#To make myself feel better. I like the thought of Athena kind of keeping him up to date :'D as he's her pet you know?

[dootznbootz]

Menelaus rambles a lot about not only Helen, but also Hermione. About how she used to say Olive like "Olifs". How she lost her first tooth running too fast and running into a low branch while out with Helen. How he'd sometimes wake up to Hermione leaning over him and poking his face to say, "Dad, can we go see the horses?" even though it was barely daylight. How she was much nicer waking Helen and how he thinks Hermione did that on purpose because she found "dad's face funny". How her favorite color was every color.

And Odysseus listens.

And he thinks about how his son only had a few teeth coming in when he left, teething on everything. How he could only say one syllable with his babbles. How his son needed balance to stand but Odysseus was so proud that Telemachus was very good at rolling over. How his son loved pulling at his and Penelope's hair.

How his son would be talking, walking, maybe even lost his first tooth by now. And he doesn't even know if he'll ever know his son's favorite color.

#Hi get sad with me :D #Odysseus and Menelaus are the Bros™ to me. I love them. Both simps who love their family despite being different in personalities #You cannot tell me they didn't talk about this and how this was painful for both of them :') #To make myself feel better. I like the thought of Athena kind of keeping him up to date :'D as he's her pet you know? #okay so this next bit ain't angst but imagine Hermione just coming in staring in the dark with the classic: #“Mom. Dad. I frew up🥺” #scaring the shit outta both her poor parents. Yeah I know she had nurses with her most likely but it's cute and fun!!! #I'm sorry but that's so fucking funny to me. I think every Parent has experienced that I'm pretty sure. #odysseus #menelaus #tagamemnon #greek mythology #this'll probably flop but oh well xD My homies can get sad with me >:) #odyssey #the odyssey #telemachus #hermione #AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA #helen of sparta #penelope #odypen

[burnthatbridge]

hiii! i was wondering if you know any good buddie fics where they don’t know eachother yet/where they meet somewhere else than the firehouse? even better if they aren’t firefighters?

Hey 😊

Initially, I thought I was going to have to say I wasn’t the person to ask. Because I’ve always thought of myself as someone who prefers them already to know one another in fic (because I’m a sucker for when they’re already basically married best friends and they’re desperately pining for each other). But then I started thinking about it and was like, well, there’s this fic. And that one. And also that other one. Oh! And what about… You get the gist.

So, uh, here’s, like, ten that I absolutely love 💖

see you later (and love you just a little more) by @hattalove

i.e. trapped in an elevator meet cute See, the thing I think I won’t like about first meetings, especially in short fic, is that it won’t feel reasonable for them to feel how I want them to feel about one another in such a short space of time. But this is Kris’, so of course there’s some kind of sorcery in here that makes it incredible and the epitome of reasonable for me to be in love with this.

and we can stay all day by @trippedandfell

i.e. buck is a zoologist and both eddie and i are obsessed with him Social media shenanigans, Buck spouting animal facts and wearing a hat, Chris at the zoo with Buck and Eddie. What more could you want?

you were a stranger in my phonebook I was acting like I knew by @buddienights

i.e. ta eddie student buck I’m surprised I didn’t break my phone with how compulsively I refreshed tumblr when this was releasing serially on here.

Breathe by @kitkatpancakestack

i.e. eddie and chris summer in california and buck is a surf instructor Please, I love this fic so much. Everyone has different jobs in this and it’s so great to see the firefam as still that, even without the fire aspect. Also, super atmospheric – you can practically hear and smell the ocean!

Keep the Evenings Long by @littlespoonevan

i.e. technically eddie’s a firefighter but buck’s a bartender at a bar that is prone to 911 call-outs I adored this – so much fun! This is a Coyote Ugly AU and I haven’t actually seen the movie, but I watched the related scene linked to in the fic notes for context and now I want to watch it! But this works so well for buddie, and bar owner Athena was A+++.

The Truth of Love (Amas Veritas) by @littlespoonevan

i.e. another au of a movie i haven’t seen (practical magic) 

This is so good! I love the magic elements, I love Buck’s relationships with Maddie and with Bobby, and I extra love Eddie as Detective Diaz in this. 

Like Any Unloved Thing by @hmslusitania

i.e. the perfect halloween fic feat. private detective eddie and sort-of-a-ghost buck 

I am sold on anything ghosty, but this exceeded my wildest expectations. And this is also a super atmospheric one, so its perfect for Halloween (or when you wish it was Halloween!).

Let My Ink Stain Your Pages by @letmetellyouaboutmyfeels

i.e. castle au that i completed (unlike the show…)

Fabulous! You may have picked up on a trend now, but Detective Diaz my beloved.

Your Fingerprints Smeared on My Heart (Lead Me Back to You) by @letmetellyouaboutmyfeels

i.e. reincarnated soulmate cowboys

You’ve probably already read this one, but if you haven’t, you absolutely should. In part of this they are firefighters and have had their canon meeting, but I still think it counts as alternate first meeting and different jobs given the other part. And even if it didn’t you still should read it. Or read it again, if you already have. 

Bonus:

a bleeding sun on a silver screen by @hoediaz

i.e. actors au that i haven’t read but i will Okay, so, I’m cheating by including this one. But I know it’s going to be incredible. I’m vibrating just thinking about how good it’s going to be. So, yeah, preemptively having it on this list.

I know there are others I’ve read that aren't coming to mind right now (please forgive me – my new job has me head empty as soon as I get home), and that there will be others that I haven’t read. So if anyone knows any that fit the request, please leave them in a comment!

#answered #anon #fic rec #buddie

[ikeromantic]

More Than Words and Kisses

This is a commission piece the requestor has kindly allowed me to share here on tumblr. Approx. 1700 words. Angst/comfort for an MC named Athena and her beau Napoleon. TW for depression and self harm.

She was always smiling. Ask anyone in the mansion and they would tell you. Athena was kind, helpful, and always so happy. But Napoleon knew better. He saw the way her lips would twitch up at the corners when she noticed someone was looking. Like a light turning on. And he saw how her smile fell away when she thought she was alone. 

Sorrows moved through the depths of her gaze and Napoleon felt the weight of them on his heart. 

“Nunuche?” His voice shook a little as he used the playful nickname he’d given her when they met. 

They were alone in his tower room, curled up beside each other in the window seat. He’d chosen this spot to talk, but now that he was getting to it, part of him felt afraid. Fear that she would reject him, or worse, that she would open up to him and he would fail her. But he could not let her keep carrying her sadness alone. 

Athena turned her head enough to look over at him. “What is it?” Her smile was firmly in place. The one she wore when they were together. The one that said she wanted to be happy for him, with him. But it didn’t live in her eyes. 

“You can tell me, you know?”

“Tell you what?” Her brow furrowed in confusion. 

Napoleon took her hand, stroking her knuckles with his thumb. “What is it that makes you look so full of sadness?”

“I’m not-” She began to protest but when he met her gaze she fell silent. “It’s . . . I don’t know.” Athena pulled her hand from his grasp to wipe at her eyes before any tears could fall. “I should be happy, right? Life here is - it’s -” She shook her head, struggling with emotions Napoleon could only guess at.

He tried to take her hand again, but only caught her sleeve, tugging it further back from her wrist. She grabbed for the sleeve, trying to pull it back up quickly, but she wasn’t fast enough to hide her forearm. Her skin was crisscrossed with lines from old cuts and angry red scabs, a patchwork of wounds and scars. 

Napoleon grabbed her hand and this time, pushed the sleeve even further back to reveal more of the injuries. He felt a surge of hot anger in him at the thought that someone - anyone - would hurt his precious belle. “Who did this,” he asked, the words forced through clenched teeth.

Athena traced themarks with her fingertip, her eyes downcast. “I did.” 

The rage caught in his throat, choking him as it was overcome with a wave of winter-cold fear. “You?” 

She took a slow, shaky breath. “You weren’t supposed to see. No one was.” She tried to pull her hand back, but Napoleon did not let go. 

“Why, nunuche? I don’t understand.” The anger ran out of him like water from a broken pitcher. In its place, there was only confusion and the icy kernel of fear. 

Napoleon wanted to make her look at him, to explain herself, but he knew these things couldn’t be forced. He waited, holding her hand, while she found the words she wanted to say.

The words came slowly at first but built up as if the more she spoke, the more she felt at liberty to speak. “I . . . sometimes I just feel so . . . empty. Like there is no me inside - just this - this stupid smiling face I wear. And I want to feel something and I - I hate myself for being so pathetic when I should be happy! I know I should be . . . but I just can’t and -” She took another trembling breath. “Everyone expects me to smile and be cheerful and I don’t want to let them see me . . . like - like this. To know I’m so - so useless and stupid and -”

Napoleon stroked her hair back from her face, just listening. Letting her pour out her thoughts, her sadness. He did not understand, still, what made her hurt so much, but he understood the feeling. Being overwhelmed. Feeling as if there was nothing real left in you but loneliness. A need for something, the substance of which you could not even guess at. 

“I th-think the first time, I just . . . I wanted to see if it hurt. And it did but . . . but I could feel it and it was something real and it washed out everything else in my head. All the, the thoughts. All the memories of times I said or did something so stupid. So awkward. The times I messed up. The feeling that I am just a waste.” Her voice went quiet, almost a whisper. “Just knowing you would all be better off without me. It goes away when I - when I’m bleeding.”

He wasn’t sure if it was the right thing to do, but when she said that, there was only one thing he could do. Napoleon pulled her into his arms and held her close. “Never think that.” His voice was raw and hoarse as he spoke, and he felt his eyes sting with unshed tears. “Ma belle, mon coeur . . . “ He wanted to hold her so tightly that all the love he felt for her would fill those dark places in her heart. 

For him, that something he needed was her. Athena. She’d filled his soul, healing a wound he did not believe could ever be made whole. When she came into his life, everything made sense.For the first time since his death and rebirth in le Comte’s mansion, he had a reason to be - to wake and to feel. And he wanted so much to do the same for her - to be what she needed - someone who could bring a real smile to her lips and her eyes. 

“Please don’t tell anyone?” Her voice was muffled against his chest and thick with tears. 

Napoleon gave a hesitant nod. “I won’t say anything to le Comte but on a condition.” He pulled back from her enough to see her face. “You must come to me when you feel like this. Talk to me.”

Athena bit her lip, brow creased in thought. She shook her head. “Leon, I understand what you’re trying to do but . . . it’s not that easy. I can’t just talk it all away . . .”

He caressed her cheek with his rough palm. “Nunuche, do you think I don’t know that?” His smile was melancholy. “I may not be able to help. But I always want to know how you are feeling. What you are thinking. If you are sad, angry, hurt - I need you to tell me.” 

“Even if it’s 3 in the morning? Even if, after we talk, I sometimes still need to - to do this?” She touched the marks on her arm. 

“Anytime. If I am asleep, wake me. If I am busy, interrupt. Nothing matters to me as much as you.” He leaned forward until his forehead touched hers. “Let me see you. The real you. Always.”

“Even if the real me is so worthless?” Tears hung in her lashes. Her hands clenched into tight fists at her sides.

“Even if you can’t see your worth, yes.” 

Her breath caught in her chest and for a moment, she didn’t move. Then she was holding onto him and crying and he was wiping her tears away and shedding his own. Pressing kisses to her brow and smoothing her hair and just holding her, as if he could tell her by his touch how precious she was to him. 

They held each other until the tears dried, until their breath calmed and their hearts beat together in a slow, steady rhythm. 

Napoleon extricated himself from the tangle of their arms and stood.

“Where are you going?” Athena wiped at her face, trying to smile because old habits are hard to break.

“To fetch alcohol and salve and bandages.” He gave her a tender look. “I know you cannot just stop because I want you to. So until you find your way, I am going to take care of your hurts - the ones I can see, and I hope, the ones I cannot as well. But for the flesh, I’m going to need more than words and kisses, non?”

She gave a nod, too emotional for words. 

Napoleon hurried downstairs to grab the items he needed. He still felt unsure if this was the right thing to do, or if he could really do anything. Give him an enemy he could see and a weapon in hand, and he would prevail. But what Athena faced within was no monster to slay, no general he could defeat. In a way, he thought, it was his love fighting herself and he didn’t want her to lose. 

When he came back, Athena was partially undressed, her sleeves rolled up, her skirt bunched. The skin revealed was riven with the marks of her sorrow. Some were so fresh that they beaded with blood and others old enough to be barely visible. It made his chest ache to see what violence she’d done. 

“You hid this all this time?” His voice came out a barely audible rasp. 

She nodded. 

“Ma belle . . .” Napoleon knelt in front of her and set down the supplies. Then with gentle hands, he cleaned the freshest wounds and rubbed them with salve, bandaging them carefully. 

“Do they . . . do I . . . does it look gross? All the scars?” Her timid question surprised him.

“Nothing about you could ever look gross.” He traced a jagged line along her thigh, wondering when she’d done this and with what. What inner pain had this awful cut eased? 

Athena cleared her throat. “Then why are you making that face?”

“It hurts me that you were suffering all this time and I did not know.” Napoleon kissed the edge of the jagged scar and then rested his head on her leg, looking up at her.

She set a hand atop his head. “I didn’t want you to find out. I thought I would just . . . deal with it. Not burden anyone.”

“Nunuche.” He laughed softly. “I want you to burden me. That is what love is for. Sharing our pain, not just our joy.”

Athena smiled. It was a small, weary thing, a bare twitch of her lips at the corners. But it lived in her eyes too and that meant it was real. For Napoleon, that was enough for right now.

#ikemen vampire #ikevamp napoleon #angst #hurt and comfort #tw depression #tw self harm #fanfiction #fanfic #otome #otome guys

[halothenthehorns]

Chapter 3: THE UNDERWORLD SENDS ME A PRANK CALL

Happy Halloween! What a perfectly spooky chapter to kickstart this book!

We have been getting so much Disney PJO stuff I have not been able to put this fic down even though I usually read more on my off times than write. I have chapters predone! I am so excited for this!

Which you still don't get to read until every Monday!

PJOPJOPJO

Alex snatched the book away and ignored the slightly sticky feeling of Magnus's jam fingers lingering on there and how he kind of wanted to sniff it to see what flavor it was as he loudly yelled the new title.

"Why does it not surprise me Bart Simpson made it to hell," Percy nodded, chewing thoughtfully on his pen cap and looking at Nico for what could be going on. The splitting headache he immediately got for this effort quickly made that no fun at all.

"My question is does Percy fall for it?" Thalia was already giving him a tragic look of disappointment. "Please don't tell me you cut up a refrigerator because a shadow made you jump."

Alex waited for the snickering to subside before he started reading, it really was something to be patient for.

Nothing caps off the perfect morning like a long taxi ride with an angry girl.

"You didn't summon the blind ladies again did you?" Magnus looked queasy at just the thought.

"We weren't in as big a hurry as last time," Percy promised, rubbing his stomach at the reminder. "Annabeth gave me the same filthy look though like I stole their eyeball and we were speeding half the time while I clutched my seatbelt, so really, it wasn't that different. Made me miss Tyson."

"I'll scream random numbers at you if you like, really dig home that sense of Deja vu," Alex offered.

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind," Percy promised.

I tried to talk to Annabeth, but she was acting like I'd just punched her grandmother.

"Rhea's done nothing to deserve that Percy," Will snorted, "or would it be Hera?" He muttered with his own cross-eyed look for trying to figure out which would get the title in this case.

"In some versions, Athena doesn't even have a mother, so Annabeth can't even be mad at him for punching someone who doesn't exist," Nico agreed.

"I thought we agreed not to talk about this!" Percy clutched at his ears in instant denial of how weird everything they said was.

"You brought it up," Thalia sided with them. "I'm personally more along the lines of laughing at you tracking down Dr. Chase's mom and punching her for not being around her grandkids enough."

"Next time, I'll think to myself where nobody else should hear, she was acting like I'd punched her best friend," Percy said triumphantly.

"Percy," Jason frowned in concern, "that's you. Why would you punch yourself in the face?"

"Argh," Percy bowed his head in defeat and Alex took pity on him and decided to keep going, despite how curious he was to see how deep Percy could keep digging himself.

All I managed to get out of her was that she'd had a monster infested spring in San Francisco; she'd come back to camp twice since Christmas but wouldn't tell me why (which kind of ticked me off, because she hadn't even told me she was in New York);

Magnus tried his best not to look accusingly at Percy, as Percy instantly shifted to his own concern and promised, "I found out about this in front of Sacks, I swear I didn't know. I sort of wanted a sack on my head when she told me."

Nobody bothered to laugh at the stupid joke, their worry for Annabeth clearly having hidden at least some of her hardships from Percy didn't make anyone feel better.

Percy sunk back into his seat bending his pen, his stomach rumbling for popcorn he'd deny himself now. Would she have told him, during the credits of the movie as they laughed about having put to much salt on their snack? Would she have given him details as they went back to his place, tried to stop denying how little she fit into the mortal world? His mom would have invited her in, just like always, and Annabeth would have inhaled blue cookies until Paul came over for dinner.

It was supposed to feel perfect.

and she'd learned nothing about the whereabouts of Nico di Angelo (long story).

"Am I?" Nico asked blankly, his mind to awash with shock that Percy was actually still looking for him at all. Especially six months later! He would have thought his name wouldn't pop up again until Geryon's farm at minimum.

"Took a whole book to explain it to me, and there's still plenty I didn't get," Percy shrugged, still staring at him kind of strangely like he half expected Nico to spontaneously start getting hearts in his eyes or something. "I still don't even know who this is supposed to be narrated to!" He finished in loud exasperation to the ocean in general.

Will bit down on his lip hard to stop himself asking Nico if he was okay. He didn't look it. He still had a dazed kind of expression like something was in his eye. Will certainly hadn't forgotten him, but then, he'd always done his best to never forget any kid that passed through camp. Jay Martin had loved to stitch and embroidered a beautiful flag for the Hermes cabin, Rory Wayler had loved swimming, Nico Di Angelo had loved Mythomagic, the list went on and on...

"Any word on Luke?" I asked.

She shook her head. I knew this was a touchy subject for her. Annabeth had always admired Luke, the former head counselor for Hermes who had betrayed us and joined the evil Titan Lord Kronos. She wouldn't admit it, but I knew she still liked him. When we'd fought Luke on Mount Tamalpais last winter, he'd somehow survived a fifty-foot fall off a cliff. Now, as far as I knew, he was still sailing around on his demon-infested cruise ship while his chopped-up Lord Kronos re-formed, bit by bit, in a golden sarcophagus, biding his time until he had enough power to challenge the Olympian gods.

"And you said I was a long story," Nico said, clearly unimpressed. "I could have summed up my shit twice as fast as that." He held up one finger, "find kids at boarding school," second finger that was suspiciously out of line, "leave one kid at camp," third finger, "Nico's sister went on quest with me and didn't come back," pinky finger, "now I think Nico wants me dead." He looked around at Percy daring him to contradict him. It was weirdly freeing and morbidly funny Percy was gazing back at him with a twitching mouth. He'd always thought he'd want to melt into the shadows permanently if Percy ever laughed at him, now here he was inviting it.

"You got me Nico," Percy chuckled, "Luke was just more worrisome and much more trouble, definitely needed more context for whichever idiot decided to pick up a book with a four on it first."

"I think you're important enough to get a paragraph Nico," Will grinned. "I think you should get a whole book next."

"Don't even joke about that," Nico looked at him in tragic betrayal.

In demigod-speak, we call this a "problem."

"I'm sure mortals would call that a problem too," Magnus assured from his end. "Nine out of ten things you ever come across would be a major problem."

"Your mom's the exception," Alex added helpfully like Percy had missed that.

"Yeah, I accept that," Percy sighed.

"Mount Tam is still overrun with monsters," Annabeth said. "I didn't dare go close, but I don't think Luke is up there. I think I would know if he was."

"Does she have a GPS tracker on him?" Thalia asked mildly. "Is she not sharing that information?" She could never mock her little sister about this to her face, but Annabeth wasn't here and that was a silly thing to say.

"I'm sure she has a wise ass answer for you that involves troops coagulating-"

"Congregating," Magnus sighed.

"-and weather patterns," Percy shrugged, but he didn't look much happier at Annabeth claiming that.

That didn't make me feel much better. "What about Grover?"

"He's at camp," she said. "We'll see him today."

"Why does she know more about what's going on with your best friend than you?" Jason frowned.

"He's not as good having drachma on him for IM'ing," Percy frowned, "he loses his pants to much. At least I'd probably know if he was in real trouble," he tapped the side of his head uneasily. He still got random cravings for cheese enchiladas and smiled delightedly at flowers growing through cracks in the sidewalk like he never had before his empathy link, so he was sure that was still working fine.

"Did he have any luck? I mean, with the search for Pan?"

Annabeth fingered her bead necklace, the way she does when she's worried.

"You'll see," she said. But she didn't explain.

"That's a bad habit of hers," Magnus huffed.

"It doesn't seem very wise to constantly not be telling you everything!" Alex was mostly mocking but also annoyed about it too.

"It's a good thing she has a whole personality outside of her parent then," Percy rolled his eyes at them.

As we headed through Brooklyn, I used Annabeth's phone to call my mom. Half-bloods try not to use cell phones if we can avoid it, because broadcasting our voices is like sending up a flare to the monsters: Here I am! Please eat me now!

"I want to know who pays for that subscription now, her dad or Chiron?" Jason asked with a weird mix of concern for whoever it was. He felt like both meant well and were just inviting trouble.

"I'm going to call crap on this entire gaslighting community if Percy isn't attacked by a monster by the time he gets to camp," Alex said, completely nonplussed. "First Rachel name drops a bunch of monsters in the gym which is a no-no, now this, I think someone somewhere just started lying to make things more complicated to you guys and nobody's gotten to the truth of it yet."

"An investigation I'm sure we can gladly sick Annabeth on," Will snorted.

But I figured this call was important. I left a message on our home voice mail, trying to explain what had happened at Goode. I probably didn't do a very good job. I told my mom I was fine, she shouldn't worry, but I was going to stay at camp until things cooled down. I asked her to tell Paul Blofis I was sorry.

Percy breathed deeply through his nose and let it out slowly through his mouth. He owed his mom so much more than a sorry. If Paul even answered the phone he imagined any number of hurtful things he could say to his mom about her delinquent son and things would end so badly because she defended him. Days like this he wished his mom had abandoned him at camp, she really would have been better off.

"Percy?" Magnus asked in concern. He knew that guilt ridden look the scarce few times he'd been in front of a mirror.

It drew everyone's attention though, and Percy really didn't want to hear a bunch of nice claims like his mom loved him and didn't regret it. He knew that, but it wasn't making him feel better.

"Mmm, yeah," Percy agreed, "just hoping Alex is wrong and we don't attract monsters." He made an impatient movement to keep the reading going.

We rode in silence after that. The city melted away until we were off the expressway and rolling through the countryside of northern Long Island, past orchards and wineries and fresh produce stands.

Will smiled to himself, remembering the first time he'd come through this way on the back of a swan. The sun had just been starting to rise, and he'd been so pleasantly surprised and in awe to see how beautiful this landscape was after his ride had skirted all of those huge never ending buildings of the city.

I stared at the phone number Rachel Elizabeth Dare had scrawled on my hand. I knew it was crazy, but I was tempted to call her. Maybe she could help me understand what the empousa had been talking about—the camp burning, my friends imprisoned. And why had Kelli exploded into flames?

"Annabeth stops talking to you for five minutes and you want to decompress with a mortal?" Jason didn't sound insulting, just very dubious of how helpful that would really be.

"You met her," Percy needlessly reminded, "she's got this, this way of making you think she knows what's going on."

Jason nodded in agreement to that, she had a powerful aura to her.

I knew monsters never truly died. Eventually—maybe weeks, months, or years from now—

"Or in Percy's luck, five minutes later," Will oh so helpfully inserted.

"Thank you Will, we all so needed that reminder," he sighed.

Kelli would re-form out of the primordial nastiness seething in the Underworld. But still, monsters didn't usually let themselves get destroyed so easily. If she really was destroyed.

The taxi exited on Route 25A. We headed through the woods along the North Shore until a low ridge of hills appeared on our left. Annabeth told the driver to pull over on Farm Road 3.141, at the base of Half-Blood Hill.

The driver frowned. "There ain't nothing here, miss. You sure you want out?"

"Yes, please," Annabeth handed him a roll of mortal cash, and the driver decided not to argue.

"I need a book of excuses for when they do argue though," Alex's twitching lips already promised he was making up his own anyway.

"Bad ass scavenger hunt," Magnus said off the top of his head.

"The forest is haunted and I'm out here scrying for attention," Thalia smirked.

"My camp is on the other side, but it's invitation only," Jason said in a very posh voice.

"I'd tell you but I'd have to kill you," Percy snickered.

"This is the only place my mom lets me have band practice," Will chuckled.

Nico almost waited a beat to long. Nobody sat around and watched everybody else to see if someone had something to say before they kept on reading, especially not Alex. But the goofy thought sprung to mind, and he made himself say it before it was just interrupting and out of context. "Secret nerd convention. That sends most people running."

"All highly acceptable answers I will be stealing," Alex nodded his thanks.

Annabeth and I hiked to the crest of the hill. The young guardian dragon was dozing,

"Because that's still just a casual thing," Magnus rolled his eyes. He wondered if Zoe had spent her spare time there up cuddling with Peleus while missing Ladon.

coiled around the pine tree, but he lifted his coppery head as we approached and let Annabeth scratch under his chin. Steam hissed out his nostrils like from a teakettle, and he went cross-eyed with pleasure.

Magnus's heart did melt quite a bit hearing that though. He smiled hopefully this was the only dragon he'd have to hear about from now on. At least he sounded like a cute, friendly one.

"Hey, Peleus," Annabeth said. "Keeping everything safe?"

The last time I'd seen the dragon he'd been six feet long. Now he was at least twice that, and as thick around as the tree itself. Above his head, on the lowest branch of the pine tree, the Golden Fleece shimmered, its magic protecting the camp's borders from invasion. The dragon seemed relaxed, like everything was okay. Below us, Camp Half-Blood looked peaceful— green fields, forest, shiny white Greek buildings. The four-story farmhouse we called the Big House sat proudly in the midst of the strawberry fields. To the north, past the beach, the Long Island Sound glittered in the sunlight.

Still...something felt wrong. There was tension in the air, as if the hill itself were holding its breath, waiting for something bad to happen.

"I've been doing that since we wound up down here," Magnus promised.

"Same," Nico muttered.

"Liars," Alex scoffed, "you two would have passed out by now, nobody can hold their breath that long."

"You got them Alex," Will chuckled while Magnus and Nico exchanged exasperated looks.

We walked down into the valley and found the summer session in full swing. Most of the campers had arrived last Friday, so I already felt out of it.

"You have still yet to get to camp at any normal time," Jason said in fascination. "At this rate I'd believe you not getting expelled before you wound up there first day with nothing bad going on."

Percy wanted to argue the point, and knew he couldn't.

The satyrs were playing their pipes in the strawberry fields, making the plants grow with woodland magic. Campers were having flying horseback lessons, swooping over the woods on their pegasi. Smoke rose from the forges, and hammers rang as kids made their own weapons for Arts & Crafts.

The Athena and Demeter teams were having a chariot race around the track, and over at the canoe lake some kids in a Greek trireme were fighting a large orange sea serpent. A typical day at camp.

"Why is it orange?" Alex squinted suspiciously. "Was it there first and that's why you picked your camp colors?"

"One of my siblings actually put it in there last weekend," Will shrugged. "Lee was betting Michael he couldn't shoot the sucker off a squid for some reason, but they still had to drag it back to the ocean when they were done."

"I need to talk to Clarisse," Annabeth said.

I stared at her as if she'd just said I need to eat a large, smelly boot.

"Finding Clarisse is kind of like that," Will agreed. "You're usually left wondering why she's there, where did she come from, and how do I get her to go back."

"I hope Annabeth at least tried to add hot sauce to it," Alex snorted.

"What for?"

Clarisse from the Ares cabin was one of my least favorite people.

"Like on a scale of one to ten, how does she rank compared to her dad, and Luke, and that smelly old guy you're convinced is dead on the back of a bus?" Alex asked clinically.

Percy honestly deliberated with himself for a moment before saying, "the smelly guy wins with a three, he's at least quiet and doesn't belch, then Clarisse is a four."

"Good to know for future notice," Alex grinned.

She was a mean, ungrateful bully. Her dad, the war god, wanted to kill me. She tried to beat me to a pulp on a regular basis. Other than that, she was just great.

"And she loves toilets," Jason smirked, "why do you never mention that?"

"Because I'd like to forget about it!" Percy groaned.

"Oh, well, that's not happening," Jason scoffed.

"We've been working on something," Annabeth said. "I'll see you later."

"Are you guys installing another deadly game?" Magnus looked very weary of what this team up could cause. "Giant chess that kills people? Monster simulators?"

"Those sound awesome," Percy grinned.

Magnus looked like Will could stitch the word dread into his forehead.

"Working on what?"

Annabeth glanced toward the forest.

"I'll tell Chiron you're here," she said. "He'll want to talk to you before the hearing."

"What hearing?"

But she jogged down the path toward the archery field without looking back.

"Yeah," I muttered. "Great talking with you, too."

Jason looked like he was trying to eat that mangey old boot named Clarisse. "One of these days we're going to have to strap Annabeth to a chair and make her hear what we've been through with all this cryptic nonsense."

Percy looked like he was deeply considering it himself and Thalia swallowed her own horror at how that could possibly go.

As I made my way through camp, I said hi to some of my friends.

Percy waited for the crack from any of them, their mock shock that he even had friends. It didn't come. Of the two most likely to do so, Alex was reading eagerly for details, probably waiting for something to explode, and Jason had that mystified look on his face like someone said a pink elephant was just casually flying around like usual whenever his Camp was first described. Percy couldn't wait for these books to be done so he could just casually see them around camp too.

In the Big House's driveway, Connor and Travis Stoll from the Hermes cabin were hot-wiring the camps SUV. Silena Beauregard, the head counselor for Aphrodite, waved at me from her Pegasus as she flew past. I looked for Grover, but I didn't see him. Finally I wandered into the sword arena, where I usually go when I'm in a bad mood. Practicing always calms me down.

"You only mentioned four friends," Jason snorted, "when are you going to do a roll call of the whole place?"

"I'm not a psychopath who keeps count of these things," Percy sighed.

Maybe that's because swordplay is one thing I can actually understand.

"I'm very disappointed Annabeth apparently hasn't sat you down and taught you the physics and fluid dynamics behind sword fighting now," Magnus grinned.

"I know where you sleep," Percy jabbed at the rooms beyond, "you will not put that idea in her head!"

Magnus didn't think it so funny, since Percy would have to hunt him down in the streets when they got back to follow through on the threat, but he didn't know that.

I walked into the amphitheater and my heart almost stopped. In the middle of the arena floor, with its back to me, was the biggest hellhound I'd ever seen.

Percy's heart bounced around in his chest like a rubber ball ricocheting off each rib. That dog- hellhound!... he knew...her? His hand wasn't even trying to reach for his pocket now, he just sat looking at the book with a strange expression on his face like someone was trying to describe a giraffe to him.

I mean, I've seen some pretty big hellhounds. One the size of a rhino tried to kill me when I was twelve. But this hellhound was bigger than a tank. I had no idea how it had gotten past the camp's magic boundaries.

Will vividly remembered when Quintus had first had her over the property line. She'd been in the shadows of the forest, just glowing red eyes this stranger was promising them all was a harmless girl. Then Quintus had opened a jar of peanut butter, and she'd come bounding out, tail wagging like a fighter engine's propeller. The jar got stuck on her tongue as she tried to lap it all up at once.

The Stoll's had laughed, Katie had squealed and made apples fall on everyone's head, and Clarisse's eyes had gleamed with a challenge as she went for her spear; before Quintus began scratching her ears and promising them all she was a harmless softie and his pet as her tail felled trees around them making dryads pop out and shriek in shock.

Most of the kids scattered and locked their doors that night, one girl who everybody swore was a child of Echidna asked if she could rub Mrs. O'Leary's belly. It hadn't even been a blip in their life by next week honestly.

It looked right at home, lying on its belly, growling contentedly as it chewed the head off a combat dummy. It hadn't noticed me yet, but if I made a sound, I knew it would sense me. There was no time to go for help. I pulled out Riptide and uncapped it.

Nico winced. He knew it was silly and obviously didn't work, but he was fond of Mrs. O'Leary. She was Percy's dog, but still one of the very few animals who actively liked him whether he wanted her to or not, and he really could summon her down here or wherever he wanted and she'd most likely come, if he wasn't worried about her drowning.

"Yaaaaah!" I charged.

"I should not make a noise while attacking this monster or it will kill me," Alex raised one hand, then leveled the other palm up, "I shall scream like a lunatic while lunging to attack it," he began moving both up and down like scales. "Makes perfect sense to me!"

"Battle reflexes," Percy said with almost a straight face.

I brought down the blade on the monster's enormous backside when out of nowhere another sword blocked my strike.

CLANG!

The hellhound pricked up its ears. "WOOF!"

I jumped back and instinctively struck at the swordsman—a gray-haired man in Greek armor. He parried my attack with no problem.

"That's not the guy who trained Luke, is it," Jason shifted around in distress who this new guy was who could also immediately keep up with Percy.

"Luke learned with me on the streets, no finer tutor," Thalia grimly corrected. It was the kind of learn or die technique that Percy still didn't have as much training in as them. "This is someone else." She wasn't looking forward to hear the tale of Daedalus, a story that had made Annabeth flinch through the majority of the retelling with scant details.

"Whoa there!" he said. "Truce!"

"You're a very lucky guy Percy," Magnus promised him, "there's not many people who wouldn't decide to murder you for attacking their dog."

Percy still looked a little to dumbfounded somebody was defending that massive monster to respond, but he had no heart to argue even if he could. He'd still never drawn his pen, let alone his sword in here, he'd instinctively been surprised at his past self wanting to attack her.

"WOOF!" The hellhound's bark shook the arena.

"That's a hellhound!" I shouted.

"Was she having an identity crisis?" Alex asked in mock concern. "Did she think she was a harpy? That's not really for you to decide Percy."

He threw his hands up in exasperation already. There really was no point arguing that one.

"She's harmless," the man said. "That's Mrs. O'Leary."

Alex smacked his lips together a couple times as he thought about that one. "That's an acceptable name," he decided, leaving the rest of them now vaguely concerned what he considered their names.

"Never understood why people name their pet Mrs. or Mr. anything," Magnus admitted, "who are they married to? Why are we being proper to the critter that licks its junk?"

"Gender affirming care," Alex said in that weirdly serious way where you weren't actually sure if he was messing with you or not. Then he kept reading like nothing had happened.

I blinked. "Mrs. O'Leary?"

At the sound of her name, the hellhound barked again. I realized she wasn't angry. She was excited. She nudged the soggy, badly chewed target dummy toward the swordsman.

"Aw, I think she wants to play fetch," Jason looked like he had a very bright light shining in his eyes. How did this camp manage to get weirder every time he heard of it? They now had pet hellhounds running around. Between her and Percy's brother the cyclops this place seemed like an oasis...so why did it always sound so unwelcome to him?

"Good girl," the man said. With his free hand he grabbed the armored manikin by the neck and heaved it toward the bleachers. "Get the Greek! Get the Greek!"

Mrs. O'Leary bounded after her prey and pounced on the dummy, flattening its armor. She began chewing on its helmet.

"That's a very good trick," Will nodded along. "I'm sure it won't come in handy for anything."

"It's a good thing you never wear armor so she can't confuse you," Nico smirked.

"I slip her her favorite treat, nobody else realizes she loves apples," Will grinned, before he made an exaggerated 'oops' face and put his hand against his mouth.

Nico smiled back at this oddball, his sense of humor was so strange and Nico always wanted to keep watching for more.

The swordsman smiled dryly. He was in his fifties, I guess, with short gray hair and a clipped gray beard. He was in good shape for an older guy.

He wore black mountain-climbing pants and a bronze breastplate strapped over an orange camp T-shirt. At the base of his neck was a strange mark, a purplish blotch like a birthmark or a tattoo, but before I could make out what it was, he shifted his armor straps and the mark disappeared under his collar.

Percy rubbed uncomfortably at the spot on himself, his brain unpleasantly informing him to remember that. He wished his brain would shut up with its unhelpful advice.

"Mrs. O'Leary is my pet," he explained. "I couldn't let you stick a sword in her rump, now, could I? That might have scared her."

"I hope she doesn't pee the floor when she gets scared," Thalia said, "because guess who would have to clean it up."

Percy debated for a moment if it was worth getting the oracle so pissed at him again it would go for another midnight stroll to this place instead. He could blame someone getting the piss scared out of them instead and be exempt.

"Who are you?"

"Promise not to kill me if I put my sword away?"

"I guess."

"Still on track with Percy nearly killing every person he's met," Jason muttered.

"And you were surprised he wasn't listing off a dozen friends," Thalia snorted.

He sheathed his sword and held out his hand. "Quintus."

"His name means five?" Jason's lips twitched in amusement. "Most half-bloods are an only child, but I really hope this guys parents got tired of coming up with names after the fourth kid and just went with that."

Alex threw his head back laughing and Percy shook his head as he grinned along.

I shook his hand. It was as rough as a sandpaper.

"Percy Jackson," I said. "Sorry about—How did you, um—"

"Get a hellhound for a pet? Long story, involving many close calls with death and quite a few giant chew toys.

"That was not much of an explanation," Alex looked hurt this guy hadn't launched off into an instruction manual of how to get his own.

"He's not much of a good story teller," Nico said sardonically. "I can find a pup later, if you really want to raise one." He'd spoken without thinking, he'd gone so long in here with no one freaking out over his mere presence being a death sentence, let alone a casual gesture that was meant as no threat.

By the time he braced himself for Alex to scream about strangling him for summoning a monster, he was already smiling in delight like Nico had just offered him his own close shave with death and a few giant chew toys.

I'm the new sword instructor, by the way.

"There was an old sword instructor?" Magnus asked wearily, already knowing he wasn't going to love this insane story.

"Nope," Will shrugged, "unless you counted, um," he stopped and didn't finish, but a name hung oddly in the air that rhymed with fluke. "No official teachers aside from Chiron," he finished all in a rush.

Alex leaned close to Magnus and murmured, "this place can't keep a competent adult anymore than Percy can stay in school. Ten bucks says he's dead by the end of this summer."

Magnus smiled and laughed just because that's what he was supposed to do. It's not like he could honor giving over a measly ten dollars on the silly wager.

Helping out Chiron while Mr. D is away."

"He's gone?" Percy, Alex, Magnus, and Jason all yelped in varying degrees of shock and pleasure.

"Away," Will corrected with a sigh. "Temporary," he emphasized, not looking particularly pleased.

"Last time he left was because of that winter solstice thing though," Magnus looked far from pleased at this temporary great news. "What could be so important Zeus would lift his punishment again?"

Percy leaned forward anxiously in his seat for that answer too, he knew it probably wasn't a good one.

"Oh." I tried not to stare as Mrs. O'Leary ripped off the target dummy's shield with the arm still attached and shook it like a Frisbee. "Wait, Mr. D is away?"

"You know, that's fair Percy," Will said, "anybody would find that distracting no matter the news." It would have been more believable if Will had said that while trying to stifle a laugh, but Percy appreciated the attempt anyways.

"Yes, well...busy times. Even Dionysus must help out. He's gone to visit some old friends. Make sure they're on the right side. I probably shouldn't say more than that."

Magnus didn't seem to find that answer all that cracked up. "Does he get them drunk and promise them free trips to the casino if they stay on his side of the war?" The wine god couldn't get through a conversation without wanting to kill half his charges, what was he out there doing trying to be a liaison?

"Mr. D wasn't born a god," Thalia informed. "He's a younger god, and as such he has pull with quite a few who fit into that category. Others like Artemis were talking with the older gods, each had their own whom they connected with and tried to find out their position. Athena was the one to talk Zeus into using all those at his disposal."

Jason was in awe of her having a goddesses first hand account of even the most brief meeting like that. The instinct kicked in of trying to scold himself, that wasn't information he should be privy to and he should have just reminded Magnus the gods knew what they were doing. The idea lingered less and less the more of this he heard. 

If Dionysus was gone, that was the best news I'd had all day. He was only our camp director because Zeus had sent him here as a punishment for chasing some off-limits wood nymph. He hated the campers and tried to make our lives miserable. With him away, this summer might actually be cool. On the other hand, if Dionysus had gotten off his butt and actually started helping the gods recruit against the Titan threat, things must be looking pretty bad.

"It's good to hear you think of both sides, that's a great skill Percy," Jason sounded pleased, but also just as exhausted as Percy felt about the duality of this situation.

Off to my left, there was a loud BUMP. Six wooden crates the size of picnic tables were stacked nearby, and they were rattling. Mrs. O'Leary cocked her head and bounded toward them.

"Whoa, girl!" Quintus said. "Those aren't for you." He distracted her with the bronze shield Frisbee.

"I really hope those aren't for me either," Percy said like he really hoped somebody would toss the book like a frisbee and he could run around without a care in the world, for once.

The crates thumped and shook. There were words printed on the sides, but with my dyslexia they took me a few minutes to decipher:

TRIPLE G RANCH

"What do the G's stand for?" Magnus asked wearily, already knowing the results could range anywhere from gross to gore.

He got silence.

"Guys, what do the G's stand for?" Magnus repeated a tad more urgently.

"Enjoy your ignorance while it lasts," was all Nico would finally answer.

FRAGILE

THIS END UP

Along the bottom, in smaller letters: OPEN WITH CARE. TRIPLE G RANCH IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR PROPERTY DAMAGE, MAIMING, OR EXCRUCIATINGLY PAINFUL DEATHS.

Magnus slumped into his seat and groaned as if that maiming was happening to him just hearing about it. "I hate this guy," he already decided, "I don't care if there are bunnies in that box, nothing bought from a ranch that big is going to be good!"

"I'm sort of hoping it's chickens," Alex grinned, "I want to see someone get the great idea about Jurassic Park gone wrong."

"Well I know who I'm never going to vote to be the next sword instructor," Percy frowned at the horror Alex would wrought with one second of power.

"Don't be ridiculous Percy, I don't use a sword," he scoffed.

"What's in the boxes?" I asked.

"A little surprise," Quintus said. "Training activity for tomorrow night. You'll love it."

"I don't believe him," Thalia mock whispered.

"We don't have to be best friends to agree with that," Percy groaned.

"Uh, okay," I said, though I wasn't sure about the "excruciatingly painful death" part.

"Is there a way to be okay with that part?" Nico snorted. He could cause it with ease and he wasn't actively 'okay' with it either.

"Healthy coping mechanisms?" Will didn't sound so sure though.

Quintus threw the bronze shield, and Mrs. O'Leary lumbered after it.

"You young ones need more challenges. They didn't have camps like this when I was a boy."

Alex curled his lips around his teeth and imitated a wizened old man voice, "back in my day!" He even mock waved a cane around for a second.

"Yeah," Percy snickered along, "I bet he had to write on stone tablets and walk five miles up hill both ways to go to school in the snow."

"You—you're a half-blood?" I didn't mean to sound surprised, but I'd never seen an old demigod before.

"I think that's more sad than anything," Thalia frowned, even as she tried to imagine it herself. Luke was one of the rare few who didn't get immortality as a teenager and almost got to twenty.

Quintus chuckled. "Some of us do survive into adulthood, you know. Not all of us are the subject of terrible prophecies."

"No, I didn't know that," Percy said grumpily. It certainly exploded his brain for a second before he caught up with the rest of what Quintus had said. "Wait, does everybody know about my prophecy?"

"It's the worst kept secret at camp," Will agreed, "right up there with who smuggles in the good stuff and who's dating who."

"Great," Percy groaned.

"You know about my prophecy?"

"I've heard a few things."

I wanted to ask what few things, but just then Chiron clip-clopped into the arena. "Percy, there you are!"

He must've just come from teaching archery. He had a quiver and bow slung over his #1 CENTAUR T-shirt. He'd trimmed his curly brown hair and beard for the summer, and his lower half, which was a white stallion, was flecked with mud and grass.

"Look at you playing detective over here," Jason grinned.

"He does have good powers of perception," Thalia agreed with an eye roll, she'd still like it if those would stop being used on trivial details like Chiron's activities and more on getting a clue in social situations.

"I see you've met our new instructor." Chiron's tone was light, but there was an uneasy look in his eyes.

"Because of Quintus?" Magnus asked wearily, "or because of what he needs you for?"

"When I find out I'll let you know," Percy squirmed in his seat just as uneasily for whatever the answer was. He hadn't even gotten to hack up a dummy, Mrs. O'Leary had slobbered on all the good ones.

"Quintus, do you mind if I borrow Percy?"

"Not at all, Master Chiron."

"No need to call me 'Master'," Chiron said, though he sounded sort of pleased.

Will looked a little chagrined he'd never thought to call him that, meanwhile Percy raised an unimpressed brow at anyone saying that.

"Come, Percy. We have much to discuss."

I took one more glance at Mrs. O'Leary, who was now chewing off the target dummy's legs.

"Hopefully not foreshadowing," Jason twitched and hoped that hellhound was as well trained as the swordsman.

"If it is, a shadow traveling monster would be the culprit," Percy agreed, but the words sounded all wrong on his tongue. Yet his unease for this introduction somehow all still lingered.

He didn't notice, as usual, Nico wincing at Percy calling his powers weird.

"Well, see you," I told Quintus.

As we were walking away, I whispered to Chiron, "Quintus seemed kind of—"

"Mysterious?" Chiron suggested. "Hard to read?"

"Yeah."

Chiron nodded. "A very qualified half-blood. Excellent swordsman, I just wish I understood..."

"You could feed Chiron this book and he'd spit out less horse shit," Alex scowled.

"At least he seems better than Tantalus," but Magnus knew that bar was pathetically low, and Quintus would probably still trip on it.

Whatever he was going to say, he apparently changed his mind.

"First things first, Percy. Annabeth told me you met some empousai."

"Yeah." I told him about the fight at Goode, and how Kelli had exploded into flames.

"Mm," Chiron said. "The more powerful ones can do that. She did not die, Percy. She simply escaped. It is not good that the she-demons are stirring."

"We were all well aware it's not good anything's stirring," Jason said from all the way back to that talk with Artemis.

"And we still haven't gotten any other kind of recipe," Percy agreed.

"What were they doing there?" I asked. "Waiting for me?"

"Possibly," Chiron frowned. "It is amazing you survived. Their powers of deception...almost any male hero would've fallen under their spell and been devoured."

"Almost any male hero," Alex looked extremely interested to test those limits.

"I didn't stop to ask about attracting the rainbow of it all, sorry Alex," Percy rolled his eyes.

"I would've been," I admitted. "Except for Rachel."

Chiron nodded. "Ironic to be saved by a mortal, yet we owe her a debt.

Thalia bit her lip against smiling. It turned into a pretty mutually beneficial relationship in the end.

What the empousa said about an attack on camp—we must speak of this further. But for now, come, we should get to the woods. Grover will want you there."

"Where?"

"At his formal hearing," Chiron said grimly. "The Council of Cloven Elders is meeting now to decide his fate."

Percy made such a loud groaning noise, the others checked the floor for any new cracks. "I've been back for hours and he's about to die, again! Can my best friend just go one time without almost dying!"

"Maybe they're voting on his fate over something less dramatic than his life," Magnus offered without much hope. "Like his coffee intake."

Percy didn't think he was right, but he gave him a nod of thanks all the same.

Chiron said we needed to hurry, so I let him give me a ride on his back.

"You let him!" Magnus went cross-eyed in wonder. "You just casually rode on the back of a centaur!" He couldn't even answer himself why this was so fascinating when he'd now known Chiron existed for days.

"It wasn't something I was comfortable with," Percy promised. He'd never even gotten a piggy back ride from anyone before, not counting the monster boar, and as far as he knew, nobody at Camp casually rode around on Chiron, so it wasn't something he'd ever wanted to do and stand out more.

As we galloped past the cabins, I glanced at the dining hall—an open-air Greek pavilion on a hill overlooking the sea. It was the first time I'd seen the place since last summer, and it brought back bad memories.

Nico cringed into his seat and gripped his sword.

Alex made a little huff noise and kept reading, just like that.

Percy did look at him this time though, and the expression was mingled pity with still plenty of weary concern. It wasn't the bright, shining acceptance he hated himself for wanting, but it wasn't murdery, 'can't take my eyes off your untrustworthy Underworld coat,' either, so Nico forced himself not to say anything too.

Chiron plunged into the woods. Nymphs peeked out of the trees to watch us pass. Large shapes rustled in the shadows—monsters that were stocked in here as a challenge to the campers.

"You really should just call it the Forbidden Forest, make it the epitome of obvious they want you guys to all vanish in the night," Magnus shook his head.

Percy looked interested in the idea while Will opened his mouth in a silent scream of even more kids going in there!

I thought I knew the forest pretty well after playing capture the flag here for two summers, but Chiron took me a way I didn't recognize, through a tunnel of old willow trees, past a little waterfall, and into a glade blanketed with wildflowers.

"Percy, you haven't seen the half of that place," Thalia promised.

"The correct answer to that is, adventure time," Alex informed him.

Percy had to quickly wipe the smile off his face as his first thought had been, Exploring with Annabeth Time. The place would have made a fun picnic spot.

A bunch of satyrs were sitting in a circle in the grass. Grover stood in the middle, facing three really old, really fat satyrs who sat on topiary thrones shaped out of rose bushes. I'd never seen the three old satyrs before, but I guessed they must be the Council of Cloven Elders.

Alex sounded very much like he was getting trampled by a goat. Percy knew he wouldn't have sounded much better, he didn't take well to authority, and now Grover was obviously in trouble for something he didn't do. Grover had an alibi, him!

Grover seemed to be telling them a story. He twisted the bottom of his Tshirt, shifting nervously on his goat hooves. He hadn't changed much since last winter, maybe because satyrs age half as fast as humans. His acne had flared up. His horns had gotten a little bigger so they just stuck out over his curly hair. I realized with a start that I was taller than he was now.

"Poor guy," Nico looked almost concerned, "he's already got enough troubles without taking years for a growth spurt."

"The horns were kind of cool, but yeah, would not want to be a satyr just for that," Percy nodded. 

It was a casual, silly little thing to agree on, but Nico still smiled in surprise there was a first that didn't make everything feel so tragically doomed. He'd already known they both liked Grover though, so he was probably being weird again.

Standing off to one side of the circle were Annabeth, another girl I'd never seen before, and Clarisse. Chiron dropped me next to them.

Clarisse's stringy brown hair was tied back with a camouflage bandanna. If possible, she looked even buffer, like she'd been working out. She glared at me and muttered, "Punk," which must've meant she was in a good mood. Usually she says hello by trying to kill me.

"Happy days!" Jason looked cheered at least. Maybe she was in a good enough mood she'd even tell what she'd been up to last winter and only slightly maim Percy by the end.

Annabeth had her arm around the other girl, who looked like she'd been crying. She was small—petite, I guess you'd call it—with wispy hair the color of amber and a pretty, elfish face. She wore a green chiton and laced sandals, and she was dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief. "It's going terribly," she sniffled.

"No, no," Annabeth patted her shoulders. "He'll be fine, Juniper."

Annabeth looked at me and mouthed the words Grover's girlfriend.

"I've tried lip reading a couple times," Magnus looked at Percy in surprise. "I was curious how Hearth does it. It's harder than you'd think. That could have been anything from mowers year-land to going golf-fiend."

"I'll stick with my guess," Percy assured, even if the idea boggled his mind just as much as the other two options.

At least I thought that's what she said, but that didn't make any sense.

"Grover can't have a social life outside of you?" Thalia snorted in surprise. "He's been chasing tree nymphs since before you were born, one was bound to take pity on him." She was personally glad, it made his weird admiration of her and her sisters a lot more tame on at least one more satyr.

Grover with a girlfriend? Then I looked at Juniper more closely, and I realized her ears were slightly pointed. Her eyes, instead of being red from crying, were tinged green, the color of chlorophyll. She was a tree nymph— a dryad.

"Is that better or worse than a half-blood dating him?" Magnus asked curiously. "Is that even a thing?"

"Everything's a thing," Alex said with high confidence and great indifference to the answer as he kept reading before anyone could say otherwise.

"Master Underwood!" the council member on the right shouted, cutting off whatever Grover was trying to say. "Do you seriously expect us to believe this?"

"Yes!" Percy said robustly at once. He had no idea what was going on, but he knew his best friend wasn't a liar. Even when he needed to be.

"B-but Silenus," Grover stammered. "It's the truth!"

The Council guy, Silenus, turned to his colleagues and muttered something. Chiron cantered up to the front and stood next to them. I remembered he was an honorary member of the council, but I'd never thought about it much. The elders didn't look very impressive. They reminded me of the goats in a petting zoo—huge bellies, sleepy expressions, and glazed eyes that couldn't see past the next handful of goat chow. I wasn't sure why Grover seemed so nervous.

"You mouth off to gods," Jason reminded him in exasperation, "I feel like if I tried to explain the concept of an authority figure to you, you'd defenestrate me."

"Yes, yes I would, and I'm not even going to ask what that means," Percy nodded.

Silenus tugged his yellow polo shirt over his belly and adjusted himself on his rosebush throne. "Master Underwood, for six months—six months— we have been hearing these scandalous claims that you heard the wild god Pan speak."

"Why is that, scandalous?" Magnus asked like he was missing the obvious. "Haven't they been looking for this guy since the dawn of time? Why are they not building him a thrown of orchids?"

"Don't know, but I hope that rosebush was stabbing his tail," Percy scowled.

"But I did!"

"Impudence!" said the elder on the left.

"Now, Maron," Chiron said. "Patience."

"Patience, indeed!" Maron said. "I've had it up to my horns with this nonsense. As if the wild god would speak to...to him."

Percy looked ready to storm up there and drown this guy in the saltiest goat feed he could find, but the bizarre mental image of that old goat eating his way out before he could manage flashed through his mind had him hesitating in here same as in that clearing so much Thalia didn't even have to give him a warning.

Juniper looked like she wanted to charge the old satyr and beat him up, but Annabeth and Clarisse held her back. "Wrong fight, girlie," Clarisse muttered. "Wait."

I don't know what surprised me more: Clarisse holding someone back from a fight, or the fact that she and Annabeth, who despised each other, almost seemed like they were working together.

"I always knew they'd make a badass team up," Jason looked in awe their powers combined were already saving a dryad, they could save the quest from the next disaster too.

"I have so many questions," Percy looked five sentences away from drilling his fingers into his skull in hopes something would make sense.

"For six months," Silenus continued, "we have indulged you, Master Underwood. We let you travel. We allowed you to keep your searcher's license. We waited for you to bring proof of your preposterous claim. And what have you found in six months of travel?"

"I just need more time," Grover pleaded.

"Nothing!" the elder in the middle chimed in. "You have found nothing."

"But, Leneus—"

Silenus raised his hand. Chiron leaned in and said something to the satyrs.

The satyrs didn't look happy. They muttered and argued among themselves, but Chiron said something else, and Silenus sighed. He nodded reluctantly.

"Master Underwood," Silenus announced, "we will give you one more chance."

"Is Chiron the voice of reason in every room he's in?" Will looked sort of disappointed he'd had to step in there. It was depressing to think how many satyr's had their dreams shattered before this moment.

Grover brightened. "Thank you!"

"One more week."

"Clearly he wasn't being loud enough!" Percy snapped.

"What? But sir! That's impossible!"

"One more week, Master Underwood. And then, if you cannot prove your claims, it will be time for you to pursue another career. Something to suit your dramatic talents. Puppet theater, perhaps. Or tap dancing."

"I bet Grover would be great at both of those and still find Pan," Alex sniffed. "Can this Silenus say the same?" His tone very much doubted Silenus could get his hind off that throne.

"But sir, I—I can't lose my searcher's license. My whole life—"

"This meeting of the council is adjourned," Silenus said. "And now let us enjoy our noonday meal!"

Percy's lip was curling disturbingly, he looked about ready to find out what would happen if he fed a Council of Cloven Elders to Peleus.

The old satyr clapped his hands, and a bunch of nymphs melted out of the trees with platters of vegetables, fruits, tin cans, and other goat delicacies.

The circle of satyrs broke and charged the food. Grover walked dejectedly toward us. His faded blue T-shirt had a picture of a satyr on it. It read GOT HOOVES?

"Don't get me started on milk propaganda, I will make somebody regret it," Alex huffed.

Magnus, as usual with everything that came out of Alex's mouth, was fascinated and wished he could ask what the hell that meant, but Percy looked like Thalia was holding onto his patience by an actual thread if someone didn't start answering some questions around here, so he filed that away for later.

"Hi, Percy," he said, so depressed he didn't even offer to shake my hand.

"No goat-bear- best friend hug?" Jason looked as dejected as Grover had been. This satyr, not fawn, had been fascinating to hear about from the start. The idea of finally meeting him and Grover being, just, a pest like the rest of those goats seemed gave him double vision.

"That went well, huh?"

"Those old goats!" Juniper said. "Oh, Grover, they don't know how hard you've tried!"

"There is another option," Clarisse said darkly.

"No. No." Juniper shook her head. "Grover, I won't let you."

Percy threw his hands up in frustration, he probably caused a wave to crash a few buildings above surface, and then just didn't have the restraint anymore and began pacing around behind Thalia and Jason. This was so frustrating constantly wondering what the hell was going on with his friends.

His face was ashen. "I—I'll have to think about it. But we don't even know where to look."

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

In the distance, a conch horn sounded.

Percy hoped he never met who blew the conch horn or it would be lost at the bottom of the ocean.

Annabeth pursed her lips. "I'll fill you in later, Percy. We'd better get back to our cabins. Inspection is starting."

"If she tells me one more time she'll explain later, I will steal her architecture books," Percy assured.

"How did you two not kill each other," Thalia said in awe, watching him over her shoulder with interest.

"I have no idea, but at least I explain what's going on!"

"Sometimes too much," Nico muttered, he could do without the other constant, his loving adoration of her.

It didn't seem fair that I'd have to do cabin inspection when I just got to camp, but that's the way it worked. Every afternoon, one of the senior counselors came around with a papyrus scroll checklist. Best cabin got first shower hour, which meant hot water guaranteed. Worst cabin got kitchen patrol after dinner.

"What I want to know is how much bribery factors into this?" Alex grinned.

"That's the first thought out of your mouth?" Will tried so hard to look disappointed in him. "You hear of an honor ranking system that keeps all of us accountable to clean up after yourself, and your first thought is-"

"Oh stop Will," Nico rolled his eyes, "Connor learned how to hide stuff in the rafters from you, he told me."

"That wasn't trash, I needed that stuff later, for um, testing," he was fighting a losing battle not to laugh by the end.

Nico's eyes gleamed with a light that made his breath catch when Nico said, "and I will be entirely innocent when I make my trash vanish into the shadows, so we're all innocent aren't we?"

"Yes, ahem, that's the take away here," Will dragged his eyes back to Alex and decided that was enough sharing and joking for now or he'd cave and admit to offering Silena more than one signed addition of Chewbacca, mint condition in the box. For some reason she never accepted them as she went about the cabin, so technically he'd never bribed anyone.

The problem for me: I was usually the only one in the Poseidon cabin, and I'm not exactly what you would call neat. The cleaning harpies only came through on the last day of summer, so my cabin was probably just the way I'd left it on winter break: my candy wrappers and chip bags still on my bunk, my armor for capture the flag lying in pieces all around the cabin.

"I should be exempt from chores for that brief time, I was living through severe trauma," Percy clutched at his shirt and finally fell dramatically back into his seat, upside down.

"Your girlfriend was back in a week Jackson, and you had time to clean up before you went back for school," Jason scoffed as he waved him down.

"She's not my-" Percy tried again, but Alex was already ignoring his halfhearted attempt.

I raced toward the commons area, where the twelve cabins—one for each Olympian god—made a U around the central green. The Demeter kids were sweeping out theirs and making fresh flowers grow in their window boxes.

"Now that definitely feels like cheating," Magnus agreed with Percy's put out look.

"Until someone comes rushing in with fresh mulch," Will waved his hand under his nose, though he'd always thought that was a good look on Katie.

Just by snapping their fingers they could make honeysuckle vines bloom over their doorway and daisies cover their roof, which was totally unfair. I don't think they ever got last place in inspection. The guys in the Hermes cabin were scrambling around in a panic, stashing dirty laundry under their beds and accusing each other of taking stuff.

Will couldn't help a nostalgic chuckle about the time his cabin had received second to last place when he'd let Conner hide his clothes under his bed, only to find out later it wasn't all just Conner's. He'd probably gone overboard by washing them before returning them back, but it had felt like the kind, sanitary thing to do even when he'd scowled at all of Katie's stuff mixed in.

They were slobs, but they still had a head start on me.

Over at the Aphrodite cabin, Silena Beauregard was just coming out, checking items off the inspection scroll.

"That can't be fair," Thalia sided with Percy's tragic groan. "Inspection Barbie shouldn't get to review her own."

"Oh trust me, she's more strict on them than anyone, they hate it when she does," Will defended the bias.

I cursed under my breath. Silena was nice, but she was an absolute neat freak, the worst inspector. She liked things to be pretty. I didn't do "pretty." I could almost feel my arms getting heavy from all the dishes I would have to scrub tonight.

"Anything's good training if you've got enough lava?" Jason offered.

"I'll remember that when you ask me to train with you," Percy promised.

The Poseidon cabin was at the end of the row of "male god" cabins on the right side of the green. It was made of gray shell-encrusted sea rock, long and low like a bunker, but it had windows that faced the sea and it always had a good breeze blowing through it.

I dashed inside, wondering if maybe I could do a quick under-the-bed cleaning job like the Hermes guys, and I found my half-brother Tyson sweeping the floor.

Everybody did a double take at that, especially Percy who got the clashing mental image and fell fresh out of his seat.

"Percy!" he bellowed. He dropped his broom and ran at me. If you've never been charged by an enthusiastic Cyclops wearing a flowered apron and rubber cleaning gloves, I'm telling you, it'll wake you up quick.

"And I wasn't even asleep," Percy was rubbing at his heart doing double time. He wasn't even afraid of his brother, but some base instinct of his lizard brain had chosen flight over fight after seeing that, and he hadn't gotten the chance to act.

"Hey, big guy!" I said. "Ow, watch the ribs. The ribs."

I managed to survive his bear hug. He put me down, grinning like crazy, his single calf-brown eye full of excitement. His teeth were as yellow and crooked as ever, and his hair was a rat's nest. He wore ragged XXXL jeans and a tattered flannel shirt under his flowered apron, but he was still a sight for sore eyes. I hadn't seen him in almost a year, since he'd gone under the sea to work at the Cyclopes' forges.

"I'm hoping they didn't instill to many bad habits in him, like military cleanliness," Alex sniffed.

"What's wrong with that?" Jason frowned.

"I'm sure he just like's having a home for a change and is keeping up with it," Magnus said in a much gentler kind of way.

"You are okay?" he asked. "Not eaten by monsters?"

"Not even a little bit." I showed him that I still had both arms and both legs, and Tyson clapped happily.

"Yay!" he said. "Now we can eat peanut butter sandwiches and ride fish ponies! We can fight monsters and see Annabeth and make things go BOOM!"

I hoped he didn't mean all at the same time,

"And here I was hoping the opposite," Alex sighed.

"I kind of thought that was on a banner for the camp somewhere," Magnus admitted.

but I told him absolutely, we'd have a lot of fun this summer. I couldn't help smiling, he was so enthusiastic about everything.

"But first," I said, "we've gotta worry about inspection. We should..."

Then I looked around and realized Tyson had been busy. The floor was swept.

"Yeah Percy, you walked in on him sweeping and in cleaning gear," Jason looked at him like he was out of his mind for not noticing this before the charging cyclops.

"I swear he wouldn't notice if Tyson were in a dress, big guy's a lot to take in at first," Thalia said in some defense of him.

The bunk beds were made. The saltwater fountain in the corner had been freshly scrubbed so the coral gleamed. On the windowsills, Tyson had set out water-filled vases with sea anemones and strange glowing plants from the bottom of the ocean, more beautiful than any flower bouquets the Demeter kids could whip up.

"Tyson, the cabin looks...amazing!"

He beamed. "See the fish ponies? I put them on the ceiling!"

A herd of miniature bronze hippocampi hung on wires from the ceiling, so it looked like they were swimming through the air. I couldn't believe Tyson, with his huge hands, could make things so delicate.

"One of the many great things about him, though his fascination with fish ponies is still my favorite," Alex assured. He personally still could not wait to meet Tyson to show off some of his pottery to someone with some level of skill.

Then I looked over at my bunk, and I saw my old shield hanging on the wall.

"You fixed it!"

The shield had been badly damaged in a manticore attack last winter. But now it was perfect again—not a scratch. All the bronze pictures of my adventures with Tyson and Annabeth in the Sea of Monsters were polished and gleaming.

I looked at Tyson. I didn't know how to thank him.

"And you're surprised?" Thalia chuckled at the wide smile so bright on his face, the first since he'd been back at camp, all just from his brother. "That look on your face was thanks enough I'm sure."

Percy glanced down at his wrist and saw the watch still wasn't there now, but hopefully it was just waiting for him back at his cabin like his brother.

Then somebody behind me said, "Oh, my."

Silena Beauregard was standing in the doorway with her inspection scroll.

"There's a floor in here!" Alex said in what he clearly thought was an approximation of Silena's voice.

"And it's polished," Percy sniffed in honor of Tyson, "and somehow peanut butter scented," he finished with his own perplexed mutter, hoping it was just his little brother eating a sandwich while taking out the trash and not some new cologne.

She stepped into the cabin, did a quick twirl, then raised her eyebrows at me.

"Well, I had my doubts. But you clean up nicely, Percy. I'll remember that."

She winked at me and left the room.

Alex wolf whistled, Percy blushed, and Thalia muttered, "gods am I glad Annabeth isn't here all of a sudden." The girl got quite jealous, and she didn't need Annabeth cursing over nothing.

Tyson and I spent the afternoon catching up and just hanging out, which was nice after a morning of getting attacked by demon cheerleaders.

Jason began ticking off on his fingers, "and having all my friends being annoyingly vague, and running into a mortal who gave me nightmares, and blowing up another school."

"Yeah, it's no wonder Tyson's the easy guy," Percy agreed with an exhausted sigh.

We went down to the forge and helped Beckendorf from the Hephaestus cabin with his metalworking. Tyson showed us how he'd learned to craft magic weapons. He fashioned a flaming double-bladed war axe so fast even Beckendorf was impressed.

"Setting aside how terrifying it is there's a whole forge of cyclops that can do that," Magnus began, "can Poseidon not just create all of that into existence if he needed them?"

"You are way overthinking this," Percy told him in exasperation. "They do have some limits, they can't just snap their fingers and reshape the world."

"Huh, good to know," Magnus said honestly.

While he worked, Tyson told us about his year under the sea. His eye lit up when he described the Cyclopes' forges and the palace of Poseidon,

Percy smiled through his jealousy of just how excited Tyson had been. Maybe one day when he did finally get to visit, Tyson would have so much fun showing him around they wouldn't stop smiling the whole day.

but he also told us how tense things were. The old gods of the sea, who'd ruled during Titan times, were starting to make war on our father. When Tyson had left, battles had been raging all over the Atlantic. Hearing that made me feel anxious, like I should be helping out,

"You cannot actually split yourself into multiple people," Thalia reminded him. "You would be down there and just as guilty you weren't back at camp helping with this big attack coming."

Percy looked wounded because she was entirely correct. Not even covering the fact he wasn't certain why he and his friends were currently trapped in the Titan Oceanus's palace.

but Tyson assured me that Dad wanted us both at camp.

"Lots of bad people above the sea, too," Tyson said. "We can make them go boom."

"Percy's number one talent," Jason nodded seriously, "I see he's spreading out his forces to great effect."

Percy knew he was kidding, and he still rolled his eyes.

After the forges, we spent some time at the canoe lake with Annabeth.

Percy took a deep breath, like he was trying to inhale that memory into him now. Traveling through the Sea of Monsters wasn't exactly a great moment in his life, but the memories were something he'd never want to lose again.

She was really glad to see Tyson, but I could tell she was distracted. She kept looking over at the forest, like she was thinking about Grover's problem with the council.

"Or thinking about revenge on those goats," Alex helpfully added. "I'm thinking we start with the fun house of mirrors and work our way up." Alex had made one to many jokes about some guy eating goats in here to ask what came next.

I couldn't blame her. Grover was nowhere to be seen, and I felt really bad for him. Finding the lost god Pan had been his lifelong goal. His father and his uncle had both disappeared following the same dream.

Last winter, Grover had heard a voice in his head: I await you—a voice he was sure belonged to Pan—but apparently his search had led nowhere. If the council took away his searcher's license now, it would crush him.

"I don't understand why he couldn't look without a license," Thalia scowled, "there's no goat police that's going to keep him in the system!"

Jason looked a little queasy at the idea of her blatant disregard of authority, and yet couldn't deny he'd still help Grover no matter how long his license was expired by.

"What's this 'other way'?" I asked Annabeth. "The thing Clarisse mentioned?"

She picked up a stone and skipped it across the lake.

"She's weirdly good at that too," Percy grinned. "She gets so mad when she can't beat me cause I'll get the water to help mine skip farther every time. I don't care it's cheating, do you know how often I beat her at something?"

He always spoke with this hyper, happy kind of way when he started talking about her, then concluded with a forlorn smile when he looked around the room and realized she wasn't here. The others chuckled for the silly little anecdote all the same even if it was a little sad.

"Something Clarisse scouted out. I helped her a little this spring. But it would be dangerous. Especially for Grover."

"Goat boy scares me," Tyson murmured.

I stared at him. Tyson had faced down fire-breathing bulls and sea monsters and cannibal giants. "Why would you be scared of Grover?"

"Hooves and horns," Tyson muttered nervously. "And goat fur makes my nose itchy."

And that pretty much ended our Grover conversation.

"No, no, no, no, no," Alex looked ready to continue the verbal abuse of that one word until Magnus hesitantly began patting his shoulder and Alex finally articulated, "we politely ask Tyson to go to another room and we explain to Percy what the heck has been going on while not traumatizing the innocent cyclops! Both are possible!"

"I didn't want to exclude him," Percy admitted, "so we started talking about my mom, they wanted an update on her."

"Tyson's appropriate fear of the satanic features of goats and his allergies aside," Jason frowned, "I'm on Alex's side, this has been teased since the last one, I don't know how you could stand it back then."

"Being constantly distracted was a forced help," Percy sighed. Being bunted from one situation to another with his friends often left him the last to know about any of them.

Before dinner, Tyson and I went down to the sword arena. Quintus was glad to have company. He still wouldn't tell me what was in the wooden crates, but he did teach me a few sword moves. The guy was good. He fought the way some people play chess—like he was putting all the moves together and you couldn't see the pattern until he made the last stroke and won with a sword at your throat.

"Who did this guy say his godly parent was?" Jason grinned at such strategic battle strategies.

"He didn't," Percy frowned. He might not even know, but there was something strange in that question Percy felt he knew the answer for.

"Good try," he told me. "But your guard is too low."

He lunged and I blocked.

"Have you always been a swordsman?" I asked.

He parried my overhead cut. "I've been many things."

"I'm still impressed he's lived long enough to grow facial hair," Percy muttered.

Thalia fought hard not to laugh at that, Percy might have an inkling of just how old Quintus is and she didn't want to encourage that line of thought.

He jabbed and I sidestepped. His shoulder strap slipped down, and I saw that mark on his neck—the purple blotch. But it wasn't a random mark. It had a definite shape—a bird with folded wings, like a quail or something.

"You went with quail?" Alex asked with interest. "That's the first bird you think of?"

"Well it didn't look like a penguin," Percy said in exasperation. "I don't know, it was bird shaped."

"What's that on your neck?" I asked, which was probably a rude question, but you can blame my ADHD. I tend to just blurt things out.

"I usually just blame you, no ADHD required," Thalia said.

"Hey, I have layers," Percy grinned, "sometimes I just don't give a shit and ask, sometimes I'm trying to throw people off. It all just ties back to the ADHD."

"Uhhu," Thalia sighed, looking very much like she wanted to smother him. "You keep blaming that you little shit."

Quintus lost his rhythm. I hit his sword hilt and knocked the blade out of his hand.

"Percy's entire personality is a secret weapon confirmed," Jason chuckled.

"Don't encourage him!" Thalia yelped while Percy drowned her out laughing and leaned across her to give Jason a high-five.

Alex watched patiently to see if Thalia was going to break his wrist as he pulled back, and then kept reading in disappointment when she restrained herself.

He rubbed his fingers. Then he shifted his armor to hide the mark. It wasn't a tattoo, I realized. It was an old burn...like he'd been branded.

Will flinched at the insinuation, while Jason rubbed his thumb over his. He'd obsessed over the design of it for hours, but the act of getting it had never given him much pause. It had felt natural, he'd always looked upon it with a sense of pride as he tried to understand the mystery those lines were.

"A reminder." He picked up his sword and forced a smile. "Now, shall we go again?"

He pressed me hard, not giving me time for any more questions.

Percy rubbed at his shoulder where the muscles remembered how much time he'd had off a lot more than his stomach had after all that. Quintus had definitely put him through his paces, but he was also smiling at some of the tricks he'd picked up.

While he and I fought, Tyson played with Mrs. O'Leary, who he called the "little doggie."

Magnus's heart skipped a beat at trying to figure out what he'd call Cerberus all of a sudden, while Alex nodded along to this statement. "She sounds like a very sweet puppy," he agreed.

Dogs, especially tank sized monster-hell hound- dogs, were usually a little to close to wolves for Magnus to really like them. The bigger and messier the strays he saw were, the more he avoided them.

They had a great time wrestling for the bronze shield and playing Get the Greek.

"I really hope Quintus stays forever now, just for his dog," Jason chuckled. "Tyson's probably never had a pet."

"Neither have I, and it was surprisingly easy to stop expecting her to lunge at my back hearing him laugh with her," Percy agreed fondly. He'd gotten over his weariness of her that afternoon, and by the time Tyson had been rubbing her belly so much her tail put a hole in the arena wall, Percy had been guilty of promising her peanut butter treats himself they were so cute together.

By sunset, Quintus hadn't even broken a sweat, which seemed kind of strange;

"I know everything in your body's supposed to start going downhill when you get old," Percy said in concern, "but do old people keep their sweat glands?"

"Yes Percy, old people still sweat. A lot," Will told him in exasperation. He was probably the only person who could have answered that without sounding condescending for the supremely ADHD question.

but Tyson and I were hot and sticky, so we hit the showers and got ready for dinner.

I was feeling good. It was almost like a normal day at camp. Then dinner came, and all the campers lined up by cabin and marched into the dining pavilion. Most of them ignored the sealed fissure in the marble floor at the entrance—a ten-foot-long jagged scar that hadn't been there last summer—

"Just another day in this madhouse," Magnus agreed. "If I didn't know why it was there, I really wouldn't bat an eye the place had almost sunk into the ground or something."

"You should have heard the rumors," Will said fondly. "My favorite was Silena's when she said it was Clarisse standing in one place to long," he snorted, and then quickly backtracked, "um, don't tell her I said that."

"Tell who what?" Percy mock cleaned out his ear, though there really was a strange buzzing there for a moment.

but I was careful to step over it.

"Big crack," Tyson said when we were at our table. "Earthquake, maybe?"

"No," I said. "Not an earthquake."

I wasn't sure I should tell him. It was a secret only Annabeth and Grover and I knew. But looking in Tyson's big eye, I knew I couldn't hide it from him.

"We already knew you were terrible at keeping secrets," Jason snorted.

"This," Percy waved around the room in exhaustion, "isn't my fault. I just can't think of a reason to care against sharing my life with strangers."

Jason smiled in exasperation Percy only proved his point.

"Nico di Angelo," I said, lowering my voice. "He's this half-blood kid we brought to camp last winter. He, uh...he asked me to guard his sister on a quest, and I failed. She died. Now he blames me."

Nico, of all people, snorted with laughter, causing Percy to chuckle in relief.

"You did use my summary," Nico looked oddly pleased.

"Wasn't going to leave you out Nico, then Tyson wouldn't get the chance to hug you when he meets you," Percy grinned.

Nico looked horrified at the idea of a cyclops being sicked on him in that way, but more than that, it was so calming to hear Percy just joking with him like he was anyone else. He'd been expecting the pressure of wishing it was more to be smothering him by now, but instead the opposite seemed to keep happening. The more they talked, the less intense it felt.

Tyson frowned. "So he put a crack in the floor?"

"It was a very reasonable response to be honest," Will said fairly.

"It was an awesome crack I want to see in person," Alex reminded.

"With flames, I remember," Nico nodded.

"These skeletons attacked us," I said. "Nico told them to go away, and the ground just opened up and swallowed them. Nico..." I looked around to make sure no one was listening. "Nico is a son of Hades."

Tyson nodded thoughtfully. "The god of dead people."

"Yeah."

"So the Nico boy is gone now?"

"I—I guess. I tried to search for him this spring. So did Annabeth. But we didn't have any luck.

Nico felt the burning eyes on him, everybody in this room wanting to know in detail what had happened to him in the intervening time. He fiddled with his ring and gave none of them an answer. His time in the Labyrinth would send any of them running and screaming.

Alex dragged his eyes away first, not for the obvious reason the book might tell, but because Nico had had more than enough of his life exposed lately.

This is secret, Tyson. Okay? If anyone found out he was a son of Hades, he would be in danger. You can't even tell Chiron."

Will dragged his eyes away next, and put on the corniest smile he could. "Hey, has anyone ever wondered why Chiron always gives a speech at dinner? It's because he loves being the sent-aur of attention."

Percy and Thalia groaned in unison while Jason looked at him as if in physical pain.

Magnus looked at him blandly and said, "if Chiron ever sends you on the next world ending quest, I'm not going to ask why."

Nico was smothering a laugh though. He wasn't doing a very good job of it, and that was all Will wanted to hear anyways.

"The bad prophecy," Tyson said. "Titans might use him if they knew."

I stared at him. Sometimes it was easy to forget that as big and childlike as he was, Tyson was pretty smart.

"I'm not questioning his intelligence," Alex promised, "but was this a secret? Was Tyson really showing some special smarts there by agreeing this is a good secret to keep from all not pertinent?"

"Like I said, I kind of forgot how much Tyson paid attention, more than I gave him credit for," Percy frowned. He wanted his little brother to hear about Nico and ask if the guy was going to be okay and if he could make things go boom on command, not realize he was a potential pawn for an evil Titan and all the horrible ways he could be manipulated. He hadn't had a lot of innocence growing up with all the strange things in his life, not to mention Gabe. He'd just deluded himself for a second Tyson had some.

He knew that the next child of the Big Three gods—Zeus, Poseidon, or Hades—who turned sixteen was prophesied to either save or destroy Mount Olympus. Most people assumed that meant me, but if I died before I turned sixteen, the prophecy could just as easily apply to Nico.

"Exactly," I said. "So—"

"Mouth sealed," Tyson promised. "Like the crack in the ground."

"Hopefully not as permanently, with fire and skeletons stuck in his mouth," Thalia offered.

"I don't want to know what that dentist visit would be like," Percy grinned.

I had trouble falling asleep that night. I lay in bed listening to the waves on the beach, and the owls and monsters in the woods. I was afraid once I drifted off I'd have nightmares.

"A valid fear," Magnus promised. He'd never had dreams even before this place, and he was really worried once he got back he would because of his realization he wasn't mortal.

See, for half-bloods, dreams are hardly ever just dreams. We get messages.

We glimpse things that are happening to our friends or enemies. Sometimes we even glimpse the past or the future. And at camp, my dreams were always more frequent and vivid.

"Gods, I would be pissed," Alex scowled for Percy. His recurring dream of Loki visiting him was awful enough, but at least when he recognized that dripping cavern he could brace himself for what was coming and more tricks of his mother. The unknown of anything disturbing his sleep sounded somehow like a worse punishment than having to listen to a manipulative birth canal.

So I was still awake around midnight, staring at the bunk bed mattress above me, when I realized there was a strange light in the room. The saltwater fountain was glowing.

They'd almost forgotten the chapter title should make an appearance about prank calls, with so much other stuff going on in this one. Now everyone looked on, as confused as Percy for what was about to happen.

I threw off the covers and walked cautiously toward it. Steam rose from the hot salt water. Rainbow colors shimmered through it, though there was no light in the room except for the moon outside. Then a pleasant female voice spoke from the steam: Please deposit one drachma.

"Can the goddess herself send you a prank call?" Jason asked. It wouldn't be the weirdest thing he'd heard of these Greek gods doing, and he knew for a fact not all receiving- iris messages were like this thanks to Sally. She'd never had a drachma on her before to accept a call from Percy, so something strangely specific must be going on here.

"Why am I the one who's going to find out?" Percy sighed in answer.

I looked over at Tyson, but he was still snoring. He sleeps about as heavily as a tranquilized elephant.

"Hopefully his snoring doesn't intercept the signal or something," Magnus muttered.

I didn't know what to think. I'd never gotten a collect Iris-message before.

"At least it didn't start with the message from a state prison," Thalia tried to say with chipper, but she really didn't like she wasn't sure what was going on so early in this one for it to come across right.

"Then we'd know it was from you and I could just hang up," Percy smirked.

"No prison could hold me!" She yelped.

"You were held in a stockade for quite a number of years," Percy's grin widened. The tree wasn't the perfect example of that, but the image flashed to mind of Thalia trapped in that trunk with just her face and hands sticking out now as he fought off a laugh.

"I'm going to put you in a headlock for the rest of your life," she promised.

As fun as that would be to see, Alex was worried it might put a dampening on the rest of their time here if Thalia murdered him. She'd probably regret it eventually or something and be all sad while finishing these.

One golden drachma gleamed at the bottom of the fountain. I scooped it up and tossed it through the mist. The coin vanished.

"O, Iris, Goddess of the rainbow," I whispered. "Show me...Uh, whatever you need to show me."

The mist shimmered. I saw the dark shore of a river. Wisps of fog drifted across black water. The beach was strewn with jagged volcanic rock. A young boy squatted at the riverbank, tending a campfire. The flames burned an unnatural blue color. Then I saw the boy's face. It was Nico di Angelo.

Nico's face scrunched up with pure distaste like somebody had just tried to feed him cat food. He'd known this was a thing, but the reminder that he'd been withering away desperate for a sign from his sister all this time, and she'd chosen to send a message to Percy to spy on him, still left a burn in his mouth he wasn't sure would ever fully heal.

He was throwing pieces of paper into the fire—Mythomagic trading cards, part of the game he'd been obsessed with last winter.

Nico was only ten, or maybe eleven by now, but he looked older. His hair had grown longer. It was shaggy and almost touched his shoulders. His eyes were dark. His olive skin had turned paler. He wore ripped black jeans and a battered aviator's jacket that was several sizes too big, unzipped over a black shirt. His face was grimy, his eyes a little wild. He looked like a kid who'd been living on the streets.

"Dude, that sounds like such a waste, you could have at least sold them," Percy said out of the blue.

Magnus sort of wanted to smack Percy upside the head like Nico obviously wanted to do for that being his comment to all that. They all knew why he did it, a little levity to help ease the uneasy realization of the situation Nico was now in like they all constantly did to Percy, but Thalia didn't have to tug sharply on Percy's ear and hiss at him to shut it before he realized himself the kid hadn't thought that was funny as he shut his mouth back.

I waited for him to look at me. No doubt he'd get crazy angry, start accusing me of letting his sister die. But he didn't seem to notice me.

I stayed quiet, not daring to move. If he hadn't sent this Iris-message, who had?

"You can send an iris message for someone?" Magnus went a little cross-eyed again as he tried to imagine how that worked. "Do you ask the goddess to hook you up like those old phones that had, um, what were they called? Like talking-group messaging?"

"I think I know what you mean," Percy had seen it on a few movies, but he had no more clue. "If so, nobody told me!"

"It's called a conference call, and it's still a thing people do," Thalia said in exasperation. She could excuse their ignorance pretty easily though, neither of them clearly had much time around a phone. The only reason she knew about them was because Beryl had near constantly been on one for work.

Nico kept to himself it actually seemed something Bianca alone had been able to do. He wasn't sure if she was somehow manipulating the Mist, Hades had pulled in a favor through Iris, or what specifically had been going on here. It's not like she'd ever stuck around to explain any of this to him.

Nico tossed another trading card into the blue flames. "Useless," he muttered. "I can't believe I ever liked this stuff."

Nico felt the questioning eyes on him like he'd slipped into Italian without warning. He shrugged indifferently and really didn't feel like explaining himself, he felt like that was an explanation.

Will couldn't blame him, in fact last night made all the more sense now, if he'd hesitated over playing for a multitude of reasons instead of just the one he'd guessed. His sister had died trying to get him a figurine from this game, he was trying to draw distance from his past. There were probably a number of other reasons he wasn't qualified to guess at all mixed in there.

"A childish game, master," another voice agreed. It seemed to come from near the fire, but I couldn't see who was talking.

"Did you pick yourself up a yes man?" Alex asked, and he sounded actually concerned more than mocking.

Nico's face twisted as bad as his stomach did. "Something like that," he felt obligated to answer more because he had a lot of respect for Alex after last night than he really thought this would get him through this faster. Why hadn't he dug his way out with a spoon yet? Gotten on his knees and begged his dad to come pick him up from the sleepover set in hell? He was desperate enough to try after yesterday, sitting through a whole day of this was going to make him start neighing at these guys before he'd want to answer any more questions.

Nico stared across the river. On the far shore was black beach shrouded in haze. I recognized it: the Underworld. Nico was camping at the edge of the river Styx.

"You left the camp with the lava climbing mountain and decided to rough it camping at the edge of the death river," Jason told him. "Did you think you needed more of a challenge, or were you just looking to get away for your health?" It was phrased more as a cheerful joke or a conversational starter depending on how Nico wanted to answer.

Will watched with growing agitation at how much Nico was struggling to figure out how to respond to all this before he said briskly, "no more questions for him, it's not helping anybody." Phrasing it in the vein of not antagonizing Percy's memories was always an easy cover.

"Yeah, what he said," Nico managed that without having a panic attack at least.

"I've failed," he muttered. "There's no way to get her back."

The other voice kept silent.

Nico turned toward it doubtfully. "Is there? Speak."

Something shimmered. I thought it was just firelight. Then I realized it was the form of a man—a wisp of blue smoke, a shadow. If you looked at him head-on, he wasn't there. But if you looked out of the corner of your eye, you could make out his shape. A ghost.

Jason, Alex, and Magnus all looked like they had a lot of questions about that in fact, but Will's arm over the back of the couch had gone from casual to shielding behind Nico's back and they didn't want to pressure the guy to spill anyways. Percy was already at his wits end being the center of attention, Nico obviously didn't want to share the spotlight.

"It has never been done," the ghost said. "But there may be a way."

"Tell me," Nico commanded. His eyes shined with a fierce light.

"An exchange," the ghost said. "A soul for a soul."

"I've offered!"

"We all did," Percy agreed. Any of them would have taken Bianca's place in that junk yard, but his instinct still kicked madly in protest at this kid wishing for the same.

Nico couldn't look at him. He'd already let the worst thing possible come out of his mouth, but he felt like it could still get worse if he let himself so much as nod at Percy.

"Not yours," the ghost said. "You cannot offer your father a soul he will eventually collect anyway. Nor will he be anxious for the death of his son. I mean a soul that should have died already. Someone who has cheated death."

Thalia shifted uncomfortably in place for what that could have meant. There weren't a lot of possibilities that didn't relate back to immortal beings, though she knew in this specific case Daedalus fit the bill, he never would have come to mind before her fellow Hunters. They seemed the obvious choice for his revenge to her.

Nico's face darkened. "Not that again. You're talking about murder."

"Can I give an A+ for that response?" Alex said in the tone he wasn't taking no for an answer. "You've still got a great moral compass Nico."

"Thanks," he managed a real smile at him. Like every other half-blood, he'd never gotten anywhere close to a grade that good before, and nobody had ever even said he had morals before. Like being the child of the Underworld meant he went around not-so-secretly coming up with elaborate deaths.

"I'm talking about justice," the ghost said. "Vengeance."

"Those are not the same thing," Jason scowled.

"Those are not the same thing."

Percy laughed boisterously while Nico and Jason grinned faintly in surprise at each other.

The ghost laughed dryly. "You will learn differently as you get older."

"He could be a few thousand years old and his morals don't have to change," Will scoffed.

"Wow, your formative years are that important huh?" Magnus chuckled.

"Let's not get into the whole nature versus nurture thing," Thalia sighed, "we'll be here all day. I think we would all personally stab this ghost through the eye for trying to corrupt young Nico, can we just agree on that?"

"Maybe if you'd stop calling me young every five minutes," Nico didn't help his situation by looking a little pouty. Alex cleared his throat in agreement anyways to keep going so he didn't have to admit Nico did look a lot younger and more innocent when he made that face.

Nico stared at the flames. "Why can't I at least summon her? I want to talk to her. She would...she would help me."

Magnus felt something very tight in him pull taught like a choke hold. Was that possible? The ghost had said it wasn't, but if Nico could bring people back from the dead...Was Bianca out there now still palling around with the Hunters? Would he feel like he had his mom back if she was a zombie?

"I will help you," the ghost promised. "Have I not saved you many times? Did I not lead you through the maze and teach you to use your powers? Do you want revenge for your sister or not?"

"I don't like this ghost," Will's tone was sharp as a blade. "He has no right to brag about saving your life and then make it feel like your fault if you don't get Bianca back. Revenge," he repeated in a truly dangerous snap.

"Mmmm, he was very manipulative," Nico murmured just for him. He'd been a fool for trusting him, but Minos had been a powerful ghost, and Nico had been grateful to him. His first ever friend who had helped him, with seemingly wanting nothing in return. So far the only other person who fit that was Will, and he was still waiting for that shoe to drop.

I didn't like the ghost's tone of voice. He reminded me of a kid at my old school, a bully who used to convince other kids to do stupid things like steal lab equipment and vandalize the teachers' cars. The bully never got in trouble himself, but he got tons of other kids suspended.

"Ah geez, not another Luke," Percy scowled with his own near instant dislike of this ghost. He preferred the bull-like brain dead ones like Clarisse, punching first and asking questions never. Those he could almost understand when he went toe to toe with, he had anger issues too. These sorts, the ones that never got their hands dirty and were the last to be caught usually made him want to start a few fires just to get someone caught red handed.

Nico turned from the fire so the ghost couldn't see him, but I could. A tear traced its way down his face. "Very well. You have a plan?"

Nico's shoulders hunched. He ran a hand painfully through his hair, so sharp he expected his ring or nails to scratch through his scalp. Maybe he'd start bleeding and use it as a way to escape the looks of pity he refused to look at. Wild plans of how to get out of this cursed room were still offering themselves up like a flame he was forced to snuff out. His worst secret hadn't given him a free exit, his miserable pain for it hadn't attracted their jailer into thinking he'd suffered enough. What the hell was it going to take?

The moment of silence passed, and Nico had no new answers. He tried to comfort himself maybe the worst had come to fruition, having to hear Bianca's death in detail and Percy knowing the worst of him.

He didn't believe himself.

"Oh, yes," the ghost said, sounding quite pleased. "We have many dark roads to travel. We must start—"

The image shimmered. Nico vanished. The woman's voice from the mist said, Please deposit one drachma for another five minutes.

"What a tease," Alex frowned. "It's a good promo though, showing just enough of the goods I'd want to see the rest."

"So glad the trailer of my life would make a hit," Nico grumbled.

There were no other coins in the fountain. I grabbed for my pockets, but I was wearing pajamas. I lunged for the nightstand to check for spare change, but the Iris-message had already blinked out, and the room went dark again.

The connection was broken.

"Could you have used a quarter?" Magnus was pretty sure Will wouldn't scowl at him like that if the question didn't pertain directly to Nico. "Do people throw pennies at her and get a few seconds more time?"

"No, but I'm pretty sure that's where that mortal idea came from," Thalia grinned.

I stood in the middle of the cabin, listening to the gurgle of the saltwater fountain and the ocean waves outside.

Nico was alive. He was trying to bring his sister back from the dead. And I had a feeling I knew what soul he wanted to exchange—someone who had cheated death. Vengeance.

Nico di Angelo would come looking for me.

"So self-important," Will sniffed, "you think everybody wants you Percy?"

"I've made crazier leaps," Percy gestured at the past books. "If I wasn't sitting here now with the guy obviously not about to kill me, it would still make plenty of sense."

"Now I'm super curious to know who his target is though," Alex didn't look happy about having to give the book up to Percy. "Does Nico take down a god and cause a power imbalance?" He sounded way to hungry about those prospects considering they'd just eaten breakfast.

Nico took a shaky breath and wondered how long he was supposed to sit here and hear them chat about what a little psychopath he was.

"Would you guys cool it! He obviously doesn't want to talk about this!" Will knew he couldn't make them shut up permanently, but he was so frustrated watching Nico clearly loathing every second of this with no way to help.

Percy froze getting out of his seat as he looked awkwardly at them. He didn't exactly know how to avoid it when Nico was tangled up in his life on page.

PJOPJOPJOPJO

Not going to lie, after reading Chalice of the Gods a good dozen times and all the cute percabeth fluff, it was incredibly hard not to put Annabeth into this already. I have a set point where that happens though and I promise you all will love it if you can just hold out for me like I'm making myself do.

#pjo #Percy Jackson #Thalia Grace #Jason Grace #will solace #nico di angelo #alex fierro #Magnus Chase #botl #HDYSG

[xaviernottheprofessor]

Entry #001

A journal a day, keeps the doctor away. Or some dramatic shit like that. 

I’m doing it. I’m finally writing in here. I’m still not convinced this will help me much but I guess I understand the appeal. Fitting that I’d purchase my first notebook in New York City. It’s one that I had been eyeing to write some of my ‘go to jokes’. You know, the type you store in your comedic arsenal to drop on someone when you’re literally out of words to say. I decided to use my phone notes for that instead. Turns out, since the break-up, I’ve needed those notes opened more often than not. So I guess I’ll begin there. Social interaction has been strained. A lot more than usual. Before, I’d do well enough to get by. I mean, I’ll give myself more credit. Dr. Kennedy believes I should so yeah, I got by really well. Now, not even masking does the trick. There are days I really feel like my mattress could swallow me up and I’d be better off if it did. But then I think about who’s going to tell Emmie that my mattress swallowed me up. No one. And you know what happens next. She ends up losing it. 

God, I’m cheeky even in my journal entries. So what do I do? I know that it’s a big deal to give myself a pat on the back for trying. I got out of bed, I put on some clothes, I ate a meal, I smiled a little, I text a friend, I flew out to New York, I worked. I did it. I did good today. And yet, I feel like the perpetual sadness will never leave me. Not to be dramatic but I never thought it would be this difficult. Then again, I never thought it would happen. Athena keeps sending me break-up Tik Tok videos which she now by the way blames me for break-up Tik Tok being her FYP. Anyway, she sends me these videos and it’s all about people who went through it and then three months later had a massive glow-up. I’m lucky if I look good enough to be on the cover of Entertainment Weekly. I still don’t know how I’ll make that photo shoot tomorrow. Glow ups? More like let me go back to bed, please. 

It’s strange that the height of my sadness is occurring during the height of my career. This somehow makes me more interesting. Sure, people want to see my acting chops and are excited to bring me on to projects but they’re also curious about me and my old relationship and Ship Wrecked. It’s a weird and unsatisfying thing that’s happening to me right now. I feel like I’m living in some parallel universe. Hopefully the hype doesn’t disappear when my I guess eventual glow-up does occur. Then what? I’ll only have my pretty face left. Jokes. 

Speaking of pretty faces, I finally got to meet Henry and the sad thing about THAT is he had been DMing me for about a month to try to get together and I’ve been that oblivious of the world around me. When I asked why not text me? He kinda brushed it off as, he didn’t want to bother me. He’s kind that one. He’s got like kind eyes and he laughs at my jokes. Probably a little too much but I think that’s because he knows my mattress is coming for me. He checks on me like every 5 minutes and I have to remind him I’m not going to self combust...yet. He refuses to believe that. For someone who’s personally known me (and not thru biased commentary from my friends Thomas and Celeste) for only a day and a half, he has an optimistic view of how things will turn out. I’ll get the love of my life, he tells me. I’m inclined to believe him after a few glasses of wine. 

I think I’ve made a new friend in him which is always nice. The world always needs new friends, allies, people who will check on you every 5 minutes and throw contracts at you when you’re not adjusting to reality. Khamani brought me animal fries and Celeste keeps Raj off the conversation which is also good for me. Frankie just sends a meme and then tell me they love me. Their way of making me believe that there is no side taking. I know there isn’t. And Amaya...tries because the idea of giving up hardly makes sense for her. Too bad Raj and I seem to be on a different plane of thought. Juni and Chris have also been the friends I needed. Chris keeps me busy with work and good conversation. Juni brings in the laughs (and unknowingly so). Bless all their hearts. I love them. 

It’s hard for me to think about how much I miss him even when I’m being told to do just that. Work through my crap all of that therapeutic stuff that gets thrown at you. It’s hard because it hurts and lately what happens is the more I think about it, the angrier I get and the last thing I want is to turn any good memories I have into bad ones. I’d rather live in my deniability a bit longer. But I do miss him. More than I’ll have have the chance to tell him. That’s the worst part of it all. Closure isn’t even on the radar for us. 

Anyway, that’s all I’ve got right now. I wish I had more. New York City is just as I left it, SF is probably the same. London is just a fog of memories. Someday, I’ll feel settled enough to call one of them home. Until then, I’ll try to keep writing in here. 

#( journal. ) #tw: depression

[goodgirlsharpteeth]

day 1: bettering myself.

I just meditated for the first time in a while. Recently my energy feels so blocked. Not just recently though, I feel i’ve had the slowest spiritual awakening. Fulfilling my fullest potential is within reach, I feel i’ve been provided with the map however I cannot get off my ass and begin trekking the path. I procrastinate and procrastinate and procrastinate. It is debilitating. I want to feel at peace, pleasure, challenge. I feel like a clogged drain. I can see all the hair or leaves or whatever blocking the flow but I can’t remove them. I can though. Today I woke up and did nothing. I haven’t eaten, showered, worked out, read. Just saw a bunch of people on the internet doing things I’d like to be doing. Wearing clothes I’d like to be wearing. This thought requires me to take a step back. I am currently looking at the ocean, I’m at the house at Caret Bay. And life is beautiful. There’s food in the fridge. Books to read. Movies to watch. Meditations to be done. I want to challenge myself. To be skilled, to be present, to feel productive. 

today i felt very frustrated, I wasted my time I sat on tik tok instead of going to the beach or reading or anything remotely productive. 

firstly, what am I grateful for? how do these things help me accomplish? 

My mother, she is so supportive and genuinely only gets on my ass when she sees that i’m not optimizing my time- wasting the present moment. minutes become hours hours become days, so on and so on. 

The dogs, Jack and Athena. They embody love, they are always ready to receive and give love. It’s natural they have no worries of past or future, this is how they stay joyful. My fluffy snuggle bunnies I love them so. 

Aryan, who like the dogs, is just filled with abundance. abundant emotion, opportunity, patience, kindness. He makes my body feel good, my spirit feel good. He is a blessing and I am so glad we found eachother. His beautiful brown skin, dark rich hair, dark brown eyes, big hands. He is so attractive to me. 

New people I meet and the stories they tell me. Brit who I work with told me that she got pregnant at 18, she didn’t realize she was pregnant until she was 4 months pregnant. She went to school in her maternity dress, bump showing. She was always ashamed until her teacher in front of the class one day called her out and told her to hold her head high. Most other girls would have just aborted that child but here brit was showing up to school each day, doing what was best for her. She was proud, as she should be. She’s a very strong woman. 

Lastly myself, I keep myself afloat even though i feel like drowning sometimes. I have the wisdom and strength to change the things i have the power to change. 

Aryan is back in exactly 1 month. So what do i want to be different by the time he gets back? 

1. Energy blocks removed. Blocks around money or appearance. I don’t want to envy or lust for anything. I have everything I need, I am everything I need. this can be done through MEDITATION and JOURNALING. from this day onwards I will be posting daily. 

2. I want to have read at least ONE book cover to cover. 

3. Eating habits. I want to have new recipes ready that I am excited for him to try. 

4. Workout daily so my body can be sexier for my baby and so I feel good about myself. also DOPAMINE

Keep it simple stupid. Stop enabling yourself. 

i am so beautiful, this beauty flows from the inside out. i attract opportunity and abundance with ease, my energy flows and attracts blessings to me constantly. i am in control of my actions, i do not allow myself to get tempted with distractions. i am strong. i am simply the universe experiencing itself. 

[thisissirius]

spoilers for 4x04.

five people who love buck unconditionally and the one to whom love can’t describe everything buck is firefam + buck (buck/eddie)

. protection

“I wanted her to tell you.”

Buck’s tried being mad at Chim. He’s been mad at Maddie and his parents, Chim, Eddie. Everyone and everything, even when they didn’t deserve it. “I know.”

If Buck remembers anything from the past few days it’s this; Chim batting for him, a solid barrier doing his best to stand by his girlfriend and Buck all at once.

“Can I ask you a question?” At Chim’s nod, Buck stares at his hands. “How did it feel when—Albert arrived and you knew your father loved him in ways he never could you?”

It’s an unfair question and Buck knows it. Chims expression shifts into discomfort and then something that Buck doesn’t wanna name.

“I’m sorry. That’s not fair.”

“Hey, no,” Chim says, reaching over and taking Buck’s arm. “I’m not offended that you asked. I can’t imagine—okay maybe I can a bit. It’s not a great feeling. I felt unloved. So not so different.”

Buck smiles, but there’s no humour in it. “Yeah. It sucks.”

“Except,” Chim continues, catching Buck’s eye and holding it. “That I’m not unloved. And neither are you.”

.buckaroo

Hen keeps watching him.

It’s fair. Buck keeps scaring everyone; not that he means to. Maybe he’s just that fucked that things will keep happening to him. Buck hopes not. He’s not sure there’s much left of him to take.

“You can ask.”

Hen raises her eyebrows. “Ask what?”

Buck waves a hand. “Whatever it is you wanna ask.”

“Buckaroo,” Hen says, and that name hurts. He ducks his head, feels an invisible hand squeeze his heart. Hen touches his thigh, squeezes. “Is it the name?”

“My mom doesn’t like nicknames,” Buck says, looking away. “She’s never liked that I call myself Buck. Chim had to call himself Howard just because he didn’t wanna put them out!”

Hen nods. She doesn’t move her hand. “I heard. Do you like the nickname?”

Buck nods. “I wouldn’t tell people that’s my name otherwise. I just feel—if I let everyone call me Evan, maybe she’d look at me for once and—“

“Love you?” Hen asks, her voice quiet.

Throat tight, Buck doesn’t know how to answer. He nods, feels his eyes burn with tears.

Hen shifts, sits on the couch next to him. “You’re my Buckaroo.”

Buck cries then, feels like it’s bursting out of him and through it all, Hen holds him.

.parental

Going into Bobby’s office never means anything good, but Buck finds some measure of comfort in it this time as he knocks on the door.

“Buck,” Bobby says with a smile. “I thought your first shift back wasn’t until—“

“It’s not,” Buck says, dropping into the chair opposite Bobby. “I wanted to talk to you. Well you and Athena but I didn’t wanna just turn up on your doorstep—“

Bobby raises an eyebrow. “That’s never bothered you before.”

“I haven’t doubted myself so much more,” Buck says before he can stop himself. At Bobby’s expression, he wipes a hand over his face. “Sorry that wasn’t meant to come out.”

“I’m glad it did.” Bobby pulls out his phone and Buck freezes, holds out a hand to stop him calling. The last thing Buck needs is to worry Eddie some more.

“You can’t call—“

“I’m calling Athena,” Bobby explains, but he smiles, amused. “Should I call someone else?”

Buck flushes, stares out of the glass to where he knows Hen and Chim are somewhere. To where Eddie is. “No.”

“Hmm.” Thankfully Bobby doesn’t say anything else. Buck waits, not even sure what Bobby’s calling Athena for, when the phone rings.

“Hey Baby,” Athena says.

“I have company,” Bobby says quickly, and Buck’s glad because no. He doesn’t wanna think about that.

“Oh?”

“Hey Athena,” Buck says, waving a hand even though she can’t see.

A pause. “Buckaroo! Where have you been?”

“Uh,” Buck starts.

“Bobby and I haven’t disappeared and I know you know where I live.”

Buck finds himself smiling, dropping his head. “I do.”

“Then I expect you on Saturday, you hear me?”

“I can’t,” Buck says. Before she can object, he continues, “I’m having dinner with Eddie and Chris.”

Athena makes a noise that Bobby shares. Buck deliberately doesn’t think about it. “Friday then. No objections.”

Buck meets Bobby’s eyes and smiles. “I don’t have any. I’ll see you Friday.”

“You better.” Athena’s tone is softer when she adds, “we love you, Buck, you know that right?”

Bobby holds his eyes and Buck feels warmth blossom up through him.

“I know.”

And he does.

.united

Buck takes a deep breath and knocks on the door. It takes a while, but then Maddie’s pulling it open. She looks upset, tired, and Buck feels awful. “I’m sorry.”

Maddie’s face crumples and Buck pushes into the apartment, taking her into his arms even as he shuts the door.

“I’m so sorry,” he says again, kissing the top of her head. “I said united front and left.”

Maddie shakes her head, pulling back. “You had every right.”

“Maybe,” Buck allows. “But I should have talked to you instead of ghosting you. I know how that feels after all.”

There’s a hint of a smile on Maddie’s face as they sit down. Neither of them knows quite what to say, but Buck reaches out, takes Maddie’s hand in his.

“You were nine,” he says slowly, squeezing her fingers. “What they asked you to do—you didn’t do anything wrong.” It’s taken a long time for him to be aware of that; a long time and people talking to him, letting him get everything out. Buck’s learning his support network is bigger than he thought.

Maddie nods, pressing a hand to her mouth.

“You’ve always had my back. You left,” he says, but shakes his head when she tries to talk. “I don’t mean—you left because you had to and I won’t hold that against you. I wish you had come to me sooner but I know why you didn’t, why you were scared.”

Looking hopeful, Maddie says, “if I could have taken you with me.”

“I know.” Buck smiles, less sadness in him than he’s had since their parents showed up. “You’ve always done what’s best for me, Maddie. I believe that. I love you.”

Again, Maddie starts to cry. “I do love you,” she says, pushing forward. The hug is awkward but Buck hangs on, kisses Maddie’s head. “I love you so much.”

.the gift

The Diaz kitchen is a mess when Buck enters. “Is this the right house?”

“No!” Chris pokes his head around the door. “You’re early!”

Over Chris’ head, Eddie looks—Buck wants to laugh. He’s got flour on one cheek, mixture on the other, and his hair is slick with—is that milk?

“Eddie,” Buck says around a laugh. Then, to Chris, he says, “what’s this for?”

Chris looks at his dad, then back to Buck. “You were sad the other day. I heard you crying but Dad was helping.” Buck’s chest seizes. Oh god. He never meant— “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop but I don’t know why your parents didn’t get you birthday cakes, Bucky! I asked Dad to help me make one.”

Buck’s speechless. He looks up at Eddie, who’s smiling softly at Chris—and at Buck? Buck nods, reaches out for Chris’ shoulder. “That makes me really happy.”

“Good,” Chris says. “Because Dad says you have to show people you love them when they can’t hear it. Or don’t want to.”

Buck feels burning behind his eyes. How many times is he gonna cry this week? “Thanks, Christopher.”

His voice breaks, but he doesn’t have time to hide because Chris hugs him tightly. “I love you, Buck.”

Buck squeezes his eyes shut, breathes in Chris and says, “I love you too.”

Later, when they’re full of dinner and cake, Buck’s got a Diaz boy either side. Eddie’s been asleep for about a half hour, tipping closer to Buck with every movie scene. Chris is still wide awake, tucked under Buck’s arm.

“Did the cake make you happy?”

Buck smiles. “It did. Your dad can bake!”

“Abuela had to talk to him because he was going crazy!”

Buck can imagine it. Eddie flitting about the kitchen in a mood because he fails at anything oven related. “Well I’m glad she did.”

Chris laughs, hugs himself closer to Buck. “Were you sad because your parents are mean?”

Buck closes his eyes. To see the world through a child’s lens. “Yeah. They just—didn’t love me as much as your mom and dad loved you.”

Chris looks up at him and Buck hates that he’s gonna find out things that can hurt. Things like absence and disinterest. That he already has. “I can share Dad.”

“Chris,” Buck says, overcome., and kisses the top of his head. “You’re such a good kid, you know that?”

“Not always,” Chris complains, and Buck laughs.

“Most of the time.”

Eddie’s raised a good kid. Kindness that Eddie’s got buried deep, and despite his own parental issues, manages to bring his kid up that way. When he turns, Eddie’s looking at him. Buck’s stomach swoops. Eddie leans in, hugs Buck awkwardly. “We’ll talk when he’s in bed.”

It should be terrifying; Buck’s never liked those words, but while Eddie’s expression is intense, there’s more love and affection staring him in the face than he knows what to do with.

.mine

Buck feels calm despite what he knows is coming. Chris begs for a story from both of them, then Buck needs to leave the room. He tells them he needs the toilet but really he’s overwhelmed. Calm, but overwhelmed. Can you be both?

“Hey,” Eddie says, hovering in the doorway. “How was dinner with Bobby and Athena?”

Buck thinks back to the meal, to Bobby and Athena being themselves while still showing Buck he’s not alone. It’s a tough thing they’ve all decided to do, convincing Buck he’s loved. It’ll take time, but he doesn’t doubt them. He trusts them. “It was a lot. But I’m glad I went.”

Eddie nods, crosses the room to sit next to him. “And you? Any urge to punch things?”

Buck laughs, tips his head back against the couch. “No. Your advice was taken with enthusiasm.”

“Good.” Eddie’s quiet. He sits back, stares at his hands. “And you? What’s going on in that head?”

“Too much,” Buck admits. He sighs. “I feel better? Everyone’s being great. I know I’m loved.”

“But?”

Buck huffs. “Sometimes I hate that you know me so well.”

“No you don’t,” Eddie says, certain of himself.

Buck shakes his head, smiling. “No, I guess I don’t.” He looks at Eddie’s who’s staring back at him, closer than he was. “My whole life they’ve lied to me. Had me for one reason and then—forgot about me when I wasn’t what they wanted.”

“I know.”

“I just wanted them to love me,” Buck says.

“I know.”

They’ve had this conversation before and Buck hates that he’s still going over it, but he can’t make the thoughts stop. “How do I stop thinking about it?”

Eddie sighs, shifts closer so their arms are touching. “I don’t think you can. Maybe you try,” he amends. “But it’s always there, ready to take hold when you don’t want it to.”

“So what do I do?” Buck doesn’t know why he’s so desperate for Eddie to tell him.

“You deal with it,” Eddie says. “But you also give yourself other things; surround yourself with people who care, who love you. Find things you enjoy. Just—realise you’re more than your parents’ child.”

Buck nods, even though it’s hard to imagine he can ever do that. Eddie touches his face, bringing Buck’s head up.

“You’re so much more. The kindness you think I gave Chris? You have to know so much of it is from you as well. You have so much goodness in you, Buck, and I know it didn’t come from them. Which means it’s all you. Down to here.” Eddie presses a hand to his heart.

“It doesn’t feel like it,” Buck says, voice tight. “Sometimes I don’t know what I’m doing. Or who I am.”

“You’re Buck. A friend. A brother. An uncle,” Buck smiles. “A father.”

Buck freezes. “What?”

Eddie looks serious. “You’re everything I could hope for in anyone I choose to love, Buck. For Chris, I mean.” There’s a touch of red to Eddie’s face and ears. “If they could give him everything you give him, I’d be lucky.”

Buck swallows, suddenly nervous, and presses into Eddie’s hand against his cheek. “I’m messed up.”

“Yeah,” Eddie breathes. “But you’ve always been this,” he says, tapping Buck’s chest. “And I love you anyway.”

Oh. Buck hardly dares breathe. “I love you too.”

“The forever kind,” Eddie admits quietly. “I don’t think I’ll ever stop.”

“Okay,” Buck says. “Because I’d really like not to be alone.”

“Never,” Eddie promises.

Buck wonders later why they didn’t kiss, but in the moment, as Eddie holds him, nose nestled in his curls, everything feels as it should.

Right, for the first time—ever.

#buddie #buddie fic #evan buckley #Eddie diaz #otp: i forgive you #fic by me

[lesbianbuck-archived]

EVAN BUCKLEY WEEK DAY THREE - “I NEED YOU TO TRUST ME” + HURT

He had posted the pictures on Facebook. He had been expecting the phone call. He just hadn’t thought it would come in the middle of dinner with Bobby and Athena while Eddie and Christopher are there with him.

Buck excuses himself from the table and walks out into the backyard, sliding the door shut behind him. He holds his phone up to his ear. “Hi, mom.”

“Evan, what is this?”

Buck sighs. Proposing to Eddie had been the easiest decision he’s ever made, even though he had been terrified to actually do it. He had known the shit storm from his parents was going to come as soon as he put the pictures up online, but he’s decided that he’s done living his life in fear of what other people might think. It just hurts a little more when the judgement is coming from the people who raised him.

Well, that might be an overstatement. They were at least in the same house.

“I thought the pictures made it pretty clear,” Buck replies, faintly hearing the door slide open and shut behind him and feeling a hand on the small of his back soon after. Eddie. “I’m engaged.”

“To a man, Evan. I mean, is this some kind of cruel joke?”

Eddie inhales sharp and angry next to him, no doubt able to hear his mother through the phone. They share a look before Buck answers. “No, mom. Why would I post something like that as a joke?”

“Why would you post it at all? You don’t need that kind of attention, all those people looking into our lives—”

“I’m pretty sure it’s my life, not yours.” And just like he had in Maddie and Chim’s kitchen, Buck feels like a twelve-year-old again, fighting to deserve a place in the family. A place that had existed once, but not for him. He feels a little braver this time though. He attributes it to the gentle way that Eddie’s hand is keeping him steady. “I’m thirty-one. I’m more than capable of making my own decisions.”

“That’s clearly not true if these are the ones you’re making. Evan, we didn’t even know you were seeing anyone, and now you’re deciding to get married out of nowhere? You have no idea how big of a commitment—”

“I’ve been in love with him for almost five years, mom,” Buck retaliates, and he can’t help the soft way that he says it. He looks over at Eddie and he’s looking at Buck in slight disbelief. Buck assumes that Eddie had guessed that, but Buck has never confirmed it out loud. “It’s not out of nowhere.”

There’s silence on the line for a moment. “We didn’t know.”

The lights click off in the dining room as he shuffles from foot to foot. “That was on purpose. Because I knew you would react exactly like this.”

“And what’s wrong with that?” His mom sounds like she always does, like she can’t believe she could ever be in the wrong about anything. It makes Buck want to crawl into himself and hide as much as it did when he was a kid. “We’re worried about you. You don’t call, you don’t text, and you don’t ever come home for the holidays. What kind of parents do you think that makes us look like?”

Buck holds himself back from being brutally honest in his answer, instead reaching out and holding onto Eddie’s bicep for dear life. “You’re not worried about me. If you were, you would have come to the hospital when I almost died. Twice.”

Eddie whispers next to him. “Buck, you don’t have to have this conversation if you don’t want to. You can hang up.”

Buck shakes his head. He’s not going to win this conversation, but he’s at least going to say his piece. “Listen, mom. I forgave you and dad for the way you treated me growing up. I’m trying to move past the way you hurt me and do better, and it’s working. And sure, part of it is therapy, but another big part of it is Eddie. I need you to trust me and my ability to make decisions for myself, so if you want a place in my life, then you have to be okay with Eddie having a place in it too.”

“Evan—”

“It’s Buck.”

His mother sighs through the phone. “Buck. This… this man, you’re sure you’re ready to commit the rest of your life to him?”

“His name is Eddie,” Buck seethes, gripping Eddie’s arm harder. “And yes, I know, and I’m sure. I’ve never been surer about anything.”

“A marriage takes work, you know.”

“It’s not work to me. Not if it’s him.” His mother doesn’t respond to that, but he hears Eddie’s breath stutter. Buck slides his hand down and Eddie moves his off Buck’s back so they can push their fingers together. “I gotta go. I’m in the middle of dinner with Bobby and Athena, and I’d like to get back to it if you don’t mind.”

A beat of silence. “I just hope you aren’t making a mistake.”

Buck hangs up.

He stares down at his phone in his hand, the screen dark. “Love you too,” he mutters sarcastically.

Eddie turns to him and places his palm on Buck’s cheek, rubbing his thumb soothingly against his cheekbone. “Well, it could have been worse. You spoke very highly though, which I appreciate.”

Buck huffs a breath out. “Well you won’t do it yourself, so I have to do it for you.”

Buck isn’t really expecting it when Eddie leans in and kisses him softly, lingering until Buck feels the itch under his skin he didn’t even realize was there dissipating. When Eddie pulls back, his eyes are shining. “Kinda wish you would have mentioned my stellar ass, though.”

“You’re right, maybe that would have changed her mind.”

The sliding glass door opens and Athena calls out to them. “You boys still hungry? Dinner is cold now, but dessert just finished up if you want to come inside.”

Eddie laughs as Buck tugs him back into the house for dessert, and yeah, Buck never doubted for a second that this man is it for him. Bobby calls Eddie and Christopher into the kitchen to help serve dessert and Athena pulls him aside. “You okay, Buckaroo? I know your family can be frustrating.”

He looks at Athena with her casual concern, at Bobby who is staring at the both of them from over the kitchen island with worry and love on his face, at Eddie who somehow got chocolate frosting on his nose and is making goofy faces at his son. At their son, soon.

“Yeah, I’m okay,” he says, and for once he means it. “I’ve got my real family right here.”

#ew2021 #evanweek2021 #buddie #buddie fic #911 fic #911 fox #evan buckley #eddie diaz #siren scribes

[night-fallz]

XY’s Muse

Based on this prompt

Like I have stated before, this is my first fanfic. Please let me know what you think of it. Any kind of criticism will be welcome.

uploaded on 01/23/21

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

Ao3 // Wattpad

previous II next

Chapter 2

XY was staring at the ceiling. A week has already passed. And he still couldn't stop thinking about the day he spent with Marinette. It was the most fun he'd had in a while.

Before the whole Silencer fiasco, his father would not stop pressuring him to produce a new song. So when they met up for dinner and his dad came up with the idea of stealing someone else's music, he couldn’t bring himself to decline.

XY knew it was wrong.

But all he wanted was the chance to finally impress his dad. Bob Roth might not have the best attitude towards him, but he was all XY had left.

Xy already lost his mom. He would not lose his dad too.

At least, that's what he believed. He should've known that his father was just using him for money. According to his dad, money was the most valuable thing in life.

XY scoffed. He should've known better. He should've known that all his father thought of hi-

He felt a buzz in his pocket and his face immediately brightened. Marinette just texted him!

Marinette: what's up?

Marinette: have u been inspired yet?

Marinette gave XY the idea to just sit back and let inspiration hit him. It was a common idea but it was one that most people tend to forget in the long run.

XY: nothing much

XY: and nope.

XY: my dad has been pressuring me to come up with something tho

Marinette: ignore him

Marinette: he's just mad cause he can't get any ladies

The three dots popped up on his screen.

Marinette: OH CRAP I'M LATE

Marinette: TTYL.

XY rolled his eyes and smiled.

They've been texting back and forth these past few days. He's learned so many things about her and vice versa.

It was nice. It's been a while since XY has had a friend.

Maybe she'll be even more, XY couldn’t help but think as he ran a hand through his hair.

"Huh," XY said out loud. "Even more"

And just like that, inspiration for his next song hit him.

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

Marinette was thinking of a certain blonde-haired, blue-eyed musician when she heard her phone ring.

"Tikki!" she screamed, staring at her phone as if it was Hawkmoth himself.. "He's calling me. XY is calling me."

Tikki sighed and floated next to Marinette, "Maybe you should answer it. It would be pretty rude to keep him waiting."

"Right, right," Marinette answered his call and hoped her voice didn’t sound as squeaky as she thought it did.. "Hey."

"Hey."

There was a moment of awkward silence.

Marinette didn’t know what to do. She glanced at the small goddess.

Tikki rolled her eyes at their awkwardness as she gestured to the phone. Ask him why he called you, she mouthed to Marinette.

Marinette nodded. That was a smart idea. "So," Marinette cleared her throat. "Why did you call me?"

"Right, Uhm." Marinette heard him shuffling around his room. "You know how you've been asking me if I was inspired and stuff?"

Marinette's eyes grew wide and a huge smile took over her face as she started to nod before remembering that he couldn't see her. "Yep." she eagerly said, "Did you find any?"

"Yes!" Marinette could hear the excitement in his voice. "I was actually wondering if you wanted to design the outfits for my music video."

Marinette's eyes looked shocked. "Yes!" she jumped around in excitement before remembering she was still in a call with XY. "Why me though?"

XY’s voice sounded confused.. "What do you mean, why you? You're literally perfect for it. You're talented. Plus, everyone loves your designs."

Marinette’s cheeks resembled a tomato. She has never been more thankful for the fact that he couldn't see her right now.

"Thank you." Marinette managed to mumble. "That really means a lot."

"You're welcome." XY said. Marinette had a feeling he was smiling though. "I have to go and have my dad listen to the demo. But I'll text you later, okay?"

"Yep," Marinette whispered and gave Tikki a cookie. "Good luck. I know that whatever song you came up with is gonna sound good. No matter what he'll say."

Marinette heard a faint "Thanks" from the phone before the call ended.

Marinette screamed into her pillow and looked up and saw Tikki look at her with amusement. “I think I like him.”

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

"So, what do you think?" XY asked as his father finished listening to his song. "Is it bad? Do you think people will like it?"

Bob Roth grinned at his son. "This is a Masterpiece. Where did you find this?" He gestured to the video of XY singing the song, "Who did you steal this from?"

XY's proud smile immediately turned into a scowl. "What do you mean, who did I steal this from?" He yelled at his dad, his blue eyes glaring at him as he grabbed the demo from the table. "I made it. I came up with it myself." XY felt his eyes tearing up. "Something you would actually know if you thought of me as something more than a money-making machine."

How could he? XY thought as he climbed up the stairs. Is it that hard to believe that I could come up with something good?

XY slammed his door shut. "All I wanted was to prove to him that I wasn't a talentless son." XY put his hands on his face. "I just wanted to make him proud."

XY felt a buzz in his pocket and immediately knew that it was Marinette. After all, she’s the only one that ever texts him.

Marinette: how did it go?

Marinette: did he like it?

XY wiped away the tears that were starting to come out of his eyes. He couldn't help but smile. Marinette certainly had an effect on him.

XY: he called it a masterpiece

Marinette: yes! I knew he would like it.

XY: yeah

XY: but then he asked me who i stole it from

Marinette: THAT JERK

Marinette: WTF

Marinette: THAT's SO MESSED UP

Marinette: HOW COULD HE-

Marinette: DO YOU WANT ME TO BEAT HIM UP FOR YOU????

XY laughed at her text messages. He only started to text her and he already felt better.

XY: no, it's fine

XY: i actually yelled at him

Marinette: ...

Marinette: do you feel better?

XY: actually, yep.

XY: he's a really sucky father

Marinette: for some reason, a lot of the blondes i know have a toxic parent

Marinette: it's kinda sad

XY: maybe it's a paris thing

They texted back and forth, XY laughing at the memes Marinette sent.

XY: You're definitely a daughter of Athena

Marinette: ( ⚆ _ ⚆ )

Marinette: is that a percy jackson reference i see

XY: yep

XY: have u read the books?

Marinette: duh

Marinette: you haven't lived til you've read the books

Marinette: sadly, the movies sucked tho

XY: I KNOW

XY: ANNABETH WASN'T EVEN BLONDE

Marinette: EXACTLY!!

Marinette: SJSJSJSJSJSJ

 Marinette: THE MOVIES SCARED ME FOR LIFE

XY: oh yeah

XY: before i forget

XY: what's ur insta?

Marinette: which one

XY scrunched his eyebrows up in confusion.

XY: What do you mean by which one?

Marinette: i have two

Marinette: one as my personal one and the other one for commissions and stuff

XY: ohhh

XY: smart

Marinette: i know ;)

Marinette: my personal one is @Mdupaincheng and the one for my commissions one if @MDCdesigns

XY switched his apps and searched up Marinette's personal instagram. He clicked on the first result that came up.

The profile picture was Marinette in a blue, silky dress that went just above her ankle. There was a slit on her left leg that showed her knee. It was nighttime and Marinette was practically glowing under the city lights. She was staring at something on her right side, with one hand running through her silky black hair which was down for once.

She looked hot.

After XY stopped admiring her profile picture, he finally noticed her follower count.

She had 200,000 followers. 200,000.

It wasn't as high as XY's follower count, that was still quite a lot.

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

XY: i didn't know u were insta famous

Marinette: wdym?  

Marinette: which acc

XY: ur personal one

XY: u have over 200k followers

Marinette thought that she read his text wrong. There's no way that Marinette had that many followers. 200,000? There was no way.

Marinette: ur lying

XY: I'm not.

XY: check ur acc

It's been a while since Marinette has logged onto her personal account. The hate she got the last time she's been signed in was too much for her and when Alya told her to log out and just focus on her other account, @MDCdesigns, she couldn't bring herself to argue against her.

Marinette hasn't even thought of that account since that day. So when she logged in and saw that XY wasn't lying, she accidentally dropped her phone in shock.

Tikki looked at Marinette with a questioning look.  

Marinette ignored her kwami and texted the blue-eyes boy back.

Marinette: HOLY SHIT

Marinette: I HAVE 200k FOLLOWERS

Marinette: HOW TF DID THAT HAPPEN

XY: when was the last time you checked ur acc

Marinette: about 3 months ago

Marinette: the media thought i was adrien's gf and his fangirls came at me

Marinette: i got a ton of hate and a friend of mine told me to log out and just focus on my @MDCdesigns acc

Marinette: so i did

Marinette: i haven't thought abt that acc since then

XY: the fangirls were probably just jealous

XY: it's been months so they probably calmed down

XY: I'm looking through the comments rn and so far the latest hate comment you've got was about 2 weeks ago

XY: you've got a bit of a fanbase yk

Marinette: WHAT DO I DO

Marinette: DO I JUST CONTINUE NOT TO POST OR SHOULD I POST SOMETHING ON MY STORY ABT HOW THANKFUL I AM FOR 200k

Marinette: HOW COME NONE OF MY FRIENDS TOLD ME ABT THIS

XY: don't post anything rn

XY: post a picture of yourself and the caption it something that shows ur thankful for the number of followers u received

XY: OH

XY: a few hours before u post the picture, make sure u post on ur story abt how ur back from ur break on social media

XY: that way ppl will understand why u haven't been active

XY: it'll also have ppl prepared for ur post and they'll be waiting for u to post it

XY: that'll give u more engagement and stuff

Marinette: thank u

Marinette: that was really helpful

Marinette: when should i post something?

Marinette: AND I STILL DONT KNOW WHY MY FRIENDS DIDNT SAY ANYTHING ABT THIS

XY: u told ur friend that u were taking a break from social media right?

Marinette: yes

XY: then they probably weren't expecting u to post anything so they weren't checking ur insta

XY: u should post something on the weekend

XY: that way ppl wouldn't bother u during school this week

XY: if u want i can help u come up with ideas tomorrow?

Marinette: yes, please!

Marinette: do u wanna come over

Marinette: we can plan it in my room so that ppl won't overhear us

XY: guess I'll see u tomorrow then

XY: just text me the time ur available and I'll be there

Marinette: make sure to wear a disguise tho!

Marinette: we got lucky last time and no tabloids caught us

XY: ur right

XY: we must've been really lucky if no one got a pic of us

XY: but okay

XY: I'll wear my best disguise

XY: goodnight, princess

Marinette blinked a few times, making sure she read the text correctly.

Princess.

Marinette: goodnight ♥

previous II next

This is the first chapter of the story. Please let me know what you think

1,967 words

Tag list:

@iglowinggemma28 @mica-aa @lady-bee-fechin @maskedpainter @snnoww26 @ravenr22 @spiritofchaoticdreams @ravennm84 @heaven428 @finn-cipher @peterxwade24 @aliceofice22 @queenamongthorns @captainmac6

#ml salt fic #miraculous ladybug #miraculous #lila salt #miraculous ladybug fanfic #miraculous ladybug fic #ml fanfic #Lila exposed #lila gets exposed #post silencer #adrien salt #Marinette becomes famous #marinette is mdc #marinette is an influencer #Marinette and XY become friends #maybe even more #luka coffaine #uncle jagged #jagged stone #adrien bashing #nino and alya are loyal #alya sugar #nino sugar #lila rossi #xy deserves better #bob roth bashing #marinette is Insta famous #jealous lila rossi #nino and alya know lila is lying #Adrien knows that lila is lying but doesn't care

[c-is-for-circinate]

More Hades thoughts:

Chaos just told me, "This space grows more interesting when you occupy a small amount of it." Chaos is, without doubt or exception, my favorite family member. They are so completely different and removed from everything and they still love us. In their own primordeal strange way that does not experience love in any mortal sense and yet still experiences emotions of good and yes and approval when Zagreus is near, when they can see what we're doing, when we come by to talk. I put their aspect on my shield. They are my stepmom's parent and that makes them my grandparent, sorry, no take-backs, you used to play hide-and-go-seek with Nyx when the universe was little, and you told me about it, and now I love you forever, kthxbye.

I continue to love the family relationships in this game entirely. We have seen more and more cracks between the Olympians, where they don't entirely like or trust each other even as they put on big smiles and talk about being a Big Happy Family Up Here, Come On Zag, What's Taking You So Long, Why Would Hades Ever Want To Leave This? (The dialogue for Zeus and Aphrodite's duo boon makes me cringe, it's perfect and also perfectly awful). The game does such a good job of being subtle about highlighting some of the issues within this family. Athena is the Reasonable One, who talks about how Nyx seems sensible in the same breath that she mentions how the Olympians don't have much to do with cthonic gods, of course, and also that underworld is simply wretched, let's get you up here where you belong--and okay, the underworld is wretched for Zagreus, but also, hey, I just put down new rugs and installed an oven in the lounge kitchen, it's not that bad, and not only has Nyx been endlessly kind to me, you are currently under the impression that she's my mother, so maybe don't give me that "you won't be judged for your parentage up here on Olympus" like she's something to be ashamed of, ok?

Speaking of relationships, I've finally met Thanatos, and, welp. First of all, he is great (his accessory gives me more attack if I don't take damage in a room! He doesn't want Zagreus to get hurt!!!). He is terse and full of Emotions that he pretends not to be experiencing. He is also, based on the way he said "you didn't even say goodbye" the first time I ran into him, very clearly Zagreus's actual, current boyfriend (unlike Meg who is very clearly his ex), who we didn't actually technically break up with before we started trying to escape Hades and get up to the surface, so that's Extremely Awkward. (Achilles called him our "closest friend". Why not just call him our "dear companion", Achilles, come on, and also yes I am still keeping an eye out for your boy, he's got to be in Elysium somewhere do I need to nectar you up to get you to spill details come on.) Like, you could make a case for platonic affection with a vast unplumbed reservoir of UST, I guess, but that is not the most obvious interpretation. (Also awkward: given the timing of everything, Zagreus probably last saw Than before the Persephone-discovery, which means that if they were in fact dating, then, welp. Congrats, Zag, you are definitely a Greek god. Thanatos and Hypnos's dad is canonically Nyx's brother in the first place, it's probably fine. Do love that dialogue line they decided they had to put in about 'I should've known you couldn't be my mother, Thanatos and Hypnos couldn't possibly be my brothers', though. Got to be very delicate about admitting to such things when you're making a game about Greek mythology.) Anyway love the dynamics of Meg who loves but also feels owned by her job enough that she has to try and stop us, vs Thanatos who pretends he's not helping us while absolutely helping us, vs Nyx who knows so much more than she's telling anybody but has an agenda here that we can only be glad is probably for our benefit. (Fun fact, in the Aeneid, the three Furies were the children of Nox and Pluto, aka Roman Nyx and Hades, so like, there's that, too.)

You know, running the same gauntlet of enemies again and again should get boring, and at points it does, a little, but there's something almost meditative about the pattern of it. And I think the really rewarding thing might be that as Zagreus gets stronger, I do too. I might do a little more backstab damage and have a lot more hit points than I did when I started, but none of that matters if I can't position myself to do the backstabbing. I think I may have figured out how to take out the giant purple crystal miniboss without absolute misery and spending fifty hit points on it, and that's not just Zag's build getting better, that's me as a player. Hell yeah.

It's increasingly clear how this game intends to keep going even after I reach the surface, which I am almost going to manage to do. (Yes, it's going to take me ninety runs. Whatever.) Because, look, it says right in the codex: "The darkness, having taken root within, connects the bearer to the Underworld and makes them inseparable." Unless I strip every point of Darkness out and make a full run with zero buffs--which, spoiler alert, is NEVER going to happen--Zagreus is gong to be four thousand points into the darkness by the time I get up to the surface no matter how many times I try. It's not the pomegranates, it's the dark of he underworld itself, and whether we are going to be the Persephone of this myth or simply take her place so she doesn't have to descend again and again each year, we will never get to stay on the surface for long. We can visit, maybe, if we're willing to battle our way back out past every enemy and exit each time we go. But we're not going to live on Olympus, and we're not going to move in with our mom in her little cottage by the sea. Not right away. Maybe not ever. Even though the Fates have prophesied that we'll escape--the reward for fulfilling that one is so much more Darkness. We will leave, soon. But that sure doesn't mean we're going to get to stay.

#hades game #hades spoilers #c plays stuff

[stardoopy]

juniper for the character ask game? :o

one aspect about them i love

She’s just so kind, and she puts up with so much stuff during the game I feel so bad for her. But she’s always forgiving and tries to see the best in people without being too naive or unable to stand up for herself.

one aspect i wish more people understood about them

( well i do wish people would stop erasing robin,hugh and myriam just to focus on ships and act like she has no one else who cares about her!! lol! )

I think her chronic illness ( which is probably asthma) gets completely ignored a lot I never see it mentioned, outside of one fic where her friends had inhalers on hand for her. It’s like, because its not a constant “”disabling”” condition its forgotten about, even though its stated in canon that she literally couldn’t go to school regularly as a child because of it. Also nit picky but I HATE that Athena says (in her head) that “she's still got that cough... Guess she's not as strong as she pretends to be” as if Juniper being sick means that she’s weak.

one (or more) headcanon(s) i have about this character

Despite her love of plants and fruit, she actually doesnt like vegetables that much

She’s one of those people who can make everyone shut up the second she gets mad because “holy shit the nice girl is pissed”

one character i love seeing them interact with

I mean the obvious answer for me is Hugh, mind you not just because I love Hugh, but because their bond in canon seems to be really strong and they care for each other a LOT. Also the sort of relationship between the “arrogant guy hiding a soft heart” and the “kind and gentle girl who tries to see the best in people” is so interesting, especially because Hugh comes off poorly and you’re left wondering “how did these two even become friends? I dont see much fan content that focuses solely on their relationship and if i were a better person I’d be making it myself.

one character i wish they would interact with/interact with more

Ok i have 2 here lmao:

Robin. Robin gets the short end of the stick through the entire case, and unlike Hugh and Juniper, her relationships with them are not really expanded upon much — ESPECIALLY with Juniper. They BARELY interact in the case, and even then there’s not much on Juniper’s end about their relationship, but obviously Robin cares about her a lot. I guess i wish they put more thought into that, especially to me since it feels like Juniper was originally just the mutual friend of Robin and Hugh and eventually those two became friends as well

Justine Courtney. ( tumblr accidentally deleted everything i wrote here so i dont exactly remember my original thoughts). I think her and Constance Courte were probably very similar, despite us never meeting Courte. I think that Justine wouldnt only be a good mentor for being a judge, but I think she would also be a motherly mentor figure to Juniper, similar to how I think Courte was for her, but not nearly as close or anything. I think they’d get along well.

one (or more) headcanon(s) i have that involve them and one other character

I have a few ideas about how her and Hugh met, but one of them is that she was struggling to study on her own during freshman when Hugh came over and offered to help (idk if this is before he thought he was a genius or not since that was based on his bribed grades). Anyways he helps her out but in fact she’s mostly figuring it out herself and actually helping HIM through the problems while he tried to help. I think that mutual kindness made them feel like they had someone they could talk to since neither of them really knew anyone else there yet.

I’m pretty sure no one in the WAA has their drivers license so I think it’d be funny if Juniper got hers before Athena ever did because now Athena feels she cant be chivalrous and drive Juniper places

Her and Klavier definitely keep in touch after the school festival. Everyone is surprised when they find out she has casual conversations with this celebrity musician.

#tumblr kept deleting the stuff I was writing for some reason?? anyways this took me a little while lol #delited #ace attorney #juniper woods

[voidaus]

Final Goodbyes

Summary: Your a Youtuber and in a stream you see this pen-pal app and download it, creating an account. This all happened months ago. The guy you met on there was amazing, and you talked for months until he just... stopped.

Genre: Angst?

warnings: swearing, fighting

Requested? No

Word count: 1402

I believe everyone deserves a second chance. No matter how difficult things are. No matter how ugly things got. But maybe sometimes, the problem is that I believe too much. Seeing good in every person, while of course, some people are just... not good.

But that's not how this story goes. No, he is good. I am a hundred percent sure of that. The question is, 'is he willing to change and show that side of him?'. I guess we won't find out if I don't reach out to him huh?

The grey laptop is on my couch, still warm from the last time I used it just an hour ago. Grabbing myself some hot chocolate I lay down on the soft pillows and pull my blanket up to my chest. Whilst finally deciding I'm comfortable in this position I grab the laptop again and open it, typing in my password. The device starts up, letting me in.

"miaow" a soft purring comes from the ground. My cat, Athena, jumps on the couch as soon as I pat it. "Hey there gorgeous" I greet her. The laptop dings, making it clear that it's ready to be used. I give it my full attention again. Should I really open Zaira?

Zaira is an online penpal app where you can anonymously make friends. I signed up about 2 years ago and never really managed to find someone I really hit it off with. You know, I just couldn't find the words to talk to any of the people who messaged me. My anxiety not really helping with making friends, of course, I thought meeting them online would be easier. I was wrong. 

No one understood me, which isn't really surprising. I'm a bookworm, but also a gamer. I have lots of hobbies but not quite the energy to pursue them. The only thing that still has me uploading videos and streaming is the money and my supporters. My supporters standing first on the list, of course. I upload mostly gaming videos under the name Void. I go faceless. I never really liked my appearance for that matter.

I hesitate but still open it. The familiar logo greets me and only a moment after that my only friend on the site shows up, bringing back memories.

Zaira? What's this? "An online penpal app where you can add strangers and make friends. Now free in the AppStore!" I read the description out loud for my viewers. "Should I download it guys?" I ask the live chat, hoping they would say yes. Soon enough I get the confirmation from them and I click the button, hoping it won't take too long to download. I create a profile typing in my bio: 'Bookworm, Gamer, Weeb :)' The chat confirms that that pretty much describes me making me laugh. "Perhaps we can actually meet some cool people on here guys! Who knows?""Alright." I scroll through the site, reading people's bios until one of them spots the fans' eyes. The comments are going crazy fast right now. "click them!""omg Void, you have to message Sasori!" and more comments like that. I click on the profile, reading it's bio. Their given name is Sasori Matsudo. I laugh, explaining to some of the viewers that don't watch anime that these are names from Naruto and Death Note. "I suggest you watch them. those are some good animes!".

I smile at the memories and click on his profile. "Sasori Matsudo" the name rolls off my tongue. I chuckle "not a weeb huh?" Slowly looking through the messages, the familiar empty feeling enters my body again. To be honest, it never left. Ever since the fight, it was always there, following my every step. I close my eyes, letting the painful memories flood in again.

"I just don't understand why you can't talk about it with me!" your voice is slightly raised as you hold the phone in your shaking hand. "Because I just can't, okay! I can't keep throwing all of my shit onto you. you know I could never do that!" The man you know as Corpse yells back. You're both stressed out and upset, and this is the worst fight you ever had. You had decided to message 'Sasori Matsudo' on Zaira, and you two grew close very quickly. After 4 months of chatting on the site, he gave you his number. Not long after, he told you That he's the famous Youtuber known as Corpse Husband. You began to watch his videos and enjoyed them a lot, telling him so. In the fifth month of you two knowing each other, You started to call each other once in a while. That turned into calling every day, and soon you were calling more than 4 hours a day.

Your voice softens at his upset tone, realizing you're not the only one hurt here. You give a deep sigh before talking into your phone again. "I'm always here for you Corpse. I don't care how many times you call me, even if it's in the middle of the night. You make me feel better, you make me happy, and I want to be there for you. Please don't shut me out like this." you're practically begging at this point. He can't shut you out! Not like this.

"Void... You know I love you. Please, keep doing what you're doing, keep making videos and baking, and all the little things I love about you. But I just can't continue doing this to you. I'm sorry." He speaks up. The low voice you adore so much is soft and trembling. He sounds like he could break down crying any time now. "No, please, Corpse! Please don't leav-"

your phone lets out a long beep cutting you off. Breaking down crying, you hurl your hand against your mouth, attempting to silence your sobs. On the other side of the line, the man with the curly black mop on his head is doing the same. Tears flow down both of your eyes as void fills your hearts.

It hurts, but he knows he had to do this. He was always troubling you with his feelings, and he couldn't even show you his face! What kind of friend is that? Loud sobs take over his apartment, as his heart hurts, knowing he can't talk to you again.

And he didn't.

You lay on the couch, clenching your blanket awfully hard. You don't notice the tears streaming down your face till Athena climbs onto your lap and licks them off. You cuddle her in an attempt to comfort yourself, as the dark feeling in your chest grows stronger. 

You open a new tab and type in his number. All the old messages show up. He probably blocked you, but you have to try. He wanted you to be happy, but then why did he leave you?!

After that night, he never messaged you again. Did he really not want to talk to you anymore? You ask yourself.

But all Corpse has been doing is lay in bed and upload videos once in a while. His followers noticed something is off, and so has his friends. He's acting off whenever he streams and rarely jokes around anymore. 

You text him a simple 'how are you' and close your laptop after. The next day you check if he's replied. Nothing. You keep checking for two weeks, but nothing comes in. It's over. He's not coming back. You begin sobbing and lift yourself from the couch, scaring a sleeping Athena. You jog to the kitchen and shove everything off the counter, breaking some cups and plates in the process. Sliding down against the sink, you put your face in your hands, letting out an ear-piercing scream. The weight of the world is crashing down on you, and all you can do is cry and scream. The daydream is finally over.

Corpse saw your message.  He's tried messaging you so many times, but each time he holds himself back. All he wants is to talk to you, but he knows he shouldn't. Well, that's what he believes is best. Every day he thinks about you, thinking that you have already forgotten him, though it's the opposite. You think about him every day, remembering all of the memories. 

All the laughs and all the cries. All the comforts, to final goodbyes.

Hey Guys! I hope you're okay after this lil angsty piece of crap lmao. I tried my best. Anyways, if you have any comments or feedback, I always appreciate it! Oh, and 200 notes on 'Grocery Shopping'?!!??? Y'all are crazy, thank you so much!

If you liked this, my taglist is always open and so are my requests!

@persephone-sideblog @reinyrei @cherry-piee @alienvarmint @divine-artemis @milanienne

#corpse husband #corpse x reader #corpse x y/n #corpse fic #corpse imagines #corpse #x reader #Y/N #imagine #corpse husband imagine #angst #corpse angst #softboiicorpse

[wisteria-lodge]

snake primary + snake secondary (bird model)

Hello! I recently discovered your blog and really love the thought you’ve put into the nuances of the SHC system. I’m super into these kinds of personality analysis systems (I’ve probably been through them all at this point) because I think it’s interesting to know how people tick - I also think self-awareness is important so that you know why you do what you do, essentially. I took the SHC quiz and it told me I was a Snake Primary with a Bird Model, and a Bird Secondary with a Snake Model. I agree that I’m probably a (somewhat petrified) Snake Primary with a strong Bird Model, but I’m not sure which is my true secondary and which is the model. Maybe you can help?

I can sure try :)

Some things about me: I’m an oldest daughter, and I’m almost 100% sure my dad is a Bird Snake and I *idolized* him as a child - I thought he had it all figured out. He was the Zeus to my Athena in my child’s eyes, and I think I got my Bird primary model very early from copying him.

I mean, I know what you mean in a “sole creator” sense, but there is no *way* Athena thought Zeus had it all figured out.

My two younger brothers are a Lion Snake and a Lion Badger, and my mother is possibly a Double Badger, though I’m not as sure about her - maybe she just thinks that she *should* be a Double Badger. I think all that is important to help illustrate that I didn’t really feel *at home* when I was with my family, though I loved them, since I was the only Snake. My parents also had a terrible relationship and are now divorced, so there’s that as well. I think the only time I have ever been truly morally outraged was the revelation that my dad had engaged in infidelity against my mom, and then again when he started dragging his feet over a promise the he had made my youngest brother. We didn’t speak for a long time after that incident, but I was really cut up over dropping him.

Oh yeah. That’s very Snake primary. Morally outraged because your People are getting hurt.

We eventually started to reconcile, and the only reason we did was because he called and said he was driving through my city one day, and even after all of that, I said yes to meeting up because I felt sad that I had dropped him. I think this family dynamic, plus some other childhood stuff, led to me sort of “checking out” and petrifying pretty early.

Just a theory - I think it’s possible that this hit your secondary more than it hit your primary. You seem pretty strong and confident in your Snake primary so far. Even the fact that you can identify it coming from such a non-Snake environment, and don’t feel guilty about it, is big.

I had a lot of trouble making friends in school.

I’m thinking this might be more of a secondary thing.

and generally ended up with like one friend who was the other weird girl, and who I always sort of kept at arm’s length emotionally. I moved schools several times as a kid and after the first best friend (who was the daughter of my mom’s best friend and was like a sister to me until she moved away), I really didn’t try too hard to make new “best” friends.

Hmm. See, this reads like a *default* friend to me, not a friend of choice. The other weird girl. The daughter of your mom’s friend. That’s an easy friend to have… and not one that you necessarily sought out. I’m not surprised that your primary didn’t latch onto her with that Snake intensity.

Even now, though I definitely have concentric circles of loyalty and a significant other who is my “top person”, I’m not sure I have that blind Snake I-would-literally-die-for-you loyalty toward anyone - I’d kill or hide a body for my top circles

That *is* Snake loyalty. Snakes aren’t going to die for someone else, are you kidding? That’s a sucker’s game. They value themselves too much.

I would give up a lot of my own comfort for my significant other. Maybe I’m just afraid to let myself feel that unquestioning loyalty, though I want to feel it, or maybe I’m really a Bird and just want to be a Snake because that would mean I could be un-broken eventually.

Let’s talk about your secondary, I want to hear about how you think you’re broken, because so far you seem fine. Congrats on the SO!

I don’t think I’m an Idealist though - I’m surrounded by them and I know I don’t care about “principles” the way they do. Then again, maybe I’m a Bird whose truth is that moral relativism is the truth lol. Anyway, I think for my primary, I’m probably a petrified Snake with a Bird model unless I’m totally wrong about myself.

I think you’re just a Snake who… is a Snake.

(you’ve got that Birdy influence though, from your dad, and they do like to complicate things.)

As for my secondary, I loved to read (everything - all kinds of fiction, especially sci-fi/fantasy/mystery and, like, Victorian sci-fi/horror adventures, nature books, medical texts, etc. Wikipedia was a revelation when it came out), and I was smart and good at taking tests and knowing the answers in school, so at a certain point I think I just defaulted to being “the smart one” and used that as armor to help keep people from getting too close.

yep yep yep, welcome to the ‘fun Bird model’ club, we have snacks

I do genuinely love to learn, and I’ve always been known among friends and family as the one who either knows the answer or will look it up. I love pop culture trivia and nature facts. I also love and am good at debate, but not really when real feelings are involved - I more love the “battle of wits” aspect, where I can match up against a person to see if my knowledge and ability to adapt my argument on the fly can stump them. 

I also would argue the unpopular point, or the point I didn’t agree with, just for sport. Fun Bird secondary model.

I developed terrible anxiety and probably some depression as well in high school.

Okay, now I’m seeing the problem.

and now that I’m older, I suspect that I may have ADHD, though I haven’t been officially assessed. I didn’t discover my executive function issues really until college, when suddenly being smart and being able to figure out the test answers through context clues and what I remembered from lectures and readings + whatever trivia I had gathered about the topic wasn’t enough anymore.

I suspect you’re right about being ADHD. Or at least being neruodivergent.

I am horrible at studying! I would plan out my study sessions and make these nice little cheat sheets (these were allowed on exams) and they didn’t work at all! I did very well in my literature minor though, because all the graded assignments were papers rather than open-answer tests, and I could get my thoughts out better and with more resources at my disposal if I forgot something and needed to go back to the book to check.

Oh ouch. Yeah, I’m not even relating this back to a secondary, because I’m reading this as a working memory thing? Like ugh tests are such a terrible way access knowledge. What is even the *point* of memorization anymore? You should have been able to have a college career that was completely writing papers, like I did.

I was at one point very jealous of my Lion Snake brother, who I felt could do “whatever he wanted” with minimal consequences, while I always felt constrained by being “good” and not rocking the boat too much with my family.

Yep. That’s being an oldest daughter.

I couldn’t understand why he didn’t seem to care about being considerate to everyone else in the household (especially my chronically overworked, can’t-say-no Badger mom lol).

It’s because he’s the youngest. Mine’s the same.

This attitude was definitely influenced by my anxiety issues at that time, since I had (and still have) a lot of trouble asking for anything - help, permission, whatever. I’d rather do things and explore on my own, without anyone watching, so I don’t have to ask and don’t have to explain.

Did you low-key raise your younger siblings? Because it sounds like you raised your siblings.

I feel better with a little bit of distance, and definitely wear masks in most situations. I’d say my masks are half conscious and half reactive - I do have some idea of how I’d like to be perceived, but it’s only kind of systematic.

That makes me think Snake or Badger secondary.

I have a few “characters” that I use as touchpoints when I’m going into a new situation, but once I’m there I mostly just act nice and funny and see what happens.

So far I’m going with Badger secondary (be nice and and assume it’ll be fine is very badger) with a fun Bird secondary model, that you can do an Actor Bird thing with. Although liking to “just see what happens” is pretty snake.

The characters are really just costumes I use to give off a certain first impression, although I do really like the costumes and find them fun. I love clothes, makeup, and perfume too, because I enjoy the idea of making multidimensional costumes for different settings. I actually enjoy the mask a lot of the time - I have tattoos that are purposefully in places that I can cover easily, because I enjoy the idea that there’s something under the professional mask that people only know about if I show them. I’m a bit socially awkward I think (I repeat myself and talk a lot), but most people tend to either like me or tolerate me, and I don’t get into a lot of interpersonal conflicts. 

Hm. Either Courtier Badger or Snake secondary, fun Bird secondary model. However. Especially after talking about your Actor Bird in such fun, positive, happy language… I am going to call you out for “socially awkward” and “people tolerate me.” Which tells me you don’t have as much faith in your social skill set, and it’s *maybe* a little burnt.

(Also, not to get too armchair psychologist tell-me-about-your-mother, but if your mom has a  “chronically overworked, can’t-say-no” Badger secondary… that’s going to affect how you see Badger secondaries.)

Right now I work in a very Badger/Bird workplace, and it’s really a terrible fit, even though I can squeak by enough to fool my superiors into thinking I’m doing a good job. 

oh we’ve got some imposter syndrome, that can also be a burnt secondary thing.

It’s all long-term planning and daily maintenance tasks, and I really don’t like it. I change most of my plans partway through, but I’m not sure if it’s because I’m really an improvisational secondary at heart, or if I’m truly a Bird that’s just bad at planning for all of the variables.

I’m going to say you’re not a Bird. Making cheat-sheets (which is a very Bird secondary strategy) also did not work, and you feel confined by, not comforted by plans. You’re not a Lion, you enjoy keeping your true self to yourself too much. You could be either a Badger or Snake. And if you really hate daily maintenance tasks… that could be coming from a few places, but it makes me lean Snake. 

I love being in situations where I can iterate on a plan, or make a new plan on the fly. I love escape rooms and am pretty good at them; I still get stumped and need hints sometimes, but when I *get* a puzzle, it sort of just clicks for me? I don’t think in a very linear way and am not a good chess player, but I also have never studied chess so perhaps I just am at a knowledge disadvantage in that game. 

This is also you using Bird to have fun, and we know you *love* using Bird to have fun.

One of my proudest moments

okay this is definitely going to be helpful

was when I was on a day trip with my significant other, and we needed to find a place to buy food quickly so we wouldn’t miss a specific ferry and then a specific bus - we were on an island, and near the ferry station the restaurants were all too expensive and we were worried they would take too long anyway. He was starting to get frazzled, but I was able to think on my feet, and we just grabbed a calming beer (lol) at a creepy neighborhood bar, then got on the ferry and bought microwave meals at a 7-Eleven by the bus station. It was awesome and I was very proud of myself for staying calm and looking around myself for options.

Well that is VERY Snake secondary.

I generally take a long time making decisions when it’s not a crisis situation, because I have to *weigh all the options*, but I often end up in analysis paralysis. Crunch time is where I really shine as a decision-maker.

Snake again. From what I’m seeing, your Bird is a fantastic toy, but actually kind of makes you miserable when you have to depend on it for the important stuff. (studying, your job, making important decisions)

All of this long post is to say, I’m not sure whether my Bird secondary is a fun model that got repurposed into an executive dysfunction compensation tool and anxiety/depression soother to supplement my Snake secondary

I think you hit the nail straight on the head right there. 

 or if Bird is my true secondary and Snake is a model that I learned from my dad and brother + characters I admire in media 

oh your favorite characters are Snake secondaries are they? That’s a big tell.

and that I use when I fail to plan adequately given my executive dysfunction. 

Executive dysfunction is a whole thing, but you don’t have to “”plan adequately”” for everything.

I find both fun and both useful, but I’m not sure which is innate and which is the model! 

My money is on snake secondary, Bird secondary model. 

#submission #sortinghatchats #wisteria sorts #sortme #double snake #snake primary #snake secondary #bird secondary model #family dynamics

[kookie-doughs]

Y/N L/N AND THE HALFBLOODS

Percy Jackson X Reader

-Y/N L/N met Percy Jackson and everything was now ruined.

CHAPTER 16: Mini Elvis

The war god was waiting for us in the diner parking lot. "Well, well," he said. "You didn't get yourself killed." "You knew it was a trap," Percy hissed. Ares gave me a wicked grin. "Bet that crippled blacksmith was surprised when he netted a couple of stupid kids. You looked good on TV." Taking the shield from Percy I shoved it at him. "You're a jerk." Annabeth and Grover caught their breath. Ares grabbed the shield and spun it in the air like pizza dough. It changed form, melting into a bulletproof vest. He slung it across his back. "See that truck over there?" He pointed to an eighteen-wheeler parked across the street from the diner. "That's your ride. Take you straight to L.A., with one stop in Vegas." The eighteen-wheeler had a sign on the back, which I could read only because it was reverse-printed white on black, a good combination for dyslexia: KINDNESS INTERNATIONAL: HUMANE ZOO TRANSPORT. WARNING: LIVE WILD ANIMALS. Percy said, "You're kidding." Ares snapped his fingers. The back door of the truck unlatched. "Free ride west, punk. Stop complaining. And here's a little something for doing the job." He slung a blue nylon backpack off his handlebars and tossed it to Percy. Inside were fresh clothes for all of us, twenty bucks in cash, a pouch full of golden drachmas, and a bag of Double Stuff Oreos. Percy said, "I don't want your lousy—" "Thank you, Lord Ares," Grover interrupted, giving him his best red-alert warning look. "Thanks a lot." I could see Percy gritting his teeth. It was probably a deadly insult to refuse something from a god, but I also didn't want anything that Ares had touched. Reluctantly, he swung the bag over his shoulder. I looked back at the diner, which had only a couple of customers now. The waitress who'd served us dinner was watching nervously out the window, like she was afraid Ares might hurt us. She dragged the fry cook out from the kitchen to see. She said something to him. He nodded, held up a little disposable camera and snapped a picture of us. Great, I thought. We'll make the papers again tomorrow.

I imagined the headline: TWELVE-YEAR-OLD OUTLAWS BEATS UP DEFENSELESS BIKER. "You owe us one more thing," Percy told Ares, trying to keep my voice level. "You promised me information about our parents." "You sure you can handle the news?" He kick-started his motorcycle. "They're not dead." The ground seemed to spin beneath me. "What do you mean?" "I mean Percy's mom was taken away from the Minotaur before she could die. She was turned into a shower of gold, right? That's metamorphosis. Not death. She's being kept. As for yours, I saw them myself. Upstairs with the big guys. Why do you think you're causing one of the biggest uproar up there? They're refusing to tell who your parent is. No matter how much cut." He smirked. "What...?" Percy and the others must've seen something as they all held me back. "What are they doing to them?" I could feel the ground shake as Percy's grip on me tighten. We'll save them... calm down. Not the hero. Us. So calm down. "Calm down Y/N." Percy whispered. The ground stopped shaking and took a deep breath. "I will make you all kneel." I said. He looked at me confusedly. Then he shrug it off then laughed, "Oh yeah? can't wait, kid." Percy gripped my shoulder. "You're pretty smug, Lord Ares, for a guy who runs from Cupid statues." Behind his sunglasses, fire glowed. I felt a hot wind in my hair. "We'll meet again, Percy Jackson. Next time you're in a fight, watch your back." He revved his Harley, then roared off down Delancy Street. Annabeth said, "That was not smart, Percy." "I don't care." "You don't want a god as your enemy. Especially not that god." "Hey, guys," Grover said. "I hate to interrupt, but ..." He pointed toward the diner. At the register, the last two customers were paying their check, two men in identical black coveralls, with a white logo on their backs that matched the one on the KINDNESS INTERNATIONAL truck. "If we're taking the zoo express," Grover said, "we need to hurry." I didn't like it, but we had no better option. Besides, I'd seen enough of Denver. We ran across the street and climbed in the back of the big rig, closing the doors behind us. The first thing that hit me was the smell. It was like the world's biggest pan of kitty litter. The trailer was dark inside until Percy uncapped Riptide. The blade cast a faint bronze light over a very sad scene. Sitting in a row of filthy metal cages were three of the most pathetic zoo animals I'd ever beheld: a zebra, a male albino lion, and some weird antelope thing I didn't know the name for. Someone had thrown the lion a sack of turnips, which he obviously didn't want to eat. The zebra and the antelope had each gotten a Styrofoam tray of hamburger meat. The zebra's mane was matted with chewing gum, like somebody had been spitting on it in their spare time. The antelope had a stupid silver birthday balloon tied to one of his horns that read OVER THE HILL! Apparently, nobody had wanted to get close enough to the lion to mess with him, but the poor thing was pacing around on soiled blankets, in a space way too small for him, panting from the stuffy heat of the trailer. He had flies buzzing around his pink eyes and his ribs showed through his white fur. "This is kindness?" Grover yelled. "Humane zoo transport?" He probably would've gone right back outside to beat up the truckers with his reed pipes, and we would've helped him, but just then the trucks engine roared to life, the trailer started shaking, and we were forced to sit down or fall down. We huddled in the corner on some mildewed feed sacks, trying to ignore the smell and the heat and the flies. Grover talked to the animals in a series of goat bleats, but they just stared at him sadly. Annabeth was in favor of breaking the cages and freeing them on the spot, but I pointed out it wouldn't do much good until the truck stopped moving. Besides, I had a feeling we might look a lot better to the lion than those turnips. I found a water jug and refilled their bowls, then Percy used Riptide to drag the mismatched food out of their cages. He gave the meat to the lion and the turnips to the zebra and the antelope. Grover calmed the antelope down, while I used my knife to cut the balloon off his horn. Annabeth wanted to cut the gum out of the zebra's mane, too, but we decided that would be too risky with the truck bumping around. We told Grover to promise the animals we'd help them more in the morning, then we settled in for night. Grover curled up on a turnip sack; Annabeth opened our bag of Double Stuff Oreos and nibbled on one halfheartedly; I tried to cheer myself up by concentrating on the fact that we were halfway to Los Angeles. Halfway to our destination. It was only June fourteenth. The solstice wasn't until the twenty-first. We could make it in plenty of time. On the other hand, I had no idea what to expect next. The gods kept toying with me. At least Hephaestus had the decency to be honest about it—he'd put up cameras and advertised me as entertainment. But even when the cameras weren't rolling, I had a feeling my quest was being watched. I was a source of amusement for the gods. And it wasn't helping knowing they're hurting my parents. Here I was risking my life for them and what are they doing? "Hey," Percy cooed, "We'll save them. No matter what. I promised you that." "Okay." Percy pulled me closer until I was resting on him. Annabeth cleared her throat. "Hey, sorry I wasn't much help back at the park... I could've helped getting you guys out... It's just..." She shuddered. "Spiders." "Because of the Arachne story," I guessed. "She got turned into a spider for challenging your mom to a weaving contest, right?" She nodded. "Arachne's children have been taking revenge on the children of Athena ever since. If there's a spider within a mile of me, it'll find me. I hate the creepy little things." "We're a team, remember?" Percy said. "Besides, Grover did the fancy flying. All we did was grab the shield." I thought he was asleep, but he mumbled from the corner, "I was pretty amazing, wasn't I?" Annabeth, Percy and I laughed. She pulled apart an Oreo, handed me and Percy a half each. "In the Iris message... did Luke really say nothing?" I munched my cookie and thought about how to answer. The conversation via rainbow had bothered me all evening. "Luke said you and he go way back. He also said Grover wouldn't fail this time. Nobody would turn into a pine tree." Percy answered. In the dim bronze light of the sword blade, it was hard to read their expressions. Grover let out a mournful bray. "I should've told you the truth from the beginning." His voice trembled. "I thought if you knew what a failure I was, you wouldn't want me along." "You were the satyr who tried to rescue Thalia, the daughter of Zeus." He nodded glumly. "And the other two half-bloods Thalia befriended, the ones who got safely to camp..." Percy looked at Annabeth. "That was you and Luke, wasn't it?" She put down her Oreo, uneaten. "Like you said, Percy, a seven-year-old half-blood wouldn't have made it very far alone. Athena guided me toward help. Thalia was twelve. Luke was fourteen. They'd both run away from home, like me. They were happy to take me with them. They were... amazing monster-fighters, even without training. We traveled north from Virginia without any real plans, fending off monsters for about two weeks before Grover found us." "I was supposed to escort Thalia to camp," he said, sniffling. "Only Thalia. I had strict orders from Chiron: don't do anything that would slow down the rescue. We knew Hades was after her, see, but I couldn't just leave Luke and Annabeth by themselves. I thought... I thought I could lead all three of them to safety. It was my fault the Kindly Ones caught up with us. I froze. I got scared on the way back to camp and took some wrong turns. If I'd just been a little quicker..." "Stop it," Annabeth said. "No one blames you. Thalia didn't blame you either." "She sacrificed herself to save us," he said miserably, "Her death was my fault. The Council of Cloven Elders said so." "Because you wouldn't leave two other half-bloods behind?" Percy said. "That's not fair." "Percy's right," Annabeth said. "I wouldn't be here today if it weren't for you, Grover. Neither would Luke. We don't care what the council says." Grover kept sniffling in the dark. "It's just my luck. I'm the lamest satyr ever, and I find the two most powerful half-bloods of the century, Thalia and Percy." "You're not lame," Annabeth insisted. "You've got more courage than any satyr I've ever met. Name one other who would dare go to the Underworld. I bet Percy is really glad you're here right now." She kicked me in the shin. "Yeah," I said, which I would've done even without the kick. "It's not luck that you found Thalia and Percy, Grover. You've got the biggest heart of any satyr ever. You're a natural searcher. That's why you'll be the one who finds Pan. I mean, you found me despite my scentlessness... is that a word?" Percy muffled a laugh. I heard a deep, satisfied sigh. I waited for Grover to say something, but his breathing only got heavier. When the sound turned to snoring, I realized he'd fallen sleep. "How does he do that?" I marveled. "I don't know," Annabeth said. "But that was really a nice thing you told him." "I meant it." We rode in silence for a few miles, bumping around on the feed sacks. The zebra munched a turnip. The lion licked the last of the hamburger meat off his lips and looked at me hopefully. Percy didn't take long to fall asleep. Annabeth rubbed her necklace like she was thinking deep, strategic thoughts. "That pine-tree bead," I said. "Is that from your first year?" She looked. She hadn't realized what she was doing. "Yeah," she said. "Every August, the counselors pick the most important event of the summer, and they paint it on that year's beads. I've got Thalia's pine tree, a Greek trireme on fire, a centaur in a prom dress—now that was a weird summer...." "And the college ring is your father's?" "That's none of your—" She stopped herself. "Yeah. Yeah, it is." "You don't have to tell me." "No... it's okay." She took a shaky breath. "My dad sent it to me folded up in a letter, two summers ago. The ring was, like, his main keepsake from Athena. He wouldn't have gotten through his doctoral program at Harvard without her.... That's a long story. Anyway, he said he wanted me to have it. He apologized for being a jerk, said he loved me and missed me. He wanted me to come home and live with him." "That doesn't sound so bad." "Yeah, well... the problem was, I believed him. I tried to go home for that school year, but my stepmom was the same as ever. She didn't want her kids put in danger by living with a freak. Monsters attacked. We argued. Monsters attacked. We argued. I didn't even make it through winter break. I called Chiron and came right back to Camp Half-Blood." She wouldn't meet my eyes. "Please. I'm not into self-inflicted pain." "You shouldn't give up," I told her. "You should write him a letter or something." "Thanks for the advice," she said coldly, "but my father's made his choice about who he wants to live with." We passed another few miles of silence. "Luke actually told me about you two coming to camp already." "Really?" She looked at me amazed. "You two must've gotten close fast." "Well, I don't know. I feel like I had to talk to Luke. Like I had to be there for him. The same with Percy." We have to be there for both "You're not wrong. I'm not sure how I'd be without your help." Percy yawned. "Yeah, I wouldn't have been able to handle him." Annabeth glared at him. I laughed, "I think you two are cute." Both of them blushed and said some excuse to disprove me. Which then turned into them showing off who's better than who. "If I'm dating anyone it'll be Y/N!" Both of them huffed and glared at each other. I shook my head and smiled. At least I've gotten new friends out of this. "So," Percy trailed off. "If the gods fight," he said, "will things line up the way they did with the Trojan War? Will it be Athena versus Poseidon?" Annabeth put her head against the backpack Ares had given us, and closed her eyes. "I don't know what my mom will do. I just know I'll fight next to you." "Why?" "Because Y/N will and whether I like it or not you're my friend, Seaweed Brain. Any more stupid questions?" "That's all Mr. Peabody." "Shut up, Droopy." I felt her rest on my shoulder and she fell asleep. "Am I that comfortable?" "Yeah," Percy laughed as he rested on my lap. I had trouble following their example, with Grover snoring and an albino lion staring hungrily at me, but eventually I closed my eyes. ~~~ I woke with a start. I was second one awake. Grover was talking to the antelope. "Morning?" "Everyone had the Y/N privilege except me?" "You fell asleep first." I stroked both Annabeth and Percy's hair, which unfortunately woke up Annabeth. "Sorry about that." "It's fine." She yawned. She brought out some Oreo and handed me one. Until the truck stopped. "They're checking the animals aren't they?" Annabeth froze. I shook Percy's shoulder. "The truck's stopped," I said. "We think they're coming to check on the animals." "Hide!" Annabeth hissed. She had it easy. She just put on her magic cap and disappeared. Grover, Percy and I had to dive behind feed sacks and hope we looked like turnips. The trailer doors creaked open. Sunlight and heat poured in. "Man!" one of the truckers said, waving his hand in front of his ugly nose. "I wish I hauled appliances." He climbed inside and poured some water from a jug into the animals' dishes. "You hot, big boy?" he asked the lion, then splashed the rest of the bucket right in the lion's face. The lion roared in indignation. "Yeah, yeah, yeah," the man said. Next to me, under the turnip sacks, Grover tensed. For a peace-loving herbivore, he looked downright murderous. The trucker threw the antelope a squashed-looking Happy Meal bag. He smirked at the zebra. "How ya doin', Stripes? Least we'll be getting rid of you this stop. You like magic shows? You're gonna love this one. They're gonna saw you in half!" The zebra, wild-eyed with fear, looked straight at us. There was a loud knock, knock, knock on the side of the trailer. The trucker inside with us yelled, "What do you want, Eddie?" A voice outside—it must've been Eddie's—shouted back, "Maurice? What'd ya say?" "What are you banging for?" Knock, knock, knock. Outside, Eddie yelled, "What banging?" Our guy Maurice rolled his eyes and went back outside, cursing at Eddie for being an idiot. A second later, Annabeth appeared next to me. She must've done the banging to get Maurice out of the trailer. She said, "This transport business can't be legal." "No kidding," Grover said. He paused, as if listening. "The lion says these guys are animal smugglers!" "We've got to free them!" Grover said. He and Annabeth both looked at Percy, waiting for his say. "Percy, open the lock." I snapped at his face. Outside, Eddie and Maurice were still yelling at each other, but I knew they'd be coming inside to torment the animals again any minute. He grabbed Riptide and slashed the lock off the zebra's cage. The zebra burst out. It turned to Percy and bowed. Grover held up his hands and said something to the zebra in goat talk, like a blessing. Just as Maurice was poking his head back inside to check out the noise, the zebra leaped over him and into the street. There was yelling and screaming and cars honking. We rushed to the doors of the trailer in time to see the zebra galloping down a wide boulevard lined with hotels and casinos and neon signs. We'd just released a zebra in Las Vegas. Maurice and Eddie ran after it, with a few policemen running after them, shouting, "Hey! You need a permit for that!" "Now would be a good time to leave," Annabeth said. "The other animals first," Grover said. I cut the locks with my knife which wasn't as easy as what Percy had done. Grover raised his hands and spoke the same goat-blessing he'd used for the zebra. "Good luck," I told the animals. The antelope and the lion burst out of their cages and went off together into the streets. Some tourists screamed. Most just backed off and took pictures, probably thinking it was some kind of stunt by one of the casinos. "Will the animals be okay?" I asked Grover. "I mean, the desert and all—" "Don't worry," he said. "I placed a satyr's sanctuary on them." "Meaning?" "Meaning they'll reach the wild safely," he said. "They'll find water, food, shade, whatever they need until they find a safe place to live." "Why can't you place a blessing like that on us?" I asked. "It only works on wild animals." "So it would only affect Percy," Annabeth reasoned. "Hey!" He protested. "Kidding," she said. "Come on. Let's get out of this filthy truck." We stumbled out into the desert afternoon. It was a hundred and ten degrees, easy, and we must've looked like deep-fried vagrants, but everybody was too interested in the wild animals to pay us much attention. We passed the Monte Carlo and the MGM. We passed pyramids, a pirate ship, and the Statue of Liberty, which was a pretty small replica, but still made me homesick. I wasn't sure what we were looking for. Maybe just a place to get out of the heat for a few minutes, find a sandwich and a glass of lemonade, make a new plan for getting west. We must have taken a wrong turn, because we found ourselves at a dead end, standing in front of the Lotus Hotel and Casino. The entrance was a huge neon flower, the petals lighting up and blinking. No one was going in or out, but the glittering chrome doors were open, spilling out air-conditioning that smelled like flowers—lotus blossom, maybe. I'd never smelled one, so I wasn't sure. The doorman smiled at us. "Hey, kids. You look tired. You want to come in and sit down?" I'd learned to be suspicious, the last week or so. I figured anybody might be a monster or a god. But my knife wasn't glowing so... I figured. Besides, I was so relieved to hear somebody who sounded sympathetic that I nodded and said we'd love to come in. Inside, we took one look around, and Grover said, "Whoa." The whole lobby was a giant game room. And I'm not talking about cheesy old Pac-Man games or slot machines. There was an indoor waterslide snaking around the glass elevator, which went straight up at least forty floors. There was a climbing wall on the side of one building, and an indoor bungee-jumping bridge. There were virtual-reality suits with working laser guns. And hundreds of video games, each one the size of a widescreen TV. Basically, you name it, this place had it. There were a few other kids playing, but not that many. No waiting for any of the games. There were waitresses and snack bars all around, serving every kind of food you can imagine. "Hey!" a bellhop said. At least I guessed he was a bellhop. He wore a white-and-yellow Hawaiian shirt with lotus designs, shorts, and flip-flops. "Welcome to the Lotus Casino. Here's your room key." I stammered, "Um, but..." "No, no," he said, laughing. "The bill's taken care of. No extra charges, no tips. Just go on up to the top floor, loom 4001. If you need anything, like extra bubbles for the hot tub, or skeet targets for the shooting range, or whatever, just call the front desk. Here are your Lotus Cash cards. They work in the restaurants and on all the games and rides." He handed us each a green plastic credit card. I knew there must be some mistake. Obviously he thought we were some millionaire's kids. But I took the card and said, "How much is on here?" His eyebrows knit together. "What do you mean?" "I mean, when does it run out of cash?" He laughed. "Oh, you're making a joke. Hey, that's cool. Enjoy your stay." We took the elevator upstairs and checked out our room. It was a suite with three separate bedrooms and a bar stocked with candy, sodas, and chips. A hotline to room service. Fluffy towels and water beds with feather pillows. A big-screen television with satellite and high-speed Internet. The balcony had its own hot tub, and sure enough, there was a skeet-shooting machine and a shotgun, so you could launch clay pigeons right out over the Las Vegas skyline and plug them with your gun. I didn't see how that could be legal, but I thought it was pretty cool. The view over the Strip and the desert was amazing, though I doubted we'd ever find time to look at the view with a room like this. "Oh, goodness," Annabeth said. "This place is ..." "Sweet," Grover said. "Absolutely sweet." There were clothes in the closet, and they fit me. I frowned, thinking that this was a little strange. I took a shower, which felt awesome after a week of grimy travel. I changed clothes, ate a bag of chips, drank three Cokes, and came out feeling better than I had in a long time. Search and find them Huh? Look for them and warn them I came out of the bedroom and found that Annabeth, Percy and Grover had also showered and changed clothes. Grover was eating potato chips to his heart's content, Percy looked like he was having a headache, while Annabeth cranked up the National Geographic Channel. "Percy you okay?" "Yeah it's just.... All those stations," he told Annabeth, "and she turn on National Geographic." "It's interesting." "I feel good," Grover said. "I love this place." Without his even realizing it, the wings sprouted out of his shoes and lifted him a foot off the ground, then back down again. "So what now?" Annabeth asked. "Sleep?" Percy and I looked at each other and grinned. We both held up our green plastic Lotus Cash cards. "Play time," I said. I couldn't remember the last time I had so much fun. I came from a relatively poor family. Our idea of a splurge was eating out at Burger King and renting a video. A five-star Vegas hotel? Forget it. I spent most of my time playing and... looking for someone I think. I bungee-jumped the lobby five or six times, snowboarded the artificial ski slope, and played virtual-reality laser tag and FBI sharpshooter. I saw Grover a few times, going from game to game. He really liked the reverse hunter thing—where the deer go out and shoot the rednecks. I saw Annabeth playing trivia games and other brainiac stuff. They had this huge 3-D sim game where you build your own city, and you could actually see the holographic buildings rise on the display board. I didn't think much of it, but Annabeth loved it. Percy was playing with Grover. I'm not sure when I first realized something was wrong. Probably, it was when I noticed the guy standing next to me at VR sharpshooters. He was about thirteen, I guess, but his clothes were weird. I thought he was some Elvis impersonator's son. He wore bell-bottom jeans and a red T-shirt with black piping, and his hair was permed and gelled like a New Jersey girl's on homecoming night. When he saw me he gave a smirk and invited me to play a game of sharpshooters together and he said, "Groovy, man. Been here two weeks, and the games keep getting better and better." Groovy? Later, while we were talking, I said something was "sick," and he looked at me kind of startled, as if he'd never heard the word used that way before. He said his name was Darrin, but as soon as I started asking him questions he got bored with me and started to go back to the computer screen. I said, "Hey, Darrin?" "What?" "What year is it?" He frowned at me. "In the game?" "No. In real life." He had to think about it. "1977." "No," I said, getting a little scared. "Really." "Hey, man. Bad vibes. I got a game happening." After that he totally ignored me. I started talking to people, and I found it wasn't easy. They were glued to the TV screen, or the video game, or their food, or whatever. I found a guy who told me it was 1985. Another guy told me it was 1993. They all claimed they hadn't been in here very long, a few days, a few weeks at most. They didn't really know and they didn't care. Then it occurred to me: how long had I been here? It seemed like only a couple of hours, but was it? I then tried to move, but I bumped into a girl. "I'm sorry!" She said. "Hey, no prob." "Oh... uhm... No prob?" "I--- No problem. Say Uh... I kinda lost track of date. What's the year again?" "Huh? It's 1930. Okay, I'm sorry I have to go. I'm looking for someone." Everyone is important in our story "Did you say something?" I go by Y/N L/N, you'll find the one you're looking for at the zombie shooting game. I left her alone and confused. I didn't know why. But I knew now this place is wrong. I tried to remember why we were here. We were going to Los Angeles. We were supposed to find the entrance to the Underworld. My parents... for a scary second, I had trouble remembering their names. I had to save them. I found Percy first. "There's something wrong." We said at the same time. "Years?" He asked. I nodded. We then looked for the others. We found Annabeth still building her city. "Come on," Percy told her. "We've got to get out of here." No response. I shook her. "Annabeth?" She looked up, annoyed. "What? "We need to leave." "Leave? What are you talking about? I've just got the towers—" "This place is a trap." She didn't respond until I shook her again. "What?" "Listen. The Underworld. Our quest!" "Oh, come on, Percy. Just a few more minutes." "Annabeth, there are people here from 1977. Kids who have never aged. You check in, and you stay forever." "So?" she asked. "Can you imagine a better place?" I grabbed her wrist and yanked her away from the game. "Hey!" She screamed and hit me, but nobody else even bothered looking at us. They were too busy. I made her look directly in my eyes. I said, "Spiders. Large, hairy spiders." That jarred her. Her vision cleared. "Oh my gods," she said. "How long have we—" "I don't know, but we've got to find Grover." We went searching, and found him still playing Virtual Deer Hunter. "Grover!" we both shouted. He said, "Die, human! Die, silly polluting nasty person!" "Grover!" He turned the plastic gun on me and started clicking, as if I were just another image from the screen. I looked at Percy, and together we took Grover by the arms and dragged him away. His flying shoes sprang to life and started tugging his legs in the other direction as he shouted, "No! I just got to a new level! No!" The Lotus bellhop hurried up to us. "Well, now, are you ready for your platinum cards?" "We're leaving," I told him. "Such a shame," he said, and I got the feeling that he really meant it, that we'd be breaking his heart if we went. "We just added an entire new floor full of games for platinum-card members." He held out the cards, and I wanted one. I knew that if I took one, I'd never leave. I'd stay here, happy forever, playing games forever, and soon I'd forget my parents, and our quest, and maybe even my own name. I'd be playing virtual rifleman with groovy Disco Darrin forever. Grover reached for the card, but Annabeth yanked back his arm and said, "No, thanks." We walked toward the door, and as we did, the smell of the food and the sounds of the games seemed to get more and more inviting. I thought about our room upstairs. We could just stay the night, sleep in a real bed for once.... Then we burst through the doors of the Lotus Casino and ran down the sidewalk. It felt like afternoon, about the same time of day we'd gone into the casino, but something was wrong. The weather had completely changed. It was stormy, with heat lightning flashing out in the desert. I ran to the nearest newspaper stand and read the year first. Thank the gods, it was the same year it had been when we went in. Then I noticed the date: June twentieth. We had been in the Lotus Casino for five days. We had only one day left until the summer solstice. One day to complete our quest.

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#Percy Jackson #Percy Jackson X Reader #Percy Jackson X Y/N #percy jackon and the olympians #pjo #luke castellan #Luke castellan x reader #Y/N L/N #Y/N L/N and the halfbloods #Lightning thief #Book 1 #Chapter 16 #Fanfiction #Fanfictions

[myriadofunchartedworlds]

Bring Your Son to Work Day [WIP]

This was a snippet of a fic I never finished but I really liked the idea of. Enjoy.

“One request. I only had one request.” is what Buck wakes up to. Groaning at the sudden onslaught of pain somewhere in his torso as he moves his arm to rub at his eyes, Buck quickly aborts the movement. Right, broken ribs. Fun. And a mild concussion too if the pulsing bass line his brain is throbbing to seems to be any indication.

He suddenly realizes where he’s at. It’s not like he isn’t used to the familiar sterile scent of antiseptics, the too bright lights and the really awfully bland interior decoration.

One look at the bracelet wrapped around his wrist and yup, any doubts he has about where he’s at disappears. He’s at the hospital. AGAIN.

“-times do we have to hammer it in your head to be careful? Are you trying to gain a loyalty card to the hospital? Or are you just trying to send me to an early grave? Buck? BUCK. Oh my gosh. Are you even listening to me?” As Maddie’s speech reached a crescendo, so did her voice. Buck couldn’t mask the flinch he made at how her screeching made his headache even worse. “M’ddie k’p it d’wn. ‘cushn. Shhhh. Sleep time n’w.” He clumsily tried to cover her mouth. “Sorry. I forgot about your concussion,” Maddie whispered. “But no, no sleeping. You gotta answer some questions first.” “But m’tired,” he whined. “Promise m’kay. C’ncussion protocols l’ter.” “Sorry sweetie. You know the drill. Can’t escape protocols or what kind of a hospital would we be,” piped in a cheerful voice. Buck lazily turned his head to the side to see a smiling nurse dressed in colorful scrubs patiently standing on his bed side.

“Ugh fine.” Buck dutifully answered all his questions and the nurse patted him on the shoulder before leaving him with Maddie.

“C’n I go b’ck t’sleep now?”

“Fine. But you’re not off the hook.”

One week. He’d been on medical leave for a week and he was going out of his mind. At first his ribs hurt enough that he was happy enough to binge all the episodes of How It’s Made again. And then he started to feel better so he decided to do a thorough spring cleaning…which might not have been the best idea since it aggravated his ribs and pushed his recovery period from two weeks to three. Great. Nicely done, Buck. Now we have two weeks to kill…again. What was he supposed to do for the next fourteen days.

Eddie tried to help, sending Carla and Christopher his way after Zoom classes everyday before going back home for dinner; but that still left his mornings and evenings open and Buck was B O R E D.

So on day 12 out of 21 of his mandatory leave, Buck found himself lying on the floor by his dining table, after reorganizing his spice rack by color and shade, wondering if anyone had ever been committed to the psych ward for going insane out of boredom. He heard his phone ping quietly beside his head. Blindly grabbing it, Buck unlocked it to find a new message from Eddie.

Work Husband: Athena dropped by today and said that the LAPD was doing a special junior ride-along program for the kids this summer.

Think Christopher would be up for it?

Work Wife: Have you met your son? He’s gonna vibrate out of his seat when you tell him that he gets to help Athena catch the bad guys for a day.

If anyone’s reluctant, it would be you.

Work Husband: Fine. Maybe I’m the one with concerns.

Ride-alongs can be dangerous you know? We never know what kinds of scenes they’d be called to.

And it’s Christopher.

I want to keep encouraging his independence but…

Work Wife:I’m not an idiot, Eds. Don’t forget I was more concerned about summer camp than you.

I get it okay? But I’m also sure that they wouldn’t have opened up these junior ride-along slots if they didn’t modify the program to be child-safe.

Besides, you and I both know that Athena would make sure that Christopher rode with her.

And if that’s not possible, you can bet your ass she’s gonna threaten his partner within an inch of their life if a single hair on his head was harmed.

Work Husband: Did you have to send me a novel?

But fine, fine. I’ll talk to him about it at dinner tonight.

We’re still good to crash your place later?

Work Wife: Absolutely. Please take me out of my misery for a few hours.

Work Husband:Drama Queen. Take this time to find hobbies. Maybe take up knitting or something.

Work Wife:I tried that when I hurt my leg, remember? Ended up spraining my fingers and almost stabbing myself with the needle.

Work Husband: What am I going to do with you, Evan William Buckley?

Work Wife: Go back to work, Eds.

And don't middle name me, Jose Edmundo Santiago Diaz Y Åström.

Work Husband: How did you even find that out?

It was abuela wasn't it?

Stop turning my own familia against me.

Gotta go. Just got a call.

Shaking his head in exasperation, Buck reconsidered knitting. It would be fun to prove to Eddie that he wasn’t completely a disaster. Scrolling back up the chat, he tried to imagine Christopher in a ride along and couldn’t stop the smile growing on his face. He just knew Christopher was going to love the experience. Maddie did when she went with Athena. A ride-along. Huh. That’s not such a bad idea. He’d be in the cruiser all day, have an experienced police officer with him at all times. He’d get to see a different side to the calls they responded to, maybe even fulfill his fantasies of solving a crime. That should cure his boredom.

With a renewed sense of purpose, Buck picked himself up of the floor and practically skipped to his laptop to download the ride-along forms. This was going to be great. ——— This was going to be a disaster, Athena thought, staring in horror at the form that was dropped onto her desk. There, mocking her was the title “Ride Along Request Form” and right below it, “Evan Buckley”. There was no way she was going to let Buck do a ride-along. “There’s no way I’m letting Buckley do a ride-along,” Athena immediately told the program head. “Boy gets into enough trouble as is, and has a vigilante streak too. There’s no way I’m bringing a danger magnet along with me.” “I just thought that you’d prefer to take him since he’s from your husband’s firehouse. But I can pass it along to Mercado. He hasn’t had a ride-along in a while.” “Oh hell no. My problem isn’t who he’s riding along with. It’s the fact that he’s doing a ride along. If this is really happening then he’s riding with me. God knows that I’m our best chance of keeping Evan Buckley in one, non-law-breaking piece.” “Great!” Sergeant Choi chirped. “He rides with you tomorrow.” Great. Looks like tomorrow’s going to be a “Bring Her Son to Work” Day. “The Lord have mercy on us all.”

#J writes #9-1-1 #Eddie Diaz #Evan Buckley #Athena Grant #or is it Athena Grant-Nash?

[horrible-writer-rain]

Over the Edge and Under

Summary: The 118's actions have devastating consequences.

Pairing: Evan "Buck" Buckley/Male OC!

Warnings: Suicide, Angst, Hurt No Comfort, Depression, Post-lawsuit, Past Abuse in reference to Buck's treatment at the 118

A/N: This is not edited. I wrote this fic at like midnight. I'll post the reactions and aftermath at some point.

He was tired. Tired of the glares and harsh words from the people he called family. Tired of going home to an empty apartment because Luca was overseas on some mission that was classified. Tired of being the man behind when all he wanted was to save people. To do the one thing he was good at. He left a voicemail for Luca and one to both Luca’s twin sister and brother in Texas. His grip is tight on the railing but not from a fear of failing. No, he had resigned himself that he was going to die but only when he’s ready. He hopes Chris will forgive him, but he had written him a letter and had left it on his counter with Carla’s name on it. He knew she would give it to him. Luca would be pissed and heartbroken but he had a good support system in their old team, his family, and his crew in Austin. He had left letters for the crew of the 118 as well. Left them on the counter as well. He had written a letter for every person in his life that he loved. It was up to them if they read it or not.

He lets out a breath when he hears a car stop. “Sir, please step away back over the railing.” He felt like he could cry. He knew that voice. “I’m good right where I am, ‘Thena.” He calls opening his eyes to look down. It was about a 40ft drop into freezing water so if the impact didn’t kill him then the hypothermia and subsequent drowning would. “Buck?” He hears her come closer. “What are you doing here, baby?” She asks and he shrugs. “I’m tired ‘Thena.” He tells her as a firetruck pulls up. “Anyone I can call?” She asks stepping closer and he shakes his head. “Stay where you are ‘Thena.” He warns and she stops moving. “Just you Bobby. Keep the others back.” He hears her speak into her radio. The 118 must have responded. Fuck. It was bad enough that he was going to jump in front of Athena but now his crew. The ones who have thrown insults and petty jabs his way. The ones who had a hand in causing this. His grip loosens and Athena lets out a strangled noise. “It’s Okay, ‘Thena.” He tries to reassure her.

“Why’d you have the rest of the crew stay back, Athena?” He hears Bobby, no captain Nash say his tone weary. He knows exactly when Captain Nash spots him. His breath audibly hitching. “Buck?” The use of his nickname and the concern in his voice has him letting out a harsh laugh. “It’s Buck now, is it?” He says finally turning around to face him. “Buck, you don’t have to do this.” He says stepping closer, but Athena holds her arm out. “Why should I listen to you? You’ve done nothing but belittle me since I got back. This isn’t your house, so I don’t have to follow your rules.” His voice is calm, and he looks over to where Hen, Chim, and Eddie have gotten out of the truck. He can see the horror in Hen’s eyes, and he feels kind of bad. She was the one who he confided in the most about being away from Luca. They had eventually bonded over their similar sexualities and marriages to people of the same sex.

“Eddie get me a harness.” Captain Nash says and he sees Eddie falter for a second before following the order. Chim stands beside Hen watching with wide eyes. No doubt trying to figure out how to explain what happened to Maddie. Hen is gripping her med bag tightly. “Think about the people that love you, Buck. Think about your family.” Captain Nash says and he turns his gaze once more to his captain. “My family consists of Luca Rizzoli and his family.” He says and Captain Nash shakes his head. “You’ve got us Buck.” Eddie says as he hands over the harness to his captain. He lets out another humorless laugh. “I’ve not had you since the bombing. I thought you were my best friend. But friends don’t call each other exhausting or shove them around. Family doesn’t belittle anything that’s ever happened to a member of said family.” Eddie looks guilty at his words. “Captain Nash, I used to think of you as a father figure. Now, I see that your no better than my own damn father who didn’t give a single shit about me. In a way this is your fault. You chose to lie to me about what happened. So the only way I saw to get back to my family was to fight for it. I turned down 7 million dollars to get back to my family. It was never even about the money. I just wanted you back.” He pauses to take a breath before continuing. “I knew it wasn’t going to be easy and I accepted that you all would be mad at me. I just didn’t expect for it to last a few months and involve being assaulted. You chose to leave me as the man behind. At first, I was fine with it. I knew you didn’t trust me. I figured I’d need to earn your trust back, but you never gave me the chance. Then after awhile it just started to hurt. You had taken away my ability to help people in a way I loved. I wasn’t being shot at or have the threat of getting blown up and I wasn’t in some active warzone halfway across the world.” Captain Nash had put on the harness as he was talking but never took his eyes of him.

“Please, let us make this right.” Captain Nash pleads with him, but he shakes his head resolved to do what he had come here for. “Think of Christopher. That kid loves you like you’re his father too. Think of what it will do to him if you die.” Eddie says. “That’s a low blow, Eddie. I did think of him. All the time. I wondered if he had nightmares from the tsunami. Wondered if there was any way I could help him, but you kept me away.” He seethes but his voice is still level. “I’m sick and tired of thinking of and putting other’s before myself. Call me selfish but I just don’t give a shit anymore. I’m tired of being other people’s punching back both physically and emotionally. I’m done.” He sees Hen and Chim start moving toward him. “I’m sorry but I just am.” With those final words he pushes himself away from the railing letting go.

The air is cool against his skin as he falls closing his eyes a thinking of his husband. He can hear the screams of the people he once called family, but the sound disappears as soon as he hits the water and his world fades to black.

The 118 stand shocked as their youngest member just jumped of the bridge. Henrietta Wilson falls to her knees as a broken wail leaves her. Her partner Howard Han stands in total shock trying to make himself believe that the man he considered as a brother has just ended his life. Edmundo Diaz has crumpled to his knees as well sobs leaving him as the reality of what he had done had cost him his best friend and the man his son considers as a second father. Athena Grant stands with her hand over her mouth and tears streaming down her face. It was like May’s overdose all over again but this time she wouldn’t be saving her child. Robert Nash is half leaning over the railing with his arm outstretched for the man that had become like a son to him. Guilt consumed each member of the 118 from their actions in the last few months. Athena’s guilt coming from her failure to save her boy. Each of them wondering how they were going to tell their family and how they were going to tell them it was their fault. How it was their actions that drove him to take his own life. “Get water and rescue down here to search the waters. I want his body recovered.” Captain Nash’s voice is void of any emotion as he gives the command. It prompts the others into action but a cloud now hung over them and its their own fault.

#911 fox #9 1 1 lone star #post lawsuit #post tsunami #post bombing #post embolism