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Money. In small doses, it made men sensible, frugal and wise, but the bigger the pot grows, the more wild the conscious goes, until the coins are worth nothing at all to the mad mind that throw them around uselessly. That's all Oberon could think about when Lord ‘'so very quite up himself’ Jane’s ships sank to the bottom of the sea. 

Money. 

Sometimes in his own way, the king’s merchant found himself to be quite a sick man, poisoned by his own dogged determination to be successful. It was as if ducets were all he could think about, even in the face of human misery, would this be bad for business? Make insurance more expensive? How much could he sell blankets for in the fall out? Ointment cream? Maybe he should drop the King’s merchant title? It was all that occupied him even as the blood dyed the sea red.

He stared down at the document he'd been writing, Charles, his butler, disturbing the peace with his usual dry cough call to attention. “"Yes?”

“You have a visitor sir..” 

“Let them in.”

#tmlstarter #mini-event

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Mr. and Mrs. Jager: A Modern Spy AU

@inked-in-the-stars

#AU #Gifsets #photos #Freya

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Mr and Mrs Jager || Modern Spies AU

@freya-vadas

Mossad. The Institute. So final and so all consuming. It had been such since the formation of Israel, but since the yank of independence from the U.S, it was ever more so. Like a worm, it burrowed into the lives of every Israeli. Watching the Palestinians and anyone who showed inklings of sympathy. In a cruel comedy, the country had become the very thing it had been created to protect others from. A fascist controlling state, ever more paranoid about it’s neighbors and own citizenry since going into the wild from it’s old protector. 

Ariel Jager stared out at the white board that decorated his kitchen. The special forces trained spy, who had traveled the world under a million names, killed many whose identities will never be known and had missions and briefings be his whole world for most of his life thought upon...dinner. It was odd, how the simple things seeped into a complex life. It was slipping into the first year of his deep undercover role for the U.S government and only now was he getting even a whift of the documents he was tasked with obtaining. 

But even a double agents needed to cook, especially when they had fake wives to deal with. That was the hand he was dealt. Leave the U.S with his life and his world intact, but only as their new lackey and with a watcher. That came in the form of Talia Jager...not her real name of course, who sauntered the kitchen as he twirled the sharpie in his hands, seeming as unamused as always. Sometimes, in the twilight hours in their bed, he wondered how easy it would be to just choke the life out of her, so he wouldn’t have to see that unforgiving glare everyday. 

The daily sparing told him fairly difficult. Ariel’s thickly accented voice floated into the stiff silence between them, as he tossed his pen casually at her, as if testing her reactions. “Evening to you too.”

#Mr and Mrs #p:Freya #tmlau #Spies AU

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@inked-in-the-stars

#photos #gifset #freya #//Love it

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“It’s a deal then.” Oberon replied, unable to resist a small wink before leading Freya into the tea house. The pun was partly a joke but also a helpful reminder of what had happened today. A deal had been closed, business had flowed and for the most part, in their direction. This was their future, should the marriage go forward. Money and commerce would become their life, embedding itself deep within the skin just as ink had long since done to the merchant’s finger tips. Perhaps there would be time for frockling and living more wildly, but it would always come second to work for Oberon. It was what allowed him to create an empire as big as he had.

The tea house was rather empty for the time of day, nothing but the faint smoke of a seated pair in the far corner in the air. The two men raised their heads at the newcomers, dark eyes meeting Oberon’s and offering the regular a curt nod before returning to whatever business they were discussing, thick smog still swirling up from one of the men’s pipe. The merchant paid barely any mind to them, inclining his head for Freya to follow him deeper into the near-empty den, meandering around with surprisingly familiarity, listening to her questions once he finally picked someone to sit. A waiter appeared a few moments later as if from thin air, not taking an order but simply nodding at Oberon as if already knowing what to bring and disappearing back towards the smoke covered entrance. 

The merchant finally drew his eyes up to meet his fiance’s, an easy smile crossing his lips. He’d expected her to question the deal pretty much as soon as he’d written it up, and as usual, she didn’t disappoint. “You’re right, I rarely put my faith or my money in anyone but myself.”

He rested his hands on the simple wooden table, clasped together. “However you’re not anyone, you are to be my wife if things go well...for that to work, we have to have trust, I thought it might as well start now. Faith always has a price, today my faith could have either landed me a good deal or a poor one, and I would have to live with that choice, that is the cost of trusting someone with your business. You gave me a good deal, so it seems to gamble paid off.”

Honouring A Deal || Freya & Oberon

#p:Freya #Honouring A deal

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Oberon leaned against the royal kitchen counter, looking almost like he didn’t hear the assistant. He didn’t often come down here, despite not being a noble, he did have some standards and slumming it down in the kitchen wasn’t exactly living up to them. But sometimes second opinions were needed and often those working on the food for the castle had the best noses. “No, no, you will do. You cook here right?”

The self-styled royal merchant drew out the parcel he’d been holding behind his back, pulling away the cloth to reveal a plate of a strange looking bean, purple rather than the usual colours such as brown or green. “They call them kidney beans...I was hoping for a second opinion on the taste.”

“No, sadly I am not the one in charge of the kitchen, but my sister is. Would you like me to fetch her now, or can it wait until tomorrow?”

#c:Phoebe

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Oberon was...smashed. Rather like the poor man’s face that received it’s supposedly deserved beating. Not that he understood much of what was going on. The copious amount of booze he’d consumed from the moment the fight had started to it’s rather gloriously bloody end had left it looking more like an odd kaleidoscope of red liquid and see-through spittle, a combination that had him giggling to himself as he held onto a mug of swill. Normally the merchant wouldn’t set foot in a craphole like this one, knowing better than to put his person and belongings in such obvious dangerous, but sometimes logic fell to emotion, especially when one was simply fed up. 

The courts and the gossip had become too much for a man who had never truly been part of the system. Work - business, he could understand that. Numbers and facts, products and profit, that all work beneath his ink-stained finger tips and in his meticulous mind. But this war. It was pulling down his resolve and he was slowly finding himself using any excuse to just be away from it for a moment, and crawling into the grimiest, grimmest, galling bar available was a good way. Hence his completely out of place position at the bar top, dressed in too much fancy compared to many of the regulars. 

The question from the victor had another dry laugh come from Oberon as he stared down at his drink, swirling the murky substance as if testing whether his stomach could take much more, brown eyes alight with unspoken jokes. “Hmm, why are you a school boy that you still need to be lectured? Heh no, I was simply wondering what on earth he said about your mother to make you so angry.”

“What?” Tristan said to the man under him who’s face was covered in blood. “Don’t make that face when you were the one who started this thing.” The man pushed him back and tried to jump him. Quickly, Tristan rolled to the side and kicked the man in the stomach before picking him up and head butting him. With the man now down, the pirate made his way back to his seat at the bar not caring that blood was dripping from his face. He was about to drink his mead when he noticed a pair of eyes on him. “Want to scold me or something? He had it coming you know.”

#p:Tristan #//Because I couldn't resist

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“Romantic- hey!” Orion growled the last words, and almost drew his fist, but thought better of it. Instead however his hand slid to his mace. Triton was his brother, and they bonded often, sharing a similar humour and way of thinking, but he was a proud hunter...too proud, and he didn’t take well to being mocked, not even by the half-brother he loved. 

“It is not my problem that she sired useless children and backed the wrong horse with her husband, I am wanting to bed her, not listen to her life. If she wishes the hunt to be over, she can simply give in.” Beneath his feet the water seemed to swirl with growing ferocity. Orion didn’t hold the same power as Triton over the seas, but he was still in-tuned to it none the less and it responded to his father’s blood.

“And what, brother, will you do about it? Hm? I could kill all your kind, all your nymphs, if I wished to. You know there is no creature that can stop me. Before you throw around warnings, back them up and you may be older, but you’re weaker too.2

Run Orion Run || Orion and Triton

“Good. Glad to see we agree on one thing right now. We usually do but it seemed like I lost you there.” Triton was being a little petty at this point but he did not care. The merman had a soft spot for Pleione. And after learning what had happened to her and how she was dealing with all of this, his protective nature took over. Yes he should have let up a bit with Orion but if he was anything like their father, Triton needed to make sure he put his fin down and make sure Orion understood why his actions would not be tolerated. 

It seemed like Triton hit a nerve. Good, he was glad his brother could feel what he was feeling about this. Slightly irritated. If Orion wanted to play this game, Triton was all for it. His brother may be a hunter, but Triton knew how to handle business and take control over situations thanks to learning the ropes on how to control the kingdom his father had in his grasp. 

“Since you decided that Pleione would be the next act in your romantic comedy. Her husband is literally carrying the wold on his shoulders, her daughter has been cast off, and she can’t see the rest of her children. Do you think she has time to deal with you chasing her about?” He smirked when he saw he hit another nerve. “Now, now Orion. Don’t sound like a two year old. And rather you like it or not, I’m making sure you don’t go near my aunt. Call it the warning of a older and much handsomer brother.”

#p:Triton #ooc: It's fine! Bro-off! #Greek Week

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“Can the same not be said for you?” Orion returned, shrugging his shoulders. It was a trap to try to defend himself. This huntress, who ever she is, was not serf and had a brain to match her rather intimidating and strong air, not that the hunter let either get to him, simply avoiding the trap that had no correct answer as a prey avoids its predator. “Our minds will want, and so we shall follow those wants. It only makes sense.”

He could see her unease at his relatively unchanged reaction to her attempt to hide her own identity. Everything to Orion was a game in the end, and all this meant was that he’d have to slowly work his way to getting the answer. It was easy to think she was a nymph, but she seemed too strong and radiant, yet, she couldn’t be a human. He’d seen far too many mortals to be dazed by another. Perhaps she was a goddess, but that was a tall title to place on anyone, and just as she refused to show her hand, he wouldn’t reveal his inner thoughts to her. Tit for tat. The hunt would go on. “And how would I earn it? You seem to wish to do little with me, or will you give me further chances to show myself to you?”

“A lion will not pause because your father rules the seas and a deer will not stop running from you because your mother is a princess. I know these things, I am not a boy. Now name this challenge of yours.” As he spoke, Orion pulled off his light tunic, tossing it aside to dip his hands into the water and splash on his skin to cool. His complexion was perfect. Tanned from years in the outdoors, it was taunt and worked, muscles showing and tensing as he moved but not only that. It was flawless. For Orion had never struggled in a fight, and despite his daring adventures, no one had yet found a way to harm him. Blessed perhaps, or simply as strong as even the great Heracles.

His eyes slid over to the stranger as she drank from the stream, moving towards her and crouching so they were eye level, his body smelling faintly of sweat and the sweet fragrance of nature as he strayed perhaps too closer, a smirk still along his lips. “And you? Will you kill me for the hunt?”

“No attendant can keep up with me, and many get too scared to do what I do. They find climbing trees dangerous and wrestling with bears to be suicide. They think I am mad, and do no understand what I chase after boars and harts every day. I have never managed to retain one and so..now I go alone. I am here to hunt, as I said before.”

[Greek Week]

#p:Artemis #Greek Week

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“I am being in control am I not?” Orion returned easily, raising a brow as they moved through the foliage. After all, he could be like many men and jump upon the huntress, steal what he wanted, even from the nymphs. He may be unpredictable and careless but nothing he did wasn't of his own predetermined plans. His brown eyes slid over to examine then strange woman’s form every now and then, she was beautiful, but more than that, she walked like she was one of the forest, like a panther easing between the trees for its prey. It sent something through him, having known a woman who could transverse through nature just as he could. 

He offered a half bow at her warning, chuckling as he hopped over thick roots and glided between entangled branches as if he had the whole forest mapped out in his mind. He stalked through as easily as a cat prowled its owners home, his feet as bare as hers, almost ran floating. Normally Orion would dare to climb the trees and jump between branches but he remained on the ground just so that he could capture each word she uttered. For he felt she rarely said many. He was waiting rather patiently for his usual habit to be given a name, and couldn't hide the grin on his face as the mysterious huntress refused. So she had a fire in her too?

“Oh? Is that how it is to be? Not very fair to demand a name and not return one.” He simply smirked to himself, shaking his head. He knew the spring they were going to, he knew the whole forest, but somehow he felt it better to let her lead. She seemed to enjoy being in control and he enjoyed her company too much to annoy her just yet, his dark eyes couldn't help but catch the drip of water down across her tanned flawless skin.

As the spring came into view he over took her, leaping across the grass to land in the stream, sighing happily as the cool water ran over his feet. He hadn't been lying, he'd been roasting most of the day. Water was often his favoured refugee anyway. “Being proud of your heritage doesn't mean you rely on it. But you're free to think as you like...and I meant nothing by it, simply that one hunter would not remove another, that is disrespectful.” 

[Greek Week]

#p:Artemis #Greek Week

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“...I do, so thank you brother.” Orion replied with a faint raised brow, not quite sure what was rubbing his friend so poorly. It was rare Triton was so pointed or moody and of course, the hunter was too wrapped up within his own man-crisis with Artemis to really understand how he could be offending his friend.

At the pointed warning though, all humour died from Orion face, dark eyes narrowing faintly and he drew up to Triton fully, puffing his chest out. He was often a reasonable and almost understanding, but when something came between Orion and his prey, it was a very different matter. “Since when Triton, do you get to decide my limits?”

The mention of Artemis tightened his jaw. He missed his goddess, truth be told and he had no clue to make amends but that didn't mean it didn't vex him for it to be pointed out. “I will take whom and what I want, with or without your blessing.” 

Run Orion Run || Orion and Triton

It made no sense for Orion to let something as lust take over like they did. Sure Triton wasn’t one to judge since he chased after nymphs all the time himself but this was his favorite Aunt. This was different. Shouldn’t the demi-god know who she was and what was going on in their world? He couldn’t be that naive.

Usually Triton was more laid back and went along with the flow. He enjoyed his time around Orion since they seemed similar is some aspects. But not now. He rolled his eyes at Orion. “You have me to thank for that you know.” 

“Look you,” he swam closer to Orion. “She’s off limits. You know I’m rarely this serious. Plus don’t you have someone else to chase from my understanding?”

#p:Triton #Greek Week

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Fates. Blasted them. Orion always knew they were fiddly sort, and it didn't stave his irritation any less to hear it. They took so much and gave so little while they greedily held onto all their lives. Some would bow and scupper at their feet but as with all things the hunter was too proud. His pride was likely be part of his downfall, a unwavering confidence that led him to fail to see the danger around. “A pierced heart? Maybe?”

“Give me a real answer, your kind does not work in maybes and I have little patience. Will Eros kill me? Because I doubt he is fool enough for such random attacks.”

[greek week];

She released a hum, wondering if she, perhaps, should answer at all. She already had ten years of his life, and whether he believed he would live long or not didn’t matter, she knew when he’d die and it wasn’t when his hair turned grey.

“You should know,” she grinned, teeth blindingly white in the dark, “The hunter becomes the hunted. Or maybe from a pierced heart? I hear Eros is looking for his newest victim.”

#p:atropos #Greek Week

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“A man who cannot be bold, is to held by the silly conventions of man. We should be proud of whom and what we are...and our desires.” There was something behind the cheeky boldness of the hunter that hinted at a deeper more intelligent man than he seemed. Orion wasn't merely a man with an ego, he was clever and a surprisingly principled, his belief that he should be above all himself to the fullest was a philosophical choice. He was a rarity, a Demi-god, and he'd never reject his own wants and wishes. 

Still a breath of relief silently escaped his lips as the bow was finally put away and he set his own weapon from the ground back into its harness on his back. His dark eyes, swirling with much more than just foolhardy confidence, never left the beauty before him. Her laugh had him raising a brow, and shrugging. “Never I find is a word we often regret using, that said...I simply know you are a beauty before me with a tone as blunt as an old axe, I cannot say I've seen you before.”

Orion shrugged at the observation of his own prorities. Sure he wasn't like many men distracted easily by the wants of the flesh, but those mortals simply didn't understand this beauty of it as he did. No copulation or joining of two bodies could be as satifising as being one with nature. His father, God of the seas left that much within the hunter. Whether it be water or land, he lived to run through the beauty of the outside world and hunt not for gain or glory alone, but to feel part of the wondrous system. To know that as plants provide food for the rabbits and the rabbits for the fox, he too had his place in the grand scheme. “Then they never knew the true thrill.” 

That didn't stop the bright spark lighting in his eyes as she offered him water at a nearby spring. In truth she enraptured him a little. There was a power to her, shimmering behind her piercing gaze and lithe physique that provided instant attraction. But he was no animal to force such compulsions on her. Not only because he sensed she may actually best him in confrontation. Instead he simply smiled, looking like a surprisingly tender expression. “That would be appreciated, I am still rather...dry mouthed.”

“A little, but I don't hide by my parents’ skirts, my forwardness is my own work and belief in myself. Is that so strange?” Orion kept up with Artemis with surprising ease, both able to navigate the thick forests like nothing.

“These lands are free for all...I wouldn't try to move you anyway.”

[Greek Week]

#p:Artemis #Greek Week

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Riding the seas was a bliss for Orion. The sea air running through his hair, his Godly blood pumping thickly with adrenaline from his natural affinity to the sea. Nothing quite calmed him like the feel of the salt water against the pads of his feat as his literally rode upon the waves like their King. The only thing that made it better was the hunt. He'd annoyed Artemis, which had driven him off from no only the woman that held his attention so well, but from hunting on land without reprisal. So he turned his attention to his natural homeland - the sea. And it was upon the rocks he'd spotted the beauty - Pleoine. She was no goddess, but he was in a rather desperate state.

Of course the cheeky minx had spurn the handsome Orion, which only set his heart racing more. After all, he did love a chase, a hunt. That had been nearly a year ago, and he was still running after her, but she'd proven rather slippery in her movements. It'd be over any day now...or atleast that's what the hunter told himself. 

When Triton burst from the water, the demi-god paused, offering a wave to his good friend, not noticing the anger one bit. Or wilfully ignoring it. “Ho! Triton, good day to ride the seas no?”

“If your aunt happens to be one fine nymph, then yes, I probably am.”

Run Orion Run || Orion and Triton

@inked-in-the-stars

Triton was beyond angry. At first he didn’t believe it when the nymphs told him about what was going on. He simply laughed and kept on with his business. And then one water nymph told him what she heard just minutes ago: Orion, his half brother, was off to go chase after Pleione for just once chance with her.

There were no words to describe Triton’s anger. That was his favorite aunt and his closest friend. His brother chasing after his aunt? Who does that? Sure that was not Orion’s aunt but surely he could respect the fact that this was Triton’s family. Plus she was going through such a hard time right now. He couldn’t let Orion bug her in such a way and he couldn’t let Pleione kill his brother. 

“Orion!” he yelled, spotting his brother on the water. “Tell me the nymph was lying and you aren’t trying to bed my Aunt….”

#p:Triton #Greek Week

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“Ah I am pleased to hear it.” Orion murmured. He understood little about children and birth, other than what he had seen in nature, mainly deer’s releasing their fawns. It didn't seem like much of a deal, but none the less the fanfare was made, and he had silent wishes that his cousin should make it out well. She was a good girl and while not the prettiest he'd seen, she deserved better than to visit Hades so soon. She should raise the child, as he wished his mother could have raised him.

The midwife’s deduction had the hunter draw a lazy grin, she beautiful for a commoner and had an air of freshness to her, almost like pine wood. It reminded him of the huntress he stalked along in the woods. Artemis, the goddess he chased endlessly to try to beat. “What gave me away? The lack of an ample bosom?”

“I have no children sired this is true - but how are you to know if I am related? I could simply lie to you, there is no way for you to confirm or deny what I say.”

Greek Week | Leto & Orion

New life brought Leto down to the mortal realm or a mother’s prayers to the goddess.  She walked amongst the mortals either in this form or in one of an older woman, but her story was always the same. She was a midwife who had heard from another individual that a woman had just been in labor either only hours or days ago. It was the easiest way inside of a mortal’s home and to look in not only on baby but the mother. 

A woman in Crete had given birth to a son and it had been the prayers of the woman’s sister that had brought Leto to this mortal’s home. Her name had never been brought up nor sought after as she checked in on mother and child. She fondly remembered the days when Apollo and Artemis could be held in her arms like the mortal woman’s son. So small, but they had more strength than most would give them credit. “All is well for mother and child now. Your nephew has a set of lungs and a grip tighter than a serpent’s coil. He will sleep well throughout the night and I recommend-” 

Leto could have talked endlessly about the mother and child, but the words she had already spoken were meant for the woman’s mother instead of the man who stood before her. “You are not the woman’s sister.” Leto stated as she looked past the man. “I do not know who you are and I cannot permit you to see the child or the mother unless I know of your relation to them. Men are not found so close when a child has been born and I have a feeling you are not the child’s father.”

@inked-in-the-stars

#p:Leto #Greek Week #//that gif always makes me smile

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“Ten years? Who knew fates could offer such a bargain. Very well, it is yours.” Orion spoke with a high born confidence that had followed him all his life. He was strong and fearless, and death was merely another creature to hunt and keep at bay. He was convinced he'd live a long life, so losing a fraction of it didn't worry him to much.

His smirk drew at her question and he dared to step closer to the fate, though not too much, for they were tumultuous creatures and he wouldn't want his thread to be snipped prematurely. “You already know why.”

“I wish to know what will cause my death...I have been having visions, thoughts that distract me from my hunt. When my end comes who shall be the wielder of the fate?” Death may not scare him, but dying weak did. He wanted to fight to the bitter end, put up an epic struggle, one that could be as eternally seen and remembered as the stars. Orion would not settle to be any old hero. But the greatest. 

[greek week];

“It’ll cost you, but that you know.” She paused to look him over, if only to take some satisfaction in his appearance. She didn’t like that she had been disturbed, so to see he had struggled to get here was enough compensation. She wouldn’t tell him that, however, as it was not his place to know.

“Perhaps ten years off your life?” She snips her shears, just once, before focusing back on him. “What do you want?”

#p:atropos #Greek Week

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She scares the hell out of me and calms my soul at the same time. Maybe that’s what love is—a total contradiction that somehow balances out.

Tammara Webber, Where You Are (via hqlines)

#quotes #artemis