#to believe people went when they died? to the skeleton army?

[writer-room]

Rewatching the earlier, and even pilots episodes, of Ninjago are so WILD man. First of all, you notice all the things that are just plain forgotten about or pushed aside in later seasons. Kai originally being the main character, sure, we all know that one, but Cole was heavily implied to be, or become, the leader of the Ninja, that was Cole’s thing. Zane was automatically described with having a sixth seer sense, when nowadays it shows up very, very infrequently. Lloyd used to basically be the Avatar, does anyone remember that? This kid was just the Avatar.

And then you remember the silly things. Like how the skeleton army was once a threat. Like...the skeletons. We battled a giant snake, smaller snakes, robot armies, sentient video games, Garmadon a billion different times, the Overlord, Oni...and the skeletons used to be a worthy adversary. The skeletons.

Did you all remember that Cole’s earth dragon used to...breathe earth? I’ve been forced to remember. Rocky used to breathe earth as a form of attack. It was shown through brown swirly wisps in that beautiful, incredibly shitty 2011 effect. The Underworld used to be implied to be the place where all dead people went, or at least the bad ones. We never heard of a Departed Realm. Do we remember the time Cole had a scene that was a direct parody of Michael Jackson? I sure do. Genuinely the highlight simply because I don’t know how to describe the emotion I felt upon seeing it.

[whitepolaris]

Who Is Kennewick Man?

Years ago, archaeologists and historians theorized that as the Ice Age ended, between ten and twelve thousand years ago, there was a land bridge between Asia and North America. People traveled across it, hunting large animals like the wooly mammoth and bison, making their way farther south along an ice-free corridor on the east side of the Canadian Rockies. They were called the Clovis People after a large spear point found in Clovis, New Mexico, once thought to be one of the oldest prehistoric sites in the Western Hemisphere. Most experts believed there was one long migration of peoples, and that modern Native Americans descended from them. This theory was put to the test with the discovery of Kennewick Man along the Columbia River.

Over nine thousand years ago, a group of people gathered at the grave site of one of their friends and family members. The dead man had been a strong hunter and warrior in his youth, but had grown old. A few months before dying, he had survived being speared through the hip. The spear point was still embedded in his body, but it had healed over. Now, his friends and family paid their final respects, placed him on his back with his hands palms down on the ground, and buried him near the river. His body rested there, forgotten for thousands of years.

Eventually, his grave eroded out of the riverbank, dropping his bones into the water. Their discover in the mud set off a series of events that inflamed relations between Native Americans, the government, and the scientific community. Each group wanted to do the "right thing," but that meant varied for each.

The cities of Richland, Pasco, and Kennewick-known collectively as the Tri-Cities-are located near the junction where the Snake, Yakima, and Touchet rivers all flow into the Columbia. Each summer, the Tri-Cities host a weekend of hydroplane races called Water Follies.

In July 1996, Will Thomas and Dave Deacy were snacking into the Water Follies via the western bank of the Columbia River when they discovered a skull in the water. They hid it along the riverbank and, after the races were finished, retrieved it and turned it over to the county sheriff.

When the sheriff and the coroner went to the site, they found a nearly complete skeleton. The sheriff then called in archaeologist James Chatters, who guessed the man had died sometime between 1820 and 1900. But when he sent a piece of finger bone for radiocarbon dating, he was shocked to learn it was smore than nine thousand years old.

At that news, the sheriff ended the criminal investigation. He contacted the Army Corps of Engineers, because the bones came from federally controlled land. They in turn contacted local Native America tribes, wanting to turn the bones over to the appropriate group for reburial or study. But the mysterious remains were found in an area where many Native American tribes had passed through over the centuries. Five tribal governments laid claim to the skeleton, which they called the Ancient One.

Chatters released a preliminary report with his unexpected findings about the man the press had begun to call Kennewick Man. From the skull, he and an artist produced a reconstructed face that to some looked like the actor Patrick Stewart, probably because it was hairless. It was narrower than most Native American faces and had a large nose. Also, it lacked the rounded shape and other characteristics unique to Native American skulls.

It was possible that none of the local tribes-the Nez Percé, the Kakamas, the Wanapum, or the confederated tribes of the Colville or Umatilla Indian reservations-were related to Kennewick Man. Nevertheless, they filed suit against the Corps of Engineers, seeking to prevent any further study of the bones, which they considered disrespectful. Eventually, the federal government decided that the five Indian tribe jointly owned the bones, but a federal judge ordered that a scientific study be carried out to find out which Native American groups were genetically tied to Kennewick Man.

In 2005, anthropologists began testing. Their preliminary analysis suggested that Kennewick Man died about 9,300 years ago. He might have been in his late forties or early fifties when he died, although he may have seemed older due to the hard life he lived. He had been healthy, standing about five feet nine inches tall, and was well muscled. The bone development of his right hand and arm suggested he was using it to throw or thrust with a spear. As he aged, he suffered from arthritis in his lower back, knees, and right elbow. The bone analysis alone did not explain how he died.

Archaeologists compared his information with human bones of a similar age found around the world, as well as to modern human groups. The results suggested that Kennewick was related to an ancient people from Aisa known as the Jomon, who were probably the ancestors of the Ainu, the aboriginal inhabitants of the Japanese islands, who today live in small communities on the northern island of Hokkaido. They are distinctly different from modern Asians, with facial and body hair, lighter skin, and little or no eyefold.

The Kennewick Man controversy did not end with the recent examinations of his bones. Scientists believe that other tests could be developed in the future, yielding even more information, which means the bones must be kept indefinitely. In the meantime, many Native American tribes wait to learn the identity of the Ancient One.

[emerald-echeveria-plant]

Bye, bye, Queenie.

//In the Terran Castle, there was a large group of people being given a tour guide. The group entered a chamber of special and old artifacts.//

Tour guide: and here we enter the possessions that the Terran empire had gained throughout generations of ruling!

Crowd: oooooo..

//someone in the crowd takes a photo.//

Tour guide: some of these artifacts are sacred relics of their time while others are rewards taken from battle. Have a look around, there's so much history around!

//the crowd took a look around, admiring all the old artifacts. Some taking pictures while others read the signs next to them. A group of people surrounded one artifact, that seemed to be the center piece out if everything else. The artifact was a red and black staff. At the top of the staff was a heart that had thorns all around it.

Person #1: what's this?

Tour guide: ah, it appears you've all found the Amoretian staff. A precious item that was once passed down from generation to generation in the Amoretian family. That was once a tradition, then Hatred became queen.

Person #2: um.. who?

Person #3: since when did an emotion become ruler..?

Tour guide: No, no, that's her actually name! Hatred was a tyrant who lived many years ago. She tried her best to destroy all love and rule the universe. She almost accomplished it but luckily was caught and executed!

Person #4: erm.. I kinda heard she was immortal, you sure she actually died?

Tour guide: Oh please! I'm an expert on this type of stuff. I am very, extremely, absolutely, totally, and completely right that she's-

//the wall burst open behind them, cutting off the last remaining words of the tour guide. The a wall was thrown at the crowd which caused them to be thrown back. Many were injured and unconscious. From the the rubble, stepped out Hatred with Veronica along side her.//

Veronica: huh I knew that wall would lead to here. I'm a genius!

Hatred: congratulations, you tore out a wall and alerted our presence. I hope it was worth it.

Veronica: of course it is! The staff is right there!

Hatred: it is..? *Realizes* It is.

Veronica: heh, you denied the museum room would have your staff there! Saying that 'oh the Terran empire would leave it in a pristine and secret place'! But here there is! On display.

Hatred: Veronica.

Veronica: yes?

Hatred: stop talking before I slap you.

Veronica: okay your majesty!

Hatred, rolls her eyes and walks forward, she looks at the glass casing before her: so, that's where my staff has been all these years.. behind glass to be merely gawked at by passersby. How demeaning.

//A couple of guards enter the room their swords and spear out in hand. They looked in shock as they saw the woman who was presumed dead after all these years, standing there inches away from them. No matter, the captain of the guards stood firm.//

Captain: Ma'am, I would stay away from that if I were you.

Hatred: don't you think it's impolite for the owner not to receive their missing property..?

Captain: I SAID STAY BACK! *Draws out his sword*

Hatred: huh, and hear I am thinking that Terra would teach their armies to never engage first.. *sighs* what a pity. I truly believed they learned.

//the captain then dashed towards her along with the other soldiers. What they were met with were long vines, grabbing onto them, pulling them up off the ground.//

Veronica: Ooo! I'm about to have some fun! Hehe!

//the vines held a tight grip around their arms and legs. Then, they slowly began to pull them off. Loud screams bellowed from all the guards as their limbs were pulled off of them. Their bodies fell one by one as Veronica giggled menacingly.//

Veronica: what a thrill! Haven't done that in a while.

Hatred: yes quite amusing. Now, hand me my staff.

Veronica: of course!

//The Venus flytrap with legs, walks over to the glass casing. She punches the glass and grabs the staff out from it's case. Veronica walks over to Hatred then proceeds to kneel.//

Veronica, bows her head: all hail, the return of the Amoretian Queen... Hatred.

Hatred, snatches her staff away: Finally, after all these years I can restart my savioronce once more... The etherium will finally know peace.

Veronica, looks at cowering crowd that are still alive: well don't be rude! Bow before your queen!

//the crowd nodded in response as they began to bow before their queen. Hatred looked down at them. Without another thought, she waved her staff causing a spell to happen. The spell turned the people into stone, keeping them in the bowing posture.//

Veronica, confused; why'd you do that?

Hatred: I wanted to make sure I still knew how to use.

//Suddenly more guards arrived, after hearing all the commotion that was happening. They stared at the horrifying scenery of dead bodies and people turned to stone. Without another thought, the guards charged at the two women.//

Veronica: you thinkin' what I'm thinkin'??

Hatred: tear them apart limb by limb and make their suffering hurt like hell. Yes, I have that on my mind 24/7.

Veronica: YAY!

//The two women then used their magic abilities to get through the charging guards. Hatred using magic spells that she remembers while Veronica used her nature abilities to tear the guards apart. The two women went through thirty men. Yet it seemed more kept coming. They were trying to make their way out of the castle buy how will they accomplish it? Having enough of these foul guards in her way, Hatred screamed loudly as she let out a powerful spell from her staff. The spell caused a massive explosion, killing all the guards. Veronica looked stunned for a moment before brushing herself off.//

Veronica, pouting: well, you could've let me have my fun for a few more minutes..

Hatred, harshly grabs Veronica by her hair: and risk more of them coming?! Are you an idiot!??

Veronica:

Veronica: well, you made me so..

Hatred, hits her on the head before letting her go: let's keep going.

Veronica, rubs her head: alrighty then!

//The two make their way out of the castle. Before them was a long bridge. They walk across it in order to get to their ship. Yet before they could get to their ship, Hatred looks back. Behind them came scurrying the queen of Terra and a few of her guards alongside her. The queen stood still, in shock, as she looked at Hatred with wide eyes. Hatred only stared back with a frown on her face.//

Hatred: So you're the new queen? Huh, I excepted your lineage to be dead years ago. It appears I'm wrong.

Queen Illysa, distraught: I-I thought-

Hatred: Thought I was dead. You're parents lied to you. And their parents lied to them. And then their parents lied to them. And then, then their parents lied to- you get the idea, I don't need to further explain. Point is, I'm alive.

Queen Illysa: Guards! Arrest her!

//The guards came running at her. In response, Hatred used her staff to destroy the bridge. The guards quickly stopped themselves before they could fall off.//

Hatred: Typical Terran rulers, always throwing their men at their enemies first. Haven't you learned nothing from the past?

Queen Illysa: We have, we just never expected a corpse to come out of its grave again.

Hatred: Do I look like a skeleton to you? I thought I already told you THAT I'M WASN'T DEAD! THEY LIED TO YOU! HOW MANY TIMES MUST I SAY IT SO IT CAN GO THROW THAT THICK SKULL OF YOURS??

Queen Illysa:

Queen Illysa: goodness when they said you had a temper, I never thought it'd be this bad.

Hatred, rolls her eyes: ugh, your trying my patience... You know what. I'm just going to shut you up now-

//Hatred uses a spell on Illysa. Queen Illysa suddenly froze still as her body slowly became stone.//

Hatred: by making you shut up entirely.

//The guards next to Queen Illysa looked on in shock as their queen became entirely of stone. Hatred took Veronica by her hand and they two began to walk away. They aboard their small ship. From a far more guards along with important officials came to the queen as support but unfortunately, they appeared to be too late. As Hatred and Veronica drove off into the skies, Veronica couldn't help but to celebrate early.//

Veronica, smiles widely: WOOHOO! we did it! We did it! Wow it was that easy...

Hatred: we're not done yet.

Veronica: huh? We're not?

Hatred: did you really think that getting rid of the queen was going to topple the entire Terran empire?

Veronica: umm.. maybe?

Hatred: no you dimwit! It's all apart of my plan. By getting rid of the queen, they'll scramble around trying to find order then when they're all disorganized, I'll storm the kingdom and kill everyone. I just need my spell book to accomplish it.

Veronica; that plan sounds perfect! I guess we're gonna have to go back home then.

Hatred: Amoretia. I hate that place, I know I won't be pleased at looking at it.

Veronica: oh come on it's not too bad! It's like the utopia you wanted it to be without love!

Hatred: I know, it truly is a utopia but it's in my nature to hate everything so unfortunately I won't be pleased about it but the citizens will be.

Veronica: and they certainly are happy! well not really..

Hatred: what was that?

Veronica: NOTHING!

//Meanwhile back at the Terran Castle. A group of politicians and other important members of the empire are sitting around a table, discussing what they should do next.//

Politician #1: we must wage war!

Politician #2: we have to keep the peace! The last war with Hatred caused the empire a fortune!

Politician #3: maybe we can negotiate with her??

Politician #4: and listen to her ludacris demands??? Are you mad!??!

Politician #2: THE QUEENS GONE! WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO??

//They all continued to argue with one another. Then the door suddenly slammed open. All the people at the table turned their heads to look over to see who it was. There stood Admiral Evar with a soft grin on his face.//

Admiral Evar: what's all this commotion about?

Politician #1: the queens been turned to stone!

Politician #2: Hatred's back!

Politician #3: she also has her staff!!

Politician #4: WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO??

Admiral Evar: Please calm yourselves. We need to take in a deep breathe and think things clearly.

//everyone takes in a deep breaths and relaxes as Evar takes control of the situation.//

Admiral Evar: unfortunately since the queen had been turned to stone, we'll need someone else form her bloodline to take charge. Anyone know where her brother is?

Politician #2: he's dead sir.

Admiral Evar: ah, what a pity... Guess that means someone next in charge has to be it. and I certainly know that the position falls to me. I will humbly accept in the behalf of the-

Politician #3: well he does have a daughter.

Admiral Evar: what-

Politician #2: yeah! Let's have her be queen! She'll know what to do!

Politician #1: what an excellent idea! Let's go with it!

Admiral Evar: now, now let's not jump to conclusions-

Politician #4: no, no it's agreed!

Politician #2: let's find the girl!

//Everyone storms out the door in order to find the daughter of the brothers queen. Also know as Connor's daughter.//

Admiral Evar: uhh.. I can't believe I have to deal with these idiots.. no matter, I'm sure the girl is "hopefully" in safe hands.

//meanwhile somewhere on a ship.//

Sophie: how many purps do you think I can fit in my mouth?

Tori: I don't know, maybe a gizillion!!

((Hatred and Veronica belong to me

Tori belongs to @authorchanlove

Sophie belongs to @sleeplessdreamer14)

[vampiringg]

I have fic, it's already one ao3 but here ya go anyways

The Ultimate Wingman

Summary: Nico goes to Kayla for help on asking out Will, forming two relationships - platonic or not - within the Apollo cabin

No warnings :D

I wrung my hands as I walked across Camp's grounds. This couldn't go too badly… right? The worst that could happen was that he'd say no - then he'd tell everyone I was gay and they'd all hate me and think I was weird and those that I could actually call friends would abandon me and -!

"Ugh!" I said aloud, kicking the dirt. The girl that I had been looking for, Kayla Knowles, spun around. Her short ginger and green hair whipped her face and the quiver on her back slid to the right.

"Oh, hey Nico," she greeted with a smile once she got over the shock.

"Uh, hi," I mumbled. 

"What is it? You seem… stressed," she commented.

"What? No, I'm not stressed," I lied. Her eyebrows creeped up.

"Oh really? I might not be any Will Solace but -" she stopped. I hoped desperately that the warmness of my cheeks wasn't showing. By the looks of it, however, I was more red than Rachel Dare's hair. She set her bow down and pulled off the quiver. Kayla seemed to be torn between smirking and being as kind as possible.

"I believe you wanted to talk to me?"

Oh, how easy it would be to say 'no' and walk away, my secrets still kept to my chest. But that would accomplish nothing. Besides, it wasn't as bad as telling Will. At least if I talked to Kayla it wasn't completely sure Will would ever find out what a loser I was.

"I - I… yes," I said, staring at the ground.

"Would you call it an… important matter?" She was definitely smirking; I could hear it in her voice. I glared at her red converse. I swear this girl lived in bright colours. "Ooh," She giggled before clearing her throat. "Sorry, I've been spending too much time around Lacy." I didn't know or care who Lacy was, though I assumed she was a daughter of Aphrodite, judging by the behaviour Kayla had leeched off her. I hoped I never had the misfortune to meet Lacy, as even this interaction with Kayla had just about killed me - or maybe it was just the circumstances.

"So," she said, jumping up to sit on the table she had just put her bow on. "What is it that you need me, of all people, for?"

"Well -"

"Sit down first," she interrupted, patting the table space next to her. She moved the bow as if it were made of glass and not a weapon made for killing. I hesitated before climbing up. (And, yes, I had to climb up. Nico di Angelo, son of Hades, was too short to get up on a table that even the smallest kid in the Apollo cabin could effortlessly jump onto.) Her bluebelle eyes held the smile that she was repressing. 

"Now we're all cozy -" I shuffled away from her. "Tell me whatcha problem is." I didn't answer straight away. In fact, I didn't answer at all. I just kinda stared over to Camp, occasionally stealing glances to cabin 7. Discreetly, of course, or Kayla might start taking after Lacy again.

Suddenly, she hit my arm. I looked at her, a mixture of surprised and offended.

"There was a mosquito," she shrugged with an innocent smile.

"I hate you," I muttered so quietly I thought she wouldn't hear. But damn these Apollo kids, with their hearing that was too good, even for a demigod.

"That's kind of you,"

"How did you even -?"

"Hear you? Please, dad's the god of music n' stuff, we can't be tone deaf - well, maybe Will is -" she definitely paused just to see my reaction this time. I was disappointed in my inability to control my own blushing. The smirk reappeared on her face. "And he's also the god of prophecy, so I'd like to say that I have a pretty good idea of what's going on around here." I sighed, staring up at the sky. It was fun to imagine Zeus burning up there but I couldn't sink into childhood daydreams right now.

"I know you know -"

"I know I know, too," she said. I glared at her before looking back up.

"So just say it,"

Her smile widened before it disappeared. Shaking her head, she said something completely unexpected,

"This isn't my place to speak. You need to tell me, if you want to,"

I paused, momentarily confused by this sudden change. She smiled a genuine smile, her freckled cheeks faintly pink.

"If it makes you feel any better, I've had a crush on Lou Ellen for, like, ever,"

"Really?" I asked before I could stop myself. She nodded, the amber to green colouring of her hair made it look like traffic lights, her face was also red, making it even more pronounced.

"Well… I guess…" I groaned. "We're going anonymous, here. I have a - I have a crush on one of your half-siblings, right? And I need your help." She grinned. 

"Well, good thing we're both amateurs -"

"How is that a good thing?"

"Shh, di Angelo," she placed a finger to my lips. "It's rude to interrupt a genius at work."

"You're not a genius and you've interrupted me, like, 4 -"

"3," she corrected, then paused, rolling her eyes at herself. "Now it's 4 times."

"Whatever! I just need to find out if Wi - someone in your cabin likes me back!"

"You could just… ask?" she offered.

"No!" I cried, aghast. She racked her brain for another option.

"What d'you like to do, then?" Kayla asked. I looked at her quizzically.

"Raise the dead,"

"Maybe something more… normal," she said. "No offence but an army of skeletons isn't the way to ask someone out."

"Uhh," 

"You literally never leave your cabin. What do you do in there all day? Stare at the wall?"

"Yeah, basically," I shrugged. She seemed taken aback.

"You have a sword, right? What if you challenge him to a sword fight? You know, then get talking after?"

"That could work… I guess…" I mumbled.

"Then it's settled," she said, grabbing my wrist and jumping off the table.

"What're you - no. No no no no no! You cannot -" my foot caught and I ended up with a face full of grass.

"Good thinking! Will - I mean, my siblings like healing! Did you sprain your ankle?"

"I think so," I replied, tenderly poking the injury. "But the last time I was in the infirmary-"

"Will got really pissed because you left before your three days were up? I know. So now you can make up for it!" she said, dragging me along behind her.

"William!" she screamed through the Apollo cabin door.

"What?" Will opened the door, glowing in the fading sunlight.

"I've got a visitor!" she giggled before practically throwing me inside. "Good chat, Neeks!" Kayla slammed the door, leaving us in the empty cabin.

"Uh, what was all that about?" he asked, still staring at the door as he held his hand out. I hesitated before pulling myself up.

"I sprained my ankle," I replied, my voice an octave higher than usual.

"Oh," Will said and pointed at a bed. I sat on the edge of it, my toes grazing the floor. He walked over, his blond hair bobbing with his bouncy step, which was accompanied with the clapping sound of flip flops. He finished a Red Bull, crushing the can and throwing it over his shoulder, where it flawlessly landed in the bin. How hot can you get? 

He gently pulled off my black sneakers - I hoped my feet didn't smell. He prodded around the ankle and I winced in pain.

"Yeah, sprained, all right," he said. It was too quiet, I could hear his breathing. He pulled out an ice pack and wrapped it around my foot. "So, er, you're free to go, I guess." I nodded and replaced my shoe. I limped to the door before turning around.

"I was wondering if you'd, uh, if you'd like to… meet me in the - what's it called?- in the, um, arena tomorrow?" I stuttered.

"Sure," Will grinned. He couldn't be blushing, it was probably just the light. "What time?"

"Um, you pick," I said, not wanting to feel like a control freak.

"Will 11 do?" he asked.

"Of course," I replied. Truth was, I didn't usually get up until then, so I'd have to remember to set an alarm. Or tell Kayla and she'd come bounding into my room and 3 am for 'preparations'.

"See you there," he said. I nodded and left.

***

"Did it work? It worked, right?" Kayla practically yelled, jumping out from behind a bush.

"Yeah! It actually worked!" I answered just as loudly, unable to contain my enthusiasm. She gasped.

"What time are you gonna have the sword fight?" 

I cursed in Greek.

"I forgot to mention the swords!"

"Never mind, you have a sprained ankle anyway," she said, then hopped up and down excitedly. "See? I'm the ultimate wingman! You're going on a date!"

"It's not a date!" I corrected her, though I secretly hoped it was.

"Whatever you say, Neeks," she shrugged. I was too happy to tell her not to call me that.

"But what should I wear?" I asked. 

"Hmm," she mused. "Not the same as today… I'll need to see your wardrobe." She marched off to cabin 13, me in tow.

"Do you own anything that's not black?" Kayla grumbled, throwing yet another skull t shirt onto the bed. "Anyone'd think you're going to a funeral every day of the year."

"Uh," I squinted at a shirt. "That one's… dark grey," She held it up and raised an eyebrow. "... very, very dark grey."

"It's black," she sighed. "Anyhow, it'll have to do. At least it doesn't have a skull on."

"Who knows, maybe Will likes skulls and skeletons?" I shrugged. Kayla snorted.

"Tbh, he could probably name every bone in your body,"

"What the Hades does tbh mean?" I questioned and she grinned.

"Sometimes I forget that you're from, like, ages ago. Times like now, though…"

"Just tell me what it means," I growled as a skeletal hand broke the black carpet. 

"Um, it means to be honest," she answered, her voice squeaky.

"Oh… thanks," the hand retreated back into the ground. "Sorry, I guess."

"Don't worry 'bout it," Kayla shrugged. "Just lemme watch the date first."

My face went red. I was so close to summoning another skeleton to drag her into the depths of the Underworld.

I lay in bed, too nervous to sleep. What if it didn't work out? What if he hated me? What if - oh, the horrors - he was straight? I mean, I had nothing against straights. Most of my friends were (supposedly) straight. Still, when you're tryna ask a guy out, him being straight is not ideal. At all. I rolled over and punched my pillow. I needed sleep. I already had eye bags, I didn't need yet another sleepless night to look even more trashy. I could hardly breathe on my stomach but it, at least, served as a distraction. I mused over shadow travelling across the room and back, just so I would pass out. It was unnecessary, though, as I did (eventually) get to sleep.

"Nico," I vaguely registered someone whispering in my ear. "Nico. Nico. Wake up," they inhaled. I just managed to brace myself, realising what they were going to do. "NICO!" Still, I stumbled out of bed and fell to the floor.

"What?" I hissed at Kayla. She grinned, having successfully screamed in my ear.

"Date,"

About a hundred thoughts passed through my mind at once. Through the jumble, I managed one question.

"What's the time?"

"8, which gives 3 hours to go over your strategy," she answered.

"Strategy? I don't need a strategy," I said.

"Yes, you do. Besides, I've been talking everything through with Lacy last night,"

"How did you even meet? She's, like, two years younger than you,"

"Maybe if you actually left your cabin -"

"Point taken,"

"Drink it," Kayla instructed, pushing a glass into my hand.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Poison," she said, rolling her eyes. "Water, dumbass. Now, drink." I downed it and wiped my mouth on my wrist. There were a few moments of silence before Kayla stood up, grabbing me by the wrist.

"C'mon, Ghostie, let's take you to the arena to find lover boy,"

"Wh - what? Aren't we early?"

"Will's always early, it'll be a surprise," she replied. I nodded and followed her out, trying to resist the urge to sprint, adopt a new identity and forget this whole not-date.

*** 

I never would have thought I'd end up standing behind a bush with Kayla Knowles whilst Will Solace waited for me, yet here I was.

"Don't mess up the eyeliner," she said. "Or Lacy will kill me." I tried to reply, but no sound came out. She smiled lopsidedly, like she understood anyway.

"You'll do great," she inhaled then patted my head. "Will totally loves you."

"I - I - he -" I stuttered. 

"Trust me," Kayla said, grasping my hand, her bitten nails lightly scratching me. She pulled me into a hug from there. I tensed momentarily before doing the same.

"Thanks," I said into her shoulder. "Maybe I could be the ultimate wingman for your date with Lou Ellen."

"Isn't she with Cecil, though?"

"Eh," I shrugged. "I can… arrange something." She pulled back, laughing.

"Will will be lucky to have you, di Angelo. Now, go get him!" She pushed me out from our hiding space.

Will spin around, a grin forming on his face. His camp tank top exposed his golden shoulders, which glowed in the sunlight. He obviously had had some assistance too, as he was wearing jeans and not beach shorts two sizes too big.

"You're early," he laughed; a short melodic note.

"Then what are you?" I retorted good-naturedly.

"Hmm, fair point. But do you like my shoes?" he pointed at his black crocs. "I thought you'd like the colour."

"Oh, yeah, get me some," I said sarcastically.

"Sure!" Will said, his white teeth shining.

"That was a joke, Solace! A joke! I do not want black crocs!"

"Suit yourself," he shrugged. "Now, do you wanna sit down somewhere?"

"Thought you'd never ask,"

[newbeginningsforever]

Have you ever wondered what happened after Dracula accepted Lisa as his student? And how they eventually came to be married? 

**Chapter 3 added!** 

Chapter One:

“You’re an idiot! A blasted fool,” the man at the bar berated loudly, turning around, “Spinnin’ fancies and stupid stories like that. Don’t tell this young lady such nonsense, you’ll send her off searching through the woods for some mysterious lord that doesn’t exist, and she’ll probably freeze to death on the way.” He burped unapologetically afterward, making the woman in question cringe, turning away from him and back to the ‘idiot’ telling her stories at the small tavern they were all drinking at. She pursed her pink lips in distaste and took a breath, hoping the brutish man would leave them alone. She very eagerly wanted to hear the rest of this story.

       “I’m not an idiot!” Christian yelled back defiantly. The lanky teenager took another swig of his ale before he focused again on the young woman across from him at the table, “I know it sounds strange, but there are things in this world that are hard to believe. And this place- it does exist. I’m sure of it, Lisa. Positive. My grandfather saw the castle with his own eyes!” He insisted, brown eyes blown wide. Lisa sat a little straighter, her elegant hands gripped around her cup of watery ale.

       “Are you really certain it exists, Christian?” She whispered, not wanting to draw the attention of the other patrons at the tavern. The yelling man thankfully went back to chugging ale at the counter and turned away from them.

       “Yes. My grandpa isn’t the lying sort. Everyone in town knows he doesn’t have a fibbing bone in his body. He saw it, that’s for sure. The only part you can’t be sure of is what or who is inside of that castle... But there are lots of stories.” He nodded, serious.

       “Tell me again, what is this castle described as?” Lisa was not convinced of anything yet. She wasn’t even sure if it was real.

       “It’s a huge stone castle, very tall, with turrets and a hundred rooms, at least. My grandfather said it was larger than the Church in Targoviste but much taller and narrower. He said there were hundreds of glass windows, and the most incredible door he had ever seen, made entirely of metal. But in front of the castle, there were many, many pikes. Perhaps a hundred pikes.” His face turned sour when he remembered that part.

       “Pikes?” Lisa scowled in confusion. Chris took another gulp of ale and nodded, disturbed at the thought. It was such a cruel way to kill people.

       “Mhm. Skeletons on pikes. They were impaled while still alive, you see, so they died slowly on the pike, bleeding out through their midsection. My grandfather was terrified. He said that as he came up the hill, at first he was happy, because he thought he could ask for directions and food. But then as he came closer down, he saw the horrible display of skeletons. The army of the dead, as he said. On the castle’s front lawn.” Lisa tried to picture such a scene.

       “Like the Ottomans do to their enemies sometimes?” She had heard of impalement before. An awful punishment. Whoever had received that torture had surely angered someone serious.

       “Exactly. There was a lot of ‘em, my grandpa said. When he finally got to the nearest town he asked the locals about the castle and who lived there. The barkeep and the villagers said that it was Vlad Dracula’s castle, the Viovode who sold his soul to Satan for unimaginable powers. The barkeep there said that his own father saw him, in person, years past.”

       “Vlad Dracula?” Lisa scoffed, thinking it completely ridiculous. The ruler of Wallachia’s old history was surely dead. But Christian nodded, totally serious.

       “Aye! Dracula himself. He matched the descriptions of old: he is a most terrifying and giant monster. Pale as death. He used to be a man, centuries ago when he was Viovode, but he went mad after he was betrayed, and he sold his soul to Satan so he could gain all the powers to destroy his enemies. That’s how he defeated the Turks- with demon armies given to him by Satan. And because he sold his soul to the Devil, he gained eternal life. Every so often, he reappears, makin’ havoc and killing pretty much anyone who disturbs him. That’s why the army of the dead is there: to keep people away... That’s the legend anyway.” Lisa rolled her eyes, because of course, it was a legend.

       “Well, that’s ridiculous, Christian. Of course, it couldn't be the original Vlad Dracula, he died hundreds of years ago.”

       “But the monster of a man identified himself as Vlad Dracula!” He insisted. Lisa made a face that meant she wasn’t convinced.

       “Is it not true that Vlad the Impaler’s father was named Vlad, too? And his brother? And his cousin? They’re all named Vladislav. If this is a real person, it is almost definitely the descendant of Vlad the Impaler. The original Vlad the Impaler cannot possibly be alive! He would have to be centuries old.” Lisa whispered-yelled at the crazy notion. She was not so superstitious. In fact, she wasn’t superstitious at all. Lisa had never in her life seen anything of the supernatural. She had only heard whispers and nightmarish tales of people claiming they had seen them on the roads, but she had never encountered any monsters herself. Christian leaned forward on his skinny elbows, scratching his stubbly chin.

       “The barkeep said he thinks he’s a vampire,” he muttered under his breath.

       “Of course he did. What a story that makes. Everyone tells tales of vampires, but I’m not sure their even real. Have you ever seen them? I haven’t ever seen one, or known someone who has claimed to see one. They’re probably not real.” The lanky teenager shrugged. Lisa had thought Chris to be one of the most reasonable in town, and quite kind, but she was annoyed to learn that he believed in such ridiculous things as vampires. She did not.

       “Probably. But my grandfather said that the barkeep’s father saw someone come out of there. It’s definitely not abandoned. Someone lives within the castle walls.”

       Lisa thought for a moment.

       “Maybe it is a descendant of Vlad the Impaler.” She shrugged.

       “Could be. There’s definitely someone in ‘ere because my grandfather saw lights and smoke rising from the chimneys. It’s not abandoned. Anyway, there are many stories of what is inside, which is why I’m telling you this. I think you would be interested to know.” Lisa blinked, meeting his gaze.

       “What is supposed to be inside, then?” Lisa wondered, taking a small sip of ale.

       “The castle’s filled with all sorts of wonders, completely unlike anything you’ve ever seen before,” Christian animated, eyes shining, invested in the legend. “Wonderous things.”

       “What? Chests filled with gold and rubies?” She snarked sarcastically. The daydreams of peasants finding gold in old palaces did not interest her. She was no treasure hunter.

       “No, no. The barkeep said his father saw the inside and it was filled with thousands of books! Lots of secret knowledge.” Well. That piqued Lisa’s interest. A private individual having a large collection of books was very rare. Usually the rich only had a few books, a bookshelf at most, not thousands. Not even a monastery had that many. Even if the story was a hyperbole, it was still a start.

       “Really? What else?” She leaned closer so they could whisper.

       “Amazing things! Strange machines and lightning in cages. Genius inventions.”

       Science, perhaps. She was very intrigued, then. A few patrons at nearby tables began listening in to their conversation.

       “Hm. Why would the barkeep’s father enter the castle, despite the stories?”

       “Well, he had seen some people come up to the castle when he was traveling from town, and so he knew that it wasn’t abandoned. Someone was there, and the owner of the castle was clearly having rich guests who came by carriages. The tavern owner’s wife was very sick, and they were poor, so he thought that maybe the owner of the castle would give him some gold or medicine. They were desperate because there weren’t any healers in town, you see. So the man went to the castle and ventured inside, looking for the owner. Inside, he saw all sorts of things. The castle was filled with magic, he said, and glass everywhere. There were mirrors and books and wild inventions. Things moved on their own...” Lisa perked up, delighted to hear of such things. Maybe they were scientific instruments. The man could be a prominent scholar. Perhaps he was simply a recluse or something like that. Not a monster. Monsters didn’t have a home full of books as far as Lisa was concerned. To Lisa, monsters were rouge beasts in the woods. Not men who made inventions.

       “And lightning danced in glass cages. The lighting lanterns lit themselves.”

       “Oh!” That idea captivated Lisa. To have such inventions, the man must be a scientist or an intellectual. She wanted very much to meet him.

       “Are you talking about the castle by Micăsasa, Christian?” Another man whispered, sitting down beside them, beer in hand. Lisa did not know the dark-haired man.

       “Aye. My grandfather saw it. Didn’t your folks see the castle, too?” He wondered, speaking lowly so they wouldn’t attract attention. The other man nodded, unwashed hair falling over his shoulder.

       “It’s true, what he’s sayin’. My family did see it and heard stories of people who had ventured inside, years ago. My father found the castle once when he went to Micăsasa and got lost getting back. It’s huge, he says, insanely huge. My father said he’d never seen anything like it. The man inside is said to be an immortal Lord who knows everything, including the future. He has secret books and devices- all kinds o’ things. I wish I could have seen ‘em with my own eyes. What did your grandfather hear about the man who lives there?” He asked, turning to Christian beside him.

       “He figured the man to be a genius, a scholar of rare intelligence because of his thousands of books and inventions. And perhaps a warlord, too, given the people on pikes out front. Probably his enemies from years past. That seems more likely than a monster. I’ve never heard of a monster who collects books and machines.”

       She huffed. “Yes, of course, he’s not a monster. Probably an old warlord. That’s interesting. What happened to the tavern owner of your story?” She wondered.

       “The owner of the castle said he wouldn’t help him. And he told him to beg for coins elsewhere. He kicked him out of the palace.” Chris coughed over his shoulder abruptly.

       “But he didn’t kill him?” Lisa asked, brow queried.

       “No. He lived to tell the tale, obviously. He said that he thought the man was Dracula, and that he was a vampire. Whoever he was, he was incredibly tall and pale, like a ghost.”

       “Well, it seems like this man never leaves his castle, so of course he would be pale. That doesn’t mean he’s a vampire. Probably just a solitary man…. And this was how long ago? This story?” She tilted her head, considering the tale.

       “Uh, my grandfather saw the castle- let me think... About thirty years ago. It’s not too far from here. He said you have to follow the river to Micăsasa and then travel south another mile or so.” He answered. Lisa considered the story and directions. She would have to travel with a merchant to Micăsasa and then walk the rest on foot, but she could do it.

       “My father saw it twenty years ago. I’m sure it’s still there.”

       “Maybe I’ll try to go. Perhaps I can convince whoever is inside to let me have access to their knowledge…” she drifted off, thinking about the prospect. She had nowhere else to turn, really. And it was the only lead she had of a scholar in the vicinity anymore. The last lead had denied her most vehemently, literally pushing her out of his house by force, refusing to teach her anything because of her sex.

       “You’re crazy, girl. That Lord is not to be messed with. Even my father didn’t dare to reach the door. The road to the castle is lined with a hundred or more people on pikes, left to rot. ‘s a fool’s errand, tryin’ to reach the master.” He shook his head at her.

       “I know you’re desperate Lisa, but it might be dangerous,” Christian warned, “Think of all the people he impaled on his front porch. If you anger him, he may kill you too.”

       “Then I simply won’t anger him.” She declared like it was obvious. “If I stay here, Christian, I might be killed by the church anyway. They’re beginning to think I’m a heretic in these parts.” She already had her troubles with the church.

Click on the link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24986407/chapters/66891499 to read more.

[moontheoretist]

Notes from tie-in MCU comics:

Part 1:

[DISCLAIMER: I was making those notes without actually writing down from which comic they come from, so now I am... well... confused about the proper placement of them, but I tried to discern them anyway.]

CAPTAIN AMERICA THE FIRST AVENGER:

Lol, Zola was developing exo-skeleton looking like Iron Man suit and Vanko's suit in 1934. I kind of think part of Steve's dislike of Iron Man was because of that exo-suit. Also, Steve just saved the guy in a suit.

"The chain is only as strong as its weakest link" said twice to Steve, once by military doctor and second by Schmidt.

Poor Erskine, his family was taken as hostages.

Howards says "carefully open the casing". Steve does smash instead.

Oh no, Red Skull said that weapon can always be taken from you so you have to become the weapon. It echoes the sentiment behind the creation of Iron Man too closely.

Lol, Roosevelt ASKED for Howard PERSONALLY.

"Car is bulletproof!" "and a convertible!" is a funny joke xD

Lol he has bulletproof car because of cigarette's girls angry boyfriends.

Ok, so Howard joined SSR because he HAD BEST FUN IN MONTHS.

Howard has rockets in car and "leaves best toys for himself".

First Steve saves a Nazi from a tank, now he obliterates them with said tank. Pick a side, Steve. I know guy in the armor was helpless, but c'mon. You either don't kill or kill. You cannot just willy nilly choose. BTW does it echo saving Iron Man or smth?

Call back to floating car by a joke about floating tank.

Aw, no, Erskine's family died in concentration camp from typhus. (Those camps were awful, but are not shown in the comics. You better believe that they weren’t very nice places to live even without being overworked and killed by the Nazis).

Oh no, Bucky was nearly killed by SSman! But Howling Commandos stopped him.

Bucky doesn't like his name lol. Also no Jimmy nickname for this guy.

Ok so Howard Stark was based on Hughes and Tony was based on someone Howard hated - Oppenheimer.

Ok, now Phillips made a foreshadowing for Cradle in the AoU. It even looks similar to Project Rebirth.

Oho my theory that Erskine heard Bucky talk to Steve and that doctor knew Steve lied is proved in this comics. They knew, they had a file on him and Erskine just picked him, saving his stupid ass from consequences.

Cap just threw a knife.

IRON MAN 2:

In the comics it looks more as if Obadiah sold Vanko instead of Howard, because Howard looks so surprised at what Vanko did, that it is impossible to assume that he was the one who sent the agents after Vanko. He looks surprised at the whole incident, Vanko betraying him and agents being there to apprehend him. One agent acts as if it was Howard's idea all along, but that line could be also read as just informing a bystander that they will deal with the issue instead.

Tony projected a drone which could clean whole desert full of mines with 100% accuracy and 0% detonation.

Also comics confirm that Tony cannot even have 12h break without Howard coming at him and demanding him to work when he is just a goddamn teenager.

Tony was just fighting for 19h, got a shower and has to go out again.

"If I hear of another innocent being put in a harm's way just to advance some pointless military agenda... there will be consequences" sounds like call back to Hulk.

Hm, Tony made 12 people work on one job? Also Natasha hates being called Nat and she drugged Samantha (the actual PA which applied for Stark Industries) to take her place.

 [As of now those comics confirmed to me that Captain America joined army out of selfish reasons and that Tony was overworking himself as Iron Man and when he wasn't he was either partying, probably to relax in that way, or making new tech which saves lives.]

Lol, Coulson was so excited to look for Captain. Nick even made a joke about finding his fav action figure.

Lol, World Security Council wanted to get Tony's weapons and nearly fired Fury for trying to make Avengers.

Fury is like Tony. He hates his superiors. He will do as they say but won't stop doing what he does.

Lol, Fury got a call Tony will be dead and he jumped out of his goddamn bed asap.

Fury was actively stopping Stern from getting Iron Man by scheduling his meeting with Department of Defense "when Stern is busy" xD

Lol Fury says no to Ross before he hears what he wants. This is so funny.

Ok, so Fury got Lithium Dioxide for Tony, asked if it could be made into permanent cure, how sweet of him, but also learned that it could INSTANTLY KILL HIM instead and still made Natasha basically inject Tony with it WITHOUT CONSENT! So I dunno if he really cared about him when he asked about permanent cure or it was just more optimal for his plans. Also he got the cure during Tony's and Rhodey's battle at the mansion, so we cannot say he had a cure and didn't give it right away when he could.

"Don't blow your cover unless Stark is going to kill himself". Hm. So he wants him alive.

And yeah, he ordered Natasha to stick him with lithium dioxide when he distracted him.

Lol, Fury yelled at Coulson for letting Tony leave the mansion xD

THOR??? (I got lost in my notes, I didn’t write which comic was which)

LOL CLINT CANNOT EVEN TAKE VACATION. Also the speed with which he responded to possible alien crashsite, epic. He jumped and went as if it was Christmas, aww Clint.

Why Clint is giving money back to some store which suffered due to their operation? I mean it was nice and all, but who will give the money back to Clint? Fury?

So it was Hawkeye's idea to let Thor loose.

In the meantime Loki was on scene and tried to get Mjolnir but it didn't respond.

AVENGERS PRELUDE:

Oho, poor Fury, didn't sleep in a few days.

Oho, Fury yelled at Natasha.

"Do not let Ross take Banner, dead or alive". How cute of you, Nick, to confirm that you do not care.

Blonsky is suicidal. Going at Hulk and kicking him in the face? That's a death wish.

Ah so Blonsky is enhanced.

Hahaha, joke about lifting a hammer but applied to the Asgardian sentinel, lol.

Ross literally accessed SHIELD databases.

Natasha was raised in Stalingrad lol.

After seeing Hulk, Abomination and The Leader Natasha finally says it is too much to handle for SHIELD.

Oho, so making Tony finish Howard's project was an objective, not saving his life. He wanted it for Tesseract.

I dunno if he is lying or really was doing this whole shit for the Tesseract. Also points for sticking in WSC's face that Ross nearly destroyed New York thanks to them.

Shield has whiplash suit and it's arc reactor!

THEY ACTIVATED THE SENTINEL AND THEN THEY WANT TO DISMANTLE IT AND MAKE DOZENS SMALL ONES!

Huh, implication that Natasha may beat the whole bunker of SHIELD agents up, because they're men, lol.

So Selvig used the element Stark invented to kick-start the Tesseract after all.

"Good for a laugh from time to time" lol. Clint the comedian.

Why that machine holding a Tesseract looks like Arc Reactor?

Huh so Selvig was Loki and he made a comment about Tony being strange for "badassium".

BLACK WIDOW BACKGROUND IN ONE OF THE COMICS, DUNNO WHICH:

Natasha talks about her cover personalities like vtubers about their avatars.

Fjodorov knows something about stolen bootleg technology of Tony Stark which he managed to acquire?

Natasha really likes narrating her story. Time slows when you have a training? Like roller coaster on first ridge?

"With some small regret, I bid farewell to Tatiana. She's outlived her usefulness" thinks Natasha after she took off her wig and no longer plays Tatiana. "If she were real. She'd be dead". "It's nice though, to pretend while it lasts... that I was ever as innocent as her".

Natasha really likes playing those roles.

Haha, Natasha holds one mission over Coulson's head forever even though he never failed as her control again.

"Part of the reason why I am so good at the undercover work is that I actually like being other people. There is a lot I've done that I regret. When I leave that other identity behind, whether I slip out from underneath it voluntarily or it's ripped away from my grasp, it always hits me like a shock. Like being awakened from a deep sleep, back to who I really am". "It's good to be home". Is she speaking about her slip into Black Widow again as home or is she referring to Russia?

Natasha left a guy dangling from a building and said it could be worse, he could be naked.

"Good man" says Natasha as if she was training guys to obey her will.

Oho, Natasha is interested in someone who wants to be her.

Also she is narrating that police in Russia would not suspect Tatiana to be so resourceful.

Natasha wants to save that girl from herself, because nobody did that for her when she was in the same position.

I mean, Natasha killed some people that day already so I don't get the point of her not killing those guys and saying that she changed, when in the club she killed a few of the goons already and later too. Where is the point of her change if she kills anyway? What is this change about Black Widow - Natasha Romanoff if she kills people but just not always? She cannot claim to change for the better just because she didn't kill two goons. And Sofia should see that not killing all of them doesn't mean she doesn't kill at all. But I guess leaving so many alive still counts for Sofia as Natasha going soft.

Coulson, you idiot, I am happy you came to save Natasha, but Sofia thought those guys were Natasha's back up. It all wouldn't happen if not for you making them appear there. You fucked up everything for Natasha, Coulson.

Uh, Natasha has the same weird shtick Tony does. She blames herself for the decision of her superior? Yeah, she enabled him to make that decision, but it was still his decision to send those men to find Natasha, so their death is on him, not on Natasha.

Huh, so Natasha's model persona Konn feels empty when nobody looks at her, because her whole life was being the centre of attention? It's kind of sexist cover.

She is a hand model and this guy is disgusting. Natasha I agree with those YUCK.

Natasha doing tehee is so weird.

Also playing a "he sent me here so hours would fly by" is so gross, but inner Natasha voice says nothing yet.

Lol the guy just assumed she is stupid, because she made tehee sounds. Like, goddammit, men are so easy to fool. Condescending little creep indeed.

Ok, so Natasha doesn't have any computer knowledge to say what those lines of code are, but she knows Stark can.

Ugh, Natasha, that line about telling his friends that they did something he imagines is so not feminist of you. It just enables creeps like that to objectify women more and treat them like idiots and fucktoys.

Sofia killed the agent even when Natasha gave her what she wanted.

Natasha wants to save lives and often fails at it too.

She jumped off the yacht to save the guy even though she knew he is dead? I mean shot in the head usually means instant death.

She doesn't get lines of code but can upload tracking device on it. Good. Also she wanna kill Sofia now.

"When I go in for the kill, there's no one I'd rather be than who I really am".

Ah so they had a targeting software for the copy of the Jericho missile manufactured by Hammer.

So they were moving Jericho in parts around the world. They should be happy Tony didn't notice. (Because then they would all just go boom and be dead lol).

"Berserk bots a girl's best friends!"

Frampton wants to have space tourism.

Ten Rings again.

Why Frampton wants to strike Korean DMZ?

Aha, global destabilisation for Ten Rings, gotcha.

Oho, so the info about Natasha busting the trafficking ring comes back. It turns out she accidentally trapped the girls inside when she busted the place. She basically says she didn't know they were there but even if she did she wasn't nice back then.

So Natasha says that Sofia was more her than she ever was, meaning the Black Widow, meaning that Natasha always had softness in her which Sofia didn't have and that Sofia got her just reward for wanting to be the perfect Black Widow.

Still sexist move to make a victim of sex trafficking ring become a morally corrupt murderer who would destabilise world for free if she could, but does that for money, because money is nice addition to her new hobby of fucking humanity up.

"Some people are not worth saving" Not so long ago plenty would say that about me".

AVENGERS:

Oho Stark Tower is the first fully clean-energy powered skyscraper.

Pepper thinks inside the box and Tony thinks outside the box.

Oh, so Tony still says that Rhodey had stolen the suit, but then he admits that it could give him heart attack, because it was not calibrated for him, so I wonder if he really wanted Rhodey to have it or never wanted Rhodey to have it at all.

"I got them to agree that all starktech remains proprietary to you as long as War Machine is on loan to the department of defense".

Lol wow, War Machine was an insult? Anyway he means that Rhodey won't be using Mark II because Tony has new suit for him.

"I am not Iron Man" people yell Iron Man at Rhodey "Ah, forget it" xD

How is Tony saying that he couldn't find anything to go after Gulmira when he was literally busting Ten Rings in Iron Man 2 tie-in comic?

Hahaha, Rhodey wanna get a publicist so people would recognise he is War Machine, not Iron Man.

Rhodey is so vicious. "I could have taken your hand with it but not doing it is more fun".

Oho so Tony THREE MONTHS after Tony was putting S on Stark Tower there is Battle of New York and Rhodey is in Hong Kong.

Incoming call: Martini, seriously? You call Tony MARTINI?

Also for some reason this Tony has blue eyes.

Rhodey is so cocky lol. "I haven't seen anything that can take me down".

"When am i gonna learn to keep my mouth shut?" xDDD Rhodey cursed himself.

So after Iron Man 2 Tony realised that he couldn't be iron solder alone anymore and made Rhodey an armor? Still, trust was a huge factor here.

Lol did he just make a joke about being so beat up as after clubbing with Tony to a commanding officer? Rhodey, you vicious little shit lol xD

"Battle tank that's about to make me street pizza! But only if I stand and take it, which I have never done in my life". That's useful info. It gives me some insight into who was protecting who at MIT. Rhodey never was taking a crap of other people, so he probably was used to fighting bullies. And I can imagine him standing up to bullies who targeted a kid - Tony Stark.

Rhodey chooses to fight smarts with smarts.

DID HE JUST MAKE HIS WAY OF LANDING A FRIGGIN MISSILE STYLE? XD

His commander asks if he is crazy. He definitely friggin is lol.

Rhodey just gave his superior a scare when he let a tank run him over. They thought he died.

OMG Ten Rings assumed War Machine is easier target to get tech from and Rhodey feels offended, but happy they know who he is.

Rings had stark tech in that tank, oh no. Tony will be pissed even if those are old black market stuff.

AWWW RHODEY WAS WORRIED ABOUT TONY WHEN HE DIDN'T RESPOND!

"Don't do this to me, man". "Holy...! That was SOME situation" says Rhodey when he saw chitauri flying whale dead. Ok so Avengers met Rhodey in that shawarma place.

Pepper decorates according to feng shui?

So Ten Rings scanned Rhodey's armor with any scanner available and collected a lot of data on the armor anyway.

[hello-im-not-a-possum]

Joey makes a grave mistake (Haunted Prompt)

“Now kid, don’t yous eva let me catch ya anywhere near dat church ova dere, it’s a lotta things, but it sure ain’t no house of God no more...”

“Okay! Bye Mr. Polk!”

“An’ be back before sundown! yer folks worry a lot about yous!”

“Will do!”

Ignoring Henry’s neighbor’s warnings, Joey Drew threw his sketchbook, a handful of pencils, an eraser, a flashlight, and his father’s book of the occult into his bag, took his best friend’s hand in his own and immediately skipped off to the old church. (As soon as he was sure that they were out of ol’ Polk’s sight, that is.)

“Isn’t this exciting Henry?! A haunted church, just a half-mile away from here! Think about it; somewhere in the churchyard of this old backwater town is an honest-to-god monster! With large sharp teeth and huge claws! You gotta be at least a little bit curious...”

“But didn’t Mr. Polk warn us not to go there?”

“Pssshh. Mr. Polk’s just a superstitious weirdo.”

“It’s not just him, All the adults say it’s a bad idea to go over there! My dad says he hears hell hounds braying at the moon some nights...”

“Then all the adults here wouldn’t know what fun is if it bit them in the butt!”

“I still think we should go do something else.”

The boy gave his friend a devilish smirk.

“Why? are you chicken?”

“I’m not a chicken!”

“Yes you are!”

“No I’m not!”

“Henry’s a chiiick-eeen!” Joey teased “Bawk Bawk Bawk!”

“Joey!” Henry grabbed his friend’s shoulders, forcing him to look at him. “I think that the place isn’t haunted, but it’s probably falling apart and full of dust, mold, spiders and bats. The adults just don’t want us to get hurt or sick!”

“...What kind of bats do you think are in there?”

“Joey, that’s not the point. The point is we can’t go into that church!”

“And we’re not! we’re just gonna check out the graveyard near the church. Even if we don’t go into the haunted church that we’ll probably never see again in our lifetimes-”

“I live here. If I wanted to go there, I’d see it any time I wanted. Why do you want to see the old graveyard, anyway?”

“Because maybe we can find cool bugs to gross out Nathan with somewhere in there.”

Henry tapped his foot and raised an eyebrow at his friend, obviously not believing him.

“Okay, maybe just a little peek won’t hurt?”

“Joey...” He crossed his arms and tapped his foot louder. “If you so much as peek your head in there, I WILL tell your mom where we went.”

“Fine... we won’t go to church.” The boy huffed and pouted, he hated it when Henry played the ‘I’ll tell your mom’ card. “But let’s compromise: we stay in the graveyard until the sun goes down, then I’ll take you back home and I’ll go back to the motel.”

“Thank you.”

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

Surprisingly true to Joey’s word, when the boys arrived at their destination, They stayed in the graveyard. Although, that could’ve been because Henry would’ve told Joey’s mom otherwise. Joey Sylvester Drew didn’t fear the unknown horrors of the earthly realm, the wrath of God or even the hottest Hellfire the Devil himself could light up, but he feared his mother’s wooden spoon like no tomorrow.

The two explored the graveyard, wrote down names they thought were either funny or interesting, looked for bugs (but didn’t have any luck, not only were there no bugs to be found, but the spider Joey wanted to catch skittered away too quickly), and when it got a bit late, ate sandwiches (which Henry packed) on the bench under the rotting oak tree and they sketched the eerie landscape, as well as adding skeletons and ghosts coming out of their graves to dance and sing.

“Hey Henry?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you ever wonder what it would be like to live in a haunted house?”

“Hmm.” Henry paused to take a bite of his fifth sandwich before answering “I don’t think I would be comfortable staying in a place I know that people died in. Especially if they died horribly.”

“Well I’d think it would be cool.” Joey drew a top hat on one of the skeletons. “If I was a ghost, would you let me haunt your house?”

“If you were a ghost and you tried to haunt my house I’d call an exorcist. Why don’t you haunt your own house?”

“Henry!” Joey playfully shoved his friend while laughing. “You’re so mean!”

An hour later, the sky turned to a deep orange, signaling it was time to go home. The boys packed up their things and Joey flicked on his flashlight and led the way back.

However, the thing about autumn is that the sun leaves a lot sooner than it does during the summer, which was practically yesterday for Joey. Soon the stars and silvery sheen of the full moon shone through the pitch black night, the darkness making the shorter boy’s flashlight all the more important.

“Ma’s gonna kill me.” Joey groaned. “I didn’t think the sunset would be so short!”

“Should we tell her we got lost? Maybe she’ll go easier on us then?”

“Don’t do that! She might never let us see each other again if-”

The boys froze in place as they heard leaves rustling behind them.

“Joey?”

“Y-yeah..?”

“Do you hear that too?”

“Mm hmm” Joey gulped. “D-do you think Mr. Polk followed us to make make sure we stayed out of the church?”

“I hope so, but I think he’d call out for us if he did...”

Henry flinched as the rustling grew louder and Joey shined his flashlight towards the source of the noise.

Both boys’ hearts pounded in their ears as they saw the giant snarling wolf.

They screamed and fled but the wolf was far faster than the two boys, catching up on them in mere seconds, but Joey was faster than Henry.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUGGGGHHHHH!!!”

Henry screamed out in fear and pain as the wolf pounced on him and sank his teeth deeply into his back.

Fueled by adrenaline and the fear of losing his best friend in the world to some monster, Joey grabbed a large branch and threw it at the creature. As it recoiled, the frightened boy grabbed Henry and pulled him away from the beast, running as fast as he could.

Joey was too scared of the beast behind him to notice that Henry seemed to be getting lighter, he also didn’t notice the fur quickly growing on his best friend’s back, or that his teeth were falling out to make room for fangs. But Henry did notice the fur growing on his arms that his fingernails had fallen out to make room for sharp wolf’s claws.

“Joey... You gotta leave me behind!”

“NO!” Joey clutched Henry tighter, tears were streaming down his face. “I’M NOT LETTING THAT MONSTER TAKE YOU!”

“JOEY! PLEASE!” Henry begged, showing his developing paws to Joey. “I DON’T WANNA HURT YOU!”

“YOU WONT!” Joey screamed out of desperation “I KNOW YOU WONT!”

If Joey was going to be too stubborn to save himself, then Henry would save him. The new werewolf wrenched himself out of the still human boy’s grip with ease and fled into the woods.

But Joey followed him, he followed him and-

SNAP

Joey found his leg stuck between the teeth of a bear trap.

Henry could smell the fresh blood coming out of Joey’s leg, and he could hear Joey cry and struggle to pry the bear trap open, and hear him flinch in pain as he failed. While he still feared what would happen to Joey when he became a full wolf, he also feared that the other wolf would eat him alive while he was stuck in that trap.

Before his humanity faded away completely, Henry ran back to his friend and broke the trap in half, freeing his very, very, very stupid friend.

His voice left him, making him unable to argue with Joey any longer (Unless you counted growling, barking, and howling as arguing.) He pawed and whined at his friend in a desperate plea to get him to leave him, looking much more like a wolf pup in a kid’s clothing than a human being.

While surprised but undeterred by this, Joey scooped up the squirming puppy form of his friend and clutched him to his chest as he limped towards the nearest house with its porch lights on.

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

*Knock* *knock* *knock*

Joey could hear inaudible grumbling and heavy footsteps from inside the house.

*Knock* *knock* *knock*

The front door swing wide open, revealing Henry’s neighbor in his pajamas.

“Don’t yous know what time it is?! You’ll wake the whole town up with all dat rack-”

Norman’s anger quickly turned into shock and concern as he saw the bloody child shaking like a leaf in the wind, the boy had tears and snot still running down his face and was holding a live wolf pup who was still wearing his neighbor’s son’s torn-up sweater.

“Jesus Christ, kid...”

“M-Mr. Polk...” Joey sniffled “...What do I do..?”

Norman let the pair into his home and dressed the boys’ wounds up in bandages that Joey imagined army people carried with them. As he calmed down a little bit and tried his best to explain the situation, Henry’s neighbor didn’t yell or scream at him even once during the ordeal. (Although in his mind, he deserved to be screamed at.) Even after he admitted that he and Henry went to the graveyard by the church that he had just told them not to go to. He just listened patiently and said that he’d do what he could to help.

The rest of the night was a wild blur to Joey, so he assumed that Mr. Polk just called their parents, gave them dinner (Joey fed Henry his food when Norman wasn’t looking as he was too queasy from the experience to eat.) and let them crash on his couch.

The rest of the month, no, the rest of that year was also a blur to Joey. He knew his mom screamed at him for being so stupid, he knew the doctor told him his leg would have to be amputated, and he knew that Henry was horrified about his newfound lycanthropy and even if he’d never admit it, probably resented Joey for condemning him to that.

So he did everything he could to make it up to him. The supernatural forces weren’t as whimsical to him as they used to be but now they were so much more important. There was no cure for lycanthropy, but that didn’t mean that Joey wouldn’t do everything he could to make sure that Henry was at the very least as comfortable as he could be with his condition.

Whether that meant “unknowingly” hiring supernatural beings so that Henry would be less out of place in the office, spending countless hours weaving special charms to make the transformation itself hurt less, hunting down a shape-shifting raven monster and dragging him kicking and screaming into human civilization in spite of the fact his supernatural nature still was not fully understood by Joey, (But he knew that wolves and corvids were often friends, so the bird beast would make an excellent companion for Henry during full moons.) or simply filling up a fridge with bacon. If he knew of it and it would help, then no force on earth would stop him from doing it.

But even decades later when he was growing old and he and his lifelong best friend ran a successful animation studio together. The night where the two of them visited the graveyard still haunted him to this day.

[monsterboyes]

Welcome to Night Vale Fan Episode: Curly Fries

I wrote this Welcome to Night Vale fan episode for fun. I had a lot of fun writing out an outline of the story and coming up with ideas for dialogue. I might not have built up the outro as well as I wanted to, it’s kind of emotionally discordant with the story, but I had fun writing it all anyway. Honestly the entire story is based on me hearing the song I chose for the weather three times in one day, associating it with a concept from the series, and imagining Carlos and Cecil driving while it plays in the background. I wrote around that idea and this is what I came up with. I don’t promise official quality but I hope you enjoy!  -------------------------- Cecil: Not all who wander...are lost. 

...But, uh, we are. We are very lost. Please help. Welc-

Carlos: Ooh, let me do it! Carlos: Welcome...to Night Vale! Cecil: Listeners, today’s broadcast is very special, because as I’m sure you’ve already deduced, we have a special guest in our midst- my husband, Carlos! With whom I am hopelessly lost in the desert. Carlos: Hi everybody, really glad to be here! Cecil, we’re not hopelessly lost. We’re talking to Night Vale right now! They’ll help us! Cecil:  I’m...sure they will. Not terrified in the least. We’re definitely not going to wander this hellscape for eternity. Anyway, uh, Carlos, what brings you to the show today? Carlos: Well, Cecil, as you know, we were out on a date at the  Night Vale Harbor and Waterfront Recreation Area, on a sunset stroll across the boardwalk, when we came across a vendor renting out metal detectors.

We rented one, went down to the...uh, beach...or, as much of a beach as it can be, considering there’s no water, and the ocean is only visible from the boardwalk itself, and started searching for treasures.

Cecil: Untold treasures.

Carlos: Yes, excuse me, untold treasures. Of the deep, you know, that sort of thing. But we wandered too far from the boardwalk and were swept out to sea by the phantom ocean, and we woke up...uh, here. 

And now we’re stuck here, and we don’t know how to get home, and it’s very boring, so we’re putting on a broadcast together! 

Cecil: Oh, it feels so good to be back on the air. Listeners, I don’t know how long we’ve been trapped here. My portable radio equipment doesn’t seem to be broadcasting, and my phone is dead. So I couldn’t reach anyone for help. Help we desperately need. Or we’re going to die here.

Carlos’ phone is fine, but he’s got no signal at all. He’s been trying to play Pokemon Go all morning and it’s just not working. It just shows his cute little trainer standing there in a big empty void of space, which is normal for the desert, but none of the Pokemon are showing up and it’s just been very frustrating for both of us.

Also, I wore these new boots, and I’m very upset that they are hurting my feet. They’re 6 inch high platform boots with a goldfish swimming in a little fish bowl embedded permanently in the platform with no hope of escape and no source of food, and after days of trying to break them in they still just aren’t comfortable for some reason. All things considered, this has not been a good morning for us.

Carlos: At first I thought we may be in the Desert Otherworld somehow, but that was quickly disproven when I realized my phone had no signal. Also, there are no mountains, or lighthouses, or crippling post traumatic stress reactions, or masked armies, or geographical loops. But mostly no cell phone reception. That place had incredible cell phone reception. Cecil: Really, the only thing here is lots and lots of sand, and also old televisions, refrigerators, mysterious piles of magnetic shavings, all sorts of neat stuff. It really takes my mind off the inevitable bleached skeletons we’re going to leave here in the desert. I’ve been playing with this metal detector and honestly, this place is a gold mine for neat junk that if we ever manage to find our way out with, I’m going to take home and then put in the garage, and every time I look at it I’ll think “Why did I bring this home with me? What was I thinking?”, before formulating plans to organize or dispose of it, only to keep it there forever as a monument to my obsessive need to collect mementos and symbols representative of my experiences in an attempt to create a physical record of the fact that I did something, went somewhere, was someone, even if they pile uselessly in a corner serving only to remind me that I opted for material goods and trinkets in lieu of crafting meaningful personal memories of events and loved ones that only I could ever truly understand that would die with me rather than be thrust upon whoever is saddled with the task of organizing my affairs after death, walking into my garage, seeing my pile of junk, and not grasping for even a second the depth of what I wanted it to mean and represent and communicate about my life, tossing it into the trash and along with it any dreams I may have had in the back of my mind of being immortal by way of inspiring others with my personality made manifest by collected worldly goods. Oh! And radio equipment! We found some radio equipment that seems to be working just fine, unlike mine. And to elaborate on this phenomenon, it’s time for the Children’s Fun Fact Science Corner! Carlos? Carlos: Cecil, and kids at home, my running theory is that we are trapped in another time entirely. You see, we’ve dug up a lot of stuff here. But all of it is from the past. When scientists do a lot of digging- it’s called Earth Science, by the way- they often find things underground organized in layers of sediment, one on top of the other. As you dig further down, you find older things, and that’s how we know which fossils are older than other fossils. But here, no matter where we dig, we seem to find things at random, completely disorganized. It’s very unscientific of these random objects to appear all in the top layer of dirt. Meanwhile, Cecil’s portable broadcasting equipment seems to work, but based on how none of you came out here to rescue us during our first several broadcasts, it doesn’t seem to be reaching you. I believe that it can only broadcast to the present day, and- because we are surrounded by anachronisms, we are not in the present day. It’s 2019, I think. So we should, in theory, only be surrounded by things people use in 2019. But we’ve dug up several Furbys and at least one toot-a-loop, which indicate that it is not 2019, wherever we are. We’ve found such a wide range of things there’s no telling what year it really is! But this set of radio equipment we found is timelessly elegant in its design, and so I believe it probably broadcasts to any point in time. Also I can pick it up on the portable radio we brought with us to the beach, so it’s definitely working. Cecil: It is true that my equipment only seems to broadcast to the present day. I know my phone back at the studio sometimes makes and receives calls through time itself, but I don’t know that I’ve ever broadcast to another era...but it is also possible that our listeners just plain aren’t feeling very helpful today. Maybe they’re busy. Maybe we’re doomed. Maybe we’re just doomed.  Carlos: Cecil, nobody is ever too busy to listen to your show. And we’re not doomed. Cecil: Oh, Carlos, you’re embarrassing me. And we’re probably doomed. Carlos: I’m sorry, but it’s true. And it has to be, otherwise my theory sounds ridiculous. And we’re not doomed. Cecil: Fair enough. It sounds very scientific to me! Anyway, this has been the Children’s Fun Fact Science Corner. Also we’re doomed. Carlos: Cecil, I’m going to go run some tests with the metal detector and see if I can find anything to help us figure out where and when we are. And maybe a refrigerator that still has food in it. So far, besides the radio equipment, everything’s just a bunch of junk. I’ll take my radio with me so I can hear your broadcast, be sure to call me back if you need anything! Try to stay calm, alright? Cecil: Good luck, Carlos! Listeners, in the meantime, let’s get to the news. Local radio host Cecil Gershwin Palmer was reported as saying that despite the suffocating fear of eternity or the dark void of ceased existence, he doesn’t really mind being trapped in an endless mysterious desert, as long as it’s with his husband Carlos. He could, quote, “Do science here forever”, as long as it was with his handsome husband. Aw, isn’t that sweet?

Meanwhile, we’ve got...uh...there’s...hm.  I’ll level with you, Night Vale. This place is booooo-ring. Nothing’s happening at all. There’s barely any plants. I’ve only seen one animal, and it was a lizard, and it was a very boring lizard. It only had 4 legs, and it just kind of sat there on a rock for a while. The fish in my shoes died, so their senseless agony is no longer a viable source of tragic entertainment. I can’t check my tumblr. It’s just dirt and sand and rocks and sun and junk. If we were going to be whisked away to a mysterious time and place, couldn’t it at least have been an interesting one? I do have to admit...I’ve tried to keep a strong, stoic face about this whole situation, but I’m getting a little worried. We don’t know how long we’ve been here. Carlos claims it’s only been a few hours, but you know how he is with time and perception and facts. There’s never any wiggle room with him for senseless anxiety and baseless assumptions of doom. I shouldn’t make fun, I’m sure he’s worried too. At least we’re here together, I suppose. Better than being lost in the desert alone... Oh, uh, looks like it’s time for Traffic.

A car, gliding effortlessly across the sands of a vast desert. The man inside turns up the radio, and hears a familiar story- familiar because it’s literally happening, right now. The radio describes his every action. The way he glances at the radio as if it is another human being to make eye contact with, questioning its words with his eyes. It describes the way he turns the dial to increase the volume. The way he furrows his brow, attempting to understand how the voice on the radio knows what he’s doing. The way he pulls out a set of beakers and places them carefully on the dashboard, normally a reckless act while driving, but completely safe in the flat, closed-course, car commercial style desert he’s driving on. He sends some colored liquids through swirling crazy straw tubes from one container to another, a bunsen burner aflame, attempting to science some sort of sense out of this disembodied narrator. The liquids are turbulent and sloshing, but he does not care. He looks out the windshield and stares at a dot, in the distance- and the dot stares back. He focuses all his energy, all of the vehicle’s horsepower, the entire weight of his leg on the gas pedal, and every photon receptor in his eyes on that tiny...little...dot. He stares with such intensity that his eyes start to lose track of their own interpretation of the light that enters them, blurring into one solid color, forcing him to focus on something else to be able to focus back on his goal. He blinks furiously. The dot becomes bigger, and bigger, and bigger, until finally- he sees that it’s me! Hi Carlos! This has been, Traffic. Carlos: Cecil, look! The metal detector came through! I found a 1987 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am 2-door coupe! And a renewed interest in those psychic energies I told you that you sometimes give off and that I really need you to let me probe into! Cecil: A car, that’s wonderful! We can use that to get...home. Assuming it’s...nearby, and that we’re...in the same timeline as home, and...in the same year. Maybe we’ll even be back by dark! The sun is starting to set... Carlos: Cecil, I know how to get back home. We’re going to be okay. Get in the car. Wait- first, help me take the t-tops off. On the drive back we may as well enjoy the weather. [THE WEATHER] Cecil: Listeners, we are home. As we drove dramatically with sweeping camera angles and rolling hills through that sudden downpour of mysterious flashes of light, pink clouds, psychedelic wind, nostalgic VHS fog, and laser beams erupting from the desert floor, the sun set and we could see in the distance a guiding light. As we drove towards it, we reached an old dirt road, and down that dirt road, we found a fence, and a gate, and a sign. I turned around in my seat to read the sign, and...well, you remember a few years ago, when we got the new landfill, which doesn’t accept any physical items?  Carlos: My theory had one major flaw. I thought based on all the anachronisms we had found in the dirt, all at the same layer of sediment, we must be in some sort of mishmashed timeline, outside of the linear time that we’re normally outside of, but also outside of the non-linear time we’re normally not outside of. Some third form of time never before seen. But they...well, they weren’t anachronistic. There weren’t any items from the future. That would be anachronistic. Everything we found was from the past. Which is...normal. That’s just normal. That’s how time works, even here. Cecil: Yeah, we were...just...in the old landfill. Also my portable radio equipment was working fine, I just...forgot to...plug in the microphone. I was very stressed. I forget to plug in microphones when I’m stressed. Carlos: I guess the sand blew over top of it over time and hid it entirely, and the phantom ocean must have created a phantom beach next to the raised sands as a result, and we washed up on top of it. But, hey, even if my science was flawed, at least we got to spend the day together, and I got to be a big part of your show! Plus, it was my day off, so I really didn’t want to do any accurate science anyway. Cecil: Yes, we’ve never done a show together like this. It was a lot of fun even if I was terrified the entire time. Carlos: Cecil, I was scared too, but I didn’t want you to worry, so I tried to be strong, for you. And you know,  despite the suffocating fear of eternity or the dark void of ceased existence, I also wouldn’t really mind being trapped in an endless mysterious desert, as long as it’s with you. I could, quote, “Do radio broadcasts there forever”. Cecil: Aw, you were listening! And so intently. That’s almost word for word, with adorable changes in perspective. And it’s a good segue into an inappropriately sappy closing statement for tonight’s broadcast. Listeners, Steve Carlsberg, my brother in law, speaks often of lights and guiding markers in the sky, telling him exactly how the universe works. I’ve never really believed in any of that stuff.  But today, some lights in the sky showed Carlos and I the way home from the old landfill. As soon as we crested the horizon I saw them- and I’d recognize those lights no matter where they were, Arby’s or not. Sometimes I wonder if maybe they’re part of something bigger, too, like the lights in the sky Steve talks about. They lead us home today. And they lead us to each other years ago. Carlos, I’m glad we have each other. I’m glad we have this place. I’m glad we have delicious roast beef sandwiches and curly fries with horsey sauce. We have not eaten in days. I love you.

Carlos (mouth full of curly fries): Aw, Cecil, I love you too.

Cecil (mouth full of curly fries): Today’s broadcast is sponsored by Arby’s. Not officially, it’s just, (swallows), we’re currently eating Arby’s and I don’t know how to end the broadcast. I don’t normally do broadcasts off the cuff like this. Carlos: I know how to end it! Can I end it? Cecil: Well, I mean, it’s my show...I always...um. You know what, sure, it’s fine. Go ahead. Carlos: Good night, Night Vale! Carlos and Cecil: Good night.

[selemina]

Now if i can also ask about some of the other characters, Who's your character in that winter campaign, is he the four armed guy in the art you showed? What's his story?

Aaaah, mister Sephiran Krauss, my necromancer and first ever wizard! :D

Krauss is a Vedalken! :) Those are essentially the Vulkans of DnD : Blue skin, four arms, an unwavering focus, and an absence of expressed emotions. That whole picture up there would make him look like an over-reacting lunatic to his own kind, to give you an idea. XD

Krauss has one, very simple, but very ambitious dream : Record and know all of the spells in the world. The limiting factor, for him, is time ; vedalkens live a long time, but not nearly long enough to reach that goal. So? Extending his life is a necessity. How? Well, there is the classical lich-dom, but he’s not too much about that, not really... That would make the rest complicated... As it turns out, somewhere in Europe, the scientific community says they’re about to discover the secret to immortality! That would be ideal... But as he is traveling there, in the middle of summer, snow starts falling from the sky...

30 years pass, with him working in the mall community where the adventure starts. He is the community’s teacher : those kids will learn to read, count and have a notion of history, damnit, snow or not! He is also in charge of keeping the treadmill farm going for electricity, by making skeletons run on them until they break. His focus shifted rather drastically on necromancy, with the urgent need to find a solution to the sudden risk of dying the next day, but he is very open about it, and freely discusses it with anybody that asks, without making it wierd.

He also quickly noticed that his lack of expression was causing problems between him and the other passionate races (which was : everybody in the mall”, so he has been training for 30 years now to express his emotions in a way that puts others at ease. He’s still struggling with his centuries of being told to hide everything and be ashamed of any show of emotion, but he is fighting it. We had a moment of him going temporarely amnesiac, and he reverted back to his purely logical self... I like that it freaked people out so much, in the long list of mental ailment everybody had, it was addressed very early! XD He was not about to be dangerous, but NOBODY liked cold and rational Krauss! XD

In this campaign, we have (now 2) warlocks of the Archives :  a place where you can learn what you want, at a cost to your mental health. Temporary, but still scary... It’s where Krauss has been looking for the spell Clone, to have a backup in case he died, but anyways, remember the archives for later. ;)

FIRST, we need to talk about William of the Winter : the only person in 30 years to have a connection with the divine! The gods have been silent since the start of the winter, so realize : no healing magic, no clerical assistance, no resurrections or revivify! But here comes William, not even knowing he has clerical abilities as a divine soul sorcerer. People lose their shit. With the help of Krauss, he develops an imperfect resurrection spell, with a chance to fail and function as a Raise Dead spell. He then feels a pulse to go in an abandonned church where another PC used to live, where said PC’s husband, a cleric, was burried. Preparing for the resurrection, everybody does a little something to help, and Krauss heads over to the statue of the cleric’s god.

Now, as a logical individual, Krauss sees the gods as powerful entities, but not unfathomable or all-mighty. Faith is not his thing... but bargains can be struck. Without anybody to believe in them for 30 years, gods are almost powerless now, so Krauss “prays”, offering a deal : if the gods help in this resurrection, as a teacher he will teach his students about the pantheons, and see if some of them are interested in faith. A favor for a favor. And the offering bowl suddenly fills up with high quality gun powder (the temple was to a god of firearms, technolgy and community) as a sign.

The night before the resurrection, Krauss has a special dream : he’s on the plane of fire, and there is a big battle happening, in which a full group of heroes fights against an army of purple-coded invaders. Krauss manages to ask if this has anything to do with the Winter in some way, and he feels like the gods are saying yes.

The resurrection works fine, and they all go back to base with all of that in mind. On their next trip to the Archives, Krauss looks into those purple mages in the plane of Fire... and realizes there is no information there. Because the Void has swallowed this knowledge. The Void is, I believe, another reccurring element of @girugin‘s stories : a plane or something, that sometimes eats things : everything it eats gets erased from the world’s memory, aside from people with very direct, very intimate links with it. But if THEY forget it too, whatever the void has taken has no chance of escaping. Pulling knowledge from the void on something you’ve only seen in a prophetic dream sounds like madness... But Krauss starts working on it, driving himself up the wall for days to record into a book whatever knowledge he can pull from the void about those purple mage and their kind of magic he had never seen before.

His original intent, once he’s done with making the book, was to just read it and offer it back to the archives, as a gift (to make learning the clone spell easier), but there is another big player that is interrested by exclusive knowledge and its price : Newt, the patron of trades and deals. And more specifically, his representative in the community : an energetic Kobold called the Ecclectic. When trying to make a deal for a magical item to protect him, Krauss mentions the book he’s writting, and the Ecclectic immediately starts offering him a deal : Give HIM the book, instead of the archives. Pressed a bit more by Krauss he shares a bit more. He has a dept towards Newt that he desperately wants paid, and the archives might not be as safe to use as they seem... He’s willing to give everything he has to Krauss for the book, including a few items NOW before he decides who to give the book to. He also reveals a dangerous weak point of the Archives, and defense mechanism, that could probably end up killing Krauss if ever the Archives grew mad at him. Problem is, just by knowing of this defense mechanism, Krauss might be seen as dangerous by the archives...

Weighing all of it, Krauss decides ultimately to give the Ecclectic the book, and try to sell his knowledge of the Archives’ weak spot to Newt, insuring he wouldn’t be attacked by the archives if he went back. He’s still nervous about going back, sending one of the warlocks in with an offering of knowledge to test the waters. Apparently the Archives doesn’t mind him being around... but Krauss is VERY nervous still. XD He doesn’t remember why, but he knows he should tread carefully now.

Also, helping the Ecclectic made it so that he could regain his original form : an ancient metallic dragon (brass or copper, I never remember. XD) now more than happy to protect the community against the white dragon up north that was terrorizing the area! :) And that’s the story of how Krauss bought himself a boyfriend with knowledge from the Void! ;3c

The campaign is still ongoing, we should actually play it in an hour or so! :D But I doubt we’ll be getting anything new about the winter’s origins, I want the story to take some time to focus on other people now, Krauss has seen enough spotlight for the time being. :) Balance between players and screentime is very important, and getting A FULL-ASS DRAGON on our side seems like a big enough achievement for Krauss for now! XD

[skylanders-after-the-end]

The Undead King

Cynder was exploring the underworld all on her own. The dark place she once considered her home awoke many vivid memories, memories she was hoping to forget. But she had to do this, she was the only one Hex would listen to.

“Hello?” The dragoness shouted out when she returned to Malefor’s throne where the Skylanders battled the rogue witch. “Hex?” There was no answer.

The Skylander flew up to the now destroyed throne of the Undead King. How many times she’s returned to this place to tell him about all the chaos she’s caused in her days as the Black Dragon. With a long sigh Cynder passed the chunks of rocks and continued her journey.

The Undead Skylander looked everywhere. The Cadaverous Crypt, the Crawling Catacombs, all places that the Skylanders visited years ago, yet no sign of Hex. Finally, Cynder reached the Creepy Citadel. This was the place where they found the Eternal Undead Source back when they had to rebuild the Core of Light. It was the home of many ancient kings and queens of the underworld, until Malefor took over and claimed the title all for himself. The place has been lonely and forgotten ever since, yet it remained standing in its full dark glory.

Cynder walked across the stone bridge above the dark depths of the underworld. She saw scratch marks carved all over it, a book which has fallen apart, and finally a corpse. A dead body was nothing unusual in the underworld, yet something about this one struck Cynder as strange. There was a staff lying next to it, and upon closer inspection, she realized that the body was fresh. A month at maximum. The faded green skin was decaying, and parts of the skeleton were exposed, but Cynder realized that this person died not long ago. The dragon spotted black veins running across the body as well. She didn’t want to believe it, but Cynder thought that this might have been Hex’ doing. The blue robe and what was left of the elvish ears fit the description of one of her former friends. Would Hex truly kill someone in such a gruesome manner? They treated her badly, but she never expected her to seek revenge to this extent.

A sudden burst of magic in the distance pulled Cynder’s attention away from the lifeless body. She started to believe that this was the place where Hex resided most of the time, since she can only be found outside of the underworld when she was cursing people into becoming bloodthirsty zombies. Determined but also scared, Cynder spread her wings and rose into the air to follow the fading purple light. She was hoping that it wasn’t too late for her friend to have a change of heart.

The remaining Skylanders just returned to the Academy. Wounded after their fight with Hex, they made their way to the hospital, Stealth Elf most of all, before regrouping and discussing further plans with their allies.

Spyro sighed as he was looking his companions in the eyes. “Skylanders, there’s a new threat at hand.”

“Did Malefor escape the underworld?” Nightfall asked with spite in her voice.

“Did Moneybone free him?” High Volt recalled the last time the count posed a threat, when he managed to kidnap Master Eon himself.

“Is there… someone else?” Tidepool was hesitant. She was afraid that her former alliance, the Aqua-Marines, might have finally come out of hiding to strike.

“No… it’s far worse.” Spyro built up tension and had all ears for him. “Hex has turned against us.”

“Hex?” Confused voices could be heard from the crowd. “Is she evil after all? Did Malefor manipulate her? How will we defeat her?”

Questions Spyro couldn’t answer, and that was the problem. Even though they were able to defeat Malefor with their united strength, Hex is even more powerful than him. And their powers combined? Then Spyro remembered something. “An alliance destined to destroy” That’s what the Book of Destiny showed him. Was this it? Will those two form an alliance that is capable of destroying the Skylanders?

Out of the crowd, a worried Spitfire blazed up to Spyro. “Spyro, you have to see this!” The dragon’s eyes were set on the screen that the speed demon held in his hand. What he saw was terrible, but not surprising. “Malefor has ambushed multiple villages while you were gone. Dozens have died and most are left without a home.” The two leaders watched with despair as the monitor kept showing them flashing pictures of the vicious dragon spewing fire at innocent people and burning their towns to the ground.

Spyro became furious. “I’ll take care of this.” With a swift flap of his wings, the Magic Skylander ascended into the skies and soared away from the Academy, leaving his allies confused before they took over to answer everyone’s questions.

Spyro was flying at a speed he’s rarely experienced before. He was fueled by anger and the will to put an end to the Undead King. He recognized the town displayed on the screen, and that’s where he was going. He would no longer allow Malefor to spread fear across Skylands. He may not be able to stop him nor Hex, but he would do everything to protect the people of this world.

Spyro soon reached the village, it was in ruins. People were crying and looking for their loved ones. It was hard for the leader to simply fly past such a scene, but help was already on its way. As much as he wanted to stop, he had other plans and directed his sights back forward with a determined look on his face. After another short flight, he spotted the enormous dragon in the distance. Surrounded by grey clouds and a few small islands, he was heading towards his next target. Spyro wouldn’t allow that.

“Malefor!” The Skylander exclaimed for the Undead King to halt in mid-air. “Stop your tyranny once and for all or face the wrath of the Skylanders!”

Malefor held in before bursting out in laughter. He turned around and flapped his wings to stay in the spot while facing the smaller dragon. “You think you stand a chance against me?”

Spyro responded to that by spitting three fireballs at the dragon. Malefor couldn’t react and got hit by them, which barely had any effect. As a counter, the undead dragon used his tail to whip Spyro against an island, cracking the earth upon impact. “Oh Spyro, how pathetic you’ve become since you joined those Skylanders.”

After shaking off the dirt from his body and getting back into the air, Spyro faced his enemy with confusion. “What are you talking about?”

“You don’t remember, I’m aware of that, but you used to be different.” Malefor went on about a story which sounded more like a legend than anything. “You, Cynder and I, we’ve known each other for longer than you might think. We were already bound by fate in another life.”

Spyro had no idea what to make of that information. “That’s nonsense! Why are you telling me this now?”

“Because you need to know what you’ve done to me before I burn you to ashes.” Malefor charged up a powerful flame ball and aimed it at Spyro who was able to dodge it. “I used to be just like you a long time ago, when I was the only and first purple dragon. In the age of the dragons, I discovered that I possessed a far greater power than the rest of my kind, and I did not hesitate to use it. The elder dragons were foolish cowards, they didn’t acknowledge my strength and banished me out of fear. However, I had my ways to return, one of which was Cynder. Then one day some naive purple dragon appeared out of nowhere and swayed my most loyal minion to take me down.” There was so much spite and hatred in Malefor’s words, Spyro almost believed them. “When I was reborn into this world and realized that you did not appear yet, I used that freedom to fulfill my plans. I took Cynder once again and made her my most deadly weapon, I built an undead army that could conquer all of Skylands! Everything was going as planned, until I made the mistake to challenge Hex. I underestimated her, but she was also an opportunity to return and become more powerful than ever before, which I finally have.”

“You’ve manipulated Hex just like Cynder to join you, but you won’t win this time!” Spyro launched himself at the king who took the hit just to pin the Skylander down onto an island with his mighty steel claw.

“Everything Hex is doing is of her own accord, I have no part in her decisions.” Malefor pushed the purple dragon further down and clenched his claw to squeeze his small body. “Perhaps if you had cared enough, she wouldn’t have gone down that path, but that’s exactly what I was expecting. Her hatred set me free and keeps me alive, and sooner rather than later we will reign over the Skylands with fear.”

Spyro used his flame breath to heat up Malefor’s armor and get his claw off him before rising back up. “We will stop you, both of you. There is no villain that was able to defeat us.”

“Then a Skylander might get the job done.” Malefor laughed as he teased Spyro and a battle ensued between the purple dragons.

In the meantime, Cynder has reached the Creepy Citadel and walked through the long hallways inside. A cryptic place, with empty halls and dark corners all around. Spiderwebs, molten candles and skulls decorated the old building, making sure only the bravest would dare to pass.

The dragoness kept looking for the sorceress dressed in black, but without success. Finally, she entered a large room at the heart of the citadel. Judging by the rusty chandeliers above, the torn curtains on the walls and the crumbling chair at the back, it must have been the throne room. The ceiling was broken and cracked, allowing some dim lights from the outside to enter and give the area a mystic touch. When Cynder moved closer to the throne, she could sense someone else arriving and turned around. “Hex!” Cynder wanted to run towards the witch but quickly changed her mind after getting no reaction.

“What are you doing here, Cynder?” Hex was calm. She had no intention of attacking the Undead Skylander, she just wanted her gone.

Cynder sighed after being met with the same cold frown from their last confrontation. Hex was never the cheerful type, but the dragon could tell how unhappy she was now. “Hex, we need to talk.”

“There is nothing to talk about.” Another attempt to get rid of her former ally. “You heard everything, I’m done playing nice.”

“But this isn’t the way, Hex!” Cynder had that desperate look in her eyes which only Spyro and Hex herself have seen before. “I know you. You’re not a villain, you never were.”

“And where has that gotten me?” Hex clenched her fists remembering the countless times where she was rejected by the people she saved. “Those ungrateful pawns are getting what they deserve. They’re getting what they want.”

“Don’t allow them to decide who you have to be, Hex!” Cynder knew too well what it was like to have your fate sealed by someone else, and she could sympathize with Hex on that note. “You were never bothered by those things before, you told me that you didn’t care.”

“I lied, Cynder. Not only to you, but to myself as well.” The witch turned around and stared into the dark abyss of the underworld through a hole in the ground. “I thought I could rise above it. Spend the rest of my days pretending like nothing’s wrong… I couldn’t keep that up anymore.” Hex turned back around to look into Cynder’s worried eyes. “You of all people should know what that’s like. Being painted as the villain, all because of him.”

She was talking about Malefor, Cynder knew right away. “I was a villain.” She hated talking about her dark past, but if there was even the slightest chance of it helping her friend, she was willing to do so. “Malefor manipulated me, but he didn’t force me to do anything. Death and destruction was all I ever knew.” It was such a dark time in Cynder’s life, she couldn’t believe that she was capable of such things. “Ever since I became a Skylander, I tried making up for everything I did, but that wasn’t possible. I hurt people in unimaginable ways, and some will never forgive me for that.” The Skylander also had to deal with not being accepted. Even though it wasn’t to such an extreme extent due to not being recognized as the Black Dragon, it didn’t hurt any less. “I learned to live with the fact that I am a villain to some, but I found the ones who are able to look past that and they helped me to become the best version of myself. My true self.”

“Good for you.” Hex’ sarcastic response was as dry as the bones scattered throughout the room. “I didn’t get that privilege, not after centuries. The Skylanders may tolerate me, but they never trusted me.”

Hex turned away once more and Cynder was running out of options. “I understand what you’re going through Hex, trust me I do. You’re angry and you have a right to be, but that’s no excuse to do the things you’re doing.” Cynder was careful with the words she chose, she could tell that Hex was on the verge of good and bad. “It’s not too late to fix this. I won’t lie to you, you will have to face the consequences, but if you stop now-”

“I’ve been facing consequences my entire life!” For the first time, Hex raised her voice and revealed a glimpse of the deep rage that’s been growing inside of her. “Do I need to remind you that without me Malefor would have destroyed you all months ago? The Skylands might have been an undead wasteland by now if it wasn’t for me! What I’m doing now may be bad, but I prevented far worse before.”

Cynder was shocked to hear those sentences. “I’m sorry Hex, but you don’t get to use your good deeds to justify this.” She has been patient with the witch so far, but it looked like she had to use another tone to get through to her. “I am grateful for the things you’ve done, but I can’t let you do this. Innocent people are dying by your hand!”

“And why should I care?” Hex kept her voice down, which terrified the dragon far more than any shouting. “You never had to worry about your actions, they didn’t throw you into prison for all the things you did.”

Cynder had no response to that. She didn’t expect the sorceress to go there. “Hex, please-”

“Enough, Cynder! I have made my decision and you can’t change that. I have tried being a hero for far too long, there is no use.” In a moment of silence, Hex looked at Cynder and saw how worried she was. She despised the Skylanders, but she did share a special bond with the dragon, one even her hatred couldn’t diminish. “You can try to stop me, but I assure you that none of you will be prepared for what’s to come. However, you could be.”

Cynder gave Hex a strange look. “What do you mean?”

“Join me, Cynder.” Hex got straight to the point and made her offer. “The Skylanders’ final days are upon us. Once they’ve perished, you won’t have anywhere to go. By my side you wouldn’t have to be afraid of anything, not even Malefor.”

Cynder thought she was in a wild dream after hearing that. “Are you insane!?” The dragon shook her head and threw the witch a disbelieving look. “My days of evil are over! You may have submitted to Malefor, but I will never go back there! Never!”

“You think I submit to him?” Hex expected Cynder to know better than that, but she was disappointed. “Malefor is at my mercy. I have full control over him, and he only does what I allow him to. You wouldn’t even have to see him.”

“I’m not joining you!” Cynder was hopeless. She couldn’t think of anything else to tell her former friend. “I won’t fight you Hex, you know that, but if you continue like this, we will stop you.”

“I’d like to see you try.” Hex gave the dragoness a last glaring look before she spread her wings and left the citadel.

Cynder soared away looking for the exit of the underworld. That conversation was not what she had hoped for. The Hex she once knew, who was always there to listen to her problems and support her, was gone. The woman she just saw was a vengeful witch, whose only interest is to destroy the living world for wronging her throughout all those years.

Spyro crashed onto another island. A stinging pain rushed through the dragon’s entire body as he opened his eyes and dashed away before a blast of spectral fire could consume him. He ascended back into the skies and used his own flame breath to strike Malefor, who easily blocked the attack.

“You hope to defeat me with such pitiful blows? You do remember that I’m immortal, right?” Malefor grinned and whipped his entire body around to strike Spyro with his tail.

After the painful counterattack, the Magic Skylander struggled to keep himself in mid-air to answer. “I don’t care! We will find a way to stop you, with or without Hex!” Spyro charged another powerful fireball and aimed it at Malefor, who easily brushed it off after getting hit.

The large dragon laughed sinisterly. “That’s the point, Spyro. You can only defeat me without Hex!”

“What?” Spyro knew that they were somehow linked, but he also thought that the witch was the only one capable of defeating him. “What do you mean?”

“It’s simple. I am being kept alive by Hex’ powers. The only way to get rid of me, is to get rid of her.” Malefor had a sick smile on his face, almost as if he wanted Spyro to follow his instructions. “You have to kill her.”

Spyro didn’t want to believe that. Hex may have turned against the Skylanders, but they would never kill one of their own, not even a villain for that matter. “Not a chance! I won’t fall for your tricks!”

“Best of luck defeating both of us then.” The Undead King flapped his large wings to create strong gusts of wind and push Spyro as far away as possible. “The Skylanders will fall, and the Skylands will finally bow to their rightful ruler, the Undead King!” With those words Malefor turned around and flew away from the small collection of islands. Spyro attempted to follow him, but the dragon was gone in the blink of an eye.

After the unsuccessful confrontation with Malefor, Spyro returned to the Academy, where countless reports of more possessed creatures ringed through the headquarters. Cynder arrived before him, she was talking to Stealth Elf and a few other allies. Spyro joined in on the conversation.

“Cynder, what’s all the fuzz about?” The Magic Skylander approached the small group.

“There you are Spyro.” Cynder turned her head to her friend to explain. “I tried talking to Hex, but nothing I said got through to her. I’ve never seen her like that before.” Cynder’s heart was heavy while proclaiming the news, but she had to put the safety of the Skylands first. “I’m afraid we have no choice… we have to take her down.”

“I already thought so…” Spyro didn’t want to tell the others what he heard from Malefor. While some might not even argue against it, Cynder would be devastated if they had to murder one of her former best friends. Not to mention that it was forbidden for a Skylander to kill unless there’s no other choice. “We must find a way to defeat Hex first, that is the only way to stop Malefor as well.”

“How are we supposed to do that?” Stealth Elf was ready to fight, but she knew firsthand what the undeads were capable of. “They’re the most powerful undead beings in Skylands, we won’t stand a chance against both of them.”

Spyro was doubtful as well. They may outnumber them by a hundred, yet the power of the witch and the dragon was unmatched. A fight against them combined would be a bloodbath. “We will find a way, we always do! We just have to come up with something else.”

While the group split up to attend to other business, Spyro remained where he was. He never hoped for anything like this to happen. It was a dangerous threat and truly the first one which had the potential to end the Skylanders. “An alliance destined to destroy” Spyro repeated that sentence in his head. He was afraid that those words might stand for the future they were about to witness.

Down at the Creepy Citadel, Malefor returned from his meeting with the leader of the Skylanders after Hex spent the rest of the day corrupting more people than ever before. As much as the two despised each other, they had no choice but to work together. For Hex to keep Malefor under her control, and for him to eventually rule the Skylands.

“When are we going to bring the Skylanders down?” Malefor grew bored of terrorizing simple townsfolk and finally wanted to unleash his wrath upon his sworn enemies. “Now that they know, it’s only a matter of time until they try to stop you.”

“Patience, Malefor. We have to pressure them before we strike.” Hex advanced her plan with each passing day, and she wouldn’t let Malefor interfere with it. “Fear is our greatest ally, we have to use it to break the Skylanders. Only then may we be able to defeat them.” Hex was looking across the walls and floors of the citadel, gazing upon the dark cave surrounding them. The place she once feared and hated so much has now become her new home. “Then I will finally get my revenge.”

[storypraxis]

GAME OF THRONES Did Not Earn Mad Queen DAENERYS

Spoilers ahead.

A lot has been written about the latest season of Game of Thrones. Many videos have been made about how multiple plots and characters have been assassinated. I wasn’t going to write about it, but the latest episode made me realize how much I loved Daenerys’ character.

Speaking as someone who hasn’t read the book, but I’ve watched the show from the beginning, Daenerys was one of the only characters that brought a ray of hope into the world of Westeros and Essos. That something better could come into it, much as Tyrion and Varys discuss during Season 5. She started out as a slave, carving her way to become a queen who would break the wheel.

Given the episode leaks - how they’ve been accurate for at least the last three episodes - I guess it will be the wheels of Bran who rule after Daenerys’ passing...

The Breaker of Chains stopped the dothraki from raping women from villages, freed captive slaves from their captors. The only casualties were those who took up arms against her, and only when a peaceful solution couldn’t be reached.

Daenerys saw children crucified by the slavers. She replied in kind.

The Mother of Dragons couldn’t have any human children after she tried to save Khal Drogo’s life. After that, she saw her dragons as her beloved children, not just the means to rule and kill. And even then she will actually lock her children up when claims are made that one of them has killed a child. Daenerys doesn’t even know for sure it was Drogon who burned the child into a charred skeleton.

It took one dead child for Daenerys to lock up her own children.

There are dangers of Daenerys inherting the madness of the Mad King, but on the show, but they never build up on that. Yes, Daenerys is ruthless, but so is Jon who executed a boy for trying (and succeeding) to kill him. Daenerys did not burn Mereen to the ground to get rid of the slavers. She’s only killed those who’ve tried to keep her captive or those who’ve wronged her or her loved ones. The show did not do the proper footwork to make the turn believable.

For reference, Queen Victoria of England had madness in the family. After her beloved husband, Prince Albert, died, she started to wear black. Same with the other kids and the drapes and tablecloths of the Buckingham Palace. Victoria took her youngest child to bed with her like she was a teddy bear, making her wear Albert’s clothes. She became an instrument of her grief. Victoria would also walk around holding her head in her hands.

All the telltale signs of madness are absent from Daenerys sans the moment the bells start ringing. Why is this? Well, if they had set up properly that Daenerys was actually going insane, then that would have been seen as too predictable. The showrunners of Game of Thrones went for a shocking twist devoid of substance and logic.

Madness for Daenerys would probably have reared its ugly head in another way. Instead of burning women and children to the ground, perhaps Daenerys wouldn’t have wanted to assault King’s Landing at all. Perhaps she would have become protective of her last dragon, Drogon. After Jorah and Missandei died, Daenerys would have ordered Jon and Tyrion (who foolishly walked among the dead unarmed!) to stay back.

Good thing both her and Drogon had plot armor when they burned through the Iron Fleet she forgot about in the last episode...

Queen Victoria scolded her children even years after Albert’s death if they tried to bring levity back into their lives.

For further comparison, Victoria liked making kids she did not enjoy having them or raising them. To her, babies were ugly, like toads. She liked drawing them as they got older, but there are sketches of one of her sons looking rather twisted, monstrous. She didn’t care to breastfeed them, seeing the task as something disgusting worthy of only cows.

And yet, Victoria, while being highly critical of her kids, was very protective of them. Perhaps because she feared being left alone. She had depended on Albert more than anything. Now he was gone and Victoria was left alone.

In this sense, if Daenerys was turning mad, I’d see her reacting in a similar way. Overly protective and mourning the dead to an unhealthy degree, not burning innocents to the ground.

There’s a reason temporal insanity doesn’t fly in courts, too often. You really need to prove your case.

Jenna Coleman does an excellent job on an excellent show: ‘Victoria’

Daenerys has lost a lot of people in her life and not all of them pleasant. From Viserys to Khal Drogo. From Jorah, the King of the Friendzone to Missandei. Daenerys hasn’t had time to process the deaths of the last two. We haven’t seen her mental stability waver that much. Daenerys has always been believable when she has said she’s not her father, or that she doesn’t want to be a Queen of the Ashes.

One can cherry pick dialogue from the show. Daenerys was never into killing women and children. She wasn’t even into killing all men, “just those who held the whip.” - The Lannisters surrendered, dropping their proverbial whips.

Even when she does morally questionable things like burning people like the Tarlies, they were opposing her militarily. Then again, Daenerys also killed Varys when she could have imprisoned him. That or banish him to an island or something. The fact Tyrion would betray Varys like that, pragmatic as they both are, seems a stretch. And to not defend him at all, offering alternaties like said imprisonment and banishment - SHAME! SHAME! SHAME!

The process of “going mad” takes time. It takes years. I bring this up since George R.R. Martin has apparently said that Game of Thrones should have gone on for at least five more seasons. So if Daenerys was always going to go mad, the show needed to do way more build-up to that moment.

The show, as it is now, did not earn Mad Queen Daenerys.

You know who is a believable Mad Queen? Cersei. Blowing up the Great Sept of Baelor was her Mad Queen moment. And even then, Cersei would have enough sense to keep Missandei alive as collateral.

“Dumpster Dracarys” - Missandei from the Island of Naath on Season 8

Off-topic, but I really dislike how Missandei’s last words were used to justify Daenerys’ turn to madness. As if Missandei was giving her the go ahead to burn everything to the ground. Given Missandei’s state of mind while under a looming death, her words are justified, it would have been better if the character had gone down fighting. Trying to topple Cersei off the battlements.

If Cersei had spared Missandei, Daenerys would have a much harder time trying to get to the true Mad Queen and inadvertantly to her unborn child, whom Cersei should want to protect. Imagine if Cersei, in addition to using Missandei as body armor, had pulled the pregnant card on Daenerys, trying to appeal to her better nature. That would have been good drama.

This would have also given characters like Jaime or Arya a goal to stab Cersei in the back like the show had properly foreshadowed.

Imagine if Missandei, had she been spared by Cersei, had thrown herself off the Red Keep voluntarily! Sacrificing herself so that Daenerys wouldn’t have to live knowing she burned the castle down with her.

Instead, Daenerys who has never been one to kill civilian women and children, does exactly that in the city below. After the bells had been rung. After the battle was effectively won without further need for casualties sans Cersei and her retinue. These are the types of victories she’s wanted ever since Mereen!

The bells ringing alone should not drive Daenerys into a bloodthirsty frenzy. If Cersei had used the bells as a way for the attackers to lower their guard for a surprise attack - resulting in the death of someone like Jon Snow - then I could have bought Daenerys going crazy--

--but I still wouldn’t have bought her burning down women and children.

Going back to Arya and Jaime. Arya, who snuck past an army of the dead to kill the ultimate big bad, couldn’t sneak up to Cersei yet survived burning alive. And Jaime, who was once Kingslayer, killing the Mad King, and could have been a Queen Slayer, instead throws away his character arc and regresses back into loving Cersei. None of the characters survive without some assassination done to them, but Daenerys hit me the hardest.

Daenerys killed more civilians than Cersei. Westeros was better without Daenerys and that hurts a lot. What a waste of a story. What a waste of a character.

Game of Thrones deserved better, its fans deserved better. And Emilia Clarke deserved better.

[chameleonwritess]

Not-So-Secretly in Love

Myriad of Stars

Not-So-Secretly in Love

Feels Like Home (Ch1 | Ch2 | Ch3)

Forever Starts Today (Epilogue)

Extras:

Infirmary Duties

Fandom: Percy Jackson

Pairing: Nico di Angelo/Will Solace

Now that everything is out in the open between Will and Nico, they're ready to try being in a relationship. However, with the worries of his past still haunting him, Nico isn't quite sure he's ready to announce it to everyone. Unfortunately for them both, their friends at Camp aren't that stupid and Nico and Will really aren't very subtle.

Word count: 16678

“So,” Will Solace said, lounging his long, tan legs out in front of him on the grass behind the Hades cabin, “you like me, huh?”

Nico rolled his eyes at Will’s childish smirk.

“If you’re going to be obnoxious about it, I changed my mind,” he teased.

“Nicooo,” Will complained, leaning into the Son of Hades’ side, dramatically. Nico allowed his eyes to trail up Will’s tall, slender frame to meet his own sparkling blue ones. He was always too beautiful for his own good. It ought to be illegal.

“You’re annoying,” Nico stated after a moment’s silence.

“You’re adorable,” Will responded in a flirtatious tone. Nico made a disgruntled noise as his face turned red. Ever since the two had admitted their feelings to one another in the infirmary the previous night, Will was even more brazenly flirting with Nico and the shorter boy was fairly certain it was going to be the death of him.

“You’re way too good at making me blush,” Nico added hotly, turning away from Will’s face. In retaliation, Will just brought his own closer.

“It’s cute when you go red, though,” he murmured quietly. Nico’s face grew even hotter and he pushed Will away by his cheek.

“Stop it!” he complained, despite not really minding. Will laughed and hugged the other boy.

“I’m sorry,” he apologised, “I just really love this.

Nico turned his body around in Will’s grasp to glance up at the blond.

“Me too,” he admitted, smiling more fondly than he’d ever allowed himself to towards any other person. Will had always been different, right from the start.

“However,” Nico continued, “I brought you here to force you to take care of your health so eat some lunch,” he instructed. Will rolled his eyes and released Nico.

“I thought I was the doctor,” he grumbled but reluctantly picked up a sandwich Nico had stolen from the Mess Hall, anyway.

Nico sighed softly to himself and watched Will eat. Yesterday evening, he’d been released from the Infirmary with strict instructions to be more careful with his shoulder, avoid Underworld magic, which Nico was making a conscious effort to start doing anyway, and drop by to see Will at least once a day.

That was what you got when you nearly died and confessed your feelings to the son of Apollo just in case you actually did die, apparently. Nico had clearly forgotten how insufferable Will could be when he’d done that.

As he watched Will sit up and offer Nico a strawberry with a coy smile, though, Nico didn’t exactly regret it. Sure, Will was insufferable, but Nico had already known that. It hadn’t exactly stop him from falling in love with the blond.

“Thanks,” Nico smiled, taking the strawberry from Will.

“If I’m eating, you have to as well, Death Boy,” he explained. Nico rolled his eyes.

“I wasn’t the one neglecting my health,” he said. The only reason Nico had even managed to drag Will out of the infirmary in the first place was because he’d threatened to shadow travel them both out if Will didn’t get there by himself. Unsurprisingly, Will had shown up to Nico’s last minute picnic.

“Oh, really?” Will raised an accusatory eyebrow, “how many times have you been in the infirmary lately, di Angelo?”

“Less than you,” Nico retorted.

“I work there!” Will scoffed.

“A likely excuse, sunshine,” Nico huffed a laugh. Will’s face went red at the nickname and Nico felt a small sense of triumph. Will didn’t blush nearly as often as he did, so whenever Nico managed to make him go red, it always felt like a victory.

“Just eat, Death Breath,” Will rolled his eyes.

“You are not allowed to call me that,” Nico complained through a mouthful of strawberry.

“Can I call you the boyfriend from hell?” Will suggested instead. Nico nearly choked on a strawberry seed.

“No,” he objected.

“Aw, I thought that one was good,” Will pouted. Nico gave an exasperated sigh and nudged his side gently to show Will he wasn’t actually annoyed.

“All your jokes are bad,” Nico shrugged.

“We are, though, right?” Will asked.

“What, bad?”

“No, boyfriends. I realise now we never really said what we were. We just kind of-“ Will trailed off and Nico’s own mind supplied the answer. Kissed. Will was right, though. They’d never gotten around to discussing if that meant they were now a thing.

“If you want to be,” Nico replied with a shrug. Will sighed and Nico turned to face him, worried Will didn’t actually want to be boyfriends.

“But do you want to be?” he asked. Oh, Nico realised, that’s what the sigh had been for. Nico’s eyes connected with Will’s and he couldn’t prevent a smile from tugging at the corners of his mouth.

“Yeah,” Nico replied, “I really do.”

“Good,” Will breathed out. His face was really close to Nico’s- something he did far more frequently than was healthy for Nico’s heartbeat. It also made Nico have to try very hard to resist kissing him.

That’s when the thought suddenly hit Nico that he didn’t actually have to resist- Will liked him back. He was allowed to kiss him.

So he did.

The second Nico pressed his lips against Will’s, though, a pair of strong arms wrapped around his back and pulled him closer. Nico obliged, turning his body over Will’s legs so that he was practically sitting on the other’s lap.

Normally, he would have jumped back at even the thought, but when Will kissed him, all reasoning flew out of Nico’s head. Will slid a hand into Nico’s hair, tangling it in his dark tendrils and tugging gently to open Nico’s mouth slightly more.

Nico ran his own hands up Will’s side- something he never would normally have the courage to do- and pulled himself even closer to Will, heavily fighting off the noise of contentment that was rising in his throat.

All of a sudden, Will’s tongue grazed Nico’s lower lip and he jumped back in shock.

“Sorry,” Will spluttered, “I didn’t mean to go too far-“

“No, no, it’s fine,” Nico apologised, running a hand through his hair as his face flushed red. In all honesty, it hadn’t felt bad at all. In fact, it was quite the opposite, but Nico just hadn’t been expecting Will to do that, “I just wasn’t anticipating it. I’ve never, y’know, done this before and it panicked me for a second. You didn’t do anything wrong or-“

Will placed a gentle hand on Nico’s good arm, stopping his rambling which Nico was glad for.

“You say that like I’ve ever done this before,” Will laughed. Nico was surprised. He’d actually expected Will to have had boyfriends before him. He was ridiculously handsome, very talented, and the happiest, friendliest, easiest to get along with person Nico had ever met. He also very much seemed like he knew what he was doing.

“But,” Will continued, “we can take things however slow or fast you want to. Communication is key.”

Will added a wink at the end and Nico rolled his eyes from where he was still sat on his lap.

“Everyone says that about relationships,” Nico pointed out.

“Well, yeah,” Will smirked, “it’s because it’s true. As long as we talk about things we’ll be okay, right? Otherwise, we won’t know if the other’s happy and comfortable or if something’s bothering them.”

Nico considered Will for a moment. He always shone like the sun and if Nico wasn’t constantly captivated by his face, he would have looked away in fear of going blind. If there was anyone Nico felt like he didn’t have to hide anything from, it was Will.

Will, who was one of the only people that made Nico truly happy, was the only person to properly make Nico laugh, made Nico feel at home in Camp Halfblood in a way no one else ever had and to top it all, was Nico’s boyfriend.

Nico suddenly grew curious about something and decided to ask.

“How come you ended up liking me? I’ve never exactly been particularly friendly towards you and most people stay away from me. You never have,” Nico said.

Will closed his eyes and smiled for a second before reopening them.

“You probably won’t believe me when I tell you,” he said. Nico raised an eyebrow.

“Try me,” he challenged.

“My crush started during the Battle of Manhattan,” Will said and Nico almost choked.

“What?” he spluttered. That had been over a year ago.

“Told you,” Will smirked before continuing, “but when I saw you storm towards the Empire States Building, flanked by Hades, Demeter, Persephone and an army of skeletons, my heart skipped a beat and I thought to myself ‘that’s a true demigod, right there’. Sure, Percy’s impressive and probably the best demigod of our generation- I’m pretty sure we’ve all had a crush on him at one point, too- but it was you that took my breath away that day. You looked so fearless and courageous.”

Nico was speechless. Never had he expected anyone, least of all someone as amazing as Will, to pay attention to him and like him.

“So, on the hill when you said there were people at camp who’d like to be friends with me- you meant you?” Nico teased, still not really believing his ears.

“Well, I was kind of thinking a bit more than ‘friends’, but yeah. I wasn’t about to do anything, though. I had no idea you might not be straight. Especially because everyone was convinced you’d had a crush on Annabeth,” Will reminded.

“Yeah, it wasn’t Annabeth that I had the crush on,” Nico huffed a laugh, surprised about how easy it felt to say. It had always brought pains to his chest and caused difficulty breathing whenever he talked about his crush on Percy, but with Will, everything seemed so open- so easy to talk about.

“My previous statement about Percy still stands,” Will smirked, “but you don’t know how glad I was to see you on the hill that night. You disappeared from Camp for so long and I was so sure you might have died. I told myself if you ever did return, I wasn’t going to have lived my life never even speaking to you. I promised myself I’d actually talk to you.”

“So you called me Death Boy, banned me from Shadow travelling and nearly got us both killed by arguing with me in the middle of a battle,” Nico pointed out wryly. Will pushed him gently in the chest.

“Hey!” he pouted, “my flirting was a little rusty, okay? Besides, it worked out for me in the end,” he added with a wink. Nico smirked down at Will.

“I’m glad you were infuriating. I don’t think I could have fallen for you if you were overly nice and kind towards me. I hate myself too much for that,” Nico considered.

“Nico!” Will protested, wrapping his arms around him and pulling him back into his chest. Nico huffed a laugh out as he rested his head on Will’s shoulder.

“I’m serious, though. You arguing with me was one of the first times anyone had ever treated me as an equal, aware of my heritage and yet not afraid of me at all. It really did feel good. I tried to convince myself I didn’t have a crush on you until I couldn’t physically deny it anymore but it pretty much developed right there on the hill,” Nico explained.

“Aww, you have a crush on me,” Will teased.

“You’re literally my boyfriend,” Nico deadpanned. Will’s eyes lit up when Nico said the word and he couldn’t help but feel pleased at making Will happy.

“Still, bit embarrassing for you,” Will joked. Nico pushed his shoulders in jest.

“You’re the worst,” he complained.

“But you still like me,” Will reminded.

“Not for long if you continue like that,”  Nico warned. Will suddenly cupped Nico’s face and brought his own close to it.

‘What if I do this,” he asked in a low, seductive voice.

Nico’s heart stammered in his chest and all air escaped his lungs. It was unfair how flustered Will could make him in seconds.

“Shut up, Solace,” Nico muttered against Will’s lips before the son of Apollo was kissing him again.

Nico wasn’t sure he’d ever get over the feeling of kissing Will. It sent his heart racing and caused butterflies to erupt in his stomach along with leaving him panting for breath afterward.

Will was also an excellent kisser and Nico was genuinely curious as to whether he’d taken a course in kissing to make people’s knees weak because he definitely should have received an A+ in it. His lips were soft under Nico’s slightly chapped ones and he tasted of sunshine and summer fruits.

Nico would gladly kiss Will all day long if he could, but, alas, they both needed oxygen, unfortunately. Will pulled back and Nico gasped for air.

“I love being able to do that,” Will declared cheerily.

“That makes two of us,” Nico grumbled, his words not quite matching his demeanour.

“I do have to get back to the infirmary, though,” Will pointed out. Nico made an effort to not outwardly show his immense disappointment at not being able to spend more time with Will.

“I can drop by your cabin after dinner if you want,” Will continued. Nico lit up at the offer originally before small doubts started to infiltrate his mind.

“Won’t your siblings suspect something?” he worried. Will’s face contorted into a more sour expression.

“I don’t know. Maybe,” Will shrugged, “I’m guessing you don’t want people to know, then?”

Nico flushed red with guilt. Will seemed disappointed and he supposed he should have guessed before that the son of Apollo would be happy to be out to the entire camp.

“Sorry,” Nico apologised, “I’m not sure I can do it.”

“Hey, Nico, don’t apologise,” Will immediately said, “I understand; it’s completely fine. Just because I’m comfortable to be out doesn’t mean I’m going to force you to be. I didn’t have a bad run-in with Eros, after all.”

“How do you know about that?” Nico raised an eyebrow. Will flushed red.

“Jason… told me,” he admitted. Nico jumped to his feet.

“When? I’m going to murder him!” he declared. Will stood up beside him and placed his hands on Nico’s arms, instantly calming him down.

“It was when you had the dream. I told you Jason had warned me, didn’t I?” Will checked.

“You didn’t say he’d told you that too!” Nico spluttered, “so you already knew I was gay?”

Will rubbed the back of his neck nervously, “sort of? It was more of an educated guess and wishful thinking. Jason didn’t tell me what happened- he just said you had a run in with him! Since then I just kind of put two and two together. You also mentioned Eros the night I came out to you.”

“Oh,” Nico realised, feeling a lot less angry now, “Grace lives another day, then.”

“You’re not mad at me, right?” Will checked.

Nico snorted, “I don’t think I can get mad at you.”

Will smirked.

“Aww that’s cute.”

“No, it’s not.”

“Yes it is- you’re cute.”

“I’m the son of Hades. I have a reputation to uphold.”

“Sure you do, Neeks.”

“Stop making me blush!”

Nico and Will argued all the way back to the infirmary where Nico left Will, promising they’d meet up again sometime tomorrow, hidden in or behind the Hades cabin where no one would see them. Supposedly.

Nico hadn’t quite expected their relationship to become the worst kept secret in all of Camp.

Piper was the first to find out, to no one’s surprise. It all started after she was sat by the lake with Annabeth, enjoying their weekly catch up on everything going on in camp.

“So that’s why Malcolm’s been banned from using the soap in the Athena cabin,” Annabeth finished her story with a sigh as Piper continued to giggle under her breath, “any news on your end?”

“Well, the bets changed a bit this week,” Piper smirked. Annabeth raised her sharp eyebrow and leaned forward with a wry smile.

“Oh, do tell,” she begged. It was pretty common knowledge that within the Aphrodite cabin, they often cast bets on who in Camp was going to get with who, how and when.

“The bet on Nico and Will changed,” Piper began, “there’s two of us betting they’re already together and are keeping it a secret.”

Annabeth snorted out a laugh, “No way!”

Piper raised an eyebrow curiously.

“What makes you so sure?”

“Do you really think Nico would just admit his feelings to Will? He’s still really anxious about that topic and he’s been through a lot regarding it. I know the two are close but it’s definitely still mutual pining,” Annabeth explained.

Piper wasn’t completely convinced. Whilst she didn’t often pride herself in her heritage, being the daughter of Aphrodite had given her a strange capacity for noticing love. It was pretty obvious to just about everyone that there was something going on between Nico and Will, but as of the other day, something had shifted about their relationship.

It wasn’t overly noticeable but somehow they seemed less awkward around each other, slightly happier, and Will’s flirting was growing increasingly more obvious.

“Believe what you want. I’m pretty convinced something’s happened. You don’t think it’s possible that Will eventually just flirted a bit too far and got Nico to accidentally confess? You know how flustered he gets as soon as Will’s even close by,” Piper reasoned with a shrug of her shoulders.

“We’ll have to agree to disagree,” Annabeth observed. Piper smirked, her competitive streak rising within her.

“Oh, I don’t think so,” she commented, “I’m going to prove you wrong.”

***

The following evening at dinner, Piper noted that Percy was sat at the Athena table rather than his own, leaving a gap across from Jason and Nico. Deciding she had nothing better to do other than annoy the children of the Big Three, Piper sauntered across the Mess Hall and slid into Percy’s usual spot.

“Hey, Pipes, what are you doing here?” Jason asked.

“Nothing,” Piper responded in a chipper tone.

“A likely story,” Nico huffed as he chewed a piece of fried chicken. Piper’s eyes gleamed as she turned her attention to the son of Hades. If he was going to be impertinent with her, she was not going to let him off the hook easily.

“Alright, maybe I am doing something,” she decided, “it’s question time, di Angelo.”

“Gods, no,” Nico muttered but Piper had already shot her hand out to grab Nico’s arm and prevent him from either Shadow travelling or running away. Nico twitched slightly at her touch but soon relaxed. Piper tried not to relent on her revenge at the notion, remembering how Nico was still getting used to casual touches- she needed answers, after all.

“You and Will. Have you made a move yet?” she asked, grinning at the mortified expression that crossed Nico’s face as he spluttered, attempting to form words.

“You- what- I- why would I do that? What makes you think I like him?” Nico said with his cheeks growing gradually redder. Piper leaned back and folded her arms as if she had just proved her point.

“Aphrodite senses,” she explained with a shrug.

“They’re wrong. I don’t like him. I can’t believe you’d even suggest such a thing. Frankly, I’m-“ Nico was cut off from his flustered rambling by a cheerful voice from behind him.

“Don’t like who?” Will Solace asked, perching his chin on Nico’s shoulder. Piper smirked to herself as she watched the scene unfold. She was certain Annabeth was wrong.

“You, you dork,” Nico complained, pushing Will’s face off his shoulder.

“Aw, Neeks, you’re so mean,” Will pouted, wrapping his arms around Nico’s waist.

“Get off me,” Nico growled, although Piper noted that he made no signs of discomfort and didn’t even attempt to escape Will’s clutches.

“I need to go back to the infirmary to clean some stuff up but if you’re really nice I’ll walk you back to your cabin, first,” Will said. Nico jumped to his feet more eagerly than Piper had even been expecting.

“Anything to get rid of you,” he muttered and the two walked off, bickering quietly with their hands bumping occasionally. Piper watched them go with a knowing smile before an idea hit her and she jumped to her feet.

“Pipes, what on earth are you doing?” Jason asked, grabbing her hand. She glanced at her boyfriend- her poor, ignorant, naïve boyfriend- and smiled softly.

“Proving Annabeth wrong. You’ll find out later,” Piper explained, squeezing Jason’s hand and planting a kiss on his cheek before waltzing away in pursuit of the two boys.

It wasn’t difficult for her to follow unnoticed what with the path of trees that lined the way towards the Hades cabin. Piper made sure she stayed far enough back that Will and Nico wouldn’t hear her footsteps but close enough that she could still listen in to their conversation.

“You can’t just wrap your arms around me like that,” Nico was saying, his voice still lowered compared to usual, causing Piper to have to strain to listen in.

“Why not?” Will asked, “I still have to carry out my three touches a day, y’know.”

Piper could imagine Nico rolling his eyes in the second it took him to reply.

“More like thirty,” he said. He didn’t particularly seem like he was complaining too much, though.

“You don’t mind,” Will teased.

“You’re annoying,” Nico stated, bumping his hip into Will’s lightly. Will didn’t reply, bumping Nico back, instead. They continued to push each other back and forth until they reached the Hades cabin, laughing hysterically.

Piper took her spot behind a particularly large tree and watched in shock. She was pretty sure she had never seen Nico laugh that much ever before, if at all. It was a strange and yet sort of pleasant sound to hear. Piper felt a sort of protectiveness wash over her as it dawned on her how much she had come to care for the son of Hades. He was almost like a little brother to her.

Piper edged forward around the tree to get a better view. After all, whilst she was still pretty certain she was right, she hadn’t had full confirmation. Nico was always more relaxed around Will anyway and the two were good friends. They hadn’t done anything to convince the likes of Annabeth quite yet.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, then,” Will said when they arrived at the entrance to Nico’s cabin. Nico opened the door behind him and stepped into the doorway. Will didn’t hesitate to take a step after him, his back facing Piper. Nico didn’t continue into his cabin, though, instead, waiting there.

“You’d better be at breakfast, Solace, or I’ll raise skeletons in your infirmary,” Nico warned, a small smile gracing his face as he gazed at Will. Piper recognised that look. It was an unguarded look of admiration- one she occasionally saw Annabeth give Percy when she thought no one was looking; one she’d occasionally give Jason, herself, whenever he did anything particularly dumb and endearing. It wasn’t just a look of admiration- it was a look of love- and Piper felt guilty for witnessing it.

Still, as a daughter of Aphrodite, she couldn't help but keep her eyes glued to the scene.

“You’ll do no such thing, di Angelo,” Will responded, his voice breathier than normal as he took a step closer to Nico. Piper didn’t see how Annabeth could possibly interpret this interaction as anything other than proof that the two were together.

“Guess you’ll just have to be there, then,” Nico said softly before the two leaned into one another at the same time and their lips met with a sort of controlled urgency.

Piper spun around and pressed her back to the tree, not wanting to have to observe two of her friends kissing in a way that told her it was definitely not their first kiss. She was nosey, but she wasn’t that intrusive.

Piper wondered if she’d be able to sneak away unnoticed right then, but without Nico and Will’s voices covering the sound of her footsteps, she wasn’t so sure she’d manage.

Just then, she heard a sound rise in either Nico or Will’s throat that she definitely did not want to hear. Piper was severely wishing her competitiveness hadn’t got the better of her- she felt so awkward overhearing her two friends.

“Goodnight, Will,” Nico’s voice finally spoke again, notifying Piper that, to her relief, the kiss had ended. Both of them were panting for breath.

“See you in the morning, Death Boy,” Will’s voice replied and Piper risked peeping her head out from behind the tree again just in time to see Will ruffle Nico’s hair, give his hand a squeeze and step away from his cabin door, both of them sporting grins wider than Piper had ever seen them show before.

Will was obviously making his way back to the Big House to pack up in the infirmary as he’d said he would earlier so Piper stayed still behind the tree, waiting for him to leave.

What she hadn’t expected was for a strangled voice to say her name.

“Piper?” Will Solace choked. Her cheeks turned red and she slowly turned to face him. How was she supposed to bluff her way out of this one?

“Hey Will, what are you doing over this side of the camp?” she asked. He looked at her sternly and despite knowing the son of Apollo was always fairly relaxed and unaggressive, she didn’t doubt that he would happily punch her right now. She had never seen him look so angry.

“You knew I was walking Nico back to his cabin,” he said, “you were there at the table. Why did you follow us?”

“I suppose I can’t Charmspeak my way out of this one,” Piper sighed, turning to Will and deciding to be honest with him, “I didn’t intend to spy on you. I was just trying to prove Annabeth wrong. She thought you and Nico weren’t together yet. I thought you were. I didn’t mean to invade your privacy like that and I wanted to leave but I didn’t want you to know I was here. Guess that fell through anyway.”

Will placed a hand to his forehead and sighed.

“Look, Piper, you know I don’t mind everyone at camp knowing I’m gay but it’s not the same for Nico. He doesn’t want people to know so please don’t tell anyone about us. Not even Jason. He’d never be able to keep it a secret,” he begged. Piper nodded.

“Will, you don’t need to worry. I know how Nico feels about all of this and I would never out him like that. I really am sorry for finding out, though,” she apologised again. Will shrugged and his smile finally returned which Piper was very relieved to see.

“Well, you said yourself that you’d already figured it out,” he pointed out, “guess we’re not as subtle as we thought. As for Annabeth, if you figured it out so quickly, it’s only a matter of time before she does too and I’m fairly certain she already knows Nico’s sexuality-“

“She does,” Piper provided.

“So I suppose you can tell her you were right as long as she absolutely doesn’t tell Percy,” Will finished. Piper smirked to herself.

“She could tell Percy seven times and he still wouldn’t get it. I’m not entirely convinced he’s understood that he’s not Nico’s ‘type’,” she joked. Will let out a small huff of a laugh.

“I do have to get to the infirmary, though, so I’ll see you later. Thanks for agreeing not to tell anyone,” he said. Piper nodded.

“I’m so sorry, Will,” she added yet again as the son of Apollo wandered off back to his cabin. Piper released a breath she didn’t realise she’d been holding. If Nico ever found out Piper had witnessed that, she suspected he’d be far less forgiving than Will.

Honestly, Piper wouldn’t be surprised if she found herself meeting his father a bit sooner than she’d like to if he ever heard about it. On second thoughts, she really should have mentioned to Will not to tell Nico about their encounter.

Jason came next which, again, was no great surprise due to his closeness to Nico. Earlier that week, Nico had introduced Jason to a Pokémon game and despite Jason’s initial scepticism of the anime style game, he had thoroughly enjoyed it.

In fact, he’d enjoyed it so much that whenever he wasn’t helping with his exhausting project of making monuments to all the minor gods and goddesses thanks to Kymopoleia, he was sat with Percy and attempting to finish the game.

“Dude, you’ve made it to the final level!” Percy gasped as he leaned over Jason’s shoulder, observing his gameplay avidly.

“Bro, I might actually become the Pokémon King? Champion? What was it Nico called it?” Jason struggled to remember as he put down Nico’s DS for a moment.

Supposedly, the DS didn’t attract monsters due to the fact that it didn’t have to connect to the internet. Nico had apparently kept it with him ever since he was trapped inside the Lotus Casino. Jason was both impressed and confused as to how he had managed to maintain it for so long.

“It’s a Pokémon Master, you dorks,” Jason’s girlfriend’s voice rose from the door of the Zeus cabin.

“Oh, hey, Pipes!” Percy grinned and waved. Piper sauntered into the cabin and sat at Jason’s other side.

“You can’t call us dorks- you were the one that knew the name,” Jason pointed out as he wrapped an arm over Piper’s shoulder. She leaned further into his chest and Jason felt a warm flush across his cheeks.

“Yeah, well I had a fairly normal mortal upbringing. I have general knowledge,” she shrugged. Jason felt the movement of her shoulders against his chest.

“I know stuff too,” Percy added with a pout, leaning against Jason’s other side, clearly feeling left out of the ‘snuggling with Jason’ party that was apparently happening, now.

“Besides,” Piper continued, ignoring Percy with a sly grin, “I’m not the one permanently attached to a DS when it’s nearly curfew. It’s like you want to be eaten by a harpy, Percy. And in the Zeus cabin too? Camp really couldn’t cope with an angry Annabeth if you died.”

“Shut up, I didn’t realise it was that late,” Percy huffed, “and I don’t have a death wish.”

Jason deliberately didn’t comment on the matter. He had always been wary about mentioning death and suicide around Percy ever since the incident with the poison at the bottom of the ocean. Jason knew his best friend sometimes struggled to live with himself after the things he’d had to do in Tartarus. He completely disagreed with Percy that it made him weaker, though. If anything, Jason thought it made him ten times stronger, that he had had the power to not kill Akhlys and to still feel guilty about it afterward.

In Jason’s opinion, Percy Jackson was the strongest demigod there would ever be.

He was also an absolute child, though.

“Get to your own cabin, then!” Piper teased, sticking her tongue out.

“You don’t get Jason all to yourself,” Percy protested hotly, grabbing Jason’s arm. Piper grabbed the other one in retaliation.

“He’s my boyfriend!” she said

“No, he’s mine!” Percy insisted.

“Mine!”

“Mine!”

“Guys!” Jason yelled, stopping their bickering. The two paused and looked at him expectantly, hoping he’d end their feud.

“I just wanna be the Pokémon Master,” Jason muttered quietly.

“JASON!” Percy and Piper spluttered, jumping to their feet and continuing to glare at each other.

“The first one to get eaten by a harpy isn’t Jason’s boyfriend,” Percy challenged.

“You’re on, Jackson,” Piper laughed and the two sprinted out of the Zeus cabin to return to their own before curfew.

Jason rolled his eyes and slumped back on his bed, picking up the DS with a slight laugh. He just had to beat Lance and hopefully, he’d finish the game. He couldn’t wait to tell Nico it had only taken him a week.

Unfortunately, he was not left alone to his game in peace as a knock came from his cabin door, not that shortly afterward. Jason glanced up and noticed that Piper was stood there again, slightly out of breath but grinning, all the same, leaning against his doorframe.

Unable to help a grin sliding onto his own face at the sight, Jason put the DS down and made his way over to her.

“Neither of us have been eaten yet so I suppose I’m still in the running,” Piper stated with a giggle. Jason rolled his eyes at his girlfriend and tucked a strand of hair that had fallen into her face behind her ear. Her eyes were sparkling all the colours of the rainbow as they always did. She looked beautiful.

“It’s about two minutes till curfew and you know two campers of opposite sex can’t be in a cabin alone together,” Jason reminded her. Piper shrugged, unbothered by this.

“I’m not technically in your cabin,” she pointed out.

“Which means you definitely will be eaten by a harpy. Are you really going to let Percy win and be my boyfriend that easily?” Jason teased.

“I’m only here to say goodnight, you moron,” Piper laughed, “now are you going to kiss me or not?”

Jason didn’t need to be told twice. He stepped forward, cupping Piper’s cheek with his hand, and kissed her. Piper stood up on her tiptoes as she wrapped her arms around Jason’s neck, kissing back as passionately as she always did.

Jason let his hand rest at her waist, pulling her in slightly closer before Piper drew away for breath and rested her forehead on his, still grinning.

“See you tomorrow, Pikachu,” she said softly before removing her arms and skipping back over to the Aphrodite cabin, laughing to herself at what Jason assumed she thought was a clever nickname she’d come up with. Jason tried to stop himself from watching her go but he couldn’t help it. Piper was already in her pyjamas too which didn’t help matters. At least the harpies hadn’t eaten her.

Jason strolled back over to his bed, in a much better mood than he’d been in previously, and picked up his DS, ready to select his Pokémon for the final battle.

Jason found himself two hours later still awake on the DS, draped upside down off his bed, finally having become the Pokémon Master.

“I did it,” he declared to himself quietly before falling asleep.

***

Despite his late night last night, Jason still woke up at seven AM as always. As soon as his eyes snapped open, he quickly remembered that he absolutely had to rub it in Nico’s face that he’d become the Pokémon Master so soon.

Jason quickly washed himself, pulled on a fresh orange Camp Halfblood t-shirt and grabbed the DS. He left his cabin at a jog, eager to wake Nico up and inform him of the news. There were only a few demigods already up and around camp. Mainly the Apollo kids due to their father waking them up at dawn every day, although Jason spotted a few Demeter kids around too.

To his surprise, he couldn’t see Will anywhere. He usually passed the son of Apollo on his morning jog but suspected maybe he’d already had to go back to work in the infirmary. Jason didn’t envy the Head Counsellor of the Apollo cabin for having such a tiresome task.

Jason continued on his way to the Hades cabin at the far end of camp and arrived at the door. The curtains were still drawn, not that Jason was surprised; Nico rarely got out of bed before nine at the earliest.

Still, he was proud of his achievement and figured he could cope with a glare and death threats from the son of Hades if only for the opportunity to brag. Not bothering to knock, knowing that there’d be no response anyway, Jason gently pushed open the door to the Hades cabin.

The sight that greeted him was certainly not one he’d been expecting.

Nico was curled up in his bed wearing ridiculous pyjamas with a Ghastly on them- Jason figured that Nico hadn’t only had a Mythomagic obsession back in the Lotus Casino- but that wasn’t the shocking part.

Instead of the covers being draped over Nico, they had been pushed aside and in their place, Will Solace was sprawled over Nico’s body, hugging the smaller boy into his bare chest.

Jason stood and gaped at the scene in shock. Nico and Will were in bed together. Clearly they’d intended to, due to the fact they were both dressed for sleeping. What did that mean, though? Jason knew Nico had a thing for Will and it was pretty obvious Will liked him back but he hadn’t thought the two were together. In fact, Jason was slightly offended that Nico hadn’t told him. If they were together, that was.

Instead of risking being spotted if either of the two woke up, Jason darted out of the Hades cabin and closed the door gently behind him, his eyes still wide in shock. Deciding he had to find out if anyone else knew, he immediately thought to seek out Piper. Being the daughter of Aphrodite and also being the only other person Jason knew for certain was aware of Nico’s crush on Will, Jason thought she was most likely to know. Plus he kind of wanted to see her. He felt himself feeling slightly jealous that Will and Nico could be alone in a cabin together due to being the same gender but quickly pushed the thought aside- he has it easy compared to them.

First, he needed to have a morning jog and try to erase the image of Nico snuggled up against Will in Pokémon pyjamas from his mind if he ever intended to have a conversation with the son of Hades again without breaking into laughter.

It was at breakfast a couple of hours later that Jason finally managed to catch Piper.

“Hey, Pipes, can you take a walk with me for a second?” Jason asked in her ear after he’d arrived at the Aphrodite table. Piper raised an eyebrow but smiled nonetheless.

“Sure. Save a croissant for me, Lacy,” she added, looking pointedly at her sister. Lacy smiled and nodded as Piper stood up and laced her hand with Jason’s.

“So,” she started as they wandered away from the Mess Hall, “neither Percy or I got eaten by a harpy.”

Jason laughed, “you don’t have to worry, I’m still your boyfriend.”

Piper looked relieved at this and Jason was worried she’d actually considered that Percy was being serious for a second last night. Jason didn’t want to know how she’d thought Annabeth would have reacted to that. Probably with at least another judo flip and most likely a Drakon Bone sword at his neck.

“Talking about boyfriends, though,” Jason continued, “you wouldn’t happen to know anything about Nico and Will, would you?”

Jason felt Piper’s hand tense in his and immediately realised she did.

“Wh-what? Other than that they both have a very obvious crush on each other?” Piper lied. Jason looked at her pointedly.

“Well, I walked into the Hades cabin this morning and found the two of them cuddled up together in bed. I figured if anyone knew if they were together or not, you would,” Jason explained.

“Oh,” Piper stated, “yeah, that’s a pretty obvious sign that they’re together.”

Jason looked at her again.

“You already knew,” he accused.

“Whaaaat?” Piper drew her word out, “me? No way.”

“You did,” Jason scoffed, releasing her hand all of a sudden to grab her waist and tickle her. He knew this was the only way he’d get an answer out of her.

“Haha, Jason, no, please stop, AH!” Piper let out squeaks as she giggled. Jason didn’t surrender. “Fine, fine! Yes, I knew they were together.”

Jason finally released her waist and draped an arm across her shoulder as she caught her breath again.

“You’re the meanest boyfriend ever,” Piper said.

“I bet Percy wouldn’t say that,” Jason considered, a sly smile gracing his lips.

“Jason!” Piper complained, elbowing him lightly in the ribs. He laughed.

“Sorry,” Jason apologised, despite not really feeling sorry, “how did you find out, though?”

“Oh, I followed them to prove Annabeth wrong. Saw a bit more than I wanted to. Then Will confirmed it for me and told me not to tell anyone. So don’t you dare breathe a word of this to anyone, you hear me, Grace?” Piper explained. Jason held his hands up in mock defense.

“Don’t worry, Pipes, I won’t. I know Nico wouldn’t want people knowing,” he assured. Piper nodded happily and intertwined her hand with Jason’s again.

“Wait,” Jason suddenly realised, “Will told you?”

“Yup,” Piper sang.

“You didn’t charmspeak it out of him, did you?” Jason asked warily.

“Didn’t need to,” she said smugly. Jason pouted and Piper laughed at him.

“The two of them never tell me anything like that,” he complained. Honestly, Jason wasn’t too bothered, though. He knew why Nico had reservations about telling people and he’d seemed so happy over the past few weeks that Jason would never want to ruin that for him.

If being with Will made Nico happy, it didn’t matter whether everyone knew or not. It mattered that Nico had found happiness, despite what Eros had told him. Jason was so happy for him.

Lou Ellen couldn’t help but find herself a little annoyed at Will. Over the last couple of weeks, he’d been spending gradually less and less time with her and Cecil and gradually more and more time with Nico di Angelo.

Lou wasn’t entirely sure she knew what Will saw in Nico. Her and Cecil had found out about Will’s crush a good few months ago but the two constantly teased him that it was completely hopeless. Nico was barely ever even at Camp. It was practically impossible that the son of Hades would ever actually notice Will, never mind like him back.

Alas, Lou and Cecil clearly didn’t possess the prophetic skill of Apollo as only a few weeks ago, Nico had arrived at camp during the battle against Gaia on top of the hill with the three of them and had spent the entire time arguing with Will like they were an old married couple.

Lou had to give Will some credit. The whole ‘concerned doctor’ approach had clearly worked quite well and the hand holding was definitely something she didn’t think he’d have had the guts to do. In fact, Lou was pretty sure Nico had barely even acknowledged her and Cecil’s existence, far too preoccupied with Will.

Since then, Will had been spending all his spare time when he wasn’t on infirmary duty with Nico. Or at least, that’s what it seemed like to Lou. Despite this, he still hadn’t seemed to believe her and Cecil when she repeatedly told him that Nico definitely liked him back. Lou had never even seen him smile around anyone else, except perhaps Jason Grace, never mind laugh and seem to genuinely enjoy the presence of like he did with Will.

It wasn’t just Will’s absence that had been bothering Lou, though. With Will absent from their little trio, it left her alone with Cecil. A lot. Whilst that may have seemed like a good thing at first, she was never going to be able to pretend she didn’t like the son of Hermes if she was subjected to his flirting all day without a buffer there to disguise her stuttering or blushing.

The last thing she could have was Cecil knowing she actually liked him back. It would just be embarrassing. He was an immature, insensitive, clumsy idiot. She was sophisticated, mature and definitely hadn’t just walked into the door of the infirmary whilst lost in thought.

Lou glanced around her, checking that no one had seen, before using the magic she’d inherited from her mother to open the infirmary door rather than her hand. She wanted it to look like it was on purpose just in case there was some new demigod-compatible CCTV she wasn't aware of.

Lou stepped inside the infirmary and glanced around. She had decided to hunt Will out at work because she knew as soon as he was finished, he’d be running off to go chat to Nico. She definitely wasn’t jealous. So what if her best friend wanted to abandon her to run off with his crush, leaving her with her crush? She’d give him a taste of his own medicine but apparently, Will enjoyed suffering by spending time with his crush.

Lou huffed to herself. For someone all about healing others of their pain, Will sure did seem like a masochist.

Once she was inside the infirmary wing, Lou began to wander around, searching for Will. She couldn’t find him anywhere, though. Instead, she did find Austin, one of Will’s brothers.

“Hey, Austin,” she greeted, “is Will in the infirmary today?”

“Oh, yeah, he was just over there a few seconds ago,” Austin pointed over his shoulder before turning to look where he’d indicated and noticing that Will was not in fact ‘over there’.

“Yeah, he’s not there,” Lou pointed out helpfully. Austin’s cheerful demeanour didn’t drop and he chuckled lightly instead.

“I don’t know, then. He just sent Nico into the back to get some bandages. Maybe he’s gone to hurry him up. Who knows what those two are up to back there,” he commented. Lou found herself laughing a bit at that, despite the annoyance that had arisen as soon as Austin mentioned that Nico was here too. Did Will spend every waking moment with that boy?

“You guys have noticed their hopeless pining too, then?” Lou asked. Austin nodded.

“Don’t tell anyone else, but some nights Will doesn’t sleep in the Apollo cabin. I have no idea if he’s just wandering around camp or training or whatever, but we all have suspicions that he’s in the Hades cabin if you get what I mean,” he said quietly. Lou’s eyes widened in shock. They weren’t even together yet, were they? There was no way Nico would just let Will sleep over anyway, was there? And Will would have told her and Cecil if they were together, surely.

“That boy is definitely getting an interrogation,” Lou stated before marching off away from Austin to find where they kept the bandages.

Lou Ellen didn’t even dislike Nico. In fact, she was growing to find his grumpy mannerisms and dry sense of humour sort of endearing and even if he was hot, she still didn’t really understand Will’s obsession with him. She just wished Will would either ask him out at last or at least drag him to join their little group. Then she wouldn’t be left alone with Cecil.

Lou made her way through the back of the infirmary until she heard a laugh she distinctly recognised as Will’s. She turned the corner and finally spotted both Nico and Will in a supply closet, stood next to a shelf of bandages.

“You knew those bandages were on the top shelf,” Nico was saying to Will, accusingly. Will chuckled and leaned closer to Nico. Lou was very surprised at his boldness. He wasn’t usually that forward.

“You have no proof of that,” he commented.

“You’re an idiot,” Nico commented.

“You’re short,” Will shot back. Nico folded his arms and looked up at Will.

“Just get the bandages, Will,” he said with a roll of his eyes. Lou resisted the urge to laugh. It was quite funny that Will had deliberately sent Nico to get bandages he knew he couldn’t reach.

Will put his arm up over Nico’s head and wrapped his hand around the bandage, leaving his arm there so he could look down at Nico. Lou really was impressed with his flirting for once.

“Good job I have long legs and can actually reach them,” he teased.

“I’m going to break your long legs if you don’t shut up,” Nico huffed, lowering his folded arms and to Lou’s complete surprise, grabbing onto Will’s waist.

“Make me,” she heard Will mutter and only had a fraction of a second to turn away as she saw the two lean together and connect their lips.

That explained a lot, actually. Of course, they were already together. Nico would never have been stood that close to Will in the first place if they weren’t. He also wouldn’t have even been in the infirmary. Will also wouldn’t have been spending literally all his time with Nico instead of just most of it.

Still, apparently the Apollo cabin didn’t know or Austin would have mentioned it. Lou grinned to herself as she left the infirmary. That meant she was one of the first to find out.

As soon as she exited the building, Lou set off at a sprint to go to her and Cecil’s favourite spot in the woods. He wasn’t going to believe it when she told him the news.

As Lou’s eyes spotted Cecil sat on the floor of the woods, using a stick to no doubt sketch out another dangerous trick he could pull, she ignored the pounding in her chest and decided she had a better idea. She was going to stay completely quiet about Will and Nico and wait to see how long it would take for him to figure it out himself.

With another grin, she approached him. He was going to be so mad when he finally realised she’d known all along.

“Hey, Cecil, what you up to?” she asked. His eyes shot up and he smiled at Lou.

“Not much, just looking at a pretty cute girl,” Cecil said with a wink. Lou Ellen rolled her eyes as she sat down next to him, hoping he didn’t see the blush spreading across her face.

“You’re a moron,” she commented, nudging him with her knee. Cecil grinned and draped an arm across her shoulder.

“Yeah, but you still love me,” he said.

“Keep dreaming,” Lou laughed, leaning into him slightly.

Alright, maybe it wasn’t such a terrible thing that being with Nico meant Will left her and Cecil alone.

Chiron always tried his best to very much remain unaware of any sort of relationships between campers. He never even checked up on the ‘no two campers alone in a cabin together’ rule, instead, hoping the Head Counsellors of each cabin would keep on top of it. Somewhere along the line, the rule had twisted into ‘no two campers of opposite gender’ which sort of puzzled Chiron. They were Greek, after all.

Still, Chiron very much liked to stay oblivious to relationships. Unless it was a pair as notorious as Percy and Annabeth of course, although he doubted any god or mortal could have been oblivious to the spark between those two from the second Percy Jackson arrived at camp at the age of twelve.

Just because he liked to stay unaware of the goings on didn’t necessarily mean that he was blind to them. Or wasn’t at least slightly intrigued. After all, he wanted the demigods to be happy. Being the child of a god wasn’t easy and if they could find happiness in a person at camp, Chiron was all for supporting that.

His intrigue with a certain couple arose when Will Solace approached him one night after dinner.

“Hi, Chiron,” he greeted cheerfully. Chiron could already tell he had a favour to ask.

“Hello, my boy, how are you doing?” he asked.

“I’m pretty good. The infirmary’s mainly quiet at the moment- only minor injuries,” Will commented. Chiron smiled and nodded.

“That is good to hear, indeed. I’m glad you’re not overworking yourself.”

“Yeah. Is it alright if I ask a favour?” Will asked nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. Ah, there it was.

“Go ahead,” Chiron encouraged, intrigued as to what the Son of Apollo wanted. He usually did everything cheerily without a word of complaint so it was unusual.

“I was wondering if I could, er, swap duties with Jason Grace next week. He’s on strawberry picking with Nico but Nico’s shoulder is still injured and I need to make sure he doesn’t overexert himself. As his Doctor, of course,” Will stuttered his explanation out. Chiron shrugged. It was true that Nico di Angelo did have a terrible habit of being careless about his injuries and worsening them. He supposed he could see Will’s concern.

Still, Jason could surely watch Nico just as well as Will could, even if Will was a healer.

“I’ve already asked Jason and Nico. They both said it’s okay,” Will added quickly, obviously worried that Chiron wasn’t going to agree. Chiron smiled slightly and nodded.

“I don’t see a reason for you not to and as long as all other parties are alright with it, it’s fine by me,” he agreed. A grin spread across Will’s face that Chiron had not been expecting.

“Thank you,” the son of Apollo beamed, racing back to where Chiron noticed Nico had been waiting, hidden half in a shadow in his typical black attire. Will happily draped an arm over Nico’s shoulder as the two walked off. Nico pushed it off in complaint but Chiron could tell there was no malice behind his intent and he stayed very close to Will’s side.

Chiron shook his head and turned away, smiling ever so slightly. He didn’t even want to know.

***

That was what he had convinced himself when, a week later, Nico di Angelo approached him after breakfast.

“Can I help you, Nico, my boy?” Chiron asked after Nico had stood next to him for a few seconds silently.

“Y-yeah,” Nico stammered, “I was- er- I’m on pegasi stable duties this afternoon but according to Percy they get spooked by me.”

Chiron considered him for a moment. He had a feeling he knew what question was coming next.

“Would it be okay if Will joined me? He’s usually pretty good at calming them down and he’s my doctor,” Nico asked quickly as if it hurt to say the words. Chiron sighed.

“Of course, it’s not a problem. As long as Will agrees,” he said. Nico nodded.

“He does. Thank you.”

Nico walked away, holding himself more upright than usual. Chiron shook his head. The campers clearly thought he was a lot more oblivious than he actually was.

That afternoon, Chiron did happen to find himself passing by the pegasi stables. He wasn’t spying on the campers- he would never do such a thing- although he had to admit he was rather curious about why Will and Nico kept aligning their camp duties.

As he approached the stables, though, he hadn’t expected to hear the sound of music floating through the door, accompanied by soft muttering and laughing.

Chiron approached the door as inconspicuously as possible and peered in. Inside the stables, Nico and Will were not, in fact, cleaning pegasi faeces but were stood in ballroom hold, laughing and dancing around the stables whilst an old iPod sat on the floor, playing music that most definitely didn’t suit ballroom dancing.

Despite the questionable song choice, both boys seemed content enough as they tripped over a shovel and nearly fell over, still laughing.

“You’re such a dork,” Nico complained, using his hand on Will’s shoulder to steady his balance again.

“Oh, shut up, you love it,” Will countered, using the hand he was holding Nico’s with, to spin the smaller boy around underneath it, catching him by the waist again and still laughing.

“Well at least cleaning out the stables isn’t so boring anymore,” Nico shrugged, snickering as he spoke whilst Will attempted to dramatically waltz them around, despite the music being in simple quadruple time.

“Exactly my point, di Angelo, now move those feet and dance with me,” Will insisted. Nico snorted out a laugh and did so, grinning up at Will.

Chiron smiled at the scene, relieved that the two boys hadn’t spotted him as he slowly trotted away.

Seeing Nico dance with Will was quite possibly the happiest Chiron had ever seen the son of Hades. After everything Nico had been through, it warmed his heart to see him return, if only for a brief moment, to that smiling, curious boy he had been when he first arrived at camp before Bianca’s death.

Chiron knew Nico would never be completely the same again- he’d been through far too much for that- but if Will Solace could make that smile return to Nico’s face as easily as he did, Chiron wasn’t going to make a word of complaint if the two ever asked to swap duties again in the future.

Not that they would need to. Chiron was in charge of timetabling the activities, after all.

Cecil and the Hermes cabin were better secret keepers than anyone ever would have thought they could be. Still, in Cecil’s opinion, it would have been a lot better for him if he’d never found out in the first place.

The thing about being part of the Hermes cabin was that if a prank was going to be pulled, it was going to be pulled properly.

“Guys, we’re out of prank ideas. Cecil, are you sure Lou Ellen won’t get us any pig balls to use?” Connor asked during one of their biweekly sibling gathering.

“Do you want me to get murdered? She definitely won’t lend me any. Also, I’m pretty sure she used all her remaining ones on Jackson and Grace,” Cecil explained. Julia rolled her eyes.

“Why is it only ever Jackson and Grace that get to have all the fun?” she complained.

“Clarisse made me promise we wouldn’t pull anything on the Ares cabin,” Chris chipped in unhelpfully.

“Dude,” Connor said, “do you think we have a death wish? We’d never pull anything on the Ares cabin.”

“However that doesn’t mean to say we won’t pull anyone from the Ares cabin,” Alice added with a wink at Chris. He rolled his eyes and folded his arms.

“Wait, I’ve had an idea,” Cecil grinned. The talk of romance had sparked a match in his brain, “where in Camp can we set up some sort of camera and catch couples sneaking away to make out?”

“Bro, that’s evil!” Connor gasped. Cecil shrugged and wiggled his eyebrows.

“I think it’s a great idea,” Julia commented. Alice nodded in agreement.

“Yeah, I wanna catch Billie and Valentina. I swear they go behind the Big House way too frequently,” she added.

“I didn’t even know they were dating,” Cecil commented.

“Clearly you haven’t hung around Billie. All she ever talks about is ‘Valentina this, Valentina that. Gods, it’s so annoying,” Julia rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, we stopped hanging out with her,” Alice shrugged.

“Why do you two hate love so much?” Chris questioned. Julia and Alice merely smiled unapologetically. If Cecil didn’t know how much the two loved him as their wise, older brother, he would definitely be terrified of them. Ok, he was still a bit terrified of them.

“Think you can set up the equipment for it, Cecil?” Connor asked, “you’re the best tinkerer.”

Cecil finger-gunned at his older brother, “You can count on me, Head Counsellor.”

“We want a recorded feed that plays back to the cabin, just in case some of us aren’t around and miss out,” Alice ordered. Cecil nodded.

“And you’d better position the camera behind the Big House. That’s the most discreet place in camp I think,” Julia noted.

“Yeah, Chris, have you and Clarisse ever gone round there?” Connor asked. Chris’s spluttering was answer enough to their question.

“Alright,” Cecil grinned, jumping to his feet, “behind the Big House it is.”

He ran to one of his drawers and immediately rummaged through his equipment, finding some wires and a camera. Cecil’s fingers set to work before his brain could even catch up and before he knew it, he’d wired the camera up to connect to the small TV screen that Travis had sneaked into the cabin before he left for college only last week.

Cecil couldn’t help but think it was very strange to not have his older brother at Camp for the last week of the Summer, especially when Connor was still around. Still, he was proud of Travis for going to college to pass some exams. Cecil still had a couple of years left before he had to decide what to do which he was relieved about. School had never particularly been his thing and he really didn’t fancy the idea of returning to it.

***

By the following day, Cecil had set up a live stream of the back of the Big House that played on the TV in the Hermes cabin. He was quite impressed with his handiwork and apparently so were his siblings as they all congratulated him and patted him on the back.

“This is going to be hilarious,” Julia grinned as her and Alice high-fived.

“I genuinely fear for your future,” Connor stated with a despairing shake of his head.

“C’mon, we’re going to miss lunch if we keep staring at the screen. Everyone’s at the dining pavilion now, anyway,” Chris reminded them. Cecil nodded and his stomach rumbled in agreement.

“Yeah, I’m starving and I haven’t even used a single pick up line on Lou today,” he said.

“Dude, you are hopeless,” Connor said with a roll of his eyes.

“Ooo, I have one,” Alice piped up enthusiastically as she and Julia flanked Cecil on their way to lunch, “you have to tell her ‘I heard you have magic hands because I’ve got a wand you might want to play with’.”

“Alice!” Cecil spluttered, feeling his cheeks go red.

“Alice, you’re like twelve, where did you even hear that?” Connor scolded.

“I’m thirteen,” Alice huffed indignantly.

“We made it up last night,” Julia added helpfully.

“Julia, you are twelve,” Chris pointed out. The two girls shrugged unapologetically.

As Cecil spotted Lou Ellen alone at the Hecate table, using the Mist to hold her sandwich suspended in the air as she read a book in Ancient Greek, he felt a sly grin edge its way onto his face. Maybe he’d try the pick-up line after all. The worst thing that could happen would be that he got turned into a pig.

Halfway through lunch, after Cecil’s eye was finally starting to stop pounding with pain (apparently the worst Lou Ellen could actually do was give him a black eye), Julia leaned into the Hermes table and beckoned them all to listen in to her.

“Billie just stood up and left the Demeter table. Valentina left the Aphrodite table about two minutes ago. They both headed in the direction of the Big House,” she said.

Alice’s eyes sparkled with mischief.

“Oh, Billie’s going to kill us for this. Let’s go,” she said.

With that, the two girls shot to their feet and sprinted back to the cabin.

“I don’t know about you two, but I kind of want to see if our prank worked,” Cecil grinned.

“Man, it’s gonna be a bit weird if we do catch any of our friends making out,” Connor sighed, shaking his head but he stood up all the same.

“Blackmail material, bro, blackmail material,” Cecil reminded him before he too sprinted across camp to return to their cabin.

“We were right, Cecil, come look at this,” Julia giggled with glee as soon as Cecil stepped inside the cabin.

“Ohoho, this is actually pretty funny,” Cecil laughed as he caught a glimpse of the screen. The footage wasn’t brilliant so all he could really make out were the outlines of the two girls and Billie’s bright blue hair. Still, it was unmistakable that the two were indeed kissing, clearly unaware of the fact they had company.

“Does the footage have sound?” Alice asked.

“Should do. Why exactly do you want to hear it, though?” Cecil asked with a raised eyebrow.

“A bi girl’s gotta be curious,” Alice shrugged, reaching towards the volume dial and twisting the volume up.

“Alice!” Chris spluttered. He and Connor had arrived shortly after Cecil had.

“Ok, I cannot watch that with the volume on,” Connor stated, shaking his head with a chuckle and going to sit on his bed as the others continued to watch.

Billie and Valentina weren’t the only couple the Hermes cabin caught, though. Piper and Jason were next and all of them watched intently. If Percy and Annabeth weren’t around, those two definitely would have been the power couple at Camp and hey, it was always good to pick up tips, especially if Cecil did ever manage to get Lou to like him back.

Chiara Benvenuti and Damien White were the next couple to be caught by the camera. Cecil hadn’t even known the two were together, but apparently neither did they as Chiara punched him in the shoulder and called him a jerk after they’d finished kissing before storming off. Damien had just stood, leaning against the wall and chuckling to himself, clearly pleased.

Cecil was alone when he caught the next couple. And it wasn’t from the safety of inside the Hermes cabin.

There’d been an interference with the camera so Cecil had gone out to fix it whilst the others went about with their various daily activities. He was humming to himself as he rounded the corner to the Big House. The camera was located on the side of the building, peering around the edge, so he didn’t have to actually step behind the Big House in order to fix it.

Just after Cecil had finished tweaking the wires, though, he heard the sound of the back door that led onto the infirmary burst open and slam shut.

Curiosity got the best of Cecil and he peeked his head around the corner, catching a glimpse of blond hair he immediately recognised as one of his best friends, Will Solace’s.

Just as Cecil opened his mouth to greet his friend, he noticed that another person had stepped out of the building and pushed Will against the wall. To Cecil’s surprise, it was Nico.

“Shut up with your medical talk and kiss me, Solace,” Nico demanded.

“If you insist,” Will responded with a cheeky smirk and before Cecil knew what was going on, Nico planted his lips against Will’s fervently, almost causing Will to smack his head against the brick wall had Nico not already put his hand behind the taller boy’s head to cushion it.

Will wrapped his arm around Nico’s waist and pulled the son of Hades closer to him, kissing him back deeply before Cecil’s senses finally kicked back in.

He’d just fixed the camera, too.

Cecil ran back to the Hermes cabin faster than he’d ever run before. Whilst he loved to tease Will about his crush on Nico, he knew that the two would not be happy with anyone finding out about them. Will was his close friend and would have already told him that he and Nico were a thing had it been information that was okay to be shared with the public.

Cecil arrived at the cabin and realised with a great sigh of relief that no one else was there. He immediately grabbed the TV and paused the recording, clicking through the settings to find a way to delete the footage.

“Cecil, what are you- gods of Olympus, is that Nico and Will?” Julia’s voice gasped out from behind Cecil.

Panic rose in Cecil’s stomach and he clutched the TV screen against his chest. Julia and Alice were stood over his shoulder and Chris and Connor had just entered the cabin.

“What?” Connor spluttered, “Nico and Will?”

“No, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Cecil shouted, wishing he had the ability to be a bit more subtle.

“Dude, we saw the screen. What’s so bad about that?” Chris asked. Cecil sighed and put the TV back, turning the screen off completely.

“Alright, so you know how Will’s one of my best friends?” he started. His siblings sat around him in a circle.

“Yeah, of course, we know,” Connor rolled his eyes.

“Right. Well, he hadn’t told me anything about him and Nico and he usually tells me everything about that kind of stuff. I’ve known about his crush for ages and ever since Nico returned to camp, he’s all I’ve heard about from Will,” Cecil started as the Hermes cabin listened in intently, “so I’m guessing there’s a reason no one knows about them. Lou hasn’t told me so obviously she doesn’t know and I’ve not heard Percy, Annabeth, Jason or Piper mention anything and they know pretty much everything that goes on around here.”

“Alright,” Connor considered, “but why don’t they want to tell anyone? Will’s never really been discreet about his sexuality. I was kind of hoping I had a chance myself,” he added with a wink. Cecil rolled his eyes.

“You don’t even like him like that,” he pointed out, “besides, I think it probably has more to do with Nico. I mean, if I hadn’t seen him hanging out with Will I wouldn’t have had any clue he wasn’t straight.”

“True, I thought he had a crush on Annabeth,” Chris chipped in.

“Ooo does that mean he had a crush on Percy?” Alice gasped.

“Who hasn’t?” Connor mused, gazing off dreamily into the distance. Cecil kneed him in the side.

“Stop lusting after every guy in Camp, Connor,” he complained at his brother, “all I’m saying is that if this was public information, we definitely would have known by now. I think we should keep this a secret. It’s never right to out someone that isn’t ready to tell.”

“Well I agree wholeheartedly,” Julia nodded.

“I’m terrible at keeping secrets but just make sure you punch me if I start to say anything,” Alice made them promise.

“My lips are sealed,” Chris guaranteed.

“The first time the Hermes cabin has ever managed to keep a secret. Let’s do it,” Connor agreed. Cecil breathed a sigh of relief.

“Thanks, guys,” he said. Cecil wasn’t sure he’d ever felt so much pressure to hide something in his life. Still, if it protected his best friend and his best friend’s boyfriend, it was worth it. Even if Cecil could never look at Will and Nico in quite the same way again.

Nico was overall quite proud of how discreet he and Will had managed to be. Admittedly, it was difficult to remember how they used to act around their friends before they had started dating, but no one had mentioned anything past their normal teases at Nico about his crush on the blond.

Nico was finding it easier and easier to just roll his eyes and admit to them that yeah, maybe he did have a thing for Will. The evil grin that crossed Piper’s face as he said so had him severely regretting his decision to open up to them more, though.

Nico wasn’t sure what it was about Will, but spending so much time around him made him feel like maybe the world wasn’t so bad after all- he did actually have people that cared about him.

Plus, when Will spent the night by his side, Nico barely ever had nightmares. He was beginning to forget what the itchy, constricting feeling of being in Tartarus felt like. He was beginning to focus on all the good memories he’d made with Bianca when she was alive rather than the memories of her leaving him alone to join the Hunters of Artemis and the news Percy brought back about her death.

He was beginning to notice that it wasn’t just him that had suffered over the past few years. Nico had spent so long wrapped up in his own insecurities and suffering that he often forgot just how much his friends had been through, too.

Percy and Annabeth had trekked through Tartarus. Percy had nearly drowned the goddess of poison in her own creation. They’d both faced Tartarus himself and nearly hadn’t lived to see the end of it. They’d both held the weight of the literal world on their shoulders; had faced almost every single monster to ever exist in Greek mythology; seen their friend and mentor become one with the Titan King; had saved Nico despite everything he’d done to them; lost so many friends and still faced every day with a smile and courage.

Jason and Piper had lost their best friend, Leo, during the final battle against Gaia and had to live with the knowledge that the prophecy wouldn’t have allowed both Jason and Leo to live; they’d battled giants and nearly been killed several times. They both joked around and encouraged younger campers to believe being a demigod was nothing to be worried about and that Camp was a safe place for them as if their own struggles meant nothing to them.

And then there was Will. Will had never been on a quest and always told Nico he felt kind of useless as a demigod. Nico didn’t think there was anything further from the truth. Nico had seen Will by the Empire State building that day, running around through the cross fire of Titans, gods and demigods fighting to heal the injured, putting his own life at risk again and again purely just to help someone else, as if his own life meant less than the other demigods, just because he wasn’t the one with the sword in his hand. He’d lost his two older brothers, Lee and Michael, who had taught him everything he knew about healing and archery. Nico knew what it felt like to lose a sibling but Will had lost two and hadn’t done nearly as much damage as Nico did with the rage he felt from losing Bianca.

Sure, Percy Jackson may have been the strongest, most powerful demigod alive, but Will Solace was, in Nico’s opinion, the most impressive. How Will didn’t see it himself was beyond Nico.

“I don’t know why I keep beating myself up but sometimes I feel so useless,” Will had said one afternoon as he and Nico sat by the canoe lake for some peace and quiet, “I’m always stuck in the infirmary, just hoping I can do enough to stop anyone from dying but my healing power has limits. What if one day I’m not quick enough or strong enough? What if I’m responsible for someone’s death.”

“Will, no one would ever blame you,” Nico started, placing his hand over Will’s in what he hoped was comforting. He’d never been very good at supporting others but then again, he’d never wanted to support someone in the same way he wanted to support Will.

“I would,” Will declared, “Most demigods have nightmares about monsters but all mine are ever about is when I’m not fast enough or skilled enough just one time. I mess up and someone loses their life because I couldn’t do the one thing I was supposed to be good at.”

“Hey, that’s not how it would be at all. You’ve never messed up yet. You’ve always done as much as you can and the fact that you would even worry about that shows how good of a person you really are. Will, you spend pretty much every day in the infirmary, helping any camper that needs it. I watch you putting yourself out of your way constantly just to help others. No matter what happens to anyone in the future, I can assure that you did everything you physically could to help them and it was enough- it always is,” Nico paused for a moment to make sure Will was looking at him.

“Remember the chat we had about Octavian?” Nico asked. Will nodded. “We can’t prevent every death. Not even the best demigod at healing this Camp’s ever known can, so they need to stop putting themselves down.”  

Will let out a small laugh as he wiped a tear from his eyes.

“Who might that be?” he asked. Nico gave him a lopsided smile before lunging forward to hug him.

“You, of course, you dork. You’re so important to us all. I wish you’d see that for yourself,” Nico said. Will hugged Nico back tightly, burying his face in the crook of Nico’s neck. Nico could feel the dampness around his eyes. He’d never felt such a need to dry someone else’s tears before.

“Thank you, Nico. I really needed to hear that,” Will smiled.

“Yeah?” Nico asked, surprised he’d actually managed to find the right words for once, “good. I’m glad you did hear it.”

Nico let Will finish crying into his shoulder as he hugged him tightly. Right there, Nico realised that for the first time, he didn’t mind if anyone walked by and saw them. He didn’t mind if people found out about him and Will.

People had always viewed Nico as dark, brooding and selfish. He wanted them to see that Will Solace, the incredible miracle he was, had changed all that completely. Nico wanted everyone at Camp to realise just how incredible the son of Apollo really was.

Despite Nico’s revelation that day, he hadn’t quite expected it to go down as it did. Nico hadn’t yet told Will that he’d decided he wanted Camp to know about their relationship- he’d been too preoccupied reassuring Will and now that Will was feeling better again, he was too distracted by the blond’s dazzling smile to remember about it.

Luckily, Nico didn’t really need to discuss it with Will because Percy Jackson, the oblivious imbecile that he was, saved him the job.

It was an open mic campfire that night and Nico was sat with Will, Jason, Piper, Annabeth, and Percy. The six of them had become quite a usual group of friends over the past few weeks, even if they didn’t know about Nico and Will yet. Nico was very shocked that even Annabeth hadn’t called him out on it, for someone who was so perceptive.

Nico may have been subtle but Will was not and whilst Nico could usually pass it as a joke, he was surprised Annabeth hadn’t seen through their charade yet.

“Percy, just because it’s an open mic night doesn’t mean you can do whatever you want,” Annabeth scolded her boyfriend, face-palming at Percy’s ridiculous suggestion.

“I mean, it kind of does,” Will pointed out, “you can’t claim Cecil’s rap about Lou Ellen’s butt was any more sophisticated than Percy’s idea.”

Nico snorted a laugh. It had been ridiculously amusing to see Cecil rap at Lou Ellen, even if the daughter of Hecate hadn’t thought so due to the fact that Cecil was now sporting a very green looking arm Nico suspected had something to do with her magic.

Still, Percy’s idea was pretty ridiculous.

“Hey, Percy, if you do it, I’ll let you be Jason’s boyfriend for an entire week,” Piper chipped in. Nico wasn’t entirely sure how a battle had begun between Piper and Percy over who was Jason’s significant other, but an all-out competition had arisen between the two for a week or so.

Despite Annabeth scolding Percy about it at first, she now actively joined in with encouragement although Nico suspected it was purely to watch Percy embarrass himself.

“Sorry, Wise Girl, that’s an offer I just can’t turn down,” Percy grinned, kissing Annabeth’s cheek.

“Why do I never get a say in this?” Jason asked quietly. Piper and Percy ignored him.

“Does anyone have a recorder that doesn’t attract monsters?” Piper asked, “because I want to remember this forever.”

Unfortunately, no one did have a camera but Nico suspected it would still be a pretty memorable moment.

Percy jumped to his feet and approached the front of the campfire, clearing his throat to gain everyone’s attention.

“Good evening, fellow campers,” he greeted, “I, the great Son of Poseidon, am here to deliver a spectacular performance to you. At your request, I will be imitating sea creatures and speaking to you in their language. Who has a suggestion?”

Nico allowed himself to laugh along with the rest of the campers as several campers, including Piper, shot their hands up.

“My dear friend, Piper, what is your suggestion?” Percy pointed at her.

“A blobfish!” she shouted out. Percy’s face immediately contorted into his idea of a blobfish’s weird pout and he opened his mouth.

Instead of words, a weird gurgling sound escaped, causing the entire camp to crack up in laughter.

“In case you couldn’t translate that,” Percy said when he’d finished his impersonation, “I said ‘Piper sucks’.”

Piper stuck her tongue out in response as Percy chose another camper for a suggestion.

After imitating a pufferfish, stingray, humpback whale, axolotl, hippocampus, narwhal and most impressively a hammerhead shark, Nico and Will were leaning against each other in stitches. No one could tell a word of what Percy was saying but the weird shrieks and gurgles that sounded so foreign out of the water were at the very least extremely embarrassing for Percy.

“Can you do impressions of ghosts, ghouls, and skeletons?” Will asked in Nico’s ear, cheekily. Nico rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, it’s called being deadly silent or screaming at the top of my lungs. I can easily give you a sample of both if you really want,” he said dryly. Will chuckled, a noise that still never failed to cause Nico’s heart to skip a beat.

“Why are you always so mean to me?” Will pretended to complain. Nico smirked and turned his head in to face him as he laced his hand through Will’s.

“Not my fault you’re a masochist,” he shrugged. Will gasped.

“That is not true!” he denied. Nico laughed quietly.

“Sure it isn’t,” he smirked.

“Nico! Will!” a loud voice shouted from the front. Nico turned to face Percy and noticed that his eyes were trained right on them. They’d been holding hands and leaning into each other very closely. Ah.

Will immediately tugged his hand out of Nico’s and looked at him worriedly. Nico didn’t have time to look back and assure Will that he was okay because Percy was continuing.

“You two are actually dating? And you didn’t tell me? Nico, man, I already knew you had a crush on him, you could have just told me!” he spluttered before apparently realising that he was still stood in front of the whole camp and slapping a hand over his mouth. Every eye was now trained on Nico and Will.

Despite Nico telling himself that he was fine for Camp to know, his heart rate started to pick up speed as he felt the panic rise up inside him. He hadn’t quite expected his coming out to be quite like this.

“Perseus Jackson,” Annabeth hissed under her breath.

“Nico, I’m-“ Percy began to say before Nico mustered all his courage up and spoke out.

“No, it’s okay. We should have told you sooner,” he said, feeling as if a huge weight had been lifted off his chest as he did. The warmth of Will’s hand that had returned to his helping, too.

To Nico’s surprise, though, as he glanced around at their friends, they didn’t seem surprised.

“Wait,” Percy said, “did you guys already know?”

“Erm, sort of,” Piper admitted.

“Yeah, it was fairly easy to figure out,” Annabeth added.

“I accidentally found out,” Jason apologised.

“Me too,” Lou Ellen shouted from where she was sitting a few feet away from Will and Nico.

“We knew as well but we didn’t wanna say anything,” Connor Stoll said.

“By we-“ Will started to ask but Cecil interrupted.

“The whole Hermes cabin.”

“The Apollo cabin figured it out pretty quickly, too,” Kayla Knowles shouted out, glaring at Will.

“Yeah, I realise now I might not have been very subtle about where I was some nights,” Will whispered in Nico’s ear.

“Oh,” Nico muttered. He didn’t know how to feel about it. Pretty much all of Camp had already known that he and Will were together. For one, it made him feel pretty ridiculous. He thought they’d been sneaking around so well but apparently they’d been caught several times without him knowing.

However, if everyone already knew, they clearly had no problem with it. No one had treated him any differently. They had all accepted him for who he was without Nico even realising.

“I hope it isn’t too weird to hear,” Chiron spoke up, “but I was also aware. I do feel the need to say that if the reasons for your secrecy were what I suspect, you have no need to worry about that here at Camp Halfblood.”

If Nico hadn’t felt weirded out before, he certainly did now. Even Chiron had figured it out. He felt like an idiot.

Strangely, it wasn’t a completely bad feeling.

“Jackson,” Nico called out to Percy, “don’t be surprised if you find skeletons in your bed tomorrow morning.”

“You will not be raising the dead on my watch,” Will hissed indignantly as Percy laughed off the skeleton comment and continued on with his impressions. Just like that, the campfire events had continued. No questions asked, no judging glares, no snide comments. Nico had been accepted.

Feeling the great sense of relief that flooded over him, Nico leaned against Will’s side and the son of Apollo wrapped an arm over his shoulders.

“Are you okay with this?” Will asked in Nico’s ear. Nico nodded his head and hoped Will could sense his movement.

“Yeah,” he commented, “I actually am.”

The following day when Nico arrived at breakfast, Will immediately caught his eye. Nico gave an understanding nod in return and made his way over to him.

“Want to eat behind my cabin?” Nico offered. Will nodded.

“Thought you might want to talk. Y’know, about yesterday,” he suggested.

“Yeah, good idea,” Nico agreed and the two made their way to their usual spot. When they arrived, Nico couldn’t help but glance around him. This was the place the two of them had spent most time alone since they’d gotten together and he was thinking now that it maybe wasn’t such a secret location considering everyone had apparently already known about them.

“So,” Will started. He’d had a sort of worried look on his face ever since last night, not the usual relaxed and open one Nico was used to. “I know I asked you last night, but are you really okay with everyone knowing? I don’t want you to feel like you don’t have a choice but to be fine with it and I’m not above attempting to fight Percy if it has bothered you.”

Nico allowed a chuckle to escape from his mouth as he leaned against Will. Over the past month or so, he’d completely forgotten what being touch starved even felt like. He casually touched Will all the time and even Jason, Piper, Annabeth, Percy, Cecil and Lou Ellen were starting to be a bit more free with their touches around him.

It wasn’t something Nico had ever thought he’d find himself enjoying.

“I was being honest when I said I was okay with it. I’d actually meant to mention it to you a few days ago that I wanted to tell people but I kept forgetting to bring it up,” Nico shrugged.

“Nico, what have I said about communication?” Will complained with a pout, wrapping an arm around him anyway.

“I forgot!” Nico grumbled in response. Will shook his head and laughed.

“You really wanted to tell people about us, though?” Will asked.

“Well, yeah,” Nico stated as if it had been obvious, “I’ve changed quite a lot lately thanks to you and I want people to know why. I want them to be able to see how much I love you.”

Nico heard Will’s breath catch in his throat and he turned to look at the son of Apollo. Only a few months ago, Nico never would have imagined he could have said those words to someone but he was surprised at how true they were.

Nico had realised just how much he cared about Will after the night in the infirmary during which he confessed to him. His consideration of how fragile life was and how short it often was when you were a demigod might have been a catalyst to that realisation, but it was a realisation Nico had still had, all the same.

“Really?” Will finally said, “you love me?”

“You’re pretty dense,” Nico rolled his eyes, “of course I do. I’m pretty sure I told you so back in the Infirmary the day I confessed.”

“I’m not sure I even noticed,” Will admitted sheepishly, “I think I was a bit too distracted from the second you said ‘I like you’ to pay attention to anything else you said.”

“I try and give you a deep, meaningful confession and this is the thanks I get?” Nico complained dryly, a small smirk creeping onto his face.

“You weren’t exactly complaining,” Will pointed out. Nico conceded. Will had kissed him, after all, and that had been a pretty incredible experience.

“I love you too, y’know,” Will continued, “just in case there was any doubt.”

Nico smiled up at Will, wondering how he always managed to shine as brightly as the sun. He never quite knew if it was an Apollo thing or a Will thing. Or maybe it was just a Nico thing.

As Nico leaned up to press his mouth to Will’s, though, he realised it didn’t really matter to him which one it was. All that mattered was that Will was with him right then, and would be for what Nico hoped was a long time.

Will wrapped his other arm around Nico as he kissed back, sliding a hand up into his dark hair to pull Nico’s mouth open further.

Nico slipped his own hand under the back of Will’s t-shirt and tugged the taller boy closer to him, loving the feeling of having Will so close to him. Will hummed as Nico’s hand touched his bare skin and Nico chased after the noise with his own mouth, breaking for a gasp of air before connecting their lips again.

Nico pushed Will backward so that he fell down on his back, allowing Nico to straddle him as he traced Will’s lip with his tongue.

“Nico,” Will murmured against his lips, causing a satisfied noise to rise in Nico’s throat as his tongue found its way into Will’s mouth. He could kiss Will forever and still never get enough of the feeling.

Feeling decidedly bolder than usual thanks to their conversation, Nico detached his lips from Will’s mouth and trailed them down the tan column of Will’s neck, applying slightly more pressure with his lips when he reached a particular freckle he’d been wanting to kiss for a long time. Will let out a small whimper in response before sitting up abruptly, grabbing the sides of Nico’s face and pressing their lips together feverishly.

Nico draped his arms over Will’s neck before the two finally parted for breath. Nico’s heart was pumping dangerously quickly in his chest and he could tell his face was flushed too.

Luckily, Will’s face was also far redder than usual and his already messy hair was a dishevelled disgrace. Unable to help himself, Nico reached up an arm previously draped over Will’s shoulder and ruffled his blond curls even more, grinning ever so slightly.

If possible, Will’s face went even redder. Nico felt a sense of pride. Will was usually the one to initiate and leave Nico a blushing, stuttering mess. It felt good to be the one to leave Will speechless for once.

“Was that okay?” Nico asked, slightly more tentatively than he’d intended to.

“Are you kidding?” Will breathed, “it was more than okay.”

Nico chuckled as he slowly disentangled himself from Will.

“I was thinking, now that all of Camp Halfblood know, would you be alright if I Iris messaged Hazel and Camp Jupiter? I think my sister would rather hear the news from me than anyone else,” Nico considered.

“Of course. Do you want me to message them with you?” Will offered. Nico shook his head. He knew that Will hardly knew anyone from Camp Jupiter. He’d met Hazel, Frank, and Reyna of course but he didn’t know them quite the same way Nico did.

Plus, Nico was pretty sure he’d never manage to tell his sister if Will was there with him. He’d be far too embarrassed.

“It’s alright, I’ll do it myself. Don’t you have an infirmary you need to get back to?” Nico said with a smirk. Will rolled his eyes.

“Don’t remind me,” he groaned, “you’ll come and visit later, right?”

“Of course. Unless Percy drags me on the lava wall,” Nico promised. Will laughed as he got to his feet, extending a hand to help Nico up too which he gratefully took.

“Excuses, excuses,” Will sang. Nico nudged him in the side with his elbow.

“Shut up, Solace,” he complained as they made their way back up the slope.

“Catch you later, then, Neeks,” Will said, grabbing Nico’s arm gently and bending down to kiss him gently on the lips before he made his way up to the infirmary, leaving Nico to return to the Hades cabin.

Nico could never help but smile to himself whenever he’d just departed from Will. He always left Nico feeling strangely giddy.

Nico stepped over to the small water fountain in his cabin, specifically with the purpose of sending Iris messages. He picked up a drachma and threw it into the rainbow the mist had created.

“Oh, Iris, goddess of the rainbow, show me Hazel Levesque at Camp Jupiter,” Nico recited.  The rainbow shimmered and was soon replaced with the image of the Dining Hall at Camp Jupiter where Nico could see his sister sat with the two Praetors; Reyna and Frank.

It didn’t take long for Hazel to notice the image that had formed in front of her.

“Nico!” she beamed, “you haven’t messaged in ages! How are you?”

Nico shrugged and smiled, glad to see his sister yet feeling slightly nervous about what he had to say- especially considering Frank and Reyna were there. Would Camp Jupiter be as accepting as Camp Halfblood had been?

The words Reyna had spoken to the Camps at the end of the battle against Gaia resonated in Nico’s mind. They had two homes, not one. Camp Jupiter was home to him too and this was his sister and his friends. He could do this.

“I’m pretty good, actually,” Nico said, “how are all of you?”

“We’re doing excellently,” Frank added with a big, goofy smile. Even as Praetor, Frank still radiated a warm, childish energy and if Nico hadn’t seen the son of Mars in battle, he never would have considered him a threat. Still, his welcoming demeanour made him an excellent Praetor when stood next to the stern and fierce Reyna.

“The battle at your Camp has sparked a new spirit within the demigods here. Everyone feels very encouraged. I think we’d definitely enjoy a visit from you some time soon, though. We miss you, Nico,” Reyna added with yet another smile. Nico still wasn’t used to being greeted so happily by people so their warm welcomes almost took him by surprise.

“I’ll definitely pay you a visit once Camp Halfblood quietens off for the school year,” Nico promised, “there’s not much of the summer holiday left now, after all.”

“Jason and Piper are coming over to study in New Rome, right? I’ve really missed everyone,” Hazel asked with a small pout. Nico chuckled at his little sister.

“That’s the plan. I’ll be glad to hand them over to you- the two of them have caused me nothing but grief all summer,” Nico rolled his eyes. Reyna raised an eyebrow at this and Nico didn’t like the knowing smirk that crossed her face.

“I did catch wind of something from Piper and Annabeth regarding you, actually,” she commented, “I hear there’s a certain son of Apollo you’ve been spending an awful lot of time with?”

Nico huffed an Italian curse out under his breath.

“Those two aren’t going to make it to the end of summer at this rate,” he complained, “but I did actually call you to- erm- tell you about something. I wanted you to hear it from me rather than someone here at Camp Halfblood.”

Hazel’s golden eyes sparkled.

“Oh is this the boy who made you stay in the infirmary for three days? Will?” she asked. Nico’s heart skipped a beat at the mention of his name and he wondered if they could see the dusting of red over his cheeks through the Iris message.

Nico fidgeted with his hands. Reyna clearly already had some idea and didn’t seem appalled by it. Hazel was his sister and already seemed so happy at the brief mention of Will. Frank was one of the kindest hearted guys Nico knew. He could do this. He could tell them.

“Yeah it’s about Will,” Nico said before taking a deep breath in and spluttering, “he’s my boyfriend!”

Hazel squealed and grinned even wider.

“Nico, that’s amazing you absolutely have to bring him over when you visit!” she gasped.

“I’m really happy for you, man, that’s so sweet,” Frank smiled.

Reyna chuckled and winked, “Annabeth and Piper didn’t tell me you’d actually made a move. I’m impressed, Nico.”

Nico released his breath in relief. It was gradually getting easier to tell people as everyone he cared about grew more and more accepting.

“Thanks, guys,” he smiled.

“He’d better be treating you right and making sure you eat properly,” Hazel demanded. Nico laughed.

“Will’s a doctor. All I ever hear about is how I need to look after my health more,” he explained, “he banned me from Shadow Travel and Underworld magic for the rest of the summer and forced Chiron to swap all my Camp duties so I wasn’t using my injured shoulder.”

“Good,” Reyna nodded, “but if I catch a single word that he’s wronged you in any way at all, he can expect an entire Roman demigod army marching straight for his Cabin.”

“Woah, Reyna, you don’t need to worry. Plus I think you might have to race Jason to the first punch,” Nico pointed out. According to Will, Jason had actually threatened Will about not hurting him the night Nico had fallen asleep by the campfire and Will had carried him back to his cabin before they were even together.

“I hope he makes you happy, Nico,” Frank said, “you deserve it after everything you’ve been through.”

Nico looked up at the image of his friends and sister smiling at him despite being halfway across the country, supporting him in a way he’d never had support before. He tried to ignore the tears pricking at his eyes as he smiled back.

“He does,” Nico promised, “I’m happier than I’ve ever been.”

Nico was, thanks to Will. Their relationship may well have been the worst kept secret Nico had ever known of, but he was so happy. Reyna had been more correct than Nico had even thought.

He didn’t have a home at just Camp Halfblood; he had a home at both camps.

And they felt like a family.

[whenthemarshmallowmettheslayer]

Could you do a Naruto fanfiction recommendation? I loved your Sakura one but I was curious if you would do one in general for the series?

1.) serendipity by stirringwinds. On ao3. Rated T. Summary: Sasuke had never known Senju Hashirama in person, of course. But he had grown up hearing stories about the First Hokage at his mother’s knee—about the legend who had defeated the most powerful member of their own clan. Enough stories to recognise what he was seeing—and to know he was witnessing his teammate perform the impossible. Or, in the fight against Gaara during Suna’s attempted invasion of Konoha, the Ichibi’s attempt to kill Sakura awakens an unexpected power. It changes the destiny of Team Seven forever.

Yes, this is about Mokuton!Sakura but this is in Sasuke’s pov and, oh boy, is it so interesting in his point of view. There’s not only world building but nods to real life history that makes in the (casual) history nerd in me get really excited. So far we’ve only seen Uchiha clan politics that Sasuke remembers from when his family arrived but if this is ever continued the current politics is one of the main things  I look forward too.

2.) These Moments We Take for Granted by Applepie. On ao3. Rated T. Summary: Kakashi dies to Pain’s attack and wakes up in another world. It’s a world where Kakashi hadn’t failed Obito’s final wish and sacrificed himself for Rin’s sake instead. It’s a Konoha too similar, yet so different that Kakashi can’t bear to impose. So he doesn’t – not as ‘Kakashi’, at least.

I’m dying for the next chapter of this. The cliff hanger is partially why the other reason is the story is just that good. 

3.) Yes, my weird depressed half-tree uncle by Aesoleucian. On ao3. Rated G. Summary: Sarada is such a lonely kid, and Sakura has such a dissociative disorder. Where are Sakura's parents? Where is the support? Being a single mom is hard and therefore I crafted this AU where Obito survives the war and retires to help restore his clan which he helped murder. 

A good way to get me to love any fic: let characters who go through traumatic situations actually show they’re not okay afterwards. 

4.) your skeleton will carry by theformerone. On ao3. Rated E. Summary: He doesn't want to have children for the clan that murdered his father, or for the village that let it happen.

Neji and Sasuke discover that they are more alike than they think.

I’m so glad the author tagged this Anti Sandaime. That tag is the reason why I found this beautiful fic. 

5.) Just the Usual Habits by Applepie. On ao3. Rated G. Summary: Sakumo has no idea where all of these habits of Kakashi's are coming from. In which five-year-old Kakashi forgets the existence of his left eye, loses his ability to lie believably, and is a little too knowledgeable about the Birds and Bees. Still, no matter what oddities went on in Kakashi's head, one thing is certain – the boy will always love his father, through thick and thin.

6.) Get Shisui by DoodlesOfTheMind. On ao3. Rated T. Summary: Get Shisui. It was a common refrain throughout the Uchiha compound, though its meaning had shifted a number of times over the years.

Both beautiful and heartbreaking. 

7.) a beating heart of stone by FantasyDeath. On ao3. Rated Not Rated. Summary: During Iruka's first year teaching — on his own, because apparently there is a severe lack of teachers — he loses his curriculum, gets into a low-key fight with Shimura Danzo and accidentally creates an army. To be fair, none of this was planned.

8.) In Sound Judgement by NegativeAperture. On ao3. Rated T. Summary: The main question, she thinks, isn’t her chance at survival or whether she’ll stick to the plot. No, it’s whether she should change the inherently flawed system that has caused every single problem ever. Arguably, she’s in the best position to fix it. People are certainly more willing to listen to you when you threaten them with the giant fox demon in your gut. But what would the cost be? Her morals? Her humanity?

The road to hell is paved with good intentions after all. (In which a human rights lawyer is reincarnated into a world without morality, without logic, and most of all, without laws. Helping the world was easier when people weren’t ninjas.)

Even if self inserts or ocs are not your thing I still strongly suggest you read this.

9.) Mirage by xantissa. On ao3. Rated G. Summary: Can be read as stand alone. Itachi's ANBU exam through Kakashi's eyes. Kakashi knew something wasn't right with the whole thing, he just couldn't put his finger on what exactly.

10.) Catch Me (If You Can) by BasicallyAnIdiot. On ao3. Rated G. Summary: Five times the ANBU tried to catch Uzumaki Naruto (and that one time someone else did).

Why you should read this: “Knowing Naruto-kun,” Itachi interrupted from his locker as he checked his arm bracers, “If he had more than a hour, the traps were at least 2 layers deep.” He closed the locker door firmly, mask in hand, “But he can be caught.”

“Lies and hearsay.” Neko’s muffled offer came from the women’s shower area. 

“Impossible. Never happened.”

A delicate brow arched, and Itachi continued. “There is one person in the village who can successfully catch Uzumaki Naruto whenever he feels inclined to.”

Inu sat up like a shot, unheeding the bag of ice dropping to his lap with a thud. 

“Who? Is it the Commander? Hokage-sama?”

Shisui snorted, and transitioned smoothly to a new pose, “He means the only chunin in the history of chunin to turn down a full position in ANBU corps, complete with no probation and instant pay raise.”

Inu was silent for a moment. Then he declared, “I will find this chunin and make him my teacher.”

11.) Fish Stew by Masu_Trout. On ao3. Rated T. Summary: There was a bowl of stew in Kisame's lap, a cup of tea on the ground next to him, and a small blank-eyed teenager staring at him from over the rim of his own teacup.

Kisame's new partner is one of the strangest people he's ever met, and that's coming from a man with gills on his face.

12.) What A Big Heart You Have by LullabyKnell. On ao3. Rated T. Summary: In which a little red fox saves the big white wolf.

Bless this fic. 

In which Hatake Sakumo lives.

13): Autonomy by beetlebee. On ao3. Rated T. Summary: "But this Not-Sensei soulmate guy could be anybody," Naruto whines.

Sasuke narrows his eyes. "No. He tried to act like Kakashi, use his techniques. He must be familiar with him already..."

"They could be childhood friends!" Sakura gasps.

"Sensei has friends?" Naruto asks, squinting at Obito.

"Or he's a stalker." Sasuke grips the kunai he still hasn't put away.

"I'm not a stalker," Obito lies, pushing away the kunai edging towards him.

----

(A soulmate bodyswap AU)

I would kill to read a sequel of this where we see Kakashi’s in Obito’s body.

14.) Written with Heart by Brookelocks. On ao3. Rated G. Summary: "Sometimes just sharing your opinion or a conversation about something someone else enjoys, even if you have to grit your teeth through it, can be the little push of support that makes them keep pursuing their passion."

or Kakashi has a strange way of showing his support, Jiraiya doesn't mind.

15.) The Good Life by orphan_account. On ao3. Rated T. Summary: There had to be protocol for this. They were shinobi in a hidden village; there was protocol for everything. Sadly, the authors of the Konoha Mission Administration Office Employee Handbook had committed the potentially fatal oversight of not dedicating a single paragraph to the now more than hypothetical situation of your current Hokage starting a mostly one-sided screaming match with your former Hokage in front of your very desk.

16.) these chains on me won't let me be pg13. On ao3. Rated T. Summary: The first time you ever feel like a shinobi, you are ugly and messy and scared out of your mind and not even wearing your hitai-ate. — implied sakura/ino

Out of all the Sakura centric fics I’ve read - trust me I have read a lot - this is till one of my favorites.

17.) got a boy in the war by Lisse. On ao3. Rated G. Summary: Naruto's parents don't so much fall in love as accidentally trip over it.

18.) sabotage by stirringwinds. On ao3. Rated T. Summary: “Itachi,” His mentor and commanding officer says grimly, his single visible eye angry, the line of his jaw tense under the black of his mask. “You forget that I was the Yondaime’s student. I may not be as politically influential as those old codgers sitting on the council, but there is plenty I can do to try and stop this shitshow.”

The horrible, cold feeling in the pit of his stomach hasn't vanished. But, staring at the firm, unflinching expression on his captain’s face, he feels the tiniest flicker of…hope.

Or: In another universe, Itachi breaks down and ends up spilling the beans to Hatake Kakashi.

Honestly, damn it why couldn’t this have happened? 

20.) Nothing like the storm by Aesoleucian. On ao3. Rated Not Rated. Summary: There's a girl in Kushina's class at the academy, with perfect hair and perfect poise. She's nothing like loud, angry Kushina, but she's not exactly shy either.

21.) Shine Bright, Shine Far, (Oh Sun of Mine) by Applepie. On ao3. Rated G. Summary: This Konoha is not the one Himawari knows; everything is wrong, and everyone is gone. A strange man who's not Papa is claiming to be the Hokage.

22.) i have a girlfriend!? by chadsuke. On ao3. Rated G. Summary: ino wants training from the best genin kunoichi - naturally, that means tracking down tenten.

23.) Eyestealer by nirejseki, robininthelabyrinth (nirejseki). On ao3. Rated Summary: Hashirama really doesn't approve of the thoughtful way his father looks at his younger brother's bright red eyes. He's sure it doesn't mean anything good for anyone.

He's right.

I just binge read this today (I haven’t even bookmarked it yet) and now I’m left wanting for more darker than canon Hashirama.

24.) Unison by Laylah. On ao3. Rated M. Summary: Kakashi knows damn well that it isn't a healthy coping mechanism.

Do read the warnings at the top of the author’s notes. 

25.) Got Nothing to Prove (but I'ma show you how I do) by GuardianMars. On ao3. Rated T. Summary: Civilians and orphans are always used as cannon fodder. Sakura’s not sure where she first came by this phrase. Whether she heard it or read it, she can’t quite remember, but it stuck in her head and it stays in the back of her mind whenever Team 7 takes a mission.

When Sakura and Tenten get placed on a temporary team looking into a series of kidnappings of local village girls, Sakura is naturally worried. She doesn't want to be cannon fodder. When the mission goes to pot, Sakura and Tenten find themselves far away from home and with only each other to rely on. As it turns out being cannon fodder is the least of their worries.

26.) Once Again by pupeez4eva. On ao3. Rated T. Summary: If you asked anyone what they thought of Sasuke Uchiha, they'd say that he was cheerful, overly-hyper, and loved glitter and sweaters WAY too much.

(Mabel Pines is reborn as Sasuke Uchiha. Unsurprisingly, this changes things a lot).

27.) Blame it on the Moon by Tozette. On ao3 (you can only see this if you have logged-in ). Rated G. Summary: Itachi likes cats. In hindsight, that's probably his first mistake.

* * *

Really? Thought Itachi dubiously. He did it anyway. "For love and justice," he deadpanned flatly.

28.) Adoption by Defenestration; or, A Family Can Be A Fox Demon, Its Jinchuuriki, and Three Dozen Highly-Trained Assassins elumish. On ao3. Rated T. Summary: He will not be the ANBU who let the jinchuuriki plummet to his death out a fourth story window. Let that be another ANBU’s legacy.

[7deadlycinderellas]

If the summer of our lives could just come again, ch5

Ao3 link

Lets call this one a "group" POV

The whole room was silent for a time. There is so much to tell, and no one seems to know where to start.

Sansa speaks up first, choosing her words carefully, and speaking rather slowly.

“I told Father that there was a reason the three of us have been acting strangely for a while,” she gestures at her younger siblings, “It’s because-”

She falters.

“There’s really no easy way to say this. We haven’t been acting like ourselves, because ourselves are older than this. For us, this is our past. One moment, things seemed normal- as normal as it could be- then the next, we woke up and we were back, what must have been nearly ten years in our pasts.”

“Ten years!” Catelyn’s voice interrupts.

Sansa does her best not to let her mother’s words break her streak.

Lord Reed gives a word.

“It was closer to eight and a half, but I understand, given the circumstances, why time-keeping might not have been a priority.”

Arya mutters off to Sansa’s side.

“Only eight years? It felt so much longer.”

“How can you expect us to believe this? It’s absolute madness” Robb interjects, his face drained of color. He is the only member of the family who hadn’t really noticed a change in his younger siblings.

Sansa takes a deep breath.

“Given what happened in those years, if this is madness, I would still take it. But if it is madness, we all share it. We all remember things the same, and everything started off happening just the same.”

“Everything started off…” is all Ned can input in the conversation right now. Whatever he expected his children to tell him, it was not this.

“I’m guessing, Mother,” Sansa gently asks, looking in her direction, “That you already got the message from Aunt Lysa about Jon Arryn’s death not being an accident?”

Almost imperceptibly, Catelyn nods. She doesn’t understand, she told no one but Ned about that letter. They hadn’t even really had time to follow up properly, with the chaos that Bran’s accident had caused.

“She was right, it wasn’t. But it wasn’t the Lannisters like she suggested. You and Father read that letter, and Father took me and Arya to King’s Landing, intending to investigate into her suggestion. He found out why she would have thought that was what happened, and-”

Sansa feels her voice hitch in her throat.

“And they killed you for it.”

Ned feels his blood go cold, and hears his wife and elder son gasp, Robb covering his mouth and leaning forward to rest his elbows on the table.

“But it won’t happen again, “ Arya inserts fiercely, “We’ve already seen that things don’t have to happen the way they did before.”

“Don’t take this as insolence, “ Reed questions, “But what has made you so certain?”

Sansa leans over and gestures to where Bran is sitting. He shifts, moves his left leg so the cast is more visible, and gestures at it with his splinted hand.

“The reason I woke up laughing after my fall-” He looks straight at Ned, “I’m sorry, I know that probably scared you pretty bad- was because when I fell before, it was worse. I was comatose for a month, and when I finally woke up, I couldn’t walk anymore. I haven’t walked at all since then.”

Ned feels his son’s words settle in his mind. He remembers that the boy had barely seemed fazed at all by his injury, regardless of the rest of his attitude. Out of the corner of his eye, he notes Meera jerk and her gaze shift, almost imperceptibly.

“If we-you’ve already changed what led to Ned’s death, then what else…” Cat asks, her voice wavering.

Sansa and Lord Reed both shake their heads.

“Those eight and a half years...so very much has happened. There’s so much more to tell.”

Arya cuts in. She can’t stand anymore pussy-footing around the most important part of the topic.

“Remember that deserter from the Night’s Watch you executed a little while back? He was right.”

A freeze goes over the table. No one moves.

“The white walkers are back, the Night King is gathering his army over the wall, and they will attack. “

Sansa interrupts her before she can continue,

“The Night’s Watch is already dealing with wildlings trying to flee over the wall because of them.”

“I-I’m sorry,” Robb cuts in, “White walkers? Like from Old Nan’s stories? They all died a thousand years ago, if they were ever really real at all.”

“Easy enough to say,” Meera says quietly, the first words she’s spoken, “Until there’s one running at you and swinging an axe in your face.”

“And the Long Night did come. Darkness came over the land, and the dead attacked. The Night King lead them, and though….”

“Though he did fall,” Arya interjects. She will take no credit for that. Especially for how little good it ended up doing. “The dead continued to rise, all over the realms, Westeros, Essos, as far as Asshai.”

“We don’t usually bury the dead in the Neck,” Lord Reed adds, “Or they tend to come up to the surface again as is. Yet despite our traditions of cremation, skeletons rose from the creeks and bogs still. Skeletons far older than anything in living memory.”

“If what you’re saying is true…” Ned starts off, faltering, “Then what can any of us do about it?”

Bran takes a deep breath. He knows what he’s about to say isn’t going to go over well with his parents.

“We need to start letting the wildlings through the Wall. Every person who dies north of it is fuel for the Night King’s army.”

“Through the-” Catelyn says, raising her voice.

“And where do you suggest we put them?” Ned asks, focusing on the practical aspects of his son’s suggestion. He could only imagine the reaction he would get from the other lords if he followed through, much less the smallfolk or the members of the Watch themselves…

“Let them settle the Gift,” Sansa says suddenly, “As long as they promise to aid the Night’s Watch and obey the laws of the north. That’s what Jon said Stannis had offered them after the assault on Castle Black.”

“You expect wildings to accept such an offer? That they won’t just continue their raiding south of the Wall?” Is Robb’s only take on the situation.

“They know what’s coming, they’re running,” Arya tells him, “If you’d ever seen the walkers, you would understand. You would do anything to put a decent distance between you and them.”

Sansa chews her lips before bringing up her next point.

“I wish Jon had come back with us. He was the one who had dealt so long with the wildlings. He understood them, and they had come to respect him.”

“I’ve been meaning to ask-” Ned starts, cutting off Catelyn opening her mouth, likely to say something about Jon. “Does anyone have any idea how this happened? Why were you returned, and no one else?”

Lord Reed takes a deep breath.

“Around the end of what everyone here calls the Long Night, some of my men reported a strange appearance over a lake. They didn’t really have words for what it looked like. Some called it a light or an opening of some kind. It didn’t appear solid, it didn’t cast a shadow or a reflection. And animals and birds that went near it disappeared. We had been discussing sending a party to investigate when this lot,” he gestures at Arya, Sansa and Bran, “Showed up.”

“We were led south by a vision from the Three-Eyed Raven.” Is how Sansa puts it. She looks pointedly at Bran. Arya does the same, though she grasps his (good) wrist in support. Neither her or Sansa really understand the Raven or what happened north of the wall, so this will have to be his story.

He casts his eyes down towards the table.

“The three-eyed Raven is another name for what they called the last greenseer.”

He tilts his head up just long enough to nod in Jojen’s direction.

“He had visions like the ones you do, but his powers are far beyond. He was a man once, but he wasn’t anymore. He could see everything, present and past, along with his future sight. After I fell, I began to have visions of him leading me north of the wall. It was there in a cave where he lived, for lack of a better word, and where he tried to pass his knowledge on to me.Tried to give me his abilities, the skill to see the past and present as he did, and sometimes gave me visions of what was yet to come. Tried, fat lot of good it ended up doing.”

Jojen interrupts him, and Bran is secretly grateful.

“Do you think the group of you returning was something of his doing?”

That...was not something Bran had considered. But still…

“And- I hate to ask, but…” Jojen trails off, looking extremely bewildered. “Did...did I really explode after I died?”

Bran can hardly keep his laughter down. It seems so absurd, even though it was horrific at the time.

“I hate to say it, but yes.” After a brief moment where he swears he hears Meera mutter ‘I TOLD you’ in Jojen’s direction, he changes the subject.

“If this was the Raven’s doing, I have no idea. He hasn’t seen fit to showing me jackshit since we’ve been back. If it was him, then I think we’re on our own now.”

There’s a lull here, and Catelyn looks like she wants to chastise her son for his language but can’t find her words. Robb butts in before anything else can be said.

“You keep talking about all these things that have happened, but…” his voice trails off, and he has to fight to find it again. “You haven’t said anything about any of us.”

Sansa feels her heart snap in two. The three of them had quarrelled a bit over this. She glances to meet Arya’s eye and sees her younger sister shake her head just the tiniest bit.

She sighs deeply.

“The problem is that our knowledge is our greatest weapon right now. The only other we have is Bran’s ability to see through the eyes of animals still-”

She hears a muttering. Skinchangers had been a huge part of the stories Old Nan had told them all, and had seemed no more real than the white walkers.

“And if we show too much of our knowledge too early, it might end up making things more difficult. Things have already become to change because of us, and if we rely too much on what we know happened the first time, on how people behaved and reacted to things...It could spiral and we would be stuck and just as helpless as we were the first time.”

“We can give some general advice though,” Arya cuts in, looking straight at Robb. “First off, keep Theon close. He thinks of you as a brother, but part of him will turncoat in a second if he thinks it would win the approval of the other Greyjoys,” her voice quiets, “regardless of the fact that only his older sister gives half a fuck about him.”

“There’s a good man, deep down inside him,” Sansa adds, “But he’s got a lot of unresolved issues to deal with before it could possibly come out.”

Robb looks shocked, and Sansa feels the same painful unease that had consumed her earlier eat at her.

Arya continues.

“And you need to check on the Boltons. They’re still flaying people even though you outlawed it,” her nose twitches in disgust, “I can’t believe we’re going to have to deal with those fucks again.”

“Again?” Catelyn asks, sounding as though she’s finally found a grasp on her own voice.

“Eight and a half years,” Lord Reed begins slowly, “A number of houses were wiped out, for better or worse.”

“Bolton,” Sansa starts off, “Mormont, Karstark.”

“Frey,” Arya adds, moving south, with an edge to her voice. There’s some things she’s come to regret about the life she had come to live before, but that particular act of revenge was not one of them. “Tyrell, Clegane.”

“More too,” Bran interjects before it can become a list. “Big ones, small ones. The dead did not discriminate.”

“Mormont,” Ned starts, trying to get a grasp on the situation, “I’ll have to write to the Lord Commander if I’m going to follow your suggestion about the wildlings. I’m going to have to do that knowing his house will cease to exist.”

Arya actually smiles, “The story of how Bear Island ended up being led, with shocking competency, by a ten year old girl.”

“Lyanna’s little more than a babe right now,” Bran comments.

“And Jon spoke very well of the Lord Commander,” Sansa assures Ned, “He ended up with Longclaw after he saved the man’s life from a wight. He died not long after, but Jon still spoke well of him.”

“You let Jon go off to the wall,” Robb realizes, “You knew all of this, and you let him go off unprepared?”

“We gave him a massively truncated version of events, the night before he left. That’s why he left looking kind of like he’d been beaten about the head.” Arya admits.

“We could have tried to convince him not to join the Watch,” Sansa adds, “But the man he becomes there is important, to important to possibly cast to the wind.”

She meets her father’s eye, carefully. She hopes the intent in her gaze is apparent. To his credit, Ned shrinks a little bit away from it. Catelyn finally manages to make herself say something that feels like it has substance. She’s spent this whole conversation feeling like she was in deep water far over her head and drowning as she tried to keep up.

“It sounds like you’ve all been through so much,” she says, tears being held back evident in her voice, “How are all of us just supposed to continue on, with us still expecting you to be the children you were?”

“It’s hard for us too,” Bran tells her, “When I fell last time, when I woke up...you and Father were both gone. I never saw either of you again. Then Robb left and I never saw him again either.”

“And it’s not like we’re all gone,” Arya adds, “We’re still the children we to you were before, though some of us are farther away than others.”

She had felt that before, when she had returned to Winterfell. Hardly anyone there had recognized her and she wondered if had even really been her home. But then she had seen Sansa and Jon, and that had changed. Meeting Gendry again had changed it more. He had helped drag Arya Stark back to herself, and even now, with her young body returned, she knew who she would always be.

“And some of us have more growing left to do than others,” Sansa adds, teasing, in her younger siblings direction.

“Don’t sell yourself short Sansa,” Bran reminds her, “You could look most grown men straight in the eye. That probably went leaps and bounds to forcing them to respect you.”

“You said something about there be two other people who returned with you,” Ned asks. Unlike his wife, he still feels as though this discussion is forcing him under water. He looks at each of his youngest faces in turn. Sansa suddenly the picture of womanly poise, not just girlish delight. Arya, so confident and composed, though no less fierce than ever. And Bran...who spoke of such other-worldly, and seems to have become both wise and yet so regretful.

“Two more,” he continues, “Who are they? And are they coming to join us as well.”

“Ser Davos Seaworth, one of Stannis Baratheon’s men, a former smuggler,” Arya says, rushing a bit, seeming to want to cut her siblings off before they can answer, “And my husband, a blacksmith named Gendry. Bran’s sight, or whatever you want to call it, says they’re both leaving King’s Landing and coming north by boat.”

Arya feels her face burn as she says the words. She has absolutely no shame in it, but she knows exactly how her admission will come off to her family, who only knew her as the rash, wild little she-wolf she had been.

Ned manages to not react, even though it looks like he wants to. Catelyn only lets out a small cough, delicately covering her mouth and hiding her expression. It’s Robb who can’t restrain his bark of laughter. Arya scowls in his direction.

In an attempt to take the focus off her younger sister, Sansa clears her throat suddenly.

“It’s getting a bit late in the day,” she begins.

It is, Ned notes. The sun through the windows is already beginning to come down in the sky. They’ve spent a good part of the afternoon in the Great Hall.

“And perhaps we should help our guests settle in,” she completes, nodding her head at Catelyn. “There is so much more to tell, but we have time other than right now.”

Sansa watches Catelyn smile at her as she stands, takes her hand and says, “Come, we’ll show you in” to the others as they lead them out of the Great Hall. Sansa hopes with all her heart that she has made her mother proud of her.

Ned sits still at the table, his head in his hands. Bran, Arya and Robb remain at his side.

Bran feels Summer stir beside him, and says,

“Robb, could you take Summer outside?” he tells his brother.

Robb does as he asked, though he looks over his shoulder the entire way out.

Ned speaks a few words for his younger children once Robb leaves.

“Given the amount of work this has dropped on my lap, I feel I should thank you for making me clear the afternoon.”

Now that it’s just the three of them, Arya feels her eyes sting with tears, and she can’t fight the impulse to hug her father tightly. After a moment, Bran leans over as best he can and follows suit.

“We’re sorry, but it’s been so long.”

Ned reaches out and ruffles Arya’s hair.

“Despite your words, I still can’t see you as a woman grown, a woman wed at that.”

“At least you’re not laughing,” Arya says, making a face, “everyone else seemed to want to.”

It makes Ned terribly sad, to think that Arya expected her entire family to laugh at her for doing something so mundane as getting married. He knows his daughter well enough to know she would have never done such a thing if she had not wanted to, had not truly loved the man. It was a reality looming every time the possibility of politically motivated betrothals was brought up.

“I take it he’s a good man though? I do trust your judgement, though that doesn’t mean I’m not going to try and strike some solid fear into the boy.”

Arya smiles, softly. “I wanted to introduce you to him, before you had a chance to try and form an image of him. He has a story as long as ours, but it’s his to tell, so it will have to wait. “

“Speaking of a long story,” Ned changes the subject, and moves his attention to his pale-faced son, “Is there any specific reason our apparently mutual friend seems to want your head on a pike?”

Bran stiffens. He’d managed to avoid Howland Reed’s eyes during the conversation, but he still felt as though he could feel it burning the top of his head.

“I broke his daughter’s heart,” he speaks plainly. Plainer than even Arya’s heard him tell the situation before. “Broke my own too, in the process. ”

He pauses, before confessing, “All three of us have done things we’re not proud of. For better or worse. I’d take it back if I could.“

“Sometimes just the things we’ve done to survive were awful,” is Arya’s take on it, “That’s part of the reason we’ve all been so eager to take advantage of this. It’s a second chance.”

“I don’t think I would judge you too harshly,” Ned says slowly, “but I do hope I set a good example for your sense of morality.”

He watches as both of his children go stiff and cold. He feels the same cold sensation take hold again in the back of his neck.

“Father,” Arya’s words spill out suddenly, “Father, we know about Jon. All of it. And he does too, though we’re not sure if he really believed us.”

And there it goes. Ned goes numb all over. All he can ask is,

“How?”

“One of the first visions I had with the Raven’s powers was of what happened at the Tower of Joy,” Bran tells him. It’s strange. They’re still dancing around the subject it seems, as though “Targaryen” was a dirty word, the same way Jon had always felt that “bastard” was.

“We knew Howland Reed was there with you,” Arya throws in, “That’s one of the reasons we wanted to wait until they got here to tell anyone the whole story. We know that if he could back us up, on both fronts, than we would suddenly become a lot more credible.”

“We still weren’t sure if we would be believed.” Bran admits.

“It’s not our story to tell,” Arya admits forcefully, “so we won’t. But Father, how could you have kept this from Mother?”

The guilt Ned has shoved deep down boils back up and over. He had wanted to tell his family the truth, so badly. He still saw the glint of anger in Catelyn’s eyes every time she watched Jon with the other boys.

“It was all I could think to do, to keep everyone else’s suspicions away.”

Arya’s upper lip twitches, and there’s a hint of disdain in her expression.

“Of course, no one would question a bastard. Even one born to a man who was supposedly so honorable. “

She shakes her head, violently.

“I don’t think I can forgive Mother, not fully anyway, for the way she always treated Jon. But I do understand the anger of being confronted every day by proof that your husband was unfaithful. Especially when his straying is treated as normal whereas you would be crucified for the same actions.”

She fixes Ned with a look, the first look he has seen on Arya’s face that has frightened him a little.

“But she shouldn’t have taken it out on Jon. She should have been angry at you.”

Quietly, Bran’s next words break the beam of Arya’s anger.

“Father, you should tell her. It’s not our story to tell anyone else, but you should tell Mother. She will probably be angry, but Jon’s gone already. She won’t accidentally reveal things. She’s a proper lady, and discretion is one of her strengths.”

He’s right, Ned knows, they’re both completely right and he just doesn’t want to hear it. What he’d told them earlier, about having wanted to have taught them right from wrong, still held. If he were someone else, he would judge himself just as harshly. And so, he shifts subjects again.

“You told Jon all of this and he still left?”

“He was terribly confused, but he was Jon.” Arya says, “just like he’s always been.”

“We all hoped you would be proud of us, or at least understand what we had become, but Jon was different,” Bran tells him, beginning to smile.

“Jon was exactly the man you would have hoped he’d become, regardless of his name.”

Ned can at least cling to that.

[redskull-fanatic]

Reasons to Love the Red Skull

Now, I know what you're thinking. I know all of it. All the reasons you hate him, all the justifications, all the go to sayings that make you say "Fuck the Red Skull." However, I'm here to celebrate this character.

I am a woman who loves villains. Villains are my passion and pride, and honestly Red Skull is just the best villain I've ever had the pleasure to stumble across. Many call him a Nazi, an asshole, and such. I, however, am here to put a different prospective on the character. Why those who love the Red Skull do, and why in such a horrible, nasty man, we find joy in him.

Feel free to disagree, to scream and call me names. I honestly don't mind. I'm just trying to tell others why I adore the Red Skull, and why he's my favorite marvel character in history. Bring him in a light that many won't consider.

Btw, I also love Steve Rogers so that should give me some credit, right?

Appearance. Now, I don't remember how exactly I saw The Red Skull, but when I did, I fell in love with his appearance. I really like skulls and skeletons, so his face was already beautiful to me. His whole dictator look is also very nice, and skeletons mixed in with the army is my favorite aesthetic. Red and dark greys also look nice together(I'm an artist so I love color schemes), and I love how he and the captain reflect history! I'm a big history nerd and World War Two is fascinating to learn about. Skull just makes it a lot more fun, just to see him with something from the 40s. Plus, he does bring awareness to the holocaust. Keeps it fresh in people's minds so we don't forget.

Obsession with Power. Skull is basically the definition of "Dictator." He strikes fear into his Hydra army, has a fucking cool symbol for his empire(don't know why it's a fucking octopus if its for an empire called Hydra, but okay Skull), got a salute and everything. However, a big trait about this character is power hungry. We all know he joins the Nazi army, but why? Well, I'm new to Marvel and going off a fandom wiki so cut me slack He met Hitler and talked about his theories of myths being science. Adolf was intrigued, wanted to learn more, and Heinrich Himmler recruited him into the SS. He had his fun there, until eventually.. His views started to change. He believed he was rightfully the superior race, he used any means necessary to obtain a central position in the army. That was, until the serum in his veins made him believe he was greater than Hitler and started to plan to overthrow him. Schmidt doesn't believe Germans are the master race, but rather the superior man has yet to be made. He never personally cared to follow the slaughter of Jews, he was too busy hell bent on overthrowing the entire Nazi party and reforming them into hydra. He used the Nazis from the very beginning, he used them for their resources and getting his name out there. That sir, is top tier villainy.

Attitude. His attitude is the best, to be completely honest. He's determined to get what he wants, he's resourceful, and doesn't take no for an answer. This man takes risks, when he first got the tesseract, he ignored safety, shoved Zola out of the way, and went straight for the controls. And the transfer succeeded. He easily kills off his enemies and adapts quickly to situations. As soon as the Americans out matched Hydra's forces, he simply blew up the fucking place without a care in the world. How much he doesn't care is hilarious. He always looks disappointed and unamused, so whenever he smiles it's the best thing ever. Skull speaks super matter-of-factly, and has the best lines: "I am surrounded by incompetents!" "I would curb that sharp tongue of yours, Taskmaster. Lest it cuts your throat." "And here I wanted to watch Captain America's will bend like a weed beneath my boot... No matter." "You are failing! We are close to an offensive network that will shake the planet. And yet, we are continually delayed, because you cannot outwit a simpleton with a shield!" I mean, these lines are hilarious and great, don't lie. Also, the scene where Zola and him talk about the finding out of Erskine's whereabouts is hilariously awkward. "Shall I give the order?" "... It has been given." "... Good-" I mean, that scene cracks me up. Mix that with the fact Skull was standing there for a portrait and was blasting Opera just makes it more hilariously amusing.

Obsessive in Nature. This guy.. is obsessive. Very obsessive. In my most favorite Marvel movie of all time, he's borderline obsessed with Captain America. He has a need to control him, make him Captain Hydra and be his second in command. I love obsessive villains, and Schmidt honestly fits the criteria. He's been obsessed with the tesseract for awhile, is currently crazy over taking over the world, what's not to say he gets obsessed with the captain? The two are similar enough(one parent dies when they're at a young age, both being an in orphanage, both getting bullied, beat up, and yelled at, both becoming super soldiers, and both becoming icons and symbols in the eyes of the public) so what's not to say Skull gets a little possessive over his enemy? Researches in such depth to learn how to control him, own him, kill him, which ever you prefer. All I know is, Skull is one big control freak, and I love him. He has such a need to be in control that he goes to extreme lengths to make sure all the power belongs to him. What a determined little man.

His Name. Johann Schmidt legit translates to John Smith. That is hilarious to me. It's so generic, like Steve Rogers.

Intelligence. This man is fucking smart, and I love it. He has plan after plan after plan. He has such detailed plans that it's ridiculous. Whenever he is about to act on the plan, he has the pause and explain the whole damn thing. He's so proud of him accomplishments, he has to fucking rant about them to further show off his superior intelligence. He goes to such lengths to accomplish his goals, that I'm surprised he doesn't get a headache with all that over planning. He even has to plan on unpredictable actions to surprise Steve. This man is plan crazy. He's so smart that he sets everyone up as pawns, and lets people do the mundane stuff so he has more time to plan. Anyway, this man.. He's so smart. He immediately knew the tesseract decoy was fake, he's able to see beyond appearances and managed to see the truth behind myths. He created a fucking ray that disintegrated people. He easily cut ties with the Nazi army, and always managed to stay a few steps ahead of the Americans. This man is a genius, you can't deny it.

Subtle Weaknesses. His main two weaknesses are: his temper and his slight insecurity of his face. He gets livid if you use "Red Skull" as an insult, and point out the deformity of his face. Expressing dislike over it is simply a death wish, and honestly I find it endearing he's insecure about it. Another thing is, his temper. He gets so mad, so mad over nothing. The slightest thing can make him go from his usual, calm and unimpressed nature to a fucking angry monster who smashes the window in. It's hilarious how mad he can get, and watching him try to control his anger is the cutest thing to me. He's trying so hard! ;w;

View on Magic. His belief magic is a science is super interesting to me! He even makes his belief a reality, and that's so satisfying!! He even researches mythology, and I love mythology! He proves people idiotic by showing them how real his theory is, and it's perfect. Johann blasting those fuckers calling him mad was one of the most satisfying scenes in the Captain America: The First Avenger.

His Personal Tastes. He likes the finer things in life. He listens to Opera, has a sweet fucking car, did you see how nice the Valkyrie was? Plus, he was getting a portrait done! Pretty sure he was drinking some sort of wine in the movie too. This man has wonderful tastes, and honestly makes his character even better to me.

Subtle Actions. He has some subtle acts of kindness, to me at least. In Captain America: The First Avenger, he was very calm with Zola and didn't really raise his voice with him. Schmidt is honestly very polite at times!! He even tried to be friendly with his first meetings with Captain America, expressing a liking towards his films and trying to understand what "made the captain special." Sounded like he just wanted a genuine conversation, or something of that nature.

Dialogue. Did I forget to mention how great is dialogue is? His taunts with Captain America are so funny and cute at times, like legit they go back and forth: "Don't be a fool, Skull. You can't control that thing! It'll bring the whole mountain down!" "Yes... On you." "You just don't give up, do you?" "Nope!" "It's time to stop playing army, Skull." "You have yet to see my army! Or should I say.. Our army." Like, these two dorks. Their taunts are the best.

He's an asshole. I know he's a dick, but it's funny as hell. He's like an ex, arrogant and bitter. Such a show off too. He's a wonderful villain.

His past doesn't affect him. So far, his past never seems to pull any strings at his heart. That's interesting. He went through such a traumatic series of events(his mom died during birth, his dad tried to kill him, his dad abusing him, trying to kill him again, then eventually committing suicide. Schmidt then was sent off to an orphanage where he was abused and beaten, he ran away at the age of 7, resorted to stealing, was taken in by the same doctor who delivered him, and ended up killing a woman.) He seems to have moved on from his past, or at least bottles it up. It's interesting..

He was inspired by a cherry. I'm not making this up, Joe Simon saw a cherry on his sundae and was like: "... That looks like a skull-" and the rest is history.

Vormir sort of mellows him out. He's very calm, distant, and legit doesn't give a shit on Vormir. I hope his old spirit comes back, but this stone keeper Skull is pretty funny and sort of tragic. I like him lots. ♡

He was created alongside Captain America. These two have been together for years. Fighting each other time and time again, and I only wish to see it continue. Sure, I prefer the more goofy side of heroes and villains. The two having stupid taunts, yet entertaining adventures.

Now, I doubt that is all the reasons I love Johann Schmidt. However, I only summarized all I can think of. I hope my fellow Red Skull fans would come out of hiding and express their love for this character. He's one of the best villains I've ever seen. I can go on and on about how much I adore this character, but I'll stop here. If anyone wants to see my favorite adaptation of Schmidt, and my favorite Marvel movie, feel free to check out Iron Man and Captain America: Heroes United. Its on Netflix. All you Red Skull × Captain America fans will get a big kick out of it, and it's a universe I like. It's more goofy, it's animated in a beautiful style, and so much love was put into it. Came out in 2014!!

Anyway, hope I opened your eyes to a few reasons why this character is great. He's determined, hard working, intelligent, spiteful, and overall so much fun to watch on the big screen! His lines are funny, his personality is interestingly layered, and he's such a great character! A part of me wants to see him succeed, since he's done so much! I'm a loyal villain fan, I'm sorry xD

In villains, we get guilty pleasures from them. I love how powerful Skull is, and his determination is admirable. He's doing a bad thing, but he's doing to super well! If you love villains, I hope you get my point! I also like the subtle things in Skull that make him human, his love for Opera, his fascination with Mythology, his politeness, it's all so charming for a villain fan!!

I don't see many Red Skull fans speak out, so I'm glad to do it! Just a friendly Red Skull fan who wants to appreciate my boy. I'm acting like a proud mom, but I do hope he gets further attention, it's been far too long.

Thanks for reading, Hail the Red Skull. ♡

[thanatophobix-blog]

🖊 + all do it coward

Yelling about my OCs // ACCEPTINGRabbit, you are a fool and so am I. I’m just gonna, like… give a headcanon per OC on this blog under the cut.

Achilles - His semblance is called Disconsolate. It makes others able fully feel what he is feeling, from absolute sorrow, blind rage, to pure joy, right down to the last ounce of pain he gets from a paper cut. It can take over other people’s rational thinking processes and make them react as he would, which is often never good (and leads to his death).

Alexus - She doesn’t have any real senses, even if she says its a simulated thing, she has none. She’s a cpu program! HOWEVER, she can still smell charred flesh from when her girlfriend shocked & burned to death. It’s burned into her mind even though her mind can no longer comprehend what a sense is.

Artharrachadh - Doesn’t actually like 7/11 or gas stations, they just give off the vibe he strives for in life. The mystery, the scandals, the robberies. It’s so out in the middle of nowhere that its perfect. Although, thanks to 7/11 he developed an addiction to slushies. Cherry/blue raspberry, for our god of liminal spaces, baby!!

Cas - Her powers have limits. Without her power retaining equipment (essentially, a choker, two bracelets, and two ankles), she would have ripped herself into shreds after a few usages of her powers. Her speed could send her cells into different dimensions, her ‘pyrokinesis’ could set herself on fire since she is not impervious to fire, and if she uses her luck too much, karma returns the favor with brain bleeds.

Cephriel - As angelic as they are, they are more monstrous and demonic than they’d like to admit. They eat sinners alive for nourishment, but it is all for the holy conquest. Plus, the more souls they consume, the stronger they get. The stronger they get, the quicker they can accomplish the holy conquest.

Dolores - She really wanted to get back in touch with her son but she could never find him. She went back to LA looking for him only to find that he’d been adopted and shipped off to Germany. She felt so, so horrible. It’s her fault that he was sent off to a totally abusive household and she lives with that guilt so, so horribly.

Dominique - Has never once acted like a true criminal, more like a robin hood type figure. He doesn’t kill, he doesn’t hurt, he doesn’t do anything like that, the worst he does is steal from the rich and give to the poor. Either through charity donations or through mysterious wads of cash showing up at people’s houses. However, since he steals from the rich and not the poor, that makes him evil for the media.

Eirian - Has never been one for conflict. Avoided school drama all throughout high school (minus his tiff with Lizzie which was created by him being an idiot). Now he’s running from town to town with an eldritch being chasing after him with so many guns in the back seat of his truck its almost fucking criminal. He’s learned, so, so much combat things that it scares him. He’s practically a weapon himself.

Erik - Has the hardest time keeping the ‘we’re all monsters or demons’ secret a secret out of all of Clearfall’s citizens, and he’s the one that made the whole thing happen. Lucky for him, Corey Booker, the human reporter, is kinda dense. Unlucky for Erik, he thinks that Corey is hot shit and would gladly sell him his soul to stay in Clearfall. But, for Corey to stay in Clearfall, he’d have to be turned into either a werewolf or a vampire but he doesn’t want to do that because Erik’s both a wimp and doesn’t wanna hurt

Eva-Marie - In Hell, everyone wears the sign of how their died. People shot have their bullet wounds, knife wounds, the blood loss makes you incredibly lethargic and cold, sickness makes you permanently sick and tired, burning makes you always feel like you’re on fire, and maybe you are! But Eva-Marie doesn’t show signs of her death, or at least, not if you’re not paying attention. She has perfect posture and never lowers her head, the thick choker on her neck is blood red, sometimes she starts choking and coughing up blood. She was killed via beheading, and she takes perfect care to make sure that her head never falls off.

Fane - Has extreme commitment and attachment issues because of how many loved ones he has lost. He couldn’t save… anyone. When one of his last surviving relatives, his great great great great hella fucking great nephew, Lucas, died, he was there. Fane was teaching him how to drive and they got in an accident because Lucas couldn’t take his fucking foot off the gas because he was scared shitless and they got whacked by a semi and Fane has never, ever forgiven himself for that. Or any other of the deaths.

Florian - Is destined to become fully evil, and will thrive in that evil. He was never meant to be a florist, to live and survive off of cuddles on couches and cheap pays for a good job well done. At the end of the day, he has a strong sadistic streak that was never fulfilled as a child. Florian is all smiles and no substance on the inside, and was going to kill himself if he ever had to live another second in that flower shop doing nothing, that’s what the explosion was, an attempt to end it. Now? He’s soft and sweet on  the outside as a cover, and on the inside, he’s ready to seduce your husband and blow up your house.

Fritz - Doesn’t need to sleep and doesn’t sleep. You see, on his home planet, people move so fast that sleeping was essentially something of a social death sentence. Entire empires would rise and fall while one of them was asleep, your wife could start another family and leave you behind because you would be out cold for another millennia. SO! To bypass that, they engineered a serum that would alter their chemical makeup so they’d be constantly producing energy to replace sleep.

Henri - Does not miss being a royal. She knows that the second she gets back, she’ll be forced into an arranged marriage with a guy who a) she will never love because she is a lesbian to every degree and b) she hates anyway, the guy’s a fuckin’ douchebag to every degree. She just wants to stay in NYC with the punk rock and the grunge and the Crownweaver gig with her punk gf, Dex, and never look back.

Jack - Used to be a Team Spectre Admin. Dated Salem for years, was there when the whole team got launched under Salem’s reign. They were really, really into the whole thing too, believed that the world would be better if they could just wipe everyone’s memory clean and start over with the same people, but have everyone listen to a group ‘concerned about their health, their sanity and their well-being’. Eventually realized that it was all bullshit, all of it, shit, bullshit, and that Salem? Asshole! Shit boyfriend, shit person, shit… just shit. Left, went legit, went good.

Julia - Knows everything about you. She has no clairvoyance or telepathy or omniscience or anything like that, but she knows everything about you. She has connections, her connections have connections, she’s met practically everyone in town and if she doesn’t know everything about you when you first meet? You can be sure that she’s going to hunt down someone who at least knows something. She’s incredibly well informed, scarily well informed, and also good at social cues.

Kennedy - Killed a man in university. It was her first kill and by far, her favorite. The rush she felt, the understanding of why people murder for fun, it made her understand. She had a knife on hand, took it out of the restaurant she was eating at just beforehand and completely forgot about it, but she was glad she had it. She gutted him, top of the chest all the way down to the lower stomach, and she hanged him from a fire escape by his own intestines. He was coming onto her and she was not about that life, rest in peace, fucker.

Klaus-Michael - Has a really hard time hiding his job from his father, aka the Spider-Gold job. Yes, his father is in Germany and Klaus-Michael himself is in NYC, however, it is a requirement between the two that they have a video call once a week. He comes home after fighting off an army of bad guys with so many bruises and so many cuts and dings and busted lips and broken bones and casts and oxygen tanks that his dad should be suspicious, especially since his dad is a genius. But, Klaus-Michael always seems to have some sort of excuse tucked up his sleeve.

Liz - Finds Atlantis. She does! With help, she arrives, and, unlike the dis.ney movie, there is no one alive. Skeletons line the streets of the drowned city, the location is crumbling, and she is horrified. The haunted location gives her the creeps the second she is in there, and for good reason, because something  is watching her. Not something living, but machinery, and once it catches up to her, it brands her on her side for the rest of her life. A marking, a warning.

Lizzie - Has slight celestial heritage. Didn’t think Arhkangelskaya was chosen as her last name for a reason? It was! While she doesn’t have archangel blood per say, she has guardian angel blood, and that’s what brings her back (her ghost back) from the dead to look after Eirian’s dumb fucking ass. The guardian angel blood comes from her great grandfather who was her great grandmother’s guardian angel, ever since then, the arhkangelskayas have returned as ghosts to the person they feel needs the most help.

Lori - Is destined to die at the age of twelve. In a way, she feels invincible because who in their right mind would kill a child? She thinks, that, because she’s so young, nobody is gonna raise a finger against her when she walks in to kill them, because she thinks that they don’t think that she’s going to kill them! And then, one day, she realizes that everyone is an assassin and assassins don’t have rules, assassins just want money. And, on that day, that is when she dies.

Lukas - Is not out for anyone but himself and his town. If you die, and it’s his fault, it’s not on his conscience. He’s not here to fix your problems, even though he fixes way too many of them anyway, he’s here to get the money and go. He’s here to get enough cash to either buy enough medicine to last him and his hometown years and years and years, essentially ridding them of their poisoning, or, he is going to use that money to entice scientists to search for a cure. He’s tired of having slag course through his veins, it hurts, more than he likes to admit.

Lux -  Is not impervious to fire. If she emits it from her body, she only does so from her hands for this reason, she’s not some hum.an tor.ch lookin’ chick, she’s completely human to every regard and her powers are created by machines. She can use her powers of vibrating molecules to a frequency on objects that she is not holding that are within close range, but she can also ‘set the air on fire’ (more like oxidation). She doesn’t realise this, but its how she makes her fireballs. The palms of her hands are incredibly scarred.

Madeleine - Killed a man in self defense and nobody will ever, ever know about it. Or, at least, she hopes so. She doesn’t want anybody to find out about it, because she knows that she’d be sent to jail. Sure, it started out as self defense when the main pulled out a gun at her at semi-close range in an alley way after a case where she sent a criminal away for life and she stabbed him through the heart with her rapier. It was when she took the gun and the sword and started going overkill with panic that it became less about self defense and more like making sure that that guy would never come back. She got an old friend with connections to clean the scene.

Marque - Isn’t trying to provide chaos to provide the world with equal opportunity to rise from the ashes and anarchy as a new, better evolved race, he’s doing it so he can control Giratina and take over the Reverse World. If he takes control of the pokemon, then he is also, by default, the master of the Reverse World. If he allows other to live within the other dimension, he will become their leader by default. And, by causing chaos in Kalos, Sinnoh and the other regions, he will have more and more people wanting to move into the Reverse, gaining more and more subjects and more and more power.

Matthew - Will not be able to survive if he ever leaves the Entity’s realms. His body is emaciated beyond what should be humanly possible (not like the hag is, more like he’s 6′4″ and 90lbs) and he’s surviving based on the Entity alone. His blood is complete and utter drugs at this point and he’s fragile. He’s skeletal, but in the same way that b.ane works, the drugs kind of give him a boost? They give him the strength to keep moving, but he will die if all of them ever get out because he was only a little better than this before he got into the realms.

Myles - Is suffering from unknown internal damage thanks to the facial scar that he is unaware of. The deal with this is, the scar pushed the outer layer of metal inward and, while it hasn’t damaged any of his inner workings yet, if anything happens to his face… welp! A good hit to the cheek, falling head first, anything like that will push the sharp metal further inward and damage his internal wiring. This could potentially be fatal depending on how hard the hit is, or how many times he gets hit. He is very stunned after a good head injury.

Ollie - Is a little hypocrite His whole episode is about the importance of not doing drugs, but in itself, the episode really leans towards how ‘some drugs are good’. Big companies will gladly sponsor a tv show into corrupting the minds of children to think that certain drugs are alright to take by hiding information about them, just like the tobacco industry in the past with cigarettes. Ollie, the pill bottle filled with prescription drugs, may say that some are bad, but he himself offers the pills he contains to the members of the show, getting them addicted, like a fucking hypocrite.

Richard - Wants to move onto news reporting on television, but is held back by Thomas. Their personalities are incredibly similar thanks to the method of their creation, but Richard’s has always been a little bit louder and more personable and much, much more suited for news reporting. He’s always taken to celebrity incidents more, so he’d be suited for something like…. eta.lk or en.tertainment toni.ght. Plus, wouldn’t it be fun to report a death on tv that you caused?

Salem - Does not understand that he is in the wrong. Like, you know how some villains understand that to do some good things, you need to break a few eggs? And they deal with that guilt?? LIke uh, shit, like Negan had guilt on cheating on his wife and all that, like they can realize that they’ve done bad shit? Salem is so insecure that he projects all guilt and anger and anything wrong onto other people. World falling apart? People losing their families to memory loss? Not his fault, all yours.

Shae - Never wanted to be the hero. She’s watched too many superhero movies to see how it all turns out. Metr.oman? From Meg.amind? Yeah, she doesn’t wanna turn out like that, but she knows that she’ll burnout from all the people saving and all the heroics and that one day she might just have to kill her best friend so as sunshine-y as she is she’s always dealing with this black cloud that hangs over her head and heart and it hurts her that the world is always so in danger and she can only do so much. She wants to have a break.

Sinclair - Has never lived for himself. He only ever helps others. When Jack disappeared, he took it upon himself to defeat the Team Spectre residing within the League. He took over so that people could still experience the League even though he didn’t actually technically become the champion. After all that happens, he leaves to go help others because he has nothing else to live for, he doesn’t know what to do but help. Even as a child, he poured himself into others rather than building himself up.

The Boys - Used to travel the world to sate their hunger before fully settling in their new home, a now dead, formerly economically booming, rural town that still sees some people coming in. When they travelled, they were not known as the boys, more as The Figure, as they did not hivemind as much. It is only thanks to their new setting where they take place in the high school like to eat teenagers that they hivemind as seven different boys (the most they can manage with having separate personalities and appearances while still being connected).

Thomas - Once tried to have a family outside out of Richard without Richard knowing to see what it was like. They aren’t connected other than their purpose, so they share no hivemind, just basic personality. He soon realised that a family would not be for someone like him, as they would always die before him, leading him to fake his death so it’d make human sense. He lost track of where his descendants are now, however, he doesn’t care because he’s dependant on Richard.

Virgil - In Agents of Mayhem, Virgil becomes M. Squelette, the title gained when becoming the leader of the Ivory Skeletons. Either way, his Saints Row verse, he still was a member of that gang, but he left the gang life there to move to Stilwater and then got rescooped into it. He has a lot of Saints ink, the fleur de lis and all that shit, one on his neck, y’know. However, he has a piece of Skeletons ink that he refuses to blot out because its… really nice. Like the tattoo artist obviously worked really hard on it and as loyal as he is to the Saints, he also has a large respect for the arts so there is no way in hell he’ll blot out something so nice looking. Besides, he can just pass it off as something he got when he was drunk considering that he never talks about his time as a Skeleton to anyone.

Woodland - Learned how to ‘speak English’ thanks to the dying screams of the people she killed and ate alive. Some people would try and bargain with her, others would just string together a stream of ‘shit’s and ‘no’s. Of course, this doesn’t help when learning English, as you only learn certain words and all their connotations are fucked and disjointed. She tries her best though. Also, she doesn’t actually have a name. Woodland is just a term.

Xander - Found out that he was a god when he didn’t die when he should have. By all means, he should have died. He was in a car accident with some sorta not really friends (all his other friends were in the other car, thank gods) and all the other ones died horrifically. Someone got flung out the windshield and into a tree, someone stepped out of the crash and got hit by a passing truck, when the car caught on fire, two people were stuck inside. Only Xander lived, but he was in a hospital with wounds that should have never healed, but they did. He then got a message from his fathers telling him about his true parentage.