#artemis: you’re lying she didn’t

[coffeebooh]

listen… yk i said i didn’t want to see drama between artemis and zee/m’gann but the idea that mary might tell a captured by apokolypse artemis the truth would be so… it would somehow be poetic idk

[sixosix]

gojo satoru: unfortunately a keeper

# fluff, this is not angst artemis :/, satoru the smooth talker (gross), wc 875

“satoru, why do you like me?”

after spending the day with satoru and his students, both you and your boyfriend are lying on the bed, spread out and interwoven with each other’s limbs. you bet that satoru isn’t tired, but you are—and he’s always been a little too clingy so of course, he’s beside you.

“hm?” satoru has his eyes open even in the darkness of the room, and you can tell by the way you see the telltale twinkle of diamonds when you squint. “why do i like you?”

he studies the side of your face while you pointedly avoid his eyes. but the tone he says it with—why are you even asking that, silly?—makes you want to look back.

it sounds like a sad question; like the start of something horrible and doubtful, but if you’re not able to do this right with satoru, then you’d rather know now before you fall deeper and deeper for a dangerous man like him.

earlier, nobara snatched you from the rest of the boys and led you to an ice cream shop. she warned them that if they follow both of you and eavesdrop—especially you, sensei—she will hit their heads with her hammer. it’s not gonna be the squeaky one.

she talked to you and said she wants to have some alone time with the only other sensible one in the group (even though you aren’t even part of their group). then, she asked you why you love gojo-sensei—a simple question for someone in a relationship.

it would be easy to answer her, right? you’ve been with satoru for weeks now, going on a tangent about what you love about him should come easy. naturally.

and yet you found yourself at a loss for words.

you were nervous at that time, you remember. head spinning with nonsense because you never imagined you’d be stumped with such a simple question. “i… i love satoru. i just—love him?”

“yeah, but why?”

“i…? i don’t know—that’s a hard question. do i need a reason?”

why do you love satoru?

nobara’s eyes widened. genuine surprise broke across her face as if she saw you in a new light.

“okay, maybe i doubted sensei too much,” nobara chuckled, still in disbelief. you still don’t understand what she thought you said that made her doubts disappear. “i didn’t expect you love sensei that much. i mean, i know he looks good, that’s what all the ladies say, but you—”

and now you’re here lying next to satoru, reeling with confusion.

you stare at satoru. “is there a reason why you love me?”

satoru takes a sharp intake of breath as if he’s ready to recite an essay but then cuts himself off before he can even get a word out. all that comes out is: “huh.”

your stomach drops, brows furrowing at his underwhelming answer. no, it doesn’t even sound like an answer; it sounds like a revelation to his answer.

you still don’t understand why nobara thought you composed sonnets about your undying love for your boyfriend, even though you couldn’t think of an answer. because it doesn’t feel that way right now.

“i can’t think of a specific reason,” satoru admits, shuffling closer to you. you can feel a large hand cupping the side of your face, his thumb restless with tracing shapes on your skin. sometimes you forget that this is a side of satoru that only you can have—because no one else can literally touch him. “there are a lot of specific reasons when it comes to you.”

“then why can’t you tell me?”

you expect him to crack a joke to ease the tension, like he always does when things get too much. instead, he hums.

“i don’t love you because of the color of your eyes, or the way you say my name, or the way you look when you wear my shirt—i grew to love those because it’s from you.” and satoru has the nerve to say it so casually, while your heart is pounding and your mind is at point blank.

“that’s—”

“remember when we first met? you told me, to my face,” satoru clears his throat, readying a dramatic recreation, “through heaven and earth, you alone are the honored one—to kiss my fucking ass.”

“oh my god,” you say, mortified. “why do you even remember that?”

satoru ignores your question, recalling your embarrassing first impression with reverence. “and after that, i just knew. and i told myself: that one. i want that one.”

his words process in your head. “you like me because i’m an asshole to you?”

satoru laughs, pinching your cheek. “no, dummy! though, it’s kinda hot when you do—”

“gross.”

“—i just love you,” satoru finishes, and smiles lazily at you, all teeth as white as his soft hair. “because of everything and also because of nothing. do i need a reason other than that?”

your wide-eyed staring makes him grin wider, and you hide your face on his chest as he laughs and coos at your reaction.

you smack his chest. “since when were you such a smooth talker?”

“since i found out you make cute faces when i do.”

…maybe you’re already in too deep.

[dccomicsimagines]

The Potty Mouth - Dick Grayson x Reader

Warning - Swear words and adult themes related to said swearing are ahead!

Requested by Anon - dick grayson!robin x reader where reader is very loud and gets excited easily, also has a bad potty mouth and robin finds it hilarious whenever reader is roasting somebody or upsetting kaldur with their colorful language and jokes

***

Dick moaned, rubbing his head as he sat up. The ground was cold and hard beneath him. The truck they had been driving was several feet away, rolled on it’s side. Deep tire tracks embedded the ditch they crashed in. 

“Is everyone okay?” Dick called out. He slowly got to his feet. Pain flared throughout his whole body, but no broken bones. Just bruises. 

“I’m fine,” Artemis said as she crawled out the window of the truck. “Might have a bit of whiplash.” She rubbed her neck.

Dick nodded, moving toward the truck. “KF? (Y/N)?” He saw a shoe trapped under the truck. His heart flew into his throat before he saw it wasn’t attached to a body. He sighed in relief. “Any sign of the thugs we were following?”

Artemis looked around, but the road was empty. “Gone.” She sighed, closing her eyes and sank to the ground. 

“Try to stay whelmed. I’ll take a look for them,” Dick said, noting how much she was holding her head. She probably had a concussion too. This mission was going south fast.

It was supposed to be a simple surveillance mission. You, Dick, Artemis, and Wally were tailing the suspected Kobra agents after they picked up an unknown substance from a black market buyer. However, another vehicle appeared and forced them off the road. 

“That’s the last time we let Artemis drive,” Wally groaned from somewhere in the woods beside the road. Dick followed the groan to find Wally laying on the ground holding his arm. “I think I broke my arm.”

“Steady, Kid Mouth.” Dick knelt down to check his arm. “It’s just dislocated.”  Wally coughed. Dick helped him to his feet. “Have you seen (Y/N)?”

“Well, if they aren’t dead, I’m sure we’ll hear them soon enough.” Wally stumbled toward Artemis and sat down beside her. The two started arguing. Dick rolled his eyes. 

Dick went deeper into the woods. He mentally mapped out the crash, trying to work out how far you could have been thrown. You were leaning out the window when the truck hit the gravel. 

“Son of a bitch!” Your voice echoed from behind Dick. Dick spun, running back down the road.

“I told you!” Wally said, snorting. Artemis slapped the back of his head. Wally yelped.

“(Y/N)?!” Dick stopped when he found you lying against a tree. Your leg bent at an odd angle. 

You narrowed your eyes at him. “I swear to god, if you move me, I’ll skin you alive and feed you to fucking man-eating sharks.”

Dick smiled, mostly in relief. “The sharks would be fucking and eating at the same time?” He dropped to his knees beside you, gently inspecting your leg. 

“Watch it. It hurts like a motherfucker ran it over with his fucking semi.” You hissed. Wally and Artemis slowly walked over to join you and Dick. 

“That’s because it’s broken.” Dick ran a hand through his hair. “This mission was a disaster, heavy on the dis.”

“Batman and Black Canary will put us through another fifty hours of surveillance training.” Wally sat down beside you. 

Artemis collapsed on your other side. “Actually, only you should have to do that Bay-Watch. You’re the one who grabbed the wheel and caused us to crash.”

Dick rolled his eyes as he sent out a distress signal. 

“Will you two bitches just shut up?!” You exploded, throwing your hands in the air. Both Wally and Artemis fell silent. Dick ducked his head to hide his smile. “One, it was neither of your faults or both. I don’t give a fuck.” You held up one finger. “Two, we were in the shit the moment they made us.” Another finger went up. “Three, we didn’t fail the mission.”

“What?” Dick blinked as he was checking his belt for first aid supplies. “What do you mean?” 

You smirked before shifting to get something from your pocket. “Shit.” Blood drained out of your face when you moved your leg. Artemis helped you pull your phone from your pocket. You tapped the now partly shattered screen before holding up a tracer app. “I got a tracker on their car before we crashed and it looks like their hideout is in Bludhaven.”

Dick laughed hard. He was tempted to kiss you, but Artemis hugged you from the side before he could even get close enough. “I should have known you did something when you went half out the window.” 

Wally sighed. “Great job, (Y/N).” He nudged your side. 

“Someone had to do something while you two make yourselves look like damn fools.” You smiled, meeting Dick’s eye. Dick nodded at you, turning to focus on your leg so you wouldn’t see the blush on his cheeks. 

***

“Wait, so we don’t get to finish what we started,” Dick said, walking over to Batman after he just finished a mission briefing for Kaldur, M’gann, Conner, Zatanna, and Raquel. Artemis and Wally were behind him, equally disgruntledly.

“Yeah, Batman, we were the ones who found out where Kobra is,” Wally said, crossing his arms. Artemis nodded.

The others shared looks, staying out of it. Batman turned to glare at the three. “You are recovering.” Batman straightened himself to his full height. “You are all off until you are cleared medically. I suggest you take this time to rest.” Batman turned to the others. “You have your mission.”

The silence filled the room as Batman left. Once he was out of range, everyone sighed in relief. “Hey, look at it this way, you guys get to celebrate Halloween,” M’gann said, smiling brightly to cheer up the three.  “And you can keep (Y/N) company.”

“Oh joy. We get to hang out with the potty mouth.” Wally threw his hands in the air. Dick had to admit, if he was grounded from missions, at least hanging out with you would be a sweet deal. 

“At least they’re better company than you,” Artemis snapped, punching his arm. Wally winced, rubbing his arm and narrowing his eyes at her. 

Kaldur held up a hand. “Enjoy your time off and recover, my friends.”

“We’ll try not to have too much fun,” Raquel said, nudging Zatanna. Zatanna giggled.

“Besides, we’ll have some peace and quiet for once,” Conner mumbled. M’gann touched his arm, shaking her head. 

Dick put his hands in his pocket. It hurt when the team made their passive aggressive comments about you. At least they were never to your face. He imagined your face falling, heartbroken. That he couldn’t let happen ever.

The others said their goodbyes and left. Wally and Artemis started snapping at each other. Dick shook his head at the two of them and slipped out of the room.

“Hey Robbie, guess what?!” Your voice made Dick smile. He stepped into the living room to find you on the couch. Your casted leg rested on the coffee table next to a big pumpkin shaped bowl filled with Halloween candy and several bottled drinks. 

“What?” Dick hopped over the couch to sit next to you. You were wearing a sweatshirt with a green skeleton on it. He remembered you showing off how it glowed in the dark. 

You grinned and pointed to your laptop. “I got the new horror game you told me about.” Dick leaned over to see the main menu on your screen.

“Wow, I’m whelmed.” Dick laughed, loving the excited sparkle in your eye. “I should put it on the big screen.”

“Could you?” Your eyes widened, bouncing in your seat. “That would be fucking amazing! A hundred times scarier!” Dick took your laptop and knelt down next to the tv to get it set up. You watched him, clapping your hands. “We’re going to feel the aster! Until the first scare anyway!”

“What are you two doing?” Artemis asked, walking in and taking a seat in the armchair. 

Dick chuckled, answering her since your mouth was full of candy. “Celebrating Halloween by playing the scariest game to date.” He heard you clapping excitedly in agreement.

Artemis reached over to take a candy bar as Wally zoomed in. Wally helped himself to a handful of candy and sitting down to Dick. “Are you seriously planning on hanging out with (Y/N) all night?” he mumbled in Dick’s ear with his mouth full.

“Yes.” Dick elbowed his side. “It will be fun.”

Wally snorted, going to sit on the armchair opposite of Artemis. “So what are we playing?” Wally asked with slight disinterest. You laughed and explained the game to him. Your hands moved as you talked. Dick moved back to sit next to you, close enough for his hip to brush against yours. You didn’t notice since you were still describing the game to Wally.

Artemis, however, raised an eyebrow at Dick. A smirk played onto her face. Dick just stared back at her, daring her to say something. “So should we start the game?” Wally asked, taking another handful of candy. 

“Yes please!” You bumped Dick’s side. “You play first, Rob. I trust you to get us killed in the first three minutes.”

Dick scoffed, pressing his hand against his chest. “Hey, I have a danger sense.” You laughed loudly, getting Artemis and Wally to join you. Dick grabbed the controller. His heart skipped a beat when you snuggled a little closer to him as the game started.

***

“Whatever you do, don’t open that door,” Wally said, scooting closer to you and Dick. He fallen out of his chair when Dick opened the wrong door last time. 

“No, you got to open that door. It’s got to be the way out,” Artemis said from her place on the couch beside Dick. Dick bit his lip, looking at you as you studied the screen. “It’s a different color from the others.”

“I don’t know.” You chewed your bottom lip. “If we die now, we’ll lose all our progress.” You clenched your hands around the controller. The lights were dimmed, candy bowl full of wrappers and empty drink bottles. 

Dick laid his hand on your wrist. “Stay whelmed. We got this. This is the right door. Art’s right, the color is different.” He moved his hand when you met his eye. He hoped it was dark enough to hide his blush.

“It could just be different because of the graphics. Don’t do it,” Wally argued, covering his face with his hands. 

“We can’t just stay in this hallway forever, open the door.” Artemis nudged Wally with her foot. “If we die, at least we tried to make progress.”

You glanced at all three. Dick could feel how fast your heart was racing from just having his body pressed against yours. Artemis was leaning in quite a bit. “Your choice, (Y/N).” 

“Oh fuck this.” You opened the door. It was a normal bedroom. All four of you sighed in relief. Suddenly in the game, you were spun around and a terrifying ghost face filled the screen. All four of you screamed as the screen went black. 

You wrapped your arms around Dick, squeezing all the air out of him. Dick choked. “I told you,” Wally panted, hand against his chest. 

“Shut up.” Artemis took a deep breath before laughing. 

“Oops, sorry,” you said, pulling away from Dick. He noted you didn’t meet his eye. “I squeezed the shit out of you.”

Dick just chuckled. “I’m fine. That got all of us.” He let out a breath, running a hand through his hair. “Who’s next?”

Wally held up a hand for the controller. You were about to hand it to him when a metallic clang came from the kitchen. “What was that?” Artemis hissed, glancing toward the dark kitchen. The four of you were the only ones in the cave. Red Tornado was on Watchtower duty. 

Your hand found Dick’s and held it in a death grip. Dick smiled at you. He had to admit his heart was racing too. “It was nothing?” 

Suddenly, a hand landed on Dick’s shoulder. Dick’s soul left his body as a somewhat high pitch scream slipped out of his mouth. You screamed with him. Wally and Artemis jumped to their feet, shouting as well. 

“Computer, lights on.” Batman’s voice barely made it over everyone’s cries. The lights brightened to reveal the Dark Knight himself. Dick stared at him, stopping his scream only when he caught the faint hint of a smirk on Batman’s lips. Bruce thought this was funny. Dick frowned.

“Son of a bitch, Batman!” You glared back at him, swatting his hand away from Dick’s shoulder. “What the fuck? Can’t you announce your presence like a normal person?”

“Language, (Y/N).” Batman frowned. “I heard the screams and became concerned.”

Wally sighed, running a hand over his face. “Geez, Batman. Not cool.”

“Very not cool.” Artemis blushed when she realized she grabbed Wally’s arm. She quickly let go and looked away. 

“Perhaps it’s time for all of you to go to bed,” Batman said, crossing his arms. “It’s almost midnight.” 

“On a Saturday when it’s Halloween?” You grabbed your crutches and stood up to face Batman. “Seriously? It’s bad enough you took all four of us off missions for a week or more, but now you want us to go to bed because we were having fun?” You narrowed your eyes at him. “Maybe you should go to bed if you can’t handle our screaming or go be Mr. Dark and Scary in Gotham? I mean if you don’t prowl around on Halloween, then what’s the point of dressing like a bat anyway?” 

Dick snorted and pressed his hand over his mouth to stop a laugh. Batman leveled a bat-glare at you, but you just smiled at him almost sweetly. Artemis and Wally couldn’t stop their chuckles, but quickly looked away from you and Batman.

“Keep it down.” Batman shot a warning look to Dick. Dick shrank a little. Batman swept out of the room, letting his cape flick behind him. 

“Coward,” you said once Batman was gone. You sat back down next to Dick. “You good?”

“Feeling the aster...” Dick let more laughter spill out of him. “That was awesome, (Y/N).” 

Artemis sank back down on the couch. “I never understand how you can stand up to him.”

“He’s not that scary when your face to face with him.” You winked at Artemis. “Just imagine him in his underwear and he’s not scary at all.”

Wally groaned in disgust. “Yuck, I didn’t need that image.” Artemis and you laughed. Dick beamed, watching you. He memorized your laugh, the joy in your eyes. Best night ever.

***

The next week, Dick, Wally, and Artemis were cleared for missions. You were still prohibited due to your cast. It hurt to see you so bummed. Dick did his best to make you smile and laugh, but he knew you were itching to get back in the field.

Dick stretched his arms, happy to be in his suit again. Kaldur, Artemis, and Wally were waiting for the mission briefing. Dick joined him. “Where’s the others?” Artemis asked as she checked the tautness of her bow.

“M’gann and Conner have an overnight field trip,” Kaldur said. Wally munched loudly on a bag of chips. Kaldur frowned at him, shaking his head. “Zatanna and Raquel had other commitments.” 

“Oh my god, will you look at this? You’re all dressed up, but have no place to go?” you teased as you hobbled into the room on your crutches. 

“We got a mission, (Y/N).” Artemis put her bow away. 

Your face fell slightly. “Must be exciting.”

Dick perked up, hopping over to you somewhat eagerly. “It’s not that bad.”

“Says you, it’s boring.” You sighed, nudging Dick’s side. Dick’s body electrified at the touch. 

He grinned. “Come on, we’ll play the game again when I get back.”

You smiled at him in return. Wally started making kissing sounds. You looked at him in confusion while Dick’s soul left his body. “Enough, Wallace,” Kaldur ordered, elbowing his side. 

Batman came through the zeta tube all business. You were about to leave, but Dick touched your arm. “Stay, I think we can find you something to do,” Dick whispered. Your eyes widened eagerly.

“Hell yes!” You grinned when everyone turned to look at you. Batman glared. You just shrugged and listened in on the briefing.

***

Dick sat next to you in the bioship, watching you as you barely contained your excitement at being on a mission. Since M’gann wasn’t here, the team had to use comms. So, Dick was able to convince Batman that they’d need someone to manage the comms from the bioship. He touched his lips. You had squealed and kissed him when Batman finally said yes.

“Aren’t you guys lucky? You get to mess with the fucking snake people anyway,” you said, glancing between Wally, Artemis, and Dick. During the team’s last mission to infiltrate Korba’s Bludhaven warehouse, they had uncovered coded intel detailing another operation of theirs. Thus, giving you all a chance at finishing the mission that started it all. 

“Language, (Y/N).” Kaldur blushed, shifting in his seat. 

You shared a devious smile with Dick. “Sorry, I meant the damn fucking snake people.” 

Dick chuckled, glancing at Kaldur to only see him glaring. “(Y/N), watch your language on the comms. We cannot be distracted in the field,” Kaldur ordered sternly. 

“Okay, okay.” You held up your hands. “I’ll close my potty mouth.”

“Finally.” Wally snorted from his seat. You turned to look at him blankly. Wally just looked back at you. 

“If it annoys Wall-man, then please keep your potty mouth open,” Artemis said. You laughed. Your laughter was infectious, soon everyone was chuckling along with you. Dick reached over to touch your hand. You opened your hand, letting his hand rest in yours. Dick’s heart fluttered, so glad you were able to join the mission. 

***

Dick peeked through an air vent at the Kobra warehouse. “It looks like a training faculty,” Dick mumbled into his comm. Wally crawled forward to look through the vent as well. The room below had training mats and equipment scattered around. Two Kobra men were sparring in the center of the room while a group surrounded them, watching. “This might be where they take new enlistees.” 

“We found what looks like a medical bay,” Artemis said. She and Kaldur went one way through the vents while Wally and Dick went the other way. Meanwhile, you stayed in the bioship, mapping out the locations as they found things.

“Now if either of you finds a sex dungeon, then this warehouse will officially be the creepiest place ever,” you said, gagging slightly. The last room Dick and Wally found was some kind of lab that appeared to be growing some kind of snake humanoids. 

Kaldur clicked his tongue in warning. “(Y/N), I think you almost got Kaldur to burst into flames that time,” Artemis chuckled softly.

“One down. Now I just need to get Wally,” you laughed. Wally frowned, unamused. Dick bit his lip to stop himself from snickering.

Dick and Wally kept crawling on. Artemis and Kaldur found another lab, but this time with incubators in it. Dick and Wally only found the living quarters. 

“I don’t like the look of these labs, Rob,” Wally mumbled as they stopped at another vent only to find an empty hallway. 

“At least we can stay whelmed by the fact it doesn’t look like they are using them currently,” Dick said, holding up a hand when footsteps came down the hallway. Wally and Dick fell quiet. The footsteps were heavy and echoing. Dick frowned. Kobra’s soldiers were usually light on their feet.

Suddenly, the footsteps revealed lizard men. They were huge, muscle bound with thick tails. Walking on two legs, they only were wearing loincloths. “We found something,” Wally whispered into the comm.

“Sex dungeon?” you asked with a giggle. 

“Almost.” Dick tapped the side of his mask, sending you an image of the lizard men. You whistled. “Everyone be on alert.”

“We found some too. Ours are eating...raw meat,” Kaldur said. He sounded a little sick. Honestly, Dick couldn’t blame him.

You hummed. “So Kaldur, you didn’t find anything like this at the Bludhaven place, right?”

“No. Nothing like this. It was only a storage facility.” Kaldur’s voice softened. “Artemis and I will go on radio silence for now. We will see if we can find more info in the lab we found.”

Dick and Wally tensed as the lizard men stopped right below them and stood against the walls of the corridor. “You know, those loincloths are very tiny. Must not be much under there,” you said.

Wally choked, eyes wide as if he was caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Dick swallowed back a laugh. He knew Wally had probably been thinking the same thing.

“You got Wally,” Dick whispered.

“Amazing. Two for two,” you laughed. “In all seriousness, be careful. They probably have good hearing.”

Dick nodded. “Will do.” He clicked off the comm as he and Wally got comfortable, waiting to see what the lizard men were going to do.

***

It turned out, much to Dick’s dismay, that the lizard men had very good hearing. Dick held his stomach as he rolled onto his back. He turned his head to see Wally and Artemis unconscious. The lizard men found Kaldur and Artemis first. Dick and Wally moved to help them before getting caught themselves. 

Dick looked around. He remembered being dragged by his foot into another room. The floor felt soft under him. He recognized the ceiling as the training room they found earlier. 

“Do what you will with us, but know the Justice League is on their way,” Kaldur said calmly. Dick turned his head, blinking in surprise. Kaldur was facing down one of the lizard men. The lizard man just flicked his tongue at him before pushing Kaldur to the ground. 

Dick acted like he was going to scratch his ear, but tapped his comm to signal you. 

“What’s up?” You sounded calm, yet slightly bored. 

“SOS,” Dick coughed, rolling out of the way as a lizard man almost stomped on him. 

“I know. Help is on the way once I can figure out how to fly this damn thing. Bioship, be nice to me, huh?” you said through the comm. 

Kaldur grabbed Dick and pulled him out of the way of a charging lizard man. “You noticed Kobra disappeared?” Dick said, checking the room only to see lizard men. 

“Yes.” Kaldur grabbed his water bearers. “(Y/N), call for back up,” Kaldur said into the comm.

“Back up is incoming.” Your voice sounded so confident. Dick felt slightly worried. “Tell the lizards to keep their loincloths on.”

“Oh boy,” Dick said. Dick and Kaldur stood back to back, preparing to fight off the lizards. Artemis stirred a few feet away and went over to pull Wally out of the harm’s way. She tapped his cheeks and tried to bring him around. 

Kaldur and Dick tensed, ready for the first attack before an explosion shook the building. “You may want to take cover,” you warned. Dick and Kaldur shared a look before sprinted over to Artemis and Wally. Both of them dragged them behind a set of barbells as the far wall boomed to reveal the Bioship with cannons out. 

“This is the cops. Drop to your knees and please keep the loincloths on because no one wants to see lizard dick today, thank you.” Your voice boomed throughout the building.

“I didn’t know Bioship had a PA system,” Artemis mumbled in surprise. Kaldur’s face fell into his hands. His ears were bright red.

Dick chuckled. “I bet (Y/N) asked Bioship to make one.” You were so cool. A thrill shivered down Dick’s spine.

The lizards didn’t drop, so you opened fire. All the lizards were down in a few seconds. Stunned, not dead. Dick whistled. He reminded himself never to play Call of Duty with you. You would probably snipe him before he could even breathe. 

“Justice League should be here ‘in a flash’ according to the Flash,” you said through the comms. Dick could hear the laughter in your voice.

Kaldur cleared his throat. “Thank you, (Y/N). Although, watch your language next time.” 

Wally moaned, sitting up with Artemis’ help. “Lizard dicks. I can’t believe they said lizard dicks.”

Artemis snorted before bursting out laughing. Dick joined her, unable to stop himself. He heard you laughing with them through the comm. Even Kaldur smiled and rolled his eyes. Dick knew your loudness and potty mouth weren’t for everyone, but he loved it because it was so you.

[neopoliitan]

TEAM RAIN: ARC 4 CH4 - BEST LAID PLANS

A WRITE UP FOR THE REST OF TEAM RAIN: CHAPTER 4

We open on a scene in Zenith. Viorel and Zelena Braith open Roderick Lincoln’s cell to reveal they have brought him the last remnants of the Lincoln Clan, now with an active aura like him. They present it as company, but note that  Gardner Braith will return to drain their aura to replenish his upon their return from hunting Otso Umber.

The clansmen are these;

Crete Reed, A warrior woman based on Britomartis.

Oak Holm, a man who was briefly seen in the back of some Arc 2 shots.

Loden Lincoln, a teenager and third or fourth cousin of Robin.

Primrose, a teenage girl with round glasses.

Fennel, the son of Kodiak Lincoln and around 7-9 years old.

Crete sees Artemis Garland lying on a cot, still comatose but out of the pod she was previously in implying she’s gotten a little stronger. Crete runs to her side.

Sterling Braith enters and tells her not to get attached, ordering the Talos robots to restrain the clansmen. Viorel cautions that there’s no time for his vendetta, to which Sterling responds he’s making time. He advances on Roderick, telling him “Your sister cut my arm off, so it’s lucky for me that you’re here.” Before Roderick can reply, Sterling socks him in the face with one of his new prosthetic arms.

“I’m not exactly sure what I’m going to do to you, but if it doesn’t kill you… You’re damn well gonna wish it did.”

Zelena looks slightly shaken and follows Viorel out of the room. Viorel coldly comments that now “the terminal” is fixed, Roderick has outlived his use and this is the least he deserves. Zelena asks if “the terminal” is really going to change anything, to which Viorel grows frustrated and tells her not to have second thoughts - they’ve come this far already; she “isn’t there to think”, and that Kamala will show her no more mercy than “they” did if she backs out.

Lilli Lincoln wakes up in her bed, unable to sleep. She heads downstairs to the kitchen for some water and comes across Petra Redwood. Petra mentions the 7-day time limit Kamala Braith issued Team RAIN, which Lilli didn’t know about. Her expression unreadable, she heads upstairs.

She grabs her labrys.

We cut to Robin asleep in her room. Lilli kicks the door open and slings her buzzsaw-shield at Robin.

ROBIN: What are you doing?! What the hell is this about?!

LILLI: E V E R Y T H I N G ! I’m sick of you, and I’m sick of your stupid face! You always get what you want! Even after coming home and getting dad KILLED!

Lilli swings again.

LILLI: Pitch was the closest thing I had to a friend, and now he’s GONE! I was the LAST ONE to be told about Marina even though I'm FAMILY! You told everyone EXCEPT ME about Mom and Roderick being ALIVE! And I just found out that even though you only have seven days to save them, you go and SLEEP THROUGH ONE--!

Robin blocks one of Lilli’s attacks, and the two are held in stalemate.

ROBIN: LILLI-! What the hell is going on? Why are you always trying to fight me--!?

LILLI: BECAUSE IT’S THE ONLY TIME YOU EVER NOTICE I’M THERE!

They relax slightly at this moment of honesty. Lilli smiles weakly.

LILLI: You were always the favorite, even after you got sent away from home. Mom and Dad never shut up about you. “Why can’t you be more like your sister? Why can’t you be more like Robin?” They would’ve switched us without a second thought if it meant getting Robin back. 

Lilli relaxes, her arms hanging limp.

LILLI: It’s not like I wanna be mean. It’s just that people only notice me when they’re angry at me.  ...They’d just be happier if I was gone, huh?

We see flashbacks to:

Roderick scolding Lilli (pg297)

Artemis Scolding Lilli (pg828)

Marina [then Tobin] scolding Lilli (pg331)

Robin shoving Lilli (pg828)

ROBIN: I should’ve seen the signs. No one wishes you were gone.

LILLI: Don’t. Don’t lie to me like that.

ROBIN: I’m not.

We see a Flashback to Robin saying “there’s nothing I’d rather be than kind” in Arc 3 Ch9 (pg. 746)

ROBIN: We weren’t there for you after what happened back home, and I didn’t even think twice about it. ...But I wanna try to be there for you now, if you’ll let me. Lilli, I’m sorry.

Lilli begins to sob, and Robin reaches out to embrace her sister. Her sister. Who she treated like an enemy for years. She embraces her as Lilli apologizes too, and we see Lilli’s aura activate in a moment of emotional height.

–

Irving, Nyssa, Jin, the Hawthornes, Team ZNON, and Peach’s Team disembark from Raleigh Radcliff’s ship as it touches down in the Tsubaki District.

Farran Hawthorne commends Irving’s bravery in showing mercy to Team ZNON and defeating the rat king, telling him he’s proud. Irving turns around and says he’s not proud of his father for closing ZNON’s school and turning them against him, making them easy to manipulate. He tells his father to use his political power to set them up in a school in Mistral so that the world doesn’t have more Violas to deal with.

Robin and Akane reunite with Irving and Nyssa. Robin says she’s glad Irving’s family made it out safe unlike hers, but Irving cuts her off and tells her it wasn’t her fault - it was bad luck they chose the Lincolns.

Raleigh approaches Team RAIN and tells them they have some explaining to do.

–

We cut to Jin and Peach. Peach reveals she was adopted by a couple who she refers to as “her dad” (Bjorn Vermell) and her “science dad” (Konstantan Vermell). They wanted to get her out of the orphanage after seeing how malnourished she was, and her “science dad” later engineered her prosthetic legs.

Peach asks if the orphanage is still there. Jin tells her the Sisterhood marched in and made sure the kids were safe, while the adults “didn’t hurt anyone else.” She then asks if Peach held the final argument before they were separated against her, and Peach admits she doesn’t even really remember it. Once she knew her parents were good people, she asked Konstantan to put out feelers to find Jin, but by then it was too late. 

Jin looks at the old photo of them both, but Peach brushes it away. She tells her that she’s here now, and places Jin’s hand on her heart. The two rest their foreheads against each other.

–

40 years ago.

We see Raleigh Radcliff being congratulated on his victory in the 21st Biennial Vytal Festival.

Briefly we cut away to a young Otso Umber in a medical ward, his head bandaged - his grip tightens on the sheets of his hospital bed in envy as he sees Raleigh reaping the glory.

It’s revealed we’re watching Raleigh’s victory in the present day as a presentation on 58-year-old Raleigh’s scroll. Robin tells him they’re happy to have him along now they’ve seen his skills.

Raleigh reveals that Otso cut off his left leg from below the knee during one of their fights, and that he has a prosthetic - he has his own motives for fighting Otso. Irving questions what originally started their feud, and Raleigh tells him that he took Otso’s place in the tournament finale, after Otso couldn’t compete due to a head injury - and that Otso ‘didn’t deserve the win anyway’.

Raleigh asks what they know about the Braiths; they’re a family of good fighters, proficient with Aura and fusing Grimm and humans. When asked about their weaknesses, Akane recalls that she made Zelena falter when the latter stole her truth semblance.

Akane and Irving surmise that their tech suggests Atlas. Robin recalls Roderick telling her that the Braiths’ base was called Zenith, but Raleigh doesn’t know it and Akane can’t find any info on it on cached offline CCT information on her scroll.

Robin quickly recalls the Crazy Bunch who worked under Sterling and Zelena, and how they managed to apprehend one of them. Raleigh says interrogating him is worth a shot, and takes Akane with him to verify the man’s answers.

–

Nyssa visits home and shares closure over Pitch with her mother, Maera. Murasaki drops in, assuring them that the Sisterhood is in the capable care of Team BRUT. When questioned on how trustworthy BRUT are, Murasaki replies that she is trying to steer them right and give them a purpose, the same way the previous Sisterhood leader did for her.

Murasaki reveals that after she got her head together regarding Pitch, she contacted Maera and the two talked it over. Both of them shared relationships with Pitch, but she won’t go into detail just yet. She regrets not dealing with him the moment she laid eyes on him in the Sisterhood cave.

–

Robin and Lilli are attempting to bond. Robin called Lilli downstairs to ask her if she wants to attend Combat School in Mistral while she and her team venture to Atlas - unless Lilli wants to argue and come with them. Lilli proclaims she’s not an idiot, but seems unconvinced that Elysium Academy will take her. Robin reassures her by complimenting her fighting ability.

Marina interrupts by sticking her head through the wall behind them - revealing that her semblance does not only consist of invisibility, but intangibility. She notes that Robin and Lilli are getting along better, but the same can’t be said for Robin and Marron.

Robin argues that she’s not budging - she won’t get Marron mixed up in her mess again. Marron wants to go to Atlas, but Robin doesn’t - so do they just break up?

Lilli interjects by telling her to compromise, to find a solution that works for both of them. After being pestered by the other two siblings, Robin gets up and agrees to talk it over. When she leaves, Marina tries to banter with Lilli, but the youngest Lincoln sister halts her, unfolds a sheet of paper and reads:

"Please do not attempt to make light conversation or banter with me. You are still complicit in my neglect for your own reasons, and are, therefore, an absolute carbuncle. I forbid you from attempting to take a shortcut by hijacking the effort Robin has made."

Marina is stumped, then admits that’s a fair point.

–

Marron is sitting on the porch of the Tsubaki District house. Robin sits down next to her.

After a moment, Robin asks if Marron knows why she doesn’t want her to come to Zenith, which Marron confirms. Robin tells her that she doesn’t want her to get hurt, which Marron spins back on her - she isn’t going to wait around like a sailor’s wife hoping that Robin might come back, that she doesn’t need Robin’s protection.

Robin begins to observe that they’re at an impasse, but Marron interrupts.

“I need you to show me some trust -- some faith in my judgment. Some faith that I know what to do if things go to hell. I need you to accept that you're not the only one who knows what they're doing. And I need you to understand that my decisions aren’t yours to make.”

Robin takes this in.

She apologises for coddling Marron, and observes that Marron knew how to break Sterling and when to call for her help. She admits that between her father’s death and her treatment of Nyssa and Lilli, her own judgment hasn’t been the best.

She trusts Marron to know her limits and make the right calls.

The two hold hands and stay there on the porch for a while. Slowly, they begin to make small talk about what they’ll do once this is all over.

[pendragon-writes]

Thanks, Dad

YJ!Robin: Did you get my report on the Injustice league case?

Bat!Dad who’s a vigilante: Yeah I looked it over nice work.

YJ!Robin: Good. Thanks, Dad.

Everyone in the room freezes

YJ!Robin: Why is everyone staring at me?

YJ!Ms. Martian: You just called Bat!Dad “Dad”.

YJ!Robin: What? No, I didn’t. I said “Thanks, man.”

Bat!Dad: Do you see me as a father figure, Robin?

YJ!Robin: No, if anything, I see you as a “bother” figure, cause you’re always bothering me.

Captain Marvel: Hey! Show your father some respect!

YJ!Robin: I didn’t call him dad!

Bat!Dad: No, no, no, no, Robin. I take it as a compliment.

Aqua man: It’s not a big deal. I called Mera “Mom” once, and she’s my wife.

YJ!Robin: Guys, Jump on that! Aqua man has Psycho-Sexual issues!

YJ!Artemis: Old news, but you calling Bat!Dad “Daddy”.

YJ!Robin: Hey, “Daddy” is not on the table here.

YJ!Kid Flash: But you did call him “Dad” dude.

YJ!Robin: You shut up, you’ve done nothing but lie since you got here.

YJ!Kid Flash: All right, all right, I was lying about the training. But the dad thing, that happened.

YJ!Robin: AHA! He admitted that him beating cannery was a lie.

YJ!Robin: It was a trap, all part of my crazy, devious plan.

Bat!Dad: I believe you. 

YJ!Robin: Thank you.

Bat!Dad: Son.

YJ!Reader, breathing aggressively:

Bat!Dad: Do you want to talk about it later over, a game of catch?

YJ!Robin: I’d like that…

[bbybladeee]

lunar eclipse enters hasta nakshatra on march 25th @ 4am EST

We currently are experiencing a Full Moon Lunar Eclipse in Hasta (हस्त), the nakshatra that pierces the veil of illusion through discernment. This nakshatra fully resides in the sign of sidereal Virgo, in the center of an earthy and materialistic sign. For the next six months, we are focused on obtaining our goals by refining our skills and sharpening our intelligence. Eclipses bring our attention to what is ending so something else can begin. Lunar Eclipses ask us to let go of our deep emotional baggage (likely feelings that have been building for months or even years) and release them so that we can make room for positive change. Lunar Eclipses can be emotional times that heighten our senses, perceptions, memories, dreams. Odds are, the eclipse will trigger an unexpected event either perceived as good or bad that you will later understand in-depth why it happened the way that it did. The purpose of an eclipse is to shine light on the truth when you’re blinded by your emotions and desires. Eclipses clear away all obstacles obscuring your vision so that you can see your life path clearly. Lunar Eclipses tend to lead to the end of bad friendships, draining careers, and all other setbacks. There is little to no chance of getting things reversed. Eclipses demand that we move forward.

Hasta is embedded with sthapaniya agama shakti—the power to place things directly into our hands. Hasta’s goal is to attain the never-ending knowledge of the divine and explore the world around us with humility. It has the ability to bring goals to life quickly and place tangible results in our hands. The overall purpose of Hasta is to find spiritual liberation, or moksha, through the journey of naming a goal and then accomplishing it, the ability to speak what you want into existence. Although Hasta is in the materialistic sign of Virgo, it has the deep desire to transmute the spiritual into the material and back again. It craves to understand the connection between the two planes.

Hasta (हस्त) can mean “hand,” indicating skill, artistry, and a hard-working nature. The common English language words like hand, handy, hassle, haggle, haste, hard, harness etc are said to be derived from Hasta or Hastha. Hasta is ruled by the stars α Crv, β Corvi, δ Crv, γ Crv, and ε Crv, all residing within the Corvus constellation. The constellation of Corvus is supposed to be a crow. In Greek mythology, Princess Coronis was the lover of Apollo. When Coronis became pregnant, Apollo appointed his personal messenger, a white raven, to guard Coronis for the duration of her pregnancy. While carrying Apollo’s child, she became sexually involved with Prince Ischys, a mortal. When the raven realized what had happened, it brought the news to Apollo of his lover’s infidelity. Apollo became so angered that the raven didn’t peck out the eyes of Prince Ischys on sight that Apollo cursed the raven’s pure white feathers to be scorched black. Apollo then kills Prince Ischys and sends his sister Artemis to kill Princess Coronis in a funeral pyre. But before she was murdered, they removed her baby, Asclepius, from her womb. And afterwards, Coronis was tossed to the heavens to become the constellation Coronis. This tale warns the listener of the consequences of ego, ill speech, lying, infidelity, and disloyalty, all vices of the nakshatra Hasta. The Lunar Eclipse in Hasta inspires us to believe that we can achieve all that we put our minds to, and that we can manifest anything into the material realm.

Hasta is symbolized by hands, fists, and open palms. This represents power, dexterity, communication, and blessings. Our hands possess the fate of our souls. It acts like a map that translates the cosmos into lines on our palms (e.g. palmistry). This is because the hand symbolizes creation, craftsmanship, hard work, and skill. Hasta blesses us with a lot of skills that help us to survive in this material world, especially problem solving and putting things in order. The symbolism of the hand suggests the grasping nature of Hasta, and an ability to grab and hold on to all sorts of things. This grasping nature can be material, spiritual, mental, emotional, or physical. The symbolism of Hasta is a representation of attainment of the end or material object over the procedure of the attainment. The very symbol refers to the fact that Hasta holds the promise of immediate acquisition of the desired object by dint of sheer skill. This nakshatra also symbolizes agreements and greetings as represented by the hand shake. Hasta represents our urge to serve the Divine through being of service to others and nature. Mudras are positions that we can place our hands in that have various meanings. You can find mudras in all types of religious symbolism from Hinduism, to Buddhism, to Christianity. Most of the type you will find Divine beings with mudra hand placements that represent bestowing blessings and peacefulness. The hamsa symbol is also associated with Hasta nakshatra. Hasta can also represent the fingers, rings, wrists, bracelets, and bangles. Rings can represent beauty and even love and marriages. Rings and bangles represent the eternal commitment that comes with marrying someone. Both rings and bangles can be used by married women in times of hardships. When getting a divorce, annulment of a marriage, or death of a partner, rings and other jewelry have been used in place of a proper dowry to help a woman who has lost her main form of income (her husband).

Hasta is related to the anahata chakra (अनाहत), or heart chakra, because of its association with the hands and arms. This chakra is said to be connected to our feelings of compassion, understanding, kindness, and love. It is at the seat of one’s life force energy. In the Upanishads, it is described as a small flame residing within the heart. Anahata chakra is also said to have the ability to make decisions outside the realm of karma. One can make decisions based on the heart or one’s higher self, not the unfulfilled emotions and desires of lower nature. Meditation on this chakra is said to bring about siddhis, or psychic abilities. As such, Hasta has a connection to the mystical realms and usually has an understanding of the esoteric and occult. But first, one must leave behind their old way of thinking before being able to accept that esoteric knowledge and occult understandings are real to begin with. Hasta can also be symbolized by the sun, sunrays, and bright stars in the night sky. And just like our hand has five fingers, the most popular modern depiction of stars are five-point stars. The sun’s thermal energy sustains all life on earth and keeps it nourished. When humans first moved from the hunter-gatherer lifestyle to farmers, the most important part of this transition was our ability to use tools and our ability to care for livestock. Animal husbandry changed the way we farmed the land, and thus cattle and sheep are considered to be symbols of life and even civilization. All modern civilization revolves around livestock. We owe our technological advancements to our ability to care for animals. The potter’s wheel can also act as a symbol of Hasta, representing hard work, refinement, and the time required to achieve perfection. Another symbol of Hasta are cattle and buffalo. Cattle is the animal of life while buffalo is the animal of self-sacrifice. Both animals give until there is nothing left to give. This represents the sacrificing and giving nature of Hasta, often donating to charity and volunteering their time to the collective. Hasta feels the best when others put their faith in them and think highly of their abilities. Hasta enjoys being in service to others, however it must not give away all of their light.

Hasta is ruled by Savitar, the god of the Sun and its light. Savitar dispels the darkness of ignorance from our mind and infuses it with Divine intelligence. He shines as the light of intelligence, skill, health and positivity within us. He inspires us to see everything in a more positive light. He blesses us with the power of recognition and understanding of things. Savitar has the ability to manifest what we are seeking and place it in our possession. He is also the source of the creative and procreative energy of all beings. Yet, strong intellect, if not balanced by an open heart, can also make us too self-centered, insensitive or even greedy and egoistic.

Hasta is also connected to the Moon. Bhuvaneshvari (भुवनेश्वरी), or Parvati (पार्वती), is the Mahavidya associated with the Moon. Bhuvaneshvari is a compound of the words Bhuvana Isvari, meaning “Goddess of the World” or “Queen of the Universe.” She is mother of the world, or whose body comprises all of the fourteen lokas (syncretized with the seven circles of heaven and seven circles of hell) of the cosmos. She embodies all of existence, acting as a representation of the material, mental, emotional, and spiritual planes. Bhuvaneshwari is the creator of the five elements. Bhuvaneshwari is the creator of the five elements. The Saptha Matrika, the Seven Mother Goddesses) are said to have emanated from her beeja mantra: Hreem (Hreemkara). Just like how there are 7 days in a week (seven solar cycles, or days, in every week), there are seven powers that Bhuvaneshvari possess, symbolized by the saptamatrika.

This particular Lunar Eclipse has the Sun, Mercury, and Rahu on one side with the Moon and Ketu on the other. Mercury is the signifier for Hasta, so Mercury being involved is a good sign. However Mercury is opposing the nakshatra of Hasta. So this Lunar Eclipse is all about balance: balance of the mind and body, balance of the mental and emotional, balance of the upper and lower. The Moon being with Ketu allows for us to reach new emotional and spiritual heights, but we have to be willing to remove ego from our feelings. We must not get caught up in judgements, critics, and negative opinions. We must remove ourselves from the need to belittle others or ourselves verbally. When we can detach from our primal emotions, we can unlock our ability to see beyond that which is in front of us. Both the Moon and Ketu are in Hasta nakshatra. However, the Sun is in Uttara Bhadrapada while Mercury and Rahu are in Revati. We are getting to the root of what allows us to feel like we have purpose in life. But we might become entitled and blinded by what we want if we aren’t careful. We can slip into our ego state easily with Rahu irritating the Sun. And Mercury might accidentally say something it doesn’t mean if we aren’t careful. We need to  keep up unnecessary comments and complaints to ourselves or we risk saying something that creates setbacks in our goals. Our words hold more weight and meaning than we may realize at this time.

Individual Interpretation

Full Moon Lunar Eclipses are connected to our emotions, feelings, moods, and needs. Hasta Lunar Eclipse intellectually creative and able to come up with original ideas and new ways of doing things. Our speech and writing are more thoughtful, allowing us to express how we feel more effectively. It helps us to interact with the world and engage in its game with a little bit of healthy detachment and sense of humor. It encourages us to take things more lightly and look at difficult situations in life or obstacles with curiosity of a child, rather than taking it too seriously. Challenges, after all, are our opportunities to learn, progress and grow stronger. Your foresight and intuition are heightened. With Hasta and Virgo stimulating our mental faculties, we are becoming more aware of our surroundings and how we can move in order to get to our goals. You are making better decisions now as you are more capable at perceiving all angles of a situation and predict possible outcomes beforehand. You quickly find solutions and can convince people of your perspectives. You’re more aware of your surroundings, heightening your listening comprehension skills.

You may be excessively critical when under stress and lose your natural patience. You often do have to deal with stress in your life—you might feel overburdened or repressed, and may struggle with your self-esteem. If you start to indulge your every sensual desire, you could fall into a lifestyle that is morally and physically unhealthy. Spend more time enjoying nature as this can be a great healing activity. The serenity of nature can calm your mind. However, be mindful of your general environment both in and out of nature as you may be prone to getting yourself into hazardous situations.

Hasta Lunar Eclipse is encouraging us to find wealth and abundance in our everyday lives. Although it may not happen immediately, it’s likely that you will achieve success within the next six months. It is important to work towards a goal consistently. Consistently is the key right now. Hasta is great for anything involving the hands: skill, dexterity, craftsmanship. Hasta imparts the “midas touch” into all things that will put our full attention on. It’s important to develop our skills now so we can use them for success and achievement later. Finding a path that offers spiritual fulfillment, rather than just material success, will create a positive shift for you. Hasta could encourage a more competitive side that values winning at all costs even if it brings your undoing. Comparison is, however, the thief of joy. And getting caught up in what others are doing is merely a distraction from what you are to be doing. Hasta wants us to zoom in on what we are good at ourselves, not asking us to be good at what others are good at. This transit is for our own betterment. We are only in competition with ourselves. Avoid stressing yourself, overburdening yourself, or repressing how you feel. You may  struggle with low self-esteem if you don’t focus on yourself. Avoid being highly critical of yourself and others.

We are going to be more focused on our home, family, and close relationships, seeing our private life and being the foundation to all our successes. If our home life is peaceful and serene, we have the necessary basis to be able to focus on other important objectives. This is a time for you to dedicate to your family and close relationships. Hasta nourishes all that you love to pour your time and efforts into, and thus your family and close relationships can flourish with this eclipse. This is a time for letting go of what prevents you from showing up as your full self and other relationships that distract you from what is important to you. You’re re-evaluating who drains your light and who allows you to shine your brightest.

Those with Rohini, Mrigashirsha, Ardra, Pushya, Hasta, Chitra, Svati, Anuradha, Purva Ashadha, Uttara Ashadha, Shravana, Uttara Bhadrapada, and Revati placements will have the most positive experience under this eclipse (especially Svati). If you have Bharani, Krittika, Punarvasu, Ashlesha, Magha, Purva Phalguni, Uttara Phalguni, Vishakaha, Mula, and Dhanishta placements, this eclipse will be so-so for you. This eclipse will affect those with Ashvini, Jyeshtha, Shatabhisha, and Purva Bhadrapada placements the most negatively. You may find it hard to not focus on what isn’t working in their lives right now. There could be a tendency to get overly emotional as Hasta asks you to be honest with yourself about why you feel stuck and incapable of moving forward in life. You can’t escape from this feeling. You must sit with discomfort in order for it to pass. Be careful to not make promises that you cannot keep during this transit.

Collective Interpretation

We as a collective are becoming more compassionate and understanding to our peers. Spiritually, that is the direction we are mostly headed in at least, but some might become trapped in a critical way of thinking. There could be more personal projections going on. Some might feel comfortable trying to tell you who you are based on their own perspectives and ideologies. Be careful to avoid this! Focus your time on spreading the nectar of empathy and love towards all beings. And make sure to put your energy towards building up your auric field so as to not absorb the feelings and emotions of others around you. The goal is to remain sovereign in your own feelings and experiences. Hasta is all about energy exchange, but we must be mindful of when we choose to share our energy with others.

Hasta supports all artisans and craftsmen. If you work as an artist, creative, performer, writer, author, publisher, typist, jewellerymaker, beautician, manicurist, tradesmen, manual laborer, inventor, banker, accountant, housekeeper, maid, cleaner, gardener, and herbalists you will see more flow of income during the next six months. Art and expression, especially visual and linguistic, is becoming more appreciated. The healing arts are also going to be appreciated as people look towards alternative healing methods and practices to help relieve themselves of aches and pains. Hasta is also related to thieves and con-artists. It’s important for us all to be more aware of our surroundings and avoid getting into dealings with those who are trying to swindle us out of your wealth. Avoid people with sticky fingers.

The public is becoming increasingly more critical and observant of world news and how their national/local governments are making decisions. The collective may become more divided as each side gets deeper into their own world views, noticing how some of their needs and wants aren’t being met by world leaders. There is a possibility that we are getting more details on what political ideology we align ourselves with. We are asking ourselves if our government or nation actually serves the people or are they serving themselves. Are they making sure they have money in their pocket and food in their fridges before making sure the people are safe and secure? Are they making business deals behind the scenes at the expense of the population? Are the laws they are focused on passing related to what we are experiencing on a daily basis? The next six months will be eye opening for all of us. And this time is important because this is the biggest election year in decades. The people are highly watching their government officials right now so any wrong move or slip up will be focused on. Everyone will be talking about it and judging whether someone deserves to be an official again next year. This goes for both local and national elections. Pay attention to what’s going on in your town/city, county, state/provinces, territories, and country.

Both Virgo and Hasta encourage us to spend time giving to our community, volunteering our time or donating our money for the greater good. Hasta supports all giving and receiving to people, animals, and nature. The public needs to be focused on developing a sense of community and togetherness. We should all be focused on the greater good, and how we and the government can do more to service the community. We must all bear the burden of responsibility.

There could be a resurgence of spiritual and religious ideology as Hasta is associated with spiritual devotion. Hasta wants to gain material wealth by devoting itself to a higher being. This could encourage others to seek devotion as an access to God or a Higher Power.

This transit will last for a total for six months at least. At the most, it can last two years. This is subjective as the nature of the Moon, Rahu, and Ketu are subjective.

[the-al-chemist]

The Lights That Never Go Out

Chapter 8: All The Things I’ve Always Missed

A/N: A heads up, we are going full on ‘When Harry Met Sally’ in this chapter. Sorry, Nora Ephron, but I’m having what you’re having. Written using @thethreebroomsticksfic’s Yule Bash prompt ‘Fireplace’.

Warnings: mentions of grief and canon character death.

25th December, 1998

Charlie and his brother and sister-in-law stood on the doorstep of the Burrow, waiting in the cold for someone to let them in. From outside, the house seemed almost quiet, but he knew that inside there would be a bustle of activity. There always was at this time of year.

The door in front of them swung open, and they were greeted by a waft of warm air that smelt of pine and roasting turkey, and the exuberant hugs of their mother, Molly.

“Merry Christmas, boys. And to you as well, Fleur.”

Molly’s arms opened to Charlie immediately after Bill, and as he returned her embrace, he looked at the kitchen behind her over her shoulder. The hob was covered in boiling pots, and piles of plates and crackers were stacked on the kitchen table. The walls of the room were covered in decorations that half-hid and half-distracted from the cracks in the plasterwork and missing paint that Charlie had yet to finish.

The Burrow was messier, more chaotic, and just as homely as he remembered it being.

Charlie’s mother frowned slightly before closing the door, and she turned to both of her eldest sons, confused. “Is Artemis not with you? I thought you were all coming up here together from yours.”

“That was the plan.” Bill strode across the kitchen and looked carefully at the cooking food as if inspecting it. “But her bed was empty this morning.”

As his mother’s eyes widened, Charlie removed his shoes with his back to her, not wanting her to see the disappointment on his face. He hadn’t told Artemis in words how much it meant to him that she be at his side today, but she had told him so solemnly that she would be there that he suspected that she realised. Maybe his suspicions had been wrong. After all, the two of them seemed to have lost their understanding of one another recently.

“Don’t look so worried, Mum,” Bill continued. “She went to the Three Broomsticks last night, chances are she’s probably still there, was too drunk to Apparate home. Charlie’s left her a note at ours so she’ll know to come straight here once she gets back.”

That wasn’t why Charlie had left the note. Artemis would know where they had gone, but he hated the idea of her returning to Shell Cottage on Christmas morning to find it empty, to find that they’d all left without her.

Bill’s reasoning may not have been strictly correct, but it stopped their mother from looking quite so concerned at the idea of Artemis’ absence.

“What is it with you all going out and getting so drunk on Christmas Eve, of all nights?” she asked, tutting quietly. “You know, Percy just sent his Patronus on to say that he and George are going to be late this morning. Apparently George went to the Leaky Cauldron last night with Lee Jordan and came back in a right state. They were supposed to be coming early to help lay the table, but it doesn’t sound like George will be much help to anyone today, from what Percy described.”

She spoke very quickly, the way she always did when she was anxious. Charlie got the idea that it had nothing to do with laying the table, but decided it was better not to ask her what was really bothering her. After all, he already knew the answer to that question. He shrugged.

“Is there anything Bill and I can do to make it easier?”

Charlie may have mainly been offering to help his mother in order to change the subject, but he was being genuine enough; he didn’t mind helping. Still, his offers were declined. With nothing for him to do, he made his way into the sitting room to join his youngest siblings.

He found them both on the floor; Ginny lying on the rug attempting to encourage a cat with long fur and a squashed-looking nose to play with a paper chain, while Ron sat playing chess with his friend Harry, his girlfriend reading a book in the chair behind him. The pine tree in the corner of the room was boasting an impressive pile of presents, and a fire was crackling in the hearth.

His face and heart warmed by the fire, Charlie took a seat in another one of the armchairs so that Bill and Fleur could stay together on the sofa. Ginny looked up at them all hopefully from the carpet.

“Is Artemis here not yet?” she asked. “Is she coming at all?”

Charlie shrugged. “Should be, unless she’s changed her mind since I spoke to her yesterday.”

It was possible. It might even be probable. Then again, Artemis had always had a tendency to be late. Hopefully, she would turn up in the next hour or so, though a part of Charlie was beginning to doubt that.

“Does she not like to spend Christmas with her own family?” said Hermione, her eyes lifting from the pages of her book for the first time since Charlie had entered the room. At her feet, Ron let out a quiet scoffing noise.

“Doubt it. Most of her family are a bit crap, aren’t they? That’s why she used to spend so much time ‘round here when Bill and Charlie were at school.” He used his wand to direct his bishop diagonally across the board before adding, “Bit like Harry, only Artemis never tried to get off with my sister.”

He had spoken in a low voice, his comment clearly meant for Harry’s ears, but not low enough. On Charlie’s other side, Ginny looked up and gave their brother a pointed and mischievous grin.

“Not yet,” she said, and she wriggled her eyebrows and pursed her lips. Ron pulled a face before his attention returned to his chessboard.

Charlie said nothing. Hoping that if any of the others noticed his cheeks growing pink, they would assume it was from the heat of the flames, he turned his face towards the fireplace. Hanging from the mantelpiece was a row of stockings, the ones he and his siblings used to open each Christmas morning during their childhoods. Now that they were all adults, the stockings were empty, but all seven of them were still there.

Despite the ransacking of the Burrow, the Weasleys’ Christmas stockings had fared better in the war than the children themselves.

There was the sound of a loud crack in the garden outside, shortly followed by a knock on the kitchen door and Charlie’s mother making an excited-sounding noise. Moments later, she and his father Arthur entered the sitting room with two more Weasleys in their wake: Percy and George.

“Wonderful,” Molly said. Her cheeks were flushed and her smile a little too wide. “Almost everyone is here. I think we are only missing…”

Her voice did not break, but she stopped speaking so quickly that the end of her sentence seemed to disappear entirely rather than tail off. Her smile fell from her face, and everyone else fell silent. The only sound that could be heard were those of the fire and Celestina Warbeck on the kitchen wireless.

They were missing a great deal. They were missing laughter, a pair of bright eyes, a lopsided grin. A son, a brother, a friend. Charlie struggled to take his eyes off the middle most stocking on the fireplace, the one that once would have been — the one that still should have been — Fred’s.

Of course, it wasn’t just Fred who was gone. It was Tonks, who had been the first friend Charlie had made at school. It was Lupin, Tonks’ husband and the father to her child who would now have to grow up without his parents. It was Moody, who Charlie had barely had more than one conversation with, but had been as fierce in battle as he had in loyalty. It was Dumbledore and Snape, and all the others whose lives had touched on theirs over the years, and countless more who they had never even met. It was George’s ear, Bill’s unscarred face, and Percy’s sense of self-worth. It was the inexpensive yet priceless family heirlooms and photo albums that they had been unable to recover in the wreckage of their home.

Right now, though, it was mainly Fred. From the missing stocking over the fireplace to the brother who was missing both an ear and his double. Every joke that wasn’t being made, every tear their parents tried to hide, each one was because Fred was gone.

Charlie looked to his father, who had one arm around his mother’s shoulders. He looked to Bill, who had Fleur’s hand resting on his knee. He looked to Percy and George, the former of whom patted the latter on the shoulder. He looked to Ron, reaching up to interlace his fingers with Hermione’s, and Ginny, returning the sad, sympathetic smile Harry was offering her. All Charlie had for comfort was the warmth of the flames in the fireplaces, which had all of a sudden become far too hot for his liking.

“Excuse me, I’ve got…” Charlie stood up. He cleared his throat. “Erm, bathroom.”

He did not need to go to the bathroom, he just needed to go, to get out of the room which was growing too small and crowded, too loud in spite of the quiet atmosphere. He needed to be alone, despite the fact that he couldn’t ever remember feeling quite as lonely as he did in that moment. So, instead of heading for the bathroom, he continued up to the very top of the house, to the attic, where he opened the window and stepped out onto the roof.

Sitting up here, his back against the warm stone of the chimney, he was completely out of sight, out of the reach of anyone. No one knew where he was, no one could find him, no one could demand anything of him. There were no brothers, dead or alive, no dragons, no one he could let down. There was just him, just Charlie, entirely alone in the world.

It was exactly how he had always liked it, but today, more so than ever before, his solitude felt more solemn than it did soothing.

He missed the way things had been in the past, before the war, when everything had felt simple and unfettered. He missed his brother. Right now, he missed Artemis, the assurance he had always felt in her presence, the mutual understanding they had always shared, or used to share. He had wondered time and time again what it might feel like to have her lips on his, but he would give back each one of their too-few kisses if only to get those things back again. He loved her, he had done for years, but she was his best friend first and foremost.

Perhaps that was why he loved her. It was certainly why he missed her so much. It was why he had always been there for her, and why it hurt so much that she wasn’t there for him today of all days, the day he needed her the most.

The midwinter sun was not yet at its zenith, and the morning air was crisp and cool. The sky was too vast and empty even for Charlie to continue looking at it, so he closed his eyes.

“Charlie?”

His eyelids snapped open at the sound of his name being called out. Unsure whether or not he had imagined it, he sat up straight and turned his head in the direction of the still-open attic window.

He hadn’t imagined it. Scrambling over the roof tiles towards him was Artemis, her hair more dishevelled than usual and her eyes dark and tired-looking. Charlie blinked twice.

“I was starting to think you weren’t going to come after all,” he said as she reached him. Artemis opened her mouth as if to speak, but closed it again without saying anything. Charlie shrugged. “How did you know I’d be up here?”

Artemis half-laughed. “Lucky guess?” She made an awkward humming sound. “No one knew where you were, so I…”

Her voice tailed off. Charlie nodded, not sure if he should speak or not. Artemis took a deep before continuing.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t here earlier. I know I should’ve been, but I decided to get the train back to London, and then I just started walking around and before I knew it it was morning already.”

“Wait, you’ve been up all night?” Charlie asked her.

“Yeah,” said Artemis. Her eyes were almost damp-looking. “I was thinking, and I couldn’t stop thinking because the more I thought the more confused I was, but also the more it made perfect sense. I mean, I don’t understand it, but it does make perfect sense. It makes so much sense that I don’t know how I always missed it before. You know what I mean, don’t you?”

Charlie didn’t know what she meant at all. He said nothing. Artemis bit her bottom lip.

“I think you know what I mean, because I think you’ve realised it, too. I think you realised it before I did, and I feel so stupid for not… for not noticing, and for not feeling the same way before, and for trying so hard not to feel it.” She screwed up her face. “I am saying it all wrong. I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright,” Charlie told her, not entirely sure what she was getting at, but Artemis shook her head, her eyes more tear-filled than ever. “You don’t need to be upset, whatever it is you—”

“I love you.”

His words died on his tongue in an instant, but his mouth remained half-open.

“I… I just love you,” Artemis repeated. Charlie was still unable to say anything. He watched her as she swallowed hard and blinked. “I don’t mean as just a friend, I mean that I really, really love you. And I don’t know when I started, I just know that I do.

“I love you because you’re kind and patient and brave. Because you never take shortcuts, and your hands are all rough, and you always manage to stay calm, even when you’re actually really panicking. Because you have dimples when you smile properly, and you knit me ugly socks every Christmas, and you make stupid infuriating jokes when I’m angry, and you’ve never let me down or not been there for me when I needed you, not even once.

“I love you because you understand me, and I understand you, and no one else understands either of us like that. Because you’re the best person I know, and you make me better just by being with you. I love you because you’re good, and because you’re you, and because I don’t how you do it, but you feel like home and freedom, both at the same time.”

Artemis’ tears had begun to fall from her eyes. Every word that passed from her lips echoed, dreamlike, in Charlie’s head. They intermingled with his own thoughts, which were chasing one another around his brain so fast that he couldn’t catch hold of a single one.

“For Godric’s sake, Charlie, can you just say something, please?”

Charlie opened his mouth and closed it again, twice. No sound came out either time. His eyebrows furrowed, and he took a deep breath before he found himself capable of speech.

“You think my socks are ugly?”

For some reason, that was the first thing he could think of to say. Artemis gave a little sniff and almost giggled.

“Yeah, they’re really ugly,” she said. “That’s why I like them.”

“Right.” Charlie breathed. “Right. Yeah. Yeah, that’s how I feel about you, as well.”

“What, I’m ugly and that’s why you like me?”

“No!” said Charlie. “No, I meant the whole ‘feeling like home’ thing. Sorry, I…” His voice caught in his throat, and he had to cough to clear it. He smiled at Artemis. “What I mean is that I love you, too.”

“In the same way, or—”

“In all the ways. I love you in any way you can think of, and probably more. In every single way a person can be loved, I love you.”

There was nothing more Charlie had to say. Anything else he could possibly say had already said by Artemis. She hadn’t missed a single point.

“You happy with that?” he asked. The smile on Artemis’ face was all the response he needed, but still he felt a wave of relief wash over him as she nodded her head.

“That’ll do for me,” she said quietly. There was a pause, one that felt distinctly less awkward than any that had passed between them in the previous week. “So, now what do we do?”

Charlie considered her question. His answer came quickly and easily. There was one thing he wanted to do more than anything else in the world.

“I’d like to sit here for a while and just be with my best friend,” he told Artemis. “Is that alright with you?”

“More than alright.”

His heart both full and light, Charlie shuffled over so that there was room for Artemis to sit beside him. Behind them, the warmth that rose up the chimney from the fireplace in the living room, where the rest of his family were gathered without them, completely unaware of where they were or what anything that had been said. He looked down and saw that Artemis’ hand rested so close to his that their smallest fingers were only just touching.

“May I?”

With Artemis’ nod of assent, he took her hand in his own, fingers laced. Without even thinking about it, he raised their linked hands to his lips and kissed her wrist. Artemis smiled at him, and rested her head on his shoulder, a gentle weight that seemed to displace all of the rest of the world.

The rest of the world didn’t matter, not for these few moments, not right now. For now, it would just be Charlie and Artemis, just being, together hand-in-hand beneath the great expanse of sky.

[crawlspacefics]

Fate (chapters 9-12) - Throwback Thursday edition

I goofed a bit last time and didn't go as far as I thought. So THIS update has the best chapter ending cliffhanger in the story. Plus a lot of hidden things being said and a much maligned couch.

-----------

The viewscreen tumbled along with Minako as she tripped.  In the background, Rei heard Artemis yelp in pain.  When Minako’s head came back into view, the blonde was gingerly rubbing a spot on the top of her head.  “Where do I need to meet you guys?” she asked.

Rei held back a laugh.  “We’re not being attacked, Minako.  You don’t need to meet us anywhere.”

Minako’s features went slack as she frowned in confusion.  “Then why’d you call me?”

“I can’t sleep, and I’m bored,” answered Rei.  Then she frowned.  “And I have this image stuck in my head that I can’t make go away.”

“Rei,” whined Minako, “it’s 4:30 in the morning.  If the sun isn’t up yet, I don’t want to be either.”

With a smirk, Rei replied, “You’ve never complained about it before.”

“Only because you were right there next to me,” returned Minako, her scowl turning into a sleepy grin.  She rubbed at her eyes and moved up onto the bed.  Lying on her stomach with her head propped on her hands and her communicator upright in front of her, she asked, “So what’s this image?  I assume that’s what you want to talk about.”

Rei shook her head violently.  “Uhn uhn.  I want to make it go away, not relive it.  Talk to me.  I don’t care about what, so long as it isn’t that.”

Minako thought for a moment, blowing little puffs of air between her lips as she did.  Finally, she said, “I think Mako-chan heard you and Ami talking earlier.”

Rei nearly glared at her.  “Why didn’t you tell me that before you left?”

Unperturbed, Minako shrugged.  “I wasn’t sure.  I mean, this is Ami we’re talking about.  She’s never said a bad thing about anyone in her life.  But Mako-chan seemed upset about it.  Did she say anything to you about it?”

“Mako-chan said a lot of things to me,” answered Rei with a sigh.

When she realized Rei wasn’t going to elaborate any further, Minako said, “You’re not going to tell me anything, are you?”

Rei shook her head.

“Fine,” answered Minako.  She turned over onto her back so all Rei could see on her communicator was the top of Minako’s head, while her hands played with the pink ribbon on the front of her nightgown.  “Then I won’t tell you any of what I know either.  I won’t say anything about how Mako-chan got all quiet after she heard you, or how strange it was that she didn’t want to see Ami anymore.  Because Mako-chan always wants to see Ami.”  Minako tilted her head back so her smiling face was upside down on Rei’s viewscreen.  “She cares about her, you know.  Really cares.”

At this point, Rei was too tired to be anything other than amused.  “What makes you say that?”

“Well,” answered Minako as she turned back onto her stomach, “I wasn’t sure at first.  But then there was all that stuff with Haruka, and I started to wonder about the way she was always hanging around Ami.  But she always went boy watching with us.”  Minako frowned in a way that Rei found absolutely adorable.  “Then she went and got pregnant, and that pretty much killed my whole Ami theory.  Until recently anyway.  See, Mako-chan can barely handle a few hours of us fussing over her, but Ami does it more than any of us, and she let her move in.”

Rei laughed.  “Ami doesn’t live here, Mina.  If she did, I would be asleep in my own bed right now.”

“Look around you, Rei,” said Minako.  “Those are Ami’s books on the shelf over by the TV.  Ami’s slippers over there by the door.  Her toothbrush is hanging in the bathroom, her clothes are hanging in the closet, and she even has her own underwear drawer.  Now if that doesn’t say ‘I live here’ I don’t know what does.”

“How do you know about that?” questioned Rei.

Minako grinned innocently.  “I was looking for a light bulb.  Anyway, what are we going to do about it?”

[toacollabevent]

Meg McCaffrey, Master Matchmaker

This is @falconfrost on my main acct since tumblr won’t let me submit from a sideblog. I was matched with @sofia-not-sophie and this piece was inspired by this fic of theirs: https://archiveofourown.org/works/38415544

—

Meg woke up from a really cool dream about running with a herd of unicorns in a beautiful biodiverse meadow to the sound of someone hissing her name repeatedly in a dramatic stage whisper. 

Which gave away who it was before she even opened her eyes. 

“Whaddaya want,” she mumbled, groping around under her pillow for her favorite hunting knife so she could throw it at Apollo’s face as payback for ruining the best dream she’d had in weeks. 

“I’m very sorry for stopping by so early,” he said, still whispering because he was really nice about not waking up the other Hunters in the tent, and obviously lying because if he was actually sorry he would have waited until the sun was fully above the horizon. “But I need your help, Meg. Please?”

Meg groaned deeply and hoped the message of “you’re the worst and I hate you” came across without her having to wake her mouth up enough to say it.

“I’ll take that as an ‘of course, Apollo, I do so enjoy helping you, my dearest friend, and thank you for asking so very nicely.’”

Meg’s hand finally closed around the hilt of her knife, and she twisted around in her sleeping bag to toss it in Apollo’s general direction. 

Because he was stupid and goddy, he caught it easily and raised a single disapproving eyebrow at her. Damn, and that had been a good throw too, especially considering the weird angle she was lying at. 

“I did apologize, didn’t I?” Apollo said, still clearly not that sorry. He flipped the knife around in some dumb trick that was not at all impressive and offered it back to her hilt-first. 

Meg groaned again and rolled out of her sleeping bag directly into Apollo’s shins. Which, ouch, felt like they were made out of steel. Stupid god bod. 

“Fiiiiine,” Meg said, grabbing the non-knife-holding hand Apollo stuck down toward her and letting him pull her to her feet. “Take this outside?”

“Excellent plan,” Apollo agreed as she snatched the knife back from him and put it in her back pocket. Not really how you were supposed to carry knives, but whatever. If anything went horribly wrong, she was literally hanging out with the god of healing. 

Meg shoved her boots on and together they picked their way around Meg’s tentmates, who amazingly hadn’t woken up. This was double impressive considering that most of the Hunters of Artemis were light sleepers, since the whole Hunter deal involved a lot of unexpected monster attacks and having to wake up and go tromping through the woods at a moment’s notice. It was possible Apollo was cheating and doing some kind of god magic to block the sound of his and Meg’s voices, but she wasn’t about to try to figure out if speaking voices technically fell under the domain of music or not. And she definitely wasn’t about to ask him and get a lecture on the intricacies of the “vocal arts” at whatever o’clock in the morning it was right now. 

Apollo ducked through the doorway of the tent, and Meg followed him out into the clearing the Hunters were camped in for the night. As she’d suspected, the sun was not above the horizon yet, and the ring of silver tents looked dull and gray in the dim pre-dawn light. Being up this early should have been illegal.

“This way,” Apollo said, still sort of whispering, and led Meg a couple dozen yards past the edge of the clearing, down what looked like a deer path if Meg was remembering her Hunter-mandated animal tracking lessons right. His shoes (those stupid black Vans with the white stripe that he’d been wearing constantly lately, along with skinny jeans and really terrible flannels because he was a skater boy now apparently) crunched quietly on the light covering of dried leaves as they walked. 

Finally, he stopped and turned to face her.

“Okay,” Meg said flatly. “What?” 

It wasn’t that she wasn’t happy to see him, or anything. Aside from the crimes his constantly changing yet consistently terrible fashion sense committed upon her eyes, Meg really did enjoy Apollo’s periodic visits. (Which he was actually allowed to make now, thanks to the recent lift of Artemis’s ban on him interacting with her Hunters. Apollo still thought it was because he had asked his sister so very nicely, and not because Meg had endured a fairly awkward but earnest conversation with Artemis about it and managed to convince her. He thought that mostly because Meg hadn’t told Apollo about the conversation and probably never would, on account of the fact that he would immediately start sobbing out of love and appreciation or something and it would become a whole thing.) So yeah, Meg liked spending time with him or whatever. The problem was just when he decided to drop in at insane hours like this. As much as Meg appreciated the way being a Hunter allowed her to exist close to nature and everything, spending every night on the ground was not great for quality sleep. And now she was out several prime hours of sleep time. This had better be godsdamn good.

“So,” Apollo said. “It’s a bit of a long story, which I can explain if absolutely necessary, but in essence, I am in need of some romantic advice.”

Meg stared at him, genuinely incredulous. “You came to the aromantic asexual person. For romantic advice.”

Apollo spread his hands helplessly. “It seemed like a good idea at the time.” The time having been, apparently, the middle of the night. “But really, doesn’t that make you sort of an objective party? Unbiased, as it were?”

Meg rolled her eyes at him, to make sure he understood that was the dumbest thing she’d ever heard. 

Except, maybe he did kind of  have a point. Not feeling romantic attraction meant she could ignore that whole factor and focus completely on the quality of the actions or words or gifts or whatever Apollo was trying to use to make his dates successful. Honestly, Meg still wasn’t clear on what really made a date successful. The other person agreeing to a second date? Getting in their pants? Unclear. She had no experience with a “successful” date on those vague terms, and a grand total of one supremely horrible, definitely unsuccessful one with that one guy from freshman year. She had been repressing the events of that since it happened, because thinking about it for more than one second made her feel the emotion of cringe to the depths of her soul. Which was impressive, considering she was basically immune to cringe after having been exposed to regular doses of Apollo for the past four years. But anyway, the repression would probably continue for the rest of her life and/or eternity, depending on how permanent her stint with the Hunters ended up being. 

Upon further thought (and really, Meg was putting way more thought into this than she usually did for Apollo’s various problems, and definitely more than it deserved—Apollo had better appreciate that), none of that even mattered. Who cared about experience, or qualifications, or dumb stuff like that? Apollo had just served her up the perfect chance to bully him on a silver platter, and Meg would die before she turned down that kind of opportunity. 

“All right,” she said finally, having left Apollo dangling for at least fifteen seconds by now as she was thinking. “I’ll help.”

Apollo beamed. “Thank you, Meg. You’re a wonderful friend.”

Meg concentrated furiously on not blushing at how stupidly earnest he could be. She was not affected. She was not going to give up on her plan to bully him just because he was a kind and loving person who wore his heart on his sleeve. He had woken her up from a unicorn dream, for gods’ sakes! 

Reminding herself of the tragic loss of the unicorn dream worked. The blush retreated and she speared him with an unimpressed stare. 

“What kind of advice do you need?”

Apollo took a deep breath (never a good sign), and launched into a passionate explanation of his dating fails over the past three weeks. Meg tuned out about half of it on the grounds that it was boring and unnecessary exposition, and also that Apollo was going into way too much detail about the various swanky rooftop restaurants with live bands, outdoor concerts, indoor theaters, and Olympic archery ranges that had been the backdrops for these dating disasters. 

(She did manage to figure out what he considered an unsuccessful date, which was that they declined his offer of a personalized haiku and/or improvised ukulele song, and afterwards wormed their way awkwardly out of the possibility of a second date.)

Eventually, like a wide, lazy river, Apollo meandered his way in the general direction of an answer to her question. 

“I’m not sure what keeps going wrong,” he said. “Is it something I did, do you think? Something I said? Perhaps telling that nice young man from last week that he should schedule a doctor’s appointment to get his undiagnosed stage 1 prostate cancer checked out killed the mood.”

Meg decided to ignore that last part for the sake of her overall mental stability and health. Before she could ask Apollo if what he was trying to say, in his usual roundabout and pointlessly wordy way, was that he specifically wanted advice about how to act and what to say on dates, there was a rustling in the undergrowth to the side of the path. 

On instinct, Meg yanked the hunting knife from her back pocket and readied herself in a fierce fighting stance. And then felt really stupid as Artemis emerged from the trees, holding no weapons and wearing a deeply disapproving expression on her twelve-ish-year-old face, with both eyebrows raised and laser-pointed in the direction of her brother. 

“Ah, good morning, Sister,” Apollo said with a dumb little wave.

“What exactly is this about?” Artemis asked, definitely at least a little irritated, ignoring Apollo’s greeting entirely.

“Why, I’m simply having a chat with my dear friend Meg, like I do quite frequently.” He blinked innocently at Artemis, who was not having it.

“And why could this chat have not waited until daylight hours, Brother?”

“Well, it’s a bit of a private matter,” Apollo admitted, his eyes flicking over to Meg in a look that screamed please for the love of Olympus do not tell my sister what I’ve been talking to you about. 

“Apollo’s failing at dating and he wanted to ask me for advice,” Meg said.

Artemis digested this. Apollo shot daggers at Meg with his eyeballs. 

“I see,” Artemis said finally. If Meg didn’t know from her time with the Hunters that Artemis was totally composed and serious at all times, she would have sworn that the goddess was trying desperately not to laugh at Apollo. Though maybe the whole detached thing she had going on was just an act that Artemis put on in front of the people she led who needed to see her that way. Meg wasn’t exactly a people-reading expert, but it wouldn’t be that surprising. As she had learned over the course of her adventures with Apollo, gods had layers. Like onions, or Shrek, or whatever. 

“All right, yes, fine, perhaps I have been having a small amount of…bad luck in my recent dating endeavors,” Apollo said. “Honestly, I don’t know what’s come over me! It’s as if my natural charm has been all but obliterated!”

“What charm?” Meg asked.

“I believe your idea of your own ‘charm’ has always been somewhat overinflated,” said Artemis simultaneously.

She and Meg exchanged a brief nod of deep mutual respect while Apollo pouted in protest.

“Perhaps I’ve been cursed by some angry ex-lover,” Apollo continued, recovering quickly and tapping his chin contemplatively. “I like to believe I leave all of them on good terms, but I suppose you can never know for sure, and I do have a lot of exes…” He trailed off, presumably now mentally running through his mile-long list of exes and analyzing which ones of them would: a) seriously want to screw him over, and b) have the necessary magic powers or blackmail or piles of money to secretly sabotage his recent dates. Considering who Apollo was, it was probably magic powers. It was always the magic powers. 

“Perhaps it’s your attire,” Artemis said flatly, looking Apollo up and down with an expression like she was smelling a Rafflesia flower. (Meg never had been able to grow one at Aeithales, which sucked because they were huge and pink and bumpy and smelled like a corpse, which was basically perfect. But even with her greenhouses, Palm Springs was just a little too dry for such a tropical plant.)

“This coming from the goddess whose signature clothing palette is Shades of Concrete?” Apollo shot back. 

Artemis rolled her eyes. She really was different around Apollo. Well, Meg’s adopted brothers and sisters also made her roll her eyes a lot, so maybe that was just a universal sibling thing. 

“It’s silver, not gray. And regardless, if you’re wearing anything like that around your romantic prospects, I’m not surprised you are ‘failing at dating,’ as Meg put it.” 

Apollo frowned. “This outfit is totally trendy! The skater boy aesthetic is all over the fashion side of Pinterest! It’s not my fault you two refuse to use social media and spend all your time running around in the woods with no cell service.”

“Apollo, do you even know how to skateboard?” Meg asked, genuinely curious. The mental image of him doing tricks at a skate park was upsetting, but she had to know. 

He waved an impatient hand in her direction. “That’s beside the point. My fashion sense is not the problem here, I assure you. It has to be something else. I’m simply not sure what.”

“Maybe it’s the haikus?” Meg suggested. “Haikus aren’t cool anymore, I don’t think.”

“The plural is haiku, Meg, and haven’t you been listening? My haiku are strictly opt-in these days! I don’t thrust them upon anyone, anymore. And besides, the haiku is classic. There is no way it’s become ‘uncool,’” Apollo said, making big, sarcastic air quotes. “I’m the god of poetry—I would know,” he continued desperately. 

“What about the topic of conversation during these dates?” Artemis asked. “You can be quite long-winded, you know. Perhaps you’re boring them.”

Apollo stared at his sister in disbelief. “Me? Boring?”

“Sometimes,” Meg said sagely. Okay, that was mostly a lie. Aside from his date fail stories, which were inherently boring because they were about romance, Apollo usually had a way of making whatever he talked about interesting. If Meg was being honest, she never would have made it through so many years of piano lessons without quitting out of boredom with anyone else as a teacher. 

Apollo’s face did a weird twitchy thing and then quickly smoothed into his Mild Annoyance expression. 

Wait a sec… was he actually upset about this? It was kind of hard to tell when things actually upset Apollo, because he liked to act upset about things he didn’t care about and pretend like he was fine when something really got to him. Meg wasn’t great at…people things, but she’d figured that much out about him over the years. 

It seemed like maybe all the failed dates were making him feel bad about himself as a person. Which was impressive considering he usually had an ego the size of, well, the sun. That could be underthinking it, though. Again: gods = onions. Maybe Meg wasn’t peeling deep enough. 

Usually, at a time like this she would just ask him directly what was really bugging him, and after a little bit of dancing around the thing, Apollo would explain, and then they could figure out how to fix or get through whatever it was. But with Artemis here, would that work? A conversation with three people was way different from a one-on-one. Gods, it was too early for this much thinking. 

Okay, enough. Going with her gut hadn’t failed Meg so far. 

“Is getting rejected making you feel bad about yourself?”

Apollo’s eyes flicked towards her, then towards Artemis, and then back to Meg. He smiled unconvincingly. 

“Of course not,” he said, unconvincingly. 

Artemis, who was at least as used to Apollo’s BS as Meg was, if not more considering she’d known him for thousands of years, looked a little concerned. She might’ve said something, but Meg didn’t give her the chance.

“Well, good. ‘Cause it shouldn’t,” Meg said firmly. “The problem isn’t you—it’s the people you’re picking. Clearly they suck. They don’t know what they’re missing out on.” 

Meg gave Apollo a second to process that. A way more real smile flickered across his face, like sunlight filtering through tree branches. When she was sure he got what she was saying, she said, “Okay, give me your phone.” 

Even though he hadn’t been magically required to follow her orders for years now, he still dug his phone out of the pocket of his stupid skinny jeans and passed it over to her without protesting. 

“Wait, why am I giving you my phone?” he asked, his smile dropping. Except it was too late for takebacks, because Meg had already backed up a few steps and unlocked it. (His password was literally 7777. He was so bad at cybersecurity.)

Meg tapped on Tinder. Despite Apollo’s claims a few minutes ago about her and Artemis not having any cell service in the woods, his phone definitely did and the app loaded fine. The first profile that showed up was for Pine, 65 years old, 0.2 miles away, with a picture of a young woman Meg assumed was a dryad standing in front of a pine tree and making a peace sign. Apollo had that whole Thing about women who were trees, so that was a clear no.  

“Hey!” Apollo said as Meg swiped left. He lunged for the phone but Meg dodged easily under his outstretched arm. “Are you on Tinder? I have my algorithm very finely tuned, Meg! A single swipe in the wrong direction and it’ll start exclusively giving me guys who are really into baseball again. If I have to hear one more prediction about who’s going to make it to the World Series I might spontaneously combust, and trust me, as much as I enjoy practicing the arts of healing, emergency burn treatments are not conducive to a pleasant evening!”

Meg looked at the next profile. Greg, 32, 1489 miles away (so apparently Apollo had his distance range set to like, the entire US) wearing some kind of sports jersey that definitely could have been baseball (Meg knew nothing about sports and was proud of it). She decided the chance that he was a baseball fan was enough to justify this guy being a reject. 

Apollo grabbed for her again, and Meg ducked behind Artemis for cover. Artemis twisted her neck elegantly in Meg’s direction to give her a Look, and Meg gave her a Look back. Hopefully the meaning of the Look, that Meg was doing this for Apollo’s own good, got across.

It must have, because Artemis stopped Apollo in his tracks with a gentle hand on his chest and said, “Give her a chance, Brother. She may have a point. As much as I am loath to admit it, you are a…what do they call it…a ‘catch.’”

With Apollo’s brain apparently taken mostly out of commission by his sister calling him a catch, Meg had time to swipe left on several more lame Tinder people. Another sports fan, a woman making a kissy face at the camera, guy holding an aggressively medium-sized fish, group photo of like seven women at the beach. If you swiped right, did that mean you were agreeing to date all seven of them? Apollo was into the number seven but probably not like that. 

“Um. Thank you?” Apollo said finally to Artemis. “My Tinder algorithm, though…”

“I’m sure it will be fine, Apollo. Meg is a capable young woman.” 

Hell yeah, she was. Meg appreciated that show of faith, even if she’d yet to find anyone good. As soon as she thought that, almost like it was on cue, a new profile popped up that made Meg’s thumb pause mid-left-swipe. 

Jen, 35, 547 miles away in Los Angeles. Her first pic was a close-up of her playing the violin, with an intense look in her eyes that reminded Meg of how some of the Hunters got when they were hot on the tail of that week’s monster. Jen’s bio said that she was in the LA Philharmonic, which Meg knew from Apollo’s insistence on giving her a “proper music education” was a really good orchestra. He’d taken her and the rest of Aeithales to see one of their concerts at the Hollywood Bowl last summer (he’d teleported the whole group instead of driving, since the two of them knew firsthand how painful the Palm Springs to LA drive was). And…no way. Jen had a poem at the end of her bio. Meg didn’t recognize it, since she had convinced Apollo to not give her a “proper poetry education” because her brain would explode from too many dumb words, and also she had school and didn’t have the ability to split herself into multiple Megs to achieve unlimited free time like he did. 

But someone into poetry and music? Perfect. Jen might even opt in to one of Apollo’s personalized haikus and actually appreciate it. Sorry, one of his haiku. Whatever. 

Meg slid out from behind Artemis and shoved the phone in Apollo’s face. “Look.”

Apollo looked. His eyebrows gradually crawled up his forehead in interest like two blond caterpillars. 

“I will admit, she seems like a better fit than anyone I’ve been seeing in the last month or two,” he said slowly. 

“Just say she’s perfect and that I’m better at Tinder than you,” Meg told him.

“I will not be saying that.” Apollo carefully straightened his cuffs like he was wearing some kind of fancy suit and not a grungy flannel. “I will, however, admit that you’ve made what appears to be an auspicious discovery, which almost makes up for the untold damage you’ve wrought upon my Tinder algorithm.”

“I’ll take that as a ‘of course, Meg, you’re a genius and better at Tinder than me and thanks for fixing all my problems as usual,’” Meg said, and swiped right. 

—

“Well?” Meg asked, staring at Apollo expectantly across the empty tent. He’d shown up later in the morning this time, thank the (other) gods, so the rest of the Hunters were outside eating breakfast and they had the tent all to themselves.

Apollo grinned at her, which gave away what he was about to say before he said it. 

“Jen asked to see me again,” he said, radiating joy and also enough happy golden light that Meg was considering rummaging through her pack for her sunglasses. “We have a second date!”

“Told you I was better at Tinder,” Meg said with love. 

“That you did,” Apollo agreed. His one-man sun thing died down a little, so Meg could look at him without shielding her eyes. “I have one hundred percent certainty that Jen and I will work out, but on the off chance we don’t, and I venture back on Tinder to find it filled with baseball men? You and I will be having words.” 

Meg rolled her eyes at him as hard as she could. 

Apollo didn’t roll his eyes back. Instead, he softened. 

“But truly, Meg,” he said. “Thank you. Even if you’re not interested in it yourself, you really are a romantic expert. Perhaps you should get business cards.” He framed an imaginary card in the air with his fingers. “Meg McCaffrey, Master Matchmaker. The alliteration alone sells it.”

Back to his usual self, then. Meg smacked his hands down and went in for a hug, burying her face in another one of his stupid flannels as he patted her back affectionately.

At least she hadn’t missed out on a unicorn dream this time.

[runelocked]

' do you actually give a shit about me, or am i just . . . ' she sighed heavily. ' am I just something fun and stupid to get you through the divorce?' ( HAHAA IM SO SORRY)

CAN’T IT BE BOTH? He half wants to say, but it seems inappropriate, when he’s lying in bed with her and has one hand tangled in her hair, playing with it loosely. He can say what he wants about affection: there’s something about Artemis that pacifies him, makes him want to keep her close with as much skin contact as humanely possible.

Uncharacteristically, he’s silent for a moment, then two. Genuinely thinking over— not the answer, because he knows that, but how he’s going to word it to her. When it comes to personal feelings, William is anything but smooth: had proposed to his wife halfway through her final exams at college, rushing into the room and instantly being ushered back out by the examiner. His wife hadn’t minded at the time; had laughed, eyes wet and fond, kissed him senseless. The thought of her while his limbs sprawl over Artemis in bed makes him deeply uncomfortable. And he’s at a loss for how to answer.

“I wouldn’t be doing this with you if I didn’t care,” he murmurs, glad for the dark room that hides the deep furrow in his brows, “Not so often, anyway. The sex is fantastic, obviously, and it’s nice to kiss you when I please, but it’s not—”

Not what, William? Not love? Like he doesn’t wake up in his own shitty apartment room thinking of her. Like he doesn’t loiter around her classes to surprise her with some ridiculously lavish gift or charming date night planned, like he doesn’t go about his day with a mood brightened by her presence. Or do you mean not just a rebound? Like he’s over his wife’s abandonment, like he doesn’t ensure he smells of Artemis whenever he knows he’ll be seeing Clara that day? Like he doesn’t show up at Artemis’s whenever he’s made miserable and mad by the thought of the divorce, like he doesn’t think, guiltily, angrily, of his wife when he’s with Artemis sometimes, like he privately thinks he’s incapable of love since the deaths of the children at the diner and his experiments thereafter. Make up your damn mind, Afton: don’t leave her hanging!

Rather than answer outright, William presses a kiss that lingers too long into her hairline. Tilts her head up towards him with a touch that is too light to pretend this is just a casual fling, with eyes too unfathomable to pretend his answer is I love you, and only you. “You’re deeply, deeply special to me.” Honest. Perhaps the most honest he’s capable of being with his loved ones. “I… would do this regardless of the divorce. Whether it was taking place or not, I’d still be here.” A wry smile tugs belatedly at his lips. “That’s maybe not as romantic as I’d hoped. But the sentiment remains.”

[writewithfire]

Find the Word

thanks for the tag @kyofsonder !

tagging: @hexavonne04 @rms-writes @dogmomwrites

my words: trick, linger, speak, neighbour, choose your words: issue, collapse, host, crack, shadow

excerpts from Centurion's Secret taglist: @bi-karibe-chick @the-stray-storyteller @andromedatalksaboutstuff @vaultofqueenorion @lady-grace-pens *ask to be added!

Trick

“If I was a traitor I would have slit your throat that first night while you slept. I would’ve let that poisoned dagger kill you. You know that, don’t you? You said you trusted me. Was that a lie?” “No,” he said softly. “Not then.” “You changed your mind because of him? A Janus? You’re the one who said the only thing they’re good for is lying. And you were right!” He blinked, eyes now alert. “You’re saying he tried to trick me?” His face hardened. “How do I know you’re not trying to do the same?”

Linger

Raven panted, his hair dishevelled. Sweat dripped down his forehead. “You won. Well done.” A trace of a growl lingered in his voice. I reached out my hand and he took it, his touch sending sparks through my arm. Hauling him up, I looked him in the eye. “During our spar, did you do anything?”    His eyes glinted. “Do what?” he asked casually. He definitely did something. “Nevermind,” I muttered.

Speak

“You speak sense,” she said, stepping back. Finally. “And you are young. This is the reason I didn’t take action sooner. However,” she emphasised, “word has gotten out in the city that we are harbouring a patronee of Apollo. They will blame you for this.” I inhaled sharply. What would they do? Lynch me? Or did they have some other punishment in mind? “What can I do about it?” “Earn their trust. Earn my trust.”

more under the cut

Neighbour

“Do you think they’ll make us fight each other?” he asked. “That can’t be allowed.” But my mind was racing. If that was the case, Lance was guaranteed to pair me up with the biggest, strongest person in the room. Looking around, I glimpsed Prisma’s loathed neighbour, with blond hair and muscles only expected of someone years older than him. I found myself watching my blades hit his sword, picturing ways to unbalance him.

Choose

“My name is Serra,” she said in her deep, melodic voice. “My patron is Gaia, goddess of agriculture.” “Artemis,” I nodded. “So there aren’t any patronees of Gaia in first-year? They must have put you with the leftover.” She shook her head, her dark brown hair brushing over her shoulders. “I chose to mentor you.” Chose? Why would she choose me, of all people? Our patrons have nothing to do with each other. She smiled slightly. “Come with me. I want to show you something.”

[totally-original-artist]

High school Solangelo

OK this is the least embarrassing one @shuriiiewrites full credits to 14 year old me

===================================================

I let out a yawn as I stepped out of the car.

“Stay safe William!” My aunt shouted from the driver’s seat. I gave her a reassuring smile and walked off to my house. I could feel my leg muscles aching as I got ready for bed. Today had been a busy day. A huge ten day carnival has opened up a few kilometers away from my house and since Aunt Artemis just so happened to be around she decided to bring me along with her. My siblings were supposed to come along as well but none of them seemed too interested in it as it seemed ‘childish’ to them. I wasn’t going to go either, but it would’ve been rude to refuse her offer. I flopped onto my bed and tried to fall asleep but my body was way too numb. And so, I stayed awake the whole night, my next day at school completely doomed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Are you sure you’re OK? You look like you’re gonna pass out any second now.” Nico asked me for the tenth time. I appreciated the fact that he cared about me but I was already five minutes late for my global perspective class.

“Yeah, I seriously need to go now, don’t you have art?” I tried to walk around him but he blocked my way once more.

“I’m already done with my prep 2, so it doesn’t matter. We’re going to the nurse’s office unless you explain.” He crossed his arms and stared me down, which would’ve been scary if it wasn’t for the fact that he was actually looking up. I let out a sigh.

“A carnival opened up a few miles away from my house, my aunt took me there yesterday and we only came back at ten.” He raised an eyebrow at that.

“What if you come back to school tomorrow in the same state? Exams are coming up, are you really planning on doing last minute revision? And don’t even think about pulling an all-nighter.” I was starting to get annoyed, at this rate I would get detention.

“Well then why don’t you come along to make sure I don’t kill myself?” I said in an exasperated tone.

“Sure, it’s a date then.” Then the little turd had the decency to look smug while he turned and walked away from me.

I got to class fifteen minutes late but there was a substitute teacher so he didn’t give me detention.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I was lying on the couch reading a book called ‘Eragon’ when I heard the bell ring. 

“Hey Will! Can you get that for me?” shouted Lee from the kitchen. I tore off a little piece of newspaper and used it as a bookmark. As I went to the door I peeked through the peephole to see who it was. Instead of finding a person standing on the other side I saw the colour brown. The same colour as Nico’s eyes. A small grin made its way to my face as I opened the door. There he stood, dressed in a red shirt with two white stripes down below the arms. He was wearing black leggings and a red checkered shirt around his waist.

“Hey sleeping beauty” Nico said as he gave me a peck on the cheek.

“Hey Prince Charming. You’re a little late today.” I chuckled as I kissed his forehead.

“Got caught up with fighting a dragon. I got some of its blood though.” He pulled out a bottle of red liquid that was most probably Gatorade and handed it to me. “It’s Gatorade actually, just in case you decide a take a little nap and never wake up again.” I took it from him with a thanks. 

“Aunt Artemis is out dropping Kayla to her guitar lessons, she should be back soon. In the meantime I’d like to beat you in a game of speed drifters.” I said as I booped his nose with my index finger.

“In your dreams sunshine.” He stuck his tongue out and walked in like it was his own house. And from how much time he spends here it might as well be.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[borealtwilight]

whumptober 2022 | day 1: “this wasn’t supposed to happen”

Every time she closed her eyes, all she could see was Losian and Cor’s broken bodies, lying there in the dirt, sprawled out and so very, very still. Markers, reminders of how they’d been viciously ripped from existence. By her hands. By orders of COLD MOON, her superiors.

And now, horrifyingly, it had taken place all over again.

Artemis shuddered.

Three Spartan-IVs, she’d been sparring against. Three, against one highly volatile Spartan-III. Not that they could have known. Not that she could have known; she’d thought that she was fine. She’d thought that she was coping, that things had been... had been okay, for a time. She’d thought she could handle a bit of fighting, some close-combat, to help the newer Fours hone their skills.

She’d been so very, very wrong.

This wasn’t supposed to happen.

She couldn’t look at them, bent and twisted and unnatural; neither could she look away. She’d done this. A moment of weakness, something had come over her, and she’d snapped.

Lost control, lost her head. And now they were dead. Because of her.

“What happened?” One harshly whispering voice rang out.

“Don’t know, didn’t see anything. I just got here, man.”

Accusatory. Judging. Deeming her a monster. When it had been an accident. They didn’t even know. Nobody knew.

This wasn’t supposed to happen.

“Don’t you think it looks a little, I don’t know, suspicious, that there’s only one of ’em left alive? I’m talkin’, foul play suspicious.”

“You’re tellin’ me.”

The voices grew louder. Clamouring together. Mocking, questioning, pointing fingers. Sheer overwhelming noise. They were all against her. They thought that she’d done it on purpose, that she’d wanted to kill those Spartans.

This wasn’t supposed to happen!

“Murderer!” “Traitor!” “Send them to the brig!” “They’ve gone rogue, someone enact STOLEN GAUNTLET!” "What the hell did they do?”

And one word rose above all else. A cry that many voices took up. A cry that was as seen in faces as much as heard from mouths. A nonverbal cry, as much as something that was said.

“Demonslayer!”

The bodies were taken away for after action reports, autopsies. Everyone around her left her; all of them were too afraid, too angry, too uncertain, to take action against her. Nobody came to help her.

[koraki-pharmakis]

10 Myths About Hellenismos

Today, let's address some popular myths (and the truths) about Hellenismos and its deities. Not very surprisingly, most of these things come from Wicca or Christian colonization. You can believe these things if you want, they just aren't from the religion.

Myth 1: Deity work is dangerous

Truth: Deity work, in Hellenismos, isn't any more dangerous than worshiping the Christian god is supposed to be. This notion didn't originate in Hellenismos, and is also a largely neopagan idea. Our theoi aren't monsters or aggressive. They won't kill you over tiny mistakes. Just respect them, do what you can, and you'll be fine.

Remember that even in the mythos, people aren't smited for the wrong offering. They're smited for blatant and deliberate disrespect, which by nature can't be done accidentally.

Our deities genuinely aren't easily angered. They wont be mad if you reach out to them, if you confuse them for something else, if you give them the wrong offering, etc.

Myth 2: You need to look out for entities impersonating deities

Truth: Again, this isn't remotely from Hellenismos. Our gods cannot be impersonated by evil entities. Frankly, we don't really have entities with that desire or power in the religion. If you're contacting a Hellenic deity, and you get an affirmative response, you contacted them. The idea you didn't, or that something else is lying to you, is from outside the religion. Our deities are more powerful than random ghosts, and our religion doesn't have that concept.

Myth 3: Hekate is a moon goddess/crone

Truth: Hekate is associated with the moon, but she is not a goddess of the moon. She is the goddess of one lunar phase--the dark moon, which is on the eve of Hekate's Deipnon. She is also not a crone goddess outside of neopaganism and Wicca. Historically, she was depicted as a maiden. Her triple form was also not maiden/mother/crone, simply a triple maiden-esque figure.

Myth 4: Hestia gave her seat to Dionysos/Apollon took Helios's chariot

Truth: Honestly, it's just a difference in counting. Some deities were and weren't Olympians depending on time, culture, and locations. No seats on Olympos were "given up," it's just that sometimes one is there and sometimes the other isn't.

As for the chariot, no. Apollon didn't replace Helios. They were synchronized, but Apollon didn't "take" the chariot, and Helios was never removed. Helios is still the sun--his name is literally "sun."

Myth 5: The myths are history/Hellenic Polytheists believe in the myths

Truth: The characters in myths are real to us, and some myths are literal, but in general, Hellenic mythology is not meant to be taken fully literally. Most of it is symbolic. Additionally, a lot of the r*pe in the mythos is translation errors. We believe in our heroes and our gods, and we believe there is truth in the myths, but no, our mythology isn't like Christian mythology--it's not expected or really encouraged to believe the myths are strictly true history. The myths aren't even consistent over time and location, so it's simply impossible to believe in all of them at once. But no, our gods do not act the way they do in mythology. Myths are by and for mortals, and do not capture the divine.

Myth 6: It's disrespectful to dress up as or write fiction about the gods

Truth: This is just ridiculous and ahistoric. The majority of Ancient Greek theater was deity cosplay and fanfiction. I said what I said.

This can definitely be done disrespectfully, but isn't inherently disrespectful. You also aren't required to represent the theoi fully accurately in this.

Myth 6: X god is Y orientation/gender

Truth: While you can certainly theorize our theoi's sexuality, and none of our gods are cishet by modern standards, none of the gods can only be interpreted as one gender or orientation. The terms we ascribe to them are based on mythos, portrayals, and modern interpretation of historic social roles.

The most common of these theories are maiden goddesses as aroace (ie. Hestia, Athena, Artemis), erastes (top) gods as bi men (ie. Zeus, Apollon, Patroklos), eromenos (bottom) gods as gay men (ie. Ganymedes, Hyakinthos, Akhilleus), and Artemis as a lesbian.

None of these are wrong, to be clear. It's just not as simple as using our modern labels for them. Erastes and eromenos were both considered straight in Ancient Greece; being a 'virgin' didn't always mean celibate; Artemis can be interpreted as bi, lesbian, and/or aroace based on her myths. You can interpret them however you like--I certainly interpret my gods as queer--but there is no single right answer.

Myth 7: You need a patron or to be devoted to someone, or can only have one patron/be devoted to one god, & devotion is an oath

Truth: Patron deities are more of a principle in neopaganism and Wicca than in Hellenismos. Worshiping the theoi does not require you to find a patron or devote to a deity, ever. Patronage is not particularly important or common, unless you are thinking of a patron god of a trade (ie. if you're a blacksmith your patron is Hephaistos).

Devotion is also not exclusive, and never requires an oath. Oaths in Hellenismos are extremely serious, and should never be taken without extreme caution. If you aren't willing to die if you break the oath, don't make it--find something else. You probably wont die, but that's the necessary level of certainty. Devotion, while serious, is not as serious as being oath-bound. You can be devoted to multiple deities, and devotion can be called off if needed. You can't really call off an oath.

Myth 8: X god is a r*pist!

Truth: Please stop it. Just stop it. No. Especially if you're basing that on Lore Olympus. The mythology isn't fact, weird inaccurate mythology fanfic written by someone who doesn't know anything about the myths isn't fact.

The mythology isn't straight up history. The myths were often mistranslated (the Greek word for r*pe didn't just mean r*pe) and they aren't facts. They were also products of their culture. So. No. They are not. And their worshipers aren't r*pe apologists.

Myth 9: Titans are evil and/or Olympians hate titans

Truth: Titans are fine. Really. They're not evil, they're not going to hurt you. They're just another kind of Theoi. Many of them were actually a large part of the historic religion. Hekate's Deipnon was a monthly festival, after all. And no, Olympians don't hate titans. Remember the point about myths not being literal.

Myth 10: The gods are jealous

Truth: No, the gods will not be jealous if you worship another god. They wont be jealous if you worship another pantheon, or if you need a break. If you're a god consort, they won't be jealous if you're interested in other mortals or deities. If you're a devotee, they won't be upset if you devote to other deities.

The most jealous a god gets is upset if you break an oath, promise, or agreement with them. If you promised them a daily libation but skipped it for another deity without permission, they may get upset. But even then, that's not really jealousy.

Myth 11: If you work with X deity, you can't work with Y

Truth: This is usually based on rivalry in mythology, and isn't true at all. Related to the above jealousy point, no deity in real life hates another deity, especially not enough that if you worship both they'll be upset. You can worship Aphrodite and Persephone. You can honor Hera and Leto.

Most of these gods are actually happy if you honor other theoi. Many of them are family, or share domains.

If enough people are interested, I might make a part two, because this is barely the tip of the iceberg. RBs welcome from pagans and non-pagans alike.

[lacontroller1991]

To Capture a Flag (Rick Flag x Reader)

Requested by @halietigges : one person leaning their head on the others shoulders as they're sitting/waiting

@h-hxgirl @artemis-cr0ck​ @yelenas-lova​ @himbovillain-anon​

Warnings: Language and Character Death

The fight was taxing. Everyone was worn out and dirty from blood, dust, and sweat. You were no exception. Grime layered your skin as blood flaked off in certain spots. You wiped your brow with the back of your hand as you glanced over to Rick who was sitting next to you. He was in the same shape as you, except the light of his eyes were dull in comparison to the way they naturally shined whenever he was with you and June. You understood why though, the Enchantress left no traces of June behind, so when Rick killed Enchantress, he also killed the only woman he ever loved. You mentally scoffed, crossing your arms as you closed your eyes, imagining how different this would be if he had loved you and not her.

You walked into the room, a bag of fried chicken in one hand and drinks in the other when you saw June and Rick kissing on the couch.

“Oh, sorry to interrupt. I guess I’ll just leave this then,” you had spoken, hurt traveling through your heart as you saw your best friend/crush of 8 years kissing a girl he just met not even two weeks ago. You hurried out of the room, ignoring Rick’s voice calling you back.

You glanced up at the chopper ceiling, eyelashes attempting to bat away unshed tears at the realization that Rick would never see you as anything else except a friend. You felt a pair of eyes on you and when you saw Harley’s glossed over eyes observing you with concern you just shook it off, shaking your head, silently begging her not to ask. Nodding her head in understanding, she closed her eyes and tried to take a nap on the chopper before she would eventually be taken back to her metal cage. You quickly took another glance over to Rick and saw that he was watching you intently.

“You alright?” He asked with concern as you put on a faux smile, one he could easily see through.

“I’m fine I suppose,” lying was never a strong suit of yours and it made it very easy for Rick to decipher what you were saying versus what you were feeling.

“Cut the bullshit, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing, Flag. ‘m just tired is all,” you replied with conviction as he ran a hand through his hair before turning back to you.

“You glad she’s gone?” His question came as a shock to you. Yes Rick was an upfront man and honest at that, but you did not expect him to ask that type of question after losing someone that he loved.

“Yes,” you paused as he raised an eyebrow, “and no. I know how much you cared for her.”

“I love her. Loved. I loved her. And now she’s just...gone.”

“I just don’t get how you can love someone you barely knew. You knew her for what? 4 months? I’ve been loving this guy for years now and he never notices,” his face contorted into confusion at your confession as you heard a sigh coming from in front of you.

“Who’s the guy? I’m your best friend and you didn’t tell me?” Rick was hurt. He told you everything (for the most part), and he thought that you would tell him everything, but your confession shocked him.

“It’s you, you dickhead,” Boomerang groaned as you shot him a dirty look to which he only shrugged.

“Yeah, for realsies, you’re a bone head Flag. Everyone can see she practically worships you,” Harley added as your face burned bright red. You dipped your head down, trying to avoid Rick’s gaze, afraid of what he would say or think at their outing.

“You love me?” Came his softened voice, hand moving under your chin to raise your face to meet his.

“Do you love me?” He questioned again, this time with more authority as you sheepishly nodded, closing your eyes in fear of rejection, but when you felt his lips brush against yours, all fear melted away and molded into the kiss. Pulling back, he placed his forehead against yours and grasped your hand in his before leaning back and resting against the back of the chair.

“I love you too sweetheart, I’m sorry I never realised your feelings, I guess I was just caught up in my fear that you didn’t return them,” he admitted as you gave him a small smile and placed your head against his shoulder for the rest of the ride back to Belle Reve, letting out a sigh of relief that you managed to capture the Colonel Flag.

[the-al-chemist]

Artemis Hexley: The Wilderness Years

Chapter 6: Masks

A/N: Artemis and co end up at the centre of a shocking turn of events at the World Cup. Warnings: violence, threat, acts of terrorism and hate crime.

Once the match ended, the campsite turned into a wild and raucous party, bursting with music, dancing, and revelry. Nowhere was that more the case than in the Irish supporters’ section of the campsite, where several overlapping fiddle tunes could be heard in the air, and almost every single witch, wizard, and leprechaun was on their feet dancing along underneath the green and gold flags that waved victoriously over the tents. 

Artemis and her friends had been quick to join the celebrations, and had stayed out drinking and mingling and enjoying the festivities until Artemis’ voice was nearly gone and her feet were aching from all the dances Chiara had tried to teach her.

By the time she and Chiara returned to their tent, midnight had come and gone, and the party was only just showing signs of winding down. They were the first back to the tent; Penny, Tonks, and Andre were apparently determined to stay out until sunrise.

“I’m surprised you didn’t want to stay out longer,” said Artemis, pulling a jumper over the top of her pyjamas and climbing into her sleeping bag. “You’ve got more reason to celebrate than the rest of us.”

“It’s been a long day,” Chiara replied. There was a note to her voice that made Artemis look at her sceptically. “I’m just tired, that’s all.”

“So, you wanting to leave had nothing to do with Jae dancing with those Veela just now?”

Chiara gave Artemis a weary look, and Artemis raised her eyebrows. Chiara sighed.

“He can dance with whoever he likes,” she said, lying back onto her pillow so that her white-blonde hair fanned around her head. “I have no right to be bothered by it.”

“But you are.”

“Yes.”

Artemis nodded. She lay down too, and shuffled onto her side so that she was facing Chiara. 

“Chiara, what happened between you two? I mean, you obviously miss him, so why-”

“It was a trust thing.”

“Yeah, you said that before, but that’s not an actual explanation,” said Artemis. “You know, if you’re still this upset, you should probably talk about it with us. We’re your best friends, that’s what we’re here for.” Chiara said nothing, but her face softened. “Was it all the dodgy stuff he sells, or did he do something bad?”

“No.” Chiara shook her head. “No, he didn’t. He would never.” She looked at Artemis from the corner of her eye. “Jae’s a very good person, he’s just better at pretending not to be sometimes.”

“So why couldn’t you trust him anymore?”

“It wasn’t Jae that couldn’t be trusted. It was me.”

“Wait, what?” Artemis’ nose wrinkled. “What do you mean, you couldn’t be trusted?”

“I never told him about me. That I’m a” - even though the tent was empty aside from the two of them, Chiara still paused and lowered her voice before saying the word - “werewolf.”

“But you were together for… what? Two years? More?”

“Two and half, by the end.”

“How did you manage to keep it a secret from him for so long?”

“It actually wasn’t that difficult,” Chiara said, with a sharp little laugh. “I’m used to keeping it a secret, after all. It’s not like we were living together, and I already couldn’t see him some nights because of my shifts at St Mungos. We did night shifts from the start of our training, so I just… made up some more. He never noticed that they always coincided with the full moon. I thought I was being quite clever at the time, but looking back, it was really stupid. He was bound to find me out eventually.”

“I guess,” Artemis frowned. “So does he know now? That’s not why-”

“No. Thank Merlin, no.”

“Then what happened?”

“He got injured one evening and decided to go into my work and get me to check him over on his way home. Obviously, I wasn’t there when I told him I would be, and he assumed the obvious, that there was someone else.”

“Why would that be the obvious thing to assume?” asked Artemis. She would never have assumed anything like that of Chiara.

“Well, he was hardly going to guess the real reason, was he now? And it wasn’t like I could tell him the truth either, so… I let him assume that. And that’s why it ended.”

“I don’t understand,” Artemis said. “I get you not telling him at first, but when he’d already half-figured it out, surely you could’ve just told him the truth.”

“I didn’t feel like I could,” Chiara sighed. “It was like I’d been wearing this mask for so long, and I was just so scared to take it off by that point. I was scared to let him in, even when I knew that if I didn’t, then… And I realised at that point that if I was that scared to tell him, it was because I didn’t trust him, and obviously at that point he didn’t trust me either, and… Well, what’s the point of loving someone if you don’t trust them?”

“I was told that love doesn’t ever have a point, it just is.”

“I suppose you’re right, so you are. It’s not like any of this stopped me from loving him. I don’t think it stopped him from loving me either, as much as you can love somebody without really knowing them, anyway.”

“You know, you could still-”

“No, I can’t,” Chiara said firmly. She sighed and blinked twice, her eyes fixed on the canvas ceiling of the tent. “It’s too late now. And as Godric-awful as it is that it didn’t work out because I never truly let him in, it would hurt even more if it had been because he saw me for what - for who - I really am. I know it sounds ridiculous, but at least this way it’s the mask that’s the problem, and not the real me who’s underneath it.”

“That doesn’t sound ridiculous at all,” said Artemis. She removed her hand from out of the sleeping bag and gently squeezed Chiara’s arm. Chiara wiped her eyes and shook her head.

“What about you, anyway?” she said, her voice forcibly breezy as she turned onto her side to face Artemis.

“What about me?”

“How are things with you and Chester?”

“Fine.”

“Really?”

Artemis’ eyebrows furrowed at the sceptical expression in Chiara’s eyes. “What do you mean, really?”

“Well, he’s not here…”

“I only had four tickets.”

“Which you gave to us and not him.”

“You were here first.”

“Ah,” Chiara’s lips twitched. “Good to know that the English still prioritise queuing over romance.” Artemis laughed, but Chiara’s chuckle was brief. “Have you told him yet? About the Vaults, and Rowan, and your family?”

Artemis shook her head. “I mean, he knows that the Vaults were a thing, and he knows that Rowan… He knows I don’t speak to Mum or Jacob anymore.”

“But does he know why? Have you told him exactly what-”

“No. I don’t need to.”

“Maybe you should,” said Chiara. “Trust me, you don’t want to end up-”

“It’s not the same as it was for you and Jae, though,” Artemis explained. Chiara looked doubtful. “It’s not! You didn’t tell Jae about something that was still going on at the time. If I was still dealing with the Vaults and things, then it would be the same, but it’s not, because all of that’s in the past now. It doesn’t affect me anymore.”

Chiara smiled, but the look in her eyes remained solemn. The tent was quiet, until Tonks stumbled in, tripped over Andre’s suitcase, and landed on top of them on the ground, laughing as they made noises of complaint.

“You’re fine. Don’t be such drama queens,” she told them. “What are you talking about?”

“Nothing,” Artemis said quickly. “Where are Penny and Andre?”

“Chatting up Quidditch players. Andre’s got his eye on the new reserve Keeper for Puddlemere United and Penny’s currently surrounded by half the Wigtown Wanderers. Lewis Parkin was getting her a drink when I left.”

“How come you left?”

“The Muggle bloke that owns the field came and told people to keep it down.”

“And you listened?”

“I kind of had to, I’m an Auror now. Most people didn’t, though.”

She gestured at the canvas panels of the tent, through which shouting and music could still be heard, followed by a series of loud bangs that sounded like fireworks.

“Wow,” said Chiara, her eyebrows raised. “They really didn’t listen.”

“Let’s go back out,” said Artemis, standing up and shaking off her sleeping bag. “We can’t miss the fireworks!”

Chiara and Tonks exchanged wearied glances, but they also started to get back up. As they did, yet another bang - even louder than the ones before - sounded outside. And then, someone screamed.

The three girls froze, and the blood seemed to drain slightly from both Tonks and Chiara’s faces. There was another scream. And another.

“Artemis, I don’t think those are fireworks.”

Outside the tent, it was chaos. Gone was the merriment; the music had been replaced with screams and desperate cries, the beats of the drums with the thundering footsteps of the confused and terrified-looking people who ran between the tents, some towards the woods, some deeper into the campsite. In the stampede, most of the lamps had been knocked over, and so the night was darker than before, the only lights coming from a few fires that had broken out in the near distance, and the occasional flash of a spell being cast. 

“Penny’s out there,” Chiara said, her voice a hoarse whisper as her wide eyes scanned the scene in front of them. “Andre, too.”

“We have to find them. Come on!”

Tonks led the way back to the place where she last saw Penny, the three of them jostling their way through the still rushing crowds as fast as they could without losing one another in the mass of panicked people. Eventually, Artemis saw a glimpse of long blonde hair illuminated by the light of a nearby tent that had burst into flame.

“She’s over there!” she shouted to the others, and sprinted towards her. “Penny! Pen!”

She hollered Penny’s name at the top of the voice as she ran, and as she drew close, Penny looked up at her. She was standing with an athletic looking wizard with brown hair, who had one of muscled arms wrapped around her and the other raised with his wand in a defensive position. Penny’s face was pale, her eyes full of tears, and as soon as Artemis reached her, she threw her arms around her and began to sob onto her shoulder. Artemis patted her gently and looked suspiciously at the wizard behind her, who lowered his wand a little.

“What happened, Pen?” she asked once Penny had stopped crying enough to talk. “What’s going on?”

“The Muggles,” Penny said, with a sniff and a shudder that shook her whole body. “The man who owns the field, he was over there, going back to his house and… These wizards attacked him.”

“What? What wizards?”

“I don’t know, they were all wearing masks.”

“Masks?”

“Oh, aye. If I didn’t ken better,” muttered the wizard with the wand, “I’d say they were Death Eater masks.”

Artemis’ eyes widened at the mention of the Death Eaters, and Penny’s lip trembled before she continued to explain:

“They were casting spells on the Muggle man, and then a couple of people tried to stop them and they cast curses at them, too. They set some of the tents on fire, and then…”

“They marched away,” Penny’s new friend finished her sentence for her. “That direction. Cannae be sure, but it looked like they were heading for the cottage.”

“There were children in the cottage, I saw them earlier. What if they hurt them?”

“Someone will stop them before they get that far,” Artemis told Penny reassuringly, but Penny was not to be consoled.

“People tried, but they kept cursing anyone who got in their way,” she said. Her eyes filled with tears again, and she looked helplessly in the direction of the Muggles’ cottage. “All he did was ask people to be quiet!”

A tear rolled down Penny’s cheek. The wizard looking after her moved his hand as if he was going to try and wipe it away for her, but he glanced at Artemis and instead used it to rub the back of his own neck. Artemis took a deep breath before placing her hands on Penny’s shoulders.

“Okay, this is what we’re going to do,” she said, trying her hardest to sound like she knew what she was doing. “Andre’s got to be around here somewhere. We’ll find him, and then we’ll go and find the Aurors. Tonks is bound to know where…”

Her voice tailed off as she glanced over her shoulder and realised that Tonks and Chiara were no longer behind her. She turned to look at the crowd, but there was no sign of either of them anywhere.

“Where are the others?” 

“They were here a minute ago. They can’t have gotten far, we’ll find them in no time.”

“Will you be okay by yourselves?” the wizard asked the two of them, though his eyes were still on Penny. “I can come with-”

“We’ll be fine,” said Artemis. “Thanks, though.”

 She took Penny by the hand and pulled her back into the crowd, wondering which direction Tonks and Chiara were more likely to have gone in. She tried to get a look at each of the faces that rushed past her, in case it was one of theirs or Andre’s but there were too many people and they were all moving too fast for her to pick out all of their features, especially in the dim light and with the smoke that had settled in the night air. When she finally caught sight of a face she recognised, it was that of Jae Kim.

“Are you lot okay?” he asked them. He looked around them as if expecting to see someone else behind them, but there was no one there. His eyebrows furrowed and his jaw tensed. “Where’s Chiara?”

“We don’t know, we’re looking for her.”

“What do you mean, you don’t know?”

“She was with us, and then we looked back and she was gone.”

“Well, where did she go?”

“We don’t know,” Artemis repeated herself, rapidly losing her patience. “That’s why we’re looking for her. Tonks, too. Do you want to help us or are you just going to stand there asking stupid questions, or what?”

Jae screwed up his face, clearly both frustrated and frightened, but he nodded his head. “Yeah. Sorry. I’ll help.”

“They’ll probably have gone to where Andre was earlier,” said Penny. “That way.”

They set off once more through the crowd, which was growing more panicked by the minute. A fresh wave of people were running in the opposite direction to the one they were going in, many of them clutching crying children, and Penny’s grip tightened on Artemis’ forearm. 

“What are they all running from?” Jae asked, his question barely audible over the drunken shouts and screams and the loud bangs that had started going off again.

Neither Penny nor Artemis answered him, because seconds later, the cause of the stampede became clear.

A mass of wizards and witches in black hooded cloaks and masks were marching through the field. Several of them were using their wands to illuminate the night air around them in an eery green glow; others were clearing tents out of their path, either by sending them flying off, or blowing them up; and more were firing curses at the wizards and witches who were attempting to stop them. In the centre of the throng, a group of the masked wizards had their wands pointing straight up into the air, where four people could be seen floating and spinning over fifty feet above the crowd. All the masked wizards were jeering loudly at their victims.

“Is that…?

“That’s them. The Death Eaters. They’ve got the whole family,” said Penny, gnawing at her lip. “The children, too. Oh, this is horrible. Why isn’t anyone doing anything?”

“They are, look!” Artemis pointed at another group of wizards and witches charging at the Death Eaters and surrounding them. Many of them were wearing Auror or Mediwizard robes, but most were dressed as they were - either in their pyjamas or the clothes they had been wearing for the match and the parties afterwards. Artemis could just about make out the red-haired heads of Bill and Charlie Weasley in their midst, with what looked like Percy and Arthur following after them. “We should help them.”

“What about the others?”

“If they didn’t come this way, they’ll be fine. If they did, then you can bet that they’re already over there trying to help, too,” Artemis reasoned, and Jae took off without a word, running at the Death Eaters with his wand raised and already firing spells. “Come on, Penny!”

Penny nodded, and the two of them joined the fight, keeping half an eye out for Tonks and Chiara as they cast curses at the Death Eaters.

“Careful!” one of the Mediwizards was shouting. “Don’t let the Muggles fall!”

It was too late, as a series of spells hit the Death Eaters levitating the Muggles, their limp bodies began to plummet from the air. The Mediwizard immediately pointed his wand at one of the children, and so did Artemis.

“Wingardium leviosa!” she shouted. 

She wasn’t the only one to call out the spell; nearby, a tent levitated into the air, its canvas stretching out at the corners to form a sort of net. Elsewhere, different spells were being used to rescue the Muggles, with someone conjuring a large ribbon that wrapped itself around a Muggle and slowly rolled them down to the ground, and another clearly having transfigured an area of the grass into a trampoline, for when the other child fell, he bounced back up into the air again before coming to a complete stop. 

The Mediwizards and several other civilians - Artemis was sure she saw Chiara among them - rushed to the Muggles and began to check them over, while the rest of the crowd resumed their fight with the Death Eaters, casting their spells with wild abandon now that they no longer had to worry about indirectly harming the Muggles. The Death Eaters fought back with even more disregard for the amount of harm they might cause, until suddenly, they stopped in their tracks as if frozen, staring at the horizon. Then, one by one, they Apparated away, all of them disappearing into the night in quick succession.

“Oh, bravo!” Artemis heard a familiar voice call out, and she turned to see Ludo Bagman clapping his hands together, his mouth curving into a relieved smile. “Jolly good work, everyone!”

But not everyone seemed pleased. Many of the rest of the crowd still seemed restless and scared - even more so than they had previously. Several of them had, like the Death Eaters, frozen to the spot, their eyes fixed on the distant skyline. Someone let out a strangled cry in the dark, and a second later, the smile slipped and colour drained from Ludo Bagman’s face. Artemis felt Penny’s hand tighten on her arm once more.

“What is it, Penny? What’s…”

Artemis’ words died in her mouth as she followed Penny’s gaze to the woods at the top of the hill and saw what was floating in the night sky above them: an enormous green skull had risen from the trees, a serpent protruding from its mouth. The skull glittered in the darkness, sparkling like a nebulus of fireflies. Artemis’ eyes widened and her mouth went dry. She had seen that skull before, but not in many years, and only ever in pictures, either in Defence Against the Dark Arts textbooks, or on the pages of newspapers in her early childhood, when the Wizarding World had been at war, a war against Death Eaters, and the one the Death Eaters followed. Voldemort. This skull was his sign, the mark he left behind. 

The Dark Mark.