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avadakaravadra · 6 years

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A Rockin’ Birthday || Lina & Jax

Date: 31 October 2017 @ approx. 3:00 pm Location: the office of Jackson and Catherine Karavadra, Camp Jupiter HQ

Kolina has a very special birthday present for Jax that she hand delivers whilst soaking wet, and drips all over Jax’s floor.

Lina wasn’t exactly sure if she and Jax were friends yet, but he had taken the time to be kind to her. She was leaning towards him being a friend, not that she would tell him that unprompted. Knowing it was his birthday, Lina had gone down to the lake and dived until she found the perfect rock for him. With hair still wet and her bathsuit making the white dress she wore stick to her, she went to his office. She knocked before coming in. “Happy birthday. Here is a rock.” She put out her hand where a very pretty rock laid in her palm.

Jax had been sitting in his office, elbow deep in paperwork regardless of whether it was his birthday or not when he heard a knock on the door. Looking up momentarily, he half expected it to be yet another legionnaire who had a complaint about some Halloween party or prank. Instead, he was surprised to see Lina walking in his doorway, dare he say somewhat pleasantly surprised. His eyes lingered for a single moment on the way her dress was sticking to her before he caught himself and instead looked towards the item she was holding in her hand. Considering it carefully, he confirmed that it was, indeed, a rock. “Well. It definitely is a rock.” Though the fact that she’d wished him happy birthday hadn’t escaped his notice, and may have actually garnered a small smile from him. Not many people wished him happy birthday before saying happy Halloween. “Thank you,” he wasn’t going to be rude in the face of a gift...even if he didn't understand it in the least. “Is it...a special rock?” Perhaps she’d given it some magical properties of some sort.

She hadn’t expected needing to go to his office his right after the Lake, but there she was standing in her bathing suit and wet dress. Thank the gods she had decided to bring hair ties with her to the lake this time, so her hair was actually twisted up into fun buns, rather than just dripping on the floor. “It’s for your birthday,” She told him simply. Lina had been told by Leo that Jax’s birthday was coming up, after all Leo had bounced a few gift ideas off on her. “No. It’s just a rock.” She wasn’t the best at getting gifts, but she did know she hadn’t gotten Jax a lake rock yet and she knew that lake rocks were the prettiest rocks. At least she thought they were. “There’s an underwater hole I dive to get rocks. I found this rock and it was a very nice rock. It was the perfect rock for you.”

Her attire was still rather distracting, but Jax took a few long moments to consider the rock in his hand, and a few moments later the corner of his mouth had twitched into the beginnings of a smile. “So it’s a birthday rock. Well, thank you,” he repeated. Something about Lina always made him somewhat confused, as she brought out tendencies he didn’t have much of around others. Such as the strangest urge to give her a half hug or something of the like in return for his gift. He couldn’t even remember the last time he’d given someone a hug. Perhaps it was because she didn’t even come to shoulder height on him. Either way— he suppressed the urge. “Why’s it the perfect rock for me?” he asked, amusement coloring his tone.

When she saw his smile, Lina couldn’t help but have a tiny one of her own. Nodding to the rock, she told him,“Rocks have energies too. I actually get most of my magic from rocks and the Earth, so that rock has a very similar energy to your’s. It melds with it pretty well I’d say. Plus, it’s pretty and everyone should have a pretty rock.” Maybe swimming in a Lake at end of October hadn’t been the best idea. She ignored the slight shiver that had started through her body, in favor of continuing to tell him about the rock. “It should be able to be used a focus, if you wanted it.”

Jax listened carefully, fairly foreign on rocks and their apparent energies. “You get most of your magic from rocks?” Perhaps he shouldn’t be surprised. While living in the world of demigods he had heard many a surprising thing. Though it also seemed somewhat fitting of Lina, that someone as sturdy and determined as her should get their abilities from the Earth. “What would one be doing if they were looking to use a rock as a focus.” He was reluctant to admit that he wasn’t the most familiar when it came magic and the like.

Lina nodded,”From the elements in general. During the fire, I was controlling it by stealing the energy from the fire. We all have different elements that work for them. Earth is my strongest, water is my weakest.” She loved swimming, but still water was the hardest for her to understand, with a close second being air. She shivered again, this time rubbing her arm a bit. “They would just hold it in their hand, close their eyes, and only focus on the rock. Once they get their focus, it’s just about shifting that focus to another task. And going back to the rock when they need to.”

Jax truly found her explanation of the elements and how she related to them interesting, and once she’d finished he let out a simple, “Huh. Yet here you are— rather eager to get wet,” he said as his gaze looked her from head to toe. The corner of his mouth tilted upwards into a smirk, taking amusement in his double entendre. His survey of her also caused him to take notice of the shiver that wracked her, and he stepped forward. His own hands ran absentmindedly up and down the sides of her arms, warming them, and his smirk persisted as he couldn’t resist saying. “You know— if you’re that cold I can think of a rather agreeable way to warm you up.”

Lina had to agree, she did take any opportunity she had to go to the Lake and swim. She had always loved being in the water, especially lakes. When she was younger, her and her father used to frequent a lake near them. It brought back fond memories. She nodded in agreement,“I am. I always have been. Diving is the only way to find the good rocks in a lake. You have to get wet for that,” She told him simply. Lina found herself leaning into Jax’s touch, she was very cold and he was very warm. “Oh? Do you have a fireplace? Or were you thinking something like tea?”

Jax knew that if it were anyone else leaning into his touch and talking about always being wet, he would have already had his lips on their’s. But there was something about his and Lina’s new friendship that made him hesitant. It was rather nice being solely friends with someone, knowing that they didn’t stick around for sex or anything else of the like as some others had. So he refrained from making any further moves, though he didn’t hold back the chuckle that escaped him as his words went over her head. “No. No fireplaces. But I do have some hot coffee and tea in my desk. So pick your poison.”

#c:Lina #chatzy #a rockin birthday

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fireandgloryrpg · 7 years

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Congratulations Kcat and welcome! We’re so happy to accept your application to play Wesley Austen Novak with the faceclaim of Matthew Clavane in Fire & Glory RPG! We can’t wait to begin roleplaying with you so please remember to look over our checklist!

!! tw: death mention, bullying !!

OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION

Name: kcat Pronouns: she/her/they/them Age: 21 Timezone: EST

ORIGINAL CHARACTER APPLICATION

BASIC INFORMATION

Name: Wesley Austen Novak Age and Birthday: 18 (to be 19 shortly), 25 October 1998 Faceclaim: Matthew Clavane (preferred because closer in desired age), Ezra Miller Heritage: Child of Thanatos Affiliation: Fifth Cohort Legionnaire

ACTIVE ABILITIES:

Necromancy: can communicate with the souls of the recently deceased; can raise the spirits of the dead for a brief period of time – raising the dead continuously drains their energy and must be used carefully, but if spirits are already present (i.e. hauntings), speaking with them takes no toll despite the fact that it might appear odd to watch them chatting with thin air.

Touch of Death: while the children of Thanatos can’t actually kill anyone via touch, they can drain a bit of their opponent’s life force – this ability at its maximum can render others unconscious, but while it may charge the child of Thanatos for a short time, the obtained energy will eventually wear off and the power won’t be available again until at least a few hours’ recharge.

Invisibility: Thanatos is known to carry out his reaping duties while invisible and his children have inherited this ability, but can only hold it for a maximum of about five minutes at a time with at least thirty minutes in between uses.

PASSIVE ABILITIES:

Can sense death nearby whether human, faunal, or monstrous.

Can handle Stygian iron weapons.

HEADCANONS:

Wes literally lives for Halloween. They’re usually more on the quiet and reserved side of things, but come October, their mood can switch to bright and bubbly at a moment’s notice. Halloween itself is that one rare day in the whole of the year that they don’t feel the label of “freak” clinging to their back. Wes has been finding comfort in graveyards since well before they were aware of their godly heritage, and they have often made better friends out of spirits than the living.

Wes is a solitary practicing witch. They don’t have powers like the children of Hecate or Trivia, however. Their status as a witch is purely spiritual and the craft they practice is a matter of reverence and regard to natural energies. Being thrust into the world of Greek and Roman gods has not changed their beliefs, but, in fact, widened them. Wes makes use of Temple Hill to send prayers and/or requests to the gods.

BIOGRAPHY:

!! tw: death mention, bullying !!

Imagine if you died and met your second dad. Sounds crazy, right? Well, then I guess that makes me a fucking lunatic.

Wesley Austen Novak met their godly parent en route to the emergency room. Lying there in the ambulance, they found themself blinking up at a Mr. Tall Dark & Handsome as he briefed them on two realities: one, that accepting Trevor McClane’s dare to swim across the pool in the middle of a thunderstorm was about one of the most idiotic things they’d ever done, and two, they were the demigod child of the god of death, aka. the “grim reaper”, which was one of the very few reasons why they’d be coming back from this dumbass stunt.

Wes always knew they were a little odd, but a demigod? Talk about a plot twist.

Wesley’s unbeating heart started up again seemingly on its own, to the shock and befuddlement of the Landen paramedics. As soon as they snapped up on their stretcher like something out of a horror movie jump scare, Thanatos was gone.

Wes was adopted and they were never told otherwise. Their single father was a lawyer who would be a hypocrite if he raised his kid on a lie while he preached the value of honesty. However, Wesley struggled to be honest with their father from a young age. Christopher Novak had always wanted a son. It was evident in his encouragement for Wesley to play sports, join Boy Scouts, play video games or go exploring with the other guys in the neighborhood… Wesley was good at all of these things, but they didn’t see why it was frowned upon when they invited the girls to play with the boys or why they were being lame when they wanted to do arts and crafts instead of staging an army mission on the playground. They didn’t understand, but they didn’t argue.

Wesley’s dad was everything to them. They wanted nothing more than to make him proud, and if that meant being the son he had always dreamed of, so be it. Landen, Ohio was a small, conservative, Midwestern town. Terms like genderqueer and nonbinary were practically unheard of in a district supported prominently by private religious education. Classes were tight-knit and theology was woven into the class material whether the students followed the faith that sponsored the institution or not, but the parents often paid this spiritual discrepancy little mind. The private schools held the highest ratings in the region, and who didn’t want that esteem for their child?

Wesley wasn’t the only child in the private school system who didn’t conform to the schools’ ideals. When they were admitted to their father’s Jesuit alma mater – an all-boys academy – they were just as thrilled as he was. The pride Christopher attributed to his high school had won Wesley over to the desire of attending it early on, but as the months went by, Wes started to realize that the glamour built up around St. Xavier Academy wasn’t all it was chalked up to be.

High school came with the opportunity for Wesley to start branching out and becoming their own person, but rather than drifting towards those who could have been their true friends, Wesley allowed their father to herd them with the boys of his own high school companions. Christopher had been a rather popular figure in his day, so it didn’t come as much of a surprise to Wesley when his friends, and thus their sons, also turned out to be popular among the student body. Wesley got swept up in their tide, pinned by a seemingly indomitable force of peer pressure and the need to please their parent. They pretended to be someone they weren’t, and it ended with them electrocuted in Trevor’s backyard swimming pool at a party that he wasn’t supposed to be having.

After Wesley met Thanatos, everything changed. When they say death changes a person, they aren’t kidding. Finding out they had a god for a parent turned Wesley’s entire world upside down. Suddenly it made so much sense why they spent all of their after-school study sessions in the cemetery and why they were drawn to a spirituality that dealt with balances between life and death. It also explained why their classmates in theatre kept giving them bizarre looks when they started chatting with the attractive young guy that hung around in the rafters, who, according to them, wasn’t really there.

Wesley started doing research on their parental deity (as one does when they suddenly find out they’re a demigod) and soon became hooked on the repeated theme that death has no gender – which makes perfect sense, when you think about it. Everybody dies at some point, right? Everybody mortal, anyway. Race, sexuality, gender– in pretty much every representation around the world, Death didn’t give a fuck. And oftentimes, Death didn’t have any defining identities either. So Wesley thought, ‘If death has no gender, why should I?’ Finding courage in the history and nature of their parent finally prompted Wes to step up and release the feelings they had kept caged nearly all their life.

Coming out as genderqueer at a conservative, religious, all-boys high school didn’t go well for Wesley. They lost the fake friends their dad had matched them with, and worse, suddenly they were the one bearing the brunt of their teasing. They tried to make new friends, but having hung around with the school terrors, even on the passive fringes, meant that their name was permanently tarnished within the halls of the academy. The administration, too, struggled with how to handle their declaration when certain parents called in in an uproar. Eventually, Wes made it easy for the lot of them: they dropped out.

Christopher was furious. Wesley was mortified. He urged Wesley to return to school, assuring them that they’d work something out, but Wesley couldn’t bring themself to do so. What’d been done, was done. The child of Thanatos had seen their last of private education. The day after dropping out, while Christopher was out at work, Wesley woke up to someone’s unrelenting knocking at the front door. When they finally dragged their ass out of bed half-awake to answer it, they found a pretty little satyr quivering on the step with a folded note and a small box in hand.

The note came from their father and spoke of a camp up in New York State where they could be free to express themself away from the threats of the mortal world. The small box contained a gift – a simple necklace with a black, crescent moon pendant hanging on the string. ‘Not to be rude,’ they told the satyr, ‘but this is all starting to sound a little far-fetched to me.’ Wesley kept the pendant but, with their apologies, sent Sage – the satyr – away. Not even her hooves had yet convinced them out of their gloom. It wasn’t until they took a walk over to their favorite cemetery that afternoon to think things over that Wes came abruptly face-to-face with the fact that they weren’t actually going crazy. One doesn’t exactly unsee a young, grieving widow transforming into a bloodthirsty empousa, nor do they forget their necklace expanding into the form of a large and very very sharp scythe at its owner’s sense of danger. The scythe bit probably would have been cooler if Wes had had the slightest clue how to use it; but alas, it was Sage who saved the day.

The satyr led them to safety and further to the sanctuary of Camp Half Blood. Wesley didn’t get to say goodbye to their father and he was never enlightened about their true parentage. For his own safety, Wesley has not contacted him since their departure.

Wesley arrived at Camp Half Blood when they were sixteen years old. In April of 2017, they transferred to Camp Jupiter and joined the Legion in hopes of improving their combat skills and someday taking up classes at UNR. Their aloofness, lack of recommendation, and lax attitude toward authority has placed them in the Fifth Cohort, but Wes doesn’t pay any mind to labels. They’re still figuring out their place in this world of gods and monsters, and being a graceus in Roman territory doesn’t make it any easier.

Para Sample: skipping because I’m eager and you already know Adri soooo ♡

#accepted #Wesley Novak

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djrikirocket · 4 years

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Halloween is tonight and we've got the bar looking haunted as hell! - Come join us in celebrating All Hallows’ Eve with local folk-rockers “The Legionnaires” as we dance and pray for their souls from 9:30 PM to just after midnight. - Then from 12.30 AM, the demons will take over the dance floor in a frenzy to get their freak on with resident @djrikirocket as she slays the dance floor with Halloween hits, creepy club anthems, terrorizing top 40 and horror house beats - it's going to be a scary good party!! - - Free Entry All night!! $4.75 Happy Hour 9 - 11 PM. Drink, beer and shot specials! Must be 18+ 🎃👻🍻 - - - - #jasperab #myjasper #nightlife #nightclub #music #party #goodtimes #livemusic #musicians #folk #rock #blues #liveband #music #entertainment #dance #dj #housemusic #top40 #hiphop #bassmusic #remix #halloweenparty #scarycostumes #clubanthems #drinks #venturebeyond #jasper #jaspernationalpark #spookyseason https://www.instagram.com/p/B4SV6JpgFtO/?igshid=139gg6eb86scy

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tommytejeda · 7 years

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Khund Legionnaires from the 30th Century #drawing #legionofsuperheroes #fanart #dc #comics #animated #style and almost #halloween #happy #friday #folks

#halloween #comics #style #legionofsuperheroes #drawing #dc #friday #happy #fanart #animated #folks

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jflashandclash · 7 years

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Attrition of Peace

Eleven: Ajax

You were Looking for Answers? That’s Hilarious!

Normally, when Pax found himself covered in blood, he’d have to take the opportunity to mess with someone. Maybe dramatically lie in a place where his brother would find him, or run into a room shouting, “Zombies! They’re everywhere!” and pretend to zombify… though this might not be the most ideal location to be a zombie. Too many trigger-happy kids with access to Roman weapons and chainsaws.

Right now though, he was too tired. He just wanted to slink back into the Fifth Cohort’s barracks unnoticed, and either curl up in Kally’s or his brother’s lap. Hades, he’d even go for Calex’s lap, under the condition that he’d make Calex feel absurdly uncomfortable before Calex would punch him in the back of the head.

When he saw some legionnaires playing poker on the Fifth Cohort’s porch, Pax couldn’t remember any of their names. He was too deliriously exhausted. If they talked to him, he decided he’d just give them a thumbs up and moonwalk into the barracks.

When they stood up, looking alarmed at his approach, he realized that moonwalking might break whatever character he was playing. Had he morphed into someone else? That would mean he wasn’t covered in blood. But his hair, height, and skinny jeans all felt like him.

“Oh—uh—Hazel’s not in yet. She’s still out with Frank,” one of them said.

“We can tell her to meet you by the temple if you want. That’ll give us more time to prepare for evening inspection,” the other said.

“Augh, evening barracks inspection,” the first groaned.

Pax jammed his hands into his pockets and shrugged, breezing right past them. “I’ll wait for her in here,” he grumbled.

Neither tried to stop him. They seemed too scared.

Pax stumbled into the barracks. As Pax had hoped, most of the Romans weren’t inside. They were likely out at the bathhouses during their tiny bit of free time after dinner.

Each little chamber had three sets of bunk beds and a section for their armor. When he finally found the empty room that his friends were assigned, he almost collapsed into Kally lap.

She sat on the floor beside the door, her knees pulled up so she could lean a notebook against them. Her honey hair was damp from a recent bath. The ends hanged against her sweatpants; Hazel probably loaned them to her.

Merry paced back and forth across the room, humming softly and tapping a cell phone in the crook of her shoulder and ear.

Euna was curled up in one of the barrack beds, Backbiter resting beside her pillow, like a replacement, homicidal teddy bear.

Axel and Calex were missing, likely at the Roman bathes, discussing Axel’s hopeful successes and that little surprise gift Pax had left in Axel’s pocket.

The thought of curling up in Kally’s lap was too much, like chowing down on a stack of Reese’s Sticks. Pax sank to the ground and rested his face against her leg.

Kally almost screamed, making Merry tap a finger to her lips to call for silence.

“Nico!” she yelped. “What are you—Pax?!?”

At her outburst, Merry shook her head to an unheard beat and stepped out of the room.

Nico? Pax glanced down at his hand to see a silver skull ring. That made enough sense. The Sexy Goth Prince could go anywhere he wanted in Camp Jupiter and New Rome without question. From what Pax had gathered, despite Nico being a hero and a close friend of Reyna’s, people still found the I play with dead things creepy.

“You’re wising up, Cyclops,” he murmured into her leg, not even caring how she’d identified him.

Her voice started angry, but he couldn’t blame her. Last time he’d turned into her half-brother’s boyfriend, he’d accidentally kissed her and less accidentally tricked her into swearing on the River Styx. And that was why Pax owed Kally cookies and cuddles for the rest of forever. That and because she was really hot and really cool—an impressive contradiction in the Book of Pax.

Her tone quickly softened and she could feel her hand slip against his face. “What happened?”

Pax could tell her what happened. That his little reunion with the traitor to Camp Othrys hadn’t gone as planned.[1] Though Pax hadn’t really planned it. He was more a “jump and check the bungee cord afterwards” kind of guy.

Instead of giving that riveting exposition, Pax winked his yellow eye at her—or what would have been his yellow eye if he looked like himself and not like a Halloween decoration. “Did you know I can morph into four or six different people a day with the same apple?”

She didn’t find this nearly as impressive as he did. “They sent people looking for you.” Her green eyes flicked past the entrance, like she was nervous about the Romans seeing them. To be fair, it might be kinda weird to have the Ambassador for Pluto napping in the middle of the barracks on a daughter of Apollo.

“You were worried about me,” he cheered, wishing he had enough energy to give that the smile it deserved. He also wished he had a full mariachi band on call for times like this.

“I got lost in New Rome,” he said. This was true. He had gotten lost in New Rome, which sounded like a bad reality TV show: Lost in New Rome: A Centurion’s Heartache.

After he and Atë parted, he was stuck looking for the jerk-traitor in an area he’d rarely had to spy in when he was the spymaster of Camp Othrys. A shame, since the University was so pretty and had more Greek elements than they were willing to admit.

When Kally continued to stare at him, he sighed. He’d have to tell her some of what happened.

“And I released all of the weasels from their weasel enclosure. Did you know Romans stuff weasels into bags with disobedient legionaries and toss them into the River? And they call us barbarians. What if the weasels got hurt?”

She relaxed. “I thought…” Kally raised her hand, like she wanted to touch her lips, but stopped herself halfway up. She smiled. “You and Axel... I’m surprised he hasn’t brought up faun rights since we got here.”

“Oh, I’m sure he slipped it in with some sexy banter to Reyna.” Pax rolled onto his back and reached a hand up to touch her chin, mimicking the way he assumed Axel would romance women. “Your eyes remind me of the green of jungle ferns, sparkling with mist just after a soft rain. Also, you should make a career center to decrease faun unemployment.”

Kally tried to scowl through her blush. “I’m pretty sure Reyna doesn’t have green eyes.”

“She doesn’t. I’m asking you, Kally, what you think you can do for faun rights.”

She shoved his hand away from her chin. That was that look she got when she remembered that she’d told Pax they couldn’t date because she couldn’t trust him. A very specific facial expression.

And, here he was, misdirecting the conversation, like someone she couldn’t trust... But, it was for the good of the team, right? What’s a couple of deals with the enemy for the good of the team? And he couldn’t tell her what happened with the traitor… that could implicate her, and she did not need to get in trouble for assuring weasel justice, among other things…

“Don’t talk to me like that when you look like Nico,” she snapped. “It’s weird.”

Normally, Pax might have reminded her that he couldn’t control how long he looked like a person. But Atë told him to try.

He remembered his half-sister lounging on a stack of gold in the corner after they’d found the pseudonym of the traitor to Mount Othrys. He’d wanted to ask her one last question before he tracked down the jerk: why Eris kept giving him the apples, despite the fact that he was working against her.

“Maybe you’re more god than human. Maybe you don’t need the apples. But what do I know? I’m just the Goddess of Mischief and Ruin. Remember not to trust anyone, Ajax!” She’d twiddled her fingers at him and poofed.

To turn into someone, he usually thought of their features and what they were like while biting one of his golden apples. What was the essence of Ajax Pax? He thought about cute and helpless things—like baby seals—and about Reese’s Sticks and weasels—

“I miss Hunnie and Baller,” Pax whined. He hadn’t been away from them for this long since… since Alabaster and Hecate gifted them to Axel and Pax.

“Pax!” Kally cried loud enough to make Euna roll in her bunk. “Your hands!”

There was the blood. The crusty, dried glittery-red was all over his hands, his forearms, and in smear marks across his jeans, where he’d tried to rub it off. But none on his T-shirt. The University of New Rome shirt was freshly… borrowed and clean.

“Would you look at that,” he said, wishing he wasn’t laying in her lap anymore.

“What did you do?! Where’d all that blood come from?!” she asked. “Ajax, you can’t just pretend this is nothing.”

“But you’re always willing to pretend this is nothing,” he whined. It was true. She’d always been willing to overlook things before. “Can’t you grow a backbone tomorrow or something?”

Before he could see Kally’s reaction, a pillow nailed him hard enough to knock the creepiness out of Zeus.

“You’re loud,” Euna stated in the same scary way a coroner might state, “Humans die of hypovolemic shock after losing 40% of their circulating blood.”

“Euna, you should become a baseball pitcher. Or throw grenades for the army. Either way, you’d be fulfilling someone’s dream,” Pax said, shoving the pillow away and sitting up.

Kally caught his hand, singing softly over the wounds. He hadn’t even realized there were still cuts all over them. With his accelerated healing, he assumed they’d be closed. With each of Kally’s notes about sunshine, a cooling sensation tingled his fingertips. And he started to realize how much they hurt.

“Ayyyye!” he whined.

“Pax has been someone else all day,” Euna grumbled. She’d sat up in her bunk, rubbing the sleepiness out of her eyes. “He left with Frank as Hazel this morning.”

Kally’s eyes widened. Her lips parted in shock and she dropped his hands. “As Hazel… You are what made Frank so flustered this morning?” Her eyes darted to the ground.

A horrific pang of regret sank Pax’s stomach, a fairly new emotion for him, but Kally was really good at inspiring it. Nothing could beat a consciousness into a person like disappointment.

His normal instinct for redirecting and evading crumbled at the look on her face. At least she wasn’t asking about the blood anymore. “Wait—I was—I had to steal a stick—a mysteriously important stick—from—”[2]

Merry waltzed back into the room, humming and nodding her head. “Paxy, I know you’re not saying or doing anything suspicious when we’re a day from getting home. And I know you’re not breaking Kally-Dear’s heart.”

The dangerous glint in Merry’s brown eyes reminded Pax that her father was the God of Madness. And parties. But he was pretty sure Merry wanted him to remember the madness part at that moment.

“Home?” he echoed and perked up. “We’re good to go back and terrorize Chiron?”

Merry nodded, hoping onto the bed beside Euna. Euna gave Merry a lazy glare.

“Rey-Rey gave us some money for airplane tickets,” Merry said. “I got us five to New York for tomorrow morning. Just in time to help my mom consult a lawyer. Though we’ll have to get a cab to camp from the airport. I can’t get a hold of Chiron or Dad to arrange a proper, fancy chauffeur.”

“Six tickets,” Kally said. She glanced up at Merry, rubbing the back of her hand across her eyes. With how pale she was, she couldn’t hide how blotchy her skin got when jerks made her tear up. Pax wished he could sic a weasel on himself. He’d never been held accountable for what he did on spy missions but… he guessed making out and fondling another guy might upset the average not-girlfriend.

“No, five. Reyna is holding Axel as a zesty hostage until they get word we made it back to Camp Half-Blood without any tricks or sneaks. Then he’ll be packaged up and shipped out after.”

Pax’s panic over Kally came to a seizing halt. “Wait—we’re leaving my brother? Without getting a dowry? I did not agree to that! What if they kill him!? And communications have been down with Camp Half-Blood!”

Axel was way too awesome to be held hostage. Especially not by people who had more reasons to kill him than politicians had secret agendas. Especially not when he was prone to blurting stupid things around girls he liked, like, “I used to kill your friends,” and “I sing cheesy love ballads when I shower.”

Merry gave Pax a half-grin. “On the long list of things Reyna wants to do to Mr. Stoic and Mysterious, I think killing him is low in priority.”

“He’ll be fine,” Euna agreed, “We should be focused on how we’re going to stop and punish Eris, Phobetor, and the others.”

Kally, Pax, and Merry exchanged a quick, confused glance. Yea, Pax had pulled pranks on gods and titans, Kronos in particular, but punishing?

“Punishing gods is kind of a godly thing,” Merry explained. “Like when Zeus stripped Apollo and Poseidon of their godly powers and hotness. Or when he hung Hera over the nothingness of Khaos, so she could dance to the music of evisceration. Not really stuff us demigods can do.”

Euna’s gaze narrowed. Her fingertips danced across Backbiter’s hilt. Pax was glad the blade didn’t start laughing maniacally or attempt a soliloquy about homicidal sword thoughts.

“Khaos can eviscerate a god?” she asked.

Merry shrugged. “The gods seem to think so. But Khaos is under Tartarus. Which is under Hades. It’s a lighthearted road trip with lots of musical numbers. Most gods won’t willingly do a ride along there.”

“Could we bring part of Khaos to them?” Euna asked. “I bet they wouldn’t mess with the camp if we had it.”

Merry frowned. “Euna…” Her tone was abnormally worried compared to Merry’s normal buoyant voice. “Unless you had Pandora’s Box or something that can capture the ess—”

Pax raised his hand. “Can we stop theorizing about how to kill my mom? I know she’s negligent and kinda evil, and occasionally kills my friends as collateral damage, but don’t all parents do that?”

That definitely fit his Dad’s profile. And when Jack decided to play the part of Axel and his surrogate father, and Flynn as their surrogate mother, they were fairly similar. Just with more fun trips to the circus and genuine hugs. So really, Eris could have been worse in the parenting department… right?

One day, Pax would have a brood of mini Paxes that he would take to the circus, give genuine hugs, not neglect, and not kill their friends on accident. Those might have been high expectations for a Pax, but he at least needed to set the bar.

At the thought, he glanced back over at Kally. Her eyes were still red-rimmed, but she made eye contact. Normally, he’d love that look of pity. He would have curled into her lap, reminded her they would have beautiful children with his tan complexion and her green eyes, and told her he wouldn’t fondle any more guys without her permission, even if it compromised a mission.

But right now, he wanted to puff up his chest, look strong like Axel,[3] and laugh like, “I’m fine! What’s a dead brother and a dead father when you can cause chaos in New Rome?”

“This is all suspiciously easy,” he said to change the subject to something lighter.

“Easy?” Euna asked. He hadn’t noticed, but her knuckles were white around Backbiter’s hilt and Merry’s hand was delicately placed over hers. For a sickening moment, he could envision a counter in Euna’s head: Two Paxes down! Four to go!

He really hoped she didn’t have a vendetta against his family. She’d have to get on a wait list.

“Not like, the last month,” he quickly said. “Just… Mom and the others put us in a Trojan Mario and dropped us off by the Little Tiber with a bunch of gods and people that hate Axel and me. She said she wanted us out of the way right now, so she could do obligatory evil things to Hemera and obligatory evil things with Camp Half-Blood. Yea, we lost a few weeks of time and yea, we were stalled a bit by Reyna and Axel wanting in each other’s military skirts but…”

It hurt him to admit this, but Pax inhaled deeply. “If I were an evil villain, that wouldn’t be enough chaos for me. And Mom and I… may have some similar personality traits.”

An uncomfortable moment passed where Pax almost hoped someone would say, “Na Pax. You’re cool.”

No one did. They all looked worried and he got the feeling he was right.

One thing was for sure: there was no way he could leave Axel alone in New Rome. Something else bad was going to happen, and he wasn’t willing to lose his brother as more collateral damage. What Atë said floated through his mind. “Remember not to trust anyone.” He wasn’t planning on it. Especially not the Romans. Especially not after he’d hunted down their spy.

[1] So, there is actually a chapter missing from this book that should go RIGHT before this chapter. Later, I’m going to make it a chapter-gone-short story, but I can’t put it in now, because it’ll give away the identity of the traitor in Tales from Mount Othrys, book 5. So I didn’t forget that Pax has to have his… confrontation with this person. But you won’t get who this person is until the end of the series. And there is a reason why the Romans aren’t freaking out about a body or an assault. You’ll get all of that in the short story. Assuming I don’t get hit by a bus before then. We’ll see.

[2] I’m 90% sure this is how all my excuses and explanations sound to friends and family -.-

[3] Also known as, “Strong , like ox.”

Ah! Sorry guys, I thought the next chapter was Frank’s chapter, so we had a little more build up during this one. But don’t worry! The book is going to earn its title in the next two chapters XD

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed!

#Traitors of Olympus #Percy Jackson and the Olympians #PJO #Heroes of Olympus #HOO #Camp Jupiter #photography #fanfiction #writing #Pax #Kally #Calex #Euna #Merry #Eeeee! Next Chapter triggers the fall! :D

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