#accepted: phobos

[pikkish]

For as much as I love Doom, I think we can all agree that modern Doom's writing is a bit of a dumpster fire of questionable choices and TAG especially so. So,

I'm gonna play Dark Ages when it comes out, and probably even enjoy it, too, but boy, do I have next to no faith that they're not gonna somehow totally screw over the story they themselves already established...

[radioactivepeasant]

Fic Prompts: Free Day Thursday

I got another chunk of the Splinter Cell au out of my brain and onto a page at last! This time: father-son bonding time with Jak, Dax, and Damas

Tess looked tired when she stopped by the barracks looking for Jak. Daxter eyed her and grimaced.

"Oof. Rough shift, babe?"

Tess leaned against the doorway and grumbled. "Takes a lot of energy to be perky and cute all the time."

Daxter stretched out on the cot he'd monopolized. "Oo girl, don't I know it. Say, I dunno if you noticed, but there's plenty of space right here to relax a little."

Tess smirked. "Tempting, but I have to check in with Vin first. And I need to find Jak. Krew's starting to get antsy about how long your "hunting trip" has been. He says if you two don't come back with one heck of a trophy, he'll make you regret it."

From anyone else, that would've been an empty threat. But Krew had ties to the Baron, and was still stinging over Jak ruining his bet on the race. As Krew's "employee", Jak had been given a certain level of protection from the KG, who didn’t like crossing the crime boss when they could help it. Retracting that protection was just the beginning of what Krew could probably do.

Daxter wrinkled his nose. "Ugh! Is it too early to give our two week notice?"

The ottsel sat up.

"Do we even need Krew anymore? We're gettin' strong! Makin' allies! We got all the intel we need from Vin and the Scout Flies. I say we just ghost ol' Hover Huckster and let him pick up the slack!"

Tess didn't look amused. "90% of our intel on KG movements comes from me eavesdropping at work."

Daxter cringed. Leaving Tess to do the lion's share of the work at both the saloon and the factory was not ideal boyfriend behavior, even he knew that.

"Er...I'll let Jak know we gotta go hunting," he said sheepishly. "If, y'know, the New Parents will let us out of their sight for ten minutes."

Which was how he found himself sitting on Jak’s shoulder two hours later, scanning the surrounding mountain country for Ramheads.

"Last time we found one of those, we were poking around the Eastern Temple," Jak yawned, squinting down from the central hub.

"Also a lot of loose boulders that were a real pain in the-"

He glanced to the side and cut himself off.

For some reason, Mar's dad got annoyed when Jak copied Sig’s more...blunt language.

Damas crouched at the ledge beside him and glanced up at Daxter. "Movement?"

"Nada. It's deader than Krew's love life down there," Daxter sighed.

Jak snickered.

The Wastelander king made a sort of harrumph sound and narrowed his eyes.

"Ah yes. Krew. You know, Sig didn't tell me how you ended up working for him."

There was a distinct flavor of disapproval in his voice that left Jak cringing. He'd never liked the feeling of someone being upset at him -- which Samos almost always had been when he was little -- but he'd gotten pretty good at shrugging off other people's disapproval, or at least not capitulating.

As it turned out, parental disapproval felt much worse.

Feeling a little defensive, Jak stood up sharply.

"Wasn’t by choice. Torn sent us to work for him so we could get information out of him."

He folded his arms and looked away.

"Not like anyone else was giving us food," he said sullenly.

Damas clicked his tongue and sighed. With one hand, he pushed himself upright and slung his rifle over his back.

"I see. They put you in a difficult position."

Jak scoffed. "Yeah. It happens a lot."

"Hm." Damas folded his arms across his broad chest and shifted to gaze down at the valley. His shoulder brushed against Jak’s just barely, a tacit show of support.

"What is it you would do if given the choice?" he asked.

Jak raised his gun, exhaled slowly, and took aim at the upturned floating platform that bobbed between the temple and the valley. Before he could overthink things, he fired one blaster round into the unbalanced base, smoothly flipping the platform upright once more. Jak slid his morph gun back into the holster on his back, crouched, and leapt to the circle of Precursor metal. As it floated down, he thought about Damas’s question.

What would he do if he had a choice?

It seemed simple at first: he wanted to get out of Haven. He wanted to go home.

But...where was home now? What was home? Did he really belong anywhere?

Jak supposed he could just explore the world until he found someplace that felt like home -- he'd always loved exploring, almost more than racing -- but what about his friends in Haven?

What about Mar?

Finding Damas and Phobos meant he wouldn't have to be the child’s sole caretaker anymore -- Jak wondered if he was supposed to feel guilty about the weight of the relief that came with the thought. He felt almost that he could breathe easier and just be Mar's brother when he didn't have to worry about who was watching him, and where their next meal would come from.

Jak hopped down onto soft grass and absent-mindedly took a seat while waiting for Damas to make his way down. Idly, he plucked a few blades of grass and crushed them between his fingers to release their sharp fragrance.

"What would you do if given the choice?" he asked Daxter as they watched the platform float back up.

It seemed Daxter had no such troubles of indecision. His answer was so quick it had to have been either rehearsed, or something he was genuinely excited about.

"I'm gonna own my own pub someday!" The ottsel chirped, "Better than anything Krew could ever come up with! I'm gonna have drinks, and music, and dancing- ooh! And I'll make so much money I'll be able to set Osmo and Ximon up with a permanent contract for pest control! They'll get their store back in no time!"

Daxter hopped down from Jak’s back, gesticulating wildly with each new idea.

"And- and- and Tess and me are gonna have an apartment above the bar. And a pool! Right on the roof! So you can come up and swim where nobody will bother us! And I'll always have enough food for us and anyone else who's hungry!"

Jak smiled, but his heart ached for his best friend. Daxter's ambitions were both grand and heartbreakingly simple. A home he could own. A roof over his head. Enough food that he didn’t have to worry about where his next meal was coming from. And in the midst of all that he still planned for his friends: a way to repay the man who had taken him in while Jak was in prison, a way for Jak to relax without showing the world his scars.

"You're a good man, Daxter," Jak murmured, unintentionally interrupting his friend's rambling monologue about menus and upholstery.

Daxter paused, and gave him a simple smile in return. They didn't need words to understand his meaning. You're a better man than I am, each believing it of the other without a shred of doubt. To Daxter, Jak was the unselfish one, dealing with his annoying habits and the entire weight of the world every day and still choosing to save people, no matter how angry at them he was. He wondered if he should have said it more when they were younger. If maybe it would have made Jak believe it now.

The moment ended with the thud of Damas’s worn boots against the grass. He looked a little annoyed, although Daxter couldn't have said for sure whether it was the floating flip-pods that irritated him, or Jak leaping off without him. For all that they were still strangers to each other, the Wastelanders really did not like Jak getting out of range of sight. It was like they were afraid he'd vanish if they looked away.

If he was being honest, Daxter knew how they felt. Every waking moment from the instant he'd found Jak in that awful prison, for weeks, Jak had behaved the same way about him.

Damas glanced down at the blades of grass Jak was idly shredding, and the green staining his fingertips. His annoyance softened into quiet amusement.

"There are easier ways to find raw eco," he joked, leaning on his staff.

"Huh?" Jak looked down at his smudged fingertips and grimaced with chagrin.

"Er...let's uh, let's just get going."

The boy hopped up with an ease Damas envied -- regenerative light eco was all well and good, but it didn't stop his knees from popping when he had to get off the floor!

"You didn't answer my question before," Damas prompted.

"Had to think about it first!" Jak brushed him off and headed for a short drop down toward the valley.

Of course, Damas acknowledged that Jak might not yet feel comfortable sharing that kind of inner thought with a relative stranger -- or a strange relative, for that matter. Thus far, he hadn't been able to spend much time alone with the boy. Phobos had been much more successful in getting him to open up a little, but she had more opportunity to see him off the battlefield, seeing as she'd dedicated herself to monitoring their son.

Well, their younger son.

During the missions Damas had accompanied Jak's teams on, he'd noticed that the boy was developing a habit of trailing around behind him, watching intently whenever Damas gave orders to his people. Phobos even swore up and down that she'd seen Jak subtly mimicking his posture and movements whenever they were in the briefing room at the same time.

It gave Damas hope that Jak might at least have positive feelings about having them in his life, but he didn't want to push too far too quickly. Jak was a teenager, after all, and he had boundaries. Or, he ought to have had boundaries. Some of the things Sig told him made him worry that Jak had trouble standing up to people using him.

"Usually all we have to do -- whoop-! Watch the loose rocks, Dax-"

"Yeah, I noticed. I'm not patching your shirt this time. Learn to sew!"

"Yeah yeah. So- the Ramheads aren't the intelligent ones I don't think, they're more like...cannon fodder. But they're really territorial."

Jak swung his feet up under him and slid down the remainder of the incline on his heels, kicking up a plume of dust behind him.

"So basically we shouldn't have to do much more than walk around a little to draw one out."

Damas pursed his lips thoughtfully, then hopped down to follow Jak, avoiding the gravel a little easier than he had.

"Sounds pretty straightforward."

"It is! They're big, but they're dumb," Jak bragged, "You just gotta be fast."

"And not get two of your ribs snapped by a headbutt like last ti-"

Jak slapped a hand over Daxter’s mouth.

Sheepishly, he added, "I mean, yeah, keep some eco around in case of freak accidents, I guess..."

Ah, he's trying to impress me.

Humor bubbled up in Damas’s chest, and he tamped down a smile. He had absolutely no doubt that the boy was capable; thus far he'd proved to be a prodigy of a gunner. His risk assessment left something to be desired, but reports indicated this was largely the fault of the people who had been grooming him to deal with all their problems since he was Mar’s age.

"Well it can't possibly be any more difficult than clearing a city sector and setting watchposts," Damas reasoned, "Let's see if we can't scare up a couple of these Ramheads of yours."

Jak grinned. "Right! So, we're gonna go south, first."

"Oh?" Damas adjusted his rifle strap and kept pace with Jak easily. "I thought we were headed for the valley?"

Daxter squirreled up onto Jak’s head and pointed one paw south. "Lemme guess: you remembered somewhere you haven't trespassed on yet."

With a snort, Jak broke into a jog. "It's not trespassing if it's completely abandoned!"

"I think the centurion-heads would argue against it being completely abandoned, buddy."

"Where's your sense of adventure?"

"I traded it in when it got recalled and got an improved sense of street smarts!"

Damas strode after them with a grin lingering on his face. They were loosening up now, finding their stride. Listening to them bicker reminded him of Phobos and Sig in the old days. Putting on a small burst of speed, he caught up and gave them a slightly mischievous sidelong look.

"Is a tie-breaker required?" he asked.

"No," Daxter groaned, "I'm resigned to my fate. That's what I get for swearin' I'd never let Bigfoot out of my sight again."

Jak cheerfully added, "Dax keeps promises no matter how dumb they are."

"Good man." Damas nudged the ottsel's shoulder in rough approval.

"In that case, I agree to this little detour, but on one condition. Which is...?"

He waited.

Jak thought back to conversations they'd had during the couple missions he'd accompanied them on, and he thought he could guess the condition.

"Don't tell Sig you were doing stunts?"

Damas clapped him on the shoulder and smirked. "That's my boy."

He didn't miss the way Jak's eyes and smile alike widened in response.

[suave-hogan]

Twrp’s Twitter is horrendous (affectionate)

[kristillianlibraryarchive]

I'm crying dad please come back

[cafeichigo]

why am i seeing Cornelia and Phobos fanart 🫤

[on-my-vigilante-sht]

Immortal Danger II

Apollo x wife!Reader

Summary: Despite an extravagant wedding, Apollo is still confronted by those who want to end his marriage

Warning: Smut; Ares, Demeter, and Phobos slander; attempted assault; alcohol consumption and mentions of underage drinking; probably some ancient greek wedding inaccuracies

Word Count: 5k

Part 1 | Masterlist

Apparently a wedding in Vegas wasn’t good enough for my mother because I found myself in her green house mansion on Olympus being lectured and listening to her berate Apollo.

“Dem, we’re all adults here,” my husband tried to reason.

“She isn’t even a century old!” Demeter cried in exasperation.

“Twenty-four is considered an adult on earth,” I offered. “Didn’t Persephone run off with Hades when she was seventeen?”

“Oh don’t even get me started on him!” my mother ranted. “What is with you gods and my daughters?” Apollo opened his mouth but she just held a hand up, silencing him. “No! I don’t want to hear all the perverted things you think about her.”

“When did you become such a prude, Dem? My father told me all about your wild days.” If Apollo could die he’d be trapped in Tartarus right now based on the glare she sent him.

“A ‘Vegas’ wedding officiated by a mortal is not a real wedding. I won’t have you two living in sin.”

“Well we’ve been ‘sin-’”

I clamped a hand over Apollo’s mouth, silencing him. “Firstly, with all due respect… Mother, you have the wrong religion there.”

“Well we don’t have set moral codes like Christians do!” she cried. “Urgh you’re both so infuriating. You two are going to have a proper, traditional wedding. You,” she looked pointedly at me, “will be staying here until your wedding because I don’t want you,” she turned her glare to Apollo, “defiling her more than you already have.”

I shared a glance with Apollo who appeared to share my sentiments. “Fine,” I agreed. “As long as the wedding occurs within a month.”

“And after you are married you will stay here. Apollo can visit you but that’s it. No spending nights at his home or going out to sneak around,” Demeter insisted.

“Mother!” I immediately chastised.

“Demeter!” my now fiancé cried simultaneously. “That’s unreasonable. I know you think of her as your baby and you’re afraid you’re going to lose her like Persephone but she’s my wife. She’ll be my wife again. You can’t treat her like an untrustworthy teenager. Besides, you know as well as I do that according to tradition, the marriage isn’t legitimate unless we live together.”

“Well then you may as not get married at all!” Demeter offered sarcastically.

“Mother, it’s not as if I’m disappearing or we’re just fooling around. I love him,” I professed, looking back at Apollo with a smile.

He returned it before standing up to confront my mom. “Y/N’s right, we’re not just fooling around. After all, we’re already married.

She only rolled her eyes before giving a sigh of defeat. “Be ready for the wedding. Hera, Aphrodite, and I will be planning it,” she said with an accusatory finger before disappearing.

~

Two weeks later and my mother had managed to pull together a wedding she deemed acceptable. She had wanted to hold it a century from now but I forced her hand. But in preparations for the wedding, I met all the gods. Except for Ares they were all excited for me. Even Aphrodite who had reprimanded Ares when he got aggressive.

“You know, it’s not too late to join the Hunt,” Artemis offered again as she braided my hair back for the wedding. Ever since we met she has been trying to convince me to dump her brother and swear him and all other men off for forever.

“Artemis!” Aphrodite whined from across the room. “Stop putting ideas in her head. Why do you hate true love?”

“Don’t you have a husband that isn’t Ares?” Artemis quipped.

“That’s different,” she claimed, standing up from the sofa she was lounging on. “That was not true love.”

“And don’t you have dozens of children that are neither Hephaestus’ nor Ares’?”

“Ugh what do you know?” Aphrodite scoffed. She stood on front of me, stooping down to make eye contact. “Y/N, don’t listen to her. You and Apollo are meant to be, I know it. And running around in the woods for eternity won’t bring you joy. Do you really want to camp with a bunch of 12 year old girls for the rest of eternity? It’d be like… well… being stuck at Camp Half-Blood for all eternity.”

I chuckled, appreciating both the goddesses’ efforts. “Thanks for the assurance Aphrodite and thanks for the offer Artemis. If he pisses me off enough in like 500 years then I may take you up on your offer.”

Hera then entered wearing a traditional chiton. “Today’s the gamos!” she said excitedly as she entered. She seemed shockingly excited considering I was marrying her husband’s bastard. “Aphrodite, put a beauty charm on her and then get her in her dress.” She then left after barking orders much like my mother.

Both goddesses complied and soon enough I was dressed in an extravagant chiton, decorated in gold, and with a lace veil over my face. They led me to an enormous dining hall decorated in white and gold, the gorgeous ceiling enchanted to reflect the sky outside, depicting the stars and the moon. As I was looking around in awe, I caught Apollo’s smile. Upon noticing my attention was directed at him, he raised his glass to me which I recognized as his attempt to compliment me.

According to Athenian tradition, the bride wasn’t supposed to have contact with the groom until the unveiling ceremony but there was a feast beforehand.

I was sat where Apollo couldn’t see me so I was fortunately allowed to eat. On my plate was a square of ambrosia and with just a wave of my hand it turned into a proper wedding dish.

As I was chatting with Artemis and some of her hunters—who wanted to sit as far from the male guests as possible—Hera and Demeter came flitting up next to me. “It’s time for the unveiling ceremony!” Hera gushed.

“It’s not too late to back out,” Demeter offered again. “You don’t have to swear things off with Apollo but you can at least postpone,” she pleaded hopefully.

I looked up at her sympathetically. I knew she just wanted to have her daughter to herself but I couldn’t help but be reminded of the half-blood daughters that were never this important to her. “Mother, I want this,” I informed her earnestly again. “I love Apollo and he loves me too. I’m ready to begin my immortal life with him.”

“Demeter, I know there are a lot of feelings here but we have to go,” Hera tried to calm her sister before flipping the veil back over my head and ushering me from my seat. I complied until I reached the grand entrance of the hall. Stood in the doorway was Apollo also in a traditional chiton. Just past him, awaiting us outside was the chariot that would take us to his home.

I stepped up closer to him, smiling up at him as he beamed down at me. He literally was the sun personified and I couldn’t wait to spend eternity with him.

If there were any formal rituals associated with the unveiling ceremony they had either been long since forgotten or Apollo didn’t care because he took a more modern approach. After a whispered, “I love you,” he took the veil and flipped it over my head before gently placing one hand on my jaw, the other on my waist before kissing me deeply. Much like modern Christian ceremonies.

Although, the kiss wasn’t very Christian as it was deep and passionate and Apollo seemed reluctant to end it. Every time he pulled away slightly it was just to connect our lips deeper again. He only pulled away when a shout came from Hermes. “You’re not in your bedchambers yet!”

Apollo pulled away with a laugh while I flushed with embarrassment. Upon noticing me, he pulled me closer with a laugh whilst I buried my face in his shoulder. I could feel his deep, joyful laugh as he turned to address the room. “The sun may be up a lot later tomorrow morning!” he announced to the room.

I groaned against his shoulder, pushing him towards the chariot. As he stepped away from me, he grabbed my hand. He helped me up onto the chariot before stepping up himself. As soon as he was stood firmly behind me, I urged the horses forward.

As we proceeded out, all of our guests appeared along the path all the way to Apollo’s home. Used to all the praise and attention, Apollo waved to other other deities as they cheered us on, with me tucked under his arm trying not to fall out of the chariot.

As we reached the grand entrance of the mansion, we finally had some privacy. The sun god helped me down from the chariot again, before sweeping me off my feet. “And now, we will enter our home, cementing our marriage,” he explained with a smile.

I giggled, wrapping my arms around his neck as he carried me through the magically opened doors. He didn’t even bother to pretend to want to celebrate that we were married now, he immediately carried me up towards the bedroom. “You’re going to hate your mother for not letting me see you for two weeks because tonight I’m making up for not fucking you for that time,” he explained eagerly.

As he went the doors opened automatically until he was placing me on the middle of the bed. He followed, kneeling on the bed with a leg on either side of my hips, looking down at me. I began unfastening the bindings of my chiton but Apollo just snapped his fingers and I was in white lingerie. Before I could comprehend what happened, he tore the bralette off of me as his lips found mine. As he kissed me, I could feel his warm hands on my breasts, fondling them and teasing my nipples.

Soon enough his lips were leaving mine and trailing down my neck and chest until one of my nipples was in his mouth. I let out a soft moan as I felt his tongue swirl around me. He moved to the other breast, simultaneously sliding his other hand to my panties which I now realized were entirely lace as there was virtually nothing in between his fingers and my pussy.

As his thumb found my clit and his mouth continued the assault on my breasts, I could only let out cries of pleasure. My hands found his back as I dug my nails into his skin, trying to ground myself. But one hand overstimulating my clit, the other rubbing circles around my nipple, and the other nipple still being tortured by his mouth was too much and my panties became even more soaked as I climaxed.

Upon feeling my entire body seize, Apollo pulled away from me with a satisfied smile. I stared up at him in slight wonderment. I never orgasmed that fast, I would have thought that I’d be less sensitive as a goddess. Seeing my surprise, Apollo explained with a laugh. “Now that we’re both immortal and married we’re more in tune with each other,” he explained. “It’s like our bodies are made for each other. They just react more to each other than when you were mortal.”

“So you feel it more too?” I asked. He nodded. “Good,” I smiled. I snapped my fingers and all of a sudden his chiton was gone and he was naked. Before he could react, I had pushed him to lay on the bed, my body on top of his. Much like what he had done to me prior, I gave him a brief yet deep kiss before lowering my head to his already erect cock. I met his eager gaze, holding eye contact as I grasped his cock. Stroking it a bit, I brought my mouth down on it while still maintaining eye contact. I felt his entire body shiver as I wrapped my lips around the sensitive head that was already leaking precum.

I licked at the sensitive head ever so slightly, bringing my mouth up and down his shaft the littlest bit, teasing him. But as I reached the very end of his cock, acting as if I was about to pull away, his hand shot out to my head, keeping me in place. Looking up, I found his face contorted in pleasure, the hand not tangled in my hair was gripping the sheets. “Don’t stop,” he said in a strained voice. I complied, continuing my assault on his cock. As a goddess, I no longer had to worry about a gag reflex so I could take his entire cock in my mouth, something he deeply appreciated judging by his deep groans.

I tried to keep going until he came in my mouth but his grip on my hair pulled me away. “No!” he grunted out. “I wanna cum inside you first.” He immediately flipped us so now he was on top of me but my head was nearly hanging off the foot of the bed, ripping off my lace panties in the process. He stared down hungrily at my cunt, licking his lips like a starved man. Rather than fuck me like I thought he was going to, he brought his mouth to my core. Upon feeling his mouth wrap around my core, tongue prodding at my clit, I let out more of a yell than a moan. I was so sensitive from the previous orgasm, I came directly in his mouth this time. But rather than stop there, he kept going. His tongue made its way inside my clenching hole, swirling around, making me see stars.

I was squirming around so much his hands had locked around my hips, immobilizing me. All I could do was beg him to stop as he assaulted my cunt until he finally pulled away after one more release. “I need you inside me,” I begged him as he raised himself to his knees. He smiled, eagerly complying. He pulled my hips up until they were flush with his. I brought my legs up as he did so, resting them on his shoulders as he slowly pushed inside of me.

I screamed so loudly in pleasure you’d think I was being murdered. Gods I was so sensitive from the previous orgasms and our newfound connection.

Once he was fully in me I could feel his cock twitching inside of me and I knew what that meant. He had never cum this fast but then again, never had I either. I rolled my hips into his, wanted him to feel the same pleasure I had and I could immediately feel him spill inside of me. Which made me cum around his cock, milking everything out of him.

But he didn’t pull out or soften inside of me. That was the nice thing about gods, there was no refractory period. As soon as he stopped cumming, his hips were moving again, fucking me.

I quickly became a babbling mess as he continued to fuck me through numerous orgasms each. He had me bent over, riding him, under him, every position imaginable. Sometimes he was rough, other times more gentle and loving. No matter what we did I loved every moment of it.

He only stopped when he had to go get the sun chariot ready. Despite the fact that I didn’t need to sleep anymore, I immediately passed out as soon as he left.

~

Apollo’s lips on my neck were the only things that pulled me out of the inviting grasp of sleep. I let out a groan so he knew that I was awake.

“‘Morning,” he greeted in my ear. “So today is called epaulia, it’s when everyone comes to congratulate us and bring gifts,” he explained through kisses. “I can tell them that you’re not feeling up to it today if you want. I know you’re new to immortality and last night was a lot.” I could feel his smug grin against the skin of my jaw. “But, if you choose not to see anyone then I’m warning you that you’re not leaving this bed.”

I finally peeled my eyes fully open. Fortunately the blinds around the bed had been drawn so I wasn’t blinded. I rolled over, meeting his gaze. “I know I’m immortal and as much as I would love to spend the entire day in bed with you, I think I might actually die of exhaustion if you do that to me.” A grin appeared on his face as his fingers found their way in between my legs. “Apollo,” I moaned, tossing my head back as his fingers assaulted my still puffy and throbbing clit.

“Okay,” he agreed, as if he weren’t fingering me right now. “I’ll tell them they can come over once I’m done.” He continued, his fingers fucking me to the edge of an orgasm. But before I could finish, a gong rang through the home. I jumped and Apollo pulled away. “Oh shit, I guess they came anyways.” He pressed a kiss to my cheek before jumping out of bed. “I’ll talk to them while you get dressed. Technically today is about you since epaulia is supposed to make the bride more comfortable.” I just stared at him, still a little bit flabbergasted before he disappeared.

After a minute of calming myself down, I got up. Going to the vanity I found my messy appearance. Fortunately I could just give myself a beauty charm, something Aphrodite taught me, and I looked like I hadn’t spent the night being fucked within an inch of my life. I summoned a white slip dress that was still modest enough to be worn in front of my family.

With one last look in the mirror I headed downstairs, finding several goods and goddesses standing in the foyer. As soon as they noticed my presence, several of the goddesses came flocking over to me. They were all asking about last night—questions I wouldn’t be answering considering I hardly knew them—and shoving gifts in my hands.

Seeing as I didn’t have enough hands, they all herded me towards the kitchen, lining the counters with their gifts. Eventually Apollo made his way towards me, throwing an arm around my shoulder. He addressed the crowd with ease, telling them thanks but not to crowd me. His confidence was baffling but I guess when you’ve spent centuries being adored it comes easily.

Aphrodite pushed her way through the crowd, Ares standing behind her with a glare. I retreated further into Apollo’s embrace, remembering how he was trying to kill me just two weeks ago. “Open my present,” Aphrodite gushed, oblivious to her lover’s glare.

Shaking off Ares’ intimidation, I took the pink box in my hand. “Aphrodite, do I want to open this in front of everyone?” I asked, my eyes flickering across the room of mostly strangers and meeting my mother’s scowl.

“Yes, it’s fine!” she insisted. “It’s just perfume.” I opened it reluctantly, knowing that her perfumes were love potions. I pulled it out of the box, the label informing me that it would make me irresistible.

A few other visitors presented their gifts. I was delighted by the plants that Athena, Artemis, and a few nymphs gave me. There were a few lingerie sets that I didn’t take out of the boxes and bags. As well as a few other home goods.

By the time I had gotten through the mountain of gifts, someone had pulled out the alcoholic nectar. Aphrodite quickly pushed a champagne flute of it into my hands. “Have you ever drank, Y/N?” she asked. “You were at camp a long time.”

“Um, once when I was 15 before I became a year-round camper,” I explained. “My boyfriend at the time and I-”

“Your boyfriend?” Apollo demanded in surprise, having never left my side.

“You knew about him!” I defended. “We only made out a couple times.”

“Still,” he huffed.

“I know your children. I grew up with some of them,” I pointed out.

He rolled his eyes playfully. “Yeah whatever,” he said with a pout before breaking out in a smile. “Hey, I’m gonna go talk to Hermes,” he informed, pressing a kiss to my temple. He then looked at Aphrodite. “Please don’t let her get too drunk,” he requested. “There’s a difference between mortal alcohol and god alcohol. Even Dionysus has made a fool of himself off of this stuff.”

“Don’t worry,” Aphrodite assured. “I’ll take care of her.”

He gave her an uneasy look but I just pushed him to go. “Go have fun. I’ll be fine.”

“Okay,” he said reluctantly. “I love you,” he told me before disappearing into the crowd.

I looked back at Aphrodite and she was immediately waving her hand, shots appearing on the counter. “Oh we’re getting you wasted tonight,” she laughed. I laughed with her, grabbing a shot off the counter.

“To love,” I toasted with her as she grabbed a glass.

~~

Apollo and several other gods were in the den, talking with an American football game playing when Hermes came in. “Apollo!” he called across the room, obviously a little drunk. “Your wife is fun!” he slurred.

By now all the men were looking at him. Apollo stood up, going to his friend. “What do you mean, bud?” he asked.

“Well I was going to get some food but I ended up doing shots with Y/N,” he explained enthusiastically. A few chuckles erupted from the room. New immortals were rare but when they got inebriated the first time it was always funny. “That girl can drink.”

Apollo chuckled nervously, directing his friend to the couch before going back out to the main room. Stepping into the main living space, he found Artemis with her on the couch, trying to force ambrosia into her mouth.

“Y/N, you have to either eat or I’ll force you to throw up,” he heard Artemis threaten.

“Thanks ‘Mis,” he interrupted, taking a seat on the other side of his wife. “I’ve got it from here.” His twin nodded before standing up and disappearing into the crowd.

His wife looked at him with a smile. “Sorry I got drunk,” she giggled. Apollo couldn’t help but smile. She was cute like this.

“It’s ok, I don’t blame you. Aphrodite was supposed to watch you.”

“She did this to me.”

“Yeah, well, you need to sober up a bit before you rejoin the party,” he said, taking her hand. She followed him up into a standing position but immediately tripped over herself. Catching her, Apollo held her close to help her keep her balance. “Let’s try this,” he said, before transporting them to their bedroom.

He managed to get her to the bed, sitting her down on it. Out of nowhere she gasped. “You’re trying to take advantage of a drunk girl!” she immediately erupted into giggles.

He smiled, joining her laugh. “No, you’re gonna sleep off the shots.” She huffed but agreed anyways. Apollo thanked her for her cooperation. “I’ll be downstairs. Call me if you need anything,” he said, pressing a kiss to her cheek before going back downstairs.

~~

I laid back on the bed, staring up at the windows above me. Despite the fact that there were still no clouds in the sky, it looked like it was moving. My head seemed to swim and it was as if my body was mortal again. I felt so weak now.

Just before I found the strength to roll over and go to sleep, I head the bedroom door open. “Apollo?” I called, assuming it was him. When I got no response I sat up, finding a vaguely familiar figure coming up the stairs. My vision was too hazy to see his face distinctly.

“Hey, Y/N,” the voice came.

As the figure got closer I could finally make out his face. “Phobos?” I guessed.

He smiled. “You remember me and you’re not screaming in terror,” he chuckled. I shrugged awkwardly. He sighed, sitting on the bed next to me. “Listen, uh, I'm sorry about trying to kill you. Father’s orders, y’know?”

“Uh, sure,” I agreed.

“I was hoping you could forgive me,” he requested. He kept moving his head to look into my eyes, as if willing me to agree. Fortunately for me, my vision was going in and out of focus too much for it to have any affect.

“Yeah, we could be friends,” I slurred excitedly.

“Well, I was uh… hoping we could be more than friends,” he said nervously. Before I could ask him what he meant, his lips were on mine. His hands locked onto my jaw and neck, holding me in place as I struggled.

As he tried to lay me down on the bed, I slipped out of his grasp. Literally falling onto the floor. I tried to crawl away but he was straddling my hips, pinning me down in a second. “Apollo!” I yelled, tears streaming down my face in fear.

Before I could yell again, Apollo’s face was in front of me. As if it had replaced Phobos’. “Hey, what’s wrong?” Apollo’s voice came but it sounded hollow. “It’s just me,” he assured. His lips found my neck, hand trailing up my body.

“No!” I cried. “I don’t wanna right now. I feel weird.”

“You’ll feel better,” he assured, continuing to touch me.

“Phobos!” I yelled, pushing him away, or trying to at least. “Apollo wouldn’t do this to me!” I insisted, recalling all the times when I told him I didn’t want to do anything and he backed off. “Apollo!” I screamed again, hoping he’d hear me over the talking and music.

I cried harder as his hands found the neckline of my dress. But before he could work the garment off of me, there was a flash of light and a yell. “What in Tartarus are you doing, Phobos?!” Apollo’s enraged yell came. The god on top of me immediately changed back to his original form as Apollo yanked him away.

The vague forms of other gods appeared as Apollo was still holding Phobos. A girl I recognized as Athena came rushing over to my side, making sure I was ok. “What happened?” she asked.

It was hard to explain through the alcohol and the tears but I told them about how he came up and started trying to assault me.

“It’s not like that!” Phobos insisted. “Ares told me I should try to get with her.”

“Why?” Zeus’ booming voice demanded from his son and grandson. No one answered. “Tell me or Hecate will be administering truth serums.”

An angry voice belonging to Ares answered reluctantly. “I thought that if Y/N cheated on Apollo she'd leave him for Phobos and then he’d be devastated that my son stole his wife.” There were a few murmurs and I could vaguely hear Aphrodite reprimand him. “But I didn’t tell him to force himself on her.”

Apollo started yelling, causing some of the others to start yelling until Zeus silenced them. “Enough! Ares and Phobos, you’re coming with me. Apollo, take care of your wife. Y/N,” I think I vaguely looked in his direction, “I'm sorry your epaulia was ruined and this happened to you. Everyone else out of Apollo’s home!” he yelled to the rest of the house. There were a few groans and disagreements but within a few minutes everyone had disappeared, leaving just me, my husband, and mother.

“C’mon,” he said, picking me up off the floor. I curled into him as he carried me to the bed.

Meanwhile my mother was still there, arms crossed and tapping her foot like a cartoon. “See I knew something like this would happen.”

“Dem, can we not do this now?” Apollo asked as he placed me on the bed.

“You can’t even protect her!” she continued anyways. “You knew she was vulnerable but were too busy with your friends. I knew you weren’t capable of being a husband.”

“Hey-” Apollo began.

“And you!” Demeter continued anyway. She appeared in my still hazy vision. “Getting that drunk at your own epaulia? What were you thinking? He wouldn’t have tried to force himself on you if you hadn’t been so irresponsible.”

“That’s enough, Demeter!” my husband yelled at her. “You’ve been nothing but critical ever since you found out about us. But we’re married, twice now. You can’t change that. And are you seriously blaming her for what just happened? You of all people should be sympathetic and be glad I got there when I did.”

I could hear Demeter’s huff. “Well she wouldn’t have been in danger in the first place if you never got involved.” Then there was a flash of light and she was gone.

Apollo’s sigh came before he settled down on the bed with me. “I’m so sorry that happened,” he stated, pulling me tightly into his chest. “I never should have left you alone.”

“‘S ok,” I consoled, still slurring my words. “Not your fault.”

“I love you so much,” he said, hugging me impossibly tighter. “I swear that nothing like that will ever happen again.”

Part 1 | Masterlist

[marilynmonroefanfics]

Scary Love

Y/N, much to the disdain of his father, had convinced his mother to let him spend some days with his grandmother, Demeter.

Zagreus and Macaria were also not happy about it, however as they player major roles in the underworld, they could not accompany him. They did give him some advice.

“Just take this enchanted dagger with you.” Zagreus spoke, hiding the weapon in his brother’s tunic.

“If someone tries to pressure you, just do as we practiced” said Macaria.

“GUYS PLEASE! THIS IS TOO MUCH!”

The youngest son of Hades was very well received by his grandmother, who was very happy to see him. The other gods were also enthusiastic, specially his new best friends, Athena and Artemis.

Y/N spend the first few days catching up with everyone, Apollo sang him songs, Hermes brought him gifts from his travels, he also did flower crowns with Dionysus, so on and so forth.

With Athena and Artemis, Y/N travelled the known world, playing chess with Athena was always fun and he bonded with Artemis over their love of animals.

There was only one god Y/N could not befriend, that being Aphrodite, whispers ran throughout Olympus that the Goddess of Beauty had been dethroned. Aphrodite didn’t help herself by leading a life of debauchery, not at all leading a life of virtue and, in an irony of destiny, not respecting the sacred bounds of love she herself represented.

One early morning, the young prince witnessed the arrival of Ares, God of War, who was followed by two unknown men, all in bloody armour.

The God of War only gave a small nod of acknowledgment, speaking swiftly.

“Deimos, Phobos…” Ares spoke, his voice full of authority. “…meet Y/N, God of Seasons, Prince of the Underworld, youngest child of Hades and Persephone.”

Deimos and Phobos greeted the young prince, however, the latter could only notice their unusual auras and empty eyes.

In the next days Y/N could feel himself being observed, as if two pairs of eyes were watching him from the shadows. Flowers and little cards could also be find on his bed, with sort messages such as “I love your eyes” or “You have my heart”

The next few encounters with Deimos and Phobos were always the same, with few words exchanged and the two gods in their bloody armours.

One particular day, Y/N was pitiful of the two brothers, he had offered to help clean their armours, they seemed very dirty and uncomfortable.

To his surprise, the two brothers accepted, taking an opportunity to ask the young prince for help cleaning themselves, in particular their cheeses and arms, which they would flex at any opportunity, making Y/N giggle.

From then on, the try spent even more time together, Ares became quite annoyed at this, as his sons weren’t fulfilling their duties, which mainly meant fighting alongside their father.

It was clear to everyone the two brothers were in love with the young prince, but no one dared to say so. As the two circled Y/N like to guard dogs. Or in Persephone’s own words “sons of Cerberus”

Persephone knew of her son’s conflicted feelings, and simply advised “follow your heart…but do remember this has great consequences.”

“What do you mean mother?”

“Silly boy, you have the sons of the God of War at your mercy, the best warriors in the world, who give their father great victories…you can sway them as you please, they are yours to command, love is a powerful force.”

“What…what if I can’t choose between them?”

His mother laughed “I suppose you get two handsome hunks instead of one!”

[helenofsparta2]

Can we talk about how interesting Percy’s dynamics with the Olympians actually is? Like, both on an individual and on a general level?

He and Ares have a rivalry. A genuine rivalry, based on mutual dislike. Frank described them in Son of Neptune as “two old war buddies talking trash” and Phobos described Percy in “Stolen Chariot” as a “sworn enemy” of Ares. That’s actually insane if you think about it. Those are the immortal god of war, and a sixteen-year-old teenager. Ares would have been fine with Percy becoming a god, because he looked forward to just fight with him or beat him up for eternity.

Percy is the only known male demigod Artemis respects, who won the friendship of not one but two of her lieutenants.

He is the demigod, who challenged Dionysus views on heroes as a whole, and that, as a son of Poseidon, half-brother to Theseus, the hero who betrayed and left Dionysus wife. The hero, who ignited Dionysus hatred of half-bloods in the first place. Still, Dionysus placed his trust in Percy to save both Olympus and Pollux in the Last Olympian.

He and Nico are the only two demigods to ever canonically acknowledge Hestia. Percy even sacrificed hope to her, which was probably the biggest sacrifice and the biggest sign of respect she ever received from a demigod.

Aphrodite takes a special interest in his love life.

Hermes and him are on pretty friendly terms. So far, that Percy even refers to him as a “friend” in the Staff of Hermes. He is also the only demigod to ever completely openly criticize him on how he handled Luke’s situation and doesn’t back down from a rather intense argument. At the end of the last Olympian, Hermes gives Percy a list of his children outside of Camp half-blood and asks him to personally escort them to safety.  

Despite Hades trying to imprison him and threatening him with death, Percy is, together with Nico, the reason why Hades and his children are accepted at Camp Half-Blood.

While Hera dislikes him, she still acknowledges Percy’s importance for her plans and describes him for one as “constant as a compass needle” when it comes to his friends, and also as someone who inspires loyalty in “Son of Neptune.”

Poseidon, centuries-old god of the ocean, who probably had thousands of children in his life called Percy his favourite son in Battle of the labyrinth. After a conversation about Antaeus, who, for over three thousand years has sacrificed people and monsters in honor of Poseidon. Still, it is Percy, who is his favourite son.

He is the only modern demigod to get offered godhood but chose instead to use their favor to create a better world for all demigods and to request forgiveness for the gods who fought on Kronos’ side, which changes some of the quintessential rules of their world.

Percy is blunt and not afraid to openly challenge them on their views and actions, but because he is probably the most powerful and accomplished hero to ever live, and because he has saved them and the world on numerous occasions, they can’t just ignore him or kill him off, and even have to listen to him on some rare occasions.

None of the other demigods really have that, at least to this scale.

It’s so interesting to me, how Percy’s relationship to the Olympians, both negative and positive, echoes more the relationship they would have to another god, than to a half-blood. 

[gotstabbedbyapen]

Hello! I was wondering if you have any HCs of Ares being a good dad if you’re a still doing them👀

I'm always open for making HCs! It's not an open request, just you guys suggesting things to me and I give you my thoughts and all.

Ares is trying to break the generational trauma cycle, learning from his great-grandparents, grandparents, and parents. He isn't the most beloved child of either Zeus or Hera, so he makes sure none of his kids, mortal or immortal, has to feel the same.

When Aphrodite was pregnant with any of their children, Ares would talk to them every night. He wasn't very good at baby-talking, basically just talking to his kids like they were his battle comrades. Aphrodite laughed at him the entire time.

When Aphrodite gave birth to Eros and Anteros (their first children), Ares was at her side to support. The mighty god of war then fainted TWICE during the procedure, hitting his head on a desk in the second time, but managed to keep himself conscious enough to see his kids before fully passing out.

Eileithyia later bans Ares from getting into the delivery room because she doesn't want to deal with her brother fainting again. And Ares throws a fit.

The birth of Phobos and Deimos was hell. Because he was banned, Ares was screaming outside of the delivery room, begging to come in to see if his kids were alright. Eileithyia prayed that someone will restrain her before she dash outside and smack her brother's head out of the window.

Aphrodite was super worn out after delivering Phobos and Deimos. So Ares let her rest while he held the twins each on one arm and "breastfeed" them with bottles taped on his chest XDDD

When Harmonia was born, Ares held her in his arms all the time, just staring at her tiny face for hours and not realizing he was crying. Nobody knows why he was like that. Ares didn't know why either.

Ares would let Harmonia braid his hair with flowers and bowties. He won't put on his war helmet on for a long time just to show off his daughter's work, even when he's going into battle.

If you laugh at his braided hair, that's one spear in your ass :)

Although Ares wasn't the bio father of the rest of the Erotes gang, he is their sorta-father-figure.

Ares is the type of dad who secretly gives you permission behind your mom's back. Eros is a little shit because daddy spoiled him and always got his back.

Ares helped Eros convinced Aphrodite to cease her scorn and try to accept Psyche into the family. It was hard work and took them centuries, but Aphrodite finally did get over her anger toward Psyche.

The list of Ares' good dad moments will be incomplete if we don't include Alcippe.

After killing Halirrhothius, Ares frantically turned to Alcippe to make sure she is alright. At first, he thought Alcippe would refuse him coming near because of what happened earlier. But to his surprise, Alcippe jumped into his arms right away and cried her fear out. Ares just held his daughter and be her anchor, and they stayed like that in silence.

When Ares was put in trial for murdering his daughter's assaulter, he did not regret a thing and was ready to receive all punishment. He even had his last words if he were to be imprisoned for all eternity: "If his children were ever attacked again, he would crawl out of Tartarus and drag the attackers down with him."

Hippolyta and Penthesileia, his Amazonian daughters, are personally trained by Ares, basically growing up under his eyes. They can be slaying enemies left and right and covered in blood and Ares will be cheering for them the loudest in the background.

But truth be told, there is still a dark side of Ares' blinding devotion to his children. Because Ares spoiled his children so much, some of them turned out to be terrible people, and yet he often turn a blind eye to his children's horrible deeds.

Heracles killed many of Ares' children during his journey because they were tyrants (Cycnus who killed travelers, Diomedes who owned man-eating horses, etc.). It's their karma serving to them, but Ares was having none of that. This is why the war god was hostile towards Heracles during his labor.

After Hippolyta's death, Ares was adamant to keep Penthesileia safe when she joined the war. And yet he still lost her to Achilles' spear.

When Ascalaphus and Penthesileia were killed in the Trojan war, Ares was ready to defied Zeus' order and rushed down to them. But, alas, he couldn't risk his father's anger and could only watch their death them from afar.

The other Olympians might not like Ares much, but most of them stood in solemn as the war god greatly mourn his children.

[wellwhatnowlove]

“He looks down at his feet, searching for words. When he finds them, he looks up at me with the raw emotion of his father, but without the anger or the pain. “Mother, your inheritance was guilt. Father’s was surrender. Because of you, because of Father, mine is struggle. That is better than guilt. It is better than surrender. I do not blame you. I thank you. You never pretended the world wasn’t broken, even when a broken world favored you.”

Light Bringer, pg.144

I GOT TO THINKIN TODAY ABOUT WHAT PAX SAID ABOUT HIS PARENTS’ INHERITANCE AND I HAD A REVELATION. okay sorry VERY LONG WINDED ESSAY BELOW. (Light Bringer spoilers too)

If Darrow’s inheritance has always been surrender and Virginia’s has always been guilt, then Light Bringer is a study in how they’ve swapped those burdens, and both grew immensely because of it. Virginia is forced to face the reality of surrender to keep Mars from falling. She must learn to sacrifice lives on an unimaginable scale. She literally has to surrender Phobos in order to hold Mars and save lives from a bloody battle over pride. She routinely seeks out the injured and dying to confront those she sacrifices. It’s heart breaking and hard to read at times, but not once did she not feel like the character we grew to love. She stays true to herself while mentioning multiple times that she now understands Darrow’s plight more than ever from the last decade.

Then on the flip side, Darrow is forced to reckon with his insurmountable guilt when he is put on trial before the daughters in the rim to answer for betraying them in order to secure a victory for the core rising/republic. He talks about how that guilt put a wedge between him and his family. That guilt made him feel unworthy of love, and, therefore, unable to properly express his love to those he would give everything for. This mirrors Virginia’s past struggle with one particularly potent example being her inability to believe that Darrow could love her after he reveals his true identity as a red in the tunnel under Lykos at the end of Golden Son. She says

“They are my family!” she shouts, face collapsing into grief. “My father hanged your wife. He hanged her. How can you even look at me?”

I think it’s this guilt (and probably some feelings of utter betrayal, panic, and overwhelm) that led her to leave Darrow in that tunnel and indirectly led him into the Jackal’s trap. Which I’m sure she also feels immense guilt for. But I think a large part of her journey off page and into morning star is her coming to terms with that guilt. In confronting it she learns to be vulnerable with Darrow again and comes to accept that he loves her despite the insane complexity of their history. This culminating with her leaning into her understanding of her part in the society and realizing that it puts her in a place to make a true change. All of this accomplished with an education in immense humility, flexibility, and compromise. Which is the lesson Darrow grapples with and I think truly leans into throughout this book. In a way, he is forced to reckon with how his guilt drove him away from Virginia and Pax and even veered him away from Eo’s dream.

I think on a character based level, this will exponentially strengthen their relationship when (please please Pierce) they finally reunite, and will make them a more formidable pair than even before. They now understand each others struggles in such intimate ways that idk if anyone can stop these two.

Then, on a plot based level it speaks to the larger themes of resilience, understanding and the fight for humanity. Virginia finds strength in surrender and Darrow finds redemption in humility and compromise. 

Then, add in some struggle, grit and pixie dust (and a cool head tattoo I guess. WE SEE YOU OVER THERE PAX AKA ADEPT AUGUSTUS. HELL YEAH KEEP IT UP BABY WOO) and the rising might just have a true shot. Not only at victory, but at redemption and continued effort in the name of what is just and good.

[r-u-living]

Hi!!!! Idk if you accept requests, but I really liked your useless powers hc and i wonder if you could do some minor cabins? Like, Iris, Nemesis, Hypnos…

YES!!!!!!!!!!! I love a good request dw!!!!!!

HEADCANNON

Iris (Goddessof rainbows): When light hits their eyes right, 🌈RAINBOWS🌈

Nemesis (Goddessof revenge): Perfect poker face (cause not reacting to something is so annoying)

Hypnos(God of sleep): Melatonin does not work on them.

Eris(Goddess of conflict): The person EVERYONE goes to to rant.

Ariadne(Goddess of labyrinths):Can always find the island Naxos.

Astraea (Godsess of justice and innocence): White looks bloody great on them.

Nike (Goddess of shoes victory): Terryfing battle cry.

Adacia (Goddess of injustice): Judge's are TERRIFIED of them.

Phobos (God of phobias): People with phobias? TERRIFIED of them.

Hebe (Goddess of eternal youth): So whimsical. The whimsy within these people is amazing.

Hecate (Goddess of witchcraft): Besties with Dionysius children. Immune to their weird time thingy.

Eos (God of dawn): They always wake up at dawn. It's so creepy.

(Main Gods)

[radioactivepeasant]

Snippets: Free Day Friday

Aka "you've ruined a perfectly good Damas is what you did. Look at him, he's got anxiety"

(For context, I gave Damas a backstory of being last in line for Haven's throne, but also Last Man Standing. This had something to do with Praxis hating "the default king". Long post warning, it's a whole one-shot again)

At some point in his life, the Precursors had decided that Damas was their least favorite Maridius. Any time something went well for him, it had to be immediately balanced by something awful.

He found acceptance and camaraderie that he never had from his elder brothers among the Forward Guard in the war.

And then Menelaus and Nicostratus died stupid, pointless deaths trying to seize glory, leaving Damas the sole focus of his parents' hopes.

He found an escape from the pressures in running the numbers, working out which districts needed food more than soldiers, and which districts needed more protection than most.

And then Father died and Mother shut herself in a convent, no longer interested in anything to do with her disappointing youngest son.

He actually had support from people for focusing on them and not the nest-

And his eldest brother's childhood friend literally stabbed him in the back and left him to die in the desert.

For a time, he'd assumed things would never get better. That the Precursors were tired of reeling him in and out like a fish on the line. But the hook pulled once more and he found himself using the skills he'd learned from the guards who raised him, joining a rebellion against a tyrant and defeating him against the odds.

And then the Precursors let him have ten good years. They let him find love, and family. They let him become a father. And then they ripped it all away in the cruelest way possible.

Damas knew it was foolish to hope that Mar was alive. He knew Phobos had been right to move on from him -- from them -- and throw herself into operating the orphan barracks of the Cliffside district. But he couldn't let go yet.

So he'd endured. Two bitter years he'd endured. And when he found that scrap of a boy in the desert, only to watch him outdo warriors twice his age, he'd thought maybe things were getting better.

Jak was...hard to define. The kid had seen more combat than some of his most experienced scouts. He carried scars on par with the surviving child-soldiers of Atys's reign. And while he shared their distrust of authority in general, he had none of their understanding of ranks and rulers. He just...treated everyone like they were his equal.

And after the kinds of things he must have experienced in his short life, Jak probably had every right to consider himself the equal of any senior Wastelander.

And for a moment, Damas had foolishly let himself hope that the Precursors could leave well enough alone. That they'd just...let him have this-!

Annnnd then Jak had to go and break the one rule. The one law Damas had given him.

Do not compromise the Arena.

Six other candidates had been doing their third trial against the Leucas Freebooters in that Arena. Six other candidates whose results had to be thrown out, who had to wait for full citizenship, because Jak refused to fight, and Sig had decided to waltz into a trial without checking to see what the purpose of the trial was!

Damas was either going to lose his mind, or go fully rogue and declare war on the Precursors. He couldn't discount either option yet.

Deep breaths, Damas. Deep breaths.

Jak knew not to mess with the purity of the Arena. He knew that, didn't he? He couldn't have gotten this far without understanding how important it was to keep the trial balanced for all candidates! He had to have known the consequences for not only compromising the others' trials and putting them at risk of the Freebooters getting the upper hand on them, but open mutiny-!

He wanted to shake sense into the boy. Maybe smack him upside the head and hope it jarred his common sense loose. But he wasn't likely to get that chance.

Even if Sig had caused this, he had all three amulets. Jak only had two. Those two protected him from a lot, but not public mutiny. A challenge in private Damas could have handled.

He knew Jak -- he thought he knew Jak -- enough to make him understand whatever instruction or decision he had a problem with. He knew how to phrase things to make it sound like all Jak had done was ask for clarification.

He couldn't cover this one up. Not with this many witnesses.

Damas knew the name of the creature thrashing beneath his ribs. Terror.

It clawed at his lungs, coiled around them until he couldn't breathe. Kicked at his heart until he felt every beat like a hammer.

I can't lose him too. I won't lose him too!

He didn't know when, exactly, things had changed between them. Was it before he'd admitted that he'd never had a father to teach him- well, anything? Was it before his second trial, when Phobos had pointedly compared the boy to her own students? Was it her less than subtle hinting that he find his closure in helping the boy he'd dragged out of the mouth of death?

Did it even matter?

You've taken enough from me! You can't have him, too!

It was depressingly easy to mask fear with anger. He had been doing it all his life.

In hindsight, so had Jak.

Damas wondered later if that was why the boy didn't seem afraid. He glared at Damas the whole time, but in those eyes was a challenge: I see through you. You don't fool me.

Damas hoped no one else saw through him.

"What have you done?" he demanded, slamming the butt of his staff onto the stone with a ringing clang.

"One of those Freebooters could have shot you in the head -- shot your comrades -- because you threw down your gun! You placed yourself and them in danger!"

I stopped the trial because of you! Do you not grasp how serious this is?!

"Freebooters?!" Sig exclaimed in surprise before cutting himself off.

"And you, you're a veteran of the Arena! You have no excuse for this!" Damas snarled.

He knew he was going to have to set a punishment. If he didn't, the legislative council would. And he knew which of the two offenders they would favor.

"I shouldn't have to tell you the penalty for sabotaging citizenship trials!"

Sig risked a glance at Jak, then set his jaw.

"You're right," he said in a voice as artificially calm as Damas’s was artificially angry. "I don't have an excuse. I take full responsibility. Don't put this on Jak. He didn't know I'd be there."

Interesting. Sig was trying to protect Jak.

But in doing so, he was trying to force Damas into an impossible decision. One that would haunt him the rest of his life if he carried out the known sentence. After everything Sig had done for him, exile felt like blasphemy.

Damas clearly wasn't the only Spargan who thought so.

"Sire, think about this!" One of the Arena guards set foot on the pathway as if he intended to join the offenders.

"It can't end this way, it can't! Sig is one of us!"

One of his comrades, emboldened by his courage, joined him.

"He just came home from assignment!"

"Stop," Sig warned them, but was ignored.

"Lord Damas, Sig’s served faithfully as your spy in Haven two years! Surely it's not that surprising that he might forget to check a roster!"

"Char is right!" The first guard cried, "It's the newcomer who deserves no mercy!"

You'd better shut your mouth-

Damas knew they were just standing up for a fellow Spargan. He knew that if Jak had all three amulets, they'd be rallying on his behalf, too. But it rankled to see them turn on the boy so quickly.

"Sire, if anyone must be cast into the desert, it's him!" Rikard pointed a shaking finger at Jak.

The words were out before Damas had time to plan his next move.

"Absolutely not! I'm not letting him off that easy!"

Oh rot. He had to follow that up with something.

Think, Damas! Use your shiny, spiny, head for once and think like Obed taught you!

He thought of the old captain of the Krimzon Guard -- when that had meant something, when only the king’s honor guard wore those tattoos -- the man who had raised him when his own family hadn't been interested in such a weak channeler.

There's always another way, whelp."

Then you tell me, Obed! I don't know what to do!

He reached for that memory desperately.

*Sometimes, you face your enemy head-on. And sometimes, you wait until you see a weakness. A loophole."

"You're talking about my brothers again."

"Now, did I say that? Clean the gunpowder out of your ears, whelp, before you get me in trouble!"

A loophole. I can do that. I can still save them-!

Damas sucked in a calming breath through his teeth.

"You do make a point about Sig’s record of service. I would not be king if I did not try to keep you all alive."

Let this work, please, Obed, if you're still watching over me, let this work.

"This once, I will give you the opportunity to salvage this. In your absence, metalpedes have settled in Turquoise Canyon and begun harassing our artificact carriers."

He leaned on his staff and hoped no one saw the tension in his jaw for what it really was: fear.

"I want you to drive into the heart of the nest and take out anything that moves."

He turned on his heel to send a hard stare Jak's way.

"Unlike Sig, you get a choice right now: stay here and forfeit your second amulet, or go with Sig and repay the damage you did today with something that benefits your community."

He prayed Jak could hear the emptiness of his threat. That he would know what Damas needed him to do.

Jak was not technology-friendly. Anything that required precision or aiming was more likely to be used as a blunt force weapon. But put him on a turret gun and the boy was a prodigy. If he went with Sig, the odds of them both surviving skyrocketed.

Jak's glare melted into something uncertain, even a little fearful. He was weighing his options. Good. That would sell the act more to the guards -- who were, like all watchmen, incurable gossips.

Damas saw the moment the light clicked on for Jak. He knew that glint.

Jak nudged Daxter, almost too quickly to be seen, and Daxter nodded. To anyone else, it would seem he was responding to Jak.

Damas knew that Daxter was answering him on Jak’s behalf.

Message received.

"I'm not gonna let you send Sig in there alone."

Damas almost smiled. Defiant to the last. Never change, Jak. Unless it's to learn some common sense-!

"Then perhaps something good can come of this debacle. But understand this, boy: coming back from destroying that nest does not mean this discussion is over. I expect you to turn over your gate pass when you return. You're off scouting for three weeks."

"You're grounding us?!" Daxter shrieked.

"Keep talking, I'll make it a full month."

That one wasn't an empty threat. If he'd thought it would keep Jak out of harm's way, he'd keep him off missions indefinitely!

"We're going," Sig said quickly, and grabbed Jak by the arm before he could protest.

"I'd say good luck," Damas said dryly, "But then, luck won't help you."

which is why I'm sending Jak.

The second the elevator was out of sight, Damas dropped into his throne with the most long-suffering, exasperated groan he'd ever made.

"Someone tell me this is a dream and I'm actually dying of boredom in a financial meeting right now," he said sarcastically.

When no such reassurance arrived from the guards, he dropped his head into his hands with another irritated sound.

In the silence that followed, even over the water wheel they both heard him mutter,

"What am I going to do with that boy?"

Rikard was...not a bad guard. He did his job, and he stuck by his comrades. But he had a big mouth sometimes.

"You...favor the newcomer then? Is it his age?"

Damas aimed a tired glare at him over his fingers.

"Boy, if I told you some of the things I did at his age...."

He groaned again.

"This is boundary-testing. I've seen worse. Rot, I've been worse!"

Silence enveloped them again as the two guards stared at Damas, and Damas stared back. He hadn't meant it to come out like that. After several seconds of owlish blinking back and forth, he said simply,

"Crap. I think I adopted him."

Char turned her head quickly to hide the fact that she was trying very hard not to laugh at the king’s slightly stunned expression.

"Do you...think this will be an adequate lesson?"

Rikard winced. At least he knew he was questioning Damas’s choices in parenting. Er, ruling.

"The nest? Perhaps. It's the confinement that's going to get him." Damas snorted. "You know how Wastelanders are about adrenaline. You ground a kid like that? End of the world."

Mar was exactly the same. Gods, if he's as stubborn as Jak at that age, I'm done for. Might as well write the epitaph now: "died of a heart-attack from idiot sons doing idiot stunts".

"As long as he doesn't set anything on fire in the Arena, sounds good to me," said Char, raising her hands in mock surrender. "Are we clear to return to our posts?"

"Can't set things on fire if I don't let him get two yards away from me, right?" Damas grumbled, but he waved a hand in dismissal.

Once alone, Damas dragged his fingers down his face and muffled a scream in his palm. He was going to get Sig for this. Babysitting. Indefinitely. Or maybe make him handle Arena trials for a while, let him feel that stress! And Jak? Jak was grounded. So, so very grounded. If he had to make Jak sit through meetings with him in the throne room to get it through his head, then so be it. No stunts, no racing, no "the Precursors made me do it" nonsense.

Briefly, he glanced up at the statue of the Oracle in his throne room. Gaudy thing, but it did house a lot of parts of the water wheel.

Damas flipped it off.

[forthedancingandthethriving]

Mario: It’s what’s on the inside that matters.

SMG3: Name one time that’s been true.

Mario: The fridge.

SMG3: Fair point.

----

Juliano: Hi, do you accept walk-ins?

Morgue Attendant: What?

----

Mario: Uh oh. Someone just put us in a position of responsibility.

Lil Coding: The day has suddenly turned sinister.

----

Luigi: We'll have to go with my usual strategy.

Meggy: What’s that?

Luigi: Run fast and scream a lot!

----

Melony: *hacker voice* I’m in.

Meggy: I don't think you're supposed to say "hacker voice".

----

Mr L: And if you have any suggestions feel free to put them in the suggestion box.

Cosmos: Mr L, sir... that’s just a trash can.

Mr L: It sure is!

----

SMG4: Okay, but if you’re not gay then why are you always holding my hand and kissing me and telling me I’m your boyfriend?

SMG3: Dude, it's satire!

SMG4: THAT'S NOT WHAT SATIRE MEANS!

----

Meggy: What are you doing?

Mario, holding a wiffle bat: Killing you. Unfortunately, I could only afford a wiffle bat, so it's going to take a while.

----

Domain: There’s a tree out there growing wood for your coffin.

Juliano: Bold of you to assume my body will be found.

----

Jeeves, about the Crew: Have you no control over these idiots?

SMG4: None whatsoever.

----

Juliano: ..Looks like I can’t isolate, ignore, ibuprofen our way out of this one.

Juliano: Ignite it is.

----

SMG4: Couldn’t you be more, I don’t know, enthusiastic?

SMG3, in the dullest voice he can mutter: Woo-hoo, extra hoo.

----

Tari: You don’t know, or you don’t care?

Saiko: Pick one.

----

Mario: Ohh. You’re supposed to put the waffles in the fridge?

Luigi: Yes. In the fridge.

Mario: Oh… it was a good waffle.

Luigi: Get more tomorrow?

Mario: Yes.

----

Cody: You ever get tired of being wrong?

LC, being chased by Plurality: I do! I really do!

----

The Abyss: Why does Juliano keep getting away?

Phobos: Perhaps you don’t chain him up tight enough.

----

Lily: *casually walks into Coffee N' Bombs and starts rummaging through the cabinets behind the counters*

SMG3, not even phased: Jerry?

Lily: Jerry.

----

Forum: How are you?

Juliano: I’m… alive.

----

Mario: I’m not afraid of anything, except acne and leprechauns.

SMG4: Leprechauns aren’t real.

Mario: I know what I saw!

----

Plurality: I had to stop you from trying to blow up the sun!

Elanore: I was gonna cure skin cancer!

----

Root: I think at the moment, my rampant identity issues are the least of my worries.

[purpledusty]

Leon: What is the T-Phobos?

Rebecca: It's a fear-activated virus created by Alex Wesker.

Jake: Wait, Alex Wesker?

Carlos: There more than one Wesker?

Chris: As far as we know from the raid the Spencer mansion, there were at least 12 Wesker children, but only Alex and Albert survived the longest

Carlos: Are you saying that Albert Wesker had siblings?

Sherry: So she would be like Jake's aunt?

Jill: maybe

Carlos: She won't be a problem for us, will she? Wait why she would be his aunt??

Claire: No, me and Barry killed her

Jill: Kind of poetic that the Redfield siblings killed the Wesker siblings

Chris: we don't even know if they were really siblings

Jake: Can Redfields stop killing my family? First my dad and then my aunt

Jill: You accepted very quickly that she was your aunt

Carlos: Are you Wesker's son???!!?

Leon: Better question, who fucked Wesker?

Chris: Leon, I don't see how important this is right now

[rinfarts]

"Prince Phobos graciously accepts your company for a walk in the outlandish garden. He is curious about what questions you will ask"

(English is not my native language, so there may be mistakes. Please be understanding)

I sincerely tried to move from the phase of hyperfixation on "W.I.T.C.H" to content on other fandoms. But in the end I went to another ASK for the role of Phobos.

And I don't regret it.

Text from the drawing: "You have a few minutes before I decide that this conversation is tiring" 

[tgrailwar-zero]

I have no idea what you are doing Invader, but, I trust you. I hope you will accept our support though.

As you began feeding your own mana as well as joining with KUKULKAN, her light filling up the hospital room, you found your focus wavering.

You saw flashes of events.

RIDER opting to secede from the Red Faction in order to search for AVENGER- and ostensibly you. A discussion between two Emperors. SABER granting that request, fairly yet reluctantly. Being confronted by CASTER several days into the journey. The desperate trigger of a defensive Noble Phantasm. Agony. The severing of a contract. The double-sided sword of having incredible fortitude- excruciating pain yet survival nonetheless. A hooded figure carrying him to a hospital. Darkness. A gnawing feeling. His personal mana running out, his Spirit Core trying to eat him alive. His mana had run out a long time ago- he was holding on through sheer willpower. Brief relief. A figure in black medical clothing setting up a new mana supply- temporary, but effective. Days passed, in a nigh-comatose state. Unfit for an Emperor, for a Servant. Frustration. Shame. Anger. A swirl of emotions, as day after day he tried to struggle out of the hospital bed- only making it as far as the door before falling unconscious again and again.

And--

[ NEW CONTRACT ESTABLISHED. ]

A bond.

Despite skepticism, a sense of belief. Faith, perhaps.

The same heart that you witnessed back on the waterside.

[ SERVANT - RIDER. TRUE NAME... "Constantine XI Dragases Palaiologos" ]

RIDER--no, CONSTANTINE snapped awake.

"Saber! We need to-- the Red Faction--… I need to get back to Saber!"

KUKULKAN put a hand on his shoulder, gently stroking it to calm him down.

"Shh. You're here-- you're fine…"

"Sorry for worrying you..."

As he was being comforted, you felt a new tether. It seemed as if your contract was renewed, but… different.

After all, you could only supply the same amount of mana, and now it was being divided between KUKULKAN and CONSTANTINE, which meant that dealing with combat would be different. Sure, T-Summoning was an option but--

Before you had much time to think, you could sense a shift in the mana in the room. You quickly turned to face the DOCTOR, who was trembling, the air around him beginning to twist and distort.

"Doctor…?"

CONSTANTINE asked weakly, KUKULKAN stepped in front of him.

"This is what he meant. I didn't realize it'd impact him so quickly. Maybe it was a proximity thing...? Well, anyways- get ready, Masters!"

It seemed like the new aggression was a bit outside of KUKULKAN's expectations... however, that became secondary to survival as the DOCTOR let out a violent roar.

A harsh wave of mana rocketed out. There was barely any time to react as KUKULKAN and CONSTANTINE went flying.

You saw the DOCTOR step out of the broken wall that the two Interloper Servants had fumbled through, his form changed, a divine glow around him.

"My name is Asclepius, the God of Medicine. Foul harbingers bearing the chaos of Phobos and raze the Solar Cell of life the hands of Hades, I will hereby destroy you! Begone, Interlopers!"

[ Both KUKULKAN and CONSTANTINE avoided taking damage! ]

"Damn... did something go wrong with my technique...?"

KUKULKAN's- and your action were a success- and it gave her enough time to recover.

Both KUKULKAN and CONSTANTINE were flung into the main room of the laboratory, the two of them pushing themselves up to their feet and drawing their weapons- CONSTANTINE unsheathing his sword as KUKULKAN's fists sparked with mana.

With two Servants, your battle strategy has changed! You can only have enough mana to fully support one as a 'leader'- who takes point during battles. They perform actions as normal, dealing damage- but also taking the full brunt of damage (unless the enemy has a unique multi-hitting skill)! However, the other Servants in your party (up to 2 extras) act as 'auxiliary'! Auxiliary Servants can be triggered for T-Summons, and do a number of 'support skills' (generally at the cost of mana) to keep the battle in your favor! The amount of Servants you can contract can be as high as you want, but has to have a Leader and two Auxiliary Servants when traveling around. You can edit around your 'party layout' while resting. Either have a large group of allies, or a small, elite battle force- your choice!

Statistics (KUKULKAN) - LEADER:

Strength: C Endurance: C Agility: B Mana: EX Luck: A NP: B++ Current Health: 3/7 Current Mana: 11/13

Statistics (CONSTANTINE) - AUXILIARY:

Strength: C Endurance: A Agility: C Mana: D Luck: C NP: EX Current Health: 7/11 Current Mana: 0/5