#I mean they’re both godly children who are older then they look | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

percabeth4life · 3 years

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Not a relationship, but how would you do Percy hosting Kronos and then the Titans winning?

Hmm, okay so to start with this I would actually have Kronos good at manipulation.

Like book one is the sweet spot here. Percy has just learned about the Gods, he doesn't have any real connections to the Godly world and they're screwing him over right then. His life is being threatened for a crime he didn't commit, the camp has basically abandoned him, Hades stole his mom, and Poseidon appears to have only claimed him so he can do his dirty work.

Frankly, if Rick had written Kronos even slightly competent in manipulation then Percy would've been on his side. Like canonically there was basically nothing keeping Percy on the Gods side right then.

So Kronos speaks sweet words and promises, shows Percy how good things to be under his rule, promises to save his mom, talks up how bad the Gods are. He reassures Percy that he doesn't want death, he just wants to replace the Gods with their faulty rule. He goes on and on about all the improvements he'd make (talking animals! Plenty of food for all! No painful deaths! Peaceful afterlives!) and coaxes Percy gently to his side.

Then when Percy returns to camp and is loved, he acts all comforting. He talks about how he's so sorry Percy now has to deal with the people that abandoned him prior. And now they pretend to have been his friends? Oh wow that shroud they made for you... I'm so sorry, you deserve better. You deserve people who care.

Luke is of course assigned to stick close to Percy and be kind and supportive and to subtle talk down the camp and the people.

Then at the end of book 1, he has Luke offer Percy a position by his side instead of the pit scorpion scene. And frankly, with all the manipulation going on prior, Percy is on board.

So then Percy is by their side, and that means things like... the fleece don't work. Percy was the reason that succeeded after all. So maybe the Titan's get the fleece and that speeds up Kronos' recovery. Also Clarisse and Grover may die there (could die there, we could kill them now because how would they escape without Annabeth and Percy? And how would Annabeth get there without Percy gaining the attention he did?), but we'll say that they manage to escape thanks to their own clever skills. It's a close thing though.

And the quest in book three... well honestly they probably wouldn't have caught Thorn taking the kids without Percy so jot that down as another fail. And now two more big three kids are on the Titan's side (we get Kronos scolding Thorn for taking them by force, he was supposed to be kind. Percy is a reassuring presence, just a bit older and more than happy to talk about how things are great here).

And well, maybe the quest still happens in book 3, maybe not. Maybe Artemis decides to go off looking for the cause of whatever monster is stirring (maybe she's noticed, maybe there are rumors, maybe the Ophiotaurus dies in the ocean without Percy to rescue it).

We'll say that Artemis does go, she's wanting proof for the council that they need to mobilize. The Titans ask a girl demigod on their team to hold up the sky just for a few minutes, three at most, then shove Artemis in there and Artemis saves her and takes the sky.

So a quest is sent out, only this time Percy and Bianca aren't there, so it's only three sent on the quest. Or maybe Annabeth goes too. And it goes alright... except it doesn't also. You could say they get defeated in the museum (but we'll say they figure it out). They have no warning for the skeletons but they can see them so they flee. No Bianca means no issue in Hephaestus' junkyard so no death there. They have to walk to the dam which could slow them down. There's no one to catch Mr. Ocean shape shifter so they just have to go to the garden (they never find out what happened to the Ophiotaurus, maybe he died, maybe he's in a lovely tank with the Titan's because they need Percy and Percy wants him to live so he'll live).

And without Percy to hold the sky, Artemis is still trapped.

At this point Kronos has had the fleece for 6 months, and that thing can work miracles. Combine that with the people still joining... well Perhaps he's all ready now.

Perhaps who steps out is not Percy, but Kronos in Percy's body.

So they're facing two Titans, not one. None of them escape.

The Titan's now hold all the possible prophecy children.

And that's the end of it for the Gods. They have a missing Goddess, all the prophecy children missing, the lieutenant of the hunt missing, and Camp's main strategist missing.

They don't realize until the camp is under siege that there's an opening. Camp falls quickly, because there was no Percy and Annabeth to find the Labyrinth. No quest to find out what was going on with their enemies. Daedalus has no second thoughts.

Camp falls with Kronos waltzing in and taking over. Atlas is by his side. It's quick and brutal (but maybe not fatal for the camp, Kronos wants followers after all, killing them is counterproductive). He puts Atlas in charge there, keep them alive Atlas, and then plans to go on Olympus.

There is no Typhoon this time, no Percy to awaken him. So things are a bit harder, but also easier. Kronos can cause his own distractions afterall, and Poseidon is still trapped in the ocean battling Okeanus.

Kronos is more than capable of mimicking that situation and splitting up the Gods. Hades won't interfere, not without Nico, and Demeter and Persephone are with him. Hestia isn't a warrior. Poseidon is in the ocean. That leaves Hera and Zeus on Olympus to fight as the big six, and then the other Olympians (minus Artemis).

Hermes may go to Luke if Luke calls, how easy would that trap be to set? So Hermes is caught by Luke when Luke lies to him about having second thoughts.

Kronos targets Apollo personally because Apollo is a dangerous God to have out and about. He's put next to his sister (and takes the burden for her but she's exhausted and weakened and they're both caught still).

Before they march on Olympus Kronos is healed enough to take his own form, he leaves Percy (leaves him alive too, Percy has been such a helpful minion after all, he gets rewarded) and takes shape. He marches on Olympus himself, his forces by his side.

Percy and Luke as his right hand men.

And Olympus falls.

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aloesarchives · 4 years

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Dad Headcanons (Wakatsuki & Gaolang)

Word Count: 3998 words

Featuring these two men because they’re only ones that I can think of that like the idea of being a dad but and write a lot for them.

(A/N): I had to put in default names because when writing this I had a hard time writing without giving names to the kids since I kinda gave them a personality and stuff.

Gaolang

You two have a daughter and a son who are three years apart, Lawana and Kiet.

Since he’s an ideal house husband, being a good dad isn’t out of the question.

Gaolang is different around his kids well like, not really, but it’s pretty obvious to you. He smiles so much more when he holds them, talks to them a little more when they ask him something, comforting them when they have nightmares. His stoic facade is gone and it’s emotionally more expression Gaolang.

There is this tenderness he has when he’s with his kids. The soft look in his eyes and the gentle aura is enough to tell you that he really cares for his kids.

Gaolang isn’t really an overbearing parent but he’s always keeps an eye out for his kids and looking out for them.

Gaolang is pretty chill parent. Strict isn’t the right word for him though, but will be authoritative to his kids when things happens. Not yelling and full on rage, he just knows how to put it in the manner that his children will get the message. I’m guessing Gaolang’s aura but idk.

Yeah, between the two of you, he is the disciplinary one. Again, no hitting of any sort or negative reinforcements, but Gaolang knows how to talks to his kiddos when they done something wrong/or stepped far over the line.

It’s a given that you and your kids watch Gaolang’s boxing matches. There’s no if or buts, you never miss any of his matches because your daughter and son would always remind you to turn on the tv and watch him fight. Gosh, the look of awe and amazement in their eyes makes you smile so genuine. They love rooting for their papa whose fighting in the right. When Gaolang does his flash, the kiddos squeal with excitement. More so, when Gaolang wins his matches, your kids are jumping for joy and chanting their happiness on their papa’s win.

Lawana: Mama, Mama, Mama!!! Did you see that?!? Papa won, Papa won!

(Y/N): Yes, sweetie, Papa indeed won.

Kiet: Woah, Papa is so cool! Look how he hit the guy in the face and he hit the ground with a BAM!

(Y/N): *chuckles* Isn’t your Papa amazing, you two?

Lawana & Kiet: YEAH!!!

When Gaolang gets back from being abroad, he is off for a few days and stays home to which you let him sleep in the morning due to his jet lag. During those time, your kids stumble into your room and climb onto the bed to wake the two of you up. You’re always awake first since your sleep schedule isn’t as messed up as Gaolang’s and gently tell Lawana and Kiet to let their dad sleep some more. Surprising enough, your kids behave and not bother Gaolang when he’s sleeping.

Gaolang is that type of parent that teaches his kids life lesson in any shape or form at any given time. Not like the bs type of try hard quirky quotes 14 yr old girls would say, he teaches them that aren’t opposites of each other. It’s the more simple one that he teaches them at a young age but gives out more complex ones as they get older. They learn a lot what your husband says and have so many epiphanies growing and experiencing life as it goes. The two will thank their dad (and you, don’t worry) later on for teaching those life lessons/ passing down some simple wisdom.

I would like to propose a headcanon that Gaolang gets souvenirs for them kiddos. He gets them stuff animals and small gifts when he’s put abroad. Your kids have a lot of stuff animals. Your daughter has this cute elephant she carries around and your son has a dragon he got while he’s in Japan. Since it’s from Gaolang, they always are holding it with them every time they’re in the house. It never leaves them because they love it so much.

Gaolang likes to carry his kids around in his arms. His absolute favorite moment when he comes home from work/abroad and your kids running towards him with you trailing behind them. He then smiles at his children and scoops them up in his arms as they hug him and tell him that they’re happy he’s home. Gaolang loves these moments. Sometimes when he’s awake in the morning and one of your kids is somehow up, he’ll hold them in one arm while fixing coffee(if you drink it) and breakfast. But it’s evident when they love being held by Gaolang because they would get fussy when Gaolang leaves them for a few seconds before being placed back into his arms again when they were really small.

Lawana is daddy’s little girl. Gaolang have no favorites between the two but since Lawana is older by three years, she does have a closer relationship to Gaolang than Kiet does. But this is because ever since you had Lawana, she’s always with Gaolang. Well wants to be, anyway. When she was little, he also followed Gaolang around the house whenever he’s home, minus when he needs to use the bathroom and she just hangs out with you until he comes out. Oh my god, when Gaolang has to go to work, she doesn’t want him to leave. She always is tugging at his pants and saying he shouldn’t leave because then you and her would be left alone. Then it’s up to Gaolang to gently tell her that has work to do and will be back later. Once Gaolang leaves for work, she gets pouty for a bit and you have to comfort her and said that Gaolang will always come back home. She gets over this as she grow older and only gets happy when he returns.

Kiet is more of a momma’s boy but still has a good relationship with his Gaolang. They get along pretty well because they’re both silent and don’t talk so much. They have this thing where they just stare at each other but you can tell that they are having a conversation of their own that you don’t even know what they’re saying to each other. He really respects Gaolang by a lot and wants to be a respectable man like him.

Both Lawana and Kiet idolize Gaolang;however, Gaolang is Lawana’s role model. She wants to become a great Mauy Thai fighter and boxer just like him. Although Kiet highly respects his father, it’s not a strong enough force to have the same effect on him like his sister.

For some reason, your children instantly fall asleep into Gaolang’s arms. You don’t know what but your kids instantly become calm when done so and the the next thing you know they’re dead asleep in his arms. At times you envy him for having this ability but Gaolang, himself, doesn’t know this since he just thinks that they are just tired and need to sleep.

Since Gaolang’s a godly chef, you’re kids aren’t picky eaters. They’ll eat whatever Gaolang cooks, which is more than okay with you since you like his cooking as well.

Speaking of cooking, Gaolang would sometimes let the kiddos help out with cooking. He doesn’t make them touch the stove, fire, knifes, practically anything dangerous until they are quite older (Maybe around like 10-12). He believes that they should know how to cook or basics so they know how to feed themselves when they’re on their own. Then again, Gaolang is more than welcome to cook for his children.

Knowing this, Gaolang and you have them get involve in chores to teach them responsibility and be productive with their time. He wants to teach them good habits.

Gaolang’s Lock screen is a family portrait of your family, which looks sophisticated but sweet. Then his home screen is you smiling in the background while your children are playing in-front of you.

Bruh, When they say “I love you Papa”, it’s literally endgame. Gaolang.exe stopped working. On the outside, he smiles or chuckles at his kids and saying “I love you too”. But on the inside, his brain stops working and he kinda just goes soft in that moment. His kids are so precious and adorable that the even the stoic Thai God of War can’t help but smile at them.

Gaolang will tuck Lawana and Kiet in bed if you’re too tired or finishing up something and you can’t do it yourself. He’s the type of parent to place his children to sleep, kiss their foreheads, lovingly stare at them and turn off the light in their rooms before leaving. I like to think when Gaolang has difficulty sleeping, not common but it happens from time to time, he sometimes walks over to the kids’s room to check up on them. He just leaves the door ajar enough for him to see them sleeping. It’s not creepy but he can’t help but experience a small amount of sentiment. It’s not a bad feeling, but it is a different feeling that would be hard to describe in words, even in Gaolang’s standards.

If your kids show interest in fighting, more specifically in Muay Thai and Boxing, Gaolang is fine with it as long you’re okay with it as well. If you allow them, Gaolang will teach them to the best of his abilities, basically really good teachings. I wouldn’t say Gaolang is super strict on their training, but there are some points where he has to use tough love on them to help push them past their limits and strengthen them. However, Gaolang does tell them from time to time that he’s proud of them and that the tough training he put them will bear fruit, and they’re be rewarded the fruits of their labor.

I just want to put it out there that you and Gaolang’s kids are powerful fighters. I mean with your children’s father/your husband being the Thai God of War and the undisputed heavyweight boxing champion, your children have high fighting potential. Gaolang is aware of what his name brings and sits his kiddos down to tell them he doesn’t want nor expect them to be just like him and fulfill his legacy. Rather, he wants them to make a name for themselves that they can be proud and not become pompous and greed in the process. That’s all Gaolang really wishes from them. But either, your kiddos have not disappointed you nor Gaolang one bit.

One of your favorite moments is when your kids try to imitates Gaolang’s expression, which is most likely always the stoic one. You find it cute and funny how your kids to look like their father and at one point you joked that if they kept doing it that would be their regular facial expression. Gaolang doesn’t really mind his kids doing this, but he does get a kick out of it when he does see them doing it.

At some point, your children have been meet and interacted with King Rama. It was also him wanting to see you and Gaolang’s children and holding and interacting with them, but you didn’t hear it from me.

Proud Husband and Family man, you couldn’t ask for a better man. Gaolang loves his kids and you, you love Gaolang and the kiddos, and the kiddos love you and Gaolang very much.

Wakatsuki

At this point, we all knew he was going/wanting to be a dad for a while.

You have Twin boys, Katashi and Tadashi, and a daughter, Kei, with a five year gap.

For the first few months when they’re born, Wakatsuki doesn’t really hold them that much out of fear that he would hurt them due to his superman syndrome. It took you awhile to convince him that he would never hurt them since every time he has held you he never hurt you at all, and that his control over his strength has improved over the years. Once he’s comfortable to hold them, he’s world just stops. Since he’s a pretty big guy, his kids look so tiny in his arms, the size difference makes them so precious that Wakatsuki gets a flurry of emotions from just holding them.

Wakatsuki, like Gaolang, isn’t an overbearing parent. He gives them some good distance and watches on the sidelines. He’ll give them some advice when they ask him for some.

He likes to watch his kids play video-games and ask them what they’re doing. It’s a good way he bonds with his kids since he grew up playing video games. It’s so wholesome to see them interact with their father and Wakatsuki learning and understanding certain aspects of the game. I like to think Wakatsuki is really good at video games and sometimes he helps his kiddos out when they need to(to the best of your abilities, of course)

Wakatsuki has a hard time setting his foot down when it comes to his children. The man can’t help it though. The small pout they have, the big teary doe eyes, and small sniffles, he can’t help but not get made at his kiddos and processed to comfort them. You know this because you walked in on him doing this on more than one occasion. Due to this, you are, unfortunately, the disciplinary when it comes to that point. Sorry about that.

The kids basically use their dad as a jungle gym. Wakatsuki is pretty strong so he doesn’t really mind them doing this, hell Wakatsuki actually enjoys them doing this even though you told them to not bother their dad. The man is so sturdy, there’s no way that he will be in any sort of pain or exhaustion.

You caught your kids sleeping on top of Wakatsuki on more than one occasion. When you come home from work, most of the time you see your kiddos napping on husband on the sofa. It’s so cute you take a picture before they wake up from their small nap. This also applies when they sleep in your bed when they were younger. Before Kei was born, the twins would always climb into bed with the two of you. Most of the time, they slept in between the two of you in the small space in the middle. It was a wholehearted moment for Wakatsuki, the sight of you laying with the boys had him getting all soft and emotional. But when your daughter is born, the level goes up to never before seen heights. When it’s just her and not the boys, she quietly goes to Wakatsuki’s side of the bed and softly pokes him awake. To which he opens one eye to see it’s her, picks her up, lays on his back with her placed on his chest. The man couldn’t keep his eyes off of her, she really precious to him. You know what really gets his soft and sentimental is when all the kiddos are sleeping on his chest and with you tucked into his side while using his shoulder as a pillow. The man is literally is having an emotional crisis by looking at your small family, he’s almost in tears. He’s so grateful and blessed to have such a beautiful family and you as his wife/spouse.

Wakatsuki is a doting father for sure. Not like in the Mae Hughes type of way, he’s knows how to control himself when it comes to his kids and is subtle when he’s doing it. But he really loves his kids and you so much.

Tadashi and Katashi are kinda similar to Takeshi but are more expressive and outspoken than he is. And they seem to know how to blend in with the crowd. They are both gentle boys, like their father.

Kei is always the one that’s getting the attention of Wakatsuki. He loves the boys but having a daughter hits different for Wakatsuki. She pretty much gets spoiled by you and Takeshi, hell even by her own brothers. She’s kinda has your hubby wrapped around her finger since he can’t say no to her. Absolute sweetheart though.

I had this headcanon where you and Wakatsuki’s kids have something similar to him where their muscle mass is denser than the average human. Not like Wakatsuki’s, probably even way less than that, but it’s enough to be more than the average person. The twins would probably almost be as tall and built like him if they ever hit the rack/gym. While your daughter is slightly taller than your average female and is strong and toned. In short, your kids can be absolute powerhouse if they decided to take up fighting but it depends if your husband and you allow them to do so.

Since he likes baseball by a long shot, he probably will play catch with his boys and Kei if they ask him. His throws aren’t hard, he ain’t about to destroy his kids with his inhuman strength, that’s his worst nightmare. In its simplicity, this is how he bonds with his kiddos most of the time. It’s also good too because they need some sunshine and not be stuck inside all the time. Sure, it looks boring but it gets fun as time goes that you have to call them to come inside most of the time.

Just like with you, he loves to cuddle with his kids. He just likes holding his kids, in general. With the twin boys, one in each arm as he walks around the house. His daughter though, always wants to be held by her dad. There is not one moment where you didn’t see Kei hugging or being held by Wakatsuki. As they get older, he gives them space and isn’t as affectionate with them like when they were younger. However, it doesn’t mean they’ll refuse a hug from him because, let’s be honest, he gives out really good hugs and you are a witness to it.

Due to him being so big and strong, your kids ask him to crush cans, bottles, or even lift certain boxes. I believe it was @kengan-ass that said that Wakatsuki would this to keep their attention and have them not get distracted. Your kids love when he does it since he can do it was such ease, it almost makes him prideful to have such strength.

Tadashi: Hey Dad! Can you crush this can? Takeshi: Sure thing, son. Takeshi: *crushes can with minimum effort Tadashi: Woah... Katashi: Dad, what about this one? Takeshi: Sure Takeshi: *crushes the can with ease Kei: Daddy, what about this one? Takeshi: I got it, Kei Takeshi: *literally flattens it the can into a thin disk The kiddos: Wow, Dad’s so strong! Takeshi:*dying from their praise and cuteness

He relies on his kids a lot to help him with understanding technology and slang these days and it’s so funny to watch. It’s like a complex problem to him but it’s so simple to your kids that you’re watching a generational gap or something. Bet Wakatsuki says things like “kids these days” or “back in my time” and your kids unironically calling him “Old man” or “Boomer”. You saw this once and you couldn’t control your laughter. But it’s just playful banter between the kiddos and their father, no harm is done there.

At some point when your children were fairly young and sleeping in the night, Takeshi talked to you about his thoughts and him contemplating on still being a fighter. You listen with open ears and mind to him as he explains to you that he has you and a family to take care, and with the uncertainty of the kengan matches, he doesn’t wanna risk himself dying you and your kids would lose him. You struck you hard, not in a bad way but more on shock value, you knew fighting was everything to your Takeshi because that’s all he had before he had you and his kids. Even with you though, he still continue to fight but when you had your kids it became a whole different story. The thought of his kids and you losing him in one of these matches gave him an unholy feeling and the thought of leaving you all behind was enough to stress him to make grow silent for a few minutes. This was serious because you can tell in his eyes that it was hard for him and the thought of it could put him on the brink of tears. After some thought, you told him that he can still fight in the Kengan matches because of only a handful of fighters that can rival him as a fighter. You also reminded him of the promise that he made where he can still keep on fighter but he has to be careful and not die. After you said that, it give Wakatsuki more than enough reason to continue fighting and not die.

When the kiddos say “I love you” to Takeshi, it’s literally game over for him. After hearing those words, he hugs them and says “I love you too” back but he’s brain kinda stops working and just internally screaming. He just really adores his kids.

They calls Cosmo “big bro” and Adam too when he’s with Cosmo. You can bet that Cosmo, and eventually Adam, babysits your kids. Tadashi and Katashi are rough housing with Cosmo while Kei, for some reason, hangs out with Adam. Oddly enough, Adam doesn’t swear around them at all and is actually the more authoritative than Cosmo since Cosmo is still has a mindset of a child. But you still care for and appreciate him and Adam for doing this.

Your kids also know Sekibayashi, who they call “Uncle Seki”, and Kaede and Sakura. They’ve meet them enough times to remember and be familiar with them. They probably watch pro wrestling because of Sekibayashi.

Your kids will not find out that their father was a underground fighter until they’re 18 or older. He doesn’t want them to know and be dragged into this and you couldn’t blame him. It’s safe to say they won’t know until he either tells them about it or you tell them.

I don’t know why, but I feel like your kids would be protective of you when you go out with them without Wakatsuki. This is a thought I had where since Wakatsuki isn’t always by you all the time he asks his kids to watch over you even though you’re okay. This mostly happens in grocery stores or shopping. They kinda watch from afar but don’t like it when men talk to you because it’s aren’t their father. It gets worse when they’re older aka teenagers, Kei knows you can take care of you but Tadashi and Katashi are a different story. Since they’re almost as tall as their dad and are kinda look/built like their dad, they can intimidate the hell out of people, specifically scummy men that won’t leave you alone. They won’t hurt anyone;however, they will tower over them and ask them to leave you alone to which the guy would leave. It’s strange to you because Takeshi isn’t like that most of the time but it does happen that he does steps in. You guess it’s something they picked up from their father. (I wrote this because I’m like this with my mom even though I’m not that tall).

He love you and your kiddos so much, he never expected himself to have this type of life but you gave him the chance to have one and he’s so blessed and grateful to have such a wonderful family.

There are so many heartwarming moments in this family, omg, you might as well die from how cute it is.

The man fights for you and the kiddos. Them and you are what keep him going during his matches.

Bona fide family man, father, and husband. Such a wholesome, gentle father and husband.

#kengan ashura #kengan omega #kengan ashura headcanons #wakatsuki takeshi #gaolang wongsawat

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eukennedy · 4 years

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⟨ LORENZO ZURZOLO. DEMIBOY. HE/THEY. ⟩ though the mist might prevent some from seeing it, KENNEDY MORETTI-KING is actually a descendent of A T H E N A. it’s still a question of whether or not the TWENTY-THREE year old MEDICAL STUDENT from MILAN, ITALY has taken after their godly parent completely, but the demigod is still known to be quite BRILLIANT & SELFISH.

FULL NAME: kennedy moretty-king. NICKNAME(S): he prefers his full name, but gets ‘ken’, ‘kenny’ and ‘king’ often. AGE: twenty-three. BIRTHDAY: november 1st. GENDER: demiboy. PRONOUNS: he/they. ( mostly goes by he, but doesn’t care ) ROMANTIC ORIENTATION: panromantic. SEXUAL ORIENTATION: pansexual. MAJOR: he’s currently in med school, but completed a bachelor’s of science in neuroscience. HEIGHT: 6′1". MORAL ALIGNMENT: neutral evil. MBTI: ENTP HOGWARTS HOUSE: slytherin. TRAITS: ambitious, intelligent, disingenuous, judgmental, quick-witted, selfish, petty, passionate, outgoing, charming.

short bio blurb.

for your first few years of life, your cries are met with warm consoling arms, kisses over scraped knees and meals around the dinner table. as you grow older, the concept washes out of sight like a salty tide: slowly, then all at once. your parents draw the lines and your nannies color them in, and with time you realize you might in fact be the only kid in history who doesn’t resent them for it. not one bit.

a son of two brilliant surgeons ( your godly parent delivered you as a gift, but your real mother is not athena ), your life has been filled with ten-minute holidays and interrupted birthdays. as you grew to understand it, you discovered you hardly minded much. after all, you inherited your parents’ desire for medicine and excellence, and you aspire to be so busy one day, crave it, actually, so you fill your need for attention elsewhere and allot the rest of your time to achieving perfection. you’re in the stars and you know it; there’s no time to hold success against the people that drove you there.

though your family’s social circle shifted its orbit to the rich and powerful, they remain grounded as ever. for this, your ego is your best kept secret at home. mother and father would grill you for your narcissistic reputation, so you hide it when you’re back for the holidays behind big smiles and perfectly plated meals. they want you to be proud, not arrogant, but it’s not your fault: you just can’t help that you’re always right.

if you fall, though, you fall far –- the morettis and the kings don’t throw money at problems.

they solve them.

your desire for greatness burns bright in your belly and your affinity for it has a habit of taking over the more tender parts of your heart. you’re not cruel, just destined, and nothing puts you on your toes faster than a threat, so you remove them. poll ten people and seven might think you brutal in your ambition, but all is fair in love, war and the pursuit of knowledge.

you’re focused but more romantic than what meets the eye. while chocolates and flowers aren’t your forte, but loyalty and dedication are. there’s no better lover than one who has a habit of sinking its teeth into anything they love, and you’re a dog whose never given up a bone in his life.

your softer inner workings are there underneath and you’re not ashamed, not at all, they’ll bring you the other piece of the puzzle one day. someone to help you hold that trophy high above your head and someone to smile while they do. vulnerability doesn’t set you back; it propels you, but you’re still skating around how to equip it just right. you’re prone to using words like fire to mask your ego, and communication fizzles out by a stinging touch.

now, you turn your head toward the future. the snap of latex gloves and the slice of a scalpel. the desire to invent, to perform, to heal – anything along the way is a blip, a moment, but nothing that can’t be solved when you refuse to stop. your fate is in your hands.

background breakdown.

kennedy moretti-king is the son of two famous surgeons: dr. giada moretti-king ( mostly known as dr. moretti ) and dr. jason king. both have made several advancements in their fields, dr. moretti herself working on innovative tools to advance laparoscopic surgery as a general surgeon, and dr. king as a renowned cardiothoracic surgeon.

dr. jason moved to america to italy where he met giada and that’s also where they were gifted little kennedy here, so he was raised in milan for the most part, where both his parents work at grande ospedale metropolitano niguarda.

while many others have struggled to find where a godly parent or a demigod child fits into their lives, their family was completely different. kennedy was an experiment of sorts, a gift from athena to one of the most intelligent human couples that couldn’t bear their own children. for that, athena has remained relatively removed from kennedy’s life, though he’s almost always been aware of her existence. athena remains quite happy with kennedy and his parents raising him as their own, and kenny knows giada as his mother, not athena.

although his parents were absent more often than not due to their demanding work lives, kennedy knew from a young age that he wanted to follow in their footsteps. raised mostly by various nannies over the years, kennedy was bothered when he was younger when his parents didn’t make it to every recital; however, this was mostly erased as he grew old enough to understand their occupations.

it was love at first sight when kennedy visited the hospital. maybe not the bloody surgery part, but medicine in general, the intense need to know about the body. why it worked the way it did. he was absolutely fascinated. the time he did spend with his parents was used to soak up all the knowledge he could, and they never minded much. it gave them common ground to love the same thing.

the kings were glad to have one son that wanted to follow in their footsteps, and so even if there’s a large distance between them at times, kennedy has always had a fairly good relationship with his parents, even if that comes with immense pressure. his parents would’ve been equally as happy should he had wanted to pursue something else ( all they wanted was a happy and healthy child ) but kenny’s desire to pursue the same line of work was a welcome coincidence. they teach him everything they know, but they’re well aware it won’t be very long until he knows far more than they do.

due to his constant pursuit of knowledge, athena’s never quite bothered to interfere in his life but the threats that lurk outside the protected walls were the reason kennedy chose to pursue education within eonia’s campus.

it should also be said that his parents are extremely dope people, they both did a lot of pro bono work, charity work and partook in doctors without borders. they are Rich Rich and so is kennedy, but they very much wanted him to have a down-to-earth experience. it failed, in some ways, but while kennedy could be years ahead in his studies, it’s limited so he’s only about a year or so ahead of his peers. they wanted him to have a social life! and not be an emotionally stunted child genius! but alas, it did not entirely work out <3

personality breakdown.

to say he’s a perfectionist is an understatement. he simply refuses to go into a field and be the flop of the family, so his pursuit of knowledge is pretty unparalleled. he takes his studies seriously, and doesn’t really relate to the college life of skipping 8ams to nurse hangovers.

not that he doesn’t have them -– but we love a man that perseveres.

wish i had his confidence of just assuming everything’s going to go his way. his label means force or necessity, and that’s because kennedy has a way of making things working in his favor with pure force. ‘kennedy, aren’t you worried you’ll fail?’ ‘no.’ ‘how?i’ ‘because i won’t let myself. duh’

although he doesn’t have the softest personality due to the lack of being hugged as a child, kennedy, at his core, isn’t entirely evil. he’s capable of caring about people and does. he’s a passionate person, and that can translate to love and loyalty for the right people. he doesn’t half-ass anything, so when he commits it’s on.

still, the boy has quite an ego. for him to think something is good enough to commit to takes a bit. he’s got particular taste, never backs down from a fight, and almost annoyingly always thinks he’s right. his ambition can sometimes blind him to the point of selfishness at times, even if his heart is in the right place.

he’s got his good qualities, though! for someone he loves, he’s there. he’s quite dependent when he wants to be, and he’s smart as anything. if you need help getting out of a jam, his brain is basically hardwired to know how to land on his feet.

kennedy is very organized and put together. never catch a wrinkle, even on his plain t-shirts. he shows his love through helping: he’s more likely to help you clean your dorm or organize your study notes for your test than deliver a monologue on his love for you, but it counts! you just need to know what to look for.

a brat but sometimes a lovable brat.

wanted connections.

a best friend. kennedy grew up without serious parental figures ( not by choice, but they were busy rip ), so i’d love a childhood best friend with him that accepts him for his personality flaws. he would be hella ride or die for this person, which he isn’t for much of anyone else, so that means quite a bit! someone to keep him grounded, call him out on his bullshit, but not completely destroy his ego.

exes. honestly, kennedy can be quite the petty betch. i can envision a lot of ugly breakups in his past OR we can plot some exes on good terms! he’s not totally emotionally stunted, can be quite a good boyf when he wants to be, but also a complete nightmare too. any gender feel free !

hookups. self-explanatory. college life. the nature of their relationship will be entirely dependent on the muses and their dynamic, but kennedy isn’t always the nicest to his casual flings depending on their dynamic. some friends with benefits could work, though, for positive casual connections.

enemies. okay, look at this bratty bitch. there is no way he doesn’t have some, if not many, enemies. he has a temper and doesn’t like to be told no, so if you ever wanna verbally spat it out, feel free. he won’t swing, tho. those are surgeon’s hands, baby.

hate-to-love friendship. someone dopey or complete unambitious that somehow kennedy still loves despite them being total opposites. he doesn’t get why they don’t do their assignments, or why they fall asleep drunk in the bathtub twice a week, but he really can’t deny that they amuse him and he cares about them.

anything else!

#euintro

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flightfoot · 4 years

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What's your favorite Rick Riordan series between Percy Jackson, The Kane Chronicles, Heroes of Olympus, Magnus Chase and Trials of Apollo? (or like, if you can't choose, what do you like about the series you've read?)

Trials of Apollo, no contest.

I liked Percy Jackson a lot, it was VERY well done. Percy was hilarious and relatable, but also just super awesome, his dynamic with Annabeth was fun to read, along with his dynamic with Grover, the quests had a lot of entertaining encounters, and it had some well-executed themes that tied in with the overall conflict nicely, mostly about how parents’ and adults’ negligence and even abuse can harm their kids, the overall effects of that, and just... generally trying to get the parents to shape up, as well as the effects of not respecting others in general, like with how the minor gods and by extension, their children, are treated by the Olympians. It comes up with Percy’s relationships with both Gabe and Poseidon, and most of the campers’ relationships with their godly parents, and that’s a MAJOR cause behind the entire conflict, and one of the major things that Percy tries to make better at the end of the last book.

Kane Chronicles... it’s been awhile since I read it. I don’t remember it having as prevalent a theme as Percy Jackson did, though there was definitely social commentary on racism, with how Carter was sometimes treated, and with how people had trouble comprehending that Carter and Sadie were full siblings, since while both are mixed, Carter’s pretty dark-skinned, while Sadie looks White. It was more of a background thing though, not a major plot point. I liked the characters and the plot fine, they were entertaining, and it was good overall - but it’s not a series I’ve felt a pressing need to reread either. Only real complaint I have about it is the romances centering around Sadie. Her and Anubis were kinda cute, but it would’ve been a lot cuter if she was older than 12-13, and he wasn’t a 4000-year-old god who looked, acted, and was treated as a 16-year-old. And then the whole thing with making it a love triangle with Walt who’s ALSO 16 and Rick’s method of “solving” the love triangle... look honestly I just would’ve been a lot more ok with the romantic shenanigans there if Sadie wasn’t a middle-schooler throughout it. Overall still good though, I’d be down for an adaptation of it, but it’s one of the few cases where I hope something IS flat-out changed to make the romances more palatable.

Heroes of Olympus is where I originally fell off of the Riordanverse. There was just so long between books and I could barely remember what happened between them, and with most of the books being like parts of the same quest (especially books 3, 4, and 5), unless you were constantly refreshing your memory of them via fandom, they were hard to follow, especially with several main characters and different character dynamics to keep track of. When I went back and read the whole set of them though, getting back into the series, it was WAY better, since I could read them as a coherent whole. I could tell he was struggling to juggle all the characters, but I thought he did a fairly decent job of it for what it was. I ended up liking all the characters - ESPECIALLY Leo, I thought he was great and relatable and funny, but I also wanted to hug him - and while the quest could drag on a bit at times, there were some interesting parts there. And Percy and Annabeth’s journey through Tartarus was GREAT.

The themes for Heroes Of Olympus overall were pretty much the same as with Percy Jackson, but with less emphasis I think. It was mostly just “the gods (mostly Zeus, really) are being crappy again, but this time we have enough support among ourselves to manage, except for when a god is technically required to defeat a Giant”. A lot more emphasis was placed on individual character arcs and circumstances, which I think was a good choice, since with so many main characters, they needed more concentrated character development in order to put them up to par with Percy and Annabeth. Plus it allowed Rick to still go into some different themes a bit, like racism with Hazel, trauma with Leo, insecurity with Frank, etc, in a way that felt natural and relevant. It helped that they were broken up into different books for their introductions, so not everything was dumped in at once.

The ending of Heroes of Olmypus... yeah the final battle with the GIants was lame as all hell, and honestly the quest ended up feeling a bit like busywork, but screw it, I did LOVE one part of the ending. The imagery of big, bad Gaia, who even Zeus is so scared of he just wants to hide away with his head in the ground, physically manifesting and being about to take everyone out, everyone losing hope... and then screaming as Festus appears and snatches her up into the sky as Leo gives a shit-eating grin and hurls fireballs at her while insulting her the whole time is just GREAT. I always giggle, and I honestly found it a lot more memorable than the Kronos fight, even if it was technically less epic. It seemed fitting for her to be taken out in such an embarrassing way, by the boy she’d personally taken the most from.

Magnus Chase... yeah that’s the only one I didn’t finish. Quick note: its been over a year since I tried it, so I’m operating off of memory here. I wanted to like it, and after reading through Heroes of Olympus (which i originally stopped reading after Mark of Athena) and Trials of Apollo, I was all hyped up for more Riordanverse... and was disappointed. The basic elements were there, and the writing itself wasn’t bad, but... well, I never really got attached to most of the characters this time, I didn’t find the quest very interesting, and... well, you see how I mentioned about the themes in the earlier reviews? I thought Rick bit off more than he could chew with Magnus Chase, at least with the first book. (I slogged through the first book, got a hundred pages into the second book to see whether Alex, who I’d heard a lot of hype about, could save it, thought Alex was only ok but not someone who saved the book, and called it quits).

So in Magnus Chase, Rick went DEEP into the social commentary on a lot of disparate subjects, trying to really tackle homelessness, child abuse (because no duh, that’s pretty much a staple, I think the only of his series that DOESN’T have major themes around that is Kane Chronicles), Islamophobia, ableism, and... I’m having trouble thinking of the exact term for it, but Blitzen was heavily looked down upon and derided for wanting to make fashionable armor and just being into fashion in general, so... I think it’s supposed to commentary on making fun of people for having interests that are generally seen as feminine? I guess? I dunno, it was definitely social commentary on SOMETHING, but I think the dwarves having their own particular culture here hurt whatever Rick was trying to say, since social commentary is very much tied to the culture it’s in, and we only have a small taste of dwarven culture, at least in the first book.

In any case, all these things are fine to do social commentary on, but when you’re trying to go in-depth and really address them, it helps if they’re more tied in with the overall conflict in the book, and if each issue has room to breathe. As it was, it kinda felt to me like the characters were being paraded from location to location to confront some different social issue. I just thought it was too much, too crammed into one book, and the overall conflict had pretty much nothing to do with that. Like, at the end of the book Rick tried to tie it together with some sort of “we’re a band of misfits” message, and... well, a message based on NOT fitting in with society, isn’t one that’s very satisfying or cohesive. And the individual issues, while there’s certainly cross-sectionality between, aren’t intrinsically linked, so... they just don’t mesh together very well. Not so many, all mashed into one book. Plus I just didn’t care for any of the gods, and the only characters I liked were Magnus and Sam. Blitz and Hearthstone... they were just sort of “there” for me.

I can see why people like Magnus Chase, and it’s not BAD by any means, but it just wasn’t for me. Maybe I’ll take another crack at it at some point, but I’m not super optimistic about it. As it was, I just ended up looking up the parts where Magnus met with Annabeth and read those.

Trials of Apollo though, I ADORE. Apollo was hilarious (along with the books in general), it had a pretty focused message about child abuse and abuse in general, along with how a privileged position can blind you from the travesties that are going on around you, or that you yourself cause, and I just thought the themes worked very well. Rick went more in-depth this time on the exact consequences of child abuse and the ways that a parent could abuse and manipulate their child, something that wasn’t covered as much in his earlier series, as those were more based around neglect. I’m a sucker for a good redemption arc, and I was really impressed with how it was kinda slipped in with Apollo. Like, he didn’t even know he NEEDED one, and the good guys weren’t especially pressing him on that point, it’s a realization he slowly came to over the course of several books. And you can clearly tell that he’s conceited and has issues, but isn’t actually malicious... and slowly the reader comes to the realization that he has hidden depths, that not even HE knew he had. It’s really interesting how he did some pretty bad things (or DIDN’T do, a lot of it has to do with inaction and just being uncaring), but he never comes off as being like, evil. He comes off as being an arrogant, narcissistic person at first, but then slowly finding out that beneath that is a lot of pain and trauma, and part of that persona he’s built up has been to deal with this. Watching him slowly change and grow and discover himself during the series, in a way he never had before... it’s just amazing to read. Also puts a nice cap on the Greco-Roman saga, in that the past two series had a heavy emphasis on how the gods didn’t care enough and had to have their hands forced a lot, and Apollo sort of acting as a stand-in for those other gods, showing that yes, they CAN change for the better - something that most of the gods, and even other immortals, didn’t think was possible, even as they did it.

Well that was super long. But yeah, I have strong feelings on the Riordanverse, and Trials of Apollo is far and away my favorite.

#ask #long post #percy jackson #heroes of olympus #kane chronicles #trials of apollo

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celestenicolegarcia · 4 years

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Valentines Day

Valentines Day. A day where people celebrate being in love or having someone to love on. Usually when we think of Valentines Day, we think of spending time with our significant other and having sweet treats and great food. People that are alone however, tend to either be on the spectrum of hating Valentines Day or not even caring about it because it's a government holiday. The annoyed single people hate it because of the sappy couple postings, cheesy romantic comedies, stalking their ex’s profiles to see what they're doing, and themselves spending it alone.

As a single person myself I can honestly say that I am not upset that I am single this Valentines Day. Maybe its just me getting older and not caring about having someone or maybe I’ve just been tired of the men I have been dating that I don’t feel the need to date anymore. Most of my life I have been in relationships that have the length of 6 months to 3 years being the longest. As far as being in love, I can recall myself truly being in love with a man twice in my lifetime. One was my high school sweetheart and the other was a guy I dated a few years ago, neither shall I say were something I want today, A Godly man.

I don’t know about you but I have had my fair share of men throughout my life. Before I came to know Christ, I was in and out of relationships faster than you could imagine. Some weren’t even real relationships and they were mostly hookups. I did sleep around for money, food, drugs, or just simply wanted the affection. Don’t get it twisted though, even when I found Christ when I was 24 years old I did have a few slip-ups. I still had sex but this time it was within a relationship so I thought it was “okay” since we were together. I just look back at that girl and think man... why didn’t you just run to Jesus when you were lonely? why a warm body? what was going on at home that you had to run off? why did you disobey your parents and screw up your friendships?

A lot of these questions were hard to think of at the time but I simply didn’t care. I just thought since I believed and gave my life to Jesus I was okay and going to heaven. But I was wrong now looking back. Talk about someone who was lost and just wanting a quick fix of affection but not wanting to go to the source. I would always tell myself that I was perfect and that it was the men always screwing up, now I look back at that girl and say get off your high horse and look in the mirror because you are no saint. You are a lukewarm christian trying to make it in the world and not even looking up at the father, only looking at yourself. And that was the breaking point for me to start turning my life around and taking my life more seriously as well as my relationship with God. Attending bible study, going to church, having accountability partners, and managing my own mental health with therapy. Believe me, when I started looking at Jesus and not of the worldly standards my life got clearer but harder at the same time. When you give your life up for Jesus its not always going to be easy, the more you reach up to Him the more the devil is going to wanna block you from your blessings.

Would you believe me if I told you that I said I’ve never been proposed to? I’m 28 now about to be 29 and I just think to myself sometimes ...why? I’m a good looking woman, attending school online to get my masters degree for psychology, attending church and bible studies, working a part time job doing my hair business since I have my cosmetology license, and I am pretty nice and shall I say funny. Let me tell you, the thoughts of feeling not good enough have come into my mind but I know those are not pure or the right thoughts that Jesus wants me to be thinking. Don’t even get me started on my family members asking me when I’m going to have a baby or pressuring me to adopt. Before you start thinking let me stop you right there and say I love children. I think they are the cutest little people in the world but right now kids are the very last thing on my mind!

I want to encourage you and encourage myself as I feel the Holy Spirit is within me typing up this blog to let you know that you don’t need to be swooped up like in those Disney movies to be truly happy. Let me also say that if you are married or in a relationship am I by no means trying to knock down your union with your spouse or boyfriend/girlfriend. the Bible says in Ecclesiastes 4:9 “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep war,. But how can one keep warm alone?” Marriage is a union and should be sacred. Honor your husband and honor your wife, you both are a team made in the image of our Holy Father.

God created us to love one another no matter what. Even if someone else is having what you wish you had, let them be happy in their life. Love them and support them. Be a good friend and helping hand. Whenever you get angry or jealous of someone else's success remember that God isn't finished with you yet! He has more blessings coming your way and just because you aren’t happy yourself does not mean you take out your personal feelings on others. If someone is mean to you or belittling you because you express how you don’t wanna be alone or hurt because you and your boyfriend/girlfriend broke up, take the high road. Don’t let anyone steal your joy because joy can only come from the Lord and no one else. He is after all the one who created happiness!

I remember when I would take things so personally and I would want to hurt the people who have hurt me. Even if they did deserve to be punished, I know the one who has that power to give me justice. I have yet to type down my testimony on here but I will when I have the time because its pretty lengthy but you will see why I think the way that I do now. Before I used to hold grudges really badly towards the people who have hurt me. When I tell you I have been through the wringer, I mean it. I have been sexually abused by people who I thought would never hurt me, I have been verbally abused by people who I thought would never hurt me and last by not least I have both been verbally and sexually abused from people I hardly even knew. I have been told I am scum of the earth and no one will want me and I have also been told that no one is going to want leftover goods. I have been sexually assaulted in a place of work. I have been raped by a few men in my past. Some I knew and some I didn’t. All those things have stuck with me but they do not define me. The only one who defines me is Jesus Christ and thank God I have a savior because I can’t live this life all by myself, If I try I would probably would have died by now. I have in the past held these situations in my heart and it has caused me so much pain. Trust me, I wanted revenge but I never got it. Then God really brought me down to a place where I forgave them and myself. My anger cannot bring justice for what they have done, only God can. One movie that really sticks out to me is The Shack, now that is a good movie to watch about forgiveness. If you have time, check it out because you won't regret it.

Another verse comes to mind for me is Luke 6 27-33 “But to you who are willing to listen I say, love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, offer the other cheek also. If someone demands your coat, offer your shirt also.Give to anyone who asks; and when things are taken away from. you, don’t try to get them back. Do to others as you would like them to do to you. If you only love only those who love you, why should you get credit for that? Even sinners love those who love them! And if you do good only to those who do good to you, why should you get credit? Even sinners do that much!”

Jesus said that when we love people even when they have hurt us. We have to be the ones that rise up from the earthy things going on in the world. I know I tended to go a little off topic but days like this remind me of my past and it brings me to the present. I want to let you know that you aren't alone today. You do have a valentine and his name is Jesus Christ. He will always be perfect. He will never leave you. He will always be there for you no matter what time of the day or night it is. He will never call you names or do things to hurt you, only help you become the best version of yourself. Valentines Day is a fun holiday but it does not define who love truly is. Love is a person and His name is Jesus. I encourage you to reach out to someone today, even if you aren’t feeling like it. Tell someone you love them today and you are there for them. Tell them that you are thinking of them. Jesus loves you and He will never let you go. I remember when my pastor said this line and ill never forget it. “Once you let Him in, He won't move out!” and I firmly believe that til the day I die.

If you haven’t already and you would like to give your life to Jesus today repeat after me. Jesus, I need you. I’m not perfect and I don’t claim to be. But I need a savior and I’m ready for my life to change for the better. Take me out of myself and let me live the life you promised for me. I love you. I accept you into my life. I welcome you. Amen.

Thank you for taking the time to read my second blog post! I really enjoy doing these posts. They help me vent what I feel and I want to let someone know that they are loved today!

Much love,

Celeste

#christian #christianblog #jesus #God #love #valentinesday #lonely #mentalhealth

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bodytoflame-ao3 · 4 years

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born for this // two

a series of moments in the life of one lyra jackson-chase

read from the beginning // AO3 Link

v //

“She’s crying again, Percy.” Annabeth yawns, refusing to open her eyes. No one told her she’d still be waking up in the middle of the night with a one year old.

He kisses her forehead, and rolls off the bed. “I got it.”

She thinks about how lucky she is — to have him; to have this beautiful part of both of them. The thoughts calm her — she’s almost back to sleep when she hears a thud, jolting upright and alert immediately. “What is it?”

“Sorry,” Percy rushes to her side, “I just stubbed my toe.”

“No monsters?”

“No monsters, Annabeth.” At least not tonight. “Everything’s okay.”

And it is, for a little while.

vi //

They do come. Once, twice; as she gets older, they lose count. Sometimes they’re real, sometimes they’re not.

“Daddy.” Percy can barely see Lyra rubbing her eyes in the shadow of the doorframe, tottering over to his side of the bed, only illuminated by the moonlight and light pollution.

He whispers, trying not to wake Annabeth (as he knows it’s hard enough for her to get to sleep once), “What’s wrong, baby?”

“Monsters.”

It’s silent, save for the ever-present hum of the city that his ears have learned to regard as background noise. There’s no monsters tonight.

“C’mere.” He scoops her up, tucking her in tight under the covers in the middle of their bed. “You just had a bad dream.”

vii //

Tonight, it’s gorgons. It’s nothing they haven’t dealt with before, and it won’t be the last time, but after he’s stowed Riptide back in his pocket, Percy feels an intense wave of exhaustion roll over him. It feels like he’s just going through the motions, fight after fight; living each day wondering if they’ll get any sleep.

“Annabeth.” Percy’s hand ghosts over her shoulder blade, seeing the rapidly forming bruise peeking out of her tank top. She winces. “Sorry.”

She turns to face him, taking his hand, “It’s okay. I love you.” It’s going to hurt, and she knows that — but it’s better than the pain she would feel seeing her daughter get hurt. She could get a paper cut, or a splinter, or some other normal kid injury, and Annabeth would have to hold back tears just to bandage her up. This pain is as familiar as her own skin, and she knows how to deal with it. So she will.

Percy squeezes her hand softly, and kisses her cheek. “I love you.” Just saying it brings a sense of peace to his tired body.

“I’m gonna go make sure she’s okay.” If they’re lucky, she’s fallen back asleep. If not...

Lyra runs straight to her, towing a blanket draped over her head, and clings to Annabeth’s leg, crying. She must’ve had a real scare.

“It’s okay. It’s gone.” Annabeth scoops her up, and holds her close, fingers threaded through soft brown curls. “You’re safe now.”

Lyra’s sniffles grow quieter; more infrequent as she calms in her mother’s arms. “Gone?”

“All gone, baby. I promise.” She lays her down into her bed, tucking her tightly into a sea of blankets.

Annabeth sings her to sleep, and as Percy stands in the doorway, still brushing dirt off his clothes, he thinks it’s the most beautiful thing he’s ever heard.

She gets up, smiling when she notices him, and the awed look on his face, “What?”

“I never knew you could sing like that. Thirteen years and I never knew how beautiful your voice is.”

Annabeth has no idea how to respond. All she knows for sure is how eternally grateful she is for him, and the life they’ve built together; and they’re safe, and alive, and happy, most of the time, and that’s all that matters. So she wraps her arms around him, strong and tight, and tries to hold back the tears that threaten to come. They both cry for everything they still don’t know.

viii //

“I hope you realize, this is extremely unprecedented.”

“You’re telling me we’re the only demigod couples to ever have kids?” Piper raises an eyebrow.

“Not the only, but one of the few.” Chiron pauses, leaving it to them to come to a conclusion as to why. It’s not something they want to dwell on. “And certainly not any of such… heritage.” He glances toward Percy and Jason. “When you all were born you received half of each parent’s DNA — in your case, half god, half mortal. The same principles apply to your children. With the way we’ve seen their powers develop already, at such young ages, I believe Calliope and Lyra may have a greater percentage of godly blood. I can’t say with any certainty just how much or from who — I’m sure we’ll see their powers grow with time — but I fear this is going to put them in danger. There’s a prophecy—”

“No,” Percy says, firm, “I don’t want to hear about another fucking prophecy.”

Annabeth smooths her hand against his back. “Percy…”

“I won’t let her grow up the same way we did.” His voice cracks as he finishes his sentence, trying to hide how upset the idea makes him.

She holds him closer. “I know.”

Chiron continues, “I’m afraid there’s not much I can tell you. It’s incredibly vague, as these things tend to be. A warning of descendants of powerful gods from two sides.”

“You thought it was us,” Jason says, “Percy and me. That’s why you wanted to see us.”

“Correct. It seems, though…”

“They shouldn’t see each other.” Annabeth juts in, quiet. “Lyra can already spill her sippy cups when she’s upset, and Piper’s seen Callie make people’s hair stand on end. That’s not a good combination.”

Piper looks like she’s about to speak up, but Jason takes her hand. “She’s probably right. It’s too dangerous.” She knows it is. It doesn’t make it any harder. When she found out Annabeth was pregnant all she could think about was how wonderful it would be to watch them grow up alongside each other.

“I want to hear it,” Piper says, loud and clear, demanding. “The prophecy.”

ix //

“Fuck,” Percy swears, wincing.

“Stay still.” She threads the needle between the edges of the laceration with a steady hand. It’s like her brain completely shuts off, its only directive to stitch him back together. “You wouldn’t be sitting here if you’d listened when I said to double back.” She know she sounds bitter, but her words are so disconnected from her thoughts, they feel foreign in her mouth.

“I thought I had enough time.”

“Percy,” she warns, “Don’t scare me like that. When you get overconfident you get reckless. You know that.” I know. I do too.

“I know, but— ow —if we get sloppy that’s just putting her in danger.”

Annabeth pauses, tying the last stitch off without another word. The silence doesn’t last long. “Maybe we should tell her.” It all feels selfish, like she's a bad mom just for thinking it. They’re her parents — it’s their job to protect her, not the other way around. But it’s painful to keep fighting, after so many years. “I wouldn’t have to worry about losing you like this. We could take her somewhere safe.”

“Annabeth… She’s 6. I don’t want her to have to carry that weight until it’s absolutely necessary.” This little girl is everything to him. He sees so much of himself in her, and every second they have to talk about the prophecy, it hurts him.

Annabeth stays silent; he’s right, even if she doesn’t want to say it out loud. And she hurts, too. So she nods — she never wanted to lie to her, ever. But this is too much to put on the shoulders of a child. One just as little as she was. She wishes someone would’ve considered that when she was young.

x //

“Are you two coming up for lunch anytime soon?” Annabeth rolls her eyes, standing at the edge of the lake. “It’s been half an hour.”

Percy surfaces, Lyra right behind him, giggling profusely.

“Did Daddy say something funny?” She raises an eyebrow, glaring at Percy.

“Daddy talks to the fish.” It sounds more like fith. She smiles wide, a toothy grin showing off her missing front teeth.

“Great,” she stares right into his soul, trying not to let on the slight bit of amusement it brings her, “She thinks you’re crazy.”

A tenet of her limited attention span, Lyra starts playing with her powers, splashing about, seemingly not paying any attention to their conversation.

He protests, “She just figured out the bubble thing, I had to show her something new!”

“And does she understand them, Percy?”

His face falls. “Uh. No. I see your point,” he laughs. It seemed she hadn’t inherited that particular power from him. “She’s pretty amused by this, though.”

Tens of tiny blobs of water circle her, weaving around Percy, up into the air, and back into the lake.

“It took you a long time to be able to do stuff that precise,” Annabeth notes, wading into the water up to her ankles and handing him a sandwich from her bag.

“Yeah. It did.”

xi //

“How come you never told me about this?”

“Because it’s scary.”

“I can handle scary.”

Annabeth sighs, “I heard the Great Prophecy for the first time when I was your age.” It kept her awake with nightmares far too often, knowing she’d eventually be a part of it — which is why she’s so reluctant to tell these things to Lyra, despite knowing how important it is that she knows. “I spent two years waiting for a sign until I finally got one. He was annoying, and dense, and the son of my mother’s biggest rival. And then he was my friend — my best friend. Someone who was loyal to me no matter what. I wouldn’t change that for the world.” Not when it’s brought her here. “But we had to make a lot of hard decisions. And I—” She shakes her head. “I know you don’t completely understand.” Annabeth never intended her to. “I need you to know that it’s not always going to be easy.”

xii //

“I’m 11 now,” Lyra states, with an air of unparalleled confidence, “I can keep secrets.”

“Hey,” Percy says, patting her back, “We trust you. It’s just a big change.”

She crosses her arms. “I won’t tell anyone.”

“That also means you can’t use your powers,” Annabeth says, handing Lyra her lunchbox.

“I know.” You told me. Many times.

Annabeth kisses her cheek, pretending she doesn’t see her dramatically wipe her face off with the back of her hand mere seconds later. “Okay. I love you. Tell me all about it later.”

Percy walks her out the door, and down to the subway stop. They stand, and wait. “So, middle school. Kind of a big deal?” He sure thought so.

“I guess,” she shrugs. “I’m excited to make friends.” It’s the one thing that sucked about being homeschooled. She knows, as they’ve told her so many times, it was for her protection, because she never was able to completely control her powers as a kid. But the only kids she’s ever really known otherwise are other demigods; and what fleeting interactions she had with them while visiting Camp. And they weren’t like her, not really.

Percy reaches out his arms as the car doors open, beckoning her for a hug. She wraps her arms as far as they’ll reach around him, as tight as she can. So he holds her close against his chest for as long as he knows the doors will remain open, “You got this.”

xiii //

“Keep your feet apart. Knees bent.” Annabeth instructs her, feet firmly planted in the grass, beckoning for Lyra to follow.

Lyra clutches the sword, an iron-clad grip Annabeth recognizes from when she was this age — still too young to fully understand the weight of what she was doing, but old enough to feel the fear that came with the inherent danger of every battle she fought. “Loosen your grip.” Lyra follows, feeling the handle bounce with her new stance. “There you go.”

“Now remember, be ready to move. Stay on the balls of your feet.” That got her last time. And it had plagued Annabeth many times — feeling frozen, for even with a plan, there were so many unpredictable variables within combat.

Lyra nods, and takes a tentative swing, blocked by Annabeth. She staggers back, preparing a counterattack. Her blade catches against Lyra’s before she even gets close. “Good. Nice block,” Annabeth says, directing Lyra’s sword away with her sheer strength. “Now try for a hit.”

“You’re too quick.” Lyra breathes heavily, clearly intensely focused and growing weary. She blocks again, against her advice.

“No, you’re doing great. Keep going.” Annabeth encourages her, gearing up to test her reflexes. “Find an opening.”

She almost takes Annabeth by surprise; going on the offensive with such short notice. Her swing aims low, and Annabeth has to think quick, readjusting her stance to block the incoming blow. “You’re getting really good at this.”

Lyra sighs, her sword swinging at her side. “Thanks.”

xiv //

“Zeph! Lemme in!” Lyra’s voice sounds over the intercom, and he buzzes her up.

“Why is it always my place?” Zephyr asks, opening the door right as she’s about to knock.

“Our apartment is tiny,” Lyra shrugs, squeezing past him in the doorway. And we have a truly impressive stash of weaponry in the coat closet which I’d rather not have to explain.

“So. Graduation’s only a few weeks away.” he says. “Are you excited? For high school?”

“I don’t know. I guess.” It doesn’t seem like that big of a change. Same kinds of classrooms, cinderblock hallways; the usual cliques and groups. The same tendencies of teachers to constantly breathe down her neck about assignments and paying attention, despite her accommodations. She sinks into the couch, feeling the relief of taking her backpack off.

“That doesn’t seem very enthusiastic.”

“I just hate the drama. Did you see what they did to Jenna Thompson the other day?”

“Jenna hates you, Ly,” he laughs.

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean she deserves to get gum stuck in her hair,” Lyra mumbles, hugging her knees into a ball. Sure, she’s a menace and has never said a single nice word to Lyra, but she doesn’t wish ill on her for it. Everyone’s got their own shit, bullies included, and she’s trying her best to ignore it. Plus, she already got what she deserved.

“She called you—”

Her head snaps up to stare at him. “I know what she called me, I don’t need to hear it from you too.”

“Sorry. I just… I don’t understand how you can…” he sighs, “It just makes me so angry I—”

“Let’s just. Talk about something else.” She takes a deep breath, shifting the topic. “How’d you do on your finals?”

“Pretty good. Got straight B’s. Bombed the English essay though. And you know I killed that science project. So yeah, average all around.”

“As if you would ever get anything less than an A+. How’s the tomato plants?” He’s always liked gardening. Especially to bring a cold, industrial apartment to life. And of course it’d earn him an A — he knew how to take care of them, even in such a cramped space.

“Just picked ‘em yesterday. You ever had homemade ketchup?”

Her eyes widen. “No. You better have some left!”

“Of course I do. Meanwhile, I’m guessing you aced everything—”

“Except math,” they say, at the same time, bursting into laughter.

“Yeah. You know me.”

“Sure do.” He grabs a plate from the kitchen, setting it down on the coffee table. “All homegrown. I present to you, gourmet french fries and ketchup.”

She tastes it. “That’s… amazing.”

“You know you only like me for the food.”

“You’re gonna be on some Top Chef shit, or something,” she chuckles, imagining it. “And not true!”

“Yeah, you’re gonna miss me this summer. But especially the food.”

“I wish you didn’t have to visit your mom all summer.”

Zeph sighs. “I know. But it’ll be over before you know it.”

xv //

“I can’t do this, Percy. I can’t keep pretending this is okay. It’s getting worse. They’re getting stronger. We can’t keep doing this.”

“Annabeth,” he sighs, and she can hear the sheer exhaustion in his voice. “We have to.”

“And what happens if we get seriously hurt?” I can’t lose you. Her body aches, scrapes and bruises staining a fair amount of her skin, even with the ambrosia. She feels defeated, and battered. And there’s only so much she can hide with long sleeves and pants. It’s been a week of fending off monsters everywhere she goes, sometimes without their help; it hurts them to see the marks on her body from fighting.

“Better us than her.”

She doesn’t disagree, but it’s more than that. She can’t lose us. “Percy, look at me.” He does. “You know what we have to do.”

He sighs, staring out the window to study the city skyline. “I just thought we had more time.”

“It’s longer than either of us had,” Annabeth reminds him.

Percy lets the concept of two more years sink in, and it hits him hard. Two more years of normalcy. Of not fighting for his life. “Okay. But... let her have her birthday.” It’s the least he can do when there’s so much anxiety centered around his own. She deserves a day for herself.

“Okay.” Annabeth echoes, quieter. “Come here?” He slides into bed and wraps his arms tightly around her; stubble pricking at her neck as he curls up closer. She fits so perfectly into his embrace, like the curves of her body were made to fit against him. Like he was made to hold her.

“She’ll be alright.” She has to be.

Part Three

#fic #percabeth #annabeth chase #percy jackson #pjo #pjo fic #made #born for this

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kegareki · 4 years

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dameamaryllis replied to your post “every time i work a bit on my ‘verse based on chinese BL system...”

Oh, I really like what I've seen of this so far! Would you tell us more about your protagonist and his relationships with these characters? (And am I reading the hints right, that the "light" has some sentience and/or is influencing human thought?)

:D i am always up for talking about my stuff

answers under the cut!

to answer your second question first: yes to both!

in the setting of the story, the vast majority of humans follow the church of the ever-living light. there are some pockets of surviving, older religions, but the church of the ever-living light is pretty much omnipresent.

it’s been in existence for... less than a thousand years, i’d say? with it rising to prominence during a large-scale war. its main tenets haven’t changed much in the years since.

the ‘ever-living light’ is something of a god and something of a transcendence: it’s not exactly a person, but it’s personified. saints of the ever-living light are mortals that have been ‘chosen’ and ‘blessed’ by the ever-living light to carry out its will as listed by the church; they’re generally exceptional and used to increase the church’s influence and advance the church/ever-living light’s agendas.

the ever-living light ‘grants’ holy/light magic to its believers. saints and popes are the most powerful, magically. this magic is exhaustible, however: what the ever-living light gives, it can also take away.

(several saints have died throughout the years because their magic depleted fully at a crucial moment. their deaths, although tragic, were used to reenergise the population and reaffirm their course.)

inspiration about this comes from ‘western fantasy’ settings in system novels--it’s unrealistic to me that an entire species would fall under the umbrella of one religion (i mean... look at Real Humans, lmao). one of the specific ones is the light god arc in “quickly wear the face of the devil”. there’s another specific one, but i. unfortunately do not remember it. r.i.p

the truth of the ever-living light is that, rather than being innately divine like you’d expect a god to be, it lifted itself up to the position of a god and is using faith as fuel to keep itself ‘godly’ in the eyes of mortals. the holy/light magic ‘gifted’ to its followers are portions of its own power, loaned out for as long as the person in question will follow its will, and as a result there’s a sort of ‘link’ between the ever-living light and the mortal that allows for greater influence in the person’s thoughts.

it passes itself off as a kind, compassionate being, but it’s more true that it’s greedy and vicious. it’s enacting a centuries-long campaign to rid the world of demons because it harbors resentment for the species; it doesn’t directly yank back its power from its followers when it realises that they’re straying and instead waits for the most opportune moment.

it wants humanity in good shape basically just to be a robust population to throw at the demons. and, like, honestly? being followed because people love you feels a lot better than being followed because people fear you. love and faith can be turned into swords against your enemies, but if you use fear instead, those swords will be turned on you as soon as they can manage it.

the upper echelons of the church are more or less partners-in-crime with the ever-living light. they’re not a PR tactic/expendable tool like saints are; they’re PR and the hands that wield the tool.

... and, in the ‘original story’, sheng qinghe is absolutely oblivious to all of this!

two of his followers/group members--his childhood friend, sen sizhen, and the scholarly male friend that he makes later on, mo yunxing--are not. i think mo yunxing’s family tends to be church members, and sen sizhen has a unique perspective of “being close with the person cultivated to be a saint while not being valuable herself except as leverage,” so they both end up sort of intuitively grasping that there is danger in sheng qinghe’s position and that it’s imperative that he serve the church of the ever-living light well.

when sheng qinghe questions what they’re doing, they divert his attention so that he stops thinking about it. when he’s staring in silence at the bodies of the demons he’s just felled, they take his arm and lead him away. when sheng qinghe wonders if the violence they’re doing is justified, they’re quick to remind him of all of the atrocities that demons have done.

i had intended sen sizhen to act as sort of a love interest for sheng qinghe, since Girl Childhood Friend is popular for that, but she’s ended up in a sort of older sister role to him, wanting to protect him from things that he doesn’t yet understand--that, under her watch, hopefully he will never understand. she cares about him a lot, but there’s a slowly widening gap between them because she feels like she has to shield him from ‘the cruel reality of the world’. neither she nor mo yunxing think that he is capable of facing that reality.

OH i don’t know if it could be inferred or not, but: sheng qinghe, in his role of a saint, is being used to spearhead “a final war” against demons. that’s why he ends up fighting against the demon king--it’s the “final step” in defeating the demons.

in the ‘original story’, he succeeds. with their backing gone, the rest of the demons soon follow their king to the grave. sheng qinghe is touted as the hero of humanity.

in the fic i’m writing, the main character transmigrates to stop this.

so, for the relationships question:

the main character transmigrates into zhu yixian, a fox spirit who is more or less one of the demon king’s most prominent lackeys. in the original setting, xi youtian had rescued zhu yixian from fur traders when he was a kit and raised him up in the absence of his parents, and in return zhu yixian devoted his life to serving him.

that’s more or less true here, too, but. mc zhu yixian is an entirely different person, so of course things change.

see, the thing about the mc is: they love sheng qinghe, and they think of him as their idiot son, so of course they want to get personally involved in his upbringing so that they can stop him from... (gestures to sheng qinghe forcing down his conscience, again and again, and culminating in literal genocide) that

so here, we have a demon who has more or less been adopted into the demon king’s family ............ more or less adopting in turn a saint of the ever-living light

zhu yixian is, of course, not being upfront with their identity--revealing that they’re a demon would NOT end well at this stage--but they’re kind to sheng qinghe, and they help him out in some situations, and scold him and tell him to think, and sheng qinghe really does end up viewing them as something like an older brother/uncle who’s looking out for him

unlike sen sizhen and mo yunxing, who try to protect sheng qinghe by shielding him from the things that they think/know will hurt him, zhu yixian instead wants to make sheng qinghe think. they don’t want to give sheng qinghe the option of just. closing his eyes and ears to the world. they want him to be better than he would be otherwise

... but, of course, you can’t make anyone do anything. you can only give them the tools with which to make their choice and hope that they make the choice that’s right for them

uhhh, other relationship stuff that i don’t know how to sort:

it’s not uncommon for demons to mix in with humans--they do share the same planet, after all, and even the same continent--so it’s not really strange for zhu yixian to traipse around in human territory. it is a little strange for zhu yixian to cultivate a relationship with a human

xi youtian doesn’t probe about it, though. he doesn’t interfere in his followers’/friends’ personal lives much.

he thinks it’s funny that zhu yixian talks about sheng qinghe like they’re his long-suffering parent, though

xi youtian has three other prominent lackeys; they’re pretty much close as family. one of them is the Mom Friend, who’s warm and likes taking care of people; there’s the Enabler Friend, who is always so down with whatever idea someone has; and there’s the Snark Friend, who has a bad mouth but a good temper. although xi youtian is their king, they’re privileged enough to speak to him as equals

zhu yixian is younger than all of them. although they’re a young adult by the time they meet sheng qinghe, they’re still viewed as the baby of the family

zhu yixian gets indulged A Lot. they can get away with all sorts of things and even be looked at affectionately while they’re being a brat or acting spoiled. on one hand, they’re like “guys! you need to discipline children more!” and on the other hand, they’re like “this is great, actually”

zhu yixian’s original life may not have been the greatest, so like. second childhood with people who love them and will also give them all the hugs they want? talk about relationship security

fox spirits can transform into human form when they reach adolescence. i have a scene written about zhu yixian’s first transformation; they come careening out of the room in one of xi youtian’s childhood robes and happily babbles at xi youtian about how they have hands! and can finally see over the table when sitting!!! and xi youtian laughs a little like “those are what you’re most excited about?” and zhu yixian replies very seriously “i have things to say, and most people don’t listen to tiny foxes who have to stand to see over the table.”

later, Snark Friend is like “huh. i was expecting you to be taller.” and zhu yixian is like “I’M STILL GROWING”

the atmosphere at home is really warm, haha. they all care about each other a lot, and you can feel it

(which is another reason on the ever-increasing list for why things CANNOT go as they did in canon. it’s not just that sheng qinghe’s canon behaviour was wildly out of character as they understood him to be--it’s that they want to preserve the lives of these people.)

zhu yixian thinks sheng qinghe’s friends Are Not That Smart. sheng qinghe doesn’t have to worry about school entrance exams or anything like that, but they’re still a little concerned that stupidity is contagious

sheng qinghe is easily influenced, after all, if canon is anything to go by

sheng qinghe doesn’t really understand what zhu yixian is talking about until his jock friend realises zhu yixian’s identity as not only a demon but one of the hands of the demon king and yells it in the middle of a restaurant and all of sheng qinghe’s friends follow suit in immediately becoming hostile and assuming that he’s been tricking them and zhu yixian, aggrieved, is like “WHAT are you talking about? when did i lie? when did i try to hurt sheng qinghe???” and sheng qinghe is like ... (thinks back over years of interactions) (zhu yixian literally gave their real name) (zhu yixian has helped sheng qinghe and co on more than one occasion, at no benefit to themselves) (My Friends. Might Be Stupid After All.jpg)

that is... all for now, i think

thank you so much for being interested in my stuff <3 <3 <3

#dameamaryllis #keg wrecks #keg writes #this is. a very long reply my gd #i hope that it's. uh. coherent. i don't know how long ive been typing #bl verse

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atlas-of-a-human-soul · 5 years

Text

Αιώνια αγάπη (DT AU), pt. 14

14: Made new

Summary: Y/N is given an offer she can’t refuse.

Warnings: angst, fluff, violence, death

Word count: 2.5k

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Αιώνια αγάπη (DT Modern Greek god/frat! AU) MASTERLIST

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It happened fast.

It happened way too fast - too fast for human eye to follow as flashes of hundreds different shades of gold overcame her vision and her mind blanked as a response.

She couldn't do much, knowing this is a godly feat, one she must protect her children from. So she stood up, her vision blackening momentarily - something that came with changing positions way too fast with light-headed feeling following soon after.

She didn't have time to wait to feel steady, running toward Hera who kept the kids behind her and watched events unfold.

"What is happening?!" Y/N questioned, out of breath and wide eyed.

"Gods fighting gods. Blood against blood."

And before Y/N had time to delve deeper, ask for meaning, the fight was over, Apollo and Hermes each before their father and uncle, prepared to rule on their punishment for unspeakable, inconceivable crimes against humans and other gods.

"Do your worst boy!" Zeus shouted, spitting at Hermes' feet as a trapped beast.

"Yes, father." And with one swift, smooth move of a silver sword, Hermes took his father's head while Apollo claimed Poseidon's.

With a gasp, Y/N covered her children's eyes, turning around herself, unable to catch a proper breath while the aftershock plummeted through her veins. She couldn't stop herself from trembling, hugging her kids for comfort, her wide eyes running over the marble floor she was positioned at ever since Zeus found it appropriate to rip her away from her life and uprooted her in order for her to show up for this mockery of a trial.

A hand clasped on each of her shoulders, fingertips applying different amounts of pressure - the left one was a little more eager for her attention, enough to forget she's fragile and still human - Hermes, she guessed.

"Y/N, please look at us." Apollo pleads, her voice as soft as a cloud, dragging out her name so slowly, so carefully with so much love she felt her heart yearn for him.

Shaking, dragging in a few shuddered breaths, she looked her kids over first, noticing their little confused faces but neither of them made a sound. When their mother is scared, they trust her to protect them, keeping their usual mischief below zero. It was always a rule she taught them.

"It's okay, babies. It's all okay now." She whispered, quickly pressing a kiss to each of their foreheads, pushing Valerie's bangs to the side affectionately.

Hera stepped in, offering her help once more, but Y/N refused adamantly. She couldn't part from her kids, not even for a single moment.

"We have a lot to talk about." Apollo crouched down, plopping on the cold marble instantly, his body - although no longer human and much more durable - is exhausted with everything that's happened and not just now, but for the last year.

"Henry, Valerie, go and ask your grandma for something to eat. I'm sure she's got lots of tasty goodness!" The cheerful tone didn't distract the brothers from her underlying worry, still evident even after the danger passed.

Once the kids smashed a kiss on their mother, they ran off after Hera who was still in sight, bringing some joy to the saddened goddess, at least momentarily.

Turning around, she found Hermes sat behind her as well, each of them looking at her with a dire need of information, each of them wishing to touch her - feel her, just to know she's real. Not even thinking about it, Y/N lunged forth, throwing an arm around each brother, pulling them closer until she could finally breathe properly, in their presence and able to feel them and not only see them as she did in her dreams. She never had a moment of peace - without them, for she saw them in every first light of the breaking dawn or the last light of the sunset, in the way her kids laughed, talked, or even looked at her, and every damn night in her dreams. Sometimes even while she was awake, in the middle of the day, she'd just hear their voices inside her mind, offering her some sage advice if she heard Apollo, or something completely mental if she heard Hermes - Or Grayson and Ethan as she still regarded them as.

Breaking away from the hug, noticing they're more than reluctant to let her go, Y/N perched herself up on the balls of her feet, placing her hands on her thighs, palms laid out.

"So...you, uh...have kids?" Apollo starts, rubbing the back of his neck nervously, watching as she pursed her lips once they twitched in their need of showing a small smile she intercepted.

"Yeah...did you know?" She asks, wondering if that would even matter. After all, she's spent years on her own - would them knowing really have any impact?

"When we returned here, three years passed on Earth. We managed to get a hold of a device to watch over you, but we could only watch, never intervene." Apollo explained, when Hermes cleared his voice.

"I'm really sorry about your dad. If it helps, I guided him to Elysium myself. I've been told he's on the Isle of the Blest. He's with your mother." Hermes took her hand upon seeing her bottom lip quiver, her eyes rimmed red as a lone tear spilled over and he could tell her chest quaked under the pressure of holding in a sob he'd rather have her release, hoping it would let out her pain and clear her heart for something good.

"Thank you, Ethan. It really means a lot to know they're both well and happy." She smiled, giving him a grateful squeeze of the hand before she sniffled and chuckled awkwardly.

"I'm sorry, but I have to ask about the kids. Henry and Valerie, is it?" Apollo interrupts, unable to hold back any longer. He felt as if his mind is on a roller-coaster, about to jump off the tracks right at the top.

"That's a little complicated." She dropped her gaze, licking her lips before nibbling on the bottom left corner.

"Henry is Ethan's and Valerie's yours." She responded, watching Ethan's eyes pop while Grayson waited impatiently for her to explain because he already knew that, he just didn't understand how.

"Two months after you disappeared, I was experiencing basic pregnancy symptoms and when I went for a check up I found out I'm not only pregnant, but with two kids...at the same time...and they aren't twins." Chuckling to herself, shaking her head as if she too can't believe her situation, Y/N took Grayson's hand in her free one now too, in need of support as if it's happening all over again.

"Apparently I was born with a uterine malformation called uterus didelphys. It basically means I have two uteruses and well...You can get pregnant with two kids at the same time. Henry was born a month before, they were pretty big and my body couldn't handle it and they had to do a C section to take him out. Valerie was born naturally a month later." Shrugging her shoulders, she felt her face burn, still remembering how hard it all was on her, especially when she had to do it all on her own. Well, her sorority sisters helped and her father had made sure she's financially taken care of even if she refused to tell him about who the father is, because he assumed there was only one! But she didn't have a partner, someone to truly rely on - to share the burden of two lives she carried on her chest this whole time. It's never easy and it never got easier.

"You had hairs on your brushes and there were also your toothbrushes...even some blood left from shaving on the razors, so I just took it all and through it all, they found enough DNA to tell me they're brother and sister, but from different fathers even though their DNA matched so well they were borderline twins. I guess it has something to do with your godly genes or whatever."

Neither Ethan nor Grayson could really speak, each of them lost in the fact they weren't there when their kids needed them and when they're finally with them, their kids saw them as bloodthirsty animals who beheaded their own family.

“Henry is usually the instigator of every trouble they get into. Valerie is incredibly bright and very soft of heart. They’re both really good kids...very hard to keep up with, exhaustively stubborn, but very well behaved when need be...as you could see today.” Y/N continued, wanting to give them some insight on the little beings that came to be because of the love they all shared years ago and although it’s been longer for Y/N, she couldn’t deny she still had incredibly strong feeling for both of them - they never really left.

"Stay." Ethan spoke up, shaking Y/N up into retracting her hands, leaving both of them with an empty feeling in their chest.

"I mean, the kids are more than just demigods with all their genetics, they aren't human. We can sense it. Once they're twenty two, they'll stop ageing. They would get a year older every thousand years until they look like they're about forty and they won't get older than that. Not ever. Their powers will manifest at eighteen. They can't go home. Ever." Apollo explained, knowing he's already playing with fire, but it's the truth. They can't let two teenager rave on Earth once their powers come in for the consequences could be catastrophic.

"You can't take my kids away." Y/N stood up, defensive and prepared to fight if necessary. She didn't understand why they're pushing this, barely any information getting through to her.

"We don't want to." Ethan stood, his hands open with palms turned to her, hoping to calm her down and stop her nostrils from flaring and transform her glare into something more gentle, more calm. She had a gaze that could kill a thousand men within a blink and he absolutely loved it.

"Then what the hell are you talking about?!" She shouted, stepping closer with her index finger pointed at Grayson's chest.

"You might be the father, but it doesn't mean you get to take them just because you're gods and I a human!" But her finger changed direction, poking Ethan in the chest.

"We want you to stay too! Just take a sip from the fountain of youth and you can be one of us!" Ethan defended, hoping she sees reason and does what he's asking for even immortality and the Underworld at his feet isn't enough without her...And that's when he finally understood Hades and his actions. Hell, he didn't even fight him when he wrapped the chain around his neck, as if he too never wanted to live without Persephone.

"Wha-", Y/N stumbled back, thinking about it. To be a goddess and stay at Mount Olympus with her children and the gods she fell in love with for an eternity? It sounded like a dream, but do all gods end up beheaded by their children? That horrified her.

"But gods die either killed by their descendants or their children...I don't know if I want that to happen to me." She frowned, running her hands through her hair as she gripped the roots.

"It won't." Apollo stepped closer, understanding flashing behind his hazel eyes as the armor he wears glistened in the sun that sparked through the open ceiling above.

"You can't promise me that! What if someone takes me like Hades took Persephone?!" Hermes could see she's panicking, spiraling in the hell her mind created, knowing that she was always her own worst enemy. Just as he wished to intervene and end her suffering with a few calming words and a tender caress, someone else did it for him; his dear sister, the very goddess Y/N spoke of.

"I made Hades run to me. He saw my bones beneath the skin, the soul within and offered me half his kingdom. Do you really think I ate the fruit unwittingly?" Such words spoken from a beauty as she bore, Persephone not only shocked the trio, but brought Hermes to his knees.

"I killed him for you and you're telling me you wanted to be his queen all along?!" He couldn't help his voice from raising at the younger goddess, realizing she played him all this time.

"I wanted the Underworld. I wanted to be Queen. I hoped once he was gone, I'd rule alone. But I made the mistake of actually caring for him after all this time - even loving him at times. I miss him and I can't say that I don't hold it against you brother. But I can't rule. Not after he left the Underworld to you in the contract." Persephone spat, bitter about how her plotting turned against her and she lost all she worked on. Centuries long scheme now nothing but dust in the wind.

"You will live there. You will take over for Hecate as she can't do her job from Tartarus. You will do that - alone." Hermes shimmered, vibrating in his rage as he cast his sister down, punishing her for her feat.

Hera ran fast, watching her daughter run the opposite direction in tears, bringing a golden chalet with her.

"Did you convince her?" She smiled softly, hoping this was actually Persephone learning Y/N will take the gift of immortality offered only a few times in history.

"No. Just found out my sister is a crazy, manipulative psychopath!" Hermes ran a hand down his face, still trying to hold himself together.

"She also told us Hermes is officially the new Hades." Apollo added, winking at his brother proudly for he knew Hermes was made for the job. He knew it would be a perfect fit.

"Did she tell you you're the new Poseidon?" Hera looked toward Apollo, giving him the same proud look he gave his brother, impossibly happy her son got the power over sea as he always loved the oceans and water, the way they could be so calm one moment and raging the next.

"I? Wha - really?" Apollo nearly choked on his spit, placing a hand on his chest-plate with an incredulous look on his face. He couldn't believe what he earned, so happy and still so conflicted over how he earned it.

"Yes. And", Hera turned to a very silent Y/N, "If you decide to join us, you'd be the new Zeus." She spoke plainly, offering Y/N not only the gift of immortality but the ultimate power of being the supreme goddess of Mount Olympus.

"Why? Why give me such honor when you can do the job just as well?" Y/N asked, genuinely confused over this turn of events, wanting a moment of peace but realizing she won't get any time to make her choice.

"Because I'd rather take care of my little grandchildren and we're short one supreme entity." Hera brought the chalice closer to her lips, enticing her to take the next step and for the first time in a long time, Y/N didn't think. Why would she? She just graduated and moved back home into an empty house filled with memories she couldn't run away from while all her friends scattered around the world and she'd barely see them as it is. She didn't think twice before she nodded, taking the chalice into her hands much to both brother’s surprise before chugging it all in one sip.

At first, nothing happens at all. But then she feels it.

Something in her stomach churns, despite the fact she didn't eat much in a while. Then she cramps, pain shooting through her entire abdomen. She lets out a gasp as the pain reached her throat, and it constricts tighter and tighter until she feels she can't breathe. She keeps gasping for air as the tightening and pain refuse to let up.

She hears Ethan and Grayson shout her name as her knees hit the marble floor.

The pain intensifies, ripping through her like blazing fire. The edges of her vision darken as she continues to struggle for air, the shouting around her crescendos. It's the worst pain she's ever felt in her entire life.

It's a relief when she blacks out.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Tags: @mutuallynotmutual @lanadeldolans @xalayx @accalialionheart @gia-kerks @historyheart @heyits-claire @daddygraysonsbitch @fallinginlove-16 @lanadeldolans @beautifulfound @thearachna-kid @dinnerwiththedolans @graydolan12 @justanotherfangurl272 @dxlansfxck @godlydolans @flowery-dolan @dominatedolans @buckysjuicyplums @ethanhes @dolandolll @dolanstwintuesday @peacedolantwins

#ethan dolan #grayson dolan #dolan twins #dolan twins greek god au #ethan dolan x reader #grayson dolan x reader #hermes #apollo #greek god au

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takivvatanga · 4 years

Text

fifteen years is a long time.

“This can’t be it! Are you sure this is the right address?”

“It’s the address you gave me, Miss.”

“But… but-“

“It’s the address you gave me. Makes twenty-seven fifty thank you very much.”

The taxi driver looks at her over his shoulder, his eyes narrowed with suspicion. She doesn’t look like someone who’d try to dodge a fare, he’s been in his job for long enough to know that type. This woman simply looks out of place. Country lady come to visit the city, clearly. He knows country people. Once, a long time ago, he was a country boy himself, yes ma’am, country boy in gumboots and a swanndri, taking the quad down the creek to check on last night’s eel traps at the crack of dawn. Go home, he thinks. Go back home, lady. There’s nothing worthwhile here. The Big Smoke ain’t all it’s cracked up to be.

Cecilia var Anahid looks up at the apartment building. She doesn’t quite know what exactly she has expected, but this, well, this isn’t it. How long has her sister lived here? She tries to imagine what Assire looks like now, but her mind draws a blank, defaulting back to the last time she saw her, sitting cross-legged on her bed, an awkward teenage girl with a clip in her hair.

Fifteen years. Fifteen years is a long time.

“Miss. Twenty-seven fifty. Are you alright, Miss?”

“I’m fine, thank you. Here you go and… keep the change I suppose. God Bless you.”

The taxi driver smiles, pockets the two crumpled notes.

“And you, Miss. And you.”

________

Cecilia scans the name plates beside the doorbells, for a moment both relieved and disappointed when she cannot find her sister’s. One is left blank. No one lives here, it tries to tell her. Cecilia knows a lie when she sees one. She rings.

Was that the bell? She’s not expecting anyone, who on Earth?!

Assire puts down her watering can, tugs at a wilted leaf that mars the appearance of one of her plants.

“That’s better, isn’t it?”

The plant, of course, does not answer. But the bell keeps on ringing.

Something isn’t right.

Assire’s stomach twists with anxiety. She could just sit this out, do nothing, wait for the intruder to go away. They’re bound to give up eventually, right? But if she does, she’ll be forever left wondering who and why, getting stuck on the thought, losing herself in worst case scenarios. What if it is important? What if something terrible has happened? What if someone died? Even worse, what if her not opening the door will mean that someone will die? It would be her fault, her fault, all because she was scared to answer the door. Someone is going to die, because of her.

She has to answer. It’s not a choice. She has to.

____________

“Hello?”

The voice that reaches her through the intercom could belong to anyone. Maybe she’s got the wrong address after all. But there’s something in the voice, an undertone, a certain inflection that gives Cecilia pause.

“Assire? Assire, it’s me. Cecilia.”

Silence.

“Assire? Are you there? Let me in. We… we need to talk.”

Assire feels sick. She doesn’t know what to do, she wasn’t prepared for this. She wasn’t prepared for anyone, let alone… her sister.

Fifteen years. Fifteen years is a long time. What is there to talk about, after all those years?

I have nothing to say to you. I have so much I want to say. But I can’t. I just can’t.

“Assire, open the door. Sister. Please.”

She can’t get out of this now. She has no choice.

Assire’s fingers feel numb as she pushes the button.

“Okay.”

___________

She doesn’t look any different. She’s older, sure, there’s lines around her eyes, her nose, the corners of her mouth. There’s grey creeping into her hair. But it’s still undeniably her. Her sister. Cecilia.

“Assire, I…”

Cecilia doesn’t know what to say. Assire has changed. Not physically. She still looks like, well, Assire, only older. But something in the way she holds her head, in the way she squares her shoulders, in the way she shifts her weight from one foot to the other tells her that the sister she knew is gone. Gone, like she’s been gone for fifteen years.

Fifteen years is a long time.

“Can I come in.”

Assire nods, her fingers tugging nervously at the hem of her cardigan. She feels numb, like a puppet pulled along on invisible strings. Is this even real? Maybe she’s dreaming this, like she often dreams about them. Her sisters. But it’s never like this, in the dreams. In her dreams, they are children again, running through the meadows behind the house they grew up in, the sun just setting, tinting the long grass that tickles their knees the colour of molten gold. They are free, and they are together, and no one ever dared to tell them what they could or could not be. What they could or could not choose. No one feels guilty and no one is ashamed.

This is not a dream.

________________

Lord Almighty, she really is lost. Heavenly Father, give me strength.

Cecilia barely manages to hide her distaste. This is how her sister lives? She wasn’t raised like this, none of them were raised like this. Cleanliness is next to Godliness. There must be order. Cecilia runs a fingertip over the cabinet that stands in the hall, leaving a trail in the accumulated dust.

Assire, I am so sorry.

“Do you… do you want tea?” It seems like a good place to start. As good a place as any. The words come out with relative ease, usually that is a good sign. But why is she here? Why now? The reason! Just tell me the reason!

Cecilia smiles, not entirely sincere, but she is trying. By God, she is trying.

______________

Two cups on the table. Sunlight filtering in through the kitchen window. Two sisters, sitting across from each other in silence. Something suspended between them. A grief that is spoken and one that is not.

“When?”

“Last week. Assire, we… you know how things are, we-“

“You stick to yourselves. I know.”

“Nobody knows I’m here. Mum doesn’t know. Jovanna doesn’t know. I was thinking about telling Eviva but she, well, what with Dad’s passing and her new baby and everything I didn’t want her to worry about me going to meet you as well.”

“Eviva… had a baby?”

Cecilia’s smile is laced with pity. Assire knows nothing. Nothing at all.

“She has three, actually. Our little sister’s family is just delightful. A joy unto the Lord.”

Assire frowns, her hands gripping her cup a little more tightly.

“Well, good for her.”

“Assire, please. No need to be like that.”

“Like what?” Assire looks up, still frowning. This is too much, too much! Too much to think about! It’s been fifteen years, fifteen god damned years, and she’s only just managed to stop thinking about her family. She doesn’t want to start this again, her mind going around in endless cycles, drowning in guilt, choking on shame.

“Dad was ill for a long time.” Cecilia crosses her arms over her chest. She won’t take Assire’s bait, will not allow herself to be goaded into a confrontation. Lord, give me strength.

“We looked after him until the very end. We all prayed for him. We took great care of him, united as a family. As a community. We would have never let him be taken away into one of these godforsaken hospitals. It was God’s will, Assire. It was God’s will.”

“You didn’t seek treatment.” The only thing colder than Assire’s voice are her eyes.

“We don’t believe in medicine. We believe in the power of prayer, the mercy of Christ. We believe that God and God alone decides when our days on earth are done. You know that.”

Assire does know. That doesn’t change the fact that it enrages her. Assire feels as if her insides were swarming with bees, an angry, erratic buzzing in her stomach, her lungs, her throat, her brain. She looks down at the table, bites her tongue.

If I open my mouth, she thinks, if I open my mouth all that will come out will be poison.

“Assire. I know it has been a long time, but… it’s not too late to come home. Mum needs you. We need you. You can be forgiven. Your soul… you can still be redeemed, all you have to do is to ask. You don’t have to go on living like… this.”

“Is that why you’re here? Is that why you’re here, Cecilia? To try and get me to come back? After fifteen years? Our father died and you’re just… you’re just using this as bait, aren’t you? You want me to feel guilty, Cecilia? Well, don’t waste your time because I already do. I’ve spent every single day for the last fifteen years feeling guilty for leaving. But you know what? I don’t regret it.”

”Assire! Please! Listen to yourself, just…”

“No, Cecilia. You listen to me, okay. To me.” She does not know where this has come from, this sudden burst of bravery. All she knows is that she will not go back. She will stand her ground.

“You, your family… yes, you heard me right. Your family. Not mine. Your family, your community – you’re poison. You put people into a little cage of ideology and make them scared to ever look beyond the bars, because if they do, if they dare to look, and see, and ask questions, and want things like everyone does in life, why, they’ll lose their soul, won’t they? They’ll lose everything, because you made them dependent on doing what you want. For ‘the good of the community’, for their ‘immortal souls’. It’s bullshit, Cecilia. It’s about controlling people. It’s just… treating people as if they are things! People are people, they should be allowed to be people! You call it faith, but it’s got nothing to do with God. Because God isn’t about locking people up and making them feel ashamed and like they are tainted and sinful and bad for every single day of their lives. God is… God isn’t supposed to be a cage.”

She watches as the colour drains from Cecilia’s face, her mouth a thin, pale line, her hands slowly curling into fists. For a moment, Assire feels sorry, so terribly sorry, for speaking like she did, for her hurtful words and her hateful thoughts, for her refusal to rebuild the bridges she burned so many years ago.

But I shouldn’t feel sorry. It’s the truth, nothing but the truth. If she wasn’t prepared to hear it, then she shouldn’t have come here.

“Assire. Sister. I thought there was still hope. I prayed for you, that you’d see reason. That maybe Dad’s passing would be an opportunity for you to find forgiveness. I’ve never given up on you, you know? I always had hope for you. Always. But it seems I was wrong. You’re lost, little sister. You and your soul. Lost, forever. And I am so very sorry.”

The words hurt. They are thick with pity, full of judgement, every syllable an attempt to tug at her strings, to pull her back, to confuse her enough to make her relent. Assire feels the distance between them grow. It is a welcome feeling. She will never go back. Never.

“I think you should leave. Now.”

“Assire, don’t do this. Come with me. Come home.”

“I am home.”

“You call this home? Look at this place, Assire. Look at yourself. This is a mess, you’re a mess. This world has wrecked you. You’re broken.”

Assire rises, abruptly, her cup of tea untouched.

“This world has been good to me. Because I’ve been good to me. Leaving was the hardest and the best thing I could have ever done. There’s nothing else to tell you, Cecilia.”

I wish it didn’t have to be this way. But you leave me no choice.

“If you change your mind –“

”I won’t.”

“Yes, you say that now but… if you do.”

“I won’t. Goodbye, Cecilia. Enjoy your life. Enjoy your cage.”

“Lord have mercy on your soul, Assire. Lord have mercy.”

_____________

There’s a finality to the sound of the door closing, to the echoing of Cecilia’s steps on the stairs. As if someone had typed out the words the end, underlined them, turned the page. This is an end, definitive, distinct.

She will not look back. She will not go back. Never.

Fifteen years is a very long time.

#vignette: assire #verse: modern #me: owes a million things #also me: writes a 2k vignette of interest to exactly one person which is myself #i always feel kind of ??? about posting these bc #legit idek what this is #i just get flashes of these scenes from her arc in modern as i've sketched it out #and then i gotta write it #and stuff doesn't feel like it has been written until it's posted for some reason #also this is choppy and messy and it's not self-contained #i jump between imagery too much #it needs tidying up and streamlining #and i am so bad at editing my own work #like i go back to read my own stuff and i just wanna delete it all #editing is harder than writing it is a FACT

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queenofcats17 · 5 years

Text

BATIM D&D Party

I wanted to write out backstories for the BATIM characters in a D&D world, so here we go. These are very much my versions of the characters, as well as some of my oc’s.

I also kind of made a story out of it.

I used this to help me decide everyone’s classes upon first thinking about this, but this is also very helpful.

Thank you to @randomwriteronline and @chaostheparrot for their input and help in ironing out what classes would fit each character.

I especially loved Random’s comment that the Music Department would be, and I quote, “just increasingly off the shit bards”.

-------------------------------------------------------

Timeline:

Joey and Henry meet up and decide to adventure together.

Original party is formed: Joey, Henry, Norman, Wally, and the bard band

Henry and Joey get into a fight and Henry leaves the party

Shawn and Grant are inducted into the party

Joey’s party passes through Cordelia’s town and she joins as they are in need of a healer

Asmodeus reaches out to Joey and becomes Joey’s patron

Tom and Allison are brought on. Joey explains that they need another healer and Tom has some experience with magical artifacts. He refuses to explain what sort of magical artifacts he wants Tom for

Joey approaches Bertram to make an artifact for him which leads to Bertram and Lacie traveling with the party in order to gather the materials for the artifact

Joey leads the party to defeat a necromancer holed up in a castle, and takes up residence there once the necromancer is defeated.

Joey starts conducting immoral experiments, occasionally kidnapping residents from the nearby town

Joey turns his attentions to his party members, beginning to experiment on them

Henry gets a letter, inviting him to the castle. Joey has something to show him...

Now on to the backstories.

Sammy, Susie, and Jack are all bards who have been friends since childhood. Johnny is Sammy’s younger brother and also a bard. They each have their own reasons for wanting to go out adventuring. Sammy because he wanted to spread his music, Susie because she wanted to see the world and sing for people, Johnny because he was not about to let Sammy see the world without him, and Jack basically because he wanted to be around his friends. They’ve formed a band of sorts. Sammy plays banjo (although he can play nearly any instrument), Jack’s on violin, Johnny basically plays a keyboard, and Susie sings. They’ve been run out of a few towns due to Susie and Sammy’s strong personalities. Sammy gets into fights with people about music and Susie squares up when her friends are threatened. Although there was one time someone broke Jack’s violin and he did a number on them.

Sammy and Susie will flirt with anyone and everyone. They are disaster bisexuals. Favorite targets are Norman, Tom, and Allison. Sometimes Wally, although that’s mostly Sammy. Meanwhile, Jack has kind of a thing for Grant. And sometimes Sammy. He’s a quiet and distinguished gay. Johnny falls in love very easily and it’s hard to get him to move on from them. He had a crush on Susie when they were all little and Sammy continues to tease him about it. Susie thought it was cute.

Joey: Warlock. His patron is Asmodeus, the Lord of Hells. Growing up, Joey dreamed of adventuring. His parents strongly discouraged this, knowing the dangers that came along with adventuring. They didn’t want him to get hurt. Joey, however, took this to mean that they thought he was too weak to make it in the world. It didn’t help that a lot of the other children liked to pick on him due to his small stature and sickly nature. He threw himself into studying magic, being too weak to class as anything particularly physical. His success was rather...mixed. He was alright at magic, but nowhere near as powerful as he’d hoped.

He ran away from home at around 18 in order to adventure and find a way to boost his magical power. He ended up in Henry’s town and the two became friends. Joey suggested they go adventuring together and Henry agreed. The two set off on their adventure when they were in their 20′s, forming a party with Norman, Wally, and the bard band. Joey's search for power was temporarily forgotten as he reveled in the joy of adventuring with his friends. However, tensions began to run a bit high between him and Henry, who thought Joey was being greedy and pushing the party members farther than they were capable of going. The two of them fought and Henry left the party.

Joey was convinced he could make it without Henry, bolstering the ranks of the party and continuing to press on as though nothing was wrong. However, this was the beginning of his spiral downwards. He began to throw himself even more into trying to bolster his magic. He started dragging his party into even more dangerous situations in order to find a way to make himself more powerful.

It was at this point that Asmodeus reached out to him. He appeared as a handsome red-skinned young man and promising he could give Joey everything he desired. Joey took his offer, becoming a rather powerful warlock.

For a bit, things were alright. Joey was happy with his newfound power. He had to perform sacrifices to Asmodeus, which was a little inconvenient given his party’s moral compass, but the party was already killing evildoers. Asmodeus seemed perfectly satisfied with these sorts of sacrifices, though.

But soon...Joey began to wonder. Why did they have to rely on gods for magical power? Why couldn’t they just have it themselves? He’d seen many a warlock fall due to losing the favor of their patron. It was incredibly dangerous to rely on these gods for power when their favor could so easily be lost. If he could find a way to allow humans to have godly powers without the contract, then he could prevent others from falling. And so, unbeknownst to his party, he began to look into magical artifacts and rituals.

Norman: Ranger. No one knows what his background is and he refuses to give a straight answer as to what it is. His story changes every time he’s asked. In reality, he was part of a rebellion against the tyrannical ruler of his town. The rebellion failed, unfortunately, and in retaliation, the ruler killed those who had taken part in it. Norman managed to escape, but his family and many of his friends died. He doesn’t like to talk about it. Sammy, Susie, Wally, and Tom are some of the only people he’s told the truth to. Prior to joining up with this party, he tried not to stay in any place for too long for fear of being recognized and turned over to the ruler. Initially, he wanted revenge against the man who killed the people he loved. He plotted out exactly how he would do it, fantasized about sticking the bastard’s head on a pike. But he’s been running for a long time. And that fire has long since been extinguished. Now he just wants to be free from that looming shadow.

Henry: Monk. He never really planned on being an adventurer. He grew up in a small village that was pretty far away from any kind of danger. His parents ran a bookstore. He didn’t have any siblings. He had a pretty boring life. He met Joey after Joey ran away from home and ended up in Henry’s town. When Joey suggested they start adventuring together, he was excited. He’d never left his town before. So he left with Joey and the two of them began adventuring together with their party. Things were good for a while until Henry and Joey began to butt heads about Joey’s leadership of the group. Henry ended up leaving over this argument. Angry and upset, Henry went away to train at a monastery. It was during this training that he met Linda, who was passing through on her own errands. The two of them adventured for a bit after Henry completed his training before settling down together.

Linda: Cleric. A follower of the Lliira. She came from a long line of healers, and while she wasn’t expected to follow in their footsteps, it was highly encouraged. Luckily, she was interested in helping people. She chose Lliira as her patron as she had little interest in fighting or continuing the cycle of violence in their world. Once she’d reached the appropriate age, and had trained sufficiently with her family, she set off on a journey to bring healing and joy to all she could. She met Henry when she stopped off at the monastery he was training at during her travels. She thought he was rather adorable, especially since he tended to accidentally hit himself in the face with his staff whenever she watching him practice. She was more than happy to journey with and later marry him.

Henry works as a historian/librarian in their town while Linda is the local healer. A not-insignificant portion of the town has crushes on both of them. They’re both very kind and compassionate and surprisingly buff. Linda may be a pacifist, but she chops their firewood herself.

Tom: Fighter who dual classes as an artificer. He’s made a bit of a name for himself as an artificer, but more often he’s just called upon to fix things. He grew up in an orphanage as his parents were killed in a monster attack. He made himself indispensable to the orphanage staff by being the best at fixing things. He taught himself to fix just about everything. Chairs, plumbing, wagons, weapons. You name it, he figured out how to fix it. Once he got older, the orphanage directors apprenticed him to a blacksmith. Tom tried to find fulfillment in it but couldn’t. He ended up training himself as a fighter, while beginning to hone his craft as an artificer, and set off wandering. He found Allison when she’d gotten herself into a fight she wasn’t prepared for and helped her get out. He thought she was a nice woman and decided to travel with her. She gave people hope and he wanted to be a part of that.

Allison: Paladin. A follower of the goddess Istus. Her family are nobles and frankly bastards. She ran away from home at a young age to join a convent. However, during her journey to the convent, she saw the injustices of the world. So, instead of going to the convent, she went to join a paladin order. The paladins were initially a little unsure about whether to take her on, especially since she was the daughter of a noble and they didn’t want to have her father storming their building demanding her back, but she proved she was serious about the situation. After she completed her training, she set out to help those in need. She met Tom after stumbling into a fight she wasn’t prepared for. The two started traveling together after that. She believes that there is always hope, no matter how many times she is knocked down. There are many who take comfort in her unshakable faith.

Shawn: Rogue. He grew up in the slums of a major city, learning how to pickpocket and swindle in order to provide for his family. His mother constantly told him that there were other ways for them to get by, but no matter how many jobs she or his siblings picked up, they never had enough. Shawn saw stealing from the rich as the only viable option. It wasn’t like taking from the ultra-rich of the city would hurt them, he thought. And it didn’t. They just threw huge fits before eventually moving on. He earned a bit of a reputation among the city guards as a troublemaker. Shawn started having a bit of fun messing with them, which led to guards to target his family. He ended up leaving the city in hopes that it would improve his family’s lives if he wasn’t there. He began to travel, becoming a Robin Hood-esque figure. The poor lauded him as a hero while the rich saw him only as a villain. Joey found him in a holding cell after getting caught stealing from a corrupt baron. He continues to send money to his family even now, hoping that he can still try and make up for the mistakes he’s made.

Bertram: Artificer. Born to a well to do family, Bertram was never particularly interested in adventuring. He was, however, very interested in inventing and figuring out how to imbue magic into the things he created. He ended up becoming a rather successful and sought after artificer due to his uncanny knack for figuring out how things worked and how they could be improved. He began traveling in order to expand his business, which is why he hired Lacie. He needed a bodyguard and she wanted to travel. He ended up encountering Joey when Joey approached him to design an artifact for him. Bertram didn’t particularly trust him, but business was business so he agreed to do what he could for Joey.

Lacie: Monk. Kind of like an older, more tired version of Beau from Critical Role. Her family were wealthy and wanted a son, but they got Lacie instead. They tried to force her to be the ‘perfect’ daughter which led to her rebelling quite a lot. She ended up running away to join a monastery. The monks helped her to deal with the anger and frustration she felt, teaching how to channel it into more productive avenues. She stayed at the monastery for many years, gaining a reputation as a competent fighter and a general pillar of common sense, until she was approached by Bertram to be his bodyguard. She’s been traveling with him ever since. She tries not to pick fights, but she will absolutely finish any ones started by other people.

Grant: Wizard. From a young age, Grant had an insatiable desire for knowledge. It was this desire that led him to begin to study magic. His family didn’t have much but wanted to send him off to a magic academy so that he would be able to study magic. Thankfully, a magic academy did take notice of his aptitude and sent him a letter. Although Grant excelled at his magical studies, he proved too anxious to function as a power player. He had no interest in playing mind games or working in a court. He was better suited to academia, and so became a professor and scholar after graduation. Grant was more than happy teaching others magic and often regrets leaving his position at the school to travel with Joey, especially since Joey doesn’t exactly treat him well. Joey wanted Grant for his vast knowledge and tactical mind, often treating him as nothing more than a walking encyclopedia.

Wally: Druid. A follower of the goddess Eldath. He grew up in kind of a hippie commune. He has a really big family and the kids were basically allowed to run free in the forest and do whatever they wanted. He was happy in the commune, but he always kind of wanted to see the world. Plus, he felt a bit bad that he wasn’t as good of a druid as the rest of his family. He just didn’t take it as seriously as others did. He left the commune when he was about 16 and started just roaming around. He ran into Joey and Henry and joined their party because they thought he was absolutely adorable and just a little ray of sunshine. He’s not much of a combatant, because Eldath abhorres violence and won’t fight even to defend herself. The few times he’s tried to fight he’s lost his powers from her. It was easy enough for Joey to take him down in the end. Wally would never hurt a friend.

Cordelia: Cleric. Follower of the goddess Hel. Despite Hel’s less than savory reputation, Cordelia follows her because it gives her comfort to think there is someone looking out for her parents, both of whom died from sickness. Had a rather sheltered upbringing in a small village where nothing much happened. Roy left for adventure when she was about 15. He returned when she was 17, carried back catatonic by a few paladins. She volunteered to take care of him since both of their parents needed to work. This is how she started learning how to be a cleric in the first place. She was 18 when Joey’s party rolled into town, making her want to go adventuring like her brother had. She specifically latched onto the bard band, wanting to be just like them. Maybe even travel with them. Her parents were averse to the idea, especially after what had happened to Roy, but they didn’t want to quash her dreams. They died later that year from a sickness she could neither treat nor cure. She was devastated, shutting herself in her room for days on end. But, upon Roy’s suggestion, the next time Joey’s party came around she left with them.

Roy: Former bard. Formerly a rather successful bard before an adventuring mishap put him out of commission. He got bored in their little village and set off for a life of adventure. Although he couldn’t play music too well, nor sing, he had a charismatic presence that drew people to him. He was part of a rather large adventuring group filled with similarly eager young adventurers. They were all predictably naive and foolhardy, rushing headlong into danger and getting into their fair share of scrapes and danger. One day, they ended up going on a quest that they couldn’t handle. Roy was the only one who survived. He was found, catatonic, by some wandering paladins who managed to get him home. He didn’t say anything for years until his and Cordelia’s parents died and he forced himself to step up and be there for Cordelia. He was the one to suggest she become an adventurer. Despite his own misgivings toward that career, he thought it would do her good to get away from their town and the memory fo their parents.

Esther: Paladin. Follower of the god Tyr. Although she’s not an adventurer, she still takes her job very seriously. She wants to protect those who cannot protect themselves. She became a paladin after Joey ran away. Specifically, she went on a journey to try and find her brother again. Along the way, she witnessed the injustice and cruelty of the world. It horrified her to see the way people treated each other and the abuses that people got away with. When she returned, not having found her brother, she went through paladin training and became the protector of her town. She later met the man who would become her husband, Robert, when he was passing through the town as a traveling bookseller. The two struck up a friendship, which later turned into a relationship.

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anatemori-dughter-of-art · 5 years

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The Prophecies and The Quest

Last Chapter: “Where are you going?” asked Jason “I need a minute” is all he said as the door closed behind him.

The Prophecies and The Quest

As I sat on the beach watching the lack under the for once, clear midnight sky and remember back when this all started. Back on Mount Olympus, just after the gaea and giant war when all the greeks and the roman army filled the room filled with the Olympic gods.

********

Camp half-blood and Jupiter were still at odds with each other, even in the presence of the god they still didn’t trust the other, thunder and lightning shocked the air and in came Zuse, the King of Drama.

With the rest of the gods “everyone, we have summoned you all here to...to give are appreciations in your assistants in the war,” assistants? but we did all woke I thought raising my eyebrow, for a long time Zeus talked bullshit about how he and the gods did something, I have no idea what.

I mostly tuned him out only lightning when Annabeth elbowed me, it was all going relatively well till there was a sharp gasp, looking around to see Rachel, her eyes where a smoky green with dirty green smoke coming out of her mouth, which could only mean one thing: no, no no, Hades no, can't it be someone else.

I thought as Annabeth and I pushed ourselves to get to her, along with the camp counselors and the seven-plus Nico and Reyna as well as Chiron who ordered the campers to get back, we all made room for her, not wanting to crowd her, just as the people who were assigned to her came to through in the nick of time as Rachel was about to speak.

Twins of the eldest gods

Shall reach sixteen against all odds

Shall battle the Lost son

In the land where creation won

In a world painted black

And the gods held back

As all three worlds unit to

Triumph evil's might

A choice will be made

To save the gods or they Shall fade

As Rachel finished her last word she fainted, “well...that was...something” Dad said nervously, “what was that” a roman camper said “the gods will fade,” said another as more and more Romans and Greeks alike started freaking out.

“SILENCE!” Zuse shouted as the entire hall quieted down, “as you all heard, it seems a new great prophecy has arrived” he said “The Twin Prophecy, father” Apollo said who looked seriously and in pain“did you see anything Apollo” Artemis asked him who was shaking their head in pain, “it was so fast and bright even for me” he said holding his head in pain.

“Dad!” both the roman and greek kid of Apollo said softly “did you at least get a glimpse of something?” Asked Hera, she was just as pale as Zuse “well for starters this is well into the future, I saw brown hair...lightning...and blue eyes... Along with floating water...and, the dead were rising” well that was “WHAT?!” nearly all the gods shouted.

“LIGHTNING?! ZUSE DID YOU HAVE ANOTHER CHILD” Hera shouted “HE ALSO SAID WATER, POSEIDON DID YOU” started Zeus but Dad in his chill tone said “calm down brother, I swear to you Percy is the only son I have” Hera raised an eyebrow in disbelief “are you sure about that brother” she challenged back “yes sister, Percy is the only son I know of” he replied coolly.

“did you all forget that Apollo also said the dead were rising so HADES DID YOU CHEAT ON MY DAUGHTER AGAIN!!! I know you were a-” Demeter ranted on and on as Hades looked two seconds away from shadow traveling out of here, “EVERYONE” Athena shouted, gathering their attention“did you all forget, this prophecy dictated the birth of twins that will someday be the choosers of our fate, instead of guessing who sired them we must first find or look out for theses two” she explained in a commanding tone.

“brown hair, blue eyes and they may be able to control the powers of Zeus, Poseidon and Hades” Hermes listed, “dang these kids sound like legacies” he continued “dangerous, is what they sound like” mumbled Zuse yet we all heard him “now brother, quiet your paranoia this is serious business” Dad added “yes, indeed we need not worry about these Twins but also this Lost Son” Hades joined in.

“foreknow I believe we must wait" Hera said surprising everyone "what do you mean Hera" Zuse asked "I mean husband, is that instead of like the last great prophecy all we did was trust three brothers not to have children but only one followed through and don't forget all the death that was caused because of the fear we have of that child it talked about" she pointed out.

"instead of fearing this prophecy let us wait and see what it brings us, and maybe Hermes is right they could be legacies or even they have been given blessings declared them there champions by Zuse, Poseidon and Hades did none of you think of that" Heras words got us all thinking and agreeing with her, but don’t tell her I said that "you're right Hera" Athena said looking surprised.

"then what should we do? just sit around and wait" asked Artemis "yes, it seems so but the oath still stands" Zeus declared “but you broke it first” mumbled Hare "but brother you broke the oath first, twice even maybe we should keep a close eye for if any more of your children pop up" Dad said in a teasing manner.

"I could do a scan" Hephaestus said nonchalantly which got all of are attached "what do you mean a scan, brother," Ares asked Hephaestus who looked up from the gimmick he was working on "well you see after the discovering of Perceuse, I decided to build a machine that can scan the entire western hemisphere of a demigod with are godly makeup" he explained as he pulled out a box made of celestial bronze "and when did you make this contraption Hephaestus " asked Athena.

“I got the idea around the time Perceuse went missing and just about last week was when it finally started working,” he explained as the bronze box floated towards Zuse “just add a drop of your ichor and press down on the red button” Hephaestus. explained as Zuse dropped a bit of ichor into the bronze box it then began to emit a golden glow till a hologram of the western hemisphere of north, central along with South America was on full view and in North America, the United States in the south coast of Arizona is a blue dot, well dam, “ZEUS?!” Hara shouted in anger well Hades grubbled in ancient greek and Dad laughed so hard he almost fell out of his throne“we have another sibling” Jason said astound “oh great” Thalia said sarcastically but not surprised, as we all stood or sat looking at Hera yelling at Zeus for cheating on her, again.

“everyone” said a soft calm voice it was Hestia “why don't we bring them here, by the looks of it they're already fourteen we'll be going against the oath we made too Perseus” she said looking at the hologram which had zoomed into the blue dot and had words on it “yes, and Hera you can't harm them” Zuse said as he snapped his fingers and poof in a cloud of smoke stood two-finger.

the first a tall guy he has pale skin and dark hair styled in an undercut next to him was a kid around eleven or twelve with messy black hair that could give Nico a run for his money, with pale skin as well their backs were facing us so I couldn't see their faces, “w-what, where are we?” the taller male said as he looked around “welcome to mount Olympus, son” Zeus with all his drama said “mount Olympus like the stories” he said in disbelief “yes child, all you have read and heard about us greek god is real and you are my son,” he said.

“um...I’m Takashi Shirogane, please call me Shiro, I’m 14 I attended the galaxy garrison in Arizona and this is my little brother Keith, and it’s nice to meet you, Zuse...Dad...sir but why am I here?” my gods' poor guys freaking the heck out just then a red bore popped up on the kid Keith’s head “I had a feeling you were one of mine,” Ares said.

“and who the f***ck are you” said the kid and whoa the look on Ares face makes me wish I had a camera “Keith, please don't anger the gods” Shiro said sounding as if he's used to it “well you little Sh**t I’m ya Dad, Ares god of war” Ares said back, Keith who looked at him up and down “the guy that got trapped in a jar by two ideats?” oh my gods I really wish I had a camera on me right now, everyone laughed and I mean everyone, the greeks to the gods hack even the Romans who respect the war god more than Zeus.

Ares, on the other hand, looked two seconds away from blowing up“Shiro” called Zeus “yes” he said, “Do you have a twin?” wow smooth “Zeus my invention already looked for all your children there can't be another” Hephaestus. said “yes” Shiro said which surprised all of us “his name was Kron Shirogane he died when we were two” oche “my apologies for breaking up bad thoughts son” he said showing some sympathy he then snapped his fingers Shiro then had a blue lightning bolt floating above his head and a black glove on his left hand.

“what's this sir” he asked still looking nervous “this son is symbol of me claiming you as my own as well as giving you a means of protection the glove will transform into a sword when needed, you can ask your older brother and sister for help” that’s what didn't shock Shiro, he just grabbed Keith who by the way was having a glaring match with Aries and walked closer to us “um...hi everyone I’m Shiro and this is Keith” he said looking a bit more relaxed than before.

“hi I’m Leo, this is your blond superman of a brother Jason and scary huntress sister Thalia” Leo enthusiastically as he pointed at the two “hi nice to meet you” Shiro said outstretching his hand, Jason shock it “great meeting you at least know I’m not the only one in the Zuse cabin” he said “cabin?” he asked “will explain later,” I tell him just as Demeter staches the bronze box and throws it onto Hades who rolls his eyes and drops his own ichor into the device nothing popped up but two black dots in new york Hazel and Nico.

“see you ranting women I have done nothing” just as he tossed the box to Dad who without complaint did the same as the other and just like Hades nothing happens except for one, me.

“then it has been proven that the Twin Prophecy won't be happening for a long time, till then we shall head Hares word and instead of postponing the issue we shall all be ready” he announced “unm...Father sir can you please send us home I don't want to explain to parents how we ended up in Olympus” Shiro said.

“don't worry young one we will send a message to your parents of your whereabouts” Chiron explained, “ok now that we have gotten all this prophecy stuff out of the way, why don't we PARTY!?” Apollo shouted back to his usual bright self, as a big celebration was held as I looked around of how the Greeks and Romans were actually starting to get along and how Jason and Thaila were talking with Shiro looking around to see everyone having fun being carefree.

Twins of the eldest gods

Shall reach sixteen against all odds

Why does it sound, so close to mine, are they gonna be kids just like how I started only time can tell really I just hope I’m alive when they arrive.

******

“Don’t you think you have been out for too long son” I turned see Dad sitting next to me “how did you not know” I asked “they had a spell or seal powerful one on them, that's why Hephaestus machine couldn't find them they were just well hidden” he explains blankly.

“their mother I met her a few years after you were born at the time was traveling in Cuba that's when I meet her, Rosalena she was a great friend, but we were never meant to be nothing more than that” he chuckles softly, “If I had to take a guess it must've been around the fall of that year-” oh no “Dad, please don't tell me how my half-siblings were created I’m scared enough” he laughs half-heartedly.

“anyway, right now the god are baffled by this news and are just waiting,” he said as we got off the beach “it about time you head onto bed son doesn't want to keep you knew siblings waiting in the morning for ya” Dad teased as he walked into the water and disappeared. While heading to bed, my mind was filled with thoughts of what happens now? Do they go on the quest Rachel said before? And how in the span of thirteen months I become an older brother what is my life.

*******

I wake up to yelling, a lot of yelling as I run out the cabin to see a bunch of non-flaming skeleton hellhounds chasing what looks to be Keith and some other Ares kids. Well, Shiro is arguing with Nico, behind him Lance was standing guarding someone against behind with a look promising murder well the ground we starting to freeze around him.

“Percy!” I heard Annabeth call out turning and Thaila and Jason along with Leo and Piper “what happened we heard yelling and screaming,” she said, “are those hellhounds?” Leo asked looking at the hounds that were chasing the Ares kids “yes, yes they are why are they attacking the Ares kids?” Thaila asked “guys, I don’t know I literally just woke up, let's go ask Nico why he's arguing with Shiro and why Lance looks two seconds away from turning the camp into Antarctica,” I tell them as we race towards the arguing between Nico and Shiro.

“Guys, guys what happened,” Jason asked as he got between them “I’m trying to get Lance to stop tormenting my brother” Shiro explained “they.stabbed.Lana” Lance who was barely containing his anger, said through clenched teeth “we can go get Chiron for this, not sick hellhound on them” Shiro said glancing worryingly at his brother and Ares kid who were being chased around, those who were caught were thrown so far they landed in the lack some were even thrown all the way to the lava wall seeing this Leo whistled.

“Lance, stop, it's just a scratch” Lana said from behind him “but that's still not aloud how can they just stab a person and get away with it” he said back turning to her “then why is Keith among them, when he was doing nothing” Shiro said back “oh, no no no he was trying to defend those a**holes-” ''Languages!” we all yelled “he just busted in and started to say crap about how we shouldn't be on our high horses just because of parentage.”

a few more splashes where hard and once again Shiro, Nico and Lance started arguing and yelling well Jason, the poor guy tried to defuse it will everyone else tried to catch the hellhounds or the campers, maybe both “EVERYONE STOP!!” we heard Clarissa yelled as she and Chiron stood next to “Mr.D...you's back” I said “yes, Peter, I have returned to this miserable heap of temper tantrums and hormones” he said with his usual disinterested tone well summoning a Diet Coke.

“who’s this?” Lana, who was healed thanks to a nearby Apollo kid asked well taking a few steps back “this is are camp counselor we call him Mr.D but he’s the god of wine” their eye whined of the fact that there was a god in front of them “Dionysus” they said together “so you're the mysterious brats that I've been given every one

Upstairs heart attacks” he said with a laugh “wait, gods get heart attacks?” Lance who finally calmed down and didn't look ready to kill whispered to himself but came out about loud for me and maybe Nico to hear.

“anyway, we are having a meeting in the council room,” he said as he walked away towards the big house “and bring peter's new siblings as well as Jace’s little brother too” he said as he got to the door “that was Dionysus” Lana said “yes, what did you expect” Leo said as all the cabin counselors headed towards the big house and Lances hellhounds returned to earth as we all walked into the big house and stayed around and around the pinball table.

“so, what's the meeting for Mr.D” Piper asked “it's about the prophecy” he started looking more tired than usual “you don’t mean” I said not likening where this is going “yes peter, they have to go,” he said in a dry tone “what's going on, and what prophecy?” Lana asked, “remember what Rachel said last night.”

Nico asked them they both looked in deep thought, “it sounded like a poem starting with sea and death shell bare twins. That will rise above creations sins,” Lana said “yeah, it was really catchy I remember “shell travel south with the youngest son of skies and find where the eldest goddess lies, Sea and death shall find the key” Lance continued “but loses sight of what they truly see. for a choice, they shell mack, for love or heartbreak and may they find themselves in a bind For a friend will end their time” Rachel and “sounds ominous” Lana said “sounds sad” Lance added “it’s your quest” Mr.D said.

which surprised all of us, not it being the twins quest but him actually caring and being involved at the meeting “sorry, say that again I think I heard you wrong” Lance in shock asked “I, Lorenzo McClain am never wrong this quest is for you three children” he said looking at the twins then at Shiro! “Whoa, whoa Mr.D I think you got this all wrong Shiro can't go he's still new at this Demigod stuff,” Jason said coming to his Brothers defense who looked a bit sick.

“I don't see what is there to be wrong about Jackson, you were nearly fifteen when you saved Hera from the giants and peter was twelve when he returned Zeus's master bolt, what difference is there if they go on a quest at this age themselves” Mr. D ranted on again it's not normal, did Zeus finally let him drink “there are our siblings Mr.D, and Unlike us there are people worried about them” Thaila said “along with people capable of taking their place” Jason added just as loud thunder cracked across the sky “Jason you know one cannot avoid a prophecy, this is their time you must know this” Chiron said.

“hold up, so you're saying that me, Lance and him have to go on a quest to find a goddesses like in the greek stories” Lana said “yes” is all Mr.D said before the twins made a run for it, they were out the door before anyone could stop them “great, you scared them, now how are we going to find them” Thaila said “Mr.D what did the gods say about them, the twins I mean” Leo asked “first off, their mother pleased an ancient seal on them which completely blacked of all traces of there exists,which didn’t go well with Hephaestus heck even know, when they have been claimed and the seal is broken I can barely feel their presence, it freaked a lot of them out, my father at first won’t stop laughing when he remembered Poseidon's words of only Peter being his son, only when it was pointed out it was Poseidon's kids who’ll be in the prophecy again did he not only stop but flash out in anger and Hades just went back to the underworld to talk with Thanatos.”

he said which surprised a lot of us, there Mom was able to evade the gods “Whoa” Leo and Conner awed “now what” Clarisse said “Shiro, this may sound unbelievable to you but you and the twins are to go on this mission by dusk, right now we need to find the twins know to go along” Chion commanded as all of us left to go look for the twins and the grace siblings helping Shiro pack.

*******

It was two hours before dusk and no-ones found the twins yet even after getting the entire camp looking. It wasn't until Rex came running towards us “guys guys” he said “there at half-blood hill Henry Shay and I got all these things ready there just waiting by Thaila’s tree,” he said.

“But why did they run like that” Jason who was next to me asked just as everyone else was running over “there scared, and confused, first they lost their Mom and suddenly there Dad and Grandpa claimed them as their own and now there being told to go of and fined a goddesses, yeah no, Lance and Lana may look tough and act smart and confident, but they just needed a place to breathe to just not have to worry about all this for just a second so we took them to the strawberry fields than to the woods and climbed the tallest tree we all stayed there till a little over an hour ago was when they decided to go on the Quest.”

Rex explained all this in one breath “so there just waiting for Shiro and Argus” Annabeth said nodding is all Rex did as he ran back to the half-blood hill, as we went to tell everyone where they were Shiro was packed and ready along with “Keith?” I called out to him who had an angry look on his face, “what's wrong, still mad for what Lance did this morning” I asked he huffed in irritation “no, I’m not mad about that I heard what happened and besides, why can't I join Shiro on this quest I’ve worked really hard on my swordsmanship and I know my understanding of greek mythology isn't high but I can still help” he pleaded.

“Keith” I said as I kneel down eye leveling with him “you know it's against the rules” I tell him knowing I sounded like a hypocrite “lies you yourself snuck on a quest, so why can't I” he yelled angrily, well crap know I really regret letting the other tell them my quests I know this day would hunt me “Keith the reason Percy had to be on that quest was also apart of the prophecy so it was meant to happen, but you are not to go you may walk with Shiro to half-blood hill but no more than that” Chiron said seriously.

I looked to the twelve year old son of Ares who with one last anger glare held his brothers hand and walked off towards half-blood hill, as we walked Jason who cached up to us Chiron who kept a close eye on Keith and Shiro who looked anything but happy as we made it to the hill there stood Argus with Henry Shay and Rex standing there near the white oak tree.

“Hey, where are they?” Jason asked in which Henry shushed him and pointed toward the twin who where just thirty feet away kneeling down placing rocks sticks and flowers, down an area which had grass stained with dried blood “is that the spot” I asked “yes” Shay said softly as the twins backed away looking at their work the rocks were piled up neatly and to form a small hill with flowers poking around, some in or out of the rocks the sticks wrapped around the rock flower hill with the help of a liter the twins lit each branch when done they did what looked to be a pray as they turned around their eyes were puffy and red the closer they got.

The more I notice the clothes they wore, Lance an old brown 80s jacket and camouflage shorts with the camp t-shirt sticking out, with navy blue combat boots Lana, had on a black long sleeve shirt, with a sleeveless camp shirt we may live in the north but it’s still summer, how is she not boiling anyway she wore them with brown pants and the same navy blue combat boots.

as Lance as they walked up to us ignoring everyone but the trio of friends “hey Shy, well we're gone can you add flowers…” she trailed “of cores I will when you come back the spot will be blooming with a thousand flowers” she said softly again “if we survive” I heard Lance mumble which looking around they heard it as well which didn’t go well with Keith “hey!” he yelled walking close to them Lance glared and Lana sighed.

“what” he shot back in which Keith just pointed to Shiro “that’s my brother, my family, I can't come with you to watch his back so can you please watch it for me” his angry and confident tone changed to a soft and vulnerable one with each word as he locked eye with Lance, “yes, you moron if you think for one second I’m going to lose someone again especially some who is loved, no, never” he spoke in confidence “Keith, we promise we’ll bring you brother back” Lana added in.

“Styx” oh my gods did he just “ok, Keith I think that going a little too far” Jason said but I see that the three kids where ignoring us, the twins looked at each other with a look of determination, oh, so that’s how stupidity looks like “I Laura Amara Nyx Aleja McClain” she said “and I Lorenzo Alejandro Nicholas Calisto Erenos McClain” he also said and at that moment I knew what it felt like to be everyone else dealing with me “swear on the River Styx that we will bring back your brother alive.”

they said together as a loud thunder and lightning crashed down on the other side of the ditch sealing the Oth and my fate to worry about these two idiots for the rest of my life, “uh” I mumbled out in realization “what?” Jason asked “I now know what it feels like to be, well, all of you who goes on a quest with me,” I tell him as Argus the twins and with one last hug from Keith, Shiro went downhill and into the vane and off they went.

“Father, please give them warmth and protection” Henry prayed “Mother gives them shelter and keep them well-fed” Rex and Shay prayed as we walked back to the camp and waited.

*******

As the van drove out of Long Island and into New York City streets, was have Argus left us “so where to next?” I asked them Lance looked at me “first, we need to go to Gettysburg Pennsylvania” he said as he and Lana started walking towards a bus stop as I ran to catch up “why?” I asked he looked at me again and smiled “Grampa wants to talk.”

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delta-has-a-blog · 5 years

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Gate Hoppers: Species Info

This too, rather than a one-off post n' go is more of an expanding list that'll grow larger as I go further on.

Külveena - Beast-man race of Panther-like descent (They're kinda like Tony the Tiger's scarier and more dangerous cousins). Come from the feline-like peoples of the Lötorre family, which is any feline beast-man race from their homeworld. They live within the jungles of Gnäroknstrad, and as they are beast men they have an enhanced constitution and healing ability compared to other humanoids. Going so far as being able to reattach lost limbs if the wound is fresh enough and given both parts aren't too damaged. They exhibit a curious form of sexual dimorphism, despite both being tall and agile the men are stockier and generally sturdier. The women are even more agile then the men, and can actually carry more as well. While in the past they hunted nowadays they raise livestock in jungle cities and are regarded as one of the more welcoming people of their world. Popular at drinking parties, forests are their backyards so don't expect to catch them should they enter one.

Ríoruné (Family)- Canine beast-men (Awoo! Awoo! All the Awoos) that live in Gnäroknstrad, but are spread over all the world. Much like the canines of our world there's varying breeds, the wolf-men are referred to as the Ríoruné family Lotórr and their smaller, shaggier prairie cousins are referred to as the Ríoruné family Motíva. All share immense stamina as well as tracking abilities, but much past that is all down to which clan they hail from. Known to be highly diligent workers who value loyalty, family and honor. Should you get a Ríoruné's trust and keep it they'll be by your side forever. Known for their love of sports, typically ones that involve chasing, most are great with children as well. Should someone decide to wrong them they should keep in mind that the typical Ríorúne can track a scent for miles.

Jaeger - Short, hardy humanoids who hail from Yvjærdën (Imagine vikings, less scary (action-wise) now shorter.). Largely nomadic with some individuals breaking off to form small villages sometimes. Known for being able to live until murdered by something, but there's no genetic reason they should be able to do so. Look-wise they appear to be humans, with ears that instead of ending ending rounded-out theirs end in two sharp angles. Their ears are also slightly larger, which helps their already impeccable hearing, which other than sight is their staple sense. In many ways sight comes secondary to hearing for them. Their eyes also emit a small glow, which intensifies when confronted with danger. As well as changing with emotion, or rather the soft glow they emit changes, these colors vary from Jaeger to Jaeger. Their aptitude for Relic creation is also great, with 1/8 of them being able to do so, likely due to their hardiness. Though they aren't known die being very bright, most don't care as Jaegers are a very open people. Almost too open, they'll invite you to stay in their home without knowing you. It doesn't really matter if you're dangerous because they are too.

Grinka/Kriva - The Grinka and Kriva are very closely related species, only truly seperated by differences due to the regions they live. A small, ram-esque humanoid people who you wouldn't be too wrong in assuming they wear heavy coats, however this is just their fur. In reality they wear very light clothing, and the Grinka often have to shear themselves to avoid overheating. Their Kriva cousins however don't as often, as they live in mountains. As studious as they are stubborn, and just as intelligent these folk love nothing more than to tinker. As such they're well-known as one of the most industrial races. While they look akin to rams, they're actually unrelated to any beast-man. Their look is just a curious form of convergent evolution (that spans entire worlds). For the most part they're a cautious race, however very willing to work with any fellow tinkerers. A favorite at singing events, as many enjoy making a tune as much as they enjoy making machinery.

Grodar - The Grodar are a race of varying sizes just as their looks, one may look entirely human past being ten foot tall while the next looks like an oni standing at over eight feet. Typically, the older they are the larger, and with lifespans nearly breaching the thousands with the oldest being eight hundred they can get very big. Big fans of competition, both physical and one's of the philosophical nature. A love of competition doesn't mean a love of violence however, as many join the Rhino Hoppers. There are those that take their competition to the multiworld level, joining the Lion's under the tutelage of the Grand Lion. There is however, a darker side to the Grodar as any unwilling to compete are shunned and sometimes outright exiled from their communities. A fear of the night pervades this race, a mystery many are trying to find the answer too, as it isn't known if this is simply a product of culture or genetics.

Mōdra (Family) - The Mōdra are a race of Rhino-beast men from the plains of Gnäroknstrad, also the race of the Grand Gorilla (Funny how that is.) Specifically the Mōdra family Dríph'k, all Mōdra are large and powerful, with the best affinity for Relic crafting out of all known full beast-men. Generally peaceful until provoked, if you'd want to do that for whatever reason god speed. Known for nearly godly amounts of patience, and many end up in professions where that is a necessity. Even more well known for getting into numerous drinking competitions with the Jaegers.

Sku'lin - The Sku'lin are a moth-type beast-man, please, no lamp jokes. Their culture puts high value upon the pursuits of knowledge, so many take upon the mantle of traveler, and those who wish to get the knowledge only Hoppers may have take the extra mile. Not exactly known for acknowledging personal space, they may not even have a concept of it at all. Many of their cultural ticks too are see by odd to others, being a very up and personal people. You'd think the most of them would be night owls, but it's a strong fifty-fifty. Race of the Grand Owl, who is definitely an outlier of their species based upon how she acts. If you befriend them they will quickly want to know every personal detail of you.

Rēknoverr - An arachnid beast-man race hailing from Lünovéra, all which exhibit tarantula-esque properties rather than the wide range exhibited by the similar Guròda family of Gnäroknstrad. Large, strong, and generally have impeccable eyesight along with extremely strong silk strands. Some spin webs like traditional spiders, and some others simply lob globs of it at their enemies/prey like some form of artillery cannon. Not all have poison, but it's not like they'd poison you unless you did something to deserve it. Naturally a very shy people, but dependent on race of spider-person culture can differ entirely. Word has it their thorax's make for great napping spots should one ever let you lay your head there.

Guròda (family) - As pre-mentioned a spider beast-man race from Gnäroknstrad, however not limited as to which spiders they exhibit the properties of. Even more culturally diverse than the Rēknoverr and moreso physically. From the lean daddy long-leg like Hüccho or the black widow-like Ìnson. Many sell either the silk they produce or the poison they do, some even sell crafts made from their silks. While it isn't unheard of for them to become Hoppers you won't see them much, as many prefer a nocturnal lifestyle. It's rumored that frogs are the most favored pets among them, wonder why?

Forovin - The Forovins are a very human-like race. Exhibiting high levels of intelligence but not as much physical prowess as most others. This however, doesn't stop many from splitting from their largely farm-based lives to become Hoppers. Largely their culture places high vale on family and honest work, though feuds can and will last generations at times. They have an amazing ability to befriend people even extremely different to themselves, despite their aptitude to hold grudges.

Narfūda - The largest, physically and distribution-wise the races on Brîgatërna. About the size of your average human, with features that could be described as a cross between a snake and an ape of sorts. They use their hold over the planet to maintain control over the weaker Kiräken and Júmùna, the Hu'k only evading them due to living in the caverns underground. You could say if the look of their world is it's beauty, they are the ugly side. Pushing many menial and dangerous tasks upon their "servants". Not all Narfūda see this is fair however, but as it stands nothing is changing any time soon.

Kiräken - Physically only slightly smaller than the Narfūda but far weaker, they are a race of skinny humanoids who look somewhat similar to more evenly proportioned grey aliens. Their skin colors come on a wide area, but their eyes are almost always blue. Used mostly as personal servants or menial task-doers, due to their weak physical stature. They have a curious culture, being very friendly to non-oppressive Narfūda and a very adventurous people. Many are taken into the Federation as researchers after escaping servitude.

Júmùna - Far smaller than even the Kiräken, standing at tallest 4'5 yet sadly used for more dangerous tasks due to being physically tougher and stronger than the Kiräken. A dwarf-like people exhibiting bear properties, many riddled with injuries from their servitude. Through time they've grown naturally untrustworthy, wary of others even after they've long escaped servitude.

Hu'k - The appearance of these small, odd creatures comparable in height to the Júmùna is unknown, only their taloned hands and feet being able to be seen out of their hooded, masked figures. A naturally curious people, constantly exploring the chasms they call home and even excavating new ones entirely. Naturally untrustworthy of others, but if they see someone in need they will lend a hand. Some view them as "savage" due to their perceived lack of civilization and language, of which they have, except for the language die to them communicating purely through projected emotions. They can even project their feelings to non-Hu'k. Once you've gained their trust you'd have to do something awful to lose it. If you're warm watch out were you nap, you may wake to several napping on/with you. Revere the Liege of Decay as some form of living god, why? He doesn't know, send help.

Morobasa - A race of dessert-dwellers who have a naturally high heat resistance, standing several feet taller than the regular humanoid with lean frames. Some live nocturnal lives, of which are shorter than their day-walking brethren with more compact frames. All have a second set of eyelids to keep and out, even with special organs for storing water for long periods of time. They have a culture of traders and nomads, along with vibrant performers and artists, as if the heat of the sands fuels their vibrant creation. Sarcasm is entirely lost on these people.

Iikans - Named so after they adopted it from Iika, Nora's friend, while exploring the her new world. Small, fuzzy, rabbit-like people who exhibit a form of group-telepathy, as all now refer to themselves as "Iikans" no matter where you go. An undeveloped yet very friendly people, likely due to their first major visitation being by a shiba inu-woman with a heart of gold. Have a curious affinity for trinkets and having exactly twenty-five children.

Mordians - A Tall, lanky people, with large ovular heads and circular eyes. Coupled with blue, starry skin. These people are naturally inclined to preserve things, memories, items, each one being a hoarder of a unique set of items for each individual. This led to the state of things now, preserving a massive amount of creatures within their cradle. They suffer great feelings of loss over losing their possessions, and even those dear to them. This may be bore of their life span, fearing losing things in the eternity of their lives.

Greemar - An aquatic beast-man race (being one of few humanoid races) that are natural to both the shallow and deep waters. Only separated in the middle due to a current tong running through with few safe entry points. They are a shark-like race, displaying powerful swimming capabilities and the bodies of hunters. Some tough enough to move on land, many without support as their pride rarely allows it. As Prone to metaphorically latching onto someone like they do their prey and being perhaps a little too friendly. Seems Nora has great connections amongst many of these people. Prone to stalking accidentally, taking to hunting tactics even when merely "hunting" for friends. They can also hold onto sent for miles.

Dar'chuli - The saying, "My father is a seal." is meant to be taken literally amongst these people, living among the shallow waters of the entire world and the deeper reaches of the polar oceans. A mammalian species, exhibiting extremely high intelligence. They even largely where the ones who thought about the idea to use their home as a resort. They have homes both built underwater and above, and happily migrate between them. No stairs, only spirals, stairs would be horrible to climb. Quick to make friends, and quicker to seize business opportunities. Even happier to have friends who are business partners. The infamous Noir, The Puma's president secretary, Mūäū is one of these people. This is the only fact known otherwise. This has become it's own business boost as well.

"The Blind People" - A tribe of humanoids who all inhabit a strange world consisting of the many asteroids in a belt around a star. These people need not air, and have evolved to be able to easily traverse their belt-home. Enhanced by powerful foresight, legend has it they can see the future. Whether or not that is true they can perceive the world almost perfectly without sight at all. They in fact, scorned their sight for reasons they won't tell. A heavily monastic people, all have rituals of "Sight" they perform for reasons unknown. All have known to be terrifying diplomats, it's unknown whether they can or can't actually read minds. Make for wonderful teachers.

((Also note I'm not posting this at 10pm!!! What!!!!))

#gate hoppers #species #writblr #my wips #wip #worldbuildingjune #sixth day!

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dailyaudiobible · 6 years

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09/08/2018 DAB Transcript

Isaiah 1:1-2:22, 2 Corinthians 10:1-18 , Psalms 52:1-9 , Proverbs 22:26-27

Today is the 8th day of September. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I'm Brian. It's great to be here with you as we close down another week and finish our first full week of the month of September. And we're moving into some new territory. So, we had this period where we went through Job and Ecclesiastes, going into the deeper matters of the heart. And then we came through Song of Solomon, which obviously moved us in another direction. And now we are at the threshold of the book of Isaiah. And we'll be camping out here for a minute, so let's consider the territory that we're moving into. Isaiah is a book of prophecy classified among the Old Testament major prophets, which also includes Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel and Daniel. So, this distinction of major prophet indicates that there are minor prophets and there are. But they have nothing to do with importance, they have to do more with length and the volume of material. So, Isaiah's considered a major prophet because it contains 66 chapters, making it one of the longer books of the Bible.

Introduction to the book of Isaiah:

Isaiah's name means the Lord saves. And he was a very passionate Old Testament prophet. His writings are referred to and quoted throughout the New Testament. In fact, Jesus quoted from Isaiah eight times in the gospels. It was such an important text to Jesus that he recited from Isaiah 61 at the launch of his ministry to declare his purpose, right? The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.

So, Isaiah lived in the second half of the 8th century BC. And it seems as if he was part of the upper class or the aristocracy because he had access to royalty. Although he lived in a very tumultuous time, he was able to deliver messages to kings over a long period. So, he wasn't just a crazed peasant, just kind of coming in unwanted, unkempt from the countryside. Isaiah's ministry lasted over a long period of time. He prophesied during the reigns of five different kings: Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, who he was very loyal to. They were very loyal to each other, even though they disagreed, and Manasseh. And then, according to Jewish and Christian tradition, Isaiah was martyred by being sawed in half at the order of King Manasseh. Now that's a tradition. There's nothing explicit to this event found in the Bible. But the writer of Hebrews describes the faith of the saints of old by saying, some died by stoning, some were sawed in half and others were killed with the sword. So, that there's the brief, briefest reference to that tradition. And Isaiah is divided almost evenly in content. The first thirty-nine chapters of the book discuss God's judgement, which is very sobering and the very territory that we're about to head into. And then chapters 40 through 66 discuss God's comfort and restoration, which is very hopeful. Throughout Isaiah, God's sovereignty and lordship, as well as the fact that his heavenly kingdom is to be established upon this earth, take on major themes. Which brings social justice into the mix, which is also very important to Isaiah. Even though he had access to kings, his heart was for the downtrodden. So, we're heading into the books of prophecy. And these prophetic books are full of metaphor and full of symbolism, full of allegorical language. Isaiah is no different. We just read the Song of Solomon and when we began that, we mentioned that we can look at this through several different lenses and arrive at different meanings, all worthwhile and godly. So, as we move into this territory, let's invite the Holy Spirit to lead us to what we need to see. And with that we begin. We're reading from the Modern English Version this week, which is today. Isaiah 1:1-2:22.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. We thank You for another week. O Lord, we can certainly declare Your faithfulness each and every day. And as we look back at all of the distance that we've covered this year, we can announce Your mercy and declare Your faithfulness every day. And, so, we thank You that as we move through another year, You lead us through Your word. And Your word changes us. It shifts things and we are changing. And we thank You for that. We invite You to come, Holy Spirit. Continue to plant the words in the Scriptures in our lives, leading us into all truth as You've promised. Come Jesus, we pray. In Your mighty name we ask. Amen.

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And that's it for today. I'm Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for here is tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hi guys. This is Rachel calling from Scotland. I’m phoning to ask you to pray for my family, my immediate family especially. My mom passed away after an accident in 2001 and since then it’s just been my dad, my older sister, called Karen, and myself and my dad’s brother. And that’s all of our immediate family. Over the past 12 years my father’s been going out with a lady and we’ve got on okay with her. There hasn’t been any major problems. Over the last few months they’ve got engaged and she’s moved into the house that mom and dad bought together. Now, when mom died she didn’t leave a will because she died in an accident, so everything happened suddenly. My dad, fairly recently, over the past couple of months, said that…although we hadn’t fallen out and there’s been no problems in the family…that he’s actually selling the house and cut me and my sister out of his will. And he did this because he wants his fiancée to be secure in case anything happens to him. And this has caused such an upset in the family. Apart from myself, nobody’s actually speaking to him anymore and including his brother who he’s been best friends with 75 years. And they’ve never been…had an argument …they’ve never fallen out. Now there’s been so much hurt between them that they’re not welcome in each others house. The only person having communication with both sides is myself and it’s a very difficult thing to do. Please pray that God will work in this situation, that He’ll work his __ out and he’ll bring salvation to all those involved. And next, in the midst of all this distress, that they require…

Hi, my name is Denise and I’m calling from California. I’m asking for prayer in the way of solitude, divine intervention, and peace in my life, and that of my children. I’m going through struggle right now, deep deep struggle. And I know is a spiritual attack in every sense of the word. I am trying so hard to walk the line of righteousness and good but every time I feel like I’m gettin to a place it’s yanked from under me. I would like so much to just serve God, serve the Lord, and serve my fellow man without any incident but for the life of me I can’t make it to higher ground. I hurt so bad and I feel terrible that I have to walk around and put on a charade as though everything is all right when deep down inside…I just don’t know how much more I can take. I just would like for as many followers or prayer warriors out there that hear my voice to pray for me. And pray because I need it so bad. And I appreciate it. Thank you and God bless.

Hello Daily Audio Bible family. This is Butterfly from West Palm Beach. I have been listening and listening and listening, but I never called. So today, driving home I just wanted to say a prayer for all f us. Father, in the name of Jesus God I love You and I thank You. Lord I thank You for this opportunity Father to come and call on Your name for Your holy people Jesus. Lord I ask that You help us to be more like You because You know our struggles God. You know our hearts even before we were even created in our mother’s wombs, God, all of our issues that we’re dealing with, all of life’s troubles and struggles, God I just speak victory, the spirit of victory over each and every one of us God. Known and unknown God You know us. Lord, You know us by our name because God created us Father. Lord I ask right now that You go into every college campus that’s represented in the Daily Audio Bible and keep our children safe Father. Every elementary school, every middle school that is represented by every member in this Daily Audio Bible family, God we need You. Father lift our children up God. I speak to their spirits and say that you are leaders, you are the head and not the tail, above only and not beneath. Father that barren woman on the line the other day, God, do a work in her life God. Father, touch her body. Lord unstop her ears that she may hear from You directly by the Spirit God. Father, I ask in the name of Jesus God that You heal her heart in the name of Jesus God. Lord, we trust Your plans for our lives in the name of Jesus God. We know that our thoughts are not Your thoughts and our ways not Your ways but God we know that all things are working together for our good because we are called according to Your purpose God. Lord I ask that You come…

Hi family this is Mary Jo in St. Louis and I am still on a cloud from the family reunion this weekend. Let me tell you, I’ve been listening for 10 years. I never really hoped to meet any of the people that call and but on Saturday night, I’m having dinner with Annette Allison on my left, Tracy Baker on my right, and Pelham to his right. And let me tell you, these people that call in are as real in person as they are on their phone calls. And it was just the most incredible thing to meet the family, a room full of people that don’t even look familiar but we’re all connected like Brian has said. So, I hope that everyone can go next year but let me tell you for those of you who won’t ever be able to come to a family reunion or go on the Israel trip or come to any of the meet ups or maybe…won’t even call in, you are all part of that family. You are all connected with us even if we don’t meet you this side of heaven. Praying for you all. Love you all. God bless you all in Jesus name.

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flightfoot · 5 years

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Many of the side character’s stories and development in Trials of Apollo mirror and support Apollo’s own development

One of the things I love about ToA is how many of the other characters’ stories, their situations, their development, mirrors and compliments Apollo’s own development, reinforcing the story of how Apollo changes from being a selfish, arrogant, shallow, apathetic person, to one of the most selfless, humble, aware, and empathetic people in the Riordanverse.

Meg Mccaffrey

Obviously Meg’s story is the one that mirrors Apollo’s the most. I’ve already talked about this in past analyses however, and it’s so blatantly obvious I don’t want to waste time making a point that I’m sure all my readers already know. Maybe I’ll make another analysis focusing on Meg later, but I’ll skip over her for now.

Calypso

Fairly superficial similarities here. Calypso is also a former immortal who’s learning to deal with the loss of her powers (though not TOTAL loss) and being thrown into the demigod world headfirst. The emotional core of their experiences is different though, since Calypso’s whole thing was that she was trapped on an island (albeit a nice one) under house arrest for thousands of years. Apollo wasn’t really trapped like that. Even saying he was METAPHORICALLY trapped is a bit of a stretch, Zeus doesn’t seem to have been to involved in the day-to-day business of what Apollo got up to.

Lityerses

This one IS fairly similar actually. Lityerses is controlled and manipulated by his father, and it sounds like he’s okay with that - like he’s as bloodthirsty as his father is.

“Right.” He regarded Calypso. “I think I’ll keep you alive long enough to kill you in front of Valdez’s face. That’ll be fun. But this former god here...” Lit shrugged. “I’ll just have to tell the emperor that he resisted arrest.” (TDP 152)

But there are hints that maybe there’s more going on there. His muttering of “I hate that” when Midas casually mentions accidentally turning Lit to gold in The Lost Hero, him being glad that Apollo gave his father donkey ears, his casual mistreatment by Commodus - all of it gives the clues that maybe there’s a REASON for his attitude, for his behavior.

What it does NOT do, however, is hint that Lit could be a better person. None of any of the heroes’ encounters with Lit actually suggests that. That’s a leap of faith that Apollo makes, hoping that MAYBE, just maybe, Lit will be a better person if someone gives him a chance. If someone shows him kindness, helps him when they have no good reason too. He identifies with Lit. The hidden depths that Apollo’s shown as a mortal... they wouldn’t be apparent to a casual observer of him as a god. Heck, APOLLO didn’t know they were there! He’s constantly surprised at himself, at the kind of person he is now, at the sort of things he’ll do. Apollo gives Lit the chance he wants people to give himself, the sort of chance that he didn’t even really realize he needed. Showing him - showing Apollo - showing Lit - that level of kindness, mercy, and concern, when there’s no ulterior motive, showing it just because this is another person, and they haven’t really done anything to ‘earn’ compassion beyond that simple fact - that threw both of them for a loop.

In Apollo’s case, he really started appreciating others compassion in THO, when his children took him in, treated him as family, cared for him, said they’d protect him against anyone who gave him trouble.

“If anyone gives you trouble, Kayla will shoot them. Then I’ll curse them so bad they’ll be speaking rhyming couplets for weeks.”

My eyes watered. Not so long ago - like this morning, for instance - the idea of these young demigods being able to help me would have been ridiculous. Now their kindness moved me more than a hundred sacrificial bulls. I couldn’t recall the last time someone had cared about me enough to curse my enemies with rhyming couplets.

“Thank you.” I managed. I could not add “my children”. These demigods were my protectors and my family, but for the present I could not think of myself as their father. A father should do more - a father should give more to his children than he takes. I have to admit this was a novel idea for me. It made me feel even worse than before. (115)

It makes a difference here that his kids are helping him when he couldn’t offer anything back. If he’d still been a god, he wouldn’t have given their help much thought. He would’ve just thought that he was entitled to it, and that it’s not like he’d REALLY need them anyway. But this? This is different. They’re helping him just because they care - it’s not anything transactional. Apollo isn’t used to thinking about relationships this way - not for the most part anyway. His relationships with Artemis and Leto are solid, and he seems to have genuinely cared for Hyacinthus, genuinely loved him as a person, and cared for Asclepius quite a bit, but aside from that? Not so much. Certainly not caring about someone who’s practically a stranger.

This set an example for Apollo, one that he carries forwards to Lit. Lit also has never been shown this sort of kindness before, kindness when he’s at his most vulnerable, compassion without an expectation of a return, and most especially, compassion when he’s given Apollo and the Waystation residents every reason to reject him. And that compassion is enough to cause him to break down, to rethink his whole stance on life. Seemingly overnight, he changes from being the brutal, cruel killer who would murder Calypso in front of Leo just to hurt him that much more, to being a lost person just looking for something or someone to live for, to fight for. And having found it, he suddenly softens, becoming kinder, more balanced.

But it’s not really an overnight change, is it? This other side has always existed, it’s just been hidden under layers of bravado and cruelty. That’s why both Lit and Apollo are able to change their mindsets so quickly - not all the aspects of what they’ve learned is truly “new”, they just haven’t applied them like this before, or not for a long time. Apollo’s experienced these sorts of caring relationships with Leto and Artemis at least, so they’re not totally a foreign concept. I’m betting in Lit’s case that he and his sister, at least at one point in time, did truly care about each other. The difference is seeing it applied more broadly to themselves by people who don’t already know them well, and then applying it to others that same way in turn.

Piper

Piper’s whole identity crisis has similarities to Apollo’s own. She was thrown into a situation where people expected certain things of her, and she just kinda... conformed to them. Which isn’t to say that she might not have chosen them herself on her own, but she didn’t really get that choice. Now that she has the time and has had a chance to think, she’s trying to find herself, figure out who she is. Her dad being financially ruined throws a wrench into it, but both of them returning to their roots, her father seemingly having more time to spend with her - those aspects are familiar. Apollo’s now figuring out who he is, now that he doesn’t have “being a god” to define him, along with everything else associated with that. His having his godhood stolen, and only now spending time really getting to know his kids and his demigod half-siblings, along with many, many others, is like how Piper’s dad now has time to spend with her, time he didn’t have before - a silver lining in this whole mess.

Apollo’s advice to Piper seems to be talking about himself nearly as much as it’s talking about Piper.

“It’s been my observation,” I said, “that you humans are more than the sum of your history. You can choose how much of your ancestry to embrace. You can overcome the expectations of your family and your society. What you cannot do, and should never do, is try to be someone other than yourself - Piper McLean.” (265)

With how Apollo’s grown throughout the series and ESPECIALLY in TTT, this fits him as well. Apollo is more than the sum of his history, of what he has done, of what has been established by the older gods. He can choose how much of his past - and his family - to embrace, and overcome the expectations of his family, both godly and mortal, and of godly society. And he will do it by being himself, his WHOLE self, including the parts of his being that he’s been nurturing as a mortal, the compassionate, empathetic parts of himself.

Jason

Jason is a little different, because I don’t think his development, his situation parallels Apollo’s CURRENT situation, so much as Apollo’s future development. His willingness to sacrifice himself, to be the one who dies so that his friends can survive, wanting to keep secret about the prophecy so that Piper doesn’t try to stop him, so that hopefully he can keep her safe, even if it means merrily walking to his own death.... I’m expecting Apollo to get into a similar situation in TON. Though there are elements of that he’s already lived through, since he ALREADY chose Meg’s life over his own in TDP, and in TTT, he tried to conceal and downplay just how badly he was hurt to try to stop Meg from worrying as much.

Frank

Frank carries his mortality - the stick that’s attached to his life force - around with him. He’s decided that in order to lead the Legion effectively, he has to put one hundred percent of himself on the line. He can’t let fear hold him back.

Apollo’s mortality is also on the line all the time. Originally he wanted to hide away, to cower behind others so as not to die (not that he actually tended to go THROUGH with it, either because he couldn’t or he wasn’t willing to abandon them) but now? Now he doesn’t even try. He wants to live, that’s true. But he values his companion’s lives more. He won’t hesitate to put himself on the line, to commit himself completely if he believes that it gives them a greater chance of survival.

The greater parallel however comes later, with Apollo’s hypothesis for how Frank survived his stick burning up. He believes that maybe since Frank took charge of his own destiny by willingly sacrificing himself, that he was freed from his old destiny and forged a new one:

“It’s just a guess,” I admitted. “Frank went into that tunnel knowing he might die. He willingly sacrificed himself for a noble cause. In doing so, he broke free of his fate. By burning his own tinder, he kind of… I don’t know, started a new fire with it. He’s in charge of his own destiny now. Well, as much as any of us are. The only other explanation I can think of is that Juno somehow released him from the Fates’ decree.” (393)

I don’t know how plausible this explanation is. Honestly, it kinda sounds like BS to me, especially since Jason did the same thing and HE died. But what’s important here is what APOLLO thinks happened. His explanation says as much about him as it does about what he thinks happened with Frank.

Breaking free of your fate by accepting, by EMBRACING your own mortality, putting everything on the line, sacrificing yourself completely in order to have a shot of stopping your friends from being hurt or killed... it’s similar to what happened with Jason, but with the added twist that Frank survived and started a new story, free of his previous destiny.

The destiny thing is really important. As a god, Apollo’s not ‘supposed’ to be able to change or mature. The gods seem to believe that their nature is more set in stone than mortals are. But Apollo has disproven that. He’s changed a lot, and has continued to change. He’s forging his own destiny, one different than he ever imagined it could be. And maybe, just maybe, one that Zeus won’t have control over. One that’s truly his own.

Don the Faun

Don has only a small role, but what Apollo says about him - what he thinks about him - says a lot.

“Hey, Apollo, you- you know the difference between a faun and a satyr…?”

[…]

A moment later, his body collapsed with a noise like a relieved sigh, crumbling into fresh loam. In the spot where his heart had been, a tiny sapling emerged from the soil. I immediately recognized the shape of those miniature leaves. Not a hemlock. A laurel - the tree I had created from poor Daphne, and whose leaves I had decided to make into wreaths. The laurel, the tree of victory.

One of the dryads glanced at me. “Did you do that…?”

I shook my head. I swallowed the bitter taste from my mouth.

“The only difference between a satyr and a faun,” I said, “is what we see in them. And what they see in themselves. Plant this tree somewhere special.: I looked up at the dryads. “Tend it and make it grow healthy and tall. This was Don the faun, a hero.” (398-399)

Here, Apollo’s noting that the difference between satyrs and fauns are purely societal. That there’s no inherent difference between them. Like the difference between gods and mortals, mentally, isn’t that different. Gods may be more powerful, but they’re still people, like mortals are. The differences between them, psychologically, have more to do with how society sees them, and how they see themselves. Having had his godhood stripped away, this is very apparent to Apollo. Because he’s still himself. A better version of himself, in fact, but that has nothing to do with him being mortal - not in and of itself. But with the things he’s learned as a mortal. He can be a hero, truly. Because he is just as capable of such things as any mortal.

Reyna

And lastly, there’s Reyna. She too, like Frank and Don previously, broke free from expectations to forge her own path.

“My whole life, I’ve been living with other people’s expectations of what I’m supposed to be. Be this. Be that. You know?”

[…]

“But you showed me. When you proposed dating…” She took a deep breath, her body shaking with silent giggles. “Oh, gods. I saw how ridiculous I’d been. How ridiculous the whole situation was. That’s what healed my heart - being able to laugh at myself again, at my stupid ideas about destiny. That allowed me to break free - just like Frank broke free of his firewood. I don’t need another person to heal my heart. I don’t need a partner… at least, not until and unless I’m ready on my own terms. I don’t need to be force-shipped with anyone or wear anybody else’s label. For the first time in a long time, I feel like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders. So thank you.” (405-406)

Reyna thought that she was supposed to find a partner. Everyone else thought she needed a partner - needed romantic healing. Until Lester asked her out. Until she saw how ridiculous it was to let others expectations - or curses, or whatever you’d call Venus’s little prophecy - control her life.

Apollo has a similar thing going on with letting expectations about what he’s supposed to do, about who he’s supposed to be, control what he does - or did, at least. I’ve gone over that already, so I’ll skip past that.

But the romantic angle? About thinking - or having others think - that she needs to be healed romantically? That also falls in line with Apollo’s development. Apollo’s had a LOT of romantic relationships, and a decent number of them have ended in disaster. He seems to be convincing himself that some romance will “fix” things, like with how he convinced himself that getting together with the Cumaean Sibyl would fix things:

But that wasn’t enough for me. I was smitten. I convinced myself it was love - the one true romance that would wash away all my past missteps. I wanted the Sibyl to be my partner throughout eternity. As the afternoon went on, I coaxed and pleaded. (131)

But he wasn’t in love with her, not truly, or his love wouldn’t have turned to hate so fast when she refused him. He just really WANTED it to be a shining romance, one that would finally fix things.

He actually does seem to be finding this sort of fulfillment now, but not with romantic relationships - with more platonic, familial relationships instead, such as with Meg.

I’d always wondered what it would be like to have a younger sibling. Sometimes I’d treated Artemis as my baby sister, since I’d been born a few minutes earlier, but that had been mostly to annoy her. With Meg, I felt as if it was actually true. I had someone who depended on me, who needed me around no matter how much we irritated each other. I thought about Hazel and Frank and the washing away of curses. I supposed that kind of love could come from many different types of relationships. (192)

I don’t think he’s realized it yet, but in a way, Meg seems to be “washing away” his curse of loneliness, of feeling empty. Taking care of her, connecting with her, bantering with her - this is what he needed. To be a protector. To be a friend. Romance is fine, but they’re not the only fulfilling sorts of relationships.

Honestly with Reyna and Piper both taking a break from romance in order to find themselves, I think that Apollo may lay off the romance for a bit after ToA’s over, work on his more platonic relationships instead. I don’t think he’d swear it off, but maybe look for something more steady than he was before. And with the experiences he’s had as a mortal, I think he could better recognize truly serious love versus a temporary infatuation.

Final Thoughts

I really love how focused this series is on developing Apollo! A lot of aspects of this series seem geared to do that, from who the antagonists are and how they act, to the storylines of the side characters. It allows a level of development for Apollo that’s deeper and more nuanced than with any of Rick’s previous protagonists, even Percy. I look forward to seeing how Rick will conclude his development. If his writing for Apollo in TON is as solid as for previous entries, I’m sure it will be worth the wait.

#ttt spoilers #the tyrant's tomb #trials of apollo #toa spoilers #the trials of apollo #analysis #my post #apollo #lester papadopoulos

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