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ma1dita · 10 months ago

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to catch a thief

a 'partners in crime' installment - luke castellan x dionysus!reader

words: 3.7k

summary: (post-TLT, sea of monsters compliant/spoilers) The one where duty calls at Camp Half-Blood. Again. Your reunion with Luke is nothing you both could have ever expected. (Luke Castellan x fem!Dionysus!reader)

a/n: we’re so back trouble!verse ;) sorry for the post birthday hiatus on this, hope you like it! crack banter but err... she got a lil angsty

(posted 3/22/24, semi-edited)

—

When you wake up to the gentle rolling of the sea, it feels like a comforting embrace in a distant dream. Tangled within pristine white sheets, you could smell the salt through the small opening in the bay window–though this was a far cry from a fairytale conjured by your mind.

This was your reality.

You wouldn’t call it a nightmare per se, but the circumstances were definitely less than preferred.

This is not the CSS Birmingham. No, that went up in flames. Retracing your steps to what led you to this—cushy cruise line of a prison, you reckon it’s been a few days now since you’ve become a stowaway, or a hostage. You haven’t quite decided yet.

Gods, this is what you get for passing up on that summer research internship.

Dropping off Percy, Annabeth, and Tyson at camp was supposed to be a fun walk down memory lane—until meeting with your dad, finding out Thalia’s tree had been poisoned, watching Chiron get fired, and essentially getting kicked out by the troll of a man who originally got sent to the Fields of Punishment for marketing the taste of human flesh made you remember that nothing at camp is the way it used to be.

Not like before, when you and Luke used to run it.

Your dad told you to go home and wait till you were needed. Home. Driving away from it this time around was harder than you thought it would be. You’d never been the patient type, and to drop everything just because a god told you to?

Hilarious, really.

But almost a week later, after rejoining your friends on an undead ship that you let the kids commandeer, your vital mistake was thinking that Clarisse’s quest would be a breeze. Rookie move, since the last one you were on left you almost as scarred as Luke was. Even thinking of him now, you run your thumb over the rough patch of skin on your palm.

At the very least you hoped Tyson was okay. The last memory you have of the young Cyclops was watching him from your place on the ladder as he stopped the engines from overheating. Maybe it was the ex-head counselor in you, or your increased threshold to pain, but there was no way in hell you were leaving that kid behind.

The sound of voices from outside your door gets louder now, your throat feeling like you’ve been swallowing wads of cotton and a persistent ringing in your ear that hurts just as bad as when you watch Chris Rodriguez walk in with a plate of food. The last one he slid through the door bumps against his boot, still uneaten and he sighs.

“So what, you’re on a hunger strike now? I forgot how difficult you could be.”

You bark out a laugh. Thankfully it’s loud enough that it almost conceals the rumble of your stomach. Gritting your teeth, you mumble, “Wish it could be an idiot strike. I forgot how much of a bitch you are when it comes to your brother, Rodriguez. How long are you going to keep me here? It’s been days.”

Your former friend rolls his eyes at your dramatics like he doesn’t hold the key to your freedom.

“Three since you woke up, actually. Come on, you’ve gotta eat, or I’ll get my ass kicked,” he grumbles. You raise an eyebrow at that, walking towards the window to dodge the uncomfortable tension that fills the room. He plucks an apple slice off your plate.

“He couldn’t splurge on a balcony view? Monsters aside, it’s not like you’ve reached full occupancy.”

“There are more mortals here than you think. To be honest, he was worried you would find a way to overthrow us,” the tanned boy admits, placing the tray on the dresser. It was always a wonder to him how you and Luke were more alike than you think, even now—even when Luke hasn’t come to see you. Talking to you reminded him that you’re both pains in his ass, and Chris was still unsure of who to be more wary of, but he’s been in charge of watching you for the most part.

“Well tell your stupid captain he has no right to be worried about me. I’d much rather try to jump if given the opportunity.”

There’s no response, so you turn to face Chris who’s eating a croissant with a bashful grin.

“Seriously dude?”

“Listen, I’m hoping if I think of the right words to say, he’ll come in and deal with you himself. Opposite sides of a war and you’re still both giving me a headache. Just like old times,” he chuckles, flakes of pastry dotting across his chest plate. Your mouth quirks into a bitter smile. Old times, when Luke would shove you if he couldn’t think of a reply fast enough. When you’d punch him to get your point across if he wasn’t listening. How a kiss could end any waging war between the both of you.

You swallow, turning slowly to watch your reflection in the glass of the windowpane.

Why hasn't he come to see you? The first day, you remember spending out on the sea—treading water with no land in sight, calling out to your friends until your voice went hoarse, but you didn’t cry. You know better than to show weakness now, even when no one’s around. Chris tells you over a gulp of orange juice that you washed up next to the Princess Andromeda on the second day like it was fate. Though fate was never truly that kind to anyone; it felt like it was laughing in your face. Knocked out cold for two days after, and ignoring all of Chris’s attempts to keep you alive in the days that followed, you’ve been in this room ever since. You barely notice Chris’s departure.

Entering the ensuite bathroom, you splash your face and sip on water from the tap before stopping at the doorway. A shadow flits at the seam near your feet, someone standing just out of sight when you peer through the peephole.

But you know Luke’s there. Sons of Hermes have almost undetectable footsteps, however, Luke walking in and out of your life for as long as he has—there’s no inconceivable way to not know him. Perhaps you couldn’t hear the sound of his feet, but there’s a way the wind shifts your hair, your heart slowing in ease at his presence, and the scent of him reminiscent of skin kissed with the peel of an orange. The skin you used to kiss and greet and know like your own.

The shadow fades just as your hand reaches out towards it, leaving like he always does. Always out of reach.

Even as the Princess Andromeda continues to set sail upon the calm waters of the Atlantic Coast, you look out to the unending horizon and still feel like you’re drowning.

—

“Status report, soldier?”

Chris rolls his eyes, popping the last piece of apple into his mouth as he strolls into the command deck. The both of you had a flair for the dramatic—it serves as his reminder of why you two worked so well. Luke is sitting in his captain’s seat, watching the waves crash against the hull as the sun begins to set on the skyline.

“She’s angry. Anyone would be if they were locked up like that.”

“Well, yeah, but tell me something I don’t know. Something useful, Rodriguez,” Luke says, flicking his pocket knife closed. It’s still sticky with the juice of the fruit, catching onto his finger. He hisses, but then the sound of loud footsteps boom down the corridor, along with the sound of maniacal laughter as the door slams open. The two sons of Hermes look at each other curiously, knowing it all too well.

“You know, the next time you send a 9-year-old to stand guard, remember to not make it the one we used to throw into the lake,” you drawl, sauntering into the bridge and looking around until your eyes land on your ex, “and also remember that you taught me how to pick locks.”

Ethan Nakamura heaves behind you, hands on his knees before he stands to attention and salutes his captain.

“Sir, I was just following orders… and I’m not 9 anymore!” he snaps, glaring at you. Laughing at the absurdity of the situation makes it easier to get through. You thought being surrounded by the undead on the CSS Birmingham was scary enough, but standing in a room with ghosts from your past was somehow worse. Honestly, you learned a lot more by being in that room than if you were to jump ship like you wanted to.

“I taught you how to tie your shoes, Ethan. You’re always gonna be a little kid to me,” you scoff, brushing him aside and walking towards Luke, “your new digs are fancy, by the way. I could tell by all the teenage soldiers chasing me through the tourists.”

He stands up and meets you head to head, as the both of you inspect each other closely.

It’s been a long year without you.

You look thinner. You’ve lost the softness in your cheeks and your eyes are tired. He wonders what you chose to major in, who your roommates are, if you still think of him with a smile on your face. You’re still beautiful.

“You know me, I like to travel in style,” Luke says offhandedly, a half smile on his face. For someone leading a war against the gods, he’s calm in your presence.

“Back when I knew you, we traveled in a tin can that we also called a car.”

His clothes are nicer than anything you’ve ever seen him in. He looks really fucking good, for someone on the run. It’s almost frustrating to see how brawny he’s gotten, muscles rippling as he crosses his arms. You suppose he has nothing to do now but practice and spar (that or he’s definitely flexing for you). Pulling at the drawstring of the joggers you wear, you realize his initials are embroidered on the pocket. Pretentious fuck. Did he change you once you got on board?

Chris and Ethan suddenly get the feeling that they’re interrupting something—a reunion in a blockbuster romantic movie they’ve seen the mortals play out on the ship deck’s projector on Friday nights. The two of you stand there arguing like a married couple despite the fact you are no longer lovers and the bickering continues even when more of Kronos’ army files in. You laugh again at the sight of children walking in—some strangers, others you’ve sung to sleep in cabin 11, all still children, even back from the time before when laughter didn’t have to have a reason, light and airy in the summer sun.

“You’re sick, you know that? Did you just plan to let me rot in that room until it was all over? You didn’t even talk to m—”

“Classic, you’re more mad that I didn’t talk to you over the fact that you’re a prisoner,” he seethes, but you don’t stand down—not now or ever.

“Prisoner? I walked out and none of your Boy Scouts could do anything about it!”

His face is turning red now, jaw tightening at the angst but deep down he misses this—the banter, the thin line between hate and love you both tread on. You may be a damsel. But you were not in distress.

To further prove your point, you swing an arm toward one of the boys in black (their uniforms were annoyingly corny), and they all take a step back toward the wall. Your eyebrows furrow, “What type of prison has guards terrified of the prisoner?”

He shrugs, “It was only time before you came and found me. I even gave you a bay window.”

That was not the right thing to say.

“I’ll fucking kill yo—”

“Sir? So do we try and detain her, or….” one of the demigods you don’t know interjects, and Chris Rodriguez sucks at his teeth before he responds.

“Alright. We’ve seen enough of the show. Everyone file out and let Castellan reunite with his girlfriend.”

“GIRLFRIEND?”

“Girlfriend…”

The both of you look at each other, one in anger, the other in sheepishness now that you’re alone. It's even funnier that neither of you deny it.

“You left me there in that room, and by the sight of things around here you prefer being in the company of monsters than being with me, so by the gods, what do you want, Castellan?”

You fall into the captain’s chair exasperatedly, watching him watch you.

“I’m giving you a choice,” he says simply. “You can stay here with me, or you can go.”

“A choice? You captured me to tell me I have a choice,” you spit, as if that was the stupidest thing he could say. “You didn’t give me a choice when you left me.”

“It was a matter of the circumstances. And I didn't capture you—are you mad that I betrayed everyone or not, because I can’t really read you right now, Trouble…”

Your eye twitches and your hands are in fists across your lap. Another wrong thing to say.

“Keeping me here until I get the nerve to talk to you is not a choice, asshole. Do you think you could just hide me away until the bad part’s over? To save me until everything's good enough for you?” Your eyes catch onto the droplets of blood that fall onto the hardwood flooring near your feet. His hand is bleeding, and like it’s nothing of the sort you reach out for it.

Luke thinks that if he lets you your hand will still perfectly fit in his, so after a moment, he pulls his hand away out of your reach. Pulling a handkerchief out of your pocket (also embroidered with his initials—note to self, never let a son of Hermes have money), you stand to wrap it around his hand to stop the bleeding. You pretend not to notice his heartbeat increase through the throbbing of the cloth.

“Don’t let my actions make you believe that what we had wasn’t good, Trouble.”

“Stop calling me that. Why are they all scared of me? Why won’t you let me touch you?” you whisper, putting pressure on his finger until the blood clots. It doesn’t even hurt, to tell you the truth. Not touching you when you’re right here in front of him is a pain he can’t find the words to describe. But what he’ll never understand is that he’s right. You two were good together. You’d have him through the bad too, if only he let you.

“Because you might think you can fix me.” Or worse, you might change his mind. You don't have to say you love him for him to know it. A part of him wishes he didn’t have to do all of this to prove to you he feels the same.

“Would you have left with me?” he mutters. A wistful look cuts through your anger and he knows he’s finally said something right. His pocket knife is on the control board and your hands drop to your side again when you realize that he may have forgotten to tell his battalion of who you are to him, but he still remembers how you like your apples cut. The silence is loud, even with the twinge that comes with the pain in your eardrum as you sway a little on your feet. Your body still knows it can relax with him, knees buckling with a false sense of security despite your willpower.

“I would've made it so that there was no other option for you but to want to stay.”

A soldier bursts through the door and apologizes for the intrusion, but the both of you have found out all you need to know. The moment is over and Percy Jackson has been captured by the army in his efforts of trying to save the day. There’s a look shared between the two of you that wonders if this will become a trend.

—

Licking your lips as your… Luke guides you out onto the main deck with your hands behind your back, you can taste the salt in your air. It’s almost as evident as the surprise in your friends’ faces when they see you alive. This time, they don’t question your allegiance but in the chaos that ensues, for a moment, you do.

For a moment, you wonder what would change if you decided to stay with him. Would the sky fall under your feet? Would the gods kneel like Luke said they would? Looking at him in your periphery, you realize it’s not what the both of you want, even if it’s the easier way out—to be together despite it all.

The two of you against the world instead of the world against the both of you.

But he won't even touch you—he’s holding you over the sleeves of your shirt, too scared of what you’ve become in his absence. You suppose you’re scared of what he’s become too.

The realization hits that you could defect from your friends, family, and home. You could undo everything that you and your friends have worked towards. But nothing he can say will change the fact that he didn’t choose you.

Luke was right, then.

You did have a choice, one that he still forces you to make as you nod at Percy to flip his last drachma into the open water, opening a direct line of communication to your father to catch the thief—of both lightning and the beat of your heart, in the act.

You realize that if the gods were the least bit grateful that you’ve kept their kids alive for the past half-decade, perhaps fate would be on your side and Luke would still be yours. But life has a funny way of working itself out when Luke admits to the open air of another crime to tack onto his list.

“Kronos was right. I should’ve killed you, Percy.”

The son of Poseidon goads Luke into another duel and you survey your surroundings for a way out. Annabeth burns holes into the side of your head and it gets you thinking, moving faster than you have in days as you walk towards her and Grover. At the raise of your hand, the demigods holding onto the pair drop to the deck, incapacitated with illusions of madness they will never comprehend. The more of them that surround you drop like flies as Luke’s eyes flicker between you and the boy he has at swordpoint.

You’ve gotten stronger in his absence—you never needed to touch him to use your powers after all. Just waiting for the right moment to strike, attacking when Luke finally let his guard down for you. He cracks his neck, knowing you’ve made your choice, so he makes his.

“Get them.”

The monster scrambles across the deck but it approaches you first, clawing at the wood and barely missing your feet as you scream for help, defenseless without a sword and you hear Luke yell your name in alarm before a punching glove-tipped arrow sends it hurtling overboard.

Your eyes lock with his again as you disembark with the Party Ponies, you with your crew as he corrals the mess you made of his. It has to be the salt air that makes your eyes seem a little misty.

Your fates have always been tied.

You protect your home, and he does what he can to protect you. Luke looks over your form like he’s checking if you’re okay, even from a distance— and it makes you wonder if this is how it's supposed to be. Someone leaving, and the both of you apart.

It’s weird to be the one leaving this time, but it isn't as easy as Luke makes it seem each time he does it.

You avert your eyes once you see him put his hand in his pocket, him finding what you snuck in on the way to the deck. Luke pulls out a leather bracelet with a black camp bead, the one he missed in the year he’s been gone. He rolls the bead between his fingers, the thing you last touched before leaving him, an emblem of his archnemesis and the summer that changed everything—the consequences of his actions ripping you away from him. When he slides it on his wrist, it lightly clinks against the hilt of his sword, the lone clay bead a force of its own against Backbiter's reverberating power. He feels nostalgia for what could have been crawling through him—though Luke supposes he’s always been too vulnerable when it comes to you.

Is this what you’ve been feeling every time he walks away?

It starts to rain after you leave. Luke watches his crew take cover from the downpour, running in all different directions to hide away from the storm that ravages the Princess Andromeda.

But he stands still, looking up at the sky and hating it for how openly it’s able to cry. Luke is far away from home again—from you and it makes him wonder how much longer he’ll have to be away from you when being with you is what he truly wants.

The mission continues and the ship keeps pushing forward even as the rain washes over him, soaking through his armor and straight to the bone. Raindrops pelt through every crevice, though this onslaught is much kinder, more gentle, even when it’s angry. He closes his eyes and lets it touch his skin.

For a moment, it feels like you.

—

A hand penetrates the tide searching for yours, gripping onto your unconscious one. He’s spent hours ripping holes through time to try to find you, an advantage given to him in a dream by the Titan. The agreement, what keeps him from not running back to you is that you live—and as Luke pulls you out of the ocean waterlogged and turning blue, he wonders if it’s all a farce.

Losing you isn’t worth the wrath of the gods if you’re lifeless in his arms like this.

He shouts your name, pumping your chest with his fists and breathing life back into your lips until you cough out saltwater, head lolling against his knee. Luke’s fingers stroke your hair, touching you for the first time in a year. As life slowly brings the color back into your cheeks he silently thanks Hestia for keeping your flame alight. His soldiers call out to him from the deck, and he steels his resolve as he rows the lifeboat back to the ship. Still, Luke has to uphold his side of the agreement.

He wonders if you’d stay. Even if he knows the answer, Luke wonders if you would ever change it for him.

—

And they tell me you are evil and I answer: Yes, I know. –Patricia Smith

½ luke taglist: @kissingyourgrl @dorcas4meadowes @lorarri @andrewgarfldsgf @noodlesketchbook @10ava01 @poppysrin @ashisabitgay @timhalamet @liv1104 @leeknows-wife @mxtokko @bugcuti3 @luvvfromme @midmourn @2hiigh2cry @yuminako @niktwazny303 @lukecastellandefender @intergalactic-padawan @iliketopgun @annybah @dangelnleif @thegrinningghost @alyssajunelle @obxstiles @m00ng4z3r @visndcaitswhore @b0ok-lover @elegant-face-tree @this-barbie-is-having-breakdowns @amortencjja @idonevenknow1359 @maliaaaa @targaryenluvs @sakyira @dhdjdjjdhsjdiri

#luke castellan x reader #trouble!verse #percy jackon and the olympians #luke castellan x dionysus!reader #pjo x reader

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starberry-cupcake · 9 months ago

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I didn't even give you time to rest and we're back for another round of this. Let's give it up for our sponsor @lady-harrowhark who has helped me get here ♥

previously, on the 1st entry of tlt, aka gideon the ninth:

this happened

also, I was made aware of the fact that there's a 4th book happening?????

??????

I thought they were three, I thought I was coming into this with all the answers out and available

emily has already explained to me the situation and I am taking it very well

I'm very at peace with the fact that I'm gonna have to wait

this is how you all feel, huh?

now, get ready for harrowbean the ninth:

we start out strong with 25 new names

we got a list of lyctors and slurped cavaliers

I'm assuming the crossed out people means dead or slurped

we got another ortus, good for him, I'm gonna remember him

we got another two living new ones, it's likely I will remember an augustine, not likely I'll remember the other one

absolutely no way in hell I'm remembering their cavaliers

absolutely no way in hell I'm remembering the dead

I'm gonna have to think of new nicknames

not!dulcinea is listed and crossed out, as she should be

(the emperor's new groove, indeed)

we've got yandere simulator twin w/inner chad

BUT we'll talk about that in a sec

and then there's harrow

and where gideon should be we got g̵̙͉͚̼̾̽̓̏̾̒̒̂̎͆̕͝ͅi̸̱͍͕̎̆̾̐̇̍̀̎d̷̨̪̙̭̮̜̼͆͆e̴̡̻̰̞̓̈́̋͂̇̐̇̀̓̈́̿̅̚ǫ̷͇̟̳̯͇̤̪̻̩̤̒̅͐͛̒̃͑̂͌́͝ͅn̵̢̙͔̩̗͇͎̻͕̲̮͙̞̓͆̋̈́̿͑͋̈̒͌̀͐̕̚͜͜ ̷͍̫̝̖̮̺̩͖͕̞̾̀͂s̶̖͓̗̩̹̹̥͉̘̄͑͒̾̔͋̑͝h̷̯̲̞͗ơ̵̢͕͙̤̳͎̟̳̖͕͓͋̃̀̉̔̎̈́͆̏̄ͅṷ̴̧̨̢̦̭͈̰͓̪̱̠͓̈̿͆̇̀͑͜ľ̴̨͍͖̘̠̖͎̤̮̱̻͚̑̄͑d̸̢̛̛̻̙̪͙̖̋̃̄͛̅̀̃̐̈̿̏̏͘ ̷̢͚̦̱̩̬̟̺̀̄̈́͂͋̂̄̊̾́́̾̆̄b̷̡͕̲̗͇̠̗͓̈́̍̽͊̇͜ę̴̢̡̱͓̱͉̩̖͇̠͇͎̪̟͗ ̵̪̭͔̊̿͜h̸̢̛̙͍͎͖̻̟̗̫̄̐̀̄̃̽͑̚̕͠ͅe̵̘̳͆̉̿̔͘͘r̸̦̰͌̒̐̓̽́̾͋̏͝ȩ̶̢̖̩͙̗͚̲̈́͠ͅ ̶͌̃̏̐̑̀̄̉̀͠��̡͐̀͊̀

👀

I don't know

I think maybe la gideon del 9 isn't totally gone

maybe it's true, maybe it's wishful thinking

maybe her soul got back into her body like when you dream you're falling

her body slurped it back like a noodle

and her demigod powers regenerated her like wolverine

and camilla removed her from the location

and they're both alive and well

don't correct me, let me have this

me, waiting for camilla to come back

after all of this info and the poem/hymn/whatnot we got a prologue which starts with "the night before the emperor's murder"

WELL

OK THEN

WHAT HAPPENED WITH BEING GOD????

the emperor's new clothes and all, he was naked all along

this man is a joke, this man is the wizard of oz, what's going on here

anyway

the prologue is in second person with harrow's pv

I think I have experienced harrow's pv before while reading gideon

hoping for her to focus on one important issue and getting frustrated was very much harrow's pv

harrow is in some sort of battle situation getting directed by the emperor and, as I understand, acting in coordination with the other living lyctors

but also harrow is doing something she shouldn't be doing and they're telling her not to do it

which is like, the harrowest thing to do

so yandere twin comes in to talk to her into moving because she'll be targeted if she stays

and there's a moment when I was like...wait a sec

they say she has blue eyes with specks of brown

didn't she have lavender eyes?????

then harrow says "you should have killed your sister, your eyes don't match your face"

?????????????

yandere twin is very insistent on the helping but also cryptic

I am starting to stan her less

she's starting to get on my nerves and it's the prologue

she also says "choke me, daddy" which

THIS IS NOT THE TIME

gideon gets to do those jokes at terrible times, not you

gideon is allowed

so harrow gets in the fight soul-first and is spitted out of the fight and has a sword through her body

we're doing great over here guys

we're just— this is fine

we're fine

it's f i n e

IT'S FINE

I'm gonna leave the next bit for the next one because this is long enough with the reaction images that I think are crucial to understanding the feelings I'm trying to convey. I'm gonna go to sleep and possibly dream of these characters again. I'll try less pictures and more stuff in the next entry. Hopefully. And maybe read the short story that comes before book 1 because Camilla is in it.

#luly reacts to tlt #tlt #harrow the ninth #the locked tomb #harrow the ninth spoilers #tlt spoilers #long post #gif cw

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amoreva · 8 months ago

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Hellooo helloo!! Could I have a request please for Luke Castellan x reader where idk just something really angst where she joins him betraying her own half brother Percy (yess she’s a Poseidon kid) but it’s just that their love is too precious for the world 🥺🥺

Thank youu so muchhhh mwahhh 💖🌷🎀

TOO LATE

—– ٠ ✤ ٠ —–· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • · —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —–

pairing: luke castellan x daughter of poseidon!reader

summary: love triumphs when your dad claims your half-brother and you.

warnings: not proofread, tlt spoilers, angst, frustration, revolves on reader’s emotions rather than the relationship

a/n: I feel like i twisted this request wrong. lmk how you like it, but i thought it’d be nice to have the reader’s emotions be the focus instead of the relationship.

—– ٠ ✤ ٠ —–· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • · —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —–

Wherever Clyde goes, Bonnie follows.

You’ve found yourself to be a permanent resident of Hermes Cabin. Another year goes by which meant another year of being unclaimed. Multitude of wishes and prayers are wasted: at this point those wishes, offerings and prayers look like pathetic begging.

You’ll forever be an unclaimed camper.

And you’ve accepted that. If you had been claimed, then you wouldn’t get the privilege of Travis and Connor stealing ice cream when you cover them or the privilege of Chris coming to you about his girl problems or the privilege of sharing a bunk with Luke Castellan.

What Chiron and Mr. D don’t know won’t hurt them.

It is a nice turnout because while you share a bed with the love of your life, another kid doesn’t have to sleep on the crowded floor.

Besides the fact you weren’t claimed, everything at camp was great. You didn’t feel alone or isolated anymore. You felt at home at Camp. You had a wonderful boyfriend and even greater friends (as corny as it sounds).

Until, Percy Jackson arrived at camp. Now, don’t twist this in the wrong way—Percy is just the sweetest kid and you were sympathetic to him losing him mom.

It was during Capture the Flag when you realized everything you knew was gone. You couldn’t resent Percy for that. Only your dad.

Luke triumphantly held the red team’s flag as the blue team retreated to the lake’s beach. Celebration paired with cheers and hollers. A proud smile as one of the campers hooked their arm around your shoulder, screaming your ear off.

Some of the campers were making a list of demands that the Red Team had to accommodate to when Percy’s shouting interrupted all of that.

You took off your helmet to see Percy in the lake. The culprit, Annabeth. Athena’s daughter was always two steps ahead of everyone, in Luke’s words. She seems to know something everyone else didn’t.

Luke looked distraught and shocked when it happened. A glowing trident hovering over Percy’s head. An outward statement claiming he is Poseidon’s son.

Yet, that same glowing trident was above your head. You felt your throat close up. So long…so long and now your dad claims you when Percy arrives.

It was common knowledge that Hades, Zeus and Poseidon made a pact to not father any more half-bloods due to destruction and war and whatever. But, what now? Poseidon claimed his son and daughter. For what? To boast? To showboat?

Questions kept ringing in your head. The life you knew gone. No more ice cream from Travis and Connor. No more information of Chris’ recent crushes. No more…sharing a bunk with your boyfriend.

“Poseidon.” Chiron trotted over to Percy. He gave you a smile. You were claimed! It’s what you always hoped and dreamed for. You should be ecstatic. Right? “Earthshaker, Stormbringer, your godly parent.”

It was inevitable. You weren’t destined to destroy or aid the world because you weren’t sixteen anymore. You doubt you were destined for anything.

Was this some fucked up way of your pops telling you he still cares? He still sees you? That he’s there for you?

It took him so many fucking years to claim you as his.

And the fact he did it when his son arrived at Camp Half-Blood. Did he want a boy to be the prophetic savior of the world?

Oh, so he wants to say he’s been there for you this whole time? Luke has been there. Cabin Eleven has been there, not your deadbeat pops. It wasn’t a surprise you joined Kronos so quickly.

You knew Luke was succumbing to the nightmares that plagued him every night. The voice in his head to revive the Titan. Now, you didn’t have anything against the other gods or Percy. It really was just some ol’ rebelling against your dear old dad.

Percy was tense staying still. The scorpion on his knee. He looked at it wearily. Luke was explaining his reasoning for betraying Camp. You couldn’t blame him. After so many years of neglect and the spirals his mother went through, you felt he had every right to be angry. As did you.

“The gods are my enemy, Percy. Poseidon made a mistake—he made a mistake by neglecting your sister.” Luke pointed Backbiter at the boy.

“Luke…” You placed a hand on his shoulder. His tense shoulders seemingly relaxed.

He let his arm fall to his side. He looked over his shoulder at you. A mix of a soft and intense gaze. Luke only wanted to defend your dignity, your honor, your glory. He thought it was unforgivable that Poseidon would claim you that day of all the days you prayed and wished and begged.

He’s seen how desperate you’ve gotten. How many tears shed. How many times he’s had to comfort you because you don’t feel like you belonged. Kronos would provide a New World. A new Golden Age where you didn’t have to suffer with a shitty father anymore.

Your palm held his scarred cheek. He met your lips in a soft kiss. Everything would be okay if you were with one another. Love is a very powerful thing to wield after all.

“I’m sorry, Percy.” You apologized, looking over at your half-brother. The pit scorpion on the back of his hand. “It’s…it’s nothing against you.”

You attempted to find the words to explain your situation. Luke’s calloused hand held yours gently. It was time to go. To flee from Camp.

“It’s our father that I hate, not you. You—you have to understand.” You hastily explained. “He left me neglected for year. I was content staying at Hermes Cabin and—he decided to claim me when I finally had a place here.”

“The world will remember us, Percy. Olympus will remember not to fuck with us—our dads will remember not to neglect any other half-blood.” Luke stated and twisted Backbiter in his hand. A determined glint in his eyes. Kronos’ calling him away to revive him already.

“Goodbye, Percy. This is the new Golden Age. You won’t be apart of it.” Luke slashed an arc with Backbiter, creating a rip through time and space to travel. The scorpion lunged.

You hesitated a moment, seeing your half-brother in agony. Luke told him sixty seconds. He’ll make it. He’s Percy Jackson after all.

You couldn’t delay your departure any longer. Luke needed someone by his side. To keep his sanity with Kronos calling out to him so often.

Wherever Clyde goes, Bonnie follows.

You departed from Camp, not knowing that would be the last time you see your beloved home.

—– ٠ ✤ ٠ —–· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • · —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —–

#luke castellan x reader #luke castellan #percy jackon and the olympians #luke castellan pjo #pjo series #luke castellan imagine #percy series

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hyuneskkami · 5 months ago

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✮⋆˙ 𝐅𝐀𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐘 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐄

⤷ percy jackson x emma (@riordanness)

masterlist | event m.list

♡ fandom | percy jackson and the olympians

♡ includes | songfic (sort of), joining luke, luke calling you by a nickname and being understanding (overall we get nice luke), betrayal, little fluff to angst, hurt with no comfort, swords, daggers, very mini fight scene, overall sadness, altering the timeline of the book a bit

♡ in which | emma has to betray percy in the tlt timeline (includes spoilers for whoever hasn’t read chapter 22 of tlt)

♡ a/n | omggg, I was on a writing hiatus, but this got me out of that slump fr. emercy are goals <33 anywayyy my heart hurts after writing emercy angst so I WILL make up for it by writing emercy fluff at some point (hopefully during the event itself).. enjoy this one tho!!

♡ wc | 1.02k

✮⋆˙ emma’s pov

it had been a long day after percy returned to camp, glorious, after his quest. after all, that’s what all demigods thirsted for: δόξα. glory.

as soon as my eyes met his, I practically ran into him. we toppled over because of all of the unexpected force, and he just laid there below me, holding me gently.

pressing kisses to my forehead and my cheeks. running his fingers through my hair. smiling at me, and taking me in.

“all right, lovebirds! chiron and the others want to talk to him too,” grover’s voice rang out from above us.

snapping out of my hazy dream-come-true, I get up slowly and reach my hand down for percy.

“hey princess,” he whispered, still holding me close, after he stood up.

“hey handsome…”

I loved having him in my arms, memorising the feel of his hands around my waist, his lips against mine. who knows when I’d get to feel it again, if ever?

✮⋆˙ percy’s pov

her eyes, hollow. smiles, forced.

what happened to her in the days I was gone?

timeskip

✮⋆˙ emma’s pov

as the campfire was dying, empty mugs of cocoa and packets of marshmallows lay in the trash bag behind the logs.

will and his siblings sang beautiful songs, played music, as all the campers joined in.

percy and I were huddled together on a log, warmth radiating off each other.

everyone said their ‘goodnight’s and ‘sweet dreams’ knowing well and good none of us would sleep without nightmares.

“wanna turn in for the night?” percy asked, pulling me up from our log.

I smiled at him and nod. we walk to cabin 3. he offers me a hoodie and I remain in my denim shorts, ready to leave as soon as he falls asleep.

we plop onto his bed, and he tells me everything about his quest, as I take him in. at one point, we begin cuddling as he continues talking.

“hey, perce?”

“mhm.”

“I love you. you’ll remember that forever, won’t you?”

“‘course I will. I know you do. I love you forever too, and I hope to find you in elysium, my love… you’re never leaving me, are you?”

“of course not, dumbass.”

scattered ‘cross my family line…

i’m so good at telling lies…

that came from my mother’s side…

told a million to survive…

“good. I don’t think I could go a day without you there to stop me from stapling my finger by mistake again.”

I let out a sudden laugh. “oh, what about that other time you-”

“I completely made a fool out of myself in front of everyone by tripping over air? whatever,” he rolled his eyes.

sometimes, I wish my mortal father hadn’t taught me to hide my sadness so well. too well. I suppose he did do a good job, at the end of the day.

timeskip

with one last look at percy’s sleeping form—oh, so peaceful and beautiful, my baby—I stepped out of the cabin with our picture frame from percy’s bedside, weighing heavy in my bag. my hair whipped around my face because of the wind, right outside cabin 3. I turned to luke, waiting for me. I noted a hint of sadness in his eyes as well.

scattered ‘cross my family line…

god, I have my father’s eyes…

but my sister’s when I cry…

“luke, please. I don’t know if I can do this,” I whispered, eyes burning with the fire of a thousand suns–bright enough to illuminate his face.

“we can’t stop now, em. not after we’ve worked so hard, for so long. we can’t let it all go to waste. I didn’t want you to do this with me either, because I know he could hate me with ease after a while, but you? never. he could never look at you with anything other than love, and i’m sorry I have to take you away from that,” luke said, with glistening eyes.

quietly, I nodded, not trusting my voice to not shake. luke looked in the direction of cabin 6, and turned to walk towards the portal. I followed him, as we walk into the woods.

I can run, but I can’t hide…

from my family line…

“i’m sorry, perce. I love you,” I whispered into the wind.

“then why are you leaving me?” a voice shook behind me, just as we reached the portal.

I turned around sharply.

“percy?”

“princ— emma. why?”

oh, all that I did to try to undo it…

all of my pain and all your excuses…

“it’s… a long story,” I hardened my gaze. “we’re done. i’m sorry.” if this was going to work, he had to hate me. hate me from the bottom of his heart. hate me enough to be able to send me to the depths of tartarus, if needed.

“are you stupid?– hey! luke! get away from her!” he yelled. luke and I moved closer to each other as my cold gaze rested on percy’s face. I registered the betrayal and hurt in his eyes, my heart breaking with every emotion flickering across his face. his face morphed into something emotionless, all of a sudden.

I was a kid but I wasn’t clueless…

someone who loves you wouldn’t do this…

“you know what, emma?” he spat. “I can no longer recognize you. and that’s not even the saddest part. it’s the fact that you no longer make any attempt to make me understand you.”

“for the daughter of the goddess of love, I clearly have none of it left to give,” I said, unsheathing my sword. luke’s backbiter glowed faintly behind me.

percy looked alarmed for a second, but took out annabeth’s dagger, startling luke.

they swung at each other, as I stood there. nicking at one another’s body. I rushed in to help luke, so we could escape soon. my face was in the middle of a swing percy sent luke’s way, and his dagger slid down my face.

oh, I deserved that.

all of my past, I tried to erase it…

but now I see, would I even change it…?

#emma my love <3 #⭑𓂃 skye’s riordanverse !#skye's cafe ~ ⋆.˚#emercy #I acc cried while writing this btw anyway #emercy angst #percy x emma #percy x emma angst #percy jackson x f!#percy jackson songfic #betrayal #angst #hurt #no comfort #hnc #SAD ASF 😭#skye.jpg🧸—

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somethingcabinet · 3 months ago

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Songs that are syscoded to me (I am stretching)(for the sake of projecting)

“(Can’t) Keep It Together” (Black Dresses)-> this one just has a lot of lyrics that I think reflect how identity could feel complicated as a system. Some of my favorite lyrics from it are

“I wonder if life is all about just falling apart and painfully becoming something else” while this could apply to trauma/disorder-related identity issues in general, I do think it somewhat reflects what splitting a new part could be like (a “painful” traumatic experience causing one to “become something else”) Perhaps it could also be compared to a change in hosts. It often feels like you lost who you “actually” are, and are just some fraud in their place at times.

“I’m a person inside a person inside a girl, I used to be a million different things, a million different dreams and hopes, and now I’m nothing.” This part I really like because it almost sounds like “inside a girl I used to be” but then it’s followed with “a million different things” which sounds like an entirely different statement. Still, both statements are syscoded. Being a part in a system could feel like you are just taking the body of whoever had it last, being “inside” the body of somebody else. For fragments, they might recall being somebody with more “depth” or “dreams and hopes” before, only to split and not have those traits any more. “And now [they’re] nothing.”

Overall.. just syscoded song. Lots of words about “falling apart” and not being able to “keep it together” as well which also kind of fits this idea

“Me and I” (ABBA)-> this one pretty much is sys related to me considering Jekyll and Hyde are mentioned which. Yeah. In this one it kind of highlights how system relationships could feel, having positives and negatives. It’s a story of two parts one one person who have disagreements on aspects of life. While one could argue it’s moreso about high/low moods, or some other thing, I definitely think a lot of this song could apply to system experiences as well. Plus it has a very playful tune that I like! We’re a funny combination, me and I =] I’d single out more lyrics but it’s like the whole song

This Comes From Inside (The Living Tombstone)-> this one is kind of unserious but also not. Like? “How we could have known that we’re stuck in a system?” Like come on. And then “why feel so alone, when we share so much wisdom?” Like I know it’s about animatronics but. When I first heard this I was like “fnaf system song?” /j I do think TLT has some other vaguely syscoded songs as well. His one is just funny to me.

“Imaginary Friend” (Antony Kos)-> I feel like this one I might just be looking at my own experience, but I think this one reminds me of the sorrow that comes with denial (it isn’t about that, it’s about object characters, but I digress.) Like. Especially with protectors who you talk to, and talk you out of things, the idea that none of it was actually real is genuinely heartbreaking. “All the time I spent with you is real, isn’t it? How much of you was imaginary friend? Do I even call you that?” Also guys PLEASE check out Antony Kos’s music actually they’re so good.

“Your Imaginary Friend” (Lemon Demon)-> similar title yeah but this one is also vaguely syscoded to me. Lyrics list again

“Simple and small, almost alone, curled up in a ball, with a tin can phone” To me this highlights that often neglected (almost alone) children (simple and small) will develop dissociative disorders to cope with such things. Usually when people “curl up in a ball” it’s because of something negative. While not for all systems, I can imagine a young child using a “tin can phone” as a way of communicating to alters.

“Maybe when you’re gone, we’ll gladly take your place. You’re so nicely drawn, we like your face” While I feel like the song itself is trying to make this sound somewhat eerie, I think it could resemble how some alters view one another. Some alters might want more control of the body, wishing they fronted more “gladly taking” the host’s place. Also, as an artist system we would draw almost constantly, and it was one of our main forms of communication when we first discovered we were a sys. A lot of our headmates ended up taking the appearance of OCs we had.

“When you were cross, all you could do was call it a loss- well this was not true.” I think this could also reflect on how trauma as a child could feel helpless, “calling it a loss” when upset. Oftentimes alters, instead of accepting this way of thinking, will put more effort into solving the issues instead of simply “calling it a loss.”

Yeah anyways these aren’t all the songs but if any other systems have songs that remind them of their experience feel free to share. None of these are explicitly stated as system songs (and a lot just. Aren’t) but it’s always interesting to make connections I dunno.

#blursomecab #system stuff #plural system #traumagenic system

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cabin7-hufflepuff · 2 years ago

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argo II crew as songs from my musical playlist (not including tlt musical cuz i think that would be cheating)

percy: once and for all - newsies (king of new york for the jokes)

"we ain’t come this far to lose”

“in a few hours by dawn's early light we’ll be ready to fight us a war”

“once and for all there’ll be blood on the wall if they doubt us. they think they’re running this town, but this town would shut down without us”

annabeth: not your seed - the guy who didn’t like musicals

“i’m not your girl anymore”

“you left me out of your sight for one second and look what happens”

“if you actually paid attention to me”

“why does it hurt to love you? why am i in pain?”

“if i turned my insides out, would you even know that i was there?”

jason: louder than words - tick tick boom

“why does it take an accident before the truth gets through to us?”

“why does it take catastrophe to start a revolution?”

“someone tell me why so many people bleed”

piper: take me back - black friday

“you and i were meant to be something more than a faded memory”

“take me back when we were lost. lost in love and lost in feeling without the cost”

“take me back in time to love you. hold me closer than before. heal my heart and mend what’s broken”

leo: let me make you proud - tangled the series

“maybe you’re right to have doubts in me”

“if you for once could just trust me”

“let me make you proud. let me show you the best in me. let me give you a reason to believe that i can stand tall”

“i know that i’ve disappointed you”

“i will make you have faith in me”

frank: not alone - a very potter musical/darren criss

“i’ve seen how heartless the world can be”

“nothin’ can keep me from lovin’ you”

“i trip and stumble tryin’ to make sense of things sometimes”

“all i need is to look in your eyes and i realize. baby i’m not alone, cause you’re here with me”

Hazel: perfect harmony - julie and the phantoms (dead girl walking for the jokes)

“life can be so mean. but when he goes, i know he doesn’t leave”

“two worlds collide when i’m with you”

“you and me together is more than chemistry”

“we say we’re friends, we play pretend. you’re more to me”

nico: if i believed - twisted: the untold story of a royal vizier

“i’d turn back the sands of time and save you”

“but wishes are dreams and dreams are pretend”

“science says your dead and gone forever. reason says i’m talking to the air. but something in my heart, some secret, hidden part, illogically insists that you are there”

will: days of summer - a very potter sequel

“we got these days of summer to remind us of each other”

“i’m hoping that the good old days are something i can dream about at night”

“i don’t wanna see you go, but it’s not forever”

“you’re the part of me that makes me better wherever i go”

reyna: woman is - lempicka

“woman is powerful”

“woman is shape, breath, form. woman is bone, muscle, light. woman is curve and shadow. woman is beautiful”

“i am alive”

“i am on fire”

“please let me hold you close, here in the breathing dark”

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the-pjo-analyst · 2 years ago

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Chapter 12 - We Get Advice from a Poodle

Theme of the day: Goals

These next few chapters are so short it took me a good while to figure out what themes to do lol. There’s a few moments when the theme of goals comes up in this chapter.

First is Grover’s dream of becoming a searcher and he explains what this means: searching for the god Pan who’s been missing for 2000 years. I really wish pollution wasn’t still a relevant issue today, 17 years after TLT came out, but alas, we continue to deal with it. Grover is such a meek and low-confidence character, that it maybe surprising how determined he is about being a searcher and being the one to find Pan. With all the things that have gone wrong in his life, he still holds onto this one hope. I definitely empathize with him about having to believe that Pan will return bc it’s the only thing keeping him from despair, like honestly same. Humans suck.

I really forgot Grover is an empath lmao. Even though Percy isn’t ready to admit it or hear it, Grover was really spitting the truth about a part of Percy wanting to please his dad. I’ve said this before, but children want to be accepted by their parents whether they’re in their life or not and how they may feel about them. And Percy is no exception. All the demigods are no exceptions. Because often times deep down, no matter how complicated their feelings are towards them, they want to make their godly parent proud. So Percy’s goals in this quest are about both of his parents, since he also wants to save his mom.

Actually the quest is a means to an end for all three of the trio, since Annabeth also wants to make her godly parent proud (and prove she’s a great demigod) and Grover needs it to become a searcher.

For Kronos too, the quest is a stepping stone for his grand plan. Just when Grover and Annabeth are getting suspicious about what’s really going on with their quest, Percy has his first dream and his first contact with Kronos. And like he does with all demigods, Kronos tries to appeal to Percy’s hatred/bitterness of the gods, offering him his mom in return for his loyalty. Kronos manipulates demigods into thinking that he can make a better world and that he can give them anything they want. And maybe he would do the latter, but it’s a bit subjective whether the former is true or not lmao.

Small things:

The fact that Grover has encountered at least one of the Furies three times. Feel sorry for him bro

Also the fact that Grover is such a cool person that a poodle is willing to go back to the owners he hates just to help him out 🥺

Previous: Chapter 11 - We Visit the Garden Gnome Emporium

Next: Chapter 13 - I Plunge to My Death

#percy jackson #annabeth chase #grover underwood #kronos #percy jackson and the olympians #pjo #the lightning thief #tlt analysis #pjo meta #pjo analysis

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mia6363 · 6 years ago

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The mia6363 Starter Pack!

Hey guys!

I’ve gotten a few new followers, mostly because of the follow up I wrote for @reapersun’s amazing, dark, and adorable comic! So to the new faces, hello! I’m Mia and I bounce around fandoms, though I’ve really found a nice home in Teen Wolf.

For the new faces I thought I’d do a little self-rec post/starter pack of works that I really like/are a good intro into my style and the tropes I shamelessly revist.

Goodbye to a World:

This is the first Teen Wolf fic I ever wrote. Is it my favorite? Absolutely not. Like with any first venturing into the fandoms, I have a hard time looking at it again because I’m going to constantly pick it apart and wish I’d done things better. It’s very popular, which is very flattering and I’m glad it just didn’t die out in the wind when I posted it, but yeah. I’m always someone who wants to improve.

I wrote it for @cywscross and it was a time travel prompt. Some ideas within the prompt were that Stiles was magic and… well, if you know me, you know I celebrate humans going toe-to-toe with supernatural beings and supernatural problems. Stiles has magic in this fic for about two minutes before he’s rendered a human being, in a time that isn’t his, with a Pack he doesn't know. It’s angst-city with a happy ending, but yeah. I got into his fandom because I was tired of humans being shunted. And time travel fics where it all just works out right away isn’t my cup of tea either, so this was a fun way to explore how it takes a lot of hard work and sacrifice just to make something work.

Sing Among the Stars series:

After getting my feet wet with Goodbye to a World, and getting more confidence in writing for the fandom, this is what came next. So far there are two installments, and I will get around to writing a final third.

This is really me just being pretty blatant about human beings being worthy of standing up with other beings. This is an AU where I took some Star Trek and Mass Effect and blended them all together. It was a challenge and a huge risk, but it really paid off and I am still proud of this series. This is a science fiction/space fantasy where it’s Stiles, a legendary Commander of a military ship in an alien galaxy, just wanting to get home to Earth, the planet no one has ever heard of.

There was also that tumblr post going around about humans being space orcs, and that definitely had an influence. If you’re up for some found family and space adventures, I’d consider checking this out.

The Kindness of Strangers:

Ahh KOS. I’ll always have a soft spot for this fic. It was my first multi-chap for Teen Wolf and it was hitting yet another point I LOVE to make: Sheriff Stilinski is not a good father. When I first started getting into Teen Wolf and going through fics and gif-sets, the fics told me that the Sheriff was such a sweetheart, but the gifs told me another story. One in particular, when he says, out loud in front of his son, that he wished Scott was his son and it was supposed to be funny… yeah. He just lost me at that point.

Does this still have humans being on an equal playing field as supernatural creatures? Of course it does.

I work mostly in AUs because I like the added challenge of maintaining character despite throwing them into a totally different setting. This is where Stiles is a fantastic liar who finds himself working for a strange agency: The Kindness of Strangers. He’s the first human that can maintain his heartbeat and body chemistry even when telling outrageous lies, and it spirals out of control from there. Grey morality, slow burn, suspense, and that slow and brutal spiral that happens when, inevitably, your lies catch up to you.

This is totally a cathartic work and yeah. It’s also totally self-serving just short of being mastabatory but I had a really fun time writing it and I’m glad it resonated with some other folks.

If you’re into a big heaping layer of angst with a mostly happy with a sprinkling of hopeful ending… check this out.

The Last Trolley Stop:

If you read the blurb about KOS and were like “whoa, Mia, I don’t need that kind of stress in my life,” I totally understand and that’s how TLTS came about.

The way I love to describe this (and how others have as well) is that this fic is a cup of rich soup on a long, cold day. It’s a hot bath with soft music on in the other room, it’s reading your favorite book on a rainy day, it’s just a soft bed to fall into when you just need to feel good.

This is an AU about a children’s show, which ran for 3 seasons and made a huge impact, not just on the viewers, but on those who worked on it. I live out in Los Angeles and work closely with the industry so it’s a little bit of wishful thinking on my part, an optimistic dream that there are teams like this out there. It’s also a multi-chap with two different slow burns, one emotionally slow, the other physically slow, so you can get a taste of both!

I also had wonderful art commissioned by it from @trashyscarface whose style just spoke volumes to the story.

Also, it’s when I really just hit my stride with Bobby Finstock/Kira Yukimura. The weird rare pairing that I created the tag for because of a few pictures on Instagram. I took that plunge and haven’t looked back.

It’s ten chapters of character development. Nothing shocking happens, there aren’t flare up fights, no one is unfaithful, and a chapter doesn’t end on an unresolved argument. This is just… a group of people who came together to work on a show, and ended up finding friendships of a lifetime because of it.

TLTS is my little darling. It’s also half a tourist brochure for Los Angeles, so if you’re ever out West and need restaurant suggestions, this is the place to find them.

And that wraps up my little starter kit. I’ve written more but the stories seem to gravitate around certain themes that you’ll find in these pieces. I like to get dark, but I also love heartfelt fluff. This is little samplings and if you like any of these, consider checking out others that I’ve done, usually one-shots that are wrapped up with a bow by the end. Sometimes it’s an ambiguous bow, but a bow nonetheless.

#steter #Bobby Finstock #kirkstock #mia recs herself #wrecks herself #because i never check myself #anyway #woo hoo hello new faces!#which i might lose now because of this haha #love you guys!!!#stiles stilinski #Peter Hale #kira yukimura #Sheriff Stilinski #stilinski family feels

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samuelfields · 7 years ago

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Investing Lessons From A Surreal 2017

At the beginning of the year, I decided to track my investments with a detailed spreadsheet because my cash flow was increasing and I wanted to make sure the money was being properly deployed based on my risk tolerance. If I force myself to think for hours about how to invest my money, hopefully I won’t rashly spend it on completely wasteful things such as a sports car that can’t fit a baby seat or a vacation property I’ll hardly ever use.

On the flip side, ever since the housing crash I’ve had a heightened fear of losing money, especially since I haven’t had a job since 2012. It takes around three years as an entrepreneur to feel confident you won’t starve on the streets, especially if you become a parent during the process. As a result, I tended to hoard cash, which is suboptimal in a bull market.

This post will go over my investment thought process by category for 4Q2017 and conclude with some investing lessons learned about the year. The goal of tracking our investments is to try and take full advantage of a bull market in a risk appropriate way.

Financial Samurai 4Q2017 Investment Review

In summary, I mobilized a total of $2,263,319 into various investments in 2017. $750,000 of the $2,263,319 was invested in conservative investments (bonds, mortgage pay down, and home improvement) that should return 4% or more gross a year. The remaining $1,510,000 was invested in riskier assets with a target return of between 8% – 18%. My goal is to achieve a 10% total annual return, but will gladly settle for 8%.

The $2,263,319 invested was largely helped by a rental home sale in June 2017, which gave me ~$1,788,000 in proceeds ($2,740,000 sale price). Due to declining rents, expensive valuations, potentially rising mortgage rates, higher property taxes, potentially negative tax policy changes, PITA tenants, better investment opportunities, and less time due to a newborn, I thought it best to sell one of three properties in CA.

Overall, I reduced my risk exposure by $476,681 and increased my cash position by $450,000. Despite the decrease in exposure and increased balance sheet, I still have synthetic full exposure to risk assets due to $1,092,000 of remaining mortgage debt from my primary residence and vacation property rental.

Real Estate

Because I wanted to see if I could find a winter property deal, I held onto a lot of cash. I found two homes that I liked, but the sellers wouldn’t entertain my low ball offers. I wasn’t even sure I’d be happy with the purchase even if they did accept my offer because of all the maintenance and tenant issues I’d have to deal with again. For example, one home had a serious leak in the garage that kind of gave me a little PTSD from all the leaks I experienced at my old rental house.

By Dec 1, I realized I was never going to buy another property in San Francisco again, so I decided to invest another $300,000 in the RealtyShares domestic equity fund after meeting up with the team again for dinner. Since the summer, the fund invested in a flex-industrial deal in Chicago MSA, a multi-family in Phoenix, a strip mall in Orlando MSA, and a multi-family in Canyon Lake, TX.

Although a total of $800,000 in real estate crowdfunding sounds like a lot, I view it as buying a $800,000 portfolio of 12+ different properties across the country at much lower valuations and much higher net rental yields compared to having $2,740,000 in one very expensive rental property in San Francisco that is now at risk of depreciating due to declining rents and new tax legislation that limits mortgage interest deduction and SALT deduction.

The next physical property I will buy will be a primary residence in Oahu. The plan is to move back to Oahu within the next five years before my son starts kindergarten. I really like the idea of buying physical property to personally enjoy, and then renting it out years down the road if you have the funds and the desire to move. If the rental experience goes well, I’ll keep the property. If not, I’ll sell it and follow my BURL real estate investing strategy.

Stocks: Bought The Dips

In October, I started getting excited about the potential passage of a tax plan that would lower taxes for large corporations and businesses like mine with pass-through income.

As a result, I invested more aggressively into stocks because I felt the market would respond favorably if the plan passed. Further, my desire to buy another property kept going down. Corporate earnings are estimated to get a 8% – 10% boost and small business with pass-through income might see an even larger gain.

The timing of this tax plan is fortuitous given I’ve spent 8.5 years building a lifestyle business that has now reached a level where it will benefit from tax changes. Nothing has made me more bullish than business tax reform, which is why I need to keep my emotions in check through this investment review process.

Finally, I superfunded my son’s 529 plan with $70,000 while his mom and grandma contributed $14,000 each. We figured this would be a good method to diversify contributions since once you superfund, you can’t contribute for four years. It’s good 529 plan owners have the flexibility to use the proceeds for grade school education now.

See: How The New Tax Plan Will Ruin Your Life If You’re Not Careful

Bonds: A Positive Surprise

Bonds performed well in 2017 with the the long-bond index fund TLT up ~10%. My California muni bond positions are up ~3.5% + ~4.5% gross adjusted yield for a total gross gain of about 9%. Not bad given I was just looking for around a 4% gross gain.

Once the 10-year bond yield gets back to its 12-month high of 2.6%, I’ll be looking to buy more bonds again. I see a 3% cap on the 10-year bond yield for 2018.

Related: The Case For Bonds: Living For Free And Other Great Benefits

Mortgage Pay Down

If you add on the $815,000 of mortgage debt I paid off by selling my rental house, I’ll have paid off a total of $921,000 of mortgage debt in 2017. It feels fantastic to have almost a million dollars less in debt, even if the interest rate was low. By consistently paying off random chunks of extra principal throughout the year, it was easy to pay down an additional $106,646 in principal.

I’ve still got about $1,092,000 in mortgage debt to pay down between my vacation property and my primary residence. I certainly don’t need so much cash, but I want to continue legging into risk assets just in case there’s some type of downturn or a change in my lifestyle.

My plan is to pay off my vacation property mortgage by 2023. I probably won’t pay off my primary residence within five years because I need as much cash as possible to buy our future dream residence in Hawaii.

Related: Pay Down Debt Or Invest? Follow The FS-DAIR Framework

Everything Else

I’ve committed $200,000 to my friend’s second venture debt fund. They’ve called $96,219 within one year. I expect them to call the remaining $103,781 by the end of 2018. The fund’s objective is to earn a 15% – 20% IRR. Based on the performance of his first fund, a more likely return of 10% – 13% should be expected.

It felt great not having to do any home improvement projects since 1Q because we now have a baby who requires precious sleep. Any disruption of sleep would have been infuriating for all of us since my wife and I were like zombies for the first three months.

Finally, out of the $611,000 in stock investments, $50,000 of that was in highly speculative investments that have surprisingly done well.

Related: How To Make Speculative Investments Without Losing Your Shirt

Main Lessons Learned From Investing in 2017

My biggest mistake was not being more aggressive investing in the stock market at the beginning of the year. I didn’t have as much liquid cash because I hadn’t sold my rental house yet, but it was the Trump presidency and high valuations that gave me hesitation. I wasn’t too hopeful about tax reform either.

My best move was selling a rental house for 30X gross annual rent before the SALT deduction got limited to only $10,000 and redeploying the capital in properties around the country trading at just 10-14X gross annual rent. Life feels so much better not having to deal with housing issues anymore. It’s also nice to worry less about natural disasters.

Here are several lessons from 2017 that may help you become a better investor.

1) Try to look beyond the politics and focus on fundamentals. Given I live in San Francisco, I know plenty of people who decided to pull much of their money out of the stock market at the end of 2016. They were so blinded by their hatred of Donald Trump that they missed out on huge gains.Generally speaking, deregulation and lower taxes are good for business, which is good for business investors. Further, in my mind employment was already on the upswing and interest rates would remain accommodative.

Unless our politicians actually reform laws, there is often a disconnect between how much investors believe our politicians can do and how much they can actually do. Reduce risk if you wish. But don’t get out of risk assets completely.

2) Real estate is an easier investment over stocks. How can this be when stocks just went up ~19%? Having to reinvest my home sale proceeds was exhausting. If I didn’t have weekly reminders to invest, I wouldn’t have because of the uncertainty of what to invest in, the timing of the investment, and the actual act of deploying capital. Every investment I make gives me a little bit of anxiety due to my fear of losing money and looking like a buffoon.

With real estate, despite the leverage, all you’re doing is enjoying your home or collecting rent checks (if you’re lucky). When you’re just living, you aren’t questioning every single investment you make. Therefore, for most people who are too busy to track the market, owning real estate over the long run is an easier path to wealth. Despite my terrible tenants, the $1 million of equity gain from 2012 – 2017 was the easiest investment money I’ve ever made.

If you don’t have enough money to buy real estate, then owning an S&P 500 index fund over the long term is fine too. Just know that the longer you rent, because of inflation, the longer you will regret your decision. Inflation is an unstoppable beast that will eat you alive.

3) Think in percentages over absolute dollars. Because I had never invested more than $500,000 a year in my life, having nearly $1.8M to re-invest was intimidating. But as soon as I started breaking the investment amount into percentages, deploying capital became easier.

Find out what each asset class is as a percentage of your net worth and calculate what each new invest is as a percentage of your investable assets and net worth. This exercise is particularly helpful for frugal people whose wealth has far outstripped their spending habits.

4) Stick to an investment framework no matter what. Once you’ve decided how much you can comfortably invest each month and what type of asset allocation is best for you, execute your plan without fail. It is almost always the case you will be surprised by how much you end up accumulating or how much debt you end up paying down over time.

Wrapping Things Up

Overall, according to the final weekly personal investment performance e-mail I get from Personal Capital, my public investments returned ~15% in 2017. I’m happy with the results because my total capital exposure is significant for how much we spend. Further, my goal after leaving work was to earn a 4% – 6% tailwind a year while I build a lifestyle business.

It’s really hard for me to take on more risk because of my fear of having either one of us go back to work during the crucial first five years of our son’s life. At the same time, I can’t help but want to take full advantage of the bull market while it lasts. The further I can run up the score, the bigger the buffer during the inevitable recession.

Finally, one positive surprise I experienced this year was that once I elongated my investment time horizon to 20+ years due to the birth of my son, I became much more at peace with my risk exposure. Surely by 2037, asset prices will be higher. To invest for someone’s future feels wonderful.

https://www.financialsamurai.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Financial-Samurai-investing-Lessons-From-2017.m4a

Investors, how did your public investments treat you in 2017? For those of you who have retired or reached financial independence, how have you structured your investments so that you can sleep well at night while also benefitting from the bull market? Graphic by https://ckongsavage.com

The post Investing Lessons From A Surreal 2017 appeared first on Financial Samurai.

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ronaldmrashid · 7 years ago

Text

Investing Lessons From A Surreal 2017

Financial Samurai 4Q2017 Investment Review

Real Estate

Stocks: Bought The Dips

In October, I started getting excited about the potential passage of a tax plan that would lower taxes for large corporations and businesses like mine with pass-through income.

See: How The New Tax Plan Will Ruin Your Life If You’re Not Careful

Bonds: A Positive Surprise

Once the 10-year bond yield gets back to its 12-month high of 2.6%, I’ll be looking to buy more bonds again. I see a 3% cap on the 10-year bond yield for 2018.

Related: The Case For Bonds: Living For Free And Other Great Benefits

Mortgage Pay Down

Related: Pay Down Debt Or Invest? Follow The FS-DAIR Framework

Everything Else

Finally, out of the $611,000 in stock investments, $50,000 of that was in highly speculative investments that have surprisingly done well.

Related: How To Make Speculative Investments Without Losing Your Shirt

Main Lessons Learned From Investing in 2017

Here are several lessons from 2017 that may help you become a better investor.

Wrapping Things Up

https://www.financialsamurai.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Financial-Samurai-investing-Lessons-From-2017.m4a

The post Investing Lessons From A Surreal 2017 appeared first on Financial Samurai.

from https://www.financialsamurai.com/investing-lessons-from-a-surreal-2017/

#Financial Samurai

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loverboy1717 · 1 year ago

Text

It’s almost 2024 here are my Alecto wishes and predictions:

Wishes:

Nobody dies (not likely)

We see more of Gideon numero uno and Matias and Marta and Ortus fighting the RB in the river.

More flashbacks with the OG Lyctors while they create the trials.

Harrow and Gideon get happy endings with their souls and bodies in tact and their own and healthy and whole. (Also not likely)

Gideon confronts dear old dad about his whole…vibe.

More Jod. I hate him but god he is a compelling character.

I want an explanation about all the mellon imagery and all the mellons in general.

Judith and Carona fuck nasty.

Pyrrha and Gideon having a fucked up step mom/step kid vibe.

Predictions:

Cassiopeia is alive somewhere.

Pyrrha is probably not gonna make it (I hate it so much but context clues suggest)

Ianthe and Harrow did in fact meet BoE with Carona and Cam before the Harrow Labotomy and Jods appearance.

They go through the stoma into hell to fix what is wrong in the river. The ghosts of Dulce and Abigail help. Harrow is probably the one to have to do this and reckon with her war crime ghosts.

Wake comes back in some form

Alecto hates Gideon cus she’s Jods kid but then also loves her because she is so so human. They make ass jokes together and talk about swords.

#alecto the ninth #alecto the first #tlt #the locked tomb #the locked tomb predictions #tlt wishes hopes and dreams

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asmita-das-blog · 8 years ago

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Aarti V Raman – The bold combination of imagination and literary.

Happy-Ever-After are the three favorite words of Aarti V Raman, an Amazon India bestselling romance writer and a copy editor for a news website on the side, who dabbles in romantic thrillers and contemporary romances.

Aarti V Raman – The woman behind the LeadStart Publishing Novel White Knight, Harlequin MIRA published Kingdom Come, shares how she got into writing where she caricatures some of the movie characters in her books. An Atlas of Love curated by bestselling author Anuja Chauhan, under Rupa Romance Anthology, added Post-Coital Cigarette, a short story by Aarti Raman.

Lets get to meet Aarti V Raman who is represented by Red Ink Literary Agency and was a part of the Goa Arts and Literary Fest in 2014 and The Hyderabad Literary Festival in 2015.

Tell us about Aarti V Raman and your journey till date

Hello IndSHARE, thank you for having me, y’all! I am Aarti V Raman. I am an ex-commercial writer and a copy editor for a business news website called e27.co.

But before all that, I am a romance novelist with two novels White Knight(Leadstart, 2013) and Kingdom Come (Harlequin India, 2014) out already. My short story ‘Post Coital Cigarette’ also appeared in last year’s Rupa Romance Anthology, An Atlas of Love.

My journey has been fun and interesting and long: I wrote fairytales and stories involving my girlfriends (they all are enjoying their own HEA now) and dreamed of being published.

It finally happened in 2013 after I sent off my first publishable MS (in my head) of White Knight and got a Letter of Intent from Leadstart.

My second book Kingdom Come would not have been published at all, because my submission was buried in the Marketing Director’s spam folder for a couple of months. But fate intervened and I signed a contract with them, which eventually led to my being signed on with Red Ink Literary Agency, the best agent a girl could ask for. So, like I said, it’s been a long and interesting and fun journey with every obstacle turning into a new path, leading me to better things.

When and how did you start writing? What inspired you to write?

I started writing when I was a kid for the fun of it. I have always been a voracious reader, so I guess putting the stories inside my head onto paper was the obvious next step. I began with short stories in the vein of Enid Blyton and NEVER as good, and transitioned into cutesy love stories starring my girlfriends as heroines. They were my practicing stones and I will always be grateful to them for allowing me to appropriate their lives for a short while.

Inspiration wise, I guess it has more to do with whichever hero I want to write about. The clearer the image of the hero in my head, the faster and better I write. For instance, for the contemporary romance, coming out in 2016 with Fingerprint Publishing, I saw a rerun of Abhay Deol in Socha Na Tha and I was like, Bingo! Found you, Abeer. (Abeer is the hero of TLT). For White Knight it was Hugh Jackman as James Bond (a fond dream even now!)

As for why I write Romance, I guess the simplest and most obvious answer would be. Why not! (laughs)

Tell us something about your writing style?

My writing style is a work in progress (laughs). But I mostly try to stick to writing about strong smart women who know their own minds, believe in friendship and the greater good and are not above bending the rules in order to do what they believe is right, a trait that is only somewhat followed by Meera Sagar, the troubled ex ballerina of Book 3.

My heroes are unpredictable, handsome idiots who take a long time to fall in love with the women. But they are also honourable yet bent (that word again) and not above doing what needs to be done should the need arise. I guess, I write people more than anything else. Even secondary characters like Noor from Kingdom Come have their own quirks and a memorable personality which I wish would remain with the reader long after they have put the book down.

The authors you admire? Why?

Recently, I have discovered Nalini Singh, who writes the fabulous Psy-Changeling series and who gave me my forever favorite hero Kaleb Krychek. So I guess she joins the admired and beloved authors list. Also, the way she has been able to build an entire universe and populate it with very real and concrete problems is nothing short of astounding.

I am also reading a lot of YA Urban Fantasy, so I guess Marissa Mayer and Sally Green are two more writers I admire a lot. Sally for her staccato storytelling, interesting plot twists in the Half-Bad trilogy and Nathan !! And Marissa for re-imagining our beloved children’s fairytales, the way she has in the Lunar Chronicles and for Captain Carswell Thorne and Wolf and Emperor Kai and Jacyn Clay!!

Did you face any challenges in writing and publishing your first book? How did you manage them if you had any?

I guess, the biggest challenge was my own inability to believe anything I ever wrote was good enough to be published, which was why it took me almost 25 years to see my name in print. The other big challenge, as I mentioned came with the publishing of my second book Kingdom Come. I submitted the proposal somewhere in July 2013 after frantically figuring out the contact details from Google (literally!) and speaking to the very lovely Deepika.

And it took them almost three months to get back to me with an offer. Because, haha, my proposal had been buried in Deepika’s spam folder and was forwarded to Amrita Choudhary, the Publishing Director very late. But, good news came at last and I got another letter of intent (those are beautiful things!) the week before Diwali and the rest, as they say is history.

Marketing is a daily challenge for every businessman there is and we are after all, flogging our product so constant innovation and marketing is a big challenge…a battle even.

I pace. A lot. I talk to myself. Write a story outline down. Discuss it with my mom (who still bears with me, I don’t know how) and Shilpa Suraj – a fellow writer who is so very talented, y’all. Then I throw everything out the window when I see Bradley Cooper (as I did for the story I am about to begin) or Damon Salvatore (for the story I just finished) or Akshay Kumar as Krivi Iyer or, as mentioned before Abhay Deol as Abeer. All lovely, wonderful, yummy men.

And then I switch on my iPod and write whatever comes to my head when I sit in front of the computer.

What would be your favorite pass time and hobby?

Right now, between working and trying to get my books written before I have to begin my marketing blitz for Book 3, my most favorite pass time is to sleep. I catch up on my reading but that’s more a lifestyle choice and not a hobby, so it doesn’t count.

I do love eating and cooking so I try and make dinner every day and delicious yummies for special occasions. I recently tried Gajar ka Halwa for the first time ever and it turned out to be quite delicious, if my people are to be believed (laughs). I am thinking of taking up coloring in adult coloring books now. What do you think? (winks)

Would you like to share your future projects with your fans out there?

Book 3 which comes out by Fingerprint Publishing in 2016. I do hope y’all are as excited to read it as I am to have written it. I am also attempting to write a proper college romance set in India, just finished the first draft on another contemporary romance that is a take on The Prince and the Pauper, a YA novel and a romantic thriller set in the religious cult space. But we will see how it all goes. For now, fingers crossed for Book 3.

Any suggestions for upcoming writers? Write. Write five words, fifty pages or sixty chapters. Write what you want to and what you believe in strongly. Write it till you reach the end and then send it off. Trust me, the universe has a way of seeing it get published. I should know. It happened to me.

All the best to my lovely readers and aspiring writers out there.

Links To Follow:

Blog

Facebook

Good Reads

Twitter

“My heroes are unpredictable, handsome idiots who take a long time to fall in love with women” – Aarti V Raman Aarti V Raman – The bold combination of imagination and literary. Happy-Ever-After are the three favorite words of…

#Author #Book #novel #woman #writer

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