#magicians-playground

[kiddotarot]

PAC - How will be 2025 going for you ?

Hi guys , its almost 2025 so here a new reading for you . Just close your eyes , trust yourself and choose a picture.

Divider credit goes to- @uzma-qureshi :)

Pile 1. Pile 2. Pile 3.

Cards - 7 of cups ( r ) , 3 of cups ( r ) , 3 of sword ( r ) , The Devil ( Bottom)

Ok so pile 1 , i think this pile is for very specific group of people. You guys literally coming out from a very toxic situation it can be a relationship or a forced situation for you where you feel stuck in your current life or may you you still can feel that it's hard for you to move on from some kind of big break from life or in a very Negative situation, please take care all of you. for the first 4 month i think you you may be try to get out from your current situation and may be try to find solution there will be not much option and possibilities for you but you will try to fight from the situation that you are facing and again it's very specific so you may be feel troubled from commitment issue to a particular situation or relationship. You will try to solve all our past things and maybe work on things that provide you more opportunity and stability. Please try to walk out of any situation that hurts you either its relationship or something else. No matter how beautiful the view is, the Window hurts . There will not be a supportive environment Around you. Maybe you feel that your family members or your family are not giving you much support they have to. Or may be you try to cut yourself from other to heal within yourself. It's more likely for people who have a toxic relationship you may start To heal from the pain of a breakup or a heartbreak situation and let go of what is causing you pain , self-talk is really important in this process. All the best.

Pile 2.

Cards - Queen of cups ( r) , The sun , king of cups , 8 of Cups.

Dear pile 2 you may feel lacking support or resources around you currently or in the start of year or end of 2024. You can also feel you need nurturing or healing before entering in 2025 you need to sit and heal your innself And you may want to work on yourself this new year. 2025 looks very positive for you. You may start healing your inner child and be happy like a child like the sun card. You take care of your inner child or maybe do something which gives you nostalgia of your happy childhood days. But sure there is so much happiness and success coming for you . Your heart will be ready to experience all happiness and find the whole word in his playground or garden. You will be bright again. There will be support for you and you feel compassionate about anything to you. I see there will be financial support or gain can come for you. But be careful there can be too many choices in front of you or you may feel confused Where you should invest your money and you can feel a lack of commitment toward things or money spending. Great cards . All the best.

Pile 3 .

Cards - The magician, 9 of pentacles ( r ) , lovers , 6 of wands ( r ) .

Pile 3 , I see you are very determined about your thing and action . You are very creative currently or at the start of 2025. You have a vision And you want to manifest it in the new year. You set your goals and are ready to go for it. But be careful with spending money and how you invest it. You may try to push yourself hard and may lose your health, so take note when you are giving someone money or spending too much. It's important for you in your long term goals. Next lovers card pops out. You may find a great romantic connection or person there are high chances or you may try to take a connection on the next level to meet your soulmate. I told you are ready to manifest this in 2025 but be careful again how much you are investing your feelings and money in anything. There can be problems and delays in good news or in some kind of success but don't feel hopeless. It can be a sign of patience and keeping faith. Best of luck.

[leovenuslatina]

Tryna get drunk and nasty? ⋆.˚ .𖥔˚

──★ ˙ ̟🍷 !!

THIS READING IS 18+ MDNI !!!!!

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧⋆ ˚｡⋆

this reading is all about what kinks your FS might have

🍓

₊˚⊹ ᰔ౨ৎ₊this is just a reminder that tarot isn’t permanent or set in stone YOU decide how your life goes no one or nothing else now take a deep breath and choose the pile that calls to you ₊˚⊹ ᰔ౨ৎ₊˚⊹

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pile 1 - justice, queen of swords, king of wands

🪄

your FS is obsessed w eye contact while you ride him. while you suck him off. he wants you to look him right in his eyes. i pulled a lot of sword and wand energy so i’m getting he has a kink for watching you please him. he likes seeing you skin on his knob lmao. he thinks you look so pretty and perfect on your knees for him eyes tearing up and mascara running down your face just all fucked up on his dick. what it comes to pleasure he’s very equal he likes pleasing you as much as you please him. he may be a dom. liking to take control which makes a lot of sense with him liking to see you on your knees his favorite thing to do it tell you what to do. he may also have a slight pain kink he likes to spank you and choke you but i also think he may like pain inflicted on him he likes when you bite him and when your nails scratch down his back.

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pile 2 - the magician, judgment, the well

💤

pleasure kink and somno your FS he likes watching you moan and squirm for him. he likes when you’re moaning his name while he goes down on you. he loves making you finish on his fingers everything from the way you sound to the way your body reacts to his slightest touch is just magical to him. both his tongue and his fingers are extremely skillful making your body his playground. he also maybe into ddlg he really likes taking care of all your needs. he loves being the person you depend on for pleasures or just a nurturing touch.

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pile 3 - two of wands, page of swords, the empress

❣️

your FS has a breeding kink FOR SURE. he really likes the idea of finishing in you know that his seed will make you a big family. he also really like doggy doing you from behind and traveling his hands all over your body. he also may like doing you in front of a mirror watching him slide in and out of you and seeing your face is a huge ego boost for him. he likes being rough too he likes pulling your hair and pinning you down (all with you consent of course) and just having his way with you. he’s like really obsessed with your boobs and doing stuff with them lol use your imagination he definitely has a body worship kink your body is like a whole masterpiece to him. a masterpiece he can’t believe you allow him access to. 💭. also like you’re the prettiest girl in the world to him and i’m seeing he’ll try anything for you. 🥹

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for paid private readings dm me 💘

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plzzz no questions about health or death ☠️

[freeuselandonorris]

16 (+18?) for max f/lando/oscar? same anon who was talking about hypno earlier, so. i would love some hypno in there, but no pressure!

cheating slightly and smashing together four similar prompts because i got nearly 40 requests lmao

so here for your enjoyment is a brief return to hypnoverse, in which max and lando invite oscar to use lando in his hypno bimbo state 💕

ngl i missed this ‘verse so i might potentially turn this into a proper sequel at some point We Will See

cw for hypno but it's all very consensual!

“Right, Bob,” Max says. He’s got good at sounding confident now, he thinks. Like he knows what he’s doing. Someone in charge. “You sure about this?”

Lando nods. Turns to look at Oscar.

Oscar’s looking a little like he’s secretly freaking out and trying not to show it, too. His eyes are very bright when he nods. Max tries not to feel too gratified by the way Oscar looks at him for direction. 

“Okay,” Max says, and claps his hands, wincing when he clocks Lando’s smirk. As if Lando doesn’t spend half his life performing to an invisible camera. “Oscar, mate, I’ve got the list of trigger phrases on my phone if you need a reminder.”

Oscar shakes his head. “I can remember them.”

“All right,” Max says, and looks at Lando, who’s pulled the sleeves of his pink hoodie over his hands, fidgeting. “Babygirl sleep.”

He’d been a bit worried that Lando might not respond to the triggers with someone else there. That he’d get self-conscious, or distracted, and Max would be left standing there like a tit, a magician dropping the deck of cards halfway through a trick. 

But Lando blinks, and his face slackens into a soft, dopey smile. Max breathes a sigh of relief. “Good girl,” he says quickly, and Lando sways on the spot as the trance deepens. Max doesn’t usually use two commands in quick succession like that; he wonders how it feels for Lando, who’s smiling in an unfocused way at a spot on the floor a few feet away, hands limp at his sides. 

Max’s cock stirs. He looks at Oscar. Oscar’s looking pretty hypnotised himself, staring at Lando with his lips slightly parted. 

“Go on, then,” Max says lightly. “He’s ready. You can do what you want with him.”

Oscar sucks in a breath, steps closer. He’s still staring at Lando with open fascination. When he reaches out and touches Lando’s face, Max’s gut twists pleasantly. He’d worried that he might be jealous, but all he feels is pride, like a kid in the playground showing off their shiniest toy. 

Oscar pushes two fingers into Lando’s mouth, and Lando closes his eyes and sucks blissfully. 

“Is he,” Oscar starts, and then clears his throat when his voice comes out in a croak. “Is he wearing the – what you said?”

“The cage?” Max says, just to watch the blush spread across Oscar’s face. God, it’s good, being the one in the know. His cock is so hard, and it’s not just from seeing Lando like this. “Yeah, ‘course. He wears it most of the time now, when we’re doing this. Helps him remember what he’s good for, doesn’t it, pal?” 

He addresses the last remark to Lando, who makes an indistinct sound in the back of his throat. Max smiles, raises his eyebrows at Oscar like they’re sharing a joke. What a slut, am I right?

“Babygirl strip,” Max says, and Lando moves to obey immediately, yanking his hoodie over his head. He’s told Max he doesn’t really need the uniform anymore, not now he’s so well trained, but Max likes it. “Slowly,” he says chidingly, when Lando grabs eagerly at the hem of his t-shirt. “Show yourself off for Oscar, come on.”

Oscar just about chokes at that, and Max can’t resist getting a hand on himself as Lando immediately course-corrects, turning to Oscar and pulling his t-shirt over his head teasingly slowly. Once it's off, he brushes over his nipples with the tips of his fingers, all wet mouth and lidded, blank eyes. 

He’s not wearing underwear under his jeans, and Oscar groans audibly when he sees the bubblegum pink of the cage around Lando’s soft cock. Lando doesn’t react, just carries on undressing himself, balancing carefully on one foot to peel his jeans off entirely. 

“No,” Oscar says suddenly, when Lando goes for his socks. “Leave them.” They’re white, pulled up to his calves, accentuating Lando’s smooth tanned skin. They do look good; Oscar’s got taste. 

“Good girl,” Max says, watching the pleased little shiver that ripples through Lando’s bared body. “Oscar thinks you look good. Show him the rest.” 

Without hesitation, Lando turns and steps his feet apart, bending down and spreading himself open so Oscar can see the pink furl of his asshole, waxed and still shiny with lube where he’s been wearing a plug all morning. 

“Oh my God,” Oscar says under his breath. 

Max’s own head is spinning, watching the two of them like this. He adjusts himself again. “Told you, mate.”

He hadn’t, not really. He’d texted back and forth with Oscar about it a bit – Lando hadn’t wanted to take part in the planning, save for messaging Oscar to confirm it wasn’t all some sort of elaborate prank for a particularly x-rated Quadrant video or whatever – but Max hadn’t really given him the full picture. How could he?

So he can forgive Oscar for looking a bit blindsided, now. He’s licking his lips, that unconscious tic Max has seen on the telly a thousand times over, rendered faintly sleazy now given Lando’s still stood in front of him with his legs spread and his arse on display. 

“I want–” Oscar says, trailing off awkwardly. “His mouth?”

He tips it up into a question at the end. Max gestures to Lando, still waiting patiently, giving no indication he can hear their discussion. “You’ll have to tell him, not me. He’ll stand there for hours otherwise. You remember the trigger phrase?” 

“God,” Oscar mutters again, like he really can’t believe what’s happening. He clears his throat. When he speaks, his voice is wobbly with nerves. “Lando. Erm – drop for cock.”

He stutters a bit as he says it. Instantly, with perfect grace, Lando turns to face him and drops to his knees. Eyes closed, mouth hanging open, tongue resting invitingly against his bottom lip. He waits like that, perfectly still, as Oscar fumbles his jeans open, more flustered than Max has ever seen him, and feeds his cock into Lando’s mouth. 

It’s hot, watching them, but more than that, Max feels proud. Lando’s sucking Oscar’s cock like he was made for it, nose brushing the trimmed hair on his lower belly, hands resting neatly on his thighs. Oscar’s staring down at him like he’s trying to commit the sight to memory, face flushed hectic red and his chest heaving. Lando’s making noises in the back of his throat as he sucks, eager little moans tucked in among the wet sounds of his mouth. He gags occasionally – Oscar’s not longer than Max, but he is thicker, and Lando's mouth is stretched wide around him – but he doesn’t stop the smooth movement of his head. He’s drooling, tears starting to trickle down his cheeks from the force of Oscar’s cock hitting the back of his throat.

“Careful,” Oscar gasps, hands hovering over Lando’s head as if he’s not sure whether to push him away and let him catch his breath.

“Leave him,” Max says sharply, and Oscar jumps like he’d forgotten Max was even there. “He’s fine.” 

He’ll be hoarse in all of his interviews tomorrow, but that’s all right. Something for Max to get himself off to in his hotel suite when he watches the press conference.

Oscar’s hands move to Lando’s hair, and for a moment Max thinks he’s going to pull Lando away anyway, but he doesn’t. Cradling Lando’s skull, he moves Lando’s head, adjusting the rhythm to something slower and deeper but no less difficult for Lando to take.

Max shoves his hand inside his joggers and watches, barely breathing, as Oscar slowly fucks Lando's mouth. Slow like he's savouring it, slow like he's worried he might never get to see Lando like this again.

Oscar doesn’t give much warning when he comes. His movements get a little faster, a little sloppier, the filthy sounds of Lando’s spit-slick mouth getting correspondingly louder. Otherwise, Max only realises Oscar's coming when his movements jerk to a sudden taut halt. Oscar buckles over as he holds Lando in place. He doesn’t moan or swear or anytthing, just exhales in sharp staccato gasps, fingers rubbing convulsively through Lando’s hair. 

It takes him a minute to straighten up again, carefully unwinding himself from Lando and easing him back with the hand still buried in his damp curls. Lando’s eyes stay closed, his mouth and chin wet with saliva and whatever remnants of Oscar’s come he hadn’t managed to swallow down. Even now, it’s still intoxicating for Max to see him like this, barely cognisant of what a mess he’s in. Even more so to see how much Oscar's enjoying it.

Oscar lets out a shuddering breath, tucking himself back into his boxers with one hand. He’s still petting absently at Lando’s hair, and Max thinks it’s sweet for a moment, until Oscar looks up at him, eyes narrowed in thought.

“Will he stay like this until we tell him to stop?” he says, giving Lando’s head a gentle shake.

Lando goes with the motion easily. Eyes still closed, mouth still open. His nipples are drawn up tight and peaked, betraying his unconscious pleasure even though the pink cage nestled between his thighs stops any kind of physical arousal.

“Yeah,” Max says, and takes his sticky hand out of his boxers. “For another hour or so, at least."

Oscar uses the hand he’s got in Lando’s hair to tip his head up, angled towards Max. He beckons with the other hand, and Max realises that he’s going to keep hold of Lando as he sucks Max’s cock, a pliant little puppet. Controlled by Oscar, for Max's pleasure.

“Well, then,” Oscar says, and smiles, flushed with fresh bravado. “Your turn.”

[artbyblastweave]

So I want to draw out some of the grousings I put in the tags of @phaeton-flier's recent post on Waller's characterization in My Adventures with Superman.

I think the problem you're gonna run into with adapting Waller in 2024 is that they basically nailed her completely twenty years ago in the DCAU Justice League continuity, they already captured the perfect balance of good intentions and ruthless utilitarian amorality. In the DCAU, Waller's arrival on the scene was contextualized by more than a decade of superheroic precedent- she lives in a world where Superman specifically got brainwashed into attacking earth, she lives in a world where Kryptonian war criminals took a shot at Earth, she lives in a world where an alternate-universe totalitarian Superman crossed dimensional boundaries to take a shot at earth. She lives in a world where Superman helped disarm the world's nuclear arsenal at the behest of a guy who turned out to be the fifth column for an extraterrestrial invasion. She lives in a world where the Justice League formed specifically to stop something similar happening again and then tripped over their own dicks when one of their founding members turned out to be a partisan mole for an extraterrestrial empire. She lives in a world where these city-leveling clowns have consolidated sixty or seventy other city-leveling clowns in an orbiting circus that's armed with a city-leveling orbital laser canon. This is just the stuff that would have made the in-universe news, there's even more I'm not mentioning here. In other words, she lives in a world where it's completely reasonable not to trust the superheroes and to want to have contingencies against them.

She does horrible things in pursuit of those contingencies, but they're targeted, goal oriented horrible things. Aside from her usual suicide squad routine she clones and basically enslaves dozens of super-soldiers, which is of course terrible on the face of it, but comparatively easy to justify from the realpolitik cold-equation way in which she approaches things. When her bullshit generates externalities for civilians, it's not because she sics those super soldiers on them. She doesn't declare martial law. That's not what she's after! She just keeps losing control of the bastards, and then she shrugs, and she signs off on additional bastards from scientists and magicians who've proven time and time again that they do not have their shit buttoned down- but what else is she going to do? Roll over? Let the capes treat the world like their playground?

Crucially, the DCAU version is also capable of realizing when she's prioritized the wrong threat- she's capable of re-evaluating and de-escalating. She's got a foil on that show, a guy who starts from the same place of concern as her but isn't capable of course-correcting because he's too much of a belligerent paranoid maniac. That guy is General Wade Eiling. And in a version of MAWS that doesn't need to set Sam Lane up for a redemption arc, I would have Waller as the one in Sam's position, as the well-meaning extremist who loses control of the monster she created and gets frozen out in favor of a significantly less principled hardliner in the form of Eiling. Alas.

The fundamental thing about Waller, at least to me, is that she's uninteresting as a ground-floor antagonist. While I've yet to get around to the original Suicide Squad run where Waller originated, I'm confident in my understanding that it was a postmodern project from the word go, exploiting years of ossified genre convention and rogue's gallery bloat to make the points that it was trying to make. This is part of why I think the first Suicide Squad film went over like a lead balloon- it tried to wish that built-up continuity into existence out of nowhere, whereas the second movie was simply a lot more naturalistic about faking that larger context. This show feels like it's doing something similar on a meta-level- exploiting decades of audience familiarity with Waller and how plots involving her tend to go, in a way that papers over how weirdly early in the progression of this continuity they've brought her into the fray. She usually isn't the joyless jackboot on the frontline trying to snuff out the incipient heroic age- she's the beleaguered repairmen brought in years after the novelty has worn off, after the superheroes have had their goddamn chance, with all the ups and downs and near-misses that entails, so that she can make entirely novel mistakes in reaction to that context. As it stands, she's kind of 0 to 100 in this, and something about it feels off.

[ultimate-marysue]

I bring you a Batfam Wing!AU I've been cooking for a while:

Most of society have vestigial wings (the wings are there, but tinier and incapable of flight) from common species like sparrows, Pidgeons or [insert local bird].

Bruce Wayne has Bat wings (a very rare type from the Kane side of the family). Martha knew about it because she has heard the family stories about having to "cover them up" or letting the babies die because they're considered a terrible omen, but really no one outside the family knows. So, The Waynes and Alfred disguise Bruce's wings to avoid social ostracization. They try to keep a balance between protecting Bruce and avoiding self hatred, but it's a difficult line to ride. Having to hide his true wings is part of why he considers Batman his true self, Brucie Wayne being a disguise.

Kids have tinier bodies in proportion to their wings, so the can use them for braking falls or gliding from high places. You can rarely tell what your wings are going to be like as an adult, the fledgling plumage is always a muddy brown. Usually you get one of your parents pattern, but much like Bruce, some variants can skip generations.

Dick's parents had big colorful and powerful wings. Their tricks made even more impressive by their aerial maneuvering in a world where most people are bound to the ground. They still perform traditional acrobatics, tying their wings back like a magician shackling himself before jumping into the water tank. Their death made more ironic by the fact they could actually fly.

The Robin nickname is almost literal now, since Dicks costume made his chest read and his wings brown. Batman doesn't make as much use of the grapple, since he can fly, but it becomes Robin's signature gadget. The kid shoots up at the sky and gently glides down, his wings way more trained than the average kid due to his work at the circus.

He leaves the Robin mantle the day he sheds his fledgling feathers. Shocking Bluejay wings of quite the wingspan become Nightwing's signature. As a civilian he covers them with grey and iridescent powder, keeping them close to his back. Pidgeon wings are not the tiniest, so the disguise works well enough.

Barbara had big raven wings, at least until Joker took them from her. Being wheelchair bound is an adjustment, yes, but the phantom pain from her missing wings will always be the worst part. Dick trains really hard only so he can be strong enough to take her flying. The first time they clumsily soar through the Bludhaven skies she cries happy tears. She eventually learns to accept her dual disability, and all bat girls wear dark wings in her honor

Cass has batwings, and she doesn't try to hide them. They come from Shiva's side and Bruce takes it as an omen to take her in. She has the best wing control of the entire family, easily surpassing Dick and Bruce. When Barbara gives her the Batgirl mantle and shows her her old pictures all she says is "black, like mine!" (Barbara has to cry a bit about it). She helps Bruce and Damian learn how to use their unique wings to their own advantage.

Jason's wings were a complete neglected mess when Bruce first adopted him, taking almost a week to fix them. He had a bit more trouble getting the hang of Robin's flight. He'd always been a street rat, not used to relying on them. He hadn't even played the classic childhood games of seeing how far you can glide from the monkey bars (there were no playgrounds in park row). It's a matter of honor to him, trying to honor his predecessor's legacy. Bruce helps him out, since he had to figure out flight on his own as an adult (the game was too risky for his fake feathers). They bond about it, and Bruce almost cries when Jason manages to glide smoothly to him from a gargoyle.

As Red Hood, Jason has New World Vulture wings. He thinks it's quite ironic, since he never got to shed his fledgling feathers before dying. He'd blame the pit for it if he hadn't gotten to meet his biological mother. They're massive, I'm talking bigger than Batman's wingspan. When he tower's over Tim at Titan's Tower he practically shallows the hallway's light. His signature Red Hood mimicks the bird's red head.

Steph loves dying her wings in crazy colors (predominantly purple). When she inherits the Batgirl mantle she wears them black, just like Barbara's. For spoiler, she has big fluffy purple wings. She grows up to have gigantic African Grey wings. They're pretty smart birds, and she's a pretty smart girl, so she's quite happy with them. The dull grey color makes it easier for her to paint them whatever color she wants. She always teases Cass about having a bigger wingspan, even if she can't win against her in a race.

Tim got some practice while he stalked Batman, but Dick still makes it his job to train him. Bruce allowes it, too depressed to do it himself. Flight lesson's had been his and Jason's thing. He almost resents Tim for being better at it. Tim's wings are always a little messy since his parents are rarely around and he's too tiny to groom them by himself. He tries his best but he simply can not reach the back of them, and he's mortified by it. Alfred notices how upset the boy is at his untidy appearance and makes it his mission to sit him down once a week to fix them for him. At first Tim was horrified at the idea of relying in an unrelated adult to take care of his wings, but he can't argue with the results. It gives him even more confidence as Robin, finally looking the part.

He grows into his mother's gorgeous Magpie wings, too recognizible for Red Robin. Instead, he paints them black for his vigilante persona. He's the only one in the family to not wear his true wings when crime fighting. He thinks it's more practical that way, and the paint works kind of like their domino's adhesive (waterproof, only comes off with a special solvent). He takes really good care of his plumage, since it's the last connection to his mother. Anytime a rogue manages to pluck a handful of feather's off him he gets pretty upset, so he's gotten really good at maneuvering his wings around to dodge.

Duke has cockatoo wings, and his adult plumage comes sooner than most. Most kids shed from 16 to 18, but he already has them by 15. Leslie thinks it sometimes happen due to stress or lack of a stable environment. Both make sense for him, he hadn't really known peace since his parents got jokerized. He was loosing feather's all throughout his We Are Robin era, not caring about the disadvantage. His proper plumage didn't start growing until a month into living in the manor, having been practically bald by then.

As signal he uses his powers to make his wings light up with golden light. He jokes that he got the name because they look like the Bat-signal. When he's trying to be stealthy they turn into a shadow cloak, dancing around him. Everyone pretends really hard they're not jealous, except for Steph. She just asks him to light up her wings in different colors.

Damian has his father's wings, and he only agrees to disguise them for their secret identities' sake. He's extremely proud of his bat wings and not the slightest bit salty at Cain for sharing them too, thank you very much. His jealousy turns into bonding once she helps him learn how to take care and use his special wings. That was after Bruce came back from the time stream and found his son's leathery wings a peeled off mess. Dick helps him as much as he can, but much like Talia before him, he has no idea how to deal with them. To be fair, Bruce only found out by trial and error and his mother's old notes. Damian has to properly hidrate his wings and use oil to protect them.

People nickname him Bat-Robin for his wings, and he takes the name to heart. It makes him feel tied to his father even at those times were they don't understand each other. He's secretly a bit jealous of his brothers' gorgeous feather's (Dick's strikingly blue, Tim's shiny and iridescent, and Dukes incredibly soft pure white ones). Dick notices him staring and gifts him the prettiest one's he finds while grooming. Soon, Damian has a collection of random feathers from his family and friends.

[theresattrpgforthat]

Any ttrpgs with a distinctive “grunge” aesthetic?

THEME: Grunge

Hello friend, I’m really glad you asked this question! Grunge feels like it fits indie ttrpg design so well, because so much of it emphasizes low-budget, DIY and messy styles. As a style of music, I understand grunge is about being dissonant, dark, and “ugly”. As a theme, what I understand about grunge is that it’s about alienation, isolation, and disenchantment with how society is right now, which is so so relevant to how we feel about our current quality of life right now.

That being said, there’s so much that can be explored in grunge, I feel like there’s a lot of different pieces that could make a work “grunge’. So while I think the games that I’m presenting here all fit some element of grunge, some of them might not fit the elements of grunge that you’re looking for.

Games by Adam Vass.

Adam’s games are often nihilistic, horrific, and creatively designed with mixed media, visual distortion, and a focus on the grotesque or the weird. This includes No Future, a time loop game about punks throwing one last party, Born To Die, a pamphlet ttrpg about anthropomorphic animals in a post-human waste world, and Cybermetal 2012, a lo-fi metal cyberpunk game about surviving in an isolated city of warped technology.

If you love horror as well as a bit of a dystopian edge, you’ll probably want to check out Adam Vass’s work.

Here, There, Be Monsters, by wendi yu.

No matter what they tell you, there’s still weirdness and wonder everywhere. You just have to know where to look. At the edges and cracks of ‘normal’ life we exist, we persist, and we resist: the monsters, the magicians, the anomalies, the freaks, and the outcasts. We gather in the shadows, trying our best to live our lives in a world that, when it doesn’t exactly fear or hate us, doesn't even believe in our existence.

But we’re still here. We’re not going anywhere. And we fight back.

While the layout and art direction of Here, There, Be Monsters is purposeful and cohesive, the goal of this game feels very grunge in the sense that it is meant to acknowledge the messiness and unapologetic anger present in the monster characters. There's a lot of bodies in this art, and these bodies are meant to challenge you - if you find them difficult to look at, that's a you problem, and that feels in tune with the spirit of grunge.

I feel like this game is probably more on the border of punk and grunge, but if what you’re looking for is a game that feels chaotic and embraces the dark and “disgusting” material that grunge is known to celebrate, than this might be worth checking out.

Dead Mall: The Last Great Beast, by Hunter J Allen.

They built us altars only to abandon them. Now they sit as dying, empty relics. No matter what they tell you never forget: These are our relics, not theirs. Don't let them pass gently into that sweet goodnight. They were made for profit but they remain as our playgrounds. If we choose to let them.

This here is a mini-zine and Bingo card about the American shopping mall and its relationship to us, our collective nostalgia, and the significance of cultural ruins.

This is more of a solo bingo game than a roleplaying game, but I think it might be an interesting way to build a modern “dungeon” for something like Liminal Horror. The zine also re-contextualizes a piece of American architecture that was so ingrained into the middle-class experience of the 80’s, 90’s and early 2000’s. I’m intrigued by how you could use this idea of decay and neglect in other urban fantasy and horror games.

MÖRK BORG, by Ockult Örtmästare Games.

MÖRK BORG is a pitch-black apocalyptic fantasy RPG about lost souls and fools seeking redemption, forgiveness or the last remaining riches in a bleak and dying world. Who are you? The tomb-robber with silver glittering between cracked fingernails? The mystic who would bend the world’s heart away from it’s inevitable end? Confront power-draining necromancers, skulking skeletal warriors and backstabbing wickheads. Wander the Valley of the Unfortunate Undead, the catacombs beneath the Bergen Chrypt or the bedevilled Sarkash forest. But leave hope behind - the world’s cruel fate is sealed, and all your vain heroic efforts are destined to end in death and dismay. Or are they?

This is a black comedy style of game that I think has a lot of overlap with the grunge aesthetic. It’s received a number of awards for its art style, which is chaotic, monochromatic, and as best as I can describe it, “sludgy.” Then again, you might look at Mork Borg and feel like it’s more metal than grunge: it’s not casual, but rather designed for shock value. The world is destined to end, and your characters are futilely trying to make a difference in it; a lot of the cues seem to point to your own characters being not necessarily good people.

The Prophet, by The Punk Theologian.

The Prophet is a solo-journaling role-playing game. It requires a tarot deck and can be played in as little as 30 minutes or over days.

Receiving Revelations: Turn over a tarot card and let the prompts and the card image be the revelation from the deity that called you. Navigating through visions of struggle and cries of despair, following the guiding flames of insight, to help turn your people’s trajectory towards justice and equity.

Overcome Events: Flip coins to find out if the people heed your warnings and are aided by their deity in overcoming enemy invasion, surviving a great earthquake, or a raging fire, or are crushed by the weight of divine condemnation reaping upon themselves the consequences of sewing the seeds of inequity.

When it comes to aesthetics, The Prophet feels very DIY-inspired, and when it comes to design, I think the fact that it’s a solo game contributes to the feeling of isolation: your status as a prophet may separate you from your peers, and if your predictions go unnoticed, you could feel even more alone. The inspiration of the creator is defined as “punk,” but since punk is a genre that grunge pulls a lot of inspiration from, I don’t think that this necessarily disqualifies The Prophet from being a “grunge” - style game.

#iHunt, by Machine Age Productions.

#iHunt is a story telling game about killing monsters in the gig economy. In it, you play millennials scraping by paycheck to paycheck to make ends meet. A gig app called #iHunt offers them more money than they've ever made to hit the streets and kill vampires, werewolves, demons, and anything else that goes bump in the night. 

The base game of #iHunt centres around the soul-crushing nature of the gig economy, which in and of itself I think is a great focus for a grunge-style game. The supplemental zines created by the designer have a very chaotic and collage-like look, taking photos or public domain art and re-mixing them to create something new. If you want to get really grunge, you might want to check out The 90’s Sucked Ass Or Whatever, which is focused on the specific events and details that would affect your disillusioned monster hunters during the height of grunge.

[telugu-girl-13]

the kane chronicles school headcannons that ✨nobody asked for✨

i am sleep deprived but i had too many ideas, so i had to write them. this is sloppy. this has weird commentary. here we go!

zia doesn't go to brooklyn academy, or whatever the nearby school is called, with the rest of the magicians. she stays home and homeschools herself with carter. they spar, practice, and study for a few hours, and once they feel like they can take a break for the day, they hang out. the school day is the oPTIMAl time for them to hang out, without nosy onlookers such as sadie.

amos bought them a school bus. yes, there are that many kids in the brooklyn house. and instead of having the school use up one entire bus just for the brooklyn house kids, carter and zia take turns driving everyone to school and back. its a party on the bus, always, and super fun. sometimes khufu tags along.

the elementary, middle, and high school are all connected and basically form one mega building (also, they all start and end at the same time. its not practical but shush). meaning most of the magicians see each other all the time, waving to each other in the hallways. whenever they see one of their fellow brooklyn housers getting bullied or something, they always stand up for them, even if they barely know them. and like if a BH (brooklyn house) high schooler is going outside for a science class and sees a BH third grader getting bullied over on the playground, the bullies are cooked. also they feel comfortable partnering up with other BH kids for projects when they dont know anyone. theyre found family like that.

shelby is banned from using art supplies. well, more like amos specifically requested all of her teachers to never let her touch a marker. he told them that "she goes crazy and draws all over the walls" cuz like, how are the teachers supposed to know what happens?

they have a school groupchat, just for the BH kids, with carter and zia excluded. where they talk about events and afterschool stuff and yada yada. a number of them are in clubs, meaning carter and zia have to drive some of them home at the regular time and some of them home an hour or two after. and then cramming in their magician stuff afterward...its a lot

cleo is like the librarian's helper. she spends all of her study halls in there. any BH kid need her for a "project" (magic thing), they know where to go. and cleo is always helping the librarian stock up the library with new finds, mostly nonfiction, and some artifacts so crazy that the librarian gets scared of cleo. but she doesnt realize of course, and the library continues to be her little haven.

a bunch of the BH kids are on sports teams, and a lot of them are on the same team. ex: julian and paul on the same football team. so whenever they have games, as many BH kids as possible try to attend and cheer them on. carter and zia usually don't go, but sometimes they do for the fun of it.

all of the BH kids' school friends think they stay at a hostel. its not like they can say that brooklyn house is a foster home or something with the casual way they talk about their parents. they try to explain, but no one at school really understands how it works. amos is the legal guardian for all of them though, meaning he has to sign sports paperwork and trip permission forms all the way from egypt.

the BH kids have a lot of study groups, where they hang out in the brooklyn houses many rooms to hang out and talk and help each other with schoolwork.

sadie accidentally hints stuff to lacey about the brooklyn house and magic and stuff, and lacey isn't even phased, not even realizing that sadie, a presumed mortal, is talking about magic. she vaguely knows percy jackson, so whenever sadie refers to "a water-loving friend from manhattan", she just imagines percy jackson, even though she thinks thats obviously not who sadie is talking about.

everyone at school ships sadie and walt, even though walt is a few grades above her. they meet in between classes and all the popular girls in walt's grade are jealous. (stay jealous.)

most of the BH kids sit together at lunch, at one big crowded table. some go off to sit with mortal friends, but they end up rotating every other day, between their mortal friends and BH friends. theyre mortal friends dont really understand the hype about the BH kids and their dynamic.

[tindome-art]

Isodora Belladonna af Wrede, former Master of the Tempel-fort Sanctum, in the larp campaign world of Sanctera.

Until, well, the Dragon appeared, rifts to the Netherworld/literal hell opened, demons flooded out and made the world their second playground. The Fair Folk said "bollocks to this", withdrew into Sideways and closed all doors behind them, eight out of nine gods were killed except of course The Betrayer. The Templars and the licensed magicians were killed and scattered, and Tempel-fort Sanctum was dragged down into hell.

I played Isodora before all of that, before she became Master of Sanctum, and this small larp was set ten years after everything went to, literally, hell. So she's more worn, more pissed off and at the start, more homeless than a decade ago. But she held fast to the "holy blue" of the garments, as they became dirtier and more worn, and during this tiny larp, she got back a lot: Her brother, her hope, and a long-term goal.

Lux: "Oh, yeah, Sanctum's still down there, I didn't die when it was dragged down, I've just been in the blood games arena." Isodora: "My fort!!! ...hey, everyone, we're going to hell. First we'll free Lux, then we'll drag Sanctum back up. What do you mean, 'how'? Figure it out!"

Let the fight against the demons, not just in the back foot, but pushing forward, begin!

Also yes she was heavily influenced by Olivier Mira Armstrong because Olivier is boss. And Isodora is a 100% badass, evidenced not only by her way of making people follow here by sheer willpower, badassitude and charisma, but also by her punching demons in the face when they try to make her do their bidding. (I am strongly biased.)

[kirbart90]

Introducing the main character in my upcoming SMG4 AU project: Apollo! 🪄🌓

She’s known as the Cosmic Magician and seeks to bring happiness and smiles to the universe with her magic shows. However, she also hides a sinister intent of manipulating her audience into a playground of mystery for her entertainment. After agreeing on a deal with Mr. Puzzles, Apollo’s magic shows skyrocketed the views and audiences of Puzzlevision due to them being well known across universes. She doesn’t go with Mr. Puzzles’ plan of getting 5 stars but is rather an anti-hero and helped the Smg4 crew defeat Mr. Puzzles, even though they didn’t intend to. After the PV movie, Apollo stays around the Showgrounds and tricks the crew sometimes but they don’t mind her staying at all as long as she doesn’t try to hurt Smg4’s friends. One day, she was bored and ended up finding Mr. Puzzles’ broken TV head, revives him, and chaos ensues.

The AU is still in wip but I’m really excited to show you all what I have in store!

[setaripendragon]

JSaMN Readalong Liveblog - Chapters 2-3

Honestly, I have no idea if I'll be able to keep up with this, the first one took an entire afternoon, and while I have a lot of free time, I'm not sure I have that much free time XD Either way, I'm going to try, and see how I get on, because this is rather fun, if time-consuming. I've never actually taken the time to write down my thoughts as I read a book before. My approach to fiction is generally that if I'm not so absorbed I forget the real world exists, I'll go read something else, which makes this sort of liveblogging a bit impossible. Alright, here we go.

Chapter 2 - The Old Starre Inn (January - Fabruary 1807)

Every time I read or hear 'the old starre inn', my mind puts it to the tune of The Magician in York. (Warning: song contains spoilers up to chapter 4 of the book, I think.)

Narrator: Chapter 2: The Old Starre Inn Me: All on a winter's day~

I find it very interesting, the fact that Norrell gives them no specifics as to the magic he's done. After all, he hangs so much pride on his status as a practical magician that you'd think he'd want to show off. But it doesn't feel at all out of character, as he sees these 'pretend' magicians as so far beneath him that why would he need to?

Which is in such contrast to Honeyfoot's impression of him as 'humble' that it's funny. But at the same time, I don't think Honeyfoot is entirely wrong in his impression of Norrell. 'Shy' perhaps gives the wrong impression, but I get very vivid vibes from Norrell of that loner kid on the playground who no one wants to play with because they're 'weird', except once they settle into their isolation and do something cool because they're just trying to have fun by themself, everyone's suddenly interested in them, and their response is 'fuck off, it's mine not yours'.

"For the nation's good. He is a gentleman, he knows his duty..." This is such an alien perspective to me. I know it's a very common attitude of the time, and something of a theme in the book, but there's a whole commentary here on community and how people's sense of belonging has changed over time that I don't have the brain-power to make right now.

"Magicians in England are a peculiarly ungrateful set of men." I love this sentence. 'Magicians in England' - you mean the rich white gentlemen calling themselves magicians? Ungrateful? Perish the thought! XD

The fact that York is 'one of the most magical cities in England' with the possible exception of Newcastle is such an interesting piece of worldbuilding, and I can't help but wonder if that's a modern (to the book) thing, that simply scholars of magic happened to gather and set off a positive feedback loop, or if there is some in-world... concentration of magic. Given the connection of nature and magic, and the Yorkshire moors being so very iconic, there might be something to that?

Also, loving another little taste of the Raven King mythos, with the mention of 'the King's city of Newcastle'. Honestly, I've never been overly invested in English history (save for Arthuriana, but that's fantasy), but the way this book builds the fantasy on top of a skeleton of truth makes me much more interested in finding out about reality as much as the in-book lore of the place. (Much in the same way Assassin's Creed made me interested in finding out the truth of the history it depicts to better compare the story to.)

I might have to go on a wikipedia spiral about the history of places like York and Newcastle at some point. If these liveblogs don't swallow my entire weekend XD

"We do not care for men who build their reputations at the expense of other men's peace of mind." I do not like this man. (I know I'm not supposed to like this man, he is a representation of the worst sort of self-aggrandizing and complacent entitlement of rich white armchair-scholars, but it bears saying; I really don't like him XD Much respect to Segundus for not punching him in the face.)

"English magicians were only ever given common ivy." Ah, symbolism. I have a lot of thoughts about why ivy, honestly, and I definitely want to do some research on this later, but the phrasing here is so telling. 'Only ever given common ivy', making it so blatantly not some sort of accolade, but something commonplace and unremarkable. There's also the fact that ivy can be associated with neglect, as it's seen so often on old, crumbling buildings, and as a symbol of nature 'reclaiming' or even taking over that which people have built. (Again with the ominous whimsy of this book; the gothic imagery of an old house all over-taken by ivy matched with the tone in which the comparison is made making light of potential drama of the symbolism.)

There's also the correlation between ivy and lovers (ivy clings and binds and twines around things. And I recall reading somewhere about it being used for symbolism in the story of Tristan and Isolde?) but I don't think that's quite as applicable here, even though my brain does love to chew on it.

I'm noticing now, as well, that the author makes excellent use of 'show don't tell'. Instead of simply telling us that the room was noisy and everyone was shouting over each other, though we do get told that, we're also given the example of an old man being very passionate about some point that no one can actually hear over the noise.

I find it interesting because I've been reading a lot of things expressing frustration with the maxim because, I think, people take it too literally. That you must never tell, and only show, which of course will absolutely ruin your pacing and make your story very boring. But this, here, is what I think it means. Of course we could simply have been told 'it got loud as everyone argued', but the art of writing is not to simply tell people what happened, but to make them feel it. And by 'showing' us this little snapshot, by giving the noise a face in this old man who cannot make himself heard over the din, despite being very engaged in making his point, it makes the whole business feel much more real.

Oh, I feel so bad for Honeyfoot and Segundus in this part. Although I find it very interesting that we never actually got to see whether Norrell did do any magic for them. We cut from him confessing that he's a practical magician to Segundus and Honeyfoot leaving, and we don't actually know what happened in between.

And, of course, neither do Honeyfoot and Segundus. Which is deeply, deeply unnerving to me when I think through the implications. Not knowing where you are is one thing, but not knowing where you have been is a whole nother level of creepy. And yet, the narrative doesn't treat it as a particularly horrifying occurance. (Again with the ominous whimsy.)

There is something of a theme of this, too, in the book, with the truly horrifying things that magic makes people capable of being treated as a sort of just a thing magic can do, rather than lingering on the violations of privacy, personhood, and autonomy. Not to say that I feel that the narrative is treating them as inconsequential or in some way not as bad as they really are, but that it doesn't pass judgement on it, and lets you draw your own conclusions (which is a bit refreshing in this resurgence of purity culture in fandom at the moment).

Like, here, Segundus doesn't react with any particular horror or upset at his confusion and disorientation. Which, honestly, I find only heightens my own horror. He's just... sort of vague and fuzzy about it all, even in his emotional reaction to his memory being vague and fuzzy. (Like how someone with mind control telling someone to 'do a bad thing' is not nearly so horrifying as someone with mind control telling someone that 'you want to do a bad thing')

I find this part particularly gave me shivers, when Segundus and Honeyfoot are being questioned about the library and they're asked of the books:

"Had they been permitted to take them down and look inside them?" "Oh, no."

Like, everything else we hear from them is just... an obfuscation of the facts? There were a lot of books in the library, some of them were very rare, and that's the impression they've been left with even if they can't remember the specifics, but that? That, we know for a fact to be false.

Which then very abruptly throws Segundus's previous assertion that he knows for a fact that he hadn't seen any magic done into doubt.

Honestly I think that whole sequence is masterfully done. Because at the time, the way Segundus explains it, we're given no reason to doubt his assertion. He says he feels as though he saw magic, but knows for a fact that he didn't. Which can very easily explain away his awareness of the extra lighting and the... (I keep wanting to call it a maze-array, but that's the wrong fandom XD) directionlessness of the hallway, as him having the sense of magic, but not, actually, knowing for sure it was such because neither he nor us the audience were shown Norrell actually casting those spells.

Except then we get that blatant untruth, and suddenly that blank space of time between Norrell's confession at the end of chapter 1 and Honeyfoot and Segundus leaving at the beginning of chapter 2 just opens up with posibilities.

There's also the contrast between Honeyfoot merely being affected in the moment he tries to explain, and Segundus having felt 'heavy and stupid' for the entire week in between meeting Norrell and meeting with the Society. I do love how clear it is already that Segundus is sensitive to magic, the way he noticed so clearly the magical lighting and direction-obfuscation in the last chapter, and now this.

"Other men may fondly attribute their lack of success to a fault in the world, rather than to their own poor scholarship." "But what is my reward for loving my art better than other men have done? For studying harder to perfect it?"

Ooooo burn! He's so catty. What an asshole (affectionate)! Not to say that the Society (and Foxcastle in particular) don't thoroughly deserve it, of course. Everyone in this room is so ready to be offended, they're actively looking for reasons. Their lives must be so incredibly boring that this is how they choose to entertain themselves, holy shit XD

Oh, god. This attorney guy. Robinson. He is so... He's something, alright. "He was so clean and healthy and pleased about everything that he positively shone, which is only to be expected in a fairy or an angel, but is somewhat disconcerting in an attorney." No kidding. And during the whole scene he's so... blandly inoffensive and faux-innocent and defferential that it puts my hackles right up. He is deeply unnerving to me.

'This would be only fair' he says, of a deeply unfair and rigged agreement designed solely to punish them. 'Then surely they would recognise magic when they saw it' he says, as if he's not perfectly aware that they've just been given an incentive to fucking lie about it. 'All your friends have done it' he says, as the only argument he can come up with to try and coerce Segundus into signing the agreement. (Once again, much respect to Segundus for not punching this guy in the face.)

Yuck yuck yuck yuck yuck. Creepy motherfucker.

I love the descriptions of scenery and environment in this book so much, they're so damn evocative:

"The very voices of York's citizens were altered by a white silence that swallowed up every sound." "The winter gloom was quite gone, and in its place was a fearful light; the winter sun reflected many times over by the snowy earth."

Oh. Hmm. I can't be sure, but I think this is the first time the narrator has inserted themself quite so blatantly into the narrative. Things have been couched as observations before, but I don't remember before this the narrator actually referring to themself, or directly addressing the reader, or positing an opinion of their own? (I may have to go back and listen to chapter 1 again to check...)

"brooding blue shadows of the cathedral's west face" "sailing magisterially around the corner like a fat black ship" "he had a strong thin face with something twisted in it like a tree root" More great description and more adjective-adjective-noun phrases.

And then we come to Segundus and Childermass's second first meeting. Again, I feel so bad for Segundus, having his mind and memory messed with like this, but, if you'll excuse me a moment, -shipper goggles on- Segundus still remembers him! "I've seen you... I can picture you! Oh, where?" Can't remember so much as taking down the books that so enthralled him in the library never mind reading them, but he remembers Childermass.

"He thought John Childermass very insolent." Aaaaa, that's my blorbo! He's so cheeky, I love him so much.

"Several looked about them before going inside, as if taking a last fond farewell of a world they were not quite sure of seeing again." And we end the chapter on yet another absolutely magnificent line. Not quite the almost-cliffhanger of the first chapter, but still extremely tantalising, baiting the reader with questions about what, exactly, is going to happen next.

Hmm. Since this one isn't quite as long as chapter 1, I think I'm going to stuff chapter 3 in here, too; try and condense things a little bit XD

Chapter 3 - The Stones of York (February 1807)

"The cold of a hundred winters seems to have been preserved in its stones and to seep out of them." I have been in old churches and this is entirely accurate. I've said it before and I'll say it again, the description in this book is really top tier. Simple, but incredibly evocative and poetic.

"Bells often went with magic, and in particular with the magic of those unearthly beings, fairies." More symbolism, and this one I know less about, but at the same time, it feels right in a way I can't actually explain. Just that the vibes, the atmosphere it creates of bells being this ominous sound associated with something dangerous.

That being said, on thinking about it, I find it very odd that bells are symbols of fairies in this book for two reasons. One is the way that humans often get referred to as 'Christians' as a whole (I remember this gets explained later as a consequence of fairies being bad at telling the difference between humans, I think?), and church bells are the most commonplace example of bells I can think of. So why, then, are bells so specifically associated with fairy magic when there's such a strong connection to the way the book talks about the people who are not fairies?

And also, one of the primary uses of bells, with more significance in the past but with the tradition continuing on to this day, is to tell the time. To put order and structure on the otherwise abstract passing of the day. Which is in direct contrast to everything else we've been told about magic so far. Magic thrives in the places that are not structured to suit humans. Trying to impose scientific reason on magic kills it.

...Okay, I am definitely reaching here, but it just occurred to me that the other primary use of bells is as a warning. I can think of a bunch of examples; ye olden ships and fire-engines, castles and forts and such. All used to say 'something is wrong, action must be taken to avoid disaster'. And that makes me wonder if the bells are less a product of the fairy magic and more, perhaps, some other magic acting as an alarm.

And the only person I can think who could have cast such a wide-reaching, long-lasting spell would be the Raven King. And wouldn't that make sense? Wouldn't a King want to have a warning that some other being is trying to abduct one of his people?

...I'm reaching, but I really like this theory actually. Even though we knew the Raven King had no compunctions about stealing his own subjects away himself. (I still think it fits, as a King would feel entitled to privileges that others would certainly not be permitted.)

Which is a whole 'nother thing I have thoughts on. It's very interesting that the second real bit of information we get about him (after the bit about him having 'only three' Kingdoms being mentioned in one of Norrell's books. I think that's the only time he's actually directly named before this?), is that despite being an Englishman, he has the fairy habit of abducting people to other lands. And that ballad about it!

"The priest was all too worldly, Though he prayed and rang his bell, The Raven King three candles lit, The priest said it was well."

What is this? What does it mean? It does answer a bit of my speculation about bells, I think - they're used as a warning/warding off it seems (given that it's paralleled with praying) - but then there's that bit about the Raven King lighting candles and this, presumably, causing the priest to say 'oh alright then, do carry on'? I'm gonna have to keep my eye out for any more candle symbolism as well, I think.

"This land is all too shallow, It is painted on the sky, And trembles like the wind-shook rain, When the Raven King goes by."

-shakes fist at the author- You weren't content giving me chills with your description in prose, now you're doing it in verse?! -weeps- God. God. I don't have words for how this makes me feel. I am going fucking feral. I want to print this song out so I can eat it. Fuck.

And it's followed up by the narrator absolutely roasting the Magicians of York, which is making me cackle far more than it probably should because I'm still high off that absolutely unnecessary bit of poetry.

I love the way the narrative builds up to the magic. We get the bells, and then a voice, and then what it's saying, and then another one, and then that it comes from a statue, and then the rest of them, and between all of it we get these elaborate descriptions of the magicians reactions and fears.

Going back a little bit. The tale of the girl with the ivy leaves in her hair. This coming in the very next chapter after we were told that magicians are associated with ivy I think can't be a coincidence. And I wonder if the girl being a magician might not be a part of why the stones care so much about her murder? Not that I think murder inside a cathedral is all that common, but I find it hard to believe it only happened once in over 500 years.

"Kings, even stone ones, dislike above all things to be made equal to others." Hmm. Given how many Kings we have this story, I have a feeling this is Significant.

The fact that the stone statues that were to be repaired flinched from the chisel is... Oof. The idea of stone having a concept of harm, enough to fear it, is wild. And it raises the question of how... aware of what they are the statues are. Obviously we have the examples of kings bickering and quarrelling because they do believe themselves to be kings. But are they aware that they are statues of kings, or do the truly believe themselves to be those kings? The first statue seems aware, talking about how 'no one saw but the stones', instead of 'I saw'.

And if they know that they're stones, then... what does it say that they're afraid of the very thing that created them in the first place? Or is the fear of being 'remade' into something different? Is it particular to that statue, and another might welcome the chance to transform?

...Apparently I am my father's child.

My dad: But what is it like to be a tree??? -overthinks it- Me: But what is it like to be a stone??? -overthinks it-

I love this conversation between Segundus and Childermass. Childermass is coming at the thing so side-ways and sneaky, and yet... he's so blatant about it? It's so obvious right from the very start that he's leading up to something, and then he just... waits for Segundus to offer, instead of actually just asking? It's such a weird approach to take.

Also, the fact that we get another of those lovely poetic descriptions of the snow and the clouds as Childermass is waiting really gives the sense of a long drawn-out silence, and I can't help but laugh at the idea of this bizarre little stand-off, these two men just... staring at each other in the snow.

-shipper goggles on- "Until all the world contained was the falling snow, the sea-green sky, the dim grey ghost of York Cathedral... and Childermass." Perhaps it's an aspect of the audiobook that doesn't come through quite as strongly in the text, but the weight put on that last? Putting him on the same level as these... rather ephemeral, magical things, the natural phenomena of the snow and the sky, and the 'ghost of York Cathedral'? As well as the contrast of these... pale, dim, ghostly things, to Childermass who's so often described as dark and ragged. Even without that description here, it makes his presence so stark against this hazy, light backdrop. (And all this implied to be from Segundus's persepective =3)

And then there's all those compliments Childermass pays Segundus once he's gotten what he wanted, too XD (Even if I do kind of get the sense that Childermass doesn't necessarily mean them entirely as compliments. I don't think he thinks very well of people who are too obliging, tbh.)

You know, this is very much my brain veering off into the wilds here, but the thing about Mr Honeyfoot pursuing the tale of the girl with the ivy leaves makes me think of... this idea I've had for a while, mostly inspired by a JSaMN fanfic, On the March, where Childermass 'wakes up' the Yorkshire moors, and the notion of how magic, which in this book is so tightly tied to nature and the wild, could so easily be affected by the location in which it's done.

And if a place like York Minster can be aware of what's going on even when magic isn't being done upon it... then are the stones aware of Mr Honeyfoots efforts on their behalf? Do they see, for whatever value of sight they possess, him fighting this battle for them, and does this earn him anything from them? Can a stone feel gratitude? Is there some reciprocity or good will there? Does Mr Honeyfoot forge a bond of some kind with, or win the favour of, the Stones of York Minster?

There's a fic in this somewhere. (Mr Honeyfoot gets into a disagreement inside the Minster, and a stone drops onto the head of his adversary. Crumbly old buildings, you know, someone ought to check and make sure it's not going to happen again!)

'The Last Magician in Yorkshire' Now there's a phrase you could build an entire other story around. Another quite powerful end to a chapter, though not quite as gripping as the last two.

Well, I'm glad these two were somewhat shorter than all my thoughts on chapter 1. And I'm now more than half way through this week's chapters. I hope I'll be able to get 4 and 5 done tomorrow (or later this evening, maybe, if I feel like it?)

[halothenthehorns]

Chapter 16: A TITAN BRINGS ME A PRESENT

Jason read the new chapter with each word causing a stronger feeling of bad in him. He kept wondering how this was going to get worse and did not appreciate the answers.

"Is it Kronos with a Nuclear bomb?" Alex asked with interest.

"Oceanus with an apology to your dad and an explanation," Jason sighed.

"World peace?" Magnus asked without any hope.

Thalia couldn't help but laugh. It was the opposite of that.

We could see the white flag from half a mile away. It was as big as a soccer field, carried by a thirty-foot-tall giant with bright blue skin and icy gray hair.

"Yeah, but according to Percy's own girlfriend, Percy can't read for shit," Alex was all for instigating. "So I don't see why even that would stop him from setting them all on fire for starters."

"I've grown since then Alex," Percy said in a prim voice. "Matured, stopped being so impulsive."

"Since yesterday?" She asked in disappointment.

"Since I decided Annabeth would be pissed if I didn't hear this out," he shrugged, tapping the side of his head.

"Fair enough," Alex didn't bother to question the fact that Annabeth would still scare the living daylights out of Percy with one arm behind her back.

"A Hyperborean," Thalia said. "The giants of the north. It's a bad sign that they sided with Kronos. They're usually peaceful."

"You've met them?" I said.

"Mmm. There's a big colony in Alberta. You do not want to get into a snowball fight with those guys."

"First time I've ever heard Thalia say that," Jason chuckled.

"Don't worry, you'll never make that list," she grinned, making Jason sigh in defeat already his sister was going to dump snow down his shirt at the first available chance.

As the giant got closer, I could see three human-size envoys with him: a half-blood in armor, an empousa demon with a black dress and flaming hair, and a tall man in a tuxedo. The empousa held the tux dude's arm, so they looked like a couple on their way to a Broadway show or something— except for her flaming hair and fangs.

"Don't know what you're on about Percy," Magnus chuckled, "those two would be the talk of the runway."

"The talk of the runaway," Percy rolled his eyes.

The group walked leisurely toward the Heckscher Playground. The swings and ball courts were empty. The only sound was the fountain on Umpire Rock.

I looked at Grover. "The tux dude is the Titan?"

"I would have believed it was any of them by this point," Will shrugged, his money would be on the giant.

"The treacherous one in a tuxedo, remember?" Alex shook her head with interest. "I was expecting some kind of double cross to show up for Percy's benefit by now to be honest. Why's he on their side if another titan would call him treacherous?"

"Maybe ram face guy really wanted to be the god of tuxedos but got beat out by him," Percy shrugged without much care what politics went on between these guys.

He nodded nervously. "He looks like a magician. I hate magicians. They usually have rabbits."

Jason usually felt all eyes on him as he read, but as the words poured out of his own confused mouth, he felt the way they grew in intensity same as his own for those baffling sentences being said as a negative.

I stared at him. "You're scared of bunnies?"

"Blah-hah-hah! They're big bullies. Always stealing celery from defenseless satyrs!"

"I have, so many questions," Magnus put his palms down in his lap, causing a slight slap noise to make his point.

"Get in line," Jason agreed as his mind began going haywire on what that food chain was like.

Thalia coughed.

"You do like Grover better than me," Percy accused. She'd never once tried to poorly muffle her laugh in here.

"I was trying not to join those bullying rabbits and be better than that Percy," she said saintly.

Percy was to busy planning in his head how to buy bunny ears and glue them to her head in revenge while keeping Grover away to listen.

"What?" Grover demanded.

"We'll have to work on your bunny phobia later," I said.

"Leporiphobia," Jason offered.

"Why do you know that?" Percy asked in concern. "Why is there even a word for fear of rabbits?!" He knew what phobia meant and he could use context clues. "They don't attack people for that to be a thing!"

"Trauma comes in all shapes and sizes Percy," Alex said seriously, before she broke into a grin and said, "like Jason, poor thing was clearly mauled by a dictionary at some point in his life."

"Ha, ha, ha," Jason rolled his eyes. Honestly, it would be nice to know why such random things came to mind.

"Here they come."

The man in the tux stepped forward. He was taller than an average human—about seven feet. His black hair was tied in a ponytail. Dark round glasses covered his eyes, but what really caught my attention was the skin on his face. It was covered in scratches, like he'd been attacked by a small animal— a really, really mad hamster, maybe.

"Percy's nightmares of turning back into that guinea pig finally make a great real-time influence," Thalia chuckled.

Percy felt rather robbed these books were only from his perspective as he frowned at her. He just knew she had to have embarrassing dreams about tea parties with Barbies he'd never get the chance to mock her for.

The only reason he didn't say any of that now was because, he kind of wished that one were true himself.

"Percy Jackson," he said in a silky voice. "It's a great honor."

"Thanks," Percy couldn't make that sound any more sarcastic if he tried.

His lady friend the empousa hissed at me. She'd probably heard how I'd destroyed two of her sisters last summer.

"I'm over here hoping that's why Tux guy said it was an honor to meet you," Alex nodded.

"I think Percy has a bit of a fat head, thinking all monsters know him," Thalia rolled her eyes.

"Probably safer for him to just assume all monsters have a personal grudge against him," Magnus shrugged.

"My dear," Tux Dude said to her. "Why don't you make yourself comfortable over there, eh?"

She released his arm and drifted over to a park bench.

I glanced at the armed demigod behind Tux Dude. I hadn't recognized him in his new helmet, but it was my old backstabbing buddy Ethan Nakamura.

"This is the worst white-flag party I've ever heard in my life!" Jason looked offended at whoever had approved this strategy. "They sent a monster and the guy who tried to kill Annabeth! Kronos had to have known you wouldn't fall for this!"

"Oh, I'm sure that was the point," Annabeth sighed. Kronos knew not to underestimate Percy again by this point, not after the cruise ship incident. He'd sent distractions to keep Percy on edge.

His nose looked like a squashed tomato from our fight on the Williamsburg Bridge. That made me feel better.

Well they hadn't needed that descriptor. Percy looked devilishly pleased.

"Hey, Ethan," I said. "You're looking good."

Ethan glared at me.

"Really Perce, flirting with someone else at a time like this?" Annabeth sighed.

Percy spluttered and only managed, "but-tomato-" but as usual was pretty toothless when it came to her.

"To business." Tux Dude extended his hand. "I am Prometheus."

I was too surprised to shake. "The fire-stealer guy? The chained-to-the-rock-with-the-vultures guy?"

Percy blew imaginary dust off his knuckles and rubbed them on his shirt as he looked around like he was awaiting applause.

"You actually remembered his name and what he was famous for," Will was the only one who couldn't make that sound sarcastic. "Showing off that C+ years later too, good work."

Annabeth brushed her fingers fondly through his hair and couldn't wait until they got back to the surface to show him he'd actually been doing even better in his recent studies. Percy was thoroughly distracted by the attention and had no clue what happened for the next several moments.

Prometheus winced. He touched the scratches on his face. "Please, don't mention the vultures. But yes, I stole fire from the gods and gave it to your ancestors. In return, the ever merciful Zeus had me chained to a rock and tortured for all eternity."

"Hard to believe nobody could convince this guy to be on Zeus's side," Nico said drolly.

"I want to know if he was granted Titan hood, like, after he got off the rock, or was he one when this happened," Magnus frowned.

"You can't be granted Titan hood," Annabeth shook her head. "The Titan's are specifically children of Geae and Oranus, but Titan is applied rather broadly to a large percentage of the divine family and their offspring. The Titans are all gods but not all of the gods are Titans."

Magnus considered for a moment before deciding not to press that further. He wasn't sure he wanted a better explanation.

"But—"

"How did I get free? Hercules did that, eons ago. So you see, I have a soft spot for heroes. Some of you can be quite civilized."

"He used a terrible example," Thalia scowled. If he'd thought bringing up that half-brother would soften her up he'd been hilariously off track.

"Unlike the company you keep," I noticed.

I was looking at Ethan, but Prometheus apparently thought I meant the empousa.

"Is he blind?" Jason raised a brow.

"He certainly couldn't see his own ass fumbling this," Thalia smirked.

"Oh, demons aren't so bad," he said. "You just have to keep them well fed.

"On what?" Magnus rolled his eyes. "I doubt they take blood bank donations, or possibly subsist on cranberry juice."

"Organic free-range half-bloods," Will nodded, "it's supposedly better for them."

Now, Percy Jackson, let us parley."

"Getting piratey up in here," Alex nodded in approval. Nico grinned along and was as grateful as ever he hadn't been dogging Percy's every step. He might have had the same thoughts at the time and been much less cool about it.

"And look, here's a zombie dude, kind of," Percy rolled his eyes. "Plus the tux! This is all somehow your fault Alex, I can just feel it in my bones."*

"And I haven't received a single phone call up to this point of you complaining to me about it," she grinned. "For shame Percy, I had more faith in you."

"Trust me, won't happen again," he chuckled.

He waved me toward a picnic table and we sat down. Thalia and Grover stood behind me.

The blue giant propped his white flag against a tree and began absently playing on the playground. He stepped on the monkey bars and crushed them, but he didn't seem angry. He just frowned and said, "Uhoh."

Then he stepped in the fountain and broke the concrete bowl in half. "Uh-oh." The water froze where his foot touched it. A bunch of stuffed animals hung from his belt—the huge kind you get for grand prizes at an arcade. He reminded me of Tyson, and the idea of fighting him made me sad.

Between this and his now understandable hesitation against hell hounds, Annabeth bit her lip with worry what would have happened had Percy been lost out in the world in his amnesiac state like this. He had so many enemies who would exploit this.

Prometheus sat forward and laced his fingers. He looked earnest, kindly, and wise.

"Crud, they sent a grandpa kind of guy," Will sighed. Percy might have been in trouble falling for this.

"If he starts yammering on about fishing and polishing his teeth, I'll ditch him easy," Percy shrugged.

"Percy, your position is weak. You know you can't stop another assault."

"We'll see."

Prometheus looked pained, like he really cared what happened to me. "Percy, I'm the Titan of forethought. I know what's going to happen."

"Also the Titan of crafty counsel," Grover put in. "Emphasis on crafty."

"Well that's just not fair, having both under his banner," Magnus sighed.

"Fair? Fair!" Percy let out a pitiable laugh that word even still came out around here.

Prometheus shrugged. "True enough, satyr. But I supported the gods in the last war. I told Kronos: 'You don't have the strength. You'll lose.' And I was right. So you see, I know how to pick the winning side. This time, I'm backing Kronos."

"Eh, statistically someone had to jump sides and was only right half the time," Annabeth grumbled.

Percy looked to her nervously, but relaxed a bit to see and feel she wasn't tensing and getting to stressed about this. It helped to keep his own mood soothed every time.

"Because Zeus chained you to a rock," I guessed.

"Yeah," Nico drew that out mildly. "That moment where you can't blame them kind of annoys me."

"I power through it for my family," Will nodded sadly. He'd wandered that medical tent more than once wondering who the spy was after losing another brother, but as he'd treated the unmistakable sword wounds he couldn't help but notice he didn't recognize more kids that kept showing up and looking into their faces with the horrible thoughts of why the damage had been done more than who had done it. One to many names had gone unasked. One to many kids who hadn't been there at the start of the fight with them, but had managed to make it back home.

"Partly, yes. I won't deny I want revenge. But that's not the only reason I'm supporting Kronos. It's the wisest choice. I'm here because I thought you might listen to reason."

"The same Percy Jackson I know?" Thalia demanded, picking at her ear. "Man, this guy really came in with nothing." She was hoping by playing off her nonchalance now it would gloss over when Percy's stupid, annoying ability to pick up on her later would inevitably show itself as her last name was truly exposed.

She glanced at Jason and swallowed hard. He probably wasn't going to appreciate that.

"Must have meant my twin brother," Percy nodded his agreement with a chuckle. "Peter Jefferson, long lost kid raised by, I don't know, whoever my Roman parent is."

"Haha," Jason said dryly, but the joke still gave him an uncomfortable twinge of a headache. He tried concentrating on the feeling, knowing he shouldn't but so damn tired of only having just gotten his last name back yesterday while Percy was two days away from practically being caught up with his life.

All he got for his troubles was the vague name Shen Lun, which meant nothing to him, and starbursts behind his eyes until he gave up and looked around to see his efforts hadn't gone unnoticed.

Since he hadn't been making any noise however, they'd been sitting there quietly letting him sort himself out. It meant more than he knew how to put into words they even noticed as he shook himself and tried to move on, studying his hands in embarrassment he even had to do that, and still catching Percy's little nod of understanding.

He drew a map on the table with his finger. Wherever he touched, golden lines appeared, glowing on the concrete.

Annabeth frowned with minor annoyance how useful that must be, how he probably didn't have a document with a million undo commands in it that haunted him, or an Olympus sized trashcan worth of ideas he'd scrapped.

"This is Manhattan. We have armies here, here, here, and here. We know your numbers. We outnumber you twenty to one."

"Your spy has been keeping you posted," I guessed.

Prometheus smiled apologetically.

"Punch him in the face!" Alex looked like she was seething already she couldn't be doing that to this pompous prick. She despised false niceties, no matter how well they were dressed, and she wasn't buying a word of this as she imagined those scars around his lips.

"It was pretty tempting," Percy admitted, he was surprised the idea hadn't crossed his mind yet...and was sort of relieved the book hadn't blatantly acknowledged he'd been a little taken in with this approach. That smile reminded him to much of his mom apologizing she had to pick up an extra shift this weekend while Gabe belched in the background.

"At any rate, our forces are growing daily. Tonight, Kronos will attack. You will be overwhelmed. You've fought bravely, but there's just no way you can hold all of Manhattan. You'll be forced to retreat to the Empire State Building. There you'll be destroyed. I have seen this. It will happen."

Nobody needed Percy to fill in the gaps of Rachel's painting that sat on the edge of their mind half this battle. They'd assumed it was the wrong army. It didn't seem possible the prophetic power of a Titan and Rachel's vision could both be wrong...

I thought about the picture Rachel had drawn in my dreams—an army at the base of the Empire State Building. I remembered the words of the young girl Oracle in my dream: I foresee the future. I cannot change it. Prometheus spoke with such certainty it was hard not to believe him.

"I won't let it happen," I said.

Percy's confidence made Annabeth smile. The feeling of his arm around her that she wanted to believe she'd never lose again. The kind of feeling that made her think she'd made the right choice slamming the door in Luke's face that day, because it had all worked out.

Prometheus brushed a speck off his tux lapel. "Understand, Percy. You are refighting the Trojan War here. Patterns repeat themselves in history.

"Yeah, but Percy doesn't repeat himself," Thalia chuckled with great swagger and confidence what she'd been thinking at the time. "They can throw all the regenerating monsters they want to at us and he'll call all of them something other than ground beef I'm sure."

"Thanks Thals, couldn't have done this without you," Percy chuckled. He meant in here, this room. She'd truly been the best of friends to him.

At the time he was very grateful she actually had more restraint than he ever did, he hadn't needed that kind of distraction right now.

They reappear just as monsters do. A great siege. Two armies. The only difference is, this time you are defending. You are Troy. And you know what happened to the Trojans, don't you?"

"So you're going to cram a wooden horse into the elevator at the Empire State Building?" I asked. "Good luck."

"Aw Percy, always so thoughtful, wishing them luck on their endeavors," Will chuckled.

"I'm actually trying to imagine it and what order the Titans would get in," Alex stroked her hair back from her face with glee. "Would Kronos demand to get in first and be squashed, forcing him to get out last; or, would he get in last and be in the horse's ass to get out first?"

The others laughed, but Annabeth sighed. She didn't know what exactly they pictured, but she still saw Luke crammed into that with Titans, his eyes flashing from gold to blue and back.

Prometheus smiled. "Troy was completely destroyed, Percy. You don't want that to happen here. Stand down, and New York will be spared.

"Just New York?" Jason raised a brow skeptically. "Will he leave your island floating and go about ripping the rest of the planet and throwing it into outer space?"

"I think that might upset the moon or something, I sure wouldn't recommend it," Percy nodded like Jason had made an excellent point.

Your forces will be granted amnesty. I will personally assure your safety.

"Even if he swore it on the River Styx and his own mother I wouldn't buy that until I did a certain bridge," Magnus said. Annabeth was afraid her cousin would go blind from rolling his eyes that hard.

Let Kronos take Olympus. Who cares? Typhon will destroy the gods anyway."

"Right," I said. "And I'm supposed to believe Kronos would spare the city."

"All he wants is Olympus," Prometheus promised. "The might of the gods is tied to their seats of power. You saw what happened to Poseidon once his undersea palace was attacked."

I winced, remembering how old and decrepit my father looked.

"Mentioning that is really the way I'd plan on winning over your trust," Nico grumbled. He was hitting them where it hurt, taking them down and throwing other problems in their face. Perfect tactics to keep their focus elsewhere.

"Yes," Prometheus said sadly. "I know that was hard for you. When Kronos destroys Olympus, the gods will fade. They will become so weak they will be easily defeated. Kronos would rather do this while Typhon has the Olympians distracted in the west. Much easier. Fewer lives lost.

"Easier, yes. Fewer lives lost?" Will made a deep scathing noise. Nico nodded in complete agreement. He wasn't a walking death sensus or anything, but he also hadn't needed Percy's dreams to tell him the continental destruction that 'storm' was causing. He'd been in the Underworld watching the incoming spirits.

But make no mistake, the best you can do is slow us down. The day after tomorrow, Typhon arrives in New York, and you will have no chance at all. The gods and Mount Olympus will still be destroyed, but it will be much messier. Much, much worse for you and your city. Either way, the Titans will rule."

Thalia pounded her fist on the table. "I serve Artemis. The Hunters will fight to our last breath. Percy, you're not seriously going to listen to this slimeball, are you?"

Percy had been doing a much better job in here hiding how discouraging this little speech had been getting to him. Thalia had seen it then though, a painfully familiar look on their trek across the states when he thought no one was watching. He'd fidget with his necklace or his pen as the troubled thoughts stayed buried but his attention began diverting to all the ways this could go the worst.

I figured Prometheus was going to blast her, but he just smiled. "Your courage does you credit, Thalia Grace."

Thalia stiffened. "That's my mother's surname. I don't use it."

She sighed and met Jason's confused stare. She'd called him her little brother and meant it, but his choice to see their mother as their connection wasn't her preference. She'd never deny her last name again if that's what he wished to go by though, the one good thing Beryl had done for her life.

Thalia visibly winced she still wouldn't have gotten the chance to tell Jason at her own speed either, as he rubbed the back of his head with a crazy smile like he'd gotten a sugar rush again, hearing that out loud. He would have known. She should have remembered this exact exchange was coming much sooner and told him herself.

"Sorry," she whispered again, just for him.

"It's okay," he promised, smile dimming only a bit as he looked at her, but there all the same. It turned cheeky real quick as he threw a look at Percy. "I've already accepted he makes everyone's life chaotic, he just can't resist."

Percy gave an exaggerated sigh and huffed in his beanbag without protest. If they wanted to bond over antagonizing him, well, that was nothing new. And he was happy for them.

"As you wish," Prometheus said casually, but I could tell he'd gotten under her skin. I'd never even heard Thalia's last name before. Somehow it made her seem almost normal. Less mysterious and powerful.

"Like Beyonce," Magnus added oh so helpfully.

Thalia chuckled and popped the collar of her hoodie, making it fluff behind her like a bird's feathers before it settled back, but they could tell it was posturing. She didn't regret a word of that, she was devout to Artimes and was still struggling in her mind how to bring up the possibility she might not want to stay with her forever now as she'd once vowed...Artemis had a brother too though, surely she'd understand...

"At any rate," the Titan said, "you need not be my enemy. I have always been a helper of mankind."

"That's a load of Minotaur dung," Thalia said.

"That is one big pile of shit," Nico said.**

"And I meant every shovelful," she nodded.

"When mankind first sacrificed to the gods, you tricked them into giving you the best portion. You gave us fire to annoy the gods, not because you cared about us."

Prometheus shook his head. "You don't understand. I helped shape your nature."

Will had always taken to wanting to understand both sides of a standoff, he hoped in genuinely trying to connect where they came from he could help form a better bridge than what had nearly broken his own at camp with the Apollo and Ares strife.

This was one of those moments where he worried his kind heart would be played for a fool. He wanted to believe Prometheus had been on Kronos's side to help mediate this fight, but he also couldn't deny to himself this was just the kind of deception he'd fall for, deliberating what to do to long in the interest of what was best for everyone.

He knew the choice Percy had made and didn't begrudge him this, he just worried at himself what he would have done.

A wiggling lump of clay appeared in his hands. He fashioned it into a little doll with legs and arms.

The lump man didn't have any eyes, but it groped around the table, stumbling over Prometheus's fingers.

Alex found herself begrudgingly impressed at the display there, and very annoyed at herself for it. A quick mold to help get your point across, the inherent blindness she felt most people had of the world. Gods she wanted to see this with her own eyes and then shove it down Prometheus's throat.

"I have been whispering in man's ear since the beginning of your existence.

Magnus rubbed his ear in disgust at the idea.

I represent your curiosity, your sense of exploration, your inventiveness.

That would be all the things she loved most about humanity too, Annabeth scowled. She usually associated those things with her mother, the sense that tied into her ability to craft and build and never want to stop looking for a better way to do things.

Help me save you, Percy. Do this, and I will give mankind a new gift—a new revelation that will move you as far forward as fire did. You can't make that kind of advance under the gods. They would never allow it. But this could be a new golden age for you. Or . . ."

He made a fist and smashed the clay man into a pancake.

"Is it deep space exploration, because we're already getting there mostly on our own," Percy frowned. He still wanted the others to think he hadn't been taken in by this as much as he really had been. Like his previous wish for Annabeth was here with a white flag. A god, actually offering to help them. He'd even showed all the strings attached to it.

"I hope it's teleportation, I thought we'd be much closer to that by now," Annabeth nodded along, happily indulging the show he was putting on nobody was falling for but she fully supported.

The blue giant rumbled, "Uh-oh." Over at the park bench, the empousa bared her fangs in a smile.

"Soooooo indicative, really speaking volumes in here with so little said, except he won't shut up," Jason scowled. He was all for parlay and finding solutions without war, but would not have been surprised any word now for Percy's temper to snap and draw his sword. He'd have backed him up if he were there.

"Percy, you know the Titans and their offspring are not all bad," Prometheus said. "You've met Calypso."

"That's the example he goes with?" Will seemed in awe of this bad move. "The girl who's imprisoned and made Percy question why the gods do- no, wait. Now that I said it out loud that made sense."

"It's okay bud, I have those moments too," Percy grinned.

My face felt hot. "That's different."

"How? Much like me, she did nothing wrong, and yet she was exiled forever simply because she was Atlas's daughter. We are not your enemies. Don't let the worst happen," he pleaded. "We offer you peace."

Moments like this gave Will the conflicting feeling of wishing he could read minds. It was invasive and wrong, of course, but gods would he have used it on Prometheus to hear the real truth. Of the actual story with no myth, legend, or hype around the facts of what happened to Calypso, and indeed anyone accused of a crime.

I looked at Ethan Nakamura. "You must hate this."

Nico was still personally shocked Percy hadn't ripped out his vocal cords yet to let him speak again at all. It's not like that would kill him, but there was a chance the ambrosia wouldn't heal that so much as just keep him alive without regrowing something vital to life...

"I don't know what you mean."

"If we took this deal, you wouldn't get revenge. You wouldn't get to kill us all. Isn't that what you want?"

Magnus's mind spun back to that first time Percy had met him though. He'd never actually said why he was trying to join Luke's side, he'd been very unfriendly to the guys saving his life, and apparently just run right back to the people who would have cheered while he died.

There was a tiny grain of admirability to someone willing to die for their cause, but that kind of half-blind dedication had nearly gotten Annabeth killed so it made this more pitiable no matter what his real reasoning behind all this.

His good eye flared.

"Nobody assumed the bad one shot fireworks out Percy," Alex said in the kind of way where she might have been hoping it did though.

"All I want is respect, Jackson. The gods never gave me that. You wanted me to go to your stupid camp, spend my time crammed into the Hermes cabin because I'm not important? Not even recognized?"

Nico could own one very solid fact about his good standing on Percy's side, and it was that he'd never been tempted to join Luke's side.

He couldn't stop a little sigh of unease though there was a real chance it was just because he'd never had a conversation with the guy. If Luke had ever tried to win him over with this speech though? The exact grievance he still had to this day about recognition for living outside of the 'main gods.' Not to mention his stellar inability to pick up on who was untrustworthy.

Yeah, odds weren't in his favor.

He sounded just like Luke when he'd tried to kill me in the woods at camp four years ago. The memory made my hand ache where the pit scorpion had stung me.

Percy flexed his hand now and looked down at his smooth palm, finally with the understanding of it all. The betrayal and horror of someone he'd thought of as a friend doing this to him never had visible scars he was still having trouble making sense of.

"Your mom's the goddess of revenge," I told Ethan. "We should respect that?"

Jason glanced at Percy and pursed up his lips without saying anything. He'd had a growing sense lately that he might sympathize with someone like Ethan a lot more than he'd ever have admitted to himself until he had nothing else to reflect on. He knew Percy didn't mean it so harshly in never acknowledging such gods who weren't all awesome and stood for pizza shouldn't ever be spoken of, but Percy had only spent a few days in the Hermes cabin before he was hoisted into the great light of being a child of the Big Three.

Somewhere in the recesses of his thoughts, memories Jason could do no more than follow on instinct, he knew he had always lived a similar way...and he was starting to wonder how much he'd resent going back to it.

"Nemesis stands for balance! When people have too much good luck, she tears them down."

"Which is why she took your eye?"

"It was payment," he growled. "In exchange, she swore to me that one day I would tip the balance of power. I would bring the minor gods respect. An eye was a small price to pay."

Thalia swallowed the snide comment it had cost him much more than that. The fool had died in the end. His payment had cost him everything...but she gave a small, proud smile to Percy he had gotten his reward in the end too. His mother had kept her word.

"Great mom."

"Percy would know," Annabeth said sullenly. She might not have been there, but she imagined the inflection in Ethan's voice a little to perfectly. The balance of respect and fear in your godly parent expecting all of that from their child.

"At least she keeps her word, unlike the Olympians. She always pays her debts—good or evil."

"Yeah," I said. "So I saved your life, and you repaid me by raising Kronos. That's fair."

Annabeth had the most mixed feelings about that in history, but the logical part of her did understand it in the greater scheme of the Fates. This had to happen eventually, the Great Prophecy ordained it. If it wasn't her Luke and Percy, it would have been someone else's family torn apart by this war just as had happened to the Trojans before. Nemises had played a part in this just as Posideon had against tipping the scales against Typhoon.

But gods the cost felt like she'd been strung into a spiderweb she'd never been able to escape from as she still sat pinned in place by it all.

Ethan grabbed the hilt of his sword, but Prometheus stopped him.

"Now, now," the Titan said. "We're on a diplomatic mission."

"Good of him to remember that," Nico grumbled. It wouldn't have gone well for them otherwise, considering Percy could have blasted them all to Australia whenever he wanted.

Prometheus studied me as if trying to understand my anger. Then he nodded like he'd just picked a thought from my brain.

Percy looked newly frustrated at somebody trying to pick apart his anger. Never in his history had he ever felt better by somebody telling him to calm down. He could be distracted from it, he could redirect it where it needed to go, sometimes he even managed when one of his friends reminded him he was going to far to reign it in, but none of that usually helped the initial problem.

Prometheus annoyingly reminded him of Chiron right then. The kind of adult who'd ever bothered to take the time to understand why he was angry and how best to solve the problem that didn't involve throwing textbooks.

"It bothers you what happened to Luke," he decided. "Hestia didn't show you the full story. Perhaps if you understood . . ."

The Titan reached out.

Thalia cried a warning, but before I could react, Prometheus's index finger touched my forehead.

Alex sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose in deep frustration. Gods if that wasn't the perfect display of the god's arrogance! Hestia had shown Percy the part of the memory she'd felt was important, now Prometheus was doing the same. Nobody had stopped to ask Percy if he wanted these memories beamed into his head!

Suddenly I was back in May Castellan's living room. Candles flickered on the fireplace mantel, reflected in the mirrors along the walls. Through the kitchen doorway I could see Thalia sitting at the table while Ms. Castellan bandaged her wounded leg. Seven-year-old Annabeth sat next to her, playing with a Medusa beanbag toy.

It had apparently been one of her better days, Thalia grimaced with distaste at the vivid memory of how strongly she'd smelled like burnt cookies. She'd rambled on about being a traveling nurse and all the baby stories about Luke seamlessly, which was how she'd caught Hermes' attention and looked right at Thalia with actual coherence in her blue eyes the entire time, which had freaked Thalia out nearly as much as if they'd turned green. An adult caring about her well-being had never happened before.

The home had been a first for Annabeth too. The first time she'd ever been given such an awesome toy to play with, the kind that had lore behind it and she could imagine defeating all by herself one day. Oh she had no idea, she snorted now at the improbable foreshadowing. Luke's mom hadn't once muttered under her breath about any trouble she might cause or even frowned in her direction. Only smiled as she asked if she wanted another cookie, not one of her half-brothers.

Granted, the cookie had been burnt, and she could feel the unease in the room. It hadn't been a warm, welcoming place. She preferred sleeping in their laps every night by a mile.

Hermes and Luke stood apart in the living room.

The god's face looked liquid in the candlelight, like he couldn't decide what shape to adopt. He was dressed in a navy blue jogging outfit with winged Reeboks.

Jason managed an awkward grin. Some part of him finally liked that description, this distance. The fear and vastness of not conforming to one mold with this rare appearance to one of the legions- his brain hard glitched back to what he was actually saying as he shook his head at what he'd spoken rather than what his brain kept expecting to hear.

"Why show yourself now?" Luke demanded. His shoulders were tense, as if he expected a fight.

Percy managed the awkwardest of smiles, the pithy comment floating to mind of how he wasn't the only one ready and willing to take on the gods, but he restrained himself. He hated when others compared him to Luke, he certainly wasn't going to do it himself.

"All these years I've been calling to you, praying you'd show up, and nothing. You left me with her." He pointed toward the kitchen like he couldn't bear to look at his mother, much less say her name.

Thalia knew that feeling all to well. She'd never even said her mother's name out loud since she came out of that tree, she hated her too deeply.

Percy just kept blinking slowly, not able to understand a word. She envied that look of confusion and sorrow on his face as he caught a glimpse of this broken family while he'd fought for his own.

"Luke, do not dishonor her," Hermes warned. "Your mother did the best she could.

The worst part was, Alex believed that. She'd been mentally incapable of handling that child, no true 'fault' at her feet except a broken system that had given her no support. She wasn't a bad person, she just hadn't been a good mother. Something Adrian had once said of his own mother never able to side with him over his father now bleeding into her ears she wished she could shake loose.

As for me, I could not interfere with your path. The children of the gods must find their own way."

If he meant that as some kind of explanation, it was a tired one, Will sighed. He'd heard that around Camp from the older kids, the ones that didn't live very long after passing such wisdom on. He heard it from Chiron, every time another kid went missing. He didn't know when exactly he'd grown numb to hearing that and accepted it as fact himself, but knowing now it had been the root of all Luke's grievance and the start to a war costing him both his brothers, it sounded as flimsy as the first time all over again.

"So it was for my own good. Growing up on the streets, fending for myself, fighting monsters."

"You're my son," Hermes said. "I knew you had the ability. When I was only a baby, I crawled from my cradle and set out for—"

Magnus looked like he was going to be sick. That was his response to his son growing up on the streets fighting monsters?! That he'd been able to do a bunch of stuff as a god!?

He'd preferred his ignorant bubble where Hermes had just, never known or bothered to keep track of this particular son. Indifference was something Magnus knew every day.

Instead, he'd long since learned there were two kinds of parents. The kind that had been through it and didn't want their kids to suffer the same, and the kind that expected their kids to go through exactly the same to know their pain. The second were nearly always the ones he met. His mom made him a rare exception on the streets of Boston.

"I'm not a god! Just once, you could've said something. You could've helped when"—he took an unsteady breath, lowering his voice so no one in the kitchen could overhear—"when she was having one of her fits, shaking me and saying crazy things about my fate. When I used to hide in the closet so she wouldn't find me with those . . . those glowing eyes. Did you even care that I was scared? Did you even know when I finally ran away?"

Nico never would have expected his dysfunctional relationship with his dad would ever sound better than any of the other kids at Camp, but man was he stunned to be wrong right now. Hades had been a vague yet constant presence in his life, disapproving, harsh, unloving, but at least noticed what he was doing the majority of the time. He'd even let slip once about who Minos's replacement had been when he went on sabbatical, which had given Nico the suspicion he not only knew he left his post but where he'd been while that was happening.

The fact that Luke, pre cursor to Kronos, face of all evil, had asked that with all his heart at the same age Nico was now, sat strangely in his mind.

In the kitchen, Ms. Castellan chattered aimlessly, pouring Kool-Aid for Thalia and Annabeth as she told them stories about Luke as a baby.

The parallels between that and their car ride with Ms. Jackson had not been lost on either girl as Percy had sat red-faced and miserable up that snowy mountain, as they exchanged looks now. Annabeth might have been to young to take in the full scope of that situation back then, but the tone of Sally's voice as she'd joyfully spoken with love of her son had risen that memory from the ashes.

Thalia rubbed her bandaged leg nervously. Annabeth glanced into the living room and held up a burned cookie for Luke to see. She mouthed, Can we go now?

"Luke, I care very much," Hermes said slowly, "but gods must not interfere directly in mortal affairs. It is one of our Ancient Laws.

The flash of anger that burned through Percy surprised him. It wasn't the usual kind where he'd cuss out the gods and call them all cowards for using this as a scapegoat to ignore their kids.

No, it was the kind he used to turn his enemies into dust and walk towards his next challenge. Something about this anger had a resolution buried in his mind he couldn't wait to find the source of.

Especially when your destiny . . ." His voice trailed off. He stared at the candles as if remembering something unpleasant.

"Something to do with the fire of the library of Alexandria? Or that time Notre Dame was on fire- no, wait, that one was a movie," Alex shook her head at herself. "No wait, yes it did happen! Crap, I'm getting my stuff mixed up."

"We might need another break after this one," Magnus agreed. They all felt like they were being punched by the god of emotion every new moment of Percy's life lately.

"What?" Luke asked. "What about my destiny?"

"You should not have come back," Hermes muttered. "It only upsets you both. However, I see now that you are getting too old to be on the run without help.

"I need the godly version of CPS so bad right now," Jason muttered under his breath. He was pretty confident he hadn't had the best childhood either, but somehow a godly parent acknowledging their child was getting to old to live on the streets and it wasn't cute anymore to see him struggling was a layer of insulting that burned painfully to hear he might have felt a little to personally.

I'll speak with Chiron at Camp Half-Blood and ask him to send a satyr to collect you."

"Teleport him there!" Percy stormed like he hadn't been able to do strapped into this in his own head. "He's the god of travels! If any of them could get away with that, it would be him!"

Annabeth didn't have the heart to shush him as a reminder, to promise him it would all be okay because it hadn't been, to do anything but bite back a sob and rest against his side once more. Percy being angry on Luke's behalf, to understand him as she did and be on his side was what she'd always wanted. Of course the twisted way she'd been given this was at the lowest of moments in his life.

"We're doing fine without your help," Luke growled. "Now, what were you saying about my destiny?"

The wings on Hermes's Reeboks fluttered restlessly. He studied his son like he was trying to memorize his face, and suddenly a cold feeling washed through me. I realized Hermes knew what May Castellan's mutterings meant. I wasn't sure how, but looking at his face I was absolutely certain. Hermes understood what would happen to Luke someday, how he would turn evil.

The gods having the slight power of foresight was not news, but to hear it so specifically on this of all half-bloods shook them. Maybe Hermes was the secret traitor to Camp all along and he wanted this all to come about, the downfall of his own brethren. Alex didn't know the how or why, but she'd instantly believe it as easily as Hades sitting back and doing nothing for them as well.

"Could, Hermes have even done anything to stop this?" Magnus asked quietly, haltingly, like he was whispering at someone's funeral. "When the big three swore off having kids, that obviously didn't stop the prophecy. Even if Hermes does know..." he trailed off uncomfortably. Hermes hadn't struck him as arrogant enough to change it, just resigned.

"I don't know," Annabeth murmured back, her voice just as hoarse. The kind of question she'd wanted to lob in his face when he'd kissed his son's forehead goodbye, when he couldn't even convince Luke he had loved him. Would any of it have made a difference? Would it have just made the whole thing worse as Luke slipped away anyways?

"My son," he said, "I'm the god of travelers, the god of loads. If I know anything, I know that you must walk your own path, even though it tears my heart."

"You don't love me."

Alex shook her head slowly at how miserable a feeling that was, to say it and believe it right to your parent's face. She didn't know if Hermes was going to deny it, but she knew Luke wouldn't believe him.

"I promise I . . . I do love you.

Jason wished that the hesitation in his voice had been because of him, because he had no clear idea how to say that to someone and mean it. He knew he loved his sister, but even that was clouded with frustration.

He wasn't going to stop and show the book around with pride it was clearly Hermes hesitating over those words. To fathom why was too deep.

Go to camp. I will see that you get a quest soon. Perhaps you can defeat the Hydra, or steal the apples of Hesperides. You will get a chance to be a great hero before . . ."

"Before what?" Luke's voice was trembling now.

A useless quest that he'd loathed from start to finish, Annabeth's lip was trembling with unshed tears now. A moment of triumph as he'd come back throwing the apple into the lake and storming into his cabin and locking it with blood still seeping from the bandages like a scarlet beacon. He'd never taken a moment to bask in his victory with them, her, and after he'd shouted at Chiron what had happened two days later when he'd finally come out nobody had ever spoken of it again.

He'd gone quiet, after that. The Stolls had promised her he was actually sleeping again. The root of that change hadn't even crossed her mind until it was far to late.

Had Kronos been whispering to him along his path, like he had Percy? Lying to him that nothing he did mattered, that everyone would forget about him and betray him?

"What did my mom see that made her like this? What's going to happen to me? If you love me, tell me."

Love wasn't supposed to be conditional, some part of Magnus wanted to scold Luke for this. But frankly, this entire dysfunctional family just needed to stay far away from each other. Maybe if Hermes had never been there for Luke to confront all of his hateful feelings out, Kronos never would have had any solid proof to drag Luke in.

Hermes's expression tightened. "I cannot."

"Then you don't care!" Luke yelled.

"I do wonder if it was another ancient shit law that made Hermes decide that, or even better, if he'd known that was what Luke was going to say no matter what he said and he just bulldozed into it," Alex sounded so scathing, like that Medusa toy had been laughing in the background.

Nobody had a response for her, though Magnus looked at her like he was admiring she was nuts as usual.

In the kitchen, the talking died abruptly.

"Luke?" May Castellan called. "Is that you? Is my boy all right?"

Luke turned to hide his face, but I could see the tears in his eyes.

Did she ask that every time she came out of one of her fits? Had she ever been in the right mental capacity to ask that? Nobody would ever know the answer to that except for Luke.

"I'm fine. I have a new family. I don't need either of you."

A part of Nico was vaguely surprised not to hear, 'I don't need any of you,' but he knew it was because his brain kept trying to fast-track to this moment, where Luke had made that look on Thalia and Annabeth's face something nobody ever wanted to see. The heartbreak, the failure, the rejection he'd soon leave them with too.

"I'm your father," Hermes insisted.

"A father is supposed to be around. I've never even met you. Thalia, Annabeth, come on! We're leaving!"

"My boy, don't go!" May Castellan called after him. "I have your lunch ready!"

Luke stormed out the door, Thalia and Annabeth scrambling after him. May Castellan tried to follow, but Hermes held her back.

The only decent thing he'd ever done for his son, Percy scowled. The same god that had once lashed out at Annabeth for never doing enough to stop Luke, would have to finally admit to his face when he next confronted him that he hadn't forced Luke to stay and talk this through.

As the screen door slammed, May collapsed in Hermes's arms and began to shake. Her eyes opened—glowing green—and she clutched desperately at Hermes's shoulders.

"My son," she hissed in a dry voice. "Danger. Terrible fate!"

"I know, my love," Hermes said sadly. "Believe me, I know."

The image faded.

A part of Annabeth wanted to yell at Percy for having seen that. Wanted to erase this from his mind again because at least then she could burn these books with a clear conscience so no record of this would ever have to exist and she could go back and tell her own mind it had just been a bad dream. Gods, the part of her that had hated Percy, been afraid that Percy cared about everyone but her were really trying to drown her today.

Prometheus pulled his hand away from my forehead.

"Percy?" Thalia asked. "What . . . what was that?"

I realized I was clammy with sweat.

"That, was a dam mess," Thalia said darkly.

Percy felt drunk as he started laughing, and couldn't make himself stop for a long time. Gods their life felt like one mess right after the other, and the gods were at the center of all of it, every time. The good and the bad.

Prometheus nodded sympathetically. "Appalling, isn't it? The gods know what is to come, and yet they do nothing, even for their children. How long did it take for them to tell you your prophecy, Percy Jackson? Don't you think your father knows what will happen to you?"

Percy did what he always had, looked to Annabeth for the answer.

She just looked back at him, her deep gray eyes had finally let the tears fall, a pattern on his shirt he hadn't noticed. She thought the answer was yes.

I was too stunned to answer.

"Perrrcy," Grover warned, "he's playing with your mind. Trying to make you angry."

Grover could read emotions, so he probably knew Prometheus was succeeding.

Alex had always admired Percy's anger and the way he used it to such great effect. She wished he'd use that anger now to break Promehteus's nose. She knew it wouldn't have any long-term effects, it would just make her feel better.

Thalia hadn't needed an emotional reader-satyr-empathy link to tell her that. She'd been furious right along with Percy. This Titan was lucky he hadn't shown up wearing a top hat because she wouldn't have been able to decide where to shove it and probably settled for all of the holes.

"Do you really blame your friend Luke?" the Titan asked me. "And what about you, Percy? Will you be controlled by your fate? Kronos offers you a much better deal."

I clenched my fists. As much as I hated what Prometheus had shown me, I hated Kronos a lot more.

"Hmm, yes, prioritizing your anger in order of importance. I'm going to remember this next time one of you mocks me for making lists of pro's and con's on a situation," Jason nodded emperically.

"I won't even turn it into spitballs this time," Percy nodded.

"I'll give you a deal. Tell Kronos to call off his attack, leave Luke Castellan's body, and return to the pits of Tartarus. Then maybe I won't have to destroy him."

Annabeth jerked upright to look him in the eyes so fast he'd be spitting her hair out of his mouth for weeks. He was pretty sure a few strands had flossed his teeth.

"You-" her voice broke, but she was smiling at him with such a tender expression of joy he really didn't care.

"Yeah, of course I asked," he shrugged like it was nothing. Like the thought would never not cross his mind to just tell Kronos to jump back into Tartarus no matter what form he was in.

She leaned forward and kissed his cheek and hugged him so tight that the only thought running through his head was which god he should tell to get out of so-in-so's body next.

The empousa snarled. Her hair erupted in fresh flames, but Prometheus just sighed.

"If you change your mind," he said, "I have a gift for you."

"Burn it," Magnus said at once. His mind at once on Hermes's gifts. They had been helpful...but now he was questioning all over again everything Hermes had done that might have just been a way to push Luke further down the path he was on faster, sending Percy along with the message the god himself admitted would do no good!

A Greek vase appeared on the table. It was about three feet high and a foot wide, glazed with blackand-white geometric designs. The ceramic lid was fastened with a leather harness.

Grover whimpered when he saw it.

"Geometric designs can be very intimidating if you're not accustomed to seeing them," Thalia nodded in mock understanding. Her blood had chilled to the bone when she'd seen it too.

Thalia gasped. "That's not—"

"Yes," Prometheus said. "You recognize it."

Looking at the jar, I felt a strange sense of fear, but I had no idea why.

"This belonged to my sister-in-law," Prometheus explained. "Pandora."

"The, music streaming service god-"

"Nope, just stop," Percy shook his head. "Even I know this one Alex."

"Darn," she sighed, always a lost moment when she couldn't laugh with Percy about which Greek myth he forgot this time.

A lump formed in my throat. "As in Pandora's box?"

Prometheus shook his head. "I don't know how this box business got started. It was never a box. It was a pithos, a storage jar. I suppose Pandora's pithos doesn't have the same ring to it,

"I entirely disagree!" Annabeth sniffed. "Pandora's Pithos has an excellent ring to it, and it's historically accurate, and-"

Percy kissed her temple and patted her arm, causing her to release a grumpy sigh but file that one away for later on a PowerPoint she'd force the rest of the camp to sit through.

but never mind that. Yes, she did open this jar, which contained most of the demons that now haunt mankind—fear, death, hunger, sickness."

"Don't forget me," the empousa purred.

"Indeed," Prometheus conceded. "The first empousa was also trapped in this jar, released by Pandora.

"Great, real awesome lady, I think I preferred whatever music god Alex was fixing to create," Magnus sighed.

"Music streaming lady," Alex said, "she'd never dare overtake Apollo of course, but with the right offering, she gives you the best playlist for any situation-"

"Alex," Thalia groaned.

"Fine," she huffed.

But what I find curious about the story—Pandora always gets the blame. She is punished for being curious. The gods would have you believe that this is the lesson: mankind should not explore. They should not ask questions. They should do what they are told. In truth, Percy, this jar was a trap designed by Zeus and the other gods. It was revenge on me and my entire family—my poor simple brother Epimetheus and his wife Pandora. The gods knew she would open the jar. They were willing to punish the entire race of humanity along with us."

"I'm getting, Eve bit the apple and we're ashamed of being naked vibes from this," Magnus admitted.

"Doesn't surprise me, most religions have several cross-overs. Apple, phythos, snake, Kronos, minor details," Percy nodded in agreement while Annabeth gave him an aggrieved look for calling all that a minor detail.

I thought about my dream of Hades and Maria di Angelo. Zeus had destroyed an entire hotel to eliminate two demigod children—just to save his own skin, because he was scared of a prophecy. He'd killed an innocent woman and probably hadn't lost any sleep over it. Hades was no better. He wasn't powerful enough to take his revenge on Zeus, so he cursed the Oracle, dooming a young girl to a horrible fate. And Hermes . . . why had he abandoned Luke? Why hadn't he at least warned Luke, or tried to raise him better so he wouldn't turn evil?

Maybe Prometheus was toying with my mind.

Prometheus didn't have to make up any of that stuff though. The worst lies were wrapped around truths, the seeds of doubt and strife ready to bloom. Will swallowed stubbornly though Percy had made the right choice.

Anybody could be shown at their worst if all that was shown was one side of Jason's list.

But what if he's right? part of me wondered. How are the gods any better than the Titans?

"The Titans don't have the classy ability to turn people into animals though, from what I've heard," Alex said as if this were a very important distinction. Somehow in the god's favor. Whatever floated her boat.

Prometheus tapped the lid of Pandora's jar. "Only one spirit remained inside when Pandora opened it."

"Hope," I said.

"C+," Percy mock whispered again with pride, but there was no enthusiasm in the brag as usual. Gods it had been a lifetime ago since he'd sat at that desk and pummeled his brain to remember any of the studying he'd tried to soak in the night before. When Mrs. Dodd's trying to kill him had been his biggest worry in life.

Not holding all of humanity's hope in a pithos!

Prometheus looked pleased. "Very good, Percy. Elpis, the Spirit of Hope, would not abandon humanity. Hope does not leave without being given permission. She can only be released by a child of man."

The Titan slid the jar across the table.

"I give you this as a reminder of what the gods are like," he said.

"The gods have never turned themselves into a jar," Will said blithely. "My dad would never be a geometric pattern! Bubbles, maybe, or a rainbow, but never that."

"You keep that cheer alive Will, someone has to," Jason chuckled.

"Keep Elpis, if you wish. But if you decide that you have seen enough destruction, enough futile suffering, then open the jar. Let Elpis go. Give up Hope, and I will know that you are surrendering. I promise Kronos will be lenient. He will spare the survivors."

The survivors, Percy was still scowling. Like they would experience some unique horror that would go down in history books.

Instead of Kronos waiting twenty-four hours to fulfill his promise of letting them live and then hunt them for sport out of boredom.

I stared at the jar and got a very bad feeling. I figured Pandora had been completely ADHD, like me. I could never leave things alone. I didn't like temptation. What if this was my choice? Maybe the prophecy all came down to my keeping this jar closed or opening it.

"At least you know there aren't pickles inside," Alex offered.

"I'm over here worried Percy's just going to, like, start picking at it," Magnus sighed. "He's going to push the edge of the lid to see how sturdy it is, and then rotate it, and scrape against that leather until it's worn thin, and just keep pushing his luck until, whoops, it fell off."

Percy rubbed the back of his neck without denying a word of that being a very plausible thing to happen.

"I don't want the thing," I growled.

"Too late," Prometheus said. "The gift is given. It cannot be taken back."

"Well it's not my fault he didn't keep the receipt!" Percy huffed.

"Talk about a regift," Nico agreed.

He stood. The empousa came forward and slipped her arm through his.

"Morrain!" Prometheus called to the blue giant. "We are leaving. Get your flag."

"Uh-oh," the giant said.

"Third time's the charm," Jason muttered with no self-restraint.

"I liked it better when you were counting old ladies," Percy sighed.

"We will see you soon, Percy Jackson," Prometheus promised. "One way or another."

Ethan Nakamura gave me one last hateful look. Then the truce party turned and strolled up the lane through Central Park, like it was just a regular sunny Sunday afternoon.

Percy's blood was still boiling at that exchange. He'd envisioned in his mind throwing Riptide at their exposed backs, at storming after them to get this over with Kronos already, to chuck that stupid pithos into the nearest manhole.

He'd done none of that as he felt Thalia and Grover exchange a look behind him, and all he'd wanted to do was hurry back to Annabeth's side for what little time they might have left.

PJOPJOPJOPJO

*Prometheus's smooth-talking does remind me of Loki, the basis of this joke

**No Nico has not seen Jurassic Park, yet, but you bet your drachma Will's going to show that to him after they're done binging Star Wars and Marvel, and he's going to love it all

[darklordazalin]

Azalin Reviews: Darklord Dominic d'Honaire

Domain: Dementlieu Domain Formation: 707 BC Power Level:💀💀⚫⚫⚫ Sources: Domains of Dread (2e), Realms of Terror (2e), Domains and Denizens (2e), Monstrous Compendium I-III (2e), Secrets of the Dread Realms (3e)

The rolling hills, sparse woodlands, and relatively peaceful wildlife of Dementieu merely obfuscate the true horror of this realm - petty, bickering nobles used as marionettes by a man child.

The Dementlieuse use art to hide all they do. They wear excessive amounts of face paint and ridiculously elaborate wigs to conceal their flaws and even distasteful stage magicians aren’t as they first appear. Stage magic, bah. At least they have a secret society in which they perform real magic, but to have such masters of the arcane reduced to mere entertainment is beyond insulting.

The divide between the upper and lower classes of Dementlieu is extreme with the upper class spending their days in useless rivalries and trivial pursuits while the poor do all the actual work. This has resulted in uprisings in the past and things appear to be on the brink once again.

Most of this is Dominic D’Honaire’s design or more accurately, playground. Dominic was born in the land of Mordent and has enjoyed the art of manipulation since he was a child. Some say he was born evil, others blame over indulgence from the adults in his life after his mother died. Whichever the case, Dominic took delight in manipulating people against one another and relished in each relationship he ruined.

He was so skilled and subtle with his machinations that those he used often thought they were carrying out their own whims. When he was 7, he encountered one of the first adults in his life that actively tried to enforce strict rules on the spoiled brat, his nanny. To rid himself of her, he convinced her of things that were never true and ruined every relationship she held dear. Her mind was so warped by his gaslighting, he convinced her to throw herself off the rocky cliffs of Mordent and into the Sea of Sorrows.

When the Mordentshire constables became suspicious of the nanny’s disappearance, Dominic became uneasy and convinced his father to move the family out of Mordent. A common theme in there realms for Dominic was not the first to flee Mordent only to enter his own prison. As the D’Honaire’s left Mordent, the domain of Dementlieu was formed with Dominic as its Darklord.

As a child, Dominic continued to manipulate the adults around him to amass wealth and influence. By the age of 20 he was appointed the chief advisor to the lord governor and is the head of the Council of Brilliance that advises them. This Council and the lord governor are merely Dominic’s puppets. Well, all but one who Dominic has deluded himself into believing he is in love with.

Dominic’s rule is based on his natural and supernatural means to manipulate and control others. Though not a spell caster, his voice and gaze are similar to the Suggestion and Dominate spells. With time, his domination over another’s mind is almost permanent. These individuals are referred to as “Obedient” and only Domination by another or leaving the realm of Dementlieu will remove Dominic’s influence.

The greatest threat to Dominic’s rule is “The Brain”. Dominic believes this to be a code name of some sort, but it is literally a brain in a jar and considered to be a failed experiment by Mordenheim. So...no differetn from any of the doctor's other experiments. This Brain and Dominic are in a constant game of chess trying to gain control of the people’s minds without knowing who their opponent is.

I appreciate a cunning web of manipulation, but only when it serves a greater purpose. Dominic’s plans are more for his own entertainment and have very little value. Of course, getting to the spider at the center of the web would be difficult for those unable to move in high society, but this is Dominic’s only real power. His curse is a strange one. Our Tormentors gave this over-sized child a literal playground and the only drawback he faces is any woman he finds attractive will find him repulsive. Is this a true curse or just an indication of the good taste and high intellect of Dementlieu women? I am in a generous mood, I will grant 1.5 skulls to this man child.

[twistedpink]

(“Iron Legacy Anon”)

Turn 7:

Last time on (“Robotic Engineer Superheroes Fight Sticklers about Chess Board Specifications”), our heroes tried their best to beat down the trio of invaders. Eventually knocking Trey and Riddle out and got to talk to Catter. After informing Catter of the situation, they began to calm down… When suddenly Riddle got back up and transformed into a new form and became a serious threat.

Anyway we zoom back in and… It’s the collars again, that’s all that can be seen… An utter flurry of collars as Riddle tries anything and everything to grab a non-present 5 of Diamonds… Of course, when you have 50 billion collars everyone’s bound to get hit, though, The chessboard and the engineer have it particularly bad with three instead of two… Atleast Omnitron X and Taychon seem to not be affected too badly by the sudden infernal shocks from the collars… Though, many people’s stuff was snatched for being “contraband” including… The checkers variant on the board, The Wrangler, and one of Omnitron X’s electro-deployment units.

Next up we cut to the chessboard. Altough it might be hard to do damage with all the obstructions the king marches on, commanding its pawns to march as it continues the speed and animates a pawn. As one rounds to the final square and returns home, its form begins to shift… Promoting into The Queen, the King finally had his powerhouse on the field…

Meanwhile, The Engineer was careful to not incur the wrath of the collars, choosing only to work on upgrading his last building, The Teleporter… With his full setup at his command, he chuckled as his devices got to work… The Dispencer funneled valuable resources to the World’s Quickest Woman, however due to the many collars around everyone’s necks the healing actually turned to hurting… The two sentry guns made sure, however that the damage would be more than reflected onto Riddle. The teleporter gave the chessboard the opportunity to set up the patrol variant, though it wouldn’t do much. Anyway, The Rook launched at Riddle once again, smashing with maximum efficiency due to the Cassablanca variant even with the obstructions due to the collar.

Taychon, meanwhile had enough of these damned collars! She burst towards the powerful magician, because she knew… Nothing could stop her… Whenever she felt like slowing down she would just get faster and faster… (Real flavor text by the way.) She wrapped up the many lines of the leash seemingly attached to the collar the speed and sudden reaction almost blinding Riddle…

“Real talk… These collars amuse me, they seem very applicable to so many situations… I wonder how they work every time I dismantle one to remove them… But quick lesson kid, nothing, and I mean nothing slows me down!” Taychon said, jumping up and out of the window of Unity’s Playground, up across the window of the front desk, and even higher past the security station, her secondary lab, and even the command station… She spontaneously jumps off of the building and spins rapidly, slamming Riddle into the grounds at ridiculous speeds!

(If I was actually writing a superhero story, this is where I would have it end. But unfortunately Taychon is 9 damage short of the KO and having Omnitron X having a big moment with self sabotage seems not the smartest after such a big moment. Just for pacing reasons.)

(For tax purposes, that combo was a Supersonic Reponse into a Lightspeed Barrage… But I mean, This is much more cool thematically for a 17 damage big attack… Also a Taychon power experiment flubbed.)

We cut back to on the ground, where Taychon, Omnitron X… And really everyone else have been dragged to the ground floor. Omnitron X, seeing Taychon injured from a mixture of sources, decides to heal all the other heroes… With Catter and The King splitting some of the rays. Beginning it’s reset process quickly, it noticed Riddle wasn’t quite defeated… So it made sure, ditching it’s unnecessary parts for a major electrical blast through the collar… It gave a curt wave to The King, who took the signal and had it’s pieces surround and properly capture the Overblotted enemy… The two knights hopped across the battlefield to surround the enemy and made sure that the Housewarden was out cold…

The King, confident in its victory announced “CHECKMATE.” before turning to its former opponent in Catter… “Catter Diamond, please acquire a dragonfly pin as soon as possible.” Aiming to mark him as an ally acquired through a Dragonfly Variation like play, before turning off itself and the rest of the Chessboard… Catter was very confused about the board’s strange request. And turned to Dell…

The Engineer replied… “I think it likes you? Not sure really what’s going on in that box to cause that, mostly just do the definite stuff like the mechanical parts…”

Catter however… For all of that, had taken an interest to the strange chessboard. And asked… “Hey, Dell, could I make a video showcasing the cool chessboard? I think it would be happy to see me again.”

Dell sighed… “Make sure you don’t break it…”

Casting Call/Credits:

Writing done by me, “Iron Legacy Anon”

Freedom Tower, Tachyon and Omnitron X decks made by Greater Than Games as a part of the actual base game and sets of Sentinels of The Multiverse.

Riddle Rosehearts Custom Villain made by Knavetown.

Chess custom Hero made by MasterAce92/AceMaster.

Engineer TF2 custom Hero made by Kailen Clemont.

Special thanks to anyone who read this far.

IM NOT JOKING, I read this twice over because it’s just SO good. Standing ovation fr man

[ultraericthered]

Nostalgic Lookback: Chuck E. Cheese's

Related: The Glory Days of Chuck E. Cheese.

So when I was very little, I'd no idea what Showbiz Pizzas or Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theaters were - those were holdovers from the 80s, so how could I've possibly known? But one random night, under circumstances I can't even remember except that I was out on the road with my family, and my mom and dad ended up taking us to this place right next to the nearby mall. It was unfamiliar to me, but I do recall noticing the cartoon rat on the place's logo. It felt like I was being taken to some backalley location both delightful and strange.

It was, of course, a Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza (formerly known as Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre, later renamed simply Chuck E. Cheese's). And everything this place used to be was fully in-tact.

The music, the animatronics floor show, the pizza and drinks, the arcade games, the tickets and prizes, even an indoors playground all made Chuck E. Cheese's a fun and special place, both on that first night there and on subsequent visits to a more local location.

And then of course there was him - the MC rat himself.

I've mentioned on here before that this well dressed, magician-looking oversized rodent is the Chuck E. I was first introduced to and the one I liked the best. I didn't mind him shaving the whiskers and adopting more casual attire like the sports coach look or the "cool" look, but it just wasn't quite the same, and I especially lack fondness for Skater Chuck E. or "Avenger Chuck E.", as he's when the pizzeria chain started to really get diminished and dumbed down into strictly for little kiddies. It's not the same place anymore, not even close.

Don't want to go on a "the old days were better, kids these days don't know what they're missing" tangent, but over time, I've seen Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza devolve from what I first experienced it as, like:

Yeah, you can read that right! It's just called "Chuck E. Cheese" now!

Chuck E. Cheese's, you may be gone, but your memory lives on.

[nogu-d-reamers]

WELCOME TO PLAYTOWN/POPPY PLAYTOWN AU-LORE AND BASIC INFORMATION.

(Yeahh...The name is ridiculous, but it is the one that best fits what I want to do.-)

“WELCOME TO PLAYTOWN!! The place where the unimaginable can become reality; where magic coexists with day to day and where the entire earth is a constant rough diamond in exploration,where things that one could only imagine in dreams can come true, where even something like a smile has power to turn in colours at this gray world..."

-Elliot Ludwig {founder of Playtown and famous explorer}.

Who Is playtown?.

Unlike to what it might seem, Playtown IS NOT a Town, it's actually a continent discovered by explorer Elliot Ludwing in the year 17XX; but it remains with the original name that he gave it out of respect for his memory... And because the irony was so funny to them that they got used to the fact .

Playtown's Geography.

It also has several great capitals, cities and towns in coastal, mountainous, desert, industrial areas, forests, frosts and some skyislands in the clouds (How have they not flown away? I leave them with the doubt-).

Within the continent there are some regions (called "Great zones") of interest which are=

Main city (Great Capital).

Elliot's Height's (oldest zone).

GamesSquare.

PlayGround.

The forgoten Towns.

Map mapped by Bron T´ Saurus.

[I make the map, I know; it's awful].

Its main currency is the playcoin, however in more rural areas galiostro crystal is still used (a specific type of crystal that functions as a quasi-infinite energy receptor, and which of course still maintains constant use in the territory).

His main language (for the convenience of the script) is English (although it can vary depending on how much he wants to make a comic in Spanish, and if someone who speaks another language makes a drawing he should not strictly stick to English); accents are welcome.

The native language (most frequently spoken on the Sky Islands or Forgotten Towns) is called Toynabe.

Magic in Playtown?

As mentioned above, magic is an innate element in the playtown continent; something in which Ludwig in his research and expeditions stood out as an authentic "Serendipity" to him, which caused many of the natural phenomena typical of the continent; such as the islands of the sky that remain constant above it or that the climate in some sectors can change up to 16 times per year.

In the only places where this element seems to follow the conditions of the rest of the world is in the places where there are large fields of poppies (which has given rise to thinking that this flower has canceling properties of it).

Currently and due to the earth's own influence, all inhabitants have the ability to use magic and regulations have been made so that it does not get out of control.

How is it classified the magic users?

Although in Ludwig's time he looked at his surroundings with fascination; For other contemporary explorers they were simply classified as "good people" and "bewitched people"; To date, normalization and various investigations by Leith Pierre (successor of Elliot's investigations about the continent) gave rise to the current classification, which has 6 classifications of magic users; which are=

Magicians:

Focused on laws and classification studies.

Descendants of great academics and "good people" who found a way to make sense of magic under complex systems of spells, mantras and the academic class system in order to have permission to use it freely; usually they specialize in the theoretical field, regulation, tax rulings and head the Playtown legal system.

To externalize their magic they use wands.

Alchemists:

focused on progress and sciences.

Descended and interested in workers who tried to import various refined non-native materials from the continent and make them work; They have found a way to mix magic with technologies; and in turn, bringing back the branch of alchemy from the past.

They share a hybrid system between academic and practical to have permission to use it freely.

In general, they tend to focus on heavy jobs, such as mechanics, construction and experimentation; and in rare cases in pharmacy or economy.

To externalize their magic they use alchemical circles on watches or embroidery.

Shamans:

focused on physical and mental health.

knowledgeable about the body and mind of a person to the point of being able to decipher many diseases before they manifest themselves. Although it is common for them to dedicate themselves to medicine regardless of the type of education they had; It is said that to identify a true shaman you must ask them for a prediction.

They usually dominate in the branches of medicine, nursing, psychology, psychiatry… and for some reason in divination.

To externalize their magic they use cards.

Exorcists:

focused on religion and spirituality.

The great exponents when explanations do not exist and the world beyond entertainment becomes present and calms the spiritual needs of people; They usually have a type of cloistered education and many dogmatically prefer to remain celibate.

Over time they have gained enough influence that some have enough influence to join the branch of magicians.

Actualmente la religión predominante es el "prototypism", who surrender all their devotion to those they consider the prototype of all living beings.

To externalize their magic they use jewelry with unique engravings.

Witchers:

descendants of original inhabitants of the continent and focused on conservation and nature.

They are the only ones who refused to enter the system, not much information is told beyond the rumors of their abilities with the paranormal dealings and anecdotes of several encounters of exorcists and disappearance of soldiers in their territories.

They are the only ones who don't need any external element to externalize magic, however a witch will always have a familiar.

Cursed:

originally a punishment for those who used to use their magic in destructive ways by being stripped of their magic; and now it is given a military design thanks to the discovery of "the doctor."

That discovery was that he discovered that when a body is of its magic it gains resistance and strength beyond imagination; and thanks to various experiments, the degree of controlling and transmuting the user of it according to their range is reached.

Their education takes the boarding school and academy system in equal parts.

It is common to see them dedicated to various military, police, navy… etc. branches. Although there is the case that when they desert they go to witch territory.

They cannot externalize magic, in some cases they can even cancel it when the curse is activated.

They are recognized by certain types of specific markings on the right arm that identify their rank.

Extra notes=

Witchers and magicians hate each other because of issues of culture clash, the systematic segregation and because in matters of law it becomes a dangerous war to involve either party.

The exorcists and the cursed do not relate very well either, more than anything because of the relationship of subordination that exists.

Curiously, the cursed and witchers tend to correlate a lot and see themselves as equals; it is common for several cursed people to desert and go to forgotten towns to reside.

Shamans are "social butterflies" with the other branches, and because health is not denied to anyone.

Magicians and alchemists will always work in synergy when they are together.

to a lesser extent and for warlike matters, alchemists and cursed people can relate in a neutral way

For the safety of half the world, constant diplomatic relations are maintained between magicians and exorcists to adjust terms.

About the Scientist...

There is a debate whether this problem with experimentation can occur since the time of Harley Sawyer or if Elliot Ludwig can be blamed as a side effect of his arrival.

Yeah... these sons of a *CENSURE BEEP* still existing. And they will continue to annoy the normal lives of these non-humanoid beings.

Its main indelible mark being the change in the meaning of the "cursed" in a military manner. and it is known that they have had under their control a family of exorcists that is equivalent to a royal family in the disappeared city of Gasétude, in Playgrounds.

And if you have questions…

Give me patience, when I start posting to the SCs! final designs and datas about them, I will open an ask and answer any of your questions.

[mcufan72]

Cold winter days, a lonely woman on a bench, a stranger in the park...

An Encounter in Winter ❄️

Loki and female reader

Chapter 15

Chapter 14

18+/adult themes/talking/flirting/slow burn/ fluff/angst/smut

Warnings: implied smut, some sweet soft smut, doubt and self-doubt, some answers and new questions

"Are you sure you don't know that person, Snowflake?"

"Yeah, I couldn't even figure out if it's a man or a woman… I'm just glad the girl is back in her dad's or mum's arms," and you watched them leaving the park.

"Snowflake, I'm truly concerned…what if someone tries to harm you?"

"Lo, why should someone want that?"

"I don't know. You tell me."

"Please, stop dramatizing it, Lo. Maybe that person thought they knew me and just wanted to find out if it was like this or not. And I stick to "not". I'm sure it was just a case of mistaken identity. Let's go back to the hotel, Lo. I'd like to spend a cosy last evening with you."

You wrapped your arm around his waist, buried your hand in the back pocket of his stone-grey tight-fitting jeans and Loki slung his arm around your shoulder. He loved that you wore your sleeveless flower dress today so his fingers could touch and caress your bare skin. Loki took a deep breath and looked sceptically at you. He wasn't sure what to think about this whole situation. He didn't want this wonderful free time and these holidays to end but now he just wanted to bring you back home safely. Tomorrow you two would be on your flight back home to New York and somehow he was glad about it.

"You've been so sweet with the little girl. It seemed she liked you."

"If you say so… and yes, she was a cutie, and she seemed curious and… impressed?"

"She definitely liked the fireworks you had conjured for her, Lo …I liked them too," you said softly.

"Mmhhhh, I can conjure other fireworks for you, my love," he purred like an amorous tomcat and nudged his nose against your cheek.

"I'd love that, baby," you giggled.

"If we ever decide to have children, I just want to have them with you, Lo. You'll definitely be a good dad."

You turned your head towards him and his soft gaze met yours.

"Do you still think that? You can't know that. Maybe I won't be a good dad," he answered with sad eyes.

"Do you think I'd be a good mum?" you asked him demandingly.

"You'll be the best mum in the nine realms and you…what?"

You couldn't stop chuckling.

"How can you know that Lo baby?" you questioned him, a big grin on your face.

"Okay, okay, I'm already quiet but… sometimes my insecurities make an appearance again. Sorry, my love."

"Don't be, Lo. You have me now to make them disappear again," and you pecked a gentle kiss on his cheek, a shy smile curving his mouth.

It seems you were a better magician than him because you always did the right things for him and made him immediately feel better again.

"That little girl reminds me of my sister."

"How come and why?" He asked you bewildered.

"When we were children and out on the playground or a little trip she tended to run away to more exciting places. She…didn't really run away, I always knew where she was. For us, it was fun and just a game but for our mother, it had been a catastrophe… every single time," you laughed.

"You had been very naughty girls, you and your sister. Scaring your mum to death was not nice, Snowflake," he stated with a teasing undertone.

"Says the god of mischief," you teased him back playfully, " and…Had been? I'm still naughty, Sir…but nowadays only for you," you said chirping and with your hand, you gave his ass cheek a firm squeeze.

"And I appreciate it, my Lady," he hummed in response and kissed your lips promisingly.

Once back in the hotel he would want you underneath him as soon as possible and fuck the naughtiness out of you. Would his addiction to you ever get less? Hopefully not …and he felt how your heartbeat quickened in sheer anticipation.

"When we're back home, we will try to find your sister, okay? I haven't forgotten the promise I gave you. You still miss her, don't you?"

"Sure, I do." you said thoughtfully. "I hope we find her, Lo."

"We will, I'm sure, my love," and he kissed you tenderly.

"Please don't you ever run away again! I was scared, honeybee. You must stay with me, I can't lose my baby!"

"I didn't run away, I wanted to see the fairies and…and…I needed to see if they live between the yellow rose petals," the little girl tried to explain her excursion.

"There are no fairies, my little honeybee and you can't run away from the playground without coming to me first and telling me that you want to go somewhere else, okay?"

"I'm sorry…I'll never do it again, I promise," she said quietly and her voice was full of guilt.

"It's alright, honeybee I'm just glad that nothing happened to you and that I have you back… did you talk to the woman? And what about the man who knelt in front of you? I saw it from afar when I was looking for you."

"I didn't talk to them, I know I mustn't talk to strangers. The woman was nice and soooo pretty, her name was y/n and the man was a wizard!"

"Honeybee, there are no wizards…"

"He.Was.A.Wizard! And his name was…was…his name was Loki," she pouted and crossed her small arms.

"I've told you too many fairy tales, I guess."

"He was a wizard and sooo nice to me. He made funny lights and sparkles in his palm… the pink ones I liked the most!"

"Oh, honeybee you have way too much imagination. What was the woman's name again?"

"Her name was Y/n."

"Uh hm …come, let's hit home, honeybee."

"Can I have pancakes for dinner?"

"Of course, honeybee, we make pancakes for dinner."

"Yes yes, pancakes," she cheered, clapping her hands. "And he was a wizard," she whispered to herself.

When you were back at the hotel you two got quickly rid of your clothes. Loki carried you to the bed, never loosening his grip around your waist and giving you demanding kisses. He laid you down into the cushions with him on top of you, your hands roaming over the toned muscles of his back. You felt his veiny pulsating cock sliding into your dripping wet cunt and you enjoyed his weight on you and the feeling of his soft skin on yours. Loki gave you slow and deep strokes and held your hand the whole time. He whispered sweet nothings into your ear and you told him again and again how much you loved him.

He made the sweetest, deepest love to you and it didn't take you long to cum around his throbbing length. Loki insisted on making you orgasm one more time before he wanted to find his release in the velvety warmth of your cunt which convulsed about his cock. When his passion overtook him he spent his seed deep inside you, with a low moan until you were dripping. As much as he loved rough sex, the slow lovemaking made him always feel safe and content. And this time he felt so close to you.

Tonight his incredible tenderness and how he looked into your eyes while making sweet love to you, made you cry. He kissed your tears away and after many more love confessions, you took a shower together and had a last dinner at the hotel's restaurant. Later, when you both went to bed again, you snuggled into him and before you fell asleep in each other's arms, you made a decision. Never before have you been more convinced.

Back in New York, day-to-day life had you two in its claws again, sooner than you had expected. Bruce and you had so much work to do in the lab, intensive biological and theoretical studies and tons of paperwork. In this case, it means all of your research results had to be fed to the computer files and systems. Loki and the other Avengers had to go on new missions, shorter ones and longer ones and Loki's and your wonderful holiday slowly faded into a beautiful memory.

One afternoon, when the Avengers were on a new mission again, you took a break from work to have a cup of tea and met Jane in the compound's kitchen. You two have become friends since she lived here too. Things between her and Thor have become more serious and so she decided to move in with Thor. The fact that Jane and you got along with each other well was also a blessing for Loki and Thor. The two brothers were closer together than ever before and both appreciated it.

You hadn't had much time talking to each other since you and Loki had returned from the holidays so you were happy to meet her now and have a little chit-chat with her. You also had a feeling there was some news she wanted to tell you because a few days ago you had spotted a ring on her left hand.

"Hey, Jane, so good to see you!"

"Hey, y/n, it feels like it has been ages since we last met, right?"

"Yeah, I've been so busy since we returned. I'm already stressed again," you laughed and you two hugged each other.

"How are you doing?" you asked her, pouring some tea in a mug. "Fancy a cuppa?"

"Oh, yes please. I don't feel well today."

"Why? What happened, dear?"

"I miss Thor," she answered sadly.

"Oh, yes I understand … I miss Loki terribly."

"I have gotta feeling that something has happened to them…"

For a short moment, you leaned back at the kitchen counter, closed your eyes, and listened to your heartbeat. It was strong, steady, and calm. And there was something like a second voice or a bass line in a choir; strong, steady, and calm…Loki's heartbeat. You opened your eyes again and smiled at her. With teary eyes, Jane looked quizzically at you.

"They're alright Jane, Thor is fine, " you told her calmly.

"How do you know that?"

"I can feel it," you explained.

"You can feel it? What can you feel? I mean, … how?"

"I'm bonded with Loki and somehow I…I just can feel it when I listen to my heart. It's just there."

"Wow, that's awesome. Are you… are you already immortal like him and like Thor?"

"No. Are you?"

"No, neither. I'm still unsure…"

"But…you're engaged already, aren't you?" and you smiled brightly at her and pointed to the ring on the ring finger of her left hand. It was a wonderful brightly shining ruby and diamond ring. "Congratulations!"

"Ohhh, yesss…thank you. We're very happy."

"And I'm happy for you two, dear! I hope it was a romantic day when Thor proposed to you."

"Very romantic, as romantic as Thor can be but yes, he was cute and extremely nervous. The ring fell on the floor twice before he placed it on my finger. He was so afraid I could refuse him," Jane said and giggled with reddened cheeks.

"What about you and Loki? When did he propose to you in Norway? Ohh it must've been so romantic …"

"He didn't propose to me, neither in Norway nor in London," you said quietly and looked at her with questioningly raised eyebrows.

"Oh, aahhmm it's just… Thor meant…"

"What did Thor mean?"

"Oh..nothing, sweetie, nothing. Forget it, forget my question. I'm sorry…"

With a frowning forehead, you questioned yourself if there was something she knew and you didn't. Did Loki want to propose to you in Norway and if so, why didn't he do it? Everything seemed fine during the vacation and you were convinced that you had done nothing wrong. You wouldn't get an answer right now. It seemed you just had to wait until Loki came back. And a proposal or not, nothing could change your deep love for him. Maybe you were a bit disappointed right now but you still loved your pretty alien King.

Jane was slightly irritated and maybe she should've kept her big mouth shut but she clearly remembered what Thor had told her. He recited what Loki said to him before you and Loki headed to Norway:

'This gorgeous woman, who owns my heart, deserves a very special marriage proposal and a wonderful wedding.'

Maybe they shouldn't have assumed Loki would ask you in Norway to marry him. But it seemed to be the perfect place to do it.

"I'm really sorry, y/n. I should've kept my mouth shut."

"Don't worry, Jane. Everything is fine," and you smiled reassuringly at her.

"Did you ever think about eating Idun's apple, y/n?"

"No, never because this is not my path to get the same kind of immortality as Loki."

"It's not?"

"No. As you know Loki isn't Asgardian by birth so I have to do it the Jotun way."

"And… What is the Jotun way?" she asked curiously.

"We're already bonded and we're already one body, one soul and one heartbeat. The last step is to become one blood."

"Wow. Are you afraid of doing it? I mean, it's such a big step, a life-changing decision."

"I'm not afraid of it, I just thought about if there would be something I had to abandon because of my then prolonged life span… but I don't have a family anymore, I just have Loki and my love for him is endless… and then finally it was an easy decision to make."

"Yeah, that makes sense, I've the same thoughts as you… we would have each other then, you and I gossiping forever and ever," she said and you two laughed in unison.

"Wouldn't that be great?" You asked her.

"Absolutely fantastic!" Jane agreed with you.

"Just take your time, Jane. Speak with Thor about it again…and everything will be fine."

After some more chit-chat and exchanging some more of the newest gossip, you returned to the lab. The day's work still wasn't done yet.

A few days later you had the opportunity to take the afternoon off. First of all, you strolled through the park and after that you sat on your and Loki's bench for a while, watching the people and the scenery. It was late summer already and the beginning of autumn was near. Some leaves of the trees were already slowly changing their colours and you looked forward to cosy autumn afternoons. You would sit together with your lover in front of the crackling fireplace and hold each other's hands or you would sit on the sofa, snuggled up into each other under his fluffy black blanket, you and Loki preferably naked, while drinking hot chocolate.

Loki, the love of your life, owner of your heart. You sighed heavily while you thought of him and felt how much you loved and missed him right now. Soon he would be back from the mission and you could hardly wait for him to take you in his strong arms again. You missed his kisses and touches, his scent, his voice, you missed talking to him and cuddling him and of course, you missed the feeling of him buried deep inside of you and his soft skin on yours, his moans and sighs when you caressed him and scratched his scalp, twirling the curls of his black mane around your fingers.

You craved endlessly for him, it almost caused physical pain. You were sad and a bit disappointed when Pepper told you yesterday that she got a message from the team that they would need two more days because of a special mission they were asked to take care of before they could return to New York. You knew that something like this could happen at any time but still, you just wanted Loki to come back to you as soon as possible.

And Loki knew how much you missed him because he missed you terribly as well. He had problems falling asleep without you in his arms. He missed the warmth of your beautiful body, your soft skin on his. He missed spooning you the whole night and the deep and funny conversations you often have before falling asleep. He missed your gaze at him, your plump lips on his, your hands buried in his hair, tugging lovingly at it. He craved you desperately and he wanted nothing more than to return to you as soon as possible. But this special mission was extremely important and he truly pitied that he had to make you wait for him for two more days.

He had recorded a voice mail for you and Pepper had sent it to your phone. You inserted your earphones and listened to his message for the umpteenth time now but his deep smooth and calming voice eased your desperate wait for him.

"Hello, my love, my pretty Snowflake, my precious Queen. Do you miss me? When this message reaches you, you are probably asleep by now. I can tell you, it's not easy for me to fall asleep without you in my arms and I can't wait for the day when you sling your arms around me again. To have you not by my side is torture…and you've no idea what naughty things I'll do to you when I'm back… can't tell you more right now, too many curious listeners around me and what I want to tell you is destined for your ears only. I miss you, darling, I miss you terribly and I can't wait to see your face and your beautiful smile again. Think of me, my love, never forget to stroll daily through the park and sit on our bench. Think of me then, dream of me like I dream of you. Don't forget me, my love, and promise me that you eat and drink properly every day! And trust me I'll recognise it if you don't! Take good care of yourself my sweet darling and wait for me. I'm back soon, I promise. I love you, Snowflake."

A smile curved your lips and you pressed your phone to your chest. He had no idea how much his message comforted you. Before you headed back to Stark Tower you visited your favourite bookstore. You haven't been there for a long time now and today you wanted to have a look at some newly published novels and crime stories. You also wanted to buy a small gift for Loki, maybe a book about myths and legends in ancient times. You weren't sure but you would find something for him. Also, you felt the need to talk to him as soon as possible.

After the conversation with Jane, you had been absolutely sure about your final decision. You wanted to be his blood, you wanted eternity together with him. You wanted to ask him to bring you to Jotunheim so you could have the ritual and after that, you would be completely and irreversibly his and he would be yours, united in this unique bonding he had created with you. You already had a considerable number of books stored in your arms while you still strolled through the bookstore. The staple of books in one arm, you flipped through a book for vintage style for apartments when you felt someone standing behind you. Before you could think further if you maybe blocked someone's way, the person addressed you.

"I finally found you!"

You turned around, jumped and all the books you had stored on your arm, fell rumbling to the floor. Your face went pale and you felt the person's hand grabbing your forearm and you saw the tattoo that adorned the hand. You looked upwards into the person's eyes and you couldn't believe whose eyes they were.

"Josephine!" You said, hoarsely and shocked and you stared into your sister's face, which you hadn't seen for nearly two years now.

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