#what a genius title

[tchutomu]

so.

[reinedeslys-central]

more!! again!! for the nico after blood of olympus fic!! actually I thought of this while writing the last one but I just finished it.

His elbows buckle and he lets himself fall into Will, snorting at his theatrical groan under the weight. They lay there for a second until Will shoves him gently, and Nico lets him manoeuvre them into a more comfortable position.

"Hi," he whispers, moving a curl away from his cheek. The greenish tint of the loft window casts a weird shadow over Will's face.

"Hey yourself," Will murmurs back, winking.

Nico rolls his eyes. "You look like Apollo when you do that. Please stop." Will squawks in protest.

"I do not! Also, since when do you remember what Apollo looks like? Actually, no, don't answer that, you can't bring up my dad while we're in bed, Nico, why would you do this to me?"

Now it's Nico's turn to sputter and whack Will in the chest - getting another dramatic oof and a laugh in return - before turning around to face Hazel's bed. He's not sure when he'll ever be able to sleep facing the wall. Will can't do it either.

As Will's arms curl around his waist and draw him back against him, just like they did back in the infirmary that one day, he thinks maybe he'd be okay trying that with him sometime. One day, in a house with gates, no longer wary of monsters.

Will noses the back of his neck, causing him to twitch. "What is it?"

Will's answering smile presses through the rough cotton of his t-shirt. "Nothing, sunshine."

Nico frowns under the covers. "Hey, what do you think of houses with gates?" He whispers.

"Gates? Well, it'd be safer, I guess, but we'd lose the neighbours coming over -"

"As if you want to see random people at the door anyway. What if they're monsters?"

"Oh, come on, darlin', I'm from Austin. Of course I gotta keep space for the neighbours to come knocking."

"…Fences? Actually, hey, why'd you assume I was talking about us? Obviously - Obviously I was talking about random. Random houses. For architecture reasons."

Will muffles his laugh into the back of his neck, again. "Oh, my bad. And I'm only here because you ripped a stitch on the lava wall yesterday."

Nico feels his ears warm.

"Shut up."

"I didn't say anything."

"..Still."

Will reels him in closer until his back hits his chest and he can press a soft peck to Nico's still-red ears. "I think a fence is a great idea, by the way. We could ask Hazel for help with some ward stones too, like you have in the cabin. Gotta make sure we've got at least one window and standing space in every direction, though, or at least in the east, because you know my dad would sulk if he didn't get to scream me awake in the morning."

Nico's blush gets worse.

"Now who's talking about your dad in bed?" He gives up on pretending. Will sees him through every time, anyway. "Also, shrines, obviously, and we need a spot to stargaze."

"Yeah, shrines, obviously. Maybe just yours, mine, and Lady Hestia's though, or else everyone else is gonna get pissy."

Nico barks out a laugh like it's shocked out of him. "Pissy? Don't let them hear you say that."

Will holds him tighter and settles against the pillows. "Sure thing, sunshine. Now can we sleep?"

"Yeah, yeah."

It's not long after that that Will's breath evens out behind him, his muscles untensing. Nico knows he's got a few minutes yet, so he thinks.

Today was…. good.

Today was nice. Normal, even. Just a day of camp schedules, working in the infirmary, an admittedly short campfire, and this. No monsters, and no mistakes. No deaths, but..

Unbidden, the moments in the infirmary come to mind. He thinks of helping Will scrub in for his one surgery of the day, a kid that had gotten parts of an arrow stuck in their leg a week ago and hadn't noticed til yesterday. He thinks of yesterday during capture-the-flag, stepping in and desperately trying to copy what he'd watched Will do, because Lydia was hanging crooked from a tree and there was no one else around but him-

He thinks of Patroclus tying the straps of Achilles' armour, watching his lover sleep peacefully. He thinks of what Connor had told him about at the campfire weeks ago, of Silena Beauregard taking on a drakon when Clarisse declared the Ares Cabin wouldn't be fighting.

He thinks he might understand.

Lydia wasn't the same (thank the gods), but if there was something to be done that only Will could do right, yet couldn't, and the only way Nico could take up his mantle would be to die trying - then, yeah. He'd do whatever it would take for these kids. To do what Will would do. He's gone to Tartarus already, hasn't he? At worst, he'd try his best and greet his father early if he failed to survive. Nico could even give Charon a tip on the way in for the hell of it, why not?

If there is a luxury that comes from being a child of Hades, after all, it is that dying is not the thing that scares him.

There's a brazier still lit outside the window. Its glow falls in slits across their bed.

Will grumbles, pushing his feet forward until their ankles are wound together. The sheets shift.

Nico smiles into the dark, into the chirping of crickets and the soft glow of the fireflies out the window, and falls asleep.

more for this fic:

scene 0 - prologue-ish scene 1 - the library of social awkwardness or here (or in my heart, 'kidney function is not a right, it's a privilege' lol)

general writing directory

also lmk if you want more lore. I am so down to talk about this fic + the worldbuilding ideas I have for it in the notes it is unreal

[solarcicada]

Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett is such an amazing book to me. What if you were insane and kind of a bad person and you brought about the end of time (literally), though did so without any bad intentions, without meaning to hurt anyone, without meaning to stop time, only wishing to make something perfect because you feel that that’s what you’re meant to do and it’s the absence of that perfection that’s driving you mad in the first place.

What if another version of you who is both intrinsically, inherently, genetically you but so vastly different to you due to the vastly different lives you two have lived-completely ignorant of one another’s existence despite both of you living in the same city your whole lives-was somehow destined to stop you and save the world, pulled away from his old life due to talents he didn’t know he had and often couldn’t control and frustrated to no end at the seemingly ever-growing incompetence of his trainer.

What of as a result of this, the two halves of You became one whole person and yet lose almost the entirety of your collective humanity and now have to leave behind the person you love to fulfill the task that you were always meant for since the moment of your birth, and you have lost so much and you cannot go back to your old life because you can hardly keep yourself tethered to the present moment when there is all of time out there calling to you and it saddens you but you can see through time and it’s indescribably beautiful and infinite.

What if you were the unintentional villain and the reluctant hero and lost your humanity to become one of the inner workings of the universe itself.

[moyazaika]

Omg could we please learn a bit more about 'Lamb To The Slaughter'? 👀

ooooooo this is based on the idea of a degenerative utopia! well, that and i also just wanted an excuse for writing about some religious cult-y mindfuckery in a strange little town out in the deep, dark woods <3

[buysomecheese]

Now I'm thinking about self-titled by Twenty One Pilots that album needs more recognition. White boy rap y'know. Vessel is my favorite I thought but I may be wrong about that. TOP album is so good I love The Fall I love Trapdoor I love A Car a Torch a Death I Love The Pantaloon and I LOVE Johnny Boy.

[grape-eating-vampire]

Rilla and I are one and the same because years ago, upon hearing Lord Arum for the first time, I too immediately thought "How does one kiss a lizard?

[skrunksthatwunk]

misguided angel / angel mine for your kuwameshi consideration

[p4nishers]

can we actually take a moment and remember swan upon leda? can we actually shut the fuck up and sit the fuck down and think about our lord and savior swan upon leda because i'm tired of doing it alone every single day guys

[sulevinen]

episode 6 of the sounds of nightmares being titled ”the lonely way” is making me think so many thoughts, none of them coherent, but thoughts nonetheless

[livelaughlobotomyxx]

just watched the ahsoka finale. oh my god. OH MY GOD.

[lennon666]

One of the best songs ever actually

[spacenintendogs]

this is kinda running away from me

[oreo-cookies-fan]

Izzy's death better have the biggest impact on the plot in history. The Revenge crew hunting Ricky, taking the most risky missions, being more violent with the British than ever. Ed mourning him, having whole ass conversations with him in his head, his death being both the reason Edward, revenge driven, comes back to the sea and the main thing keeping Blackbonnet apart as it was Stede's suicidal plan that killed Izzy.

I need it to be important and not just something that Jenkins decided to do while being on crack and then try to gaslight everyone into thinking that Blackhands was just a messed up father-son/mentor-student dynamics as if 1. Izzy wasn't in love with Ed 2. Izzy didn't stop supporting Blackbeard and telling Ed what to do at the begging of season 2. And that Izzy had to die in order for Blackbeard to die.

[boleynqueenes]

The specific thing I think of for you as a writer is 1) your wit and 2) your characterization of Anne (two things which also go v neatly hand-in-hand!). I’ve read soooo many works w Anne and even the really good ones (Anne of a Thousand Days for example,) it’s always ‘a little to the left please’ yours was the first piece i sat up and went HELLO! That’s HER!!!! Like I myself have a v specific vision in mind of her yknow? But even I can’t capture it. You just…do! It’s amazing!!! In awe honestly!!!!!!

She definitely had the wit of someone very determined to rise and make the most of the places her parents' ambitions brought her to, yes. This doesn't seem to have ebbed at all once she finally became Queen, because she was just as determined to secure her place as she had been to rise.

But tysm, I definitely do try to capture that <3

[tamaharu]

Ramona Flowers opens wide.

a ramona flowers playlist

[sunuism]

Cigarettes, a poem

Today I bought a pack of cigarettes for the first time With a shaking voice, I asked for a packet of Marlboro Red I know nothing about cigarettes so I had to google the name I went into the kiosk and bought a bottle of water, a pack of cigarettes and a lighter I sat behind the common building of the dormitory, hidden away from passing eyes And then I tried to light one.

I couldn't get the lighter to work There was also wind so the flame kept going out My thumbs were sore when I finally saw smoke at the end of the cigarette I sucked in the smoke And I coughed and coughed I know the smell of cigarettes well The suffocating, bitter smell of burning tobacco I sucked it into my lungs, desperate to feel something I took a puff, coughed, took a sip of water, took another puff But it didn't get better

When I was in secondary school I went for a walk with my friend She had gotten her hands on what she claimed was a joint She lit it, and smoked a little She asked if I wanted to try and I said yes But nothing happened. It was probably just an ordinary cigarette, but at that time I didn't cough. "You have to suck the smoke all the way into your lungs, and then breathe out." I did as instructed and didn't cough.

On such a March afternoon, I was sitting there My nose ran together with my eyes. The smoke was so disgusting But I was determined to get used to it I gradually became more and more dizzy It felt a bit like being drunk and not having control over my body After a few more puffs I was close to falling over The smoke rose into the air and mingled with the gray clouds in the sky I leaned back until I was lying down The whole world spun before my eyes

When I was in high school, I always saw my classmates smoking in the school yard You weren't allowed to, but everyone did it anyway Smoking was a status symbol that said "I am part of the class." No one ever offered me cigarettes I didn't care at the time, there were more important things in life, I was convinced During recess, I sat in the corner of the classroom and read a book

I coughed a little again I was nauseous I sat up again The cigarette long gone, only half burnt down I pulled a tissue out of my tote bag and blew my nose For a while I sat there and stared ahead and thught about how people can stand it Lump in the throat, stomach rumbling, head spinning I picked up my phone, which had been by my side the whole time 18:03 Friday March 31, no new notifications

A year ago I started a new education I watched as they all went out and smoked during the break If only I smoked, then I had an excuse to talk to them "Do you want to go out for a smoke?" "No thank you." They don't all smoke, but those who don't join for fun I can't bring myself to ask if I can join

The taste of smoke stuck in my throat as I trudged slowly, swaying towards my building When I got back up to my room I tried to throw up Even though my stomach was empty I laid down on the bathroom floor, lay there and gasped for air again And wondered how others do this With shaking hands I grabbed my phone that was in front of me 18:36, no new notifications And I stifled a scream