#kallie babbles | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

ariannawrites · 1 year ago

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Arianna brushes her hair out of her face, still soaking wet from the rain. "Her Mother is dead Kitty and I couldn't give her to that man. I just couldn't. I took her and I ran. I hope he doesn't find us. That man was scary Sister. He made my hair stand up and I couldn't leave this baby there." "Suzie was her mother. She was one of my clients. She came to me for help getting away from him. I went over for a check and Suzie was dead. I don't know if she told him where she was or if he was stalking her. There was a needle and the police will probably rule it a drug overdose but I've been speaking with her almost daily. I didn't know she had started using again. After the baby was born she got help. I helped her get help, Kitty." Arianna breaks down sobbing and Kitana slides a chair underneath her.

Arianna wipes the tears off her face and she continues "I only met the baby's father one time. Suzie was job shadowing and I stopped by to check on her. He was outside of her workplace staring at nothing. He wasn't watching her work, He just stared at nothing. Like he was in a trance or could see something nobody else could see. Dead inside. His aura gave me the creeps. I approached him outside her job and I told him that he was not allowed to be there. He barely looked over at me and returned to his dead stare. I walked back in with Suzie and called the police. I went with Suzie when she asked for a protection order."

Kitana busied herself in the kitchen while her Sister spoke and before long produced a baby bottle. Arianna gathered the baby and blanket wrapping the infant swaddle style. She settled into the biggest of the chairs and began to feed the starving child. She sent Kallie to her closet to get her babydoll clothes, leftovers from Kallie's infancy. Kallie gathered everything and in typical 4 year old fashion, she put it all in a grocery cart toy and dragged it to the kitchen.

"Can I help dress baby Mama?" "I dress Dolly all day!" Kallie continued to babble about dressing Dolly as Arianna stood and looked at her Sister. "Kitty we have to keep her. You know that the Organization will help us. Like they did before. I'll raise her with Kallie and she never has to know about him. We're her family now. Suzie had no living relatives, that's how she fell into my care. Sisters at the women's shelter called after he abused her the last time. We were all working with her and she had just moved into her apartment with the baby and everything was going well."

Kitana had gathered the necessary supplies on the table for a bath minus the tub and when she got that far, she pulled the door open to the backyard and called Kallie to her "Come little one let's fetch the wash tub. Get your raincoat and rain boots. It's still raining cats and dogs out there." Kallie's eyes widened for a moment, likely at the thought of falling cats and dogs, and then she scurries into action.

With child Kallie properly dressed and at her side, Kitana hurries out the door and squeals of surprise and delight can be heard from Kallie. The two rush off the back porch to the the small shed at the back of the yard and Arianna hears the door bang open and then a few minutes later closed again. Kitana carries Kallie in the tub on the way back to the back to the porch where she keeps a small storage of old towels in a hamper.

Kitana sets the old, steel washtub down and immediately starts drying Kallie while she still squeaks and squeals at the unexpected rain adventure. Kallie grabs at a towel and dabs and pats herself, doing the most a 4 year old can do.

"Take off those soggy boots Miss Kallie and get ready to help us. That little baby doesn't have a Mama like you do. Do you think you could share your Mama with her? I bet that you could teach her lots of things."

"Does that mean I would have a Sister like you and Mama? Because that would probably be okay. I never knew about sisters before. I think that's okay for me."

Kallie scampers inside, and Kitana grabs the tub. She sets it down on the kitchen floor and gazes over the bar counter, heavily decorated with potted flowers and assorted herb pots, to find Arianna and the new babe asleep in the corner. The chair was oversized and worn to perfection. Kitana had been meaning to replace it with something new, but it just hadn't happened yet.

She quietly covers the sleeping mother and child. She says a small prayer over them and ushers Kallie out of the room. She explains to Kallie that after their journey today they must have been very tired and she promised that Kallie could help with the baby tomorrow. She went about the same bedtime routine Arianna usually followed and Kallie fell right to sleep.

#writers and poets #my writing #ariwritesontumblr #MyOwnWriting

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earaercircular · 2 years ago

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‘There is not enough discussion about welfare and the environment since it is always about the economy’

The movement that wants to look beyond the hard euros of economic growth seems to be going along with the tide. The EU and the UN are working more intensively on wellbeing and sustainability as alternative measures of how society is doing.

The leader of the EU itself, Ursula von der Leyen, will open the multi-day conference on Monday. Beyond Growth is the subject[1], important enough for such a kick-off. It is therefore the largest meeting to date on the question of how to proceed with economic growth in an EU context. The last one was smaller and dates back to 2009.

A group of European Parliamentarians organised the conference. The point is not that the EU should say goodbye to economic growth as a policy objective. That's a bridge too far. After all, the European Commission is heading for 'green growth'. The idea is that the economy should be able to grow sustainably with the Green Deal, extensive investments in things such as clean energy, circular production and nature restoration. There is, however, a growing need to give greater weight to welfare, the environment and equality in policymaking.

"Change is in the air"

Such a large-scale discussion about the pros and cons of economic growth, with all the big names in that field, is truly unique, notes Rutger Hoekstra, researcher at the Centre for Environmental Sciences at Leiden University and one of the speakers. Hoekstra himself is one of those well-known names and has been working on the subject for 15 years. In 2019 he published the book Replacing GDP by 2030[2], in other words in 2030 there should be something better to steer society's prosperity than purely based on hard euros, measured in GDP. “When I wrote the book, the discussion was still babbling a bit. But now it's starting to gain momentum. There will be changes in the coming years.”

Not least because the EU itself recently allocated almost 20 million euros to get a better grip on 'beyond growth'. Three research programs in different countries have each received 3 million euros, Hoekstra is leading one of them. In addition, a grant of 10 million euros will go to three prominent scientists in this field: Giorgos Kallis, Jason Hickel and Julia Steinberger.[3]

Time to get rid of our blind spot

The momentum is not only there in Europe, Hoekstra addressed the United Nations last month. The organisation of countries wants to take serious measures that differ from economic growth. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is pushing for it. Now is the time to correct a conspicuous blind spot in how we measure economic prosperity and progress. “If profits come at the expense of our planet and people, we have an incomplete picture of the true costs of economic growth.” In September during a summit, the UN countries will have the opportunity to support this course, says Hoekstra. “Hopefully that will happen. It would be a very influential signal.”

The UN plan is to designate ten to twenty other indicators that will help to determine policy. These are standards in the field of the environment, health, equality, education. “The economic system is a means, not an end in itself. The intention should be to degrade GDP and economic growth, as society's objective. At the moment GDP is still in the premier league, as far as I am concerned, that will play in a lower division. Welfare, sustainability, social inequality and opportunities are goals worthy of the Premier League. The economic goal must serve such social tasks. Take social relationships, health, the neighbourhood where you live: all very important for people's well-being. But there is not enough discussion about it when it comes to the economy.”

How can I make this about me?

Hoekstra prefers not to get involved in the debate about 'degrowth'. Supporters of this argue that the economy must shrink to keep the earth liveable, a view that will certainly be discussed at the conference. “I do think that green growth is actually not possible, the economy cannot grow indefinitely and at the same time achieve other goals, such as those for the climate. But it shouldn't be about the economy and growth all the time." Hoekstra is more in favour of what is called agrowth, in jargon[4]. In other words, whether GDP grows or not is not so relevant, it is a by-product of policies that focus on well-being, inclusion and sustainability.

“How can I make this about me? That is typical of economics. Almost every social discussion is traced back to economics. You also see it in the names of alternative approaches to progress, such as the donut economy[5] or ecological economics[6]. The word economy is always in it. It has not always been the case that economics was so important.” Hoekstra analysed a hundred years of reporting on economics in The New York Times. This resulted in striking observations. During the Great Depression in the 1930s, the word economy appeared in only 3 percent of articles. “And that in the biggest economic crisis of the last century. Economic growth did not yet exist in the conversation, in the story about society. Compare that to this time: during the corona pandemic, one out of six pieces contained the word economy.”

Time for another story

GDP and the concept of economic growth acquired that dominant position after the Second World War. A uniform calculation system was then set up, which gave governments a grip on the development of the economy. This also made it possible to compare the economies of countries. “Both the left and the right accepted that system of national accounts at the time. Keynes was popular at the time, countries were heading for a big government and wanted to be able to manage the economy based on numbers. There were, of course, differences as to how the economy should grow, should the market or the government take the lead?”

It is now time to change that 'story', Hoekstra believes. Large institutions such as the EU and the UN now also became aware of this. The Leiden scientist and his team will use the 3 million euros to develop useful indicators and models that can compete with GDP growth as the sole measure. Many indexes and numbers have been devised in recent decades for well-being, broad prosperity, social cohesion, you name it. “That's not the problem. No shortage of indicators. We are therefore not going to come up with new ones. The trick consists in developing a comprehensive approach that can be used to actually make policy.”

Painstaking work

Because that step is taken very carefully for the moment. The Netherlands, for example, has the Monitor Brede Welvaart[7], which will be released again next week, with numerous figures on how the Dutch society is doing, now and in the future. But these findings are still only a limited part of the economic figures circus, surrounding the Budget Memorandum[8] and the growth estimates of the Central Planning Bureau.

To change that and to promote the 'softer' factors to the premier league, a lot of patience is needed, Hoekstra acknowledges. It is complicated and partly quite technical work to compile new standards. They must be easy to follow over a long period of time, fit into models, be useful for coordinating decisions and different countries must be able to use them. “It takes painstaking work. But GDP has also taken a long time to arrive to where it is today.”

Source

Esther Bijlo, ‘Er is te weinig discussie over welzijn en milieu als het steeds over de economie gaat’ , in: Trouw, 15-05-2023; https://www.trouw.nl/duurzaamheid-economie/er-is-te-weinig-discussie-over-welzijn-en-milieu-als-het-steeds-over-de-economie-gaat~b808ad80/#:~:text=InterviewRutger%20Hoekstra-,'Er%20is%20te%20weinig%20discussie%20over%20welzijn%20en%20milieu%20als,het%20tij%20mee%20te%20krijgen.

[1] The Beyond Growth 2023 Conference is a multi-stakeholder event aiming to discuss and co-create policies for sustainable prosperity in Europe, based on a systemic and transformative approach to economic, social and environmental sustainability and its encompassing governance framework. With this conference, the organisers aim to challenge conventional policy-making in the European Union and to redefine societal goals across the board, in order to move away from the harmful focus on the sole economic growth – that is, the growth of GDP – as the basis of our development model. The conference will put into practice the idea of a post-growth future-fit EU that combines social well-being and viable economic development with the respect of planetary boundaries. https://www.beyond-growth-2023.eu/about-beyond-growth/

[2] Rutger Hoekstra: Replacing GDP by 2030. Towards a Common Language for the Well-being and Sustainability Community, Cambridge University Press, May 2019, https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/replacing-gdp-by-2030/1583BE07055EAD85CBFECE1FC5EF6442

[3] In October of this year Giorgos Kallis, Julia Steinberger and Jason Hickel were awarded 9.9 million euros by the European Research Council (ERC) for a project titled Pathways towards post growth deals. This constitutes the largest ever sum of funding for a degrowth research project. https://www.resilience.org/stories/2022-12-01/degrowth-awarded-an-erc-grant-an-interview-with-giorgos-kallis/

[4] In a recently published article in Nature Climate Change, Jeroen van den Bergh argues that neither degrowth nor green-growth strategies might lead to sufficient climate action and hence makes the case for a third option which he calls “agrowth”. While the understanding of degrowth reflected in the article can certainly be disputed – it comes across as mainly targeting a shrinking GDP – his conclusion is built on the analysis of a large body of research on both degrowth and green growth strategies. https://degrowth.info/blog/agrowth-should-we-better-be-agnostic-about-growth

[5] The Doughnut, or Doughnut economics, is a visual framework for sustainable development – shaped like a doughnut or lifebelt – combining the concept of planetary boundaries with the complementary concept of social boundaries. The name derives from the shape of the diagram, i.e. a disc with a hole in the middle. The centre hole of the model depicts the proportion of people that lack access to life's essentials (healthcare, education, equity and so on) while the crust represents the ecological ceilings (planetary boundaries) that life depends on and must not be overshot. The diagram was developed by University of Oxford economist Kate Raworth in her 2012 Oxfam paper A Safe and Just Space for Humanity and elaborated upon in her 2017 book Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist and paper.

[6] Ecological economics, bioeconomics, ecolonomy, eco-economics, or ecol-econ is both a transdisciplinary and an interdisciplinary field of academic research addressing the interdependence and coevolution of human economies and natural ecosystems, both intertemporally and spatially. By treating the economy as a subsystem of Earth's larger ecosystem, and by emphasizing the preservation of natural capital, the field of ecological economics is differentiated from environmental economics, which is the mainstream economic analysis of the environment.

[7] The Broad Welfare Monitor and the Sustainable Development Goals 2023 describes, among other things, how the broad prosperity of the people who now live in the Netherlands is going, and the consequences of our current level of prosperity for the broad prosperity of the next generations in the Netherlands and of people in other countries. It also describes how broad prosperity is distributed across population groups. https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/documenten/rapporten/2023/05/17/monitor-brede-welvaart-en-sdgs2023

[8] https://open.overheid.nl/documenten/ronl-4431f04a1e516182addbf8b3a91fd6259114612c/pdf

#a-growth #donut economy #ecological economics #circular economy

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oatsynalliums · 2 years ago

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Kalmia has met meri before,but only really visits for the cats

#As much as kalli likes mice and rats #They do have a soft spot fir cats too #Kalmia #Meri #Babbles

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dragonflymage · 4 years ago

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I am an extremely emotional being. Many times I’ve wished my emotions were more balanced. I’ve also wished they were not so overwhelming.

But as I’ve thought about it, if my emotions were less, I’d probably feel rather numb inside. Especially since I’m accustomed to how my emotions interact with me as a person. I’ve grown as my emotions have grown.

I have a strong dislike for being emotional around other people. I feel self-conscious about it. The critical judgments I received in childhood probably didn’t help in that area. More often than not, my ‘cool’ exterior is hiding a storm that won’t reveal itself until I’m alone.

For the times when my emotions do become overwhelming, here are some things I’ve done to ‘manage’ them a little better:

Self-talk myself through it. I do this self-talk often while in anxious social settings. It usually involves some variation of “you can get through this” and “not much longer and it’ll be over”. That might not push away the emotions I’m feeling, but it gives me something else to focus on for a while - the fact that I will be back home soon and can put it all behind me. (Then I can be emotional in private.).. Find a distraction. Too many emotions? Time for Netflix. I know I’ve mentioned Netflix often, but it has truly been a life-saver for me. I’ll work on my computer while Netflix is on a small tablet beside my monitor. This works well for sad emotions, gives me something else to think about. Other distractions: play a game, do a household chore, play with the kitties, take pictures, listen to music. Write. I am always writing. When my emotions become especially unforgiving, I write. In a journal entry, I can rant and babble about anything and everything. Even if it makes no sense, I’ve learned that somewhere within the colorful metaphors of my soul, I’ve found the truth behind what is actually bothering me. Then I can focus on that and begin working on managing it. Talk to someone. This one doesn’t always work for me, because I’ve found I need to curb back most of my emotional intensity or risk confusing and/or frightening off the other person. That ends up leaving me feeling that I can’t be myself while I share, not really. And I’m not an angry person by nature, so it isn’t anger that I’m trying to share. Talking might work for other people, so I included it here. Give my emotions the freedom to be. This one probably works the best for me. If the world can’t help me manage my emotions, I’ll manage them my own way. When I’m alone, I let my emotions have the freedom to be themselves. No one will then judge me for: falling on the bed in absolute despair, talking to myself as I cook, urging my kitties to chase me and a string around the house, pretending I’m playing the piano while listening to music, play-acting story scenarios, or bawling my eyes out over a sad film. This is who I am and I am my best self while alone.

Breathes in deeply and feels better. I don’t know if any of these are similar or different to what others might do, but maybe these ideas will help someone else when they need it. ^^

#mbti #infp #emotions #mental health #infp thoughts #mbti thoughts #myers-briggs #introvert #hsp #emotional #sensitivity

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finnishfun · 5 years ago

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#SpeakingIn20 Challenge - Day 63 - 15 October

This week’s topics

Finished last week’s topics with animals/pets, then the first two from this week - neighbourhood and money. I think I’ll restrict my transcript to the topics and not write down all the babbling I’ve done.

Practice time: 22 min

viime aikoina - recently käyttää rahaa + illative - to spend money on sth (I hope I did that right)

Lemmikit / Pets

Paras ystävälläni on kissa. Hän on 4 vuotta vanha, hänen nimi on Sigge. Se on ruotsalainen nimi. Joku löysi hänet kadulta, ja antoi ystävälle, koska hän halusi kissan. Hän oli tosi pieni sitten, mutta nyt hän on noin 7 kiloa. Hän tykkää ruoasta, hänen suosikki on ankkaa ja lohta. Hän on valkoinen ja vähän harmaa ja tosi söpö. Joskus hän on vähän hullu. Hän tykkää leikkiä ja juosta ympäri. Ystäväni ostaa hänelle paljon leluja ja ruokaa.

Minulla ei ikinä ollut lemmikkejä, koska olemme aina asunneet pienessä asunnossa. Kun olen pieni, isovanhemmilla oli koira, ja toisen isoäidin luona oli kissa, joka joskus meni sinne syömään. Nyt veljellä on koira. Hän asuu yhdeksässä kerroksessa, hänen täytyy mennä ulos koiran kanssa paljon. Veljeni on työssä, ja sitten koira on yksin kotona. Mutta hän on tosi söpö ja hauska. Hän on vielä pieni, koska hän on pieni mäyräkoira ja hän on noin yksi vuotta vanha.

My best friend has a cat. He is 4 years old, he’s called Sigge. It’s a Swedish name. Someone found him on the street and gave it to my friend because she wanted a cat. He was very small then, now he is about 7 kilos. He likes food, his favourite is duck and salmon. He is white, a bit grey and very cute. Sometimes he’s a bit crazy. He likes to play and run around. My friend buys him lots of toys and food.

I’ve never had pets because we’ve always lived in a small flat. When I was little my grandparents had a dog, and at my other grandma’s there was a cat that sometimes went there to eat. Now my brother has a dog. He lives on the ninth floor and he has to go out with the dog a lot. He’s at work so the dog is home alone a lot. He is very cute and funny. He is still small because he is a small dachshund and he is about 1 year old.

Naapuruus / neighborhood

Asun kerrostalossa, täällä on monta kerrostaloa, kouluja, päiväkoteja. On apteekki lähellä ja kauppa on noin 10 minuttia täältä. On monta leikkipuistoa ja vihreitä alueita. Taloni vieressä on lukio, jossa on musiikkiluokka, ja opiskelijat soittavat musiikkia paljon. Taloa vastapäätä on pieni kauppa ja baari.

I live in a block of flats, there are lots of such houses here, schools, kindergartens.There is a pharmacy nearby and the shop is about 10 minutes away. There are many playgrounds and green areas. There is a high school next to my house where there is a music class and the students play a lot of music. Opposite the house there is a small shop and a bar.

Raha / money

Useaimmin käytän rahaa matkustamiseen, enimmäkseen kesällä. Yleensä ostan ruokaa, vaatteita ja tietysti maksan laskuja ja vuokraa. Yritän säästää rahaa, kun haluan matkustaa. Käytän rahaa ruokaan, kun ystävän kanssa menemme kahvilaan, ravintolaan tai tilaamme ruokaa. Minulla on kortti, jolla voin ostaa ruokaa.

Yleisesti en käytä paljon rahaa, ja minun ei okein täytyy säästää. Saan palkan kuukauden alussa, ja sitten maksan vuokraa. Maksan laskuja kuukauden lopussa. Yleensä yritään säästää vähän, että minulla on tarpeeksi rahaa, kun minun täytyy maksaa laskuja.

Viime aikoina en ostanut mitään isoa, paitsi uuden läppärin. Se oli vähän kallis, mutta tarvitsin sitä.

Most often I spend money on travel, especially in summer. Usually I buy food, clothes and of course I pay the bills and rent. I’m trying to save when I want to travel. I spend money on food, when we go to a café or restaurant with my friend or order food. I have a card I can use for buying food.

Usually I don’t spend much, I don’t really need to save. I get my salary at the beginning of the month then I pay rent. I pay the bills at the end of the month so I’m trying to save a bit to have enough money for them.

Lately I haven’t bought anything big except a new laptop. It was a bit expensive but I needed it.

#finnish #speaking challenge #SpeakingIn20 #langblr challenge

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thatortheschlong · 3 years ago

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*blows a raspberry on Bella's cheek as Bella babbles before handing her over* Oooooh koukla mou, is Tio Santi getting jealous of Thea Kalli ? -👓

Always. *picks up Bella* She’s my favourite girl. I can’t have her Thea taking her away from me.

- Santiago

#santiago talks #👓 anon #answered

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jflashandclash · 7 years ago

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Attrition of Peace

Twenty-Six: Alabaster

Cock-Blocked by a Talking Head

Warning! There’s a mildly grotesque… thing (?) in this chapter. I’m not really sure it needs a warning or what that warning would fall under, but… you’ve been warned? Regardless, I hope you enjoy! Or love to hate it after the events of that last chapter! Your choice!

Alabaster hadn’t faced such a paralyzing conundrum in years: if he stood up, he might wake up Kally, but if he stayed where he was, he wouldn’t be able to sleep. Being this considerate was highly illogical.

What he should have been thinking about was what other ingredients he could mix that shape shifter’s ear with to make a more poignant transmodifcation potion or what he was going to do with the Pax brothers and their band of Ol-Sissies in the morning. In particular, how he was supposed to feed them, considering he remembered Axel tearing through half a box of cereal before Alabaster had his morning tea steeped.

But here he was: his heart panging erratically each time he or Kally moved in their shared sleeping bag. He didn’t know this girl. Well, he sort of knew her—he’d read her journal, about her mother, her adventures with the Pax brothers and her story ideas. But that shouldn’t have been enough. He wasn’t like Ajax, just falling in love—er—liking—er—infatuating over someone because. He had to think things through. They had to make sense.

This must have been Eros’ or Aphrodite’s folly. He refused to be their puppet, or fall to the whims of—

Until Kally shivered and he debated whether or not he should shift closer or put an arm around her. Was that horrendously inappropriate?

Relief came to him in the worst way possible: the sound of a guitar, a wretched song, and some shriek-mutterings.

“Oh, Jack must have escaped,” Alabaster muttered, wanting to groan.

“Escaped?” Kally asked, her voice too alert to have been sleeping. She sat up, and Alabaster saw their chance to go inside, though he couldn’t will himself to get up. He felt dumb for how much he liked sitting beside her. From the disconcerted look on her face, she might have been thinking the same thing.

“Claymore and I keep him gagged and locked up for safekeeping,” he said. With assigning everyone a room and everything with Pax, he’d forgotten their nightly ritual of detaining Jack. Plus, at Camp Othrys, they didn’t have to, and Alabaster couldn’t help but feel nostalgia with the Pax brothers around.

At her disturbed stare, Alabaster assured, “He should be okay. When he’s alone, he normally just wanders around the yard composing ballads—”

Someone shouted. After a delay of recognition, Alabaster and Kally locked eyes. That had been Ajax, his voice weakened from sobbing. Had there been other shouting? Alabaster had been so focused on Kally, he’d written off other sounds as the neighbors.

A loud split, like thunder had torn a crater in the earth, cracked in the air. The ground trembled once.

They shoved the sleeping bag away and scrambled to their feet. Neither was armed—they should have gone inside for weapons earlier. He had extra spell prepared on his pants but…

Alabaster stumbled when one of the runes on his pajama pants glowed brilliant green. He gritted his teeth.

Kally grabbed Alabaster’s arm to help pull him up. “What’s that?!” she asked, her eyes searching the yard for Pax.

“Someone is trying to break through my barrier,” he hissed.

A very powerful someone. He could feel the Mist twisting to the command of another.

“Are there any children of Hecate after you?” he demanded. This was almost as bad as Lamia.

Kally shook her head. “N-no. Uh—unless—I think Leo’s girlfriend could do magic? Was the original Calypso a child of Hecate?”

Alabaster’s eyes widened. “The sorceress? Why didn’t you say—” he cut off. No one but the Pax brothers would have realized how vital that was, and they might have been sparing Jack’s feelings about Calypso.

A dark figure skirted around the side of the house. Alabaster flinched. Something shouldn’t have gotten through his barrier without him detecting—

Alabaster relaxed when he recognized the single glint of Pax’s hazel eye and heard the racking hackle of Jack’s song. Alabaster tensed all over when he saw that Pax was alone. No—not alone—

Pax scrambled up the stairs. He trembled and choked on sobs when he skittered to a halt in front of them. He was pale. Mud smeared his knees, and there was a nasty bruise forming on his neck, like someone had tried to take a chunk out of it. He bent over and put his free hand on his knee. His other fingers were tightly clenched in a mess of short, dripping red hair.

A mess that was definitely talking.

“--okay, kiddo, it was just Nico, and we hate that—” the head said.

Pax gathered himself enough to say, “Jack’s dead.”

“I see that,” Alabaster said, unable to look away.

When Pax registered Alabaster’s and Kally’s looks of horror, he gave another sob—this one of relief. “Can all of you hear him too?”

Alabaster nodded.

He could see Kally do the same from the corner of his eye.

Some part of him was fascinated. The other part of him wondered if his fascination signified how much more therapy he needed. Had this been another situation, Alabaster might have chastised Pax for bringing home wartime trophies. Alabaster already thought it was gross when the weasels did it.

Pax let out a hysterical laugh, twisting the mess of hair. Alabaster’s stomach clenched. He’d had to dissect plenty of bodies for spells, but he didn’t often recognize them. Jack’s face was ghastly pale. His eyes were sunken and his lips looked parched and blue under the spittle and blood. There was a hole in his cheek, leaking more fluids. Despite all of that, his eyes were alert and his mouth wouldn’t stop moving. Now, he was humming the tune to, Don’t Stop Me Now.

Pax laugh-cried, “Oh, thank the gods! Not that I’m happy all of you are going crazy too, just that it isn’t just me.”

Kally reached a hesitant hand out towards Pax, but stopped. “Ajax, are you—”

“No!” he cried, “No, I’m not okay!” Alabaster guessed she was going to say, hurt, but knew stopping a Pax mid-rant was like stopping a train with a school crossing sign. “I’m holding a decapitated—”

“—very handsome—” Jack interjected.

“—very handsome, talking head of a surrogate father I’ve had to watch die twice! And I’ve probably been exposed to all kinds of diseases, like ebola—”

“—actually, it was pneumatic plague,” Jack corrected indignantly, “Keep your pandemics straight.”

“—shingles, and whatever he gave Annabeth! Oh, and Will’s blood.”

“Mono,” Jack said.[1]

“Annabeth is here--?” Kally started to ask, but put a hand to her mouth. “Is Will okay?”

“He was looking a little on the corpsy side after Jack finished his family bonding,” Pax used Jack’s head to gesticulate on family bonding. Someone needed to take Jack’s head from him… but Alabaster really didn’t want to touch it. “Then Nico went all shadows and poofballs to save him and Melinoe captured him to use him as a shadow bridge and now the others are coming for us,” he babbled in one breath.

“We need to wake up everyone, assuming that cracking noise didn’t wake them up,” Alabaster said. He could feel the shield around his property waning. “The barrier will only give us maybe—five more minutes at this rate. Ajax—”

Pax burst into a fit of giggles. He almost doubled over. Both Alabaster and Kally flinched.

“Get it?! Get it?! Jack’s the head of Orpheus Metal. The prophecy! Orpheus’ head won by heart’s loss. I’m at the loss! Why are the Fates so much more creative than me today!” Pax continued to giggle between sobs and gasps. “You win, Fates! You win this round!”

Many stories said Orpheus’ head sang after it was cut off, though Alabaster didn’t know why they would need a singing head. What they needed to do was get inside and ready for a fight. If Annabeth and Nico were here, he had a guess as to which demigod would be leading the charge. The thought of fighting Percy Jackson excited Alabaster, but not in his pajama pants.

Alabaster went to command them inside when Pax hugged himself, not seeming to care that Jack’s head bopped against his hip. He choked and coughed.

“Aw, kiddo, it’s okay—” Jack started.

Kally removed one of her socks and jammed it into Jack’s mouth. She shivered, examining Pax. After opening and closing her mouth once, she pulled Pax into a hug.

Normally, Alabaster might warn that she was falling for one of Pax’s ruses. But Pax could barely breathe. And Jack was definitely dead in Pax’s hand. A shudder of horror rumbled through Alabaster when he realized Death really couldn’t keep Jack away.

And part of him broke, knowing Pax really needed him right now.

Kally reached back, grabbed Alabaster’s sweater, and dragged him into the hug.

He counted out five seconds, trying not to think about how freaked out Pax was. Or Kally. Alabaster had seen plenty of severed heads. He guessed this was her first.

“We need to get inside,” Alabaster said. Later. They could help Pax later. And… do whatever you were supposed to do for decapitated heads to Jack. “Let’s get inside and get Axel.”

As Alabaster had hoped, the others were readying themselves. They must have heard the crack. Axel was decorated with a myriad of weapons strapped on with various holsters: hoplite swords, daggers, knives, and others, both celestial and human-made. He had donned his Nemean Lion pelt. With that, his bracers, and his old leather pteruges[2], Axel looked more like the honored lieutenant Alabaster had proudly looked up to.

The child of Eros had his bow ready, peering out the front window like a sniper. Euna had Backbiter drawn, standing beside him. Merry sat on the stairs, pale, jutting her jaw to one side.

The weasels practiced a war dance all around the living room.

Needing no instruction, Axel handed Alabaster his playing cards as he, Kally, Pax, and… Jack entered.

“What in Hades is going on?” Calex demanded from his lookout by the window. “We heard—Holy Hygieia! Pax, why do you have that mental bloke’s head?!”

Jack finally managed to dislodge and spit out Kally’s sock. “I believe the full term is ‘mentally handicapped’ for the political activists. Don’t want to upset Axel,” he teased.

“Oh gods, it talks,” Calex hissed, touching his temple with one hand.

“Jack’s dead,” Pax greeted his brother.

“Again,” Axel acknowledged as he handed Pax the Silver Tongued Snake helm, his bronze chest plate, some clothing, and Pax’s utility belt and attached daggers. His eyes glazed over Jack the same way Alabaster had seen Axel register other dead in the field of battle: a current logistic, grief best left until grief had time. Though Axel did puff up his cheeks and pop them.

Alabaster flicked his Mist cards through his fingers. Claymore’s was on top, but now wouldn’t be the time to awaken him. As much as he wanted Claymore’s guidance, another body cluttering the room wasn’t what they needed. He flipped to the next set of cards, summoning his bulletproof vest. He hesitated on the imperial gold sword. No… for this, he wanted his old weapons.

Axel handed Alabaster his Cloven Witch Boy helm, the goat skull enlaced with Stygian iron. The Triple A Chimera helped each other suit up like no time had passed since their last mission.

There was a card towards the bottom of Alabaster’s deck that he’d almost thrown away on multiple occasions. He withdrew it, summoned the contents, and handed a thin vial off to Pax. “This is the remnants of some knock out serum. You get one shot. Don’t waste it.”

Jack hummed the whole time and Merry and Calex looked like they might throw up.

“Pax Bae, sweetie, you and I need to have some real talk time about you bringing body parts and dead things home,” Merry whispered.

“They sent a diplomacy party—” Pax explained while Axel strapped down Pax’s bronze breastplate.

“Amicablicious!” Merry cheered. “So why—”

“—that Jack attacked. And now it looks like I played whack-a-mole with Will Solace’s face and poofed Nico Di Angelo into hipsters and Hot Topic.”

“Did you?” Calex asked, his eyes narrowing.

Axel and Kally shot Calex a look. Kally’s was of bewilderment. Axel’s was anger. His message was clear, don’t question my brother.

Pax’s jaw dropped and began to tremble again. “How could you ask that? You know I ship Solangelo.”

“Maybe we can still use some sweet talk. Pax, what exac—?” Merry started to ask.

“AJAX PAX!”

A rumble shook the house and something roared along the shutters. The window glass exploded inward.

Calex and Euna shouted and dove onto the floor.

Everyone crouched and ducked.

“Let’s talk and flee, shall we?” Pax shouted over the boom of wind as it knocked over lampshades, tore loose papers out of the bookshelf, and knocked Alabaster’s favorite teacup off the coffee table. It shattered on impact with the rug.

“What is that?!” Kally asked.

“If I had to guess? Jason expressing his feelings. He’s a very sensitive kind of guy!” Pax shouted back.

Something smashed into the front door. A piece of the wood fractured. Alabaster wanted to curse. Though weakened, his rune barrier hadn’t collapsed yet. No living thing—human or monster—should have been able—

The wooden frame cracked, and something silvery thundered into the living room.

Alabaster summoned one of his best Mist cards: his two pronged, Stygian iron staff. Whichever magic user they were facing must have been powerful to sneak in a—

A silver worktable.

With the wind dying down, Alabaster could swear there was a faint, “Felix! Come back! I wasn’t supposed to program you with door ramming abilities until next week!”

Maybe they would have shared a collective sigh of relief, had the sentient table not bound across the room. Before any of them could get in the way, the worktable slammed into Kally, knocking her flat.

The table lifted a leg above Kally’s head.

She yelped and twisted out of the way of a blow that would have crushed her skull. Instead, the table leg pinned her sweatshirt hoodie, preventing her from rolling away. Kally scrambled to squirm out of the article of clothing.

Alabaster slammed his staff into the leg, jolting her free.

“Hunnie!” Pax shouted.

The weasel scurried out from under the couch. Her approach became much more intimidating when Hunnie expanded to the size of the couch. She slammed into the worktable, rocketing the table back through the front door.

“Out the back!” Axel commanded.

“But—the van and Vinyl—” Calex started.

“Now!”

Alabaster had abandoned so many houses over the last year, all he could do was internally sigh at the thought of going back on the market. At least it was easier with Claymore around.

But, he wanted to take a stand and fight. He’d run from Lamia and the Romans for months. And now, he could possibly have the chance to fight Percy Jackson and Jason Grace and show the pawns of the Olympic mafia what they’d taken from him?

While he hesitated, Pax grabbed the hand he had on his helmet and Kally grabbed the one on his staff. They dragged him back through the backdoor they’d entered moments ago.

From a glance behind, Alabaster could see Euna dragging Calex and Merry in a similar way. Axel followed out last, assuring the group was together.

As they raced down the porch, the rune on Alabaster’s pant leg shattered. A jolt of pain and weakness spread from the break, darkening his senses momentarily. The rune barrier collapsed. The house was now exposed.

They couldn’t make a stealthy retreat, not with Jack mumbling the whole time and the clank of their armor.

The three weasels swarmed around their feet. Hunnie was back to her tiny size, having either won or given up on the fight against the work table. For the sake of defending Hecate’s craftsmanship, he hoped the former.

“Alabaster! Best retreat?” Axel demanded.

“The forest,” Alabaster snapped. Despite Lamia’s recent absence, Alabaster had gotten into the habit of planning escapes. Reflexively, he’d directed Pax and Kally towards the woods, taking the lead.

“Merry—I know it’s a lot—you gotta keep going!” Kally gasped over her shoulder.

“C—can’t—” the daughter of Dionysus panted. From their stories earlier, Merry had completely depleted herself of energy. A couple hours rest wouldn’t recharge the strongest of demigods after causing a Dionysus level dance off.

“I have you,” Calex said.

Alabaster glanced back. Calex had picked Merry up, but they were already so far behind. And carrying her would only slow the Brit down.

They needed something to cover their retreat, but Alabaster wasn’t sure his concealment spells could hide all seven of them—eight if you included Jack’s grumbling head.

Beyond them, Alabaster could see five figures approaching from the side of the house.

The barometric pressure dropped.

“STOP!” Pax shrieked.

For an instant, Alabaster thought Pax or Axel had used their Mayan magic. That’s how it always felt before they did.

Instead, a flash of light blinded Alabaster ahead.

Something popped.

For an instant, Alabaster couldn’t see or hear anything. The earth rumbled under his feet—something was shifting. He, Pax, and Kally fell on the grass.

When he managed to blink the floating spheres out of his vision, he could see something had shifted the earth ahead of them. There was now a deep trench, in a semicircle, around the back of the house. Like someone had collapsed a tunnel underneath.

They were trapped.

[1] Mel Beta Note: “I’m not sure what’s stronger right now: my sense of humor or my sense of morals. I’m so emotionally confused!” However, Mel had the disclaimer that Jack exposure may cause confusion. Like a Psyduck.

[2] This is the proper name for those fancy leather skirts the Romans wore. “Skirts” just didn’t fit the right mood of the scene, though I assure you Pax was thinking of them as skirts.

#The Attrition of Peace #Traitors of Olympus #Heroes of Olympus #Percy Jackson and the Olympians #fanfiction #Alabaster #Pax #Kally #Calex #Euna #Welcoming the Head of Orpheus Metal!#Weasels #Jason #Correction: pissed off Jason #A kickass silver work table

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respectingromance · 8 years ago

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Roundup: Romance Giveaways

With giveaways and books from Rachel Van Dyken, Darcy Burke, Book Riot, Harlequin, Greta Gilbert, Diane Gaston, Julie James, Joanne Rock, Juliette Poe, Stacey Kennedy, Michele Hauf, and Kalli Lanford.

To enter any of the giveaways below, click on the links and follow the instructions given. Comments on this post or reblogs will NOT enter you into any of the giveaways below. You need to enter at each link. Following instructions is up to you!

A Fortress of Books

Rachel Van Dyken is giving away 10 free ebook downloads of The Playboy Bachelor. This is a contemporary romance and the second book in her Bachelors of Arizona series. Enter at this link.

Babbling About Books and More

Darcy Burke, author of The Duke of Desire, is giving away a $35 Amazon gift card. Enter at this link.

Book Riot

Book Riot is giving away a $100 gift card to Amazon. To enter, just use the form at this link to sign up for their biweekly romance newsletter, Kissing Books!

Harlequin

Harlequin is giving away two historical romances. Comment at this link with your favorite historical time period and you could win a copy of The Spaniard’s Innocent Maiden by Greta Gilbert and Bound by Their Secret Passion by Diane Gaston. Contest rules: Open to residents of the U.S. and Canada, excluding Quebec. Contest closes April 17, at 11:59 p.m. ET. One (1) winner will be selected from all eligible comments and announced here on or around April 18.

Harlequin Junkie

Julie James is giving away a print copy of The Thing About Love by Julie James. To enter the giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form at this link and post a comment to this question: Leave a comment with your thoughts on the book…

Joanne Rock is giving away a signed print copy of The Magnate’s Marriage Merger by Joanne Rock, print copy of a Harlequin Presents 2-in-1 by Caitlin Crews and Helen Bianchin, notepad and decorative Post-It notes (U.S. only). For international entrants, the giveaway includes a digital download of The Magnate’s Marriage Merger and Wishes at First Light, both by Joanne Rock. To enter the giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form at this link and post a comment to this question: If you were in the dating world, would you consider a matchmaker or a matchmaking service?

Juliette Poe, author of Ain’t He Precious?, is giving away a $10 Amazon gift card. To enter the giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form at this link and post a comment to this question: Would you ever give an ex a second chance?

Stacey Kennedy is giving away an ebook of Restrained Under His Duty (Dirty Little Secrets) by Stacey Kennedy. *Gifted via Amazon* To enter the giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form at this link and post a comment to this question: If you fell in love with someone at work (where it’s forbidden to date a fellow co-worker), would you give up your job to pursue them, would you keep the relationship a secret, or would you never take a bite of the forbidden fruit?

Michele Hauf is giving away one digital copy of The Thief (epub) to giveaway. To enter the giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form at this link and post a comment to this question: What’s your favorite heist story? Movie?

Kalli Lanford, author of Starstruck, is giving away a $10 Amazon gift card. To enter the giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form at this link and post a comment to this question: If you could go on a date with an alien character from a movie, who would you pick? a. Spock (Leonard Nimoy, Star Trek) b. John Smith (Alex Pettyfer, I am Number Four) c. Klaatu (Keanu Reeves, The Day the Earth Stood Still) d. Prot (Kevin Spacey, K-Pax) e. Caine Wise (Channing Tatum, Jupiter Ascending).

Good luck!

#romance novels

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dragonloverdoran · 8 years ago

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The Gemstones of Miligen

aka the DQ knockoff I wrote for school when I was eight. It was originally handwritten, with a front cover and some illustrations. Unfortunately, my phone camera sucks so I can’t show off their glory.

So, this is Book 1: The disappearing Gems (which is all I wrote). All mistakes are accurate reproductions.

Miligenians were shocked. Someone had stolen the precious Gemstones of Miligen. The Gemkeeper Kilie was known to be honest, and had said he had not stolen the Gems.

The main suspect was a man called Ledd. Ledd was a secretive man. He collected gemstones, who would know if he had the Gemstones of Miligen among his own?

Kalli was a well trusted girl. Her father was Ledd. She hated the way her father was the main suspect. However secretive he was, he would never do such a thing.

Kilie gazed at the velvet pillow where the Gemstones had been. He thought of a sapphire, an amethyst, an emerald, an opal and a diamond on the pillow, shimmering. Now they were taken from their place they would shimmer no more until they came back.

He turned at a sound behind him. He gasped at the hooded figure that stood there. It held the Gems!

It spoke in an almost soothing voice. “I have the Gems. You will never find me, but if you do, I will give the Gems back. Ha, I know you used to admire me, but you don’t know who. Hahahahaha! Goodbye, and fortune don’t favour you, hahahahaha!”

Ledd, meanwhile, was in deep trouble. He was forced to sit and watch the search team look for the Gemstones. The usually big, silent, strong man slumped in his seat, half terrified, not that he was actually scared, but he was on the point of leaping up and attacking the searchers. They were on a wild goose chase. How would find something that wasn’t there? He thought of what would happen if he did attack.

Then the door practically burst open.

Kilie entered. His usually Militiary-like expression had disappeared. He could have been anyone if it hadn’t been for the string of tiny topazes clipped to his curly brown hair.

“It was not Ledd!” He yelled. “I never did admire him. How could he have come to me?”

“What are you babbling on about, Kilie?” Roared the Search Chief.

“The theif came to me, er, chief,” said Kilie.

“Then go, Kilie, to see that fortune teller Puffsicar. He may be able to help you.” Growled the Chief.

“Aha, good idea, chief,” laughed Kilie.

He dashed out the door and arrived at Puffsicar’s studio within five minutes. He took a deep breath and knocked.

TO BE CONTINUED

#as much as this sucks #frankly i'm annoyed there's a cliffhanger #i have no idea how this was meant to go #taeloerohz

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gobspeaks · 1 year ago

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'page 4 of 7' and we only have a skeleton for 95% of these cases

we know things like

'here's our main prosecutor for this game!'

'here's our weirdgirl >:D'

not. you know. anything substantial about the cases

el and i are in so deep

we're discussing hypothetical cases our ocs could cover

send help

#babbling #gob's oc shenanigans #we're having fun #el is making a detective for Kallie's prosecutors bc they?? didn't have one yet???#smh i thought we had covered our bases wrt detectives lmao

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jflashandclash · 8 years ago

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Attrition of Peace

Six: Axel

Never Leave Merry and Pax Unattended

By the time Axel was escorted to his friends and little brother, his hands were shaking. Although he knew they would be empty, he tore through his pockets absently, thinking something had to be there.

All the eagles and wolves depicted on everything—Axel had to exhale away the memories and that wasn’t easy with the smell of metal, leather, and Reyna’s honey shampoo in his nostrils.

He was happy to hear the sound of Iris’s relaxed voice say, “I’m sorry, we cannot connect your call as dialed. Please hang up, try your call again, and try one of our delicious simulation cupcakes.”

One of the newer recruits—Erin if he remembered correctly from a prior run-in—was cheerfully leading him into a private room underneath the mess hall. As they passed a bustling kitchen full of noncombat Roman chefs shouting about garum, the smell of roasted fish made his stomach clench. He felt like he hadn’t eaten in weeks… though guessing from the dates on Reyna’s room calendar, he’d been in magical stasis and hadn’t eaten in weeks.

When Axel got into the room, he saw Pax and Merry making a small rainbow using a side sink and light prism. If nothing else, at least they were creative. Kally sat at a side table, with leftovers from last night’s cena.[1] Axel didn’t see Euna or Calex, but Erin assured him that they were still getting a medical look over.

“—enjoy another performance from you and your brother,” Erin was saying.

During their walk, Erin had gushed over the short acrobatics performance that Axel and Pax had given to thank the Romans for their help on a quest. While he appreciated her enthusiasm, he’d been contemplating the best way to tell this Roman that one of his friends had recently die, he’d spent three weeks in nightmare hell with an overtly persistent goddess, and he had just talked to his crush of three years without getting to take a shower or shave beforehand. In other words, he wanted to tell Erin to go punch a Gorgon in the face.

Fortunately, Erin stopped at the doorway, gave a brief, shy wave at Pax, and babbled, “I need to get back to my post.” Then she was gone.

Axel sighed and sank onto the bench beside Kally, grabbing some cold meat to nibble on.

She looked exhausted. Her long, reddish-blonde hair was so knotted in its ponytail, he wondered if she’d have to cut some of it off to get her hair tie out. She gave Pax a half-hearted glare as Pax came to sit on her other side.

“Welp, no multicolored messages back to camp,” Pax said. He wore a T-shirt, likely a donation from Camp Jupiter’s souvenir shop. Originally, it probably said, I love Rome. But Pax had somehow acquired a marker to add a letter and doted the “m” so it looked like, I love BRonies. The water from the River Tiber had washed out whatever gel was left in Pax’s raven hair, so it was back to twisting wildly about his head. His fohawk, courtesy of the Stoll brothers during their last stay at camp, had almost completely grown out. He and Pax really needed haircuts.

“Who else wants to bet our lovely rainbow goddy is in the middle of a kitty fight with another god?” Merry hummed. Her brown eyes were rimmed red from tears, like Pax’s and Kally’s. Axel was so used to Merry being relaxed and content, it felt wrong that she huddled into her parka so much. Something else that he should have been able to prevent.

After a quick shuffle in her pocket, smooth, sad jazz played from the magical music system in her jacket. She gave them an apologetic frown, but he knew she needed some music for comfort.

Kally stiffened and Axel realized the same thing she had: they hadn’t told Merry why all the gods were having petty arguments.

When Pax tried to put an arm around Kally’s shoulder, she shifted closer to Axel, then hesitated. Axel clenched his jaw when he heard the subtle whisper of the Leonis Caput in his head, Trapped between the Snake and the Lion, wait until she meets the Cloven Witchboy.

Shut up, he internally hissed, wondering why the monster would even say that.

“You should have let me tell the praetors what happened,” Kally whispered to Pax.

Merry tilted her head, glancing from Kaly to Pax. She frowned. “Kally, exactly how and when did Mr. Pax get you to swear on the River Styx not to tell his secrets?” she asked. “You don’t usually like to talk to big, bad strangers.”

Kally glanced at Pax, then at the floor.

Pax coughed awkwardly. “Well, you see, Mr. Pax—”

“Say ‘Santiago Pax’ and then finish that sentence sweetie,” Merry said.

Axel wanted to groan. Just once, he wanted Merry’s intelligence to help him and Pax, not work against them.

Merry picked up a fork and aimed it at Axel’s brother. “Pax, you are the one Kally swore to keep the secrets of, not your dad? That’s pretty foul, sweetie. And here I was, shipping you two.” She clucked her tongue in distaste.

“Hey,” Pax protested. “You keep the anchor raised on that ship,” he said before turning to Kally. “And I thought it might not be the best for Euna’s mental health if she was put on trial for slaughtering mortals.”

Axel flinched. “What?”

“Uh, Euna might have gone overboard on the whole justified revenge thing,” Pax said. He and Kally filled in Merry and Axel, telling them about how Euna used her temporary god powers to turn Santiago Pax and his henchmen into a tree park in the middle of one of California’s finest Mayan temples. Then, how Pax’s mother had shown up with her group of friends to kidnap all the Pax children.

Axel felt nauseous when Pax said that the goddess had picked Axel up by the back of his shirt and almost walked off with him. “Wait—did she take Hiro and Lapis?” he asked, realizing Pax had said all of the living Pax children.

Judging from Pax’s soft whimper, he had to assume the answer was yes. Axel awkwardly reached his good arm around Kally to squeeze Pax’s shoulder. Axel should have been awake to help them.

“So, Pax, who’s your loving momma?” Merry asked, poking around at the vegetables on her plate.

“Well—” Pax started with a light tone.

Kally elbowed him. “Actually tell her.”

He choked, glanced at her, and frowned. Pax puffed up his cheeks and popped them. “She’s Eris, the Goddess of Strife and Discord—strife like war and deciding which socks to wear in the morning. Or if you should wear socks at all.”

“Socks?” Merry asked.

“Don’t underestimate the small struggles of socks,” he said.

Axel wished he kept a recording device on him. That way, when Pax came crying to him about how Kally rejected him again, Axel could just playback things Pax had said in serious situations.

“Do you think they’re really going to attack Camp Half-Blood?” Kally asked, staring at her plate. She hadn’t touched her food.

“Who?” Pax asked, waving one hand. “A Goddess of Strife, a revenge-bent snake, and a God of Nightmares? No, I think they’re going to use the Golden Net for a picnic blanket.” Pax leaned into the table to see Axel. “How was romancing Reyna into letting us go? Romancy with a chance of stabbing?”

Axel sighed and hoped he was too tired for his face to go red. He wondered if it would be worth pinching Pax’s ear to shut him up. “She’s not going to let you and I go anytime soon. The others maybe. She can tell who we are. She’s not stupid.”

Though not exactly who. When he was in her room, Axel had tried not to glance at the nasty scar on Reyna’s thigh, where he’d stabbed her while leading an ambush against the legion during the Titan war.

“Did you tell her or is she not stupid?” Pax asked. “Because Pax boys have a nasty tendency of blabbering to the people they’re into.”

He must have winked at Kally because she scooted closer to Axel with a grumble.

“Kallydoll, why don’t you come over here, so these two can wrestle and bicker like real adults,” Merry hummed, patting the chair beside her.

Kally got up, quickly walked around the table and sat across from him, making Pax pout.

Axel hadn’t directly told Reyna about their identity, but the praetor must have had a pretty good idea. All the pieces were there for her. Plus, if Reyna did directly asked him about his involvement in the war with Kronos, his pride wouldn’t let him lie.

Pax puffed up his cheeks and popped them again, taking Axel’s silence as his response, one he must have found hopeless. He leaned back and stared off at the wall while saying, “I’ve always thought Rome would be a beautiful place to be executed.”

“They’re not going to execute you,” Kally said, reaching over for her plate. Uncomfortably, she added, “Will they?”

Pax gave her a skeptical glance. “Even their ghosts want to kick our asses. Kally, their river just tried to kill me.”

“That’s a pretty impressive feat, ticking off the landscape,” Merry said. “And why exactly was a body of water trying to murder you two? Were you that bad in ye old days?”

Axel frowned. Although Pax had told the others they were members of Kronos’s army, none of them knew what rank or what any of that meant. This definitely wasn’t the location to discuss it. Axel sat up. “Where’s the guard?” he asked.

There’s no way Reyna would leave them unattended.

Merry pointed behind the doorway. When Axel followed her finger, he saw Dakota in a crumbled heap on the floor. “Taking a nap,” she said cheerfully. “Pax darted him.”

Pax sighed dramatically. “Even though I’m running out of sleep serum.”

Kally gave Axel a serious glance. “This is why these two—” She pointed between Pax and Merry. “—aren’t allowed to hang out.”

Axel had to agree. He could see how Merry could be shortsighted on a matter like this, but Pax knew better. He sighed and rubbed his temple. “They’re going to find an unconscious centurion suspicious.”

Merry gave a sad smile. She rested an elbow on the table and her face on her hand. “Dakota? Nah. He gets so hyped up on sugar, he collapses all the time after a rush. If there’s one thing my lovely siblings are known for, it’s partying until we drop. Now, back to my question, Mr. Stoic and Evasive.”

As she said it, Calex stepped through the doorway. He frowned at Dakota, and turned to glare at Pax. Pax grinned and raised his hands in an innocent, open-palmed gesture.

“Dodgy prick,” Calex muttered.

“Where’s Euna?” Kally asked as he took a seat beside Merry.

Axel frowned at the thought of Euna by herself. The guilt clenched his stomach.

None of them should have ever been in Santiago’s temple. Axel should have known they were being followed. He should have been able to do more than sit there when Santiago pulled a string of thorns through Pax’s tongue and shoved Joey into the fire.

Axel slipped his hands into his pockets again, vainly hoping upon hope he’d find something to calm his nerves. Although he didn’t find a box of cigarettes, like he had hoped, he did find some chewing gum that hadn’t been there before.

He ruffled Pax’s hair in thanks. His pick-pocketing little brother gave him a small smile.

“She’s still being examined,” he said, “She hasn’t talked for a bit.”

Like everyone else, Calex’s grey eyes looked red-rimmed. His ebony skin contrasted harshly with the limestone walls. Although Axel had never seen Eros himself, he’d been told Eros’s face was hard to look at, because his beauty was so harsh. Axel wasn’t much for looking at men in that way, but he could see where girls and boys like his brother would have a difficult time looking at Calex for the same reason.

Calex put a hand on the doorframe, frowning distantly. “She looks like the teenagers that came into Mum’s clinic. One of me Mum’s mates is a Nigerian peacekeeper that she met during the First Civil War. He said you could tell which teenager had been recruited by LURD and Taylor as children soldiers by looking into their eyes…”[2] Calex shook his head and swallowed. “Euna’s still in shock.”

Axel knew Euna wasn’t the only one in shock. He wanted to tell Calex to sit down and eat something, but—after thinking about Euna—Axel didn’t have much of an appetite either. And he didn’t have any right to tell them what to do after failing them as a leader. And Roman garum, fermented fish guts, could make anyone lose their appetite.

Calex looked Axel directly in the eyes, something that made most people uncomfortable. The Mist could only alter so much about the feel of a predator.

“Is Joey gone for good? Has anyone come back from those turquoise flames?” he asked

Axel could feel Kally and Merry’s hopeful gaze on him. Pax whimpered and started to construct a building out of his rainbow colored carrots.

Axel clenched his jaw. “No. She’s gone. Her blood belongs to the deity she was sacrificed to, as a payment for giving her blood in the first place.” He wasn’t sure what that meant if Santiago sacrificed her to himself and he was now dead. Axel sacrificed blood to the original deities, like the ones that created modern humans, not madmen that wanted to become gods.

He was just happy they hadn’t seen Santiago rip Joey’s heart out or decapitate her, two rituals Axel and Pax were much more familiar with. None of the others had seen that type of violence. He knew Merry had physical altercations with her step-father, Kally’s Irish Catholic thug of a brother had tried to kill Pax—a laughable incident—and Calex had seen his mother and brother wither away to the Ebola Virus. Every type of violence came with its own nightmares and regrets, but this would have been new.

All of it makes you feel helpless, he thought, remembering the times he’d been too weak and pathetic to save those he loved from brutality.

For a moment, a jazz remix from Merry’s jacket sang the only distinguishable words out of the din of the mess hall:

We’ll meet again.

Don’t know where.

Don’t know when.

But I know we’ll meet again.

“There would have to be divine intervention to have saved her. And Greek gods aren’t known for saving their children,” Axel muttered. As soon as the words left his mouth, he wanted to bite them back. Calex’s father had intervened to save him from an eternal life of undeath with Thanatos.

For a morbid moment, Axel could envision Calex’s mother giving Eros and other Greek gods a quick session in parenting, labeled How Not to Let your Child Die When You Can Totally Stop It.

Calex closed his eyes and exhaled. When he opened them, he had a shaky smile. “How’d it go with Reyna, mate?”

Somehow, Axel knew Calex’s question wasn’t about the political side of the conversation. Axel frowned and cleared his throat. “That doesn’t feel—”

He was going to say appropriate, but Merry nudged his foot under the table. “Give a dog a bone, hun,” she whispered.

He wanted to snarl at her, but one glance around the table and he understood what she meant. Kally had perked up and blushed a little, Calex’s smile became a bit more genuine, and Pax paused in building his carrot tower. Everyone wanted something else to talk about, so they could pretend nothing had happened.

“Um—we’re—” He thought about the feel of Reyna’s fingers when she stroked between his ears. The heat rose in his cheeks. “—I’m training with her tomorrow morning,” he blurted, “And some of her more skilled fighters.”

“And?” Pax teased.

Axel scowled at Pax. “And loser of the match owes the other hot chocolate.”

Calex and Merry made sounds of approval.

Kally tapped her lower lip nervously. “Can you fight like that?” she nodded at his shoulder.

Axel’s shoulder throbbed from his confrontation with the Little Tiber. The river hadn’t just wanted to drown him, but to cut him apart with each wave. As such, his body felt like he’d decided to have a water balloon fight with Percy Jackson.

He could fight, but he couldn’t win. He and Reyna were on par when he was in top condition and using magic, something that would immediately give away his identity.

Axel shrugged. “I just need to drop by the van to pick up—” He choked. All their money had been in the Paxmobile, which was gone.

Pax glanced innocently at the ceiling and slid his hand across the table to deposit a modest stack of denari in front of him. “I’ve heard hot chocolate and sweets are pretty expensive in New Rome.”

“When did you have the time to nick that?” Calex asked and glared at Pax.

Pax shrugged. “I’d rather look at it like a communal donation box to Reyna’s happiness that the Twelfth Legion would willingly contribute to.”

Axel wasn’t sure if he should tear Pax’s ear off for stealing from their captors or hug him for saving Axel an embarrassing “IOU” to Reyna. When he thought about Euna, he frowned. “I shouldn’t be doing this…” he muttered. He should have been looking for a way to help Euna, or to get them to Camp Half-Blood faster.

Pax sighed. “You haven’t stalked Reyna for three years to back out now.”

“I didn’t stalk her!” he snarled. Axel knew exactly what Pax was referring to, but that was an unfair, uncontextualized simplification of the situation.

“Riiiiight, you sent me to stalk her,” he said, waving the comment off.

“You were spying for military intel,” Axel hissed, thinking about smashing Pax’s face into his carrot tower.

“Knowing her favorite book sure was important for fighting the war,” Pax agreed. He cautiously removed one of the corner carrots, like he was playing Janga, and stuck it in his mouth. “Did you tell her there’s a Labyrinth entrance in her room?”

Axel grabbed Pax’s ear and twisted hard, inciting Pax’s standard, “Aye! Aye! Aye! Don’t hurt me! I paid for your date!”

Pax knew Axel hated talking about that entrance. When he’d walked past the ajar door to Reyna’s bedroom that morning, he could see the mark of Daedalus on a wall inside. He remembered being on the other side of that wall years ago, the rest of the Triple A Chimera waiting for his cue behind him.

“What are you waiting for?” the Cloven Witchboy had hissed. He twirled a set of hexed marbles in his hands, ready to disarm and destroy the two automaton guard dogs deactivated in the corner. Although the labyrinth should have been black with shadow, the dark corridor gleamed with his armor’s green runes.

“While I’m the biggest fan of ruining plans, that little gift that I left for the guards outside might not keep them busy much longer,” the Silver Tongued Snake agreed. He tapped a sleep dart against his bronze breast plate, in case Reyna woke up. Whenever Pax wore Hecate’s helm, he sounded more like a snake, his voice taking on a raspy quality.

But Axel hadn’t been able to move. He saw that Reyna’s Queen Mattress was there for show—she slept in a cot, probably similar to what she slept in on Blackbeard’s ship. The cot had wrapped around her so much, he could barely make out her form, but he could smell her scent.

He’d already withdrawn his obsidian blades, the ones he always used for assassinating Roman Senators. It had taken them months to map the way to the praetor’s house, and weeks of planning. Now, he couldn’t signal for the attack.

Killing politicians in their sleep was one thing… but a warrior? Especially one he’d admired so much on the battlefield. He could kill her in combat, in a contest of skill with the sweat and intimacy of a fight, but not here, in the dark and outmatched with trickery. She deserved better than this, at least a warrior’s death.

Fool! The Leonis Caput snarled in his head, What are you doing?

For the first time in Axel’s career as the leader of Kronos’s Triple A Chimera, he shook his head. “Abort the mission.”[3]

Axel often wondered if that would have changed the events of the Second Titan War. As his little brother struggled under his grip, Axel clenched his jaw.

“You can see Labyrinth entrances? So, you’ve got true sight. That’s what Pollux called Rachel’s gift of Mist-looking,” Merry said, raising an eyebrow at him. “That’s a fancy skill you conveniently never brought up before.”

That was how Axel had snuck Rachel Elizabeth Dare out of Camp Half-Blood, but he figured that explanation wouldn’t give him or Pax any shiny stickers towards looking like good guys. Since all of his magic, exterior to true sight, required blood, and Pax’s required strife and pain, neither liked to go around espousing their might.

Footsteps sounded over the jazz music. Axel was hoping Pax had a backup explanation about why there was an unconscious child of Dionysus in the corner until Euna stepped in.

Her expression was hollow. Like the others, the Romans had given her dry clothing from the souvenir shop. Her long black hair lay in tangles around her shoulders. Axel frowned when he saw Kronos’s blade, Backbiter, still hung at her side. It was only a matter of time before someone recognized the two-toned metal. He needed to get it away from her.

An idea struck him, one that might help balance keeping Euna distracted and getting to know Reyna. “Hey Euna,” he greeted with a nod of the head. “We should train tomorrow morning at 5:00.”

Euna’s gaze slowly narrowed. “You want me to wake up at 5:00 in the morning?”

At least it was a response.

Last time Axel tried to wake up Euna for a quest, she’d punched him in the face. He figured mornings would, in fact, be the best time to train with Euna.

“Actually,” Pax said. “More like 4:30 in the morning, since he won’t want to be late for Reyna and the others, as he is a punctual jerk.”

Axel twisted Pax’s ear again. Pax whined and clawed at him.

Axel released him. Euna hadn’t said no. Maybe, after their training, he could get her to open up a bit and get Reyna to let them go back to Camp Half-Blood, hopefully before Reyna and the other Romans realized they should be putting Euna on trial for manslaughter and Pax and Axel on the execution block.

[1] Dinner

[2] Calex’s mother, Tiwa, was a refugee from the First Liberian Civil War who fled to Britain. After the Second Civil War’s fighting calmed down, she returned over summers to run a clinic in her father’s hometown, Kakata, to provide reduced-cost medical care, sex education classes, and drug addiction treatment, especially for the child soldiers that were hooked on cocaine and khat. Eventually, her two sons (by Eros and Winston McKenzie) Calex and Tom, came with her.

Charles McArthur Ghankay Taylor had possession of the Liberian government when LURD (Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy) rose up to overthrow him. A lot of other countries got involved in the First and Second Liberian War, including Nigeria, Guinea, Sierra Leone, the United States, and the United Kingdom.

[3] Soundtrack time! Something I can Never Have by Nine Inch Nails. The lyrics are perfect for their relationship.

Thanks for reading guys! Sorry I'm running late-I just got back in the country and am a little sleep deprived and behind on everything XD Regardless, I hope you enjoyed :D Poor Axel is so far out of his comfort range.

#Traitors of Olympus #The Attrition of Peace #PJO #HOO #fanfiction #writing #Jack-as per usual-is exhausted #and needs some of his namesake XD

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jflashandclash · 8 years ago

Text

Attrition of Peace

Four: Reyna

The Scent of a Liar

Last summer, when Reyna had escorted Percy Jackson to the principia, the Lares’ reaction had been unnerving. The household gods and ancestral ghosts of New Rome had slurred him as “Graecus” or Greek. They were still adjusting to the occasional presence of the Camp Half-Blood members, sometimes shouting more derogatory insults and threatening to empty their chamber pots on the visiting campers.

However, they’d never done this.

As Axel and his five walked towards the principia, the Lares were completely silent.

Similar to when Percy entered, the Lares would stop and stare. Some looked angry. Some looked scared. None threw an immediate insult. She only heard one speak. A young, purplish boy ghost whispered, “How did that monster get in?”

Their continued silence was unnerving and uncharacteristic.

Reyna was beginning to wonder if the information she got out of their interrogation would outweigh whatever threat these six could pose to New Rome. By the end of the conversation, she hoped to know if these six were stranded guests or if she should have let them drown in the Little Tiber.

Once Reyna sat in one of the two high-backed chairs in the principia and set her dagger on the table, she felt more at ease. Frank took a seat beside her, at rigid attention. They’d had several new recruits since he’d taken over the position as co-praetor and could comfortably run an interrogation on his own, but this was a little different than collecting stray Lupa pups.

Normally, new recruits would gawk at the polished marble floors, the velvet drapes cascading down from the mosaic of Romulus and Remus on the ceiling, and the enormous banners. She remembered how impressed she had been the first time she’d seen this room and later how she felt like the weight of New Rome had shifted onto her shoulders when she’d first sat as praetor.

Neither Axel nor Pax seemed surprised by the room as they entered. If anything, their glances were so direct, they appeared to have the layout memorized. As Axel stepped in, his head held high despite his prior humiliation and pain, his gaze darted to note the weapons in the room, the lack of guards, and—she was shocked he registered they weren’t statues—the metallic greyhounds at either side of her seat.

Pax still cowered behind his taller brother. Similarly, he seemed to know where everything was, but his panicked eyes were darting between all the exits.

Behind him, Piper’s cousin was having the reaction she was used to seeing. Calex’s wide grey eyes drifted around the room in awe. He and the tall Indian girl with a burgundy jacket were in better spirits than the rest of the group. The girl teased him over his excitement.

Both quieted down when Calex turned to the last two members of their group and asked, “Where’s Joey?”

The Korean girl looked straight forward, like he hadn’t addressed her. She wore all black, maybe for a stealth operation, like Reyna had seen on her weeks ago. Something that looked a suspicious amount like a dinner napkin was tied around her neck in place of a bandana. Out of all of them, she was the only one armed. A xiphos sword hung at her side, one thumb pressed delicately on the top of the pommel, like she feared the sword might unsheathe itself of its own volition.

Reyna assumed some of the others had stealth blades on them elsewhere. Although torn up, she noticed the younger Pax brother had a utility belt with darts, vials, pouches, and some sort of brass knuckles.

The last member of the group, the daughter of Apollo with strawberry blond hair, pressed her lips together at Calex’s question. Her eyes teared up, and she shook her head.

Calex’s face fell.

Reyna frowned. She knew how hard it was to say that a friend had died.

Argentum and Aurum, the greyhounds at either side of her chair, perked up. Aurum, her gold dog, growled at the new comers. Argentum sniffed furiously in their direction, looking confused.

Reyna rubbed Aurum’s head to calm him down. “Thank you, Dakota, Michael,” she said and waved her hand in dismissal.

Dakota squeezed the shoulder of the Indian girl one last time and handed her his flask of Kool-Aid. Then he and Michael Kahale departed.

Reyna nodded at Frank to begin. He cleared his throat, adjusted his purple toga—something he still wasn’t used to wearing—and said, “What happened?”

They had instinctively formed a shoulder to shoulder line in front of her and Frank as they walked in. Except the smaller Pax boy. He still cowered behind his older brother.

Axel stepped forward and told their story, though he started somewhere she didn’t expect. He said that he and Pax were descended from Mayan Mopan Royalty on their father’s side. That their father, Santiago Pax, discovered the Greek gods were real, and thought he could become a god by a combination of eating a Greek goddess’s heart, and sacrificing thousands of lives to himself in a ritual. Axel and his little brother, Ajax Pax—or the one who went simply by Pax—were gathering weapons to stop their father and got sidetracked on some Greek missions along the way.

During this, Santiago captured their group of seven, and dragged them back to Santiago’s temple to use Pax’s blood for one of the ceremonies. Apparently, two of the Pax boy’s half siblings—an Egyptian magician named Lapis and a Japanese monk named Hiro—drugged Merry and Calex so they couldn’t use their demigod powers.

Calex and Merry’s eyes widened at the news. Merry looked a little sick.

Frank frowned and muttered, “Mayan royalty? Egyptian magicians…”

Reyna sympathized with his confusion. Before the Greeks, she thought the Romans were the only godly children out there. Now, the modern mythological world was starting to feel a lot more crowded and a lot more dangerous.

During the entire conversation, Aurum growled softly. He didn’t react when Reyna touched his head to soothe him.

“What made Pax’s blood so important to the ritual?” Frank finally asked.

Each time the word “ritual” was mentioned, Pax shrank more behind his brother.

Axel frowned. “His mother is a Greek goddess. Santiago thought his blood would be more powerful. He wanted Ajax and… and another demigod’s blood. He cut open Ajax’s tongue for blood and took the life of one of our friends, Joey Song.”

As Axel said it, his eyes unfocused. Reyna remembered the helplessness and guilt she’d sensed in him before and thought about the muzzle and bindings he’d worn when he arrived. He likely had sat there and watched, incapable of doing anything.

Euna, stared blankly at the back wall. She must have been in shock. From what Reyna was gathering, Joey Song was this girl’s little sister.

Merry hugged herself. Calex made a choking sound, his jaw dropping in disbelief. “What?” He glanced over at Euna, who continued to ignore him.

“I’m sorry for your loss,” Reyna said. She thought about the soldiers she couldn’t save during the Second Titan War and repressed a shudder. She still remembered the stories of the Triple A Chimera that would stalk into their camp at night, how people would mysteriously die in their sleep. She remembered her Cohort being torn to pieces when they were flanked by the children of Hecate, lead by a disgusting monster that combined skeletal features with a lion’s head—called the Leonis Caput by her troops, since they’d never seen it in their mythology before.

Although she knew they were grieving, Reyna needed to hear the rest of this story. She pushed away the memory of screams and forced herself not to touch the scar across her thigh, where the Leonis Caput had stabbed her.

She focused back on Axel and his little brother. “Your mother is a Greek goddess? Which one?”

Pax peeked over Axel’s good shoulder, his black and hazel eyes rimmed red from crying. “She never did that official glowy-claimy-thing,” he said, his voice much lighter than his demeanor. “But you know how it is with gods. One decade they’re having an affair with a crazed Mayan prince, the next they’re smiting a town because a cashier gave them Pepsi instead of Coke. I’m sure it’s on her to-do list.”

Plenty of demigods didn’t know their godly parent’s identity, but this situation felt different. “Your father never told you?” she asked.

Pax laughed nervously. “He is… he was a really busy guy too. Going to go out on a limb here, but he wasn’t much for laying around.” At the word “laying,” Pax released a hysterical giggle-sob.

Aurum growled again.

Pax ducked behind his brother’s back.

Reyna would need to question that further. She got the feeling it might be better to do one-on-one interviews with all of them after this. She picked her dagger off the table and twirled the tip on the edge of her armrest in thought. “I know this is hard, but we need to know what happened after.”

Axel glared at ground and swallowed. “I don’t remember.”

Kally, the small strawberry blonde, took a step forward. She trembled and choked on her words at first, looking nervous. After a moment, she collected herself and said, “Axel had been shot several hours prior to our fight with Santiago. He lost a lot of blood.”

Reyna understood the message: he’d passed out.

“That’s the second boss fight you’ve missed,” Pax whispered. [1]

Axel sighed. “Shut up, Ajax.”

Kally started to lift a hand to her mouth, but stopped and slowly lowered it. She took a deep breath and managed to make eye contact with Reyna and Frank, though barely. “Afterwards, Euna fought Santiago Pax and—um—”

Kally’s green eyes had drifted to Axel, as though to look for affirmation about what she could or couldn’t say, only to remember Axel didn’t remember the event.

Pax almost fell reaching a hand out to her. “Wait! Kally, that sounds an awful lot like one of Mr. Pax’s secrets,” he babbled. The formal way he referred to his father felt uncomfortable. He gave an apologetic shrug to Reyna and Frank. “Mr. Pax tricked Kally into swearing on the River Styx to keep his secrets and I don’t really want her all cursed and bot fly-ridden.”

Kally stared at Pax like he’d smacked her.

Frank frowned. “We can’t expect you to curse yourself on an oath you swore to their dad. Does anyone else remember?”

Merry and Calex both looked stunned. They were still digesting the death of their party member. Euna kept her eyes on the back wall, thumb pressed firmly to the top of her sword. Reyna wondered how long it would be before she would speak.

Pax swallowed. “Euna…” Pax’s voice cracked. “Euna felled him with her blade, all vengeful hero-like. But it gets fuzzy after Phobetor—you know that fun God of Nightmares—showed up. There was a dramatic, evil monologue and then we woke with bags over our heads and our hands tied in some wooden box—”

“You were in a Trojan Mario,” Frank supplied.

Pax stopped sniffling for a moment. His eyes went wide. “A what?”

“Like the Nintendo character.”

For a split second, Pax’s face lit up. He glanced around the throne room, like he expected the giant wooden statue to be hidden in a corner. It reaffirmed Reyna’s original assessment of him: he was definitely an idiot.

Pax hung his head when he registered the Trojan Mario had sunk in the Little Tiber. “Oh poor Italian plumber…” he sighed to himself. “Designed by the Japanese, built by the Greeks, and destroyed in New Rome… I feel your identity conflict.”

Kally looked ready to judo flip him into a wall. “Wait!” she cried, then blushed horribly. Again, her hand almost went to her lips. She hesitated, balled her fist, and continued, “We need to warn Chiron that Camp Half-Blood might be in danger. I think… I think Santiago was in league with several gods and they’re planning to attack Camp Half-Blood. We need to get back to camp as soon as we can.”

Frank glanced over to Reyna. During these interrogations, she’d learn that Frank tended to be too trusting, but, unlike previous times, he frowned at her in a something doesn’t add up way.

Reyna sighed and sheathed her knife. Someone was lying. If nothing else, Aurum hadn’t stopped growling since they’d come in. They couldn’t send them to Camp Half-Blood until they had a better idea of what was going on.

“You’re in no condition to travel,” Reyna said. They weren’t. Most of them looked like they were barely standing and the Little Tiber had banged them up pretty bad. “You’ll be detained here until you’ve had some food, rest, and been seen by a healer. We have phones and coins for Iris Messaging so you can get in immediate contact.”

“Reyna…” Frank muttered.

Reyna nodded. “We’ve been having trouble getting in contact with Camp Half-Blood, but we’ll get you in contact with them as soon as possible.”

“Food sounds good,” the Korean girl whispered. Euna slipped her thumb off her sword pommel and let it hang limply at her side. Her voice sounded hollow. Although not much, Reyna was happy she’d at least reacted to something.

Reyna and Frank dismissed them.

They started to shuffle out. Dakota and Micahel were called to escort them. Merry looked completely shocked as she clutched Dakota’s Kool-Aid flask. Calex had a similar stunned expression, but he couldn’t stop staring at Euna. As they left, the child of Eros gently touched her arm.

Before Axel could leave, Reyna called, “Axel Pax.”

He paused. His little brother scampered to a halt beside him.

Reyna glanced over at Frank. He still looked troubled. Once she was done talking to Axel, she’d have to ask him his impression on this group. For now, she had a matter to settle.

“Frank, do you mind if I speak with Axel alone?”

Frank jumped a little. “Mm? Oh, yea. No problem Reyna. Um… be careful around him.” He lowered his voice. “He… smells weird.”

Although an unprecedented comment, she’d learned to trust Frank’s animal instincts… even if they were a little… strange.

As Frank went to leave, his purple toga sweeping about him and threatening to trip the giant, the younger Pax brother gave a call of distress. Pax grabbed his brother’s good shoulder and whined into it. In Spanish, Reyna could hear him blubber, “What if she kills you? I know you two are into some weird flirting but—”

Axel ruffled Pax’s hair and muttered back in a language she didn’t understand. Mayan if she had to guess.

“No, it’s not alright. You’re all I have left!”

Axel whispered something in that other language and pinched Pax’s ear.

Pax sniffled and bolted out of the room.

As soon as the door shut behind him, Axel sighed. For a moment, his shoulders sagged, then he straightened the posture of his good one. With a control that reminded her of Jason Grace, Axel raised his chin and turned towards her. “Yes, praetor?” he asked.

Reyna frowned. She remembered how much he smiled last time they met. Before her interest was a matter of personal curiosity, but now, his secrecy could pose a threat to New Rome. “I need you to lower your Mist Mask,” she said. “I believe you understand why.”

Axel’s eyes widened. In what she’d come to assume was a nervous tick, he puffed up his cheeks and popped them. He glanced down at his hands, then back to her. Although it had been years since Reyna learned sorcery from C. C.’s Spa, she could still sense the Mist magic coating his fingers, his face, and his legs. That must have been the spell he cast when she pulled the bag off his head at the river.

“I understand,” he said and hesitated. “Is there somewhere more… private we can do this?”

Footnote:

[1] Thank you for pointing that out Mel. For being a tank… he’s kinda failing XD

Thank you all for reading! :D I hope you enjoyed!

#Fanfiction #Traitors of Olympus #HOO #PJO #reyna ramirez-arellano #Axel #mmmm getting excccited for these two XD #The Attrition of Peace

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