#sky's pans journey

[neurosky]

PANS/Lyme/Bartonella Update =]

After starting immunotherapy, I've gotten SO much better. Most days, I physically feel fine. Like little to no pain, little to no nausea, I'm usually not fatigued at all, and I haven't had a migraine in like two months. My tics are still there, but I don't really notice them because they're a lot milder than they used to be. Most days it feels like nothing is wrong physically at all, which is absolutely wild compared to just a few months ago.

Mentally I'm a lot better too. OCD is still very much there sometimes as well as anxiety and depression and a few other things, but they've all gotten a LOT less severe (OCD is going up and down though 😭). I used to have episodes/breakdowns every few days, but I don't even remember the last time I had one now.

Most days I honestly feel like a normal teenager health-wise. It's so weird to think that I went from barely functioning to pretty much fine in just a few months all because I finally got the right treatment.

I had an appointment with my doctor to check in on how the immunotherapy is going a few days ago and I literally had nothing to say. The whole appointment lasted about 10 minutes, if that, because I was fine. Like that's so weird to think about??

But yeah, just thought I'd give an update on how things have been!

[yandere-romanticaa]

𝐂𝐡𝐨𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐭.

🎀 Traveling from nation to nation and learning the art of creating the most delicious chocolate has been a passion of yours for ages. However, upon stepping foot into the Nation of Flame, you never could have prepared yourself for the incoming wave of sweetness and obsession which was going to hit you like never before.

A/N: This story is loosely inspired by Joanne Harris' book of the same title, Chocolat. It's a book that I am very fond of and I was inspired to write this once I saw that we were able to make chocolate in Natlan, probably the best thing in the game. I am a massive chocolate enjoyer, so... Also, the fic has some minor nsfw implications, just a bit of a heads up! Apologies if Kinich is not in character, oopsie.

yandere! kinich x fem! reader.

Proud warriors, the scorching hot sun and eternal flames were the first things that came to mind whenever you would think about Natlan. As a humble Mondstadter, it never occurred to you just how rich this nation was, how welcoming the people were going to be and not to mention how this place could help you develop your love for chocolate.

Stirring the pot in front of you was no easy task as the decadent scent of delightful goodness enveloped the entire humble little hut which you occupied, the entire floor littered with pots and pans filled to the brim with your creations and some personal trinkets which you had brought for yourself along for the journey.

One of Natlan's great tribes, the Scions of the Canopy, had graciously taken you under their wing and allowed you the privilege of experiencing the culture firsthand. You let out a wistful sigh as the chocolate bubbled happily before you, the dark liquid almost looking too good to be real.

You always took pride in your skills as a chocolatier, even if you hardly considered yourself the best one in the whole entire world. An endless sky of knowledge was out there waiting for you, the voices of the unknown beckoning you to come forward and seize them with your own two hands.

You were a true Mondstadter at heart. No matter where you were or how far you traversed, the wind was always there to guide you, to show you the right path. And right now, the flow of the wind said to stay in Natlan, to finally stop and smell the roses a little.

And each rose you touched had never been as sweet.

The rose, your rose, had a name and merely thinking of him sent your heart ablaze. Messy dark hair, gorgeous dew eyes and skin so perfectly rough and tender at the same time, it made you wonder how he managed to pull off something so contradictory.

That was Kinich's charm, you supposed. Cheeky little thing, he always looked out for you ever since he saw you. Despite his dry humor and straightforward attitude, there was a certain gentle quality to him which made him so irresistible, as if he was temptation personified. Never once did he leave you alone for the entirety of your trip if it could be helped, which came as a shock to his fellow tribe members.

Looking back on it, you were foolish to not see his intentions, even more so for not paying attention to the longing glimmer in his eye and how he would trail after you like a shadow.

He was shy, at first. Unsure on how he should express his feelings, Kinich merely resorted to doing things for you, because he was simply that kind of man. Actions speak louder than words and there was no word in the dictionary which could describe the way in which his chest would tighten in pain whenever he would make eye contact with you, as if large and thorny vines had sprouted from the ground up and taken root in his soul.

You are sweeter than any chocolate you could possibly make, he whispered into your ear one evening.

A shudder came over you, your cheeks hot at the memory of that night... The moon was high and full, overtaking the pitch black sky as Kinich had pinned you to the ground, his gaze boring deeply in your own, those large eyes focused on you and only you...

Chewing your bottom lip, you stirred the pot harshly as the memory replayed in your head over and over - his grip, which was tighter than any rope imaginable, the feeling of melted chocolate which was caked over your lips and fingers, the sensation of Kinich's tongue as he licked away the sweet goodness off your body...

By the seven, this was too much.

With a huff, you turned off the fire which was lit beneath the pot, your hands shaking with excitement as you felt your entire body growing hotter and hotter, making it harder to concentrate.

Damn that Kinich. Damn him for making you feel so wonderful, so wanted, so perfect. The thought of having to leave this place, it... It bordered on anguish. Sometimes, when you were sure no one was around, you would find a dark little corner and weep quietly to yourself. It was hard to manage the massive hiccups and keep the snot away from staining your clothes at first but you managed. Like always, you would find a way to get everything back in order and all would be well once you got everything out of your system.

You had fallen for Natlan. You had fallen even more so than Kinich. Even so, the wind was picking up once more, demanding that you make your next move.

There was so little time left to enjoy everything you had built here. Therefore, your plan was to make the most of everything you possibly could.

And Kinich was more than ready to assist with that.

He hid high up in a tree as he observed you, his face schooled into that of one of his classical nonchalance and stoicism. The chance of him being spotted by anyone up here was slim but even so, he liked to play it safe.

No one needed to know the pain he was in. No one needed to be aware of his more... dubious thoughts and actions. Kinich always fancied himself as a man of action rather than flowery words. And so, he acted.

Quietly, stealthily... Perhaps even a little lethally at times.

Violence was hardly ever the answer but if anyone got in his way and refused to back down, it was his only solution then.

Kinich had a solid reputation in his tribe - he was trustworthy, he was strong. This granted him access to many things, many useful and convenient things. All he had to do was say the word and most people would keep their mouths shut if they saw him somewhere he should not be. And if his poorly veiled threats were not enough, he was more than ready to take up his weapon and fight.

It really was that easy for him.

Sneaking into your newly built home was its own beast though.

This is wrong, he would chant inside his mind over and over again. The intensity of his actions and his nonchalant persona were always at a clash with one another, constantly fighting a never ending war. He should trust you, he knows you are capable, he has no right to be doing any of this even yet... And yet, he does it anyway.

Because he knows that if he doesn't do something, he will never see you again. Kinich knows that he will lose you to the wind if he lets you slip through his fingers, he will never get to experience what it means to be touched, to be loved.

He wants to adore you in the same way people adore your delectable creations. The various statues made from chocolates, the little cacao bites, the endless sea of pralines which would be devoured so fast by the masses that he could not keep up...

Whenever he had the luxury, he liked to imagine you as one of those pralines. Perfect and oh so easy to devour, you were nothing short of excellent in his eyes. Kinich was no blind fool, he was well aware that you had your flaws as well but he cared very little about that.

He wanted the entire package. He wanted you, wrapped up in a little bow and delivered on his doorstep like the world's most precious package, a package which he could unwrap and enjoy time and time over.

Even in his hazy state of mind, he could still recall how you tasted. Licking his lips, Kinich made sure to double check that he had taken a few things from your hut which could prevent you from finishing your latest project. Yes, that was petty of him.

But he could not be bothered to care.

The wind was cruel. Whenever a gust of it would blow at him, Kinich would scowl as he knew that it meant that you would take it as a sign to leave. His hair would get tousled as he would wrap his arms around his body, the constant yapping of Ajaw did him no good either.

The clock was ticking. There was only so much he could do to keep you here. A plan needed to be formed, fast.

For now, he was going to enjoy you in every way he could. He was going to be greedy and devour you wholly whenever the opportunity arose. As Kinich balanced himself up on the massive tree branch, yet another fresh gust of wind made its way towards him. He saw the way you popped your shoulders, that all too familiar smile on your face.

You loved the wind and the wind loved you. You loved to make chocolate and were quite excellent at it too.

Despite all that, Kinich loved you more. He adored you more than the sun adored the world, he wanted you more than unlike anything else before. He cursed the Anemo Archon underneath his breath, his poor lip bloody and bruised from the amount of times he had bitten it in order to keep himself quiet.

Kinch was a man of countless deeds. And he would find a way to keep you by his side, no matter the cost. Be it Celestia or the Abyss, there was no force in this world which could destroy the endless and raging fire he felt for you.

[vitaminseetarot]

PAC Pick a Ride: Your Next Big Adventure 🌌🌠🌃

Thank you for voting in my latest poll! I'm surprised and glad to see that Next Big Adventure won by a landslide! Seeing as we have the New Moon in Sagittarius on the 12th, it makes sense that we are collectively interested in seeing what the next chapter has in store. Please note that some of these other topics mentioned in my polls may appear in future pick a card readings, so stay tuned.

So without further ado, let's get into our piles! Pretend as though you are a Knight from your favorite tarot deck about to embark on your next journey. Please choose your mode of transportation:

1 - Plane 2 - Ship 3 - Motorbike 4 - Train

Pile 1 - Plane

Cards: Re-Evaluate, Pencil Sketch, The Pilgrim, Ceres - Nurture, Patience, 26. Protection - Finding What's Important; I Magician, 10 of Pentacles, 4 of Pentacles, XIX The Sun Channeled Locations: Canada, Singapore, Morocco, Ukraine, Australia, Philippines, UK, New Zealand, NYC, South Korea

Hi pile 1, you've chosen to travel by air, bypassing all the long troublesome routes. After all, the sky's the limit! Isn't it nice to measure your distance by how the crow flies sometimes? You're ready to catapult yourself into the next big adventure; I can tell there's a lot of excitement to see what's ahead here. You'd rather get to the next phase of your life instantly yet with ease. This is likely the pile with big career goals, especially if moving or actual traveling will be in the big picture. Maybe you're dreaming of traveling by plane as part of your future dream job? You don't just want to get there, as great as that is--it has to be done with intention.

You're in the process of drawing out what your next life would look like. The future seems full of creative possibilities, but with Pencil Sketch next to Re-evaluate, you're being asked to pay attention to the details. How do you want things to go one month from now, and one year from now? As great as it would be to have an entire decade mapped out, it's unrealistic, but it doesn't mean you can't draft some concepts. You should have something in mind, though, instead of setting out with a knapsack and praying for the best. If your next career or long term project could be anything you wanted, are you going to hop into something for 10 years that doesn't end up panning out in your favor, or would you rather delicately test something for a year before diving in? Moving forward can be exciting, but if you're going by plane, you will need some coordinates.

I think your reading is super straightforward, pile 1. You've got a lucky edge going for you with the tarot cards here. Whatever kind of career goal you have in mind, you may have a chance to "make it big" at some point. That won't come without a lot of foresight and careful investment, however. Don't try to rush into any big decisions right off the bat. I occasionally see the Magician card as the one signifying "read between the lines". If any contracts get involved, be very careful and read thoroughly. Don't be afraid to ask questions or seek clarification. The ones giving you the contact would rather see you jump in it blind, but you've got the crafty Magician energy to help you out during this retrograde period.

As eager as you are to begin your next journey, you're being asked to consider what you want to grow over the long term. This reading wants to shift the focus away from the end goal, even if there's a message here about acting with intention. Setting intention doesn't mean straying away from the present moment to only consider what happens in the end. Part of paying attention to detail means being aware and present in what's happening around you. The present moment is a crucial aspect of your growth period, and it wants you to gently guard after and care for your goal as though it were a plant. You know the fruit of the plant will be ready to eat when it's there and fully ripened, but in the meantime you can enjoy its flowers and fresh budding leaves.

Enjoy the gentle growth process, because once you do start to take off, you may be shocked by how high you'll find yourself in mere seconds. The initial lift of the plane as it begins to run with the sky can give you a wonky feeling like your whole world is shifting and moving with you. Your sense of time can change, requiring adjustment. If you're unprepared, the change could feel overwhelming. Make sure that by the time you're ready for that big takeoff in your work or projects, you will have built up a solid foundation to ground you once you're ready to come back down to earth. That's how you'll build lasting success in your life's next adventure. Stay optimistic, because that positive shift could come sooner than you think!

Pile 2 - Ship

Cards: Limitless, Calla, The Alchemist, 10. Capricorn - Achieve, Express Love, 11. Invention - Burning with Passion; X Wheel of Fortune, 4 of Wands, VII Chariot, 10 of Swords Channeled Locations: India, Greece, Ethiopia, Thailand, Spain, Iceland, Turkey, Croatia, South Africa

The seas are calling you, pile 2, calmly asking you to take only what's truly needed with you. The water's may be choppy, but out in the expansive blue seas, you can feel connected to the coasts of the entire world. With a firm grasp of the ship's wheel, you designate yourself captain as you adjust your sails and set your sights for the hidden treasure that lies ahead--or perhaps beneath your anchor. You're entering your next big adventure lit up with grand ideas for what to do all laid out on your map. Over the vast horizon, anything could happen, and you could find yourself shaking hands with anybody new. This pile may be seeking proposals or offers of some kind, ones that will let you dream bigger than you have before. This pile likely has a good idea of where to go next, or at least some interesting things written down.

These cards ask you to make peace with some aspect of your past. It could be that whatever you had planned before didn't entirely work out in your favor. As much as the online community talks about how rejection is divine protection, sometimes having plans fall apart is not going to feel good, even when you're just glad it's over with. The worst thing can be the feeling of not knowing what to expect after a fall. But your next chapter is showing a lot of promise in things to come, so don't let your past be the omen of your future. The tides are turning right now, and if you can focus on what you'd like to accomplish next, you'll be able to shift those tides in your favor. The first step is to see that you've survived the bad times, and that in itself makes you a victor. With that, you can move ahead with more confidence than before.

That's the thing about Capricorn energy: it thrives in conditions that others would consider too harsh or demanding. It's the drive to take the roughest materials and make diamonds from them. Once you can decide to make peace with what you've gone through, you can take the nuggets of wisdom you've garnered to make a beautiful new path for yourself. You dissolve the worst of your experiences and bring them together to make it better, as the Alchemist card suggests. The difficult times and failed attempts were not for waste; you've gained a lot of valuable growth that will provide a smoother current toward success in your next endeavor. This could be the pile that wants to start a business. Please know that simply starting a business, or even taking the first steps to plan one, takes a lot of guts already. If you've managed to go that far, congratulations! It takes a lot of hard work for a new business to be survive the long haul. So celebrate your milestones, no matter how small they seem.

Part of what makes this next chapter so fortuitous for you is how the energy is transiting through. You could be hit with a wave of inspiration from out of nowhere. If you've been stuck in one place without any wind to carry you through the fog, be prepared for that big splash! All hiccups set aside, you're still brimming with a lot of zeal for your next idea. You may even receive a cascade of insight, so be sure to write these things down as they come. You never know if something silly and small could end up helping you out later on. Your next big adventure is going to put the spark back in you, with a feeling of having a second chance at life, as Calla lilies represent rebirth. Don't be afraid to get excited over what's to come, pile 2. Your faith that things will work out for the better is contagious, as is your gratitude for the accomplishments you've made so far.

Pile 3 - Motorbike

Cards: Breathe, Snowboard, The Heir (Rx), 5. Leo - Shine, Balance, 21. Resilience - Finding Your Limits; 6 of Cups, Queen of Cups, Page of Wands, XIII Death Channeled Locations: Mexico, Italy, Midwest US, France, Norway, Egypt, Chile, Brazil

Your pile is like the fiery passion of the wands suit. Independent and bold, you chose to take open road for your next adventure, blazing a new path in front of your very eyes. You have an eagerness to take the world by storm, going wherever your first impulse wishes to carry you. This pile has a lot of drive to move forward to the next chapter with as much speed as possible, optimistic to find that next golden opportunity. And you're not afraid of a little showboating along the way. You even have the Snowboard palette card, which is a sport involving nothing but speeding down slopes and catching incredible air. This pile is the most excited for their next adventure.

Except actually, pile 3, you're being asked to slow down a little bit. And I get it! I get that this message can be so frustrating when you see what looks to be an endless highway yet the speed limit says 55. That might be a good pace for many folks, but for this pile it's not nearly enough! The thing to keep in mind is that this process of moderating your pace is for your overall benefit. See, you have the only reversed archetype card in all the piles. The card speaks of untapped potential, which is still there. It's simply saying that whatever you're seeking to do next, you're not totally ready because there is too much you're still carrying with you. To go with the motorbike analogy again, any leftover baggage from your past is going to weigh you down so it's in your benefit to review what you have before you can move forward. The more you let it go, the faster you'll be able to pick up the pace.

You have a lot to be proud of with how far you've come already. This pile likely thrives on challenges and sees overcoming them as a big part of spiritual development. Which can be true in many cases, and you demonstrate clearly that you're not afraid of what's to come next. It may come as a shock to you that your next chapter might be a little more quiet than expected. This is likely because, if you've gone through a lot of growth in your last chapter, it makes sense to have some downtime to balance things out. The Queen of Cups can be introverted energy, but she knows how to use her alone time to replenish her soul with art and meditation. You may have more time to spend by yourself steeped in creative drive rather than trying to accomplish too many things in the outer world.

This is one of the more spiritually oriented piles; over this next big phase in your life, your creative skills may flourish and evolve to another level. Maybe for a while you've been inclined towards artistic pursuits, but feel a desire to expand upon what you're already doing. With this energy, you're in alignment to have more time and energy to devote towards passions like painting, sports, or music. In this way, you can take that immense enthusiastic drive from the Page of Wands and channel it into something constructive or purposeful, even if you don't intend to monetize it.

Your next big adventure is tackling the speed limits that exist within you: the self imposed beliefs that tell you how fast you can go or where you're allowed to proceed. Thing is, in your inner world, you have a lot more freedom than you would on any highway. You can choose for yourself how you wish to manifest your passions into the world, and you can decide how much or how little passion you put into your work. Things like imposter syndrome can be their own mountains to climb, and this time around you're more geared up than ever to take it on. Once the spiritual mountains have been overcome, you'll be able to top anything the next chapter in life brings you.

Pile 4 - Train

Cards: Nucleus, Billiard Green, The Gambler, 44. Sixth House - Sustainability, Trust, 1. Vision - Contemplating the Future; XVIII The Moon, 10 of Wands, 3 Cups, XV The Devil Channeled Locations: West US, Sweden, Japan, Czech Republic, Netherlands, Slovenia, China, Germany, Switzerland

You've picked the solid, earthy pile of moving forward to your next adventure by train. Locomotion is slow but it's steady and reliable with time. Fully embodying the principles of inertia, once it moves it keeps moving, but it takes a lot of initial effort to get things going. Something you've worked on is slow going, but you're close or nearing the finish line. Once this is accomplished, things will move much more smoothly for you without so much push. Your next chapter will be steady, but it will be easier than before because it's already in motion.

I find this pile intriguing, y'all. You have Gambler above the Billiard card, and the Devil card shows a casino as well. It's almost bringing to mind old train heist movies. There's action, adventure, mystery, and a lot of fun here in this pile. Your next big adventure could involve having more chances to go out and have fun with friends. You could meet new friends around this time who will have a lot of extra pep in their step. They'll get you out of your shell if you've been in one for a while. Alternatively, if you see yourself as a party loving daredevil already, this new friendship may slow you down and protect you a little, in a good sense. They'll either be the head to your heart, or the heart to your head.

This pile is definitely more inclined to go with the flow in the next chapter. I almost typed 'glow' on accident, so perhaps you'll also experience basking in a 'glow' of some kind. You could be overcoming a huge obstacle at this time and look forward to more unstructured down time. You're encouraged to take time to enjoy yourself before moving to the next phase, but to also balance it out by taking moments to see where you'd rather go next. It's easy, after a huge achievement, to lose pace once the "now what?" sign is reached on your path. Go-with-the-flow doesn't necessarily mean 'fuck around and see what happens', lol. Try to find a middle ground here between playing and planning.

Your work-life balance will likely have some kind of pressure valve released like steam. You've had to really push for what you wanted this year. When opportunities looked scant, you had to tap in to your own power and immense resources to pull through. You've done so in flying colors. So your desire for freedom and thrills after a hard chapter is totally understandable. If you're not finished with something, there's almost a temptation here to run from it now and deal with it later. This isn't recommended; push through to the end because soon you will find yourself on the other side basking in the glow, and relaxing will be so much easier once you're fully done.

There's also advice to not get too carried away with material desires here. Your next chapter may have your finances fluctuating up and down, so try to stay steady with investments. If a windfall comes in, don't spend it all in a day. The Trust card here is talking about how you trust yourself with your resources and energy. When you're able to carry a greater amount with more responsibility, more will be added to you in due time. You're being asked to make small and consistent investments with wherever you're putting your value and resources into. Nothing wrong with wanting to splurge on something nice of course, especially if you've been working hard and you want to reward yourself. This is more to do with long term investments over the next few years.

This reading has not been evaluated by the FDA to diagnose, prevent, treat, or cure any disease or infection. Please ask your physician before going online.

2023, @VitaminseeTarot ™

Decks Used: Tarotwave, Starcodes Astro Oracle, Citadel Oracle, StarDragons, Opal Oracle, Starlight Messages, Color Palette cards

[goldencherriess]

We visit the Garden Gnome Emporium.

Pairing: Percy Jackson x Fem! Reader

Summary: New dangers show in the horizons as Y/N navigates the beginnings of the her first ever quest.

Word count: 10k (oops!)

Warnings: angst (because apparently I can't stop writing it), a lot of eye contact. Glaring as a love language basically

Previous part II Series masterlist

Night came and went, bleeding into the morning, letting the sun shine down on Camp Half-Blood. Y/N woke up early, well aware of what this morning brought. She put her hair up, tied her shoelaces into perfect bows, made her bed (no wrinkles showed on the marble white sheets) and stepped into the crisp morning air. She looked up towards the clear blue sky, a smile stretching on her lips. A horn announced the beginning of the day and she marched towards the pavilion, her head held high. 

The Greek columns touched the sky, the campfire swaying slightly in the breeze. She entered the pavilion, her eyes meeting Annabeth’s. Other demigods stood in a circle and Y/N recognized Percy’s golden hair. He was speaking quietly to Chiron, mr. D standing proudly beside them, arms crossed. 

She stopped near Annabeth, not taking her gaze off the pair. “Good morning,” she saluted. 

“Good morning, Y/N. Today’s the day,” Annabeth’s sure voice said. 

Y/N nodded, shifting her gaze towards her friend. A small smile bloomed on her lips. “Yes, it is.”

Annabeth smiled back, before Chiron’s voice boomed, his hands settling on his hips. “The Oracle has confirmed what we expected, that this quest will proceed toward the Underworld, where you will confront the god who has rebelled against his brothers. Hades.” Y/N turned to look at the centaur, straightening her back, her face devoid of any emotion. “The entrance to Hades’s domain lies under the city of Los Angeles.” Chiron looked down at Percy. “This is where you will journey to. Time is short.” He moved his gaze to the demigods. “I have selected our most compelling candidates, from which you will choose three to join you on this quest and ensure that we succeed.”

Percy’s gaze settled on Athena’s daughter. “Annabeth.” His ocean blue eyes latched onto Y/N’s and she raised her chin. “And Y/N.” 

“Customarily, one waits to at least hear a name or two before choosing. Are you sure you don’t wanna hear more?” asked Chiron, looking at Percy, the grey in his hair and eyebrows only enhancing the warm wisdom in his eyes.

Y/N could feel Annabeth shift her weight. She looked at her from the corner of her eyes. Someone who didn’t know Annabeth would have been fooled by her determined stance and stone-like eyes. But Y/N wasn’t fooled, she knew her friend too well. She reached over and took hold of her hand, staring straight ahead at Percy and Chiron. Annabeth squeezed her hand, a way of saying “thanks”. She squeezed back. 

“This thing, Zeus’s master bolt, we need to get it back, right?” asked Percy as he looked up at the centaur. 

“Yes,” nodded Chiron. 

Percy raised an eyebrow. “And it’s gonna be hard to get, yes?” 

“Extraordinarily.”

“And if the mission required someone to push me down a flight of stairs for it to succeed… you’d want someone who won’t hesitate when they do it. And someone who would protect from the shadows, someone whose aim you’d trust to reach its target.” Percy’s gaze panned on Y/N. 

Chiron’s eyebrow raised, before he turned back to the demigods before him. “The first quest-mates shall be Annabeth Chase and Y/N L/N!”

 A smirk appeared on Y/N’s face and she squeezed Annabeth’s hand. The morning had brought the promise of a quest she wouldn’t dare fail. 

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

Y/N didn’t have much to pack for the journey. She looked at the objects strewn across her bed and at the backpack Annabeth lent her, as she didn’t have one of her own. Her arrows were glistening in the sunshine rays and her bow was proudly bending on the sheets. She took hold of an arrow and touched the tip. It was sharp as a needle. 

Footsteps came up behind her and Luke’s voice cut the silence. “You got the quest you’ve wanted for so long.”

She turned around. The boy was kneeling down beside his bed, grunting as he took out a box from under it. “I know.”

Luke laughed. “Aren’t you proud? It seems you’ve made quite the impression on Percy.”

Y/N shrugged. “I don’t care.” She turned back around, stuffing the arrows in the backpack, hiding them from mortal eyes. The bow, though, didn’t fit. She would need to carry it around in plain sight. 

“Either way, you’ve got what you wanted. Somehow you always do.” A warm hand settled on her shoulder. 

She turned to look at Luke, her first friend at camp. He was bearing a soft smile. “You’ll do great,” he added, nodding. 

Her lips curled in a small smile. “Reckon I won’t get into trouble?”

Luke rolled his eyes. “Oh, you definitely will. But try to keep it at minimum. Come back in a piece, alright? You’re like a sister to me.”

A warmth spread in her chest at his last words and her smile turned into a full blown grin. “I’ve always wanted an older brother.” She did. More often than not, during the school days and after her mother’s death, loneliness creeped in her life and she longed for someone to share her pain, to understand her sentiments and to soothe her worries. Her aunt tried her best and Y/N would remain forever grateful to her, but she could feel how her aunt was keeping things away from her, how she held secrets of her own, how she was keeping her in the dark. Maybe this was why she grew to fear it.

Y/N’s gaze slipped towards the box held in Luke’s hands. She nodded towards it. “What’s that?” 

“For Percy.”

“Am I not getting anything?” she replied, a note of envy seeping into her tone. 

“You can take care of yourself, I’d say. You don’t need some old Converse from me to kick ass.” Luke’s eyes twinkled and he ruffled Y/N’s hair. 

“Stop that!” she yelled, as she pushed his hands away and tried smoothing down her hair. 

A laugh escaped Luke’s lips. “Still bossy as ever, I see.”

Her eyebrows furrowed and she threw him a furious look, before turning back to packing. She had half a mind to take with her the yellow coat she arrived in at Camp Half-Blood, but she had outgrown it quite a few years ago. Still, she regarded the flashing, neon yellow of it, as it stayed hung on the back of her bed. 

“You alright?” asked Luke worriedly.

She sighed. “Yes.” She slinged the backpack on her shoulder, the sound of arrows clinking together reaching her ears. She took hold of her bow, her fingers clawing around the smooth wood, fitting like puzzle pieces. She squared her shoulders and she turned to meet Luke’s eyes. “I’m ready.” 

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

The pine tree stood tall in the wind, its leaves swaying gently. Y/N watched from afar how Annabeth said her goodbyes to Thalia, her hand on the tree’s bark. When Y/N first met Annabeth, she was green with envy at every mention of Thalia’s name. Thalia this, Thalia that. But after Annabeth slowly warmed up to her, Y/N saw the tree as what it really was. A sacrifice. An attempt to shelter those who were just like herself. She saw the tree’s beauty and she was thankful for it. It brought Annabeth to her (whose eyes seemed to follow her everywhere her first few days at camp. At some point, Y/N was fed up with it and confronted her about it. They slowly became friends). 

She closed her eyes and tilted her head back, basking in the sunlight, feeling the wind’s caress on her cheek. 

“She’s really gonna miss that tree, huh?” Y/N heard Percy say from beside her. A scowl darkened her features, but she didn’t open her eyes, instead choosing to strain her ears for any bird sounds. She didn’t hear the eagle sing today. 

“When Annabeth first arrived here with Thalia and Luke, they were being chased by monsters,” replied Grover, a satyr with a friendly face. 

Y/N met him a few years back when she tried figuring out her place at camp and her talent. The Demeter children were trying to teach her how to tend to plants. She didn’t have the patience (and it seemed that she didn’t have the talent for it either), but Grover did. He often mingled with the Demeter children and he taught her to make a flower crown, before he put it on the mane of her hair with a warm smile, eyes wrinkling. 

“Agents of Hades. Sisters,” he continued. 

“Furies,” added Percy, nodding. “Mrs. Dodds?”

“Yes!”

Y/N’s eyebrows furrowed. “Who’s mrs. Dodds?”

“Our algebra teacher. Alecto,” explained Grover. 

She hummed in reply. 

“Thalia turned back to fight to buy her friends some time. Her satyr Protector tried to stop her, but she wouldn’t listen. So, at the last moment… Zeus intervened to save her life and… changed her form.” Grover’s voice shook. 

“The most powerful being in the universe's best idea to save his daughter’s life… was to turn her into a tree?” asked Percy, a note of doubt in his voice.

Y/N opened her eyes and turned to look at him. For some odd reason, the question irked her, flaring her up. “He did save her, in the end. And trees are a symbol of life. Not that you would understand.”

Percy’s eyebrows furrowed and he opened his mouth to retaliate, but Annabeth cut him off. “She was the bravest demigod I ever knew. She fought valiantly and she met a hero’s fate.”

“She met a pinecone’s fate,” replied Percy, pointing at the tree in the horizon. 

Y/N scoffed, turning her back on him, taking a few steps and coming beside Annabeth. She turned around. “You have no respect,” she stated, crossing her arms, bearing a wild look in her eyes. 

Percy met her gaze, confusion simmering in his ocean eyes. 

“Forbidden children are always in danger, even the strongest one, even Thalia. And you are not Thalia,” said Annabeth, her voice firm. 

“Forbidden children are a magnet for danger. Monsters,” added Y/N. “I’m guessing you don’t have a death wish.”

Percy shifted his weight. “No,” he mumbled, clearly annoyed. 

“Then, you’d better listen to us.”

“Do exactly as we say, and maybe you survive this,” said Annabeth. “Are we clear?” But she didn’t wait for a reply, as she turned on her heels, leaving for the border. 

Y/N raised an eyebrow. “Are we clear?” she stressed, leaning forward.

Percy clenched his jaw. “Yes, ma'am.” 

She nodded, before turning around and catching up to Annabeth, bumping their shoulders. 

“Does she think she’s in charge?” she heard Percy ask Grover. She rolled her eyes.

“Who’d you think would be in charge?”

“I guess I assumed we’d do a show of hands or something.”

She scoffed lightly, before she passed the pine tree, her fingers softly caressing the bark. She threw a glance behind her shoulder, the sight of Camp Half-Blood reminding her of a home away from home. She smiled, before she jumped down, the unknown stretching before her eyes. 

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

Y/N hadn’t missed the city. It looked the same as the day she left it: wild and untamed. She glanced outside the window, as she sat in the bus, towering skyscrapers passing by. She recognized many places. Like that one corner where she was almost bullied by kids twice her size just because she was different. And there’s that candy shop her aunt brought her to once after her first day at a different school than the one she was attending a week before. Her eyes narrowed. That one block seemed familiar. With a pang of heart, she realised it was the block her aunt lived in. If she still lived in it, and didn’t move away. 

She sighed, falling back into her seat. Annabeth was soundly asleep next to her, the chest rising and falling with every breath. Y/N took in her fluttering eyelashes, sweetly kissing her cheek, and Y/N figured Annabeth didn’t sleep the night before. She knew her friend too well. She knew that Annabeth always worried, always strategized, was always one step ahead. 

She tucked a stray strand of  hair  behind Annabeth’s ear, lightly putting her head on her shoulder, shifting more comfortably in the seat. 

The skyscrapers rolled by, until they were nothing but passing, flashing hills.

Her gaze caught Percy looking at them. He was trying to be discreet, Y/N could tell. “What?” she whispered, careful to not wake Annabeth up.

He only shook his head, before turning to look straight ahead. “Nothing,” he simply answered. A second later, he turned in his seat, towards Y/N. “You’re great friends,” he stated, nodding his head toward the sleeping form of Annabeth.

Y/N’s gaze slipped toward the girl. “Yeah, so?”

“Nothing. Just asking.”

Y/N’s eyes narrowed. “Why are you always this curious?”

“I’m not,” mumbled Percy, his ears turning slightly red.

“Yeah, you are. Not only do you always ask stupid things, but you also stare an awful lot. Did your mommy never taught you it’s not polite to stare?”

“I’m not staring!”

“Right, and I’m Zeus’ child,” she replied, sarcasm dripping down her tongue. “Just stop staring. It’s pissing me off. If you’ve got something to say, just come out and say it.”

Percy looked her in the eyes, his jaw clenching. “I don’t”

Y/N only nodded. “Great. I don’t either.” She turned her head to gaze out the window. The city was long gone and she let herself be whisked away by the green scenery.

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

“There is no way this is what sacred smells like,” said Percy, turning to look at Annabeth and Y/N, as a rocker in his fifties came out of the smelling WC of the bus. Y/N scrunched up her nose, a waft of what she could nicely only describe as garbage passing by. 

“We’re soldiers on a mission. It’s not a vacation,” retorted Annabeth.

“Thank you for clearing that up. But if this is so important, why didn’t Chiron spring for plane tickets? This seems kind of low priority, doesn’t it?” Percy asked, shifting the gaze between his three companions. 

Y/N’s eyebrows furrowed. “What? No one told you?” She moved her gaze onto Grover, who withdrew into himself. “You didn’t tell him?”

“Sorry, I assumed someone had told you,” replied Grover, eyes full of remorse.

“Tell me what?”

“Percy, it isn’t just the monsters who are gonna be trying to stop us. You’re a forbidden child,” explained Grover, tilting his head. “Zeus might decide to take a shot at you himself. The sky is his domain. We’d be serving you on a silver platter to try to travel through it.”

“And flying would be like an act of war, it would mean you’re defying him,” added Y/N. “And you do not want to defy the god of the skies and the king of Olympus.”

Percy searched her face, eyebrows furrowed and lips parted. “Yeah, no one mentioned that,” he eventually replied, his voice full of annoyance. 

The bus slowly pulled to a stop in a gas station, Y/N catching sight of far away trees and she was strongly reminded of the fresh air back when she was living with her mother in a cosy cabin. But that was years ago. 

“Okay, I’m gonna get us some snacks,” announced Annabeth, getting up from her seat and straightening her purple jacket. 

“I wanna come too,” said Y/N, getting up and dusting her pants. 

“I’ll come with you,” voiced Percy, trying to get up on his feet but being pushed back by Annabeth’s firm hands.

“No, you’ll stay right there.”

Percy’s face morphed into a look of disbelief. “What? And how come you’re letting her go, but not me?” he looked towards Y/N, before quickly moving his eyes back on Annabeth. 

“She has a name. And because I asked her,” piped in Y/N, eyebrows furrowing. She crossed her arms, the blood in her veins starting to boil. 

“Yeah, well, I asked her too. Didn’t seem to help,” furrowed Percy. 

“You’re staying here and that’s final.”

“Monsters can’t smell you through that, so that’s where we want you,” added Annabeth, nodding her head. 

Percy’s eyebrows twitched. “I wanna vote.” He briefly looked at Grover, who was worryingly watching the interaction, his gaze shifting back and forth as if he was at a game of tennis. “Who thinks that we should all go get to breathe fresh air and buy our own snacks?” he asked, gazing at Y/N, one eyebrow slightly arched. He deftly raised his hand. 

“There’s no voting,” Y/N and Annabeth said in unison. 

“Chips and sodas okay for you guys?” questioned Annabeth. 

“I don’t think you should just get to decide we don’t vote.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Annabeth voiced, sarcasm lacing her words.

“There’s no point in voting. I just said you’re not coming. Annie agrees,” replied Y/N, leaning forward, looking Percy in the eyes. Her blood was still boiling in her veins and her skin was hot and she knew she would soon reach her limit, before she’d start to erupt, much like a volcano would, but she kept her voice even and her face devoid of any emotion. 

Percy’s lips curled in disdain. “Of course she does! She agrees to whatever you say!” 

Y/N’s lips twitched. “She knows it’s for the better. You, on the other hand, don’t.”

“Okay. I wanna vote on whether you get to decide we don’t vote.”

Y/N’s frown only deepened and bolts thundered in her gaze, flashing. Percy met her eyes, a storm brewing in his ocean gaze. 

Annabeth sighed. “Grover, please, can you help your…” Her voice faltered as Grover started clapping slowly, smiling awkwardly  “...friend?”

Y/N swiftly moved her gaze onto him, confusion lacing her features. She blinked. 

“I really don’t wanna be a tiebreaker,” Grover said, taking all of them in, shaking his head. “I have a better idea.” His clapping increased in a quick rhythm. He opened his mouth and his voice rounded in swift sounds to sing. “Oh, golly, the road’s gettin’ bumpy ‘cause I got me some friends who just can’t get along.”

Y/N’s eyebrows raised, her lips parting. 

“Oh, dear! When the team’s gettin’ bumpy the trick to gettin’ through it is singin’ this song–”

“Dude, what are you doing?” asked Percy, his voice flat. 

Grover blinked, and he moved his gaze from Percy to Annabeth to Y/N, smiling slightly as if the answer was clear as day. “It’s the consensus song,” he simply answered. “Verse two encourages us to say nice things about each other.” 

Percy looked at Y/N, who was still bearing a confused look on her face. Her eyebrows did lower, though. 

“You get a few rounds in and you’d be amazed at how disagreements just kind of… fade away,” continued Grover, his voice faltering at Annabeth’s bored look on her face. 

Silence settled for a few seconds and Y/N briefly glanced at Percy, who was blinking and looking ahead at nothing in particular.

“Chips and sodas okay for you guys?” repeated Annabeth, her hand in her jacket’s pockets. 

“Whatever.”

“Yes, please.”

Y/N scoffed before she left Annabeth’s side, heading for the bus exit. The air was as fresh as remembered. 

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

The sliding doors opened, making way for Y/N and Annabeth to enter the gas station. The cashier was a plump woman in her forties, her face empty of any emotion. She looked bored at best.

“Alright, let’s split up. I’ll get the chips, you get the sodas, okay?” said Y/N, looking around, body tensed. 

Annabeth nodded, before going in the direction of the candies. Y/N looked at her departing figure, before she passed the cashier and stopped in front of the snacks aisle. The refrigerators were humming behind her and she moved her gaze down the alley, trying to read the products. The letters were jumbling together, swirling in front of her eyes in a tangle of mess. She blinked and furrowed. She reached a hand out and took hold of a Lay’s chips bag. She whispered the letters. “La… le… lein?” She shook her head. “That didn’t sound right.” She sighed before she picked up three more identical bags and turned her head to search for Annabeth. She recognized her dark braided hair behind the candy aisle. A small smile blossomed on Y/N’s lips and she let her gaze slide away, taking in the shop around her. 

The smile fell off  her face when her eyes caught sight of a woman staring at her over the drinks aisle. She shifted her weight before she left for the cashier, turning to glance behind her shoulder. Annabeth was just coming beside her. “Don’t look now, but I think we’re being watched.”

Annabeth gave a subtle nod before she dumped all the candies and sodas on the cash register. The cashier raised her eyebrows before she started scanning the products. Athena’s daughter glanced behind her shoulder, as Y/N gave the chips bags to the blonde plump woman in front of her, who was suspiciously checking them both out. “Are you dears alone?” she asked. 

Y/N gritted her teeth. “No.”

“You were right,” Annabeth whispered to Y/N, from the corner of her mouth without looking at her. “Do you think it’s…?”

“Yes,” nodded Y/N, throwing the cashier a tight-lipped smile. 

“That would be 10 dollars,” announced the cashier. 

Y/N searched her pockets before she pulled out a green bill, the face of Alexander Hamilton greeting her. She slammed the money on the cash register, took the bag full of chips, candies and sodas and pulled Annabeth out the gas station. The sliding doors closed behind her with a whoosh sound.

They quickened their steps, Annabeth glancing behind her shoulder, a frown on her face. 

“Don’t panic,” Y/N voiced, looking at her, as they entered the bus. 

“I’m not panicking.” Annabeth stopped in the middle of the aisle. “You go ahead,” she said before she put on the Yankees cap, disappearing.

Y/N sighed, as she approached the boys. 

“Look, I’m not against the idea of consensus, I’m just not sure the song is doing what you think it is, is all,” she heard Percy say. She threw the bag onto his lap and he whipped his head around, his eyebrows furrowed. “Hey!”

She shushed him, waving her hand, and looking at the place where she knew Annabeth would be. She strained her ears, hoping to catch bits and pieces of anything that would alert her of the presence of monsters. 

“What are you doing?” asked Percy, closely watching her. 

Her eyes widened when she saw Annabeth reappear, a frantic look on her face. “Open the window,” she urged Percy, pushing him. 

“What?” 

“Just do as I say!”

Percy opened his mouth to retort, his ocean blue eyes darkening, but he was interrupted by Annabeth. “Guys, you need to open that window! Now!” 

“I don’t think these windows are supposed to–” replied Grover, panic overtaking his features once he saw a Fury getting up from her seat. “Oh, no.”

Y/N swore under her breath and she backed, taking hold of her bow. 

“Go, go, go, go, go!” Grover yelled, getting up and pushing Percy. 

Y/N took out an arrow, and she raised it, not taking her eyes off Alecto, as she slowly advanced towards them, her wings stretching menacingly. She heard the boys forcing the window open, the bus alarm filling the air. 

“Everyone, leave your belongings and exit the front of the bus,” the driver spoke up. 

Y/N inhaled, taking a step back as she made eye contact with the Fury. People got up from their seats, swarming the aisle and slowing down Alecto.  

“Y/N, Annabeth, let’s go!,” yelled Percy, touching Y/N’s arm. She shook his hold off, hearing shrieking. 

Another Fury flew in, breaking a window and turning her attention to Percy. 

“Hey!” Annabeth yelled, taking out her dagger. 

“For gods’ sake!” Y/N mumbled as she raised her bow and launched her arrow. It cut the air, before it targeted the Fury’s forehead at the same time the dagger stabbed her heart. The Fury gave out another shriek, her eyes turning glossy. She turned into an ashy dust and Y/N huffed. 

“We’re done here, let’s go!” said Annabeth, picking her dagger up and jumping down the open window. 

Y/N took hold of her fallen arrow. “Come on, Percy!” she yelled over shoulder, looking at the boy as he picked up the box she recognized as being Luke’s. He nodded, and she took it as a sign he would follow her out the window.

He did. 

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

Birds were chirping and Y/N was happy to be immersed in nature once again. The wind was dancing through the tall pine trees and light was filtering through the deep green leaves. If she closed her eyes, she could imagine she was back home, at the cabin with her mother. But she was on a mission. And she couldn’t let herself be distracted. Not even by the slightest breeze or bird song. 

“Somewhere up ahead this turns into a satyr path,” voiced Grover from behind her. 

“What’s a satyr path?”

“It’s a road through the wilderness. Satyr explorers use them. Harder to track us.”

Y/N’s Converse scuffled, hitting a strayed, small rock. She watched as it rolled down the dusty path. 

“That’s great but if we stay in the wilderness, how are we gonna find a phone?”

She frowned at hearing Percy’s question. She turned to look at him. The blond was holding the box as it was the most sacred thing he’d ever get to hold, and envy’s claw squeezed her neck. 

“What do we need a phone for?” Annabeth voiced the question that was swimming in Y/N’s thoughts and mind. 

“So we can call camp,” stated Percy as if the answer was obvious and plain. 

“For what?” asked Y/N, stopping in her tracks. 

“To get help.”

“We’re not getting help,” she replied, resuming her walk. 

“We don’t need help. We’re fine,” added Annabeth. 

Percy scoffed. “We’re fine? We haven’t even gotten to Trenton, and we’re wandering through a forest. I didn’t even know they had forests in New Jersey, but we’ve found one. I would say we’re the opposite of fine.”

“It’s a very pretty forest, though,” mumbled Y/N, looking up at the towering, sheltering trees. 

On hearing this, Grover threw her a small smile.

“We were sent on a quest by the Oracle, by the gods,” Annabeth said, turning to look at Percy over her shoulder. “What’d you think, it would be easy? It’s supposed to be hard. That’s why only certain people are chosen. If we call camp, we’re basically saying it was a mistake to choose us.”

“I’m completely comfortable with that,” replied Percy, shrugging. “Everyone makes mistakes.”

Y/N scoffed. “We can’t afford to make mistakes. This is a one time only chance.”

Percy blinked, looking at her. He opened his mouth to reply, but Annabeth spoke up, stopping in the middle of the path and turning to look at him. “Why are you so afraid of who you are?”

“What?” frowned Percy.

Grover looked between them, inhaling. “You know, what’s interesting about this particular satyr path is it’s actually the one my Uncle Ferdinand took when he set out on his own quest.”

Percy ignored him, looking at Annabeth. “What was that supposed to mean, afraid of who I am? I’m not afraid.”

Y/N rolled her eyes, crossing her arms. She was getting tired of his attitude. 

“Yes, you are,” emphasised Annabeth. “You aren’t just a kid. Just a kid doesn’t do what you did to Clarisse back at camp. Just a kid doesn’t have Hades sending top lieutenants to retrieve them. You know, you are a part of something so much bigger than we can understand right now. We have to move forward whether you like it or not, whether you want to or not.”

Percy shrugged. “You don’t want to call camp, fine. Then, at least let’s call your mom.”

Y/N uncrossed her arms, lips parting. She shifted her gaze onto Annabeth. She knew her friend well. All too well. She knew that right at this moment Percy had unleashed a storm upon Athena’s daughter. She knew that million thoughts were currently racing through her mind, swirling around and clouding her vision. She knew that she was holding herself back. She knew her friend very well, because they were mirror images of each other. Y/N worryingly searched her face and took a step closer to her.

Annabeth blinked several times in disbelief. “Excuse me?”

“Athena? Your mother?” continued Percy, as if he was talking about the weather. “I’d call my father, but we aren’t exactly on speaking terms. You know, because of the lifelong neglect and all, but you and your mother seem close, So, why don’t we ask her for help?”

“Grover, will you explain to your friend that he needs to pull himself together?” fired off Annabeth, looking fixedly at Grover who shook his head, looking between them, lips parted. 

Percy’s face morphed into one of understanding. “You can’t ask her, can you?” There was an edge to his voice, one that cut deep. “When was the last time she talked to you?”

Y/N took a step forward. “Alright, cut it out. We’re losing precious time here.”

Percy’s gaze snapped to hers. “What about you?”

Her eyebrows arched, hiding behind her hairline. “What about me?”

“Miss Bossing-everyone-around, left and right. What about that?”

Her face fell and she scoffed. “I’m just trying to help, but if it bothers you that much, seaweed brain, maybe I should stop. Leave you to do the honours, but as far as I can see, you don’t even know where to start.”

Y/N threw him a tight-lipped smile. She stepped towards him, meeting his gaze with furious eyes. “Really? I thought we were saying what was bothering us.”

“You did not just make this about me, we were talking about you,” furrowed Percy, taking a step towards her. 

“Grover,” sighed Annabeth, a plea for help.

Percy whipped his head to her. “I don’t know why you keep pulling him into this. He’s on my side.”

“What makes you think that?”

“He’s my Protector, it’s his job,” stated Percy, raising his eyebrows. 

“He was my Protector first!”

Y/N heard Grover sigh and she took a step back from Percy, turning around and settling on a log. 

“First?” flared up Percy. Her mouth twisted in disdain. “What do you mean first?”

Everyone turned to look at Grover, who shifted his weight and cowered beneath their furrowed gaze. “Very exciting, getting to walk in Uncle Ferdinand’s footsteps. Next best thing to getting to talk to him again”

Y/N swore under her breath, her gaze sliding away from the trio. Her blood was rushing through her veins like hot mercury. She had an itch in her heels, her leg jumping up and down. She raised her gaze upwards, catching the sight of the azure sky between the deep green leaves of the forest. 

“Thalia, Luke, and Annabeth had a satyr protector,” Percy slowly voiced. “That was you.” Then, his voice tensed. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Grover furrowed, sniffing the air curiously. “Do you guys smell that?”

Y/N glanced at him, slowly getting up. “Are you smelling something, Grov?”

“Grover, I’m not kidding–” 

“Neither am I. Just shush.”

Silence settled between them, heavily, induced with tension. Y/N glanced from the corner of her eyes at Percy, who was already looking at her, confusion lacing his features. 

“Hamburgers,” announced Grover, taking off. 

Leaves crunched under Y/N’s Converse as she rushed off after Grover. 

“Grover! What are you doing?” voiced Annabeth from behind her. 

“Somebody’s making hamburgers in the middle of nowhere, on a satyr path,” explained Grover, still confidently leading the way. Soon they came out onto a road, a clearing in the depth of the emerald forest. “Whoever it is… They’re from our world.” 

Y/N’s hand clenched around her bow, knuckles turning white. Her stomach churned. “I have a bad feeling about this,” she mumbled. 

Percy threw her a curious look before he continued on his way. 

Grey, gruesome statues stretched menacingly towards the skies, their mouths twisting in pain. Y/N’s lips parted at the sight. 

“Oh, come on,” exclaimed Annabeth from beside her. 

“What?” asked Percy from the other side, turning to look at Annabeth over Y/N’s head. 

The feeling in her stomach intensified and Y/N gripped her bow as if it were a lifeline. The carved wood was familiar at her touch. 

“Aunty Em has a garden full of petrified stone folks. Yeah, this is someone from our world, all right,” scoffed Annabeth. 

Y/N dodged an outstretched finger as she passed the petrified form of a bearded man. His eyes were bulging out of their sockets in fear and remorse and his mouth was open in a silent, neverending scream. She tore her eyes away, a shudder running down her spine. 

“Anyone wanna guess what Em is short for?”

“Medusa,” echoed Y/N as all of them stopped in front of towering petrified monsters. Her answer came as a breath. Short. Rapid. 

“Oh,” replied Grover in defeat and realisation. His face had fallen, regret painting his features.

Y/N took a step back, goosebumps chilling down her arms. 

“Let’s get out of here, please, while we still can,” voiced Annabeth, an urgency in her tone. 

“You don’t have to tell me twice.”

They all turned around but stopped in their tracks at the sight of a furious Alecto. Her wings were outstretched and she rolled her shoulders, raising her chin. Y/N took out an arrow and she raised her bow, targeting her heart. She felt Percy shuffle beside her, handing Grover his box and taking out Riptide. 

“You should have accepted my offer when you had the chance,” said the Fury, looking at Annabeth and taking a step forward, her claws glinting in the sunlight. 

Y/N’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion. She straightened her back, not taking her eyes off of the target, even if her mind was screaming at her to turn to look at Annie. To search her face for unsaid answers. 

“Offer? What offer is she talking about?” asked Percy. 

Tension filled silence laid heavy between them and Y/N counted her breaths, preparing herself to let the arrow fly through the air. Heels clicking on concrete cut the silence, a sure voice echoing soon after. “Not today, friends. Not on my doorstep.” 

Alecto hid her face in a raised wing, scarlet scales catching the sunlight, and Y/N didn’t need to turn around to know who was fast approaching. 

Annabeth exclaimed an “Oh, shoot,” before she turned around, hiding her gaze away, Grover doing the same. 

Y/N swore under her breath. Her hand gripped Percy’s elbow, forcing him to turn away. “Don’t you dare look at her, kelp head,” she whispered harshly, meeting his lowered gaze with furrowed eyebrows. He only nodded his head indistinctly.

“If you have something to resolve, why not come inside and I’ll help? Alecto? Will you be joining us?”

The Fury only turned her body away. 

“No, well I wouldn’t think you would.” A beat of silence. “She won’t bother you as long as you’re with me,” a honey dripped note seeped into her voice. 

Y/N slowly let her hand fall from Percy’s elbow. Her other hand was still clutching her bow and arrow. 

“But it isn’t as though she’ll leave either.” The voice raised in a venomous octave. “Not if it means reporting that she failed to retrieve the son of Poseidon.”

Y/N stiffened and she glanced at Percy. His eyebrows pinched together in confusion and he slightly turned on the spot, his gaze pinned to the ground.

“How did you–”

“A forbidden child has been claimed. How long did you think that secret would keep? It’s a pleasure to meet you, son of Poseidon. I’m Medusa.”

Percy swallowed thickly and risked a glance from the corner of his eye. Upon noticing this, Y/N took hold of his elbow once again. She was shaking her head in warning.

“Percy, don’t,” voiced Annabeth. “She’s a monster.”

“We all choose who we make our monsters, but right now, that one wants to tear you limb from limb…” Medusa replied in disdain. “And I’m offering you lunch. The choice is yours.” 

Heels clicking announced her departure. Y/N let her hand fall away from Percy’s elbow and she straightened her back, staring at the blonde’s profile with furrowed eyes. “You didn’t listen to me! I told you to not–”

“I think we can trust her,” Percy interrupted her, glancing at her before looking at the emerald trees surrounding them. 

Y/N’s eyebrows shot up and she felt her blood boil. 

“Dude!”

“What?”

“I can’t explain it, I just–” shrugged Percy, stumbling over his own words. He turned to look at Y/N, his gaze sincere. “My mom used to tell me her story. And the point was always that she isn’t what people think.”

Y/N opened her mouth to retaliate that they can’t take that risk now, not on this quest, not when she was on her way to find out who her father was, but her glare softened at Percy’s next words. 

“And I definitely trust my mom.”

She could relate to that. Even though she hadn’t felt the warm embrace of a mother in a long time. She closed her mouth and just stared back at him. 

“So I’m going in,” he continued, turning his gaze onto Annabeth and Grover. “You guys do what you want.” He looked one more time at Y/N before he turned to walk away, the sword weighing heavy in his hand. 

Grover stared at both of them, eyes wide as saucers before he left after Percy. 

“What are you–” Annabeth started to ask before her voice slowly died. She turned to look at Y/N, conflict written on her face. 

“We can’t leave them alone, Annie,” replied Y/N softly. “We came as a team, we’re leaving as a team.” She squared her shoulders and threw the bow and the arrow on her back. “And I also can't leave you alone either. So, are you coming? Or are we keeping Mrs. Alecto here company?”

Annabeth took in a breath and nodded her head. “I’m coming.”

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

The bell chimed as Y/N opened the door and stepped into Aunty Em’s home. Immediately, a wave of sweetness enveloped her and her stomach grumbled at the sight of a filled table. She swallowed away her hunger. 

“Thanks for coming,” said Percy as his gaze found hers. She simply shrugged,her eyes roaming around the room. It strangely reminded her of a grandmother’s house. The kind that knitted and held mint drops in crystal, intricate bowls. Also the kind that was wealthy. She could tell by the antique carpet and the centuries old chandeliers.

“This isn’t the same for me as it is for you,” she heard Annabeth say.

“Why?”

Swift heels and a steady voice interrupted the conversation. “You’re concerned I would hold a grudge against you simply because you’re a daughter of Athena?”

Y/N closed her eyes and turned her head away. The sound of a liquid being poured in glasses reached her ears and a frail waft of lemonade tickled her nostrils. She tried to ignore her scratchy and dry throat. 

“You shouldn’t be,” continued Medusa as if she were talking about the weather. “We’re not our parents after all.”

Y/N frowned. Was she even like her father? She faintly remembered her mother saying she had the same eyes as him, but other than that, was she even her father’s daughter?

“And you and I might have more in common than you think.” 

She felt Annabeth stiffen beside her. She took her hand gently. A touch of reassurance. 

“Please, sit and eat.”

Y/N slowly opened her eyes and took in the sight of a thousand, fresh sweets. A glass was filled to the brim with lemonade and she had to tear her gaze away from it to not give in. She wasn’t sure if she could trust Medusa. She trusted Percy enough to follow him but her gut was telling her otherwise. She felt Annabeth squeeze her hand. She squeezed back. 

“So you’re not a monster, what are you then?” asked Percy as he took a seat at the table, chair scratching the wooden floor. 

“A survivor,” Medusa simply answered. 

A shiver ran down Y/N’s spine. 

“You must be a little more than that. There’s a Fury out there that seems terrified of you,” added Percy, while filling his plate. Y/N watched miserably as he started eating. 

Medusa inclined her head, hands laced. “Because she knows what I think of her.” She straightened her dress before she took a seat on a wooden carved chair. And by the squeak it gave out, Y/ could tell it was also old. If she wasn’t aware of whose house she was in, Y/N would have thought she just stepped into a museum or an antique shop. “I don’t like bullies. When one shows up on my doorstep, they end up spending a lot more time there than they planned for. The gift that gods gave me is that I cannot be bullied anymore.” Y/N could detect a small smile in Medusa’s words. She felt Annabeth’s hold on her faltering.

“What my mother did to you wasn’t a gift, it was a curse.”

A pause. “You are loyal to your mother.”

“Yes.”

“You stand by her?”

“Always.”

“You love her?” 

Annabeth took out her hand from Y/N’s and crossed her arms. “Of course I do.”

Medusa slowly nodded her head. “And so did I. So did I.”

Y/N shifted her weight and looked towards Grover who was stuffing his face with muffins. 

“Do you know the story of how I came to be this way?” inquired Medusa. Y/N felt as though she was once again in those stuffy classrooms, where other kids glared at the back of her head and where she never knew the answers to the questions addressed by the teachers (they always did seem to pick her in her least finest moments. Like that one time she saw an eagle perching itself on a wire and tilting its head at her, as if it knew her.)

“I do,” replied Grover, mouth full of food.

“Do you?”

The satyr blinked. “Do I?”

A bell tolled in the distance and that grumbling feeling in her stomach returned.

“Athena was everything to me,” started Medusa. The red on her lips was popping and she was speaking slowly. “I worshipped her, I prayed to her. I made offerings… She never answered. Not even an omen to suggest she appreciated my love. I wasn’t like you, sweetheart. I was you.”

“I think you’re in the wrong,” Y/N spoke up. It hurt speaking, her throat was too dry and the words came out scratched. 

Medusa moved her gaze on the girl. “Am I? How many times did your father show you a token of his love? Did he ever answer your prayers and offerings? Did he ever recognise you as his kin?”

Y/N remained silent. Her lips drew in a thin line and she exhaled through her nose. She could feel Percy’s stare at the side of her face. 

“I would have worshipped her that way for a lifetime… in silence,” Medusa continued as if she wasn’t interrupted just a moment ago. “But then one day, another god came, and he broke that silence. Your father. The Sea God told me that he loved me. I felt as though he saw me in a way I had never felt seen before.” Her words turned acid. “But then Athena declared that I had embarrassed her and I needed to be punished. Not him. Me. She decided that I would never be seen again by anyone who would live to tell the tale.”

“That isn’t what happened,” raged Annabeth. “My mother is just, always.”

“The gods want you to believe that, that they are infallible. But they only want what all bullies want. They want us to blame ourselves, for their own shortcomings.”

Y/N hated herself for finding mirrored truth in Medusa’s words, in bits and pieces of anger and broken trust. 

“That is not what happened. And you are a liar,” screamed Annabeth.

For a moment silence reigned between them and Y/N counted the seconds until someone spoke up. Ten. 

“Something’s burning,” said Medusa. 

Y/N sniffed the air. Nothing was burning. 

“Would you give me a hand in the kitchen? I think lunch is ready.” Receding footsteps echoed in the room. 

Percy turned his head to look at the girls. Annabeth shook her head. Y/N only glared at him, a clear sign that she wasn’t on board with what he was about to do. He blinked and followed the older woman into the kitchen. 

“He never listens,” sighed Y/N, staring after him.

“Grover…,” said Annabeth. The satyr gazed at her, a pastry sticking out of his mouth and crumbs falling down his chin.  “Get ready to run.”

“Or fight,” added Y/N, getting out her bow, determination glinting in her eyes.

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

The dark always seemed to sharpen its claws everytime she was around, taunting her, as if it knew she was scared to find out what it was hiding. Doubt made a nest into her mind as she watched her Converse walking down the stone stairs and around the corner, following Percy. She blinked and furrowed against the thick blackness. The front of her sneakers caught onto a small rock and she tripped, her hand landing on Percy’s shoulder.

“Sorry,” she mumbled. He only nodded his head in response. 

Scorching fire travelled down the room, illuminating it whole. Percy turned around, coming face to face with a petrified victim, a woman who seemed to have begged for mercy in her last moments. Percy, startled, gasped and took a step back, bumping into Y/N.

“Sorry,” he mumbled. She didn’t answer. 

Thousands of statues stretched before them, losing themselves in the depth of the room. “Well, she definitely has a collection worth of envy in her basement,” said Y/N, sarcasm coating her words.

A door creaking and closing with a resounding slam alerted the group and Annabeth waved them over. “Come on.”

They ran through the labyrinth of statues, once in a while throwing a look over their shoulders. 

“There’s four of us and only one of her,” started Grover, his voice slightly wavering. “If we split up, she can’t be watching us all at once.”

Y/N shook her head. “She’s smarter than that.”

“I agree,” added Annabeth once they all came to a stop. “I don’t think it’d be that simple.”

“It could be,” replied Grover, sure of himself. “Here’s the plan. I’ll get in the air, I’ll draw her attention. As soon as you hear me say Maia, you guys–”  His voice got muffled by the sound of flipping wings and he was raised in the air. “Oh, boy! Okay! Um.. Off. Down.”

Y/N watched helplessly as Grover disappeared in the abyss of the basement, his whimpers and screams faltering. 

“So, we’re gonna need a new plan,” voiced Annabeth. 

“Yeah,” echoed Y/N.

“We are not our parents until we choose to be,” Medusa’s voice travelled to their ears, authoritative and powerful, a knife in the heavy silence. Y/N scrambled into a run, her Converse sliding against the stony floor. She settled behind the statue of a man with a back wide enough to hide her from petrifying eyes. Across from her, stood Percy, behind a crate, watching her with a fearful gaze. She raised a finger to her lips.  

“You three have chosen.”

She slowly took out her bow and arrow, her eyes catching sight of a stretching shadow. Hissing of snakes reached her ears and she raised her bow. 

“A daughter of a self-righteous mother, who chose self-righteousness for herself.”

She gritted her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut..

“A daughter of a stand-by father, who chose to remain deaf to the cries of the innocent.”

A familiar fire travelled through her veins, bringing her to a boiling point. She scowled. 

“And you, you could have shown your father what it means to stand up for someone you love. You could choose to save your mother, instead of doing your father’s bidding. If neither of you will help teach these lessons, perhaps you should be the lessons.”

Heels clicking alerted Y/N that Medusa was getting closer. She could hear the snakes better now. 

“When I ship your statues to Olympus… maybe that will get my point across even better.”

“You won’t,” Y/N’s voice boomed.

“The unclaimed one. Pity. I understand you, child. You’re forgotten, just like me,” Medusa’s voice echoed. 

“You understand nothing. You claim to know me, but you don’t.”

“Come out. Let’s have a look at you.”

Y/N came out from behind the statue with her head held high, bow clenched in her hands and an arrow raised. Her feet were unsure, though. It felt as though she was walking on thin air. 

Heels clicked and Y/N took a step back. She had to maintain a distance in order to launch her arrow. Her ears strained. From her left, she could hear Percy taking out his sword. 

“Don’t I? We’re the same, you and I. I feel your envy and fury. And I know how much you long after your father, how much you miss your dear mother. But I can help you. I can soften your pain. Open your eyes, child. Let me see your eyes. Let me see your father’s eyes.” 

She almost complied, like a lost child on the first day of school. The hold on her bow slightly weakened and she felt the pain she always buried deep inside her, the one she had lived with since her mother took her last breath on a hospital bed. She wanted it gone. Erased. But then she remembered the promise she had made to her mother on her last day, she remembered her aunt’s kind smile and the bow was raised once again, the arrows glinting in the firelight.

“No,” Y/N growled. And then she launched her arrow. A pained hissing reassured her that it reached its target, slashing one of the snakes in half. 

Grover’s yelling brought a smile onto her face and she ducked once she heard him zigzagging through the air towards her. “I didn’t really think this through!” He crashed into a pile of craters, breaking them. Y/N heard Annabeth yell “Now!” and she dared open her eyes.

She saw Percy’s sword glint before it came down, cutting the air and slashing what Y/N assumed to be Medusa’s neck. She inhaled before she came beside him. Somewhere behind her she heard Grover complain about his back and Annabeth fretting over him. Percy gulped before his foot kicked the air. Squelching filled the air and Y/N’s nose scrunched up. “Nasty.”

Percy kneeled and took hold of Medusa’s invisible head, grunting and scowling in disgust. “Aw, man.”

“Yeah, I wouldn’t wanna be in your place either,” replied Y/N, eyeing the air between Percy’s hands. 

“You found it?” asked Annabeth, nearing them. 

“Hope so,” replied Percy, getting up.

“There’s one more thing we need to do,”  affirmed Y/N with her hands on her hips. 

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

Watching Percy bravely take off the Yankees cap and petrify Alecto, sent a shudder down Y/N’s spine. If she didn’t know any better, she would have thought she was witnessing an already written Olympian legend, the kind written on time consumed, yellowed scrolls. 

She exhaled as Alecto’s petrified body fell to the ground, shattering in million pieces. Percy put the cap back on, turned on his heels and marched towards the door, where Y/N was patiently waiting. She opened it for him and they slowly descended the stairs towards the basement, the quiet settling between them.

She squinted against the darkness, but her feet tripped the second time that day. She huffed in annoyance, once she regained her balance and dusted off her pants.

“You okay?” inquired Percy, the ocean in his eyes shining in the dark.

“Just fine,” she simply answered, an edge to her tone. 

Torches lit their way and they came before a still Grover and a worried Annabeth, who was throwing them looks.

“Grov? What is it?” Y/N asked, as she stopped beside him. Her eyes caught sight of a marble white statue. A satyr. He had the ghost of a smile on his lips and a daring posture. Realisation dawned on her and she whipped her head towards her friend, watching him swallow tears away.

“Uncle Ferdinand,” replied Grover in a broken whisper. 

“Oh no,” voiced Percy. 

Y/N hesitated before she let her hand gently fall on Grover’s shoulder. She squeezed it for a second, trying to muster a soft smile. She failed. Y/N could never imagine losing her aunt. A pang pierced her heart at the thought of it.

“Grover, I’m so sorry,” said Annabeth, coming closer to him. 

“This is as far as he got on his quest. We aren’t even to Trenton. But look at him,” the satyr chuckled softly, his eyes shining with unshed tears. “He’s not like the others, he… He doesn’t look afraid.”

“Sounds like someone I know. It must run in the family,” smiled Y/N.

Grover met her gaze and softly smiled back. “Thank you, Y/N.”  He then blinked his tears away and cleared his throat. “You used the, um, you used the head to get rid of Alecto?”

“Yeah,” answered Percy, watching his best friend with concern simmering in his eyes.

“Good. That was the right move.” He wiped a stray tear. “Uh, we probably should get going. It’ll be dark soon.” 

“But what are we gonna do with the head?” interjected Percy, pointing towards what remained of Medusa. “I just took down a Fury with it and I wasn’t even trying. We can’t just leave it for someone to find.” 

Y/N crossed her arms and opened her mouth to reply, an idea already forming into her head, but Percy beat her to it. “Leave the hat on and bury it in the basement, that oughta keep it safe.”

Her arms fell to her sides and her gaze swiftly moved onto her best friend, but Annabeth’s face was devoid of emotion. Stone.  “Sure. Now, can we talk about the bigger issue here?”

“What bigger issue?” frowned the son of Poseidon.

Annabeth raised her eyebrows. “You could have saved your mother? That’s what she said to you, like you discussed it already. Is your mother still alive?”

Y/N looked at Percy expectantly. 

“She’s with Hades. But I appreciate your concern.”

Her mouth fell open and her eyebrows pinched together. “Is this why you’re on the quest?”

“Guys, just please stop,” Grover’s meek voice came from behind them. 

“Oh, I’m concerned,” continued Annabeth, her voice sharp as a knife. “What are you actually doing on this quest and why did we have to hear it from Medusa?”

Percy shook his head, his face scrunching up and he rolled his eyes. “Okay, while we’re at it, “You should have accepted my offer?” What’s that about do you think? And why did we have to hear it from Alecto? And seriously, Y/N? What was that stunt that you pulled?”

Y/N scoffed, cocking an eyebrow. “What stunt?”

“I feel your envy and fury? Let me see your father’s eyes? You almost lowered your bow. I saw you!” he screamed into her face, taking a step closer.

“But I did not!”

“Enough,” yelled Grover, turning around. 

A beat of silence. Y/N glared at Percy’s profile, lightning flashing in her eyes. She crossed her arms and shifted her gaze from him. 

“The hat was a gift from her mother. It’s the only thing she’s ever possessed that connects them. That oughta matter to you,” continued the satyr with a steady voice. 

“Okay, but how are we gonna make sure this thing is safe?” asked the blond.

“I’m not up to that yet,” Grover replied sharply. “And you know Y/N’s trying to find who her father is. You were like her once, too, Percy, so I’m sure you understand where she’s coming from. But she didn’t let her guard down.”

Percy shifted his weight awkwardly, gazing at the girl beside him. She caught her eyes with a still thunderous glare.

Grover turned to the girls. “And you girls, really? His mom’s alive. Can you imagine how confusing that must be for him? Feeling like he may have to choose between the fate of the world and the fate of the only person who’s ever cared about him?”

She could imagine. If her mom was still alive, she for surely, without a doubt, would have done the same. Y/N’s arms weakened but they didn’t uncross. “What are you trying to say?” she softly asked.

“Why are you talking like this?” added Annabeth. 

“Because all day I’ve been trying to keep this quest on track without upsetting either of you.” He deeply inhaled and exhaled, calming himself down. “But maybe things need to get a little upsetting before they move forward.’ He turned towards Percy. “She asked you a question back in the woods, and you never really answered. What are you so afraid of?”

Percy blinked and shifted his feet. “What are you talking about?”

“You heard me.”

“I don’t know.”

“I think you do. You’ve been fighting with them, you’ve been fighting with me.”

“ Because the Oracle said one of you would betray me. Okay?” flared up Percy. He sighed and licked his lips. “You shall be betrayed by the one who calls you a friend, and you shall fail to save what matters most in the end. That’s the rest of what she said to me. I chose Annabeth because I couldn't imagine we’d ever be friends. I chose Y/N because I thought I could rely on her to protect me, to protect us. And I chose you because I thought if I can count on anyone to be on my side, no matter what, it was you.” He squared his shoulders and his voice broke. “And now, I’m feeling so alone. I don't know what to think or who to trust.”

A silence settled heavily over them. Y/N sighed, her gaze still pinned to one of the statues. It horrified her but she didn’t have the courage to look anyone else in the eye. “I guess I’m jealous,” she eventually voiced.

She could feel Percy’s steady stare on her. “Why?”

“You’re claimed.” Her tongue weighed heavily and she had to swallow some of her pride away in order to speak. “And I’m not.” 

“It’s not like I have the best relationship with my dad. It’s practically non-existent.” 

She heaved, turning to look at him, her eyebrows still furrowed. “Maybe, but he sees you. He knows you, he cares enough to claim you. Mine didn’t and continues to don’t.”

Percy shuffled his feet. “I’m sorry.”

“I don’t need your pity.”

“Yes, I know, it’s just–” he sighed. “This is why you’re on the quest, right? To get the attention of your godly parent?”

She hesitated, averting her gaze for a moment. She almost had the urge to tell Percy off, to turn her back on him and return to the camp to drown her invading thoughts in archery training and tree climbing. But she didn’t and she let her arms fall to the sides of her, her eyebrows and eyes softening in a sad gaze as she turned her head to catch his ocean eyes. “To find out who I really am,” she corrected him softly. 

Percy nodded, at a loss at words. He raised his hand as if he wanted to touch her shoulder in a reassuring manner but changed his mind at the last second. “We’ll find out together.” He turned towards Athena’s daughter. “I didn’t mean it that way.”

Annabeth hesitated, looking at the ground. “Alecto offered to help our quest if I gave you up on her.”

“What did you say?”

“I killed her sister,” shrugged Annabeth. 

“Medusa offered to help me save my mom if I turned on the three of you.”

“And what’d you say?”

“I cut off her head,” he replied as if he was talking about a normal Tuesday.

Grover looked at all of them, wisdom swirling in his eyes. “You didn’t choose to be demigods. We didn’t choose this quest. But we can decide that as long as the four of us are together, none of us are gonna be alone.”

Y/N’s eyes caught Percy’s and she blinked. He pursed his lips. 

“And if we can’t do that, we might as well just head back to camp right now. ‘Cause we won’t make it,” continued Grover, a note of finality in his voice. 

Percy’s gaze shifted between them, a focused look in his eye. He slightly nodded his head, his curls catching the golden light of the torches. “I think I’ve got a better idea what to do with this.” 

He marched towards the desk settled between crates and forgotten statues. His green shirt fluttered and Y/N jogged to catch up to him. He got behind the desk and flipped through a notebook. From where she stood Y/N could see scribbles, black on white, some of them hastily written, others noted in cursive writing. “Hermes Express. She ships these things all over. Some of it goes to Olympus.”

Upon hearing this, Y/N frowned and she took a step closer to the desk, taking hold of the notebook and turning it towards her. Her eyebrows raised in slight surprise. Right there, in neat handwriting stood her father’s address. 

Mount Olympus, 600th Floor, Empire State Building New York, NY

“Percy, you can’t ship Medusa’s head to Olympus,” replied Annabeth in disbelief.

“Why not?”

“Because the gods won’t like it.”

“At all. At all at all,” added Grover, shaking his head. 

Percy frowned and leaned his hands on the desk. “Why? That’s what you do with dangerous stuff. Like batteries, you just send ‘em back where they came from.”

“Okay. Look, this is a bad idea,” voiced Annabeth, a clear worry seeping into her tone.

Y/N raised her eyes from the notebook. A slight smirk was pulling at the corner of her lips. “I think it’s a brilliant idea. Make them see us.”

The blond turned his gaze onto her and shared her smirk. There was mischief shining in his eyes.

Annabeth scoffed and threw her best friend a pointed look. “They will see this as impertinent.”

“I am impertinent,” shrugged Percy.

“Yes, but we’re not,” puffed the daughter of Athena.

The satyr shook his head. “Really, very not.”

“I am,” said Y/N as she crouched down and took hold of an empty box, passing it to Percy. He threw her a brief smile, putting in the invisible head. He slammed the box onto the desk.

“Look. Medusa tried to derail our quest. She’s got serious beef with your mom. When you look at it that way, this seems kinda like tribute or something, doesn’t it? And besides…” He reached into the box and took out the blue cap with a grimace painted on his face. He held it to Annabeth. “...this way, a part of your mom’s still with us.”

She hesitated before she let her fingers wrap around the familiar fabric of the cap. “Thank you.”

He smiled at her lightly, warmly, as only a friend would. Y/N found a tape, forgotten on the corner of the desk, and she passed it to him, still smirking. He raised his gaze to her and took it from her, their fingers touching only for a fleeting second. “Be sure to sign my name as well, seaweed brain.”

His smirk broadened. “Will do.”

“So this isn’t exactly what I meant. By choosing each other,” Grover shook his head. 

Y/N rolled her eyes. “Lighten up a little, Grov. We just took down Medusa together. There will be fewer statues in the world now.”

“That’s not what I meant and there are actual dangers involved here that cannot be–” 

Slow clapping filled the air and Y/N’s smirk turned into a full blown grin.

“You’re gonna sing the song, aren’t you?”

Percy met her gaze and he started clapping faster.

“Okay,” continued Grover evenly. 

“Oh golly, the road’s gettin’ bumpy.”

“Whatever.”

“Consensus.”

A giggle escaped Y/N’s lips. Yeah, she could trust Percy. 

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

A/N: Percy and Y/N being partners in crime is my Roman Empire. Also, I introduced Y/N's fatal flaw in this chapter. Can you guys guess which one it is?

If you'd like to be added to my main tag list or the series tag list, drop a comment or send me an ask!

Lots of love xx

Main tag list: @bohemianrhapsody86 @andreead @asgards-princess-of-mischief @islayhawkin

Series tag list: @mynicknameisgasoline @constellation-archive @leptitlu @br3nt-12 @utterlyunawarewriter @spidermansfangirl

[will80sbyers]

Do you still have the list of movies that inspired ST4? I had a picture of it but I lost it and I haven't been able to find it since. Please and thank you in advance.

Yep!

Long post warning lol

300

2001: A Space Odyssey

47 Meters Down: Uncaged

12 Monkeys

28 Days Later

13th Warrior

Ace Ventura: Pet Detective

Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls

Altered States

Amelie

American Sniper

Analyze This

Annihilation

Aristocats

Armageddon

Assassins Creed

Avengers: Age of Ultron

Arrival

Almost Famous

Batman Begins

Batman V. Superman

Basket Case

Battle at Big Rock

Beauty and the Beast

Beetlejuice

Behind Enemy Lines

Beverly Hills Cop

Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey

Billy Madison

Black Cauldron

Black Swan

Boondock Saints

Borat

Bram Stoker’s Dracula

Burn After Reading

Broken Arrow

Blade Runner

C.H.U.D

Con Air

Cast Away

Congo

Constantine

Children of Men

Cabin in the Woods

Crank

Casablanca

Carrie

Crimson Tide

Clueless

Dukes of Hazzard

Don’t Breathe

Death to Smoochy

Doom

Dark Knight

Dogma

Deep Blue Sea

Dreamcatcher

Drop Dead Fred

Die Hard

Die Hard 2

Die Hard 3

Don’s Plum

Dances with Wolves

Dumb and Dumber

Edward Scissorhands

Enter the Void

Ex Machina

Event Horizon

Emma (2020)

Forrest Gump

Fargo

Fisher King

Full Metal Jacket

Ferris Bueller

Fallen

Fugitive

Ghost

Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Ghostbusters

Good Fellas

Girl Interrupted

Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Get Out

Good Will Hunting

Hackers

High Fidelity

Hellraiser 1

Hellraiser 2

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Hidden

High School Musical

Hurt Locker

Heat

Hunger Games

Highlander

Hell or High Water

Home Alone

I am Legend

It’s a Wonderful Life

In Cold Blood

Inception

I am a Fugitive from Chain Gang

Inside Out

Island of Doctor Moreau

It Follows

Interview with a Vampire

Inner Space

Into the Spiderverse

Independence Day

Jupiter Ascending

John Carter of Mars

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

James Bond (All Movies)

Julie

Karate Kid

Knives Out

Kingsmen

Little Miss Sunshine

Labyrinth

Long Kiss Goodnight

Lost Boys

Leon: The Professional

Let the Right One In

Little Women (1994)

Mad Max: Fury Road

Magnolia

Men in Black

Mimic

Matrix

Misery

My Cousin Vinny

Mystic River

Minority Report

Mr. and Mrs. Smith

Neverending Story

Never Been Kissed

No Country for Old Men

Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors

North by Northwest

Open Water

Orange County

Oceans 8

Oceans 11

Oceans 12

One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest

Ordinary People

Paddington 2

Platoon

Pulp Fiction

Papillon

Pan’s Labyrinth

Pineapple Express

Peter Pan

Princess Bride

Paradise Lost

Primal Fear

Prisoners

Peter Jackson’s King Kong

Reservoir Dogs

Ravenous

Rushmore

Road Warrior

Rogue One

Reality Bites

Raider of the Lost Ark

Red Dragon

Robocop

Shooter

Sky High

Swingers

Sword in the Stone

Step Up 2

Spy Kids

Saving Private Ryan

Shape of Water

Swept Away

Star Wars: Return of the Jedi

Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

Superbad

Society

Swordfish

Stoker

Splice

Silence of the Lambs

Source Code

Sicario

Se7en

Starship Troopers

Scrooged

Splash

Silver Bullet

Speed

The Visit

The Italian Job

The Mask of Zorro

True Lies

The Blair Witch Project

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

Tangled

The Craft

The Guest

The Devil’s Advocate

The Graduate

The Prestige

The Rock

Titanic

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

The Fly

Tombstone

The Mummy

The Guardian

The Goofy Movie

The Peanut Butter Solution

Toy Story 4

The Ring

The Crazies

The Mist

The Revenant

The Perfect Storm

The Shining

Terminator 2

The Truman Show

Temple of Doom

The Cell

To Kill a Mockingbird

Timeline

The Good Son

The Orphan

The Birdcage

The Green Mile

The Raid

The Cider House Rules

The Lighthouse

The Book of Henry

The A-Team

The Crow

The Terminal

Thor Ragnarok

Twister

The Descent

The Birds

Total Recall

The Natural

The Fifth Element

True Romance

Terminator: Dark Fate

The Hobbit Trilogy

Unforgiven

Unbreakable

Unleashed

Very Bad Things

Wayne’s World

What Women Want

War Dogs

Wedding Crashers

What’s Eating Gilbert Grape

Welcome to the Dollhouse

Welcome to Marwen

Wet Hot American Summer

What Lies Beneath

What Dreams May Come

War Games

Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Weird Science

Willow

Wizard of Oz

Wanted

Young Sherlock Holmes

You’ve Got Mail

Zodiac

Zoolander

[matchadobo]

SHANKS; bathing with the emperor on a hot summer day

summary: in the burning afternoon at the red force, name stumbles upon her captain/husband in the bath. 🔞 tw: NSFW, sm/ut, seggs is mentioned and told here read at your own discretion, p0rn w/o plot, bath seggs, unprotected seggs, no angst, little fluff?, fem reader

it was one of those god-forbid, humid days where you could feel your skin burning under the scorching ball of heat in the sky. your clothes uncomfortably sticking in your skin. even with a tank top and short shorts you felt yourself melting beneath the searing sun.

the floor under your feet was like a pan above an open stove. each crevice of your body damp with excruciating sweat. your vision wobbly from the intense heat as you felt a migraine coming in. sweat trickling down the sides of your face, down to your neck, glistening under the sun.

you panted incessantly, desperately trying to look for a hint of anything remotely cold to soothe the pain of summer. you glanced around the red force, each crew member in the same predicament as you. no one dares to step on the portion of the deck where there was no shade, one might say that it can fry you to death immediately. all men on deck had their shirts off, still in one place, fanning themselves, restlessly trying to survive the grave heat.

"hey, benn." you called to the group of men, cooped up in the bar. each have a tall glass of icy water. "where's captain?"

"haven't seen the lad. try his quarters?" he looked at you with tired eyes, feet propped up in the table, the sleeves of his shirts rolled up, his hair tied in a high bun; seemingly not handling the heat like everyone else.

"right." you smiled as you bid farewell. carrying your heavy body as you entered your captain's quarters.

met with the dark mahogany walls, fairly decorated with ornaments he has collected along his journey through his life. you don't miss the medium sized photo of him and luffy, smiling ear to ear while holding beetles. you can't help but smile as your heart twitched in endearment.

his gray-colored oak bedside tables decorated with trinkets settled beside his black pencil-postered bed accessorized with red, velvety sheets and an ample amount of raven and crimson pillows. the fluffy carpet beneath your feet welcomed your drowsiness amidst the hot weather. lateral from the bed was his three-mirrored vanity, also in gray-colored oak, where his coat was lazily hung on of the mirrors. you glanced at the door beside it and saw it ajar as the quiet sound of water splashes emanated from the small gap.

there he is.

you sauntered to where he was, slowly opening the door, careful not to disturb anything. you met with his raspberry eyes, sultrily holding your gaze as a smirk crept on his pink lips at your company. he was holding a glass of wine, hair graciously slicked back, and skin glistening from staying in the water for too long. "need something, love?"

"why didn't you say so that you've got the bath all to yourself?" you irritably gritted your teeth, blowing air in dismay, rolling your eyes, and simultaneously taking your clothes off.

"slow down, sweetheart. the weather's already hot as it is, don't go making it hotter for me, aye?" he placed the glass down, fixing up his position in order to make room for you. "don't be so angry with me now, doll. let me make it up you, come." he suavely called out, voice as smooth as the velvet sheets in his bed where you always find yourself ending up naked beside him.

"you better be." you retorted, finally taking off the last article of clothing—your panties. you saw how his eyes trailed down to your plush thighs, to your enticing bundle if nerves, to the curve of your hips and ratio of your waist, to the round mounds of flesh on your chest, up to your alluring face. you never miss how his eyes always mirrored that lustful yet genuine look he gives you whenever you stand bare before him like this. he slowly licks his lips and opens his thighs for you to sit in the space between, not breaking eye contact before your back faces him.

you finally sat down, moaning at the relief of the cold water soothing your body and his breath hot against your neck. "care for a wine, darling?"

he softly uttered beside you, his hand with a wine glass extended to you before placing subtle kisses on the smooth skin that connects your shoulders and neck. your skin tingled at the sensation of his wet lips, your thighs shivered slightly in response. "a rum'd be better but this'll do." you returned, taking the glass of wine.

he suddenly started getting suggestive, placing sloppy kisses on your neck, sucking on the sensitive flesh just at the tip of your jaw. "i thought the weather was the only thing in heat, seems you are too." you reached over the mini wooden table on the bathroom to place the glass down.

you felt him chuckle and grin on your skin, nibbling on the flesh as his stubble poked on you. you cringe at the pain but you love it, how his wet, hot lips feel against your cold skin, how his stubble graze and contrasted with the softness of your skin, how his hums and silent growls grow loud each time he elicits a moan from you. his arm snaked around your waist, feeling your chest up. you threw your head back, trying to swallow all the sounds of pleasure the redhead is evoking off of you. "holding it will only make it louder, angel." he whispered against your ear, voice gruff and heavy on lust. "i know it feels good baby, come on i wanna hear how good i make you feel." he played with your skin between his teeth, licking your ears afterwards.

"f-fucking prick," you weakly muttered, biting your lips as you refuse giving him the satisfaction. the grip on the mounds on your chest grew hungrier, kneading and playing with the sensitive bit between his thumb and index finger as his knees started maneuvering your thighs to get under your bundle of nerves.

for a disabled man like shanks, he's irritably skilled in manipulating you and your body under his spell. until your eyes mirror hearts, your mouth starts drooling, your words become mumbles and gibberish, and all you could utter and beg for is him. for the short amount of time that you two are together, he has memorized what gets you screaming, which positions and maneuvers drives you insane, which spots sends you into climax, and where you'd exactly want him to be. he knows everything about you by heart. that's why now, you're a complete mess under him.

"can you blame me, sweet stuff? i can't get enough of you." he continued, gravelly voice reaching your rabbiting chest. leaving scattered splotches of blues and purples in the span of your neck at his wake, all the while rubbing his knees on your core as he dug deeper within you. your body twisted in pleasure as you try gripping the sides of his ceramic, stygian tub to somehow get a hold of your fucking self. little whimpers escape your parted lips as your eyes rolled at the back of your head. his fiery, rose-colored eyes not missing each twinge of elation in your face—growing hard at each noise and spasm you make under his grasp.

"s-stop teasing..!" you tried to mumble out words from your cloudy head, all you could focus on was the combined pleasure if his touch in your chest and your core that sent your mind in a flurry.

"but you love it so much, don't you my angel?" his voice was soft, yet demonic. alluring you into his sins, his aura so dark yet so gentle. his movements growing rougher and faster as you neared your high. "you crave for how i drive you fucking crazy, don't you my love?" he growled through gritted teeth, voice deeply hungry for you.

"my my, look at you. doing all the work for me."he praised you, letting you rub yourself on his thighs. the sound of water splashing with each other with your lips squelching underwater sent him even harder you could feel him throbbing against your back. you could feel your stomach bubbling in pleasure as it approaches your core. you weren't even trying to be quiet anymore, you were begging for your sweet release.

"go on darling, reach your high." and with that, your first climax came. yes, first. you know full well that this is just the beginning. your captain hasn't even used his member yet and you're already a wet mess. you settled down as you tried calming yourself down, leaning back and resting your head on his shoulders. your damp locks sticking to your skin with sweat and the wet bath.

as soon as the emperor heard your pants becoming more regulated, he immediately uttered an order. "face me." you found yourself immediately spinning around and settling yourself on his lap, straddling him. he raised your chin with his index finger, trying to meet your eyes. "let me see you, sweetheart." your cheeks had that flushed tint of red from arousal and the heat of his gaze that he adored so much. you see how his face softened with one look at you as he reached over and caressed your cheek, rubbing circles on it with his thumb. "it still baffles me how someone as enchanting as you is sitting in front me."

"fuck off with the compliments, ojisan." you rolled your eyes, despite the race of heat from your neck to your cheeks. "get into it, yeah?" you smugly challenged him, putting both of your arms beside his figure while his large one was settled on your hips, keeping you in place.

his once soft smiled turned into a sharp grin as he pulled you into his lips. your arms wrapped around his neck, tilting your head to the side to kiss him deeper. he hummed through your lips, exploring every edge of your mouth to elicit another pleasurable sound from you. his hand traversed across the span of your back, taking delight in the softness of your skin in his touch as he manipulates your tongue with his. his hand roaming down your rear, kneading the voluptous flesh in his palm as he spreads you, prepping you for his entrance.

as he had successfully aroused every sexual desire within you, you started to induce friction and grind yourself back and forth. your lips spreading ever so often as his pulsating member slides within your crevice from your incessant back and forth motion. he threw his head back after gutturally moaning in your open mouth at the fervent stimulation. you reached over to plant splotches of red and purple on his neck as he bucked his hips upward. his girth throwing you off guard, making you lose your balance at his sudden movement. "i got you, love." he chuckled lightly, supporting you from the small of your back.

as the first stretch came, you two let out a big breath of ecstasy; high on each other. you tightened around him as he tried moving, for a man of two meters his size is not a joking matter. no matter how much you grow accustomed to it, it still catches you off guard. as you two went at it, you rested your head on his shoulder as the squirmy feeling started bubbling in your stomach. shanks kept whispering filthy nothings in your ear, biting it ever so often, mumbling about how good and tight you clench around him with each thrust, his hot pants and breaths echoing like a melody on your ear.

the plashing of the bathwater and the sticky slapping of skin wet with liquid unbeknowst to the both of you whether it is come, soap, or the water echoed throughout the room. the floor getting wet with the amount of water leaving the tub from your carnal movements with him. endless, hungry moans of sinful desire, each with the utter of one another's names. as your bodies get closer to each other, so was your climaxes. his hips stuttering, your thighs wobbling, your and his' minds clouded with lust and amor.

reaching your climaxes with the chorus of moans of pleasure and pants of weariness, the redhead aroused. "up for another, angel?"

FIRST TIME WRITING SMUT UM??? SORRY??? just had this idea in one sitting and wrote it immediately bcoz philippines is like a fucking oven rn, NOT EVEN JOKING MY SKIN FEELS LIKE IT'S ACTUALLY BURNING EACH TIME I GO OUT. omg cha writing for another charac other than kidd?????????? yes i find shanks hot too, what do we expect

[book--brackets]

The 13 Clocks by James Thurber (1950)

The hands of all thirteen clocks stand still in the gloomy castle on a lonely hill where a wicked Duke lives with his niece, the beautiful Princess Saralinda. The Duke fancies he has frozen time, for he is afraid that one day a Prince may come and win away the hand of the Princess—the only warm hand in the castle. To thwart that fate, he sets impossible tasks for Saralinda’s suitors. But when the bold Prince Zorn of Zorna arrives, disguised as a wandering minstrel, and helped by the enigmatic Golux, the cold Duke may at last have met his match.

The Edge Chronicles by John Stewart and Chris Riddell (1998-2019)

Fourteen-year-old Quint Verginix is the only remaining son of famous sky-pirate Wind Jackal. He and his father have journeyed to the city of Sanctaphrax – a great floating rock, bound to the ground below by a chain, its inhabitants living with their heads literally in the clouds.

But the city hides a dangerous secret: deep inside the great rock, something horrible lurks. With his father away, Quint may be the only one who can save Sanctaphrax from the dreaded curse of the gloamglozer . . .

The Wandering Inn by Pirateaba (2018-present)

“No killing Goblins.”

So reads the sign outside of The Wandering Inn, a small building run by a young woman named Erin Solstice. She serves pasta with sausage, blue fruit juice, and dead acid flies on request. And she comes from another world. Ours.

It’s a bad day when Erin finds herself transported to a fantastical world and nearly gets eaten by a Dragon. She doesn’t belong in a place where monster attacks are a fact of life, and where Humans are one species among many. But she must adapt to her new life. Or die.

In a dangerous world where magic is real and people can level up and gain classes, Erin Solstice must battle somewhat evil Goblins, deadly Rock Crabs, and hungry [Necromancers]. She is no warrior, no mage. Erin Solstice runs an inn.

She’s an [Innkeeper].

The Moorchild by Eloise Jarvis McGraw (1996)

Half moorfolk and half human, and unable to shape-shift or disappear at will, Moql threatens the safety of the Band. So the Folk banish her and send her to live among humans as a changeling. Named Saaski by the couple for whose real baby she was swapped, she grows up taunted and feared by the villagers for being different, and is comfortable only on the moor, playing strange music on her bagpipes.

As Saaski grows up, memories from her forgotten past with the Folks slowly emerge. But so do emotions from her human side, and she begins to realizethe terrible wrong the Folk have done to the humans she calls Da and Mumma. She is determined to restore their child to them, even if it means a dangerous return to the world that has already rejected her once.

Peter Pan in Scarlet by Geraldine McCaughrean (2006)

In August 2004 the Special Trustees of Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital, who hold the copyright in Peter Pan, launched a worldwide search for a writer to create a sequel to J. M. Barrie's timeless masterpiece. Renowned and multi award-winning English author Geraldine McCaughrean won the honor to write this official sequel, Peter Pan in Scarlet. Illustrated by Scott M. Fischer and set in the 1930s, Peter Pan in Scarlet takes readers flying back to Neverland in an adventure filled with tension, danger, and swashbuckling derring-do

The Many Deaths of Laila Starr by Ram V. (2022)

Humanity is on the verge of discovering immortality. As a result, the avatar of Death is cast down to Earth to live a mortal life in Mumbai as twenty-something Laila Starr. Struggling with her newfound mortality, Laila has found a way to be placed in the time and place where the creator of immortality will be born. Will Laila take her chance to stop mankind from permanently altering the cycle of life, or will death really become a thing of the past?

Wishing Chair by Enid Blyton (1937-2000)

Once Mollie and Peter have discovered the Wishing-Chair, their lives are full of adventure. It takes them to all sorts of magical places, from the giant's castle where they rescue Chinky the Pixie, to the amazing party at Magician Greatheart's castle.

Die by Kieron Gillan (2018-2020)

DIE is a pitch-black fantasy where a group of forty-something adults have to deal with the returning unearthly horror they barely survived as teenage role-players.

Poison by Chris Wooding (2003)

Poison has always been a willful, contrary girl, prone to being argumentative and stubborn. So when she discovers that her younger sister has been abducted by the phaeries, she decides to seek out the Phaerie Lord to get her back.

But finding the Phaerie Lord is just the start of it. By leaving home, Poison steps into a murderous world of intrigue and danger, where the Lords of the Realm, a sinister pantheon of demigods, are conspiring to overthrow the Hierophant- the most powerful lord of all. For the Hierophant is writing again, and his pen will decide all their fates... including Poison's.

With only her wits and her friends to aid her, Poison must survive the lethal attentions of the Phaerie Lord, rescue her sister, and thwart a plot that could mean the end of her people. What awaits her is beyond anything she can imagine.

Deeplight by Francis Hardinge (2019)

The gods are dead. Decades ago, they turned on one another and tore each other apart. Nobody knows why. But are they really gone forever?

When 15-year-old Hark finds the still-beating heart of a terrifying deity, he risks everything to keep it out of the hands of smugglers, military scientists, and a secret fanatical cult so that he can use it to save the life of his best friend, Jelt. But with the heart, Jelt gradually and eerily transforms. How long should Hark stay loyal to his friend when he’s becoming a monster—and what is Hark willing to sacrifice to save him?

[chibinasuu]

Homesick.

Summary: Sanji misses the Baratie sometimes Tags: drabble/headcanon, canon characters only

Once in a blue moon, Sanji would feel homesick for the Baratie. 

Don't get him wrong, the cook was more than happy with his new life with the Straw Hat crew. He had his own kitchen now, complete with a giant oven that Franky installed just for him. Best of all, he was free to cook whatever he wished for the people he loved. He was free to experiment with new recipes whenever he liked. He never got the chance to do that when he was the sous chef of East Blue’s famed floating restaurant. Zeff was always the decision-maker, and he’d always scold Sanji for making even the slightest adjustment to his tried-and-trusted recipes. 

But, some days, he did miss the frenzy of that last hour before dinner service, where all the chefs would work together in harmony, rushing to complete their delectable masterpieces. He missed the cacophony of pots and pans, the rhythmic taps of multiple knives against the wooden chopping boards, the faint bubbling of the soups and sauces all around him. It wasn’t just once or twice that he caught himself calling out “hot behind!” as he carried a pan across the Sunny’s kitchen, only to realize that it was just him in there. 

He also missed meeting all the different guests who came into the restaurant every day. He missed chatting up the pretty ladies and offering up glasses of champagne on the house – something Zeff always chastised him for. He missed his friendly arguments with this one regular over which wine pairing was the best for that day’s meal. 

Life as a pirate on the Grand Line was unpredictable. One day you could be peacefully sailing across the ocean, and the next you could be battling an Emperor’s crew. While Sanji enjoyed the thrill of the adventure, he sometimes felt nostalgic about the regularity of his shifts at the Baratie. He used to complain that Zeff worked him too hard at the restaurant, but he knew now that all of that extra time he spent in rotation at the different stations just made him a better cook. 

The Straw Hats could always notice whenever Sanji was homesick. Instead of his usual family-style meals, the cook would spend long hours in the kitchen whipping up fancy four-course dinners for the crew, each dish plated with such meticulous care that could only be achieved by someone with years of experience at a fine-dining restaurant. He’d make old recipes from the Baratie that he could cook with his eyes closed, but with the addition of his own flair that Zeff would never have allowed back at the restaurant. 

Luffy would always lick the plate clean in delight, but would sometimes whine that the portions were too small. Nami would shush him, showering Sanji with praises on how delicious everything was. The crew members who had never had the pleasure to dine at the Baratie were always excited to try Sanji’s more luxurious dishes, thrilled to get a small taste of what their cook’s life was like before.

After dinner, Sanji would step out onto the deck and light his cigarette, sometimes accompanied by a glass of whiskey on the rocks. As he exhaled a cloud of smoke into the sky, he’d allow his mind to wander to the Baratie. He was halfway across the world, so it would've been daytime in the East Blue. He’d wonder if Patty and Carne were still clearing up from the lunch service, or if they were already moving on to dinner prep. He’d wonder what menu Zeff had decided to serve for the day. 

No, Sanji would never regret his decision to go with Luffy on his journey to become the King of the Pirates. He would never regret going after his own dreams to find the All Blue.

But sometimes, he just couldn’t help but miss his old man, his fellow cooks, and the restaurant he had called home for the better half of his life.

[dozenssporks]

*the video opens with Vash collapsed in the sand looking dry and withered. The camera is at ground level, indicating that the cameraman is probably also on the ground*

Vash speaks, his voice raspy: is this it, Wolfgang? is this how it all ends?

Wolfwood: it ends for you if you keep calling me by made-up names.

Vash: oh, Lobo Arbor, I think I can see the light . . .

Wolfwood: listen here you little brat I told you not to use my name in your little home movies but I didn't say you could just pick me a new one!

Vash: Ulf of the Jungle . . .

Wolfwood: okay that is it--

*the camera shakes as Wolfwood starts crawling toward Vash. Abruptly the image only shows sand, having been dropped mid-journey. Shrieking from off-screen can be heard*

*the video cuts to a new scene*

*Vash is still on the ground, somewhat more sandy, holding the phone above his face. Next to Vash's head Wolfwood's feet can be seen, his shoes also encrusted with sand*

Vash: guys, we're lost in the desert

Wolfwood: we sure are

Vash: this might be our last video, dear viewers

Wolfwood: I want to be cremated and have my ashes portioned up and dumped over the heads of all the people I hate

Vash: I'm not one of those, right?

Wolfwood: you're not that significant to me

Vash gasps: if the desert hadn't dried up my tears I would weep, Wolfgang. We're so horribly dried up . . . like raisins or sun-dried tomatoes . . . if only there were some landmark

Wolfwood: look again, one more time, spiky

*the camera raises up and slowly pans a wobbly path back and forth, showing empty blue skies and yellow sand. It flashes past something triangular, stops, and turns back. The blurred image focuses until the pyramids of Giza are clearly visible*

Vash: no way

Wolfwood: is that--?

Vash: it can't be! it's--!

*disregarding the pyramids the camera whips around and swiftly zooms in on a modern highway and clearly populated and thriving city. Everything blurs again when Vash staggers to his feet*

Vash: It's a pizza hut!

Wolfwood, simultaneously: It's a KFC!

*the camera turns back around to show Vash's overjoyed face and lingers there for a few seconds. Vash's face twists up and after a brief struggle he bursts into laughter*

Vash: just foolin'!

Wolfwood, also laughing: gotcha!

Vash: this video is for everyone who doesn't know that the best view of the pyramids is from a KFC and that even I couldn't get lost between the pyramids and the city!

Wolfwood, breathlessly: pfft, okay let's get some chicken

Vash: no? we're getting pizza hut?

Wolfwood: nooo we agreed on KFC

Vash: we did not, I never did

Wolfwood: yes we did, we're going to get some extra crispy

Vash: nuh uh

Wolfwood: mashed potatoes. biscuits.

Vash: pizza with everything on it!

Wolfwood: Bucket! Of! Chicken!

Vash: ranch-pineapple-BBQ-anchovie-jalapeno-mushroom-green onion-feta-asiago-buffalo--

Wolfwood: whoa jeez is that a pizza order or a curse?! K.F.C.

*Vash screeches and lunges at Wolfwood*

Wolfwood: Oh LORD!

*the camera, again abandoned, shows a beautifully clear image of the cloudless blue sky before the video cuts to black silence*

[chillwildwave]

The Wishing Kingdom: Chapter 3: Home For The Princess 👑 👸🏿 ✨

______________________________

The next scene is where we get a POV shot of Asha where she is walking through the depths of the forest, following the king and queen, by this point, we don't see their faces, we only see their backs not knowing who they are yet.

As she walks, the trees transform into those green beings about to grab her, at first, her eyes were only focused on where she was too, but as soon as the branches shot towards her, her entire body ran to the king in agony, while she held on to him, Magnifico gave her a heart-thumping stare, a stare so frightening it could alternate a harmful side of you, after the stare, he turned back to his own direction and kept on following the path.

As the scene goes on, the aspect transitions into a silhouette paper animation style where out of the blue, the background is covered in red where Magnifico and Amaya are in front of, while Asha still holding onto his arm, although it starts being irritating to her own body, to ignore the pain she felt, her eyes dart at the trees one more time, and the sky as well, no star in sight, there was still a blanket hovering the sky as a result, until the vines started coming back in front of the trio, as if it was to block their own path.

Magnifico gestured his hand towards Amaya and Asha, as he took one step towards the vines, darting at his direction as if they didn't know something had held into his own being, a breath went into him while his hands warmed up for a majestic spell…

“EVICES!!!”

As soon as that spell was chanted, a beam of emerald shot out of his hands, transitioning into a knife, made out of green paper, which slid off the vines, when they slid, the vines sank to the ground, like they dropped dead.

He checked around the vines, to see if it was safe to go across them now that he chopped them off with his magic, eyes examined his dear wife and Asha as well, afterwards, he tucked his head out towards an open path, showing that it was safe for them to finally cross.

Although Asha didn't know that Magnifico used his magic for other things, she was always satisfied with how the lines moved with such grace and beauty, like something that came out of her own drawings, now that she hadn't got her sketchbook with her, a passion like hers has fallen into a pit, slowly…

While the walk continued, we see a side profile of a silhouette of Asha, her head is titled down while her hand is still holding on to Magnifico’s, although we don't see her actual face, you can tell that she's in deep pain, knowing that without her passion, her sacrifice was preparing for her to witness.

Her head goes up to Magnifico before she begins to speak in a solemn manner.

“Are we there yet?”

Magnifico didn't answer, he remained mute for the most part, he knew that this journey was vile after crossing the vines and the trees, his signal got close, very close, so they carried on their journey until the camera panned out to his castle in Rosas through a black silhouette curtain which transitions back to the 2D animated universe of the kingdom.

(I chose this concept art piece of the Town of Del Mar from Puss In Boots: The Last Wish because this is how I imagine Rosas as soon as I think of it.)

At the center of the mountain, a grand castle is seen towards the bridge with a trail of rocks, although it can't be seen, its structure struck Asha’s eyes, she didn't know anything about what the kingdom looked like, but now that she's going to make herself presentable for the king and queen, it’s best to see what life has ahead of her, so they cross over the bridge until their foot is right in front of the castle.

We then get an introduction to Benito and Henry, the guards of the castle.

At first, Asha started to shake, her eyes looked down to the floor as if she didn't want to look up to her worst nightmares, but after a second, she looked back up again, while the king and queen both walked right up to the two guards.

“Aaah, it’s nice to see you again.” Magnifico declared with a straight posture. “As you can see we have a new visitor and we were wondering if we can show her around the castle.”

“Well why didn't you even tell me you had a new person?! You never told me this in a while?!” Benito’s eyes banged out of nowhere, he tried to get closer to Magnifico but Henry held onto his shoulder behind him.

“What he said, anyways, we’d be happy to show this young girl around.”

Henry prevented himself from making a single expression while still holding onto Benito’s shoulder, although Magnifico knew how he get, at least he still worked for the king and queen.

Amaya started walking up to them this time. “Thank you, my fellow guards, we’re going to be having a real treat this time around.”

After she said that, she winked at the guards and she, Magnifico and Asha were whisked over to the entrance where Benito and Henry followed in their path.

While they’re walking, we here Benito fiddling with his hands, you know, he's shaking them non-stop, so Henry decided to put his hands in his pockets to stop them from shaking, (what I want to show is that Benito is extremely excited while Henry is just neutral, like soooooooo neutral.)

Asha fell a bit behind due to her slow walking, although she was told to catch up by Amaya and Magnifico, she stumbled back, where the two guards were behind her, almost like a needle had shot her, and as she bumped into them, we get an upshot of the guards, giving her the look…

(Also, I personally think Benito and Henry would look like the guards from The Black Cauldron.)

The camera goes into Asha as she startled in fear, forcing herself to look at where she was going, right towards the castle entrance, where the king and queen glided to, after seeing that they were ahead, Asha quickly ran over so that she can see the wonders of the castle as well.

We then get a montage of Asha being shown inside the castle, (no dialogue, just visually telling a story.)

The interior where a sparkling chandelier is seen hanging over the visitor and the residents, with a wall coated in tapestries made up of different kings and queens as well as some arched walls wrapped up in Latin writing, Asha raised an eyebrow, she didn't understand what it said, but Magnifico told her that they’re all the magic spells that were founded in the kingdom, and the names of the kings and queens who originated them.

We see them in the throne room now, where a gigantic throne made out of gold and satin between two candle holders, both stood like statues to hold themselves in place, Benito and Henry explained to Asha that this is where the king and queen sit, Amaya also came in and explained that this is where the servants bow down when told to!

She looked up at the throne, thinking about her life in Rosas, and how she would be forced to bow down, a thunder strike hit her heart, and her fright almost got the better of her.

The montage continues as she is shown to the dining room, with a statue of King Jeffery in a posture so bold it looked like he fought for his life (this king is named after the former executive of Disney, Jeffery Katzenberg.) in front of two golden seats with everything nearly drenched in gold, Asha couldn't believe it, it was much more vibrant than her own home.

Finally, as the final door opens on the third floor, the camera circles over to Asha’s new bedroom, soothed in a blue curtain covering her new bed, decked with a chair and a vanity table, next to a grand wardrobe of puffy dresses fit for a princess, she didn't know that she would become a princess until now!

________________

As the evening moon lit up upon the horizon, Asha was already tucked into her new nightgown, tapping her hands while waiting for the queen to come in, while waiting, she started staring at her new room, particularly the ceiling, still stacked with medieval tapestry, she didn't know what was behind the pictures but after reading them with her eyes, she saw a league of nine kings, with Magnifico right at the end of them, making him the tenth king of the lineup and has still been able to use his magic in recent years.

SQUEEEK!

The door squeaked open which halted Asha’s free time, which unnerved her and turned her head, only to find out that it was Queen Amaya all this time, it took about 4 seconds for them to stare (I wanted to show how immediately startled she was by the queen’s entrance.) until she entered with such grace with her hands in front of her.

“Oh, heh, hello, your majesty.” She stroke her hair to the back while she bowed down to her in such surprise.

“Wow, already, Asha? Well hello there, how are you finding this new room?” She glided towards the same bed where she sat down earlier.

“Not bad, I mean it isn't as bad like I thought it would be.” Her eyes were at the side indicating that this would be where she would stay her own life.

“Oh, come on, think about it, you are going to become one of the grandest rulers of Rosas, with us.” Amaya replied with such very little enthusiasm yet with much passion, she knew that Asha was capable, but does she actually think she can get it right?

“The… grandest ruler? W-what do you mean?” Asha questioned, she didn't know what was meant my ruler during this time, before the queen spoke, she rested her hand on her shoulder.

“What you mean is… Kings and queens who have once ruled this land with such presence, helping others make their wishes come true, through their magic, and this time, we can help you, make your own wish come true, if you think that magic is going to help, think again…” Her words almost struck harder than a rock, there was yet another awkward pause…

“Make my own wish come true? How?” Asha’s curiosity was out of the world, she couldn't help but have more answers pop out of her head.

“All you have to do is one simple thing, and I can't tell you because we're going to a special place that can surely keep you practising your own magic, to show that you, will be the next wishgranter of Rosas.” Amaya’s long monologue continued as Asha was intrigued while she was close to yawning.

The queen saw that Asha’s eyes were half-open, causing them to close as if she were in a deep slumber, in response, she knelt down and kissed the sleeping child in the cheek. “Good night, Asha, its going to be a big day.”

After that, she smiled gently and closed the door, leaving the soon-to-be princess couched in her new bed, asleep, while the screen fades to black.

————————

After 2 seconds, the screen fades in a text that says “5 years later” and afterwards, we get a shot of the morning sun as its light flashed onto Asha’s bedside, with her eyes nearly open, her arm sheltered her face from hitting the light, as we get into grown-up Asha, you can see that she has matured, her hair is a lot more longer, so she sat down by the vanity table to brush it (a la Ariel), she takes a step into her grand wardrobe and had some trouble selecting a couple of dresses until she found the right fit!

She wears this beautiful orange and yellow dress, which was the final dress in her wardrobe, it looked absolutely gorgeous on her that she started spinning in it a few times in front of the mirror in typical Disney-princess fashion, and of course, she tops it off with a pointy tiara that Magnifico had given to her previously.

After she’s all ready for her big day, she closed the door behind her and gently glides herself down the long trail of stairs that went like a circle, as if they didn't take the time to stand the test of time to stand in someone’s feet, until she finally enters the throne room where Magnifico and Amaya sat down, with their hands touching each other.

From far away, their glare was far more vicious than ever, she stood still, as if she forgot what she was supposed to do when the king and queen were in front of her, after 5 seconds of staring into their eyes, she creaked forwards to the king and queen, and unhurriedly bowed in front of their bodies, she looked back up at them again, desperate for their faces to lift.

Out of nowhere, their faces were still stern, although she felt like she should try harder, she didn't bother anyway because from their stern looks, they were already intrigued by her presence.

“Wow, so glad you entered with a bow, uh, mm, mi reina must be sooooo proud too!” Magnifico glanced before turning towards Amaya.

“I’m always proud, mi rey, and especially since a new up-and-coming princess has reached our lineup.” She responded whilst lovingly looking into the king’s eyes.

“Oh, Amaya, just think about it, if only we had a room where we can teach her all the possibilities.” Magnifico was close to holding his wife, however he realised that Asha needed to learn a few things first.

“Wait… really? Where?” Asha examined the look in the couple’s eyes, she too wanted to know the secret room.

Magnifico climbed himself down the few steps from his throne and went towards Asha side to side, eyeing her up and down, every move he made. “Well, don't you see? I didn't we had another room, so come with me.”

At first, Asha’s face was conflicted with which emotions to choose, but she ended up agreeing on the idea, so she and the king and queen were led to a staircase that reached all the way up to the tower.

As they walk, the camera goes up and up the staircase while the other side of the screen is incredibly blank and dark, until the reflection of light, not yellow but a sombre-blue light zoomed into Magnifico.

While he reached that light, he looked back at his wife and Asha, in a loving sight, before he gestured for them to come along because they were close to the room.

And as soon as the door opens…

A sight was indescribable to fulfil.

It felt like what she saw in her own sketches, if only it returned to her.

The background music is more reminiscent of the cathedral scene in Hunchback of Notre Dame, as we see these golden crystals with people’s desires on one side of the shelf.

On the other side was a deck of all the magic books filled with spells that endure a simple passion.

Asha’s expression became as light as a feather, she was close to touching one of the crystals, it flickered as it was floating up in the atmosphere, she desperately wanted a view of it, she knew what had to be done, her hand went close and closer.

Closer…

“Ahem!”

Magnifico’s body behind her made a statement of its own.

“Don’t touch those, you know you don't want to see what’s inside.”

“Yes, and if you touch them, you only let the experts do it.”

Amaya’s voice sounded whisper as if she was a cat, annoyed from their owner, almost tingling Asha’s spine, but she still kept that curiosity.

“But what exactly do they do?”

She asked as she continued observing the crystals.

“Let us show you first, BUT, you must concentrate, because a princess should concentrate on what they are doing.”

“Should they?”

“Of course they should, it you don't get this right, you won’t be a princess!”

Asha held her thoughts to herself after they said this, which led her to follow them into a forbidden cabinet where they possessed all forms of magic, whether it was Lagiate (magic used to transform into objects), Fiera (magic used to summon creatures of any kind), Repelsus (magic used to transform into dangerous animals) and Supresus (magic used to create abstract lines that have power, much more dangerous power.)

These titles of the magic spells are seen on display with a glass box holding it still to prevent anyone from stealing it.

The king and queen then stood in front of the princess with their hands gesturing her hands.

“Now…” Magnifico knelt down to look into Asha’s eyes. “ You know these types of magic have been brought up since Rosas was established, and they were used that can do all sorts of believable things, it could almost be impossible for it to come true!”

The queen took her turn to speak while also kneeling down as well. “And the only way to make it impossible is to just chant the incantations of old.”

“Incantations of old?” Asha raised an eyebrow, her breath nearly caught her from asking a question.

“Yes, ancient ones, it’s sort of a little rhyme that you hum and then before you know it, tada, that's magic for you.” Magnifico’s over-the-top jazz hands showed off during the final line, causing Amaya to laugh while Asha didn't move her mouth afterwards.

At this point, you can just say that she doesn't get it at all, this is because this is a new environment.

Amaya covered the confusion by standing back up and leading herself over to a black cauldron, where it was believed that this was where they got their power from in the first place, Magnifico looked back and ultimately followed her, Asha did the same thing.

The cauldron was wrapped in thorns and roses, only on the edges where a finger wouldn't prick.

Her entire body was guarded around the cauldron with her eyes closed, anticipating the moment, her hands cupped the green goo out of it.

“Addradus, Brambocious!”

And then…

From out of nowhere, Asha’s eyes were focused on the objects, at first they still stayed in place, but with the spell, they became animated, they were lifted out of their place and hovered around the princess as if it was all telekinesis can do.

We can see them hover around for around 7 seconds before they loose their stability and hit hard on the floor.

“Now you try.”

Magnifico reached out his hand to Asha.

She was frozen for a few seconds, couldn't she have listened to the spell before she knew what she had to do? Well, she doesn't know, and its up to her to make up for the practice that she was going to do.

She walked up to the cauldron.

Deep breaths, deep breaths.

Her hands wriggling in sight.

Both the king and queen’s eyes opened wide for their own good.

She's ready!

Her hands dipped inside the emerald ooze as her head lifted up with the spell in her mouth already.

“Addradus, Brambocious.”

Nothing…

Maybe a few more times would work.

“Addradus, Brambocious, Addradus, Brambocious, ADDRADUS, BRAMBOCIOUS!!!”

Not a blink, not a sound, not a peep at all…

Asha’s eyes flickered towards the nearby objects.

Still, gravity kept them still for so long.

She saw her palms of her hands, still no trace.

No signs.

“Unbelivable.” She stuttered, still looking at her hands with such distraught.

“Unbelivable? Try again!” Magnifico persuaded while holding on to his wife, knowing that she couldn't believe what happened.

Okay, here we go.

One last time, hands in, squelch, head up, now chant that spell…

“Addradus, Brambocious!”

Silence, no nothing.

No background music is playing, just a single violin strumming.

The entire space is blank from that moment.

Isn't this the right fit?

Isn't this the place where she was brought into on the first place?

If it was, then wasn't it magic that was so gifted to her genes?

Her mouth trembled, nearly like she was about to let a tear beat her down.

“Ugh, quit that sulking.” Magnifico’s voice remained on low volume, though sinister, it remained low.

She sniffed, trying to cover up her tears by wiping it off her sleeve, it wasn't even appropriate in their minds for a princess to cry, a princess should be well-mannered and greatly appreciated, not making every failure come their way!

“I SAID QUIT THAT SULKING!” Magnifico snapped with his dark magic, creating a fold in the mouth for Asha to remain silent, Amaya came back up and used the same magic as him.

Breathing again from Asha couldn't prevent her from being able to speak again, afterwards, they let go of her and walked closer and closer…

“Oh, whiny little Asha, a princess doesn't cry, very unpresentable, very, very unpresentable, hahah, just teasing, you're a perfect princess, I love you so much!” Amaya grinned as she pulled her cheek, the young princess knitted her eyebrows, slightly confused, she didn't know what was going on.

“And since you're a perfect little princess, we have no choice but to offer you something special during this practice!” Magnifico stated.

Asha stroked her heap of hair displayed in a braid, all whist looking up to her parents, Magnifico on the other hand knew the look on her face, so did his wife, they started circling around the princess therefore ruining any opportunity to run away.

“Something special… I wonder what it is, but I think that it's...”

“IMPOSSIBLE, you were about to say, come to think of it, why whine about the most precious things in Rosas when we are the ones having to do it for you?”

Amaya spoke with a smug on her face, with her monolith self, looming towards Asha, causing a fright.

She remained mute, eyes darting around the room, her slow pace couldn't come up with words to defend the king and queen’s comeback until she found out what to say.

“I don't know…”

As soon as that was said, a piano on minor key starts playing.

“Oh, Asha, didn't we tell you before?”

Magnifico scolded as the main villain song is about to commence…

Our Command 🔮

Lines in blue - Amaya

Lines in Orange - Asha

Lines in Black - Both

Lines in green - Magnifico

There's power and there's strength,

No matter what size or even length,

You see this? Is what you're asking,

From us?

(During the first line, some shadow effects appear out of Magnifico’s hand as they are projected on the floor, jumpscaring Asha as he says his line, the line “This is what you're asking from us” is to show how they are always asked to do things for her rather than doing it herself as appropriate behaviour from a princess.)

Now what do you have to say,

Too nervous, what a bad day,

Too tedious to speak up,

Why won't you stand up?!

(Amaya walks closer to Asha after Magnifico, gesturing her own hands that were filled with all sorts of swishes from the magic she beheld, as she says “too tedious and too nervous” her face makes these weird expressions as if she’s straight up mocking Asha for her insecurities.)

By the power of glory,

How are we so unworthy?

Trust us we’ll do the talking,

Stay shut, that's our command!

(Now we get a shot at the couple dancing as they're surrounded by these green flames targeting Asha, she steps back, and when they say, the three lines, they are talking about how offended they would feel when no one respected them so they force Asha to do the same thing.)

You see all these powers,

That you hold in your hands,

It seems like not everything works as your plan,

Let us teach you how to use it well.

(With those lines, Magnifico goes towards Asha and holds her hand, as soon as he is about to teach her how to use magic properly, at first she was convinced that she could give this her best shot, as soon as he says this, Asha’s hand almost lights up with a flame until…)

Whoops, that was all a slip up,

Looks like the crown will pass on.

(The flame suddenly dims out which shocks the princess, Amaya sings this line with such suspense and as she says “the crown will pass on” she conjures up two ventriloquist dummies reminiscent of a clone Asha with a crown on her head, and therefore snatching it off her.)

But please, I swear it didn't happen!

Who cares, they're just excuses!

(When Asha says this line, she is literally begging down on her knees so that her parents would see her, but their backs are now turned to their normal direction, and when the queen says her line, she is about to imitate what she said.)

It’s impossible,

It’s all so useless

Why is this so hard

Give me time to regard!

(Their voices eerily switch to Asha’s voice, with the fake disguises they put on through their powers, she looked extremely daunted as soon as they did this.)

Is this all still a joke?

It’s not meant for that way!

(She is close to crying again and then grabbed hold on Amaya’s cloak, distraught by the behaviour, she gestured the door along with Magnifico as well.)

Call the guards, you shall stay OUT

That's the case if you don't obey.

(The background music starts getting more intense, the piano gets louder and the choir wails with so much force that the thumping gets more noticeable from the staircase.)

You're nothing but a failure,

No questions, session’s over,

Get gone, don't grab my hand,

This is our command!

(As soon as those lines are spoken, the couple start conjuring up those odd-looking skeletons that forced Asha to go outside the tower door, and this forces her to fight back whilst shoving the skeletons to the side but it doesn't ever work.)

We've got something to do,

Don't worry, pet, we've got you,

Ha, lies, don't mean to burst your bubble,

Now, GO, before you get in big, big…

(Asha tries to fight back but as soon as Magnifico spots her, he joins Amaya’s hand and it creates a forceful green wall, shoving her all the way to the tower door below the long staircase.)

Trouble…

(When Magnifico says that line, the door slams shut, and while the music dims, Asha is heard slamming the door in agony and weeping until she was able to get back in.)

“Hmm, looks like we handled her quite nicely, didn't we, Pookie?” Amaya glanced while she fixed her braided hair, Magnifico helped her as well before he spoke.

“Ha, I feel like we did our job, just being the royal ones we are.” He leans towards the window while he opens the doors to let in some fresh air, “And ever since you and I brought this power to our own founded home, I would've never known a world without you in it.” He held her hands as if he's about to kiss her.

“And I wouldn't have lived if you came to revive me, with your, rightful duties.”

Her voice got lighter and more flirtier as she was close to the king.

“And just you wait, honey, there's some big plans for our subjects, take a look down.”

As the camera goes down, we get a shot of the people carrying their loads as they are literal zombies walking in a hunched position, as if they had the orders of a righteous leader, whilst the king and queen smiled, and then, they shared an intimate kiss, with the camera slowly fading to a faint black.

The font then says “3 months later…”

As the screen is black, a majestic fanfare is heard indicating a special event commencing in Rosas…

Final Thoughts

Okay this is probably the longest chapter I wrote in my rewrite so far, and this is the only one where I wanted to explore all these concepts, like a comedic duo like in classic Disney movies a la Pain and Panic, such as Benito and Henry, I wanted to show that B is over excited while H is just like “you know I don't feel like being there but I have to do my job” lmao.

And I wanted to show you guys how the magic system in Rosas and I feel like I was able to do that by showing the gestures on that specific spell and how you can make it happen through these type sof effects.

And the best part was where I transitioned into silhouette animation to show how scary and sinister the forest was (side eyes Snow White) since I think a rewrite using different animation styles is not only perfect to pay homage to Disney, but also a perfect way to show the impact that Disney had with the animation and how it lives on to this day and I was able to achieve this!

Make sure you stick around for the next chapter where we finally get to meet Antares, IN ANIMATIC FORM and two songs as well, “This Wish” and “Down There” the other song that is replacing the alien mess of “Im a Star”, make sure you comment anything you liked about my rewrite, like, reblog and ask me anything so that I can learn in the future!

Thanks for reading!

@annymation @uva124 @signed-sapphire @wings-of-sapphire @your-ne1ghbor @frogcoven88 @thisnameisnotspokenfor @flicklikesstuff @oh-shtars @rascalentertainments @mythartist21 @ryoli @rylxdreams @peapeapeapa @hopeyarts @gracebethartacc @gracebeth3604 @emillyverse @spectator-zee @tumblingdownthefoxden @ishadow246

[neurosky]

I Have A Diagnosis

As of today, I've officially been diagnosed with PANS and Lyme, as well as coinfections.

After 10 years, a full decade of having PANS, I've finally been diagnosed. There were a lot of things off in my blood tests, and the Cunningham Panel test (the main test run for PANS) was very off, basically fully confirming that I do have PANS.

We're moving forward with treatment now!! I got a few more blood tests today, and I'll be starting antibiotics this weekend. We'll be cycling through a couple different meds to see if any work for a while.

And, even better, I'll still have this same doctor after I turn 18!! Me and my family were worried I'd get cut off since I'm already out of her age range, and 18 means insurance changes, but this doctor said she wouldn't do that.

So, basically, today is huge for me and my family. This diagnosis means we can finally move forward with treatment that could change my life, and we finally have answers. I'm so incredibly happy <3

[kodaloveschris]

VIP Magic at Disneyland

The morning sun cast a golden glow over the entrance of Disneyland as Nick, Matt, and Chris Sturniolo eagerly awaited the start of their VIP tour. They stood near the exclusive entrance, sipping on complimentary beverages and chatting excitedly about the day ahead.

"I can't believe we're here," Matt exclaimed, his eyes scanning the park with anticipation. "VIP treatment at Disneyland? This is a dream come true."

Chris nodded, adjusting his VIP badge with a grin. "Yeah, skipping the lines is going to be epic. Which ride do you guys want to hit first?

Nick chuckled, bouncing on the balls of his feet. "Space Mountain, definitely. I heard it's even more intense when you zoom through without waiting."

Just then, Madison Beer and her brother Ryder joined them, both dressed casually but stylishly for their day of adventure. Madison flashed a bright smile at her friends. "Hey guys! Ready to explore Disneyland like VIPs?"

"You bet!" Nick replied with enthusiasm, his excitement matching Madison's. "Thanks for inviting us, Madison. This is going to be legendary."

Their VIP tour guide, a cheerful Disney cast member named Emily, greeted them warmly and led them through the park. As they passed under the iconic Disneyland Railroad bridge, Emily began sharing insider stories and trivia about the park.

"So, first stop is Space Mountain," Emily announced, leading them briskly through the crowds. "We have reserved seats waiting for us. No waiting in line for you today!"

As they entered Tomorrowland, the sight of Space Mountain towering above them sparked a fresh wave of excitement. They breezed through the entrance and boarded their rocket ships, ready for the exhilarating journey through the stars.

"That was insane!" Ryder exclaimed as they exited the ride, his hair slightly disheveled from the speed.

Madison laughed, capturing Ryder's reaction on her phone. "You look like you've seen a ghost, Ryder!"

Ryder grinned sheepishly, shaking his head. "It was wild, okay? I didn't expect it to be that fast!"

Next, they ventured into Adventureland, where they embarked on the Jungle Cruise. Emily narrated the humorous jungle adventure, pointing out the animatronic animals and entertaining them with jokes that had everyone laughing.

"I think Emily's got a future as a stand-up comedian," Chris remarked, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes.

Madison nodded in agreement, filming Emily's antics. "She's definitely making this tour unforgettable."

After a morning of thrilling rides and magical experiences, they stopped for a VIP lunch at a reserved table on Main Street. They feasted on Mickey-shaped sandwiches and indulgent desserts, reminiscing about their favorite moments of the day so far.

"I still can't believe we're here," Matt said between bites of a Mickey ice cream bar. "This is like a dream come true."

Nick nodded, his expression reflecting awe. "Yeah, it's amazing. Thanks again for setting this up, Madison."

Madison smiled warmly. "I'm just glad we could all do this together. It's been so much fun."

After lunch, they continued their VIP tour with visits to Fantasyland, where they rode classic attractions like the tea cups and Peter Pan's Flight. Each ride brought new excitement and laughter, solidifying the bonds of friendship among the group.

As the sun began to set, casting a warm glow over Sleeping Beauty Castle, they gathered for a private viewing of the fireworks show. They watched in awe as fireworks burst into the night sky, synchronized to classic Disney music that stirred emotions and filled them with a sense of wonder.

"This is magical," Madison whispered, her eyes fixed on the sparkling display.

Nick nodded, feeling a deep sense of gratitude. "Thank you so much, Madison. This VIP tour has been beyond anything I imagined."

Ryder grinned, his eyes reflecting the colorful lights. "I'm so glad we could all experience this together."

Chris clapped Madison on the shoulder. "You really know how to make a day unforgettable, Madison. This has been one for the books."

As they walked back to the VIP exit, tired but happy, they reflected on the day's adventures. The VIP tour had allowed them to experience Disneyland in a way they had never imagined, creating memories that would last a lifetime.

As they bid farewell to Emily and the park, they knew that their day of VIP magic at Disneyland had been more than just rides and attractions—it had been a celebration of friendship, laughter, and the joy of experiencing the magic of Disney together.

[rian1023]

What a chaotic family.

In which an isekai'd person gains a family throughout their journey in Teyvat.

-----------

The adepti were having a simple 'brunch' that was introduced by Havria, the goddess of salt.

"Havriaaa~~ One more bite-" Guizhong, her lover was cut off by an odd ring that came from her beloved.

*Ring!* *Ring!*

"Havria, might i inquire as to what that unique rectangular object you have?" Cloud Retainter asks.

"O-oh, it's a phone. A device that allows me to communicate with my family quickly. My siblings are calling..." Havria accepts the call, as a loud screaming came from the other side.

"HAVRIA MY DEAREST BELOVED ATE (OLDER SISTER) PICK US UP PLEASE-" Kunikuzushi, or kuni in short, yelled for his dearest life.

Havria sighed, what had her siblings done this time? "Did you get high without me? Or did set the house on fire again." Rubbing her head which ached.

"IT'S NOT THAT, WE WERE MAKING A JET THAT ATE Y/N TOLD US ABOUT AND SHE SAW IT, FLEW IN IT, NOW SHE'S FLYING IN THE SKY WITH NO WAY TO GET DOWNNNNN!! KHOI HAS FAINTED." Yells came from the other side as Havria hang up.

Taking a bottle of strong wine, she gulped it all down setting the bottle gently. "Havria..?" Morax said questioningly.

"Puta, mga gago sila bakit limang minutos lang na wala ako doon, muntik na sila mamamatay? Oh well." Havria cursed in the language her chaotic older sister had taught her.

(Translation: Fuck, they're idiots i wasn't there for five minutes and why have they already nearly died? Oh well.)

"Apologies i have to leave quickly before my Ate actually dies this time... Mwah, i love you Guizhong, I'll visit you soon!" Havria teleported to a waypoint, seeing her older sister in the makeshift jet. (Guizhong panicked like crazy since she would be meeting with her girlfriends family and sought help-)

Focusing on the body of the jet, she turned it into salt when it was near the ground, also adding a large amout of Iodized salt to soften the landing.

Kuni, Khoi, and Y/n knelt infront Havria, one of the most responsible siblings with Beisht, scolded and worried about her siblings for being idiots as she prepared a snack for them to eat-

"And sarap Ate!" Kuni exclaimed cheerfully. Havria had mastered the recipe of pan de sal (or bread of salt if you translate) better than you.

"Right, when this aside, when are you going to introduce us to your girlfriend?" Y/n inquired, curious about her siblings love life.

"Pff- cough cough! Ate, I'll introduce you to Guizhong later-" Havria nearly choked on her food.

"I'm quite curious as to why Ate Havria likes the goddess of dust, if anything, it seems as if you're very in love that you'd get down on your kne-" Khoi was cut off from analyzing further when you pinched him lightly.

"Khoi, we don't discuss kinks on the dinner table..." You smiled, trying not to allow khoi to continue spilling the tea. "Tell me everything later Khoi.." Beisht whispered.

"Ahem! Maybe this dinner? there will be a feast in the Guili Assembly tonight.." Havria felt excited to introduce Guizhong to her beloved sibings.

------

"Guizhong, these are my siblings! This is my older sister or Ate Y/n, you arleady know Beisht, but she is also my sister, my younger brothers, Kuni and Khoi!" Havria cheerfully introduced you all, oblivious to Guizhong' inner turmoil.

"Lovely to meet you Guizhong! Ito ang ka jowa mo Havria?~"(This is your lover Havria?~)You teased her, Beisht merely giggled heartily.

"Ate please..-" Guizhong was cut off when she noticed her lover's nervousness. "H-Hello Lady Star!—" Guizhong had her shoulders pat by you. "You needn't use that sister-in-law!" Guizhong blushed with embarrassment. Beisht and the two boys just nodded.

"Right.. You already know my brother Morax and Osial, speaking of which here they are-"

"Hi honey!" Beisht chirped as Osial was surprised to see her- "Wait darling, you had siblings??" Osial asked. "You never listen do you." The temperature dropped as Beisht started ignoring Osial who tried to please his wife.

"Where is Haishan, Osial?" Beisht asked. "I-" Osial was cut off when a big ass explosion happened in the distance that seemed like fire..works.

"That looks like Khoi's attempted fireworks..." You trailed off your sentence and looked at Havria. "I- Morax that part of the land is not yours right?" Havria asked.

"I do not believe so..?" Morax replied. Havria seemed to be relieved..? "Good, i was gonna make them fix it up but I'll just bury them in the ground."

Havria turned herself to salt and used the small air particles to move herself.

Boom!

"Well shit, I think i have to get them. What a chaotic family, my chaotic family." You said as you quickly teleported to stop Havria from destroying more property, and also killing your siblings.

The end.

[mx-legend-of-faye]

What ever you do, don’t imagine Wild having to leave the chain for the events of totk.

Don’t imagine that it hasn’t been years between botw and totk, but only however long it’s been since he joined the chain.

Don’t imagine the chain in Wild’s hyrule when a portal appears. Don’t imagine Wild going through the portal last only to discover he can’t. Don’t imagine the rest of the chain panicking and full of confusion when the portal closes and Wild isn’t there.

Don’t imagine the confusion and panic Wild felt when he didn’t go through the portal. Don’t imagine his realization that maybe it was for a reason; for another adventure. Don’t imagine Wild going back to the castle to talk with Flora and her asking him to explore below it with her.

Don’t imagine what Wild must’ve felt seeing Fi shattered. Don’t imagine him spending every moment after that worried about what Sky would think. Don’t imagine everything he was probably feeling as he jumped after Flora, just barely missing her hand.

Don’t imagine Wild waking up alone again. Don’t imagine how in a few days he went from having the whole chain at his back, all of them being a family, to suddenly having no one. Don’t imagine his guilt at Flora falling without someone to catch her. Don’t imagine his guilt at knowing the chain has no idea what happened to him, just that he didn’t get through the portal with them.

Don’t imagine Wild stepping out onto the sky islands, desperately wanting to show Sky, going so far as to turn as if to talk with him about it only to have the crushing realization that Sky isn’t there. No one is. And he’s all alone again.

Don’t imagine Wild worrying more about everyone else than himself. Don’t imagine his desperate worrying over what happened to Flora. Don’t imagine his panic for the chain—are they eating well? Are they safe? Have they gotten hurt?

Don’t imagine him sitting at a cooking pot, spacing out thinking of everyone he’s lost, only to look back and realize he’s made way too much food for one person.

(TW: What’s next can be inferred as suicidal thoughts. Stop reading here or skip past the next little paragraphs if you do not wish to read such context)

Don’t imagine Wild being ready to give up everything, because he’s already lost so much and now he has to do it all over again and what’s the point, he’s all alone—

Don’t imagine Wild deciding not to give up because he has to find Flora first and he can’t just leave his brothers like that. He’ll find Flora, and he’ll find a way back to his brothers, and he won’t give up because he can’t. Not when he has them to find. He won’t leave them. And until then, he has the sages. He has a kingdom to protect. That’s enough to hang on to for now.

Don’t imagine Wild having to go through all the events of totk without anyone by his side through the worst of it.

Don’t imagine the relief Wild felt when he finally caught Flora.

Don’t imagine that a week after the events of totk another portal appears.

Don’t imagine Wild and Flora’s goodbye.

Don’t imagine Wild’s reunion with the chain. Don’t imagine the tears and the relief and the shouted questions and the obvious changes in Wild after every new trauma he had to endure—and the obvious difference in arm.

Don’t imagine Wild falling easily back into place as the cook. Don’t imagine Wild having a nightmare the first night back with the chain. Don’t imagine Time being the one on watch that night and comforting Wild. Don’t imagine Twilight waking up first to find the two of them sitting by the dying fire, Wild resting his head on Time’s shoulder, and deciding to let them sleep. Don’t imagine the others waking up, Twilight telling them to keep quiet, and one of them taking Wild’s slate to take a picture—the first picture they’ve taken since Wild got back.

Don’t imagine all of them around the fire one night, each sharing their own journeys.

Don’t imagine Wild telling them what happened to him in both botw and totk.

Don’t imagine how finally, after so much struggle and panic and worry and frustration, Wild is back with his family.

Or do imagine all of that. I’m not your parent, I can’t tell you what you can and can’t do. Also, it’s hypocritical of me to say don’t imagine it. I know I’ve been imagining it.

[twig-tea]

Ossan's Love Returns: I Love This Show

I have so many feelings about this finale; and they’re very different from my feelings about the Perfect Propose finale (both very good but in extremely different ways) so having experienced both today has been a real emotional journey! 

This episode left me feeing euphoric. I am not a huge crier, but Ossan’s Love always gets to me, and I cried four times during this finale. Then I rewatched and cried four times again. 

There is something about how this show does such a good job of capturing complicated and loving relationships of all kinds–romantic, platonic, familial, other–and making me believe that they will support one another through anything, even as they whack each other with frying pans and despair at their loved ones ever having two braincells function at the same time.

That exasperated, eyes wide open, no illusions about who you’re with kind of love has been in the series from the first season, but in this season it feels so lived in. The comfort that all of the characters have with one another, having all seen one another at their worst already, is palpable. And the way the original gang were so open to the new characters and their absurdities was so touching. 

There are so many things I love about this show. Haruta and Maki’s relationship makes me feel so proud of them, knowing how far they’ve come from Season 1, and everything they went through in that season and the film to get here. But even just taking the season as a stand-alone, there is so much growth this season. They go from a couple who have not been in the same city together for years to living together, and they have to learn to be in one another’s physical space. They have conversations with both sets of parents, they navigate whether or not to have a wedding, whether or not to have kids, and just how to show appreciation for one another in a long-term relationship. 

The way Maki said that Haruta was his happiness, and Haruta said that he was happiest just looking at the sky with Maki (because Maki is his happiness too) made me cry twice. Maki is so competent, but Haruta is kind; and it’s his consistent, active kindness that holds their wider found family group together. The way Maki had to learn to actively think about Haruta’s happiness in the same way was that Haruta does all the time, in the same way that Haruta had to learn to be competent in cooking and cleaning so that he could take some of the burden off Maki, this is the stuff that gets to me. 

The way this found family cares about one another, rallies around whenever one of them needs it, and shows up for one another consistently, also really gets to me. And this show knows exactly what it’s doing–there were some wonderful conversations this episode about what counts as ‘family’, and how sometimes the importance of someone in your life can’t be easily defined but that doesn’t make them any less important (that was another one of the times I cried). The final placard of the show read WE ARE FAMILY in sakura petals, and that’s what made me cry the fourth time (and is making me tear up now to think about). 

And I can’t think about this gang without thinking about how so many of the relationships in it are complicated, like I mentioned above. The way Maki and Kurosawa cannot be in a scene together without sniping, but Maki calls Kurosawa for help when he needs it and Kurosawa leaves Maki an extremely touching note acknowledging Maki’s importance in Haruta’s life. The way Maro and Haruta are friends but Haruta also chastizes Maro’s causal speech every time they talk. The way Chouko has found a detente with her mother-in-law by bonding over a boy band, and how Chizu relies on the Arais for childcare but feels ashamed that she has to. The way Takegawa wants a relationship so strongly but holds himself back from making a[nother] move on Maki so that Maki and Haruta can have a happy wedding day. The way Haruta can’t return Izumi’s feelings but he leaves room for him to feel them.The way Chouko and Izumi bond over having lost a long-held love. The way everyone thinks Kiku is super suspicious but they still eat his onigiri. The way Kurosawa gifts Kiku his fermentation pot in recognition of the both of them holding onto unrequited love. 

This show makes me so happy. I could keep explaining all the ways in which it brings me joy, but honestly, just go watch it. It’s on GagaOOLala right now, and @isaksbestpillow is working on improved subs for all episodes (the subs on Gaga are good enough to understand what's going on, but Siiiri's are better for understanding the nuances and jokes). You don’t need to have seen any of the previous content to enjoy this show. If you’ve ever lamented that BL isn’t funny; that BL doesn’t feature established relationships, that BL doesn’t have enough older characters; that JBL couples don’t kiss or show affection, then watch this show.

[sapphickocho]

*sigh* another crack au that i'm totally going to have to write one day

Otherwise known as the Genmui Rapunzel au.

Long ago, a drop of moonlight on a misty night fell from the sky and produced a magic flower called the blue spider lily that was said to have healing properties.

A notorious man named Kokushibo hid the flower and used it to retain his youth and beauty. Centuries later, the flower was taken by soldiers from the nearby kingdom of Corona and used to save their pregnant and ailing Queen, who gave birth to a son with teal hair, named Muichiro. Kokushibo snuck into the castle and discovered that Muichiro's hair had inherited the flower's magic, but turns brown and powerless when cut.

To keep the flower's magic, Kokushibo kidnapped Muichiro and now raises him in a hidden tower in the woods. Each year on their daughter's birthday, the king and queen release sky lanterns hoping they will guide her home.

Meanwhile, thief Genya Shinizugawa, steals Muichiro's intended crown from the palace; to prove to his older brother who abadoned him that he was useful. He is then relentlessly pursued by a infamous guard-horse brothers named the Hantengu. Genya discovers and takes refuge in the tower, where Muichiro, of course knocks him out with a frying pan and hides him in a closet. When Muichiro attempts to show him to Kokushibo as proof she can defend herself, he forgets (because its of couse) and Muichiro instead asks for a sword as a gift, sending Kokushibo on a three-day journey.

Genya then reveals himself again, causing Muichiro to nearly knock him out once more. However Muichiro hides the crown, and strikes a deal with Genya, promising to return it in exchange for him taking her to see the lanterns, since Muichiro has always been obsessed with them. A companionship is formed.

or in a more cracky sense, lets look at some incorrect quotes I made that sum up this story.

Genya climbing up the tower: Who are you? Muichiro weilding a pan: a fair maiden of course

and

Genya: You dont remember me? Muichiro: No? Genya: You knocked me out with a pan and hid me in a closet. Muichiro: Oh yeah *raises his pan again* Genya: no no No NO!

and

Kokushibo: Muichiro is my son, but also my descendent. Kokushibo: But he sometimes forgets the last part Genya: I would want to forget that too.

On a more sweeter note, just imagine Genya brushing out Muichiro's long hair! And then braiding flowers and spider lilies into the teal of his strands.

like are you seeing my vision or do i have to hit you over with a pan to hallucinate it?