#anyway last Sally story goodbye Sally

[daydreamerdrew]

Spicy Tales (1988) #20, reprinting a story from the August 1939 issue of Spicy Detective

[acaseforpencils]

Victoria Roberts Talks about Animation.

Today's interview on Case is a little bit different—I had been seeing Victoria's lovely animations on Instagram, and asked her if she might be interested in talking about them on here. She kindly obliged, so I sent her a loose list of questions to consider, and she sent me back such an incredible rumination on her experiences that I replied back to her "This is so cool! You are so cool!" because though I was expecting something incredible (Victoria being Victoria after all!), it wouldn't be dramatic for me say that I was thunderstruck! Anyways, I hope you all enjoy reading what she has to say as much as I did! —Jane

Find this print here!

On Animation

I’m so fortunate to be working on what I love.

It’s been a long haul in a way. I came to New York City from Sydney, Australia, because I wanted to run away with the Wooster Group-that is, do theatre. Or film. I was already a cartoonist, and I became one under contract to The New Yorker, an enormous privilege, thirty odd years ago.

But since last month, thanks to a software named Callipeg, I make an animated short every week, for which I do the voices, called “Axolotl Mondays.” Finally, I’m in the movies!

To be a performer and tell stories, or at least vignettes, is my passion. At nineteen, with $5000 from the Creative Development Fund of The Australia Council, we made “Goodbye Sally Goldstein”, a five minute animated film. I had three collaborators:

Rob Rogers, composer and musician, Kathryn Pentecost, and Jacqueline Field who drew and painted. From the sound recording, inking and painting, to the shoot, it took six months to complete. My favourite task in all of this was doing the sound breakdown, which consisted of manually running the soundtrack tape through a reader (not sure what the device was called) and jotting down the length of each sound so that you could animate to the soundtrack.

David Deneen founder of Film Graphics was my inspiration and coach. What I knew about animation came from time spent over the school holidays in his studio thanks to my mum, who worked in advertising and got me the gig. They were making an animated ad for Witchy Brew, an ice cream, and I remember they said it wasn’t until they boiled spaghetti that they got the right sound for the witch’s cauldron. 

Every animator had a different style, and each animator’s desk, covered in drawings, felt like a different universe. Val Udowenko and Don Mackinnon were stars in this creative shop that went on to win the Academy Award for Bruce Petty’s “Leisure” in 1976, Best Short Film. To watch David Deneen solve a problem from idea, to script, to film, was my university. 

I left school at sixteen and got a job painting cels for Hannah Barbera. The studio was run by Zoran Janjic, and his mum Zora, ran the painting department. Her “quiet girls please!” in a rich Yugoslavian accent resounded often. It was a big studio.

Sometimes we were on a network deadline so tight that Bill Hannah came to Sydney. We were paid per painted cel, working overtime, and we would try to get scenes with many mouths, as lips were very quick to paint. We stayed in over lunchtime and Mr. Hannah ordered in for us, fried chicken and coleslaw. “Would anybody like more slaw?” he offered, and the painting department cracked up at his American pronounciation of “slaaaaaaaaaaw.”

Again I had the good fortune to hear the soundtrack for a series called “Wait ‘til Your Father Comes Home,” an animated sitcom. I loved the soundtracks, and again remember the sound more than the drawings, and longed to be a creator of some sort.

Some characters come to the world with more dialogue than others. A cartoon strip though roomier than a gag cartoon with a drawing and one line of dialogue, isn’t enough space still for some characters like Nona Appleby, an Australian octogenarian character I have drawn since I was 16. Finally I started to play her on stage, and that gave Nona the opportunity to say everything that is in her heart (it’s a lot!). I maintain that I am a vessel, and the characters do all of the work. 

“Axolotl Mondays” is mid-step between the page and theatre. There is the element of time in a video, which is delicate and wonderful. A friend gave me gift of a six week editing course at MEWSHOP in New York City, which gave me a very good base for cutting and thinking about time. We learned at one of their lectures that “Annie Hall” started out as a film with a stream of consciousness dialogue, but that Diane Keaton’s performances were so extraordinary that it became another film in the editing room. I mention this to underline the malleability, possibility and difficulty of film.

These videos start out with a soundtrack usually, but I learn something new each week about how movement and time on screen works. My animation style is very basic, which fortunately suits my drawing style. It’s detail and timing, and other possibilities which I am learning about that make a piece “sing.” As with most of my work, I rarely know what I am doing. It’s the mystery, the discovery, that keep me on board. 

Callipeg is like having an old-style animation studio at your fingertips. Everything is done on the iPad. It’s so much faster than paper and cels, and cameras-and so accessible. Really a beautiful software, plus the creator’s tutorials are delivered in a native French accent!

Instagram Links:

Kathryn Pentecost is at BohemianPalaceof Art

Rob Rogers is rogers_bob

Jacqueline Field

Don Mackinnon

———-

If you enjoy this blog, and would like to contribute to labor and maintenance costs, there is a Patreon, and if you’d like to buy me a cup of coffee, there is a Ko-Fi  account as well! I do this blog for free because accessible arts education is important to me, and your support helps a lot! You can also find more posts about art supplies on Case’s Instagram and Twitter! Thank you!

[kinetic-elaboration]

November 28: AHS 5x12 Be Our Guest

Whelp still awake.

Anyway. Finished AHS Hotel today. The last episode was very sweet, almost treacly one might say--I'd say fan service-y if it were any other series but I don't know what AHS fans actually want or are looking for and also it feels more like... perhaps creator-service? Like it's over the top with happy-endings-for-everyone-no-matter-what but I don't think it is that way out of capitulation or as a gift.

I was particularly struck by the found family nature of the happy ending, too. It's not just that the characters all get happy endings: it's that they get a happy ending together, it's that they work together for their happy ending, it's that they're all one big happy family in the hotel. It's Iris and Liz helping Sally and Will Drake but it's also Detective John and his killers' club helping to save the hotel by threatening Billie, and it's little details like Ramon playing with Holden in the background of a scene. I mean it's just laid on damn thick honestly.

But no complaints because I fucking love found families. Frankly, I'd rather watch ghost fashion shows (ghost fashion shows!!) and family reunions on hell night and sweet little montages of success and togetherness narrated by Liz than, like, addiction demons forcibly raping people in dirty hotel rooms.

Sally was one of the weakest characters in my opinion but I thought she had one of the best endings: now she's the annoying social media addict always putting her phone in everyone's faces but you know what if Twitter is good for anything it's probably helping ghosts be less lonely. Also, as with ghost fashion show, I find this such an intriguing and creative and wonderful idea. On the internet, no one knows you're a ghost.

I also loved Liz and Tristan's reunion. It was pretty inevitable that Liz would have to become a ghost and I'm glad they at least didn't draw out that story line. It was worth it for even the few short moments we saw of her with Tristan.

Allowing Donovan to say goodbye to Iris was also very adorable.

And I liked that the Countess not only got the last word but got to show us that she's still living her life, even though she's dead and has to spend eternity having dinner with her husband, the worst man in the world. She will not be kept down.

Overall, I liked the season more than I remembered. I liked the Countess a lot more, and I think when I count the pros--the good characters, the good episodes, the good moments--they are strong enough and plentiful enough to outweigh the cons. And emotionally, it landed strong, which matters a lot. I really hate the serial killer story lines and there are other things in here that aren't really for me (the vampire stuff wasn't doing it for me, the Valentino story line was really weird, a lot of sound and fury signifying not a whole lot of anything) but all AHS seasons throw a lot at the wall and not all of it will stick. So all in all, I'm pleased with the experience of rewatching.

[betweensunflowersanddaffodils]

So, This Is Us will come to an end tonight and I am sad. I am sad because instead of feeling this way because a show I loved for years is ending, I am actually feeling incredibly relieved.

I didn't enjoy this last season at all. While I imagine that, Kevin's """love life""" aside, the show is wrapping up in an emotional way, I can't believe that in a show who had the story planned all along, for 11 episodes of its FINAL SEASON almost nothing happened and the plot barley moved on, while the rest of the final episodes were full of rushed storylines.

They developed Kevin and Madison for 11 episodes only to end their story with a montage and destroy everything they built for them until that moment. They pretended that it wasn't like Kevin was about to realise his feelings for Madison just one episode before and then they magically put Kevin and his ex wife together (a basic character we know nothing about, with zero depth and not enough screen time throughout the years) completely out of the blue, even if it didn't make sense anymore for where the characters were at that moment of their life/growth.

Like, if someone had told me that, after all the hype, I should have waited for SIX SEASONS just to see Kevin end up with the same woman he had a relationship with when he was young (and it didn't work) and then AGAIN when he was 36 years old (and it didn't work 2.0), I'd would have laughed at them!

Oh, and a reminder: this is a show that it was supposed to be realistic and the writers have always been proud of that! Like, if you indeed read the interviews post ep 6x02, you'll even read that they didn't make Nicky end up with Sally because..... It would have been unrealistic!!!

And what about Kevin's character development? What about his journey in the previous seasons and him letting go of the idea of a Hollywood type of story? What about the love of my life will be my child(ren) when the twins have been basically an accessory to his storyline? What about his career? Justin was so excited talking about his S6 storyline and nothing of what he said happened because they changed everything.

Kevin's centric episode ended with him finally finding the foundation, deciding to live a fearless life and then, a couple of episodes later, we see him going back to his S1 era and dating women after women because he lost Madison (let's be honest) and only in the end he ends up with the woman (after Cassidy declined his proposal) that was conveniently available.

I won't talk about how and the stupid reasons why they ended up together because other people already discussed this enough.

Even reading the interviews after 6x14 where they were saying that their story has already been told and that there's no time to show more of that is a real joke if you think that they had 3 YEARS in advance to think about Kevin's endgame (no but seriously, imagine to not have enough time to show your main character's love story after SIX SEASONS OF HYPE!!!), but well, it's what they deserve and I really wouldn't care about it anyway.

Isn't it funny though, that despite the show is trying to imply that "it has always been Sophie", Justin actually said that he doesn't think that it had always been her and that it would have been interesting to see Kevin end up with Madison or Cassidy? Yeah Justin, we know that!

There are many more things about our beloved Pearsons that they could have shown us (slowly and more) and yet they didn't because they wasted precious time, but this is a blog about Kevin and Madison, so I will stop here.

Anyway, @ this is us writers, thanks for making the goodbye much easier.

[gaysneeg]

Brief Passerine summary for those who haven’t read it

I would order these points under chapter but I can’t be bothered, sorry :p

Also this is all mostly from memory, with limited checking to make sure I got everything so if I missed something my bad. If you let me know, I can add it! It’s also kind of messy because I rushed a bit, sorry!

Techno and Phil are introduced as good friends (both are gods)

Phil leaves Techno's side

There’s a time skip and Phil is now a king with two sons (Wilbur and Tommy) and a wife

Techno enters Phil's kingdom, meets the sons and reunites with philza 

Wilbur trains under Techno

Techno and Wilbur both have voices in their head but neither know about the other yet

Tommy braids Techno’s hair under a tree, Wilbur is there too and they bond.

Phil’s wife dies and he leaves behind Techno to care for a 15 year old Wilbur and a 6 year old Tommy

Wilbur becomes king

Techno starts training Tommy

Time skip again, Tommy is 15 now

Wilbur is king

War begins, Techno trains the troupes as general and Wilbur's right hand man

On a battlefield, Wilbur Techno and Tommy are all fighting

Niki and Tubbo are also there (Tubbo is not close friends with tommy in this fic) 

A god of war attacks Wilbur, specifically wants revenge on Techno

Behind Tommy’s back, Wilbur planned to blow up the entire battlegrounds in order to win. He blows a horn to signal soldiers to run and blows the place up. 

Tommy and Wilbur argue about this because Tommy disagrees with the choice

Not many survive, and the last one to die is Tommy who is killed by the god of war. 

Phil returns and the god of war dies. 

Phil notes that the “Green God” could bring tommy back (it’s Dream by the way)

They set out to find him to ask to bring Tommy back.

 At one point a plan B is made where Techno will give up his godship to Phil, this is just a plan if Dream doesn’t want to bring Tommy back. 

They get there and Dream is not very nice

He reveals he was the voices in both Wilbur and Techno’s head

Dream admits he has been controlling people in an endless loop for a while

He’s compared to a spider on a web which is pretty neat

Wilbur gets mind controlled by dream and immediately fights Techno

He breaks out of control eventually 

Derealization for the next few points

The 3 enter individual dream worlds. 

In Phil, he speaks with tommy and once realizing that it’s not real, he has a talk with tommy where he realizes he needs to fight back. 

In Wilbur, he plays violin for his mother, but snaps out when he realized he does not play violin. He talks with his mother for a while before snapping out of it.

Techno talks with his dead sister, where he snaps out of it once he realizes he doesn't remember her name. 

Derealization over 

Before going back to the fight, Techno and Phil have a private interaction where techno gives his godhood to Phil. Wilbur does not find out until later that Techno is now mortal.

Phil talks to dream during the fight where (Techno and Wilbur are not present) where he admits he knows Dream is afraid of him. 

In order to defeat dream for good and preventing him from returning, Phil wants to sacrifice himself to trap Dream away for good.

Wilbur is upset that Phil is leaving again but forgives him anyway and they say their goodbyes. 

Techno and Wilbur return to the kingdom alone. 

Tommy is buried underneath a tree, where Wilbur and Techno play a song 

Techno and Wilbur were being put on “trial” for whether or not they should be exiled for their mistakes in war. They were allowed to stay. 

Wilbur meets Sally and has a kid (it’s Fundy)

The end :)

I missed a few really sweet scenes and some really cool ones too, but this is the general story so it’s what I included. If you can, I highly suggest reading passerine yourself. It’s very well written and not as angsty as I expected it to be . Still very sad and bittersweet, though so be warned if you do. 

[melancholic-pigeon]

Too Short For Ao3 Fic #3? 4?

SO this is the extended edition of the bonus wip I did with Sally's birthday. The overall fic it belongs to is Extremely Smutty, so I went in and revised out the brief references and I'm posting the family-centric g-rated stuff for anyone who wants that but not the smut! Cough.

Also, I felt bad about missing WIP Wednesday again. Lolsob.

Percy rouses at around eleven PM to a sketch of himself on Jason's pillow. There's a note on the other side. 

I wanted to wake you up to say goodbye, but you looked so comfy I didn't have the heart to. your mom's presents are in the bag by my desk. say hi to everyone for me. I'll call tomorrow anyway.

love you to the moon and back.

-J. ❤

Complete with a little red heart. He doesn't even care that the doodle of him next to it, burritoed in a pile of blankets, includes a little spot of drool— he can tell by the rest of his cartoony, ballpoint features that Jason put it in because he thinks it's cute.

(And by the fact that he's said so, several times.)

Percy gathers up his junk. The cornflower blue sweatshirt he steals goes halfway down his fingers. He's come to accept that at six foot three and counting, Jason is the taller of them and always will be— barring some sort of horrible wood-chipper accident or curse from a grumpy deity. 

Fortunately, there's something about looking up to meet someone's eyes that Percy finds incredibly attractive. He has since Annabeth outgrew him for the first time in eighth grade. 

He heads out in his own jeans and the boxers he packed and the sweatshirt that smells like cinnamon. Once he boards the train, he stands with his arm around a pole and the other holding the bag against his chest, and tries to stay casual and keep the grin off his face.

It's almost midnight when he gets home. His mom, of course, is still awake, so he heads into the living room to greet her.

"My other half says hello."

There's a pile of presents on the coffee table. He puts the bag with the rest of them and sits down, kissing her cheek.

"He didn't have to get me anything." She closes her book and eyes the bag with a fond sigh. "How is he?" 

Percy's the same way she is, always happy to do favors and give gifts, but feeling pretty awkward about receiving them. Jason's even worse, the three of them in an ongoing and circular competition to never let any of it go reciprocated. 

"Working too hard, as always. Pulling As and winning games and barely sleeping to do it. His stepmother's up his ass and his father's a bully, so, you know, news at eleven." He leans his head onto her shoulder. "That's why he gives you stuff. He's trying to show you how much he appreciates you." 

She sighs, and Percy knows it's because she's just as frustrated by the whole thing as he is. 

"He knows I appreciate him too, I hope." 

"Without a doubt." Percy smiles at her, watching as she goes a little pink and smiles back. "You have a talent for making him feel appreciated." 

"He treats my baby like a prince," she says softly. "That's why I appreciate him so much in the first place. How could I do anything else?"

Percy turns his face into her shirt collar, another futile attempt to hide his goofy expression, 

"He really does, doesn't he?"

Holding doors, pulling out chairs, offering an arm on unsteady streets. Jason's never laid his coat over a puddle, but Percy's pretty sure he would, if the option presented itself. 

His mom starts playing with his hair, her fingers light and familiar.

"I'm just happy you're happy, sweetheart."

He knows that feeling too. 

Half asleep from the petting, Percy lets himself be a little babyish. It's after midnight now, which means it's her birthday, and he knows that sometimes she misses when he was Estelle's age and little enough to curl up in her lap. He's way too big for that now, obviously, but he can still slide down the couch and rest his head there. 

"You too, Mama." 

She looks at him, her eyes misty with emotion and almost green in the light.

She's smiling, too. 

She smiles a lot, these days.

—

In the morning, Paul makes coffee while Estelle helps unwrap the avalanche of presents. She's at the age where ripping paper makes her squeal with hysterical laughter, which worms its way into Percy's heart and melts it into pudding. 

Several of them are from Percy's friends, including a handbound book of original recipes from Leo, a lovely silver bracelet inset with mother-of-pearl that Beckendorf made himself, and a huge sheathed knife with a matching decorative handle from Clarisse. The last one makes his mom snort as she gets up to put it on the bookshelf, out of reach of curious toddler hands. 

"Decorative. Sure." 

"I bet she'd teach you how to use it if you asked." 

"I know how to use a bowie knife, dear. Your father and I used to catch and cook our own fish when we went camping."

"Which reminds me, he still hasn't taken me out," Paul cuts in, frowning. "I've been saving up dad jokes and embarrassing stories for four years."

"I'll bug him about it the next time we talk," Percy promises. "It's probably the ADHD." 

"Do you want me to bug you about bugging him?" 

"If you haven't set something up by blueback season, yeah." 

Percy and Paul went in on a pound of jasmine tea, which his mom reaches for next. She immediately asks for a cup— it's one of two days out of the entire year where she lets other people wait on her, for a change, and even that took a lot of cajoling. 

Paul makes the tea, since Percy usually scalds the leaves and it turns out tasting like grass. She probably wouldn't complain anyway, but it's her birthday, and she deserves to have the best tea that can be made in their kitchen. 

"Is the last bag from Jason?" Paul sets the mug on a coaster in the middle of the coffee table, and Percy scoops the baby into his lap so she doesn't try to grab it. She mashes her tiny hand against his cheek.

"And Thalia. I'm not sure if they went in on stuff or he just packed them both in one bag to make it easy." 

Either is a possibility. He watches as his mom reaches in and pulls out a large wrapped frame, Thalia's spiky handwriting answering the question. 

Whatever's inside, it makes her shut her eyes and exhale deeply through her nose. 

"Please pass on that I am absolutely furious."

She turns the frame around. An autographed vinyl EP of Sign O' the Times by Prince— one of the albums Percy grew up on, though she skipped a number of the songs when he was little. Thalia must have spent a fortune on it. 

"That woman is incredible," Paul breathes, lightly touching the glass. "How does she get this stuff?" 

"See!"

"She has friends in high places." Percy grins as Estelle reaches for the album, and holds her over the glass so she can touch it too. "She's also really good at barter chains."

His mother shakes her head, but he can tell how delighted she is— the two of them have spent hours animatedly talking about music, Thalia hanging on every word and groaning with jealousy over the concerts his mom went to in the eighties. 

"I know exactly where I'm going to put it." 

Thalia got her a turntable for her fortieth birthday last year, as well as a full set of replacements for every worn-out record in their collection— and had the originals framed too, since they had sentimental value. They're currently occupying the better part of two walls of his mom's study. 

There's a blank spot by her bookshelf, right underneath the first copy, that the autographed album will fit into perfectly. Percy grins. 

"I'll hang it up for you later."

She doesn't argue. There's only Jason's left, his careful print written out across the same paper Thalia used. The crinkling draws Estelle's attention, and she gleefully reaches over to help tear it off.

Their mom gasps at what's inside and puts a hand to her mouth, her eyes going bright.

It's a watercolor portrait of Percy and Estelle, laughing by the shoreline. She's dressed in a little bucket hat, a ruffled swimsuit patterned to look like a clownfish and the coolest shades in the world— sparkly blue frames shaped like seashells that he kind of wishes he could get in his size. He's in a wetsuit, having spent the morning surfing, and he's holding onto her hands so she can jump at the waves. In the distant background is the Montauk lighthouse.

It's beautifully done, like everything else Jason's ever put to paper, but Percy's never choked up like this over one of them.

"You remember that, Beluga? That was on my birthday, when you came and visited me and Jason at the beach."

"Beach?" she asks, expectant. Paul bursts into laughter, sounding as rough-voiced as Percy feels.

"You're your mother's daughter, sweet pea."

"Beach!" Estelle insists. Percy noses her pudgy cheek.

"It's too cold to swim, baby." His mom's eyes are sparkling, still a little teary. He can see Estelle in the smile on her face. "But we could go for a walk and visit." 

"Brunch first." Paul kisses her— Percy averts his eyes, wrinkling his nose at his sister to make her giggle again— and gets up, heading back into the kitchen. 

It's a lovely way to spend a late morning. Pale blue araucana eggs courtesy of Grover's new hens, a blueberry coffee cake from Nico by a fantastic hole in the wall in Hell's Kitchen, Paul's signature home fries made with blue potatoes and seasoned to perfection; all of it delicious.

Jason calls while Percy's doing the dishes. After his deep, resonant performance of the happy birthday song, the five of them chat on speakerphone for a little while, though he has to excuse himself pretty quickly to keep banging through his reading. 

"Maybe next year," Percy sighs. His mom puts her hand on his hip, then crouches down to help Estelle with her light-up sneakers. 

"He's always welcome for a rain check."

"He's always welcome, period," Paul adds. For the second time, Percy gets dangerously close to sniffling. 

Montauk is a little far for a day trip, so they head to Brighton Beach instead. Estelle's shrimpy legs get tuckered out more quickly than the grownups' do, so Percy ends up carrying her on his hip, snuggled into his jacket to block the chilly breeze. She points at seagulls, shouting triumphantly every time. 

"More bird!"

"That's right. A whole flock of 'em."

They watch for a while as the gulls fight over a discarded pizza crust. Then Percy feels an arm around his back and a head against his shoulder.

"I don't know how I got so lucky," his mother murmurs, barely audible over the rushing of the waves.

Percy's eyes sting. 

For most of his life, her birthdays had been spent without fanfare. He was rarely actually there for them anyway, and Gabe complained so much it was easier to just ignore the day and focus on survival instead. 

She'd been triaging like that since before she even met his dad, keeping herself afloat when nobody seemed to care if she drowned. It would have been easy to lie down and give up. Percy's pretty sure he would have, in her place. 

He turns to hug her with the obligatory proclamation of a Stella Sandwich. He catches Paul's eye over her shoulder, and gets a wide, sentimental grin in response. 

"Luck's got nothing to do with it," Percy tells her, leaning his cheek against the top of her head while his sister wriggles with delight between them. 

"Listen to our son," Paul adds. "He's very wise, as you raised him to be. This is all on you, honey." 

Within moments, she's surrounded by her whole family on all sides, and Percy has another arm around his back, and he's getting a little choked up over it all. 

When she first started dating Paul, back when Percy was still in middle school, she'd spent weeks all aflutter. It was the happiest he'd ever seen her at the time. They'd sit outside and work on her car together, and she'd slip into song like a grease-stained fairytale princess without even thinking about it. 

Seeing them interact is like cool water on a burn, Paul's devoted kindness soothing a lifetime of sitting back and watching people treat her like dirt. He worships her, just like she deserves and long overdue.

"I love you," she says, tearful and muffled in someone's shoulder. "All of you, more than anything." 

"Love Mama," Estelle replies, and that's it— Percy's blubbering.

It'll never undo the damage, but it's about time she got a chance to heal and thrive. 

-here in our bed, chapter 7, ~6200 words

[onlydreamofmysoul]

You should visit more often

I couldn’t do a whole thing on the background of the fic and then not post it😂 

Some Theyna to feed the soul

Summary: High school. The best or worst days of your life? That's definitely up for debate.

(But it certainly helps when your girlfriend visits.)

"Ugh! I just cannot with her anymore!" Thalia declared dramatically flopping down on the grass on the grounds of their school, throwing her bag down next to her and crossing her legs as she sat.

"Uh, Thals? You're in a skirt." Annabeth pointed out, having caught a a nice glimpse of Thalia's underwear.

"Stupid school uniforms. Stupid Katie. Stupid assigned seating." Thalia grumbled as she readjusted herself, rearranging her skirt.

"Wait, are you talking about Katie Gardner?" Piper asked, eyes wide in shock.

Thalia shook her head as she backpedalled a little. "Katie Gardner is a sweetheart. I'm talking about the infamous Katie-"

"Greene." Everyone else sitting in their little circle finished.

Thalia grinned. "At least I'm predictable. Anyways so we were in chemistry, you know the way she's my lab partner? So we were just starting to measure the amount of hydrogen peroxide when she declares that she can't help because she didn't want the chemicals to mess with her fake tan..."

Thalia launched into her story of the day, her friends called it the Katie Chronicles. Attending an all-girls Catholic school didn't have many perks and it certainly had a few downfalls. One being uniforms and dress codes, another being assigned seating. Thalia could swear her chemistry teacher sat her next to Katie on purpose. What Thalia did in a past life to deserve this, she didn't know, but it must have been truly awful to wind up with this punishment.

It wasn't that Katie was blatantly a bitch. Thalia could have grudgingly respected that, being absolutely awful, but at least you were honest about it. No, Katie was much worse than that. On the surface she seemed so sweet, almost kind. But her tone was always teasing. Her words sweet but her eyes betrayed her. She would wait for you to say something she thought she could use against you, then pounce. Thalia always had to have a guard up around her, making her responses almost always sarcastic, so Katie wouldn't be able to hold anything against her. To be perfectly honest, it was exhausting. Thalia had no idea why being cruel to other people seemed to get Katie off, but she would be damned if she ended up one of her unwitting victims.

Thalia finished telling her tale, then normal conversation resumed, Annabeth organizing a party for Percy's up and coming eighteenth birthday, Piper chiming in to help with the guest list. Her boyfriend Jason would be flying in from California to attend along with Reyna -  Thalia's girlfriend. Leo, who was attending the neighbouring boys school was secretly inviting all of Percy's friends without him knowing. It was truly becoming quite the undercover operation.

A few weeks and many Katie encounters later, only a day remained until the surprise party of the year. Jason and Reyna had arrived the previous day, under the guise that they were due a visit to their respectful significant others and it just so happened to coincide with Percy's birthday. To be perfectly honest, Thalia couldn’t believe they had made it this far without Percy noticing anything, but who was she to look a gift horse in the mouth. 

She had the entire day for herself and Reyna planned, and it had been perfect. They had gotten hot chocolate and strolled leisurely around the city, basking in the sun and each others presence. But all good things must come to an end and Reyna and Thalia had to depart ways, Thalia getting the bus back to her apartment, where she lived with Percy and Sally while Reyna returned to the accommodation she and Jason were staying in. 

After walking her to the bus stop, Reyna pulled Thalia in by the waist, tugging her into a kiss. Thalia went with it willingly, melting into the warmth and familiarity of her girlfriend. They kissed sweetly for a few minutes, until Thalia pulled away reluctantly, having heard the bus pull up behind her.

"I gotta go." She mumbled against Reyna's lips.

Reyna groaned, kissed her one more time before pushing Thalia away slightly.

"Go." She laughed. "You'll miss your bus. I'll see you tomorrow."

Thalia laughed, waved then spun around to join the line for the bus. And her stomach dropped.

Standing in the queue was none other, than the one and only Katie Greene herself. Staring at her. Complete with her entire group of friends, all of whom would have looked less shocked if Thalia had shot them. Thalia smiled politely, groaning inwardly, before proceeding to ignore their presence on the bus the entire way home.

The party was a massive hit. Percy was genuinely surprised and everything went off without a hitch - Thalia would have expected nothing less from something planned by Annabeth Chase. Most of the other guests had left, leaving only Percy's close friends gathered around in the living room, just talking and having fun. Somewhere along the line, chatting had turned to revealing ones secrets and they had fallen down the rabbit hole of telling their most embarrassing stories.

 "Your turn Thalia." Hazel called from the floor having just regaled them with a story involving shampoo, a wild horse and an avocado and was still blushing ever so slightly, Thalia groaned from her seat between Reyna's legs on the couch, hiding her face behind her hands as she cringed.

"Okay guys, you'd better buckle your seatbelts because you are in for a wild ride." She stated before launching into her latest Katie encounter. Her friends were an excellent audience, oohing and aahing in just the right places, groaning as expected and looking at Thalia sympathetically.

"I'm never gonna live this down!" Thalia cried as she finished her tale of woe.

"But," She added a few minutes later, as Reyna stroked her thigh soothingly, you should've seen her face. “I'm never going to forget it. Her mouth made a perfect 'o'.” Everyone laughed and Thalia found herself joining them no longer dreading facing chemistry class next week.

The following Monday, Thalia strolled into the chemistry lab, Katie already at their desk. Reyna had left last night and this time, she and Thalia had said goodbye sans-audience. Katie looked up as Thalia reached their desk, eyes already wider than plates.

Thalia just smirked at her before she could begin her interrogation.

"I hope your jaw didn't hurt when it hit the ground."

Katie's eyes grew impossibly wider. Thalia just smiled sweetly as the teacher walked into the room.

After class, Thalia took out her phone and texted Reyna.

You should visit more often.

[garagesesh]

IT HAD TO BE YOU

Part one

Pairing/s: Lyanna Stark x Rhaegar Targaryen; Elia Martell x Rhaegar Targaryen; Lyanna Stark x Robert Baratheon Warnings: mentions of sex, mentions of depression, sex, cheating, death

Word Count: 3.2k Summary: literally When Harry Met Sally but if it was Lyanna and Rhaegar

“I love you.”

“I love you more.”

“I love you most.”

Rhaegar Targaryen, twenty-five years of age and recent law school graduate was currently saying goodbye to his girlfriend, Alerie Hightower.

After finishing his schooling at the University of Oldtown, he was finally moving back home to King’s Landing after taking a job at a prestigious law firm in the city.

“You’ll call me, right?” Alerie’s big blue eyes welled with tears as she looked up into his indigo. She was pretty with long auburn hair, tan skin, and with mile long legs.

“First thing when I get there.” Although Alerie was tall, he was still a half head taller than her. Wrapping her long arms around his neck she planted her lips on his, squeaking as he pulled her closer into his frame.

“Ahem.” With two suitcases and a backpack of personal belongings stood Lyanna Stark. Dark hair almost to her waist, skin as pale as the moon, and eyes like a storm that were currently rolling so far back into her head Rhaegar was convinced they would get stuck.

“Lya!” Removing her arms from his neck and clapping her slender hands together, her lips stretched across her face in

“Hey, Alerie.” She waved with two fingers and didn’t smile.

“This is Rhaegar!” Alerie’s perfectly manicured hands gestured towards him, gently landing a hand on his upper arm.

“It’s nice to meet you.” His hand reached towards the much shorter woman. He guessed that she couldn’t have been taller than five foot two.

Lyanna made no move to take his hand in hers and only looked him over before turning to her friend. “This is Rhaegar?”

“Mhmm!” Alerie’s short hair bounced in delight as she eagerly nodded. “I really appreciate you doing this.”

“No big deal. I needed the ride anyways.”

“You will call me, right?”

“Of course, I will.”

“I love you.”

“I love you.” He kissed her one last time before opening the driver seat door and situating himself behind the wheel, waving one last time to Alerie, who blew him a kiss.

“I planned it all out. It’s about eighteen hours to King’s Landing and we can either break it down by mileage or six, three hour shifts each.” Rhaegar pulled out his phone and typed in the address that Alerie had sent him earlier before unceremoniously dropping the phone into the cup holder in the console between the two of them. “Please take your feet down.”

Lyanna’s eyes narrowed at him as she slowly took her feet down from the dashboard and unbuckled her seat belt, twisting around and grabbing her bag before shuffling around violently before finally pulling out a pack of gum.

“Gum?” She held the silver stick out to him and watched as he made a face before looking back to the road.

“I don’t chew gum.”

“Suit yourself.” Hastily unwrapping the stick of gum, she popped it into her mouth and chewed loudly.

Clack, clack, clack.

The sound of her gum ground into Rhaegar’s ears as she chewed with her mouth open, looking out watching as the streets of Oldtown whizzed by.

“I hope this isn’t going to be one of those trips with long awkward silences. I hate those.” She blurted as she continued to chew.

“Me too.”

The car went silent once more as Rhaegar focused hard down the ever-filing road, making sure he was going straight and aware of the entering and exiting cars. Lyanna only leaned her head on her hand as she turned her full attention back to whatever caught her eye outside.

“Tell me your life story.”

“What?” He blinked away from the road to look over at her.

“Your life story.”

“All twenty-five years of it?”

“It’s an eighteen-hour drive.”

The car fell back into silence only briefly before Rhaegar decided that he couldn’t listen to her chewing anymore. “Are you from King’s Landing?”

“No.”

“Where are you from then?”

“North.”

“The north is quite large-“

“Winterfell.” Her short one worded answers started to annoy him.

“Why are you moving to the Crownlands then?”

“I got a job."

“What sort of job?”

“Journalist.”

“Why journalism?”

“So I can talk about other people’s lives to fill the hollow spaces of my own. Why are you moving to King’s Landing?”

“Born and raised, but I just got a job at a law firm.”

“Ah.” Her face was devoid of emotion as she stared straight ahead at the suburbs of Oldtown. “Moving back in with the parents?”

“No.” He cleared his throat and swallowed hard. “I just got my own apartment.”

“What happens if something happens to you? Suppose you die in your apartment and no one finds you for days, weeks, months even and it’s only after the old lady next door can’t stand the smell anymore and they finally find you on the floor of your kitchen. Dead.”

Rhaegar’s face contorted in shock and disgust as he looked over at her, watching as she rolled down the window still chewing her gum loudly with her mouth open wide as she let the chilly spring air flow through her hair. The car fell back into silence and it wasn’t until they had made it in to the rural pastures did Rhaegar finally speak up again, “You know Alerie told me that you were a little…”

“Incredible? Pretty? Smart? Full of joy? I know I’m quite amazing.” She smiled and he thought for a second that she was quite pretty but was quickly pulled back to his senses when he swerved into the shoulder.

He shifted in his seat and readjusted his hands on the wheel before clearing his throat. "Dark."

“Do you not have a dark side or something? Or is it just smiles and rainbows and unicorns playing the harp all the time?”

“I can be dark!” His voice went up an octave in defense.

“Oh really?”

“Mhmm.” His lips upturned into smug smile as he cocked his head to the side.

“Well,” She finally turned her full attention to him, her eyes piercing his face as he concentrated on the road ahead of him, with the smug look still plastered on his lips. “I watch the last episode of every tv show before I start watching it just in case I die somewhere in the middle of the series.”

His smile dropped and he rolled his eyes, “That’s not dark.”

“So?”

“A-and I’m sorry I’m a happy person!” He shook his head as he talked over her.

“So am I.”

“Is there something wrong with that?”

“No. Of course not.” Lyanna rolled up the window as the sun was finally starting to set over the hills of the Reach and the air became cold. “You ever think about death?

“Of course. Everyone does.”

“Yeah, but like actually. Not some fleeting thought that gets covered by a dancing leprechaun a second later.”

“Yes. I do.”

“I spend hours. I spend days.”

“Why are you so morbid?”

She ignored his question and popped in another stick of gum, “So what do you think it’s like?”

“What?”

“Dying.”

“Oh.” He went silent for a moment, not really knowing how to answer the heavy question. “I’m sure there’s an afterlife or something.”

“Nah. There’s probably nothing. A deep dark void that we’ll never know.”

Rhaegar had no clue how to continue the conversation, appalled and somewhat intrigued by her curiosity and lack thereof. Her feet had found their way back to the dashboard, but he didn’t say anything as he felt his stomach growl. “Hungry?”

“I could eat.”

“Would you marry someone if they lived in a secluded forest, looked like a monster, was mean, and would never let you see your family ever again, but the sex was incredible?”

“What?“

“Would you marry someone if they lived in a secluded forest-“

“I-I heard you!”

“So, would you?”

“No, I wouldn’t marry someone if they lived in a secluded forest, looked like a monster, was mean, never let me see my family again. Even if the…” He hesitated, uncomfortable with discussing sex around a woman, especially a woman he just met that was his girlfriend’s friend. “s-sex was incredible.”

“You’d rather have a passionless marriage?”

“That just sounds like an unhealthy marriage.”

“Because you don’t like the fact that she’s ugly? Lives in the forest?”

“No, it’s just not practical. I like to be practical.” He got out of the car and waited for her as she pulled on a sweatshirt and got out of her side.

“Oh okay.” She smiled for the first time since they had met. It was a completely different person to him, one who was full of life and quite pretty. “I get it now.”

“What?”

“Oh, it’s nothing.”

“No,” His voice deepened with annoyance as he pulled the diner front door open and waited for her to pass through. “Tell me.”

“Alright fine-thank you.” She thanked him as she walked into the small but busy diner. “I don’t think you’ve ever had good sex.”

“Hi. How many?” The hostess was dressed in jeans and t-shirt that was plastered with the diner’s logo.

“Two.” Lyanna flashed a peace sign to her and waited as the hostess had gathered the menus and silverware.

“What?” Rhaegar wasn’t sure he heard her right, but he was faced with the reality that, that was is exactly what she had said. “Yes, I have.”

“No, you clearly haven’t.” She didn’t turn back to face him as she answered, walking towards the booth at the window the hostess was showing them.

Rhaegar stopped, annoyed and suspiciously defensive. “I’ve had good sex! I’ve had loads of good sex!” His voice boomed over the loud chatter of the diner, causing all noise to cease and stop and listen to him yell at her. Realizing that he caught the attention of everyone there, he quietly hung his head and slowly walked over to where she was seated and already engrossed in the menu, completely unfazed by his outburst. He was relieved that she wasn’t embarrassed or making a scene about it.

“With?” Lyanna asked over the oversized menu.

“What?”

“Elaborate on with whom this good sex had occurred.”

“Why do you need to know?”

“Okay, you’re right I don’t.” She shrugged as she propped her elbows on the table and went back to examining the large selection of food.

“Jonquil Cole.”

“Jonquil? Jonquil Cole? I’m sorry but you did not have good sex with Jonquil Cole.”

“Yes, I did.”

“No. Jonquil can serve you a cocktail at a bar. Give your kid the dragonscale shot. But there is no having good sex with a Jonquil.” Her hands lifted from off the table as she placed her hands in her hair. “Oh yeah that’s right Jonquil!” She moaned. “Ugh-right there-oh my god-ugh- I’m gonna-“ She moaned deeply once more before dropping her hands and picking up the menu. “Yeah no. I don’t believe that.”

Rhaegar felt his throat close and he shifted uncomfortably in his seat before diving back behind the menu, unable to look at her as he hid the obvious blush that bloomed across his face.

“What can I get you?” A new woman dressed in the same t-shirt the hostess had been wearing, stopped at the end of the table pen and paper in hand.

“A number five and a glass of water.” Lyanna dropped the menu on the table and smiled up at the waitress.

“What kind of bread?”

“Whatever.”

“And you?”

“I’ll just have a number eight with the fries on the side with ketchup but no ketchup on the top, in a small dish on the side. If you have no ketchup, I’ll take honey mustard, but if you have neither I don’t want the fries. But if you do, I’d like an extra three packets of salt on the side. Also, a black coffee. Thank you.”

“Uh.” The waitress looked down at the pad of paper before looking back at him. “Okay.”

“So, when did you break up with Jonquil Cole?”

“Why?”

“Because why aren’t you in bed with wonder pussy instead of together with me?”

“First of all, we are not together. Second, I’m driving you as a favor to my girlfriend. Third of all, we never even dated.”

“Okay, how long were you two fucking?”

“None of your business.”

“Alright fine. It’s none of my business.” She took a drink from her water, ignoring the way he watched her, dumbfounded.

“Two years.” Rhaegar cleared his throat as he plucked a packet of sugar from the holder and shifted in the black vinyl booth.

“Two years?”

He nodded as he stirred the sugar. “It was nothing serious. Hooked up once, maybe twice a month. If that."

“How many women have you slept with?”

The liquid was too hot and burned his throat, making him choke and cough loudly, spilling the dark drink everywhere on the table. “I’m not telling you that.”

“Okay,” Lyanna reached for the napkins and began to mop up the coffee, “Don’t tell me.”

Watching her clean up his mess, he thought about his past endeavors before blurting it out, “Three.”

“You’ve been with only three people in your entire twenty-five years and you’re going to tell while you’re sitting here with a straight face and with full determination that you’ve had great sex?”

“Why? How many men have you been with?”

“I don’t know.”

“What do you mean, you don’t know?”

“I mean that I don’t know.”

“It can’t be much more that Cersei Lannister-“

“That’s because Cersei Lannister has slept with one man her entire life and pretends like she sleeps with countless others.”

“What?”

“Her and her brother.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because I saw them.”

Rhaegar shook his head with disgust and moved on, “Is it between zero and ten? Ten and a hundred?”

“Ten and a hundred.”

“Closer to ten?” She sat still with a placid expression and Rhaegar slid his arms forward and his mouth hung open in astonishment. “A hundred?”

“Ten.” They ate in silence and stared out the window and at the customers coming and going. “You’re very pretty."

Rhaegar almost choked again but composed himself quickly, “Oh. Thank you.”

“Alerie never told me you were good looking.”

“I guess it just never came up.”

“I mean you’re very nice to look at.”

“Do you say this to everyone?”

“Only to those I find attractive.”

“Alerie is my girlfriend.” He threw twenty dollars on the table, paying for both of them as he sprung out of the booth and charged towards the door, Lyanna hot on his feet.

“So?” This time she had to open the door for herself as he was already at the car fumbling with the keys, desperate to open the door.

“You’re her friend!” He stopped, wide eyed and embarrassed, watching her as she stood on the opposite side of the car.

“So?” She shrugged.

“So? So, you’re flirting with me!”

“No I wasn’t! I just think you have an interesting face and really nice hair! Is that so wrong! I can take it back. I take it back.” She wrenched the door open and took her place in the passenger seat and grinned wide as she watched him struggle to put the keys in the ignition.

“You can’t do that!” He gave up on the keys and turned towards her.

“Why not?”

“Because it’s out there!”

“Oh, call the cops! It’s out there! What are we gonna do!”

Rhaegar studied her face and watched how she had dimples on either side of her cheeks as she grinned wide at him. He sighed before turning back to the wheel and successfully starting the car. “Just forget it.”

“Alright it’s been forgotten about.”

“Good.”

“Wanna get a motel room?”

“W-what?”

“See what I did?”

“Lyanna.”

“I went the other way.”

“Lyanna.”

“What?”

“We are just going to be friends and that’s all we’ll ever be.”

“Great.”

“We’ll just be friends.” He reassured her.

“Great! Friends. Love to be friends. Love having new friends. Except,” She paused. “Just one thing.”

“Hmm?”

“You realize we can never be friends, right?”

“Why not?”

“Now, don’t take this the wrong way because you’re dating my friend, but the sex thing always gets in the way.”

“What do you mean?”

“Sex always gets in the way of friendship, it’s true.”

“That’s not true,”

“Do you have any friends that are girls?”

“Me?”

“Who else?” Lyanna looked around the car pretending that there was someone was hiding in the backseat or under her chair.

“Of course, I do. I have a number of friends that are women and there has never been sex involved.”

“No, you don’t.”

“Yes, I do.”

“No, you don’t.”

“What are you even trying to say?”

“You think these women have zero interest in having sex with you and you have zero interest in having sex with them?”

“Yes, of course.”

“You’re wrong.”

“No, I’m not.”

“I bet my life that each and every single one of them wants to have sex with you and I bet you want to do the same.”

“Excuse me?”

“They do.”

“They do not.”

“They do too.”

“How do you even know that?”

“Because no man and woman can be friends without thinking about it. They always want to have sex. Especially if they think they’re attractive.”

“So, what you’re saying that men and women can be friends as long as one of them is unattractive?”

“No.”

“Then what?”

“That people don’t really care, they pretty much want to fuck anyone, attractive or no.”

“What if the friend doesn’t want to have sex with you? Then it would just be friends.”

“The sex thing is already out there. It can’t just be erased. The friendship is doomed and there’s nothing that can be done to save it. Unless,”

“Unless?”

“They fuck to get it over with.”

“Well…”

“Well.”

“Guess we won’t be friends then.”

“Guess not.”

“Shame really.”

“So sad.”

“I would’ve been the only person you knew in King’s Landing.”

“Aw that’s too bad. What ever will I do?”

“A-and where did you learn this?”

“My brothers, my friends, experience.”

“How many brothers do you have?”

“Three.”

“Ah.”

“Are you an only child? You seem like it. It’s like you have a giant red flashing sign that says ‘only child’ above your head.”

“No, in fact I have two other siblings.”

“How old are they?”

He got quiet and became focused entirely on the road before his voice became a whisper, “Viserys is ten and…”

“And?”

“Daenerys is eight months old.”

“Ah so you are an only child!”

“No! I’m not!”

“Not technically no, but you were raised as one.”

“We should be there soon.”

“Good. Wake me up when it’s my turn to drive.”

The golden eastern sun rose over the metropolis of King’s Landing. The fog was low and the air was frigid as Rhaegar pulled up to the address. It was an old apartment building that was four stories high with a large tan stone outer face with a huge blooming tree in front.

“Lyanna.”

“Hm?” Her eyes opened and took in the flood of dawn. “Oh. Thanks.”

“I can um help you with your things.”

“No, that’s okay. It’s not much.”

“Well.”

“Well, it was a nice eighteen hours of knowing you.”

“It was definitely interesting.”

“Thanks again for the ride.”

“Yeah of course.”

“Have a nice life.”

“Yeah.” He watched as she opened the door and disappeared inside with her things. “You too.”

␛ to It Had To Be You masterlist

␛ to main masterlist

[angelhummel]

once again i spent hours of my life answering >5000 questions in order to sort almost all of the glee songs ever (there’s 683 songs in the sorter when there’s over 700 on the show) anyway if you wanna see my rankings for those then check it out <3 [also here’s the sorter!]

1 Being Alive 2 Rose's Turn 3 Baby, It's Cold Outside 4 Le Jazz Hot 5 Maybe This Time 6 And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going 7 Come What May 8 To Sir, With Love 9 As If We Never Said Goodbye 10 Valerie 11 Somewhere Only We Know 12 Cough Syrup 13 Teenage Dream 14 Not The Boy Next Door 15 It's Too Late 16 It's My Life / Confessions Part II 17 Start Me Up / Livin' On A Prayer 18 When I Get You Alone 19 The Happening 20 The Boy Is Mine 21 Home 22 Don't You Want Me 23 How Will I Know 24 Bad Romance 25 Not While I'm Around 26 Scream 27 Shake It Out 28 On My Own 29 Hate On Me 30 Bills, Bills, Bills 31 4 Minutes 32 True Colors 33 There Are Worse Things I Could Do 34 Go Your Own Way 35 Jessie's Girl 36 Proud Mary 37 Tongue Tied 38 Last Christmas 39 Somebody Loves You 40 Back To Black 41 Sweet Transvestite 42 For Good 43 At The Ballet 44 Gloria 45 Blame It (On The Alcohol) 46 Like A Prayer 47 So Emotional 48 Misery 49 Nasty / Rhythm Nation 50 Toxic 51 Don't Speak 52 Born This Way 53 Dog Days Are Over 54 Defying Gravity 55 Last Name 56 Womanizer 57 I Will Always Love You 58 Broadway Baby 59 The Lady Is A Tramp 60 I'm A Slave 4 U 61 Centerfold / Hot In Herre 62 Thriller / Heads Will Roll 63 Bust Your Windows 64 Candyman 65 Brave 66 Boys / Boyfriend 67 The Scientist 68 The Scientist (Acapella) 69 Dream On 70 Hey Jude 71 I Lived 72 I'm Still Here 73 I Believe In A Thing Called Love 74 Me Against The Music 75 Like A Virgin 76 My Man 77 Everybody Wants To Rule The World 78 I Have Nothing 79 Blackbird 80 Got To Get You Into My Life 81 Animal 82 3 83 I Follow Rivers 84 Just The Way You Are 85 Constant Craving 86 Don't Stop Me Now 87 Hung Up 88 Let's Have A Kiki 89 Love Shack 90 Marry The Night 91 Hit Me With Your Best Shot / One Way Or Another 92 It's Not Right, But It's Okay 93 I Want To Hold Your Hand 94 All You Need Is Love 95 Getting Married Today 96 Don't Rain On My Parade 97 Don't Stop Believin' (Regionals) 98 We've Got Tonite 99 Smooth Criminal 100 Uptown Girl 101 Sway 102 If I Die Young 103 No One Is Alone 104 Look At Me I'm Sandra Dee 105 No Scrubs 106 Mamma Mia 107 Papa Don't Preach 108 Teenage Dream (Acoustic Version) 109 Santa Baby 110 We Found Love 111 Roar 112 She's Not There 113 Spotlight 114 The Way You Look Tonight/You're Never Fully Dressed Without A Smile 115 Some Nights 116 Rumour Has It / Someone Like You 117 You Make Me Feel So Young 118 You Keep Me Hangin' On 119 I'll Stand By You (Amber) 120 Hand In My Pocket / I Feel The Earth Move 121 Crazy / U Drive Me Crazy 122 Funny Girl 123 Cold Hearted 124 Keep Holding On 125 Bye Bye Bye / I Want It That Way 126 I Know Where I've Been 127 I Kissed A Girl (Season Six) 128 Hopelessly Devoted To You 129 Homeward Bound / Home 130 Into The Groove 131 Hold On 132 Tell Him 133 Nutbush City Limits 134 Because You Loved Me 135 Perfect 136 Cherish / Cherish 137 Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah) 138 Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead 139 You Are The Sunshine Of My Life 140 Tik Tok 141 The Safety Dance 142 Oops!... I Did It Again 143 Run Joey Run 144 Time Warp 145 Something's Coming 146 Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go 147 The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face 148 Vogue 149 Downtown 150 Diva 151 Dancing With Myself 152 Rockstar 153 Wrecking Ball 154 We Are Young 155 I Saw Her Standing There 156 Jumpin', Jumpin' 157 Just Can't Get Enough 158 Take Me To Church 159 Wannabe 160 It's All Over 161 Take Me Home Tonight 162 If I Were A Boy 163 Landslide 164 Pompeii 165 The Bitch Is Back / Dress You Up 166 Christmas Wrapping 167 Buenos Aires 168 Call Me Maybe 169 You Can't Stop The Beat 170 Seasons Of Love 171 Safety Dance 172 Dream A Little Dream 173 Alfie 174 I Want To Break Free 175 Baby One More Time 176 A House Is Not A Home 177 Daydream Believer 178 I Don't Know How To Love Him 179 Hungry Like The Wolf / Rio 180 Suddenly Seymour 181 People 182 Silly Love Songs 183 Love Song 184 Shout It Out Loud 185 Some People 186 One Of Us 187 Sing! 188 Up Up Up 189 Torn 190 Popular 191 This Is The New Year 192 Paradise By The Dashboard Light 193 Let It Snow 194 Let It Be 195 Never Can Say Goodbye 196 Touch A Touch A Touch A Touch Me 197 La Isla Bonita 198 Tightrope 199 My Love Is Your Love 200 Love Is A Battlefield 201 Losing My Religion 202 Total Eclipse Of The Heart 203 This Time 204 I Dreamed A Dream 205 Leaving On A Jet Plane 206 Locked Out Of Heaven 207 Chandelier 208 Girl On Fire 209 Telephone 210 Don't Cry For Me Argentina 211 Human Nature 212 Halo / Walking On Sunshine 213 Anything Goes / Anything You Can Do 214 Make You Feel My Love 215 Stronger 216 Nowadays / Hot Honey Rag 216 Pumpin' Blood 218 Papa Can You Hear Me? 219 Summer Nights 220 Sweet Caroline 221 Superstition 222 We Will Rock You 223 Alone 224 Hello, I Love You 225 Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now) 226 A Hard Day's Night 227 Mine 228 My Prerogative 229 Beauty School Drop Out 230 My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It) 231 Extraordinary Merry Christmas 232 Every Breath You Take 233 Express Yourself 234 Everybody Talks 235 Everytime 236 Marry You 237 Moves Like Jagger / Jumpin' Jack Flash 238 My Favorite Things 239 Santa Claus Is Coming To Town 240 River Deep, Mountain High 241 My Life Would Suck Without You 242 Be Okay 243 Applause 244 Cool 245 All I Want For Christmas Is You 246 American Boy 247 Cell Block Tango 248 Breakaway 249 Don't Dream It's Over 250 Let Me Love You (Until You Learn To Love Yourself) 251 Whatever Happened To Saturday Night? 252 Without You 253 Science Fiction Double Feature 254 Loser Like Me 255 I Kissed A Girl 256 I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You 257 I Can't Go For That (No Can Do) / You Make My Dreams 258 Don't Stop Believin' (Season 5) 259 Empire State Of Mind 260 Old Time Rock & Roll / Danger Zone 261 Take My Breath Away 262 You Get What You Give 263 Take On Me 264 Beautiful 265 It's Time 266 ABC 267 Afternoon Delight 268 Don't Stand So Close To Me / Young Girl 269 Don't Stop Believin' (Season 1) 270 Colorblind 271 Cool Kids 272 Dancing Queen 273 Songbird 274 Somebody That I Used To Know 275 Singing In The Rain / Umbrella 276 I Feel Pretty / Unpretty 277 Borderline / Open Your Heart 278 In My Life 279 I'm Still Standing 280 Blow Me (One Last Kiss) 281 Do Ya Think I'm Sexy? 282 Do They Know It's Christmas? 283 Mustang Sally 284 Pinball Wizard 285 Anything Could Happen 286 America 287 Any Way You Want It 288 Higher Ground 289 Flashdance... What A Feeling 290 My Life 291 Let It Go 292 If I Can't Have You 293 L-O-V-E 294 Closer 295 Addicted To Love 296 Heroes 297 A Boy Like That 298 Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend / Material Girl 299 Holding Out For A Hero 300 Dinosaur 301 Disco Inferno 302 Party All The Time 303 Raise Your Glass 304 Push It 305 Lean On Me 306 Pure Imagination 307 Lovefool 308 Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin' 309 Americano / Dance Again 310 All Of Me 311 At Last 312 Promises, Promises 313 Hair / Crazy In Love 314 Happy Xmas (War Is Over) 315 Chasing Pavements 316 Don't You (Forget About Me) 317 Love Child 318 School's Out 319 Poker Face 320 Boogie Shoes 321 Bootylicious 322 I Love New York / New York, New York 323 One Less Bell To Answer 324 Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours 325 Rehab 326 I Don't Want To Know 327 Shout 328 I'm The Greatest Star 329 I Love It 330 Never Say Never 331 Juke Box Hero 332 One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer 333 Glad You Came 334 For Once In My Life 335 Here Comes The Sun 336 Baby It's You 337 Drive My Car 338 Last Friday Night 339 Roots Before Branches 340 The Only Exception 341 Survivor / I Will Survive 342 All Or Nothing 343 Time After Time 344 You're The One That I Want 345 Yeah! 346 Starships 347 You've Got To Hide Your Love Away 348 Story Of My Life 349 Something 350 We Need A Little Christmas 351 Gold Digger 352 Beth 353 Fighter 354 Forget You 355 How To Be A Heartbreaker 356 Get Back 357 Love You Like A Love Song 358 There's A Light (Over At The Frankenstein Place) 359 We Got The Beat 360 Make 'Em Laugh 361 Sing 362 U Can't Touch This 363 Try A Little Tenderness 364 Pony 365 On Our Way 366 Lucky Star 367 Loser 368 Over The Rainbow 369 Outcast 370 Stop! In The Name Of Love / Free Your Mind 371 What Makes You Beautiful 372 Will You Love Me Tomorrow / Head Over Feet 373 Wide Awake 374 Wishin' And Hoping 375 Yesterday 376 Out Here On My Own 377 You're All The World To Me 378 Somethin' Stupid 379 Someday We'll Be Together 380 River 381 The Longest Time 382 Somebody To Love 383 The Edge Of Glory 384 The Most Wonderful Day Of The Year 385 Lucky 386 Memory 387 Mary's Boy Child 388 Longest Time 389 My Dark Side 390 Taking Chances 391 The First Noël 392 Smile 393 Celebrity Skin 394 All That Jazz 395 A Thousand Years 396 Big Girls Don't Cry 397 Ain't No Way 398 Don't Sleep In The Subway 399 Doo Wop (That Thing) 400 Don't Stop 401 Uptight (Everything's Alright) 402 New York State Of Mind 403 Turning Tables 404 Vacation 405 Fire 406 Hold It Against Me 407 I've Gotta Be Me 408 Endless Love 409 Run The World (Girls) 410 Saving All My Love For You 411 Give Up The Funk 412 I Am Changing 413 I Melt With You 414 I Could Have Danced All Night 415 Fat Bottomed Girls 416 Hot For Teacher 417 Never Going Back Again 418 Imagine 419 Jolene 420 Arthur's Theme 421 Damn It, Janet 422 Control 423 Barracuda 424 Copacabana 425 Barely Breathing 426 I Look To You 427 Come Sail Away 428 Jump 429 Clarity 430 Friday I'm In Love 431 Jar Of Hearts 432 It's Not Unusual 433 Footloose 434 Here Comes Santa Claus 435 Happy Days Are Here Again / Get Happy 436 Help! 437 Greased Lightning 438 Hell To The No 439 All Out Of Love 440 (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman 441 Candles 442 All By Myself 443 Hello Goodbye 444 It's A Man's Man's Man's World 445 I Say A Little Prayer 446 It Must Have Been Love 447 Just Give Me A Reason 448 Come See About Me 449 Born To Hand Jive 450 I Want To Know What Love Is 451 I Wish 452 I'll Remember 453 Get It Right 454 (I've Had) The Time Of My Life 455 I'll Stand By You (Cory) 456 Forever Young 457 A Change Would Do You Good 458 Smile (Charlie Chaplin song) 459 Best Day Of My Life 460 An Innocent Man 461 Dreams 462 All About That Bass 463 Home (originally by Michael Bublé) 464 Black Or White 465 Baby 466 Bad 467 Problem 468 Oh Chanukah 469 What Kind Of Fool 470 Wings 471 You're My Best Friend 472 You're All I Need To Get By 473 White Christmas 474 Whenever I Call You Friend 475 Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' 476 What Doesn't Kill You (Stronger) 477 Wedding Bell Blues 478 More Than A Feeling 479 More Than A Woman 480 Our Day Will Come 481 P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing) 482 Here's To Us 483 Honesty 484 Hall Of Fame 485 It's All Coming Back To Me Now 486 Teach Your Children 487 Night Fever 488 What The World Needs Now 489 Listen 490 Let Me Love You 491 Live While We're Young 492 Light Up The World 493 Trouty Mouth 494 Werewolves Of London 495 Kiss 496 Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas 497 Movin' Out (Anthony's Song) 498 Mickey 499 Mean 500 Mercy 501 Merry Christmas Darling 502 Let's Wait Awhile 503 Man In The Mirror 504 Rather Be 505 Rise 506 Good Vibrations 507 Faithfully 508 Firework 509 How Deep Is Your Love 510 Fix You 511 Fire And Rain 512 Give Your Heart A Break 513 Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree 514 Little Girls 515 Cry 516 Bust A Move 517 Bridge Over Troubled Water 518 Bring Him Home 519 Cheek To Cheek 520 Break Free 521 As Long As You're There 522 Big Ass Heart 523 Bitch 524 Bamboleo / Hero 525 Away In A Manger 526 Deck The Rooftop 527 Christmas Eve With You 528 Angels We Have Heard On High 529 Creep 530 Crush 531 Make No Mistake, She's Mine 532 Lose My Breath 533 Look At Me I'm Sandra Dee (Reprise) 534 What I Did For Love 535 Wake Me Up 536 Thousand Miles 537 Take A Bow 538 Still Got Tonight 539 The Music Of The Night 540 Stereo Hearts 541 The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late) 542 Take Me Or Leave Me 543 I'm The Only One 544 Isn't She Lovely 545 I Just Can't Stop Loving You 546 I'll Never Fall In Love Again 547 Unchained Melody 548 You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch 549 You Have More Friends Than You Know 550 You Should Be Dancing 551 I'm His Child 552 You Learn / You've Got A Friend 553 Somewhere 554 So Far Away 555 Uptown Funk 556 The Winner Takes It All 557 They Long To Be Close To You 558 Tonight 559 Being Good Isn't Good Enough 560 You May Be Right 561 To Love You More 562 Don't Wanna Lose You 563 Do You Hear What I Hear? 564 Ice Ice Baby 565 Don't Go Breaking My Heart 566 Don't Make Me Over 567 I Won't Give Up 568 I'll Be Home For Christmas 569 I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For 570 I Still Believe / Super Bass 571 I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me) 572 I Want You Back 573 Father Figure 574 Everybody Hurts 574 Gangnam Style 576 We Are The Champions 577 Stayin' Alive 578 Superman 579 The Rose 580 Don't Stop Believin' (Rachel) 581 Fly / I Believe I Can Fly 582 Gives You Hell 583 I Love L.A. 584 Mr. Roboto / Counting Stars 585 O Holy Night 586 Only The Good Die Young 587 One 588 Silent Night 589 Piano Man 590 Sexy And I Know It 591 Sgt. Pepper's Lonley Hearts Club Band 592 Pretending 593 Physical 594 Danny's Song 595 Stand 596 The Final Countdown 597 You Can't Always Get What You Want 598 You Are Woman, I Am Man 599 You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' 600 Your Song 601 Say 602 No Air 603 Need You Now 604 No Surrender 605 Piece Of My Heart 606 Thong Song 607 Blurred Lines 608 Another One Bites The Dust 609 I Was Here 610 Bella Notte 611 I Know What Boys Like 612 God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen 613 Glory Days 614 Friday 615 More Than Words 616 Waiting For A Girl Like You 617 Welcome Christmas 618 You Spin Me Round (Like A Record) 619 You Give Love A Bad Name 620 We Built This City 621 Whistle 622 Who Are You Now? 623 You And I / You And I 624 Take Care Of Yourself 625 Tell Me Something Good 626 The Rain In Spain 627 Can't Fight This Feeling 628 Jingle Bell Rock 629 In Your Eyes 630 Hello 631 Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life) 632 I Only Have Eyes For You 633 Jingle Bells 634 Joy To The World 635 I Wanna Sex You Up 636 Fight For Your Right (To Party) 637 Feliz Navidad 638 I'm So Excited 639 Uninvited 640 The Living Years 641 The Fox (What Does The Fox Say?) 642 O Christmas Tree 643 One Love (People Get Ready) 644 Ohio 645 Only Child 646 Hello Twelve, Hello Thirteen, Hello Love 647 My Sharona 648 Dance The Night Away 649 Poison 650 My Cup 651 Not The End 652 What It Feels Like For A Girl 653 Listen To Your Heart 654 Little Drummer Boy 655 One Hand, One Heart 656 Bein' Green 657 Big Spender 658 Billionaire 659 Ben 660 Gimme More 661 Burning Up 662 Hey Ya! 663 Hey, Soul Sister 664 Baby Got Back 665 Blue Christmas 666 Bohemian Rhapsody 667 Far From Over 668 The Trolley Song 669 Starlight Express 670 Whip It 671 You're The Top 672 Red Solo Cup 673 Next To Me 674 Rolling In The Deep 675 Rainbow Connection 676 La Cucaracha 677 (You're) Having My Baby 678 A Little Less Conversation 679 Happy 680 Highway To Hell 681 Same Love 682 Rock Lobster 683 Girls Just Want To Have Fun

[lifeofroos]

Part 60. I hate Minos, me my homies all HATE Minos.

In short: Nico gets therapy from Dionysus. In this chapter, he has decided he wants to talk to King Minos. Dionysus quietly agrees, but only so long as someone comes along. The story is also on AO3 and FanFiction.net! And in Tumblr tags like Dionysus, Nico di Angelo, percy jackson fanfic etc.  This Might Be Crazy: Chapter 60: Pomegranate Iced tea 

‘Did you bless the Jacksons’ house when I was there last time?’

Dionysus looked up. ‘I did. Sally Jackson runs a sanctuary. We can’t have monsters coming in.’

‘Very good.’

‘Now tell me the real reason why you came here. You can’t be here just to ask something you already knew.’

‘I mean, no.’

‘Spill.’

‘Don’t you trust...’

‘Nico!’

‘I want to go talk to king Minos. I want to know why he chose me.’

Dionysus took a moment to think about that. ‘Isn’t it clear why Minos chose you?’

I shrugged. ‘It might be. Because, you know, I was going around raising the dead and opposing Percy, which was very convenient for him. Still, I…’ I shrugged. ‘I want to talk to him. I want to know how he thinks.’ 

Dionysus thought for a second. ‘Minos is dangerous.’

‘So I can’t go?’

He thought for a second. ‘I can’t control you. You’ll go anyway, no matter what I say. Yet, I have a requirement.’

‘Being?’

‘Someone must be there with you. I am not letting you talk to a psychopath like Minos on your own.’

I sighed. ‘Who must it be?’ 

‘I’ll ask Persephone and Hades first. You’ll hear the answer tomorrow.’

‘Alright.’

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

The next morning, early as all hell, I heard a knock on my door. ‘Nico. Come.’ 

I scrambeld out of bed. ‘Eh, I will.’ Whoever you are. ‘Can I put on some actual clothes instead of my pajamas first?’

‘Five minutes.’

‘Okay, okay!’

Within five minutes, I was done and I stepped out of my cabin. I raised my eyebrows. ‘Ariadne?’

‘The very one. Persephone will come too. She’s waiting for us near Elysium.’

‘I mean... cool.’ I tried to shrug, but half-way through we were already teleporting into the underworld. My shoulders hurt when I got there. 

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

I disliked standing in front of the gates of Elysium again. It was soul-crushing to see all of the spirits, some of them hopeful, some of them sure they wouldn’t get in. 

I noticed Persephone standing near the judges. She was looking up at them, with her hands on her hips. She looked around when Ariadne called her name. ‘Still okay?’ She asked to the other goddess. 

‘As okay as it can get.’

‘Good.’ Persephone straightened her back. ‘We’ll let him do the talking.’ She pointed at me. 

‘And we’ll keep an eye on everything.’ Ariadne confirmed. 

Persephone nodded. ‘Come,’ she told (mostly) me. I nodded. We walked past the lines, to the three judges. The spirits didn’t seem to mind. 

Ariadne held up her hand. ‘Minos.’ All three of kings turned around. Minos mouth fell open. ‘Go on,’ Persephone commanded the judges. ‘Except for Minos. He comes with us.’

Minos got up, with a suspicious look in his eyes. 

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

‘What is it, my queen?’ he asked Persephone as soon as we were away from the line. His eyes ran past Ariadne without adressing her. His eyebrows raised when he saw me. ‘You brought me your own stepson? Unbelievable! Now why would that be?’

‘He has questions for you. We would like to see you answer them.’

‘And that’s all?’

‘That’s all.’ She gently laid her hand on my shoulder for a second.

‘Terrible to see you again,’ I began. 

‘You are the one bothering me.’

‘Still.’ I tilted my head. ‘I have my suspicions, but I wanted to know why you chose me. Why you had to haunt me instead of somebody else.’

‘You’re the son of Hades.’

‘I am.’

‘Doesn’t that seem like reason enough?’

‘Maybe. Yet, it would have been way easier for you to get a random scared kid to raise the dead for you. All the things you taught me are things you could have taught most other people. Raising the dead with Happy meals? You don’t need me for that. Don’t get at me with wanting to help Luke. You are way too selfish for that.’

Persephone and Ariadne gave each other a look when they heard me mention raising the dead with happy meals. Minos went on: ‘My goal might not have been to aid him, but perhaps what he had in mind spoke to me.’ Persephone crossed her arms. Minos smiled sinisterly. ‘My queen, don’t act like you didn’t know, even if I would never confess it.’

I pointed at him. ‘Didn’t you just…’

‘Let it go, Nico.’ I looked up at Ariadne, who nodded towards Minos. He still had not aknowledged she was there.  

‘I was easy to manipulate, but still on no-one’s side,’ I continued. ‘Any other demigod might have gotten dependent on you. They would have been your string puppet.’

‘But they would have had less power. Why have a string puppet when they aren’t useful for all sorts of things? Also, di Angelo, you can’t act like you weren’t dependent on me. You were so wrapped up in your silly hate and grief you didn’t see what was going on.’

‘Perhaps.’ Ariadne and Persephone tensed up. Maybe I had been more of a string puppet to Minos than I liked to think I was. Still… ‘Still, I did manage to break out. I listened to Percy after he showed me the truth. An agent of Luke wouldn’t have done that. They would have turned a blind eye and kept following you.’

‘The Jackson kid cared for you.’

‘He would have cared for any other demigod as well. You could have told them to play apologetic and then you would’ve had a spy. It would have been easier, it would have lead you to bigger things...’

‘What is it that you want? I picked you because you were powerful. That’s it. Every strategy has holes in it. It was a gamble to pick you over some nobody and…’ Minos bit his lip and did not say more.

‘And you gambled wrong,’ Persephone finished the sentence. 

Minos shrugged. ‘You win some, you lose some, my queen.’ 

Ariadne gave him a disgusted look. ‘Perhaps.’

‘You were a powermaniac,’ I concluded. ‘It would have been safer, be it a little harder, to use a minion from Luke’s army. Yet, I had power, and you fell for it.’

Minos shot me a disintegrating look. ‘Watch your words, demonspawn.’

‘Sounds like a weakness to me.’

‘Nico.’ Persephone slowly shook her head. 

‘I think I have what I wanted,’ I told Minos. 

‘Leave, then. I’ve got a job to do.’

‘Playing judge, jury and executioner even in death,’ Ariadne stated.

‘It comes naturally.’ It was the first time he acknowledged her existence. ‘I’d watch your mouth if I were you. Some of us might be power hungry, but we aren’t reckless traitors. Each their own.’ He grinned, before looking at Persephone. ‘If you don’t mind, I’ll get back now, my queen.’

‘I wish you wouldn’t.’ 

He curtsied, before turning around and walking away. I had to bite my tongue to not yell after him that he was a terrible person, a terrible king, a terrible father, a terrible husband and a terrible judge.

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

‘He is terrible.’

‘He is manipulative,’ Ariadne stated. ‘The gamble analogy is apt. He gambled he could take control of the kingdom by banning his brothers. He gambled that he could contain the Minotaur and make Athens pay for it, and he won that bet twice, until…’ she sighed, ‘Until someone messed with his stack of cards. Every gambler misses now and then, and so did he. Terribly, a few times…’ 

Persephone clenched her fists. ‘And then he still didn’t, because my father had to give him the power he desired in death as well.’

I slowly nodded. Persephone sighed and pushed something into my hand. It was a can of Pomegranate sweet tea. I left it in the underworld a little while ago. 

‘Did you learn anything?’ Ariadne asked. It sounded as if she was somewhere else with her thoughts.  

‘What I thought about king Minos was proven. And I once again realised that maybe I should not always go through with my strange ideas.’

‘At least someone was here this time. I can’t tell what that man would have done we hadn’t been there,’ Persephone mused. A little smile appeared on her face. ‘I wanted to come too. Honestly, I wanted to see if it would be better to kick him out. And well, that is more than proven. As soon as I can get rid of him, I will.’

Ariadne looked just as surprised as I felt. ‘They needed to be sons of Zeus, right? The judges?’ I asked. 

‘Yes. But that friend of yours is here now, too.’

‘Jason.’

‘The very one. I think we might have a job for him.’

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

‘Coming with you was my own idea,’ Ariadne told me when we were back in Camp half-blood. 

‘Ah,’ I said, while I nodded. 

‘I mean Dio didn’t ask me to come. I wanted it. I wanted to see how Minos would react to you, to see if he was really still like that.’

I nodded. ‘Well, so did I. Thanks for coming anyway.’

She nodded, although she didn’t smile. ‘I think it will be lunch soon.’

‘Eh... yeah. I think Dionysus is in the big house.’

‘Then I’ll go there.’

It was clear we were both too busy with our own thoughts. I said goodbye and went to the dining pavilion. Will would want to hear my story. I assumed Dionysus would already have heard it next time I saw him, which was, if I can be honest, a relief. 

A/N: I was originally going to do this with just one of the ladies but then I thought of this and it was good. 

Finals are over today which is good now on to results haha help

[immodestmussorgskyy]

campers anonymous

“Alright, everybody. Our meeting is in session!” Wraith gave the room a warm smile and rang his bell twice. “Let’s start with names? Trapper, how about you go first?”

A few audible sighs could be heard. Wraith could practically feel some of the eyerolls the killers were giving, most notably Ghostface and Legion, but remained optimistic. 

Trapper wrung his hands nervously and looked around the room. Almost all of his fellow killers sat around him in a circle, except the ones that refused to attend. Even the ones that were wearing masks seemed to stare at him expectantly. He cleared his throat. 

“Um, my name is Evan. But you guys know me as Trapper. I’ve been clean from camping for two trials now.” 

“Hi, Evan.” came the monotone chorus of voices around him. 

“Okay, your turn, Billy.” Wraith gestured towards the hulking and deformed creature sitting to his left. 

“My name is Max. I…” he looked to the floor in shame. “I haven’t really stopped camping at all.” To everybody’s surprise, the chainsaw-toting maniac had a very polite and subdued voice. 

“Hi, Max.” this time, the greetings were followed by some murmurs of consolation. 

Everybody turned towards the Shape, who sat motionlessly in his chair. Nothing could be heard from him except for muffled breathing. Wraith wasn’t even sure why he came to the meeting. He never contributed, nor did he greet anybody or try to create a welcoming environment. Nobody pushed him to come to Campers Anonymous, but he showed up anyway. It was puzzling, to say the least. 

“I know our friend the Shape here isn’t really comfortable with talking, so I’ll introduce him to you all. Everybody, this is Michael. I’m not sure how long he’s been camping--” said Wraith. 

“Not at all, actually!” piped Spirit. “I mean, he used to, but ever since we had our last meeting, he’s been doing really well.” she offered the Shape a smile, which he did not return or acknowledge. 

“Excellent! Well, everybody, say hi to Michael! Ghostface, how about you--”

“Hi, hello, whatever. My name is Danny, and I haven’t been clean from camping the hook at all, ever, because I don’t fucking camp.” Ghostface leaned back in his chair and folded his arms. Nobody could see his expression behind his mask, but everybody knew that he had that signature why am I here, fuck all of you look on his face. 

“Oh yeah? You don’t camp? Sitting in a bush next to the hook with your stupid shroud shit counts as camping, you dumbfuck.” Legion retorted viciously. “Why are you even here, anyway?” 

“It’s called stalking, smart one.” Ghostface’s voice grew venomous as he flipped Legion the bird. “And I’m here so I can laugh at you amateurs that still get kills from camping.” 

“Stalking, my ass. That is literally camping. The only difference is that you’re sitting in a bush like a complete kook.” 

“Hey, why the fuck are you here, then? If you haven’t already noticed, you’re the only one from your little family that got invited here, because the rest of them are actually decent at killing.”

“Shut the fuck up!” Legion growled, springing from his chair with his hand on his knife. “If we could harm each other your guts would be all over the floor, you little bitch. And for the record, I’m here because I actually want to improve my skills and better myself. Bet you don’t know what that’s like at all.”

Ghostface scoffed and waved his knife in the air nonchalantly. “Whatever you say, King Frank. Keep crying. Somebody will change your diaper eventually.” 

Legion gave an enraged scream and charged towards Ghostface, but was grabbed by the hood and pulled back by Trapper. Wraith gave him a look of gratitude. 

“Didn’t I say no weapons at our CA meetings? Please, this is no place to fight. We’re all here to better ourselves.” he rubbed his nose in exasperation and prompted the others to continue. 

The greetings went around the circle, even to Huntress and Plague, who had obvious language barriers. Plague was also sitting six feet outside the circle, coughing into a bloodstained handkerchief. She didn’t seem to mind the separation, every now and again enthusiastically contributing something that nobody could really understand. 

“Our topic today is successes. Little victories. I know that camping can make us feel very isolated and guilty, but today we’ll share our stories of success. And if you don’t have any successes you can think of, tell us something positive about your last trial.” Wraith adjusted his glasses and gave another smile to the group. “Our discussion will be popcorn style today, friends. Just speak whenever you feel ready.” 

Nobody spoke. 

Finally, Nurse interrupted the long silence and cleared her throat. “I tried using three blinks instead of camping the hook in my last trial. Two people escaped, but I felt better that I didn’t camp them.” Some nods of approval went around the circle. 

“Thank you for sharing, Sally. Anybody else?” 

Spirit raised her hand. “I stopped camping a few trials ago and I’ve really improved my chasing skills. I think I’m doing a lot better with my phase walking abilities, too. I hope you all know what it’s like to not be a camper one day.” She rested her hands on her lap and gave everybody a proud smile. 

“That’s great, Rin. I’m glad that you experienced that.” Wraith said warmly. “What about you, Frank?”

Legion shrugged. “I never really camped to begin with, but I’ve been trying to look for other survivors more instead of just patrolling the hooked ones. Nothing special about it, though.” 

“Hey, that’s progress.” Nurse rasped. Legion gave her a nod. 

Just then, a loud, metallic scraping could be heard from down the hall, accompanied by heavy footsteps. Plod, plod, screeeeech. Plod, plod, screeeech.

“Oh, great. That triangle-headed freak is going to join us.” grumbled Ghostface, who was shot an irritated glance by Wraith. The Executioner stopped and stood in the doorway. 

“Pyramid Head! I’m so glad you could make it. Please, find a chair and have a seat.” 

As if pondering his request, the Executioner tilted his massive pyramid head to the side, then plodded forward. A few of the killers flinched at the screeching of his blade on the floor, then jumped as he dropped it with a loud clang. He moved slowly and deliberately, pulling one of the small chairs from a stack in the corner of the room and forcing himself between Ghostface and Legion. The chair he was perched atop was dwarfed by his massive stature. Secretly, Wraith was glad the silent beast of a man was here. He would at least serve as a barrier between the two squabbling young men. 

It was curious as to why the Executioner showed up to these meetings, too, considering the fact that his entire existence was dedicated to executing judgment against survivors. Wraith was surprised that he even cared enough about a survivor’s trial experience enough to come to a meeting about ending camping addictions. Like the Shape, he didn’t speak, but at least made low rumbling noises of agreement occasionally. It was sweet, in a bizarre way, that he at least enjoyed everybody’s company enough to sit in silence and spectate their group therapy. 

“Do you have anything to share with us today?” Wraith said, offering him a cheerful smile. He always asked, even though the Executioner rarely gave him any acknowledgment or answer. But it was Wraith’s imperative that all killers deserved to be included, even if they didn’t have anything to contribute. 

The monstrous man sat silently for a moment, then stood and retrieved his blade. He heaved it from the ground, dragged it with a loud screeeech between his and Ghostface’s chairs. The smaller killer huffed and glared at the back of his bloodstained helmet. The Executioner dragged it to the middle of the circle and held it out proudly towards Wraith, almost offering him the handle, its tip digging into the linoleum floor. 

Upon closer inspection, the grimy, impossibly sharp edge of his blade was covered in fresh blood and viscera that could only be survivor guts. 

“Oh? You’ve… gotten more kills?” Wraith guessed. 

The Executioner nodded and motioned with his hands as if asking him to continue.

“You’ve gotten more moris?” 

He nodded eagerly, resting the handle of his blade under his arm to clap in excitement. He mimed a crushing motion with one of his hands, then thrust it forward like he was stabbing something. Wraith beamed. It was exciting seeing one of the more shy killers get a little excited over their memento mori offerings. The Executioner dragged the blade behind him back to his seat and rested it gently on the ground next to his chair. 

“Okay, well, this is boring as fuck and I have better things to be doing.” Ghostface sneered.

“Oh yeah? Like whacking off to pictures of people in the shower, you perv? Have fun.” Legion said. 

“Listen, kid, I’m not going to tolerate more of your bullshit--” 

The Executioner roared and grabbed each of the young men by their collars, shaking them violently. The two fell back into stunned silence as they were dropped back onto their seats. Hopefully, this would shut them up for a while. 

“Uh… can I go now?” Oni said. Wraith nodded at him. “I haven’t stopped camping at all.” He shrugged his shoulders sheepishly. “But last trial I got to mori somebody right at the exit gate.” 

“Were they the last one?” Trapper asked. 

“Yeah. But they just hid the entire time and didn’t do any gens, so I figured their teammates wouldn’t really mind.”

“Nice.” 

The rest of the killers went around and shared their stories. The positive developments made Wraith gleam on the inside. Only two meetings in and everybody was getting to know each other, even developing friendships, and even the shyer killers were beginning to speak up. Except the Shape, but nobody was really bothered by the silent man anymore. Soon, the clock on the wall read 12:30 and killers began giving their goodbyes and filing out of the room.

“Bye, suckers.” Ghostface hopped out of his chair, the first to leave. He said that he only came to these meetings to gloat, but Wraith knew better. He just enjoyed the company. 

“Thanks for the meeting, Wraith.” Legion said gruffly, shoving his hands in his pockets as he exited the room. Spirit gave a little wave. The rest of the killers streamed out the door, discussing things quietly with each other. The Executioner trailed after them slowly, dragging his blade down the hallway. Soon, the only person remaining in the room with Wraith was the Shape. 

“Yes, Michael? Did you have something you wanted to discuss with me?” 

The Shape stood up and shuffled towards the other killer. He reached a hand out, gesturing for Wraith to hand him his clipboard and pen. 

“Oh? Do you need to write something?” 

He nodded and took them from Wraith’s hands, writing a message in careful, small handwriting. It read: Thank you for doing this. I have a serious habit. 

Wraith smiled reassuringly and gave the Shape’s shoulder a soft pat. “Always my pleasure, Michael. You’re welcome to share at our next meeting. I promise nobody is going to think any less of you.”

The masked man looked at Wraith for a good long moment, then nodded slowly and left the room. The gentle killer made a few last notes on his clipboard and began stacking the chairs back up with a content sigh. Things were beginning to look up for his camping compatriots. 

Check out this story and the rest of its chapters on AO3! 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/27011980/chapters/65940853

[mountainsluna]

wicked regrets

request: “a seonghwa scenario in which he’s a “serious” looking boyfriend who doesn’t really celebrate Halloween but the reader does, so he gets jealous of her friends cuz she’s spending too much time with them decorating and shopping for costumes”

pairing: seonghwa x reader (gender neutral besides reader in a female character costume)

genre: angst + fluff ending

word count: 2.1k

✩ [author’s note] for those of you that aren’t familiar with the movie the nightmare before christmas, theseeeee are the characters/costumes i refer to in the story! :)

✩ masterlist

✩ requests : check bio or masterlist ♡

One afternoon in late September, you and your boyfriend were out shopping when you passed by a new Halloween store that immediately caught your attention. “Oh my god! Baby we have to go in, can we just look around inside really quick please?” 

“Hmm okay love, but just really quick.” The lack of excitement in Seonghwa’s voice didn’t register with you as you were already halfway in the door before he he could finish replying. You were nearly bouncing off the walls that were filled with scary costumes and spooky decorations. You two had started dating last November so it was your first Halloween with Seonghwa as your boyfriend and he could honestly say he had never seen you this ecstatic.

"Baby look!!! They have the cutest decorations look at these pumpkins and these candles!! Oooh we can get these small skeletons for the living room! What do you think?" 

"Uhm I guess if you want. I don’t really celebrate it...well not since I was like 9. Isn’t it really just for kids anyways?” His words made your smile falter a bit. Halloween was your absolute favorite time of the year, and there were already so many activities planned out in your head that you wanted to do with your boyfriend. However, from the looks of it, it didn’t seem like he’d be interested in the slightest.

“No of course not...Are you telling me you don’t think Halloween is fun as an adult?” 

He shrugged his shoulders as his fingers grazed a large plastic butcher knife in front of him.

“No horror movies?”

“No.”

“Pumpkin carving?”

“Too messy.”

“Decorating?”

“Waste of money, we live in an apartment and if we decorate inside no one will even see it.”

You hated to admit how disappointed you were at his answers. You knew from the start that Seonghwa was a very serious person and you rarely ever had an issue with it. However, you were a couple and wanting to do couple things for your favorite holiday would’ve meant a lot to you.

“So, you wouldn’t even go with me to a haunted house?”

“I don’t see the appeal in literally paying someone to scare me. Aren’t your friends into all that stuff too? I say you should go with them.”

The fact that he wouldn’t even entertain the thought of having a little fun with you made you sad enough but for him to just pawn you off to your friends so he didn’t have to participate made you feel even more disappointed.

“Alright then Hwa, I guess I will.” You said sighing to yourself as you walked away from him.

----------

You decided that no matter how Seonghwa felt, you weren’t going to let his lack of excitement ruin your October. You even made sure he was aware of that the day you visited the Halloween store, leaving with nearly four bags full of decorations that he helped you carry home.

When October 1st arrived, your mind had already begun to wonder about what costume you wanted to get this year. Not wanting to hear Seonghwa shoot down your couple costume ideas you decided to not even mention it to him to save yourself the disappointment. Luckily, most of your friends were eager for the holiday just like you, one afternoon as you all hung out at a coffee shop, you vented to them about your problem with Seonghwa. You added in that you were a bit sad you couldn’t live out your couple costume dream with him by going as Jack and Sally from the Nightmare Before Christmas, a movie even Seonghwa knew was your favorite.

“Well I don’t have a costume picked out yet and I know that movie, I wouldn’t mind dressing up with you if you want?” Your eyes lit up at your friend Hongjoong’s suggestion. He wasn’t as tall as your boyfriend to be able to fit the costume as good but he was taller than you and that was enough.

A few days later, Seonghwa had just gotten home, walking in as you were grabbing your keys. “Oh? Are you leaving?” He asked, you never left the house that late on a Tuesday night. 

“Oh, yeah I forgot to tell you my friends and I are going costume shopping. Don’t worry I won’t be out long and your food is on the stove.” You placed a quick kiss on his cheek before walking out the door. He stood there a bit shocked by your exit, but brushed it off. It’s not like it was an everyday thing.

It wasn’t until the week before Halloween that Seonghwa had begun to get frustrated. You had spent nearly every weekend either inviting your friends over or going to their apartments for Halloween baking or scary movies while he kept to himself. The first few times you told him it would be nice if he tagged along but he refused and after the third rejection you stopped asking. But now, he felt left out. Seonghwa swore to himself if you asked him again, he would accept this time, he just missed spending time with you. But you never asked.

The day before Halloween, Seonghwa was scrolling through his feed when he saw an ad for a haunted house that was only open that night and Halloween and he remembered you asking him if he’d go to one, regretting his words, he decided he should be the one to ask you this time.

He walked into the bedroom where you were adjusting your red wig onto your head. “Hey baby”, he started, sitting on the edge of the bed as he watched you at your vanity. “I know you probably have plans with your friends but...I would like to take you somewhere tomorrow night...to make up for everything I’ve missed this past month.” You saw his reflection in the mirror in front of you and you could tell how bad he was feeling, he never looked that sad.

“Where did you want to go?” You asked, turning to look at him directly.

He began telling you about the haunted house he had found but when he noticed your expression change from curiosity to a pout he stopped, knowing you had something to say.

“I...I’m sorry baby but...my friends and I are actually going there tonight. That’s why I’m all dressed up.” You said, spreading your arms to display your Sally costume to him.

At that moment, Seonghwa felt even more embarrassed of himself realizing he never even bothered to ask you what costume you had chosen and what your plans were for that night. He sat there staring at you for a few minutes, not knowing what to say to you. Before he could find the words, there was a knock on your door. You stood up, looking down at your boyfriend as his head hung slightly. “Maybe, we can try again next year?” You said, placing a kiss on his head before walking to the door to let your friends in.

When Seonghwa finally joined he looked over all your friends in their costumes, the laughter that filled the room made him feel jealous that he wasn’t apart of it. He felt his heart nearly drop as his eyes landed on your friend dressed as your cinematic lover. Even with the round mask covering his face, he knew it was Hongjoong. He always trusted him as your friend and he knew you had every right to dress up with any of your friends that you wanted but never did he expect to see this. As you all begun to head out you noticed as your boyfriend silently retreated back to the bedroom without telling you goodbye.

“Baby...Are you okay?” You asked, slowly stepping into the room to see him sitting in his previous position. He could barely even look you in the eyes.

“I’m sorry I didn’t try harder, I knew how much all this meant to you and it’s my fault for not wanting to be apart of it. But...seeing you and Hongjoong made me realize how much I really missed out on.” You caressed his cheek as he spoke, you knew he meant his apology but you weren’t sure how to comfort him. You didn’t want to leave him home all alone to feel bad while you went out with your friends. But then you had an idea, your body shot up as Seonghwa looked at you in surprise. 

“I think I may have an idea...wait here!” you said and before he could question you, you were gone. He could hear muffled exchanges as you and Hongjoong talked in the living room, right as he stood up to go check on you, you opened the door to reveal yourself and Hongjoong’s costume mask and jacket in your hands. “Try these on!” You said, extending the items to him.

“Is...is Hongjoong okay with this?” He asked, hesitating as he lifted up the jacket, inspecting it slightly. 

“Mhhm.” You said, smiling back at him as you two heard Hongjoong’s voice coming down the hallway.

“Oh I’m fine with that.” He chimed. “It’s this I’m not too sure about.” He said, holding out his black and white striped costume pants to Seonghwa as he stood there in his white shirt and gray boxers.

“T...they may be too...short for me.” Seonghwa said, earning a small glare from your friend.

“I’m sure you can squeeze into them, my love. Now change quickly while I help Hongjoong with his new costume.” You said, pushing the smaller boy out as you closed the door behind you.

After fumbling with the other boy’s pants for a few minutes, (omfg that sentence did not come out right hjsjshdkhs) Seonghwa joined you two in the bathroom biting back a laugh as he looked over Hongjoong.

A large white bed sheet and a pair of Seonghwa’s white pants now adorned his body along with a thick velvet pink choker you had worn a few times that matched a dress you owned, and to top it all off, two small bathroom towels tied to his hair with your hair bands.

All Hongjoong could do was glare at the taller male, as he stood letting you adjust the costume around him. “I let you dress me as the dog to help your relationship, I just want you both to know that you owe me your lives.” You smiled as you placed the red clown nose that you had draw a jack-o-lantern face on, on his nose.

“Zero is the best character in the entire movie, it’s not that bad.” You laughed, clapping your hands together. “Anyways, now we can go!”

--------

As you three exited your car to meet up with your friends, you looked over the two boys standing in front of you, Seonghwa’s pants looking more like high waters and Hongjoong’s cuffed nearly three times over to reach his ankle. “Can I ask you guys something?” You smirked as they looked back at you expectantly.

“How does it feel to be wearing each other’s pants?” You laughed, tears nearly ruining your face paint as you dodged Hongjoong’s bedsheet clad arms that were swatting at you playfully.

Once you found your friends you all got in line together, you rested your head on Seonghwa’s arm as you waited, the feeling of having your boyfriend next to you tonight made you feel so happy and the feeling of you in Seonghwa’s arms made him even happier. The entire haunted house was exactly what you had expected. You nearly threw yourself into Seonghwa’s chest every time a zombie got too close to you. Your boyfriend on the other hand practically laughed throughout the entire thing, finding the setups and actors to be quite amusing.

As you walked back to your vehicles Hongjoong told you he was going to ride with your other friends to another haunted house if you two wanted to join but you declined, Seonghwa looking at you confused as you waved bye to your friends getting into your car instead.

“Love, why did you say no?” He asked, hoping he hadn’t ruined your night.

“Because, I want to spend tonight and Halloween night with my boyfriend... If he wants to...” You said your eyes moving to look at him slowly.

“O..Oh, of course I do! But, I don’t want you to miss out on anything with your-”

“I’m not missing out on anything.” You interrupted him. “I wanted to spend Halloween with you and that’s what we’re going to do. We can go home and watch scary movies while we make snacks and I can listen to you rant about the dumb characters and their bad choices.” You suggested as you two pulled out of the parking lot.

“Maybe we can even carve some pumpkins.” Seonghwa added making you giggle as he smiled at you, his gaze focusing back on the road as he drove you two home. 

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

the scariest part about this story is that seonghwa is driving yall home and he doesn’t even have a driver’s license

[thebluesideofmyworld]

The Clues - A Solangelo One-Shot

Summary: The five times when Nico's friends should have realized that he had a boyfriend. And the one time when his sister asked him about it.

(Hint: not all of them realized it, though. At least, not Percy.)

Word count: 2400 words | Read on AO3

Author’s Notes: So YEARS ago, I read a fic from another fandom on livejournal, titled The Power of Deduction. I really loved the fic, but unfortunately, the writer deleted their livejournal account, so I couldn't give the link to said fic. Anyway, I got the inspiration for this one-shot from that fic. I hope that you guys will like it :)

***

[1. the keychain]

Leo didn’t usually go shopping with Nico. But somehow, Nico was the only one available to drive him that day. And Leo was desperate. Calypso’s birthday was tomorrow and Leo knew that if he didn’t come up with a great present, he might just have to say goodbye to any chance to date the girl that he’s been crazy about for the last few months.

After almost an hour, Leo decided that the scarf that he was holding was decent enough for a birthday present. Holding the paper bag with the scarf in it, he looked for Nico. He found his friend standing in a corner, near a stand that held various keychains. As Leo walked closer, he saw that Nico was holding a yellow sunflower keychain, examining it closely.

“You like that one?”

Nico startled, and quickly put the keychain back.

Leo chuckled. “It’s okay,” he said. “If you like it, you can buy it, you know. I mean, it doesn’t really suit your doom-and-gloom aesthetic. But it’s still a cool one.”

Nico shook his head. “No… No… It’s just… It’s reminded me of someone.”

“Well, whoever that person is, now you know what to get them for Christmas.”

Nico huffed and ran a hand over his hair. “Whatever, Valdez. You got what you want?”

Leo grinned, and lifted up the paper bag. “Yup. Got it.”

“Okay. Let’s get out of here, then.”

***

[2. the sweatshirt]

“What do you want, Percy?!”

Percy returned Nico’s glare with a grin. A grumpy Nico that woke up earlier than he really had to wasn’t something that unfamiliar for him.

“Hey, don’t kill the messenger,” he said. “I’m here because my mom sent me. She wanted to cook that Italian rice thing-“

“It’s called risotto.”

Percy shrugged his shoulders. “You know what I meant. But she’s running out of a few ingredients so maybe you can lend us some?”

“Why can’t you go and get it from a supermarket as any normal people would do?”

“And risk myself of getting the wrong stuff?” Percy grinned got just a bit wider as he showed a small piece of paper with Sally’s neat handwriting on it. “Please?”

Nico groaned but he snatched the paper from Percy’s hand. “You’re lucky that I love your mom,” he mumbled as he turned around and walked away from the door.

“Well, what can I say? Everybody loves my mom,” Percy said as he invited himself in. He let the door closed with a soft click behind him. As he followed Nico to the kitchen, he felt like there was something different with his cousin. He took a seat on one of the high stools by the kitchen island. Percy scrunched his brows as he watched Nico who was going through his cabinets.

“Hey, Nico. Are you losing weight?”

Nico glanced at Percy over his shoulder, and went back to pull something from his cabinet. “I don’t think so. Why do you ask?”

“That sweatshirt looked way too big for you.”

Nico quickly turned around. He seemed more awake now than before with his wide eyes staring at Percy. “What?”

That’s when Percy realized what it was that made Nico look different. “Oh! Maybe because you got yourself the wrong size for the sweatshirt. You can still return it if you want to.”

Percy was pretty sure that the sweatshirt was new, as he knew that Nico’s clothing palette was ranged from black to dark grey. So a fluffy sky-blue sweatshirt was definitely something new.

Percy watched in amusement as Nico’s cheeks quickly turned into dark cherry color.

“Hey, relax, dude! It’s okay to try something new. And that color looks good on you!”

Nico mumbled something that Percy didn’t catch, but then he shoved a paper bag to Percy.

“Here. Everything that your mom needs in the bag. Now get out of my apartment.”

***

[3. the dog]

It was a nice afternoon in September. It wasn’t too cold yet, so Annabeth decided to sit in the park with her coffee and her new book. It was one of the rare times when she finished early with her project, so she had a bit of spare time before she had to deal with another client.

She was turning another page of the book when she heard a familiar voice.

“Hey, not so fast, girl!”

Annabeth lifted her head up, and turned to where the voice came from. And she saw Nico. It was a pleasant surprise, to see Nico. But to see Nico chasing a dog? That’s also a pleasant surprise, but totally unexpected.

As if on cue, a corgi stopped in front of Annabeth. The dog stared at Annabeth with the cutest expression, Annabeth couldn’t help herself from chuckling and bent down to give the dog a pet. She lifted her head back up when the sound of footsteps coming closer stopped near her.

“Hey, Nico! Nice to see you here.”

“Annabeth. Good to see you too,” Nico returned the greeting along with a small but warm smile.

“I didn’t know that you have a dog,” Annabeth said as Nico lifted the corgi up and pet its head.

“Oh, it’s not mine,” Nico said as he put the dog back. “Buttercup is… my friend’s dog. I’m just helping him while he’s away for a conference.”

Annabeth noticed the way Nico stuttered just a bit when saying my friend.

“Your friend? A friend at work?”

“Uhm. Not really,” Nico said but kept his eyes at the dog that he was petting. He stood up and shrugged his shoulders. “Just…a friend, you know.”

Annabeth was an observer. That’s why she knew from the way Nico avoiding her eyes and the slight hesitation in his voice that he didn’t really want to talk about this friend.

“Well, tell your friend that he got a really adorable dog,” Annabeth said, smiling at him.

Nico returned the smile and Annabeth realized something else. The smile looked…different. Looked more genuine.

The corgi barked, and started walking away from them. Annabeth gestured with her chin. “You better follow her if you don’t want to lose her.”

Nico nodded as he shoved his hands into the pocket of his jacket. “Yeah. So. I’ll see you around, Annabeth.”

Annabeth watched as Nico walked in wide steps, trying not to lose the dog.

It was a cute dog, Annabeth thought as she went back to her book.

***

[4. the toothbrush]

Jason swallowed the aspirin along with one big gulp of water. He sighed, and silently cursed the project that had kept him awake until an ungodly hour last night. He put the aspirin back in the cabinet and closed the door.

That’s when he saw it. There were two toothbrushes in the holder on the sink. He knew that the black one is Nico’s. But the yellow one?

Jason shrugged his shoulders and left the bathroom. He made his way to the living area of the apartment, where Nico was sitting cross-legged on the couch.

“Did you find the aspirin?” Nico asked, not lifting his eyes up from the screen of his laptop.

Jason hummed a confirmation. “I’m gonna get going now. Thanks for letting me crash here last night, Neeks.”

“Anytime, Jase,”

Jason walked to the door while putting on his jacket. He opened the door, but before he stepped out, he turned his head to Nico.

“Hey, Neeks? Did Hazel stay the night here recently?”

This time Nico looked up at Jason. He pushed up the reading glasses that were perched on his nose.

“Uh… Yeah? But it was like… five or six weeks ago? She’s been really busy. Why do you ask?”

“Oh, nothing,” Jason shrugged a shoulder. “Just the toothbrush.”

“Huh?” Nico looked positively confused now. “The toothbrush?”

“I mean, the other toothbrush must be hers, right? Anyway, I’ll see you, Neeks. Bye!”

When Jason walked into his car, he already forgot about the toothbrush.

***

[5. the smile]

“So, how’s life?” Piper asked once they got seated in the café.

In front of her, Nico shrugged his shoulders. He took off his jacket. “Nothing’s new at work. You know, same old. Mr. D is still annoying. And so is Sherman. But at least we know we can always count on Mitchell to keep things running smoothly as the way they should be.”

Piper hummed. They started talking about other stuff, their mutual friends, families and others, the kind of conversation that they usually had whenever they had a chance for their monthly coffee meeting.

“You know…” Piper said as she lifted her cup of latte. “You seemed a bit…different lately.”

Nico raised an eyebrow. “Different? What do you mean?”

“I mean-“

“No. I am not losing weight.”

Piper’s eyes widened, and the next second, she laughed. “What? No! It wasn’t it. You don’t look like you’re losing weight. Why did you say so?”

Nico rolled his eyes. “Percy thought so.”

Piper smiled. “No. I mean, you do look different.”

“What kind of different?”

“A good kind of different.”

“Oh?”

Piper hummed. “You look happier. Your smile is more…genuine.”

Nico blinked. Piper watched in amusement as his cheeks turned a shade darker.

“Isn’t it supposed to be a good thing?” Nico asked.

“It is, Neeks. It is really nice to see you happy.”

Nico shrugged his shoulders. “Thanks, I guess?”

“Any particular reason for that, though?”

Nico looked away from Piper, but the furious dark-cherry color of his cheeks couldn’t be hidden. Piper chuckled. A blushing Nico wasn’t something that people see every day.

“Well, anyway,” Piper said. “Have I told you the latest incident happen to Leo?”

Nico turned his head back to Piper. Piper could see the relief in his eyes.

“No. I’m not actually surprised that he had another incident. But please, do tell me about it.”

Piper started telling the story of how Leo somehow made the smoke alarm in his apartment went off. Again. For the third time in one month. And as they talked about their mutual friends, their families, their work and other stuff, Piper couldn’t help but marvel, at how nice it was to see Nico looked happier, to see how his smile was wider and brighter.

***

[+1. the body wash]

It’s a rare weekend where Hazel had some spare time from her graduate study so she could spend the night at Nico’s apartment. It’s been almost two months since the last time they had a sibling bonding-night. So tonight, while Hazel was taking a shower, Nico prepared the fluffiest blankets and pillows on his couch, ready for a night of watching movies and talking about everything and anything with his sister.

Nico was lounging on the couch, watching the banter between Jake Peralta and his colleagues when Hazel stepped into the room. She sat next to Nico, hair still damped from the shower that she just took. Without saying anything, Hazel placed a bottle of body wash on the coffee table.

“This isn’t yours, isn’t it?”

The tone of her voice made Nico turned his head from the TV screen to the bottle. He gasped a little once his eyes saw the bottle.

“And there’s also the shampoo, that I’m pretty sure is not yours.”

“Well, they’re in my bathroom, right?” Nico asked, voice a pitch higher than usual. Even though he’s facing Hazel, his eyes darted from the bottle to the space next to Hazel.

“Nico, you’re not answering my question.”

Nico made a small strangled sound. “What? I’m not allowed to try new stuff?”

“Again, you’re not exactly answering my question. And you are allowed to try new stuff. But I don’t think that’s the case.”

“Hmph.”

“And there were two toothbrushes on the sink.”

Nico looked away, stubbornly fixed his gaze at the TV screen.

“Okay.  You're right. Those stuff are not mine,” he mumbled, still refusing to look at Hazel.

Hazel smiled. She shifted closer to Nico and put gently put her hand on his brother’s shoulder. “Hey, it’s okay. I mean, you look happier since the last time I saw you. Piper and Annabeth also said the same thing.”

Nico’s head snapped towards her. “They said what, now?”

“They said you look happier. And I agree. I mean, even I can see it through our video calls, Neeks. That you look happier. You smile a lot more and your smile is brighter.”

Nico’s cheeks were tinted in red now that he was blushing. “Is it that obvious?”

Hazel let out a small laugh. “Oh come on. I’ve told you. I, I mean all of us, we’re happy to see you happy.” She paused. Her smile turned into more like a teasing smirk now.

“But my guess is, whoever the owner of that is,” she gestured to the bottle on the coffee table, “Is he the one responsible for those smiles of yours?” She raised her eyebrows knowingly.

Nico huffed and rolled his eyes. But he took his phone from the end table next to the couch. Hazel waited as he scrolled through his phone. Just a few seconds later, Nico handed his phone to Hazel.

Hazel took it and looked at the screen. There was a picture of a guy, smiling brightly while holding a corgi close to him. His blond curly hair was a nice contrast to the sky-blue sweatshirt that he was wearing. Even through the phone screen, Hazel could see that the blue eyes were also smiling.

“His name is Will. Will Solace,” Nico said. “He’s doing his residency now, and he wants to be a pediatrician. Because he loves kids. And dogs. He loves dogs. And he smells like sunshine.”

Hazel smiled as she gave the phone back to Nico.

“He sounds lovely.”

Nico let out a huff as he took the phone. “He’s actually annoying. And he loves Star Wars more than he should.”

Still, Hazel could see the fond expression on his face as he looked at the phone.

“Well, does he make you happy though?”

Nico stayed quiet for a while, as he kept his eyes on his phone. But Hazel could see the soft smile and look of adoration in Nico’s eyes.

Nico slowly lifted his head up, meeting Hazel’s eyes.

His eyes twinkled and there was the softest of a smile painted on his lips as he answered Hazel.

“Yes, he does. He makes me really happy”

***

Author’s Notes:

1. Thank you for reading :D

2. Any notes (likes, reblog, replies or a message to me) are cherished so much

[the-last-ghost]

As promised, Chapter 1 of my new story, The Woodsman. I hope that you all enjoy it. Please, like, share, or comment away; I appreciate it all and my inbox is always open if you ever have any questions, comments, concerns, or requests. Thank you all for the support and putting up with my hectic posting!

The Woodsman

 Introduction:

            Many stories usually begin when two strangers meet, lost family is reunited, true love is found, or best friends join together, all to set out on some epic quest… And just like any fairytale, it always ends with them living happily ever after.

           But what of those for whom the story wasn’t the focus? What about their happy ending? Is their story any less important? The Prince may find his true love, but what about his trusted guard who protected him along the way? The shepherds daughter runs away to a life of wonder at sea with a Captain who promised her adventure, but what of her dearest friend back home who helped her get away?

           The tragic part is that you will never really hear their stories. It is often assumed that they go back to what they did before, or they found some measure of peace and contentment with how the story ends. But sometimes… Sometimes they are not happy with how things end; perhaps their story is not quite over, not yet. So, they set out again to try and find that little something in life that they have been searching for. Maybe, no matter how thrilling their life is after setting out again, just maybe there is no happy ending for them… Maybe their story does not get told because, who wants to hear about a tragedy after finding their own happily ever after?

           Still… The story goes on anyway…

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

Chapter 1: Farewell

           The tavern sat alone but proud at the last true crossroad along the Eastern edge of the Fanisa Forrest. Lights illuminated every window, their warm glow flickering out beneath the door, casting shadows and silhouettes everywhere one looked. The horses snorted and seemed to sway faintly as the sounds of music reached them. The sign by the door read, “The Hero’s Den” in fresh, red paint; but if you knew the area like me, you’d know that the true name is and has always been, “The Roads End.” For this is where many stories always seem to end…

           I make my way inside and am greeted warmly by my dear friends and have a full mug given to me by Sally, the serving girl who I know has been here for more years than I can count. At the long table in the center of the room, I hear hearty laughter bellowing out from Derrin, Viti, Greda, and the rest of the crew of the Horizons End as old jokes and new stories are traded around. As I take a seat at an empty table near the back, I watch as Sally runs drinks while dancing through the crowd, a smile filling her lips and a rosy glow filling her face as she locked eyes with Viti. Across from their table, Old Vern tells stories of his time before, “the wee lad” sought him out, asking for his help. I don’t even have to listen to know that Dahla is scolding him about how, “the wee lad” is finally back where he should be, as the true King, and that he should be shown respect… Before they both burst out laughing; no doubt going on about how crazy fate must be for their old friend to now be a king. All around me, I see friends, old and new alike, sitting side by side as they drink and make merry, telling the tallest tales as they simply enjoy being alive…

           Finally, my eyes drift up to the place of honor, the two “thrones” set nearest the hearth; clearly as a joke for they are still the most basic of the tavern’s chairs. Yet my eyes are drawn to those sitting there, my dear friend, the Lady Sasha, now my Queen. Next to the love of her life, Zain, the new and rightful King laughs as Captain Derrin goes on about how he had to rescue the King long ago from being pulled of his ship while fishing. This night is for them, friends and comrades all, drawn together from all across the land; for now their fight is over, and peace can finally be restored to the land. Tonight they make merry, for tomorrow they will be drawn into the trappings of court and all the other duties life will demand and many will all go their separate ways, but tonight, none of it matters for they are together and nothing can hurt them.

           I sit in my little corner of the room, watching and listening to the stories as the night goes on. Occasionally I share a respectful nod with some of the soldiers, a silent raised mug with a sailor, and a friendly wave across the room; but I hold back, for tonight is for them and I’ve no wish to ruin it… Eventually I watch as Captain Derrin makes his stumbling way atop his table as he rouses his crew into song after song, all while dancing drunkenly, much to everyone’s delight. They sing songs of old, songs of new, songs of the deeds that have been done and of the glory they have found; soon the songs mellow down, and the candles start burning low. The room is quiet for a while before I hear Viti’s voice signing slowly cut through the quiet of the night and I realize that it is their old farewell song for those they have lost at sea. I forgot that her voice could be so hauntingly beautiful…

 “Here we gather now,

In some far and distant town,

As we raise a mug of ale,

To those who’ve set sail…

 For tonight we live and laugh,

And wish you the very best,

For the sea, she’s come to claim you,

And may the stars guide your way.

 The Horizon, she is calling,

So my friend, be not afraid,

For though now you may be leaving,

We shall meet again someday.

 I will see you when it’s over,

On the Horizons End,

It may still yet be a long time,

For we never can know when…

 But we’ll drink ale by the barrel,

And catch up on all the tales!

So it’s goodbye for now, farewell,

Now hoist the flag and set sail!”

             As she sings, the crew all joins in and I see old friends share solemn looks, comrades raise their mugs, lovers hold each other closer… Sasha takes hold of the King’s hand…

           I finish off my drink and make my way for the door while they are distracted by the song and lost in their own thoughts. No one seems to notice as I don my cloak and rest my hat upon my head; I take a last look inside at them all, happy and together, before turning away into the night. I make my slow and quiet way to the stable and saddle up my horse, Vira, before guiding her toward the road and climbing into the saddle. It’s best that I leave now, lest I ruin this happiness I’ve helped them find.

           I’ve only been on the road for a brief moment when I hear a sign-song voice echoing faintly from the trees around me. “And just where do you think you are sneaking off to, hmm?” I sigh heavily and reign in Vira to a halt before saying softly, “Alara…” Suddenly behind me, I look over my shoulder to see her sitting daintily on the back half of my saddle, regal as if she were in some castle and not on horseback in the woods. “Of course you would be the one to see me leave. You can’t stop me, you know that. Not this time.” Without even looking my way, she replies, “You know that they are going to ask questions, right? They are all going to want to know why the ‘Savior of Lathuia’ just left without even saying goodbye…” Even as she says this, I can tell that that’s not really her concern. “Oh please,” I say, more spitefully than I intended, “We both know that they’ll understand why I left. And don’t call me ‘Savior’ because I know you remember what I had to do…” I trail off as I look away from her. “Fine then,” she says forcefully, and gently grabs my face, making me look into her piercing, amber eyes. “You are right. I know what you did, but I also know why too. Anyone who loves someone that much, is more than worthy of a second chance at happiness. So I ask you, what will She think about you leaving her now? After everything the two of you have been through together, you just decide to walk away?” I refuse to speak for a while, even as I feel a tear start to well up. “What is it you want, Fairy?” I know their kind well enough these days; they always want something from you… “Now, now,” she says, with mock offence, “There is no need for that. I am here because it seems that you are the only one not enjoying this little happily ever after… I want to know why.” I pull away from her grip, breaking free from her paralyzing gaze. “You know that I’m happy; thrilled even, with how things turned out. Sasha found her true love and is finally happy, actually happy, for the first time in a long time. And now she’s the Queen, no less! What, are you upset that I’ve forgotten to thank you for helping us? I apologize; thank you for everything, truly. Now please, let me be on my way.” I turn back forward and nudge Vira into a slow canter. As I do, Alara floats around in front of me, still sitting while in the air. “You love her, really love her… Don’t you? Of course… You hardly looked at them, but her… You couldn’t take your eyes from her all night.” Blasted fairies, you can’t get anything by them. “So what? You love her and now you are going to run away from it all? Is that your plan?” Refusing to even look at her, I continue on. “Fine! Yes, yes Alara, I do love her! I have since the moment we first met.” I bark out harshly, annoyed that she of all people is delving into my feelings like this. “And you know my story. You know it doesn’t have a happy ending; at least not anything like what they have now… But no, I’m not simply running away. The kingdom may be theirs and the people love them, but there are still many things out there that can end it; there are still many outside the kingdom that would gladly see them both gone.” I glance up at her briefly, and for a moment the look on her face was almost as if she came to a decision, but it’s so hard to tell with their kind.

           “So, you love her and are choosing to leaver her… All because you wish to set out and make sure that she stays safe and the lands are protected… That’s very noble of you…” She says the last, almost to herself. “If that is truly the case, then you know that this path with take you far and wide, through many long, difficult years.” I look her in the eyes and mockingly joke, “Well then, it would appear that the Seer was right after all. How was it that the prophecy went again?” I ask the last but continue on before she can say anything.

 “A warrior alone without a cause,

A sailor adrift without a ship,

A traveler lost with no stars to guide him,

A man destined to love that which cannot love him.

 You will climb to the heavens,

Descend into the darkest depths,

No land too wide or ocean to vast,

To travel forever to protect what you have lost.”

             We are both silent for a moment, remembering that night from long ago… “That sounds right too me; and you know just how far I would go for her… Besides, I would simply drive a wedge between the two of them if I remained behind. I’ll not ruin their chance at happiness; not after everything I went through to make it happen.”

           Alara watches me, her eyes glowing faintly. “You truly would protect this land from anything out of your love for her, wouldn’t you?” Though she says this aloud, I can tell she doesn’t need an answer. “Wonderful, then that is all that I needed to hear. For I am going to help you; or rather… She is…” Alara then nods to something behind me and as I turn to see, I watch as a woman steps gracefully from the trees; in the sudden fog that I never noticed roll in, it appears as if she is almost literally coming out of the trees… Her skin glows with the light of the moon itself, small, blooming flowers are entwined in her hair, and her gown is as vibrant a green as a springtime forest. “You’re…” My voice comes out shaking, slightly above a whisper. “I have gone by many names over the years, my son. For now though, you can call me Gianna.”

[perseusjackson-jasongrace]

Kingdom Collisions II

I've just finished a book and it made me cry so happily I thought I'd post a fanfic to commemorate it. Also I'm probably going to start an AWAE/AoGG account soon because I cannot fathom living my life without a space dedicated to my darling loves. Anyway that isn't relevant to the post. This is just a fun little fic I've been writing on the side to try incorporate more descriptions into my writing (I'm a known dialogue whore). I see fit to write it whenever I feel like, so updates may be far and few between, however I do hope you enjoy whatever does come out. I adore this moody ansgty side to jercy. It's been fun to explore.

Masterlist, cat-eye aquamarine

Leave me alone.

[we have known loneliness forever]

Why did I ever agree to this?

[so we do not quite know what it is like]

I never asked you to say yes!

[to want]

Fuck you.

[one another]

-lonliness is a two-sided conversation//badpoetry

Percy doesn't even look at his husband. Doesn't acknowledge his perfect hair, or blazing eyes, or how close they're sitting. He just stares directly out the car window, arms folded across his chest. The rolling hills and wild lavender dance past his vision as the car bounces along the gravel road. They are almost to their destination, to solid ground and quiet, peace. Despite the circumstances he is excited to be back at the cabin his family has owned for so many years. He relishes in the fact that he can escape somewhere that is untainted by the rest of his life. Throngs of people, and public demand, and never ending scrutiny. 

He is nothing short of pissed that he has to share his safe place with someone he despises so sweetly it is honey on his tongue to talk to them. But his mother had insisted if they were to act like a married couple they would have to go on a honeymoon and he had only agreed if he could choose the place. She wanted to send them to some private beach in Spain where they could pretend to be alone, oblivious to the paparazzi that were sure to follow, and the people who wanted to meet not one but two crown princes. It was his final stance that if he were being forced to spend time with his husband, it would at least be where he could enjoy it.

"Prince," A crackling voice says through the speakers.

Percy clicks a button on the arm rest, "Yes Mr James?"

"The security team has secured the area, would you like us to drop the bags off before you head inside or after?"

"Whenever suits you Mr James, I'm going for a walk."

Jason who had since then, fallen asleep, jolts awake as they go over a particularly bumpy area.

"And your husband Prince?"

"Ask him yourself, I'm sure he has much to say on the matter." Percy huffs, turning away.

"Prince Grace,"

Jason glares at Percy unimpressed with his dismissal and his rudeness towards the driver.

"Yes James sir?"

"Would you like your bags dropped off before or after you enter the area?"

"Before please, I feel it will help me settle in much easier if everything is already there."

Percy wants to scoff, who talks like that? This pretentious, stuck-up, goodie two-shoes is who. He wants to stick his tongue out, settle their rivalry like five year olds battling to see who can scowl for longer. Mostly, desperately he just wants to get out of this damn car. His leg bounces in time with the bumps, and his hands fidget in his lap. For all his princely training nobody ever managed to get him to sit perfectly still. His mother had finally given up and started carrying drawing pads and pencils wherever she went.

"Can you stop moving!" Jason growls.

"If it bothers you so much get out and walk." He spits back.

An eye roll is the reply but by then the car finally rumbles to a stop and a security detail is opening their doors.

"Princes,"

"Thank you Madison, Arlo." He manages to grit before he stomps off down the path and disappears into the woods.

"Where are you going?" He hears his husband yell. He doesn't bother to reply, someone will tell the Prince.

He kicks at the dark soil and pulls breath after breath into his lungs. He needs to calm down. Just then his ears catch the soft bubbling of a stream and he heads in the direction of the noise. The woods are quiet and cool. A soft breeze flutters between velvety leaves and needled pines, stirring the undergrowth. He wants to become one with the trees, become a branch that sways in greeting and grows friends, and feels the wind wrapping around it every evening. He just wants to stop being human for a little while. 

And then the stream is underneath him, soaking his fancy shoes and fine thread socks. He laughs, tugs them off and sits down in the middle of the cold, flowing water. He can feel it run into him like ice in his veins. He dips a finger in, then another, his whole hand and shudders at the smooth caress. It has been so long since he just got to be. Here in this little stream, pants soaking, hands turning blue he has never felt so faraway, out of his body. The world narrows to his fingertips, to the bead of water running down his ankle and joining its family once more. His brain is far and long forgotten, simply taking up space in his skull. He decides right then and there that if he ever comes back to this world he'll come back as a rock in the stream. To live in this beautiful, ever-moving world, where the cold is a kiss and you can never meet the same drop of water twice seems a good life indeed.

Just then he hears a rustle behind him. In an instant he’s on his feet, pulling a dagger from his suit jacket, a white-knuckled grip on the hilt.

"Whoever you are come out right now. I am not in the mood."

"Relax," A deep smooth voice says, "It's just me."

"Oh," He pulls his lips up in half disappointment, half relief it wasn't danger. "What do you want?"

"Mr James wants to know if you want five or ten of the guards here for the remainder of the time here."

"I want zero." He frowned, "I just want to be left in peace for the next few days."

"Well it's not an option so choose." Practical, always so practical.

"Leave five here, there's three other cabins about half a mile out on either side of ours that should be enough space. Everyone else can go home."

"Of course, I'll leave you to it then." Jason nods, stands there awkwardly for a moment longer and then disappears into the greenery once more.

Percy doesn't know what to do, doesn't know whether he should scream or cry or laugh.

He hadn't let himself think too hard about the events of the last few weeks. He had shoved every feeling but contempt and general dislike deep deep down into his cage and threw the key into the deepest parts of his ocean of thoughts. He wasn't sure he had the strength to unpack everything that had happened. When his mother had came to him all those weeks ago a heartbroken look in her eyes he knew whatever had happened would be nothing short of a disaster. Within the week he was promised to Crown Prince Jason Grace of Caelum and had been shoved into endless, meetings in which wedding arrangements and economic agreements had to be made.

He didn't even meet the Prince till the night before they were to be wed but by then Percy had despised the whole ordeal so intensely he hadn't any happiness or hope left in him to be kind to the Prince. And even if he did gave some it would have vanished completely upon their introduction. Jason looked at him with such calculating authority he had reminded Percy of an old tutor who thought children should be seen and not heard, and learn whatever was given to them without question. Jason had been stiff, and unyielding, and looked just as unhappy or even unhappier to be meeting him. At dinner Jason only spoke when spoken too, he didn't fidget even once, and worst of all he somehow still managed to charm his mother in about five seconds. One dimpled smile, and a cute story about his first time riding a horse and Queen Sally Jackson had accepted him as one of their own. Percy on the other hand was ignored the entire dinner, and on the walk in the gardens, at the insistence of his advisor, they hardly said two words to each other. Whether it was because Jason was lost in his own world or letting his displeasure for the whole ordeal simmer and burn into their company as Percy was he would never know. Either way the walk ended with a gruff, formal goodbye before they headed to their rooms.

Percy shuts out the politics of the arrangement and how his life has turned into this unrecognizable hurricane of chaos. He cups some of water in his hands and drops it over his curls. Letting it drip down his temples and catch on his collarbones. The coolness soothes him, as water has always done. Finally when his blood is no longer boiling with hidden anger he steps out of the stream, picking up his discarded shoes and socks and sinks into the earth with each step.

The cabin has a soft orange glow in the windows, and the many cars that escorted them have disappeared. He throws his belongings by the door, shucks his pants off and steps inside. The interior is just as he remembers it. Where the castle was dripping with opulence and royalty, the cabin was simple and stripped to the bare essentials. He had always loved the place. Even when he was little and his mom would whisk him away for a secret weekend. She would pack hoards of cookies and ice-cream and light the fire immediately. They would sit on the soft, fleece rug, her with a book and him with his sketchpad, sipping cocoa and spooning ice cream straight from the tub. Then he didn't have to be the prince one day inheriting the crown and she didn't have to be the Queen dealing with every problem under the sun. They hadn't been back in a good few years and he misses everything about the space. He is silently grateful that Jason has lit the fire. Something familiar to hold onto.

"You're back." The Golden Prince says.

"Astute observation." He rolls his eyes but the blonde doesn't look up from whatever he's doing.

Percy walks into the space, shrugging his suit jacket off and unbuttoning his wrinkled white shirt. He hears a sharp inhale and glances up to see a red cheeked Jason staring at him.

"Why aren't you wearing any pants?"

"Oh," He laughs softly, "Yea they were wet so I took them off before I came in."

He sputters and blushes, glancing down and then peaking back up again.

"You alright there Prince?"

Jason clears his throat, and Percy watches that golden Adam's apple bob. His skin prickles with heat and he knows its time to go.

"I'm going to shower. I'll give you a tour afterwards if you want."

"That would be great."

With a nod in which they both avoid eye contact and general pleasantry he disappears into one of the three rooms of the cabin.

His shower is scorching, water pummeling against tired muscles. His mother always says a good shower and steaming cup of tea can fix more problems than a board of professionals. So far she hasn't been wrong.

"Hey," He walks back into the lounge sometime later, looking down as he ties the string on his pants, "You ready?"

The house is dead quiet, save for the crackle of the fire and the soft wind that whispers in the grooves of the floor.

"Jason?" He frowns, moving to stand in front of him.

The Prince is fast asleep, head lolling forward, book still clasped in his hands. Percy takes in his husband for the first time. Unobstructed by either of their waking emotions, or the general hustling that had shrouded their lives. Jason, he grudgingly admits, is beautiful. His hair looks soft and golden, and when it catches the light of the fire he's sure it's made from sunshine itself. And his skin is such a startling contrast to Percy's rich brown colour. The Prince's body, now folded into an awkward bent angle as he lay across the velvet-cushioned chair, is lithe and graceful. Corded with muscle but somehow still smooth in a way only an uptight Prince with a personal trainer may ever achieve. At least, he thinks sordidly, if I'm forced to marry someone he is as darling as Jason.

The blonde stirs softly, hand twitching, before he settles back into his position. As awkward and unhappy the two are with each other Percy can't leave him here. He's sure the Prince will bend into a chair himself if he slept like that all night long. So he gently taps his husband's shoulder, waking him almost immediately. Jason has never been a particularly heavy sleeper, and it is worse when he finds himself in a place he doesn't know. He blinks up at the world, blue eyes bright. They reminds Percy of the cat-eye aquamarine, the gemstone sat at the base of every crown ever made for his kingdom. He wonders what it says that the colour of his husband's eyes are also the colour he most associates with home. Just as quickly he expels those thoughts, content to bask in his clear dispassion and irritation for as long as this should last.

Jason scrubs a hand over his face, "Sorry you wanted to take me on a tour?"

"No, no there's time for that tomorrow. Why don't you head up to bed."

"Oh, okay. Goodnight then,"

"Goodnight Prince," He says stiffly.

"Sleep easy."

A nod in return and they both retire to their rooms, content to put the last week far behind them. Bury it under dreams, and hopes, and the promise of a tomorrow where nothing has tarnished it yet.

Percy left his window open, watched the tree outside it sway gently. Maybe tomorrow he would climb it and become acquainted with the birds in the nest.

He falls asleep, finally, to the chirp of crickets and the soft rustle of whispering leaves.

[introvertguide]

M*A*S*H (1970); AFI #54

The next film on the AFI List is what is often called a dark comedy, M*A*S*H (1970). This was a highly rated movie by critics although it was overshadowed by Patton that came out the same year. The film earned nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Editing while winning for Best Screenplay. This is the first major feature length film for director Robert Altman after years spent directing for television. This experience is very apparent because the film experience is like binge watching webisodes online. Many short stories that come together around a group of characters in a specific setting. I want to go over the story before any further critique and I will break it down like episodes of a TV show. Oh yeah...

SPOILER ALERT!!! THERE IS A LOT TO THIS FILM SO REVIELING THE PLOT WON’T REALLY SPOIL THE EXPERIENCE, BUT I WANT TO BE SURE TO WARN ANYBODY BEFORE I START SPOILING DETAILS!!!

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The film starts with the well known helicopters flying in with wounded soldiers with the theme of “Suicide is Painless.” These same shots were either used or simulated for the beginning of the television show. The tone is set to be a rather somber war film that deals with injuries and death in battle...until one of the groups moving the stretchers falls over and the tone becomes uncertain. 

We then meet two new surgeons that are assigned to the 4077 unit. They are Captain Hawkeye Pierce (Donald Sutherland) and Captain Duke Forrest (Tom Skerritt). They are insubordinate smart aleks who take a jeep without a driver and go off to the medical outpost where they are assigned. They immediately run into Major Burns (Robert Duvall) with whom they share an officer’s tent. Duke and Hawkeye have a rule breaking style that does not mesh with the extremely strict and religious Major. The two immediately ask for the Major to be moved. They get a new tent mate in Captain Trapper McIntyre and we have our three doctors. Also in the camp are Colonel Blake (Roger Bowen), Major “Hot Lips” Houlihan (Sally Kellerman), the dentist “Painless” (John Schuck), and Lieutenant “Dish” (Joann Pflug).

The first situation is dealing with Burns. He is indoctrinating a local teen by having him read the bible. Not really too bad. The man is annoying and I couldn’t remember why he got such a bad rap. However, he blames an assistant (who is not a nurse and played by Bud Cort) for the death of a soldier when the man was going to die anyway, and Trapper takes exception and punches Burns in the face. Burns then starts to court the new Major and the three docs broadcast them being intimate over the loudspeaker. She tells Burns to kiss her hot lips and gains her nickname. Hawkeye rags on Burns about the incident until the Major attacks the Captain and Burns is taken away for psychiatric discharge. The three doctors respect Houlihan’s nursing skills, but they still really hate her neurotic adherence to the rules.

The next situation involves the dentist, Painless, who was unable to perform sexually with a visiting nurse so he believes he is gay and wants to kill himself. The doctors form a scheme to give the dentist a pill that will knock him out and also give him an erection (like a Cialis sleeping pill). Painless believes the pill will kill him and everyone says their goodbyes. All the surgeons have dinner together in a scene reminiscent of the last supper and then Painless is given his pill and lays down in a coffin while a reprise of “Suicide is Painless” plays in the background. Once Painless is out, a good looking nurse who is about to leave for home, Lieutenant Dish, is convinced to have sex with the dentist to convince him he is not gay. It works and the Lieutenant leaves in the morning and the dentist changes his mind about dying.

There is a brief interlude where the docs wonder if Hot Lips is a natural blond. To find out, they set up a scheme in which they drop open the side of a shower tent while the Major is there so they can see her pubic hair and compare. It is a rather mean prank that the whole camp is in on, and Houlihan goes to Colonel Blake and complains that he lets the surgeons get away with everything. He tells her to get out because he is sleeping with a nurse and drinking alcohol that was brought in by the three doctors.

The third situation involves Trapper and Hawkeye going off to Japan to perform emergency surgery on the son of somebody with influence. While there, they also use the facility to help a baby of one of the local prostitutes. They are caught with the possibility of legal repercussions, but blackmail the local officer with pictures of him with the prostitute. They get their way and are able to go back to the 4077. When they get back, it turns out that Duke has been sleeping with Hot Lips because he likes blondes.

The final situation is a little out of the blue but perhaps the most well known aspect of the film. The 4077 is challenged to a football game by local evacuation unit 325. The two camps both get ringers to play as there is a $5000 wager on the game. The 4077 holds back their ringer for the first half and sabotage the best players of the 325th so they can increase the wager and the odds at halftime. It works and the 4077 bring in their ringer and are able to win on the last play.

The end is very much like the beginning in that Hawkeye and Duke are given their papers to go home and they steal the same Jeep to leave together. There are no closing credits but the actors are all mentioned on an overhead announcement that breaks the 4th wall of the film. Very creative and a pretty satisfying ending.

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Like I said at the beginning, this doesn’t really feel like a film but more of a series of episodes. It is no wonder that it translated so well to television and became one of the most popular shows of all time. There was only one actor that went from the movie to the TV show and that was Colonel Blake’s secretary known as Radar, who was played by Gary Burghoff. This is one of the few films on the AFI list that you can watch in parts or step away from and not really miss anything. It was a lot different from anything that had been done before, but it does seem a little incohesive.

My mom is not a fan of this film specifically because of the way that these three doctors treat everyone else. Major Burns does not really deserve his fate and the nurses are constantly used for their sex appeal. The three are incredibly mesogenistic, Duke is kind of racist when there is a discussion of a black man staying in their tent, and Painless would rather die than possibly live his life as a gay man. All of these characters are in a horrible situation, but the audience is supposed to automatically favor the flippant care-free doctors. Burns and Houlihan are not really played out as terrible people but we are supposed to laugh as these surgeons torture them. The joke really doesn’t hold up.

I really think that this movie is a great time capsule for the time period. Men were being drafted to go off to war and it was believed that they were being stripped of their humanity and turned into killers. Vietnam was a war that many Americans didn’t want to be a part of so the idea that the war experience could be good with the right attitude appealed to many. The graphic nature of the surgery scenes made the situation feel real so the movie going audience cheered for those men who could do their job while keeping their sanity and their frat boy sense of humor intact. Again, that is not the humor of the nation currently so the gags don’t really hold up. It does give the viewer a glance into the mindset of the audience at the time.

After Nashville, I don’t have that much to say about the cinematography. Altman definitely has wide shots in which a lot is happening, but it is set at a small army camp in which it is hard to tell the actors in uniform apart. A lot of the action is lost. Also, there are far fewer characters in this film than in Nashville. Altman’s TV roots are much more evident in this film. That being said, the constant change really helps to move the movie along and I would say it is up with Raiders of the Lost Ark as far as quick pace.

So does this film deserve to be on the AFI list? I’m actually going to say no. The TV show that was inspired by this film made for some of the best episodic story telling on the small screen, but you can’t really give that to this film. The comedy really doesn’t hold up and the lack of any cohesive story lasting more than 15 minutes is very detrimental. Would I recommend it? Yes I would. It is fun and a pretty easy watch. I am really just not that sure how it got on the AFI list. It wasn’t highly awarded and many people don’t know there even was a movie before the TV show. It is an interesting bit of history, but it is no big deal if you skip this one. Watch the TV show instead.