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12pt-times-new-roman · 4 months

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c3e81

As a reminder, because I sort of missed it in my last post: Fearne absorbing and re-activating the shard also awakened Ashton's shard, and they were both transformed.

"What if every so often an ancient stone titan surfaces on Ashton's face and he goes, 'oh, the ancient times!'" boy that is RICH coming from Laudna--

On the bright side, now that the shard has been absorbed, Delilah's want for it has subsided.

Chetney talks about his family. He doesn't blame them for leaving, not at all — they were fleeing a red dragon — but he's considering making a deal with Nana Morri for his youth.

Outside, Ashton and Fearne are figuring out their new powers. While in their transformed state, Ashton can glide through unworked/loose earth or stone freely, and it sounds like their speed is increased. They can use this to run up sheer cliff-faces, and by submerging themself only halfway in the stone they can carry people up with them like an elevator. Their pain is gone in this state, and when it returns, it feels welcome.

For Fearne, while in her transformed state she's immune to fire damage, a creature that hits her takes 1d8 fire damage, and her fire spells are more powerful now. She also floats about a foot off the ground, so her movement ignores difficult terrain, and when she touches the ground she leaves little black scorch marks. Even in her un-transformed state, she has a slight smoke drifting from her hair, and a little flame in her pupils.

Both Ashton and Fearne have abilities that they can unleash that will exhaust them significantly. It's unclear how long their transformed states last for and how many times they can use them per day.

Meanwhile, Chetney goes to Nana Morri to ask about a "wish."

Monsters, frost worms, opening bottles, wind, fire — whatever. I will always be impressed by the quality and variety of Matt's hinge creak sound effects.

Morri reveals that she doesn't grant wishes, she makes deals — there has to be collateral, and if people don't hold up their end of the deal, they become like the topiaries in the garden.

Chetney very, very carefully proposes a deal: he gets imbued with some of Morri's power, in exchange for the ability for her to exert more of her power over the mortal realm. (Chetney's shadow touched feat suddenly makes a lot of sense — a suspicious amount of sense, actually.) Morri changes the scenery to a dark, empty space with a single table.

"What is it that you want specifically? Tell me your dreams." "Well, I would love to never die, but that seems a little much. So — I was wondering... do people ask to return to their youth?" Both are things she's granted before, but she cuts to the root: Chetney came in here with a singular desire, greater than either of those requests. "I want to be the most famous toymaker the world has ever known." "Now that just requires a little bend of fate, doesn't it?" Morri pulls a golden thread from Chetney's chest, it stretches from dark to dark, and as she pulls on it a cold sensation courses through Chetney. "And what will you give me?" "What would you want?" "Bring me a piece of what you hunt. Bring me a piece of the God-Eater." "Let me do some simple arithmetic here — it's a deal." As it is stricken, she runs her hand over the lantern, alights her palm with white fire and clasps Chetney's hand with it — the cold touches his palm and that golden thread seems to twist and tangle a bit, then she withdraws. "Very well. Make me proud, and you'll be notorious."

(god this is going to backfire so badly — like, if Predathos is anything like the Lovecraftian horrors it's very clearly modeled after, a piece is all it needs. am I the only one thinking of a color out of space here?)

They start their long rest and have the campaign's first heroes' feast! FCG feeds the Bells Hells plus Allura, Pate, and Mister. Their HP max goes up by 13, they are immune to being poisoned and frightened, and they make all wisdom saves with advantage for the next 24 hours.

For the first time in many, many days, they set up their dream ritual. FCG brings everyone except Chetney and Fearne into Imogen's dream.

Imogen's intent with this dream is to enter the beam and travel to Ruidus, to see what happens when she does. She glides past clouds beneath the starry sky and eventually finds herself in a corkscrew, drifting — all five of them are already gliding along the Bloody Bridge, hurtling upward toward the Moon of Ill Omen. Sparks pulse through it and almost catches them up in it — they're shunted, dragged through, like a rollercoaster. Before long, they untether from the beam and start free-falling toward the dusty surface of Ruidus. There are mountain ranges, chasms, and slivers of silver carving through the landscape — before they arrive at the core of the Ruidian storms. In this lost space, there is no sense of up or down, just the storm, the wind — they're lost.

Imogen opens her mind, and for a brief moment she feels like she's tapping into a greater consciousness, minds like background radiation that flicker beyond reach; the storm clears like she's in the eye and she sees Exandria above. The ground itself is vibrating like there's a stampede, it's warm, the stones seem to shift. And she lets go.

The only thing that's kept her dangling above an abyss, Imogen allows it to snap. She tumbles into the ground and the black warmth envelops you; to the rest of them, the dark is rough, jagged, scary. They see and feel nothing except for dread, and an alien presence that washes over and through them — but Imogen feels comfort, sensations of running into Liliana's arms, Laudna's arms, memories of hugging her horses, a sense of belonging. They pass through rock, flashes of color — cavern networks that snake like a labyrinth beneath the crust of the moon. Glimpses of teal crystal and subterranean rivers, water, oceans — alien, red life that swim through it whose green eyes track them. But darkness, still. A distant voice calls — "wait, Imogen, no—" and it's gone.

Their descent stops. The rest of them drift into suffocating darkness, Imogen is gone — the shared dream spell ends.

Imogen senses a presence unlike anything she's ever experienced. It's so immense that her entire being vibrates with power, she worries as it suffuses her that she might be pulled apart — that white flash she saw, these moments where the world rent itself around her, that power pulls to rend her but she belongs here. She is home. This is the womb, and she wishes nothing more than to return to this place with her entire core — but she wakes, then. Moments later.

This is an excellent setup for this, especially because it's giving Laudna and Imogen conflicting information and motives. Laudna, FCG, Orym, and Ashton all know that this darkness is rough and lifeless and it will shred them, suffocate them — but Imogen is being supernaturally coerced into selfishness. This feels like a big red flashing sign that says "some powers are not worth embracing, sometimes giving in to power will change you irreparably and you will not like what you see in the mirror anymore" and yet they're still pushing her to embrace it against her better judgment.

I am once again begging someone to acknowledge that FCG does not, in fact, need to sleep and can keep constant watch with no detriment to themself

Their long rest passes without issue, but in the middle of the night, when he's sure no-one is watching, Orym knocks on Nana Morri's door.

"The way I understand it, from what Fearne tells me, you can help people. You make deals. Well, um... my friends are all pretty amazing, the things they can do, I can't even fit it all in my head, and I'm really good with a sword but I'm a little nervous I'm not ready for what we're about to do tomorrow. [None of you are ready.] The point is, I feel the least ready in our group, and I wanna see this through, I wanna get it done, and I wanna get them back. I wanna get Fearne back, and all of them. So... if you can somehow make me better at protecting them, or stronger, more capable at what I do, I might agree to a lot."

Morri's eyes look past Orym, beyond, and when Orym looks back he's in the same dark space, with the same white lantern on the same table. "Your passion is to protect your friends, yes?" "My friends, your granddaughter — I don't know if there's a friends and family discount, but...?" "And what do you have to offer, little Ashari?" "Well, if I see them all through and we get it done, I'll serve you." "You smell of the touch of divinity. That makes you enticing. Well, now that Fearne's all grown up and might be finding her own way, it does get a bit lonely here in the manor. Maybe it'd be nice to have a caretaker." "These have to be worded just right, Imogen said — that's if we see it through. Every one of Bells Hells makes it back and we see it through. That's an easy trade. Back alive, happy, safe, and healthy." "Well, you have to leave happy to return happy, and health is in varying states at least. Return at least as you are." "Return alive." "Very well."

Morri grants Orym the ability to call upon her when he's in need (and probably some other abilities, too) in exchange for his service to her, provided that every one of the Bells Hells returns from Ruidus alive.

They get a long rest, but Imogen falls asleep missing that sensation she experienced at the core of the moon.

I have 3 primary thoughts about Orym's deal. First is that there is a Laudna-sized hole in Orym's insistence that everyone returns alive — in fact, he specifies that against Morri's stipulation of "returns as they are," so it sounds like Orym was working in a loophole. Second, this has the potential to be a big act 3 setup centering around breaking or finding a loophole int hat deal. And third, FEY PALADIN ORYM !!!! (he doesn't have the stats to multiclass into warlock but ancients or devotion paladin?? yeah.)

In the morning, they have a meal, then head back to Exandria. It's hardly been an hour since they left. They arrive in the familiar Hellcatch Valley, where there is a strong reddish hue to the entirety of the landscape. Ruidus hangs above them, larger than they've ever seen, silent and consuming the air above them. They're miles away from the Tishtan excavation site, and as they walk towards the west encampment (where Allura's allies are), then can see numerous legions, signs of battle, skyship wreckage — there has been warfare here, skirmishes, sides testing boundaries but nothing all-in. There's an air of held breath.

As they enter, Allura is met by three authority figures: Myth-Taker Qi Mandozi, an older orcish man, of Ashanedoor; Guardian Tofur Bratoris, a silver Dragonborn woman in full plate armor, wearing the symbol of the Council of Tal'dorei; and Dawnmarshal Earthbreaker Groon, the most muscular grandpa they've ever seen, leader of Kord's temple in Vasselheim.

All of them carry a presence, but Groon has a force that carries a massive weight; he is an individual who walks with the strength of the gods. "Underestimation is a powerful thing."

Into the war-tent!

Ohohoho, Earthbreaker Groon has some kind of Ruidus-born radar — Fearne catches him staring at her and Imogen like a parent looks at a child who's done something wrong.

Also inside the war-tent are Percy and Keyleth! They explain that the reason the Bells Hells are so important in this endeavor is because they are not being watched, they are not being paid attention to — "because so few, for now, know of you."

The Ruby Vanguard is trying to divide the world. Doomsday cults are rising in response to recent events, and the Vanguard is taking advantage of them to raise support for their cause; in doing so, they are waging ideological war on the home-front in addition to waging a militaristic war around the Malleus Key.

Percy unveils one of their distraction attempts: "butcher wagons," cloaked with illusions to look like a massive assault but instead stocked with buckets of blood; the Vanguard's forces will be drawn away and the wagons will be detonated, creating the illusion of an actual battle to keep them occupied for up to 30 minutes. That's how long the Bells Hells will have to get to the key. Luckily for them, the Vanguard's most intelligent members are already on the moon.

The Bells Hells will enter from the opposite side and slip in unnoticed during the battle. Because of their sabotage of the key earlier, the dispelling field is not present, but there are a significant number of Reilorans on the ground who can sense their minds — the scrolls will help with that.

"If you are discovered, ensure there are no witnesses. Whatever that means to you — whether silencing them or taking them with you — this is war. This is about all of us. All of us." Groon speaks with the voice of Kord on that last line.

Allura advocates for redemption and rehabilitation of the members of the Vanguard, if possible, when Laudna questions what the threshold is. But again — this is war. Keyleth, without eye contact, pipes in. "Save who you can, but do what is right."

Their mission while on Ruidus is to learn what they can. Who the Reilora are and what they want, whether they have a leader who can be parlayed with, what Ludinus' intentions are and how long he needs to achieve them — anything they can get, until they feel it is too dangerous to continue.

Fearne approaches Groon and asks about the look he gave them. "These eyes do not look anywhere; I sensed you. You are Ruidus-born, both of you." The entire tent knows, now. Keyleth advocates for them in good faith, not knowing what Imogen just did the night before.

They had tried to work with Ruidus-born before, and at a certain point, they just forgot what they were doing and joined their new friends. "Well, that's not gonna happen with us." FCG, you fucking wish, buddy—

Allura advocates for them too, and Groon looks back at them. "I trust they are capable, for they know that if they turn, the storm will find them. But you are of the storm, are you not?" "I am the storm, baby." "It seems your friends have more faith in you than you have in yourself. Be prepared to rely on them, when the time comes."

"You are the tip of the spear, and we are everything to follow. We just need you to guide us." Keyleth turns to Percy. "Why does it always take a bunch of assholes to get anything done?" (Ashton, reading Percy like a book: "He likes us!")

And here we go with Laudna enabling Imogen in literally anything even when it means giving up everything. "What if it is your calling? I don't want to stand between you and what you really want—" I am going to s c r e a m

But Laudna goes and asks Keyleth about what was distracting her before: it's Vax, trapped in that orb. "We need to set him free." She also confirms that the bridge is the only connection Exandria has to Ruidus; the moon is completely shielded against divination, teleportation, and everything else. The bridge needs to stay, Vax needs to keep screaming, until their business is done.

Before they leave, FCG casts telepathic bond — y'know, that one spell that allowed the Ring of Brass to hear each others' last thoughts as the ground came up to meet them and that eventually enabled the escape of a flighted scion who carried their memories into the after-times?

Earthbreaker Groon puts a hand on Imogen's shoulder, and she sees a flash of Kord in a roiling storm, and she hears his voice, growling. "You have my eye. There is greatness in you. Do not let us down." "I won't."

something something about how Ruidus being tethered to Exandria may have opened it up to the influence of Exandria's pantheon and the one who would have the greatest influence over the surface and of Imogen's dreams would, of course, be the Storm Lord

But as the preparations end, the two fronts roll out.

Allura, Qi, and Percy accompany the wagons, while Keyleth brings the Bells Hells in close. She casts gaseous form on them all, and they begin their trek toward the Malleus Key.

From above, they can see the illusions overtake the butcher wagons: a charging wave of gargantuan armored beasts, thirty feet high and four arms each, like massive gorillas; rhinos, armored; an entire frontal assault, flanked by massive elementals with flaming rock-wings, the married imaginations of two high arcanists working in tandem.

Their bodies reform at the edge of the crater and Keyleth turns to them. "You have a few minutes to gather your thoughts; then, be on your way." The clouds above her grow thick and dark, flashes of lightning break, and the entire vicinity is as if a thunderous hurricane has touched down in the center of Marquet. Lightning strikes clear a path for them as they don Ruby Vanguard robes, but they can already see the entire perimeter guard doubling as the attention is drawn to the surface, then to the wagons.

Gaseous form lasts for 8 hours, so it could be of use to them down the road — not just now, though, because of how long it takes to transform into and out of the form.

They begin to approach, and horns sound from inside the site — the first group stealth roll of the encounter rounds to about 28-30, so I think they're in the clear for now as dozens of crawlers and Reiloran warriors collide with the illusion. Spells are being flung from inside the illusion, Percy's contraptions fire cannons and explode payloads, the illusion shapes and reacts — it's a magnificent display of arcane prowess as they crest the edge of the Tishtan site.

#critical role #note watches c3 #critical role campaign 3 #critical role spoilers #critical role c3 #critical role liveblog #long post

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honourablejester · 21 days

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Adventure Ideas from Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons

I’m rereading it recently, it’s definitely one of my favourite D&D books I’ve ever bought. And the Adventure Hooks & Connected Creatures sections of each dragon’s entry in this book’s Draconomicon are so good for adventures/adventure elements involving dragons. Some of my favourites, arranged according to vague categories:

Dragon Dungeons

“Ruins rumored to hold the treasury of a lost empire are guarded by an elaborate network of ooze-based traps designed by a restless adult black dragon.”

“An adult black dragon has hidden a cache of gems in a dismal topiary maze filled with shambling mounds, traps, and noxious plant life, all for the amusement of testing adventurers.”

(Black dragons, because of their association with fallen cultures and propensity for traps, make for great dungeon builders. Also, acid is just a nasty environmental hazard to build around, and they’re exactly the sorts of sadists who’ll make full use of it)

“A deep dragon wyrmling with an experimental bent has created a "garden" of gray oozes.”

“An adult green dragon and an adult gold dragon skirmish over control of the vine-choked ruins of a floating mausoleum and its library of talking skulls.”

(I have many, many questions about this one. Starting with the floating mausoleum (floating on water? In the air?), the library of talking skulls (though there’s one of those in Sigil as well, necromantic libraries of trapped spirits are apparently a thing), and finishing with why this particular pair of dragons are skirmishing over it. Are they each looking for information? The same information or different information? Is one of them, likely the gold, trying to destroy the library? I just. I have so many questions about this set of circumstances, and it’d be a fascinating thing to have a party stumble across, especially if they have something THEY might want from the library as well)

“A topaz dragon is building a tableau of desiccated creatures and has grown obsessed with catching one treasure hunter who escaped the dragon's clutches.”

NPCs with Draconic Friends

This is just a fantastic collection of NPCs to scatter around and have parties meet. Starting from NPCs with wyrmling companions, ranging from the fun to the rather tragic:

“A gnome relic hunter looting a long-abandoned city strikes up an unlikely partnership with a black dragon wyrmling to plunder an archaeological dig.”

“A knight rescued a bronze dragon wyrmling from sacrifice at the hands of a cult, and the two now travel together in search of wrongs to right.”

“A tiefling child has secretly hidden and raised a red dragon wyrmling from an egg. The wyrmling is bonded to the child, but dangerous to anyone else.”

“A family of deep gnomes adopts a shadow dragon wyrmling, hoping to show the dragon a noble path through gloom and despair.”

“A pirate crew keeps a curmudgeonly topaz dragon wyrmling as a beloved mascot.”

To NPCs with young dragon companions:

“A child's imaginary friend is a very real young copper dragon who can cast invisibility.”

“A young crystal dragon uses dancing lights and hypnotic pattern to give an air of authenticity to a charlatan fortuneteller's act, in exchange for a portion of the take from the charlatan's clients.”

“An assassin and a young emerald dragon train together to master the art of stealth.”

To more dangerous NPCs/enemies with adult or older draconic protection:

“An adult shadow dragon and a death knight are both hunted by adventurers. In their previous lives, the two were sworn enemies, but now they join together against their common foes.”

(There’s a real romance to this, two sworn enemies who fell to separate evils who come together now for pure survival. I would TOTALLY play this for undying loyalty, have the two of them be undoubtedly evil but also genuinely, death-defyingly loyal to each other, the only ones who know fully what each other has been through.)

“A death knight and an ancient white dragon swap tales of old foes and unanswered grievances, nursing the hunger for vengeance that sustains them.”

(Not going to lie, I’m really fond of this pairing, and not just because it’s a fantastic picture of two bitter, hateful, disgruntled old fogies sitting in the bitter cold grumbling together about ancient grudges, but instead of two grumpy old men at a bar, one of them is undead, and the other is a DRAGON. If the party is good at stealth, it’d be a fantastic picture to throw at them, you’re just hiding there holding your breath while these two incredibly lethal foes just *grumble* and commiserate with each other)

Dragons Loyal Beyond Death

Somewhat of a continuation of the above, more draconic loyalty, even after the death/corruption of the one they’re loyal to:

“An adult gold dragon feels responsible for a paladin's fall from grace and sends minions across the world in search of the paladin—now a death knight—so they both might be redeemed.”

(Fizban’s firmly believes that dragons and death knights make the best thematic companions, and I will grant them this point, because it’s got some fantastic warped chivalric imagery and I love it. A nice quest to entangle the party in if they’re the sort to enjoy moral quandries and redemption)

“A renowned gnome trickster, now deceased, so impressed an ancient copper dragon that the dragon assumes the gnome's form from time to time to help keep their legend alive.”

(This is just the … the best, most loving use of a dragon’s lifespan and shapeshifting abilities. That theme from The Last Unicorn of immortality through the memory of an immortal being. And of *course* it’s a gnome and a copper dragon, of course it’s the admiration of two tricksters. I’m not sure how well it’d fit into an adventure, but having a party learn this secret and decide what to do with it, to reveal the deception or let it continue, could be an interesting angle)

“Despite repeated mind flayer attacks, a young deep dragon refuses to leave the cave where the dragon's best friend—an adventurer who won the dragon's respect and affection—lingers as a ghost.”

(… I’m crying. What’s the solution here? Convince the ghost to move on or otherwise lay the ghost to rest so that the dragon can leave, knowing that this will mean the dragon loses their friend for good? Try to convince the dragon to leave their friend even if they still exist? Try to destroy the mindflayer colony? Try to somehow hide the cave from the mindflayers, so that the two can stay together? Try to distract the mindflayers with a different conflict so they’ll focus their efforts in that direction instead (at the risk of other nearby inhabitants)? What a fantastic and heartbreaking little situation to stumble across)

Dragon Communities

Whole communities that have incorporated or built up around a dragon, for when you want dragons as an acknowledged part of daily life somewhere, and have parties decide how to deal with that:

“An adult copper dragon serves as the patron of a community of gnome tinkerers, who present their best ideas to the dragon in hopes of being funded.”

(Sidenote: gnomes and dragons seem to get on great)

“A community of seal hunters reveres an ancient crystal dragon as the spirit of their glacier home. Such worship amuses and flatters the dragon, who keeps the hunters safe and leads them to locations where seals are plentiful.”

“A clan of gnomes pays a young dragon turtle to serve as a mobile refueling platform for their fleet of steamboats.”

(I love this one SO MUCH. Starting from the gnome steamboat flotilla itself, however you want to play this, from just a great lakes inspiring shipping business to an after-the-end Waterworld type scenario, to them then having a goddamn dragon turtle cooperating with them. Fantastic from all angles)

“An emerald dragon is the headmaster in absentia of a bardic college and must be convinced to defend the school in a contest against a rival college.”

Other Cool Dragon Plots

And then just some assorted draconic plots, which was *almost* just ancient dragons causing problems, but there was also one miscellaneous shadow dragon prompt that was just fantastic as well:

“An ancient green dragon is the guardian of a lich's phylactery and extorts favors from the lich.”

(Now *there’s* a power struggle to get embroiled in. A lich attempting to use the parties as agents to unknowingly retrieve their phylactery for them from an *undoubtedly* evil dragon’s hoard, and a subtle, sneaky green dragon who is literally *holding the lich’s life hostage against it* and who could potentially just reveal that to get the party to back off. If they didn’t feel like be subtle and using their own shapeshifting to turn the party back on the lich some other way. I fucking love green dragons. They’re such fantastic bastards and I adore them)

“An ancient crystal dragon follows a pod of whales from one sea to another, having grown fond of the valuable ambergris they leave in their wake. Now whalers are scheming to kill the dragon.”

(Okay. This is just such great *imagery* to start with, the whales and the whalers and the vast draconic protector, the greed and the livelihoods and the protection of nature, the looming mercantile interests of the perfume industry that uses the product … Ambergris is such a fascinating RL substance and history. Also, great quest if you’ve got druids or other characters interested in the protection of nature, balanced against more ‘civilised’ interests and risking’s the party’s relationship with some likely quite powerful players)

“An ancient deep dragon has put the folk of a city to work building the dragon a metropolis to rule in the center of a vast underground salt lake.”

(Again, this is just such a great, eerie image for a party to stumble across. The vast white lake under the black ceiling, the salt-scarred slaves (or are they slaves? could they be working willingly, and why?) toiling to raise labyrinthine white walls, the strange, fungal, nightmarish dragon at the centre of it. Given the deep dragon attraction to knowledge and writings, there could be an underdark library involved, strange writings embedded in carved salt granting the entire edifice unnatural durability as the deep dragon’s regional effect, that physical forms of writing cannot be damaged by nonmagical means within 6 miles of the lair, mean that these white, bloodstained walls *will not fall easily*. It’s just … such an image)

“A shadow dragon hunts the descendants of the miners who, centuries ago, uncovered the Shadowfell portal that caused the dragon's corruption.”

(And for a finisher, I just really like this. This miner’s curse, this vengeance from beneath the earth, this black shadow that follows a family line for not even a crime but a centuries-old *accident*. Possibly the Miner Forty Niner from Scooby Doo stuck a little too hard for me, but cursed miners is still just a great image. Is it worth attempting to convince the dragon that the sins of the fathers should not be borne by the sons? Or do we just have to slay the dragon?)

Conclusion

I do love this book. A lot. The Draconomicon section on its own is well worth reading. But, well. I also just really like dragons. So there’s that. Heh.

#d&d #fizban's treasury of dragons #dragons #dragon adventures #whoever was writing these sections #i love you and also wish to pick your brains

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mtg-cards-hourly · 2 years

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Topiary Stomper

Artist: Robin Olausson TCG Player Link Scryfall Link EDHREC Link

#mtg #magic the gathering #tcg #$1.55 #robin olausson #topiary stomper #streets of new capenna promos #creature #plant #dinosaur

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prongsmydeer · 7 months

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Ayesha Liveblogs Shrek 3 and 4

The wild gendered expectations they have on Pinocchio to hate dinner theatre LMAO

"I am the rightful King of Far Far Away." On what grounds, Prince Charming?

Why does Shrek have to do all the knighting and christening of boats when Fiona is the royal heir? Even in Shrek we cannot escape the misogyny of inheritance laws

"Imagine an Ogre baby. They extra cry, and they extra poop." This is unfortunate foreshadowing for how many babies they're gonna have

"I am proud to call you my Frog-King Dad-in-Law." Ghkjhgkjhg Shrek is as preoccupied with Harold being a frog as Harold was with him being an Ogre

"You and Fiona are next in line for the throne." Again, I feel like Fiona has this whole like, princess her whole life thing going for her. Why does Shrek need to be ruling in any way

NOT KING HAROLD BEING SENT TO REST IN YE OLDE FOOT LOCKER BOX:

Why has Doris been thrown out of the bar!! Who is Mabel!!

"And you, Frumpypigskin." "Rumplestiltskin." "Where's that firstborn you were promised?" I think this is supposed to be foreshadowing for the next Shrek movie

"How does it happen?" said Donkey, as if he did not have at least five children (six if we count the missing baby, whose name is apparently Éclair)

"My stomach aches and my palm just got sweaty. Must be a high school." Relatable. Also the implication that Shrek went to high school. Was it an Ogre high school or a general high school for fairytale creatures

"My friend Tiffany thinkest thou vex her so soothly. And she thought perchance you would ask her to the homecoming dance." Tiffany confirming that the Shrekfucker community is alive and well

Not Arthur Pendragon being bullied by the nerds omg

Fgjkhkghkgjh Guin being repulsed by Arthur. Rough

I guess we know where Doris is!! At Fiona's baby shower

"I got you the biggest one, because I love you the most." HAHAHAHA not Snow White giving Fiona a PERSON as a present

HAHAHAHAHA I love Pinnochio double negativing Charming into confusion

"He'll never fall for your tricks!" [Nose grows] Pinocchio knows Shrek is very gullible

Most of Shrek's problems are related to just being too strong to handle his own body

How long does Shrek think he can hide the fact there are other heirs to the throne. Does he think if he waits til they're in Far Far Away, Artie won't turn back?

"Somebody help! I've been kidnapped by a monster trying to relate to me." This movie strongly feels like it was written by the parent of a teenager LMAO

"Please leave any bad vibes outside the healing vortex." Me trying to talk to my parents

"My dad wasn't really the fatherly type either." 1) The plot of this movie is simply Daddy Issues: Shrek Edition and 2) Are we finally going to find out where some of the other Ogres are?

I guess we have taken until the third movie to confirm that some, if not most, Ogres, are pro-eating each other, at least. Shrek's father said, I put you in this world, I can take you out

"People used to think I was a monster. And for a long time, I believed them. But after a while, you learn to ignore the names that people call you, and you just trust who you are." SOMETHING SOMETHING METAPHORS FOR OPPRESSION SOMETHING SOMETHING MY HEART

"That Charming makes me hotter than July." Why did Rapunzel say 'ew,' isn't she the one that Charming calls Kitten Whiskers lmao

Update from 30 seconds later: I got an immediate answer to this question in the form of Rapunzel betraying them

Also: Is the topiary supposed to be Lillian or is the implication Charming's first act in this coup was to replace the garden sculptures jkhgkjhg. I've been thinking it for a while but Lillian and Charming really do have the same hair and general face shape:

"Shrek will be back soon, and you'll be sorry." Fiona why do you need Shrek, you can take out a band of ten Merry Men by yourself!! Are you hesitant to fight because you're pregnant? This movie should really be about Fiona and not Shrek

"Get yourself back to Worcestershire, kid." Bold of them to choose this name for Artie's hometown hahahah

HAHAHAHA Artie defeats Merlin's magical insecurities by having a tantrum

Efhjkfhkfjh the implication that Donkey has been suppressing his inner heehaw for two whole movies. Poor Puss in Boots

"He's a star, people! Hello? I'm so sorry about this, Mr. Shrek." Artie's best quality as a leader is his ability to think on his feet

"I wasn't right for the job. I just needed some fool to replace me." IT'S A GOOD THING YOU'RE NOT THE ROYAL HEIR OF FAR FAR AWAY SHREK, FIONA IS! IT'S HER THRONE AND HER DECISION, U DINK

Shout-out to Cinderella's slowly dwindling mental health, she's got some of the most labour-intense and psychologically difficult backstory kghkhjg

Oh hell yeah Julie Andrews as Mama Lillian showing where Fiona got her fighting skills

"Okay girls, from here on out, we're gonna take care of business ourselves." AS THEY SHOULD!

HAHAHAHAH Snow White's singing scene is all I remember from this movie. Get 'em girls!!!

Cinderella throwing her glass shoe, Sleeping Beauty tripping them with her narcolepsy, Doris tripping the men up with her leg that didn't fit into the shoe. I love that the mechanisms of their fighting are the same as their confines in the story

"Shrek only said those things to protect you." And because they were true! He was also dishonest with Arthur lmao

Awwww the Shrek fan club in the audience. He really is a beloved by the people, in his way

"If you don't mind, could you kill me, and then sing?" Charming really should've put a muzzle on Shrek if he wanted him to be a silent participant in this play

Shrek's strongest asset by far is the community of people he and Fiona have built (the fairy tale creatures, the princesses, Doris, the dragon, the citizens of Far Far Away)

"Don't you ever wish you could be something else [other than a villain]?" Arthur yet again comes through with his gift of gab

"What Steve's trying to say is it's hard to come by honest work when the whole world's against you." Steve and Ed the Evil Trees raise very point

"I grow daffodils, and they're beautiful." Love this for Captain Hook

"It's yours if you want, you know. But this time it's your choice." WHY IS IT NOT FIONA'S CHOICE!!!!!!!!! YOU'RE NOT THE PRINCE, SHREK!!!!

You know, if the only remaining complication of switching bodies is losing your tail for a bit, that's not the worst

"I think the kid's going to be a great king." "Well, for what it's worth, you would have too." SO WOULD YOU, FIONA, AS HEIR TO THIS KINGDOM!!!! Raised as a princess!! The plot of this movie is so bizarre

I love how much Lillian loves her weird little family. No Judgement Mum

Tag yourself, I'm the "Where's the Baby" Dwarf kjghjghjh

Well, even if it's not something Fiona specifically identified as wanting for herself instead of ruling, I'm happy they get to have their happy little family in the swamp and a nap

Onto: Shrek 4

I will not lie to you, I am mostly watching the fourth Shrek because I went to Shrek trivia and we missed a bunch of questions related to the fourth movie LOL

Why does the animation look so funky in this one? It's giving a bit of Monster by Mistake/direct-to-video sequel

How are Shrek's babies old enough to speak but Donkey's still look the same even though they're at least 9 months older?

Is the plot of this, much like the second Incredibles movie, 'I can't believe that I, a father, have to parent'

I know people have been committing Ogre Microaggressions all day and that he wasn't the first to destroy the cake (Donkey licked and the Pigs ate the first one) but what kind of a father destroys his own children's birthday cake. Get some therapy, Shrek

"I wouldn't expect you to understand, it's not like you're a real Ogre. You spent half your life in a palace." "And the other half locked away in a tower." 1) What a thing to say to someone who became an ogre permanently FOR YOU, and 2) She got a point there, Shrek

"You have three beautiful children, a wife who loves you, friends who adore you. You have everything." Shrek said: God Fiona, have you ever heard of an introvert

Lmao @ this movie retconning the fact that Shrek and Rumplestiltskin have already encountered each other when Arthur took the throne

Shrek representing the very real experience of not reading the terms and conditions every time you sign off:

"It's me, Shrek, your best friend." After four movies Shrek finally admits that Donkey is his best friend hahaha

Gingey being in a cookie fighting league jkhfkfh on brand for him

Why is there such a large proportion of witches in Rumpelstiltskin's palace hahaha, I get that there were more than a few, but Rumpelstiltskin seems to hang with witches exclusively?

"I ended Fiona's curse." Technically yes, but did u really Shrek? You just ended the switcheroo to her original human form, not the resultant transformation

I gotta say, the soundtrack moments in this film are so far a lot weaker, BUT I do love Shrek rescuing Donkey, His Best Friend Who Doesn't Know Him, and covering his eyes as they go through the roof:

As if to challenge me on that last point, they had Shrek sing an off-key rendition of "You've Got a Friend," which was delightful

Donkey looks particularly off in this movie and I've just realized it's because of the texture of his fur. It was smooth and growing in a similar direction for three movies, and now it's super coarse and messy

"You should never sign a contract with Rumpelstiltskin." Not Donkey having more common sense than Shrek HAHA

"You gonna have to take me to dinner first." I will take this as Donkey coming out as bisexual

"Fate has delivered us a comrade-in arms and for that we are thankful." The implication that Ogres do have a society and Shrek just chooses to never interact with them bc HIS FAMILY is the only one who loves terrorizing is VERY FUNNY

I love how Shrek also seems to be one of the smallest Ogres. Little man

I thought the idea of Fiona staying an Ogre was for her to subvert the beauty standard (which like, another conversation, 'cause she looks fine as an ogre) but they had to make a point of her being a sexy warrior ogre HAHA:

(I can see why this film didn't do that well with audiences)

Why is Fiona the ONLY female ogre? Where are the women!!

"Well, I see who wears the chainmail in your family," said Donkey, both correct about Fiona's fighting prowess and unaware that his wife is a Dragon ten times his size

Took me a sec to realize why the water would be threatening to the witches kjhgjghjgh (not poison, just dealing with Dorthy Dousing Disease)

OHHH Cookie is an Ogre who loves cooking, I had wondered about that in the Shrek trivia

"Shrek, do my babies have hooves or talons?" Donkey is SO excited to be a father!! I love that for him

Lmao @ them suggesting Shrek stresses Puss into being physically fit with the fights he causes

"[Candy]'d work on me." I guess there is another woman Ogre, but not with a scanty outfit! Only Fiona gets Ogregectification

I do love the falling in love while sparring. Couples MMA league:

I love that Puss in Boots is immediately Team Shrek/Fiona

"You are a catastrophe." "And you, are re-donkulous." [Shared laughter] Hahaha I like that the only obstacle in Puss and Donkey's friendship was they needed to meet sooner to avoid the competition for Shrek's attention

"I can't believe I let this happen, and it's all because of you." In fairness to Shrek, no one could see inside the carriage

They spent the entire animation budget on this frame of Puss in Boots:

I do like them subverting the expectation that just a kiss would solve their problems when love is what they need

"Then where were you, when I needed you?" Thinking of ways to become an absentee father

"Please stay tuned for a message from our tyrannical dictator." I wish all political announcements were this honest

There is something fun about the circling back to Shrek 1 Mob

"If your life was so perfect, why'd you sign it all away to Rumpelstiltskin in the first place?" "Because I didn't know what I had until it was gone, alright?!" Fiona even reminded you! Get some therapy Shrek

"What are you talking 'bout, cracker?" I CANNOT BELIEVE THEY GOT AWAY WITH PUTTING THIS IN A CHILDREN'S MOVIE (point of clarification: It was said to the Gingerbread Man)

DID PUSS IN BOOTS JUST KILL GINGEY???? AH?????

"I'm just a frightened old man." "Don't listen to him, these Ogres are crafty." "That is your father painted green." Pinocchio finally gets his revenge on his dad for selling him to the Duloc Guards hahahaha

Shrek giving up his freedom to save the other Ogres 😭😭😭😭😭😭

"Nobody's smart but me," said Rumpelstiltskin, while leaving the only two people who could break his spell together to fall in love:

HAHAHAHAA how could they have Trojan Horse'd Rumpelstiltskin SO QUICKLY after being freed?? It is the SAME NIGHT, 2 MOVIE MINUTES LATER:

"I'll call you! We're in love." If there's one thing Donkey is willing to do, it's commit to the bit

I love that the way they keep Dragon at bay is both a callback to the first movie and a callback to the phrase Fiona has tied knots with throughout the movie. A rare moment of good writing it in this funny little movie

I guess in lieu of Shrek's other friends knowing him, it's an Ogre-only revolution

"Looks like we're having curly-toed weirdo for breakfast." So ogres eat ogres AND people. Four movies for someone to confirm it explicitly!!

"You know what the best part of today was? I got the chance to fall in love with all over again." A very sweet reflection about a problem Shrek caused himself

Lillian is genuinely so accepting of her bizarre family 💞 She doesn't care if she married a frog or if her grandkids are ogres

I can't believe they saved two of the best soundtrack songs and this fun character montage of moments throughout the series for the end credits!

Overall, I would say I prefer the first three Shrek movies (and especially the first two) but if they put out another one, I would probably watch it LOL

#ayesha says things #ayesha liveblogs shrek #liveblogging #shrek the third #shrek forever after #films #back to our regularly scheduling program after this #long post

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blackrabbittwst · 2 years

Text

A Dandelion on the Hill

{part 2}

Synopsis: The reader has found a passion in plants, which leads them to some interesting interactions with Octavinelle’s mushroom lover.

Characters: Jade Leech

Pairing: Jade Leech x Reader

Gender/Pronoun: Gender Neutral

A/N: Part two of the mini series I’m making. Part one

~Reader’s POV~

You found yourself acclimating slowly, but well to Night Raven College despite the fact that everyone knew magic (besides yourself of course). Throughout the past couple of months, you’ve befriended individuals from Heartslabuyl, Savanaclaw and even Octavinelle. While you were familiar with individuals from other dorms, you weren’t too close to any of them besides the a couple of first-year students. Even though you felt like you didn’t belong there, everyone at school was welcoming and accepted you in their own way.

Almost all clubs required magic of some kind or the activity was something you were not interested in. Even though clubs were the best way for you to acquire new friends, none of them appealed unfortunately. Therefore, you decided you would belonged to the “Going Home Club”! With the sacrifice of social interaction, you used your spare time to do whatever you wanted while Grim wandered around doing… who knows what. Probably messing with Lucius again. Something you enjoyed doing was learning about the unique and different things Twisted Wonderland had to offer. You found yourself in the library quite often with the intention of find a way to go home, but most of the time you ended up reading about fantastical magic things that were found all around this world. There were magical creatures such as fae, spirits and even merfolk! My, so many things that you could have only dream about back at home! It made you want to go see the entire contents of the world right then and there. You made notes in a small notebook you always carried around in your jacket pocket. Inside, you recorded all the interesting things you wanted to research in more depth, or things you wanted to see in person.

A topic that recently caught your interest was the wildlife in Twisted Wonderland. You always had an interest in the mystical creatures, plants, and objects depicted in stories ever since you were small. Oddly enough, many legends and tales your parents recited at night seemed to portray some sort of truth in this strange world. However, there was more than just the common unicorn or dragon. A particular topic that caught your eye was the chapter featuring enchanted plants. While this world had your average corn stalk, dandelion, and apple tree, there were also enchanted bushes that would change to whatever topiary it felt like, trees whose leaves lit up like fireflies at night, even flowers with strange faces that talked! “How unusually and fantastic!” You would think every time you flipped to a new page in the wildlife encyclopedia. One topic caught your eye more than everything else so far, carnivorous plants. You recognized your traditional pitfall traps, and snap traps, but this magical world has so many more varieties! In your own world, you were also quite interested in carnivorous plants. At home, you had a small Venus flytrap on your desk, and you adored their little green faces that would enjoy a nice little fly snack here and there. The fact that these types of plants have evolved to consume insects in order to counteract the lack of nitrogen in their soil was so interesting! You decided to check the book out from the library and study these magical, green insect eaters in more depth inside the comfort of your own room.

Interestingly enough, the reason for the carnivorous plant species were more plentiful in Twisted Wonderland was due to the presence of magic. These plants lacked nutrients like in your world, but they could obtain more tools to catch their prey. By collecting small amounts of magic from each organism it consumed, these plants were also able to evolve and use magic to advance its catching tactics as well. With magic, carnivorous plants were able to thrive faster than they ever could in your world. They were able to change its colors, shapes and even liquids used to ensnare its victims. For example, the common Venus flytrap has naturally evolved to grow to the size of a human hand. The liquid inside its green mouth still smelled sweet to its victims, but it also had an added sticky substance to keep it in place. This gave the plant has the chance to catch multiple insects in one fell swoop rather than just one at a time. You kept reading late into the night every day, fascinated by what this new strange world contained. Over the next week, you wrote down many notes about each unique plant in your small notebook so that you could reference it later.

Later that week, you decided to talk to Professor Crewel about your interest into these plants, and he mentioned that the school actually houses some inside the botanical gardens. Your eyes lit up in excitement and you planned the rest of your day around the fascination you had for these green eaters. The day started to become long and boring as your legs shook with anxiousness. Your eyes shot to the clock practically every 5 minutes during your last class of the day. To be honest, your oddly timed excitement even creeped out Grim. He didn’t understand why you were so…. Cheery all of a sudden. Well, more than usual at least. When the bell rang for the end of class, you ran out of the class with a brisk, “Bye Ace, Deuce and Grim! See you guys tomorrow!” Ace and Deuce stared blankly at the door you darted out of, then each other, then finally at Grim, who only shrugged in response.

You ran straight to the botanical gardens as if your life depended on it. A big goofy smile graced your lips as your eyes sparkled with glee. After slamming open the green house doors (well, more like forcefully. Please don’t slam open glass doors), you looked around, breathlessly for your new green friends. You don’t go into the gardens often, so idle wandering was the only way to navigate what was even stored in this glass house. Unfortunately, there were no guides to the gardens at the entrance, but luckily there were signs for each plant. After some careful observations, you realize the plants are sorted by each region of Twisted Wonderland. You rummage in your jacket pocket to pull out your notebook and flip through its contents. You recall that, just like in your world, many carnivorous plants reside in swampy areas where nitrogen is less prominent in the soil. The shaftlands have many sections that border the sea, which would have a higher likelihood of containing a bog-like area. You follow the nameplates of each plant as you slowly find your way towards more Shaftland inhabitant plants, like the fruits trees from Harveston. You decided to wander into the bushes where the vegetation grew more dense. Treading careful and making sure you did not step on a poor plant baby, you found yourself deeper in the mini jungle. Despite all of your wandering, you couldn’t find one carnivorous plant! You were ready to give up hope for the day until suddenly, your eyes fell upon a bright red flower with 5 delicate petals that resemble a lily along with 5 large green leaves branching from its stem. At the center of the petals was a clear, shiny liquid that looked quite delicious for an unsuspecting bug. You knew what this was! It looked just like how the book had described it! You crouch down near the plant to confirm your suspicions, when suddenly a sweet fruit-like smell wafted in your nose. Your face lit up knowing you had struck gold.

This plant was known as the Peitho’s Breath. It’s tempting sweet scent will attract its prey to land at the center of its core. Once the plant sense a shift of movement in the liquid, another compound starts secreting from the pores of the petals. When these two liquids meet, it creates a sticky substance that traps the big in place. From there, the long green leaves start to spiral around as if it is almost dancing with the red petals as they also start to spiral. Finally when the plant spirals its appendage, they all meet together to make something similar to a spike like shape, trapping the bug inside as it starts digesting it. While the clear liquid at the center of each petal gave off a beautiful scent, it also contained the enzymes the plant used to dissolve the insect into the nutrients it needed. It would later uncurl itself when it was done “eating” to then attract a new victim. Such a beautiful killer indeed.

You were enamored with the plant’s bold color and beautiful scent that you got lost in your thoughts for quite some time. Your brain wandered as you recall the multiple facts you read from the encyclopedia days before as you stayed in your crouched position. After a few minutes, a beautiful blue morpho butterfly landed on your shoulder. It’s brilliant blue coloration took you out of your train of thought and caught you attention. You remembered these small jewels also being inhabitants of your world as well. Having small reminders, such as this beautiful butterfly, made this strange and scary world feel less like a fantasy dream world and more of a familiar reality. It also reaffirmed that your world also existed, despite what the magic mirror might have said.

You then noticed something like a shadow moving slightly in the corner of your eye. The movement got you curious enough to move your head up and meet the gaze of someone quite unexpected. You found yourself staring into the shining gold and olive-colored eyes that belonged to a certain eel who was also staring back at you. Jade’s eyes widen momentarily when your line of site met his. He never expected you to sense his presence, let alone actually look at him. A few moments went by while you both stared blankly at each other, not knowing what to do. Jade cleared his throat, trying to recover his composure, and commented, “Oya? Why hello there, Prefect. What brings you here to the botanical gardens?” His polite smile did not falter one bit as he spoke, despite the fact he was actually surprised you sensed his presence (even though he stayed so quietly too). You smile politely back, stand up, and dust off any leaves that might have gotten stuck on you.

While you did not detest Jade Leech, you did not particularly have a great impression of him either. He was known for doing Azul’s dirty work at the Monstro Lounge along with his… erratic brother, Floyd. While he always acted very polite and soft-spoken, you could get a sense from your shared interactions during the anemone incident that he hid his true intentions behind a cold and calculated mask. The three boys at Octavinelle were experts of guilt- tripping and fake kindness to get what they wanted, and that of course did not exclude Jade. To be honest, you could tell he was the more dangerous of the two twins. You had a bunch that under his fake smile, he hid a more mischievous and calculating side. You understood Azul’s intention of wanting to get back at people who bullied him, but you never truly knew what Jade desired. Why did he decide to tag along with someone like Azul when he could get everything he wanted to do on his own? This uncertainty made you suspicious towards the eel merman in front of you. You could never be sure when he planned to strike and take advantage of you. His existence confused and worried you, but it was manageable as long as you kept your head low and avoided him and his twin as much as possible.

Looking awkwardly at your feet, you responded quietly, “I was observing the carnivorous plants that inhabit Twisted Wonderland…” Your voice was barely above a whisper. You hoped by being quiet, you would become less interesting to the sharp eyes of a predator. Jade’s interest unfortunately (for you) peaked at your response. He finally found someone who happened to share an interest towards plant life that grew on land such, despite the fact that his passion geared towards the likes of mushrooms. However, he did know a thing here and there about carnivorous plants while he read and studied his precious dome-shaped babies. He looked over at the red flower you were observing and recognized it immediately. “Hm, I see… It appears that your attention was drawn to a very unique plant. The Peitho’s Breath, correct? While it is a fascinating species, there are plenty more interesting plants around Twisted Wonderland that eat prey similar to the size of rats.” Jade comments, trying to strike a conversation. He didn’t know why he wished to continue talking to the prefect of Ramshackle, but knowing they shared similar passions motivated him to keep engaging. Your eyes lit up, surprised by the fact that a plant could eat mammals as well?! You walked closer to the taller man and looked up at him with awe. “Are you serious? There are even plants here that eat mammals? What are they? How on earth do their enzymes break down the fleshy meat of a mammal? Where are they even found?!” The more questions that spouted from your mouth, the louder and more excited you got. Jade couldn’t help but laugh a bit, amused at your childish curiosity. It was almost cute to watch the stars light up in your eyes as you spoke with such vigor. He then stopped his train of thought at a curious term he used. Cute?.. What an odd choice of words for him to use. He mentally shrugged it off and continued the conversation.

“Why, of course. There is no reason for me to lie to you now, is there? While I do not recall the name at the moment, you are free to accompany me to my small research table. I will look for the book I discovered it in.” This was his plan to lure you to his territory. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do when you got there, but he just knew he wanted to talk to you more. You nod enthusiastically and he watched you practically skip behind him. It was like watching a baby duck imprinting on a dog and following it happily to its den. It was endearing. He held back another laugh that tried to force its way past his lips. He didn’t want you thinking he was laughing at you now.

When you both arrive at his workspace, you veer towards the table full of mushrooms, staring at them intently. Never have you seen mushrooms quite so big nor as brightly colored, it was quite a sight to be honest. They shined in the light and looked almost like jewels that were made to be eaten. Jade’s eyes creased and his lips formed to a gentle, kind smile. A smile that isn’t normally seen by anyone at the school other than Floyd or Azul. He appreciated the curiosity you showed towards his cultivated prized possessions. No one had ever looked at them so intently, besides maybe Rook (but he’s only interested in items that will benefit the Film Research club after all). “Ah, do be careful around the mushrooms on the metal plate. I am conducting an experiment with electricity to promote their growth.” He warned while staring at the bookshelf, running his fingers over the spine of the each book as he read its title. You were shocked that electricity could be used that way! You make sure to not get close to the mushrooms with wires and alligator clips running through them. These particular mushrooms actually did look larger than the others though. You take out your small notebook and beginning jotting down your observations while you waited for Jade. “I believe this is the book.” Jade comments while pulling the book from the shelf and laying it down on the nearby table.

Jade skillfully flips through the pages of the book and stops about halfway in. The contents of the page showed a giant plant known as the “Trou de Loup”. It was named after a pitfall trap used long ago by humans who would dig deep holes with slick walls and then bury a large spike at the bottom. The idea was when a victim fell in, the would be impaled by the spike and die instantly. This plant was an evolutionary advancement from your common pitcher plant. They start off in the ground, similar to your common potato, but instead of a solid mass, the inside is hollow with its insides containing the digestive enzymes. Soon a small bush will emerge above the ground with beautiful grey berries that glisten in the sunlight. While the plant does not skewer the animal to death that fall into its pits, the moment the animal eats a single berry, the ground below them starts to split open. The lid found on your typical pitcher plant has evolved similar to a trap door. Instead of one simple leaf, the “lid” is now two leaves that open up to show the pit below. While the leaves reveal the pit of enzymes below, the animal cannot flee since the berry they consumed contains certain compounds to disable the neurotransmission from the brain to their limbs. The animal then falls inside and they will drown within the plant’s enzyme fluids while also being eventually digested into precious nutrients. The pit of a Trou de Loup was big enough to swallow a small rat whole. The concept that a plant could capture and digest more than just insects astounded you. It was amazing but it was also terrifying thinking about what this world had to offer. You took plenty of notes inside your small notebook as you nose was practically stuck between its pages. You read at the top of its biography that this plant is normally found in some bogs near a particular mountain range. You hum to yourself, thinking of a way to go and see this magnificent plant with your own eyes. Jade studied your face while you excitedly scribbled in your notebook. The way your eyes flared with passion at each new word you read on the page, and the way you wrote so quickly that it was barely legible… it was amusing to say the least. Who knew the Ramshackle prefect had such a peculiar interest? Not that he had any reason to judge.

He glanced over at the pages again and realizes that the bog in question was close by the mountains he had planned to hike in a couple weeks. He could invite you to accompany him, which would give him the opportunity to watch your face light up with glee once again. What a delightful sight, he imagines. Not only would he get to experience such a joyous expression on your face, but he would finally have a companion to accompany him on his hiking trip. He did enjoy his hiking adventures and seeing what the land above water had to offer, but it was quite lonely. Jade has always spent his time being surrounded by either his brother, Azul or both. He’s used to always being in the company of someone else, so for him to be the sole member of his little club, it was lonely, to say the least. So if he proposes such a trip to you, not only will he have a hiking companion, but it will be with you. Alone, just the two of you. But… why does that idea sound so attractive? It must be because he was oh so lonely on his hikes that the prospect of someone tagging along was exciting. Yes, that’s what it was, he convinces himself. Shaking his head a little out of his daydream, he decided to ask you, “Prefect? While it may not be a well known fact, I am a member of the Mountain Lovers Club and I made plans to make a trip to those mountain ranges in the up coming coming weeks. If you were to also join in the club activities, I will add a detour to those bogs if you would like?” You whip your head and look at him with a deep seated interest and passion. How could you pass such a rare opportunity? You don’t know how to navigate in this strange land, and now the chance to see this mysterious plant has fallen in your lap? “Yes! If you don’t mind!!” You exclaim, almost too loudly in fact. You then cough into your hand embarrassed at your own enthusiasm, which makes Jade chuckle a bit. You both exchange numbers with the plan to meet up at the hall of mirrors for your little adventure in two weeks to come.

Little does Jade know, the contact he has made with your bright and colorful personality has started the seed within his consciousness to stir. Soon, the small curiosities he felt towards you started to sprout into full blown interest. While the sprout is still very small, maybe with enough nutrients, it will grow, flourish and bloom.

Endnote: So I wrote like majority of this like 2 weeks ago and forgot about it 😅 so I went ahead and finished up the last part. I forgot how much mini world building and research I did to create these carnivorous plants, but I hope you all enjoyed it 🥰

Also, the facts about real carnivorous plants are true because my perfectionist mind wants to make sure my work portrays things correctly 🙃 so hopefully you learned something new today.

#disney twst #twst wonderland #disney twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland headcanons #blackrabbittwst #twst headcanons #twisted wonderland x reader #jade leech x reader #jade leech #twst jade #twisted wonderland imagines

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siennasfix · 1 month

Text

Pareidolia

Chapter 2 "Watchful silence"

*****

<<<Chapter 1 Chapter 3>>>

Trigger warnings: 1. Funeral 2. Smoking weed 3. Mentions of starvation 4. Human experimentation

Each resident of Camp Jupiter was within their right to request how they wished to be buried. Their individual choices were largely influenced by the customs of the empire over which their Godly parent presided, which served as a marker of identity even in death. Greek demigods and legacies almost always chose to have their bodies turned to cinders; their ashes preserved in urns. It was up to their family and friends to choose whether to keep or scatter them to a site of their choosing. The offspring of their Roman counterparts most often opted for inhumation, despite the practice having been just as commonplace as cremation, and there were cemeteries and catacombs designated to hold the remains for eternity.

Ruth Velasco, daughter of Mercury, had done no such thing so the decision had been left up to her siblings. Ultimately, they resolved to have her buried in the catacombs beneath the temple of Mercury on Temple Hill. The news had spread like wildfire and it wasn’t hard to understand why. A girl of twenty was found impaled on the statue of the ruler of the pantheon, her corpse violated.

The picture on the front page of Noctua Mane, Latin for Morning Owl, was nothing like the one Y/n had seen the night of the murder. Sweet smile, eyes that sparkled with good-natured mischief, olive skin, light brown eyes and arched eyebrows, and straight black hair tucked behind her left ear. She was the picture of joy. Or had been.

Now she was a girl whose life had been taken too soon, her corpse lying frozen in the morgue of the underground laboratories of the CIH, Criminal Investigation Headquarters. Somewhere, in another mortuary cabinet, lay the corpse of Juliana Pierce. Both of them were kept from the warmth of the soil so that the experts might produce some worthwhile evidence to conclude the investigation with satisfactory results. What that entailed remained a mystery to everyone but the members of the Council. There was nothing for Olympia University to do but pay their respects in the Hall of Ceremonies.

On any other day, Y/n might have taken the time to appreciate the grandeur of it all. It was immaculate, down to the most minute particulars. The Hall, a building in and of itself located 300 meters in the northeast, stood somewhat separate from the rest of the campus and the Training Center. Gardens of the most delectable fragrances and topiaries in the shapes of the most common perceptions of the Gods, celestial creatures, and animals associated with divinity made for an ethereal ambiance. Even today, the pelt of grief, in which the hearts of Ruth Velasco’s loved ones were engulfed, was not in the least reflected in their surroundings. The water pouring from the beaks of two marble swans in love remained clear, the surface of the water in the fountain before the front steps of the building unperturbed.

The interior evoked a different feeling. Significant effort had been made to convey the grief be it through the roses and violets lining the walls or the black drapes with those same flowers embroidered on them. The cushioning of the chairs, too, was black. Of course, the banners adorned with the Caduceus symbol, representing Mercury and Hermes, could not be missing from the ceremony. So large were they that the entire length of each column was concealed by the fabric.

Truly, Y/n would have loved nothing more than to sit in her chair and admire the intricacies of the edifice but how could she when the only things on her mind were the events of that night and the conversation she’d had with Luna before stepping out of the house? She’d made a repeat of the conversation this morning as well.

“Remember,” Aside from her voice, the sound of the zip of the green padded jacket coming up to Luna’s neck was the only one in the room, “Don’t talk about what you saw. Just don’t talk about it. Don’t mention it. If anyone asks anything related to it just say you feel bad that she died. Tell them she was so pretty, like a princess. Okay?”

Luna had nodded and her gaze had fallen on the place where Y/n’s fingers met the jacket.

“What- what if they take me?” Her little sister had said in a shaky voice. “What if they don’t let you take me home? Then I- then I-

“No, no, little moth,” Y/n had wrapped her arms tightly around her little sister’s shoulders and patted her back to calm her nerves (the past few days had been brutal for Luna). Then, she draped her scarlet scarf around the girl’s neck. “No, they won’t do that. They can’t do that because you’re innocent. See, you haven’t done anything wrong. You just saw something you shouldn’t have seen, something no one should have to see. But you were here, in our bedroom, and I was lying on the floor next to you. I’ll tell them that and no one will be able to hurt you.”

By now Luna’s chest is rising and falling rapidly and Y/n can feel each movement against her torso.

“But what if they don’t believe you?” She asked, fingers curling around Y/n’s jacket. “Then they’ll really take me away.”

“I won’t let them, though,” Y/n said, knowing she wouldn’t be able to stop them.

It had taken a few minutes but eventually, Luna’s breathing had returned to normal and they’d headed out the door, Luna in her padded green jacket, worn-out jeans and shoes, and Y/n in Olympia’s official uniform of dark sienna. The moist March wind had caressed their cheeks as they made the one-hour walk toward Luna’s school and when they had had to part ways at the towering gate of steel, for fear of showing up late for the ceremony, Y/n had squeezed the small hand one last time before ushering her inside. Those big brown eyes had glanced back one last time as she’d waved goodbye, trying to freeze some joy onto her face for the sake of the scared little girl. Then, she’d smoothed over the knee-length skirt that seemed a bit larger each time she tried it on, secured the pin on her chest, empty though it was, and set off for Olympia. Tardiness, justified or otherwise, would only arouse suspicion.

Professor Philomena Laqueus, daughter of Athena, head of Olympia University’s Academic Board, a senior Overseer, and an esteemed member of the Council of Rome, ascended the steps to the raised platform at the end of the Hall that allowed her an unobstructed view of each Cohort. Her appearance was enough to bring Y/n’s thoughts to a screeching halt. With her graying frizzy hair, strong jaw, and the gold and royal purple paludamentum draped over her muscular shoulders the woman was nothing if not overwhelming. The rest of her outfit was the same as that of the academic personnel seated behind to the right and the student body; a dark sienna, with the identification pin attached to the jacket on the left side of her wide chest. But she made it all the more unnerving; an exalted slaughterhouse.

As a sign of respect, each student stood. After a few moments of sweeping her gaze across the hall, the woman raised her hand for them to take their seats.

“Today,” Her voice had a heavy yet tremulous quality to it, not raspy like most would assume at first glance, and each word sounded like a boulder being flipped on its side. “We gather to bid farewell to Ruth Velasco, daughter of Mercury and member of the Second Cohort.” Y/n glances three rows to the right just as Professor Laqueus gestures to them. Some appear distraught. Others wear a mask of unflinching marble. The woman addresses the rest of the student body once again. “Miss Velasco’s kind and amiable disposition earned her the admiration of her peers and betters as she approached every obstacle with unwavering perseverance. Her courage and reverence for the Divine Rule of the Pantheon were profoundly inspiring, serving as a lasting testament to what a demigod ought to strive for. For this reason and her inestimable attributes, her absence will be felt deeply by all who knew her, even if in passing.” Her gaze slides across the hall in an almost wolfish manner, as though scouring every inch for the faintest trace of guilt. “Thus, we bid a solemn farewell to a compassionate person whose true potential was never fully realized, whose hopes and ambitions will remain unfulfilled as time moves forward towards a brighter tomorrow. But that is not to be an omen to a sorrowful ending to all things. Although her absence is profoundly felt, it may bring solace to know that her legacy can be enriched by those who have the means to do so. As a parting tribute, we make this vow to her.”

It was at that moment, as Philomena Laqueus uttered the final sentence of her speech, that Y/n felt eyes stalking her every breath.

“Though her flesh and bones may lay buried,” The grounding cadence of the woman’s voice drove each word home, “The truth shall crawl to light.”

Y/n wished she’d never craned her head to find the source of her discomfort. Four rows to her right, where the members of the First Cohort sat proudly in their black chairs, dark eyes pierced through the hundreds of students filling the distance between them. How she wished she had not picked this seat that was neither at the front nor in the far back but somewhere in between, because if she had, he wouldn’t have found it so easy to stare at her without raising some eyebrows. She meant only to glance at him but the moment their eyes met, she found herself holding his gaze. While she could feel cold sweat pooling down her back, he remained unabashed and unfaltering. He was dressed the same as the rest of the male students. His hair was in a half-up half-down style, with a few strands at the front framing his face. He looked like the only thing he had running through his veins was stardust and needed to draw blood to seem human.

Not wishing to be at the receiving end of his pursuits, Y/n turned around, swallowed, and tried to focus on the farewell speeches of the leaders of the Second Cohort, Choi Soobin, the only son of Jupiter, and Hwang Yeji, daughter of Victoria. No word stuck in her brain. Everything was an amalgam of parting words, sniffling, and silence so solemn and disquieting that Y/n found herself shifting in her seat, hands fisted on her lap. More cold sweat beaded on her forehead. It felt as though every gaze was on her, hammering guilt into the pin on her chest. The dread of being perceived as suspicious had her heart threatening to shatter the constraints of her ribcage. Over the course of several speeches delivered by Ruth Velasco’s loved ones, scenarios spun in her mind; of escape, imprisonment, torture, and execution. Not once did she imagine herself or Luna being saved.

When the ceremony came to an end, it took tremendous willpower not to bolt for the exit. She forced herself to picture their eyes narrowing in suspicion, their castigatory stares, and the disdainful curl of their lips if she were to let her panic take over. This was how she kept herself from shoving her way through as the other members of the Fifth Cohort made their way out of the hall.

Once they were out in the gardens, she decided to put some distance between herself and the rest. The topiaries were of various sizes. Some were the size of a poodle while others grew up to six meters. It was behind one of the latter that she found some solace, shaking as she massaged her knuckles. As if that would force her anxiety into submission.

Y/n could hear the students gathering at the front of the edifice while others headed back to the main building. Lectures didn’t start until 10:30 so they could afford to loiter about the grounds in the meantime. What she hadn’t considered was that other students would seek comfort in the gardens as well (she’d gone fairly deep within the labyrinthine structure after all) especially close enough for her to catch snippets of their conversation. Following the direction from which the voices were drifting, she at first estimated a distance of around five meters to her left. But upon gathering some of her wits about her, she realized it was the shadows telling her. The students, males by the sound of it, were standing in the shade of a topiary two rows behind her and likely at a far greater distance. If she made no noise, they would probably not realize someone was eavesdropping. Not that she was doing it on purpose.

“Was her corpse really missing the eyes?” One of the boys said, making no great effort to be discreet. “Or was that just a rumor?”

The silence stretched for a few seconds and Y/n could hear everything from the wind whispering in the dense forest beyond the garden to the leaves brushing against fabric as one of the boys leans against the topiary. When the response did come, it was in a voice so velvety and euphonious that she found herself pressing her left ear into the bush. The effect should have concerned her, but it didn’t.

“Yeah, her eyes had been gouged out.”

The first boy muttered a ‘damn’ before pulling something out of the pockets of his uniform. It sounded like paper.

“The killer must have taken them before fleeing. Since they weren’t found at the crime scene.” He laughed a little before continuing, “The CIH better pray the fucker isn’t a cannibal.”

The other scoffed. “They might as well save their breaths.”

That seemed to give the first boy pause. For a few moments, no words were exchanged between the two, and the only sounds were those of paper chafing against paper, birds chirping, and students talking among themselves at the front of the building.

“What do you mean?” the first boy asked eventually, in a lower voice.

“It wasn’t a cannibal.” The other one clarified. “Whoever killed her, stole her eyes, and put her body on display didn’t do it for self-gratification.”

The first sounded genuinely confused as he questioned, “What else was it then? Self-defense? But Ruth wasn’t violent. Not as far as I know.”

There was no other way to describe the moments between that last sentence and the one that followed other than grim and fretful. The blossoms around them, for all their vibrant colors and riveting fragrances, did nothing to lighten the atmosphere, serving instead as mere decorations. Synthetic. Hollow. Illusory. Y/n pressed her right palm lightly against the bush, dewy greenery against her skin, breathing as quietly as she could while listening attentively to each breath the male students took despite knowing she shouldn’t.

The boy with the mellifluous voice at last spoke, “I thought we you dragged me here for a smoke.”

The first boy let out a cartoonish snicker.

“Lo and behold, Hwang.” There came the sound of flame flickering to life. “This is prime quality weed I’ve rolled for you so let’s get high out of your fucking mind. I won’t accept anything else.”

After that, all Y/n could do was stay there and listen to them blabber about things she had no clue about. Every time the conversation shifted; it was for the worse. Whatever they were smoking was influencing their ability to hold a sane conversation. The smell wasn’t all that nice either so they must have been receiving the desired effects if they were willing to withstand it. As they were leaving, the males sounded slightly more collected, as if their brains had pieced themselves back together. Y/n waited ten minutes before following them out and heading for the main building.

**************************************************************************************************************************************

Their late breakfast was a gloomy affair, for obvious reasons. Several of Ruth Velasco’s closest friends and family sobbed into their steaming bowls of soup while others struggled to bring their spoons to their mouths with shaky hands, making sure to swallow their grief before taking a mouthful. The hall was relatively silent if one didn’t count the hushed conversations being had throughout the dining hall. Briefly, Y/n wished she could be part of a small group, weathering sudden woes together. Walking down the hallway and to Laboratory 205, where they conducted experiments concerning the field of Hematology, would be much easier then. But spying on the fleeting whispers around her would have to suffice.

Only five students occupied the spacious room by the time she stepped through the door. A girl sat on the row by the window, face hidden from view as she napped the minutes away. One of the auburn-haired girls at the front, twins by the looks of it, penciled in her eyebrows as the other cracked a joke and they both burst out laughing. So far, her feet had been going on autopilot. But right before she could make the mistake of invading her classmate’s personal space, one she had never spoken with before, Y/n stopped in her tracks.

Thoughts raced inside her head. And they were merciless. Had her seat been taken? Had Seungmin grown so tired of her that he no longer wished to be her lab partner? He’d become such at the beginning of the first semester but not by choice. Was that it? Had she made a mistake that had affected his grades? Seungmin was quite obsessed with them after all. His pride as a son of Minerva was on the line. Where was she going to sit now? If she had the nerve to ask the other boy where he had previously sat, then-

The boy clapped Seungmin on the back and made his way toward another desk near the middle. Students started pouring in, and Y/n breathed a sigh of relief before taking her seat. After that, nothing out of the norm happened. Orlova took a roll call, after which she assigned them to spot RNA and DNA abnormalities and determine what they could result in, and left them to their devices.

From time to time, she would approach students and oversee their work. Y/n always dreaded these moments. A bitter cold would sweep across the room, creeping into her circulatory system. Her very marrow seemed to freeze at the sight of Orlova heading towards their desk. The cold was without pity.

“Is there a reason you refuse to take the medicine you’re given?”

Seungmin’s voice from beside her was as low as it could be without the words being lost entirely. Still, she could detect the hint of annoyance behind his seemingly harmless question.

Y/n furrowed her eyebrows at him. “Is there a reason you keep asking?”

“You’re delaying our work.” He says and looks at her with utmost indifference. “I refuse to get a bad grade because of whatever complex you might have regarding your pills.”

“It’s not a complex. You don’t-

“You’re right.” He sets his pen on the notebook and looks into the microscope, adjusting the lenses. “I don’t understand. Which is why I posed the question, one you refuse to answer.”

Y/n could feel the last of the warmth in her body travel up to her cheeks, staining them a sorry shade of pink.

“Maybe you should ask the people who keep giving away confidential information.” She muttered.

Seungmin didn’t bother to look up from the microscope. “Maybe I will.”

A minute or two after their miserable and short-lived conversation, a knock came at the door and, at Professor Orlova’s permission, a boy about their age walked in, immediately making his way toward where she sat behind her desk. He leaned down and whispered something that had the woman’s mood visibly souring before stepping back as she shrugged off her lab coat.

“Continue to work on your reports.” She instructed, facing the students who had previously been immersed in work or gossip. “Do not forget that the average grade for them comprises 20% of your final evaluation for this course.”

There was only a unanimous nod and verbal affirmation before she exited the laboratory with the boy right on her heel.

“What’s going on?” A student questioned in a whisper but no one answered.

It didn’t matter anyway. They did have reports to finish after all. Liliana Orlova wasn’t one to try your luck with when it came to lab work. Many before them had attempted to pull one over her only to end up begging for the wretched yet invaluable 20% of the final grade and be met with her pitiless evaluation. She was within her right to do so. If exceptions were made, they had to be made for everyone. But that was exactly what was wrong with her. She had a soft spot for but a precious few, a group of elite students who were equally elitist, and everyone else got the stinky eye whenever they pled for leniency. Seungmin was, needless to say, a part of it.

At least he didn’t try to make her talk about the despicable medicine she was routinely prescribed by the higher-ups. She hated talking about it even more than she did ingesting the actual thing. She felt less than for being questioned about it.

Orlova returned a while later, heels clacking almost violently against the floor. Everyone in the lab could feel the frustration wafting off of her like some overpowering perfume. It made her resemble the children of Ares and Mars more than she or any child of Aphrodite and Venus would like to admit. Disturbingly similar. The space that had once been clinical could no longer be considered as such. Its sterility had become muddled.

The footsteps came to a halt right in front of Y/n. Professor Orlova’s question cut through the uncomfortable silence.

“Are you finished with the report, Miss. L/n?”

Internally panicking, Y/n looked up from her paper. “I’m almost-

“Being weak and slow-witted is not what a student of Olympia ought to strive for.” Even the way she said the words sounded cruel. How could the daughter of love speak with such loathing, looking her up and down as if picking her apart flaw by flaw? “Though I suppose it is rather difficult to be anything but given your… predicament.”

She could talk back, snap at the professor the way she had before, but where would that take her? Back to Principal Jiang’s office? The old man would love that. He must enjoy doling out punishments for the same student over and over and over again like he had nothing better to do. Right now, the only person with nothing better to do was Y/n. So, she kept her mouth shut, lowered her head, and nodded.

That seemed to satisfy the woman’s sadism because all she said was, “Place it on my desk in five minutes.”

“Yes, Professor,” Y/n murmured and watched as she walked away, taking some of her foul aura with her.

Then, just when the humiliation seemed to abate, Seungmin got the brilliant idea to speak.

“Does that mean we are being graded separately?” He asked, eyes flitting between Professor Orlova and Y/n.

The former turned and smiled slightly at him.

“Of course, Mr. Kim,” she answered in a much softer voice. “I do not wish for you to suffer the consequences of her bovine capacity. You may continue.”

Y/n dared a scathing glance toward Seungmin who had gone back to his work. Her fists itched to punch his teeth in and the sound of him breathing next to her after she had just had those words thrown at her was enough to send her into a fit of rage. It was cold though. So, the anger kept her warm. She didn’t need to look up to know the other students were staring at her. Some snickering. Others muttering to themselves. But if she had let her gaze roam, she would have met his. The one gaze that always seemed to linger when all else had ebbed.

Seungmin took turns using the microscope. A sort of silent agreement not to speak until the end of the class. They worked separately and efficiently because that’s how he liked it. They didn’t speak because that’s how he liked it. It worked wonders for him but for Y/n it was one more box into which she was shoved. When she was finished, she stood and went up to Orlova’s desk, handing her the report with trembling fingers.

“What is this?” Orlova spoke quietly, thumbing through the pages.

She didn’t look pleased. Not at all. Y/n could only curse at that.

“The report you asked for, Professor.” She answered, knowing the question had been rhetorical.

The professor stopped turning pages and glanced up sharply. Y/n would be lying if she said she wasn’t at once thrilled and scared shitless. And it wasn’t like Orlova couldn’t pick up on it. Children of Aphrodite and Venus were equipped with a hound's nose since birth when it came to people’s emotions. They knew when you were in pain or at peace. It was safe to say that she couldn’t be too thrilled about Y/n’s reaction.

That’s probably why she called Seungmin over. He glanced at Y/n in confusion as Orlova handed him the report.

“Mr. Kim, as your professor, I demand that you be completely honest with me.” Orlova’s tone left no room for interruption or defiance. She looked him in the eye. “Did she steal your work? Did you help her with it?”

If Seungmin felt awkward at the implication then Y/n was drowning in embarrassment. He took in her profile, the paper limp in his loose hold.

“No, Professor, she did not.” He answered. “Nor did I help her with it.”

Orlova was not satisfied. “Is that your final answer?”

“Yes, professor.”

Again, that did not satisfy her. Her lab partner’s answer only seemed to make things worse. Maybe he was unaffected by it or unable to perceive when authority figures saw him as a filthy roach, but Y/n was and she could. It was pointless to pretend otherwise.

“Very well, then. You may return to your seat.” She told him with a twitch of a smile and held out her hand for the report, which he placed on her palm before turning to leave. Y/n made to follow him. “Not you, Miss. L/n.”

She had dreaded this. The moment when she’d be left facing Orlova, this time alone. Seungmin wasn’t her friend, but he was just there. In his presence, Orlova softened her words, cushioned her remarks, and sugar-coated her distaste. None of that now.

The professor planted her elbows on the desk and clasped her hands. “What will it take for you to learn your place?”

Y/n looked anywhere but at the woman in front of her. “I don’t kno-

Orlova squinted.

“Enough with your pretend cluelessness.” She sneered. “You may have fooled Hajjar and Principal Jiang into seeing you as something other than what you truly are but you will find I am far more difficult to misguide.”

Her brain went into overdrive. She was short-circuiting.

“Whatever Professor Hajjar has in mind, I had nothing to do with it.” That only made the woman’s sneer grow in cruelty. “I don’t- I truly want no part in it.”

She gave Y/n such a pointed look, that she felt it poking her eyeballs.

“Then, it is only fair we question as to how a professor that has never once risen to your defense, has suddenly taken you under his wing.” Orlova unclasped her hands. “I warned you. I am much more difficult to misguide.”

Y/n glanced down at the report, finding solace in her handwriting.

“But I am not trying to.” She tried to appeal.

Orlova gave her one last scathing look. “Go back to your seat.”

She stood there, frozen, hands now purple from the cold and throat clogged up. This was bad. Whatever she had been called to attend forty-something minutes prior had ignited a new brand of hatred in the woman before her. Her grades would suffer for it. She would have no chance of being employed. Luna would have to live in even graver poverty. Penury as it was called.

The walk back to her seat was like trudging through heavy snow. She couldn’t help but bite down on her lower lip, drawing blood. Hot pain. The only warmth she could provide for herself. And he was staring. Staring while conversing with his lab partner, a boy she recognized from the ceremony. Leader of the Second Cohort and Son of Jupiter.

Y/n wanted to stare back, maybe even scowl at him. But he appeared too secure (symmetrical features, unflinching gaze, and physical adeptness) while she felt hounded on all fronts. They were horribly matched.

She had to see Professor Hajjar and convince him of the implications of going through with his plan. As absurd as it sounded for someone to say this, she had to make a son of Minerva see reason. How was she going to do that though? Genius wasn’t encoded in her DNA. She couldn’t compete with him in terms of logic, rationality, and strategy. Not when he had the advantages of both nature and nurture. Whatever her argument, he was sure to counter it with one more thoroughly constructed.

This was all she thought about while walking up the steps to his office, the same steps she had ascended just a few days earlier. Today she felt she had already received her punishment. So why was knocking on his door such a daunting task? When she managed, however, he gave her permission to enter.

“Good afternoon, Professor.” She greeted.

He looked up from his device and extracted a file from the neatly organized stack on his left.

“Good afternoon, Miss. L/n. Here,” He motioned for her to come closer and once she stood in front of his desk, handed her the beige folder. “It is your training and diet regiment. I trust you have refrained from overeating. A ruptured stomach after years of starvation is the last thing we need right now.”

She shook her head lightly. “No, I’m good. The lunch ladies are following your instructions.”

Anxious to find the right way to start the discussion on her supposed training, she began abusing her lower lip feeling the skin peeling under the brute force. Because, truly, how was she supposed to tell him she wasn’t planning on going through with it because his colleague had all but threatened her? She could just outright say it. But that was so pathetic. So fucking pathetic. It would sound so ungrateful of her after all the string-pulling he did to get permission for her to train with her peers. In each fathomable scenario, she sounded like a snob.

“There is someone I would like you to meet on Monday.” His words pulled her out of her steaming train of thought. His hands were clasped before him, but it was not meant to taunt her she thinks. “Someone I think would be suitable to your needs.”

She was back on the steaming train. “You won’t be the one training me?”

Professor Hajjar unclasped his hands to gesture at the stacks of documents on his desk.

“I am far too engaged with research and grading tests and assignments to oversee your training personally. The student I have in mind is hardworking and skilled at his craft.”

“Student?” She questioned, fingers curling anxiously around the schedule.

“Would that be an issue?”

His question would be insulting if it weren’t for the fact that Y/n fears her peers as much as she wishes she could stand by their side. Whoever it was that he was dead set on assigning as her mentor would not be gentle. He would not be patient because he didn’t have to. Not when it was her.

Y/n shifted her weight from one leg to the other until Hajjar had enough of her. He rose from his seat and headed for the bookshelf, running his fingers along the spines of books too expensive to dream of possessing. Being a renowned researcher and an esteemed professor at Olympia University meant he could afford such luxuries. Luxuries he apparently intended to extend to her.

It was curious, how this was the first time a hand stretched in her direction, not seeking to draw blood but to gift. While she fought between rejecting his gift and accepting it with a thousand thanks, he unfurled her hand and placed the book on her cold palm. Instinctively, her fingers curled around the binding.

“Just because I will not be there each day to supervise you, does not mean I will be left out of the loop with regards to your progress. One of your mentor’s duties will be to provide a weekly report on precisely that.”

Y/n nodded, unable to speak for a few moments.

“Can you tell me his name?” She asked when the initial shock had begun to subside.

Professor Hajjar regarded her stoically, hands clasped behind his back.

“As I said,” He began in an even tone, walking back to his seat, “You will meet him on Monday at the Training Center.”

What was with all the mystery? Why couldn’t he just tell her outright? Was it that crucial to his plans that she be kept in the dark? Despite having received the gift a few moments earlier, she felt her nervousness spike up again.

“Professor, can I ask you something?” The question slipped from her lips.

The man peered at her from behind his glasses once more. “Carry on.”

“Can I take some of the food back home to my sister?” She asked without delay, fearing that if she hesitated, she might never say it at all. “I thought that since raising our stipend is out of the question, I might at least take some of the food home to her. Like- like maybe half a burger, for example. Or a salad. That way she can- her stomach hurts so-

“Miss. L/n.”

“Yes?”

She was breathing erratically, something she realized after having been interrupted. Her heart beat so fast it hurt each time her chest rose and fell. But she could only look at Hajjar, sending him a silent plea.

He nodded and said, “It will be arranged.”

To say this was the best thing to have happened to her in a while would be a dishonest understatement. Because it was the most benevolent thing anyone here had desired or dared to do for her. It was the only thing anyone here, on Camp Jupiter, had ever done for her period. She would be forever grateful.

“Thank you, Professor.”

Eos Elementary would put the fear of the heavens in the foundations of any normal elementary school outside of Camp Jupiter. It was only right though, considering the attendees weren’t normal children and those other schools didn’t have to teach them how to control their gifts so they didn’t blow up the building for being upset. It was built to accommodate the talents of every young demigod and hone their skills so they could overcome the challenges they would have to face later on in examinations and quests. Easy-peasy? No. Not for any demigod, but especially Luna.

Luna, who stood outside the gate with her scarf wrapped up to her cheeks with only an armed guard to keep her company. Luna, who kicked at rocks, waiting for Y/n to pick her up so they could go home and do their homework in bed. She jogged toward the little girl, wrapping her arms around her.

“Heyyyy.” She greeted, trying to sound cheerful.

“Hey.”

Luna was less enthusiastic than usual, which wasn’t surprising. Given everything. Y/n helped take her backpack off her shoulders, carrying it in one hand and holding the other for the little girl to take, which she did.

“Everything good at school?” Y/n asked, trying to ignore the guard’s stare burning into their backs.

Instead of responding with words, Luna simply nodded and looked down at her feet as Y/n herded her through the streets.

“So, guess what,” Y/n said when they had to stop at a red light. Luna only looked up at her briefly before looking back down, kicking at the pavement. Still, Y/n tried to sound jovial as she delivered the good news. “I get to bring you food from the dining hall from now on!”

Luna perked up at her words, grinning from ear to ear.

“Really?” She said, dark eyes glinting with hope. “You can?”

Y/n matches her enthusiasm with an excited nod, fingers tightening around the smaller hand as she enumerated whatever came to mind.

“Hamburgers. Salads. Pasta. Soups and stews. Whatever is on the menu for breakfast and lunch.”

“Even the honey muffins?” Luna is practically jumping for joy at this point.

“Even those.”

The rest of the way home, Luna is asking her about how much food she eats at school, unaware that she has only recently tried the food there. But Y/n makes a good show of bragging about it in hopes that it will lift the girl’s spirits higher. It works like a charm.

There is little to no difference between their rotten apartment and the streets; cold, wet, and a tad gloomier than the lamplit alleys. But Y/n cooks a pathetic batch of what’s supposed to be pancakes for Luna (a bit of cheese as well sprinkled with olive oil and oregano she had stolen during New Year’s) and hands her a glass of water to wash it down. Then they get into bed and do their homework in silence so that tomorrow they can spend the day at the aviary. This is all fine. The problem is falling asleep. There seems to be no dream compelling enough to claim Luna’s consciousness for a few hours. No blanket so thick as to keep her warm.

Y/n tucked her black hair behind her ear. “Are you cold?”

Luna nodded slowly.

“I’m scared.” She confessed and looked up at her. “Can you stay with me?”

With that, all thoughts of sleeping on the floor were abandoned. Keeping Luna warm and feeling safe was her top priority.

“Here,” she said, cupping her hands under the blanket. “It’s better now, isn’t it?”

“A little.”

“You can go to sleep now. There’s nothing here.”

Even as she spoke the words the falsity of them rang loud and clear. Especially in a room so utterly cold, and dark, the walls of which were covered with mold no matter how she tried to scrape it off. Luna knew it too, even if she hesitated in speaking her mind. Fear did that to a person, a child.

“What if I see something again?” She asked, a tremor in her voice. “What if they kill me?”

Y/n pulled her into an embrace, bones digging into smaller bones, and rubbed soothing circles on her sister's back. She kisses her temple as Luna fists the back of her midnight blue shirt. “Nothing’s going to happen to you. I’m right here, aren’t I?”

Luna lifts her head and looks Y/n in the eye, a silent plea. “You won’t leave after I fall asleep?”

She couldn’t lie to her this time, couldn’t part from her when her breathing evened out, and lay down on the floor. She couldn’t part from her to sit at the edge of the bed, holding her hand when she was cold all over. No, tonight was going to be different.

“I promise.”

She secures the blanket around their shivering bodies.

************************************************************************************************************************************************

Monday turned out to be absolute poison. Not only did Professor Orlova keep breathing down her neck about every single noise regardless if Y/n had caused it or not, but her arms hurt like a fucking cunt from the apex of her shoulders to her wrist. She could barely write and could only take about five minutes of carrying her ratty brown backpack before removing it and sitting just about anywhere to roll her shoulders. There was no relief. It only hurt more. Breakfast went down smoothly so there was that, but other than the warm meal nothing about that day seemed promising.

The entirety of Olympia, be it the student body or the staff, had been almost a bit too eager to leave Juliana Pierce’s death behind like a rusty relic in a dilapidated museum, but the mood had shifted over the weekend. Now, everyone whispered amongst themselves, raising question after question. Some even had theories of their own to share over breakfast, and Y/n had eavesdropped from her table while pretending to revise one more time before classes began.

Lucky for her, she didn’t have to strain to catch the conversation a group of four students were having at the long table to her left which joined another, then another, to the very end of the vast structure. It wasn’t enough that she couldn’t afford to have a warm meal in the dining hall, but even when she could, it was an unspoken rule that she had to sit at a table separate from the rest. It was a mere three feet of a distance, but it cemented a tacit ultimatum; that she was not to mingle. She was not to pollute the other tables with her presence. She didn’t attempt to change that. Even if the group of students seemed to be of an amiable disposition.

Having had her blood drawn earlier than usual, as per Professor Hajjar’s instructions, Y/n had arrived there before them. She’d managed to catch glimpses of them. Not that there was any need to, as they were the same students who always sat there; two young men and two young women. The males, Jisung and Felix, were the same sons of Apollo she’d caught looking at her the week before when Orlova had put her on the spot. One of the girls was Hwang Yeji, leader of the Second Cohort. The other, whose Cohort Y/n didn’t know, she’d heard the three refer to as ‘Lia’. By now she’d memorized their voices.

“It’s been three weeks though.” Said Lia, “Shouldn’t the CIH have found a lead by now?”

A sound similar to a scoff, but more resigned came from Jisung.

“So what if it’s been three weeks?” He countered, and seemingly after taking a bite out of his cheesy bun, adds, “The paper said there were no footprints, no DNA left behind at the crime scene. So far, the only way for them to find a lead is by analyzing the killer’s method. They could just be a perfectionistic bastard who’s hard to catch.”

“The people that were there said that she’d stripped naked and skinned alive.” Said Yeji. “Remember what that girl with the black and red spiky hair said when they interviewed her?”

This time it was Felix who spoke.

“Yeah, we were about to turn off the TV when that came on and she started talking about the hole in Ruth’s chest. No heart. No eyes either. No traces of DNA, monster, beast, or human.” He paused, and Y/n flipped the page. “Poor girl looked about to have a breakdown. Good thing they cut it before they caught it on camera.”

“Like it would have mattered.” Shot Jisung through a mouthful of mushroom-and-dill chicken and dumpling soup. “She’s going to have to live with the sight of Ruth’s corpse for the rest of her life. What a bunch of pussies have to say doesn’t matter shit.”

Groaning in disgust, Yeji muttered, “Says the bitch with social anxiety.”

“Don’t start shit with me, Elmo lookalike.” Fired Jisung.

What followed was a back-and-forth worthy of the circus. Even amidst the clatter of utensils all around them, the cuss words being hurled across the table entered Y/n’s ears unobstructed. She tried to make sense of some of the expressions but without much success.

“Isn’t it strange though?” Lia spoke in a soft voice, and the rest of them stopped to listen while Y/n wallowed a spoonful of the soup.

When it became obvious that she wasn’t going to elaborate, Jisung took it upon himself to ask her to clarify.

“Lia, baby girl, everything’s fucking weird around here lately.” Y/n could hear the laugh he was trying to suppress. “You’re going to have to be more specific.”

“What Felix said before, about there being no traces of DNA.” She explained, voice still gentle. “There’s always something left behind, isn’t there? Cloth fibers. Skin. Nails. Body fluids.” Y/n started in her chair, soup spilling out of her spoon and back into the porcelain bowl, as booming laughter sounded from somewhere across the dining hall. It seemed to temporarily catch their attention. Then, Lia whispered. “It’s almost like whoever did that to Ruth was never even there. Like the only evidence they ever existed is the tragedy they left behind.”

Felix matched Lia’s whispery tone with his own. “What if they left something but we have no way of understanding it because we aren’t aware of its existence?”

Jisung groaned, mouth full of food.

“Whatever,” He interjected, likely wanting to end the conversation, “It’s not like we’re going to solve the case at eight in the morning.”

“No coffee today?” Asked Yeji, sounding surprised.

That seemed to ignite some kind of previously dampened frustration in Jisung as he all but pushed the chair backward, the legs screeching against the floor.

“I would have had some,” he emphasized and Y/n heard Felix make a choking noise, “If not for this chicken dragging me away from the vending machine like a wet rag going all ‘we have to cut back on coffee, Jisung’ and ‘it’s not healthy to put that much caffeine in your body, Jisung’.”

“Really? You’re trying to lay off coffee?” Yeji’s question was answered by another series of choking sounds. None of them paid that any heed as Jisung continued to do whatever he was doing, Yeji sipped from her cup, and Lia took a small bite out of the dumpling in the soup (Y/n spied from the corner of her eye). “That’s great, you know. I was getting worried seeing you chugging down liters of coffee like it’s water.”

Jisung released a short laugh of absolute derangement. “Yeah right. He just doesn’t want to have to run just to take a shit.”

Y/n couldn’t withhold her laughter anymore. It spluttered out of her even as she abused her lower lip by biting into it. Some of the soup that had barely passed her lips and that she’d been trying not to swallow for fear of choking with amusement, ended up on the silver tray. She swallowed what remained in her mouth and used a napkin to wipe her lips.

They’d stopped talking by now. Y/n could feel their gaze on her so she tried her best to act like she’d been laughing at something else, turning the page, and mentally punching herself for it as realization struck. Nothing about Hematology was amusing. In fact, it was rather infuriating considering who taught the course. Pathetic. Fortunately, the group of four had let her be pathetic in peace, not bothering with pointing out how disgusting she was, and they’d all gone about their day in peace.

The little comfort she’d derived from Orlova’s lecture was thanks to Seungmin’s presence. She would never tell him that though. Surely, he would hate to be perceived as someone she could trust, someone she could consider a friend. He made this obvious through his body language; maintaining a conspicuous distance when they worked in pairs even as the rest huddled near the microscope, mostly looking at her from his peripheral vision, giving curt answers, shrugging when she asked a question, and so on. Whatever ease she felt in his company was to be kept a secret from him.

What she couldn’t keep a secret was the unease that had taken root in her subconscious the previous week, when she’d first become conscious of his existence. Hwang, as his friend had called him, had been perusing the pages of his Hematology textbook just as Y/n had taken a few moments to look about the room. She hadn’t been paying attention to him specifically, but he had somehow sensed her wandering gaze and turned quickly enough to catch her admiring the architectural design, gazes locking. The oxygen had vanished from her lungs. Cold with fear of Luna being taken into custody, Luna charged with a murder she hadn’t committed, Luna taken away, Luna being tortured for information, she’d looked away and feigned interest in some other aspect of the lecture hall. But the dread had not ceased.

It had stalked her in the hallways, followed her at lunch, and, ultimately, tracked her down at the Training Center. She’d entered the changing room, put on her new uniform, the material of which showcased the effects of starvation on her body, and sat on the bench, waiting for her new instructor to arrive. After twenty minutes, it had become apparent to her that they were a no-show, so she’d braved the short journey across the floor to the archery area. Looking back, it had been the worst possible choice she could have made. But how was she supposed to know what to do? Just by having watched for years? She wasn’t the best at translating theory into practice, even if her imagination was what she’d relied on to compensate for the lack of tactile experience.

So, yeah, archery turned out to be the wrong discipline to start with. Not only did she not know which bow to pick from the shelves, but the gloves were tailored for each student specifically. It had either skipped Professor Hajjar’s mind or he didn’t intend for her to start with the bow just yet. Still, she’d picked a spot farthest to the right and watched the other students in action. How they placed the arrow. How they positioned their feet. The angle of their arms as they pulled the string. The required distance from the faces so it didn’t slice the flesh off once it was released. Not feeling all that confident, she’d taken her spot and raised the bow. Instant regret. Pain shot from her shoulder to her wrist as she struggled to keep the arrow in place and the string pulled. Not that she managed to pull it, to begin with. It was a rather failed, pitiful first attempt.

To make matters worse, she could feel eyes observing her. It was almost the same as before, the sole difference being the intensity of the gaze and the fact that when she looked to her right, Y/n came face to face with the person who had been stalking her nightmares for the past week. In her dreams, he was always a witness, the final nail in the coffin. Only, it wasn’t just a dream.

Her fingers trembled with the nerves. It was impossible to knock the end of the arrow on the string without the former veering to the right before clattering to the floor. She glanced at him as she crouched to pick it up. She bit her lip in frustration, tasting blood. It irritated her to no end; that he leaned against the wall, that she hadn’t noticed sneak behind her or lean against the wall, or that he made no attempt to hide the fact that he was watching, and a bunch of other things that, in the end, were irrelevant. Most of all, she loathed the effect that this man, whom only days before she hadn’t known existed, had on her. His mere presence served as an electric chair, constantly punishing her for her silence. The arrow clattered to the floor once more.

Again and again, she tried without success, and all the while, he was there to watch. Y/n wanted so badly to stomp her feet like a five-year-old. His presence deterred her. It came to the point where she worried about the smallest things; bending down to pick up the arrow, placing her feet shoulder-width apart, worrying if they were parallel with the shooting line, or when she bit back a whimper of pain as she pulled the string. That was the last time.

The fingers of her right hand clenched around the shaft of the arrow. Humiliated, Y/n took a tremulous breath before lowering the bow, picking up the quiver, and walking away, leaving the boy behind. He did not follow. Or at least, she didn’t hear him do so. To make sure, she halted and looked back just once to catch him with his gaze trained on her. Immediately, she faced the exit.

Enclosed in her own head and all the negative emotions brewing up in there, Y/n failed to notice the man headed toward her, which would be impossible in most cases considering the young man was hard to miss, even if he was clad in the same training gear as every other student. But miss him she did. And she continued to miss him even as she turned to the left toward the shelves, placing the bow on the rack with trembling fingers and the quiver where she’d found it. No amount of rubbing her palms against her thighs calmed them. This was just humiliating.

She turned and crashed into a sturdy figure. Hands came to rest on her arms, steadying Y/n as her forehead throbbed from the impact. After making certain she wasn’t going to collapse, Lee Minho stroked his chin, the flesh now rosy and tender.

“Well,” He began, looking at her, “This is going to bruise.”

Y/n didn’t feel all that sorry, but if she showed no remorse for the honest accident, she might garner the wrath of his friends. They didn’t look like the kind of people anyone wanted to fuck with, least of all her.

“Sorry.” She muttered, averting her eyes.

Before she could walk past him, he took hold of her arm and took a good look at her face.

“Did you have anyone take a look at your nose?” He asked.

Normally, it would have been hard to forget about the navy bruise since it was quite literally on her nose, but all concerns about her surface flaws tended to flee whenever more oppressive issues became the main characters of her life. Luna’s safety was her focal point, as was hunger. Her health had never been anyone’s priority, and she had learned to disregard it just as expertly. The same thing she had done with her appearance. Yet there were moments like this one when someone would point out the holes in her threadbare shirt or the hollowness of her cheeks, that she considered turning her skin inside out. Hiding her face beneath her flesh.

She looked at his gloved hand on her arm. “Like they’d waste their medicine on me.”

His hold loosened and then disappeared as he crossed his arms over his chest. Y/n looked up at him, asking herself why she hadn’t already left.

“It doesn’t look that bad considering the strength and speed of my kick. All you have to do is get someone to realign it for you.”

That was a low blow. Even for him. It was not a secret that she was quite literally an outcast, period. This truth was not easy to stomach but there was no easier way to say it either. And he knew it.

“You’re mocking me, aren’t you?” Y/n could only be thankful that the shame hadn’t drained the last ounce of strength from her limbs. “Leave me alone. You had your fun.”

Minho’s eyebrows furrowed.

“Where’s the fun in besting someone who has had no training? It’s like kicking a starved dog.” Y/n hoped he couldn’t tell how his words affected her, even if it wasn’t her first time hearing them. There’s a pause before he speaks again. “Besides, I’m not here to mock you. Professor Hajjar assigned me to be your mentor, show you the ropes until you get the hang of it. Basically, train you until you’ve built enough skill and stamina to level up.”

That caught her by surprise. Several questions started running through her head at a speed only an overthinker could achieve. Why was he so late? Why was he wearing archery gloves? Had she been right to pick up archery first? Why did he smell like the violets in the lush gardens surrounding the Hall of Ceremonies and the rum that children of Dionysus and Bacchus so often consumed behind staircases?

But what Y/n asked as she stared at him, frozen, was, “Why you?”

“Hm?”

“Why would he choose you?” She repeated, somewhat impatiently.

The pause that followed was filled with grunts, moans of pain, taunting laughter, thuds, whimpers, arrows swishing through the air, and more as he regarded her with a somewhat pensive expression. It wasn’t until she lowered her eyes to her feet as a resounding cackle sounded from the far left of the archery zone, that Minho seemed to break away from his train of thought.

With a slight shake of his head, he walked to the shelf and picked up the bow and quiver from before.

“Maybe he thinks I wouldn’t make a spectacle out of you.” He said, fingers running up and down the upper limb.

Another surprise.

As if driven by some newfound hope, Y/n stepped closer. “Is he right?”

Mouth curving up in a small smile, Minho nodded and handed her the bow.

“Any luck with it?” He asked.

Y/n shook her head, eyes on the bow as her fingers curled around the grip.

“None.” When he just stood there, staring as if he expected a more detailed answer, she went on to say, “The string- it hurts my fingers when I pull it. If I can pull it in the first place.”

“There are pads for that. Why didn’t you take a pair from the shelves? I know you don’t have your own yet.”

Because she didn’t know there were any. The archery zone was farthest from the benches, and this was her first day of training. Ever. She didn’t know her way around here, and it was only becoming more and more obvious by the second that she stood out like a sore fucking thumb among all of these well-fed, athletic, lethal cohorts. Her silence and the way she couldn’t look him in the eye was a clear enough answer for Minho as he placed his hand on her bony shoulder and led her back to the trenches of the archery zone. On their way to the farthest spot on the left, where she’d made a fool out of herself previously, he explained the parts of the arrow and the bow. They registered in her brain as follows; the point/arrowhead, shaft, fletching, nock, lower and upper limbs, grip, arrow rest, and the nocking point. Easy enough. Theoretically. Maybe with consistent training, she would get her arrow to stay still.

“Hey,” Minho says, eyes set ahead, “You’re here. Done practicing?”

She follows his gaze to the person it has landed on, and she wonders how she could have let his presence slip her mind. Had she been swept away by Minho’s explanation of the basics of archery to this extent?

The boy closed in on them as they halted at Y/n’s previous spot, and she hoped her discomfort at his presence didn’t bleed into her countenance, pale as it was. His height and appearance didn’t help. Over the past week, she’d seen him in passing and at a distance, but now that he stood before Minho and her it felt as though some looming threat had materialized before her very eyes. Some primal instinct in her urged her to scour her surroundings for an exit. It made her want to worm her way into the deepest layers of the earth if only to seek refuge from the misfortune one word from him might bring upon Luna and her. His eyes were on her for no longer than a few seconds.

“Finished a while ago,” Hwang told Minho in that honeyed yet neutral voice of his. His right thumb fit neatly inside the ringlike part of the black knife he had apparently been carrying the entire time. She noted the sinister curve of the blade. “Thought I’d try archery today.”

“Where’s your bow?”

“Changed my mind. Things are rather dull around here.” He said nonchalantly, but Y/n felt the sting. “I might go join Yeonjun and Beomgyu in the simulation chamber after all.”

Minho’s brows shot up. “There already?”

“They waited for you for about half an hour then left.” The boy’s eyes were on her, appraising her once again. “I see you had no plans of joining us though.”

“I told you gremlins on Friday that I’d be training her from now on.” Minho reminded him and suddenly he was standing a tad closer to her. “After simulation practice. Remember?”

Hwang’s gaze briefly shifted to the space between her and Minho and then he shrugged. “We thought it was a prank.”

Y/n couldn’t fault him for that. This whole endeavor sounded like a practical joke. She didn’t see how it could end in anything other than complete and utter disappointment for her. Orlova would humiliate her further if she failed. And she would fail. But the way he said it implied that she was the joke. A bleak, pathetic little gag that his friend was wasting his time on. True as it was, it still made her itch.

After that, Y/n tried to tune them out with very little success. Even with all the screaming and groans of pain around, his voice was impossible to dampen. She heard everything, from their talk about the new gear for the obstacle course to the nets on the second floor of Compartment A, a place she’d never stepped foot in. If Minho found the fleeting glances Hwang shot in her direction suspicious, he did not remark on it. In any case, Minho’s ability to pick up on the way his friend appraised her mattered little when she was cursed with feeling dissected every second of their interaction.

A bit later, the taller boy took his leave, toying with the knives in his grasp.

“Hyunjin, hey,” Minho called after him. Y/n glanced back just as Hwang tilted his head for his friend to continue. “Don’t forget about what we talked about before.”

After taking one last look at her, the boy answered simply, “Sure.”

The next 15 minutes were an overload of theory that she would soon have to put into practice. Minho was a good teacher, even if a little intimidating at times. His gaze could be equally warm and chilly, yet it appeared to melt entirely at a specific sound.

Her head snapped to the left, and surely, halfway through the thinning line of archers, stood Jisung with his brother Felix, both in their training gear. They were- well, he was cackling and pointing at Felix’s sorry attempts at hitting the target dead in the center while the blonde pouted, frustrated at his less-than-adequate skills. He must have been a healer then if he wasn’t even a little bit naturally gifted with the bow. The worst part about being a pitiful archer was probably having a brother who was just the opposite and made no effort to console you. Not that Jisung wasn’t trying to help. He just teased Felix in the process.

Y/n smiled a little at their bond before positioning her feet the way Minho taught her and made to pull the string. When she craned her head to the side for his approval, his attention was fixated elsewhere. While she’d pulled herself back to the matter at hand, he seemed to be under some sort of spell. Interest in their training had drained from his eyes. Now, the warm irises expressed something different, remote, and almost regretful. Y/n couldn’t put a finger on it.

Lowering the bow, she asked, “Do you know him?”

As if electrocuted, Minho tore his gaze away and looked at her. She felt a little sorry for having sought his attention.

“Yeah,” he said, nodding for her to raise the bow and get in position. “They’re my friends.”

*******************************************************************************************************************************************

The next day starts normal enough save for the fact that they wake up earlier as she has to get her blood drawn earlier if she wants to have breakfast at the hall. Made breakfast for Luna, and endured the pangs of pain. Stomach acidity going wild in there. Reassured her little sister for the thousandth time at home and on the way to Eos Elementary. Ran a marathon to school. Got her blood sucked through a tube which left her feeling dull and lifeless like a dish towel. Breakfast was stellar and she even stuffed an extra honey chocolate muffin into an empty pocket of her backpack, all wrapped up in foil by the lunch lady.

Lectures went on and on, and for once Y/n didn’t feel like she was about to turn into one of Medusa’s little garden companions. Seungmin and she were still not on speaking terms. Not that they had been gossiping and chatting away before. Just… the silence was stifling. She’d have to get used to it. It was no different from what she had once shared with Chiron, her caretaker. An uneasy, dutiful coexistence.

Lunch came around but she tried not to seem too excited about it. Others would think it weird for someone to be that excited over a meal. Or maybe everyone did? Food was something to look forward to for everyone, wasn’t it?

Whatever the case, she tried to put a leash on her excitement as she received her prearranged lunch. On her way to her table, she spotted Minho talking with his friends and another guy with a muscular build she had seen around before. He caught her looking and acknowledged her with the slightest nod. Not even that seemed to escape his friend Hwang. His piercing dark eyes studied the exchange, which urged her to hurry to her table.

To her left, the four students from before chatted with each other. At one point she felt them watching as she dug into her small portion of spaghetti. She put the fork down and settled for studying the floor. What magnificent patterns. After a minute of speaking under their breath, they looked away and pretended they hadn’t seen her gorge on her food like a cavewoman.

Halfway through lunch, a storm of a dark-haired young man comes their way, clasping his hands on Jisung’s and Felix’s shoulders.

“Oh, my fucking fuck, you guys,” Is his first line, “You’ll never guess what happened!”

Jisung pulls him down to his eye level. “So, tell us since we won’t.”

The man sits smack between the two brothers.

“This little girl basically went barking mad at the school. You know the one. For the little kids. The one you went to when you were little.”

The redhead speaks, sounding incredulous. “Eos Elementary, Jeongin. How can you not know?”

“Why would I know?!” The guy, Jeongin, defends.

“You’ve been here like three years!”

“And I would have lived not knowing anyway!”

Jisung intervenes. “Oh, my fucking gods, who gives a shit?!”

“Yeah, you were talking about a little girl?” Felix attempts to bring them back on track a tad more gently. “What did she do?”

Jeongin smiles big, his eyes turning into glittering jewels as two adorable dimples appear on his cheeks. He leans forward, motioning for the others to do the same. But when he speaks, he makes no effort to lower his voice.

“From what I heard, the higher-ups sent some of their own to investigate. I know what you’re thinking; what the fuck are they doing there then. Well, at first, I thought they suspected a staff member. Maybe one of them got caught selling drugs on the low. Dabbling in crystal meth or cocaine. But, no, that doesn’t make sense because they’re busy trying to catch whoever killed Juliana and Ruth. Is that it then? Did the janitor kill those two? So, then I listen closer and-

Yeji lifts an eyebrow. “Listen?”

“Eavesdropped on the professors, whatever. So, then I listen closer, and when I tell you my jaw dropped!”

All five of them fall silent, and Y/n listens with bated breath.

“Wait…” Jisung looks to others for confirmation. “Don’t tell me they suspected a kid.”

Lia cups her hand over her mouth, her appetite long gone. “No way…”

“Way!” Jeongin effused.

Yeji threw up her hands. “This is getting ridiculous.”

“Is this what they’re wasting time on while Ruth and Juliana rot?” Felix asked in disbelief and anger, staring down at his plate. “Chasing and scaring little kids?”

“But you guys don’t know the best part.”

“Best?” Yeji shot him a reproachful look, just about done with his chipper attitude towards the situation. “There’s nothing remotely good about this, Jeongin.”

Her words appeared to strike a chord within him, for he got red in the face as if he’d been guzzling down cup after cup of wine. He removed his hand from Jisung’s shoulder, whose expression let him know he agreed with the redhead. Felix and Lia shared the same opinion it seemed.

“I know. I didn’t mean it like that. I- well, you know how I- sorry, I got carried away.” He apologized, and it sounded truthful, with the way he smiled awkwardly, blushing even more with each word. Then, with a shake of his head, he carried on, “Apparently, they started to question every kid that is known to have inherited powers. Started doing blood tests. Putting them through this trance-like state. This girl couldn’t take it and lashed out, injuring the medics before making a break for the gate.”

A few unnerving beats of silence. Lia rotated the pearly bracelet on her delicate wrist. Jisung zoned out, toying with a triangular-shaped object about the size of an acorn. Felix picked up his fork only to set it down again. Yeji was deep in thought.

“Do they have her in custody now?”

The question earns her a groan from Jeongin.

“That’s what I’ve been telling you! She broke out. The guards started chasing like fools but they couldn’t catch her.”

“Couldn’t get their hands on a little girl? Are you serious?”

“Deadass.”

“Are they still out looking for her?” asked Felix, who was now trying to force himself to eat.

Jeongin shrugged, picking up Jisung’s fork to steal some of his spaghetti, which the latter didn’t seem to mind.

“All I know is that the last time they saw her was before she bolted inside the forest.”

Jisung’s eyes almost popped out. Lia gasped and the rest were just as shocked.

“Oh, no,” She whispered. “Gods she won’t be able to survive in there.”

Jeongin swallowed the food and grabbed a napkin to wipe at the corners of his mouth.

“I think she will.” He counters.

“How so?” It was the first time Felix sounded genuinely angry as pushed his plate away, almost knocking over Lia’s glass. To him, the whole ordeal is absurd at best, and evil at worst. “She doesn’t have the training to face what prowls in there.”

No, she doesn’t, thought Y/n. For the entire duration of their conversation, her body had remained stock still, a veritable statue. Her body had gone into panic mode, reserving energy only for breathing. Her limbs had lost all feeling to the point that she had felt like a spectator to her miserable form sitting there uselessly while they reacted to the unofficial news about the runaway child. A child driven mad by experiments conducted in the name of an investigation.

It took a few moments for her to reclaim her anatomy, to perceive the surroundings through her eyes; the clattering of utensils, the boisterous laughter, the brain-rotting whispers, and the light streaming in from the windows high up. Then, utter void. She could feel their eyes on her but their voices were suddenly silenced by the buzzing in her head. The ringing in her ears. The blood rushed back into her face as she forced her trembling hands to grab onto the straps of her backpack. Darkness pooled at her feet as though every crevice of her framework bled pure, unadulterated tar. A fog that, if you touched it, curled around your fingers, slowly draining your life force. Not that she knew any of this.

By the time she snapped back into her body for the second time, she had already begun running.

No one other than the higher-ups knew of this, but back when she’d first arrived at Camp Jupiter, Y/n had done so through the forest. Lupa had found her at the very edge before she’d managed one step into the green nightmare. She had smacked her around a few times, glowering over her, thinking it would intimidate her into abandoning her newfound purpose. Meeting her baby sister. In the end, the guardian had granted her entrance. Only not through the natural path, and not without a few chilling words of caution.

Now, she found herself at the edge for a second time, preparing to brave the search for Luna in the gargantuan nightmare before which she stood. No forest was so imposing, so eerie in the way only living things promising a harrowing death can be. But what did any of that matter? What did it matter if she stayed outside of it, alive and with her sister's mangled corpse painted on her eyelids when she could just step inside?

Clutching the straps of her backpack, she willed the fear to melt off her extremities. The forest closed up behind her, alive with the desire to prevent her escape. Two more steps inside and her sense of direction turned to mush. There was no left or right, no up or down. Only branches, thorns, the hooting of owls, and somewhere, what felt like but a few hundred feet from her, maniacal laughter. There was only forward because the exit had been devoured.

Her heart hammered away inside her chest. How was she going to find Luna in this leafy purgatory? Encased by darkness as she was, she would assume she was without hands or feet if not for her sense of touch. Her soles prickled with the cold and her fingers were minutes away from turning into inoperable stubs. As she walked, she resolved to prevent that by opening and closing her fists. How quickly you forget us, spoke the shadows. It was difficult to tell which. They all melted together. But that single sentence was enough to make her remember who she was. She was the daughter of Nyx. Darkness was her legacy. Speaking to it, wielding it, that was her prerogative.

Luna. She spoke as softly and as low as she could so that she wouldn’t spark the interest of any creatures lurking nearby.

Luna. She spoke her sister’s name once again, and when that went unanswered, she took several steps in an unknown direction, feeling her way around with her hands. Thorns pierced her skin. Her blue oversized blue zip-up hoodie snagged on the branches. She could swear they were clawing at her face, back, thighs, and neck. The bark was so rough, she couldn’t lean on it for long. But the cold lessened the pain of the abrasions.

Luna, it’s me, Y/n. She tried a third time, never stopping to look into the darkness for fear of what she might find staring back. Answer me if you can hear me. Don’t scream or you will alert the monsters. Listen to the darkness and it will lead you to me.

No response, and after a few minutes of unendurable silence Y/n could no longer keep her breathing steady. She could hear her heart hammering away. Her blood rushing throughout. The ringing in her ears drowned out all sounds, which was dangerous considering where she was.

She recalled the way she had torn through the forest years ago. Her tunnel vision had proven useful back then. It had given her courage, the strength she needed to charge towards her purpose. Now it hindered her senses. She was going to get mauled before she could find Luna. It would all be for naught. All because she hadn’t honed the ability to commune telepathically with the shadows. It drove her mad to think about it.

But she kept going. It seemed like a sin to stand still.

North.

She knew it was the darkness. No one spoke to her like it did. But did it actually expect her to be able to tell which way north was? She could barely tell which way was left and right. Y/n looked into the dark, truly gazed into it. She could make out certain shapes; owls on the trees, squirrels nibbling on nuts, and other larger-sized silhouettes prowling. Surely that couldn’t be north.

When Y/n turned right, the darkness spoke again. It sounded annoyed. North!

“I don’t know.” She hissed. “I don’t know which way north is. I’m not a fucking compass.”

This time she turned left. This must be the way because when she next heard the darkness speak, it sounded almost relieved. North.

“Thank you.” She whispered. “That’s how we’ll communicate.”

As she walked north for what seemed like an eternity but must have been just half an hour at most, she noticed the forest getting brighter. It flickered like the lights at their apartment. Only this fractured the darkness at even intervals, like a regular heartbeat that supplied the rest of the entire harrowing expanse of the wild with life. She gravitated toward it, drawn by the fluorescent aquamarine hue of the veiny roots and the scent of pine needles. The latter made the ground soft for walking, cushioning the footfall.

The closer Y/n got to the source, the more she could tell wasn’t the only one entranced by it. At first, all she heard were rushing currents, muffled sounds, then sobs, and lastly the voice of an adult male.

“Do you like flowers, little one,” it said, and his voice gave her chills.

Y/n didn’t need to hear the child speak. Her sniffling was enough.

“Yes.” Luna hiccupped.

Y/n was now behind the tree, petrified at the thought of what this man might be. Was he even a man? He looked like it; black hair curled at the ends, clad in a white blouse and ironed pants much too crisp for their surroundings. There should at least be some splatters of water or soaking hems. His clothed feet were in the stream after all.

The man bent down and plucked a blade of grass. It spiraled around his index finger and then sprung free, fluorescent petals of green and blue spreading like feathered wings.

“Here, then,” he said gently, waiting for her to accept his creation as he placed his hand on top of her head. “Beautiful thing, is it not?”

Luna nodded, her small fist closing around the glowing stem. The man’s mouth twitched.

“You may take it home with you if you wish.” He told her.

Y/n couldn’t hide any longer.

“Luna?” She called out, finally appearing on the other side of the stream. “Luna, throw that away.”

“Y/n!” Luna screamed for joy, crossing without fear of being swept away by the current. “Y/n, you came! You’re here! You came for me!”

The little girl pressed her face into Y/n’s hoodie and the latter responded by wrapping her scrawny arms around the girl’s shoulders.

“Of course, I did. I came to take you home.”

“I don’t want to.” Luna’s voice came out muffled.

“What do you mean-

“I don’t want to! I don’t want to go home!”

“Luna, they won’t hurt you. I won’t let them, remember?” Y/n tried to reason, rubbing the back of her head as her eyes flicked up at the man on the other side. “Do you remember what I told you to say if anyone asks?”

Her little fists tighten around Y/n’s hoodie.

“I was in bed sleeping. Then you suddenly remembered to go pick up something from a store at the square.”

“Yes, that’s right.” Y/n encouraged her. “And when I arrived there, people were crowded around the fountain.”

Luna makes a choking sound. “And then you came straight home to make sure I was okay.”

“That whoever had done that hadn’t hurt you.” Y/n finished but it didn’t do anything to calm her down. On the contrary, her body tensed up against hers. “See, they can’t say anything bad about you.”

“But I’m-

“It’s time you went home, little one.”

The man’s voice commanded their attention, even if the way he spoke was deceptively soothing. Luna loosened her hold and held onto her arm instead. Its petals unbruised, the flower remained in her hand.

“Thank you.” She said, “For looking after her.”

“Hardly. It is you I wished to have a word with.” He revealed quite plainly. Y/n waited for him to speak his peace, which he seemed to understand. “Tell the wretched vermin not to be so awfully stingy.”

Then, he turned on his heel. Before he disappeared, he craned his head a little and cast them one last glance.

“And keep that flower.” He told them. “It is, by far, the most precious thing you own.”

With that, he vanished from the shallow creek, leaving them to stand beneath the arching branches overhead, watching their glow sink into the bed of the stream, particles reflected off the current which got more violent by the second. They had to get out of there at once. So, they went south, walking as fast as they could without raising hell in their wake. Still, twigs snapped under their feet. Their breathing grew more labored as they neared the spot from which Y/n had entered. A little further and they would get to the clearing. But to do that they first had to claw through the barrier of thorns that had blocked her exit just moments before the darkness had swallowed her.

Glued to her side, Luna trembled with fear. Her heels dug into the ground.

“Please,” Came her quivering imploration, “Please, don’t take me there. I don’t want to go back.”

Y/n couldn’t see her face, only the shivering frame of a little girl.

“If we leave, they’ll find us.” She tried to reason once again. “Nothing could save us then.”

No reply. Sensing that Luna wasn’t going to be convinced to follow her out of the forest, Y/n began to panic. Nothing would convince the scared child clinging to her arm to step back into misery. A place, she was certain would not dither to sentence her for a crime they believed her to have committed. It was a losing game. The least she could do was gamble one last time.

She set down her backpack and felt around inside its pocket for the muffin she had previously stuffed in there. After fishing it out, she placed it on Luna’s hand, the one clasping hers, and let the girl bring it up to her nose.

“It’s a muffin,” Y/n confirmed. “I got it from the cafeteria like I told you I would. But if we leave, we won’t be able to have food like this ever again. I’m no one outside of this camp. I’m not a person. I can’t get a job and cook warm food for us every day. We would starve, and I don’t want you to suffer, Luna.” She clasped Luna’s hand into her own. “If we stay, I can get all sorts of things for you. Food, clothes, and maybe a better house one day. Then, you can leave and I’ll stay.”

She could feel her little sister tensing up and about to cry.

“Okay,” She said in a wobbly voice, “I’ll come with you.”

That was all Y/n needed to face the barrier of thorns and start clawing through it. She was not strong. That much she knew. But maybe her perseverance would suffice. Maybe the darkness would lend her a shadowy hand and snap each branch one by one, even as the thorns tore at her clothes and the rough branches broke the skin. Maybe crawling through it, roughed up and bloodied with her sister unharmed, would be enough. Maybe all the forest sought was her blood. Maybe it was divine. Maybe it was human after all.

It seemed like an eternity before they saw light peeking through the thorns, which somehow had made it their missing to grow behind them even as she clawed through. Meaning she had to be more brutal. Charge faster towards the beckoning light of the clearing.

What she had anticipated and tried to deny, was the welcoming party. A squadron of a hundred and fifty demigod warriors awaited their return; spears raised, blades drawn, arrows nocked. The celestial bronze was almost blinding in the glow of the afternoon sun. In stark contrast with the gloomy wilderness from which they had emerged.

An imposing figure led the troops, standing proud was Shin Ryujin.

“Do not resist.” She commanded. Luna took shelter behind her. The action didn’t go unnoticed by the daughter of Bellona, who called four of her subordinates forward. “Seize them.”

<<<Chapter 1 Chapter 3>>>

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