#Some godly parents and stuff have changed since i first posted about this a while back

[pzyii]

been thinking about the Pjo au lately, so this the the result

[riddlerosehearts]

🐍No worries! I'm likely going to be slower at responding too since school's getting busier again, but I always enjoy reading your answers!

Oh man I didn't even remember that part about Athena kids (it's been really long since I last read the series) but yeah that'd make things even more complicated... especially if like, Jamil has to learn to fend off these monsters on his own since a young age and be able to take care of Kalim, I'd think he'd have to quickly learn to be just far away enough from Kalim so that if any monsters attack, he'd be the only one harmed instead of Kalim, which is just awful. I love your suggestions for their godly parents though, they all fit so well but nemesis kid jamil is like extra angst: he's a child of revenge, he probably wants revenge for his life being the way it is, yet he's bound by his position and can literally do nothing about it unless he snaps from the pressure.

I went through your valdangelo tag and there's so much good stuff there! The heavy focus on romantic relationships in HoO felt like Rick just really wanted to pair everyone off before everyone had a chance to develop as an individual or explore other types of relationships with the rest of the cast. I found myself disappointed in several characters and longing for what could've been, even though the pjo series is dear to me. But the beauty of fandom is people can fill in those gaps or rewrite things and the valdangelo stuff definitely counts.

I think Leo wouldn't be putting tons of outward accessories on his uniform but he might add several secret pockets to stores things in, since in this AU I assume he doesn't have the toolbelt. If it's hotter outside he might just wear the vest unbottoned and no blazer, just bc I don't think they allow students to wear zero dorm colours haha. I do think he's likely the type to roll up his sleeves a lot though! And he likely enjoys the PE uniform far more than the usual one. Speaking of which I think Leo'd enjoy the lab classes more since they involve getting hands on and making stuff! And Nico might enjoy the ceremonial robes while Leo'd find them too bulky and stuffy and be on his way out to change the moment any ceremony is over.

I feel like I'm running out of interesting questions to ask about the AU (curse my lack of writing creativity) but I'm starting to work on some doodles and hope to show you eventually! In the meantime if you have any more headcanons for either of Leo or Nico or literally any other PJO characters in TWST please feel free to share them/make posts! I don't get lots of posts on my dash these days so it's easy to find yours, I'd love to hear more of your ideas. (Did I mention I was living vicariously through your PJO reread since I want to do it too but just can't make the time? Your commentary is great ❤)

sorry this reply took even longer LOL, if you've seen me keep posting but not replying i hope it didn't seem like i was ignoring you. just gotta find the time/energy to answer asks and messages sometimes.

yeah, annabeth talks about it when she's telling percy how much she hates her dad and her stepmom in TLT and it lowkey made me feel sympathy for frederick chase on my reread, just because i really don't know what i would do in the situation that athena put him in lol. of course, he still should've done better to make sure annabeth felt loved and secure even if he hadn't wanted a baby. but i also got to thinking about how that would affect riddle and i feel like it'd be so rough because it's like, at first his mother might think it's good that her child is blessed by the goddess of wisdom because he'll be a natural genius and easily be able to become a doctor just like she wants. but then monsters would start to attack and she'd see it as him bringing danger to their family and anyone else around them. just imagine what it would be like if when he sneaks out with trey and chenya, they get attacked and she finds out about it... also agree with what you said about athena kid jamil. nemesis kid jamil would also be crazy though, because just look at the list of powers we know nemesis herself has:

and while we've only ever seen two nemesis kids in canon, one of whom we know basically nothing about, we do know that ethan nakamura may have tychokinesis because as also explained by the riordan wiki: "this might explain his lucky hit to percy's weak point, which nobody but percy knew at the time."

so like, imagine if jamil inherited that ability too and he knew that in theory he could give himself just a little bit of good luck or give kalim a little bit of bad luck, just to get a tiny bit of revenge, but he doesn't know what exactly might happen and his position makes it too risky to try anything.

honestly, i think i would've been happy if every single romantic relationship in HoO (aside from percabeth of course because it was pre-established. and i guess maybe jasiper too just because it has relevance to piper's arc) had just been developed as a friendship, with hints of it becoming romantic toward the end. like how blood of olympus hints that nico and will like each other, but they really aren't clearly established as actually dating until trials of apollo. and speaking of trials of apollo, i know all of rick's post-PJO series are kind of contentious in the fandom, but i love TOA and this is a big part of why: while there is some solangelo and caleo stuff and of course apollo's past romances are discussed, the platonic/familial dynamic between apollo and meg is by far the most important relationship in that series. and i wish the friendships between the seven were written as well as i feel like theirs is. they all just don't feel nearly as close as they should for the most part.

this discussion about how nico and leo would wear the school uniform reminded me that i once came across a chart of how all the canon students wear it. i went back and found it just now: link. and from the looks of it, yeah, everyone, even kalim and jamil despite how much extra stuff they've added, wears either the blazer/coat or the vest so that their dorm colors are visible somewhere... except for idia lol. even ortho basically wears it post-book 6 but idia is the only student who literally wears just absolutely none of the uniform except for the pants. i agree with everything you said about leo! also, i love the cermonial robes, they are peak aesthetic. i had ceremonial robes idia on the home screen for weeks when i first started the game.

if you wanna ask me about anything else related to pjo or twst or other things i post about feel free to! i'm glad you don't have trouble finding my posts because i usually post so much that i worry about anons i reply to getting buried haha. also, glad you're enjoying my silly little commentary on my reread LOL. i've been going a bit slower than i'd like because i've had some stuff going on irl + started reading another book at the same time as well. but i'd been wanting to reread the series for a while and finally got started because i felt disappointed at all the stuff the tv show left out or changed. somehow the lightning thief musical still prevails as the most accurate adaptation.

hmm, as for other thoughts about the crossover... i just remembered that in one of my earlier replies i said i wanted to sort luke castellan and alex fierro into dorms but couldn't decide where to put them! so, here's some thoughts on that now:

luke - based on the dorm analysis i linked before, i keep getting the vibe that savanaclaw makes the most sense for him. he certainly has the tenacity, ambition, and athleticism to fit in there, and with how admired and respected he was at camp half-blood prior to his betrayal, i could see him becoming dorm leader. i also feel like to mirror PJO canon he would eventually overblot... and probably die from it in an incident that the school would absolutely try to cover up.

alex - she's genderfluid and is a girl most of the time but again we'll let her into NRC for AU purposes. alex is very clever, cunning and sharp-witted and is even associated with snakes. so i initially wanted to place her in scarabia before remembering that she's also pretty reckless and hotheaded lol. not exactly the embodiment of scarabia's emphasis on careful planning and deliberation. he even canonically hates big parties. i actually think he'd also fit well into savanaclaw! i can see him getting along well with ruggie.

and another random thought i had about nico: i bet he loves what a big deal halloween is at NRC. whether he stays in ignihyde or goes to ramshackle, he's going to be so ready to go all out with decorating the dorm and picking out costumes. and i can imagine him hanging out with the ghosts, trying to give them the best halloween they could have.

[multeasers]

did indeed update some things about antares on his page but if you wanna know some bare lore, look under the cut :v

also random parts of this post don't keep their formatting so please ignore that ! i'm driving myself bonkers trying to repeatedly edit it, so i'm gonna leave it alone now

this is all from the perspective on non-au stuff first and foremost BUT

⚫ his godly parent is still, as of this point, undecided, but he knows he is a demigod, and he knows his divine parent was the one who saw him being raised by a god ( specifically Ares, whom his godly parent is very close to ) for many of the beginning years of his life ⚫ while both parties are unaware of this fact, his other parent is a male witch named Dalibor Novak, who is featured initially in the first story of the series these two appear in ( which i haven't named because i'm LAZY okay leave me be ) . while they both know each other eventually ( and in most cases, will whilst Antares is being used here on the blog ), they aren't aware of their blood ties because Dalibor wasn't involved with Antares's godly parent beyond a brief fling ⚫ Dalibor is a being who descended from a particular race that was personally crafted by a group of gods ( not entirely chosen right now, but I'm debating on a few ) to be like humans but also not quite >> Dalibor learned Magic and became a Witch through spellbooks and teaching himself how to retain the inherent Magic found all around him, and his Magic passed down to Antares, which is why the latter is so Magically gifted . Beyond this, though, most of their similarities end there ( aside from their hair, since it's black for them both, and the fact that the two of them share immortality, since this is a quality Dalibor also possesses ) ⚫ while the full reason is one i'm still chewing on, Antares has a particular distrust of all divinities because of a falling out between himself and Ares when he was much younger . but he still utilizes everything Ares has ever taught him in some way, though this mostly shows in the form of his offensive abilities ⚫ the reason he insists he is not a Witch himself isn't just because he's unaware of his parentage but because he knows his powers are inherent to himself . very few are able to inherently use Magic on their own, especially when there aren't any Magic-users in their bloodline, but it isn't entirely unheard of either . Antares simply thinks himself one of these few, and there aren't very many ways to dispute it when his godly parent is unknown to him and unable to tell him otherwise ( because they're the only one who completely knows everything about his family history ; they didn't inform Ares of it ) >> his godly parent does not have any contact with him or Dalibor, and doesn't reach out to Ares much in their present day, either . this may or may not be important to the story, as i haven't decided, and Antares isn't all that interested in finding out who they are anyway on principle

this is a small list because, truthfully, much of the series that this story is part of is undergoing BIG changes all the time . this info is unlikely to ever change again, though, so i felt it right to include it here on the blog finally . here's some au specific info though too that i've decided on

⚫ it's mentioned on his page, but when he's used as a Riordanverse oc, he's raised by a child of Ares as a kid instead of Ares himself . this person died in Antares's younger years, but they got along very well ; their death is what causes him to be incapable of trusting the gods ( never to the degree of going against them, though ) ⚫ for his Fairy Tail verse, he was still raised by Ares, and again a falling out between them is what causes him to begin traveling Earth Land, but how they came to know each other is unknown to even Antares, as it was never explained to him >> while he could use Incantation Magic to summon the gods even in this verse, he absolutely refuses to, and doesn't even bother mentioning it . this is why it does not appear in the Verses section on his page ; he will begrudgingly use it in his default verse / his story in dire situations >> he has been to Giltena in this verse, but he merely passed through the continent and mostly sticks to Ishgar >> gods do appear in the series, though the greek pantheon make their appearance mainly through spells . there's little reason to believe they don't exist in the series, though, because Kronos was said to be enshrined within an ancient city found in Earth Land, and later cohabited the body of a character that was fought in the main series ( Dimaria for my FT fans )

he may be getting another au verse soon, but it's up in the air :p

also i added this little note to his page but i wanna make it clear here too, so i'll copy it directly from there : i’m aware Antares could come across as being very overpowered . if this is an issue, feel free to talk it out with me ! i don’t mind ; but please be aware, of all the ocs featured in the story ( and the one that comes prior to it, since Antares first shows up in the sequel to it ), he’s one of the more “normal” ones . as i mentioned, this story’s series as a whole features all sorts of non-human beings, save for any aliens / non-human life from outer space, and most of them have their own quirks / abilities that are far more overpowered than Antares is . please take this into account alongside everything else, and remember : just because he’s powerful, it doesn’t mean he’ll be the strongest guy around, and both he and i are no godmodders

[abyssalzones]

tell me your calamity trio headcanons... please im begging 💜

Oh you are enabling me in TERRIBLE ways right now thank you so much. I'll try to keep this from getting long winded.

I'll start with the basics-- I've actually changed my mind a bit since I posted my other hc art about the characters and their personal styles, I was gonna draw something more up to date with what I meant but chronic fatigue is kicking my ass right now so I’ll make something... later. For now you get words, enclosed under the cut for everyone else’s sake.

Just to get this out of the way, Anne is a trans girl lesbian who uses she/her, Sasha is a transmasc-leaning lesbian who uses she/he, and Marcy is a transmasc lesbian who uses he/they. Whoops all lesbians y’know how it is. If I wanted to get specific I think Anne started transitioning in early middle school and her parents got her puberty blockers, while Marcy realized they were Genderweird in like 6th or 7th grade (so, semi-recently) but stayed closeted from everyone until amphibia. Sasha, meanwhile, was firmly under the impression she was cis until being in amphibia gave her more opportunities to think about how she Wants to present. He still likes "girly" clothes though I don't think that personal style would entirely go away.

ANYWAY UHHH let me just get through the other stuff quickly to avoid this getting too clogged:

ANNE

-She has ADHD for sure. Mixture of inattentive and hyperactive but mostly inattentive. This is related to how in canon she seems like the kind of B-student who fails on purpose a lot-- she just doesn't bother to try because she's already used to struggling in school and doesn't think reaching out will help.

-c-PTSD also. This one is obvious I just feel like it should be said. I think she'd ignore it or try her hardest to just will it to go away once she's back home-- I think especially right now she's in a lot of denial about her experiences in amphibia.

-At some point Anne talks about just pushing herself to just play harder when she's losing in tennis and I think that kind of says a lot about how scarily determined and competitive she can get. Sasha's the only person who can really keep up with her for this reason-- they both drive themselves into the ground when they have something to prove.

-On that note, I think she's gotten carpal tunnel at least once. Might turn into a reoccurring thing if she isn't careful.

-Clearly pretty athletic, as well as fairly lanky, but still a little shorter than Sasha and probably will continue to be a little shorter than Sasha for the rest of her life. 

-Anne is the only member of the group who is good at self care. Sasha varies wildly between periods of treating herself and ignoring base needs like, eating real food. Marcy is horrible at anything more than remembering to shower once or twice a week.

-...So even if pre-amphibia Anne couldn't be called responsible, she looked out for them a bit. Sasha probably resented her attempts at making sure she was eating well-- just because Anne has parents who actually cook, who have an entire restaurant and would go out of their way to set aside leftovers for her (and Marcy.)

-Very warm-natured, having spent her entire life in Los Angeles. Even if Amphibia can get unbearably muggy and humid at times, it’s been mostly comfortable for her. Most air conditioning probably feels pretty weird for the first few weeks she’s back on Earth.

-The only way I can figure she hasn’t gotten like, horribly sick from hanging out with human-sized frogs for so long is that she has a godly immune system or something. Viral diseases fear her.

-Anne is kind of scarily prepared for each situation, mostly due to her parents' and her friends' influence. This is based on her backpack when she came over to amphibia-- I know it was her birthday, but jesus christ that's a lot of seemingly arbitrary stuff to fit in your school backpack. A bath bomb, a swimming outfit with sandals, toothbrush and toothpaste, several magazines ?? I think it's likely that after a while she just started keeping extra supplies in her backpack for whenever she'd be going over to Marcy's or Sasha's place after school. Maybe one of them has a pool at their house?

-Similarly she has, like, at least 10 chap-sticks on hand at all times. Marcy keeps asking to use hers anyway.

-I can't decide if I think she'd lose a hand/arm because of the events of Amphibia in some way, but I do like the idea of her having burn scars. Not minor ones, either.

SASHA

-This 13 year old can fit so many problems in his brain it's unreal. In my mind he has BPD but I don't think this necessarily has to do with all of his behavior-- it's just another thing that might explain Why he acts like that. (Also worth noting that I have BPD, so this is... partially based on experience.) In general I just want to see him learn to cope with it better not only for his sake but for others'.

-I don't know if she would pretend to like guys for the Social Points or not but I think she just wouldn't... care? Maybe Marcy or Anne have claimed to have crushes of the week but I just can't see her bothering. She could look at a guy and point out all the reasons why he might or might not be attractive but otherwise she wouldn't bother. Sasha might have a wide circle of friends and influence, but Anne and Marcy encompass what Matters to her, in her world.

-In the same vein she has had horrible jealousy problems and this is just canon. Goes about it in her own petty little teenager way, like prioritizing Anne or Marcy's input above whoever else they've invited along.

-Hair isn’t naturally blonde I’ll die on this hill. Was born with dark hair but her mother dyed it when she was young and she just kind of kept up the tradition ever since. I like to think she lets her roots grow back in over time and keeps it dark post-amphibia. She also has dark brown eyes :]

-Lives with his mom. His father is mostly responsible for paying his tuition. Not much else, though. I do not think he has a good relationship with his mom at all. Might be part of where his desire for control stems from-- witnessing an adult who can't put in the effort, can never control a situation, and deciding he had to be the strong one who would always step up, and do better. He always has something to prove.

-Has a bit more muscle tone than Anne, but could definitely afford to eat more, and more regularly. Very feast or famine.

-Sasha pushes himself in a lot of ways that aren't always seen. He can run on less sleep, go longer without breaks, lift more than his own weight, push through pain-- he takes pride in it, even when it's horrible for him. It proves in his mind that he's stronger than other people. He either doesn't understand that there are forms of self harm that are less "obvious," or doesn't want to. He'd hate the term anyway- just sounds like pity.

-I don't know if she'd actually want to go on T after amphibia or not, I think in a lot of ways she might be comfortable with a change of hair and pronouns and not care about much else. She likes "girly" stuff as well as a more masculine association, enjoys the personal freedom it gives her.

-I do think it'd be cool/interesting if her eye was injured during the events of amphibia, possibly during the fight with Core Marcy/Darcy? I like it better if she's actually half blinded though, so one eye is left completely non-functional. Wouldn't bother with an eyepatch.

-Matt already said she owns a PS vita but I'm expanding on that by saying she loves fighting games. There have been many intense nights of mortal kombat and street fighter v. tekken between the girls where Marcy almost certainly wins but Sasha and Anne vie tooth and nail to be second place.

-Sasha's Mongolian/Ukrainian on her mother's side and German/American on her father's. Her mom's side of the family have been in the U.S for a few generations, though. She has little to no connection to any of her cultural ancestry I just think it's neat. Also I used to hc her with Japanese/Filipino origins like her voice actress and I still kinda like that but Matt said she has germanic/slavic heritage so I felt like getting different with it. I like either though :] 

MARCY

-Just... a litany of mental health problems with very little done about it. Has had a general mixture of depression/anxiety for a long time but doesn't recognize it because it's not like he's apathetic. He feels very intensely about everything.

-Autistic for sure. Extremely passionate about all of their interests, but especially biological sciences (with their specialty being evolutionary science.) I also think they have dyspraxia, which would at least partially explain their history of accidental injuries and "clumsiness."

-I think before Amphibia it might’ve been too minor to have much of an affect on their life (beyond not bothering much with gym or other physical activities) but Marcy has some form of chronic fatigue syndrome. Gets sore/worn out/all shaky and exhausted Way way sooner than either of their friends, which is only made worse by the whole... self-neglect thing

-Speaking of which, he’s always really struggled with base needs like hygiene or eating. Anne and Sasha have a long history of trying to show Marcy how to wash his face ‘properly’ (or, y’know, at all) but it just never sticks/he doesn’t have the energy so it never gets done. Marcy combats acne by picking his skin and he doesn’t really care if he gets scars or not. 

-They’ve been shorter than both Anne and Sasha for their whole life and the gap is going to get even wider between 13 and young adulthood. Probably never going to get taller than 5′1. 

-Obviously I draw Marcy fat but I also think that while they’re possessed by the Core, their health is neglected even further and they eat far less. Becomes a little emaciated from what a comfortable weight is for them because the Core drives the body regardless of what physical state it’s in-- it just has to be alive. 

-VERY into speedruns. Loves collecting information about weird speedruns and attempts their own. Probably has a small youtube channel that’s a mixture of speedruns and critical media analysis over video game footage.

-I really like the idea of post-amphibia Marcy being disabled and using a wheelchair most of the time, I honestly wish it could be canon? I don’t know, I just think it’d be cool to have a disabled character be a member of the main cast. Specifically I think Andrias’ sword fucked up his spine real bad and the Core piloting his body meant they were pushing him beyond his physical limits. Might be able to walk with a cane sometimes but not for long. 

-I think it’s pretty obvious they’d suffer from some pretty severe PTSD after amphibia and might be mostly dependent on others for a little while. I think they’d still want to go to college eventually though... they’re a very determined scientist through and through :] 

-Favorite game is the original MGS. Big otasune fan. That one’s just for fun sorry.

Okay I lied that got really long-winded. In summary: I am autistic and I like amphibia. I think about these 3 a lot. 

As for closing thoughts I obviously like sashannarcy but I’ll be honest I’m happiest if it isn’t super simple. I think they’ll always be very important in each others’ lives and that’s what matters most, even if it’s going to be a very rocky road to regaining their close relationship. Endgame is they all share a shitty apartment together while Marcy gets through college though. 

[umbrahighpriestofgiratina]

Divided I Fall

IT'S FINALLY DONE! I am so sorry this took so fucking long, it took me like a year to write because my art brain forcibly took over my body for a stupid amount of time but now it is DONE and you can SEE it with your EYEBALLS. Anyway... This, This is a project I have been planning for YEARS but took some stuff lining up just right for it to sift to the top of my oneshot backlog. It is, to keep it simple and not spoil too much, an origin story for a character that's shown up in my stuff before.

As one important note before I begin... This fic stars a character of a fakemon species known as Vahirom, created by @kynimdraws on Tumblr/kyleenim on Twitter, used with permission. If you steal it I will be offended on her behalf and personally boil your toes. Got it?

ANYWAY:

Divided I Fall

Zygarde had a dilemma.

Unova had too many humans and they had it too good. But there was nothing they could do to thwart them without letting the other Legends in on his game. What to do?

As they stewed on this, lurking on the edge of civilization, they looked up, and there they saw it.

A meteor, careening down toward the nearby hills. It crashed, sending out sparks of light and a shockwave, which Zygarde weathered easily. They were a god, after all.

"Lots of those since AZ broke the sky," they muttered.

They slithered through the earth until they got to the impact crater, emerging in its center to find, surprise surprise, a meteor. However, it was one they could tell was a Metionite, a kind made of an extremely rare, alien ore.

It was then they got an idea.

An awful idea.

Zygarde got a wonderful, awful idea.

They started burrowing their own cells into the Metionite, pumping it full of energy. Godly energy. Draconic energy. The Meteonite contracted and curved until it turned into a small gray orb.

Zygarde tapped it.

And it burst to life.

--------

What am I?

What is this place?

Those were my first thoughts as I gazed around, wide-eyed, until my eyes fell on a strange green and black titan.

"Who are you? Who am I?"

"I am Zygarde, the guardian of order, and you are my creation!" the titan said in a booming voice.

"You created me?"

"Yes! For one purpose!"

The titan pointred a claw to the southwest. "There's an infestation of these pests called humans around thataway. Deal with them for me."

I looked in that direction. Seemed simple enough.... But something didn't feel right.

"...Very well."

Tubes extended from my shoulders and attached to my tail as my wings flared. I took off.

-------

I arrived to find strange structures,domes, blocks and pyramids, and walking among them strange creatures. Were these the humans Zygarde mentioned? "Deal with them." What did that even mean?

I got closer and as I did they started acting strangely. They seemed... Afraid?

"You creatures! What are you?"

They were making loud screams now. They didn't seem less afraid. Maybe they couldn't understand me? How DO I talk to them then? Come on, think think think-

~-Think!~

Thehumans stopped, gazed up. I had communicated by... Thinking really hard?

~Uh... Humans! I mean you no harm! I just wish to... Deal with you!~

The humans started murmuring among each other before a more elaborate-looking human came forth.

"You, great dragon! What do you propose as a deal?"

Oh, I can understand THEM fine. But good question...

~Let me think.~

What do I even tell this person? I guess... If they were afraid of me, they had other things to be afraid of. That wasn't good. Maybe...

"If you give me shelter and a home, I will aid you however I can. Is that a satisfactory deal?"

The elaborate human slowly blinked several times slowly before rapidly nodding.

":We will accept your offer... B=but my warriors will keep an eye on you."

I looked to the "warrior" humans he spoke of. They were trembling. Everyone was looking at me with unease,

This would take some adjusting.

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

I was in my own corner of the city, surrounded by more of these warriors. They were taking shifts watching me, but they all seemed scared. Almost as if they felt if I tried anything they couldn't stop me.

I didn't feel like doing anything that needed stopping... but then I wasn't sure WHAT to do. I had made the deal with the humans but I wasn't sure how to enact i-

Just then I heard a roar, in the distance. The warriors looked to me, then to the source of the sound. They seemed confused that it wasn't me. Soon another warrior rushed up to them.

"T-there's a Scolipede trying to take over the farmland!"

"O-one of those? Why?"

"They're immensely territorial! It claimed the farms as its own!"

What was this beast? The humans needed help. But they wouldn't let me help...

...Then again they couldn't stop me.

I activated my tail turbine and lifted off as the warriors panicked, and I jetted off to where the other warrior had came from.

---------

When I arrived there was indeed a large, purple, insectoid Pokémon rampaging about. Several warriors and their Pokémon were trying to pierce its chitinous armor, to no avail. It was much bigger than the humans, that's for sure.

...But it was much smaller than me.

I flew ove4r to and landed right in front of it. It looked up but seemed unphased.

"What do YOU want?"

"I want you to stop bothering these humans."

"Why should I? This is MY turf." "No it's not. As far as I can tell the humans were here first." "Well it's mine now."

I narrowed my eyes. "Leave. Now."

The Scolipede scoffed. "Make me."

"If you insist."

I flicked him with a claw.

He went sailing back into a tree with a very loud thud and collapsed, unconscious.

Humans started gathering around, looking on in awe. Then they started cheering. It was only then I realized the magnitude of what I'd done.

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

Things changed after that rather quickly. Or, they did from my perspective anyway.

The humans, after that, regarded me as a protector. Not only that, they gave me authority. It wasn't much at first, I started as captain of the warrior, but as time went on and I helped the humans more and more I ascended to the right-hand mon of their rulers.

They called me Vahirom, or more commonly, the Iron Arbiter.

They adored me. And I grew to adore them. They cared for me and I cared for them back. And after time things changed. I learned how to alter my form to be like them.

It started simply, firsty with mimicking their speech, but then I started to learn how to alter my physical form, this way and that way, until I had come to resemble them in my own way. It was at that point the Iron Arbiter was both a dragon Pokémon and a human.

And someone didn't like that at all.

One day they returned, while I was alone, sitting on the throne the humans built for me. I looked up into their glowing green eyes as they glared down into mine.

"What is THIS? This isn't what you were supposed to be doing! And why do you LOOK like them?" They stomped a foot on the ground.

I sighed. "It is less intimidating to them than my natural draconic form. And why do YOU look like them? Don't you have forms that are oh so superior?" They winced, and in an instant cells swirled around them to return them to a more traditional serpentine form. "Only to subvert them, manipulate them. You do it for sick kicks! You were supposed to DESTROY them, not help them!"

"There is no need to destroy them. They are flawed yes, but have kindness and charity in their hearts if you know where to find it. I seek to bring that out in them. "You're wrong! All humans are a sin against the natural order! MY order! They need to be purged!"

"Your view is dangerous. And I will not have you threaten my people."

I grew and stretched and bent into my true, draconic form.

"You may have given me life, but I am not yours. They are not yours. Leave, or I will force you to."

Zygarde hesitated, then let out a long, pronounced hisss before disintegrating into cells and vanishing.

I sighed again, then resumed my post.

-----------

Decades passed, that turned into centuries. I saw many humans and their Pokémon come and go, and cherished them all dearly while they lasted.

But then one day two were born that would change my life forever, for better and for worse.

They were twins, born to the current queen and king. They were shown to me soon after they were born. They were lumpy and chubby as human babies were but they had fire and lightning in their eyes from the start.

And thus their parents named them Tentay and Pethakhon, Ancient Unova's words for fire and lightning. As usual, I was assigned to be their guardian. I did not realize then how special they would be to me - and how that would be my downfall.

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

The children grew quickly. Their tiny grasping hands grew inquisitive, groping for anything they could reach. At first, I let them pull and tug at my human form, but as they grew older and nimbler I allowed them to play on my dragon form as well.

Eventually they started to talk.

"Say mama!" "Say dada!" their parents clamored. But every time they both pointed at me and said "va va!"

They didn't care. They just laughed.

When they got old enough to learn, I was their teacher. I taught them.... Well, not everything I knew, I was too ancient and powerful for that, but I tried to teach them a good amount. And I definitely tried to answer their many questions.

"How old are you?" asked Tentay. "Older than you can comprehend."

"What's your favorite food?" asked Pethakhon.

"I do love corn cakes."

"Do your parents let you stay up past bedtime?" asked Tentay.

I had to pause and think about that one. My only "parents" were Zygarde and the stars, so...

"I don't listen to my parents. I do what I want."

The twins gasped and looked at each other eagerly. "You can DO that?" they said. I chuckled. "I can. You probably shouldn't until you get older."

The two visibly deflated.

"Not fair..." said Pethakhon.

"I guess we have to listen..." said Tentay.

"No way! We can't!" said Pethakhon. "But we gotta! Or we'll get in trouble!"

"Nuh-uh! We can do it!

I chuckled. By all means this was amusing.

And yet. Something deep inside felt off.

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

It came suddenly, swiftly.

The king and queen fell ill, from a terrible disease. They were isolated, only taken care of by a select few.

It was too little, too late.

A grand funeral was held, several ceremonies, a feast, a fitting sendoff. But none of it filled the hole in all our hearts.

Especially not the twins'.

I visited their room afterwards., They were huddled in a corner together, curled up, sitting only a few inches apart. In human form to fit in the room, I pulled them into an embrace.

"I know better than to say it's all right, but... I am here for you."

"But... Mom and dad... They're gone forever," said Tentay.

"They're never coming back... What's gonna happen to us?" said Pethakhon.

I sighed. "I have seen many leave forever just as they did. I can escape it, it is both a gift and a curse, but for your kind it is inevitable. But it is not truly the end. You two will grow to be great, and your children, and your children's children, and so on. I assure you of this. You can pick up the pieces and carry on in their stead. They would want you to."

"...Okay, Va." said Pethakon.

"...I guess so, Va," said Tentay.

They nestled into my arms further. I patted their heads.

We stayed that way a while.

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

The two started to near adulthood for their kind, and thus I started teaching them how to rule. . ~Now, you two, I have a question.~

They both shifted in their seats in the courtyard we were in. Teenagers were antsy about being taught. Especially when their teacher was an ancient and powerful dragon.

~Say that there is a famine. What are your main options for dealing with such a thing?~

"Simple," said Tentay. "You spend the royal budget on improving the crops."

~Ah, but such a solution would be expensive... And could be unsustainable."~

"Then we improve the harvest infrastructure over time!" said Pethakhon enthusiastically.

~Yet that could take a long time. Too long. People could starve.~

"Well my method is clearly better!" said Tentay. "It gets more immediate results!"

"You're wrong!" said Pethakhon. "MY plan won't doom us all later!" "It MIGHT not. It will definitely make people starve."

"We have to consider the future!" "The future is NOW, Pethakhon."

"Moron!"

"Imbecile!"

The two continued arguing like this until they finally noticed me waggling a claw mockingly.

~Now now now. Have you considered these solutions aren't mutually exclusive?"

The two of them stared at me. Then started sheepishly rubbing their heads.

"You have a point..." said Tentay. "That could work.." said Pethakhon.

~See?" I said. "If you work against each other nothing gets done. But if you work together...~

"Yes, we understand the moral, well done," said Pethakhon. "Why must we learn things we know already?" said Tentay.

~Because with you two it bears repeating.~

The two blinked and staredbefore rubbing their heads sheepishly again.

"...You have a point," said Tentay.

"We'll. We'll work on it.." said Pethakhon.

I simply smirked.

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

They quickly became adults, true kings of Unova, and soon their first test was upon them. The ruler of a desert kingdom smack dab in the middle of Unova was a Volcarona by the name of Heliana. Shee was called before them for a diplomatic meeting, and we all assembled on the border between the desert and greener land.

"Why hello there!" said Heliana, floating before us.

Tentay and Pethakhon stared then turned to me, each whispering.

"She, uh, is a little hard to--" Pethakhon started to say.

"She's a Pokémon, but she can't speak telepathically, so we can't understand her," said Tentay.

"...That." said Pethakhon.

I chuckled. ~Don't worry, I can translate. She just says hi.~

The two nodded and turned back to Heliana.

"Right, hello," said Pethakhon.

"Shall we get down to business?" said Tentay.

"Oh, yes, yes!" said Heliana. "There was a matter of grave importance I wished to speak of with you! It was... Oh, hm, what was it..."

"She isn't very professional," Tentay whispered.

"Shhh!" said Pethakhon, nudging him.

"Oh! I remember now! It was wood!" said Heliana.

"Wood?" said Pethakhon. "My kingdom doesn't exactly have many trees," said Heliana. "I want cedar in particular! I'll offer you our finest textiles and minerals in return!":

"Hmmm. But we need the cedar for-"

"Shhh!" said Pethakhon. "She's making us a great offer!"

"More like a ridiculous one. We can't give her all that cedar!" "But we need the minerals and textiles!"

"She hasn't even specified WHAT minerals and textiles! Think before you leap!" "Well ask her!"

"Fine!"

Tentay took a deep breath and looked Heliana straight in the compound eyes. "You're being awfully vague about what those "minerals" and "textiles" are... Could you be more specific?"

"Oh! Lots of iron, copper... and Silk! Me and my babies spun the silk ourselves!"

"Wait, the silk comes from-" Tentay started to say.

"Sounds great!" said Pethakhon. We'll-"

"No. We need that cedar."

~Now now you two.~ I said. ~Put your heads together. Your wants and needs aren't mutually exclusive.~

They stared. And blinked. And... Well they didn't literally put their heads together but they did start mutually putting their hands to their chins thinking.

"There's some places we could grow... Cedar groves?" said Tentay.

"Yes! And we could loan those groves out to you!" said Pethakhon.

"They would take a while to grow normally but our Grass-types can make them grow faster!" said Tentay.

"Excellent!" said Heliana. "It's a deal! And Hekla and Katla will get started on the silk straight away!"

"Hekla and Katla?" said Pethakhon.

"Who?" said Tentay.

It was then two Larvesta emerged from Heliana's fuzz and divetackled Tentay and Pethakhon each with cries of "Friend! Friend! Friend!"

"My children!" said Heliana. "They spin the finest silk in all the land!"

"Well they sure are cute," said Pethakhon, holding up Hekla to get a good look at her.

"Easy little one," said Tentay, cradling Katla.

I just smiled.

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

I was in my throne room, and human again. I was alone, and it was quiet... until I heard a telltale slithering again.

"...Hello Zygarde."

The serpent congeals in a flash from their cells before me.

"You're still doing this. Why are you still doing this."

"They appreciate my help. And they are clearly better in my hands than yours."

The snake withed, their form rippling.

"Look, if you can't stop yourself from messing MY order up, I WILL."

I scoffed. "How?"

"You're awfully fond of those two humans, aren't you?"

My eyes widened. I clenched my fingers on my seat. "...Petty threats will get you nowhere."

"Oooh, I struck a nerve, didn't I? Don't worry, I won't do anything to them... Physically anyway. Unless you try to warn them that is, in which case I can always arrange an accident...."

I shifted to dragon form, knocking several things over in the process. "What are you planning, Zygarde?"

"How does the saying go, something something for me to know and you to find out?"

I roared and slashed at them with a claw, but before I made contact they scattered into cells and disappeared from whence they came. Guards rushed into the room shortly after. "Arbiter! Is everything all right?"

I panted heavily, looking at where Zygarde had gone, before turning to the guard.

~It's... It's fine. Just spooked by a shadow.~

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

From there it became apparent something was very quickly going wrong.

It started small at first. The brothers being more snippy with each other than they were before. But it soon blew up into full-on arguments, and everything I had raised them to do was falling apart before my eyes.

I knew exactly why.

I stalked the halls of the castle until I found a hound, ducking and weaving through the corridors.

"You!"

The hound stopped, looking smug. "What is it?"

"What are you doing to them?"

"Oh nothing much. A lie about one here, a rumor about the other there, did you realize exactly how easy it is to turn them against each other?"

"How... How dare you!"

I fired a metallic burst, a small-scale version of my Origin Flare, but they were already gone, and the brilliant beams of light only sank into the corridor, reducing chunks of it to rubble.

It was then I panicked. As long as Zygarde could keep spreading their lies...

...There was nothing I could do.

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

Soon enough came a day that would come down in history as a fateful one.

The two of them were having a particularly heated, particularly philosophical argument about the future of the kingdom. Said argument was happening in the throne room, right in front of me, a dragon silently watching as their two human charges escalated to potential civil war right before their eyes.

"Do you really think your deluded visions would ever lead this kingdom to greatness?" said Tentay, "Your ideals will only bring ruin!"

"Your plan is built on a flawed foundation," said Pethakhon, "and faulty delusions of truth!"

It was becoming all too clear for me.

They would not reconcile this time.

I would have to choose one.

...But I couldn't.

I couldn't possibly-

One side of me wanted one. Another wanted the other.

But I couldn't choose.

I couldn't I couldn't I couldn't I couldn-

CRACK

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

When I awoke, I could not move. I had reverted to the God Stone I use to sleep and could not get out.

But I could see everything. I could see Tentay and Pethakhon beholding two dragons that I quickly realized had split off from me, by sheer will to leave neither one behind. I could also see I had rolled off to the side, where no one could see me.

But if those two pieces of me were out there... What was the rest of me doing in here?

As I wondered this I witnessed the argument between the two brothers escalate further, and eventually they stormed out of the room.

Time passed. Day turned into night. Then the serpent came.

"Well well well, that was an entertaining show. I knew your powers were unstable but I never expected them to do THAT. Oh well, it works out for me plenty - those two idiots you were so protective of will decimate humanity by their actions, and those bits of you that spawned for them will only help.

I wriggled in my prison, trying desperately to escape and put Zygarde in their place. They noticed and chuckled.

"Oh how foolish. Don't try too hard to escape dear. You don't know what schisming off so much of your power has done to you."

Their form rippled.

"And besides. It's too late for you. I've already won."

He gave a hearty, echoing laugh as he dissipated into cells and disappeared.

----------

Throughout the night, I continued to wriggle and squirm. I HAD to fix this, I HAD to prove Zygarde wrong, I HAD to-

And then I broke free.

And then I felt it.

I could tell I was not the being I used to be. I felt weak. I felt empty. There was a gnawing hunger and emptiness at the bottom of my soul that I could not overcome.

I staggered through the hallways of the castle, in confusion and pain, when I came upon two guards, who recoiled at my approach.

"H-Halt! What monstrous kind of P-Pokémon are you?" said one.

I looked at that guard. And I hungered. The emptiness gnawed at me as I yearned for something to fill it.

I lunged.

The other guard screamed as my fangs sunk into his compatriot. I started devouring him, purely by instinct, rending flesh from bones.

"M-Monster! Monster!"

It is then I snapped back to my senses and realized exactly what I was doing.

I tried to say, "Wait, no, you don't understand!" but all it came out as was staticky buzzing. Then the guard fled.

Overwhelmed with grief, shock, and horror, it was then I did the same, leaving the tall pyramid castle I had called my home for centuries and never turning back.

-----------

I holed up in the crater I had first crash-landed in from thereon out, never emerging. Still, I saw many things.

I saw Unova burnt by a deluge of fire and electricity.

I saw Unova rebuild, become more technologically advanced, more close totheir Pokémon, then further away, then closer again.

I saw people settle the area where I lived, and grow to fear me as others had.

I saw one bit of kindness from a boy from those people.

I saw the white dragon that split from me return, join with me once more, filling my emptiness but causing her unbearable pain that racked me with guilt.

I saw all this, but one thing remained the same, for the most part.

I was alone. And I was unsure if that would ever truly change.

So all I could do was mourn all I had lost.

***

Bit of a downer, huh. But I hope you enjoyed it! WILL Kyurem's situation get better? We'll have to find out later - I've got other shit I've really got to get to writing.

[rurifangirl]

chile, could ya explain the magic system in yo oc world more? im kinda confused w how it works👁👄👁

Oh boy, here we go bitches.

So as an intro to this, I said bout last oc post in Qiran's part that their fam was full of mages n shit, but also some of em weren't, n since they do have magic istelf Imma do more parts (3 parts)

First part- how does It all work (Humans/Mages)

First of all, not all of em have a connection with magic, for example Evelyn doesn't at all while Lyva does but only through a magical item so It doesn't really count.

Other then that, if you're born you can either be born with some kind of magic, or simply not. It all depends from your family's lineage, for example If you come from a family of mainly rougues it's hard to get some kind of magical power, while if your parents have both some kind of power or even if it's only one of em, it's more likely you'll end up with something really similar, or a mixture of the two. (In case both of your parents have magical powers of any sort.)

It also depends on where you're living, for example If you'd be born from a cold place it's unlikely ya'd have magma magic rather than snow magic.

Between humans/mages the system Is kinda the same, but that does change for Hybrids/Demi gods/anything that isn't born between the same species.

Between humans/mages it's more of how their ancestors managed to treat its powers, as some got even destroyed for not being worthy of its usage, so If anything at this point and time they're lucky about getting somethin.

Mages are far more cautious about It, having both a lot of hidden knowlege about spells or even origins of some types of magic, though that being the most "common" ones, (for example fire, water ect.), because it's not only them of course, there's far more variants and all are different from eachother.

They can also get stronger by the worshipping of certain gods, which I don't think I will really talk about, at least in this post. (And also because they're still a wip of mine)

But the gang until now really never relied on any of them, or at least Lyva/Rui n Naexi never really did, while the others absolutely did. This Is also why I will do another post as a sorta of a part 2.

Anyways back on topic, most people in all parts of my oc world aren't used to worshipping anymore, or at least a great part of It, mainly because of a loss of knowlege about anything about them.

It's kind of taboo even mentioning most gods names, as they fear something will go wrong if they would (*ahem*being suspicious n allarmin the cult*AHEM*). In fact it's hard to get on most religions because the only remains of It are extremely either hidden, or destroyed in the meanwhile.

I wanna say that another reason because the worshipping stopped Is also because of Rui's cult. Yes, remember that?

It's gonna be talked about on its own post, but let's just say that for them, it's a safe way to restrain anyone knowing far too much about how everything works.

They're the only ones owning most stuff about different coltures to avoid having them against their side,

If there's no worshippers, no knowlege, n more weak magic because people don't strengthen them, who's gonna go against em? (It'll turn out to be the shittiest idea they've ever had but that really did work for the longest time.)

Oh I think i forgot to mention this, but since magic goes lineage to lineage, It also weakenens as generations pass by, as THAT'S the reason they absolutely need those texts.

That's also the reason most humans struggle w keepin magic. Mages can manage, though it's a small portion, since sometimes not even what they've learned over generations works anymore.

Second part- how does It all work (Hybrids/Demi gods n stuff)

Oh boy, so, I'm also gonna use Shou n Naexi a lot here, so bear w me. As I said earlier, it's different from em, since it's not about lineage at all.

Apart that the union between different species Is both a taboo n seen as something "ashaming",so even if they had a child It was more likely they'd Hide It or leave It behind. So it's already a really, god-awful situation for them.

The magic works kinda randomly, in the sense that since the hybrid's nature is seen as unstable to begin w, there's no real critere to handle how the child born Is gonna turn out to be.

Sometimes it's really hard to notice, having yeah some features but can be hidden really easly, but other times Is just, a real mess between the two species, n the magic Is also uncontrollable, especially during their first years of life.

For example, in Shou's case he used to really switch a lot between em, that being the reason he later on prefers not to switch, n havin to learn as soon as possible how to learn how his magic n form would work w It, having again a lot of preassure comin from people he knew.

This Is unfortunatly a really common situation between most hybrids. And there's also no choise.

If you as an hybrid can control magic w/o anything to rely on then you can live, while if you cannot do It, it's a matter of time before you'd get zoned out by everyone and everything.

This Is a big issue, other than having everything fucked by the cult but that's another story.

Aight now bout demi-gods, they're also really not seen well. Most of them prefer not to interact at all with anything that Is not godly related, and in fact, most of em even refused to adknowledge their mortal parent, since they all have resentment over the sudden disappereance of all belivers.

If anything Naexi Is a weird one at that, as they did have a suddent interest in humans and ungodly creatures, though still recognized about how cruel any of them could've been, especially she's a demi-god and has a bad reputation at that.

The magic system Is relatively simple, they just get a certain amount of power from their god parent and are actually pretty capable of controlling them in confront of Hybrids.

That mainly comes from a special connection w their god parent's power, so in theory they're sort of devoted to them.

I wanna expand this when I'll do the gods post n finnaly introduce some of em (And potentially Naexi's mother👀), so I'll not go beyond this atm.

Third part- Magical items/weapons

Aight onto another important part, which Is basically how tf would that work. We have that comin from Qiran's sword n Lyva's earrings, so they'll also be later on disscussed bout.

Even though it's a tough and long procedure, you can transport some of your own magic onto somethin as ordinary as an hat or as sharp as a dagger.

This Is being mainly used in emergency situations, as that energy can eventually be re-used later on by its user.

The user can be changed as long as there's a deal between both parties, whether that being a gift, buying It, or anythin up to them really.

It can also be a great way to hide mage's power, since there are some parts where they arent exactly that respected, so they could blend in with normal humans.

In fact, Qiran does that continiously thanks to their sword, daggers and other lil weapons, and they keep a big part of It there, to seem rather a normal knight/adventurer rather than havin somethin supernatural goin on.

They have a great holdo it since their father did make them learn to fulfill their request to be freerly goin round.

With Lyva it's not really different, even if she kinda stole It n there wasn't really a deal at that moment, but before runnin away from everyone n everything she convinced her mother to give her something that she could use to defend herself, since they were never around and when they were, they would've kinda avoided her.

Oh, and to add this, you could also curse an item. It's a way to mainly punish since ,well, it's a curse,

and makes the user either completely obsessed with the object itself or makin them do somethin w/o any type of consent, whether physical or emotional.

In some cases It can also be a torture tool. Though, as some recent stuff happened, they're somewhat hard to find.

If you still have somethin unclear lemme know cuz idk If I covered everythin or if somethin ain't clear enough😭

Tags undercut:

@a-chaotic-dumbass @spoopy-fish-writes @dopesaladlady @damnfoxx @audre-falrose @nadi-117

(If you want your tag removed/added either dm me/go in the ask thing or do the tag thingy in the pinned comment‼️)

[girlmounter]

URGENT QUESTION TO ALL MY FOLLOWERS, I NEED YOUR FEEBACK!

Okay so here's the situation. I am asking you all to please please read this through and like, maybe tell me if I made the right decision... because I feel terrible about this. I would love it if someone told me if this is correct or wrong and I should've done something else. I'm not a popular blog, so whoever this post might reach (which is not going to be a lot of people) please please take some time out to read this through. I know it's a really long post, but I really really need your opinion on this. If you don't have the time right now, maybe just reblog it and save it for later. It would also help this post reach more people. Also please check the tags for the trigger warnings.

I have been going to a therapist for about 5 months now. My mom, as you probably know by now, is narcissistic and my dad enables her, along with my mom's parents who we live with. I have no siblings, and I just turned 17. Since we live in Asia, all you desi people know how hard society is on us when we go against our parents, who are supposed to be godly figures.

So all along, my therapist, (for confidentiality's sake we'll call him Sam, 21), has been bent on making me talk to them. I dont know why. I've tried explaining so many times that talking to my mom is not an option because 1) NARCISSISTIC PEOPLE DON'T EVER CHANGE and 2) my mom WILL use all my words against me and twist them into whatever she wants and later bring them up to bring me down. You guys with narcissistic parents know this shit too well.

It's not like I haven't ever even tried talking to them, I have! I've done it so many times, with a calm tone, in the most diplomatic way possible. There were times I tried to get the point across by crying and being desperate too. There were also times where I thought anger might work out.

It never did. It doesn't. It won't, because she is not looking for solutions or for mending the bond between us. All she wants is to infantilize me and keep me under her control forever. Mom and dad both want this. They don't ever want to let me out of their sights. They don't let me out of their sights.

A very long story short, I am supervised 24/7, I don't have much of a phone, I don't have friends, I don't have any family members who would support me, I don't have much of a family either tbh. I am monitored like crazy, gaslighted every single day, lied to, manipulated like hell, and babied to the point where it's just narcissistic infantilization and not concern anymore. To them, I'm a baby when it suits them, and I'm an adult when it suits them better that way. She doesn't care about what I think because apparently I'm a liar and to all those people out there who know the smear campaigning and the flying monkeys and the triangulation....yeah. All of that happens on a regular basis. I know I'm not providing any concrete proof and situations but please believe me. Please believe me. My memory is so shot I can't remember anything and i know it doesn't work out in my favor but please please believe me I'm telling the truth...

I have made three suicide attempts, I used to cut and was very badly addicted to it, and now I don't cut, but yeah I'll be sharing the reason in a little bit. Please hold on, this means a huge deal to me. Please don't scroll past this.

So Sam never really even had a smidge of doubt that my mom might be narcissistic, and I wasn't given the benefit of doubt either. After months of research when I myself figured that it might be narcissism, I told him and he went along with it. He does believe me now. But somehow I don't feel very understood. I dont feel better after I talk to him. I feel like my problems are trivial and that I'm just not working hard enough. I feel misunderstood and I never feel satisfied. I asked him for tips to deal with crushing loneliness and panic attacks and stuff like that, but I never receive real answers. When I asked for help with my suicidal thoughts, he just said that it's never an option and that's it. That's the only answer I got. When I asked for help with cutting, the only answer I got was that if I even tried to cut again, I'd lose him.

Like. Is that really how therapy is supposed to work?

Half of the time we just while time away, talking as if we're friends and I mean, it's a paid session. We're not very financially well off right now, what with the pandemic and everything, and we're paying him 2000 INR a week. It's a lot for us because we ain't exactly rich. That's like 10,000 INR a month.

I try to talk, I'm told that I don't stop talking and don't let him speak. When I don't speak, I'm not speaking enough. I dont feel comfortable anymore in a way that I think I should be with a therapist. I have recieved more helpful advice from actual PhD psychologists who are making videos on dealing with narcissism on YouTube. I feel more understood by them than I ever have with him. So many times I have left the session crying and hours later I'd still be stifling tears. So many times I don't feel heard and I feel like if I told him something he'd be angry. Sometimes he snaps and is like way too straightforward and it just doesn't do well with me. He doesn't support a lot of stuff that I support, like anti body shaming, especially for overweight people and stuff like LGBTQIA+ too, really. I'm mocked in an underhand way if I express that I support stuff that he doesn't really like. It's not straightforward but... I can't shake the feeling.

I do sometimes look forward to the sessions, if only because I'll have someone to talk to...but that's pretty much it. I'm not getting anything out of this. He claims that no one will understand me the way he does, and he keeps comparing my life to his, which I don't like. He says that in a way he and I both very similar and he relates to me and then proceeds to tell me about events in his life. He says that I'm his favorite client and now a good friend too, but I feel like that's not how it should be. And I do make an effort to listen to him tell me stuff about his life but...shouldn't it be the other way round?

Now I'm not saying that he is a bad person. I have loads of my own issues too; severe depression, crippling anxiety, overthinking every freaking thing, I'm like 100% sure I have complex PTSD from this childhood trauma, constant pain everywhere, crazy headaches, flashbacks, nightmares, hallucinations sometimes, and major emotion repression. I'm dealing with a million and one things right now and yes that might be causing me to feel worse about this situation than I should. I admit that I'm not exactly thinking about this in a diplomatic way...but somehow it doesn't feel right, and hence this really long post.

If you're still here, thank you so much. Your reading this is doing something that means a lot to me. Truly.

He exercises a lot, and he gave me a whole schedule to follow with the meals I should eat and the exercise I should do and somehow I never feel like I'm doing enough. If I miss out I can't tell him because he always reprimands me for messing up. I dont feel comfortable about opening up and then he forces me to do that and then when I do I don't feel better.

Lately, we'd been talking about how I need to tell my parents to their face what I feel is wrong with their actions, and how without that happening there's no point to our sessions anymore. Straight up went that if I don't talk to them on this Sunday, then we're not going to have sessions anymore.

I tried explaining to him many times how my mom will never change, how I don't want to enrage them further, how I don't want to give her more information on my life that she can use against me again...but no use.

He insisted over and over again on how she has no idea what she's doing to me, and if we just talked it out, my whole situation will be fine. This is just a huge misunderstanding.

I tried so hard to make him understand that that's not how it works for her, she doesn't want to resolve things and she'll just jump at the first chance she gets to use all my information against me, but no. I tried telling him that I have talked to her before and that I also used to think that if I just told her what they were doing wrong, then they would understand and mend their ways, I mean it took me YEARS to convince myself that it was never gonna happen! I tried it so many times and everytime I fell for this trap and everytime I regretted it but he doesn't get that! At all! That they're never gonna change!

Instead of helping me get over them, instead of telling me how to move on, instead of helping me grieve over my entire childhood... he was forcing me to talk things out with them, because if I didn't tell them I would be keeping it inside me and letting that fester would be bad.

I agree that it's not healthy for me to keep things to myself, which is why I talked to him right? And the things which are troubling me cannot be resolved with them because they refuse to change their ways!

The only thing that would come out of that family discussion is me at a disadvantage and them at an advantage by having all the latest scoop on my life and then have my mom (who is a doctor who has also done a course on CBT) psychoanalyse me even more than she does now. I'd be tailed harder. It will get worse and I know it. I've seen it and I promised myself that I would never make the same mistake of opening up to them honestly ever again. And here Sam wanted me to that very thing.

And I agreed initially, I tried convincing myself that maybe it'll work out and after all, Sam will be defending me and everything (even though he did say he would support them if he found them correct) but I didn't feel good about it. I remembered that a therapist is supposed to make you feel more at ease and let you take your own time to process through things and never force a client to do something if they had doubts about it.

And so I texted him today, and I refused. He said we won't have any more sessions, but I said it's fine. Because I don't want to go to him anymore anyway. I think I would rather have no one to talk to, than have someone belittle my experiences and just overall make me feel worse than I did when I first entered the session.

There's more stuff that was related to this, and if you guys want to know something before making your judgement of this situation, please please please ask me, message me, but please just have a bird's eye view on this whole thing and tell me if I made the right decision...please.

I would really appreciate some feedback right now.

Thank you so,so much for sticking with me till the end of this post. It means the world to me, honestly. I couldn't thank you more.

[winryofresembool]

Things We Lost in the Fire, ch 24

aka Caleo uni au

Fic summary: Calypso starts studying at a new university, but to her annoyance her new flatmate is a loud mouthed mechanic who also likes to sneak his dog in whenever. But as she learns to know him better, she realizes they might have more in common than what she first thought. Eventually, even the darkest secrets come out…

Chapter summary: Halloween chapter, part 2.

A/N: Yay, an update! I think some of you are gonna be happy about the characters that are being introduced in this chapter... Also lots of Caleo dorkiness (and canon references) in it! And you'll get to see if you were right with your costume guesses :D

Also like I already mentioned last week, this is the last chapter that I have written so far (when I started posting this fic I tried to make sure I'd have at least 7 chapters ready so I wouldn't have to stress about deadlines... and here we are now) so it is possible that updates may slow down a bit, at least if the chapter wants to become long. But I am still /trying/ to keep up with the regular updates the best I can :) So worry not!

Now, enjoy and let me know what you think!! Ps. somehow we’ve managed to pass 50k words already :O

Words: 4040

Genre: romance & hurt/comfort

Warnings: none

previous chapter / AO3

…

“Hi, you guys!” Piper, who was dressed as Wonder Woman, greeted Leo and Calypso first when they arrived, gesturing for them to come in.

“Hello! I was afraid Argo II had decided to stop working because you guys are late,” Jason the Superman noted as he offered to take Calypso’s coat and put it in a hanger by the door.

“I’m not going to lie to you, Jason, that possibility did cross my mind as well,” Calypso said, casting Leo a meaningful look. “But no, not this time.”

“We’re only 10 minutes late!” Leo protested, checking the time from his phone. “I was busy finishing something… and Calypso took her time preparing herself as well. She probably did her wig for like two hours.” He gave her a not so serious side-eye.

“I did not!” Calypso said defensively. “Yeah, I straightened and combed and braided it but that took me maybe 15-20 minutes so he is highly exaggerating.”

“Don’t worry, Calypso, we know he does that a lot.” Piper smiled at her reassuringly. “Speaking of your wig, though, you look very cute! That hair reminds me of the style you had before my makeover. You’re dressed as the mythology Calypso, right?”

“Yes, I am,” Calypso said, pleased that Piper had figured that out so fast. “I thought it would be fun to be a bit self ironic for once. I haven’t really had a good reason to sew recently so this was a nice excuse to do that as well.” She made a small twirl to show the dress better.

“That dress really looks great!” Piper told her. “I would gladly commission you to sew me clothes; it’s so hard to find anything nice from the clothes stores these days. But Leo.” She turned back to him. “I see someone hasn’t bothered to get a costume. I wasn’t expecting that from you because you’re always so excited about them.”

“No, you got it all wrong.” Leo wagged his finger at her. “I do have it here, but as I told Cal, it would have been too difficult to wear in the car.” He dropped his bag on the floor, causing a loud thud as it hit the ground.

“Alright. Care to give us any hint what it is?” Piper asked curiously. “Seems heavy.” Calypso wondered if this was something they did every year.

“I’m just saying that it’s inspired by some movies that united us three,” Leo noted mysteriously. “But that’s all, you’ll see soon!”

“My mind is blank now,” Piper said. “Jason, what movies have we watched with him?”

“The first one that comes to my mind is Star Wars,” Jason reminded her. Suddenly both Jason and Piper’s eyes widened in realization. “Could it be?”

“Oh no, Leo you didn’t!” Piper doubled over in laughter when it occurred to her what Leo’s costume most likely was. “I can’t wait to see this!”

“I hope you took pictures with Festus!” Jason couldn’t keep his poker face either, and Calypso watched their reactions with confusion.

“Don’t worry, I will show them later.” Leo grinned, unperplexed by Jason and Piper’s laughter. “Now, where can I change?”

Piper showed him an empty room where he could get into his costume in peace, while Calypso started looking around the house on her own. Even though the place seemed rather fancy, Jason and Piper had managed to make it cozier with their personal objects. A lot of them had seen life and were worn but somehow they still fit in with the newer decorations.

As Calypso reached the living room, her focus went to the guests who had already arrived at the party. She waved at Annabeth and nodded awkwardly to Percy. Even though she and Annabeth were friends again, she wasn’t quite sure how she should act near Percy so ‘reserved’ felt the most natural reaction. She couldn’t help but smile a bit, though, when she registered their costumes: Annabeth had a Chiton just like her, although grey instead of white, with some silvery accessories and a beautiful owl shaped brooch over her chest. Perhaps the most impressive part of her costume was the Greek styled helmet that was used in battles and that hid most of Annabeth’s curly ponytail. Calypso was quite certain she was dressed as Athena, the Greek goddess that according to her was the one she identified herself the most with. Percy on the other hand was wearing sandals, shorts, a tropical shirt, and a belt with fishing equipment and he was holding a fishing rod in his hand. Calypso couldn’t quite figure out who he was supposed to be, other than some sort of fisherman.

“Hi,” Calypso greeted them as she got to hearing distance with them. “You guys look nice. You’re Athena, right?” She asked Annabeth. “Matches my theme, don’t you think?”

“Sure does,” Annabeth nodded, eyeing Calypso’s costume. “You look pretty much exactly like how I imagine the mythology Calypso.”

“Thank you. Coming from you it’s a big compliment.” She turned Percy. “I can’t figure out who you are, though. You don’t seem like a Greek god?”

“I am, though,” Percy replied. “I’m Poseidon.”

“Ooh, so that’s why the fishing gear!” Calypso realized. “But I don’t think the Greeks had tropical shirts quite yet.”

“No, you’re right in that.” Percy shook his head, smiling a bit. “But I’m basing this on the version in the Peter Johnson series. That’s how he was described in it.”

“I didn’t know you have read that too,” Calypso said, “But makes sense. Um, the Poseidon and Athena of the mythology hated each other, though. Not that it’s really my business, but I hope you two are doing fine…?” She asked a bit nervously, not wanting to be the reason for their issues.

“Oh yeah, we are,” Percy confirmed immediately. “It’s just an old joke – back when Annabeth and I were reading the Peter Johnson books I used to say Poseidon is my godly parent and Athena Annabeth’s, and that just kind of stuck with us.”

“Alright.” Calypso accepted Percy’s answer, turning her attention back to Annabeth. “By the way, where did you get that helmet? It definitely looks fancier than most of the plastic ones you see at costume shops.”

“My father collects these things,” Annabeth answered, lifting the helmet from her head for a moment. “I’ve told you he’s also a historian, right? Well, one of his friends wanted to make a replica of the ancient Greek helmets with some modern machines and dad bought this from him. I’m not saying this is 100 per cent accurate but it looks pretty cool, in my opinion.”

“It does,” Calypso confirmed.

“You came with Leo, right?” Percy asked then, to which Calypso nodded. “Where is he? I can’t wait to see his costume; he usually goes for something that is way over the top. Last year he was Hiccup from How to Train your Dragon and he had made a Toothless costume for his dog. I’ve also seen pics of him as Iron Man. Yes, with a full iron costume.”

“I can believe that of him,” Calypso chuckled, imagining Leo in the said costume. “He just went to change into his costume because apparently he couldn’t drive in it. He didn’t reveal what he was going to be, but it does sound like something extravagant.”

“I missed his costume last year but I’ll be sure to have a camera ready when he shows up this time,” Annabeth said happily. Calypso was relieved that the conversation was going this well; she hadn’t known what to expect beforehand because this was the first time she was in the same room with Percy since the ‘incident’. Talking with him now, though, made her realize that holding a grudge wouldn’t be smart and he seemed to think the same way.

“I just realized,” Calypso decided to change the topic, “that I’ve never heard the story of how you guys know Jason and Piper. So how did that happen?”

“It’s a funny story,” Percy started, smiling at the memory. “Jason and I used to be the captains of rivaling soccer teams when we were around 16. Well, one time Jason’s team was visiting us but we were playing in an arena that had just been renovated so I hadn’t been there before. I may have been a bit late from our team meeting and I was a bit lost so I decided to ask one staff lady where I was supposed to go. Somehow she got our teams mixed up and I ended up in the locker room of Jason’s team. Some of Jason’s teammates said that my expression was worth seeing when I realized the mistake but I dunno about that. The funny thing was that somehow the same thing had happened to Jason; he had also been late for the meeting because of traffic or something and he had gotten into my team’s locker room. Well, after the game we had a good laugh about it together and ended up talking about other stuff as well and noticed we have a lot in common. That’s how we became friends. When we moved into the same town, we started training together at least a few times a week.”

“Piper and I didn’t learn to know each other until Jason and she started dating a couple of years ago and they invited Percy to some party where I went with him. To be honest, I was a bit suspicious about her at first because we seemed very different but eventually we learned to respect each other’s qualities. And here we are,” Annabeth added.

“Those are some cool stories,” Calypso said. “It seems like a funny coincidence that somehow we all ended up in this city even though most of us are from somewhere else. Like Leo is from Texas, I am from Greece…” “Speaking of him,” Annabeth had to muffle his laughter with her hand, “I believe we are finally getting some answers about his costume.”

“Oh… my gods” was all Calypso could say when she turned to the direction Annabeth was looking at. “You’re really something else.”

Leo was completely hidden inside his costume, but Calypso could practically hear him grinning at their reactions. The costume looked very much like in the movies; golden (just painted, not real gold, because there was no way Leo could afford something like that) plating forming a droid with big round eyes and an ability to speak lots and lots of different languages: C-3PO from Star Wars.

“Holy shit, dude, that looks so real.” Percy gaped at Leo. “I’m starting to understand why you spent so much time in your room the past few weeks.”

“Why C-3PO, though?” Calypso asked once she managed to put her poker face back on. “Does that have some story behind it?”

“Because, duh, it looks cool!” Leo exclaimed with a mechanical voice from inside his costume. “I dunno, ever since I first saw C-3PO as a kid I thought it would be cool to be able to build something like that. And hey, his ability to translate like all the possible languages is pretty neat. Me? I just know 3.”

“Isn’t it uncomfortable in there, though?” Calypso asked. “That thing must be heavy.”

“Sunshine, I’m always uncomfortable. But this was a childhood dream of mine so I sure as heck am not backing off now,” Leo said with determination.

“A stubborn one, aren’t you?” Calypso stated. “Even I have to admit, though, that you have certainly done some thorough job with it. Hey, I should take photos before I forget! You don’t get to see this every day.”

The others dug their phones up as well and for a while Leo just made silly poses while they took pictures, clearly enjoying the attention his costume got. Eventually he started demanding that Calypso should join him for the photos but she was a bit hesitant at first.

Leo argued: “Come on. Greek mythology meets Star Wars? You don’t see a crossover like that every day.”

“Can’t argue with that, I suppose,” Calypso said and went next to him. “Well, do we have some kind of story for Calypso and C-3PO’s meeting?” she asked as Percy and Annabeth waved at them to look at the camera.

Leo considered her question for a moment. “Oh, how about this? C-3PO somehow ends up on Calypso’s island - because duh, Calypso is cursed so she can’t leave the island…”

“You seem to know surprisingly much about Greek mythology, just saying…” Calypso noted while trying to smile for the photos, resting her hand on the metallic shoulder.

“I told ya, Sunshine, you can blame tía Callida for that…” Leo reminded her. “Anyway, I imagine those two don’t really like each other at first because they’re so different but eventually they learn to respect each other’s skills; C-3PO can translate basically any language and Calypso is good at all kinds of handiworks, which is hard for a droid.”

“And? What happens after that?” Calypso asked curiously.

Leo considered it for a moment. “C-3PO doesn’t really wanna leave Calypso’s island but he has galaxies to save with his friend R2-D2 so he has to go but he promises to come get her afterwards.”

“Aw, Leo, that is kind of sweet,” Calypso commented, suddenly aware of the metal arm that had snuck around her waist. “Does he… does he ever return, though? Shouldn’t that be impossible?”

“For a human, maybe, but he’s a droid,” Leo noted. “Unfortunately during a big battle he blows up badly but the ever so faithful R2-D2 collects the pieces and finds someone who can rebuild him again. And boom, he makes it back and lives happily ever after with his goddess.”

“What’s the term you use when you enjoy a fictional relationship a lot?” Calypso asked. “Shipping?” Annabeth nodded at her. “I don’t know, Leo, to me it sounds like you ship those two. Isn’t that a bit weird?” “What, why would that be weird? I’ve seen people ship…”

“I see these two have gotten into a full on nerd mode again,” Annabeth said quietly to Percy while they were waiting for the flatmates to stop their bickering so they’d be able to take the photos. “Not projecting themselves into their characters, right?”

“No, definitely not,” Percy agreed.

Eventually Leo and Calypso stopped bickering and Annabeth was able to take the pictures. Even if Leo was mostly hidden by his costume, Calypso felt a bit self conscious about the fact that these were the first photos of them together. They did a few goofy poses because Annabeth and Percy told them to, but Calypso thought she probably looked more embarrassed than funny in them.

Once they were done, Leo went to Annabeth who was going through the photos and bowed his head a bit to see them better. “Hey, these do look pretty cool! It’s probably just the lighting but here you look like you’re blushing to some funny comment C-3PO made.”

“Show me!” Calypso yelped nervously and took the phone from Annabeth. When she saw it, she could immediately tell Leo was not wrong; she really was blushing. “Yeah, it’s definitely those candles in the background that do it… And I think it’s pretty warm in here, maybe all the people here heat this room…”

“OK, if you say so,” Leo said but Calypso imagined that he was looking at her suspiciously through his costume.

Trying to get the others’ attention to something else, she said: “So, who else has arrived so far?”

“Nico and Will. I think they went to get some snacks from the dining room,” Piper, who had just entered the room, answered.

“Leo told me that Nico is Jason’s relative, but what about Will?” Calypso asked her.

“Will is Nico’s boyfriend. This is the first time we’re meeting him but they seem very good together. At least he seems to have a grounding effect on Nico, and he actually listens to him, unlike most of us. Um, sorry, it’s a long story, one that I should probably save for another time. Nico may be a bit hard to approach sometimes but he is a very nice guy when you learn to know him. Just… been through a lot. I guess like many of us here. But he seems way happier now,” Piper said, and as if on cue, they could hear some distant laughter coming from the dining room.

“We should start a traumatized college kids’ club,” Leo attempted to joke, and the others hummed in agreement. Maybe she did belong to this group after all, Calypso thought. If only they knew, though…

“This just got cheerful,” Percy said, interrupting Calypso’s thought process. “Who���s up for blue candies? Get them before Will and Nico eat them all.”

“I heard that, Jackson!” Nico entered the room without a warning. “No offense to you or your mom but blue candies aren’t exactly my thing.”

“Hi, Nico,” Percy greeted him, seeming a bit flustered after Nico’s comment. “You haven’t met Calypso, right?” He pointed at her.

“No, I haven’t,” Nico took a quick look at her and crossed his arms over his chest.

“Alright, in that case, this is Calypso Astal. And Calypso, this is Nico di Angelo,” Percy introduced them to each other.

“Nice to meet you,” Calypso approached him, but he seemed to evaluate her for a moment before he took her hand.

“Likewise,” Nico said finally. “I think Jason has mentioned you a few times.”

“Oh. That’s nice,” Calypso said a bit unsurely, like every time she met a new person. The lonely years still had a toll on her, and even though she liked spending time with her friends, meeting new people was always a bit nerve wracking to her. “You’re his relative, right?”

“A distant cousin,” Nico answered. “Yeah, our fathers are related, but I have my mother’s last name and Jason has his.”

“I take it your mother has roots elsewhere, based on the last name?” Calypso asked.

“She was Italian,” Nico shrugged. “I lived there my first years too. But now I can barely remember those times.”

Calypso noticed the use of past tense, but she thought it was probably better to not ask about that in the middle of a party. “Oh. I’ve been to Italy a few times. I’m originally from Greece.”

“What brought you here, then?” Nico asked.

“Dad’s work,” Calypso responded in a tone that told everyone she wouldn’t elaborate on that topic more. It seemed to have become a habit to her.

“Anyway,” Leo, who had managed to stay quiet for a surprisingly long amount of time in Calypso’s opinion, stepped forward and cleared his throat. “Nico, a little bird told me,” he looked at Jason, “that your boyfriend is a Star Wars geek. Is that true?”

Nico took one look at Leo’s costume and his mouth twitched when he realized why Leo was asking. “He is, but don’t let him get started on it, or else he will never stop. Besides, he’s not my boyfriend, I prefer calling him…”

“A significant nuisance?” Will showed up from the dining room, carrying a plate full of food. “Don’t mind him, he just warms up a bit slow.”

“Yes, this is Will,” Nico sighed, addressing those who hadn’t met them before. “Sometimes he’s a nuisance, sometimes he can be quite OK. When he’s having a good day.”

“Same back at you, dear,” Will laughed. “Did I hear someone mention Star Wars, though?”

“You did,” Leo said, stepping forward so Will could see his costume better. Needless to say, Will looked beyond thrilled.

“Oh boy, here we go again,” Nico said quietly before Will even had time to comment on the costume.

“Woah, that must be the best C-3PO costume I’ve seen. And yeah, I’ve seen a few so I don’t compliment you for nothing,” Will assured.

“Thanks, man, I did spend quite a while with it,” Leo said, high fiving Will. “Glad someone here appreciates good things.”

“I still hope you’re not one of those fans who have only seen the most recent movies and not the originals,” Will noted.

“Heck, no!” Leo exclaimed immediately. “The original three for the win! Mom and I used to watch them a lot… um, when I was little. She was a big fan. But the newer ones just don’t feel the same.” Calypso had a feeling Leo had almost said something else, but he had changed his phrasing at the last moment.

“You have a pretty good taste,” Will said approvingly. Then he finally realized he hadn’t even asked Leo and Calypso’s names before getting into the geek mode.

“So, who are you two? I already met Percy and Annabeth earlier but I don’t think I know you guys yet.”

“I’m Leo Valdez, and this is my, um, flatmate, Calypso Astal,” Leo introduced. Calypso hoped there was a better word to describe their relationship than a ‘flatmate’ but at the moment it was probably the best and the safest option there was.

“Flatmates, huh?” Will repeated. “How did that happen?”

“I was in a hurry to find a roof over my head so I put in the application that I also accept mixed flats,” Calypso replied. “I didn’t meet Leo beforehand because, um, that would have been a bit difficult to arrange in this case, but it worked out OK.” Calypso noticed Leo was looking at her from the corner of his eye, and she realized she had never even talked about that option before. The truth was that she had had to plan her leaving very thoroughly so her father wouldn’t notice and she had driven to Indianapolis as fast as possible, with no time for second guessing.

“And my flat happened to have a room free because our boy Jason decided to move in with Beauty Queen,” Leo added to that story. “It’s really no stranger than that.”

“Oh, right, someone must have mentioned that you and Jason used to be flatmates,” Will recalled. “I just didn’t connect the dots.”

Jason had apparently finished welcoming the rest of the guests because he joined the group in the living room. “That reminds me, I don’t think I’ve asked you, Calypso, if Leo still leaves his dishes undone and if he has empty milk cartons in the fridge.”

“He used to do that?” Calypso asked with amusement. “After seeing his room that’s not so hard to picture, but no, he’s been pretty tidy in the common area. Although one time he bribed me to do his dishes for him in exchange for some of his food.”

“It was a good deal!” Leo protested. “You didn’t have to cook and you also got to taste some Valdez’ sizzling hot quesadillas so I’d say it was a win-win. Besides, you didn’t seem to have anything against that.”

“Alright, I will admit the quesadillas were pretty good,” Calypso conceded. “But a true gentleman offers them without even asking. Well, other than that he’s been OK,” she told Jason with a playful twinkle in her eye.

“I guess he really is able to change his habits, then,” he replied. “At least when the flatmate is someone he...”

Before Jason had time to finish his sentence, Leo intervened: “Folks, do we really have to be talking about my cleaning habits in front of people I don’t know? The first impressions are important, especially when it comes to Supersized McShizzle!”

“We’re just being honest, Repair Boy.” Calypso couldn’t resist booping his metal covered nose. Apparently she just didn’t know how to not cross the line with this boy, she sighed in her mind.

“Is that all? Where’s the feisty Sunshine I know?,” Leo said in a low tone, so the others could barely hear his comment, coming out almost flirty.

“Shut up,” Calypso answered equally quietly but held her gaze at him.

“Ahem,” they suddenly heard Piper’s voice behind them. “In case you’ve stopped with the flirting, I’d like you to meet a couple of people.”

Calypso turned to see the newcomers and as she recognized the Hunter badges both of them had attached to their shirts, something in her mind just suddenly turned off.

[incorrect-spiderson]

okay so I saw all the au stuff you were posting and starting thinking about a harry potter golden trio au. Peter as harry, Ned as ron and MJ as hermione. Who would everyone else be in the hp storyline (in your opinion).

Oh haven’t had this one yet!

Flash is Draco. You can’t change my mind. They’re too similar to not have Flash be Draco.

Thor is Hagrid because he’s big and intimidating at first but tbh he’s a softy. When I think if this Theo tho I think of post-endgame Thor? To me post endgame in the battle with Thanos he looks more godly. Because sure everyone loves a ripped sexy god of lighting but he will forever be lord of the Himbos so I don’t care what he looks like. He looks more like a true Norwegian representation of a god. Anyways yeah he also likes dragons.

Tbh.. gotta say... I wasn’t sure where to put everyone else. But then I got an idea.

So with Ned being an equivalent of Ron he had a big family. I’d say though it isn’t big enough to the point where he gets made fun of like ron did though. So instead I came up with a different idea.

The Avengers Initiative or TAI

In this AU being an Avenger gets you bullied at hogwarts. Why? It’s basically a home for powerful wizards and witches who can’t or don’t want to conform into the muggle world or necessarily live in the wizard world. (Work in progress but it’s what I have). Normal people in the wizard world don’t know much about it because it’s kept somewhat of a secret. So most people think it’s like a runaway home or some something like that.

Tony is the son of one of the most renowned wizards to ever become extremely famous in both the wizard of and muggle worlds. He wasn’t much of a fan of the muggle world, but he wasn’t forced into fame there as a child. So when his parents were murdered, he faked his own death in the muggle world. The Hogwarts headmaster (undetermined because I don’t think Fury fits) invites him to a new program. (TAI)

Steve was a muggle. He didn’t develop his magic until later in life as his mother told him before she died. He developed his skills by himself for a while with the help of his friend Bucky, who was also a wizard but obvs couldn’t tell Steve. Bucky disappears one year when he goes off to school, leaving Steve absolutely broken. He breaks down the night he’s told that Bucky was presumed dead and there’s somewhat of an explosion? Idk. But he catches SHEILD’s eye (ministry of magic). He gets taken into custody, but Fury brings him into TAI instead.

Bruce was somewhat similar to Steve but idk. He has extremely explosive magic, he hurt people with it. He couldn’t control it. But he’s learned to manage it, help to heal.

Nat is a defective death eater. She was raised a death eater. She didn’t know otherwise. When she was enrolled in hogwarts as a child she made friends with a boy named Clint, who’s home was attacked by death eaters as a child and was injured so badly he ended up completely losing his hearing. She began seeing how bad things really were. She’s been undercover ever since. Until the day her family was murdered unjustly over a small mistake. She ran away, Fury picked her up.

Clint is there and I can’t explain why. I’m just gonna say because he’s got extremely accurate magic and rarely looses a duel. So yeah.

Thor is there because I love him okay. And Hagrid was also my emotional support character in middle school so yeah.

Okay imma be straight up and just say either Beck or Id even venture out to say Osborn is Voldemort.

Anyways hope you enjoy! If things are a bit inaccurate please just explain nicely😅 I haven’t read hp in a hot minute

[firesidebi]

she knew him for a summer

Of course the first time I decide to write fanfic for the first time in two years is the time that ao3 decides to to maintenance lmao. Anyways this was very much inspired by the posts and fics @gr33kg0ds makes about Sally and Poseidon.

--------

Day 2

He had now noticed her for a second time. This was quite unusual for him, as he had managed to break the long standing habit of glancing in the direction of mortals. He was quite content with observing a particularly well-looking one every now and then but he had finally begun to congratulate himself on the fact that he was now able to let them slip from his mind. It had been a few decades since he and his brothers promised not to entangle themselves with humans and he was quite positive that none of them had broken that particular oath. 

It was hard at first, glancing past the mortals. He had never quite realized how much his eyes seemed to linger on them until he was told he was no longer allowed to. The first couple of years were hard, especially when they approached him. He was not used to resisting the urge to offer a beautiful girl a crooked grin, not used to having to restrain flashing his sea-green eyes in the direction of a handsome mortal man. He knew that he was probably getting along better than Zeus but that did not mean that he was entirely without suffering. But as the years went on it became easier and easier. Now, on the off chance that he visited the mortal world, he was used to rejecting the individuals that attempted to throw themselves at him. He no longer felt the overwhelming desire to approach a beautiful human and woo them away from whomever was already occupying their time. He was content with observing. 

He was strolling on the shore when he once again saw the young woman with long black curls and warm brown skin. The sun had set not too long ago and the pier was filled with the sounds of mortals laughing and cheering over the various games and rides they were occupying themselves with. The beach was no longer as crowded as it had been earlier that same day and he was quite content with the ambient noise of the boardwalk and waves around him. However, the noise was soon interrupted by a shriek. Jumping slightly, he turned around and glanced over at a small group entertaining themselves around a tiny bonfire. Laughter was now coming from the group as a girl with blonde hair tied up in a ponytail shoved her friend, who was shaking with laughter. Even from his distance, he was able to notice how her laugh made her whole body shake, causing her curls to bounce around her shoulders. In the midst of her laughter she glanced up in his direction and the two made eye contact. He quickly looked away, pretending not to notice how her eyes softened with recognition from their encounter the previous day. He continued to stroll down the beach. 

Day 8

“You know you are going to have to tell me your name eventually Mr. Stranger,” she said as she waded through the water. “It’s not fair that I’ve told you mine and you keep holding yours against me.”

He chuckled and splashed some water in her direction, causing her to stumble back in a poor attempt to evade it. 

“I don’t understand why you insisted on going in the water if every time I go to splash you-.”

“We’ve already had this discussion Fish Boy,” she laughed. “If I wanted to get wet I would go under the water myself.”

“Did you just call me Fish Boy?” he asked incredulously. 

She offered him a radiant grin that he was growing more and more fond of as the days passed on. At first it had been a fleeting sense of satisfaction any time he managed to pull one out of her, but now he began to notice that he was going out of his way to see if he could produce the reaction from her. 

“Don’t pretend that I haven’t noticed how they swarm around you from time to time. For a public beach they don’t seem to really know to stay away from the shore.”

“It’s not my fault that they’re drawn to me,” he huffed. And it was true, it wasn’t his fault that they came over to him so close to the mortals. He was their ruler and they were his subjects, of course they would come over to him for aid or out of curiosity. 

“Are you sure that you haven’t laced yourself with fish food?” she asked. 

“Believe me, they hate that stuff,” he said. “Unless a fish has only grown up without any other alternative those thin flakes are absolutely disgusting compared to what they could be having.”

“And you know this how?” she laughed.

He turned to face her and noticed that she had moved closer to him yet again. Despite the protests from his splashing, she still seemed to be drawn to him. He didn’t know if it was because of his godly-ness or if she simply liked to be in close proximity to him. A small part of him hoped for the later. 

“I know this Sally Jackson,” he smirked. “Because as you have so kindly pointed out, the fish like to converse with me.”

She rolled her eyes at him and waded deeper into the water. 

“Don’t tell me then,” she said. “But mark my words Fish Boy, I will find out your secrets!”

He let out a laugh of his own as she dove into the water, purposely kicking her legs up to splash him. 

Day 20

She had seen him. Of course, mortals were always prone to viewing the actions of gods but the mist covered it up. He had seen it over the millennia, the mist disguising his conflicts both on land and in the sea. How many times had he been battling one of the many monsters that had resurged from Tartarus for it to be reported as nothing more than a sudden hurricane on the mortal news? That was the point of the mist after all, for the mortals not to see. For them not to have any inkling of the godly world.

But Sally had seen him. 

These last two weeks had been dangerous for him. He knew he should not be getting close with any mortal but for some reason he still couldn’t manage to break whatever was forming between him and Sally Jackson. She was enchanting like no mortal had ever been before. She was carefree and did not seem to care that those around them would falter while sparing a passing glance at him. She did not hesitate to roll her eyes at him when he made a particularly bad joke or glare at him when he still refused to tell her his name (though now she had made a guessing game out of it, hoping to trip him up one day). Her laugh moved through her whole body and he couldn’t help but look her way when he heard the melodic sound escape from her lips. The last two weeks of spending time in the sun with her had caused her already brown skin to darken even further and made the soft sprinkling of freckles adorning her face and shoulders deepen. She was mesmerizing and dangerous and she had somehow seen him through the mist. 

He wasn’t doing anything particularly damning, nothing that would cause the mist to have to exaggerate its hold over the eyes of mortals. The sun had gone down not too long ago and the beach was not particularly crowded in the area he occupied. This was good, for even though he had been spending most of his time on land he still had business to attend to in the sea. A hippocampi had tracked him down to update him on the conflicts in the southern Atlantic. As god of the sea, it was up to him to find a way to settle the issue without too many repercussions on either side. He was caught up in the information and did not hear the soft footsteps from behind him, if he had he may have had time to think of an explanation. 

“So,” he heard a familiar voice drawl and a pit developed in his stomach. “You weren’t lying when you said you talked to the fish.”

Sensing the change in atmosphere, the hippocampi dove back under the water without any preamble and left his king without any means to explain himself. 

“I-,” he stuttered as he turned around to face the shorter woman. She had her arms crossed and was looking up at him with an indiscernible expression. “I don’t understand what you mean.”

Sally rolled her eyes and took a step closer. Although he was immortal and had dealt with conflicts much more heinous than this, he had been absent of the dread that lay within his chest for a long time now. He had grown unfamiliar with the piercing gaze of a mortal that did not worship him. 

“This stuff,” she said, gesturing to the ocean. “This stuff is something I have lived my life seeing. Nobody else seems to see it and everyone calls me crazy. Are you going to be like them?”

“No,” he spluttered. 

He hadn’t even hesitated.  

“Then I want you to start explaining yourself,” Sally said coolly. “I want you to explain what the fuck I just saw, why I am seeing it, and how you’re involved with all of it.” 

“You’re going to think it’s crazy, mortals always do.”

She didn’t falter at his use of the word ‘mortal.’ Instead, she stepped closer to him and looked up at him defiantly. 

“Try me,” she whispered. 

He opened his mouth and then closed it. He didn’t want to scare her off but something in the back of his mind told him that if she wasn’t scared off by now then she would never be. Something even further back told him that it would be better for everyone if she was scared. Shoving aside his thoughts he reached out his hand and took hers into it, silently pleased that she had not flinched away from his touch. 

“Let’s take a walk Sally Jackson,” he said softly. “And I shall tell you everything.” 

Day 29

It had been almost a month since he had been drawn to Sally. It had been over a week now that she knew of his identity and everything else that came with it. But she had not ran from him or his proclamation that he was ‘Poseidon the Almighty God of the Sea.’ She had taken his words in stride and did not interrupt him once during their entire conversation. Sally had saved all her questions for the end. 

“Why am I able to see through the mist?”

“So that first day I saw you, the trident you were holding wasn’t a prop?”

“My parents were killed in an unexplained crash, is that the fault of your brother?” 

“Why are you here?”

Of all the questions she had posed he had tried to give her an honest explanation for each of them. He didn’t know why she could see through the mist, nor if his brother was involved in any of the suffering she had gone through. The only question that had remained unanswered was her inquiry about his presence. He didn’t want to lie to her and say he didn’t know, he knew well enough why he had decided to dwell in the mortal world for so much longer than he allowed himself these past couple of decades. He knew that every time she leaned on him he could feel the same spot she had rested herself burning that very night back in his palace. He knew that every time she looked up at him he felt as if he had found something that had been missing for a long time. Every smile and laugh that he brought out of her presented him with a deep sense of satisfaction that he was the one able to make her react in such a way. 

He knows why he is here. And he thinks that she knows to. 

Day 35

They’re drinking and he can imagine the jibes that Dionysus would be sending his way if he could see him. He prided himself on not overly indulging himself at parties and gatherings on Olympus, leaving that to Dionysus and Apollo or even Aphrodite if it was a particularly good party. 

The party he was at currently did not even begin to scratch the surface of extravagant. However, what this party had that others in the past had lacked was Sally Jackson. 

When Sally had invited him to the bonfire party he hadn’t really expected much. That second time he had seen her he had gotten the gist of what it would entail. But he was weak around her and couldn’t reject the opportunity to spend more time with her. When they arrived she introduced him to a couple of people as the mystery guy they had been hearing so much about. 

“So what’s your name mystery man?” Sally’s blonde friend asked while handing him a plastic cup that smelled a bit too strong to be simply a coke. He took a sip and tried not to grimace. Definitely too strong to be just a coke. 

“Does it really matter?” he asked. “It’s not like anyone here will be sober enough to remember it.” 

Sally gave him a look while the blonde girl blinked at him before letting out a laugh. Next to her, the boy with his hand around her waist was also laughing at his remark. 

“Oh man,” the boy smiled. “I understand why Sally likes you so much, you’re hot and snarky.”

“I’m not meaning to be snarky,” he replied. “I’m simply stating the truth.” 

He downed the rest of his cup while the blonde and boy laughed some more over his words. He couldn’t tell if they actually thought he was that funny or if they were just that intoxicated. Luckily, he didn’t have to ponder that thought for long, as Sally had grabbed his arm and was steering him towards the fire where the music was considerably louder. At some point during their short walk over there he had accumulated another drink courtesy of his escort who now also held a plastic cup of not-coke in her hand. 

“Come on Fish Boy,” she said while knocking back the rest of her drink before tossing it on the sand. “Dance with me.”

“I hope you plan on picking that up,” he answered as she put her arms around him. “Litter and pollution are some of my biggest problems right now and I would hate to be seen with someone who so carelessly disregards the environment.” 

“Don’t worry Poseidon, I’ll clean up all of my garbage if you do me the honor of dancing with me.” 

She smiled and began to move inviting him to place his hands upon her hips as she moved to rhythm. He hoped that the light of the fire and the alcohol made it so she wasn’t able to see him flush at the sound of her using his name. Taking a breath he quickly chugged the rest of his drink before tossing his own cup down on the ground. He placed his hands on her hips and guided her closer to him. He let out a laugh of his own as Sally took his hand and made him twirl her.

Day 36

Dionysus would definitely be laughing at him if he could see just how much a drunken fool he was in this moment. The party was technically still going on but somehow he had drunk enough to make himself tipsy, a goal not so easily obtained by a god. Sally was also slightly intoxicated but not so much that she needed to be carried back to the cabin she had rented out for the summer. Still, she didn’t hesitate to take him up on his offer of steadying her as he walked her home. 

“Such a gentleman you are,” she smirked when he had asked. 

She fumbled with her keys when they arrived but was able to unlock the door without any assistance. He tried not to let his curiosity shine as he took in the place that she had made her home for the past month. The kitchen was small and there was no table to eat at. There was however a small, dingy looking couch and television. Scattered around the kitchen counters and couch were a handful of books that he recalled Sally mentioning to him on a couple of occasions. 

“It’s not much,” she said. He noticed that she looked a little bit bashful as she noticed him taking in everything. “It’s all I have at the moment but I’ve done my best within the renting parameters.” 

“I think it’s perfect,” he said. He guessed it was the right thing to say because she quickly turned around and moved toward the kitchen, trying to hide her blush in the process. 

“Can I get you anything to drink? I’m not familiar with what gods need to do to sober up.”

“Some water would be nice,” he said. He moved on over to the kitchen. Sally didn’t seem to notice his change in location and so when she turned to walk back over to him she jumped, causing some of the water to spill out of the glass she had poured for him. 

“Crap, I’m so sorry,” she apologized. “I swear I didn’t mean to spill something on you.” 

He chuckled and took the glass from her hand, drinking the remaining water left in the cup. Without saying a word he lifted his free hand and ever so slightly summoned the spilled water back into the glass. He put the glass down on the counter and met her eyes which had finally started to look like what he was used to seeing out of mortals. 

“So,” she whispered. “You really are a god.”

“Did you not believe me?” he asked, his voice softer than it had been before. 

“I believed you,” she sighed. “But still…”

“Still?” he asked. 

“It’s still crazy,” she explained. “I mean, I go my whole life having all this weird stuff happening around me and then you show up and offer an explanation for it? What do you gain by doing that?”

He could hear the unspoken question in her words. Why are you here?

“I didn’t offer you an explanation to gain anything,” he said. “I offered you one because you deserved it.”

“Why are you still here then? I have my explanation, the gods are real. Monsters are real. They’re real and powerful and have been following me my entire life.”

“Do you want me to go?” he asked in a whisper. He could tell that she was getting frustrated and confused. He knew that performing parlor tricks with the water brought that out in mortals but he hadn’t been thinking. He was with her and he was slightly tipsy and it had been so long since he had allowed himself to feel this way about a mortal. A mortal that could see him clearer than anyone had ever been able to. But if she wanted him gone he could do that. He could leave for her. 

“I don’t know,” she confessed after a moment. “You’ll have to leave at some point right?”

“Yes,” he said. He would not sugar coat anything for her and she was correct in her assumption. He would have to leave at some point. 

“When?”

“I don’t know.” 

(And he didn’t.)

“But I can stay right now.” 

(And he could.)

She looked up at him and studied him for a while but he didn’t stop to question it. He could see her brows furrowing while trying to figure him out and process their entire fucked up situation. He was a god and she was a mortal. He would have to leave her and it would pain him to do so. He was not meant for the land and she was not meant for the sea. 

“Stay,” she whispered as her brows unfurrowed. 

He nodded his head before leaning downwards and pulling her face to his. He no longer cared about the agreement or the prophecy that threatened Olympus. All he cared about was how soft her lips felt against his and how perfectly she fit into his arms as he lifted her up.

Day 57

The sound of the rain softly hitting the roof of the cabin was muffled by the sound of her laughter. 

“You mean to tell me,” Sally laughed. “You mean to tell me that all these years you have lived you have never, not once, made pancakes?”

“I didn’t think it would be that hard!” he scoffed. 

“It’s not!” she exclaimed in between her giggles. “Only you could somehow find a way to make the simplest meals turn into rocket science.” 

“Well excuse me for trying to be romantic,” he huffed, now embarrassed by the situation. He turned away from her but felt her touch on his arm. 

“Hey,” she said. He turned to face her and her expression had gone from shifted from amusement to fondness. He felt that familiar sense of pride deep in his chest out of the satisfaction that he was the reason for those softened features. 

“Why don’t I teach you how to make some pancakes,” she offered. “That way the next time you want to be romantic you won’t ruin the kitchen that I’m renting.” 

She took his hand and led him into the kitchen so that they could clean up his mess together. All the while his mind kept whispering, “I love you. I love you. I love you.” 

Day 64

Nevermind a confession of love, this was the dangerous part. 

The way her body writhed underneath his and how her nails scratched down his back as he pushed into her. The sound of his name leaving her lips in-between the tiny moans and pants she let out as he did his best to pleasure her. 

“Fuck,” she moaned. 

And she was fucked. And so was he. The two of them were utterly and completely fucked because despite the pleasure and the want of being wrapped up in her, he knew that this was dangerous. He knew that if he truly loved and cared for her he would have left that night after the bonfire before they got past the point of no return. 

But as she called out his name again and he looked down and saw how utterly wrecked she looked because of what he was doing to her he was able to quell his worries. In front of him was a woman more beautiful than any mortal or god or nymph. Here in this old and used bed was a woman worthy of breaking an oath for. 

Day 75

“I have a wife,” he confesses one night, long after they had finished pleasuring each other. She was curled around him and running her fingers up and down his chest as he played with her hair. 

“Amphitrite, right?” she asked. 

“Yes,” he whispered. He was so afraid of her judgement but it did not come. Instead she shifted herself closer to him. 

“Do you love her?”

“I do,” he said. “But differently than how I love you.”

She hummed and nuzzled her face into his side. He knew that this was an invitation to continue on if he wanted to but knew she would not hold it against him if he failed to speak anymore on the matter. 

“She,” he began. “She’s like me. Immortal. She has been around long enough to see the world change and progress. She’s a constant reminder of my own godliness, a reminder that I have a role and duty to fulfill. Part of me is thankful for that, she grounds me in the godly world and is there when I need a reminder of what I am. Eons ago, when I was much younger and full of rage, she was the only one who would be able to calm me down to stop the ocean from spilling out.”

Sally was looking at him now, her head perched up and no longer half-asleep. He was so nervous telling her this but she made no protest at his admissions. 

“I think that when I leave she will be the only person able to quench the rage in me for not being able to stay with you,” he confessed. “I love you so much Sally and it’s going to hurt so much when it’s time for me to go but know that the type of love I have for my wife is a companionship. And that when the ocean rages and then calms it is her stopping me from putting you in any more danger.” 

“Does she know about me?” Sally asks after a long moment of silence. So long that he had begun to think she had fallen asleep. 

“I think she does. I think she suspects. And if she suspects then my brothers may start to suspect.” 

“What aren’t you telling me Poseidon?” she whispers. “Why is it so dangerous?”

And so he tells her about the prophecy and the measures that his brothers and the rest of the gods would go to in order to make sure that it doesn’t come to fruition. He tells her about the oath and the fact that he is the only one to have broken the oath which puts her in so much danger. No other mortal had been able to tempt them, only Sally Jackson. And that power is dangerous. 

Day 84

He can’t find it within himself to be upset when she tells him. He can’t find it in himself to be anything but absolutely ecstatic. He takes her into his arms and twirls her around on the shore and it’s so much like the start of their time together. The weather has gotten colder and Amphitrite has already confronted him about his time spent away from home. He knows what this means if she has had to step in. He knows that the others are conversing with her and that she has loyally covered for him despite being so undeserving of that loyalty. 

But when Sally tells him that she’s pregnant, her expression unreadable because of her own lingering fear of his reaction, he can’t help but to take her into his arms and kiss her. It’s only after seeing his own joy that she allows the smile he loves so much to unfurl and lets out a joyous laugh as he whispers how much he loves her into her ear. 

He ignores the slight rumble of thunder in the sky. 

When they get back to the cabin that night they celebrate by eating breakfast for dinner and having a contest to see who can create the most extravagant ice cream sundae. They kiss and have sex and tangle themselves up together in a way that they both have grown used to over the weeks spent like this together. He tells her stories of heroes and skillfully omits the unhappy endings from their stories. He knows that she is well-versed in myths and most likely knows the information he leaves out. He tells her that these demigods all received training and that they’re still able to.

“The camp protects them,” he whispers in her ear as they drift off to sleep. “It trains them and prepares them for the rest of their life.” 

Day 92

“You could come with me,” he offers. “I can build you a palace and we can raise our son together, away from the eyes of my brothers and away from the prophecy.”

They stand on the beach, his feet touching the water and hers touching the sand. The hippocampi had come to him that morning, delivering a message from Amphitrite. 

“Husband,” the note read. “Things are looking bad here. While I understand you have...business in the mortal realm that we can discuss later on, the kingdom grows suspicious of your lack of presence. Triton inquires about your whereabouts and he is not as understanding as I am. Please, I believe it would be in the best interest for everyone if you were able to wrap up your business and return home. Reinstate the fact that you're their king and prevent any more surprise visits from the other Olympians.”

He offered the note to Sally earlier but she shook her head and gave it back to him. She told him it wasn’t her place to read it and that she understood that it was time. 

“I prepared for this, remember?” she smiled. “When this started I knew you had to leave one day.”

“I knew that too,” he said. “But there’s still a way-,” 

“No Poseidon,” she said firmly. She offered no explanation but he understood. When this whole thing started between them he knew that she was never offering to follow him back to the sea. He was agreeing to stay as long as he could with her and when the time for him to leave came she would let him go. 

How is he supposed to do the same with her?

“Sally I love you so much,” he said. “And I love our child so much. Make sure they know that.”

He had told her that he probably wouldn’t be able to visit either of them. He saw the hurt in her eyes when he had told her but it had to be said, he would be honest with her one last time before leaving. 

She nodded her head and he cupped her face in his hands for one final time. He leaned down and kissed her softly on the forehead and pretended not to hear the shaky gasp she let out at the feeling of his lips on her skin. He wouldn’t indulge himself in her lips. He wouldn’t do that to them, when their parting was already so hard. 

He whispered one last declaration of love before separating himself from her and turning towards the sea. The waves crashed down roughly on the sand, betraying his outrage at the entire situation. But he knew that Amphitrite would be there to help him through this and knew that as long as he walked into the water both Sally and their child would be safe. And that was enough for him. 

[kegareki]

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

[novarasalas]

Second Look Review: Shadows

I love a good villain origin story, especially one that doesn’t feature the heroes in any way, except mentioned in passing and with disdain. And this episode certainly delivers.

This piece is actually coming off as more meta than review. Also, there’s a lot about Honerva and Lotor that I’ve talked about in the past and reference here. Click through my “Honerva” tag and you should find all of it, mostly in the form of answered asks. (psst..is Tunglr still fuxing with links? I want to direct link to things, but...you know.)

This one's for you, Honerva anon. Please never change.

Let’s get started.

-

Bringing on the Heartache

Once again, I have to say, every time I see pre-corruption Honerva and Zarkon, it breaks my heart.

These two loved each other so much.

And Lotor was so wanted.

What a tragedy.

- -

Blood Sacrifice

And here we have flashbacks.

This whole sequence isn’t very clear, actually. It moves from the present and into flashbacks without much preamble. On my first watch-through, this threw me a bit, taking me out of the moment as I struggled to figure out what was going on.

Given this these disjointed transitions, and the fact that it’s never explained, it took me a bit to figure out what was happening, what Honerva was doing.

At first, I thought that as she was draining people’s Quintessence, she was getting glimpses of her past as Haggar, but now I've realized that the flashbacks were only for our benefit.

Her actions at the Kral Zera were twofold: she meant to undo the Empire by killing the remaining warlords vying for the throne, and also to gather enough Quintessence to connect with Lotor to find him.

And the last thing she needed for that, I’m assuming, was to sacrifice something that meant a lot to him.

Goddammit.

This is continuing with the idea that Honerva is willing to sacrifice everything to save Lotor. And entire planet, her husband, even her cat for god’s sake...no one is safe.

Also, I just realized that she’s taken the flame Lotor lit at the Kral Zera. His cat and his flame, then..the only two things left of him.

Also, we’re solidifying the fact that the Galra, or at least the Empirical Galra, are as vampires. And it’s still meant to contrast nicely with the Alteans, who are said to be “life-givers.”

…...that felt really bad to type out.

- - - 

Deification of the Son

Can I admit something?

I’d forgotten that the Alteans on the colony were said to have worshiped Lotor. It seems like so long ago at this point, and so much has happened in the meantime.

Romelle: And over time, the Alteans came to worship Lotor as their savior.

-

Romelle: [This was the world I was born into,] one of unquestioning devotion to a supposed messiah.

But this brought it all back to me.

Honerva:[speaking of the Galra] Your ways weakened a god.

Now this? This is interesting.

I get that the Alteans may have felt this way about Lotor. For generations they’d been told about how he’d saved them, protected them, cared for them. And given that he’s been alive all these years...yeah. I can see why they’d see him in a godly manner.

But why would Honerva feel this way? Why deify him herself?

Well...it’s not actually about Lotor. It hasn’t been since she entered the rift.

Lotor’s feats of alchemy are impressive, if you completely ignore the fact that he’s not the one performing them. He didn’t “pierce the veil”, Allura did. He didn't give Sincline it’s powers, Allura did. He only orchestrated it.

But by elevating Lotor to a god, she elevates herself further. In her speech to the gathered warlords at the Kral Zera, she says:

This flame represents Lotor, son of Zarkon, prince turned emperor, emperor that pierced the veil.

And my Altean blood coursed through his veins.

What a statement.

You see, Lotor is her’s. She created him. And if he’s a god, than she is the creator of a god. A flawed god, but one who’s best qualities he most certainly got from her.

Don’t get much better than that, huh?

And I feel like the Alteans of the colony agree.

Merla: We pledge our allegiance to you, Honerva, mother of Lotor.

And that statue was there in Lotor’s time. He knew that they worshiped him. I guess he had no problem wit that. Like mother, like son I suppose.

Ya know, it’s kinda weird watching an actual cult being formed.

Honerva: May the light guide you.

Yikes.

- - - - 

The Exile

It’s hard having the father that refuses to be happy with anything you do. When you grow up like that, you waste so much time trying to please them, to get them to love you. And it’s usually all for nothing.

We all learn this the hard way. It uh...it’s not typically as hard a lesson as Lotor learns here.

By all accounts, he’s done everything right. He’s done what his father wants, and exceeded all expectations. But he didn’t do it the way his father wanted it done, so he may as well have done nothing at all.

It’s..a familiar feeling. This scene got me real good.

The rush of adrenaline you get as you stand up to your asshole dad for the first time is nearly intoxicating. You know, deep in your heart, that you’re right. You know that he’s being unreasonable. And you’ve had enough, so you say your piece.

And then, as it all comes crashing back down, and you realize how much power this man still has over you, and how your retribution is swiftly coming...well, it’s enough to make you sick.

But it’s no good. The damage has been done. You face your punishment.

Yeah...this still gets me real good. Added bonus of enabler mother, too.

….I keep feeling like I’m telling you all too much, but I really want you to understand where I’m coming from.

I feel for Lotor, I really do. He tried so hard, but there was no getting through to Zarkon at this point - there really hasn’t been much of Zarkon left since the rift incident. He’s only base instincts at this point, all power mad and unfeeling.

And now I”m going to say a few things about Lotor because, well...he doesn’t really show up again, does he?

My first point is that I wanted so desperately to see him come back, to start making up for the things he’d done.

He’d obviously picked up on his parents worst habits. In season 3, he was very much a threat; maybe not as much as Zarkon had been, but he was certainly far more clever.

I wanted to see him acknowledge these things in himself and work to rid himself of them once and for all. It would have been cathartic for me, because that’s something that I had to work on myself.

So to that end, I’m very upset that I didn’t get to have that; that neither of us got to have that.

With that said…

Lotor did some terrible things. He wasn’t some soft, baby; a poor, helpless abuse victim. He’s been an adult for a long time now. And when you’re an adult, you have to begin taking responsibility for the things you say and do.

I spent so long with my bastard dad that, even though I tried very hard not to, I picked up some of his personality traits. For a while, I was just the worst. But eventually, I came to realize these things in myself and I had to decide to make the change. I found my own redemption.

When we meet Lotor, he’s conniving. He has no problem torturing Throk. He has no problem luring Voltron into a situation where they might be killed.

He killed Narti.

Now, I do have to say, watching him do that, I was thinking “I understand the impulse”. I was surveilled too. My father's been know to show up where I am when I’m out with friends. Cameras in the house were not an impossibility. It makes you crazy, being watched like that all the time.

But he killed Narti. That’s, ya know...not ok.

I don’t think, in the end, that he was just using Allura. I’m not ever sure that at the beginning of his time with them that he was just using her. But he was keeping secret the fact that he had an entire colony of her people out there. Her people that he was using for energy production, against their will if Bandor was to be believed.

These things are not ok. I’m not sure if you can truly be redeemed from some of these.

I’m not here to judge, though. I just wanted him to have the chance to realize these things and do better, just like I had to.

I say this because, as I’d mentioned, I’ve written quite a bit on Lotor. I keep seeing all these other posts about how he’s done nothing wrong, and as an abuse victim, he can’t be held accountable.

That...has not been my experience, and it’s not a good way to look at things.

I take responsibility for the things I’ve done and said. Occasionally, someone will try to tell me that I wasn’t so bad, not really. But I was, and accepting that is part of the healing process. You have to break the cycle, and there’s no other way to do it.

Lotor didn’t get that chance. Everyone should get that chance, should they need it.

- - - - - 

Well, that got needlessly personal. Let’s get to the stuff that didn’t fit elsewhere.

This guy is Macidus, Keith’s biggest fan.

I only noticed this time around because I have the subtitles on. This show really has a problem with that. Merla is named in the subtitles in this episode as well, even though her name is only spoken once, and in the second to last episode I think.

-

This is something I enjoyed.

Through the flashbacks, we see that it took a long time to build Zarkon’s base.

Here, before the scene with very small Lotor.

And here, with grown up Lotor.

-

I’d seen somewhere someone post about how Haggar was wearing the same cloak she was in when she was dead. I believe they said it was her funeral clothes, probably something about how metal that was.

Well, I’d like to offer a different idea: She’s been wearing her maternity clothes the entire time.

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

In Summary:

Well, that was an episode. Things got explained fairly well, and we got some good backstory. Honerva has gone off the rails and has convinced the other Alteans to follow her.

What did you think? Did I miss anything important? Was I amazingly wrong about some things?

Sorry for all the...personal stuff up there. I wasn’t going to write all that at first, but it’s been on my mind. And hey, what’s the point of having a blog I you don’t use it as your own, personal confessional?

Next Up: ….wait, that’s it?

[karenfordonte]

Soul Meeting ‘Closet’ Rihanna? (not physically)

well lol FB took off my post so i have to rewrite it (i didnt even get flagged or anything so idk why lol) hm said she took it off for me to rewrite it i love this writing flow better anyways lol:

Last night i discovered with soul connecting and telepathy that There is a 'Closet' Rihanna cause she feels more detailed in her identity vibes in a non faded way her true self is faded in comparison because that form of the true self is an alternate timeline robot like shadow clone jutsu from naruto its not the original its a shadow clone. The True self functions too in the same way of once righteous that human would wanna go back in time to help fix the past so yeah the only way to do that to not mess up the god fate timelines = for certain people to get to know that true self when times are hard. Its like aka the future true self.

So when i connected last night to the closet rihanna she tried to hurt me with evil black magic vibes so i had to listen to her highest self skisst aka the first real heavenly mother to not connect with her anymore cause skisst protects me and coforts me and brings me joy best and i hate lies like the ones closet riri was trying to lie too hard so i had to disconnect for those reasons too.

When i dont connect to her i feel almost all the way cursed free. its like 96 percent done so im very happy :) im very blessed so yeah i hope all can learn to be righteous to help them get heavenly blessed godly

She's not volderdumb chaos guy but shes a remade version

the difference is closet riri can change but he cant but i call him a he even though he has riri's true forms for beauty but hes way too evil to even wear his true form so yeah he'd rather be everyones worst nightmare forms etc so yeah

im being very positive nothing really bothers me anymore here (the past used to etc curse being way less than ever still progressing)

i think the only thing curse active but not for long is very short times of lies but its very rare now and it still takes a bit to heal sometimes i have body aches randomly that i dont prefer lol but its small but

still getting nausea every morning

i threw up a tiny bit this morning

its way better than being nauseous all day off and on (since the end of 2014 end of my parents house and into the system it started but had some gaps of day(s), weeks ,or months breaks for some places i lived but still way too much) here i have a brand new life so yeah i can finally get alot more done here

been spitting out my phlegm in a bag  to try to get my cough less too been trying to smoke less:

been keeping up with my daily to do lists too (the first wednesday i went to the store later that day for new teeth hygiene stuff):

been putting stuff in my calendar too been doing so great here

jane helps me shower too she wanted to be here to clean the shower after i use it everytime cause i cant bend down long at all cause of my past spine surgery etc

i had the option to choose every 2 or 3 days so i chose every other day

but jane has weekends off so yeah

The greyish darkbrown/black wig = adrianna’s exact hair! christa told me stuff about her  that jay  said that her highschool sweet heart shes been married with so long (adrianna told me she really did marry her highschool sweet heart  they had all their kids together theyve been married a while and she never mentioned divorce like christa said  some time  after adrianna told me that she said to not tell adrianna she told me that cause its not her place to tell her buisiness) christa told me her husband cheated on adrianna jay mentioned in that video christa probably lied though

this one is about christa and dee andre some: in the video it reminds me of things christa told me some like wishing her ex husband would walk across the free way, or go to hell, or just die etc and how dee andre just uses her for money etc and how her daughter ashley doesnt like her thats christa’s quotes cause video says very same ish things here:

his finding scarlet series about my life some

jay aka he looks exactly like dee andre but dee andre isnt feminine so i think its his twin flame’s true self shape shifted as him and maybe he’s other characters jay does lol jay is super psychic godly so

(one time christa said she wanted to paint the shelf under the tv white he has that and thats nikkos new blue and red game boy lol)

btw walls =

 i heard rihanna didnt read about what happened to me till after last night i think hm is telling me she feels really bad for me now .... ima take a smoke break then been trying to fix this tumblr from missing info pics and final the drafts lol  lol

she wanted to keep everyone away by auto lie and magic attack spells but she didnt know black magic = hell and that only elantes have black in their core powers no other humans can curse people like that etc etc shes not to blame for what she didnt know is i tried to contact her last night

she hasnt been able to find my fb but i heard since i shared a ton of her posts yesterday and not alot shared those posts so

she found my new fb

and that we connected shes very nice and

she was able to be god promoted so fast

shes amazing she wasnt in the closet shes not dumb in court for justice at times skisst is the judge lol   

i think adrianna god promoted legit today lol    

adrianna wont get in trouble for putting me at christas cause christas just pro at acting sweet heart 

theres just no way she wouldve known  

without me and god

gods just make robot people where need be so the non robots can just jump in any of them at any time to make things personal if they want lol

were order not chaos

one time like one of the first days tony gave there he gave me a pepsi but skisst got to be able to refill that damn pepsi can 3 times for me magically while i was holding it in my hand out  and make it a beer buzz while awake not a dream was oit  front smoking a cig that felt like weed but it was tobacco

was before the pasta lol

ive seen some cool god magic lol

its funny when evil god kids get let  out of the closet and they thought killing me made them gods over me when they  arent immortal or have and powers like that lol

thats how dumb evil is

cause harry potter is immortal lmfao 

i think actually the kfc making green chicken christa mentioned using chemicals to change it back to normal color (i was the one that asked if heat changed the color back)

i feel fantastic every day here now and except the morning sickness but that is nothing its no big deal compared to used to have all day nausea off and on very fast offs you know

my mom used to work at kfc and she still didnt message me or text me

a caring mom would have i told kayla to give her my number i messaged her on fb etc etc still nothing 

all my mom ate for my whole pregnacy was kfc fried chicken and del taco

one time she said she dropped me on my head as a baby

years later i ask her about it

she said she meant on my bed

and why would aunty popo have to take care of me if my moms story changed: she didnt know how to take care of me so my dad did but then she said popo raised me then she said she read alot of parenting books while pregnat

but what mom that knows baseball forced me to pitch a hard softball age 5 in a small yard untill she bat it in my face and laughed

shady stuff like that about those parents of mine a bunch

my dream about evil cartoon chickens in hell lol

like one time she said my bro james was giving my tiny kid bro josh his butt stink finger in his nose

thats evil to me

the last 3 siblings were god robots lol 

gathering evidence lol

kayla when she messages me on instagram her responses  its way faster typed than even possible

whats up with my parents giving some of their kids stink

when my dad got gassy my mom always made him sleep on the couch

and my dad saying my middle name is mist of heaven is gross

it has more than one definition

like god beauty and door to heaven

Acts 13:11 Now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and not see the sun for a time.” And immediately a mist and a darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking those who would lead him by the hand.Source:

my dads part blind from his brain tumor like his sister too has that

ps gods in the animals ok my moms fave animal the horse bucked her off when she was a young teenager i think

my dads part blind from his brain tumor like his sister too has that

ps gods in the animals ok my moms fave animal the horse bucked her off when she was a young teenager i think

the time the drs had a new trial of 110 shots in my back to see what us kids were alergic to

they pay for trials why not pay us

she knew i hated shots

that time she said the dr prescribed pure flouride as my medicine when i was a baby that she didnt make me drink it cause it was too nasty

she said it was black liquid but i  never heard of that flouride used to be used in the 50s as pesticide

my mom and dad before they got a baby bed with only my sister katie and on

they had the babies sleep in their bed

"oh they dont remember at that age" my mom said  cause i said thats gross that they do it in their bed

highest selves are in babies

katie is kid 4 out of 6 im 1 = the oldest

i had like 4  evil nightmares as a teen that james my bro was evil and giving me hell

all true selves are legit though

i wonder if my mom tried to do weird twists just to give me the umbilical chord noose 

Pretty - Korn https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14yLqza7n9Y

https://www.songfacts.com/facts/korn/pretty

if the birthmark on my butt was from a closet rapist

https://www.songfacts.com/facts/korn/pretty

Korn - Daddy (With Lyrics)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=me6krWVfN8I

and my mom laughed when she told me about that birth mark cause i never knew i had that she didnt say on the hole and it was heart shaped so yeah it looks like a mini ball sack

i asked heavenly mother  if those things i heard were true she said she wont ding my heart for yes or no  as truth cause i dont wanna know

ps the allergy back test lies lol

regeneration me whenever people tried to kill me with body destroying things cause the world needed to wake up about being righteous

imagine how slow my parents would be if still evil if that happened

last year on katies video chat with me she showed my mom farting in my sisters room and katies like why do you always do this

my mom used to put 3 year old kaylas face in her butt just to fart clothes on but her night gown made the air stay cause its a long night gown kayla was under cause my mom put her there my dad said stop

my dad used to hold me down tickle me painfully hard and blow his stink in my face when i was 5

closet rapists are dumb cause they evil

one time my mom put her hands in the ice in the freezer told me to hold her hand and stank im like did you fart and she laughed and she threw a washcloth in my food im like gross and thats how censored closets can sign language

please deserve heaven all real love hugest to stay safe from almost all knowing except for boring stuff gods judgment etc thanks

April 24th, 2022:

She posted this the next day the 24th click to see on fb:

[authenticaussie]

You posted a god!au awhile ago that had a snippet of another idea i thought was really interesting. Ace steals something from the gods and gods marco and sabo get sent after him, except they fall in love? it sounds so cool!

“except they fall in love” sighs happily yes I really Love that sort of schtick. Like!!! whoops didn’t mean to but oh no it’s Here. Feelings. Anyway it was based a LOT on the myth of Prometheus because like come ON, stealing fire….it’s totally ace omfg. So it took a while to figure out?? a plot?? ajhsdgf

ANYWAY AFTER LIKE 3000 YEARS!!!!!!!! (I’m so sorry) 

Commissions || Ko-Fi || [Requests are closed!]

So basically in the sort of deity system set up here, there’s three levels - you got your all-powerful fuckers ala Zeus/Poseidon/Hades (who???? Idk??? maybe one of them is Whitebeard?????????? Something like Sky/Sea/Earth and like, Dragon for Sky and Roger for Sea and Whitebeard for earth but at the moment the position for Sea is under contest ‘cause Roger just up and fucked off omfg. So Luffy’s a minor god gunning to replace him against a bunch of other gods!! But at the moment Sea is controlled by a couple of other 2nd Tier gods.)

 And they’re basically omnipotent but also they’re not allowed to interfere in the mortal world and they’re very Greek God in that they make mistakes too and That’s Just What Happens when you give ultimate power to immortal idiots. Regardless, they basically just Do Shit when they get prayed to in special places and by a heap of people. They’re the end-of-all-wars shit gods, and they Rule the. God place. Hence forth referred to as Olympus ‘cause I can’t think of a name atm and this is based enough off Greek mythology for me to get away with it haha. 

Second tier gods are like, gods of wisdom and power and war and math (////side note if I wrote this as original fic he’d be really calm and logical all the time and be an ear to the gods and talk about probability all the time but his siblings are the Fates equivalent and they FUCK WITH HIM SO MUCH WHEEZES).Anyway 2nd tier gods work as the go between for the 1st Tier and 3rd Tier gods. They do some shit in the human world, fuck around, make some miracles etc., but most of the work is left to 3rd tier godssss lIKEEE

marco and sabo!!! 3rd tier gods are really fucking specific. Like, god of stubbed toes, god of papercuts, god of singing in the shower, etc. They all are ordered around under different 2nd tier gods (eg. the god of papercuts and the god of stubbed toes would both work under the god of pain and stuff like that.) I’m not 100% sure but I think Marco’s a god of faith to family?? or like, faith to loved ones?? And Sabo’s god of forgotten memories. (He forgets things, but then he’s god of forgotten memory so he remembers them, but then he forgets them again- it’s frustrating being him). So they’re both under the gods of memory. Or. Something. SHRUGS??? USELESSLY????

Anyway, Ace has stolen fire! Which 2nd tier god Blackbeard, the god of Darkness, convinced the 1st tier gods that they should have. ‘Cause humans were dicks? And needed to live in fear and darkness so that they continued to worship gods? something like that. In actuality, fire was forming its own spirit/god/representation and he Really Did Not appreciate the competition. ‘Cause if fire formed into a God then Blackbeard had to share some of the 3rd tiers working under him, and a bunch of new gods would be created, and everything would go all topsy turvy for a while and Teach really liked how the world was coming along at the moment. He understood it and didn’t want thinks to change. 

But so, anyway, you know, forgetting memories and stuff - Sabo can track people, too, because people sometimes forget where they’d just been, or bits and pieces of it? and minor deities can look at Small Things and interfere w/ human lives, unlike 1st and 2nd tier gods, and he and Marco don’t get a lot of work so they’re waved off to go find Fire, along with a couple of other minor gods, (but they’re the ones who Actually find him, but, first,)  

They set about tracking Ace, who’s uh…..adapting to holding a Literal Godly Weapon pretty well, actually. And also getting a significant power boost just from luggin’ it around, he’s been setting stuff on fire and lifting shit up that most normal people Cannot Lift and giving everyone he meets fire and stuff and that all kiiiinda means he goes pretty slow haha, so marco & sabo catch up with him pretty easily (mistakes were made)

And so ‘cause they’re not s u p e r powerful, especially not in comparison to buffed-as-fuck by fire Ace, they follow him for a while and try and figure out a plan, and start?? Noticing some Weird As Fuck stuff. Like the joy humans feel when given fire, and that their prayers and worship seem to increase rather than decrease, and that it’s actually pretty weird that Ace managed to get away with stealing fire and now has all sorts of weird abilities that one only usually associates with a god and oh dear sweet lord he’s second tier isn’t he

This is Understandable due to the fact that like. There are so many gods. How are they supposed to know ALL of them?? Also 2nd tier gods are usually Dicks, or just plain busy, and so it’s a huge messy bureaucracy of running around and trying to find out if there even is a god of water and if so why isn’t the god of rainstorms under them instead of under Earth and who the fuck was meant to be taking control of the city this year because it just got invaded again and the Fates are laughing themselves sick in the corner gods damn it all

So Marco & Sabo are lowkey panicking towards each other and Ace is dealing with weird as fuck memories from the fire - ‘cause, see, BAM BAM BAAAAAAAAAM

The fire made him!!!!!

Well, okay, slightly more complicated than that. Remember how I mentioned that Roger fucked off? well he gave up his immortality to spend the rest of his life with a human lady called Rouge. They end up as stars when they die, together forever, but, also, there’s still the hint of a god in Roger and the slowly building concept of fire, trapped and unable to do anything, basically sent down a blessing to Rouge and Roger’s kid, and the kid was Ace! Who’s kinda, Disney hercules movie style has lots of weird shit happen to him. He’s got crazy endurance and strength and speed and Rouge is looking at Roger disapprovingly as Ace grows up and Roger’s like I didn’t!!! do it!!!

Anyway so Ace has dreams of fire and weird visions all his life and finally confides in his parents and Roger reveals a bit of godly knowledge in the form of a myth and says that fire was stolen and kept by the gods and Ace is like oh I must be getting a vision from one of them to steal it! And none of them question that this might actually be a really bad idea so they just let Ace go and the fire’s like fuck yeah, rejoining! And starts reclaiming its power/joining with Ace to make ace god of Fire, but he’s still mainly human now. And doesn’t know he’s meant to be a god haha, he’s just like oh this is cool, superpowers! Must be because of this thing I stole that really makes sense?

Anyway he’d end up being a second tier, which is why he has all these random as fuck powers, but meanwhile sabo and Marco are d YI N G BECAUSE WHAT!!!!!!!! DO THEY DO!!!!!!! And Marco and Sabo are like literally what the fuck do we do ‘cause!? They’re not powerful enough!!! to fight a 2nd tier!!! 

And then Ace gets hurt.

And gods can’t get hurt.

so Mar/Sab bust out and are like haHA you’re not a god!! You were lying!!!

when the fuck did I ever say I was a god? Ace asks, and then is like, ah dear sweet lord they’re gods I shOUL D HAVE EXPECT ED THAT ONE. And they have a little fight but Ace is still kinda injured and so they basically? Sit on him? And are like “return fire to the gods”

“Fire belongs to humanity!” / “Also like, I got??? visions of stealing it????? So some god obviously wants me to have it.”

“There’s a lot of fuckin gods man, just ‘cause one sent you visions doesn’t mean you go out and steal something from the goddamn gods. That’s why we have official translators!!!”

“Which god was it???” Sabo asks curiously, and Ace is like, ///gestures uselessly

“Idk???? fire god??? I was just holding fire. Which like. Hasn’t been a thing since Mom’s era.”

“There is no fire god.”

“What, legit????”

“Yeah, ‘legit’. Who sent you the visions?????”

“Idk, I told you!!! I just saw myself holding fire!!! And using it, and sharing it, and-”

“What, like, using it using it?”

“How else would I use it?”

Confused As Fuck Boys TM, just looking at each other, and Ace is like hey btw can you get off me now?? / “No, you’re our prisoner”

“WHY”

“'Cause you stole?? From the gods??? We were sent to retrieve you???”

Ace makes grumpy mumbling sounds but is like “yeah fine I’ll come w/ you bc I want an explanation, but I still want to share fire with people so we’re taking the long way.” / “Ugh fine.”

And like, marco and sabo are immortal, so it doesn’t really matter to them if they take the long way, and they found him and fire and well if he dies then that’ll be an even easier way to get fire back home?? And there’s other entrances to the gods’ domain in different places, so they just decide to head for one of those, and pick their way across the world.

And they’re first pretty snarky with each other, (especially after Ace finds out that they’re minor deities, he laughs at them once he discovers what for,) and they battle a couple of monsters together, and Ace spends late nights alone, fascinated by the twirl of fire around his fingertips, and the jar where he was keeping Fire gets smaller and smaller bc it’s bonding to him, but none of them realise until later, once they’ve started to become better friends and trust each other and have a routine;

And then marco notices and accuses ace of tricking them and Everyone is pissy and Mar/Sab are like, no we’re heading home now, before you use any more of Fire, how are we supposed to ??? Explain this???

(An alternate take to this scene was them realising that Ace was becoming a god/that fire was always meant to belong to humanity and being like “oh okay, better protect you, but how do we avoid-” *disappointed 2nd tier god shows up* “guys seriously you had like one job”.)

Anyway Ace is kind of their prisoner now and keeps trying to tell them that he didn’t steal the fire (well, apart from his initial stealing), that he was planning to fulfil their deal and he wouldn’t have broken it and Sabo’s like why should we believe a thief?? and Ace is like you believed me before!

Or, like!!!!!!!!!!! Oh maaaaaaaan Marco/Sabo manipulating Ace to go to the nearest domain entry, 'cause they’re not powerful gods and can pretend to be human and travelling together and Ace trusting them and confiding in them and Marco and Sabo confiding bits and pieces of their lives in him too and slowly starting to reveal that they are gods and being happy and slowly realising Ace is turning into a god but then 

WHOOPS TOO LATE THEY’RE AT OLYMPUS AND EVERYONE’S LIKE WOAH CONGRATS YOU MANAGED TO CATCH THE HUMAN and Ace is like wait what 

Marco and Sabo are like no, no, no, wait, there’s actually been a mistake-??? But Ace is super fucking pissy and No-One is Listening, (and actually I like this one better so this is basically what happens). 

SO ACE IS A PRISONER AND MARCO/SABO COME VISIT HIM AND HE REFUSES TO TALK TO THEM AND THEY’RE LIKE NO, LEGIT, PLEASE LISTEN TO US??? And Ace just scoffs and is like why. You lied to me, and you tricked me, and I thought you believed me about the visions and you didn’t tell me there was no fire god???

We think you’re the fire god

And Ace just laugh/scoffs at them because seriously, out of EVERYTHING THEY’VE SAID??? This is the most ridiculous. And they ask him to fight back, or escape, and he’s like, “The punishment for disobeying the Gods is death - both here and on Earth. And besides, what am I supposed to do, try and live my life hiding from beings that are literally omnipotent???? idk about you but I don’t think that’s gonna work.”

And so Marco & Sabo go and try to talk to the 1st teir gods, but have to go through 2nd tiers, and they meet Blackbeard, who worked his way into being part of the council representing Sea atm, and they’re like look we think he’s actually a new god??? And Blackbeard is like oh no, rlly?? my goodness gracious. But gods aren’t formed from humans, tho, and sidetracks them and confuses them and delays them and then they hear the announcement for Ace’s trial/execution and Blackbeard says they’re not allowed in bc they’re only minor gods, and Marco & Sabo are like yeah but we were the ones who bought him in??? Shouldn’t we be called to testify??

“We already know how this trial will go.”

“Well that defeats the purpose of a trial!” Sabo snaps, but Marco tugs him away and they sneak in instead and Ace is kneeling down and glaring at the gods and the almost-empty jar that used to hold Fire is on a pedestal to his left, but Marco and Sabo are Really Fucking Afraid 'cause they know Ace is afraid?? And they’re like jfc how well do we…..know him?

And Ace catches them looking and the fire starts to slowly wink out, just, dying, as he lowers his head and accepts his fate and refuses to look at them, and they’re like no no no no no it can’t happen like this, he is the fire god-

And Sabo leans forwards and just, please, he thinks, he prays, and Ace jolts and looks up at him and his eyes are so wide and startled and Sabo jumps too but then-

Ace can hear his prayers.

“Please!” he thinks, desperate and angry and hopeless, and Marco frowns and steps up beside him and puts his hand on Sabo’s shoulder and he just mumbles, “He can hear my prayers,” and Marco goes stiff next to him, hand tight around his shoulder, and then both of them can hear-

“Please. Save me.”

WELP HERE COMES THE NOT-YET-BOYFRIENDS SQUAD ///sniggers. They totally just jump in front of Ace and Marco stalks forwards and is like, “You can’t have him!”

“Uh….why…not?”

“He swore his fealty to us. Therefore, as 2nd tier gods, it’s our job to decide his punishment - if he even deserves a punishment.”

“You’re only 3rd tier gods!!!” blackbeard yells, and Sabo grins and the last of the fire winks out and Ace’s skin glows warm and bright.

“No. 'Cause Ace is a god.”

“You’re minor gods,” someone points out, “your domains are useless!”

“Forgotten memories and Faith?” Marco says, “Ace had faith in us, and the Fire forced him to forget who he was supposed to be; We were powerful enough to hide a new god.”

“when the heck did he swear fealty??????” someone else yells, and Marco folds his arms while Sabo makes the chains around Ace’s arms a forgotten memory, helping Ace stand up, “He asked us to save him. That’s fealty enough.”

“And what did he give you in return?” someone sneers, and the crowd is pressing in on them, but Ace steps forwards and there’s fire on his shoulders and in his eyes.

“My life.”

anyway they go and upend the structure of the gods omfg and ace experiments with his powers and visits his parents and tells them what went down and rouge is like ROGER, SERIOUSLY. and thwacks him on the arm bc ofc her son’s now a god jfc, and there’s!!!

Marco and Sabo are adjusting to their new roles and trying to figure out what the fuck they’re meant to be doing and they’re still kinda 3rd tier and still kinda 2nd and basically mar/ace/bo form their own little….god squad? (SNIGGERS) And their affiliations change slightly and shift to match each other and there’s quiet moments where they figure out what to do and one day sabo’s like you don’t- you know, you’re immortal. Swearing your life to us- You can have it back, if you wanted-

“I don't,” ace says, and they get it , they get the infliction of the word and what he means and so that’s the end of that.

[dotshiiki]

CoL, chpt 8

I am so sorry I wanted to post this morning but my supervisor asked to change tomorrow’s morning meeting to today and I was instead scrambling to get everything in order for that and yeah, back to doing this while I’m having lunch, oh wells. 

VIII: WILL

As their borrowed Ford Mondeo wound its way south, Will wondered what he'd gotten himself into.

It wasn't his first road trip. He'd taken many as a kid with his mom, back when she still did music tours. Most recently, he'd gone cross-country in Leo Valdez's camper-dragon from New York to New Rome. In terms of size and reliability, the car Annabeth had borrowed off her dad fell somewhere in between Naomi Solace's tiny Chevy (old and beat up, but incredibly dependable) and Leo's spacious but insane contraption (prone to—literally—flaming temper tantrums). It was one of those solid suburban models, great for a college professor and his family of five. Maybe a bit on the squeezy side with three grown boys in the back seat. It was just as well the Roman demigods had stayed behind. If Frank Zhang had been in the group, Will didn't think they would have fit.

Anyway, the car wasn't the problem.

It hadn't been so bad when Annabeth had been at the wheel, but then she'd traded with Thalia—who drove like a maniac, weaving in and out of traffic like an F1 driver negotiating a race track. Sure, they were in a hurry, but a little caution probably wouldn't be amiss.

On Will's left, Nico grumbled, 'I don't see why Jules Albert couldn't have driven us. At least he used to be an actual race car driver.'

'I heard that,' Thalia said.

Will considered Nico's zombie driver. He'd only encountered the dude once, but he remembered two things about him. One, the guy was really steady at the wheel. Two, you could smell his rotting corpse all the way from Olympus.

That might not have been such a great idea on a six-hour car ride.

'Well, I guess it would've been a bit of a squeeze with five of us as passengers instead of four,' he pointed out instead. 'You wouldn't wanna be squashed up all the way to L.A.'

'I don't want to die on the way to L.A., either,' Nico muttered. 'I could have shadow travelled.'

Will rolled his eyes. 'With all five of us? We've talked about this, Death Boy. Unless you've learned how to transport large groups on your own without dissolving into shadow, we're doing this the long way.'

Nico glared at him, though Will wasn't sure if it was targeted at his use of the hated nickname or the aspersions he'd cast on Nico's abilities.

Probably both. Not that Will cared. Nico was cute when he got mad.

On Will's other side, Percy had been staring out of the window with his chin propped on his hand, gazing at the sunset over the Californian mountains. Now he turned to watch them, his eyes darting between Will and Nico as he followed their exchange.

'Who's Jules Albert?' he asked.

'Long story,' Nico said.

'It's a long trip,' Thalia called back. 'You may as well spill.'

Will zoned out as Nico told them the story of his undead ex-F1 champion chauffeur. It was one of those tales that always made Will curious about the different parenting styles of the gods. You wouldn't imagine the Lord of the Underworld to be a concerned—albeit behind-the-times—parent, but there you had it.

Will's dad, on the other hand, was pretty much the opposite. Apollo was nothing if not current. You probably didn't get to be the god of music and poetry and that sort of stuff if you couldn't keep up on what was trending. On the parenting front, though, his record was more flaky: fickle with bestowing gifts (unlike Nico and his inheritance of a full spectrum of Underworldly powers, being an Apollo kid was like a lottery for godly skill) and attention (Apollo wasn't always great about remembering who his children were, let alone communicating with them). Though he'd been better since his enforced stint as a mortal. He'd even sent Will a birthday card when he turned eighteen, which might have been a first for any godly parent. The quest Apollo had recently undertaken must have given him a new appreciation for the trials his children went through.

Was about to go through, in Will's case.

In Tartarus.

What had he been thinking, volunteering for this quest? It wasn't like he had a ton of experience with this sort of thing. Sure, he'd played his part in two wars, but he wasn't one of the front runners for the dangerous quests. He wasn't Annabeth, leading a team of demigods on a heroic air/sea voyage. He wasn't Thalia, who'd basically signed her life away to hunt monsters for Artemis.

He wasn't Percy, hero of the Battle of Manhattan, saviour of Olympus twice over, a demigod with credentials longer than most minor gods, whom even Will's own father respected (and Apollo didn't hold that many people in high regard).

Percy, who couldn't remember why everyone admired him.

Thanks to a potion Will had administered—yeah, okay, it was to save his life—and maybe screwed up so that he was now dying slowly from an empousa's curse.

Annabeth blamed herself, but Will knew some of it had to fall on him, too. He was the healer, after all.

That was why he was here.

If Will were the jealous sort, he might have been concerned that Nico was with them, too. Will was fully aware of the crush Nico had once had on Percy. (Not that Will could blame him. He'd be lying if he said he'd never had at least one dream about those brilliant green eyes and roguish smile.) But jealousy wasn't really Will's style. He preferred to think of it as Nico accompanying him, helping him atone for his mistake.

Besides, Will was the one who had volunteered them both. It wasn't entirely selfish. There had been something in Nico's face that morning, a flicker of the shadow that never quite left his boyfriend's soul. Nico never spoke much about his time in Tartarus—not to Will, not to anybody. All Will knew was that Nico had been there at some point during the war, and judging from certain hints he'd picked up from Hazel and Reyna over the years, it hadn't been a walk in the park. But everyone seemed to think Nico had just shrugged it off and moved on by now.

Except recovery from a traumatic experience wasn't quite so straightforward. People often thought healing was always about getting better, but Will knew that there was always a part before, where you had to get worse. The same way a fever raged through the body to expel the germs inside, you often needed a psychological unravelling to dislodge a trauma. Will had seen it happen to Percy and Annabeth in the fall after the Giant War. He'd watched them go through the painful process of falling apart and coming back together.

Nico, on the other hand, seemed to have buried his time in Tartarus deep inside himself. Maybe his friends couldn't see it. But Will wasn't Camp Half-Blood's best healer in a century for nothing.

And that morning, Will had sensed Nico's need to tackle his demons, to face whatever he had encountered head on and beat it this time. He needed to return to Tartarus, whether he knew it or not. And Will would be damned if he let Nico do it without him.

Although he'd be lying if he said he wasn't scared shitless about what they might face down there.

To calm his nerves, he ran over the provisions he'd packed for their journey: nectar and ambrosia, naturally, but also all the specialised healing supplies he could get his hands on. A jar of Lemnian mud. A tincture of Moly. And of course, Gatorade, because Nico was bound to try something stupid at some point with his Death Boy powers.

It was nearly midnight by the time they pulled into West Hollywood, a time that seemed eerily apt for approaching the Underworld. The dark didn't seem to faze Annabeth, who navigated Thalia expertly through the winding streets.

'It was dark, too, the last time we were here,' she said, shrugging.

'That was what, ten years ago?' Thalia said. 'Your memory's insane!' Then she abruptly clamped her mouth shut. In the rear-view mirror, Will saw her biting her lip in consternation.

Annabeth frowned out the window as they passed the only shopfront still lit up, a crooked neon sign flashing 'CRUSTY'S WATERBED PALACE' over its door. 'Some things don't change much.'

Thalia pulled up by the kerbside of a black marble building with tall glass doors. Golden letters above them screamed 'DOA RECORDING STUDIOS.'

'We're here,' Annabeth said. She opened her door and stepped out onto the sidewalk. The others hopped out as well. There was a sign on the building door that said:

VALET PARKING AVAILABLE CARS NOW ACCEPTED AS COLLATERAL

'What does it mean, collateral?' Percy asked.

'Payment for passage, probably,' Annabeth said. 'Though I'd like to get the car back to my dad eventually if possible.'

'We already blew up his car once,' Thalia said. 'What's another?'

Annabeth sighed. 'Let's just go.'

Inside the building, the hallways were lit with lava lamps shaped like ancient torches. Rows of plastic fold-up chairs lined the walls, all filled with dismal-faced people who looked like they might not be entirely solid. Bluegrass music belted out from a speaker box in the corner of the ceiling.

At the end of the hallway was the most ostentatious desk Will had ever seen. Made of polished mahogany and embedded with blood-red jewels, it stretched in front of a plain silver elevator with a single button: down. In an ornate armchair behind the desk lounged a man in an expensive Italian suit. He was kind of handsome, a bit like Nico, with his olive skin and finely chiselled features.

'Group of five?' he said. His accent was vaguely European. 'What was it, a car accident?' He pulled out an iPhone and brought up an app. 'No alerts from Thanatos. How many times do I have to tell Death to update me when he makes a delivery?' He swiped across the screen to a time display. 'Never mind—you'll have to wait. I have a crossing scheduled now.'

He shoved the phone back in his suit pocket. 'Tickets for crossing thirteen-oh-eight-one!' he announced to the room at large. Then he turned back to the five of them. 'Have your fare ready when I get back. Prices are on the chart.'

He indicated a sign on the wall, where a list of fare prices and timings were printed:

Standard passage—1 drachma; wait time: 10 years Expedited passage—10 drachma; wait time: 5 years

Shorter wait times by negotiation only. All bribes accepted.

Check PlutoXE for latest exchange rates.

Children over 12 pay full fare.

A bunch of ghostly people shuffled forward, tickets in hand. Most of them were pretty old, but Will thought he spotted at least one young face that looked vaguely familiar. Before the group could get to the lift, Nico stepped between them and the Italian-suit man.

'Hello, Charon,' he said, crossing his arms.

Charon did a double-take. 'Oh, it's you. Don't you have better ways of visiting your father than clogging up my ferry?' He looked suspiciously at Will, Annabeth, Percy, and Thalia. 'And which part of the no-living-allowed rule don't you understand, kid?'

When Nico still didn't answer, Charon said, 'Fine. They better pay up, though.'

Nico tapped his finger on the expensive mahogany desk and gave Charon a pointed look. 'Who helped you argue for your last pay raise with my dad?'

Charon sighed and shook his head. 'Okay, okay. This lot isn't going to be happy to be bumped, though. Celebrities,' he grumbled. 'Always so demanding.'

With a jolt, Will recognised the familiar-looking kid as an actor who'd OD'ed last summer. And some of the older faces in the group had that vague, seen-them-on-TV-but-can't-name-them feel of TV personalities from his mom's generation.

Charon sent the actor kid and four other spirits back to the waiting line, silencing their complaints with a threat to bump them further down the list if they gave him any more lip.

'And don't even think of changing the music channel when I'm gone,' he warned.

They filed into the lift with Charon and the rest of the celebrity group. As soon as the doors closed, they found themselves descending in the darkness, landing with a splash on the surface of a black river. When his eyes adjusted, Will saw that they were in a cavern lit by gemstones studded in the volcanic rock. The lift had expanded into a barge, which Charon poled towards a shore of black sand. He let them off on the beach at the bottom of a rising path that led up towards a foggy grey meadow.

'My next annual review is in a month,' he said to Nico.

'I'll keep it in mind.'

They hiked up the path with the other souls. At the top, they entered an enormous screening area like the kind you saw at airport security: a long winding line marked out by post-and-rope barriers, except the posts looked like they were made from femurs and the ropes from sinew. The end of the line split into ten security checkpoints, all manned by ghouls in pale green uniforms. They were frisking the spirits that passed through the metal detectors, except at a smaller, separate line on the end marked 'EZ DEATH', where the spirits passed unmolested.

'They've…upgraded,' Annabeth noted.

'Luckily for us,' Nico said. 'Come on.'

He led them to the other side of the rope-barrier line, where a roped-off channel had been marked out 'SECURITY PERSONNEL ONLY'. Nico lifted the barrier and they all ducked under it. The nearest security ghoul turned to them, but when he saw Nico, he gave a sharp salute and returned to his duties.

As they got closer to the entrance marked WELCOME TO EREBUS, Percy yelped and stepped back, treading painfully on Will's toes. A moment later, Will saw what had startled him and nearly jumped out of his skin himself. An enormous three-headed Rottweiler had appeared out of nowhere, so big that it spanned the entire row of checkpoints.

'Cerberus,' Annabeth said.

Three heads leaned towards her, their tongues lolling out. Will ducked to avoid being splattered by monster dog drool.

Cerberus's tail wagged. One of the heads barked. It was deafening, but it sounded…joyous. Another dog head made a low, pleading sort of whine.

'He…does he remember me?' Annabeth said in amazement.

Nico shrugged. 'Possibly.' He raised his hand to scratch Cerberus's left head. The dog was so big, it was unlikely that Nico's small hand could have made any difference, but Cerberus seemed to be pleased by the attention nonetheless. Annabeth copied him on Cerberus's right head. The middle one whined and gave Will a hopeful sort of look.

Will hesitated. Pat the monster guardian of the Underworld? Well, sure, why not. In some weird way, it was kind of like visiting his boyfriend's home and meeting his pet dog.

After passing Cerberus, they followed Nico through a gigantic field filled with glassy-eyed spirits. These parted naturally before Nico, leaving them an open path to walk through, but closed the gap behind them once they passed.

'Is anyone else as freaked out as me?' Percy whispered.

Will nodded. It was like being in a crowded room at an insane asylum: every spirit chattering away to itself with no apparent awareness of anyone else.

'Well, it's not the first time we've been here,' Thalia said.

'Don't tell me.' Percy sounded resigned. 'I've been through this before and I just don't remember.' He turned to Will. 'I would've thought this wouldn't be your first time, though.'

'What makes you think that?'

'You're dating Death Boy here, aren't you?'

'Don't call me that,' Nico said sharply, shooting Will a look that said plainly, This is all your fault.

'We haven't actually done the meet-the-parents thing,' Will said.

'Sure we have,' Nico said. 'I've met yours.'

Just as he said this, they reached the gates of a magnificent palace built of glittering obsidian. It was silhouetted against a backdrop of craggy volcanic mountains. Its grounds stretched across the Fields of Asphodel to reach the edge of the only bright spot in the gloom: a gated community surrounding a tropical island. A low parapet made a ring around the palace grounds, marking out the sector of the Underworld that was Hades's personal territory.

Standing at the edge of it, Will was reminded of the first time he had brought Nico home to Schoharie and they'd stood in front of his mom's tiny house. Nico had given him a terrified look, like a caged animal about to be led to slaughter. 'Are you sure about this?' he'd asked.

'Relax—it's just my mom,' Will had reassured him. 'She'll like you.'

Looking at the black obsidian palace, he imagined the situation in reverse. It didn't match, though. You could fit ten of Will's houses into the courtyard of this palace. And Hades wasn't just Nico's dad. What demigod wouldn't have a healthy amount of respect, if not fear, for the Lord of the Dead?

Then again, that kind of applied ot all the gods. And Nico had met Apollo, though the fact that the god had been a mortal kid barely a year older than Will himself at the time probably reduced the intimidation factor.

Nico seemed to sense what Will was thinking. A smile twitched at the corners of his mouth. 'Maybe I should invite you over to stay. See how you like meeting my parents. Fair's fair, right?'

'Ha ha.'

'Seriously, I do have a room there.'

'Let me guess, decorated with skulls and stuff?' Will said dryly.

'How did you guess?' Nico shrugged. 'My dad thought it was funny. I think. Hard to be sure, with him.'

'Guys,' Thalia said, 'back to the quest? You can get past the meet-the-parents hurdle when we make it back. If we make it back.'

Annabeth pointed to a path leading off to the right of the palace gates. 'That way, isn't it?'

'That would be the shortcut, yet,' Nico said, his face sober again. The shadow of Tartarus flickered across him again. He looked like he had more to say about the route, but he just pressed his lips together and started down the path.

It led into a dim tunnel that smelt of earth and minerals and something else that Will couldn't quite put his finger on. It reminded him of the smell of ancient magic, the way the soil of Lemnos, with its healing properties, gave off a different scent from commonplace mud. The tunnel narrowed and sloped downwards. The air took on a chilly, metallic quality. Will could smell iron in the walls now, like they were made from the blood-soaked earth of a battlefield or the stones of a sacrificial altar.

They emerged into a dark cavern. The path beneath them sloped steeply towards a sharp drop-off: a cliff overlooking a pitch-black chasm. The whole cavern churned with a deep, coercive magic. It snaked out of the chasm and wound itself around Will, a compelling force drawing him to the edge like it was a magnet and Will a hapless steel nail.

'Do you guys feel that?' he whispered.

Annabeth shivered. 'It's Tartarus. The pull—once it latches on, you can't break free of it.'

'Like running from a black hole.' Nico's voice was hollow and echoey in the cavern. He stared down into the chasm and then turned to Will. The dim glow of the stalactites cast eerie shadows across his pale face. A thousand nightmares played in his eyes.

Will reached for his hand, although he wasn't sure if it was to offer Nico some comfort or take some for himself. Nico's fingers were trembling and even colder than usual.

'Well,' Thalia said, 'we do want to go in now, so…'

As if an unspoken signal had passed among all of them, they reached for each other's hands at the same time. And then, linked in a tight circle, they jumped.

A/N: I realise the layout of DOA recording studios is not quite in keeping with the canon description in Lightning Thief, but where’s the fun in repeating the books? Let’s just say Charon redecorated a little. All those pay raises must have gone somewhere, right?

Continue to chapter 9 | Back to content page

[what-even-is-thiss]

I love learning new mythology stuff if you want to go in depth about your ideas! Admittedly I know the most about Greek mythology, so you might have to give more details on any other myths you use.

I know the most about Greek/Roman and Norse mythology and a bit from my ancient Egyptian obsession I had back in sixth grade, but I’ve dabbled just a little in Polynesian, Japanese, and Celtic mythology, as well as several folktales from around Europe and one or two Aztec myths, and I’ve been meaning to do some research on the Orisha from eastern Africa I think it is, but haven’t gotten around to it.

Anyways, I’ve been developing a bit of a complicated mythology themed universe in my head and it only gets more confusing as I add more pantheons to the list, so for right now for this explaination I’ll stick with the Greek, Norse, and Egyptian ones, and maybe touch a bit on the Hawaiian stuff, but I’m not as comfortable putting that out there because I’m not overly well read on that yet.

I’m putting a cut here for anybody that doesn’t want to read this, because it gets long and complicated, and I’m not even close to being done with it, and I’m giving you all the simplified version.

So, the beginnings of my idea started when I was reading that wonderful wonderful author Rick Riordin. Specifically a short story crossover between his Egyptian and Greek series. This got me wondering if I could possibly make any of these pantheons coexist long term.

So, I began with what I call cross-pantheon deities. These are children of gods/goddesses from different pantheons. But then I had to figure out a way that these gods could meet each other.

So, the gods of old in this universe are a magical species I call manas deva from the Sanskrit words for “invented” and “god”. They are beings that came to exist because of human belief, and are a bit more contained and limited than the traditional idea of gods, but still the most powerful beings in this universe. And now that they exist, they can go do things like screw a few mortals and dink around with the weather just for the hell of it.

So once in a while you’ll get someone, (probably Zeus if we’re being honest) hanging around a mortal pub or something disguised as a mortal, and another disguised god or goddess disguised as a mortal, and since the pantheons shouldn’t interact with each other they don’t know what to look out for and therefore don’t know they’ve made a huge mistake until the morning after when they both decide to mention oh yeah you just did the thing with a god bye.

And that’s where the cross-pantheon characters come from.

I’m still working on characters and plot, but my main characters are this guy Deon, who is a cross-pantheon son of Zeus Greek god of lightning and being a terrible womanizer, and Freja, Norse goddess of beauty, war, and uh, fertility. The other main character is his twin sister Talin, which is also his half sister. (And yeah, fraternal twins can have different biological dads, it happens look it up) Her dad is Ra, god of the sun and everybody worshiped him in ancient Egypt it was just the cool thing to do.

Our buddy Deon doesn’t like either side of his family, but he kind of depends on them because his immortality is all wonky. Norse deities stay young by eating special golden apples distributed by the goddess of youth and can be killed, whereas Greek gods are just eternally young and can’t die. Deon got an awkward combination of these traits and can’t be killed but still ages, so he has to keep both sides of his family okay with him and not run off to join the mortals or something, because he can’t die and there are complications like lost limbs that can come from that, and he keeps aging, so he needs those sweet sweet golden apples to keep looking like a fresh twenty something, because who wants to spend all of eternity with joint pain? One of his best friends, Asger, son of Aphrodite, son of Odin, has the opposite problem. He’s eternally young but can be killed.

Talin hates her dad and would like to just stay in Vanaheim with her brother and favorite cousins all the time(also she might have a girlfriend there but I haven’t invented her yet), but keeps going back to the sun and puts up with her dad because there are several people there in the realm of gods and spirits that depend on her. I’m still thinking through her motivations and backstory, but she’s shaping up to be quite dangerous. She’s loud and slightly violent and is confrontational in a good way. She believes she knows what is right and will fight for it. She and Deon make nice foils for each other because he is much quieter and shy and prefers a more sneaky or indirect approach to conflict and doesn’t see morals as something set in stone. He has charming abilities and will use his magic to get what he wants, all the while making the other person believe it was their idea. So, she’s the huntress, he’s the trickster. Neither of them are overly gorgeous by society’s standards but have the ability to trick people into thinking that they are because their mom is a love goddess. Does that make sense?

I’ve got all kinds of other side characters I’m working on. None of them are overly developed at this point, but here’s some of my more well thought out ones.

I’m calling this one Jessie for now. She/her Greek/Hawaiian. Dad is Kanaloa, Hawaiian god of the underworld and magic, mom is Kymopoleia, Greek Goddess of sea storms. You’d expect somebody with that parentage to be pretty volatile, and you’d be right. Pansexual Demigirl that’s best friends with Deon and Asger and Deon is a trans guy as of right now, but I might change that later, but anyways, Jessie and Deon first got to know each other as of right now because they both wanted a trans friend and she got to know Asger through Deon. But like I said, I’m thinking about changing a few things we’ll see how it goes.

Apollo. Yes, that Apollo. He looked away from the mirror just long enough to be one of Deon’s mentors and teach him how to shoot. This is a modern day story, so that includes guns as well as bows and arrows. Don’t get the impression he’s a good person here. He’s not. He just chooses to care about his siblings sometimes.

Asger. he/him My one straight cis character. I needed one in there. He’s the son of Aphrodite Greek goddess of love and Odin, leader of the Norse aesir gods. He became friends with Deon after finding out he also had a love goddess mom and they bonded over how their moms are both just the worst. He’s incredibly strong and people often call him if they need a giant or dragon disposed of and Thor isn’t avalible. He’s also good friends with Talin and they bond over being kind of violent. They both like weapons and fighting and whatnot. The Norse gods find them to be fun at parties.

Eric, Dalia, and Astrid. Not much of a backstory for these three yet, but they are former demigods that were made gods after the Norse deities found them useful. They deliver messages, because I noticed the Norse pantheon has a god of messengers, but they don’t have a god whose job it is to deliver messages, so I invented the story of the four messengers. One for each season. Eric son of Loki in the winter, Astrid daughter of Thor in the spring, Dalia daughter of Tyr in the fall, and Deon is the summer messenger. This is an interesting device, because all four of these characters are very powerful and useful, but one of them is missing at any given time, because during the season they work they are busy almost all of the time and the only way to get a hold of them is to deliver a message. I’ve got a whole complicated story planned out how they were all added one at a time over the course of a few centuries, but this post is getting too long anyways.

Freja. Goddess of beauty and war. She runs a house of fallen warriors that are training for ragnarok, same as Valhalla. She seems ditzy and is basically the world’s worst beauty pageant mom, but if you piss her off you will suffer a fate worse than any of the underworld gods/goddesses could imagine for you. Do not cross her. She can run in heels.

Zeus. I don’t need to talk about this guy, do I? He sucks. He just really sucks. Get him out of my face. He’s a horribly abusive parent.

Ra. Good king, bad dad. Argues with other sun gods/goddesses. Sol never has any time to talk to him because she’s being chased by a wolf. For crying out loud, Ra. Stay in your lane. Focus on your own thing. This is why you have like three cross-pantheon kids.

Yeah, those are the more developed ones. I have tons more, but I don’t think I have time to get into those.

As for what kind of plot I’d have in this context? That’s a little fuzzy. I’m thinking something like demigods and minor deities are going missing, and since the gods can’t exactly throw demigods or mortal heroes at the problem, because the problem is that they’re disappearing they send some cross pantheon gods because they’re pretty much on the lowest rung right above mortals in these godly societies and their parents don’t really care for them that much. So, it would probably follow several characters on their quest to find out what the freak is going on and why all these spirits and demigods and favored mortals are disappearing across so many pantheons.

That probably leads to all kinds of shenanigans, including various figures from these mythologies that aren’t supposed to meet crossing paths. I like to imagine a scene ending with Asger smashing in some Greek monster’s head with Mjolnir or a similar Norse weapon. Probably Typhon. Can we have Typhon, a giant monster with insane features and probably bigger than mount everest get defeated by a tap from Thor’s hammer? Please and thank you?

Anyways, it’ll probably be a very long time before I get all of my thoughts together enough to actually get a screenplay together because this is taking a lot of sorting out and it would probably be several movies long, but there’s the bare bones of my mythology themed universe for you. It all takes place in modern day, so imagining Apollo sitting on the couch eating cereal and watching the golden girls on Netflix is totally something you can do, and something I have done, obviously.

Thanks for reading all of that. It’s kind of a lot.