#what a prophetic name 'Discord' lol

[katyspersonal]

I honestly no longer feel bad for anyone who informs that a public Discord server triggered some dumb drama or resulted in hegemony of some takes making others feel unwelcomed or destroyed someone's self-esteem completely. It should be obvious that public Discord is an awful idea after it's been proven to be for countless times, every time, for many years. Yet every time some mfer thinks: "but people /I/ invited are DIFFERENT, but on MY server things are chill" etc. People just don't learn and keep making this mistake.

Once again: public Discord servers are fundamentally broken as a concept, because unlike Twitter timeline or Tumblr dashboard, they are closed, tight room. In them if user 1 ignores or dislikes user 2, it will be noticeable. If even two people don't get along or someone is not interested in someone, it will effect the mood in the whole room especially during these your "chaotic 3 AM VCs", thus a petty personal thing will spread across users it should not concern! The person that isn't fond of everyone will either be forced to leave the server to not feel forced to see someone they dislike, or push that person out through passive aggression themselves! Beeeeecaaause how maaany tiiiiimes will you neeeed to learn that Discord servers rely on everyone liking everyone, a thing impossible for human species by the concept, yooooou fuuucking dumbaaaasses. Not to mention how every other influential and popular person falls because they've made a Discord for their following like an absolute moron that they are and naturally failed to control the community!

Discord servers should be only used as group chats of friends with more features. Having discussions across Tumblr is just better; asks and reblogs are a thing if you want to be public and invite more people to say their opinions, but it ALSO allows to avoid interacting with mfer you dislike without consequences for the fandom camp!

[crypticcodexcreations]

OKAY I AM HERE 3 DAYS LATE AND FILLED WITH THE NEED TO KNOW

So i'm fully not sure if any of these guys got some love yet BUT any of these can be answered for Apollo, Herc, or that one hot reaper

🪞 - what would your character do if faced with an evil doppelganger? would they run away, fight? is the doppelganger a reflection of their inner fears?

🕰 - what would your character do if they were stuck in a time loop?

🫁 - would your character cannibalize someone? would it be for survival or because they like it? is it for religious reasons? something else? (i've gotta know, i'm not sorry)

💀 - is your character afraid of dying? if so, how far would they go to cheat death?

Andi, you are one of my best friends on this hellsite. I'm sure you know this. But you really forgot his name? For shame, Andi, for shame, lol.

🪞 - what would your character do if faced with an evil doppelganger? would they run away, fight? is the doppelganger a reflection of their inner fears?

OK, so, I decided to answer this one for Hercules. I think it depends on whether faced with an evil doppelganger in the dream world or the real world. In the dream world, he feels invincible and would probably try to fight it. After all, he's strong and big and tough, why wouldn't he? But in the real world? With those artificial muscles stripped from him, and as he really is? He would run, without hesitation. It's not likely to be a reflection of his inner fears, although it may mock him for them, remind him of just how alone he's always been and always will be.

🕰 - what would your character do if they were stuck in a time loop?

Kinda just picking and choosing who to do these for as I please, so! If Apollo found himself stuck in a time loop, he'd likely try to force one of his prophetic visions to try to figure out how to escape. This is, of course, a terrible idea, and he should not do that. It's either going to fail or torment him with all the possibilities of how the loop could go. Once he realizes that's a bad idea, he's likely to spend a good amount of time trying to act like everything is fine. More time isn't a bad thing, right? Right? By the time he actually gets out of it, he's likely to be a traumatized mess of a man. Michael is gonna have a real problem to fix.

🫁 - would your character cannibalize someone? would it be for survival or because they like it? is it for religious reasons? something else?

Herc would only do it out of desperation for survival. And honestly? He might puke about it the first time. Hercules likes to think he's tough, but uh. He's really not. He's really really not. It would likely haunt him for quite some time.

💀 - is your character afraid of dying? if so, how far would they go to cheat death?

And since you were actually able to remember his name on Discord, I'm doing this one for Isa. And yes, he is. Absolutely terrified of dying, because for Isa, dying means not existing at all anymore. It's the end of the line, no more chances. He doesn't show it often because there's very little that could kill him when he was alive and even less now that he's become a reaper, but that doesn't mean it's impossible. He would kill if it meant never having to worry about dying again and yet, that's not what'll save him. He can't wrap his mind around the fact that all of his go to ways of handling situations are just pushing him closer and closer to that little edge, and so whether he likes it or not, he's actually sabotaging himself. Guess he's lucky there's someone who believes in him and is willing to vouch for him still being able to change.

[teeth-get-yer-teeth]

In the interest of continuing Updating Nevermoor Tumblr On Nevermoor Discord Culture: today let me display all of the theories I made about the series pre-Hollowpox that predicted the book (before I move on to sharing my theories about the future of the series I may as well display proof of my Theorisng Chops). They don’t call me a prophet for nothing!

I’ve added alt text to my screenshots to assist those with screen readers among us :) let me know if I should change them to make them more accessible!

Okay this was my first theory and it pertained to the name of a future book being Fireblossom but this part substantiating it was correct so—

So that was a win from me (still bummed Fireblossom is off the table in terms of book titles cause honestly it would be so awesome.)

This next one was also written before we even knew they were called Wundrous Arts,, or what any of them did (I was literally right about every one I theorised about though which is sick) I get so nostalgic:

And boom another one confirmed in Hollowpox (to be fair though this one was kind of obvious, but it’s another thing adding to my pile of predictions that have been proven correct):

Now these bad boys are the actual ones that I screeched at when reading Hollowpox and screenshotted immediately, which is why they’ve got my old username lol, the other ones I only screenshot recently when someone asked about my Theorist Qualifications (which is why my username is a lil Christmassy.)

And the Big Boy Himself:

A lot of these seem obvious in hindsight, but they’re impressive for foresight! Anyway I’ll post more theories soon. The older ones I’ve made have kind of entered other parts of canon (like I found out Marionette made its way onto a wiki page, so that was wild). Anyway thanks for reading!

[weareallstardustfallen]

1 21 27 !!!

1 - favorite fic you wrote this year?

oooh, tough one. to be honest, this year has been the best year i've ever had for writing fic; it's the first time i've ever been vaguely consistent with it, and i really feel like i've hit a place where i think i'm a good writer, and it's not so much a fluke or arrogance to think that i consistently produce writing that is good, and that i'm satisfied with, even if there's little flaws with it.

because of that, it's really hard to pick a favorite! there's tons of options- death of beauty, because to this day i'm still really satisfied with it and the response to it has just been amazing, or any number of my prophet pixl fics because i love that headcanon and how much it's been embraced, or mccrodak because it's my first proper multichapter fic ever and i love the way it came out, or really pretty much any of the others, i don't think i have a single fic posted this year that i think is bad. in the end, though, i'd probably have to say hello, everybody, my name is- simply because i captured something with that fic i'm not sure i'll ever manage again but really want to try at.

21 - most memorable comment/review?

hmm that's also really hard to say! i have a Less Than Fantastic memory, so i tend to think of types of comment rather than specifics, and even then it's hard to pick something that really stands out. i've gotten really detailed comments, i've got comments saying i made people cry, i've gotten comments saying my fic meant something to someone, i've gotten comments from people that i really admire, and all of that isn't even counting the feedback i've gotten on tumblr or through discord which feels just as awesome. i've gotten So much support and it's really amazing!!

i guess the kind of comment that sticks out most is when people comment me as a writer, as much as the fic- things that they really like about my style or my characterization or my imagery or what have you that show up again and again in my fics. feels a bit less like i'm a one hit wonder, y'know?

27 - favorite fanfic author of the year?

harv you Sure know how to pick the hard ones lol. i think it'd have to go to @/betweenlands, @/theminecraftbee, and @/redwinterroses, in no particular order. if y'all haven't read their stuff and you're a fan of hermitcraft/empires/third life/last life, i'd definitely recommend it, those three just never miss!

also, honorable mention to my dearly beloved @/bananasofthorns as well; he is just as fantastic but i figured everyone already knows i love him, lol. and of course there's tons of amazing authors whose stuff i've loved this year- those four are just some of the ones who stick out the most!

[dismas-dumbass]

henlo, welcome to the ad where i pretty much just throw stuff at a wall and see what sticks. i’m still figuring out my guys so some details are gunna be sparse but??? i definitely don’t mind brainstorming more/plotting stuff out if any y’all are interested in what i have to offer! 

Character 1: Name Pending Arthur something, idk last name yet LOL i am prepared for this. anyway his FC is gunna be Michael Fassbender and he’s a fisherman/native to Alderhelm. he’s a pretty good guy, upstanding citizen, and absolutely loves the sea. he can also be a little too??? trusting so there is that and if it weren’t for his twin brother he’d probably be dead or worse by now woopsie. some backstory is that his parents died in a boating accident maybe in high school? but they had left behind enough inheritance for at least Arthur to go to college? he was a good student -went for marine biology or something similar idk- and while he did graduate with good grades he honestly wasn’t about the academic life so much? so he became a fisherman lol and that’s where he’s been ever since. he’s a damn good worker and loves being out on boats. the only eventful thing to happen to him was a bad thunderstorm taking out the boat he was on [this probably occurred in his thirties? it’s a sort of but not really recent event?]. idk if i wanna make it a gigantic thing where people died & he managed to survive but either way he doesn’t eeexxactly like working out in storms anymore and whenever there’s a bad thunderstorm about he can’t sleep. besides that? life’s pretty uneventful. whether that changes will depend on how plots go!  Ad #1- you may have guessed it, this is an ad for the aforementioned twin brother! since i’ve lost control of my life and am a sucker for identical twin plots i will say that the FC for the twin is Michael Fassbender~ unlike my character, the twin is a kind of grumpy worrywart who would rather shut a party down than possibly see it turn into a chaotic mess. he means well -he really does, but... uh, yeah, he’s a buzzkill. tbf he was kind of set up to be the protective brother of Arthur since his parents drilled the fact that he was the older twin into his head from an early age [he’s older by a few minutes, Arthur will always keep pointing this out in typical younger twin fashion]. he’s especially protective after the death of their parents -an idea i had was that his parents sat him down and asked him to make sure to look after Arthur if something happens to them [which is definitely not suspicious af nor is it prophetic, right?]. he’s ESPECIALLY protective of Arthur after the boat accident during the thunderstorm that Arthur survived. seriously, he’s terrified something will happen to Arthur and will use all of his power to make sure that his younger twin is protected in bubble wrap for the rest of his days. overall he’s an okay guy, may lean towards the bad side of things from time to time, and underneath all the thorns and seriousness is a person just trying to look out for his last remaining family. will he succeed? find out in the next volume of drowning songs! Ad #2- mmuucchh more vague but calling all fisherman! i imagine Arthur works for a company and boat but obv. there’s gotta be more people! he’s a rather friendly fellow so he’s probably gunna have at least a few friends [tho he can be snarky so enemies? too?] and with Alderhelm being a seaside town, well, there’s probably a need for quite a few fishermen! & fisherwomen, obv. no judging in the great big seas here! i do have a funny idea for the captain of his ship pretty much being the stereotypical grizzled-looking sea captain you’d find from the stories of old: big bushy graying beard, large coat, maybe even has a pipe for fun. he’s actually not as scary as his appearance so Arthur gets along great with him. whheeethhheerr the captain is actually a good guy is, of course, something that can be developed tho Arthur probably won’t know either way lmao. anyway, fishermen/fisherwomen unite! Ad? #3- this isn’t so much of an ad as it is an idea i’m tossing out cause it might??? not be good but maybe??? there’s someone obsessed interested in him? i’m torn between it being an alumni of the Sons of the Sea [i know, kind of specific & there’s limited spots so idk maybe just someone who went to college with him] or someone going to college rn. anyway they’re not exactly a nice(tm) person so Arthur would never go for them even if he was aware [he might be a bit dense, idk] and so there might be some uncomfortable??? awkward??? tense encounters??? that could lead to even worse possibilities??? it’ll give his twin a heart attack for sure lmao. as i said not reallllyy a fleshed out idea but? if anyone is interested? i am all ears *eyes* Character 2: doooonn’t have a name yet for this lad uh oh. his FC is gunna be  Tarjei Sandvik Moe and he’s currently attending Alderhelm College. he’s also~ one of the pledges for the Sons of the Sea plot so there is that! idk if he’s gunna be one of those rare undergrads who happen to get chosen or a more academically typical case [smart in something??? idk what i am not the smart one here lol] also his family is rich so that helps ttoooooo. idk what his personality is gunna be just yet but he’s probably gunna be somewhat naive? maybe can hold his own but also? is a cinnamon roll? so he’s probably gunna get wrecked or twisted or something idk fun fun fun times! Ad: nothing too specific but he’s obviously from a rich family so??? rich fam time??? no theme tbh -in fact this can be sort of a reverse wanted ad if a rich fam has a need for a possibly naive college age son- though an idea is that, since his FC is Norwegian, his family is new money and comes from Europe so there could be some tension??? from the other rich families??? idk idk idk alright crappy wanted ad oovvverrr if any y’all are interested in any of my rambling you can come on over to my discord which is dismas#9766! if you don’t have a discord you can always DM me on Tumblr and i’ll try to make sure to be vigilant and check it out often! <3 <3 <3 happy plottin y’all also pls gib me drama i thrive on it

[goldtips]

okay so ya girl is back at it again. this was originally going to be a reply to someone but well. it got out of hand. i shat all over babylon the anime a while ago and honestly kind of feel bad. there are definitely things that the show does that makes it stand out, esp as a seasonal anime bc you dont expect dir. to spend much time on them!!!! like if we’re comparing this to shows like fanservice anime or any .. mediocre seasonal isekai then ofc this show is better lmfao. the only reason i shit on it is because i expected this anime to be Better ;;;;;;;

mind, i’m not rescinding my statement - as far as i’m concerned, babylon is still a hella frustrating anime because it tries to showcase humans as nihilistic, utilitarian robots that don’t seem to consider the topic of suicide emotionally even though thats supposedly humanity’s defining trait ??? and it deals with the topic of suicide with the care of elephants gallivanting in the fucking savanna :))) the whole show has also been pretty lacklustre in terms of characterization, trying way too hard to be intellectual and feed edgy plot points instead of giving any development - the plot feels reactionary overall and placid rather than exciting. also, the fact that the anime started as a mystery / politico-legal sort of show just makes the transition from that to abstract theory even more forced...........

HOWEVER im promised im going to stop shitting on babylon so lets talk about what the anime does right shall we. more specifically,,, the biblical imagery!!! is great !!!! : D

the show is called babylon. in the old testament (ot), babylon is humanized as a “brutal, callous and proud” woman who “believed that she would reign over the earth forever.” in the new testatment the phrase “she who is at babylon” refers to the new world culture currently at war with the covenant community. in such that rome, as a mistress or whore of the new world, is seeking to seduce and subvert people of god, enticing men to fall “drunk with the wine of her fornication.”

yes,,,, a whore who uses sex to entice innocent men into complying with new culture? who believes herself to be akin to god and also in this context, above the law and morality - im gonna say its not too far a stretch to say that magase was intended to symbolise the whore of babylon.

however, that’s not all - links can be made between the enactment of the suicide laws and the seduction of new culture. who exactly is leading the front? kaika itsuki ( 齋 開化 ), who’s name literally means culture. that aint a coincidence. also, that weirdly-placed reference to roman law / norms during the suicide debate as a way to convince the masses to revert / adopt roman ideology??? also not a coincidence. :))))

in addition, there are two other major biblical events related to babylon:

the book of revelations; and

the tower of babel.

its safe to say that both narratives are being pushed atm.

revelations:

in revelation 17, the spirit of babylon decends upon earth through the whore. she arrives on the back of a beast with 7 heads, “arrayed in purple and scarlet”, “drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.” “seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.” the revelations also prophesizes that she will be defeated by a beast, but it is unclear as to which. there are two beasts in book of revelations. the first beast comes "out of the sea" given authority and power by the dragon/serpent. the second beast comes "out of the earth" directing people to worship the first beast, a "false prophet".

in a similar vein, nomaru had secretly vouched for itsuki’s, providing itsuki with the necessary resources for him to rise up in ranks and become the new mayor. the kanji for ryuichiro nomaru ( 野丸 龍一郎 ) contains both the kanji 野 and 龙 which respectively mean field (i.e. earth) and dragon. they are key references to the beasts of revelation

plus according to nomaru, it was also purely because of magase that the political struggle turned out the way that it did, meaning that she is ultimately the one controlling the entire operation. this mirrors the way she is sitting on the heads of the beast (i.e. the proverbial brains of the campaign that itsuki is heading) 

we also see that when magase uses her powers her eyes and hair glow in a sort of purple/burgundy color to support the imagery as well! 

the book of revelations is the final chapter of nt. it is merely an allegory of struggle between good and evil and doesnt refer to actual people or events. kinda like the show huh. nyyy way, we see that the protag john the apostle writes down what is revealed to him through visions to send it to the 7 churches :))

kinda like how zen keeps on seeing magase through visions and has to document !! his findings and report back to admin? ik this isnt exact but there’s a bit where he has to write down her confession and it really struck me as weird until this bit popped up, maybe that was included to as a way of tying in :))

tower:

according to the myth, there were plans to build a city and tower high enough to reach heaven - god who observes this confounds their speech so that they can no longer understand each other. why? because “now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.”

while not entirely similar, we see recurring themes in babylon that deal with miscommunication and new ideology. the conflict mirrors the myth in that unity of language (or ideology in this case) and its subsequent discordance once differentiated. 

the interrogation scene in ep 4 deals with reconciling differences. magase asks whether those with different values should be accepted, despite them being contrary to norm. all this time, society has been developing an ideal set of norms - the entire country shares the same values and priorities with no deviation. growth has stagnated. in similar fashion to how god commands for many languages to be created, magase sows the seeds of doubt towards long-standing assumptions and moral values in order to create discordance and push japan into a state of new development

in the new campaign, itsuki proposes to apportion shiniki city from japan and instill new values. this confounds the population and sends them into disarray - the tower that they have created is crumbling, in similar likeness to the parable of babel.

SO TL;DR this show has a really cool starting concept i cant lie?????  i for one am not shitting on its supernatural elements (even though the flow was a little inorganic) in hindsight there’s no point in expecting a show called babylon not to delve into supernatural/biblical elements lol :)))

as a right hoe for imagery and philosophy/ethics, this gave me high hopes but the execution of everything else was way below average. why bring in a discussion about suicide that’s poorly researched + try to be edgy abt it and have the citizens to have support it so easily???? ruins the immersion so much

if the anime really wanted to focus on philosophy there should be some mention of ethical theory to justify his point. like, being aimlessly philosophical only ends up being flowery and pseudo-bullshit lmao. one of hte reasons why i was so frustrated with magase and zen’s discussion in the interrogation room. like woman what was your fucking point. its only wasting screentime if you don’t get anything from the conversation. the philosophy was so fucking unnecessary - babylon could have been executed as an in-depth political/psychological anime instead. WITHOUT THE SUICIDE.

this and the lack of good characters really bummed me out. i think that the show was expecting me to connect to some of the characters before they were fucking killed off but i didn’t end up giving a single shit about any of them so. :) the whole show feels more about the shock factor and gore than about interesting plot.

concept 10/10, execution 1/10

[evilneo]

Uhh 1, 2 and 5 for the alter ask game if that's alright !

where does your name come from? do you ever use the body’s name?

The body shares a name with me! I chose Moth because I think moths are pretty cool lol

what do you look like in the innerworld?

Like the body, pretty much! (Other alters have way more interesting appearances :p )

have you ever integrated/fused with another alter? 

No, and no-one in my system has, to my knowledge :p ngl it sounds.. scary? I guess. Idk much about it, but the thought of nonexistence is scary to me.  (I'm not to informed on this specific bit of information, please correct me if I'm wrong)

1. How old were you when you found out you had OSDD?

I realised it around late December last year, but I didn't know what it was, and I only found out it had a name mid January

2. What symptom disrupts your day to day life the most?

Well we found out then a month or two later we didn't have a daily life to disrupt (you know, lockdown and stuff), but what's most disruptive rn is the differing opinions about stuff. Like my parents ask for someone's opinion on something, then someone else fronts and it's just like ???? You kno?

Also being blurry and when it takes ages to switch, those things SUCK

5. How often do you switch?

Maybe 1-5 times a day? Eh it varies, and not all my alters actually like fronting :p

What is one thing you wish everyone understood about DID/OSDD?

That is isn't just some fun roleplaying thing. Or a kin thing. I'm like this because trauma bit me in the ass :l

Are you in therapy? What is your experience with therapy like?

No :'( I wish tho

Has any conventional advice for DID/OSDD ever not worked for you (journaling is unhelpful, can’t visualize an inner world, etc)?

We haven't really tried much tbh. We're gonna try journaling at some point. I guess none of us have gotten our head around that pluralkit discord thing :p

How many alters do you have?

11 ish??

What’s everyone’s name?

Moth (Me!), RAM (@random-acute-nostalgia), Vanilla (@icecream-cookie), Vee (@apoplectic-purple), Azazel (@inexorable-arbiter), Vriska (@8orderline), Aradia (@0-0ccult), Tox (@radioactivewastesite), Spacey (@spaceythespacecore), Rez (@high-rezolution), Cassandra (@lachrymose-prophet)

What’s your alters’s interests?

RAM likes phycology and mental health stuff (And classic film 2001: A Space Odyssey.). Me, RAM and Spacey like space! Tox likes nuclear stuff and fnaf. Rez is a big fan of self care, also stimboards. Cass likes tarot cards and stuff like that. Azazel likes some weird shit idk, body horror and stuff (Tox also kinda likes that stuff I think. They definitely both like horror). Vee likes vengeance and punk stuff (and girls). Aradia likes bones and ghost stuff. Vriska likes causing problems on purpose.

[fireandgloryrpg]

Congratulations Tilly and welcome! We’re so happy to accept your application to play Celia Doherty with the faceclaim of Natalia Dyer in Fire & Glory RPG! We can’t wait to begin roleplaying with you so please remember to look over our checklist!

!! tw: depression, gore, blood,  suicidal urges !!

Name: tilly

Pronouns:  she/her

Age: 19 - birthday is feb 19

Timezone: gmt +1

Triggers: none that aren’t on the list yet

Activity: i’m a full-time uni student and i’m going to apply for a job next year; so most of my activity will take place in the evenings. i’ll be online a few times each week, but i’m basically always lurking (re: my discord activity you know me lol) so i’d say a solid 7/10

Anything Else?: i blame rosie and dana for dragging me back in pjo hell i didn’t plan it

also i have a pin board for my girl here

Original Character Information

Name: Celia Edith Doherty

Age and Birthday: 18, born on June 27th, 1999

Faceclaim: Natalia Dyer (alternatively; Sabrina Carpenter)

Heritage: Daughter of Asteria

Abilities: Prophetic dreams, smoke screen summoning, excellent night vision (former), photokinesis (former)

Affiliation: Former legionnaire of the third cohort; now part-time legionnaire of the fifth cohort.

Headcanons:

Celia got her guide puppy, a samoyed, who was kicked out of the guide dog program. She took pity on the thing (and the fact that he had perfectly soft fur helped a lot) and devoted her life to training him, together with Puck. She named him Mozart, because Tchaikovsky is her favorite composer but his name is too complicated for her to pronounce.

Her life motto is the dog Latin phrase ‘illegitimi non carborundum’, or ‘don’t let the bastards get you down’. Celia was depressed for a long time after losing her sight and her third cohort family, and lots of Romans are surprisingly cruel to blind girls alone in the city, which didn’t exactly help. After shedding many tears for her deplorable situation, she picked up the pieces of who she used to be and glued them together into a new version of herself, with a little help from her friends.

Due to her dyslexia, Celia was never a big fan of reading, but when she discovered audiobooks and braille, her whole life changed. Words didn’t swim off the page and she found another way to fill her head with stories - even though she still has to take breaks after ‘reading’ giant chunks of text in one go.

Biography:

!! tw: depression, gore, blood,  suicidal urges !!

Asteria, the goddess of nocturnal oracles and falling stars, was also known as the personification of the island of Delos, otherwise known as the birthplace of the archer twins, Apollo and Artemis. However, anyone who truly knew the titaness, also knew that this was complete bullshit: she wasn’t an island. Sure, she blessed Delos and became its patron goddess. No one ever saw Poseidon as literally being the sea, so why would they see her as an actual island? The fact that she loved Delos was true, though, which was one of the reasons why her child was born there, even though she was conceived all the way in Phoenix, Arizona. Quickly after her sister Leto made her realize that raising a little demigod wasn’t something a goddess was supposed to do, she dropped the baby off with her father, Ronan Doherty, who still lived in Phoenix. After he got over the initial shock of being a father without asking or any form of preparation, he raised the child, whom he named Celia, with as much love as any parent would.

Ronan always knew his daughter was a little different, but Asteria had not revealed her identity to him. The reasons why his daughter stood out, therefore, remained a mystery to both of them. Celia, now a talented ballerina, was put in a special program at both her primary school and high school, because she was such a slow learner. In addition, she saw a psychologist twice a week for additional support. Around her thirteenth birthday, she had enough of people prodding at her and feeling like the odd one out, so she ran away from home with her father’s permission, who received a dream vision from Asteria, telling him to let their daughter go. She would soon find the wolf house and train there with Lupa until she was ready to make her way down to Camp Jupiter.

Unsurprisingly, Celia flourished at Camp. She joined the ballet school in New Rome, and quickly became one of its top students. After saving a centurion from poison, which she foresaw in her prophetic dreams, she was taken off probatio and placed in the third cohort, which appreciated her myriad of valuable skills as a demigod. Her smokescreens protected the legion during the war games and, in combination with her photokinesis, could cause temporary blindness to the opposing teams. She was also an excellent tracker because of her night vision.

Of course, this would all prove to be terribly ironic. When she was sixteen, in her third year of service, while on guard duty outside the Caldecott tunnel, a drakon made its way to the Roman entrance. The alarm was sounded, but before the first javelin could hit the massive drakon that had pinned Celia to the ground, the acidic venom from its open mouth had dripped into her eyes. The healers tried to save her first, then the specialized medics, then the surgeons of New Rome, but to no avail; she was permanently blinded, her retina damaged beyond repair. The third cohort had too much pride to be concerned with the burden of a blind legionnaire, so she was kicked out and forced to move to the city and learn how to live her life differently.

It was hard, as was to be expected. Her ballet teacher took her in when she had nowhere else to go, because Celia was practically homeless after the legion rejected her. After staying with her teacher for about half a year, she realized that her situation was never going to change, and she might as well give up her ballet dreams, which all seemed so childish in hindsight; who would care if she danced the part of Giselle, when her life was being threatened every day, as a soldier? Inevitably, she would just disappoint her teacher or give her false hopes, so she asked her best friend Puck for help; he persuaded his cousin to take Celia in, which is where she lived for the next year and a half.

Now that she’s eighteen, Celia deemed herself worthy of joining the legion once again. She trained with her best friend, who taught her everything he learned in the fifth cohort; her four remaining senses are heightened to what she believes is their maximum; and her smokescreens are even stronger than they used to be. Still, only the fifth cohort would take her, but this wasn’t a big deal. Even though it’s only part-time, and she still lives in New Rome with Puck’s cousin the majority of the time, she’s still a legionnaire again, and she found new purpose and room for her dreams. Even her feet are itching to stand onpointe again.

Para Sample:

“Celia, do you see that?”

She squinted against the light of the sun. In the distance, vaguely, she detected a whirlwind of fire - was that hair? - chasing a boy. He couldn’t be much older than sixteen, judging by his height and the way he was built, but he was running at lightning speed. Rapidly, Celia flipped through her mental index of monsters, searching for the species she would face in about three minutes.

Empousai. Vampire ladies that like to suck boys dry (but let’s be real, they probably hated girls too). Danger level: probably a seven out of ten. Weakness: mismatched legs, imperial gold, celestial bronze.

Your basic average monster, really. Readjusting her helmet, tightening her grip on her sword and focusing her gaze on the demigod running towards them, Celia stepped forward, before being stopped by her fellow guard. “He’s a graecus,” Marcus said, and she could see his frown deepening as he pointed towards the orange stripe that was faintly visible beneath the sweater. “What? Who cares, he’s gonna die if we don’t help him! Octavian is dead, so get your segregation bullshit away from me,” she hissed, after which she ran towards the Greek demigod, sensing that Marcus was following from the constant thud on the ground.

Every few steps, the demigod turned to slash at the empousa, but to no avail. She could see cuts on his arms, his sweater torn in multiple places, now that she was closer. “Edward Cullen would be very disappointed, lady!” she shouted in an attempt to distract the monster. Monsters. There were three of them. Marcus fought alongside her, yes, but very halfheartedly, and all while throwing insults at the Greek. Things about where he could stick his celestial bronze, how he should go back where he came from because he was the reason those monsters attacked now, and more stuff like that, but the new demigod had some very witty comebacks Celia was impressed by. “Can you boys maybe get over yourselves and… I don’t know,” she grunted, blocking a kick from a bronze hoof with her shield, “Help out a little?”

The rest of the battle was a blur, because her ADHD and instincts took over. When the monsters had crumbled to dust, finally, she cleaned some of their weirdly-colored blood from her sword with her shirt, staining it. Badass. Still panting, she ignored both of the boys and walked back towards the tunnel entrance, expecting them to follow. “I’m not letting him in,” Marcus grumbled. “Don’t be an asshole. Please, just let me in? I’m hungry and tired and I was almost vampire dinner.” After more protests from Marcus, Celia interrupted. “We’re taking him in, and that’s final. He’s not dying on my watch. What’s your name, Speedy?”

“Puck.”

“Cool. I’m Celia.”

“Celia, do you see that?”

Another day on guard duty, but this time, there was no demigod running towards her. Jake had joined her instead of Marcus, who’d been placed back on probatio after his little incident in the winter. The beast in the distance was bigger than they’d ever seen near camp, and the summer sun glinted off its scales, blinding Celia. “We can’t take it alone. Sound the alarm,” she said, already bolting towards the horn. Immediately, the battle cries of the Romans could be heard in the distance, but the drakon was accelerating. It would get to them before the campers did. She gulped. Jake, the bloody coward, had run inside the tunnel, screaming about the lizard to the coming troops, leaving Celia alone to deal with it. She had half a minute before it could get there.

Drakon. Do not confuse with dragon: much larger, much more deadly. Has its own sub-species, some of which can only be killed by children of Mars. Spews acidic venom. Danger level: solid 10/10. Weaknesses: none.

Just her luck. It was closer now. Her hand, the one holding her sword, was trembling. She’d never let her fear take over before, but she was paralyzed. Later, she’d learn that it wasn’t her fear, but the monster’s eyes that had caused her paralysis. She had no way of escape as the monster leaped at her, digging its claws into her shoulders and -

She screamed. All she could do was scream, even as the pressure left her chest after ten seconds, the drakon dropping dead after thirty, with approximately seventeen golden spears sticking out of its sides. At least, that was what Puck told her. Because she couldn’t see it.The pain wouldn’t leave her eyes for a solid month, the venom eating away at her retina, and eventually turning her eyes entirely white.

“Celia, do you see that? Oh, shit. Sorry.”

No. No, she doesn’t. And she never will.