#his 'everybody make some noise' takes me out every single time

[aq2003]

okkkk some jumbled thoughts from my 3rd macbethening, this is a combination of things related to the film version plus just the production in general because i love it so much

i don't think i'll ever stop being floored by the opening scene. the music, macbeth's expressions (the exhausted, haggard way that he moves as the praises for his viciousness on the battlefield ring out behind him)... i'm deranged forever. bonus points this time for the close-ups on his face

the macbeth's embrace when they first reunite is so tender :( the way they hold onto each other :(

thanks to me having the soundtrack on loop i noticed a few interesting things re: the soundtrack. for instance the motif of the psalm first plays when duncan is naming malcolm heir (although much less dark and creepy i think). then it comes in at full force when macbeth is crowned king

it was stated in the traveling folk interview that iomar ò illean mhara was the song played at the irl funeral of duncan, and quite fittingly the first time it plays in the production is when lady macbeth welcomes duncan to inverness. though over the course of the play it definitely becomes lady macbeth's theme and plays over/in between her most pivotal scenes (including before and after the sleepwalking scene and right before her final exit). this makes me think about the parallels between them and how duncan's ghost haunts her (this production keeps the line about him reminding her of her father...!) def need more time to marinate in this

the little cascade is definitely banquo's motif (or the motif representing banquo's lineage). it plays during the first scene with him and fleance and then when the apparitions show macbeth banquo's legacy becoming kings !!

love the bird's eye view of macbeth bowing to duncan (and how it establishes a visual parallel w/ him on the ground before getting crowned, and him being lifted up by the witches)

LOVE how the ceilidh was filmed, it was even more stunning (!) than when i saw it live although that may have been where i was sitting lol

the only parts of the film version i don't think live up to when i watched it live were the "stars hide your fires" scene (i would like to see more of the slo mo clapping!) and the final fight (i think the choreography prob improved when staging it at the harold pinter, it was cleaner and less chaotic having everybody come at macbeth from only two directions)

of course it is stated in the credits that the "child" role is fleance, the macduffs' son, and young siward, but there are a few moments i think are solidly the ghost of the macbeths' child (he's behind the glass the whole time). when he appears over lady macbeth welcoming duncan to inverness, when he's walking along to the ceilidh (and you see him between the macbeths during the time-slow bit), and when he's frantically knocking as the macbeths dance together (after they resolve themselves to murder duncan). in this way i think he serves both as the embodiment of their reason to kill duncan and the embodiment of their guilt

the big, single knock of the ensemble behind the glass before macbeth has his monologue abt how "every noise appalls him".... the hands pressing against the glass when macbeth talks abt how he'll never sleep again..... so delightfully creepy. i love it so much.

i didn't have a good enough angle to see it either time i watched it live but the Look between the macbeths after lady macbeth pretends to "faint" was so good... i think dt's macbeth makes me actually believe that him killing duncan's servants was like this fucked up manifestation of his guilt and "violent love" and he was dissociating badly + didn't know what he was doing. anyway now in this scene he's making himself look insanely guilty so lady macbeth has to take everyone's eyes off of him for a hot second. love how the murder power couple are kind of cringe fail in their own funny way

the very uncomfortable look that the murderers share with each other when macbeth brings up killing fleance. suuuuuch a good touch to that scene

you all know i am a huge fan of the dagger soliloquy cuz it was macbeth grabbing at his own shadow, macbeth as the "dagger", resolving himself to be more a weapon than a man, etc, but also this theme is repeated in his last monologue in 3.2! he talks to his shadow again when he's justifying arranging the murders of banquo and fleance to himself. OOF

in my notebook for one of my points i just wrote "3.4!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" cuz, obviously, david's acting in this scene is just fucking riveting and still gives me full body chills. also, staging note, i love that when he hallucinates the ghost for the second time everyone at the "table" moves away and it's like we're not watching him lose it in the eyes of everyone else we're being fully dunked into his head as he completely unravels

i think i like both the donmar and harold pinter versions of the 2nd witches scene equally! the choreography for the donmar version is a lot cooler and makes the witches feel more otherworldly but the harold pinter version connects it back to the theme of macbeth's trauma and grief and how the witches take root in that

i think it's just the fact i could see her expressions better but i teared up during the sleepwalking scene.. like aughhhhhh cush jumbo you came for my knees!!!!!!!!

the deranged grin on macbeth's face when he disarms macduff and he says "thou losest labor" i am soooo. i am SOOOOOOO. [chews on my arm]

BIG POOL OF BLOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! RAHHHHHHHH

[trianglegoddess]

I'm Still Standing

The League felt like they had a strong sense of Phantom’s power. After all, they wouldn’t have asked him to join the team, otherwise. He’s strong, he can fly, and due to his supernatural nature, he’s amazing on recon and stealth missions. He’s also incredibly reliable, and smarter than most people give him credit for. He’s a natural hero, a more snarky Captain Marvel, some news outlets have been saying. Always saving people with just the right words to say, with a humble smile on his face. 

Phantom, with all of his power, seemed untouchable in every definition of the word. 

And then they got invaded by Darkseid. 

It wasn’t the first time Darkseid had invaded Earth, but it was the first time bringing armies so large, the first time he’s attacked all over the world to spread the League thin. It is single handedly the worst alien invasion Earth has ever had. 

Batman, bleeding out on the sidewalk, Wonder Woman knocked unconscious and restrained by a nearly egregious amount of henchmen, Superman, weak from the kryptonite Darkseid had shot him with. Thankfully it had missed all the important bits, but with that bullet inside of him, Superman was also down for the count, as well as dozens of other League members. 

If it hadn’t been for Phantom, they would have lost. 

Phantom, who’s never been seen without a smile on his face until now. Phantom, who’s never had so much as a scratch on him, until now. Phantom, who has only ever been known to be kind and compassionate, even to his villains, until now. 

Usually there’s this sort of warm, comforting feeling that radiates from Phantom. It feels like a nice breeze on a warm summer’s day, a nice cup of hot cocoa, your favorite song. It’s a feeling of safety, as if everything will be alright just because he’s there. 

Here, though, something else, something much stronger, is radiating from him. It practically rolls off of him in huge waves, making those conscious around him more aggravated, more on edge.

Phantom pulls himself off of the ground. His suit is torn, and his green blood splattered on himself and the ground. He spits a glob of it out, along with a tooth. 

“Still, you stand,” Darkseid says, as if tired. “Do you not tire in the face of your own demise?”

“As long as I’m still standing, you won’t ever win,” Phantom says. His voice is low and threatening, reverberating eerily off of the broken infrastructure that surrounds them. It sends a chill down everybody’s spines, though if Darkseid is affected, he doesn’t show it. 

“Your comrades have fallen, your militaries have failed, and you have no other help arriving. Pray tell how one singular human will be able to take me down!” 

Phantom doesn’t answer right away. Instead, he walks forward so that his friends are behind him, and braces himself. Darkseid, unable to contain his own hubris, lets Phantom come closer. 

Phantom takes in a deep breath, as if he’s about to speak.  

Instead he wails. 

Any remaining glass shatters, raining down upon them as green sound waves push back the offending forces. 

And it’s loud, of course. The ears of Darkseid’s minions are bleeding, and many of them are either dying because it’s too much for them to bear, or they’re killing themselves to give themselves some modicum of relief. But it’s also more than that, more than noise. 

It’s mourning. 

The first feeling that overwhelms everyone is anger. Phantom’s anger at Darkseid, at the destruction, at the fact that he just can’t catch a fucking break and it’s not fair. The second, is the sadness. It weighs down upon their shoulders, suffocating them like smog. It invades every part of their being-their lungs, their joints, their very hearts-and it presses and presses and presses until there’s very nearly nothing left. 

Phantom still pushes on. He is nothing if not persistent, driven to fight, driven to protect his people, his team, his friends, his family. No mortal being could ever hope to have a lung capacity like this, but Phantom is no normal mortal, and Darkseid is finally starting to come to terms with that. 

The last wave of overwhelming emotion is more of an idea than it is an actual feeling. It’s not a threat, per se, but a promise. A promise to do everything in his power to destroy Darkseid and his forces permanently and with prejudice. A promise that no matter how hard Darkseid fights, he will not win. 

A promise that, if knocked down, Phantom will stand back up, and he will not lose. 

Eventually, after what feels like eternity, the wail dies down. There isn’t a single member of Darkseid’s army that’s still on their feet or in the air. Phantom collapses down to one knee, and bright, white rings flicker around his person for just a moment, before he wills them away and stands back up. 

It’s less walking towards Darkseid, and more stalking. They are not on equal footing. Phantom is the predator in every sense of the word, his anger and grief still radiating off of his body in ways that Darkseid is unable to comprehend. 

“Do you yield?” Phantom asks. His eyes are blazing green, burning into Darkseid’s very soul. It is a sort of animalistic, primal instinct deep within him that tells him, run, run as fast as you can. Darkseid’s hubris, however, remains unmatched. 

Even as he stares Death in the eye. 

“I do not,” Darkseid says. He tries to get to his feet, but his body won’t listen, still weighed down by the effects of Phantom’s wail. 

“Then as Phantom, King of the Dead, I hereby condemn you for the rest of your afterlife.”

“Don’t count your eggs yet, boy,” Darkseid spits. “I’m still alive.”

“No,” Phantom says, in a tone adjacent to someone who’s giving their condolences, “You’re not.”

Phantom gestures beside them, and Darkseid spares a glance and sees…Himself. 

His corpse is splayed on the ground, blood spurting out of his ears, nose, and eyes. He stares lifelessly up at the sky. The blood is still leaking down the sides of his face. 

“You’re dead now, Darkseid, and therefore under my jurisdiction. Due to your extensive list of crimes you will not receive a hearing, just your eternal damnation for the sins you’ve committed.”

Phantom waves his hand, and green chains and manacles appear on Darkseid’s wrists and ankles before he’s dusted out of existence, sent to his eternal punishment in another dimension. 

As soon as he’s gone, Phantom collapses to his knees. 

He’s not sure how long he’s there, sitting in the blood of those he’s killed, before Wonder Woman comes over. She’s covered in gashes and bruises and blood that isn’t hers, but she still stands tall and proud. A battle won is a reason for celebration, after all. 

He glances behind her, sees Superman taking Batman into his arms and flying off. 

Diana doesn’t ask him questions about how he’s feeling. A victory is a victory, sure, but not without its price. 

Instead, she holds out her hand. Danny grasps it, and allows her to help him to his feet. 

“As long as you can stand, you can win,” Diana says. “I think I’ll have to use that for my next big speech.”

“By all means,” Phantom tells her. “Just be sure to credit me.”

“Deal.”

[pixie-felix]

look me in the eyes and tell me you can't hear this gif. naur.

skz and the screaming scale (a stupid headcanon on who's loudest in the bedroom)

vaguely smutty under the cut. minors dni

l o u d e s t

Han. Han is the loudest. 110%. You've heard his Adele cover. Mans got a set of lungs. Pair that with his submissive side, and a vibrator or two, and you've got a fucking concert in your bedroom. You're Welcome. Enjoy.

Felix isn't always super loud, but he talks a lot. It'll start with him using his sexy voice to try and tease you, getting you all messed up and needy before you've even reached the bedroom. But once you've started twisting the sheets, oh boy how the tables turn. He'll be a whimpering, complimentary mess. Because he just has to tell you how good you make him feel.

I.N's a moaner, and he doesn't give a flying fuck who hears him. In fact, sometimes you swear he gets the louder if his hyungs are around. He might not cover you in hickies and bite marks, (jk, marking you up is one of his favourite hobbies) but he'll fuck you loud enough that everybody knows you're HIS.

Bang Chan can go either way. But he likes to fuck in risky places a lot, like his car, where he has to be quiet. Doesn't stop him from talking dirty though, man's got a powerful kink. And a talent for it. The filthy things he whispers in your ear get you moaning so loud he has to muffle your sounds, either by covering your mouth with the palm of his hand or by his fingers on your neck.

(*he's very careful with that though, and will only choke you when you ask for it, and only when you've gone over the safety tap a good twenty times or so. practice safe sex my guys x)

Changbin’s sex noises are mostly just grunting and panting, but LOUD. And even if he wasn't, the headboard hitting the wall hard to crack the paint is enough to let EVERYONE know what the two of you are doing when he's pounding into you like a man possessed.

Hyunjin is another babbler who makes the prettiest sounds. He's not super loud, but lots of whining and gasping and the occasional stuttered English word or phrase (b-b-bay-bee, feel so g-g-goo-oo-d). He IS loud when he cums though, shouting or screaming your name or just making some beautiful high pitched sounds that do not belong in the human realm.

Seungmin takes sex Very Seriously. Which is great, because the boy could've written books on the g-spot and how to find it every single time. But it's also less great, because he's usually too focused on you to let his own noises out. Seungmin takes personal pride in making YOU the loud one.

Lee Know is pretty quiet, like Seungmin he's too focused on coaxing noises out of you to make many of his own. But if you can get a noise out of him, it'll send a shock of arousal straight through you. It might even be enough to make you cum, if he's got you worked up enough already. He definitely doesn't take advantage of this. (I'm lying again)

q u i e t e s t

well this was stupid but now it is written, hello world I guess.

this is a side blog so any reposts are appreciated, I will repay you in cake and pixie dust 🧚‍♀️

m.list

[colourstreakgryffin]

I saw you're taking Hazbin hotel requests so I thought I'd shoot my shot! So reader is a young boy who also died around Alastor's time(Early 1930s) . He's so confused and overwhelmed by how fast everything is progressing. So when he hears Alastor humming/singing a song from the 1930s he feels a sense of comfort and familiarity. Bonus if it also happens to be their favorite song! Take your time and you're amazing!

Oooh! Fourth Alastor request and I am having such a great time with this! This man is so fun to write for! After I finish here, I am gonna go cook some Jambalaya then pop it into my pentagram and summon Al so he can cook me!

Alastor- Night & Day

Like the beat, beat, beat of the tom tom…

when the jungle shadows fall

like the tick, tick, tock of the stately clock

You don’t recognise anywhere you are… this place. It’s hot, dark, dangy and uncomfortable. There’s nothing here resembling Earth and it’s shaking you to your core. Not having the strength nor confidence to move anymore from the alleyway you were just dropped into upon arriving here from the pentagram in the dark sky. Everyone is too much for your young mind. Well. Other than that, those lyrics…

As it stands against the wall

Like the drip drip drip of the raindrops

When the summer shower is through

So a voice within me keeps repeating you, you, you

That song is a symbol of comfort for you. Night & Day by Cole Porter. Something your mother use to sing to you every night before bed, the sound of pretty rain hitting your open window as that beautiful sweet woman would sing over and over again, all without it growing repetitive, until you fell asleep. Having wonderful dreams all the time

Even though you’re scared out of your mind, you begin to walk out to the streets. Packed to the brim with all kinds of weird-shaped adults but you avoid most of the them, weaving through this thick crowd to find the source of the soothing lullaby of your whole life and the voice singing it. It sounds dapper, transatlantic, if not an old radio. Is it coming from a radio?

Night and day, you are the one

Only you beneath the moon or under the sun

Whether near to me, or far

It's no matter, darling, where you are

I think of you

It felt like a game of cat and mouse. Running around to find where that wonderful singing is coming from and it feels like the person is constantly teleporting, no adult should be this frustrating to find. Or, you’re just too overwhelmed from being dropped into literal Hell to even realise your coordination skills are as dropping as you did. Your mind is racing to come to terms with what’s going on

This isn’t New Orleans at all… and not a single trace of your parents around. Are you alone? No. No. You don’t want to be alone, you’re too young to be alone. Is everybody here too evil to care about a literal child Sinner being stuck on his own and having to fend for himself in ways he doesn’t know how to…

By all the unholy gods. Somebody help

Day and night, night and day, why is it so

That this longing for you follows wherever I go

In the roaring traffic's boom

In the silence of my lonely room

I think of you

The loud noises of talking, of the wall of built-in weird flat devices screeching and echoing, the patter of footsteps. It makes you want to hide away and sleep to try shake off all the distress and overwhelming feelings you are being tormented with but that song is way too recognisable and comforting for you to ignore so you just keep pursuing it

Maybe, it’ll be pointless and the singing source will be from a Radio of your year but it almost feels like the song is organic and from a person. That means there is an adult of your time here. A man from the 1930s, Hell, he may be somebody of your family! That’d be wonderful and your hopes are high that when you do find the source, it’s somebody you’ll get to embrace and talk to

Day and night, night and day

Under the hide of me

There's an oh such a hungry yearning burning inside of me

And this torment won't be through

Until you let me spend my life spreading love

A flash of bright red crossed your eyes when you finally had managed to shakily but stubbornly and determined, pasted through the big careless and if not almost hypnotised by the running TVs crowd, and continued down the road in half sprints. Following a array of melodically humming, recreating the beat and rhythm of the song as it seems the source is quite invested in such a song

It felt like forever following a mere sound across the city’s streets but there he is. The source of the singing, he’s so close that you can finally reach a arm out and take his hand to catch his attention

Day and night, night and day—

The man instantly mutes his singing. He is tall, in a nice fancy coat with long hems at the bottoms, with a pair of what seemed to be tall deer ears on the top of his head and his pale face branded with a permanent toothy grin, he looked both menacing but yet friendly. Turning around to face the nine-year-old Sinner running around the Pride Ring’s own Pentagram City’s streets to chase the source of a song of familiarity and now has chased and caught his hand, Alastor reacted rather friendly and understanding to be presented with a child of his own era

Leaning down to be kneel before this young confused on-the-verge-of-crying boy, the Radio Demon says smooth and curious with that same radio effect almost overlapping his charming transatlantic accent, placing his free hand on your little shoulder

Something about Alastor reminded you of a popular figure from New Orleans you’ve met before

“Greetings there, young man… tell me, where are your parents?”

[thewertsearch]

PCG: GAMZEE ISN'T SUPPOSED TO GO CRAZY. PCG: I THINK IF HE DOES PCG: IT MEANS WE FUCKED SOMETHING UP. PCG: IT MEANS I FUCKED SOMETHING UP. PCG: HE'S MY RESPONSIBILITY, I HAVE TO MAKE SURE HE'S SAFE.

Poor Karkat. He's directing all this stress inwards, convincing himself that the current crisis is because he dropped the ball - but the truth is, Gamzee’s problems weren’t his to solve. Not exclusively his, anyway.

You may be the leader, Karkat, but you’re not your entire team’s sole confidant, and you’re definitely not their therapist. You can’t be everything to everyone. You're just one kid.

PCG: ONE TIME, ONE OF THE DOOMED ARADIAS TOLD ME SHE CAME FROM A TIME WHERE HE FLIPPED OUT AND KILLED EVERYBODY, BECAUSE OF MY FAILURE. PCG: I DIDN'T TAKE HER SERIOUSLY, BUT I SHOULD HAVE. PCG: SHE WAS CONSTANTLY FIXING MY FUCKUPS. PCG: ROBOTS FROM THE FUTURE ALWAYS COMING BACK TO TELL ME HOW SOME HASTY SHIT I DID WITH FROG BREEDING OR WHATEVER WOULD MAKE IT BE IMPOSSIBLE TO WIN.

All this Aradiabots floating around - and yet, not a single one of them corrected your mistake with the Final Frog. How could Aradia, queen of temporal micromanagement, miss something this obvious?

Methinks there was another agenda at play here. At this point in the timeline, Aradia was still a (possibly) unwitting pawn in Doc Scratch's scheme to bring about the Great Undoing. He probably needed Karkat to miss that Final Frog.

PCG: MY OWN PERSONAL MISTAKES PROBABLY ACCOUNTED FOR MORE DOOMED ARADIABOTS THAN ANYTHING ELSE. PCG: WHICH WAS SORT OF A SILVER LINING I GUESS? I DON'T THINK WE WOULD HAVE BEATEN THE KING WITHOUT HER ARMY.

Did she actually say it was your mistake? Because to me, It seems more plausible that she said it was a mistake, and your hindbrain made a quiet little edit.

Seriously, you had no way of knowing that Gamzee would flip out like this. Sure, one of the Aradiabots reported that it happened, but there were hundreds of those girls flying around the Medium, and I’m sure plenty of them arrived from timelines where Eridan snapped, instead. Or Vriska, for that matter.

How was Karkat supposed to discern the signal from the noise? How was he supposed to keep track of every real and hypothetical problem at once?

This isn't on him, and I'll argue that point until I'm blue in the face.

“Oh, hey – it’s one of those filthy Prospitians. ...wait, didn’t I give that one a bunny once?”

[byuntrash101]

bonnie & clyde

switch!reader x dom!hongjoong ft. ateez

smut | nsfw | mdni

gangster!hongjoong, switch!reader, reader is kinda bratty, cameo!ateez, 1 gun fight scene w/ 1 death of a nameless character (in a non seggsy setting), striptease, pet names, blood kink, some knife play (hongjoong cuts your underwear), fucking in a pile of cash, spit play, name calling (whore), hair pulling, tits slapping, possessive joong, honestly you both are just two psychos fucking

requested | part of my 2023 prompts event [closed]

there's something so primal and enticing about your leader taking a life to protect the crew at all costs

[❛ shut up and kiss me already. ❜ + ❛ and where do you think you’re going? ❜]

TUMBLR IS BASED ON REBLOGS. PLEASE REBLOG MY WORK 🖤

They called you the pirates of the concrete seas. Bank’s safes were your treasure chests and the streets were your ocean. You were pillaging and robbing bank after bank. Outlaws always on the run, looking for the next big shiny thing. You always found the name kind of cheesy but in the end it suited your group pretty well. Not worrying about tomorrow, living off the money you stole and drinking until sunrise.

Hongjoong, your captain, reigned over the concrete seas like an almighty and ruthless king. He only had two things in mind. Keeping the crew together and get the gold.

That’s exactly what you were about to do.

When Yunho parked the van outside the bank. Hongjoong revised one last time the plan of action before everybody slipped on their mask. You felt the adrenaline course through your veins, keeping your head into unwavering focus.

You all worked like well oiled machinery. Everyone knew exactly what they were doing. Seonghwa and Yeosang were breaking into the safe. Jongho and San gathered the hostages. Wooyoung and Mingi stuffed the bags full of cash while you were in charge of communication. Making sure everyone played their role and the plan went accordingly.

Hongjoong had the most important role. He had to make sure everyone stayed calm. 

And when it went south Hongjoong was the one that had to make sure every single member of the crew came out unharmed. 

So when Wooyoung got caught one the guard as you were rushing out with the booty, Hongjoong had to step in. The guard held your younger crewmate one arm hooked around his neck, the other holding a gun to his temple. 

San threw a deadly eye to Jongho who let the guard slip out of his grasp. Wooyoung let a guttural cry as the guard pressed harder on his neck.

“Freeze” the middle aged man shouted. Aim alternating between Wooyoung’s head and Hongjoong standing right in front of him. The middle aged man was panting, large beads of sweat wetting his thick salt and pepper mustache.

“Let’s not do anything we could regret here” Hongjong said calmly, motioning for the rest of you to lower your weapons. 

“You’re all gonna stay put until the cops arrive” the man panted, his eyes darting between all of you. His finger on the trigger became dangerously tense.

“Let him go” Hongjoong ordered in a stern yet tranquil voice.

“SHUT THE FUCK UP OR I’LL BLOW HIS BRAINS OUT” the guard shouted, pressing the canon of the gun into Wooyoung’s forehead, his hands desperatly clawing at the man’s forearm around his neck.

The sudden yelling made one of the bank employees cry and the guard turned his head to the noise. Breaking eye contact with Hongjoong was a fatal error.

The captain didn’t hesitate one second. He lightly tipped his face to the side and Wooyoung knew what to do. He imitated him and in a split second, the booming sound of Hongjoong’s weapon clattered in the large hall and the guard's face was ornamented with a gaping hole, blood splattering all over Wooyoung’s masks and clothes. The lifeless body thumped on the ground, waiting to get cold as you all rushed to the van.

You felt the adrenaline when Yunho was punching the gas and the van slalomed between the police cars and eventually lost them. That feeling of euphoria when you all took off the masks to laugh and shovel the cash out. This time there was enough that you could all bathe in it. 

You were all playing in it. Mingi was shuffling the bills in his face while Yeosang and San danced in it. Crystal clear laughs resonating in the huge room.

Even Wooyoung seemed to have forgotten about the dried up blood on his clothes.

Then Jongho called from the big entry.

“Guys, let's go order some drinks” he yelled. All of the crew followed lead by Yeosang with you on their heels.

“And where do you think you’re going?” The captain asked as he put down his gun on the table.

“I was gonna go get a drink” you spoke. 

“No i don’t think you are”

The captain’s face was unsoundable. Emotions perfectly gate kept behind his glacial features staring at you blankly.

Hongjoong motioned at Seonghwa, still waiting for you at the entrance to leave. So he gave you one last smile and closed the heavy door behind him.

Soon the laughs faded and you two were left in complete silence.

“Come here” Hongjoong motioned you to come closer, curling his index finger.

Hongjoong liked the adrenaline. It gave him a high that was incomparable to any other. Except one, the kind of high he could only experiment with you. 

You approached him slowly, taking your time to prance to him like a panther about to pounce. 

Hongjoong’s impenetrable face let through a small smirk pulling lightly at his lips.

“You asked for me, Captain?” you asked, voice already soaking with seductiveness.

“ Yes I want you to do me a favor” You lift a quizzical eyebrow. “Go over there” he pointed at the pile of wrinkled bills in the middle of the big hangar.

“Dance for me”

Hongjoong said before turning on slow sensual music from the speaker settled on the small table.

That was unexpected but you gladly obliged.

You reached the pile of money and started to seductively dance, swaying your hips to the rhythm. Your hands gliding from your thigh, slowly up your stomach and past the side of your breasts to rub your neck. 

“Yes that’s it baby”. Hongjoong slowly walked up to you. Admiring you dance for him. The dance went he felt himself grow thicker for you.

“Strip” he ordered. Voice firm. Already a little lower than his usual tone. It reminded you of the voice he took before shooting that man right in the face and you felt your stomach stir in excitement.

You reached out for the hem of your tank top but Hongjoong clicked his tongue.

“Slowly baby. Nice and slow”

So you opted for the strap of your top instead. Slowly pulling at it.

“Yesss” Hongjoong pulled on the word, dragging it off his tongue.  “Just like that” 

He started to palm himself through his denim jeans. Rubbing circles on his member becoming more and more constricted in his clothes.

One by one you stripped out every article of clothing until you were only left in your underwear.

By the time you were done Hongjong’s cock looked like it was about to rip out his pants. 

“Did I tell you to stop ?” 

You could have gone back to slowly unclasping your bra but you didn’t. You didn’t feel like being good today. You wanted to infuriate him.

When Hongjoong saw you weren’t moving an inch he started to smirk. Even if it was fun to play with a good girl there was something so empowering in breaking you into his will. Resorting to any means to make you snap, to make you beg for him.

Taking his fate into his own hands was Hongjoong’s specialty after all.

He walked to you as you provocatively held his glacial gaze fixated on you. 

His fingers grazed over your forearm going up your limb and reached your neck. His touch was gentle, lifting goosebumps on your naked skin. He gently wrapped his hand on your nape, pulling your face closer to his, his lips brushing against the shell of your ear.

“Did I tell you to stop, kitten?” he whispered, lips pulling into a wicked smirk, his grip onto your nape growing stronger.

The hot air in your ear sent a shiver down your spine. You felt his cool tongue slide over your ear, producing the lewd wet noises you loved so much. Already you felt your arousal pooling in your underwear.

“Shut up and kiss me already” you whispered, your fingers digging into his side. You didn’t really deserve it but you also knew Hongjoong couldn't resist you.

Immediately Hongjoong stepped back to have a good look at your face. You looked exactly like him, insatiable. That was why you two were such a good match. 

The Joker and Harley Quinn.

Bonnie and Clyde.

Hongjoong crashed his lips onto yours. Your two bodies immediately going up in flames, burning passion coursing between you. You dug your nails further on his back, he smiled at the familiar sting while his hand left your nap to untangle around your hair. He gave a sharp pull earning a moan from your playful lips. You immediately retorted by catching Hongjongs’s bottom lips between your teeth. Hongoong groaned and smirked as you bit harder. Until you tasted his blood on the tip of your tongue. He immediately tightened his grip around your hair, pleasure burning on your scalp while his other hands pushed your hips onto his. 

“Hmmm” Hongjoong moaned against your lips. Hand gliding from the small of your back to your thigh to your clothed center. Slender fingers applying just the right amount of pressure to your sensitive area. “My angel is not in the mood to be a good girl, is she?” he said, as he licked his own blood off your stained lips.

“No” you said with assurance. Pushing him as he stumbled back into the huge pile of wrinkled bills. You continued your infernal carousel by straddling him. You started to unbutton his white shirt that joined his fur coat laying at his sides. You licked your way down leaving a trail of burgundy kisses on his chest. 

You started to palm him through his pants. You would have wanted to make him wait a little linger but you just couldn’t inflicted that to yourself. You wanted to see it. Without waiting anymore you unzipped his pants to get the aching member out. It joyfully sprung free before your avid eyes.

“So eager for me, angel?” Hongjoong mocked. You hated that he was right.

You grabbed the base with one hand while the other one teased the leaking slit at the head. One finger sliding up and down the head making Hongjoong hiss at every slow touch. 

You briefly let go of the hand holding the base to spit in your palm and started jerking him off. Hongjoong growled as he felt the warm saliva mixing with his precum. 

You snickered malovently when he started to pulse in your hand. Taking a malicious delight to slow down everytime he became more vocal. Driving him to the edge of sanity. Exactly where he feels comfortable, he’s been flirting with this edge since birth. Just as you have too. Two psychotic minds finding each other in folly.

Soon he can’t hold back anymore. His hand fly to yours catching them in a strong grip. You lift your eyes to meet his. He’s absolutely feral. Looking back at you like a rabid wolf. You’ve done it, you woke the beast. A side of him that was only for you. Only you who could bear to look in the face of his darkest side. The side that relished to hold the right of life or death at the end of his gun. That enjoyed spilling blood.

He grabbed the small knife strapped to your thigh with one movement he slipped the blade under between your breast cutting in a clean half your bra as it fell along your arms. He grabbed a handful of your breast while he slowly dragged the blade across your stomach. The cold metal lifted goosebumps on your skin until he reached your underwear.

You held your breath as he cut it, the blade running on your skin, lightly scratching you delicious, leaving a red trail behind it. He threw across the hangar the shreds of lace along with the blade. The metallic tinkling bouncing on the high ceiling.

With his newly free hand he grabbed you by the throat, a strangled moan leaving your mouth as anticipation pulled your lips into a smirk.

“I’m done playing” he growled, the threatening hold growing tighter. “Ride me now” he commanded as he pulled you up by the neck.

Your breath still restricted you manage to guide his length to your drenched center. His grip only loosened when you sunk your hips. Hongjoong's cock gliding so smoothly inside you. taking its rightful place deep inside your little cunt.

“That’s it baby” he praised, letting go of your throat to grip your thighs. “Make me feel good with that pretty pussy of yours”

You instantly bounced your hips up and down along his shaft. You both moaned and groaned without restraint. The sinful symphony resounding in the hangar.

“Faster baby” he ordered as he pinched one of your nipples. The burn encouraged you and you settled at a brutal pace. The familiar build up in your stomach rapidly progressing. You felt Hongjoong's thighs tighten under your own and you knew he was close too.

“Hongjoong… I’m-” you moaned. But as your mind went blank almost giving up to the pleasure you were interrupted. By a harsh slap on one of your breasts.

“No you’re not” Hongjoong slapped your tits again.

The sharp pain taking you by surprise and brings you back to him. Before you could protest Hongjoong flipped you on your back and he was above you.

“You’re here to make me feel good” he clarified as he entered you once again. You did not really have time to let the pressure go down. Pleasure picked up right where it left off. Your eyes rolled back into your head when he so deliciously filled you up again.

“Fuckkk” you cursed. 

“Look at me” he said, he pulled on your hair again. Making your eyes snap back to him. “You cum when I tell you too”

You were way too close to your release to talk back with words but there was still one thing you could do. 

Without even thinking in a sort of reflex you spat right into his face. Hongjoong’s shock pulled your lips into a satisfied smirk, an amused laugh almost escaping your lips but you don’t have time to.

“You fucking whore” he hissed though gritted teeth. 

Immediately he starts to fuck you as brutally as he can. His hips smashing into yours. fucking you so deep and could feel him hamerring the imprint of his cock into your brain forever.

“You’re mine” he growled while he wrapped his hand around your neck once again this time completely preventing you from breathing. Taking this vital resource away from you. Soon you feel lightheaded, you feel like your body is defying gravity, losing its anchoring in the solid earth. The unspeakable pleasure dulling your other senses. In this moment there's only him and you. You and your captain's mindless bodies floating in this sea of cash.

“Cum now. Whore” His voice commanded and you released all over him soaking him and the bills under you while he delivered thick ropes of cum deep inside you, lazily spilling out of your clenching walls when he pulled out.

After a while of catching his breath he looked back at you.

“Let’s meet with the others I really need this drink”

a/n: i struggled so much with this one. i hope it isnt too obvious but yeah for getting out of my comfort zone. please tell me if you enjoyed it it would make me sooo happy to know it didnt completely suck balls lolz anyways thank you for reading <3

[thewulf]

Olive Boy || Jake "Hangman" Seresin

Summary: Request - hiii!!! i was on tiktok and got a tiktok abt the olive theory and wanted to req it with hangman. just something super fluffy and it doesn’t even have to be olives!!!

A/N: Short but so freaking fluffy. Hope you all like it!

Pairing: Jake "Hangman" Seresin x Y/N

Word Count: 1.4k +

“Babe.” You called pinching his side lightly in the dimly lit dive bar the Daggers had found themselves in. While you weren’t technically a Dagger Squad member, being Jake’s longtime girlfriend and being kinder than anyone had earned you an honorary spot whenever they went out. Tonight, it was Bradley’s choice of some tiny random bar off a side street in downtown. Not that you minded, you adored the divest of dive bars.

Jake turned his head smiling sweetly when you made your way to him. He placed a hand over yours that was already on his hip not wanting you to drop your grasp on him. You only smiled knowing how touchy he got once a little bit of beer went down his throat, “Hi honey.” He leaned down kissing your cheek without any shame. It took you awhile to get used to his very prevalent use of public displays of affection. But you’d grown to love it. Just like you’d grown to love every single little thing about the man. You returned his sweet smile when he lifted his arm for you to make your way underneath.

“You okay?” You asked moving underneath his arm holding your drink close to your body.

He nodded, “Always when you’re with me.”

You shook your head giggling softly, “So cheesy you are.”

He brushed a thumb across your cheek blocking out the noises around the two of you, “Only for you.”

“I know.” You knew your cheeks were heating up by the stupid little grin that crossed his face. You’d learned quickly how much he enjoyed making you blush. So, whenever the two of you were out he made his personal mission to get your cheeks rosy. He always succeeded. Not once did the man fail.

He looked down seeing the drink in your hand knowing you were coming over with purpose, “To what do I owe the pleasure sweetheart?” Jake asked knowing he had you distracted from your original mission. Usually, you’d wander off going to find Natasha. The two of you becoming fast friends. It wasn’t often he actually spent much time with you when the entire group went out. You were a damn social butterfly, and everybody wanted your attention. He never let it get to him thought. At the end of the night, you’d be coming home with him. That’s when the real fun started. There was nothing more that he enjoyed when the two of you, usually beyond tipsy, got rambling and laughing. Usually continuing the drinking being two fools giggling at everything. Jake had never had a love like that. Neither had you. Two souls that were so different but so matched right for the other.

Your eyes lit up in remembrance of why you had come over, “Do you want my olive?” Holding up the drink a little higher you gave him the chance to pluck it out of the martini glass.

He let out a belly laugh seeing how excited you were offering it up to him. Of course, you were tipsy, it only made it more adorable to him. Taking the toothpick with the olive out of the glass Jake quickly ate it. You grimaced knowing how damn salty those things were. You loved the olive juice, thus the dirty martini’s you’d always ordered but hated the olives themselves.

Jake smiled flicking the end of your nose gently seeing scowl you wore so adorably, “Thanks babe.” He kissed your cheek enjoying the flush that came so easily, “Why do you order those if you hate olives so much?” Jake poked your side knowing the answer, he just enjoyed teasing you.

“I like the flavor of the juice Jakey. You know this.” You giggled sipping on the chilled martini. Only you could get away with calling the infamous Hangman Jakey. He’d given up trying to stop you from saying it in front of the Daggers. The first time they heard it they teased him relentlessly at training the next morning. Strangely enough it didn’t bother him, only reminding him of you. It got him in a better mood. From then on out he craved to hear the nickname that only really came out when you were drinking.

He leaned down kissing your forehead lightly, “But you don’t like olives?” He had to keep pressing. Not being nearly as intoxicated as you had made him a little selfish with your time. He enjoyed the light teasing he could get away with that resulted in you laughing and giggling. He’d never take it too far. He loved that giggle only he could get out of you.

You betted your eyelashes up at him with a brilliant smile knowing that made him a little weak at the knees. As much as he knew your ticks you knew his just as well.

“It tastes like biting into a salt brick. Don’t know how you like them olive boy.” You grimaced once more remembering the last time your tried one of those green nasty things.

He threw his head back in laughter pulling you into his chest, “And you know what a salt brick tastes like anti-olive girl?” He continued teasing you knowing how to wind you right on up.

You pinched his side a little harder earning a soft yelp from the unsuspecting man, “I’m imagining that’s what it tastes like. I’m not a horse. I wouldn’t know. You might though.” You gave him a wicked smile placing your chin on his chest looking up him.

“Now darling, that’s not fair.” He laughed reminiscing on the time he told you how his older sister tricked him into biting into one. He grew up on a farm that had a few horses, so he was no stranger to the salt blocks. His older sister convinced him one was a sugar block, and he might have bit into one resulting in a mouth full of salt. He still hasn’t lived that one down. That’s why he had told you the story. If he didn’t then his sister surely would.

“You know I don’t play fair babe.” You shot him a wink before leaning your head down on his chest. Letting out a soft sigh you listened to the steady rhythm of his strong heart.

Jake snaked his arms around your body pulling you close to him not giving a single damn that they were still stuck in the crowded bar. At least the two of you were off to the side, nobody seemed to notice.

“I know, and I love it. I love you.” Jake leaned down again kissing your cheek this time.

You smiled into his chest enjoying every second of contact you got with your boyfriend, “I love you too Jakey.” You yawned feeling the night and the long week catching up with you. That and the three martini’s you’d had were wearing on your conscious side.

Jake watched you for a moment feeling you press yourself more into him. He only decided to speak up once your eyes fluttered closed, and you’d nearly spilled your drink. He scooped it out of your hand setting it on the bar beside him.

“Let’s get you home sweetheart.” Jake gently peeled you from his chest earning a soft whine from you.

“If we must.” You opened your overtired eyes smiling up at the beautiful man you couldn’t believe was really yours sometimes.

Jake nodded soaking in your appearance. He loved you in every state but thought you were more than cute when you were sleepy, “We must. We can put on Harry Potter, and I’ll scratch your back. You’ve had a long week sweetheart. You need to get some sleep.”

“I won’t last more than five minutes.” You admitted taking his hand in yours as he pulled you out of the bar. The two of you waved your friends off escaping with only a few goodbyes.

He squeezed your hand in his, “That’s the goal.” He held the door open for you once you got to the entrance.

“Sometimes I don’t think your real Jake Seresin.” You truly couldn’t believe how lucky you’d gotten with him. Luckier than any girl in the world.

“You make me feel the same.” He shot you a wink this time opening the passenger door for you. Once you were seated he buckled you in knowing it’d be a challenge for you while as drunk as you seemed.

“I love you.” You smiled at him once he joined you in

“And I love you, Y/N.” He kissed your lips this time, cupping your face in his hands. Jake took his time. He’d never, ever get tired of getting to do that with you. He couldn’t wait to make you his wife. Soon enough. Soon.

Permanent Taglist (Message me or comment below if you want to be added!): @loving-and-dreaming @kmc1989 @memeorydotcom @matisse556 @buckylov3r @taygrls @ah-blossom @mayhemmanaged @hardballoonlove

[ofthehands]

Talk To Me

@texas-chainsaw-fanworks

Disability Fan Week, Day 1- Alternate Communication

A short, roughly 4,000 word genfic about the Sawyers learning the different way the youngest member of their clan gets things across. And the difficulties along the way. Warnings for general Sawyer-isms, and some fairly canon-typical/ time-period typical ableism.

Ever since he was born, everybody knew little brother was going to be somethin’ different. He was the forth Sawyer boy, and the only one to be born a normal-looking weight, despite arriving a week or two early. Apparently, the new boy was just absolutely huge. Drayton thought that meant he would be healthy- maybe he got good, strong genes from whoever the hell his daddy was. 

But only three months after he was born, Mama up and left, blaming it on her boys, and especially little brother, and how damn sick they were. 

Showed Drayton how little he knew. 

And so, he was left alone, with three little boys to look after. A grown man, sure, but a grown man with no idea how to take care of a baby or raise up a child. Especially not three damn children, who needed as much help as he quickly realized his little brothers did. But soon he would find he was even less prepared to help the littlest one along. That boy was somethin’ else indeed. 

Drayton wasn’t sure how long it was supposed to take a baby to talk, but five damn years was way too long, and it was obvious. Little brother- or Bubba, as the boys had taken to calling him- had never spoke a word in all that time. He would babble, and make sounds, and point at things, and Drayton could tell he understood. But he just wouldn’t speak. Drayton tried every damn thing- he talked to him all the time and let the twins talk his little ears off too. He read to them- as well as he could- each night. It was usually the same book over and over, or a receipt book from that day, or an instruction manual of some kind, but he didn’t think being unable to afford new books should make it impossible to teach him to talk- all the damn twins ever did was talk, and they didn’t even get to hear the instruction manual. Bubba should be able to talk. 

So Drayton figured maybe he just wasn’t willing. Maybe he was just being hard headed. So he tried punishing him, and threatening him, but that didn’t work a lick. The boy babbled then- tried his damndest to make some noise, just to keep Drayton from givin’ him the belt. But he never spoke a single damn coherent word. Drayton tried bribery. Which felt stupid, but he was desperate for it to work. Even got the twins in on it, promising the three of them a little reward for just one word. 

But he still didn’t talk. 

It frustrated the hell out of Drayton. He worried, of course, that there was something wrong with his little brother, and worried he was doing something wrong himself. That the twins could talk because Mama was still around then- because she did it right, and he was too damn stupid to figure it out.

Like she always used to say he was. 

Bubba turned six wordlessly. And Drayton stopped trying. Decided either the boy was too stupid to learn or he was too stupid to teach him. And either damn way that he had more important things to do.  

Little Bubba didn’t talk. But Nubbins didn’t really care. He still thought his littlest brother was fun to play with, even if he didn’t ever say nothing. Their old man though, he didn’t like none of that. And Nubbins could tell. Usually he didn’t care about what that old man did and didn’t like. But he could tell this was upsetting Bubba too. And for some reason he couldn’t quite explain, he didn’t want baby brother upset. So even when Cook stopped messing with baby brother, gived up on him, Nubbins kept trying. Usually, most days, he got Bobby in on it too- the both of them talkin’ and talkin’ to little Bubba, teachin’ him all sorts of words- even the fun ones like swear words, though Nubbins always whispered those ones real quiet. But Bubba didn’t seem to pick up on ‘em. The only words he really said was his name, but it still weren’t quite the way everybody else said it. Sort of “Buh-Buh.” But it was close. They had almost gotten him to say Bobby’s name- Bubba was good at sayin’ B’s. But he never quite got it all the way. It just didn’t sound quite right. But Nubbins was determined. He was going to get his little brother to say just one undeniable word. So Cook would stop bein’ all mad at little Bubba. So maybe things could be more nice-like again. 

That particular mornin’, Cook had gone off to work, and Nubbins and Bobby were left to look after Bubba again. Bobby was feelin’ bad- sick in his own way- and curled up in bed and wouldn’t get out, even when Nubbins poked him and prodded him and caught a scorpion to put in bed with him. Eventually, though he was frustrated by his twin’s laziness, he gave up with a huff, and went downstairs to mess with Bubba alone. 

“H-hey Bubba!” Nubbins said, falling in a heap next to where his little brother was playing with some bones and bird feathers. “W-what are you up to?” Bubba looked up, and around. He seemed confused for a moment. He made his noises again for a second, then one that almost sounded right- 

“Bah? Bah-Buh?” 

“Yeah. Bubba. That’s your name,” Nubbins said with a sigh. Bubba clenched his little fists and shook them all around, his whole body with them, like he was angry. Nubbins just didn’t get it. Clearly he knew words. So why didn’t he say ‘em? Bubba then unclenched one of his little fists, and did something odd. He stuck out two of his little fingers, and pressed them into his cheek, on the left side. Then he brought them together, and down his face, ending in a little fist to the side of his chin. Nubbins thought it was just one of those fun hand things he did, and he flapped his hands a little too. Then, with a furrowed little brow, Bubba did it again, just the same. Nubbins figured it had to mean something. He watched Bubba do it a third time, then he mimicked the motion on himself. Which was when he realized the pattern Bubba made matched Bobby’s birthmark. Bah-Buh. 

“B-bobby!?” Nubbins exclaimed. He repeated the motion. “That means Bobby?” Bubba jumped up a little and wiggled excitedly. It did! It wasn’t a coincidence! It really did! “Bubba- can- can you do me? What’s me? Nubbins?” Bubba took the pointer finger of his right hand this time, and put it just under his right eye, before folding it, holding the ball of his fist at the side of his face, where Nubbins’ birthmark ended. Nubbins and Bubba both jumped up and down with joy. “Whu-what about Grandpa! Do Grandpa!” Bubba traced the lines of his face- like the deep wrinkles Grandpa had around his mouth. “Oh uh- uh- What about Cook?” Bubba made a sweeping gesture with his hand, like Cook did when he hit one of them upside the head. Nubbins laughed at that. “Oh- Oh- W-wait a minute! I gotta get Bobby! I gotta go show Bobby! I- I come right back!” Nubbins ran up the stairs to harass his twin with glee. Bubba could talk! Bubba was talking! He was just talking with his hands. Which meant Cook was wrong- Bubba wasn’t stupid. He was smart! Really, really smart. Nubbins never woulda thought of talkin’ with his hands like that. “Bobby! Bobby! Get up! Get up!” 

“I-I don’t wanna,” he muttered. “I-I feel like shit-” 

“Bubba’s talkin’!” 

“Whu- really? He’s talkin’?” Bobby looked like that word he said they weren’t supposed to say, as he sat up, black hair in a mess and snot dripping down his face.

“Yuh-huh! Come lookit!” Bobby valiantly dragged himself out of bed, and downstairs to see little Bubba talk. It took him a minute to understand the hand-words too, but once he did he was just as excited as Nubbins, only a little sleepier. They spent the whole day trying to understand Bubba’s new words, and talking with him, in a mixture of the way they spoke and he did, their excitement only building. Nubbins couldn’t wait to show big brother what he’d learned. 

Drayton got home dead tired. He hadn’t had time for lunch that day, hadn’t had time for any damn thing. His whole body hurt. Which was why he was pissed off before he even stepped through the door. And why he quickly got more pissed off as he heard his little brothers giggling, undoubtedly up to no good. Then-

“Cook’s home! Cook’s home!” Drayton grimaced. They never got that excited when he came home. Something had to be wrong. The twins ran at him quick, Bobby following along a little slow, wrapped up in a blanket. 

“What the hell has gotten into you-” 

“Cook! Cook! Lookit! Come Lookit! Bubba’s talkin’!” Nubbins said. Drayton felt a bolt of energy go through him- energy he really didn’t think he had. 

“Talkin’? What’d he say? What happened?”

“I- I came downstairs, tryin’ to talk with him, but Bobby was sick in bed- and- and Bubba said his name! He asked about Bobby! Then he said m-my name, and- and Grandpa- and yours! He says all kinds of things!” Drayton felt a surge of relief, so overwhelming he could’ve cried. He didn’t, of course, the boys needed a strong role model, not some damn sissy, but the feeling was certainly there. “Come lookit!”

“Okay, okay,” Drayton said, letting the twins tug him by his shirt sleeves. They took him to the living room, where Bubba was sitting on the floor, a big grin on his face. Drayton went quickly to his little brother. Bubba reached for him when he came in, and he hefted the large six-year-old up, and into his lap as he sat on the couch. “Your brothers told me you been sayin’ a lot today, Bubba.” Bubba nodded. That gave Drayton even more hope- he had seen Bubba sort of nod, or at least he thought he had, but this time it was clear. Confident. “S-show me, Bubba,” Drayton said. “Say- say anything. Talk to me.” Bubba paused a moment, thinking. That was alright. Drayton had waited six years already- another few seconds wouldn’t hurt. Then, Bubba pointed, with his little right hand, touching Drayton’s chest, before curling it to a fist and pressing it to his own chest, holding it there just a second. Then he didn’t say anything. “What… What was that?” 

“Bubba talks with his hands!” 

Drayton gave both the twins a spanking for being little rat-faced liars. Bubba cried and hollered during it, but didn’t say anything. He flinched up when Drayton came towards him, but Drayton didn’t punish him any. It wasn’t Bubba’s fault the twins were stupid. Drayton all but accepted at that point his little brother wasn’t ever gonna talk, and he had might as well just give up. Accept that he ruined it. Or that Bubba was ruined to begin with. 

He couldn’t help but wonder if somehow Mama knew. 

If maybe that was why she left.

The next day the twins were sulking and Bubba was too scared to even let Drayton look at him. Drayton did his best to go to work and ignore the sludge-like guilt that poured over his every waking thought looking at those boys. He had to be tough on them. Nobody else would ever look out for them. 

The day at the old gas station was hard. His manager was a pain in the ass. One of these days, he was going to kill that old dickhead and skin him and eat him. But it was not yet that day. So Drayton stood around in the hot sun, dealing with the flow of stupid customers and their various car problems and personality problems, pointedly not thinking about his little brothers. 

Until something really strange happened. 

It was a woman and her baby. Well, not quite a baby- a child maybe Bubba’s age, five or six- though the little girl was much more confident walking than Bubba was. The husband went in for some barbeque, and the lady and the little girl got out of the car to stretch their legs while Drayton cleaned the windshield and gassed it up. He glanced over at them, mostly just to assess them as meat, when he noticed it. 

The little girl paused at the soda machine, and made some kind of gesture- quick, oddly precise movements with her hands. Then the woman spoke back- 

“Well I don’t know about that. We’ll have to ask Daddy when he gets back.” Drayton cleaned their windshield off quick and a little sloppy before loping over towards them. 

“Uh- Miss- ma’am-” The woman turned. 

“Oh uh, is there a problem?” 

“No- I- I just uh- what was that you were doin’ there?” he asked. “I- I’m sorry if this is sudden or uh-”

“What I’m doin’? How do you mean?” she looked more confused than fearful, which was always good. 

“Your- your little girl, she made- she made those gestures and-” 

“Oh! That’s just- sorry, that’s just sign language. Maggie can talk she just- my sister is deaf, and she’s been practicing so she can speak with Auntie Ruth-” 

“What’s- What’s ‘sign language’?” Drayton asked. “I- I’m sorry to be botherin’ you with all these questions I just-” He paused. He hated giving people any information, but this time the truth would probably comfort her and get him his answers. “I’ve… I’ve got a boy at home who’s mute. He… He’s never spoke a word and… I don’t think he’s liable to.” 

“Oh!” The woman’s eyes lit up. “I’m- I’m sort of surprised you never heard anything about sign language before.” 

“Well we’re uh.. Kind of cut off, out here,” Drayton said. “My boy- he- he just started doin’ somethin’ like that on his own, though, somehow.” 

“Oh! Home signs,” she said. “That’s- that’s pretty common. I mean, I only ever really heard about that with deaf kids- my sister Ruth did it when she was little, before our parents figured out what what goin’ on and started teachin’ her American Sign Language. I guess it makes sense a kid who don’t talk could do that sort of thing too.” She paused for a moment, glancing down with a look of pure adoration at her own little girl. “It’s crazy what all kids can teach you if you just listen,” she said softly. Drayton chuckled, a hollow, guilty little noise. 

“Yeah. ‘Spose so.” 

Cook ruined it. Nubbins was certain that Cook ruined it. The rest of that whole entire day Bubba never said not even one word. He barely even babbled, or grunted, or cooed at them. He just sort of sat around, looking sad. Bobby, after his spanking and with his sickness, just ended up back in bed. So it was up to Nubbins to big-brother him all alone. Which wasn’t easy. Nubbins didn’t think quick like Bobby did sometimes. So he didn’t always know how to help. This time was one of those times. 

Nubbins slinked up to Bubba, who was messing with feathers and sittin’ on the floor. He tried to figure out how to get Bubba talkin’ again- how to make him understand that Cook was gone and he didn’t have to be scared without sayin’ all that and admittin’ that Cook kind of made him scared too. He watched his brother pick at the feathers and bones for a minute, lining them up in a row, before something clicked in his brain. 

“Hey Bubba! You- You wanna do somethin’ fun?” Bubba just looked at him with those big sad baby-cow eyes of his. “Here- lookit!” Nubbins dumped out some string in front of him, and took up some bones, and feathers, and started weaving them together, best he could, till he made a skinny, sort of crooked little dolly. “See! We- we can make little dollies! You like dollies, yeah?” Bubba stretched out his hand and Nubbins passed it over with a smile. Bubba played a minute with it, then Nubbins started making another. Bubba babbled a little, and pointed at the pile of string. “You want me to show you to make one?” Nubbins asked. Bubba nodded, and the both of them smiled. 

Nubbins tried to show Bubba how to do it real good, and how to make the little dollies stay together right, and how to make ‘em real pretty, but it was hard to do that and watch Bubba’s hands incase he said anything too, so Bubba’s little dollies weren’t turning out right. They were real pretty, but he had thick little fingers that weren’t so good for the delicate stuff and the weaving like Nubbins’ skinny ones were. Nubbins kept trying to tell him what to do, the same way over and over and maybe a bit fast, and Bubba just couldn’t keep up. 

“You got to do it this way!” Nubbins said, showing him again how to weave the arms into the torso. “It ain’t gonna be no good if you don’t do it right!” Bubba snapped at him- making a loud noise and throwing his little dolly down. “Wh- th-that ain’t gonna make it any more good!” Bubba shook his arms, hard, and fussed. 

Then the front door was slammed open. 

Only one person ever slammed that door. Bubba darted under the couch as quick as he could. It wasn’t a very good hiding spot, since he could barely get under there, but it was better than Nubbins’ spot, which was nowhere. 

“Nubbins? Bobby?” Cook called. That was bad. He came into the feather room. “There you are-” He reached down to snatch Nubbins up and he tried to bolt like a wild cat, but Cook seemed ready for him to do just that. “Damnit Nubbins- Come here!” Nubbins thrashed and snapped his teeth at Cook as best he could, but the old man was getting used to picking up the twins when they were trying to scratch and bite him. “Calm down, boy, you ain’t in trouble.” 

“I-I-I don’t believe you! You’s just sayin’ that so I won’t wiggle so you can take me somewhere-” Cook hefted Nubbins over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Normally Nubbins thought that was funny, but he knew he was in some kind of trouble. 

“C’mon, boy. Up you go.” He carried Nubbins off, up the stairs, and into his and Bobby’s room. He chucked him up and onto Bobby’s bed, wakin’ his poor sick twin up. 

“W-whu did I do?” Bobby moaned. Cook shut the door and Nubbins knew this was gonna be bad. 

“You two learnt that hand-talkin’ thing with Bubba, right?” Cook said, sitting down on Nubbins’ bed and looking at them- his face so plain he didn’t even look mad somehow. 

“Well uh- m-maybe. What’s it to ya?” 

“I want you to teach me.” 

“What?”

“I want you to teach me Bubba’s words. So I can understand him.” 

“B-but you said that it was stupid!” 

“Well now I’m sayin’ it ain’t!” Cook snapped. “Show ‘em to me, damnit!” 

“W-we won’t get in trouble if we do?” Bobby asked, speaking up for the first time in a while. 

“No. You won’t.” 

“Show him, Nubs.” Nubbins hesitated, still not wanting to do anything for that mean old man right then. “C’mon, or he’s gonna make me do it,” Bobby moaned. Nubbins sighed. 

“Oh… Okay,” he said. “T-this one-” he touched the start of his birthmark, then traced down it and made a fist, resting it at the bottom of his birthmark. “M-means me.” Cook mimicked it. 

“Alright. Easy enough.” 

“This one is Bobby.” Similar, on the opposite side, starting with two fingers. Cook did that too. 

“Makes sense.” 

“This is Grandpa.” 

“Oh. They’re all just… About how we look?” Cook asked. He cringed a little, hand going up over his mouth, almost instinctively. “God, mine’s about my teeth, ain’t it?” 

“Oh uh- t-this one is you,” Nubbins said, miming the backhand swiftly. For some reason Cook seemed more disturbed by that than a jab at his teeth. 

“Oh… Is it… Is it that… Mean? When he does it?” Cook asked. “Or just-” he made a sweeping motion, a little too slow and a little too soft. 

“N-no- it’s like-” Nubbins flicked his hand like he was swatting at a fly. Or, more likely, since it meant Cook, a brother in the way. “Like that!” Cook mimed it right and Nubbins flinched a little, reflexively. “Y-yeah! That’s right.” Cook looked sadly down at his hand. Weird old man. 

“Alright,” he said, softly. “Oh, and uh, what’s this mean? I saw him do this-” Cook poked Nubbins in the chest, then balled his fist and placed it over his heart. The thing he told Cook before he got mad. “What’s that?” Nubbins hesitated. He didn’t want Cook mad at him again. But he couldn’t think of another way out. He tried to be wishy-washy, so at least maybe Cook wouldn’t get so mad. 

“I uh- I-I don’t know for sure, but we think it means.. Uh..  ‘I love you’.” Cook hesitated then. 

“What?”

“‘I love you’,” Nubbins repeated. Cook’s hand slowly fell to his lap. “Wh-what? Are you gettin��� mad?” Nubbins asked, curling up a little. 

“No,” Cook said, standing up all of a sudden. “I ain’t mad.” 

Drayton left the twins to whatever the hell they were doing and went downstairs. He saw Bubba dive under the couch- he was too damn big to get his ass under and always got stuck. He needed to make this right. He had to fix it- somehow- someway. He approached as quietly as he could, trying not to spook Bubba into wedging himself further under the couch. 

“Bubba?” he said softly. The boy tried to wiggle further under the couch. Goddamnit.  “Come on out from there.” He did not. “C’mon, Bubba. Are you stuck?” He put his hands on his brother’s hips, trying to give him a little tug, but that made the boy skitter further- lodging himself as deep as he could. “Dammit, boy!” Drayton was losing the little patience he had quick. He yanked his little brother out from under the couch while Bubba squealed like a piglet. “Don’t do all that! I didn’t hurt you- you’re fine,” he hissed. He pulled Bubba up, and then onto the couch, before sitting down next to him. Bubba curled up like an armadillo for a minute, then slowly but surely uncurled. “Bubba I-” I’m sorry. “I… I get it now.” Bubba perked up just a little. “I… You…” For once Drayton was the one without words. “You…” He tried not to sound too somber as he said it. “You’re different, Bubba. You… You always have been. You ain’t like me and.. You ain’t like your brothers. You’re… Really somethin’ else kid… And that.. That’s alright. You don’t talk like me and the twins do. And you probably ain’t ever gonna. And that’s alright. You don’t have to. I’m… I’m listenin’ now, kid.” Bubba looked up at him, with those big ol’ eyes, curious, maybe hopeful. But Drayton wasn’t sure he believed it yet. He sighed, a little. Then  Drayton, stiffly and with a slightly shaky hand, poked Bubba in the chest, before balling up his fist, and pressing it to his own. Bubba squealed again- a happy little noise this time, and burrowed against him. Drayton petted his hair softly, letting the boy rub his face on him like a cat. Drayton tried to just seem happy, in that moment. But deep down he knew he was still woefully underprepared. He didn’t know how the hell he was gonna raise a boy like Bubba, when he had to pick up the most basic of concepts from a stranger at the gas station.

 But the Sawyers had always been resourceful. So he guessed he’d just figure it out. 

As the years went on, Bubba slowly felt more and more understood.  And his older brothers realized Bubba was quite the chatterbox. He talked to them all the time, about a lot of different things, in a lot of different ways. They learned a handful of his home signs and enough about his body language, expressions, and sounds to understand him- even if those outside the family probably never would. 

But, Bubba didn’t worry too much about the outside at first. He didn’t need it. The Sawyer property and his family were his whole world. And in his world, he was listened to. 

But Bubba also listened. To his brother’s exploits, at work, or causing havoc in Newt. To complaints and curiosities about the neighbors, apparently so very close to them. And to the radio, and the hundreds of lovely voices that poured through it, talking about far away places and interesting people that Bubba sometimes imagined himself meeting. 

But for the time being, at least, Bubba didn’t have too strong of an urge to go there and be with them. He was happy on his little farm house, with his family, and his chicken, and his routines. It was a good life. He didn’t yet want more. 

But those voices on the radio had him curious about more. About seeing the sights. About meeting those people. Drayton told him often that they wouldn’t like him. Wouldn’t understand him the way other Sawyers did. But Bubba remembered it took his family a long time to understand him too. So he let himself be curious, at least. He wondered about those strange and beautiful cities. He wondered about the people with their strange and beautiful faces. And, of course, as he watched his brothers bicker at the door, heading out into that strange and beautiful world, he wondered if he ever asked for more, if anybody would listen.

[halothenthehorns]

Chapter 2: THE BRONZE DRAGON

Magnus saw that last word and just stopped. Just sat there frozen and looked like he wanted to cry. Why? Why was Percy's life like this?

"Magnus?" Under any other circumstances, Magnus would have been equally confused and delighted why Alex sounded so concerned over him.

"The, Bronze, Dragon," he slowly drug out every word like he was trying to suck the water off of a rock. A very pointless and disgusting task.

"Whatever nice things were said about Hephaestus need to be revoked right now!" Percy agreed with every dreaded line on Magnus's face.

Nico made a little yeep noise as well, his first thought being Bianca leaping into that thing's mouth and making it do the chicken dance as well.

"Please let this be an adventure about you getting shrunk down and fighting an armadillo lizard*," Jason was the only one who sounded excited. Then Percy considered for a moment and even nodded like that could have some fun before Magnus read on in dread before anybody else got crazier ideas.

One dragon can ruin your whole day.

"One dragon can ruin someone's whole life Percy!" Magnus groaned. He begged of the following words to please be something like Peleus with a stomach ache! An actual, made-up bad dream? A very oddly themed birthday party for some kid not cursed by the universe?!

"Surely that's why I'm there, to make it go from one to the other," Percy offered with half-hearted hope of his own he just had to help a dragon egg hatch or something cute and innocent... like his life was ever that easy.

Trust me, as a demigod I've had my share of bad experiences. I've been snapped at, clawed at, blowtorched and poisoned. I've fought single-headed dragons, double-headed, eight-headed, nine-headed and the kind with so many heads that if you stopped to count them you'd be pretty much dead.

"Nobody was ever going to ask you to reminisce about the hydra Percy," Thalia sighed. Why couldn't that have been his worst dragon experience?

"Frankly all that just made me think to ask you, again, how are you alive?" Jason nodded.

"Luck and some mild skill," Percy reminded.

But that time with the bronze dragon? I thought for sure my friends and I were going to end up as Kibbles "n" Dragon Bits.

The evening started simply enough.

"It always does with you," Will nodded without surprise. He alone seemed to have a pretty good idea what this one was about, and aside from rubbing Nico's arm to help chase those shivers away he didn't want to spoil the fun for anyone.

It was the end of June.

"Oh," Percy said in surprise as he did a double take. "This happened, before that thing with Clarisse though! That explains the weird smell!"

Nobody else had a clue what he was talking about, they just all kind of assumed Clraisse smelled like motor oil.

I'd come back from my most recent quest about two weeks before, and life at Camp Half-Blood was returning to normal. Satyrs were chasing the dryads. Monsters howled in the woods. The campers were playing pranks on one another and our camp director, Dionysus, was turning anyone who misbehaved into a shrub. Typical summer-camp stuff.

Magnus stopped cold like he'd been the one turned into a shrub. Which was ridiculous, he didn't have a single leaf on him.

"He turns them back Magnus," Will shrugged.

Magnus counted to ten in his head before deciding against asking for further details.

After dinner, all the campers were hanging out at the dining pavilion. We were all excited because that evening capture the flag was going to be totally vicious.

The night before, Hephaestus's cabin had pulled off a huge upset. They'd captured the flag from Ares – with my help, thank you very much –

"Nobody was thanking you Percy," Thalia scoffed.

"Well maybe more people should," Percy tried to give her big pouty eyes, but it was ruined by everybody laughing to much and he couldn't begin to hold it.

which meant that the Ares cabin would be out for blood. Well... they're always out for blood, but this night especially.

On the blue team were Hephaestus's cabin, Apollo, Hermes and me – the only demigod in Poseidon's cabin. The bad news was that for once Athena and Ares – both war god cabins – were against us on the red team, along with Aphrodite, Dionysus and Demeter. Athena's cabin held the other flag and my friend Annabeth was their captain.

"I need politics and details stat!" Jason turned and pleaded to Percy like he was going to fall on his knees.

Will lit up, clearly all for going into the latest drama that had caused such shifts in dynamics to occur, but Thalia and Percy groaned in sync, quite loudly. Seems as if unless they were the ones running the teams they weren't going to happily sit around and play back who had pranked whom, what revenge was needed, and the height of impressing others.

Jason sighed but reluctantly gave in that could take hours just to get caught up on a week's worth, but gave Will a very obvious look as if book marking him for later.

Annabeth is not somebody you want as an enemy.

"Which is why Percy seems to make a life goal of it!" Alex chuckled with a very pointed gesture at him like they'd missed her target.

"I only aim for the best," Percy puffed his chest up with pride and swooped back his hair.

Thalia smacked him in the stomach, causing him to deflate and the gray strands of hair to fall back in place as she smirked, "in everything except grades."

Right before the game, she strolled up to me. "Hey, Seaweed Brain."

"Will you stop calling me that?"

"I didn't call you anything," Will said innocently.

Only Nico laughed while the others groaned even louder at the terrible pun. Though Magnus ignored them all with interest. That was, in fact, the first time he'd heard Percy wanted her to stop that, and as far as he could tell from the light-hearted smile on his face now and the passive eye-roll, Percy hardly meant it.

She knows I hate that name, mostly because I never have a good comeback.

"The worst atrocity I could name," Alex sighed.

"You should never be brought to a comedy show," Percy said with a hint of dread. She'd heckle anybody and get herself thrown out...though Percy wouldn't believe that wasn't her goal going in.

She's the daughter of Athena, which doesn't give me a lot of ammunition. I mean, "Owl-head" and "Wise Girl" are kind of lame insults.

"Lame but classics," Alex nodded contemplatively. "Surely you could get creative with all the world of nerd insults. Poindexter might suit her, or-"

"We are not going to sit around and make up insults about her, or her cabin," Thalia sighed.

"Just trying to keep the playing field even," Alex said, though raised her hands quickly in surrender.

"You know you love it." She bumped me with her shoulder, which I guess was supposed to be friendly, but she was wearing full Greek armour, so it kind of hurt.

"Both," Jason snorted.

"Definitely both," Percy agreed as he rubbed his shoulder with the biggest smile.

Her grey eyes sparkled under her helmet. Her blonde ponytail curled around one shoulder. It was hard for anyone to look cute in combat armour, but Annabeth pulled it off.

"Cute, huh?" Will's little laugh was so infectious even as he rolled his eyes hard. "How, on earth, Travis ever bet against me that you two would end up together I'll never know when you literally had these thoughts running through your brain."

"Why were there bets?!" Percy seemed to be missing the teasing part of that as he once again frowned at Will. "Where is this magical bulletin board?"

"Right next to the one with play tryout dates," he said saintly. "Up in the Big House, don't know how you've missed it."

Percy didn't seem able to close his mouth to properly get anything back and Magnus took pity on him and moved on before he'd have to.

"Tell you what." She lowered her voice. "We're going to crush you tonight, but if you pick a safe position... like right flank, for instance... I'll make sure you don't get pulverized too much."

"Retreat! Re-treat!" Jason enunciated very clearly. "This is a trap! Percy, please run for your life!" He said it in a pretty bad imitation of a robotic alarmed voice for some reason like a crappy fire drill.

Probably because it would have had as much effect on Percy then as it did now, who was to busy grinning at the challenge to hear a word.

"Gee, thanks," I said, "but I'm playing to win."

She smiled. "See you on the battlefield."

She jogged back to her teammates, who all laughed and gave her high fives. I'd never seen her so happy, like the chance to beat me up was the best thing that had ever happened to her.

"Percy is doomed," Thalia agreed casually. "Apparently even without fighting with me he can't avoid screwing up these games."

"I helped win the last one!" He spluttered, breaking out of his delusion of her hair escaping its helmet to glare at Thalia non-effectively. "You could have a little faith in me, I know her, her tricks!" He ended with a pretty sad stutter and crossed-eyed concern if this was a trick in a trick to make that any kind of believable.

Beckendorf walked up with his helmet under his arm. "She likes you, man."

"Sure," I muttered. "She likes me for target practice."

"Both," Jason said again with absolute confidence.

"Definitely both," Alex chuckled.

"I almost believed you that time," Percy sighed.

"Oh we're serious," Jason and Alex assured.

"Nah, they always do that. A girl starts trying to kill you, you know she's into you."

"What is this, playground rules?" Magnus sighed. He was no fool, he knew full well his cousin liked Percy back, but it was clearly complicated with her for several reasons and he assumed that's why she didn't act on it more. Who was this ding-dong, whose name he only vaguely recognized, trying to assure Percy of anything?

"Makes a lot of sense."

Beckendorf shrugged. "I know about these things. You ought to ask her to the fireworks."

Percy sighed. He'd really been wanting to talk to somebody about this back then, and Beckendorf seemed like the guy all of a sudden, but now that the moment was here...it felt like a waste of breath. What could he say Percy didn't already know?

I couldn't tell if he was serious. Beckendorf was lead counsellor for Hephaestus. He was this huge dude with a permanent scowl, muscles like a pro ballplayer, and hands calloused from working in the forges. He'd just turned eighteen and was on his way to NYU in the autumn. Since he was older, I usually listened to him about stuff, but the idea of asking Annabeth to the Fourth of July fireworks down at the beach – like, the biggest dating event of the summer – made my stomach do somersaults.

Then Silena Beauregard, the head counsellor for Aphrodite, passed by. Beckendorf had had a not-so-secret crush on her for three years. She had long black hair and big blue eyes, and when she walked the guys tended to watch. She said, "Good luck, Charlie." (Nobody ever calls Beckendorf by his first name.) She flashed him a brilliant smile and went to join Annabeth on the red team.

"I think she was beckoning to him," Alex said with a brilliant smile. Will and Nico both laughed hard at the pun while Jason and Magnus joined the groaning this time.

"Uh..." Beckendorf swallowed like he'd forgotten how to breathe.

I patted him on the shoulder. "Thanks for the advice, dude. Glad you're so wise about girls and all. Come on. Let's get to the woods."

Percy laughed along loudest of all. Finally, somebody else's girl misshaps wasn't at his expense!

...it felt a tad forced in his throat for some reason though he didn't like. A nagging idea in the back of his mind that had sporadically been cropping up. Now here, thinking of the beach, talking to Silena, the thought tried so hard to crystalize into something- but the idea was gone as his stomach pitched in pain and his skin felt a great flush of heat. He knew that feeling, he knew better than to mess with a memory like that.

Naturally, Beckendorf and I took the most dangerous job.

"Naturally," Will repeated in a very posh, british voice.

"Because if we gave Will the most dangerous job he'd stop to sniff the oranges to much," Nico smirked.

"We all have our strengths," he agreed without batting an eye.

While the Apollo cabin played defence with their bows, the Hermes cabin would charge up the middle of the woods to distract the enemy. Meanwhile, Beckendorf and I would scout around the left flank, locate the enemy's flag, knock out the defenders and get the flag back to our side. Simple.

Why the left flank?

"Because Annabeth wanted me to go right," I told Beckendorf, "which means she doesn't want us to go left."

"Please tell me you at least considered a double cross? Then a triple cross. Then a quadruple cross-"

"Jason!" Percy groaned. "I'm well aware Annabeth's going to pull one over on me, but I had to pick a lane! I'm sure I threw off her whole plan by just showing up."

Jason just shook his head at him, but then, he also would have been interrogating Annabeth about every layer of her plan if she were here and refused to tell him, so Percy didn't feel that bad about stopping him from pitching every way he was going to be wrong.

Beckendorf nodded. "Let's suit up."

He'd been working on a secret weapon for the two of us – bronze chameleon armour, enchanted to blend into the background. If we stood in front of rocks, our breastplates, helms and shields turned grey. If we stood in front of bushes, the metal changed to a leafy green. It wasn't true invisibility, but we'd have pretty good cover, at least from a distance.

Alex threw her head back laughing. "Somebody got jealous of Annabeth's hat!

"Ooo," Thalia said with interest. "Where's mine?"

Percy had some half-baked remark about her doing extra chores for him to help get Beckendorf's favor, but he choked on the words and nothing really came out except some spit while Thalia patted him on the back with a troubled smile she tried hard to look real.

"This stuff took forever to forge," Beckendorf warned me. "Don't mess it up!"

"You got it, Captain."

Beckendorf grunted. I could tell he liked being called Captain.

Thalia was still listening with great interest, and clearly decided she had her own turn at co-captain with him stuck in her craw more than letting him dwell on why he kept pressing his thumb between his eyes.

"Oh sure, him you just conceded the throne to! I was born to be a righteous, mighty warrior to lead armies, but this guy you just hand the crown."

Percy's shaking hand fell, a teasing smile instantly back. "Try getting accepted into college Thals, then maybe I'll watch you run your own team right into the river."

They even started bartering back and forth about who would get which cabin before Magnus bravely cleared his throat and waved the book around before they realized Annabeth would have to pick a side. That was a blood bath waiting to happen.

The rest of the Hephaestus campers wished us well, and we sneaked off into the woods, immediately turning brown and green to match the trees.

We crossed the creek that served as the boundary between the teams. We heard fighting in the distance – swords clashing against shields. I glimpsed a flash of light from some magical weapon, but we saw no one.

"No border guards?" Beckendorf whispered. "Weird."

"Overconfident," I guessed. But I felt uneasy. Annabeth was a great strategist. It wasn't like her to be sloppy about defence, even if her team did outnumber us.

Jason was over there muttering, "trap, this is a trap," and even spelling it out under his breath repeatedly while Thalia was still smirking and muttering about Percy botching this up like he had to hers. Percy sighed again about what great faith his friends seemed to have in him, but at least the headache was staying at bay.

We moved into enemy territory. I knew we had to hurry, because our team was playing a defensive game, and that couldn't last forever. The Apollo kids would get over-run sooner or later. The Ares cabin wouldn't be slowed down by a little thing like arrows.

"What about trick arrows?" Alex asked with interest. "Tip them in all kinds of fun stuff, or attach any number of things to activate-"

"I think we should just ban Alex's desert privileges before she even gets there," Percy grinned.

"Take away my chocolate, dudette, see what happens," she smirked.

"That sounds like a Chiron problem," Percy shrugged, picking at the hem of his shirt without concern.

We crept along the base of an oak tree. I almost jumped out of my skin when a girl's face emerged from the trunk. "Shoo!" she said, then faded back into the bark.

"Dryads," Beckendorf grumbled. "So touchy."

"Am not!" a muffled voice said from the tree.

Magnus was pretty proud of himself for laughing along at the mild moment instead of, say, freaking out the tree's could decide to kill them all in their sleep. Again.

We kept moving. It was hard to tell exactly where we were. Some landmarks stood out, like the creek and certain cliffs and some really old trees, but the woods tended to shift around. I guess the nature spirits got restless. Paths changed. Trees moved.

"They what?" Magnus yelped like his tail was on fire. "They just, move their whole tree, and roots, and plant them, and, they what?"

"It's pretty funny to watch, they just hike their leaf skirts up and their branches get top heavy sometimes so they-"

Thalia finally smacked Percy to get him to stop while the others couldn't stop snickering at the look of miserable acceptance on Magnus's face when he couldn't decide if Percy was telling the truth, or worse, nobody had any clue how or why the dryads did that and it was just another level of crazy.

Then suddenly we were at the edge of a clearing. I knew we were in trouble when I saw the mountain of dirt.

"A child of the ocean's worst enemy," Thalia snorted. "Take notes Nico."

"I've never tried just throwing soil around," he admitted with a smile that didn't mean he wouldn't be willing.

Percy narrowed his eyes contemplatively who would beat whom, earth-shaker versus child of the Underworld. He'd just have to challenge him to a digging competition to prove it later.

"Holy Hephaestus," Beckendorf whispered. "The Ant Hill."

"Do you all take your parent's names in vain?" Jason startled in surprise.

"Well it would just be weird if he said Holy Aphrodite, now wouldn't it," Percy shrugged.

"So who should Jason pray to? Merlin's Mankini," Alex smirked.

"If I've ever dabbled in witchcraft Alex, I would use whatever spell I could to burn that image from my mind," Jason sighed.

I wanted to back up and run. I'd never seen the Ant Hill before,

Why is Ant Hill capitalized, Magnus let the stray thought flit through his mind without interrupting to point it out. He just wanted a few more seconds of delusional peace this was just a sacred place and they were in awe of all its nonlethal help.

but I'd heard stories from the older campers. The mound rose almost to the treetops – four storeys at least. Its sides were riddled with tunnels, and crawling in and out were thousands of...

"Myrmekes," I muttered.

"Oh this is bad," Jason already realized. Percy never remembered the name of a monster otherwise.

That's Ancient Greek for "ants", but these things were way more than that. They would've given any exterminator a heart attack.

"Me too," Magnus promised with an opener like that.

The Myrmekes were the size of German shepherds. Their armoured shells glistened blood-red. Their eyes were beady black and their razor-sharp mandibles sliced and snapped. Some carried tree branches. Some carried chunks of raw meat that I really didn't want to know about. Most carried bits of metal – old armour, swords, food platters that had somehow found their way out here from the dining pavilion. One ant was dragging the glossy black hood of a sports car.

Magnus face planted the pages and groaned with misery. He'd been expecting a dragon, he'd been trying to mentally prepare himself for scaly beasts that could eat them! Now there were two, or more likely two thousand more deadly things running around! Why was Percy's life like this?!

"Now those are the kind of bugs that can take over the world, survive the apocalypse and become our new lords of the land," Alex grinned with wild delight, wondering if she could turn into something metal.

"They have to work on their infrastructure before I'd consider it," Percy said, resisting the urge to plug his nose through memory.

"They love shiny metal," Beckendorf whispered. "Especially gold. I've heard they have more gold in their nest than Fort Knox." He sounded envious.

"Don't even think about it," I said.

"Now that's a roll reversal if I've ever heard one," Nico chuckled in surprise. His stomach was pitching in disgust at the idea of mounds of treasure, he could all to easily picture Bianca in there picking up a hair pin and his old figurine again...so it was much more fun to imagine Beckendorf holding Percy's straps back at the idea of these things getting their jaws on a gold skateboard.

"I was not one of those weird kids who tried to drown and burn ant hills," Percy sniffed.

"Dude, I won't," he promised. "Let's get out of here while we..."

His eyes widened.

Fifteen metres*50 feet away, two ants were struggling to drag a big hunk of metal towards their nest. It was the size of a refrigerator, all glittery gold and bronze, with weird bumps and ridges down the side and a bunch of wires sticking out the bottom. Then the ants rolled the thing over, and I saw a face.

Magnus was about one word away from throwing this book in that trashcan that vanished things to nowhere. He'd give Percy better memories, he'd make up ones that didn't involve...all of this.

I just about jumped out of my skin. "That's a –"

"Shhh!" Beckendorf pulled me back into the bushes.

"But that's a –"

"Dragon's head," he said in awe. "Yes. I see it."

"So it's only his head," Magnus sighed in relief, the book's saving grace. "I can live with that."

"Right, buddy, you keep thinking that," Will muttered low enough Magnus only squinted suspiciously at him. What on earth made the poor guy think the rest of the body wouldn't come with the head?

The snout was as long as my body. The mouth hung open, showing metal teeth like a shark's. Its skin was a combination of gold and bronze scales, and its eyes were rubies as big as my fists. The head looked like it had been hacked from its body – chewed by ant mandibles. The wires were frayed and tangled.

"Robot dragon," Magnus sighed, trying to decide if that made this horror better or worse. On one hand he could imagine Tyson punching it in the face a little easier. On the other...robot dragon!

"I bet Percy sticks his head in that and tries to scare Annabeth," Alex snickered.

"I'm worried where the rest of the body is," Jason frowned how a camp had a whole dragon buried somewhere in there and what else was just under their feet.

"Hey, I just realized," Magnus looked a little extra miserable now for some reason. "Where's Tyson? I'd feel better with a fire-breathing machine around if he was."

"He went back to the Cyclops forges the week before," Percy said reluctantly. "Trust me, I was missing him right about then too."

The head must've been heavy, too, because the ants were struggling, moving it only a few centimetres with every tug.

"If they get it to the hill," Beckendorf said, "the other ants will help them. We've got to stop them."

"I take it back," Nico said with a puzzled frown. "Everybody at your camp is just nuts."

"So glad to not be the exception for once," Percy nodded his agreement.

"What?" I asked. "Why?"

"It's a sign from Hephaestus. Come on!"

Magnus dropped the book in his lap and pressed his hands to his ears. "I never want to hear of another sign from your parents!"

"This is a good one," Will tried to soothe, though his voice hitching a bit gave away the lie, so he finished, "eventually."

Magnus gave him a baleful look and wondered how many people the robot dragon killed just by stepping on them before that eventually happened. There really was just no point arguing though he should skip to that, Percy's reaction was probably going to be worse than whatever the dragon did.

I didn't know what he was talking about, but I'd never seen Beckendorf look so determined. He sprinted along the edge of the clearing, his armour blending into the trees.

I was about to follow when something sharp and cold pressed against my neck.

"Surprise," Annabeth said, right next me. She must've had her magic Yankees cap on because she was totally invisible.

"I guess that makes sense," Jason chuckled. "She'd know better than to take her eyes off of you."

"She just wanted to jack that armor for herself," Alex smirked.

"She doesn't need it," Magnus said blankly.

"But I'm sure she has a whole speech ready about Percy stealing her thing," Alex insisted.

I tried to move, but she dug her knife under my chin.

"You've been held at knifepoint enough in your life," Nico shook his head, "I think I'm with Alex, she's just jealous she never got her turn at that too."

"I'm sure Annabeth has a list somewhere of what she wants revenge on Percy for and this was just a convenient outlet," Will chuckled.

Silena appeared out of the woods, her sword drawn. Her Aphrodite armour was pink and red, colour coordinated to match her clothes and makeup. She looked like Guerilla Warfare Barbie.

Thalia laughed way to hard at that one, but she'd been making Barbie jokes about that cabin for years and was probably just mad and appreciative of Percy getting to that one first.

"Nice work," she told Annabeth.

An invisible hand confiscated my sword. Annabeth took off her cap and appeared before me, smiling smugly. "Boys are easy to follow. They make more noise than a lovesick Minotaur."

Magnus looked newly traumatized at that sentence. "Who, who would he be lovesick after?"

"Geryon probably, he's the only monster with enough heart and a love of cattle," Alex said slyly.

Most of the others didn't seem to know whether to laugh or gag at that input and Magnus decided to read around her for it.

My face felt hot. I tried to think back, hoping I hadn't said anything embarrassing.

"You did not actually," Jason said helpfully, for once. "Though I'm sure it's just a matter of time."

There it was.

No telling how long Annabeth and Silena had been eavesdropping.

"You're our prisoner," Annabeth announced. "Let's get Beckendorf and –"

"Beckendorf!" For a split second I'd forgotten about him, but he was still forging ahead –

"Right towards the deadly ants," Will sighed.

"Annabeth truly will block out any other thought," Nico sounded grudgingly impressed.

straight towards the dragon's head. He was already twelve metres *40 feet away. He hadn't noticed the girls, or the fact that I wasn't behind him.

"Not the, greatest backup," Jason frowned.

"Credit for determination," Thalia shrugged.

"I bet he invents something that forces people to eat his dust," Alex chuckled.

"Come on!" I told Annabeth.

She pulled me back. "Where do you think you're going, prisoner?"

"I imagine her dragging you all the way back to Alcatraz and throwing you in the cell Braries used to be in just to prove her point," Magnus admitted.

"Labyrinth or no Labyrinth," Percy agreed.

"Look!"

She peered into the clearing and for the first time seemed to realize where we were. "Oh, Zeus..."

Beckendorf leaped into the open and struck one of the ants. His sword clanged off the thing's carapace. The ant turned, snapping its pincers. Before I could even call out, the ant bit Beckendorf's leg, and he crumpled to the ground. The second ant sprayed goo in his face, and Beckendorf screamed. He dropped his sword and slapped wildly at his eyes.

The collective shudder that went around the room may have knocked a few more support beams off their hinges. That went from zero to a hundred real quick from a friendly game to a death sentence. If this kid died, or even was maimed from these horrible injuries Percy was going to take that very personally...

I surged forward, but Annabeth pulled me back. "No."

"Charlie!" Silena yelled.

"Don't!" Annabeth hissed. "It's already too late!"

"What are you talking about?" I demanded. "We have to –"

Then I noticed more ants swarming towards Beckendorf – ten, twenty. They grabbed him by the armour and dragged him towards the hill so fast he was swept into a tunnel and disappeared.

Magnus was left sitting there shivering for several moments at the brutality of that. Bianca's and Zeo's deaths had been blunt, but not so much an out of the blue considering who they'd been fighting and the quests they'd been on. They didn't even know this guy, and it had just shot out of nowhere, like all those shrouds at camp were still waiting to float up.

"No!" Silena pushed Annabeth. "You let them take Charlie!"

Jason took an uneasy breath, trying to keep well off his face he wasn't sure how to take that. She'd saved Percy and Silena's life by doing so, but the cost felt ruthless.

"There's no time to argue," Annabeth said. "Come on!"

I thought she was going to lead us on a charge to save Beckendorf, but instead she raced to the dragon's head, which the ants had momentarily forgotten. She grabbed it by the wires and started dragging it towards the woods.

Percy's mouth was a fantastic showing of his feelings for that. She had never once shown an inclination for stuff over somebody's life, she hadn't even blinked at throwing Deadlus's wings away, she was as much a figurehead in that camp as him for kids to look up to. He'd follow her lead, but not exactly without hesitation when she was going to be crazier than an automaton about it.

"What are you doing?" I demanded. "Beckendorf –"

"Help me," Annabeth grunted. "Quick, before they get back."

"Oh, my gods!" Silena said. "You're more worried about this hunk of metal than Charlie?"

"Did that sign from Hephaestus involve some part of saying a child of Athena would become addicted to dragon heads?" Magnus asked in absolute concern for her mental health.

"You'd be lucky if a sign from a god had a message that clear," Thalia scoffed.

Annabeth spun around and shook her by the shoulders. "Listen, Silena! Those are Myrmekes. They're like fire ants, only a hundred times worse. Their bite is poison. They spray acid. They communicate with all the other ants and swarm over anything that threatens them.

"I liked my world better when I didn't know all of that," Magnus huffed, doing a poor job of ignoring Alex grinning in fascination and studying her hands like she was already imagining them with feelers.

If we'd rushed in there to help Beckendorf, we would have been dragged inside, too. We're going to need help – a lot of help – to get him back. Now, grab some wires and pull!"

Will watched as Percy clenched his hands and prepared to do as asked. He'd been about to follow Beckendorf without a clue. As much as everyone at Camp considered him a leader, it was really they all followed Percy's lead. Annabeth keeping Silena's head on was something to be proud of, Percy was the camp's beacon of who to shine the light on.

I didn't know what Annabeth was up to, but I'd adventured with her long enough to figure she had a good reason for what she was doing. The three of us tugged the metal dragon's head into the woods. Annabeth didn't let us stop until we were fifty meters* 55 yards from the clearing.

Magnus whistled in appreciation. "You drug that thing half a football field!"

"Almost a full blue whale," Alex grinned.

"At minimum as long as these books are laid out," Thalia rolled her eyes.

"It felt as long as the Jersy Turnpike," Percy groaned as he rotated his shoulder in vivid memory.

Then we collapsed, sweating and breathing hard.

Silena started to cry. "He's probably dead already."

"No," Annabeth said. "They won't kill him right away. We've got about half an hour."

"How do you know that?" I asked.

"Is she an entomologist too?" Jason sighed with envy.

"She's a Greek-ologist," Percy reminded with pride.

"I've read about the Myrmekes. They paralyse their prey so they can soften them up before –"

Silena sobbed. "We have to save him!"

"What Silena's siblings are probably thinking of her being in Annabeth's company for to long," Nico muttered. That girl didn't have an ounce of tact...and he was kind of annoyed he probably would have gone into details of their eating habits too without realizing that wasn't helping.

"Silena," Annabeth said. "We're going to save him, but I need you to get a grip. There is a way."

"Call the other campers," I said, "or Chiron. Chiron will know what to do."

"I don't think an exterminator has enough bug spray for this problem, let alone him," Magnus shivered.

"Where's a monster ant eater when you need one," Jason agreed.

"Why would you want Echidna back right now?" Will looked at him strangely.

Annabeth shook her head. "They're scattered all over the woods. By the time we got everyone back here, it would be too late. Besides, the entire camp wouldn't be strong enough to invade the Ant Hill."

"Then why is it there?!" Magnus cried in exasperation, he looked very near tears. "I demand an explanation why you and your entire nutjob of a family feel the need to have this in your backyard!"

"Lots of monsters got in before Thalia's tree was blessed," Will shrugged, completely unphased by his minor tantrum. "As you just read, we can't exactly kick them all out even if there was a reason to."

Magnus sighed and muttered an apology, reminding himself there was just no point in arguing any of this.

"Then what?"

Annabeth pointed at the dragon's head.

"Okay," I said. "You're going to scare the ants with a big metal puppet?"

"Annabeth does love taking part in our play, she's nearly always the star," Will snickered.

Percy gave him a long-suffering sigh. He was not going to strangle Will, he promised himself. He was just having fun, that was overkill, he would not strangle this idiot because of a joke...

"It's an automaton," she said.

That didn't make me feel any better. Automatons were magical bronze robots made by Hephaestus. Most of them were crazed killing machines, and those were the nice ones.

"What does that make Daedalus?" Alex mock whispered.

"The best of the worst," Percy snorted.

"So what?" I said. "It's just a head. It's broken."

"And sadly, I think the mermaids realize that, considering they dragged it there," Magnus sighed.

"Myermeks," Thalia corrected.

"Not if they're going to kidnap people back to their lair and drown them in acid they're not," Magnus sniffed.

"Percy, this isn't just any automaton," Annabeth said. "It's the bronze dragon. Haven't you heard the stories?"

I stared at her blankly.

"How to sum up these books in one sentence," Nico smirked.

Annabeth had been at camp a lot longer than I had. She probably knew tons of stories I didn't.

"Percy, you really don't have to keep repeating yourself," Jason shook his head.

"We just assume Annabeth knows every story ever, she's read every book and probably sleeps on a throne of them," Magnus rolled his eyes.

"I bet her favorite is probably still something mundane, like Star Wars," Alex said with a little wrist wave.

"Star Wars has a book?" Percy asked blankly.

"Would you guys stop trying to confuse the poor guy," Thalia said with a tragic expression as she moved to cover his ears, "you're crumbling his entire worldview!"

Percy smacked her away and called them all clowns and a few other choice words.

Silena's eyes widened. "You mean the old guardian? But that's just a legend!"

"Whoa," I said. "What old guardian?"

Annabeth took a deep breath. "Percy, in the days before Thalia's tree – back before the camp had magical boundaries to keep out monsters – the counsellors tried all sorts of different ways to protect themselves. The most famous was the bronze dragon. The Hephaestus cabin made it with the blessing of their father. Supposedly it was so fierce and powerful that it kept the camp safe for over a decade. And then... about fifteen years ago, it disappeared into the woods."

"Ooooh," Nico said in surprise. "Beckendorf's reaction actually does make sense now."

"Better than some other ancient prophecy about the end of the world," Percy agreed.

"And you think this is its head?"

"It has to be! The Myrmekes probably dug it up while they were looking for precious metal. They couldn't move the whole thing, so they chewed off the head. The body can't be far away."

"But they chewed it apart. It's useless."

"Not to mention, um, why did its batteries run out?" Magnus frowned. What did these things even run on? He'd never thought to ask.

"I'm pretty sure Annabeth could make a toadstool useful," Percy reminded.

"Not necessarily." Annabeth's eyes narrowed, and I could tell her brain was working overtime. "We could reassemble it. If we could activate it –"

"It could help us rescue Charlie!" Silena said.

"Hold up," I said. "That's a lot of ifs. If we find it, if we can reactivate it in time, if it will help us.

"I'm surprised that has you pausing," Thalia said. "Your life is a big series of what if's."

"What if I die, what if I die, what if I die?" Jason repeated, throwing up a finger for each.

"The day I stop worrying about that is the day I get cursed with immortality," Percy reminded with nothing but dread.

You said this thing disappeared fifteen years ago?"

Annabeth nodded. "Some say its motor wore out so it went into the woods to deactivate itself. Or its programming went haywire. No one knows."

"Do they hibernate?" Alex grinned. "Did it go off looking for a mate? Maybe he wanted to go on a better adventure where some poor farm boy finds him and saves the world."

"I need you to keep your ideas far away from Cabin 9," Will frowned at her. "If they make these things any more realistic, I will cry right along with Magnus."

"I'm just trying to foster encouragement and creativity," but Alex batted her eyes in a purely menacing way, a clearly deep want to have a robot dragon that she could ride into battle and slay the entire planet.

"You want to reassemble a haywire metal dragon?"

"I want Annabeth to have normal hopes and dreams," Percy sighed.

"Sorry Perce, wanting to date you doesn't fall on that list," Jason smirked.

Percy considered for a moment if the trade would still be worth it for his bladder's sake, but he didn't get the chance to linger on it.

"We have to try!" Annabeth said. "It's Beckendorf's only hope! Besides, this could be a sign from Hephaestus. The dragon should want to help one of Hephaestus's kids. Beckendorf would want us to try."

"Never have I yet heard being related to any of this stuff has made it more friendly! With the exception of Tyson!" Magnus balked.

"Exactly, I think some of the other kids are due for some," Thalia shrugged.

I didn't like the idea. On the other hand, I didn't have any better suggestions. We were running out of time, and Silena looked like she was about to go into shock if we didn't do something soon.

Will had a very unpleasant bubbling feeling in the pit of his gut. Wondering at Silena's decisions, if she'd been considering calling Luke for help in some deluded idea. He'd gotten a first hand look at the kind of despair that had been on her face for days and had no wish to keep thinking on all this in the slightest, but it's not like he could boot her out of Percy's memories.

Beckendorf had said something about a sign from Hephaestus. Maybe it was time to find out.

"All right," I said. "Let's go find a headless dragon."

"Maybe if you don't attach his head back he'd be less scary?" Magnus sighed.

"I hope they name him Reid!" Alex grinned.

We searched forever, or maybe it just seemed that way, because the whole time, I was imagining Beckendorf in the Ant Hill, scared and paralysed, while a bunch of armoured critters scuttled around him, waiting for him to be tenderized.

"To bad you can't start a bucket brigade from the kitchens," Jason frowned, "dish soap and lava would probably clear this problem up easier."

"We'll call that plan B," Percy shivered, well aware they only had one chance at plan A for Beckendorf to live...and there was a really horrible feeling deep inside him that made him worry if he even did...

It wasn't hard to follow the ants' trail. They'd dragged the dragon's head through the forest, making a deep rut in the mud, and we dragged the head right back the way they'd come.

"Talk about going around in circles," Percy sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck, "this head's doing full 360's."

"And somehow still making more progress than you on your capture the flag game," Jason muttered, well aware that wasn't on anyone's radar right now, but a part of his mind that never stopped working regardless.

We must've gone five hundred meters* over 500 yards – and I was getting worried about the time – when Annabeth said, "Di immortales."

We'd come to the rim of a crater – like something had blasted a house-size hole in the forest floor. The sides were slippery and dotted with tree roots. Ant tracks led to the bottom, where a large metal mound glinted through the dirt. Wires stuck up from a bronze stump on one end.

"You just know that thing would have some crazy rumors about it if you didn't know what it was," Alex chuckled. "Zues's wifi hotspot, tree that used to house a magic tree house that went evil, flying fish spawn from there."

"I am convinced you are the child of whatever god of stories is out there," Thalia shook her head in pure endearment of her.

"And I love it!" She threw her arms wide and smacked Magnus in the face while the others got a mild laugh from her antics.

"The dragon's neck," I said. "You think the ants made this crater?"

"Ant's are great at excavating their own mounds, but how well do they dig up stuff?" Magnus agreed in surprise that sounded kind of deep in the earth for them to have just found.

"Annabeth would know," Percy frowned he had no clue what was really going on, as usual.

Annabeth shook her head. "Looks more like a meteor blast..."

"Though now I am absolutely over here wondering if Hepeahsuts's big sign was his recreation of the dinosaur event or something," Nico grumbled if he'd thrown a meteor to take this thing out and his kids were just uncovering the remains.

"Hephaestus," Silena said. "The god must've unearthed this. Hephaestus wanted us to find the dragon. He wanted Charlie to..." She choked up.

Jason winced, that didn't seem very in line with these gods he'd heard of. Heaphusts hadn't even flinched when told the camp might be overrun, but he wasn't going to argue the point with anyone right now.

"Come on," I said. "Let's reconnect this bad boy."

Getting the dragon's head to the bottom was easy. It tumbled right down the slope and hit the neck with a loud, metallic BONK!

"I wonder if he enjoyed the ride," Thalia chuckled.

"That had to have been better than getting dragged away from his body," Will nodded, while Percy shivered at the idea of this thing being awake while all that happened.

Reconnecting it was harder.

We had no tools and no experience.

Annabeth fiddled with the wires and cursed in Ancient Greek. "We need Beckendorf. He could do this in seconds."

Alex took a deep breath before saying, "The man who built it doesn't want it, the man who bought it doesn't need it, the man who needs it doesn't know it."

"Are you seriously invoking the freaking sphinx right now?" Percy groaned. "One monster at a time isn't enough?"

"Oh, I know!" Jason waved his hand.

"Poor timing Alex," Magnus agreed while Jason was still glaring at Alex with his hand raised.

"I just thought it particularly appropriate right now," Alex said with the whole hope it didn't actually come true. "And since when do you need permission to talk around here Jason?" She shot at him in exasperation.

"The answer's kind of morbid, just making sure I should," he finally lowered his hand with a shrug.

"No morbid jokes until after the person is rescued," Thalia said swiftly as Percy started looking a little gray around the edges again the longer this dragged on.

"Isn't your mom the goddess of inventors?" I asked.

Annabeth glared at me. "Yes, but this is different. I'm good with ideas. Not mechanics."

"There's an I in both of those words though, so I'm kind of surprised to hear that," Jason chuckled.

"Annabeth's never claimed to be a solo act," Magnus reminded with a hopeful smile. "Even from Percy's first quest she knew she needed someone to get her out of camp rather than trying to go it alone."

Percy grinned with delight at that nugget while Jason nodded his agreement in mild apology.

"If I was going to pick one person in the world to reattach my head," I said, "I'd pick you."

I just blurted it out – to give her confidence, I guess – but immediately I realized it sounded pretty stupid.

"Well at least you finally realize the stupid shit that comes out of your mouth," Thalia chuckled. "Progress."

"Will it stop him from doing it? No," Nico smirked.

"Stop me from doing what?" Will asked innocently.

"Stop encouraging him Nico! You did that on purpose!" Percy groaned in protest to every word of this. Nico was to busy snickering to even pretend otherwise, and it was so far removed from the depressed little kid Percy only had memories of he didn't have the heart to act on that strangling threat again.

"Awww..." Silena sniffled and wiped her eyes. "Percy, that is so sweet!"

"Was it?" Nico asked blankly. Well crud, he clearly had no idea how to flirt.

"Annabeth wasn't impressed, so it's anyone's guess," Percy sighed, a slight blush still on his cheeks.

Annabeth blushed. "Shut up, Silena. Hand me your dagger."

I was afraid Annabeth was going to stab me with it.

Causing very unfair laughter around the room while Percy hung his head. He already had no clue what was going on, did he need a live audience for it?

"Does she kiss you again?" Alex asked eagerly, leaning on the edge of her seat.

"Then we'd have to call her out on bad timing," Magnus shook his head. "Beckendorf's about to die, not him."

Percy was rubbing his lip with a mosh pit of butterflies in his stomach, he couldn't make himself speak or they'd all come out. It's not like he was opposed to the idea, though that was ten times more morbid than even Alex could probably ever be if it was some odd new tradition like holding his hand underground was...

Instead she used it as a screwdriver to open a panel in the dragon's neck. "Here goes nothing," she said.

And she started to splice together the celestial bronze wires.

It took a long time. Too long.

I figured capture the flag had to be over by now. I wondered how soon the other campers would realize we were missing and come looking for us. If Annabeth's calculations were correct (and they always were), Beckendorf probably had five or ten minutes left before the ants got him.

"I trust Percy's internal clock pretty accurately too," Thalia shivered for that poor guy, even knowing the other Huntresses would consider her a traitor for doing it. "He always gets to the microwave right before it goes off."

"The one thing I've never managed to explode, it was to vital to my life," Percy agreed.

Finally Annabeth stood up and exhaled. Her hands were scraped and muddy. Her fingernails were wrecked. She had a brown streak across her forehead where the dragon had decided to spit grease at her.

Percy's fingers curled tight around his camp necklace to try and hide the fact his heart skipped a beat. How was it possible the worse she looked the more he couldn't look away?

"All right," she said. "It's done, I think..."

"You think?" Silena asked.

"It has to be done," I said. "We're out of time. How do you, uh, start it?

Alex frowned and paused and sighed. She knew she shouldn't get offended at them calling the dragon an it, but she'd have preferred if they just kept referring to the creature as the dragon, or even used they, them pronouns. This was a machine though, and she didn't want to start picking fights about that kind of topic right now.

 Is there an ignition switch or something?"

"I really hope nobody left the key in their pocket, we don't have time to find out where the hotwire is," Nico frowned.

Annabeth pointed to its ruby eyes. "Those turn clockwise. I'm guessing we rotate them."

"Are we sure she doesn't have a manual shoved up her sleeve somewhere," Jason looked fascinated how she'd found that out from some wiring and was probably going to be picking up a new hobby soon...hopefully not specifically of the metal dragon variety.

"If somebody twisted my eyeballs, I'd wake up," I agreed.

"Good to know," Thalia nodded to Percy's eyeballs great concern. "My next course of action was to start cutting out teeth if you didn't soon."

"I wake at the drop of a hat," Percy tried to defend.

"When your life's in danger," she completely agreed while Percy looked pleadingly at the ceiling.

"What if it goes crazy on us?"

"Then... we're dead," Annabeth said.

"I always admire her confidence!" Will burst out laughing.

"Yeah, because you've never been on the receiving end of it," Nico muttered.

"Great," I said. "I'm psyched."

"Psyched as an ADHD kid in a filing cabinet," Thalia snickered.

Together we turned the ruby eyes of the dragon. Immediately they began to glow. Annabeth and I backed up so fast we fell over each other.

"Awww, the first thing it sees is what we all put together in the first five seconds too," Alex said with a posh wave of her hand. "So sweet of you guys not to leave him out!"

"You're lucky that dragon's probably color blind Alex, or you'd be his dessert," Percy rolled his eyes.

The dragon's mouth opened, as if it were testing its jaw. The head turned and looked at us. Steam poured from its ears and it tried to rise.

When it found it couldn't move, the dragon seemed confused. It cocked its head and regarded the dirt. Finally, it realized it was buried. The neck strained once, twice... and the centre of the crater erupted.

The dragon pulled itself awkwardly out of the ground, shaking clumps of mud from its body the way a dog might, splattering us from head to toe.

Percy had gotten some in his mouth and he spat nothing out in here in disgust. Silena had looked more like Mud Bath Barbie, and Annabeth seemed to have gone brunette there for a strange moment she was so caked down.

It was, by far, the least important thing to be happening in this memory, but struck Percy as strange all the same why he couldn't get the idea out of his head.

The automaton was so awesome, none of us could speak. I mean, sure it needed a trip through the car wash,

"Which Percy has ample practice in," Jason chuckled.

"I still might need a few test runs to make sure I get the settings right," Percy gave him an obvious look. "Are you volunteering?"

"Only if you promise no flesh eating horses or robot dragons are in there at the same time," he sighed because he knew he wasn't getting out of it now.

and there were a few loose wires sticking out here and there, but the dragon's body was amazing – like a high-tech tank with legs. Its sides were plated with bronze and gold scales, encrusted with gemstones. Its legs were the size of tree trunks and its feet had steel talons. It had no wings – most Greek dragons don't – but its tail was at least as long as its main body, which was the size of a school bus. The neck creaked and popped as it turned its head to the sky and blew a column of triumphant fire.

The longer the description dragged on the quieter Magnus's voice got, until he was sunk far enough back into his seat it looked like it was eating him and he was whispering.

Alex sighed and had no other clue how to get him out of this silly funk, it's not as if a dragon was going to appear in here. So she leaned very close to his ear, he didn't even notice as his eyes never left the page, and casually said, "boo."

Magnus startled, fell out of his chair still hugging the book to his chest, and then lay across Alex's feet for several moments glaring up at her before raising the book to hide her face and continuing to read in a normal volume like nothing had happened.

"Well..." I said in a small voice. "It still works."

"Thank you Percy!" Magnus jabbed at him, letting the book fall against his nose for a moment without care.

"Here to help man," Percy nodded, studying him in concern what they were supposed to do if Alex stepped on his face.

Unfortunately, it heard me. Those ruby eyes zeroed in on me, and it stuck its snout five centimetres* an inch from my face.

Magnus shivered from head to toe, probably causing a new crack in the floor where he lay. He was likely to curl up into the fetal position in moments, and Percy couldn't blame him as he gagged on the remembered smell of gasoline and tabasco filling his nose and the pitiless hunger in those ruby sockets.

Instinctively, I reached for my sword.

"Dragon, stop!" Silena yelled. I was amazed her voice still worked. She spoke with such command that the automaton turned its attention to her.

Silena swallowed nervously. "We've woken you to defend the camp. You remember? That is your job!"

The dragon tilted its head as if it were thinking. I figured Silena had about a fifty-fifty chance of getting blasted with fire.

"The other half is getting her head ripped off like a real Barbie," Thalia informed in case they'd missed that.

"Nah, she's got this," Will grinned. There was a lingering sadness to his smile nobody else understood, but he had full knowledge she could lead anyone into battle, even a dragon.

I was considering jumping on the thing's neck to distract it

"Percy!" Thalia smacked him upside the head. "Why, in the gods names, is that, your, first, thought?" She started smacking him repeatedly on the arm.

"Because I'm pretty sure it would work," Percy shrugged, watching in mild fascination as it seemed to hurt her hand more than he felt it the longer she kept going.

when Silena said, "Charles Beckendorf, a son of Hephaestus, is in trouble. The Myrmekes have taken him. He needs your help."

At the word Hephaestus the dragon's neck straightened. A shiver rippled through its metal body, throwing a new shower of mud clods all over us.

The dragon looked around as if trying to find an enemy.

"We have to show it," Annabeth said. "Come on, dragon! This way to the son of Hephaestus! Follow us!"

Just like that, she drew her sword, and the three of us climbed out of the pit.

"For Hephaestus!" Annabeth yelled, which was a nice touch. We charged through the woods. When I looked behind us, the bronze dragon was right on our tail, its red eyes glowing and steam coming out its nostrils.

It was a good incentive to keep running fast as we headed for the Ant Hill.

Magnus's voice was pitching in and out like bad reception now, ignoring the glitter of Alex's toenails in the corner of his eye easily enough as he still wasn't as convinced as Percy seemed to be that dragon probably wasn't so much as following them but chasing them.

When we got to the clearing, the dragon seemed to catch Beckendorf's scent. It barrelled ahead of us, and we had to jump out of its way to avoid getting flattened. It crashed through the trees, joints creaking, feet pounding craters into the ground.

It charged straight for the Ant Hill. At first, the Myrmekes didn't know what was happening. The dragon stepped on a few of them, smashing them to bug juice.

"Good dragon," Alex crooned.

Then their telepathic network seemed to light up, like: Big dragon. Bad!

"Somebody get me a magnifying glass!" She yelped.

"Alex, it was dark out when this was happening," Nico reminded.

"I can use the moonbeams, I'll get creative," she promised.

Nobody was really sure how that was going to start or end, and they were kind of scared to ask. Magnus, however, finally sat up and leaned against his seat now that at least the dragon's focus wasn't on Annabeth and Percy anymore.

All the ants in the clearing turned simultaneously and swarmed over the dragon. More ants poured out of the hill – hundreds of them. The dragon blew fire and sent a whole column of them into a panicked retreat. Who knew ants were flammable?

"Every psychopath I've ever met," Magnus scoffed.

"Guess you meet more interesting people than I do Magnus, and that's saying a lot," Percy said with a raised brow. The place had been lit up like a bonfire in seconds, how the rest of camp hadn't come running was an honest mystery.

But more kept coming.

"Inside, now!" Annabeth told us. "While they're focused on the dragon!"

Silena led the charge; it was the first time I'd ever followed a child of Aphrodite into battle.

A hiss of pain fell from Percy's lips this wouldn't be the last, but though he rubbed his temple he was almost smiling at the bad feeling too. It was kind of cool to realize in the moment this was Silena coming into her own, getting a chance to realize a memory was so awesome the first time doubled.

We ran past the ants, but they ignored us. For some reason they seemed to consider the dragon a bigger threat. Go figure.

"Their mistake," Jason scoffed.

"I'm not arguing the point," Percy rolled his eyes.

"Because you're an idiot," Thalia chuckled with nothing but affection.

We plunged into the nearest tunnel and I almost gagged from the stench. Nothing, I mean nothing, stinks worse than a giant ant lair. I could tell they let their food rot before eating it. Somebody seriously needed to teach them about refrigerators.

"Would Chiron and Mr. D be okay with them piggy backing off their electric bill though?" Nico smirked. "I already don't think they're holding up their share of the rent."

"It smelt worse than Smelly Gabe," Percy insisted. "I would donate- okay, I don't even get an allowance there, but if this is a recurring problem I'd flip the breaker switch or something!" He smiled at the others getting a laugh out of this while he fought the urge to gag. He was happy for them, truly, they only had to hear about this and not live it...though it only made him miss Annabeth more every word she'd be plugging her nose same as him.

Our journey inside was a blur of dark tunnels and mouldy rooms carpeted with old ant shells and pools of goo. Ants surged past us on their way to battle, but we just stepped aside and let them pass.

"To bad they're not all storming out to argue which is better, Antz or Bugs Life," Alex sighed.

"I'm sure they'll go back to their clubs and debats as soon as their home isn't under attack and the kiddos are full of goo," Nico said with her level of chipper, which was kind of starting to concern Percy. He hadn't sounded depressed in hours.

The faint bronze glow of my sword gave us light as we made our way deeper into the nest.

"Look!" Annabeth said.

I glanced into a side room, and my heart skipped a beat. Hanging from the ceiling were huge, gooey sacks – ant larvae, I guess – but that's not what got my attention. The cave floor was heaped with gold coins, gems and other treasures – helmets, swords, musical instruments, jewellery. They glowed the way magic items do.

"That's just one room," Annabeth said. "There are probably hundreds of nurseries down here, decorated with treasure."

"That's kind of cute," Magnus grudgingly admitted, all of his long, messy blonde hair still mostly on one side he was ignoring and reading through. "I wonder if they burst out and pick a favorite toy or something."

Alex resisted the urge to run her hand through the mess and straighten it out for him as she instead hummed in agreement.

"It's not important," Silena insisted. "We have to find Charlie!"

Another first: a child of Aphrodite uninterested in jewellery.

"I bet if it was cursed jewelry she'd at least hesitate," Jason said in mild defense.

"Nah, she'd find a way to work that curse with her outfit, it's their own magical gift," Percy sighed.

"Right up there with yours getting into trouble," Thalia shook her head.

We forged on. After six more metres* 20 feet, we entered a cavern that smelled so bad my nose shut down completely.

"I'm going to be sick," Percy promised, his stomach rolling at the memory alone.

"This is not class Mr. Jackson," Alex said in a snooty voice. "You were not excused!"

"Does anything get us out of your class Miss Fierro?" Will asked curiously.

She thought about it for a moment before shaking her head. "Nope, you will all sit and listen to my brilliance or so help me you will get homework!"

"You're not even reading," Magnus frowned up at her accusingly, giving her the excuse to swat his bangs into his face and watch him for a moment shake his long hair out to fix it.

"You're more evil than Mrs. Dodd's," Percy frowned, though his hand fell lax from his stomach at the distraction.

"I'm not the one forcing you to read this," she reminded with a touch of hurt, "and the homework is encouraged to be worked on together."

"Okay, just as evil as Chiron," Percy chuckled.

The remains of old meals were piled as high as sand dunes – bones, chunks of rancid meat, even old camp meals. I guess the ants had been raiding the camp's compost heap and stealing our leftovers. At the base of one of the heaps, struggling to pull himself upright, was Beckendorf. He looked awful, partly because his camouflage armour was now the colour of garbage.

"Damn, I don't even think Silena could find a way to match shoes with that," Jason heaved a tragic sigh.

"Hospital gown," Thalia said flatly.

"Charlie!" Silena ran to him and tried to help him up.

"Thank the gods," he said. "My – my legs are paralysed!"

"It'll wear off," Annabeth said. "But we have to get you out of here. Percy, take his other side."

Silena and I hoisted Beckendorf up, and the four of us started back through the tunnels. I could hear distant sounds of battle – metal creaking, fire roaring, hundreds of ants snapping and spitting.

"What's going on out there?" Beckendorf asked. His body tensed. "The dragon! You didn't – reactivate it?"

"Afraid so," I said. "Seemed like the only way."

"But you can't just turn on an automaton! You have to calibrate the motor, run a diagnostic... There's no telling what it'll do! We've got to get out there!"

"I'm now imagining him with seven kinds of wrenches having a fit over a monkey belt or something," Nico admitted.

"Think it's just called a tool belt Nico," Will offered. Nico smiled as he imagined Will pouring over car manuals to try and impress his dad, and then Will showing him a few.

As it turned out, we didn't need to go anywhere, because the dragon came to us. We were trying to remember which tunnel led to the exit when the entire hill exploded, showering us in dirt. Suddenly we were staring at open sky. The dragon was right above us, thrashing back and forth, smashing the Ant Hill to bits as it tried to shake off the Myrmekes crawling all over its body.

The sudden blast of air and light felt like a second rise out of the underworld. Percy remembered gaping up at that monstrosity, fire and smoke setting its golden face like the sun of a new day, sparks flying from every scale as it roared in pain. That dragon had saved their life, and he was once again just left wondering if Grover would want a hug from it or would consider that a first class meal.

"Come on!" I yelled. We dug ourselves out of the dirt and stumbled down the side of the hill, dragging Beckendorf with us.

Our friend the dragon was in trouble. The Myrmekes were biting at the joints of its armour, spitting acid all over it. The dragon stomped and snapped and blew flames, but it couldn't last much longer. Steam was rising from its bronze skin.

Even worse, a few of the ants turned towards us. I guess they didn't like us stealing their dinner. I slashed at one and lopped off its head. Annabeth stabbed another right between the feelers. As the celestial bronze blade pierced its shell, the whole ant disintegrated.

"Great, another thing to lug back," Alex huffed.

"We did not need a trophy of this event," Percy groaned.

"Slackers!" She sniffed.

"I – I think I can walk now," Beckendorf said, and immediately fell on his face when we let go of him.

"There's a right and wrong place for a pratt fall man," Jason said with a nervous laugh.

"Nobody ever said to Percy," Thalia finished for him.

"Charlie!" Silena helped him up and pulled him along while Annabeth and I cleared a path through the ants. Somehow we managed to reach the edge of the clearing without getting bitten or splashed, though one of my sneakers was smoking from acid.

"What is it with your bad luck and shoes?" Jason frowned.

"I was destined to be bigfoot in another life?" He shrugged.

Back in the clearing, the dragon stumbled. A great cloud of acid mist was roiling off its hide.

"We can't let it die!" Silena said.

"Awww," Alex grinned. "Don't ever let someone say I never agreed with a child of Aphrodite!"

"How I wish that would have been her mother's response," Thalia nodded along sternly. The goddess of love was probably up on Olympus somewhere watching and applauding at all the drama instead of actually swooping in to help, if she wasn't engrossed in a hollywood celebrity magazine first.

"It's too dangerous," Beckendorf said sadly. "Its wiring –"

"Charlie," Silena pleaded, "it saved your life! Please, for me."

Beckendorf hesitated. His face was still bright red from the ant spit, and he looked as if he were going to faint any minute, but he struggled to his feet. "Get ready to run," he told us. Then he gazed across the clearing and shouted, "DRAGON! Emergency defence, beta-ACTIVATE!"

The dragon turned towards the sound of his voice. It stopped struggling against the ants, and its eyes glowed. The air smelled of ozone, like before a thunderstorm.

Thalia gave a not-so-quite chuckle at the rare power she allowed to course through her. It was a heady feeling she wouldn't ordinarily enjoy sharing with a dragon for a moment, but this one had saved a camper's life.

ZZZZZAAAAAPPP!

Arcs of blue electricity shot from the dragon's skin, rippling up and down its body and connecting with the ants. Some of the ants exploded. Others smoked and blackened, their legs twitching. In a few seconds there were no more ants on the dragon. The ones that were still alive were in full retreat, scuttling back towards their ruined hill as fingers of electricity zapped them in the butt to prod them along.

Magnus snorted fantastically and threw his head back laughing.

"Are you done acting like the world is ending again?" Alex asked as she watched the nerves twitch around in his throat. He had a really strong jawline usually obscured but for this angle.

"For now," he agreed as he hoisted himself back into his usual seat.

The dragon bellowed in triumph, then it turned its glowing eyes towards us.

"Now," Beckendorf said, "we run."

This time we did not yell, "For Hephaestus!" We yelled, "Heeeeelp!"

Magnus immediately groaned again, eyeing the floor as if considering how much less he'd looked like a dragon sized snack from down there.

"Don't even think about it," Alex huffed as she grabbed the back of his shirt.

"I am being punished for a crime I did not commit!" He huffed.

"The two kind of sound the same," Will offered in a not at all helpful kind of voice. "Maybe the dragon just thinks they're charging off again to a wasps nest next."

"Will, that's worse," Magnus yelped. "You hear how that's worse, right?!"

Percy finally cleared his throat and reminded him to either get it over with or give it up, because, you know, he'd already lived through it.

The dragon pounded after us, spewing fire and zapping lightning bolts over our heads like it was having a great time.

Jason couldn't help a little snort of laughter he tried his hardest to pass off as a muffled sneeze. He couldn't help it, that dragon had been through it and sounded more like a puppy having fun without yet realizing his playmates weren't squealing with delight.

"How do you stop it?" Annabeth yelled.

Beckendorf, whose legs were now working fine (nothing like being chased by a huge monster to get your body back in order)

"There's a whole world of self-motiavting posters and workout videos missing out on this dragon marketing," Thalia nodded.

"One that the mist should keep them very far away from!" Percy frowned accusingly at her.

shook his head and gasped for breath. "You shouldn't have turned it on! It's unstable! After a few years, automatons go wild!"

"Would he have rather they left him for dead?" Nico asked conversationally.

"Not a hundred percent sure being rescued into a dragon chase is what I'd call great," Magnus reminded with exhaustion in every syllable.

"Good to know," I yelled. "But how do you turn it off?"

"Someone really needs to tell Hephaestus it's a design flaw not to be voice activated shut down with a secret password," Will would give them that.

"I'll do it," Percy said without hesitation, which was pretty much the worst person to be sent to do it and also the only one who would tell a god to do it.

Beckendorf looked around wildly. "There!"

Up ahead was an outcrop of rock, almost as tall as the trees. The woods were full of weird rock formations, but I'd never seen this one before. It was shaped like a giant skateboard ramp, slanted on one side, with a sheer drop on the other.

"You guys, run around to the base of the cliff," Beckendorf said. "Distract the dragon. Keep it occupied!"

"That, is the worst sentence, in the English language," Magnus looked pained he'd said those words together.

"Followed very closely by, look, I didn't want to be a half-blood," Percy actually nodded his agreement.

"What are you going to do?" Silena said.

"You'll see. Go!"

Beckendorf ducked behind a tree while I turned and yelled at the dragon, "Hey, lizard-lips! Your breath smells like gasoline!"

The dragon spewed black smoke out of its nostrils. It thundered towards me, shaking the ground.

"Maybe that's a compliment in dragon?" Jason asked bemusedly.

"You are way to calm about this man!" Magnus groaned.

"Percy's not freaking out," he reminded, throwing a thumb at him. "He just kind of looks annoyed at this, I'm betting because he lost his chance to win capture the flag more than this."

Percy smiled his automatic reaction was to agree with that...but it didn't erase the insistent strain on him through all of this. There was something he was forgetting about all of this, something about Beckendorf and Silena, but the circumstances didn't feel right. This did feel like just another day at camp, so it wasn't bothering him to much.

"Come on!" Annabeth grabbed my hand. We ran for the back of the cliff.

"So we can now put underground, and being chased by a dragon on that list," Thalia snickered.

"I, have a minor preference," Percy said, smiling like a dope and not like someone who was being threatened by a dragon. Magnus really felt alone that should be a bigger concern than it was.

The dragon followed.

"We have to hold it here," Annabeth said. The three of us readied our swords.

The dragon reached us and lurched to a stop. It tilted its head like it couldn't believe we'd be so foolish as to fight.

"No, no, like a baby unsure what to do next," Jason grinned in delight. "Think a puppy waiting to see if he gets treats for doing a good job."

"Jason, you are not adopting the electric murderous dragon," Will sighed.

"Aw, come on!" Jason frowned. "He sounds so cool, and I bet Beckendorf keeps him in great order."

"Mrs. O'Leary has a playmate her size," Nico couldn't help but chuckle along.

Alex whooped in delight and loudly seconded that, well hiding Will's wince and no actual answer.

Now it had caught us, there were so many different ways it could kill us it probably couldn't decide which to use.

"Well the fire's obviously his go to, but he probably used up all that on the ants," Magnus said with dripping disdain.

"Stomping you means he'd have to dig out Percy from between his toes, I don't know if they like to groom themselves as well as cats," Thalia nodded along.

"I bet his bite force is, the best, he might want to slice you up just for fun so you don't go down in one swallow," Alex said seriously.

"I am going to find a way to bury this dragon back where he came from," Percy frowned.

"Aww," they all mock groaned like Sally had just threatened to take their new toy away before busting out laughing.

We scattered as its first blast of fire turned the ground where we'd been standing into a smoking pit of ashes.

"Still think this is cute Jason?" Magnus shot at him.

"Like a puppy who doesn't understand he shouldn't bite," he agreed with a sunny smile.

Then I saw Beckendorf above us – at the top of the cliff – and I understood what he was trying to do. He needed a clear shot. I had to keep the dragon's attention.

"Yaaaah!" I charged. I brought Riptide down on the dragon's foot and sliced off a talon.

Its head creaked as it looked down at me. It seemed more confused than angry, like, Why did you cut off my toe?

"Percy, that was just rude and a complete overreaction," Thalia couldn't help but play along with Jason's joke now.

"I got Mrs. O'Leary already trained," Percy said deadpan. "I'm sorry if I hurt the murder-happy dragon's feelings!" He finished in complete exasperation at the pair.

Then it opened its mouth, baring a hundred razor-sharp teeth.

"Percy!" Annabeth warned.

I stood my ground. "Just another second..."

"Percy!"

And just before the dragon struck, Beckendorf launched himself off the rocks and landed on the dragon's neck.

The dragon reared back and shot flames, trying to shake off Beckendorf, but he held on like a cowboy as the monster bucked around. I watched in fascination as he ripped open a panel at the base of the dragon's head and yanked a wire.

"I want that engraved on the cabin's door," Alex said in awe.

"That's, not a bad idea," Will agreed, his tone as light as usual, but a little more wistful than it should have been.

Instantly, the dragon froze. Its eyes went dim. Suddenly it was only the statue of a dragon, baring its teeth at the sky.

Beckendorf slid down the dragon's neck. He collapsed at its tail, exhausted and breathing heavily.

"Charlie!" Silena ran to him and gave him a big kiss on the cheek. "You did it!"

Annabeth came up to me and squeezed my shoulder. "Hey, Seaweed Brain, you okay?"

"Fine... I guess." I was thinking how close I'd come to being chopped into demigod hash in the dragon's mouth.

"You were great." Annabeth's smile was a lot nicer than that stupid dragon's.

"We all have our own idea of beauty," Jason snickered.

"I'm more surprised he's not thinking, monkey see monkey do?" Thalia rolled her eyes at where he kept touching his cheek as if Annabeth had abandoned him on a real reward.

"You, too," I said shakily. "So... what do we do with the automaton?"

Beckendorf wiped his forehead. Silena was still fussing over his cuts and bruises, and Beckendorf looked pretty distracted by the attention.

Percy huffed and grumbled for a moment he wouldn't know what that would feel like, since Annabeth had gone to studying the dragon like it was another Parthenon she'd need to know every detail of. At least he'd been a part of this story, he realized with a surprised smile. Now next time some idiot kid didn't know the story of the bronze dragon, Percy would get to enlighten them for once.

"We – uh – I don't know," he said. "Maybe we can fix it, get it to guard the camp, but that could take months."

"Worth trying," I said. I imagined having that bronze dragon in our fight against the Titan lord Kronos. His monsters would think twice about attacking camp if they had to face that thing. On the other hand, if the dragon decided to go berserk again and attack the campers – that would pretty much stink.

"Or we could host cowboy events to see who can wrangle it into submission again," Alex offered.

"Chiron will make you sleep in the strawberry fields if you suggest any such thing!" Percy tried to splutter and protest, but some part of him worried their activities director would go for it as some kind of communal practice.

"I can live with that," she grinned in delight, and Percy felt a smile tugging at his lips in admiration. Nothing scared Alex, not a threat even Mr. D could try to put against her would dampen her.

"Did you see all the treasure in the Ant Hill?" Beckendorf asked. "The magic weapons? The armour? That stuff could really help us."

"And the bracelets," Silena said. "And the necklaces."

"There it is!" Thalia nodded like a heavy weight of concern had been lifted away.

"What would you do with all your free time at Camp if you didn't have a feud with them?" Will snorted.

"Be very bored I'm sure, probably help Alex bring more fun into that place. You boys could use the practice," she grinned a smile worthy of a dragon that made all of them silently weep a bit.

I shuddered, remembering the smell of those tunnels. "I think that's an adventure for later. It would take an army of demigods even to get close to that treasure."

"Maybe," Beckendorf said. "But what a treasure..."

Silena studied the frozen dragon. "Charlie, that was the bravest thing I ever saw – you jumping on that dragon."

Beckendorf swallowed. "Um... yeah. So... will you go to the fireworks with me?"

Percy still vividly remembered the first time he'd gotten a compliment from Annabeth, after he'd run that bus with the furies off the road. It was a feeling of such power flowing through him, like he could do anything in that moment.

Sadly, Annabeth was rather stingy with her compliments, or he probably would have been able to defeat Kronos by now.

Silena's face lit up. "Of course, you big dummy! I thought you'd never ask!"

Will savored the laughter that blasted through the room with his eyes closed for several moments. It was probably the last laugh Silena and Beckendorf would ever get. Even Nico and Thalia probably didn't know in detail what was about to happen. They knew she was the traitor, but they probably didn't even know Beckendorf as more than just another name in a long list of people they'd lost in the war, they just weren't around camp enough to know as he did what was soon coming.

Beckendorf suddenly looked a whole lot better. "Well let's get back, then! I bet capture the flag is over."

I had to go barefoot, because the acid had eaten completely through my shoe. When I kicked it off I realized the goo had soaked into my sock and turned my foot red and raw. I leaned against Annabeth and she helped me limp through the woods.

The laughter increased ten-fold, Will's always somehow had the power to do that as Percy's tapered off with a flush of embarrassment. "It, it really hurt guys, have you ever walked on twigs barefoot, and um, there were rocks around-"

"Just stop Percy," Thalia was rubbing a stitch in her side, her eyes swimming with delighted tears.

"Yeah," he agreed with a shameless sigh. He'd been trying to find any excuse to pluck up the courage and ask her, having her to lean on so close just like always felt like a comfort rather than a hindrance.

Beckendorf and Silena walked ahead of us, holding hands, and we gave them some space.

Watching them, with my arm around Annabeth for support, I felt pretty uncomfortable. I silently cursed Beckendorf for being so brave, and I don't mean for facing the dragon. After three years, he'd finally got the courage to ask Silena Beauregard out. It wasn't fair.

"Some things never change," Jason said with a shake of his head that didn't suit him, he had that tone like one speaking twice his age again. "You'll be fifty and still stumbling over a compliment for her again."

Percy smiled at the dream he was painting, he found it hard to imagine he lived another birthday, let alone so many compliments later, but it was a nice idea.

"You know," Annabeth said as we struggled along, "it wasn't the bravest thing I've ever seen."

I blinked. Had she been reading my thoughts?

"Um... what do you mean?"

Annabeth gripped my wrist as we stumbled through a shallow creek. "You stood up to the dragon so Beckendorf would have his chance to jump – now that was brave."

Percy's mind froze...and then went more haywire than a dragons. Wait, she had been talking about him, right?! Not some other doofus who stood up to a dragon and cut its toe off? Did she want him to ask her out or was she just mocking him? Had she ever called Luke brave? What if he asked and she looked at him like he was covered in ant goo-

"Or pretty stupid."

"Percy, you're a brave guy," she said. "Just take the compliment. I swear, is it so hard?"

We locked eyes. Our faces were, like, centimetres apart. My chest felt a little funny, like my heart was trying to do jumping jacks.

"I really thought reading the rest would help him break out of, that," Magnus said, gesturing at his sagging face.

"Guys, I think we broke Percy," Alex announced grandly.

"It was bound to happen eventually," Thalia sighed, waving her hand in front of his face. "I half expected this back when she kissed him in the volcano."

"I'd just go ahead and finish man," Jason said without bothering to hide the laugh in his voice. He always was extra animated when a capture the flag game went on, and this seemed to have surpassed the others. "She'll call him an idiot here in a sec and things will go on like normal.

"So..." I said. "I guess Silena and Charlie are going to the fireworks together."

"I guess so," Annabeth agreed.

"Yeah," I said. "Um, about that –"

I don't know what I would've said, but just then, three of Annabeth's siblings from the Athena cabin burst out of the bushes with their swords drawn. When they saw us, they broke into grins.

"You're alive!" Jason mock cheered. "We already had the search parties assembled and everything with practice!"

Percy finally gave himself a little shake and looked around at him. "How terribly inconvenient of us, how about we skip back into the woods and play hide and seek next, oh wait, we just ruined that game!"

"The game probably wasn't ruined for everyone," Magnus offered, "I'm sure somebody had fun tonight." It just never seemed to be him.

Judging by the smile lingering on Percy's face though, they were pretty sure he was happy with his hour returned of seeing her covered in a new coat of mud, oil, and sweat as his arm stayed around her only in his mind.

"Annabeth!" one of them said. "Good job! Let's get these two to jail."

"Doesn't defeating a dragon and living through Myrmekes get him a get out of jail free card?" Magnus protested.

"I never even manage that in Monopoly," Percy sighed. She was as scary as Tyson, he usually went broke before he even got close to drawing his first card.

I stared at him. "The game's not over?"

"Damn," Nico said in surprise. "I really think Percy spaced out watching her a little to much, I thought much more time had dragged on too."

Magnus was at least laughing in surprised agreement again while Jason was looking at the book with a very calculating expression.

The Athena camper laughed. "Not yet... but soon. Now that we've captured you."

"Dude, come on," Beckendorf protested. "We got sidetracked. There was a dragon, and the whole Ant Hill was attacking us."

"Uh-huh," said another Athena guy, clearly unimpressed. "Annabeth, great job distracting them. Worked out perfectly. You want us to take them from here?"

Annabeth pulled away from me. I thought for sure she was going to give us a free walk back to the border, but she drew her dagger and pointed it at me with a smile.

"Nah," she said. "Silena and I can get this. Come on, prisoners. Move it."

I stared at her, stunned. "You planned this? You planned this whole thing just to keep us out of the game?"

"No way," Thalia sounded way to proud even if she shook her head. "No way she managed all of that."

Magnus didn't really think so either. As clever as she was, even she couldn't have put all that together.

"Percy, seriously, how could I have planned it? The dragon, the ants – you think I could've figured all that out ahead of time?"

"She did!" Jason gasped, causing a flare of jealousy in Percy at the look of admiration on his face. "She totally did! Oh my gosh, this girl is a genius!"

"Annabeth wouldn't put those two in danger like that," Magnus insisted.

"Not on purpose," he still had a wild grin in place, "but I'll bet you anything she somehow tracked down where that dragon was buried, unearthed it just enough to show the head, and then waited, hoping the ants would time it with her game."

"Her game?" Percy groaned. He thought Annabeth was a genius too, but she might believe someone as smart as Jason over him.

"That's a lot of if's," Magnus looked personally offended now if his cousin had decided to put a deranged dragon back into activation for a flag.

"It probably all didn't go according to plan," Jason was getting wound up now as he babbled excitedly. "I bet she planned on Percy and Beckendorf seeing this by telling them which direction to go and hoping Beckendorf would spend his time fawning over the dragon and forget about the game, not go charging the ants!"

"How on earth did she excavate a whole crater and find that thing and I didn't even notice?!" Percy demanded.

"Maybe she got Tyson and the forest dryads to help before he left," Jason shrugged, "maybe she-"

"Guys!" Thalia finally interrupted with a bright smile as Percy was clearly winding up to argue back. "One of these days, we're going to get out of here and you can interrogate Annabeth all day."

Jason still had a smug, 'I'm right,' look on his face while Magnus and Percy exchanged, 'I hate every minute of this' expressions, but Magnus was almost done with one more of these, and that was enticing enough for now.

It didn't seem likely, but this was Annabeth. There was no telling with her. Then she exchanged glances with Silena, and I could tell they were trying not to laugh.

"Yeah, I'm on Jason's side," Alex grinned along. The plan had probably gone to hell, but those two badasses had brought it back and still come out on top.

"Well don't look at me," Will reminded as Nico was watching him as if waiting to see if he was holding out. "I was on Percy's team! They weren't going to be sharing that kind of info with the enemy!"

"You – you little –" I started to say, but I couldn't think of a name strong enough to call her.

"Owl breath," Alex offered.

"Traitor," Magnus grumbled, she was the cause of this heart attack.

"Genius!" Jason crowed.

Thalia couldn't stop laughing at all of them, she had a pretty good idea Percy wasn't going to be the only one tackling Annabeth when they met now.

I protested all the way to the jail, and so did Beckendorf. It was totally unfair to be treated like prisoners after all we'd been through.

But Annabeth just smiled and put us in jail. As she was heading back to the front line, she turned and winked. "See you at the fireworks?"

Kronos might as well have appeared and trapped him in a time bubble. Percy froze with whatever expression was on his face. Had she just asked him out?! Like on a date!? The fireworks were on a beach, where they might just stumble into the ocean and, and... he sighed as the rest of the night's events swam easily to mind now. Still a little foggy around the edges, but with clarity that he was trying to connect two events that were not having it. The fireworks had been a spectacular show, he'd watched every color of the rainbow flash across her face that night and heard her laugh at the amazing designs their fellow campers created. She had gone down to the ocean and rinsed herself off, but there had still been mud creased into her skin and a streak of oil in her hair that nearly covered up her gray bangs.

She had been happy, on this night, but when Connor and Travis went racing past yelling in delight and throwing popcorn and hotdogs around from a stand no one seemed sure where it had come from, and Chiron announced how good it felt to have so many here on this night as he held a moment of silence for those they lost, Annabeth had bowed her head and clutched the beads on her necklace Percy had never been a part of. She wasn't there yet, with him or Luke.

She didn't even wait for my answer before darting off into the woods.

I looked at Beckendorf. "Did she just... ask me out?"

He shrugged, completely disgusted. "Who knows with girls? Give me a haywire dragon any day."

So we sat together and waited while the girls won the game.

Percy laughed along with everyone else. There was a relief in it, the tension in the room always just under the surface at being locked in here managed to vanish for just that moment that they knew they couldn't hang on to. Percy's life was hectic and chaotic, sometimes it felt like his closest friends made that worse rather than better, but it was his life being shared with them, and he wouldn't have it any other way...otherwise he might not ever find out how he got down here.

PJOPJOPJOPJO

Annabeth absolutely planned this and you cannot convince me or Jason otherwise.

Though I don't think she meant for Beckendorf to get captured. Most likely she expected Percy and him to try and find the dragon's body and for Beckendorf to fix it and wake it up while they followed invisibly to keep an eye on them and all that would have taken up time until the game was won. Annabeth only stepped in when she realized Beckendorf split off, but I don't think she saw or heard where he split off to.

*Not a goofy name I made up by the way, but a real animal. Go look them up, they're adorable!

[aajjks]

NWO!JK

who the FUCK does he think he’s talking to? he’s lost his mind. every last one of his brain cells? GONE. his mind? he must’ve left that shit at home because this jungkook would never, ever, EVER talk to you like that. “what the fuck is his problem?” says eunwoo.

“did you two have an argument last night or something?”

“no. he seemed fine yesterday”

“well, he’s clearly pissed off at you more than me. you sure you guys didn’t fight or i dunno, have a disagreement?”

“NO! everything was fine! we laughed and even watched bridgerton. i don’t know what’s wrong with him but now he’s got everybody looking at me like i’m the bad guy!”

“ohhh, the best friends are fighting” whispers a group of students and both you and eunwoo overhear them.

“i’ll see you after classes. bye eunwoo” you say before heading to your first class as well. you’re going to keep your composure because maybe jungkook will come around and apologize until then, you’re stuck dealing with people constantly whispering rumors about you amongst themselves.

🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️

hurt her more

hurt her more

think about all the times she’s broke your heart

think about all the times she’s bragged about being with another guy

think about how she purposely pushed you to mj so you would get away from her

she’s selfish

she deserves to have her feelings hurt

break her like she’s broke you

hurt her

hurt her

hurt her

you hate y/n

you hate that you love her

she’s the reason why you can’t move on

you saved her life and she never thanks you

she’s talking to another guy and bragged about going on a date with kai

she’s a fucking slut

she’s a whore

she hurt you again, jungkook

hurt her more

hurt her more

hurt her more

nobody loves you

nobody cares about you

they’re selfish

laughing in your face

calling you names

their concern is fake

hurt them all

~🫧

Nobody loves him every single one of you are selfish. Especially you.

you fake your concern and love for him, no one cares about him not even his aunt or his parents, not you or eunwoo. No one.

You didn’t even ask him if he was alright or follow him to make sure that he’s OK, that’s because you don’t give a fuck about him and now your true colors are coming out.

It’s almost lunch break right now, but he hasn’t been able to focus on any of his classes, right now he’s taking his English class and.. he can hear some gossip.

Young Jae and his big fucking mouth, Jungkook glares at him, he smirks feeling the intensity of his glare, Jungkook clenches his fist.

But his control snaps when he hears him taking your name.

“do you want me to break your fucking teeth, huh?” Jungkook gets up from his desk before slamming his fist on it.

“you know, you smile too much and you have the most ugliest smile ever. I WILL BREAK YOUR FUCKING TEETH.” He screams, the teacher and the whole class is so surprised

He feels mj look at him too.

Well, they can all look all they want. “YOU FUCKER I AM LITERALLY GOING TO KILL YOU? WHAT DO YOU KNOW HUH? NOTHING.” He approaches Young Jae before taking him by his collars.

Jungkook makes him stand up. “JEON JUNGKOOK STOP!” The teacher says, but jungkook can’t hear anyone. “YOU SHOULD KEEP HER FUCKING NAME OUT OF YOUR MOUTH!”

He growls before punching him on his nose, so hard that it makes a cringey noise.

“STAND UP! TALK ABOUT HER GOSSIP ABOUT US!” Jungkook laughs like a maniac, the student gather around to stop him, the teacher is screaming at the top of her lungs, but he can’t hear her.

“JEON JUNGKOOK STOP BEFORE I CALL THE PRINCIPAL!”

The students try to get him off of the now bleeding Young Jae but Jungkook is way too strong for them to handle

“IM GOING TO KILL YOU!”

[haven-is-happy]

How Battle Changes: Droid

Chapter 1/Sort-Of Prequel

Pairing: Dogma x Jedi!reader, platonic Wolfpack,

Chapter description: You and Dogma talk and joke in your apartment.

Warnings: None, this is fluff ("before the story starts" so to speak)

Wordcount: 586

Masterlist

After every mission, your Master always gives you space for a couple of chrons. He never asks what you do in that time.

Even if everybody has a pretty good idea.

The small apartment you’re in is in your friend’s name (mostly to avoid detection by the jedi council). It isn’t the surface of Coruscant, nothing fancy, but it does the job of after-mission-relaxing well enough.

After a few months of seeing Dogma, you decide to give him your address under the guise of “easier to have secret meetings in a private place”, when in reality, your true intention is to sit around on the couch and order takeout, letting Dogma loosen up a bit without the supervision of his captain or general.

And yet… somehow your work always finds its way into your secret life.

Case in point…

“What do you mean it talks?”

“The droid Comet brought back for questioning started talking. Like actual responses! Just a regular battle droid!” 

Dogma, sitting on your sofa with you right next to him, puts his head in his hands to think. 

“But normal battle droids talk and answer, that’s their whole point,” he says as he puts a hand on his forehead in frustration.

“Dogma, I know,” you reiterate, “but I don’t think the average droid would know about art pieces or how to make statues.”

An expression of utter confusion settles on his face. His mouth opens a couple times, as if to say something, but he always closes it without uttering a word.

“He just… started talking to me about painting a sunset on Naboo,” you throw your hands up.

“So the droid is an artist?” he asks befuddled.

His answer and tone makes something stir in your stomach. It feels warm, to look at him and observe his mannerisms, while in as close to a domestic situation you two can afford.

“Probably?”

“Why did Comet bring it in for questioning? Isn’t it just a normal battle droid?”

You look down and purse your lips, seemingly finding the floor more interesting.

“Well- there was a battle and we- we uhhhh…” you trail off. 

Dogma raises a single eyebrow, making the corners of your mouth twitch. No matter how serious (or unserious in this case) a situation can be, that face scratches a nerve.

When he sees you bite your lip to hide a cackle, he breaks out a smile as well. “Why are you laughing?!”

“I’m- HAH- I’m so sorry just that fu- fucking face,” you barely stop yourself from doubling over, “when Sinker makes that face he just puts his lips like-” you pucker your lips to a ridiculous degree, showing a sliver of your teeth, and raise an eyebrow.

Dogma rapidly purses his lips and snorts, as if holding himself back from laughing. Yet, the small noise makes blood rush to your cheeks and you devolve back into laughing so hard you’re gasping for breath and wheezing. It takes merely seconds for him to fall over the edge and start sniggering too.

It takes a couple minutes for you two to calm down, as your grimace makes Dogma laugh back, triggering a cycle that only seems to end when your cheeks hurt from smiling too much.

“Nah, Comet just wanted some droid memorabilia, as a joke. We wanted to prank Wolffe with the head,” you say.

Next Chapter

[alarrytale]

Dear Marte!

I´ve found your blog absolutely randomly like 2 weeks ago and I have to say that I really love how calm and patient you are when answering your asks while your answers also makes sence - especially that huge question if they are still together because I know many "old" larries are tired of answering it (and I totally get it because it really is exhausting and it just creates more and more questions and spectaculations and everybody´s tired of making others believe)....while your answer if we would know if they broke up is really making sence especially when there are so many songs they wrote about each other and telling the same story in different pov, we would see the difference in their performance....and I also think you can´t just break up with your partner after +10 year just in one minute and if there are relationship problems you rather find ways how to solve them or make a compromise that just say "Nah, I´m done and I breaking up with you, bye!".

Maybe I find you´re pov a bit more romantic and maybe imo you´re looking at them with rose-coloured glasses while other "old" larries are quite bitter about them or just tired with their bs after those years of being hopeful....but I actually like that because sometimes it feels like being a bit naive and taking the leap of faith is better than being constatnly angry and disappointed with them. And that´s why I really find your blog a calm and hopeful place in this fandom especially when their stunts sh*ts are boiling. So really thank you for all of this!

Btw the recent discussion if they would be a power couple if they CO....I don´t know. Like I feel it would be huge especially because Harry is the most known and one-of-the-kind singer rn and coming out saying we are together since the day we met x years ago would definitely make huge noise especially in the queer community. Yes, there are many famous gay couples (or at least one is famous and in known relationship so you can google his partner and you´re see couple photos) but HL are still young, both famous and so they can be a couple role models for younger queer/gay couples. BUT on the other hand what makes H so interesting for gp//harries is his date life and womanizerTM image and drama around it - some days I´m not sure if it´s better that Harry is publicly single because tabloids and harries link literally every woman to him or if it´s better that he´s stunting because it´s annoying to see him with another fake gf but at least you know who that person is and he´s not linked to new woman every other week - and HL as a couple will be totally unproblematic and stable so after that first shock media/gp will slowly loose their interest in them and move on to someone else who creates drama. And I´m bit afraid that this drama is so part of Harry´s image right now and it keeps him in public eyes so unfortuntaley I don´t think his management will approve their CO because of this. And of course there´s this "I have a private life, you just don´t know about it" which I think both of them take as the most important thing to keep and so they don´t share anything, not even family or friends events - it´s always their sisters who share at least a photo from these events.

Dear, anon!

I always think it's funny when people call me a romantic, but i'll take it! And you're welcome! I hate the bs too, but if everyone was just tired and down about it, and constantly focusing on it, this fandom would be a depressing place where nobody would want to spend their time. I believe it's important to balance the good and the bad.

I think they'd be a good power couple, but i think the window is slowly closing. I think Harry is getting tired of the constant drama and the revolving doors of women, and we are getting tired of the constant drama. He's getting older and i hope he's got other goals in life than being on the cover of the sun every single day faking it. I don't think H and L would be less papped or less sought after if they reveal their relationship. I don't think they'd be boring. They'd still make albums, go on tours, and do things like other celebrity couples do to get press.

As i've said before i don't buy the privacy argument, so we'll have to disagree on that point. I think we'll get a freer version of them who wants to tell the world everything they've been hiding and dealing with. We'll get books, movies, tv series about them, larrie fics turned into original fiction and other people writing songs about them. Call me a romantic all you want, but the potential is endless!

[knarroweddown]

"How many fingers am I holding up?"

Woooo! Welcome to Whumptober everybody! First drabble of the year so lets get this started! Keep in mind, this is inspired by "The Young Traveler (AoC)" by FierySoul135 on Ao3, link to the fic at the very bottom if you're interested!

___

"Dry Lungs"

The deity scanned the ruined canyon behind him, thunder purring and dislodging stones from their resting place on the cliffs. Blood dripped from each crevice and cranny, seeping deep into the soul of the earth so it won’t forget the cleansing that it had just witnessed. Noise slowly petered out of existence, no heartbeats, no screaming, nothing.

He hummed, watching his clouds fizzle away and release the blue sky it previously held in its possession. Relief flooded his senses and joy bloomed at the bloody wasteland he had created. ‘Hm hm, well that sure was something…’ Heavy steps echoed off of the canyon walls, occasionally accompanied by blood dripping down the cliffs in a near serene fashion to his ears. There were, of course, Yiga guards protecting various positions of the canyon, but they were splattered against the wall in seconds and silence was restored in mere seconds.

The wall of stone and sand abruptly comes to an end, opening up to contrastingly harsh heat compared to the cool breeze in the valley. Sand spanned as far as the eye could see, ruins scattered every other mile with wind whipping sand against their abandoned corpses. In the distance, the god could see a faint smudge against the horizon.

“That can’t be the town… can it?” Time questioned, squinting his eyes uselessly against the blinding sun. “Hm, I’m not opposed to going to the town, I could use the-.” Something ugly tugged in his stomach, a seemingly visceral reaction to his own words. He doubled over, clutching his armored stomach in confusion, ‘Did one of those Yiga guys manage to hurt me…?’ He coughed harshly and brought himself back onto his feet, the dry air beginning to assault the interior of his throat. 

“Alright, I need to get back to Link and Princess Zelda, the-,” A coughing fit takes over his lungs with a metal grip, forcing the deity to support himself on a nearby stone pillar. “Th- the Yiga could’ve– cough cough –gone after them as well…” 

Time stared at the distant town before zipping his way over what looked like the oasis he had visited with the Princess and her knight. Luckily, the cloud of sand he produced from the mere speed he moved at hid his imposing figure from those in the small clearing. More coughing wracked through Time’s body, the sand around him inducing a hacking wheeze arise from him. Around him, the trees shook and water trembled, small people looking around in panic until they settled on the massive dust cloud. ‘Crap, can’t let them see me like this,’ Time panics. He zips even further from the oasis, closer to a canyon not quite unlike that of the Yiga Canyon.

He catches himself on a wall, wheezing sand and dust out of his lungs. ‘Maybe moving like this isn’t the best idea when I’m in this condition’ he thinks, unsure his voice would be able to carry a single sentence. The Hero gives himself some time before straightening up, ‘It must’ve been the sand that killed my throat… Seems I won’t have an issue once I’m past this desert.’

His armor should be cooking him alive, maybe it comes with the form? Why doesn’t it protect his throat from this wretched sand though? He shakes his head in exhaustion, all he has to do is make it back to the citadel. Time speeds past the shade at the entrance to the Gerudo Canyon, not attempting to make any stops in favor of distance. The dry air burned his throat and nose, blood beginning to form little droplets on his cracked lips.

No cold breeze comforts his burning body as he races down the winding roads, only mild shadows in thin corridors are available. Not much happened on his race through the maze of stone, only the occasional moblin that was dumb enough to attack him. However, there were other issues he needed to deal with that weren't just stray moblins.

Fatigue clung to his lungs, as did the tons of sand particles he had breathed in as he traversed across the desert. Each breath he took was an effort, like he was drowning in his own spit. No, he was drowning in the air, his mouth was dry like the ground around him. The deity clung onto his strength, afraid if he loosened his grip even a little he might collapse.

‘Dear Goddesses, when will this end?’ Time’s vision had begun to go blurry by the time he reached the end of the canyon. The land looked unfamiliar to his exhausted mind, the only thing he recognized was the giant horse head in the distance, a symbol of the giant stables that are scattered around the country. The only thing between him and the stable was a bridge, easy enough.

As he stepped onto the rickety wooden bridge, his stomach lurched again. Falling onto his knees a second time, he heaved onto the floor. Time felt his armor and strength fall away, his frail, injured form hunched over in agony. Blood spewed from his mouth instead of any food he may have had before his kidnapping, the jerking movements forcing the injuries on his back even further open. Time shakily got on his feet, using his knees for support as the sun stung his wounds. The brand hissed angrily on his shoulder each time he shifted and the injuries on his ribs and stomach spurted more blood with each tense step he took.

It felt like ages once he made it to the end of the bridge, his clothes a disgusting red and his wounds irritatingly swollen. The stable was much closer now. His vision was all but gone however and the building seemed to glide away from him tauntingly.

Time growled, a disgusting gurgle escaping from his throat instead, and shambled after the fleeing stable. His steps grew heavier and heavier the further he pushed himself. Horses knickered in the distance, the clinking of armor and voices forcing its way into his ears. He looked up wearily, collapsing completely on the floor. The yelling grew louder, as did the sound of armor and hooves.

That’s weird, he didn’t think Yiga were the type to ride horses, nevertheless wear such bright armor. The Hero reached for his sword but it was lying lifeless by his side. He thrashed but was only able to move his torso to the left, dragging his bloody gashes across the rocks and leaving him gasping in pain. 

Rocks bounce around him as the ground begins to tremble, and then shake. Black clouds his vision as he attempts a glare at the horses surrounding him, legs flopping uselessly behind him in an attempt to stand. One of the riders dismounted, landing heavily next to Time, speaking rapidly in a rougher language to his own.

He’s forced onto his back like a ragdoll and stares into the blue abyss. A face comes into his limited vision, and it feels familiar, like something just outside of his comprehension, so he calmed somewhat. He wiggled as best as his body would let him but was swiftly stopped when a multitude of hands held him down. Fingers were forced into his face, the yelling becoming louder each time they shook. Time grunted, focusing with all his might at the fingers. 

“How many fingers am I holding up?” The man said urgently, worry bleeding into his tone with each attempt he made. 

The Hero stared for a second longer, feeling his mind wander to everything but the blurry shape in front of his face. “Lucas?” is all he manages to get out before consciousness is snatched from him and he falls into darkness.

---

Ao3 Link:

Tumblr: @theyoungtraveler

I thought, what would happen if Time tried to return to the capital instead of going to Gerudo Town? Apologies if some landmarks or names aren't correct, finding the AoC map was difficult lmao

[the-firebird69]

More things are happening in punta Gorda they're having a field day with each other and it's quite horrific they're saying all sorts of dumb things they're going around circles bothering everybody and they're making stupid faces and everybody most of them are used to looking normal so walking around like trying to say stuff in space and everybody mostly at our son and he says you get the wrong number you're an idiot go do it to them what's wrong with you and they don't stop at all so today we decided to go after them a lot harder and every single idiot next to me and it started this idiot b**** Becca sailing by him two or three times no it's like 10 times no sunset where exactly you doing our son said you looking for a fight in anyways. So we ordered several things to happen one of them was certain people need to die and we figured out who and they're already dead and s*** like that and say it so we agree spent running around anything you get something you just spoiled and have resources and you're stupid going to spent. Anyway is there a bunch of assholes messing with the verbiage and they're going after Stan he's not exactly a rebel and it's not really an ally and he's more of an enemy than the foreigners who are actually attacking them and I don't think that they're aware of that and it's because he has these empire ships they do it all the time and try and look like Max and they try and screw around with her son so they're getting it back in their face they're violent to take over the fleet because what we're saying and Stan's trying to tell us to shut up is waving his arms around and what we say is I'm sorry are you saying something that's annoying as hell and too bad still that's right it's something that doesn't change anything.

It's a couple more things happening and the same point to Gorda

-this piece of crap are starting to fight everybody was f****** fighting and it looks nasty as hell's nasty I make those dumb noises s*** but really they're fighting very hard and they're going down and it's a stand is fighting the idiots?

-they're fighting over empire ships as we did say they wish to try and take over the large shield that the empire has and they want to use the smaller feet as a stepping stone and they're going ahead and doing that making that attempt and it's pretty ugly it's getting ugly and they're having a lot of fights in and around town and downtown too they're fighting with their cars and getting an accident been going on mildly for a week so it's a really pick up today horrible it is really reaching a crescendo in some places and people are passing away from the fight and it's not funny but her son says is not funny he says that they're passing away because of lack of potassium and it's one thing that they constantly trying to do to him and they're doing it today and they did it this morning and do it everyday hydration I'm exhausting joints and muscles and they're all about doing it okay Leafly happily doing it and no joke they go home after fighting and they die cuz they have very low potassium levels and they make fun of our son because he's exercising quite a bit it takes a lot of potassium they're always making fun of him saying it's not enough and they end up dead so we get a couple chuckles so far today as they were dying for real they get killed doing it

-there's a couple other things going on they put Dakota and what they are is it's in punta Gorda and they are pretty big and they're huge and they're going on right now one of them is John remillard is going to trial as John ramelord for his crimes against the state of Florida I guess he's been picked up many times for public abuses and and he's threatening people who are in public office like the governor and the mayor of put together and he's been caught doing it online and on TV is in the background and he they saw him issuing signs of game signs that his gang uses and to go after them and recently as today he's been issuing a lot of orders against them both big ones long winded and really it's not a joke because he noticed that they were that Jason and Lily were attacking some trumpsters so he put out this huge long-winded attacks. In other words he's issuing a series of orders online and TV and stuff with their very numerous and very detailed and he's getting into a lot of trouble and he should more shortly this is important

Thor Freya

[cjoat-boost]

Source for below.

“I feel like I have been seeing a lot of takes similar to this like "why are these two grown men fighting can they get over themselves and do something productive...rap game is dying out etc etc" I feel like I get where they are coming from in that both drake and kendrick lamar could be doing something productive like donating to funds for social justice causes. But I don't get why folks is saying hip hop and rap is dead. I'm just not sure what they mean by that. When folks say that do yall think they are speaking on the creator side or the fan side? I don't get it if it is the latter cuz I just started bumping mr morale and I like it a lot lol would not have thought to listen to it had it not been for all of this. I don't think it makes sense from the creator pov either cause didn't we just have hundreds of musicians put out their own versions of BBL Drizzy over the last couple of days?” - @nashira

This take from Questlove feels so…incredibly nihilistic.

Kendrick used his ability to call out a horrific individual in the music industry. Hip hop isn’t dead, in fact it has more meaning in directing power to folks.

Why does hip hop as a genre and culture have to die? When there are also other roots of the issue.

For example

Unsure if YouTube also censored this one by putting it under 18+ toggle but I hope not since it’s only the audio.

Our culture in hip hop has the power to give power from corporate to the people. Heck it has the power to unify and enlighten as the extra “noise” is not the focus. It’s the lyricism.

This is literally why I wrote songs and poetry. Why so many of my works have song inspirations. The time brings the delivery and flow of the words. But it’s the lyrics that bring finality and comfort.

“To ME... the point of music any genre is to put out something that is meaningful to you and something others can find meaning in. Also agree there are other roots to the issues we are facing rn with misogynoir and sexism in general, that doesn't start when a Black artist walks into the booth it starts in our homes. This whole "i get bitches u don't" one-up rappers put in every other song stems from black women as property in a sense. This is also why I feel uncomfortable when people single out rap as a misogynystic genre. It is definitely but when it's singled out I'm like hmm... hair metal??? Reggae???” - Nashira

This is literally why I wrote songs and poetry. Why so many of my works have song inspirations. The time brings the delivery and flow of the words. But it’s the lyrics that bring finality and comfort.

"Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable", said the Mexican poet and academic, Cesar A. Cruz

And

“Poets, prophets and reformers are all picture-makers -- and this ability is the secret of their power and of their achievements. They see what ought to be by the reflection of what is, and endeavor to remove the contradiction.” - Frederick Douglass

These are what the arts, and in this context rap, feels to me.

Milo Rossi (Miniminuteman) made a good point about archaeology that also applies to any of the arts.

“The archaeology field needs differences of viewpoints and opinions so we can together seek the true facts and story of everything long lost. Therefore, upgrading the field of knowledge.”

Paraphrased of course from this video.

“The second-to-last-part of questlove's post makes sense to me, how blood will soon spill and then everybody gon be like rip drake 🙏🏽 or whatever but that comes from fans acting crazy that always seems to happen and my heart goes out to all victims, i hate to see musicians get killed over music.

Also I guess from some pov you could describe this whole moment we're having as mudslinging in a sense because it's a lot of rappers on the tl hopping on metros beat rapping about CSA because it's an easy rhyme. They put Millie in their songs like ammo. No substance behind it whatsoever.

Actually a lot of these BBL drizzy remixes perpetuate the same message we're clowning drake over.” - Nashira

I actually misinterpreted that part incorrectly and it felt nihilistic, but this is why it’s more brains than one. Because I actually didn’t realize it as it also falls on a creator standpoint.

You may not be able to control your audience, however you can make intent clear in every way you can. Wield that power wisely.

“Yeah agreed, I think you guys covered everything I was thinking but I think people who say usually the entire genre is dead aren't looking hard enough. Or in Questlove's case, he's probably jaded cause he literally is a rapper and producer on the more underground side so he definitely personally knows a gazillion other creators that are keeping the genre alive. But I think old heads tend to be like "everything the younger generation does is ruining this genre." - Jules

“There were a few episodes where boondocks briefly tackled rap beef and Huey talked about how it’s never long before someone gets hurt or gets shot bc of some stupid ish” - Phoenix

Boondocks episodes

Source.

Season 2: The Hunger Strike (unfortunately struck down by Sony Pictures in copyright)

Season 2, Episode 5: The Story of Thugnificent

Season 2, Episode 2: Tom, Sarah and Usher

Season 1, Episode 2: The Trial of Robert Kelly

Season 1, Episode 6: The Story of Gangstalicious

Thought this to be important to include with this reblog as well.

[jooyeone]

omgsh the other anon reminded me of Jimin's growling compilation, which is also 🔥

THIS IS MY FAVORITE SONGGGGGGGGGGGG NONNIE YOUR TASTE IS EXQUISITE

while we’re on this subject i am convinced any soft stan out there just hasn’t watched this yet; bonus: this is the only 3-sec video that should exist on youtube

anonymously send me a song to listen to