#very friendly/curious little barb

[3am-cheerios]

yall this fish keeps swimming at me like a puppy wags their tail instead of eating his dinner smh

[misc-obeyme]

Side Characters as Doms Headcanons

And here we are, as requested by multiple anons lol. Yes, this includes the three newbies. I was thinking it was taking me forever to write this part, but actually it's only been a week since I posted the bros? Huh. Anyway. Enjoy!

GN!MC x the side characters

Demon Bros as Doms Side Characters as Subs

NSFW MDNI

Note: As usual, the warnings on this are off the charts but most of it's just briefly mentioned.

Warnings: Sub!MC, bondage, blindfolds, gags, shibari, dacryphilia, begging, overstimulation, praise, degradation, humiliation, biting, hickeys, roleplay, orgasm denial, edging, spanking, demon form, tail stuff (Barb you heathen lol), somnophilia, manhandling, collaring, whips, chains, magic stuff (do I even have to say who), aphrodisiacs, multiple orgasms, blood kink, exhibitionism, titles, jealousy, after care, I hope that's it sheesh.

Diavolo

Doms the same way he interacts with people - generally indulgent, amused, curious, and soft, but push too far and you’re no longer dealing with friendly Diavolo, but the Next Demon King. He prefers to pamper you, but he won’t show leniency to a brat for very long.

He’s also acutely aware of the fact that he is one large, powerful, and strong demon and you are but a fragile human. Even when you’re being punished, he’s gentle with you. His favorite thing to do when you get out of line is to overstimulate you. He wants to hold you in his lap with his fingers inside you, making you come until you cry.

Diavolo is vocal, he spends a lot of time praising you. He’s not really into degradation or humiliation. He wants to tell you how perfect you are for him. He wants to coo in your ear when you’re begging and whining. He’ll call you all sorts of sweet pet names.

Diavolo also likes to dress you up, usually with pretty ropes and a blindfold paired with something like a really expensive necklace. He likes to see his status displayed on you. If you ask for something specific, he’ll buy you the most fanciest and prettiest one he can find.

He also loves to leave his mark on you. His favorite is biting, he’ll be sure to cover you in his teeth marks. He also enjoys sucking on your skin and leaving hickeys all over. Too much bruising stresses him out a little because he’s worried about hurting you too much. But if you’re clearly enjoying it, he’ll keep going.

He won’t do exhibitionism, but he’s okay with close proximity type situations. Actually gets a lock installed on his office door because he really really wants to roleplay with you in there. Sometimes he has a hard time keeping a straight face when doing this, but he manages to school himself. Because he’s waiting for the moment when he can bend you over his desk and lose himself in how good you feel.

Barbatos

Another one who has two modes. Barbatos is a fair dom, but he’s also strict. He’s less indulgent than Diavolo and he’s less hesitant to punish you if you’re being bratty. He has no problem using all forms of punishment and will generally use whatever seems to work best for you. His personal choice is orgasm denial. He’s going to bring you to the edge, maybe multiple times, but never actually allow you to feel that sweet release. If you protest, he’ll just smile and shake his head. It’s meant to be a punishment, MC.

Don’t think that means that’s all he’ll try though. If he finds you respond better to other forms of punishment, he won’t hesitate to switch tactics. Whether he’s spanking you or overstimulating you, you’ll know he means business the second he takes his gloves off.

If you’ve really messed up, though, he won’t even bother with the gloves. That’s when you know you’re really in for it. Barbatos almost never loses his cool, so if you’ve managed to do that, watch out.

He likes to dom in demon form. His tail is useful for all kinds of things, like restraining you or gagging you. It also reminds him of the time when he wasn’t as restrained as he is now. He lets himself go just enough to make things exciting, but not enough that he loses control of the situation.

Barbatos is into just about anything and everything, so if you’ve got some kinda kink, be sure he will use it to his advantage. Oh, you like biting? Good, so does he. Now you're covered in bite marks. Perhaps you enjoy a little somnophilia? It's fine, he enjoys that, too. He'll be sure you're dreaming about his cock.

He likes it when you’re needy and when you beg for him. He can hold back and not touch you at all for a long time, letting you squirm and cry. When he finally does touch you, it’s soft and subtle and almost makes things worse.

Sometimes, he’ll go all out instead. When this happens, you find yourself absolutely exhausted. He’ll make you stay with him the whole next day so he can take care of you. Won’t let you go to RAD or do anything else. He just wants to pamper you.

Simeon

A very gentle and soft dom, Simeon is incredibly indulgent with you. He prefers praise to degradation and he’ll shower you in it. He likes to call you sweet names, too. His favorite thing is just to touch and kiss you. He wants you under him so he can kiss all the way up and down your body, running his fingers along your skin.

You really have to push to get him to punish you at all, but if you go that far, he will put you in your place. You’ll need to brat like no brat has ever bratted to make it happen. But Simeon can quell a bit of a bratty outburst with nothing but a command. When he issues it, there’s a tone in his voice that speaks volumes, even though he’ll still be smiling at you.

If you keep pushing, he will warn you multiple times because he just wants you to be good for him. But eventually, he’ll give you the punishment you so clearly deserve. He doesn’t really have a preference himself, so he’ll do what he thinks will be most effective. He tries different things with you until he finds the one that works.

Surprisingly good at resisting begging. He won’t give in right away if you’re whining and crying in his lap, he’ll let you carry on for a bit first. He likes to listen to your pleas, he thinks you sound so cute.

While he doesn’t particularly enjoy hurting you too much, he does like to manhandle you. He’ll pick you up and move you around as he sees fit. He’s stronger than he looks and he likes to have that control over you. If he puts you into a particular position, you had better not move yourself from it.

Too shy outside the bedroom to allow much of a dynamic there, but he will absolutely give you a Look if you’re acting out. It’s his way of saying you might want to re-evaluate your behavior unless you want to be dealing with the consequences later.

He has a bit of a dark side that you can tap into when you're being really unmanageable. Don't worry, he'll have confirmed your safewords before ever starting anything, so if he's suddenly too much you can use them. But when he flips that switch, you'll find he can be unexpectedly harsh with you. He gets a certain look in his eyes and his voice gets very quiet. You've really decided to push him to his limit, haven't you, MC?

Solomon

Solomon is able to step into dom mode at will and when he does, he’s really good at it. He knows exactly what to do to make your silly little sub heart flutter. He won’t hesitate to keep you in line outside of the bedroom, usually by giving you a little squeeze or even an ominous smile. He likes to have you wear a collar all the time. He’ll corner you somewhere a little out of sight of anyone else, hook a finger into your collar, and whisper words of warning in your ear.

When it comes down to it, Solomon is willing to do anything at all. He’s a pretty fair dom and will always give you space at first to be a little bratty. But it doesn’t take too much to push him and then he’ll deal with you quickly. While he will switch up punishments to whatever works best, he likes spanking. He just wants you to fall apart in his lap.

He will employ anything and everything that will get a good reaction from you. Ropes, whips, blindfolds, gags, etc etc if you can think of it, he will give it a go. He likes to use magic to restrain you, though. If you really have a thing for ropes, he’ll use them sometimes, but his magic is so much more effective. He has all kinds of saucy little spells that make you feel all kinds of sensations~

Solomon wants to make you have multiple orgasms and he will employ aphrodisiac potions to do it if he needs to and if you agree. He just loves to watch you come over and over again. He wants to make your brain stop working for a bit.

He loves to praise you, but he enjoys dirty talk, too. You'll probably get a bit of a random mixture of them.

Solomon also enjoys cockwarming. If he's having a long night in his lab, studying ancient spells, he'll really appreciate you sitting in his lap as long as you can. He loves the way you squirm. He'll tell you to stay still, but the amusement in his tone is evident. If you keep moving like that, MC, he's going to have to do something about it. He won't make you wait too long because in the end, he gets impatient too.

He's very attentive when it comes to after care. He likes to dom and to have fun with you, but he also wants to remind you of how important you are to him. He'll pamper you, hold you close, kiss you, and tell you that you're his everything.

Mephistopheles

By far the meanest of doms. It depends a bit on what you respond to and also what mood he's in, but he's generally not going to give you an inch. Sometimes he's in a softer mood and he'll be a little nicer, but even then it's not by much. He expects you to follow his orders and be grateful about it. When he's like this, he won't tolerate brattiness. If you push, he'll double down and you won't like when that happens. He'll get stubborn and he won't indulge you at all.

He'll use all kinds of methods or punishment, but mostly it’s going to be edging and orgasm denial. He wants you to beg so he can ignore it. He’ll be sure to tell you it’s your own fault for thinking he’d go easy on you.

Mephisto will mostly use dirty talk and degradation, delivering praise only when you’ve really earned it. He likes to see you cry, so he will do everything he can to make that happen. If you do start, that’s the only time he’ll soften just a little. He’ll wipe away your tears and tell you how good you’re being for him.

He has a blood kink. He wants to see your blood on your skin and he will bite you. Leaves all kinds of marks across your body, mostly with his mouth.

He’s into exhibitionism and semi public sex. He gets cocky and wants people to know that you belong to him. Loves it when you wear a collar visibly. Doesn’t hesitate to grab you or whisper threats if he thinks you’re acting out in public.

Despite all this, he gets incredibly soft when it comes to after care. This is when he pampers you. Instead of threats, he's now whispering sweet nothings in your ear. He gets embarrassed about how much you matter to him, so it's easier for him to be mean. He might even confess all this to you in these quieter moments. He'll gently kiss every mark he left on your body. He'll tell you that he hates how much a human matters to him. Don't you see what you've done to him, MC?

Raphael

He's a little skeptical at first. You want him to do what exactly? It isn't that he's innocent, but he's not sure he understands the appeal. Give him some time and he'll fall right into it easily enough. Raphael seems like a strict dom, but he's more lenient than he first appears. He's just quiet, won't give you a lot of orders, really.

He does like to tie you up. Shibari is especially intriguing to him. He likes taking the time to create masterpieces out of rope on your body. He likes the way the ropes leave marks when he finally unties you. He'll kiss along the places where they were, indulging in the feeling of your heated skin.

Raphael might not think of it himself, but he'll lose his whole mind if you use a title for him. Call him Sir or Master and he'll be the one blushing like crazy. He'll be able to control himself, but he'll ask you to do it again.

He's more into praise than anything, he likes to tell you how good you're being. If you're being bad, he gets quiet. You'll know you're in trouble when he's suddenly not talking much. Perhaps giving you short one syllable responses.

Punishments will really be just about anything. It's whatever he's in the mood to do and whatever he thinks will get the message across. Fortunately, he finds that just giving you a certain look is usually enough to quell you. Because you'll find his punishments are quite harsh, so it's better to avoid them. Of course, if you really want to be punished, all you have to do is push a little harder.

Raphael is not super into exhibitionism, but sometimes he feels the need to pull you into an empty room, especially at RAD. He is surprisingly jealous. If he thinks you're getting too cozy with anyone else, he'll make sure you haven't forgotten who you belong to. Do you suppose it's fun to push his buttons that way, MC?

Thirteen

Don't worry, MC. She will absolutely step on you if you want her to. Thirteen is not shy about domming, she will agree immediately. She's willing to do whatever you want - whatever gets you to react. She'll try praise, but if she finds degradation or humiliation work better, she'll switch to that. Either way, though, she likes to keep her hand in your hair, so she can pull it whenever she wants.

She enjoys biting and blood. She will leave her marks on you, whether its with her teeth or her nails. She likes the way it looks on you, but she also likes the sight of your blood on her fingertips.

Thirteen will tie you up, blindfold you, and gag you. She'll make you wear a collar and leash. She will go all out, she's not holding back at all. She expects you to behave and if you don't, she'll deal with you readily.

Punishments can vary, but she likes to watch you squirm. Whatever does that most effectively, gets you crying and begging, that's what she'll go for every time. She'll try spanking, edging, orgasm denial, even stuff like whips and chains. She likes to come up with unique ways to restrain you or punish you, like she does with her traps.

Will not hesitate to use magic on you. Spells, potions, whatever she can find that will have the desired effect. She likes to overstimulate you. She'll use aphrodisiac potions to keep you aroused for hours. She loves to watch you cry and whine and mumble her name because you've forgotten yours.

Thirteen will get jealous and she'll sometimes feel the need to remind you of your place if she thinks you're getting too friendly with someone else. This generally consists of a hand on your arm, a simple look, or a single word. She doesn't need to make a big show of it, but all of those things get you to back off. And you know you'll be hearing about it later.

In the end, she's going to take care of you. She may go all out, but she always ends with praise, soft kisses and caresses. She tells you how good you are, how perfect for her, how much she just wants you to be hers and only hers.

demon bros as doms | demon bros as subs | side characters as subs masterlist | Thank you for reading!

[furys-mercy]

OC Tag Game

Favorite OC: It’s really hard to choose. Mercer is my main and therefor gets the vast majority of my brainstorming and plotting. That said, I really enjoy writing for Sebastian and his current arc is probably my favorite I have going on. If I was forced to pick I would chooser Mercer. But only because I have been playing him for so long and he’s been through so much and has grown into a character I am really proud of. 

Oldest OC: Liyaya Liya. My original main in XIV RP. She grew from a baby adventurer with little knowledge of the world to a shrewd business woman. She’s now the NPC owner of Aetherflow Investigations and doesn’t get much in the way of actual screen time, but I do still love her so very much. 

Newest OC: Marcette de Lamoreaux. She was originally intended to be an NPC in Mercer and Sebastian’s stories that would eventually either die or be otherwise defeated. But, the more I wrote her, the more I loved her. And not because she is a good person. No, no. She’s awful. But there is something delightful about her inner monologue. I can’t wait to get some more RP on her after I come back from haitus. 

Meanest OC: I think it is a tie between Marcette and Sebastian. Kishar might also come into play here, but she’s more aggressive and less outright mean. The Vairemont siblings, however, have barbed tongues. Both of them. Sebastian has the ability to be nicer than Marcette currently does, but he can also be more venomous than her, depending on the situation and how his words might best benefit him and his plans.  

Softest OC: Teo-Linh. This one isn’t particularly close. Don’t let the void taint fool you. Teo is my soft and fluffy little man who is far too curious for his own good. Which has gotten him to trouble in the past and will continue to, but all from the perspective of being helpful and friendly and just all around good. 

Most Aloof/Standoffish OC: Kishar Sepelire. She’s a voidsent. Enough said, really. 

Dumbest (Affectionate) OC: Sebastian de Vairemont. I love this boy, but his (now crumbling) faith in the aristocracy and his place within it just makes me want to bang my head against a wall. 

Dumbest (Derogatory) OC: Marcette de Lamoreaux. She thinks she’s brilliant. She thinks she plays the social and political game like a master. And everyone around her is just wondering how many times she will have to lose and be put in her place before she realizes. So far, she hasn’t. And she’s lost a lot. 

Smartest OC: Mercer. His abilities in both arcanima and engineering stem from the fact that he is, at his core, a walking calculator. He’s always had a love of complex maths and as he got older he found ways to utilize that interest leading him to his current career path and skillset. One could argue that Teo’s encyclopedic knowledge of very esoteric magicks might rival Mercer on this question, but as Mercer also has knowledge in that area, I think he wins. 

Horniest OC: It’s a tie between Mercer and Sebastian.  

OC You'd Bang: I’m probably just going to answer this as the character I find most attractive, personally. Which is still a hard question to answer since they are all pretty good looking, but I have a major weakness for cravats and waistcoats. So, Sebastian wins here. 

OC You'd Be Best Friends With IRL: Teo-Linh or Liyaya Liya. They both love books, plants, and history. I think we’d have a decent amount in common and get a long pretty well. 

[beesflowers]

𝐵𝓇𝒾𝑒𝓁𝓁𝑒 𝒮𝓉𝑜𝓇𝓎 𝒱𝑜𝒾𝒸𝑒-𝐿𝒾𝓃𝑒𝓈

Characters: Brielle

Type: OC description

Hello

My name is Brielle... umm I hope I'll be of use to you. ... If that's all... I'll take my leave…

Chat: Book

I'll go back to my book for the time being...

Chat: Afternoon Tea

Lisa would probably say it's time for afternoon tea...

Chat: Other Place

Eh... *whispering* I could've been somewhere else...

When It Rains

Once I tried using my vision in the rain... eek! Forgive me, I don't know why I mentioned it...

When Thunder Strikes

Eek! ehem... i-is there a chance we can go somewhere else?

When It's Snowy

Weather like this makes me feel young again~

Good Morning

Good morning. Have a nice day...!

Good Afternoon

Good afternoon, maybe you'd like to have afternoon tea with me and Lisa?

Good Evening

You should get some sleep. You deserve it.

Good Night

Goodnight. Have a nice rest.

About Brielle: Horns

I never mind that people asked if they can touch my horns, in fact, it made a lot of kids happy! And Baaaard... yes bard, he also had fun. It's a long story...

About Brielle: Adepti

It's a little hard for me so... please don't laugh but... well, I'm adepti... oh- you know about it?!

About Brielle: Family

I never had good relationship with my family... maybe it's part of the reason why I want to help you find your siblling so much?

About Us: Comrades

Thank you for inviting me to your team... not many people had ever done that...

About Us: Trust

I trust you so much that I think I told you everything... and I hope you also feel like you can tell me everything.

About Vision: Memories

My vision remind me about my childhoos... I can't say those were bad times but... they weren't the best either...

About Vision: Cold

Every time I use my vision I can feel coldness go through my body, as if thousands of snowflakes were going through my body. Isn't that interesting?

About Amber

She's quite... lively person... I don't mean it in a bad way! It's just... I'm still not sure if I hurt her feelings or not...

About Kaeya

I don't want to talk badly behind peoples backs but... I prefer to avoid him...

About Lisa

Miss Lisa is very smart! And she's helping me to overcome my shyness. Hehe~ I start to feel sad when I remember how much time we have left together...

About Barbara

When she first met me, she thought something's wrong with me because of my horns on my eyes... I don't think badly of her because of that, quite the opposite, it was nice of her to be worried about me~

About Fischl

I don't know what to think about her... once I came to give her a quest from someone and she told me her whole backstory. Oh! Don't get me wrong! I think it was quite... interesting.

About Noelle

Noelle helps others all the time but she forgets about herself... ehh... poor girl needs to start taking care of herself or she'll overdo it one day...

About Sucrose

She's the reason why I was part of "Experiment Br.". But I need to admit that it was interesting experience, Sucrose was so delicate!

About Jean

At first I thought that Miss Jean and Miss Lisa had something special between each other. But... later it turned out that... ehh... w-well, it's a story between us three.

About Mona

Her ilussions are great! Let's just say we have few shared topics...

About Venti

You mean Barb- ehem...Venti. Heh well... we don't have any special relationships going on! Hehehe...

About Klee

Once I took care of her and... ehh... for the first time I was so tired after one day...

About Diona

It's hard to admit but... she reminds me a little of me when I was younger... ehem can you check how she's doing from time to time for me?

About Zhongli

I met him thanks to Baaa-rd... ehem, I thought it was going to be some serious meeting but it was just friendly hangout... but at least he told me many interesting histories! I'm curious if they were all he knew...

About Albedo

Sucrose was delicate with so called "Experiment Br." but he wasn't holding back at all! Ah... I'm sorry... I think I got too carried away...

About Ganyu

If you're looking for someone you can spend good time with, it would be Ganyu but... I recommend you first making sure she's not busy...

About Eula

Her dancing skills are amazing! hah... I still don't know how I managed to get into her small dancing lesson...

About Raiden Shogun

I feel like i met her but... I can't seem to recall any details...

About Yae Miko

She's really nice but she also decorates by horns all the time... it's not that bad! But... every time it becomes harder to take all of these off... But at least I could feel how fluffy her ears and tail are! Hehe~

About Collei

The last time I met her, she had... interesting aura... I hope she's doing better now...

More About Brielle: I

I know it's change of topic but... I just realized that I never told you about sheeps I create with my vision... well one is named "Snowflake", I know it's a bit childish to name them but I thought of that when I was young... it's just... if you ever will have trouble with climbing, Snowfalek is great companion.

More About Brielle: II

Do you ever have nightmares? I often dream that I'm trapped in dark hole I can't get out from... um... please don't laugh... I know it's- he? oh so you also have nightmares, I think we can agree they're not nice...

More About Brielle: III

When I come to library I always promise myself to be there for no longer than 3 hours but... it usually ends with Miss Lisa reminding me it's time to close library. Only then I realize I spent there my whole day!

More About Brielle: IV

Is something bothering you? Mhm... I thought so. Maybe I can't see well but I can feel someones aura, that's why I knew we'll meet today and I prepared few things.

More About Brielle: V

People often ask me how I see... and truth is that... I don't. I'm blind. But instead I have better feeling of senses! With walking helps me touch, taste, smell... all my senses to be honest! But to be honest... I wandered around Teyvat so many times I doubt I can get lost, especially Mondstadt.

Brielle's Hobby

In my free time I like to climb on Mondstadts mountains. But I need to admit that Liyues mountains are much better! I-I'm not complaining on Monstadt! Absolutely not! It's just... every region has it's own traits...

Brielle's Troubles

Every morning I need to ask people for help with brushing my hair, eh... it's really hard to style it because of them... eh? How I deal with them during taking a bath? Ehe... eheheheh... let's leave this talk for another day...

Favorite Food

Ah... it's a tough choice... I admit that Lisa's Spaghetti is delicious! If you want I can even ask her to make portion for us both! But... Barbatos Ratatouille is also delicious... Ah! Please don't make me choose!

Least Favorite Food

I don't want to complain but if I had tochoose one food in entire Teyvat that I don't like, it would be jelly... it's that... I don't like it's consistence...

Receiving a Gift: I

That's way more than I could dream of! Thank you so much!

Receiving a Gift: II

Oh my! H-How can I repay you?

Receiving a Gift: III

You didn't had to! But... I love this, thank you.

Feelings About Ascension: Intro

I feel like sheeps around my heart started to dance a bit more lively...

Feelings About Ascension: Building Up

Mhm... I have a feeling... that this will be something more... I guess I'll have to be patient...

Feelings About Ascension: Climax

Climbing isn't that easy, but when you have someone by your side, it makes you think like it!

Feelings About Ascension: Conclusion

The moment we met, I felt I was becoming stronger every day... I don't even know what was the reason for that but... thank you. For everything.

[pokeglitchden]

[A VIDEO IS UPLOADED DATED 7/3/23 AT 12:00 PM The video centers on a brightly colored bizarre looking pokemon that is easily 20 feet tall. This is clearly up close camera footage of the event, taking through a handheld device. The camera is shaky, but it is close enough that the creature can be seen in its entirety from the ground. The 3TrainerPoke$ has climbed up the side of a building. And is peering in through one of the windows.

From off camera, the voice of a jovial sounding, slightly unhinged man can be heard calling to the pokemon. This appears to be Orion, a pokemon researcher who seems to have no concept of fear. He is calling to the giant pokemon in a singsong voice.

Orion- Here baby baby baby. Come eat. I've got some berries for you.

The creature's head seems to turn slowly. From the other side of the video feed, Simon's voice can be heard giving directions.

Simon- Dear Arc, it's up a building already?

The giant pokemon turns its massive head away from the window it had been attempting to peer into. It beats its wings violently as it jumps back down to the street.

The camera footage shakes violently, almost feeling like the start of an earthquake. It starts to approach, looking curious, almost playful as it moves its void like head from side to side.

Simon- Ok. You've got its attention. Now, be ready to back off. You just want to get its attention, not lose a limb.

Orion backs up very slowly. He holds out a hand as he continues to speak to it in a soothing, almost affectionate tone. He has left a small armful of berries on the ground before him.

Orion- That's right baby. All those berries are for you. Go ahead and eat.

The 3trainerpoke$ takes a few slow, short, lumbering steps forward. Up close it is clear that this pokemon likely cannot move very fast. It looks stressed, uncertain. But it moves to eat the berries, seeming for a moment almost calmed by Orion's presence.

Simon- Ok, right this is good. Now maybe if you could lure it out of the city. Get it away from people to mitigate the damage it…

He trails off when he sees the Pokemon shift abruptly. It raises its head, and it's feathers suddenly sharpen, bright violet tinged venom suddenly oozing from their points. It flaps its great wings and a barrage of poisoned barbs fly towards Orion. Orion drops to the ground immediately, rolls to avoid the strike, and turns to dash out of the city. He is still calling to it.

Orion- Here baby baby baby!

The 3TrainerPoke$ tilts its head, curiously. As if it has no idea why the little creature it just attacked is running away.

Is it angry? Or is it playing? After a few steps it halts and seems to suck in a great breath of air, before blowing out a flurry of caustic bubbles that crash down upon Orion.

It leaves a dent in the pavement. It's clear that while the pokemon is slow its attacks are EXCEEDINGLY powerful.

Simon- Orion you NEED to get our of there. I can't tell if it's trying to play with you or just destroy you, but either way, this is getting way too dangerous. We need another approach to this!

While Orion manages to dodge the majority of the bubbles, it is clear that at least one has struck him, as the camera pitches wildly. As this happens another figure arrives at the scene. A green haired Glitch City denizen named Rhŷs. They give a friendly wave as a greeting.

Rhŷs- Hey Simon! I heard you needed backup?

Orion- Yeah, we definitely need backup! Baby is probably playing, but we kinda need to get it away from the city and subdued

Simon- Yes. We can use all the help we can get! We just need to get it away from as many people as possible!

The 3TrainerPoke$ bristles again. It's feathers all seem to move at once in a rippling pattern as it assesses the newcomer. It tilts its giant head.

And then it flaps its wings again. It emits another high pitched click as it darts away from the two of them, back towards the city center. In its wake there is a crackling sound.

Simon- No, no no Orion get back it's-!!

The video file corrupts here and is over taken by static. No more footage could be retrieved from this file

END OF VIDEO FEED]

Orion is okay. Thankfully. But this is what we're up against right now. I'm blind to what's happening for now. Trying to establish connection again. I hope he is ok.

@orionadventure Hold out while I get this figured out, yeah? I want to ensure there is still someone on the other side when I get this connection stabilized again.

[obeybeans]

Part 2: MC wears a short skirt

And the dateables see a little more than they expected.

The brothers are in part 1

Diavolo

- you usually dress pretty formal to see the Demon Lord, so you're usually in longer skirts or smarter trousers

- you can't help but feel like you should show some decorum around him, no matter how much he tries to get you to relax

- though over time you do loosen up around him. After all, he's very charming and friendly, so it'd be hard not to

- you've started wearing more casual attire the last few times you've seen him outside of RAD

- one time you studied in the castle library for a change of scenery, and he got to see you in a loose sweater and jeans. You looked good!

- since then he had been looking forward to next time

- you two had been getting a lot closer, and he had been trying to make his interest in you beyond friendship pretty clear...

- so it's quite rewarding when he invites you for dinner (under the pretense of discussing the housing arrangements and how you're faring in the exchange programme, so none of the brothers would try and butt in) and you show up wearing a skirt that is very revealing

- he hasn't seen anyone other than the succubi wear such short skirts but he isn't complaining

- he can hardly take his eyes off you, devouring you with his gaze while he tries to remain the picture of friendly yet regal

- during dinner, Barbatos leaves to fetch some Demonus

- the way you flutter your eyelashes makes Diavolo fumble his fork, dropping it to the floor

- as he ducks under the table cloth to retrieve it after a quick apology, he chances to look at your legs just as you uncross them then recross them

- his eyes are burning with lust as he returns above the table. He can tell by the shy, flirty look on your face that you did that on purpose

- so he has no qualms about reaching under the table again to lay a large hand over your thigh, squeezing it lightly as he makes purposeful eye contact with you

- Barb is intuitive enough to leave you two alone once dinner is over and the two of you depart for the lounge

Barbatos

- after a huge argument between Satan and Lucifer lead to the destruction of the laundry room, Barbatos quickly offered to handle the House of Lamentation's laundry until it could be repaired

- which meant he also got to wash your clothes

- He was very curious to find a short skirt with pretty ribbon work holding together the thigh slits in your laundry pile

- tomorrow, you were due to come and bake a cake with him so that you could learn how to decorate it...

- and he happened to know from a previous similar experience that when you were running late, you always threw on whatever clothes were at the top of the clean pile on your chair

- not that he condoned such messiness, nor running late in the first place but....

- he may have 'forgotten' to call you to remind you of the meeting time until late the next day after making sure the skirt was on top of the pile for you

- lo and behold you're wearing it when you arrive. What a sight to see.

- You're none the wiser to how he had created these circumstances, though. You just thank him for the clean laundry and ask if you can do anything to repay him

- he tells you your company is reward enough

- especially when you lean down in the kitchen for a mixing bowl as he returns from the pantry with the ingredients for the cake

- whether or not it's really necessary for him to stand this close behind you as he guides your piping work once the cake has cooled is up to interpretation

- and you wiping the icing sugar off your skirt in a way that slides it up your leg even more certainly isn't necessary

- when this causes the ribbons to go slack and leave the slits in the fabric being much more revealing, he's more than obliged to assist you in relacing them

- once the two of you are done on the kitchen counter that is

- and you being the sweet soul that you are help him clean up the mess you helped him make

- unsightly for the usually careful butler, but you seem to bring that out in him

Simeon

- you agreed to go to Purgatory Hall that afternoon so that Simeon could show you the writing he's recently been working on

- he's been working non stop and hasn't had time for much else, but you respect his work ethic and haven't really complained

- even though the angel has been apologising constantly for being so busy that you haven't been able to hang out much at all

- you do miss seeing him... So now that you get to spend time with him today, you decide to wear something a little special for him

- you just hope it doesn't offend his virtues, given that the skirt is a bit shorter than you bargained for when you ordered it online

- it's too pretty to not wear it, though

- when you arrive, he's still in his room and Solomon gives you a knowing look and a smirk as he lets you in

- you're a little embarrassed that the sorcerer guessed your intentions so easily. You don't want to seem like you're trying too hard...

- Simeon definitely doesn't think you're trying too hard when you make it into his room

- he thinks you look ravishing, and he tells you so

- of course, he had been intending to surprise you with a lunch date, and ... The idea of others seeing you like this makes his skin crawl with jealousy that is far from angelic

- a bit of a conundrum

- after hugging you and giving you a kiss on the cheek, Simeon brings you to his desk and hands you the stacks of paper covered in his perfect handwriting

- you read it in awe. It's only been a week and he's written this much?

- on the largest stack, though, a couple of pieces slip out of your grip and you hurriedly bend over to pick them up, apologising profusely

- Simeon is too distracted to even register that his manuscript in progress is probably a little shuffled now

- after all, your skirt...

- it's fine, he numbered the pages anyway

- you pout when he takes them off you, thinking you had offended him only to have him lead you to the couch in his room and kneel before you, running his hands down your legs

- 'I'll let you read it all later, darling, but how can I resist you like this?'

- you can't really protest against that

- he'll definitely give you a jacket to wear when you two do end up going out on your date, though. He wants this view to be only his.

Solomon

- Exam season is fast approaching and you've been studying nonstop

- Solomon is the same, even if he's far less concerned about whether or not he'll pass. He's had a lot longer to be familiar with these subjects, after all

- He agreed to tutor you in some of the subjects. You were too embarrassed to ask Satan, Lucifer or Belphie, the highest academic performers of the brothers

- and Solomon's grades are incredibly high, so...

- it's not like you've been hoping for an excuse to spend more time with him

- That day, though, you were tired, cranky and stressed. The long hours of studying had been wearing you down.

- you felt pretty undesirable, but you had organised yet another study/tutoring session so... You decided to try and make yourself feel a little better by wearing a new lingerie set and skirt

- if Solomon ended up seeing your cute new panties, that would be a win in your books

- you didn't seem to realise how easily your skirt rode up your thighs as you fidgeted in your chair at the back of the library, though

- or did you?

- you were feeling nervous and excited all at once at being near Solomon all alone like this, so it was hard to stay still

- you needed to go and grab a few more books for your revision, so Solomon waited for you at the table you had both selected

- you were taking a while, though…

- he decided to go after you and make sure you were alright

- rounding a bookshelf, he collides with you head first as you struggle to lug a huge stack of books

-the books go everywhere, and Solomon lands on top of you with his face cushioned on your stomach

- as he leans up to apologise and check you're okay, he realises your skirt has flipped up during the fall

- he checks you over quickly before letting a smirk take over his features

- 'Your skirt looks lovely, but I think I like it even better like this.'

- At least he takes you to the back section of forbidden books before you two go any further

- (he keeps your panties after, though. Just because he can)

- (you make him buy you more)

[dandy-writes]

Eyewishes - Ch. 2

AN: Did I just sit down and write all of this in like two hours on a whim after over a month of inactivity? Yes. Is it good? God, I hope so. Anyways. Obligatory spoiler warning! This fic takes place in season 2, but contains spoilers for certain things up through the end of season 4. Also, in this chapter I describe scars and thus, the implied wounds that caused them. So warning for that. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy!

Chapter One

Someone had blinded them in their left eye.

Well, perhaps something might have been a better term given the situation, but Y/N truly didn’t know. It was incredibly disconcerting. They had no idea who or what had blinded them, nor any knowledge of anything about themselves from before they reached the doorstep of the Magnus Institute. It was obvious they were suffering from amnesia, and without much effort they Knew that if they were to go to a hospital their affliction would be diagnosed as retrograde amnesia specifically, as opposed to anterograde amnesia, the difference being… well, they could go on and on with textbook definitions and possible causes. But no matter how hard they tried, they could not See into their own past.

The handiwork was at the very least neat, so perhaps there was a clue there. On several occasions Y/N had found themself losing track of time and spending hours staring at themselves in the water-stained mirror of the Archives’ seldom-used bathroom, analyzing every detail of their wounded eye. Two lines of scar tissue ran over their brow and eyelid down to their cheek, perpendicular to each other in a way that formed an “X” over their eye. Was it intentional? By the way their gut churned when they asked themself that, Y/N suspected it might have been.

And though the damage done to their eye was horrific enough, Y/N wasn’t convinced that it alone was what was causing their stagnation. They could probably write it all off to that, but something that pulled at the back of their mind told them that there was more. That something else had happened to them, but they just couldn’t remember. Couldn’t See. There was, of course, the situation of their stomach, but… Well. That was a bit more difficult to address. Besides, they’d only learned of that when they’d first had the opportunity to change clothes over a day after they’d arrived at the Institute. Martin had been kind enough to locate and bring to them some clothing in roughly their size, but they’d decided quickly to keep the flannel. It was cold down in the Archives, and maybe it was just their imagination, but it seemed like when they wore it the barbed wire surrounding their memories retreated just a little bit.

The others weren’t as friendly. Tim and Jon were suspicious -- rightly so, if a bit misguided -- and only allowed them to stay in the Archives after quite a bit of persuasion from Martin. And luckily for Y/N, the thing seemed just as content to avoid them as they were it. Then, there was Elias.

Elias didn’t visit the Archives too often, but that didn’t matter, because he was always Watching, even if the others didn’t realize. He couldn’t See through Y/N’s eyes, though, something that had become apparent quite early on in their stay at the Institute. All the more reason to isolate themself from the others. They might have both been on the same “side”, but his demeanor towards them made it quite clear that this meant nothing to him.

That being said, it wasn’t that much of a surprise when Y/N felt the staticky presence moving down the hallway towards the bathroom door. They had been staring again (for approximately 42 minutes and 37 seconds), and again, no answers were coming. They gripped the edges of the sink and did their best not to look away from their reflection as the door opened.

Elias was immaculately dressed, as usual, in a dark green three-piece suit that was utterly out of place in the drab surroundings. His gray-streaked hair was pristine, and he had a pair of thin-rimmed glasses perched on his nose, through which he was watching Y/N intently.

“Ah, Y/N. I wasn’t expecting to see you here.” It was a blatant lie, and they both knew it, one of many that the two had passed between themselves since Y/N’s arrival. “Hiding from the archival staff? I suppose I can understand that. They can certainly be a little…” He turned on his heel so that he was fully facing the mirror, a slight smirk pulling at the corners of his mouth. “Unsettling at times.”

<What do you want.>

He chuckled (it wasn’t a genuine laugh, of course. Y/N doubted if they’d had any sort of genuine interaction since he’d threatened them) and began to approach them. His steps were slow, drawn out, giving them apt time to meet his gaze in the mirror, but they didn’t. He’d only enjoy it if they were to watch him as he was watching them. Like a curious predator.

He stopped mere inches from them, and Y/N was almost relieved until he leant forwards. The moment his chest hit their back they stiffened fully, only just able to stop their neutral expression from faltering as Elias dipped his head down to the right of theirs, not quite touching, but still far too close for comfort. Carefully, he brought his hands to rest on the edge of the sink next to their own. He had not stopped trying to make eye contact with them.

“I just want to talk, Y/N. I’m sure you must have questions you’d like to ask me.”

<None you’d actually answer.>

His gaze narrowed slightly. “No, probably not. But why don’t you try me?”

They had to close their eyes to stop themselves from looking up at him at that. Did he want them to try and Compel him? Even if they were at their strongest, they didn’t think he’d let them do so successfully. No, he was probably just gloating. They reopened their eyes, but did not look away from their own reflection. <Why don’t they know?>

“You’re going to have to be a little bit more specific than that, I’m afraid.”

Their brow furrowed. <The Archivist, and the others. Why don’t they know they’re under the Eye? Or that there’s a Stranger posing as their friend? Why haven’t you told them, when-->

Elias cut them off with a tsk, tilting his head as he did so. “Really, Y/N, don’t you have more important things to worry about?” They watched their eyes widen as he placed his left hand on their cheek, fingers just grazing their scars. His touch was cold. “Poor thing… I can’t imagine what--”

<Stop it.> They felt frozen in place as they watched his fingertips trace over their skin.

“Ah, right. All you can do is try and imagine what happened to you. Or am I mistaken? Please, tell me exactly just what it is you can remember, Y/N. Or is it really nothing at all? So much lost knowledge, it must be taking a toll on--”

<Stop it.> In a burst of movement Y/N spun around to face him, their gaze finally meeting his. They nearly gasped at the force of it, and a wave of shivers wracked their body as the raw feeling of being Watched invaded their senses. Their reaction was obvious, and Elias’ small smile immediately broke out into a pleased, toothy grin.

The trouble was, it felt very, very nice to be Seen by another avatar of the Eye. Of course, there was no way Elias could Know that Y/N felt that way, but if he’d had much experience with other avatars of their god, which was likely, then it wouldn’t take too far of a leap to come to that conclusion.

It didn’t help that with his hands firmly planted on the sink edge, Y/N was practically caged-in between it and his body.

“Oh, Y/N, it really is a shame…” He’d lowered his voice to a purr as he brought his hand up to cup their cheek once more. “Because judging off of what’s left, you truly must have had beautiful eyes.”

That was it. With as much force as they could muster they pressed their palms against the lapels of his suit and shoved him away from them. He must’ve decided he’d had enough fun for one day, as he let Y/N push him off with far more ease than they’d expected, and did not move to stop them as they stormed out of the bathroom and slammed the door behind them. Every nerve in their body felt hypersensitive as they focused on getting as far away from Elias Bouchard as they could while staying within the boundaries of the Archives. They didn’t think he was going to follow them, but they couldn’t be sure after the way he’d been Looking at them just moments before. Y/N wasn’t used to him being so direct -- the statements he’d made in regards to their lack of memory had surprised them, but it just meant he was better at piecing things together without the aid of Seeing into one’s mind than they’d hoped -- nor to being confronted with so much power from another avatar. Though, worryingly, they didn’t think that he had exactly been using full force in there.

He was just toying with them, that was all. They had expected him to start doing so at some point, so that in and of itself wasn’t a surprise.

They just didn’t account for how good it would make them feel.

Taglist: @decora-peaches

[primeideal]

Wheel of Time Episode 1: Leavetakings

This blog is about to become Wheel of Time: The Show: The Squee liveblog. I will spoiler-cut each episode, but be aware that this is coming from a (very enthusiastic) book fan, so there may be hints or references to later book events. If you want a completely un-spoiled experience, don't read.

-Is the first scene (based on blurbs I think this is Liandrin stilling Logain) weirdly pixelated for anyone or just me? -It looks like it's just that one scene, maybe trying to represent Logain's state of mind. -We see the madness with Logain (or whoever)'s friend egging him on to fight back...and then the friend isn't really there, oof. -"Four ta'veren"? Did...did Moiraine just say "four ta'veren"? !!!!! -Lan cracking a joke about the bath temperature to tease Moiraine into heating it up. Okay Lan would never, back in his day he had to bathe in the frozen ruins of Malkier uphill both ways, he's not going to be fazed by a little chill. But, uh, we've already got one bath scene down. Platonic bros platonically sharing a bath, even! -I'd heard speculation about Leila being added as Perrin's wife who gets fridged in the first episode. First appearance: Leila stronk. She is a blacksmith. And...doesn't really like socializing? Okay. -The kids love Padan Fain! His cart is very decorative and it definitely feels like the right vibe for "friendly travelling salesman who all the villagers appreciate." Excellent props/costuming work there. -Mat swindles the barmaid out of her bracelet to haggle it with Fain, haha -The vaguely vocalizing background music (in particular, the Rand and Egwene on the mountain scene, but also in general) isn't really doing it for me. -Nynaeve the mysterious foundling baby, hahaha, this is like my genderswap AU--how sure are we that she's not the chosen one?! -And then Moiraine needling her about her age, but also trying to research, while Nynaeve is barbed and "I will protect this village even from you if need be!" Their dynamic is excellent!! -The dragon's fang symbol being made out of dead sheep by the Myrddraal, gross. -The holiday festivities involve lighting farolitos for loved ones who have died. Which gives Tam and Rand a reason to have the "the wheel keeps turning, even though we mourn our losses, we make the best of this life and hope it can be a better future" chance that doesn't feel like a cheesy Dumbledore rehash way down the line! (Uh, spoilers.) -Tam with the heron-mark sword, yesss. The discussions of "well we have to cut down on locations, etc." for some reason made me think Tam and Rand would just be spending the holiday period in Emond's Field and wouldn't go back to the farm? But that scene was great. (Even if we didn't have Narg the Smart Trolloc.) -Moiraine and Lan tandem fighting, love to see it! -Nynaeve gets carried off by Trollocs? Um... -"There's three hundred more Trollocs after you so we're probably going to have another set piece fight in an episode or two, also one of you is the chosen one, let's get moving." -Moiraine "Are you out of your mind" - Mat. Pretty reasonable response. I'm not sure this part completely works for me, I feel like "what the heck, if one of us is actually Lews Therin Telamon reborn we're all going to be panicking and stressing about it the whole time" could be a problem. There's also the fate vs. free will thing--like, part of the reason I love book-Egwene is because she chooses to come along on the adventure, she isn't compelled to by fate. And I get that this version wants to be more explicit about "women and men are equal, not just 'separate but equal,'" so putting Egwene on the same ta'veren terms as the other three might be a better way to do that. But there are tradeoffs. Which again, makes me curious how and when Nynaeve will enter back into things. Other things: Mat "Not A Bloody Hero" Cauthon just rolling his eyes and accepting his duty to look after his sisters. Leila...I don't feel like we got enough from her to care, unfortunately, this could be a level-one fridging. Maybe flashbacks? But right now all I really get out of her is that she and the Armorer from the Mandalorian should be friends.

[thewidowsghost]

The Daughter of the Sea - Chapter 6

(Y/n)'s POV

Once I get over the fact that my brother's Latin teacher was half horse, we have a nice tour.

We pass by the volleyball pit. Several of the campers nudge each other. One points to the Minotaur horn Percy is carrying. Another says, "It's them."

Most of the campers are older than me. Their satyr friends are bigger than Grover, all of them trotting around in orange CAMP HALF-BLOOD t-shirts, with nothing else to cover their bare shaggy hindquarters. I'm not normally shy, but the way they are staring at me and Percy makes me uncomfortable. I feel as though they want us to do a flip or something.

I look back at the farmhouse. It's bigger than I'd realized - four stories tall, sky blue with white trim, like an upscale seaside resort. I'm checking out the brass eagle weather vane on top when something catches my eyes, a shadow in the uppermost window of the attic gable. Something had moved the curtain, just for a second, and I get a distinct impression that I'm being watched.

"What's up there?" I ask Chiron.

He looks to where I'm pointing and his smile fades, "Just the attic."

"Somebody lives there?" Percy asks.

"No," he says with finality. "Not a single living thing."

I get the feeling that he's being truthful, but I am also sure something had moved that curtain.

As we get closer, I realize how huge the forest is. It takes up at least a quarter of the valley, with trees so tall and thick, you could imagine nobody had been in there since the Native Americans.

Chiron says, "The woods are stocked if you care to try your luck, but go armed."

"Stocked with what?" Percy asks. "Armed with what?"

"You'll see. Capture the flag is Friday night. Do you have your own swords and shields?"

"My own - ?" Percy is cut off.

"No," Chiron interupts. "I don't suppose you do. I think a size five will do for you, Percy, and a size three for you, (Y/n). I'll visit the armory later."

Finally, Chiron shows us the cabins. There are twelve of them, nestled in the woods by the lake. They are arranged in a U, with two at the base and five in a row on each side. And they are, without a doubt the most bizarre number above the door.

Except for the fact that each has a large brass number above the door (odds on the left side, evens on the right), they lock absolutely nothing alike. Number Nine has smokestacks, like a tiny factory. Number Four has tomato vines on the walls and a roof made out of real grass. Seven seems to be made of solid gold, which gleams so much in the sunlight it was almost impossible to look at. They all face a commons area about the size of a soccer field, dotted with Greek statues, fountains, flower beds, and a couple of basketball hoops (which were more my speed).

In the center of the field is a huge stone-lined firepit. Even though it is a warm afternoon, the hearth smolders. A girl, maybe nine years old is tending the flames, poking the coals with a stick. I wave at the girl and she looks surprised, as though no one acknowledged her often, and waves back with a smile.

The pair of cabins at the head of the field, numbers one and two, look like his-and-hers mausoleums, big white marble boxes with heavy columns in front. Cabin One is the biggest and bulkiest of the twelve. Its polished bronze doors shimmer like a hologram, so that from different angles lightning bolts seem to streak across them. Cabin Two is more graceful somehow, with slimmer columns garlanded with pomegranates and flowers. The walls are covered with images of peacocks.

"Zeus and Hera?" Percy guesses.

"Correct," Chiron says.

"Their cabins look empty."

"Several of the cabins are. That's true. No one ever stays in one or two."

I stop in front of the first cabin on the left, cabin three.

It isn't high and mighty like Cabin One, but low and solid. The outer walls are of rough gray stone studded with pieces of seashells and coral as if the slabs had been hewn straight from the bottom of the ocean floor. I peek inside the open doorway and Chiron says, "Oh, I wouldn't do that!"

Before he can pull me back, I catch the salty scent of the interior, like the wind on the shore at Montauk. The interior walls glow like abalone. There are six empty bunks with silk sheets turned down, but there is no sign anyone had ever slept there. The place feels so sad and lonely, I am glad when Chiron puts his hand on my shoulder and says, "Come along, (Y/n)."

Most of the other cabins were crowded with campers.

Number five was bright red—a real nasty paint job as if the color had been splashed on with buckets and fists. The roof was lined with barbed wire. A stuffed wild boar's head hung over the doorway, and its eyes seemed to follow me. Inside I could see a bunch of mean-looking kids, both girls and boys, arm wrestling and arguing with each other while rock music blared. The loudest was a girl maybe thirteen or fourteen. She wore a size XXXL CAMP HALF-BLOOD T-shirt under a camouflage jacket. She zeroed in on Percy and gives him an evil sneer.

"Oh, look," Chiron says as we approach Cabin Eleven. "Annabeth is waiting for us."

The blond girl I'd met at the Big House is reading a book in front of the last cabin on the left, number eleven. When we reach her, she looks me over critically, like she was still thinking about how much I drool.

I try to see what she was reading, but I can't make out the title. Then I realize the title isn't even English. The letters look Greek to me. I mean, literally Greek. There are pictures of temples and statues and different kinds of columns, like those in an architecture book.

"Annabeth," Chiron says, "I have Masters' Archery class at noon. Would you take Percy and (Y/n) from here?"

"Yes, sir."

"Cabin Eleven," Chiron tells us, gesturing towards the doorway. "Make yourself at home."

Out of all the cabins, Eleven looks the most like a regular old summer camp cabin, with the emphasis on old. the threshold is worn down, the brown paint peeling. Over the doorway is a caduceus.

Inside, it is packed with people, both boys and girls, way more than the number of bunk beds. Sleeping bags are spread all over the floor. It looks like a gym where the Red Cross had set up an evacuation center.

Chiron doesn't go in. The door is too low for him. But when the campers see him, they all stand and bow respectfully.

"Well, then," Chiron says. "Good luck, Percy, (Y/n). I'll see the two of you at dinner."

He gallops away towards the archery range.

Percy's POV

We stand in the doorway, looking at the kids. They aren't bowing anymore. They are staring at us, sizing us up. I know this routine. I'd gone through it at enough schools.

"Well?" Annabeth prompts. "Go on."

So naturally, I trip coming in the door, and (Y/n) grabs my upper arm, straightening me up. There are some snickers from the campers, but none of them say anything.

Annabeth announces, "Percy and (Y/n) Jackson, meet Cabin Eleven."

"Regular or undetermined?" somebody asks.

I don't know what to say, but Annabeth says, "Undetermined."

Everyone groans.

A guy who is a little older than the rest comes forward. "Now, now, campers. That's what we're here for. Welcome, Percy, (Y/n). You can have those two spots on the floor, right over there."

The guy was about nineteen, and he looks pretty cool. He's tall and muscular, with short-cropped sandy hair and a friendly smile. He wears an orange tank top, cutoffs, sandals, and a leather necklace with five different colored clay beads. The only thing unsettling about his appearance is a thick white scar that runs from just beneath his right eye to his jaw, like an old knife slash.

"This is Luke," Annabeth says, and her voice sounds different somehow. I glance over and swear she's blushing, but after a moment she sees me looking, and her expression hardens again. "He's your counselor for now."

"For now?" (Y/n) asks, looking rather curious.

"You're undetermined," Luke explains. "They don't know what cabin to put you in, so you're here. Cabin eleven takes all newcomers, all visitors. Naturally, we would. Hermes, our patron, is the god of travelers."

I look around at the campers' faces, some sullen and suspicious, some grinning stupidly, some eyeing me as if they are waiting for a chance to pick my pockets.

"How long will I be here?" I ask.

"Good question," Luke replies. "Until you're determined."

"How long will that take?"

The campers all laugh and (Y/n) facepalms.

"Come on," Annabeth tells us. "I'll show you the volleyball court."

"We've already seen it."

"Come on."

Annabeth grabs my wrist and drags me outside. I can hear the kids of Cabin Eleven laughing behind me and (Y/n) waves good-bye shyly.

When we are a few feet away, Annabeth says, "Jackson, you have to do better than that?"

"What?"

She rolls her eyes and mumbles under her breath, "I can't believe I thought you two were the ones."

"What's your problem?" I'm getting angry now, (Y/n) watching us cautiously. "All I know is, we kill some bull guy -"

"Don't talk like that!" Annabeth tells me. "You know how many kids at this camp wish they'd had your chance?"

"To get killed?"

"To fight the Minotaur! What do you think we train for?"

I shake my head. "Look, if the thing we fought is really the Minotaur, the same one in the stories . . ."

"Yes."

"Then there's only one."

"Yes."

"And he died, like, a gajillion years ago, right? Theseus killed him in the labyrinth. So..."

"Monsters don't die, Percy. They can be killed. But they don't die."

"Oh, thanks. That clears it up."

"Percy," (Y/n) says calmly. "I think what Annabeth is saying, is that monsters eventually reform."

Annabeth nods and I think about Mrs. Dodds. "You mean if I killed one, accidentally, with a sword—"

"The Fur...I mean, your math teacher. That's right. She's still out there. You just made her very, very mad."

"How did you know about Mrs. Dodds?"

"You talk in your sleep," Annabeth answers and (Y/n) suppresses a laugh.

"You almost called her something. A Fury? They're Hades' torturers, right?"

Annabeth glances nervously at the ground as if she expects it to open up and swallow her. "You shouldn't call them by name, even here. We call them the Kindly Ones if we have to speak of them at all."

"Look, is there anything we can say without it thundering?" I sound whiny, even to myself, but right then I don't care. "Why do we have to stay in Cabin Eleven, anyway? Why is everybody so crowded together? There are plenty of empty bunks right over there."

I point to the first few cabins, and Annabeth turns pale. "You don't just choose a cabin, Percy. It depends on who your parents are. Or...your parent."

She stares at me, waiting for me to get it.

"Our mother is Sally Jackson," (Y/n) says softly. "She works at the candy store in Grand Central Station. At least, she used to."

"I'm sorry about your mom, (Y/n). But that's not what I mean. I'm talking about your other parent. Your dad."

"He's dead," I say simply. "We never knew him."

Annabeth sighs. Clearly, she'd had this conversation before with other kids. "Your father's not dead."

"How can you say that? You know him?"

"No, of course not."

"Then how can you say -"

"Because I know the two of you. You wouldn't be here if you weren't one of us."

"You don't know anything about us.

"No?" She raises an eyebrow. "I bet you moved around from school to school. I bet you were kicked out of a lot of them."

"How -"

"Diagnosed with dyslexia. Probably ADHD, too."

I try to swallow my embarrassment. "What does that have to do with anything?"

(Y/n)'s POV

"Taken together, it's almost a sure sign. The letters float off the page when you read, right? That's because your mind is hardwired for ancient Greek. And the ADHD—you're impulsive, can't sit still in the classroom. That's your battlefield reflexes. In a real fight, they'd keep you alive. As for the attention problems, that's because you see too much, Percy, not too little. Your senses are better than a regular mortal's. Of course, the teachers want you medicated. Most of them are monsters. They don't want you seeing them for what they are."

"You sound like...you went through the same thing?"

"Most of the kids here did. If you weren't like us, you couldn't have survived the Minotaur, much less the ambrosia and nectar."

"Ambrosia and nectar."

"The food and drink we were giving you to make you better. That stuff would've killed a normal kid. It would've turned your blood to fire and your bones to sand and you'd be dead. Face it. You're both half-bloods."

A half-blood.

I am reeling with so many questions I don't know where to start.

Then a husky voice yells, "Well! Two newbies!"

I look over. The big girl from the ugly red cabin is sauntering towards us. She has three other girls behind her, all big and ugly and mean-looking like her, all wearing camo jackets.

"Clarisse," Annabeth sighs. "Why don't you go polish your spear or something?"

"Sure, Miss Princess," the big girl says. "So I can run you through with it Friday night."

"Erre es korakas!" Annabeth says, which I somehow understand is Greek for 'Go to the crows!' though I have a feeling it was a worse curse than it sounds. "You don't stand a chance."

"We'll pulverize you," Clarisse says, but her eye twitches. Perhaps she isn't so sure she can follow through on ht threat. She turns towards me, then she looks at Percy. "Who are these's runts?"

"Percy and (Y/n) Jackson," Annabeth says, "meet Clarisse, Daughter of Aries."

Percy blinks. "Like . . . the war god?"

Clarisse sneers. "You got a problem with that?"

"No," Percy says, seemingly recovering his 'wits'. "It explains the bad smell."

Long story short, Percy made the toilets explode.

Yeah, I said it. He made the toilets explode . . .

Word Count: 2455 words

[blankdblank]

Brother Dearest Pt 71

“Wow,” Howard said in his lean forward in his seat taking in the manor that came into view after having followed the Twins’ points to guide the car down the proper pathway on your land. And through the drive inside the wall the car pulled up to the front door where they saw Victor in the doorway. His smile spread as Jarvis parked and him, Howard, Peggy and Daniel climbed out to look around at the Howlett Manor.

Daniel lowly muttered, “Oh ya, not after perks of the title at all.”

Victor in their walk over chuckled and said, “More for the size for the babies than anything. Our old cabin had seven bedrooms. Have to reshuffle some room for the babies.”

Daniel, “Shouldn’t the walking through the big place be contradicting to her need to rest?”

Victor, “Not really, Bunny has been pacing. The room is helpful for that.” His head nodded to the side, “Come on in she’s fixed up a snack.”

Every room along the way was detailed until Peggy smiled and crossed the spacious kitchen to give you a hug and then take a moment to take in the growth in size you had taken on since the last time you had seen her. “You look fantastic.”

“I feel like I’ve doubled in size, but we’re coming up on the end of the worst of it. Because if I grow any more they can just roll me around the place.”

Howard was next for a hug and said, “Now now, you are not being rolled anywhere. You look perfectly plump as you should.”

When he pulled back Sousa said, “Hell of a house.”

“Well it’s been in James and Victor’s family. Just finished off the major repairs and fix up jobs around the place and spent all our paint and stocked up papers for the walls.”

James smirked loading up the wheeled cart to guide everyone to the sitting room outside the kitchen to enjoy the snacks. After which another tour was to be had crossed by the path of the excited puppies and the babies in their being gathered up to head to their grandparent’s again.

Norma and Leanora, the former with a wide smile and the girl on her hip took her husband’s side for the rest of the tour as talk of the film took over and from another stop to a sitting room they got to business while Peggy and Daniel strolled with you through the Manor and out to the lake.

Daniel said, “You are sure you are fine? We can barely see the house.”

In a smirk at him as James’ hand smoothed over your lower back after you’d stepped over a known bunny hole in the tall grass you had marked with a rock. “I am perfectly fine. Go fishing daily. Helps to bring more food in for supper and helps to knock down the fish population. They’ve seemingly doubled since last summer. River must have froze over early preventing the bears time to fish later in the season.”

Daniel, “Bears? You have bears?”

You giggled and James said, “They’re not ours, but they’ve grown up on our land. They keep their space and are fairly docile when we cross in the forest.”

“I have a picture of some of the cubs we crossed by on our honeymoon. Heavier than they look but they are friendly and curious.”

Peggy said, “I thought it was key to not touch the cubs to prevent angering their Mum.”

“Normally, but they know our scents and we haven’t hunted any of the bears in years actually. We have a sort of deal with the zoo to loan out our males to help breed with their own bears when they need it. And they don’t seem too bothered when they are brought back. Or at least they tell us they aren’t.” James said and that had the confused Chief look at him making you giggle.

“James and Victor can talk to animals and trees. Helps to keep the land. Ooh,” you said lowering your gaze to a large porcupine that jumped at the sound of your approach and in its planned twist to flare out its barbs you could see its three baby porcupines who scurried across the path. With a fourth that was tangled in a small bunch of clover and wild flowers with wound up stalks who let out panicked cries at being left alone.

“Hey little guy,” the Chief watched as James’ hands clenched into fists and his iron laced claws with patchy spots of polished metal extended to be used in his crouch to slide between its now locked up legs while he panted and the plants trapping it there. In just a few careful motions the puffed up mother watched him scoop up the worried baby porcupine between both sets of claws he used like salad tongs to let the baby down a couple feet from her. Gently he released it and stepped back to your side with his claws receding and a smile that spread back across his lips. “She’ll calm down,” he said in the eager trot of the freed baby to his siblings’ sides.

Daniels said, “What was that? With your hands?”

James said, “Bone claws.” He said lifting his arm flat to show the still exposed nubs that eased back between his knuckles and bones in the back of his hand. “Though Jaqi helped to leech iron from our blood into the claws so they won’t break as easily back in the war.”

“How is that helpful?” Daniel asked.

Peggy, “Wouldn’t that make your arms heavier?”

James said, “It’s not a lot of iron, and it’s all from our own blood so there isn’t much difference beyond the fact that it took more effort for the other guys to break our bones. Not that they’d be broken very long.”

Daniel, “So you have fast healing like in the comics too?”

“Oh ya, makes war fun when you get to be shot left and right and pop right back up.” He mumbled with his voice fading off in your stroll past the grouped up porcupine family who took his murmured word as true that they could go back to berry picking when you had passed by in safety.

Peggy said, “Bunny, didn’t you have special healing as well in the comics?”

“Yes, although unlike them I turn metal after I heal.”

Daniel asked, “Actual metal?”

You nodded and raised a hand to lift the sleeve on your t shirt to show a small bruise on your shoulder you had been whacked by a trick door in your closet wardrobe that had him and Peggy tap your skin and the metal patch. “It fades to peachy again in time. Still getting used to the built in wardrobe in my closet. Some of the doors hate me.”

James said, “Vic is oiling the hinges for you now. Shouldn’t spring out anymore.”

You eased the sleeve down and you said, “So this birth should be interesting to watch unfold. But my Doctor is prepared for anything. Says the girls are healthy and it shouldn’t be too rough a birth on me outside of nerves for how many there are.”

Peggy, “They do have gas now. I have a cousin, she just gave birth and they gave her this gas that helps with the pain.”

“My Doc says that won’t work. Pain medicine dissolves in my bloodstream within seconds thanks to my healing powers,” parting their lips, “But he says he has a pair of medicines, one like laughing gas and another to make me sleep if it gets too bad. Sort of strong enough to kill a rhino medical grade pain meds.”

Daniel’s eyes shifted to James and he said, “How are you even standing right now? My brother in law just about collapsed hearing my sister might need stitches after her last birth?”

James smirked, “We’ll get through it. Can’t pass out I’m supposed to be there to hold one of the girls when they come out.”

Peggy, “You’re going to be there?”

He nodded and you said, “Victor and Eddie have been there for their daughters’ births, I was there for Teddy but they wouldn’t miss the girls since the nuns won’t be there to bar them.”

James, “As many people as Jaqi wants in the room will be there. Tons of space now for them all to do that.”

Daniel said in a turn of his head and view of the dock where Eddie was there already with fishing pole in hand, “Looks like your spot is taken.”

You grinned and said, “That’s my cousin Erik. His mom shouldn’t be far away.” You turned your head and waved to her in her stroll from an apple tree she’d gathered a group of apples to hand out to her son and your group who joined Erik on the dock to catch a couple more fish to go with his five he’d already caught.

.

“You should stay the night if you like. It’s a long drive back to Alberta and can get confusing in the dark.” You said as you caught Jarvis’ eyes drop to the inked numbers tattooed into the forearms of your aunt and cousin that Howard had stolen a glimpse at as well.

Howard with a wide smile said, “Sounds like a wonderful plan. Who would turn down a night in this place?”

The Twins and Herc came in with small tarps with metal handles on bundles of chopped firewood they split between the kitchen and a couple fire log stations nearby at fireplaces. When they came back to join you all as Victor and James got to start on lunch with Edie’s help Jeff said, “I think we got enough logs to stave off the storm.”

Daniel, “Storm?”

You said, “There’s a storm rolling in the week I’m due. Just prepping, it’ll be sunny tomorrow for your drive back.”

Herc asked in his lower to sit beside you with a nudge of a foot stool to lift your feet onto, “Still restless?”

You nodded and said, “No troubles yet. Nice and calm as usual like the day before my next Hicks blows in. Should be just fine for the Berry Festival tonight.”

“Berry Festival?” Howard asked with a smile and added that for the schedule. After lunch a round of desserts were gathered up to be taken in to town that had the group was excited to follow you in to the festival the town was readying. Excited buzz came from the people who gladly met your visiting friends and helped to warmly fold them into the activities as they took turns checking in on you.

Nestled under James’ arm sweet kisses were stolen between stops at your favorite spots and snack stands before you took up your seat at the dessert for a dance raffle. Gladly exempt you remained off of your feet beside Herc and your unseen parents with Leanora napping in the pram beside you that your hand kept rolling a couple inches back and forth to help her stay asleep.

Across the way you saw Teddy and his sister asleep by their grandparents and aunts and uncles while James took up the dance the woman who won his dessert grinned through hearing the plans ahead for his brewing family. Sharp and clear in a squeeze of Herc’s hand you inhaled deeply and brought his free hand to stroke your back in his hushed guidance through yet another painful Hicks contraction. “You’re doing good. Just a couple weeks yet.”

“Easy for everyone else to say,” you said in a reach for your drink Beau moved closer to you when the wave of pain washed away. Again you stroked a hand over your belly as the girls got to squirming around to show their return to ease.

Sight of the group of your guests who took up more of the un-partnered females onto the dance floor brought out your grin to Peggy and Daniel in a timid try for a dance that showed a few pauses to avoid trouble with his cane while his body still required use of it. In all the time he had been adjusting to the new leg his posture had grown better and a few strolls across rooms were simpler without use of the cane until he had to turn or step aside. Signs that he was close to a more natural ease of motion were made clear as Peggy’s hushed suggestion had the dance simplified and had her move in closer for a slow dance that coaxed his grin wider.

From home you subtly called your camera and snapped a picture of the groups. A kiss could have been stolen yet wasn’t, not even through the beautiful sunset and firework display. But with hands still interlocked when time came to drive home again the near to blushing duo accepted their guest rooms that were side by side. Spare pajamas already in the closets were found in their sizes and the peaceful dark everyone eased into nightly rituals to coax them off to sleep.

Changed and on your way to bed again as you sat on the end of your bed with a leg curled underneath you to the sound of James changing into his pajama pants you marveled at this new magnificent room. And from the edge on planted hands you eased back farther onto the bed to tuck your legs in and close your eyes to take in the gradual changes in your body. Still without change to your hips to show signs of labor your eyes opened to another stroke of your hands underneath James’ t shirt you brushed up exposing the giant shiny bubble your stomach had grown into. “You grow more beautiful by the day.” He hummed lifting your gaze to him on his approach of the bed.

“I wish I could be more affectionate in return.”

He chuckled and lowered onto the bed to nestle up against your side with arms around you in the release of the shirt that wrinkled under his arms, with a press of his lips to your cheek he hummed sweetly, “You are more than affectionate. The greatest thing you could do to show me affection is tend to the whims of our wandering girls.”

Softly you sighed and leaned in to claim a kiss on his lips he melted into and smirked in the rest of your forehead to his afterwards, “I just keep wandering around. I don’t get it. Trips to the lake, strolls around outside, in the house, I can’t just sit and read like I used to. Even my translations are behind.”

“It’ll be over soon, my incredible Darling.” He said accenting it with another kiss on your lips that had him hunch into an awkward position to keep you from being into an awkward position at the rest of your hands onto his neck and cheek. Sweet kisses and a round of cuddling that broke for a yawn ended in his help for you into the nest of pillows he followed you to wrap around you when the lights were out to get ample rest.

.

Two weeks seemed to roll by and with each day levels of exhaustion waxed and waned to the clear radio coverage on the odd storm brewing over your chunk of Canada. Now with this since a trip of a reporter Howard brought who was covering the upcoming film along with an interview for Norma through him you were confirmed to be alive still and not missing. Yet when the reporter arrived back in New York word spread and now your doomed status took a new height at this freak storm out of nowhere. Amusement from that story however faded in the latest shift of your mood. Only inside you wandered between bouts of your having to sit upright and hunched forward that you took the chance to try and translate a bit of your documents until you had to eat or go to take another nap.

Even plans of Teddy’s second birthday or tries to plan more for your first set of lessons to arrive in the mail in the next week focus was fleeting. And now daily to this evident change on the tail end of Elliot’s arrival had you checked by Herc and given promises that Elliot would help to double check your latest flawed translation. Just notice of a mistranslated word had you shoving the papers away to keep from tearing them all up as you fought off frustrated tears your parents coaxed you through in a snuggling pile and distracting stories to calm you. After a sniffle you wiped your cheek again, “I don’t get it. First my socks didn’t match now I’m mad at a word.”

“Perfectly on schedule. All from the storm, my Dazzling Queen of the Cosmos.” Your father rumbled and pressed a kiss onto your forehead guiding you to lean into his chest.

“I would get furious when I carried you,” your mother said in her own brush of a tear from your cheek, “And I broke two of our mugs. Shoving a bit of paper is not much to balk at.”

Back in the kitchen James sighed and used the can opener to open another can of baby corn, “She threw socks at me.”

Victor chuckled, “Norma prefers pillows.” James sighed and looked at his brother making him chuckle and say, “One week, Herc says we’re near the end. First the gravity change and stair trouble, now this storm is rolling in.”

“If I may?” Elliot said in his ease into the kitchen while the Twins had been readying some tea for you to go with the snacks. The brothers nodded and Elliot said, “It’s not truly a rage, or anger, it is a bout of confusion. One of the final stages, helps to irritate mothers in the end stage. We don’t truly understand the purpose yet, however it is a good sign and will pass by morning.”

James sighed and said, “She could hurl a wall at me I wouldn’t care. I know it’s not under her control right now, but she cried for such a long time at throwing socks at me.”

Victor rubbed his upper back, sighing, “Nobody wants to see her cry. I hated those waves with Norma and the same when Dawn would be lost to tears. It’ll pass and then we get to have a calmer post baby sea of hormones.”

Elliot said, “She is strong, and will pass through this brilliantly. We are all here to see her and you through it.”

James nodded and the closer he got back to your side he felt that electric wave of nerves spike at the hints that you had been upset again. Internally his mother hen switch had been flipped so much so that Teddy had taken to cuddling with him to calm the trouble the boy didn’t understand to be brewing between his aunt and uncle. All day you bounced back and forth tossed about by the whims of your hormones.

And the day after the slow ease into your seat for breakfast had Erik and the Beserkers with the ability to feel your babies and their heartbeats in heart racing stares your way. Eddie however broke the silence asking, “What are you staring at?” His eyes switching between them and you in your groggy reach for some toast to strangely bite into unbuttered.

Herc said before James could repeat the question, “The girls are turned down now.”

Dawn said, “So, she’s near to labor?”

Herc nodded, “Yes,” and his eyes scanned over you in a glance over the tray of butter James brought over you used to spread across the piece of toast you took another bite of for a more satisfying bite. “Either later today or tomorrow. When we are through eating I will give her another exam.”

Sharp inhales and squirms in your chair at the end of the meal had you helped up and guided to your bedroom where a series of checks on both blood, scans with the girdle and physical presses of your belly confirmed the unmistakable.

A clap of thunder came and as the signs showed the storm was descending you were heard muttering in the hall as you paced through a break after your first contraction, “What about the bears?”

James smirked with hold of your hand he wrapped around his arm, “The bears will be perfectly fine.”

“But the rain, and the flowers! Jeanie worked so hard on the gardens!”

Your father said on your free side, “We have a barrier to protect the gardens.”

“The house flooded before, if it keeps raining-,”

Victor said on his chair along the wall you slowly walked past, “We built up the stone drainage walls to divert rainwater. We won’t flood again. We’re prepared for the rains, Pipsqueak.”

You nodded and remained fixed in the wait for the next contraction. Slow didn’t come close to the progress of this labor. More than half a day and still by Eddie’s watch the contractions were still over an hour apart while you felt more restless than ever showing signs that something was going to happen.

 .

“Your Highness, how are things in England?” Victor said with another glance down the hall at Edie returning to your room with a tray of food to keep up your strength.

“Very well. However we have been warned of this storm and I simply had to check if your family was safe.”

“Oh ya, we’ve seen this storm coming and are plenty prepared for however long it takes.”

“That is very good.” The line began to go static and he was heard saying, “Well I will let you dig in and please do call us if you need anything.”

“We will, Your Highness.”

“And do give our love to Bunny,”

Victor chuckled, “I will, and we are sending you the best as well.” He managed to say before the line went dead and he hung up to go and see what else he could do to help you.

Out of the bathroom when you had been helped from a bath now in a fresh pair of pajamas and your hair twisted up into a new braid he entered your bedroom. Sight of Victor mid exhale had him grin at your mildly irritated tone saying, “Don’t tell me to breathe, tell someone else to breathe. I am breathing fine.”

“That you are, Pipsqueak.”

“Come sit down, come eat.” Your mother said ushering you to the table set up beside your armchair coated by towels that helped you to hunch forward between painful contractions as your hips and pelvis refused to separate as it should to make room for the girls who were checked hourly for progress.

Food bled into a stolen nap, one of dozens where you would tuck up in your chair only to groggily awake to the next wave of pain that only worsened the struggle of those who had been on watch as you rested. Small stolen naps only seemed to worsen things as the pain grew more intense in the shrink of those time gaps.

.

One day bled into another supposed to be sunrise and while your father went to fetch some ice for you to chew on James took hold of your hands and eased them around his neck while you felt the next contraction coming on. Low and soft you squeaked out a whimper in a press of your forehead into his chest his hands rubbed your back in the mock slow dance pattern of steps to help ease this. Tired and simply aching to let this get over with your arms eased down and his hands planted again on your sides to follow behind you on the continued means to continue moving to not be stuck in one spot on a bed to suffer through this there.

“Shake,” Victor said in an offer of a glass and with ease his free arm moved out to let you take a grip on his bicep to drink a good few gulps of the shake he claimed hold of until your next lap when he would offer it to you again. Meals in one place now were out of the question and the few bathroom breaks you had were near unbearable at the pressure building in your hips. The tremble of your hands had him just about in tears and had him need a turn of his head away for a few steady breaths.

While Dawn and Norma rested the Twins watched the children in Eddie’s wing to let them be out of earshot if you did begin to get loud if things ever did pick up. And to the next loud explosion of thunder and shot of lightning across the sky the barely audible hum of the generators powering the lights were heard between the switch of records your mother was changing on the record player. Music was hoped to help calm things and give you something to focus on and even hum to as she had gotten you to do earlier in a failed try to get labor to quicken.

.

Eleven chimes of the clock sounded and fresh from another bath you walked to the foot of your bed to take a pausing moment with grip of the wooden frame to breathe after having faced another contraction in your closet Eddie and Victor in the hall asked Herc, “Two days?”

Herc wet his lips and said to another wailing wind that whipped around the walls outside on the other side of the shuttered windows at the end of the hall. “It shouldn’t be long now. Half an hour apart now.”

His head turned however to your mumble to James, who looked like he was in need of being knocked out to get some sleep at his reluctance to do so since you had been unable to get more than an hour long nap for two days. “Soon as these girls get out they’re grounded till I say so.”

Into your back his head tapped a moment and his hand moved to stroke your still hardened belly. “No arguments here, Darling.”

To the next tick of the clock however your eyes opened and your head turned to your dad who walked closer, “Another pain?” Your hand extended in the well of tears in your eyes and his rose to be claimed to plant on your stomach, a move that brought Herc and the guys back into the room. “Herc,”

Herc asked in his cross of the room, “Are the girls giving a signal?”

James, “Jaqi?”

Tearfully you whispered, “Their hearts, are slowing, down.” The last word was painfully squeaked and had his breath quicken with worry.

Your father said in a cup of your cheek with his free hand, “We mentioned a sign the girls could give. They know you’re tired, too tired to keep going. They’re ready to let us get them out now.”

Herc said in the plant of his own hand on your belly to check for himself, “Jaqi we’re going to move you to the bed and get these girls out.”

Elliot from the doorway said, “I have the tea,” fresh from your kitchen with tea cup in hand he added the ground herbal medicine into and brought it over to your reach as you were moved to be lifted onto and laid back on the bed. “Slow sips and you will start to gradually go numb to prepare for this.”

You nodded and accepted the cup while Herc readied the table and lined up Victor, James and your father to take hold of the babies while Eddie climbed to settle on the bed at your side to hold you up steady and to keep hold of your hand through this. From mental warning of the birth the Twins went to fetch Norma and Dawn from their own calming break in another sitting room at their own lack of sleep. Edie and Erik readied the bathing bowl your mother brought some warm water for it in a pitcher so they could clean the girls off nearer to you for the warned moment of panic after the birth was over and your body had healed.

James was the one to ease up your shirt through a stolen press of his lips on your brow as Herc with middle finger held by his thumb gave your belly a few gentle flicks. “Can you feel this?”

“Feel what?” you asked between sips and looked his way from James’ supportive grin that came into focus in his step back. “My, um, my hand is tingling.”

Elliot said, “Ooh, that is enough then,” careflly claiming your cup to not let you drop it on yourself and Eddie eased you back to lay down so Herc could feel around your belly.

Herc said in his catch of your eye, “Just a few moments now Jaqi and your girls will be here,” he said in a muffled voice tearing you from focus of the still slowing heartbeats in your belly. Into his hand a scalpel was produced after he had added his gloves. Firm and easy a single cut was made underneath your belly that was followed by another.

Just pressure alone in place of pain came in the feel of blood pooling to Eddie’s hands folding around yours tucked up near your shoulders in his hold in his slump beside your side. All of the bleeding was fully under the control of Herc. Who kept a stop on the incision that he kept open mentally to scoop out the first girl in a section of the conjoined sack that separated and over a towel on his lap he split open causing her umbilical chord to snap free from the other two parts of the joint sack holding her sisters. In the aftermath of that splash she was laid in the towel in James’ arms with a sharp cry that split his smile out widely as tears filled his eyes. Another splash followed in her sister being eased out with chord snapped off on its own as well for teary Victor to have hold of the wriggling girl who let out a shrill cry of her own then went quieter in his step back.

“One more,” Eddie murmured beside your ear after another kiss on your temple and a third cry had the final girl nestled in her grandfather’s arms while Herc finished the steps of the procedure and let the wound meet up again to instantly seal in a spreading silver ripple of skin. Venom meanwhile in his rest above your head through your mental link caught the same static feeling for when you had neared the end of your tether.

“Um,” you managed to murmur to a ring in your ears to the shallow shift of your breath signaled the reaction you had hoped to not face. Just as when you had lost your finger the very first time and again when you had seen the new hand to replace the one you had fed Venom to see three babies being pulled out of your belly sent a wave of panic through the others when your eyes rolled back and your head slumped to the side. Above your head Venom pressed his cheek to your scalp having felt the hazy blip that was your birth. And without the wound having healed yet still he was unable to ease into your body and help you through this to be conscious for your girls and family.

“Jaqi!” James said and Herc raised a hand to sense for any internal wound he’d have missed after tearing his glove off to sense what was wrong.

Eddie couldn’t help but chuckle and said, “I think she fainted,” relaxing the others who came to sit around you at Herc’s reminder.

“Don’t go too far, have to keep the girls close,” they nodded and with his glove free hands he felt around your now fully silver belly that under your mother’s watch he folded down your waistband halfway to see the silver had spread lower. And in a shift back he eased up one of your pant legs he watched the silver spread down to a ring beneath your knees.

The line made her ask, “Is this normal?”

Herc replied, “For long labors, yes,” his hands shifted to the silver soles of your feet showing just where more of the stress of the past couple days had put on your body. “Ample meals, rest and massages should help her to recover. And we have the breast pump ready for if she is tired to nurse all three in a row after her first lessons on that.”

She nodded and asked, “How long would she be unconscious?”

Eddie, “Ten, twenty minutes. Jaqi hoped she’d not have passed out with the surgery if she had it when Herc first mentioned it.” He chuckled again seeing Norma and Dawn come over to see the girls the guys one at a time eased into the bathing bowl that was changed after each girl was clean and fixed into a diaper and a clean blanket from the pile Edie brought over. All in differing colors they were draped lovingly and as he sat down by your shoulder Erik drew attention to your belly that as the third girl was wrapped in her blanket began to shrink.

Inch by inch from your large belly as if pushed back in time from 48 weeks to your former figure now with a more toned layer of muscle visible in place of the dissolved fat and water weight absorbed back into your system. Careful presses of fingers showed proof that the muscle was healthy and had been built up to carry the weight of the three babies.

The Twins after having taken respectful pictures and filmed the baths used the body scanner to confirm the healing process when completed had you back to your original 89 pound self from after the war that had the baggy sleeping clothes and underwear you had on lay loosely over your slumbering body. To the clear need to change again Norma and Dawn went to your closet to bring out an old set of underwear and a nice set of your favorite two piece pajamas with a sleeveless buttoned silk top that would aid in nursing and being checked for progress on your healing. Your face and hands were the last to seemingly deflate and had Erik happily bring over the open jewelry box that held your original wedding ring and band laid in it to be swapped for the now oversized pair slumped sideways on your ring finger.

Twenty minutes later to the hushed question of if they could go ahead and assign the three names between the girls a deep breath from you had everyone ease in again with James, Victor and your father come to sit down at your side. From a view of the wall of shuttered windows your eyes turned to the top of Eddie’s head that had you tilt yours back to groggily grin up at him. “Hey Sis.”

Venom’s head from his neck smiled and said, “Hello, Sister.”

From them your head turned and the grin on your face fell taking notice of the lack of the giant belly that had your pulse kick up. “Darling,” James’ voice split through your moment of panic in his lean into your view with the girl he brought closer to you. “Our girls are right here.” On his knees he came closer and he moved over your legs to settle at Eddie’s bent legs and into reach of your chest over your folded arms she was eased luring focus of your loose rings on your raised hand.

“Hey, little one,” you said and turned your head in the ease of the other two closer as her curled fingers came out of the blanket to slide around your finger. All three girls cooed and shifted into your touch and gentle pecks on the tops of their heads.

Herc out of your sight said, “Just be careful on sitting up.”

Edie asked, “Are you hungry? It has been hours since you have eaten.”

“I could eat,” you said and smiles spread to that tired statement she hurried off to answer to that problem and grab the serving of stew and rolls from the kitchen in your wing. Erik at the nightstand over the girls’ heads reached for your loose rings and smiled in a shared lock of eyes and handed James your original rings he eased back onto your ring finger and sweetly kissed your lips.

“Have you settled the names yet?”

James shook his head and said, “Waiting for you. This angel was first.”

You nodded and said with a smile, “Aurora Nyx,” she answered with a coo followed by her sister to, “Belinda Rhea,” and lastly joined by, “Nova Carina.” All of the names that Herc had printed on their birth records with Pear Howlett and their title of The Honorable to the birth records and in the presentation of food Eddie helped to guide you up a bit to sit up against pillows while the girls were measured and had their hands and foot prints taken. Along that were given anklets that would grow with them that bore their initials to help differentiate between the three of them that they would be unable to be harmed by or remove.

To the other end of the room the group moved when your dirty dishes were taken so Sarah and James could help change you into your older layers which gave you a tear stirring view of the widespread bruises all over from the lower ribs to just below the knee. And when you were settled back she asked, “Did you want to try a breastfeeding lesson before you sleep? They shouldn’t be hungry but we can let you get some practice?”

You nodded and Aurora was brought over as your shirt was opened and nursing bra undone to have her guide you on your first nursing lesson, “Just ease her head, just like that,” she smiled in a nestle closer to your side as James stroked the top of your daughter’s head in the groggy droop of her silvery lilac eyes. The same shade all three had with the same white hair in tiny tufts of curls across the tops of their heads with a matching seven and a half pound weight to boast on.

When her few suckles had the infant drift off to sleep the two other girls were brought over for their own brief snacks that drifted them off to a deep sleep that by the droop of your eyes was welcome to give you a chance to be helped off the comforter they eased over you when you were redressed again. Soft and sweet she urged James to remain with you and the family would watch the babies while he nestled up with you and proudly he eased you on your side against is chest with gentle kisses given until he drifted off. Every second of his consciousness through this excruciatingly drawn out labor his only thoughts through his pain being how impossibly beautiful his wife was to have suffered so long to bring three girls into this world. Every second more beautiful than the last.

Exhausted from the process Victor took Norma to their bed to curl up around her as Eddie did the same with Dawn after Venom had seen the babies one more time and nestled his head into their foreheads wishing them a good night and promised to see them in the morning. Edie and Erik were last to head off to rest in the decided early breakfast they hoped you would rest until it was made. Just leaving the Beserker group awake to comment on the unbelievable birth process their dearest of friend had faced so adamantly to see it through no matter how long it took.

Silent relief and chimes of midnight echoed through the house to the roll of more protective thunder inside the cone of the storm channeled around your property that waned to softer drizzle over the distant town. Loud and boldly bells in the abandoned Beserker lands in Asgard woke every single creature there who knew as those within earshot of other Beserker outposts on other planets in other universes heard the message of Mother’s successful birth. Three little girls yet unknown across this planet were named throughout several Universes and Dimensions to swell pride in the chests of those who knew just how long the return and expansion of the ruling clan had been awaited.

Pt 72

All –

@sherala007​, @mariannetora​​, @jesgisborne​, @knitastically​, @catthefearless​​, @theincaprincess, ggbbhehe4455, @lilith15000​​, @alishlieb​​,

Not nsfw(smut) - @otakumultimuse-hiddlewhore​

X Marvel-Cast - @himoverflowers​, @theincaprincess​, @changlingkhat​

Brother Dearest - @thorinanddwalinsdwarrowdam​​, @swoopswishsward

[whumblr]

Whisked away

Home is where the hurt is: Part 1 - Continued from Part 10

Tagging: @just-a-whumping-racoon-with-wifi @burtlederp @castielamigos-whump-side-blog @hurtmebeautifully @rougenoirofthepurpleterror @barbed--wire @susiequaz12 @mnmlover2002 @undertheburrow 

-

The phone next to his laptop pinged that dreaded tune. The one he couldn’t ignore, couldn’t afford to ignore. Jay had made the mistake of letting Zayne’s call go to voicemail once and, well, he was strongly encouraged not to let that happen again. The personal notification helped, but wasn’t very beneficial for his stress levels. Jay stopped typing immediately and reached for his phone to check his messages.

Cancel your weekend plans! We goin on a trip!

His stomach churned, stress levels maxed out. A trip? Daytrip? Demonstration? Why would Zayne want to take him anywhere? All he knew was that it wouldn’t be a positive experience.

He sent a little ? back, just to make sure Zayne wouldn’t raise a fuss about leaving him on read, put the phone back on his desk and focused on his article again. His attention kept wandering and he kind of hoped for another message that would explain Zayne’s plans. Would save him some worrying. He tried to shake it off. No good coming up with all the awful scenarios now. Surely Zayne would be happy to explain it to him later this evening.

And of course, he was.

“I don’t mind all this secret stuff, but you know what I miss?” Zayne stalked around the flat as if he owned it and made himself comfortable. Jay watched him carefully and waited for him to continue.

“Having you to myself for more than 24 hours. You know, spend some quality time. So next weekend, you’re coming with me. Tell people you’re going mountain climbing or something. Anything with a high risk of injury because I can spoil you on this: you’re going to need one hell of an excuse.” He grinned.

Jay’s face fell. The one possibility that he had been trying to push out of his mind all day. Spending more than a day with Zayne. As if he needed it. He could already do enough damage in the hour that he was here those couple days a week. Hell, sometimes he didn’t even need thirty minutes.

“One day?” Jay tried without much hope and deflated when Zayne held up two fingers.

“Where are we—“

“It’s a surprise, okay. Think of it as a blind date.”

No blind date could ever turn out to be as bad as this one. Jay fumbled for words, for anything to say preferably a refusal. But he knew he was stuck and couldn’t stop this from happening.

“So, darling, I’ll pick you up this Friday night.” And with a wink, Zayne left, leaving Jay completely bewildered.

-

Luckily Jay didn’t have any plans to cancel. As if he had the luxury of making plans for the weekend. Still, it saved him from having to come up with a lie. But he still needed to be prepared the best he could. First of all, having to go right back to work on Monday didn’t seem plausible. So the first thing he did Thursday morning was visit his team leader, Luke.

“Can I take a day off coming Monday? I’m going to be away for the weekend.”

“Sure, no prob. You gonna do something fun?” Luke looked up with a smile, but his face clouded when he noticed Jay’s gloom. “Or… oh, I’m sorry. Did something happen?”

Seeing the embarrassment and concern on his face, Jay snapped out of it. “No! No, it’s nothing bad. I just…” fuck, what was he going to say now? Luke was now probably under the impression there was some kind of family emergency. He couldn’t say he was gonna go hiking or whatever. Think! Family emergency with risk of loss of limbs…

He couldn’t think of any, so he just came up with something else. “I’ve been invited to go on some boot camp training course. It lasts a full weekend and I’d like a breather on Monday. I’m just a little nervous.”

“You could always say no,” Luke smiled.

Jay briefly wondered what would happen if he were to tell Zayne ‘no’. A friendly yet assertive ‘no, Zayne, I’m not coming with’.

“Hm, well, I do want to try it. I’m curious. Just not sure what to expect.”

“Maybe they’ll take it easy on you.”

Jay seriously doubted that.

-

And so the dreaded Friday night arrived. Jay paced the living room waiting for his escort to arrive. This was way past just being nervous. At work he wasn’t able to concentrate, but now that he was back at home and could do nothing but wait, he had to admit he was just plain scared. What he wouldn’t give for Zayne to just beat the hell out of him for this evening so he could spend the rest of the weekend recuperating in bed. Two days… Zayne would be able to take his time, draw out his schemes, do all the things he wasn’t able to do with the restrictions set up with just visiting at night and having to make sure Jay could still get up.

The sound of the front door opening made him tense up. Here we go.

“You good to go?” Zayne asked as if Jay could ever be ready for a weekend filled with pain and dread.

“Should I… do I need to bring something?” Jay felt awkward. As if they were just discussing a normal sleepover. Which, they both knew, it wasn’t. The pillow fights at least were going to be replaced with something a little more… outrageous. But he felt he needed to bring something. Also, he was just stalling because, no, he wasn’t good to go.

“Some clean clothes maybe, if you don’t want to spend a weekend covered in—Ah, no. I shouldn’t spoil it,” Zayne said with a mischievous grin. He winked and brought a finger to his lips.

Clean clothes it is!

Jay gathered up some old stuff. Nothing white. While he didn’t want to think about it, he also didn’t want to spend hours in bloody tattered clothes, even if clean ones were to meet the same fate. He threw some wads of clothes into a bag and turned to leave.

A soft ‘ah ah’ made him look back. Zayne leered at him with a sly grin, his hand outstretched. When Jay didn’t immediately respond, he snapped his fingers, the motion smoothlessly transitioning to point at the bag Jay was now bringing up to his chest, almost in a hug.

Without much of a choice, Jay surrendered the bag, watching as Zayne zipped it open again. For some reason it felt more embarrassing for him than for Zayne, who was now shamelessly rummaging through his boxers.

“Why so much underwear?” Zayne commented casually as he checked the contents of the bag. “It’s two days. You plan on pissing yourself?” A grin spread over his face. “I mean, I don’t mind taking up that challenge.”

Jay just stood watching, his expression sour. He didn’t need a load of foreshadowing for this weekend from hell.

Zayne fished the phone out of the bag.

“For emergencies,” Jay tried.

“Yeah, no.” Zayne held the phone between thumb and index finger and tossed it onto the bed with a twirl. “That’s staying here. You don’t need it and I know you just want to use the GPS to track where you’ve been.”

He tossed the bag to Jay. “Also, don’t you hate it when you’re on a date and people seem more interested in their phone? I don’t want you distracted.” He winked and grabbed Jay by the crook of his elbow, ushering him out the door.

“It’s not a date,” Jay grumbled as he stumbled down the stairs and out the door on his way to his doom. He slung the bag over his shoulders and they walked out, down the stairs in front of the apartment. God, it was so nice out, the sun setting in an orange red hue. Perfect evening to spend outside and avoid going home. Now he was going to spend it god knows where, probably in some place where he wouldn’t even be able to see the sun shining.

People walked by, chattering, laughing, passing them without a care in the world. On their way to have drinks with friends and celebrate the start of the weekend. They had no idea that they walked right by a kidnapping scene. Because that’s what this was, right? Jay stared longingly after them.

“Here.” Zayne held out a black helmet.

Jay snapped out of his gloom and self-pity. He just noticed Zayne’s motorcycle waiting for them along the sidewalk, looked at the helmet and back at the bike. For a simple math problem of having to put two and two together, Jay blanked out and was trying very hard to come up with an answer other than ‘four’.

“You’re joking,” he finally said.

Zayne smiled and looked at the still buffering Jay.

“I could have someone pick you up,” he offered.

Jay’s tense shoulders lowered in relief and he was about to nod, but the next sentence made them shoot up again. “Throw you in the back of a trunk and drive you over.”

For some reason that did feel a lot safer than being driven to an unknown location on the back of Zayne’s motorcycle. Also, stalling for time was a bonus.

“I think that’s—“

“Get. On.” Zayne gave him a pointed look. “Fuck’s sake, you’re fluent in sarcasm but fail to recognise it.”

Jay begrudgingly accepted the helmet.

“Good choice,” Zayne said, fiddling the straps of his own helmet under his chin. “We can always go for the trunk on the way back. You know, when you no longer have the strength to hold on to me anymore. Wouldn’t want you to fall off and disappear under a double-decker.”

Jay settled behind Zayne and slid the helmet over his head.

He snapped the visor shut. The world went dark at the same time the motorcycle sparked to life.

“Whoa! Wait! Wait, I can’t see—“

“Yep. Darkened visor. You don’t need to know where we’re going.” Zayne revved the engine.

Jay protests were drowned out by the sound. He felt the bike shift under him and snapped his arms around Zayne in a panic.

“No, nonono, wait! Wai—“ he practically shouted in Zayne’s ear.

With a sharp turn Zayne took off and picked up speed.

Jay let go of any reserve and flattened himself tight against Zayne, his arms in a vice around his waist, his knees straddling Zayne’s hips, the helmet pressed against the leather jacket. He vaguely noticed that this goddamn helmet wasn’t even necessary. He had his eyes squeezed shut anyway. Little yelps and screeches were forced out of him with every turn, every overtake, every swerve. He couldn’t see what was happening, couldn’t anticipate the sharp and sudden movements. Every speed bump felt like a launching pad. Every swerve made his stomach clench as he was sure he would fall off this time. All he could do was hold on tight.

At least he didn’t have time to worry about what would be in store for him this weekend. Holding onto Zayne for dear, sweet life was the only thing on his mind now. Not letting go, not falling. But if he did let go, boy, that would open up his weekend. Hospital, rumoured to be this quiet and peaceful place.

Zayne hit the brakes, bringing his daydream to an end. Jay shot forward a little and let out a loud groaning exhale.

“You doin’ okay back there?”

“No!” An indignant yelp, muffled by the helmet was his answer. “Are we there yet?!”

“Just a red light. Hold tight.”

A brief moment of repose. Deep breaths, Jay, deep breaths.

“Your death grip is loosening. Ready for a wheelie?”

“Don’t you da—aaaaare!!” Without warning, luckily without a wheelie, they sped off again.

Finally, finally, the highway to hell ended. Zayne peeled Jay’s clasped hands gently apart and got off the bike, leaving a panting Jay perching on the seat. Jay leaned forward to catch his breath.

“Well, wasn’t that a fun start.” Zayne nudged the petrified figure and helped him get off.

Jay’s trembling hands moved up to pull this accursed helmet off his head.

Zayne leant heavily on his shoulder, his arm around the helmet pressing it down over his head. “Not yet.”

“I swear to God I will puke in this thing!”

“Just get inside.”

Jay heard sounds of wood creaking under their feet as Zayne guided him up a little staircase. Jay stumbled over the last step, still reeling and swaying on his feet.

“Okay,” a door fell shut behind them. “You can get it off.”

Relieved, Jay pulled it off. The sudden brightness hit his eyes and before he could adjust or even take in his surroundings a blow to the back of his neck made him collapse, the helmet thudding down next to him.

“See you later, Jay.”

-

Continued here

Again, special shoutout to @my-whumpy-little-heart for the motorcycle prompt.

[beshrew-my-very-heart]

st. berry, kurtbastian, and puckevans <3

Ooh, Okay! Thank you so much, @awkwardcaterpillar This was a lot of fun! I hope I didn’t waffle on too much, and that you enjoy my answers beneath the cut!

St. Berry:

St. Berry isn’t something I actively seek out, but I do love how similar they are, and I think it’s pretty obvious they care about one another. I’d like to see more about them, and I definitely wouldn’t turn away from a fic if it was a ship in the fic. BROTP is because, I mean, I can’t imagine a world where they didn’t stay at least friends on Broadway, and became one of those power couples even if it wasn’t romantic or sexual.  Kurtbastian:

Kurtbastian! I’m pretty on board for it! I’ve read a bunch of fics with it as a focus, and I would again. Again, I think that in fanon they could have grown to be very close friends, since they were able to stand up to each other barb for barb. I can also see the romantic potential pretty solidly too! I ship it, for sure, but not in a super intense way. Just like “Sure, Yeah. I’m on board!”  This doesn’t get the curious tag, because I feel like I see a lot of it on my dash, and I’m pretty sold already!  Puckevans

This is a spicy one, and I like it. It’s something that may be coming up in a fic I’m writing at the moment! I think they were already pretty friendly in the canon, and they could definitely find a middle ground in their “We both engaged in different levels of sex work when we were too young.” I would definitely read fic about it. I actively search out fic about it! I’m writing fic about it. I definitely don’t see them get a lot of love on my dash, and would love to hear more about people’s thoughts for them. Definitely ship it, a little more intensely that Kurtbastian (but maybe that’s because it’s a newer idea for me). In conclusion, Very hot, potentially very meaningful, and the two of them deserve to find out an answer to the balls question together. :P

[voidstilesplease]

Attractions

Demigod AU Ficlet [3]

Stiles

"Stiles?"

Stiles turns around to the source of the call. He finds himself facing the new Ares camper. The boy gives him a tentative but wide, slanted smile, stepping closer. Stiles is not going to lie; the excessive gushing he hears from the Aphrodite cabin about the guy are well-founded. But he's not going to say that out loud. He replies, "Hey,"

"Chiron said to look for you," the boy tells him, looking far brighter and good-natured than what Stiles anticipates from an Ares kid speaking to a child of Athena.

"Give me a sec, will you?" At the boy's nod, Stiles rushes inside the cabin to retrieve the materials he prepared for their brief session today. He assigns one of his half-siblings to take over the cabin clean-up while he's out. When he returns outside, the Ares boy is standing patiently, hands in his pockets, watching the flurry of activities inside.

"Your cabin looks like a library," the boy comments when Stiles is near enough to hear. He doesn't sound mocking and what he said isn't in particular insulting, but Stiles gets defensive all the same. From his time at camp, he gets this automatic response to the Ares bunch.

"And yours look like," he pauses, and they both turn to look at cabin five right across from Athena. Its blood-red paint job is giving Stiles goosebumps. Not to mention the stuffed boar's head on the doorway with soulless eyes that seem to be following everyone's movements, and the ugly barbed wires on the roof. It's an angry-looking cabin that's very fitting to its aggressive and violent occupants. "-a nightmare."

Stiles expects the boy to sneer, but he gets a different reaction. The new Ares kid laughs. "You think it looks bad outside? It's absolute chaos inside." The boy turns to him, smiling cheekily. "You should come and visit sometimes."

Stiles stops short and takes a moment to consider the boy. He's never made an Ares kid laugh before, at least not that isn't derisive. They all think Stiles is stuck up even when he was only new to the camp. Only Fred, the head counselor, tolerates him, and he only does so because Stiles handed his ass to him in capture-the-flag last summer. His grudging respect is because he got beat by a rookie. Typical. This boy, though, doesn't seem to be corrupted - yet. It's only been a few days. Stiles replies with a serious, "I will," the boy's face lights up in return, probably mistaking it as Stiles flirting back. So he adds, "When it's my turn for cabin inspection. I give decent scores."

The quick shooting up of his eyebrows means he doesn't quite believe that.

But Stiles does. Last summer, he gave them 1/5. It would have been zero, but Fred had made an effort to upturn the bunk beds back in their upright position and shove all strewn underwear inside a box. He only hopes those were burned after and not distributed back to their owners. Stiles is a saint, considering.

He moves them forward, tracing the steps to the Big House. They walk side-by-side in surprisingly companionable silence for a moment, then Stiles begins introduction. "So, as your official welcome wagon, albeit a few days late," Stiles spreads his arms in an all-encompassing gesture. "Welcome to Camp Half-Blood!"

The boy laughs a little and regards him with amusement. He looks pleasant, but it's disconcerting and just a tad suspicious. An Ares kid is not supposed to be a charmer, newcomer, or otherwise.

"My name is Stiles," he says, pausing in his tracks to politely offer his hand to the boy. "I'm Athena cabin's junior counselor."

The boy smiles and takes Stiles's hand in a firm grip. He mentally registers that the boy's hand is mildly calloused and only slightly bigger than his. And the boy's eyes are blue, like the sky and ocean on a fine day. 

"I'm Theo."

Theo is a nice name, too, his brain whispers kindly. Probably short for Theodore. Stiles knows another Theodore from his previous school. That Theodore is bland; this one is far from it. But he's not going to admit that out loud, either. 

Stiles clears his throat, breaking their contact. His mind runs on him sometimes (all the time); he hates when that happens. The last time it did, Stiles got humiliated by his crush in front of the others during combat training. What a fun memory. He really shouldn't be thinking about that right now. So he picks up his steps, and Theo follows dutifully, not losing the open expression.

"I'm supposed to give you a starter kit today: the camp's map, our camp brochure, and your study guide for our next sessions." Stiles holds up the book and papers on his other hand. "As much as I'd like to tour you around, we don't have that much time."

Stiles waves a hand to one of the Hermes kids, who's carrying a trunk-load of garbage for disposal. The boy smiles back brightly despite the strain on his face from the weight of the junk. Ever since day one, everyone from cabin eleven has been friendly to Stiles, most especially the head counselor, Kira. So, Stiles always makes a way to return their kindness.

He shifts back to Theo to find him observing the interaction with attention. It's not malicious, though, which still baffles Stiles. He didn't know there could be nice ones from his cabin. 

He continues as they near the Big House. "There's a meeting with Chiron and the cabins' head counselors in an hour. Haley, our head, went with Demeter and Dionysus' cabin leaders to Manhattan to deliver strawberries. You know, the camp's source of funds? You'll see that in the brochure," he says, raising the object in question. "I'll have to attend as a proxy."

They arrive at the porch, and Stiles motions for Theo to sit on a bench. He passes the materials to him, "I'll let you check these, and if you have questions, you can ask me."

Theo shuffles the papers absently before lifting his head, "I do."

Stiles is pretty sure he hasn't read a thing yet, but he gestures for him to proceed.

"How did you manage it?" He asks, a genuinely curious look on his face. "You're here for one summer, but you're already second-in-command."

Stiles searches his face and tone for ridicule. He doesn't find it, still suspects it, so he schools his expression to its neutral - not friendly, but also not dismissive. It's a sensible question, anyway. It's not every day that he gets one from an Ares child. "It's not all about tenure here at camp," he starts, gauging.

Theo leans forward to indicate he's listening.

Stiles takes a seat adjacent to his position. If this kid is civil to him, there's no reason not to act the same - even if Stiles still thinks their cabin is the worst. "The eldest or the longest camper automatically gets the head counselor post, and they assign their seconds. Usually, they pick from the next eldest campers, but they can also base on achievements disregarding age or length of stay."

Theo inclines his head, eyes level on Stiles. "Achievements?"

"Yes. Like winning in the camp's games, or successfully returning from a quest."

His eyes flash in thought, and it is with revere when he says, "And you did both."

Stiles blushes embarrassingly. He tries to mask it by ducking his head and rubbing at his cheeks. Stiles is suddenly self-conscious when he is usually gloating. Stiles never passes up an opportunity to rub it in an Ares kid's face how he's defeated them in capture-the-flag like he's born for it.

When Stiles looks up again, the boy is smirking at him, blue eyes darting around his face in a thorough examination. Stiles's guard kicks in again, feeling measured. 

He straightens in his perch, lifting his chin haughtily. "Yes," he makes sure that his tone is sharp. "I led my team to victory against yours. If you have any doubt to the legitimacy of that claim, you can remind Fred how he uselessly hung upside-down like a wet market chicken while I plucked the flag from his hands."

Stiles waits for the offended snarl and stream of profanities, but once again, he's knocked off his careful balance. Theo's face splits in a wide grin, and he laughs. "So, that's why he doesn't share details, the loser."

Stiles goggles, starting to feel annoyed by the unusual behavior. "Aren't you going to mock me and defend his honor?"

Theo snorts, "What honor?" He snickers for a few more and then puts his attention to the reading materials when he recovers.

Stiles finds the situation peculiar, so he stays quiet and allows Theo to read, answering when he has more questions and volunteering information that isn't in print.

Later, when they adjourn, he prepares to leave when Theo leans to tell him, "I'm not like my siblings. I don't hate clever people." He pauses, and with an easy grin, adds: "Fred might even be right. I think I'm attracted to one of them."

He doesn't wait for Stiles's reply - not that Stiles has one to that statement. He only stands there, taken aback, and red as a startled tomato.

Theo, finally displaying the familiar audacity comparable to his kins, winks. "I'll see you later, Stiles."

And well, it's impossible not to notice him everywhere now.

~•~

[1][2][companion]

[popculturebuffet]

Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck Restrospective: The Raider of the Copper Hill! “You Got Rich Son”

Hello all you happy people! And welcome back to my retrospective of the Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck! It’s been far too long, almost three months since we last checked in with Scrooge and frankly I feel i’ve been spacing these entries out too much for this one and for the retrospectives that aren’t paid for in general. So expect at least one McDuck adventure a month till I finish, possibly two when I can swing it like this month. 

Now i’m done beating myself up, when we last left off a younger more naive, more optimistic and less experienced Scooge took up a career as a cowboy for  Cattle Baron, gained his first sidekick in the form of his Horse Hortense, and took out some cattle thieves with the help of Teddy Fucking Roosevelt. 

This chapter marks the end of the story’s first act. The first act is about a younger and far nicer Scrooge: still onrey and still a cheapskate, but still a good kid and far more outwardly friendly and welcoming, a far cry from the bitter untrusting man we come to know. This chapter is one of the reasons why, as Scrooge learns a hard lesson about wealth and success, the sacrifices one needs to make for family and about sticking your hand in a lightbulb while it’s plugged in. So join me under the cut as Scrooge meets another valuable mentor, one of his greatest enemies, and about 50 feet of barbed wire. 

We begin with the end of Scrooge’s time as a ranch hand and cowpunch. With homesteaders moving in and dividing up the land, Murdo simply dosen’t have the space for cattle baroning anymore and has to let Scrooge go and head back to texas. We do get a great bit of Scrooge wrapped in barbed wire, having gone to cut some down so Murdo could move the herd out. 

So with his Job done and parting on good terms with his old boss, Scrooge sets up his own homestead on some land near the Anaconda Silver Mine, trying to make it as a prospector, starting on the path that would eventually lead him to riches.. in about a decade and a half.

 So Scrooge bemoans his rotten luck over Dinner with a stranger, Marcus Daly owner of said mine... who just.. randomly sat down to have dinner with a 17 year old. 

Marcus belays his own woes: While Scrooge has failed at what he tried to do, having gotten into both steamboating and cattle punching too late to go anywhere with either, Daly has a silver mine that’s full of copper: decent amoutns of it but still not what his investors wanted. 

Both however find their fortunes reverse in an instant in the weirdest way possible. The light goes out at their table and Scrooge tries to adjust it only to electcute himself. To his shock...

He finds out it’s running on electricty, which is starting to become widespread.. and requires vast amounts of copper wiring. Scrooge is back in the game but finds trouble getting equipment as the local seller naturally is a jackass who jacks up the price. Scrooge instead sells the gold teeth his dad gave him to the nearest gentleman after talking him into it. . And i’ts not even the weirdest transaction i’ve seen this week. 

For the record those weird things are the guy on the left’s skinflakes, his power is to make naked golems of himself out of his dandruff and skin flakes and what have you, while the guy on the right is paying for a mutant with a star for a head. So yeah a scottish cowboy selling his ancestor’s dentures to pay for mining gear is refelshingly tame after all of this. 

So we get the comic equivleant of a montage as Scrooge starts his work at prospecting, making a portable homesteader shack as a miner owns any land he lives on, and moving around to try and find it, but he runs into a problem: with his last two careers he had mentors to help him learn what to do: Pothole taught him riverboating and Murdo helped him learn to ride the trails. Here he has no one and while you can self teach a lot of things prospecting isn’t one of them. 

He end sup finding one though as a rich gentleman asking about the mine happens to wander by: Howard D. Rockerduck. If that names sounds familiar it should as he’s indeed the father of exactly who your thinking of and we meet a young 10 or so year old john who asks him to stop dealing with a grubby workman. We also find out whose responsible for him turning out ot be such a piece of work as his mother’s response to his father telling him “I used to be a grubby workman is well... word’s cant’ do this amount of classist bulslhit justice. 

Seriously his unnamed wife is so odious it hurts. And how the fuck did an honest, kind man like Howard end up with this bitch? It’ sbaffled me every time i’ve read this: did he marry for money? is he a gold digger? go down gold dig get down? Is she just THAT good in bed? Did he just make a horrible mistake one night? Did she lie to him about who she was? Was she replaced by a skrull? I have questions no duck comic has properly explained.. and if they have please tell me.  Also it does tickle me we’re getting a bit with a duck named howard though sadly he wears a top hat instead of a nice little bowler. And if you don’t know who howard the duck is.. shame on you. And if you’ve seen the movie.. my deepest sympathies. 

While Howard laments wanting to horsewhip his son, this was a century ago with change mind you standards were different and also John sucks. Howard crticizes Scrooge’s techqniue after introducing himself, and Scrooge and him get into a bit of a tizzy, with Howard offering to teach him for two cents.. but the hostility quickly desolves hours later as Scrooge realizes Howard was right and he’d been doing things completely wrong and the thrill of hard honest work again has washed away any ego driven competiviness. 

I”ll get more into Howard in a second but he does eventually strike copper, and while the vein is full it’s also thin. But Howard has one final trick and takes Scroogey for an ore test. I tried to find more on this but just found a lot of ways to do it yourself and what not. I”m now really intrigued how they did this and found the content of minerals. I know it’s a dull subject but i’m curious how they did it with the technology of the time. Did they just use acids like I found? If so how’d they get them? I do say this is one of the great qualities of Rosa’s works: he makes you want to learn more about history. I looked up more about TR after the last chapter and now I want to know how the hell metallurgy worked in the late 1800′s. 

We then get an intresting interacton as Scrooge.. warmly greets the townsfolk and vice versa.. yes the same Scrooge who as an adult would be introduced proclaming...

Is warm, optimistic and wholeheartedly belieives...

As you can probably tell by Howard’s reaction and what Scrooge becomes.. this story’s all about shattering that notion and is the first of two to shatter the poor kid’s trust in people and make him into the bitter old sod we know. 

The sample comes back 55% positive... which leaves Howard rushing to get Scrooge to a court house. As it turns out there’s an old, very real for the time, mining law called the Law of Apex: whoever owns the land closest to where an ore vein is on the surface owns the whole thing... so legally Scrogoe owns the ENTIRE ANACONDA COPPER MINE, which at this point as detailed in the time skip has gone from struggling to utterly thriving and sucessful. Whoever owns the land at the time the Judge rules it gets the mine.. and Scrooge’s friends, who seconds ago were concerned about him being dragged into court.. are now all scrambling to take his fortune, something Howard dosen’t seem at all suprised about. 

But while this may be a kinder, more naive Scrooge McDuck, it’s still SCROOGE MCDUCK. His response is to cut a nearbye power wire and swing it tarzan style over to hortense and ride her back ahead of the mob... with the electric wire slapping her rear and causing her to go extra fast.. and also quit. So Scrooge stands alone but manages to take out some of the ruffians with his shack while John and the Judge rush to the site. As for Scrooge well... you want to see what a McDuck family beserker rage against an ENTIRE angry mob of opportunistic assholes look like? 

And this isn’t even the most badass thing Scrooge will do this series. Or even in the next few issues. That’s how awesome this series is: fighting an angry mob SOLO with simply his pure rage and whatever he can grab and throw. And he WINS. He’s exausted and passes out, falling out of the sky on his final opponent.. but he took out what was at the LEAST 50 men, and ONLY passed out because one of them threw dynamite in his out house.. and even THAT didn’t kill him or put him out, simply casuing him to land on said dynamite throwing idiot and wins. 

We find out Rockerduck actually was one of the mine’s owners but helped Scrooge anyway: he has more than enough money and all it’s going to do in the end is go to a greedy brat. Marcus Daly shows up and while he’ll get the law overturned eventually, he still has to shut down while that happens and finds the right officials to bribe. And this is the 1800s... you gotta go by train to do your bribes. You can’t just do that shit over email and hidden bank accounts. Daly offers him 10,000.. but given what Scrooge could earn even before he got his mine back, Scrooge turns it down. 

However this victory is bittersweet as Scrooge warmly greets his friends.. only for one to cuss him out and the other to tell him to get loss. We then get one of my faviorite exchanges in this story.

This whole Panel is a masterwork. The sheer INNOCENCE on Scrooge’s face, almost looking like Donald, desperately wondering what he did, when as Howard points out.. he did nothing wrong. He simply got successful and they resent him for it. 

This has been a hard paragraph for me to write as I want to tread carefully. People do have good reasons to scorn the rich or celebrtiies sometimes. Some rich people or those in the media are genuinely terrible. Jeff Bezos, Tucker Carlson, Mel Gibson, Louie CK, Joss Whedon and even someone as low on the totem pole as Doug Walker is odious. And of course we all can think of one odious example of rich bastard i’d rather not think of, especially when thinking of John D Rockerduck and what he’l lbecome as an adult that i’m not giving a pleasure of the name drop but came to mind. 

But even for good people becoming succesful puts up a barrier between you and other people: Fans of yours will admire you or write fanfic or what have about you without even knowing you, i’ve been on that side, and some people will hate you just because without valid reason, especially in this day and age. Success breeds resentment and even people you trusted and loved can sometimes turn on you. It’s the double eged sword of achieving your dreams: You get what you wanted but you often loose what you had. 

And it was no diffrent two centuries ago, with Scrooge’s friends only being friendly as long as it suited them, turning on him first to steal his chance at glory and then to scorn him for daring to achieve it. Some people.. are only there for you as long as your not above them. And sometimes you can be happy. Look at Tom Hanks, who has a lovely family and a long and storied career. Or Linkara, a youtuber who has been at this for over a decade, has tons of fans, a loving wife with her own succesful channel, and just recently got contacted by his childhood heroes. You CAN be happy and successful.. it’s just very hard to make it that far. 

One of the central points of life and times is that’s often not the case: You can get what you want but it comes at a cost. And it’s how you pay that price that will determine how happy you are. Another central point intertwined with it is it’s not the journey but the destination, and i’ts how Scrooge takes that journey that ultimately leads him where he ends up good and bad. And we get an all to telling all too foreboding hint in how he takes everyone he knew for at least a year turning on him overnight. 

When faced with his first real loss on this Journey that wasn’t material.. he dosen’t care. He has his money and riches and that’s enough. And as we’ll see that attitude will cost him greatly. Howard is irate for a moment, hoping he wasn’t wrong in trusting Scrooge.. and indeed, for now, turns out to have placed his faith in the right person as Scrooge gets a telegram: his family needs him. And while he could stay, turn his back on them, and earn MILLIONS.. he tells Howard  to tell the owner he’s taking the deal. For now when given the choice between his family and his fortune, SCrooge will choose them. Sadly.. that won’t hold true forever. 

With this being the end of his time in the story, as he has a still insufferable John buy him a horsewhip for horrific but darkly funny reasons, as John brags about how rich his father is not realizing he’s buying his own whupping tool, i’d like to touch on Howard D Rockerduck and how amazing he is. Rosa managed to pack a throughly interesting, throughly engaging character into only 8 pages. While Rockerduck DID show up earlier in of ducks dimes and destinys, he wasn’t really fleshed out or named and only showed up for one page so still 9 pages total. 

But in those we see a kind and noble man whose easily what Scrooge COULD have been, kind, noble, generous, hardworking and willing to give up money to help people. He’s a good man.. but even he’s seen the sacrifice Money brings. He’s clearly lost friends, lost a sense of peace, and married the wrong Woman, whose poisoned his children into a spoiled brat who will only grown into an even more spoield adult in both continuities.. if raised quite a bit earlier in the 2017 cartoon as he was made scrooge’s contemporary there rather than a child, but semeantics. Point is Howard hismelf isn’t wholly satisfied with his success.. and that’s what he and Scrooge will forever have in common, with Scrooge, likely as a result of meeting the Rockerducks, fearing an indadiquate inheritor and someone squandering what he worked hard for. Though his reasons for not taking up a wife as we’ll see eventually, if outside the main 12 part story but I intend to cover the subchapters in their own time, aren’t entirely motivated by avoiding goldigging but a broken hard and his own stubborness. 

For now though we bid Howard and america adue. Scrooge however for once ends an occupation with less bitterness. Unlike his last two ventures where he made it out with only enough to get to the next one here he made it out ahead: he now has a decent suit, likely bought for him by Howard given he hasn’t cashed the check yet, I know this as it’s a major plot point for next time, 10,000 dollars.. and experince. He may of not gotten all the money he was due on this venture, but he learned more valuable skills and he feels with a land like america, the next opportunity to earn some dough is just waiting for him to get back. And as the chapter ends he muses that maybe the country could use a symbol of this countries boundless opportunity...

Final Thoughts for the Raider of the Copper Hill:

This chapter is one of my favorites. It’s nicely paced, something Rosa himself admits was often a struggle as he had to cover years at a time, has a wonderful new mentor for Scrooge, and sets up a lot of the tragedy to come in the last act beautifully. It’s a nice closer for our first act, showing Scrooge has come out of his first trip to america wiser, more experinced and more hopeful, but at heart still the same kind and noble kid he left Glasgow as. The next act is about the change of that boy into a man, how he will finally find his fortune after some more adventures.. and how the last viestges of his kindess and optimisim towards others die at the hands of a certain fake scotish gentleman. 

Next Life And Times: As is tradition for this series act openers, Scrooge returns home.. and just in time to get his castle back, fight a duel and go to heaven and back. So an average McDuck tuesday then. 

If you liked this review follow for more. And if you liked it a lot join my patreon so I can keep making these and hit my stretch goals. Even at just the 2 dollar level you get access to my discord and your pick of shorts whenever I do a series of them and with Goofy and Donald’s birthdays being the next ones to be celebrated you can’t pick a better time. patreon.com/popculturebuffet See you at the next rainbow. 

[imaginesmai]

Peter Parker - See the light (1)

Here is the first part of the Tangled series! If you don���t know what I’m talking about, here is a small sneak peek . Let me know if you want to be tagged! 

This doesn’t follow exactly the story, but I’m trying to be as accurate as possible. If you haven’t seen the film, you can still understand the story, but it will be easier if you have seen it since it follows the main plot. Just a reminder; reader is not as neutral as in other fics, since the story requires a specific characteristics and I didn’t want to change Peter.

Now, I hope you enjoy it!

Plot: Peter Parker has changed over the past few years. From the sweet boy that helped in town, to a thief running away from the guards with the missing princess’ crown. While doing so, he comes across a tower with a girl with a  ridiculously amount of hair. First encounters had never been so agressive for him.

The forest was nothing more than a blur as Peter dashed through the overgrowth. The mossy ground was spongy under the soles of his feet, as he practically bounded around the trees and danced around roots and barbs. His lungs burned, his legs pleading with him to slow down, but he couldn’t. The soldiers were hot on his heels, and as long as the crown was still in his possession, he couldn’t slow his sprint.

“Parker!” one of the brother shouted over his shoulder. “Keep up!”

Peter just huffed in response. The other two men were already far ahead of him; both keeping stronger stride and pace. He leaped over a fallen log and narrowly missed getting clipped by a low hanging branch. Behind him, the could hear the pounding of horses and shouting from the commander of the guard.

Suddenly, the back of Peter’s vest was being grabbed, and he was pulled into the cool brush by a strong hand. He struggled for only a second before realizing that is the other Stabbington brother who pulled him in.

“Shut up and stay still” the one with the patch scolded, and Peter’s shoulders slumped.

The theft of the crown had been nothing but improvising. Even though Peter had been dreaming with having it for months, lately he had been more focused on other things. Like the death of his uncle, murdered by the guards in a misunderstanding, or the death of his aunt, killed by an illness that Peter couldn’t afford. When the Stabbington brothers had suggested him the job, he almost said no; but he had to do something apart from hurting.

And hurting the king wasn’t such a bad option.

The ground thundered with the thumping of hoof steps, and Peter bit his tongue. The other two men were already running, caring little about the ‘team’. Peter fell into pace behind them, his lungs aching again. They didn’t run for long thought, as the trees seemed to end and they were cut off by a tall cliffside.

The three of them stared at it, until Peter broke the silence.

“Alright, help me up” Peter clapped his hands. His colleagues just stared at him in shock. “I’ll pull you up after. I’m the smallest and the lightest.”

“Give us the bag” the first one growled, holding out his hand.

“And I thought I had earned your trust” Peter said, arching a brow. There was no trust between them, and they all knew they would kill each other; even the brothers between.

The brothers just gave him narrowed eyes, so Peter gave them the bag. The crown made a tingling noise, and Peter thought of all the things that could go better if he had it.

Less than a minute later, Peter was climbing up their back like a human ladder. He had always been a skinny boy, that had grown muscles with the years, and he was used to climb into the trees for fun; so it was easy to get to the top. At the last second, he slipped the satchel right off one of them and then scampered up onto the higher ground.

“Parker, your hand” Peter should really know their names, but he couldn’t quite differentiate them.

“Sorry, but I don’t think I have one to spare. See you later!”

The brothers caught sight of the satchel in Peter’s hand, but Peter was already running before he could steal it back. The last thing he heard was his colleague’s cries of anger.

That time, sprinting didn’t feel as tiring as it did before. The horses were still behind him, but it was less threatening that earlier. Peter assumed that most of the guards had stopped over the brothers, so he had a few minutes.

As he let the wind hit his skin, Peter thought how a few years ago he wouldn’t have been able to steal, or to cheat. He was a simple boy who lived with his aunt and uncle; not with too much money, but happy enough. He had a best friend – Ned –, a girl who he considered his girlfriend – MJ – and even a man who he was learning from – Mr. Stark, the inventor –. Everything had been perfect, until they all left him, one by one, and he found himself stealing for a living. It wasn’t fun, and sometimes he allowed himself to share a few tears over the night, but it was necessary.

Peter didn’t let the emotions much room, and kept running, until he found a tower to hide.

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

There was someone in the valley.

You knew it wasn’t your mother. For one, the person didn’t call for you to let down your hair, and secondly, the person was then climbing the body of the tower to get inside. Years of being hidden in that tower, without getting out, let you know that whoever was there didn’t have friendly intentions. Your mother had warned you from them, men that wanted to kidnap you, armies that would drag you away. And thirdly, you had a too silent chameleon looking at the window.

You had hidden yourself from sight, the heaviest and most deadly pan you owned then secured in your grasp. It was slightly rusty, but that wouldn’t stop it from being able to be swung at the intruder.

The person was breathing heavily as they scaled the tower, and moments later, you observed in freight as they crawled through the window and into the living space. It was a man, and fortunately enough, he had his back turned to you.

The man reached for the bag he had slung around his torso and looked inside. He sighed.

“You arrived a few months late, my friend”

There was a slight sad tone on his voice, but he didn’t get to say much more before you had clobbered him in the back of the head with the pan. The hit wasn’t hard, just enough to have him fall to the ground, unconscious.

You stared at him for a second. For the first time, you were looking at someone other than your mother. Pascal scampered up your back and then rested on your shoulder, the little chameleon blinking confused. You ignored your friend and took a tentative step towards the stranger, curious; Pascal only shuffled backward.

The man, or boy, had chestnut hair, full of messy curls, and a clean jaw that didn’t seem like the ruthless beards of the vikings you were waiting. His long eyelashes rested peacefully in a face that seemed full of worries, although he could be sleeping. Lips parted and breathing, the stranger was beautiful.

He wore a bright blue vest without sleeves, an underneath white shirt and pants that had seen better days, brown boots scuffed and well worn. Something that seemed a small spider was drawn on the bottom of the vest.

“What do you think he is, Pascal? A ruffian or a thug? He doesn’t seem the bogeyman to me” you asked, feeling intrigued. “That’s not what the plague looks like, is it?”

Pascal seemed to roll his eyes on your shoulder, turning around and looking out of the window.

“You’re very helpful, Pascal” you sighed, and the animal just stuck his tongue.

The boy – he couldn’t be older than you – seemed out cold, so you stepped away for a second, walking towards the abandoned satchel. Keeping a cautious eye on him, you picked up the bag and opened it. A large, golden hoop, covered in what looked like shard of glass, and ornately designed stones, laid on your hand. It was gorgeous, and shimmered in the sunlight.

You turned the thing over in your hand a few times, and walked over to the nearby mirror and stared at yourself, then down at the hoop. You placed it on your wrist, but Pascal, who was back on the ground, shook his head, obviously not convinced. You spun it around your finger next, but the hoop quickly lost balance and you had to catch it before it clattered to the ground.

Finally, you brought the object to the top of your head, and stared at yourself in the mirror. Long, and hard. Pascal’s eyes seemed to widen for a moment, until he shook his head again. Defeated, you placed it back in its bag and went back to the knocked out stranger.

“What should we do with him?”

The only place you could think to hide him was in the closet nearby. Something about throwing him out of the tower didn’t seem right, so you decided to wait until he woke up and kindly show him the way off. And, maybe, you felt a little curious about the stranger.

With a grunt, you picked up the boy and dragged him over to the wardrobe from his shoulders. He was pretty heavy and you knocked a few things over, but finally managed to shove the man in; not without two or three bangs that probably had made him even more unconscious.

“There is a man in the tower” you said, crossing your arms and looking at the closet. Was it a finger what stuck from the opening? “There is a man… in my closet. In my – ha! How you like that, mother? Who’s the sapling now?”

The little dance-off you were having against the unconscious man and out of happiness ended quickly when a new voice rang up from the valley.

“Y/N! Let down your hair!”

You tumbled to the window, and looked down to see your mother smiling at you. She was carrying a basket with some fruits, and you squealed in excitement; the unconscious man would be enough proof to let you go outside. You let your hair fall towards the ground, and your mother stepped into the tower.

“I have a huge surprise” she said cheerfully.

You reeled the rest of your hair back into the tower, and singed back a happy ‘so do I’, staring at her back as the older woman removed her cloak.

“Mine first, I’m sure you’ll love it. I bought mangos!” your mother chuckled, placing his back full of fruit on the table. “Thought we could make some special dessert, it’s been a while since we did so. How’s that for a surprise?”

“It’s great, mother” you replayed, kissing her cheek when she gave you a pointed look. “I wanted to talk to you about something, though”

“Treasure, you know I hate leaving after an argument, but-“

“No, mother, you don’t-“

“Don’t interrupt me” her voice was hard, and you casted your eyes down..

“Sorry. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, mother”

“When are you not?” your mother laughed.

You looked around the walls of the tower, where a lot of drawings and books were kept. There were pieces from all over the world that your mother had given you, and some of them done by you. There wasn’t much to do when you spent your whole life up there.

“But I have –“

“I hope it’s not about the flying lanterns”

You inched closer to the wardrobe, looking for an emotional support on any of the habitants of the tower. Pascal was too busy, chasing a fly on the window, and your mother only had disapproval on her eyes. You sighed, hand shaking.

“Mother, just – earlier, you said I wasn’t ready for the outside. But I just think you were wrong –“

“Don’t tell me what’s right or wrong” you mother corrected you quickly.

“But, if you just trust me, mother, I know –“

“Y/N, we’re done talking about this.”

“I know, mother, but I just wanted to –“

“Y/N”

“Please, mother, just listen to –“

“Enough with the lights, Y/N! You’re not leaving this tower, you’re not leaving me, and you’re stopping right now if you don’t want consequences!” your mother all but screamed, eyes blowing side open and voice louder than you had ever heard it. You immediately removed your hand from the wardrobe’s handle out of shook.

It took her a second, but eventually your mother regained some form of composure and fell into a chair like the victim.

“Oh, perfect” she sighed. “You’ve made me the villain”

You watched your mother, your heart rate decreasing slowly, with your enthusiasm and happiness along. After a long moment where you fight to keep the tears at bay, out of frustration and sadness, you stepped towards her tentatively, until you could kneel by her side.

“Before… I just – I just wanted to say I know what I want for my birthday”

“What do you want?” your mother eyed you with a critical eye.

“New paints. Like the one you bought me last year, that had a special bright red glow, or the thick blue one”

Your mother narrowed her eyes at you, and leaned forward against the chair.

“That man doesn’t live close, treasure. The trip will be long. Almost three days.”

“I just thought it would be better than the lights”

Your mother let out a long sigh and stood up. She walked around for a bit, until finally stopped in front of you with a too kind smile, that only showed when she got what she wanted, and knew she had won. Leaning down, she took your head in her hands and brought it forward, so she could plant a kiss to the top of your hair.

“You sure you’ll be okay on your own?”

“I’ve done it before” you smiled shakily at her.

“Alright” your mother’s mouth was pressed in a grim line, yet she still nodded. “I’ll be back in three days. No more. I love you very much, treasure”

“I love you more, mother”

You helped your mother with the bags and wished her a safe journey under the promise of being careful in the tower. As you watched her walk away, you thought about how three days was enough time to coax the boy to take you to the flying lights and be back before she noticed.

Now you only had to wait for him to wake up.

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[unsteadyshade]

day 2: sports AU

a/n: it’s late, it’s ridiculous, but it’s here. expect shenanigans.

Blake stared at the test that was just returned to her, the failing grade seeming to mock her. She'd  bombed assignments before, but to fail in history, her best subject, was new. She only had herself to blame, considering she had studied the wrong material and had no clue what anything on the test was referring to.

Sighing, she shoved the test in her backpack and slowly made her way across the lecture hall to the stout professor. He was one of the oldest that taught at Beacon University yet also one of the most easygoing, which Blake hoped would mean that asking for a retake would be a simple request. Surprisingly, it was not.

"Professor Port, you know I always pass your exams and complete my assignments. I'm just asking for one chance to retake this test."

For his part, the professor did hear her out before firmly shaking his head, unwilling to budge on his decision. "You know what the syllabus says. No retakes for anyone, not even one of my top students."

"But-"

"I'm sure you'll do better next time! It's just one low grade."

Despite knowing that her professor had a point, Blake couldn't help but feel frustrated with herself. She just knew that she would've passed if she had studied the correct material. Blake nodded and was about to leave when he spoke up again.

"But that syllabus is old. Maybe it's time I update it…" He mused, stroking his mustache. Blake couldn't help but feel a little surge of hope at that. But then he continued. "It would have to be done with certain conditions in mind, however."

"Conditions?" Blake briefly wondered if this was even allowed but didn't want to press her luck. Then again, knowing how eccentric the dean was, it might be overlooked.

Chuckling, Professor Port shook his head. "One condition really. You see, you're not the only one who flunked that test. I would usually just let you three go, but they also asked for a retake, and I offered this condition to them, so it would be unfair to not give you a chance too."

There was amusement present in his voice, and Blake didn't know how to take that before nodding hesitantly. How bad could this condition be?

--

In the week since her conversation with Professor Port, the days seemed to pass by normally for Blake, so much so that she had forgotten about their chat until he requested that she stay after class. She didn’t think anything of it, having already taken the previous test over again earlier in the day. What did catch her off guard was how ridiculous his condition actually was, and she expressed as much to her childhood friend and roommate.

Velvet, who was usually busy with her photography assignments, had found time to talk to Blake while waiting for her photos to develop. The older woman was seated on her bed and was now staring at Blake in disbelief before it shifted to a thoughtful look. She was familiar with Professor Port, having taken him already. Blake hoped to hear how ridiculous his condition was, but Velvet just shrugged.

"It could be worse."

"Really?" Blake asked skeptically.

"It's not like he's asking you to join the team. You just have to attend one practice."

"Still-"

"I also heard that he's good friends with the coach, so he'll know if you and your two classmates who made the questionable decision to accept his deal attended."

Sighing, Blake leaned her head back against the wall, closing her eyes and lamenting her lot in life. The professor had given her a specific practice session he wanted them all to attend, which just happened to coincide with a book signing she was looking forward to. A cancelled book signing, Blake reminded herself sullenly. At this point, all she was hoping for was that the team and her classmates were tolerable.

A flash brought her attention back to her roommate, Velvet smiling as she usually did after getting a good picture, and Blake groaned. She wrapped her blanket around herself, burrowing in and refusing to face the world. Velvet’s voice was soft when she spoke again.

“If the coach lets me stay, maybe I can come and watch?”

Blake stuck her head out and looked at her roommate, hope shining in her eyes, making Velvet roll her eyes fondly as she raised one of the many cameras scattered around her on the bed. “I also might be able to get pictures for the school paper-“

“No-“

“-Since we both need to find a story anyway. Think you’ll make front page news?”

Velvet smiled at Blake’s glare, one that turned softer as she considered her friend. “Maybe this can be a good thing. You never know when you’ll meet new friends... or more.”

Blake knew that Velvet wanted what was best for her, but she desperately wanted to talk about anything but her empty love life now. Instead, she smirked and decided to focus on something much more fun. “Maybe I can even have a relationship story that rivals yours.”

“Blake!”

“But meeting during a volleyball practice is definitely less interesting than having a girlfriend offer to pose naked-“ Blake ducked to avoid the pillow sailing towards her, laughing loudly.

By now, Velvet had her face buried in her hands, attempting to hide her growing blush. “I really wish Coco would stop sharing that story with everyone…”

“Well no one said you had to accept her offer…”

“She was...very convincing…” Velvet managed to say, only continuing this conversation after hearing how Blake was in a much better mood now.

Amused now, Blake just shook her head. The last thing she’d do is fall for a rich or flirty woman like her friend.

--

What she didn't expect to find when she attended the practice session was a rich woman and a flirty woman. Of course, those weren't her first thoughts, but she'd never say that out loud. Blake was simultaneously relieved and embarrassed when Velvet had to nudge her to get her to stop subtly staring at her classmates who were now stretching.

Unfortunately for Blake, her staring was noticed if the raised white eyebrow and wink from the blonde was any indication. Then they both proceeded to stretch deliberately slowly and in ways that showed off their toned-

Abruptly turning around, Blake quickly walked away to hide her blush, though she wasn't sure if she succeeded after hearing a loud laugh from behind her. It managed to sound friendly, as if inviting her to laugh along, and Blake couldn't help the smile that spread across her face.

A familiar snap brought her attention to Velvet, who was smiling, though there was mischief in her eyes. She hummed in approval at her picture before placing a hand on Blake's shoulder and speaking solemnly. "Bless your bisexual heart."

Blake sighed and glared at the ground. Out of all of her classmates who could've been roped into this, it had to have been the two who managed to pique her interest. She couldn't help but wonder how they both failed a test before shaking those thoughts away.

Blake's priority was just to get through this practice session. Then she'd be free and wouldn't ever have to talk to them...though that didn't mean she couldn't have a bit of fun while she was here. Her sudden smirk prompted a sigh from Velvet. "Do I even want to know what you've got planned?"

"Probably not. Just make sure you get some good pictures," Blake said before slipping away to change.

Velvet sighed and just raised her camera in acknowledgement. If nothing else, she hoped that this would be a good opportunity for photos. She greeted the coach, who reminded her of the blonde in personality and looks and settled on the bleachers to watch the chaos unfold.

--

If Velvet had known how utterly entertaining just one practice session with three girls in denial would play out, she would've invited her girlfriend. Coco would've made it all the better with her running commentary, but alas she'd settle for pictures and timestamps for now. If those three didn't do something after all the tension displayed between them, Velvet resolved to make a slideshow with all the evidence and invite them over to their dorm, sit them all down, and explain in detail how there was something there. It would be up to them to define what that was.

While waiting for Blake to finish changing, Velvet decided to look through the pictures. There were quite a few, but she wasn't sure how many she could actually use. Velvet had waited until Blake had stepped out of the locker room before she had readied her camera, and the matching not so subtle stares she was given made for a great but unusable picture. The last thing the university paper needed was a front page spread of what girls looked like when trying to subtly look over each other in ways that implied more than friendship.

When the next picture popped up, Velvet smirked. How could she not when all three girls were staring and trying to hide they were doing so with varying levels of success? She couldn't blame them though; it was obvious why Pyrrha was in charge of the team.

As she continued to flip through the pictures, Velvet found that there were a number of action shots she could use, but she found that her favorites were the candid shots. There were small moments of care between them interspersed between intense shots of them bantering, though Velvet liked to think that they were flirting in their own way, considering the verbal barbs poked and prodded but never crossed a line. Their teasing smiles reassured Velvet.

She looked up when she sensed someone standing in front of her, and she was quietly curious after seeing Blake's nervous yet excited expression. Blake was eyeing one of the candid shots, a small tentative smile on her face, and Velvet quickly wrapped her friend in a hug when she told her about the date she had in a few days. Velvet didn't know if they would join the volleyball team, but she was hopeful for their date and what would come afterwards.

a/n: this went through so many different versions to get to this point. it ends here, because i got inspired for other prompts while this was in progress, but i had to finish. the other prompts will definitely be late too, but they’re coming. the next one features a child. also on ff and ao3.