods and slipped her hand back into Percy’s. Without another word, they exited the throne room.

“You’re amazing,”Percy reminded her. “And you’re right. Athena’s a pretty crappy, distant mother, but I think she does care about you.”

Annabeth shook her head like she was refusing to hear it. She marched Percy through Olympus until they were back at the golden elevator. The entire ride down was silent.

“Have a nice day,” the security guard said to them on their way out.

It wasn’t until they were on the busy street that Annabeth spoke again. “Percy, do you know why the gods are so powerful?” Annabeth asked matter-of-factly.

Percy wondered if that was a trick question. “Uh, because they’re gods?”

“Because we give them power. We worship them. And what happens to gods no one worships?”

Percy suddenly realized what Annabeth was getting at. Something all gods feared. “They lose their power. And if they’re forgotten entirely, their essence dissolves.”

Annabeth nodded. “Right, and how can gods start a war if they don’t exist?” she asked.

“They can’t.” Percy suddenly realized what Annabeth’s plan was. It was a large plan, a crazy one, maybe even impossible. But it was all they had.

“Exactly,” Annabeth said. “We shouldn’t care about gods that don’t care about us. So we won’t. We’ll have to get the other demigods on board. Honestly, taking out Zeus and Athena would be enough. No more rituals, no more offerings, none of it.” Annabeth was nothing if not ambitious. Only she would think she could get the demigods to dishonor and ignore the king of the gods into oblivion.

“But she’s your-”

“I don’t care,” Annabeth said fiercely. “It’s not like I’m killing her. She’ll reform in a couple hundred years. Which means she’ll be out of my life for good.”

Percy knew arguing about it wouldn’t do them any more good. He put his arm around Annabeth. He kissed the side of her head. He wasn’t sure at all what the future held but then again, when had he ever been? “Well, at least let me take you lunch, my little traitor.”

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hufflepirate · 6 years ago

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Current Vox Machina feelings: Still thinking about Grog and Ioun even though I’m several hours of content past the gang’s convo with her.

But seriously though. She explicitly says that she’s not picking Grog as her champion because he’s so uncomfortable in her realm. She apologizes for that. She says THAT’s why he’s not her champion. Which implies that unlike the others, who are for specific character reasons not appropriate champions, he could have been. Her criteria for keys is that they should be unexpected and look at the world differently than she does. Who’s to say her criteria for a champion couldn’t be related??

What I’m saying is Champion-of-Ioun Grog AU.

What I’m saying is sweet, wonderful, open Grog, who learned painstakingly to read, who constantly embraces new people, places, and situations, who so often listens well even when he pretends he isn’t or when he can’t make sense of what he hears, becoming the champion of the goddess of knowledge and going out into the world that way.

What I’m saying is I meant to write a couple short headcanons and then this ran well away from me, so now it’s under a cut.

Grog faces a different test within the library, tailored to him, and therefore with less singing and magic. His friends work too hard and too frantically, desperate to help him because he’s the dumb one and this is Ioun, only to have him finally, finally find the book when he blocks them out and trusts himself and his instincts. He hands a tiny book with no words in it to Ioun and his friends are screaming behind him as she asks if he’s sure it’s the right one, and he looks her in the eye and says, “Well, yeah! It’s supposed to be a secret, right? So of course it’s blank until you make it tell us.”

Grog doesn’t let Ioun see how much his friends’ reactions are hurting him, because it isn’t polite, and she’s a goddess, and he’s not supposed to be petty and little around her. The moment they step up to Sprigg’s house, his feelings burst out all at once and he won’t let anyone but Pike near him.

It’s not long before he feels something new. Something different. There’s a voice in his head and what feels like a soft touch in the middle of his forehead, where the third eye opened up in Ioun’s presence, and she tells him that there’s lots of ways to know things. The others will see, in time.

His voice is quiet and reverent and sad when he asks Pike about it, and she’s so happy for him that she leaps up to hug him and place a kiss into the center of his forehead, and he pulls her close and lets her calm joy settle him down and make him feel ok again.

His forgiveness comes slowly for some of the group members, but things build back, and in the mansion, he discovers that reading is a little bit easier now, though he’s no better at sitting still for it when the subject matter is boring. It’s lucky that they don’t have a lot of time for reading, just now. Not with Vecna ascended. He’s still much slower than most of the others, and he doesn’t bring up how much frustration still keeps him bored even when things are important.

Puzzles are easier to solve than they used to be, the things that used to come slowly coming faster, chasing his instincts with less of a delay. He says things and the others look surprised, but there’s a faint sense of something in his head that soothes the hurt when they look that way, and he thinks probably that’s Ioun, too. He says things he would have said before, but this time there’s a reason and he can explain it.

The first time he uses her blessing, reaching into his connection to her at the height of the rush that comes with getting his best hit in on an enemy, it’s beautiful and euphoric and the sense of what’s vulnerable to him makes his heart swell with the exultation of battle and he shouts it out to his companions with joy.

After the dust settles, he and Pike are sitting, exhausted, slumped at a table like they used to at Wilhand’s (only better because here the chairs fit him and he’s not on the floor), and he looks over at her, and she’s wearing the Dawnfather’s armor, but doesn’t belong to him, and he’s wearing Kord’s gauntlets, but has been claimed by another, and he wonders again if it was the right thing. He decides that maybe, like the twins, who were black-and-white negatives of each other, in the end, he and his own sister are meant to be different-and-the-same, and maybe it’s alright that the gods are complicated, and maybe it’s even alright that they share.

He doesn’t have the words to say to Vex. He’ll never have the words to say to Vex. He thinks that’s probably not what knowledge is for, or what it does, and the soft, pleasant, comfortable stirring in his head that always means Ioun is there doesn’t have to speak to tell him he’s right. He watches her cry and insist that there’s a way to get Vax back, and he waits for her to realize that there isn’t and come around to blinding, directionless anger. When she does, he takes her out to the forest outside of Vasselheim and they fight the biggest monster he could get a contract on and he gives her all the money from the contract even though it won’t make things better.

Ioun is mostly quiet about it, but he can feel her approval, and he begins to understand what she meant about lots of ways of knowing things. Nothing about his plan was anything like the way Percy or Scanlan knew things, but Vex looks a little better as she wipes tears out of her eyes that might be anger or sadness or pain but are probably all three. He doesn’t say anything as he pulls her into a hug, but her arms are strong around him and the fake smile she pastes on when he lets go is a little less fake than the one she left with, and that’s alright.

Tary is Tary and he’s never really known what to do with Tary, all the way, but he’s been thinking a lot about books lately, and what they’re good for and what they’re not and why so many of them are boring and turn out not to have what he wants to know in them, so he goes to see Tary anyway. He doesn’t want to write a book, but he does some thinking about Tary’s and suggests that maybe Tary’s book tell the truth instead of being like all the other adventures Tary read as a kid that made him keep saying dumb stuff and not know what to expect. He doesn’t know if Tary’s listening or not, but it feels good to say it.

Percy says they might as well set up a temple to Ioun in Whitestone for when Grog visits. And anyway, it’s about time Whitestone had a good temple to her, instead of a corrupted one. He wants to fill it with books. He wants to make it a library. Grog says they’ve got to be careful and the books should be true, and there should be people there to teach you about the things that are written about. Percy doesn’t understand what he means at first. Not until he says you learn blacksmithing by feeling it in your bones, and sometimes you learn the truth by seeing it.

The temple in Whitestone is an odd place. It has many books and many tables, which is only to be expected, but everything else is - different. Half of Percy’s books are about science, so there are machines to play with to make sense of the books, and once he’s gotten Percy thinking about it, there are lenses and prisms and magnifiers for looking at things. There’s an open porch, protected from the elements with a roof and some screening and shelves with doors that close when the rain comes with wind, but the nature books sit outside and Keyleth’s raised up a garden with as many things as she can think of in it, and he didn’t know it would be good for her to build, without Vax here, but it is. There are books about devils and demons and circles of hell, and he’s learning, slowly, how to draw well so that he can tuck better pictures into them, so people can know what they’re looking at. It’s important that books have pictures. It’s important that the pictures be true.

Percy always looks surprised at the people in Ioun’s temple. He always looks surprised when there are farmers there, and children, and housewives, but Grog isn’t, and he gets JB Trickfoot to work there, because she’s been lots of places and seen lots of things, and the next time he visits Whitestone, he’s happy to find that another librarian has shown up who’s terrible at organizing things and very good at baking and has installed a small wood-burning oven in a little alcove to explain cookbooks with, because it’s one thing to write about the details of bread and another to pick the dough up and stretch it and feel it and look at it.

Grog is getting older. Calmer. He goes into the woods and watches things. He draws them. He kills them. He draws them some more. He keeps his drawings in a tidy bundle in the bag of holding and does not call them a book.

The longer he draws, the better he is at seeing the details. The better he is at seeing them, the better he is at drawing. He still reads slowly, and his writing isn’t as steady as his drawing, but his drawings are good, and he remembers the things he drew better and better and when he goes to visit Pike and Scanlan, Pike takes careful, tidy notes about the things he tells her.

Grog and Pike don’t write a book until she gets so pregnant that she can’t leave the house as much and he’s hovering around the house waiting for his new niece or nephew to arrive and they consolidate all his drawings and all her notes, looking for something she can do indoors, and discover they already have.

Percy has to invent entirely new technology because there’s no way drawings as intricate as Grog’s could be reliably copied by hand more than once without losing the details, and the details are important because they’re the truth. Percy and Tary spend months together in Percy’s workshop, covered in ink and smoke and calling him in to forge all the large pieces of a machine he can’t quite picture until they start building it. It starts to take shape, and it takes even better shape once they add the small, delicate pieces they’ve worked on, and it makes sense when Percy calls it an Imprinting Press, but he doesn’t really understand what they’ve made, in its fullness, until a month and a half later when he’s finally allowed in the room again.

The machine stands dormant, piles and piles of plates stacked nearly up to the ceiling behind it, and Percy and Tary hand him a tidy medium-sized volume, bound in nicer leather than most of the books in the library. He opens it up to find words printed with consistent, uniform letters, even more consistent than the best scribes’ work, all the a’s looking exactly like a’s and the b’s looking exactly like b’s. The pictures are breathtaking, printed from engravings that must have taken his friends many, many hours, but they both have an eye for detail, and everything he drew is there.

His book gets its own stand in the center of Ioun’s temple, and as he places it in its spot, he gets the sense of something big happening. Something new.

Ioun’s voice in his head isn’t a voice at all. She’s been with him for years, and it doesn’t have to be a voice, hasn’t had to be a voice for a long time. It’s just a feeling. She’s proud of him. She loves him. Something is happening, and he is a champion of Ioun, and what he has built is going to stand for a long, long time.

There are children in the library and they want to know about fighting dragons again, and he lets them drag him away to the porch to tell the story for the thousandth time, roaring and stomping and acting out the fighting and all. For a moment, he sees a three-eyed figure in the doorway, out of the corner of his eye, who vanishes when he turns to look straight on. He touches her symbol, tattooed on his forearm, and smiles.

#critical role #grog #vox machina #spoilers episode 106 #grog strongjaw

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pureblooded-archive · 4 years ago

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(From corda-comminuta, serpent-tongued-lie, cursed-and-chosen, tainted-prodigy, and victoria-immortalis) 🌟 from all of my muses, for all of your muses :P

@mendacia-dulcia

ok! *cracks fingers* here we go lmao (sorry mobile users)

Now that I finally have watch CoG I can think of more thread ideas lol

Nagini:

Lyra – I think you’ve convinced me that a time-travel au is now viable for Lyra and we can do FB verses LOL, so perhaps Lyra ends up in a different place. She’d probably get stuck in this time trying to cure the curse for Nagini lmao

Lucius – is probably the only other muse that I could think of that would work. Possibly when he’s young if the curse hasn’t completely taken over, maybe they know one another? Potential ship? wiggles eyebrows (but that’s mainly cause my Luci is a slut and will try to put it anywhere smh)

Pansy:

Draco – Immediately I think Dransy ahaha, I think they’d be super sweet when they were younger and dating, I definitely have a headcanon that they were betrothed when they were younger and actually got along but then after the war it dissolved and given Draco’s distance during their 6th and 7th year, as did their relationship

Lyra – always an interesting relationship if you go off the dransy betrothal, whether she is in her main verse and is sort of like a mentor/friend to Pansy or in the year above and is new to Hogwarts

Ron – I mean, I ship it lmao, it’s an unlikely pair but it is so tasty when it works ahaha, though I know not everyone is down with that, depends on your headcanons for Pansy, would love to know more

Ginny �� again I ship it (I am a shipping whore lmao) but this would be a post-war deal and also depends on your Pansy

Theo – yesssss, my sweet baby Theo and Pansy (another ship lol), but really he’s just a very good and sweet friend to Pansy I feel and he’s a massive nerd so if she needs study help he’s your boy

Blaise – my Blaise is a sleaze, he will try to get with anyone he can, esp Pans lol

Astoria – this might be good for some awkward adult tension lol, but maybe like Astoria is good friends with Pansy cause I assume she’s friends with Daphne and like Pans thinks of her as a baby sister?

Millicent and Daphne – just typical girl shenanigans lol

Marcus – another sleaze and potential ship LOL

Cho:

Marcus – I can see him giving her a hard time, whilst also being wildly inappropriate (god I hate him)

I’m seeing potential in my head with Ron, Draco and Gin tho idk what

Vivian – she’s in the same year as Marcus/Percy and also in Ravenclaw so a year or two older than Cho (JK can’t math so why should I be able to) oh and they’re Asian so you know they’ll be best friends (there’s just some things you just don’t get unless you’re Asian and I’d know cause I’m half aha, we tend to gravitate towards each other irl)

Vinda I’m skipping cause I can’t really think of any others apart from our Lyra one but if you have ideas I won’t shoot them down

Lily again skipping cause I’m uncreative and the only older one is Luci but I think he’s like way older and ew

Tom:

Lyra – oh there’s so many ideas cause I just ahhhh

Lyra 100% goes to Voldy when the war begins cause she has to, like this bitch ain’t dumb and she don’t wanna die so she’s definitely gonna get in and be like hi im here, ready to serve

I think these threads would mainly be a lot of conversations of him trying to get her to do things whilst also trying to sus out her motives

Lyra does have a son and I wouldn’t mind Tom using him as leverage over her (Corvus is actually Snapey’s son but he doesn’t know – always wanted a Tom to force the truth out of her lol)

Ginny – I’ve done it before but the diary again would be cool everyone has different interpretations so yesssss, I’m sure there’s also other potential things and Ginny’s a strong muse for me atm so yes

Lucius – so much potential mannnn, just so much

like we could do when he first joins to how he ascends the ranks

also Voldy’s return and Lucius’ disgrace

and yes I also ship lmao, he would get on his knees for Voldy aha

Harry:

Lyra – I always try to sell this to every Harry I see but Hyra (yes that’s their ship name lol) there’s so much I love about their dynamic though, both for my main verse and lightning

one I like to explore is my main verse Lyra, so there’s a 10 year age gap and they have to have shared custody of Teddy after Andromeda dies

but mainly it’s been Lyra transferring to Hogwarts after Book 4 to be closer to home and she’s a year above Harry and Harry’s nice to her and she’s like welp now I feel guilty my fam wants you dead lol

oh yeah and arranged marriage post war where they’re like oh we gotta unite the two sides so there’s less discrimination so Harry why don’t you marry the daughter of the people who like tortured you and wanted you dead

Ron – also another ship lol but also just such a good bromance, like Harry makes Ron feel like so much more than he’s used to. Ron is just so used to being overlooked and overshadowed and for once in his life, with Harry he’s special and important and I just jghafdjbjdgs but just anything with these two is just so good

Draco – I mean drarry is great, tbh Draco isn’t that strong of a muse so I’m like ehhhhh (tbh I’m tempted to drop him lol)

Ginny – ok, so I ship book Hinny but I also don’t. They’re just… I don’t know. I feel like they’ve got a lot of work to go through before they can really be together – but exploring those things, working through those things and making Hinny viable is a yes, otherwise I think they’re a great friendship

My other Slytherin babies I’m sorta like eh about, like not that enthusiastic about writing them together (they just don’t inspire me as much as the others, though I’m always down to explore further lmao) like:

Lucius would be just plain manipulation and abuse

Theo would be a sweet boyfriend to Harry

Blaise would just use him for clout

Astoria – oh yeah maybe something about their sons? just chatting, parent stuff

Millicent – would be a plain old bitch eh and so would Marcus and Daph lol

Young Albus Dumbledore I only see as teaching Lucius though this is not in FB era so yeah not sure, would be interested in Lyra’s time travel au how they’d interact though I have a lot of headcanons about their relationship based on my fic so idk if it’d work

Ambrosine:

Lyra – oh it’d be so interesting to put these together in the same year as my ‘Lyra Canon’ (born in 1970 so 11 years before Voldy fails)

whether Ambrosine attends Durmstrang with Lyra and the two of them decide to break into Karkaroff’s office together and torture him lol

or they’re reunited at Hogwarts when Lyra does that independently

Any of my lightning era babies would be interesting too

#Anonymous #this was 1200 words #and they're not even really thread ideas #just me ranting #long post

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moderndaybard · 5 years ago

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CR Inktober, Day 15

SELF-INSERT NPC: ANTONIA MARSHSTEAD

The town was not unimpressive—indeed, was increasing in populace and prosperity at such a rate, it could probably be deemed a city in the next year or two. Still, there wasn’t any reason for Vox Machina to be there, other than that it was a stop on the way to where they were going, and a convenient place to drink and stay the night.

Still, there were a few hours left before businesses close dup for the day, and despite protests from Grog, Vex was on the hunt for interesting finds and bargain prices.

Asking around after magical items and weapons, the group of adventurers found themselves directed to an unassuming, two-story building that didn’t really stand out too much from the local architecture, bearing a sign that declared it was ‘Marshteads’ Magicks,’ and that it was, in fact, still open for business late that afternoon.

The door opened noiselessly, no bell or chime announcing their arrival, and not a floorboard creaked as they strode in to the well-lit interior.

Sunlight streamed in from the two large, street-facing windows, revealing a neat and orderly main area which smelled faintly of lavender and cedar. The store interior, as well as the counters and display shelves were all made of a light-colored wood that gleamed dimly with their finish and the golden afternoon light. There was an open main area; two window displays flanking the door to the street, where various pieces of (presumably enchanted) jewelry were visible; left of the entrance was a glass-and-wood display case of small weapons: daggers, hand crossbows, blots, arrows, a light weight rapier, and the like, with larger weapons such as great swords and battle axes on shelves and pegs on the wall behind; on the right side of the store was another display case, this one filled with an odd assortment of household sundries, knick-knacks, and generally useful items (there were no shelves or wall displays on this side, but half-hidden in the far corner behind the case was what appeared to be a sort of work table with various sewing tools, some yarn, and a few toys on it); finally, facing the door across the floor was a plain, uncluttered counter with no displays—evidently, where sales were finalized.

Aside from the street door, the main room had two other entrances: one open archway to the right, just beside the worktable, that revealed a set of stairs ascending to the second floor, and a closed, heavy wooden door in the wall behind the sales counter.

The store seemed empty, even of people running it, save for a handsome red fox curled up on the sales counter, half-asleep and ignoring Vox Machina, for the moment. With a gasp of delight and absolutely no hesitation, Keyleth ran up to the creature, all but putting her head on the counter beside him. “Hi!” she chirped, fixated on the furry animal as one eye slitted halfway open to regard her levelly. “I’m Keyleth! What’s your name?”

The fox stretched, sat up, scanned their group, and turned with deliberate nonchalance to the stairs beyond the archway before screeching loudly.

Seconds later (while their ears were still ringing) pounding footsteps on the stairs heralded a new arrival: grumbling half-hearted, half-heard curses under her breath, a female dwarf rounded the corner. Her dark hair was pulled back in a simple braid, her grey eyes peered at them from behind a pair of glasses, though she seemed to only be in her young adulthood, and she was dressed simply: tunic, vest, skirt, leggings, boots.

As she approached the counter (stepping up on some sort of boost or stool that was hidden behind it), her scolding became audible: “—too much trouble to just walk up the stairs to let me know someone was here? Just had to screech like a tortured demon and scare customers? And you wonder why Henry doesn’t take you when he goes to negotiate with suppliers.”

The fox merely hopped off the counter on her side, vanishing from view briefly, then darting up the stairs. Tirade over with the disappearance of its target, the young dwarf woman focused on the party before her, scowl melting into an apologetic half-grin. “Sorry about that: familiars can get cranky during extended separations, and Fabian’s always been overly dramatic anyway. Anyhow, welcome to Marshteads’ Magicks—are you in the market for anything in particular, or just looking to browse?”

The final sentence was undoubtedly a rehearsed, often-delivered script, but to her credit, the young woman mustered or at least feigned a genuine enough tone that gave them the feel of natural dialogue.

Before Vex could answer, Keyleth broke in with something that’d been bothering her since first approaching the store: “Did you know that your sign is messed up? The apostrophe is wrong, and it’s misspelled?”

“The sign is correct,” came the immediate reply, in a tone that this was a correction she’d had to make a few too many times for her patience, but didn’t want to completely alienate potentially paying customers, “Marshstead is the family name, and since my brother and I run the store together, both plural and possessive are correct.” She then deflated somewhat, glancing away in a moment of embarrassment, perhaps? “…And the ‘K’ is just for flare.”

“Showmanship is an important facet of salesmanship,” Percy ranted, hoping to placate the woman before she took out any ill-will on the prices. “Though I must say the aesthetic is more reserved than I wouldn’t expected in such an establishment.”

The young woman glanced around, nodding. “Organized, you mean? Neat? That’s on me: I can’t think or work in a cluttered area. Hence avoiding the workshop as much as possible.”

“You don’t perform the enchantments yourself, then?” Vex asked, looking up form the bowstring and arrows she’d been examining out of professional interest.

“Oh, that’s Henry’s field,” came the quick answer. “He’s the craftsman, I handle the storefront for him. Is there anything in particular I can help you with or help you find? Any questions?”

Pike looked up from the display case she’d been staring into. “Uh, Miss—?”

“Sorry: Antonia. And you?”

“Pike Trickfoot. Antonia, why is there a frying pan in the case with the weapons?”

There same a genuine, if half-embarrassed chuckle in response to that question. “That started as… Well, not a joke, really. When we were younger, someone made an insulting comment about Henry’s skill with magic and enchantments, and told them he was could make even a cast-iron skillet into a powerful magical weapon. Turns out he overheard that conversation, and remembered it. So, he made this: it’s a magical bludgeoning weapon not dissimilar to a great club or the like. Additionally, it deals an extra kick of fire damage upon a successful hit. It is a two-handed weapon and requires attunement, but once it is attuned, anyone else who tried to pick it up finds it too warm to the touch to handle—so, generally thief-proof. Unless you use an oven mitt or the like, I suppose.”

“Anything else it can do?” Vax asked, half-joking. Antonia had rattled off the weapon’s attributes with the ease of someone who knew them by heart, but also with genuine pride at her brother’s accomplishment—unusual as it was.

“Well, any food prepared in it does cook twice as quickly—but that can be a good or bad thing, depending on how close an eye you keep on your dinner.”

Vex blinked, then shook her head—the thing was almost too ridiculous not to get, to say nothing of the mental image of a monster’s expression roughly half a second before it got hit by a frying pan. “How much for it?” she offered, haggling mode already engaged.

Antonia didn’t hesitate. “750 gold.”

“For a frying pan!?” The half-elf fired back, ignoring whoever it was behind her that groaned (probably Grog).

“For a cast iron pan with two magical enchantments upon it—enchantments that had to be uniquely crafted in order to adhere to a non-traditional weapon.”

Vex raised an eyebrow at the dwarf. “it’s essentially and enchanted household object,” she pointed out, then watched as the other woman’s expression darkened. Oops.

Nearly all trace of the ‘saleswoman’ persona had vanished. “Degrading my brother’s time, effort, creativity, and craftsmanship will not incentivize me to lower the price.” Arms folded, her glare dared the ranger to make the next move.

“Fair point,” Vex had to grant, quickly changing tactics before she drove the price up. “How much could you come down if we told anyone that asked about this unique item all about this shop and the master craftsman who made it? And your brother could tell people that not only did he make a frying pan a weapon, he also sold it to none other than Vox Machina!”

Silence stretched on for a moment or two.

“725.”

“675 at the most,” vex shot back.

Antonia raised one eyebrow, arms still folded. “You can hardly expect to persuade me to cheat my own brother out of the rightful reward for his work.”

They were a few moments away form meeting at 700, Vex could tell—they simply had to finish out the final few steps of their dance. Despite the growing impatience from the group at her back (at least, from some of them), Vex’ahlia did exactly that. The gold changed hands (700) and the enchanted cooking pan was handed over.

A discussion soon arose over which of them could and should wield it, but Vex ignored that part—she was hardly a candidate for what was very obviously a strength-based melee weapon—and scanned the shop again. This time, a glimpse of something small and brown on the corner worktable caught her eye.

“Is that an owl bear toy?”

Antonia followed her gaze, her entire demeanor shifting towards something that could almost be described as awkward hesitancy. “I-uh- have been teaching myself crochet on days when the store is slow. It’s relaxing, honestly. But, yes, I have been working on some small toys and the like…”

“May I see it?” Vex asked, feeling Vax move up behind her as he overheard the conversation.

Antonia blinked, obviously caught off-guard. “Uh, sure…” she muttered at last, crossing to the table and retrieving the item in question before returning.

It was small—not quite as big as Vex’s fist—and was certainly a stylized, simplified representation that was cuter than it was accurate. The craftsmanship was hardly masterful, either: while Antonia was obviously not clumsy or a rank novice, there were still a few visible imperfections. Still, there was an undeniable charm to the little doll, and with one shared look, the twins were of one mind.

“Do you sell these?” Vax asked. Upon seeing the dwarf hesitate, he continued, “if not, I understand—sometimes you just make things for yourself or have sentimental attachments.”

“I-I don’t mind selling it. I just figured no one would really want it. …I just needed something to keep busy…”

Vex beamed at the suddenly-flustered shop keep. “Well, we know one little girl in particular who would just adore this little fellow—she’s obsessed with owl bears. How much for the little cutie?”

For the first time since the entered the little shop, Vox Machina saw absolute uncertainty cross Antonia’s face as she fumbled for a fair price.

“Uh… three copper?”

This time, it was Vax’s turn to protest. “For a one-of-a-kind, hand-crafted piece?”

“It-it’s not magical, and it’s just yarn and some stuffing,” Antonia pointed out weakly, all her earlier confidence gone.

Vax shook his head. “But the time this would’ve taken to make—one silver at least,” he replied, ignoring the glare Vex was directing at him for this oddly-reversed negotiation.

The ranger turned to the dwarf, wondering if this was an intentional technique to drive up the price, but no—the embarrassment, hesitance and uncertainty were genuine, she could see. Clearly, Antonia was far more comfortable negotiating on her brother’s behalf than her won, and something about knowing that made Vex feel momentarily fond of the other girl—or at least, like she could understand her.

And, in the grand scheme of things, considering their current financial status, what was a silver piece? Velora would be happy with the gift, and perhaps a fledgling craftswoman would get a confidence boost.

“I-I guess…”

…

The town was hardly important, and the Marshstead siblings would likely never gain fame of any import, much less cross Vox Machina’s path again, but at least both parties felt, at their parting, as though a fair bargain had been reached without coming to the point of either hating or permanently angering the other.

And, really, what more can you ask from a retail transaction?

(AN: Sorry for the length/focus on the dreaded shopping trip. But currently, too much of my time is swallowed by a retail job, and I wanted to redeem it a little—better a family-run enchanted item shop than a generic thrift store. And, no, I have no idea what a fair price is in D&D, I did the best I could with the research I had. But now I kinda want that pan to be a thing somewhere—or is it too ridiculous for a +1 magic (great club, re-skinned as a pan) that deals bonus 1d4 fire damage?)

#crinktober #crinktober 2019 #my post #critical role #critter #daily writing #crinktober day 15 #vox machina #vex'ahlia #vax'ildan #dnd npc #original character #self-insert oc

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danithebookaholic-blog · 7 years ago

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A Book You Picked Solely Because of the Cover

The Fallen: The Fallen and Leviathan

by Thomas E. Sniegoski

This week’s suggestion on the Pinterest Reading Challenge is to pick a book solely based on its cover. So, I looked through my collection of books that I’ve gathered up through the years and thought to myself, “Hum… what looks good?”

With this week’s suggestion, I didn’t have the full pleasure of “judging a book based on its cover”—because I am trying to go through the hundreds of books that I already have—I’ve read all the synopses on their covers before. But I did make myself pick through a selection of books based on a few guidelines: the book couldn’t be a movie or TV show, it couldn’t be a classic that everyone knows the gist of the story line, and it couldn’t be one that I’ve been itching to get my hands on. I made myself look through the ones that I haven’t looked at for a while, the ones that were bought on a whim, written by someone I’ve never heard of before, or given to me from someone who reads genres that I’m not that into. This week I was going to make sure it was something different for me… Or so I thought.

Looking solely at the covers of the books I had collected—a couple fantasy, several YA and children’s chapter books (I don’t know why I gravitate to these so much!), a mystery, and a memoir—I kept coming back to the same one over and over. A black and white photograph of a lone figure with the title written in red. The lighting in the photograph had the lone figure highlighted in all the right places—the contours of his face and muscular arm—this alone will have you thinking to yourself that this must be some kind of romance novel, a spinoff of a harlequin perhaps and this will catch the females of the audience and make them want to pick it up. But romance novels are not my thing, so that is not what caught my attention. It was the dark angelic wing protruding from his back, and with a title of The Fallen, I couldn’t help myself but to pick it.

Some History:

The Fallen: The Fallen and Leviathan is a Young Adult read. It was originally published in 2003 and reprinted in 2010 with the new above picture on the cover. It is book one of five in The Fallen series, and it turns out it was also made into an ABC Family movie, Fallen, in 2006. (Oops! So much for those guidelines I made for myself!)

The Synopsis:

***SPOILER ALERT***

I wrote this review a little different than usual. I’m not sure why, other than this is how it came out, and I apologize that it 1) reads a bit like a school book report, and 2) does give away some of the ending.

Aaron Corbet is a child of the foster care system and has finally found a foster family who he regards as his mom, dad and his brother, Stevie. On his eighteenth birthday he can suddenly understand and speak languages of all kinds even though he’s had no education in them. On top of that, he comes across a “homeless” man who begins following Aaron, telling him about his troubled past and the future that is to come: Aaron is Nephilim—the son of a mortal and an angel—and he has been chosen to redeem the Fallen.

The angel Verchiel is the master of the Powers and a Messenger of God. His duty is to cleanse the earth of the filth that the Fallen have produced upon the earth: Nephilim. Using his human hounds and divine senses he tracks down Nephilim and purges them from the earth. The Nephilim he’s currently hunting is Aaron Corbet.

With the help of Zeke, the Grigori, Camael of the Fallen, and his best friend Gabriel, Aaron transforms into the Nephilim he is, and not a minute too late: Verchiel has finally found him and is ready to purge his filth from the earth. A battle ensues and Aaron turns out to be more powerful than Verchiel originally thought. Aaron injures Verchiel, who flees, taking Stevie with him. Now Aaron must not only fulfil the prophecy, but find his brother before Verchiel turns him into one of his human hounds.

Aaron and his posse begin a road trip in search of Stevie, with a powerful pull toward Blythe, Maine. Along the way they encounter a group of Orishas, another product the Fallen have created. However, the Orishas are ruled by Verchiel, who has bestowed the mission of killing Aaron upon them, but they don’t succeed. Only one Orishas remains, and before fleeing it gets a small revenge and bites Gabriel.

Arriving in Blythe, they find Gabriel a doctor to treat the infected Orishas bite, but the townsfolk here are a little strange: they look suspicious of everyone and act as if they’re being controlled. That is everyone but Dr. Katie McGovern, who later tells Aaron that she, too, is an outsider, new to town. She came to town because her ex-boyfriend, Dr. Kevin Wessell, had e-mailed her with a strange request that she visit, but when she got to town he was missing and hadn’t been in to see his patients for days.

Katie enlists the help of Aaron around the office until Kevin hopefully returns, but after finding several strangely mutated animals in Kevin’s freezer, she begins to think that Kevin may have dug up some dirt on the town that someone didn’t want him finding out. Katie and Aaron agree that they need to find out what’s going on around the town and try to find Kevin, but the mission is doomed from the beginning when Katie turns up missing herself. Aaron begins the mission alone, only to find himself in the lair of Leviathan, “that spark of uncertainty in the Creator’s thoughts as He forged the world—that brief moment of chaos—before Genesis.”

Leviathan, a great sea monster, entraps its victims by making their mind’s eye see whatever paradise it wishes to see, then swallows them whole and lives off the life force stored inside them. Aaron finds that both Camael and Gabriel are in Leviathan’s stomachs, and knows that in order to save them he must overcome his fear of letting the Nephilim power within him out and do the one thing the Archangel Gabriel could not: destroy Leviathan.

Aaron defeats Leviathan and frees all those within Leviathan’s stomachs including his friends and the Archangel Gabriel. Aaron then fulfills the prophecy and forgives the Fallen who are found within Leviathan’s many stomachs and sends them to their Heavenly home. But before The Archangel Gabriel ascends he gives Aaron another hint about the prophecy he is fulfilling and a wink of information about who his real father is.

The Fallen concludes with the townspeople of Blythe, Maine being released from their captor’s control, Katie and Kevin reunited, and Aaron with a lot of questions: Who is his real father? What does his father have to do with the prophecy? And where is Stevie?

The Review:

The Pros:

Of course, I liked The Fallen, it’s right up my alley (so much for breaking out of my habits and trying something new!) First, it’s a YA read, so you know I’m hooked there.

Second, it’s a present-day mythology just like the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan or The Mortal Instruments and Shadowhunter series by Cassandra Clare, both of which I’m a big fan of. To take a myth—and I use this word to group together the whole, so please you Christians out there don’t hate on me for using this word, I’m a Christian, too! —but to take a myth such as angels or Greek gods and to create a new story for them is awesome! You’re taking those classics that a lot of people don’t read any more because they find them boring or too difficult to understand and are making them readily available to today’s societies so that Genesis, Matthew, Luke, Homer and Sophocles are getting a new—and usually younger—generation to ignite and share their stories again.

Third, something that I found that set The Fallen apart from most YA books was the language. I, myself, don’t have the best vocabulary by any means (I should have listened to my mother and studied for those vocabulary tests!), but I have grown my knowledge and understanding over the years, and this book still had me looking up words in the dictionary (or rather dictionary.com, yay technology!) I like that about a book! I like that while I’m reading for pleasure I’m still learning things. I don’t think that everything should be dumbed down so everyone in the general population can understand it. I think you should always be learning something and improving on yourself, and if that means you must get a dictionary out to understand what’s happening in the storyline then that’s great! You learned something in the process; you made yourself better and had a better experience because of it!

The Cons:

Aaron Corbet is a little fake. He’s too good and not moody enough to be a teenage boy and a child of the foster system who has just found out that he’s this mythological creature. In the beginning, you’re told that he has a troubled past, that he was moved from foster home to foster home, but the person sitting in front of you is polite, never causes a stir, and when he does have an emotional outbreak of some kind its abbreviated and almost void of emotion. Almost like his outburst were an afterthought, like Thomas Sniegoski’s editor said, “Hey, don’t you think he would be a little upset that this is happening?” The lack of emotion he shows when someone he loves is hurt or killed is the biggest one for me. He doesn’t cry, he doesn’t get angry and yell, he just tells himself that he can’t believe that they are hurt or dead. I understand shellshock, but I think this is a bit more than just that. Aaron is not fleshed out enough to be a real person, but then again, I guess he really isn’t, after all he is Nephilim.

My other qualm with The Fallen is defeat is too easy. With each battle scene—if you can really call them that—the fight was ended really before it began. These are some big monsters he’s going up against, and yet I saw how the end of each battle was going to play out from the moment they started. There was no adrenaline rush of “is he going to make it?” in any of the battle scenes. From the beginning, you knew he was going to be just fine and good would prevail over evil once again.

The Wrap-Up:

Overall, I enjoyed The Fallen. I thought it was a great storyline with a good mystery: I want to know who Aaron’s father is myself! Who is this—as Camael puts it— “angel of formidable power to have sired one like [Aaron]?" ? And does he ever find Stevie? All the questions Aaron has at the end of the book are questions I have too, which is a sign of a good story. The author has you hooked to make you want to pick up that next book. Which I plan on doing just that!

From one wine-loving bookaholic to another, I hope I’ve helped you find your next fix. —Dani

Love this book? Check out The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare or one of her many other Shadowhunter series.

Pair it with: Lost Angel’s 2016 Mischief—Fruit-forward and jammy, with hints of cocoa.

Not all good wines are expensive, and this one is just that: good, easy on the wallet and fits with the trouble that Aaron gets himself into.

Start a conversation: What book have you chosen based solely on its cover and why? Was it worth the gamble?

Have a book you’d like to suggest or one you’d like me to review? Please feel free to leave your comments down below.

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