#i need a greek person to please tell me if that's normal or not

[hood-ex]

If you don't mind the ask, where in Montana were you at? I'm a Billings local but have been going between Glacier, Yellowstone, Missouri Breaks, and Billings for work and just think it'd be funny if we crossed paths without knowing lol

I was in Ennis! I actually did stay in downtown Billings for a night back in May though! I ate at The Burger Dive for dinner and at Stella's Kitchen & Bakery for breakfast. I thought it was funny that the head chef of The Burger Dive was crowned "Burger Champion" at the World Food Championship. The burger I ate was an incredibly average burger 😭. I was like hmmm who judged that competition 😭.

I actually wanted to go back to Billings for an event this month, but I had to work, so I didn't end up going.

I spent more time in Bozeman and Butte. Was in West Yellowstone quite a few times as well. Also took day trips to Missoula, Helena, Deer Lodge, Jefferson City, Virginia City (which is only like 18 minutes from Ennis), and Dillon.

[idiopath-fic-smile]

more Singin' in the Rain ot3, now on the honeymoon boat

part one

part two

The ship was a grand one. Cosmo, whose nautical knowledge began and ended with that Douglas Fairbanks picture about pirates, could tell that much. There was a majestic dining room and a wide, clean promenade and state-of-the-art engines that would get them to Europe in just a few days. The dining room even featured a four-piece band, who were a little stiff but not half bad.

His room, his island of privacy away from Don and Kathy and their combined magnetic pull, was bigger than he expected, well-appointed. It went a little overboard embracing an Egyptian theme, although the decorators had tastefully stopped short of including an actual mummy in a giant stone sarcophagus. He was grateful for that. The piano, as promised, sat in the place of where a desk might normally be, keys gleaming invitingly.

There was just one problem.

“How,” said Cosmo, dropping onto the bed, “did you manage to accidentally book us two adjoining rooms?”

“I’m sorry,” said Don, crossing his arms. “There must’ve been a mix-up at the offices.”

“Maybe the travel agent heard wrong on the telephone,” said Kathy. She rubbed Don’s back consolingly. Don shot her a grateful look. It was all very sweet, probably.

“How?” said Cosmo again. “Nothing sounds like ‘adjoining.’ It doesn’t even have a rhyme.”

“Are you certain?” said Kathy.

Cosmo nodded; he’d already run through the alphabet, twice. “The closest I can get to is ‘disappointing.’” Don was leaning into Kathy’s back rub like a cat, but his face was full of uncatlike guilt. “Don,” said Cosmo, “look, pal, I appreciate the free ticket, but please tell me you’ll fix this.”

“I already talked to the cruise director and there aren’t other rooms,” said Don. “We’re out in the ocean, what do you want me to do, alert the coast guard?”

“Alert the coast guard,” said Cosmo, “flag down a passing mermaid, strike a bargain with Poseidon himself!” 

“Who?” said Don.

“The Greek god of the sea,” said Kathy, like that was the important part.

“I don’t speak any Greek,” Don replied, “do you?”

“I will swim to shore,” Cosmo said, to nobody in particular.

“We can swap over to a different ship when we get to port if we need to,” said Don, shoulders slumping uncharacteristically. He must’ve felt worse about his screw-up than he let on. “In the meantime, the door locks from both sides, so—”

“I’m not—worried that you’ll barge in at all hours pestering me for a cup of sugar,” Cosmo broke in.

Don blinked. Kathy went very still beside him.

Out loud, it sounded more suggestive than he’d meant. Why had he picked sugar, the sauciest ingredient of the baking world?

“Or flour,” he amended.

“Then what’s the trouble?”

“I.” Cosmo sighed. “Why am I the only person in this room who seems to know what a honeymoon is for?”

“Why,” said Don, wide-eyed, “what’s it for?”

“D’you think, if I jumped in the sea and started paddling now—” said Cosmo.

“Don’t worry,” said Kathy. “Don and I can be very quiet.”

And the trouble was, this was worse. The prospect of hearing them from the other side of a single thin door was one thing, and honestly it was plenty bad—Cosmo had played a role during several key moments of their courtship but at least he could say he didn’t know what they sounded like in the throes of passion—but for reasons that Cosmo did not feel like examining, the thought of them stifling themselves in the act, the thought of them naked in bed together, touching each other, biting down on a giggle or a moan, and whispering, ‘Shh, don’t wake Cosmo,’ made him feel like his whole stomach was a sore tooth.

“Don’t put yourselves out on my account,” he told them. Belatedly, he realized that was maybe the worst thing he could’ve said. He blushed, and then he stood, face still flaming—Damn his Irish complexion—nodded to them both, and fled to the promenade.

.

The ocean stretched in all directions as far as Cosmo could see. It was dizzying, and also strangely calming. He stared out at the waves and reminded himself, hardly for the first time, that it wasn’t Don’s fault how Cosmo felt about him. It wasn’t Don’s fault, and it wasn’t Kathy’s fault that she was maybe the most charming woman he’d ever met. You could certainly blame Don for booking the rooms, for not double-checking over the telephone, but there was no malice to it. They were both, at the end of the day, wonderful people who had decided to open this trip up to him for whatever reason, and besides, his bed was piled with any number of pillows he could jam over his head if they did make noise at night.

He stood there holding onto the railing for a long time. Eventually, he heard footsteps behind him. 

“Feeling better?” said Don quietly, almost lost under the roar of the water. Without really trying to, Cosmo turned to look at him. Under his coat, Don was wearing a nicer suit than before, and the color had returned to his face. He looked—well, he looked like a handsome movie star married to a gorgeous starlet. Don took a few steps and rested his hands next to Cosmo’s on the rail.

“It’s the salt air, I think,” said Cosmo, nodding. “Feels like I could do anything. Why, I might write another musical, wear my trousers baggy, become a pirate.”

“Your trousers are fine as is,” said Don.

Cosmo shrugged. “A little change can be good.”

“Sure, unless it isn’t.” Don sighed. It was an awfully sad sigh to be having about the fit of a guy’s pants, Cosmo thought, but then Don turned to him and added, “You know, we really have missed you.”

“Don,” said Cosmo patiently. “I was at your house this Thursday. I stayed for three hours. I drank all your gin.”

Don didn’t make a crack about the gin, which was probably a bad sign. “And before that?” 

Before that, it had been a while. Cosmo winced inwardly. “I’ve been busy,” he said, “you’ve been busy, Kathy’s been busy—”

“We invited you over, four different times,” Don interjected. “If I’ve done something, if we’ve done something, I wish you would just tell us.”

In front of them, the sea rolled and rolled. Cosmo thought about deflection, about twisting the moment into a joke, a sword duel where cold steel met only an outstretched rubber chicken: squeak.

He let out a long breath. “Why the Hell did you bring me along on your honeymoon?”

“We brought you along because we wanted you along,” said Don. “Whenever you’re not there, we wish you were. It doesn’t need to be any harder than that.”

“So it isn’t…” Cosmo started.

“What?” “You and Kathy aren’t having problems? Hoping for a buffer, or a distraction?” It was a very new theory on Cosmo’s part, and once the words had left his mouth, he realized how badly they fit the facts at hand.

Don smiled a private little smile. “Me and Kathy are doing just marvelously.”

“That’s splendid,” said Cosmo, because he had to say something, apparently. Marvelous didn’t bode well for Cosmo’s sanity at night, but it beat his friends being sad. “Lovely.” He let his cadences drift into a so-so British accent. “Capital show, old sport. Tip-top. Simpy spiffing.” Not his best work. 

Don lay a hand on Cosmo’s coat sleeve, at the elbow. “Do you want to come to dinner with us?” he said. “It’s meant to be a formal affair but you’ve still got time to change.”

Whenever you’re not here, we wish you were. Obviously, Don didn’t mean “whenever��� in the strictest sense—Cosmo got the feeling he was not present in Don’s mind, say, when Don was in bed with his beautiful wife—but the thought now made him feel warmer than the gin had. It would be enough. It had to be.

“Sure,” said Cosmo, “why not,” and Don thumped him encouragingly on the back.

“Cosmo,” said Don as they headed back into the body of the boat, “piracy, really?” Cosmo grinned. “Don’t blame me, blame that salt air. Makes a man feel like anything’s possible.”

.

Kathy and Don looked enchanting at dinner, and Cosmo cleaned up alright too, if he didn’t say so himself.

The food was good—salmon with hollandaise sauce and French beans, braised duckling with apple sauce, some fancy beef thing, salad Dumas and ice cream for dessert—and the band had relaxed a smidge and was playing something from this century, which was nice.

Over dessert, Kathy told them about how, one night several months before meeting Don, she’d been at a speakeasy during what turned out to be a police raid.

“What were you doing in a speakeasy?” Cosmo asked before he could stop to think about it.

“Why, drinking milk and reading Austen, of course,” she replied, a picture of guilelessness. Don snickered, and she grinned.

“I walked full-speed into that one,” said Cosmo.

“Buddy, you ran,” said Don.

“I was drinking,” Kathy acknowledged, nodding, “but really that’s where the best dancing is. The best music, too.”

Cosmo, who lately only drank at parties or at home because it was easier and safer, nodded thoughtfully.

“Hot jazz?”

“The hottest, at least in Los Angeles. Once we’re back, we should all go!”

“I could always stand to take in more culture,” said Cosmo.

“Oh no,” said Don, “don’t let her pull you into her sordid past. Did you forget the end of the story is ‘and then the police came?’”

“That’s more the middle,” said Kathy. “Well, middle-end.”

“So how’d you escape the reaching arm of the law?” Cosmo asked.

Kathy swallowed her ice cream. “I saw the police were all rushing in through the front door, and I dashed to the back and through the performers’ dressing room. I’d done makeup for some of my school plays, so I fought my way up to the mirror, grabbed a grease pencil—a few lines here, a few lines there—borrowed an old coat of the back of a chair, ran maybe half a block, and pretended to be an old lady.”

“Really,” said Cosmo.

“It’s mostly in the walk and the posture,” she said. “And it helps that a few of the street lights were out.”

“And the cops were fooled?”

“One of them asked me if I’d seen any young people running that way,” said Kathy.

Cosmo clapped his hands together with glee. “Don, you married a criminal mastermind! Never make her angry.”

Don wrapped an arm around her shoulders and flashed her a besotted look. “I don’t intend to.”

Kathy nestled into the half-embrace. “Tell me more about—was it Coyoteville? With the ventriloquist.”

“Dead Man’s Fang,” said Cosmo. “And your wish is my command, but I don’t know what else there is to say. We came, we saw, we lost our sleeping arrangements to a puppet.”

“He tucked it in that night, remember?” said Don suddenly.

“He did!” said Cosmo, delighted.

Sometimes when Don started in on the official line about how they’d studied at the conservatory and the rest of that baloney, Cosmo worried that some part of Don believed it, that it was Cosmo’s job alone to remember how long they’d traveled that strange, bumpy, often farcical road together towards some measure of success and respectability in Hollywood. But Cosmo had completely forgotten that particular detail. He had burned it from his mind.

“After he fell asleep, one of you might have moved the dummy and claimed that bed,” Kathy pointed out.

“He left it with the head turned facing us, eyes open,” said Don. “Neither of us were touching that thing.”

“So instead, Cosmo had to put up with Don all night,” said Kathy solemnly.

“So instead, I had to put up with Don all night.”

He could still recall the potent mix of resignation, terror, and guilty excitement he’d felt, huddling up on that mattress together. Their act at the time had involved being in close quarters a lot—at one point, the choreography had Cosmo leap onto Don’s back and then immediately continue playing the fiddle—so it wasn’t like touching Don was a novelty, back then. But doing it offstage, out of costume, away from any onlookers except for Esther Quill the ventriloquist dummy, it had felt like an entirely different proposition. 

Don had been a real champ about it, though. When Cosmo had started shaking with withheld hilarity that this was his life, the punchline of all punchlines and nobody to share it with, not just Don’s best friend but his literal bedwarmer, Don had clearly assumed it was a simple case of the shivers, and so he’d bundled Cosmo close, tucked Cosmo’s head under his chin, and wrapped his arms around him, muttering warm in his ear about how if Cosmo dropped dead, Don was out a dance partner “and that whole routine wouldn’t work as a solo number, it’d go over like a brick.”

“Just imagine what barnyard animal they’d have you opening for then,” Cosmo had whispered back, because Oatmeal, Nebraska had already happened to them. “A pig who juggles. A cow acrobat. A chicken magician. Just a little sleight of wing, folks, nothing up my feathers.”

And Don had laughed, and held Cosmo tighter, and the ventriloquist had shushed them, which had made them both crack up again. It had been a long night, and not one Cosmo would forget in a hurry.

“Who runs hot as a Holland furnace, let me tell you,” he added now, in case his tone had shifted a few shades too close to dreamy.

“Oh, I know,” said Kathy, smiling.

Don raised an accusing finger at him. “Well, you were shaking like a leaf! You’re lucky I was there, especially when we didn’t have so much as a sheet of our own!”

“Wait, why didn’t you have any blankets?” asked Kathy.

“The blankets,” said Don airily, “were for the puppet.”

.

And so dinner had been a joy, and after that, Don and Kathy invited him back to their room for a drink or two, because they’d had the common sense to bring alcohol, which was of course not offered by the cruise. The three of them sat on Don and Kathy’s bed (much bigger than Cosmo’s—not that he was jealous, he didn’t need the space, but the sheer expanse of mattress really did rival a small country, and Cosmo was determined not to picture in any detail how the two newlyweds might make use of that) and passed a flask around and had some more laughs and when Cosmo next got a glimpse of his watch, it was three in the morning.

“I should go,” he said.

“You don’t have to,” said Kathy. She’d shucked off her heels at some point and now her stocking feet were in Cosmo’s lap. Don sat on her other side, head on her shoulder. He’d loosened his tie early on, and his suitcoat was draped over one of the bedposts. While they were drinking, it had all felt very natural. Looking at them now, Cosmo had the sense he was intruding on something private, something intimate.

Granted, they weren’t exactly trying to kick him out, but Kathy was drunk, or tired, or else she was both drunk and tired, and it was up to Cosmo not to outstay his welcome. They had a whole two weeks together, after all, and their rooms were barely a wall apart.

“My regrets, Cinderella,” said Cosmo, “but I can feel myself turning back into a pumpkin.” 

He made as if to stand, but her feet were in the way. Very gently, he picked up her ankles, lifted them off his legs, stood, turned her like they were doing some sort of a dance move, and deposited her feet in Don’s lap instead.

“There,” he said to no one. 

A long pause followed. Don and Kathy blinked up at him. He sorely regretted moving her. It had seemed like the most elegant solution. Probably he should’ve found one that didn’t involve taking hold of her legs, skin warm through the thin layer of nylon–

Kathy’s brow furrowed. “What makes you the carriage?” she said at last.

“What?” said Cosmo, who really did need to make an exit. 

“Cinderella,” said Don, apparently reading her mind, which was swell for them.

“Better that than the mouse footman,” Cosmo told her. “Or the lizard coachman. Or the horse.” Or—who else? There were a lot of characters in Cinderella, he realized.

“There’s a prince in that story, Cosmo,” said Kathy. “A human prince.”

“Yes,” said Cosmo, patiently, “and you’re married to him, your highness,” He sketched a little bow but Don and Kathy weren’t looking at him. They were having one of those silent couple conversations, with mostly their eyes and eyebrows. A career in movies before the advent of sound had probably given Don a real advantage in that department, Cosmo thought, although Kathy seemed to be holding her own.

“It’s a made-up fairytale,” Kathy said at last. “Why, it can go any way you want it to.”

“The lady’s got a point,” said Don.

Cosmo blinked. He knew how it sounded, knew that to the untrained ear, it certainly—there were overtones, or undertones, or just plain tones that vibrated with suggestion. Cosmo had grown up in Vaudeville and now he lived in Hollywood; these things happened every now and then. These things did not happen to Cosmo. He was good for a dance or a laugh, and nine times out of ten, that was enough for him, but he wasn’t exactly fending off amorous advances—not like Don, and probably not like Kathy, either.

Also, Don liked women. Don only liked women, as far as Cosmo knew, and they had lived out of each other’s pockets for years.

The fact that a late-night ménage à trois rendezvous was increasingly the only explanation that held water in his head—it said more about Cosmo’s fragile mental state than it did about Don and Kathy’s true motives, he decided.

Don and Kathy who were still sitting on the bed, waiting for some sort of response.

“I wouldn’t, uh,” Cosmo started, and then realized with a stab of panic that for once, he didn’t have a joke in the wings, waiting to go. “I wouldn’t know where to start,” he said.

“You said earlier today you might become a pirate,” Don offered. Kathy cuddled up close against his side, watching with bright, intent eyes. He wrapped an arm around her waist. “Enter pirate, stage left.”

“I said I was thinking about it,” said Cosmo, trying not to sound affected and missing by a mile. “A fella can think about all kinds of things he wouldn’t do.”

Case in point: Cosmo was not about to climb back into bed with them, no matter how cozy that bed was, no matter how warm and inviting and beautiful the two of them looked together.

His hands were starting to shake, he realized, and if Don saw that, and past experience was any judge, Cosmo might spend the night being cuddled for warmth again. What was Cosmo’s life? He didn’t go in for horoscopes, but maybe he should’ve, maybe that was the key to understanding the whole puzzle: Cosmo Brown, born under the one constellation that resembled clown shoes. He swallowed back a hysterical laugh and stuffed his hands in his pockets.

“Why not?” said Kathy quietly.

Because he didn’t want to ruin his oldest friendship and his most promising new one, all in a single go. Because he hated rejection, and the thought of two no’s that close together made his head spin unpleasantly. Because then there would be no more innocent touches and smiles and nightcaps in Don and Kathy’s room. 

That wasn’t what she’d asked, though. Mentally, he shook himself.

“If everyone who thought about being a pirate became one, the whole US of A would fall apart,” Cosmo informed them. “Nobody would work, or pay taxes, or go to see films. Not to mention the national parrot shortage—just try to get ahold of birdseed anymore! There’d be a run on eyepatches and tri-corner hats, and the price of a simple pirate earring would shoot through the roof, in fact—”

“It’d cost a buccaneer,” Don filled in. He sounded almost sad, which was a mystery because that bit was evergreen.

“That’s right,” said Cosmo. He rocked back onto his heels, at a loss for a moment. He’d really been counting on that joke to clear the air.

“Cosmo,” said Kathy. “Do you want to go, or do you want to want to go?”

Cosmo struggled to make sense of that. He struggled to parse it in a way that worked outside his own feverish imagination. His entire mind came up short. That was where it got you, going on the road with only an eighth grade education, he thought. His was a cautionary tale. 

Maybe ninth grade was where they taught you how not to twist a moment in your head to the point where it really did seem like maybe Cosmo could’ve kissed either of them, could’ve kissed both of them, and it would’ve been fine, or even more than fine. Maybe it was that, and Dickens, and Geography; Cosmo still could not locate Siam on a map. Or Paris. Come to think of it, ménage à trois and rendezvous were the only French he knew besides bonjour. This time, he did laugh. It was that or scream.

“I am both too drunk, and not drunk enough for this talk,” he said, turning for the door that led directly back to his room.

“If you’d rather stay—” said Don.

“Of course I’d rather stay, Don,” Cosmo snapped, sharper than he’d meant to. “But leave me enough dignity to fill half a shotglass, at least.” Don and Kathy said nothing. When he got to the door, he sighed. “Sorry, that was—I’m sorry. See you at breakfast.” “Goodnight,” said Kathy.

Alone in his room, Cosmo closed the door and ran his hands through his hair. Pirates in Cinderella, he thought. Offers to stay, with his room not 30 paces away, at three hours past midnight. Maybe it would all make sense in the morning.

[darth-jess]

Hello ! Here's a Star Wars question. What's your opinion on "love isn't attachment" interpretation of the Jedi Code that has been going around?

Hey! Sorry it took me so long to answer this!

Short answer: Love and attachment often go hand in hand, however, they are NOT the same thing.

Long answer:

At the end of the day, this question hinges on how you define love, and what kind of love you are talking about. The English language is quite limited when it comes to love, because there are many different kinds love. (I've said it before, and I'll say it again, we need to bring back all the Ancient Greek words for all the different kinds of love, they were on to something.)

Love in general is not forbidden for Jedi, which means that there are at least SOME kinds of love that do not require attachment.

As Anakin puts it:

Compassion/agape/unconditional love is essential to being a Jedi. And this kind of love is not attachment. This kind of love expects nothing in return. This kind of love is never jealous, is never possessive, and does not hinge on ego or desire. This kind of love is not physical or sexual. There is no "I love you, I want you, I need you," and instead, there is self sacrifice, there is generosity, and it transcends personal desire.

HOWEVER.

When it comes to romantic love, there is always some aspect of attachment. This kind of love (when shared between two people) does come with expectation: I expect you to support me emotionally, I expect intimacy, I expect communication, I expect commitment, I expect loyalty, etc… (might sound demanding, but put it this way: would you be with someone who didn't care about your emotions? Who never wanted to be intimate with you? Who refused to communicate? Who refused to commit to you? Who cheated on you? I hope the answer is no because that would be very unhealthy).

Romantic love without attachment can come off as very cold, and uncaring. If your romantic partner said, "Hey, I love you so much, but if you left me for someone else or died, I would let you go and get over it and be fine, it's just the way of life," you might be slightly hurt.

Romantic love is deep, biological (not only in the sense of "it's for procreation" because it's so much more than that, and so much deeper, it fills a need for human companionship, friendship, someone you can trust beyond trust, someone to share everything with), and at its core, romantic love requires some level of attachment. It comes with all that "I LOVE YOU, I WANT YOU, I NEED YOU" passionate emotional insanity which is also inherently possessive. Romantic love requires an acknowledgment of the ego, it feeds the ego: I love you, AND you love me, and that feels great.

Romantic love centers around the self. Romantic love stems from what you want. (I'd never tell my sister, "On your next date, don't think about what you want or what you are looking for, think about what the guy wants and be selfless" because that is the worst dating advice ever.) Romantic love is inherently selfish- you want to end up with the person that makes you happy!

AND THAT IS NOT A BAD THING.

Unless you are a Jedi. (If you need a reason why, please just watch the Star Wars Prequels and you'll have your answer.)

IN CONCLUSION

Love is NOT attachment, however romantic love inherently comes with attachment.

Footnote: while attachment, possession, selfishness, and jealousy are all very normal of romantic love, every romantic relationship needs a balance. There are levels of possessiveness and selfishness and attachment that have to be worked out in every relationship and people have to find what levels of these things they are comfortable with. Not ALL manifestations of possessiveness in a romantic relationship is good/bad, etc. just clarifying.

[vickyvicarious]

#this isn't 100% how i interpret bloofer lady but it's very compelling

Please, please, please tell me how!

Sure thing! I'm afraid it's not a very exciting explanation, though. Basically, I love all the themes you talk about in your post, with Lucy metaphorically moving from one cage to another. I totally agree with them. But I personally don't buy into Van Helsing's theories about Lucy being in any especially unique state when she reawakens as a vampire. I think his interpretation of her appearing less evil in a resting state is flawed, and she simply became a normal vampire.

But she became a very young vampire, and she was immediately abandoned. I think all vampires are likely to be more animalistic at first. But I also think that the way vampire!Lucy is so much more feral and instinctive at times isn't helped at all by her being completely left alone. When she hunts she tries to bring her victims back to a place she feels 'safer'. When that place is invaded, she doesn't know what to do. She tries to tempt Arthur to come to her, yes, in a great display of vampires focusing on their former loved ones. But other than that she doesn't say a single word. She snarls at them. She tries to attack and shies away from the crucifix. She flees towards her tomb as a place of safety, and doesn't seem to understand how it has been blocked. And she doesn't know what to do or do anything else:

Never did I see such baffled malice on a face; and never, I trust, shall such ever be seen again by mortal eyes. The beautiful colour became livid, the eyes seemed to throw out sparks of hell-fire, the brows were wrinkled as though the folds of the flesh were the coils of Medusa's snakes, and the lovely, blood-stained mouth grew to an open square, as in the passion masks of the Greeks and Japanese. If ever a face meant death—if looks could kill—we saw it at that moment. And so for full half a minute, which seemed an eternity, she remained between the lifted crucifix and the sacred closing of her means of entry.

I interpret this less as a reflection of her still being 'asleep' in her vampiric state as a result of being turned in a trance, but more... She's not fully 'awakened' as a vampire because she's so young and she hasn't had any guidance from an older vampire. She's still more instinct than thought, and while if she lived long enough I think she'd grow out of that, she doesn't get the time. I think this fits well with other vampire victims in the book who can't remember what happened to them despite not being tranced-up the same way as she was, and also with themes surrounding her specifically. It's kind of a horrible inversion of some of her life before.

As a human, she had a parent who tried too hard to protect her and didn't allow her to express herself freely or face hard truths. This was done out of love, but it was stifling. She was overly constrained.

As a vampire, her vampiric 'parent' didn't care about her at all and abandoned her. Without any guidance when she needed it most, she had to struggle through based largely on instincts. He wasn't there to protect her when she needed it. She was free to act on her own but hadn't been taught how.

Lucy went from no social freedom because of too much attention, to complete vampiric freedom because of none at all. Both states are harmful. One is smothering, the other neglectful. Overprotective to not protective enough. She went from her mother treating her like a child when she'd outgrown that to Dracula not treating her with the appropriate care that a new vampire should get. A forced childhood to a sort of 'forced adulthood' when she has to fend all for herself as a vampire.

So while as a human she had more freedom in her thoughts, but not in her actions. As a vampire, she can act freely, but her thoughts aren't fully there yet. This ties right back in to the themes you were talking about, but in a different way.

[ilexdiapason]

(part one here) (part three here)

(CW: character experiences a severe derealization episode)

“D’you want me to order pizza?” Oli asks, somewhat redundantly, because Martyn is twenty-two (according to the police report) and a gamer, of course he’s not gonna turn down free pizza.

“Oh, god, yeah,” says Martyn. And, a second later - “Please.”

He fires up the Domino’s website obediently, pulls up the deals and picks one that’ll leave him some leftovers for when Martyn’s long gone tomorrow. Meateor for himself, as usual, and then he spins the laptop round on his knees to present Martyn with the options. “What are you having?”

Martyn stares at the screen, unblinking, for a few too many seconds.

“... Something wrong?”

He clears his throat. “Yeah, no, just. Um. Been a while.”

“D’you just want a margherita, then? Keep it easy?”

“No, I don’t - I was -” he grimaces, shakes his head roughly, and thumbs at the fabric of his shirt where the tea stain sits “- trying to remember what I liked.”

“Vegetarian?”

“No,” Martyn responds immediately.

“Olives? Mushrooms?”

“I’m not picky -”

“Pineapple on pizza?”

Martyn snorts. “Okay, yeah, I don’t much like pineapple on anything, I’ll give you that.”

“But as a concept.”

“No problem with it.”

“Then, Marty, my friend, you’ve lost the plot.”

He sits another moment, deliberating. Then - “Sweetcorn.”

“Yeah?”

“I like sweetcorn on pizza.”

“Alright,” says Oli, and spins the laptop round again to check the options. “Vegi Supreme or Chicken Feast?”

“I’ll take the chicken,” Martyn says, resolute.

Oli sends the order through, with potato wedges on the side, because it’s his money and he’s gonna pick the extra items for the deal. Then, once the little order tracker with the fake AI has popped up and started telling him stupid jokes to amuse him for the next 25 minutes or so, he turns back to look at Martyn. “Can I ask something?”

He raises his eyebrows. “Ask what?”

“And you don’t need to tell me if it’s, like, personal or whatever, just… what were you eating? If you haven’t seen pizza in however long?”

Martyn makes a face. “Whatever, honestly. It wasn’t a big worry for me - I mean, not like I could - yeah, it was just whatever. Not dead yet, so I’m clearly not malnourished.”

Oli cocks his head. “Whatever like whatever you were given, or whatever like you were scavenging?”

“Like - uh - like - I mean, I wouldn’t say scavenging, that’s - like whatever I could find? I know I’m not explaining this very clearly, it’s -”

“No, no, I said you didn’t need to tell me! Don’t have to say anything you don’t want to.” (It’s not like Oli doesn’t want to know, but he doesn’t need to know if it’s going to make Martyn uncomfortable to explain it.)

“Anyway. It wasn’t bad, it was just… y’know how Covid makes it so you can’t taste anything? Little bit like that.”

“Original Covid did. I don’t know about all the new variants.”

“Ah, yeah, heard about those! Did they ever run out of Greek letters?”

“Don’t think so, thank goodness.”

“Yeah,” Martyn nods.

Beside Oli, the little Domino’s robot lets him know that their pizzas are now going in the oven.

It feels odd, to be sitting here on the sofa, taking an extended lunch break with somebody who he’s only known from Minecraft servers and scratchy in-game prox chat. It feels odd to know that he’s doing hospitality for a man six or seven years younger than him, a friend who’s never answered out-of-character about himself before today. It feels odd to know that he’s actually looking at the real Martyn - not some rat, not some pirate, just… some guy.

Oli swallows and steels himself for what he’s about to say. “Erm - again. Don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to. But… besides this whole Doc thing, what was your life like? Your normal life?”

Martyn’s expression flips into something unreadable for a second, then mellows again into neutrality. “Yeah, uh - nothing special, really. Born and raised in Nottingham, did alright at school, got the grades for uni but I ended up deferring. I was trying to get a job in my gap year but I didn’t really wanna end up behind the counter at GAME or McDonald’s or anything, and nowhere else ever got back to my applications, so… spent a lot of time at home, playing video games. No girlfriend, no mates who really stuck after college; not much worth writing home about. I wasn’t much of anything, really, not then.”

Oli is, he decides, going to ignore the implications of that comment. “Family?”

“Mum, dad, sister who’s been moved out for a few years. Dog. Oh, I hope he’s still alive, that’d suck if I never see my dog again.”

“Fingers crossed,” says Oli.

“What about you? What’s the home life of OrionSound like, when he’s not at the computer?”

“Oh, Marty, my entire life is at the computer,” he quips. “I work in software development. I actually did my degree in psychology, but you’d be surprised, there’s not a lot of room in the market unless you’ve done a load of other certifications as well. I guess I could have got a therapy licence, but as it turned out, I’d spent enough time in first year making terrible visual novels that by the time I got into the workforce I technically knew how to code. AI snapping at our heels now, of course, but it’s probably gonna eat itself by Christmas, so I’m not too worried about that.”

“I dunno,” says Martyn, “I’ve seen some pretty advanced AI.”

“So, yeah. I spent a few years freelancing, contracting for one place or another - I’m quick, which people seem to like, although that’s mostly so I can get back to gaming as soon as possible. And then… like two and a bit years ago? Yeah, would’ve been two years this past July… then I got a really nice position at CHESTCorp, it’s mostly remote work, I drive down to London every few months so they can “review my performance in a controlled environment”, whatever that means, and they pay well enough that I can afford this place on my own, which is -”

Oli stops talking when he notices Martyn’s face has gone white as a sheet.

“What’s wrong?”

“I knew it,” Martyn murmurs.

“What?”

“I knew it,” he says again, stronger, “I knew I shouldn’t have trusted you, I knew you - I thought - he told me this would happen, I’ve seen it happen, I should’ve just learned from my mistakes the fucking first time, but clearly I’m stupid.”

“Marty, what are you -”

“Didn’t wanna believe this shit could follow me out here, but evidently it - oh. Oh, no, no, you fucking - it’s not over, is it? I’m still - that’s why nobody picked up the phone, it wasn’t real, you couldn’t synthesise my mother’s voice, I’d know! You’re CHEST, of course you’re CHEST, the one person I thought - I mean, I hoped - you’re fucking cruel, is what this is, it’s cruel, and you’re not fooling me twice. Don’t know how you got the food this realistic, but -”

“Martyn,” Oli tries to interrupt, “are you okay?”

“Shut the fuck up,” Martyn says through gritted teeth. “You’ve given the game away now, CHEST agent. Should’ve known it wasn’t real. Should’ve known I couldn’t get out that easy. Or you caught up before I got out, one of you fuckers, planted something, or - I don’t know, made me think I was finally out of this stupid place. Made me think it was fine so I’d start giving up secrets. Well, you’re not getting another word out of me, you fucking idiot. Some interrogation room you’ve got here, huh? This your best simulation? Get a better model for your TV, I’ll tell you that for free, the reflection’s too smooth.”

Well. Er. “Martyn,” he tries again, “I think you might be having a flashback?”

“Nothing back about it, you bastard. Giving me false hope like that. Thank god I don’t actually know Doc’s name, or you’d have been able to track him too, wouldn’t you? Fuck you. Don’t ever bring my family into this again, any of you.”

“Okay,” Oli says slowly, rifling through his psychology knowledge for grounding techniques, “you think this isn’t real, right now?”

“I know it isn’t real,” Martyn spits, “and it’s getting worse the more I’m poking at it. See, look -” he stomps a foot at the floor “- you’re losing resolution trying to keep it running.”

The carpet, which has not changed and is certainly not lower resolution than it was when they got here, endures being scuffed at. Oli doesn’t want to actually lay a hand on Martyn right now, though; he’s got a bad feeling that’ll end in something much worse than being kicked. Instead he dips into the kitchen across the room, pops an ice cube out of the tray faster than he’s ever needed to, and brings it back over to the sofa. “Here,” he says, chucking it at Martyn’s lap, “that real enough for you?”

Martyn catches the projectile reflexively. He stills, silent, both hands cupped around the ice cube, staying in the air.

Then, gradually, his eyes unfocused… his arms lower.

He opens them and stares down at the piece of ice in his palm, and, slowly and almost imperceptibly, begins to rock forward.

The Domino’s tracker chimes again. Their food has finished cooking, and it’s being delivered by Amal. Oli almost wants to laugh at the absurdity of it.

Whatever Martyn’s running from, it must go a lot deeper than he thought.

(part five here)

[smoooothoperator]

Beautiful Stranger

08: Shape Of Lies

Driver! Lando Norris x OC (Lily Barton)

Summer love, strangers to friends to lovers, Greece and Greek mythology references

Words: 2.1k

warnings: THE ANGST, social media au, third person pov, flashbacks are on italics

Masterlist

Official playlist

previous part

a/n: here is the angst!!! The part everyone wanted. What do you think will happen after this?

Every way of feedback is very welcomed

The domino effect is a chain reaction that occurs when one event sets off a series of similar, related, or connected events.

Is often used in reference to a catastrophic event or chain of interconnected events such as a natural disaster, series of accidents, or financial collapse. 

He started it by saying a wrong name. Then a wrong job. And because of the first lie, the snowball rolling down the hill started to grow bigger and bigger, making him lose control of it.

And now he has to face the consequences.

"Lily…" 

"Tell me what, Logan?" she frowned, feeling how her heart started to shatter. "Or whoever you are"

He swallowed thickly, feeling how his heartbeat was echoing on his ears. He didn't hear Carlos ending the call after a sigh, he couldn't even hear what he said. 

This it. This is the moment he feared the most. It came sooner than he thought. 

That's what happens when you are a coward.

"I- Lily…" he mumbled, feeling how his mouth was dry. Even if he swallowed he couldn't make anything to get rid of the dryness. "I can explain-"

"How dare you?" she asked, hurt. 

"I can explain!" he exclaimed, taking a step closer to her.

"Don't come closer!" she screamed, making Lando flinch. "Who the fuck are you?"

"I… my name is Lando" he said with a little voice. 

"Everything was a lie, right?" she asked, hurt.

It was suffocating her. Everything was perfect, she started to think about the future. A future with him.

In her mind she created the perfect story for them. Once he left for work, the two of them would be texting and calling, not forgetting to tell the other how their day went. She wanted to visit him by surprise, thinking that he would be happy to see her and introduce her to his family and friends. She wanted to go back to England just to be closer to him. She wanted to see him more often, having dates and sleeping in each other's houses. She wanted to be with him for such a long time that one of them had to suggest to move in together.

She wanted so many things. 

And those plans just exploded in front of her face like a window breaks during an expansive wave.

"Lily, please…" Lando begged, trying to grab her hands.

He needed to touch the person that calms him, the person that for once helps his mind to work at a normal speed.

But how can he do that? The person that calms him is at the same time the person he hurt. The person he has been lying to since they met. 

He's selfish. He deserves everything bad that will happen after this. And he knows it.

But it hurts so bad, and it scares him not knowing what will happen.

He deserves her hate.

"Don't touch me!" she screamed, closing her eyes and letting her body take control.

He didn't see that coming. He didn't see her hand moving towards his cheek. When he noticed it he was already looking to his side and with his skin burning after the slap.

"How dare you?!" she screamed, feeling her heart pounding against her chest. "I gave you everything! Everything! And you just lied to me all this fucking time!"

He never heard her curse in english. It was something he found cute about her. Maybe she cursed in Greek, but since he didn't understand a word of it, he never knew about it.

But now, hearing her curse, he felt worse. She is really angry.

"I didn't want you to know who I was…" he mumbled.

Wrong answer.

"And then you decided to tell me lies all the time?!" she exclaimed.

She couldn't believe it. She fell for a lie. She fell for a man that is not who he says he is. She let him come to her house, to her bed. She let him touch her. 

She let him use her.

"I told you who I was! I told you about my past, about my family and how they treated me!" she screamed. "I trusted you! And what did you do all this time? Not trust me and lie about yourself all the fucking time! How dare you do this to me?! How dare you play with me?!"

"I wanted to tell you" he said. 

There's no use to scream, to argue. He's not the one hurt here. He doesn't have any right to defend himself.

"When? Once you are gone?" she scoffed, letting her heart break more. "How mature" she said sarcastically.

How mature. She's right. Everyone is right. He's not mature. He's 23 years old and still acts like a kid. Maybe everyone was right, maybe Carlos was right. He needed to mature and act like the adult he is. 

"Lily, please… let me explain" he mumbled, taking another step closer to her.

"I don't want to hear it" she groaned. "Get out of my house"

"Don't do this, love…"

"Stop!" she exclaimed, grabbing his backpack and throwing it to him. "Don't you dare to call me like that ever again!"

"I-"

"Get out of my house!" she screamed, pushing him out of her bedroom, throwing his phone to him.

"Lily!"

"Leave!" She screamed, grabbing the first thing she found and threatening to throw it to him.

With his shoulders down and tears rolling down his cheeks, he nodded defeated. He grabbed his backpack from the floor and walked out of her apartment. He knows he has things in her apartment, he knows he left clothes because she liked to sleep on his shirts.

She has every right to be mad at him, to not look at him and to push him out of her house. He did everything to deserve to be treated that way.

When she heard him open the front door and close it behind him she ran towards it. She ran to close the door, locking it after leaning on it and falling to the floor slowly.

He lied to her. He lied about his name, about who he is. Maybe he lied and he doesn't love her. Everything he did was use her and laugh at her.

The moment Lando heard how she locked the door he knew everything ended. That he doesn't have a chance to talk and explain.

He deserves it.

He knows the meaning of her locking the door. He broke her trust. He broke her heart. He broke her.

Lando heard her cry when he went to his apartment. He heard things falling to the floor and breaking. He heard her anger and he couldn't be there to stop it.

He took a deep breath and looked at his phone. The screen is broken. It probably broke the moment it fell from his hand when she walked inside the room after hearing his call with Carlos.

This can't be happening. There's no way he, amongst everyone, did that.

She was in shock, standing in the middle of her messy living room. Cushions on the floor, the things he left on the coffee table on the floor. Every thing he touched was on the floor and she wanted to burn it.

Him, the person she loves and trusts, betrayed her. 

Maybe it was karma? Maybe she deserved it. She deserves it for being a bad daughter and a bad fiance. 

The dress was too tight. It wasn't letting her breathe.

"Mother I can't breathe" she mumbled, waving her hand in front of her face to create some type of air. "The dress is too tight"

"Tight? I barely started unbuttoning it" she said, making sure the material of the dress was fitting her. "You look absolutely beautiful"

"Mom, stop! I can't breathe!" she exclaimed, taking a step away from her mother.

"Eh, watch your tone!" the woman frowned, looking at her. "Adrian is waiting for you"

"I didn't choose that! I didn't choose to be married to a stranger! I didn't choose this stupid life!"

The older woman frowned, looking at the behavior of her daughter. There is no way she can let her act this way. There's no way she will let her daughter keep doing this.

"Stop talking, Liliane!" she screamed, slapping her cheek and not caring about the mark her hand will leave later.

The young woman gasped, looking at her side and feeling the tears threatening to fall. 

"Hear me, you little spoiled brat" her mother said, pointing at her with anger. "This will be the last time I tell you this. Your life would have been way better if you did everything we wanted you to do. You are the daughter of one of the most important men of England. You only had one thing to do and it was studying to work for your father and then having his place in the firm!"

"I never asked for this life!" she screamed. "I never asked to be your daughter, to have all the money we have, to be a Barton! I never wanted to get married to Adrian!"

"Shut up!" she screamed. "Get ready, the guests are waiting"

With that, her mother walked out of the room leaving her alone in front of the mirror.

That woman is not her. The reflection is not her. That woman, dressed in a white dress with a veil and expensive jewels, is not her. 

Liliane Barton is just a wax figure her parents molded the way they wanted, and with every mistake she made they added the double pressure to mold it better.

But Lily, the girl she always wanted to be, never wore jewels. She never wanted to look like her mother, even if she was the exact copy of her. She never wanted to have the same life she had.

"Fuck it" she groaned, grabbing the diamonds necklace and pulling it out of her neck, breaking it. "Fuck everything! Fuck everyone!"

She took off her dress, leaving it on the floor of the hotel room and kicked it away from her. She grabbed the veil and made a ball with it, throwing it to the bed.

She feels free, not wearing that tight dress anymore.

But she needs more freedom.

She looked around, finding the clothes she came into the hotel, clothes that have more of her essence than the ones she was going to wear later. 

Quickly, she got changed into that floral dress and into her flat sandals, throwing the high heels to the mirror, breaking it, and grabbed her bag.

If someone finds her in the corridor she's wasted. If someone finds her running away she's wasted. 

"Good" she nodded when she opened the room door, not finding anyone around.

She ran for her freedom. She ran with everything that was hers inside that bag. 

"Get out!" she said to the man that was inside the car that was going to take her to the chapel. 

"But… miss Barton" he frowned.

"I said get out!" 

The man sighed, leaving the keys for the car inside and getting out of the vehicle. He could see her shaking, the mark of a hand on her cheek and the make up messy. 

Lily drove to her apartment, to her small space of freedom. She parked the car and got out of it, opening the door of the apartment and rushing inside of it, searching for bags and things to take with her. Clothes, her personal identifications, her credit cards. Everything.

She called the bank to make sure her parents didn't take away her money. Money that wasn't hers but she knew that she would need.

If someone looked at her from the outside they would think she was crazy, with her makeup and messy hair, a big suitcase and a backpack next to her and a big smile on her lips while looking at the departure screen at the airport.

Greece. Greece is the place she belongs. Something deep inside of her tells her to go there, like soft voices encouraging to buy a ticket no matter how expensive it is. Melodic voices promised her that her destiny is to be there.

And she did that. She ran towards her freedom.

She ran away, leaving her past behind in a hotel room with clothes on the floor, a broken mirror and broken jewels.

Liliane Barton was a woman that didn't want to live in a lie, but fell in love with one.

taglist

@lestappenloverr @racinggirl @roni-midnights @livster8 @kakorrhaphiphobia @starkeyellow @celestialpierre @ophcelia @msliz @lorarri @ironmaiden1313 @imsorare @mycenterfold @im-an-overthinker @soosheee @karmabyfernando @landoyesrizz @sticksdoesart @beatricemiruna

[rheian]

APOLLO / PERCY

*Pops out* hi! there’s apparently controversy surrounding god/mortal ships, so just a reminder to be kind to everyone & keep discourse out of this post, please and thank you! This fic list is a bit shorter than normal, sorry about that!

If there are fanfiction that you cannot access and you do not have an ao3 account then that probably means the fic is restricted. Create an ao3 account even if you won’t write. Trust me, It’ll be a lifesaver.

As always, Click “Keep Reading” for the list. ( dividers © )

Wonder If We Might by mrthology ( T | 3k words | one-shot )

"It's nothing serious, Dad," Percy insisted. He was just glad Triton wasn't a part of the conversation this time. His brother seemed to be personally offended that Percy had even spoken to Apollo, let alone gone to dinner with him. "It was a date. A singular date. That's nothing. And it wasn't even really a date!" [...]

Or Percy went on one date with Apollo. One. It didn't mean anything, right?

Part 12 out of 23 : Percy + Apollo

Apollo/Percy Jackson | Camp Mom Percy Jackson, Protective Poseidon, Fluff You’ll see a lot from that collection lol, i recommend reading everything from that collection.

Going once, going twice, sold! by CalmingJasmineTea ( T | 2k words | one-shot )

The Aphrodite cabin rope Percy into auctioning off a date for a demigod education event. It gets... a bit out of hand when the gods participate in the event.

Apollo/Percy Jackson | Camp Mom Percy Jackson, apollo is a simp, Charity Auctions

River to the Sun by novellaofsonatas ( T | 6k words | one-shot )

Percy always knew the gods were real.

So he decided to pray.

Apollo/Percy Jackson | Pagan Percy Jackson, Gay Percy Jackson, Child Abuse

Here On The Sunny Side by mrthology ( G | 4k words | one-shot )

“Just talk to him.”

Cody blinked. He could do a lot of things, but approaching Percy Jackson and just talking to him was not one of those things.

Or Percy’s part of a group project at NRU. His group mates aren’t exactly sure what to make of him. Or of his mysterious paramour.

Part 20 out of 23 : Percy + Apollo

Apollo/Percy Jackson | POV Outsider, Post-The Trials of Apollo, Attempt at Humor Not really ship focused imo, but it’s there and it’s not a background ship!

Moment by Moment by mrthology ( T | 4k words | one-shot )

Percy has been dating Apollo for three months, two weeks, and three days. Not that he had been counting or anything. Everything was going amazingly well, all things considered. His mother approved, insofar as she would ever approve of him dating a god, his friends all supported him, and Apollo was the definition of the perfect boyfriend. He had never been happier.

Percy just needed to somehow tell his father. And Triton.

Apollo/Percy Jackson | Relationship Reveal, Crack Treated Seriously, Undersea Family

Lovers of Apollo Club by fanamaniac ( G | 6k words | two-shot )

“He has moved on, then?” Hyacinthus asked, breaking the silence. Percy’s eyes snapped up and met the nonjudgmental look of the prince.

Percy cleared his throat. “Yeah,” he responded, “a couple of times since you, but yeah.”

Hyacinthus laughed mirthlessly. “Not quite,” he lamented, “you’re the first since me.”

Apollo/Percy Jackson, Percy Jackson & Hyacinthus | Insecure Percy Jackson “to have loved and have lost is better than never having loved at all” ouch.

painting the sun in your eyes by Sappho_of_Space ( G | 2k words | one-shot )

As a god, Apollo had multiple facets, multiple domains. While he is a destructive god, he is also the god of art.

Apollo will do whatever he must to make Percy appreciate art.

Apollo/Percy Jackson | gods being gods, Forced Immortality, Deity Percy Jackson

Long Ago, That Current Caught Us by mrthology ( M | 25k words | three-shot )

"I'm looking for books about Greek mythology," Percy told the librarian. "About a boy who fell out of the sky."

"That would be Icarus, dear," she said. "He accidentally flew too close to the sun and paid the ultimate price. It's a fascinating myth, if sad. He fell into the sea and drowned."

Or, in another life, Percy was Icarus, the boy who flew too close to the sun. Apollo is still the same.

Part 9 out of 23 : Percy + Apollo

Apollo/Percy Jackson | Reincarnation, Percy Jackson Needs a Hug, Non-Linear Narrative If you can accept the fact that the fic won't tell the tale 1 to 1, this is a 10/10 must read.

It's all a matter of Trust and Time by Kuroishuuha ( T | 1k words | one-shot )

Trust takes years to build, seconds to break, and forever to repair.

Well it's a good thing Apollo ensured that he will have forever.

Apollo/Percy Jackson | Deity Percy Jackson, Forced Immortality, Dark Apollo

it's not that complicated by mrthology ( T | 15k words | completed )

"I’m dating your dad," Percy confessed in a rush.

Will frowned. "Run that by me again?" he asked, "did you just say you're dating my dad? But Annabeth just kissed you goodbye on her way to her Cabin!"

"Oh, I'm still dating Annabeth," Percy said earnestly. "I'm just dating your dad as well."

Will blinked, mouth dropping open. He closed it again after a moment, visibly thinking. "Is Annabeth dating my dad?"

Percy laughed and shook his head. "No, definitely not," he said firmly. "Just me."

Or, Percy is dating Annabeth AND Apollo, and is extremely happy with the arrangement (and feeling more loved than he thought possible). Annabeth and Apollo are absolutely not dating but may (just may) be fast becoming best friends. Not that either of them will ever admit that in a million years.

Part 2 out of 3 : this is my boyfriend percy, and percy's boyfriend, apollo

Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Apollo/Percy Jackson | Domestic Fluff, Polyamory, Bisexual Percy Jackson

My Golden Crown of Sorrow, My Bloody Sword to Swing by mrthology ( T | 8k words | one-shot )

He stepped forwards, Anaklusmos held out in front of him. No one else was in the throne room—not even Annabeth. It was just him and Luke's body. His feet crunched over shattered bits of marble and glass, the steps loud in the echoing silence. He looked up to the black sky above, terror suddenly clogging his throat. Something was wrong here. He had been sure his dreams would end with Kronos' defeat, that he would no longer be haunted by visions of what could be and would no longer have voices clamouring in his mind.

Apparently not.

Or Percy refused godhood standing in the ruins of Olympus, Luke’s body sprawled at his feet. Fate, however, has a different plan for him, and for them all.

Part 7 out of 23 : Percy + Apollo

Apollo/Percy Jackson | Pre-The Heroes of Olympus, Percy Jackson is a God, AU – Canon Divergence

[asmolfolk]

Hello! Can I please request Zagreus x reader headcanons for what Zagreus would be like if he gets jealous? Thank you!

Okay... That would be a continuation of this headcanons! ^^

I don't think Zagreus would get jealous so quickly! So I made some scenarios were he could get a lil' jelly. [And I'm seriously wanting to make one Greek Gods x [You] series after so many thoughts about Poseidon, Apollo and Dionysus as boyfriends and being Hera's 'secret' lover - Like, before marrying Zeus or something like that.] If Anyone wants to see that, please tell me :]

So, to refresh your minds about the personalities traits:

Sun [Extroverted, funny and carefree people.] - GOD.

Moon [Introverts, gentle and creative people.] - UNDERWORLD GOD.

Eclipse [Ambiverts, can change their humors a lot.] - HALFBLOOD.

 Cloud [Quiet, smart and can be someone gentle] - PUNISHED SOUL

 Rain [An confort zone, caring and gentle but just for the ones that they care about.] - FORCED TO LIVE IN THE UNDERWORLD, GOD.

 Rainbow [Flirty, charming and adventurous.] - GOD MENTIONED BY OTHERS.

This header was made by this amazing person!

Zagreus Jealous

Does he get jealous quickly?

No, he doesn't.

Zagreus isn't some kind of yandere or anything like that, he knows that you can handle any situation very well - So, he doesn't get jealous of anything.

Everything seems okay to him; You want an poly relationship? Okay, talk to him and he will make this work well. You want to date his dad? No. You want to date Dyonisus? All fine for him.

But, he can get Jealous quickly if people can do things that he can't with you.

What does he get jealous of?

That depends on the personality you chose. If it is Sun or Eclipse, he gets jealous about how the other gods can just... Go and talk to you, hug you, kiss you...

If it is Moon, Cloud or Rain, he is probably going to get jealous if you are approaching or give too many gifts to other beings, especially if he - by himself - doesn't get that many gifts - Or - you giving too much attention to someone other than him or his family.

If you are Rainbow, if you are flirting too much with others, he can feel a little jealous - especially if you start getting touchy with them.

It's very difficult to get him jealous and not mad. [Situations that some people put to 'jealousy act' (SA) would get him mad - what is not the ask.]

How does he act?

When he is jealous... Well... It is a little difficult to say with 100% certainty - because his actions change depending on what you like and if you are in the underworld and everything.

He starts to roll his eyes at the subject [The other person], especially if they are trying to get your attention. He WILL be very very sarcastic with the other person, even mocking their words.

With you [around the other person] he would just play off as being chill and would just give some hints about his jealousy for you to understand that he wants to talk with you alone. [He wouldn't make you just let your friend behind just because he felt jealousy]

With you, alone, he would explain everything that he felt and ask for forgiveness - cause he couldn't control his own feelings. You would need to say some kind stuff to him, in your own way, to make him understand that feeling jealousy is normal... And that he shouldn't feel so down about that.

...Now, you would want to know how he would act with the personality that you chose... Right?

.❀。• *₊°。 ❀°。

✿°。Sun - Combine Boon✿°

  .❀。• *₊°。 ❀°。

You and Aphrodite combined boons for your true love... Well, things didn't go as right as you thought.

You thought that it was a GREAT and FUNNY idea to surprise your boyfriend. You and Aphrodite just appear two time - in the beginning and to get a combine boon, after that, it seemed like you two just disappeared... Of course, it was part of your fun plan!

You and Aphrodite were chilling around after getting Zeus and Hades permission to go down there and were just waiting for Zagreus to chose between your boon or Aphrodite. With an 0,3 time record, he choosed your boon.

"Thank you, my beloved! I will remember this~ I would Aaaaalways choose you too!"

"What a shame... Could I be the third person into your relationship? Oh wait, I already am." Aphrodite was talking about being the third wheel... But, Zagreus [who was thinking that you two were acting suspicious] understanded... Another meaning.

"Heeey! Don't say it like that!"

He didn't like it. He just avoided the heart (Aphrodite's skill) and killed all the monsters, before just picking Aphrodite boon so he could continue his way, not saying anything.

 You could sense there was something wrong with Zagreus, but you couldn’t actually tell exactly what… But you were so happy and excited for Zagreus to get back at Hades’s place so you could surprise him that you didn’t even think about how sus everything sounded. 

 And after some time, Zagreus died… Well, no sh- But he got back at the ‘checkpoint’, where… Tada! You were there too!

“. . .Oh my, if it isn’t Zagreus’s partner!” With Hypnos' lack of keeping secrets and surprises, he would be upfront with that information. Zagreus quickly turned his head so he could see… You. You … The vision he had - first seeing you - was probably one of the prettiest in his head.

 he didn’t wait, just runned to hug you with all the speed he had - using his dash to be close enough to you before just pulling you to his embrace. Aphrodite would laugh at this demonstration of affection.

 “Seems like Zagreus and you match~” She would say, happily almost not seeing how dark and dull his eyes would be almost hostily towards her “Oh my- I should apologize for what I did say earlier~ I understand that you misunderstood my words, I was talking about being the ‘Third wheel’ and not the ‘lover’~”

 “Oh… I see, it's my fault.” He would say in his worried but sorry tone as he created a little distance between you and him “...Though… Could I talk with you, [Reader]?”

 He would guide you to his room, there, he would be way more upfront with his thoughts… “Look, I’m sorry… I… I just couldn’t say those things in front of Hypnos and Aphrodite… But… I got jealous of that whole thing… I just noticed that you could live happily with some god of the Olympus. It would be way easier and you wouldn’t have too much trouble… Especially because of having to go through a lot of stuff just so you can get into the Underworld.”

 “Do you think I give a single fuck?” You would say, with your characteristic smile and would pinch Zagreus’s cheek “I love you, Zagreus… And if I need to go to hell, another dimension or whatever to be with you, I will.”

 “...You are too… Much… You know?” He would say with a chuckle.

 “You were the one that, for the first time seeing me, guided me to your room.”

*.·:·.☽✧    ✦    ✧☾.·:·.*

°∴,*⋅〖Moon☽ 〗

*.·:·.☽✧    ✦    ✧☾.·:·.*

Hypnos and you started to get very close... Because of that, some souls didn't know about your true romantic relationship and would have their doubts.

 Hypnos and you - for some reason - were getting very close, maybe it was because you could see his value, you don’t judge his laziness and tries to help in what you can, even defending him from the verbal attacks from the others gods - Even if it was from the mighty Nyx or Hades.

 Because of your protection, an ‘meme’ started towards the souls - “Zagreus, his partner [you] and Zagreus's partner husband [Hypnos].”

 No one seemed actually uncomfortable with that joke and - sometimes - Zagreus or Hypnos would kindly laugh it off and change the topic - But, this day, a Soul asked in front of others [loudly] if Hypnos was your boyfriend.

 “No.” That was your fast answer.

 “Hahahaha… How is that even an question...?" Hypnos would try to laugh it off, because he could feel Zagreus glare towards him - waiting for his answer “No, no. They are with this handsome fellow” Hypnos would point toward Zagreus and the words that the soul told Zagreus what they thought about the situation.

 “Well, you should be careful then. They are too close.”

 “Excuse me, but I trust both of them. If they were in love, I know that they would tell me… And, I’m not against polyamour.”

 The soul would stay quiet after that, Hypnos would sigh of relief and you would just wait patiently for Zagreus to go back to his room - following your boyfriend, you would hug him - bringing him closer to your body as a ‘gift’. 

 “Even as a God, I’ve never heard something as sweet as that… I’m happy that you trust me… But I could feel a hint of jealousy.”

 “I’m sorry, dear. Some feelings are difficult for me to… Understand, I admit that I was a little jealous of how fast you two became friends. Just that… But - I do not think you would ever cheat on me. I know and believe when you say you’re loyal.” 

╭⋟─────────────────────╮

✦ ✧ Eclipse ✦ ✧

╰─────────────────────⋞╯

You were in the middle of a training session with Heracles... For the first time, Zagreus appeared in the Olympus in the middle of it... And- Well, a misunderstanding started. [I swear it's not like the ones where the other person just lets it all be the way it is and doesn't try to explain.]

As always, your training with another demigod was marked - This time with the champion, Heracles. Your muscles were hurt, and you could feel a heavy pain around your neck, with that, Heracles promised you a great massage. Then be it… The only bad thing was that you were almost naked in front of your long distance boyfriend with a 2-3 meters muscular soft boy behind you.

 “Oh shit.” You would say making it seem more sus than it already is.

 “Am I interrupting… Something?” Zagreus would ask, waiting for you to realize that he was on Olympus.

 “HOLY COW! YOU ARE IN OLYMPUS, WHAT IN HERA!?” You would run towards Zagreus, hugging him “And Alcides was just giving me a massage, we were training.”

 “Oh… I see… I have to admit that I got a little jealous of what I have seen.”

 “Ah, He is Zagreus- right? Your prince, [You]? And you shouldn’t get jealous of us, I’m married.” Alcides would ask while making his way towards both of you “As they said, I’m Alcides - Heracles is my ‘nickname’... We could say that.”

 “Pleasure meeting you… Your father told me about you, Hera never gives up, hn?”

 “Never…” Alcides said with an expressionless face.

 “Well, we should catch things up, right Zagreus?” Noticing that Alcides is thinking about his dead family, you would say “How about you come with us? It would be fun.”

 “Count me in.”

❉ ╤╤╤╤ ✿ ╤╤╤╤ ❉

✦ ❘ ༻C l o u d༺ ❘ ✦

❉ ╤╤╤╤ ✿ ╤╤╤╤ ❉

You were just chilling around, until an soul started to talk with you... Flirt with you... You ignored they, but they continued.

Being also a soul made some souls think that the underworld would be their dating app. You were ignoring that soul for… Minutes? Hours? You didn’t know. All that you knew was that Zagreus' hand was around your waist.

“Is there any problem?” Zagreus would ask - already tired of all of that fucking flirt.

 “...No-” The soul would get the fuck out-

 “...You shouldn’t just ignore, some souls told me you were ‘giving attention to them’, I suggest that you call Cerberus…”

 “I prefer to just ignore… It’s not like I care about fake news… About that, did you… Believe it?”

 “To be honest? No, but I couldn’t control the hint of jealousy that I felt… It was… Horrible and - as your boyfriend, I know that I should expose those feelings for you to understand it... And help me.”

 “I’m sorry… I... Do feel jealous about you too... Sometimes.”

 “You have no faults, my princess… And, remember, you are the only one who has my heart in your hands.”

╭-°—✞—˚✧❨✧˚—✞—°-╮

»•»Rain«•«

╰-°—✞—˚✧❨✧˚—✞—°-╯

You finally did it... You made the perfect potion! It allowed you and Zagreus to walk freely in the human world for 24 hours. But, maybe you happened to catch a random man's attention...

You missed how the sun would go through your skin, how you could feel the wind… And Zagreus seemed in love with the feeling too. Finally… The both of you were there, without the other gods to know… But, at least, you could make Zagreus be away from some ‘god connected place’ by your knowledge of them.

 Zagreus was swimming with you, he thought that that would be cool - and, It actually is!... But the uncool part is explaining how to swim to that prince. Well, after a long time, you caught someone's attention. In this case - Someone you didn’t want.

 A random person walked towards you.

 “What a beauty… Wouldn’t you like to let that… Zombie there and come with me for a lil’ fun?” They would say, kneeling in front of you “You know, he doesn’t seem wealthy at all.”

 “Pardon?” You would ask, with a confused expression - “What?... You think- You think I’m beautiful?” They would just smile and nod “MY zombie thinks that too!” You pointed to Zagreus “So, yeah, not going to change my zombie for some random.”

 “Oh alright, then.” The person just nodded and then got up “Wish the both of you an good day” Now, what the fuck- Is that how being catcalled works nowadays?

 “What a weird person-” Before you could continue your words, Zagreus were hugging you from behind “Hey, no fucking in water-”

 “...What?- I- I just wanted to hug you and tell you thanks…”

 “Ah… Didn’t know, you can continue it.”

┈     ┈     ┈   ⋞ 〈 ⏣ 〉 ⋟    ┈     ┈     ┈

══✿══╡°˖✧Rainbow✿✧˖°╞══✿══

┈     ┈     ┈   ⋞ 〈 ⏣ 〉 ⋟    ┈     ┈     ┈

You thought it was a good idea to flirt around with anyone... Well, Zagreus didn't think so.

Zagreus and you started a closed relationship, Hades still hates you for just appearing out of nowhere - demanding to marry his son [Like, who the fuck are you?] but when he looked at Zagreus and saw his… Shiny eyes - He knew that you were someone important to him. That’s why he decided to give his blessing to the relationship, but ONLY if you two could be together for 3 months without an big fight.

 With that, Persephone suggested some ‘challenges’ to Zagreus and you, being one of them ‘flirting around’, they wanted to see your and Zagreus reaction to someone trying to flirt with both of you.

 The soul would go towards Zagreus first while you were asking something for the cooker. The soul would start with a respectful bow to Zagreus and would say “I’m sorry, master Zagreus , but if I don’t have a bed how am I going to serve you?”

 He almost choked - You didn’t seem bothered though, just continuing what you were doing while Zagreus tried to think about an answer. “I’m sorry but, I would suggest not flirting with me… I don’t feel comfortable with that.” A simple and honest answer, it would be enough to make the soul step back until just started to do something else. Zagreus would sigh and start looking at you, making sure you weren’t mad about his answer or anything. “All fine, [reader]?”

 Your answer would be a nod while finishing your meal “Duude, the food here is HOT as F U C K, not as hot as you though.” With that simple answer you got Zagreus a lil’ flustered, he was going to say something but another soul approached the table where you two were.

 The soul just said “Bro, I’m in hell or Heaven? Because all I see it’s a angel.”

 “I’m no angel, but I can guide you to heaven.”

 “In bed?”

 “Not only in bed~”

 Zagreus was seriously taking this horrible flirting as seriously? Maybe, after all, he never saw you flirt with more than 3 phrases to someone. He did show to be a little discomfortable though, he would just look at you.

 “Well, good talk buuut bye bye~” You would notice that he wanted to talk with you and would give 0 fucks to the soul anymore “What is it, darling?~”

 “It’s just… I don’t think I kind of like you doing that kind of stuff with other people, like, it’s just a feeling… Like the flirting was looking very personal… And while I couldn't answer you proply”

 “Oh… Sweetie! I’m glad you told me, I hate when people feel discomfortable by it and they just let me do it and AAAFTER that, they even tell others that I was the one who didn’t communicate!” - Okay, Zagreus is asking you about that ex-

[And Persephone is taking notes - While Hades is asking himself 'Did I made a mistake?']

[when-the-elevator-regrets]

HERE'S AN OFFICIAL DISCORD SERVER!

Not necessary but appreciated robux donation.-Scott_screech

!Warning!:Content might involve vulgar language/swearing,slight dark humour,romance,inappropriate jokes/adult humour,self harm,depression and mental issues illnesses. thank you and stay safe,I wouldn't ever want any on my followers uncomfortable around here so mind the warning(appreciated: if you have an illness and I show it in the wrong way in some of the content please tell me!)

Hello welcome this is short information for now what is happening around in the au and how it looks like and the sexualities,heights,age of each characters+ships and friendships,feel free to ask for the further information,yes here will be more stuff when I will get time to write all...for now answering questions will be easier to me so go ahead! Feel free to ask anything you want or need to know!!-little reminder here,this account is made by only one person so the updates might be more rare cuz I don't have so much time on daily..I still will try do as much as I can

Ships:

Infectedparty-infected x poob

Partybeetle-pest x poob

Wallmark-wallter x mark

Spive-split x bive

Friendships:

Birthday duo-poob and fleshy

Weird trio-pest,inf and poob

Family-lampert,wallter and mark

Scapro duo-prototype and scag

Apartament time-infected and unpleasant

Ball duo-poob and gregoriah

Light wall-lampert and wallter

Wooden light-lampert and mark

Scenelight-lampert and inf

Wood bros-mark and jim

Fun trio- split,poob and inf AND A LOT MORE!

If anyone have ocs ship also welcome then it will change.

Sexualities+genders,heights and age(reminder some are canon and some not):

🎁Poob-asexual,pansexual(non-binary)|5'6 with hat 5'9+at his early 20's| {Polish}

🪲Pest-gay and demisexual(male)|6 feet +at his mid 20's| {Japanese}

💡Lampert-asexual and omnisexual(male)|5'8+19| {Swedish}

🪵Mark-gay(male)|5'9(6'1 with robotic legs instead stand)+at his mid 40's| {Texan}

🪻Jimmy/Jim-bisexual(male)|5'9+at his early 40's| {texan and From Finland}

🧱Wallter-bisexual(genderfluid)|10 feet+at his mid 40's| {British(england) and Greek}

🍌Split-lesbian(female)|5'8 all fours, 7feet normally+early 30's| {Spanish}

☎️Bive-lesbian and asexual(female)|5'9+early 30's| {Austrian}

🟢Gregoriah-gay(trans man)|5'7+early 20's| {Australian}

💉Drretro-pansexual+demiromantic(female)|normal form 5'7 other form 6 feet+at her early 50's| {Brazilian}

🎂Fleshcousin-questionable+aroace(no identify gender but goes by he/it)|5'8+no age(adult tho)|{no country-depends who he copies}

🛸Gnarpy-straight+aroace(male)|5'7+18| {Gnarpian(planet Gars)}

👾Infected-bisexual(male)|5'9+at his early 20's| {American,New Yorker}

🤖Prototype-pansexual(male)|6'1 feet+no age|{no country}

🐱Jermbo-straight(male)|5'8+21| {meow meow}

🪨Mr-straight+asexual(rock. He/it)|rock form 3 feet,other form 6'3feet+at his mid 40's|{French}

🐛pilby-pansexual(non-binary)|4'2+at their late 50's|(I want to keep that they are old. I like the old fashioned thingy with pilby){Dane(Denmark)}

🔴Reddy-straight(male)|7'6+no age| {no country}

🪣Spud-asexual+bisexual(male)|5'10 at his late 30's|{Norwegian}

🦠Unpleasant-straight(male)|5'10+at his mid 30's|{American, Alaskan}

☂️Mach-lesbian(female)|6'10 no hat,with hat 9'5(canon)+at her late 30's|{Canadian}

Folly-aroace(female)|9'5+at her late 40's|{Russian}

Melanie-omnisexual(demigirl)|6feet/with ears 6'3+at her early 30's|{icelandic}

Mozelle-pansexual(princess..female)|4'5 feet+unknown age/doesn't age|{Irish+hellish(yk..)}

(bonus cuz why not)

🍦Crem-pansexual(demiboy)|5'11+at his late 20's|{Italian}

🙂Enphoso-aroace+bisexual(trans man)|6'5+at his early 40's|{German}

📌Emerson-omnisexual+asexual(male)|5'10+at his early 30's|{Kiwi(New Zealand}

👑Jeremy-bisexual(male)|normal form 12 feet,other form 7'3+at his mid 30's|{British}

🏕️Sarah-straight(female)|5'9+at her late 30's|{Australian}

🧽Swibbledib-pansexual(gender fluid)|5'10+at his mid 20's|{Portuguese}

📼Scag-bisexual(trans woman)|5'5+at her early 50's|{no country}

💻Williamplayz57/william-straight(male)|normal form 3'2,other form 6 feet+no age|{American, Floridian}

🦉Sab-straight(male)|5'11 feet+at his early 40's|{Greek}

🕳️Scary mike/mike-questionable(non binary)|6'2+no age|{Nepali}

🪓Glevil-asexual+bisexual(male)|5'10+at his late 40's|{American,New Mexico}

clover-gay(demiboy)|6'3 feet normal form,other form 7 feet+at his late 30's|{Scottish}

Döug-straight(intersex)|14 feet normal form,5 feet other form+at it's mid 50's|{German}

OCS.

Tag-no comfirmed Sexuality|5'3 feet+no age information and country|

zAyee-Lesbian|10'5 feet+no age or country information| !both belong to @b4nd4g3-d0ct0r !

THAT'S ALL FOR NOW...IT TOOK ME ALMOST 2 HOURS. THANKS FOR READIN(still editing)

THANKS FOR SUPPORT

!!SOON COMING MORE STUFF(WILL COME/SHOW UP IN LATER STUFF OR WILL BE WRITTEN HERE)!!⬇️

1.Okay for sure here will be a lot of happy wallmark posts,so if here any wallmark happiness needers,enjoy!they are switches and wallter is the malewife...wallter really likes cooking and taking care of others

Mark tries to be as helpful as he can but mark is a clumsy type of guy but very nice,tho sometimes stubborn so is wallter!enjoy-they did have a divorce before but they decided to give it another try and then remarried so yeah,they are a happy married gay couple!!!.

2.Yes the au have a story,kind of a lore and all but I just want to say that in this au most of things are happy(maybe.) and here are not a lot problems(no promises)...except with Mr and unpleasant still is unpleasant,I will write the story one day eventually when I will get time-each cast member of wter have their own backstories and secrets.

3.|pest doesn't really like infected In fact,poob is dating infected and pest but pest and infected are not dating cuz they quite hate each other but after all everything is fine in their relationships,they all agreed on this and are fine with it|,|spive,it just split x bive,bive is still very paranoid but with split she calms down a bit and split tries to help her out with stuff and they love each other very much|,|wallmark,as I said they had a divorce but they remarried,for Lampert and themselves and now they are happy with each other,they still prefer their building materials but they realized it's not such a big of a deal so they ignore what they prefer here|

4. Mark and Jim are siblings,glevil is their cousin|Mark and Jim are very close to each other and would die for one another,Jim really helped mark after divorce and with the remarry plan which worked out|

5.Ocs are still welcomed!Just tell me information about them and if I have rights to add them to the au,I will let on your own answer questions for your oc since I don't want to be rude here and say something incorrect

6.some npcs Live together and here I will give some

Wallter+Mark+jimmy

Poob+pest

Infected+unpleasant+Lampert(tho lampert spends most of his time in rokea)

split+bive

Mach+pilby

Mike+glevil

Mr+enphoso

Crem+Emerson+gregoriah

Jeremy+clover+döug

7.not everything is here from canon and it's more fanon...I try to keep each npcs personalities but also a bit changes,I made this au to a bit make it up to me but I also made this like that to keep important details and not change too much!

8(out of info) you can use my designs for anything you want,ship art and etc but I would be grateful if you tag me when u do

[katsona-the-katsequel]

Human Heart, Aigis' Heart

Here comes Aigis' story!

___________________________________________

I am the humanoid tactical weapon Aigis. I am an Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon developed in the Kirijo Group's lab. I am the cutting edge of modern military technology, and the culmination of many years of shadow research. Though my body is mechanical, I also possess a human-like mentality, and I am the world's most powerful Persona User. I am particularly renowned for my sturdiness, and just like the story of the Aegis Shield from Greek mythology that gave me my name, I am truly undefeatable, impenetrable, and invincible.

Yes. I was supposed to be invincible.

However, at Gekkoukan High School, where I was currently studying, I never had a chance to use this excellent weaponry in my student life.

To borrow the words of Yukari-san and other female classmates, I felt like a little blue or depressed.

"...Well, today is the 4th, so...um, Aigis-san. Please tell me how you would feel about it."

Oh, by the way, we were currently in class. Professor Toriumi was asking me to respond. I was just thinking about it, but as a cutting edge humanoid tactical weapon, my brain is capable of parallel processing, so I won't miss any questions. But...

"What's wrong? Is modern Japanese too difficult for returnees? There's no need to think about it so deeply."

The text we were currently reading was a novel called "Kokoro" written by a man named Natsume Soseki. I didn't seem to have a good enough understanding of this "Kokoro" yet. After about 32 seconds of silence, the teacher spoke to me in a manner that could be perceived as slightly over-the-top, perhaps trying to give me a clue as to the correct answer.

"He proposed to her over his best friend K, and she ended up committing suicide... I wonder what Aigis would think in that situation?"

"If it were me... I would think that my friend would have committed suicide."

"...It's not the same as it used to be. Give it a twist! Give it a twist!"

"Could it have been a murder disguised as a suicide?"

"Why?! This is Soseki! Don't turn a masterpiece of pure literature into an Edogawa Ranpo mystery!"

"In terms of motive, the young lady is the most suspicious... but we need to check the absence certificate..."

"Listen to me! Listen to what I'm saying!"

As usual, Toriumi-sensei exploded, and soon the bell rang to signal the end of school. If this were a plan for me to kidnap "Miss" from my best friend K, it would be easy... But even for someone with a mind that can summon Personas, understanding this "heart" was not as easy as it sounds.

"Well, you are human beings, but it's still hard to understand other people's feelings. Isn't it okay to worry so much about it?"

My precious friend nodded enthusiastically to Junpei's words. It was lunchtime now, and we were on the rooftop. I'd asked the two of them to come over to get their opinions on how to solve the problem I was currently facing.

"However... the reality is that 'humanness' is an essential skill for my school life. If communication with civilians is hindered for any reason, then my mission will also be hindered."

"But it seems like you're getting along well with the other kids in your class."

"No, I feel like I'm a total stranger in the so-called 'high school girls' community. I can't even fully understand how to communicate via cell phone email..."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"For example", I said, taking out my cell phone and showing them the email I received from Yukari the other day. It said, "Tell Kirijo SP I'll be late (^_^)."

“This?”

"Normally, the term SP refers to a bodyguard who provides personal protection for important people. So I told the Kirijo Group's security department that Yukari would be coming home late that day."

"Well, that's..."

"For some reason, they gave me a strange look."

"I guess."

"That night, Yukari was very disappointed when I heard that SP was an abbreviation for Senpai. But that's not all. In another email, I saw the phrase "H/K" and it took me three days to realize that it was an abbreviation for 'By the way', if it was 'H&K,' I would know that it was an abbreviation for the German gun manufacturer Heckler & Koch."

"That's something the average person wouldn't understand..."

"What is the point of using gal characters? It is unreasonable to make 'juko' read as 'ta', or 'ju' read as 'sa', and to increase the amount of information that would take only one byte to two bytes. It's inefficient."

"Now now now. That's what being a high school girl is all about. Besides, you don't need to be bound by those norms, Ai-chan is human enough... Ah, that's right."

Suddenly, Junpei stood up as if he had just thought of something.

"What's the matter?"

"From now on, if you want to ask for advice like that, I think it's best to get advice from someone in the industry."

Saying this, Junpei smiled happily. This kind of human-like smile is essential to camouflage one's appearance as a human female, and yet it was something I lacked. I wondered if I could acquire a smile like that...?

"And so, I'm your special lecturer, Takeba."

"I-I'm your assistant, Yamagishi."

“Junpei, in the end, didn’t you just want to use Aigis’s troubles as an excuse to have some fun?”

The situation was incomprehensible.

Afterwards, we met up with Yukari and Fuuka, and for some reason we ended up inside Karaoke Mandragora in Paulownia Mall.

"Well, well, well, don't worry about the small details! Going to karaoke with friends after school is a typical thing for high school girls to do, right? I think it's important to start with the formality, you know."

"Is that so? Junior high school girls go to karaoke on their way home from school... I get it. But in that case, shouldn't we invite Mitsuru-san too?"

"I-I think Kirijo-senpai is a bit different from the average high school girl..."

The details were unknown, but it was profound.

"Okay then, let's start with Ai-chan. What will you sing? Anything is fine."

"Singing, huh? It's my first experience, but I'll do my best."

"Okay then, do your best!"

...

"It was an unexpected situation."

"Well, my head's still spinning..."

"I thought my eardrums would burst..."

"Well, well, I guess that can't be helped, huh?"

It was an unfortunate accident. The moment I turned on the microphone to sing, a terrible cacophony occurred. The electromagnetic waves emitted by my engine resonated with the speakers, causing a phenomenon known as howling. It was like a sonic bomb.

The force of the blast was devastating. All the drinking glasses were destroyed, and the karaoke equipment in the next room was also damaged.

"The electromagnetic seal at the core was perfect, but no one had thought about the drive motors at each joint..."

Was this a feeling of despondent feeling? Was it impossible for me, after all, to acquire the abilities of a normal female student? As if to cut me off from such thoughts, Junpei spoke as cheerfully as ever.

"Well then, let's pull ourselves together and move on to the second high school girl staple! Let's go take a purikura photo!"

".. Purikura?"

I was a little wary of the words I had no memory of, but since it was Junpei's plan, I replied with a firm yes.

"I'll give it a go... Yes!"

"All right! Let's go to to Game Vanick!"

"So...what is a purikura?" Junpei took a big tumble.

...

"So this is Purikura... Print Club? I see."

According to Junpei, it was a device for processing photos taken of several people with stickers. Apparently, taking photos with friends and sharing the stickers was the basis of high school girls. I didn't really understand the intention behind it, but if this action was necessary for the operation, I couldn't run away. Desertion in the face of the enemy was punishable by firing squad.

"Okay, let's go."

"Okay, let's have Yukari and Fuuka together. Um, the background is this... the frame is this... OK, let's start. I'll press the button."

"Come on, Aigis, strike a pose."

"A pose, is that it?"

"That's right, smile smile."

"Eh, a smile...?"

Before I could even process what was happening, a sound similar to the clicking of a camera was heard, and shortly afterwards the stickers were dispensed from the receiving slot below.

"Uh... Wait, my smile is a bit stiff, maybe?"

"She's not laughing."

As Yukari had said, the expression on my face on the photo was what you might call expressionless. As a weapon, I didn't have the ability to change my expression depending on my emotions.

"Let's try again, shall we?"

"I think that attempt would be futile. The fact that I cannot express a smiling or crying face is due to my specifications, so there is nothing I can do about it."¹

When I said that, everyone looked at each other and then burst out laughing.

"What's the matter?"

Without answering my question. No, as if they had no time to answer, everyone continued laughing. "What are you talking about... hehehe... Ah, Ai-chan, as expected of someone who has been maintained by Ikutsuki-san... Hehe."

"Ugh, that's painful... What kind of pun was that?"

"It can't be helped. Ahahaha."

"It's weird if Ikutsuki says it, but if Aigis says it its charming.”

I understood. Although it was not my intention, it seemed that what I said was a pun, a series of similar-sounding words used to create a sentence. I was a little confused, but I was also happy that all of them enjoyed it.

"Huh? You can smile."

"Eh?"

I was surprised by Junpei's sudden remark.

"Were you laughing?"

"Yeah, I saw it too."

Fuuka agreed with Junpei. I saw.

Was I laughing?

"That's right. She has a better smile than our unsociable field leader."

At Yukari's words, that person turned away as if it didn't matter. Now that I thought about it, this person didn't show his feelings on his face very often. Still, he was doing a great job as a leader and seemed to get along well with his friends. Suddenly, I thought of one thing and spoke up.

"Am I of any help?"

"Huh? What's wrong all of a sudden?"

"I can't behave like the so-called 'high school girls'. I'm not good at karaoke or photo booths. I can't understand the human heart. But even so, is it okay for me to be here as one of your friends, as a member of SEES?"

"Of course!" Junpei answered loudly.

"Was that what was bothering you, Aigis?"

Yukari also spoke in an exasperated tone, followed by Fuuka.

"Aigis, you were worried, weren't you?"

"Worried... Yes, maybe I was." What I must do was defeat shadows together with everyone else. And to protect that person. If I couldn't act like a female student, then perhaps I was not up to the task, perhaps I was not living up to everyone's expectations. It was these thoughts that were making my processing unstable, and now it seemed that even I had finally realized this.

On the way back from Paulownia Mall, Fuuka came up to me and said,

"You know, I think that if you get anxious because you don't know what the people around you think of you, doesn't that mean you have a great heart?"

“Is that so?”

If so, I was glad, for I, who was troubled by my inability to understand the mind, was relieved to learn, paradoxically, that it was the mind that troubled me by things it found difficult to understand.

"The human heart is a mysterious thing."

"We all feel the same way."

Everyone was together... that's something that made me happy. I suddenly took my cell phone out of my pocket and looked at the photo I had taken earlier.

"We have matching ones."

When I said that, Junpei and the person walking in front of me looked a little surprised.

This time I was aware of it too. It is at times like these that humans laugh.

I am Aigis, a humanoid tactical weapon. I sometimes worry because I can't understand the human heart, but I am a lucky Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon because there are people who care for me.

___________________________________________

¹. They're not being jerks. Aigis accidentally made a pun.

I sometimes forget Minato is there 😭

Tag List: @kerto-p

[trans-jon-rights]

Liveblogging TMAGP 23 here we are

My phone broke so I'm doing this on computer so I'm sorry in advance for the typos

SPOILERS FOR TMAGP 23

Oh, yes Lena, try to dissuade our unhinged obsessed researcher to drop a mystery. That worked great didn't it.

Finding a piece ? What piece ? What do you need to be complete ? Is it a connection to an Entity ? To me, this kinda screams Lonely, given that right now, the guy is 'missing a piece'. It'll probably have to do with something Corruption-like later.

Also, the pseudonym of this person ? Alnewman ? Finding this piece will change them, and that's what they want. I'd say this is again something to somewhat do with alchemy, because creating a perfect human was a focus of some alchemist through the ages (homonculus and all that).

A... coral piece ? Oh this is going down a route I'm not sure I like. Transformation and doppleganger ? Not reassuring at all.

Scalpels ? Bandages ? She ? Are they- Are they going to cut parts of themself and feed it to the coral in order to transform it to look like the woman of their dreams ?

Oh they put it inside didn't they ? Inside their thigh. Wait didn't Athena in greek mythology birth like that, from Zeus' thigh ? There's a methaphor here I can smell it.

Oh, OP is a girl. My bad. Have a beautiful toxic yuri with your coral piece queen.

What bothers me the msot is that we have had quite a few cases of doppleganger since the beggining of this season. This is a very reoccuring theme.

Jmart didn't meet ? :(

But they did die, twenty years ago. Which means that others could have taken their place, hm ? Hm. We still have hope.

BASIRA ??? HELEN ????? Please don't tell me about Michael.

Aww Alice tries to be nice to Gwen :D Dyhard !

"I know how many eyes a normal human haves" AND THERE WE HAVE IT !!!!! What's the probability Jonny and Alex casted a woman to play Error just to lead us in the wrong direction and that it's Jon ? It's unlikely, there are more chances Error was an Institute experiment, but I can hope.

Oh, Alice, we're really in it now. They're after us.

Final Comments :

Really interested to see Alice's developpement as she drops the "ignore it and it'll be fine" act.

And Celia is very clearly targetting Magnus characters. She mentionned Basira but not Daisy, which make sense because she died before they could meet, and she already knows Georgie, and probably Melanie as well. I'm not surprised she wouldn't try to look for other members of the cult, because they aren't very knowedgeable of the supernatural apart from what they'd seen during the apocalypse.

Error is clearly an Eye thing, maybe related to Archives, maybe not. Probably an Archivist or an experiment.

And Lena either knows about the response department and what it does, and is trying to stop Sam indirectly before he gets hurt, or she doesn't, which is genuinely more terrifying.

Regarding the case itself, I think it might be worth it to check homonculus stuff and alchemy related things.

[miseryoforpheus]

intro post <3

Hey there!

Im Jamie and my pronouns are They/She/he

Im a neurospicy minor (but I will swear and also am fine being moots with/talking to adults as long as no one is a creep to me it’s all good)

Uhhh welcome to my online diary :|

Happy to make friends if u want - feel free to DM me

online diary blog w lots of Neil Gaiman reblogs bc he’s my idol

Fun facts about me:

Umm ok (trying to think of fun facts now)

Im Italian but grew up in England, would love some more Italian moots <3

my favourite authors are Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett (but it’s been like that since before I read good omens lmao) also Rick Riordan and Alice Oseman

certified gravity falls child

if u couldn’t tell by the URL I’m obsessed with Greek and Roman mythology

nostalgic for a time I wasn’t even alive - late 80s and early 90s mainly but also like 70s

nostalgic for a time I WAS alive (barely but it still counts bc I do remember it) - the late 2000s

I did a quiz to see what Beatles band member I’d be and got Paul Mcartney

damn u rlly don’t realise how boring u r till u try and do an about me huh

Music I like:

Hozier, Olivia Rodrigo, Conan Gray, Harry Styles, YUNGBLUD, Beatles, Elton John, Queen, Renée Rapp, TV girl, bears in trees, Ricky Montgomery, NOAHFINNCE, MARINA, Fleetwood Mac

getting into:

Nirvana [used to love them a few years ago but then a mean girl made fun of me for it so I stopped listening to them but I’m starting again]

Dominic Fike Paramore

mother mother

MCR

the neighbourhood

The tags I will use:

Jamie answers asks - u guessed it this is for answering any asks

the most boring soap opera - my life stuff because my life is the most boring soap opera

MOTD - mood of the day which is just a lil thing I do

for the record:

I stand with Palestine 🇵🇸

please click here every day:

also free Ukraine 🇺🇦

aro and ace people are LGBTQ+ and this is an aro and ace and aroace safe blog

in general this is a COMPLETELY safe space

if u want anyone to talk to btw I’m always here to chat, can’t guarantee i’ll be able to help but I am always willing to listen literally any time we don’t even have to be moots or anything just DM me ok? Ily all take care of yourselves ok loves? <3

Also one last thing just for ppl that know me, I have no problem with u following this blog or anything but be warned that I’m not gonna filter my opinion at all on here bc I need a place to be myself and if u don’t want to see that i understand and idm just pls don’t take it as a personal attack or anything if u ever think something I post relates to you, I promise it’s not I just need to vent <3

My MOTD ratings:

0-2 > feeling really really really shitty

3-4 > shitty like I have too much sadness and anger and everything inside me and it feels horrible and yeah yk [reckless behaviour is strong here for me + pretty strong intrusive thoughts]

5 > normal. Numb. Yucky. Normal level of intrusive thoughts [for me at least, everyone is different]

6-7 > smol happy, probably was a bad day that got better

7-8 > :D

9-10 > fucking ecstatic

[kchv]

philia (ch 2)

“philia is the kind of love that strong friends feel towards each other. however, the greek philosopher, Plato, thought that philia led to eros: a “friends to lovers” situation. a concept of platonic love-love that isn’t based on physical attraction-comes from this Platonic philosophy.”

spencer reid (s2 spence) x mia walters (oc)

major fluff, pg13, slight angst, no smut (sorry smut readers)

• intro 🔽

• chapter 1 🔽

———————————————————————————————

weeks had passed after mia’s night out with penelope’s friends. ever since then, they’ve been inviting her to their get together, but she had been caught up with tons of workload and paperwork that she had to miss out on a few. “i’m sorry penny. i can’t tonight. chief is making me rewrite my report for the tenth millionth time.”, she said while trying not to go off about her chief being a pain in the ass. penelope finally gave in and took her “no” as a final answer. they both ended the call and she returned to her computer screen and fixed her so-called mistakes.

in the midst of her typing out the report, her name was being called out to the front of the station. using her desk to push herself away and off her revolving chair, she walked out of her office and to the front. “i’m detective walters. how can i help you?”, she said professionally. “i was told that you’re the person in charge. no one has said anything to me and my daughter still hasn’t returned home. why haven’t you guys done anything?! my daughter is missing and you guys are doing nothing to help find her!”, the mother cried as she collapsed to the ground. mia quickly ran to her side and guided her back to her office. once she sat the mother down, she closed her door to gain some privacy to speak to the mother alone. “ma’am, i promise you, we’re doing all that we can. i’m not sure who told you that i was the person in charge of your case, but i am simply helping a friend from a different department who is officially handling your case. as of right now, we have zero leads. we’ve interviewed all family and friends and they’ve all said that it was normal of her to run away. now, if you believe otherwise, please tell me what you know about your daughter that could potentially help us find her soon.”, mia said softly and cautiously as to not upset the woman. “i-i don’t know much about her. she’s been in and out of my home for awhile now. i admit that i am not the best mother to her, but i help her however i can. i’ve had substance abuse for awhile now, which is how i lost her in the beginning. i’ve tried to become better for her, but it’s easier said than done when trying to quit. i was in and out of rehab, which made her go in and out of adoption homes. when i got better and got my life together, i fought to get her back in my arms again. it was going great for awhile and then she met these people who she called her friends. as a mother, you would have this internal gut feeling that they weren’t good people. i tried telling her, but just like me, stubborn, she didn’t listen to me. i tried and tried to get her to stop hanging out with these people, but the more i tried, the less she came home. soon it became an on and off thing, to have her home for a few days and then she’d be gone for a week. it was an endless cycle and i could tell she was on something every time she came home. i felt hopeless. like i couldn’t get the help she needed and now she’s missing. people don’t believe that she’s missing and that she’s just a druggie like me. i’m losing hope detective walters. please.. if you find her, please bring her home to me. i can’t lose her again.. i just can’t.”, the mother pleaded, crying once more. mia comforted her and waited for her to calm down. she had offered to drop off the mother back to her home before heading home herself.

parking her car in front of her apartment complex, she began walking inside the cozy complex. it had been the beginning of the cold seasons, which meant colder winds and potential rainy days and soon snowy months. she greeted the front desk employee before walking up the stairs to the second floor. while walking, she dug into her bag to find her keys and after finding it, she tripped on a box. what the? looking down and around, there was brown boxes everywhere next to her door. new neighbor? sheesh, the least they could do is move their boxes so people don’t trip. she thought while sliding the boxes with her feet more towards the other door. she unlocked the door to her home, she walked in and closed the door behind her. setting her keys down on the counter along with her bag, she walked into the kitchen to start on dinner.

while cooking up a simple dinner, mia’s mind wandered off to the mother back at the station. setting the fire to a medium-low level, she went over to her bag and grabbed her phone. unlocking it and going into her contact list, she pressed the contact info and dialed her friend. held the phone to her ear with her shoulder, she waited for him to answer. “hey mia. what’s up.”, he answered. “hey danny. do you have a minute?”, she asked while stirring the pasta together with the tomato sauce. once she was done cooking, she turned off the fire and grabbed a plate to serve herself dinner. “you know the case you told me to look at? well, the mother of the missing girl just visited me today. asking why we aren’t looking for her daughter. did you find any leads or good news perhaps?”, she asked, in hopes he had something good for her. hearing a sigh on the other end, mia knew it wasn’t good. “that bad huh?”, she retorted before diving into her plate of food. danny and mia continued their conversation for a bit before ending the call. finishing up her plate of food, she set the empty plate in the sink and started cleaning up. once she finished, she began to get ready for bed.

next morning

as she slept through the night up until morning when she was rudely interrupted by banging noises coming from next door. she woke up groaning and annoyed at her new neighbor. reaching for the small clock on her bedside table and peeking through eye, she read the time, 6:05AM. mia had at least two hours before she was suppose to be awake and to be awake this early was a crime. as much as she tried to fall back asleep, she couldn’t. groaning once more, she might as well get a head start on the day. walking to her bathroom, she quickly washed up and out the door for a morning walk to her favorite coffee shop. before leaving, she made sure to grab her keys and cellphone. stuffing her items in her waist-bag, she was out the door and down the stairs.

once she was down in the lobby, she greeted the front desk employee a “good morning” and out into the cold morning air. it was a cold morning, but a good little jog would keep her warm. the coffee shop wasn’t too far from the complex, like a five minute walk or so. mia soon arrived and ordered her usual, caramel latte with 2 extra shots of espresso. “early start today mia. what’s the occasion? i don’t usually see you until 8:30AM.”, the barista said, amused at how early mia made her stop today. “a new neighbor woke me up early today. i’m not too amused by the interruption. a good detective needs her beauty sleep too you know?”, she said as a chuckle escaped her lips. the small talk continued for a good 25 minutes before mia left the shop and back home. jogging up the stairs to her apartment, she had bumped into someone. “oh! i’m so sorry!”, she said, apologizing and moving out of the way. “it’s okay. it was really my fault. i was busy looking through my bag.”, the rather tall man explained. they both exchanged apologies before ending the conversation, lack there of, and went on their separate ways.

she entered her home and closed the door behind her, setting her coffee cup down on the kitchen counter, she left to go take a hot shower to rid her from sleepiness.

end of pov

spencer quickly rushed to his car and headed to the BAU office to start his day. setting his bag down on the passenger side, he started the engine and waited for his car to warm up. grabbing his bag back to his lap, he opened the flaps and looked through his bag. where is it?! frustration radiating as he couldn’t find the thing he was looking for. after looking for more than five minutes, he gave up the search for awhile to focus on driving to the office. his recent move had him stressing. between catching the bad guys and trying to find time to unpack in his new home, he became easily frustrated over the smallest of things. the distance between his apartment and the BAU was a mere 15 minute drive. he thanked the lord the commute was cut short. he no longer had to take the train to work every day.

arriving at the BAU and parking his car in the garage, he took the elevator up to the 8th floor of the building. as the doors open and close for other agents and staffs, he finally reached his floor and exited the elevator. he entered through the double glass door and made a beeline to his desk to set his stuff down on the desk before going into the kitchenette to make his sugary cup of coffee. while pouring spoon after spoonful of sugar, derek morgan came into the kitchenette. “morning kid.”, he greeted before pouring himself a cup of coffee to start the day. the conversation was kept short when jj came over to them, informing them of a new case for the week.

they all gathered in the conference room and sat at their respective spots on the round table. “hello my furry friends. this one is not so great but so are all the others we’ve dealt with.”, penelope greeted her friends before she turned on the tv screen and started to brief them of the case. “it’s a local case. we’ll be working alongside with the local police to find this girl. we have less than 3 days to find her, let’s find this girl alive quick. we’ll leave in 30 minutes.”, aaron hotchner announced before everyone dispersed and went to gather their things. as everyone left the conference room, jj pulled out her phone from her pocket and dialed the detective’s number to confirm that they are coming. “thank you so much jj! this means a lot to me and the mother. i have another detective joining me on this case as well. she could be of helpful use to this case as well.”, the detective informed jj of an extra pair of hands. “even better. we’ll find her detective. we’ll meet you shortly.”, jj said as she ended the call.

the team gathered in the parking garage and into two black suv’s. the ride to the local police station was quiet and fairly close. upon arriving in 20 minutes, they all walked inside the station and was quickly met with the main detective on the case. “this is detective mendez. he’s the head detective on this case. i’m aaron hotchner, this is agent prentiss, morgan, gideon, our liaison jj and dr. reid.”, hotch introduced to the detective. “welcome. we set up a room as requested. follow me.”, detective mendez said and led them to the empty conference room. the team settled down around the table and got to work. “detective walters will be joining us later. she’s investigating the first crime scene. if you guys need anything more, please do ask.”, detective mendez announced.

two hours later

the doors of the police station swung open and came in was detective walters. she quickly walked over to detective mendez and they exchanged a friendly hug. he led her to the group of agents in the other room. “agents, this detective-“, detective mendez was cut off by prentiss who gave a warm welcome to detective walters. “mia! i was wondering when we’d see you again. didn’t think it would be on the same case.”, prentiss said as she chuckled and gave mia a warm hug. “it’s nice to see you guys again. it’s been well overdue.”, mia said returning the hug. “you guys know each other?”, detective mendez said as he was a bit confused. “we met through a mutual friend. their tech analyst penelope garcia.”, mia said as she sat down next to prentiss. “that’s great. no need for introductions then.”, mendez said as he sat down as well.

“what did you find at the first crime scene?”, mendez asked mia as he looked at her. “there wasn’t much to look at. i didn’t find anything but something felt off. it felt.. staged? compared to the few recent dump sites, this one looked nothing like it or at least tried to. i’m not sure if it is the first.”, she said while looking through photos of other crime scenes. “are you saying there could potentially be more?”, hotch asked as he looked at the crime scene mia was at. “i’m not confirming it, but i think we might have to look even further. this guy might’ve been doing this far longer than we thought. unless we’re dealing with a copycat. the murder is the same. same weapon, same technique just different placement. it’s like he couldn’t figure out how to dump the body.”, mia said as she set the brown folder down. “i’ll call garcia to see if she can find anything.”, morgan said as he pulled his phone out of his pocket and speed dialed penelope’s line. “hey baby girl, you’re on speaker.”, morgan warned before she give a snarky reply. “hey penny.”, mia announced herself. “oh mama mia, you’re here to save the day as well.”, garcia said. “baby girl, we think this guy might’ve done this before. can you widen your search; back 10 years the least.”, morgan said as you can hear slight typing noises in the background of the other end. “you guys think this creep might be doing this far longer?”, garcia said while typing. “maybe. the first crime scene was off. it didn’t match the other dump sites.”, mia informed garcia.

while they were on call with garcia, spencer and gideon had returned from the second and third crime scene. “what do you guys have?”, gideon said as he walked into the office. “detective walters, this is agent gideon and dr. reid.”, hotch introduced. mia turned around to greet the two men. “it’s a pleasure to meet you agent gideon. i’ve read all your books and attended some of your lectures. it’s a pleasure to be working alongside with you.”, mia complimented as she shook his hand. “it’s a pleasure to meet you as well dr. reid.”, she looked over to spencer and gave him a warm smile. as she smiled at him, something had jumped inside of him. he felt the familiarity of the warm smile. like he’s seen it before but couldn’t pinpoint the exact memory which is a surprise to him because he has an eidetic memory, he could remember every thing.

the entire day had become a blur. when they were close to finding the unsub, he was gone again. frustration radiated through the entire station, no one was getting any sleep until this girl was found. “where’s detective walters?”, a lady announced loudly. mia turned around in her swivel chair to see the daughter’s mother. as soon as the two women made eye contact, the mother quickly rushed to mia. “ma’am.”, mia started but was interrupted by the mother. “please tell me you found her. is she alive?”, the mother desperately asked. she had caught a glimpse of the white board that held photos and details about the case. “ma’am, why don’t we go into a private room and talk, okay?”, mia said softly before leading her to a private room. “reid, go with detective walters and see if you can find anything else to help us.”, hotch ordered. spencer got up from his chair and followed the two women into a private room.

while mia was talking to the mother of the missing daughter, spencer couldn’t help but divert his attention to mia. it was hard for him to stay focused on the victim’s parent. could it be? instinctively biting his nails, he was brought back to earth from a nudge on the shoulder by mia. “dr. reid?”, she called out to him. “yes? sorry, i, uh, i was thinking. what was the question?”, he asked while trying to compose himself again and clearing his throat. “is there any leads so far?”, the mother asked, looking at spencer with hopefully eyes. “not technically. we assume this unsub has been doing this for awhile and we’re trying to see if we can track down previous victims.”, he said and the mother looked at both of them in confusion. “unsub? what’s an unsub?”, the mother asked. “unsub is short for unidentified subject. it’s what we use to call the suspect. if we have any other information, you’ll be the first to know ma’am. please, get some rest okay? we’ll find her, i promise.”, mia reassured her before leading her to the exit of the station. “well, hey there lover boy.”, morgan chimed as he stopped next to spencer. “what?”, spencer said in confusion. “well, i couldn’t help but notice that you were oogling detective walters. is there something you’d like to tell to the rest of the room?”, morgan said, trying to pry some personal intel from the young doctor. “there’s nothing to tell morgan. let’s just get back to work.”, spencer said before he walked back to the conference room. “okay, lover boy.” morgan chuckled as he followed spencer back to the conference room.

the team and two detectives spent days on end to find this guy quick and the girl alive. when they finally cracked the case, the team set off to catch the unsub. mia had joined mendez out on the field as she had promised to save the girl herself. “dr. reid please inform the mother that we’re bringing her daughter home.”, mia had said before catching up with the others. hotch drove the team to the unsub’s safe house and caught the guy. mia searched the entire house for the girl, only to no avail. “where is she?!”, mia asked trying to pry the location from the killer. “you’ll never find her.”, he said as he released a hearty chuckle. morgan shoved him into the police car and mia ran back inside the house. please help me dad. help me find her. the house had been cleared and officers were on standby in and around the area in case the girl showed up. “she has to be here somewhere. where would he hide her?”, hotch said while looking around. as they all stood around, trying to think where he would hide her, a soft knocking was heard. mia turned around behind her. “guys, you hear that?”, mia said as she hushed everyone. the soft knocking continued and everyone ran towards a door that lead to a basement. mia was the first to go down and when the rest of the team came down, the girl was nowhere to be found.

“there has to be a hidden spot down here. start knocking guys.”, morgan said and they all disperse to each wallc knocking to hear a hollow sound. once the hollow spot was found, morgan knocked down the thin wall and there she was. “guys! we found her!”, morgan shouted as paramedics came rushing down to where we are. the emt’s cautiously set her down on the gurney. “m-mommy.. where’s my m-mom?,” she said while trying to stay awake. “she’ll meet you at the hospital lori. let’s get you help first okay?”, mia comforted her and rod in with the ambulance.

hospital

mia and the daughter, lori, arrived at the hospital and she was rushed into the er. mia walked into the waiting room along with the rest of the team. while waiting, spencer, jj and the mother soon arrived. mia stood up and walked towards the mother. she had engulfed mia in a hug. “thank you. thank you for finding my daughter. thank you believing in me.”, she cried in mia’s arms. mia returned the gesture and calmed her down. “ma’am it’s my duty to save lives. i promised you i’d find her and i did. she’s in the er right now. would you like for me to wait with you?”, mia asked as she looked at the mother. she nodded and they both went back inside the waiting room. it might’ve been at least 30 minutes before the doctor came out. “how is she doctor? is she okay?”, the mother asked. “she’s doing good. you’ve got a fighter. we’re going to keep her here for another day or two to monitor her health and any complications, but you’re welcome to come see her.”, the doctor informed. “thank you so much detective. she’s alive thanks to you and you guys as well. i don’t know how i could ever repay you.”, the mother cried and hugged mia before she followed the doctor to her daughter’s room.

“that was great work everybody. we can finally rest for tonight. thank you for help, really. both your team and mia.”, mendez said before leaving. “mia?”, spencer said quietly and mia had turned around. morgan had grabbed the others, leaving spencer and mia alone. “spencer.”, mia said as she looked at him. “i didn’t want to say anything first since we were on a case. i needed to stay focused.”, mia admitted. “i, how, why did you never call? i never heard from you again after you left.”, spencer said with a bit of sadness laced in his tone. mia exhaled a sigh before telling him everything. “after my dad and i came here, we had gotten so busy with adjusting, it slipped my mind. i was a kid then, i had no connections to contact you. then it happened..”, mia said as she tried to fight the tears that were begging to spill. “until what happened?”, spencer asked. “my dad.. he.. he was murdered in our house. i wasn’t home at the time it happened. i was at a friend’s house doing homework. i didn’t realize the time had been so late and i never got a call from him asking me where i was. i rushed home and when i saw our front door ajar, i felt something was wrong. i know it was wrong of me to go inside the house without calling the police, but i needed to know if my dad was okay. when i went into his office, he was on the ground. covered in blood, not responding. i tried to call the police but i felt frozen. i couldn’t move, i couldn’t think. before i knew it, the police officers had dragged me out of the house. ever since then, i’ve been on my own since i was 16 years old. a friend of my dad let me live with him and his family. that’s how i met detective mendez. to this day, i’m still looking for my dad’s killer. i will get justice for him and it doesn’t matter how long it takes. i will bring his case to rest. even if my life depends on it.”, mia confessed as spencer took in everything she told him in confidence.

spencer felt helpless. he always wanted to reach out to her. if it weren’t for his stubbornness, maybe they would’ve reconnected sooner than this. maybe spencer could’ve been the shoulder mia could use to cry on. if he had reconnected sooner, maybe he would’ve done more to help her. “i’m sorry.. i should’ve reached out to you instead of waiting for you to reach out to me.”, spencer admitted in defeat. “no, spencer. it goes both ways. i should’ve reached out to you. i was so lost after losing my dad, i didn’t know what to do with my life. i’m glad we got to see each other again. even if it was a case that brought us back, i’m glad it did. we should get together sometime and catch up.”, mia said as she gave him a soft smile. spencer gave her a tight lipped smile in return. the two of them went back to the station to gather their things and head their separate ways home. “where do you live?”, spencer asked, a bit hesitant at first because maybe it seemed a bit creepy to ask. “not too far from here. what about you?”, she asked while packing up her bag. “actually, i just moved into an apartment. not too far from here.”, he said. she looked over to spencer and looked at him in a suspicious way. “were you making loud noises this morning roughly around 6AM?”, she asked. “uh, i think so? i didn’t check the time.”, he said, a bit curious as to why she asked such a distinctive question. “ah, so you’re the one who disturbed my beauty sleep this morning.”, she admitted while nudging him a bit. “we’re neighbors?”, he asked surprised. mia nodded and laughed at the convenience.

both spencer and mia went home together after finding out that they were neighbors all along. this day sure was a turn of events. once they had reached the complex and up to the second floor, they both bid each other goodnight and went into their separate homes.

i’m glad we’re neighbors spence.

me too. i’ll see you around. *spence.. i miss that*

goodnight spencer

goodnight mia

———————————————————————————————

hi guys! :)

how has everyone been doing? i’m sorry i haven’t posted in a couple of days. i was out in the woods on a family vacation and there was barely any reception out there lol. i’m back home now and should be on a regular schedule. although, i haven’t made an official upload schedule yet, but i’m thinking about uploading every wed & fri? what do you guys think? i hope you enjoy this chapter as much as i had writing it. i’ll see you guys in the next one!

bye guys! <3

[everythingblackblack]

Do you have any ideas on Kaito and Akako's powers? She mentions that no man can resist her charm but statistically speaking not all men can be straight and even girls seem to find her beautiful and have a generally good impression of her (though I'm a big fan of bi or lesbian Aoko), in 'Please be my prisoner' she wonders if Kaito is a child but I doubt she'd be so worked up if it was normal for her powers to be weaker on late bloomers seeing as her main influence is on high-schoolers still going through puberty. Immun ity because they like someone else doesn't quite work either. What do you think her powers include? She makes potions and uses magic circles, crystal balls and seems to have contracts with demons and can fly a broom. Her Cleopatra tiara implies she can utilise relics/artefacts for their powers. I love Asexual and Aromantic Kaito, but the angst potential of pandora Kaito is great and it makes more sense for Kaito to have strong magic or a different colour of magic that deflects hers maybe. Them working together beyond Akako giving cryptic prophecies makes sense because Kaito need more info on magic beyond his dad's unhelpful post-death mentions (Akako being angry at Kaito's dad for teaching him that magic doesn't exist when he himslef was involved with magic-users) due to the nature of Pandora and I think despite being 'natural enemies' he's fine with using her magic so long as it doesn't do more harm than non-magical means and will gladly use his magic tricks to help her with the supernatural side of things when he can (Kaito proving an endangered mythical being doesn't exist to protect it).

First of all, you have my eternal love, the person I mentioned 'Please be my prisoner', it's my favorite character song. Okay, I'll break down your questions. Well, we don't really have much information about Akako's magic, but that hasn't stopped me from rambling on about it either. Personally I had fun at first assuming that the reason Kaito wasn't affected was because he was so gay for Shinichi. My favorite headcanon is Kaito Bi, but I can understand the aromantic Kaito headcanon, it would make sense that he wouldn't be affected by the spell if that were the case.

I have to tell you that I have a tendency to lean towards more fun and chaotic scenarios than logical ones, so my brain can't help but take what you've told me and turn it into fun angst.

Can you imagine if Akako's magic worked on gays? How crazy and stressful that would be? I can just visualize some random guy seeing her and falling in love with her and think of everything it took for him to figure himself out so that he ended up liking women!

I have no idea how it translates into English, but in Spanish we have a word called "amarre" (binding spell), it's a spell that witches often use to bring two people together, usually it's because one of the parties doesn't want to let the other go, doesn't take their opinion into account and forces them to be with her by force. Witches often recommend not using it, because the person resists the spell and by doing so begins to change their personality and way of being, they can become violent and even abusive with their "love interest", "amarre" never end well.

There is also another thing called "Endulzamiento" which is what I think Akako might use, it's not to make people fall in love, rather, it's to make someone feel attracted to you.

Although, Akako also makes me think of the Greek goddess Aphrodite or Medusa herself, only instead of turning people into stone, they fall in love with her. Personally, I had just assumed that Kaito was maybe just immune because he also had magic or some gene that repels magic, but who knows. About Akako's general powers, it seems that she may have telepathy because she talks to Kaito in his mind, pyrokinesis because she sets the magic circle on fire and also electrokinesis because she shoots lightning at him. Maybe even telekinesis, she's so amazing.

I definitely think Akako would be mad if she got the whole story of why Kaito became KID, she's shown that she cares about Kaito.

One of the reasons I really like the Akako x Kaito is because Akako can give him all the information about magic that he doesn't have, maybe she even knows about pandora.

I haven't seen almost anyone mention it (skipping the fanfics), the fact that pandora isn't the only magic Jewel and that Akako uses magic artifacts, could give a clue that she's the key to find it.

[cecilebutcher]

⌊✭𝕳𝖎𝖕𝖕𝖔𝖑𝖞𝖙𝖆 𝕾𝖆𝖑𝖊𝖓𝖋𝖔𝖙𝖔✭⌉

T.w:Mention of violence.

⊱Bᴀsɪᴄs⊰

Name: Hippolyta Salenfoto

Age: Entry not found

Date of birth: August 19

Zodiac sign: Leo

Hight:209cm

Place of birth: Island of woe

Based off: Nyx, goddesses of night and many other things(Greek mythology)

Sexuality: Polyamorous. Pansexual.

⊱Aᴘᴘᴇᴀʀᴀɴᴄᴇ⊰

Hippomyta is a 209cm(6.7) female. She has dark purple-ish black hair with egg shell streaks in it and on the inside. She has one purple eye and one gold, with cracking skin on the gold one.

⊱Vᴏɪᴄᴇ Cʟᴀɪᴍ⊰

Urbosa (legend of zelda)

⊱Tᴇᴀᴄʜᴇs⊰

Changes and Comparisons of abbreviated Spells in Ancient and Modern Magic History

⊱Hᴏʙʙʏ⊰

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⊱Bᴀᴄᴋsᴛᴏʀʏ⊰

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⊱Sᴘᴇᴀᴄɪᴀʟ Mᴀɢɪᴄ⊰

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⊱Tʜᴏᴜɢʜᴛs Oɴ Cʜᴀʀᴀᴄᴛᴇʀs⊰

𝚁𝚒𝚍𝚍𝚕𝚎: my second best student, he knows he’s destined for greatness and is making his way towards it. Nothing will stop him, except his maturity and mindset. He needs to open up to others and learn how to be a child.

𝚃𝚛𝚎𝚢: the most normal person in this hellish school. To me it seems he’d fit more in Royal Sword Academy then Night Raven College, but alas he’s here with these buffoons.

𝙲𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚛: He puts on a front and hides who he truly is. Mr.Diamond isn’t as happy as he lets people see, it’s obvious how he’s just acting to others.

𝙰𝚌𝚎: Mr.Trappola is a trouble maker, but the things that ticks me off is the fact that he isn’t trying. He’s happy just getting by but I know that he can be excellent if he just tries.

𝙳𝚎𝚞𝚌𝚎: Mr.Spade might seem like a horrible students to others. But I can tell how much he’s trying and how hard he’s working

𝙻𝚎𝚘𝚗𝚊:He knows he can do better, but he doesn’t do anything. Him and Shroud are birds of a feather, they know they can be amazing, but think that nothing will change so they don’t try. Hopefully he sees how he can be great and seizes that.

𝚁𝚞𝚐𝚐𝚒𝚎: A child who learnt how the world works far too soon. Mr.Bucchi doesn’t live, he survives. But I can tell that his future will be a very comfortable one with how things are right now.

𝙹𝚊𝚌𝚔: Mr.Howl, a very dedicated student. But mediocre to say the least. I’ve seen many like him in my lifetime and will continue to see more like him.

𝙺𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚖: a delight to have around the class. Might not be one of my best students, but having him around brings a certain atmosphere to class.

𝙹𝚊𝚖𝚒𝚕: Mr.Viper is one of the most dedicated students I’ve come across, and no I don’t mean in class or with his work. I mean his relationship with Al-Asim. He’s willing to put his life in the line without a second thought for him.

𝙰𝚣𝚞𝚕: Mr.Ashengrotto is one of the top students, I haven’t met anyone who can top his papers and essays. You can tell how much effort he puts into each and every work, I just hope he remembers to have fun and enjoy his teenage years.

𝙹𝚊𝚍𝚎: Mr. Leech is difficult to read at times, but like any other student it’s easy to read him most of the time. Unlike what other people say, I think he’s the more difficult of the two twins to deal with.

𝙵𝚕𝚘𝚢𝚍: mr. Floyd Leech. I have to say he always manages to bring a laugh out of me with his antics, you never know what he’ll do next.

𝚅𝚒𝚕: Mr.Shoenhite can be very stuck up sometimes. But he’s still a very dedicated student. Along side his studies he’s also a very dedicated and passionate model and actor.

𝙴𝚙𝚎𝚕: A wild card honestly, it’s obvious he’s putting on an act. He’s hot headed and doesn’t like being ordered around. Remind me of an old friend

𝚁𝚘𝚘𝚔:Mr.Hunt is something. While it’s obvious how he’s curious about most things, he’s still quite secretive about certain things, I can respect that.

𝙸𝚍𝚒𝚊: I’ve known Mr.Shroud since he was a little kid, being friends with his father and all, his interests didn’t change much, only his attitude towards people did.

𝙾𝚛𝚝𝚑𝚘: Ah yes, the young Shroud. He’s quite adorable, reminds me of my youngest brother.

𝙼𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚞𝚜: Ah yes, the prince of Briar Valley, and one of my best students. I fully trust that he’ll be a wonderful king in his future.

𝙻𝚒𝚕𝚒𝚊: Mr.Vanrouge might try to hide the fact that he’s an old soul. But really, those sort of things are easy to uncover. Nevertheless I find him quite difficult to deal with at times.

𝚂𝚒𝚕𝚟𝚎𝚛: I’m quite cornered for Mr.Silver. Don’t get me wrong he’s a wonderful student, but his sleeping condition can be very dangerous at times. Once I found his fast asleep on the street in a storm nonetheless.

𝚂𝚎𝚋𝚎𝚔: Mr.Zigvolt is very dedicated to his school work, but he’s benefit from getting off his high horse and treating his classmates with respect, those who deserve it of course.

𝚃𝚛𝚎𝚒𝚗: I’ve known professor Trein for a very long time, and he’s taught me quite a lot. I have but the utmost respect for him.

𝙲𝚛𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚕: He’s quite alright, can be a diva at times. But still a good colleague.

𝚅𝚊𝚛𝚐𝚊𝚜: ugh, that buffoon. He’s all muscle no brain. Not to mention can be a flirt most of the time, if only I could strangle him.

𝙲𝚛𝚘𝚠𝚕𝚎𝚢: The headmage is something to say the least, while he’s my boss I only don’t find him at all reliable. Hens also very childish is you ask me.

𝙴𝚕𝚒𝚣𝚊𝚋𝚎𝚝𝚑(𝙽𝚎𝚖𝚜 𝙾𝙲): I would consider Ms.Warden a friend. While she has a habit of snooping around I don’t mind it, as long as she doesn’t try to snoop around me that is.

⊱Pᴇʀsᴏɴᴀʟɪᴛʏ⊰

Positive traits: Smart, intelligent, clever, wise, Responsible, Reliable, Brave, strong, Confident, Independent, Loyal, Dedicated, helpful, Hard-working, Careful, Organized, Realistic, Stable, Punctual, Self-confident, Truthful, Reasonable, Attentive, careful, Trustworthy, Disciplined, Mature.

Negative traits: Argumentative, Bossy, Uncaring, Harsh, Petty, Cunning, Irritable, Passive, Cold.

Neutral traits: Quiet, Calm, Honest, Antisocial, Mystical, Traditionalist, Strict, Private, secretive, Reserved, Serious,

⊱Fᴜɴ Fᴀᴄᴛs⊰

Hippolyta is one of the most quiet teachers nrc has.

She tends to keep to herself and tries to blend with the crowd.

For some reason the only person who knows anything about her is Trein.

She’s stated before that she has younger siblings and two of them go to this school.

Most of the times she’s seen in her classroom either reading or on her laptop.

She used to work with Idia and Ortho’s dad, but no one knows when or on what.

She barley has any records of anything about her past, only the near past.

She has a snake tatto on her back.

Thanks again to @nem0-nee for letting me use their wonderful oc Elizabeth^^

[divinelycrazy]

Finally, after many months, I present to you part 2 of;

Io, the cow who wasn't always a cow

Previous/next

Many horrible and grazing years later, Io is very much used to spending her life as a bovine. She isn't having fun, but it beats getting chased around by horny gods. Now you must be thinking dear reader that perhaps Io should escape and get some help, unfortunately for Io, Hera isn't stupid. Hera had tasked someone to guard Io 24/7, and that someone was the giant Argus.

Argus was a giant with a total of 100 eyes spread all over his body, which is...an image. Whenever he needed sleep, he would need to close only 50 of his eyes, leaving the other 50 wide open to watch over Io, which again is quite the image. No matter how hard she tried, Io would always get caught whenever she tried to escape.

One day, however, Io was grazing in a field bordering a river, a river that was the domain of her father. Io's father was a minor river deity, a god so unimportant in the Olympian hierarchy that I didn't even bother looking him up on Wikipedia. But still Io saw a chance, and took it.

Io grabbed a brach from a bush with her mouth and started using it to splash and disturb the water's surface. As she had hoped, her father emerged from the river.

Io's father: Sweet Cow, would you please stop disturbing the water. It's ruining my beauty sleep.

Quickly, Io used the brach to write her own name in the mud.

Io's father: Io, I haven't heard from her in years. Has something happened to her?

Hoping he'd understand the message, Io wrote the word 'me' in front of her name.

Io's father: wha-Io? Who did this to you? Why I shall punish the vile god who dare turn my beautiful daughter into a- ...it was Zeus, wasn't it?

I responded by shaking her head in a way that confirmed her father's guess.

Io's very annoyed father: gods dammit, i knew I should've should've taken Kronos's side. Sure he ate his kids, but at least he didn't fuck people's daughters before turning them into animals.

Io's father let out a sigh, clearly annoyed by the situation. To be honest, if there was one person who had the right to be annoyed, it was Io. She was the one who had to spend years as livestock.

Io's tired father: Okay, I'll go to Olympus to have a word with Zeus. Just try to hold on a little longer, dear.

Before Io could respond, she was yanked away from her father by Argus, heading towards a different field.

-----------------------------

*Olympus*

Io's very angry father: HAVE YOU GONE ABSOLUTELY MAD?!!!

Zeus, on the other end of a father's wrath for once: I didn't know what else to to, it's not like I expected Hera to think it was a gift.

Io's still angry father: Are you serious? Don't tell me you actually believe your wife was stupid enough that MY DAUGHTER was just a normal cow?

Defensive Zeus: Well, blame Aphrodite for making it be one of the best fucks I've had.

Aphrodite: Oh no, no, no, don't point your fingers at me, I had nothing to do with this. My granddaughter's domain is pleasure, not mine.

Zeus: Either way, in no way could I predict that this situation would happen.

Io's very annoyed, very angry father: I don't care what you can or can not predict. What I care about is you fixing what you've caused.

Defeated Zeus: Fine, but don't blame for what happens after.

And so Zeus called the only god he knew could complete this task, Hermes.

‐------------------------

Will Io taste freedom, will her father find rest once more, and will Zeus finally be able to keep it in his pants?

Find out next time on Dragon Ball-i mean Greek mythology.

~To be continued~