#i mean except for nico hes an Actual Teenage Father

[bright-eyes-strawberry-lies]

Actually it's a good thing CHB put birth control in the water or whatever because imagine the legacies being bounced from teenage guardian to teenage guardian as their teenage caretakers repeatedly die.

[pjo-aurora]

The Seven but it’s the mortal AU

Basically how they would be like if they were mortals.

Starting of with Percy. He would probably be that basketball kid/troublemaker even though he doesn’t do it on purpose™. You can and will find him in the most nearby parks, practicing. He does not talk much or have many friends, neither does he try to interrupt anyone. Percy’s that one mysterious kid that no one knows anything about. Oh yeah, and he’s also in the swimming club, which he rarely attends due to having no free time. Even though Percy loves swimming more than basketball, he’ll never admit it. His only friend is Grover, the gardener at his school.

Has a part-time job to help his mother, Sally, at a local book store (the only job who accepted him). That’s where he met Annabeth, his co-worker.

Next in line is Annabeth. This isn’t something new, but she’s really smart. In fact, she even got a scholarship. Her mother died when she was a kid, and her step-mom treats her like a freak. Doesn’t live with her parents since she has problems with her dad/step-mom, instead she lives somewhere with rent, but she can manage to pay with some of her saving funds/part-time job. That’s where she met Percy.

She never talked to him, admiring him from afar. Wants to ask him out, but can’t find the courage to do so.

Jason is the straight A student. Never once skipped classes, taking his studies very seriously. In his free time, he can be found hanging with his friends in the forest (he really likes that place, no one knows why). But because his mother is famous, people tried to use him multiple times, and some kids even compared him to a rich kid that has no responsibility whatsoever.

Once, it was a raining day. He was walking down the streets, soaking wet. Once he passed a corner, he bumped into a girl. While lending her a hand, he noticed her face. She was that famous model. That’s how he met Piper.

Piper is a model, even though she’s in high school and she absolutely despises her job. But what can you do? Her mother is a model and her father is an actor. Basically a household full of pretty people, except Piper. She never felt like she was pretty enough to have this career. She lacked a lot of things, along with confidence and charm most models have. She was just a shy teenager, competing with people way prettier than her, or so she though.

At her last modeling job, Piper got so tired and stormed out of the place, running in her heels. It was raining outside and she couldn’t last any longer with her shoes, so she took them off and picked them up. She was trying to walk to her house not looking like a clown with the mascara running down her face and her makeup ruined, but it wasn’t working. When she passed a corner, she bumped into a strange blonde guy, who helped her up. Later, she found out that they were going to the same high school, and became his friend. Piper felt like he was the only one who understood her, slowly falling in love with him. That’s how she met Jason.

Surprisingly (or not), Frank is the head of the student council. Despite looking intimidating, he is actually a very kind/shy individual. Has a few friends, even tough he doesn’t hang with them a lot, since he’s busy most of the time. When he is free though, he goes either to the gym or to the park, to pet all the dogs. He is a huge dog lover, having 2 dogs at home. Frank doesn’t have any social media accounts, but he has one for his dogs.

When he met Hazel, she was a new student and he was giving her a tour around the school. Right after, they immediately became friends, since they both are animal lovers/own an animal. Frank began crushing on Hazel, neglecting his work more and more, just so that he can hang out with her.

Hazel is a really quiet kid. During recess, she usually goes outside and reads a book, not wanting to interact with anybody. She sometimes hangs out with her brother, Nico and her friend Reyna. They aren’t very popular, except Reyna is a member of the student council. Hazel is the type of girl to always stop on her way to school to pet some of the stray cats. She actually has a cat at home, which she often plays with. Don’t tell anyone I said that, but once, Hazel tried to teach her cat how to read.

Hazel met Frank while he was giving her a tour of the school. She didn’t pay much attention, but the second Frank mentioned something about animals, her eyes lit up.

Leo is a really extroverted guy. He knows Piper and Jason since they were young, but he never introduced them to each other. He always goes out to party and flirts with people 24/7, but he still manages to get good grades. He is a very positive guy, and tried to stay like that even when his mother died. He sometimes pulls prank on people, just that he could get a laugh. The pranks aren’t mean though.

[welcometotheocverse]

Marvel OCs ( wip )

Name: Nico Ikol

Story:

Faceclaim: Logan Lerman

Summary: Let’s get one thing straight, Nico was absolutely not some kinda norse god Okay? Nor the reborn version of one or whatever. They were just a normal kid. 

Okay so they sorta had a knack for getting people to agree with them and fine they’ve been having dreams about a blonde man with way too long hair and lightning and then there’s the whole...powers thing.

But I mean, aside from that.

And oh yeah the guy from their dreams is at the door claiming he’s their lost long brother. 

Name: Ruth Parker

Story: tbd

Faceclaim: Rowan Blachard

Summary: Ruthie Paker has been dubbed her brother’s shadow from the first time they arrived at their aunt and uncle’s doorstep. The siblings have been together through everything; their parent’s deaths, their adoption by their aunt and uncle, their uncle’s death. It was the Parker kids against the world.

So when Peter starts acting weird Ruthie’s the first ( and it starts to dawn on her, the only one) who notices.

Name:  Astrid Odinsdotter

Story: tbd

Faceclaim: Dove Cameron

Summary: Loki wasn’t the only child stolen from a battlefield. Nor was he the only one Odin and Freya raised as their own. Astrid was raised along side her brother as the princess of Asgard unware of her parentage; but her world gets thrown into utter chaos first when her brother is exiled to Migard and then when her true parentage is brought to light.  

Name: Grace Wilder.

Story: tbd

Faceclaim: Kat Graham

Summary: tbd ( takes place in Runways) 

Name: Isabelle Nyx

Story: tbd

Faceclaim: Holland Roden

Summary: Heir apparent to Nyx Incorporated, Isabelle like all of the PRIDE kids seems to have it made. Never mind the fact that her best friend killed herself or that her friend group fell apart soon after. 

On the anniversary of Amy’s death, Isa tries reaching out to her former friends but out of everyone, Alex Wilder seems to be the only one interested in mourning Amy with her. She’s surprised when the others join them, and even more surprised by what they find out.

“Fuck our parents. How about we actually run away.”

Name: Michelle -Miche- De Santos

Story: tbd

Faceclaim: Siena Agudong.

Summary: Miche  knows the church of  the Gibberin is evil, knows that they paste on happy grins to prey on runaway kids. She knows because they killed her sister. The problem is no one believes her. It doesn’t matter though, she’s not gonna stop until she figures out how to make people see the rich assholes for the evil they are.

Except that she wasn’t planning to find the very children of the people she’s sworn vengeance against. 

And apparently, they ran away.

Name: Lucille Harkness.

Story: tbd.

Faceclaim: Amber Benson

Summary: Lucille knows about Agatha Harkness, how could she not. She grew up on stories of the witch that betrayed her coven ( Lucille’s coven) and committed the most atrocious of acts against their own during the time of the Salem trials. Agatha’s name was whispered in Lucille’s family, a warning of how reaching for forbidden knowledge could corrupt; a horror story of the witch who slaughtered her own kind without a care in the world. 

Still she never expected to find any trace of her in her lifetime, never expected Agatha to be more than whispers and campfire side stories, much less find out she’s in  a bubble of  Chaos Magic in a small town in New Jersey. 

Name: Nancy Keener

Story: The Mechanic

Faceclaim: Sadie Sink

Summary: tbd

Name: Tracey Stein.

Story: tbd

Faceclaim: Sophie Lillis

Summary: Tracey has known her dad was evil since he beat her brother over a B-. She’s also known better than to think anyone would believe her. Except for of course her brother. They both knew it, they covered for each other, protected each other and that was enough. Even when their social group expanded to include the other PRIDE kids, it had always been her and Chase against the world. When Nico’s sister died and their little friend group falls apart it’s still the two of them against the world. 

And then on the anniversary of Amy’s death the siblings find themselves at Alex Wilder’s house of all places. Turns out her dad’s not the only evil asshole in their parent’s little social club. Turns out all their parents are.

Turns out they have to runaway. 

Name: Gwendolyn -Wendy- Maximoff

Story: tbd.

Faceclaim: Millie Bobby Brown

Summary: Finding out her brother was a mutant and that the men who came to look for him when she was five years old, finding out she herself was a mutant, finding out there was a special school for mutants. Gwendolyn Maximoff thought the weirdest parts of her life were behind her. She’s starting to settle in at the institute, starting to call it home, and she has her big brother with her which is the most important night.

Then overnight Peter disappears. Months go by with Hank and the professor poring over resources and Wendy wondering when her brother might come home. When they finally find him she demands to be the one to go find him.

As it turns out she might be the only who can; and that’s how she finds herself in Westview New Jersey...on an entire different dimension. 

Name:  Kamila Maximoff

Story: ( Love ) Persevering 

Faceclaim: Malina Weissman

Summary: Kamila lives in Westview, a little town in New Jersey where nothing out of the ordinary ever happens. Kamila lives with her older sister Wanda and Wanda’s boyfriend Vision who might as well be her father for all intents and purposes. Life s simple in Westview, Kamila wakes up every day and goes to school. She helps babysit her little cousins and gets help for her advanced courses from Viz. She and Wanda are as close as ever...she thinks.

Kamila doesn’t always remember what she learned in school. Their neighbor Agnes gives her the creeps. She doesn’t remember the twins turning 1, or 2, or 3. She doesn’t know why Wanda’s the closest thing she’s had to a mother but she is. She wakes up screaming sometimes with nightmares of Vision’s body and her sister screaming and turning to dust. She feels like time isn’t passing and is passing too fast at the same time. She remembers things..things that never happened. ( why would she ever be in sci-fi YA novel looking lab? Why would Wanda?) 

Kamila lives in Westview New Jersey with her family; in a suburban little town where nothing ever seems to happen. But she’s starting to think their lives are anything but boring. 

Name: Anne Rogers

Story: tbd

Faceclaim: Sarah Michelle Gellar

Summary: Steve Roger’s genetic clone. Shield’s pet project. Avenger’s Family Member. Darcy Lewis’ girlfriend. Anne’s gone through a lot of changes throughout her existence. And a lot of loss. 

She refuses to have Darcy be one of them.

“I’m not gonna ask again assholes. Where the hell is my girlfriend?”

Might end Tyler Hayward’s entire career and existence.

Name: Audra  Ward.

Story: tbd

Faceclaim:  Zoey Deutch

Summary: Audra doesn’t remember much before her brother gained custody of her as baby. That’s what happens when your grandparents and uncle are a load of abusive assholes ( that much Grant did tell her) She doesn’t know what led to their deaths, how Grant was able to find her and gain custody when he was a teenager himself. She doesn’t know anything other that the life they build together after.  Still she has her  brother, and school,  and her life is...well not normal. One does not simply have a normal life with a brother who works for S.H.I.E.L.D but all in all her life is good. It’s her and Grant against the world, and she has a plan to graduate early and find her own calling helping to keep the world safe from H.Y.D.R.A. like her big brother does. 

Then Grant’s team finds a break in  tracking down a hacker and her life gets decidedly  more messy.  

Other Plot bunnies:https://welcometotheocverse.tumblr.com/post/651928008282816512/marvel-plot-bunnies

[skvaderarts]

Hiraeth Chapter 51: Summation

Masterlist can be found Here!

Chapter Fifty-One: Summation

Note: I had to cook dinner, so I forgot to upload this until 11 pm. I also forgot that it was Wednesday. Just like how I forgot it was one of my friend’s birthdays today. YIKES. My bad hahaha! Check the end-of-chapter notes! Hope you had a good day!

(-~-)

Varying degrees of confusion overtook the entire room as everyone present attempted to try and figure out what was going on. Aside from Magnolia and Lucia, everyone there had heard a great deal about Morgan from the time that the young summoner had described his harrowing ordeal up north, but none of them would have ever expected that she would appear before them, especially at a time like this. And as strange as this all seemed to be for them, it was apparently even stranger for the young summoner.

Standing just a foot or two from her now as he attempted to help her with her bags, she shooed him away, assuring him that she was perfectly capable of handling them on her own. She’d carried them all the way from where she’d been starting to the car, and she’d made it up all of the stairs in front of Magnolia’s house. This would be a snap in comparison.

“Really though, when didja get those wicked tattoos? They had to hurt like hell, right? I mean, how much of your body do they cover, anyway?” Morgan sat her bags down by the side of the stairs, eager to get them out of the way of the walking path. No need to cause anyone to trip. She then looked around the room at the rest of the occupants, nodding to herself as she seemingly considered something. “Sorry I fell out of contact, V. I know you were probably worrying about what happened to me. There was a lot going on back then.”

It occurred to V at that moment that he was wearing a long sleeved V neck sweater. She couldn’t see most of them, only the ones on his wrists and hands and the ones visible around his neck. She was in for one hell of a surprise in more ways than one. They had so much to catch up on despite the fact that it had only been about three years since he’d last see her. Where had that kind of time gone?

A small smile spread across V’s face for a split second as he leaned against the wall, folding his arms around himself. There was still a small part of him that couldn’t believe she was actually standing here in front of him again. She’d certainly gotten taller in the time since he’d last seen her. Not by much, but she had been so very short when last they’d met. Their height difference had always been comical to him. “Likewise. And please, think nothing of it. In all honesty, that is probably more my fault than yours. It’s a bit difficult to mail a letter to someone who is completely transient.”

Nero chuckled to himself from the other side of the room. “Yea, he kinda ran off and joined the circus or something like that. It probably does make it kind of tricky to track someone down when they don’t have an actual address. I don’t even understand how they paid him.”

Morgan blinked in surprise before bursting into hysterical laughter, leaning over to rest her open palms on her legs. She shook her head before looking up again, making momentary eye contact with V. The moment she saw the soft red blush that had spread across his face and the poor job that he was doing to hide it, she started to laugh again, this time even harder than the last time. “You know what, I’m not even surprised. So you joined the circus, hu?”

“As a matter of fact, I did not. It was a traveling theater. There is a distinct difference.” V’s blush deepened as he became visibly embarrassed. Still, he’d be lying if he said that he didn’t find that response from Nero entertaining. After all, he knew that he was only joking. They had discussed this previously, and he was honestly pleasantly surprised that his brother remembered what he’d been up to during that window of time.

“Oh, you're totally right, V! One of them doesn’t have animals, right?” The sarcasm was evident in that statement. Was it possible to roll your eyes by speaking alone? Because if so, she had just done it. “So, I can’t help but notice that you're not the only one in the room with that fancy hair color anymore… Care to introduce me?”

For reasons that he couldn’t place, V’s entire brain ceased functionality as soon as she said that, unable to do much in the way of forming meaningful thoughts. Obviously, he knew that they were his relatives, but it hadn’t occurred to him until just then that he’d never introduced them as such before. Well, at least not as a group. He was genuinely surprised by how staggeringly uncomfortable he now was, especially when he barely understood why. Perhaps because she knew he had previously been an orphan?

“Yes, you're quite right. I should.” V gestured towards Nero, finding that it was probably more simple to start with him than it would be with his uncle and father. They took the same amount of introduction, but he had the feeling he knew which of them she would ask the most questions about. “The one you just spoke to is Nero. He’s my younger brother.” 

Blinking in surprise, she nodded, giving the youngest descendant of Sparda a thumbs up. She then returned her attention back to V. “Cool. Good to see you’ve got someone in your corner now. Different moms or dads in the equation? If that’s not overstepping.”

“They have different mothers, yes.”

Morgan and V both looked over at Vergil, both seemingly surprised to hear him speak. He had been so quiet up until then that it was actually jarring to see him speak. When she looked back over at V, he gestured towards the older man, nodding in confirmation of what he assumed she had probably just figured out from that statement. “This is my father, Vergil. The one standing next to him is his brother, Dante. My uncle. And I believe you’ve already had some form of communication with Magnolia.”

“Is she your aunt or something like that?” She inquired, clearly noting the lack of a family resemblance. She then lingered on Vergil for a long moment in a manner that the Darkslayer couldn’t quite place. There was some emotion there that seemed familiar to him, but he genuinely couldn’t place the origin of it.

V pondered the question for a moment before nodding slightly, his head tilted somewhat to one side. He didn’t really know how to explain her relationship to him. After all, they were not related, but that didn’t really matter to him in much the same way that he imagined Lady and Trish not being related to Dante didn’t change anything. The only problem was that they didn’t have that kind of relationship, either. Perhaps something more familial, but not in a sibling sort of way. “Something more than that, but not by any blood or marital bonds.”

Magnolia blinked in surprise. She was clearly taken aback, but in a good way. And then that state of surprise instantly migrated to something else entirely. She was genuinely flattered, but she had to admit that the feeling was mutual. It was hard to place her finger on it, but V did indeed mean a great deal to her. She’d spend every moment since she’d helped bring him back from the space beyond death worrying that he would return there. She genuinely did care about him, and she was glad to see that he did, too.

Dante’s pupils dilated a few centimeters at the statement, a staggering amount of serotonin rushing to his brain as he seemed to physically process the fact that one of his nephews had actually just called him their uncle. It was true, after all. He was indeed their uncle… but he was certain that he’d never heard one of them actually say as much, and he was honestly expecting Nero to be the first one to ever bring it up. He felt a sudden urge to lay down. Or, at the very least, sit down. Something he did immediately.

Continuing to look at them both, Vergil joined his younger twin on the couch, seemingly pleasantly surprised that his eldest son had actually mentioned their relation to him and not just their names. He would not have objected if he had, either way, he was taken off guard by his son’s sudden moment of transparency. Morgan had clearly earned his trust.

“Nice to meet you all.” She said with a soft but pleasant smile as she looked at each of the people that he had just introduced. Especially you, Nero. Us annoying little siblings have to stick together, you know?”

“I think I like her, V,” Nero said, making a sound somewhere between a scoff and a chuckle. She reminded him of Nico in a way, except much less overtly chaotic. Well, at least so far. She had kicked a dude off of a truck and down a mountain to his probable death as a young teenager. That was pretty hardcore.

“And speaking of annoying siblings…” She made her way across the short space between her and Bren, only to pull her leg back and kick him full force in the shin. He yelped and hopped up and down, her foot clearing finding its mark with devastating force. She folded her arms across his chest, shaking her head as he regained his composure, clearly dissatisfied. “Brenowin Linquist! Do you have any idea how much trouble you're in right now? My High School graduation is tomorrow! What the hell did you do this time?!”

“Using the first and last name, hu? Looks like I’m dead already and I just don’t know it.” He shrugged in embarrassment, clearly genuinely ashamed of his actions. Morgan never yelled. She got excited, but it was rare for her to raise her voice in anger. “I thought you said you hated that preppy school full of rich kids and that you weren't even going to that graduation ceremony in the first place.”

“Oh, I’m not. But you still would have made me miss it if I wasn’t planning on not going.” She shook her head and sat down on Magnolia’s stairs. She seemed to watch everyone silently for a moment before shrugging and

“You know what? That’s a good point. I’m sorry about all of this. It’s my fault. Again. I really hope you can forgive me for it one day.”

Magnolia’s brow furrowed. “Wait… your graduation is in late September? That doesn’t seem quite right. I’m surprised that your school has a graduation ceremony at all.”

The young woman nodded in agreement. “Normally it would have been in June, but then Redgrave City happened and the parents of almost a third of the school died or went missing, so they decided to push it back and have us come back in September if we still wanted to do it. Guess it would have been a major downer to watch like half of the students and faculty cry hysterically on the stage, and they just have to keep up appearances at all costs, ya know?” She shrugged nebulously, but it was obvious that there was some sort of history there. None of them were going to ask about it, however. Especially not Vergil. He was too busy trying his level best to will himself out of the room, the reality of the indirect (and somewhat direct) results of his actions weighing down on him like a tin can in a hydraulic press. He really had done that to them, hadn’t he… 

“Rich kids aren’t allowed to show that they have feelings. The school taught us that much. They would have probably waited to tell us our families died just so that it didn’t interfere with our test scores if the timings had coincided. The school has a reputation for having the best test scores or whatever. But the disaster just missed the testing period so they didn’t need to.” Bren folded his arms, shaking his head. He certainly didn’t miss that damn school. He had her beat by two years, but that didn’t mean that anything was different. The same teachers that taught his sister had probably taught him.

“... Why not go just to spite them? They probably say you leave and are expecting you to stay away, sure of their victory against you. I get the distinct impression that they weren't very welcoming to you during your time spent there.”

Everyone in the room turned and looked at V like he’d just grown a second head. That was something that they genuinely would have expected to hear come from Vergil’s mouth. And Vergil seemed to agree, his interest clearly piqued. It seemed that even V had his moments. It was almost humbling to know that he too felt this way about how others acted towards him from time to time.

“I get the feeling you're speaking from personal experience?” Bren said, raising an eyebrow. He seemed genuinely shocked that V had said that. He didn’t seem like he was that passive-aggressive, but then again, they had just met and he was basing that assumption entirely off of how quiet he was and how meek he seemed to be. It wouldn’t have been the first time that he was wrong. 

“You would be correct,” V said simply, looking down at the floor for a moment. It hadn’t occurred to him until then that he’d never really told them anything about his teenage years. Everything that had happened between his childhood and the time that he’d met Morgan was difficult and not a topic that he discussed lightly. Perhaps one day, but not in front of a stranger, and certainly not right now. This wasn’t the time.

Realizing that this had the potential to become an incredibly uncomfortable conversation, they decided to change the subject. After all, they had more pressing matters to attend to. V’s curse and the situation that Morgan had unfortunately found herself in were going to be their top priorities. And it seemed that the easiest way of fixing both of those problems was to get rid of their pressure and go after Belial. At this point, it was the only thing they could do. But how to go up against an opponent that they couldn’t find or effectively do battle against? This was going to be tough, but they had been through tuff before. They could do this. They just needed more information and an actual plan.

“By any chance, are you the ones that everyone is talking about on the news? Because you look like them, and ya kinda look like you just got out of a fight. No offense.” Morgan chuckled to herself as shook her head. V just attracted crazy people and trouble like a moth to a flame didn’t he. “Everyone is saying that you keep showing up to save the day during these huge disasters. Were you there during the Redgrave incident? And as for the graduation… I just might. You make  a good point.”

“Whatever brings you satisfaction,” V said in an almost sinister tone that took them off guard. Nero shook his head slightly and laughed to himself. Sometimes he forgot that V could be an utterly terrifying force of nature when he wanted to be. Perhaps it was best that he kept his older sibling away from a school filled with spoiled, rude brats. But somehow he had the feeling that V had prior with exactly that sort of peer group. That little peek into his past had revealed quite a bit, and now he could speculate. It would explain his lack of interest in social interaction. Children could be cruel.

“Actually… yea, you're not wrong. They’re talking about all of us. They’ve just never seen everyone at once. We kinda turn up to get rid of the demons during stuff like that.” Dante said casually. There was no point in hiding it. She was right, and they didn’t have time to waste on mysteries. “Me and Vergil weren't at the station just now, but Nero and V were. And Lucia. And… um….” He didn’t know the slightest bit about Flora. In fact, her name escaped him at the moment. Had they even met before? She’d been at V’s house the entire time, so he couldn’t be sure.

“Flora. I’m Flora. Don’t worry about me though. I’m with her” She said pointing at Magnolia,” And not with them. Well, I’m with them, but we're not related or anything. I just came to town to help out about two weeks ago. Field studies and all that. You know how it is. Or maybe you don’t. Look I don’t-” She stopped abruptly, deciding to chew her gum instead of saying more. Everything that had just happened had completely destroyed her will to live. She wasn’t good at introductions. At all.

V kicked himself internally for forgetting to mention Lucia. She’d been right there, after all. He just hadn’t really known what to say. “Lucia is an old friend of Dante’s. She’s not related to any of us, at least from what we know.”

Lucia nodded, giggling to herself quietly. If they’d only known. She was not, in fact, a descendant of the Dark Knight Sparda. But her mother and Dante and Vergil’s father had been close for years. For all they knew, it could have very well turned out differently should he had not met Eva. She couldn’t say. She only had her mother’s stories to go off of, and she didn’t particularly want to know those stories. Too much personal information, especially if something more substantial had occurred.

He looked down at his arm, noticing that he’d been rubbing it idly for a few minutes now. V wasn’t entirely sure what had made him notice, but he was inexplicably drawn to it all of a sudden. And when he did look at it, he felt his blood run slightly cold. He’d been gone from the house for entirely too long.

“Perhaps it is best that we head to my house. It would be a better place to discuss this… “

Noticing the slight hint of worry in V’s voice, Vergil nodded. It was best that they take both of them somewhere more secure. Well, all three of them, actually. They could keep a better eye on them all if they were in one place. “Yes, I believe it is time to give Magnolia her house back. We have matters to attend to.”

(-~-)

I’M BACK, EVERYONE! I’ve missed you all, but I am so very glad that you talked me into taking a little break! I didn’t see your wonderful messages until now, and I just wanted to say that I genuinely adore all of you, and your kindness was very much needed and appreciated. Your encouragement and compassion meant the world to me, and I’m happy to say now that I’m okay and ready to keep writing! From the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU! I’m excited to see you all again in the comments and on Friday! Take care!

[all-the-heart-you-cannot-see]

Things i loved about season 4

- The Nun scene. Honestly the sheer level of galaxy brain Ludo Besse has when writting these seasons lol. It was a very clever pararell to have the nun mistake Sana for another Sister, in a country as catholic as Italy, its al simple way of putting the hijab into perspective, no one sees a nun and thinks the same things they do when they see a muslim girl wearing a veil, even when they are essentially pretty similar: an expression of their religion. I really liked it (and the conversation under the candlelight just felt a whole other level of intimate so thats a plus)

- The Luai storyline. Man i loved this bit of the season, can we talk about the scene where Nico and Luai see each other at the club? The song choice? The shots? GOLDEN. I like that there are no real villains in this story (except for Luai's parents) what happened between them wasnt the result of someone in the baloon squad being homophobic, they were both victims of the circumstances and i love that Luai currently has a boyfriend, i've never been happier for a side character in my life.

- Sana. I enjoyed Sana a lot, she is sweet, she is akward, is a different take on her character and i liked it very much. What i loved the most was that the side plots from the og are still mostly there but this time they are constructed so they still revolve around Sana and her struggles. After the fight with Marti and the Rose Squad when she stays there alone with blood on her hand and both of her worlds (the contrabandieri and the Rose Squad) just walk away from her and she is just crying...that hit me hard (kudos to Bea, her acting was also very good), it made the scene more about her and what it meant for her than about the external drama, and then she justs keeps getting hit when she hears the UFB talking about her and finally Eva and Malik kissing... i could feel the weight of everything that had happened that night just falling on her shoulders and my heart shrank...her character was so well constructed im glad she got such a great season.

- The Rose Squad. I loved them, three out of four of them have clear characterization and it just placed them really high on my list...Ludo managed to make me care about Luai who has a total of like, 5 lines so i think its safe to say they are very well written and very well used.

-Filippo. At this point Filo is the father of half of that school i swear, it laughed so much with his scenes, from drunk Rami to Martino being a mess and just giving up on life in Filo's bedroom, also the fan service with Elia, i would've enjoyed it more had they not implaid that Elia was going to date Emma there at the end. (We stan safe sex kids)

- Episode 8. Was such a beautiful episode to watch, Martino and Sana are one of my favorite Isak-Sana dynamics after Amira and Cris, i loved their conversation cause it was more about understanding each other, Sana was right about some things and Martino was right about others, it was nice to see her finally open up to someone after just botteling up her emotions for the entire season, it was really sweet. Her message to the girls was heartbreaking, i legit cried and had to rewind the video cause my vision kept getting blurry and i kept missing parts of her speech, again Bea's acting really helped here, episode 8 was Sana not only opening up to her friends, but to us as the audience, that even after 7 episodes on her POV, still didnt understand her actions very well, it was a nice way of complementing the new perspectice her convo with Marti had given us, i loved it. (Also hide and seek to reunite Niccotino? I love Ludo Besse)

- The girl squad. I always thought Eva was very underapreciated (which is why i adore Skam España for giving her more to do after her season), i dont know why, but since the first time i saw norweiang Eva's season she stayed in my heart, and this version of Eva is one i love as well, i enjoyed her character and honestly her last scene with Gio? GOLD, her letter? One of the best things to come out of the Skam universe, i want to thank Ludo for handling her with such love. Silvia i really liked, her clip really puts things into perspective and i love that they kept her cat as an actual consistent plot device, she's had a nice character development, from wanting desperately to be noticed by the school coolest boy, to simply not caring about boys to finally opening up to someone, truly letting them in and accept herself, no only her body, but who she was. Finally Fede... the backstory of why she spoke to Sana was something i really appreciated, as well as the fact of her being so ashamed of what she he had done, i like that story because it shows how people can change once their prejudice is deconstructed, specially at that age we are the product of the education we were given, things like homophobia, sexism or xenophobia althought still not acceptable for a teenager, dont mean that they can't be redeemed, that their world view can't change in the future and that they can't grow. It was nice, you may have been an asshole in the past but as long as you understand what you did wrong and geniunly apologize, there is no reason for us to think someone cannot be redeemed.

- Every. Malik. And. Sana. Scene. Was so amazingly shot and constructed that even when i understood 30% of the dialogue the first time i watched it without subtitles i was smiling like an idiot, the date scene, those last few seconds? Them just staring into each others eyes? No kiss scene would've made us feel what that made us feel and that is a testament not only to good acting, but to the amazing direction of Ludo Besse.

- Ludovico Bessegato. This man has so much love for this project it shows on the end result, Skam Italia is pretry similar to the og in terms of plot, but Ludo made it stand out with his characters, his cinematography and some minor changes. The result is a story most of us already knew and loved with characters that some of us might love more than the originals in a setting that for me personally is more relatable than the norweiang one and has earned a place in my heart. I still can't believe he alone had to manage social media for the first seasons and had to fight with Timvision to get the show done, im so happy his work, and the work of all the other people who poured their hearts into this project (including the actors) got rewarded in such a way.

- The final speech. I understood very little of it while watching the first time, but that didnt stop me from crying like a baby while Gio read the letter, i found i cared for every person on that screen, from all of them i had good memories on the show and i couldn't believe that a fictional story could make such an impact in me, specially since this is the second time i see it, i'm probably way to biased with this show and the truth is idk why,i couldn't pin point the things that make me love it the way i do, i just do, and i am very satisfied with this ending, if this is the end.

[greenflamedwriter]

Percy AU NOTES

Keith as Nico di angelo and Lance as Percy Jackson.

But Lance was never claimed so he assumed he was Hermes kid he meshed well with them.

But once Keith got claimed so did lance and then shiro their dads had some sort of rivalry.

They didn’t account for the three to fall in love with each other. After and intense mission to save medusa. For lance. Personophene for Keith and Ganymede for Shiro.

Lance is also adopted by aphrodite goddess of the sea which passes on her powers so Lance can make people listen and share secrets with him like a siren.

_________________________________________________________________________

1 Lance is really nice and open with people until he realises that both Keith and Shiro are Roman descendants and not greek so they clash a little, Keith insults greeks and Lance is offended.

2 dinner and theres a party and lance is in the middle of it trying to get the daughter of Athena (Allura) To dance with him and that’s when it happens. Shiro is claimed by zues and everyone applauds then Keith by Hades and hears other say (it was so obvious he was an emo) But then lance is claimed by poseidan and everyone just stops and stares. What?

3 Lance is mad, he was a hermes kid wasn’t he? He looked like them, he had the same jaw line and nose and they all got along so well...this had to be a mistake and why now? He blames the new kids and this is when the party Lance becomes grouchy. And Allura hates his guts because athena and poseidan are rivals

4 They get a quest (to save the victims by the abuse if the main three gods. Ganymede, Medusa with Aphrodite, Persephone)

5. Ganeymede. The boy who was stolen, raped and made into Zues personell wine waiter then demoted to a fate taxi cab telepromter. Boy he hates Shiro because who can actually hurt Zues? he is what clues them in on rape victims which narrows it down immedietly and when Lance realises that Medusa is next for him and Keith looks horrified that they're all related to rapists, but Shiro felt relieved since at the end of the day does it stop at ganeymede or will it keep going- they are giving tokens once they have won.

6. Personophene and Keith, Keith apologises since Personophene hates Hades he thought and she blinks “I’m a god, I don’t eat. Period. I knew underworld food would keep me trapped I hadn’t eaten in months and all of a sudden I’m peckish? Pul-ease.” Keith blinked confused.

“And I don’t hate you, you didn’t ask to be born. And I know Hades returns to me in the end.” Personophene brushes his cheek “You have his eyes, maybe thats why I can’t bring myself to hate you.”

8. Lance remembers his mother, and he always heard the tale of Medusa and thought it was sad. So when they go to the statues, and realise it’s people Lance keeps talking about how sorry he was and how being how she looks was to protect herself, Lance wanted to sacrifice himself and asked to let Keith and Shiro go to save kids. Medusa turns him to stone then aphrodite turns him back and medusa decides to fight against rapists and attack them instead of taking it out of posedions kids.

___________________________________________________________________________

Journey towards the west,

And save the tragic three,

Punished by thy fathers,

For their own luxary,

Succeed and save more lifes from this venture,

Remember to be calm and endure their gruelling temper.

__________________________________________________________________________

Lance hides behind a pillar panting with a cut down his cheek. Oh god he was going to die!

“Hey!”

Lance turned to see Shiro lunge forward eyes closed “If you want a fight come and get me!”

Lance gaped what?

Lance scowled and saw Shiro with the shield looking through the mirror, and froze, Shiro always fought in gladiator fights, he was always the hero the sel sacrificing idiot. And Medusa she was scorned by posidion. This was his fight.

Keith- he had no idea where he was but, he stood up from behind the pillar luckily seeing the hose pipe in the corner. He used it and yelled.

"Medusa!" He heard her move and shivered waiting for the attack.

"Lance no!"

He aimed his water and it stopped her short, only for a second "I surrender!"

"...What?" She paused and Lance took a breath keeping his eyes shut. "Medusa, I always heard stories about you, some saw it differently, that athena changed you so no man would ever hurt you ever again not in that way- but it didn't matter because men take what they want regardless of what you look like."

He was shaking his water diminishing "I may be son of posedion but I am digusted by what he did and want nothing to do with him, but if you want to take revenge against him by hurting me," he outstretched his arms "That's fine- just let the other two go- they did nothing to hurt you, you can do whatever you want to me, but please, let them go."

"Why should I listen to your pleas? When posedian and Athena never listened to mine?"

"Because you'll be no better than them, just a monster preying on someone weak for your own justification."

"I am nothing like them."

"Then let my friends go...please."

Medusa tiled her head considering "Maybe I should do to you what posediian did to me," she leaned closer the snakes hissing across his cheek and Lance trembled "Send you back to your god with the pieces left, to show him what he did to me."

"He wouldn't care, he has thousands of children in the roman camp, percy is his favourite." She growled "Percy ripped my head off and stuck in a drunk mans fridge." Lance grimaced "And if you kill everyone of posedions children it won't make a difference."

"True, but it'll make me feel better."

"Then you won't be different than your tormentors."

Silence

"You know nothing, demigod."

oops she was pissed.

"Look at that." Lance pointed, knowing in the garden and where he was guessing he was pointing at the right thing.

"What?"

"That is a child correct?"

"So?"

"Did she deserve it? Was she any different than you? Her mother or father here? Did they honestly come here to attack you-"

"Well...no- but they-"

"Please, Medusa, they are people out there that hurt others the way posedion hurt you, ones who deserve justice. But not here. Not in this garden- it's your cage."

"No it's my haven and they still come here and hurt me."

"Then why stay? No matter what people will still try to use you- don't let them. I won't speak for Athena but, giving you the power to turn people to stone with just a look before they could even get ten feet in front of you, making your lower half a snake, making your hair venoumous, Those seem like tools to me, to stop people from touching you ever again."

Lance held his head up high his body trembling.

"As a son of posedion I'll take responsibility, but posedion himself wont since he won't see he's done nothing wrong, you can't hurt him so you hurt others weaker than you."

"no."

"you're a bully medusa, if anything that's worse, because you want people to hurt as much as you but you should know better and know how it feels to be violated."

"Stop it."

Lance opened his eyes and Medusa was looking away covering her face he gaped.

"Medusa?"

He took a step forward and she hissed "Don't look at me!"

He flinched ripping his arm back "I...I am terribly sorry, Medusa. You- no one deserves that. But staying here...it's not healthy. To repeat this over and over again until another demi-god kills you?"

She still had her face covered and Lance bit his lip "Medusa? C-can I touch you?"

She didn't move until a stiff nod.

He took a hesitent stop forward then hugged her, his hands only around her stomach and felt her tremble.

"It's okay to be mad, Medusa." She was trembling "It wasn't my fault."

"No it wasn't."

She started weeping falling to the ground and Lance moved with her.

"You- you need token to go to Hades?" She asked them finally wearing her sunglasses and hijab to cover her hair, Lance nodded "If you don't mind- if not we can go that's tottally okay-"

"No, it's the least I can do and...leaving here would probably be best for me"

A/N Another thing, why would Persphone and the lotus people have tokens to get to the underworld? Like the lotus and Nico and his sister so did persophone not care or know they were there? I mean the lotus would've told her since they're bffs who's visitng perce for tea partys and Medusa? I know people think Hades/Persphone are good but there;s different sides on one hand they are like beauty and the beast on the other, perse is another rape victim. I know I didn't write this correctly.

I just tried to write it the best I can but Lance has a reason for Medusa trusting him, even though he's the son of poseidon.

___________________________________________________________________________

“Cone on Keith wheres your sense of humour!”

“Lance, no.”

Lance grabbed his arm and dragged him backwards towards the carnival with Shiro following behind. Lance pulled Keith onto every ride forced him to eat cotton candy but what stopped Keith from snapping at the kid.

Was when Lance played a shooting range gane and gave Keith a hippo.

“Only the best for the prettiest boy.”

Lance grabbed his hand and pulled Keith fir more open stalls with merchendise.

Keithseyes were shinning theough the whole trip and Shiro was able to watch it all.

Carnival leads to persophene

After Aphrodite crisis to pair the three up.

Lance jumps at the teenage girl sitting at the pool beside him, “So why don’t you try them, I know you like them.” Lance flushed “What?”

“It’s obvious, except not obvious enough for those two. Love does make a person go blind.” Lance shook his head “What no? Come between Keith and Shiro?”

She looked amused as he babbled “I can’t do that to them, they’ve been through so much.” Lance looked over to the two his eyes softening “Shiro has been hurt so many times, gladiator fights? It was compeltely barbaric and his hair is white- and Keith he’s a demon with a sword and can raise skeletons from the dead! Both are so strong but only vunerable around each other...they’re perfect for each other. When I think of Soulmates I think of them two...I hope I can find someone like them one day.”

“Like them? Why not just court them, I doubt the two would mind.”

“Making them pick each other or me? That’s stepping down.” Lance said unknowing why this stranger tried to sabotage Keith and Shiro, was she a siren? If so it wasn’t working.

She shook her head “No, it is possible to be partners with three people. I should know, Hephaestus is very accepting of who I am and who I bed with.”

“Heph- wait.” Lance’s eyes widened in shock as he looks at the golden teen properly.

She was big, round belly and thick legs and arms with golden healthy hair curling at her shoulders her face plump lips tilted into a smile as sea green eyes seemed to swirl, unnatural. God like.

She looked exactly like the painting, Venus stepping out of her sea shell.

She stroked his face “We share waters, both are lovers of the sea.” She kissed his cheek “If Gods could adopt demi-children, all of Poseidon's folk would be mine. Artemis can do it, why can’t I?”

Lance gaped “I can’t turn my back on poseidon he’ll drown me.” She smiled “What’s wrong with co-parenting? Do him proud by defending his name and waters and do me proud,” She nudged his shoulder and glancing at Keith and Shiro “By falling in love.” Lance’s eyes widened “I give my blessing, and I wouldn’t do this for a lost cause I stoke the fires for love. Never extinguishing them.” Lance blinked and she was gone.

The beautiful teenager, Aphrodite.” Lance stepped out of the pool and almost stumbled at the looks Keith and Shiro had sending his way.

“What? What’d I do?”

“What were you doing?”

Lance shrugged “Having fun at the pool what of it?”

“Why sid that girl kiss your cheek?”

Lance blinked at Keiths angry response, any other time he would’ve felt hurt but he paused at what aprodite just said, he swallowed suddenly nervous but had to ask.

“Why? You jelous?”

Keith scowled “Lets just go,” Shiro gave him a look then followed “Come on we’re on a mission.”

Lance watched the two walk away his heart twisting. Keith didnt answer his question.

Ganeymede they use their powers keith summons dinasaurs lance dives underwater to save shiro (ganeymede drowns shiro as zues cant save him)

Ganeymede “Zues is gay!?”

Both Ganeymede Keith and shiro raised an eyebrow “Ih yeah, who wasn’t gay with the greek gods.” Lance felt as if his whole life was a lie.

“I feel like I should know this as a fellow gay,”

Keith oatted his head “Your a newbie gay it’ll take a while to figure out.”

Now the weird part “We uh, this is going to blow up in our faces isnt it.”

“What?”

“Posidion, Zues, Hades?” Dont they think they’ll be mad

Thunddr lighting

You had to say it

Hades! How can you just stand there do something about your son!

Hades: i dont really care?

What!?

First nico now keith ? I dont care!

[zenithlux]

Only the Best (VergilxReader)

In which you decide to celebrate a special Valentine’s Day with a certain, blue devil and with what you hope is an equally special gift.

Happy Valentine’s Day Ya’ll ^^ Hope you enjoy 

You've been with Vergil for almost eight months, yet Valentine's Day felt like it was going to be the most terrifying day of your life.

You had yet to decide if that qualified as being over-dramatic.

After a year and a half as Vergil’s “confidant” (the word “friend” apparently didn’t exist in his dictionary), you knew that Vergil didn’t care for holidays. Dante claimed that his brother often forgot them entirely, as he never had a reason to celebrate. And while you understood that, you were very different. Holidays were a chance to try something new, unwind, and just spend time with others. It was probably something you got from your father, who always found the craziest reasons - usually an obscure celebration of some kind - to come home with your favorite food and simple presents.

So, when you did start dating Vergil (which had surprised even you, as you evolved from “acquaintance” to “companion” after a rather honest, late-night conversation), you’d often wondered how you would handle this particular difference between you two. Every holiday since that night had been filled with excited people and other things to do. Halloween had come and gone, and you were happy to help with a costume party at the orphanage (and had been quite amused at the Batman costume the kids had begged Vergil to wear). Thanksgiving had been completely out of your hands, as Kyrie and Nico cooked everything while you were stuck at work. It had been Vergil who had dragged you out of bed after your overly long shift to join them at a rather impressive dinner. You expected Christmas to be the most difficult, as it involved presents (which Vergil always claimed he didn’t want). But his family had kept him busy on that one, and he'd actually accepted your gift in private; chocolate strawberries (you never told his family of that one) and a silver star charm for Yamato; a reminder of your first real date to the planetarium.

You were thrilled to find that attached to Yamato’s hilt the very next day. 

But Valentine's Day was something else entirely. There was no family to back you up (though Dante had cheekily offered). No chaos to hide behind. Just you and Vergil and some kind of present because you really just couldn't help yourself. And as much as he adamantly declared that he didn't need gifts… he'd never declined the few you’d given him. 

But you've also never tried to give him something so… frivolous. You’d considered buying another series present - books had been your go-to for your random bouts of gift-giving - but that seemed too simple. Too obvious. And it wasn’t often that you’d had a significant other on Valentine’s Day, and you were (mostly) certain that Vergil wouldn’t remember it. So, as you wandered the seasonal aisle at your favorite store, you were bouncing with nervous energy, determined to find something that would work. 

Except nothing felt right. It didn’t help that Vergil despised the color red on anything that wasn’t Dante’s jacket. 80% of everything you saw was already out of the question. The teddy bears were too bright. The larger stuffed animals were too cumbersome. The chocolate wouldn’t fit his tastes (you had to go far out of your way for that). He wasn’t interested in any other candies (a real shame, though you were happy to enjoy whatever sweets he passed on). The cards were all too impersonal. And the longer you circled these three aisles, the more frustrated you got. 

There had to be something. Anything that would earn that rare, adorable, and sincere smile you only saw when others weren’t around. But you couldn’t imagine giving any of these things to him… and you were quickly running out of time. Maybe if you’d thought about it sooner you could’ve done something more personal. A handwritten letter an option, though you’d only given him one of those, and you hadn’t actually seen anything but a curious, raised eyebrow when you handed it to him. The bookstore wasn’t too far away… you could always fall back on that…

“Hey!”

Nero’s voice almost startled you, and you weren’t sure whether to feel relieved or even more embarrassed. Fortunately, his knowing smile was all you needed to wave back. “Last minute shopping?” You said. 

Nero sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Honestly? I almost forgot about it.”

You laughed. Like father like son. “Well, Kyrie seems easy to shop for. I’m sure you’ll be fine.”

“Easier than finding something for my old man, huh?”

Yep. You’d be caught. Though you really shouldn’t have been surprised. While Vergil never outright announced your relationship, everyone in the family knew. Maybe it was the way he’d started sitting beside you at every outing or leaving early to walk you home. Or possibly the nights he spent at your house instead of Devil May Cry, watching TV (which he hated in any other circumstance), or talking over tea (which he hated a little less). The most obvious sign was his lack of response to Dante’s teasing after months of harsh denial. That had been the metaphorical nail in the coffin that confirmed what everyone you knew already assumed.

Regardless, you couldn’t help but feel a bit self-conscious. “You’re not… wrong.”

Nero laughed. “Whatcha thinking of getting him?”

You sigh. “Nothing at the moment.”

“Then you’re overthinking it.”

You blink in surprise. “What do you…?”

“He’ll love anything you buy,” Nero said with a shrug. 

“...Are we talking about the same man?”

Nero laughed as he picked through the top row of teddy bears. “I’ve only known him for a few years, but even I can tell when he’s committed.” You blushed at that, though Nero didn’t notice as he pulled down a light pink bear holding a white heart. “Trust me. Find something that speaks to you or whatever, and it’ll be enough.”

You couldn’t help but smile. “I’m sure I’ll figure something out.”

And after another loop around the aisle, you found it. The perfect gift. And that’s when the wheels started turning, piecing together all the ways to make it a Valentine’s Day he might actually enjoy.

After all, only the best was acceptable for your handsome, blue devil. 

Two days later, you couldn’t contain the painful bundle of nerves that had your stomach in knots and your heart nearly bursting from your chest. It was the first time that you’d officially invited him to your apartment, as he often just showed up on your doorstep whenever he wanted. Granted, he always conveniently knew when you were there, and you’d never had a reason (or a desire) to turn him away. But those impromptu meetings were usually dictated by him. So even he had been a bit surprised when you asked him directly with a specific time in mind, and a promise of a good meal. 

You didn’t mention the holiday, and you’d glared Dante into submission before he had a chance to spoil it. But you didn’t miss the smirk on the younger twin’s face, or the subtle thumbs up he gave you when Vergil wasn’t looking. Unfortunately, Dante’s “encouragement” hadn’t helped your nerves in the slightest. Neither had an entire day of cooking, or the panic trip to the store when you realized that you’d bought the wrong wine. Then you’d spent way too long debating if you should or shouldn’t put the rose petals on the table, or light the strawberry-scented candles, or…

A gentle knock at the door brought your thoughts to a screeching halt. You took a long, deep breath, smoothed down your blue dress, and greeted your partner with the most genuine smile you could muster. “Welcome!”

That ever familiar, curious eyebrow raise shot back at you, but you merely stepped aside to let him in. “Just in time,” You said as you wandered back to the kitchen. “The steak’s almost done.” Why were you so nervous? You felt like a teenager on a first date, not a full-grown woman having dinner with someone you’ve cooked for at least a dozen times by now. But then your thoughts strayed to the present and you swallowed another bout of nerves. 

“Are you alright?”

You jumped much further than you meant to and flushed likely as bright as a strawberry when he had to grab you before you tumbled straight to the floor. “Fine!” You said. “I’m… fine.” 

He wasn’t fooled (was he ever?). “Are you…” He paused, brows furrowed. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing, really.” You said. “Honest. I’m just…” The words ‘Losing it’ crossed your mind, and you sighed as he gently pulled yourself away. “I guess I should just get it over with, huh?” You could feel his eyes on you as you half-scurried out of the kitchen, only to return with a small, blue box with a simple, black bow. “I know, I know,” You said hastily as his eyes flickered between you and it at least twice. “You don’t like gifts. But today’s special.” You held it out to him. “So… here.”

It felt like an eternity before he took it from you, though it could’ve only been around thirty seconds, tops.  Mercifully, he didn’t waste time opening it, and your heart twisted when his eyes widened ever so slightly. The blue dragon plush was a bit larger than your hand, so you knew it would fit perfectly in his palm… if he’d actually take it out of the box. Instead, he simply stared at it, as if he wasn’t certain what it was. “When I was out shopping,” you said. “I kept thinking of what would mean the most to you.” His eyes flickered to yours. Still, he said nothing. After another deep breath, you continued with as much confidence as you could muster. “So I thought you would want something small that your brother won’t see, that can keep you company when I’m not around.”

After another quiet moment, which wasn’t nearly as nerve-wracking as the last one, he finally lifted it. You smiled, relieved when it did, in fact, fit perfectly in his hands, its little legs dangling just off the sides. “Your perfume,” He said in a very matter-of-fact way. But you didn’t miss the slight twitch of his lips. So close. 

“I may have slept with it the last few days,” You said. “And wearing your favorite perfume. Of course.” Finally, as the last of your nerves slipped away, you gave him a rather cheeky grin. “If you ever need more, you’ll have to come back for it.”

Finally, finally, it happened. He smiled. That genuine, relaxed, Vergil smile that you would give anything to see every day of your life. And it wasn’t a grin like Dante or Nero, but a gentle show of emotion that fit him just right. “This is very thoughtful, my love.”

Your heart fluttered in a mix of surprise and adoration. You couldn’t recall if he’d ever called you that. Maybe you missed it? Unlikely, as you had a feeling you’d never forget such a thing. Especially not when it was said with such astounding tenderness; the kind of tone that only he could ever pull off. “I’m glad you like it.” 

Then a much smaller box practically appeared in your hands, and it took far too long for you to realize it. “I’ve been informed numerous times this month that today is Valentine’s Day,” He said. Your eyes snapped to his in surprise, and you felt your cheeks flush as his fingers brushed yours when pulled his hand away from yours. “My brother stayed out of this purchase, of that much I can assure you.” 

You couldn’t hide your gasp when you saw it; a silver heart necklace with glittering sapphires in the shape of a V. “Vergil…”

“It hasn’t been long,” he said as he slowly took your hand. There was a hint of nerves in his voice, something that you’d never heard before. But it made your heart swell as he pushed through it, and brushed his thumb along your check. “But you’ve already managed to steal my heart.”

You couldn’t help but giggle at that. “Now that’s something Dante did have a hand in, yes?”

Vergil snorted but didn’t deny it. “He may have mentioned kicking me out soon. I can’t fathom why.”

You paused for a moment, even though you already knew what you wanted to say. “There’s plenty of room here,” you said as you confidently met his gaze again. “I wouldn’t mind having someone else around more often if you’d like. And your little dragon would probably prefer this place to your brother’s.”

He watched you, expression calm, face unreadable. You tilted your head. “Is everything…”

The world stopped when his lips brushed yours, but he pulled away long before your heart found its way back to its body. “I would happily live here with you, my love,” He said, smirking when he saw how much he’d caught you off guard. But, in a surge of unprecedented confidence, you practically crashed back into him with a much deeper kiss than his had been. This time, he didn’t pull away, and you knew you’d be more than happy if he never did again.

[jasiper]

war is hard. it’s even harder for demigods. it’s hard when the whole world is on the brink of destruction and the fate of humanity is in the hands of teenagers. but even after the victory, there is still fear, fear that will never go away because war always leaves scars.

percy is afraid of losing control. after nearly drowning akhyls in tartarus, and seeing annabeth truly fear him, he’s scared. the gods have told him time and time again that he is a danger, that he can be the reason the world falls. he was such a risk even as a kid that the gods put his life to a vote. he knows that he has proven everyone wrong by saving the world time and time again, but he still is scared. the older he gets, the more he has to lose, which means he has so much more to lose control over. his hands shake and he has nightmares where he loses control and kills people. when he dreams that he accidentally kills annabeth, he can’t sleep for two days straight. he’s scared to be around his family, to be at camp, to hold his baby sister, to be alone with annabeth. he’s scared of himself. he tries to keep his emotions under control because if he were ever to explode, things would go to hell.

annabeth is afraid of being alone. it happened when she was merely seven years old— she felt unloved by her own family, so she ran away. she thought she got it right when she made a new family, but it was ripped apart when thalia died and again when luke betrayed her. she’s alone when she’s fourteen and she’s trapped under the sky, tricked by the person she used to call her family. it happens again when percy disappears. one day he was there, the next he was gone. when she finds him, she vows to herself that he was never leaving her. never again. and in tartarus, with the curse from polyphemus that leaves her blind, thinking that percy had left again, she is awoken to find her boyfriend on the brink of death. even though they make it through hell and they survive the war, annabeth still wakes up sometimes with a feeling in her chest that she is completely and utterly alone.

jason is afraid of dying. sure, most people are, but he keeps having encounters that are too close for comfort. he died once when he saw juno in her divine form; charon asked him for a coin and then he was back in piper’s arms. then he’s drowning, and he hears piper whisper i love you as he’s inhaling water, and he thinks he’s going to die again, but suddenly piper is hugging him and percy is crouched beside them. and then michael varus stabs him, and he’s yanked back and forth between life and death, greek and roman. it takes him so long to recover from that. leo dies right before his eyes, and for a while he’s not sure which is worse— someone else dying for him or dying himself. even the news that leo is alive doesn’t help the tremors and the nightmares. he gets the news that either he or piper will die, and then when caligula stabs him and he’s back in front of charon, who’s asking him for a coin, jason realizes that death is a whole lot scarier than he could ever anticipate because he wasn’t ready to die.

piper is afraid of falling. physically and figuratively. she almost fell to her death at the grand canyon, and she had spent her time falling thinking about how much she messed up her life. she only gets a shot at redemption when jason saves her. and then as the months go on, she’s afraid to fall in love. how could she trust her relationship when it was fabricated by the mist? she takes a chance, lets herself fall, and she tries. she really tries. it’s so much easier to fight a war when there’s someone to support you, to validate you. but when she’s falling out of the sky and she’s screaming leo’s name and everything explodes in golden light and she wakes up to find out that her best friend is gone, she realizes that she needs to stay on solid ground. she can hardly board the plane back to california because she is so afraid she is going to fall. leo’s disappearance makes her question everything, and she realizes that she doesn’t know herself. she breaks up with jason, and for the first time in a long time, she feels like her life is becoming stable again. but when she sees jason’s dead body and this time there is no bringing him back, she’s falling all over again— falling apart.

leo is afraid of missing out. he felt like he was missing out on the whole romance thing for months; first his best friends start dating, which is cool, because they love each other, but then he’s on his way to europe surrounded by happy couples and feels ridiculously alone. he tries to tell himself that he doesn’t need anyone to make him feel whole, but the universe and the gods and everyone else seem to tell him that without a significant other, he’s worthless. and then when he died, he is focused only on ogygia and calypso. he didn’t realize it at the time, that’s when he starts missing out. when he returns, the world is in danger again. he’s too busy trying to help apollo get his god status back and be a good boyfriend to see his best friends, and he doesn’t even know they broke up until piper’s collapsing in his arms, sobbing about how jason’s gone. leo didn’t even get to say goodbye to one of his best friends. he missed out on his last opportunity to see jason and he didn’t even realize it. he begins to overthink how he prioritized things, and he’s haunted by the fact that he was so desperate to find love that he missed out on months of his life.

hazel is afraid of manipulation. before she died, her mother manipulated her into creating a body for a giant, and because it was her mother, she couldn’t say no. this was her family. everyone else hated her, and she was called a witch, so she couldn’t let her mom down. she gave life to a giant, and although she managed to stop him from rising to keep gaea asleep for another seventy years, she lost her life in the process. when hecate introduces her to her ability to control the mist, she doesn’t even realize it’s manipulation until after she arrives back at camp jupiter. she can make people see things that weren’t there just for her own benefit. she can make people do what she wanted them to just because she has the ability to. she’s reminded of the boat and holding onto her mother as she was crushed to death and she vows to never manipulate people the way her mother manipulated her.

frank is afraid of never growing up. from the time he was a baby, juno foreshadowed that he was too powerful to live a long life. while demigods were constantly dying at young ages, he thinks that he could be the exception. he saw people raising their children in new rome, and he had hope for the future. his stick could burn up at any moment, but he thought if he could survive the war, he could handle anything. even while freeing thanatos, he knows he’s going to live to make it back to new rome. leo definitely made him lose hope, but he’s presented with the fireproof material and gods, he could actually survive this thing. but then leo dies and octavian is dead too and frank realizes that even with his fireproof material, he is never truly safe. all he wants is to grow up and retire from the legion and go to college and have children and die peacefully, but now he has nightmares of watching his stick burn up in his own hands, and he’s terrified.

nico is afraid of the darkness. it used to be his friend—  it welcomed him when bianca died, and it kept him hidden from percy. the darkness hid his shame, hid the self-hatred. if he could melt into the shadows, nobody would know that he loved the person he should have hated. after the titan war, he’s trying to rebuild his life but it’s hard. he may have the support of his father but he still feels like an outsider. he discovers hazel and he grows to love her, but the darkness still makes him feel more safe than any camp can. but then he’s in tartarus and he’s being told that he’s perfect because he’s suffered so much, and all of the pain is thrown back in his face. he’s still recovering from hell when the athena parthenos becomes his responsibility, and he can feel his literal soul being stripped away from his body, and he can feel the very thing that he trusted so much tearing him apart. he’s about to fade away and he’s yanked back to life, and even when they arrive back at camp he’s told that he’s still on brink of being claimed by the darkness. his boyfriend may be the very opposite of the dark, but he still dreams of entering the shadows and never coming back.

reyna is afraid of losing her home. it happened in puerto rico, when she accidentally vaporized her father’s mania. although it had been an abusive household, it was the only thing she ever knew. and then she found a safe haven with hylla at circe’s spa. she lived there, free from war and from abuse until blackbeard was released. her second home was destroyed, and she had to fight to escape. her sister, her only family, went her own way, leaving reyna to find refuge at camp jupiter. she makes friends and the legion becomes her family, and she’s praetor and life is great until jason disappears. new rome is on the brink of destruction constantly, and reyna finds herself unable to stop the threats. she has worked so hard to create a family for herself, and after nearly losing everything, she finds that she has two homes—  camp jupiter and camp half-blood. yet she notices how she’s still extra weary, making sure there are extra guards and that no one loses their edge, because if reyna loses this home, she’ll have nothing left.

[dabatcavebyhonie]

Marvel's Runaways- an example of a BAD idea

So imagine you wanted to a great comic book show. You buy a great cheap comic so you break the bank. But then you feel the pressure to have your loved characters appeal to a more modern audience. But there is a rift between the movie universe and the TV universe. So now you are left with a half baked story filled with holes and it is almost unrecognizable to the comics. Let us also not forget their horrible idea of re-writing the perspectives for the mass audiences. This is how you get the "cringy" monster that is the Hulu's adaptation of Runaways.

The first thing you must understand before tackling Runaways is that this Marvel property is heavily ingrained into the Marvel universe. In fact, one character from the comic book cast is the son of Ultron. Ultron, who MCU wrote off as someone short series of events.  Then that means that most of the events that occur in the comics become void. This leads to a rewriting of the events that occur in the TV show.

I broke the aspects of this ongoing show into three parts : Angst- the teen and the parent, stereotypes- I promise we're different,  dialogue- Who am I?

“I had choosen the path of the black sheep rather than that of the unicorns and puppies.”

― Magenta Periwinkle, Cutting Class

Angst- The teen and the parent 

     When you are first introduced to the nouveau-rich families of PRIDE  you see  parents with a wide range of jobs. This includes tech mongers, bio-chemists, and even spiritual leaders. By each family you see various color schemes graced across the screen. I assumed this TV show would be promising. Until you meet the children. I first became frustrated by the dynamics of the children. They're all stereotypes written out of a high school rom-com. At least for shows that Have stereotypes like  Daria you understand they're there to be unrealistic and mellow-dramatic. However this idea isn't valid for Runaways. The show is supposed to be relatable and fanciful at the same time. They're also not stereotypes in the graphic novel they're just themselves. This adds angst to the angst . Which this edgy behavior is supposed to replace the depth in their character. Take the biggest example of this: Nico. Her stereotype is that she's a goth so she's mean and does witchcraft and always cries about dead sister. Then in the later seasons she's hopelessly devoted to Karolina and this is supposed to add depth to her one dimensional personality.Her senitive love for Karolina is supposed to add depth- I just...No,no, no, UGH, Stop, please. I  can't with her. The big thing that makes her DEEP is that she's actually sensitive and gay. They use queer-bating to have her be more appealing. Then her stereotypical goth-ness solidifies the Goth norm-perception, it says,"Yes all goths are this way. They're all tortured and filled with teenage melodramatic behavior.".Her Wicca worship is another Goth stereotype. As a goth myself I do not condone the stereotypes that aren't accurate. I wish her character was more inspired like Abby from NCIS. The actor wantesd the  character to be more authentic and not just a stereotype like numerous other shows have.   Just no. Every time she slams her door a front of her mother's face or steals her mother's staff I'm just dumbfounded.   

   Karolina is the church girl stereotype. She waltzes across your screen in all white and reads Her bible-I-mean-her-religious-texts-that-don't-sound-like-Christianity-at-all. Then when she's tempted by the flesh of the witch! Oh no will they, Won't they? Spoiler alert: They will as we assumed with horrible LGBTQ+ characters as always. Her depth is her love for Nico. To the amount that her dreams while she's trapped in the first two episiodes of season three was her wedding with Nico. Granted it was goregous but her love is her character depth which is dissapointing since their relationship ends in season three.  They're both always moody and mad at each other but it's fine they love each other even though they only give each other a few pecks once in a while. Like don't make the mass audience mad cause we can't have too much gay! HAHA! For me it's less for the LGBTQ+ masses or to show representation it's written to sound and look pretty for the male gaze but hey! 

That's just me spreading my SJW bias like Gert does 24/4! Like is there an off button. Introducing the liberal complete with crippling anxiety and even "NO! I can't love a Lacrosse Jock! I hate the Patriarchy!". While no one shows up for her rally or her bakes sales she crushes over Chase who is rude to her. My father being heavily left-leaning said "Gert needs to go. Like she doesn't stop talking and ruins the show!". Like when I told him I was watching the new season he frantically asked why and asked if I was okay.

I'm getting off track. Anyway, The point is the only ones that love their family to start is Molly, Gertrude and Chase. But don't worry the only one that still loves her parents after is Molly (in some twisted way I guess Karolina.....ehhh). After seeing their parents kill a kid and shove them into a magical space tube instead of calling the police or rationally acting. They gain this amazing attribute called teenage angst. Except for Molly cause she doesn't get it. Granted the first season isn't that bad but the show only gets worse the farther you go into it. I especially have been carrying a special amount of disdain for season two. But I think that maybe the new season has promise since the teenage angst doesn't smell as bad so far but I'll give you guys an update on Tumblr. What was I saying ...So if you don't understand what I mean by the heavy angst take a new scene from season three when Dale (her dad) Has Gert hostage in their cottage. She goes on numerous rants on How much she hates him when like a year ago she was being somewhat rational by trying to think before she shouts and finger wag at her parents but now-speak your mind child! I find the teen vs. parent atmosphere.

However  This idea of teenage angst isn't unrealistic. But how general it is over every character is what makes the angst unrealistic. The original hesitation of Gert makes it feel more natural. Karolina's almost disregard to what they saw originally felt more real. The small responses from characters separates their personalities and makes season one much more entertaining.

Stereotypes- I promise we're different 

Now that you understand the edgy personality of the show as a whole let's move on to the content. You're introduced to a runaway teenager named Destiny she's mugged but "rescued" by the Church of Gibborim. Little do we realize these muggers were trying to save her. Six months later we're introduced to Alex Wilder, a stereotypical nerd, who loves coding. Nico Minoru the person Alex has a crush; her  sister died who was Alex's best friend, so now Nico's a goth. Okay, that's a lot. You then meet Gert, Chase and, Molly. Molly is younger then everyone else so she is disregarded when she tells everyone to become friends. Chase is a lacrosse jock but he's different cause he's smart I guess. Chase loves his family but his dad is emotionally abusive to him and his mom. It gives Chase a leader mentality and he tends to think he knows the right answer.

 Gert is a social justice warrior who tries to make her school a better place. But she's different cause she has anxiety. Tell me if my point isn't getting across, tell me. This show's "thing" is that everyone's a stereotypes but, they're different, I guess;Which would usually be fine if it wasn't apart of such a big intellectual property: Marvel. Granted when it comes to movies and TV I never said Marvel story-lines were ever complex but the shows always Go outside the prior assumptions, it's not all stereotypes. 

Take for instance, Agents of Shield.  Take Coulson who literally was resurrected fro the dead. He is hard and stern like he was depicted in the movies but we learn about his strife and how he worked alongside Nick to build S.H.I.E.L.D. to what it is. He has control issues so he has to adopt the mindset that Nick has. It's new and interesting to the MCU audience. Melinda May, is an Ace pilot and personally my favorite simply due to her character writing. Her divide between her reputation versus who she is. She's known as " The Calvary" after all. She has trauma from a mission that killed a civilian which leaves her emotionally scared. This isn't a new concept but seeing her grow and becoming better emotionally gives the audience connections to the characters.

 Every character is written with steady care and good character writing. We feel sad When Coulson dies yet again. We feel the inner turmoil Skye and May feel. The connection isn't there in these hollow stereotypes. The connection to the audience in Runaways is what's making the show stale. The TV show characters are pale imitations of the comic book characters. It's hurts the show in the long run.  

dialogue-Who am I?

The most important thing that makes this show salvageable is the dialogue. No, I don't only mean the words coming out their mouths but the story-line that's surprisingly controlled by the parents. The superficial cold teenagers that only show disdain towards their parents and easily toppled by their Parents beckoning and call. For instance in season 2, Chase betrays his whole team to have his family back after his dad dies. He thinks they'll lose so quickly when  he's left alone with them. You see their guard come down so quickly around their providers. Yet they can never forgive them. This is obvious in Alex's case. His hatred towards his parents lead him to the arms of his father's enemy become's angry when his mother retaliates and kills Darius, but is vexed when his father is calling him. Responds just by his mother threatens him from jail in season three. Why does Nico stop to talk to her Dad in season three, episode "Lord of Lies". I'm going  to keep watching just because of the dynamic of the kids and parents. Especially as the parents are inhabited by parasitic aliens it's changes this complex dynamic yet again. Along with Nico's inner turmoil involving her magic and the forces that are utilized with her staff headlines the dialogue and plot I love so much. I will continue to watch as this tale unfolds.

Conclusion: This show is complex recycling heap. I find it hard to watch and a grotesque figure I can't move away from. I find it a good surface level adaptation. I find it messy but it's not entirely predictable! I appreciate how invested the actors are in their characters! I hope to continue watching the show to see how  the plot moves.  

[neqeyam]

Forgotten Myth; Chapter two.

Words- 2967

Warnings- height/falling, fighting, arguing, mentions Lee’s death

Summary-  When fourteen year old Ruby Moore is chased down the hallway at school by a character out of one of her fever dreams, she gets thrown into a world of tales and myths that society has ruled out to be fake. Befriending a Pegasus that hates everyone, and gathering friends strong enough to be considered a small army, she has to embark on a journey that will change her life forever.

POV- Ruby

Chapter One- https://rqmcuwdwpjo.tumblr.com/post/188285543834/forgotten-myth-chapter-one

Will took me around the camp, Camp Half-Blood according to his shirt. Showing me everything from a strawberry field to the infirmary. He told me stories of our dad, about how Apollo got banished to be a mortal a while ago and since he’s back being a god he now has a new sense of identity. He took me to the archery range, where I impressed him with my archery skills even though I was new. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that I took archery lessons from age six to age ten. 

By the end of the educational tour, I was exhausted. I felt like I’d just ran a million miles, but he didn’t stop there. He took me to the only building in a rectangle of twenty other oddly specific buildings that literally was glowing gold in the setting sun. Inside there were about ten bunks, all pushed to the outside edges of the building so that there was room in the middle for three cots. 

“Please tell me I don’t have to sleep in one of those.” I whined, pointing at one of the cots. Will made a face as if to say: I hope you like back problems. I almost started complaining but he laughed and placed a hand on my shoulder to keep from toppling over. 

“Those are medical cots silly. But anyways, welcome to cabin seven; where children of Apollo learn the trades of our father.” I looked around and took in the scene. Books on various topics lined the many bookshelves in between the bunks, medical supplies spilled out of bags while syringes soaked in a yellowish-brown liquid. One thing that stuck out to me the most, was the fact that everywhere I looked, some sort of archery target hung from the walls with very distinct holes in the bulls-eye. Will rummaged around under one of the bunks that looked abandoned and pulled out a box. When he opened it, a faint light filtered out as if they’d trapped it in there. 

“This was Lee Fletcher’s bow. If you want it, it’s all yours,” Will said, sadness drifting through his voice. I was tempted to ask what happened to Lee, but something about Will’s posture and aura told me that I’d better just accept the bow. 

“It looks perfect, thank you,” he handed me the bow, and I had to admit; it was perfect. The nocking point seemed to be in a direct line to my shoulder, the bow string wasn’t too taut, I felt like this bow had been crafted just for me. As I was holding it, I realized that the bow itself was actually glowing; not blindingly, just enough for me to see a faint halo of light outlining the bow. 

Once Will had enough of reminiscing about Lee’s bow, we went back outside. A horn blew in the distance, scaring me so badly I screamed and hid behind Will (Not my best moment I’ll admit). 

“That’s the dinner horn, nothing to be afraid of-” he said, a dark figure appeared out of seemingly nowhere cut him off. 

“eccoti, ti ho cercato dappertutto,” the dark haired kid said. 

“Nico, for the last time, I don’t speak fluent Italian.” 

“Ciao, chi sei,” they all turned to me as if I just grew another head. Though the black haired kid looked more grateful than confused. 

“Puoi parlare italiano?” the black haired kid -who Will called Nico- asked. 

“no, perché dovrei?” I asked. Will’s face flushed red, but he looked rather pissed. 

“Would you two stop that! Ruby you’re speaking Italian!” He yelled, taking both of us by surprise. I looked down at my hands as if they’d give me answers; but no avail. I was thinking in another language too, symbols rather than english letters were flying around my head. I realized the same symbols were almost everywhere around camp, telling me where to go. For a moment, I completely forgot english and my whole sense of identity blurred. Will set a hand on my shoulder, drawing my attention from my hands. 

“pós boró na milíso angliká?” I asked frantically. Nico handed me the book he was reading, thankfully it was in english and the other two languages seemed to go back to their hiding places. My mind went back to thinking in my first language; I handed the book back to Nico and huffed, “Thank you,” he nodded and started up the hill.

Dinner was cool, I could order whatever I wanted and however much I wanted. My plate just seemed to refill itself, the Greeks really knew how to eat. Mr. D (Will told me his real name is Dionysus, the wine dude) stood and banged a knife against his goblet of diet coke. When he had everyone’s attention, he turned to Chiron. (yes, the Chiron from the ancient times.) 

“You all know what today is, the first Friday of the month. Which means-” he was cut off by the Ares table pounding their silverware on the table, chanting CTF; whatever that meant. The rest of the cabins joined in their chants till it was just a rumble of voices and an earthquake of silverware pounding. A stocky girl with dirty blonde, almost brown hair stood up and thrust her spear into the air. 

“We’re on her team this month. If we win, I get the Apollo chariot back that she stole from us while Michael Yew was our senior counselor.” Will spat, he didn’t sound happy about being on her team. 

“Then I guess we have to win.” I stated. I’ve always been competitive, and now I finally know how I’m so good at basketball. Will grinned at me, his eyes alight with an emotion I couldn’t place. 

After dinner, and after Chiron was finally able to explain the rules; Will led cabin seven through the hoard of people and into the woods. Everyone seemed to know their place, some went up into trees, scaling them like squirrels. Others turned invisible and the only hint that they were still there was a rustling in the bushes. Will led me to a pile of rocks that looked like a thumb, a blood red flag shone brightly in the setting sun. he scaled a tree next to the pile of rocks, something told me to do the same. I climbed a tree with surprising ease a few yards away from the flag so I’d have a clear view of who was coming through. Two kids that wore the same mischievous grins that Ayla defaulted to walked through the clearing. Behind them, enough teenagers to be considered a small army without the multitude of weapons came walking into the clearing. The girl, who Will told me was Clarrise, barked orders at people. 

“You excited?” someone asked behind me. My instincts pulled an arrow out and notched it all while turning around. I was met with a smug smile that I was so used to. Then I checked my pockets. 

“More nervous than anything, your dad is Hermes isn’t it.” I asked Ayla. It hadn’t occurred to me that she looked exactly like him -based on a description from a book I found- She nodded and perched in the tree next to me. I looked over to where Will was perched to see him lazily going in and out of being visible. He flickered sometimes, like he got stuck halfway through his change. 

“You and I are gonna charge the flag. According to Connor, they’ve got the entirety of Demeter’s children on guard duty, with Hecate’s scattered throughout the woods.” I nodded along with her, we’d need a plan to get through Hecate’s children’s magic. A bunch of grease covered kids walked into the clearing, -probably Hephaestus’s kids- and Ayla let out an audible sigh. I followed her gaze to a semi scrawny kid who would not stop moving -his dark curly hair and tanned skin gave him away as hispanic- talking to an equally dark skinned girl.

Clarrise held a thumbs up to the sky and then a few moments later a horn sounded. Our ranks bolted into the woods, and the Hephaestus kids started waving Wii remotes around really quickly. 

Yells and screams erupted from the woods, and a few kids watched everything through a shield looking thing. The first wave of kids were all blonde except for the black haired kid from earlier (Will told me that he’s the son of Poseidon, Perry Jackson, or something like that). Ayla drew her daggers and charged from her spot in the tree. Will and I rained arrows down on whoever got too close to the flag (Although, most of my arrows missed). A water spout rocketed toward me, but I jumped and fired one of the rope arrows into another tree, swinging across the battlefield kicking anyone that got too close. Light beams burned kids slightly when they started their assault on the flag. We were being overrun by kids. Another kid with blond hair came running through the mess and I thought it might be Will, but then I started to feel sleepy. 

“It’s Clovis’s magic!” someone yelled. I took a closer look at the blond haired kid and I realized that he was sleeping. Our defenses were dropping like flies, snores started the echo through the woods. They seemed to be protecting him, drawing a crescent moon around him. Next to me Ayla sleepily fluttered down onto the branch and closed her eyes, a good sized rock almost fell out of her hand. I knew what she wanted me to do. 

“C’mon Apollo, gimme one luck shot,” I murmured and wound up. The rock left my hand at an upward angle, then arced down; smacking Clovis right in the temple, he fell like a load of bricks. Some of his defenses tried to wake him up but he didn’t. Our defense team woke up one by one, recharged and ready to go they fought harder than before. 

My vision blurred and I saw a figure running for our flag, but I couldn’t see her. I sensed her. When my vision returned I saw someone grabbing at our flag, it rose and started down the hill. Almost all of the offensive troops had retreated. 

“Team Ares!” I yelled, gathering everyone's attention. “Stop our flag,” they followed my finger and watched as Annabeth emerged from nothing and set down the flag. A wave the size of a small house flung half our troops out of the way, then the dark haired kid (Perry? Percy? One of the two  I can’t remember what Will said) started fighting his way through the mess of kids. Ayla grabbed my hand and the next thing I knew we were zooming through the woods at top speed. She smacked into an invisible shield of some sort and crumpled to the ground with a groan. A few snickers from the other side brought my attention to a bunch of Demeter and Hecate children. Clarrise growled a few feet away from me and stabbed at the shield, getting thrown back. Ayla and I exchanged glances, something told me she wanted to go up. So we did. 

The shield was definitely not as strong on the top as it was near the bottom. The only problem was that we were suspended fifty feet up in the air by some jello. Ayla pried a hole in the top and I shot four arrows down. Unbeknownst to me, they were all sonic arrows. Each arrow sounded like it was on eight amplifiers and a surround sound speaker. Good news, it was enough to blast out the shield and disoriant their first line of defenses; bad news, Ayla and I were now falling fifty feet to our deaths. Someone caught me, I was met with brown eyes that screamed anger. He set me down and kept running, as Ayla lowered herself down next to me. Together, the three of us ran at the Aphrodite children. I stayed back a little bit and shot anyone out of the trees, while the rest of our offense fought against Aphrodite, Nemesis and what was left of Demeter. 

“Ayla! I have a plan!” I yelled, before I even had a P-L-A. She came running and I told her about what I saw Will doing and how he briefly explained it to me. Another kid came with her, however; it was the brown eyed Ares kid that caught me. 

“You’re going to need a brute for that,” he grumbled, trying harder than necessary to sound mean. I didn’t have time to argue so I just grabbed their arms and ran, praying to Apollo that this worked. 

The fact that no one tried to stop us told me that it worked. We ran and dodged roots that were constantly growing. When we came to a clearing where a stream ran through, I slowed down. In front of us stood their flag, and a multitude of traps. Ayla groaned at the sight of the traps but I told her to just fly over everything. A blond kid that looked to be about my age paced in front of the first trap, folding over a knife in his hand. He grumbled about something, we didn’t stick around long enough to hear what he was saying. Ayla flew us over everything, groaning and complaining everytime one of us moved the wrong way. The brown eyed kid, -who refused to tell me his name- grabbed the flag and bolted for Ayla and I. An alarm sounded in the trees and two more cabins came running into the clearing. 

“Great, now what,” brown eyed boy grumbled. I hadn’t thought this far but I had the beginnings of something that would either be super cool, or the biggest failure in the history of camp. I pulled out my last arrow, it was a rope arrow. Thank Apollo, I thought. Without saying a word I shot it at an angle at Ayla; the arrow wrapped itself around her waist, almost pulling her out of the sky. Brown eyed kid seemed to be following my train of thought because he ran towards the closest kids near us and grabbed their shields. He threw one at me and stuffed the other under his foot. I stopped the shield with my foot, and gripped my bow better. 

“AYLA, FLY!” I screamed and she took off. The brown eyed kid grabbed onto the rope with his other hand and held the flag under his arm. 

We sped through the woods on shields, Ayla was going so fast that almost nothing could touch us. I’m sure we looked like a more badass version of the Three Stooges. She started laughing maniacally over the wind and we jumped a hill. Annabeth and the black haired kid (I’m pretty sure his name is Percy) were running back with our flag, thankfully they hadn’t made it back to their side yet. They ducked under us and gawked. Cheers erupted from the tree line where Ayla’s half brothers and sisters were gathering along with the Hephaestus kids. We were almost across when a wave knocked Ayla out of the sky, she hit the ground like a ton of bricks. 

“Connor! Go long!” he yelled and threw the flag like a spear. One of Ayla’s brothers broke off from the crowd and flew to meet the flag, pulling it over the line; the crowd cheered and lifted him up on their shoulders. With Ayla’s momentum and no one to steer, brown eyed kid and I rammed right into a tree. He turned around right before we hit and grabbed me, his back smacked into the tree hard, and my head smacked into his armor. We both crumpled to the ground, groaning. Will was already working on Ayla who had hit her head on a rock. A few of my other siblings ran over to brown eyed kid and I, healing us with no problem. I stood up and stuck out my hand to help him up, he took it gingerly. 

“That was quite the plan, Ruby,” he said and took off his helmet. For a moment I was overtaken with confusion but then I realized who he was. 

“You- you told Mrs. Johansson that I FAKED A PASS!” I yelled, poking a finger at his chest. Jackson Ryans stuck his hands in the air in surrender, though the grin on his face told me he was just getting started. 

“It was all part of the plan.”

“What plan?!” I demanded, only now realizing that he was a solid three inches taller than me. 

“To get you here of course, we needed an actual reason to get you here or else you wouldn’t believe us and someone kept telling the monsters off your scent,” he explained as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. That didn’t help the fact that I got a detention out of it and was benched for two basketball games. 

“He’s right, we did need a reason and Jackson volunteered to tattle on you,” Chiron said as he helped Ayla up off the ground. She brushed herself off quickly and thanked Will, who went to work on the others that were lying around groaning. 

“I was benched for two games because of him!” 

“Yeah, sorry about that one. That definitely wasn’t part of the plan,” Jackson said, scratching the back of his neck, still grinning. I wanted to smack him but Ayla led me away before I could, throwing me into a celebration that resulted in me, Ayla, Connor and Jackson on various peoples shoulders. Ayla and Connor start playing chicken, with two of the stockier Hephaestus kids. Slowly I realized that I was on an Ares kids shoulders, he was taking me toward their chicken game. Ayla punched me in the arm and Connor shoved my shoulder. 

“Hey! No tag teaming!” I laughed, shoving them back. Jackson came over and shoved them with me, together we pushed Ayla off the Hephaestus kids shoulders and then went to work on Connor. He gave up and flew off the kids shoulders. Jackson held his arms out for a hug, I was reluctant but it’s kinda hard to dismiss a hug that you’re forced into. Jackson’s brother moved so that he could pull me into him. 

“Okay okay, I forgive you… I guess,” I said so he’d let go of me. Did I actually forgive him? Not really; but something told me I’d have to or else this camp would be absolute hell.

[tanadidreamer]

Pretending

Notes: Rhys and Kayla belong to the wonderful @outcastcommander and this is a continuation of Come Back!

(((((((((()))))))))))))))

Jax’s good eye drifted open as he felt a familiar presence enter the makeshift medical tent to see Kayla moving towards him, which caused the teen to roll over onto his side with his back facing the older girl as he closed his eyes and pretend to be asleep.

“I know you’re awake, Jax.” Kayla said as she sat beside the cot. “What’s wrong? More migraines?”.

“Like you care!” Jax muttered as he glared at the tent wall. “I’m not an idiot, okay? Jordan was right, you just used me! Just like everybody else!”.

“Jax…..”.

Jax sat up and turned on her. “You abandoned me there, Kayla! For what, huh? A good meal and a warm bed? Some shiny coins?” Jax demanded as he attempted to shove her away, which just lead to him falling against her and tears brimmed his good eye.

“I…..I couldn’t be anywhere near my mother.” Kayla answered quietly as she actually hugged him as Jax noticed something off about her presence, there was somebody else here aside from Bralor, who was quietly observing from where he had been going over some paperwork. “I...It wasn’t safe, not for the….the baby.”.

“You’re……” Jax began to say. “That scary blond…..he’s the dad, isn’t he?”.

Kayla nods slightly as she rested her chin on his head. “I didn’t……”.

“You didn’t abandon me?” Jax asked quietly and hopefully as he leaned against her before something dawned on him. “W-what are we going to do? Your mama and my father both want to make you pay! What if they go after the baby to get to you? The Trues are probably going to cast us out too! What are we going to do!?”.

“Hey, shhh, shh, don’t get yourself worked up again.” Kayla muttered. “We’ll figure it out, okay? We always do, yeah?”.

“Like hell, I’ll let Jaster cast you two out.” Bralor said from his corner which startled Kayla and caused her to release Jax and shove him behind her with a snarl. “Relax, kiddo. I’m a neutral party, you two are staying where you are. Even if I have to sedate that farmboy.”.

“How much did you hear?” Kayla snapped back which caused Bralor to smile slightly. “Enough to see that you’re not entirely a coldhearted bitch, my dear.” Bralor answered as he tapped something on his datapad and walked over. “Might I ask how far along you are? What signs have you noticed so far?”.

“Morning sickness.” Kayla answered warily. “My mother was acting strange last time I saw her.”

Bralor hummed thoughtfully at that. “When was that?”.

“About eight weeks ago or so?”.

“I see, and she’s a full-blooded Cathar.” Bralor muttered as he tapped at the datapad. “I’m not going to ask about your, ah, relationship with Rhys. It’s blatantly obvious who’s the father. But I would like you to keep me posted, hybrid species such as yours are known to have various complications.”.

“Speaking from experience?”. “Ingrid Meek is a Zygerrian-Zabrak hybrid, the pregnancy was not easy on her mother at all. Izan Lok ended up losing his wife and child, he was a hybrid like you were but his wife was human, so yeah. Speaking from experience.” Bralor offered them both a soft smile. “But don’t you worry, I’m quite the miracle worker if I do say so myself. You’ll be just fine, kiddo.”.

“He’s not lying.” Jax muttered to his sister as he looked at Bralor warily and felt some weird mix of concern, fondness, and exasperation from the tired doctor. 

“Well, more like very hopeful. But you two can trust me, I did take an oath after all.”.

The two young exiles exchanged wary looks then looked towards the doctor who smiled in return.

(((())))))))

Myles quietly watched as certain warriors glared in his direction which caused him to glare right back at them, damn them and their stupid closeminded behavior. Myles knew his father had his secrets, hell, his mama had her own secrets, that’s how Clan Rau stayed on top of stuff, each member had to have their secrets to keep stuff going. Papa saw potential in Rhys for whatever reason that Myles wasn’t aware, and ancestors knew the old man had a thing with knowing stuff so what did he know about Kayla? Did he see potential in her like he did Rhys?

Then there was the Vizsla heir, that guy…..Myles had never seen somebody so terrified of anybody in his life, Vizsla was utterly convinced they were going to kill him on the spot just for being Force-sensitive.

“Rau!” Myles broke out of his thoughts as Rhys practically roared his surname, which sent a chill up his spine as the older teen moved towards him. Speaking of unexpected behavior.

“Everything alright, Rhys?” Myles asked calmly as he tried to smile at his best friend, only to wince as Rhys glared at him with cold, flat and dark eyes. “Have you lost your kriffing mind, Rau?” Rhys asked as he glared down at the shorter teen. “They’re both Death Watch! Kayla’s already proven she can’t be trusted!”.

“Kayla’s proven that there’s more to her than she seems.” Myles corrected as he raised an eyebrow at Rhys. “You didn’t seem to care what she was when you two were messing around with each other.”.

Without warning, Rhys lashed out by grabbing Myles by his collar and picked him up with ease. “You really need to learn to shut up, Myles.” Rhys snapped as he proceeds to throw Myles to the ground roughly. “Out of all the people I expected to be a Death Watch sympathizer, you’re the last person I expected to be one.”.

“What’s gotten into you? Rhys, I know you love her! And Vizsla, hell, did you see how he reacted to Jaster and Kayla?” Myles snapped back as he quickly stood and glared at the taller teen, as well as shifting his posture to dodge if need be. “He’s more scared of us than hostile!”. 

“I was an idiot to think she could actually change.”.

“How kriffing blind are you, Rhys? She has changed!” Myles pointed at him. “Are you that thickheaded not to see that you did that? She’s Death Watch born, Rhys, survival is a default setting! D’you honestly think she’d choose you over Vizsla?”.

“She….”.

“In all the time we’ve known her, I’ve never seen he that kind and gentle! Even with you!” Myles nod towards where Kaz had taken up camp. “It’s her brother, Rhys. Ancestors know I would do the same if I were in her position, I know you would too!”.

“She tried to kill Jaster!”.

“I’m not changing my mind, Rhys. I honestly don’t know what Papa saw in making you his successor if this is how you’re going to handle this!”.

“Oh, so is that why he’s missing now?”.

Myles tensed at that. “What do you mean by that?” The younger teen asked slowly.

“You heard me.” Rhys answered as he glared at Myles. “Where’s Cedric, Myles? How’d old Montross talk ya into offing your own father?”.

((((())))))

Nico scowled as he dragged Rhys away from Myles, who was being restrained by Alastair and Nina. “Get him out of here.” Nico told the preteen and teenager as he started to back up with Rhys. “Rhys, c’mon, it’s not worth it.”.

“Let go, Nico.” Rhys snapped back.

“He’s thirteen, Rhys. We both known thirteen-year-olds do stupid crud, you need to calm down.” Nico said as he continued to pull Rhys away. “I know you’re hurting but beating the hell out of Myles isn’t going to help, you’ll regret it later on.”.

“Back off, Nico. He started this!” Rhys snapped as he went to elbow Nico who dodged it and kept his grip.

“And I’m ending it, you’re the Cab’alor so start kriffing acting like it!” Nico snapped back as the younglings vanished out of sight. “I know you’re pissed off and hurt, mate, but taking it out on Myles ain’t gonna help. Hell, do you want Madam Rau to kill ya? She’s one scary bitch when she’s want to be, and hurting her kids brings that side out.”.

“Do you think I care? She’d side with me too!”.

“Would she?” Nico asked as he released Rhys and let the younger man turn on him. “Rhys, listen to yourself! That kid looks up to you as a mentor! Clan Rau does shit like this all the time, we may not agree but they always have their…..”.

Without warning, Nico was cut off by a quick, but painful sucker punch that decked him. “Y’know, for somebody who’s supposedly mute, you sure like to talk a lot.” Rhys snipped as he looked down at Nico coldly. “Hell, are you adopted or something? Every Mereel here is against this except you!”. “My uncle….”.

“He’s just making Bralor happy, you know how vicious that man can be.”.

Nico sighed as he sat up and wiped at his nose, duly noting the blood on his hand. “That better?” Nico asked as he went to pick himself up and just looked at Rhys coolly. “Because the first shot was free, next time I’ll return the favor.”.

Nico really had no problems admitting he preferred talking over fighting, but he was no pushover either. Rhys could be like this with anybody else but Nico didn’t appreciate it one bit and he glared at the younger man who snarled at him.

“Listen, I might not like Kayla being here but what about that kid, Rhys? What were we supposed to do? Hand him back over to Tor to become manda knows what?” Nico proceeds to question as he stepped away from Rhys. “So, tell me, Cab’alor, what would Cedric do? You…..”. Nico stepped to the side as Rhys went to punch him again and stook his foot out to send the asshole stumbling a couple of steps. “You really aren’t listening, are you?!” Rhys snapped back. “Kayla….” “Broke your heart and Myles was doing what his daddy would’ve wanted so you tried to beat him up.” Nico chimed in as he frowned at Rhys. “Mate, you are a strange one. The Rhys I thought I knew would’ve probably tried to help calm that kid down, understood why Kayla did what she did, but this? Who are you, Rhys?”.

“I could ask you the same, Nico.” Rhys snapped as he tackled Nico to the ground with a clash of metal and a snarl from both young men.

[stygianking]

EVENT: SUBVERSION

HISTORY.

in this au, nico’s circumstances aren’t actually that different to what they are in canon-- with all the demigod and greek god stuff removed, his father hades is instead the boss of one of three major corporations in isola-- the other two being run by zeus and poseidon respectively, making them the big three. the three major corporations are rivals that most definitely sort things out through less than legal means (see: mafia), but for the most part they’re about as benevolent as it gets for... mafia groups that hold too much power, legally and otherwise.

that being said-- a little under a decade ago, hades did something to tick zeus off, so he called a hit on hades’s family, the biggest casualty being maria di angelo, his wife and the mother to nico and bianca. however, nico and bianca were declared dead as well, and hades sent his children away to protect them from zeus’s hitmen from finishing the job once they figured out that the children survived. for years, nico and bianca lived instead in one of their father’s casinos in the golden ward, the lotus hotel & casino, cared for by the staff and rarely (if ever) visited by their distant father.

eventually, however, almost five years ago-- when nico was ten-- an altercation happened which resulted in bianca’s violent death, leaving nico stranded and without a family. this was not long after they’d run away from the casino, equally fed up with not living a real life-- and after bianca died, nico never went back.

he was picked up by the authorities, eventually-- and he was stuffed into an orphanage, where plenty of eager-eyed parents hoping to ‘fix’ him ogled him every time they passed. after the first foster family, nico ran away again-- and more than once, the authorities tried to drag him back, but nico always found a way to get away eventually. he’s been homeless for the better part of the last five years, with his fifteenth birthday looming on the horizon. he hasn’t attended school since he was ten, and instead bums around performing petty crimes on the streets of isola to survive, refusing to accept help and scrutinizing anyone who bothers to try anyway.

PERSONALITY.

nico is noticeably more rough-and-tumble than his canon counterpart, partially because of his general bitter outlook on life (and towards other people), and because of the fact that in this verse, he never got the outlet to take his frustrations out on and begin to heal from the pain (killing monsters, raising the dead, etc) like he did in canon. unfortunately, all that pain has followed him into puberty... so he’s a lot more emo than even before, if that’s possible when you take away his death powers, lmao.

that being said, he’s also a lot less trusting-- he never fully understood the nature of his dad’s job (and still doesn’t, not really; it’s all very hush hush), but he does know well enough that there are people out there looking to hurt him, and that he’s lost most of his family to that unknown negative force. this makes him extremely suspicious towards almost all other people, with very, very few exceptions.

he’s also still very much in the closet, unfortunately. nico hasn’t had the chance to really come to terms with his sexuality, either, so that’s a major point of contention in the tumultuous brew of pain, trauma, and teenage angst he’s going on in that lil’ heart of his. he still has adhd and dyslexia, too-- and he’s still fluent in english, greek, and italian, with his father (hades) being greek and his mother (maria) being greek and italian respectively.

basically, if “KNIFE” was a personality trait, that’d be subversion!nico. (yes, he does have a knife.)

WHEREABOUTS.

nico tends to spend most of his time in the golden ward, although he hates it-- he avoids the flashiest areas like the plague (mostly because of his father), and mostly only stays in the golden ward because of his best friend, allen. being a homeless kid bumming around on the streets, it’s a miracle he stays clean, and he still frequents mcdonalds the most over all other food options because no matter what verse it is, nico loves mcdonalds most. (also, it’s cheap.)

he’s far more prone to petty crimes, however, and steals food and supplies from stores on a regular basis. he’s also fond of painting murals on the walls of isola-- especially on the police precinct, much to the chagrin of a certain police captain-- as a way to kill time when he isn’t following allen around. he’s pretty fond of the fibonacci ward, as this verse of nico actually grew up with technology (and he’s pretty good at it!), so it calls to him often.

he still bums around in cemeteries though. he hangs out around a lot of not living things (technology, cemeteries, deserted areas) as a fun call-back to his canon verse. i also like to think he’s a lot more of a rowdy kid, since i like to think he’s still wired for Battle, but he doesn’t have the same outlet to get that rowdiness out as he does in canon (killing monsters, training with the undead, etc...) so he’s got a lot of pent up energy. so if you’re down to fight, he’ll fight.

PLOTTING.

i would love to establish stuff beforehand for nico and other muses, but fresh meetings are cool too! especially for other kids or people who might know him from when he was in and out of foster homes and sporadically attending school-- but i’d also love to see some people who know him from his delinquent shit as well, i think that’d be super fun. if you’re interested, just hit me up! we can try to figure something out :3c

[taxesdeathtrouble]

past Saturday night

so this is my unedited gertchase fic that i’ve been working on the past couple days because i’m obsessed

~3000 words

the title’s from Etta James’ ‘Sunday kind of love’

enjoy!

1. Its after a meeting when he realizes. The six of them are sitting in a circle at Timely trying to make a decision for once, arguing over who's house to go to first to look for a book they'd heard their parents talking about.

"Okay, how about we split into groups of two, check three houses, then get back together to check mine and Karolina's houses?"

Everyone nods, and Alex continues, "Okay, so Nico and I will go to her house, Karolina and Molly will go to Molly's, and Gert and Chase will go to his house. Set? Okay, let's go." Karolina stares after Nico as she leaves, only looking away when Molly nudges her shoulder. God, Chase is so glad he backed off; it clearly was never going to go anywhere.

Gert stands up, and of course he follows her out they get to their cars, then pause.

"Your car or mine?" Chase shouldn't blush, because that does not sound dirty, why did he even think that, what the hell.

"Uh, if you think I'm passing up a chance to ride in the fanciest sports car of the century, you are sadly mistaken, my friend."

Friend. That sounds nice. He wishes he'd never said that they weren't. He wishes that he wasn't so fucking stupid.

Because that's what he is, right? He can design gloves that shoot fire but not know when a girl isn't into him, not know how to deal with how he feels about his father, not know how to deal with liking Gert.

Woah, WHAT?

The wheel jerks in his hands, almost sending them off the road, and he decides to focus on driving instead of this- this revelation.

"Dude, be careful. Jeez, Karolina is a better driver than you."

Oh right, Gert is in the car with him. Shit. Can't he deal with his feelings in peace? He keeps his eyes on the road, determined not to look at her, her soft face and gorgeous hair that always looks good- he has to take fifteen minutes every morning to get his hair to look marginally fine, and she pulls a hairbrush through it and she looks like she just stepped off a Pantene commercial set. It's unfair, is what it is.

"Hey, I resent that." Okay, this is good. Playful banter is good. Not revealing just discovered feelings is good.

"Why? Don't you think she's perfect or something?" Oh, shit. Chase wishes he had spidey sense like that vigilante up in New York, then he'd know when he was about to get caught in a complicated bit of conversation.

"Not really. We're friends, you know? And I mean, Karolina is great, and everything, but.....I don't feel that way about her. At least, not anymore."

"Oh."

Yes, oh.

2. Chase doesn't like the way Gert makes his heart feel. The record speed pounding whenever they're alone, the way it feels like his heart is being squeezed too tight whenever he sees her with someone else.....it's almost physically painful.

Like right now. They're at Timely, helping each with homework, and she's flirting with some floppy haired barista while she waits for their drinks (sugar hopped coffee for her, decaf for him), which she'd decided would be a good incentive for him to work on his Spanish. She'd told him to look over his notes while she grabbed the coffee, but he couldn't bring himself to focus. Like, at all. He's pretty sure he hasn't taken his eyes off Gert since she got up from the chair across from him.

Predictably, as soon as she starting talking to the barista, Chase's heart started up the oh-so painful squeezing. And really, he could just look away. But she's just so bright. Smiling and talking and being  so irreplaceably Gert that he doesn't even care that it's not directed at him. Except, that's stupid, because of course he does. He's green eyed monster levels of jealous. If Gert were talking to him instead of that dumb barista and also could read his mind she'd probably say that that's his teenage boy brain talking. But whatever, Chase is actually a teenage boy, so, suck it.

Upon realizing that he's pseudo-arguing with Gert in his head when she is literally, actually, ten feet away from him, Chase gets up and walks over, plucking his drink out of her hand, and takes a sip.

"So I was totally hyped to see it , then- Chase. I was just about to come back to our table, you could have waited another minute."

"Yes, but then I wouldn't have this sweet, sweet coffee in my hands. Also, I accidentally took yours and that is a lot of sugar."

She snatches it back and hands him his coffee, giving him her patented 'you're a dummy but you're being really cute about it' look. At least, that's what he hopes it means.

The barista catches his eye, and, dejectedly, goes to serve a customer.

3. Gert has never looked more stunning in her entire life, Chase is sure of it.

She's walking down the aisle, the train of her dress trailing behind her, and she's positively glowing. He can see her hands shake as they clutch the yellow rose bouquet- Karolina had said that yellow represents eternal happiness, or something, so they'd gone with that.

All their friends are seated in the pews, dressed in their Sunday best for the (secretly named by Chase) Best Wedding Of All Time. Nico even wore a colour other than black, though Karolina had had to wager something to do so- Chase still isn't sure what.

She's in front of him, now, and the ceremony starts. They'd asked Alex to do the ceremony only a few weeks before the wedding (poor planning) but at least he was, for some reason, already ordained at 23 years old. He's ridiculously emotional all the way through, and so is Gert, in that way where she's trying really hard not to be too sappy. Chase already is too sappy, but he doesn't care; His vows dive deep into that sappiness, actually, and hers aren't much past it. Chase isn't sure when he started crying, but he just can't seem to stop.

He's so unbelievably happy.

And then he wakes up.

He wipes the tears away, and grabs his phone. 4: 23 AM. Dammit. He really needs to stop this. Since he'd had his World's Biggest Dumbass moment a few weeks ago and realized just how much he likes Gert, he's been having this same dream every night, with more details added on every time he falls asleep like a twenty car pileup of 'I have feelings for Gertrude Yorkes'.

He considers calling her, just to get her voice out of his head, but it's past four in the morning, there's no possible way that she's awake, and calling would just piss her off.

But then she's calling him, which is so unprecedented that he almost forgets to pick up the phone. He does pick up, though, because he does have a few brain cells still alive up there.

"Did you know that Molly has started making a harness for my dinosaur?" he can only kind of see Gert in the dark of her room on the video call, but her voice is somehow jittery and dead tired all at once.

"What, really?"

"Yeah, she wants to ride her. For fun. Ugh, sisters."

Chase stifles a laugh, and lets her go on about an argument they'd had today. He's glad he doesn't have a light on, or he's sure that he'd look ridiculously heartsick.

"Yeah, so Molly really wants to go see it, but I told her sitting in a dark theatre for a couple of hours just the two of us would turn us into sitting ducks, and she said not to overthink, but-"

"You're overthinking it?"

"Yes! And it's totally unlike me to be so paranoid, but after what happened with Alex....."

"No, I get it. If you want......I could go with you? To the movie? If it would make you feel better." Oh Jesus. Did he really just do that? Oh Jesus.

"Yeah, it would make me feel better, actually. Safety in numbers and all that, right?"

"Right." Oh god.

"Wait, Chase. What time is it?"

"About 4:40? Why?"

"Wow, my insomnia reaches new heights. Sorry for waking you up."

"you didn't, I was already awake."

"Bad dream?"

"More like complicated dream." She makes a questioning noise, and he realizes that he probably shouldn't have said that. Gert is definitely going to want to know what he's talking about.

"Uhmm, I should go, gotta get some semblance of sleep, bye Gert!"

And then he hangs up. Phew. That was close.

4. The movie theatre is dark, and kind of crowded. Gert is sitting in between him and Molly, who is watching the movie avidly. It's some overcomplicated horror movie that neither he nor Gert has been able to pay attention to. They've been quietly throwing popcorn at each other since the movie started.

"Guys," Molly whispers when a piece of popcorn hits her, "Pay attention!"

They turn back to the movie, a little guiltily, and attempt to follow the plot.

Ten minutes later, Chase yawns and stretches his arm back, back, back over the top of Gert's seat. It's, to be honest, the cheesiest thing he's ever done. Gert's shoulders tense, then she leans against him, just a little, and it makes him want to jump for joy.

He catches Molly's eye over Gert's head, and sees she's trying not laugh. Like, really trying (It's not working very well). He glares at her, tries to be intimidating as possible, but she's still giggling. Whatever.

He moves his hand, minutely, up and down her shoulder. If this was literally any other girl he would have kissed her by now. Gotten it over with, been together.

But she's not any other girl. She's Gert. Gert, with the opinions and snark and her own unique brand of perfect that Chase still hasn't figured out how not to be affected by.

He can't just make out with her, out of the blue and unprecedented. He has to let it build, let them get closer and closer, before he asks her quietly, softly, when they're all alone, if he can kiss her.

He knows that that's sappy, to plan out how he wants to ask her out (if he ever does),  but he really can't bring himself to care. He wants to have a plan, it helps him compartmentalize how he feels. Although that's probably not healthy, to be honest......

"Hey, are you okay?" Gert whispers. She looks concerned.

"Um, yeah, yes. I am. Why?"

She reaches up and softly smoothes her thumb over the crease between his eyebrows; His eyes fall closed.

She pulls back her hand, seeming to realize what she's doing.

"You looked worried, that's all."

5. "How long have you liked Gert, again?"

"About two months- wait, Jesus. I didn't mean to tell you that."

Karolina laughs. "Which is why I tried to catch you off guard with it. It's okay, though. I'm not going to tell her, though I do think you should." they're drinking together on Karolina's terrace, a break from all that's been going on. Unhealthy coping mechanisms for the win!

"Oh, no-o way. Nuh-uh. Not a chance. If I tell her, and she doesn't like me back, which she won't, because she at most only finds me attractive and thats it, it will ruin our friendship, which I don't want to do because then the group might get messed up, which we can't afford, because our parents are fucking murderers! Yeah!" he takes another big swig of vodka, and she follows his lead, though she chugs more than sips because she's drinking rosé in a can, the genius.

Karolina, bless her, moves past his mini meltdown to say, "Oh, she finds you attractive? And you noticed?  Where was this observant Chase Stein when you were convinced you were into me?" she nudges him, teasing. She's definitely tipsy, sober Karolina is too sincere about things to make fun of anyone.

"Where was he when I kissed you? Jesus, I was dumb."

"True, so true." they clink their drinks together in camaraderie.

"Hey."

"Hey, what?"

"You should call her." for a girl that looks so angelic, Karolina sure does have a devil's smile.

"No, I should not."

"Yes, you should, but if you won't, I will!"

She pulls out her phone, tugging off her bracelet and shooting into the sky before he can grab the phone from her.

She lies horizontal, three feet above him at standing height, just out of his reach.

"Gertie!! Hi, sweet cheeks, how you doing?"

"Uh, well, you're drunk calling me at 1 AM so..." oh Jesus, she put her on speakerphone.

"Karolina, oh my god, hang up!"

"Not until you talk to her!" he's trying to grab at her sweater and pull her down but it is Not Working.

"Is that Chase?" her voice is sort of crinkly through the phone, but it's definitely her. Chase doesn't have enough luck for Karolina to call the wrong number.

He sits down again. He's not going to get her to come down, and the alcohol is starting to make him dizzy.

"Yes! Here, talk to him."

"Oh my god, Karolina, what the shit!" he says as he sprints to catch the phone before it smashes on the ground into a million pieces.

"Heyyy, Gert."

"Hi? What was that?"

"Karolina just yote her phone at me and I had to go catch it."

"Did you just use 'yeet' in the past tense?"

"....Yes." he's drunker than he thought he was, Jesus.

"Do you need a ride or something or am I just Karolina's drunk dial?"

"He needs a ride!" Karolina says, swooping down and practically yelling into his ear.

"Jesus, Karolina, way to give me a heart attack."

"Oh, you poor, poor, baby. Anyways, Gert, yes, he would like a ride. It's late, anyways. We're at my house, see you then!"

And then she hangs up.

"What, pray tell, the fuck, Karolina."

Gert gets to the house 20 minutes later, parking in her parents beat up monstrosity.

"And that's my cue," Karolina says, getting up, "Bye, Gert! See ya later!"

Gert sits down next to him and pushes a bottle of water into his hands.

"So vodka, huh? I always thought you were more of a scotch kind of guy." she says as he swallows it down.

He puts the now half empty bottle aside and says, "I am, but I can't drink scotch out of the bottle without making a face. Vodka, though, I have perfected my reaction too, so I can drink and still look cool."

"Chase, dude, never once has anyone thought you cool. Come on, let's go."

"Okay, but I want you to know that what you just said was offensive and hurt my feelings. You're going to have fight for my forgiveness."

"I'm making sure you don't walk home, isn't that enough?"

"Hmm, maybe."

They drive in relative silence, save for bursts of quiet banter. When they reach his house, he grabs her hand and thanks her.

"It was really nice of you, you're so nice, thanks again." (he's still kind of drunk.)

And then, he does the unthinkable.

He leans in, slowly, and presses his lips to hers, softly, a whisper of a touch.

But he still kissed her.

He's halfway up the drive before he realizes what he's done.

+1. He wakes up the next morning and promptly freaks the fuck out.

Well, actually, untrue. First he takes an aspirin for his hangover. Then he freaks out.

Because, really, what was he thinking? He had a plan. He had a  specific way he wanted to do that. And then he went and just kissed her, out of the blue, unprecedented, exactly the way he hadn't wanted to do it.

She definitely knew he liked her, now.

Monday he goes out of his way to avoid her, even though he shouldn't. He makes sure he doesn't cross paths with her, and he makes it until he gets pulled into a broom closet on the way to fourth period.

"What the- Oh. Hey, Gert."

"......Hi." she's fiddling with the hem of her shirt, like she always does when she's nervous.

"Um, Gert. I want to apologize. What I did Saturday night....that wasn't okay. I shouldn't have kissed you out of the blue like that," he had a plan, "It's okay if you don't want to talk to me for a while, I guess."

She looks down, shoulders hunched. He wishes he wasn't responsible for her acting this way, wishes she wasn't upset.

"You know, in case my feelings for you make you.....uncomfortable, or whatever." Chase leans against the door, getting ready to flee the scene and recuperate on Mars, or something.

"Woah, you actually have feelings for me? Shit, I totally thought you were messing with me or you were just too drunk, or whatever-" He reaches out and squeezes her arm.

"Gert. You're literally the coolest, most unique girl I've ever met. I think you're gorgeous and smart and awesome and way too good for me. But I," he pulls back, "I get that you don't feel that way, and I'll back off. I promise."

"Well, you....you shouldn't."

And then she kisses him.

It's not perfect. It's a little messy, and he has to lean down so she isn't on her tiptoes. But then he changes the angle, and her hand goes in his hair as he wraps his arms around her.

They miss fourth period. Chase can't say he cares much, though.

FIN

[dotshiiki]

CoL, chpt 2

Okay, so I meant to post this yesterday but it took longer than I expected to get the content page and first chapter up and of course this HAS to be the week where I also have to pack for an upcoming trip and rehearse a presentation for said trip AND three meetings ... But I’ve got my CoL files on my USB stick now so I’ll duck in at lunch time and post another chapter then so I can get up to three today! Thanks to all of you who have checked this out! And feel free to send me an ask any time, I love hearing from readers! :)

II: NICO

Nico was used to the Underworld.

The first time he had entered it had been from the Labyrinth, while running from Camp Half-Blood after his sister Bianca had died. The dark caverns and twisting tunnels had seemed scary to him at the time, but he'd since grown accustomed to navigating his way around them. He knew what paths to take—and more importantly, which to avoid. Even as the son of Hades, there were places in the Underworld where he wasn't meant to go. He'd learned that the hard way.

Over time, he'd also learned of the various entrances from the mortal world: Charon's passage in Los Angeles, Orpheus's door in New York's Central Park, the roving Doors of Death that Thanatos used as his personal gateway. Nico didn't need any of them now, though. Shadow travel was convenient that way. He simply melted into darkness and was transported like a speeding bullet through cold, empty space until he popped out at his destination.

Just one of the perks of being a child of the Underworld.

The only problem was, hitting a precise location in the Underworld was always a tricky business. Although Nico could manage a shadow-jump into the Underworld from anywhere in the upper world, he couldn't always pinpoint where he'd end up when he arrived.

This time, he found himself on the banks of the River Styx. He could hear the deep baritone of Charon the ferryman drifting along upriver, humming that god-awful easy listening music he favoured. The barge was approaching, probably with a full load of newly-dead souls. Nico could feel their presence closing in, clamouring for attention. The recently-deceased tended to be like that: terrified and hungry for reassurance, still clinging to the identities they had held in life. If he listened hard, Nico could sense each one of them—the octogenarian who had passed away in his sleep, the car crash victim whose life support had been turned off, the teenager who had ingested a full bottle of Valium, and many others.

Percy wasn't among them—yet, Nico reminded himself. He turned away from the river and made his way up the shore of black sand, climbing the familiar winding path to the gates of Erebus. The checkpoints were running smoothly today, with the regular lanes moving along almost as quickly as the EZ Death line that went straight to Asphodel. Cerberus gave Nico a hopeful look when he passed through, but Nico shook his head at the enormous, three-headed Rottweiler.

'Not today, old friend,' he said. 'I'm in a hurry.'

He sped up through the Fields of Asphodel, which was easy since the vacuous, chittering spirits there parted before him as always. He usually took the path straight to his father's palace on the south-eastern edge, but this time he turned off towards the left, cutting a trail between the Fields of Punishment and the gated community of Elysium.

The first time he'd ever visited the River Lethe, he'd trudged all the way through the Fields of Punishment to where it was a rushing river gorge cutting through the upper rim of his father's kingdom. Fortunately, he knew enough of the Underworld geography now that he could take a more direct route to where the Lethe snaked down past the Cave of Hypnos to flow more sluggishly across the outskirts of Elysium. It would probably have been a nicer stroll through Elysium to get here, but Nico didn't have time to submit to the stringent security checks at the gates. Even the son of Hades was subject to a thorough frisking at the gates of the most secure community in the Underworld.

Near the river's source in the volcanic mountains, the Lethe was a cascade of violent black water bubbling up from Tartarus, but here on the lower marshes, its colour lightened considerably to a dull grey. Outside the eastern gate of Elysium, a group of souls formed a line along the river to get their drink before reincarnation. One by one they knelt on the river bank and plunged their heads into the lazy river. When they emerged, their ghostly faces looked perfectly serene. The cleansed spirits flickered in the dim light of the Underworld caverns and then disappeared, presumably sent to be reborn into their new mortal lives.

Nico picked a spot a short way upriver from the queueing souls. He approached the banks and then he realised the snag in his plan. He had no jug or goblet or canister with him. In his haste to get here, he had completely forgotten about how he was going to transport the stuff back to the mortal world.

He let out a groan. It seemed he would have to visit his father's palace after all. Did his father even have containers in his palace? Nico wasn't sure. For obvious reasons, he never actually ate or drank anything when he visited.

Nico was about to turn and follow the path back to the palace when a voice hailed him.

'Di Angelo!'

He spun around. A girl with short, spiky black hair and a glowing silver bow slung over her back was walking up to him. There was a delicate silver circlet on her head that clashed badly with the rest of her outfit: a leather jacket adorned with rock band buttons, frayed black jeans, heavy boots, and a black t-shirt with the outline of a deer in the centre. She looked around his age—fifteen or sixteen—but Nico knew she was in fact much older than that. Thalia, the daughter of Zeus, had been that age when he'd first met her five years ago.

In her hands, she carried a bronze stamnos—a squat, circular Greek jar with two stubby handles high up on its sides. It was about half a foot in diameter and just as tall.

'Needing one of these?' said Thalia.

'What are you doing here?'

Thalia raised an eyebrow. 'Annabeth sent an Iris-message. I came to help.'

Nico scowled. 'I don't need help,' he muttered, even though her appearance with the stamnos was fortuitous. He had nothing specifically against Thalia—he didn't even know her all that well—but she led the Hunters of Artemis. He still found it hard not to hold a grudge against the band of immortal girls who had stolen his sister from him and then gotten her killed.

Yeah, okay, so it had been five years ago. But he was a son of Hades. Bearing grudges was his birthright.

'Aren't you forbidden to help boys, anyway?'

Thalia set the stamnos on the bank. 'Percy's a special case,' she admitted. 'Even Artemis has a soft spot for him. And I can see just how much help you don’t need,' she added dryly. 'I'm sure your bare hands would have been the perfect vessel to bring back some liquid Lethe. Super plan, down to the part where you'd definitely remember where you wanted to bring it.'

Nico ignored her sarcasm. 'How did you get here anyway?'

'You think you're the only one who knows about the door in Central Park? And I've been to the Underworld before, you know. It's not even my first time at the Lethe.'

Nico had almost forgotten that Thalia had been with him and Percy on that quest. They'd fought a Titan several miles upriver from this spot and ended up wiping his memories in the Lethe.

Maybe Thalia was thinking about that, too, because she asked, quietly, 'Are you sure about this, Nico?'

'No,' he admitted. 'But it's the only answer I have.'

'Well, let's get ourselves some Lethe water, then.'

Thalia took one handle of the stamnos and motioned for Nico to take the other. Nico was a bit disgruntled at how bossy she was, but it also reminded him slightly of Bianca. Together, they picked up the stamnos and tilted it to scoop up some river water.

'Just what do the two of you think you're doing?'

Nico and Thalia almost dropped the stamnos. They staggered back from the river bank as the ghostly form of a svelte young woman rose out of the water and hovered inches above its surface.

Nico thought at first she was an Underworld soul, one of the group from Elysium heading for rebirth, but she grew more solid as she surveyed them with her arms crossed. Her skin was milky white, which made her look like a marble statue not unlike the sculptures that sprung up every ten feet along the main avenue of New Rome. Except that the contours of her body remained undefined, as if she hadn't finished forming from smoke. Her black dress rippled like waves were moving across its folds. Dark, misty images flashed across the fabric and were absorbed into the creases. Somehow, Nico knew they were all memories, millions of them submerging into the water.

'You're—'

'The goddess Lethe, of course,' she said, looking put out. 'You're taking my waters and you don't even think to ask?'

'We didn't think—' Thalia stammered. 'I mean, we didn't know you—'

'Everyone forgets about me!' Lethe pouted. 'Just because I'm not as fiery as Phlegethon, or as whiny as Cocytus. Is that why? I'm just as powerful as them! More, even—none of them have the power to cleanse the mind of everything.'

'Um, maybe it's because you're the river of forgetfulness,' Thalia ventured. 'That might be why people—er—forget.'

Lethe nodded. 'I am, aren't I?' She trailed the hazy edge of her dress along the water's surface. When she looked up again, her brow was furrowed. 'What was I saying again?'

'You were giving us some water,' Nico said quickly.

Lethe stared at the stamnos. 'Was I?'

'Sure you were!' Thalia said. 'We're just going to get it and be on our way…'

'I don't know,' said Lethe. 'That's high irregular. In fact, I think drinks have to be consumed in-house. I don't do to-go. At least,' she pondered this for a while, 'I don't think I do?'

'Oh, but it'd be great for business,' Thalia said. 'I mean, all the best restaurants have take-away. How else would you make sure people remember you if they don't get to try your products?'

Lethe tapped her chin. 'It's true, I hardly get up to the mortal world. Acheron totally has a monopoly on those streams…and really, I am more powerful, you know. What's Acheron got? Only pain. That's so overdone. Tell me, what other rivers have the power to erase everything? To cleanse the mind and soul completely? Pain, suffering, despair—bah! I can erase all of that!'

Nico leaned forward eagerly. 'Can you heal the mind, then? I mean, if your waters can take away pain and suffering…'

'Of course! What bit of cleansing the mind don't you understand?'

Nico looked at Thalia. This seemed like confirmation that they had hit on the right solution. All they needed now was to actually get the water.

'Wait.' Lethe looked at Nico suspiciously. 'You've been here before, haven't you? You've tried the Lethe treatment?'

'Um, sort of,' Thalia said. 'We've been here. But you didn't appear to us. And we definitely didn't touch the water.'

'Well, maybe not you,' Lethe said. 'But you.' She looked directly at Nico and frowned. 'Ugh, why can't I remember?' She stamped her foot. Nico and Thalia had to jump back to avoid being splashed. 'Hmph. Well, maybe I can't remember, but I can feel it.' She sniffed at Nico. 'You have my mark. The Curse of Lethe.'

'Nico, what's she talking about?'

'It was…before,' Nico muttered. 'Before the Lotus Casino. My father had Bianca and me dunked in the Lethe after our mom died.'

Thalia looked confused. 'But Bianca…she remembered stuff—'

Lethe interrupted. 'I knew it! Though I suppose if you only got dunked…it's not as effective if you don't actually drink, you know. Oh, the memory loss is powerful, of course, but the mind isn't cleaned out. The memories aren't actually dissolved. They can come back, given the right…well, prodding, I suppose.' Lethe scratched her head. 'Hmm. Why am I telling you this again?'

The conversation was making Nico's head spin a little. 'Never mind why. You were saying—it's different if you drink?'

'Well, yes. Souls have to drink. That's the rule—no drink, no rebirth. Can't have people bringing any part of their old lives with them, after all. Drinking cleanses everything: mind and soul. Memories aren't just in the mind, after all. The most important ones, they live in the soul. And I have the power to absorb that—dissolve the core of someone's identity.'

'Is it all in the water, then?' Thalia asked, looking into the murky depths of the river with interest. 'Is that how you get it back?'

Lethe threw her an irritated glance. 'Haven't you been listening, girl? If you drink, there's no getting them back. My waters flow all the way to Tartarus, and beyond that, into the depths of Chaos. That's where everything that is lost goes, in the end. And good luck retrieving anything from that pit.'

'But if you don't drink—say, you just…took a dip,' Nico pressed.

'Ah, like you did, I suppose? You'll still lose your memories. But like I said…hm, or did I? Anyway, you'd forget everything, but your soul would be intact. You could restore your memories, but it's extremely hard.'

'But not impossible,' Thalia said, looking relieved. 'That's great.'

'Not if he has to drink the water to be cured,' Nico reminded her.

'So…what was it you wanted again? Are you after getting your memory back? There's someone else who does that…starts with an "M"…' Lethe rolled her eyes Olympus-ward and stamped her foot again. 'Ugh, why can't I remember?'

'Mnemosyne?' Thalia supplied.

'Maybe. Why do you ask, anyway?'

This conversation was going round in circles. Nico cut in. 'Look, we just need to fill this jar so we can save a life. That okay with you?'

Lethe shrugged. 'Why didn't you say so in the first place?'

She held out her hands for the stamnos. Thalia looked like she was trying not to roll her eyes as they hefted the jar into Lethe's arms.

The murky grey water turned milky white when Lethe scooped it up. She set the filled stamnos down on the river bank. Thalia produced a lid from her pocket and capped it. Nico plucked a leaf from a random plant and carefully wiped off the stray droplets rolling down the side of the jar.

'Easy peasy,' Lethe said. 'Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to…hm, I've forgotten.'

Nico and Thalia didn't wait for her to continue. Lifting the stamnos between them, they hurried off before Lethe could start questioning them again.

'Thanks for the jar,' Nico said when they reached the main path, which was lined with towering oaks that cast long shadows across the ground. One thing about the Underworld—there was never a shortage of shadows. 'I'm going to shadow travel back, so—'

'Can you take me along?' Thalia asked.

Nico had kind of imagined Thalia would leave the same way she'd come, probably going back to New York or wherever the Hunters were right now. He didn't really know what the rules were with them. He always avoided anything to do with the whole group as much as possible.

But Thalia was Percy's friend, too.

'Hold the jar,' he told her. 'Make sure that lid's really tight.'

He took her arm and they slipped into darkness.

OoOoO

Nico stumbled when he landed himself and Thalia back in the infirmary of Camp Jupiter. The stamnos landed on the ground with a loud thud, but fortunately Thalia's grip on the lid was firm. The liquid Lethe stayed safely inside.

'Huh—what—I'm awake, sir!' Clovis, who must have been snoozing again, leapt out of his chair and smacked his head against the elbow of a tall, broad-shouldered Chinese dude.

In the time Nico had been gone, two more demigods had joined the worried circle around Percy, making the infirmary seem a lot more crowded. Or maybe it was just that one of them was Frank Zhang, the bulky Praetor of the Twelfth Legion, who was big enough for two people.

The other was Nico's sister Hazel, who must have sorted out the shape-shifting demon horse that Annabeth had handed off to them. She and Frank were holding hands—hers was so tiny, it disappeared completely in his grasp.

Thalia went straight to Annabeth and hugged her tightly. Annabeth returned the hug in a distracted sort of way. She had been sitting by Percy's bedside with a book open in her lap, gently stroking his hair. There were tear streaks on her cheeks that she hadn't bothered to wipe off. Nico wasn't sure she was even aware of them.

Will caught Nico's eye and mouthed, Gatorade.

I'm fine, Nico mouthed back, although his legs felt a little shaky after his second shadow travel.

Will gave him a stern look and jerked his head towards a side table where he'd already laid out the sports drink.

Nico rolled his eyes, but a secret part of him sort of enjoyed Will's fussing. Not that he'd ever admit it.

At least his boyfriend wasn't being obtrusive about it. Nico drank the Gatorade and felt the energy trickle back into his limbs.

'How does this go, then?' Hazel asked. She eyed the stamnos warily, as if it were another demon horse that might change shape and start spewing its contents at them. 'He has to drink it?'

Thalia looked at Annabeth sadly. 'The healing power comes from drinking. But the memory loss is irreversible.'

'Actually,' Will gestured at the book on Annabeth's lap, 'we were doing some research while you guys were gone.'

Annabeth held up the book and nodded. 'I asked Reyna and she found me this from the Senate library. Turns out the Lethe has been used in potions before: the nepenthe.'

'The drug of forgetfulness,' Will translated. 'Helen of Troy gave it to Odysseus's son to ease his suffering. We just need to add a drop of Lethe to a cup of nectar.'

Hazel looked at them dubiously. 'How is that different? It's still the Lethe. Does diluting it even help?'

'And will it be strong enough?' Frank added. 'I mean, that's a pretty big nectar to Lethe ratio. How much Lethe does he actually have to ingest? There's probably a limit to how much nectar he can take, right?'

'I don't know,' said Annabeth. 'But the records mention that the drinkers had temporary memory loss after drinking. We thought…well, we hoped it would at least give him a chance.'

'A chance is better than nothing,' Thalia said firmly.

Will nodded. 'I think our best shot is to start with the base recipe and monitor him. I can slowly up the concentration of Lethe if it doesn't seem to be working.'

'Can he even drink? Or do you have to, like, IV-it into him?' Frank asked.

They all looked at Percy's comatose form. Will frowned and scratched his head.

'IV is probably the way to go,' he admitted. 'Do you guys have anything for that set up?'

Frank got to his feet. 'The university will have something. I'll go.'

'Hurry back,' Will warned. 'I feel…well, I don't think he has much time.' He gave Nico a significant look.

Nico knew what he meant. He'd always been able to sense when death was imminent, and he could feel that aura thickening around Percy, a cloying layer of smog that was almost tangible. Soon it would start to vibrate with the buzz that alerted the god of death that there was a soul to be collected. Nico didn't think Will had the same ability, but he was probably getting a corresponding message through his healer senses.

Hazel put her hand on Frank's arm. 'Let me go, then,' she said. 'I'll be faster.'

Nico raised an eyebrow when he realised what she was intending to do. 'Are you sure? I could—'

Will shot him a look that said don't even think about it.

'I've practised a couple of times,' Hazel said. 'Besides, it's just across the Field of Mars.'

She took a deep breath and slipped into the shadow of the infirmary door. Watching his sister disappear was disconcerting. Did Nico look like that too when he shadow-travelled—just melting into nothingness? No wonder Will always worried about him.

Annabeth made a strangled noise like a half-stifled sob and took Percy's hand in hers. Thalia patted her on the back.

'It'll be okay,' she said. 'We'll get him back and then you can kill him.'

Annabeth's sob turned into a slightly hysterical laugh. She squared her shoulders and looked at the stamnos. 'We should—we should brew the nepenthe.'

Will was already on it, pulling nectar from the cupboards and carefully measuring out a cup. He brought out a plastic dropper and hesitated. 'We'll need to add a drop of Lethe for now, but someone's going to have to add more at intervals.'

Annabeth uncovered the stamnos. Although her face was resolute, her expression carefully controlled, her hands were shaking so badly Nico thought for sure she would just end up spilling liquid Lethe all over herself.

Clovis, who had surprisingly not dozed off again, grabbed her wrist.

'I'll do it. I'm more familiar with the stuff than all of you. Plus…well, I spend most of my time in dreamland, anyway.' He shrugged. 'There's not much for me to forget.'

Clovis dipped the dropper into the stamnos and came up with it full of milky Lethe. With a steady hand, he added precisely one drop to the cup of nectar. The golden liquid barely changed shade. Nico thought it looked a little paler, but only just.

Hazel sprung out of the shadow of the stamnos right between Will and Clovis. The latter jumped and nearly knocked the whole jug over.

'Geez, just startle us into spilling mind-wiping water everywhere, why don't you?' Thalia sniped.

'Sorry!' Hazel gasped. She held out a rectangular kit to Will, who took it and began assembling the IV bag and needles inside. Hazel lurched away unsteadily. Frank caught her around the waist.

'You okay?'

'Sure. Piece of cake,' Hazel said breathlessly.

Nico held out the Gatorade. She gave him a rueful smile.

'You did fine,' Nico reassured her.

'Clovis,' Will said, 'I'm going to hook Percy up now. I'll need you to add a drop when I say so.'

'Gotcha.' Clovis squared his shoulders and held the dropper like it was a gun he was preparing to shoot.

They all held their breaths as Will inserted the needle into Percy's arm. The pale gold nepenthe ran through the tubes, travelling up his veins.

Nothing seemed to happen.

'Add a drop,' Will said.

Bit by bit, Clovis added Lethe to the potion, which turned gradually milkier. The room was so silent, Nico could practically hear the flow of nepenthe into Percy's veins. He wasn't sure what the Lethe-to-nectar ratio was at this point. Half the cup was already gone.

And then he sensed it.

There was no visible change. Percy's face remained peaceful and blank. His body was still. But Nico felt the sense of imminent death back off a bit.

'It's working,' he said.

The room seemed to let out a collective breath.

'Should we keep this dose, then?' Will asked.

Nico shook his head, though he couldn't say how he knew this. 'Keep going,' he told Clovis.

Clovis refilled the dropper and continued to add Lethe to the nepenthe.

Will put his hands out in front of him, palms towards Percy. 'That's amazing,' he murmured. 'I've never seen anything like it.'

With only a quarter cup left to go, the physical changes began to be visible. Percy's pallor faded. His face twitched. The corners of his mouth quirked upwards and then his lips parted and he drew in a deep, shaky breath like he was cleansing his lungs.

Nico grinned. This was really working.

Then it started to go wrong. The colour in Percy's cheeks, which had come back with the nepenthe treatment, began to fade again. And it wasn't just his face. His entire form seemed to be fading, as though something was leeching his essence away.

'Stop!' Will told Clovis, who withdrew the dropper so quickly, it slipped from his fingers and fell into the stamnos.

It was too late, though. Percy's body became translucent and insubstantial, just like a ghost.

Nico shuddered. A memory flitted into his mind, of another demigod whose physical body had turned to smoke. Whose body Nico had converted into smoke.

But this wasn't quite like Bryce Lawrence, the treacherous Roman demigod whom Nico had ghostified during the Giant War. Bryce had gone black and smoky and sunk straight into the earth. Percy was dissolving into air itself. It was clearly a different thing. Yet Nico felt certain he'd seen it happen before.

The controlled stoicism on Annabeth's face melted into horror. She lunged forward to grab Percy, but her fingers swiped straight through him as his body evaporated completely.

Annabeth spun round to face Nico. 'Where did he go?' she shrieked. 'What happened to him?'

Nico rubbed his forehead guiltily. He'd told Clovis to keep going. But he still felt certain it was the right call. The veil of death wouldn't have lifted otherwise. This was something else, something they hadn't foreseen…

'I don't know…' He knit his eyebrows, trying to send his senses underground, but it was just as he'd ascertained before. Death no longer hovered over Percy. He wasn't in the Underworld.

Then he thought of the souls he had seen on the banks of the Lethe, disappearing after they drank. Ghosts, dissolving into their newborn lives. He thought of Bianca, how he'd lost any ability to track her once she'd chosen that path.

Oh, Hades.

'What?' Annabeth said, seeing the realisation dawning on his face. 'You do know.'

'I think…' Nico gulped. He had to force himself to meet her desperate, stormy eyes. 'I think Percy's been reborn.'

The nepenthe is referenced in the Odyssey as a potion that is supposed to quell all sorrows with forgetfulness. But the actual recipe is my own interpretation, of course!

Also posted on Ao3.

Continue to Chapter 3 | Back to content page

[acuppellarp]

Welcome (again) to A Cup-pella, Nico! We’re excited to have you and Frankie Holloway in the game! Please go through the checklist to make sure you’re ready to go and send in your account within the next 24 hours.

OOC INFO

Name + pronouns: nico (again) + she/her Age: 23 Timezone: GMT+3 Ships: Frankie/Chemistry Anti-Ships: Frankie/No Chemistry

IC INFO

Full Name: Francine Marie Holloway Face Claim: Shelley Hennig Age/Birthday: 30 / December 20th, 1986 Occupation: Paramedic Personality: resentful, silly, guarded, selfless, forgetful, jealous Hometown: New York City, New York Bio:

Ask Frankie about her parents and it’d go a little something like this– throat cleared dramatically and a Bruce from Finding Nemo voice, “I never knew my father… or my mother for that matter.”

Born to two teenagers who decided children were not their MO, she was placed in the foster system The foster home she remembered and was with until she was adopted wasn’t bad. The adults were okay and took care of all the kids fine. There really wasn’t any traumatic events past her super mean foster sister who was two years older than her burning the hair off her barbies. Bitch.

Joke was on her foster sister, though. When the foster sister decided to go even more pyromaniac, there was rubbing alcohol involved and other craziness that made a small fire in the house. Six year old Francine standing outside of her pretty toasty house somehow charmed the pants off one of the paramedics that came with the fire department to put out the fire. Wesley Holloway fell in love with the overly dramatic child who was seriously pissed off about her ruined barbies. In love enough that a week later, Wesley came back with his wife, Ainsley, to visit her even more. A couple more times, some outings in New York and a court date– she became Francine Marie Holloway before she was seven years old.

The Holloways came with a son who was five years older than she was. Simon did not try to set her toys on fire so she decided that he was all right. When Frankie was eight years old, Ainsley got pregnant again and a little girl was brought into the mix. The five of them were a tight knit group. Frankie never felt out of place with them and there was never any adopted child syndrome with her.

School had never been her strong suit. Numbers, remembering historical dates, the periodic table, deciphering Wuthering Heights– not her thing. She managed to get by. She jumped from social group to social group, too easily bored to stay within one. She never had a problem with making friends, though. And, even though they were secrets– she even had two girlfriends in high school. Both she ended because being a secret just wasn’t fun after awhile.

Most of the men on Wesley’s side had military background. Wesley had been in for a couple of years until he sustained an injury that got him kicked out. It was only natural for Simon to join right after high school. The ladies in the family weren’t much for it, but Frankie was going to change that. She had decided that early on, always being really close to Wesley as she grew up and enjoying the stories he told about the time he had in the military. Despite the terrifying timeframe, Frankie took her ASVAB in high school and went to the recruiters not long after graduation. She scored well enough to be able to be a combat medic for the army, which is what Wesley had been. It was an easy option for her to take it.

She loved it. Even with all of the military’s flaws, she made the best of friends and had the best of times with a bunch of traveling in between. Frankie was seriously thinking about doing her full twenty– until she became a Staff Sergeant and was more on desk and soldier duty than doing her job. The one thing she loved the most was her job. Always being quite unmotivated in school, it had came as shock to her that she was really good at it. Frankie was a gem under pressure and could work on a casualty or a patient with ease and muscle memory. But, once that was taken away from her and it was more like being a glorified babysitter, she decided not to sign another contract after twelve years. She knew that she could do what she loved on the civilian side since she had acquired her paramedic license throughout her years. Following in Wesley’s footsteps felt natural. And, he was proud of her.

When all was said and done, she was back in New York, a place she had adored growing up in. She had saved enough money from all of her years in the army to properly get her own place. But, rent in New York was expensive and she still had a room at the Holloways which she decided to fill when she first got back. With a good word from Wesley, she had a job as a paramedic and things were going swell for awhile.

Except, she didn’t really think about the fact that it was totally uncool to live with your parents at thirty. Sure, she was helping with paying with things and not being a total mooch. It just wasn’t a great impression. It made her think about looking for different living situations. She had frequented A Cup for coffee and entertainment. It was pretty much fate when she found a wanted roommate ad and she didn’t hesitate before going for it.

Pets: Nada. She thinks the chipmunk is super cool, though

Relationships:

Rachel, Dani, Sookie:

She thinks she gets along with her roommates okay. Frankie is always up for a conversation if she bumps into them whenever she’s actually home. She is a total neat freak after being conditioned to being organized in the army so she may have some words if the living situation is left unkempt but for the most part she’s an easygoing roommate.

EXTRA INFO

[ This is for the masterlist, but also a fun little way to get to know your character! ]

Twitter name/twitter URL/description:

frankie / frankiefurter

my biggest regret in life is that i couldn’t join the jackass crew

Five latest tweets:

@frankiefurter​: to answer my question from a year ago– probably not, bob @frankiefurter: will my twitter ever come back from the war? @frankiefurter: been another 2yrs since i’ve been on here so good at the twitter thing @frankiefurter: me @ social events w/o food: here queer n ready 2 disappear @frankiefurter: it’s been five years since i’ve been on here holy shit #whatsgoodtwitter

[vlindervin7]

This is based off a session of headcannoning (That’s not a word, but it should be) with @nayavelazquez. It’s ridiculous and not that well written tbh, but I hope you like it, love. I know I promised this to you months ago and look! I finally wrote it! Again I wish you a very happy birthday <3 This is basically just Solangelo fighting over Bohemian Rhapsody lyrics because nobody can convince me they do not have midnight dance parties and Bohemian rhapsody is the best song to do that to so. Enjoy!

Anyway the wind blows

‘No, William.’

‘Yes, Nico.’

‘You weren’t even alive when that song was popular!’

‘As if you were listening to music then?’

‘It was a casino. There was a radio. They played music, thank you very much.’

Will Solace and Nico di Angelo’s voices were filling the quiet that normally engulfed Camp Half-Blood at night. They were probably the only ones awake and had been for a while. At three in the morning, everyone was in bed and if it was known that Will Solace was in the Habes cabin at this hour, it probably wouldn’t end well. Not only did the rule that no two campers of opposite gender were allowed to be alone change so that Nico and Will weren’t allowed either, (Not that that rule was taken seriously; it was probably the one rule that got broken the most.) more important was the fact that it was at night. Two teenage, hormonal boys alone with their boyfriend at night? Some shocking, inappropriate things were bound to happen!

Well… a lot of things did happen, but maybe not necessarily what you’d expect. The two boys had been engaged in an intense lip-sync battle, that quickly escalated to them simply singing at the top of their lungs and dancing around the cabin; the one dance move more ridiculous than the previous one.

Will had an old mp-3 that didn’t give off any signals to monsters and he had every single popular song on it. From All you need is love to Baby to I can’t help falling in love to High School Musical to Money, Money, Money to Bohemian Rhapsody. Nico, surprisingly, or not so surprisingly, knew most of the older ones. Will saw it as his personal duty to educate Nico on modern pop culture and he took that very seriously.

At the moment the music was drowned out by their arguing, though. When Bohemian Rhapsody had come on, everything had gone downhill.

‘It’s Beelzebub has a devil put his sight on me. Not whatever the hell you’re saying. It’s ridiculous.’

‘No, no, no, Nico. Beelzebub has the devil at his side for me.’

‘That doesn’t even make sense!’

‘Yes, it does. I’m one hundred percent sure. I mean, I’m ninety-nine percent sure.’

‘Yeah, well, I am one hundred percent sure.’

‘No, you’re not. That’s not really possible. You can’t be – ‘

‘Well, I am.’

It was quiet for a moment. Then Nico said: ‘Play it again.’

‘Say please.’, Will said, mostly to annoy Nico, knowing he wouldn’t do it. And he didn’t. All Nico did was raise his eyebrows. So, Will put it on. They both went to sit on the bed, Nico cross-legged in the middle and Will hunched over at the side with his elbows on his knees and one hand holding up his head.

They both listened intently and when the lyrics came on, they hold their breaths, so that the only sound was the music and nothing else. When the line was over, they stayed quiet for a couple seconds before Will said: ‘Beelzebub has a devil at his side for me.’, at the exact same time Nico said; ‘Beelzebub has a devil put his sight on me.’

They violently jerked their head to the side to shoot each other fire-spitting glares. Nico, changing his tactics, jumped up from the bed and went to stand in front of Will. He took Will’s face in his hands and looked deep into his eyes, knowing full-well that Will couldn’t resist the deep brown of his eyes when he gazed into his lovingly.  Then he kissed him, intense and lingering, his lips as soft as ever. Will obliged and kissed him back for a while. When Nico pulled back, suddenly remembering what the purpose of the kiss was, he brought his mouth to Will’s ear and, digging up the most seductive tone he could muster, whispered: ‘Beelzebub has a devil put his sight on me.’, right into Will’s ear. Nico’s breath on his skin, made Will shiver, but he managed to hide it and rolled his eyes instead.

‘If you want to kiss me like that, please do so. But don’t think it’ll make me change my mind, you cheater.’

Nico sighed and shrugged. ‘It was worth a try.’ Then his eyes lit up. ‘You know what I should do? I should resurrect Freddie Mercury’s ghost.’

Will squinted his eyes. ‘Can you do that?’

‘I can try.’

‘Nico, let’s not make any rash decisions now, okay? You’re still weak from that injury from last week  and – ‘

‘You know I could do it.’

‘Yeah, but –‘

‘Are you scared?’

Will huffed. ‘Of a ghost? As if. After working in the infirmary for a couple years, I’ve seen a lot of scary things and believe me, ghosts are not high on that list.’

‘Why don’t you want to do it then?’

‘Well’, he answered slowly. ‘What if one of us is wrong?’

‘What if you’re wrong, you mean? I know I’m right.’

Will shot him a glare. ‘What if one of us is wrong? How embarrassing do you think it would be to have Freddy frickin’ Mercury here and saying his lyrics wrong? Can you imagine the mortification?’

Nico thought about it for a while. ‘Yeah, as much as you annoy me, I wouldn’t want to do that to you.’

‘Ah, it’s for my benefit, huh? You’re not worried that maybe you aren’t as right as you think you are.’

Nico huffed. ‘Of course not.’

All Will did was hum under his breath, sounding extremely unconvinced.

Nico sitting on the bed, let himself fall back on it, his arms outstretched next to him. Both stubborn and convinced they were right, not close to giving up, stayed quiet and let their thoughts flow.

‘You know who’s a hardcore Queen fan?’, Will asked suddenly.

‘Who?’ Nico turned his head to look at his boyfriend.

‘Lydia’

‘Your sister?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Really?’, disbelief laced Nico’s voice.

‘You surprised?’

‘Kind of.’, Nico thought of the joyous girl, with the flowers in her hair, who projected light, smelled like sunset. He knew better than assuming things based on people’s looks. He was well aware that people can keep surprising you even after years. And it’s not like he knew Lydia that well anyway. ‘Let’s go ask her then.’

‘Ask her?’, Will’s eyebrow crunched together and he looked extremely confused. ‘Now? She’ll kill us.’

Nico sent him a questioning look. ‘It’s‘, Will checked his watch. ‘three in the morning.’

A dramatic sigh left Nico’s mouth. ‘Well, I guess we’ll never know what the actual lyrics are, then.  That’s too bad.’

‘Oh my gods’, Will muttered. ‘Fine! But don’t blame me if we don’t survive this night!’

Still bickering, they made their way to the Apollo cabin. After nearly being attacked by harpies, they arrived and Will softly opened the door, trying to make the least noise possible, while Nico followed him inside. The cabin was dark, except for one little light next to the bed of a new girl who was scared of the dark.

Will led them to a bunk bed in a corner and gestured Nico to be quiet. ‘Lydia’, he whispered. ‘Lydia.’

The only response they got is some kind of moan that sounded like what.

‘We need your help?’

She lifted her head from the pillow and slowly blinked, crunched her eyes to see who was talking more clearly. ‘What the hell, Will?’

The light in her eyes Nico had thought of earlier, looked more like a forest fire now. ‘We need your help. Is it ‘Beelzebub has a devil at his side for me’ or – ‘

‘That’s seriously why you woke me in the middle of the night? Really? Oh my gods, I can’t believe you!’, she yells before letting her head fall back on the pillow and being sound asleep in mere seconds.

She yelled loud enough to wake everyone, though. This is where the two boys were standing in their pajamas at three in the morning: in the middle of the Apollo cabin, being angrily stared at. One smiled sheepishly, the other looked down at the ground and scratched his neck. Trust me when I tell you that you don’t want to be in their position.

Here’s the thing, Will was head counselor of the Apollo cabin, which means none of the other campers could exactly do anything about the situation, they had to listen to Will or get Chiron, but none of them were mean enough to do that. What they could do, however, was getting angry at them. Which is exactly what they did.

This silent anger lasted about three minutes in which Nico was convinced his skin was going to catch fire because of all the pair of eyes directed at him. Then a voice cut through the silence, coming from a far corner somewhere saying: ‘It’s Beelzebub has the devil put his sight on me, though.’

And, oh, the voice shouldn’t have said that. They really shouldn’t have said that. It was war, it was chaos, a little kid having a concert using kitchen utensils. Suddenly everyone started yelling and shouting at each other, all thinking they knew the right lyrics. This was the Apollo cabin. After all, their father is the god of music and has an abnormally large ego. What did you expect, honestly? It was still a little overwhelming, though. And while a civil war unclenched around them, Nico and Will were standing in the midst of it with a frightened look in their eyes. What have we done?

A cushion was thrown from one top bunk to another, accompanied by a shrill ‘You’re wrong!’ It was a little worrying how a group of kids and teens who had access to weapons were able to start this over something so small and insignificant. Will was just wondering who the hell allowed these kids a sword, when it all suddenly stops.

‘Enough!’ Chiron’s voice cut through the noise and turned it silent. Approximately thirty heads whipped around to watch the entrance. There he was standing, his eyes tired, but still extremely disappointed. ‘What on earth is going on here? Nico di Angelo, what are you doing in this cabin?’

Nico opened his mouth to say something, but he wasn’t sure what exactly. He licked his lower lip and eventually just said: ‘A disagreement?’

Nico felt Chiron’s sigh in his bones. ‘I could hear you all the way to the blue house. You woke the whole camp with these antics. I hope you’re happy with yourself.’

Chiron’s disappointment fell over them all, silencing them, making their shoulders fall and eyebrows droop. Chiron’s disappointment was a living thing, tearing them apart from the inside and ruining their lives. Apollo has always been very dramatic, no wonder his children were too.

‘Sorry, Chiron.’, Will says, taking the responsibility. ‘We’ll go to bed now.’

‘In your own cabin’, the centaur added with a poignant look to Nico.

‘Yes, sir.’

He turns around to leave, but stopped in his steps right before stepping outside. ‘It’s ‘Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me, by the way. Everyone knows that.’ And he disappeared into the night.  

Hope you liked it!

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Love,  Jasmine