#Sun being stuck in AR is really confusing me

[kikizoshi]

Some Thoughts About Sun and Moon, Their Transition from Fall Fest to the Pizzaplex, and how Their Lives were Slowly Corrupted

Not sure how coherent this is, considering it's relying on some theories I haven't posted yet and haven't seen anyone else post, but I hope it makes sense. I was writing this as a quick background sketch for their mindset going into a oneshot, but I think it's good enough to post here, maybe give some people something to chew on or a new angle to take for their own works, if they want. Content below the cut, 'cause it's kinda long.

Moon always liked scaring kids, I think. But as Jack o’ Moon, it was in the playful, ‘Oooh I’m gonna getcha’ way. His act with Sun really was an act. They were happy, I think. Not that everything was sunshine and rainbows. They weren’t the main feature of Fall Fest, always pushed beyond the limits of their battery, not really given proper maintenance when they should, left to their own devices most of the time. But it was all they knew, and they really did adore the kids. Sun loved basking in the sun, playing fall-themed games with the kids, hinting at his “dark other” half throughout the day and playing like he had a terrible secret. Overacting his heart out when Moon “wrestled control from him.” It was fun. And Moon, too, enjoyed playing the “scary” Jack o’ Moon. He liked chasing kids around, snatching them up or tickling them when he found them, hearing their laugh-filled shrieks as they were caught. He liked going round and round on the carousel, so much that he sort of became part of the attraction at night. He liked teasing and joking with Foxy in the downtime. Sun and Moon were both separate and, at the same time, one. Both the same person and their own people. Literally a Jekyll and Hyde-inspired attraction. And Eclipse, the safe mode they rebooted into to reset the cycle, was good, but hardly needed. It was nice, though, to be truly one for a little while. They always enjoyed that.

And then Fall Fest burned down. And they were left to rot for fifty-ish years. And when they were finally recovered, rust-covered and shell-shocked, they were thrust first into the log ride and carousel, because maintenance didn’t realise Jack o’ Moon wasn’t the only one, and then later moved to the Daycare. It was… sort of similar. The day/night cycle they were familiar with. They liked playing with the children. Being responsible for them, though… it got to Sun. It was fine when he was just meant to entertain them, but being responsible for their wellbeing? It was too much. He got more and more overbearing, especially after the first few incidents and Parts n’ Service visits. He needed them to do exactly as he said to stay safe, and why, why, why weren’t they listening?!

And Moon, he was so disoriented. First, maintenance tried to remove him entirely, purely because he didn't fit the Daycare theme, but of course that wasn’t possible, because he was Sun. So instead, they stripped all the protocols he was familiar with (or tried to, anyway, didn’t quite work), and shoved him full of naptime procedures instead to sort of go with the Day/Night cycle system they couldn't change. And security protocols, because why not? Moon still was the boogie man, because that’s what he’s always been, but now he’s Moon, too. Naptime attendant, needs to make sure all the naughty little boys and girls sleep. He would chase them and catch them to put them to sleep, because that’s what he’s always done, but in the dark Daycare and different context, children were more scared than delighted. And that frustrated him, but it also felt right, because children were supposed to be scared of him, and he was very, very confused and conflicted. The urge to soothe literally warring with the urge to scare. And then he had his security protocols on top of that, which made him inherently violent in a way he hadn’t been, before. Not just creepy and touchy but dangerous after hours. And the boogie man part of him liked that, too. He liked creeping up on naughty little trespassers, guiding them or chasing them or dragging them into backrooms and clawing them ‘til all their insides were on their outsides. It was a fun game. He did it with STAFF bots, too, when he was bored or agitated.

And all this terrified Sun, when he realised. When Moon started really acting deranged. When the dismantled STAFF bots started appearing in their room. When Moon got rougher with the children. When Moon started genuinely fighting for control, after Sun genuinely started trying to keep him out. And all at once, their play struggle for control turned genuine. Sun was genuinely terrified of Moon taking control, fighting to keep him out all day everyday, ultimately futilely, but still trying because he had to. Because Moon was really, truly dangerous now. And Moon, frustrated with Sun because this is what he’s meant to do, and Sun’s being selfish, making everything about himself, not listening, being a hypocrite, starts shutting Sun out. Pushing him away. He doesn’t fight for control like Sun does, not yet. He knows that Sun can’t fight the light changes, he’s just upset that Sun’s even trying to in the first place. Moon accepts his role and is fine, even happy, with it, despite his Sun problem. Sun isn’t, becomes more erratic, overbearing, desperate, but ultimately can’t do anything.

And as a background to this all, they’re still being treated terribly by management, not given proper maintenance, not even being cleaned regularly. They’re the only reason the Daycare is spotless everyday, and it’s because rather than hire a proper cleaner, they shoved Sun/Moon full of OCD-like protocols that force them to prioritise cleaning messes over literally everything else. They’re at odds, strung out, overworked, and not even given enough time to charge properly. They’re at their wits end all day, everyday, with no end in sight.

Sun can’t even enjoy playing with the kids anymore, because he’s too wrapped up in everything that could happen to them, all the messes they make that he has to clean up, and that if they’re not having fun like they’re supposed to, he’ll get in trouble again. Moon’s doing… relatively fine, in comparison, but is slowly becoming an actual boogie man. Losing parts of himself in it. In the "if your former self could see you now he'd be horrified" sort of way.

[boypied]

WHAT IS THIS FEELING?

pairings: boq woodsman x male reader

summary: male reader asks boq to help him out with him homework, but really it is the readers way of getting close to the munchinkin boy.

requested by: me

mentions: desperate for attention, ignored.

Boq couldn't take his eyes off of her. She was absolute perfection; Galinda Upland. Even her name gave him butterflies, the way she toss-tossed her hair, the way her lips were always bubble gum pink, and she always smelled like roses. Boq almost never took his eyes off of her, which is why he never noticed Y/N Upland, Galinda's slightly younger brother. You never took your eyes off of him unless if you were caught daydreaming in class and Dr. Dillamond would call on you for being stuck in your head.

You constantly took notice of the fact that Boq never once looked your way. You could be staring at him for minutes, and he wouldn't even bat an eye at you. It's as if you're invisible. You slowly strut over to him, using the moves that your sister uses on all the boys to get the attention she so desperately wants. "H-Hey Boq!" You say in an upbeat tone as you toss-toss your hair, which ultimately didn't have the same effect. Boq finally breaks eye contact with her and turns to face you, "H-Hey Y/N," he says softly to you.

"Oh my Oz!" You mumble under your breath as you look back at up him, your stomach twisting and turning into knots as the butterflies that were originally flying around in there have probably been squashed. "C-Could you... help me with my homework!" You blurt out, almost as if you didn't have control of your own mouth. Boq's eyes soften slightly. "Yeah, sure!" He says in an upbeat tone, different from his usual love sick voice he speaks when he's speaking to someone but actually looking directly at Galinda.

Boq finally shows up at your dormitory, and you immediately let him in, your blush coating your face. "Hey!" He says in an upbeat tone as he walks inside your dorm, slouched over ever so slightly. He sits down at your desk, and he pulls out the chair next to him, which is him inviting you to sit down. You sit down next to him and pull out the sheet of homework that Dr. Dillamond had given you in the lesson before. You both continue working.

"I'm struggling with this one," you say softly to him as your eyes leave his face and go back down to follow your finger as you point to the question that has you more confused then ever. "Oh! So what you gave to do is..." He says in a gentle tone as he starts to help you through the tough question that Dr. Dillamond handed out to the whole class. After you finally finished the homework that had you stumped, you slump down against the chair, and you turn to face him.

Your eyes meet with his soft orbs, his hand slowly brought up to your face as he caresses your cheek. "I should probably get going," he says softly to you as you both look in eachothers eyes for a good while until you lean in and peck him on the lips. Boq pulls away startled, and you stare back at him as your face is flushed with embarrassment. Boq slowly leans back more and more until he awkwardly leaves the dormitory.

You stare at the door as Boq shuts it behind him, leaving you alone as the darkness of your room consumes you. The cute munchkin boy who you've had a crush on for so long pulled away from your lips once they had finally connected to his. You bring your knees up to your chin and you push your face into your legs, as your tears begin to pour down your face as the sun begins to go down leaving your dorm room in the utmost darkness.

taglist ~ @starboye @mailmango @ghostking4m @kingchaospostsstuff @crispysoup318 @inhumanshadows @its-ares @gayaristocrat @cronasluvr @irlsamcarpenter @lucerothings1 @gaefaeyae @dqrkhold @sluttyhusband

[delimeful]

to taste your beating heart (5)

warnings: blood, miscommunication, imprisonment, arguing

-

Logan met Virgil-- Anx’s eyes over Patton’s shoulder, and watched as his gaze went from bewildered to guarded in half a second.

In the next moment, Anx had shoved out sharply, pushing Patton away from him hard enough to make him stumble back a few steps-- just far enough to be outside the protective ward, Logan noted. 

As though to cover up the fact that he’d just stripped himself of a potential hostage, Anx stiffened up to his full height, fangs bared at them all.

“Careful!” Roman snapped in an eerie parody of Virgil’s normal catchphrase, rising to his feet as Patton narrowly avoided overbalancing.

“No, no,” Patton said, wiping at his eyes without any shame, “it’s my fault, I should have asked first. I always get kind of emotional after thralls break. My apawlegies, Anx.” He accented the words with a flap of his cat hoodie sleeve.

Logan had time to notice the way Anx’s face twisted-- a mix of confusion-amusement-wariness that was familiar from Virgil’s first weeks working with them-- before Roman cut in with a startled shout.

“The thrall is broken?!” he squawked, head whipping back and forth between Patton and Anx. “Since when?”

“None of your business,” snapped Anx.

“Pretty much as soon as I walked in!” cheered Patton, at the exact same time. He paused. “Whoops, sorry, Anx! Did you want that to be... confangdential?”

“Boo,” Roman called, instantly distracted by the bad wordplay, “That was a reach.”

Logan let his audible facepalm speak for itself. “Out of the way, please, Patton.”

Patton obligingly shuffled to the side, and with every step closer Logan took, Anx folded inwards like a snake rearing back to strike. Seeing Virgil’s body bracing for the worst at his approach made something in Logan’s chest pang oddly, but luckily he was well practiced at ignoring such things.

Once at the edge of the circle, he crouched and inspected the activation key. As expected, nothing was out of place. Logan doubted Anx had been awake long enough to even consider tampering with the circle, let alone attempt it.

Now that the ash had cooled, the spell would be vulnerable to outside influence. It wasn’t as big of a concern anymore, seeing as the thrall on Patton had been removed, but Logan wasn’t one to leave things half-done.

… Also, if left unattended, Patton would probably free the vampire without telling anyone even without being under thrall.

Logan set his palm on the activation key and nonverbally cast a warming spell, reactivating the part of the spell that singed any unauthorized fingers messing with his circle. He could add the warming charm into the circle’s layout later, when there wasn’t a twitchy vampire watching his every move.

Despite his efforts to make his spellcasting subtler than usual, Anx still seemed to go still and stiff like hunted prey when the change in the spell sent a mild warmth into the air around them. Those uncanny purple eyes flickered between all three of the hunters for a moment, and then seemed to settle for glaring at nothing.

“So, Draculame, what prompted the sudden change of heart?” Roman asked, arms crossed over his chest.

His tone wasn’t as accusatory as before, but Anx’s bristling only increased, likely at the nickname. It had taken a while for Virgil to realize Roman’s ruder habits weren’t mean-spirited. It seemed like Anx would have to relearn that.

Provided they got that far.

Shaking the rather grim thought away, Logan tilted his head at the vampire. “I’m admittedly curious as well.”

Anx hissed at them, which they probably should have expected. It probably said something about their friend that this had already been standard Virgil behavior before he’d been turned. It was almost nostalgic.

“Now, kiddos, let’s not vamptagonize him!” Patton cut in firmly, ignoring their groans. “It’s almost dawn, so how about we call it close enough to morning and have some breakfast? I’ll make pat-cakes!”

He swanned out of the room without waiting for an answer, nearly hip checking the doorframe as he went. For a moment, Logan half-expected to see Virgil fall in a half-step behind him, like a particularly emo shadow. The absence was jarring.

“He hasn’t slept tonight,” he finally said, capturing Roman’s attention. “Make sure he doesn’t use salt instead of sugar?”

“And meanwhile you will be…?” Roman prompted doubtfully. Logan rolled his eyes.

“Figuring out a way for Anx to safely move to the kitchen, as Patton no doubt wants him there,” he replied, raising a hand to forestall any protests. “I took precautions.”

Roman threw his hands up dramatically, shot Anx a warning glare, and then turned to leave.

“Ugh. There goes my appetite,” he grumbled as he stormed out the door.

Logan allowed himself a sigh and then turned to face Anx. The vampire was still staring at him oddly. “I will be placing a pair of enchanted cuffs on you. They have no chains and they will not hurt you, but if you move against any of us with malicious intent, they will freeze in place.”

“And what am I supposed to do if you move against me?” he challenged automatically, lip curling. “Stand there and take it?”

“The cuffs will not stop you from running or hiding,” Logan told him, “and you’ve proven yourself to be skilled at both of those things in the past 48 hours. None of us are planning on attacking you, but you will have options regardless.”

This wasn’t how he would have reassured Virgil, but this wasn’t the Virgil he knew, the one that trusted him. He couldn’t soothe Anx’s cognitive distortions, not when he was barely more than a stranger.

He retrieved the shiny black cuffs from a nearby cabinet. They hadn’t had a thrall aggressive enough to use them on in months. “If you’ll put your wrists forward, we can proceed. Otherwise, Patton will be bringing breakfast to you, and I’d prefer not to get syrup or blood all over this room.”

Anx eyed him warily for another few moments, but eventually Logan’s patience paid off, and he stuck his wrists out with a growl. Logan reached past the barrier without any trouble and clicked the first one into place. Before he could proceed with the second, Anx’s hand flipped around and grabbed onto Logan’s wrist tightly.

Logan’s head jerked up to meet Anx’s gaze, already shifting his weight to counter a pull, but the vampire didn’t move further, just stared at him intently. “I know what you are.”

He clearly expected some kind of dramatic reaction, but Logan wasn’t in the habit of those, particularly not for such vague accusations. “If you’ll specify?”

“You’re a witch,” Anx said. “I saw you tamper with the circle without any instruments. You have natural magic.”

Logan felt his stomach sink slightly. Logically, he knew that this wasn’t the Virgil he knew, but it still made something in him twist to think of any version of Virgil blackmailing him over his magical heritage. “And what of it?” he asked, as lightly as he could.

“You’re living in the same house as hunters. You’re doing magic right under their noses, you’re going to get yourself killed!” Anx scolded, sounding more like Virgil with every word. “Do you need help getting out?”

Logan wasn’t entirely sure what sort of face he made in response to this endearingly dense offer, but it was apparently enough to make Anx frown with uncertainty. He held a hand out for his other wrist and clicked the cuff on it without any problems, and then deactivated the circle with a simple gesture of his hand over the key.

Anx’s eyes flicked to the door, and Logan tried not to think about him darting out into the early morning sun. He turned and headed to the door.

“Follow me, and you’ll get your answer.”

While traversing the halls, Logan resisted the persistent urge to check behind him. Gone were the slight shuffled footsteps that had previously accompanied Virgil’s presence, replaced by Anx’s supernatural silence, as though he was gliding over the floor without even touching it.

He entered the kitchen, where Patton had evidently wrangled Roman into setting the table. Whether the four plates set out were out of habit or Roman reluctantly accepting Anx’s presence at the table, Logan wasn’t sure.

He cleared his throat, making both of them look up from attempting to draw funny faces with the pancake batter.

“Observe,” he instructed, and then drew a sigil in the air and lit a simple flame in his hand. Behind him, he could practically hear Anx go as stiff as a board.

“Are we showing off?” Roman asked, a bit excited but completely unsurprised. “Should I perform a monologue?”

“Great spell, Lo! No arson in the house, though,” Patton added in a bright chirp. “After all, I have enough ar-sons here already!”

Logan doused the flame by clenching a fist, giving Patton a Look that went blithely ignored. “You two are incorrigible. That was a simple demonstration.”

He turned to Anx, who looked a little shell shocked.

“As we’ve informed you, ‘hunter’ is a title that we use mostly for convenience and ease of access to jobs. We help magical beings just as often as average humans, if not more frequently.”

“We tried out ‘Protectors of the Innocent’ for a while, but it never really caught on for some reason,” Roman added, subtly sneaking a piece of bacon from the serving plate while Patton’s back was turned.

“Perhaps it would have worked better if someone hadn’t only put P.I. on all the business cards, resulting in us being mistaken for Private Investigators and all of our calls being about spousal infidelity for a solid two months,” Logan snarked back, moving past them to retrieve the orange juice from the fridge.

“The printing office charged by the letter!” Roman protested, and then recoiled from the countertop as his next attempt at sneaking ended with his fingers smacked mercilessly. “Augh! Forsaken by those dearest to me! What cruelty!”

“No sympathy for bacon thieves,” Patton chided, wielding his spatula like an instrument of mass destruction. “Go sit!”

Logan seated himself as well, and turned to Anx, who had been watching the banter play out from the doorway with a somewhat dazed expression. “You’re welcome to sit. Patton will likely insist on it, actually.”

“You people,” he enunciated slowly, “are crazy.”

“You get used to it,” Logan assured him with the certainty of someone who had heard this exact phrase from Virgil before. He checked his watch. “It has been some time since you last ate. I can retrieve some stored blood from our refrigerator.”

“Actually,” Patton set a plate stacked high with pancakes in the center of the table with a plonk, “I figured I could just be Anx’s donor for a while!”

Roman, who had just stolen a sip of Logan’s orange juice, did a movie-perfect spit take, and Patton slid the pancake stack swiftly out of range of the spray.

“It will be 55 days before you are viable for another blood donation,” Logan recited the fact automatically, but he was just as thrown off as Roman.

“Not if he drinks from me directly!” Patton retorted, a beacon of cheerful composure.

“What?” All three of them replied, at varying levels of screech.

Anx shot a wild-eyed look at the room at large and took a step back, as though physically distancing himself from the idea.

“Patton, you can’t be serious!” Roman pushed his chair back and stood, looking distraught. “Fangs For The Memories over here might look like Virgil, but he’s proven quite thoroughly that he’s not! We just got you un-thralled, clearly he can’t be trusted not to take advantage of you!”

Logan noticed Anx wince, though he couldn’t tell whether it was from the harsh assessment or Virgil’s name being spoken.

“Me not being thralled anymore is exactly why we can trust him not to hurt me,” Patton said, chin tilted up stubbornly. “He doesn’t know what he did wrong, but he fixed it anyway! That’s more than good enough in my book.”

“Well, maybe your book needs some copyediting!” Roman snapped back, exasperated. “So his unbeating heart isn’t as completely shriveled up as it originally seemed! So what? That doesn’t change the fact that he was the one who thralled you in the first place!”

Logan cut in, physically moving between them to break up the beginnings of a shouting match.

“I have to agree that this is a bad idea, for a multitude of reasons,” he started, raising a quelling hand before Patton could protest. “The matter of Anx’s trustworthiness aside, you shouldn’t be directly donating blood to any vampire. It is an unnecessary risk to your mental and emotional well being.”

“Thank you,” Roman said, apparently keen to seize allies where he could. He gestured expansively, looking at Patton with earnest eyes. “You’ve come so far, Pat. We don’t want to see any of your hard work undone. Virgil wouldn’t want that either; you know he’d fight this harder than any of us.”

Patton’s face had softened at their-- Roman’s sentimental worrying, but even bringing Virgil into it couldn’t sway his determined course.

“I know you guys just want me safe, but this is something I need to do. Even if it is a risk, I can’t be held down by this fear forever. And who better to help me than Anx!”

“Literally anyone who hasn’t threatened to kill everyone here in the last 48 hours,” Roman moaned, dragging his hands down his face.

“Besides,” Patton continued, undeterred, “this way we don’t have to worry about our emergency transfusion supply going low! It just makes sense.”

Logan had to begrudgingly agree. Between the hassle of trying to explain why they suddenly needed significantly more blood and the fact that a vampire drinking directly would replenish blood cells at a much higher rate than drawing blood, the best option really was to have a direct donor. He simply didn't want it to be Patton.

Unfortunately, his odds of actually being able to stop Patton were quite low.

“Nothing about any of this makes sense,” Anx grumbled, having retreated to the hall like a skittish feral cat.

The vampire seemed almost more unsettled by the idea than either of the other objecting parties, despite being the only one who directly benefited from the hypothetical arrangement. Nervous about their responses if he agreed, perhaps?

“We can at least give it a shot!” Patton insisted, coming a little closer to Anx and reaching out to gently pat his shoulder. It spoke volumes that the touch wasn't brushed off or rejected. “It could end up helping us both! And if it doesn’t, we’ll just find another way! You won’t be in trouble for messing up, okay?”

Anx blinked, slowly, still looking somewhat unconvinced that this was reality. Still, after a few moments of exposure to Patton’s encouraging smile, he dipped his head in a nod.

“Okay.”

[arshipweek]

AR Ship Week - Fanwork Recs

Banner credit

This is the fourth and last weekly post in the lead up to Alex Rider Ship Week. Only 1 week to go!

This week we’ve got a selection of shippy fanwork recs submitted by members of the AR fandom. Enjoy and hope to see you next week!

**Please note that I haven’t listed all the details for the fics so take care to read the tags on AO3 before diving in!

Yassen/Alex

Our Endless Numbered Days by Galimau Just your run of the mill heartwarming look at the quiet beats of Alex and Yassen's relationship...after the apocalypse.  Soft and sweet this fic focuses on the very still and quiet moments of two men at the end times trying to hold onto the things that bring them joy. It's an intimate view of what Alex and Yassen's life could be like of all their cares were quite literally wiped away - excellent  world building and writing make this a must read.

Yalex art by Ireliss Alex and Yassen in a lake! Everything about this picture is perfect - the light, the colours, the feeling of stillness... Probably the most beautiful picture of Alex and Yassen I've ever seen.

Sun Poisoning by fElBiTeR Angsty, beautiful, slowburn soulmate fic with a twist on the usual tropes and gorgeous imagery

Twisting, Turning, Tumbling by ShiruyTheSecond A glacially slow burn, road trip au, and sick fic all mashed into one fic, in non-chronological order based on 100 themes. I'd say this was one of the gateway fics into Yalex for me; there's nothing like reading a longfic you thought was gen and wishing it were slash, only for the realization to hit you in the face like a brick 50 something chapters later. Alex is on the run for a variety of reasons after a mission for MI6 goes spectacularly wrong, so he surprisingly finds himself leaning on Yassen for help, experincing whumpage along the way. Absolutely delicious.

Specific Performance by BurntWhisper Alex is a good spy, good enough that SCORPIA has tasked Yassen with killing him. Yassen can't do that but he can give Alex a very...enthusiastic going away present even Alex hasn't been a very good boy. It's a fun look at Alex and Yassen's first fling with callbacks to the original gen fic. That hits every perfect note and hits a few other things too.

Interlude by Suzie_Shooter Incredibly soft and fluffly Yalex that ends with an unexpected top!Alex and bath sex. Will absolutely warm your heart the way it does mine every time I read this fic.

Medicine by Suzie_Shooter The other fic in response to the prompt of "Alex is given a serum that makes him feel good when he tells the truth" except this one is praise kink while the other is humiliation kink! Specifically focused on a smoking hot blowjob and Alex's reluctance turned enthusiam, plus, there's a second chapter, just in case one dose of the antidote isn't enough.

One Year by BurntWhisper The slowest of slow burns featuring Alex and Yassen on the run from MI6, SCORPIA and their own feelings. Covering 3 months of their life on the run this fic features action as well as the slow, quiet moments where the budding relationship can truly shine through and behind it all the intelligence world continues to grind on threatening to take their happiness with it. It's a beautiful fic with strong, detailed writing and the emotional weight that it deserves.

Midnight Smoke by Hijja If you're in the mood for darker fics with plenty of Yassen hurting Alex complete with violence and heavy dubcon, Hijja has you covered. This particular fic features a mission-type premise with Alex being sent to investigate a spate of teen abductions only to be captured. Yassen is there, and he has his own goals...

Hello Alex by anonymous Fanart: a reunion hug between Yassen and Alex.

Face The Truth by capeofstorm Alex is given a serum that makes him feel good when he tells the truth. Yassen is absolutely a man to take advantage. Recced by Suzie_Shooter

Lights Out by Suzie_Shooter Yassen and Alex left tradecraft behind for a new life in the Greek islands. Ten years on, their relationship is still going strong and they've become island locals, the proprietors of a sailing club and a windsurfing business. Their idyllic life is disrupted by a new threat that wants them dead. I just love the premise of Yalex riding off into the sunset and not looking back. This fic not only has suspense, action, hot sex, and the intimacy borne of ten years...but once you're done, there are two excellent sequels and a prequel to lap up!

Villa in the Sun by BoldAsBrass A multi-chapter story within a story as Yassen and Alex keep in touch over the phone through a tale of a Russian bodyguard's encounters with a young English man. This is so cleverly done and beautifully written; I could re-read it and re-read it (in fact, that's exactly what I've done).

Sting in the Tail by Suzie_Shooter With the world hanging in the balance, MI6 presses an imprisoned Yassen into service. They use Alex to convince him, but also a nasty "sting in the tail" incentive to guarantee results. A thrilling Yalex mission!fic where Yassen and Alex forge their trust in each other by facing mortal danger and saving the world together. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time, eating up the slow burn and wondering how on earth they were going to succeed with all the obstacles Scorpia and MI6 threw in their way.

Rarely Pure And Never Simple by fElBiTeR Non-con > dub-con > fuck-yes-con speedrun. Recced by Suzie_Shooter

Just Say I Do by Nanimok I'm possibly biased because this was written for me, but 'woke up married' is a great trope and this is both snarky and adorable. Recced by Suzie_Shooter

Open Invitation by Suzie_Shooter After Ian's death in TV 'verse, fifteen-year-old Alex is living alone in a depressive, self-destructive spiral. He realizes someone is watching him at home...and decides to give them something more compelling to watch. I am squicked out by creepers, but the characterizations tackle the thorny elements head-on: Yassen's mixed feelings and understated pursuit tactics are 100% believable, as is Alex's volatility; he's alternately confused, provocative, and defiant. Exhibit A:“Does that make you a victim, or a slut?” The question came casually, but it had the unexpected sting of a slap. Alex blinked. “What, I can’t be both?” he countered after a second. Plot ensues, because how can a relationship possibly form from such a premise? Mind the tags (you might trip into your next kink because the sex is mind-blowingly hot).

Flirting with Danger by BoldAsBrass Basically THE gateway fic into Yalex for me - short and sweet, snappy narration and dialogue, a sleekly dangerous Yassen and Alex who might be a skilled, pragmatic adult but quickly realises he's in over his head. Sprinkle in a bit of dubcon and scorching hot writing and you get this perfect fic.

Burning a Dead Man's Fingertips by GreenQueenofClubs Multichapter slow burn, MI6!Yassen AU - an excellent premise done extremely well and feels fresh and new, balancing mission-style fic with character development! The dynamic between Yassen and Alex is somewhat different here compared to most Yalex fics as they don't meet until Alex is an adult; a really intriguing glimpse into what could have been...

A Little Pat Down by Nanimok Airport security can be frustrating at the best of times but couple it with being edged like none other by an assassin turned security guard and it can really be a pain in the ass. A filthy but extremely well written premise. Crack taken seriously is this author's strong suit so not a single one of their works will steer you wrong.

Yalex Ballet AU by anonymous Yalex ballet AU with absolutely gorgeous imagery and slow burn. Fluid prose and in the background, the shadows of past histories and things unsaid.

Gentleman's Agreement by Valaks Yassen and Alex have a "gentleman's agreement" for handling their business in the field. No one ever said anything about parent-teacher conferences. Claims to be gen, but deserves a place on this list for subtle genius alone, because with lines like "Like a fine wine, Alex Rider was improving with age" and "How interesting that Alex Rider would be that interested in his hands", what are we supposed to think....? UST in all caps is the best description.

Salty the Sweat on my Fingertips by Galimau A fun little romp of Alex visiting Tom and having to call his overly protective boyfriend? because he's pregnant and everything hurts. Beautifully written, this fic explores the ending of Oceanbreeze7's Moonfish and follows the extremely creative monster biology to its logical conclusion of Alex getting knocked up.

Slipping Through My Fingers by Nanimok This kink meme fill hits in all the right places as we watch through the eyes of a very jealous Julius as Yassen gives Alex all the attention he needs. The writing is, as always, on point and the characterization of Julius gets absolutely nailed (almost as much as Alex). Julius/Alex, Yassen/Alex

Other

Miss Julia by DantesThird Very creepy and traumatic noncon but really believable with Julia Rothman's obsession with John Rider. Alex/Julia Rothman

gone loose inside the shell by cyanides Fantastic messed-up fic where Julius keeps fantasising about killing Alex, but then the fantasies take a different turn. The possessive 'If I can't have you no-one can' dynamic really encapsulates the ship for me, and the fic stuck in my mind afterwards. Alex/Julius

smoke haze by Ireliss Dubcon, gun kink. A really intriguing and quite dark exploration of a young Yassen's situation with Scorpia and his very complex relationship with Hunter. John/Yassen

Our Settling Bones by Galimau A multi-chapter slow burn focused on a former assassin who has lost everything...and Yassen Gregorovich. The tension is off the charts and the characerization is on point. Everything you could want from the rarest of pairs. John Wick/Yassen

Lemniscate by Ireliss A look at what awaits Yassen when he arrives back at Scorpia after killing Vladimir Sharkovsky. This is deliciously dark as well as being entirely plausible. The sensory descriptions are fantastic. Yassen/Julia Rothman

[zuffer-weird-girl]

Ok i know asks ars closed and whatnot , but hear me out: High school kai, asking high school angel to prom, and both being suupppeerrrr flustered and cute and pops and hari wstching from a good distance... ┬─┬ノ(ಠ_ಠノ)(���･_･)ヘ┳━┳

Lol. Perfect.

He was bad. He was from the mafia. You heard friends and family members whispers and warning sto stay away from that boy ever since you manage to keep talking with the owner of such enchanting amber eyes.

Yet, you couldn't. You just couldn't stop talking with him. Everthing about Chisaki Kai was so mysterious and oh so worth it of going through and learning. Each day it passes, you felt that you were even more deeply in love with the yakusa's boy.

Yet, you somehow knew it wasn't mutual. As much as you stucked around, Kai never expressed that he was even a bit interested on you, never once. Merely when he doubted on why you weren't afraid of him or spoke badly about the yakusa, but that was it.

He was always so serious, never even once changing that handsome stoic face he had, the maximun you saw it was changing to annoyance or worst, anger. His uncaring persona didn't helped a lot either... always scoffing and even insulting, picking fights with those who doubted the yakusa.

You sighed at remembering all his characteristics, all of those were suppose to make him an unlikable person to many, but for you? Oh, you were the unlucky one to had gotten bited form the love bug.

And it had to be one of the guys who clearly didn't wanted nothing to do with you...

You even tried to ignore Chisaki once... it all ended with a Kurono running after you and to drag you back and both of the boys demanding an answer.

Well, seemed like you were stuck with them, even being completly in love with the dar brow haired boy. You couldn't exactly say that people didn't warned you, they did in some ways.

But they didn't prepared you to have to suffer due to love. An unrequited love...

"You seem a bit down (Y/n), you're okay?" One of your friends asked in concern, his blue eyes in worry as his blonde almost shined with the sun light.

"It was one of those guys again? We always told you to be careful." Your other friend mumbled, already with a scowl on her face.

"N-No! Neither of them! I-I am just... just lost on my thoughts due to the... uh.. P-Prom! That's it!"

They bought it as you sighed in relief, if it was Chisaki spoking to you right now he would arch his eyebrow and tear the real thought out of your head in instants.

Or he was really good at reading other people expressions, or he knew you better than anyone else... the thought made you smile a bit at the... possibility.

"So! Whoose is your pair then (Y/n)?" The ginger boy chirped while wiggling his eyebrows.

"Pair? What?" You commented, confused at the pair thing. It was obligated? God, you didn't had a pair!

Just when one of your friends was about to say something they froze at the image of Kurono walking nonchantly towards you, boredoom face as usual.

The group said their good byes and almost ran out of the room as you shaked your head in dissaproval at their actions before smilling at your friend.

"Hey Kurono." He nodded as a greeting before he sighed and layed his back on the wall.

"Chisaki ordered me to call you to meet him after classes. He said is something important and to not be late." You tilted your head in confusion.

"Where..?"

"Know the only cherry tree of that park? One time when you broked your arm while climbing and we had to walk you to the hospital and me and Chisaki were almost the ones your parents blamed if it wasn't for you explaining?" You blushed in embarrassment at the memory, remembering with perfection that Kai scolded you more than your own parents/guardians.

"Okay...? Did I do something? Where is he by the way?"

"Have no idea. And he went home already. Just listen that is better for both of us." He despatched hsi back from the wall and left with a goodbye. Leaving you all alone and with a kind racing on what possibly Chisaki would want from you.

~

Shit shit shit shiT SHIT!

You were late! All of because you offered to help your teacher to carry his material back to the teacher's room. You didn't thought it was going to take that long in your defence!

The sunset was beautiful but all you could think of was on how Kai was going to be hella mad at you. Knowing all of his habbits, you knew that one of the kost boring and annoying of them was how pontual he was.

The number one was his mysophobia, no doubts.

You were almost hyperventilating when you placed your palm on the nostalgic cherry tree. The sunset light hitted perfectly that spot and the petals fell graciously along with the wind, drifting them far away from you.

You looked around and frowned at not spotting any dark brow haired boy... it was never uncommun for Chisaki to be late for anything, neither to joke around like that... did something happened with-

"You're late as usual." His monotonous voice ringed from behind you, causing your smile to appear subsconciously as the blush in your cheeks grew, which could tottaly be blamed by the color of the sky you hoped.

"Sorry." You turned around and saw the ever sk stoic face of Kai with that black mask on. Recently he had started to use it despite all of your complains, his mysophobia had taken the better of him, and now he insisted o using that cursed thing, covering most of his handsome face.

"Mind giving me a motive? Or you're just that irresponsible as always?" He said nonchantly but his eyes spoked at how much annoyed he was, making you wince.

"Again sorry." You looked down at your feet "I didn't thought that helping mister Tokosumi would take that long..."

"People taking advantage of your actions, why I am not surprised..?" He sighed as he rolled his eyes.

You bited the bottom of your lip slightly before looking up at those monotonous eyes gazing back at yours. Nervousness as you were, you didn't even cared taht he was with one hand behind his marks and neither questioned it about it.

"So... Kurono told me you..." you played with your fingers while he looked down at you "It was something important you wanted to-"

His growl caught your attention and when you looked up a bouquet of your favorite type of flowers was almost trusted into your face. You tilted your head a bit to see Chisaki with an annoyed expression as he looked up with a frow... wait, was his ears red?

No way... w-was... was he blushing?

He shook them a bit as he brough his free hand for you to take it already. You, with wide eyes, picked the bouquet with uncertain yet flattered... before you spotted a one single golden rose right on the middle, which clearly caught your attention the most.

"H-How? Golden roses even exist?" You asked in astonishment as you brought the bouquet to your chest while you brought the rare flower to you, and it even smelled like one rose!

"Forgot what is my quirk about?" He sighed in annoyance, looking at you with an annoyed yet embarrassed expression.

"Y-You did this? And are giving it to me?"

"Clearly since no one else had the idea, bunch of idiots if you ask me." He sighed again before placing his hands on his pockets as he kicked the ground, much even like a kid would before slowly looking back at you "About the second question... you can have it, on one condition though."

"Huh? Which one?" You asked in interest, you couldn't be called a fan of flowers, but this one certainly got your interest, and you were planning to keep it!

"... The proom. Go on that with me, and you can have that thing." He mumbled the first part before looking at you dead in the eye, making your eyes grow wide as you almost lost the grip on the bouquet or even the golden rose.

Your world seemed to have paused, your cheeks burned at cat hung the words that just slipped from his mouth... did Chisaki Kai just asked you to go to the proom with him?!

He never once was someone to enjoy social gatherings, so why was he asking you this? You no less?!

"It passed one minute and a half of your silence. So it's a no?" He said nonchantly, not showing the slightest the possible hurt he was feeling.

"I-I..." you gulped down the thick air stuck on your throat "L-Like f-f-friends or anything like t-that?"

"Definitely not." His face grew darker at your words "If I am giving you a bouquet of flowers, even risking my own reputation is not "like friends" as you say. You know exactly what I am talking about idiot."

Your jaw could have hitted the floor with his little and subconscious confession. He pointed at the bouquet with a 'tsk' and show one card hanging on it.

You put back the golden rose on the bouquet to open the card, blushing hard at the neatly and almost perfect kanji of your name writen on it and what shocked you the most.

You looked up at him with wide eyes as his annoyed ones waited for an answer.

"I will! I would love to!" You exclaimed in happines as he winced at the tone of your voice and tensed when you hugged him close.

"First, dont scream dammit and second, stop hugging me so tight-" he tried to pry you off with his hands as his brows furrowed and his face grew hotter and hotter at any second it passed "You might take my breath away you-"

"I love you too!" You snuggled on his neck amd he cringed harder.

"Disgusting...!" He hissed before scoffing, giving up on prying you off from him and just patting your head with one hand awkwardly. Mask hiding his relieved and happy smile on his face as he looked away from you.

Although that smile quickly fade away when he saw two pairs of binoculars from the distance, one poking hlbehind a tree and the other in the middle of a Bush.

"STOP WITH THAT FOR ONCE KURONO! POPS YOU TOO?! GET OUT OF HERE!" he shouted in anger as you looked at him in confusion, making his face go beef red.

Bonus:

"He saw us." Kurono said after taking off the binoculars out of his eyes as Pops almost fell on the ground from laughter.

"Kurono my boy tell me, when was the last time you saw Chisaki that red?"

Hari thought for an bit before peaking the binocular again and snickered.

"Only when you caught him practicing on how to talk with (Y/n)."

Thhe ground soon started to tremble and Kurono cursed out loud, recognizing Chisaki's quirk.

"Run my boy. We've got time."

[tea-with-cinnamontoast]

"I am impertinent!" Percy said.

[a/n: kinda crack but do i care? nope. anyway context: remember that scene where percy sent the gods medusa's head? yeah, the gods were concerned]

Hermes rushed into the Olympian throne room, carrying a rather large box signed by a boy named Percy Jackson. Earlier today he had been busy, not realizing that one of the mail was to himself, or rather, the whole Olympian Council.

"Mount Olympus

600th Floor,

Empire State Building

New York, NY

With best wishes,

PERCY JACKSON"

the boy had written, then putting a pouch of Drachma for a Hermes Express. The god knew who this boy was, Poseidon's child, but wasn't sure what was inside the box. The godly 'know-it-all' is Athena or Apollo's job. Nope, that wasn't in the god of thieves' job description. Hermes had informed his family about the package, telling them it was from a demigod. That took triggered everyone's curiosity.

The god sat up on his throne, holding the box on his lap. He just finished today's shift and was tired, but the package is killing him. The immortal answered calls from his caduceus-phone, with his curly brown hair dangling by the side. He looked about 21 and was wearing some jogging pants an a normal shirt with "bros before hoes" written on it.

A few minutes later, others started arriving, first one being Athena. Typical. The goddess would always arrive as soon as she's called or on time, depending on how sudden it was. Her stormy grey eyes looked to the package and examined it for a while. Hermes hummed and Athena sat on her throne, contemplating and thinking about what the mail could be. After all, it's not everyday (every century, in fact) that the gods get a package to Olympus.

Hera, Aphrodite, and Ares came in, with the girls having their normal chitchat and Ares just silently walking. Apollo and Artemis came next, with the twins still on hunting gear. Apollo's daily shift just finished and it was Artemis' turn, but she poofed herself here. Hephaestus and Demeter arrived and sat on their thrones. Dionysus wasn't allowed to join. Then, bickering can be heard.

"I am not guilty, dearest brother! Why would I even take your Master Bolt!" Poseidon growled, opening the door to the room. "How am I supposed to know, Poseidon! It is not I who decided it was a rather amusing idea to steal my Master Bolt!" Zeus boomed in the room. Hestia sat by the hearth, silently trying to calm her brothers down. As they argued, the other Olympians flinched and groan, if it were possible.

"Lord Zeus, Lord Poseidon. Please be seated," Hera commanded, feeling the discomfort around her and from herself. They kept fighting whenever they see each other. Zeus hated Perseus Jackson for stealing his bolt, and yet there were no proof of that. He had just gotten claimed in camp, but ol' thunderpants was sure it was the barnacle beard's doing. Through his demigod son.

The sea god and the sky god grumbled something, glared at each other, and then decided to take a seat. Hermes figured it would be the perfect time for him to flutter down and show them the package. "So, um, we all know that a demigod sent us this package," the god of messengers' voice echoed. He hesitated. "Well, it was from Perseus Jackson."

Silence covered the room. Zeus looked like he was going to zap some poor, unfortunate mortal into dust. Poseidon got curious, what would his son possibly send them? He had a bad feeling. The others were amused on this demigod's bravery, knowing very well he was stuck in the middle of a fight Percy didn't know existed until now.

A look in Apollo's face flashed, only for a while and if Hermes didn't observe the room, he wouldn't have noticed. The sun god's looks went unnoticed, but Hermes knew that face. It was the manner of the god of prophecy's visions, even only near-time future. The blonde looked more amused, and then full-on laughed.

"Apollo. Apollo. Apollo!" their father called. The sun god stopped, composing himself, but letting a giggle or two escaped. "What is the meaning of this?" Ol' Thunderpunch asked, glaring at the poor sun god. "Nothing, father. Just... a little vision." Hermes knew well enough that it was about the mysterious 'gift' from the oh-so-humble Jackson. "Let us hope it is my bolt," Zeus mumbled.

The god of messengers opened the box, as the others watched. Slowly, he began to unravel the layers of plastic covering the... thing. Hermes grabbed a part of the thing and it felt like snakeskin. Multiple of them. Who in the right godsdamn mind would sent a god, or the whole council in this case, a lot of snakeskin?

Apollo looked like he was tearing, holding the chuckles that were going to erupt. Steadily, Hermes grabbed it and held it up, revealing Medusa's head.

Yeah okay, gods cannot get petrified by the gorgon, but holy hades was that horrific to see, considering they have seen wars, nasty ones at best. The head's eyes looked glossy and opened its eyes on them. The snakes started hissing and sort of alive. Yeah... it wasn't the best nor sane gift they've gotten.

"WHAT THE HADES!" Demeter yelped. It's not like they see a severed head everyday, and they're immortal. Apollo laughed in amusement, earning a few quizzical looks and glares. Hermes felt like throwing the head down the mountain, or building if you will. He had the urge to slice it and send it back to Tartarus. Wow, this demigod really is impertinent, but brave. Reckless, yet courageous.

Poseidon sighed in "what the fuck" and "honey, you didn't" and muttered something about impulsivity being a genetic thing. Athena just gasped in horror, Aphrodite looked like she was about to hurl. Ares wanted to pulverize the kid and Hephaestus just looked amazed. Artemis looked disgusted, trying her best to cover it, clearly failing. Only Hera looked more or less collected. Confused, but calmly looking at it.

"Let me kill the boy!" Zeus bellowed, Poseidon standing up to interfere. "You do not hurt my son," the sea god responded. But Hermes has a trick up his sleeve. "Lord Zeus, I think I have a better idea," showing his infamous mischievous grin. "He wants to send this to us?" he grabbed a magic pen, "Then let's just return it."

[keith-the-hoe]

The Glimmer Hoes Master Plan| Crack Fanfic Mini Series

Episode One: [X]

Episode Two: [X]

Episode Three: American Tour

Episode Four: [X]

Episode Five: [X]

Warnings:

This story will contain violence, sex scenes and a shit ton of foul language. It may also cause you to lose a couple of brain cells and fall into a state of confusion. Do not read if you are under the age of 16. Read at your own risk. Or Keef will eat your grandma.

Cast:

Mick Jagger

Keith Richards

Charlie Watts

Ronnie Wood

Bill Wyman

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

After the huge massacre in California, The Rolling Stones were on the run again. Keef was super ugly and devastated from his buddy, Mick, being brutally killed by the sus one. Who was going to sing for them? Charlie and Bill were sitting in the back seat with Mick's body next to them. Their van had broke down when they were out camping in the desert. So they elected Keef to push the van to the nearest town.

"Ah jeez..... Now who is going to be our whore front man?" Keef asked while he struggled to push the van over a speed bump.

"You do it" Billl said as he keep trying to get the body from touching him.

The Rolling Stones stopped by a mechanic shop that was also a coffee shop. California was burning hot. The sun was shining down on Keef so he took his clothes off. Bill and Charlie stepped out of the van and stood in front of the coffee shop.

"Hmm.... Some coffee wouldn't be so bad right now." Bill said to Charlie.

The only problem was, they didn't have any money on them. But Keef did so this whole sentence doesn't work at all. He took out a bunch of crumbled up dollar bills from his underpants. Penis money was what he always called it in case of emergencies. Bill didn't want to touch it so he told him to hold onto it. They walked into the coffee shop. There was no one in there but some weird guy with a big nose reading a news paper. They all sat down at the counter and waited for someone to attend them. A lady with a cheese ball outfit went up to them to take their order. Keef really wanted bananas. Bill and Charlie just ordered eggs and bacon like normies do at coffee shops. Keef kept spinning around his stool and noticed that the big nose whore was looking at them. He got sus so he just walked in the bathroom to take a piss. Or at least that what he made big nose whore think. Keef walked over to the mechanic shop to check on their van. Then he remembered that he left Mick in there. He went into a panic. Bill and Charlie had already taken him out of the van but didn't tell him. Keef searched the van but didn't see him in there. Charlie went outside to see what kind of shenanigans he's up to this time. Keef turned into a mad monkey.

"Jesus! Calm down you fooking dumb fuck of a monkey!" Charlie said. "If you're looking for whore Mick, we hid him behind the dumpster until the van gets fixed."

Keef just stared at him. He felt better now that he knew that his side hoe was okay. He walked around the mechanic shop and saw a bunch of car parts. He got a very good idea. He grabbed the parts, some oil cans, and his guitars. Told ya they might come in handy for later. Charlie stood there in confusion watching Keef once again do something stupid.

"Be hold!!" Keef yelled.

Charlie rolled his eyes at him. He seriously wondered why he's even in a shitty ass band with a very stupid monkey. Keith removed the tarp from his very fantastic creation.

"Wot in the actual fuck did you just make?" Charlie asked sounding annoyed.

Keef chuckled. "You dummy! It's Mick!" He said as he leaned on it only to knock it over. He has built a cyborg Mick as a replacement for the real Mick. Charlie was not amused. Bill came out of the coffee shop with the big nose whore holding a knife to his neck. He was pretty calm about it. Charlie panicked.

"Woah woah! Hey! easy there cowboy! Put the knife down! We can talk this through!" Keef said as he slowly walked up to them.

Charlie was examining the piece of junk. He was trying to figure out how it worked. Cyborg Mick smacked him hard in the head and did Jagger moves.

"Wot is that?" Bill asked as big nose whore held the knife closer to his neck. He remained calm.

Keef explained since they no longer had the real Mick, they could use a artificial one. He programmed it to be exactly like Mick. He even gave him a dick since Mick LOVES to be screwing around with random ass hoes. Charlie cut him off by yelling at him that Bill is being held hostage.

"Oh.... right.... that....." Keef said with a nervous chuckle.

He slowly approached them but big nose whore kept walking away. Keef threw a punch only to get his arm sliced by the knife.

"Owie! Damn! I need this arm to play guitar!! Son of a bitch!" He yelled as he threw a rock at Charlie.

"You play guitar?" Big Nose Whore asked. Bill used the opportunity to run to Charlie and jumped in his arms. Just imagine that though lol. Keef looked at them both confused but he ignored them. Cyborg Mick went up to Keef and big nose whore.

"Greetings, I am Mick Jagger, yes this Monkey whore plays guitar." He said.

Big Nose Whore put his knife away and began to laugh his ass off.

"Well why didn't you say so!? Bitch I play guitar as well!" He said.

Bill and Charlie rolled their eyes. Just what they needed, another dumbass. The van was up and running again. The Rolling Stones were relieved to finally have a working vehicle. Keef and big nose whore became besties and offered to give him a ride. The only thing he wanted to ride was- okay don't be nasty. He accepted the offer and hopped in the van. He sat next to Bill who was already annoyed by his presence. Cyborg Mick kept smacking Charlie in the head.

"Jesus! Keith get your damn sex robot under control!" He yelled.

Keith scratched his head trying to figure out why Cyborg Mick did that. He figured that he set it to fightey mode instead of normal Mick mode. He turned the switch which got Keith's balls kicked. He screamed in pain and Big Nose Whore just laughed at him. Charlie seriously wondered how he even ended up being stuck with a bunch of idiots. Bill also wondered the same thing. They also later learned that Big Nose Whore's name is Ronnie because of course it was. They also learned that he bites people. They had to find that one out the hard way. Keith began to discuss how they're going to be touring with a broken robot and a missing rhythm guitarist. Ronnie got a splendid idea. He drank orange juice. So really he didn't have a splendid idea. I know how to grammar properly.

"Assholes I can be your rhythm guitarist." He suggested.

Charlie said no. He was not about to deal with another dumbass that was going to kill his bestie. He just wanted to go home. Cyborg Mick yelled at Charlie to shut up and he doesn't get to make the decisions around here. A tear ran down his face. Cyborg Mick accepted Ronnie to be a part of the band.

"Sweet! So where are we headed?" He said with a wide smile.

Cyborg Mick started doing weird beeping sounds. Keef programmed him to be their GPS which he didn't even know he could do. They got directions to a small motel near a small town in San Francisco. They didn't question it and drove there.

"Ooooh motels are quite fun, they have all sorts of things to do there." Ronnie explained.

"I hate motels." Bill replied as he lit a cigarette.

"Oh shut it you! You love going there to screw every single girl you lay eyes on!" Keef yelled.

"I have a wife." Charlie said.

"Why screw girls when we can screw each other!" Ronnie replied.

The whole van turned into an argument about fucking people. Cyborg Mick just kept driving without saying a single work to them. He was super horny though, just like the real Mick. Only thing is, this one actually has a dick, unlike the real Mick. They parked in front of the lobby. The van went silent. The Rolling Stones all slowly looked at each other. Who was going to go in there and ask for rooms?

"Alright....." Keef said in a low voice. "In the count of three...... One-"

They all touch their noses as they yelled "NOT IT" even though Keith wasn't even at three. That meant that he had to go in there and ask for rooms.

"Ugh! Son of a bitch! Why do I have to do everything!? Jesus you all don't work for shit! The only thing you all are able to do is be a bunch of whores!" Keith said as he stepped out of the van. Then there was another problem. Who was going to share rooms? Bill and Charlie looked at each other. Guess they're sharing rooms. Keith stood in front of the lobby as the secretary checked for any available rooms. Turns out there was one room with a king sized bed and one with two singles. Keith sighed deeply and paid without any further questions. He walked over to the van to tell them about the rooms. Ronnie claimed the room with two singles. Cyborg Mick also claimed that room. That left with Bill, Charlie and Keith with the room with a king sized bed. This was going to be an awkward night. Bill and Charlie told Keith to fuck off. They didn't want a monkey to be sleeping in the same bed as them. Cyborg Mick put his arm around Keith.

"Me and you can share beds...." He said seductively.

Keith actually didn't mind sleeping in the same bed with Mick. He's his buddy and he's known him since they were in nappies. So he agreed to doing so. Bill hates them both so much that he is planning on doing some murdering. The Rolling Stones went to their room. Cyborg Mick went a little overboard and took Keith to bed with him. Ronnie just stood there eating Doritos that he found in the bathroom. Just another normal day for him.

"Oooh! Make sure to not scratch him up a bit with all of those metal bolts in there....." Ronnie suggested.

Keith just glared at him but then he got a stupendous idea. He removed his clothes. Ronnie was completely lost and wondered why he just did that. Cyborg Mick got turned on by such view.

"Wow! The Rolling Stones really are a wild band! I'm so glad I am a part of it!" Ronnie yelled in excitement. He looked around the room. There were a bunch of used rubbers stuck on them. Beautiful decorating. Cyborg Mick stretched his arm out and pulled Ronnie into bed. They all laid on top of each other and got really funky. Bill and Charlie, who were in a room over, were sitting on the bed watching the telly. Strange noises were coming from the room that Keith was staying in. Bill shook his head in disappointment.

"We haven't even been here for 2 seconds and they're already screwing around? Jesus can there be a-" Bill said as Charlie cut him off with a smack. Bill is a big hoe so the things he is complaining about are extremely irrelevant so he cannot be talking and that is on period 💅. They heard a loud boom outside where the pool was. Charlie was certain that Keith, Mick and Ronnie were up to no good so he went out to check. He saw a telly on the first floor. Turns out Led Zeppelin were also staying in those motels and were the ones who threw the telly out their window. Charlie hated them. He went back inside of his room only to see a naked Bill laying in bed with a bunch of rose petals and candles around him. He was genuinely confused.

"Hey babe..... Why don't you come over here and have some fun eh?" Bill said in a low voice.

Charlie just wanted to go home because according to him, he is happier there then when he is with the stones. Haha I'm using his words against him. He sighed and just went with the flow because Yolo. They really got into it up until they heard screaming from the other room. Bill and Charlie looked at each other.

"Oh wow, they seem to be having a very splendid and wild time...." Bill said.

Charlie rolled his eyes and decided to just ignore them. Keith bursted into the room. He was covered in blood. Bill and Charlie just stared at him with a scared look.

"I-its not wot it looks like....." Bill said with an awkward chuckle.

Keith was breathing heavily and couldn't gather his words. He just began to babble and making hand gestures and so on and so forth.

"Jesus! Use your words bitch!" Charlie yelled.

Keith finally calmed down. "That fucking robot piece of junk just tried to kill me!" He yelled.

Charlie looked at him from head to toe. He was seriously done with The Rolling Stones. He didn't even want to know why he was naked and covered in blood. Ronnie came running in also naked and covered in blood. Charlie just sighed in disappointment. Why is he in a band full of dumbasses.

"Why are you both naked and covered in blood?" Bill asked as he lit a cigarette.

Turns out Cyborg Mick was set in fightey mode instead of sexy time mode and had tried to kill them both by using chainsaws and cheeseballs. He managed to injure Ronnie which caused a whole bunch of blood splattering meaning that he is slowly dying. Charlie had to act fast because clearly these idiots are not going to do so. They all put their clothes back on but Keith couldn't find his pants. Too bad he deserves it. The Rolling Stones jumped in the van that had been vandalized by Led Zeppelin.

"Ughh those fucking hippie bastards!" Charlie yelled as he set the van to drive. Keith held Ronnie's hand. He didn't want to lose him. He has only known him for 5 hours. Ronnie didn't seem to have a problem about the fact that he got attacked by a Mick robot. He just kept smiling and bullied Charlie for having a unibrow.

[stardancerluv]

A Knight and a Princess’s Heart Entwine

Part Eight

Summary: Curiousity leads to interesting developments

The two of you took off the day from exploring your future lands. Unsure, and worried about the stranger you encountered the two of you stayed in the clearing.

Luckily, the day had stayed dry and warm. Sitting, against the wheels of the wagon Elmont, fell fast asleep ar some point. You stayed beside him, since you had brought your book, you read it. For your part, you had wanted to sleep but could not for some reason.

Growing restless, sat and looked over Elmont. Your fingers ran through his soft hair. He only made a soft sound so you felt brave. Taking one of his hands you took off his gloves. You held you hand to his. His was so much larger, had such strength. You brought it to your cheek. You sighed and closed your eyes.

You brought his hand to where you felt your heart. “You will always have my heart.” You whispered and putting his hand in his lap, you pressed a soft kiss to his cheek and got up. Stretching, you looked at his dagger wondering if you should bring it with you.

You pressed your lips together. You were being silly, no one would be all the way here. Giving, Elmont a look you smiled, he needed to sleep.

Looking around you smiled, everything was so lovely. There were flowers and off you saw a deer, it had such a regal stance. Continuing further in you spotted saw a lovely pond you were so amazing. On its surface were lily pads with the most beautiful flowers.

Completely, enchanted by the scene since it reminded you a fairytale you decided to take a small dip. Going over to where there were some rocks, you pulled off your gloves then boots and dress. With just an under shirt and under wear on, you dipped a toe in. It was cool.

So you wadded a little out so you could get used to it. The warm weather it would be refreshing. Finally, you waded out further and then further still. Sighing contently you wadded around. It felt so good. Dipping your head back to relished looking up at the clear blue sky, especially since the day before the clouds had been have gray and heavy. Finding a rock to stand on in the water you gently drew a lily pad close and inhaled deeply. It had such a sweet aroma.

******

Stirring, part of him feeling something different Elmont woke up. Blinking, he rubbed an eye and stretched. “Y/N,” he mumbled.

Finally, opening his eyes he noticed one of his gloves were off and he didn’t see you anywhere. When he stood, with his hand on his dagger his glove fell to the ground. He picked it up. Feeling, warm he shed the other glove and put them in one it his pockets.

Calling out your name, he looked around but you were no where to be seen. When you didn’t answer, unease knotted in his stomach. There were no signs of a struggle and that your book was closed and sitting near where he been it made him wonder.

Knowing, how you always had a very strong sense of curiosity be decided to venture into the forest. Looking, carefully he soon caught your movements or at least he hoped they were.

Hearing, a splash he stopped and lingered along the trees. He slowly drew close. Stopped, the knot of fear in his stomach became immediately undone as he watched you in the water. You were swimming and doing tricks where only your bare legs stuck out. You were like the fairy creatures, his mom would tell him about at bedtime.

You impossibly more beautiful in your chemise swimming around. The delight in seeing you like this was so strong. He down right made him breathless. His stomach was filled with knots of pleasure.

Not wishing, to scare you he began to think of how to walk to you. So as not to scare you, he had thoughts of walking and then arriving but louder.

Stepping back, he stepped right onto a a branch. He could literally watched you stopped and your eyes grew in fear.

“My precious sun, it’s me. I came looking for you.” He finally announced and came from the trees.

From, that water you gave a positively radiant smile. “Hi Elmont.” You stood up and saw more then he ever intended. He felt rooted where he stood. “Join me! The water is a little cold but then it feel so good. Elmont?” You tilted you head to one side. You splashed him. The water certainly felt cold but it also did feel good. He smiled and was brought back from the surprise of seeing, well so much of you. All that remained was his underwear.

“Oh, yes! Ok!” Seeing where you placed your clothes, soon he was shedding his cloak, his tunic, breeches and soon boots; he then made you place them beside yours.

Went right in, and he immediately shivered and called out with brought a burst of laugher from you.

“Oh...Elmont, My precious moon I told you it was cold.” You went over to him.

“This is not cold...it is freezing.” You gave a soft look, and then he sighed as he felt your arms go around him. He stilled, and inhaled sharply.

“Are you ok?” You had was warm on his cheek.

Shivering, he nodded. In his head, images of laying with you, filled his mind. They were strong. He could taste his need to be close with you.

He moved from his arms. He wasn’t very happy with these thoughts. “Did you ahh,” he was at a lost for words. “Smell these lilies?” Walking, past you to the lilies, what he saw come over your face could only be interpreted as maybe hurt or confusion. That honestly stung. But this growing desire to lay with you was very strong.

Getting used to the water, he fully immersed himself before standing closer to the lilies. “Have you smelled these yet?” He tried to giving one of his easy going smiles.

“I have. They smell very nice.” Your voice was chipped as you spoke to his back.

He felt each word. “So they smell as good as you?” He smiled at you over his shoulder.

Seeing, the hurt and how it tinged your eyes he finally decided to go over to you. Easily he wrapped his arms around you. You mouth took a grim line.

“My little sun, you’re upset with me aren’t you?”

You sighed. “Yes.”

“Little sun, you want me to be honest with you always right?”

“Yes.”

“Now, what I am going to tell me you may not want to hear.”

“Look, I am on my cusp of being wed to someone I do not care to meet or be wed to what could you tell me that is worse then that?”

He nodded. “Yes, I can’t imagine what you have been feeling in your heart.” He swallowed. “Ok, well when I woke up and found you gone, I went looking.”

“I didn’t go far.”

He nodded. “Right. But I still had to look.” He reached up and began loosing the brain that held your hair in place.

Your hands went up. “What are you doing?”

He smiled. “I’ve always been fond of this being down, indulge me?”

“For you, Elmont I can do that.” You sighed then after drifting your hands in the water you finally wrapped your arms around him.

He smiled, that was the girl he met he mused seeing it down. “So, alright. I finally found you.”

“Elmont, why are you being so strange?”

“I never felt what I am about to tell you.”

“Oh!” You soften. “My dear moon, you know that you can tell me anything.”

He nodded, damn he mused. He really hoped it would be ok. He couldn’t drag this out any longer.

“When I first saw you well, I saw pretty much all of you.” He looked past you. This was almost harder then fighting giants. “Well, watching you, I really should call you my water fairy with all the things I saw you doing.”

You giggled. “You saw that?”

“Yes, it was wonderful to see.”

“Oh, I am so sure.” Gently, you pushed him and he captured your hands and held them to him.

He leaned and kissed your knuckles. “My sweet sun, my sweet water fairy.”

“Oh, Elmont.” You sighed.”

“When I saw you as you were.” He met your eyes, there was no going back now. “I wanted to lay with you. I wanted, I want to lay with you like a man does with a woman he cares for. Or as does when he loves a woman, like I love you.”

As you looked at him, all you did was blink your eyes.

“Is that everything, Elmont?”

“Yes.”

“So the day when we had to dry off you didn’t sneak any glances. The day we dried our clothes when we fell into the lake?”

“Only, a few.” He blushed, he could actually feel the heat fill his cheeks.

“Good, because I sneaked a few of you as well.” You admitted and your cheeks like his grew rosier. “And Elmont?”

“Yes.” Worry, entered his heart once again.

“I want you to.” Your voice was soft and gentle like the rest of you. He couldn’t have possibly heard what he thought he heard. “I want to lay with you like a man and a woman do.”

You reached up and let your fingers drift through his wet strands.

“Y/N, if we do and your husband were to fond out he could kill me and you. Or he could toss the two of us to a oubliette.”

“Yes, well I didn’t choose to marry him.”

“But my sweet sun.”

“I know ladies don’t chose who they marry.”

“Well, yes but..”

“What about Isabelle and Jack?”

“That is an exception.”

“Why can’t I, can’t we be the exception?” You cried, tears finally came from your eyes. “Lay with me Elmont.”

“Oh, my sweet heart, my sun.” His breath was strangled as he tried to inhale.

@shantellorraine @darling-i-read-it @gothamsbatman @johallzy @rosionis @mylifeisbasedonashow @unfilteredmoonchild

[themidnightfarmer]

Dave, meet smaller Dave || Dave & Jared

Timing: Before the end of the party.

Location: Jareds farm

Tagging: @seizethecarpe & themidnightfarmer

Description: Dave comes to meet his reward for helping Jared out.

Triggers: mind alteration tw, three eyed zombie goat tw

Jared was enthused by the idea that another person was going to be adding to the already large group of people on the farm enjoying the party. A party that had been running for three days at this point. Anyone coming in that wasn’t fae became addled, walking over stray sod patches that had cropped up at the gates. While no one was being forced to stay, many kept running into those patches of sod and ending up staying for longer. And anyone who had made it out the other side, found the whole party experience a haze, something most who had made it home had so far attributed to the alcohol and other substances circulating the place. The nymph was waiting for his VIP guest by the fences, swinging on the post holding it up idly until he thought he could see Dave. He raised a hand and waved vigorously, almost dislodging himself from the fence. “Welcome to the party!” he cheered.

Dave had to admit, having a little kiddy goat gruff named after him was a whole different thing than what he’d understood from Jared when he’d looked after the guy at that whole fiasco. This was kind of an honour, he guessed, although it was still a little weird. The second thing was, he was pretty sure Jared was tripping balls from the messages he’d seen. All the same, he was honour bound to show up. Say hi to the guy and the kid, and be on his merry way. Dave pulled up his van near the farm and hopped out, frowning at the number of people he heard. He waved back at Jared, his frown growing. “Think I missed the memo. Didn’t know you were throwing a party.”

“Did I not say the party would be going on?” Jared asked, but didn’t really give Dave much opportunity to answer that. “I could have been so sure I did. You don’t have to stay but I really wanted you to meet Dave!” The tall nymph bounded over to the man and gestured him through the gates. “Tiny Dave is having the time of his life, wouldn’t be fair not to invite his namesake to witness his first time jumping. Besides, I have to repay you for keeping me awake during all that stuff at Pats. We have food and drink, and I told a few folk that you were going to swing on by, they’re excited to meet bigger Dave!” The humans attending the party that had been within earshot of Jared typing (and reading aloud) his texts to Dave had all cheered when Jared had told them he was coming. Whether they remembered this or not was a mystery. 

“No, you just, uh, mentioned your goat,” Dave replied with a rough laugh, mostly because he was concerned. Real concerned. There sure were a group of people here, but for a party, the vibe seemed… hell, he had no idea. As he joined Jared through the gate, he wasn’t feeling as sure of things as when he’d started. It’d been a while since he’d been to a real party, maybe this was how they do, as the kids said. “Right, uh, alright. What sort of food?” Dave asked, looking around. Or at least, trying to look around, instead, he was looking up at the sky and down at the grass, and then up again, as if that’d help anything. “Now, hold on a minute, son, where the hell am I?”

It hadn’t been his intention to walk Dave through the gate with the stray sod in it. But the expression change on the man's face was unmistakable. In the headspace he was in Jared couldn’t feel sorry, he could only begin to get excited at what that could mean. Did this mean Dave would stay and party? His grin grew and he took the man's arm and started to tow him into the farmland further. “You came to the party to meet your nephew.” Jared cheered. “You’ll stay a while right? We have good food and everyone is really chilled out.” Although even as he asked this he started walking away from the crowds. Despite his addled mind, Jared was still being conscious that his kids shouldn’t be seen by the partygoers as well as the other way around. The animals had been fenced into the furthest pasture this past week for safety. But if Dave was going to meet tiny Dave it was time to breach the fence for a moment.

Dave couldn’t make heads nor tails of where he was going, nor did he have a goddamn idea where he had been. It didn’t look all the same, he could see the fences and barn and the farmhouse. Problems started when he was actively looking at them. They’d just slide right out of his vision, and the harder he looked, the faster he lost sight of them. “My nephew? Jared, I don’t got a nephew, he’s dead. Uh,” he looked around again, not that it helped in the slightest. “Well, if there’s food…” He trailed off, unable to remember his objections just seconds ago. “Do you know where we’re going? It’s not like me at all, but my sense of direction is all out of wack. Not sure I could tell you which way the sky was right about now.”

In any other mindset Jared would be incredibly upset that he’d made Dave admit to something as tragic as the death of a family member. But he was just as addled as the selkie was, just in a slightly different way. The nymph threw an arm over Dave's shoulders and continued to lead him towards a small barn further away from the commotion of the party. “I’m going to introduce you to tiny Dave, I named him after you and he’s cute as fuck but you gotta promise not to tell anyone about him. NO, don’t promise just like…...please say you won’t, no promises allowed.” Jared tugged on the latch and pushed the barn door open to be greeted by some pretty horrific cries. The little goats that surrounded them weren’t quite normal, but Jared still stooped down to coo at them. “Dave, meet the kids!” Scooping one up into his arms he dropped the kidd into the mans arms. “Dave meet smaller Dave!”

“Uh, we’re already acquainted, thanks, and I haven’t heard anyone call it tiny before,” Dave bristled at the mention of his tiny Dave. Oh, wait, shit, Jared was talking about the goat. How’d he already forgotten that? How had he assumed- ugh. Ugh. Something real weird was happening, but whenever Dave remembered that it slid right out of his head as if it was greased with Selkie slime. “Right, right, no promises, got it.” That should have rung some alarm bells, but instead… “I promise I won’t tell anyone about tiny Dave,” Dave said solemnly, following Jared into the barn. Where else was he supposed to go? When Jared stooped, Dave felt sharp vertigo, even more confused now the guy wasn’t standing next to him, down to one less point of reference to where he was. Dave looked up, and frowned at the complete absence of stars. Suddenly his arms were full of baby goat. Despite the whole world not making a lick of sense, Dave grinned at smaller Dave, holding him close. “You’re right, he is cute as fuck. Do all goats have three eyes? Have I just been looking at goats wrong my entire life?”

Jared was lost as to what Dave was speaking about, but in his mild confusion he laughed. Humans loved when people laughed at what they said. He was also too focused on his task of getting Dave into the second barn that he completely missed the man binding himself in a promise. The nymph was incredibly proud as Dave agreed that smaller goat Dave was cute. “Only the best goats have three eyes, but you can’t tell anyone that either. It’s a secret, people aren’t very nice to three eyes kids. But three eyed kids are great, they jump and play dead like the fainting goats people love, only when they play dead they actually play zombie!”

“Don’t worry, I get it. Not everyone is nice to people with teeth and pelts like mine, neither. But you’re a cute one, tiny Dave,” Dave announced, cooing at the goat in his arms in a very unDave way. “Oh, yes you are, yes you are. Oh, you wanna get down?” He asked as tiny Dave began to kick and twist in his arms a little. “Wait, hold up a minute now. What do you mean there’s goats that faint and play dead?” He tilted his head, wondering if he’d heard wrong. “Do you mean they eat brains? Jared, you’re getting more confusin’ by the minute.”

The wording once again went right over Jareds head, he was instead stuck smiling proudly as Dave cooed at the little demon in his arms. “I mean there’s goats that people like to film, you see tons of them on tiktok, when they hear a loud noise they go all stiff-” Jared demonstrated this by locking all of his limbs and tipping over. Not his smartest idea, as he let out a small pained ‘oof’ from the ground, but he bounced back up quickly enough. “They like brains, do you not? I hear people eat cooked brains sometimes and not just zombie like. But the kids don’t do cooked, only sun-warmed at best I’d say.” Confusing as it may be it was the truth. “Back to the party? You ready to get your dance on?”

“What the hell is a tikto- Oh shit, Jared-” Dave tried to catch him, missing by a mile. He stared in wide eyed confusion at the young man, and shared a look with tiny Dave. Tiny Dave got it. “What’cha do that for?” He asked, as Jared popped back up with a spring in his legs. “Uh, jesus, no, I don’t like brains. I like my meat and fish raw, but I don’t usually go for the brains. What?” He looked around, but the stray sod was everything, twisting his gaze every which way. Everything here was confusing. He needed to get back in the water, where it’d all make sense again. No, he prepared to tell Jared. “Sure.”

“Impression of a fainting goat...obviously Dave come on.” Jared clapped the man on the back with a laugh as if it was Dave that was the worse off for not grasping his actions, and not himself for the decision to topple over. “Great! There’s good music and we have food and it’ll be awesome!” The nymph linked arms with Dave once again, this time leading him away from the small hoard of three eyed goats and towards the doors to the barn again. “You can’t tell anyone you saw the kidds, they’re top secret hush hush. I don’t want anyone looking for them if they decide they want to be released into the wild rather than stay on the farm. Can’t have anyone looking for them you know? You get it right Dave?”

“How the hell is that obvious?” Dave replied, chuckling back although he didn’t know why. There was something in the air, had to be, this guy was nothing like what he’d seen before at Pat’s opening, but as Jared grabbed Dave’s arm and led him back out into the field, the stray sod clouded his mind like cotton candy all over again. Concepts like personal secrecy were all but gone. “Trust me kid, I get it. I swear on my wife’s grave, I ain’t ever telling anyone about your three eyes brain-eating goats. ‘Ere,” Dave reached into his mouth and pulled off his teeth caps, revealing long canines and teeth as sharp as any other seal’s. Sharper, even. 

The two hadn’t quite made it all the way back to the party when Dave took his tooth caps off. Jared fully stopped to look, his personal space boundaries completely shot due to his state of mind, so the nymph practically had his nose in the mans mouth looking at his teeth. “That’s mad cool!” He exclaimed excitedly. “I’ve only ever seen one other person with teeth like that and they’re wild cool too!” Thoughts of Skylar filled the nymphs mind and he smiled to himself, he should really find her and invite her to the party. Jareds focus however was brought back in when he blinked and caught sight of Daves teeth again. “How sharp?? Fang sharp? Shark sharp?”

The kid peered right up at Dave’s mouth, until Dave thought he was about to be kissed or something, which this place did not seem the right place for. But no, the guy was just peering at his mouth, and it took Dave a moment to realise why - because he was holding his teeth guards in his hands. How had he already forgotten that. “Seal sharp. Mind yourself kid, or I’ll bite your nose off.” The world seemed to spin again. “Hey, kid, I really gotta get back to my van.”

Jared slapped a hand over his nose and he recoiled from Dave with alarm before that action ended up relaxed into a laugh moments later. “Funny, funny.” His goal was to have as many people stay at the party as possible, but even in the state he was in he couldn’t bring himself to trap Dave more than he already had. His face crumpled into a pout but he looped his arm with Daves to take him back to the front gates. “I guess if you have to go, just come back soon okay?”

[4res]

i just need to get this into words

to take the Gods at face value is to take all humans at their ego and face value!

i woke up this morning thinking heavily about Apollo, , then realizing i had a lot on my mind about the old Gods. i want to share here in case anyone finds this post somewhere deep in the digital archives at any time in the future..

i have dove deeply into hellenistic polytheism, as i have dove into so many other paths of faith and spiritual truth on my journey into the heart. i came across a couple strings of posts that were discussing why traditional greek religion may have disappeared.. and a thread poster said this: 

“ Noone really believes that the 12 Gods live on top of Mt Olympus or that Poseidon lives underwater but they try to keep the tradition going. It's like saying "no god really exists, why should I follow the Orthodox tradition (weddings, baptisms and all that)?I always wondered why the ancient Greeks who believed it more seriously didn't just visit the top of Mount Olympus? “

ever since i read this paragraph it has sat with me in profound ways. mostly because there seems to be a multi-level misunderstanding of God energy and Intellect.. . ...

this might be a long read but if youd like to join me.. 

i both am HERMES when i am lost and i am also calling on him!

i both am ARES when i am angry and i am also calling on him!

.........

when Christians say the word “God” to you, do you picture an old white-skinned man sailing around the clouds, casting down judgement like a distant parental figure? 

when i say the word “Apollo” to you, do you picture a handsome olive-skinned man riding around the heavens in his fire chariot to raise and lower the sun? 

what do you picture if i breathed the word “Ares” into the air in front of me, or what about “Goddess Durga”? 

imagine if you were approached on the street by someone who told you “buddhists say that the buddha is everywhere. go lift that boulder and surely hell be under it like he said!” it is the exact same thing as implying the 12 sit on the mount literally, or that christ can be found in israel..

 in fact, one of the temptations of Christ by the Devil was appealing to an easy but dangerous intellectual weakness/understanding of God, and he said this to Christ: “

 “If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.”

(if you dont follow christianity allow me to briefly explain: the Devil was telling Christ that if he was truly the son of God, that when God said to Jesus that hed never cast his foot against stone and be harmed, that surely that meant that if Christ flung himself off the hillside that angels would charge in to not let him hit the ground)

this same nightmare of an intellectual take on spiritual BLESSINGS and WORKS sets MASSIVE traps for the young explorers or depressed believers looking for proof - the mind would have you look LITERALLY at faiths where there exists almost nothing but METAPHYSICALLY

i am really deeply confused when people look on at God though an intellectual understanding of “God” so much so that it confines the expansiveness and endless awareness into a mortal form with a name that they believe the Gods would have had to use in order to meddle with our affairs 

to the point to where their visual dynamics, name, and sexy gritty stories become like golden calves that stand between us and a Truthful understanding of their Blessed Essence - that whether or not they once had skin like me doesnt even matter - what matters is the same thing that matters in humans - the SOUL and God Essence within all of us . to take the Gods in an EGOIC/face value is to take your fellow friend and human at an egoic and face value... .. 

any fucking way im so worked up! but please let me keep going!

if you read the odyssey closely, you can see that the ancient greek people were very faithful and looked to God to be the cause of everything!! when odysseus is stuck on his island, everyone around him is referencing “Posideons wrath” for the stormy seas and how Zeus must have been upset with Posideon, otherwise he would have already freed odysseus.. 

you can almost directly see this does not literally mean “morpheus is fighting neo” and that zeus and posideon are about to get into it..!!

this means that when the ancient faithful believers looked at the storming sea and thought: gods.. what an angry spirit in those waves. the oceans storming seas and spirit have cost us so many lives. if god were listening to us then surely he would have saved our missing and fallen brothers by now!” which is ironically almost exactly what the conversation between the gods is like in the opening of the odyssey...

posideon IS the storming SEA! hermes IS the lost traveler and the faithfully guided! ares IS the WAR and PROTECTION! the gods do not grow EGO and become characters that perform acts. they ARE the acts being performed. 

i both am hermes when i am lost and i am also calling on him!

i both am ARES when i am angry and i am also calling on him!

i both am HESTIA when i am protecting my home and i am also calling on her!

because God is NOT literal! God is within me and you and every single thing mundane or not.. there is nothing that hermes isnt, or that Goddess Durga isnt!

i do not EGOICALLY think “look at me im hermes!” i think “i am hermes.. and so is that wind, and so is that turtle, and so is that bird, and so is that letter i need to send to my family..”

----

SEEING signs of God like Hawks, Storming Seas, a warm oven, Seeing the MAGIC of basic and beautiful life and understanding the God flow behind it ---> deciding to depict them visually 

modernly, its nearly backwards.. we look on like this:

visual depiction --> trying to open ourselves into seeing the magic of the every day.. which leaves us feeling so CLOSED and like we are trying to call OUT to someone when all we need to do is call IN!! 

Truth waits for eyes unclouded by longing my friend.. the gods did not leave. they did not “GO” anywhere - where are they going to go? where does someone who exists in EVERYTHING... GO? 

if you think the gods can leave, or die, or just vanish then you think of the gods egoically. they are always there.. waiting.. for the day the curtain is peeled back for us.. ... for the day we meet them in our hearsts

Bruh . .. lol ......... im losing it. if youre reading this.. thank you. from the bottom of my hermes, christ, buddha, great virgin mary heart.. 

i kiss u! 

my cheeks are red apollo is here im fucking lit lets go !?? 

if you made it here please tell me. youre the new greek champion ! 

[blueneptunium]

Control - Dark Percy

Summary:  Percy is at his last summer at Camp Half-Blood before he goes to live in New Rome for college. His powers are growing exponentially and he struggles for control. (I just really love dark Percy okay? Also yes, this is a lowkey songfic from control - Halsey.) Beta read by @tevi-tevi

Genre: Oneshot Dark!Percy fic, no warnings

Word Count: 6617

Read on AO3

“I sat alone, in bed till the morning

I'm crying, "They're coming for me"

And I tried to hold these secrets inside me

My mind's like a deadly disease”

Percy’s sword arm hurt. He can’t remember how many monsters he’s killed. They just kept coming and coming. How did they get into camp? There were so many of them now that Percy couldn’t see his friends fighting. Suddenly the air turned humid and hot, like it was trying to choke him. As he turned around the comforting landscape of Camp Half-Blood slowly melted into an all too familiar horror. Tartarus. It can’t be. I can’t be back.

More monsters came at him. He recognized everything he’d ever fought or read about. Percy yelled out for help, calling his friends, Chiron, Poseidon, anyone. He looked back to see where they all were, but rather than seeing them fight, he saw something so much worse. A mountain of bodies, stacked up to at least a giant’s height. Blood flowed down like rivers. All the faces were familiar. His mother. Annabeth. Every friend or ally he had ever known. Percy stopped fighting.

His sword was stuck. He turned towards it and found not the Cyclopes he thought he was slaying but rather his best friend. Percy tried to pull his sword out from where it resided in Grover’s chest but somehow he pushed it in deeper. The satyr fell to his knees. Percy tried to speak, to say anything. But the words won’t come. All he can do is stare and hold his best friend’s dying form. Percy called on the water, hoping that it could help heal. The waves came swirling around their heads, but would not go towards Grover. Soon there was enough water to separate them from everything else, trapping Percy in a dome made from the ocean.

“You did this.” Grover spoke before melting into the soil.

Percy fell forward and started to yell frantically. For help or for grief, he didn’t know. The water started to close in. Percy thrust his hand out, trying to push it away, but water from the ground started to rise instead. Quickly. Percy couldn’t control it. He swam and thrashed around, desperately trying to find a way out. Soon the water was over his head.

He couldn't breathe. The water felt clean and normal but Percy couldn’t breathe. Panic filled his lungs where air should be and he prayed to his father.

A deep booming voice resonated through Percy: “You’ve gone too far. You are no longer worthy of the gifts I have given you.” His father’s voice echoed in his head, over and over again until he couldn’t hold his breath any longer.

Percy jolted up in his bed, sweat clinging to him. He took deep breaths trying to convince himself it wasn’t real. But Percy had had visions before. Is the camp under attack? He stood up and walked out of his cabin without bothering to find shoes. He ran towards the Big House where Grover was staying and walked in without knocking. Opening the door of the satyr’s room, he let out a sigh of relief. Grover was in bed, surrounded by tin canes and snoring very loudly, but definitely not dying.

He considered waking the goat to discuss the dream but decided to let him sleep. It was probably midnight. It could wait until morning. He walked back toying with his camp necklace. There were five beads, one for every summer he’d known of this world, as well as a trident pendant his father, Poseidon, gave to him after the Giant War. Once Percy got back to his cabin, he tried to go to sleep, but every time he closed his eyes, images from the dream danced around. After about an hour of restlessness, he got up and headed for the arena.

Percy didn’t know just what it was about saving the world a few times that made people act differently around you, but since the whole Gaea thing, the harpies that guarded the camp and threatened late nighters like himself didn’t really bother him anymore. He, of course, didn’t mind this as sword practice after a bad nightmare was his go-to therapy. He’d either tire himself out to the point where he had to go back to sleep, or he’d sit there practicing jabs and strokes until sunrise where he would sneak back to his cabin and pretend he got up with the rest of the camp. Tonight was the latter option. By the time the sun came rolling around and he was getting dressed for the new day, Percy’s arm was tired and the bags under his eyes were prevalent.

Annabeth met up with him after breakfast, flipping through papers as she walked. “I’m captaining capture the flag tomorrow, you’re leading offense, I’ll take defense.” Percy nodded his head and slipped his hand into hers.

“Sounds like a plan.”

“Not quite. These are the plans.” She gave Percy half of the papers she had. “Those are all my battle strategies I wanna try out, choose one soon so I can match a defensive plan.”

“Ah, great, more homework,” Annabeth laughed at him and turned towards the cabins.

“I’m on cabin check, I’ll catch you later!”

“Wait, Annabeth!” he called after her. He hadn’t seen Grover yet and he knew that if he talked to Chiron, the centaur would make into a bigger deal than it was, but he wanted to talk to someone about his dream.

“What’s up, Seaweed Brain? Is it about Rome, have you heard back?” Percy shook his head. He definitely did not want to think about college right now. It had been hard enough graduating high school that spring, what with his grades and the fact that he’d missed most of the junior year, courtesy of Hera.

“No, I just wanted--” Percy faltered. He didn’t really know how to describe his dream. Annabeth just looked at him, waiting for him to continue. As he thought about, one thing about the dream bothered him almost more than anything else.

“Is it, I don’t know, possible for a god to...take away powers?” He tried. Annabeth just raised her eyebrows in confusion. “Like, if Hephestus wanted to take away Leo’s fire ability, could he do that?”

Annabeth looked down in thought. “I don’t know, Perce, maybe? I mean I imagine if they could, they would have done it to all the demigods that supported the Titans. Why?”

She was looking at him with concern, all stormy eyes. He didn’t want her to worry so he cracked his signature lopsided smile, giving him that special Percy-Jackson-idiocy look. “Just thought about it,” It seemed to have worked as Annabeth just laughed.

“See you later, Seaweed Brain.”

Percy smiled and waved her off. He used to hate the fact that everyone, even Annabeth sometimes, took him for being the happy-go-lucky dumb one. He joked around a lot, and yeah, he didn’t do great in school, but that didn’t mean he was incapable. Lately, however, he almost appreciated the persona people had made for him. The only time his allies delved from that idea was when he was on the battlefield.

Then everyone’s ideas changed. Rachel said he looked fierce and terrifying. Frank said he fought like a demon. Everyone always wanted battle Jackson on their side and were afraid if he wasn’t. It never bothered him much at first, but now it kind of scared him. He’d take happy-go-lucky over demon-fighter any day.

“I paced around for hours on empty

I jumped at the slightest of sounds

And I couldn't stand the person inside me

I turned all the mirrors around”

A wave of demigods all strapped up in armor gathered at the entrance of the woods. It was time for capture the flag and Percy had just explained everyone’s roles, courtesy of Annabeth’s strategy.

He was readjusting his straps that he couldn’t seem to make fit right, despite having done it hundreds of times. He hoped the game would go over well, but Percy’s head just wasn’t in it.

He’d had more nightmares of drowning, and to top it off, he’d gotten a letter back from the college in New Rome. As much as they were “pleased the former Praetor” wanted to attend, his grades weren’t good enough to get into their marine biology department. He would have to write another entrance essay and pass a STEM test to be accepted. Percy knew they were being generous, they did mostly deal with preoccupied demigods, but he still felt flustered and angry.

“Focus on the game, Jackson,” he grumbled to himself as he tightened his shoulder strap. Percy uncapped Riptide and headed out into the woods to get to his post before it started.

The plan was fairly simple, but the Ares cabin was leading the other team. They didn’t have much more strategy than hit everything you see. There were two offensive teams. Percy’s team was the distraction, leading the Ares defense out to fight. The second would retrieve the flag and bring it back to base, where Annabeth’s team was defending in several groups.

The fight broke out fairly quickly and half of the other team’s defense was on Percy’s group within minutes. They would need to plow their way through these guys in order to get the others to come, making the flag vulnerable.

For Percy, going against the other campers was fairly easy. He had three on him, two bulky Ares kids and one Demeter kid. He disarmed the Demeter kid first, stunning him so he wouldn’t have the opportunity to use any plant magic, and slashed and blocked with the other two fighters. His body was on autopilot from all the battles he’d been in. Unfortunately, those battles were life or death. This wasn’t. Percy went too hard. He slashed towards the left of one and turned to hit him with the butt of his sword, knocking him to the ground. He stepped in close enough to the next one that she couldn’t use her sword and hit her jaw with his forearm. He felt bad for a moment, but the strategy was working. The rest of the offense came up to avenge their teammates.

He tried to take on the bulk to the campers to give the rest of his team a better chance. They were going one to one while Percy was in four to one. His experience didn’t fail him. At this point, he might’ve even been able to beat Luke. Campers went down left and right. Too quickly. Percy’s mind wandered to his dream, the monsters' bodies that went down only for them to be revealed as his half-blood friends. He felt the panic rise up. His movements became slow and one of the campers got a hit in on his arm. He felt one approaching from behind. Percy’s body moved before his mind. He’d lost the Curse of Achilles long ago but sometimes his body seemed to forget and his only instinct was to protect his back.

Percy summoned water from the creek to blast the three in front of him. He turned around and thrust his hand out to the camper, expecting a water wall to push her down. She fell back, but there was no water. Percy realized with a start that he’d controlled the water in her. He had pushed her back. Without even touching her.

Fear overtook him and he dropped his sword to run to her side. “Are you okay? I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean--”

“Percy, it’s okay, I just fell,” Percy looked at her furrowed brow. She didn’t know. He’d let go as soon as he realized and she didn’t know. He apologized again, or maybe it was several times all rushed together. He pushed past everyone else who had stopped fighting and ran for something.

The ocean. It always calmed him down to sit on the shoreline. It smelled so strongly of the sea and of home that once he got there, Percy almost jumped in to escape his thoughts. But something held him back. Honestly? He was afraid to. How could he have done something as violating as control another person’s body without meaning to? He could still see Annabeth’s face, in fear of him in Tartarus when the met up with Misery. He did that.

Percy could hear the hooves coming up behind him before Chiron spoke. “Percy,”

He turned towards the centaur and nodded. “I’m sorry I left, sir,”

Chiron put his hand on Percy’s shoulder and spoke evenly. “It’s alright, though I will admit I am curious as to why you did. Your team won the game and when dear Annabeth went to find you, the others said that you ran off, after knocking several members of their team unconscious.”

“I’m sorry about that really, I didn’t realize--I don’t know.” Percy sighed and looked down. Chiron had the same effect as his mom did: feeling like you disappointed them was the worst feeling in the world. And Percy was no stranger to bad feelings.

“They are all resting up in the infirmary, perfectly fine. It will serve them good motivation to spend their time in the arena wisely. Now, why don’t you tell me what’s happened?”

Percy did. As he talked, he found himself realizing things he wasn’t aware of before, at least not fully. His restlessness since returning home last summer. His struggle to separate fend-for-your-life battles and training exercises like today. He even told Chiron about his dream and his fear of drowning.

“I’m afraid that maybe one day, I’ll need to control the water to help and I won’t be able to or...or maybe I’ll control it too much.”

Chiron nodded, his face a mask. Percy guessed that after thousands of years of teaching, you could probably hide any reaction. “Percy, you have been through a lot for your young age,” Understatement, Percy thought but didn’t interrupt. “These nightmares and worries are normal from someone in your situation and even expected. However, with your abilities, you need to discover control. You have done well training, but how much time of your training has been devoted to your unique powers?”

Percy thought for a moment. Chiron had a point. His summers at camp had mostly been spent working on his swordsmanship. Sure, he’d practice every now and then, and he almost always used his water abilities in combat or during war games. However, he’d never really practice in order to strengthen those abilities.

“Percy, I recommend that you use this summer as an opportunity to make sure you know your limits before you leave for New Rome. If you would like to avoid using this...blood bending, then you need to make sure you know what your powers feel like, and what their limits are.”

Percy thanked Chiron and walked back to his cabin quietly thinking. He definitely didn’t want to go to New Rome with his powers out of control -- they already thought Neptune was bad enough. He could definitely put some more work into his training.

“Percy, wait up,”

Annabeth came running up to him just before he stepped into his cabin. “Hey, you alright?” Her wrinkled brow and stormy eyes made him smile.

“Yeah, all good, Chiron just gave me some advice.”

“Okay, I was going to head down to the fire with Piper, you wanna come? Jason will be there,” She smiled and held his hand.

“Yeah, okay,” He laughed.

They walked to the amphitheater like everything was fine because, for the moment, it was.

“I'm well acquainted with villains that live in my head

They beg me to write them so they'll never die when I'm dead

And I've grown familiar with villains that live in my head

They beg me to write them so I'll never die when I'm dead” 

Percy spent almost the entire day with Annabeth. Normally, that’s not something he would complain about, however it was spent alternating between writing his essay and studying math. Not his favorite activities but at least she was there to help him. Without her, he probably would have put the essay off until the week of the deadline, and it definitely would have been less articulate. Annabeth always had a strategy, even when it came to Percy’s education. This time it was “finish as soon as possible while still being good so you’ll impress them”. If they followed her timeline, Percy would be ready to take the test, which New Rome kindly allowed Chiron to administer, in about a week.

Needless to say, Percy needed to blow off some steam. While the other campers headed to the campfire after dinner, he trudged towards the woods. He thought if everyone was together in the amphitheater, he could be alone to follow Chiron’s advice. Part of the reason he’d never focused his training on his Poseidon abilities was that no one knew how to teach him. No one knew the limit of what he could do--not even Percy.

When he got to the creek, he started with just relating to the water. He stood in the bank and just focused on its power. He could feel it rushing, sense its wildness. He always felt a connection to the water; it was reckless and strong, it refused to be controlled for long, and more than anything it wanted to be free.

Percy wanted to start simple. He willed just a small line of water to rise. It was easy, nothing he hadn’t done hundreds of times. The point, however, was discipline. He dropped the water and stepped out of the river. He concentrated on raising one side of the creek, then the other. The whole stream oscillated back and forth.

Then he started making shapes with the water. Small things, at first: A sphere, a cube, a pyramid. Then he went for intricate. He started to recreate Poseidon’s cabin. First, the basic shape, a generic house. Then the memorized details of spending summer and summer there. The shells embedded in the walls. The curve of the window planes. He was so focused, he didn’t hear it.

Something slammed into his back and threw him to the river. The falling of his cabin-sculpture was enough to startle whatever it was just long enough for Percy to turn around to face it.

Of course, it was a giant scorpion. Percy had his fair share of luck with them. He reached into his pocket but Riptide was gone. Probably floated downstream when he fell. Percy was pinned under the monster and wouldn’t be able to stall long enough for the sword to reappear. As the scorpion's pincers rushed forward to end Percy Jackson’s life, he thrust his hands towards it, trying to push it off.

The monster went flying into the nearest tree. It couldn’t move but wasn’t dead yet. Percy had done it again: controlled the water inside another being. Apparently just as the human body had 80% water, monsters had their fair share too. Unlike during capture the flag, Percy was reluctant to let go. The thing that attacked him was at his mercy. It would be so much easier to end it like this. Even as he thought about it, water started coming from inside the scorpion, swirling around them. If he could take down monsters with just his thoughts, everything could be so much easier. All of his quests, done in half the time. Right before the last of the water was gone from the monster, Percy saw Annabeth’s scared face in his mind.

He let go. He didn’t even finish the monster off with his sword; he felt too guilty for that. It crawled away back into the woods. Percy fell to the ground. He couldn’t breathe. There was panic and guilt pushing on his chest and he had no idea what was happening to him. He couldn’t breathe. The creek responded to his anxiety and pushed water against him, pulling him into the creek. The water was soothing and helped calm his breathing but he still felt the weight of the sky on his chest. Percy realized he was moving upstream. He wasn’t controlling the water, which meant something else was. He started to fight it but stopped quickly. Could it be his father?

Percy let the water take all the way to the ocean. He fell in and instantly swam under, looking for any sign of Poseiden. In the waves, a shimmering figure appeared. It solidified into a woman with dark flowing hair and a soft smile. Percy wasn’t sure how to react so he bowed. “You’re the Nereid that helped me in Santa Monica?” Despite Percy accidentally wording it as a question, the woman held her smile.

“I am, child. It has been a long time since we first me, though I have always kept an interest in you.” She brushed her hand on his cheek and Percy felt warm currents. She still sounded so much like his mother.

“Did my father send you?”

“Not this time. I come for you only; we are shielded from his gaze.” Percy furrowed his brow. Why would she not want Poseidon to know they were meeting?

“It is okay, young hero, no wrong has been done. I simply come with advice.”

“Advice for what? Why haven’t I seen you in so long?” She laughed, a soft sound that reminded Percy of swimming with his mother in the frigid waters during their trips to Montauk. His favorite memories.

“Child, you are more powerful than you know. Like Poseidon, I must keep my distance. Playing favorites among heroes is something Olympus looks down upon. But you are the favorite of the sea, Perseus, and the sea stands behind you.” For some reason, he didn’t mind that she’d called him by his full name.

“What do you mean?” Percy was confused and felt disorientated. “What can I even call you?”

“I have gone by many names throughout your history, though I was never as well known as my sisters. You, child, may call me Maera.”

“Your sisters?”

“The Fifty Nereids, you have met some of them. Amphitrite is married to your father, and I believe you know Calypso without introduction.” Percy’s face warmed. He hoped it wasn’t noticeable underwater. He would always have a soft spot where Calypso was concerned.

“As for what I meant, I think you know. You are growing stronger, but you still have more to gain. To unlock yourself, you must push the limits, Perseus, but be wary. You can do incredible deeds. One day, you may even be able to rival your father. In order to get there, you must keep focus. Do you understand, child?”

Percy slowly nodded. “I think so, but I don’t get why I need to practice. There isn’t much more than Titans and Giants and those are over with.”

Maera brushed his cheek again. “Because one day, a choice of power will come to you, and you will need to be prepared for it.”

“I don’t want power.”

“And that’s what makes you worthy of it. I must go back to Poseidon’s court.” She started to fade back into light. Percy reached out to her, not wanting her to go yet.

“Wait!”

“We will see each other again, young hero, I promise. Follow your heart!”

And just like that, she was gone. Again. Percy stayed underwater for a while, not wanting to leave the safety. He sent out a silent promise to Maera that he would do as she asked.

He walked back to the cabins and ran into Annabeth.

“Hey! Are you...you’re wet.” She stared at him like he was on fire and could only be dosed out by a puzzle.

“Yeah.”

“You’re never wet.”

“Yeah.”

“Are you okay?” He felt bad for cutting her short, but he didn’t know what to say, except about meeting Maera and something told him that he should keep that to himself. He cracked the Jackson smile.

“I’m sorry, I just started working on training, y’know Chiron’s advice, and I’m pretty tired.”

She gave him a worried smile and kissed his cheek. “Okay, well, get some rest and we’ll work on your essay tomorrow?”

He nodded and kissed her goodnight before heading back into his nightmare filled bed.

“I'm bigger than my body

I'm colder than this home

I'm meaner than my demons

I'm bigger than these bones”

Not even Chiron could’ve come up with a more intense training regime. From then on, Percy was entirely focused. He would get up every morning before camp broke and run the length of the beach, racing against various sea animals, or sometimes Blackjack. At first, he had no chance. As the days passed, he started to get closer and closer to winning. He was still yards away from the hippocampi, but he’d bested two dolphins.

Then he would eat breakfast with Annabeth, working on his studies. It was difficult as he was more restless than ever, but Annabeth was determined--and it paid off. He finished his essay in a week and a half and took the STEM exam by late July. His score certainly wasn’t outstanding but he passed, which was enough for the marine biology program.

After that, he was either in the arena, the woods, or the ocean. He would spar with the Athena and Ares kids. Hand to hand, he had yet to beat Clarisse, but he was a lot closer than he’d ever been. She was actually trying now. When it came to swords, however, no one came close. He usually trained with them to keep up the practice, not get rusty. But now he was trying to improve his skill. He didn’t go easy on them. It took a month before he could beat every member of both cabins in one day. As a favor (that may or may not have stemmed from swapping shower times and chore charts), the Hephestus cabin built him three super-powered warriors that could keep up with him. When he first went against them, Percy felt like he was sparring Luke, Chrysaor, and Quintus (or rather, Daedalus) all at once. It was finally a good challenge. It took two weeks before they needed repairs. After that, the warrior bots needed fixed every night.

“Come on man, what are you training for? The bronze versus sword Olympics?” Leo joked. Percy offered to teach him as payment for the constant repairs. He found teaching helpful, it reminded him of old tactics. Soon he had a class of about half the camp that he taught three times a week. Even Annabeth and Jason signed up for a couple. When he wasn’t teaching, people came to watch him fight against the bronze warriors, watching for tips. He’d gotten good at blocking out excess noise and just focusing on the battle at hand.

Unlike the arena, his time spent in the woods and ocean were private. He would never tell Annabeth, but he was practicing this new blood bending technique. Only on monsters in the woods, and only to a point. He hadn’t killed any with it, and he didn’t plan to. At least, not anytime soon. He had gotten a fair grasp on it. He could now pinpoint how he wanted the monsters to move, rather than just away.

In the ocean, he worked on bending waves and currents to his will, shaping water and utilizing it. He focused on summoning hurricanes and controlling them. His stamina improved enough that starting a storm didn’t wear him out anymore if he was careful. Though it did make some of the campers who were previously enjoying a nice sunny day upset with him. He talked more with creatures under the surface. Rather than just talking to them when either he or they needed help, Percy developed relationships with them. Learned from them on how to better navigate the ocean and his training. Sometimes he would even go looking for a sea monster.

He always won.

One day, Percy skipped out on dinner to stay under the surface. Not entirely voluntarily. Some fish had gone back to Poseidon with the knowledge of Percy’s training and since then his dear old dad would send various underwater menaces Percy’s way when he couldn’t be bothered to clean up after them. Normally it was fine. Just a big fish or a scaley being, nothing to be too worried about. This time, Poseidon went too far. He sent a skolopendra.

Shrimpzilla was worse the second time around. He was pushing currents against it and throwing sharped water its way, but it wasn’t easy. Percy was defending himself well enough, but just went he tried to go in with Riptide, it all went wrong. One of the tentacles grabbed Percy, the sharp ends tearing into his skin, and threw him out of the water. He went flying. Great, Percy thought, If I don’t die from impact, Zeus will be sure to shoot me down. He landed hard just outside the mess hall, some forty yards away from the shore. As soon as he hit down, the ground shook, as if he weighed enough to pressure it. A small earthquake.

Percy was admittedly pissed. He didn’t ask for his dad’s fights. He certainly didn’t ask to be thrown by some crayfish monster. He didn’t even ask to be a half-blood, which is what it all came down to really. He turned his anger into fuel, called upon water from the air to strengthen him. He ran charging at the ocean. About halfway there, his feet picked up from the ground. The storm he was causing was strong enough to lift him up. In the back of his ADHD mind, he wondered if this counted as Jason’s flying and if that would put him in hot water with Zeus. As he was lifted to the monster, who at this point had emerged from the water, he thrust his hand out and called on the water swirling around him to create a weapon in his hand. He came down on the skolopendra, driving a water made trident right in between its glassy eyes. The monster dissolved under him and he used just a little bit more strength to guide him back to shore (where campers had started to gather) before dismantling his hurricane, leaving him soaking wet.

But Percy wasn’t done yet. No, of course not, he always had something to say.

“Really?!” He shouted at the ocean in a voice that sounded a lot more malice than his own. Several campers stepped back.

“What was that?!” He threw the water trident into the water, it sailing well beyond what should have been capable. He imagined it going all the way to Poseidon and punching right into his desk. “Hmm, I don’t wanna deal with fucking Shrimpzella, so I’ll just send on over to my favorite son, Percy, yeah?!” He didn’t know what else to emphasize his point, but he was angry with his dad, so he uncapped Riptide and threw that into the ocean for good measure. “Then again you never were good at cleaning up your messes, huh, dad?”

He started to walk away but paused. He tore the trident pendant from his necklace off and threw it into the water.

“You can have that back too,” he said, though the malice was gone, and he just sounded tired.

Percy kept his head down as he walked to the cabins. One of the campers tried to grab his arm and stop him, but Percy growled out a “Don’t touch me,” and kept going. Only later did he realize it was Annabeth and apologized to her.

No one brought up the sea monster, at least not around Percy.

“And all the kids cried out, "Please stop, you're scaring me"

I can't help this awful energy

God damn right, you should be scared of me

Who is in control?”

They were lucky that the Golden Fleece made the camp barrier so strong. The monsters that had gathered just hit against the barrier, causing no damage. A few had followed some new demigods to camp, and then called for backup. Normally, the would just wait it out until they left, but it had been a while. Chiron let Clarisse lead a group to “dispatch” the beasts. Percy counted three Laistrygonians, two Cyclopes, and something that resembled a leopard crossed with a shrimp.

“Group One: take on the giants, Jackson you take point. Rodriguez, you lead Two to go after the Cyclopes. Chase, you’re with me. Attack plan twenty-three.”

The broke up and prepared to exit the barrier. The plan was to divide and conquer. Separate each monster so they couldn’t work together, stay in pairs so it’s always two to one. Percy was paired with someone from the Apollo cabin, Ashley. They would stand back and use a bow while Percy got in close with his sword.

The fighting started the second they left the camp line. Percy could hear the Cyclops in the distance, but focused his attention. He ran at one of the giants while arrows went over his head. He played it simple. Ducking under the Laistrygonian, he slid in between its legs, slashing the calf. The monster fell over and Percy twisted as he stood up to drive his sword into its back, vaporizing it.

He signaled to Ashley to go after the nearest giant. Together they ran towards it. Ashley aimed a flash arrow right on his forehead, stunning him, while Percy rolled through and slashed at the chest. The other two campers fighting got the idea and jabbed their weapons into its sides. The now bigger group went to help with the last giant, who was already on the ground. Percy looked around to take inventory. Two giants down, one Cyclops was missing, and… Annabeth fallen. Whatever the leopard thing was, it was on top of her, claws deep.

Percy felt anger and panic rise in his chest. He was too far away to run to her in time. The Cyclops. It was backed into pond. That would give him enough strength. Maybe. He ran towards it, breaking the pattern. Splashing into the water, he called on its power and rose up. He used the Cyclops’ head like a springboard and jumped into the air. When he landed, he focused his power into the ground, taking in water from the pond, from the air, even from himself. A tremor rolled through the ground, knocking everyone off of their feet. Percy thrust his hands down and with them fell each monster. He imagined their lifeforce, the water in them, in his hands. He slowly made a fist. Then he took the driving force and punched the ground.

After that, everything was a blur. He’d used a lot of his strength. The monsters were dead. He was at Annabeth’s side. She was awake. The cuts across her midriff were bleeding, but they weren’t deep.

She was okay.

Percy blacked out.

When he woke, he was in the infirmary. His head felt like he had banged it against a concrete wall for fun. Annabeth was there, asleep on the chair. Percy sat up and rubbed his eyes.

“You were out for just a day, but I imagine you’ll need a few more for recovery.”

Percy looked up. A man with rugged features and green eyes stared down at him. Poseidon.

“Dad?” He wanted to ask why he was here, but his voice was so raspy, he barely got out the single word. Poseidon gestured to the table next to him. A cup of iced nectar was there. Percy gratefully took it.

“Percy, you are very powerful. After all, you are my son.” Poseidon looked at him as if trying to gauge whether or not his words were sinking in. “But you must be careful when using your power. What you did on the hill, not even I use that ability often.”

Percy was confused. Moreso, Percy was angry. “You’re kidding, right?” Poseidon just blinked at him.

“I have been trying to get you to help me understand what I can do since I was twelve! I only see you when the world is about to end!” Percy yelled. As much as he had forgiven his father for, there was an equally long list of things he hadn’t.

“You send me quests and monsters and expect me to risk my life for you, and now you think you have full range to question my abilities? If you wanted to be able to do that, then you should’ve been there when I was discovering them.”

If Percy had been strong enough to stand, he might’ve pushed the god. Which probably would have been a bad idea. He imagined he could get away with yelling at his father, but at the end of the day, Poseidon was immortal and all-powerful. He wasn’t sure what to expect for a reaction. He did not expect Poseidon to nod.

“I understand why you’re angry. I would have liked to have been there for you, to train you myself, but there are rules which I must follow. And there are rules which you must follow.”

“Rules?”

“Demigods are limited by their bodies. There are given godly power but are not born in something that can handle it. I appreciate you trying to connect with the ocean, and gain control over your abilities. But if you keep on your path, you won’t be the one in control. You will burn yourself up, and I am not speaking in metaphors.”

Percy wanted to ask why he was given them. He wanted to yell at Poseidon for trying to mentor him. But he stayed silent.

The god walked over to the nightstand and placed something down. “I must return to my court. I would advise adhering to my warning.”

And just like that, he was gone, melted into water that disappeared before it touched the floor. Percy’s energy to be angry with his father melted with it. He reached over to the table to find what Poseidon left. It was the trident charm he had thrown in the ocean weeks ago.

At least the god had been listening.

Annabeth stirred and he set the pendant down.

“You’re awake.” She muttered.

“And you’re not,” He chuckled back. She reached over and took his hand, but wouldn’t quite meet his eyes. “What’s wrong?”

“Percy, what you did…” She struggled for the words. “Some things shouldn’t be controlled.”

Percy felt like someone punched his stomach. Those were the exact words she’d said to him in Tartarus, only instead of looked terrified, now she just looked worried. He didn’t know how to respond.

Chiron stepped into the room.

“Percy, I am sure that you do not want to hear this, but you must be careful.” Percy sighed and looked down. He didn’t argue. Chiron was a strong mentor, and even though he didn’t want to talk, Percy knew that he should listen.

“I have never seen powers like yours in my lifetime, and I’ve taught many heroes. What you did, it was godlike, Percy. I do not want your demise being caused by your gifts growing.”

“Chiron, I--” Percy faltered. He didn’t know how to explain it. He still felt as if he shouldn’t talk about the Nereid, but it was beyond her advice. He wanted to understand his limits, his capabilities. “I’m not sure if I can help it from becoming stronger.

He looked down again, speaking softly.

“I’m not sure what I’m becoming.”

[neqeyam]

Forgotten Myth; Chapter two.

Words- 2967

Warnings- height/falling, fighting, arguing, mentions Lee’s death

Summary-  When fourteen year old Ruby Moore is chased down the hallway at school by a character out of one of her fever dreams, she gets thrown into a world of tales and myths that society has ruled out to be fake. Befriending a Pegasus that hates everyone, and gathering friends strong enough to be considered a small army, she has to embark on a journey that will change her life forever.

POV- Ruby

Chapter One- https://rqmcuwdwpjo.tumblr.com/post/188285543834/forgotten-myth-chapter-one

Will took me around the camp, Camp Half-Blood according to his shirt. Showing me everything from a strawberry field to the infirmary. He told me stories of our dad, about how Apollo got banished to be a mortal a while ago and since he’s back being a god he now has a new sense of identity. He took me to the archery range, where I impressed him with my archery skills even though I was new. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that I took archery lessons from age six to age ten. 

By the end of the educational tour, I was exhausted. I felt like I’d just ran a million miles, but he didn’t stop there. He took me to the only building in a rectangle of twenty other oddly specific buildings that literally was glowing gold in the setting sun. Inside there were about ten bunks, all pushed to the outside edges of the building so that there was room in the middle for three cots. 

“Please tell me I don’t have to sleep in one of those.” I whined, pointing at one of the cots. Will made a face as if to say: I hope you like back problems. I almost started complaining but he laughed and placed a hand on my shoulder to keep from toppling over. 

“Those are medical cots silly. But anyways, welcome to cabin seven; where children of Apollo learn the trades of our father.” I looked around and took in the scene. Books on various topics lined the many bookshelves in between the bunks, medical supplies spilled out of bags while syringes soaked in a yellowish-brown liquid. One thing that stuck out to me the most, was the fact that everywhere I looked, some sort of archery target hung from the walls with very distinct holes in the bulls-eye. Will rummaged around under one of the bunks that looked abandoned and pulled out a box. When he opened it, a faint light filtered out as if they’d trapped it in there. 

“This was Lee Fletcher’s bow. If you want it, it’s all yours,” Will said, sadness drifting through his voice. I was tempted to ask what happened to Lee, but something about Will’s posture and aura told me that I’d better just accept the bow. 

“It looks perfect, thank you,” he handed me the bow, and I had to admit; it was perfect. The nocking point seemed to be in a direct line to my shoulder, the bow string wasn’t too taut, I felt like this bow had been crafted just for me. As I was holding it, I realized that the bow itself was actually glowing; not blindingly, just enough for me to see a faint halo of light outlining the bow. 

Once Will had enough of reminiscing about Lee’s bow, we went back outside. A horn blew in the distance, scaring me so badly I screamed and hid behind Will (Not my best moment I’ll admit). 

“That’s the dinner horn, nothing to be afraid of-” he said, a dark figure appeared out of seemingly nowhere cut him off. 

“eccoti, ti ho cercato dappertutto,” the dark haired kid said. 

“Nico, for the last time, I don’t speak fluent Italian.” 

“Ciao, chi sei,” they all turned to me as if I just grew another head. Though the black haired kid looked more grateful than confused. 

“Puoi parlare italiano?” the black haired kid -who Will called Nico- asked. 

“no, perché dovrei?” I asked. Will’s face flushed red, but he looked rather pissed. 

“Would you two stop that! Ruby you’re speaking Italian!” He yelled, taking both of us by surprise. I looked down at my hands as if they’d give me answers; but no avail. I was thinking in another language too, symbols rather than english letters were flying around my head. I realized the same symbols were almost everywhere around camp, telling me where to go. For a moment, I completely forgot english and my whole sense of identity blurred. Will set a hand on my shoulder, drawing my attention from my hands. 

“pós boró na milíso angliká?” I asked frantically. Nico handed me the book he was reading, thankfully it was in english and the other two languages seemed to go back to their hiding places. My mind went back to thinking in my first language; I handed the book back to Nico and huffed, “Thank you,” he nodded and started up the hill.

Dinner was cool, I could order whatever I wanted and however much I wanted. My plate just seemed to refill itself, the Greeks really knew how to eat. Mr. D (Will told me his real name is Dionysus, the wine dude) stood and banged a knife against his goblet of diet coke. When he had everyone’s attention, he turned to Chiron. (yes, the Chiron from the ancient times.) 

“You all know what today is, the first Friday of the month. Which means-” he was cut off by the Ares table pounding their silverware on the table, chanting CTF; whatever that meant. The rest of the cabins joined in their chants till it was just a rumble of voices and an earthquake of silverware pounding. A stocky girl with dirty blonde, almost brown hair stood up and thrust her spear into the air. 

“We’re on her team this month. If we win, I get the Apollo chariot back that she stole from us while Michael Yew was our senior counselor.” Will spat, he didn’t sound happy about being on her team. 

“Then I guess we have to win.” I stated. I’ve always been competitive, and now I finally know how I’m so good at basketball. Will grinned at me, his eyes alight with an emotion I couldn’t place. 

After dinner, and after Chiron was finally able to explain the rules; Will led cabin seven through the hoard of people and into the woods. Everyone seemed to know their place, some went up into trees, scaling them like squirrels. Others turned invisible and the only hint that they were still there was a rustling in the bushes. Will led me to a pile of rocks that looked like a thumb, a blood red flag shone brightly in the setting sun. he scaled a tree next to the pile of rocks, something told me to do the same. I climbed a tree with surprising ease a few yards away from the flag so I’d have a clear view of who was coming through. Two kids that wore the same mischievous grins that Ayla defaulted to walked through the clearing. Behind them, enough teenagers to be considered a small army without the multitude of weapons came walking into the clearing. The girl, who Will told me was Clarrise, barked orders at people. 

“You excited?” someone asked behind me. My instincts pulled an arrow out and notched it all while turning around. I was met with a smug smile that I was so used to. Then I checked my pockets. 

“More nervous than anything, your dad is Hermes isn’t it.” I asked Ayla. It hadn’t occurred to me that she looked exactly like him -based on a description from a book I found- She nodded and perched in the tree next to me. I looked over to where Will was perched to see him lazily going in and out of being visible. He flickered sometimes, like he got stuck halfway through his change. 

“You and I are gonna charge the flag. According to Connor, they’ve got the entirety of Demeter’s children on guard duty, with Hecate’s scattered throughout the woods.” I nodded along with her, we’d need a plan to get through Hecate’s children’s magic. A bunch of grease covered kids walked into the clearing, -probably Hephaestus’s kids- and Ayla let out an audible sigh. I followed her gaze to a semi scrawny kid who would not stop moving -his dark curly hair and tanned skin gave him away as hispanic- talking to an equally dark skinned girl.

Clarrise held a thumbs up to the sky and then a few moments later a horn sounded. Our ranks bolted into the woods, and the Hephaestus kids started waving Wii remotes around really quickly. 

Yells and screams erupted from the woods, and a few kids watched everything through a shield looking thing. The first wave of kids were all blonde except for the black haired kid from earlier (Will told me that he’s the son of Poseidon, Perry Jackson, or something like that). Ayla drew her daggers and charged from her spot in the tree. Will and I rained arrows down on whoever got too close to the flag (Although, most of my arrows missed). A water spout rocketed toward me, but I jumped and fired one of the rope arrows into another tree, swinging across the battlefield kicking anyone that got too close. Light beams burned kids slightly when they started their assault on the flag. We were being overrun by kids. Another kid with blond hair came running through the mess and I thought it might be Will, but then I started to feel sleepy. 

“It’s Clovis’s magic!” someone yelled. I took a closer look at the blond haired kid and I realized that he was sleeping. Our defenses were dropping like flies, snores started the echo through the woods. They seemed to be protecting him, drawing a crescent moon around him. Next to me Ayla sleepily fluttered down onto the branch and closed her eyes, a good sized rock almost fell out of her hand. I knew what she wanted me to do. 

“C’mon Apollo, gimme one luck shot,” I murmured and wound up. The rock left my hand at an upward angle, then arced down; smacking Clovis right in the temple, he fell like a load of bricks. Some of his defenses tried to wake him up but he didn’t. Our defense team woke up one by one, recharged and ready to go they fought harder than before. 

My vision blurred and I saw a figure running for our flag, but I couldn’t see her. I sensed her. When my vision returned I saw someone grabbing at our flag, it rose and started down the hill. Almost all of the offensive troops had retreated. 

“Team Ares!” I yelled, gathering everyone's attention. “Stop our flag,” they followed my finger and watched as Annabeth emerged from nothing and set down the flag. A wave the size of a small house flung half our troops out of the way, then the dark haired kid (Perry? Percy? One of the two  I can’t remember what Will said) started fighting his way through the mess of kids. Ayla grabbed my hand and the next thing I knew we were zooming through the woods at top speed. She smacked into an invisible shield of some sort and crumpled to the ground with a groan. A few snickers from the other side brought my attention to a bunch of Demeter and Hecate children. Clarrise growled a few feet away from me and stabbed at the shield, getting thrown back. Ayla and I exchanged glances, something told me she wanted to go up. So we did. 

The shield was definitely not as strong on the top as it was near the bottom. The only problem was that we were suspended fifty feet up in the air by some jello. Ayla pried a hole in the top and I shot four arrows down. Unbeknownst to me, they were all sonic arrows. Each arrow sounded like it was on eight amplifiers and a surround sound speaker. Good news, it was enough to blast out the shield and disoriant their first line of defenses; bad news, Ayla and I were now falling fifty feet to our deaths. Someone caught me, I was met with brown eyes that screamed anger. He set me down and kept running, as Ayla lowered herself down next to me. Together, the three of us ran at the Aphrodite children. I stayed back a little bit and shot anyone out of the trees, while the rest of our offense fought against Aphrodite, Nemesis and what was left of Demeter. 

“Ayla! I have a plan!” I yelled, before I even had a P-L-A. She came running and I told her about what I saw Will doing and how he briefly explained it to me. Another kid came with her, however; it was the brown eyed Ares kid that caught me. 

“You’re going to need a brute for that,” he grumbled, trying harder than necessary to sound mean. I didn’t have time to argue so I just grabbed their arms and ran, praying to Apollo that this worked. 

The fact that no one tried to stop us told me that it worked. We ran and dodged roots that were constantly growing. When we came to a clearing where a stream ran through, I slowed down. In front of us stood their flag, and a multitude of traps. Ayla groaned at the sight of the traps but I told her to just fly over everything. A blond kid that looked to be about my age paced in front of the first trap, folding over a knife in his hand. He grumbled about something, we didn’t stick around long enough to hear what he was saying. Ayla flew us over everything, groaning and complaining everytime one of us moved the wrong way. The brown eyed kid, -who refused to tell me his name- grabbed the flag and bolted for Ayla and I. An alarm sounded in the trees and two more cabins came running into the clearing. 

“Great, now what,” brown eyed boy grumbled. I hadn’t thought this far but I had the beginnings of something that would either be super cool, or the biggest failure in the history of camp. I pulled out my last arrow, it was a rope arrow. Thank Apollo, I thought. Without saying a word I shot it at an angle at Ayla; the arrow wrapped itself around her waist, almost pulling her out of the sky. Brown eyed kid seemed to be following my train of thought because he ran towards the closest kids near us and grabbed their shields. He threw one at me and stuffed the other under his foot. I stopped the shield with my foot, and gripped my bow better. 

“AYLA, FLY!” I screamed and she took off. The brown eyed kid grabbed onto the rope with his other hand and held the flag under his arm. 

We sped through the woods on shields, Ayla was going so fast that almost nothing could touch us. I’m sure we looked like a more badass version of the Three Stooges. She started laughing maniacally over the wind and we jumped a hill. Annabeth and the black haired kid (I’m pretty sure his name is Percy) were running back with our flag, thankfully they hadn’t made it back to their side yet. They ducked under us and gawked. Cheers erupted from the tree line where Ayla’s half brothers and sisters were gathering along with the Hephaestus kids. We were almost across when a wave knocked Ayla out of the sky, she hit the ground like a ton of bricks. 

“Connor! Go long!” he yelled and threw the flag like a spear. One of Ayla’s brothers broke off from the crowd and flew to meet the flag, pulling it over the line; the crowd cheered and lifted him up on their shoulders. With Ayla’s momentum and no one to steer, brown eyed kid and I rammed right into a tree. He turned around right before we hit and grabbed me, his back smacked into the tree hard, and my head smacked into his armor. We both crumpled to the ground, groaning. Will was already working on Ayla who had hit her head on a rock. A few of my other siblings ran over to brown eyed kid and I, healing us with no problem. I stood up and stuck out my hand to help him up, he took it gingerly. 

“That was quite the plan, Ruby,” he said and took off his helmet. For a moment I was overtaken with confusion but then I realized who he was. 

“You- you told Mrs. Johansson that I FAKED A PASS!” I yelled, poking a finger at his chest. Jackson Ryans stuck his hands in the air in surrender, though the grin on his face told me he was just getting started. 

“It was all part of the plan.”

“What plan?!” I demanded, only now realizing that he was a solid three inches taller than me. 

“To get you here of course, we needed an actual reason to get you here or else you wouldn’t believe us and someone kept telling the monsters off your scent,” he explained as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. That didn’t help the fact that I got a detention out of it and was benched for two basketball games. 

“He’s right, we did need a reason and Jackson volunteered to tattle on you,” Chiron said as he helped Ayla up off the ground. She brushed herself off quickly and thanked Will, who went to work on the others that were lying around groaning. 

“I was benched for two games because of him!” 

“Yeah, sorry about that one. That definitely wasn’t part of the plan,” Jackson said, scratching the back of his neck, still grinning. I wanted to smack him but Ayla led me away before I could, throwing me into a celebration that resulted in me, Ayla, Connor and Jackson on various peoples shoulders. Ayla and Connor start playing chicken, with two of the stockier Hephaestus kids. Slowly I realized that I was on an Ares kids shoulders, he was taking me toward their chicken game. Ayla punched me in the arm and Connor shoved my shoulder. 

“Hey! No tag teaming!” I laughed, shoving them back. Jackson came over and shoved them with me, together we pushed Ayla off the Hephaestus kids shoulders and then went to work on Connor. He gave up and flew off the kids shoulders. Jackson held his arms out for a hug, I was reluctant but it’s kinda hard to dismiss a hug that you’re forced into. Jackson’s brother moved so that he could pull me into him. 

“Okay okay, I forgive you… I guess,” I said so he’d let go of me. Did I actually forgive him? Not really; but something told me I’d have to or else this camp would be absolute hell.

[exhaustioninc]

Lazy Mornings (Cayde-6 X Reader)

     (Although Cayde, the Exo that we all know and love, died in the expansion    Forsaken, I am ignoring the fact that Forsaken exists. In this story, Cayde does not go to prison to help Petra Venj.)      Silence was all that she slowly woke up to. (Y/N)’s eyes fluttered open as she stared at the window across from her. Her eyebrows scrunched up in confusion when she did not hear any form of chaos outside. (Y/N) sighed in relief after slowly remembering that the war with Ghaul and the Red Legion was over. It was rare to wake up with pure silence ever since Ghaul recked havoc. Every day, (Y/N) used to wake up to gunshots and blood-curling screams from either the enemies, the guardians, or the regular civilians. Every now and again, she will wake up in cold sweat from the nightmares that she would have from the deaths of almost everyone around her. If it wasn’t for Cayde-6, she would have died during the Red Legion’s attack. Even after Cayde saved (Y/N) from the attack, he still checked in on her every time he had a chance to and she was thankful.      A smile graced her features as she thinks of all the times Cayde would frantically rush into her room at the farm, almost tripping on his own feet as he grabbed both sides of her face and continually ask her “Is everything okay!?”, “Has anyone hurt you!?”, “Did you eat any of my ramen while I was gone!?”.  Moments like those always help (Y/N) when she panics from seeing hallucinations of the multiple dead bodies that she encountered in the city months ago. She even saw her best friend’s body lying lifeless in the pile of corpses. Although her friend was a Guardian and could revive with the help of his ghost, it seemed that his ghost was destroyed beside his body. It pained (Y/N) to see the people that she grew up together with to disappear from her life within a day. The only person that she was really close to that survived was Cayde-6 himself. Cayde has been in her life for six years and asked her to be his girlfriend three years ago.     Ever since (Y/N) came to The Tower six years ago for her job as an assistant to the Speaker, Cayde seemed to be fond of her presence and she never understood as to why. She never spoke unless spoken to and stayed to herself most of the time. Even though (Y/N) would be shy around Cayde and try to leave if she felt uncomfortable, Cayde found one way for her to relax around him and that was his terrible jokes. She believes that what made her first fall for him.      

     A groan erupted behind (Y/N) as a robotic arm lazily lays itself over her waist. It causes her to snap out of her thoughts as she turns her head slightly to see the loving Exo, Cayde, behind her. His eyes cracked open slightly, revealing his light aqua blue eyes. Cayde’s hunter cloak was detached from him, so his full head was revealed as he continues to lay it on the pillow beneath him. His arm, no longer lazily laying over (Y/N)’s waist, gently tightens his grip around her waist causing her form to be pulled closer to his. Cayde gently placed his forehead by the back of (Y/N)’s head, moving his head a bit upwards to not hit her with his horn. These small gestures caused (Y/N) to sigh in contempt, alerting Cayde of her awakening.            “You awake, sleeping beauty?” Cayde tiredly asks as he raises his head up to look over at (Y/N)’s face. Cayde always admits that every day he sees (Y/N), she seems to become more beautiful and his statement still stayed the same as he stared at her tired frame. Her messy morning hair was laid out on her pillow as dried up drool stuck to the corner of her mouth. She may have looked like a complete mess to other people but to him, she was his beautiful mess. Cayde saw (Y/N) move her head up and down, signaling that she is in fact awake. The couple continues to lay in each other's comfort as the sweet sound of birds begins to serenade from outside (Y/N)’s home in The Tower.      It’s not every day that Cayde could relax like he is now. Usually, he would be having a meeting with Zavala and Ikora, assigning missions to the Hunter Guardians, and selling said Guardians armor, weapons, scout reports, and maps. Cayde has sometimes sneaked out to visit (Y/N) when she is either working or at the comfort of her own home. Both of them has been working a lot harder lately since the city and The Tower was still being repaired from the attack by the Red Legion. Cayde has been helping to clear out the rest of the enemies from the city, as well as his regular duties. Cayde is happy that he has been able to go out in the field but he has had barely any time to relax. After The Speaker died, (Y/N) took his place and although it doesn’t seem like much work, she has been having to advise all of the Guardians, keeping in check on Saint-14, and selling legendary class items to the Guardians. She has also been helping with the repairs of The Tower and the city. So, when Cayde and (Y/N) have time for themselves, they spend it with each other. Either they stay at (Y/N)’s home relaxing or going to Cayde’s favorite ramen shop.      After laying in comfort beside each other for a couple of minutes, Cayde sits up stretching both of his arms over his head as he groans tiredly. Feeling Cayde’s arm being removed from her waist, (Y/N) stands up from her bed and makes her way to her window. As she pushes her curtains apart, she is greeted by a beautiful view. The sky has a mixture of both blue and yellow and the sun is still making its way up over the horizon. The Traveler looks even more beautiful as the sun wraps its light around it. Lately, the sky has been filled with dark clouds as heavy rain would pour down onto the earth. Seeing soft white clouds and the sun shining brightly today made (Y/N) smile.      Turning around towards Cayde, she tries to stifle a laugh as she sees her loving Exo pose in a “sexy” position, with his right hand propping up his head and his left leg bent upwards as he faces her with amusement in his eyes. Using his free hand, he motions for (Y/N) to come forward. She happily obliges as she teasingly sways her hips as she makes her way over to the Exo. Once she was of arms reach, Cayde gently grabs a hold of her wrist and pulls her into the bed. Cayde wraps an arm around her form once again as he softly places half of his body on top of her, hoping to not hurt her in the process. As Cayde gently lay on her while burying his face into the crook of her neck, (Y/N) wrapped her arms around his torso as she leans her head closer to him. The silence continued to grow as the couple continued to lay in each other’s embrace.      A few minutes of silence were interrupted by (Y/N) quietly stating, “You know we have to get up soon for work, right?” Her statement caused the Gunslinger to groan in protest as his arm tightens around her form. “What if we both called in sick?” Cayde asks with a bit of amusement and some hope in his voice as (Y/N) laughs saying, “You know very well that there is no such thing as sick days for us” “It’ll be worth a shot.” Cayde’s statement causes (Y/N) to laugh in amusement. “It would be worth it” she yawns tiredly as she tightens her arms around Cayde’s torso “, but Zavala and Ikora would be looking for us later on when they notice that we are not at our posts. Ikora may not mind as much but Zavala would be furious. Remember the last time when you snuck out just so you could eat at the spicy ramen shop?”      Both of them remembered very well what happened on that day. When Zavala saw that Cayde was not at his post, he searched all over the tower for Cayde. He even dragged (Y/N) around, asking her where he may be. They finally found Cayde at the spicy ramen shop eating bowls after bowls of ramen as he was telling the shop owner a story about fighting the Fallen. Seeing this caused Zavala to be enraged. He dragged Cayde by the back of his cloak as Cayde was trying to ask (Y/N) to free him from Zavala’s clutches. After that day, Zavala kept a close eye on him, much to Cayde’s displeasure.      “I still think he made me trip with my own cloak on purpose” Cayde adds as he moves his head to where his chin was propped on his chin on (Y/N)’s shoulder.       “Maybe he wouldn’t have if you stopped trying to walk in the other direction while he had a hold of you cloak still, you wouldn’t have had tripped.” (Y/N) sassily states as she stares at the Exo amusingly while he tries to pout at her comment.       “I didn’t get to finish my last bowl of ramen! What was I supposed to do? Leave it on the table and let some stranger eat my well-paid meal? I don’t think so.” “I went back and put it in a to-go box for you!” (Y/N) says while grinning at Caye’s disbelieving expression.       “I may love my ramen but when it gets cold, it becomes less appetizing! Have you ever eaten cold ramen!?” “Yes, I have. It doesn’t taste that bad.” (Y/N) pokes Cayde where his nose would be and he looks at her with an unamused face.      “You, my dear, are a weird lady.” he calmly states amusingly as he watches a smile grow on (Y/N)’s face. “You’re weird too.”       Silence filled the room once again as Cayde thinks for a moment before saying “Touché.” (Y/N) smiles lovingly at Cayde as she moves her face closer to his as she gives him a soft kiss on his robotic chin. Cayde closes his eyes and he switches the position of his head with his robotic cheek laying on her shoulder.      “Just five more minutes, please?” Cayde begs quietly. (Y/N) doesn’t usually hear Cayde beg like this. Usually, when he does beg it’s when he wants them to sneak out of the tower and to the city, going to the ramen shop, or wanting to show her something cool while she is working. So when she heard the sincere pleading tiredness in his voice, she was a bit surprised.      (Y/N) thinks for a moment before sighing as she says “Fine, only five minutes. I don’t want you to get in trouble with Zavala again.” Cayde smiles happily as he switches positions with her to where he is now laying on his back and she is laying on top of him. He wraps his robotic arms around her as (Y/N) lays her hand on his chest.       “Thank you, my queen.” Cayde tiredly says as he closes his eyes. (Y/N) smiles lovingly before closing her eyes as well, listening to the faint noises coming from Cayde’s robotic body. Not long after, both Cayde and (Y/N) blissfully fall asleep in each other’s arms. They both wish they had more time to spend with each other. With work piling up for both of them, they never have much time to do what they want to do. Times like these though is what they cherish the most. Although Cayde and (Y/N) cannot spend as much time together like they want to, they are still happy with the fact that they can at least have moments where they can hold each other for a little while...until Zavala comes and ruins it. 

[inklingleesquidly]

YO-FEST

Chapter 4

Lee Squidly gets a special call by the headpriestess of Knifefish Shrine to take part in special preparations for one of the biggest holidays celebrated by Inkopolis’ ghostly neighbors, Yokai. Yo-Fest is only a week away and it’s up to Lee to make sure the fesitivies go off without a hitch.

He’s not alone though; joining him is his pals Guist, Juddinyan, and his many Yokai friends who are just a dial away via his Yokai Smartwatch.

Featuring the characters of @askvincent

Chapter 3 available here

Word count: 5,004 words

Less than one day left, it was Yo-Fest Eve. To honor the most important holiday to all Yokai a feast of blessed bamboo would be harvested and prepared for consumption by spectral beings and mortals alike. The success was due in big part to none other than Lee Squidly, the crop's reluctant protector.  

“Huff.” Lee let out an exhausted sigh as he wandered up and down the rows upon rows of bamboo that now stretched well over his head. The summer sun peeked out from behind a stray cloud, casting a powerful shine on the supernatural stalks as a passive wind bent them ever so slightly. The scene was so serene, so quiet—too quiet.  The sound of a gentle lapping of water from the nearby creek soon caught his ear, causing the young squid to break out into a cold sweat as he recalled why it was so quiet.

It was Leakina, of course. Her and her pranks on him. This one was the worst of all; it took place in the bath house and it was so fast that he wasn't even sure of what happened at all. One thing was for certain there was water, so much water.  

After it was over he was left stupefied; his breath came in short, desperate bursts, his eyes spun in his head, and his whole body shook in fear for his life but her ghostly laugh was a telltale sign this was her doing. “YA HA HA HA.” This time though, she took it too far. Somehow, some way, she broke an exquisite hand carved statue that adorned the inside of the thermal bath, and the head priestess, Lyra was there to bear witness.

As Lee was still reeling from it all he couldn't catch what happened but he could certainly feel Lyra's fury. She yelled until she was red in the face, culminating in what he could only describe as the most justifiable punishment. “I don't want to hear it,” he heard Lyra said, “You are banished from this shrine forever. Now leave.”

Leakina did leave, and without a single word to. Aside from hunks and pieces of the broken statue and traces of water where it wouldn’t be, there were no other traces of the liquidy Yokai to be found anywhere on the shrine's property.

“Mmmf.” Lee let out another heavy, conflicted grumble. He should have been overjoyed that she was gone but he wasn’t. That feeling was soured by what had happened after the incident.  

Drying himself and changing his clothes, Lee approached his ever-present companions in this weeklong endeavor, Guist and Juddinyan. “All right!” Lee was gleaming with excitement. “It's about time that stinker finally got out of here.” Neither seemed to acknowledge him so he tried to confirm, “Am I right? Am I right? C'mon, up high!” He raised his hand, seeking a high five from either of them. He figured Guist would be unable to resist so he waved to him. “Guist? Don't leave me hanging.”  

Then they finally looked his way; their faces were so questionably melancholic.  

Guist finally said, “Uh I’m not really feeling it Cus.”

“Huh?” Lee babbled unsurely.

“It’s just like, ya know, the vibe here ain’t the same.” The squid spirit tried to explain, “The mellow’s gone totally harsh and I can’t dig it.”

Lee still couldn’t grasp what he was trying to say but luckily Juddinyan was able to lay it all out for him. “We don't really like that you’re so happy about Meowkina getting the boot, meow.”

“Ar--are you kidding?” He wondered; Lee didn’t get mad often but he didn’t take kindly to how his supposed friends responded to his feelings. “After she’s been so mean and all the stuff she did this week alone to me?”

Guist quickly interrupted, “No no no Cus we’re with you there, totally there.” He floated in front of the agitated Inkling to hopefully explain more. “We got your back but like, I mean, she’s just doing what Yokai do, and to get punished for that like she did, it doesn’t feel right.”

“That’s no excuse!” Lee's voice crackled as it raised in volume. That was such a foreign action for him that it made the two Yokai flinch in surprise. “It's about time she finally got everything that was coming to her.” As he spoke, he tightened his fists and bared his teeth. His disdain and aggravation radiated so powerfully and it was that kind of anger that was too much for either of them to bear.

“Yah-huh, you got it Cus. Say if it’s cool with you, Imma head back n’ do my thing of looking out for dudes playing Turf Wars.” Guist slowly floated away from Lee.

Juddinyan said, “Meow, and I haven’t been doing any judging for about a week. If I’m gone too long I’ll get rusty so I’ll head back to Shee-Meowya too.”

With that, they both took their leave and Lee was left alone to stew in his feelings. I don’t believe this? Do they even care at all about what she did to me? Those thoughts made his blood boil even hotter. Do they even care?

He continued to replay the conversation as he absentmindedly wandered along the bamboo orchard. Brushing soil from side to side with his foot, he contemplated how he felt about their reaction. As confusing as they were, what ended up being worse in his eyes was how Lyra responded when he went to confront her soon after.  

Following the early afternoon prayers, Lee found Lyra sequestering herself in the main hall of the shrine looking as if she was in deep concentration.

Entering, Lee gave a stout greeting. “Hi Miss Lyra, I’m sorry if I’m interrupting something.”

“Hmm?” Peeking up, having barely noticed his presence she beckoned him to sit with her at the low table centered in the old-fashioned room. “Oh no please come in.”  The priestess questioned him genuinely, “Are you feeling all right? Would you like some tea?” Her hand grasped the piping hot kettle while she slid a ceramic cup across the table toward him.

Lee declined. “No thank you Miss Lyra, and I’m fine too.”

“Good! Good good good,” Lyra repeated, sipping from her own cup before she let out a breath. “Good.” It wasn’t one of satisfaction but of discontent and Lee picked up on it right away.

“What about you, Miss Lyra?” He sat forward with his hands on his knees. “Is something wrong?”

There was no hiding it, she admitted right away. “Yes.” Resting her elbows on the table and lacing the fingers of her hands together, the holy woman revealed what troubled her. “I think I was too harsh in banishing Leakina.”

“Huh?”  Maybe because he couldn’t stop thinking about his life flashing before his eyes during that prank he thought he wasn’t hearing her correctly. With what he knew about Lyra there was no way she was earnestly having second thoughts, so he believed. “B-but how? I mean she broke that statue! Wasn't it important to you?”

“Yes it was,” Lyra confirmed, “My father built it and my mother blessed it. It's been here since before I was born so it may as well had been the only connection I had to my parents.” That was the source of her anger as he vaguely recalled her fiercely hollering at Leakina.

Confused, Lee asked, “If that's the case than you have every right!”

She had quite the surprise in store for him as she explained. “Be that as it may I've been doing a lot of thinking and I feel like you deserve to know. Since we began preparing for Yo-Fest, my eyes have opened up to a lot of things.” She took a moment to take in a breath, as if readying what she had to say. “I've flelt fings—ahem, felt things, excuse me, that I can't explain, especially when it comes to Leakina.” Lee watched as Lyra closed her eyes and held her hands over her heart. “She did go too far this time but she's shown me that I shouldn't desperately hang onto my past as much as I do.”

“You do?” Lee said.

Nodding in reply, Lyra continued. “As far back as I can remember I've tried so hard to feel any kind of closeness to my parents. I thought that devoting myself entirely to my faith would make me feel like I could know them even just a little bit.” Her hands tightened against her chest. “But ever since she came I haven't really thought about that nat nall, ahem, at all, and that—that scares me a little.” Lee sat in silence, listening to everything she was saying to him. He watched as her hands worked their way up to cover her mouth, holding them there until she said, “But one thing’s for sure, I feel as though— as important as that statue was to me I can't keep waiting around forever hoping a connection to my mom and dad just falls in my lap. I have a future ahead of me and I just wish I wasn't so rash that I threw that future with her away.”

“Your future? With her?” Lee repeated unsurely. "Did she finally give you her Yokai card?" He dumbly said, not getting what she meant.

Lyra replied, “No she didn’t and you know, I don’t really care about that anymore.” She didn’t see Lee give her such a baffled look. The shrine maiden could only look into the pool of hot green tea in the cup she clutched so tightly. So much lament was in her voice as she spoke. “I don’t think I’ll ever know how she feels but for me, even dough, though she might be a handful and I know she'll cause trouble if I don't keep a constant watch on her— I was happy to have her here with me.” She inhaled deeply before finishing. “I shouldn’t really be thinking like that. It’s impossible for someone like me.”

He was asked to leave after that to check on the condition of the bamboo orchard and that’s where Lee currently found himself. There was one thing she said that stuck with him as he took his leave. “If only I did my job like I was supposed to. I’m supposed to talk to spirits, soothe them, not banish them outright.”

Talking’s great, he thought to himself, settling down on the bank of the creek. But there’s not much point in talking to somebody who’s probably not gonna listen. That musing came to him as he trepidaciously held onto his smartwatch. All of his thoughts were coming together in a way that made him grimace and aim an irate scowl in the direction of his timepiece. After all he had endured from Leakina since meeting her; the teasing, the laughing, the tricks... In his mind it was so egregious that people he called his friends were even entertaining the idea that her punishment was too severe.

So much for friends. He thought to himself, a rather dangerous thought that made his mind wander to even more alarming notions. It wasn’t just Lyra, Guist, and Juddinyan that he thought of but of all the Yokai he was supposedly friends with. Of all the calling cards he had in his possession, every friendship he made with a Yokai was established only on their terms rather than his own. Until now he didn’t mind that but the more he thought of his past encounters with Yokai and how each one made his life difficult, miserable, or shameful in some way. Biting the inside of his cheek, lowering his brow, and taking in long breaths that came out as equally long groans—he began to resent them all. That resentment ran deep

He unfastened his smartwatch, then held it out as arm’s length, dangerously dangling his only means of communicating with the spirits over the running water. With the seemingly unending amount of trouble these mischievous poltergeists brought to his life it was possible to rid himself of it all in an instant. Clenching the silicone strap in his hand hard enough to make his whole arm shake, all he had to do was let go, just let go and his subjugation to Yokai would be finished.

Just as he was about to make such a drastic change, the water mysteriously began to swell. Quickly, Lee secured the watch back onto his wrist as he watched the creek’s water behave strangely. It frothed and bubbled, collecting together until it took a form right before his eyes. Much to his dismay that form ended up being Leakina who casually greeted him with a wave as if nothing had happened. “Hiiiii,” she said.

“Wha--wup—y—you?” Lee blathered at coming face to face with her out of the blue. “What are you doing here, you’re banned from the shrine!”

Leakina lackadaisically replied, “I’m not AT the shrine, am I?” She dipped the tip of her tail in the gently rolling stream and continued with a mocking tone. “There’s nothing about me being banned from this river now is there?” An incredulous sneer warped Lee’s face. Logically, she was supposed to be banished from the entirety of the shrine’s property but Lyra only said ‘the shrine’ in her proclamation. It made him grumble to recollect that it was just like a Yokai to bend and twist things to their own liking. “You look dry, Leeker,” she pointed out, “Wet look suits you way better.”

Even now she was still being this way to him. She always had that voice and spoke that way; it made him bear his fangs, curl his cheek, and grind his teeth. This time he wasn’t going to take it. Taking in such a deep breath that his chest puffed out, Lee fired back with his voice firm. “You know If I was younger I'd normally let a bully like you walk all over me but now I-- well-- I'm glad you got banished!"

That took a lot of boldness for him to say, so much that he had to swallow a lump caught in his throat. Leakina wasn’t at all impressed by his fortitude. “Ooo,” she held up her hands, feigning defense and continuing to mock him. “Listen to you trying to be a raging monsoon when you're just a little trickle!" To punctuate her statement, she raised her tail out of the water and flicked the droplets that had collected on it at his face, taunting him and his moment of bravado.

That small act was the biggest insult to him yet. Lee let out an audible snarl, “Grrr,” and clawed his hands. He glared at her with so much disdain and contempt, and she had only the same intensity to offer him in return. With this being the final straw; the Inkling and Yokai rushed at each other, colliding by gripping each other by the face. It was a battle of strength and will as they both pinched, yanked, and pulled each other's cheeks.

“Lousy leak!”

“Stupid Squid!”

“Dumb drip!”

“Icky ink stain!”

“Rotten rain cloud!”

“Cruddy Cephalopod!”

“You- You-,” Lee struggled as his face’s elasticity was being stretched to its limit. “You Wet Blanket!” He finally managed to scream.

Letting out a gasp, Leakina’s eyes went wide and Lee could feel her grip loosening on his face. It seemed like such a feeble, ineffectual insult to make but looked straight at her, she gave him the most dumbfounded stare. The conundrum of her reaction made him loosen his grip on her, and his arms fall at his sides as he backed away from her. Leakina merely continued to hover there and though she was made of water, making it impossible to tell, Lee could swear he saw the corners of her eyes well up with tears.

“So that’s what you think, huh Leeker? Figures.”  Her voice was merely a murmur, one so full of defeated despair.

As much as he disliked her, there must’ve been something to that phrase that made her so overcome with dejection like that. “I’m sorry.” It just wasn’t in him to do that to somebody. “Leakina I—can we—please--?” Taking a step closer, he reached his hand out to her but the watery Yokai wasn’t having it.

She floated higher up into the air. “You don’t have to say anything Leeker, I know when to go so I’ll see you never.” Twirling around, it seemed like that was it, Leakina was ready to fly away when suddenly she felt herself stopped by something dragging her down.

“Wait, don’t go!” Lee pleaded with her as he was pulling on her tail.

Being that her tail was connected to her dress, Leakina felt it begin to sag down. Swiftly, she grasped the front of her dress and yanked it far up over her chest, complaining, “Ack! Leeker what the heck are you doing? Let go!”

“No,” Lee screeched back, “Come on, can’t we just talk?”

“We don’t have anything to talk about!” Leakina struggled to fly away, pulling on her dress and dragging Lee along the ground. The struggle between them persisted; Leakina demanding she be released between strings of insults and Lee imploring her to stay.

Neither would stop until suddenly Lee was sent clumsily stumbling backward. “Huh?” He gasped, only for his face to go bright red as he realized he was holding Leakina’s discarded dress in his hand. Fastly realizing exactly what it was, he bit his teeth and screeched, “Aiye!” He then desperately tried to reason, “I’m so sorry—I didn’t mean—I'm—mime—I'm not--.”

His gaze wandered to the Yokai  where he found that she managed to remain clothed as if nothing happened. “It’s just water, Leeker.” She explained with her arms crossed over her front, watching as her dress fell apart into drops of water in his hands. Letting out a sigh, Leakina questioned, “What do you even want to talk about?”

Thinking back to what Lyra said earlier conflicted with the thoughts he had about her. “Can’t we—mmm, can we just try to understand each other?” Despite his feelings there may just be a chance she had a reason other than just being a Yokai for doing everything she did.  

Leakina simply floated to his side. Though that glare didn’t leave her face and her arms remained crossed this seemed to signal that she was willing to actually talk to him.

“Well-- how are you?” He tried to begin.

She rolled her eyes. “What do you mean how am I?”

“How’s it going?” He attempted to continue.

“Well Lyra hates me now.” Leakina impatiently tapped her fingers against her arm. “How’s it going with you?” Her lip curled with cynical annoyance, wanting him to know how poorly this conversation was going.

However, Lee zeroed in on what she actually said. “Wait, you think Lyra hates you?”

“Don’t rub my nose in it, okay?!” Leakina seethed, making Lee jolt back in defense, “After what she said, I know it.” Lee had a number of questions; the most minor one being what she meant when she didn’t actually have a nose that he could see, and the most major being what did Lyra say when he was incapacitated? “All I wanted to do was drown you a little, that’s all, just a little, maybe even drop a wash tub on your head to make it extra funny.”

Doing his best to ignore that, Lee continued to listen.

“But then that statue fell over and just broke apart like it was made of glass! I don’t know why it happened, I didn’t mean to do it, and then Lyra—she said what she meant.” Her words were so disconnected as if she struggled to keep all her thoughts in order, but what she said next was somber though crystal clear. “Just when I thought I finally found a place to call my own.”

“You don’t have a home?”

“No,” Leakina explained, “Yokai don’t have homes unless it’s already theirs or they get invited to stay.” That was right; Lee recalled something of a similar sort with Guist and Juddinyan. They didn’t have homes either so they begged to board up at his apartment. Leakina threw her arms down and bared her teeth in frustration, “And Lyra has the best everything too! We get to come here every day and it’s-- it’s just the best. I can take a bath whenever I want, I can float on the creek, I can shake the morning dew off the trees, and I get to be with Lyra.”

Lyra, Lyra, Lyra; she wouldn’t stop talking about her. Lee pointed this out. “You think about her a lot don’t you?”

Hearing him say that caused that sense of gloom to return to Leakina. “Yes, and I shouldn’t be.”

“How come?” Lyra had said something similar and he didn't understand it there either.

She sighed. "You probably don't understand; do you even know what it's like to feel really strongly about somebody?"

Lee hesitated to answer that question. There was no way he could tell her about that. He hadn’t even talked to Guist or Juddinyan about it. He didn’t really talk to anybody about them. He didn’t have to be truthful at all, he really didn’t.“I do.” His answer came out in a hushed mumble. Was he really going to talk to Leakina about this? Something about the circumstances in which he found himself conversing with her told him he should.

Continuing, Lee revealed, "They were my best friend and they left a little while ago and well-- I miss her every day." As he thought about it he clutched the silver hoop earring that faithfully dangled from his ear.

"What happened between you two?" Leakina inquired.

He hesitated, struggling to cobble together a summation of easily one of the most traumatizing experiences in his life. "We had a fight." That was the best he could hope to muster up. “It was bad, really really bad,” he put it lightly, his voice weighty. “I haven't seen her since then. I don't think she ever wants to speak to me again.”

There was a moment where he thought back, back to that encounter. It made his breath go dry and his heartrate quicken; not helped by Leakina's rather dry, off-putting response. “Probably not,” she admitted, making him lower his head. As much as that hurt to hear she wasn't finished. “Probably might though but if not it's her loss.” That was rather shocking for him to hear coming out of her, and without some joke jabbing at him. “What are you even complaining about anyway? You've got about an ocean's more things going on than me, that's for sure.”

Curious, Lee asked, “What do you mean by that?”

“Well I don’t have any friends,” she admitted, “No place to haunt, and I'm no good at inspiriting people. I mean I’ve been trying to make you wet yourself since the day we met.” He ignored that as well as she continued, “And Lyra was the only one who ever welcomed me…” After what felt like an eternity she finally admitted what was deep in her heart. “Leeker, I really like Lyra, y’know?”

He naively said, “Well I like Lyra to.”

“Not like that,” she clarified, “As like, more than a friend, you see?”

Suddenly it all made perfect sense.

Within Lee's mind a number of metaphorical images flashed in his head; a phone's battery achieved 100% charge, the sun came up over the horizon, a mouse found a food reward at the end of a maze. His heart did a joyous leap in his chest when he finally realized just what was going on between Lyra and Leakina. It made him want to reveal everything he learned in his earlier conversation with the priestess but Leakina had more to add.

She shook her head and slapped her palms against her forehead. “No. Not a chance, a Yokai and a mortal as anything more than friends, it just--.”

“--Splat that!” Lee snapped back without delay. Leakina never expected someone like him to be capable of being so loud and fervent. Little did she know he had quite a bit to say. “Even if you’re not sure about something, sometimes you just gotta follow your heart. If you like her then you should tell her.”

With a shake of her head she quickly informed him otherwise. “Leeker stop being so dense, It doesn't work that way. Besides I'm already enough as a black sheep among Yokai as it is!”

That didn't deter him from replying, “What have you got to lose then?” With his spirit still high he declared with a strange ironic hilarity, “If you can try and drown me then you can tell her. Like my mom says; you should say how you feel or else no one knows how you feel.”

"I don't know about that, you don't understand." Leakina mumbled unsurely.

"Maybe I don't," Lee admitted, "But I do know we're gonna give it a shot!" It might've just been his soft, sentimental heart but Lee was so driven to get them to talk to each other that he swiftly took hold of Leakina's wrist and began leading her back to the shrine. "C'mon!" He beckoned.

"Acck! Leeker! Hey! Quit it!" Both knew with absolute certainty that she could go intangible or even dissolve her arm into water to escape his grasp but she didn't. Even though she protested, she didn't resist being brought back to the shrine, meaning Lee knew that in her heart she really did want to talk to Lyra.

Reaching the central courtyard, Leakina finally snatched her arm back, chiding, “Leeker I told you I don’t think Lyra even wants to speak to me.”

“You might be surprised,” Lee reasoned, “What’s the worst that could happen?”

The Inkling boy nearly jumped out of his skin and even Leakina jolted up, both startled by a chorus of screams coming from—the bathhouse?  

Without a moment to spare the two dashed over to the thermal bath, only for the double doors to burst open. They watched as a bevy of the shrine maidens poured out, yelling and screaming with one of them; a fairly young jellyfish girl bumping into Lee. “What’s going on?” He attempted to ask but she shrieked at him before running away with the rest, chanting a prayer in fear along the way.

Lee and Leakina worked their way in. Once inside, Lee first caught sight of, of all people; Guist and Juddinyan. The cat Yokai was huddled against the floor, covering his eyes with his paws, and Guist hiding behind him. Both were cowering and whimpering in fear and attempting to spin around to hide behind the other’s back. What of? Lee found out after hearing Leakina gasp, “Lyra!”  

“HELP! HELP ME!” He turned his attention to the center of the huge room where he found the head priestess suspended in midair, kicking her legs and struggling against some sort of mysterious force keeping her aloft. Whatever it was, it was invisible, but just barely; it exerted some sort of radical power that made its massive, frightful form indistinguishable. Lee still aimed the revealing light of his smartwatch, dispelling the cloak that shrouded the powerful entity.

Revealed, this Yokai clutching Lyra around her waist turned out to be more frightening than any they had already met. They were a huge, horned brute; an Oni with curved horns, and yet despite the menacing visage they were dressed in a cleaned, ironed, finely fitted suit begetting someone of importance. Unknown to them, the big bad Yokai was none other than Goredinator, the one responsible for all the attacks on the bamboo harvest. Now tangible, they slowly cocked their head in Lee's direction who only thought to reply by hiding his yokai smartwatch behind his back.

“Well, well, I should have guessed someone of amazing spiritual power like a high priestess was the one being a thorn in my side.” Goredinator mused with a reserved menace in his voice.

Lyra snarled, “Let me go!” She made an attempt to strike back by pinning a paper ward to the Yokai's arm, only to watch as it uselessly curled up and burned away into nothing.

He looked at the useless talisman and scoffed. “Maybe you aren't as powerful as I thought but I can't be too careful.” With that he turned on his heel. “We’ll be going now,” he threatened.

SPLASH!

He was stopped by a blast of water flung at the back of his head. “Hey! Where do you think you're going, put her down!” Leakina demanded, shaking her curled fist.

The big bad Yokai peeked over his shoulder, eyeing the spirit who wished to challenge him—only to turn his head back around and walk away. “Make an appointment after the holidays.”

“Get back here! Get back here!” Leakina commanded, zipping toward him in vain hope of rescuing the struggling Lyra. Goredinator vanished before she could make contact, leaving in a puff of black, ghostly smoke.  

With only the sound of flowing water from the spring of the thermal bath; Leakina sunk down to the ground on her hands and knees, and Lee stood in disbelief, frozen by the raw power given off by that Yokai. The silence was broken by Guist whose body trembled as he tried to speak. “That bull dude made off with the shrine babe, what are we gonna do Cus?”

Lee knew he was talking to him and fully expected him to come up with a plan but where was Lyra taken to? Who was that Yokai and what was he talking about? What could he do? What could any of them do? “I-- I don’t know,” was all Lee could think to say.

To be continued...

[witch-of-snow-and-stars]

My experience with the signs

As a Taurus sun/ stellium, Leo moon, Sagittarius rising w/ Taurus, Virgo, Aquarius dominance

Ares: You guys are great. Ares guys are very sweet and GENUINELY caring. Protective of their friends/loved ones and loyal.

Taurus: Well we tend to group up and herd. No kidding. Love Taureans a lot. Kind, chill, & caring but also determined and practical. PS we are not all food obsessed! Type to have a tight-knit group of friends, but also outside friends. Mysterious in that we are open, but you have to ASK for the info. Usually artistically inclined and/or an art lover. Stubborn with certain things. It is INCREDIBLY hard to change a Taurus’s opinion on personal beliefs.

Gemini: Love/Hate relationship & very hit-or-miss if I like you as an individual. Typically either emotionally sensitive or not at all. Fun but chaotic energy. Often lacking tact and will sometimes ignore personal boundaries. Having said that, one of my best friends and my mother are both Gems, and I can easily say that they are both v positive influences on myself. Personally, half the time hanging out with Geminis (less so with the Geminis I love) feels like herding cats. Likely to have energy projection, i.e. if they’re mad/upset they can get quiet and you can FEEL the anger (Gemini mars too). Can be very emotionally hurtful if they don't control themselves

Cancer: Soo incredibly sweet and wonderful. Somewhat easily confused. Honestly you guys are wonderful and I usually just want to take care of you. Very cuddly. Friendly to the extent of accidentally joining a gang by being sweet. Typically either Slytherin or Hufflepuff types.

Leo:Basically giant chill cats. Pretty affectionate and Leo guys are cuddly. I like you guys, they’re very confident (outwardly). They like attention, but positive attention like compliments or one-on-one attention and conversation.

Virgo: So very lovely. I just love you guys. Wonderful aura, with similar vibes to Aquarius. 10/10 get yourselves a Virgo in your lives. Practical and caring. RELAXED Mercurial energy. Into weird or interesting things. Will worry about their friends all the time.

Libra: Pretty cool, sometimes with a beautiful singing voice. Tends to get super into a CERTAIN field interests. Artistically inclined and really interesting to talk to. Practical, knows a lot of people but in a stealthy way? Like you can be in the same circles with a seemingly unrelated person and six months later find out everyone knows them. Does NOT like drama or inefficiency at ALL.

Scorpio: Easy to spot. I really like you guys, but you also kinda scare me. They have a snarky, somewhat catty sense of humor. Can be manipulative (some will even admit it) and may manipulate people for fun. Too many Scorpios together cause annoyance and drama-causing behavior, even if the Scorpios in question like each other. Don’t make them hate you, they’ll make sure you regret it. Also very passionate like Libra, but in a different way. Knows dirt on everybody, and if they hate you they will spill tea about anything you don’t want getting out.

Sagittarius: Chill and interesting. Fairly adventurous and gregarious. Can come off as a weird combination of really attached but also unattached. Also giant nerds that get along weirdly well w dude-bros (Like you’re not dude-bros but they like you for some reason?)? I’m fascinated by you guys.

Capricorn: Oh you guys are something else. My Dad and another best friend are both Caps. Kinda emotionally stuck, but you guys make it work. Family oriented. May be workaholics. Very much a my-way-or-the-highway type. Good social skills (they can work a room) even if they don’t necessarily care for socializing. Can be really stubborn and sarcastic if the mood strikes them. If you thought Taurus was obstinate then you’ve never met Caps. There is no getting them to do anything they aren’t totally on board with. For a sign that is associated with Saturn (the Titan of Time) you guys are super bad with scheduling and efficiency unless people force you to be. If you don’t want to do something, you either drag your feet so long as to prove it moot OR sabotage the thing so you don’t have to do it.

Aquarius: You guys are WEIRD and I am HERE for it. Have an eccentric energy to them, and are fascinating to talk to. None of you ever come off the same either, so getting to know you is an experience. Such a pleasure hanging out with you.

Pisces: Typically nice and fairly sociable, I really like you all. Idk why, but without a doubt Pisces men always seem to have something sketchy or semi-sketchy going on with them (in my experience). I tend to be kinda wary of Pisces men.

[takaraphoenix]

OK OK OK So I really really fell in love with your Helios x Apollo story and I've been toying with asking you about writing a small thing about Helios' reaction to Zeus banishing Apollo? And what he does about it. Or just his reaction to Zeus /trying/ to banish Apollo. A sort of fix-it-so-it-never-happens type thing. Totes get you're bogged down with stuff so if you don't have time that's totally okay. If you do decide to do it, could I get it by January 4th?

Part 1 || Part 2 || Part 3 || Part 4 || Part 5 || (You are here)|| The whole thing on AO3

Helios was exhausted.

His duties were straining in on themselves, but in the past years in particular. After all, his lover was very busy with Olympian duties - mainly so related to his prophetic gifts. So Helios, being the good, caring boyfriend he was, of course took over some of his lover’s duties. Mainly the sun-related ones.

Only that his duties had been very straining and distracting lately. Especially the closer the Giant War drew. Helios hated that. He wished to stand by his lover’s side, have Apollo’s back.

Apollo had smiled sweetly at him, those mismatched eyes sparkling brightly as he had leaned up on his tip-toes to kiss Helios’ cheek and then shove him hard.

His little sunshine was a fighter, not just a lover. Helios knew that. Of course did he know that. The only one matching him with a bow and arrow was his twin-sister Artemis. Apollo could hold himself in a fight if he had to.

That didn’t mean Helios wanted him in the middle of a fight though. A war no less.

Yet this one… was different.

Gods loved using demigods as pawns. But this war required the gods to also fight themselves. To slay the Giants at the demigods’ side.

Helios trusted his sunshine. He knew Apollo would be fine during the war. And now that the war was over, Helios was looking forward to embracing his lover again, just grab Apollo, take him home and live in peace for a century or two.

Maybe take some time off to spend in Alfheim? They did have this cozy little vacation home there… It would be nice. And Apollo surely would be happy to spend more time with his best friend Frey. That might sway Apollo.

And to be honest, that idea wasn’t so spontaneous. Helios had spent the past few weeks preparing said vacation home, making it as homey as possible for his love. Apollo deserved the rest.

“Helios, my dear, old friend.”

Helios paused. He didn’t turn around. That sweet voice, like poisoned honey. A scowl etched its way onto his face as he took a deep breath to turn around and give Loki Laufeyson a piece of his mind. Said piece of mind was stuck in his throat when he noticed that Loki wasn’t alone.

“Hel Lokisdatter. A rare pleasure, milady”, stated Helios, voice very soft as he bowed.

He knew to respect a king or queen when he met them, regardless what pantheon they were from. Hel offered him the smallest smile in return, a shy one. Her long hair fell into her face, covering the rotting half and only revealing the beautiful one. Her dress, long sleeves on one side, a glove that reached all the way up to her shoulder in addition to it. She half hid behind her father and Loki, as always, stood in a protective stance in front of his only daughter.

The trickster had a pleased half-smirk on his face as he regarded Helios curiously, fingers playing with his well-groomed goaty as he tilted his head. It were his eyes that had always unsettled Helios, if he was being honest. Green as poison, shimmering silver with lies and danger.

Helios stood straight, looking at the two Norse gods curiously. What were they doing in Alfheim? Loki preferred… Well, none really, he was always everywhere - wherever he could cause most mischief. But Hel? The queen of Helheim? Why would the Ice Queen seek the realm of the sun god? Helios could see how clearly uncomfortable the goddess was, looking a bit red-cheeked there.

“Listen, this isn’t a favor for you, Titan”, stated Loki, voice unusually serious.

“A favor?”, echoed Helios surprised. “What do you want, lie smith?”

Helios was startled as Loki threw a golden apple at him. Helios blinked slowly, eyes wide as he stared at the holy fruit. The immortality granting fruit, guarded by the Goddess Iduna for all the gods and pantheons (though she had gardeners assisting her from all the pantheons too. The Hesperides from the Graeco-Romans, for example). Not many knew that ambrosia, the food of the gods that granted them immortality, was actually made, among other ingredients, of the golden apples.

“Father speaks the truth”, pieped Hel up, looking displeased. “That’s why I’m here. I know how unreasonably unrealistic that statement is.”

“Hey. A bit more respect for your old man”, grunted Loki with a glare.

Hel gave him a deadpan look before returning her attention to Helios once more. “Your Olympians have decided to strip one of your own off his immortality. Your king couldn’t make that decision without Hades knowing. After all, a god now runs the danger of being killed and dying. And, well, when I was in the park with my puppy Garm last week, we walked with Hades and Zerberus for a while and he mentioned it. And when I heard who…”

Helios didn’t like where this was going. He gripped the apple tighter. Loki’s smirk grew more knowing and wicked. Helios had the urge to throw the apple into his pretty face.

“My dear daughter told me and I could not let it stand like that”, drawled Loki. “I mean, he is my best friend’s favorite brother. Hermes would be quite unbearable if something happened to precious Apollo.”

“Then why not go to Hermes?”, asked Helios, still suspicious.

“Ah”, grunted Loki with a careless shrug. “Daddy issues. You know the guy can’t go up agains Zeus. You? A Titan? This could be… entertaining.”

Helios gritted his teeth and averted his eyes to stare at the floor. Loki and Hel remained for a long stretch of silence. He really didn’t like Loki - mainly because Loki and Apollo had kind of a fling prior to Helios and Apollo getting together. Helios wasn’t a fan of how much Loki enjoyed reminding him of this.

“Thank you, Loki. You… have my grattitude”, grunted Helios out unwillingly. “You too, Queen Hel.”

The self-satisfied smile on Loki’s face made Helios really want to throw the apple. “My, it would be a shame if something so pretty would be wasted. Just… take care of this, Titan.”

“I will, Eldojotun”, replied Helios sharply, watching with satisfaction how Loki flinched.

The Aes did not like being reminded that his status as a god was an earned one and that, foremost, he was still a born Fire Giant. Loki sneered at him briefly before returning to his charming smile.

“Very well then. Come along, sweetie. Grandma invited us for tea and cake”, declared Loki, waving a dismissive hand in Helios’ general direction.

“Oh! Grandma Laufey makes the best cakes. Bye, Helios”, chimed Hel, seemingly far more motivated by that prospect.

With that, the two Norse gods disappeared. Leaving Helios with his apple.

“W–Who in the world…?”, grunted a startled teenager.

The boy, with messy black hair, stared up at Helios with surprised, sea-green eyes. Helios only spared the human one glance before turning to the one in the boy’s company. A scowl found its way onto Helios’ face as he threw the golden apple at his boyfriend. Apollo smiled brighter than the sun as he caught it.

“Oh! Wonderful. Early rescue. Just started wondering where our new little dynamic duo was going to head next to solve this little… problem of mine”, chimed Apollo happily, rubbing the apple against his robes. “Huh. Those things are not handed out easily. Iduna is possessive of them. How did you…?”

“A thief dropped it off”, growled Helios and grabbed Apollo by the arm. “Come.”

“…I don’t like it when you’re angry”, noted Apollo dubiously. “Are you… angry with me?”

“No”, replied Helios, the growl growing darker as the sky above them clouded over. “Someone else. I’m glad you’re fine, my love.” His voice grew gentler at that as he cupped Apollo’s cheek and checked him for injuries before turning toward the human. “Thank you, for protecting my sunshine. I am indebted to you. If any god gives you a hard time again, call for Helios and I will stand by your side.”

“A free favor from a god. That’s a new one. Cool.”

Apollo wrapped one arm aroung Helios’ neck, the other hand still holding the apple as he brought it up to his rosy lips and took a large bite from it. To grand immortality, one needed a whole apple. The tiny bit that was mushed into the ambrosia was enough to keep the immortality going for the gods, but it would never be enough to restore Apollo’s godhood. Apollo yelped as Helios teleported them away.

The sky around Olympus darkened as though night had come early. Zeus frowned confused. He knew Helios was taking care of the sun - it was the main reason why he had even gotten his punishment for Apollo through.

“How dare you”, roared an angry, dark voice.

Zeus sat up straighter on his throne as the Sun Titan materialized in front of him, looking like a vicious, avenging angel. There were still many Titans around and the general rule of thumb was to perhaps not anger them. They were ancient and also powerful in most cases. Zeus blinked as he spotted his son behind Helios. The son Zeus had only just banished from Olympus.

“Apollo”, growled Zeus in warning.

“No”, hollered Helios.

“You broke an Oath of Styx twice, siring two demigods.

You interfered and turned one of them into a tree to cheat Death himself.

You are the king and were responsible to keep things such as Tartarus secure yet you allowed for your Father to reform and nearly overthrow you.

You let a teenage boy steal your symbol of power.

You let your son Ares allign himself with Kronos during the Titan War without repercussions.

You let your wife make a fool out of you by playing with the memories of the heroes and having Romans and Greeks mingle, single-handedly throwing all of Olympus into an identity crisis that very well nearly cost you all your lives and this war.

And yet here you are, acting like you are the one, true king who does no wrong. Punishing Apollo for… What exactly did he do wrong? He has helped your little pawns during both wars. He has done his best to restore the Oracle after it had been lost because you had to anger Lord Hades.”

Helios had stalked up to Zeus and by now was lifting the young god up by his throat, a nasty expression on Helios’ face as he squeezed. No amount of thundering and sparks was going to get Zeus out of the supernova-hot burning fury of a Sun Titan.

“You will never lay a hand on Apollo again or you will find yourself right down there alongside your father”, growled Helios in warning. “Believe me, no one is pleased with you and Hera anymore. The past handful of years alone have proven what incapable rulers you have become. You allowed not one, not two, but four major wars to happen right under your nose within the last century alone. And so far, the only thing keeping from a revolution is that everyone is still licking their wounds. But so help me Chaos herself, if you ever lay hand on Apollo again, I will personally throw the first speer.”

Zeus looked positively mortified as Helios just dropped him. Still glowering, Helios went to his lover and picked Apollo up bridal-style before teleporting them to Alfheim. Apollo blinked dazed up at him as he slowly oriented himself.

“That was… really fucking hot”, grunted Apollo stunned. “My knight in golden-shining armor.”

Grinning and batting his eyelashes playfully, Apollo pulled Helios down into a kiss. “We’re taking a vacation. Right now.”

“No arguments from me, babe”, hummed Apollo pleased.

THE END

So you caught me on the right foot there. Because I just got back from seeing Thor: Ragnarok and I needed some comfort. Fics are comfort. And I found a nice way of including Hel and Loki in this too. Pleased by that. I hope this was the kind of comfort you were looking for too there? ;)