#harpy castor

[o-i-w-u]

my brainrot grows

[amoreva]

girl i beg you i need reader x luke based on gorgeous by taylor swift... its been on my mind for like past week

FESS UP!

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pairing: luke castellan x reader

summary: you still have some unresolved feelings about a certain Hermes counselor.

warnings: cursing, implied reader is halfblood, sexual innuendo, dorky, drinking, kinda loser!reader

a/n: is it dorky? probably, lmk with feedback in the comments. every one is appreciated and helps me write towards your liking.

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You were a coward.

Not with everything, because gods forbid you’re afraid of monsters despite having demigod-blood in you.

No, you were a coward with confrontation. With emotions, with love. Mainly love. You couldn’t even confess to a someone without your stomach churning.

And how you expressed attraction was…not ideal, according to Silena. You kind of, sort of—just a tad made fun of some things you found attractive of them.

Ideally, you wanted to leave yourself out for the harpies to maul you when your crushes give you a look (you knew you fucked up).

Which is why you have stuck to the tactic of watch and admire from afar and be happy with just friendship.

A classic.

The bonfire burned high and orange as many of the older campers and counselors, including yourself, were hanging out without the responsibilities of taking care of your younger siblings.

The typical red solo cups were in the hands of every demigod. A mysterious mixture made by Dionysus’ twins, Pollux and Castor, occupied the container. They never told anyone the recipe or what’s in it, but it left a warm feeling in your chest.

“You keep staring and he’s bound to notice.” Silena sat next to you. “Or your eyes fall out.”

“I hate him. Why does he have to look like that?” You groaned and sipped your drink to distract you from your current crush.

Luke Castellan. The golden boy of Camp Half-Blood. He could charm anyone’s pants off with a smile. It was frustrating how good looking and friendly and cool and kind he was. Fuck him.

He was talking the Chris and Beckendorf about who knows what. Somehow, the Hermes counselor has yet to have a girlfriend. He’s probably a virgin. You could fix that.

“Honey…” Silena looked at you with concern in her eyes and a polite smile. “The whole sit and admire tactic is redundant. Talk to him.”

“Silena…” You whined and the girl was preparing herself to listen to your list of excuses of why you can’t.

“No, no—don’t whine like a baby!” Silena dumped the rest of her drink into your cup. Taking initiative, she made your chug like half. “Fess up or mess up! Take some liquid courage and go talk to him.”

“Silen—” You sputtered as your chest grew as warm as the bonfire. Your throat burned in a good way.

Whoever said Silena was the Camp’s Cupid was right and she was quite determined to get a start on pairing you and Luke. Just to see how it turns out, of course.

Next thing you know, you’re dragged over to Luke, Chris and Beckendorf; interrupting the boys’ conversation. Silena made up some lame excuse and said a quick introduction before shoving Chris and Beckendorf away from Luke and you.

Gods, he’s so gorgeous. His curly hair tosseles over his head. His eyes meeting yours as he sipped on his own drink. That amused smirk that paired so well with his scar—both working in favor of his boyish charm.

And suddenly he’s moving his mouth.

“Hey.” He said normal and polite as one would do. Obviously.

And you can’t help but think of Tangled. Specifically, the scene when Flynn Rider is tied up to a chair with Rapunzel’s hair. She interrogating him and all he could muster was a smolder and the word “Hey”, to try and charm his way out.

Luke looks out quizzically as you poorly try to stifle a mix between a giggle and a snort behind your hand. He must’ve thought you were crazy for laughing or extremely rude.

It’s frustrating how nervous you can be in front of your crushes.

“Hi—sorry…” You managed to quiet your laughs and awkwardly sip your drink. “I was thinking about how you remind me of Flynn Rider from Tangled. How are you?”

“Tangled?” Luke tilted his head in confusion. Oh gods, has this boy never experience Disney movies? This just made it even more terribly awkward if he didn’t get the reference.

“Y’know…the girl with the glowing hair locked in a tower until Flynn Rider gets her out to see the lanterns in exchange for the crown?” You explained.

“Oh! Rapunzel.” Luke nodded. “Yeah I remember that. I always loved the lantern scene.”

“Me too! I’ve always wanted to experience something like that.” You agreed and looked over at the bonfire. Silena and Beckendorf encouraging you to keep talking to him.

Though Luke and you fell silent. Your mind wracking topics to talk about with him, but all you can think of is how handsome he is. Now looks aren’t everything, but his personality was a gorgeous as Elysium.

“Gods, you are just so handsome.” You find yourself admitting without even thinking about it. You find the words to talk to him about anything and everything, but your stumble.

Luke grabbed your arm. Stars dotting your vision. The “liquid courage” Silena forced down your throat catching up to you. “Hey, I think that’s enough drinking. Yeah?”

“Yeah…” You mumble as Luke leads you away from the bonfire and towards your cabin.

“Let’s get you back to your bunk, yeah? S’not good to be so drunk now.” He cared enough to walk you back to your cabin! It left a warm feeling in your body, or that was the Dionysus twins’ special drink.

The cabin door creaks open and Luke procures some water. You drink it as Luke crouches to get your converse off. Again, your heart is warm inside, but that could just be the alcohol.

Luke laid your blanket over your body. An amused smirk on his face. He found you drunk cute. So, he decides to admit something hoping you’d remember tomorrow. You’re already half asleep when you hear this.

“I think you’re cute too. Let’s start out with watching Tangled first before we do anything, yeah?” Luke laughed quietly, trying not to wake your siblings. He wanted it to take it slow with you. Was this some drunk dream?

“Yeah…” You find yourself mumbling. Your eyes drooping shut before opening again. Struggling to stay awake to keep talking to Luke, you fall asleep.

Silena was a damn good Cupid.

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[stygianoaths]

There are times where I wonder if Luke asked Dionysus to cure his mother, you know, what with Dionysus being the god of madness.

I like to believe that Luke had offered to steal the best bottle of wine there is to be stolen in the world, a solemn promise from the son of Hermes.

"No one would know," he whispered earnestly.

Not even the gods.

And maybe Dionysus had laughed at the idea, no matter how intriguing it was, because of course a demigod of mere fifteen would be so bold yet naive to strike deals with gods so much bigger than he. He shut the child down on the spot. He wouldn't fall for such nonsense.

"And risk my father's wrath? You mock me," he drawled. He had made it a point to omit the fact he was not going to tamper with his uncle's curse either. It was off-limits after all, just like that troublesome nymph. He flicked the dirt from his nails, ignoring the way Luke shook on the spot.

"Well? If that's all you better get going, Lucius," he had said.

And Luke's wrath bubbled over in return.

"What good are you gods for, if you won't help us? You're so useless," he scoffed.

Dionysus's eyes lit up in purple at the jab and he got up from his chair. The ground shook as vines broke through the earth. Something felt off yet familiar with the way Luke did not cower at the display of power. Tch, heroes and their bravado.

"We gods do not owe you mortals anything."

"Yes, you do?" Luke retorted with incredulity, dragging a chair to the side as he inched on Dionysus, uncaring of the purple flames that had begun to circle them, the vines that were dangerously close to tugging him by the ankle.

"You owe your entire existence to humanity! We wrote your stories and remembered you! We fought your battles and we died for you!"

"And?" Dionysus laughed, though there was no humor behind it, "I don't care. You can come up with a thousand sob stories, Luis, and I still won't care. I've seen it all and it's all the same. You demigods are nothing but mayflies, destined to die early since the day you were born."

That seemed to silence the boy.

"Of course, I'll make sure to tell all of that to Castor and Pollux. I'll tell them Pops doesn't give a damn if they die now or later, because apparently it doesn't matter anyways. Tell them how he knew what demigod life would be like for them and still went ahead and brought them into this world anyways."

Or not.

"Take their names out of your mouth, boy," Dionysus warned, vines seizing at Luke's wrists and knees.

"Or what? You're gonna drive me insane just like Mom?"

Dionysus wanted to tell him that he was pretty much halfway there, with the way Luke wore that look of hysteria that bordered on madness. It was so faint yet tangible all the same. Dionysus wanted to push the kid to the limit, see him snap.

"Oh, but that would be too easy!" he sneers, "no, I was thinking more of that little sister of yours you so adore, Annie Bell, her name was? Yes, yes I think madness would look absolutely delicious on a daughter of Athena."

There was absolutely nothing to back up that threat, but it seemed to hit the mark.

Luke had crumpled completely, like something hit him hard in the stomach. Dionysus's lips twitched up in victory. If the boy wanted to play dirty and mention family, then it was only fair he would too.

"Fuck you," Luke whispered, tears cornering in his eyes.

Before the god could act on his threat, however, the sound of trotting hooves nearing towards the Big House made their way through the windows.

Dionysus sighed, raising a hand to release the vines' hold on Luke. He did not want to listen to Chiron's lecture on how threatening the lives of demigods isn't "Camp Director" like.

Luke, on the other hand, slammed the door behind him, scaring off the harpies perched on the roof of the Big House. Dionysus had half a mind to choke the kid with grapevines for the act of insolence.

Chiron came through that same door, placing a hand on the side of it while he looked backwards.

"With that anger, he will get himself killed too early," he murmured with concern. Dionysus snorted, letting the vines return to the soil, the flames around him dying down.

"They all do."

Oh, how he would eat those words, watching Castor's shroud burn.

He was too young. Too young.

A nagging voice reminds him that so was Luke. So was Thalia. So was Annabeth. So was Percy. So was Nico. So was nearly everyone that huddled around the pyres, holding each other and sobbing. Gods, they were crying. War was never kind.

Even that daughter of Ares, who would rather be caught dead than vulnerable, let slip a few tears, and her hissed out "are you happy now?" as she shoved herself past the god of wine will haunt him for millenias to come.

If only he had tried to save May Castellan, given her back to Hermes the way he was supposed to, maybe his son would be standing here with him and watching the pyres light up the night.

Instead, all he could do was listen to Pollux's hysterical screams while Hermes pulls Castor up by the hand, taking the newly deceased to a place where Dionysus can no longer follow.

[tylermileslockett]

ARGONAUTICA series 6: "Harpies and the Clashing Rocks"

Book 2 begins with the crew docking upon the coast of the Bebrykians, where king Amykos, with outrageous arrogance, challenges the best argonaut to a brutal boxing match. Polydeuks (son of Zeus, and twin half-brother to Castor) rises to meet the challenge. The men wrap their fists with dried leather thongs, and rush headlong into fierce combat. The warriors exchange brutal blows until finally, Polydeukes sizing up the kings weaknesses, delivers the fatal blow, shattering the bones in the kings head. The warriors on both sides rush into battle, the argonauts fighting like wild wolves, and the Bebrykians finally scattering like bees from smoke.

 The following day the Argo sails out through the Bosporos strait where the ship Helmsman, Tiphys, overcomes a giant wave. Here they put in at the Thynian coast where they meet the pitiful King Phineus, who had been given the power of prophecy by Apollo. But having revealed too much truth to mankind, Zeus cursed the king, taking away his eyesight, lengthening his lifespan, and ever hounded by the terrifying Harpies,(half-bird half-human creatures) that descend from the clouds to steal the kings food as he eats, leaving behind a rank odor that spoils everyones appetites. Here the argonaut twin heroes Zetes and Kalais, (twin sons of Boreas, the North wind) with their black wings on their temples and feet, flew after the harpies chasing them away forever, thus saving the king from his curse.

 In appreciation, Phineus warns the men of the deadly passage through the dark, clashing rocks, advising them to send a dove through first, to test the timing. The following day the men journey through the clashing rocks, using the dove, and with Athena’s aid, barely escape death.

Like this art? It will be in my illustrated book with over 130 other full page illustrations coming in march to kickstarter. Please check my links in my linktree in my bio to join the kickstarter notification page. 🤟❤️🏛

[myth-lord]

ALl greek myth characters I love

Achelous (Triton) Achilles Achlys Acmon (Dactyl) Actaeon (Stag) Adephagia Aeacus (Daemon Judge) Aello (Harpy) Aeolus Aergia Aethon (Caucausian Eagle) Agamemnon Aglaope (Siren) Agrius (Bearman) Aigle (Hesperid) Akheilos Alastor Alecto (Erinyes) Amethyste (Oread) Amphisbaena Amphitrite Antaeus Anteros Antiphates (Laestrygonian) Apate Aphrodite Apollo Arachne Ares Argus Panoptes Aristaeus (God of insects) Artemis Asclepius (Medicine/Healing) Askalaphos (owl) Atalanta Athena Atlas Atropos Attis Autolycus (Master Thief)

Basilisk Bellerophon Boreas (Anemoi) Briareus (hekantoncheirus) Brontes (Cyclops)

Cacus Cadmus Calliope (Muse, Poetry) Callisto Calydonian Boar Calypso (Nereid) Cassandra Cassiopeia Castor & Pollux Catoblepas Celedones (two) Cerambus (Beetle) Cerberus Cercopes (Passalus & Aclemon) Ceryneian Hind Ceto Cetus Chalcon (Telchine) Chaos Charon Charybdis Chimera Chione Chiron (Centaur) Chloris (Dryad) Chrysaor Chrysomallos Circe Clio (Muse, Art) Clotho Coronis (Maenad) Corvus (Raven) Cretan Bull Crocotta Cronus

Daedalus Deimos (Machai) Delphin Demeter Diomedes Dionysus

Echidna Echo (Oread) Empusa Epiales (Pet of PHobetor) Erato (Muse, Literature) Eris (Mania) Eros Erymanthian Boar Eurus (Anemoi) Euryale (Gorgon) Eurynomos Eurytion (Centaur) Euterpe (Muse, music) Evenor (Atlantis King)

Gaia Galatea Gegenees Geras Geryon Graeae (Deino, Enyo & Pemphredo) Griffon

Hades Harmonia Hecate Helen of Troy Helios Hephaestus Hera Heracles Hermes Hestia Hippocampus Hippolyta Hybris Hygieia Hypnos

Icarus Ichthyes (Aphros & Bythos) Indus Worm Iris Ismenian Drakon Ixion (Daemon)

Jason

Kampe Karkinos Keres Khalkotauroi (Colchis Bull) Kholkikos Drakon Kobaloi Kratos

Ladon Laelaps Lakhesis Lamia Leonidas Lernaean Hydra Limos Lotus (Lotus-Eaters) Lycaon

Manticore Marsyas (Satyr) Medea Medusa (Gorgon) Megaera (Erinyes) Melaina (Thriae) Meleager Melinoe Melpomene (Muse, Tragedy) Menoetes (Daemon) Midas Minos (Daemon Judge) Minotaur Mneme (Muse, Memory) Morbus (Nosoi) Mormo Moros (DooM) Morpheus (Oneiroi)

Narcissus Nemean Lion Nemesis Nephele (Aurai) Nerites Nessus (Centaur) Nike Notus (Anemoi) Nyx

Odontotyrannus Odysseus Oedipus Orion Orpheus Orphne Orthrus

Pan Pandora Panotti Paris of Troy Pegasus Peisinoe (Siren) Peitho (Persuasion) Peleus (Myrmidon) Peloros (Spartoi) Penthus (Mourning) Periphetes Persephone Perseus Phaea (Crommyonian Sow) Pharmacea (Nereid, Poison) Philyra (Odor, Parfum) Phobetor (Oneiroi) Phobos (Machai) Phoenix Phorcys Phthisis (Nosoi) Plutus (Wealth / Chrysus) Polyhymnia (Muse, Silence) Polyphemus (Cyclops) Poseidon Prometheus Proteus (Triton) Psyche Pygmalion Pyrausta Pyrois (Sun Horse) Pythia (oracle of Delphi) Python

Rhadamanthus (Daemon Judge)

Sciron (Cercyon) Scironian Turtle Scorpios Scylla Selene Sisyphus (Daemon) Skolopendra Sphinx Stheno (Gorgon) Stymphalian Birds Sybaris Symplegades (Planctae)

Talos (Automaton) Tantalus (Daemon) Tartarus Terpsichore (Muse, Dance) Teumessian Fox Thalia (Muse, Comedy) Thanatos Theia (Sight, gems) Thelxiepeia (Siren) Theseus Tiresias (Shade) Tisiphone (Erinyes) Typhon

Urania (Muse, Astronomy)

Xanthus (Mare of Diomedes)

Zelos Zephyrus (Anemoi) Zeus

Shades / Myrmekes / Gadfly /

[faun-the-hound]

will i be crucifed for not liking Castor?

I can't make myself watch the episodes he's in- which sucks because there seems to always be some major plot whenever he shows up

anyway, he's a siren in Daybreak- a bird siren specifically, so think like a harpy of sorts. chicken man. he's a loon actually. the bird.

these things

also a metaphorical loon. man's lowkey insane.

anyway

yeah.

bird.

bird sirens can't fly btw. their wings are meant for swimming/diving. at least they are in Ru'aun.

[starstwinkleplanetsshine]

Daughter of the Sea

This one is dedicated to @aswallowssong. Thanks for being the Cady to my Angie, and thanks for trusting me with your beloved daughter of Apollo. It's been a blast getting to know her <3

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Drachma for Your Thoughts (Read on AO3)

“Drachma for your thoughts?” 

Cady’s voice pulled me out of my swirling head and back to where we were sitting on the beach. It was well past curfew, but Percy had left earlier that evening with Nico to finally start the plan that the son of Hades had suggested almost a year ago now. A plan so dangerous, so insane, that the mere thought of my brother going through with it meant I had been on the verge of a total breakdown all day. So when I showed up to the infirmary well past midnight, my eyes bloodshot and my hands trembling, I didn’t argue when Cady suggested we take a walk to the beach. 

The harpies hadn’t been very active this summer, anyway. 

“I’m just thinking about how in a week all this will be over.” I kept my eyes on the dark waves in front of me, but I could feel that Cadys’ were trained on me. I wished I could just walk into the sea and run away from it all, but I knew things weren’t much better under the waves. 

“Four days until your birthday.” Her voice was more somber than I had ever heard it. What she should’ve said was “four days until Percy’s birthday.” It didn’t matter that we were twins. His was the one that counted. 

“Four days until the end of the world.” I was trying to make a joke, but Cady didn’t laugh. 

“Do you ever think about the mortals?” I asked after a couple minutes of the waves being the only sounds between us. 

“What?” 

“They have no idea their whole world is hanging in the balance right now. They have no idea what's going on, the war we’re fighting, the battle that will determine the fate of…everything. They have no clue what we’re about to do for them. They just think there’s some really bad storms.” My words spilled out and I didn't try to stop them. There was no point censoring myself with Cady. 

She was quiet again before chuckling lightly, which caught me by surprise. “I think about them all the time. I think…I think that’s who we’re really fighting for.” 

I finally turned my head towards her, and I could see a look of resolute determination on her face in the pale moonlight. 

“We have to fight for those who can’t fight for themselves,” she continued, “whether that’s the gods who are too busy or mortals who can't know the danger they’re in.” 

I let her words settle on me as a smile crept onto my face. I thought about how much older she looked in the shine of the silver moon, and how much she had taught me about the world we shared in the past year. So much of the half blood I was, or was becoming, was thanks to her, Percy and Annabeth. 

“That’s very heroic, Cady.” 

She shrugged, her expression unchanging. “It’s our job.” 

I had never thought of it that way before, but as soon as she said it, I knew it was true. If demigods had one purpose in the world, it was to span the gap between the gods and mortals—to fight both of their battles. It always had been. 

My gaze wandered from the waves to the sky above and I began absentmindedly searching for stories in the sky, the ones that Annabeth had taught me—anything to get my mind off everything that had happened that day. My eyes landed on a new constellation, the form of a hunter who seemed to be a little older than a girl—Zoë. Percy had told me about her, how she was a Huntress of Artemis who had died fighting the Titan Atlas while defending him and, ultimately, the gods. 

Her place was in the sky now, as Beckendorff’s was underground. Along with Lee Fletcher. And Castor. And so many others that had been lost in the past year. 

Would I, too, find my own place amongst them soon? Would I join my namesake in the sky with my brother close behind as our souls found their way, hopefully, to Elysium? 

“I only met her once.” Cady’s voice once again saved me from my thoughts. I peeled my eyes off the sky and turned to her. 

“The Hunter?” 

She nodded. “I saw you looking at her. She was strong, and brave, and very wise.”

“Do you think we’ll end up there someday?” The words tumbled out of my mouth before I could stop them, and Cady furrowed her brow. 

“Angie…”

“I guess there’s already an Andromeda constellation, so probably not—” 

“Angie!” Cady cut off my pathetic attempt to downplay my question. “Why would you say that?” 

I met her eyes and immediately wished I hadn't. Something about them made me drop the walls I always had up. Maybe it was because I was so close to the sea, which always made me feel more honest. Or maybe it was the inherent vulnerability of being under the night sky after midnight. Or maybe it was just because Cady had become the closest thing to a sister I had in the past year. 

But whatever it was didn’t matter as I let out a heavy sigh and took a deep breath. 

“I don’t think I’m walking away from this, Cady.” 

Her eyes got sad. 

“You’re gonna be okay.” 

I started getting flashbacks to my conversation with Percy just the night before that had sounded a lot like this. I heard his words echoed in my own.

“I wish I could trade places with him. Take what is supposed to be his.”

The words were a lot harder to say than I thought they would be. Cady was quiet, but I knew she understood who I was talking about.

“It should be me, anyways.” I finally got out. 

“Why would you say that?” 

“Can you imagine a world without Percy?” 

Her eyes fell to the sand and she took a deep breath before answering. “No.” 

I wondered if she was remembering those awful two weeks last summer like I was. The time we feared we had lost him for good. 

“Me neither. I don’t…I don’t think I’m supposed to live in a world without him. I don’t know how to explain it, but I just know. So if that means I give my life so he lives, it’s what I’ll do.” I had never been more sure of anything in my entire life. 

“Angie—“

“No, Cady. I’m serious.” I met the girl's eyes, and all I saw staring back at me was fear. And pain. And heaviness. Eyes that were usually as bright as the sun, kind and shining with her father’s light, were as cold and dark as the moon. 

“It should be me.” I kept talking in the heavy silence. “Percy’s the hero, he’s the one everyone needs. If he was gone, camp would never be the same. You know it’s true, you felt it last year. Everyone would be…lost.” 

Cady looked like she wanted to say something, but stopped herself. 

“No one needs me that way. Maybe…” tears filled my eyes as I started to verbalize the one thing I had known for so long, but could never utter, “maybe that’s why I was sent here so late. Maybe that’s my destiny. To save my brother, the real hero, so he can fulfill his purpose. Fulfill the prophecy. Maybe I’m supposed to be the spare. And—” my voice broke— ”maybe that’s not a bad thing.” 

“Angie, we’ve talked about this.” Cady’s eyes were filled with exhaustion. 

“I know! But this time…this time these thoughts aren’t coming from Kronos. It’s not because I don’t think I’m good enough. It’s because I think I am. Just maybe. Maybe I’m enough to save him. To give him a future. To give everyone a future.” I watched as Cady's eyes filled with tears, her shoulders slumping even more. She stayed silent, as if she could tell there was more I needed to say, and I took a deep breath. 

“For my whole life I never knew where my place was. It took me fourteen years to find it, to be shown it. And I know I haven’t been a part of this world for very long, but from the second that trident appeared over my head, I stepped into a shadow I didn’t even know was there. And I spent a long time resenting that shadow, even if I wouldn’t admit it. But the past few months, few weeks really, I realized—maybe that’s the point. Maybe if I can be a shield for Percy, somehow, that will be enough. Maybe I was brought here—“ 

“You weren’t brought to camp just to die.” Cady's words were sharp, cutting like the knives she loved to throw. 

“But what if I was?”

Cady just sighed. “What aren’t you telling me?” 

“What?”

“I can see it in your eyes. There’s something you’re not saying”

I took a deep breath, wondering if I was that bad at hiding my feelings or if she was just that good at reading them. 

“Hestia visited me this afternoon.” 

“Hestia?��

“Ya, like the goddess.” 

“I know who Hestia is. But why did she visit?” 

“She…” Now that I had to put it into words, I was having a hard time making sense of it. Between helping Percy prepare to leave, and feeling the need to be strong for the other counselors and younger campers after Beckendorff’s funeral, I hadn’t had much time to process her words. I told Cady everything the goddess said—the parallels between the original Andromeda and myself, the way that the fates of my brother and I were tied just as Perseus and Andromeda’s had been. I told her about the warning she gave me, how I shouldn’t fight Percy's battles. 

“She said that learning to yield is powerful, and sometimes more important than fighting.” She was quiet for a while, probably trying to untie all the words I had laid in a tangled mess at her feet. 

“What does that even mean?” 

“I have no idea.” I began tracing my fingers in the sand, doodling seashells that didn’t hold their shape. 

“There’s more, isn’t there?”

I let out a sigh—keeping any secrets around Cady was hopeless. 

“I told you she warned me. But what that warning was…I’m really scared, Cady.” 

My best friend's eyebrows pulled together as a concerned frown grew on her face. She reached a hand over and gripped mine tightly, the feeling grounding me and giving me the strength to continue. 

“She said that I needed to learn to control myself, learn to yield, or I would ‘doom us all.’ Those are the words she used. ‘Doom us all.’” 

“That’s encouraging.” 

Cady’s words were so dry, I burst into laughter. She quickly joined me, both of us unraveling as we howled into the night. It must’ve been a ridiculous sight—and we were getting too loud, I knew it. Soon the harpies would find us, but we didn’t stop. We laughed until tears pooled in our eyes and our sides hurt. 

It felt strange. There was nothing to be laughing at, really. Percy was gone. We were at war. The titans were getting closer by the day. But even so, we were laughing. It was almost as if we could forget it all, even just for a moment. 

But then that moment ended. 

Our laughter died and soon the sound of the waves was once again the only thing between us. The air grew heavier, and with it, my heart. The lightness the laughter had brought flew away on the wind, and we were left alone in the black night once again. 

“I wish I knew what she meant.” 

“I think…” Cady hesitated, as if she was afraid to keep going. “I think she was pretty clear, actually.” She turned to face me again, and her eyes were that mixture of gentle and serious that I had only ever seen her pull off. “You can’t fight Percy’s battles for him. When the time comes…maybe you step aside.”

I shook my head. “I can’t do that. Maybe…Maybe that’s not what she means.” 

Her eyes got sad. “You need to realize that you’re not Percy.” Those words would’ve been harsh coming from anyone else. “You don’t need to be Percy. You said it yourself—ever since you got here, you’ve been living in his shadow, a shadow you didn’t even know was drowning you. And sometimes I wonder if you stay there because you think you have to. Because you think you’re not worthy of the sun.” 

Tears rushed to my eyes quickly as her words knocked the air out of my lungs. 

“But believe me when I say this, Angie—everyone is deserving of their place in the sun.” She managed a smile, and I swear the stars shined brighter. “You don’t have to live in Percy’s shadow. It’s like the myth—your destinies are intertwined, Percy’s success is yours. That means that you can do different things, be different people, and still stay connected. You don’t need to stay in his shadow for that.” 

“But what if—” my voice caught and I couldn’t stop the tears from falling onto my cheeks. “What if I don’t do enough, and he dies. What if I don’t try and protect him, and we lose him.” 

Cady took a deep breath as if the very thought pained her. “If Percy is…fated to die, there’s little we can do. But we don’t know that. Prophecies are tricky, and hard to understand. And the more we try and change them, or work against them, the quicker we make them come true.” She looked into the sky before continuing. “What if you interfere and that ends up causing more harm?” 

A sense of hopelessness washed over me. “I don’t want to live without him.” 

I saw a tear streak down Cady's cheek. “I know. But someone has to keep on living when others die.” 

I felt my eyebrows pull together as a terrifying thought crossed my mind. I had never considered that I would live past this week, past my sixteenth birthday. I had made up my mind that Percy was the one walking away from this, not me, and I was determined to do anything I could to make that happen. 

I hadn’t considered other people might be thinking the same thing, might be making those choices, too—regardless of what other people wanted. 

“You don’t think you’re walking out of this either, do you?” 

Cady dropped her head, staring at the sand. “I know I’m not.” 

“Cady—” 

“You’re not the only one who wants to protect people.” Her head snapped up, and I saw a harshness in her eyes. “This is what I’ve been trained for. My siblings walk away from this. You walk away from this. Gods willing, Percy walks away from this. But not me. Not if I can save them.” 

My head felt like it was spinning. No no no, it screamed. This isn’t right. It as to be me, it has to—

“They need you, Cady.” 

She shook her head. “Nobody needs me. They'll miss me, sure. But they’ll be alright. They’re strong.” 

“I need you.” Desperation and fear were swelling in my chest as I choked back a sob. “I can’t do this alone.” 

“You’re not alone, Angie. You never have been. And even when I go, you never will be.” 

Her words weren’t making sense to me, and panic rose in my stomach as I thought about the very real possibility of losing Cady and Percy within the next week. And Annabeth. And Rosie. And—

I was about to break into hysterics when I felt Cady's hand on my arm, with it the familiar feeling of her magic spreading across my nervous system. Usually I didn’t like when Cady used her gifts on me without asking, but in this moment, I was glad. I couldn’t go down that spiral. I would be falling and falling into the darkness for days—that was a bottomless pit I knew I would never be able to climb out of. 

“Thanks, Cades.” I breathed out as her healing touch calmed my anxiety. I took a deep breath, my first one all day, and met her burdened eyes. 

“You’re gonna be okay, Angie. We don’t know what’s going to happen. Maybe we all walk away from this.” But I could tell she didn’t believe her words. “But even if we don’t, you’ll still be okay. Maybe staying behind is what you were sent for—if there’s still a Camp Half Blood in the next week, they’ll need someone to turn to. They’ll need a leader. They’ll need you.” 

I shook my head instinctively. “I’m not—” 

“But you are, Andromeda. You’re Percy’s sister. You’re Poseidon’s daughter. Whether you like it or not, that power is already within you. Everyone else sees it. It’s about time you start seeing it, too.” 

It was all too much. I clenched my eyes shut and forced myself to listen to the waves, to think of nothing else but the sound as they crashed onto the shore. No more wars, or battles, or prophecies, or doomed brothers, or self-sacrificing best friends. No more gods and titans and doomsdays. Just the sand under my fingers and the sea in front of me. 

It didn’t work. 

“I’m not who everyone thinks I am. I can’t be what everyone needs me to be.” 

I was on my feet and sprinting away from the water before Cady had time to call my name, and I didn’t stop running until the door to Cabin 3 was slammed shut behind me.

[nepobabyeurydice]

lightning mcqueen blanket

Summary:

Jason shudders and pulls his blanket closer as Annabeth just shifts inside her own blue blanket plastered with a huge smiling cartoon Thor. “Chris Rodriguez?” Jason guesses, motioning to the blanket with his chin. Annabeth smiles wanly. “Luke, actually. Come sit with me, Jason.”

Annabeth and Jason smoke on the roof of Hera’s Cabin and discuss Thalia Grace and Camp Jupiter.

On Ao3

Jason couldn’t sleep.

The thunder in Cabin 1 picked up and usually, Jason could fall asleep before it reached this stage, but something kept him up as he curled up in Thalia’s old cot.

Annabeth had said something about a bed with a canopy and sound-proof curtains. About raising a platform and setting up more beds. A set of six, she had said. Three and three, Zeus had a tendency to keep these kinds of things, even like that. Castor and Helen, Herakles and Aegyptus, Hebe and Ares, Jason and Thalia.

He really needed to stop coming back to Thalia. He tried his best to be content with the mortal P.O box that he sent letters to in hopes that one day he’d get an answer to his questions.

Questions he had had all his life but no one dared answer. Questions that were so stupid, sometimes he wondered what he was doing with his life.

Jason sighs, and rolls off Thalia’s— his cot, and cringes at the freezing marble floor of the cabin-shrine. He gathers the gag gift of the Lightning McQueen blanket Chris Rodriguez had given him and pads across the floor to the door. Shooting a wary look at the Hippie Zeus Statue in case it had the mystical ability to summon the harpies, Jason slips out of his Cabin.

It’s freezing out, the cold chilling him to the bone and reminding him of Boreas’s palace in Quebec. Thinking about that first quest had him wondering if Piper and Leo were still awake, if he might be able to let some of his pent-up fears that haunted that cabin finally leave the vault of his chest.

He stands on the porch, hesitating and deliberating if it would be better to go back into freezing, thundering Cabin 1 when he spots the smoke on top of Hera’s Cabin. He frowns, Lightning McQueen blanket dragging behind him, as he squints up at the roof of Cabin 2. A smoke ring comes from the roof and it clicks.

Awkwardly, not wanting to let go of his nice, warm blanket, Jason floats upwards and lands on the freezing roof of Cabin 2.

“It’s a filthy habit,” Annabeth says, a languid half-smirk on her face as she shows off the cigarette in between her fingers. “I know.”

Jason shudders and pulls his blanket closer as Annabeth just shifts inside her own blue blanket plastered with a huge smiling cartoon Thor.

“Chris Rodriguez?” Jason guesses, motioning to the blanket with his chin.

Annabeth smiles wanly. “Luke, actually. Come sit with me, Jason.”

He had never spoken to Annabeth privately, not like Leo when he wanted her opinion on the Argo II or Piper wanted to talk with someone who wasn’t her half-siblings. 

He wants to change that, he realizes. He wants to get to know his sister’s sister and understand why Annabeth Chase is so beloved in the eyes of Chiron and Thalia. Wants to understand why he and her were not the trade instead of him and Perseus. 

What wrath did the gods fear for someone as well-loved as her to not be taken? Did they fear Perseus? Thalia? Or both, angry and seeking their lover and sister throughout the world.

Jason wonders if anyone is still looking for him. Probably not. It’s been a month and as much as he knew Reyna wouldn’t let him be declared, so swiftly, the legion needed a new leader.

Jason eyes the cigarette, then makes a decision. “Got another one?”

Annabeth smiles and pulls out a match from somewhere and strikes it against the marble. It shouldn’t ignite. It still does.

She easily lights a cigarette and hands it over to Jason. He awkwardly sticks it into his mouth and inhales through it, coughing as he expels the smoke from his mouth.

“Di immortales,” he rasps out. Annabeth throws back her head and laughs.

“And here I was starting to think you were stuck up, Jason.” she says, gray eyes gleaming with amusement. 

“My centurion,” Jason says with amusement, “would beg to differ. I drove her insane with all my radical ideas of renaming the 12th Legion to the 1st Legion.”

He sticks the cigarette in his mouth again and inhales through his nose, having a bit more success in not coughing like an idiot.

“He’s in California, isn’t he.” Annabeth states, voice abruptly dull. “I really don’t want to go back there.”

“Bad memories?”

She closes her eyes and blows out a plume of smoke. When her eyes open, she picks out a star and clearly tries to use it to keep him from seeing the tears in her eyes. Too bad, Jason had been doing that trick since he was six.

“He showed up to my house before it all went down. Asked me to go with him. I refused, and now he’s dead. Sometimes I wonder—”

“You were fifteen.” Jason says firmly. “When I was fifteen, I fought the Trojan Sea Monster after one of my cohort mates angered Neptune so much he wanted a repeat. Turns out, she was planning on joining Krios on Mount Tam and betraying us. I executed her myself. When adults make us do stuff despite us not even being close to having a fully developed brain, it’s on them., not us.”

“Holy Hades.” Annabeth mutters, making a three—fingered claw and pushing it away from her chest. Surprisingly, Jason felt better as a bitter cold dug into his skin through his Lightning McQueen blanket. “That’s fucked up.”

Jason nods and takes another puff of his cigarette. Annabeth follows suit, discarding her Thor blanket and letting the cold in as she makes a smoke ring.

“I miss her. Thalia that is. We used to go around the East Coast, hunting monsters and the past and never looking back. It was a happy time. I think you might’ve been happier with us, hungry and cold with only hammers as weapons, instead of with the Romans.” she says. “You would’ve learned what it meant to be on the run from everything connected to your past.”

“I didn’t think I had one.” Jason admits. “I thought I had sprung from Jupiter’s head like Minerva and just been given to Lupa straight after. I hardly remember Thalia, but I think I already love her more than I can bear.”

“She and Percy have that in common.” Annabeth agrees. “They’re both impossible not to love with everything you have in you.”

They both sit on that cabin roof, talking, until a cow starts mooing below them and the sun starts rising.

It’s better than sleeping in a marble coffin.

[supernovaae]

Greek Mythological Figures to Use for Dislyte Ocs:

Persephone, Demeter, Hephaestus, Psyche, Chronos, Ouranos, Aeolus, Chaos, Tartarus, Thalassa, Helios, Eos, Selene, Hecate, Erebus, Morpheus, Circe, Ourea, Daphne, Pontus, Ker, Uranus, Achlys, Minthe, Aether, Aion, Ananke, Hemera, Galatea, Hypnos, Charybdis, Nemesis, Enyo, Nesoi, Cassandra, Tyche, Nike, Asclepius, Macaria, Zagreus, Aegaeon, Brizo, Ceto, Delphin, Glaucus, Leucothea, Galene, Psamathe, Nereus, Peneus, Rhea, Oceanus, The Muses (Calliope, Clio, Erato, Euterpe, Melpomene, Polyhymnia, Terpsichore, Thalia, and Urania), Tethys, Hyperion, Theia, Iapetus, Atlas, Epimetheus, Crius, Coeus, Phoebe, Themis, Mnemosyne, Dione, Harmonia, Adonis, Pegasus, Chrysor, Priapus, Phanes, Lelantos, The Fates (Clotho, Lachesis, Atropos), Angelos, Acheron, Orphne, Stillbe, Palaemon, Phorcys, Proteus, Sangarius, Thaumas, Thoosa. Alectrona, The Anemoi (Aparctias, Apheliotes, Argestes, Boreas, Calcias, Circios, Euronotus, Eurus, Lips, Notus, Skeiron, Zephyrus), Iris, Astraios, Eosphorus, Hesperus, Pyroeis, Phaethon, Phaenon, Astrape, Bronte, Chione, Ersa, Satyr, Aphaea, Desponia. Eunostus, Plutus, Epoine, Hygiela, Panacea, Castor and Pollux, Icarus, Leto, Asteria, Deimos, Anytos, Phobos, Maia, Metis, Phaethon, Odysseus, Tantalus, Oedipus, Achilles, Orpheus, Perseus, Theseus, Arachne, Andromeda, Midas, Oedipus, Despoina, Astraeus, Menoetius, Pallas, Perses, Styx, Titan, Syceus, Anteros, Hedylogos, Hermaphroditus, Himeros, Hymenaeus, Pothos, Phthonus, Eunomia, The Furies (Alecto, Tisiphone, and Megaera), The Meliai, Charon, Minotaur, Harpy, Akheilos, Kratos, Endymion, Hemithea, Palaemon, Phantasos, Eurydice,

Note: Keep in mind that this list may not be accurate and/or may be missing some mythological figures because I put down what I knew and did the bare minimum of google searching.

[300iqprower]

By-no-means-final list of servants for my two summer event ideas (both of which are realistically over twice the size of an actual FGO event)

1. Argo Cruise in the Flooded Labyrinth

Welfare Avenger Medea w/ second Ascencion swimsuit

Harpies SSR Assassin

Theseus SR gorilla Assassin

SSR Berserker Minotaur

SR Alter Ego Summer Abs Hassan

SR anti caster-caster Penelope w/ Summer second Ascension

SR Foreigner Orpheus with Summer 1st Ascencion.

3 star lancer Peleus.

3 Star “Alter-ego” Telemachus

Okeanos Costume Jason

Adult Paris costume.

Hektor costume + Space Hektor foreshadowing.

Castor + pollux costume, castor in the swimsuit pollux in loungewear.

With additional costumes for: Georgios, Adult Hans, Mary Anning, Scherezade, Lakshmi, Artemis, and Barghest.

2. Stygian Beach Male Swimsuit Spectacular

Welfare Pretender Brutus w/ swimsuit costume

Summer SR Ruler Cleopatra

Unlimited SSR Avenger Chiron Alter

SSR Rider Caesar with summer outfits but a serious costume and FA art.

SR Shielder Patroclus

Summer Achilles Alter Berseker SSR

SSR Pretender Blackbeard.

Summer SR Saber Mandy

Summer SR berserker Fergus (E rank Madness Enhancement)

Summer SR Lancer Bedivere (Rhong harpooner)

Unlimited 3 star caster Summer Erik + Gudrun

3 star Assasssin d’Eon w/summer costume

Rank Up and Costume for Caster Mephistopheles + Foreshadowing/RateUp for Pretender Mephistopheles

Summer costume for Tristan and Lancelot and Gawain

With Additional Costumes for: Sheba, Suzuka, Kriemhild, Douman, Edgya, Spartacus, and Hawaiian Cu.

[iobsessoverfictionalmen]

The Temptation of the Immortals (9)

Warnings: cursing, canon typical violence for the Percy Jackson series, spoilers for the Percy Jackson series, nightmares, the gods being absent parents, references to Greek Mythology, mentions of starvation and trauma.

“I brought you some food from the Dining Hall.”  Pollux murmured once he had closed the door of cabin twelve.

“I’m not hungry.”

“Starving yourself will not change Father’s mind,” your half-brother chided.

You huffed and stared at the wall next to you.  It was a dark, earthy brown which made sense because it, like the other walls in the cabin, nourished the vines that sat on the roof of the cabin.  “He shouldn’t have told Mr. Kneef to make those comments about Castor.  You know he doesn’t blame you for his death and neither do I.”

You remained silent and Pollux continued talking, “I’m not saying what he did is right.  He had to watch you journey to the Ancient Lands from Olympus and then when he was permitted to intervene as Bacchus, it was too late into your journey for him to do anything substantial to divert Gaea’s focus.”

“Wouldn’t that have proved to him that I can handle myself?” You erupted, flipping over on the bed to stare at Pollux.  “And that I can protect those around me from harm?!”

“He knows that you can handle yourself.  He regrets that you had to in the first place.”

“I hate it that you’re right.”  You glowered as your stomach rumbled.

Pollux snorted, “It’s so rare.  I wouldn’t worry about it happening too frequently.”  He placed the tray on an empty bed and stood up, “In case you’re wondering, there will be approximately a five-minute delay between the harpies switching shifts instantly following you finishing all the food on that tray.  If you wanted to go to, say Manhattan, I’ve heard through the grapevine that Sally Jackson is looking for a translator to adapt her books into Greek.”

You stared at him open mouthed, “I always say that children are like plants.  They need room to grow.  Enjoy your meal.”

With that Pollux left the cabin and you were left facing a choice.  If you stayed here, Dionysus’ hold on you would only grow and a bitter taste rising in your mouth as you realised that you would become exactly like Annabeth had been before Percy arrived at camp.  If you left, you ran the risk of antagonising a god whose moods were as changeable as the Lord of the Seas.  There would be no chance of you reconnecting with Alexander and your heart lurched at the realisation that he would be alone in a world older demigods struggled to navigate.  But if you crept out of camp now and translated those books into Greek, maybe you could do something productive and worthwhile with your life.

The food was nice as always yet the taste of it barely registered with you because of your eagerness to leave the prison that you found yourself in.  The tray was cleared in a matter of minutes and although you hadn’t snuck out of camp in a long time, you were able to remember exactly where you needed to move so that the shadows concealed you from prying eyes.  Before you knew it, you had drawn level with Thalia’s tree, and without hesitation, you plunged through the border that protected the demigods from the dangers of the mortal and immortal worlds.

“Manhattan, here I come.”

[o-i-w-u]

for harpy Gemini why do you look so miserable all the time?

resting bitch face :] (def not a self projection wymmmm)

[hlizr50]

Chapter 5: Idle Minds Prone to Wandering

Hunt almost pitied Ephraim for inheriting the Harpy. “And the Hawk?”

“Doing what he does best: trying to outdo Pollux in cruelty and brutality.” The hawk shifter had long been Pollux’s main rival for power. Hunt had steered clear of him for decades.

-House of Sky and Breath, pg. 165

Read on AO3

Read on Wattpad

Thank you all so much for an amazing first week! I'll be taking a break from posting over the weekend, and then we'll be ready for the next five chapters starting Monday! But the content on Tiktok won't stop!

Here's a snippet from chapter 5:

“Ah, here he is. Ruhn Danaan, Crown Prince of the Valbaran fae.” The voice that danced through the air was light and casual. Soft, with an edge of promised pain, and definitely not one that the prince recognized. But where his ears failed, Ruhn’s starlit eyes burned with recognition. The angel was nearly as tall as Athalar, though his body was much leaner. Like an arrow whittled down into the perfect streamlined form. His chin was sharp, cheekbones high, and his dark hair had been pulled away from his face, leaving a stray straight strand that fell in front of his frosty gray eyes. Eyes so cold and cruel they seemed to pierce through him.

Castor Scelus.

The Hawk.

Fuck.

Tag list: @cascadingmoon @thecrispypotatochip @sunshinebingo @octobers-veryown @headcanonheadcase @damedechance @ofduskanddreams @vikingmagic33 @mystical-blaise @daevastanner @highladyofillyria @ablogofbipanic @amsofftrack @romancebooksandshit @chosenfamily-valkyriequeens @daybrights @booknerd87 @seleneastra @sv0430 @madie2200 @mercarimari @houseofhurricane @everfairypie

[outbackranger108]

1st Gen TD Contestants' Spirit Animals

Gwen - Common Raven (Corvuc Corax)

Trent - Great Green Macaw (Ara Ambiguus)

Bridgette - Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops Truncatus)

Geoff - Green Sea Turtle (Chelonia Mydas)

Duncan - Harpy Eagle (Harpia Harpyja)

Courtney - Snowy Owl (Bubo Scandiacus)

Lindsay - American Flamingo (Phoenicopterus Ruber)

Tyler - Cheetah (Acinonyx Jubatus)

Heather - Black Mamba (Dendroaspis Polylepis)

Noah - Meerkat (Suricata Suricatta)

Cody - Chinstrap Penguin (Pygoscelis Antarcticus)

DJ - African Savanna Elephant (Loxodonta Africana)

Owen - Warthog (Phacochoerus Africanus)

Izzy - Chimpanzee (Pan Troglodytes)

Harold - Giraffe (Giraffa Camelopardalis)

Leshawna - Hippo (Hippopotamus Amphibius)

Beth - Beaver (Castor canadensis)

Justin - Indian Peafowl (Pavo Cristatus)

Katie - Red Panda (Ailurus Fulgens)

Sadie - Giant Panda (Ailuropoda Melanoleuca)

Eva - Wolverine (Gulo Gulo)

Ezekiel - Opossum (Didelphis Marsupialis)

Alejandro - Jaguar (Panthera Onca)

Sierra - Antarctic Fur Seal (Arctocephalus Gazella)

[ashens-thoughts]

Once, not so long ago, there was a man who was not so much a man as he was an insect. A moth to be exact. He called himself Rosa and was tall, covered in black fur with a splendid pair of swallowtail wings on his back which were marked with blue and green. He used them every night flying into the sky as far as he could, trying to reach the moon, until one fateful day when he landed and was hit by a sudden impact.

When he woke he found himself lying on a lumpy floor with a pale man dressed in black and red watching him. And then he found himself in pain. Bones broken, wing crumpled, bruised and scraped terribly, although covered in bandaging. He tried to move and could not and he ached most for his loss of flight. He could never reach the moon now. His life was over.

“Begging your pardon, sir,” the pale man spoke as he stepped toward him, “I hate to trouble you so soon, but my name is Albus and it was I who found you.”

“Found me?” Rosa asked, his voice rough and raspy.

“You were injured, sir!” Albus explained, “All alone where you’d been left. I took you in and nursed you up. Welcome to my home.”

He waved a sweeping hand and Rosa found his home was a tent.

“I am a ringmaster, sir,” Albus explained, “I own The Circus of Rainbows, a home for freaks. We make quite the show.”

“Freaks?” Rosa repeated.

“Yes, yes, freaks!” Albus insisted, “The unusual, the grotesque, the queer! We have them all here!”

He pulled out a rolled up poster and unraveled it for Rosa to read:

Watch Jade the beautiful lamia swallow swords! Witness Nermin the cyclops who could lift the sky! See Chao the centaur with leaping tricks surpassing any horse! Bear the terrifying humor of the undead clowns Beau, Bard, and Boni! Watch Asuka the harpy and Dory-Anne the fairy fly high in dazzling acrobatic feats! See Alani the half-tigress control her beasts! Witness the dazzling magic of the lich Castor! All led by the intriguing Ringmaster Albus the Great!

Rosa thought they sounded beautiful and wonderful.

“I think a home of freaks sounds like a place for me,” he admitted, “If I am welcome to stay?”

Ringmaster Albus grinned widely, showing a pair of sharp canine teeth as his black eyes glittered.

“Oh, I insist you stay,” he agreed.

And so it was that Rosa the mothman became one of the colors on the circus’ rainbow. As soon as his talons were under him, he cleaned and ran about until he wore holes into his shoes. He met each talented person of the show and also Diyar the invisible sylph who did much, but most assisted Albus. The freaks took him in and he took them into his heart. Each one was wonderful, beautiful, and kind, no matter the things the crowd sneered at them.

Except, perhaps, for the ringmaster. He ruled the circus like a growling king on a throne. He kept them all stuffed in boxes he pushed and pushed them into, trying to make them fit what the crowd wished to see.

A lover of blades made to dance for the lusty gaze. A soft scholar of sorts made to lift mountains with hands instead of the mind. One made of two parts made to ignore the whole for the one. Brilliance and talent crushed into self-deprecating humor. A couple of likeness and difference who came together made to perform their love. A strong, loving mother made to exploit her kind. A traumatized soldier handling what killed him each night. And the one who was not good enough was forced to stay unseen.

Rosa could not understand why Albus, a fellow freak who nursed him and touched him sweetly, would treat his family as such. How could this be the way?

“Do not linger on it,” Diyar whispered one night as he and Rosa sat close, “We are better here than out there. This is where we belong.”

“Must our place be so rough?” Rosa countered.

“You ask questions that will hurt you,” Diyar dismissed, “You are better off silent.”

Rosa touched his clawed hand softly to one of the bandages that hovered beside him, wrapped around Diyar’s invisible arm.

“And your silence?” He prompted gently, “Does it save you pain, mi cielo?”

“Do not ask me this,” Diyar whispered, “I am not the same as you.”

“What is our difference?” Rosa asked, “Tell me. Do we not breathe the same air? Do we not drink the same water? Do we not walk the same earth?”

He pulled Diyar’s hand to his chest.

“Do we not feel the same pain?”

Diyar’s head laid on Rosa’s shoulder.

“I do not wish to answer,” he murmured, “I do not think I am strong enough.”

“Then I will wait,” Rosa promised.

He had all intention to keep his promise. He would have if Albus had not intervened some time after. He called the mothman before him to speak in private at the top of the acrobatic tower and Rosa’s mind felt heavy with worry.

“You have been here long, my amor,” Albus reminded Rosa, “A year now since I took you in.”

“Yes, sir,” Rosa agreed.

“It is time you fly,” Albus announced, “You will become an act.”

“I still cannot fly,” Rosa said.

“This is quite unfortunate,” Albus answered, “I will have to leave you behind.”

Rosa’s stomach dropped as if pushed off the platform.

“Please, do not do this,” he pleaded.

“I have no use for a second undesired,” Albus insisted, “You are only one more mouth and a thing to trip over.”

“I am not a thing,” Rosa denied sharply, “I am a man who lives, breathes, and loves as you do.”

“You are no man,” Albus scoffed, “You’re a pest, a parasite, a monster. If I hadn’t hit you and brought you in, no one would’ve had you.”

The realization of his words slipped into Rosa’s mind and settled easily. It was not difficult to believe and it gave him finally the answer he had been searching for. Albus could hurt them, because he was not really one of them. So close to the humans he was that he did not see himself in the monsters around him and he could not make himself care for others unless it would serve him. Rosa smiled softly.

“You clipped my wings and expect me to fly?” He asked.

“You will fly or you will die,” Albus answered coldly, like the venom in his fangs.

He lurched forward and shoved at Rosa’s chest, but was shoved aside by an invisible force.

“You ungrateful bitch!” He shrieked, raising a hand.

His arm was caught by Rosa before he could strike Diyar.

“I will not fly,” he dismissed as he pulled the vampire close, “I have no use for it any more, for my loves meet me on the ground. You, however, will soar freely. Good night, sir.”

He stabbed his left claws into the ringmaster’s chest, piercing his unmoving heart and then slashed his through the ringmaster’s neck. He yanked his arm, sending his body down to the floor in two bloody pieces. He climbed calmly down the ladder and walked to the body, ensuring he was dead.

Then he lifted the ringmaster’s hat from the ground. It was a top hat, black in color and velvet in texture with a stolen feather in the red ribbon wrapped around it.

“What will we do now??” Diyar wailed beside him.

“Calm yourself, mi cielo,” Rosa spoke gently as he removed the feather from the hat, “Everything will be as it should. We never needed one who could not stand to be one of us.”

They turned as their fellows came to see what the noise was about, all shouting in alarm and worry. Rosa lifted the hat and placed it on his head.

“Do not worry,” he said, “Please, calm your minds.”

He adjusted the hat and looked at them all spread out before him, each kind face troubled with uncertainty. He didn’t have all the answers, but he did know one thing:

“The circus will be for us now.”

[verbosebabbler]

Titles are designators assigned to individuals in the format of "___ of ___". The pattern seems that you are first assigned a "___ of Zampanio".

To make it easier to talk about, I'll refer to these first designators as jobs, based on one of these titles listed as the occupation on the wikia page of PuzzledPlayer. I drew Job as both a synonym to occupation and because some RPG's class systems are known as job systems and in the code, this part of the title is listed as RPG Class. (Could later humorously connect to the biblical story of Job).

After becoming a Job of Zampanio, some get assigned a second designator. This second assigned word can be anything from a different job (Guide of *Observers*), an aspect (Herald of *Beef*), or anything really (Watcher of *Threads*).

In the code of the North section of the game, several of these job titles are connected to the Homestuck classes. There's also the two classes of Null and Waste listed alongside the Homestuck ones with their own set of jobs. Below is the list sorted alphabetically, with markings to indicate certain conditions:

* Has a wiki page ** Has a broken wiki page ∆ Has someone assigned it in the Discord

Bard: *Bard, Canary, Chinchilla, **Goose, Homer, ∆*Raconteur, Singer, Skald, Teller

Heir: Descendant, Heir, Inheritor, Parrot, Scion, Successor

Knight: Angel, Armadillo, Defender, Guardian, Knight, Paladin, Pangolin, Protector, Soldier, Swordsman, Warrior

Maid: Butler, Canine, Castor, Dog, Einherjar, Maid, Pollux, Saint, Servant, Shield-Maiden, ∆*Taxonomist, Valkyrie

Mage: Daedalus, Duck, Enchanter, ∆*Herald, Mage, Magus, Raven, Scholar, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard

Page: Acolyte, Apprentice, Attendant, Child, Harbinger, Kitten, Minion, Page, Puppy, Student Prince: Destroyer, Finale, Finisher, Fox, Lion, Martyr, Prince, Reaper, Ruler

Rogue: Ferret, Rascal, *Rat, Reprobate, Rogue, **Scoundrel, Villain, Wretch

Seer: Archivist, ∆*Detective, *Eagle, *Eye, ∆.Guide, Hawk, Observer, Owl, Pupil, ∆*Scribe, Seer, Sherpa, Spelunker, ∆.Watcher

Sylph: ∆*Chronicler, Connector, Fairy, Firefly, Harpy, Healer, Mermaid, Pixie, Siren, Sprite, *Swan, Sylph, ∆*Weaver

Thief: Burglar, Cat, Mugger, Pick-Pocket, Racoon, Robber, *Thief

Witch: Apothecary, Beldam, Crone, Hag, Vulture, Witch --- Null: *Null

Waste: ∆*Catalyst, *Waste

~~~ Unsorted from ∆.Discord: *Answer, *Auditor, *Confused, *Cultist, *Excavator, Illusionist, *Last, **Narrator, *Paradox, *Pioneer, *Seeker, *Speaker, *Traveler

Suspected from *Wikia: Cartographer, Clown, Dryad, **Essence, Exiled, Forsaken, Hunter, **Knife, **Mimic, Puzzle, Voice, **Writer

Full Discord titles as of Posted Date: Catalyst of Pride Guide of Observers (me, "Seer of Seers" lol) Herald of Beef Narrator of Fractals Raconteur of Puppets Taxonomist of Strangers Watcher of Threads Weaver of Eyes