#like I know I’ll be open to my students about having ADHD and Dyslexia and about my sensory issues and speech impediment

[ameliathefatcat]

Question when was the first time you had a teacher with a disability? And were they open about it?

[neurodivergent-uni-support-group]

UK Learning Support Plans

(Edit: Part 2 of this post, focusing on DSA can now be found here)

Okay, I’m currently setting up a plan with my second university, so let’s talk about it!

This may be called something slightly different depending on where you are studying but a Learning Support Plan (LSP) is a plan you put in place with the disability team to ensure you are getting as much out of learning as your able-bodied, neurotypical classmates. Here, I’m going to go into a bit of detail about how you might get one sorted if you’re in the middle of your degree and have only just figured out, as well as if you’re about to start a degree. Additionally, sometimes you need support but don’t know what could help/what could be appropriate to ask for, so I’ll add some suggestions at the end that my universities have offered me or that I have found helpful.

(Obligatory disclaimer – this is me talking about my experiences with two specific UK universities so can differ depending on where you’re going or be completely different if you’re in another country.)

I’ve just found out I’m disabled – what do I do now?

I found out I was autistic in the middle of my second year, just as I was coming out of a meltdown/burnout that lasted a few months. Luckily I was doing my last sessions of counselling through the uni around that time so could ask for help on what to do next. Between living away from home for the first time and the academic pressure being completely different from A Levels and GCSEs, it’s not unusual for students to find out they are neurodivergent while studying at university, so this likely won’t be the first time your uni has dealt with something like this.

When I met with someone from the disability team for the first time, they were very welcoming, talked to me about how I had found this out and where I wanted to go from there. Some universities offer free testing for dyslexia, dyspraxia, etc. as both of mine have, so if you think one of those are a possibility you can be referred by the university. Otherwise the conversation topic then turned to medical evidence.

While both of the teams I’ve spoken to have been appreciative of the fact self-diagnosis is important and waiting lists can be multiple years long nowadays, most if not all universities do require something medical. My first university made this easy by giving me a DSA (Disabled Students Allowance) evidence form. You don’t have to be applying for DSA to use the evidence form (though I will briefly talk about that further down), but bringing the form to your GP and talking about the fact you think you’re neurodivergent means that your GP can make that referral to get you on the waiting list, fill out the evidence form and use it to highlight some things you may specifically need support for. It’s not a diagnosis but the disability teams I’ve spoken to have been happy to use it as such.

(It is important to keep in mind though that my experience has been for autism which doesn’t have a shortcut as far as I’m aware. Friends I have who have ADHD have used Right To Choose to get financial support from the NHS for a private diagnosis so some universities may ask that you do that instead? I’m not entirely sure in this area.)

Once you have an evidence form though, you can send a copy to your disability team and meet to talk about the specific details of your learning support plan. Ideally you want to do this in advance enough that any support can be put in place for your next assessments but there may be circumstances that prevent that.

I’ve applied to a new university – what happens now?

I’ve recently applied to a new university for my master’s degree and beyond talking to the uni during open events to make sure you’re happy with the support you can get, it’s probably best to wait to contact the disability team directly until you’ve been offered a place and accepted it. As soon as you have an accepted place, you can email the disability team about setting up support. Again, you will probably need medical evidence so if you don’t have that already either talk to the team or your GP about getting it. My university then signposted me to a page to register and upload my medical evidence, as well as having a section to say what support I will need. Don’t feel too pressured about this – some of the things you suggest may already be in place and the team will suggest things that haven’t even occurred to you later. The main objective is to give them a solid idea of areas you think you’re going to need support in.

Once this was submitted, the team sent me an email to arrange a time and place to meet to discuss my LSP further. Keep in mind that during the summer people may be on leave, so it’s okay if it takes a bit longer than you’re expecting for them to respond. During my meeting with someone from the team, she went through what I had said I’d need help with, told me which aspects where already in place for everyone (which hadn’t been at my previous university) and offered some suggestions that I hadn’t thought about or were more of a formality than something I would 100% need (things like exam support even though most if not all of my assignments will be essays and coursework, or library support which I had assumed was limited to physical disability support). She also asked me how much I wanted her to tell my lecturers and whether I was alright with her telling them I’m on the waiting list for autism (which I was). This support plan took a few days but is now on my uni profile, although you will likely get an email listing everything out either the day of or the day after the meeting.

There’s also support the disability teams can offer that aren’t part of the LSP. At my previous university, the woman I spoke to from the disability team told me about a social group for autistic students and offered to email them and walk with me to the first session, which was hugely reassuring. With the university I’m at now, the woman I’ve been speaking to has sent me a link to the neurodivergent society and reassured me that masters students are more than welcome in freshers week and societies. She’s also put me on a quiet tour around the library during welcome week, which will highlight the areas of the library that are least disruptive and the rooms that we will be allowed to book to have individually for a couple of hours. One of the biggest things my current university is helping with though is DSA.

Disability Students Allowance – what is it?

The DSA is an allowance that gives disabled students support that would require paying for. At my previous university I didn’t bother applying because I didn’t think there was anything I needed to pay for that would help me. I already had free recording, text-to-speech and notes apps, and the disability team said it was pretty unlikely I would be approved. As such it seemed like a bit of a waste of time.

However, with covid and the fact waiting lists are so long nowadays, the government has tentatively started accepting people who have medical evidence but haven’t been officially diagnosed. My current university has warned me that I will likely be denied the first time I apply but that they are willing to argue against it, which has helped the decision be overturned in the past.

Additionally, the allowance isn’t just limited to physical help such as programmes, but also services such as hiring people to give neurodivergent study support, counselling, etc. If you are a full-time undergraduate student, this may be done through a DSA Slim form with Student Finance. If you’re part-time or postgraduate, however, the DSA1 form is appropriate. It’s 33 pages so can be a bit overwhelming, but the majority of that is residency-related and lists various different reasons why you’re studying in the UK. So for the most part you can tick the one that applies to you and ignore the options after that.

I can’t really give any more info than that unfortunately. I filled out all of my parts, sent it to the university to complete section 5, and forwarded the completed form from the university to the DSA team. I’m currently in the waiting process and I suspect lots of people are applying before university starts, so it may be a while.

Learning Support Plan ideas – what are some things I can think about?

It probably bears repeating that my degrees are Bachelors and Masters of Arts, so the things you need support with will probably vary if you’re doing different courses. Still here, some brief lists, categorised by what they’re supporting.

Learning:

Recording sessions – a bit of a difficult one as some universities automatically record lectures and it can vary as to how comfortable lecturers are with you recording seminars. Be clear that this is for personal use and won’t be shared with anyone when you ask though.

One-to-one meetings with lecturers before assessments – I asked for this since we had it at the last university but this one has open office hours. May need to specify if you’re gonna struggle with setting up meetings in the first place.

General tutor awareness – they’ll probably be sent the LSP anyway, but it’s worth emailing them at the beginning of term as well.

Being able to access reading lists and class materials in advance – not always possible but sometimes.

Exams:

Extra time – a pretty basic one, they may give this to you automatically anyway.

Extensions on take-away papers

Doing the exams in a different room

A break in the middle of an exam

Computer use

Essays/Assignments:

Extensions – these can vary depending on the module and some are automatic while others need to be applied for before each individual assessment.

Spelling/Grammar ignored – More for people with dyslexia.

Presentations:

If you feel comfortable doing presentations but worry about having marks removed for confidence, eye contact, etc., this can be taken into consideration.

For solo presentations you could have the option to present to the teacher directly instead of the class.

For group presentations you could have the option to play a non-speaking role in the presentation.

That’s everything! Hope something here helps and if there’s any other questions people have about LSPs, feel free to ask. Have a good day!

[one-fan-gurl]

Why did I Sign up for this Again?

Quirk: water control.

Can take the water from the air, but more comfortable using body of waters

Saltwater is easier but freshwater is also strong.

Can be healed from water, with a lot of stamina can also heal others

Making weapons with water, rather use real weapons

Skilled in sword and knife fights.

Bloodbending. With a lot more practice it can be mastered.

Can have water increase stamina

The quirk has a side effect: having ADHD and Dyslexia. They are minor cases, but they can still mess up some things.

Japan. That's very different from California. It actually snows there. But that is not important right now. Right now, it’s that your mother had to transfer back to Japan. Lucky Japanese is a second language, having your mother speak it to you everyday. In California there aren't a lot of hero schools. So you had to train your quirk on your own, which was hard. But it paid off, having total control over your quirk.

The plane ride was boring. All you did was listen to music and write about some heroes. Going to a different country means many things, but one thing stands out for you. New heroes. Japanese magazines about Heroes and a couple of notebooks stack around you. With reading and writing the tie flies very quickly. The only break was when you had to go to sleep. When the plane touched land, your stomach flipped. It has always been your dad’s dream to go back to Japan, but unfortunately he died before the trip was made.

Thinking back to the day when a villain decided to put a metal rod through your dad’s body. Shaking your head to get rid of the horrid memory.

“Welcome to Tokyo, Japan. It is 80 degrees and sunny. Hope you had a great flight with xxxxx airlines, and hope you fly with us soon!” a stuertess said through the PA system. Having  all your stuff packed you just grabbed the off-white backpack from under the seat. Waiting for an opening in the line to get out. You checked your suitcase, so there is less hassle to get off the plane.

*ding*

“Hope you landed well! A car is going to pick you up. <3″ - mom

“Kk. Can't wait till I see you soon!”

Sighing, you put your phone in the back pocket of your hoodie. Your mom had to clear things up with her work, so you had to fly alone. Slinging the backpack strap on one shoulder and walked out of the airplane. Thanking the people up front, and silently walking through the airport. Spotting a bathroom, and quietly walked into a stall. Having time to burn, you just fixed your appearance. You have never been a girl about your appearance, but you kinda just walked out of a 12 hour flight.

The gray hoodie with the words ‘Harvard’ written in it with red ink, being a graduate from the college, black leggings with pockets on the sides, and dark green high tops. It was your ‘airplane clothes’. Comfy and practical. (h/c) tied in a messy bun, and thin rimmed reading glasses frame your face. After realizing there is nothing really to fix, you just grabbed your bag and walked towards the check bags. Waiting for a Louis Vuitton suitcase, you just played some Clash Royale on your phone. After winning a 2v2, your suitcase came out of the opening.

Rushing towards the suitcase. Pulling the expensive suitcase towards the ground, and started to walk towards the sign with your last name on it. Following the man in a black suit, to a black Mercedes Benz. (if you haven’t noticed your loaded with money) a notification popped up while scrolling through Instagram.

“There is a surprise for you at the house!” -mom

“I'm scared…<3”

The drive was very relaxing. The scenery of Japan flies through windows, only to slow down at stop signs. About 10 minutes into the drive, the car stopped. The driver got out of the car, to open your door. Looking up at your new home. An apartment complex. Thanking the driver, grabbing your suitcase, walking towards the entrance. The foyer is beautiful. All white and modern, but with some splashes of black here and there. Walking towards the person at the front desk.

“Hi. I’m here to pick up my keys.” showing the lady my drivers license. “My mom was supposed to call for me to pick up the keys for the apartment.”

“Ah yes.” the lady, Sakura, pulled a key and a car key from a desk drawer. “The vehicle is in the garage. Spot 7. I can get a bellman to bring up your luggage if you want.”

“Uh,” looking behind you, seeing one suitcase. “I think that won't be necessary. Thank you though.” bowing slightly and went towards the elevator. Suitcase and backpack in hand.

The apartment was amazing. The whole 74th floor is the house. A modern but with some rustic feel to the complex. Already furnished, mom had her friend to decorate it, so the homey feel is setting in. going to room to room, to get a familiar feel to your next home. Walking into your room, your jaw dropped. The view is amazing. Floor to ceiling windows showing the city of Tokyo. A king sized bed in the middle, glass separating the closet and the bedroom. An off-white fuzzy run on the floor, with a chair in the corner with a desk on the other side of the corner. Whoever did the decorations did an amazing job. The closet is bare, which reminded you to go to the mall. Putting the suitcase in our room. Grabbed the apartment keys and the mystery vehicle keys, and walked out. Going to the elevator, which is in a small corner near the living room, and excitedly pushed the garage level. The wait was antagonizing. But when you looked for spot 7, the wait was so worth it.

In the middle of the spot was a black motorcycle cruiser. A helmet and a black leather jacket on top of the vehicle. Squealing, you sent a quick thank you text to your mom. And ran towards your new motorcycle. You and your friend, Aiden, were fixing up a motorcycle back in the states. The cycle was supposed to be shared between the both of them. But after you got news of moving, gave full custody of the cycle to Aiden. Sending a picture of the vehicle to said friend before taking off your hoodie and replacing it with the leather jacket. Putting the hoodie in the compartment in the seat, and putting the helmet on. Key in the ignition, ready to kick the kickstand up. Revving the motor before going into the streets.

Explaining how it feels when you ride on a motorcycle is like riding a rollercoaster. Just more dangerous, and more control. Weaving in and out of the lanes, going faster every minute. But still in the speed limit. Kiyashi Ward Shopping Mall, the mall that was the largest you could find. A group of students walk in front of you. Showing off, you revved the engine. A boy with red spiky hair went all fanboy. All the students started to push the boy away from you. Silently laughing, but the light changed. So you just went towards the parking lot.

No ones pov

It was a normal day. The students who were worried about not going to the training camp were relieved. Everyone gets to go to the camp, only the people who didn't pass have consequences. But that is not the point, the point was Toru Hagakure suggested going to the mall to shop for the upcoming event. And that is how everyone, except Bakugou and Todoroki, were walking across the street to the mall. All the cars waiting for the light to change and the students to cross. But Kirashima had to point out a motorcycle.

“Oh my god!” the red head practically squealed. “Look at that bike. So manly.” Obviously the biker heard the comment and revved the engine. Which made the boy squeal even more.

“Forget the bike. Look at the chick on it.” the class pervert commented only to mutter how ‘he wants her to ride him like she is riding that bike.’ getting a smack in the head while at it too. When the class 1-A got in the mall, they split up.

Little do any of the class knows, a villain is stalking them.

Back to your pov

As you park your new vehicle, the hair on your neck tiggles. It's not like you have a ‘spidey sense’, you just have a feeling when there is danger. Smoothing your (h/c) hair, to tame back the frizz. One thing about motorcycles that suck: the helmet hair. Walking into the mall, only to find a man with a black hoodie over his head.

‘Not suspicious at all’ rolling your eyes silently. Keeping an eye on the black hoodie, to find him go after a green haired boy. Hand next to the boy's neck. As you sigh, calling the police.

“911 whats your emergency?” a woman resided the line.

“Hi, I would like to report a villain attack on the Kiyashi Ward Shopping Mall. Nothing big, just a villain dressed up as a civilian and talking to a person. So if you could, have no sound of police coming this way or a man in uniform. It would make the villain lash out.” you just stated without having the other person talk.

“Of course. I'll bring an underground hero out there.” the woman on the other side of the phone answered. Obviously impressed by the authority in your voice.

“Good, if you mind telling me their name?”

“Eraserhead.”

“Ok, thank you.”

A little bit of time passed, the villain only moved to sit down. Out of the corner of your eye you see a man in black and a scarf around his neck. Walking towards him, to point out what is happening.

“Hi. Are you Eraserhead?” putting your phone back in your jacket pocket.

“Yes, who is asking?” the man with black hair and goggles aksed

“The person who called.” you deadpanned, not any emotion lased in your voice or on your face. “Anyways, that's the villain. He obviously has a quirk that revolves his fingers. Do what you want with him. I just wanted clothes.” the last part you mumbled while crossing your arms.

“Ya, we ran into him a while back. Thanks for the call.” Eraserhead eyes locked into the black hoodie. “I got this.” as he walked off, you just scoffed.

‘Cocky much.’ following the underground hero towards the villain. Refusing to leave until the villain is locked up. The hero did a loop, until he could see Shigaraki. Walking towards Izuku and Shigaraki. You on the other hand was coming from behind. As if he could see behind him, you and the villain locked eyes. Raising an eyebrow, a smirk plastered on your face.

“Shigaraki.” the villain looked turned around so fast you can almost hear a crack. “Let my student go.” hair defying gravity and eyes glowing red. The civilians scattered when they saw a hero and the villain. The only people on the floor are you, the green haired boy, the villain, and the hero. More of the students are coming down to the main level

“Oh!” the red head pointed at you, “that's the same girl who was on the motorcycle.” scowling a little bit but got distracted when the hero winced.

‘A time limit.’ making no sound at all, you went up to the villain. Many of the students didn't say a word, only stunned by you. Being right behind him, you put your thumb on one artery and forefingers on the other one.

“Sleep.” after 5 seconds holding down the blood vessels. Tomura Shigaraki passed out. Eraserhead stopped his quirk, and the younger boy just moved to see you. “Cool. Now I have to get clothes.” turning away to the escalator. Stopping right before stepping towards the stairs. And ducked. Turning around to find an angry teacher, his scarf levitating. “What?” snapping at the black haired man.

“You are going to be questioned.” deadpanning. You on the hand were not amused.

“Ah, ok. let me just answer some questions.” crossing your arms, “Oh wait. No one is here to ask the questions. But you're not gonna ask any questions, the police ask the questions. Even if you could, you wouldn't even ask them. Seeing your an underground hero and a teacher, you rather be grading test papers then ask a teenage girl questions. Now until the police are here, I will be getting clothes. So I’m not going to be clothless the next day.” huffing you walk up the escalators, before disappearing you threw a glare at the hero.

The villain disappeared from a warp quirk, and you continued shopping until the police came by the mall. Hearing the sirens coming close, so you just picked up the 7 bags, and walked out of the shop. The shopping bags hung on your arms, 3 on your left arm, 2 on the other, and your phone in hand. Typing a number in and pressed call.

“Hello. This is (y/n) (y/l/n) I need a car to take my bags back to my house. But I drove here so if you take the bags into the front desk everything will be taken care of.” the driving agency responded with a quick ‘yes.’ Hanging up the call only to call another number.

“Hello this is xxxx apartment complex. This is Aito speaking, how can i help you” Aito spoke through through the phone

“Hi. This is (y/n) (y/l/n), resident of the 74th floor.” stepping onto the escalator going down, “i will be having 5 bags going to the apartment. I got stuck in a villain attack, so someone will be bringing my bags. If you could keep them for me that would be amazing.” Everyone is now staring at you.

“Would you like someone to bring the bags up for you?” the man politely asked.

“Oh, of course. Thank you so much.” a small smile covered your face, “you have a good day.”

“You too miss.” the line ended right when you stepped off the stairs. Walking towards the hero class and hero teacher. Leather jacket now unzipped, showing a red v-neck shirt. A boy with balls for hair started to drool. Backing away from the child, you looked at the class. Sirens stopped as the police force came out of the cars.

(questioning but i'm too lazy to write it out right now… maybe will write it out one day.)

A girl with black hair, which is in a ponytail, came up to you. You put your clothes in the car, before turning towards the girl.

“Hi I’m Momo Yaoyorozu.” holding out a hand, meeting her hand in the middle.

“(y/n) (y/l/n).” Yaoyorozu gasped. “Um you ok?”

“Your (y/n) (y/l/n)!” the girl gushed, following you towards your bike. The class followed their vise president with confusion. The random girl, who knocked out a villain with a couple of seconds, and their most beloved student together. As the class followed their friend out towards the parking lot.

“Ha! I didn't know I was famous over here too.” a hand went up to rub your neck, blush started to creep on your face. “Hi! Im (y/n) (y/l/n).” waving at the rest of the class, smiling a bright smile.

‘Wow. it's just like Midoriya’s smile.’ The thought went through many people’s minds.

Kirishima bravely walked up towards your bike. Started to ramble about ‘manliness’ and ‘how cool the bike was’

“Kirishima, Yaoyorozu.” a bored voice came from behind the group, “please step away from (y/n). You guys need to get back home anyways.” as if the underground hero was the plague, the students sepretted. Now it was just the grown man and you.

“Sorry for being rude today.” bowing slightly, “I came off of a 12 hour flight and was just a little bit tired of villains.”

“Apology accepted,” the pro hero put some eye drops in the irritated eyes, “just don't make a habit of it.” nodding slightly, you turned towards your bike. Putting one leg over the body of the bike, about to put on your helmet. Only to stop from the teacher’s voice. “(y/n) can I see your licence.”

Pulling out the license. Having already got your japanese drivers license. The teacher nodded at the license before giving back the car and one other.

A business card.

The principle of UA.

“Call him, I think you would be great in the hero course.” the tired man just walked towards his car. Looking at the card, before putting it in your pocket, zipping the pocket closed, and putting on your helmet. Feeling the gaze of the homeroom teacher still on you. Before kicking up the kickstand and going towards the street. Waving at the teacher as you passed by the car. Smirking underneath the helmet.

[winryofresembool]

Things We Lost in the Fire, ch 6

aka Caleo uni au

Fic summary: Calypso starts studying at a new university, but to her annoyance her new flatmate is a loud mouthed mechanic who also likes to sneak his dog in whenever. But as she learns to know him better, she realizes they might have more in common than what she first thought. Eventually, even the darkest secrets come out…

Chapter summary: Calypso gets a makeover.

Characters in this ch: Calypso, Annabeth, Piper, Leo

Words: 3233 (a long one :O)

Genre: romance & hurt/comfort

Warnings: none

previous chapter / next chapter / AO3

...

“So, Greek is your native language? That’s so cool!” Annabeth exclaimed as she and Calypso were on their way to a nearby mall to purchase new things for the new semester. “I’ve been trying to learn Ancient Greek just for fun but it’s harder than you’d think, I’m not very good yet.”

“Yeah,” Calypso nodded understandingly. “I’ve been living here since I was about 10 so I’d like to think that my English is fine now – apart from the accent – but it took me half a year to actually start speaking English in the class when I started school here… And I was homeschooled during my high school years so it was hard to maintain the language skills. It’s nice to be able to communicate with other students face to face now,” Calypso said with a sad undertone that Annabeth didn’t miss.

“You were homeschooled?” she asked with surprise. “Any special reason for that?”

Calypso didn’t know what to answer to that. The truth was very hurtful and she hadn’t ever told anyone about it, much less someone she had known less than a week. That’s why she tried to smooth it out as much as she could when she answered: “Um… My father seemed to think it was a safer option than going to a public school.” She shrugged. Annabeth didn’t ask more questions, probably thinking that her answer seemed acceptable.

“Makes sense. I’ve done a lot of studying at home too, mostly because I have ADHD and dyslexia so learning isn’t as easy to me as it is to some.” That information surprised Calypso.

“But… Sorry for the assumption but to me you seem like the type who always wants to be on the top of her class.”

“You guessed right.” Annabeth smiled. “But it hasn’t been an easy road. I have had to try a lot of learning methods before I finally found some that worked for me and made it easier for me to focus. Luckily these days there are a lot of audiobooks and other options for dyslexic learners so… it’s not so bad.”

“Right,” Calypso said. The conversation ended because they had finally arrived at their destination. Calypso had brought very little with her into her new home - just the most essential clothes and other everyday items - so there was plenty she needed. However, she also needed to figure out where to get more money once she was done with the shopping. She had some savings on her bank account thanks to helping her dad with his business (mainly stuff like paying bills and writing emails on his behalf) and because a dead relative had left her some money in her will, but those would only last for a couple of months. She had considered her options and one of them was opening an online shop where she’d sell things she’d herself made, from clothes (she was pretty handy with both knitting and sewing) to decorative objects such as jewellery and ceramic pots. The issue with the latter option was that she had no place to make them; the room she currently had was too small and Leo probably wouldn’t be thrilled if she turned their common area into a workshop.

“So,” she turned to Annabeth as they were checking a display at a bookstore. “This might be a bit of a random question, but do you have to work to pay for your studies?”

“Oh, yeah, I do!” Annabeth answered. “My dad would have helped but we’ve never been that close and I don’t feel it’s fair so I give children art classes and sometimes tutor them in various subjects. It also helps that I live together with my boyfriend so we can split our bills…”

“You said earlier that he’s a swimmer, right?” Calypso remembered from their earlier conversation. “I used to know one who I think is pretty good these days. But I haven’t kept in touch with him for a couple of years.”

“Oh? What’s his name?” Annabeth inquired. “I might know him?”

Calypso was about to answer when she suddenly spotted a couple of people she knew in the crowd outside the bookstore. She inhaled sharply and pulled Annabeth farther from that direction, hiding behind her.

“No, no… that can’t be… how would they know…” she muttered to herself.

“What’s wrong?” Annabeth asked, trying to see what had caused Calypso’s reaction.

“I… just saw some people I don’t want to find me. It’s a long story. But we should go.” Calypso said as quietly as she could, nodding towards the entrance of the mall.

“But we just came here…”

“I’m sorry!” Calypso bit her lip. “I really don’t want him to see me. We can go to some other place.”

“Fine,” Annabeth agreed, still glancing to the direction where the mysterious person had been. “There’s another shopping center nearby.”

Once they were safely outside, she asked: “What was that about?”

“I wish I could tell you but I don’t want you to get involved in this mess…” Calypso said, wrapping her arms around herself protectively. “But this is bad, they might have a clue I’m here… I don’t know what they’d do if…”

“You don’t make any sense now,” Annabeth noted bluntly. “But OK, someone is looking for you and you don’t want them to find you. I know we haven’t known each other long, but you can trust me. I’ll help you out if you need it.”

“Thanks,” Calypso said gratefully. “Right now, the farther I am from those people, the better.”

“What are we waiting for, then?” the blonde girl tugged on her sleeve and started running like a little child. “Let’s go!” she said, smiling as she ran farther from Calypso, and she couldn’t help but follow her.

…

In another shopping center Calypso spotted a hair salon, which gave her an idea. She figured that if she looked different than before escaping her childhood home, the men who worked for her father would have a harder time recognizing her. That meant a new haircut, new clothes, and possibly different kinds of make-up too. She didn’t usually use a lot of products on her face – mascara and lipgloss were her go-to make-up items – but maybe Annabeth would be able to help her with that.

“I… should probably use my money on more important things, but do you happen to know anyone who’d be willing to give me a haircut? And maybe even help with dyeing it?” Calypso asked while looking at the ads on the wall of the hair salon.

“You want to cut it?” Annabeth eyed her long, caramel colored hair that had been braided. “I thought it looks so pretty now.”

Calypso mumbled something about wanting to start kind of from a clean slate in a new place, not wanting to go too deep into her reasons.

“I understand.” The other girl nodded. “As for your question, yes, I happen to know just the person! My friend Piper McLean is quite experienced in that field because one of her sisters is a hairdresser and she taught Piper to cut her hair. She’s helped me sometimes too!”

“Piper?” The name reminded Calypso of something. Then she realized that she had heard Leo mention a girl named Piper the other day. “That is not a very common name here, is it? I mean, I think my flatmate knows someone called Piper too…”

“Now that you mention it, I think it might indeed be the same Piper,” Annabeth realized. “She does talk about Leo sometimes; apparently they are good friends. Somehow I’ve yet to meet him, though.” Calypso from a couple of days ago might have said that Annabeth really hasn’t missed much, but something had changed after the conversation with him the other day. She no longer felt annoyed simply by the mention of his name, and even though she didn’t really want to admit it, there was a part of her that wanted to know more about him. Something bad, apparently related to fire, had happened in his past that he kept inside him, and when Calypso thought about it, she couldn’t help but feel for him… She too had lost a lot. But then she shook her head because now was not the time to get stuck in her past.

“Maybe you will meet him if you come to our flat at some point; he’s home working a lot,” she answered instead.

“Maybe!” Annabeth said enthusiastically. “I’d like to know what all the fuss is about because somehow I seem to have a lot of connections towards him. First my boyfriend, then Piper, and now you too.”

“Small world, huh?” Calypso smiled. Annabeth agreed and after they paid for their purchases she proceeded to call Piper to ask if she’d be willing to help a friend out. Piper had nothing against that. They decided to meet up at Leo and Calypso’s flat in a few hours because it was closer to their current whereabouts than Annabeth and Piper’s homes.

...

About two hours later, Calypso’s wallet was notably lighter, but she had gotten herself a new, pink everyday dress, a jacket, shoes that matched the dress, a light blue shirt, some make-up products (for which she had had to ask the shop assistant’s help) and henna hair dye. She had debated on her color options for a good while, but ended up on the orange-ish because it wasn’t too far from her own hair color (she didn’t want too radical changes when she was dying her hair for the first time) and she also liked using natural, organic products when possible.

“Thanks for coming with me!” Calypso told Annabeth happily when they were finally back at her flat. “You were a big help.”

“No big deal,” Annabeth said back. “I’m always happy to help a friend. Not that you needed it a lot.”

“I meant more than just shopping wise,” Calypso said, looking down at her feet. “I don’t know how I would have reacted if I had been alone when…”

Annabeth understood she was referring to the strangers who had frightened her.

“You still don’t want to talk about that?” she asked carefully.

“I’d rather not,” Calypso shook her head. “It’s… a part of my life that I’m trying to leave behind me.”

Annabeth narrowed her eyes. “Can I ask you one question, though? You know those guys and they know you? And they’re searching for you?”

“I… I don’t know what they were really doing here. It could have been a total coincidence. I mean, only you knew we were going to be at that mall so it feels impossible that they would have known…” Calypso rubbed her forehead tiredly.

“You’re not trying to run away from the police or anything? Sorry, I just had to ask.”

“No, no!” Calypso lifted her hands in front of her defensively. “They are from my dad’s company… it’s complicated.”

That was Annabeth’s cue to stop asking more questions. She figured that Calypso would tell her with time if she let it be. The atmosphere started getting a bit awkward so both of the girls were relieved when Annabeth’s phone rang and Piper announced she was waiting at the front door. Calypso let her in.

“So you’re the famous Calypso!” she exclaimed the moment she saw her.

“Famous?” Calypso asked, her eyebrows raising.

“I just meant that Leo has talked quite a lot about you,” she grinned cheekily. Calypso couldn’t help but notice that the girl was very pretty, with mysterious multicolored eyes and brown hair that suited her even though it was cut unevenly. She secretly hoped that she had made it look like that on purpose and it didn’t show her real hair cutting skills.

“He has?” Calypso asked. “I bet he’s said nothing good about me…”

“Oh, don’t worry,” Piper replied, “he may seem a bit rude on the surface but I promise that he’s actually much nicer than what he looks like. Just awkward around new people. So, no, he hasn’t said anything that would make me hate you.”

“That’s a relief, especially since you’re supposed to use the scissors near me soon,” Calypso attempted to joke and to her relief Piper laughed at it.

“Anyways, as I’m sure you already know, I’m Piper.” She shook Calypso’s hand. “I hope you don’t mind me coming into your flat even though we are just meeting right now.”

“Oh, no problem!” Calypso reassured her. “I trust Annabeth’s judgement on friends.”

“Not Leo’s, though?” The corner of Piper’s mouth raised with amusement.

“Uh…” Calypso rubbed her neck. “We’ve had a slightly weird start but I think we have made a bit of progress in the past few days, though.”

“So he has talked to you like he promised?” Piper asked.

“Well, however you take it. The fire alarm started acting up yesterday and he fixed it. And I did learn some new things about him meanwhile,” Calypso confessed.

“Such as?”

“Either he’s really afraid of the voice of the fire alarm… or then the thing that causes it,” Calypso said vaguely, trying to see from Piper’s reaction if she knew something she didn’t.

“His home burned when he was a child,” Piper revealed. “He was only 8. It was pretty traumatizing for him so you’d probably do well if you didn’t ask about it. He’ll tell you more when he’s ready.”

Calypso could relate to that feeling because she had literally only moments before told Annabeth that she wasn’t ready to talk about her background.

“He mentioned something about a fire the other day but he was pretty vague about it… But anyway, that explains why he wasn’t thrilled when I was going to use the matches…” Calypso noted and the other two hummed in agreement. To lighten the mood, Piper decided to change the subject:

“Anyway, I believe I came here for a makeover, so maybe we should get started!” she said happily, gesturing towards the items she brought.

…

A couple of hours later, Piper had performed her magic and Calypso looked almost like a different person. Her hair, which used to reach her bottom, was now shoulder length and orange-ish instead of caramel blonde. Piper would have agreed to cut a fringe as well, but Calypso refused. The brunette was also a rather skilled make-up artist (she didn’t wear a lot of make-up herself, but her mother was extremely enthusiastic about all things beauty related and had taught her from a young age. Piper claimed she’d be proud if she saw her now) and she taught Calypso some simple tricks to do her everyday make-up. Turned out she didn’t need much: her skin was naturally smooth and her eyelashes long and dark. To complete the look, Calypso put on her new dress, and the other two girls cheered when she showed them it.

“I’d say mission successful!” Piper exclaimed, clapping her hands. “Even my mom would approve.”

“You think so?” Calypso asked shyly, still trying to get used to her new look.

“Definitely,” Annabeth agreed as well.

“Can I offer you something as a thanks?” Calypso suggested. “Coffee? Tea? Juice? I think I have some pie left from the other day as well unless Leo has stolen it…”

“Tea sounds good,” Piper nodded approvingly and the girls moved into the common area.

“Leo doesn’t seem to be home?” she asked Calypso when she started boiling the tea water. “And here I thought he’s always here building something.”

“I think he mentioned something about a sparring session…” Calypso shrugged. “I didn’t ask more about that.”

“Oh yeah, sometimes he and Jason and a couple of other friends do that but I know Jason wasn’t going to go anywhere today, he has a deadline for an assignment…”

The girls were still wondering the mystery of Leo’s whereabouts when keys started clinging by the front door and soon it opened. A smile spread on Leo’s face when he recognized Piper who sat on the kitchen counter.

“Speaking of the devil, there he is,” the brunette stated before Leo had time to say anything, making the boy confused.

“Pipes, what are you doing here? How did you get in?”

“I was with Calypso and Annabeth, duh,” she answered, gesturing at the two girls that Leo hadn’t noticed until that moment.

“I didn’t know you knew Calypso,” Leo stated before turning his attention properly to the two other girls. First he nodded at Annabeth who was sitting by the dining table and started introducing himself: “Hi, I’m Le...wow”

“What?” Annabeth snorted but didn’t get a reply because Leo had finally noticed that his flatmate looked very different from before. In a good way.

Calypso was frozen in her spot with a teapot in her hand, blushing when she felt Leo’s stare at her. But Leo didn’t notice that. He noticed how the make-up brought out her almond shaped eyes (Leo wondered how he had never noticed before that they were so dark brown that they almost looked black), how the dress she was wearing reminded him of one his mom had worn often during the holidays, and how the short hair curled cutely from the ends, tickling her jaw a bit. If he was honest with himself (which he tried hard not to be), he had previously thought she couldn’t possibly be prettier than she already was, but clearly he had been proven wrong. He had to bite his lip to not curse out loud (because he would NOT have a crush on his flatmate).

“Well? What do you think?” Piper asked when the silence that had fallen into the room was about to get awkward. “We had a small makeover here.”

“I… uh… she looks… good?” Leo stammered, feeling the heat rise all the way to his ears. In reality, he had to gather all his willpower to stop himself from using all the extravagant words he often used to describe his work (usually as a joke). Because he did like what he saw, he couldn’t deny that no matter what.

“Good? Calypso, his ears say otherwise. I’ve never seen them that red.” Piper teased.

“Shut it, Beauty Queen. “ Leo mustered the most burning expression he was capable of making.

Piper didn’t care. “Just so you know, Calypso, he’s used that name as a joke since we learned to know each other, so don’t think that he thinks of me that way. I have a boyfriend.” Calypso smiled at her awkwardly.

“Yeah, and sometimes I don’t get why Jason stands you. Estas loca.” Leo shook his head before withdrawing into his own room.

“Aww, he goes for Spanish when he’s nervous, Cal. I think you really made quite an impression,” Piper laughed, not caring about Leo’s reaction.

“Was that necessary, though?” Calypso asked, feeling almost as flustered as Leo a moment before.

“Don’t worry about it. We just like to make fun of him.” Piper shrugged. “He won’t be mad long.”

“But…” Calypso started, not knowing what to make of Leo’s reaction. Had he really liked her new look? Why had he gotten so flustered? Finally, she decided she must have been overthinking it. “Uh, never mind. Anyway, thanks for the help, Piper. What do I owe you for this?”

“Nothing. But please invite me over more often. I think we are gonna have fun together!”

[kodemunkey]

ADHD and Me

I’m a British guy,  37 years old and I found out in April that I have innatentive adhd. I also have dyslexia, dyspraxia and suspected high functioning autism. I’ve seen a lot of things over the years about how people with adhd are always hyperactive and can never sit still. I’m neither of those things, I was always the “quiet, smart kid with his head in a book” It was only in October last year that it dawned on me that after years of struggling with my grades (always “acceptably bad” just enough to scrape by in school, college and later university, where they thought “Oh maybe he has dyslexia, let’s get him tested” I was seen and tested by one of the leading experts in the country to get my statement organised, and I utterly baffled them, as one of my test results came back as the highest test score she had ever seen, and this was a woman who had been doing this for close to fourty years solid at this point. So, I had my dyslexia statement and everything was figured out and I was pigeon holed quite nicely, next person please. I had gone to university, primarily to spite my school teachers (aside from one, who passed away a few years after i finished primary school and had always tried to find ways to help me, I miss her even now) My attempt at a foundation degree was, to be frank quite bad, as the college it was run through was labled as an  “Arts College” But was anything but that, they would give you 6 weeks to do a project, where everything was to be done in a set way, you were expected to spend two and a half weeks researching and exhaustively analysing your research before going out to shoot and comng back and doing the same to your work and going out again to do more. I would go out and shoot for four weeks and come back with two weeks to spare to work on my analysis and just about made the cut for submissions. It wasn’t until four years on various courses with the same tutor that he thought I was “different” They spoke to the other tutors and staff, who knew me quite well at this point and decided I was an “intuative photographer” which I guess helped a little, but i still struggled. I somehow managed to scrape enough brainpower and grades together to go to the University For The Creative Arts (UCA) at Rochester in Kent. The difference in education styles was, to be frank, shocking and alarming. I didn’t have to produce a lick of written analysis or a single contact sheet and I had up to three months to produce a project! The quality of my work improved immensely, as did my grades when it came to my written work, I was a C average student, which is far more than I ever thought possible. I graduated with a third class honours degree in 2014. It’s now 2020 and I still can’t read or write for pleasure like I used to pre university. As for the employment situation, it’s been pretty bad for me, the Job Centre don’t know what to do with me, I’ve been on every single scheme they can get money to send me to, and i’m still no better off. I even tried to go self employed through a scheme they put me on, I chose to be a pet photographer after a lot of market research. The scheme provider and HMRC give you two years to turn a profit before they make you shut down if you’ve not earned anything. The Job Centre demanded I pull the plug after six months. I’m still continuing my photography, at present it’s a “profesional hobby” and i’m  starting to alright with it. Fast forward to this year when I was diagnosed in April via a Zoom call (god how I loathe and hate video conferencing) by a wonderful consultant named Marco Cattani, who I believe is one of the leading ADHD experts. He told me after a conference between me and my older brother who had arranged everything that he suspects i have innatentive ADHD and possibly high functioning autism. I was in a daze for about two weeks after that, though i do remember at a followup conversation we spoke about medication, he told me all the options available to me and I asked to be prescribed medication from the weak side of the scale, my older brother also has ADHD and is on amphetamine based medication and it has benefited him immensely. He runs a web design agency in brighton with a sizeable staff and has a small art gallery too. Even before his diagnosis, he was, in any conventional sense successful, his agency has won numerous awards, he (pre covid) went on holiday a couple of times a year, owns his own house and has a flat he rents out in Brighton, he’s also married to his long term girlfriend and has a chubby ginger cat who adopted him out of the blue one day. Marco (the adhd consultant) prescribed me Concerta XL at 18 mg dose to start with, I now take 36mg once a day) What follows next is what taking Concerta XL was like (and still is) for me. Day 1, i take the tablet early in the day as I was told to, so that it would have time to kick in, which takes about 30 minutes to absorb it. 30 minutes later, my heart starts to race (which is something I was told would happen) I had to leave the house right there and then and I went for an extremely long walk (this was also during the opening stages of the Covid-19 pandemic here) Three hours later, I come back home and was still pretty wired from the tablet, so I spent the rest of the day alone in my room, not wanting to inflict myself on anyone. The next day, I felt utterly sick to my stomach and had a headache, I tried to actually be sick in the bathroom, but where i hadn’t eaten the previous day, there was nothing to get rid of. I sat dazed and under three huge blankets in the middle of an early summer, feeling like crap. My brother checked in on my later that day, having been told by my parents (who I live with) what had happened. He told me: “Oh, I should have warned you about that, I forgot”. That’s great, thanks for that. Over the next month, the palpitations gradualy subside as the tablets start to work. An “added bonus” is appetite control, pre meds, i was almost 22 stone as I would be eating and snacking all day long to try and control my anxieties (food and social mainly) These days, I don’t actually want to eat unless i’m going out on a (socially distanced) photoshoot. My weight has dropped off slowly since then and is almost stable, which has pretty much never happened before in my life. The most difficult thing I’m dealing with is that the meds are making me re-examine large parts of my life, to the point where I tell people that I feel like i’m owed the past 20 years of my life back. To me i’m somewhere between serious and it being a bit of a dark joke, to anyone on the outside they either don’t respond or say “well, we all wish that” It has also lead to me questioning my gender identity, which until this hit me in the face like a ton of bricks I didn’t know was even possible. I can’t talk to my family about this as they’re somewhat “traditional” and won’t understand, with the exception of my sister, who I belive identifies as asexual. I have a long way to go before I figure out the “normal” for me, which I guess is true for a lot of people during the current pandemic. I myself used to believe the adhd stereotypes before I found out i have it and am now on medication, now though I see things very differently. While the tablets do help me to focus on things (such as this) It’s taken me about 4 hours to type out and I feel like this is the most useful thing I can do today, even though I have photoshoots to organise for the next month. Medication is extremely useful, but it’s also life changing, It’s basically like having your brain removed, spun around, put back in and then rewired on the fly. I’ll have to stay on these things for the rest of my life, which is fine. Thank you for reading.

[freckleslikestars]

My anxiety is having a field day today. 

I don’t know if I can afford the petrol to drive me to Uni until I get my student finance, which won’t happen until at least a week into the semester. 

I can’t afford my parking permit until I get my student finance.

Student finance, without even waiting for my dad’s paperwork on his tax and his income and shit, (and essentially the fact that we have no income and I’m living in a fucking tent) decided to give me the minimum available student finance. Which is something like £4000 less than I am entitled to. When I went to appeal it, they said I couldn’t. For a decision that usually takes 4-6 weeks, it took them less than two days after I submitted the application itself, and processed it all on the long weekend, which meant that my dad couldn’t get his tax details from the accountant. This has really, truly kicked my anxiety off because I don’t actually know how I am going to afford to live this year. 

I will, for at least the first week of the semester still be living in my tent (we might be able to actually move into a house after that though - might being the key word here)

Which means that I will be living in a tent, with only a freezing hosepipe for a shower, leaving early in the morning and coming back late in the evening, whilst doing a dance degree, in which I will get very sweaty. I also don’t have regular access to a washing machine. Or particularly many clothes. I’m living in a tent after all. 

Over half of my classes are online. I’m autistic. I potentially have ADHD. I cannot do online classes. I really can’t. They stress me out. I cannot focus in them. My auditory processing sucks in online classes because I can’t process half of what is being said. One of my lecturers holds the classes over IM chats. My dyslexia means I really struggle to read and follow IM chats. Also. I’m living in a fucking tent. Guess what my tent doesn’t have? WiFi. I have some mobile data. With very poor signal. One of my online classes starts at 9 in the morning and ends at 10. I then have an in-person class at 10:15. It takes me an hour to an hour and a half to commute into uni. The maths there just doesn’t work.

When I was staying in emergency accommodation there, they had shut off all the car parks but the small guest one, which they don’t normally do over summer and has me really panicking that they’re not going to be open. Which means that even if I can afford to park there, I can’t actually park there. 

I’m really dreading getting my period whilst living in my tent because, you know, no proper shower. And I think my tampons and pads are in my car, which my dad has at the moment. And I’m really worried I’ll forget to get them out of my car, or I won’t see him again to get them out of my car before my period starts. And then I’m worried that my period will be early, because it always is when I don’t want it to be. 

And I’m worried that when we do get the house we’ll only be in it for, like, a month before we can’t afford to be in it any more because my parent’s court case goes on longer than expected and then I’m worried my mum will take all the money and we’ll be homeless again and I’m just so, so tired of it all. 

And I’m worried about the second wave of Covid hitting in a couple of weeks because we’ve sent all the kids back to school and all the students back to university and people have kind of stopped acting like there’s a global pandemic still going on, which there is, and the government really isn’t treating this as seriously as they should be and nobody is treating it as seriously as they should be. 

And I’m really scared to go back to work teaching dance to kids because. Well. Covid. And I just. I can’t afford to take time off from teaching and my boss is a bitch and will expect me to go in and teach, despite the fact that she hasn’t got an adequate safety plan but I can’t really afford to get sick either and I just...I don’t know what to do and I’m so tired of thinking. 

I’m tired of worrying. I’m tired of caring. I’m tired of the uncertainty of it all. 

[parabellum-rpg-archive]

Congratulations, Joss! You’ve been accepted to play Aaron Murphy (previously Aaron Khan, last name changed to fit the new FC’s ethnicity). Your request to change his FC to Bob Morley has also been approved. Please make your page and send it in within 24 hours.

Admin note: Joss, you’re absolutely flawless. You make it very easy to fall in love with your writing, and you’ve given Aaron so much depth! I can’t wait to see him on the dash! - Admin V

IC INFORMATION —

CHARACTER DESIRED Aaron Khan DESCRIBE THE CHARACTER IN YOUR OWN WORDS If you told Aaron to turn out his pockets and show what he’s accomplished in life, you might see it as just empty hands, but to him, being a dealer is the only thing he’s ever been really good at. He’s got learning disabilities, dyslexia and ADHD, that prevented him from ever really settling into a normal life or doing well in school, but when it comes to weed, he’s a fucking prodigy. He can tell the weight of a bag just by looking at it or holding it, he can tell from the smell if product is good or not, and he knows how to spot an undercover cop at 100 yards. His greatest skill is in being able to read his customers. He can tell from the moment you approach him what strain you’re going to need, how much, and what you’re willing to pay. He’s friendly, never tries to force you to be his friend, and always stands by his product. If weed were legal, he might be paying taxes and living the good life at a cannabis dispensary. As it is, he’s the guy on everyone’s cell phone under “Aaron Green”. People usually assume when you say your home life was bad that someone was smacking you around or there was no food, maybe your parents were junkies or crackheads. But it doesn’t have to be that dramatic to be bad. Sometimes your family can just forget you exist. Aaron was one of eight kids and none of them ever really had a chance. He disappeared in among his siblings so that no one ever noticed when he never came home at night. His home was loud, but there was never any real love in it. His parents were immigrants who’d come to America as children and never gotten out of the ghetto neighbourhoods of Detroit. They never had enough money and worked all the time, and when they came home, they would just stare blankly at their children, as if to say, “are you still here?” Aaron doesn’t think they were ever even in love; certainly the photographs never show people who looked happy to be together. Sometimes he lets himself wonder if they were like him, with dreams that they could never achieve and a burning need to do something, and if they just got beaten down by life, but it’s not like he can ask anymore. Chicago was the farthest Aaron could get from Detroit on the money he’d saved up, and it seemed like a town that still had hope, while Detroit was just dying slowly around him. He had a cousin there whose couch he crashed on (Aaron has cousins everywhere, they come out of the woodwork whenever one of them needs somewhere to crash), and a few job possibilities lined up, but he’d get itchy if he got stuck working behind a counter or washing dishes or shifting mail around, needing more stimulation than entry-level jobs provided. If he’d had the money to do training in a trade or something, maybe he could’ve done something with his hands that kept him occupied, or trained to be a tech expert, since he loves video games and can play them for hours if need be. Instead, he asked his dealer if the guy could hook him up with a gig, and one thing led to another. Working for the Costellos is mildly terrifying at times, but it feeds that part of him that needs to move and stay active. He doesn’t deal anything too hard, just weed and some party drugs, and he’s a favourite of club kids and college students for the quality of his product and his innovations when it comes to packaging and branding. He’ll wake up in the middle of the night with a brilliant idea about a new line of edibles like peppermint chocolates for the on-the-go buyer who doesn’t want to overindulge, or flavoured strains of CBD oil laced with hash to give a smooth high without any paranoia, or making their own line of e-liquids for vapes (something he’s very into, do not get him started on the unfair legislation around vaping rights), and spend the next three days making it happen only to crash once his latest masterpiece is complete. He could probably survive without a roommate at this point (though he’d have to live somewhere shady to do so and he’s become a little too comfortable to move back to the hood), but he used the excuse of needing one to let Corinna into his life. She’s the first person he’s lived with that he doesn’t feel anything but uncomplicated affection for, and the idea of having friends that you’re not either also selling to or working for is new and interesting for him. He’s a genuinely nice person (more so when baked but also overall), and he’s always happy to share his groceries or just sit up with her and listen to her talk. He may even someday tell her about his family, though that remains a subject he doesn’t address.   WRITING SAMPLE “Hey, man-bun!” Aaron turned around by reflex, even though someone yelling anything at you out of the blue was, at best, 50/50 gonna be a shitty situation. “That’s what your mom called me last night. At least I think that’s what she was saying, there was a lotta moaning going o-” Aaron didn’t get to finish his sentence, the punch catching him straight in the jaw. He looked like he could handle himself in a fight, but his muscles were all for show. Staggering back, he checked to see if all his teeth were still there. That was one thing that hadn’t gone wrong yet. “You sold me bad shit, motherfucker! Gimme my money back, or I’m gonna end you!” If this had been back in Detroit, Aaron might have taken this conversation more seriously, especially because he’d just gotten punched in the face, but this was Chicago, and he worked for the Costellos. Some little trust fund baby wasn’t gonna roll up on him and try and get a fucking refund. “That’s a shame. You still got the stuff? I’ll trade it in for new shit.” They were outside a bar in Costello territory, and the guy squaring up at him looked like he rowed every day and ate ivy for a living. Sure, he was dressed like he was living that thug life, but c'mon, no one’s teeth were that straight in Chiraq. That was the problem with cities like this, everyone thought they could front. Nobody in the suburbs would’ve even bothered, they’d have probably said please and thank you, but out here, people watched too many movies and thought you had to act like an OG. His friend, cuz of course he had a friend, punks like this never tried anything when it was a fair fight, just stood slightly off to the side and switched between grinning and sneering. “Are you fucking stupid? Did you hear me? Gimme my fucking money now! You’re lucky I don’t call my boys down and fuck your shit up for giving me lousy stuff!” It had gotten to the point where Aaron wasn’t really a street dealer primarily anymore, he was the guy you called when you needed something. He did deliveries and hung out at parties and clubs. When you were selling a product people wanted, you didn’t have to pound the pavement to sell it. But he was doing another favour for Holden. Aaron always did favours for Holden, no matter how many times the other man asked. He couldn’t help it. And normally he could spot an asshole a mile off and choose to refuse service, but Holden needed his quota to stay up, so Aaron had been a little too liberal with his sales tonight. Figures he’d get punched on his night off. “Like I said, I can do a trade if you’re unhappy with the product, but this isn’t a Target, man. We don’t do refunds. So hand over the shit, and I’ll give you some primo Afghani Kush. I’ll even top up the bag free of charge, cuz I wanna preserve our relationship.” The kid wasn’t having any of it. “I already smoked it and it did jackshit! I’m not even high! We even mixed it with some coke and it did fucking nothing!” Oh boy. So on top of assholes, they were idiots too. “You can’t mix it with coke, man. That just ruins both highs. If you’d said you’d wanted something to blend with uppers, I coulda-” Aaron was prevented in continuing with his sales pitch when the kid pulled out a gun. The fucking sikik seemed to think he could draw down in public. Granted, it was a shit neighbourhood, but it was still a Neighbourhood. “C'mon guy, this is a bad move. You really wanna think this one through, you know?” This whole evening was really turning into a bummer. If he got shot by this at hırsızı, he’d never live it down. And he didn’t have health insurance. The kid’s gun didn’t waver, and his friend had pulled a piece too. Awesome. “You coulda just given me the money, now I’m gonna take everything, and I’m gonna kick your ass too, you piece of shit fag-” The conversation ended abruptly with a squealing of tires and bright lights. Aaron jumped out of the way, rolling across the sidewalk and dragging himself up when there wasn’t immediate gunfire. The kid and his friend were now lying in the road groaning in front of a red Ford pickup. The door opened and Holden got out, looking at Aaron with bewilderment. “What the hell happened?” Stumbling forward, Aaron had the sense to kick the guns away from the two kids as he limped over to the truck’s passenger side. “Just a difference of opinion, don’t worry about it. But I’m thinking we talk about moving you to somewhere a little more high-class. This neighbourhood is going to shit.” As Holden slammed into the car and peeled away, the neighbourhood returned to normal, like it had never happened. It was Chicago, weirder things happened every day. Aaron leaned his head against the glass and dug a joint out of his pocket, inserting it between his lips and expertly lighting it with his lucky Zippo. “Don’t smoke that in the car, you’ll make it reek in here.” Laughing, Aaron rolled down the window. “You’re the weirdest dealer I know, man. C'mon, night’s still young, let’s hit Lake Forest and make some money off the preps out there.” Holden, shaking his head, took the turnoff and headed for the suburb. “You ever take anything seriously, cabron?” Aaron winked. “Not unless I can’t avoid it, kaşar.”

[adhdisgay]

Hello! my sister is 13 and she has ADD and dislexia she’s been diagnosed ever since she was like 4, she goes to a special school and everything but now that she is in secondary school she has a lot of trouble reading, and doing her homework, and it breaks my heart because she gets very stressed and sometimes even cries and I don’t know how to help her, do you have any tips on how to keep up with homework and reading with ADD and dislexia without having a breakdown?

this ask is literally the sweetest thing ever, you are an amazing sibling and ally for your sister!! <3

i’m not an expert so i would check with other resources as well, i can really only share what helps me and what has helped people i know.  i also don’t have dyslexia, so i’ll share what i’ve found but definitely look into websites and blogs for dyslexia too!

Homework

does your sister have a planner?  i was terrible about using mine, but even just having it helped a lot.  my adhd goblin brain would convince me that i wouldn’t need to write anything down but i did, and it was much less stressful to have that checklist of assignments already created than to try and remember homework from memory.  and if she doesn’t, taking her to the store to pick one out that she likes might be a good way to get her excited and wanting to use it!  even if she isn’t perfect at using it, have some assignments written down is better than none.

productive breaks.  homework can be mentally exhausting so a lot of adhd/add folks need breaks- but it can be hard to come back into a productive mindset after.  it helped me to have “productive breaks”, where instead of turning on the computer or TV i would switch my attention to a different task that needed to be done.  i was still in a productive mindset but bc i was folding laundry instead of doing math, i still got that break i needed.  also snacks really help!  keep snacks on hand.

try to make homework a game.  not always possible, esp the higher up in school you get, but making homework a competition somehow would help me to be more excited about getting it done.  be mindful of making it a speed competition though, ‘cause then people tend to skim over important stuff they should actually be paying attention to.

Reading

take notes after reading the passage.  for me, taking notes would bog down my reading so much.  i’d have trouble distinguishing the important facts from the unimportant ones, and deeply reading into each sentence would make reading take FOREVER.  i would read the passage first (or a chunk of it!  if it’s long, break it down), try to summarize it without looking back at the text, and then go back and add any important details i had missed.  it cut down my reading time by a LOT.

a question to ask is, is all of the assigned reading needed?  i don’t want to encourage anyone not to do their homework, but... sometimes classes just assign reading as busy work.  this is something your sister will have to determine, and it may end up that all of the reading is important and will be tested on.  but you know all those kids who just read sparknotes/cliffnotes instead of the actual passage?  secret fact: you can do that for a lot of classes.  and it’s okay, you’re not a terrible student for doing that.  i would do that for some readings and then check in with a friend before class to see if there was anything important i missed.  work smarter, not harder.

Dyslexia and Homework/Reading

again!  can’t stress enough that i don’t have dyslexia, so if any friends have this and want to comment with your own tips, that would be very appreciated.  i just did a cursory search on what might help.

see if your sister would like it if someone read with her.  having company there can make some people feel supported, and they can serve as a help if your sister has any questions.

is any of her reading online?  there’s an open dyslexic font for chrome that can be downloaded for free here.  there’s a great description on its home page that explains how the font works and why it can be helpful for some readers.

another thing that might help is blocking pages/paragraphs she isn’t immediately reading.  this is both for dyslexia and for adhd/add (i used to do this a lot).  having a bunch of text in front of you can be intimidating and stressful, so i would use computer paper or whatever was on hand to cover the pages i wasn’t currently reading, or to cover the page i was on except for the paragraph i was reading.  having only a bit of text to look at was much less stressful than the endless words i knew i would have to get to eventually, and i was much less likely to lose my place if i got distracted.

-

again, these are just some things that have helped me!  they might help your sister, but something else might work better too.  my main piece of advice is to approach her in a way that makes it clear you want to help, but in a way that doesn’t tell her way to do or how to feel.  sometimes people wanting to help can accidentally make the adhd/dyslexic person feel worse by telling them what they should do, when in reality only the person themselves is going to know what will help.

but the tone of this ask and the intent behind it is very kind, you’re already such a great sibling and going about this in a very nice way.  i wish you luck!! <3

[fierrochase]

my favorite moments from the lightning thief musical: a list

far from comprehensive, because it was all-around amazing :D 

also geez i meant for this to be short?? ok this is the long version and i’ll post an abridged one that’s a bit less wordy in a few

in terms of production value, it reminded me a bit of a starkid musical - there were no fancy special effects, but i liked it that way! it felt homemade almost, like they didn’t try to convince the audience that they weren’t sitting in a theatre watching a show and i appreciate that! brecht would be proud lol (sorry for the lame theatre nerd jokes)

they included blue food!! sally and percy had blue marshmallows at montauk!! on that note, percy and sally’s relationship was absolutely spot-on, it was clear from the start how much he loved her and how much she loved him :’) 

they included the “you drool when you sleep” line boy I nearly cried!! ALSO she said that to him when he was still all dazed from the minotaur attack (a guy with a paper mache head, btw haha) so later when he meets her again when luke introduces her percy saw her and shouted “YOU’RE MY DREAM GIRL! no no wait I mean the girl from my dream!” it made me laugh like a fool and it was sooooo THEM like thank jesus lord, we’ve finally got a GOOD REPRESENTATION OF THESE CHARACTERS!! 

jumping off from that: chris mccarrell as percy was INCREDIBLE. he perfectly encapsulated everything percy should be - his impulsivity, his frustrations with dyslexia/adhd/not doing well in school, his love for his mom, his friendship with grover, his disrespect for authority (i refuse to use the word “sass” in relation to percy but i mean if it was 2013 that’s how i would describe it), his confusion, his bravery, his goofiness - when he picked up his sword for capture the flag he went “COOOOOL” and started making lightsaber noises and i almost teared up a bit i kid you not because I really finally felt like I was seeing Percy up on that stage. also, the boy has some wicked pipes. 

also for reference i’ll try my best to list who all played what part because there were a lot

percy and annabeth were just themselves the whole time, and grover also played mr. d in a few scenes but the rest of the cast played all the different parts

mr. brunner/chiron also played a random aphrodite girl (he wore a wig with long blonde braids skdjhfsjdh), medusa, poseidon, and hades

sally also played silena, the oracle, echidna, and charon 

luke also played smelly gabe and ares

clarisse also played mrs. dodds, katie gardner, a squirrel (to be explained later hah), bianca (also to be explained later), and thalia (also also to be explained later) 

& i’m probably missing a few but those were the major ones! they also played generic students, tourists, etc. 

chiron was really funny, when he revealed himself to be a centaur he sort of just stood up from his wheelchair and was wearing a fake horse tail and he walked everywhere by prancing which was funny

mr. d was ABSOLUTELY HYSTERICAL? as mentioned he was played by the guy who played grover! he was angry and he was loud and he wore this floppy hat and pants pulled up to like his ribcage and he shouted every line and i LOVED IT. a random/unnamed half blood came in and set up a metal chair for him at his table full of paperwork and he kicked it over in rage so she set it up again and he kicked it again later and she ran away and he tried to kick his chair over a third time but it wasn’t there so he went and picked it up just to kick it over again. ALSO HE CALLED PERCY PETER JOHNSON GOD BLESS THE WRITERS!!

also i’m giving them a thumbs up for diversity!! luke and sally were both african american and grover was latino!! it was nice!!

annabeth did call percy out for assuming her dad was the god, like i think that convo was almost word for word from the book AMAZING

also her crush on luke was super obvi, she got all giggly every time he talked to her or put his arm around her shoulder aw

they sort of condensed a few events, which makes sense because most people wouldn’t sit through a 6-hour musical (i would but that’s beside the point!), so annabeth’s capture the flag strategy was to send percy into the bathroom as clarisse bait. ALSO the toilet explosion & the later tidal wave he hits ares with were done by attaching toilet paper rolls to leaf blowers and blowing them all over the stage - like i said, no fancy special effects, but it got the point across pretty well!! 

percy’s claiming happened at the bonfire after they all sang a fun song about how much it sucks to be a kid of a god (during which grover ate his marshmallow roasting stick, like it’s the little things that make this show so great!!) and for that they stood downstage and all pointed vaguely outwards and said “look! the stars are arranging themselves into a trident!” hah

ALSO mr. d’s bit about wanting to turn percy into a dolphin was in there god bless

percy wore the winged shoes the whole time instead of giving them to grover!

^that all was act 1! act 2 was the entirety of the quest which meant that a lot of the events got cut or shortened

the medusa scene was awesome, and pretty true to the books!! also they both sort of ran offstage and then percy ran back onstage with his sword and the head in his hands lol

while grover went into the back of aunty m’s to look for supplies annabeth had this amazing, utterly badass song called “wise girl” about how she’s had to fight all her life to make it, like she talked about her stepmom hating her and running away from home and stuff and it was SOOOOO GOOD like at one point she said “boys who mess up are given a second chance, but i don’t have that luxury” like DAMN GIRL TELL THEM!! also she did call him seaweed brain a few times and i was like oooooh man i’d almost forgotten my vintage percabeth feels

also yes percy did mail medusa’s head to mount olympus and did this very percy-ish little “heh heh heh i’m clever” laugh as he did 

instead of a poodle grover asked a squirrel for directions which was cute!! and yes, annabeth did yell at percy to apologize to the squirrel for offending it :D 

most of the trip west was done as a song/montage sort of thing, from post-medusa to vegas all happened in one song! so echidna and her chimera were there, but it was just her holding a dog carrier and it biting percy’s hand when he reached in and them all screaming and then it moved on!!

OK UM the part that made my day was the lotus hotel, it was like 5 seconds long because annabeth was like “wait!! in the odyssey if you sleep in a lotus bed you wake up years later!” so percy was like “that’s ridiculous! here let me ask this girl how long she’s been here” and the girl was like “my brother and I have been here since thursday!” and percy was like “see? we’re fine” and then she went “in 1939!!” and they sorta screamed and ran out lol and she charlestoned off but anyway the point is she had black braids and a little hat and i turned to my sister and whisper-shouted “THAT’S BIANCA!!!” and she was like “OMG IT IS” i loved it!!!!!!!!!!!! thank god the writers of this ACTUALLY READ THE BOOKS!! 

ares’ first scene was kinda short too, they cut the bit about going to waterland/the tunnel of love ride and just had him give them a ride to the next place, also it was suuuuper obvi foreshadowing because when he gave percy the backpack an ominous chord played lol

my other fav moment was when they were on the train to LA (they cut the zoo truck too) grover told percy the story of getting annabeth/luke/thalia to CHB and they reenacted it as he sang about it (that sounds cheesy, it was the three of them up on the top platform sort of doing it in slow motion while Grover sang) and like ngl i almost teared up a bit when thalia died

no procrustes :(( i know i’m listing thing after thing that they left out but like i understand why they did and i don’t think it suffered too badly!! like someone who hasn’t read the book would probs be a bit confused but in what they did have they were so spot-on that i really didn’t mind!

charon was reimagined as a cool beyonce-esque r&b singer, she was like “hey, y’all want a copy of my mixtape?” lol, also they sang this real fun and upbeat song welcoming to the underworld, like telling them about all the cool dead musicians they have (janis joplin, kurt cobain, and mozart all made cameos - annabeth was fangirling over mozart it was adorable!) and the trio was like “oh this is cool!!” until they realized they were about to die lol and charon started evil laughing it was great!

percy did almost get drawn into tartarus, that was cool bc a trap door opened and all this fog lit with red light started billowing out! also when annabeth was like “that’s tartarus!!” percy went “THE FISH SAUCE??” adorable

hades was great!! very sulky like, “why does everyone always think I’M the bad guy?? maybe it’s the decor” i loved it

also the lightning bolt itself was really nice-looking!! it was like described, a tube with metal caps, but it lit up really brightly as annabeth took it out from the backpack and it looked real cool!! 

instead of the pearls they escaped the underworld with a conch shell that poseidon gave percy in a dream way back after he defeated the minotaur and he did have to leave sally which is sad every time :( 

the final battle against ares was fun, that’s when percy sang his showstopper “son of poseidon” which was truly #lit. if/when they release the cast album that’s the one i’ll be playing on repeat and full blast. and he exploded the toilet paper ocean at ares and it was fun! 

poseidon showed up then to take the bolt back to zeus and chat with percy, he was in his hawaiian shirt and looking real cool! and he got sally back and after she hugged percy real tight she saw poseidon and they had a heated moment of “you’re as beautiful as ever” “you’re as charming as ever” and then percy was like “OKAY THIS IS WEIRD” truly great!!

and they did include the final chat with luke about kronos! i was wondering if they’d cut that because it’s not like they can do a series of musicals (though if they did i’d go see every one) but they had it! plus they needed to tie up the loose end of percy being betrayed by a friend! and he stabbed percy in the lower back but was disarmed by annabeth go girl!! but he didn’t take long to recover hah because he was able to sing the badass closing number about being cool demigods and saving the world!!

anyway there’s much more that i forgot to mention but just know overall that it was amazingly true to the characters and the tone/world/humor/etc. of the books and i was almost giddy for the rest of the day because it was one of the most loving, fun, entertaining, and on-point adaptations of a book i’ve seen in any form. m*vies who?? i only know the musical!!

feel free to send me asks if you want to know more about a particular scene!!

jesus lord this was long!! like i said, short version forthcoming!

[gaiatheorist]

Not-so-smart phones?

Flicking through the headlines, and generally trying to avoid anything with ‘Apocalypse’ in it, the first two I skimmed through related to mobile tech. I remember when we didn’t all have the internet in our pockets at all times, when ‘the internet’ was that one computer at school, that each class got about half an hour a month, to talk to another school. I remember when a ‘phone’ was either the house-phone, that your Mum would pick up the other extension on, and listen to your “No, you hang up...”, or various public telephone boxes, where you needed a handful of change, and to avoid the smack-head waiting to call their dealer.

The kid didn’t have a smart-phone until he went to Uni, he’d been using the same mini-brick he’d had since he was 12, topped-up with £10 credit about twice a year. He didn’t open a Fakebook account until he was 16. That’s not my CEOP-training, or my Safeguarding head, he went through the swearing-at-strangers-on-Xbox-live stage, and I think he uses Steam to chat to his mates. ‘I think’, Gods, I’m one of those dinosaur-parents, who doesn’t actually know what their child is doing. I’m not overly concerned, he leaves his laptop open, and his phone and tablet lying about, there’s no element of concealment to indicate there’s anything he wouldn’t want me to know about, so I don’t try to look.

(My head’s doing that then/now thing it does sometimes, I’m amused by the thought of time-travelling back to my teenaged self, and not being able to immediately search any given thing, instead of going to the library to look it up.)

The kid hasn’t been kept in a cupboard under the stairs, he’s sort of come-of-age during this period where the instant-internet is normal, to the extent that we both get exasperated when the connection glitches, and we can’t watch TV-from-everywhere over the broadband at the same time as we both have several devices connected to various other apps. (Look at that, ‘apps’ doesn’t flag on spell-check any more.)

Smart/stupid link on spell-check, there, and my bubbling rage when Fakebook people just let anything that isn’t underlined go. Just because it IS a word, doesn’t mean it’s the right one. That’s another rage-bubble I need to work on, because it’s able-ist, It doesn’t matter that spelling and grammar errors make me twitchy, but it does sort of loop back around to the point of this ramble. In 2003, when I started working as an SEN teaching assistant, I was assigned to a group of students who had been removed from their GCSE English class. Not a disruption-removal, they’d been removed from the bottom-set English class because they couldn’t read. Rolling back my ridiculous memory, they were all in the Moderate Learning Difficulties category on the SEN ‘register’, I had four regular ‘MLD’ students, and occasionally the SpLD lad with the ‘Specific Learning Difficulty’ of dyslexia. Oh, sometimes I had the boy with Asperger’s and ADHD as well, but only if one of the MLD boys was absent, because if you put them in the same room they fought. That was how SEN students were catered for back then, the weakest students were removed from the mainstream class, and plonked in a room with a teaching assistant (being paid thruppence ha’penny an hour to teach the curriculum.), because that was a more effective use of resources than the teacher having to spend half the lesson trying to ‘keep them on task’. (More accurately, trying to stop them masturbating under the desk, or falling off their chairs again.) 

‘Teaching’ four children who couldn’t actually read, without a degree, or a teaching qualification. I know, brilliant, isn’t it? 

Rambling. My point was that the particular learning difficulties those children had led to a LOT of pick-the-first-word-spellcheck-suggests essays. The kids had no real clue what most of the words said, and “Look it up in the dictionary.” was never an effective solution, they couldn’t ‘look it up’, BECAUSE they didn’t have enough of a grasp of spelling to even know what the word started with. English is awkward like that. (Saw one of them on a bus a few days ago, so at least one of them managed to survive to the age of nearly-30.) Back-then, they didn’t have mobile phones, and I doubt they had the internet at home. (Some of them didn’t appear to have washing machines, or parents with the ability to use one, anyway.) 

Back to the present, ALL the kids have mobiles, and it’s a rare house that doesn’t have ‘the internet’. Even the in-laws have ‘the internet’ now, although what they actually have is permission to use next door’s broadband password. (Which they probably have written in a book somewhere.) Fantastic, virtually every piece of knowledge humanity has ever acquired, at our fingertips, all the time. (So we use it to start fights, and look at pictures of cats.) The news is accused of dumbing-down to reach a wider audience, ‘exams are getting easier’, ‘university students are buying essays online’, and now, the fact-checking thing. As much as we have an element of society that will always pick the first word on spell-check, we also have an element that will believe the top-result on any given internet search. (Even when it’s a bloody advert.) The woman in whichever-African-country who thought her phone could scan her fingerprint and provide ‘the answer’ to whether she had AIDS. Scary world, people.

Even more scary is the man in Ohio, who live-streamed himself murdering a stranger. In the olden days, we wouldn’t have known about that as-it-happened, we would have had to wait for a printed newspaper to tell us about it the next day. We didn’t have 24-hour-television-news back then, an emergency broadcast was a very rare thing, but generally meant the death of a member of the royal family, not the apocalypse. Now? Now we’re so used to the ‘breaking news’ banner popping up, that it barely even registers. That desensitisation is a protective mechanism, because if we all read all of the news all of the time, we WOULD go completely insane. Our bubble-worlds, and the repeated articles about ‘digital detox’ are a strange reflection of how saturated we’ve become by the ‘connectivity’ that’s crept into our ‘normal’. 

I’m smirking at myself, the smart-phone that never leaves my side is pretty much never used as a phone. I looked at the call-time total on it a few weeks ago, and I’ve used 16 minutes. I’ve had the phone over a year, and the TOTAL talk-time on it is 16 minutes. I don’t talk, I type. My phone is a camera, to record stupid-shit-I’ve-done, and a calendar/reminder, alarms all over the place, to remind me to eat, or take medication, or put trousers on. My phone is effectively my ‘carer’, but that’s not why I have a gripping phobia of dropping it and breaking it. We ‘all’ have that, don’t we? The panic when you tap the pocket where your phone should be, and it isn’t? The Fear of Updates, battery-panic, and that subconscious thing we all do where we know where the signal-dead-spots are. We’re not scared of being eaten by a sabre-toothed tiger any more, we’re scared of being without wifi. 

There’s no real point to this one, I’m not going on a digital detox, because I barely ‘connect’ with anyone. I’m aware that two messages came to my phone last night, but I’m not breaking my neck to respond to one of them. (Fakebook fact-checking-man pointing out that I’m ‘quiet’, and asking me if I’m OK, I’ll lie to him later, because my sleeping patterns are out-of-synch with most humans, and his wife HATES me, I don’t want to ‘ping’ his phone and start some sort of domestic between them.) That’s the other thought-stream on this, I’m deliberately keeping my head down on Fakebook to disengage from ‘work’. The union lady said this would happen, that the longer I was off, the less people would try to engage with me. “You’ll be able to tell which ones were your real friends, because they’ll keep in touch.” That’s a most-people rule, though, it doesn’t apply to me  

[aeon-wolf]

Ascension - Chapter 1

Demos Educational Organization was like no other college Lena could have imagined. Instead of reading, math, and science, they were taught Ancient Greek, War Strategy, and Swordsmanship. Lena, shocked to find out her true parentage strikes friendships left and right at her new school. Her most treasured friendship of all, her friendship with one Daughter of Zeus, Kara Danvers. Follow Lena on a journey of self-discovery in an attempt to foil the plot of the Titans, and maybe learn a few things about herself along the way.

Or

A PJO inspired Supercorp series. Part One: Ascension.

Read it here on AO3

I.

Lena was dropped off at the entrance to Demos Educational Organization. A college that until recently, she didn’t know existed. She stared up at the large building in front of her, closed off by some large, almost intimidating looking fences. Her driver helped her get her things out of the car, offering to help her inside. But Lena just waved him off. “Don’t worry about it, I’m sure I can manage.” The man nodded, tipping his hat to the youngest Luthor.

When Lena had been scouting out colleges her junior year of high school, Lionel had stopped her almost immediately.

“Lena.” He sat her down one afternoon after she arrived home from school. He handed her a brochure. She accepted it, giving it a once over. It seemed to be a brochure for a college, Demos Educational Organization. An odd name for a college, but she just shrugged it off. “I know that you’re smart enough to get into pretty much any college you want to, but it was the wish of your birth mother for you to go here.” A 16-year-old Lena Luthor met Lionel’s gaze. He rarely spoke of her birth family. She wanted to ask how he knew that, but she knew better than to question.

“But what about…” Lena started, but Lionel cut her off, knowing what she was going to ask.

“Lillian won’t be an issue. I’ll be discussing this with her later.” Lena nodded curtly.

“How do you know I’ll get accepted?” She asked him. He just chuckled.

“Trust me, dear, they won’t turn you away.” He said, giving her a knowing look. Lena blinked but accepted the answer. She figured it was because she was a Luthor. No college would probably dare turn away such an influential family. She did wonder, however, why she was being sent to Demos when Lex had gone to Harvard. But again, she didn’t question it. In the back of her mind, she figured it was because she wasn’t a real Luthor.

“Hey! You new here?” Lena was startled out of her thoughts to see a guy with messy brown hair and a friendly smile on his face. Lena nodded, offering him her hand. He took it and gave her a firm shake.

“I’m Winn! Winn Schott. I’m a junior here.” He said. “You are?” He asked, tilting his head to the side.

“Lena Luthor.” She waited for the realization to dawn on him of who he was talking to, but it never came. He just nodded.

“Well Lena, since I caught you out here, do you want help with your stuff? Or something? Do you know where you’re headed?” Lena shook her head.

“I’m afraid I don’t know much. My acceptance letter just said welcome and all the normal pleasantries. And that someone would show me around when I got to campus.” She said with a shrug. Winn nodded.

“Ah. I remember my first day.” He chuckled as if he was sharing a private joke with himself. “Well, first you’ll probably want to go see Headmaster J’onn. He’ll walk you through orientation. And get you set up.” Lena nodded, frowning slightly.

“Does the headmaster do that for every student?” She inquired as Winn bent down to pick up one of her bags. He nodded when he straightened back up.

“Yeah. If you didn’t already know, we’re a pretty… exclusive college. We don’t get too many new students and J’onn wants to get to know all of us personally.” Winn replied as Lena went to pick up the rest of her bags.

“Oh. That’s nice of him.” Lena said as she followed Winn past the gates. Winn grinned.

“Yeah, J’onn’s awesome. Just wait. I’m sure you’ll end up loving it here. Never want to go home.” Winn said brightly. Lena grimaced, knowing all how true that probably was. She enjoyed Lionel’s presence, but he was gone on business more often than not and ever since Lex had gone off to college, it was just Lena and Lillian. And to say that Lillian didn’t like Lena was an understatement.

The two chatted about arbitrary topics for the duration of the walk to the headmaster’s office. Winn was talking to her about the new student dorm. “Baker Hall is pretty nice.” He said with a shrug. “A little crowded at times, but it’s not too bad. Hopefully, you’ll be moved out of there soon.” Lena raised an eyebrow but didn’t question it. Hopefully, the headmaster would be able to answer some of the questions she was starting to develop after her conversation with Winn.

“Well, here we are!” Winn said as the pair stopped outside a large wooden door. Winn just opened the door without knocking. “Hey J’onn, Lena Luthor is here!” He said, beckoning for Lena to follow him. She walked into the office, putting on the Luthor air of presence. Before her sat a tall black man, with hard but kind eyes. He nodded at Winn.

“Thank you, Mr. Schott, I can take it from here.” Winn nodded, setting Lena’s suitcase down, turning to the woman.

“Come find me later! I can introduce you to some of my friends.” He said brightly before leaving and shutting the door behind him. The headmaster gestured for her to sit down in a chair facing him, which she did. He blinked, looking at her as if appraising her.

“So, welcome to Demos Educational Organization, Ms. Luthor. DEO for short. I’m sure you’re wondering why you’ve never heard of this school until your father brought it up.” Lena nodded in response. “Tell me Ms. Luthor, have you ever found yourself seeing and experiencing things that you know are impossible? Seen monsters that are only found in myth. I’m going to hazard a guess that you’ve been diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia.”

“No, sir. Actually, I haven’t been.” J’onn frowned slightly but nodded.

“Interesting. You’ll be one of the first students here who hasn’t been.” Lena frowned. Was she at a school for the mentally disabled? As if being able to read her mind, J’onn spoke again.

“Rest assured, you’re in the right place. Tell me, what do you know of Greek Mythology?” Lena shrugged.

“Maybe about as much as the average person. We had a section in one of my English classes in high school about it. But not much else.” Lena said, wondering where this conversation was going.

“And if I told you that it wasn’t all a myth. That everything was real?” Lena furrowed her brow.

“I’d say you were probably nuts,” Lena replied. J’onn laughed.

“That’s what I said too when I was your age. But believe me, it’s all real.” Lena gave J’onn a skeptical look. “I see you’re someone who needs a bit more of a demonstration.” J’onn furrowed his brow in concentration.

Lena’s jaw dropped when the headmaster was suddenly enveloped in a glowing aura, flickering a fiery red color. He then opened one of the drawers of his desk, taking a small knife out of it. Before Lena could stop him, he thrust it into his hand. Lena watched as the knife bounced right off the aura, coming away bent before the aura faded. “The Blessing of Ares,” J’onn said. “A gift from my father, given to those that have demonstrated great courage. It makes me invulnerable for a short time, hence the bent knife. I can assure you Ms. Luthor, the more you see of the school, the more you will believe that I am telling you the truth.”

Lena bit her lip. In all honesty, it made sense to her. It would explain all the odd creatures that she had seen throughout her life. She had never talked to anyone about it because if word got out that the Luthor’s youngest daughter was seeing things, well. Lillian would have her head. So she kept quiet about it. Lena just nodded.

“I can see that.” She said. “So you’re saying…” Lena trailed off and J’onn nodded.

“One of your parents was a Greek God. Yes. From what I understand, you don’t know your birth parents?” Lena shook her head.

“No, they were killed and I was adopted by the Luthors when I was four. Lionel did say though that my birth mother wanted me to come here, though if that helps?” Lena offered. J’onn shrugged.

“It’s possible that your mother was your godly parent. But sometimes the gods will leave mention of the school imprinted in their minds as well. Hopefully, sometime in the next few weeks, you’ll be claimed by your godly parent. For now, though, you’ll be put in Baker Hall with the rest of the unclaimed. Your dorm advisor is going to be Lucy Lane. She’s the oldest of the unclaimed. She’ll walk you through the day to day procedures. But until then…” He trailed off, getting up and walking over to the door opening it and beckoning someone inside.

In stepped a tall woman with reddish brown hair. Lena stood up to greet the newcomer who offered Lena her hand. Lena accepted and shook the woman’s hand. It was a surprisingly strong grip, but Lena held her ground. “Ms. Luthor, this is Alex Danvers. She’ll be giving you a tour around the campus while we get a few things straightened out for you. Please, leave your luggage. We’ll see to it that it gets put in your new room.” Lena nodded, following Alex out the door.

“So, new blood, huh?” Alex asked. Lena nodded.

“I guess so.” Lena had so many questions, but she had no idea of what the protocol for asking them was. Was it rude to ask who a person’s godly parent was? Alex could obviously see the questions written on Lena’s face.

“I’m a daughter of Athena if you were wondering. Which you were from the look on your face.” Lena looked a little sheepish. “Don’t worry. You’ll eventually know the parentage of everyone here. There’s not a lot of us and you’ll figure it out eventually, about everyone.” Alex said reassuringly.

The two walked around the campus, Alex pointing out various different things to Lena. “So basically while you’re unclaimed, you’re going to be put into some basic classes so you can find your strengths and interests.” She said as the pair walked past the shooting ranges where there were a couple of people with a bow and arrow, shooting at the targets.

“If or when you’re claimed, you’ll be put into some more specialized classes to hone your innate abilities. Like if your father is Ares, you’ll be put in more combat and war strategy classes.” Alex said. She said something else, but Lena’s attention was drawn elsewhere. In a nearby sparring arena was a blonde haired woman with a large broadsword, fighting a tall, brown haired male.

The male seemed to be all brute strength, charging in against the blonde who was able to meet him blow for blow, and even repel his attack before he charged again. Lena’s focus was on the girl, who was so graceful in her movements, spinning and swinging a sword that almost looked too heavy for her to pick up, let alone use. Alex followed Lena’s line of sight and smiled.

“Ah. Watching my sister spar with Mon-El. It’s always an interesting thing to behold.” Lena looked at Alex.

“She’s your sister?” Lena asked, looking back at the girl.

“Yeah, that’s Kara. Danvers. A daughter of Zeus.” Lena raised an eyebrow. “I know what you’re thinking. And Kara is adopted. Her family was killed and she was adopted by my family. You’ll probably meet them sometimes, they’re teachers here.” Alex said with a shrug. Lena looked back at Kara who was now pressing an attack against Mon-El.

“She’s good,” Lena remarked and Alex nodded.

“She’s been practicing for a long time,” Alex replied as they watched Kara push Mon-El back, before advancing, their blades meeting again, but this time, Kara twisted her sword, wrenching his out of his grip, disarming him. Kara stepped back, proud of herself, looking over to see her sister. She smiled and waved at her sister before noticing Lena standing next to her. Kara tilted her head to the side for a second, looking at Lena before giving her a warm smile, waving at her too. Lena was surprised at the girl’s friendliness but waved back shyly.

She and Alex proceeded to walk over to Baker Hall, where Lena would be living. Lucy Lane, the dorm advisor was waiting for the two in the lobby. “Hey, Alex. Thanks for showing new girl around. I’ve got it from here.” Alex nodded.

“I’ll see you around Lena. Hope you enjoy it here. Don’t be a stranger.” Alex said before leaving the two girls.

“So, I’m guessing J’onn and Alex got you all caught up?” Lucy asked and Lena nodded.

“Yeah, mostly.”

“Good,” Lucy said curtly. “Your room is on the second floor, room 5. Your stuff has been brought up there already. Your schedule should be on the desk, classes start on Monday. If you need anything, don’t hesitate to come find me.” Lucy said, giving Lena a grin. “Welcome to Demos.” Lena nodded, thanking Lucy before making her way to her room.

She quickly found it, opening the door, and indeed, all her belongings were there already. Lena sighed, walking over to the desk and picking up the piece of paper that was on it. She sat on the bed to examine it. Classes like Ancient Greek and Swordsmanship. If someone had asked Lena a year ago about how her college life was going to be, this was not how she pictured it. Lena laid back on the bed, closing her eyes. It was going to be a long year.

II.

Later that evening at dinner, Lena wandered over to the cafeteria. She noticed a large brazier outside with an open flame. Lucy had told Lena earlier about it. At meals, students would sacrifice food to the gods, apparently, they liked the smell. Sometimes they offered some prayers to the gods that they hoped to be answered. Lena was a little skeptical about it, never having been religious in her life, but since everyone else was doing it, she figured she probably should too.

After she grabbed some food, she walked over to the brazier and threw in a large bunch of grapes. In her heart, she prayed that she would be claimed. Like all the other unclaimed prayed daily. That someday she would know where she belonged. Lena looked up at the sky, turning orange as the sun set.

Lena found herself wandering over to an empty spot on the quad in the middle of campus. She set her plate down on a low wall, hopping up to sit on it. As she ate her food, she watched the sun set on her first day at Demos.

So, I might have lied about what my next project was going to be. So sit tight while I explain and sorry about the long note.

I was planning on doing a Soulmate AU, but I decided after 2x12 that I wanted to see where Lena’s storyline ends up because my plans for my soulmate AU are fairly tied to canon. So I wanted to wait on that one. So I wanted to pick another project.

And that’s where this came from. I wrote the outline to this story about six months ago or so, for a different ship that I was writing about at the time. But as I’ve really been writing exclusively about Supercorp for the last couple of months, I decided I wanted to repurpose that outline for Supercorp. And in all honesty, the storyline actually fits this pairing better than the original pairing it was written for.

That being said, this is going to be a very Lena centric story. It details her coming into her heritage and follows her journey. Supercorp will be the main pairing, but it’s going to be a slowburn relationship and as I already know there’s going to be a sequel, well. I’ll let you figure out where their relationship it going to be at the end of this part.

Sanvers is going to be a background pairing here, hence why it’s not tagged as a main pairing, because I’m not focusing on it that much. Also, if you’re looking for a story that’s going to bash Mon-El, you might not be reading the right story. I’m not going to go into detail here, inbox me on Tumblr if you’d like further explanation, but he’s going to have a pretty large role here. Of all the characters I’ve written, he’s probably going to be the most OOC from canon because while I really want to like him, his character is written in such a way that I just can’t support him. So I tried to fix his character writing.

Some small housekeeping details of canon deviation: Ignore that Lionel is Lena’s birth father. Lena is indeed 2 years younger than Kara here, 18 vs 20. I’ve aged everyone up from typical canon ages of Percy Jackson for convenience. In my story, one’s godly powers tend to start manifesting around college, rather than middle/high school. The canon events of PJO haven’t happened, hence why I don’t refer to this as a crossover, rather a PJO inspired Supercorp story.

[waltzofthewifi]

Kota Chapter 27: The Horrible, Terrible, No Good Day Continues

(No links today because tumblr is being frustrating sorry)

"I'm way too sore for this," Chat Noir complained when he landed next to Ladybug. "Firestarter was enough akumas for one day."

Ladybug rolled her eyes. "It's Ryuko. She was akumatized back into Riposte."

Honestly, Ladybug had been expecting something like this. Today had been a stressful day for everyone. Between Kagami being stressed out over that B (it was a hard assignment! Ms Tomoe really needed to lay off of her daughter), Alya getting kicked out of the school blog, and Lacy being picked on all morning by Lila and getting caught in an akuma attack during lunch, Ladybug had had a pit in her stomach telling her one of her friends was going to be akumatized.

Sometimes, she hated being right.

Riposte looked the same as last time they had fought her, but now she had the added power of turning random civilians into fencing partners. Ladybug was tempted to let her continue, to see if it was possible for her to burn her anger out, but the damage she was creating was too big to ignore.

"I vote for bringing in more heroes," Chat Noir requested.

"Already?" Ladybug questioned.

"I'm sore," Chat Noir whined.

"Okay, okay."

Ladybug thought for a moment. She'd need Carapace for his shield, Kota for her agility, and of course Ryuko was their best fencer-

Except Ryuko was the current akuma victim. And if Chat Noir was sore from Firestarter, then so would Carapace, who was much less experienced. And Lacy had been in that attack as a civilian - she deserved the afternoon off.

So who else?

The only other person on the team as athletic as Ryuko was Roi Singe. His power wouldn't be useful here, but his strength and athletic inclination would be.

Viperion would be another good ally. With his second chances, he'd had no doubt seen Ryuko fight a lot. He would know her fighting style well.

"I'm going to get Ryuko and Viperion," Ladybug said. She hesitated. "And do you remember Adrien?"

"Aspik?" Chat Noir questioned, surprised. "Why?"

"Adrien's Kagami's fencing partner," Ladybug said. "I bet he'd be helpful."

Chat Noir visibly hesitated, and then shook his head. "I... uh, I think I saw him ride off in his limo. Probably under guard and everything. Not a great idea." Chat Noir scratched the back of his neck.

"Well, then it'll be just the four of us," Ladybug said, feeling disappointed. She liked working with Adrien, and she also would have liked having a good fencer on her side while taking on Riposte. Chat Noir was talented, but if he was still worn out from Firestarter...

"I'll be back."

.

Lacy nervously sat on the edge of couch, watching Nora bring over two glasses of water.

"You okay?" Nora questioned, handing Lacy the glass of water.

Lacy nodded. "Yeah, just been a bad day today."

Attacked by an akuma and a monster in the same day. What fun.

Neither were exactly rare occurrences. Lacy may not have the strong scent other, more powerful demigods had, but she definitely had the bad luck. The empousa who had attacked her had been targeting someone else, and it was just Lacy's luck that the empousa had noticed her.

"Don't empousa usually travel in packs?" Lacy questioned.

"Sometimes," Nora confirmed. "But not always. Most monsters don't always stick the same pattern. And stray empousa are especially common here. We also have a few Celtic and Norse monsters that like to visit. And then there's the creepy ones that hang around the catacombs."

Lacy shuddered. The whole idea of the catacombs creeped her out.

"But none of them are a match for me, of course," Nora said. "So, what are you doing in Paris, Little L?"

Lacy grimaced at the Area cabin's nickname for her - started by Clarisse, back when she and Silena were inseparable. At camp, Lacy got teased a lot about being both Silena's and Piper's favorite (she was, in fact, Piper's favorite sister, but that's only because she was the first to treat her decently). With Silena having been so close to Clarisse, and Piper being respected by the Ares cabin for her part in the Giant War, Lacy had ended up with a nickname.

Also, she had immunity for being beat up, but that was more because Piper could be scary, and it extended to the rest of the cabin as well.

"My family moved here," Lacy said. "My dad's a therapist, and I think my family was started to get annoyed with all the almost apocalypses in New York."

It was more complicated than that. Brooklyn specifically wasn't safe, because of Egyptian magicians, and that was only the reason why they moved away - there were a lot of reasons why they chose to move to Paris. But Lacy didn't feel like explaining all of that.

Nora snorted. "You picked quite a city to move to. Not exactly the safest place here either."

"I noticed," Lacy replied. "But no one warned us of that before hand."

"I wish I could get my sisters out of here," Nora admitted.

Lacy nodded. It was well known at camp that Nora had three full sisters - a rarity for demigods, even considering the youngest two were twins. And children of Ares could get very protective when they cared about someone.

The door freaked open, and Nora peaked down the hallway.

"Speaking of sisters," Nora said.

Nora's sister peaked her head in, and Lacy was surprised to recognize her.

"Alya?"

"Hey, Lace," Alya greeted. "Nora."

"You two know each other?" Nora questioned.

"Yeah, Lacy's in our class," Alya said, dropping her backpack on the ground and heading into the kitchen. "Why? Have you two met?"

"Funny enough, yeah," Nora said. "Lacy attends that camp I was telling you about."

"Cool." Alya grabbed a glass, poured some orange juice, and heading out of the kitchen. "I have homework, I'll talk to you later."

"Yeah," Nora agreed.

Lacy and Nora watched her disappear.

"Somethings up," Nora stated.

Lacy nodded. Alya had looked depressed the entire time, though she hid it well.

"Hope Lila didn't do anything," Lacy said. "She's been a menace recently."

"I should go talk to her," Nora said. "Can you find your way back to your place okay?"

Lacy nodded. "I'll be fine." Unless today decides to throw another attack on me. She still smelled of smoke, even after showering off.

Lacy stood up and reached for her bag, but paused. "You haven't told Alya yet, have you?"

"Of course not," Nora snapped. "It's too risky. Her scent would be stronger, and then I'd have to take her to camp to train."

Lacy frowned. "What's wrong with that? Alya's past the age she's supposed to be claimed by. And learning about being a demigod - well, it could help her."

It had helped Lacy. Her dad sent her to camp a lot younger than most as a way to boost her confidence after an awful school year. Camp Half-Blood wasn't just filled with demigods, but a bunch of teenagers who had similar struggles. Talking with her cabin about having ADHD and dyslexia had been eye-opening for Lacy, especially after everything her teacher that year had put her through because he didn't believe she actually had ADHD.

Alya likely had similar problems, though Lacy didn't know her well enough to be sure. She definitely had ADHD symptoms, like her ability to hyper-focus on something for hours. And like Lacy, she had specifically transferred that year to Francois DuPont, a school known for helping students with learning disabilities (a reputation Lacy was beginning to think they didn't deserve, but that was besides the point).

Nora hesitated. "I don't think she's ready for it."

"She chases superheroes," Lacy argued.

"And I wish she would stop," Nora countered. "But that's not my point. I just don't think she'd fit in with my cabin."

It was a good point. The children of Area were very aggressive - and while Alya could be stubborn, she wasn't violent.

"Lots of demigods don't 'fit in' with their cabin," Lacy argued. "Piper, AJ, Minnie, Butch - do not tell him I said that - Leah, Becca, Alex C - none of them fit in. But they still learn a lot from camp, and they're all involved with their cabin now."

Nora sighed. "You have a point. I guess. But it's my decision."

"At the moment," Lacy said. "You never know what might happen."

Especially on a day like today, she grumbled internally.

.

Marinette dragged herself up the stairs to Fu's apartment.

Fu let her in, and offered her some tea before fetching the miracle box.

"Choose an alley you can trust," he said as the box opened.

Marinette immediately went for the monkey and snake miraculous.

"If you don't mind me asking, this latest akuma is Ryuko, correct?" Fu questioned.

Marinette nodded. "Kagami's has a rough day today. We all have."

Fu raised an eyebrow. "Did something happen?"

"You mean besides the fire akuma earlier?" Marinette questioned. "Well, Lila was being herself today. She was picking on Lacy all morning - and she got Alya kicked off of the school blog! Alya was so disappointed, and I'm just so mad about it." Marinette noticed her hands had clenched into fists, and she forced herself to relax. "And it's not only that. I think - I think the stress of it all is getting to me."

"You do have a stressful job," Fu observed. "I wish I could do more to help."

"Perhaps there is something more that you could do," Tikki piped up. "Luka was teaching Marinette some relaxation techniques earlier. If you have any you could show her-"

"I would be happy to show you some," Fu said. "Not tonight, unfortunately - I have a customer in a few minutes."

"And I have a job to do," Marinette added. "But thank you. I'll take you up on that."

.

Chat Noir was trying to focus.

His shoulders were sore. His hands were sore. His legs were sore. His head was sore. Even his eyes felt sore.

If Riposte knew who he was, he would be getting a verbal lashing for his poor fencing form right now. Kagami never let Adrien off easy while sparring. Thankfully, Riposte didn't know she was fighting her fencing partner, and was being (mostly) quiet about his apparent lack of fencing skills.

Adrien could beat Kagami, and Chat Noir could beat Ryuko, when they're evenly matched. He had before. But Riposte had a clear advantage here, and Chat Noir was struggling to keep up.

Riposte feinted and Chat Noir fell for it, leaving him open as Riposte moved in and disarmed him. She held her saber up to his throat.

"You're not usually this sloppy, Chat Noir," Riposte said. "You're taking all the fun out of it."

"Care for a rematch then? Best two out of three?"

Riposte snarled.

Chat Noir back up, heels hitting the edge of the rooftop they were on. Below him, his baton was laying motionless on the street.

Chat Noir smiled.

"What?" Riposte said.

"Don't you know cats always land on their feet?"

Chat Noir took an extra step backwards, falling off of the roof. He twisted and landed in a roll, the street slamming into his back.

Ow.

He reached for his baton, grabbing it just as Riposte landed on a car next to him.

"I don't think that counts as landing on your feet," she noted, sounded slightly confused.

Chat Noir straightened up. "It's the spirit of it. Now, rematch?"

Riposte snarled and attacked, forcing Chat Noir to block. Chat Noir dodged another thrust, backing up and then jumping on another car.

Riposte moved forward, jumping off her car and moving onto the street.

This time, Chat Noir attacked first, using the high ground as best as he could. Riposte still forced him to back up, and she jumped up onto the car.

Chat Noir attacked, pushing as much energy into each strike as he could. Riposte blocked with ease.

Riposte pushes forward, slamming her saber into his stomach and sending him flying off of the car onto the street.

"Best three out of five?" Chat Noir wheezed as Riposte approached.

"Only if you promise to be more interesting this time," Riposte replied.

Chat Noir rolled back onto his feet and fell into his fencing stance.

"Promise."

[fireandgloryrpg]

Congratulations Tilly and welcome! We’re so happy to accept your application to play Celia Doherty with the faceclaim of Natalia Dyer in Fire & Glory RPG! We can’t wait to begin roleplaying with you so please remember to look over our checklist!

!! tw: depression, gore, blood,  suicidal urges !!

Name: tilly

Pronouns:  she/her

Age: 19 - birthday is feb 19

Timezone: gmt +1

Triggers: none that aren’t on the list yet

Activity: i’m a full-time uni student and i’m going to apply for a job next year; so most of my activity will take place in the evenings. i’ll be online a few times each week, but i’m basically always lurking (re: my discord activity you know me lol) so i’d say a solid 7/10

Anything Else?: i blame rosie and dana for dragging me back in pjo hell i didn’t plan it

also i have a pin board for my girl here

Original Character Information

Name: Celia Edith Doherty

Age and Birthday: 18, born on June 27th, 1999

Faceclaim: Natalia Dyer (alternatively; Sabrina Carpenter)

Heritage: Daughter of Asteria

Abilities: Prophetic dreams, smoke screen summoning, excellent night vision (former), photokinesis (former)

Affiliation: Former legionnaire of the third cohort; now part-time legionnaire of the fifth cohort.

Headcanons:

Celia got her guide puppy, a samoyed, who was kicked out of the guide dog program. She took pity on the thing (and the fact that he had perfectly soft fur helped a lot) and devoted her life to training him, together with Puck. She named him Mozart, because Tchaikovsky is her favorite composer but his name is too complicated for her to pronounce.

Her life motto is the dog Latin phrase ‘illegitimi non carborundum’, or ‘don’t let the bastards get you down’. Celia was depressed for a long time after losing her sight and her third cohort family, and lots of Romans are surprisingly cruel to blind girls alone in the city, which didn’t exactly help. After shedding many tears for her deplorable situation, she picked up the pieces of who she used to be and glued them together into a new version of herself, with a little help from her friends.

Due to her dyslexia, Celia was never a big fan of reading, but when she discovered audiobooks and braille, her whole life changed. Words didn’t swim off the page and she found another way to fill her head with stories - even though she still has to take breaks after ‘reading’ giant chunks of text in one go.

Biography:

!! tw: depression, gore, blood,  suicidal urges !!

Asteria, the goddess of nocturnal oracles and falling stars, was also known as the personification of the island of Delos, otherwise known as the birthplace of the archer twins, Apollo and Artemis. However, anyone who truly knew the titaness, also knew that this was complete bullshit: she wasn’t an island. Sure, she blessed Delos and became its patron goddess. No one ever saw Poseidon as literally being the sea, so why would they see her as an actual island? The fact that she loved Delos was true, though, which was one of the reasons why her child was born there, even though she was conceived all the way in Phoenix, Arizona. Quickly after her sister Leto made her realize that raising a little demigod wasn’t something a goddess was supposed to do, she dropped the baby off with her father, Ronan Doherty, who still lived in Phoenix. After he got over the initial shock of being a father without asking or any form of preparation, he raised the child, whom he named Celia, with as much love as any parent would.

Ronan always knew his daughter was a little different, but Asteria had not revealed her identity to him. The reasons why his daughter stood out, therefore, remained a mystery to both of them. Celia, now a talented ballerina, was put in a special program at both her primary school and high school, because she was such a slow learner. In addition, she saw a psychologist twice a week for additional support. Around her thirteenth birthday, she had enough of people prodding at her and feeling like the odd one out, so she ran away from home with her father’s permission, who received a dream vision from Asteria, telling him to let their daughter go. She would soon find the wolf house and train there with Lupa until she was ready to make her way down to Camp Jupiter.

Unsurprisingly, Celia flourished at Camp. She joined the ballet school in New Rome, and quickly became one of its top students. After saving a centurion from poison, which she foresaw in her prophetic dreams, she was taken off probatio and placed in the third cohort, which appreciated her myriad of valuable skills as a demigod. Her smokescreens protected the legion during the war games and, in combination with her photokinesis, could cause temporary blindness to the opposing teams. She was also an excellent tracker because of her night vision.

Of course, this would all prove to be terribly ironic. When she was sixteen, in her third year of service, while on guard duty outside the Caldecott tunnel, a drakon made its way to the Roman entrance. The alarm was sounded, but before the first javelin could hit the massive drakon that had pinned Celia to the ground, the acidic venom from its open mouth had dripped into her eyes. The healers tried to save her first, then the specialized medics, then the surgeons of New Rome, but to no avail; she was permanently blinded, her retina damaged beyond repair. The third cohort had too much pride to be concerned with the burden of a blind legionnaire, so she was kicked out and forced to move to the city and learn how to live her life differently.

It was hard, as was to be expected. Her ballet teacher took her in when she had nowhere else to go, because Celia was practically homeless after the legion rejected her. After staying with her teacher for about half a year, she realized that her situation was never going to change, and she might as well give up her ballet dreams, which all seemed so childish in hindsight; who would care if she danced the part of Giselle, when her life was being threatened every day, as a soldier? Inevitably, she would just disappoint her teacher or give her false hopes, so she asked her best friend Puck for help; he persuaded his cousin to take Celia in, which is where she lived for the next year and a half.

Now that she’s eighteen, Celia deemed herself worthy of joining the legion once again. She trained with her best friend, who taught her everything he learned in the fifth cohort; her four remaining senses are heightened to what she believes is their maximum; and her smokescreens are even stronger than they used to be. Still, only the fifth cohort would take her, but this wasn’t a big deal. Even though it’s only part-time, and she still lives in New Rome with Puck’s cousin the majority of the time, she’s still a legionnaire again, and she found new purpose and room for her dreams. Even her feet are itching to stand onpointe again.

Para Sample:

“Celia, do you see that?”

She squinted against the light of the sun. In the distance, vaguely, she detected a whirlwind of fire - was that hair? - chasing a boy. He couldn’t be much older than sixteen, judging by his height and the way he was built, but he was running at lightning speed. Rapidly, Celia flipped through her mental index of monsters, searching for the species she would face in about three minutes.

Empousai. Vampire ladies that like to suck boys dry (but let’s be real, they probably hated girls too). Danger level: probably a seven out of ten. Weakness: mismatched legs, imperial gold, celestial bronze.

Your basic average monster, really. Readjusting her helmet, tightening her grip on her sword and focusing her gaze on the demigod running towards them, Celia stepped forward, before being stopped by her fellow guard. “He’s a graecus,” Marcus said, and she could see his frown deepening as he pointed towards the orange stripe that was faintly visible beneath the sweater. “What? Who cares, he’s gonna die if we don’t help him! Octavian is dead, so get your segregation bullshit away from me,” she hissed, after which she ran towards the Greek demigod, sensing that Marcus was following from the constant thud on the ground.

Every few steps, the demigod turned to slash at the empousa, but to no avail. She could see cuts on his arms, his sweater torn in multiple places, now that she was closer. “Edward Cullen would be very disappointed, lady!” she shouted in an attempt to distract the monster. Monsters. There were three of them. Marcus fought alongside her, yes, but very halfheartedly, and all while throwing insults at the Greek. Things about where he could stick his celestial bronze, how he should go back where he came from because he was the reason those monsters attacked now, and more stuff like that, but the new demigod had some very witty comebacks Celia was impressed by. “Can you boys maybe get over yourselves and… I don’t know,” she grunted, blocking a kick from a bronze hoof with her shield, “Help out a little?”

The rest of the battle was a blur, because her ADHD and instincts took over. When the monsters had crumbled to dust, finally, she cleaned some of their weirdly-colored blood from her sword with her shirt, staining it. Badass. Still panting, she ignored both of the boys and walked back towards the tunnel entrance, expecting them to follow. “I’m not letting him in,” Marcus grumbled. “Don’t be an asshole. Please, just let me in? I’m hungry and tired and I was almost vampire dinner.” After more protests from Marcus, Celia interrupted. “We’re taking him in, and that’s final. He’s not dying on my watch. What’s your name, Speedy?”

“Puck.”

“Cool. I’m Celia.”

“Celia, do you see that?”

Another day on guard duty, but this time, there was no demigod running towards her. Jake had joined her instead of Marcus, who’d been placed back on probatio after his little incident in the winter. The beast in the distance was bigger than they’d ever seen near camp, and the summer sun glinted off its scales, blinding Celia. “We can’t take it alone. Sound the alarm,” she said, already bolting towards the horn. Immediately, the battle cries of the Romans could be heard in the distance, but the drakon was accelerating. It would get to them before the campers did. She gulped. Jake, the bloody coward, had run inside the tunnel, screaming about the lizard to the coming troops, leaving Celia alone to deal with it. She had half a minute before it could get there.

Drakon. Do not confuse with dragon: much larger, much more deadly. Has its own sub-species, some of which can only be killed by children of Mars. Spews acidic venom. Danger level: solid 10/10. Weaknesses: none.

Just her luck. It was closer now. Her hand, the one holding her sword, was trembling. She’d never let her fear take over before, but she was paralyzed. Later, she’d learn that it wasn’t her fear, but the monster’s eyes that had caused her paralysis. She had no way of escape as the monster leaped at her, digging its claws into her shoulders and -

She screamed. All she could do was scream, even as the pressure left her chest after ten seconds, the drakon dropping dead after thirty, with approximately seventeen golden spears sticking out of its sides. At least, that was what Puck told her. Because she couldn’t see it.The pain wouldn’t leave her eyes for a solid month, the venom eating away at her retina, and eventually turning her eyes entirely white.

“Celia, do you see that? Oh, shit. Sorry.”

No. No, she doesn’t. And she never will.